If you believe the hype, then Sony will be revealing the next PlayStation in just a few short weeks at a February 20 event. The announcement of a new console is all well and good, but once the party’s over and the reveal has been made, Sony then faces the difficult task of making the next PlayStation successful in the new generation. It’s something of a blank slate – the other competitors in the console space are releasing new machines as well, so the platform wars can begin anew. Sony did a lot of good things with the PS3, but in order to make the PS4 a smashing success, it’s going to need to ramp it up in a few areas.
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Columns
BlackBerry 10 tablet: three insane steps for success
The BlackBerry PlayBook as it was released back in April of 2011 was a mess, but the first BlackBerry 10 tablet certainly doesn’t have to be. Have a look back at our original BlackBerry PlayBook Review and you’ll find that right out of the gate the machine was far too “rough around the edges” to be a real competitor with the likes of the iPad or even the first big Android release with the Motorola XOOM. The direction the company is going with BlackBerry 10 presents a unique opportunity to take the tablet market by storm by hitting several specific arenas at once.
BlackBerry 10 = BleakFuture
This week there’s no hiding the fact that the public remains uncertain that they’ve been convinced by BlackBerry 10 after its first launch event. The company known until this week as RIM has re-branded itself as BlackBerry as they should have done long ago, this also creating an unacceptable amount of confusion for the consumer at large. Now we’ve got a “new” operating system on a couple of “new” smartphones created by a company with a “new” name – investors certainly must be praying for some additional tricks to be pulled out of the company’s sleeve quickly.
Does RIM even realize what went wrong?
BlackBerry 10 makes its long-anticipated debut today, but the official hype machine is off to a stumbling start with execs from RIM struggling to deal with criticisms around delays and how the iPhone changed the smartphone market. In a pair of interviews on different BBC programs this morning, RIM Europe managing director Stephen Bates faced understandable questions about where previous BlackBerry devices stumbled, as well as being asked where RIM has learned from Apple’s device. All didn’t go to plan, however.
JOBS may not be entirely accurate, but does it matter?
The Steve Jobs biopic, JOBS, made its debut this past weekend at the Sundance Film Festival (with a theatrical release on April 19), and the reviews have begun pouring in. While many critics praised Kutcher and Gad for a job well done in their roles as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, respectively, they were quick to criticize a few inaccurate details in the film. For instance, we saw the first clip from the film a few days ago, and Steve Wozniak said himself that the scene was “totally wrong,” and it’s actually not what happened at all during the early days of Apple. In the long run, though, does it really matter? In the Hollywood industry where the truth doesn’t always entirely make it through anyway, should we really be upset that a narrative non-fiction film isn’t 100% accurate?
Will 4K and OLED Scuttle the Apple TV’s Chance of Success?
The Apple television has been rumored for years now. And every chance a media person gets, they ask Apple CEO Tim Cook what his plans are for that device. Will Apple launch a television? When will the television launch? What sort of features will the television boast? These are all questions he has been posed – and dodged in one form or another.
Is Mario, Zelda Love About Quality or Nostalgia?
I know I might hear some complaints from Nintendo fans for this, but I have to ask: is the Super Mario and Legend of Zelda love about the quality of the games or the nostalgia?
As I’ve said here before, I’ve been playing games as long as I can remember. And as an owner of the Nintendo Entertainment System, SNES, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, and Wii U, I’ve played just about every first-party game Nintendo has ever launched. For years, Nintendo games have been entertaining me.
Samsung and Apple one-brand manufacturing puts competition on notice
This week it’s been made clear – or perhaps just clearer than ever before – that a company able to manufacture its own device components is a company that will thrive. According to the readouts from Gartner showing 2012′s top consumers in the semiconductor universe specifically, Samsung and Apple are out in front of the pack – by a significant margin. Semiconductors, mobile processors, and hardware from displays to memory cards are all a part of this puzzle, and as the two next entries on that list show with double-digit percentage drops show, it’s not just Apple and Samsung that are floating upward here coming into 2013, it’s mobile smart devices as a whole (and all their little bits and pieces).
Nintendo proves it’s serious about Wii U’s future
Today’s Nintendo Direct livestream shows that the company is taking the future of its new console very seriously. There was a bit of worry there, since Nintendo is somewhat famous for botching big launches, but after a couple of months of letting the Wii U‘s launch titles support the system, Nintendo came out with guns blazing today. Wii U owners have a lot of new games and features to look forward to, with Nintendo proving that it isn’t simply going to sit back and let its famous name move units.
Galaxy Note 8.0 calls out iPad mini before it’s revealed
This week we’ve been hearing our fair share about this next-generation Samsung device known as the Galaxy Note 8.0, and today it’s become clear: the competition is on for the iPad mini. While the iPad mini’s display is 1024 x 768 across 7.9-inches, the Galaxy Note 8.0 has been tipped as 1280 x 800 across 8-inches – that’s just about as close as it gets without perfect replication. We’ve also seen a supposed early press image leak from the likes of a fellow by the name of @Clasificatearg that, even if it’s not straight from Samsung, gives us an idea of how similar this device will likely be to the Apple offering both aesthetically and technically.
Will Wearables Fuel – or Fracture – Convergence?
The candid snapshot of Google exec Sergey Brin, riding the subway on a $2.25 fare while sporting a Glass prototype worth thousands of dollars, has reignited questions around ubiquitous computing. That sighting of Brin is a timely one. Not only is Google’s Glass Foundry developer schedule kicking off at the end of January, but several other wearables projects have reached milestones this month; Vuzix brought out prototypes of its Glass rival a few weeks back, while Kickstarter success Memoto applied some extra-sensor balm to the sting of an unexpected hardware delay today.
As each project tracks toward release, however, the ecosystem of more straightforward body-worn gadgetry such as activity monitors like Jawbone’s UP picks up for what’s predicted to be a bumper year of sales. Still, among sensor ubiquity and the specter of power paucity, the fledgling wearables industry hasn’t apparently decided whether it’ll face this brave new augmented world hand-in-hand, or jealously guarding its data.
Is the Technology World Too ‘Pop Culture’?
As many of you who read my work here on SlashGear know, I’m an avid technology lover. My entire life has been dedicated to learning about technology, leveraging the tools that work best, and educating others on the value of it. From a young age, I was building my own PCs and taking apart products to see how they worked. It wasn’t long that I realized that having some sort of career in this fascinating world was a good idea.
REVIEWS
![JH Audio JH16 Pro with Freqphase Custom In-Ear Monitor Review [2013]](http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/P2111170-sg-320x80.jpg)
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