DigitMemo.com

Make games less expensive

EA’s John Riccitiello has been shaking things up at EA lately, with everything from layoffs to the purchase of BioWare. Now he’s suggesting the company take some really drastic measures: make their games less expensive.

The $31 billion gaming industry will suffer if it doesn’t start to reevaluate its business model. Game executives at Sony, Microsoft and Activision must answer some tough questions in the coming years, like how long they can expect consumers to pay $59 for a video game. The model will be obsolete in the next decade. ‘In the next five years, we’re all going to have to deal with this. In China, they’re giving games away for free,’ he says. ‘People who benefit from the current model will need to embrace a new revenue model, or wait for others to disrupt.’ As more publishers transition to making games for online distribution, EA will experiment with different pricing models

Congress and the House decided once more to not tax the Internet!

The U.S. Congress and Senate once again agreed to a bipartisan resolution that extends the Internet tax moratorium.

The highly debated issue saw strong support for keeping the Internet tax free from both those in the industry and from grass roots movements.  ISPs strongly opposed any sort of taxation as it would hurt their revenues by driving away customers.  Users, who joined movements such as the “Don’t Tax Our Web Coalition,” did not want to be taxed either, as taxation would likely mean higher service charges.

Click for more on Let the Good Times Roll: 7 More Years of No Internet Tax »

The exact details of AT&T’s revenue-sharing agreement with Apple have not been disclosed, but one analyst thinks that over the two-year life of a user contract, the amount exceeds the actual price of the iPhone.

Silicon Alley Insider spotted a research note from Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster estimating that Apple is receiving $18 per month for each iPhone subscriber, under the revenue-sharing agreement between the two companies. Apple has confirmed that such an agreement exists, but has not shared the details about exactly how much cash it’s getting from the revenue AT&T makes on iPhone customers using the carrier’s data network. In July, Munster estimated Apple was receiving just $3 per iPhone subscriber and $11 per iPhone customers new to AT&T, but he’s rethought the numbers after Apple’s latest earnings release.

Click for more on Analyst: AT&T paying Apple $18 per iPhone, per month »

Microsoft has announced a revenue of $13.76 billion for the quarter ending on September 30, 2007, a 27% increase over the same period of the prior year.

Microsoft’s businesses of Client, Microsoft Business Division, and Server and Tools grew combined revenue in excess of 20%, and experienced robust demand for Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Windows Server, and SQL Server. “Customer demand for Windows Vista this quarter continued to build with double-digit growth in multi-year agreements by businesses and with the vast majority of consumers purchasing premium editions,” said Kevin Johnson, president of the Platform and Services Division at Microsoft.

Interesting Quarter Notes:

• The fastest revenue growth of any first quarter since 1999
• Operating income = $5.92 billion, net income = $4.29 billion, diluted earnings per share = $0.45
• Microsoft’s largest acquisition occured, aQuantive was purchased for $6 billion
• Halo 3 achieved the biggest entertainment launch day in history

AbsolutePoker.com says ‘geek’ hacked system to prove it could be done.

In a case that illustrates the perils of online betting, a leading Internet poker site said Friday that a hacker exploited a security flaw to gain an insurmountable edge in high-stakes, no-limit Texas holdem tournaments — the ability to see his opponents’ hole cards.

The cheater, whose illegitimate winnings were estimated at between $400,000 and $700,000 by one victim, was an employee of AbsolutePoker.com who hacked the system to show that it could be done, said a spokesman for the company, who spoke with msnbc.com on condition of anonymity.

Click for more on Online poker cheating blamed on employee »

Intel said strong demand for its microprocessors is giving the company a better-than-expected outlook, the quarterly profit rises 43%

The news indicated that the world’s top maker of microchips was gaining market share from smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices and also boded well for personal computer sales in the fourth quarter, analysts said.

“The overall message is one of strong demand,” Intel Chief Financial Officer Andy Bryant said in a telephone interview, adding the quarter’s revenue rose 16 percent sequentially, which was the highest growth rate in 10 years.

Click for more on Intel’s engines raking in $10.1 billion in Q3 »

Google’s plan to buy DoubleClick is being reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission and was the subject of a Senate hearing on Thursday

Google Thursday defended its planned acquisition of online ad company DoubleClick, even as a Microsoft-funded think tank, AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, released a report arguing against the deal.

Click for more on Google Fights To Save DoubleClick Deal; Microsoft Fights To Kill It »

Another insane deal from Dreamhost to celebrate their 10th birthday

Despite the mixed reviews, DreamHost is still quite popular for their competitive features and outrageous price.  They’re currently running a promotion which gives you $110.10 off with coupon code 10ten10diez10dix10dieci10shi.

Click for more on 1 Year Web Hosting(500GB storage, 5TB transfer/mo) for $9.30 ONLY »

Microsoft is at the centre of an embarrassing row over an attempt by a lobby firm strongly linked with the Seattle computer giant to rally opposition against rival Google’s proposed acquisition of internet marketing firm DoubleClick.

The Observer has seen an email sent by a director at leading lobby firm Burson-Marsteller to a number of top UK businesses. The email urges board members to raise the issue of Google’s dominance of search engines with politicians, regulators and the media.

Click for more on Microsoft in row over lobby tactics »

The names, Social Security numbers and credit information of 5,208 customers are leaked onto the LimeWire peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

Citgroup has confirmed that it’s investigating a data breach involving the names, Social Security numbers and credit information of 5,208 customers leaked by an employee of its ABN Amro Mortgage Group unit onto the LimeWire peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

Click for more on Citigroup Customer Data Leaked on P2P Network »