MSFT Xbox One X

Microsoft Corp. announced a worldwide release date of Nov. 7 for what the company said will be its smallest and most powerful video-game console ever, the Xbox One X.

The device, which will be priced at $499, is designed to work with a new generation of 4K television sets that offer greater picture quality as well as games that offer ever-more-realistic scenes of car races and fantasy worlds. Microsoft made the announcement Sunday at an event in Los Angeles before the start of Electronic Entertainment Expo this week. The new console will also be compatible with older Xbox games and accessories.

Microsoft and rival Sony Corp. are trying to update their video-game machines more frequently to phase out the notion of upgrading once every seven years or so -- the rate at which companies traditionally have released a new generation of consoles. Microsoft’s latest machine is designed for the high-end gamer who wants the best features and performance and who owns a TV capable of displaying the most advanced graphics.

“They are trying to attract people who want to be able to use the advanced features of TVs they’ve invested in,” said Brian Blau, an analyst at Gartner Inc. “Not everyone will want that if they can get a good experience on the less-expensive console.”

Microsoft has previously stumbled by pricing an older Xbox too high. Initial sales for the Xbox One when it debuted in 2013 were hurt by the $499 price tag, and only picked up after the cost was cut. Sony faced similar issues in 2006 when it released the PlayStation 3, which cost $500 to $600.

“Price has played an important role in the launch success,” said Mike Vorhaus, president of consulting firm Frank N. Magid Associates. “The guy with the less expensive box has done very well. I expect that will continue, absent some amazing paradigm shift.”

Happy Father's Day

Congratulations to dads everywhere. Father’s Day is your special day to bask in your patriarchal grandeur, secure in the knowledge that your kids, family and friends spent $8 billion more on Mother’s Day than they did on you.

Eight billion dollars. That’ll buy a lot of neckties.

The numbers come from the National Retail Federation, which has projected that U.S. Father’s Day shoppers will spend an average of $134.75 this year, up 7 percent from $125.92 last year.

But that’s a whopping 41.4 percent less than the record-smashing $23.6 billion spent on moms for the most recent Mother Day’s in May, according to the federation’s calculations.

Why the massive difference?

Ana Smith, spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based retail federation, said there are a couple of key reasons: “There are more women in the U.S. than men. Therefore, the chances are higher that more people will celebrate and spend on Mother’s Day compared to Father’s Day.

“If we look at just the numbers, 85 percent of consumers surveyed planned to celebrate Mother’s Day versus Father’s Day (when) only 77 percent are planning to celebrate the occasion.”

But then, Smith said, there’s also this: “If we dig deeper into emotional factors, consumers tend to spoil moms more since mothers tend to guilt their children if they don’t celebrate the holiday with them compared to fathers.”

What?! Sacramento-area fathers, aren’t you offended?

“Well, not really,” said 49-year-old Pete Walker of Carmichael, who last week was patiently waiting for his family to finish shopping at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights. “My wife’s work is never done, with the house and the kids and her own job. … I think she deserves at least one day to be spoiled.”

Steve James, 38, a Roseville father of two out with his family at the nearby Westfield Galleria at Roseville mall, was likewise favorable to the idea of mom getting loads of presents and love on Mother’s Day.

“She deserves it … and I mean that for my wife and my own mom,” he said. “I’m not keeping score. … If I can take it easy and enjoy a nice day with my family on Father’s Day, I’m going to be happy.”

Relaxing or attending a special event on Father’s Day is a common gift for dads this year, according to the NRF. Its annual survey found that 27 percent of dads want to receive a “gift of experience,” such as tickets to a sporting event, concert or some other outside-the-home experience.

For fathers who simply want to sit on the couch on Father’s Day, TV networks tout dad’s day in their marketing of major sporting events, including Sunday’s final round of professional golf’s 2017 U.S. Open Championship from Erin, Wis., and Sunday’s running of the FireKeepers Casino 400, part of NASCAR’s 2017 Monster Energy Cup Series, from Michigan International Speedway.

Smart Speakers

Are you excited about the better sound quality promised by Apple's new high-end HomePod smart speaker?

If so, a new poll suggests you're in the minority of US consumers.

Morning Consult polled 2,200 adults between June 8 and 12 about what features matter most when buying a voice-controlled smart assistant. Thirty percent of respondents said price mattered most, more than double the 14 percent who said the accuracy of the device's voice recognition was the top priority.

That's not to say features like audio quality and compatibility don't matter. It's just that price trumped the rest.

That could make it hard for the HomePod, which is scheduled to go on sale in December for $350. Amazon, in the smart speaker business since late 2014, sells its Echo for $179.99. Google's Home speaker, introduced last year, sells for $129.

Digital Experience - Still More

By Bayle Emlein

Looking for a new, smarter phone? Of course you are.

As soon as the box for the new model arrives, we’re all shopping for the next exciting features. Coolpad, distributed by Cricket in the US, addresses the drive to use our telephone-shaped devices for everything including voice communication. The Coolpad Canvas screen is so sharp graphic artists will be tempted by the 5.5" drawing surface. And at MSRP prices under $50, you can afford to outfit the whole family.

At the time of the Spring Digital Experience show in San Francisco, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chip was standard hardware, providing plenty of power to operate all features seamlessly. The operating system, essentially Android Nougat, did the same in a familiar interface. What’s not to like about these phones?

Digital Experience - Continued

By Bayle Emlein

At last, 3D printers are simple enough and affordable in the mass market. Because of 3D printers from Monoprice, “just because I want one” is good enough reason to get one.

The MP Select Mini comes out of the box ready to go. The analogy to automobiles is apt: at first just the fact that you could make the technology work was enough; then people wanted to be able to use the technology on their own, without a support team, hours of research and training, or investing a year’s income. The next steps in product innovation will come from what seems like random playing around and going down lots of roads to nowhere.

Monoprice 3D printers gives each of us the chance to be on the front edge of the wave. Besides designing tchotchkes for conferences and trade shows, I’m interested in figuring out how to develop a pair of shoes that really fits my feet and my notion of cute. In the meantime, get yourself a 3D printer and become a leader the next development in human tool making. A leader, of course, has followers and supporters: Monoprice offers a support team for users of its products.

Wonder Woman

In the weeks leading up to the premiere of Warner Bros./DC Entertainment's "Wonder Woman," the internet was peevishly aflutter with think pieces and armchair analyses of the studio's alleged mishandling of the movie's marketing. People who didn't have vast reserves of experience in launching multimillion-dollar media campaigns charged Warner Bros. with intentionally trying to tank "Wonder Woman" by failing to promote it, a paranoid web of assertions that didn't take into account certain quotidian factors such as the film's release date and production budget. In the history of cinema, no one has ever purposely botched the launch of a $150 million franchise.

Like most internet controversies, the premature nattering about the promotion of "Wonder Woman" turned out to be a whole lot of nothing. After a robust pre-launch campaign that incorporated everything from on-site promotions at South by Southwest and WonderCon to a Nascar integration to a TV-heavy paid-media plan, "Wonder Woman" opened last weekend to an impressive $103.3 million in domestic box office receipts. That marked the all-time most lucrative opening for a movie directed by a woman -- Patty Jenkins also wrote and lensed the 2003 Charlize Theron drama "Monster" -- and put "Wonder Woman" on a pace to rake in as much as $300 million in stateside sales.

As is generally the case with blockbusters, TV did a lot of the heavy lifting. According to iSpot.tv estimates, the studio thus far has invested $24.8 million in national TV inventory, which is within shooting range of the initial outlay for Warner/DC's 2016 release, "Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice." The comparable TV spend for that film, which introduced Gal Gadot in the Wonder Woman role, was $29 million.

Much of the "Wonder Woman" dollars have landed at the Big Four broadcast networks, with the movie's TV campaign beginning in earnest during CBS' coverage of the 2017 Div. I Men's Basketball Tournament. Along with the standard trailers and 30-second cutdowns, Warner Bros. also sprung for a custom spot featuring "Supergirl" star Melissa Benoist and Lynda Carter, who wielded the golden lasso in the 1975-79 ABC/CBS live-action "Wonder Woman" show. That particular execution aired on the CW during the May 22 season finale of "Supergirl."

Father's Day Gifts

If you were planning to get your dad another necktie for Father’s Day, you might want to reconsider.

According to a new poll by Ebates, electronics is the most wished-for purchase by fathers, at 18 percent. Power tools came in second at 15 percent, with tickets to a sporting event a close third (14 percent).

Fortunately for fathers, their spouses and kids are in general agreement, with 15 percent believing the man of the house wants to be gifted with power tools, while 14 percent voted for CE.

But if thoughts of 75-inch 4K TVs are dancing in their heads, dream on dude; the majority of respondents (62 percent) plan to spend less than $50 on a Father’s Day gift.

Yet 30 percent of those polled said that dads are under-appreciated and nearly a quarter believed he’s “the glue that holds the family together.” But sadly only one in 10 pops expected their families to do something special for them on June 18. So show your dad and the tech industry you care and get him something nice (and expensive).

The survey was conducted on behalf of Ebates by Propeller Insights and fielded among 1,000 adults. The cash-back shopping platform is a subsidiary of leading e-tailer Rakuten, and a sister site to BFads.net and FatWallet.