The heart monitoring technology inside the Apple Watch may be useful for scientific studies and even saving lives, but one doctor believes it’s also straight-up theft. New York University cardiologist Dr. Joseph Wiesel has sued Apple over allegations the Watch violates a patented method for detecting atrial fibrillation. Wiesel claimed that he shared details of the patent with Apple in September 2017, but that the company “refused to negotiate in good faith” and left him no choice but to file a lawsuit.
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New York doctor sues Apple over irregular heartbeat detection – Engadget
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The doctor hopes to block Apple from using the atrial fibrillation detection method without paying royalties. We’ve asked Apple for comment, although it doesn’t typically comment on lawsuits.
Apple is no stranger to patent lawsuits, although those frequently come from trolls that either didn’t develop a given piece of technology or have no intention of putting it into a real product. This is different — Wiesel is clearly the inventor. Still, he may face a challenging court battle. He’ll have to show that Apple’s technique is highly similar, and not just vaguely familiar-looking.
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CD Projekt Red is the second-largest video game company in Europe, with a market valuation of approximately $8 billion (via PC Gamer).
The developer is making a lot of moolah right now. Sales of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt surpassed $50 million since 2018, and as a result, CD Projekt Red gets an 80 per cent share of subsequent sales. Given that the series enjoyed a rush of interest from the TV adaptation, it makes sense that there was a whopping 554 per cent increase in sales for physical editions of The Witcher 3 across all platforms. In December, it was recorded that The Witcher saw over 5,000 concurrent players on Steam, which blew its previous record to smithereens, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt got over one million players dipping their toes into The Continent.
CD Projekt Red’s glad tidings in the festive season only continued with a new agreement with the author of The Witcher books, Andrzej Sapkowski. This “sets out a framework for the future cooperation” and entitles the company to the intellectual property in video games, graphic novels, board games, and merchandise. Of course, its distribution platform GOG.com is sure to have swayed the statistics, and excitement for the future Cyberpunk 2077 hasn’t been dissuaded by the delay.
As a “dual franchise” developer, the success of The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 may lift the company to the pole position in time. Currently, Ubisoft is the king of the castle, with an estimated market valuation of $9.6 billion. We do know that Ubisoft ran into trouble with the poor performance of Ghost Recon Breakpoint and The Division 2 late last year. It is rumoured that the company is considering an editorial team reshuffle in order to encourage variance and newness in its properties.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is out now for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
- The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red may have made a huge mistake by not capitalizing on the Netflix series.
- Sales of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt soared after the TV show debuted.
- CD Projekt Red should have timed The Witcher 4 or new Wild Hunt DLC to coincide with the launch of the series.
Netflix isn’t the only one reaping the rewards from the success of its new fantasy series, The Witcher. Game developer CD Projekt Red has been cashing in too.
The Witcher 4 Was a Pipe-Dream – But What About DLC?
A recent NPD report revealed that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt sales exploded by 554% in December 2019 – the month the Netflix show debuted – compared to the previous December.
But the company may have missed out on an even bigger windfall by failing to capitalize on the Netflix-fueled Witcher hype.
Maybe timing The Witcher 4 for a December 2019 or early 2020 release would have been way too ambitious. But they could have at least unveiled some new Wild Hunt DLC.
And it may already be too late for CD Projekt Red to correct its blunder.
Why CD Projekt Red Has Already Missed Its Chance to Leverage the Netflix Hype
Season two of the Netflix series is expected to air in 2021, so it’s virtually impossible that The Witcher 4 would be ready by then.
Before CD Projekt Red begins developing the sequel to Wild Hunt, it has to complete development on Cyberpunk 2077 – which has just been delayed to September 17. Then it will develop Cyberpunk 2077’s multiplayer gameplay, which it plans to launch after 2021.
It took three and a half years to develop The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – and that game was delayed several times. That means we may not see The Witcher 4 until at least 2024.
By 2024, the series may have ended. Netflix is notorious for canceling shows after a few seasons. Or maybe the quality drops off dramatically, and viewers lose interest.
The Witcher, which has a lengthy production cycle and pays lead actor Henry Cavill $400,000 an episode, isn’t cheap. Netflix can’t afford it to be a niche product.
No matter what happens, it looks like CD Projekt Red has already missed its best chance to leverage the series into a fat payday.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
This article was edited by Josiah Wilmoth.
Last modified: February 20, 2020 9:00 PM UTC
During its Animal Crossing-focused Direct, Nintendo once again confirmed that the upcoming New Horizons will not make use of Nintendo Switch Online’s cloud save backup function, but NSO subscribers will have a way to recover their save data should something unfortunate happen to their system. However, this feature comes with one notable caveat.
[Update] The caveat that previously stated that players would only be able to recover data once in the event a Switch console was damaged or lost resulted in some criticism from the community and became a key subject of discussion around the game. In the time since, Nintendo has re-uploaded the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct video–sacrificing a considerable number of views in the process–and changed the language used in the data recovery section to indicate it may be reconsidering the limitation.
Where it previously stated, “Nintendo Switch Online members can only have save data recovered one time due to loss or damage of system” it now says, “More details on save data recovery functionality will be shared at a future date.” Of course, there is no guarantee that the limitation will be removed; Nintendo may simply want to justify the restriction better at a later date.
[Original story continues] In fine print during the presentation, Nintendo specifies that you will only be able to recover your Animal Crossing: New Horizons save data one time should your Switch get lost or damaged. As previously mentioned, this service will only be offered to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, and it won’t be available until sometime after the game launches.
This isn’t the only unusual save data restriction New Horizons imposes on players. Nintendo recently confirmed that only one island can exist per Nintendo Switch console–so if another player who shares your system would like to start their own island, they’ll need their own Switch and game. Additionally, you will not be able to transfer your New Horizons save data from one Switch system to another, at least from launch. Nintendo UK’s website says that a function to move your save to another console is “planned for later this year.”
We learned a lot of other details about New Horizons during the Animal Crossing Direct. Nintendo showcased a variety of quality-of-life improvements, as well as some new and returning characters you’ll meet in the game. New Horizons also lets you change your island’s terrain for the first time in the series, and it’ll make use of both the Nintendo Switch Online smartphone app and the Animal Crossing Amiibo figures and cards.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons releases worldwide on March 20. You can see what pre-order bonuses are available for the title in our Animal Crossing: New Horizons pre-order guide. For more on the game, be sure to check out our roundup of everything we know about New Horizons.
Now Playing: 19 Things We Learned From The Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct
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