Video gamers spend $241 million on hardware in January

Number of the day

$241 million

That's how much was spent on video-game hardware in January, up 17 percent from a year earlier. Sony, vying with Microsoft for dominance of the U.S. console market, said itsPlayStation 4 sold twice the number of its nearest rival. (Microsoft's new Xbox Oneoutsold Sony in December.) The industry is monitoring demand for the new consoles to see whether they boost sales or if gamers have shifted permanently to smartphones and tablets.

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"You sign up for something called running the bulls, you think the only thing you'll get hurt by is a 1,200-pound bull, not a drone."

Eileen Peskoff, on being hit by a drone at a Virginia racetrack when the pilotless aircraft was filming a bull-running event, then lost control and dove into the grandstands where she was sitting. Drones flown for a business purpose are prohibited by the Federal Aviation Administration, yet that hasn't stopped companies from using them to make movies, inspect oil-field equipment, and map agricultural and commercial land.

Heads up

Safeway reports fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, and analysts estimate the supermarket chain will post a 52 percent decline in net income to $118 million. Revenue may fall 16 percent to $11.5 billion, reflecting the sale of its Canadian stores to Sobeys last year for $5.8 billion. Investors like the plan to shrink the Pleasanton company: Its stock has surged 46 percent since the deal was announced.