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10 reasons you really need to be at Expand this March
In case you haven't noticed, we really, really want you at our inaugural Expand extravaganza this March 16-17! We wanted to take a moment and recap the highlights of the show we have planned so you have it all in one place (and because, let's be real, everyone loves a list): 1) Even more reasonable ticket prices! We want to make sure Expand is as accessible to as many of you as possible so we're knocking the ticket prices for all of the above back to $50 if you buy them in advance. We're also instituting day pass pricing for those of you unable to attend the show both days. A $35 ticket gets you into Saturday's show plus our after-party from 8 to midnight, and only $25 gets you in for Sunday. Parents, kids under 13 get in absolutely free so please bring the family for a day of hands-on technology fun! Of course, we know many of you have variable schedules and aren't sure if you'll be able to make the show ahead of time. We'll also be selling tickets at the door for $60 for the full weekend or $40 for just Saturday and $30 for just Sunday. And if you've already purchased Expand tickets, check the email you used to register for info about a refund (we won't leave you hanging!). If you didn't receive the email or have other questions about your tickets, please hit us up at tickets at engadget dot com and we'll help you out. Read on for nine more reasons...
EVE Fanfest has totally sold out
The EVE Online gathering of fans has totally sold out, man. It's completely sold out... of tickets. Yes, this year's EVE Fanfest has already reached full capacity, with the final ticket being sold today. That means that if you were hoping to somehow make your way out to Iceland for the gathering... well, you still can go to Iceland, but you won't be getting into CCP's convention. This year's fanfest will be bigger than previous years as it includes both EVE Online and DUST 514 under its header. It's also the 10th anniversary of EVE Online, so there are sure to be all sorts of interesting events for attendees. If you already have your ticket, you can look forward to it, but if you missed it, your only chance now is to hope to catch some online coverage. On the brighter side, if you had already booked a flight and/or lodgings before tickets had sold out and you are now out of luck, you can contact CCP Games to help recover your investment.
Blizzard Customer Support live Q&A recap
Yesterday, between 5pm and 6pm Pacific, Blizzard's Customer Support Team took part in a live Q&A, using some new software to answer players' questions in real time. In attendance were CS Forum Representative Vrakthris, WoW Game Support Manager Marcus Maczynski, SC2 Game Support Manager Angelo Concepcion, D3 Game Support Manager Andreas Unger, Senior CS Information Specialist Charles Areson, and CS Social Media Manager Antonio Achucarro. With players asking the questions, there was fairly high traffic for the team to deal with, Zarhym told us they received over 1,500 questions in under an hour! Not all of them could be answered, but we've been busy pulling out the key questions and responses for your delectation. Comment From legracen Are there any plans to update/change the in-game ticketing system for World of Warcraft so that the wait times for tickets can be reduced? Marcus Maczynski: Hello Legracen! We're constantly evaluating how we receive CS requests from players. Right-Click-to-Report and self-service options (such as Item Restoration) are both examples of this building in this efficiency. Updating the in-game interface to prompt players for exactly the information we need to service their requests is definitely something we want to do.
PAX East Saturday passes are 'low,' stop procrastinating and get some
PAX East has a habit of selling out pretty quickly, as we keep telling you, and passes for Saturday are now "low." Saturday is the final day still available, so if you haven't purchased tickets yet, this might be your last chance.The official PAX East Twitter says Saturday passes "probably will be sold out before the end of the night," so get your booties in motion.
Apple's Passbook: Helping to make baseball tickets extinct
According to a post on MarketWatch today, Major League Baseball would love to stop selling paper tickets. It turns out that Apple's Passbook might very well help them to accomplish that goal during the next year. Traditional ticket sales have been dropping quite a bit anyway -- from 55 percent in 2011 to less than 33 percent so far this year -- as fans are picking up tickets from MLB and other outlets (most notably StubHub) in digital formats. But Passbook was apparently a huge hit in a test run during the final two weeks of the 2012 regular season. Bob Bowman, CEO of MLB Advance Media, told MarketWatch that during the test with four teams, 1,500 e-ticket buyers -- or about 12 percent -- chose delivery through Passbook. Said Bowman, "That adoption rate really floored us -- there is no question our fans want digital tickets. Fans can use the tickets, forward them to a friend, resell them or even donate them to charity -- and they never get lost or left at home." If you happen to attend an MLB Playoff or World Series game this fall, hold onto your physical ticket if you get one. It may very well be a collector's item in the near future.
iBook Lessons: Getting Apple reviewers to wake up and pay attention
iBook Lessons is a continuing series about ebook writing and publishing. One of our editors suggested I take a look at Holly Lisle's discussion of her issues with the iBookstore review process. Lisle, who writes both fiction and a series of instructional titles for writers, included an in-book link to Amazon in one of her educational ebooks. The topic, in this case, was how to leverage Amazon's site to come up with alternative genres for listing books. Apple's iBookstore reviewers rejected the book, stating the "Rejected Reason(s)" being "Competing Website(s)." She replied by updating her book to redact the problematic links, resubmitting it to Apple. It was rejected again with the explanation, "The original change request was not fulfilled. Your changes were not saved. Original Issues have not been resolved. Please log in to iTunes Connect to view this request and upload replacement assets." Lisle insists she did update the book, and that Apple is wrong. She writes, "As noted, however, I HAD changed the lesson, HAD removed the links, HAD complied with their request. Since the links were gone, their only possible objection-NOT STATED-was content." She decided to pull all her content from the iBookstore. I have attempted to contact her to discuss the matter further. My take on this is that she may have reuploaded the wrong assets, or that the EPUB contained vestigial content, which was detectable by the automated scan. I did not get a reply, so I can't really explain what went wrong in her situation, nor can I offer suggestions specific to this case. (I would love to see the submitted EPUB to dissect it for a full analysis.) Since I am unable to deal with the specifics of her book's rejection, Mike Rose asked that I offer some general advice about the Apple Reviewer/author relationship instead. I have four years of store-based experience under the belt. I have had material rejected, accepted, and escalated. Here are some of the lessons I have learned over time. There are humans at both ends of the situation, even if Apple does not give you access to them. With most businesses, you can expect to call or email and either talk to someone directly or expect a reply within a business day. Apple doesn't work that way. A lot of the App Store/iBookstore experience involves autoreply robots and a vast echoing silence from the Apple end. As an extreme example, I submitted a review variance request for Ad Hoc Helper, an app, in early April. I quickly received standard we-got-your-mail reply. "Thank you for contacting the App Review Team about your app , Ad Hoc Helper. We appreciate you providing us with this information. We will investigate this matter and follow up with you as needed." Since then, nothing. It's been over three months. This is slightly unusual, as normally Apple does reply to queries in a reasonable amount of time. You never know who you are going to get. You never know how much background they have in your area, but someone usually (eventually) replies. You don't know who your someone is going to be. It's more like accessing a call center than working with a personal rep. Although Apple does assign reps for larger companies and offers troubleshooting and concierge services for those premium partners, for little guys and indies, you get whomever is on duty, who picks up your ticket and little else. You are just one product in the midst of their busy work day. What's more, they won't greet you and say, "Hi, my name is Bill, how can I help make your day better?" There's a fundamental power differential at play. Because of this, your communication needs to be courteous and deferential. You cannot make demands; you can make requests. Don't expect to call and get, for example, Verizon or Comcast customer support. This is a vast improvement, by the way, compared to Amazon. Getting an Amazon ticket handled by KDP support works on geological time scales. So keep in mind as you're reading that Apple is by far the preferred experience -- although it's fair to say that Apple has more rules that one might run afoul of. Do as much work for them as you can in your communication, and never assume there is any institutional memory happening. Put all the information a reviewer needs directly in your email and keep your requests succinct. Here is how I would have phrased Ms. Lisle's communication: Dear Apple Review Staff, On (date), I submitted (product). It was rejected for containing a competing website reference. I removed the reference and resubmitted on (date). It was rejected again on (date) for the same reason. My case reference number is (number). I have spot checked my EPUB and can confirm I submitted an edited version. Would you please determine if your validation tools are picking up on any remnants within the file that were manually deleted using (tool, e.g. Pages, or whatever)? I'd like to work with you to ensure that (product) makes it to the iBookstore without any further hitches. Sincerely. The key points in this communication are as follows: It contains a history of the situation, with specific details about what is going on. Further, it assumes the person reading the communication has no other background on this case. It explains the immediate problem at hand and it contains a concrete request that a reviewer can act on. It is short and respectful. These points do not differ much from the best practices for writing any other consumer complaint letter. Further, you should follow up on a regular basis if Apple does not respond, e.g. I'm touching base to check on the status of my previous request, case reference (number). It's important to be proactive, because no one is going to be your advocate other than you. [hat tip to BoingBoing and Hacker News]
TigerText adds secure messaging to Dropbox in bid to rid the world of bicycle couriers
Secure messaging outfit TigerText has mixed its sauce with Dropbox's API to make a private communications goulash that could spell doom for the humble bicycle courier. The technological team-up enables users to share documents with a pre-set lifespan and recall an attachment if you really didn't mean to send your boss so many cat pictures. Thanks to its HIPAA-compliant encryption, the documents you push around cannot be downloaded, copied or forwarded, making it ideal for law firms, medical agencies and movie studios that currently blow thousands of dollars on using messengers to take secret stuff 'round town.
New York MTA announces smartphone-based ticketing trials aboard Metro-North Railroad
Like big sodas, paper ticket stubs may soon become a thing of the past in New York. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has announced that, come next month, its employees will begin trials of a smartphone-based ticketing system aboard the Metro-North Railroad. While the grand experiment is currently closed to the public, it's said that railroad workers will use their Android, BlackBerry and iPhone handsets to purchase rail tickets, which may then be validated directly from their smartphone. During the trial, the new system will be compared to the current purchasing scheme that combines both ticket machines and on-board purchases. Should everything prove successful, the MTA will expand the Metro-North's new system to all-comers. Transit-minded folks will find the full PR after the break. [Image credit: Masabi (Flickr)]
SOE Live tickets go on sale
It may no longer be Fan Faire in name, but SOE's annual fan festival still has the same spirit and focus. The newly branded SOE Live has opened up registrations for this fall's convention, and the studio is offering discounted prices if tickets are purchased now. SOE Live will take place from October 18th through the 21st at Bally's Casino in Las Vegas. The all-access pass for the event is $139, but if you register before August 1st, you can secure a discounted price of $119. Day passes will go for $39 if you're interested in just attending for a day, and evening passes, which allow access to just late-night activities, are $99 a pop. The studio welcomes families, as children ages 12 and below can get in for free. The festival has a full schedule, including dev panels, tournaments, giveaways, and parties. Players can shell out an additional $50 to have Sunday brunch with the devs or $40 for a laser tag event.
Apple demos Passbook, a one-stop shop for tickets and boarding passes
From airline and train boarding passes to concert tickets, we've seen a variety of tix make their way into the digital realm at venues around the world. With today's announcement of Passbook, the hard copy credential may soon be a thing of the past. Speaking on stage at Apple's WWDC keynote, VP of iOS Software Scott Forstall demonstrated the feature with United boarding passes, Fandango movie tickets and a Starbucks gift card. While none of these examples are making their premiere debut, Passbook will certainly make the QR-code-based stubs more user-friendly, while also increasing awareness among folks who continue to opt for paper while doubting the usability and authenticity of a digital counterpart. Passbook is also location aware, bringing up a Starbucks card as you approach a shop, for example. You can also get updates related to your stored credentials, such as a gate change announcement with a pending United boarding pass. The feature will come bundled with iOS 6, set to launch this fall. Check out our full coverage of WWDC 2012 at our event hub!%Gallery-157917%
GoSelectPass makes it easy to buy discount attraction tickets
A lot of Americans are planning on taking vacations starting this Memorial Day weekend, and now Smart Destinations wants to help iPhone-toting tourists get discount tickets to more than 400 attractions around the US. GoSelectPass.com provides a way for tourists to browse attraction info in seven major cities, purchase tickets online, and get valuable discounts in the process. At present, there's not an iOS app for GoSelectPass, although one will be available soon. For now, you can point your device browser to GoSelectPass.com to check out the mobile site and set up an account. Once you select the attractions you wish to visit, you pay one fee for a discounted pass. That pass appears as a QR code on your device that you show for entry to the attraction. As Smart Destinations adds more cities to the mobile site and future iOS app, this will be a very handy way to visit museums, aquariums, TV studios, and other attractions. Be sure to check out the press release for more info. Show full PR text Smart Destinations Launches Groundbreaking Mobile Ticketing Platform at More than 400 Attractions in Major U.S. Travel Destinations Go Select Provides Easy, Secure Purchase of Attraction Tickets via Smartphone to Allow Creation of Personalized, Dynamically-priced Mobile Attraction Pass and Fast, Real-time Validation at the Gate BOSTON (May 22, 2012) -Smart Destinations today released a groundbreaking mobile platform that turns any smartphone into an instant, money-saving pass for guests at more than 400 museums, tours and top attractions in major U.S. cities. The patent-pending Go Select mobile platform is the industry's first real-time dynamic mobile ticket pricing and validation system that is already accepted at the industry's largest network of attraction partners, including Boston's Museum of Science, Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bay Cruise, and the NBC Studio Tour in New York. "Our attraction partners now have access to the massive amount of travelers who expect the convenience and security of instant ticketing on their phones," said Kevin McLaughlin, CEO and co-founder of Smart Destinations. "It's the only such platform for attractions that combines real-time dynamic pricing and validation with the convenience of secure paperless ticketing." Today's launch at GoSelectPass.com means attractions nationwide can instantly accept mobile passes at their gates, while their guests enjoy big savings and flexibility of simply showing their phone for admission. A recent PhoCusWright study found three out of four travelers already use a mobile device while on business or leisure travel, and eMarketer predicts that 15.1 million Americans will book travel using their smartphone this year. Go Select includes major attractions in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Oahu, Miami and Orlando, with more cities being added in the coming weeks. YEARS OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY Since 2003, SmartDestinations.com has built the industry's largest network of popular tourist destinations using its proprietary dynamic pricing and packaging technology. More than 1.25 million travelers have used the company's popular Go City Cards to save money on ticket prices, get extra discounts at restaurants and gift shops and enjoy the convenience of admissions passes to dozens of attractions through one card at one low price. Now the company's partners and mobile customers and can take full advantage of the technological ease of instantaneous ticketing on a single phone – while competitors are still forcing customers to use flimsy coupon books that are easily lost or damaged. ATTRACTIONS GET MOBILE QUICKLY AND EASILY For attraction partners, Go Select is easy to implement, saving both time and money for the attraction, as well as guests. That's because admission fees are immediately credited to the attraction upon admission with secure, digital ticketing – avoiding the extra hassle of submitting paper vouchers for reimbursement. It also speeds ticket purchase lines as guests arrive with their pass in hand. Plus, the system is more secure than paper tickets that can easily be photocopied or counterfeited and Go Select is the only platform in the world that allows multiple attractions to be purchased on a single QR code to be scanned at gates. No printing is needed–unlike other mobile purchasing solutions. "It's fantastic that we can now welcome guests who have purchased Go Select passes through the convenience of mobile," said Deleyse Langdale, associate director of travel industry sales at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. "By partnering with SmartDestinations, the implementation for us was simple and the timing was just right as we gear up for the summer travel season. We expect this to catch on fast." TRAVELERS GET GUARANTEED SAVINGS AND CONVENIENCE "Go Select is the only mobile technology platform of its kind that allows guests to buy and redeem multiple attraction tickets all from their smartphone and get guaranteed savings off the gate price," McLaughlin said. To get mobile passes, travelers simply: • Use their smartphone to choose the attractions they want to see (2 or more), • Pay one low, dynamically generated price for admission to all, • Receive a secure QR code immediately on their phone for scanning at the front desk or admission gate upon arrival at each attraction, similar to an airline mobile boarding pass. The more attractions travelers add to the pass, the more they can save-up to 40 percent off the retail cost of admission at the gate. Plus, at many attractions, Go Select Pass holders can skip the ticket line, as they already have a pre-paid ticket, saving both time and money. Go Select provides all visitors with full access to photos, maps, directions, hours and other insider tips about all the attractions plus much more at no cost. The passes are available now at GoSelectPass.com and will soon be available as iPhone, Ipad, and Android apps.
Avengers also wins big on mobile sales with Fandango
The Avengers movie did quite well last weekend, hitting number one at the US box office easily, and picking up the biggest domestic opening weekend ever. But it also hit another important record. Fandango reports that The Avengers beat its record for tickets sold via a mobile device. That's an important figure for Fandango, Marvel, and even Apple, or anyone making mobile devices or apps. It shows, according to Fandango general manager Rick Butler, that "mobile has clearly transitioned from just an alternative way to buy tickets to a primary choice for many weekend moviegoers." On Sunday, mobile represented a whopping 42% of total ticket sales for Fandango overall, so a very large amount of people are looking up movies on their mobile devices, and then buying them right then and there. Which creates a very large (and growing) market for ticket sales on mobile devices. The last film to hold this record was The Hunger Games, so I don't think this is the last we'll hear about higher mobile ticket sales. Fandango's sales on mobile will probably continue growing, and we'll probably see even more movie marketing users of mobile devices like the iPhone.
Amtrak readies conductors to trade in their hole punchers for iPhones
Pilots aren't the only ones updating their workflows with modern technology. Amtrak conductors have been getting schooled on how to use iPhones to scan passenger tickets on select routes since November -- forcing hole punches to collect dust on a lonely shelf at the station. By the latter part of this summer, 1,700 conductors will be using the aforementioned smartphones on the outfit's trains throughout the US which allows them to track passengers with more ease than manual ticketing. The $7.5 million system affords passengers the choice of printing the tickets or loading a bar code on their smartphone of choice before getting the iPhone's scan. Inside the dedicated app, riders can book and modify reservations easily without having to worry with a refund from an agent first. There's only one small hiccup: currently Amtrak's app is only available for iPhones. But, the government-owned corporation says that an Android release is in the hopper and should see daylight this fall. For now, non-iOS users must load their tickets though a mobile site in order to save a tree or two.
Eventbrite unveils At The Door Card reader, turns iPads into ticketing terminals
Square may see the iPad to as an excellent retail tool, but Eventbrite thinks Apple's tablet a box office boon, which is why it created the At The Door app and card reader solution. Eventbrite's a self-service ticketing platform and its new dongle, which connects via Apple's 30-pin connector, lets indie event promoters take reader-encrypted credit card payments with any iPad. Meanwhile, the app lets you see on-site and online ticket sales, keep track of customer contact info and balance the books as well. Plus, any payments taken through the app are service fee-free, meaning users only pay for credit card processing. Not only that, you can wirelessly print tickets and receipts via a compatible printer (should you be willing to buy one), too. But before you go planning your personal Woodstock, perhaps you'd like to know how much this ticketing bonanza costs? Well, the app's free and the reader's 10 bucks, with Eventbrite handing out 10 dollar account credits in return for those who jump on the bandwagon. If that sounds like something you're into, hit the PR after the break for more info, or buy a card reader at the source below.
Facebook launches Timeline Apps platform, socialites rejoice
Facebook, along with its launch partners, has finally let loose its Timeline Apps platform, setting Open Graph apps free to roam the web. Announced at the company's f8 conference in September, Timeline Apps allow third-parties to build Facebook applications that facilitate information sharing amongst users and their social network. While FB initially focused on the music and movie genre, Zuckerberg & Co. seem to have keyed-in on a variety of markets for today's launch, from travel (TripAdvisor) to cuisine (Foodspotting), and even ticketing companies like ScoreBig, Eventbrite, StubHub, TicketFly and Ticketmaster. So now everyone will know immediately when you scored those backstage passes to Ricky Martin because you're living la vida loca with Timeline. Get the full story from Facebook at the source and PR from ScoreBig awaits after the break.
WWDC Alerts will help make sure you get into Moscone
Two Mac developers have created an alerts service, which you can sign up for free right now, that will let you know the very moment that tickets go on sale for this year's WWDC in San Francisco. Just put in your cell phone number, send back one code for verification, and then you'll get a text the instant tickets show up, which should give you a nice head start on making sure you get in the door for the conference. There's also a Twitter account to follow if you want something that might get you a little less spam, but the makers of the alert system say they won't forward your details to anyone or misuse the list at all, so if you trust them, it shouldn't be an issue. Obviously this service is being seen by a ton of people, so I'm not sure how much help it will actually be, but any heads up is better than nothing. If you're planning to try going to WWDC this year, good luck! [via TNW]
Zelda 25th anniversary symphony coming to Denver, Vancouver, Atlanta and more
The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary concert series is continuing its journey around the United States, and the show is so popular that it's added four new dates to the proceedings. In addition to all of the dates already listed, the show is coming to Denver on April 7, Vancouver, Canada on March 14, Phoenix, AZ on April 20, and finally Atlanta, GA on May 12. The concert features a full-length four-part symphony of Legend of Zelda music performed by a full-sized orchestra. Reviews on Ticketmaster's site are great so far, so if you're interested in seeing the show you'd better send that boomerang out to grab them quickly.
Eventbrite to release iOS ticket management app
I don't know about you all, but I've been using Eventbrite for almost all of my ticket purchases lately. Whether it's a benefit show, a friend's play, or a full-scale concert, I find myself getting redirected over there more and more to pick up my tickets. That's why I'm glad to hear there's an iOS app on the way from the company, which will allow you to browse through recent ticket purchases and upcoming events, as well as get information for all of the shows you're registered for. Unfortunately, the news doesn't mention anything about being able to buy tickets directly inside the app -- it's possible, because of Apple's restrictions on in-app purchases and linking off to other stores, that Apple won't let Eventbrite run ticket purchases from the app at all. That would be a shame; even if Eventbrite could just open up the iOS browser and complete the ticket sale there, that would be an easier solution than having to go back out to another PC. But the app still sounds useful, especially for looking up last minute information. This new app will be more centered around ticket purchases, obviously. Eventbrite already has an app called Easy Entry designed to work at event check-in for the event's organizers. But I find myself buying tickets way more than collecting them, obviously, so this new app should be more helpful.
EVE Online Fanfest 2012 tickets on sale now
Hold up there, space cowboy. We know everyone's excited about that other sci-fi game, but EVE Online fans have something to look forward to as well. CCP has announced that tickets are now on sale for the 2012 EVE Online Fanfest. The event will be taking place in Reykjavik, Iceland from March 22nd to the 24th. Tickets cost 100 USD until January 31st, at which point the price rises to 125 USD. The Fanfest will play host to many events such as roundtable discussions with the devs, contests, auctions, tournaments, and of course, a pub crawl with the devs. To get more information and/or purchase tickets, just head on over to the 2012 EVE Online Fanfest official site.
Darkmoon artifacts will drop even when there is no Faire
Bashiok has provided further clarification on the Darkmoon Island artifacts that drop from dungeons, Battlegrounds, and raids that are turned in for Darkmoon tickets -- these will continue to drop for players who have a Darkmoon Adventurer's Guide regardless of whether the Faire is in town. These artifacts can be saved up and turned in when the Darkmoon Island event is taking place, so don't worry about grinding out these artifacts this week only. This makes me a very happy Faire-goer. Darkmoon Artifacts will drop regardless of whether the faire is in town Just to clarify one point, the quest drops that happen in the dungeons/raids/BG's happen all the time, even if the faire isn't in town. Think of it sort of like the Darkmoon Card redemptions. You're out playing all month, while you're doing stuff you're getting chances at the items, then when the faire is in town you turn it all in. (It's also worth pointing out that the turn-in items aren't soulbound, so just like the cards I'd expect some people to farm them just to put them up on the AH.) It's really just this first week and appearance of the faire that's off because the Darkmoon Adventurer's Guide wasn't available for the 3 weeks prior. When it rolls around next month there should be better feel for how the whole system and ticket acquisition rate feels. source Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
