Technology - Google News

Disney's About to Go to War With Super Mario - The Motley Fool

Posted: 25 Jan 2020 12:00 PM PST

Comcast's (NASDAQ:CMCSA) theme parks division needs some help with its attractions pipeline, so it's only fitting that it calls on the most famous plumber of all. Nintendo's (OTC:NTDOY) Super Mario will play a starring role when Super Nintendo World makes its debut at Universal Studios Japan later this year, followed by openings at its California and Florida parks within the next three years.

We've known about Super Nintendo World since late 2016, but as we close in on the rollout of the first theme-park expansion in Osaka, we see Comcast willing to offer up a few more details. Speaking at its fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday morning, Comcast announced that the new land will open at Universal Studios Japan just ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. Given the tourism spike the Olympics will bring, it's a pretty big deal to have the new Nintendo-licensed attractions up and running. Comcast also confirmed during the call that Florida's version of Super Nintendo World will take place at Epic Universe, the new theme park that it will open just outside its existing Universal Orlando resort in 2023.

Concept art for Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan with Mario and Luigi celebrating.

Image source: Comcast.

Sorry, Mickey -- your princess is in another castle

Operating a theme park can be an arms race, especially when the world's biggest operator is a local rival. Disney (NYSE:DIS) and Comcast have theme parks in California, Florida, and Japan, and the competition is fierce in Florida, where the two competitors are a 15-minute drive apart. They have only about an hour of road time between them in California and a couple of hours in Japan between Osaka and and the Disney-licensed resort. In short, when one of them raises the bar, the other has to follow.

Comcast is hoping it can duplicate its success from when it opened its first Wizarding World of Harry Potter land nearly a decade ago. The addition of the Potter-themed attractions has driven as much as 2 million more guests a year at some of its parks, and its research shows that Nintendo can be another big driver of attendance.

Disney and Comcast are blue chip stocks that dominate the theme park landscape, accounting for 15 of the 16 most visited theme parks worldwide. Comcast can use the boost that a successful launch of Super Nintendo World can bring, especially since it's come up short in some of its more recent additions. All but one of the last couple of attractions that it has introduced in Florida have opened to mixed if not negative reviews. The one success has been a Potter-themed family coaster, but the ride's uptime continues to be unreliable more than seven months after its grand opening.

Comcast might have some hits between now and when Super Nintendo World opens at Universal Studios Hollywood in California and Epic Universe in Florida, but even if the batting slump continues, it should easily be able to hit it out of the park with Nintendo at its side. Disney seemed to be phoning it in until turnstile clicks started to surge for its biggest competitor following the 2010 opening of Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Now we're seeing Comcast try to react to the new additions going into Disney World and Disneyland.

Consumers win, as long as they can stomach the higher ticket prices. Local tourism industries also come out ahead with the surge in public interest. With Comcast hitting all-time highs last week and Disney doing the same late last year, it's fair to say investors have also been rewarded. Competition is a good thing as long as rivals can keep tapping the "Continue" option to stay in the game.

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Google caves on unpopular favicon change in Search and promises to test more designs - Android Police

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 11:57 AM PST

Google has apparently taken the criticism regarding last week's favicon changes to heart, promising to "experiment" with different layouts that offend our collective sensibilities just a little less. Even now, the company has apparently rolled back the favicon change for at least some of us as it mulls over how to better implement the change.

The primary complaints against the added favicons in results for Google Search for desktop (outside their simple ugliness) were the fact that the new favicons could be indirectly misleading. The new icons allowed content previously labeled as an advertisement to more easily blend in on desktop results since they took the same position and looked pretty similar to the small "AD" disclosure that appeared on some results.

There's something strange about the recent design change to google search results, favicons and extra header text: they all look like ads, which is perhaps the point? pic.twitter.com/TlIvegRct1

— Craig Mod (@craigmod) January 21, 2020

Following the last week or so of criticism, Google has now decided to re-examine its efforts, rolling back the favicon change for at least some of us in the meantime. The company will be "experimenting" with new tests for displaying favicons in search results over the coming weeks.

Google's search liaison officially tweeted out this statement just earlier today regarding the changes:

We're dedicated to improving the desktop experience for Search, and as part of our efforts we rolled out a new design last week, mirroring the design that we've had for many months on mobile. The Design has been well received by users on mobile screens, as it helps people more quickly see where information is coming from and they can see a prominent bolded ad label at the top. Web publishers have also told us they like having their brand iconography on the search results page. While early tests for desktop were positive, we are always incorporating feedback from our users. We are experimenting with a change to the current desktop favicons, and will continue to iterate on the design over time.

Though the company is already a bit defensive and dismissive of criticism in its statement — claiming it's no different than what it did on Search for mobile, and implying no one was upset about that change — it has nonetheless promised to iterate its design while incorporating feedback like this recent criticism.

It sounds pretty likely that the favicons will eventually return, but hopefully, they won't let ads blend in quite so easily with legitimate results when they do.

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