If you’re planning an HDTV purchase this fall (or looking ahead to one this winter), keep an eye out for two emerging technologies. 1080p is now everywhere, LCD HDTVs are taking over, and 40-inch displays are evolving into the new sweet spot. But new sets slated for this fall and winter are will be among the first mainstream displays to incorporate several new technologies that can significantly improve picture quality.
Samsung, for example, recently showed off its latest lines of LCD HDTVs due out in August. One line sports a 120-Hz refresh rate–double the 60 Hz of standard LCD TVs–which makes for sharper fast-moving images. Another line uses LED backlights, which dramatically boost contrast and allow for a wider range of colors.
Both technologies should be available from a wide variety of vendors this fall, including LG Electronics, Philips, and Sharp. And as these enhancements make their way into more and more TVs, the price difference between standard LCD TVs and these newer models should shrink rapidly. Here’s a look at Samsung’s plans for 120-Hz HDTVs and LED backlighting, and why you might want to wait for a television that makes use of either technology.
120-Hz Displays
Momentum behind 120 Hz has been building since early this year. JVC was among the first vendors to ship a 120-Hz display, and Sharp’s Aquos D82U and D92U series televisions began shipping back in February. This summer, Philips, LG, and Samsung all announced their respective 120-Hz technologies, with products coming by this fall.
At 120 Hz, the television’s refresh rate is double the previous standard rate for displaying video content. By doing so, it can smooth out any residual motion blur that results from fast-moving action found in such content as sports and a scrolling news ticker on the bottom of the screen. Video content is filmed at 30 frames per second, which means such content is best shown at 60 Hz or 120 Hz.
Samsung showed a split-screen demonstration of its 120-Hz technology at an event here in San Francisco, with one side showing the 120-Hz technology, and the other side showing 60 Hz. The difference between the two was noticeable: At 120 Hz, the ticker moved more smoothly and fast-moving video appeared sharper.
The 71 series displays that Samsung is launching in August use a technology called McFi–short for Motion Compensated Frame Interpolation–to create new interpolated video frames and insert them between each frame of video to smooth out fast motion. Samsung’s technology looks for any movement, then it creates an average of those movements to insert a frame in between them. Other HDTV makers insert a black frame in between frames, an approach Samsung claims fixes the motion-blur issue, but degrade the panel’s brightness.
LED Backlighting
If you’re less concerned about fast-moving images, a display with an LED backlight may be more to your liking. The big advantage to LED-backlit TVs is improved contrast ratio. Samsung says its 81 series of displays can automatically adjust the backlight for specific parts of the picture, depending upon the source content. This allows the display to achieve deeper blacks and crisper whites than can be achieved with the Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp technology (CCFL) traditionally used by LCD HDTVs.
In CCFL, the tubes light up the back of the display; those tubes can be all on, or all off, and they allow some degree of light leakage. But LED backlighting allows a greater degree of control, which enables Samsung to claim a dynamic contrast ratio of 100,000:1, a four times improvement over its CCFL displays.
Price Premiums
While 120-Hz displays won’t be that much more expensive than standard 1080p displays are today, you will pay a premium for an LED backlit display. The 40-inch model in Samsung’s 120-Hz 71 series line should retail for $2699 when it ships in August, for example, while Samsung’s 40-inch LED backlit model from the 81 series will go for $2999.
At least with TVs in that price range, other key HDTV technologies have become standard. A year ago, 1080p resolutions were still a rarity–and available in to higher-end models only. As we head into the fall, 1080p is de rigueur on HDTVs at sizes of 40 inches and up. Samsung, for example, will have only three non-1080p models going forward in that size range. HDMI 1.3 is also getting more pervasive across a wide spectrum of LCD (and for that matter, plasma) displays.
P.S.
High-definition television (HDTV) is a digital television broadcasting system with a significantly higher resolution than traditional formats (NTSC, SECAM, PAL). While some early analog HDTV formats were broadcast in Europe and Japan, HDTV is usually broadcast digitally, because digital television (DTV) broadcasting requires much less bandwidth. HDTV technology was first introduced in the US during the 1990s by a group of electronics companies called the Digital HDTV Grand Alliance.
Advantages of HDTV in nonengineering terms
High-definition television (HDTV) potentially offers a much better picture quality than standard television. HD’s greater clarity means the picture on screen can be less blurred and less fuzzy. HD also brings other benefits such as smoother motion, richer and more natural colors, surround sound, and the ability to allow a variety of input devices to work together. However, there are a variety of reasons why the best HD quality is not usually achieved. The main problem is a lack of HD input. Many cable and satellite channels and even some “high definition” channels are not broadcast in true HD. Also, image quality may be lost if the television is not properly connected to the input device or not properly configured for the input’s optimal performance.
Almost all commercially available HD is digital, so the system cannot produce a snowy or washed out image from a weak signal, effects from signal interference, such as herringbone patterns, or vertical rolling. HD digital signals will either deliver an excellent picture, a picture with noticeable pixelation, a series of still pictures, or no picture at all. Any interference will render the signal unwatchable. As opposed to a lower-quality signal one gets from interference in an analogue television broadcast, interference in a digital television broadcast will freeze, skip, or display “garbage” information.
With HDTV the lack of imperfections in the television screen often seen on traditional television is another reason why many prefer high definition to analog. As mentioned, problems such as snow caused from a weak signal, double images from ghosting or multi-path and picture sparkles from impulse noise are a thing of the past. These problems often seen on a conventional television broadcast just do not occur on HDTV.
HD programming and films will be presented in 16:9 widescreen format (although films created in even wider ratios will still display “letterbox” bars on the top and bottom of even 16:9 sets.) Older films and programming that retain their 4:3 ratio display will be presented in a version of letterbox commonly called “pillar box,” displaying bars on the right and left of 16:9 sets (rendering the term “fullscreen” a misnomer). While this is an advantage when it comes to playing 16:9 movies, it creates the same disadvantage when playing 4:3 television shows that standard televisions have playing 16:9 movies. A way to address this is to zoom the 4:3 image to fill the screen or reframe its material to 14:9 aspect ratio, either during preproduction or manually in the TV set.
The colors will generally look more realistic, due to their greater bandwidth. The visual information is about 2-5 times more detailed overall. The gaps between scanning lines are smaller or invisible. Legacy TV content that was shot and preserved on 35 mm film can now be viewed at nearly the same resolution as that at which it was originally photographed. A good analogy for television quality is looking through a window. HDTV offers a degree of clarity that is much closer to this.
The “i” in these numbers stands for “interlaced” while the “p” stands for “progressive”. With interlaced scan, the 1,080 lines are split into two, the first 540 being “painted” on a frame, followed by the second 540 painted on another frame. This method reduces the bandwidth and raises the frame rate to 50-60 per second. A progressive scan displays all 1,080 lines at the same time at 60 frames per second, using more bandwidth. (See: An explanation of HDTV numbers and laymens glossary)
Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is broadcast along with standard HDTV video signals, allowing full surround sound capabilities. (Standard broadcast television signals usually only include monophonic or stereophonic audio. Stereo broadcasts can be encoded with Dolby Surround, an early home video surround format.) Both designs make more efficient use of electricity than SDTV designs of equivalent size, which can mean lower operating costs. LCD is a leader in energy conservation.
Mozilla may separate from Thunderbird, its stand-alone e-mail client, the company’s CEO has disclosed.
In a posting to her blog Wednesday, CEO Mitchell Baker said that Mozilla’s first priority is, and will continue to be, its open-source browser, Firefox. “As a result, Mozilla doesn’t focus on Thunderbird as much as we do browsing and Firefox and we don’t expect this to change in the foreseeable future,” said Baker.
Thunderbird’s community, which includes a large number of unpaid programmers, should be cut loose “to determine its own destiny,” she said.
The e-mail app, which was just updated to version 2.0.0.5 last week, is Mozilla’s answer to Microsoft Outlook and Entourage, and other stand-alone e-mailers such as Mail, which is bundled with Mac OS X. Like Firefox, it’s free to download, and comes in editions for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
A Choice of Fates
Baker laid out three possible fates for Thunderbird, including creating a new non-profit organization similar to the Mozilla Foundation to focus on the e-mail program; building a new subsidiary of the Foundation just for Thunderbird; and releasing Thunderbird into the wild as a community-only project. The latter was the path taken by SeaMonkey, the name for what was once called Mozilla Suite, when the latter was dropped by Mozilla in 2005.
“We don’t know the best answer yet,” Baker said. “And we don’t expect to without a broad public discussion and involvement.”
From the comments left on Baker’s blog, that discussion may not be polite.
“I see it as a bad idea for the Mozilla ecosystem as a whole,” said a user identified only as Dean. “Already there have been misgivings from some developers about the Foundation/Corporation’s dedication to Mozilla as a platform.”
“This is a crazy,” said another used, tagged as Benoit.
Some Backing
Others, however, backed Baker, and took up sides on which option would be the best for the e-mail program. Scott MacGregor and David Bienvenu, the Mozilla employees who lead Thunderbird development efforts, voted for option No. 3. “We believe, creating a separate independent company focused on the Thunderbird mission is the best way for us to take care of our users, while having the most flexibility to grow and support our mission,” said MacGregor in an entry at his own blog. “Our vision is to create an independent company responsible for developing future versions of Thunderbird.”
Although neither Baker or MacGregor mentioned Web-based mail in their missives, users weren’t as hesitant to blame the likes of Gmail, Windows Live Mail and other free online services for Thunderbird’s woes. One in particular put it succinctly: “I don’t know what I’ll be using in a couple of years but my safest bet would be some other Web mail application and not a desktop e-mail client,” said a user who called himself John Q Public.
Mitchell did not hint at a timetable for making a decision or when internal Thunderbird development and support would stop. Likewise, Mozilla did not comment on those issues or what, if any, impact Baker’s message will have on Thunderbird 3.0, a major update that until today presumably was still in the works.
Mozilla to push Thunderbird out of the nest
In a blog entry written yesterday, Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker discusses plans to create a new organizational structure for Thunderbird so that Mozilla can focus exclusively on the Firefox web browser.
Thunderbird 2.0 flies the coop
Mozilla’s CEO is concerned that the organization can’t give Thunderbird the attention it needs without degrading its efforts to continue building and supporting the Firefox ecosystem. The top priority, Baker says, should be “delivering the web, mostly through browsing and related services.” What Thunderbird needs now, according to Baker, is “a separate organization focused on Thunderbird [that] will both be able to move independently and will need to do so to deepen community and user involvement.”
Mozilla wants to give the Thunderbird project more autonomy and create an independent organizational structure that is better equipped to the needs of the Thunderbird community. Baker hopes that placing the responsibility for managing Thunderbird in the hands of an independent body will create new potential for innovation and help the project achieve broader community involvement.
In order to facilitate public discussion, Baker articulates the benefits and challenges of three potential organizational models. Mozilla could create a nonprofit Thunderbird Foundation, establish a subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation just for Thunderbird, or push Thunderbird back into the community and help the Thunderbird developers create their own independent services and consulting company.
Commercial software companies tend to broaden their focus and expand vertically into other markets as they grow, but Mozilla is moving in the other direction and increasingly embracing greater specialization. On the surface, Mozilla’s decision to spin-off Thunderbird as an independent project may seem counterintuitive, but when one takes a closer look at the community dynamics and the relationship between Firefox and Mozilla, the reasoning begins to make more sense. Mozilla—both the foundation and the corporation—exists to serve as a vehicle for moving development forward by coordinating the efforts of a globally dispersed community, and interfacing with other organizations and corporate entities that have a vested interest in empowering Mozilla to achieve its goals or leveraging the resulting technologies.
Baker recognizes that, despite considerable overlap in agenda and underlying technology, Thunderbird and Firefox both have their own distinct communities with very different needs. Nothing of tangible relevance is gained by maintaining both projects within the same organizational infrastructure, and nothing is lost by pushing Thunderbird out of the nest, especially since an independent Thunderbird would likely still have access to Mozilla’s considerable financial resources. Mozilla is already providing funding to other closely aligned external projects that are leveraging Mozilla technologies and there is nothing that would preclude similar provision of funding for Thunderbird.
Establishing a separate foundation or creating a Mozilla subsidiary for Thunderbird would increase the flexibility of both projects by allowing them to each focus on their own agendas, operate in a manner most conducive to their own individual growth, and establish their own partnerships with external organizations. Mozilla has ensured a sufficient level of transparency in the process of organizational transition by starting the debate out in the open and involving the community. I think we can look forward to seeing exciting new opportunities for Thunderbird emerge as it becomes independent and flies out of the nest.
PlayStation 2 the most-played console in June
Microsoft’s original Xbox took second place, according to Nielsen research
NEW YORK - More than 68 million people played video games on a console last month, spending much of it on Sony Corp.’s older PlayStation 2, according to Nielsen research.
Seven years after its launch, Sony’s PS2 was still the most-played console, accounting for 42 percent of video game use during the month. Microsoft’s original Xbox took second place with 17 percent, followed by the Xbox 360 with 8 percent.
The numbers suggest that older machines remain popular despite last November’s high-profile debut of Nintendo Co.’s Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 3, which had 4 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively. Nintendo’s GameCube ranked fourth with 5.8 percent.
Nielsen GamePlay Metrics has started tracking video game activity using data from Nielsen’s existing sample of TV viewers.
Nielsen Co.’s sample includes more than 12,000 U.S. households with about 33,000 individuals.
Nielsen also found that households that own the Nintendo Wii are more likely to earn more than $100,000 a year.
And summer break has meant kids play video games later: in April, the Wii’s peak usage hour was 5 p.m., during the summer, it’s at 8 p.m.
…And.. By the way:
Sony cuts PlayStation 3 price by $100
And announces new $599, 80 GB model coming in August
Sony Corp. slashed the price of its current PlayStation 3 by $100, or 16.7 percent, and introduced a high-capacity model in an effort to spur sales of the struggling video game console.
Starting Monday, the current 60 gigabyte model will cost $499, down from $599.
The Japanese electronics maker also said it is introducing a new version of the PlayStation 3 with a bigger hard drive for storing downloaded content such as video games and high-definition movies.
The new PS3 increases the system’s storage capacity to 80 gigabytes from 60 gigabytes and also includes a retail copy of the online racing title “MotorStorm,” a company spokesman said. It will be priced at $599.
The larger capacity machine won’t be available in the United States and Canada until August.
It plays into the company’s upcoming strategy of eventually offering downloaded high-definition movies, video games, movie trailers and demos, Sony spokesman David Karraker said.
Karraker said further details on high-def movies for download would be released at a later date.
The announcement comes two days before the E3 Media & Business Summit in Santa Monica, Calif., where dozens of industry heavyweights including Sony rivals Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. are expected to show off their latest games and related products.
Sony has said it sold 3.6 million PS3s in the fiscal year ending March 31 and expects to sell another 11 million in the current fiscal year. Microsoft said in its most recent quarterly earnings report filed in April that it had shipped 11 million Xbox 360s.
Nintendo, meanwhile, claims it has sold nearly 6 million Wiis worldwide as of March 31, and more than 40 million Nintendo DS handhelds. The company has predicted it will sell another 14 million Wiis and 22 million additional DS systems by the end of the current fiscal year.
The Wii and PS3 were released within days of each other late last year. Microsoft had a head start in the current generation of consoles, having launched its Xbox 360 in 2005. Last week, the software company announced an extension of the warranty due to the high number of systems suffering from hardware failure, also called the “red ring of death.”
In April, Microsoft began selling a version of its Xbox 360 with a 120-gigabyte hard drive and a souped up high-definition video connection. Called Xbox 360 Elite, the black-colored system sells for $479.99.
Xbox gamers who already own the $399.99 20-gigabyte model can buy a snap-on 120-gigabyte hard drive for $179.99.
Karraker said Sony would use the E3 show to focus on two areas: ways to increase the number of consumers who own PS3s and other products such as the PlayStation Portable handheld system, and expanding the system’s library of available games.
He said Sony would be releasing 100 new video games during the current fiscal year, including 15 titles that are exclusive to the PS3 such as the hack-and-slash action title “Heavenly Sword.”
The seventh and final book in the boy-wizard series was released at one minute past midnight, British time, on Saturday, and in the age of instant reaction and online blogs, newspapers wanted an opinion in time for editions the same morning.
The British version is 608 pages long, meaning critics were forced to race through the pages to meet their deadlines, as newspapers received no advance review copies.
Several relied on versions leaked on the Internet or hard copies appearing mysteriously pre-publication, and even those who made it into Saturday’s papers knew they had lost the race.
When the New York Times and the Baltimore Sun ran reviews on Thursday, author J.K. Rowling was furious. Readers of the latter could argue that it heavily hinted at the answer to the most burning question of all — does Harry die at the end?
Mainstream media broadly avoided spoilers on Saturday, although the Daily Telegraph’s online review featured a separate link to a plot synopsis containing many big secrets.
But most critics agreed that the hype surrounding the blockbuster book was justified.
Britain’s bestselling daily Sun tabloid employed speed-reading champion Anne Jones to write its review. She took just 47 minutes and one second to read the U.S. version, but still had time to conclude:
“Without being too critical, the plot does seem to be a bit complicated, but I would not change a word. ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ is a real page-turner.”
ENDS WITH A BANG
Kate Muir, reviewer for the Times of London, also admitted to speed-reading the book, but was impressed nonetheless.
“This chest-crusher of a book ends the Harry Potter series with a bang,” she said. “The plot hatched over 17 years of writing clicks into place, loose ends interlocking, all as complex as a magical lock at Hogwarts Castle.”
Muir, like others, peppered her review with references to older literary traditions, including Arthurian and Greek myth, and remarked that evil Voldemort’s methods were reminiscent of the Nazi Holocaust.
Her main complaint was that some passages were a “bit of a snooze unless you are a Potter-junkie.”
Mary Carole McCauley of the Baltimore Sun, one of two reviewers to draw Rowling’s ire two days before publication, argued that the plot was probably too complicated, despite praising many other aspects of the book.
“That’s 10 distinctly different magical objects, all with their own significance,” she wrote. “Trying to keep them all straight is not unlike searching for the golden snitch in a hotly contested game of Quidditch.”
The New York Times was glowing in its praise.
“Ms. Rowling has fitted together the jigsaw-puzzle pieces of this long undertaking with Dickensian ingenuity and ardor,” it said in its pre-publication review.
Harry Potter - the fastest-selling book ever
The seventh and final volume in the Harry Potter series has become the fastest selling book in history, publishers said on Monday, with more than 11 million copies sold during the first 24 hours in three markets alone.
U.S. sales of the eagerly awaited “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” hit 8.3 million, comfortably beating the previous Potter installment, which posted sales of 6.9 million copies in the first day, U.S. publisher Scholastic announced.
In Britain, Bloomsbury sold a record 2.7 million copies of the final Potter book in the first 24 hours, up from 2.0 million for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”.
The same company also announced nearly 400,000 copies of the English language edition of J.K. Rowling’s story were bought in Germany over the same period.
Thousands of Potter fans queued outside book stores in major cities around the world over the weekend to get hold of the book, which answers the questions on every reader’s lips — ‘Who dies at the end?’ and in particular, ‘Does Harry survive?’
In India, police said on Monday they seized hundreds of pirated copies of the cover of “Deathly Hallows” after raiding a printing press, storage depot and private home in Bangalore.
Internet versions of the book also surfaced last week and two U.S. newspapers ran reviews before publication, but it was not enough to dampen enthusiasm for the last chapter of the boy wizard’s increasingly bloody fight against the forces of evil.
Lisa Holton, president of Scholastic Trade and Book Fairs, likened the weekend excitement in the United States to the hysteria that greeted the Beatles’ first visit to the country.
“This weekend kids and adults alike are sitting on buses, in the park, on airplanes and in restaurants reading ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’,” she said in a statement.
Barnes & Noble Inc., the world’s largest book retailer, sold 1.8 million copies of “Deathly Hallows” in the first 48 hours, while Borders Group Inc. sold around 1.2 million worldwide in a single day, both records for the outlets.
“This isn’t the end of Harry Potter by any means,” said Steve Riggio, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “Barnes & Noble expects to sell millions of Harry Potter books over the next few years.”
RAVE REVIEWS
Reviews of “Deathly Hallows” have been almost universally glowing, noting the darker tone of book seven in which several characters die. Critical reaction to the previous six Potter tales, which sold 325 million copies worldwide, has been mixed.
Rowling, 41, is likely to see her fortune swell further over the coming years. She is estimated to be worth 545 million pounds ($1.12 billion) already, making her the first dollar-billionaire author.
In addition to the books, the first five Hollywood adaptations of her Harry Potter stories have amassed around $4 billion at the global box office. The final film in the franchise is slated for release in 2010.
“After 608 crammed pages, it’s still hard to believe it really is the end of the road for Harry,” said Henry Sutton, books editor for the Daily Mirror tabloid in Britain.
He believes that the epilogue at the end of book seven means there is “no possible return” for the Harry Potter saga, although not everyone agrees.
Hours after the release of “Deathly Hallows”, Ladbrokes bookmakers cut their odds on an eighth Potter tale to 10/1 from 16/1, following a flurry of bets.
Sell it and they’ll come…in droves, apparently, which makes Nintendo president Satoru Iwata’s contention last week that the Wii could someday surpass the PS2’s global sales of 100 million slightly more plausible. According to a New York Times article today (via GamePro), majors like Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and Activision are finally backpedaling on their initial “but it’s just not powerful enough!” dismissal of Nintendo’s little-console-that-could and embracing a counterintuitive comeback that continues to surprise even Nintendo stalwarts.
What’s really crazy? The Wii sold (and continues to sell) like gangbusters despite initially lukewarm media coverage and noncommittal developers and publishers. Nintendo’s where it’s at on its own steam, in other words, which is pretty remarkable when you consider the momentum both Sony and Microsoft had going in. Heck, the Wii doesn’t even have that many apps yet, and the one everyone tends to play the most comes with the base system for free. Just imagine how things might look sales-wise today if EA, Ubi, and Activision had the courage of Nintendo’s convictions to stand up and lead back in November, instead of sidling along in mega-millions sequel-vision behind Sony and Microsoft.
To be fair, don’t assume anyone’s “seen the light” just yet. The Gamecube did well out of the gate (not this well, of course) but it still tanked in the end. And there’s nothing stopping Sony or Microsoft from cheaply adopting the Wii’s kinetic approach with new peripherals and Wii-like games. There’s absolutely nothing wrong, paradigm or business-wise, with getting behind a competitor’s good ideas if the rest of the public’s giving it the big thumbs up. We’re the deciders, after all, right?
(Prediction: If the Wii’s still outselling the PS3 and Xbox 360 this time next year and after Sony and MS unleash their holiday game salvo, you’d better believe we’ll be seeing major price cuts and “casual” peripheral adoption — never mind the only kind-of interesting SIXAXIS controller, Sony’s Playstation Eye could hit a grand slam with the right developers…)
As for this latest realigning, money talks (innovation walks) and you have to assume someone simply woke up and smelled the honey pot. According to chairman and CEO of Foundation 9 Entertaiment Jon Goldman, “Publishers are saying: Instead of spending $15 million or $20 million on one PS3 game, come back to me with five or six Wii pitches.” That’s because (a) games take far less time to create on the Wii — 12 months versus two to three years for the competition, (b) it costs roughly $5 million per game in development scratch versus $10 to $20 million for a typical Xbox 360 or PS3 game, and (c) the Wii has been outselling every system except its own handheld DS Lite since November 2006, i.e. some eight or so solid months of market growth.
Think about it. Cheaper games, cheaper hardware, more games, more creative game ideas, and no need to go out and drop thousands of dollars on an overblown, probably underused HDTV or cable-up your living room with surround sound and potentially thousands of dollars of miscellaneous junk. Nothing wrong with that, but those of you who care about all the extras that unlock the “true” audio/visual value of the Xbox 360 and PS3 represent a niche (and quite possibly always will as video/audio-phile technology evolves).
There’s a reason the DS Lite, a considerably underpowered game system, has been rocking the socks off everyone by enormous margins since it debuted in June 2006. Everyone needs to take a page from Electronic Arts’ macho sports slogan, and remember: “It’s in the game.” And yep, it really is.
Adds THQ executive vice president Kelly Flock: “The Wii is a godsend. We are aggressively looking for more Wii titles.”
So are we Kelly, so are we.
In Battle of Consoles, Nintendo Gains Allies
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — In the competition among the makers of video game consoles, momentum is building for the Wii from Nintendo among its crucial allies: game developers and publishers.
Inspired by the early success of the Wii, the companies that create and distribute games are beginning to shift resources and personnel toward building more Wii games, in some cases at the expense of the competing systems: the PlayStation 3 from Sony and Xbox 360 from Microsoft.
The shift is closely watched because consumers tend to favor systems that have many compelling games. More resources diverted to the Wii would mean more games, and that would translate into more consumers buying Wii consoles later.
Jon Goldman, chairman and chief executive of Foundation 9 Entertainment, an independent game development company, said that he was hearing a growing call for Wii games from the publishers and distributors that finance the games that his firm creates. “Publishers are saying: Instead of spending $15 million or $20 million on one PS3 game, come back to me with five or six Wii pitches,” he said.
“We had one meeting two weeks ago with a publisher that was asking for Wii games,” said Mr. Goldman, who declined to identify the video game publisher that he met. “Three or four months ago, they didn’t want to hear Word 1 about the Wii.”
Nintendo said that titles would be coming from several major developers, like Activision and Ubisoft, that are making an enhanced commitment to the platform.
The interest in the Wii follows a period of uncertainty about the console by developers and publishers. They were initially cautious because the Wii was less technologically sophisticated, and they worried that consumers would not take to its unorthodox game play, which uses a motion-controlled wand that players move to direct action on the screen. For example, to serve balls in the tennis game, players circle their arms overhead as they would in real tennis.
History gave developers and publishers reason for caution, too. Nintendo’s last system, the GameCube, was initially a hot seller, but was ultimately outsold — and by a considerable margin — by the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Also, Nintendo has historically made many of the popular games for its own systems, in a way that has discouraged heavy participation by other developers and publishers.
The shift does not represent any shunning of the Xbox or Sony consoles, but rather an elevation of the Wii’s status — one that was clear in many conversations with developers and publishers at E3, the video game industry’s annual trade show in Santa Monica, Calif.
It is early in the current console product cycle, given that these machines are intended to be on the market for more than five years. Industry analysts say they do not expect to declare a victor anytime soon. Nevertheless, the trend is clear: Nintendo is getting growing support from game developers.
“We’re seeing a big shift at E3,” said John Davison, editorial director of 1UP Network, a network of video game Web sites and magazines, “and we’ll see more later this year.” He said he was seeing some game publishers putting less emphasis on the PlayStation 3. “But they’re not going to talk about that,” he added.
Since its first appearance in stores in November, the Wii has been outselling the Xbox 360 and PS3, which came out the same month, and it continues to be in short supply. The NPD Group, a market research firm, reported that as of May, Americans had purchased 2.8 million Wii systems, compared with 1.4 million PS3s. About 5.6 million Xbox 360 consoles have sold, but it hit the market a year earlier.
The Wii has clearly benefited from a price advantage; it costs $250, compared with $300 for the least-expensive Xbox 360 and $479 for the top-of-the-line machine. The PS3 sells for $500, after a price cut by Sony to clear inventory in advance of the Christmas selling season, when its new $600 device will be offered. Microsoft has been hampered of late by widespread product failures, and the company said it would spend $1.15 billion to repair individual machines.
While the growing size of the Wii’s customer base is attractive, developers are favoring Wii for other reasons. They are able to create games in less time than is needed for rival systems, because Wii’s graphics are less complex.
Colin Sebastian, a video game industry analyst with Lazard Capital Markets, said that in rough terms, it cost around $5 million to develop a game for the Wii compared with $10 million to $20 million to make a game for the Xbox 360 or PS3. Mr. Sebastian said that given the cost differences, a developer would need to sell 300,000 copies of a Wii game to break even, compared with 600,000 of a game for the PS3 or Xbox 360.
“Wii development costs certainly are cheaper than the other consoles,” said Scott A. Steinberg, a vice president for marketing at the game developer Sega of America. The company has a number of original Wii projects under development and uses 15 to 25 programmers to develop a Wii title, compared with 50 or more for a PS3 or Xbox 360 game.
Because of its simpler graphics, development times for Wii games are also shorter. A Wii game can be created in as little as 12 months, said Kelly Flock, executive vice president for worldwide publishing at THQ, a video game developer based in Agoura Hills, Calif. Games for the two competing consoles typically take two to three years.
He said that the budget for a Wii game ranges from $1.5 million to $4 million, compared with the $10 million to $12 million the company spends on a PS3 or Xbox 360 game.
“The Wii is a godsend,” Mr. Flock said. “We are aggressively looking for more Wii titles.”
By this holiday season, Nintendo will have added 100 games to its existing 60 titles. Sony has said that it will double the number of titles for the PS3 to 120 by the end of March, while Microsoft said it would have 300 titles for the Xbox 360 by the Christmas selling season. “I don’t think you’ll see any big shifts to one platform because you’re supporting so many,” said Kathy Vrabeck, president of the casual entertainment division of Electronic Arts. That said, she added that there had been a clear shift in mood at the company toward the Wii.
“There is a clear sense of excitement about the Wii at E.A.,” she said.
George Harrison, Nintendo’s senior vice president for marketing, said, “Electronic Arts is doing much more for us than they have in the past.”
Sony counters that, to some extent, Wii developers, publishers and game players will get what they pay for: games with less-complex graphics.
“There is some truth to the fact that you can make games for Wii for less than the PS3,” said Peter Dille, senior vice president for marketing at Sony. “But we still believe that our job is to develop big-budget games.”
The $300 Linux-Powered iPhone Killer Arrives
After seemingly endless delays, the OpenMoko phone is here. The first version of the NEO 1973 mobile phone, which carries the Linux kernel inside and is not locked to a specific network, is available for purchase from OpenMoko.com. It’s not as jaw-droppingly pretty as the iPhone, but it shares a design philosophy — no buttons, just a screen — and it’s ready to be loaded with any number of open-source software applications. (Though, according to Gadget Lab, so is the iPhone).
The base version of the NEO sells for $300. It has a 2.8″ VGA touch screen, a micro SD card slot, a USB port and 2.5G GSM quad band capability.
Keep in mind that this unit (the GTA01) was pushed out early so developers could begin writing device drivers, custom GUIs and some cool apps for the phone. The next revision (GTA02), which will be available starting at $450 in October, will be ready for the mass market. It will have wi-fi, 3-D motion sensors and added graphics accelerators. So this phone isn’t exactly an iPhone killer — the next one will be a contender. AptUsTech has a nice comparison of the NEO 1973 and the iPhone.
When it comes to devices, more choice is almost always “a good thing.” But will consumers respond to the NEO? We all know developers are going to dig this phone. But what’s more important to consumers — a super-sexy status item that’s locked to one carrier and one set of functions, or a less sexy look-alike with a fully free and open software system?
At the same time a very interresting phone has been launched on the market : the Neo 1973
From an user point of view, the two phones share the same design — no more buttons only a tactile screen. While the iPhone has a wonderful user interface that is very polished (as usual from Apple), the Neo 1973 is more conservative with a more traditional interface comparable with an existing PDA.
The main feature of the Neo 1973 is openness. All the hardware is documented, and the software is open source. This contrasts greatly with the iPhone which is as closed as a bank vault. The only way to develop software on iPhone is to build web services designed to fit well on the screen or to use javascript with limited access to the iPhone resources. Trillian just did this and developed a chat application for the iPhone.
But without access to the bare metal, the applications will be limited, and the control remains in the hands of Apple. Of course there is attempt to reverse engineer the iPhone software so a preliminary shell can be run.
On the other hand, the Neo 1973 gives you a total control of the software, a SDK is provided at www.openmoko.org you can also download an emulator and try your software without the real hardware.
Hardware Comparaison
The hardware of the iPhone is not known for sure but several reports give a close idea of what it is.
| Functions |
iPhone |
Neo 1973 |
| CPU |
ARM11 620MHz |
ARM9 266MHz |
| RAM |
128MB |
128MB |
| FLASH |
4 or 8 GB |
64MB |
| Storage extension |
No |
microSD |
| Resolution |
320×480 |
640×480 |
| Bluetooth |
Yes |
Yes |
| WiFi |
Yes |
No (Yes in next revision) |
| USB |
No |
OTG (non powered host) |
| Camera |
2MP |
No |
| GPS |
No |
Yes |
| Bluetooth |
Yes |
Yes |
| Geekport |
Ipod Like (audio+RS232) |
I2C, SPI, RS232, JTAG |
| Accelerometer |
Yes |
No (Yes in next revision) |
No doubt the hardware of the iPhone is more advanced, but the next revision of the Neo 1973 should bring improvements:
- 802.11 b/g WiFi
- Samsung 2442 SoC (400MHz and Camera interface)
- SMedia 3362 Graphics Accelerator
- 2 3D Accelerometers
- 256MB Flash
The main missing function of the Neo 1973 is the camera, but the hopefully the next version will provide it. As an interim, an external USB webcam could be used.
The GPS opens a lot of possibilities, I bet SMS bloging with ubiquitous geographicall positioning will be one of the first mainstream application.
What to do with a Neo 1973
I spoke about shared phone and product adaptation in a precedent article with this phone you can adapt the software to your exact requirements. You can have a phone booth application complete with accounting. Or you can monitor easily a truck or a boat and optimize delivery and pickup.
With the good screen resolution it’s also possible to use it as an e-book reader, or as a web browser with better readability than the iPhone.
Please post your ideas in the comments below and have a look on the existing projects.
How much and when
The Neo 1973 is available now, for a price of $300 you can order it on the web.
The price is high for personal use in developping countries but it’s a great tool for community based phone and we can hope it will lead a open movement in the closed world of GSM phone.
The Neo1973 is the first phone designed to run OpenMoko. It is a phone that can be used with any GSM operator, and it is manufactured by FIC who instigated the OpenMoko project.
If you just received a Neo1973 here are some suggestions for getting started.
Neo1973 Hardware and Disassembling Neo1973 have more information on the hardware.
See OpenMoko, OpenMokoFramework, MokoMakefile and Development resources for more information about source code.
The Neo Base costs $300, the Neo Advanced costs $450.
Neo Base — everything the mobile application developer needs to enjoy the benefits of the first freed phone, the Neo1973:
* Neo 1973 (GTA01B_v4)
* Battery
* Stylus
* Headset
* AC Charger
* Phone Pouch
* Lanyard
* SanDisk 512MB MicroSD Card
* Mini USB Connectivity Cable
Neo Advanced — everything the mobile device hacker wants to get down and dirty with the first freed phone, the Neo1973:
* Neo1973 (GTA01B_v4)
* Battery (2x)
* Stylus
* Headset
* AC Charger
* Phone Pouch
* Lanyard
* SanDisk 512MB MicroSD Card (2x)
* Mini USB Connectivity Cable (2x)
* USB Host Mode Cable
* Debug Flex Cable
* Debug Board v2 (JTAG and serial console)
* Ruggedized Toolbox with shoulder strap
* Guitar Pick (for opening case)
* Torx T6 screwdriver
“Phase 2″ (GTA02, “Mass Market”)
GTA02 (AKA: The Mass Market Neo 1973) is on schedule to go on sale in October. It will have the following new hardware components:
* 802.11 b/g WiFi
* Samsung 2442 SoC
* SMedia 3362 Graphics Accelerator
* 2 3D Accelerometers
* 256MB Flash
* 1700mAh Battery
* Faster CPU - S3C2442/400
We will sell this device through multiple channels. Direct from openmoko.com, the price will be $450 for the Neo Base and $600 for Neo Advanced.
Adds to the Phase 1 phone:
2D/3D-Graphics-Accelerator
2 Accelerometers (model and number is uncertain)
Faster CPU - S3C2442/400
WiFi: Atheros AR6K (see also [2])
Above from [3] and other sources
There will be no changes in the housing. [4]
Sprint breaks up with high-maintenance customers
The squeaky wheel doesn’t always get the grease.
At least not if the squeaky wheel is a Sprint Nextel customer. On June 29, 2007, Sprint sent letters notifying some customers that their service would be canceled by the end of July due to excessive calls to customer service.
“Our records indicate that over the past year, we have received frequent calls from you regarding your billing or other general account information,” the letter reads. “While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time has led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs.”
“Therefore after careful consideration, the decision has been made to terminate your wireless service agreement effective July 30, 2007.”
Subscribers who have gotten letters from Sprint terminating their service won’t have to pay the early termination fee. Their account balances will also be set to zero. But subscribers will have to sign up with a new wireless provider by July 30 if they want to keep their phone numbers. Otherwise, the numbers won’t be available after the Sprint service ends, the letter states.
A Sprint spokeswoman acknowledged that a group of letters had been sent out on June 29. She said that only a “small minority” of customers were impacted.
“We have to be able to quickly and efficiently serve customers,” said Roni Singleton, a Sprint spokeswoman. “And when we are unable to consistently solve our customers’ problems it results in a lot of frustration and longer waits for other customers. So after looking through our records, we were able to determine that there were customers who we could couldn’t meet their current needs.”
Singleton said it was normal business practice for Sprint to audit customer service interactions. She also said the company has always reserved the right in its terms of use to terminate the contract for whatever reason.
Posting on the Sprint users’ message board, one customer who received one of these letters said the calls she made to Sprint were for errors in the company’s billing. She also questioned how the company counted the number of calls.
“I absolutely didn’t call as much as they say I did, but I did always have the hang up/transfer scenario–even today calling in I was hung up on twice and transferred at least five times,” she said in one of her posts. “I mean I DREAD calling in and sitting on hold, why on earth would I do it unless I had to!”
Clearly, Sprint is trying to shed customers who seem to eat up too many resources. But it seems crazy that a company that’s already having a hard time keeping subscribers would be willing terminate contracts.
For years, Sprint has had a reputation for poor customer service and poor network coverage, and as a result, the company is suffering. For the first quarter of 2007, it reported a loss of 220,000 post-paid monthly subscribers–customers who pay monthly. This was the third quarter in a row the company had a substantial loss of these types of customers. The company has consistently had one of the worst churn rates in the wireless industry. At the end of the first quarter of 2007, Sprint reported a churn rate of 2.7 percent.
Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. With 55 million subscribers, Sprint Nextel operates the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States (based on total wireless customers), behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Sprint is a global Tier 1 Internet carrier, and, as such, makes up a portion of the Internet backbone. In the United States, the company also operates the largest wireless broadband network and is the third largest long distance provider.
The company was created in 2005 by the $35 billion purchase of NEXTEL Communications by Sprint Corporation. In 2006, the company spun-off its local landline telephone business, naming it Embarq and also completed the $6.5 billion acquisition of Nextel Partners, one of its largest affiliates, which primarily provides Nextel wireless services to more rural markets.
Sprint Nextel has its executive headquarters in Reston, Virginia and maintains an operational and engineering headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas (where the largest number of Sprint Nextel employees are based). Both internally and externally, Sprint is an acceptable short name for the company.
Pills becoming the new marijuana.
The prescription drugs allegedly found in Al Gore III’s possession Wednesday are favorites among young people, according to drug abuse experts, who say prescription drugs may soon overtake street drugs in popularity.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if right now at this point in time, there are more kids abusing prescription drugs than abusing marijuana,” said Joseph A. Califano Jr., chairman and president of CASA, the National Center on Alcohol and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Gore was arrested on charges of possessing — in addition to marijuana — Vicodin, Xanax, Valium and Adderall.
According to a CASA report, between 1993 and 2005 the proportion of college students abusing Vicodin and other opiods went up 343 percent, about 240,000 individuals. The numbers increased 450 percent, or by 170,000 students, for tranquilizers such as Xanax and Valium, and 93 percent, or 225,000 students, for stimulants, including Adderall.
Prescription drug abuse is particularly common among upper middle class students, according to Lisa Jack, a clinical psychologist at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“It just goes to show that where you’re from doesn’t matter,” Jack said.
And young people don’t have to go far to get these drugs. “Prescription drugs are very easy for kids to get,” Califano said. “They can get them from the Internet. They can get them from their parents’ medicine cabinets. They can get them from their friends.”
He said often students get them from friends who were prescribed these drugs legitimately.
“Kids sell them to each other,” Jack said. “Drug trading happens all the time.”
Experts say it’s particularly a problem with Adderall, a drug prescribed legitimately to millions of young people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
According to CASA, more than a third of children ages 11-18 in Wisconsin and Minnesota who’d been prescribed Adderall and other ADHD medications reported being approached to sell or trade their drugs.
And often they say yes, according to one Canadian study that found one out of four teens who’d been legitimately prescribed Ritalin gave or sold some of their drugs.
Another appeal to prescription drugs, besides the easy access, is that young people often perceive them as safer.
“They don’t have to go to the streets and deal with some guy they don’t know and get marijuana where they don’t know what’s in it,” Califano said. “Also, they see their parents using these drugs, so they seem safe.”
Jack said prescription drugs can be more challenging to treat than addiction to street drugs. “In traditional drug abuse, addicts can say, ‘I’ve been using meth or coke or pot,’ and an addiction specialist knows what to do,” she said. But with prescription drugs, “sometimes the kids don’t even know what they’ve been taking. They just pass the pills around.”
Part of the solution would be for drug makers to formulate their products so they’re harder to abuse, said Califano, adding that anti-drug campaigns also should focus more on prescription drug abuse.
Parents need to do their part as well, he said. “When I was a kid in Brooklyn, when parents had liquor, they locked up the liquor cabinet,” he said. “Maybe parents need to lock up the medicine cabinet.”
Scientists predict brave new world of brain pills
Can’t remember phone numbers, worried about an upcoming exam or desperately want to give up smoking? In future, the answer will be simple: just pop a pill.
The idea that an array of easily available and addiction-free drugs could be used to improve memory or increase intelligence is the stuff of science fiction dystopia - in Brave New World, Aldous Huxley created a whole planet under the spell of a pleasure drug called Soma.
But a new report by leading scientists in the fields of psychology and neuroscience argues that, very soon, there really will be a pill for every ill.
“It is possible that [advances] could usher in a new era of drug use without addiction,” said the report by Foresight, the government’s science-based thinktank.
“In a world that is increasingly non-stop and competitive, the individual’s use of such substances may move from the fringe to the norm.”
However, the report said the widespread adoption of new brain-enhancing drugs was not without risks and would raise “significant ethical, social and practical issues.”
Drugs that work on the brain are already common - many people can hardly begin their days without the mind-sharpening effects of caffeine or nicotine.
Launching the report yesterday, the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, said that brain-enhancing drugs developed to treat diseases such as Alzheimer’s were likely to find increased use among healthy people looking to improve their perception, memory, planning or judgment.
Ritalin, prescribed to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is sometimes used by healthy people to enhance their mental performance. Modafinil, a drug developed to treat narcolepsy, has been shown to reduce impulsiveness and help people focus on problems.
“It improves working memory - your ability to remember telephone numbers - it gives you an extra digit or two,” said Trevor Robbins, an experimental psychologist at Cambridge University and an author of the Foresight report.
“It also improves your planning when you’re doing complex, chess-like problems. It makes you more reflective about a problem: you take a bit longer but you get it right.”
Modafinil has already been used by the US military to keep soldiers awake and alert and some scientists are considering its usefulness in helping shift workers deal with erratic working hours. It has also been tested for cocaine users. “It produces some of the subjective effects of cocaine without the chronic dependence,” said Prof Robbins. Other drugs are being touted as “vaccinations” against substances such as nicotine, alcohol and cocaine. The treatment would work by causing the immune system to produce antibodies against the drug being abused - these antibodies would render the drug impotent when taken and prevent it from having any effect on the brain.
“How [the vaccinations are] used depends on clinical judgments,” said Prof Robbins. “Informed consent is important.”
But he cautioned against any plan to pre-vaccinate people against narcotics. “One would be very careful indeed about trying to sign one’s children up for such treatment,” he said. “That, to me, sounds reprehensible.”
In the long term, drugs that can delete painful memories could also be used routinely. “We are now looking 20-25 years ahead,” said Prof Robbins. “Very basic science is showing that it is possible to call up a memory, knock it on the head and produce selective amnesia.”
That has obvious uses for people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, but there is also the tantalising possibility that it could be used to treat harmful addictions.
“Drug addiction can be understood very much as an aberrant learning process,” said Prof Robbins.
“Many of these drugs hijack the learning processes of the brain and produce aberrant habits, which dominate behaviour.
“Clearly the possibility exists that you can call up a drugrelated memory and produce amnesia for it, thus removing craving for that particular drug.”
As drug research improves, the harmful effects of today’s recreational drugs could even be engineered out.
“It may be that one could design out the harmful effects of existing drugs,” said Professor Gerry Stimson of Imperial College. “So, alcohol analogues, drugs which produce similar effects to alcohol without some of the side-effects.”
Society must decide how to use the new drugs, the scientists said.
For example, if drugs to improve exam performance become widespread, schoolchildren might find themselves being tested for drugs before exams, they suggested.
“It’s a new twist on drug-testing,” said Prof Stimson. “Is it a fair advantage or an unfair advantage?”
On the menu: range of treatments
· Ritalin (methylphenidate) is used by a small number of students in an attempt to improve exam results and by business people to improve performance in the boardroom
· D-amphetamine also improves memory but only for people of a certain genetic make-up
· Rimonabant is used as an antidote to the intoxicant effects of cannabis and a treatment for heroin relapse. But it is sometimes also used to enhance the high produced by these drugs by reducing their side-effects
· Naltrexone is already used to treat chronic alcoholism and narcotic abuse. It works by blocking the pleasure receptors that are normally activated in the brain when people use the drugs
· Propranolol, a beta-blocker, is used to treat high blood pressure, angina, and abnormal heart rhythms. It is also used sometimes by snooker players to calm their nerves
· Modafinil, a stimulant developed to treat narcolepsy, has been used by soldiers to improve memory and judgment. It is also used in treatment of cocaine addiction
Live Earth set to rock the world on July 7
NEW YORK (AFP) - From New York to the Antarctic, from Shanghai to Rio de Janeiro, the world is getting ready to rock Saturday as organizers of the Live Earth events seek to raise awareness of global warming.
Some 7,000 events in 129 countries including eight giant concerts are being promoted by former US vice president Al Gore as part of his passionate bid to focus attention on the dangers of climate change.
The 24-hour event on July 7 includes music, theater and other shows and will be broadcast live worldwide to get the message across to two billion people about the need for drastic measures to protect the environment, say promoters.
A wave of music is set to ripple round the globe starting in Sydney then fanning out to Tokyo, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Hamburg, London, New York, and Rio.
Some 150 stars including Police, Genesis, Madonna, Bon Jovi, Ai Otsuka, Eason Chan, Mana, Joey Yung, Shakira, Linkin Park, Rip Slyme and Red Hot Chili Peppers will be taking part.
Smaller concerts will take place in other cities, most notably Kyoto, where countries came together to establish the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate warming.
Another show will be held at a British base in the Antarctic, where some of the effects of global warming are the most visible.
“This monster line-up will ensure Live Earth meets our goal of bringing together people from around the world to combat the climate crisis,” says Live Earth founder Kevin Wall.
“Live Earth will be a monumental event both in terms of entertainment and in turning the tide against global warming.”
Gore, whose film “An Inconvenient Truth” about climate change won this year’s Oscar for best documentary, says one of the key aims is to urge a massive reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2050.
“If we are going to solve the crisis, we have to commit, and we have to do it now,” he said.
“Live Earth will ask people across the world to commit to changes in their lives and to move other people, communities, companies and governments to reduce our carbon output by 90 percent by 2050 and ensure there is a new, global treaty on climate change by 2009.”
The number of participating countries, has however, fallen short of what organizers had hoped for. No Muslim country is taking part; and Turkey has vetoed a concert in Istanbul for security reasons and a lack of interest.
Plans for a concert on the mall in front of the US Congress in Washington were also turned down by Republican lawmakers.
Wall compared it to organizing 10 soccer World Cups at the same time. The concerts will be carried on television stations and on the Internet, at liveearth.msn.com.
Spectators will be invited to sign a statement on Live Earth’s Internet site or by text message.
The event’s organizers are also calling on people to support energy conservation and alternative energy sources, to plant millions of trees and protect the world’s forests, and to support groups dedicated to protecting the environment.
Gore said he will attend the concert in New York and will also appear at another surprise venue.
Each venue will feature top global performers: in London Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Black Eyed Peas will headline; in New York, Police and Smashing Pumpkins.
Tokyo will get Rihanna, Linkin Park and a bevy of Japanese stars like Ai Otsuka, while in Kyoto Ryuichi Sakamoto and Rip Slyme will top the bill.
In Rio Lenny Kravitz, Pharrell Williams and Macy Gray will share the stage with Brazilian stars, while in South Africa UB40, Angelique Kidjo and Joss Stone will take the stage. Shakira and Enrique Iglesias perform in Hamburg.
Gore said he had asked the artists to compose songs for the occasion, and praised Black Eyed Peas for promising one and coming up with it in seven days.
He also cheered Madonna’s offering: “Madonna’s song is fantastic,” he said.
Ticket sales for the events will benefit The Alliance for Climate Protection led by Gore.
Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.
Live Earth will reach this worldwide audience through an unprecedented global media architecture covering all media platforms - TV, radio, Internet and wireless channels.
Live Earth marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign led by the Alliance for Climate Protection, The Climate Group and other international organizations to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve global warming. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is the Chair of the Alliance and Partner of Live Earth.
Live Earth was founded by Kevin Wall, the Worldwide Executive Producer of Live 8, an event that brought together one of the largest audiences in history to combat poverty. Wall formed a partnership with Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to ensure that Live Earth inspires behavioral changes long after 7/7/07.
Live Earth will stage official concerts at Giants Stadium in New York; Wembley Stadium in London; Aussie Stadium in Sydney; Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro; Maropeng at the Cradle of Humankind in Johannesburg; Makuhari Messe in Tokyo; the Steps of the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai; and HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg.
Live Earth concerts will be broadcast to a live worldwide audience by MSN.
With support from the U.S. Green Building Council, creators of the LEED Green Building Rating System, Live Earth will implement new Green Event Guidelines. All Live Earth venues will be designed and constructed by a team of sustainability engineers who will address the environmental and energy management challenges of each concert site, as well as the operations of sponsors, partners and other Live Earth affiliates. Each venue will not only be designed to maintain a minimum environmental impact, but will showcase the latest state-of-the-art energy efficiency, on-site power generation, and sustainable facilities management practices.
Live Earth is a project of the SOS campaign , which is using a powerful multimedia platform - films, television, radio, Internet, books, wireless and others - to move people to combat the climate crisis.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has become online retailer Amazon’s most pre-ordered product, with almost 1.6 million copies bought globally ahead of the book’s release on July 21.
Amazon said on Monday that demand for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” passed the previous record of 1.5 million copies ordered online before the release of the previous book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
The retailer predicted that the number of orders for the seventh book would rise by “many more hundreds of thousands of copies.”
The figures underline the huge international demand among readers for the final adventures of the boy wizard, which has been heightened by speculation over which characters Rowling will kill off at the end.
She has said that at least two characters will die in “Deathly Hallows,” but has been careful not to name them.
The six Harry Potter books already published have sold around 325 million copies worldwide, and Rowling is known as the first ever dollar-billionaire author.
The books have also spawned a successful film franchise that has earned around $3.5 billion in global ticket sales from the first four movies.
The fifth, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” is released later this month and the final picture is due for release in 2010.
Harry Potter is published by Bloomsbury in Britain and distributed in the United States by Scholastic Corp.
Harry James Potter is a fictional character and the main protagonist of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter fantasy series of books. In 2002, Harry Potter was voted No. 85 among the “100 Best Fictional Characters” by Book magazine and also voted the 35th “Worst Briton” in Channel 4’s “100 Worst Britons We Love to Hate” program.
The novels concern events at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where Harry’s best friends are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. His most intriguing physical characteristic is his lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead, the result of the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort attempt to murder Harry as a baby with The Killing Curse. Voldemort also killed Harry’s parents and destroyed their home in the village of Godric’s Hollow on October 31st. Harry is famous throughout the wizarding world for being the only known person to have survived the Killing Curse and, in doing so, bringing about Lord Voldemort’s downfall.
In the novels, Harry, the only child of James and Lily Potter, is often told that he resembles his father, with similar perpetually untidy jet-black hair. However, he is more like his mother in personality and character and inherited her green eyes. Harry is described as being small and skinny for his age in the first few novels, but by the fifth he is described as tall. He also has a thin face and a rather quiet voice, except when he is angry. His appearance is characterised by round glasses.
Harry shares his birthday, July 31, with author J. K. Rowling. The books generally avoid giving exact dates for events, but it has been gathered that Harry was born in the same year as Draco Malfoy who’s date of birth was given on a family tree, written by JK Rowling for a charitable auction.
In the Harry Potter film adaptations, Harry has been portrayed by British actor Daniel Radcliffe.
In the books
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, eleven-year-old Harry Potter learns that he is a wizard when Rubeus Hagrid, the half-giant Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and aide to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, hand-delivers his invitation to attend the school. Hagrid tells Harry about his magical background and his fame in the wizarding community. He also learns that his parents, James and Lily, have left him a small fortune. Harry’s first introduction to the wizarding world is Diagon Alley, a hidden wizarding district in London. There he buys a magic wand at Ollivander’s. On the Hogwarts Express, the train that takes students from London’s King’s Cross station to the school, he meets Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who later become his closest friends. All three are “sorted” into Hogwarts’ Gryffindor, one of four school Houses. Harry joins the Gryffindor Quidditch team, becoming the youngest Seeker in over a century. Harry also becomes rivals with Draco Malfoy. Meanwhile, Lord Voldemort (long presumed dead) has secretly returned. Using the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Quirrell as a host body, he searches Hogwarts for the Philosopher’s Stone that he believes will restore his body and make him immortal. Voldemort is thwarted by Harry, with help from Ron and Hermione.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
More challenges face Harry when he is revealed to be a parselmouth, having the ability to talk with snakes. Now there is a growing suspicion that he may be the Heir of Slytherin. The Heir is believed responsible for a series of attacks on Muggle-born pupils throughout the school. Harry’s toughest challenge, however, is posed by Tom Riddle, the “memory” of a younger Lord Voldemort hidden within his old diary that has mysteriously fallen into Ginny Weasley’s possession. Controlling Ginny through the diary, Riddle uses her to release a deadly basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets. Harry proves his mettle in the book’s climax by rescuing Ginny from the Chamber and killing the Basilisk with Godric Gryffindor’s sword. Harry also tricks Lucius Malfoy into freeing his house elf, Dobby, who has helped Harry.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry becomes the supposed target of Sirius Black, a murderous wizard who escaped from Azkaban, Britain’s wizarding prison. Hunting Black are terrifying, hooded creatures called Dementors, the guards of Azkaban. Despite the danger, Harry returns to school, but lacking his guardians’ written permission, he is barred from joining student outings to Hogsmeade, the nearby wizarding village. Fred and George Weasley give him their Marauder’s Map, a magical document showing secret passageways in and out of Hogwarts, as well as every person’s location within the castle. Harry uses a tunnel to slip into Hogsmeade wearing his Invisibility Cloak. At Christmas, Harry receives a Firebolt racing broom from an anonymous benefactor after his Nimbus 2000 is destroyed by the Whomping Willow during a Quidditch match. Harry learns Black is believed to have divulged his parents secret whereabouts to Lord Voldemort and murdered their friend, Peter Pettigrew and twelve Muggle bystanders. Harry vows to find and kill Black only to discover that he never betrayed his parents—it was Peter Pettigrew, who faked his own death and framed Black for the crimes. Harry is ecstatic that his godfather will be exonerated and can become his legal guardian. However, Pettigrew—and the truth—escape, forcing Black back into hiding.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hogwarts hosts the Triwizard Tournament, a recently revived inter-school competition. The Beauxbaton Academy and the Durmstrang Institute also participate. After one champion from each school is selected, Harry is mysteriously chosen as a fourth competitor, even though he is underage and never entered his name into the Goblet of Fire. The champions face three dangerous challenges on their way to the Triwizard Cup. During the final event, Cedric and Harry help each other and agree to grab the Cup simultaneously, unaware it is actually a Portkey. They are transported to a graveyard where Lord Voldemort awaits. On Voldemort’s order, his servant Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail) murders Cedric with the Killing curse. Harry is bound to a tombstone and forced to witness a ritual (which uses his blood) that restores Lord Voldemort’s body. When Voldemort engages Harry in a duel, their wands’ magical streams interlock, creating an effect called Priori Incantatem that momentarily shields Harry, allowing him time to grab the Portkey and escape back to Hogwarts. Voldemort’s servant, Barty Crouch Jr is unmasked; he has been posing as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher “Mad-Eye” Moody by using polyjuice potion. Crouch’s soul is sucked out by Dementors before he repeats his confession to officials, causing the Ministry of Magic to dispute Harry and Dumbledore’s claims that Voldemort has returned.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry is attacked by Dementors while staying with the Dursleys for the summer. He performs a Patronus Charm to defend himself and his Muggle cousin, Dudley. Harry is charged with performing underage magic and must appear at a hearing at the Ministry of Magic and may be expelled from Hogwarts. Dumbledore has him taken to Number 12, Grimmauld Place, a dilapidated house in London owned by his godfather Sirius Black, that now serves as headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. Harry is cleared thanks to testimony from Dumbledore and Harry’s neighbor, Arabella Figg, a Squib who has secretly gurarded Harry since he was a baby. In retaliation against Dumbledore, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge appoints Dolores Umbridge as the new Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher so she can spy on the school. She is also appointed High Inquisitor, empowered to arbitrarily change and impose school rules. Urged by Hermione, Harry secretly trains students in real defensive magic. The group calls themselves, “Dumbledore’s Army” (D.A.). When Voldemort implants a false vision in Harry’s mind that Sirius is being tortured at the Ministry office in London, Harry and D.A. members Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood, rush to his rescue. Lured into the Department of Mysteries, the students are ambushed by Voldemort’s Death Eaters. Order of the Phoenix reinforcements arrive in time, although Sirius is killed by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange. Voldemort appears and attempts to fatally curse Harry, but Dumbledore arrives, and the two fiercely duel. Voldemort grabs Bellatrix and disapparates, but not before being seen by the Minister and Ministry employees, vindicating both Harry and Dumbledore.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the wizarding population now calls Harry “The Chosen One”. Harry learns he has inherited Sirius Black’s entire estate, including the house at Grimmauld Place that is currently being used as the Order of the Phoenix headquarters. Back at Hogwarts, Harry is stunned when Professor Snape is announced as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. His vacant position has been filled by former Potions Master, Horace Slughorn. Slughorn lends Harry an old potions textbook once belonging to a student identified only as “The Half-Blood Prince.” The book’s copious handwritten notes help Harry excel in Potions class. Dumbledore begins giving Harry private lessons which are actually trips into various individuals’ memories concerning Voldemort. In these memories Harry and Dumbledore find evidence that Voldemort has made Horcruxes, splitting his soul into multiple parts. Harry and Dumbledore retrieve one Horcrux, a locket, hidden inside a secret cave, although Dumbledore is seriously weakened in the effort. They return to find the school invaded by Death Eaters. Dumbledore is killed by Snape as Harry, helplessly petrified under his Invisibility Cloak, looks on. Released from the spell, Harry pursues Snape, who identifies himself as the Half-Blood Prince, and escapes with Draco Malfoy. Harry recovers the locket from Dumbledore’s body, but a note inside reveals it is a fake; the real Horcrux has been stolen by someone whose initials are R.A.B..
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows it is unknown what will happen, however Harry already stated he would not return to Hogwarts, even if it reopens.
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels by English author J. K. Rowling about an adolescent boy named Harry Potter. The story is mostly set at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a school for young wizards, and focuses on Harry Potter’s fight against the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry’s parents as part of his plan to take over the wizarding world.
Since the release of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States) in 1997, the books have gained immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide, spawning films, video games and assorted merchandise. The six books published to date have collectively sold more than 325 million copies and have been translated into more than 63 languages. The seventh and last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is scheduled to be released on 21 July 2007. Publishers announced a record-breaking 12 million copies for the first print run in the U.S. alone.
The success of the novels has made Rowling the highest earning novelist in literary history. English language versions of the books are published by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, Scholastic Press in the United States, Allen & Unwin in Australia and Raincoast Books in Canada.
The first four books have been made into highly successful motion pictures by Warner Bros. The fifth, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, began filming in February 2006, and is scheduled for release on 11 July 2007.
Origins and publishing history
In 1990, J. K. Rowling was on a crowded train from Manchester to London when the idea for Harry simply “popped” into her head. Rowling gives an account of the experience on her website saying:“ I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six but I had never been so excited about an idea before. I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn’t know he was a wizard became more and more real to me. ”
In 1995, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was completed and the manuscript was sent off to prospective agents. The second agent she tried, Christopher Little, offered to represent her and sent the manuscript to Bloomsbury. After eight other publishers had rejected Philosopher’s Stone, Bloomsbury offered Rowling a ?3,000 advance for its publication.
Despite Rowling’s statement that she did not have any particular age group in mind when she began to write the Harry Potter books, the publishers initially targeted them at children age nine to eleven. On the eve of publishing, Joanne Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more gender-neutral pen name, in order to appeal to the male members of this age group, fearing that they would not be interested in reading a novel they knew to be written by a woman. She elected to use J. K. Rowling (Joanne Kathleen Rowling), using her grandmother’s name as her second name, because she has no middle name.
The first Harry Potter book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury in July 1997 and in the United States by Scholastic in September of 1998, but not before Rowling had received $105,000 for the American rights – an unprecedented amount for a children’s book by an unknown author. Fearing that American readers would either not understand the word “philosopher” or not associate it with a magical theme (as a Philosopher’s Stone is alchemy-related), Scholastic insisted that the book be given the title, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for the American market.
Word-of-mouth buzz, especially amongst young males, has been even more important than positive media reviews and Rowling’s publishers’ marketing strategies in the tremendous success of the series. This is notable because for years, interest in literature among this group had lagged behind other pursuits like video games and the Internet. Rowling’s publishers were able to capitalise on this buzz by the rapid, successive releases of the first four books that allowed neither Rowling’s audience’s excitement nor interest to wane while she took a break from writing between the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and also quickly solidified a loyal readership. The series has also gathered adult fans, leading to two editions of each Harry Potter book being released (in Canada and the United Kingdom, not the United States), identical in text but with one edition’s cover artwork aimed at children and the other aimed at adults.
