Facebook to stream MLB games

Facebook to stream MLB games

The social-media giant continues its foray into the video market with live baseball.

 

Facebook has started a little spring training of its own.


The social-networking giant is offering users live streaming of Major League Baseball games. The service was introduced this week, featuring a game of the day from baseball's spring training season.



The games are largely a promotion to lure subscribers to MLB.TV's $120 season-long subscription package. But the move also looks like a warm-up to Facebook's ongoing push in to the nascent streaming-video market.


Last week, Facebook and Warner Brothers Digital started a movie-rental demo with a $3 Batman video, "The Dark Knight." While a small step, it was seen as a threatening venture into the streaming businesses of Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon (AMZN).

The move into live sports, however, is a bold new direction that puts Facebook on a direct path toward one of the prime offerings of cable shops like Comcast (CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (TWC) and Cablevision (CVC).



Facebook's MLB service comes after a recent push by Apple (AAPL) to sell a $15 MLB.TV application for iPad users.



Facebook has a large built-in audience of 600 million users that it can treat to expanded service offerings. But rivals have the challenge of trying to sell expansive service offerings to a not-so-loyal subscriber base.






Source: Money

Nintendo 3DS to launch with 18 games

If you're planning to pick up a Nintendo 3DS when it goes on sale March 27, you'll have a solid 18 games to choose from for your starter collection -- but they're going to cost a bit more than regular DS titles.
Nintendo has unveiled its launch day line-up for the handheld gaming system as well as a $40 price tag for games -- $5 more than titles for the existing DS platform. The 3DS won't launch with the support of a heavyweight Nintendo icon like Mario or Zelda, but external publishing partners will pick up the day-one slack with some very familiar names, including Super Street Fighter, The Sims, Star Wars, Rayman, and Madden. The system will also come with built-in titles Face Raiders, AR Games and a Mii Maker application.
Nintendo itself will contribute nintendogs + cats, a sequel to its popular pet simulator, along with submarine simulator Steel Diver and Pilotwings Resort. The company seems to be saving its big guns for a little later in the year when there are more 3DS systems in people's hands and the holidays are drawing near. Before the year is out, the company says it plans to release The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, Kid Icarus: Uprising and a new installment in the Mario Kart series.
Nintendo plans to expand the total number of games available for the 3DS from 18 to more than 30 by mid-June. To drive demand for the system, the company is planning an extensive promotional campaign, with over 5,000 units in stores and people demonstrating mobile units on the streets of major cities.
The $5 premium for titles wasn't unexpected, but could still make things challenging for the company. While Nintendo has pretty much owned the handheld gaming space for generations, it faces dramatically increased competition from Apple these days, as players have flocked to the iOS devices, where game prices almost never top $10.
Granted, no iPhone offers glasses-free stereoscopic 3D, but analysts question if that effect will, in the long run, be worth an extra $30-$35 to players for games like Madden and LEGO Star Wars.
To help you assemble your shopping list, here are the titles that will be available at launch (plus the two built-in games):
Pilotwings Resort (Nintendo)
Steel Diver (Nintendo)
nintendogs + cats (Nintendo)
Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition (Capcom)
The Sims 3 (EA)
Madden NFL Football (EA)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D (Konami)
LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (LucasArts)
Ridge Racer 3D (Namco Bandai)
Super Monkey Ball 3D (Sega)
Bust-a-Move Universe (Square-Enix)
Samurai Warriors: Chronicles (Tecmo Koei America)
Asphalt 3D (Ubisoft)
Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D (Ubisoft)
Rayman 3D (Ubisoft)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Shadow Wars (Ubisoft)
Read More: Yahoo

Man vs machine on Jeopardy

Man and machine tied in 'Jeopardy' game-show match

In the "Jeopardy" battle of man vs. machine, man and machine were neck-and-neck on Monday. Human player Brad Rutter and the supercomputer named Watson ended an initial round tied at $5,000. The other challenger, human Ken Jennings, was in third with $2,000. Rutter (the show's all-time money-winner with $3.25 million) and Jennings (who has the longest winning streak at 74 games) are the most successful players in "Jeopardy" history. Watson, named for IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, is powered by 10 racks of computer servers running the Linux operating system. "You are about to witness what may prove to be an historic competition," host Alex Trebek told viewers at the top of the show. No question, Watson proved to be an amazing competitor — maybe even a little creepy in the speed and accuracy he displayed.

With categories including Beatles People, Olympic Oddities and Name the Decade, the round got started with Rutter choosing the first question, Alternate Meanings for $200: "4-letter word for a vantage point or a belief."

Most Awesome New iPhone App

This app rocks. It translates languages automatically without an internet connection. So for instance you and your honey are on the beach in Spain and you happen to see this sign. Yeah OK like you would be looking at this sign, but you get the picture. It’s called the World Lens. So no need to spend all that money on learning how to speak Spanish or French. Now we wonder if we can get our money back from Rosetta Stone?