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Xbox Live Banking Billions on Virtual Goods, Twitter 'Mumbles' Big in Japan

by Warren Riddle on June 18, 2010 at 11:40 AM

xbox live making money with virtual goods

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines....

  • Nonexistent virtual goods produce obscene revenue for online services. The phenomenon, which even attracts criminal activity, is currently helping Microsoft stave off the effects of diminishing video game sales. Forbes estimates that Xbox Live earns the company more than $1 billion annually, primarily through various account upgrades, and from the sale of avatars, costumes, character attributes and other intangible items. [From: Forbes]
  • Stumped New York Times writers searching for alternate ways to describe "posted messages on Twitter," may have just found their "tweet" substitute -- by way of a Japanese translation. Now, 16.3-percent of Japanese Internet users "mumble" on Twitter, compared to the 9.8-percent of U.S. Web users. Japanese mumbles also impressively represent 12-percent of total worldwide tweets. [From: The Huffington Post]
  • WordPress experienced crippling outages earlier this month, but the millions of online pontificators temporarily left blogless may soon forget those past worries. The official WordPress 3.0 'Thelonious' upgrade, inspired by the jazz musician's "improvisational wizardry," apparently now provides subscribers with a variety of exciting features, including bulk updates, customizable style options and a more efficient and navigable interface. [From: Mashable]
  • Microsoft's ambitious plan to reinvigorate its Hotmail service may be belatedly pointless, at least according to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Sandberg told attendees at Nielsen's Consumer 360 event that, because of meager teen interest, e-mail "is probably going away." She also proclaimed that in the future, adults will follow "what teenagers are doing today." Does that mean we're also going to dress up like ridiculous vampires, listen to awful music and constantly send naked pictures to one another? [From: The Huffington Post]
  • Live streaming video services continue to multiply and gain momentum, and indie film service VODO now offers a new series available solely through peer-to-peer filesharing. The pilot of 'Pioneer One,' produced on a $6,000 budget, is available for free, and left a Download Squad reviewer "wishing there were more episodes available." [From: Download Squad]


Tags: facebook, japan, morningxtra, new york times, NewYorkTimes, Pioneer One, PioneerOne, sheryl sandberg, SherylSandberg, teens, thelonious, top, twitter, videogames, Vodo, wordpress, wordpress 3.0, Wordpress3.0, xbox, xbox live, XboxLive

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