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  • The Atari E.T. Game Land Fill Legend

    The Atari E.T. Game Land Fill Legend

    The year is 1983. The Alamogordo Daily News reported in September that between 10-20 (actually 14) semi-trucks coming from a storehouse in El Paso, Texas, traveled 90 miles to a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico. At night, they would unload, cover deep within the earth, and seal with concrete, Atari boxes, cartridges, consoles, and the shame brought with their creation.

    Among the gizmos lay purged was one of art’s greatest abominations: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Atari videogame. An estimated 750,000 copies lay crushed in their dusty graves; the cause of death being rock-bottom sales due to abysmal quality by rushed development.

    Whispers of what happened that day trickled into an urban legend of doubt, intrigue, and mystery… until…

    31 years later.

    On Sunday, at 12:45pm MDT, a film documentary seeking out the video game grave yard teamed up with Xbox Entertainment Studios and Lighbox Entertainment, went back to that old landfill and dug up the remains. There, in front of hundreds of spectators, revealed the epitome of what was one (of many) man’s trash, to be a treasured relic of gaming history.

    The E.T. Atari cartridge did not die alone; several cases of the game Centipede, Pac-Man, and others games were also found, surprisingly, to be in very good condition despite three decades – unfortunately none of them were playable.

     

    There’s a notion in the video game industry that the licensed movie adaptations of video games (and vice versa) wind up becoming laughable flops. The Atari E.T. game competes as one of the worst video games in history, but, as with all art, found a way to be enjoyed.

    Besides the novelty of his lovable wrinkly testicle-like face, critics found the gameplay of collecting Reese’s pieces and part of E.T.’s phone to be a repetitive and vicious cycle; try to watch the following without any hint of irritation:

    Doesn’t it just take you back?

    Image via YouTube

  • Macy’s Cuts Jobs And Plans To Close Five Stores

    Macy’s has created a reorganization plan and it includes closing five stores and cutting 2,500 jobs.

    Currently Macy’s has 840 stores in 45 states either under the Macy’s name or Bloomingdale’s name with approximately 175,000 employees. Soon they will close down stores in Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, New York, and Utah.

    Though sales for the holiday season rose 4.3% compared to 2012’s holiday season, the retailer still plans to reorganize in order to cut costs in 2014.

    Macy’s says $100 million will be saved by closing the five stores and cutting 2,500 jobs. These changes also have the store forecasting a higher profit than the original analysts forecast.

    The company will also be relocating some of their stores, as well as combining their Midwest region with their North region. This will cut their regions from eight to seven.

    In a statement, Macy’s Chief Executive Officer Terry Lundgren said, “We have identified some specific areas where we can improve our efficiency without compromising our effectiveness in serving the evolving needs of our customers.”

    Lundgren has been able to do what many other retail stores have not – keep profits growing in a time when consumers aren’t spending as much as they once did. He has even added merchandise from celebrity designers the likes of Madonna. Lundgren also allows lower-level managers to tailor products that are more likely to sell in their stores.

    After the announcement was made, shares rose 6.7% to $55.30 in extended trading in New York.

    These reorganization plans don’t make that much sense to one person on Twitter.

    Image via Macy’s official Twitter account.

  • Mark Cuban Is Not Guilty Of Insider-Trading

    Mark Cuban, the businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has been facing charges of insider-trading. He has been in a battle with the federal government for years now, and with it finally over, he can rejoice, especially after the verdict that was reached. He was being charged with the crime, as it pertained to the selling of his shares in an internet company in 2004.

    The jury deliberated for only about four hours before reaching a unanimous verdict, that ends a three-week long trial. In the federal district court of Dallas, he was found not guilty, due to the fact that the Securities and Exchange Commission failed to prove the key elements of its case. This included the claim that Cuban agreed to keep certain information confidential and not trade on it.

    Cuban has always been an important leader in the world of business, and is one of the most successful owners in sports as well. Forbes Magazine estimates his worth at $2.5 billion. If the jury had ruled in favor of the SEC in the case, he would have had to pay more than $2 million or $3 million dollars in fines and penalties. However, he admitted to having to pay more than that for the lawyers who led him to a victory in the court room.

    In addition to his business ventures and being the owner of the Mavericks, he is also one of the stars on the reality television show Shark Tank. The show features Cuban and other financiers, who analyze and decide whether to invest in business ventures that are presented to them by aspiring entrepreneurs.

    The civil lawsuit was brought against Cuban in 2008 by the SEC, but was dismissed by the judge in 2009, an appeals court revived the case the following year. An early indication that the trial might not pan out in favor of the SEC this time around came when Judge Sidney Fitzwater, who dismissed the case previously, was assigned the case.

    With the jury ruling in favor of Mark Cuban, this could reignite concerns about the agency’s struggles in the courtroom, where important cases involving the financial crisis fell apart, according to the Los Angeles Times. Cuban’s career in business has been controversial to say the least, but the ruling in his favor should help things. He is also the owner of Magnolia Pictures and Landmark Theaters.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F82EHPP3bkM

    Image via Youtube

  • Facebook Becoming Too Big For Anyone To Question

    I’ve seen a lot of angst over the past week about Facebook’s moves to open up your data to other applications.

    To really understand how huge these changes are I had to get away from Silicon Valley and come and hang out with the geeks in Kinneret, Israel where famous VC Yossi Vardi is throwing an exclusive camp for geeks and successful business innovators.

    To be sure, there is some fear and even a bit of hatred here of Facebook. Let’s detail that fear and hate:

    1. Facebook has broken an invisible privacy contract with its users. Most of the geeks here say they expected Facebook to be about sharing photos, videos, and thoughts with friends and family. But now their previously private data is showing up on Yelp, Pandora, and Spotify. That wasn’t expected by the users, so has generated quite a bit of discussion here.
    2. Facebook is very quickly painting the web with little like buttons and other social widgets. One CEO I talked with, who asked me to keep his name and company name out of this article but who runs one of the top 50 websites according to Comscore and Compete.com, told me his company will add Facebook’s likes next week. He’s not the only one saying that. My prediction that 30 of the top 100 Websites would incorporate Facebook’s likes in the first few months might turn out to be very low, based on what I’m hearing in Israel. But that does worry geeks here who are seeing that Facebook is very quickly getting their fingers (and branding) into a very large chunk of the web.
    3. I’m sharing a room with one of Yahoo’s search strategists here at Kinnernet and, while he wasn’t able to tell me what direction Yahoo is going in, it’s clear that Facebook has disrupted his thinking of where the world is going. If Yahoo is feeling the disruption imagine what it must be like over at Google! Facebook is studying metadata from all these likes and other behavior of ours and I believe is preparing new kinds of search and discovery services. Facebook doesn’t need to “kill” Google to have quite an effect, either. They just need to put a box around Google which would keep Google from growing. What happens when Google can’t grow the way it wants to? Flat stock prices and loss of ability to hire the best employees that comes with it. Google is the new Microsoft, the geeks here say.
    4. The geeks here say that it is clear that Facebook is becoming a dramatically more important, and larger, company than they expected. So, now, new business plans are being changed to account for Facebook’s new power and stance in the world.

    So, why is it too late to regulate Facebook?

    Well, first of all, what can government do?

    1. They can force Facebook to switch its defaults on its new Instant Personalization program, which is already being used by Yelp and Pandora (you can see which music I listen to, for instance, on Pandora, and that feature got turned on automatically. The government could force Facebook to turn that feature off by default and make me “opt in” for you to see my Pandora music.
    2. They could fine Facebook for its behavior.
    3. They could call Mark Zuckerberg in front of Congress and call him nasty names.

    But what else could the government do? I don’t see too many options. Do you?

    So, why is it too late to regulate Facebook?

    1. The damage is done. Well, let’s assume they made them switch Instant Personalization to opt in. Who cares? The damage is done. My Pandora already has all your music shared with me. Most Facebook members won’t change their privacy settings from what they already are. So, old users will keep sharing their music and only new members will be asked to opt in to these new privacy-sharing features.
    2. The regulation will come too slowly. Government never moves fast. Even when it’s motivated. So Zuckerberg has at least a few months to aggregate his power before Government slaps him on the hand. Government is not going to be able to prevent that top 50 website from putting Facebook’s new features into its service. Government will not keep me from using Pandora.
    3. The regulation will come after we get used to new privacy landscape. Already I’m finding I’m getting used to the fact that you all can see my data and that I can see yours. So, if Government comes along and tries to regulate that it will get pushback from me. Why? Well, I actually like the new Pandora features. I’m finding a ton of cool music because Zuckerberg forced you to give up some of your privacy. So what that I can see that you like Kenny G? Users will get addicted to these new features and they won’t take kindly to some government jerk taking away these new features.
    4. Giving Zuckerberg a fine will not change Facebook’s behavior. If anything it will just push him to monetize these features more aggressively in order to pay the fine. Just wait until Cocacola icons show up next to all those Facebook like buttons. Government taxation, which really is what fines are, might have a negative effect long term.

    So, what can be done about Facebook? I don’t see what we can do about Facebook. Not enough people have changed their behaviors due to these changes. I’m watching and these features are VERY popular. Even here in Israel, far from the hype bubble of Silicon Valley, all the geeks I talked with are impressed with the new features and many are already implementing them. No one sees Facebook as less powerful or less interesting today than two weeks ago. Even with a few of my geeky friends saying they deleted their accounts from Facebook my feed there is actually moving faster lately and my items are getting more engagement, which shows that not many geeks changed their behavior away from Facebook.

    Zuckerberg just played chicken with our privacy and it sure looks like he won based on what I’m hearing here in Israel.

    What do you think?

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