Fortunately this story has a happy ending. Apple realized it was a mistake and decided to refund the Kitchens. However, there's a lot of lingering questions. How could this happen, and more importantly, how can you prevent it from happening to you?
The blame obviously lies with the parents themselves. Apple had emailed them an itemized invoice for 70 pounds the next day. They ignored it assuming it was sent in error. In fact it's likely the spree would have continued had the Kitchens' credit card company not called. That's mistake number one. Any charge that you did not make on your credit card should always be cause for alarm. ALWAYS check your receipts. I can't stress this enough.
The second mistake was allowing a five year old unsupervised access to the family computer. Kids are a lot smarter than we adults tend to give them credit for. It's truly amazing how much trouble they can make in such a short time. Especially when you give them the means to buy things when the child has no concept of money.
"Free" games targeted at young children frequently use micro-transactions for in-game items. These items range for $1 all the way up to $100 or more for something as stupid as a "Trunk of Diamonds" in one particular farming simulator. The kid is smart enough to know that more resources make the game easier. What they don't know is these items cost mommy and daddy real, finite money.
Lucky for you, it's very easy to protect yourself from what's happened to the Kitchens and countless others.
1. Never let kids use the computer unsupervised.
Don't treat it as a babysitting tool. If your child wants to play a game, play it with them. As any parent knows, kids that young can start a world of trouble if you take your eyes off them. For the love of god never share your passwords with your children either. Heck I can remember hacking my dad's user account when I was eight because his password was too obvious.
2. Familiarize yourself with your computer's security and parental controls.
It's amazing how many people rely on technology to run their lives, but are still technologically illiterate.
In iOS, under the settings tab, go into General and click restrictions These are your parental controls. The list labelled "Allowed Content" is what you're interested in. Particularly the two at the bottom. By default, iOS allows in-app purchases and waits 15 minutes before requiring a password to buy and download new content from the App Store. You'll want to set these to OFF and IMMEDIATELY respectively. This will prevent kids from accidentally buying things without your permission.
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| Turn off "In-App Purchases" and set Require Password to "Immediate" to prevent accidental charges |
The biggest problem with iOS is you can't set up separate accounts for different users. HOWEVER, what you can do is set up multiple iTunes Store accounts which can be used on a single device.
It's very easy and requires about five minutes of your time. Sign out of iTunes on your computer, then hit sign in and select "Create Apple ID". Don't tie a credit card to this account. Just select "none" as your payment method. Now that your kid has their own account, which you will monitor, they cannot download any apps or in-game content that aren't free.
4. Teach your kids the value of money
It's never too early to start teaching your kids the value of a dollar. Get them to do some chores to earn money, or if they like playing games on your iPad, some iTunes gift cards. Let them know that once they spend the value of the card, that money is gone and they'll have to earn another. Not only will this prevent you from financial heartache, it will set them up for a responsible future.
5. When all else fails, don't count on a bailout
The Kitchens got extremely lucky here, in that Apple refunded them. However, they are a business not a charity. Once these incidents start happening too many times, they won't be as forgiving. If you take the above steps to protect yourself, you shouldn't encounter problems. That is unless your kid is Bart Simpson and is smart enough to steal your credit card. But that's a whole different kettle of fish.
Sources:
ArsTechnica
BBC News
It will be called the Playstation 4
Sony's newest console will be officially named the Playstation 4, or just PS4 for short. I expected Orbis to be the name of the new system to match the Vita. However, there's just too much brand strength with the traditional naming scheme, so Sony stuck with it.
It will have an octal core AMD "Jaguar" processor
We had two rumours served up suggesting the PS4's processor would either be a quad core at 3.2ghz or an octal (8) core Jaguar based chip. Sony has confirmed that the latter is the case. Not much is known about the exact specifications as of yet. We do know it's 64-bit and based on the x86 programming language, the same used for PCs and Macs. Sony wants to make their console as developer friendly as possible. This first step makes it very easy to program new games and port existing ones from Windows.
Continued after the break
Lets take a look at what we can expect. Just some forewarning, this is a little more technical than my other posts. Keep reading after the break.
Today, Edge leaked a report suggesting that the Xbox Durango may ban the use of used games. When you purchase a disc copy, its specific serial number would be forever tied to your Xbox Live account. Sony recently patented a similar system to block out used games.
The used video game market has been around for as long as gaming has been around. However, game publishers have suddenly begun to equate it to piracy. When you buy a used game, publishers never see a dime from that sale.
For retailers like GameStop, the sale of second-hand games is big business. Profit margins on new games are thin. A friend who owns a computer shop sold games at one point. At the time he was only making $5 for every copy. He didn't sell enough to make it worth while so they were taken off the shelf. Retailers like GameStop and Best Buy have the same problem. Buying and selling used games is a good way to boost profits. Since they're cheaper to buy, it's a win-win for both retailers and budget minded gamers. Though many have accused GameStop of paying too little for used copies and selling them only a few dollars below MSRP. Which is partly why Microsoft and Sony have their panties in a knot.
Even if you hate GameStop, the loss of the used market would be a major infringement on consumers rights. If this becomes reality, video games would be the first ever industry to completely ban the sale of used items. Imagine how ludicrous it would be if eBay, Kijiji, Craigslist and Autotrader were shut down. If Goodwill could no longer accept donations because sales of used clothes aren't going to labels. It's all silly but that's the point we've gotten too in our greedy, materialistic corporate culture.
Worse still, it would kill the soul of gaming. For years, gamers have been buying, selling, renting, and trading to grow their collections and fuel their obsession. Stores like ToyRatt aren't GameStop. They're run by a couple of guys or girls who just live and love video games. They're not greedy corporate monsters. If the industry bans used games, they'd be put out of business. Classic yet unpopular titles would die quick deaths in favour of bland shooters that sell lots but hardcore gamers hate. Once the servers go down and the discs stopped getting pressed, it's curtain call. Many great games I've discovered I've found in used bins. The loss would cheapen the art form by denying so many fantastic titles the appreciation they deserve.
What about the PC market? Used games have been defacto banned on that platform for years. Which is true except for one catch. PC games tend to be substantially cheaper than console games, and they tend to go on sale more often. Also many disc based PC games have moved away from DRM which ties copies to specific accounts or hardware. The Spore debacle and the revolt of casual games four years ago caused a paradigm shift regarding this style of copy protection. So used PC gaming has potential for a comeback.
Lets keep our vibrant culture alive by retaining the used market, help protect small used game shops, and let Microsoft and Sony know what you think of their plans. Tweet @Xbox and @Playstation to ensure that future gamers will have access to today's best games. Use #SaveUsedGames.
This is a true story about Mildura in Victoria, Australia. It's a typical small town about half way between Melbourne and Adelaide. Mildura is a quaint little place of 30,000, known for its vineyards and wineries.The town is connected to the two cities by a pair of modern, four lane highways.It isn't located off a dirt road in the middle of the outback. Though according to the iPhone, it is. Apple Maps had placed the town inside the Murray Sunset National Park. After six separate incidents of people getting lost in the bush, state police issued a warning to motorists. Apple's mapping software was not to be trusted.
This topped the laundry list of problems with Apple Maps. Some roads were missing, some roads that didn't exist were there, many things were located miles from where they actually were, 3D rendering looked like a warped Dali painting. As soon as the app launched, the complaints started rolling in. Making matters worse, it was made the default mapping application. The Google Maps app was no longer an option.
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| Mildura is not in the middle of the outback. Source: Wikipedia |
More important than Apple's apology is what the fiasco says about ourselves. As smartphones have become commonplace, we've gotten comfortable with letting them think for us. So much so that common sense takes a ride in the trunk.
The operating system hadn't fundamentally changed in seventeen years. Granted it's been spiffed up and tweaked considerably in that time. However, it still looks, works, and feels the same as it did way back in 1995. Seeing the popularity of tablets, Microsoft jumped into the already overcrowded marketplace screaming "me too!" As such Windows 8 was designed to by a hybrid OS. It had both tablet and desktop elements, and a radically new UI called Metro.
Metro was the very same interface that had gotten raving reviews on Windows Phone 7. So it made sense to port it over. The end result was the sort of beautiful mess that Microsoft seems to master ever even numbered release. The conventional desktop was hacked to pieces, missing the all familiar Start button. You were forced to use the new UI whether you liked it or not.
The Metro interface wasn't well suited for computers that lacked touch screens. In other words most systems Windows ran on. It had a great app store and a sleek interface, it just wasn't ideal for a desktop and laptop environment. It made even less sense for business. Reception was lukewarm from hardcore Windows fans and cold as ice from the general public. A month into its release and it had failed to break Windows Vista's launch sales numbers. Most people saw it as having no real advantage over Windows 7.
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| Window's 8's brand new "Metro" UI, -- image from Microsoft |
There was nothing particularly wrong with the Surface. As far as tablets go, it's a fine tablet. Metro worked like a charm, it was sleek, and was better designed than both Android and iOS. Problem was you could get a much better tablet with better app support for the same price. The iPad 4 and Note were three times faster and had three times the display resolution. Needless to say sales were modest at best.
That all said, Windows 8 is perhaps the most important version since Windows 95. It signals another paradigm shift in personal computing. One where touch screens will begin to dominate over traditional inputs, and tablets will begin to replace laptops. As such, Windows 8 is very much a prototype of things to come. Microsoft may have come late to the party but they've so far delivered the best mobile GUI I've seen, and it will only get better when things get perfected in Windows 9.
Taking a look at the gaming and tech trends in 2012
If there's one thing about Nintendo, they've never played a conservative game. Their innovations are small, yet have a profound impact on gaming. Take something as simple as the plus shaped D-Pad. It's hard to believe that something so ubiquitous didn't exist prior to the Famicom. The Wii U is a little different. The latest gimmick is something that has existed for some time, just never really implemented: dual screen gaming.
A lot of entertainment providers talk about multiple screens. When I watch a movie on TV, I'm frequently on my iPad looking up actors, directors, discussing it on Twitter. The Wii U is a natural extension of the tablet revolution as much as it's an extension of the DS. The motion control that made the Wii famous has been pushed aside for a tablet-like controller with a touch screen interface. Have your inventory pulled up at all times, touch to solve puzzles, or even detach it from the TV and take your game with you to another room. Play your games on your TV the same way you loved to play them on your DS.
The Wii U GamePad is such an innovative product, it was introduced by Sony, six years ago. Back then it was called RemotePlay. The much touted feature would have allowed you to play PS3 games on your PSP. A couple of indie games implemented it but it never got far beyond that. Possibly owing in part to the PSP's low resolution and painfully slow WiFi. The same function is present in the Vita and has been used a bit more effectively, but not by much. So far only one game officially supports Wii U style mobile control. Apple also has this technology via AirPlay to stream iOS games to a TV and use iPad or iPhone to as a controller. Both these systems require the purchase of costly peripherals.
Where Nintendo excels the most is jumping in on trends before anybody else does. Even if they didn't originate the idea, they're the first to see its potential; no matter how small.
On the bright side, iFixit has confirmed that the CPU is user replaceable. However, they gave it a 3 out of 10 on the repairability scale, due to the glued display and buried components. This seems to be a huge price to pay for having a super slim computer, in an environment where it doesn't need to be super slim.
All-in-ones don't make ideal desktops in general due to the amount of compromises you need to make. Apple lately has chosen to put form over function. While it hasn't hurt the reliability of their computers, it does turn them into yet another disposable consumer good if anything should fail. I think we need to add a fourth "R" to that old environmental mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle, and repair. If Apple wants to make their systems impossible to fix and upgrade, then the price has to come down. Otherwise they're just not worth it.
If you're looking for an alternative to the iMac, Dell's XPS One series is something to look at. Specs are similar to the iMac, though the system is considerably cheaper. It also features a touch screen and is easy to repair. Some reviews state that it's noisy though. Once again, there's always drawbacks with all-in-ones. The old tower design is still king if you're a non-compromises type of person.
Source: iFixit
The nVidia GPU stripped naked. The late-2012 iMac comes with one of four: GT 640M, GT 650M, GT 660M, or GT 675M. The first three come with 512mb of GDDR5 while the latter ships with a fill gigabyte of graphics memory. Even the lowly GT 640M should be enough to handle most current games at playable frame rates.
Is that what I think it is? It sure looks like a fully upgradable CPU. The image depicts an "Ivy Bridge" Core i5-3470S, which is a low power, quad-core chip running at 2.9ghz. It has a TDP of 65W. Apple has always used low voltage variants to keep the thermals down while keeping performance reasonable. Though it's likely the top end model uses a standard CPU. Intel doesn't produce low voltage i5s running at 3.2ghz.
The logic board appears to use an LGA 1155 CPU socket. In theory, there's nothing stopping you from upgrading to an i7, assuming the firmware allows it.
In the last picture, we see the iMac with all its innards exposed. Including a removable hard drive. Apple combines traditional HDDs with SSDs, called a fusion drive. You should be able to remove and swap out the drive with any 2.5'' one. The SSD is nowhere to be seen in this picture, nor does it appear to be soldered to the logic board. It is possible Apple is combining the two drives into one package, as Seagate does.
As for getting into the system, it's rumoured to be quite easy. Simply remove the display with suction cups. Though at least one French site claimed it was glued. Due to poor translation, it's unclear. We'll have to wait for the first teardowns on this side of the pond to get a full grasp of how easy it is to take apart.
Assuming it is easy to get into, this is a major step in the right direction for Apple. When you pay that much for a computer, it shouldn't be disposable. Keep them fixable.
The new iMac starts at a relatively steep $1299, as one would expect.
Source and Images: Kodawarisan
The study looked at interest in electronics for kids 6-12 and teenagers. Almost half off all children said they wanted an iPad. The Wii U topped second place with 39%. The iPod Touch, iPad Mini, and iPhone rounded out the top five. Only a quarter of all kids wanted an Xbox or PS3. In the case of portables, 29% wanted a 3DS and 18% wanted a PSP. Only 14% wanted a Playstation Vita.
In the case of teenagers, things are a little different. The iPad still topped the list with 21% wanting one. Computers, non-iOS tablets, Wii U, and iPhone rounded out the top five. Only 8% of teens said they wanted a game console, with the PS3 being the most popular. In the case of portable systems, the 3DS and Vita actually come out on top. It's a Pyrrhic victory with only 5% and 4% respectively.
Things aren't full of Christmas cheer for console manufacturers this year. Though we're hardly set for another crash, a lot of what's going on mirrors 1983. There's a strong interest in multi-functional devices over dedicated gaming systems. Interest in portables has taken a nose dive. Still, it's unlikely parents will be willing to spend upwards of $500 for an iPad. Especially for the little ones. If Sony and Microsoft take anything from this, they will need to get their new systems out by Holiday 2013. The current generation has finally run its course.
Source: IGN
Image copyright Bethesda, via Nukapedia
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