The Nintendo WiiU is Selling Very Poorly

Frank Cifaldi, writing for Gamasutra:

All eyes are on Nintendo's Wii U, which saw an incredibly rough January that may have seen sales as low as 57,000. This month, the NPD Group says that sales on a weekly average increased around 40 percent, meaning that monthly sales for the console were in the neighborhood of 64,000.

Ouch. This is bad. Very, very, very bad. By comparison, the 7-year-old Xbox 360 sold 302,000 units in the same period. Brand new consoles should easily outsell consoles from the previous generation, barring supply chain constraints (which does not appear to apply in this case). Nintendo desperately needs a good Mario game or a new entry in the Zelda series.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 Looks Very Good

Samsung recently revealed its newest phone in the Galaxy S line, the Samsung Galaxy S4. Despite its odd choice of using a theatrical show format during the announcement, Samsung showed off some interesting stuff.​

As every one expected, the phone comes with a 5-inch screen. More interesting than the actual hardware specs, though, is the software. Samsung showed off its "Air Gestures" and "Smart Stay"​ features, which allow for touch-free use of the phone and eye-based tracking of the user's intent, respectively. Changing music tracks without having to touch the phone (such as while driving) is useful, as is the ability for the phone to automatically pause video when the user looks away. I'm skeptical of the usefulness of the eye tracking that automatically scrolls text content, since it seems like that might register too many false positives or false negatives to avoid being annoying. I'm guessing that the ability to use the phone even when wearing gloves has something to do with the Air Gestures feature, but I could be wrong about this.

​The S4's integration with televisions and with health and fitness devices makes a lot of sense. It also goes a long way towards flexing Samsung's muscle as one of the largest electronics manufacturers in the world.

A new accessory that seems to have slipped in under the radar is the ​wireless game controller that connects to the S4. While the design of the controller seems to have been a bit *ahem* 'inspired' by the Xbox 360 controller, it may portend a greater focus in the future on gaming for Samsung devices. There is some criticism of the controller as having limited utility since it is not a standard component that game developers can count on users having, but with Samsung's burgeoning influence in the industry it is simply a matter of time before there is enough of an installed user base to make this close to ubiquitous. Remember, folks, Samsung sells more Android devices than anyone.

In summary, it looks like Samsung has a real winner of a device in the Galaxy S4. Samsung has put together an excellent phone for consumers that will sell like hotcakes.​

Samsung Isn't Impressed By Windows 8

John Paczkowski, writing for AllThingsD.com:

“The global PC industry is steadily shrinking despite the launch of Windows 8,” Jun said. “I think the Windows 8 system is no better than the previous Windows Vista platform.”

That isn't even the most damning quote in the article. Samsung went further to bash Microsoft's Surface effort and referred to the Windows 8 platform as being "less-competitive".

Considering this news in addition to Samsung's situation with Google over Android, it seems as though Samsung is flexing its (rapidly growing) muscle in the industry.

Marissa Mayer Personally Reviews Every New Hire at Yahoo

Alexei Oreskovic, in a post for Reuters:

Mayer insists on personally reviewing every new recruit, a practice that supporters say brings needed discipline to the company. Critics, however, say her high standards are hampering Yahoo's already challenged ability to fill vacancies.

​Marissa Mayer is in a tough spot. On the one hand, she knows that Yahoo must fill its job vacancies quickly enough to avoid a massive loss in productivity. On the other hand, she knows that simply filling a vacancy just to fill a vacancy would be counterproductive. It's good that she is adding some discipline to the hiring process in order to avoid making bad hires, but at the same time Yahoo isn't going to get very far in hiring good people if the process takes "eight weeks" (as it did for one individual mentioned in the post).

Interestingly enough, Mayer is apparently considering bringing some of Yahoo's jobs back to the USA from India (also noted in the post). That would go a long way towards helping to foster a more closely knit corporate culture. It would also be consistent with some of her previous decisions.​

Google Glass Pre-Banned at Seattle Establishment

Todd Bishop, writing for GeekWire:

“I’m a thought leader,” jokes Dave Meinert, owner of the 5 Point, speaking on the Luke Burbank Show at our news partner KIRO-FM this morning. “First you have to understand the culture of the 5 Point, which is a sometimes seedy, maybe notorious place. People want to go there and be not known … and definitely don’t want to be secretly filmed or videotaped and immediately put on the Internet.”

It is noted in the post that this pre-banning of Google Glass is done partly as a joke, but it does have a serious aspect to it.​

This gets to the heart of the biggest challenge for projects such as Google Glass. The biggest challenge is cultural, not technical.​ It is noted in a follow-up link in the GeekWire article that the 5 Point does in fact use surveillance cameras, but that is altogether different than what Google Glass's introduction into society will entail. People are somewhat more comfortable with the idea of surveillance cameras used in a general sweep of an establishment than they are with cameras that are directly in front of them.

Some have said that Google Glass is not much different than what we already have now, where cameras on smartphones are ubiquitous. However, it is indeed different since it is far more obvious when someone is using a smartphone to record video than it is when someone is using Google Glass. It is a tad more difficult to hide a small rectangular object than it is to hide a small blinking light.

Folks, this sort of technology isn't going to just go away. We will have to decide how best to integrate it into our societal norms and practices just as we have done with other new technologies.​

Dad Hacks Donkey Kong So Daughter Can Play as Pauline Instead of Mario

Casey Johnston over at Ars Technica has an interesting post about a father that modified Donkey Kong so that Pauline was the heroine helping to save Mario (instead of the other way around). What was his reason for doing this?

Mika notes in the video description, as well as an anonymized post to Facebook, that his daughter was accustomed to being able to play a girl (Princess Toadstool) in Super Mario Bros. 2. She wanted to be able to do the same in Donkey Kong.

This is very cool. Kudos to this father.​

Best Buy Handled Its Work From Home Program Change Better Than Yahoo Did

Julianne Pepitone, writing for CNNMoney about Best Buy's recent change to its work-from-home program:

Unlike Yahoo's blanket policy, Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) said some of the 4,000 non-store employees who took advantage of its work-from home program still may be able to telecommute or set flexible schedules. But as of Monday they'll no longer have the freedom to make those decisions without a manager, as they had in the past.

Yahoo made a serious misstep in how it handled the change to its work-from-home program. The now infamous internal memo detailing the change reeks of condescension, and CEO Marissa Mayer didn't do much to avoid criticism by building a nursery in her office (thus leaving her open to claims of being a hypocrite).

Best Buy, in contrast, made a smart move. It isn't eliminating the work-from-home program, but instead is restoring checks and balances to the program. It boggles the mind that employees were able to make the work-from-home decision without input from their manager. Now, at the very least, the decision will be made after a conversation with the employee's manager.​

Kudos to Best Buy for making a dramatic change without stumbling over itself (as Yahoo did).​

Why I Chose Google Maps Instead of Apple Maps For a Recent Trip

​I recently made a weekend trip to Los Angeles, California for a friend's wedding. The day after the wedding, my fiancee and I planned to visit Anaheim (renowned for its theme parks). Once we picked up the rental car in LA, I had to choose how we would get directions to the theme parks. I chose Google Maps.

At this point, you might be wondering why I made this particular selection. After all, Apple's Maps app came pre-installed on my iPhone and can be launched via Siri. I'm an iOS developer, so it's not as if I'm particularly tied to Google's ecosystem. I also was not unnerved by the reports of Australians being stranded after following directions from Apple's Maps app, nor by Tim Cook's famous apology to Apple's customers. I use Apple's Maps app all the time in my hometown, so why didn't I use it in this circumstance? The answer is simple: trust. Or rather, the lack of it.

I have encountered slight discrepancies in using the navigation directions with Apple's maps, but nothing too bad. To be fair, I've also had infrequent issues with Google Maps. However, this case was different. It's one thing for directions to be incorrect in my hometown where I can quickly adjust to errors, but it's a different story when I'm in an unfamiliar location and trying to make the best use of available time on a trip.

​An irrational decision? Possibly. But maybe not. I decided, in a split moment, to go with Google Maps instead of Apple Maps because I weighed my level of confidence in their accuracy. In this instance, I felt more confident that Google Maps was less likely to have an error in its directions.

Folks, this is an example of what Apple is up against in terms of getting customers to trust its service offerings. It's not so much a technical issue as it is an issue of perception​. Apple's Maps app didn't start too well out of the gate, but given enough time (and data corrections) it may prove to be as trustworthy as Google Maps.

You Must Know What Your Project is All About

Brian Welcker, writing for his own blog Direct Reports, had a good post about knowing when a project is headed for trouble. The lens for his post is his experience on Microsoft's file system project named WinFS. The best part:

I suspected from early on that the project was doomed to failure. What made me think this? Because when I would ask anyone involved with the project the question "What is it?", I would get a very different answer.

​If your project's goal can't be answered relatively consistently or relatively easily by the people involved in the project, then you're probably in trouble. This is indicative of either having a project that is too big/unfocused/gnarly to be completed successfully, or a project that is too ill-defined for everyone involved to be effective in delivering on its goal. I've been involved in both types of projects, and trust me it isn't pretty.