DS Sets A New Record

DS has set another new record in Japan. Up till now, the king of life time sales units number in Japan is PS2, which launched in 2000. This is no longer true as of last week. DS which launched in 2004, as of last week, its life time sales unit number has exceeded PS2.

Midori Is Back

Until it closed a few years ago, Midori was one of the best if not the best Japanese restaurant in Columbus Ohio. The owner had to close it to take care of her aging mother.Well, Midori is back. She bought the Basho restaurant. And though it's a new name, the food and people are the same. All is well once again in the world of Japanese cuisine at Columbus Ohio.

November Console Number

The November number is out. DS is now ruling US just like it is in Japan. Bad news for PS3, even with the price drop to $400 combined with holiday season, it can't touch either 360 or Wii.
Nintendo DS - 1.53 million
Nintendo Wii - 981,000
Xbox 360 - 770,000
PlayStation Portable - 567,000
PlayStation 2 - 496,000
PlayStation 3 - 466,000

Groovy 1.5 Released

What an exciting year it has been for Groovy. The latest release has hit the street. You can grab the 1.5 here.

And yes, the version jumped from 1.0 to 1.5. This is done to indicate the massive amount of changes that went into this release.

For the new features in detail, check out this article.

Trick Or Treat!

Our beggar's night is today. For once this is actually happening on Halloween day.

Pictures here

I Got A Crackberry

For a new project I'm working on, I need a Blackberry to test the java code. So I finally broke down and got one. It's the new Curve 8310 with AT&T.

Here are some initial thoughts.

Pros:

The Blackberry has an active GPS, the camera also has flash. It's very bright. When I used it to take a self-portrait, I forgot to turn the flash off and I was blinded for about 5 secs. The form factor has also come a long way, I remember they used to be so big when I saw them being "the rage" in San Francisco. The phone itself is smaller, but thicker than iPhone. The screen is 320x240. It's bright, the font even supports subpixel antialiasing. That makes it better than Treo, but frankly, the text clarity can't touch iPhone. The 8310 has GPS and 2 megapixel camera, but EDGE only, no wifi. I could've gotten 8320 with T-mobile, in which case, I get GPS and wifi, no camera.

The keyboard is good for a thumbpad. I think it's on par with the Treo. The email on it is both nice but sort of dumb at the same time. The push mail is of course what makes it a crackberry. The thing is, the email client only knows how to "receive" email from a blackberry server. So this leaves you with two choices: either use a company server with BES server software, or use BIS which is a round about way of saying you create an email account with blackberry.net and have your email go there, and RIM push it down to you. You can also setup the BIS system to "pop" up to 10 other accounts to push it back down to you. For someone like me, who is used to having email client that I can setup imap or pop3, and be done with it. It's sort of weird. On the other hand, the push does work very well.

The speakphone is also very clear and loud. Much louder compare to iPhone. The phone has full Java ME porfile. So I was able to install Google Maps, Google News, Gmail app, Y! to go 2.0, Google Talk 2.0 mobile, and Y! IM for it.

It has a slot for MicroSD. I slapped in a 4GB card. The media player is rather basic, but you can set any media to your ringer for anything.

It has the same voice dialing software that Samsung phones also use. I love it, it's accuracy, fast and requires zero training.

The battery life is also quite good. After almost 24 hours of messing with it lots, it still has 20% battery.

The bundled in Blackberry Messenger is a really good idea. Since most people don't have unlimited SMS, but Blackberry plans always give you unlimited data. So this is a good solution to have real time IM with other Blackberry owners using only data packets. The setup is simple, and appears to work quite well. Too bad I don't know anyone else that uses Blackberry. :)

It also has full support of MMS, which is still one of the annoying thing about iPhone. The curve's camera only takes pictures, no video. So same as iPhone in that regard.

The phone also supports Stereo Bluetooth. And uses USB port both for syncing and charging. This is something I also love about my Razr2 v9m.

Cons:

The camera seems to be rather grainy at times. Since I also have a iPhone, the Blackberry by comparison is feels sluggish. From time to time, the screen would freeze for a sec, and I'd be left wondering if it crashed or something.

The SMS app is also poor in terms of UI compare to Treo/iPhone's threaded interface. It sort of has a threaded view, but it just doesn't work very well.

The brower is a joke, compare to iPhone. I can't bare to use it.

The trackball is ok for some apps, but for things say like Google Map. It doesn't compare to touch screen.

I also miss the auto correct as you type figure on iPhone. On Blackberry the closest thing is you can set it to auto run spell check when you press send. For someone like me who sucks at spelling, this is not great.

The unit itself feels light, but somewhat cheaply made.

Also no support with iSync. Boo.

It also doesn't support asian languages. I like the fact on iPhone, I can read Japanese/Chinese/Korean websites/emails/SMS. No go on Blackberry. I'd have to go find a different firmware to flash, etc etc.

Final thoughts:

I think if I didn't have a iPhone, I might have like it more. It does compare better than Palm's new Centro. At least this will be an amusing java programming device.

Gmail Adds Free IMAP Support

Gmail added IMAP support this week. What does this mean? It means finally using Gmail on iPhone won't suck compare to Yahoo Mail.

iPhone uses POP to access Gmail. So your actions aren't synced. For example, via POP when you get a spam mail, there is no way to mark it as spam.

Now with IMAP, to mark the mail as spam, just move it to spam folder.

Instructions on how to setup your Gmail account for IMAP is here. Google even made a YouTube video to guide you through.

September 07 Sales Number

NBD's sales number for the month of September is out. 360 beat Wii for the first time in many month.

1. Xbox 360: 527,800
2. Wii: 501,000
3. Nintendo DS: 495,800
4. PlayStation Portable: 284,500
5. PlayStation 2: 215,000
6. PlayStation 3: 119,400
7. Game Boy Advance: 75,000

On the game sales front.

1. Halo 3 (all versions)--Xbox 360:3.3 million
2. Wii Play with Wii Remote--Wii:282,000
3. The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass--DS:224,000
4. Madden NFL 08--PS2:205,000
5. Skate--Xbox 360--175,000
6. Madden NFL 08--Xbox 360:173,000
7. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption--Wii:167,000
8. BioShock--Xbox 360:150,000
9. Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day--DS:141,000
10. Heavenly Sword--PS3:139,000

Halo wasn't broken down into 3 editions. If it was counted that way. Halo 3 would've been the top 3 spots. In fact, the $129 Halo 3 legendary edition sold over twice as many copies as the PS3's only entry, Heavenly Sword. Prompted one of the analyst's joke on "Clearly, the helmet is mightier than the sword."

Something else that's also hard to see from this chart is, the revenue of the 360 games sales accounts for 74% of the total game sales across all platforms. Continue to support the "360 owners buy lots of games." theory.

40GB PS3 Launches In US, Price Drop One More Time

Sony has announced the 40GB PS3 for US at the pricing point of $399. It only has 2 USB ports instead of 4 ports. And it will not play any PS2 games.

Sony also lowered the 80GB PS3 to $499.

On lacking PS2 backward compatibility for the 40GB model, SCEA CEO Jack Tretton, the removal isn't due to "dramatically reducing Sony's cost of manufacturing", but is part of an effort to "encourage buyers of the entry-level PlayStation 3 to purchase more games designed specifically for the new system."

With the new price drop, this will be the 3rd time in less than 12 month. So much for the original claim of "PS3 is such a good value there will be no price for at least 24 month."

Late Night Walmart Adventure

A couple of days ago, it was a bit after midnight. I was wondering around local Walmart to see if they got in the new games this week yet. I saw a lady wondering around rather lost. It's late, and the store was short handed. So she was waiting for help. Soon the clerk came, and it didn't seem to be going anywhere. She was clearly frustrated. All I heard was "I don't know anything about computers.". The clerk responded "Me either."

She looked at my direction, and said "hey, you look like you know computers.". I said "Well, a little bit. What do you need?" She quickly explained the problem. She and her husband were from out of town. They are staying at a local hotel, which only has wireless. There is only 1 wireless card that the hotel can loan out, but someone else has it. Her husband left his wireless card at home. But he desperately needs to get online to finish something for work tonight. I told her it's not a problem. Her husband show up at this point. I asked them what kind of laptop they have. He pulled it out of the bag to show me. I said "Oh, you need a PCMCIA wireless card." They both go "We have no idea what you just said, but clearly you know what you are talking about."

So I quickly guided them to the right aisle and recommended a couple of choices. She said "Oh, the $70 one is one of the clerks suggested. He said it's more expensive, so it has longer range, and therefore, better." I looked at it and go "No, buy the $30 one. I doubt your hotel supports the range extension protocol. So for what you need, this is as good as the other choices." They grabbed it and started heading to check out. I quickly gave them a run down of installation instructions. He jokingly said, "Can I have you phone number?" I said "Well, if you think you need help." Both of them were completely taken a back by this. They were like "No, just kidding. That's too much to ask." I said, "It's not a big deal. I'm up anyway." After I repeatedly asked like six times, finally they ask for my phone number. They introduced themselves. Turns out they are in town for the annual Acura convention. They have a beautiful blue NSX-R.

They never did call me that night, so I'm assuming my instruction was good enough. :)

Monster Hunter 3 Left PS3 For Wii

Monster Hunter is a series with some interesting history in Japan. Originally released for PS2, the series did ok. The game play is like Diablo in a future science fantasy world. You hunter monsters that look like dinosaurs. It supports online play. The games sold ok on PS2 in Japan. Around 500k units range. The PS2 version of the first game did very badly in US.

Capcom ported the two games to PSP. And both of them are run away hits. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd sold 1M copies right away the first week, and the game together with FF7 Crisis Core are credited for saving PSP in Japan.

In fact, this year, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd won an award for being the new communication medium among Jr. High and High School students. There are hundreds of BBS popping up organizing hunts. Since the PSP version of the game supports ad-hoc only. What this means is, groups of kids get together, and form a 4 player hunt, and also trade items and such. It's a very popular activity.

Monster Hunter 3 was announced to be a PS3 exclusive game. I have friends that bought PS3 in Japan for this. Well, they need to get a Wii now. PS3 version is canceled due to high development cost and low install base in Japan. Wii is the new exclusive home, because Wii has good install base and development cost of Wii games is very cheap by comparison.

PS3 40GB Announced In Europe

Sony just announced the 40GB version of PS3. It will only play PS1 games, but will NOT play any PS2 games. It will be 299 Euro. ($610).

How Bungie Becomes 3rd Party Again

The press release is out now. Bungie is once again privately held. Bungie also made an post.

What does this mean and how did it get here? This discussion and burn out of constantly working on Halo for many years no doubt is weighting heavily on the studio.

They had two choices. Mass exit to form a new company, or talk to Microsoft to work out a deal. The deal break downs like this, Halo is own by MS. Oni and Myth is own by Take 2. Bungie owns Marathon. For Microsoft to go along with this deal, no doubt MS has first right of refusal on every project from here on out. Which means, basically Bungie is really more like a 2nd party company, that will only take projects to Sony/Nintendo/PC if Microsoft says no.

Meanwhile, what Microsoft does accept as a project, Bungie will make a LOT more money. And hey, Microsoft can move Bungie from first party support column to 3rd party support column.

Halo 3 First Week Number, #1 In Japan Too!

Halo 3 during the first week, brought in 300 million total. During the same time period, the worldwide sales of 360 console more than doubled.

Halo 3 was even #1 on top best selling games in Japan this week.

During the firsrt week, over 2.7 million players played online.

Halo 3 Brings in 170 Million In 24 Hours

Halo 3 broke the previous all time retail record set by Spiderman 3 the movie. Spiderman 3 the movie, with the 5 day opening weekend brought in 151 million.

Halo 3 in the first 24 hours, bought in 170 million. The first 8 hours, 1.8 million copies were sold. In the first 20 hours, over 1 million people logged in to Xbox Live to play.

Halo 3 Launches

Yes folks, it's 9-25. At 11:55, we showed up at the local Micro Center to check out the halo 3 launch.

For the pictures, go here.

Kumiko Arrives

This morning, at 8:50AM. The door bell rings, I didn't hear it of course. P on the other hand, heard it, and pushed me, saying "Get the door, my iMac is here."

I quickly went to the door. Sure enough, the new 24 inch iMac and 15 inch MacBook Pro are here. Apple shipped them Fed Ex International Overnight for morning delivery straight from Shanghai.

Thus, Kumiko the MacBook Pro 15 inch arrives to my army of computers.

Come forth, my Army of Macs. And iPhone too! :)

Got Razr2

With switching to iPhone, my sprint phone became my backup phone. The Samsung Blade has served me well for several years. But with it being a backup phone, there is no longer any point to have such high minutes plan. But with my contract up, one of the terrible thing about Sprint is, anytime you change plan, you are automatically contracted for 1 year. Sprint wasn't too helpful on selling me new phones with discounts either. A quick conversation with the customer retention department took care of that however. I was able to get the Razr2 for $199, which is $50 cheaper than new customer.

The phone is very shinny.

US August Console Sales Number

The August US Console sales number from NPD is out.

1. Wii - 403,600
2. Nintendo DS - 383,300
3. Xbox 360 - 276,700
4. PlayStation 2 - 202,000
5. PSP - 151,200
6. PLAYSTATION 3 - 130,600

360 gained 100k units from the price cut and BioShock. PS3 numbers dropped quickly to the normal level after the brief surge from the $100 price cut.

Microsoft By Pass Update System

Looks like Microsoft is bypassing update permission system and silently updated 18 files on all XP and Vista computers. So glad I pretty much only use Linux and OSX for daily work now.

Intel Beats Forecast Because of Apple

Intel is exceeding forecast quarterly number because of strong Apple laptop and desktop sales.

Friends from Intel are all like "Yay! Way go to Apple". Intel guys cheering for Apple? This is something I never thought I'd see.

One Millionth iPhone Sold

Apple sold the one millionth iPhone this past weekend, at 74 days mark. It's slower than I expected. But then, it took 2 years to sell 1 millionth iPod.

On average, 80k Blackberries are sold every 3 month. The current Treo install base is around 5.3 million. This includes both Windows version and Treo version.

DIY Ringer For iPhone UPDATED x2

1. Make sure the sound file is in AAC format. If it's not, you can use iTune to convert it.
2. Use iTune to crop it down to about 30 secs, this is optional but really, kinda useful.
3. Copy the result file out, you can do that via drag and drop.
4. Rename the file extension from m4a to m4r. On OSX, this is more tricky than you may think. Beacuse by default, it hides extension. So you THINK you renamed it, but you didn't. The sure fire way is to do a "Get Info" on the file, go down to "Name and Extension", and change it there.
5. Doubt click on the result file. It will show up now on iPhone ringtone tab when you plug in your iPhone.

Looks like someone else discovered first. The first publication of this trick was at a macrumor thread.

iTunes 7.4.1 breaks it, don't update.

iPod Classic, iPod Touch, iPod Nano With Video Launches

Lots of updates from Apple today. iPod was renamed iPod Classic. and new pricing points are 80Gb for $249, 160GB for $349.

iPod Nano has a new form factor. It's shorter and wider so the screen can be updated to 320x240. Same pricing point as before, $149 for 4GB, $199 for 8GB. The UI got an update as well, it now supports cover flow.

iPod Touch is basically iPhone minus the phone, blue tooth and camera. It's also missing some software, such as Google maps. But everything else is the same. It has Safari, has wifi, etc, just like iPhone. 8GB version is $299, 16GB version is $399.

This leads to a big price drop on iPhone. 4GB version is discontinued. While supply last, you can get it for $299. 8GB version is now $399. Yes, a $200 drop in less than 3 month. Ah yes, the price of bleeding edge gadget lover. Would I still get it first day now I've had my iPhone for a while? Yes, I would. The amount of time both visual voice mail and google map has saved me is worth it.

Madden 08 First Week Sales Numbers

The first week sales number for Madden 08 is out. Given how insanely popular football is in US, and how the brand continue to yield record breaking revenue for EA, it's a good general "pulse" for the US video game marketplace.

• Madden NFL 08 for X360 sold 889,072 in Week 1.
• Madden NFL 08 for PS2 sold 546,403 in Week 1.
• Madden NFL 08 for PS3 sold 204,025 in Week 1.
• Madden NFL 08 for Wii sold 57,247 in Week 1.
• Madden NFL 08 for the Xbox sold in 56,841 in Week 1.
• Madden NFL 08 for the PSP sold 39,170 in Week 1.

With the 360 version beating PS2 the previous gen champion by a fairly wide gap, I think it's obvious the new heir apparent, at least from developer's POV.

For NCAA football 08, so far the 360 version sold 558,000 copies, then PS2 version with 290,000 copies, and PS3 version at 115,000 copies.

What does this tell us? Well, 1 Xbox 360 buyer != 1 Wii Owner != 1 PS3 owner. 360 owners love to buy games. and 3rd party developers love to sell games to them.

Bored In Plane Ride? Try Linux

The following is from Network World.

To make flying more enjoyable for its passengers, Singapore Airlines Ltd. is adding bigger screens, more in-flight movies and a PC, running Red Hat Inc.'s distribution of the Linux operating system, in every seat on its newest planes.

The system consists of a central Linux server that connects to a network of PCs installed in every seat on the aircraft. The KrisWorld software offers an improved user interface and each economy-class seat is fitted with a 10.6-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen that offers resolution of 1,280 pixels by 768 pixels. They are larger in business and first class, where each seat comes with a 15.4-inch and 23-inch screen, respectively.

The amount of content that's available on the latest KrisWorld system for passengers to choose from is staggering: 100 movies, 150 television shows, 700 music CDs, 22 radio stations, and 65 games. Movies and television shows are refreshed on a monthly basis, meaning frequent fliers will always find fresh content. In addition, the system offers Berlitz language lessons, travel guides from Rough Guides, and live text news, among other choices.
KrisWorld can also be used as a PC and includes Sun Microsystems Inc.'s StarOffice application suite, which offers a word processor, spreadsheet, and a presentation program. Every seat is fitted with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port that lets passengers access documents carried on a thumb drive or portable hard disk. The port can also be used to connect a USB keyboard or mouse, making it easier for business travellers to create and edit documents without having to dig out their laptops and power cords.

Apple New Latop Sales Up

According to this, in terms of new laptop sales market share, in the past 90 days, Apple has gained another 5% to 17%.

PS3 Sold 2000 More Than 360 In Canada For July

Thanks to the price cut, PS3 sold 15,000 units in Cananda for the month of July. Xbox 360 sold 13,000 units for the month of July.

Paramount/Dreamworks SKG Ditches Blu-Ray

The following is from AP Wire.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. will offer next-generation DVDs in the HD DVD format and drop support for Blu-ray, further complicating the race between the competing technologies.

Monday's announcement affects the upcoming DVD releases of the blockbusters "Shrek the Third" and "Transformers," along with movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films.

This makes me happy, because of the two, I prefer HD-DVD. Due to less draconian DRM and no region code.

D&D 4th Edition Announced

D&D 4th edition has been announced at GenCon. The 3 core books will show up in summer 2008. This will also be the first version of the game that has online stuff tied to it. Starting with these books, each book you have a digital code which you can use to get to part of the dndinsider.com after you pay a monthly fee. I'm thinking they are trying to turn this into a MMORPG model. The site apparently will also have play tabletop game over the web tools. Ah I remember the days of using BBS/IRC to run Traveller and ShadowRun.

The OGL license will continue. Meaning a 4th edition SRD will available when the time comes.

First reaction? I'd have to say, it's a negative one. I mean, come on, you are going to nickel and dime my paper RPG too? I suppose there is always the use the books and forget the digital stuff.

More Out Of Box Thinking On DS

G recommended I check this out. Also Y played with the beta and can't put it down. With two strong recommendations, P and I decided to check this out. It does NOT disappoint.

The idea is to add fast motion tracking for DS in a simple to use way. So how was it done? Basically, Nintendo came up with a way to mount a optical mouse on the bottom of the DS. So now you have the illusion of "moving" the DS. Sure, you are moving it by holding the DS and slide it around, technically. But the motion is translated by the optical mouse on the bottom of the DS. Basically, they turned your DS into a optical mouse. It's a very clever $5 hack.

For example of how well this works, check this TV Ad out.

The name of the game in question is translated to "Magkid: Slide Adventure". Already have at least 3 ideas on how to use the mouse.

Big Brother Visits China

The reality where the government watch and tag everything you do in life has arrived in China.

According to this, in Shenzhen, China, at least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets here in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity.

Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.

Data on the chip will include not just the citizen's name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord's phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China's controversial "one child" policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card.

People Don't Know What They Buy?

NBD did a survey, and found that most console buyers don't know what they got. Only 40% of PlayStation 3 owners polled were aware the machine had a Blu-ray player and about 50% of that number had popped in a Blu-ray movie during the last 10 times they turned on the machine -- the other half didn't use the feature.
So apparently, for the 1.5 million PS3 owners in US. Only 600k owners know that it's even a Blu-ray player. And out of them, only 300k actually used it recently.

No Gas No Shower?

So a terrible thing happened last Wednesday. I came back form lunch, only to find a yellow card saying "Your house has a non-hazards gas leak. Please have it repaired within 7 days, or your gas will be disconnected."

So a plumber was called. Of course, he can't come till Thursday morning. He came, and fixed the gas pump outside of the house. Before doing it, he of course, has to turn off the gas. But he's not allowed to turn it back on. Only the gas company can do that.

We call the gas company. "No problem, someone will be out there sometime Friday to inspect and turn your gas back on." Even though the gas is turned off, we still had enough hot water for bath Thursday night.

Friday came. With no gas to cook, it was rather painful. We ate instant noodle for lunch. By about 8PM, the gas company guy showed up. After much fidgeting, he says "I'm sorry, I can't turn the gas back on. There is also a leak inside the house from what I can tell." Uh, this is bad. He assured us that there are people 24x7 to come turn the gas back on.

So we call the plumber again. The owner of the company answered, he was rather wasted. He explained that this is a terrible time, because this is their annual golf outing for the company. Translation: Everyone in the company will be completely drunk for the entire weekend. He assures us that we'll be the first call come Monday morning.

Meanwhile, P and I are like "What? No Gas No Shower? We can go out to eat, but how are we going to take a bath?" P suggested hotel room. I'm like "That's silly. Remember we've been talking about joining the athletic club? Let's go do that today, and we can use their whirlpool and showering facility."

So here we are. Let's hope we have gas soon.

Firefox Password Vulnerability

The latest version of Firefox, 2.0.0.5, contains a password management vulnerability that can allow malicious Web sites to steal user passwords. If you have JavaScript enabled and allow Firefox to remember your passwords, you are at risk from this flaw.

Early Birthday Gift

Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Brithday to me!
Happy Birthday dear me...
Happy Birthday to me!

Ok, so it's like two weeks early, but I can't help it. It was a bloody good sale, plus Circuit City sent me a 10% off coupon. So I got this for myself on Sunday.

iPhone Buyer Stats

According to USA Today

• 51% of buyers were switching to AT&T from another carrier
• 35% of carrier switchers paid an early termination fee (avg $167) to switch
• 3 of 10 were first-time Apple customers.
• for 4 of 10, the iPhone was their first iPod
• New iPhone owners expected to pay about $35 more a month than their previous cellphone.

PS3 $100 Price Drop Time Limited

Sony has lowered the 60GB PS3 from $600 to $500, and introduced a 80GB version for $600. Apparently, that's only half the story.

The 60GB version has emotion chip, so the PS2 backward compatibility is nearly 100%. The 80GB version does not, thus it's cheaper to make. But the compatibility is around 88%.

Also, 60GB version production has stopped. So once the existing inventory of 60GB version sold out, it will just be the 80GB version for $600.

Sony Europe CEO confirms this last night.

Journey To iPhone UPDATE

P really wanted a iPhone. So we set out to get one. Since I know every AT&T store was getting 40-80 for launch, while every Apple store was getting 1500 to 3000 for launch. We decided to see what the odds are. At 2PM, called the Polaris AT&T store, yes the same one with the three creepy guys camping out on the night of the 28th, found out there were 20 people waiting in line. Called Apple store, found out there were 80 people waiting in line. The choice was obvious.

We arrived at Easton at 3:30PM. By that point, there were about 100 people in front of us. The Sun was beating down on us. Apple employees brought out bottled waters for everyone in line. Shortly after we got there, a news caster from Channel 4 came to fim the event. She went straight to the end of the line, which is the lady right behind us. We were both like "Oh god no, please don't let us be on TV". Turns out the lady behind us were coming here to get one for her husband's 50th birthday. It was a surprise gift.

There were also some very smart business people. P.F. Chang had their waitress running up and down the line, offering to take order and deliver food. Too bad their food sucks. :) There were also people from COSI selling coffee and smoothies. I was like, "uh, it's sunny, it's 87 degree, hot coffee? Not so much". By this point, P was getting sun burned. So she went to buy Sun Blocks while I wait in line. (She forgot to bring it). The weirdest solication had to be the two ladies from Kay Jewelers who went up and down the line wanting to sell you membership to their very "exclusive" diamond club. We did take COSI up on the "buy one smoothies get one free" offer though.

By 5:30, the line begin to move. There were about 250 people in line at this point. It's kind of funny. People would walk by, and go "What's the line for?" Someone would say "iPhone", and they would suddenly have expression of understanding.

They promptly started letting people in at 6PM. They were letting in about 30-40 people at a time. It was very orderly. I think we were in the 5th group. We walk up to the store, the two cops open the door for you. You walk in, every employee claps and cheers to welcome you to this event. You head straight to the genius bar in the back right away for the iPhone purchase. A bunch of employees that know us, were all like "Hey, you are here for the accessories right?" The transaction process itself was quite fast. You walk up, tell them what you want. They grab it for you. Every employee is equipped with a hand held credit card terminal. You slide the card, and give them your email address. The receipt go straight to the email. There is no paper involved. The signing also takes place on the hand held terminal itself as well. We bought two iPhones in less than 1 minute. Yes, TWO. I'm weak, and succumbed to the crowed frenzy. Or as the breaking news in Japan says, "The iPhone mania."

Went home very fast to charge and activate the iPhone. I let P go first. Since there was some issues with my appleid. You need one to activate iPhone via iTunes 7.3. She went the number porting route. She completed the request, then it was my turn. For me, I'm just replacing my Sony w810i with iPhone. So I click a few "OKs", and my iPhone started working.

Sadly, things didn't go as smoothly for P. She is in the number porting limbo hell. Aka $600 iPhone paper weight. I try not to taunt her too much, but I think I'm getting a F in that effort.

I did come home to a bunch of IMs of "Did you get it? Does it work yet? Can I play with it when I see you next?". Also, at 11:38 PM, I did send out a mass notice to inform people that my AT&T line is now my primary cell phone. So basically, got the phone at 6:30PM. Finished charging at 10PM. By 10:30 PM, I have a working iPhone. By 11:30 PM, all clients and friends know I have one. :)

This is the first US phone several friends in Japan said "How come this doesn't work in Japan and we can't get one yet?" It's about time.

Took a bunch of photos, will post them later.

UPDATE: Here is the link to the photos.

Free iPhone For All Apple Employees

So this morning, at Apple's company meeting. Jobs announced that all Apple full time employees will be getting a free 8GB iPhone as a happy 4th gift. If you are a part timer, as long as you've worked for Apple for 1 year, you will get one too.

How about that for a meeting? Go to meeting, get a iPhone. I know a bunch of friends there were going to get in line for the iPhone. Saves them some effort and $$$.

Begun iPhone Camping Has

We just stopped by the AT&T store at Polaris. Guess what? 3 guys sitting in their lawn chairs, waiting for iPhone to be sold tomorrow at 6PM.

No, I didn't take any pictures. Frankly, they look kind of creepy.

Sony CEO Claims 42 Games A Month Every Month

At Sony's 90th general shareholders meeting in Tokyo, CEO Kaz Hirai announce there will be 380 PlayStation 3 games available by March 2008. 200 of them will be retail titles. 180 are download only from Playstation store. Hmm, 380 games in 9 month. That's 42 game a month. Considering that PS3 had only two games released for the month of May. I'm going to go out on a limp and say "Not gonna happen!"

Impulse Buy

Two Fridays ago, P and I were walking around in the Apple store. Mostly because P is trying to decide between the 15 inch and the 17 inch MacBook Pro. I left her alone while I was messing around with the MacBook. I saw that on the price list next to it, 2GB is one of the options. I thought it's only available as a BTO option directly via Apple Store online. So I asked one of the store rep about it.

"You guys install the extra 1 GB right?"

"No, it's from Apple."

"I mean, I buy it as 2 GB. You then open the box, and install the additional Memory from the back right?"

"No, it came straight from Apple that way."

"Really? Can I see the box?"

She ran off, and came back with a box. "See the green sticker? 2GB. And it's still sealed from Apple."

I was totally surprised. So I was like "Ok, I'll buy it."

P was surprised as well, not used to me doing impulse buy on computers. One of the other employee who knows us fairly well and was chatting with us at the time took us up front to ring us up. He was like "Hey, you want a free printer?"

"Uh, I don't really care."

P pipes up. "I do!". She picked one of the higher end canon printer that's also a color scanner and color copier. The box it came in was HUGE! So the two of us lug the two boxes. Me holding the printer while P holds the MacBook as we walk back to the car. And now I have a new MacBook.

New Qualcomm Based Phones Banned In US

Found this via Wall Street Journal/Phonescoop:

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) today issued a ban on the import and sale of all new 3G phones using Qualcomm's chips. The ban comes as a result of a patent dispute with Broadcom, which Qualcomm recently lost. This ban will halt the release of all new CDMA models as well as any WCDMA or HSDPA models that use Qualcomm chips. Carriers will be able to continue selling previously launched models, including replenishing stock of them. Until this dispute is settled, carriers will only be able to launch new phone models that have already been imported into the US in final versions ready for sale. Import of new phone models is banned, however, Cingular could launch new 3G phones that don't use Qualcomm's chips, such as those from Nokia. Phones such as the Samsung a727, which has been announced but not yet sold, can only be launched if final production batches were imported before the ban.

This is kind of ironic, one of what I consider to be negative about iPhone is what saved it from this ban. iPhone has no 3G support. Thus safe from all this.

Palm Makes Mobile Companion for Treo

Ok, this seem just like a bad idea to me. Palm has introduced Foleo. It has a 10 inch screen, and a full size keyboard for $499.

So, the idea is you get a Treo Cellphone. And now you get this large thing which functions as a laptop that pulls data from Treo? And I want to ditch my 12 inch PowerBook for this because?

Business Software Should Be More Game Like

New York Times has an article that talks about making software at work more videogame like.

I couldn't agree more. If you look at some of the very good UI ideas that have come out of videogames such as The Sims, or how well context menu works in various RTS. Or even how different related info are grouped together in Morrow wind 4. Then compare that to say for example, the new Office 2007. You'll realize there is much borrowing to be done. :)

Father Of Playstation Retires

Ken Kutaragi, the Father of Playstation, will retire from his executive position at SCEI effective June 19, 2007, when SCEI annual shareholders meeting will take place. Mr. Kutaragi will pass on the torch to the next generation, stepping back from his executive management responsibility of the company to serve as Honorary Chairman of SCEI.

After completing the launch of PLAYSTATION 3 worldwide, Mr. Kutaragi has decided to pursue his dreams beyond PlayStation and to accelerate his network vision."I am happy to graduate from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. after introducing four platforms to the PlayStation family," said Ken Kutaragi, Chairman and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "It has been an exciting experience to change the world of computer entertainment by marrying cutting edge technologies with creative minds from all over the world. I'm looking forward to building on this vision in my next endeavors."

While I may not always agree with everything he said. There is no question he has been an important figure in the game industry. Without him, we'd all still be stuck with expensive and limiting cartage based console, and playing Mario 25. Playstation ended Nintendo's iron fist rule in the 90s, and has brought us 3d gaming for console, as well as pushing console gaming to the generall mass. PS2 is the first console to ever sell 100 million units worldwide. I think it's unfair to blame all the PS3 problem on him. There are many decisions that I believe was forced by Sony Electronics and Sony Pictures. It's terrible that he's being made as the sole party that's responsible for everything that is wrong with PS3.

RIM Introduce GSM+CDMA BlackBerry, Verizon Miss The Point

RIM decide to do something clever with their BlackBerry. They made a CDMA BlackBerry that is loaded with features. It's 0.55 inches thick, has the four-way trackball navigation, and a microSD memory card slot. The 8830 provides EVDO high-speed data on CDMA networks and GPRS data on GSM 900 / 1800 networks overseas. It also supports Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, media player, and a large QVGA display. It has a sim card slot, the idea is, when in US, you use it as a CDMA phone. (both Sprint and Verizon will offer this phone.), when you are over seas, you buy a sim card, slide it in, it disables the CDMA and turns into GSM world phone, so your blackberry continue to work, a totally lovely idea.

Leave it to Verizon to mess it up, Sprint of course leaves the sim card slot unlocked. and didn't temper with the blue tooth. On the other hand, Verizon LOCKS the sim card slot to vodaphone only, and cripple bluetooth. What a way to ruin a good phone.

Verizon Can't Do Math

Apparently people at Verizon failed simple math. Their unlimited data plan is in fact capped at 5GB per month. So to Verizon, as number approaches 5GB, it's the same thing as approaching infinity. Wait, what?!

Yet another reason I left Vz years ago and wouldn't go back.

PSP Price Drop To $170.

PSP Core Pack has dropped from $200 to $170. While it's a good move, I wish this happened back in Nov 2006 instead of now. Sony has also added Daxter and Syphon Filter to the PSP "Greatest Hits" list. So you can pick those two titles up for $20 a piece now.

Xbox 360 Elite and 120GB HD Announced UPDATE

The worst kept secret has been announced. Microsoft has officially announced the Xbox 360 Elite, which is basically a black 360 with HDMI and 120GB HD.

You will also be able to buy the 120GB HD separately for existing 360 owners.

Here are the pictures.

UPDATE

The 120GB HD is $179.95. And yes, the elite come with both HDMI and Component/Composite cable. It will reach retail on Apr 29.

PS3 Sales Break Records in UK

Sony shipped 1 mil PS3s to Europe. So far, 600k units have been sold. UK takes the lead, with 165k units sold.

By comparison, during launch 360 sold 71k at launch, and Wii sold 105k units at launch. Though both of those were supply limited, namely they sold out right away.

Cooking Mama Cookoff

This also came from Gamespot.

Bam! Chefs and wannabe chefs alike are invited to the Nintendo World Store in New York's Rockefeller Plaza on March 31 for a gaming event that would make Julia Child proud. That day, Majesco is hosting the Cooking Mama: Cook Off Challenge to celebrate the launch of the first Cooking Mama Wii game.

The event is taking place between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time and will feature an on-site chef preparing snacks and a competition featuring in-game Cooking Mama: Cook Off challenges at various stations set up around the store. Winners won't go home on an empty stomach or empty handed--those who prove their culinary prowess will receive a copy of the game. Those in attendance will also be able to take home a limited-edition Cooking Mama apron while supplies last.

Don't forget to "Whack it in!"

Insomniac CCO Says PS3 Will Win And Wii Sucks

The following came by the ways of Gamespot.

Sony and its PlayStation 3 have been the targets of a lot of criticism in the gaming industry, and Insomniac Games chief creative officer Brian Hastings isn't going to take it anymore. The game developer has written a lengthy blog post (registration required) on the Insomniac Games Web site titled "10 Reason Why PS3 Will Win This Console Generation," a rebuttal of what he calls "the sheer volume of negative spin toward Sony from both the mainstream press and the internet community."

"I'll be the first to say that Sony has had a very rough road from last E3 up through this year's GDC," he says. "Some of their wounds have been self-inflicted, but they've also had to face a conspicuously hostile media." Hastings takes exception to some articles written about the PS3, including GameSpot's "Ten Things to Make the PlayStation 3 Worth Buying" feature (which he refers to as "Ten Complaints We Thought Up While Everyone Else Was Watching LittleBigPlanet").

Hastings points out the advantages the PS3 has (free online play, 50GB games, "Major CPU Advantage"), newly announced features and games (Home, LittleBigPlanet), and the popularity of Blu-ray, but one point he makes is likely to ruffle the feathers of Nintendo fanboys.

Under the heading "The Wii Fad Will Fade," Hastings says that interest in the Wii won't last. Likening the Wii to "mainstream fads" such as Tickle Me Elmo and Furbies, he believes that the many nongamers who have helped the Wii become a sales success will eventually let their Wiis gather dust, as "mainstream fads usually run their course within a year."

Hastings does acknowledge that the Wii is "really, really fun" and that "Nintendo has innovated far more than any other company in the industry," but he believes that in the end, consumers will be drawn to "more graphically impressive games on the PS3 and Xbox 360" for their high-definition televisions.

He sums up his thoughts with, "A lot of industry watchers and even a handful of publishers have been quick to write Sony off this generation, and I think that's near-sighted. Sony has made a lot of decisions with the PS3 that may have slowed them down in the short run, but should give them a big advantage in the long run."

In his post, Hastings also provides an e-mail address to which readers can send their comments on--and criticisms of--his top 10 list.

Of course, gamers didn't need to read Hasting's post to determine which side of the fence he sits on. Insomniac Games, though an independent company, has developed exclusively for Sony platforms and produced the PS3's most critically acclaimed game, Resistance: Fall of Man.

PS3=360+Beers?

In Austrlia on the day of the PS3 launch, Microsoft send a note along with the following to CVG.

"What would you purchase for £146...? (The price difference between an Xbox 360 and a PlayStaion 3)", asks the included Xbox 360-headed notice. "Well, for a start we thought you might like £146 worth of beer to kick start your weekend early."

Not to be outdone, Microsoft New Zeland send the following to GamePlanet's Auckland store.

1984?

Just saw this today. This is crazy. Here is the crazy part from the article.

Three years ago, I received a national security letter (NSL) in my capacity as the president of a small Internet access and consulting business. The letter ordered me to provide sensitive information about one of my clients. There was no indication that a judge had reviewed or approved the letter, and it turned out that none had. The letter came with a gag provision that prohibited me from telling anyone, including my client, that the FBI was seeking this information.

That sounds rather 1984 if you ask me.

Battle For DVD Successor Far From Over

Lately there has been a lot of buzz about how Blu-ray has won, HD-DVD is dead, etc. I think the reality is, the battle is far from over. I think it's a three way race, not just blu-ray vs HD-DVD.

The two sides approach are different. Sony's approach with Blu-ray is to completely replace the current DVD. Because the current DVDs, you pay royalties to Toshiba. If Blu-ray completely replace DVD, then you pay Sony.

On the other hand, Toshiba position HD-DVD as an enhancement to DVD. Because you pay them either way. So they aren't quite as pushy to make you drop DVD in favor of the more expensive HD-DVD. It's also why hybrid disks exist. You can buy a disk that's both DVD and HD-DVD, and it plays in both DVD players and HD-DVD players.

A reminder to anyone who thinks the battle for the DVD successor is over as Sony claims. The combined total sales of HD-DVD and Blu-ray TOGETHER accounts for less than 1% of the DVD sales. So frankly, it's too early to tell.

Not to mention, I think there is a 3rd format that people are ignoring except Apple and Microsoft. It's digital distribution. You can already buy standard resolution movies from iTunes store, and rent 720p movies on Xbox Live Marketplace. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Blu-ray/HD-DVD goes the way of SACD. What's SACD? It was a formate designed to be the successor to CD. No one uses it. People buy CD, or download music online, legal or otherwise. I wouldn't be at all surprised if in five years, only quality videophiles/audiophiles such as myself even know what HD-DVD or Blu-ray is.

New Toy For Bedroom

So between a 12% off coupon and this thing on sale. I broke down and got it for the bedroom.

Devil May Cry 4 Heads to 360

It's offical. Capcom has announced Devil May Cry 4 is no longer PS3 exclusive. It's also coming to 360 same day.

In the press release, they even gave the reason for this decision. "to help enhance profits".

PSP Reaches 5 Mil in Japan

PSP sales has reach 5 million units in Japan. Since DS has passed 15 million, it's fairly safe to say that DS outsells PSP in Japan 3 to 1.

Feb Console Sales Number

Here are the console sales numbers for Feb 07. Bear in mind there is a shortage of Wii in US, and DS in Japan.
For US

Nintendo DS 485,000
Wii 335,000
PlayStation 2 295,000
Xbox 360 228,000
PlayStation Portable 176,000
Game Boy Advance 136,000
PlayStation 3 127,000
GameCube 24,000
Xbox 480

For Canada

DS 23,191
Xbox 360 12,390
PlayStation 3 6,084
PlayStation Portable 9,311
For Japan

NDS - 586,000
Wii - 279,000
PSP - 233,000
Playstation 3 - 107,000
Playstation 2 - 63,000
Xbox 360 - 18,000
Game Boy Advance - 7,300
GameCube - 1,400

Inafune Comment On Clover

Capcom R&D head Keiji Inafune, the creator responsible for games like Dead Rising, Lost Planet and Mega Man, was asked on his thoughts closed Clover Studios. Session moderator N'Gai Croal asked Inafune about Clover's gorgeous financial underperformers Okami and Viewtiful Joe.

Here is the question and the response.

When you looked over the games that came from Clover Studios, why do you think that audiences didn't respond to those games, Okami and Viewtiful Joe in particular, which got excellent reviews?

Perhaps I might get into trouble if I say this in front of people from the mass media. Games are not a work of art. It's actually a product. If we think of it as a work of art, then... when we think about Picasso and Van Gogh's paintings, the end result is beauty, so it doesn't matter if you sell it or not. However for games, it's a product. It is a commodity. The producer has to think about that.

Okami and Viewtiful Joe, I think, are wonderful games and because they are wonderful games I think, the job of the director was fantastic. But the producer didn't do his work. The producers work is to make the team make good games and then sell those games. The producer has to do the promotion. They have to think about the promotion. The producer has to take those good games and think about how to deliver it to as many users as possible. Certainly to get good reviews is part of his job. However, the producer has to make sure the game sells [on par with the review]. I think the producer dropped the ball there. Capcom said they would do it, but Clover said "Oh, we'll do it ourselves." And I think this was a failure.

Great directors may exist in great numbers, however, if you don't have a good producer it won't lead to sales. And I think this Clover Studios example is a really good example of that.

I couldn't agree with this more. I also can't help but think some people set out to create art instead of a good game. That itself can easily lead to an ego trip instead of good product.

A Funny Thing Happened At GDC Nintendo Keynote

The following as relayed to me by D, it was also posted to Kotaku
At Nintendo GDC keynote Phil Harrison(of SCEA) is sitting in the front row
Reggie (CEO of Nintendo US) is standing off consulting with people, posing for pictures, etc.
A kid in the front row shouted at Reggie "REGGIE! You gotta kick some ass and take some names!"
"Like who?!" Reggie shouted back
"Phil Harrison, FRONT ROW!" The kid says
"I think we already did that" Says Reggie
The nearby crowd laughs.

Nintendo DS Hits 15 Million Units In Japan

If there was any doubt which is the main stream console in Japan. This should put it to rest. Nintendo DS install base in Japan has just hit 15 million. It took DS only 115 weeks to reach the number. For comparison, it took PS2 220 weeks to reach 15 million installed base in Japan.

360 Gets Bigger Memory Card, Cap For Live Arcade Tripple

It's offical. The new 512mb memory card has been announced. It arrives in retail 4/3/07 at the $49.99 and comes with Geometry Wars. The current 64mb card drops to $29.99.

Also, the max size of Live Arcade game has been increased from 50mb to 150mb.

Shanghai Photos Part 2

Here are the rest of the photos

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

CompUSA Close 50% Of Stores

CompUSA is going to close down at least 50% of their stores. Oh oh, I hope the one I normally go to and hang out isn't in trouble. First Media Play, then IMAR, I hope not CompUSA too!

Shanghai Photos Part 1

So many people have been asking for them. I figure I'll go ahead and post the links to the photo sets of the first 3 days.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Shanghai Trip Day -1

Initially, I wasn’t that excited about the trip, at least not yet, P was far more excited about it than I am. I really wasn’t all “jazzed up” about it till two days before we were leaving. Prior to that, I was just like “yes yes, we are going, it’s so far away still, back to finish up all this stuff before we leave.” When it reached two days mark, suddenly I realize “hey, in 48 hours, I’ll be on a plane to Shanghai.” B’s enthusiasm was infectious too. He too left me an IM “less than 48 hours to go!”.

Find PS3 At Retail Store And Get $1200

Electronics Gaming Monthly (EGM).

"If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on shelves for more than a few minutes, I'll give you 1,200 bucks for it." He continues, "I can get any retail buyer on the phone with you and get them to verify that not a single retail location in America where there's a PlayStation 3 on the shelf for sale. They've all been sold in a matter of minutes."

On lack of vibration feature in the PS3 SIXAXIS, "I've personally played a lot of games that had a vibration features, and it personally wasn't all that compelling to me, we feel that vibration is not part of our future."

On Blu-ray, "I believe we can complement the Blu-ray format," stated Tretton. "I don't think that we feel we can or should single-handedly carry Blu-ray on our back. I see it as an asset, though."

This interview was done in mid Jan. But as any retailer can tell you, you can find PS3 everywhere even at the end of 2006. In fact, EGM challenges Tretton on this by telling him that of the 18 stores they called before the interview, half of them have PS3.
I think Penny Arcade's response to this was by far the best.

Rewards For Xbox Game Score

Microsoft has just announced the Xbox rewards. Basically, you get prizes for playing games on Xbox 360.

Here is the first challenge

Xbox Rewards Challenge 1: Old Spice Experience Challenge
Old Spice is teaming with Xbox on the first Xbox Rewards Challenge to prove that Experience is Everything. Starting February 12, you will be challenged to increase your Gamerscore by 1,500 or more before April 12. Successfully complete the Challenge and get a Rewards Package*, and Old Spice will give you the gift of experience—all Level 1 and 2 participants will receive a level upgrade for 2007.

Ready to get your Rewards Package? The first step is to register for Xbox Rewards and join the Old Spice Experience Challenge. Then, it's up to you to complete the task within the time limit. You can't register until February 12. Some of the rewards within the Rewards Package are limited in quantity, and will be distributed to those who complete the challenge the fastest, so be quick about it.

The Rewards Packages listed below are unique to the Old Spice Experience Challenge. Each new Challenge will bring new rewards.

• Level 1
  The popular Xbox Live Arcade game Contra (rated: E10+) from Konami (Retail Value $5.00)
  Exclusive Old Spice Level 1 Xbox Rewards gamer picture
  An experience upgrade to Xbox Rewards Level 2
• Level 2
  The popular Xbox Live Arcade game Contra (rated: E10+) from Konami
  Exclusive Old Spice Level 2 Xbox Rewards gamer picture
  100 Microsoft Points
  An experience upgrade to Xbox Rewards Level 3
• Level 3
  The popular Xbox Live Arcade game Contra (rated: E10+) from Konami
  Exclusive Old Spice Level 3 Xbox Rewards gamer picture
  200 Microsoft Points
  Old Spice T-Shirt (Estimated Retail Value $10.00)
  A copy of Fuzion Frenzy 2 game (rated: E10+) (Estimated Retail Value $50.00)

Color iShuffle Are Here

The iShuffle now comes in 5 colors.

Sony 3rd-Quarter Profit May Fall 50%

According to Bloomberg, Sony 3rd-Quarter Profit May Fall 50%

I'll just cite some of the interesting parts.

Sony Corp., the world's largest maker of video-game players, may report third-quarter profit fell 50 percent after its flagship PlayStation 3 lost market share to Nintendo Co.'s Wii.

Losses from games probably drove net income down to 84.1 billion yen ($691 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, from a record 168.9 billion yen a year earlier, according to the median estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales at Tokyo-based Sony, which reports earnings tomorrow, probably rose 9.6 percent to 3 trillion yen.

The results may highlight Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer's failure to fend off Nintendo, whose $250 Wii console outsells the PlayStation 3 by two-to-one. Sony may still exceed its full-year profit target because of a weaker yen, sales of Bravia televisions and growth at its movie unit.

``A drop in third-quarter results is largely expected on the games division. There's no surprise unless the company further reduces its profit forecasts,'' said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees $468 million in assets at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. in Tokyo. Akino doesn't recommend investors buy Sony stock ``until the company improves its earnings.''

.........

The game division, Sony's second-largest by revenue, probably lost 50.9 billion yen during the quarter, compared with a profit of 67.8 billion yen a year earlier, after sales fell 7 percent, according to the Bloomberg survey.

After botching the PS3's debut with production delays and cutting the price to compete against cheaper Wii and Xbox players, Sony will probably lose a record 191.9 billion yen from games this fiscal year, compared with profit of 8.7 billion yen the previous year, according to the Bloomberg survey.

Nintendo, the world's largest handheld game maker, last week reported profit in its latest quarter jumped 40 percent to 77.6 billion yen, fueled by demand for Wii consoles and portable DS game players.

In the U.S., Nintendo sold 1.1 million consoles in November and December, almost double the PlayStation 3 units shipped during the period, according to researcher NPD Group. In Japan, Nintendo sold 989,118 Wii units last year, more than double PlayStation 3 sales, according to researcher Enterbrain Inc.

PS3 Euro Price Official

The European price for PS3 has been announced. Only the 60gig version will be available. The retail price is 599 euro, or around $777. In UK, it will be 425 pound, or around $836. In Australia, it will be AU$ 999.95, or around $781. In New Zealand, is NZ$ 1199.95, or around $840. Ireland with the new price increase is at 629.99 euro, which is around $816.

The launch date remains March 23.

Habeas Corpus Is A Myth?

G pointed this out to me last week, the news item has since gotten more air play.

The brief summary is, "Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales questioned whether the U.S. Constitution grants habeas corpus rights of a fair trial to every American".

Apparently our rights are myth.

China Wants To "Purify" The Net

Chinese Communist Party center committee elite Hu Jintao has stated China intends to "Purify" the net.

He wants to "Ensure that one hand grasps development while one hand grasps administration".

Is that what we are calling filter out stuff you don't like these days?

Little Angels

We went to see Little Angels Korean Folk Ballet on Saturday night at Southern theatre. We were amazed they came to Columbus Ohio. I mean, they are only playing in three cities. Chicago, Detroit, and Columbus Ohio? I thought it was funny that on the brochure, when they listed the three cities. Columbus was the only one that was listed as Columbus, Ohio with the state.

They are only playing one night, it was nearly sold out. My favorite part was the drum dance. I took a bunch of photos with my w810i. The following two are from the drum dance. The rest of them are on my flickr area. Toward the end, the usher actually came and asked me not to take any more pictures. Fortunately, I already got all the photos I want. So there! And no, it's not a no camera allowed event. There were many people taking pictures with bright flash. I at least took all of mine with no flash.

Bought A Display Case For $5?

I was at Best Buy on Friday night, going through the game section. I saw a copy of Crackdown, and I was totally excited. The demo for the game was interesting. So I quickly grabbed it.

When I got home, I was thinking to myself, "Hmm, I thought this game doesn't come out till Feb." So I open the case, it's not shrink wrapped. Inside, there is absolutely nothing. I was like "huh?" So I looked carefully again, and saw a tiny legal print on the front bottom of the case. "For Display Only". I double check the receipt, it says I bought a game for $5.

I quickly ran back to Best Buy to get this taken care of. The customer service person was equally surprised. He thought maybe it was a pre-order thing. I was like "I'm surprised a display case will ring up as a $5 game." So I exchanged it for another game.

In all these years of shopping at Best Buy though, this is the first time I bought a display case. :)

Wii Sales Slow in Japan; Lost Planet Break 1 Million Unit Sold

Wii sales has slowed down in Japan. 93,708 units were sold this past week. PS3 sales continue to be flat, at 25,531 units sold.

Meanwhile, Lost Planet sold 1 million-th copy on Jan 17th. Making it the 13th Xbox 360 games to break 1 million unit sold.

The list follows.

1. Need for Speed: Most Wanted
2. Perfect Dark Zero
3. Call of Duty 2
4. Dead or Alive 4
5. Fight Night Round 3
6. Tom Clancy Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter
7. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
8. Dead Rising
9. Saint's Row
10. Madden NFL 07
11. Gears of War
12. Call of Duty 3
13. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

For PS2, during the first 14 month, only 1 game sold over 1 million copy.

Java Intro Textbook For Free

University of Illinois has released their CS125 Intro to Computer Sciences textbook as a free PDF download. It's a 441 page introductory Java textbook used at the University.

So if you ever want to learn Java, go download it. Kudos to University of Illinois!

iPhone Is Here, Sorta

First the good news, the long awaited iPhone is here. It's 320x480, runs OSX, comes with iTunes, iPhoto, Dash Board, and various other OSX things. No, it's not OSX for embedded, but a regular OSX. It uses Safari for browser, Apple Mail (which is based on NeXT Mail) for mail, as such supports both POP and imap. They've arranged a free Yahoo imap account with each iPhone. But the real partner is Google. Google Map and Gmail are on the phone too, as well as very tightly integrated navigation technology based on Google Map. It has Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP (Stereo profile) support, also has 802.11. The support for 802.11 is excellent because well, OSX supports 802.11 quite well. The phone will automatically switch to wifi for data if you come into range with any 802.11 access point you've setup. So you can still get phone call from GSM, but surf using 802.11.

The Cingular exclusive, which for some of you is a negative, expires 2008. The price they listed, $499 for 4gig version and $599 for 8gig version is with 2 year contract. You can't buy the phone any other way. On the other way, you can set any image you have on the cellphone as wallpaper and caller id, you can set any music you have in your iTune as ringtone. No need to buy anything from Cingular.

It's quad band+EDGE. So no 3G technology such as UMTS. And it's 2 megapixel camera. Which while lovely for US, in Japan/South Korean, this places it in mid-range.

The phone's UI is very well designed, you can check out the demos here. The phone will be available in June in US. Asia isn't till 2008. I don't know how well the phone will do in Japan. While having wi-fi is nice, not having 3G support in Japan is hard to endure for the Japanese High School Girls, who download and buy tons of media/apps. The touch screen usage could also be a negative. As A said, she's not sure if her super texting skills will translate, since she's used to buttons.

And yes, Apple is permitted to use iPhone. When Cisco registered the trademark two years ago, Apple approached them about licensing the name 6 month later. They've worked out a deal.

Football More Important Than Governing

Just saw this on CNN. No wonder Congress is so messed up.
A Democratic aide said House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio had asked that there be no votes until Tuesday.

"There is a very important event happening Monday night, particularly for those who live in Ohio and Florida," said House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer.

"In the spirit of comity," Hoyer told colleagues, the House would not return to work until Tuesday. While many appreciated the move, some criticized Democrats.

"We all know the big national championship game is on Monday night," said Rep. Tom Price, a Georgia Republican. "But taking an entire day to watch the game isn't what we should spend part of our five-day work week doing."

King Of Instant Ramen Passes Away

I decided to just reprint the article from Japan Times. instead of summarize it. Instant Noddole(aka Cup Noddle, Palme) is an important part of my life, as well as lives of many friends. Heck, A and Y both get paid to promote cup noddles. During the time of struggle, I've gotten pass it by eating ramen for meals.

OSAKA (Kyodo) Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Food Products Co. and inventor of instant ramen, died of heart failure Friday evening at a hospital in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, his family said. He was 96.

Momofuku Ando, founder of Nissin Food Products Co., stands inside a replica of the hut where Chicken Ramen was developed, at the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, in 1999.
Born on March 5, 1910, in Taiwan, Ando initially ran clothing companies in Taipei and Osaka while he was a student at Ritsumeikan University. In 1948, he founded the precursor to Nissin and in 1958 unveiled Chicken Ramen, the world's first instant noodle product.

Ando was inspired to develop the instant noodle after coming upon a long line of people on a cold night shortly after World War II. They were waiting to buy freshly made ramen at a black market food stall.

The experience convinced him that "peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat," according to Nissin.

In 1971, Nissin introduced the Cup Noodle featuring instant ramen in a waterproof plastic foam container. Dubbed the "Ramen King," Ando is credited with expanding Nissin into the No. 1 company in the industry and was well-known for his dedication to his work.

Kei Kizugawa, head of the journal Kamigata Geino, said Ando was a great food product inventor whose accomplishments equaled that of Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. "I believe generation after generation will talk about Chicken Ramen," Kizugawa said. "I don't think there will ever be an instant noodle product that beats the taste of Chicken Ramen."

In 1999, Ando opened the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, after installing his second son, Koki, as president of the company.

Ando retired from the chairman's post in June 2005 to serve as founder-chairman.

In July 2005, Nissin introduced a vacuum packed instant noodle specially designed for Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi to eat during a mission aboard the U.S. space shuttle Discovery.

Showcasing his Space Ram noodles, Ando said, "I'm happy I've realized my dream that noodles can go into space."

Google Adds Stats To Reader

Google added all sorts of insane stats tracking into their RSS Reader. Between this and its ability to perform well on mobile devices. I'm switching from Thunderbird to Google Reader as my primary RSS reader.

Groovy 1.0 Released

Finally after all this time, Groovy has hit 1.0 status. It's a dynamic language that's designed to run on JVM. In that keyspace, the current players are Jython, JRuby, and JavaScript via the Rhino Engine in JDK 1.6. Jython hasn't seen any movment in sometime. It has fallen behind Python ever since Microsoft hired the lead away to develop Iron Python which is Python running on .NET VM. JRuby is moving along, and got a big boost thanks to Sun hiring the two developers. I'm not sure how Rhino will fit into the picture. Traditionally JavaScript tend to be used on client side web browser programming.

We shall see what comes of this.

Bush: Do As I Say Not As I Do

So on one hand, Bush wants to open our mail whenever he felt like it. On the other hand, hands off on White House.

It would seem that the White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring records identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public.

Bush Wants To Read Your Mail

It's official. The current administration feels they can read any mail without warrant. Yet another step closer to 1984. Pretty soon we might as well start ccing the government on everything we do.

Xmas Loot

This Xmas has been good to me. P got me a new cellphone, the Sony w810i. I've also received memory upgrade for my Powerbook 17inch.

And the entire family got together and got me the complete collection of "Get Smart" DVD set. It's not out yet, so it's an IOU till release.

I also got a new limited edition PSP.

Nintendo DS Now Mainstream In Japan

The holiday numbers are out. After the strong performance of DS game sales in Japan. Nintendo DS has overtaken PS2 as the new mainstream console of Japan. This is computed by the revenue of new game sales on a console. PS2 has had this crown for sometime.