Sony first beat Microsoft to the next-generation announcement punch with its February reveal event. And at E3 today, the company won again. Sony announced that its PlayStation 4 will be available for $399, €399 EUR, and £349 GBP this holiday season, confirming launch details for the next generation system at a price its competitor couldn't match. (Microsoft previously announced that the Xbox One will be available worldwide "this year" for $499, €499, or £429.) "A completely new platform and it represents a completely new PlayStation," said Andrew House, president and group manager for Sony Computer Entertainment. The price is slightly lower than the $500 to $600 launch price for the PlayStation 3 in 2006—even without accounting for inflation. Sony previously said that it remembers the lessons of that overpriced launch well, and it's targeting "gamers in the broadsest sense" with the PS4 price point. While the PS4's price is a bit higher than the $299 entry price for Nintendo's Wii U, the PlayStation 4 is significantly more powerful than Nintendo's system. In addition to the price and time frame, Sony said that the PlayStation 4 launch would be "the biggest ever" in Sony's history. The company revealed dozens of PS4 games and entertainment offerings, including a mysterious original content initiative. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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In a move that seems a direct response to Microsoft's complex Xbox One licensing system, Sony announced at its E3 press conference today that disc-based single player games would be freely sellable and tradeable as usual, without a connection to the Internet. "You can trade in the game, lend it to a friend, or keep it forever," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. Sony expects most if not all PlayStation 4 owners to have a consistent broadband connection and said such a connection was necessary to get the most out of the system. But the company stressed that single-player games would still work just fine even when there is no Internet connection. If you enjoy playing single player games online, PS4 won't require you to to check-in periodically. "And it won't stop working if you haven't checked-in in 24 hours," Tretton noted. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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The Pew Research Center, which has a history of surveying the American public about its views on the media, has a new poll out suggesting that to many folks, the NSA leaks scandal doesn't look like much of a scandal. The poll, co-sponsored by The Washington Post, surveyed 1,004 adults over the weekend and found that more than half of them, 56 percent, felt the NSA's dragnet collection of telephone metadata was "acceptable." Another 41 percent said it was unacceptable, and 2 percent were undecided. Fully 45 percent of Americans believe the government should "be able to monitor everyone's email to prevent possible terrorism." That's exactly the same percentage that Pew found when it asked the same question 11 years ago, less than one year after the September 2011 terrorist attacks. Today, 52 percent said universal email monitoring would be unacceptable, versus 47 percent who believed it was unacceptable in 2002. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Just Dance 2014, Watch Dogs, and Tom Clancy's The Division highlighted Ubisoft's E3 press conference, an hour-plus event revealing 13 new titles from the developer. The presentation was heavier on pre-rendered content and familiar brands than it was on actual gameplay or surprises. However, Ubisoft did end it with an extended demo of The Division. The online, open-world RPG was played across multiple devices... then the presenter vanished afterwards as fake infected money fell from the sky (seriously, read on). Rocksmith 2014 Dig out those fake instruments... 2 more images in gallery Guitarist Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains started Ubisoft's event off by introducing Rocksmith 2014 (come this October, rhythm games live!). Using the Kinect, Cantrell demoed how you can execute multiple commands quickly: from "Rocksmith: Edit Session Mode" to "Change Band" to "Rock" without a hitch. While playing, Cantrell even shouted "Faster" to get the backing band to pick up the tempo accordingly. Along with Rocksmith, Ubisoft showed off Just Dance 2014 (also due in October on all platforms) to round out its music and entertainment selection. The latest Just Dance utilizes the Kinect so up to six people may dance simultaneously. WiiU users can control all the action from the GamePad through "Party Master" functionality. The pace is kept up throughout with little design tweaks such as the ability to switch songs without ever returning to the main menu. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Apple showed off iOS 7 for the first time at WWDC on Monday. Apple, Inc. This year’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) keynote was chock full of expected updates, along with a handful of little surprises. So let’s recap! The most anticipated revelations were the updates to iOS 7. The main design change is a move away from the current bubble-like interface in favor of a flatter design. There’s also a new, simplified “Control Center”—accessible via an upward swipe on the home screen—to find frequently used buttons like brightness settings, airplane mode, and a flashlight. One of the most surprisingly awesome features includes a block function for unwanted phone calls, texts, FaceTime calls, and iMessages. In a nod to the unlucky ones who have lost or had their phones stolen, the Find My iPhone feature now requires an Apple ID and password to be turned off or to erase the device. In addition, Apple also says it can “continue to display a custom message even after your device is erased. And your Apple ID and password are required before anyone can reactivate it. Which means your iPhone is still your iPhone.” Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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We knew it was going to happen; we just didn't know Apple was going to make such a drastic change. iOS 7 was an expected announcement going into WWDC, and with Scott Forstall out and Jony Ive working with software engineering Senior Vice President Craig Federighi, we knew that the next version of iOS would look different. Now we know that "different" means "really, really flat." Today, Apple revealed its new mobile OS, which goes heavy on the "crisp and clean" and leaves Apple's signature skeuomorphism by the wayside. We brought you some images from the seats of the Moscone Center in San Francisco, but to take a closer look at this new OS, we put together a gallery of Apple's design changes using the company's own images. Expect a full review of the OS update when available. New lock screen It all starts with the new lock screen, which will be the first thing you see when you pick up your phone. iOS 7 will permit live animations on the lock screen and in various other places within the OS. Apple 20 more images in gallery .related-stories { display: none !important; } Read on Ars Technica | Comments
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Dragon Age: Inquisition got only a teaser trailer, but it has fans astir. Star Wars: Battlefront, Titanfall, and Battlefield 4 led the charge at EA’s keynote Monday afternoon in Los Angeles at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). EA’s staff showed off how a slew of games will take advantage of the company’s two new engines, Ignite and FrostBite 3, which are built to run on upcoming hardware from Sony in its PlayStation 4 and Microsoft in its XBox One. EA displayed a trailer for Dragon Age: Inquisition, which revealed little about the game but did say that we can expect to see it in fall 2014. A short trailer for a new version of Mirror’s Edge also betrayed little information, though it featured some of the first-person combat that will be in the game. The trailer ended by saying Mirror’s Edge is “coming… when it’s ready.” Likewise, a trailer for Star Wars: Battlefront was more atmospheric than informational and included only a battle in progress and a single step by an AT-AT on what we presume to be Hoth. Titanfall got a trailer and very distant release date. Mirror's Edge showed off some of its hand-to-hand combat. Need for Speed will up the multiplayer ante with ad-hoc mid-race competitions. A new Need for Speed will integrate multiplayer and single-player into a feature called All Drive. Races start in single-player mode, but players may receive requests mid-race to compete, allowing races to end in multiplayer. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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For the first time in years, Mac Pro fans have something to really cheer about. Apple today unveiled a redesign of its workhorse computer, which is now a reflective cylindrical case that's only 1/8 the volume of the current Mac Pro. Apple vaguely said that the new computer won't go on sale until "later this year," but it's never too early to take a look at a device that we will put through its paces as soon as it's available. OMG new towar! Don't you just want to grab it? Clint Ecker 14 more images in gallery .related-stories { display: none !important; } Read on Ars Technica | Comments
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iBooks has long been only an iPhone or iPad affair, but today Apple announced an update at its WWDC Keynote that will bring your digital e-books to the Mac via the new operating system, OS X Mavericks. Mac users will finally be able to peruse their library and purchase new titles on their computers. iBooks features a "flatter" design that will mirror the same functionality as the previously available iOS application. Users will be able to sync highlights, notes, and bookmarks into the cloud and access them all across devices. Apple only offered a brief preview of the application during its keynote, but Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, showed off the dynamic textbook functionality that takes notes and converts them into study cards. The new iBooks for Mac should be available some time in the fall, once OS X Mavericks becomes available on the Mac App Store. Read on Ars Technica | Comments
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After an initial reveal event last month that focused primarily on non-gaming features, Microsoft used its E3 press conference today to talk about games, with a bunch of exclusive and non-exclusive titles demoed and announced. Perhaps the biggest announcement for the mainstream gaming audience is the revelation of a game that won't actually be out when the Xbox One hits the shelves: Halo 5. While the title won't be ready at the launch of the new system, Microsoft promised the game will be available in the first half of 2014. Ryse: Son of Rome Forza 5 Microsoft also released video of the story-based exclusive title Quantum Break, first made public at last month's reveal. A long video of Crytek-developed third-person shooter (well, sword-stabber, as it's set in Roman times) Ryse: Son of Rome was shown. At one point in this game's development it used Kinect motion controls, but not any longer; now it's a regular gamepad game that looks like it's chock full of quick time events and gore. Forza 5 was given a test-drive and will boast some cloud gaming features. The game will have virtualized avatars that drive based on the way you drive, and these will replace the dumb AI drivers that driving games typically have. Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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As a result of Kim Dotcom’s ongoing legal battles in New Zealand, his extradition hearing has now been delayed yet again. A North Shore District Court spokesperson told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) that the August 2013 date has now been moved to November 21, 2013—with a backup date of April 14, 2014. This marks the third delay that Dotcom has had in this legal proceeding since the raid against his mansion in January 2012. "The extradition hearing schedule was changed to allow time for appeals to take place and to get more clarity on the disclosure of the Government's evidence and other pending issues that could impact the integrity of the process," Ira Rothken, Dotcom's attorney, told Ars. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Apple announced new features to its iCloud service during its annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in downtown San Francisco. The Cupertino-based technology giant introduced iCloud Keychain, a cloud-based storage locker and password management tool, in addition to iWork for iCloud, the company's long-awaited browser-based office suite that has been pegged as Apple's answer to Google Docs. First up, the iCloud Keychain works by safekeeping passwords, website logins, credit card numbers, and Wi-Fi networks across devices. When users go to type in a password for an online account, for instance, Safari will suggest one to use. Credit card information will also be stored, though you'll have to input your own security code each time. All of that sensitive information is encrypted by 256-bit AES and it's assumed it will work a lot like other password safekeeping suites like 1Password. Apple also announced iWork for iCloud, enabling users to create Pages, Numbers, and Keynote documents right from within a browser. Users will also be able to edit Office documents. "We know we live in a world of Office docs," said Roger Rosner, Apple's vice president for iWork. With the new cloud functionality, Rosner said that users will be able to "create a document on a Mac, edit on a PC, present on [an] iPhone." iWork for iCloud works on Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer and is available today as a developer preview beta, with the expanded beta arriving for all other iCloud users later this year. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Apple introduced a new music streaming service dubbed iTunes Radio designed to compete with the likes of Spotify, Pandora, and Google Play Music All Access at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. The service will function across iOS and OS X devices and comes backed with some of Apple’s old music industry friends, including Sony, Warner, and Universal Music. The service bears the most similarity to Pandora, in that its focus is on streaming radio stations rather than a massive catalog for curating into playlists, a la Spotify. If Apple intends to steal share from Pandora, it faces an uphill battle. 58 percent of respondents to a survey by the NPD Group showed that they were aware of Spotify, and half of those claim to use the service regularly. 30 percent of Pandora listeners use an iPhone to access the service. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Amidst a slew of other announcements on Monday at WWDC, Apple also debuted iWork for iCloud, a new online document collaboration tool, and will include Pages, Keynote and Numbers. At first blush, iWork for iCloud seems very similar to Google Drive or Microsoft Office 365. Roger Rosner, an Apple vice president, told the assembled faithful that the new online tool for the much-maligned iCloud is available “starting today” as a developer preview beta version. He also demoed editing a Keynote document in a browser, on a Windows 8 machine. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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A new version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 7, was announced at the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The release will feature, among a number of changes, a departure from the bubbly, skeuomorphic design that has prevailed on both iOS and OS X for the last several years in favor of flatter, more angular design elements influenced by Apple's senior vice president of industrial design, Jony Ive. The most front-facing part of the OS, the home screen, now has app icons that lack the dimension and gloss effect of previous versions. Design elements within the icon, like the musical note within the Music app icon, appear as a flat design flush with the background rather than a cutout like before. iOS 7 isn't doing away completely with dimensionality, as some text elements shown in the intro video still feature embossing, and Ive emphasized that the OS focuses on "depth and vitality." Many of the skeuomorphic touches are also gone from the OS, such as the textured paper in the iBooks app and the leather-bound elements in the Calendar app. Of the Game Center redesign, Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, stated, "we just ran out of green felt." Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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It's going to cost you $499. The details weren't necessarily expected today—Ars Gaming Editor Kyle Orland wasn't counting on them, for instance—but Microsoft's new Xbox One now has a release window and a price. The console debuts this November for $499, €499, or £429, depending on your region, and it will be available in 21 markets at launch. In other monetary news, Microsoft has killed its proprietary "Microsoft Points" system used to purchase some online content and will replace it with a real-money system. Read on Ars Technica | Comments
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Nearly a year after Tim Cook promised long-suffering Mac Pro users "something great" in 2013, Apple has finally announced a major update to its line of workstation computers. The new Mac Pro brings upgraded internal components, and it has also been redesigned for the first time since its introduction in 2006. Apple's Phil Schiller said that Apple wanted to do something a little bit different with the new box and design something that would last for years to come. The new tower appears to come in a sleek, reflective cylindrical case that's looks absolutely tiny next to a current-gen Mac Pro—it's 1/8 the volume. The CPU, memory, and graphics are all built around a unified "thermal core," sounding a bit like the older Cube Mac. The box will feature up to 12-core Xeon CPUs and 1866MHz DDR-3 RAM. It will also feature a PCIe-based flash drive, which Apple says will deliver 1.25Gbps reads and 1Gbps writes. The box will also include the updated Thunderbolt bus, Thunderbolt 2. The cylindrical computer will also come standard with two workstation-class ATI FirePro GPUs, each with 384-bit memory busses and 528Gbps of memory bandwidth. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Apple today refreshed its line of networking products with support for the 802.11ac Wi-Fi protocol that promises to make Gigabit per second bandwidth far more common. 802.11ac also made its way into the new MacBook Air, so it's no surprise to see 802.11ac in Apple's Wi-Fi base stations. The update applies to the AirPort Extreme and the Time Capsule, the latter of which includes either 2TB or 3TB of storage. (Apple did not mention the cheaper AirPort Express during its keynote.) The improved bandwidth will benefit applications such as video streaming, file transfers, and wireless backups from Macs to the Time Capsule. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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As expected, Apple took advantage of the spotlight at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) this morning to refresh its thin-and-light MacBook Air laptops with the latest Intel processors. The new computers retain the same basic design the laptops have had since their 2010 refresh. Intel's new CPUs (codenamed Haswell) are the new laptops' biggest internal upgrade, and the processors' new integrated GPUs should provide a fair-sized boost to graphics performance. Apple promised up to 40 percent faster graphics and smarter low-power states. Both the 11-inch and 13-inch models ship with a 1.3GHz Intel Core i5-4250U, which includes Intel's new HD 5000 GPU. If those lower base CPU clock speeds make you worry that this year's Airs will be significantly slower than last year's 1.7GHz CPUs, keep two things in mind: first, the CPUs can still use Intel's Turbo Boost speeds to ramp up to 2.6 GHz, helping to offset the lower base speeds for short bursts of activity. Haswell's CPU architecture is also slightly more efficient than Ivy Bridge's at the same clock speed, which helps to close the gap slightly. Those of you who absolutely need faster CPUs will have the opportunity to upgrade the high-end versions of both models to faster Core i7s with the same HD 5000 GPU. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Apple today unveiled OS X 10.9 at its Worldwide Developers Conference, showing off the first major revision of the Mac's operating system since last year's Mountain Lion. Apple has apparently run out of cat names and is now naming releases after places in California. First up, the new OS X is named "Mavericks." OS X 10.9 continues the trend of bringing iPhone- and iPad-like features onto Apple's desktops. Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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The revamped Xbox 360 hardware. Andrew Cunningham/Ars Technica While the upcoming Xbox One formed the core of Microsoft's E3 presentation today, the company didn't forget the somewhat long-in-the-tooth Xbox 360 in its remarks. In fact, the company has given the almost eight-year-old console a new look and has announced new games and some new benefits for Xbox Gold subscribers. The new design is inspired by, and similar to, the styling of the Xbox One. Microsoft says that it will be available immediately. Xbox Live Gold subscribers will also get some extra perks. As previously announced, Xbox Live subscriptions will carry over to the Xbox One. Anyone buying a subscription from July 1 will be given two free downloadable games per month, with Assassin's Creed 2 and Halo 3 both on offer. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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A frame of Timelapse's view of the growth of Las Vegas, Nevada. Google, USGS In May, Google unveiled Earth Engine, a set of technologies and services that combine Google's existing global mapping capabilities with decades of historical satellite data from both NASA and the US Geological Survey (USGS). One of the first products emerging from Earth Engine is Timelapse—a Web-based view of changes on the Earth's surface over the past three decades, published in collaboration with Time magazine. The "Global Timelapse" images are also viewable through the Earth Engine site, which allows you to pan and zoom to any location on the planet and watch 30 years of change, thanks to 66 million streaming video tiles. The result is "an incontrovertible description of what's happened on our planet due to urban growth, climate change, et cetera," said Google Vice President of Research and Special Initiatives Alfred Spector. But that's just the surface of what Google has created with Earth Engine. In an exclusive interview with Ars Technica, Spector and Google Visiting Scientist Randy Sargent drilled down on how Google, using software developed by Sargent's team at Carnegie Mellon University's CREATE Lab, has generated what amounts to an animated 108 terapixel time-lapse portrait of the planet. Here's how the company did it. Read 17 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Comcast is transforming its customers' home modems into public Wi-Fi hotspots by adding a second signal to each device. In addition to a customer's home Wi-Fi connection, Xfinity wireless gateways (which include the cable modem and wireless router) will by default broadcast a separate signal that other Comcast subscribers can log in to with a Comcast username and password. Comcast described the program today, saying that it has already been piloted in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Northern Virginia, and the Greater Washington, DC metro area. "Comcast’s newest Wireless Gateway broadcasts two Wi-Fi signals," the company said. "By default, one is securely configured for the private use of the home subscriber. The second is a neighborhood 'xfinitywifi' network signal that can be shared. This creates an extension of the Xfinity Wi-Fi network and will allow visiting Xfinity Internet subscribers to sign in and connect using their own usernames and passwords." Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Apple is all but certain to announce a streaming music service at its Worldwide Developers Conference today in San Francisco, per a report from the Wall Street Journal. A second report from the paper confirms some details about the next version of iOS, iOS 7, which will be the centerpiece announcement for Tim Cook’s keynote speech. “iRadio,” as the service has been unofficially nicknamed, will be supported by text and audio ads as well “Buy” buttons place alongside the track in progress to drive sales, say the WSJ. There have been no rumors of a paid tier, unlike those of Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, Google Play Music All Access, and similar competitors. The WSJ indicates that talks about starting a streaming service at Apple started over a year ago, around the time Spotify announced that it was coming to the US (Sean Parker indicated that Apple tried tacitly to prevent it from crossing over from Europe). The announcement of Google’s own streaming music service reportedly reinvigorated Apple’s discussions, pushing them to bring the service to light at WWDC. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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AT&T yesterday announced that customers must now wait 24 months before becoming eligible to buy new phones at subsidized prices. Previously, customers could upgrade at reduced rates with the signing of a new contract 20 months after their previous phone purchase. Verizon recently switched from 20 to 24 months as well. The new 24-month policy will take effect at AT&T for contracts expiring in March 2014 or later. There is still an early upgrade option, of a sort. "Once you’ve completed six months or more of your Service Commitment, you qualify for partial discount off the full retail price when you sign a new two-year wireless agreement," AT&T said. AT&T today also announced that it is bringing push-to-talk capabilities to the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S for corporate customers, saying it's "the first time a US carrier is offering push-to-talk capabilities on iPhone." The push-to-talk capability will work over cellular or Wi-Fi and will be sold as an app directly to business customers. AT&T's push-to-talk was already available on a variety of devices including the Samsung Galaxy S III, other Samsung phones, some BlackBerrys, and a few ruggedized phones. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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