newyorktimes
Latest
Apple and Sony stores face off in the New York Times
It seems funny now, but Apple's 2001 decision to open a chain of glossy white boutiques was thought to be pretty risky at the time -- there was no shortage of pundits declaring that the stores would fail spectacularly. (To be fair, no other manufacturer made it work except Sony, kind of. Read on.) Six years and several million iPods later, of course, the stores are a resounding success, and flagship stores are suddenly all the rage. Not every manufacturer's getting so lucky at the mall, however -- Randall Stross of the New York Times compared his experiences at a couple of Sony's 39 retail stores with a visit to an Apple Store, and came away less than impressed. Stross found both Sony outlets virtually deserted except for inattentive salespeople and security personnel, while the Apple Store was packed with shoppers and friendly staff. The Sony stores, according to the "retail consultants" Stross later talked to, are merely "places of stuff," a condition which makes them not "shop-able," while the Apple outlets "extend an emotional connection." Stross concludes that Sony would do better if they had a hit product (duh) but we think the real secret is something a little different (no pun intended) -- Stross quotes a consultant who says all you need to do is "absorb the fumes" at an Apple Store and you "feel like the smartest technophile in the world." Man, that RDF is some pretty powerful stuff, eh?[Via TUAW]
NY Times compares Apple and Sony retail experiences
Remember when Apple's "retail experiment" was viewed as a risky, borderline-nutty strategy? Recall how Gateway and other technology companies were running away from their mall outposts while Apple was rolling out its first stores back in 2001? Randall Stross at the New York Times remembers [registration required], and he says that "[o]f the many predictions in the world of technology that have turned out to be spectacularly wrong, a prominent place should be made for what the pundits said in 2001 when Apple opened its first retail store in Tysons Corner, Va." Apple has succeeded tremendously in retail, partly due to a strategy of supporting a positive customer experience (Genius Bar!) and partly due to an unexpectedly popular product (the iPod).Stross quotes Apple's quarterly report on retail numbers -- over 180 stores, sales of $855 million -- and compares the Apple retail mojo to the Sony Style stores' relatively low impact. He also notes the impending return of Dell to the retail channel; not through Dell-branded stores, but through Wal-Mart... there's a really positive retail association for you. As long as Apple continues to make an emotional connection with buyers at the point of sale, it'll be hard to beat the Apple Stores.via Philip Elmer-Dewitt at Apple 2.0
The New York Times Garden Expert: garden like it's 1993
While you gotta wonder who at the Gray Lady thought this thing up, the New York Times Garden Expert does seem like it might actually be kinda useful now that spring is finally here. Looking like a cross between a novelty fridge magnet and a circa-1993 RadioShack discount PDA, the Garden Expert contains 1000 answers to common gardening questions culled from the NYT's Garden Expert column, like "What flowers attract butterflies?" Not the highest of high-tech, but for $20 it's pretty hard to complain. And say, isn't a certain day coming up?[Via OhGizmo]
Blast from the Past: Apple Introduces "Easier to Use" portable music player
October 2001. Apple introduces a new portable music player that it declares is much easier to use. So much easier, in fact, that it may "broaden a nascent market in the way the Macintosh once helped make the personal computer accessible to a more general audience". This new device is called iPod. The New York Times article that describes the iPod is pessimistic. The iPod-buying market would probably be limited to the 7 million existing owners of Apple Macintosh computers since no Windows support was provided at the time. And the new iPod might support piracy, although CEO Steve Jobs assured the music industry that steps would be taken to prevent songs from being transfered from the device to other computers. The 2001 iPod's 5GB hard drive was large enough to store 1000 songs.
NYT goes to Japan, discovers QR codes
Don't get us wrong, we have a special place in our robo-hearts for the Grey Lady, but you know we're gonna get a little chuckle about today's billowy two-pager on this totally new thing called QR codes that the Japanese have been using for, um, years. (And that we've been writing about for some time as well.) Still, we're not exactly balking since we do love QR so very, very much, and anything that could be done (including New York Times exposure) to faster integrate it into connected lives is something you know we're down with. Next up from the NYT's Japanese dispatches: a new phenomena sweeping the nation, an adorable character named "Hello Kitty".
NEWS FLASH: Old people like games!
The New York Times reports not-so-breaking news today that the over-60 set plays the occasional video game. The story hits all the standard points: your Grandma likes the Wii and PopCap's library of casual titles. They also mention the Wiis on cruise-ships thing from yesterday. Think the Iraq war was a big deal in 2006? Well, you're not going to hear about it much this year. The big news in 2007 is hot Grandma-on-game action.We're eagerly awaiting the Times's top story for tomorrow: "Kids Like Rap Music!"
Pogue on the Apple TV
Uncle Walt likes it, but what does David Pogue, NY Times tech columnist, think of the now shipping Apple TV? The short answer: he likes it.Pogue compares Apple's offer to the XBox 360 and the Netgear EVA8000 (seen to the right). The XBox 360 is big and noisy, but offers you HD downloads. Pogue also found navigating the menus a little clumsy with the joystick. Speaking of clumsy, Pogue says the EVA8000, which can stream content from any folder on any of your Macs or PCs and can even play tunes purchased from iTunes (though that's a PC only feature for some reason) has the stink of a 1.0 product all over it. The menu system is ugly, setup was difficult, and overall the experience was not pleasant.Pogue also included a little tidbit I hadn't seen anywhere else. Thanks to the magic of iTunes/iPod syncing if you are watching a video on your iPod, pause, hook you iPod up to your Mac, and then turn on your Apple TV it will remember where you paused that video and start from that point on the Apple TV. Nifty.The Apple TV wins based on design, ease of use, and ease of setup. Who cares that it only works with iTunes (though on both Mac and PC) and that there is no HD content to be had at the iTunes Store (not yet, anyway)?
NY Times crossword puzzler headed to DS
If Dr. Kawashima can do it, so can Will Shortz. The New York Times crossword puzzle editor is poised to become the next DS icon when Majesco releases The New York Times Crosswords, a collection of 1,000 wordplay puzzles for Nintendo's handheld. Well, that's if developer Budcat decides to pixelize Shortz.Even without another goading head, Crosswords has the makings of a DS crossover hit -- you know, popular with the old folks -- with its proper usage of the touch-screen (allowing wordsmiths to scribble in answers or use an on-screen keyboard), progressive difficulty modes, and head-to-head wireless battles ... yeah, we said battles!The New York Times Crosswords ships this spring. Wurd.[Via 4 color rebellion]
Pogue's Top Ten new product features of 2006
David Pogue, tech columnist at the New York Times, has listed his favorite product features of 2006. This list is all about the small touches on products that really make you think that someone thought about these items before they tried selling them. One Apple feature made it on the list, and I must agree with the good Mr. Pogue on this one. The Magsafe connector is a marvel of technology. As David points out there is no 'right side' on the plug, and it pops out if the cord is jerked instead of dashing your MacBook, or MacBook Pro, on the floor.Check out the full column for David's other favorites (including the Zune's squirting ability).
NYTimes: 22 Songs Per iPod
The New York Times revealed this morning that iTunes sales only account for about twenty two songs per iPod. The rest, presumably, are ripped from the owner's collection of CDs or are obtained from various other--presumably both legal and nefarious--sources. I'm not sure what the big deal is about this. A $22 accessory sale on top of the original iPod price seems like a nice bonus to me from a financial point of view. And the "analysis" of this trend? "IPods are not sitting around generating dozens and dozens of transactions every quarter. People buy a certain number of songs, and then they stop," the Times quotes analyst Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research. I think more likely that some iPod people are iTunes buyers and many more are not. There are many legal ways to fill your iPod with content and I'm guessing that purchasing physical CDs and then ripping them is still the way of choice, even in a world of easy intangible purchases.
22 Podcasts from the New York Times
Open Culture, the website which recently brought TUAW readers a dose of podcast culture, reports on a series of 22 podcasts available from the New York Times. Various podcasts come in either daily or weekly flavors and center around popular sections and features of the paper. Podcasts include Science Times, Tech Gadgets, the Ethicist and so forth. I'm quickly becoming a big 'open culture' fan, as they keep digging up these great podcast media finds.
NY Times says Wii succeeds
The NY Times' Seth Schiesel recently had some very nice comments for Nintendo's Wii console, praising several of the console's titles, such as Wii Sports, Rayman Raving Rabbids, and Madden '07, stating that the fun factor of all these titles, as well as the console itself, is what sets it apart from it's competition."The Wii is about rescuing gaming from the clutches of the hard-core young male demographic that has dominated the industry's thinking for years. It is about making video games accessible again by providing a simple, intuitive, relatively inexpensive entertainment experience that an entire family can actually enjoy together. At that, the Wii succeeds admirably."Schiesel also goes on to comment that however much fun the console is, it just won't work as the primary console for the hardcore gamer. With strong first-party titles behind them like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, Nintendo is undoubtedly seeking that hardcore gamer. What do you guys think? Will the Wii forever be doomed to 'extra console' status and never get itself into the spotlight?
NY Times: The PS3 "isn't that great"
Seth Schiesel from the New York Times logged more than 30 hours with 13 games for the PS3 over the last week. His early verdict? Sony has failed to deliver on their promise and the new video game system "just isn't that great." He criticizes the lack of in-box HD cables, having to connect "wireless" controllers to the console for recognition purposes, and the difficulty playing custom playlists in games. He basically deems the 360 the better machine for now calling it a "powerful but intuitive system" likening the PS3 to a "brawny but somewhat recalcitrant specialized computer."From the article: "Measured in megaflops, gigabytes and other technical benchmarks, the PlayStation 3 is certainly the world's most powerful game console. It falls far short, however, of providing the world's most engaging overall entertainment experience. There is a big difference, and Sony seems to have confused one for the other."The man does praise multi-player battles in Resistance: Fall of Man, but even Joystiq's own Chris Grant, quoted in the same article, believes the console "doesn't feel finished." Granted, all newly launched systems have hiccups. The real factor is how the manufacturer handles said hiccups moving forward.[Thanks to all who sent this in]
The MSM responds to Microsoft's HD announcement
The mainstream media (or MSM for those of you down with the Web 2.0 lingo) doesn't cover every video game story out there, so when they dom, we always perk up and take notice. Following Microsoft's big HDTV announcement Monday night, several major mainstream outlets covered the news. Let's see what they had to say: Time Magazine considers the downloadable space as a whole, where "many companies including Microsoft competitors Apple, Amazon.com and Google are getting into the video distribution business. Microsoft's ace is that the Xbox 360 is already connected to the TV, a hurdle others try to overcome by marketing multimedia set-top boxes or creating unwieldy hardware partnerships." The New York Times compares Apple and Microsoft's similar, but oh so different, strategies, writing, "Microsoft will go into the video business with a different business model. Apple, most analysts believe, does not make much money selling iTunes content, but makes up for it by selling more iPods, which are extremely profitable. Microsoft, which analysts say loses money on each Xbox 360 it sells, expects to make up for that shortfall by selling games -- and now video. Reuters looks to the more obvious competitor. "Sony Corp., which ships its PlayStation 3 on November 17 with its own digital-distribution network, PlayStation Network, also will look to movies, TV content and music down the line but has not yet announced specific deals. Games will be the first focal point, as they have been for Microsoft during the past year with its Xbox Arcade service." So, Microsoft got there first (or, rather, they will when the service launches on November 22nd): A high-definition video download service connected to a set-top box already installed in millions of living rooms (and counting). But there's still more questions than answers in this shady, poorly-lit basement cockfight for living room supremacy. Like: what about the borderline impossibility of future cooperation with Sony Pictures? That would make it hard to be a comprehensive service. What about iTV?
Sony gets NYT to play Cpt. Obvious
The New York Times published a story today focusing on Sony's Playstation 3 jumping into the online arena. The story touts Sony's message that the Playstation 3 console is a long term investment worth the price tag. The story mentions Xbox Live and says that Sony will announce how they plan to combat that service at a press conference tomorrow in San Francisco -- OK, so why did this story run in the NYT today, instead of waiting the 24 hours for the real news?The article also quotes Jack Tretton, the co-chief operating officer of SCEA as saying, "Every PS3 owner should be able to plug in Day 1 and take full advantage of everything we have to offer... there is freedom for the development community and freedom from the consumer standpoint." Sounds like Sony's new PR honcho Dave Karraker has Tretton on a tighter leash since the last PR fiasco, as he says almost nothing in this fluff piece.The NYT story doesn't go into any detail about Sony's interface. It states that the Sony system will not be a central network like Microsoft's Xbox Live, but allows for publishers to set up their own networks. The one gamer interviewed in the article pretty much sums up the free service, "If Sony is going to tout that it's free, it better be good... It just can't be free and bad."Karraker deserves a bonus for getting NYT to do a story that the Playstation 3 will have online capabilities. Well, duh! Gold star for Karraker suckering the NYT with a story full of analysts and Googleable data. That's what we pretend journalists do here at Joystiq.
NYT presents South Korean gaming culture
The New York Times has a nice presentation on their website about gaming in South Korea narrated by the NYT's World of Warcraft-loving Seth Schiesel, who while reporting on what he saw manages to plug the upcoming Burning Crusade expansion by dropping in a picture of a Blood Elf. The piece does a fantastic job in giving a Cliff's Notes version of gaming culture in South Korea.An interesting statistic is that Korea has 25.4 broadband subscriptions per 100 residents, the only country with more is Iceland at 26.7. So, why doesn't Iceland have major video game championships? The NYT explains Korean parents actually encourage their children to game as an outlet for the society's emphasis on education. Park Youngmok, Blizzard's Korean communications director says, "In Korea it's all study, study, study, learn, learn, learn."
Sunday NY Times says Spore is special
Steven Johnson, Colbert Report guest and author of Everything Bad is Good for You, wrote a thoughtful piece on Will Wright's Spore in yesterday's widely read New York Times Magazine entitled, "The Long Zoom." Like any writeup of Wright's simeverything, Johnson's includes equal parts hagiography, history, and hype, imbuing Wright's unreleased masterpiece with transcendental potential.Johnson's title refers to Spore's ability to zoom from the microscopic level all the way out to the galactic level, recalling the Eames' influential Powers of Ten (video embedded above). Wright's collaborative presentation with musician Brian Eno on "generative art," arranged by the long-term thinkers at the Long Now Foundation, also suggested a more cerebral sophistication than we're used to seeing, and reading about, in video games. If you think the hype for Gears of War may be hard to live up to, consider Spore, a game that is beginning to more resemble a panacea for all the gaming industry's myriad ills than a clever expansion of the Sim- series.[A faux pas, and a personal pet peeve: Charles and Ray Eames were not, in fact, "brothers" as Johnson writes, but an enormously successful husband-and-wife design team, responsible for everything from the aforementioned Powers of Ten film, to their famous molded plywood Eames Lounge Chair.]See also: Spore figurines!
Seattle P-I: Wii on November 19, $250; did they slip? [update 2]
Just before the Japanese press event started in earnest, an article surfaced at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that declared the Wii would launch November 19 at $250. Chat rooms and forums exploded as gamers debated the legitimacy of the story, which listed the New York Times as its source. Since no one could find the information anywhere else -- not on Reuters, the AP, or the NYT itself, we called both the New York Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to attempt to verify the story. Though we could not reach anyone at the NYT, we did speak with the city desk at the Seattle P-I, and they verified that the story was indeed pulled from the NYT's wire and that it was not altered by the Seattle publication. Less than an hour later, the link disappeared from the main business page -- though the article was still available via direct link and still listed as the "most read" on the RSS feed. Minutes later, even the direct link disappeared, and was replaced with the following information:The page you have requested was not found. The link is either incorrect or the page no longer exists. If you believe there is a problem, please send a message to newmedia@seattlepi.com.Did the Seattle P-I slip up and release the information early? Since the article disappeared, we will be reproducing it almost in its entirety after the jump. Please note that we are not claiming credit for this article -- we are just working to bring you the most accurate news possible.[Update 2: Apparently the article reappeared. Once the cat's out of the bag .... However, as of 2:15 Eastern, the headline has not reappeared on the business page at the Seattle paper. We are working to compare the copy to see if changes have been made. Also fixed coding error.]
Metareview: Loco Roco
The last time PSP Fanboy did a Metareview, it covered another one of my most-wanted games: Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins. It didn't fare too well, with the critics bashing its much-too-high level of difficulty. Garnering only a 73 average, many felt a little disappointed, myself included. [Andrew's note: the game is pretty damn good, but then again, one of my favorite games last generation was Ikaruga.] The other game I've been obsessing over, Loco Roco, has just been released and although it got some poor initial reviews from Gamespot and a nine year old girl, the critics seem to be in agreement that Loco Roco will make you cucoo for Cocoa Puffs. Here are excerpts from the critics: IGN (90/100) - "You'll discover playing Loco Roco is a lot like eating candy, only without the stomachache after an overdose. That sounds absurd but it really gets the point across. It's vibrant, cheery and serves no other point than to make you smile. But, like candy, Loco Roco also ends sooner than you want it to end." The New York Times (90/100) - "With imaginative levels on snowy landscapes or inside whales, Loco Roco uses charm and simplicity of design to create something near perfection. But it's a small perfection, charming in its childlike whimsy but as insubstantial as a summer breeze." GamePro (60/100) - "So much of LocoRoco is so clever and original that it's almost perplexing when it stops being any fun. The fun does run out, though, long before the game is over -- in that sense, the experiment has to be called a failure." Well, it looks like the people of GamePro don't like candy. But, the rest of us can be proud of Loco Roco's impressive 84 average from the critics.
The New York Times on Warcraft's Success
I think everyone who plays understands that World of Warcraft is a hugely popular game, played by millions across the globe. Well, today the New York Times ponders the game's immense success and international appeal. What World of Warcraft has meant to the MMO genre is summarized succinctly, I think, in this statement by the Times:There were massively-multiplayer games before World of Warcraft, just as there were MP3 players before Apple's iPod. Like the iPod, World of Warcraft has essentially taken over and redefined an entire product category.Joystiq also points out something interesting in the tone of the article - namely, that it does not immediately assume games and gaming are negative things. Instead, it presents an open minded look at gaming as a hobby.[Thanks, Dave]
