aNewDomain — In the tech news for Jan 13, 2017, Nintendo dropped a ton of details late last night and early today about its upcoming Switch gaming console, due March 3 in the US for $299.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be available on launch day, execs said, and some 80 plus game are on the way from more than 50 developers.
Catch all the details in my extensive analysis here. And watch the entire event, below:
And it’s good news/bad news at Apple again
First the good news: Consumer Reports has retested the new MacBook Pros after an update from Apple. With the bug fix, the battery issues have been fixed and battery life is now stable.
As such, they are now a recommending the laptops.
Check out John Gruber, Cult of Mac, and Tech Times to see how they weigh in on the subject.
Now the bad news:
An appeals court allows a suit against Apple to continue. The suit alleges an unfair monopoly by Apple, claiming so on the grounds that iPhone users can only purchase apps through Apple’s app store. A lower court had blocked the suit, but now it will proceed.
This is all still in the beginning stages, as the merits of the suit have yet to be considered by the court, but this could have huge implications for Apple.
The company’s philosophy of a secure, closed ecosystem has served them well, and the alternative could be costly for Apple. Android does not have similar worries, as it allows for third-party app stores.
Speaking of Apple, it may be getting into the content creation business.
Google Maps plus Uber
Google Maps to me is the epitome of what’s great about Google, smartphones, and our connected lives.
It is easily my most vital app and it just got a little bit better. You can now hail an Uber without ever having to leave the app.
Check out this video from Google for more details on how it will work.
.
Microsoft StaffHub news
I love this new tool from Microsoft, called StaffHub. It’s free with certain enterprise Office 365 subscriptions. As someone who has done extensive staff scheduling with some current online tools, I can tell you that this really is an elegant tool.
It combines a flexible management console with an app for the employees to see schedules, trade shifts and request time off.
There is also slack-like integrations and communication features. It’s worth looking at if you manage a large staff; especially hospitality and food service businesses.
For aNewDomain, I’m Mike Olsen.
Cover image of Morning Tech Report with Mike Olsen: Tom Ewing for aNewDomain, All Rights Reserved; all screenshots, Mike Olsen.
