NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 14 January
14-01-2010
by Deirdre McArdle
McKinnon case takes another turn | Disappointing sales for Nexus One
Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, the world's largest classified listings website, and Matt Mullenweg, founder of Wordpress, which powers over 202 million websites worldwide, have been confirmed as keynote speakers for the upcoming Dublin Web Summit on 4 February. Chris Horn, co-founder and former CEO of Iona Technologies, and Ben Hammersley of Wired Magazine are also lined up to speak at the event. The conference will take place at the Edward Burke Theatre at Trinity College Dublin.
Nintendo has struck a deal with Netflix that will enable users of the Wii to stream Netflix movies and TV programs through their games console. The deal will allow Nintendo to broaden the appeal of the Wii, and to catch up with its chief rivals Microsoft and Sony, who already offer the Netflix service through their consoles. For Netflix, it signifies part of a broader strategy shift, moving towards providing online content as the DVD rental market slackens off.
Meanwhile, Sony has announced that it is to delay the launch of the latest instalment of the Gran Turismo series of games, Gran Turismo 5. The Japanese consumer electronics giant said it would indefinitely postpone the launch, citing production-related reasons that are "not to be disclosed", a company spokeswoman said. The game was originally scheduled for release in March and was expected to be a huge seller for Sony. Since its first release in 1997 the Gran Turismo series has clocked up 53 million unit sales for Sony.
In more news of gaming, Activision has said its Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game has joined an exclusive group of video games that have clocked up more than USD1 billion in revenue. It joins titles Guitar Hero III and World of Warcraft, which are also owned by Activision. Call of Duty was launched in November 2009, and made around USD550 million in its first five days.
The case of Gary McKinnon has taken another twist with the news that a new judicial review will be heard to analyse the UK Home Secretary Alan Johnson's decision to allow McKinnon's extradition to the US. McKinnon, who has Aspergers Syndrome, is accused of hacking into the US military computer system; he claims he was seeking evidence of UFOs. In November, Johnson said the UK government would not stand in the way of McKinnon's extradition to the US to face trial. A judicial hearing, likely to take place in March or April, will examine that decision. According to the BBC, McKinnon's solicitor Karen Todner has now appealed to Johnson to reverse his November decision and has also asked US President Barack Obama to withdraw the request for extradition.
Analytics firm Flurry estimates that in the week following its launch, Google's Nexus One mobile handset has sold just 20,000 units. The firm compared Nexus One's first-week sales with three other high-profile handsets: Motorola's Droid (250,000), T-Mobile's MyTouch (60,000), and Apple's iPhone 3GS (1.6 million). Flurry did point out that Google's approach to selling and marketing the device differs greatly from the likes of Apple, particularly because Google is selling the phone itself through an online store. The timing of the launch, after the Christmas season, must also be considered a factor, according to Flurry.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 