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Relocate your team in Madden 25's franchise owners mode
EA Sports lifted the curtains today on one of its core additions to Madden 25 this year, Connected Franchise owners mode. In it, players take on the role of team owner, setting prices for tickets and concessions as well as having the option to relocate teams to both domestic and international cities. Owners also handle the hiring of team personnel, such as scouts, trainers and coaches, and they answer questions from the media. Players will manage stadium upgrades and market their superstar athletes so fans will buy their jerseys, increasing their teams' yearly profit. The options to import draft classes from EA's NCAA Football series and take control of all 32 teams in the Connected Careers mode were woefully absent from last year's game, but will return to Madden 25. Additionally, the game's primary career mode will receive a face-lift thanks to an improved user interface that includes a transaction log to follow the movement of players from team to team. The mode's UI includes a new Trade Center, allowing users to see what other teams are offering for players and draft picks so they can top their opponents' bids. Lastly, Madden 25 will feature more media personalities for the career mode's in-game Twitter feed, such as ESPN fantasy analyst Matthew Berry and Fox Sports NFL writer Peter Schrager. It will also receive new legendary players and coaches, including Mike Ditka and William "The Refrigerator" Perry. %Gallery-188881%
Time Warner Cable iPad app adds channels to replace pulled ones
I never thought I'd be writing about Time Warner Cable as an advocate for consumers getting more content, but sure enough, that's what the cable provider has become. After being forced to remove some channels from its newly-introduced streaming iPad app, TWC has added a whole list of new channels into the app for viewing at no extra charge, including A&E, Disney, Bravo, SyFy, Travel Channel and USA. TW even gets a little confrontational on its official blog, going poetic on the channels that they were forced to remove from the app: "Instead of rowing down the river of history and into the future, these programmers have chosen to sit on the bank and kick rocks." Them's fightin' words, and it's pretty impressive to hear from a company that has traditionally gotten a bad rep from even its own customers. Of course, all of this is great news for iPad owners with a Time Warner cable subscription, and it's good news for the rest of us anyway, as more choices in content for Apple's devices benefits most everyone. If you've got the iPad app and the service, you can get started watching right now. [via Engadget]
Poll: What will you watch if there's no NFL this season?
Now that negotiations between the player's union and owners have reached the decertification/lockout stage, it's time to consider an ugly possibility. What do we do if professional football isn't ready to go on time this fall? The NFL has been noted as our favorite sports league to keep pumping on our HDTVs, so as terrible as the thought is, let's go through a few possible replacements: %Poll-61650%
Survey: 32% of iPad owners have never downloaded an app [Update: 9%]
This is a fascinating little stat that echoes a few anecdotal statements I've heard before. Nielsenwire is claiming that a full 32% of iPad owners have never actually downloaded an app on the device, with another 5% only downloading free apps. That's a pretty crazy figure when you think about it -- with all of the functionality offered by third-party software on the iPad, almost a third of users have never, ever taken advantage of any of it. And I've heard similar things from developers in the past -- that a surprising amount of their users have either never downloaded an app on their iPhones at all, or have only ever downloaded free, jailbroken, or pirated apps. With the news yesterday of the Mac App Store coming, you wonder if we'll start seeing this same thing happen on traditional computers -- lots of users who only stick with the default features, and never explore any farther into what their devices can do for them. In a way, it's disappointing that these folks aren't taking full advantage of what the iPad can actually do. But then again, it makes those customer satisfaction stats all the more impressive -- 91% of users love their iPads, and only 68% of them have downloaded apps for it. That 23% in the middle must be really easy to please. Update, October 25th: If you agree that the 32% number sounds high, you're right -- Nielsen has updated their stats and said a big mistake was made. Turns out the number is much closer to 9%. Still significant, but not nearly as surprising. The original article above remains here for posterity. [via MacStories]
OkCupid: iPhone users have more sex
I've been a huge fan of social dating site OkCupid's OkTrends blog for a while now. They're constantly sharing data (anonymized, of course) from their social site about what people find attractive and interesting in each other. The latest post has some fun information about cameras -- specifically, the perceived link between what type of camera OkCupid's patrons use and successful relationships. All of the data is fascinating (as usual), but there's one little note of potential interest to iPhone fans. Apparently, when compared to users who post pictures from other smartphone brands, users who reported using iPhones for their profile pictures tend to identify more sexual partners over all. As you can see in the chart above, male and female iPhone users (at age 30) report higher numbers of sexual partners to OkCupid. In fact, across all ages, iPhone users reported having more sexual partners than those who used Android or Blackberry smartphones to take their profile pictures. Of course, OkCupid is just having fun here. Maybe iPhone users are actually more inclined to lie about their amorous conquests, or maybe there's a higher likelihood that Android or Blackberry users have reason to report a lower number. But then again, we already know that iPhone owners tend to be rich, engage in vigorous activity, and like to be outspoken about their buying choices and preferences. And aren't those the kind of people who end up going home with the girl (or guy) from the bar anyway?
Study: iPad owners are selfish elitists, non-owners are independent geeks
Hey we didn't say it, we only repeated it. Consumer firm MyType has done a study of the opinions of 20,000 people, and have determined that iPad owners are wealthy, sophisticated, educated, and score very low in tests designed to chart altruism and kindness. In short, they're rich and smart, but also spoiled and cruel. If you happen to be anti-iPad (and probably vocal about it), don't worry, we're not leaving you out. Those who criticize the iPad, says the study, most likely don't own one (which seems obvious, no?), and tend to be "independent geeks" -- "self-directed young people who look down on conformity and are interested in videogames, computers, electronics, science and the internet." In short, "bashing the iPad is, in a way, an identity statement for independent geeks." Owning an iPad might make you less inclined to give to charity, but not owning one means you're trying to define yourself by being anti-Apple. Whew -- and they say generalization is a bad thing. In reality, of course, there are all kinds of shades of gray in here. Certainly there are very altrustic people who have purchased iPads, and certainly, not owning an iPad doesn't mean you're searching for an identity (nor, of course, does it mean you have one). But these are definitely general trends -- we've heard before that iPad owners tend to be at least more wealthy and educated than have-nots, and just one browse through your average comments section will tell you that "independent geeks" are often more than willing to criticize to make themselves look good. [via Slashdot]
Wii Warm Up: How many?
That is, how many people do you know who own a Wii? Heck, let's even compare -- how many of them own other game systems? More than one other game system? These days, it really feels like everybody is on the Nintendo bandwagon, but the reality may not show that to be the case. So what is it? You tell us what the real world is like!While we're on the subject ... know anyone who's still looking for one, but hasn't been able to get lucky when they're on shelves?
Apple sending battery recall emails to registered users
If there was ever a good reason to register a product like a notebook, being warned that it might catch fire, and getting the chance to avoid said fire, is as good as any in our book. We're receiving reports that Apple has begun sending emails to registered owners of iBooks and PowerBooks, announcing the recent recall and offering to get the party (of sorts) started. It would've been nice to hear this tactic being used when such a serious recall was first announced, but this is probably a good way to get the word out to any owners who might not keep up on Apple nerdery.
