Sales of current-generation consoles are starting to drop dramatically — most likely because the next generation is on the horizon. While we won’t see new consoles until next year, it appears consumers are already starting to save their money in anticipation. The Switch, however, is the exception to this. Microsoft yesterday revealed its Q4 fiscal year earnings, and noted console sales were sluggish: “Xbox hardware revenue declined 48%, primarily due to a decrease in volume of consoles sold.” Sony released its fiscal year financial results earlier this year, and also reported a decline in PS4 sales. While some units are still… This story continues at The Next Web …read more… Read More
Continue ReadingMoon bricks could keep the lights on and the heat up in Lunar colonies
There may be no “dark side” of the Moon, but when and where it is dark, it’s dark — and stays that way for two weeks. If we’re going to have colonists up there, they’ll need to stay warm and keep the lights (among other things) on for the long lunar night. Turns out bricks made of Moon dust could be part of the solution. Of course they will use the readily available solar power during the lunar day, and you might think that they could just charge up some batteries to last them through the night. But batteries are large and heavy — not the kind of thing you… Read More
Continue ReadingFlying on a Boeing 737 or 777? It’s Probably Best to Turn Off Your Phone
U.S. government officials in 2014 revealed an alarming safety issue: Passenger mobile phones and other types of radio signals could pose a crash threat to some models of Boeing 737 and 777 airplanes. More than 1,300 jets registered in the U.S. were equipped with cockpit screens vulnerable to interference from Wi-Fi, mobile phones, and even outside frequencies such as weather radar, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which gave airlines until November 2019 to replace the units made by Honeywell International. Honeywell estimates that 70 or fewer planes with cockpit screens in need of repair are still flying. Flight-critical data including airspeed, altitude, and navigation could disappear and “result in… Read More
Continue ReadingNetflix lost US subscribers in Q2 over price hikes; how can it win them back?
Enlarge / Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. (credit: re:publica) If you’ve been grumbling about the rising cost of your Netflix account, it seems you’re not alone. Netflix shared its second-quarter financial results and the company indicated that higher prices may have led to dips in the platform’s subscriber counts. Revenue for the video streaming service totaled $4.92 billion in the second quarter, up 26% year-over-year. Net income was $271 million, with $0.60 earnings per share. Both those figures were down from Q2 in 2018 and from Q1 of 2019. Netflix added 2.7 million paid members during the period, a big cut from the 5 million it expected to see and from… Read More
Continue ReadingTinder is now bypassing the Play Store on Android to avoid Google’s 30 percent cut
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Tinder parent company Match Group has just become the latest high-profile software maker to stiff Google on its 30 percent fee for all Android transactions through the Play Store. To avoid paying the company on in-app purchases of subscriptions to services like Tinder Gold and Tinder Plus, Match Group will now encourage users to enter credit card details directly into Tinder’s systems, according to Bloomberg, citing new research by Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter. The move is similar to one made by popular video game developer Epic Games, which last year released the Android version of battle royale hit Fortnite via its own… Read More
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