According to figures published by Enterbrain, Nintendo’s DSi handheld console has sold more than 3 million units in Japan since its launch in November 2008. The latest version in the DS series was marked as having moved 3,062,920 units as of August 2, showing that the sales milestone for the device was achieved in nine months on the market.
In Nintendo’s quarterly results published last week, the company noted that 3.65 million DSi units had been sold in the three months ending June 30th, part of the total 6.68 million units sold to date.
In the NPD figures for June 2009, a particularly bad month for the industry, Nintendo noted that 424,000 units of the total 766,000 DS units sold (representing more unit sales than all other consoles combined) were of the new DSi model.
Several days ago, Nintendo also announced the integration of Facebook into the DSi console via a firmware update, allowing users to upload pictures taken on the handheld gadget to a Facebook profile.
Result for: test version
Microsoft has come out in defense of the much-anticipated Windows 7 operating system after a number of blogs and other sources flaunted a discovered bug as a potential “show-stopper”. Some had reported that a bug with the operating system’s CHKDSK utility could delay the planned rollout, which is being watched closely as hopes are high of Windows 7 providing a much needed jab in the arm for the PC industry.
Screenshots of the Windows Task Manager depicting the CHKDSK process eating up several gigabytes of memory (apparently leading to a BSOD in cases) have circulated around the blogosphere, but Microsoft is denying that the bug is in the Windows software. Instead, Microsoft is pointing at a chipset controller issue as the culprit and advising customers to update their chipset drivers to the latest versions providing by the motherboard manufacturer.
Microsoft’s Windows division President Steven Sinofsky said that the company has not reproduced the crash or experienced any crashes with CHKDSK in any measurable number. “While we appreciate the drama of ‘critical bug’ and then the pickup of ’showstopper’ that I’ve seen, we might take a step back and realize that this might not have that defcon level,” he said.
He continued: “Bugs that are so severe as to require immediate patches and attention would have to have no workarounds and would generally be such that a large set of people would run across them in the normal course of using their PC.” Sinofsky went on to say that this is not a big issue but that Microsoft will continue to pursue and investigate any issues with Windows 7 if/as they arise.
Result for: test version
According to their latest blog entry, the updated BitTorrent client Vuze will now automatically convert any downloaded videos to the formats necessary for playback on iPhones, iPods, Apple TVs, PS3s and Xbox 360s.
Says the blog entry:
“Another key pain-point has traditionally been cumbersome transport between devices. Beyond the format maze, its been difficult to get videos easily exported to devices - especially game consoles. The Vuze team spent considerable time thinking through how to simplify this experience. Simply drag-and-drop files to the device of your choice within Vuze, and then click play on your Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or Apple devices.”
Vuze says to use the new service, simply download the latest version, 4.2, and enable Devices in the sidebar. From that point, “drag-and-drop videos from your Vuze Library (or desktop) to the device of your choice. Vuze will detect whether or not the video format will playback on the device you select, convert the file, if necessary, and make it available for playback on the device. All you have to do is sit-back and play your HD content on whatever screen you want.”
