FOX is building up a paywall around Hulu. Could mean bad news if you’re trying to catch up on your favorite shows online. Not everything’s looking down though, that is, unless you’re Nintendo. For everyone else though, you can now catch a 3DS for $169. Still, is it worth the price? Jordan Nardick joins in as we talk about the future of portable gaming.
Don’t forget to subscribe to us on iTunes with the link below and follow us on Twitter (Derrick at @derrickc82, Jordan at @ASUdesigner). Leave a comment and check out the links to the show on the blog post
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Show Links
FOX Paywall on Hulu: http://gizmodo.com/5824982/fox-just-tightened-the-noose-on-hulu-meet-the-8+day-content-delay
Nintendo 3DS Price Drop: http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/fttgI7OsQIB1tZqRMa5CtT45KLrmNkAY
Google Real Name Policy: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networking/google-revises-google-real-name-management-policy/1278
Twitter Rolls Out Promoted Tweets: http://allthingsd.com/20110728/twitter-pumps-up-its-ads-today-with-promoted-tweets-to-followers/
App of the Week
BBC iPlayer (iPad): http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/bbc-iplayer/id416580485?mt=8
With sales of the 3DS far below expectations, Nintendo will slash the price of the handheld system down to $169 – $80 down from the initial price of $249 starting August 12. For current owners of the 3DS, ten NES and ten Game Boy Advance games, twenty total, will be free, given that they use the Nintendo eShop before August 12.
The push in 3DS sales should help to push Nintendo’s slate of triple-A titles including Kid Icarus, Mario Kart, and Super Mario 3DS, all slated for later this year.
Still, the bigger question remains, are dedicated portable gaming consoles still a viable business? With the Playstation Vita release looming, both Nintendo and Sony need to convince gamers in that $170-$250 investment (for just the console itself), while $1 games continue to flood the iOS and Android marketplace.
Big fan of streaming your favorite shows on Hulu? Bad news might be on the horizon. FOX has announced their plans to restrict online streaming of their latest shows to Hulu+ or verification of a subscription with a cable provider, such as Dish Network. If not, you’ll have to wait eight days before you can catch up on your missed episode.
So if you missed this week’s episode, there’s no way of catching up (without being a paid subscriber) to watch the next week’s episode back on TV. Will this really curb FOX’s fears of cord cutters or will it simply drive users back to illegal downloads and streams? While FOX is the first broadcast network to implement such a policy, it may not be the last. This could be the start of a very walled future.
Though the summer is in full swing, tech news takes no breaks! There’s been a lot of hub-bub about Google’s latest project: Google+. Is it really the Facebook killer people are making it out to be? Meanwhile Mark Zuckerberg has some pretty awesome up his sleeve. Or is it?
Don’t forget to subscribe to us on iTunes with the link below and follow us on Twitter (Derrick at @derrickc82, Andrew at @Frontline99). Leave a comment and check out the links to the show on the blog post
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download the Show
Subscribe in iTunes
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Show Links
Facebook Video: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/web-apps/2011/07/07/facebook-gets-skype-video-chat-tool-40093342/
Google+: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/inside-google-plus-social/all/1
iPad 2 Jailbreak: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-20077192-243/jailbreak-your-ipad-2-iphone-4-simply-by-visiting-a-web-site/
Top Reasons to Jailbreak: http://www.tipb.com/2011/07/10/top-5-reasons-jailbreak-ipad-ipad-2/
Spotify US Launch: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20077211-261/spotify-makes-it-official-announces-us-launch/
Sony Extends ID Protection: http://kotaku.com/5819688/psn-extends-registration-for-free-id-protection-until-the-end-of-july
App of the Week
Google+ (Android): https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.plus
Taking cues from the failures of Wave and Buzz, Google is once again stepping into the social networking front with their latest product: Google+.
Features include:
- Circles: Group friends and contacts to allow for greater control in sharing
- Group Video Chat: “Hangout” allows you to video chat with multiple contacts
- Expanded Privacy Control: In contrast to Facebook, Google seeks to give users detailed control in what they share
- Instant Upload: Photos (from mobile devices) can be instantly uploaded for easy access (for sharing)
Currently in beta, access is limited to invitation only to allow for a steadier trial run among the public . Though it’s unlikely that Google+ will be a Facebook-killer, this new platform may establish itself (and chip away) at competitors, including Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare.
Several publishers including EA and Gameloft offered heavily reduced pricing for their iOS games for the July 4th weekend. The drop in price can be linked to the immediate jump in ranking among paid apps on the iTunes Store.
This week also marks the release of Capcom’s Street Fighter IV Volt, a sequel to the popular iOS port of Street Fighter IV. This latest release included an interesting pricing model; the game started off at $0.99, increasing by a dollar each day until the final price of $5.99. While this tactic may prove to be useful in driving downloads and increasing game ranking (in the iTunes Store), the massive surge in purchases for pre-existing games for the holiday weekend may have negatively impacted results.
