Infants raised on iPads have trouble using building blocks, teachers say
Maybe parents should rethink giving their children a tablet this holiday shopping season, especially if their lifestyle makes it difficult to limit use to such devices. Members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers are speaking out against overexposure to tablets, warning that a growing number of infants aren't developing the proper motor skills to play with building blocks due to their "addiction" to tablet PCs and smartphones.
According to a report in the U.K.'s The Telegraph, teachers claim that three- and four-year-old children known how to swipe a screen just fine, but beyond tablet controls, they lack dexterity in their fingers after spending hours a day playing on the iPad.
"I have spoken to a number of nursery teachers who have concerns over the increasing numbers of young pupils who can swipe a screen but have little or no manipulative skills to play with building blocks or the like, or the pupils who cannot socialize with other pupils but whose parents talk proudly of their ability to use a tablet or smartphone," Colin Kinney, a teacher from Northern Ireland, told the The Telegraph.
The article makes several references to Apple's iPad and iPhone devices, though the concern isn't limited to those specific models. It just so happens that Apple holds a large share of the mobile market and so iPads and iPhones are more prominent. However, it's a problem that extends to mobile gadgets in general.
Teachers have also noted a decline in pen and paper exams, saying that kids who spend a lot of time using mobile gadgets rely on the instant support of their electronic device.
The obvious way to combat against all this is for parents to do a better job monitoring and limiting the amount of time their children are allowed to use tablets and smartphones. In addition, teachers recommend turning off Wi-Fi access at night.
An all-in-one keyboard with an integrated touchpad
It's been 20 years since Microsoft released its first keyboard. Called the "Microsoft Natural Keyboard," the Redmond outfit went after the ergonomic category with a curved design intended to reduce or prevent carpal tunnel syndrome and other stress injuries associated with typing at awkward angles. Two decade later, Microsoft is adding to its peripherals line with the All-in-One Media Keyboard (N9Z-00001).
This time around Microsoft is going after smart TV owners and the home entertainment crowd in general. The AIO Media Keyboard sports a full-size keyset with low profile keys and an integrated multi-touch trackpad on the side where you'd normally find a numpad.
The trackpad supports gestures, allowing you to tap, swipe, drag, zoom, and click for easy navigation. Sitting above the trackpad are customizable media keys for quick acces to your music, photos and videos. Volume controls are found way over on the other side.
It's a wireless keyboard that communicates with a mini USB dongle. Microsoft says it can hold a connection up to 30 feet. It also features a durable spill-resistant design.
Microsoft's AIO Media keyboard looks very similar to Logitech's recently introduced K830, though Logitech's sports a backlight and Microsoft's does not. That luxury carries a $60 premium, however -- the K830 goes for $100 while Microsoft's AIO Media Keyboard carries a much lighter $40 MSRP.
Don't sweat the small stuff, like building a PC only to find out you've forgotten to buy a motherboard. If you actually assembled a motherboard-less system, props to you, that takes talent. Unfortunately, you won't get very far with out. To fix that problem, check out today's top deal for an MSI Z87-G45 Gaming motherboard for $115 with free shipping (normally $140 - use coupon code: [EMCPFWE27]; additional $20 mail-in-rebate). It has a Killer E2200 Gaming LAN, support for up to 32GB of DDR3 memory, six SATA 6Gbps ports, and lots more.
Google made available its Glass Explorer program to the general public for a single day on April 15, and while we don't know how many of the $1,500 wearable devices it managed to sell, we do know that the "Cotton White" (white) version proved most popular. That color option sold completely out by mid-day, so anyone who purchased a Glass device afterwards had to choose from Charcoal (black), Tangerine (orange), Shale (gray), or Powder Blue (light blue). Now that the sale is done and over with, what comes next for Google Glass?
We suppose Google will analyze the sales figures to gauge consumer interest while all of the early adopters Explorers continue to beta test the wearable tech. It remains to be seen if Google will make more tweaks to the hardware or physical design before rolling out a commercial launch.
In the meantime, Glass owners will be receiving a software update sometime this week. Google described it as a "big one," as it rolls out Android KitKat to Glass.
"We've been working on a significant upgrade to a new version of the Glass software. It's not a change you can see, but it brings improved battery life and makes Glass more reliable and easier to update in the future. And now that Glass runs Android KitKat, developers can write Glassware using the latest Android SDK goodness, along with new features from our GDK," Google stated in a Google+ post.
Improved battery life is probably the most welcome upgrade by Glass owners, though it's far from the only update. As requested by users, photos will be organized into bundles for better viewing with less swiping. There will also be photo replies in Hangouts, voice command sorting, and a bunch of subtle changes.
Interestingly, Google decided to remove video calls from Glass with this latest update. According to Google, less than 10 percent of Explorers use this feature. It also wasn't working as well as Google hoped, so it's gone "until the experience is better."
As Intel's Haswell refresh looms, Asus and other mobo players look to other areas to boost profits
Intel is getting ready to refresh its Haswell platform, and when that happens, it should spark some sales in the motherboard industry. Motherboard makers should also get a boost from XP users looking to upgrade their ancient boxes. Despite these market drivers, however, word on the web is that Asus and other motherboard players have begun pushing their other products much more aggressively in hopes of pulling in a bigger profit.
So says Digitimes, which itself is citing "market watchers" with eyes on the situation. Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and ASRock are all focusing on their "non-motherboard businesses" pretty hard these days. Specifically, ASRock is making a big push in the server industry with related products after achieving flat performance on year with its motherboard shipments in 2013. It's a long-term strategy that ASRock believes will pay off in a couple years from now.
MSI, on the other hand, is pushing mid-range and high-end gaming laptops. This is something we've seen ourselves, as we've posted several MSI gaming laptop announcements during the past year. It's a crowded field that also includes competition from Gigabyte and Asus.
Gigabyte shipped 20 million motherboards last year and expects to ship 22 million in 2014. It's going to be a close race between Gigabyte and Asus for the top spot. At the same time, both companies are looking at notebooks, tablets, handsets, and networking equipment to generate additional revenue.
Earnings report sends Intel's stock soaring to a 52-week high
Talk is cheap at the end of the day, so despite doomsayers predicting the demise of the PC, Intel's sales and revenue proved those notions wrong. Intel, the largest semiconductor company in the world, beat out analyst expectations by reporting first quarter revenue of $12.8 billion, operating income of $2.5 billion, net income of $1.9 billion, and earnings per share of 38 cents.
Intel's PC Client Group did decline 8 percent sequentially, but only 1 percent year-over-year, generating $7.9 billion during the first quarter of 2014. That's more than twice as much as Intel's Data Center Group, which ramped up 11 percent year-over-year to $3.1 billion.
"In the first quarter we saw solid growth in the data center, signs of improvement in the PC business, and we shipped 5 million tablet processors, making strong progress on our goal of 40 million tablets for 2014," said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. "Additionally, we demonstrated our further commitment to grow in the enterprise with a strategic technology and business collaboration with Cloudera, we introduced our second-generation LTE platform with CAT6 and other advanced features, and we shipped our first Quark products for the Internet of Things."
Intel's performance impressed investors, who in turn sent the company's stock price temporarily above its 52-week high of $27.12. The stock price has since come down a bit and is currently trading at around $26.90, up around half a percentage point.
As I make the approach to level 10, I realize that The Elder Scrolls Online is not "just another fantasy MMO" as it's sometimes billed by skeptical players. I'm continuously finding myself pleasantly surprised by the storyline, the crafting, and world, and the execution of it all.
And even though I'm playing it as a single-player game still at this point, it's not a single-player Elder Scrolls game. I'm dying way too much for that.
We haven't heard from Heroes & Generals in a while, but that's because the devs at Reto-Moto have been working like dogs to update the F2P FPS.
What's Heroes & Generals, you say? It's a nifty blend of massive online shooter and strategic persistent elements that gives you the ability to fight in the trenches, in the air, or as a campaign mastermind. If you'd like to know more about it, see our various hands-on articles, or just go to the game's website and play it for yourself.
The latest update, codenamed Oster, adds plenty of new weapons, more campaign battlefields, improved weapon handling and avatar behavior, the ability to steal vehicles, and more. Click past the cut for the update vid.
Defiance's fifth DLC pack -- Arktech Revolution -- is now live for PC and Xbox 360 players. PlayStation 3 ark hunters will have access to the new content on April 29th (North America) and April 30th (Europe).
Trion's update page divides the DLC into free and paid feature lists, the former of which includes an EGO cap rating increase, EGO rating progression, new enemy difficulty tiers, expert co-op maps, and more. Paid features include a new titles, a new outfit, daily contracts, 15 new perks, and more.
In addition to the release notes, the Defiance website also features an article by creative lead Trick Dempsey on the game's EGO changes.
Do you want to go to war in WildStar? Then you're going to want a stronghold. No, that's not right, you're going to want a fortress. You're going to want a fortification that makes others quake in terror. And then you're going to want to drop that fortification down on your enemy's front lawn and claim their territories while laying waste to their fortifications.
Welcome to Warplots. They're the game's answer to player-made fortresses and high-end battlegrounds all at once. More specificially, they're team-based 40 vs. 40 maps that drop you into a race to tear down your enemy. At either end sits the carefully constructed fortress held by each team, in the middle sit resource nodes, and both sides are pushed together to be the last side standing or the one putting a fortress back together post-battle.
Want to know more? That's a good thing. Take a look at the typical WildStar trailer past the cut, and then let's talk details.
I'm just as much of an information and news junkie as most of you are. I probably wouldn't be working for Massively if I wasn't, really! So yes, I like to know the full scoop as soon as possible and I really can't resist getting sneak peeks at the good stuff. But there's a line that can be crossed in this relentless pursuit of information, which is being totally OK with data mining.
Data mining is the act of combing through game files to find hints of upcoming content or to completely spoil current content in the game. Sometimes it's employed by sites to break NDAs and spill secrets that devs want kept until a later date. Sometimes it's used to grab maps or discover the existence of a new class in the making. There have been plenty of times that data mining efforts resulted in rather large spoilers that robbed the official reveals of their impact.
So I'm curious: Are you for or against data mining? Is it too spoilery for you or do you appreciate the sleuthing efforts of dedicated fans?
Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Who says kids MMOs are dead? Not Super Hero Squad Online! The adorable chibi-superhero MMO turns three this week, boasting seven million registrations since launch, 144 different playable heroes, playable villains, and even a new crafting system.
The celebratory game additions and perks include new characters (Spider-Ham, Captain America Stealth, Falcon EXO-7, and Winter Solider), new world event heroes, hero sales, Facebook giveaways, a 20%-off sub sale through April, and a birthday card contest.
Enjoy the festivities in the brand-new trailer below.
Infinite Crisis has recruited a new warrior in its fight against property damage and excess jungling: Blue Beetle.
Blue Beetle, aka Jamie Reyes, came across a blue scarab that wrapped him up in battle armor. The sentient armor and Jamie came to a mutual understanding to fight for whatever player was controlling them that session.
Blue Beetle comes equipped with an energy cannon, a scarab scanner, a dash, and even an infiltrator mode. Bad guys get too close? Time for a little mandible taser, am I right? Turbine touts Blue Beetle as a highly mobile champion that can sneak up and smack down solo targets.
Massively: On today's column we have the composer of the upcoming TCG MMO, HEX. Now that's a lot of capital letters all in a row, so take a deep breath, get over it, and please welcome composer Michael Gordon Shapiro. Mike, can you give us a bit of your background in music?
Michael Gordon Shapiro: When I started my career I was only interested in film music. Game audio was just starting to emerge from the low-tech era, and there was a kind of stigma associated with it, much as there used to be with television music. As fate would have it, I was offered an in-house composer position at a game studio and was pleasantly surprised to find myself recording the same kind of live orchestral music that I loved doing for film. I also came to appreciate the high artistic effort going into both console and PC game scores.
So from that point, the stigma dissolved in my mind and my artistic palette widened. Today I love doing both film and game music, for both overlapping and complementary reasons.
It's the big patch day that you've been waiting for! City of Steam: Arkadia has updated to version 2.5, and with it comes a slew of quality-of-life improvements for the game as a whole.
In patch 2.5, City of Steam has added tutorial quests, included more offerings in the in-game store, refined elements of the interface, and optimized the quest tracking system. There are also new challenges and heroic dungeons for high-level players as well as a team-up boss raid.
Check out all of the changes, additions, and bug fixes in the patch notes.
Last month, we learned that Perfect World Entertainment is bringing its martial arts MMO Swordsman westward, and that means more hack'n'slashy trailers heavy on the particle effects and lush landscapes. The latest video is a brief trailer highlighting three of the game's planned 10 classes. They are:
Wu-Tang: These masters of Taoism combine inner force and physical strength to become superb group fighters. Swinging heavy two-handed blades with ease, masters of the Wu-Tang styles supplement their raw physical damage with effects that buff and heal themselves and their entire group.
Sun and Moon: The heretical disciples of the Sun and Moon Cult become deadly assassins with high mobility and heavy damage. Armed with twin blades linked by chain, many of their skills focus on single targets and let them attack in close quarters or at range. Their sinister powers can steal away the life force of enemies, distributing it to the cultist and their group.
House Tong: Unlike the other schools, House Tong members rely on guns rather than blades. A family-like school, famous for their firearms and throwing weapons, House Tong members use traps to keep enemies at distance and attack from afar. These masters of firearms provide excellent damage in group combat situations, and with high attack speed and quick movement, the House Tong skills will frustrate any enemy.
Today marks the seventh anniversary for LotRO, and as such, Turbine is handing out presents. All players who log in today will get fireworks, with premium and VIP players receiving extra gifts. The new seven-year gifts include a new portrait frame, a shield-cloak, a loot box key, and a dancing emote for your monster play character.
LotRO's in-game anniversary festival begins tomorrow, April 16th, and will continue through April 29th.
While Star Wars: The Old Republic is currently on a break between PvP seasons, the dev team has a few words to say about what awaits in Season 2.
A new dev blog posted today outlines the changes that Season 2 will bring. These include a shorter season length of three months, quicker rewards, slower rollouts of new gear sets, and daily and weekly PvP quests. The team is also going to hand out a unique reward to the top 96 PvP players.
With convention season in full swing and a rather big-name zombie MMO announced during this past week, your humble neighborhood podcasters have plenty to gab about. Warning: There might be rants. There might be many rants. This might be the most ranty show that ever ranted. Be prepared.
Get all of our opinions and analysis on the most important stories of the past week right here on Massively Speaking, the industry's leading MMO podcast. And if you have a comment, question, or topic for the podcasters, send an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air!
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A lot of what I see in the MMO industry is fairly predictable. That's not an insult; it's just that most of the new games you see are either a result of elegant mechanics solving a problem that's always been there or a new take on an old system, and that's OK. There's nothing wrong with taking old favorites and refining them. But then I see something like Upsilon Circuit and I wind up being completely blown away because the very idea is a fundamental rewriting of how we understand MMOs.
Upsilon Circuit is a new game currently in very early development from indie studio Robot Loves Kitty (of Legend of Dungeon fame), and when I say early, I do mean early. The animations are rough, the build is very much in a proof-of-concept stage rather than a fully playable state, and none of that matters. The game is the love child of Twitch Plays Pokémon, the Hunger Games, and Diablo III, a game that not only encourages streaming but demands it while interacting with the audience
"We believe that the World of Darkness IP is very valuable and will be reviewing the status of it in the coming weeks and months, but we have no specific plans under consideration at this time," a CCP spokesperson said to CVG.
In the search to understand why World of Darkness got shuttered, players might turn to last December's financials for CCP. In these, the studio lodged a loss of $21 million for the year despite increasing revenue year-over-year. This was mostly due to a "massively increased R&D budget" that was feeding into projects such as WoD.
"We are committed to our original vision of a politically and economically driven sandbox PvP MMO where risk dictates the reward, leading to meaningful massive battles," the studio posted.
As such, Aventurine revealed that it will be introducing mix-and-match custom roles, rebalancing the economy, adding in siege engines, and conjuring a quest system to beef up the new player experience. On the way out are timed events and "the purpose of safe zones."
Gaijin has published War Thunder's 1.39 update. The patch introduces new aircraft including the F-82 Twin Mustang and the F-84 Thunderjet. There's also a new Kursk map and associated missions for War Thunder's various game modes.
What else is new in 1.39? How about PvP ladders, progression adjustments, and AI behavior tweaks?
The devs have also enabled Ground Forces tank battling functionality on the main game server, although currently said functionality is limited to closed beta testers and special events. Finally, the War Thunder CDK enables creative players to build missions, locations, and even unique planes, according to the 1.39 teaser trailer. Click past the cut to watch it!
Want to get castrated and join "a cabal of scheming eunuchs?" Age of Wushu's Rootless Clan is for you. The martial arts sandbox game's upcoming Tempest of Strife expansion introduces the "mysterious yet heinous" new class which is an expert at both ranged and melee attacks.
The AoW website features more info about the archetype's skills and abilities as well as a teaser video. Or you could just click past the cut to watch the latter. Hey, don't say Massively never did anything for you!
Infants raised on iPads have trouble using building blocks, teachers say
An all-in-one keyboard with an integrated touchpad
KitKat is headed to Google Glass
As Intel's Haswell refresh looms, Asus and other mobo players look to other areas to boost profits
Earnings report sends Intel's stock soaring to a 52-week high
Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's 
