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Sony Won’t Abandon The UMD

John Koller, senior marketing manager at Sony responsible for the PlayStation Portable, says that the “future of UMD is bright” and that the company won’t walk away from the format. While UMD movies failed to light a fire under consumers and complaints about long load times for games abound, Koller says the format “possesses many strengths” including cheap manufacturing costs.

So what about that rumored PSP redesign? And the PlayStation Store for the PSP? Koller didn’t comment in his discussion with UK game site Pocket Gamer, but it appears that those two additions to the platform won’t have a significant impact (yet). We’ll see how Sony fares with both of these potential changes, but with UMD movie sales actually up, I expect we’ll be dealing with the proprietary format for many years to come.

We’ll never walk away from UMD, says Sony’s John Koller [Pocket Gamer]

View post @ http://kotaku.com/gaming/remember-the-titans/sony-wont-abandon-the-umd-275290.php

How a structured settlement annuity works

A Structured Settlement is essentially an agreement under which an insurance company agrees to pay an individual a predetermined amount of cash for a fixed length of time if the individual meets an accident. The documents generated in a structured settlement include an agreement, a qualified assignment, an annuity application, a court order if a claim is made by a minor, and an annuity policy.

Payments for a structured settlement annuity can be made for the duration of the life of the claimant. The amount paid can comprise of equal installments, installments of varying amounts, and lump sums. The payments from a Structured Settlement Annuity are free from income-tax and are guaranteed by contract. Since a structured settlement annuity is meant for long-term financial security, it is important to get an assurance of the credentials of the annuity provider.

The periodicity of payment is entered into the settlement agreement. Factors that individuals can consider in deciding upon the date of commencement of payment, duration, and periodicity include monthly expenses, present age, extent of hazard in occupation, and retirement plans. In order to ensure that the payments remain tax-free, the structure of payments should not be altered once it has been agreed upon by both parties. In the case of a qualified assignment, the insurance company making the payment can transfer its obligation for payments to a third party.

There are issues that one should understand before opting for a structured settlement agreement. If payments are made to an estate, they are free from income tax but subject to estate tax. Purchasing a structured annuity can affect the availability of ready money with an individual.

State and federal laws govern the closing of a structured settlement. The closing process usually gets completed in 3-6 months. Federal laws stipulate that a court order be obtained by either the customer or the funding company that is purchasing the payment stream so that there are no tax liabilities. The manner in which the court order is obtained is regulated by various “Structured Settlement Protection Acts”, which are in force in 36 states in the United States.

A disclosure statement is made available to a customer 3 to 14 days before he receives the transfer agreement. The disclosure statement mentions the amounts to be paid to the customer and their due dates; the IRS Discounted Present Value of the amount at that given point in time; the Gross Advance Amount and the Annual Discount Rate; disclosures desired by the state; and a list of the fees and commissions incurred.

It is advisable to avail attorney advice before going in for a. In fact, in some states, it is a precondition to acquiring a structured settlement annuity. However, depending upon the laws being used for the transaction, customers do have the option of waiving legal representation in the Transfer Agreement or obtain an Estoppel letter from their attorney.

The funding company commences payment to an individual after acknowledging the assignment and receiving a court order. The payments start 30-45 days after the receipt of the court order.

More @ http://www.structured-settlements-guide.com/2006/03/how_a_structure.html

PeekYou is the latest in a line of people search tools clamoring for attention. (ZoomInfo is another you may have heard of.) It was started by the founder of some of those “Rate My”… sites — RateMyTeacher, RateMyProfessor, etc.

Is PeekYou the next Wikipedia? MySpace meets something-I-haven’t-thought-of? Or is it another Project Napa?

Today, so many of these startups are coming out and overlapping — with MySpace and Facebook profiles, genealogy sites that seem to want to stretch their mandate ever further, and personal info shareable with all, etc. — it becomes very easy to throw up your hands and say: why, exactly, should I believe this particular platform will ever create a database that will be reliable and comprehensive enough to bother with? And secondly — why should I help build it?

Done right, these sites could be extremely useful, I suspect. Current versions in the marketplace are often no better than high-volume scrapers (I know my company info is on ZoomInfo, lifted from my website) monetizing with the usual AdSense and banner routine.

The tension between a single authoritative piece of information and the wisdom (or at least comprehensiveness) of crowds continues. Meanwhile, the beta of PeekYou.com sucks. I looked up a few friends, some of whom aren’t exactly tough to find info on. Jill Whalen, for example. There are four other Jill Whalens listed, but not her. Unless our Jill’s been hidin’ out in Texas!

More @ http://www.traffick.com/2007/07/look-harder-peekyou.asp

New Additions to World of Warcraft

The Games For Windows folks have posted some more details up about the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King that was verified earlier today during BlizzCon 2007.

The September issue of Games for Windows will have a blow-out on World of Warcraft expansion pack, but here are some interesting details:

The Story
Having cleaned up Outland (or at least having set things in decent enough order for now), the Alliance and Horde turn their heads northward to the continent of Northrend, where a terrible threat has gone unchecked for far too long: that of Lich King and his undead army, the Scourge. On the day Wrath of the Lich King launches, players will be able to set sail from various points in old Azeroth and join the fight against Arthas Menethil.

New Continent: Northrend
Having learned a valuable lesson about funneling 8.5 million players into once single starting zone with The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King lets players pick a zone on either side of the continent to start from: Borean Tundra in the west or Howling Fjord in the east. Each zone has level-equivalent quests (appropriate for approximately level 68 through 72) and one Hellfire Peninsula-style instance hub with multiple dungeon wings for level 70 characters, level 80 characters, and raiders. While Northrend immediately calls to mind ice and snow, Blizzard doesn’t want to make those themes dominate Northrend completely-expect as much variety as ever, only not quite as weird and wild as Outland.

Northrend’s indigenous inhabitants include a Viking-like race called the Vrykul: 15-foot-tall humanoids with a strong Norse influence. Most Vrykul you encounter will be your enemies, as they’ve been in Northrend so long that the Lich King holds a lot of sway over them. Another friendly race — the walrus-like Tuskarr — will serve as a cute little counterpoint to the lumbering undead-loving oafs.

New Zone Type: Outdoor PVP
One of Northrend’s 10 new zones (final count still tentative) is an outdoor PVP zone that introduces the concept of siege weapons (Meat Wagons, Steam Tanks, etc.) and destructible buildings. Blizzard describes the outdoor zone as basically a “non-instanced Battleground” where completing objectives earns world-wide bonuses for your side (Think Spirit Shard buff in Auchindoun instances). The PVP zone is entirely avoidable (if you’re the carebear type), and seige weapons won’t be useable outside their designated PVP area.

New Hero Class: Death Knight
World of WarCraft’s first Hero Class is a plate-wearing tank/DPS hybrid that works a little something like this: When players hit level 80, they’ll be able to embark on a quest (similar in difficulty to the Warlock’s epic mount quest, back before the level cap was raised to 70) that unlocks the ability to create a Death Knight character. The Death Knight starts at a high level (somewhere around 60 or 70, though Blizzard isn’t certain yet), so you won’t have to grind your way back up all over again. It’s intended as an alternative, advanced class for end-game use only.

Rather than using rage, energy, or mana, Death Knights have a special “rune sword” displayed beneath their health bar, onto which the player can etch six different runes (choose between Frost, Blood, and Unholy). Different abilities require different mixes of runes, and using abilities consumes the requisite runes until a cooldown timer causes them to be available again. Stuff like talents, spells, and other specifics are still being finalized. So are key questions like what races can be a Death Knight (start a Gnome petition now) and whether unlocking the Hero Class on one server means you can create a Death Knight on any server.

New Profession: Inscription
Wrath of the Lich King will introduce a new profession called Inscription that will let players customize individual spells and abilities in their spell book — to change the cooldown timer on a Fireball, for example, or alter the crit rate of a healing spell.

There’s lots more in the upcoming September issue of Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, on sale in the next couple weeks, including candid insight from the developers, details on some of the new dungeons not shown at BlizzCon, and word that The Burning Crusade ain’t over yet…there’s more BC content coming beyond Zul’Aman.

See post @ http://kotaku.com/gaming/blizzcon07/moore-lich-king-seige-death-knight-deets-285871.php

Dell Acquires ASAP Software For $340 Million For Information Technology Services

Dell Inc.’s $340 million deal Thursday for ASAP Software Inc. underscores the computer maker’s push into information technology services. Dell has long offered IT services, but it never really focused on them in the way rivals Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM Corp. do. That appears to be changing as Dell announces its second deal of the summer. It acquired Silverback Technologies Inc., a maker of remote systems management, on July 19 for an undisclosed amount.

View post @ http://techconfidential.thedealblogs.com/2007/08/dell_moving_into_software_asap.php