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| Support Cruelty Free Game Companies | |
| Number | 3520 |
| Broadcast Date | APRIL 29, 2019 |
| Episode Length | 30:30 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang |
| Guests | Jenn Cutter |
Horror stories about game development “crunch time” have filled forums and reddit threads alike. What’s really going on and why does this seem to be a industry-wide problem?
Guest
Quick Hits
- Marcus Persson, aka Notch, created Minecraft 10 years ago, then sold it to Microsoft in 2014. He will not take part in Microsoft's 10 year anniversary celebrations though. A Microsoft spokesperson told Variety, "His comments and opinions do not reflect those of Microsoft."
- The Powerbeats Pro wireless earbuds from Apple's Beats will go up for preorder in Canada and the US on May 2 for $250. Everybody else gets them May 10.
- State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Robert Strayer said the US government will reassess information sharing with allies who use Huawei equipment as part of the country's 5G infrastructure, saying that the US makes no distinction between core and non-core parts of 5G networks. The UK and Dutch carrier KPN are both open to using Huawei equipment in non-core deployments.
- Alphabet has reported their earnings for Q1 2019. Alphabet missed expectations with shares dropping 4% in after hours trading. Quarterly revenue rose 17% from a year ago, but that is their slowest pace in 3 years. Alphabet's expenses have grown faster than their revenue for the past 2 years which is concerning to some investors.
Top Stories
- A group of security researchers, led by Noam Rotem, discovered an unsecured database on a Microsoft cloud service containing addresses, names, ages, genders, income levels and marriage status for more than 80 million US households. It is unclear who owns the database. The server containing the database came online in February. Rotem discovered it in April and in a post on VPNMentor.com, he called on readers to help find the database owners.
- Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that Apple removed or restricted 11 of the 17 most downloaded screen-time and parental-control apps over the past year. Two app makers filed a complaint against Apple with the EU's competition office, claiming Apple forced changes to apps to make them less useful than its own native Screen Time app. Apple's Phil Schiller told MacRumors that the apps used Mobile Device Management profiles designed for enterprise businesses to access employee devices and data, and that no developer should use MDM profiles on consumer devices because the profiles give the developers unrestricted access to devices.
- Spotify reported it lost 0.79 euros per share but raised revenue 33% on the year. Spotify also announced it grew paid subscribers 32% on the year becoming the first streaming music service to reach 100 million paid subscribers. Worldwide the company now has 217 million monthly active users. The company expects to have 222 to 228 million users by the end of the quarter with 107 to 110 million paid subscribers.] It identified smart speakers as a key growth area.
- Samsung announced a 43-inch quantum-dot QLED TV called Sero, meant to be stood on end in order to watch vertical video which can automatically display when your phone is near. It can swivel into a horizontal position to watch old-fashioned horizontal video. The TV offers 4.1 channel, 60 watt sound, Bixby control, and supports NFC phone syncing to mirror vertical content to the display. 49- and 55-inch sizes will be coming later this year. The Sero will be available at the end of May in Korea for 1.9 million won, roughly $1,630.
- The Wall Street Journal reports that Marriott will expand its test of a home rental service from Europe to the US. Marriott is the world's largest hotel operator, with 1.29 million guest rooms while AirBnB is the largest room provider with 4.92 million listings. Marriott has been testing its home-sharing service in Paris, Rome, Lisbon and London while AirBnB recently acquired Hotel Tonight.
Discussion
- How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong
- How Fortnite’s success led to months of intense crunch at Epic Games
- Former devs speak out about 'severe crunch' at Mortal Kombat studio
- 'I just broke down crying': Canadian video game creators face gruelling 'crunch' hours
- 'League of Legends' Studio Faces Employee Walkout, Promises Changes
Mailbag
- I live in Utah, and what I understand (as someone who had their child go through Upstart) the program is designed simply as online preparation for kindergarten + for preschool agree kids.
Here in Salt Lake there is tremendous efforts to reach out to low-income communities in terms of awareness of the program, and if the CCFC's concern is that inequality will be widened with how low-income families may be less able to have laptops or tablets to participate, the nice thing is that Upstart provides a Chromebook to use for the duration of the program (typically a year before they hit Kindergarten), and given that Spanish is the majority minority language here in Salt Lake, the whole program (as far as what the parents need to interact with) is offered in Spanish too.
I was surprised to hear the story on Upstart given how much praise it gets here in Utah locally by parents and educators alike. It's like a fun game, kids have to do it 15 min a day 5 days a week. Kids love it. My daughter was off to reading starter reader books when she was 4. And this is not uncommon. - Sent by Marco
- I live in Utah, and what I understand (as someone who had their child go through Upstart) the program is designed simply as online preparation for kindergarten + for preschool agree kids.
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