We know the Xbox is more expensive than the PS4, but is Microsoft sticking it to gamers or is it offering more power? The answer appears to be the latter: as Matt Swider reports, the difference in price is largely due to Microsoft cramming more stuff into its console. Both firms are probably selling consoles at a loss, initially at least.One firm who isn't selling anything at a loss is EA, whose PS4 games this week were listed at prices much higher than the same titles for Xbox One. After an initial outcry the price came down a little bit; after another outcry the price came down a whole lot more.While we're on the subject of money, guess how much a Steam Machine will set you back? If you guessed "pretty much the same as an Xbox One", then you might be right.
The first firm to announce a price, iBuyPower, says its Steam Machine will be US$499 about ￡307, AU $547 when it goes on sale next year.Rather brilliantly, the firms' two prototypes have names that Steam fans may find familiar: the first one's called Gordon, and the second one Freeman.Wibidata, a big data application provider, has a new platform for building real-time apps that shows the increasing accessibility of machine learning and how e-commerce companies can provide an experience similar to a giant like Amazon.com.The new WibiEnterprise 3.0 platform allows a company to power a site with advanced analytics that fine-tunes itself, providing better recommendations and other features over time, including more relevant search results and personalized content.
The platform is designed for the customer who is beginning to use data science, said Omer Trajman, vice president of field operations at Wibidata. "They are not classically trained but they have an analytics background. They have been doing marketing analytics. The mechanics are similar, what has changed is the availability of data."WibiEnterprise 3.0 is built on an open source framework called Kiji, which provides a common platform for building applications that leverage large data sets.At its core, Wibidata is offering a platform that takes into consideration the fact that companies often have just a few seconds to engage their customers. People use all sorts of personal devices and can turn to a competitor with just a few clicks. But with all this data, companies also have an opportunity to learn about their customers by analyzing their digital interactions. Doing that means building a storage system that provides a 360-degree view of the customer.