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  • Wall Street Journal to offer free WiFi hotspots in NYC and San Francisco during September

    by 
    Edgar Alvarez
    Edgar Alvarez
    08.24.2012

    Oh New Yorkers and their marvelous, no-cost WiFi access points. Only a few days after Google Offers and Boingo happily announced they'd brought gratis wireless connectivity to additional underground locations within the city, The Wall Street Journal is now let it be known it too will be kind enough to gift the NYC crowd with some WiFi hotspots of its own. The nice gesture will bring around 1,300 network units to areas such as SoHo, Greenwich Village, Union Square, Chelsea and, naturally, the renowned Times Square during the month of September -- all in hopes of giving "people the opportunity to sample The Wall Street Journal." Meanwhile, folks in San Francisco can also grab the internet-friendly freebies in a couple of different places, including Nob Hill and Fisherman's Wharf. And don't worry, there won't be any donkeys involved here.

  • WSJ shares more details on Apple TV

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    08.17.2012

    Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal leaked information about upcoming changes to the Apple TV. A follow-up report added details that suggest Apple may be working on a set-top television box with cloud-based DVR functions. It's a concept that is very similar to a design described in a recent Apple patent. The Apple TV would let viewers watch their favorite TV show at any time via a DVR that stores the TV shows in the cloud. It may also have a familiar icon-based interface that'll be easier to use than current DVR's, which are often confusing and clunky. Not surprisingly, the Apple TV could serve up content to iPhones and iPads and may also include social media features. Though this all sounds enticing, there's a chance it won't come to fruition. As we pointed out yesterday, the company's biggest hurdle won't be manufacturing the hardware, but getting the cable companies to ink a content deal.

  • Apple's toughest nut yet: Cable operators

    by 
    Victor Agreda Jr
    Victor Agreda Jr
    08.16.2012

    This may be Apple's trickiest move in its history. We've all been wondering for a while whether Apple really is working on a next-gen Apple TV that adds "television" (cable, really) to the box. In Walter Issacson's biography of Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder suggested that the company had "finally cracked" the code of finding what you want to watch -- a clear call out to the horrible interfaces seen on 99% of all DVR's on the planet. But according to the WSJ (article behind paywall), Apple's talks with cable operators haven't yielded any deals yet. I am not very optimistic. As the story goes, Apple was able to launch the iTunes Store with a vast array of music in part because, at the time, the company was still struggling for relevance and market share. The iMac was cute, but the iPod was expensive. iTunes selling songs seemed like a safe bet for the music labels. As Apple's market in the portable music player space grew, however, the percent cut of music sales dug deeper and deeper. Rival music players from titans like Microsoft rose and fell, as did rival online stores. The labels wound up selling a lot of tunes, and giving Apple extraordinary leverage in the distribution biz. Fast forward to today and look at the online video space. If Netflix, HBO and Hulu have shown us anything, it's that the mavens of video learned a lesson from the music labels. Content companies don't just want to spew out content like Big Brother and True Blood, they want to distribute and monetize it every step of the way, all by themselves. Of course, the cable industry is still the predominant distributor of many shows -- and don't think for a second that any cable exec is willing to give up the control they now enjoy to Apple. Not now, possibly not ever. Sure, Apple probably has a DVR or tuner with an interface that makes it 80% easier to find those reruns of Mama's Family. Guess what: Your cable company doesn't care about how easy your life can be. In fact, I'm starting to think they want your DVR to suck. I happen to think cable companies enjoy the terrible experience we all suffer through on their set-top boxes. I have AT&T's U-Verse service. The set-top box I have has been rebooted more times than I remember, and I've had it less than a year. How many times have you rebooted your iPod to get it to work in the last year? Your Mac? How about the Apple TV (not counting updates)? That's what I thought. In terms of interface/design, Apple's strongest suit perhaps, do they really have any competition? I can't imagine Scientific Atlanta being thrilled with all this news. My AT&T box is made by Cisco, and has about the best interface of any cable box I've used in the past 20 years. Guess what? It still sucks. Competing technologies with better solutions have failed in the past. An example: If I'm watching an on-demand version of a show and it ends, instead of dropping me back into the list of shows (say, American Dad), it dumps me right back to the first on-demand screen. So to go back to the list of American Dad episodes I have to navigate by network or by show, using disparate alphabetical lists, drilling down past pages of listings to the actual list. Something like Main Screen > By Network > (2nd page) Fox HD > American Dad. This is the 21st century, right? For a moment I thought moisture farmers had purchased AT&T and Cisco, sorry. Like I said, anyone who has used a cable box ever who has the common sense to know that an object 6 inches from your hand is more convenient than one 6 feet away. So why in the world would they want to change? It's pretty obvious cable companies and content creators are more concerned with making sure you can't take your content with you on your iPad (just imagine if a Time Warner Cable customer saw content downloaded from a Comcast subscriber -- the gall!). All of this is to say Apple really does have a massive wall to climb. The content companies are bad enough, eager to fragment online distribution so they can own the metrics, the views, the audience, etc. Hulu is a great example here, as it has actively sought to block any alternative means of viewing the content it distributes (remember its constant dances with Boxee?). Worse, the cable companies don't want to be pushed back into yet another "dumb pipe" corner, having seen how faster speeds means people will use more bandwidth, sometimes to route around their own dumb, archaic restrictions. Sporting event blackouts, anyone? Apple has a business case to make to the distributors and creators to prove an Apple TV set top box will make them money, not just Apple. If Apple continues to demand something on the order of a 30% cut, that may never happen. In that case, I would love for Apple to show us all what could have been... and see if the companies who said 'no' respond. For a little more color on this game, check out this warning to media executives from Peter Csathy.

  • Apple gets paid for products faster than it has to pay for manufacturing

    by 
    Mike Schramm
    Mike Schramm
    07.23.2012

    Here's yet another sign of what a great position Apple has put itself in in terms of manufacturing: According to the Wall Street Journal [paywall], the company gets paid by its customers much faster than it is required to pay its suppliers. The difference between the inflow of sales and the outflow of manufacturing capital means that Apple's capital investment is actually negative -- a sort of fiscal antigravity. Apple is getting paid by customers after 18 days on average, but it has leveraged into a position where it has up to 83 days to pay its suppliers. That's phenomenal, and it's a result of quite a few different initiatives by the company in the past. First, not only are Apple's products built around high profit and high demand, but Apple has made various company acquisitions and locked down powerful supply deals. This also means that the companies that Apple has teamed up with end up taking on more of the risk than usual, leaving Apple in a very agile and flexible position. According to the WSJ, in 2011 Apple paid to keep only four days of inventory on hand, versus 10 days of inventory held in 2010. Again, this is of course the product of years of spending on R&D, acquisitions and investments, and Apple's legendary advertising budgets and reputation for quality. But it's obviously a very impressive place for Apple Inc. to perch. [via 9to5Mac] #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }

  • Senator Schumer calls on DOJ to drop e-book price-fixing suit

    by 
    Terrence O'Brien
    Terrence O'Brien
    07.18.2012

    Believe it or not, but that whole e-book price fixing fiasco is still an ongoing issue for the Justice Department. New York's senior senator, Chuck Schumer wishes it wasn't however, he simply wants the DOJ to drop the case and walk away. In a lengthy (factually questionable) op-ed in the Wall Street Journal the distinguished gentleman from the great state of New York said that a successful suit against Apple (he didn't bother to call out the others involved) would set the e-book industry back several years and allow Amazon to dominate the market unchallenged. He also makes a broader call for the administration to develop more clear guidelines for deciding what non-merger cases to pursue. Unfortunately, we have to point out, that his argument is undercut by some questionable data referenced in the editorial. According to Schumer Amazon once owned 90 percent of the e-book market -- a number that, if true, most certainly predates the release of the Nook. This is followed by an insinuation that Apple all but single-handedly toppled the retail giant with the launch of iBooks, cutting Amazons market share to just 60 percent. While the latter number sounds about right we'd hesitate to lay responsibility for that 30 point drop entirely at Apple's feet. To dig into Schumers op-ed yourself hit up the source link.

  • WSJ: iPhone future includes thinner screen, other details cloudy

    by 
    Michael Rose
    Michael Rose
    07.17.2012

    Today's Wall Street Journal includes an interesting story about a screen technology that may make an appearance in the next iPhone. Based on sources in the supply chain and "people familiar with the matter," the WSJ says that LCD panel makers Sharp and LG, plus a new Japanese consortium called Display Inc., are all busy manufacturing screens for the next iPhone that feature "in-cell technology" to support touch sensitivity. Companies that have traditionally supplied the touch panels, like Taiwan's Wintek, are supposedly out in the cold with next-gen orders. The key advantage of in-cell, which integrates the touch sensors directly into the LCD panel (hence the name -- contrast "on-cell," the separate touch layer used in current iPhones) is that it removes a bit of thickness. Screens made this way are about one-half millimeter thinner than their on-cell counterparts, which may not sound like that much; however, the iPhone 4S is only 9.3 mm thick in total. Every little bit counts. When this rumor first floated in April of this year, MacRumors noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's thickness count; the screen itself could be 15% thinner with the new approach, and the phone overall could be made thinner still (or reserve room for a bulkier, LTE-friendly battery). The new screens are said to be "challenging" to manufacture for the suppliers, which can only mean one thing: more frequent flier miles for Tim Cook and his operations team. The WSJ's Digits blog also posted a companion story today with the slightly unfortunate original headline "Apple's Upcoming iPhone 5: What We Know." I say "unfortunate" because it was subsequently changed to omit the "5" -- although you can still see the original slug in your browser title bar -- since among the post's list of things known/unknown about this device is whether or not it will actually be called the iPhone 5. Aside from the link to the screen technology story, the list summarizes to "We fully expect that at some point between now and the end of 2012 there will, in fact, be a new iPhone model running iOS 6. Said iPhone will be popular." It's a cruel summer. Photo by Rob Marquardt | @someToast

  • WSJ chimes in on Amazon smartphone rumors, says 4- to 5-inch device is in testing

    by 
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    07.11.2012

    Whether the possibility of an Amazon smartphone is growing any stronger or the Wall Street Journal just wants to prove it has sources too, the paper is saying parts suppliers are gearing up to build just such a device. According to the always informative unnamed sources, testing of a phone is underway, and mass production could start late this year or early next year. There's still no revelations on what the software might be like or how the device could be sold, but the report does expand on Bloomberg's initial revelations from last week by narrowing the possible size down to between 4- and 5-inches. Of course, if the rumors are correct then we'll probably see a new Kindle Fire hit the streets first anyway, if it has any updated software to bring along then maybe we'll have a better idea of what an Amazon phone could look like.

  • Orbitz profiles Mac users with pricier hotels, here's how to block

    by 
    Michael Rose
    Michael Rose
    06.26.2012

    Let's try a little Gedankenexperiment here. Imagine that you sell widgets of all kinds; some are drab and functional but cheap, while others are shiny and a bit more expensive. You're looking to improve the sales of your shiny, high-margin widgets by getting them in front of the type of consumers who are likely to be interested. What simple directive would be a handy, measurable shorthand for the target demographic; a group of people who like nice things and are willing to pay a bit more than absolutely necessary to get them? If you are trying to predict future buying behavior, the best way to do that is to look at what they've bought in the past. If someone owns an Apple product that they paid for themselves, chances are they will be receptive to an upsell (or, to put it more charitably, they'll be less price-sensitive) when you bring them a range of options. Yes, the "Apple tax" of years past has largely faded into legend when you compare products side by side today (especially with the iPad, which makes life difficult for other tablet makers), but Apple chooses not to offer computers in the $300 desktop or $700 laptop range where PC manufacturers are at home. Mac buyers are still choosing to spend discretionary dollars on a better computer, and that's a key insight into their shopping styles. This intuitive insight is all well and good (and something I've been saying for a few years now), but there's no substitute for data. Yesterday the Wall Street Journal's Dana Mattioli reported (paywall) that the travel site Orbitz has been experimenting with rejiggered hotel search results based on, among other things, the user's computer platform. Last year, Orbitz's data analytics team confirmed that Mac users are 40% more likely than PC users to book premium hotels (four or five-star rated properties) and that the average Mac-browsing shopper spends $20 to $30 more, per night, on a hotel room. What Orbitz is doing with this statistical segmentation is interesting and a little bit off-putting. The company's hotel searches already incorporate a lot of different factors (including past booking history, location and of course availability) but now there is a "finger on the scale" that pushes higher-priced and higher-quality results towards the top of the search list for Mac users. The effect can be subtle; the WSJ didn't see any difference for searches in some cities, but did see different Mac results for higher priced hotels (11%–13% more on average) in searches for Baton Rouge and Miami Beach. Orbitz executives took pains to make it clear to the WSJ that Mac users are not getting charged more on an identical room basis; the only difference is in the mix of search results they see. For the same exact room, they will pay the same price as a PC user; this detail has gotten lost in some headlines claiming "Mac users charged more for hotels" or similar, which is not true (Cnet's story is a prime example of getting it turned around). In fact, Orbitz searches can be sorted by price instead of by "best result," so both Mac and PC users can always see the cheapest property. Nobody's being deprived of a bargain; given the realities and habits of online shopping, however, having more expensive results on the first page of the search means that those properties are going to get a closer look. Is this fair to Mac users, or appropriate? Keep in mind that the trends Orbitz observed were already present in the market, discovered and developed organically; one could argue that the company is simply trying to serve customers more efficiently by prioritizing hotels that they will like over ones that they won't. A Mac user on a tight travel budget, however, might see it differently -- and might choose another online agency, a straight-up travel search tool or a deal aggregator, when it comes time to hunt for the best online deal. But who's to say those other companies aren't doing the same platform profiling, just a little more quietly? And what about the platform-specific filtering and profiling that other online retailers do every day? Amazon, Facebook, Google and Target already know loads about you, and they aren't shy about using every bit of that intelligence to put the right products in front of you at the right time. Right now, some of you are furiously deleting Orbitz from your bookmarks, or maybe even thinking about using the PC next door for the summer vacation hotel searches. Understandable, but not necessary. It's simple to change your web browser's "squawk" code, the user agent string, so that it masquerades as a Windows-specific version instead. You can do this easily on a window-by-window basis for Safari, Chrome or Firefox, or set up a custom single-site browser for Orbitz. You can even adjust the user agent setting on your iPad, with a little help from a third-party browser. Here's the process for Safari: Start off by going to the Safari menu and choosing Preferences..., then click on the Advanced icon. Look for the checkbox at the bottom that says "Show Develop menu in menu bar" -- make sure it is checked. The Develop menu should be showing up at this point (if not, quit Safari and relaunch). The second option down is the User Agent menu; just select a Windows browser and get shopping. Note that this setting only applies to a single Safari window and is not persistent. Another option is to use Fluid, the single-site browser tool, to make yourself an Orbitz-specific applet. TJ covered this approach back in February. Fluid lets you set the user agent once and forget it; each time you launch the app, you'll be masquerading as a Windows user and headed straight for Orbitz. On the iPad, you can run the free User Agent Switcher app, or a third-party browser like Atomic, iCab or Slepnir to change your string. There are also straightforward options for switching Chrome's user agent and a handy extension for Firefox. All of these approaches give you an excellent chance of showing up as something other than a Mac user when you visit Orbitz; if you try them out there or on other travel/shopping sites, do let us know if you see anything different vs. your Mac-and-proud searches. Interesting historical note: In the Hacker News thread discussing this phenomenon, one user recalled that the Travelmall.com site experimented with a similar search/price filtering approach for Mac users back in 2001. Although there was clear evidence that the upsell worked, the total population of Mac users visiting the site was too small in those days to make it worth the effort to distinguish them.

  • WSJ: Apple moving towards larger iPhone screens

    by 
    James Trew
    James Trew
    05.16.2012

    The idea of a smaller iPad has been rattling around the tech rumor mill for many a month now, but the iPhone's 3.5-inch screen? That's sacred surely? Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, apparently not. It's reporting that those ever-famous "people familiar with the situation" have told it that Apple has ordered screens that are larger that the ones used in the flagship phone so far. There's no specifics on size, with the sources only going as far to say they are "at least" four inches. Apple, however, has declined to comment -- no surprises there -- but perhaps now is the time to start the office pool. Just hope you don't land on the "4-inch iPad" square.

  • WSJ: Google to sell ASUS, Samsung tablets from its own online store

    by 
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    03.29.2012

    In a move that would be reminiscent of its initial plans for the Nexus handsets, the Wall Street Journal suggests Google will open its own online store this year, but stocked with tablets instead of phones. The Android tablets would be built by Samsung and ASUS who already offer the well received Galaxy Tab and Transformer lines, but have been unable to make a dent in marketshare comparable to that of Apple or even Amazon. Other details seem to be less clear, including the possibility of the lineup including Google branded tablets -- like the one hinted at by Eric Schmidt in December -- or that the store could offer a new tablet from ASUS (maybe running Jelly Bean, maybe not), or the chance that Google will follow Amazon's approach by subsidizing the upfront cost. Right now it seems that all possibilities are still in Play, but if the rumor is right we'll see the store launch this year -- any suggestions for the folks at Mountain View?

  • Justice Department preparing Apple iBooks antitrust lawsuit

    by 
    Daniel Cooper
    Daniel Cooper
    03.08.2012

    The Justice Department is reportedly preparing to go after Apple, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Penguin, Macmillan and HarperCollins following its investigation into alleged e-book price-rigging. The case centers around a deal to switch to agency pricing, where the vendor takes a 30 percent cut of each sale, rather than the wholesale model that gives publishers more flexibility to reduce prices or even sell e-books at a loss. Some publishers are now trying to agree on a new policy in an effort to stave off the kind of federal suit that nobody wants to wear.

  • WSJ: Next iPad will have LTE, land on Verizon Wireless

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    03.07.2012

    The Wall Street Journal chimed in with a last minute report on the iPad that'll make Verizon Wireless customers happy. Spencer E. Ante of the Journal writes, "The new iPad will support a wireless broadband technology called LTE, people familiar with the matter have said," and Credit Suisse analyst Jonathan Chaplin further adds, "It is great news for Verizon. They have a great LTE network that is empty, so they can afford to fill it up." Chaplin may end up eating those words as more and more customers join Verizon's relatively new LTE network, but, until then, most people will be pleased to see Apple adopting the next generation mobile broadband technology. You can learn more about the iPad on Verizon's LTE network at verizonwireless.com.

  • WSJ: Walmart to offer in-store disc to digital UltraViolet service

    by 
    Ben Drawbaugh
    Ben Drawbaugh
    03.04.2012

    Hollywood's latest digital ecosystem offers lots of promise, but in the five months since its release, it couldn't be further from delivering on it. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Walmart will finally make use of its membership to the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem by offering in-store disc to digital UltraViolet upgrade opportunities, for a small price of course. No doubt UltraViolet can use all the help it can get, but this is far from what we were hoping for when we learned Walmart would be in the mix -- we were hoping for the ability to buy and watch UltraViolet movies via Walmart's Vudu. Beyond our personal wishes, this no where near the big revelation that most consumers would actually find interesting: the release of the Common File Format which promises universal offline playback of our movie collection.

  • AT&T's hungry eyes turning toward Leap, Dish or MetroPCS?

    by 
    Daniel Cooper
    Daniel Cooper
    02.16.2012

    Publicly, at least, AT&T is bursting at the seams as it runs out of space to put all of its customers. The failed $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile was all about trying to match (or better) Verizon's reserves of wireless spectrum. Given the FCC's blocking of LightSquared and stymieing of future spectrum auctions for the time being, AT&T needs to make some more acquisitions -- the $1.9 billion purchase of Qualcomm's small slice of the airwaves isn't enough. If the Wall Street Journal is to be believed, there's a whiteboard in Whitacre Tower with Dish, Leap and MetroPCS written all over it. Reportedly, a purchase of Leap is the nearest to fruition, with "under the table" talks already underway. However, the Cricket Wireless operator would only provide a short-term solution to Ma Bell's very long-term woes. The other big target is Dish Network's reserved spectrum, kept back for its own planned broadband network, but if it fails to get Government approval, it might look to offload it. Third on the roster and marked as "highly unlikely" is a purchase of MetroPCS. The carrier was bitterly opposed to the T-Mo merger and pouted at the idea of purchasing some of Big Blue's divested assets, so if those two met around a table, they'd have a lot of awkward apologizing to do. Image courtesy of Fierce Mobile Content

  • Wall Street Journal: Apple testing smaller iPad

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    02.14.2012

    It's another day which means it's time for another iPad rumor. The latest rumor to hit the mill comes from the Wall Street Journal which claims Apple is testing a smaller, 8-inch iPad. Asian suppliers told the WSJ that Apple has showed them designs for a compact iPad with a screen resolution that matches the iPad 2. Apple is supposedly working with LG Display and AU Optronics on the panels for this smaller device. The report notes that Apple is merely testing this design, and it may never move beyond the concept or prototype stage. This rumor shouldn't be surprising to the veteran Apple user. We've been talking about the possibility of a smaller iPad ever since Apple launched the tablet in 2010. Even Steve Jobs, during a 2010 earnings conference call, confirmed Apple tested different sized tablets, but decided to go with the 9.7-inch because it provided the best experience. That was then and this is now. Now, Apple is the market leader and everyone is waiting to see what the company will do next to improve its tablet lineup. Many people believe a smaller form factor is Apple's next best move; others say it would lead to hardware and software fragmentation. Recently, our own Erica Sadun weighed in on this subject and discussed both sides of this argument. You can read her analysis and chime in with your own in the comments.

  • WSJ: Apple testing 8-inch iPad

    by 
    Daniel Cooper
    Daniel Cooper
    02.14.2012

    The invites haven't even been sent out and yet the frenzied speculation about what Tim Cook will whip out on stage at next month's purported announcement has begun. The Wall Street Journal believes Cupertino's planning to produce a smaller, 8-inch slate to partner its 9.7-inch flagship. Unnamed sources at the company's suppliers say it'll pack a screen with a resolution close to the 1024 x 768 display on the current model. This jibes with what we've heard about the iPad 3 toting a Retina Display -- unless the smaller unit is aimed at budget buyers. The report claims test panels are being produced by AU Optronics and LG Display and that this model might also run on LTE. It's probably fair to point out that Apple is famous for producing prototypes in a wide variety of sizes that will never see the light of day, so don't get your hopes up too soon.

  • Newscorp app adds Fox, IGN, the Wall Street Journal and Fox News to Xbox 360 in 2012

    by 
    Ben Gilbert
    Ben Gilbert
    01.09.2012

    Microsoft's Craig Davison had some surprise news during the company's CES 2012 keynote this evening, bringing out word that Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp is developing an application for the Xbox 360. Several Newscorp content providers will be pushing out news and commentary via the free application, including the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and IGN. Beyond "2012," Davison didn't allow any more specific a date to slip out.

  • WSJ: upcoming iPhone will not support 4G LTE or WiMAX

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    10.04.2011

    The Wall Street Journal is chiming in with a last-minute rumor suggesting the iPhone will not support 4G LTE or WiMAX. The next generation Apple handset will be a 3G only device similar to the current iPhone 4. This information contradicts a widely circulating rumor from BGR that claimed the iPhone 5 would support WiMAX and debut as a Sprint exclusive. This WSJ revelation that the next iPhone will be 3G is not surprising. Earlier this year, Tim Cook confirmed in an earnings conference call that Apple would delay adopting LTE until the second generation chipsets hit the market. The current LTE radios were too bulky to fit the strict design requirements of the iPhone. The next generation LTE radios may offer a smaller and more energy efficient design that'll accomodate future iPhones. WiMAX is also an unlikely candidate as it is a dying 4G technology. Sprint is expected to turn off its WiMAX network and switch to LTE in the upcoming year.

  • EA to be the sole source for SWTOR downloads [updated]

    by 
    Larry Everett
    Larry Everett
    06.02.2011

    Thanks to our friends at Darth Hater, Massively has learned that the highly anticipated MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will be sold as a direct download only through Electronic Arts itself. In an interview with CEO John Riccitiello, the Wall Street Journal uncovered news of EA's new service, one it's calling Origin. This service will provide customers with a download service for all EA games, including the Battlefield games, the Need For Speed games, and the aforementioned Star Wars: The Old Republic. Origin is to act as a social network hub as well as a place to track all your EA game purchases, explained Riccitiello to the Wall Street Journal. This functionality will be available to all users even if they did not purchase the game directly from Origin. However, Riccitiello clarified that Star Wars: The Old Republic will still be purchasable in box form via retailers; only the digital download itself will be exclusive to Origin. Presumably, other all-digital services such as Direct2Drive and Steam will not carry the game. The full article from the Wall Street Journal is available with a subscription to the newspaper's website. [Update: Stephen Reid posted to the official SWTOR forums: "However, even though you'll only be able to buy and download The Old Republic digitally via Origin, you will still be able to buy a retail, boxed copy of the game from your favorite retailer (and that includes online retailers who'll ship the box to you). BioWare and EA know the value many gamers place on a cool boxed product... and we're producing a cool boxed product. (Or maybe I should say 'boxed products'.)"]

  • Report: FCC official doubts AT&T + T-Mobile deal will sail through

    by 
    Mike Schramm
    Mike Schramm
    03.24.2011

    An unnamed FCC official told the Wall Street Journal this week that "there's no way the chairman's office rubber-stamps" the recently announced merger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA. The official didn't go into further details, but said that the organization hadn't even begun preliminary research into the merger, and that even if the deal does eventually go through, "It will be a steep climb to say the least." So, not exactly a vote of confidence from the FCC so far. Still, that's far from an official statement, and certainly both AT&T and T-Mobile are going to do everything possible to try and get this deal through. As we posted before, Sprint is the most likely opponent to the deal, and has asked federal regulators to take a close look at the potential effects. The earliest reports we got said that the transaction was planned to take about a year, so the FCC will likely have a decision within that time frame. [via BGR]