down
Latest
Sony shares drop to 31-year low in Japan, 19-year low in US
Shares of Sony stock have dipped to their lowest number in 31 years in Japan and to a 19-year low in the US, following a dismal earnings report for the previous fiscal year. Sony shares dropped 7 percent in Japan, to 1,135 Yen ($14), and 2 percent in the US, closing at $15.37.Sony CEO Kaz Hirai plans to lose 10,000 employees in a company-wide reorganization effort. Sony reported a net revenue loss of 9.6 percent for fiscal year 2012, dropping from $89 billion to $79.1 billion year-over-year.
The US Apple Store is down, down, down
That was quick. The US Apple Store is down; all visitors are greeted with the familiar sticky note. Gee, I wonder what big changes Apple is going to bring us this time. Join us on our Metaliveblog at 10 AM PT to find out.
Apple Store down Thursday evening (Updated)
Ah yes, our old friend -- the Post-it of Unavailability. The Apple Store is down in the US, UK, Australia and presumably elsewhere as well. Could be maintenance, could be something else (although it seems awfully early for the rumored Mac Pro refresh). We'll know in a few hours, give or take. Update: The store is back up with no major changes; however commenters note that the previous days-to-ship product information is now replaced with simply "In Stock" except in the case of the Mac Pro. That may be aimed at avoiding further commotion when simple ship time fluctuations occur.
Sony PSN 'Welcome Back' promotion extended... for one more day
Welcome back. Again. Chances are, anyone planning to grab those PSN freebies took their share when the promotion launched last month, but just in case you've been holding out, Sony's giving you another 24 hours (from now) to download your pair of free PS3 and PSP games, 100 virtual items from PlayStation Home, and 30 days of PlayStation Plus. After then, you better be prepared to pay up for your copy of Dead Nation or LittleBigPlanet. The whole gratis shebang goes offline for good at 9AM Pacific Time tomorrow -- just before the PlayStation Store is set to open for business in Japan.
Sony rolls up the PSN 'Welcome Back' mat this Sunday, takes free entertainment with it
Four weeks ago today, Sony announced its 'Welcome Back' campaign following the weeks-long PSN outage that began in April. Now, the program is entering its final weekend, giving you just two more days to download your pair of free PS3 or PSP games, along with 100 virtual items from PlayStation Home and 30 days of PlayStation Plus. To claim your gratis package from the PlayStation Store, click on the "Welcome Back" tab and make your pick. Sure, a few handouts may not make up for those countless days you spent offline, contemplating a switch to other networks, but free stuff is free stuff, so head over to PSN to claim what's rightfully yours before the clock strikes midnight on July 3rd.
Skype goes down globally again, Microsoft starts wondering if it bought wisely
Uh oh, Skype's experiencing its second big outage in the space of just a couple of weeks, as we're hearing reports from the UK, Netherlands, and yes, even Bulgaria, claiming the online communications service is down. Our own Skype clients are currently unable to move past the "Connecting..." status note, both on Mac OS X and Windows 7. While we've confirmed it in Europe, the issue seems to be affecting people all over the world. Nonetheless, Skype believes only "a small number" of us have been hampered by whatever's ailing it, and further details should be available soon. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Update: Our comments indicate issues are also being encountered in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Brazil, Belarus, and Croatia, among other places. Notably, we've also heard reports of Skype functioning in the UK, so it's not down universally -- that supposedly small number of affected users must simply be spread out very sparsely across the globe. Update 2: Skype is now saying that the "situation is improving," and we have also confirmed that the service is back up in at least some places where it was down before.
PSN 'Welcome Back' package is here, our long global nightmare is over
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Seriously, even a few Engadget editors are chortling in joy. PSN and Qriocity service has been restored in the Americas, Europe, and Asia and to celebrate (and soothe the seething frustration of its customers) Sony has launched its "welcome back" program. To be eligible you'll have to have been a member before April 20th but, otherwise, it's relatively qualifier free. Fire up the PlayStation Store and head to the "Welcome Back" tab to claim your pair of free games (you've got five different options on the PS3 and four on the PSP). In addition everyone gets a month of PlayStation Plus gratis and there's a selection of "On Us" movie rentals available over the weekend. There are a few other freebies to placate the masses too, like 100 free items in PlayStation Home, while Current Plus and Music Unlimited Premium subscribers get a 60 and 30 day handout respectively. If you've got any burning questions yet to be answered, check out the rather lengthy FAQ at source link and enjoy! It's not everyday that a company just throws open the flood gates on free stuff.
Sony begins full restoration of its PSN and Qriocity services (update: intermittent issues)
Can it be happening? Is Sony's security nightmare finally over? Seems to be. On Tuesday, Sony promised full restoration of its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services in the Americas, Europe, and Asia (excluding Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea) by the end of the week. Now Sony is proclaiming that today is the day for full restoration with details of its "welcome back" package to be announced from each region. The PlayStation Store is already up with a "huge lineup" of new games, demos, add-ons, themes, avatars, and videos along with an updated Playstation Plus. Hey, look on the bright side Sony, even though you've lost the confidence of millions of your customers, at least now they're aware of your Qriocity service. Full press release after the break. Update: Working fine for us from London. We signed in to the PlayStation Store and even fired up Black Ops multiplayer just for kicks. Update 2: We're now seeing error "80710D36" occasionally when trying to access the PlayStation Store, presumably due to congestion. We're seeing this from both London and New York.
Skype goes down globally, investigation underway (update: restored)
There's a pretty widespread outage of Skype going on right this minute, judging by the explosion of tweets relating to it. It's not universal, as we've been able to log in and use the internet communicator for both text and video chat, but something's definitely gone wrong. So far, we've noticed our OS X machines are ticking along just fine, but our Windows computers are not. Importantly, we had to upgrade one of our Windows desktops to "break" Skype, which indicates it could be a fault contained in the latest version, but then again, it could have simply been just a case of terrible timing. The iPhone and Android apps look to be unaffected, but skype.com is down and out. Skype is on the case right now and will have more details for us "soon." [Thanks, Manthan] Update: Skype has a solution for bringing tech savvy users back online. It requires deleting the shared.xml file, instructions for which are available for Windows 7, XP and Mac OS X (so yes, Apple computers have been bitten by the same bug too). A simpler fix is said to be in the works as well. Update 2: Looks like Skype is back to normal now. Phew! Update 3: If you're still experiencing issues, a Windows software update is now out and a Mac update will follow tomorrow.
Sprint network is down in some areas, SMS and voice call services affected (updated)
Uh oh, according to the handful of tips we've received, it appears that Sprint is currently having some technical problems on its cellular network in some states. Specifically, customers aren't having much luck with sending text messages, while some are also not able to make voice calls. But don't worry, the carrier's certainly aware of this issue and is already working on a fix, so hang tight and let your fingers take a break -- we'll let you know when things are up and running again. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Update: Here's a statement we got from Sprint: "We did have some disruption to Sprint SMS traffic earlier tonight, but it wasn't a complete disruption -- we lost partial capacity for about an hour. Engineers immediately began rerouting traffic and after about an hour things went back to normal. There is no significant voice disruption anywhere in the US except for a small part of our Sprint network in the Washington, DC area. That has since been resolved and had no relation to the SMS disruption."
Verizon's LTE network takes the night off, leaves a bunch of Thunderbolt users bewildered
Is your fancy new phone lacking that certain extra G that makes it special? Worry not, it's not just your device, Verizon's entire LTE network seems to be having problems as outages have been reported from across the US. We tested our own Thunderbolt in San Francisco this morning and it was indeed making do with only 3G connectivity. It's important to note that Verizon's 3G network seems to be ticking along quite alright, it's just 4G service that's down at the moment. Some folks have reported losing both 3G and 4G connectivity, but that's owing to a documented issue with 3G provisioning on the Thunderbolt -- we've noted the way to overcome that problem in a previous post. For now, just enjoy your regular-speed mobile internet until the super-fast stuff is fixed and back up. Update: The Verizon Wireless Twitter account has confirmed the issue, and that the company's network engineers are "working to resolve quickly." Update 2: As of 4:13pm ET Verizon has determined the cause and is "working with major vendors to restore connections." Still no ETA for a fix. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
PlayStation Network outage caused by 'external intrusion,' continues for third day
It started on a quiet Wednesday night, with PlayStation gamers finding their Network unresponsive to their login attempts, and now continues well into its third day. Sony has now finally shed some light on the problems it's been having with PSN and, to nobody's surprise, the culprit for its troubles has been identified as "an external intrusion." The current downtime for PSN is the second of its kind this month, with the Anonymous group of online crusaders claiming responsibility for the first. Sony now intends to keep both PSN and its Qriocity music streaming service offline until it can pinpoint the vulnerability that has been exploited and put a stop to it. Skip past the break for the company's full statement. Update: The PlayStation Blog has added an update to its US portal this evening that suggests the service disruption may continue for a good while longer -- according to Sony's Patrick Seybold, the company is "rebuilding our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure," and working non-stop to do so. [Thanks, Christian and Joe]
PlayStation Network down for a long count, what's up Sony? (update: down for 24+ hours!)
We've been hit by a big batch of dismayed tips from PlayStation gamers this morning, who are finding themselves unable to log in to the PlayStation Network (again). Sony's response has been to acknowledge there's a problem in the vaguest of terms -- "We're aware certain functions of PlayStation Network are down" -- and to promise an update on the situation as soon as it's available. Alas, that statement was issued over nine hours ago and there's still no word of either a rectification or an explanation for the outage. The error code provided by the console is, as you can see above, somewhat uninformative as well. So come on, Sony, what is going on with your Network? Update: PSN is acknowledging on its EU blog that the network outage may be a result of "the possibility of targeted behaviour by an outside party." Still no ETA for when services will be restored. Update 2: PSN is now reporting that the network may be offline for "a full day or two." Update 3: As of midday on Friday (US Eastern Time), an issue that began on Wednesday night is still being worked. Thanks, Farres! [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Netflix suffers temporary website outage today (fixed!), permanent Dexter outage this summer
The bad news is that our bulging tips box reports Netflix's website and Watch Instantly streaming service have been mostly inaccessible for the last couple of hours. Those lucky enough to have the page open from earlier may still have access, and devices based on older UIs are up and running while the newer HTML5 based frontends seem to be down for the count. The worse news is Crain's New York Business reported today that a new licensing deal with Showtime will not renew streaming access to older seasons of currently airing shows like Dexter and Californication when they expire this summer. Instead, their arrangement will cover shows that are off the air like The Tudors and Sleeper Cell. Showtime has decided to hold the fresher stuff back for its TV Everywhere portals accessible by pay-TV subscribers despite Netflix's best efforts to pitch itself as a friend to the premium networks, which could also explain its plan to start offering original content of its own next year. Wide outages like this have been relatively rare and while we'll just keep an eye on @NetflixHelps until it's back up, there's no telling what other blank spaces we might find in our instant streaming queues in the future. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Update: Things appear to be back to normal as of 10:30 p.m. EST or so, there's no official word via Twitter yet but between the commenters below and the episode of Firefly we're watching, it's all good. Wait -- Not so fast, while PC streaming is a go, devices are still mostly locked out. Per @NetflixHelps UPDATE: Streaming is back on the website. We're still working on getting streaming back to all devices. Thanks for your patience! Update 2: From @NetflixHelps - RESOLVED: The website and devices are back up and running. Thanks again for your patience while we worked to get this fixed!
Vodafone's UK network taken down by a break-in (update: some services restored)
Some of our UK readers have woken up to the less than awesome discovery this morning that their phones have lost all connectivity to the outside world. 3G, 2G, SMS, and BlackBerry services on the Vodafone UK network are all down for what seems like a significant proportion of its user base -- an issue the carrier has since identified as being caused by a break-in at its Basingstoke exchange center. No further details have been provided, though work is naturally underway to repair the damage done and we're assured customers' private data has remained so. We can't imagine quite such a service disruption being caused by a random act of vandalism or burglary, perhaps a disgruntled employee felt the need to vent his or her frustrations in grand style? Or has O2 gone gangster on the competition? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Update: Vodafone got in touch to say that 2G and 3G voice connectivity has been restored as of lunchtime in the UK and text and data services should be up within "the next couple of hours." The company estimates the issue has affected "a couple of hundred thousand users", though it expects that number to drop to zero before the day is through.
Apple shutters online store to fill it up with new MacBook Pros
You know the routine by now: Apple's online Store goes down, the Engadget tips inbox explodes with caring netizens informing us of that fact, and a few hours later it sprouts back up with Cupertino's latest hardware up for sale. We don't know for a fact that today's downtime is due to a MacBook Pro refresh, but then we also don't know for certain that the sun will rise tomorrow. Call it highly informed guesswork.
White iPhone 4 rumored as Apple Store goes down globally (update: nope)
It was bound to happen sometime, and today is as good as any other post-holiday day to launch the mythical white iPhone 4. While normally we'd consider a Wednesday night shuttering of the global Apple store to be maintenance-related, a tweet identifying a pair of supposed white iPhone part numbers -- MC604X/A (16GB) and MC606X/A (32GB) -- has surfaced, attributed to an established last-minute Apple insider known only as "Mr. X" in various tech forums. Mind you, "spring " was the last official timeframe for a white iPhone release. But please, we beg you... don't say that it's early if it does appear when the Apple Store returns to business later today -- we don't want anyone to get hurt in the comments. Update: Apple.com has undergone a subtle redesign, with the navigation bar up top taking on a shinier new look, though the Store remains down. A little bit of web-based multitasking, eh Apple? Update 2: Store is back and we're not seeing anything new. You?
Skype outage post-mortem puts some blame on the elder Windows clients
If you wish to raise your fist in the air and curse anyone for the massive global Skype outage, direct your anger towards 5.0.0.152. That's the Skype for Windows version that crashed when a December 22nd cluster of support servers responsible for offline messaging became overloaded. While that's the only version affected -- the latest 5.0.0.156 and 4.0 versions were fine, as were the clients for every other platform you can think of -- the number of users running point-152 globally represent 50 percent of all the users. More importantly for the other half of the world, about 25 to 30 percent of all supernodes were affected, too, whose role is establish connections, among others. So... up to 30 percent of supernodes are down worldwide. The other 70 percent were taking on the increased load. The crashed Windows clients were by and large being restarted simultaneously by affected users. All this happened just before the usual daily peak hours and during the holiday season. It's almost a comedy of errors, were it not impossible at the time to call someone and share in the laughter. For its part, Skype goes into detail over how it fixed the current situation and how it plans to be better equipped to handle any future duress. It's a pretty interesting read, we suggest you set some time aside and check it out.
Kodak Pulse email-to-photo-frame system down for days, millions of memories trapped in the cloud (updated)
We definitely know quite a few people (including this very editor!) who bought their parents Kodak Pulse WiFi photo frames over the holidays, since they seem like a perfect way to share pictures without any fuss -- you can just email the frame directly. Unfortunately, it seems like this cloud service has a dark, dark lining: Kodak's backend email servers have been down since at least Christmas Eve, rendering the Pulse's most interesting feature essentially useless. What's worse, that status display above is more or less buried on the Pulse web site, so it's not even immediately clear that the problem is on Kodak's side -- and when things turn back on we're guessing more than one Pulse owner will find tons of duped photos on their frames from multiple email attempts, since the system doesn't confirm email receipt. We've heard a few anecdotal stories about email photo delivery slowing down / stopping during previous high traffic periods, so you'd think Kodak would have sorted this out by now, but we guess not -- we'll let you know when the company tells us about a fix. Update: Kodak emailed us to say things are working again -- here's the statement: We experienced slower performance of the Pulse server over the holiday weekend due to much higher than anticipated volumes. This resulted in a delay of pictures that were emailed to the Pulse frame. We did immediately address this issue and any pictures consumers emailed have since been delivered. We apologize for the inconvenience this caused our customers. It is our goal to ensure a great experience for all Pulse owners.
Skype well on the road to recovery, group video calls restored
We almost got to see what Christmas was like before Skype, and it wasn't pleasant. Of course, VOIP and videoconferencing will never replace Grandma Pat's pizzelles, but the technology sure does make pre-holiday planning a lot easier. For its part, Skype hasn't gone into too much detail regarding the nature of its most recent outage (something about "mega-supernodes"), although as of this writing group video calling appears to be back and CEO Tony Bates has announced that customers will be compensated for the interruption of service with free and pay-as-you-go customers receiving credit for a free 30-minute SkypeOut call to landlines, while paid subscribers will get a free week of service. Keep an eye out on the Skype Blog for further updates, and we'll keep our fingers crossed that this year we won't have to learn what New Year's Eve is like without Chatroulette. As for Skype itself, with the way they've been courting enterprise customers they'll just be happy if this doesn't do too much damage to their impending IPO.
