Taking gaming to a new level

For years, gaming has always been compared to watching TV in terms of what your body is doing while doing both. People relied on their mind and hands, giving them a good mental workout…and finger cramps, with occasional bruised thumbs. This is all starting to change, especially now with every major platform making the move to…well…make the GAMER move.

It all started with the arcade games that would make the gamer have to dance their ass tushie off  to earn their points. As time progressed and dancing impaired people protested…eyes began to turn to the Eye Toy. This device was the first of the “let’s make you move during the game” inventions. With not enough games to convert the skeptical, the Playstation Eye Toy ultimately died. While the Eye Toy didn’t revolutionize the world like the iphone, it definitely made other gaming system creators work harder to make their product better and debut earlier to compete. Thus, the Nintendo Wii was introduced. We all remember the horror stories of the crazy lines to get the rare system. Despite the epic fails that ensued concerning people who would destroy their TV’s and other parts of their house by letting their wiimote slip, people continued to use this sytem as not only a gaming device, but also a workout routine.

With more advanced cameras being able to be mass produced, devices such as the Kinect from Microsoft can make way and introduce gaming without the need of “Wiimotes” or controllers such as the Playstation Move. It is becoming more and more apparent that the big 3 (Microsoft, Playstation, and Nintendo) are making big strides to not only immerse the gamer into a virtual world, but also to improve the health of gamers so that they can continue playing these games for a long, long time.

Digital Beauty

With so many different ways to express art in today’s technology geared society, it is only logical that digital art would soon be a mass movement in itself. With the right editing tools, one could theoretically tell a story through a picture, or atleast create  an interesting enough image for the viewer to imagine a story. This can be done through colors, patterns, substitution, etc…all while still having an underlying meaning.

A good example of how colors can be used to make a rather simple picture or scene come to life is by having the entire photo in black and white. Then, by leaving the color in on certain objects or areas…you are drawing attention and putting a sense of importance on an object.

Courtesy of Tech2

This idea of drawing attention can also be seen in other commercial ads where colors or patterns are used to draw attention to a product. In this particular instance, the color red takes control and the viewer as well as the person in the picture is drawn to that direction . While this piece of digital art isn’t exactly making an obvious statement, it leaves it open to interpretation for other people.

Courtesy of Pink Tentacle

My favorite piece of digital art that I have found is one that uses subsitution in terms of changing the heads of human bodies to animal heads. To me, this displays how humans can be dangerous and how we will attack one another like different animals. We, as human beings, forget that we are all the same and should be helping each other out to advance one another, but we tend to tear each other apart to get ahead.

Of course there will always be competition and people say “human nature is to be dangerous”, but with our advanced minds and our ability to actually be rational and think….I hope that one can be inspired from such a piece of just like I was. Either that or the artist just thought it would be cool to put a tiger and a bunny caged in with human bodies…

 

API’s, DNS’, and FTPs! oh my!

Don’t worry…they aren’t as scary as Lions, Tigers, and Bears, BUT given the right circumstances and big enough information pool to feed off of…these alphabetical tech terms could potentially cause quite a stir in the technology world. For now, let’s focus on the letter “A” as in API or Application Programming Interface. Basically, it’s code for a program…that can be implemented in software/programs/websites…simple right? It’s a beautiful thing actually.

Courtesy of SLPN

 

Think about this…API’s are used ALL the time without most people knowing. Google Maps is a great example, because of how it can incorporate code from apartment searches or bargain deal hunters to display the information visually on the map.

Do you like to Tweet? Well there’s an API for that. Tweet deck and Twapper Keeper are API’s that use Twitter’s code to organize it however the consumer pleases. It’s all about relaying info from one source to another.

Out of all the tech acronyms, the API could possibly be the most likely to grow in the future with its vast potential. How far the API can grow depends on big businesses on the web like Facebook, Twitter, Store websites, Search engines like Google, and how open they want to be with the world…and developers.

“Today at its mobile event, Facebook has just announced that it’s opening up its Write API and Search API to Facebook Places, in addition to the Read API that launched earlier this year.”

This excerpt was taken from an article in Tech Crunch on November 3rd talking about Facebook giving developers the ability to write code for their new Facebook Places. What does this mean? Why should you care? Well if you are a developer of APIs you would care very much since this is a potentially big business investment. The idea of being able to help the largest online social network in the world to grow even more powerful can boost anyone’s ego, but for us non developer folk, it’s just a heads up of what is to come. I’ve written about Facebook and coupons which ties into the Facebook places, but now that it’s an open API you can expect more and more things to open up to you if you are a Facebook Places user.

Stories like these can help you get an idea of how APIs are growing and have tremendous potential, not only for consumers but also as a business tactic. Apps in Apple’s App Store are a great way to get the consumer more into the business you are in or promoting. So my advice to everyone is…either learn to write code for APIs….or start becoming good friends with someone who already knows, because APIs aren’t going away anytime soon…

Get to Studying

 

 

What could Facebook POSSIBLY be missing?…coupons

That’s right coupons. As in the the piece of paper or code that saves you money each time you buy something. Whether it’s food, clothes, electronics, or any other type of thing you can buy (sorry you can’t buy back all the hours you spent on Facebook…chances are you would spend it on Facebook again anyway) Facebook has your fixin. But this goes beyond the traditional paper coupons you leave behind at the grocery store. What Facebook is propositioning to retail stores is a genius business move in the name of social commerce.

Imagine this…you and a group of friends are going out to the movies. You let facebook know “Gonna watch Due Date  @Vista Ridge Mall with Stacy Blah, Cody Blah-Blah, and Courtney Meh. Cant wait!”. You show up to the mall and check your news feed..BAM! Coupons up the whazoo! $10 off Express…15% off Bath and Body Works….”HOW IS THIS HAPPENING? ” you might ask?  Quite simple my dear…you see, when you start with the base equation y=x+b,and plug in the certain variables like x=You and b=Facebook Location, you get y=COUPONS! Plus now that you brought your blah friends and tagged them…you get extra savings. Interesante….

While certain factors come into play, like ACTUALLY using Facebook Locatons, Tagging your friends, having internet connection, and IF there is even a store in that area that has made a deal with Facebook…the idea is to have a good amount of people use the Location service which will in turn help convince more companies to offer coupons, which would eventually make Facebook an unstoppable force…just saying.

At the end of the day, it is nice to have coupons available to you even if you are not using them. I can attest that the huge coupon book I have IS useful…even more useful than I thought when I first bought it. Although, I’m still hesitant about supporting the “Facebook Location” feature because of all the stalkers you could attract, I can see the positive side in this as well. Maybe it will set off a domino effect where you want to use the coupons, but are afraid to divulge your location, so you will begin to delete friends off facebook whom you do not completely trust or don’t know too well…or at all! Food for Thought

Bully-B-Gone

It’s nice to feel protected…especially when protection comes in form of a professional wrestler. WWE wrestler, Daniel Puder is speaking out against, not only gay bullying, but ALL bullying. This article caught my eye because of all the recent news with bullying and suicides because of persistent bullying. This trend that professional athletes and other public figures are speaking out against bullying can prove to be very effective. Not only because of the fact that most of these people speaking out are role models themselves, but because it adds someone to the list of people a kid getting bullied can go to. This can prove to be a positive force considering a good amount of kids who are bullied, specifically gay kids, feel that they have no one to turn to.

Daniel Puder (pictured right) has even gone as far as putting his email address out in the open for everyone to see, encouraging kids who are being bullied to shoot him an email and he will personally fly down and talk to the bully. Not exactly an ole fashioned WWE beatdown, but effective none the less. In the musical side of the celeb world, Taylor Swift recently released an Anti-Bully Song. Other celebs are joining in and making videos to help the people who feel weak, feel strong and rise above any torment.

While much focus is on celebs, there are plenty of other people who are doing things to help the cause in their own way as well. Because at the end of the day, it’s the teacher who took the initiative, or the student who intervened, or the coach who didn’t turn the other cheek, that end up being the deciding factor in this anti-bully rally.

Rank is such a funny word…

Personally, I’ve never even heard of any such thing as PageRank until the other day. While I have some what wondered about how and why the list of results is ordered the way it is, I never really dwelled too deep in the subject. The idea that algorithms were used in order to provide me, the searcher, better information…gave me a new found respect for people who create search engines. Plus, the fact that these algorithms need to be changed so that people don’t hack their way to the top of the search results added even MORE respect to these guys.  

I recently read an article discussing the combination of Bing and Facebook. What they are planning is a way to integrate likes/links/posts to the search results, which to me sounds crazy but scary at the same time. The info being gathered will be from your friends and networks, but once again the whole security issue can put things out there that YOU as a regular facebook user, probably wouldn’t want popping up on search results. So once again…control starts with YOU.

Of couse any bloggers’ aspirations would be to have a high page rank and eventually get Spam…but for now, I think I’m ok with my few readers. I wouldn’t want to get too caught up on the whole ranking system anyway unless it was something I really really felt passionate about. Right now, there isn’t any website or page I feel compelled to make sure is at the top of the results…so I don’t find being a hidden treasure.

I also attempted to go without using any type of search engine and found that it’s practically impossible. Information is so readily available and the tempation is too high for one to take the time and make the effort to go around using a search bar that is so convenient. It’s like having an all you can eat buffet, and a ton of fast food restaurants…then telling someone to find another way to get food other than eating out. Of course I’m capable of cooking…but $1 tacos are RIGHT THERE.

 

Vlog

attempt #3

Think you’re safe? Think again!

Privacy is such a sacred thing in real life, so why shouldn’t people push for it to be just as sacred in the digital world. While many websites let the user change the “privacy settings”,  these settings don’t always stop people from taking information. Your information is being used for research and companies are profiting from it. Even Facebook has had privacy issues where their apps have been traced to having researchers take date even with privacy settings being at their strictest.

The only sure way to control what info you have on the web is the same way you control how much people know in real life about you…by saying less about you. YOU control the amount of information that gets out on the web, which isn’t true for celebrities…so be happy you are not famous yet.  If you put your exact birthday and all your likes and dislikes on the internet, it’s only a matter of TIME before researches use that information or even worse…stalkers using that information. With websites like Twitter and Facebook having locations now, it seems like people are just asking to be followed. There is also another real life risk and that’s robbers knowing when you are out of town or not in your house.

Another way of being more careful is by keeping in mind what type of internet you are using. There are times where people set up “FREE WIFI” only to make it easier to hack into your computer and steal information that way. Always be mindful on the web, and never get too carried away when posting new profile info on any website. Bare essentials is all it takes to be a part of many sites so always try to give as little as possible. Once you understand the mind of a hacker, you’ll be able to understand how to stay safe. Now you can return to your facebook.

Closing the book…Facebook that is

FaceBook…Digital Life as we know it…for a good percentage of the population. With so much networking going on, who could resist right? Our lives, nowadays, are drawn into the digital realm by the latest fashion on the web. Whether it be a new youtube video, a new social website, a new computer game, or even a new program. The list goes on and on, but for now…the big attention grabber (and time waster) for most people is Facebook. So what happens when I decide to go with no Facebook for a week?! :O

ACTUALLY…it really wasn’t hard at all. I rarely go on facebook, and when I do it’s mostly quick and to the point. Check messages, Check Wall, Respond to anything directed at me, keep living life. Of course I’ll have the occassional photo to upload or status update which usually consist of a song lyric or cool website. Only reason I communicate on Facebook is when I don’t have the person’s number I’m trying to reach, the person I’m trying to reach isn’t picking up their phone and it’s urgent, or when I need to share something digital with them.

Luckily, this past week I kept my physical body busy working and doing other such things as well…but honestly, i didn’t need to keep busy to stay away from FB. I am not “too cool for it”…nor do I look down on anyone that constantly checks theirs…but personally, Facebook isn’t a “omg I’m going to die if I don’t check it!” website. I don’t think of any ONE website as that…it’s like my dad has always told me “never put all your eggs in one basket”…and in this case, facebook is just one of the many sites that I put my eggs in. Because I know, at any second, one site can go down…and if that day comes, I don’t want to be one of the millions of people freaking out. Maybe then…myspace will come back? Food for thought

Productivity

As Americans we are always rushing and striving for the best while doing the most. Sometimes we lose sight of quality and just focus on getting the most done through multitasking which apparently has been proven to be counterproductive. Yes, that includes texting while driving, and trying to do homework for two different classe, among many other examples.

While technology has advanced tremendously over the years to give us the opportunity to multitask and, in theory, be more productive…we continue to over use or mis use technology to the point that these devices created to be more productive, are actually impeding our safety and time usage.

The internet is a good example of the double edge sword. Even though the internet does provide one with plenty of info to keep on working and not slow down, it also provides sites where most of our day can go into. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, or any social networking website can be both productive and counterproductive. The effect that the internet causes, trickles over to your cellphone and other media devices that are capable of wasting your time.

Mind Mapping has proven to be really useful in terms of being able to physically write down thoughts, and see them layed out. This can really help people that have different learning styles to understand what’s going on in their head. Organization is a major part of life and an interesting question I ponder sometimes is…”Can you be unorganized and still be as productive?”. 

Before people go writing off that answer to a certain “no”, just remember how different people process information. Organization can be made through something as simple as a pile of papers where more recent papers go on top and and older papers go at the bottom.I plan on mind mapping more often in order to control my piles of papers in my head.