HMV closing 66 shops, with nearly 1,000 jobs under threat

HMV is bringing down the shutters on 66 shops, threatening 930 staff. After an angry employee hijacked HMV's Twitter last week, the retailer's administrators have finally revealed which stores are to be axed.

The 66 branches of the ailing music, DVD and games chain will close over the next two months. Read on to see if your branch is to be axed.

In England, stores will close in:

• Ashton-under-Lyne
• Barnsley
• Bayswater
• Bexleyheath
• Birkenhead
• Birmingham Fort
• Blackburn
• Boston
• Bournemouth Castlepoint
• Bracknell
• Burton-upon-Trent
• Camberley
• Chesterfield
• Croydon Centrale
• Durham
• Fulham
• Huddersfield
• Leamington Spa
• Leeds White Rose
• Liverpool Speke Park
• London Trocadero
• Loughborough
• Luton
• Manchester Market Street
• Moorgate
• Orpington
• Rochdale
• Scunthorpe
• South Shields
• St Albans
• St Helens
• Stockton-on-Tees
• Tamworth
• Teesside
• Telford
• Wakefield
• Walsall
• Walton-on-Thames
• Wandsworth
• Warrington
• Watford
• Wellingborough
• Wigan
• Wood Green
• Workington

In Scotland:

• Dumfries
• Edinburgh Fort Kinnaird
• Edinburgh Gyle Centre
• Edinburgh Ocean Terminal
• Edinburgh Princes Street
• Edinburgh St James Centre
• Falkirk
• Glasgow Fort
• Glasgow Silverburn
• Glasgow Braehead
• Kirkcaldy

In Northern Ireland, these stores will go:

• Ballymena
• Belfast Boucher Road
• Belfast Forestside
• Coleraine
• Craigavon
• Derry
• Lisburn
• Newry
• Newtownabbey

In Wales, only the Wrexham branch will close.

Although not named in the list of doomed shops, HMV's flagship Oxford Street store is also thought to be under threat. The 50,000 square-foot shop could raise around £6m if sold to interested parties, said to include H&M, Zara and JD Sports.  

As many as 100 of HMV's 220 branches were reported to be under threat earlier this week, so 66 store closures is better than feared. That is, of course, small comfort for those staff who face losing their job -- fingers crossed they can find something before stores close their doors over the next couple of months.

Around 190 jobs have already been lost at HMV's head office and distribution network, prompting a disgruntled employee to hijack the company's official Twitter feed with angry tweets. The mystery whistleblower called it a "mass execution of loyal employees" and lamented that the company had been "ruined".

HMV went into administration last month. Restructuring expert Hilco has bought the company's debt, and could now take full control of the chain to ensure it survives -- albeit in drastically reduced form.

[Source: CNET]

Vodafone says 4G is for 'technology freaks', amid cash woes

Vodafone has seen its revenues slip, though the red-hued network insists it isn't losing customers to speedy 4G services.

Revenue dipped 5.2 per cent in the last three months of 2012, The Guardian reports -- the biggest fall in over three years. The cash drop comes despite an increase in customer numbers however, as Vodafone's total number of UK subscribers climbed 230,000 to 19.5 million.

Vodafone itself blames the decline on customers hunting for bargains elsewhere, with company boss Vittorio Colao adamant that paying customers aren't flocking to 4G.

"I haven't got reports of customers flying away to 4G," the embattled CEO is quoted as saying, going on to declare, "The kind of people who are going for it are technology freaks."

That seems a little unfair to me, as I'm sure most smart phone owners would jump at the chance to boost their browsing and download speeds. If 4G is of limited interest for now, it's because EE -- as the only company to provide the fast new technology -- is charging through-the-roof rates for it.

That will change later this year however, once the ongoing 4G spectrum auction is concluded, and rival networks can kick off their own services. Three has the right idea, having already promised that 4G speeds will cost the same as current contracts.

Three is using 1,800MHz spectrum it's buying from EE to forge its 4G services. It's not clear whether operators like Vodafone or O2, which are bidding in the 4G auction, will be able to offer 4G without a bump in prices.

[Source: CNET]

EA Launches Origin Online Game Distribution for Mac

A Mac client for EA's digital distribution platform Origin was launched today, as first noted by AppleInsider. Origin for Mac was originally announced in August 2011 and went intoalpha testing in late January. 

Origin is quite similar to Valve's Steam and allows users to download games and demos, chat with friends and continue saved games from most computers.

The store currently lists 48 Mac games available for download, including games like Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition, LEGO Batman, Harry Potter and Star Wars, Tropico 3: Gold Edition and The Sims 3 and its plethora of expansion packs. The new SimCity is supposed to launch a little after the March release of the PC version of the game.

EA Origin Vice President of Production Mike Blank told AppleInsider that EA brought Origin to Mac because of two reasons: growing Mac marketshare and a vocal community of Mac gamers.

"We're seeing increased activity from our Mac gamers," he said. "In the past, we've brought games slower to market for Mac than for PC partly because the audience hasn't been at the same level. The growth of iOS and Mac devices, though, means we're starting to see gamers demand to play their games on devices that are becoming more prominent. I think, across the board, developers have focused on the PC platform, but I think you're going to start seeing some changes there. [Origin] is the first step in a strategy you're going to start seeing coming out of EA."

Origin client for Mac is available as a download for free at EA's Origin website. It requires OS X 10.6.8 or higher and an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor.

[Source: MacRumors]

Chinese Source Claims iPhone 5S and 5-Inch iPhone 6 to Launch in 2013

Brightwire translates a report from the Chinese media which claims that Apple will be launching both an iPhone 5S and a 5" iPhone 6 this year:

- A source told Chinese mobile phone information site Laoyaoba.com that he has seen the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 at Apple's suppliers. Both models may be released in 2013, according to the website's microblog on Thursday evening. 
- The source noted that the iPhone 5S resembles the iPhone 5, and the five-inch iPhone 6 is lighter and thinner.

This rumor adds to a chorus of reports that Apple is seriously considering a larger form-factor iPhone in the near future. While early reports had suggested that such a model wouldn't see the light of day in 2013, later reports continue to point to a 4.8"-5.0" device coming soon from Apple. 

All these rumors have generated a significant amount of speculation on how such a larger model might make sense in Apple's iPhone lineup, especially when comparing it to Samsung's current offerings. 

Due to Apple's use of Chinese manufacturers and the need to prototype their designs, it's possible that all of these sightings could be true, yet Apple may still not launch such a device in 2013. If Apple does begin ramping up production for 2013, we expect we'll see parts of this larger device to also begin to leak out of China.

[Source: MacRumors]

PlayStation 4 to Cost $400+, Coming End of 2013 According to Japanese Paper

One Japanese newspaper has a source close to Sony that says the company has targeted a launch date and a launch price for their upcoming PlayStation 4, or whatever they choose to name it.

The Asahi Shimbun reports that Sony will release the PlayStation 4 in at least Japan for 40,000 yen. 40,000 yen is roughly $425 USD, according to today’s exchange rates.

They also indicate that Sony plans to start selling the PlayStation 4 before 2013′s end. Whether or not that launch is exclusive to Japan was not indicated and still remains to be seen.

Sony has announced that they’ll have a special conference on February 20th in order to unveil the future of the PlayStation brand. We assume that the PS4 will be revealed there.

Sony has not commented on this price and timing rumor.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy Pack Could be Released if Fans Demand it

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII hasn’t even been released yet, and Square Enix is talking a trilogy pack.

In an upcoming interview with VG247, Final Fantasy XIII Director Motomu Toriyama explained that a trilogy pack of Square Enix’s massive budget RPGs could be released if (and only if) fans demand it.

“We are currently devoting all of our efforts to Lightning Returns. Although we would certainly like to give it some consideration – if there were a big enough demand from the fans.”

While it’s nice to see them putting more precedence on a game that’s actually in the works, I’m not quite certain yet if we should tell Toriyama that more fans are demanding that Square Enix just move beyond Final Fantasy XIII at this point. Seriously, the games are cheap enough to buy individually now if you want them. Put the remaining talented developers to work on something else, and just call it a wrap already.

Final Fantasy XV can’t come soon enough, if it even happens at all at this point. Or if it even matters.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is the final part of the decade of Final Fantasy XIII initially promised to us. It will be released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 worldwide later this year.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

EE Set to Cover 27 More U.K. Towns by June With LTE

Everything Everywhere (EE) is going to be expanding its LTE coverage of the U.K. in the coming months, and will end up covering 55 percent of the population by the time its done.

Between April and June EE plans to light up the LTE towers in 27 additional towns which include Aldershot, Ashford, Basildon, Basingstoke, Blackpool, Bracknell, Camberley, Colchester, Crawley, Farnborough, Guildford, Horsham, Huddersfield, Leatherhead, Maidstone, Milton Keynes, Oldham, Oxford, Redhill, Reigate, Sevenoaks, Stevenage, Tonbridge, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Warrington, Wigan and Woking. These join the existing cities and towns and will bring the total to 65 locations around the U.K. It will also bring the total percentage of the population covered by the service up to 55.

While Three announced this week that it would be offering unlimited LTE data on the cheaplater in the year, EE has a pretty large head start in the market. Additionally O2 and Vodafoneare fighting for their share of the available bandwidth with no announcement yet as to when those networks may become active.

The take away from all of this is that LTE will soon be in every corner of the U.K., and consumers should have options as to which carrier they use, but it isn’t going to happen overnight.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Sony: PS4's main selling point will be 'new playing options, not improved hardware specs'

As Sony Computer Entertainment warms up its blue lighting and double-checks its playlist for February 20th, one unnamed SCE official says that the PlayStation 4 will act as more of a home entertainment hub than what we've seen in the past. They added, according to the Nikkei, that the main selling point won't be therumored eight-core AMD64 CPU or other hardware specs, but how it opens up new styles of play -- something Nintendo is also focusing on. Sony is going to push the new console as a home entertainment "nerve center," with a focus on the hardware's ability to connect and share to mobile devices -- the rival that's pulling gamers away from traditional consoles. No discussion on any Gaikai-poweredcloud gaming just yet, but following its unveiling later this month, the report states that the new PlayStation should launch before the end of the year. A bit of a shame, then, that it's still only February.

[Source: Engadget]

Woz: Apple 'somewhat behind' on smartphone features

Woz he talking about? Steve Wozniak recently gave an interview with German business weekly Wirtschafts Woche in which he contended that the company he co-founded has fallen behind its competitors when it comes to its flagship product, the iPhone. According to Woz, Apple is "somewhat behind with features in the smartphone business," adding that "others have caught up. Samsung is a great competitor. But precisely because they are currently making great products."

Unfortunately, there's no additional context for Woz's comments, so we're left wondering precisely what he believes iPhone is lagging behind in. Since he mentions Samsung outright, we're thinking that maybe he's referring to things like screen size, since he has opined in the past that he's not exactly a fan of the iPhone 5's taller-but-not-wider format -- but who knows?

What are some things the iPhone is "somewhat behind" the competition on, in your opinion?

[Soruce: TUAW]

LibreOffice kicks it up to version 4.0, promises leaner performance and greater interoperability

It's been a little over a week since Microsoft unveiled its big Office 2013 suite (along with that Office 365 subscription option) to the world, and right on cue the Document Foundation has released version 4.0 of open source alternativeLibreOffice. The latest update promises to be cleaner and leaner according to devs, but more importantly to you and me is that it brings greater interoperability between different file formats such as DocX and RTF documents. It also integrates better with content and document systems like Alfresco, IBM FileNet P8, OpenText and Microsoft Sharepoint 2010. Other notable improvements include an Android app for controlling presentations, several new features to the Calc spreadsheet app (like chart exports and ODF OpenFormula functions), UI upgrades and a performance boost across the board. For a full run-down on what the new LibreOffice can do, have a gander at the source or download it yourself at the rightmost link.

[Source: Engadget]

Apple releases AirPort Utility 6.2 for Mac with Guest Network extension capabilities

Apple has released AirPort Utility version 6.2. The new update adds the ability to extend guest networks if you have multiple AirPort routers. Additionally, Apple has added improved international support and the ability to add WPS printers to your AirPort WiFi networks.

[Source: 9to5Mac]

Monopoly Board Game Gets a Cat Token Thanks to the Internet

Leave it to the Internet to bring its obsession with cats to the classic board game of Monopoly.

Hasbro, the published or the Monopoly board game, started a campaign last month on its Facebook page to vote out one of the old game pieces and introduce a new one. The token to get removed from the game was the iron, a token that had existed since the original patent was submitted in 1935.

And the winner to take its place? A cat.

Oh, Internet. Why are we not surprised?

The other options were a diamond ring, guitar, helicopter and a robot. The last one was probably the only one with a real shot against the cat, but seeing as LOL Cats are still a prominent meme on the Web, the outcome was inevitable.

The cat token is expected to replace the iron in mid to late 2013, so if you want to get the last run of the retiring piece, you may want to head out to the stores soon.

It could have been worse. A strip of bacon could have been put up as a suggestion and then we all know what would have happened.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]