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Acer feels the pain of the PC's decline
Analysts believe that the PC has had its day in the sun, and now, we've got another shred of proof to toss into the dossier. Acer, the world's fifth-largest PC maker, has revealed that its revenues fell by the better part of 30 percent in the second quarter of the year. The terse announcement wasn't supported by a full earnings release, but the figures mean that this period has been the company's smallest quarter since 2006. The spreadsheet may be missing, but Digitimes is reporting that Acer is betting on Chromebooks, 2-in-1 and gaming laptops will restore the firm to profitability.
UK government should retain mass surveillance powers, says report
An "undemocratic" and "unnecessary" patchwork of laws that facilitate the UK government's use of mass surveillance should be abandoned in favour of new legislation "drafted from scratch." That's the conclusion of a new, independent review commissioned by the government, which broadly supports the current powers available to intelligence services.
Google publishes the boring details of its self-driving car accidents
While Google prepares to move its driverless car tests from modified hatchbacks and SUVs to the custom prototype shown above, questions keep popping up about any accidents they've been in (even though the car itself has not been at fault). Earlier this week Google co-founder Sergey Brin stook questions about those accidents, and today the company issued the first of a series of monthly breakdowns on its autonomous driving tests. USA Today says the reports will include info about any incidents, as well as other anecdotes and examples of how the cars handle every day traffic situations. Of course, if Google wanted to hide any information about its progress then it has found the perfect way -- it turns out that reading about a car getting rear-ended at stop lights incredibly boring, even if it's a self-driving car that was hit.
Shutting down piracy sites is like playing Whac-A-Mole, says EU
The European Commission (EC) has finally confirmed what we've all known for years: if you shut down one online piracy site, another will simply take its place. A report published by the EC's Joint Research Center found that the closure of Kino.to, a popular unlicensed streaming site in Germany, had little impact on national online piracy. The team analysed the web activity of 5,000 German citizens, and found that while there was a sharp decline in June 2011, when the site was pulled offline by officials, average piracy levels quickly returned to normal. In addition, researchers concluded that Kino.to's demise did little to encourage licensed alternatives. Instead, a group of new illegal streaming sites rose to prominence -- kinox.to, mega-stream.to, video2k.tv and streams.to, among others.
BBC warned that the licence fee may soon come to an end
The licence fee that funds most of the BBC's programming has long been a contentious issue in the UK. For some, it's a safeguard for the broadcaster's most valuable work, while for others it's an increasingly outdated and unfair tax, penalising those who only want to watch other channels. Today the UK's Culture, Media and Sport Committee weighed into the debate, declaring that it doesn't see "a long-term future" for the licence fee in its current form. It admitted there were few viable alternatives for the fee in the near-term, but emphasised the current model was becoming "harder and harder to sustain."
Samsung-made chips reportedly power Apple's next iPhone
Samsung will reportedly power the majority of the next-generation iPhone according to Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper. The report says that the Korean company will claim 75 percent of processor chip production for Apple's next smartphone: Samsung one of a few companies that have the scale to provide high-end processors in the numbers that Apple needs for its iPhones. The Korean company was the one responsible for crafting the A7 SoC powering the iPhone 5S two years ago, although an apparent exclusive deal with TSMC meant that wasn't involved in Apple's two new phones in 2014. It's unlikely that Samsung and Apple are all-of-a-sudden BFFs, but, well, business is business. We've reached out to both companies for a response.
Report: Xbox avatars to get a facelift on Xbox One
Xbox avatars may soon return in an upgraded form on the Xbox One, PC platforms, and mobile devices, a pair of recent Microsoft job postings indicate. "As we cross the threshold to a unified operating system and product experience across Microsoft, it is time to for Xbox avatars to also advance to the next level," the latter posting reads. "Come with us, as we take Xbox avatars on their biggest adventure yet in new Xbox experiences. You will be part of the broader Xbox Experiences team, which owns the Xbox One Shell, and the Xbox experiences across console, desktop, slate, mobile, iOS, and Android." Created by Microsoft-owned studio Rare, Xbox avatars made their debut as part of an Xbox 360 firmware update in 2008, allowing Xbox Live members to associate digital characters with their gamertags. Though avatars and purchasable customization items remain a focus on the Xbox 360, the characters aren't currently given the same treatment on the Xbox One, where they only appear as part of a gamerpic photo app. "We're always looking for talented people to innovate now and in the future," a Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamer in response to a request for clarification. "We don't have any further comment on this or any other job posting." [Image: Microsoft]
iOS users are still huge porn lovers
A new end-of-the-year report by one of the web's most popular adult sites shows that iOS users are still totally in love with watching porn on the go. According to Pornhub's traffic data (SFW, I promise), over 40% of the visits coming from a mobile operating system come from Apple's iOS, putting it in second place behind Android (49%) and ahead of Windows (2%) and BlackBerry (1%). Second place might not seem like an indicator that iOS devotees are especially porn hungry, but when you consider that recent market share measurements put iOS at somewhere near 11% -- compared to Android's 84% -- it's clear that on a per-device basis, Apple's platform sees a lot more NSFW action. Pornhub's report doesn't separate tablet traffic from smartphone traffic on the OS level, but does note that just 11% of the site's visits come from tablets, while 45% come from smartphones, so Apple's iPad dominance certainly can't be used to fully explain the ratio of porn viewing on iOS. Perhaps the iPhone 6 Plus lends itself well to big screen viewing... You're a depraved bunch, and that's just fine.
You've been using an awful lot of shopping apps lately
Year-end mobile use statistics are usually pretty predictable, at least in terms of overall growth -- Spoiler Alert: It goes up every year -- but 2014 was actually somewhat surprising, if Yahoo's Flurry analytics is to be believed. According to the company's data, the biggest app growth category was Lifestyle & Shopping, which grew an astounding 174%, year-over-year. Other notable big movers include Utilities & Productivity which grew 121%, Messaging at 103%, and Health & Fitness with 89% growth. Games -- which have long been a main source of revenue in the App Store -- grew the least of all, with just a 30% bump over the previous year. Of course, as app gaming is already a massive market on its own it could be argued that there's not that much more room left to expand each year, while shopping apps clearly had plenty of room to grow.
Apple takes over HTC's home country, iPhone 6 most popular smartphone in Taiwan
HTC's home country of Taiwan is now devoted to Apple, according to new sales data. The iPhone 6 has driven Apple's rise in the region, and of the top ten best selling smartphones in Taiwan last month, various models of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus stole a total of four of those spots. That's a whole lot of Apple love from the country that HTC typically dominates. HTC still managed to slide into second place in overall sales volume, with Samsung, Asustek, and Sony trailing behind. Taiwan has a population of just over 23 million people, which is about the same as Australia and a bit less than the state of Texas, if you're looking for comparisons.
Report: Microsoft building game-streaming tech, 'Arcadia'
Microsoft has job openings within a new cloud-based Operating Systems Group, and one of the listings says the project is called "Arcadia." ZDNet reports that Arcadia is a new streaming system built on the Azure cloud and is poised to replace Microsoft's Rio game-streaming tech. Arcadia will stream games and apps to Microsoft devices, the site says. Halo 5 on your Windows Phone, anyone? One of Microsoft's job listings reads, in part, as follows: "The new Operating Systems Group (OSG) Streaming team is leveraging the cloud to bring premium and unique experiences to Microsoft's core platforms. These experiences take advantage of a new geo-distributed massively scaling service to redefine what is possible on today's devices. The client team is building the user facing application(s), bridging the service and devices together seamlessly. Our team is a small but growing and dedicated to solving one of Microsoft's biggest business challenges in a creative fashion." Both job listings note that experience with iOS and Android app development is "a plus." As Engadget points out, this technology is most likely a long way off, since the development team isn't even finalized yet. Sony has its own game-streaming system, PlayStation Now, and that's in beta on PS4, Vita and PS TV, well, now. [Image: Microsoft]
Ubisoft confirms next Assassin's Creed for Victorian London
The next major entry in the Assassin's Creed series will reportedly be set in London. According to sources close to Kotaku, the game will take place in the Victorian era, which makes some sense of the reported codename for the next rooftop-leaping game, "Victory." Expected to launch in fall 2015, Victory will seemingly be the first game in the series developed by Ubisoft Quebec, the studio named as the lead of the game by the publisher in July. The report also notes that Victory will be the only Assassin's Creed game to launch next year, and is not planned for previous-generation systems (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360). We've reached out to Ubisoft for comment, and will update as we learn more. Update: Ubisoft has confirmed the leak, offering the following comment: "It is always unfortunate when internal assets, not intended for public consumption, are leaked. And, while we certainly welcome anticipation for all of our upcoming titles, we're disappointed for our fans, and our development team, that this conceptual asset is now public. The team in our Quebec studio has been hard at work on the particular game in question for the past few years, and we're excited to officially unveil what the studio has been working on at a later date. In the meantime, our number one priority is enhancing the experience of Assassin's Creed Unity for players." [Image: Ubisoft]
iPad sees first full year decline, is definitely (maybe) doomed
According to a new report from analytics firm IDC, 2014 will mark the first time since its launch that the iPad will see a year-over-year decline in sales. Apple's tablet offerings are expected to show a -12.7% growth figure for 2014. Assuming nothing absurd happens in the last few weeks of the year -- like a half-off sale or some other incentive to get people to take up iPads faster than they ever have before -- that sounds about right, especially if you've been keeping an eye on Apple's quarterly reports which have shown sluggish iPad sales for months now. Over the same window, Android and Windows tablets are expected to show 16% and 67% growth rates, respectively. Of course, the iPad's Android competitors have the benefit of budget pricing options and, in the case of Windows, the fact that Microsoft has sold so few in years past makes it easy to post a positive growth figure. So what's the deal with the iPad? We've had Wall Street claiming the iPad needs a life raft for a while now, and while it's certainly true that negative growth numbers aren't ideal, it's important to consider where the dollars that have been spent on iPads in years past have been going in 2014. Spoiler: It's not being spent on an Android or Windows tablet. This year, the iPhone grew up. The iPhone 6 Plus is one of the best (I'd personally say the best, but for the sake of argument I'll hold back) phablets available, and the smaller iPhone 6 still sports impressive screen real estate at 4.7 inches. I personally know two people -- not tech journalists or gadget gurus, but "normals" as the tech world considers them -- who have upgraded their iPhones for the first time since the 4/4s days, decided on the 6 Plus, and traded in their iPads. The 6 Plus, and perhaps even the 6 in some cases, is big enough to satisfy the craving for both a smartphone and a tablet, and I've yet to hear a single complaint from anyone in my life who owns one of these new, larger phones. Well, the U2 album thing did cause some unrest, but that's kind of a special case. This year's iPhone launch saw record sales, and I have to imagine that I'm not unique in knowing at least a couple of people for whom the iPhone 6 makes the iPad more of a luxury than a necessity. Let me stop you before anyone mentions "cannibalization," because I don't think that's the case here; These are people who have seen no reason to upgrade their phones beyond the iPhone 4/4s. The apps they use still work fine and the iPhone 5 size change wasn't dramatic enough to get them to open their wallets. Now, rather than buying a new iPad mini this year and spending yet another 12 months with their ancient iPhones, they're spending their money on the iPhone 6. Then there's the Mac, which is enjoying all-time sales highs this year in the face of an overall decline in PC sales. Is the Mac really just a magic piece of hardware, or is the iPad acting as a gateway drug for people who never considered buying a Mac before? I'd guess the latter, and while some have suggested that Apple isn't doing enough to make the iPad seem like a viable PC alternative, I'd argue that if iPad owners decided to buy a MacBook this year instead of upgrading their iPad, Apple won anyway. So is the iPad "doomed?" If you consider the inevitable wearing off of novelty and eventual desire of iPad owners to invest further in the Apple ecosystem to be a bad thing, then yes. The iPad is definitely doomed. [Photo credit: bbaunach]
There are now 3 billion internet users, mostly in rich countries
The UN's International Telecommunication's Union (ITU) has revealed that over 3 billion people are now connected to the internet, an increase of 6.6 percent over last year. The good news is that such access can have a huge impact "for those who are the poorest and most disenfranchised, including women, youth and those with disabilities," according to the report. However, the bad news is that much of that coverage doesn't apply to people who need it the most. Of the 4.3 billion people still not connected to the internet, 90 percent live in developing countries, with two-thirds of users in first-world countries.
iPhone 6 launch broke app download records
The launch of a new iPhone always creates a bump in App Store downloads, but this year's iPhone 6/6 Plus debut was a special kind of crazy. According to a new report by analytics firm Fiksu, October saw a massive surge in iOS app downloads that shattered previous records and led to a daily download volume of over 7.8 million downloads for the top 200 apps on the marketplace. Fiksu's report emphasizes that user loyalty is a huge factor in device launches, suggesting the perceived devotion of Apple fans played a large role in the record breaking month. That trend is likely to continue into the holidays, as gift-giving leads to more upgrades and new iOS adopters who will undoubtedly be visiting the App Store to cash in their iTunes gift cards - everyone gets one or two of those every year, right?
Report: Steam Fall Sale begins November 26
The Steam Fall Sale will commence on November 26, the day before Thanksgiving, and run until December 1, according to VG247. The site reports that an email sent by PayPal, encouraging account holders to stock up on Steam Wallet codes, has beaten Valve to the punch and revealed dates for the annual spree of wallet genocide savings before an official announcement. Of course, by listing the dates before Valve has confirmed them, PayPal runs the risk of being incorrect. We doubt that's the case, seeing as PayPal works closely with Valve to act as one of Steam's methods of payment, but we'll keep an eye out and let you know when things become official. [Image: Valve]
Google's plan for super-fast internet: tap unused airwaves
One of the problems with a tech company publicly testing anything is that you can start to hope. Hope, almost inevitably, leads to despair, and from despair it's only a short hop to the dark side, or something. With that in mind, we'd suggest you try not to hope too hard when you hear that Google has applied to the FCC for permission to begin wireless spectrum tests in the San Francisco area. According to Reuters, the company's looking into a rarely-used millimeter wave frequency that is capable of transmitting large amounts of data, but only if the receiving equipment is in the line-of-sight.
Report: Destiny bug leaks expansion mission names, descriptions early
Missions, strikes and raids, oh my! A bug in Destiny has reportedly leaked the names and locations of several pieces of content set to arrive with the expansions for Bungie's sci-fi shooter, the first of which is due in December. According to a YouTube video posted by "Scott M" (who is not the original owner of the video), the expansions will collectively introduce at least two raids and four strike missions. Other, more spoiler-y info ahead. We already knew that Destiny's expansions - The Dark Below and House of Wolves - would introduce new content, but thanks to the YouTube video from Scott M (which you can watch after the break), we have a clearer idea of what to expect. For example, while the latter half of Destiny revolves around finding and destroying something called The Black Garden, a strike mission that appears to be associated with the The Dark Below expansion suggests that the Guardians' enemies are working hard to resurrect it. A raid for that expansion, titled "Crota's End," suggests there is yet more to discover under the moon's surface. Descriptions for House of Wolves content seems incomplete, though. When highlighted in-game, a raid mission apparently tied to the second expansion simply reads, "Reef Raid Description." That's at least better than the House of Wolves strike mission on the moon, which reads, "moon_portal_1." But then, Destiny hasn't really been known for having stellar dialogue.
Report: Microsoft to announce Mojang acquisition on Monday
Fans of alliteration, try this tongue-twister on for size: "Minecraft maker Mojang to merge with Microsoft." Better hurry though, because according to reports from Reuters, the rumored acquisition will be announced Monday, September 15, giving you just a couple days to practice the M-heavy news. Reuters also suggests that Microsoft acquiring Mojang is less about the company's presence in the PC and console markets, and more about helping boost its struggling mobile sector - Windows Phone and Surface tablets. Considering that almost 40 percent of Minecraft's 54 million copies sold were for the game's Pocket Edition, it would make sense that Microsoft would want a piece of that pixelated pie. Still, with no official word from Microsoft or Mojang, we'll have to wait and see what happens come Monday. [Image: Mojang]
Report: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U to be released November 21
A photo of a pre-order card for the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros., supposedly from retail store Fred Meyer, has allegedly pegged the date that Nintendo's brawler will arrive in North America as November 21. Twitter user BluesDriveBuster shared the photo last evening, accompanied by text reading, "Official Smash WiiU release." It should be noted however, that this is not an official release date, at least not one formally announced by Nintendo; we've yet to hear such a date from the big N itself. Even the pre-order card states that the release date supposedly printed on the label is subject to change. Still, considering that Nintendo hasn't yet backed off of its previously-announced "winter 2014" release window and that November 21 is a Friday - a day of the week which Nintendo is fond of releasing major games on - there's enough substance here to make this supposed leak at least somewhat believable. Not enough that you should take it at face value of course, but enough that it's worth acknowledging. [Image: BluesDriveBuster]
