Sony’s PlayStation 4 could lose to the next Xbox before it’s even released

I love all game consoles equally. My Xbox 360 is used equally as much as my PlayStation 3. The Wii — oh, I’ll just leave it at that. The current generation of consoles is all but over — 10-year life cycle be damned — and new consoles are rumored to be coming next fall. If not next fall, then in 2014. Whatever is the case, Sony (SNE) can’t afford to lag in third place again. Sure, the Xbox 360 and PS3 are neck-in-neck in global lifetime sales, and the Xbox 360 did have a one year head start, but coming off the disappointing PS Vita, “confidence is less high” that Sony will deliver a console next year in time to compete with Microsoft (MSFT), according to Kotaku.

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I want a new console just as much as any other gamer. There’s a reason people are still pouncing on those Wii U consoles and flipping them on eBay. Six years is unusually long for a console to still be kicking around.

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According to the well-informed Stephen Totilo, Editor-in-Chief of Kotaku, the game blog that first broke news on the next-gen Xbox, Microsoft’s “Durango” is ”on the mark” and “Sony appears to inspire less confidence…due to the on-and-off troubles of the PlayStation 3 and the struggles of the Vita vs. how much lost confidence is due to any problems looming for PS4.“

Totilo says “confidence is high that the next Xbox will be out in time for next Christmas” and confidence is low that the PS4 will be right there on store shelves next to it.

The “on-and-off troubles of the PlayStation 3″ Totilo is referring to is the anchor that’s weighed the console down since launch: tougher development due to the Cell processor and less available RAM – 256MB vs. 512MB in the Xbox 360.

In the months before the PS3′s launch in 2006, Sony said the console would be the most powerful console ever created, and here we are six years later and multi-platform games on the console consistently end up being buggier and uglier than on the Xbox 360 in many cases. Cases in point: Skyrim, Mass Effect 3 and Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Sony’s in a rut right now. It has the chops to build beautiful and powerful hardware that’s a developer’s dream (ex: PS Vita), but at the same time, it’s always launching after the competition nowadays.

If Sony’s learned any lessons in the last half a decade, it better apply them to the PS4. The console needs to offer next-level processing and graphics. It needs to be backward-compatible with PS3 games and play Blu-ray discs. It should be small and quiet. It should have a strong online platform, support a greater array of apps and most importantly be easy for developers to program for.

Game exclusives will always be important, but now that games are million-dollar productions, multi-platform will be where developers hope to reap back their costs.

With Microsoft said to be preparing an “Xbox 720″ and an “Xbox Lite,” Sony can’t make the mistake of launching late or pricing the console too high. A launch in spring of 2014 would mean Sony will miss Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the two biggest shopping days of the year that bring in massive sales.  Ceding sales and market share to Microsoft and Nintendo by launching late would be disastrous.

The PS3 screwed up too many times. At this point, the PS4 needs to be perfect out of the door.

This article was originally published by BGR

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President Obama Fights Tears as He Addresses Nation

President Barack Obama addressed the nation moments ago to respond to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. Having trouble composing his raw emotions, the president wiped tears streaming down his face.

He said, "I offered Governor Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation" and vowed to give the community "every resource" they need to recover.

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Referencing other mass shootings making headlines, President Obama said, "We've endured too many of these tragedies in the last few years. Each time I hear the news, I react not as a president, but as a parent. That was especially true today. There's not a parent in America who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief as I do. The majority of those who died today are children……they had their entire lives ahead of them- birthdays, graduations weddings, kids of their own."

Tonight, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will be extra grateful to embrace their two daughters, Sasha and Malia. "[We'll] hug our children a little tighter and tell them that we love them," he proclaimed. "For as blessed as [some victim's families] are to have their children home tonight, they know their innocence has been taken."

He calls for all of America to "extend a hand to those in need…in the hard days to come."

VIDEO: Parent of Columbine victim: 'You can't get past the pain'

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Emotional Obama on school shooting: Child victims 'had their entire lives ahead of them'

REUTERS

President Obama speaks about the shooting.

WASHINGTON – President Obama today wiped away tears and got a lump in his throat as he gave voice to America’s pain and anguish in the wake of a horrific shooting rampage in a Connecticut elementary school.

"The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of five and ten years old," said Obama, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

The choked-up president took a long pause to regain his composure before he continued his address from the White House.

"They had their entire lives ahead of them, birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own,” said Obama.

In response to the unthinkable tragedy that left 20 children and six adults dead, Obama promised “meaningful” action to combat gun violence.

“Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children's innocence has been torn away from them,” said the president.

He added a person note.

“This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter,” he said. “And we’ll tell them that we love them and we’ll remind each other of how deeply we love we another.”

“But there are families in Connecticut that cannot do that. And they need us now,” he said.

smiller@nypost.com

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NBCUniversal bolsters Telemundo as US Latino market grows

Telemundo has long been like a remote Caribbean island, cut off from its sprawling media homeland.

NBCUniversal acquired the Spanish-language television network a decade ago for $2 billion but became discouraged by its seemingly limited prospects. But Comcast Corp.’s takeover of NBCUniversal last year may be building Telemundo a bridge to the mainland.

“Telemundo now has the full support of Comcast and NBCUniversal,” said Emilio Romano, a former Mexican airline chief executive who was hired a year ago to run Telemundo. “For them, Telemundo is clearly a diamond in the rough.”

The Miami-based network, which began in 1954 as a single Puerto Rico TV station, had long been viewed as an “East Coast” outlet infused with Caribbean flavor — not the right ingredients for the majority of U.S. Latinos, two-thirds of whom are from Mexico or are of Mexican descent.

Appealing to viewers with Central American heritage has become central to NBCUniversal’s campaign to grow Telemundo. But there’s a hitch: Telemundo’s rival, Univision Communications, has a lock on Mexico’s top-rated prime-time soap operas, plus contracts with top Mexican actors and the rights to some of the most popular Mexican soccer teams — making Univision the network of choice for most Mexican immigrants.

So Telemundo has had to shell out tens of millions of dollars to produce original programming to compete in the increasingly crowded field of Spanish-language television.

“They are a hungry No. 2,” said Carmen Baez, president of Latin America operations for advertising behemoth Omnicom Group. “It’s like that old Avis rental-car slogan: ‘We try harder.’ ”

Since Comcast took majority control of NBCUniversal in January 2011, it has installed new management at Telemundo and increased the operating budget. Last year Comcast agreed to spend about $600 million for the rights to broadcast the FIFA World Cup soccer tournaments in 2015 through 2022 — nearly double the amount that Univision currently pays.

The company increased Telemundo’s annual programming budget nearly 20 percent and steered more resources to local Telemundo stations.

“It’s a 360-degree programming strategy built around cultural relevance,” said Lauren Zalaznick, who oversees Telemundo as NBCUniversal’s chairman of entertainment and digital networks.

For example, because many Latino families watch television together, Telemundo licensed films from Walt Disney Co.’s Pixar Animation Studios, creator of such blockbusters as Toy Story and Cars, to build a Sunday night movie block. Telemundo has slowly bolstered its daytime schedule, sending its TV judge, Ana Maria Polo — who has been dubbed the “Latino Judge Judy” — on a road trip to Los Angeles and broadcasting more news from Mexico.

The company also has paid more attention to Mun2, its bilingual youth-oriented cable channel. This week the channel was dealt a devastating blow with the unexpected death of its reality show superstar, Jenni Rivera, in a plane crash in northern Mexico.

Telemundo draws an average of 1.2 million viewers in prime time, an increase of 5 percent over 2011 and 18 percent more than in 2010, according to ratings firm Nielsen. Univision’s ratings have held steady but its second broadcast network, TeleFutura, is down 5 percent this year.

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Jackson Health System chairman says UM relationship has caused ‘irreparable harm’

Planning for a closed-door meeting next week to discussion strategic planning, board chairman Marcos Lapciuc said Thursday that the Jackson Health System needs to reconsider its future because it is currently “misaligned with our academic partner,” the University of Miami.

Lapciuc said that the UM relationship in recent years has “created irreparable harm” to Jackson and has “hurt the poor” that Jackson serves.

He said that Jackson needs to continue working with UM’s medical school in areas where UM wants to partner, such as the transplant program, but needs to find other opportunities now that UM is emphasizing the needs of its own 560-bed University of Miami Hospital, which is across the street from Jackson Memorial.

Lapciuc noted that many hospital chains are aggressively buying physician practices, preparing to form accountable care organizations that are emphasized in the Affordable Care Act, but “these are expensive acquisitions” that will be hard for Jackson to afford at present.

Lapciuc’s remarks came during the board’s monthly committee day. On Wednesday, the board will hold a strategic planning session with an open meeting followed by an hour-and-half closed session to discuss plans that the board doesn’t want competitors to know about.

Such closed sessions of public hospitals are permitted under a special exception to the state’s Sunshine Laws.

In other business Thursday, Chief Financial Officer Mark Knight reported that the system showed a surplus of $2 million in November, but cash on hand was an ultra-low 8.78 days, because anticipated payments from the state had yet to arrive. The benchmark for financially stable public hospitals is 174.8 days of cash, according to Jackson’s financial report.

Net patient revenue was $81.7 million for the month, up from $69 million in November 2011 — primarily because many more patients were qualifying for Medicaid, meaning lower numbers of uninsured, nonpaying patients, Knight said.

Jackson’s efforts on collecting from insurers continues to improve. Insurers are now paying the system on an average of 45.36 days after being billed – better than the national benchmark of 45.9 days.

Duane Fitch, a hospital consultant for Jackson’s unions, noted that with such success it made no sense for Jackson to pursue out-sourcing of its business office operations. “If it’s not broke, why fix it?”

Chief Executive Carlos Migoya said Jackson was just exploring the possibility of out-sourcing and had made no decision.

Migoya told the board that federal regulators were demanding 12 actions to fix problems in the Medicare portion of the Jackson Health Plan. One action required: Stop immediately requiring authorization of emergency room visits. Jackson executives said they’re working to comply.

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Jennifer Lopez's Huge Christmas Charity Donation

Jennifer Lopez is really feeling the Holiday spirit.

In a video posted to her YouTube page, Lopez invited her fans from all over the world to be a part of "the biggest Christmas gift ever." In the homemade clip, the superstar and her young twins Max and Emme encouraged J.Lo's 13+ million Twitter followers and 17 million Facebook fans to donate at least one dollar through December 17 (via Omaze) that will later be split evenly between three worthy causes: Children's Hospital Los Angeles, The Boys and Girls Club of America, and The Red Cross.

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In exchange for one lucky fan's generosity, one giver and a pal will receive airfare and a hotel room to Lopez herself backstage in Puerto Rico after the last show of her Dance Again World Tour.

Click here to donate what you can.

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After 17 years, pair wrongly imprisoned for murder set free

Two people who spent 17 years in prison for the 1995 murder of livery cab driver Baithe Diop in The Bronx before being freed when evidence emerged they did not commit the crime had their convictions vacated and electronic monitoring devices removed from their ankles today.

Eric Glisson and Cathy Watkins were greeted by thunderous applause from supporters as Bronx Supreme Court Judge Denis Boyle exonerated them for the slaying — just as Boyle did Wednesday for their three co-defendants.

Glisson and Watkins were freed from prison in October after the Bronx DA’s office learned that two former gang members had confessed to the killing of a cab driver who is believed to have been Diop.

Robert Kalfu

Cathy Watkins and Eric Glisson

The three other men convicted of that crime in 1997 — Devon Ayers, Michael Cosme and Carlos Perez — remain locked up in prison pending a Jan. 2 hearing on whether those three men should also have their convictions vacated in the murder of Fed Ex executive Denise Raymond in her Soundview home a day or two before Diop.

Prosecutors at the time had argued that the killings of Raymond and Diop were linked. Lawyers for the men still locked up argue they should be exonerated for Raymond’s killing because the conviction relied on testimony from witnesses whose testimony about Diop’s slaying is now discredited.

“A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I have a new life now and as for what I’ve been through, that’s something that I am never going to look back on,” a teary-eyed Glisson said as he left court.

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Europe takes step toward more stable banks

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – The European Union has taken its big first step toward keeping busted banks from costing taxpayers billions and dragging down government finances.

After another marathon meeting, finance ministers from the 27 EU member countries agreed Thursday to give the European Central Bank the power to act as a banking watchdog for the 17 EU countries that use the euro – and for those non-euro countries that want to join.

The ECB-based supervisor could take away a bank's license, investigate institutions, and financially sanction banks that don't follow the rules.

As long as the EU Parliament approves the decision, the supervisor could be up and running by March and would slowly ramp up its responsibilities until fully operational a year later.

A single, central, supervisor is considered essential to helping Europe protect itself from future banking crises. It will be quicker to intervene once banks start getting into trouble than the current system of 27 national regulators, sometimes overly protective of home banks.

It also opens the way to let Europe's (euro) 500 billion ($653.85 billion) emergency bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, lend money directly to struggling banks rather than through their governments.

This move is key to helping Europe out of its current financial crisis and breaking the link between banks and government debt. When a bank gets into financial trouble, it can only ask for a bailout from its national government. Since banks are essential to keep an economy running, the temptation is for governments to bail them out. Yet that can wreck government finances.

The bank-government doom loop has been a major factor worsening the finances of countries like Spain, Greece, Ireland and Cyprus. Guaranteeing bank losses put Irish state finances under water and forced it to seek bailout loans from the other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund. Spain has needed eurozone loans to bail out banks wrecked by real estate loans that aren't being repaid. Bailing out Greek banks was a key part of the country's two bailouts totaling (euro) 240 billion.

Analysts welcomed Thursday's decision on a single supervisor as a step in the right direction. But what's needed next, they say, is a full “banking union” – a single rule book as well as coordinated plans for helping lenders in trouble. The banking union would include a resolution authority that could carry out a recapitalization or restructuring of a busted bank as well as Europe-wide deposit insurance.

Thursday's decision “is a first step on a long road toward banking union. It's not banking union,” said Nicolas Veron, senior fellow at the Breugel think tank in Brussels and a visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC.

“It enables Europeans to open the next chapter.”

The agreement reached in the small hours of Thursday was the result of a series of compromises. The original plan drawn up in the summer was to have the supervisor directly responsible for all the eurozone's 6,000 banks. This was objected to by Germany, which has a large number of small savings banks often with close ties to local politicians.

Under Thursday's deal, the ECB will now supervise banks with more than (euro) 30 billion ($39.23 billion) in assets, or which have assets worth more than 20 percent of annual economic output in a given country.

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Crime Watch: Be careful when giving to charities

Many of our neighbors in South Florida have fallen on hard times, and there are many organizations trying to help those with great needs such as food, school supplies, clothing and toys now for the holidays.

Well, we all need to be extra careful to make sure we are dealing with real charitable organizations and not phony solicitations, and many of you asked what to look for.

Let’s look at some of the techniques once again that are questionable — and in some cases, illegal. Prize offers: Potential donors are told that they have won a contest and are eligible for a prize — usually worthless — if they make a donation to a charity.

Chain letters: Unsolicited appeals, usually in the form of e-mails, ask potential donors not only to contribute to an organization but also to forward the e-mail to friends and family members.

Like- sounding names: Fraudulent charities take names that are very similar to those of high-profile charities that are known and trusted by the public.

Another scam that is very prevalent in our community during this time is that they will come to your door selling magazine or gift items in the name of a school or charity for the holidays . First of all, don’t let anyone in your house who is selling anything. Sometimes these people will come with small children, so that you assume it’s safe to let them in. Well unfortunately, some of these little kids cute as a button, will ask to use the restroom while they are in your home, they then go into the bedroom to take whatever they can put in their pockets. You don’t even notice it until they have left your home. So please again don’t let anyone into your home. If they refuse to leave, call the police and give the best description you can.

Here are ways you can prevent being a victim of charity fraud:

• Ask how your money will be used, such as what percentage will go to the actual programs versus the administrative and fundraising cost.

• Request written information that gives the full name, address and phone numbers of the organization, as well as a description of the programs it supports.

• Check out any charity you don’t know with the local charity registration office, Better Business Bureau or a charity watchdog group such as www.charitywatch.org, www.give.org, or www.guidestar.org.

• Don’t be fooled by a name that closely resembles the name of a respected and well-known charity.

• Ask for the charity’s tax-exempt letter indicating its IRS status. You can’t claim a tax-deductible donation if the charity does not have one.

• Never give cash. Make your contribution by check payable to the full name of the charity once you are certain it’s a charitable organization.

• Don’t give out your Social Security number. A charity does not need it in order for you to claim a tax deduction.

• Charity-related fraud should be reported to local law enforcement or the local postmaster. Complaints can also be filed online with the Better Business Bureau at www.bbb.org.

We all want to be helpful, but we need to make sure that we are helping those that truly are helping.

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Hunter Foster Bunheads Casting Exclusive

TV loves a sibling casting coups (Zooey Deschanel on Emily Deschanel's Bones, Justine Bateman on Jason Bateman's Arrested Development, William Baldwin on Alex Baldwin's 30 Rock), but ABC Family is about to stage the most musical double act of all-time on Bunheads!

PHOTOS - Exclusive Bunheads First Look

ETonline can exclusively reveal that Sutton Foster's brother Hunter has been tapped to play her character's brother, Scotty Simms, who shares a close relationship with Michelle having helped to raise each other as kids. But Scotty rarely stays in one place for long as he has a tendency to fall in and out of both love and marriage quickly.

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And given Hunter's real life musical prowess (he received a Tony nomination for his work in Little Shop of Horrors), Broadway and Bunheads fans should keep their fingers crossed for at least one sibling sing and dance duet!

Hunter will begin his arc in Paradise beginning with the January 28 episode, while Bunheads returns to ABC Family on January 7 at 8 p.m.

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