![]() How do I check the status of my Missing Mail search request? Below is a table showing the different times USPS considers mail lost depending on the mail class For most mail classes, the package must be lost for at least 7 days from the date of mailing before you can initiate a request to have the USPS search for the missing mailpiece. ![]() When is a USPS Mail or Package Officially Lost?Ī piece of mail must be considered lost by the USPS before you can submit a search request to find it, and there are specific time requirements for different kinds of lost mail. USPS will send you a confirmation email and forward your request to the Post Office to start their search. Submit a help request form at the Post Office or online and it’ll be forwarded to the Post Office.ģ-Submit a Search Request for Missing Mail: You can submit this request after 7 days from the expected delivery date and within one year of the original mailing date. Sometimes there might have been a delay in delivering it to you due to unavoidable issues therefore, you’ll have to wait a few days after your expected delivery date.Ģ-Send a Help Request Form: Your package may just be misplaced at the local Post Office. How to submit a USPS missing mail search requestġ-Check on the status of your mail: Before submitting a search request, check the status of your mail using the USPS service request status. The package description like the package size, content, brand, pictures of the item, and anything else you can gather.Īfter you’ve gathered information about your missing mail, the next thing is to submit a mail search request with USPS.Now that you’ve confirmed your mail is missing, you need to collect all the information possible on your mail before contacting USPS.įor USPS to start a mail search, they need to know everything you know about your package. So, if you think this is the case, it’s best to immediately report it to your local Post Office and the Police. It is a common problem with mail in the United States and gets even worse during the holidays. Another answer to a delivered status is mail theft. Sometimes, if you’re not home, but you’re expecting a valuable package, your mailman will leave a missed delivery notice instead. You should also ask your mailman about it this may even be the first, obvious thing to do. In this case, you need to start asking your neighbors if they’ve received any mail or packages for you, it is possible there was confusion with the apt. It is possible that the status was “delivered” and you never got anything. So first, find out the latest update with your mail. If you’re using other mail carriers like UPS or FedEx, they also provide tracking services. Most online orders are accompanied by tracking numbers so if you’re waiting for a package delivered by USPS, you can use this tool. It’s possible that it is only delayed, stuck in transit, and not necessarily lost. ![]() If your mail has a tracking option (the sender can give you the tracking number if you’re the recipient), go to USPS Tracking and check on the current status of your mail. Now let’s assume your mail has gotten lost here’s how to find a lost mail in 4 simple steps: Step 1: Check your mail or package status: It’s good you know that, at times, late deliveries don’t mean your mail is lost it might be due to some avoidable issues either from your sender, the shipping company, or USPS. When your USPS package or mail doesn’t arrive on the expected delivery date, the first thing that will come to your mind is, the mail or package is lost, and how can I find a lost mail? Read more: Your USPS Package Was Forwarded To A Different Address: Now What? How to find lost mail and packages? Now that we have an idea of why this might’ve happened let’s see how we can fix it. You need to be careful when sending out mail to get the address right, write it clearly and in permanent marker. Or in another scenario, you move and don’t apply for a change of address so your mail is sent to your old address. Just one wrong digit in the zip code can make all the difference with mail delivery. There are many reasons as to why you wouldn’t get mail or packages such as the shipping label falling off, the address or recipient name getting smeared in case of bad weather, or the most common reason of all, an incorrect address. However, there is no guarantee that you will retrieve your lost mail or package in the end. So you’re still waiting for your USPS lost package or mail, now what? Luckily, there are a few steps you can take to try and recover your mail. But unfortunately, when it’s a critical mail or expensive package, it’s even worse.Īlso Read: All You Need To Know About A Forwarded Package USPS handles millions of mail pieces on a daily basis so it would make sense for a letter or package to get lost. Whether you’re the recipient or sender, your time and in some cases, money is wasted anyway. There is no denying that missing mail or packages is frustrating. ![]()
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![]() ![]() They employ the maple charcoal for flavor rather than filtering out impurities because they use only the "heart" (purest portion) of the distillate and discard the "heads" and "tails. The small-batch producer uses locally grown white corn and copper pot stills. Big Machine Distillery (formerly Tenn South Distillery) produces Clayton James Tennessee Whiskey.It now produces two Tennessee whiskeys along with some notable bourbons under the label Belle Meade. Nelson's Green Brier Distillery was shuttered in 1909 with the state's prohibition and it remained closed for 100 years.They produce a number of whiskeys, including bourbons, rye whiskey, and a moonshine called Lincoln County Lightning. Master Distiller Jeff Arnett and the whiskey makers of the Jack Daniel Distillery have created a unique rye thats undeniably spicy and complex yet sippin. You are shopping from Kappys Route 1 at 325 Bennett. Benjamin Pritchard's is the only distillery exempt from the Lincoln County Process that can still be labeled Tennessee whiskey. PLEASE NOTE: BY PLACING AN ORDER YOU ARE CONFIRMING YOU ARE 21 YEARS OLD OR OLDER AND HAVE A VALID ID.8, and they also have a number of expressions, including an impressive rye whiskey. It has many loyal fans that prefer it over its famous counterpart. George Dickel is the second leading producer in the state.Gentleman Jack and Single Barrel Select are often preferred by whiskey enthusiasts. They produce a number of other bottlings including flavored whiskeys. Jack Daniel's is the best-known and overall the best-selling whiskey in the world.When you’ve collected all twenty-five stamps, you’ll be rewarded with a sweet gift commemorating your whiskey knowledge and determination. For each distillery you visit, you’ll get a stamp in your passport. If you’re not planning to do the full ten-day tour (or at least not all at once), you can pick up a free Tennessee Whiskey Trail booklet on their website. Born above his Daddys liquor store in the famous Portobello Road, West London, his life spirit journey started in 68 when he was an apprentice with the Camus. A complete list of all three regions and all the stops on the trail is included below. center if your vehicle has 3 or more axels for an alternative route. The Whiskey Trail is divided into three sections including the East region around the Great Smokey Mountains, the Middle Region wrapped in and around Music City and the Western region where you can also tour Elvis’s Graceland home when you’re in the neighborhood. For this trip, you start in Nashville before heading to Knoxville and other points before ending the trip in the birthplace of rock and roll, Memphis. The Tennessee whiskey was filtered through Jack’s drip-drop sugar maple charcoal system before barreling and aging at the very top where the air is dry and warm of rickhouses number eight. Looking to visit the George Dickel Whisky distillery in Tennessee for a tour. jack Daniels ,scotch whiskey, premium spirit, the famous grouse, macallan race cask, macallan 12 year old, macallan 15 yrs, macallan 18 yrs, highland park. To help those looking to visit all of the distilleries in one trip-and, let’s be real, it’s not that big of a state, so why wouldn’t you?-the TDG put together a ten-day itinerary, taking you to each and every distillery on the trail. (If they think they won’t, then they’re pretty much designating themselves as DD, which makes this a win-win situation regardless.) In a statement about the launch, President of the Tennessee Distillers Guild (TDG) Kris Tatum called the trail a “joint effort by all of our Guild members to feature Tennessee whiskey and moonshine, as well as the craftsmen and women that make them.”įrom visiting whiskey giant Jack Daniels in Lynchburg to smaller operations like George Dickel in nearby Tullahoma to even smaller craft operations like Knox Whiskey Works or Post Modern Distilling in Knoxville, whiskey drinkers are sure to find something they enjoy. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It delivers a great timbre performance, powerful dynamics (even at soft volumes), a rather immersive and realistic spatial rendering, and highly satisfying maximum volume. ![]() In playback testing, the iPhone 12 is among the best for almost every sub-attribute. It is only 3 points away from our top-scoring phone to date, the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro, and just above the previous series’ flagship phone, the 11 Pro Max. With an overall score of 73, the iPhone 12 ranks among the best devices for audio performance we have tested so far. While data and products remain fully comparable, you might encounter mentions and references to the previous scores. Please be aware that beyond this point, we have not modified the initial test results. (For more details about our Playback protocol, click here for more details about our Recording protocol, click here.) Test summary Note that we evaluate both Playback and Recording using only the device’s built-in hardware and default apps. This article highlights the most important results of our testing. Two speakers (one at the bottom, side-firing, one at the top of the device, front-firing)Ībout DXOMARK Audio tests: For scoring and analysis in our smartphone audio reviews, DXOMARK engineers perform a variety of objective tests and undertake more than 20 hours of perceptual evaluation under controlled lab conditions.Apple’s latest phone packs two speakers for stereo playback, two microphones for background noise reduction, and Dolby Atmos technology that promises sounds moving “around you in 3D space, so you feel like you’re inside the action.” Also worth noting is that audio zoom is available when filming videos. On the audio side of things, the Apple iPhone 12 doesn’t seem to bring much change to its predecessors’ recipe. In this larger-than-usual family, the iPhone 12 comes third in line, after the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the iPhone 12 Pro, and before the aptly named iPhone 12 Mini. Beyond sharing the same A14 Bionic chipset - “the fastest chipset in a smartphone”- and OLED displays, this new generation represents above all Cupertino’s first ever 5G-equipped lineup. A few weeks ago Apple unveiled no fewer than four new iPhones, ranging both in size as well as in price. ![]() ![]() ![]() ‘Show mode’ allows you to turn the tablet into an Echo Show-like Alexa smart display, either manually or automatically when placed into an optional charging dock (which isn’t currently available in the UK). You need an Amazon account to use the tablet, plus a Prime subscription giving access to Prime Video to really make the most of it. Note that Fortnite is not available for Fire tablets, even through the Android Epic Games store. ![]() Zoom, Skype and Alexa are available for video calling, while the store features a fairly large range of games, even if many of them are rubbish. The search bar at the top takes you to results from the web, Amazon’s shop and your content, emails and other bits.Īmazon’s App Store has most of the media consumption apps you’re likely to want in the UK, including Spotify, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, Netflix, Disney+ and Sky Go, but BT Sport, Google’s various apps such as YouTube, Chrome and Maps, and Apple’s Music and TV are a no-go. The interface is fairly simple, with a traditional home screen of apps flanked by pages called “For You”, featuring app and content suggestions, and “Library”, listing things you own such as Kindle books, games, movies and other bits. Amazon typically supports its tablets for longer than low-cost Android rivals, with at least several years of software and security updates. The new tablet runs the same Fire OS 7.3 as the previous version and the Fire HD 8, which is based on Android 9 but lacks Google’s services and the Play store, instead relying on Amazon’s App Store and services. No mainstream web browsers are available in the Fire OS app store, leaving Amazon’s Silk browser the main choice - which means you have to sync your bookmarks from Chrome using an extension. The company offers trade-in and recycling schemes and publishes information on its various sustainability efforts. They contain 28% post-consumer recycled plastic. The Fire HD 10 and HD 10 Plus are generally repairable. Batteries in similar products typically last for at least 500 full-charge cycles while maintaining at least 80% of their original capacity. SustainabilityĪmazon does not provide an expected lifespan of the battery in the tablet. Using a 15W charger shaved 30 minutes off that time, whether wired or wireless for the Plus model. The tablet charges really slowly, taking at least four hours with the included 9W power adaptor. The tablet will last a couple of days with mixed use or more than 12 hours streaming video over wifi, according to my testing – but of course, playing graphically intensive games significantly decreases battery life. A dedicated game mode automatically optimises the tablet for games, turning off hands-free Alexa and other background tasks when playing.īattery life is very good. That’s twice the amount of the previous-generation machine, which significantly improves multitasking. It has the same processor as the regular Fire HD 10, but with 1GB more of RAM for a total of 4GB. The Fire tablets are typically fast enough, but won’t beat more expensive rivals for raw performance. All the ports and buttons are in the right side of the tablet, while the microSD card slot for adding more storage space is in the bottom edge. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() PayPal is expected to have a CAGR of 18.5% within the next five years.Īs the most popular online payment processing platform, PayPal is expected to see consistent and continual growth over the next few years.Ĥ29 million people use PayPal as of March 2022. In fact, there hasn’t been a single year within the past decade that PayPal’s revenue hasn’t grown. In 2011, PayPal’s revenue was only $4.5 billion, but that number grew to a whopping $25.3 billion in 2021. It seems PayPal has only been increasing in relevancy and use over the past few years, but will these trends continue? According to our extensive research:īetween 2011-2021, PayPal’s annual revenue grew 4.6x larger. PayPal is accepted in over 200 countries and regions around the world.Īdditionally, to complement this international status, PayPal also supports 25 major currencies, from the US dollar to the Japanese yen. For example, between Q2 of 2017 and Q2 of 2019, PayPal acceptance grew from 67.3% to 69.5%, at about a percentage point each year. ![]() The number of e-commerce sites that accept PayPal has been growing steadily over time. In fact, 712 of the top 1000 online retailers ranked in 2019 use PayPal, which is a majority of the most highly ranked sites on the internet.ħ1% of e-commerce sites in the US accept PayPal as of 2020. Over 16.8 million websites accept PayPal. To be more specific, here are some key facts about PayPal’s acceptance: That’s a 12.5% increase from 2020, when the average user completed 40 transactions per year through PayPal.ĭue to PayPal’s popularity, it’s widely accepted as a service by many countries and websites. The average user completes 45 transactions per year on PayPal as of 2021. That’s nearly 150% (1.5x) more than the $196 kept in a physical wallet, which indicates that PayPal is seen as a trustworthy place to hold money. The average PayPal account balance is $485. ![]() PayPal’s widespread use on different websites makes it one of the most popular methods of completing online transitions in the US. The internet might be vast, but many people choose to pay through PayPal when websites offer it as an option. From national popularity to the average account balance, here are some insights our research uncovered:Ģ2% of all online transactions in the US are through PayPal. PayPal’s usage and user base follow specific and interesting trends. Further, the number of employees in 2021 increased by 70.7% from five years ago (2016), when PayPal only had 18,100 employees. With more people working remotely or as independent contractors, PayPal has become a more attractive payment method for businesses. In part, this growth can be attributed to the increase in remote work caused by the 2020 Pandemic. That’s up 20.58% from 2019, when an estimated 34 million transactions were processed daily. PayPal processes an average of 41 million transactions every single day. To put that into perspective, the second largest competitor to PayPal is Stripe, which only has a market share of 20.33% (less than half of PayPal’s market share). PayPal’s market share in the online payment processing industry is 43.85%.* To understand more about how the company runs, here are some general facts and statistics: With such a massive number of active users and merchants, PayPal needs to run like a well-oiled machine. General | Usage | Acceptance | Trends and Projections General PayPal Statistics PayPal’s annual revenue reached $25.37 billion in 2021.įor further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways: There are an estimated 29 million active merchant accounts on PayPal in 2022. $1.2 trillion in transaction volume was processed on PayPal in 2021. PayPal has 429 million active accounts as of March 2022.ġ9.3 billion transactions were processed on PayPal in 2021. In fact, PayPal is the largest online payment processing service in the world, making its reach incredibly vast.īut just how big is PayPal? To find out more, we’ve gathered all of the most interesting trends and statistics about the massive company. Research Summary: Whether you paid your mom back for that fast food she loaned you or received your salary as an independent contractor, you’ve likely used PayPal at some point. ![]() ![]() ![]() Pizza has its origins linked with ancient Napoleonian cuisine (“pizza” is literally “pie” translated in Italian) and possibly through an ancient recipe for Chinese scallion pancakes as discovered by famous explorer Marco Polo.ĭeep dish however was invented somewhere between the 1940s and 1950s, in a modest Chicago restaurant aptly called “The Pizzeria,” founded in 1943 and then later renamed “Pizzeria Uno” in 1955. It’s hard to say with certainty when pizza was first invented, as the building blocks for pizza as we know it have been reinvented and redesigned across hundreds, and by some accounts thousands of years. Who Invented Deep Dish Pizza?ĭeep dish pizza is a relatively new development in pizza engineering. The unique preparation and pan in which it is baked gives the pizza high edges allowing for large amounts of cheese and sauce. What Is Deep Dish Pizza?ĭeep dish pizza, also known as Chicago-style pizza, is a specific type of pizza that originates in the city of Chicago. Deep-dish’s popularity has grown immensely in the seven decades since its inception and the Malnati name has been a deep dish icon since the first Lou Malnati’s restaurant opened in Lincolnwood, Illinois in 1971. Deep-dish pizza is the magical result of the marriage between Italian food-festivities and old-fashioned American innovation and craftsmanship. The ultimate and inarguably most iconic Chicago food staple is the deep dish pizza. What Is the Difference Between Pan, Stuffed, and Deep Dish Pizza?. ![]() ![]() ![]() We recommend that you use the most up-to-date browser that's compatible with your operating system. If you need to manage Azure resources from a mobile device, try the Azure mobile app. We recommend not using ad blockers in your browser because they can cause issues with some portal features. To use the portal, you must have JavaScript enabled on your browser. # change to the Ventura.The Azure portal is a web-based console and runs in the browser of all modern desktops and tablet devices. ![]() At the OpenCore menu, select UEFI Shell > Press Enter.Click console in the left sub-navigation menu. ![]() Back in the Proxmox web UI, right click the MacOSVentura VM in the left navigation pane > Start.Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to write the changes to the conf file.iso files (KVM OpenCore and Ventura) and add cache=unsafe Delete the ,media=cdrom from the two attached.Press CTRL+W and search for ,media=cdrom.conf file:Īrgs: -device isa-applesmc,osk="ourhardworkbythesewordsguardedpleasedontsteal(c)AppleComputerInc" -smbios type=2 -device usb-kbd,bus=ehci.0,port=2 -global nec-usb-xhci.msi=off -global ICH9-LPC.acpi-pci-hotplug-with-bridge-support=off -cpu Haswell-noTSX,vendor=GenuineIntel,+invtsc,+hypervisor,kvm=on,vmware-cpuid-freq=on If running on an AMD CPU, add the following line to the bottom of the.conf file:Īrgs: -device isa-applesmc,osk="ourhardworkbythesewordsguardedpleasedontsteal(c)AppleComputerInc" -smbios type=2 -device usb-kbd,bus=ehci.0,port=2 -global nec-usb-xhci.msi=off -global ICH9-LPC.acpi-pci-hotplug-with-bridge-support=off -cpu host,vendor=GenuineIntel,+invtsc,+hypervisor,kvm=on,vmware-cpuid-freq=on If running on an Intel CPU, add the following line to the bottom of the.# edit the VM conf file, change 1300 to the VM ID for the MacOSVentura VM Run the following commands in the terminal.Create a VM, install the restore image, and start the VM. Right click the ProxMox node name > Console Installing macOS in a new machine requires the following steps: Obtain a restore image.Set the KVM OpenCore disk as the first boot option > Click OK.Select the MacOSVentura VM > Options > Boot Order.Click the MacOSVentura VM > Select Hardware from the left sub-navigation menu. ![]() On the Network tab, set the Model field to VMware vmxnet3 > Next.On the Memory tab, set the Memory to 4096 > Next.On the CPU tab, set Cores field to 4, Type field to host > Next.On the Hard Disk tab, set the Bus/Device field to VirtIO Block, Disk size field to 64, Cache field to Write back (unsafe) > Next.On the System tab, set the Graphic card field to VMware compatible, BIOS field to OVMF (UEFI), Uncheck the Pre-Enroll Keys checkbox, Check the Add EFI Disk checkbox, Machine field to q35 and the SCSI Controller to VirtIO SCSI > Next.On the OS tab, set the Type field to Other and select the KVM OpenCore.Install VirtualBox and its Extension Pack on Windows 10/11. VirtualBox-created virtual machines run faster thanks to hardware virtualization technologies. Posted on July 5th, 2022 by Kirk McElhearn. Enable Virtualization on your Windows 10/11 PC. Install macOS Ventura Beta in a Virtual Machine on an M1 or M2 Mac with UTM. These instructions detail how to install a macOS Monterey virtual machine in VirtualBox on an Intel-based machine. Create the macOS Monterey Virtual Machine. Type MacOSVentura in the name field, set the VM ID to 1300 (unless 1300 is in use) > Next Steps To Install macOS Ventura on VirtualBox on a Windows PC. Download: VirtualBox Extension Pack for Windows (Free) Scroll down, select All supported platforms to download, then double-click to install.Virtual machines are programs that emulate a computer system. Right click the ProxMox node name > Create VM VirtualBox is a virtual machine created by Oracle.Extract the downloaded KVM OpenCore bootloader.Download KVM OpenCore bootloader Download. ![]() ![]() If the light is not illuminating, try a difference Micro USB charging cable and a different USB power source. Check that the power indicator light is illuminating to red when the projector is plugged into power.Port, you may need to check your computer’s power settings toĮnsure that the USB ports continue to provide power when theĬomputer is in sleep mode or power saver mode. Note: If you have the projector plugged into a computer’s USB If the projector is plugged into power with the Micro USB charging cable, check that the cable is securely plugged into both the USB power source and the Micro USB port on the projector.If on battery power, try plugging the projector in with the Micro USB charging cable to a USB wall outlet or USB port on a computer.Projector will not power on, or stay powered on If you are using an adapter, verify that the adapter supports audio.Check that the HDMI cable is fully plugged into the HDMI port.Check the volume control on your source device to ensure the volume is turned up.Check the volume control on the projector to ensure the volume is turned up.Check that the projector’s lens is parallel to your projection surface and that your projection surface is flat.Still having trouble? More troubleshooting information available in the The projected image is blurry help article. Check that the projector’s lens is clean and free of debris.Check that the surface you are projecting on is smooth and non-reflective.Adjust the projected image’s focus by rolling the focus wheel forwards or backwards.The USB power cable for those devices canīe plugged into the USB port on the projector or a USB wall outlet.įor information on connecting other common source devices, see the What do I need to connect? help article. Note: Some streaming sticks require their own power. To connect your HDMI streaming stick, simply plug it directly into your Miroir projector's HDMI port. To connect your HDMI connected laptop or streaming box, you will need an HDMI cable (included in the box). To connect your Samsung S8 or later device with USB-C you will need a Samsung USB-C to HDMI adapter (sold separately) and an HDMI cable (included in the box).Ĭonnect Your HDMI Connected Devices: Laptops, Streaming Devices, Streaming Sticks Note: You may need to check with your device manufacturer to verify that your Android device supports video out. USB-C to HDMI Adapter (sold separately) and HDMI Cable (included in the box) To connect your Macbook you will need an Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter (sold separately) and an HDMI cable (included in the box).Īndroid devices support a variety of connectivity standards. Here are a few examples of how you would connect: Source DeviceĪndroid Devices that support USB-C Video out To connect your Apple device to a Miroir projector, you will need an Apple Digital AV Adapter (sold separately) and an HDMI cable (included in the box). How to Connect Connect Your Apple Products Cooling Vent - IMPORTANT: Do not cover or block airflow to the vent.Tripod Mount - Will fit a standard sized tripod screw.Rubber Foot Pads - Provides stability and proper airflow to cooling vents.Reset Button – Press to reset projector.Fully charge battery before the first use (approx. Power Switch – Connect the supplied Micro USB to USB charging cable to a USB wall outlet or USB port on a computer to charge the projector’s internal battery.System Indicator Light – Indicator light will illuminate blue when the projector is starting up.Volume Controls – Increase (+) or decrease (-) the volume output of the projector.Focus Wheel – Roll the focus wheel forward and backwards to fine-tune the projected image.Micro USB Charging Port – Connect the supplied Micro USB to USB charging cable to a USB wall outlet or USB port on a computer to charge the projector’s internal battery.Power Indicator Light – Indicator light will illuminate red when charging and illuminate green once fully charged. ![]()
![]() He declined to identify the start date for the service or the type of the technology the carrier will use. Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless, both of which use the Code Division Multiple Access 1xRTT standard, could well offer push-to-talk service to their subscribers during or even before the start of those trials.ĭan Wilinsky, a spokesman for Sprint PCS, said his company intends to offer walkie-talkie service later this year. Mike Dobbs, vice president of product management at Cingular, said in a statement that "the standards-based approach taken by these manufacturers will allow carriers to ultimately deliver this service to the largest market in the most efficient and effective way." Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens said they plan to begin trials of the new push-to-talk service in the second half of 2003. Our goal is to connect our customers to the people and information they care most about." Rod Nelson, chief technology officer at AT&T Wireless, said in a statement that his company "supports this joint initiative. This technology allows cellular and mobile carriers to deliver integrated voice and data services over IP-based General Packet Radio Service networks. Nextel shares, which have risen 50 percent this year, rose US$0.03 to US$17.34 yesterday.Nokia, Ericcson and Siemens announced yesterday at the 3GSM World Congress in France that they intend to use the capabilities of IP Multimedia Subsystems developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which is the global standards body for mobile telecommunications. Sonia Kim, a spokeswoman for Seoul-based Samsung, also declined to comment. Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch declined to comment. Jim Gerace, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless, reiterated that the company intends to release a walkie-talkie product some time this year and declined further comment. Monthly customer turnover at Nextel was 1.9 percent, compared with 2.1 percent for Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc. Nextel's dominance of those customers helped first-quarter revenue rise 21 percent, compared with 15 percent at Verizon Wireless.Ĭustomers of Reston, Virginia-based Nextel pay an average US$67 a month for the service, almost US$20 more than users of Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless chief executive officer Dennis Strigl in February said the company planned a "push-to-talk product well before the end of the year."Ĭonstruction crews and other businesses with employees on the road are among the biggest users of the phones that also can be used like a walkie-talkie. ![]() That may pose a marketing hurdle for competitors such as Verizon Wireless, which have publicly used the phrase. Nextel is now contacting companies to inform them of the push-to-talk trademark, said Nextel's spokeswoman, Audrey Schaefer. Nextel also filed for a trademark on the acronym PTT. Nextel was granted ownership of the phrase in April after a 15-month review, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office. The company trademarked the phrase "push to talk," preventing rivals such as Verizon Wireless from using it to describe their new phones. Nextel is preparing to defend its product. "That's an attractive place for Verizon to be, and gives their customers another reason not to switch," said Rick van Nostrand, who helps oversee US$5 billion, including 950,000 Verizon shares, at Earnest Partners in Atlanta. Nextel's customers pay as much as US$20 a month more than others for their service and are less likely to switch mobile service providers. ![]() ![]() ![]() I call this problem ‘the completeness dilemma’, and the dilemma goes like this: for DLC to be possible, it must be possible to extend the narrative of the main video game to which the DLC is appended. And indeed, I will aim to show here that DLC does have interesting implications and insights regarding the nature of storytelling in video games.īefore we dive into any concrete examples of DLC, I think it’s fairly easy to notice a problem for DLC on the level of pure theory. In light of this, I think it’s especially interesting to see what implications DLC has for video games specifically as a vehicle for storytelling. ![]() Why focus this particular type of DLC? As I’ve argued from the start of With a Terrible Fate onward, I believe that video games as a medium facilitate new, robust forms of narrative that wouldn’t be possible in other media. Think of DLCs like Skyrim‘s Dawnguard and Dragonborn, or Dishonored‘s The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches. These are all examples of the type of DLC I have in mind. However, our intuitions should give us a good idea of what I’m talking about here: these days, many story-rich games feature DLC that “adds on” to the story of the main game by adding a new plot line, either in an old area of the game’s world or in a new area of the game’s world created just for that DLC. In this article, I’m only concerned with DLC that purports to extend the narrative of a video game. Granted, that’s a rather broad definition, and I’m not going to try to provide a full analysis of ‘narrative’ for the purposes of this article. After all, all sorts of material could potentially fit the broad label of “downloadable content”–for example, extra weaponry, bonus outfits for avatars, extra songs for a game’s soundtrack, and so on. To begin, we need to be more precise with how we’re defining ‘DLC’. I’ll apply this dilemma to System Rift, the recent DLC for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, to show how it helps to explain why DLC fails when it does. Then, I’ll argue that our two test cases solve the dilemma facing DLC in surprising and informative ways. ![]() In this article, I’m going to discuss two cases of FromSoftware’s DLC that I take to be imminently justified as aesthetically valuable additions to their parent games: Dark Souls 3‘s “Ashes of Ariandel” and Bloodborne‘s “The Old Hunters.” First, I’ll outline what I take to be the general dilemma that makes DLC so difficult to justify as a supplementary work of art. However, as is often the case, FromSoftware, the studio behind Dark Souls and Bloodborne (among other games), has challenged my assumptions about game development. ![]() Like many others, I’ve feared that DLC makes it all too easy for developers to release games that are, in one way or another, incomplete, and then compel the player to complete the game by paying for additional content later on. So, when it comes to DLC (“downloadable content”), you probably won’t be surprised to hear that I’ve historically been extremely skeptical of its value as well. For example, even though I ultimately argued that Nintendo’s amiibo are philosophically justifiable, I rejected many of the typical reasons why someone might think amiibo are valuable. Regulars to With a Terrible Fate know that I tend to be skeptical of the potential for justifying add-on video game content as artistically valuable to the video game experience. ![]() |
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