News

Study Finds BitTorrent Does Not Hurt U.S. Box Office Numbers

Ryan Whitwam — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:05:28 +0000

Researchers from the University of Minnesota and Wellesley College recently got together to answer one simple question: does BitTorrent hurt U.S. box office numbers? According to this study, the answer is a resounding ‘no,’ much to the chagrin of the movie industry. The study did find a correlation in the data, but it amounts to Hollywood throwing away money.

One of the talking points used to push SOPA and PIPA in recent months was the terrible impact illegal downloads were having on movie ticket sales. The paper in this case found that the volume of BitTorrent downloads a movie got had no measurable effect on box office numbers in the initial U.S. release. However, for films that were not released until later internationally, the study found a small decline in revenue in those markets (about 7%).

“We do not see evidence of elevated sales displacement in US box office revenue following the adoption of BitTorrent, and we suggest that delayed legal availability of the content abroad may drive the losses to piracy,” the study reads. So really, if the movie makers are worried about piracy hurting the bottom line, all they need to do is release content in short order all over the world. When people are given the choice of snagging a pre-release leak, or going to the theater, they apparently choose the latter.

EU Regulators Expected to Approve Google's Motorola Deal

Ryan Whitwam — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:43:40 +0000

An unknown factor in Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility has always been the scrutiny it would receive from European regulators. It’s a good day in Mountain View, because Reuters is reporting that the EU is prepared to grant its unconditional approval of the deal. Google announced the $12.5 billion buyout last year, but said Motorola will operate as a separate entity.

The suspicion is that Google made the deal with Motorola because the Android OEM has significant patents that cover wireless technology. As the patent war heats up, Google found itself with very little ammunition. The thousands of patents in Motorola’s portfolio will be used to shield Android and other products from patent trolls, as well as rivals Microsoft and Apple.

The EU regulators are expected to announce their support on Monday, but that still leaves a few loose ends. The US Justice Department is expected to approve the merger, but there is not firm timeline for that to be made official. Google also has to get approval in Taiwan and Israel, where it has large presences. Do you foresee any problems with this deal going through?

Analysts: 9-Inch Kindle Fire This Summer

Ryan Whitwam — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:29:41 +0000

Amazon is too busy raking in all that Kindle cash to offer any clues about a larger successor to the Kindle Fire, but most industry watchers are convinced that such a device is coming. Following a DigiTimes report in December, Pacific Crest analysts have raised sales expectations for Amazon in expectation of a 9-inch Fire successor this summer.

The current Kindle Fire is a 7-inch device running a heavily modified version of Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It lacks a connection to all Google services, instead running Amazon’s video, music, and app stores. A 7-inch device is great for reading, but multimedia can often call for a larger screen. Pacific Crest was originally predicting 12.7 million fires this year, but now feels that 14.9 million is more accurate.

Despite some mediocre reviews, the Fire has sold briskly. Clearly, there is a market for a $200 Android tablet, even one less capable than other, more expensive options. Would a 9-inch Fire be a possible purcahse for you?

Chump Change: Intel Settles Antitrust Lawsuit in New York for $6.5 million

Paul Lilly — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:24:41 +0000

Intel, the world's largest chip maker, has agreed to cut a check for $6.5 million to make an antitrust lawsuit disappear. Or maybe the Santa Clara company will simply dip into its petty cash. Either way, Intel can put the New York state antitrust lawsuit behind it and get back to concentrating on building and selling processors, presumably without running afoul of any laws.

In this case, the agreement "expressly states" that Intel is in no way admitting to any wrongdoing, nor is the chip maker required to change the way it does business. Intel simply has to fork over a lump sum and go on with business as usual.

"Following recent court rulings in Intel’s favor that significantly and appropriately narrowed the scope of this case, we were able to reach an agreement with New York to bring to an end what remained of the case. We have always said that Intel’s business practices are lawful, pro-competitive and beneficial to consumers, and we are pleased this matter has been resolved," said Doug Melamed, senior vice president and general counsel at Intel.

Intel was accused of "bribing or coercing OEMS" like Dell, HP, and others into entering into exclusive or near-exclusive agreements, allegedly paying out billions of dollars to limit or not carry AMD processors. According to Reuters, the $6.5 million settlement represents less than five hours of profit based on Intel's reported net income of $12.94 billion for 2011.

Micron: DRAM Prices Likely as Low as They're Going to Get

Paul Lilly — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:59:07 +0000

At a time when hard drive prices are up, motherboard prices might be going up, and solid state drives (SSDs) are still comparatively expensive (per gigabyte), the DRAM market may have finally bottomed out. That's the feeling from Micron president Mark Adams, who heads the only U.S.-based DRAM maker still in existence. According to Adams, DRAM prices have finally hit rock bottom.

"I don't think DRAM goes down from here. It's starting to feel like a stable market," Adams told Bloomberg in an interview.

It's Adams' first prediction as Micron's president, a role he was promoted to after former CEO Steve Appleton was killed in a plane crash last week. As far as Micron sees it, the problem DRAM makers face is an oversupply of parts. But now that memory makers are cutting down on production and the hard drive shortage is starting to ease up, which in turn will lead to more PC sales, Micron sees RAM prices going up, or at least no longer going down.

Motorola Droid 4 Lands at Verizon

Paul Lilly — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:40:53 +0000

At long last, Motorola's Droid 4 smartphone with slide-out QWERTY keyboard is available at Verizon. Motroloa's newest smartphone runs $200 with a two-year service contract and includes free overnight shipping if ordered direct from Verizon, or $550 sans contract. It's been a long wait for those who've been holding out for this particular phone, which was first rumored to drop on December 8, 2011.

It's here now and it brings a dual-core 1.2GHz processor to the Android party. It also has a 4-inch qHD display, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage supplemented with a microSD card slot, 8MP rear-facing camera, 1.3MP front-facing camera, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and the aforementioned slide-out QWERTY plank with five rows of keys.

If this is the Droid you've been waiting for, you can snag one online here, or head over to Wirefly and get it for $150 instead of $200. As a reminder, Verizion is offering double-wide data caps for a limited time, so instead of 2GB for $30/month, 5GB for $50/month, and 10GB for $80/month, you get 4GB, 10GB, and 20GB, respectively.

Apple Reloads Patent Portfolio and Takes Aim at Samsung (Again)

Paul Lilly — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:16:26 +0000

If the ammunition you're using to try and take down your prey isn't getting the job done, you can either hunt different game or try different ammo. Apple has chosen the latter as it continues to chase Samsung through various courts around the world. According to reports, Apple added a pair of patents to its portfolio, which it's using to try and convince a California judge to ban sales of Samsung's smartphones and tablets.

Citing documents filed in San Jose federal court, PaidContent.org says Apple is firing rounds at Samsung using newly-granted U.S. Patents 8,074,172 and 8,086,604. The first of those deals with spelling and auto-correct functions when hovering over letters a user is typing. It's less clear what exactly the second patent describes, other than some heuristic algorithm mumbo-jumbo that might be beneficial to search engines.

Samsung is proving to be Apple's Moby Dick. The Cupertino company was recently denied a request for a preliminary injunction against Samsung's Galaxy tablet, but that was based on design patents. This new approach focuses on utility patents, a change in strategy Apple hopes will lead to a different outcome.

Yar, Mateys! All Of Pirate Bay Made Available As A Single 90MB Zip File

Brad Chacos — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:32:24 +0000

Oh, those tricky Pirate Bay folks. The Teflon buccaneers have always managed to stay one step ahead of the law; for example, the site recently switched to the .SE domain to avoid a Megaupload-style takedown and three of its founding operators fled Sweden to avoid facing jail time and millions in fines. Now, a Pirate Bay user has released a zipped 90MB file containing the key components of every torrent hosted by the site. Basically, if Pirate Bay goes down, anyone with this file will be able to get it up and running again lickity split.

A Pirate Bay user called "allisfine" used a script to copy the titles, ID, file size, seeds, leechers, and magnet links for 1,643,194 torrents found on the site. There is a bit of confusion over the number of torrents, which allisfine admits him/herself in the torrent of the torrent site. TPB claims to have close to 4 million torrents. However, TorrentFreak makes the point that the 4 million-ish number includes torrents on public trackers that the Pirate Bay doesn't actually host itself, which could explain the discrepancy in numbers.

It's not quite a complete listing for each torrent, however. "I did NOT download comments and/or descriptions, since that would be too big and I didn't want it to be as complete as possible, but as small as possible," allisfine explains.

So, how is it that a massive site like The Pirate Bay can fit on a thumb drive? Magnet links. The site recently switched its torrents over to magnet links (also known as "trackerless torrents") and plans to ditch traditional .torrents all together sometime soon. These links are under 1KB each, which greatly reduces the site's footprint. For an in-depth explanation of the technology, check out this TorrentFreak article.

Who knows? Maybe the Library of Congress will fit on a USB drive sometime soon.

Need Natural GPU Performance Enhancement? Try AMD's Verdetrol

Brad Chacos — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:17:15 +0000

Have you ever taken a little pill to enhance your performance? Hey, not like that! Get your mind out of the gutter! We're talking about graphics card performance. AMD recently shipped a prescription bottle full of blue pills and hilarious dosing directions to reviewers in anticipation of the launch of a 1GHz video card -- presumably the Radeon HD 7700, which has had 1GHz clock speed rumors swirling around it for a while now. Are you ready for some "natural performance enhancement" for your PC?

There's another hint that the campaign is leading up to the release of the Radeon HD 7700; the code name for the 7700 is "Cape Verde," and the name of the fake performance boosting pills is "Verdetrol." Legit Reviews was sent a bottle and they report that the gag was very well done, with a dosage size of 1GHz, 28 doses in the bottle (for the 28nm manufacturing process -- get it?) and a prescription number of 1337-2012 for the Leet speakers in the house. For best results, take "1 tablet by fan intake four times daily."

AMD even went so far as to set up a Verdetrol website. The picture above is courtesy of LegitReviews; to see lots more -- including images of the hilarious warning labels -- head on over to the Verdetrol thread in the Legit Reviews forums.

"Man or woman, young or old, Verdetrol is the solution for anyone looking to get an edge when the heat is on!"

This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

TechRadar — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:44:50 +0000

We published our PS Vita review this week.

The Vita has generated as much buzz over the years as any of the top smartphones, and it's easy to see why.

It's specs are top of the line, and offer a mobile gaming experience far beyond anything that's been possible up to now.

But it's not all been about the Vita this week. We've also been playing with the Nokia Lumia 710, a budget Windows Phone aiming to do battle with the likes of the HTC Radar. And the budget theme is continued with the Kogan TV we reviewed yesterday.

A 55-inch LED, Freeview HD TV for under £1000. You've got to be kidding, right?

PlayStation Vita review

We still don't know if anyone's going to buy one, but there is no doubt that the PS Vita is an absolutely fantastic piece of hardware. Combining a brilliant 5-inch touchscreen OLED display, a quad core CPU, a quad core GPU, dual analogue sticks and a touch-sensitive rear, it's the most advanced handheld gaming device the world has ever seen. We even think the price is reasonable – considering the power, quality and polish the Vita brings with it, it's still much cheaper than many mobile phones that offer inferior components. But has the world moved on from £200+ handheld gaming consoles? With smartphones offering excellent games for less than a quid, convincing the public they should buy one and then drop 40 bob on a game is a big ask.

Nokia Lumia 710 review

The Lumia 710 is a budget Windows Phone. Although we would buy it over the HTC Radar, it's overshadowed by the Nokia Lumia 800, which impressed us a lot more and makes the 710 feel more like its cheaper relative than we would have liked. We know that the phone costs less, but the cost savings feel too apparent. For the small drop in price and the expectation that both phones are to drop in price, we're left feeling that you're better off buying the 800 instead. However, based on the recent announcements from Nokia, it's likely this will remain the budget option for the foreseeable future - a little bit more of a price drop and we'll be a lot more impressed with this otherwise decent handset.

Kogan LED55 review

In a world ravaged by recession, it goes without saying that the word 'bargain' has become the marketing industry's favourite word. We know you haven't got much money, but this is awesome and cheap and you should buy it! This Kogan TV measures a hefty 55-inches, sports a Freeview HD tuner, 100Hz processing and Edge LED backlighting. And it costs just £999. That's an astonishing price for such a large TV, but would you be better off spending less on a smaller TV from a more reliable brand? Read the review to find out!

HP Envy 14 Spectre review

We're deep into the second round of Ultrabook releases by now, and we feel the HP Envy 14 Spectre sits alongside the Dell XPS 13 at the top of the heap. But these are two different machines with different focuses. The HP Envy 14 Spectre is the most media-centred Ultrabook, with a larger 14-inch screen, 1600 x 900 pixel resolution and Beats audio technology. But it won't win over fans looking for performance and portability, due to the lower spec processor and bulky Gorilla Glass chassis. If you can overcome the steep asking price then the HP Envy 14 Spectre is a well-built and stylish way to transport and enjoy your music, movies and do a spot of image editing.

This week's other reviews:

Cameras

Hands on: Nikon D800 review

Hands on: Olympus OM-D E-M5 review

Desktop PCs

Hands on: Alienware X51 review

OCUK Ultima 9450i Mosasaur MKII review

Laptops

Toshiba Qosmio F750 review

Compaq Presario CQ57-366SA review

Monitors

Philips Brilliance 241P4QPYES review

Network adaptors

GigaRunner USB remote access drive review

Storage

Plextor M3 256GB SSD review

Plextor M3 256GB SSD review review

Intel SSD 520 Series 120GB review review

Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB review review

Xbox 360 Tops Console Market for 13th Consecutive Month

Paul Lilly — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:56:39 +0000

January was a slow month overall for videogame hardware and software, with combined sales (including accessories) dropping from $1.14 billion in January 2011 to 750.6 million, a 34 percent year-over-year slide, according to data released by market research firm NPD Group. Be that as it may, Microsoft's Xbox 360 console maintained its lead in the U.S. console market for its 13th straight month.

Microsoft was quick to point out some positive highlights from NPD Group's data, such as the Xbox 360 holding a 49 percent share of current generation console sales. The Redmond outfit sold more than 270,000 Xbox 360 consoles in January, which held five of the top 10 U.S. console game titles for the month, including:

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Battliefield 3
NBA 2K12
Just Dance 3

According to NPD Group, software sales totaled $355.9 million and hardware accounted for $199.5 million in sales, both of which are down 38 percent year-on-year. Accessory sales dropped 18 percent year-over-year to $195.2 million.

Activision Reports Record $1.6 Billion Revenue from Digital Sales

Paul Lilly — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:36:20 +0000

If you're an old school PC gamer, a quick way to get depressed is to head over to your local GameStop or Babbages and browse the PC section. The lone rack (at best) is a far cry from the days of shelves lining stores like Software Etc.* with PC titles, but that doesn't mean the platform is dead, Steam and other digital platforms have change the way PC gamers shop, and it's the reason Activision Blizzard's digital sales are at an all time high.

Activision reported digital revenues of $1.6 billion for all of 2011, which accounted for more than a third -- 34 percent -- of the company's total net revenues last year, which totaled $4.76 billion on a GAAP basis and $4.45 billion on a non-GAAP basis (compared to $4.49 billion and $4.80 billion, respectively, for 2010). All of these numbers are higher than what Activision anticipated.

"As we continue to strengthen our leadership position in interactive entertainment, our proven management team and talented employees delivered another extraordinary year of outperformance," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "With better than expected net revenues, record earnings, record operating margins, and having generated nearly $1 billion in operating cash flow, Activision Blizzard continues to set the industry success bar."

Activision owes its continued to success to popular franchises like World of Warcraft, which remained the No. 1 subscription based MMORPG around the world in 2011, and Call of Duty, of which Modern Warfare 3 was the best selling game for all of 2011, Activation said.

*Award yourself a million geek points if you've ever shopped at a Software Etc.

Odd Couple: Hasbro and Zynga Join Forces

Paul Lilly — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:01:30 +0000

Hasbro, a multinational toy and board game company with the rights to the official Scrabble game, is teaming up with Zynga, a social network game developer with a number of popular titles under its belt, including Words with Friends, an online knockoff of Scrabble. The partnership gives Hasbro the rights to produce a wide range of toys and games based on Zynga's online games and brands, the two companies announced today.

That means you might see a board game version of Mafia Wars or FarmVille, or perhaps plush dolls based around either or both gaming franchises.

"This partnership is so special because it represents an exciting leap forward in enabling people to connect their virtual and real worlds," said Mark Pincus, founder, CEO, and chief product officer of Zynga. "Hasbro has inspired play through their famous toys, games and action figures and we look forward to working with a company that continually creates meaningful and fun brands."

Hasbro, meanwhile, said in a statement that it's "thrilled to have the opportunity to bring Zynga's popular social games to life in a variety of creative and new expressions," adding that "Zynga is bringing more game to mainstream culture and is redefining how people play."

It's a bit of an odd pairing considering Zynga's reputation for ripping off other brands and checkered history with privacy, and a little awkward due to the similarities between Hasbro's Scrabble game and Zynga's Words with Friends variation. But at the same time, it's also logical. Both companies bring a number of popular brands to the table that could result in some interesting combinations. Mafia Wars Monopoly, for example, could add a whole new dimension where it's completely acceptable to sock your opponent in the arm as you grab his stack of cash, or light his hotels on fire with your Zippo.

Private Valuation Blasts Past $100 Billion in Pre-IPO Rally

Paul Lilly — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:26:13 +0000

For a period of time yesterday, Facebook's value topped $102 billion when 150,000 of the company's Class B common stock traded at $44 each in a private auction hosted by SharesPost. As of this morning, Facebook shares are trading at $42 each in the private market, valuing the social networking site at a slightly less obscene $97.9 billion.

If Facebook can maintain is high stock price, it would be valued at more than twice what Google was when it went public in 2004, though today the search giant's market capitalization is worth just shy of $200 billion.

Facebook filled out paperwork for a $5 billion IPO last week, and according to Bloomberg, company CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has been considering a sale that would value the social networking site at $75 billion to $100 billion. By filing for an IPO, Facebook was required to reveal financial records, and according to the company's S-1, it pulled in $3.71 billion last year with net income of $1 billion.

Tipster: Samsung Galaxy S II to Unwrap Ice Cream Sandwich Beginning March 1

Paul Lilly — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:55:35 +0000

In December 2011, Samsung released a statement saying it would provide Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) upgrades for the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note in the first quarter of 2012, though no specific date was given. A Russian tipster known for digging up inside information announced in a Twitter post that ICS will drop for both devices on March 1 in some countries.

Eldar Murtazin says the release date is dependent on the country and wireless carrier, so not all Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note owners will be bumped up to ICS right off the bat. Those that do will receive an over-the-air (OTA) update, assuming Murtazin's information is solid.

Murtazin is the Editor-in-Chief of Mobile-Review.com and isn't afraid to ruffle a few feathers. In 2010, he got the attention of Nokia, which was none too pleased that Murtazin managed to come upon "unauthorized Nokia property" (N8 prototype). Much to the chagrin of Nokia, he refused to return the N8, prompting the Finnish phone maker to get local authorities involved.

The mobile phone insider has also been wrong with his information on occasion. At the end of January of this year, he tweeted that Microsoft's upcoming Windows Phone 8 platform would break compatibility with WP7 on the app level. Microsoft's Brandon Watson was quick to refute the claim, saying "any app built today will run on the next major Windows Phone version." So, while the March 1st OTA release date is certainly plausible and falls within Samsung's promised time frame, you'll want to take this with a grain of salt.