東西 | dongxi

If you’re a fan of the Portal series, you’ll be amazed by this fan-made masterpiece. Shot in live action, the world of Aperture Science is one step closer to reality.

Facebook discontinues its Deals and Places features but they finally bump up some more privacy settings to make life a bit easier. This week we also look into the repercussions of Steve Job’s resignation as CEO of Apple  and chat about upcoming games highlighted at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle.

Don’t forget to subscribe to us on iTunes with the link below and follow us on Twitter (Derrick at @derrickc82, Tony at Google+). 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

Subscribe RSS

Show Links

Steve Jobs Steps Down: http://techland.time.com/2011/08/26/apple-will-still-be-apple-even-without-steve-jobs/

Facebook Kills Deals: http://allthingsd.com/20110826/facebook-kills-deals-after-just-four-months/

Facebook Kills Places: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-kills-places-but-emphasizes-location-sharing-more/2972

New Privacy Settings for Facebook: https://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=10150251867797131

Ignoring on Google+: http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/08/26/google-launches-an-ignore-option-hide-people-but-let-them-interact-with-your-content/

GameStop Apologizes Over Deus Ex Fiasco: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/26/gamestop-deus-ex-apology/

HP Touchpads Still Sold Out: http://consumerist.com/2011/08/adventures-in-ordering-a-clearanced-hp-touchpad.html

PAX 2011: http://www.gamespot.com/events/pax2011/index.html

App of the Week

Jetpack Joyride (iOS): http://toucharcade.com/2011/08/26/hands-on-with-halfbricks-jetpack-joyride-and-new-developer-diary-released/

HP Touchpad

The HP Touchpad is down for the count, but that doesn’t mean it can’t go out with a bang. At $99 for the 16 GB model, the Touchpad is selling like hotcakes. It’s practically sold out in all stores. But is it really a deal that’s worth it? We look into all this and more in this week’s Gigawhat!

Don’t forget to subscribe to us on iTunes with the link below and follow us on Twitter (Derrick at @derrickc82, Tony at Google+). 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

Subscribe RSS

Show Links

HP Drops WebOS: http://moconews.net/article/419-hp-to-halt-all-webos-device-development-confirms-talks-to-shed-pc-group/

HP Touchpads Sold Out

PS Sales Spike: http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/08/19/0457219/PS3-Enjoys-Retail-Wide-Sales-Spike-After-Price-Cut

NFL Sunday Ticket to PS3: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/17/directv-brings-nfl-sunday-ticket-to-android-tablets-and-the-ps3/

Playstation Vita Specs: http://www.geek.com/articles/games/ps-vita-specs-list-arrives-makes-hardware-fanboys-happy-20110819/

Sony Sticks by Dedicated Portable Gaming: http://gamescom.gamespot.com/story/6329625/mobile-tablet-gamers-will-move-to-ps-vita-sony/

Foursquare Events: http://blog.foursquare.com/2011/08/18/foursquare_events/

Weather on Google Maps: http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/18/google-maps-adds-a-weather-layer/

App of the Week

Google Catalogs (iPad): http://www.google.com/catalogs/about/#

In the past 12 hours, I’ve seen more friends buy HP Touchpads than all the days leading up. In fact, I personally didn’t know a single person who bought a HP Touchpad ’til now. What made all the difference? The price dropped, to $99.

HP Touchpad Now $99

Competition needs to be in price

The irony is that for the days leading up to HP’s announcement on the Touchpad (and the subsequent price drop/fire sale), HP had spent millions of dollars on advertising, hiring celebrities like Lea Michelle and Manny Pacquiao. What’s become evident now is that consumers weren’t moved by the branding or the messaging. It all came down to the price point. The HP Touchpad is now selling out. Had HP utilized those advertising dollars on price cuts or offers, the TouchPad may have lived on.

What HP has provided though, is a valuable insight into the tablet market. Lately, several analysts have suggested that the tablet market doesn’t truly exist – that consumers weren’t looking for tablets per se, they just wanted the iPad. Perhaps that’s not entirely true either though. With this rush for TouchPads, there definitely is interest. It’s more a question of value and worth. How much is a consumer willing to pay for a non-Apple tablet.

In all other devices including smartphones, laptops, computers, etc., nearly every competitor of Apple is priced much lower than the Cupertino giant. Strangely, despite coming in much later to tablet market, companies like Motorola, HP, Toshiba, RIM, and HTC have been pitting their tablets directly against the iPad, even when it comes to price, with prices in the $500+ range. However, they fail to recognize that Apple (and the iPad) carries an additional brand value that no other tablet maker has been able to replicate. Thus, when you stack these tablets against one another, Apple wins out. The key, perhaps, is to mark down the pricing, even if it means taking an inital loss.

Android smartphones have been able to dominate the market by becoming a low cost alternative to the iPhone. Same can be said of the Blackberry of the last few years. Tablets, whether of Android, RIM, or WebOS origin needs to consider this strategy. Forget the branding, multi-million dollar ad campaigns, or trying to “be” the iPad. Instead, offer users with a similar experience for half the cost of the iPad. It’s not the prettiest thing to hear, but it can potentially save other tablets from going down the same route as the Touchpad.

It’s not all fun and games as we look into some serious allegations against Facebook and even the San Francisco police department. Things aren’t looking to great for Nintendo either as investors are pressuring the big N on some drastic moves. Will Mario budge?

Don’t forget to subscribe to us on iTunes with the link below and follow us on Twitter (Derrick at @derrickc82, Tony at Google+). 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

Subscribe RSS

Show Links

Social Networks and Social Order: http://gawker.com/5830458/san-francisco-cops-jam-cell-phones-to-prevent-protest

Facebook Phone Contraversy: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/08/facebook_phone_numbers.php

Changing Facebook Settings: https://www.facebook.com/invite_history.php

Google+ and Suburban Parents: http://www.geekwire.com/2011/study-google-winning-suburban-parents-losing-college-kids

Google+ Games: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/games-in-google-fun-that-fits-your.html

Nintendo on iOS? http://www.tipb.com/2011/08/11/investors-nintendo-put-super-mario-iphone-ipad/

App of the Week

Kindle Cloud Reader (HTML5 – iOS): https://read.amazon.com/about?tag=gmgamzn-20

Playstation Vita gets delayed and carriers crack down on tethering. That may be important too, if you’re planning on using Skype on iPad or Android. But the biggest question of the week, which smartphone state do you reside in? All this and more in this week’s Gigawhat!

Source: Jumptap

Don’t forget to subscribe to us on iTunes with the link below and follow us on Twitter (Derrick at @derrickc82, Tony at Google+). 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

Subscribe RSS

Show Links

Playstation Vita Delayed: http://www.destructoid.com/playstation-vita-launch-date-will-be-announced-at-tgs-208026.phtml

Blackberry App World 3.0 Beta: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/06/rim-blackberry-app-world-3-0-beta-adds-home-screen-search-socia/

Carriers To Stop Tethering/Hot Spot on Jailbroken Phones: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/verizon_blocks_hotspot_tethering_for_jailbroken_de.php

Skype on iPad: http://blogs.skype.com/en/2011/08/skype_now_optimized_for_ipad.html

Skype on Android: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.skype.raider&feature=search_result

Speech-to-Text on iOS 5: http://9to5mac.com/2011/08/06/ios-5s-nuance-powered-speech-to-text-feature-revealed-screenshot/

Smartphone Civil War: http://allthingsd.com/20110805/map-reveals-the-u-s-divided-between-android-states-and-iphone-states/

App of the Week

GameBox (iPad): http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gamebox-for-facebook/id438622631?mt=8

An iPad optimized version of Skype was accidentally found its way to the iTunes App Store before being pulled. Working across both WiFi and 3G, this version of Skype makes use of the extra real estate on the tablet, allowing users to chat, swap apps, and change statuses while in chat.

The video chat on the iPhone version works pretty well already on the iPad, though it’ll be great to have a dedicated app that’ll work in landscape mode as well. Though the app was pulled down, expect to see the official release soon.