Much of the early Black Friday 2016 gaming buzz centers around virtual reality systems and big cuts to Xbox One bundles, but Nintendo this week has grabbed headlines with this holiday blockbuster: slashing the price of its New Nintendo 3DS video game system to $100 (okay, $99.99) starting on Nov. 25.Typically, the Nintendo 3DS sells for about $150 and the 3DS.XL for $200. The special $100 price isn't that much more than for the inferior Nintendo 2DS console, which costs about $80. The original Nintendo 3DS, a portable gaming system that provides 3D-like effects without you needing to don dorky glasses, debuted in 2011 for $250, though the price quickly dropped closer to $170.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There's nothing quite like an empty stomach to get the old creative juices flowing, as participants at last week's Babson College Rocket Pitch event explained during their 3-minute pitches before peers, investors and assorted people like myself.(I captured a handful of the presentations via Facebook Live, as seen in the saved video at the bottom of this post, for your viewing enjoyment...)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
SNL over the weekend took advantage of super cool guest host Benedict Cumberbatch to star in a spoof ad about the next great toilet that's based on Apple's famous 1984 Macintosh computer commercial.Why exactly SNL decided to reach back for this classic commercial as inspiration for fresh fun poking at Apple isn't clear, but maybe Apple's latest drawn-out product introduction (MacBook Pros) put someone there over the edge. See the original ad and the SNL spoof below.MORE: Most memorable SNL tech skits and bitsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With report after report about tablet sales falling, it might not come as a surprise that retailers such as HP, Staples and Costco are slashing prices on these slimmed down computers for Black Friday 2016, along with plenty of other tech products.
Black Friday watchers such as BFads and Best Black Friday have been tracking new ads closely.HP's Black Friday deals
HP's Black Friday deals, which kick in online on Thanksgiving Day, also focus on laptops, desktops (for work and gaming) and monitors, with a few speakers and other accessories thrown in.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Wholesale clubs BJ's and Sam's are among the latest retailers to share their Black Friday plans, and tech deals are aplenty.Black Friday watchers such as BFads and Best Black Friday have been tracking new ads closely.BJ's Wholesale Club Black Friday savings start on Nov. 18 and run through Nov. 29, though note that the stores are closed on Thanksgiving day.MORE: Black Friday isn't dead in 2016 | Dell, Amazon, Newegg beat Black Friday 2016 rushTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Acquia Labs has no illusions of making self-driving cars or shooting things into space like Google X, but the budding applied research arm of enterprise open-source Drupal provider Acquia does have designs on a slew of new applications for what it anticipates will be an increasingly browserless world. Preston So, development manager at Acquia Labs and a 9-year veteran of the Drupal community, shared his vision for Acquia’s skunkworks-plus outfit at the company’s annual Engage event for customers held in Boston this week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Today, Nov. 1, marks the beginning of the Black Friday 2016 holiday shopping season for Dell, Amazon and New Egg, all of which have formally revealed deals on everything from laptop computers to virtual reality gaming systems to.DELL STRIKES EARLY
Dell is offering select deals for 24 hours starting at 8am EST on Nov. 1 and then more blockbusters on Nov. 24-25 for Black Friday and Nov. 28 for Cyber Monday. Dell's hoping to lure potential buyers into its various loyalty programs to get earlier access to deals, and is offering free shipping for those who shop at Dell.com.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Ohlfs family
Keith Ohlfs
Keith Ohlfs, a talented software UX designer whose claims to fame included working on the operating system at the heart of Steve Jobs' NeXT Computer systems, has died at the age of 52 from a heart attack.Ohlfs five years ago posted the video seen below in which NeXT Computer debuts in 1988, 8 years before Apple bought the company and adopted many of its concepts in OS X/macOS. Ohlfs created the animation that the computer used to introduce itself and Jobs wrote the text. "Steve was a huge inspiration in my life and his passion was for uncompromising form and function that has shaped my vision for the future of design and technology," Ohlfs wrote.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Black Friday 2016 headlines are dire:
”Is Black Friday dead?”
“Black Friday: Is the commercial holiday dying?”
”Black Friday is Dead, Long Live Black Friday”
But no, Black Friday isn’t really dead and oodles of computers, smartphones, video game consoles and TVs will be snapped up at bargain prices on Friday, Nov. 25 itself, as well as pre-Thanksgiving, on Thanksgiving Day and on the Saturdays leading up to Christmas. Oh, yeah, even Cyber Monday will grab stragglers on Nov. 28.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Market research firm IDC says the best thing Samsung can do to put the fiery Note7 recall behind it is to come out with a really great Galaxy S8 smartphone next year.Samsung indeed has already started to tease that new Android phone, including during an analyst call this week in which the company detailed the big financial hit it has suffered from recalling the Note7 due the phablet's overheating battery issues (See also: "Samsung issues elaborate fireproof boxes for Note7 returns")To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
I never bothered much with Vine, the 6-second video app that went live in 2013 after being snapped up by Twitter the year before, and apparently not many others are bothering much with it lately as they spend more time on Instagram, Snapchat and other apps.Twitter and Vine announced on Medium some "Important News about Vine," or more directly "Today, we are sharing the news that in the coming months we'll be discontinuing the mobile app."MORE: 2016 tech industry graveyardTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
“How many of you or your staff had trouble getting on the internet Friday?”That was how cybersecurity consultant Bryce Austin kicked off his talk Tuesday at SIMposium 2016, a big gathering of CIOs and IT execs at the Mohegan Sun resort in Connecticut, on the "Unintended Consequences of the Internet of Things."Uncomfortable laughter ensued.Austin, who then went on to make attendees even more uncomfortable, swears that even though his session didn't make the original program, it wasn’t added to the agenda as a result of the now notorious IoT-exploiting Dyn DDoS attack that unfolded Friday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
RIPMicrosoft has rolled out plenty of new things in 2016, including the latest edition of Windows Server, additions to its Azure cloud platform and increased availability of its futuristic HoloLens mixed reality technology. But as always, the company has had to make room for the new by ditching some of the old. Here’s a roundup of products, services and more that Microsoft rid itself of in 2016. (Here’s our broader 2016 Tech Industry Graveyard and our 2016 Google Graveyard)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It's been a few years since I've connected with network industry veteran Chris Lynch (See "Ex-Vertica CEO pledges to build high-speed railway for Big Data"), but when we did last talk he mainly had Big Data on his mind. Since then, he's started an early stage venture capital firm called Accomplice that indeed has invested in that field. And to book, his Twitter handle is @LynchBigData.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
To say that CIOs have full plates – from guarding against breaches to cloud migration to embracing innovation – is an understatement. But given the growing recognition of IT’s importance to organizations of all kinds, it’s also a tremendous time to be a CIO despite the complications and demands of the job.These are among the findings of the Society for Information Management’s (SIM) 37th Anniversary IT Trends Study, which is being released to SIM members this week as a lead-in to next week’s annual SIMposium conference that’s taking place in Connecticut. Non-members can get a peek at the study next week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
To say that CIOs have full plates – from guarding against breaches to cloud migration to embracing innovation – is an understatement. But given the growing recognition of IT’s importance to organizations of all kinds, it’s also a tremendous time to be a CIO despite the complications and demands of the job.These are among the findings of the Society for Information Management’s (SIM) 37th Anniversary IT Trends Study, which is being released to SIM members this week as a lead-in to next week’s annual SIMposium conference that’s taking place in Connecticut. Non-members can get a peek at the study next week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A fresh infusion of virtual reality gaming systems such as Sony PlayStation VR could make these hot Black Friday 2016 shopping items, but don't expect to get off too easy on prices.
Sony this month just started selling PlayStation VR, which starts at $400 just for the headset, so figure on $500 if you want the bundle of headset/camera/controllers (and you'll need a PlayStation console too). Then you're going to need some games as well. PlayStation VR joins the Oculus Rift and HTC VIVE, both of which became available earlier this year, going beyond the less elaborate VR viewers such as Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Famed physicist and author Stephen Hawking will deliver a keynote address and a at Microsoft's Future Decoded conference on Nov. 1-2 in London. The conference will focus on doing digital business, exploiting the power of algorithms and data. Hawking will deliver the closing speech on the first day of the event and speak about artificial intelligence and how it might impact people. Hawking, who has a form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), uses a computer-based communication provided by Intel to speak, and actually does use both Microsoft Windows and Skype, according to his web page.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Samsung has begun sending customers of its discontinued Galaxy Note7 smartphones special boxes designed to protect the fire-prone phablets from doing any damage on their way back to the vendor through the mail. The lithium-ion batteries in the phones are being fingered for the devices overheating, and in some cases, catching on fire.The shipping package, as discussed by XDA Developers, includes an instruction sheet that shows how the Note7 should be insulated before being sent off. First comes a static shield bag, then a small OEM replacement box, then another box and finally a thermal insulated box. Oh, and there's a set of gloves that you're supposed to put on before handling all of the contents.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
RIPGoogle has rolled out plenty of new things in 2016, from its Android-powered Pixel smartphones to its Daydream virtual reality platform to its Duo Facetime competitor. But as always, Google has had to make room for its new stuff by ditching some old offerings. Here’s a roundup of products, services and more that Google rid itself of in 2016. (Look back at Google’s 2015 Graveyard too.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Bob Brown