Ren Reynolds, Dave Taylor and I enjoy the Brighton evening sun and the great hospitality of the Linden's Second Life gathering. Nice to be relaxing not pitching for a change.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Roo's Goodbye
Roo created this montage to say goodbye to us all. He has also given us all our Legotar too. That's why we are so sad to lose him. Creative, funny and just does stuff.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Guitar Hero DS in action - well sort of....
I tried to get a bit of film of my new DS lite + guitar hero working. Bearing in mind I was using an n95 to film it and needed both hands to play the game, I think it gets the point across. It works, its great, I like it alot.
**Update I had not read the track lists online so it was an immense surprise and made me even happier to find my favourite song ever in here. W00t! for Stray Cat Strut
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Cool.... Upgrades
I finally decided it was time to upgrade my old DS to a DS lite. In game there was a custom Guitar Hero bundle. Well it had to be done. The Guitar Hero on Tour is the most insane add on I have seen.
It is even more mad than the small rubber covers I bought to reduce the noise on the Rockband drum set. Turns out they slowed elemmings drumming down and ruined her mojo, so they have been removed again. Still the box had an amusing tag line on it
Hi dad, your are a blogger now no going back
This is very cool, my dad has dived into computing the last few weeks. (hi dad if you are reading this). The ability to get a 3g card and a laptop, in an affordable way has meant he is able to dive in and just get on with it.
Despite all the years of me and computers, whilst taking an interest there is nothing like being thrown in at the deep end and trying to figure these things out. He has already come to terms with the fact that Windoze just does weird thigns sometimes. He has understood what to ask Google. He has set up a gmail account.
I got an email telling me he now has a blog. Now we had a little chat about blogging on the phone and he has read all the stuff I have written in various places. I suggested that his memories of Great Yarmouth as its industry changed and as he grew up was worth writing down in bits and pieces on a blog somewhere.
So bearing in mind that when I was doing the initial phone support we had a misundersatnding on the difference between shift and space on the keyboard and that the mouse pointer over something means covering it up to us tech geeks, but can mean vertically above to the uninitiated (funny but all makes sense both ways I think), dad now has hit blogger.com and started with boyron-boyron
Bear in mind also that when I tell C level executives or key customers that they need to just try blogging themselves, just one article, just one submit button before embarking on suggesting blogging to their employees (web2 is web do), well my dad has put many of those who have not dared to shame. He has had a computer for about 4 weeks.
A brilliant first step and I am very proud :-)
Despite all the years of me and computers, whilst taking an interest there is nothing like being thrown in at the deep end and trying to figure these things out. He has already come to terms with the fact that Windoze just does weird thigns sometimes. He has understood what to ask Google. He has set up a gmail account.
I got an email telling me he now has a blog. Now we had a little chat about blogging on the phone and he has read all the stuff I have written in various places. I suggested that his memories of Great Yarmouth as its industry changed and as he grew up was worth writing down in bits and pieces on a blog somewhere.
So bearing in mind that when I was doing the initial phone support we had a misundersatnding on the difference between shift and space on the keyboard and that the mouse pointer over something means covering it up to us tech geeks, but can mean vertically above to the uninitiated (funny but all makes sense both ways I think), dad now has hit blogger.com and started with boyron-boyron
Bear in mind also that when I tell C level executives or key customers that they need to just try blogging themselves, just one article, just one submit button before embarking on suggesting blogging to their employees (web2 is web do), well my dad has put many of those who have not dared to shame. He has had a computer for about 4 weeks.
A brilliant first step and I am very proud :-)
Catch the handbag
A hilarious situation has just arisen. This week being school hols the grandparents have decided to take the predlets on holiday down to Cornwall. That's a good couple of hundred miles west of here. The plan was to leave at 9am this morning. So from about 8:30 to 9am we had a massive whirl of activity and car packing. Lots of "have we got x" and "yes we have y".
Anyway, off they went.
A great sign of relief, made some toast, wondered what we are going to do all week as the predlets not being around leaves a massive void.
About 15 minutes into the wind down elemming notices her mums handbag, sat on our dining room table. Containing money, mobile, address of campsite etc.
ZOMG! panic. We had to make a decision to hope they noticed and came back or chase after them or both.
We went for both. elemming jumped in the car with the handbag and headed south west. I stayed to man the phone. The basis being, if they noticed and cam back atleast the handbag was going the right direction. If the handbag caught up then good. Worse case being elemming ended up in cornwall. Though it also turns out elemming has left her handbag here though does atleast have her phone. More importantly my toast is getting cold as I had to write this before I collapse laughing.
Luckily whilst writing this the phone went. They had noticed about 10 miles down the road and elemming happened to see them coming back on a regular road (as opposed to the motorway) and flashed them down. The bag exchange has been made and the holiday is back on.
And relax.......
Anyway, off they went.
A great sign of relief, made some toast, wondered what we are going to do all week as the predlets not being around leaves a massive void.
About 15 minutes into the wind down elemming notices her mums handbag, sat on our dining room table. Containing money, mobile, address of campsite etc.
ZOMG! panic. We had to make a decision to hope they noticed and came back or chase after them or both.
We went for both. elemming jumped in the car with the handbag and headed south west. I stayed to man the phone. The basis being, if they noticed and cam back atleast the handbag was going the right direction. If the handbag caught up then good. Worse case being elemming ended up in cornwall. Though it also turns out elemming has left her handbag here though does atleast have her phone. More importantly my toast is getting cold as I had to write this before I collapse laughing.
Luckily whilst writing this the phone went. They had noticed about 10 miles down the road and elemming happened to see them coming back on a regular road (as opposed to the motorway) and flashed them down. The bag exchange has been made and the holiday is back on.
And relax.......
Friday, July 18, 2008
Bye Bye Roo, Hello again.
As has been swarming around the interweb today Roo has given his notice and is ready to take up his new role as a porfolio executive at the BBC. I said pretty much what I needed to say on eightbar
Many people assumed it was going to be your truly leaving the fold, especially after my very public outing of criticism of the lack of balance reward wise for all our efforts. However, Roo has got a fantastic role in a place that suits his media savvy self.
We are very similar and very different at the same time and working together has taight me a great deal about social media, working contacts and being a generally gregarious person. All that I learned from Roo.
A comparison that works I think is that I am Jeremy Clarkson and Roo is Richard Hammond (but taller).
Anyway thankyou Roo for a great couple of years at the bleeding edge, I am proud of what we have acheived, and really happy at your new gig.
My 18 years in IBM has seen a fair few people come and go, but this one is the hardest, but the most deserved.
See you in LA :-)
Many people assumed it was going to be your truly leaving the fold, especially after my very public outing of criticism of the lack of balance reward wise for all our efforts. However, Roo has got a fantastic role in a place that suits his media savvy self.
We are very similar and very different at the same time and working together has taight me a great deal about social media, working contacts and being a generally gregarious person. All that I learned from Roo.
A comparison that works I think is that I am Jeremy Clarkson and Roo is Richard Hammond (but taller).
Anyway thankyou Roo for a great couple of years at the bleeding edge, I am proud of what we have acheived, and really happy at your new gig.
My 18 years in IBM has seen a fair few people come and go, but this one is the hardest, but the most deserved.
See you in LA :-)
Monday, July 14, 2008
100% livin' on the edge
I managed to get a 100% in Aerosmith guitar hero on Livin' on the edge. It felt very good, if not a little ironic at the moment. Yes OK its only medium but in all the games so far of GH iii and Rockband I dont think I have ever just maxed it, especially not on a 1st go.
I do really really like this song though.
Having been off ill for a few days, not eating, not being able to think and being on my own as elemming was away and the predlets went to their grandparents, I have a theory that on gaining a sense or normality, my normal flowing threads of ideas, problems, solutions and ideas that never stop, had done. I was for once, playing, and completely lost in it.
The odd thing is the times this normaly happens is when I am on stage or enthusing to customers about the usual virtual world subject. Then I am lost in the moment, fully focused, delivering what happens as it happens pulling various threads together.
Maybe, just maybe I should dig out the real guitar and approach it with this state of mind, rather than worry about the technical elements?
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
My record is clean again on Youtube
After a slight delay of nearly 2 weeks my youtube video of the terracota warriors and court 2 at wimbledon is back. Thanks to everyone for helping and putting up with my stand on this. So I have come back from Wimbledon, I am recovering from what is digital equivalent of an endurance rally raid, and my name is cleared once more. Happy days (and saw Henry Winkler the fonz in the canteen the other day)
Dear Ian,IMG Media has retracted its copyright claim with respect to the following video:http://www.youtube.com/v/a_ROI-4VqDY Title:Terracotta Warriors at Wimbledon 2008
This content has been restored and your account will not be penalised. For technical reasons, it may take a day for the video to be availableagain.
Dear Ian,IMG Media has retracted its copyright claim with respect to the following video:http://www.youtube.com/v/a_ROI-4VqDY Title:Terracotta Warriors at Wimbledon 2008
This content has been restored and your account will not be penalised. For technical reasons, it may take a day for the video to be availableagain.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Wimbledon Team Photo (nearly)
We were summoned along with the club writers to court number 1 at Wimbledon. There was a confusing conversation with a police officer despite being there with a club employee. Then before you knew it they were trying to line us all up. Just as they did, in a rather jaunty gathering, it started to rain.
film with comedy commentary
Patchouli Woollahra invited me over last night to a screening of the 50's house on haunted hill with additional funny sarcastic comments added. On top of that we have a set of us sitting there joining in with the heckling.
It was just what I needed having been in the same Sim for 2 weeks.
It was here (sorry that not a SLURL) the landmark was being a bit odd SyFy ComPlexus, Isles of Intrigue2 (160, 158, 25)
I keep talking like vincent price now
Saturday, July 05, 2008
There is a chopper gag in here somewhere
Saturday and Sunday here at Wimbledon is a strange experience. The times we work and hours we do sometimes we just have to spend a few moments decompressing. Andy brought in his helicopter control kit. Sat and had a few goes, uttering as we do "we are here on a weekend and we are not getting paid" and then got back on with all the things we do all day.
This app is really cool though, its a trainer for RC helicopters. The model and simulation is brilliant and it uses the same controller as the real RC helicopter.
So for me watching this and seeing how it works was actually part of my work research. Mixing real and virtual as this does for training is an important thing.
This app is really cool though, its a trainer for RC helicopters. The model and simulation is brilliant and it uses the same controller as the real RC helicopter.
So for me watching this and seeing how it works was actually part of my work research. Mixing real and virtual as this does for training is an important thing.
Facebook, another reason it sucks (or is it lawyers)
We were having some fun with Facebook and a Wimbledon events profile and page. We thought it had been deleted by one of the team of writers. Apologies to Mike, he did not delete the Wimbledon Facebook page. Oh no.... Facebook did. Web2.0 corporate madness. The seemed to have taken the page down as Wimbledon is a company. Yet, Wimbledon is a community of people interested in tennis and a bunch of tech geeks from IBM too.
I have not been a great fan of Facebook, but apparently an organization cannot have a page, but an individual can. I see the need to stop spam, stop adverts, stop a takeover. yet here they have taken down a joint community venture that is a real social network because... well must have been too popular.
I am sure the lawyers have got hold of it all, control seeping in (like the mistaken take down by IMG of my Wimbledon youtube video and need for Viacom to be given all the youtube users details)
I know like the rest of the internet Web2.0 will route around this. However, I am very very dissapointed at facebook, and its probably the nail in its coffin for me.
I have not been a great fan of Facebook, but apparently an organization cannot have a page, but an individual can. I see the need to stop spam, stop adverts, stop a takeover. yet here they have taken down a joint community venture that is a real social network because... well must have been too popular.
I am sure the lawyers have got hold of it all, control seeping in (like the mistaken take down by IMG of my Wimbledon youtube video and need for Viacom to be given all the youtube users details)
I know like the rest of the internet Web2.0 will route around this. However, I am very very dissapointed at facebook, and its probably the nail in its coffin for me.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Hands of my data Viacom!
It is dissapointing, but not surprising that a company like Viacom cannot seem to engage with the public in a way that makes them want their content, and those that do they decide to beat up on by forcing google to hand over EVERY users set of details and viewing figures.
I am not sure if Viacom realize that this is such an anti-web libertarian move that the damage it will do to their properties by this action is far reaching.
Yes, protect copyright, but.... if something is good people will pay for it. If you make it hard to consume on the web people will find a way.
You cannot have my details. In fact I think that each youtube user should take some class action or individual legal action against these bullying tactics.
A judge in the US decided how millions of users in the worlds data should be handed over.
I choose what I share, I am obsessively public, but by choice, not by large media company legal action.
I am not sure if Viacom realize that this is such an anti-web libertarian move that the damage it will do to their properties by this action is far reaching.
Yes, protect copyright, but.... if something is good people will pay for it. If you make it hard to consume on the web people will find a way.
You cannot have my details. In fact I think that each youtube user should take some class action or individual legal action against these bullying tactics.
A judge in the US decided how millions of users in the worlds data should be handed over.
I choose what I share, I am obsessively public, but by choice, not by large media company legal action.
Boogie with Britney and Ricky at Wimbledon
Ricky tried to play Boogie on my DS. It was outside in the back garden here at Wimbledon, it was late, very late, so dont judge his skillz too harshly
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Odd coincidences and Wimbledon
During a break at the conference in Rockingham some other people popped into the green room. One was Dennis Payne who runs the brilliant slot racing company Fordpark Raceway
It turns out Dennis was once a ball boy for a few years at Wimbledon and worked on cengtre court during a very different era of tennis. It was incredible to hear the players he had seen and the difference in the game to todays hi tech approach.
I love coincidences, and it was great to meet him. Also to talk about the various clever things we could gadget up to the slot cars, assisted GPS, rfid tracking, onboard cameras etc...
The slot racing looked great too, though I never got out to have a go with it running as I was usually presenting or working.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Michaela Hyde and Michael Rod (and my laptop)
I was presenting at Rockingham raceway in the midlands to hordes of kids. The MC's are Michael Rod and Michaela Hyde.
Now as a tech geek and film fan Michael Rod is part of my youth. On Screentest I distinctly remember watching it to see clips of Star Wars and Battlestar galactica.
Then I watched Tommorrows World relgiously. A fantastic expo of all things tech and future in the 70's and 80's. It was initially live too. Live demo's of the future. Very much like the gadget show.
It is actually a great rush and honour to be able to share what I do with people. When they are people who infleunced me and my choices in career it is even better and an honour for me to be here.
Everyone on this tour is realy friendly and knowlegable, I could do this for a living... hey wait.... I do :-)
Monday, June 30, 2008
An odd perspective
This did come out as an odd perspective, but really the oddness was that poor old judge went to the Wimbledon media canteen to get 2 tea bags for a drink.
They rang up a cost of 3 whole english pounds, and he was distraught to finf something more expensive than petrol.
Widgets, Widgets, Widgets Dot Wimbledon Dot 2.0
A I have blogged this on eightbar and on my internal IBM blog I thought I would put it here too :-)
This year more than ever before the Wimbledon web experience is much more what us Web 2.0 geekanisters would like to see. Letting people experience Wimbledon wherever they happen to be. I am not just talking about the Second Life presence
This widget is another prime example, able to be embedded and posted all over the place, facebook, blogs etc. It is also personalized to the user, the players they choose to follow. Its been a quiet revolution for a website that got 266,311,332 page views last year over the event, but one that I am very happy to see.
So props to Stephen Hammer and the Atlanta sports event crew for putting this widget together. You have the next 7 days to enjoy its live features.
This year more than ever before the Wimbledon web experience is much more what us Web 2.0 geekanisters would like to see. Letting people experience Wimbledon wherever they happen to be. I am not just talking about the Second Life presence
This widget is another prime example, able to be embedded and posted all over the place, facebook, blogs etc. It is also personalized to the user, the players they choose to follow. Its been a quiet revolution for a website that got 266,311,332 page views last year over the event, but one that I am very happy to see.
So props to Stephen Hammer and the Atlanta sports event crew for putting this widget together. You have the next 7 days to enjoy its live features.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Fame and coincidence
Its really funny that we have a picture John Lydon on the wall here in the Wimbledon house. I took the photo the other day of Jay posing by it.
I was playing with my cut down crazy talk doing various faces and thought I would try this one.
Then.... I happened to be showing Qdos for a laugh and it turns out the list I picked... There is John Lydon, in qdos terms slightly better score than me.
Of course I think Qdos needs to sort its act out and let us have single names. The Qdos is for Ian Hughes not epredator :-)
Not serious just a bit of a fun game and another strange coincidence that I said I would do a seperate post on later :-)
I was playing with my cut down crazy talk doing various faces and thought I would try this one.
Then.... I happened to be showing Qdos for a laugh and it turns out the list I picked... There is John Lydon, in qdos terms slightly better score than me.
Of course I think Qdos needs to sort its act out and let us have single names. The Qdos is for Ian Hughes not epredator :-)
Not serious just a bit of a fun game and another strange coincidence that I said I would do a seperate post on later :-)
Wimbledon08 middle sunday - like a stop over on a long distance flight
Middle Sunday here at the Wimbledon championships is a much needed rest for most people. Usually we are just too tired to do anything much, but we tend to all go our own way now on the day.
Still being in the house in SW18 I really could not be bothered to head up the various hills to Wimbledon village, but instead (eventually) took a stroll to Wandsworth town. Basically just because I needed a long walk, and I got to see something different and different people wandering about.
Before I went that direction I popped to out local shop for some supplies, and its right near the park. Already there were quite a few people queueing for tomorrow. Whilst moving the queue for security reasons from the side of the club is a good idea, it is surely good for all the people. The park makes a much more festival side to the whole queuing thing.
It turned out on my detour walk to Wandsworth that a road near us is nearly Ricky's surname. Just an odd coincidence which requires collecting with all the other ones this champs in a post of their own!
A little local art shop, which was closed had some very neat urban gnomes too
So what did I find in Wandsworth (funny every time I type the W I want to type Wimbledon cant think why)
Well I ended up in Game and HMV, but I did see Young's Brewery
Armed with GPS on the N95 I took a bit of a detour, not much just the next road across and it turns out that there is a massively ornate church just at the end of the road. St Barnaby's.
Anyway, I strolled back and spent a few hours playing Boogie on the DS making a little fat man dance to britney spears and some other classics. It was odd as I was going to watch the new Rambo movie, but just could not be bothered. Save that for home when I have a proper TV and sounds system to hand.
The best thing though was my spinach and ricotta pasta. I bought a £2.49 packet, put ina pan with water, salt and olive all. 7 mins later served on a plate with butter and black pepper.
Given my previous post, it is amazing how for £2.50 and 7 minutes of gas I ended up with something very very tasty, cooked al dente. So.... be nice if the venue could sort that out given the prices they charge out companies. Or maybe just pay staff to clean a food prep area and we will cook ourselves and pay a small amount of whatever the food equivalent of corkage is.
Anyway, looks like Spain have just won the Euro2008 final against Germany. Twitter will be happy as Summize was full of chat about "go Spain"
Still being in the house in SW18 I really could not be bothered to head up the various hills to Wimbledon village, but instead (eventually) took a stroll to Wandsworth town. Basically just because I needed a long walk, and I got to see something different and different people wandering about.
Before I went that direction I popped to out local shop for some supplies, and its right near the park. Already there were quite a few people queueing for tomorrow. Whilst moving the queue for security reasons from the side of the club is a good idea, it is surely good for all the people. The park makes a much more festival side to the whole queuing thing.
It turned out on my detour walk to Wandsworth that a road near us is nearly Ricky's surname. Just an odd coincidence which requires collecting with all the other ones this champs in a post of their own!
A little local art shop, which was closed had some very neat urban gnomes too
So what did I find in Wandsworth (funny every time I type the W I want to type Wimbledon cant think why)
Well I ended up in Game and HMV, but I did see Young's Brewery
Armed with GPS on the N95 I took a bit of a detour, not much just the next road across and it turns out that there is a massively ornate church just at the end of the road. St Barnaby's.
Anyway, I strolled back and spent a few hours playing Boogie on the DS making a little fat man dance to britney spears and some other classics. It was odd as I was going to watch the new Rambo movie, but just could not be bothered. Save that for home when I have a proper TV and sounds system to hand.
The best thing though was my spinach and ricotta pasta. I bought a £2.49 packet, put ina pan with water, salt and olive all. 7 mins later served on a plate with butter and black pepper.
Given my previous post, it is amazing how for £2.50 and 7 minutes of gas I ended up with something very very tasty, cooked al dente. So.... be nice if the venue could sort that out given the prices they charge out companies. Or maybe just pay staff to clean a food prep area and we will cook ourselves and pay a small amount of whatever the food equivalent of corkage is.
Anyway, looks like Spain have just won the Euro2008 final against Germany. Twitter will be happy as Summize was full of chat about "go Spain"
Saturday, June 28, 2008
DS drumming mad Skillz
Rob who joins us at Wimbledon to work with Jay dealing with all the photos editing, processing and sorting out for the wimbledon website is a true gaming guru and keep and amongst other things a Golden Eye N64 Uk champion.
He he is in the garden of our rented house playing a superb import bemania game on his DS. As you know I love rockband, well this is the mini version with drums.
He he is in the garden of our rented house playing a superb import bemania game on his DS. As you know I love rockband, well this is the mini version with drums.
Yes we have to live on this. How glamorous
The food here at the Wimbledon press centre is not great. I am not a pro-food photographer but this is the best thing I have had so far. Not saying a great deal.
Having given up on the 4 types of sandwich, I resorted to yoghurt.
As Jay points out there is also the profiteering immorality of the prices knowing media corps are going to suck up the expense.
So I think that tommorrow (middle sunday day off) I will have to find some real food to eat, but not this
Friday, June 27, 2008
failwhale
I decided to join the failwhale facebook group to honour the out of service picture we get on twitter occassionally.
I did a quick SL sign, but what I want to do is recreate it as a sculpty.
Maybe have an app detect and then rez it in SL when it happens.
Shirts, hats, contact lenses all to do yet too. A side project of course
Thursday, June 26, 2008
When audio goes wrong
We normally have gladiator playing as we drive past the queue into Wimbledon. No reason, its just inspiring as is Wimbledon. It was an in joke for a few days.
Today our commute was adjusted in an amusing way
Today our commute was adjusted in an amusing way
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Andy as an Avatar @ Wimbledon
Another Crazy Talk special :-) it made us all laugh. Andy is part of the furniture here at Wimbledon
Jay and Johnny
He could be wrong, he could be right. Jay our designer of legend poses with a Mr Lydon nee Rotten in our Wimbledon house before heading to the venue
Jay is making a foray into blogging this year on this site so pop on over and get his perspective on the designer and photo role that he has with IBM @ Wimbledon
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Oi! where's my video gone.
**update 9:20am 25/1/08
Just had it explained to me that IMG had been trawling for copyrighted material and accidently revoked my video. I have had a conversation indicating that we want people to be able to youtube and record their time at Wimbledon and that we they need to be careful in the balance of brand ownership and protection, against the blatant ripping of content. As we engage with a brand we take a little ownership of that brand. Its a hard balance for media rights companies, and there are subtleties and impact way past the obvious. Still its getting sorted and normal service will be resumed. I did also point out I dont want special treatment because I sit in the room next door, this care for public content needs to apply across the board.
*original post for the record
I was a little surprised just now to have got this DMCA removal of a video I just posted to youtube. As I work onsite, I have access to the wimbledon grounds, but where I shot the video is open to the public, and we had a photo session there today for 10 mins.
The new number 2 court is being built and some terracota statues are in place of some of the players. I videoed them and the court and cut a small video becuase it all looked like a Second Life build.
"This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by IMG Media claiming that this material is infringing:
Terracotta Warriors at Wimbledon 2008: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=a_ROI-4VqDY
"
Someone being a little heavy handed. So I have filed a rebuke via email. However i suspect some conversations will be needed tommorrow with some "colleagues"
And its posted on eightbar
If it turns out I am wrong in some way then that puts pay to any form of behind the scenes commentary. Could be an honest mistake on their part. Either way grrrrrrr!
Just had it explained to me that IMG had been trawling for copyrighted material and accidently revoked my video. I have had a conversation indicating that we want people to be able to youtube and record their time at Wimbledon and that we they need to be careful in the balance of brand ownership and protection, against the blatant ripping of content. As we engage with a brand we take a little ownership of that brand. Its a hard balance for media rights companies, and there are subtleties and impact way past the obvious. Still its getting sorted and normal service will be resumed. I did also point out I dont want special treatment because I sit in the room next door, this care for public content needs to apply across the board.
*original post for the record
I was a little surprised just now to have got this DMCA removal of a video I just posted to youtube. As I work onsite, I have access to the wimbledon grounds, but where I shot the video is open to the public, and we had a photo session there today for 10 mins.
The new number 2 court is being built and some terracota statues are in place of some of the players. I videoed them and the court and cut a small video becuase it all looked like a Second Life build.
"This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by IMG Media claiming that this material is infringing:
Terracotta Warriors at Wimbledon 2008: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=a_ROI-4VqDY
"
Someone being a little heavy handed. So I have filed a rebuke via email. However i suspect some conversations will be needed tommorrow with some "colleagues"
And its posted on eightbar
If it turns out I am wrong in some way then that puts pay to any form of behind the scenes commentary. Could be an honest mistake on their part. Either way grrrrrrr!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
More book thanks:- brushing print shoulder with fame
A former colleague Walter Hehl in switzerland has written a book on technology futures. I had a nice list in this post of books where I get a mention or had some hand in, this is now another one. The book has some pictures I had done of Wimbledon 06 and Walter, and many of the Zurich crew had dived headlong into Second Life and virtual worlds with us in eightbar.
The cool thing about this thanks page is the company I am sandwiched between. Grady Booch, Oliver Goh, Me and Ray Kurzweil.
It gave me a real kick seeing this today.
My CV as a Tag Cloud - CV 2.0 ?
A colleague at IBM found another colleague at IBM's side project website. A tag cloud generator, and decided to pop their CV through it. It gave some really great results so I gave it a go too on wordle.net
The results are very impressive, and quite an interesting way to represent who you are and what you do.
My full public CV is linked on the right of this post, it was the source for this.
If may be an interesting way to look at what people have written and decide if they fit in a role that you have or compare tag clouds of jobs versus people.
I suspect there are not that many tag cloud position descriptions that would match with this one though (he said modestly)
The results are very impressive, and quite an interesting way to represent who you are and what you do.
My full public CV is linked on the right of this post, it was the source for this.
If may be an interesting way to look at what people have written and decide if they fit in a role that you have or compare tag clouds of jobs versus people.
I suspect there are not that many tag cloud position descriptions that would match with this one though (he said modestly)
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Radio control car with motion tracking headset - Awesome
On the gadget show last night they had this awesome radio controlled car. An in car camera, but one that responds to your head movements and tracks what you want to look at. It projects the incar view to you on a visor headset. Fantastic stuff.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Glassdoor, public salaries and does that add up?
I have become intrigued by glassdoor.com and I am not the only one I should imagine. It aims to help demystify salaries and employee opinion by gathering mass contributions in a web2.0 ugc style.
Clearly this taps into the whole trend for sharing, and one that I am usually quite happy to go along with. Indeed I think that openess in organization atleast on salary when performance is said to be relative to your peers when rated, yet the results are secret seems a bit barmy to me.
However the openess on pay has to be across the board, a few of us volunteering publicly to share will simply be used as a weapon by those who choose not to share.
The anonymous nature of glassdoor tries a different approach. Many corporates benchmark themselves against the wages and benefits of others, but again its cloak and dagger stuff. I mean that information in the hands of a potentially disgruntled workforce leads to all sort of problems for those attempting to keep control of the purse strings. A prime example if the current petrol tanker drivers strike. Fuel companies have to publicly declare their earnings and massive profits, also maybe the bonuses of bosses to shareholders for accountability. Well, thats public information and sure enough those workers down the food chain will say "where is my share?"
However, getting back to glassdoor. There is another side effect that will happen. Clearly people who share what they earn will feel underpaid and be wanting to prove it in general. If the mass amount of data on the site is people who feel underpaid and undervalued then the averages will be low. Those averages will then not help those salaries increase? The opposite may be only the very well paid confess, as an anonymous blag "loadsamoney" style. That make the average insanely high and makes the actually average paid not to badly done by population annoyed along with the undervalued.
Of course the way around this is not individual action, but companies publishing all their salaries, but that is very unlikely to happen.
So we are left with something that really should work, should be done, but seems to be in a place that would take a politician from the West Wing tv programme to sort out.
Yes I have shared mine on there, mainly to feel what it feels like to give that information. Its never really gone well if I have discussed my salary with anyone. People with less experience are bound to think its too much, people with more experience laugh at it and remember back, people with the same or near experience...well they are in competition so who on earth believes anyone.
Lets see where this one goes.
Clearly this taps into the whole trend for sharing, and one that I am usually quite happy to go along with. Indeed I think that openess in organization atleast on salary when performance is said to be relative to your peers when rated, yet the results are secret seems a bit barmy to me.
However the openess on pay has to be across the board, a few of us volunteering publicly to share will simply be used as a weapon by those who choose not to share.
The anonymous nature of glassdoor tries a different approach. Many corporates benchmark themselves against the wages and benefits of others, but again its cloak and dagger stuff. I mean that information in the hands of a potentially disgruntled workforce leads to all sort of problems for those attempting to keep control of the purse strings. A prime example if the current petrol tanker drivers strike. Fuel companies have to publicly declare their earnings and massive profits, also maybe the bonuses of bosses to shareholders for accountability. Well, thats public information and sure enough those workers down the food chain will say "where is my share?"
However, getting back to glassdoor. There is another side effect that will happen. Clearly people who share what they earn will feel underpaid and be wanting to prove it in general. If the mass amount of data on the site is people who feel underpaid and undervalued then the averages will be low. Those averages will then not help those salaries increase? The opposite may be only the very well paid confess, as an anonymous blag "loadsamoney" style. That make the average insanely high and makes the actually average paid not to badly done by population annoyed along with the undervalued.
Of course the way around this is not individual action, but companies publishing all their salaries, but that is very unlikely to happen.
So we are left with something that really should work, should be done, but seems to be in a place that would take a politician from the West Wing tv programme to sort out.
Yes I have shared mine on there, mainly to feel what it feels like to give that information. Its never really gone well if I have discussed my salary with anyone. People with less experience are bound to think its too much, people with more experience laugh at it and remember back, people with the same or near experience...well they are in competition so who on earth believes anyone.
Lets see where this one goes.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wow I am in a lot of books
I just did a quick count up of the number of books I have made it into in various ways the past 2 years. I have kept fairly up to date with references on delicious to epredator I keep a pile of press cuttings and pamphlets to show the grand predlet's one day, and also to remind me of what an amazing time this has been with virtual worlds, IBM and of course Second Life in particular as Ian Hughes/epredator/epredator potato. So, by way of personal ego massage and plug for some great books here goes:
Second Lives by Tim Guest - A major part of the chapter on the rise of corporate interest in virtual worlds and of course Wimbledon
The Making of Second Life by Wagner James Au - A very kind mention in the list of thanks, something I did not expect as much of the great stuff in this book is before my time as epredator potato.
Eating the IT elephant by Richard Hopkins and Keving Jenkins - A nice credit suggesting I was helping put the final nails in the coffin of powerpoint architectures.
Second Life the Official Guide (Second Edition) (by lots of folks) - Not seen a copy yet, but I appear to be in the index (*update my copy arrived today from Amazon and ther is a shiny new whole page on epredator potato, thanks to Wagner James Au again as I now remember the vignette I wrote for the page)
A brand new book on marketing 2.0 on its way to the publisher as I type.
It seems I should write my own book, or maybe I should save that for when its all business as usual :-)
Second Lives by Tim Guest - A major part of the chapter on the rise of corporate interest in virtual worlds and of course Wimbledon
The Making of Second Life by Wagner James Au - A very kind mention in the list of thanks, something I did not expect as much of the great stuff in this book is before my time as epredator potato.
Eating the IT elephant by Richard Hopkins and Keving Jenkins - A nice credit suggesting I was helping put the final nails in the coffin of powerpoint architectures.
Second Life the Official Guide (Second Edition) (by lots of folks) - Not seen a copy yet, but I appear to be in the index (*update my copy arrived today from Amazon and ther is a shiny new whole page on epredator potato, thanks to Wagner James Au again as I now remember the vignette I wrote for the page)
A brand new book on marketing 2.0 on its way to the publisher as I type.
It seems I should write my own book, or maybe I should save that for when its all business as usual :-)
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Yikes £1.19 a Litre
Enough said really. Very expensive to move around these days. If only we have some sort of way to communicate as humans, yet still feel the presence of others, we could call it a metaverse or something.
Monday, June 09, 2008
It's amusing when the sky schedule display combines in such ways
This happens a lot, either the names are truncated on the on screen viewer in amusing ways, or two programmes flow into one another as a concept.
One to look out for :-)
Saturday, June 07, 2008
NakedGun GTAIV skit from games radar
Thankyou to Michael Buckbee for tweeting this
The guys at gamesradar have the full article here, but as they allow embedds, the video is here. The intro sequence to Naked Gun/Police Squad in GTAIV. Sheer genius.
The guys at gamesradar have the full article here, but as they allow embedds, the video is here. The intro sequence to Naked Gun/Police Squad in GTAIV. Sheer genius.
I wish all my avatars had this attitude - Rockband
This is video of epredator on guitar. Green spikey hair (the consistent thread across worlds where possible) but its an awesome avatar. Nice work by Harmonix to allow this sort of customization. Check out Rockband.com
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Rockband epredator and elemming
Green spikey hair is the order of the day in Rockband for epredator. Some more work is needed on the eightbar tatoo (not seen here). elemming has discovered a talent for the drums.
Our band is called "say ta" as thats what we keep saying to predlet2.0 to get him to say thankyou :-)
We rock BTW :-)
Friday, May 30, 2008
Lets rock
I got back from the family holiday and the huge rock band instruments pack had arrived. I have only had a fleeting go on it as I managed to catch some bug on holiday, all these planes and travelling take their toll in the end.
First impressions. It does indeed rock. Mrs Epred a.k.a. elemming loved the drums.
I did a bit of custom avatar work to get my green spikey hair and an eightbar tatoo. More of that later on eightbar when I catch up on this being away backlog.
I also Downloaded the oasis songs, wonderwall and rock and roll star.
So I have not played gtaIv for 3 weeks or so and now have rockband and a slighlty over committed punishing work and life schedule looming.
Still thats what 2am is for.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Day 2 at CTRE in the desert, mummys, drums, rafts and country and western
The second full day at the Arizona Biltmore was even more packed than yesterday. Up at the crack of dawn, well 7:30am and off to breakfast.
The morning session was hosted by Nick Donofrio, who is retiring this year. This being his last CTRE was something of an emotional time as he has been quite an influence on many of the technical great and good in the company. So this was the start of a goodbye from Nick, though as he pointed out he is not really going anywhere.
We then had two guest speakers. The first was Dr Zahi Hawass. He is the "real life Indiana Jones" from Egypt. He has a fantastic passion and enthusiasm for archeaolgy and history. He presented a set of photos, but in fact it was his delivery and story telling that captivated the audience. I have seen him a good few times on TV including the live events in the valley of the kings. He explained some great pieces of detective work from both traditional methods and blending with CAT scanners and a DNA lab he now has.
It was interesting to hear a person with a passion for something for so long speak about it. It was also interesting the semi relunctant fame, but loving it really, that he alluded to. Clearly he is a public figure with some mad internet true stories about secret tunnels leading from his office bathroom to the great pyramids where they say he hides finds for later.
Our second speaker and performer was Angelique Kidjo. As a multiple grammy award winning musical perfomer of "world music" she and her band did a fantastic set with a mixture of songs and of monologue from Kidjo about her life and her wish to make good thigns happen for her native country of Benin and for the african continent. She even got a room full of IBMers singing along with her. She is very hard to ignore and as a UN ambassador she is clearly having the influence she wants. Her foundation Batonga is the focus of much of this passion, mainly to improve Africa through the education of women.
After that rousing start to the morning we all headed out for lunch and then to the afternoon activites.
We headed out on a inflatable raft drifting down the salt river
It was pretty relaxing really, we say all sorts of wildlife (as we were the first raft down in raft number 13). Horses, Bald Eagles and some locals having a swim.
On coming back from the trip we sat and drink beer in the sun with Andy, Kath and Daz hearing tales of their trip.
Then it was off to put on the suit and tie for the gala evening. In the massive ballroom we all had allocated tables and an allocated exec. The warm up act was a guy doing some brilliant musical impressions, singing all the parts of we are the world. He was very very good. I really like impressionist acts, but I think everyone enjoyed it.
Then was the slighlty more official bye bye to Nick. He was presented with a poster of him running, but done as a photo mosaic of all the attendee photos. We were on the table next doo to Nick's right at the front and you could tell he really was moved by it all. It also meant I got atleast to chake his hand and thank him for his influence on me and us all. Its cool we are all going to be hanging on his wall somewhere watching on.
The evening then kicked off big time (after a fantastic meal of scallops, beef and baked alaska + wine) when the guest act turned up. Lean Rimes came on stage and did a fantastic set. I am not a massive country and western fan, though I have heard a lot of it. she is atleast a bit more contempary. Though any live music of this sort if bound to be good. I know we really enjoyed this gig.
A good night was had by all, we returned to the room to find we had a pewter photo frame in the style of Frank Lloyd-Wrights work at the Bilmore hotel.
The next day was departure day, but before the 10 hour overnight flight back we went out and about with Andy and Kath to Scottsdale's old town. On the way we saw a very unusual ornament on the back of a truck
We got home ok, though jet lag coming back is never pleasant. I did get a chance to both write this, uplaid some photos to flickr the full set is here if you are interested
I also put a load of video together of the Hummer tour from the previous post. It includes at around 1 min 44 the snake wrangling.
The morning session was hosted by Nick Donofrio, who is retiring this year. This being his last CTRE was something of an emotional time as he has been quite an influence on many of the technical great and good in the company. So this was the start of a goodbye from Nick, though as he pointed out he is not really going anywhere.
We then had two guest speakers. The first was Dr Zahi Hawass. He is the "real life Indiana Jones" from Egypt. He has a fantastic passion and enthusiasm for archeaolgy and history. He presented a set of photos, but in fact it was his delivery and story telling that captivated the audience. I have seen him a good few times on TV including the live events in the valley of the kings. He explained some great pieces of detective work from both traditional methods and blending with CAT scanners and a DNA lab he now has.
It was interesting to hear a person with a passion for something for so long speak about it. It was also interesting the semi relunctant fame, but loving it really, that he alluded to. Clearly he is a public figure with some mad internet true stories about secret tunnels leading from his office bathroom to the great pyramids where they say he hides finds for later.
Our second speaker and performer was Angelique Kidjo. As a multiple grammy award winning musical perfomer of "world music" she and her band did a fantastic set with a mixture of songs and of monologue from Kidjo about her life and her wish to make good thigns happen for her native country of Benin and for the african continent. She even got a room full of IBMers singing along with her. She is very hard to ignore and as a UN ambassador she is clearly having the influence she wants. Her foundation Batonga is the focus of much of this passion, mainly to improve Africa through the education of women.
After that rousing start to the morning we all headed out for lunch and then to the afternoon activites.
We headed out on a inflatable raft drifting down the salt river
It was pretty relaxing really, we say all sorts of wildlife (as we were the first raft down in raft number 13). Horses, Bald Eagles and some locals having a swim.
On coming back from the trip we sat and drink beer in the sun with Andy, Kath and Daz hearing tales of their trip.
Then it was off to put on the suit and tie for the gala evening. In the massive ballroom we all had allocated tables and an allocated exec. The warm up act was a guy doing some brilliant musical impressions, singing all the parts of we are the world. He was very very good. I really like impressionist acts, but I think everyone enjoyed it.
Then was the slighlty more official bye bye to Nick. He was presented with a poster of him running, but done as a photo mosaic of all the attendee photos. We were on the table next doo to Nick's right at the front and you could tell he really was moved by it all. It also meant I got atleast to chake his hand and thank him for his influence on me and us all. Its cool we are all going to be hanging on his wall somewhere watching on.
The evening then kicked off big time (after a fantastic meal of scallops, beef and baked alaska + wine) when the guest act turned up. Lean Rimes came on stage and did a fantastic set. I am not a massive country and western fan, though I have heard a lot of it. she is atleast a bit more contempary. Though any live music of this sort if bound to be good. I know we really enjoyed this gig.
A good night was had by all, we returned to the room to find we had a pewter photo frame in the style of Frank Lloyd-Wrights work at the Bilmore hotel.
The next day was departure day, but before the 10 hour overnight flight back we went out and about with Andy and Kath to Scottsdale's old town. On the way we saw a very unusual ornament on the back of a truck
We got home ok, though jet lag coming back is never pleasant. I did get a chance to both write this, uplaid some photos to flickr the full set is here if you are interested
I also put a load of video together of the Hummer tour from the previous post. It includes at around 1 min 44 the snake wrangling.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Full Day at the cool award trip in Arizona - Defying Limits
This first full day of CTRE after a night of relaxed reception last night started with an early breakfast, seemingly too early but what can you do!
We then had a 4 hour morning session. The main speaker was Frans Johansson author of the medici effect. A great presenter, I was sort of taking notes mentally in the delivery. His main point is that real ideas and innovation comes from diverse and apparently unrelated teams. Much of what he said was preaching to the converted. The theme being defying limits.
I already had by defacing my badge with my moo sticker.
Then we had SJP (the IBM chairman/CEO) pop along and give a more financial related pitch. It was a good one, he was as per usual relaxed and natural on stage. Threw in a good few jokes as well.
Next was all the new fellows, then some extra awards of 20-30k awards to people for cool things and patents.
It was a good sport to guess what them music they played for each award. e.g. telecoms people they played "hanging on the telephone" and automative "Cars" by Gary Newman.
Then it was the afternoon activities after a very very quick lunch.
For us a hummer ride in the Arizona desert.
We were on with a few other people, Daz, Andy Bravery and fellow metaverser Paul Moody.
This was very cool, mainly because our driver was from a race car driving family aswell as having some good tales to tell and being a very in control driver off road.
Tonight is off for a quiet meal, its our 13th wedding anniversary on this 13th of may. Seems to have been pretty lucky so far.
What has been cool has seeing so many faces and names I have heard of or interacted with in some way. IBM Fellows and VP's all over the place.
As with all these things there are people who really should be here too, but there are about 500 IBMers from the technical community here. Whilst this clearly is a jolly I hope that its something other people will see as a good thing, we get to swap ideas and put faces to names, spread the word and get more people aspiring to stuff like this.
The main message was to just do what we all do already, ignore the rubbish, the pointless processes etc. Just try things and it will pay off in the end. So I feel I am here with a load of slightly rogue operators, kindred spirits. Which is a good thing.
Of course the one thing that really annoyed me was that in the relaxing room they have some sweets and soda's etc.
However I was disappointed at this.
Now on my rock and roll rider I specifically asked for the blue m&m's to be removed! dont they know who I am !
We then had a 4 hour morning session. The main speaker was Frans Johansson author of the medici effect. A great presenter, I was sort of taking notes mentally in the delivery. His main point is that real ideas and innovation comes from diverse and apparently unrelated teams. Much of what he said was preaching to the converted. The theme being defying limits.
I already had by defacing my badge with my moo sticker.
Then we had SJP (the IBM chairman/CEO) pop along and give a more financial related pitch. It was a good one, he was as per usual relaxed and natural on stage. Threw in a good few jokes as well.
Next was all the new fellows, then some extra awards of 20-30k awards to people for cool things and patents.
It was a good sport to guess what them music they played for each award. e.g. telecoms people they played "hanging on the telephone" and automative "Cars" by Gary Newman.
Then it was the afternoon activities after a very very quick lunch.
For us a hummer ride in the Arizona desert.
We were on with a few other people, Daz, Andy Bravery and fellow metaverser Paul Moody.
This was very cool, mainly because our driver was from a race car driving family aswell as having some good tales to tell and being a very in control driver off road.
Tonight is off for a quiet meal, its our 13th wedding anniversary on this 13th of may. Seems to have been pretty lucky so far.
What has been cool has seeing so many faces and names I have heard of or interacted with in some way. IBM Fellows and VP's all over the place.
As with all these things there are people who really should be here too, but there are about 500 IBMers from the technical community here. Whilst this clearly is a jolly I hope that its something other people will see as a good thing, we get to swap ideas and put faces to names, spread the word and get more people aspiring to stuff like this.
The main message was to just do what we all do already, ignore the rubbish, the pointless processes etc. Just try things and it will pay off in the end. So I feel I am here with a load of slightly rogue operators, kindred spirits. Which is a good thing.
Of course the one thing that really annoyed me was that in the relaxing room they have some sweets and soda's etc.
However I was disappointed at this.
Now on my rock and roll rider I specifically asked for the blue m&m's to be removed! dont they know who I am !
Monday, May 12, 2008
Arizona, yes I am here in Real Life
I am on a work award trip at the moment. Its the fabulous Arizona Biltmore Spa and resort in Phoenix. This morning we went and had breakfast sat in the warm sun and took a walk around taking lots of photos I was just using my mini pentax camera, but wish I had brought a bigger camera to get those magical shots that I know are lurking.
The next few days are a mix of work gatherings, and some recreational activities. Sounds quite packed.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Two bands I realy rate ATM :- pendulum and the ting tings
Yes ok, I am getting on a bit but I am still down with the kidz. Being part of generation V means that I dont care if I am the right demographic.
Two things that have got into my head, in particular for prepping for the next few weeks travelling. In no particular order
1. Pendulum. Their new album In silico is on its way the next few days. The song Propane Nightmares is awesome. A mix of electronic and pure rock (probably has some trendy name). I did get a bit confused in that it really has the same hook as smoke on the water as this mini mashup illustrates but dont let that detract from the power of this bands work. The itunes pre-order has a preview track of the entire album. Its catchy, grnungy, a bit punk and resonates with me.
2. The Ting Tings. I was so convinced this was a completely different sort of band when I heard the first Great DJ song. I liked it, it had a hook, but now I have seen them perform, a 2 part band drummer and lead they are amazing. I had no idea they were from Manchester either. Not that that makes a difference.
I was watching The Ting Tings on the red button replays of the BBC radio 1 Big weekend. Two years ago (hear comes some linkage flow) I was at the Second Life BBC radio 1 gig for the same event. It was a formative time. Now on the same day I am sitting watching some bands and about to hit the airport for an award trip to Phoenix as a result of me bringin my company to Second Life and virtual worlds and looking for new music for my ipod.
Of extra interest was that the Ting Tings website says that they are playing habbo hotel on monday! They also have bebo, myspace and facebook presences. It seems its not just their music that I am dran to but their choice of how to reach their audience. Maybe I will get to see them live, though its unlikely as its hard with kids to go to gigs.
Anyway, I am looking forward to both albums immensely!
The power and passion that the two of them put in to deliver some awesome sounds it brilliant. Driving live drum and a haunting and passionate lead singer.
Two things that have got into my head, in particular for prepping for the next few weeks travelling. In no particular order
1. Pendulum. Their new album In silico is on its way the next few days. The song Propane Nightmares is awesome. A mix of electronic and pure rock (probably has some trendy name). I did get a bit confused in that it really has the same hook as smoke on the water as this mini mashup illustrates but dont let that detract from the power of this bands work. The itunes pre-order has a preview track of the entire album. Its catchy, grnungy, a bit punk and resonates with me.
2. The Ting Tings. I was so convinced this was a completely different sort of band when I heard the first Great DJ song. I liked it, it had a hook, but now I have seen them perform, a 2 part band drummer and lead they are amazing. I had no idea they were from Manchester either. Not that that makes a difference.
I was watching The Ting Tings on the red button replays of the BBC radio 1 Big weekend. Two years ago (hear comes some linkage flow) I was at the Second Life BBC radio 1 gig for the same event. It was a formative time. Now on the same day I am sitting watching some bands and about to hit the airport for an award trip to Phoenix as a result of me bringin my company to Second Life and virtual worlds and looking for new music for my ipod.
Of extra interest was that the Ting Tings website says that they are playing habbo hotel on monday! They also have bebo, myspace and facebook presences. It seems its not just their music that I am dran to but their choice of how to reach their audience. Maybe I will get to see them live, though its unlikely as its hard with kids to go to gigs.
Anyway, I am looking forward to both albums immensely!
The power and passion that the two of them put in to deliver some awesome sounds it brilliant. Driving live drum and a haunting and passionate lead singer.
Bronze for public transport !
Odd that I rarely use public transport (cue a jeremy clarkson style rant) however in liberty city in GTA IV my socialclub.rockstargames.com profile is showing I have achieved a mini goal in the meta game of marathon.
(Drive 4,000 miles, walk 400 etc)
Attention to detail GTA IV splat
Admist all the bullet holes, dented fenders and blown tyres in GTA IV there are still some details that I think are pretty cool. Even after getting about 50% through and loads of hours/days of play I noticed last night a lttle splat on the side of my car. As it slid around a corner I had caught a stander by, but I though they just bounced off. No it turns out they left a slight mark on my side panel.
Brilliant, if not a little gory.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Saucepan head GTA IV
The title says it all really. There are some people in liberty city who have an interesting choice in headgear. In this case a saucepan.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Mod for rocket day
Here is my rocket mod for rocket day. A radio controlled disk propeller, no steering, but with the cardboard rocket bolted on top.
It flew ok in the field :-) Though home testing afterward broke it.
Without the weight it flys much better :-)
Rocket - Check those production values
We are having the second (not quite so annual as it was about 4 years ago) rocket launching work event with the Hursley Emerging Tech crew.
I am going for the most unusual category, not the most technically accomplished.
I had to do a last minute bit of changing the way I was approaching this bit of fun. The rocket I bought and was going to custom up turned out to be one that needed solid fuel motors. It was a cheap rocket, but clearly not in the rules of this particular event.
So it was poster paint, stickers and a toilet roll insert to the ready.
This is a component of the top secret approach that will be revealed this afternoon.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
GTAIV Special Edition
Its here, its good. can't type need to explore.
Yes alright its just a game, but having been a game player since the late 70's they have to be very special events to get this excited about.
This one is an event, it is a very very impressive piece of work, but it is also a very expressive environment to explore.
The early parts are really training missions, you have to do those to get the thing to open up even more.
For all the swearing and violence its the carry on style innendo that gets me laughing. The adverts and the tv stations in the apartment. Priceless, well written and completely tongue in cheek.
Not one for the predlets though not too shocking for regular adults I would say :-)
Monday, April 28, 2008
We7 regional lockout
I was happy to see that we7.com seems to have started to break some of the insane restrictive practice of many of the record companies. Having a mix of buy the track or get the track for free plus an advert, in non DRM mp3 format makes sense to me. Downloading tracks is a bit like radio but with choice. Even the non somercial radios spend a while advertizing their gigs and shows.
The minor problem (that they do admit) is the stupid things of "this song is not avaulable in you region). The restrictive practice plagues the games industry. Trying to force some element of zoning on the world to maximize a fake revenue stream at the expense of the customer. When product was physical and had to be manufactured and shipped it made sense that there was a limit to how many units of x, y or z you could deliver. In the long tail of digital content it makes no difference. All it does is annoy customers (in a bad way not a generation of demand way).
If I was an artists I woudl be saying, hell no just let anyone buy my stuff wherever they are.
Still I am sure the powers that be have a much better handle on this than me.
I hope we7 are succesful as they (backed by peter garbriel) seem to be on the side of the conten creators, the artists. They are the ones I want to pay, and I am happy to pay for good stuff.
The minor problem (that they do admit) is the stupid things of "this song is not avaulable in you region). The restrictive practice plagues the games industry. Trying to force some element of zoning on the world to maximize a fake revenue stream at the expense of the customer. When product was physical and had to be manufactured and shipped it made sense that there was a limit to how many units of x, y or z you could deliver. In the long tail of digital content it makes no difference. All it does is annoy customers (in a bad way not a generation of demand way).
If I was an artists I woudl be saying, hell no just let anyone buy my stuff wherever they are.
Still I am sure the powers that be have a much better handle on this than me.
I hope we7 are succesful as they (backed by peter garbriel) seem to be on the side of the conten creators, the artists. They are the ones I want to pay, and I am happy to pay for good stuff.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
