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Oregon Comcast users to lose MOJO, gain a few others in December
It looks as if the last sliver of hope for MOJO HD has vanished, as we're now facing yet another report pounded out in the all-telling black and white that spells out MOJO's demise. A recent bill sent to an Oregon Comcast subscriber explained that MOJO HD would be falling off of the EPG "on or after December 1st," although SPEED HD (723), Versus HD (732), Golf HD (733), FOX News HD (748) and FX HD (753) would be added. Interestingly, this also points out the separation of Versus / Golf HD as a single station, though we're unsure if this will end up being a sweeping change or simply a localized one.[Thanks, Brad]
MOJO HD gets canceled, should vanish by year's end
Man, what a bummer. It's fairly apparent that those rumors we heard late last month are now proving true, much to our own chagrin. In a recent electronic filing by the Department of Public Utility Control in Connecticut, we're told quite plainly that MOJO HD's regularly scheduled programming will cease on October 29th, 2008. Granted, this specifies that it will no longer be available to Cox customers alone, but the attached footnote is where things get really grim. It states that parent company iN DEMAND "has announced that it will be canceling its MOJO HD regularly scheduled programming by the end of the year, but it will continue to provide OnDEMAND programs." Is this really the end of Three Sheets and I Bet You as we know them? Pardon us while we shed a tear.[Thanks, Erik]
ASUS moving forward on ZX1 cancellation, adding two other phones?
CNET Asia has apparently received word that not only will ASUS' Lamborghini-branded ZX1 smartphone be canceled (as we mentioned earlier this month), but the company will also be putting the brakes on its forthcoming P560 and M536 phones as well. In a statement issued presumably to CNET, the company claims that the project has been postponed due to the "technical immaturity of a key component from one of our suppliers," though they seem to have left the door open for a reboot. We know one thing for sure -- it's clear that the P560 and M536 weren't those "more important devices" the company made reference to previously. They probably need the resources for another 25 versions of the Eee PC.[Thanks, chauco]
Linux-based Samsung i800 gets canned
Back in February, we all had high hopes that the Linux-based Samsung i800 would be a real winner when it launched on Orange this fall. Unfortunately, the i900 is apt to be out and about before the i800 can even have a proper funeral. According to Edelman, Orange's PR firm, the "i800 has been withdrawn in order to... prepare a more competitive Linux mobile." In all honesty, we don't suspect that many folks will miss it, but those holding out on picking up a new cellie can safely move on to courting other handsets.[Image courtesy of SmartphonesOfToday]
Another blogger flees Age of Conan...
...and this time it's Peter Smith of the Dragonchasers blog.Citing a waning ability to have fun with the game, item statistics that really don't help with anything, and a lack of variance in armor and items, Smith is calling it quits with Age of Conan. His comments seem to mirror the comments of many others, but one particular subject stands out in his blog from the others: the much touted and praised player vs. player endgame.Smith brings up the point that he feels like "another cog in the wheel" of his large guild. In order to see the content of the endgame cities and city sieges, he joined a very large guild and is expected to provide materials to help with the construction of the guild city. But, without player housing, any type of city mini-games, and lack of bonuses offered by the city itself, he just feels like another faceless voice instead of a heroic city builder.His article touches on the ability to stand out inside of a game where a person may not be able to stand out in the world itself and how it links back to his decision to cancel the game. If you're interested, be sure to drop over by to the Dragonchasers blog and check it out for yourself.
Samsung kills BD-UP5500 combo player before it ever truly lived
Given the finality of the format war, we can't say we're totally shocked to hear that Samsung will be pulling the plug on its recently announced BD-UP5500 HD DVD / Blu-ray combo player, but still, it's not good news for folks planning to pick it up for kicks (or watching their library of HD DVDs). Interestingly enough, Sammy had already planned to axe its current flagship hybrid player -- the BD-UP5000 -- this May, just months after it went on sale and began taking heat for not meeting expectations. On the plus side, the firm's latest BD-only player was a real gem, so hopefully we'll see lots more where that came from in the future. Oh, and if you're weeping this very moment at the thought of never getting to see one in person, feel free to click here and live vicariously through us.
The Daily Grind: When will you be done with WoW?
Who knows if/when World of Warcraft will ever end? While I'm by no means a power player, if WoW disappeared tomorrow, I'd be a little saddened by all the things I hadn't gotten to experience in it. At the same time, however, no matter how often I drop in, I eventually reach a burnout state before the month is up, and I cancel service until the next time I get the urge.So, for me, it's just a general malaise that sets in that makes me quit WoW. For those of you who've quit, even briefly, what did it? And what would make you stop playing, forever?
Sat.1 HD and ProSieben HD go offline 'til 2010 in Germany
Just as quickly as it began, so it ends. Unfortunately for Germans who have thoroughly enjoyed the high-definition programming available over the past few years on Sat.1 HD and ProSieben HD, you'll be forced to check out the SD variants until 2010. You heard right -- apparently, the demand for the HD stations in Germany wasn't as high as originally predicted, and considering the dearth of HD support from other networks in the country, these two have practically been set aside on an island. 'Course, rumors are already swirling that the real reason for the move is that its free ride on ASTRA's HD transponder is up, and rather than paying to continue using it when demand is down, the parent company is hoping to jump back in at a later date when things will hopefully be more profitable. Either way, it's tough to hear of a country losing HD channels.[Thanks, Chris]
HP cancels the iPAQ 610 smartphone in the US
Ah, iPAQ 610. You were so close, and yet... so far away. According to a handful of tipsters, after a round of delays, HP has decided to cancel the release of its upcoming Windows Mobile smartphone, the 610 (also known as the iPAQ 614, 614c and 600). The company didn't give a lot of information, though they did state that, "due to recent legal issues between suppliers of mobile phone technologies, HP has decided not to offer the iPAQ 610 Business Navigator to U.S. customers as previously planned." It's unclear whether this means the phone will be missing from shelves worldwide, but it certainly won't be popping up on these shores anytime soon.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Universal nixes plans for non-combo Land of the Dead / Dazed & Confused HD DVDs
Quite frankly, we reckon this move has more to do with lackluster demand than anything else, but nevertheless, Universal is reportedly canning its plans to bring back Dazed & Confused and Land of the Dead in non-combo HD DVD form. If you'll recall, both of these flicks were dished out in 2006 as HD DVD / DVD combo discs, but the studio had previously expected to re-issue them both as standalone HD DVDs next month. According to HighDefDigest, a company representative did mention that they could "resurface at some point in the future," but gave no rhyme nor reason as to why the duo is being canceled (if only momentarily).[Thanks, Brian]
AMD puts the kibosh on Quad FX platform
Now that Spider's hogging the limelight, the question inevitably had to be asked, and it seems the answer is no. The inquiry, of course, is whether or not AMD would keep on keepin' on with the lukewarmly received Quad FX platform, and judging by comments from the chip maker's own Suzy Pruitt, the end for it is nigh. More specifically, Pruitt stated that AMD had "discontinued future planning and development" for the Quad FX platform, and also noted that it had shifted most of the effort over to initiatives such as the aforementioned Spider. Notably, it was stated that the outfit would continue to support customers that have existing Quad FX-based hardware, and while specifics weren't doled out, we did hear that upgrade options for those individuals would likely not include a Phenom-branded product. So much for unwavering dedication to its enthusiast-class dual-socket technology, eh?[Via DailyTech]
Fable 2, Alan Wake, Too Human, Halo Wars not cancelled either [update 1]
EGM's Shane Bettenhausen has caused quite a ruckus as of late by suggesting in the latest 1UP Yours podcast that a high-profile first-party Microsoft game has been canceled. The first game confirmed to be alive was Banjo-Kazooie 3. Now, the developers of Fable 2 and Alan Wake have both chimed in to say their games are also still breathing. We wonder if all Microsoft developers wouldn't benefit from a role call meeting, where attendees are told to simply raise their hands if their project was canned.Of course, that's assuming any project was canceled at all. Bettenhausen originally said, "a big Microsoft first-party title that has been in the works for a very long time, that people are very excited for, sounds like it's being canceled." That's far from a confirmation, although there may be some merit to a project being in trouble. Bettenhausen responded to the proliferation of his statement in the comments to one of his blog posts (search for "egmshane"), but only to confirm the game in question was neither Alan Wake nor Banjo-Kazooie.IGN's Matt Casamassina silenced (most) of his critics by providing video footage to prove he did, in fact, play a DS version of Halo. C'mon Bettenhausen, at least give us a riddle or some enigmatic limerick to analyze.Update: As noted by GameSpot, the developers of Too Human and Halo Wars have also chimed in to say, "It's not our game!" Read - Is Alan Wake canceled?Read - Is Fable 2 canceled?
Samsung pulls plug on BDP-2400, delays BD-UP5000
Bad news from Samsung today: the high-end BDP-2400 Blu-ray deck has been cancelled, and the dual format BD-UP5000 has been delayed. The linked article speculates that the BDP-2400 has fallen victim to the transition to BD 1.1 spec, which occurs on October 31. Worst of all, mum's the word on when/whether Samsung plans on making a 1.1 spec player available. For those who didn't have their heart set on Blu-ray, the bad news is that Samsung has delayed their dual format BD-UP5000 player until December. The silver lining to this December delay could be twofold: the unit will be at least up to BD 1.1 spec conformance; and now this unit's arrival might coincide with your holiday wishlist.
Would you cancel your account if....
I've never canceled my World of Warcraft account, so I can't give you any first-hand experience of the process. However, I do know that Blizzard never deletes characters, so if I were going to go on vacation for a month to someplace without internet access (ha!), I could cancel my account and pick up again later without any real consequences. But what if Blizzard deleted characters when you canceled? Over at Curmudgeon Gamer, they note that the cancellation screen seems to change depending on the reason you choose for canceling. When choosing an option for needing more time for school, family, etc, our curmudgeony friends were given the following message:We are proud that we were able to make a sucessful [sic], enjoyable game. And as much as we'd like you to keep playing, we understand that there are certain cirumcstances [sic] which may prevent continuous game play. Currently, we have no plans to delete World of Warcraft accounts regardless of their activity history. Provided that the characters do not get deleted by the account holder, we will retain all character information on our servers indefinitely.So you're safe for now -- but next time you try to cancel, who knows! It seems like it would be a PR disaster for Blizzard to start deleting character accounts at this point, if you cancel, they still hold the threat over you.
Fido and Rogers raising cancellation fee?
All of us have been enjoying local number portability in the lower half of the North America for some time, and we've been fortunate enough not having any carrier want to double the cancellation fee for those who wanted to port out. For those of you in the upper half of the continent, well... you aren't so lucky as Fido and Rogers are planning to do just that if you are signing up for new service (or making changes to your contract) in the wake of LNP. We think this genius marketing strategy would hurt their business more help it, don't you?
It stops: GC Zelda DOESN'T go poof [update 1]
Nintendo of America's offical reply to all this nonsense: Online reports about the Nintendo GameCube version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess are incorrect. The amazing game will be available at retail outlets nationwide on Dec. 13.Apparently, Gamestop and EB Games used a separate SKU for preordering. Since preorders had been maxed out, the SKU was removed. However, this confirmation is news in itself: it looks like America won't be receiving the EB Games-only Aussie treatment or online-only Japan treatment. Sweet! We'll try to refrain to excessive commentary in this post ... similar topics have been covered in regards to Japan and Australia ... but now North American major retail chains EB Games and Gamestop have reported that the Gamecube version of Twilight Princess has been mysteriously deleted from their computers. The SKU is simply gone. Though we might refrain from calling this an outright cancellation, the only other conceivable option is for the game to sell exclusively through Nintendo's online store, as they've decided to do in Japan.(sigh) Comment as you will, but try to keep it civil. What the eff, Nintendo. [via Joystiq]
Disney Mobile postpones UK launch indefinitely
As MVNOs seemingly struggle to gain traction stateside, some are looking outside their home borders for an additional revenue stream -- while others are starting to reevaluate the wisdom in taking their business model abroad. Case in point: Disney, which has been having a rough go of it with its first MVNO (ESPN Mobile) and recently launched a second with Disney Mobile, has shelved plans to take Disney Mobile to the UK via O2's network, citing "the rapidly changing competitive environment" (when we run that bit through Babelfish's corporate lip service-to-English translator, we get "we're getting our rears handed to us at home, and we need to figure out what the heck we're doing wrong before we launch elsewhere"). Of course, this is technically an indefinite delay, not a cancellation -- meaning that there may yet be hope for Brits looking forward to tracking the little ones via Disney's Family Locator service -- just not any time soon.[Via Techdirt]
Apple throws out plans for Portland store
Just as the battle for Apple Store Boston continues, ifoAppleStore is reporting that Apple has decided not to further pursue plans to construct one of its retail stores in Portland, Oregon. Apple initially showed interest in building a store in the city in November 2005, when it presented the city's Historic Landmarks Commission with a proposed design. The Commission felt that Apple's trademark metal paneled exterior didn't mesh well with the "historical image" of the Northwest District which it is charged with administering. A second proposed design was rejected by the Commission late last month.Apple previously canceled plans for a store in New York City's Flatiron district due to similar problems involving design approvals.Via MacNN
TUAW Tip: Cancel stuff
No, I'm not talking about hitting the Cancel button. I'm also not talking about hitting Esc. I'm talking about canceling operations. Ever had a page take forever to load, and you just want Safari to cut it out? You don't really want to close the window, just stop loading whatever wacky CSS business was loading. Hitting Cmd-Period (that's the Apple and the . key) will stop whatever active process is going, usually it's indicated by a little blue progress bar. For instance, if you've ever gone to "Save for web..." in Photoshop, but the image was enormous, that preview can take a minute to load. You can cancel this, resize, and then preview, all without leaving the Save for web interface window. Using escape would have canceled the save, so cmd-period has a little niche use here. Cmd-period does cancel things at times, in Finder and "standard" UI dialog boxes where you have a Cancel or OK option. It's been around forever, as I remember cancelling things all the time on my dad's SE/30— mostly because I'm an impatient snot. For added fun, cmd-period will open the CD tray when you're in open firmware.
Apple beginning to phase out the 15" PowerBook?
TUAW has received a tip that points to the possibility that Apple could already be phasing out the 15" PowerBook. The tipster, whom we'll call Bob for anonymity's sake, manages an Apple B2B program for a U.S. institute. Recently, Bob noticed that, as you see in our screenshot, the 15" PowerBook has disappeared from their program's offerings. After Bob verified this disappearance with his Apple sales rep, the rep also (reportedly) explained that it would slowly begin disappearing from other catalogs as well.As with all claims like this, TUAW can neither confirm nor deny their validity. If this is true, however, it could force some uneasy decisions for those who had their eye on picking up a pro 15" portable from Apple, as we've already found out that some pro apps, such as Adobe's Creative Suite and After Effects, won't be Intel-ready until at least 2007.
