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Apple manager held on kickback charges
The Mercury News is reporting that Sunnyvale, CA resident Paul Shin Devine, a 37-year-old Apple manager in global supply, has been arrested and charged with accepting kickbacks from Asian suppliers. In return, he provided confidential information that allowed these suppliers to negotiate more advantageous contracts with Apple. Devine, and his alleged co-conspirator Andrew Ang of Singapore, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on 23 counts including wire fraud, money laundering and other charges. Devine is being held by the US Marshals Service. Apple's statement on the matter comes from PR lead Steve Dowling: "Apple is committed to the highest ethical standards in the way we do business... We have zero tolerance for dishonest behavior inside or outside the company." Devine is alleged to have collected over $1 million in funds from various suppliers in China, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea during the scheme; the companies involved have not yet been named publicly. Devine opened bank accounts in several countries in his wife's name to disguise the bribes. [via Apple 2.0]
Takahashi apologizes for Mass Effect review
Mercury News reporter Dean Takahashi has quite publicly apologized for his negative and unfair review of Mass Effect. Takahashi's mea culpa reveals that he rushed into (and through) the early levels of the game without taking the time to learn the rules. BioWare can also be faulted for its lack of explanation in teaching the uninitiated the finer points gameplay.The lengthy apology clearly highlights issues we've heard about and experienced in Mass Effect over and over again. Some simple thoughts to enjoy Mass Effect: Take your time and be sure to make time, it is an RPG after all and not a rushed experience. Hopefully for the sequel they'll fix blatantly ridiculous things like the inventory system, inability to run around the Citadel, and the slowest elevators in intergalactic history -- the title sure sold enough to warrant future installments.
Xbox 360 "Jasper" shrinks ATI graphics to 65-nm
After Falcon, there's Jasper. At least that's how Dean Takahashi of the San Jose Mercury News claims the Xbox 360 timeline will progress. The Jasper motherboard is said to extend the 65-nm shrinkage to the ATI-built graphics chip. As the source for most of the Xbox's heat, that should make Jasper-based 360s more reliable than the existing 90-nm versions. The updated gaming rig will also pack physically smaller memory chips. With any luck, the lower material costs will hopefully be passed along to us when these pop for retail sometime around August 2008. [Via Joystiq]
Found Footage: iPhone Dev Camp Hackathon
The San Jose Mercury News provides this video of the recent three day iPhone developer camp and hackathon. The Mercury News talked with event organizers and got a peek at some new iPhone-specific applications during this "Inside Silicon Valley" video. It's a pretty long video (almost half an hour!) so if you have buffering problems the way I did, you may want to download the MP4 file directly from the Mercury News site.
Extended PSP battery gets positive review
Ready to fork out $100 on a new PSP battery? It appears that the recently revealed "15 hour" battery from Blue Raven seems to get the job done. Although the battery increases the size of the system, Mike Antonucci from The Mercury News, notes that it adds a great deal of comfort to the system: "The battery comes as part of a rubberized, five-ounce half-shell that the PSP slips into easily, leaving the back of the device encased in a manner that offers a comfortable, balanced grip."There are a few flaws with the battery. One, users must remember not to plug the AC adapter into the wrong port. Using the port on the system may be damaging. Also, $100 is still quite a sizable amount to spend. However, the peripheral comes with a great recommendation: "I'd buy [it] as a consumer."Those interested in purchasing the battery can visit Blue Raven.[Thanks, Joel!]
Miyamoto talks user-generated content, critical of PS Home [update 1]
Speaking to The Mercury News' Dean Takahashi, designer Shigeru Miyamoto gave a slight jab to the PlayStation Home for its familiarity. "What they're doing already exists in one form on the PC," he said. "Our focus [with Miis] is always to be different and do something that's different." Miyamoto furthers his opinion by expressing how the Mii system embraces but isn't focused on the internet, while noting that the character system took 20 years to "come to fruition." We assume much of that time was just Miyamoto circling the idea in his head, as his GDC keynote places the Mii conception alongside the Nintendo 64 era."We are trying to do something that is different and create something that hasn't been there before," he said. A caricature creation system may not have been done explicitly on consoles before, but we still wouldn't call it an entirely new concept. Nor would we give the same honor to Home, but their integration is indeed a first for game consoles.Miyamoto went on to address the idea the user-generated content, citing it as an inevitability. "It's not simply the question of whether there is a game editor," he said. "It is what form does that editor take." We have some idea.Also of note, Miyamoto gave the obvious revelation that a Wii fitness game, tentatively titled health pack or Wii Fit, is underway to ride the wave of success of Wii minigame collections Wii Play and Wii Sports.[Update 1: There was some confusion as to what Miyamoto said in the third line and what we added following the quote. The editorial has been given its own paragraph so as to alleviate some confusion.]
Seven busted 360s? Ouch
Dean Takahashi, Xbox guru and writer for Mercury News, recently wrote an article about a friend of his. The friend, Rob Cassingham, 42, has been through seven different 360 units, and all of them have failed. Cassingham purchased four at the the Zero Hour launch event, and all four "croaked." While waiting for his seventh unit to arrive from Microsoft, Cassingham wrote Takahashi to let him know that he was fed up with the console, and planned on selling the final unit when it arrived. Takahashi then sent Cassingham's complaint directly to Peter Moore, who in turn has had his console replaced with a brand new unit. Cassingham is still torn about the affair, and admits that part of him would rather sell the unit and be done with it. Still, he plans on keeping the machine and to purchase an extended warranty.With stories like Cassingham's piling up, Microsoft's continued claims that 360 failure rates are within the standard will not hold up much longer.[Via Joystiq]
Takahashi talks shop with Peter Moore
Dean Takahashi recently sat down to talk with Peter Moore at CES. Some of the topics discussed include IPTV, gaming on Windows Vista, MMOs on 360, the importance of 1st party developers, Microsoft's hopes in Japan, and of course, a little offhanded PS3 and Wii bashing. Moore makes a particularly interesting point about the necessity of 1st party development. Takahashi points out that Microsoft doesn't have as many 1st party developers as Sony and Nintendo. Moore replies that Microsoft has many 1st party games being created by studios not owned by Microsoft. Examples of this include Bioware's Mass Effect, Silicon Knights' Too Human, and of course Epic's Gears of War. Moore notes that Microsoft has a great publishing model in which MS aids in funding and publishing externally developed titles. He further states that while these are developed by a third party, they are unmistakably 1st party 360 titles.The interview is a little over half an hour long, and worth a listen to any dedicated 360 fanboys. Hit the "read" link to check it out.
San Jose Mercury News blasts Jobs
Despite the green light given to Steve Jobs and his executive team by an internal Apple investigation, the San Jose Mercury News seems intent on proving otherwise. Apple is giving Jobs a "Free Pass", claims one recent article which cites a Boston University management professor and a managing director of research at Glass Lewis. Another article points out that Steve Jobs helped pick several of the directors on Apple's board. We learn from yet another recent piece that the civil lawsuit has "turned up [the] heat" on Apple and yet another article offers a timeline of the scandal while another points the finger at Jobs for his role in backdating. They say all news is local, perhaps this is just an expression of the Mercury News' local interest.
Sony spread too thin, according to Microsoft exec
Mercury News has some fighting words from Microsoft's Robbie Bach. The President of E&C goes on record saying that Sony is unable to successfully compete in the upcoming generation as Sony must focus its efforts across three platforms: PS2, PS3 and PSP. "I think Sony, frankly, suffers a little bit from this problem, which is they're spread really thin across all these areas. And trying to do PSP, competing with Nintendo, PSP to DS; competing with us, 360 to PS3, I think it does strain -- it would naturally strain any organization."It's interesting to point out that Microsoft, a company with quite possibly the largest monetary battle chest in the world, has avoided the handheld market, simply because the battle against Nintendo would be too resource-draining. While two-front wars have never been too successful, the consumers should feel comfortable in knowing that at least Sony puts dedication behind its products, unlike Microsoft. I'm confident that Sony will support the PSP for years to come, just like they have with the PS2. And that's something millions of currently abandoned original Xbox consoles can't vouch for.[Via GameDaily]
Is confusion slowing HDTV sales?
That's the question posed by this Mercury News article. The actual title references HDTV's being available since 1998, which I don't think is really fair because they haven't been priced within reach of the major audience until the last two or three years. While confusion has definitely slowed adoption, I can't even count the number of times I've heard people say conflicting and erroneous facts regarding HDTV, the biggest barrier is price and it is continuing to come down. As the price hurdle falls, yes, consumer education will probably be one of the largest difficulties but hopefully people can find sites like this one, or any of the resources manufacturers and content providers are creating. As more people see high definition TV's in their friends homes and programming increases, they'll want it for themselves and be able to get it. Of course, then we have to make sure they are actually watching high definition TV, but one step at a time.
