Thursday, December 29, 2011

Matthew McConaughey Engaged To Camila Alves

Couple have two children together and have been dating since 2006.
By Jocelyn Vena


Camila Alves and Matthew McConaughey
Photo: Joe Scarnici/Getty Images

Two kids and nearly six years later, Matthew McConaughey popped the question to his longtime lady love, model Camila Alves, over the holiday weekend. Her answer? A big yes! The actor confirmed the engagement on Twitter.

"Just asked camila to marry me, merry Christmas," he tweeted on Christmas Day, also posting a photo of him and Alves kissing next to Christmas decorations. The couple have a 3-year-old son, Levi, and a daughter, Vida, who turns 2 next month.

In the March issue of Esquire, the actor gushed about his bride-to-be. "Before this, I had a super home in the Hollywood Hills that I did by myself — landscaping, detailing pretty much everything. But that house was mine. And yeah, we coulda gone in there right away. Camila would have said, 'Fine, don't change a thing.' But I thought, 'I found the woman I wanna do it with, the woman I wanna make a family with, hopefully live our life out together.' She needs to have 50 percent of that," he said. "I mean, it's a lot easier for me to be at 100 percent. I'd always been 100 percent. It's braver for me at 50 percent."

In September 2008, McConaughey opened up to People about Alves, calling her "the love of my life." The two began dating in 2006. "I always wanted to be a father and thought it would be great, but it just took the right woman and the right time to make it all happen," he said. "We're a family now. I see the future and it's clearer to me now. Walking around with this cool responsibility all the time, it's a wonderful thing."

Share your well-wishes with the newly engaged couple in the comments below!

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1676469/matthew-mcconaughey-engaged-camila-alves.jhtml

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GG and MacKay spend Christmas with troops in Afghanistan

By QMI Agency

Posted 7 hours ago

Canadian troops and civilians serving overseas got a special Christmas visit from a white-haired man.

Governor General David Johnston travelled to Italy and Afghanistan over Christmas to personally thank our representatives abroad.

He was joined by Defence Minister Peter MacKay, Liberal Leader Bob Rae and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk,

"It was a privilege to extend my heartfelt gratitude and support to the Canadian men and women in uniform, and the many diplomats, aid specialists and police officers deployed abroad, who are committed to making parts of the world a safer and better place," Johnston said. "The sacrifice of troops and civilians who are away from their families and friends at this time of the year is tremendous, and I wish them the best of luck in the completion of their missions."

In Rome, the GG met with troops on the HMCS Vancouver and acknowledged their efforts in the NATO-led mission in Libya that led to that country's liberation in October.

After attending the state funeral of Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic, Johnston went on to Kabul, where he met with the Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

He later stopped in at the Armed Forces Academy of Medical Sciences, where Canadian Forces medical personnel are mentoring Afghan medical staff. Then he visited with troops at Camp Alamo, Camp Blackhorse and Canada House, where Canadian performers put on a Christmas concert.

Canada ended its 10-year combat mission in Afghanistan earlier this year, but Canadian troops are still in the country in a training capacity until 2014.

"And we are continuing to provide essential development programming in the areas of health and education, humanitarian assistance, as well as promoting regional diplomacy," said Rae.

"All Canadians should be proud of the work they are doing as we continue our efforts to bring peace, stability and hope to a troubled region of the world."

MacKay, in his message to the troops, lauded their hard work in Afghanistan as well as many other accomplishments of the past year:

"You supported the Jamaica Defence Force by assisting with their search-and-rescue capability during the hurricane season, contributed to peace in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, and saved hundreds of lives during this year's wildfires and floods that damaged many Canadian communities," he said.

"Your country knows how very special your work is to Canada's security and prosperity."

MacKay also met with his counterparts in both countries, Minister Giampaolo Di Paola of Italy and Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak of Afghanistan.

Source: http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3416715

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Arab League observers head to Syria's war-ravaged Homs

A day after reports of heavy fighting and dozens killed in Homs, Arab League observers are heading to the city as a part of an effort to end the fighting in Syria.

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A day after reports of dozens killed in the restive Syrian city of Homs, Arab League monitors are now headed there for the first time.

The monitors arrived in Syria on Monday as part of an Arab League deal to see if Syrian government forces are relenting in their crackdown on protesters, as promised. Since the uprising began in mid-March, the nation has remained virtually shut off from outsiders, with foreign press and international observers?obtaining only the most limited access to the country.

The Arab League monitors are a step towards shining more light on the uprising, but it remains unclear if they will have any practical impact. The observers say the Syrian government has so far proved "very cooperative," but it is uncertain if they will get a complete picture of the violence.

?I am going to Homs. (Until) now, they have been very cooperative,? Gen. Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, the head of the Arab League monitoring mission, was quoted by Iran's Press TV as saying.

The mission, which will eventually number 200 observers, will be divided into groups of ten and sent around the country to verify that Syrian forces are complying with the agreement they made to stop violence, release detainees, and remove armed forces from urban areas, reports Xinhua. Gen. Dabi told reporters that his team has not faced any restrictions so far. In addition to Homs, the monitors are expected to visit Damascus, Hama, Idlib, and other cities.

Still, the BBC reports that while Syrian officials have appeared compliant, there are already allegations of a cover-up.

?In advance of the observers' arrival, activists accused the authorities of moving detainees onto military bases - where the observers are not allowed to go - and also of removing hundreds of bodies of killed protesters from the morgue at Homs,? said the BBC?s Jim Muir.

In the Homs neighborhood of Baba Amr, activists told reporters and human rights organizations that Syrian forces pulled 11 tanks from the area and hid others ahead of the Arab monitors? arrival, reports Reuters. Yesterday at least 34 people were reported killed there. The neighborhood reportedly took fire from tanks, mortars, and heavy machine guns.

Opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun, head of the Syrian National Council, said that while the Arab League monitors are allowed in Homs, authorities have placed limitations on where they are able to go, Al Jazeera reports. To truly enforce the Arab peace plan, he said the Arab League must receive the support and cooperation of the United Nations.

?The plan to defuse the crisis is a good plan, but I do not believe the Arab League really has the means [to enforce it],? he said. ?It is better if the UN Security Council takes this plan, adopts it and provides the means for its application.?

Since the uprising began in mid-March, the UN estimates that more than 5,000 people have died in the violence, Bloomberg reports. Violence intensified when soldiers began defecting from the Syrian army to side with protesters. The Syrian government has blamed the violence on foreign agents who?ve entered the country and are carrying out terrorist operations, reports Bloomberg.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/T9X_K6pzisI/Arab-League-observers-head-to-Syria-s-war-ravaged-Homs

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

2011 review: The year in technology

It's been an astonishing year, packed with technological wizardry. A computer has bested the top human minds on the Jeopardy! quiz show. Thousands upon thousands of mind-blowing apps ? not to mention Apple's super-smart, artificially intelligent Siri software ? have remade our relationships with our cellphones. And new developments in green technology have given us a glimpse of a future unburdened by fossil fuels. Most of these stories mark beginnings, meaning this list of our favourite stories of the year is more than a look back ? it's a reminder of all the exciting things yet to come.

Inside the race to crack the world's hardest puzzle
DARPA's crowdsourced efforts to reconstruct shredded documents ? which was solved two days early

Yacht attempts to smash sailing's 'sound barrier'
The Vestas Sailrocket 2 is based on an 40-year-old design but could be the first boat to ever sail at 60 knots

How innovative is Apple's new voice assistant, Siri?
Users of the new iPhone 4S can just speak to book restaurants or make appointments ? or adjust your thermostat. How has Apple done it?

Electric vehicles herald rise of the in-car app
The emergence of the electric car is leading to a suite of smartphone add-ons

Crowdsourced translations get the word out from Libya
With the Arab spring under way early this year, we wrote about techniques that blended machine translation and human crowdsourcing to help dissidents get their message out from behind the communications blackout imposed by the Gaddafi regime

Shock wave puts hybrid engines in a spin
A prototype engine that relies on shock waves could allow hybrid cars to boost their efficiency even further

Robot-only internet helps machines share secrets
The advent of a world wide web for robots will let automatons learn from each other's experiences ? a first step towards them working in the real world

3D printing: The world's first printed planeMovie Camera
The promise of 3D printing has finally taken off with the development of a drone that takes just a week to create

The cyberweapon that could take down the internet
A new form of attack would turn the internet against itself ? and would be extremely hard to repel

Better than human? What's next for Jeopardy! computer
A bright future awaits the Watson computer system now that it has shown it can compete with previous winners of the complicated US quiz

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Google's Andy Rubin defines 'Android activation,' trumpets 700,000 per day clip

Looking for growth? You've found it. If you'll recall, Google's own Senior Vice President of Mobile Andy Rubin confirmed that over 500,000 Android devices were being activated back in June, and during last month's Galaxy Nexus reveal, we learned that said figure had increased to 550,000 per day. In just over a month, the tally has now climbed to 700,000 per 24 hour period. That's according to a post by Andy himself on Google+, which he followed with this:

"For those wondering, we count each device only once (i.e., we don't count re-sold devices), and "activations" means you go into a store, buy a device [and] put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service."

In other words, there are many, many more Android devices being ushered into use every single day that don't connect to any monitored wireless service, but naturally, keeping track of those is something even Google isn't about to attempt. Any guesses as to what this figure jumps to after the holiday season concludes?

Google's Andy Rubin defines 'Android activation,' trumpets 700,000 per day clip originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/googles-andy-rubin-defines-android-activation-trumpets-700-0/

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Crimes against business in China | East Asia Forum

Author: Rod Broadhurst, ANU

Few crime victim surveys have been conducted with Chinese populations, but a recently released study, Business and the Risk of Crime in China, analyses the results of the first large scale victimisation survey of 5,117 businesses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xi?an.

This snapshot shows that the level of crime reported by Chinese businesses was lower than other emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, Nigeria and India, and considerably lower than Western and Eastern Europe. However, incidents of bribery and extortion were more frequent in China than in Western Europe and Australia, but less frequent than in Eastern Europe. Respondents from China were much more likely to report to police than elsewhere, although the levels of reporting of fraud were comparable.

China?s transition from a command to a market economy has been supported by authoritarian policing that has helped contain most crimes against business except fraud. An annual loss to crime of US$20.4 million, most of which was due to fraud by either employees (US$7.5 million) or outsiders (US$7.6 million) was estimated for the sample as a whole. About US$6.4 billion was estimated to have been lost to crime across all the four cities. Larger businesses were most at risk especially to higher risks of victimisation for non-conventional crime. Smaller businesses had a higher prevalence of fraud by outsiders.

Over one-quarter (26.2 per cent) of businesses reported at least one incident of crime over the past year, but higher risks of non-conventional crimes (that is, fraud, bribery, and intellectual property [IP] offences) than common crime (that is, robbery assault, and theft) were found. Across the four cities, the rate of non-conventional crime (22.6 per cent) was 3.4 times that of common crime (6.7 per cent) and businesses in Shenzhen were at higher risk of non-conventional crime (27.9 per cent) than those in Xi?an (25.3 per cent) and Hong Kong and Shanghai (19.5 per cent). Just over 6 per cent of respondents mentioned incidents of bribery, but there were fewer in Hong Kong than the other cities. IP theft was reported by about 6 per cent but was more of a problem in Shenzhen (9.1 per cent) and Xi?an (7.6 per cent) than in Shanghai (6.5 per cent) and Hong Kong (2.7 per cent).

Crime in China has risen sharply over the last 40 years and is associated with a state of anomie or ?loss of social norms? that the sociologist Durkheim theorised was the result of rapid and significant societal change. Economic crime, especially fraud also rose at a much faster rate than common or street crime, supporting the hypothesis that a growth in property crime is also associated with modernisation. In times of rapid change, a lag between socio-economic transformation and institutional adaptations to these transformations (?institutional anomie?) can occur as the crime wave that engulfed the former USSR demonstrated. This institutional lag can be reduced when the economic and social transition is planned and managed by a strong authoritarian state like China. Although China may have been more capable of controlling institutional anomie, its failure to establish independent oversight and checks and balances has facilitated corruption. Corruption was more frequently reported on the mainland than in Hong Kong, and especially in Xi?an where state-owned businesses and traditional Communist Party control remain strong.

Although public police have been able to contain common or street crime they have not yet transformed into policing agencies with a capacity to focus on crime against business, which is both highly attractive to a new type of criminal and harmful to society. Identifying the ?new enemies of the state? has become harder than in the past when the simple categories ??class enemies, ?rightists?, feudal remnants and the like could be readily distinguished and demonised. Economic criminals, it seems, are hard to distinguish from valued entrepreneurs, business leaders and officials who gamble with venture capitalists and fall for fanciful and fraudulent innovators.

In addition to the impact of modernisation and urbanisation, the growth in economic activities and consumerism also increases the opportunity for property crime. The opening up of the Chinese economy has produced both an increase in consumer goods (more opportunities for common crime) and an increase in business and commercial activities (more opportunities for non-conventional crime). Related to increased opportunity is the absence of competent guardianship and target attractiveness ? the key drivers of risk of victimisation for business. Chinese businesses thus suffer similar risks as found elsewhere and could benefit from many of the measures recommended by situational crime prevention approaches. The demise of campaign-style policing and the shift to a prevention focus rather than reliance on crude deterrence and brutalising punishments should also help release police resources for greater specialisation in complex crime such as fraud and corruption.

Roderic Broadhurst is a professor in, and Deputy Director of, the Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence in Policing and Security, in the Department of Regulation, Justice and Diplomacy, College of Asia and the Pacific at the ANU. He is co-author (with John Bacon-Shone, Brigitte Bouhours, Thierry Bouhours, assisted by Lee Kingwa) of Business and the Risk of Crime in China, ANU E Press, Canberra, 2011.

Source: http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/12/16/crimes-against-business-in-china/

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Investors give 'Farmville' maker a cold shoulder

The corporate logo for Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The corporate logo for Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

"Farmville" by Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The corporate logo for Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The corporate logo for Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2011 file photo, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus speaks at a Zynga event, in San Francisco. Founded in 2007 and named after CEO Mark Pincus? dog, Zynga Inc. follows online deals site Groupon Inc. and professional network LinkedIn Corp. in going public. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

(AP) ? As its workers celebrated with hot chocolate and cinnamon buns, Zynga saw its stock dinged on its first day of trading Friday ? an unexpected turn of events for a closely watched public debut seen as a precursor to Facebook's next year.

Zynga Inc., the online game developer behind "FarmVille," ''Mafia Wars" and other popular time killers on Facebook, raised at least $1 billion in its initial public offering of stock, the largest for a U.S. Internet company since Google's $1.4 billion IPO in 2004.

But by Friday afternoon, Zynga's stock fell 50 cents, or 5 percent, to close at $9.50. The stock priced at $10 on Thursday, at the high end of its expected range. It traded as high as $11.50 on Friday before heading into a downward spiral on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

It was far from the eye-popping jump that has been the trend this year for freshly public Internet darlings such as LinkedIn Corp., which saw its stock double on its first trading day.

Zynga's opening ? with a ticker symbol of "ZNGA" ? was supposed to be big. After all, unlike many others with IPOs, the company is profitable, with more than 220 million people playing its games on Facebook each month.

What this all means for Facebook's IPO, expected sometime after April, is hard to say. One thing is clear, though.

"A hot IPO is not guaranteed," said Kathleen Smith, principal of IPO investment advisory firm Renaissance Capital.

Despite the big-name public offerings this year, the IPO market is not in good health. Buyers are skittish and concerned about the high volatility of freshly public stocks, Smith said. Big name or not, investors don't want to pay sky-high prices for stocks, especially not before a company has proven itself with good earnings reports and analyst ratings.

Seventy percent of the 125 companies that went public this year are now trading below their IPO price, according to Renaissance Capital.

While Friday's drop doesn't look good, it's not devastating for Zynga. Its CEO, Mark Pincus, said the company's focus is on "delivering great products" that expand audience for social games over the next few years ? and not on the next trading day.

"We didn't have any expectations coming into this whole process," he said in an interview. "We decided to go public a long time ago."

Pincus rang the Nasdaq's opening bell in San Francisco, a first in the city for a freshly public company. The company's roughly 1,700 San Francisco employees woke up at the crack of down to celebrate with cinnamon buns and hot cocoa. Zynga also delivered video of the opening ceremony over the Internet to its offices around the world.

Thursday's pricing gives Zynga a market value of about $7 billion. That's roughly half of the value of online deals site Groupon, which began trading in early November. Zynga, though, sold a much bigger chunk of its available shares, 14.3 percent compared with Groupon's 5.5 percent. It's an issue of supply and demand ? selling more shares means investors don't have to scramble to get their hands on them.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said stocks trade based on supply and demand on the first day.

In Zynga's case, he believes the IPO's underwriters placed more shares with investors who were going to "flip" the stock ? that is, buy a hot stock and quickly sell it to make a profit instead of holding on to it for the long run. All that selling tempered the stock's price, and other nervous investors started selling, too.

Sterne Agee's Arvind Bhatia said the issue came down to valuation ? what people are willing to pay.

"You might like a company but not its valuation," said Bhatia, who took the unusual step of starting coverage of Zynga's stock before it went public, giving it an "Underperform" rating and a price target of $7.

With its huge player base and a few loyal spenders, Zynga had net income of $90.6 million in 2010, an unusual pre-IPO money-maker in the sector.

Cowen & Co. analyst Doug Creutz, however, initiated coverage Friday with a "Neutral" rating on the stock. Although Zynga is the leader in Facebook gaming, he's concerned that it won't be able to grow fast enough to justify its stock price. Growth in Facebook gaming has slowed, and Zynga's market share has declined from 50 percent to 38 percent of daily active users, he wrote.

He's also concerned that Zynga's famously aggressive and hard-charging culture may not be the best field to grow good games in. Others have raised concerns that the focus on deadlines and profits might be squeezing out creativity and talent.

In November, Groupon raised $700 million in its IPO. The granddaddy of all Internet IPOs might happen next year, as Facebook Inc. is expected to raise as much as $10 billion.

Bhatia declined to speculate about what Zynga's first-day drop might mean for Facebook. But he pointed out that what was a bad year for Zynga was a good year for Facebook. That's because Facebook stated charging application developers a 30 percent cut of the money they make through its site. That means for every dollar a player spends on "FarmVille" crops, 30 cents goes to Facebook.

"They are in the driver's seat," Bhatia said of Facebook. The company, he added, is "in class of its own."

DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, who sits on Zynga's board, said Zynga and Facebook have both benefited by working together.

"As important as Facebook is to Zynga, Zynga is to Facebook," he said in an interview. "I have seen very good rapport with the two Marks and I would expect that relationship to continue to grow."

___

AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2011-12-16-Zynga-IPO/id-d00bd39a4f104a4daf988be579f4e571

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Video: Tips to keep germs out of your nursery

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29054368/vp/45684149#45684149

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Encore's Jerry Lewis documentary is must-see for fans (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - It's light on biographical details, but Encore's documentary "Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis" is a must-see for Lewis fans who want to hear from a who's who of the comedy world about how Lewis inspired them.

Eddie Murphy, who starred in a remake of "The Nutty Professor," is nearly giddy when he talks about Lewis' comedy techniques. Jerry Seinfeld calls Lewis the "diamond of comedy" and says the decision by Lewis and former comedy partner Dean Martin to end their collaboration while they were hot inspired him to end "Seinfeld" in the "moment before, not the moment after."

Celebrities like Carol Burnett, Billy Crystal, Quentin Tarantino, Richard Lewis, Carl Reiner, John Landis and Lewis' pal Richard Belzer also chime in. Burnett says Lewis was sexy -- when he wasn't doing his "Hey, lady!" routine.

The Lewis-produced documentary doesn't go into any detail, or even mention, the star's work with the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Though it ended badly, it remains one of his life's biggest accomplishments, as he helped raise billions of dollars for the charity. And except for Lewis' brief and interesting recollection of joining his parents' stage act as a five-year-old in a tuxedo, details on his early years are also sparse.

But the abundance of testimony to his comic genius is matched with a plethora of clips from his greatest performances, including the classic "Who's Minding the Store?" typewriter scene, a clip Burnett says she could watch on a loop.

"Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis" premieres Saturday at 8/7c on Encore. To get viewers in a Lewis state of mind, Encore is airing a mini-marathon of his movies before the documentary's premiere, beginning with "The Bellboy" at 1:50 p.m., and including "The Errand Boy," "The Geisha Boy" and "The Ladies Man."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_encores_jerry_lewis_documentary_must_see_fans234013556/43932243/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/encores-jerry-lewis-documentary-must-see-fans-234013556.html

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Sony Pins Its Future On Gaming | TechCrunch

Sony can?t get much right these days. They?ve dissolved their partnership with Ericsson so they have no dog in the mobile fight and their Blu-Ray/3D TV push is, at best, an afterthought with consumers. Nobody wants Sony laptops, what with all the ultrabooks out there. The only thing that can save them is gaming.

The first great Sony hope is the Vita, Sony?s handheld gaming console. Designed to offer a superior gaming experience over the only other portable consoles, the Nintendo DSi and 3DS, the Vita is already selling out in Japanese pre-orders and could be next year?s hot selling gadget. None of the gaming greats except for Nintendo has progressed on the hardware front in years, so the Vita might be just the jolt Sony needs to survive.

But the Vita isn?t a sure thing, especially since Sony is hurting in multiple ways. As Reuters notes:

The videogames unit made a first profit in 5 years in the year to March, as it squeezed production costs for the Playstation 3, boosting profits for the whole company. The unit?s sales accounted for more than a tenth of Sony?s 7 trillion yen in total revenue.

This comes in conjunction with a fall in Sony stock after a major downgrade. Things couldn?t be worse. Sure, the Vita is interesting, but is it enough to pull the company out of the death spiral?

Sony played the wrong game for too long. Convinced they still had a say in the CE market, they pushed multiple technologies ? Memory Stick, Blu-Ray, ATRAC ? for far too long just as consumers were getting wise to their tricks. Their losing streak started when they lost the VHS/Betamax war, and there was no way they were going to sell an ATRAC-playing Walkman over an iPod.

These pointless battles distracted Sony management enough to ensure that the CE space wasn?t theirs anymore, resulting in a number of lower-priced, high-quality competitors that made Sony look like the Bose of TVs ? too expensive for most people and with benefits too esoteric for many to understand.

In the end, I think Sony is done. Samsung owns the mobile space and much of the CE space. Vizio owns the low end. Gaming is still the wild card, but without a string of hits, 5 more years of profitless financial statements will not make the company much stronger.


December 16, 2011

NYSE:SNE

Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game consoles, and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets.

Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/15/sony-pins-its-future-on-gaming/

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Friday, December 16, 2011