Yesterday, Minecraft creator and co-founder of Mojang AB, Markus “Notch” Persson posted a blog post asking the players of Minecraft if they would allow Mojang to track usage. As of today, Mojang only tracks logins to their server. Putting this feature into the game would allow the client to connect to their servers and send anonymous information such as game mode, session time and operating system. Of course, all data would be sent up anonymously and shared on the website to get an idea how people play. I believe that Notch is playing it very smart by asking people their opinion on the matter rather than it just showing up in the next update. Regardless of the vote results, he will add an opt-out feature for players who do not wish to participate. Personally, I think people are way too uptight about ‘privacy’ these days. I can understand if you want to opt-out of this because you have a spotty connection or use Windows Vista, but no sensitive information is going to be sent or publicly posted.
Enough of my rambling, what about your thoughts? Do you think Mojang should implement this feature? Please post your response in the comments below.
Today Apple held their quarterly earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2011 and the first fiscal quarter of 2012. Once again, Apple had their best quarter to date. Apple posted a revenue of $46.33 billion and a net quarterly profit of $13.06 billion ($13.37 per diluted share). As for the sales of their products, Apple sold 5.2 million Mac’s this quarter. The iPhone had the highest sales in history, more than 120% over last quarter, selling 37.04 million units. The iPad also had a record breaking quarter, selling 15.43 million units. The iPod showed a decline and sold 15.4 million units. It seems that every quarter for the past 2 or 3 years have had some kind of increase. From what I’ve seen, the sales of the iPods and Macs have been fluctuating the most. What I mean is that every quarter, either the iPods sell the most and the Macs have a loss, or vice versa.
What are your thoughts on Apple’s profits for Q1 2012? What new Apple announcement coming up this year could get those numbers even higher? Please post your thoughts in the comments below.
It has definitely been an interesting week on the internet. On Wednesday, may sites ‘blacked out’ in opposition of SOPA/PIPA. On Thursday, US federal prosecutors shut down the worlds largest file sharing website, Megaupload, and arrested the founder and a few other employees on foreign soil. Later last night, Anonymous ran a Denial of Service attack and took down websites for the Department of Justice, FBI, RIAA and MPAA among others. Today, chief sponsor of SOPA, Lamar Smith announced that he has pulled the bill “until there is a wider agreement on a solution.” That is fantastic news, but keep an eye on it because it could be resurrected at any time. When it comes to PIPA in the Senate, House Majority Leader Harry Reid said he is delaying the bill “in light of recent events.” It still isn’t over, but it is good news to see that our efforts as an internet community has made a difference.
What are your thoughts on Anonymous’ attacks? Do you support what they are doing? Please post your response in the comments below.
Today, Apple held a rather small press event on education at the Guggenheim museum in New York City. Apple plans to reinvent the textbook with the three things they talked about today.
iBooks 2
One of the first things they talked about is the next major update to iBooks. In this update, there are a nice amount of textbooks available for $14.99 or less. In this initial launch, Apple is already partnered with McGraw Hill and Pearson, among others. This is going to make a big impact on education because the things you can do with a digital textbook as far as teaching goes is fantastic. 3D modeling and built in videos aim for a greater learning experience. Last but not least, the prices. I’m a college student, so I know the pain of how expensive textbooks are, so seeing those low prices make me very happy.
iTunes U
iTunes U has been a huge success as far as college lectures go with over 700 million downloads. However, today it is breaking away from the iTunes Store and getting its own app. This app is great for college students if their school is on Apple’s list. It allows for easy course registration, getting your syllabus, getting your professors office hours and much more. This will make taking a course a little less of a hassle and I can’t wait for my college to get something set up with this.
iBooks Author
Last, but not least, Apple introduced a free OS X app which allows educators to create their own digital textbook and put it in the iBookstore. I’m pretty sure major publishers won’t be using this application, but it is great for teachers who want to compile the content they teach each semester into one, easy to download book for the students in the semesters to come.
What do you think of Apple’s education announcements today? I believe that this is going to really change college courses for the better. I’d like to see your thoughts in the comments below.
Today, the day after the ‘blackout’ day to protest SOPA/PIPA, federal prosecutors have shutdown the worlds largest file sharing site: Megaupload. The founder and a few employees are being charged with violating privacy laws. According to the indictment put against them, they owe $500 million in revenue that was lost in software/entertainment piracy. Many people used this site, including myself, for legitimate reasons and it is a shame to see them go. Sites like these will continue to shut down under SOPA/PIPA if they were to pass through Congress. Yesterday’s ‘blackout’ day proved to be a huge success and we can only hope that it helps Congress the terrible things this bill will do to the internet and our freedom.
What are your thoughts on the Megaupload ordeal? Please post in the comments below.
Once again, EA is making a big mistake. As some of you may know, EA is trying to compete with other digital gaming platforms such as Valve’s Steam and GameStop’s Pulse network. Their platform, Origin, is still in beta and is not on par with any of the other digital gaming platforms. Now, you may be asking: What’s the problem? Well, during their last few game releases, most notably Battlefield 3, EA required Origin to play on the PC platform. EA recently stated that it will require Origin for their next big game release, Mass Effect 3. I know this is going to prevent a lot of people from getting Mass Effect 3, at least on the PC platform, because consumers do not want Origin shoved down their throats. If EA were to give players the option to use Origin, it wouldn’t be half as bad.
That being said, do you think it is a good idea for EA to be so controlling with their Origin platform or am I being way to sensitive about this? Please post your response in the comments below.
This year will mark the release of the third iteration of Apple’s iPad and the sixth iteration of their iPhone. Every new release of these products have improved something for the better in these devices. However, one thing the iPhone has lacked since the iPhone 4 and the iPad since its inception is 4G support. Now, many of us geeks can agree that 4G technology is not at the level it should be at this point. If you watch TV, you primarily see AT&T and Verizon battling it out while Sprint just sits back and watches. The two biggest cell companies, both of which support the iPhone and iPad, are shoving 4G down the consumers throats when the speed of it is no faster than 3G. Granted, all three of those cell companies have improved upon their 4G networks over the past few years.
A few days ago, I was reading that Verizon was going to start only accepting smartphones with 4G support in the near future. That being said, wouldn’t you think the next iPhone and iPad will have 4G support? It is about that time that they make the upgrade and it would be a terrible loss for Apple and Verizon as well if the next of these devices aren’t on the network.
What do you think about 4G technology overall? Please post in the comments below.
Imagine a time where magic and the constant fear of dragons is always prevalent. That is the extraordinary world of Skyrim. You would think that in a world filled with magic, there would be no need for a hero. However, do to the horrific civil war and the recent comeback of dragons, there is a cry for a hero to help bring Skyrim out of the darkness. Skyrim not only offers one of the best story lines I have ever seen in a game, but it is also filled with hundreds of side quests that could have you fighting as a vampire or killing a mans wife. It also offers many improved features over the previous Elder Scrolls game, Oblivion. These improvements include, but are not limited to, dual-wielding magic, more weapons, and smithing of weapons. This RPG allows you to be whoever you want, from a human to a vampire. So, the real question is: “Who are you?”
Yesterday, Minecraft creator and co-founder of Mojang AB, Markus “Notch” Persson posted a blog post asking the players of Minecraft if they would allow Mojang to track usage. As of today, Mojang only tracks logins to their server. Putting this feature into the game would allow the client to connect to their servers and send anonymous information such as game mode, session time and operating system. Of course, all data would be sent up anonymously and shared on the website to get an idea how people play. I believe that Notch is playing it very smart by asking people their opinion on the matter rather than it just showing up in the next update. Regardless of the vote results, he will add an opt-out feature for players who do not wish to participate. Personally, I think people are way too uptight about ‘privacy’ these days. I can understand if you want to opt-out of this because you have a spotty connection or use Windows Vista, but no sensitive information is going to be sent or publicly posted.
