John Deere
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John Deere will let US farmers repair their own equipment
John Deere has agreed to a right to repair promise, albeit under plenty of political pressure.
John Deere says its autonomous tractor is ready for production
All a farmer has to do is drive to the field, set the geofence, and let the Deere 8R do the rest.
Government report finds LightSquared's LTE interferes with GPS -- color us surprised
No one said bathing the great United States in LTE would be easy, but the hits just keep on coming for Falcone and co. Following up on reports and concerns about LightSquared's possible interference, a government study has found that the outfit's proposed broadband network does indeed impede GPS signals. According to the National PNT Engineering Forum, the federal advisory group that conducted the study, LiqhtSquared's network disrupted GPS signals for all of the devices tested in the area. The report lists OnStar, Garmin, John Deere, emergency services, the FAA, and NASA among those affected by interference. Both LightSquared and the GPS industry are scheduled to present their own tests for the FCC's consideration next week. The news isn't exactly shocking, but it certainly doesn't bode well for the ambitious LTE network.
LightSquared's LTE breaks GPS in New Mexico trial, angers John Deere
With Best Buy, Cricket, and Leap already signed on as partners, LightSquared has a lot riding on the success of its nationwide LTE network. Unfortunately, the Airforce's concerns about it interfering with GPS have been born by a test run in New Mexico. Officials in charge of the state's 911 systems as well as trucker hat kings Deere & Co. reported loss of service up to 22 miles away from LightSquared's cell tower. The company believes it has a solution to the interference problem, but hasn't specified exactly what the fix might be. Now the 4G wholesaler's future rests on a June 15th report to the FCC detailing the potential issues for both consumer navigators and the precision GPS systems used by the military and airlines -- but when even John Deere is lobbying against you things start to look a little bleak.
2009 from a developer's point of view
We're finishing up our 2009 Reader's Choice Awards, but that doesn't mean we can't take note of the fact that the last year of the decade hasn't exactly been a stellar years. We've watched a recession hit hard, several games turn the lights off for good, several others lose staff, and generally not had the best of years. And it's something that's even more obvious if you're in the thick of game development. Scott Jennings has taken a few moments to look back at what he sees as the three major developments of 2009: layoffs, Facebook, and microtransactions. Of course, as someone who had an unpleasant brush with the recession, it's understandable that Jennings wouldn't be predisposed to mention things such as the free-to-play model making large inroads via high-profile titles such as Free Realms and Dungeons and Dragons Online. But the article is interesting as a retrospective of the many south turns the industry took this year, as are his guesses from a year ago regarding what things would look like. Here's hoping that 2010 provides us with slightly better news -- believe it or not, we don't like announcing shutdowns or layoffs any more than you like reading them.
Unraveling the mystery of John Deere Online
Scott "Lum the Mad" Jennings, well-known blogosphere participant and game designer, has recently been working on a game that is now sadly canceled. This is bad both for the natural sadness of a game having been canceled and the voyeuristic MMO fan impulse to ask, "Well, what was it going to be?" We don't know. The only reference made was to the cryptic in-joke name of John Deere Online. In his own words: "As a condition of my severance I can't discuss a great deal, and anything I say here will most likely be picked up by the MMO news sites (wave, wave!)." Well, he's right about that last part. But neither waiting for him to change his mind nor camping outside his front door has yielded any new information, so perhaps we can take a look at more pieces of information and speculate? After all, we know of at least two of his co-workers. From them and from the little which Scott Jennings himself has said, we can derive the following bits of information: that they were working for 2K Games, developing an MMO based on an existing franchise, that the game would have been strategy-based, and that it might possibly have had something to do with tractors. Considering that Jon Jones mentions on his LinkedIn page that he "created a series of low polygon highly optimized building models with a small set of textures that can be reused across that nation's entire series of buildings appropriate to that age," it's difficult to argue with the conclusion that the team was working on a Civilization MMO. But 2K Games also could mean Elder Scrolls projects... which might be pertinent, as both Jon Jones and Matthew Weigel have been working on Dungeon Runners. It's all idle speculation, sadly, and for all we know the game really would have been a massively multiplayer tractor simulator. (In which case it might even be for the best - lawnmowers would probably have been totally overpowered against seeders in PvP.)
The best and worst (that we've reviewed)
2007 is almost over, and the end of the year brings joyous tidings of List Season. It's the time for taking stock of the last 12 months of gaming, and trying to make sense of it by putting things in numerical order. Join DS Fanboy for our best-ofs, worst-ofs, and other categories-ofs.We cranked up our review quotient in 2007 (and hope to do even more in 2008!), but we still can't review everything that comes out, to our chagrin. We wouldn't have time for anything else! However, we did try to hit a wide variety of titles this year, from the biggies like Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and Phantom Hourglass, to some smaller titles, like WordJong and Duck Amuck. We even worked to review some more off-the-wall things, like the Nintendo Fan Network at Safeco Field -- you know, in case you happened to find yourself in the Northwest with a hankering for a day of DS and baseball.
DS Fanboy Review: John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland
What do tractors, video games, and shoveling up cow poop have in common? If you guessed John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland, you probably read the title of this review. In case you haven't heard of this brand-licensed game, though, it's essentially a farming simulator that was recently released for the Nintendo "Niche Games Haven" DS.While the brand might not mean much to gussied up city folk, Deere & Company happens to be the world's leading manufacturer of farming equipment (thanks, Wikipedia!). In fact, the John Deere brand became so popular that it incited a horrible fashion trend a few years ago that led to people who weren't truckers wearing trucker hats. But, what does this all mean for Harvest in the Heartland? Is it possible that John Deere would not only find success in agriculture and fashion, but in video games as well? Let's find out, shall we?
Site recalls worst boxart of 2007, DS titles dominate
Games Radar's choices for the worst examples of boxart in 2007 don't necessarily coincide with our own, though even we would be hard pushed to dispute the inclusion of the above travesty in this hall of shame. Of the fifteen titles listed by GR, five are to be found on the DS, with OMG 26: Our Mini Games (#2), Julie Finds a Way (#4), John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland (#6), Touch Detective 2½ (#11), and Etrian Odyssey (#14) all charting.Jump past the break for more boxart that only a mother could love. Just remember that DS boxart can also be hella awesome.
DS releases for the week of November 19th
What's a gamer to do this week, with both Mario Party DS and Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings on the table? Sometimes, we just have to make the tough decisions ... and it looks like Great Auntie Ethel might not be getting a present this year during the holidays.What, you didn't expect us to choose between the games, did you? Baby Pals CSI: Dark Motives Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings Godzilla Unleashed John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland Mario Party DS Petz: Hamsterz Life 2 Strawberry Shortcake: The Four Seasons Cake
