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Talkcast tonight, 10 pm ET: Thanks, giving
It's Sunday, and it's time for the TUAW talkcast! Tonight, we're looking ahead to a very special week -- it's the US holiday of Thanksgiving on Thursday, which coincides with the first day/second night of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. Since this alignment hasn't ever really happened before, and (in the absence of changes to either the US or Jewish calendars) won't happen again for thousands of years, we take this unique opportunity to wish you all a very happy Thanksgivukkah. In the spirit of the holidays, we're planning to run down several of the things we're thankful for this year, and also look ahead to the unofficial kickoff of shopping season on Black Friday. Join us at 10pm ET, won't you? Thanks to the fine folks at Fuze, we're using Fuze Meeting to record the show (rather than the legacy Talkshoe system). This should let everyone listen in live -- and, if you want, raise your hand as you would in the Talkshoe room to get unmuted and chime in. You can join the call in progress (meeting # is 20099010) at 10 pm ET from any computer via this link; if you download the Mac or Windows Fuze clients ahead of time, you'll get better audio and a slicker experience. Just click the phone icon to join the audio once you're in. Using an iPhone or iPad? Grab the native clients from the App Store and get busy. (Even Android users can join the party.) Still feel like using the conventional phone dial-in? Just call 775-996-3562 and enter the meeting number 20099010, then press #. While the Fuze web and native clients have a chat channel, we'd like to reserve that for host participants, requests to talk and other real-time alerts... so the full-on chat for the show will appear in this very post at 10 pm tonight. You'll need Twitter, Facebook or Chatroll credentials to participate in the chat. We'll remind everyone to check back in at that time. Your patience and forbearance with our new tech is appreciated in advance. For the time being, the podcast feed of the show will continue to originate from Talkshoe and should be there within 24-36 hours. See you tonight!
Limited edition white Ouya doubles down on storage
Ouya is offering a limited edition console for the holidays in North America. The white Ouya changes up the program by offering double (16GB) the internal storage space for $130, which is $30 more than the standard Ouya console. The console is up for pre-order through Ouya right now. All orders received prior to December 8 will guarantee the console arrives "in time for gifting." A new update, planned for later this month, will unlock external USB storage on all Ouya consoles. This new update also presents many changes to the UI and how games are listed in the "Discover" area. The next iteration of the Ouya hardware is planned for 2014.
New PS4, Xbox One Amazon UK pre-orders won't arrive before holidays
Amazon UK warns its customers that any new PS4 or Xbox One pre-orders won't arrive in time for the holidays – notably, the holiday starring a large man in a red suit. The Xbox One Amazon UK page now says orders placed after November 13 may not arrive before Christmas. The PS4 Amazon UK page offers the following notes: "Customers who pre-ordered this console from August 7 up to and including November 13 will receive their consoles before Christmas. Customers who pre-order this console from November 14 will receive their consoles after Christmas." Amazon's North American next-gen pages don't offer any warnings about holiday arrivals, but they also don't offer pre-orders at all. Amazon's Xbox One and PS4 pre-orders are closed at the moment, though it's worth noting the PS4 launches tomorrow, and the Xbox One on November 22.
Catalog Spree claims 66% of consumers will shop for holiday gifts from tablets... wait, what?
According to a press release published today from digital magazine company Catalog Spree, 66 percent of consumers will use a tablet to shop for holiday gifts this year. If that figure strikes you as odd, that's probably because it's not even close to accurate. This is called sampling bias, and it's what happens when a company or group uses a biased sample to generate a favorable figure. Here is everything Catalog Spree says in the release about how it collected its data: "These findings are part of Catalog Spree's annual holiday shopping survey, which highlights consumer shopping behaviors around the holiday season." There is no mention of what the sample actually is, how the survey was conducted or who participated. After contacting Catalog Spree I've been told that the survey is conducted directly from within the app itself. So, really, 66 percent of people who already have a digital shopping app installed on their tablets are planning on using it to shop for gifts. Of course, this isn't made clear on the press release, and who knows where that figure will be regurgitated elsewhere without clarification? It's clearly misleading, but how wrong is the "66 percent" data point? Well, according to a 2013 survey from Pew Research Center only 34 percent of all American adults even own a tablet to begin with. So take 34 percent of holiday shoppers, then take the minute percentage of those individuals who actually have Catalog Spree installed, and then cut the resulting figure by a further one-third, and you are left with a more accurate survey result. Math! In any case, the company is really telling us absolutely nothing about the habits of shoppers, and publishing misleading press releases doesn't exactly make us want to browse its digital catalogs anyway. The entire press release can be viewed below. Sixty-Six Percent of Consumers Will Shop for Holiday Gifts from Tablets, According to Catalog Spree November 6th, 2013 Avoid the Mall and 'Gift' Straight from the Couch this Holiday Season LOS ALTOS, Calif. (Nov. 6, 2013) – Catalog Spree, the personal digital mall that lets consumers browse, discover and shop their favorite brands, today reported that 66 percent of consumers will shop for holiday gifts from tablets this year. In addition, 25 percent of consumers will use both tablets and smartphones to shop for gifts. These findings are part of Catalog Spree's annual holiday shopping survey, which highlights consumer shopping behaviors around the holiday season. With more than 350 full-page digital catalogs and lookbooks, the Catalog Spree mobile shopping app makes holiday shopping easy by letting consumers shop on an iPad or iPhone. "Retail customers are rapidly gravitating toward tablets and smartphones for shopping. In fact, we believe 2013 will go down as the last year in which retail web traffic from PCs will be greater than web traffic from mobile devices," said Joaquin Ruiz, CEO of Catalog Spree. "Consumers are initially drawn to the convenience of shopping from an app on a tablet or smartphone, but it's the experience that makes them stay. At Catalog Spree, we are dedicated to making mobile shopping so fun and easy that it becomes the primary shopping method for consumers." Catalog Spree offers visually engaging digital catalogs and lookbooks that allow consumers to quickly and easily flip through pages to browse, be inspired and shop on an iPad or iPhone. Highlights from this year's survey include: – 66 percent of consumers will shop for holiday gifts from tablets. – 25 percent of consumers will use both tablets and smartphones to shop for holiday gifts. – A majority of consumers will shop from digital catalogs, including 12 percent more shoppers than last year. – 63 percent of consumers have already started shopping; 30 percent started shopping before Halloween. – Top places consumers get gift ideas include digital catalogs, searching online, print catalogs and suggestions from friends and family. – 25 percent of consumers will share wish lists via social media. To make holiday shopping even easier, Catalog Spree is launching a new Gift Center that features a series of gift-themed catalogs. These catalogs, such as Gifts Under $25, Gifts for Her and Gifts for Kids, offer great gift ideas and inspiration for the holiday season. All of these Catalog Spree-branded catalogs are produced in a matter of hours with Spree Studio, the company's all-digital publication platform. For additional information on Catalog Spree, visit www.catalogspree.com. # # # ABOUT CATALOG SPREE: Catalog Spree is the personal digital mall that lets consumers browse catalogs and lookbooks, discover new brands and share products they like. The award-winning app brings the fun of window shopping to the iPad and iPhone, connecting consumers with the brands they love in a personalized, one-stop mobile shopping experience. Catalog Spree works with retailers to publish digital versions of print catalogs, create custom lookbooks with its all-digital publishing platform, Spree Studio, and distribute content to over 100 million targeted shoppers on the web through its partnership with Google. Based in Los Altos, California, Catalog Spree is privately held and backed by angel investors and venture capital firms including Relay Ventures. For more information visit www.catalogspree.com. [Image credit: Acme]
Reminder: Day of the Dead November 1st and 2nd
Hot on the heels of the Hallow's End festivities comes Day of the Dead, which is actually two days, to give you a few extra chances to grab the single achievement available on this holiday. The Day of the Dead is a time to remember and celebrate the spirits of those who have been lost, which must hold a special irony for the Forsaken. Oh well! You can grab a number of fun items during the Day of the Dead, including the seasonal pet Macabre Marionette, the Bread of the Dead recipe, Bouquet of Orange Marigolds, Whimsical Skull Mask, and a Spirit Candle. Check out the Day of the Dead post on the WoW official blog for more information on the holiday.
Masquerade of Liars now live in Neverwinter
Halloween festivities continue to invade our MMOs, with Neverwinter's Masquerade of Liars festival currently online and set to run until November 4th. The event brings costumes, masks, decorations, and all the other stuff you'd expect to see in an MMO holiday, including special boss encounters with transformed NPCs. Collect Liar's Charms from daily quests and trade them to wandering illusionists for masquerade tokens, which you can then trade for special holiday loot. You'll also find Liar's Charms scattered about the world; they'll drop from skill nodes and slain monsters during the event. There's a fair amount of lore to be discovered by talking to the masquerade loremaster each day of the festival, yet another way to gather a few charms. Speak with the masquerade master in the center of Protector's Enclave for a full introduction to the event.
Tamriel Infinium: The Nightblade is The Elder Scrolls Online's pirate
Yesterday marked the official 11th anniversary of Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day. And since I write this column a day before its released, that would be today for me. So ahoy, maties, and all that. Although there are pirates in Elder Scrolls lore, I think we should talk about the biggest pirate-like class in the Elder Scrolls Online: the Nightblade. Most likely, this will be the first class I will try. I'm excited about this class mostly because of the fast action combat of ESO and the diverse DPS that the class appears to bring to the playing field. Oh, yeah, and who doesn't like to turn invisible? From the reports coming out of PAX and other conventions, the Nightblade appears to be the first rogue class that I've seen that has some strong viability in a PvE setting, but of course, the class still plays wonderfully in PvP. Stick with me as I break down my thoughts on the class as we know it.
Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online holiday special
While scouring the interwebs to find different stories and trending topics, I ran across an older article on Tamriel Foundry that asked a question about events in The Elder Scrolls Online. MMOs and events go hand in hand; that's one of the amazing perks of playing a game with active developers. Usually these events coincide with real-life events, Halloween, and winter holidays are usually the most active among the various MMO developers. Of course, since most MMOs take place in a fictional universe, you can't come right out and say "World of Warcraft celebrates Easter!" Besides alienating all those people who don't happen to celebrate Easter, you'd also blatantly break the imaginary fourth wall. So instead, WoW celebrates the feast of Noblegarden, which contains many western springtime traditions without explicitly calling the event an Easter event. Of course, World of Warcraft isn't the only one to do this. Guild Wars 2 has Wintersday for a pseudo-Christmas and the Shadow of the Mad King for Halloween. Both of the Star Wars MMOs (Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Wars Galaxies) celebrated the much-detested Wookiee Life Day. Inspired by the Tamriel Foundry article, I set out to find my own holidays that I think would be fun to celebrate in in ESO in conjunction with real life holidays. Here are my top five that were not mentioned by the other article.
Getting ready for fireworks photography with your iPhone
Getting good fireworks photos is a challenge on any camera. Fortunately, Apple has continued to improve the cameras in the iPhone, and some features will help you get impressive fireworks images. When photographing fireworks, your big issues are camera movement and focus. If you have a tripod like the Joby GorillaPod, use it. If not, steady the camera on a car roof or some other stationary object. On to the focus issue. Apple's tap-to-focus feature can help you get well-focused images. You'll have to be quick, but if you can tap the screen as the bright fireworks display appears, your camera will focus quickly and properly. Even better, both iOS 5 and iOS 6 have added focus lock, which most people aren't aware of. In iOS 5, tap the part of the screen you want in focus, but hold your finger there. You'll get a lock indication at the bottom of the screen. In iOS 6, do the same thing. You won't get the lock text, but the box will "lock in" visually. Once focus lock is set, shoot away and your iPhone camera will remember the focus setting. Beginning with the iPhone 5, Apple has done a better job on low-light performance. For fireworks, that might not make a big difference, but it will help in shooting the crowds. The built-in Apple camera software is not your only alternative. Some of the latest third-party apps have extended or improved features that will help you get really good images on the Fourth. Slow Shutter Cam: This app will let you keep the shutter of your camera open, which is just the thing for capturing that fireworks display. If you have your camera steady, try exposures of five to 20 second. The app is US$0.99. iLightning Cam: This app is designed to automatically take photos of lighting strikes, but also works fine for fireworks. The $1.99 app works for video and stills. Camera+: A standby for all iOS photos, Camera+ has stabilization, focus lock and some post-processing features that will make your photos even sharper. Camera+ is $1.99. Fast Camera: A very popular $1.99 app. It offers powerful focus lock controls, and very speedy, no-lag performance. A couple of other thoughts. Turn your flash off. It won't help your photos, and will likely reduce the contrast. You will likely want to shoot in portrait mode, especially if you are close to the display. Don't forget that Apple now has PhotoStream, which will let you share your photos quickly with family and friends. Wait until you have WiFi, as PhotoStream won't upload on cellular connections. PhotoStream was not available until late in 2011, so this is only the second Fourth of July you can put it to work. If it rains, you're not totally out of luck. There are several iOS apps that will create digital fireworks you can enjoy. Check out the free Fireworks Arcade and the free for the Fourth, Fireworks!.
The Perfect Ten: Why game holidays rock
It's as inevitable as the tides, political scandals, and new flavors of Pepsi. Whenever an MMO announces that it's introducing new holiday content into its game, the grumpies come out. "Wah!" they cry. "Why are developers wasting time on this! It's useless! Pointless! Just the mere notion of it makes baby kittens die worldwide!" What my poetic license is trying to say is that some folks are displeased and they make themselves well-heard because of it. I like to think that after posting angry comments, they then go around the rest of the day slamming doors, flipping chairs, and sulking noisily so that someone will ask them why they're in such a foul mood. The answer, if truthful, would be endlessly entertaining. Then again, I used to throw snit fits when I got sent to jail in Monopoly. If you haven't figured it out yet, I love in-game holidays. Love. Them. Beyond the novelty of what they do, there are plenty of reasons that even the most jaded holiday-hater should simmer down around this topic. I think I'll list 10 of them.
The Daily Grind: Are you gaming on Memorial Day?
Seeing as how it's Memorial Day in the States, I thought I'd ask about your holiday gaming habits. Do you make sure to save some holiday time for gaming, or do you only get around to it after you've unwound in other ways? How much gaming are you doing this Memorial Day? If you don't have the day off or you're in a country that doesn't observe this particular holiday, how much gaming do you plan to do on your next holiday? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Mac 101: Easter eggs
For decades, programmers have hidden secret features and surprises inside the software they write. Such tidbits are known as Easter eggs, after the annual holiday hunt. (Note that undiscovered hard-boiled eggs may eventually create less pleasant surprises if left to mature in warm places.) As you're enjoying the Easter holiday, we've got a few links for Apple's Easter eggs. For OS X Easter eggs, the Easter Egg Archive has a fairly comprehensive list that includes some classics; the BSOD Windows icon and the "here's to the crazy ones" copy on TextEdit's icon are particular favorites. The classic Mac OS was populated with plenty of Easter eggs -- even inside the hardware itself -- but did you know that there was even an Easter egg in Inside Macintosh, the developer documentation for the Mac? Folklore.org has the story. As OS X is built atop the BSD flavor of UNIX, it carried forward some truly ancient Easter eggs from the older operating system. The command-line calendar program's data files include some mythological/fictional anniversaries, including a disputed birthday list from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Apple's newest (and most portable) OS is no stranger to the Easter egg tradition, but the new hidden items have a speakable twist. Siri's subtle movie reviews and silly answers to simple questions have taken over for some of the spontaneous/secret items you might find on the Mac.
Valentine's Day around the virtual world
Do you hear the chirping of songbirds in love? Do you see the flirtacious glance that cute Orc is giving you from across the battlefiend? Do you smell the flowers of romance in bloom all around you? If so, man, you've got it bad. Fortunately for those suffering from VDAS -- Valentine's Day Addiction Syndrome -- plenty of MMOs are on hand to provide you with a temporary fix until you get proper medication and are carted away to a professional love care facility. It may not be the biggest of holidays in the virtual world, but when love arrives in February, it cannot be denied. And who knows for you single folk? The man, woman, or one-eyed Gnome of your dreams might just stumble over you on this fine day! Read on as we sum up some of the larger Valentine's events in MMOs today.
Five apps for Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day is only a few days away, so now is the time to grab a box of chocolates and secure a bouquet of roses for your loved ones. For a special twist on this holiday, check out our list of Valentine's Day apps that'll help you share your love both today and each day going forward. Lovendar [iPhone, US$1.99] Lovendar is a private list-sharing app that lets you share your thoughts, date ideas, gift list and more with only your significant other. Use it to be as routine or as racy as you want. M.A.S.H. Valentine [iOS Universal, Free] The classic MASH (mansion, apartment, shack, house) game is now on your iOS device with this special Valentine's Day edition. See who you will date on Valentine's Day, where you will go and how the night will turn out. You can also check out the original version that predicts who you will marry, where you will live and how many kids you will have. Twist [iPhone, Free] Twist tracks your location and lets your family and friends know when you will arrive at your destination. Don't leave your loved one alone at a restaurant, waiting and wondering where you are -- use Twist to let your date know that you will be a few minutes late. Minus [iPhone, Free] Minus is a new social networking app that lets you meet, greet and share photos with other people near you. It includes unlimited photo sharing, texting and messaging. To deter stalking, Minus only grabs your location data when you open the app and doesn't share your exact location. Rebtel Re:Beat [iPhone, Free] Why give chocolate hearts when you can give someone a personalized recording of your own heartbeat? Rebtel Re:Beat lets you record your heartbeat as a message that you can share on Twiter, Facebook or via email. It is definitely for the person looking to give something out of the ordinary.
Apple's Chinese New Year sale begins Jan 25
Apple has announced its annual "Red Friday" Chinese New Year sale. The sale will take place this Friday, January 25th from 12:01AM to 11:59PM SGT. The sale is valid at Apple's online store in Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan. The Asian market -- and China in particular -- is of increasing importance to Apple and its Red Friday sale, which originated last year, is a sign of that. There are no details yet as to what deals will be had, but last year the deals included 8 percent off iPads and 10 percent off iPod touches, plus a HK$770 discount on MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros and iMacs. The term "Red Friday" is derived from the term "Black Friday," which originated in the United States and is the Friday after Thanksgiving when holiday sales have traditionally kicked off. Chinese New Year -- or the Lunar New Year -- is as big a holiday as Christmas in many parts of Asia. This year Chinese New Year takes place on February 10th. Apple launched a Chinese New Year gift guide earlier this month.
Kobo touts 'millions' of sales in 2012
Kobo's starting its post-CES 2013 (the year doesn't really start until after the Consumer Electronic Show, right?) with a little bit of sales-inspired back patting. Apparently the company managed to bring 4 million folks on-board to its e-reading ways over the past six months, bumping up its registered user number to 12 million. Kobo's also calling last month its largest yet, thanks in no small part to the release of a number of new devices, including the Mini, Glo and Arc. All of offer up a reminder that, while the company doesn't have much of a foothold here in the States, it's pushing for a much larger presence in places like its home country of Canada and Japan, where its owner Rakuten is a retail powerhouse.
Flurry: 17 million iOS, Android devices activated on Christmas Day
If you received a new smartphone or tablet for Christmas, you're not alone; VentureBeat reports that over 17 million new iOS and Android devices were activated on Christmas day, according to analytics firm Flurry. That's a bump of over 330 percent over the average of the 20 days preceding the biggest gift-giving day of the year. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that while tablets accounted for just 20 percent of the activations between December 1-20, Christmas Day saw tablets take over, with 51 percent of new device activations coming from slates. As you might expect, the skyrocketing device statistics also helped to bump app download rates, with roughly 20 million downloads tallied each hour for the majority of Christmas Day. [Via: VentureBeat]
The Daily Grind: So what did you get?
It's a big holiday for a lot of people today, and the Massively offices are quiet while we engage in traditional and not-so-traditional festivities. The Massively staffers are not as quiet as many of us have been giving and receiving gifts from our family, friends, loved ones, and random strangers (shouts of woohoo can be heard all the way through the internets). And odds are good that a good chunk of our readers are doing the same. Of course, if the people in your life know you, they probably got you a gift that has something to do with gaming because of course they did. So today we're just throwing open the doors and asking you to just brag. What's the best gaming-related gift you received this holiday season? Was it a new game you've been waiting for? An old game you couldn't find? An accessory? A game system? Or was it a humble in-game gift from a friend or family member playing the same game, proving that it's really the thought that counts over the physical value of something? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET: Holiday cheer, Apple-style
If Apple fans were shopping for a CEO-worthy Christmas gift (really, what do you get for the man who can buy everything?), they can stand down now. He may not have taken the front cover, but Tim Cook's selection as a runner-up for Time Magazine's Person of the Year certainly will warm hearts and stockings over Cupertino way. In some ways it's best he wasn't selected over President Barack Obama; it would have made for a particularly awkward iPad mini ad. We've only got two days left before Christmas, and if you're still looking for gift ideas (sorry, iPad mini stock is all booked up) or just need an hour's break from kith and kin, we're here for you. We'll talk Tim Cook, holiday plans, and generally kick back and relax. It'll be fun. As mentioned on the show last week, we'll also be accepting entries into our Sci-Fi Holiday Carol contest; prizes will be awarded for both lyrical composition and performance. The best "Cylon Night, Holy Night" will get a snazzy iPhone 5 case from Speck, so warm up those vocal cords! To participate live during the show, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, the best way to have your voice heard is to call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (viva free weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free X-Lite or other SIP clients (aside from Skype or Google Voice), basic instructions are here. Talk to you tonight!
What are you looking for under your iTree on Christmas?
It's the weekend before Christmas, and all through the blogosphere, not a creature is posting, not even here. Are your stockings hung by your chimneys with care? In hopes that Santa Tim Cook soon will be there? We hope that you're nestled, all snug in your beds, while visions of Apple products dance in your heads. What are you hoping to see under your tree? An iMac for you? An iPhone for me? Please drop a note into comments below. (You'll find them down lower, near the TUAW mistletoe.) Tell us what you are getting and what you will share. When Tuesday arrives, what goodies will be there?
