GTA V Breaks 7 World Records

Much has been said about GTA V already, since the game has been released it's been braking one record after another. Guinness has officially confirmed that GTA V has broken 7 world records. We already know that it was the first entertainment product to make $1 billion, this includes movies, games, music etc.

Grand Theft Auto 5 was released 17 September for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, it's still not released for PC or Nintendo Wii U. Rocstar Games has invested $265 million in to this game, the most expensive production of any game ever, but it was all worth it. GTA V has already made a huge profit and it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon.

As far as the Guinness world records, this is what Craig Glenday had to say about the game: "GTA totally deserves to be recognized as an icon of modern British culture, and we're thrilled to be able to feature the game in the record books. Gaming is no longer a niche hobby, as GTA 5 has proved, and how exciting that it's taken on the might of Hollywood and won! I'm also doubly proud as a Dundonian to welcome this home-grown series back into the Guinness World Records book.”

This is the full list of the 7 world records that GTA V broke so far:

1. Best-selling action-adventure videogame in 24 hours

2. Best-selling videogame in 24 hours

3. Fastest entertainment property to gross $1 billion

4. Fastest videogame to gross $1 billion

5. Highest grossing videogame in 24 hours

6. Highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours

7. Most viewed trailer for an action-adventure videogame


Seven world record so far, not bad, not bad at all, but we expect this number is going up very soon

More on the story right here.

Smart Watch From Nokia

Nokia has been bought by Microsoft, well not the entire company but the part of the company that makes smartphones. According to their contract, the company from Finland can't make any new smartphones before 2015. But can they make a smart watch? Or will this project also end up in the hands of Microsoft.

From the leaked photos it looks like some kind of smart watch, only thing connecting it with Nokia is the logo on the device. Smart watch doesn't have any buttons on it, so this concept should be interesting. It's no secret that Nokia was planing for a long time to make some kind of portable device you can wear on your arm. Remember the Nokia 888 project.

Another rumor from Nokia is that they are working on HTML 5 platform for smart wearable devices. That means smart watch and smart glasses. This HTML5 platform may be based on “Here data”. Former Nokia Maps that are becoming very popular on different operating systems and are bringing great profit for the company. Looks like the company from Finland is not planing to be late for the new markets that are just opening with wearable smart devices. They don't want to make the same mistake they did with tablets.

More on the story right here.

Microsoft Wants Windows on HTC Android Phones

We all know HTC is having some serious financial troubles and looks like Microsoft has a proposition for them. Basicly they want to take advantage of their financial troubles. Microsoft WindowsPhone operating system is doing very well at the market and HTC sales of smartphones are not going very well either. Solution, let's team up for better results.

Microsoft wants HTC to put their WP platform on Android devices. If HTC agrees to this they would be speared from paying the licence on WindowsPhone OS. That means they would get WP on their devices for free. HTC already has WP smartphone lineup but their focus is on Android devices. Flagship phone HTC ONE is running Android.

HTC has recently reported their financial results and they have their first annual loss since the company has been founded. The loss is over $100 million. This putts the company in very bad position, so some sort of deal between Microsoft and HTC is very likely to happen. At this point it looks like they don't have any better alternatives. These negotiations have just started so it's very hard to say what the final deal will be like. One thing is sure HTC is running out of time so they definitely need to change something and fast.

Microsoft OS on smartphones WP is currently on only 4% devices worldwide and you can be sure that the giant from Redmond isn't going to be happy with that. Sure, they have bought Nokia so they can start making their own smartphones but they also want other companies to make WP devices.

More on the story right here.

Apple Event October 22

According to sources Apple is holding their next event on October 22. Apple still hasn't send any invitations  for this event so this is still a rumor. What is expected at this event? Well nothing else but the iPad lineup. Introduction of the iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2.

Not much is known about the new iPad's. There have been leaked photos and different rumors about the new elements in the tablets but nothing has been confirmed yet. Apple likes their secrecy. Most interesting things that everyone is expecting is the Retina display on the smaller iPad Mini 2 and the fingerprint scanner on the larger iPad 5 similar to the one on the iPhone 5s. New processor A7 has also been rumored for both tablets.

From other things Apple TV could get an update. That's the small black box you hook up to your TV, not the iTV  that has been rumored for a long time.

Another thing interesting about October 22 is that Nokia is holding their press event on that date. Where they plan to announce 6 devices. One of those devices is Nokia tablet that is running Windows RT. Not enough? Well there is something else. On that date Microsoft is starting sale on the new Surface tablet lineup, Surface 2 and Surface 2 PRO. Apple is always saying that they are mining their own business and not looking at other companies, not very easy to believe is it. Anyway October 22 should be an interesting day.

More on the story right here.

Facebook Building it's own Town

Facebook is investing $120 million in it's new project. It has nothing to do with the social network or anything online for that matter. The company is building a small town for it's employees. The town will be located near the companies main building in Menlo Park.

Town is within walking distance from tho companies headquarters. It's going to be spread across 630,000 square-foot rental property called Anton Menlo. This will include 394-unit housing community so only 10% of Facebook employees will live in this town. Town will include everything from gym's, bars to doggy day care.

Facebook is hopping that the employees will be happier living together and will interact more. So in fact they are trying to bust creativity and team spirit.

More on the story right here.

Nike FuelBand Event on October 15

Nike has send out invitations for there press event on October 15. On the invite it simply says “NikeFuel Forum” so this means that the next FuelBand will be announced at this event. FuelBand is a fitness product from Nike.

What can we expect from the next FuelBand is still not known. According to the source it should have some of these features

•  The design will be similar overall and still wrap around the wrist (current model shown above).
•  The new FuelBand will be constructed with new materials that will result in a much more durable design that could sustain stronger environmental conditions.
•  The new FuelBand will include much better battery life allowing customers to not worry about charging their FuelBand up every couple of nights.
•  While versions with Heart Rate monitoring capabilities have been rumored, we’re hearing that said functionality may not make the cut for this model.
•  The new FuelBand will be built with Bluetooth 4.0 low-energy to connect to new smartphones and work more efficiently. This plays into the improved battery life factor.
•  The display and general software operation of the device will be nearly identical to the current model.

With all the smartwatches being released recently and even more of them are announced or rumored. It's going to be interesting to see if Nike can bring something new and unique.

More on the story right here.

Microsoft Investors Want Bill Gates to Step Down

Three of the top 20 Microsoft investors want Bill Gates to resign from his position as board chairman. Steve Ballmer is already leaving as the CEO. Looks like people at Redmond want change and they want it to happen soon. With Steve Ballmer leaving and Bill Gates potentially leaving, this is certainly the end of an era at Microsoft.

It's still hard to say why the investors calling for Bill Gates to step down. Microsoft is still an IT giant and is making profit but there are still many concerns. In the mobile market Microsoft has fallen behind as Google and Apple dominate the market. WindowsPhone OS is only 3% smartphone share worldwide, while that number is increasing it still isn't fast enough . Not to mention that they have lost $1 billion on the RT Surface tablets. Looks like the investors want to dominate the mobile market like they did with the PC market and they don't believe that Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates are up for that.

Bill Gates is an absolute legend in the IT business and name that is known worldwide. It's no secret that he is doing more and more work on his philanthropic Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Still with the knowledge and the experience of Bill Gates it's very unlikely that they are going to chase him out of the company completely.

More on the story right here.

Apple Rummors: iWatch, iTV, iPad

Rumors, rumors everywhere. Nothing new for the IT giant Apple. After the iPhone lineup release the rumors on other products are all over tech websites. Next event is about iPad so there are a lot of rumors about those projects, but there is also a lot of talk about iWatch and iTV, products that are not eve officially announced by Apple.

iWatch

Apple has recently brought Nike FuelBand developer Jay Blahnik on board, so the rumors of iWach being a sport gadget became popular. Also the new smartwatch could have a flexible display. According to the rummors Apple is already testing different screen sizes betwen 1,3 and 1,5 inches. Samsung Galaxy Gear has already been release but people are mostly disappointed by the device, it's not very innovative. Apple will have to bring better user experiance if the iWatch is going to become popular and that's something Apple is very good at.

iTV

Another job opens up at Apple. Company has just hired Cable TV executive Jean François Mulé as an engineering director. Mulé status on Lindekin about his new job was “challenged, inspired and part of something big.” Ofcourse after this the rumors about Apple TV started all over the Internet. Those rumors where even popular before this news broke out. Looks like things are starting to heat up at Cupertino.

iPad 

Next Apple event is about the new iPad lineup. The event should be on October 15 but nothing has been confirmed yet. Much of the focus is on the iPad Mini, the 7 inch tablet. Will it get a retina display like the 10 inch iPad. Well according to the latest rumors and photos leaked, looks like the mini version is not getting a retina display this year. But what it will get is an 8-megapixel camera to be ahead of the competition. Tablet market is more competitive then ever. With the new Nexus 7 and Microsoft Surface 2, the tablet market is full of great products. Good news for anyone buying a tablet.

Microsoft is the Most Inspiring Company in USA

Forbes has released a list of most inspiring companies. Microsoft is on top of the list. After two years of being number one Apple has fallen on 12 place. Microsoft is fallowed by Disney and Walmart. Only two other IT companies in top 10 are Google at number 7 and Amazon at number 8.

Microsoft reclaimed this position because of their philanthropic initiatives and passionate employees. Each employee at Microsoft can donate to charity and the company will match that amount dollar for dollar, up to 12.00 dollars. Truly and impressive gesture from Redmond.


Top 25 Most Inspiring Companies:

1. Microsoft
2. Disney
3. Walmart
4. Chick-fil-A
5. Target
6. McDonald’s
7. Google
8. Amazon
9. Johnson & Johnson
10. Toms Shoes
11. The Coca-Cola Company
12. Apple
13. Starbucks
14. Costco
15. Ford
16. Whole Foods Market
17. Southwest Airlines
18. Wegmans Food Markets
19. Goodwill Industries
20. Pepsi
21. Nike
22. American Express
23. Zappos
24. REI
25. Kohl’s

There is a lot of things that will inspire people. Food, movies, cars and looks like this year IT technology is at number one. All of these 25 companies have very recognisable names and are known worldwide.

More on the story right here.

Breaking Bad Breaks Another Record

Braking Bad has ended. One of the best TV series of all time had it's last episode on Sunday. So what record did it break. Well it's the most pirated TV episode ever. Just in the first 12 hours it was illegally downloaded 500.000 times. Now that's an impressive figure, half of million people in just 12 hours.

Most of the downloads came from Australia, fallowed by USA and United Kingdom. What's interesting that people mostly download TV series from torrents when they don't have a legal way of watching. Well in these three countries there was a legal way of watching Breaking Bad finale and yet they lead on the list of pirate downloads. Data was gathered by TorrentFreak and this includes various torrent sites.

The thing that's even more interesting is that TV-insiders are not that upset over all of this illegal download. Game of Thrones director David Petrarca said that buzz created by pirates leads to more subscribers. Hes not alone in saying stuff like that, Time Warner CEO Jess Bewkes said that it’s better than winning an Emmy. Breaking Bad producers have nothing to complain about because the series finale was the most watched episode of the series.

Breaking Bad won an Emmy this year for the first half of season five. The fans were outraged that Bryan Cranston didn't win an Emmy for the leading role. So it should be interesting at the awards next year.

Source of the story right here.

Google Play Vending Machines

The search giant is now opening vending machines for it's Google Play store. That's right you heard this correctly, the IT company is opening vending machines, in today's digital age. Location they have chosen to start this practice is Tokyo Japan. Where else you would say. People in Japan are just crazy enough for this to work. Crazy by western standards. Actually in Japan vending machines are very popular. So this just might work.

Purpose of these vending machines are to sell games for your phones. Your phone must have an Android 4.0 or higher if you want to purchase your game at these vending machines. The game is downloaded using NFC. Google is also putting two workers by the machines who can offer you a barrow you a Nexus 4 so you can try these apps.

For now this is only in Japan.

Microsoft Windows Phone in Double Digits

Microsoft can be proud to announce that WindowsPhone is in double digits. Well at least in some markets.  Worldwide WP is somewhere around 4%. Europa seams to like combination of Nokia Lumia and WP. On two big EU markets Microsoft OS is over 10%. In Great Britain it has 12% market share, France 10,8%, Italy 9,5% and Germany 8,8%. So in those two countries it's just shy of double digits.

These results are mostly credited to Nokia Lumia smartphones, and not so much to the flagship phones but rather to the mid-range Lumia phones. Which are not that expensive and offer a quality product from Nokia and a fast WP operating system. HTC and Samsung have there WP lineup but their sales results are not very good.

Across Europa Android is still the supreme ruler of the market with 70%. Second OS is iOS with 16% and then WP with 9%. BlackBerry is completely out of the game and it's market share keeps dropping. Also in Australia WP almost double it's market share form 3,7% to 6,5%. However in US it's only at 3% and in China even worse with 2%.

Keep in mind WP is the youngest operating system on the market, it's not even 3 years old. While iOS is 7 years old and Android just turned 5 years old. So we can expect more from Microsoft OS in the future as WindowsPhone matures.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally Could be the New Microsoft CEO

Ford CEO Alan Mulally is on the top of the list for the new CEO of Microsoft. If you don't know by now Steve Ballmer announced his retirement from the company within 12 months. Many thought this was great news. Wall Street didn't think much of Ballmer as CEO so after the announcement Microsoft value went up by 7%. Steve Ballmer gave his farewell speech, which instantly became a great hit on YouTube.

Until now Alan Mulally said “I continue to be focused on serving Ford.” so people thought he wasn't really interested in the position, but according to the recent rumors he is “more amenable to the idea.” Other candidate who was on top of the list so far is Nokia CEO Stephan Elop. While Elop is still under consideration he is no longer on top of the list for the job. Other great candidates are Tony Bates CEO of Skype and Paul Maritz CEO of Pivotal.

This is going to be a very important decision for the company from Redmond. They just started a transformation, where they plan to sell devices. Microsoft just bought Mokia for $7.2 billion, so they are becoming smartphone manufacturer. So in the next year they will need to prove them self in the market that's owned by Google and Apple.

I don't know about you but I will definitely miss Steve Ballmer. Maybe not so much his business decisions but his appearances on stage is something we will all definitely miss.

Moro on this story right here,

Best of Steve Ballmer. Very energetic person, who didn't hold back