It's been largely good news for Microsoft on the Xbox One front since its release not very long ago, what with the Redmond firm announcing that it sold a million units within the first 24 hours of the console's lifecycle. Still, as with most big new hardware releases these days, it's not all been rainbows and sunshine in the world of Xbox, especially for some of the platform's early adopters.
The Xbox One has been on the market for just four days, and while the vast majority of those in ownership of Microsoft's latest and greatest console have been pleased with their purchase, a small faction have encountered the issue of grinding disc drives, or the dreaded "Sorry, We Can't Play This Disc" error. As we reported over the weekend, some Blu-ray drives start making clicking noises when attempting to load a game, and as a result, the Redmond outfit has begun the process of replacing them. It has now emerged, though, that the issue in some units can be solved, and whilst hardware fixes are often daunting or overly technical, this fix required little more than a couple of good, old-fashioned whacks.
Having seen both Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City both ported to mobile devices in recent years, the news that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will be headed to Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices next month shouldn't come as a great surprise. However, while we suspected Rockstar Games would oblige, the announcement of San Andreas's imminent release is no less exciting, and with both the previous two GTA ports for mobile proving very successful, one suspects this one will prove just as popular.
It's been available to buy for a couple of months now, but getting your hands on a new iPhone 5s still isn't the easiest thing in the world. Things are starting to get better though, as Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster points out while pointing at a nice colorful graph that backs up his claim. It's a shame it's not the same graph that says when the Apple television well be released, eh Gene?
If you've be the owner of an iPhone for any length of time, the chances are you've had that heart-stopping moment when said iPhone has slipped from your grasp, or been knocked off a table. Cue that anguished look on your face as you gaze helplessly at your expensive smartphone as it tumbles towards, invariably, the world's hardest flooring. Why is it never nice thick carpet, anyway?
The Xbox One, as most of you will already know, retails at a full $100 more than its Sony-made rival - the PlayStation 4. The early PS4 teardowns suggested that its Japanese creator was making no money on the console itself, since the raw material cost was predicted to be in excess of $380, and considering a retail price of $400, it would be hard to glean much by way of profit. With the Xbox One shipping the new Kinect sensor, it was always going to be more expensive to produce, and with the first teardown now in, it seems that the Redmond's next-gen machine costs a full $90 more than the PlayStation 4.
It may be one of the biggest gaming franchises on the planet, but that doesn't mean that Assassin's Creed developer Ubisoft is resting on its laurels. With the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launching so recently, Ubisoft today remind everyone that it is committed to mobile platforms too with the announcement of a new, standalone game for iOS and Android.
Apple's iPhone 5s includes a wealth of exciting new hardware features, but whilst we've been more than impressed by the new 64-bit A7 processor, much has been made of the Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Allowing iPhone users to unlock their devices without going through the tiresome rigmarole of typing in a passcode, it has been a big hit in its short lifespan, and according to a recent patent filing by Apple, could be about to get even better.
Well things are never dull when a post has the former Apple’s board of directors member’s name in the title, and this latest offering is no different. Now executive chairman over at 'the Plex,' Eric Schmidt is never shy about making his thoughts clear, and he's got Apple, iOS and the iPhone in his sights right now, as shown by a rather thinly veiled jibe courtesy of his Google+ account.
This week, in the unlikely case that you weren't already aware, is Black Friday week, and the deals and special offers will be running from most of the major retail outlets. In technology terms, it's a great time to go shopping in preparation for the holiday season, particularly since many of these price-cuts don't occur at any other time of year. Apple is a prime of example of a company that seldom alters its price structure except for on Black Friday, and those holding out on an Apple purchase in hope of making some savings later on this week will be pleased to learn that the Cupertino outfit has just announced the details.
