Jack Tramiel, arguably as important a figure to the early personal computer industry as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, passed away on Sunday. He was 83 years old.
Born as Jacek Trzmiel in 1928, Tramiel came from Lodz, Poland. After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Tramiel and his Jewish family were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where his father died. Tramiel emigrated to the United States after World War II ended.
Tramiel founded Commodore International in Toronto, Canada, in the mid-1950s, manufacturing Czechoslovakian-designed typewriters, then adding machines. Ultimately, the company switched focus to calculators and then computers. In the early 1980s Commodore designed and sold the VIC-20, an inexpensive home computer, and followed that with the Commodore 64, a now legendary computer that ultimately sold more than 20 million units, significantly outselling Apple and other computer makers of its time.
Tramiel had mixed success in his later career. Tramiel resigned from Commodore in the mid-80s after heated price wars with other PC makers led to financial problems; he ended up acquiring the assets of then-struggling video game console maker Atari from Warner Communications and founded Atari Inc., releasing the Atari ST personal computer. Tramiel would remain involved with Atari’s operations through though the mid-90s.
Yesterday AT&T began to offer customers who have an off-contract iPhone the opportunity to unlock the handset so that it can be used on other carriers. It seems that quite a few of you jumped on the chance to have this done and have reported back to me with your tales of success (and woe).
Adi offers a few anecdotes about customer experiences getting AT&T to unlock their iPhones; it’s a new trend, but it’s not universally understood by AT&T customer service representatives, so you may need to exercise some patience.
Why unlock an off-contract iPhone? Going to T-Mobile might be one reason. Another is to travel internationally; you can use local GSM carriers without having to pay AT&T a dime in exorbitant international calling rates.
“There was one guy who used to work for OMGPOP who was facing a deadline on whether or not to exercises his options. He couldn’t decide, and [OMGPOP CEO Dan] Porter didn’t want him to lose out, so he hired him as a contractor to extend his vesting as well. He made money too. “Every single employee got something from the deal, even new employees who hadn’t reached their cliff. Porter made sure it happened.”
It’s a pretty remarkable story in this day and age, but it appears that OMGPOP’s CEO really made a concerted effort to try to take care of the people who had made it possible for his company to be sold to casual games giant Zynga for $210, largely on the strength of a single great idea – the popular iOS game Draw Something.
Japan’s Sony Corp <6758.T> is cutting 10,000 jobs, about 6 percent of its global workforce, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday, as new CEO Kazuo Hirai looks to steer the electronics and entertainment giant back to profit after four years in the red.
Kaz Hirai led Sony’s computer entertainment division – responsible for the PlayStation 3 – until earlier this year, when he was appointed CEO.
In light of this increase of attention, it’s apparent that the record needs correcting and that someone needs to show that while jingoistic posts may be enticing, they aren’t based in reality.
Just in time for the start of the new baseball season, OOTP Developments has announced the release of Out of the Park Baseball 13, a new version of their popular baseball sim for Mac, Linux and Windows. The game costs $39.99.
Out of the Park Baseball is a simulation sports game that lets you manage your own baseball franchise. Featuring online and solo play, OOTP Baseball lets you set lineups and pitching rotations, determine strategy and make game-time decisions that can affect the outcome of a game. You also budget scouts, make trades, handle drafts, sign free agents, negotiate contracts and more. If you’ve ever dreamt of running a pro baseball team, this is the game to get.
The game features real player data and team information from Major League Baseball. You can play any historical season from 1871 to present.
New features in this edition of the game include 2012 major league teams and rosters, and rule changes; minor league rosters and international leagues, including Japan’s.
A new real-time simulation mode gives you a general manager’s perspective on what’s happening in the league, including scores of games in progress and notifications of important events. You can also experience interactive storylines. A reworked pitching system more accurately reflects pitching in the “real world,” including the rotation of starters to relievers and so on. Custom playoff options, the ability to create associations with multiple leagues that share rules, agents, draft pools and playoffs, and an overhauled interface.
OOTP Baseball 2013 follows the release of iOOTP Baseball 2012, a new mobile version of the game that debuted last week. It costs $4.99.
Facebook announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire Instagram, a fun, popular photo-sharing app for mobile devices.The total consideration for San Francisco-based Instagram is approximately $1 billion in a combination of cash and shares of Facebook. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close later this quarter.
Rockstar Games has announced plans to release Max Payne Mobile on iOS this week. It’s coming April 12. An Android release will follow later this month.
Max Payne is a popular third-person action shooter video game franchise developed by Finnish firm Remedy Entertainment. The story depicts a renegade DEA agent avenging the death of his wife and child. He uncovers a plot involving the Russian mob and a secret society with deep ties to the government. The gameplay included the use of “bullet time,” a slow-motion technique that enables players to perform special moves during gunfights.
The first installment of the game was released in 2001 for multiple platforms including Mac OS, and this mobile release is based on that content. Remedy says the game has been reworked for iOS with HD graphics, high-resolution textures, social network connectivity and customizable controls.
My concept was to do something so large and so epic, it would fire the imaginations of people around the world. After looking at how difficult it would be to bring people to the downtown core (from the Strip), I knew we had to have something really exciting, dynamic, and without equal. We kicked around a few ideas, and then I came up with something really unique. I went to Chuck Canciller, my lead designer then – and a genius as well – and said, “What if we built the STARSHIP ENTERPRISE – FULL SCALE – on the land at the end of the street. Imagine that…”
Apple’s rivals are quick to say how much better, faster, cheaper or more popular their smartphones, computers and tablets are.Yet when it comes to working conditions in the Chinese factories that build these competing products, Apple’s electronics rivals go silent.So why would these electronics makers be so reluctant? They won’t tell us, but Li Qiang, executive director of China Labor Watch had an idea: “Many companies, like H.P., Sony and Dell, don’t publish the full reports because they find violations and problems that are much worse than Apple, and they don’t want the media fallout from the reports.”
As the article says, while Apple may not be a “paragon of open communication”, they are certainly do more and doing it more openly than their competition.
Alan Brenner, a senior vice president for the BlackBerry platform, will leave after a transition period, and Alistair Mitchell, a vice president for the BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging product, has already left, RIM spokeswoman Tenille Kennedy said in an email on Friday.
Back when XP was the current version of Windows, it seemed that every Windows user I know complained about being affected by malware. I even knew Windows users who used to brag about how fast they could reformat their machine and have it back up and running in pristine form.
However, I found that I can create, update and list notes with Siri. In fact, Siri is even smart enough to know which note you’re talking about. Here’s how to create and maintain notes with Siri.
The sinking of the RMS Titanic caused the deaths of 1,517 of its 2,229 passengers and crew (official numbers vary slightly) in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.The 1985 discovery of the Titanic wreck on the ocean floor marked a turning point for public awareness of the ocean and for the development of new areas of science and technology. April 15, 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster.
The Big Picture, as always, has some amazing photos – including personal effects brought up from the site. Should those artifacts be left at what is, in effect, a burial site? Or is there more value to the living to actually see them?
5by5’s Dan Benjamin and I started our new show Amplified on Friday and we’re looking for your help. I wrote two theme songs for the show and we’d like you to vote for your favorite. You can listen to both songs and cast your vote for what will become the official Amplified theme.
If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to play the guitar but didn’t know where to start and don’t want to spend a lot of money on private lessons, this is the book for you!Follow along with our guitar expert Jen Trani—a guitar instructor who’s been playing since she was 13—as she leads you through 20 video lessons! With interactive diagrams and quizzes, this beginner guitar course will get you acquainted with the basics so you can start rockin’ out today!
If you can play your guitar on the iPhone and iPad, it makes sense that you should be able to learn how to play to.
After hearing Page’s interpretation of Jobs’s words, Isaacson spoke out this week in a speech at the Royal institution of Great Britain. Isaacson said he felt that Android had ripped off many of his ideas found in the iPhone and iPad, and that his ire was very real, according to Macworld.“It’s almost copied verbatim by Android,” Isaacson said. “And they license it around promiscuously. And then Android starts surpassing Apple in market share, and this totally infuriated him. It wasn’t a matter of money. He said, ‘You can’t pay me off, I’m here to destroy you.'”
