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Viewing entries tagged with 'brave new world'

Metaplace

Now this sounds interesting: Metaplace. Still under development with not much information yet. But the little information that's available for only 2 days now sounds promising. Metaplace is

• a virtual world platform
• massive multiplayer out of the box
• easy to set up
• heavily customisable for people with programming knowledge (rumours say the programming language is Lua)
• different virtual worlds can connect
• based on web technology (low minimum system requirements, even possible for mobile phones)
• can be implemented into a website
• different styles: 2d, 3d isometric, 2d, 2.5d heightfields, 3d
• interaction with the web (such as RSS feeds)
• created by a team of former Ultima Online developers and others (Raph Koster, ...)
• etc ...
• and it's free!

As I am currently working for an educational institution it is just obvious to investigate Metaplace for educational purposes such as distance learning or online components for face-to-face courses - as soon as it is available for the public.

It might beat other systems such as Second Life in terms of the ease of use for the not-so-computer-literate (i.e. the majority of all computer users) and the common problem of minimum system requirements.

It's still all rumors; however, I am looking forward to test this thing.

via this article on BBC news

Here is some more insider information.

PocketMod

For all gadget lovers: now there is PocketMod, a pocket-size organizer. Contrary to PDAs (personal digital assistants) this device can be described as a PAA. It has all features of common PDAs/organizers, such as:

• calendar
• games
• spreadsheets
• contacts
• etc...

• it's thinner (0.5-2 mm)
• it will never run out of charge
• data loss is impossible (providing you don't loose the device)
• it works in any climate and temperature that is not critical to the user
• you can fold it
• it uses a groundbreaking input device and does not require any buttons or keyboards
• it is environment-friendly, can be easily disposed and recycled
• it comes with a high-resolution full color or monochrome display better than any other device on the market
• it can be backed up in numerous ways
• you can pick your own design
• it is absolutely shock-proof
• the interface is intuitive and self-explanatory even if you never used a computer before
• it can be modified without any programming skills within seconds
• IT IS FREE! No catch.

Famous testimonials:

»It's like writing on paper!«
- Steve Jobs when confronted with the PocketMod after the iPhone key note announcement

»I want to turn it off. Where is the Start button?«
- Bill Gates on the PocketMod usability

»A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.«
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

»Sex is only dirty if it's done right.«
- Woody Allen

So why don't you go and get your PocketMod today?

Die Suchmaschinerin

Now there IS an alternative to Google. A new search engine named Miss Dewey provides a completely new user experience.

I don't even know if search results are really accurate, but hell: Who cares?

Towel Day

Brigitte Bardot celebrating Towel Day.

Towel Day is considered the first and only universal public holiday ever. It is celebrated by countless creatures throughout the universe since time without beginning. The origin lies mere 5 years ago, but living in an interstellar age time lost it's chronological order and became as useless as a digital watch without batteries. Probably even more.

Towel Day is a day to commemorate the (past or upcoming) death of Douglas Adams (it depends if you read this before or after his passing). He was/is/will be the father of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe, the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom.

Also Towel Day should remind you never to underestimate the value of your towel. As we all know, »any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with«. In that respect Towel Day wants to remind each and every one of us not to forget that towel when the crucial moment comes.

In the following you will find some terrestrial locals celebrating towel day.

Read the full post

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Talking about sheep: By chance an electric sheep crossed my way. I have troubles to explain this myself ? I just call it a collective evolutionary open source digital genetic darvinistic artificial genome flock sheep breeding art form.

Some quotes from the website:

»Electric Sheep realizes the collective dream of sleeping computers from all over the internet. It's a distributed screen-saver that harnesses idle computers into a render farm with the purpose of animating and evolving artificial life-forms.«

»Its shape, motion, and color are specified by a genetic code, a long string of numbers. If a user sees a sheep they like, they may press the up arrow key to vote for it. Sheep that receive more votes live longer and are more likely to reproduce. These votes form a fitness function for the aesthetic evolution of the flock.«

»I believe the free flow of code is an increasingly important social and artistic force.«

You may call it a waste of bandwidth. I find this homage to Philip K. Dick's novel »Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?« extremely interesting.

Almighty!

»What a crock of s**t - you could use those arguments to support a 1 button keyboard.«
(comment on the article Why Apple Makes a One Buttoned Mouse)

Wow! I never expected that Apple would bite the bullet and dare the impossible to sell a multibutton mouse!

I personally never liked (and never owned) a single button mouse because I always felt that with just one button I would have a surplus of four useless fingers on my hand.

Honestly I thought it's more likely that Apple would quit all that computer business and sell wombats or something, than to ever, ever introduce a multibutton mouse. One button versus multi-buttons seemed to be a question of faith in the religious war between the more fatalistic Mac and Windows users.

Well, now for me there is only one more thing left to change for Apple: please get rid of your secret company policy that all Apple Store staff have to be arrogant pricks. This is an international phenomenon and I don't believe it's just coincidence that you only have a chance to get hired if you are a snotty, opinionated dickhead.

Cheers!

Weißwurstfrühstück

Dekadenz deluxe: Weißwurstfrühstück (white saussage breakfast) with Erdinger Weißbier (beer brewed from wheat), Brez´n (pretzels) and Händlmaier Senf (sweet mustard) down under - to show those Australian and Japanese guys how to wake up your stomach without using Vegemite or rice balls. Naoya, the Japanese gentleman in this picture, was very enthusiastic about it. I am surprised.

Computers are Useless, They Just Give Answers.

That´s a graffito on a wall in Melbourne. And the most important thing I learnt here in my semester abroad in Melbourne so far. Computers are a tool to realize ideas, but not to develop them. It´s as simple as that. However, it´s the main problem of in the first place multimedia students and also of people working in other fields. The approach of assignments is completely different here. Whilst at the FH Vorarlberg in Austria most of the students started to work on the computer at once, here at RMIT in Melbourne the computer enters the stage at a very late moment. I don´t say that the Austrian uni is that bad at all (it is not), but the kind of understanding multimedia work is obvious: on the one hand the technical equipment is really great, on the other hand there is not offered a drawing course to improve (or even get into) drawing scetches. There is nothing that´s worth more in developing ideas than to roughly (and quickly) bring it to paper. Technique is more important than ideas? This is wrong. It makes us to people who just do their jobs without thinking about it. The modern assembly line designer.
What´s worth more? A perfect 3d animation with a lousy idea or a simple scetch people can laugh about? Final Fantasy or Gary Larson? Without a good idea it´s not worth to start a work. You might love your photorealistic scenery, the audience doesn´t give a shit on the technique if you bore them. And THEY are right.