Microsoft has unveiled its four simplified versions of Windows Server 2012 today and killed off Windows Home Server at the same time. The four editions include Standard, Datacenter, Essentials, and foundation — all are targeted at different business and enterprise environments. Similar to the Windows 8 client side, Microsoft is simplifying its offerings to businesses for Windows Server 2012, bringing the number down from 12 to just four.
The software giant also revealed it will no longer offer a separate Windows Home Server edition. Instead, the company plans to combine the features from Windows Home Server into Windows Server 2012 Essentials. An FAQ (PDF) reveals the company is focusing its efforts into “making Windows Server 2012…
Nintendo has just wrapped a press conference going over some developments for the 3DS. The platform has seen strong but lower than expected sales, though the pricing do-over in August has spurred adoption. This update seems like a sort of holdover while the big games are still unreleased, but any improvements to the platform are always welcome.
First, a system update brings new options to the camera. You can now record 3D movies of up to 10 minutes in length, and it will also capture time lapse or multiple shots per second or stop motion. They also enabled the ability to shift data to a new 3DS, which some are taking as an indication of a “3DS Lite” or the like (perhaps one with two circle pads) arriving down the road.
3D makeovers of a few classic games were also announced. Kid Icarus and Kirby’s Adventure will be gaining an extra dimension the same way Excitebike and Xevious have. Not the biggest news of all time, but Kid Icarus is one of my favorite NES games and I think this is simply wonderful. Hopefully Metroid and Blaster Master aren’t far behind.
Lastly, they are initiating a sort of raffle this holiday season in which if you buy two Nintendo games, you’re entered in a drawing to win one of the cute Mario-themed 3DSes pictured above. That mushroom one is calling my name. Unfortunately it seems unlikely that the contest will actually be offered here in the US, but we can always hope.
You can find a few more game-specific details summarized over at 1up.
Nomad Editions Announces Subscriptions on the App Store Nomad Editions today announced that its diverse lineup of digital magazines is now available for iPad using Apple’s new subscription service. The Nomad Editions App, which houses all four titles, is available now on the App Store. Read more on PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance
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Despite enormous sales of the iPad and iPad 2, it seems like the digital publishing world isn’t quite ready to support the digital magazine editions coveted by media giants like Conde Nast. This is the company, if you’ll remember, that was busting to get iPad editions ready before the iPad had even been announced.
It seems, though, that these well-laid plans, or at least extravagantly-laid, aren’t quite paying out just yet, according to a report at Ad Age. “They’re not all doing all that well, so why rush to get them all on there?” said an anonymous Conde Nast publisher, who praised the company’s position, saying it made them look smart – ambition but no rush. Seems like a kind interpretation of the fact that the company simply pulled the trigger too early.
Despite there being perhaps 20 million tablets out there right now (all inclusive), it doesn’t appear that people are really eating up the digital edition — Popular Science reported as much of its iPad subscriptions, which at 10,000 aren’t microscopic, but are still dwarfed by paper sales. Conde Nast isn’t reporting any statistics, but it seems safe to assume that they’re seeing similarly disappointing results.
While Conde Nast is definitely in the front line here, I think they neglected to consider some aspects of the new platform. For one thing, tablets are at the moment primarily used for casual gaming, email, and light browsing. It’s just what they’re good for. Not a lot of storage and (on the iPad) sub-HD screens make media consumption secondary, and many other functions it performs are also done by smartphones, making many applications superfluous. Furthermore, people are still naturally attracted to the enormous volume of free content on the web, some of which they’d be paying for unnecessarily by subscribing to this or that (like the recent NY Times paywall).
What will it take to bring digital magazine subscriptions in line with paper? More volume in tablets, for one thing. And a lot of tests looking at how and why people pay for and consume various digital items in a “light computing” environment like the iPad. Despite being over a year old, the tablet market is still very much in flux, and adjustments are being made. Conde Nast is probably doing the right thing by tugging on the reins after being in too great of a rush to begin with. Focusing on creating a razor-sharp product even if it doesn’t sell, and taking the losses necessary, is a step that they can afford to take. But I’m guessing the board saw the numbers and decided to lose a little less.
Taking advantage of the hype (if not the acclaim) of EA’s Medal of Honor, SteelSeries has updated some of its accessories to join in on the fun. The company’s Xai mouse, the 6Gv2 and Shift keyboards, the QcK mousepad (“surface” in PC gaming lingo), and 5Hv2 and Spectrum 5xb headsets can all be had with official Medal of Honor branding.
Let’s review this.
You’ve got the Xai mouse ($ 89.99), which I actually just bought (the non-MoH edition, that is—FedEx says it will arrive on Friday) to replace a Logitech mouse that decided it would be cool to die after less than a year of use. Cool! It’s pretty highly rated online (otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it, you see), and now it’s decked out in MoH colors.
You’ve got two keyboards to choose from. Well, one keyboard, the mechanical 6Gv2 ($ 99.99) (trust me, you want a mechanical keyboard if for no other reason than the satisfying clanking sound they produce) and a MoH surfaced ($ 99.99, above) version of the just released Shift. Or you can just grab the surface separately ($ 24.99).
Then there’s the QcK mousepad ($ 14.99), which is also highly regarded online.
Lastly are the two headsets:the 5Hv2 for you PC gamers and the Spectrum 5xb, which I reviewed in conjunction with Halo a few weeks back, for the Xbox 360 crowd. (These headsets won’t be available till the first quarter of 2011.)
Granted, I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy, say, a keyboard simply because it has a logo slapped on it, but the fact is these are quality components with a bit of dash added for fans. No harm there, I don’t think.
News: Amazon introduces Kindle Editions with Audio/Video Amazon has introduced Kindle Editions with Audio/Video for users of the Kindle application on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The new e-book format now includes embedded video and audio clips in Kindle books, allowing readers to access rich-media content as part of the reading experience. Support for the new content was quietly added to the Kindle app for iOS devices last week with the new …
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No, Amazon didn’t just release a new Kindle capable of doing full motion video with embedded audio. Instead, Amazon just updated the content for the Kindle app running on Apple gear that gives a few books an inject of multimedia. For example, Rich Steves’ London Kindle Edition with audio/video features walking tours with Rich doing the narration while Rose’s Heavenly Cakes features video tips for… you guessed it, making delicious cake. Unfortunately, we’re only seeing about a dozen titles classified as “Kindle Edition with Audio/Video” so it’s hard to tell if the move is a first step in a wholesale Kindle change or just a toe in the water to gauge interest. We suspect the former, given enough time and publisher interest.
Continue reading Amazon Kindle Editions with video and audio added to iPhone / iPad app
Amazon Kindle Editions with video and audio added to iPhone / iPad app originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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