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Archive for July 5, 2010
Firefox is IBMs Default Browser
Jul 5th
Mozilla’s Firefox just became the official browser of IBM.
The announcement came on Bob Sutor’s blog this morning and means that tens of thousands of new users will be downloading Firefox at work – and, quite possibly, many will do it at home as well.
Sutor is VP of Open Source and Linux in IBM’s Software Group, so it comes as no surprise that he supported this move. But this isn’t merely for his division. Or even for the Software Group. This is for all 400,000 IBM employees all over the world.
All computers – whether on Windows, Mac or Linux OS – will be loaded with the software from now on. Employees will be urged to – expected to – make it their default browser.
Tourchlight News
Jul 5th
Torchlight may have borne quite the resemblance to Blizzard’s ultra-popular Diablo franchise, but its sequel’s taking after a different member of Blizzard’s stable. Well, kinda. The term “MMO” carries a certain set of expectations and… aw, screw it. Some bits of the bigger MMO picture are really boring. Fortunately, the Torchlight MMO is aiming to be a massive game – you know, with fun and stuff – and not a massive headache.
“Our vision is to have an MMO that plays as close to single player as we can get it. It will have the same focus on relatively fast action: carving your way through hordes of monsters with a large number of hugely devastating skills. The game has to be solo-able, but players will have to have skills that make them useful in a party and make them work together,” Runic Games president Travis Baldree told PC Gamer.
Ok, but how about the game’s business model? We’re not entirely sure how we feel about nickel ‘n’ diming in our hack ‘n’ slash.
“I will never, ever buy a microtransaction item,” Baldree said of his game’s microtransaction system. “I’m that kind of player. And the game has to be enjoyable for me, too. We don’t want our monetization stuff to offer ways to skip the game because the game is boring.”
Starbucks Gives Free Wifi!
Jul 5th
If you live near a Starbucks (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?), you have one more bastion of free connectivity to make use of. Starbucks’ free Wi-Fi service has started up today as planned. The best part, other than that it’s free, is that it only takes two clicks to log on. Just agree to the terms of service, and connect.
Starbucks previously had a paywall scenario where AT&T customers could get free access, but others were limited to 2 hours before they has to pony up some cash. All the corporately owned stores in the US and Canada are going to be doing this, so you might see some franchises with a different set up. If you’ve tried it already, let us know what sort of speeds you can get while enjoying a tasty beverage.
Redbox Raising Prices?
Jul 5th
Dollar-rental king Redbox is testing DVD rentals at higher price points at its kiosk locations in five markets.
There’s no guarantee the tests will lead to permanent price boosts nor an indication of how long the tests might last.
Launched in November in Albuquerque, N.M., and expanded in recent weeks, the DVD price tests complement other marketing testing by the Coinstar-owned kiosk chain, including renewed testing of video game rentals. On Wednesday, Merriman Curhan Ford analyst Eric Wold said trial tests of games at 150 kiosks in Austin could bear fruit despite modest title offerings at present.
“Given that management chose to launch another game test almost a year after doing so in two other cities demonstrates to us they saw something positive in the initial tests,” Wold wrote in a research note.
“We plan to continue the test until we can understand the implications,” a Coinstar spokesman said. “There is no definitive end date.”
Redbox also is testing Blu-ray rentals in select markets.
The company’s biggest competitor in the DVD-kiosks niche is NCR-operated Blockbuster Express. On Tuesday, Blockbuster Express announced the rollout of an additional 500 sites operated by two convenience-store chains in the South, bringing its number of nationwide dollar-rental locations to about 7,000.
Redbox operates kiosks in more than 22,000 retail locations nationwide.
