May 17, 2013 New Porn and Banks: Drawing a Line on Loans
Chanel 
Preston knows not everyone approves of her chosen profession. That’s one of the risks that go with being one of the biggest stars in porn. But she never thought it would affect her ability to open a bank account.
Preston recently opened a business account with City National Bank in Los Angeles. When she went to deposit checks into the account days later, however, she was told it had been shut down, due to “compliance issues.”
Tags: chanel preston, chase, city nationaly, CNBC, lending practices, porn and banks
- Leave a comment
- Posted under CNBC
April 25, 2013 EA Hit With More Layoffs
Electronic 
Arts, once the videogame industry’s biggest independent publisher, has laid off hundreds of employees as it continues to struggle.
EA confirmed the layoffs Thursday in its corporate blog, but declined to put a number on how many employees were affected. Sources within the company say the cutbacks were significant, though were lower than some media reports, which placed the number at 1,000 or higher.
Tags: CNBC, ea, layoffs, unemployment
- Leave a comment
- Posted under CNBC
April 25, 2013 Nintendo abandons E3 keynote
One 
of the tentpole events of E3 won’t be taking place this year.
Nintendo shocked the gaming world late Wednesday by announcing that it has decided not to hold its annual E3 press conference. Instead, the company said, it plans to focus on smaller events and will address the gaming world through a series of Nintendo Direct broadcasts, essentially cutting out the large, noisy middleman.
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Yahoo! Games
April 22, 2013 The Wearable Revolution
High 
tech is going high fashion.
With Google distributing its first sets of Google Glass eyewear and observers eagerly awaiting confirmation that Apple is working on a smartwatch, proponents of wearable technology are looking further down the road. And they’re pretty excited about what they see in terms of the potential for profit and disruption to the personal technology world.
Tags: Apple, CNBC, google, google glass, high fashion tech, iwatch, wearable technology
- Leave a comment
- Posted under CNBC
April 22, 2013 What Dooms Innovation to the Graveyard?
In 
2003, Nokia had a plan.
Recognizing the enormous market the Nintendo Game Boy Advance was attracting—and being cognizant enough to realize that mobile games at the time were, frankly, terrible— the company unleashed the N-Gage, a cellphone capable of playing video games that had a graphical quality previously unseen on mobile devices.
The idea was sound—but the reception wasn’t exactly what they expected. The N-Gage was jeered by gamers (its intended audience). Web pages mocking its taco-shaped design quickly became an Internet sensation. And reviews were harsh. A redesigned model came out a year later, but it was too late. The N-Gage eventually became yet another disruptive technology that failed to connect with its audience.
Tags: Apple, CNBC, disruptive technology, disruptors, flo tv, newton, ngage, qualcomm
- Leave a comment
- Posted under CNBC
April 22, 2013 Xbox Live subscriptions continue to rise
With 
the successor to the Xbox 360 likely to hit stores before the end of the year, you’d think people might hold off on things like an Xbox Live subscription at this point in the console cycle. But apparently the online service is more popular than ever.
Microsoft reports Xbox Live subscriptions hit 46 million worldwide in the most recent fiscal quarter. That’s up 18 percent from a year ago.
Tags: microsoft, xbox, xbox live, xbox live subscriptions, yahoo
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Yahoo! Games
April 19, 2013 Female video game characters shedding stereotypes
Female 
characters have had a rather dubious run in the video game world. When they aren’t damsels in distress, they’re oversexualized stereotypes meant to titillate rather than foster a sense of empowerment in players.
There have been exceptions, of course — Half-Life 2′s Alyx or Samus from Metroid — but progress has been slow. In the past year, though, the exceptions are starting to become … well, if not the rule, less of the exception.
Tags: bioshock infinite, half-life 2, strong women in games, the walking dead, tomb raider, women in games, yahoo
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Yahoo! Games
With over 20 years of journalism experience under my belt, including senior management roles at CNN, Yahoo! Finance and Forbes, I'm now a freelance writer and editor, specializing in video games, consumer electronics and personal finance matters. My current clients include CNBC, Variety, Yahoo!, Official Xbox Magazine, Common Sense Media, Coast 2 Coast Radio Networks and more. 
