Microsoft Warms Up New Hotmail Features

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Microsoft is looking to enhance its features for Hotmail, the world’s most popular email service with over 360 million accounts. Despite their size, Microsoft realized they were losing the feature war to Google and Gmail.

Hotmail wasn t doing the best job it could to serve customers, said Microsoft vice president Chris Jones to reporters. We were behind on features and we felt like being number [one] in the U.S. market was important for us.

One of the new main changes will divvy up email into categories, such as from e-mail lists, from social media and others with attachments, allowing users to more easily categorize spam as well. There will also be a new bar where users can set a status message for an online service.

Other features will let users open Office documents and pictures directly, and watch videos from Hulu and YouTube. Microsoft also wants to make Hotmail easy to use on mobile devices, via POP and IMAP pull protocols or its push email service ActiveSync.

Ads will be retained on Hotmail, with display banners running in a vertical bar on the right side of the screen. They’re not context sensitive and not based upon an analysis of your email and can be turned off with a $20 a year fee.

Source: Wired

Mac Sales Suggest No IPad Cannibalization

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NPD issued its sales reports on April that showed that Mac sales were up 39 percent year-over-year, suggesting that the iPad isn’t cannibalizing sales of Apple computers. The iPod, however, continued its downward slide with a 17 percent drop off, suggesting that some iPod consumers might be upgrading to the iPad instead.

“April NPD data gives us the first sign of the degree to which the iPad cannibalizes iPod or Mac sales,” writes Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. “From the early NPD data, it appears that the iPad has a minimal cannibalization impact on Mac sales, and could be slightly cannibalizing iPod sales. Given the [average selling price] (4x) and margin profile of the iPad, we see this as a net positive for Apple’s business.”

Source: Fortune

PSN Premium Report

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While a premium subscription service for the PlayStation Network has long been rumored, reports are that it may finally debut at E3 2010. Sony will reportedly announce its new monetizing plan at the expo, costing less than 50 British pounds ($72) per year; furthermore, the premium plan will apparently not affect services that are currently free.

Part of the plan will see all subscribers getting one free PSN game per month from a few different choices. If you work it out, PSN games cost an average of 6-9 British Pounds ($8.66 – $13) each, so over a year you re basically going to be breaking even, said the inside source.

Sony’s June 15 press conference will also feature a music application similar to Spotify, with potential for it to stream music in the background. Apparently, rumors that cross-game voice support will be saved as a feature for the subscription service are not true. I can tell you now, 100 percent, that that s not the case, continued the source. There s nothing in the premium package which will gimp regular PSN users.

Source: VG247

Facebook: Vicious Cycle of Backlash

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Facebook has instituted a number of changes of late with regards to integration with other sites, much to the chagrin of some users. The Open Graph has led to a public backlash, most notably from technology bloggers, and it’s caught the attention of Facebook.

“The scope of the conversation has been much wider than I would have expected,” said Facebook executive Bret Taylor. “It’s been a really valuable experience for us internally, what experiences people like and what causes discomfort.”

This event, however, isn’t new in fact, this sort of user backlash has become almost cyclical for Facebook. Taylor said that the social network site has done a poor job of communicating with its 400 million users over the recent changes and says they are listening to feedback.

“We’re currently evaluating the best way to respond to the concerns,” said Taylor. “And changing things is on the table.”

As for the vicious cycle of make changes, trigger backlash, make retroactive changes and apologizing, Taylor said, “That’s something we’ve talked a lot about, given what’s happened. Hopefully, coming out of it, we’ll learn a better process for launching these things.”

This last round has been particularly nasty, with privacy concerns voiced by tech bloggers leading to mainstream media coverage. While Facebook says that 10 million users have signed up for accounts since the changes were announced, they won’t say how many have deleted accounts, only saying that the issue doesn’t seem to disturb their user base at large.

“But we take this really seriously,” he said. “These are our colleagues who we have a lot respect for.”

Encouragingly, Facebook is open to suggestions that make privacy settings easier to work with and deleting and suspending accounts less roundabout. “The simplicity theme is dominating our internal discussions, said Taylor. Having lots of knobs and dials gives people more control. But it doesn’t make it simple.”

Source: Mercury News

Technicolor Goes 3D For Cheap

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Technicolor demonstrated a new 3D system for 35mm projectors at Cannes recently. Called Technicolor 3D, the technology is designed to work with existing 35mm projectors, so that movie theaters can screen 3D titles at a lower cost.

“Technicolor is invested heavily in both 3D digital and digital cinema,” said Simon Wilkinson, managing director of Technicolor Creative Services in London, noting the system allows non-digtal exhibitors to “maximize on their investment in a wider number of screens.”

This system utilizes a 35mm print made during post-production that uses an over/under format to create polarized right-eye and left-eye images. Using a silver screen also implemented for digital 3D and polarized 3D glasses, Technicolor also provides exhibitors with a new projector lens that translates those images to the screen.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

IPhone/Facebook Integration Mentioned In Apple Patent

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A new patent hints at greater integration between the iPhone and Facebook. Approved on April 1, 2010 and filed in September 2008, the patent focuses on creating device-to-device workflow.

The patent syncs actions between the iPhone and another device, like adding something to a calender with a Mac computer and having it be shared with an iPhone. Device proximity is also mentioned, with abilities like having an iPhone and iMac synchronize their calendars when they get within Bluetooth range of each other.

The Facebook element of the patent comes into play with contact syncing, writes Christina Warren. For example, say you meet a colleague or friend out somewhere and realize you haven’t friended her or him on Facebook. When you initiate an ‘add contact’ on your phone, it can first pull in all the vCard information from your friend s phone, send your info back (if you are exchanging information), offer to take a photo of your friend to add to your address book and then, if you so choose, add your friend to Facebook. Your friend will then get a notification on her device of the pending friend request and can then approve or ignore it. Basically, the idea is to take a series of separate actions and allow them to unfold autonomously with one command.

There are apps for the iPhone, Android and Blackberry that can perform similar functions, but nothing has been integrated into the device before this. It may or may not come about, but given the increasingly ubiquitous nature of Facebook it wouldn’t surprise us to see it some time soon.

Source: Mashable

Super Hero Squad Online: Hero Up!

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Gazillion recently took the wraps off this Marvel Comics-based MMO, and now we have the first trailer for Super Hero Squad Online. It shows off the cartoony nature of the property, targeted towards kids.

Kevin Butler Demonstrates ModNation Prowess

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Sony has heavily promoted the track creation portions of ModNation Racers, even releasing an artist spotlight for those inclined to make their own tracks. This week showcases Sony’s VP-of-what-is-needed Kevin Butler talking up his latest creation, but he may have finally met his match with his latest online race.

Swagger Wagon Rap

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Toyota has been pushing their Sienna as a cool option for young parents with their tongue-in-cheek commercials. They’ve gone one step further with this viral video, with the two featured parents rapping about their swagger wagon.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4%26amp

Kingdom Hearts Bundle Fit For A King

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Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep today was officially confirmed for a U.S. release on September 7. To complement this, Sony and Square Enix will team up for a Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep PSP Entertainment Pack, with a Mystic-Silver PSP-3000, the game on UMD, 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo and a to-be-announced movie for $199.99 on September 7, 2010.

“The entire development team is extremely happy to announce the North American release date for Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep,” said Tetsuya Nomura, director of the Kingdom Hearts series. “We hate to keep fans waiting, but we’ve added some brand-new features for the North American version, so even those who have been following the Japanese version are sure to find a few surprises. In addition, we’ve put together an outstanding voice cast. We can’t wait for everyone to experience this game!”

While some pundits think the PSP is on its last legs, Sony is still pushing the system with bundles for this and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. It’s also notable that this bundle is for the PSP-3000 and not for the PSPgo.