Hasta La Gadget!

Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.

We’re the family techies. The nerds. The ones who answer all your questions at family holiday gatherings about setting up new tablets and killing viruses. And it’s sweet of you to buy us gadgets, but the chances of you getting us something that we don’t already have and something that we actually want are, honestly, slim. So we take the gifts, say “How did you know?” and quietly return them for things we actually want. Don’t take it personally. It’s just that we kinda know what we’re doing when it comes to ones and zeros.

Therefore, I present to you the things we will be returning this week. And if you’re the friend or loved one of a propeller head, perhaps this will help you next year.

Continue reading This is the Modem World: Things we’ll be returning

Filed under: Misc

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I have a Wii U. And although I find its motion implementation quite fun at times, and the addition of a second screen a good idea, I haven’t played it at all in the last couple of weeks.

I decided to conduct an informal poll with other people I know who also own a Wii U. I asked them if they’ve been playing with the console much since its launch. Nearly every person said that they played it somewhat heavily in the first week after launch, but little after that.

Granted, my study is by no means scientific and it doesn’t necessarily tell us anything about the average Wii U player. But it does underscore an issue: the Wii U might not have as broad an appeal as its predecessor did. Furthermore, the console’s novelty might be wearing off much sooner than the Wii’s did.

Realizing that current owners might not be the best way to figure that out, I decided to look around and see if Wii U consoles were readily available for those looking to buy. I found that Amazon is selling the Basic set, but the Deluxe set is on backorder. Those looking to buy the console elsewhere, like on BestBuy.com or other online retailers, will find that they can buy one today and have it in time for Christmas.

I then decided to call around to my local game and retail stores. And nearly all of them have ample supply for those who want to walk in and buy the new console.

“When the Wii launched, it was hard to come by for months”

Maybe it’s me, but I’m shocked by that. When the Wii launched, it was hard to come by for months. And during the holiday season, especially, it was impossible to even find it on store shelves. Each weekend, folks would stand in line for hours just to get their hands on a handful of consoles that were available. It was shocking.

But the Wii U appears to be different. After just a month of availability, the console can still be purchased quite easily.

So, what does that mean? It’s tough to say. On one hand, it’s possible that the Wii U’s sales are slightly disappointing. After all, Nintendo sold only 425,000 Wii U units in the U.S. in November, and has been surprisingly tight-lipped about its progress. And since it’s readily available, there appears to be somewhat sluggish demand for the console.

Then again, it could have something to do with supply. Maybe Nintendo did a better job of anticipating demand and was able to produce enough consoles to satisfy its early adopters. Now, the company has ample supply to take advantage of holiday shoppers.

Still, I can’t help but go with my gut here. And in keeping with that, I believe the Wii U’s popularity is waning. And Nintendo, much to its chagrin, is scrambling to address this issue.

Believe it or not, the Wii U just might not be as popular as Nintendo and its legion of fans would have us believe.

How Popular Is the Wii U, Really? is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

As sensors and crowdsourcing give us ever more granular data into the norms and deviations of the world around us, enterprising developers and hardware companies have trotted out various combinations of atoms and bits to package that awareness, sometimes paired with recommendations, into products. Back in March, Switched On discussed a number of Kickstarter projects (all of which have now shipped) that extended sensor-based monitoring and notification to remote locations (provided there was WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity). Where does it end? Three recent product announcements enable us to know more about things that we might not ever have thought to track in the past.

Continue reading Switched On: The fork, the ficus and the flandoodle

Filed under: Misc, Science

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Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of partying with a bunch of my friends. All of them are pretty big nerds, just like me. If you’re a nerd too, you know that not much changes when a bunch of nerds get a few drinks in them, they just talk about nerdy things louder than usual. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to hear that the Steam autumn sale was among the topics that came up that night.

“So what do you think of the autumn sale?” one of my friends asked.

“Not impressed,” I replied. The look his face indicated that he agreed with me.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good deal as much as the next gamer, and I am always willing to spill some serious cash during a Steam sale. I went into the autumn sale thinking that I was going to be buying up games left and right, but we’ve now entered the final day of the sale and so far I’ve purchased two games for a grand total of $17.48. I’m in fine standing with both my bank and my girlfriend as a result, but I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed.

There have been some good deals, to be sure – earlier in the sale, Skyrim took the stage as a featured deal, and right now Dishonored and Torchlight II, the latter of which being one of my 2012 favorites, are both 50% off. The problem, though, is that there’s going to be another Steam sale in less than a month. It’ll be big too, as Steam holiday sales always are. The autumn sale just pales in comparison to the blowout events that the holiday and summer sales have traditionally been, which leaves me wondering why we even need the autumn sale in the first place.

I understand why the autumn sale exists – everyone is going nuts over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so Valve holds a sale of its own to net some of the shoppers who have cash and are ready to spend it, provided the deals are good enough. With the autumn sale, however, it’s hard to get excited in the same way I’m excited for the holiday sale. In fact, it feels like the autumn sale is intentionally watered down in anticipation of the incoming holiday sale. It’s shorter than its summer and holiday siblings, there aren’t any publisher catalogs on offer, and the discounts don’t seem as deep. So, what’s the point when the holiday sale is knocking on the door?

Maybe this is all in my head. Maybe the problem is with me and not with the sale itself. With the holiday sale on the horizon, I’m hesitant to spend money during the autumn sale because there’s a feeling that they might be even cheaper in just a few short weeks. Even if I see a deal I know is good on a game I’ve been wanting to play, I question whether or not I should take advantage of it since I know (or at least assume) I’ll spend a lot of money during the holiday sale.

I can’t be the only one who feels that way, can I? I’d be interested to see how many people bite during the autumn sale in comparison to the summer and holiday sales, because I would imagine that the numbers for the autumn sale end up falling short. Valve – and other digitial distribution platforms for that matter – have something of a unique problem here. Most retailers don’t hold a holiday sale on the scale of Valve’s, only hosting massive sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Since PC gamers are used to blowout holiday sales and therefore expect them year after year, it makes pulling off an equally impressive Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale a bit trickier for those in the digital distribution arena.

What about you – has this been a great sale for you, or are you like me and feeling a little underwhelmed at the end of it all?

Do we really need the Steam autumn sale? is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Something startling happened over the weekend. It came and went in a flash, but the repercussions could, and should, be lasting. An unexpected and most unusual policy brief from the Republican Study Committee was released. (The RSC is a 165-member congressional policy review group.) Entitled Three Myths About Copyright Law and Where to Start to Fix It, the eight-page document is an astonishing declaration of revisionism, bristling with policy arguments that align with the most excitable rants of P2P advocates over the last 10 years. It is a devastating indictment of American copyright law.

Then, in less than 24 hours, the paper was rescinded. The committee’s Executive Director, Paul S. Teller, offered an obscure apology with no explanation. Of course the thing is easily available, and its message remains a permanent part of the conversational record, deletion be damned.

By arguing that the current iteration of American copyright law is broken in several respects, and by proposing extreme solutions, the rogue document debilitates the talking points of institutional copyright holders and their agencies such as the RIAA. Anyone who has been following the hardened rhetoric over what copyright should be in a copy-share digital world will be startled by the accusatory language and sharply reformist intent of this document.

Continue reading Editorial: Vanishing ‘copywrong’ document blasts RIAA, suggests radical reform, and should be taken seriously

Filed under: Internet

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