With new phones coming out every month with new features littered through it this has really made me wonder about where mobile phones are going. People are getting distracted by all the extras in the phone and not by the phone itself. Take the iPhone in the USA, people are buying it because of the apps availiable in teh App Store but taking no notice of AT+T's crap network coverage. People are complaining of connectivity drop-out's within just 10m of a spot where there is full connectivity.The fact that AT+T is America's largest mobile network, you would surely think that they would have pretty good coverage.
The solution...better networks and less extras. This will make people take more notice of the phone and connectivity and less about everything they can get with it. By doing this it will make phone companies take more notice of their network and less about the marketing
Now don't get me wrong, extra's aren't all bad but just a little less would help the phone industry as a whole and would really be of a convenience to the consumer. Oh, and it will help marketing and improve profits.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Digital Radio...Finally
This week the first digital radio broadcasts will go live here in Australia and I really think that it is about time this happened. Other countries have had this since 2005 and we have been left in the dark with unreliable and old AM/FM Services.
In case you didn't know, Digital Radio is a radio standard that allows stations to broadcast not just the station but news, song info, traffic updates etc. to your radio. This info would be shown on a screen on your radio, providing a much better service.
I do have my doubts however about the effectiveness of digital radio. With internet radio on the rise it will be hard for regular radio, even if it is digital. to catch up and still stay ahead of internet radio. You can't have live voting with digital radio but with internet radio you just have to click a button and you have voted for teh next song. You can't rate using digital radio and you can with internet radio.
Good Luck to Digital Radio but I think that Internet Radio will be the winner in the long run.
In case you didn't know, Digital Radio is a radio standard that allows stations to broadcast not just the station but news, song info, traffic updates etc. to your radio. This info would be shown on a screen on your radio, providing a much better service.
I do have my doubts however about the effectiveness of digital radio. With internet radio on the rise it will be hard for regular radio, even if it is digital. to catch up and still stay ahead of internet radio. You can't have live voting with digital radio but with internet radio you just have to click a button and you have voted for teh next song. You can't rate using digital radio and you can with internet radio.
Good Luck to Digital Radio but I think that Internet Radio will be the winner in the long run.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Announcing...about: photoshopness
Today it my great pleasure to welcome a new blog to the about team. about: photoshopness will provide Photoshop and GIMP tutorials and Creative Commons licensed examples of art done in these programs. Over time we will build the number of artists on the site but for now it is just me.
Go to about:photoshopness to find out more.
Go to about:photoshopness to find out more.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Apple...Without Jobs?!
This week Apple announced that they were going to release iPhone OS 3.0 at the World Wide Develper Conference this June. They also said that Steve Jobs was not going to be there. WHAT?!
Even though he is on sick leave until July at the earliest, the least he could do is have some input at Apple's only major event for 2009. Without him Apple's event will be like a pile of crap, no one will care about WWDC09 if he isn't there!
Okay enough of the joking around and onto my REAL opinion. This event will only be a success because of this iPhone firmware release. No new hardware is to be announced and there isn't really anything new to say about their iPod range. Without the iPhone OS 3.0 this event would epic fail to the point of being Apple's downturn. I guess Apple does have to have a quiet period where they don't really have anything to announce and it would make sense for it to be now but couldn't they at least give us some basic idea of what is going to happen in the future. I guess we don't really know if they will but based on reports it will only really be iPhone OS 3.0 at the WWDC 2009.
iPhone OS 3.0 will include copy-paste and internet thethering bringing it up to speed with other mobile OS's. Just so you know my personal opinion is that Android 1.5 ("Cupcake") is the best mobile OS released or announced to date.
Even though he is on sick leave until July at the earliest, the least he could do is have some input at Apple's only major event for 2009. Without him Apple's event will be like a pile of crap, no one will care about WWDC09 if he isn't there!
Okay enough of the joking around and onto my REAL opinion. This event will only be a success because of this iPhone firmware release. No new hardware is to be announced and there isn't really anything new to say about their iPod range. Without the iPhone OS 3.0 this event would epic fail to the point of being Apple's downturn. I guess Apple does have to have a quiet period where they don't really have anything to announce and it would make sense for it to be now but couldn't they at least give us some basic idea of what is going to happen in the future. I guess we don't really know if they will but based on reports it will only really be iPhone OS 3.0 at the WWDC 2009.
iPhone OS 3.0 will include copy-paste and internet thethering bringing it up to speed with other mobile OS's. Just so you know my personal opinion is that Android 1.5 ("Cupcake") is the best mobile OS released or announced to date.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Web Apps...Privacy?
Mozilla Prism, Mozilla's newest web tool, finally made it to version 1 beta 1 last week. I have been trying it out and I find it to be a very good tool in getting to a site you need very quickly. In a nutshell Mozilla Prism is a tool that enables you to make webapps out of your favourite websites and you can choose to get rid of the navigation toolbar and any other toolbars you don't need. Very useful for Google's many tools as well as Don't Forget the Milk and Facebook.
This new tool however, made me think about the direction the web is taking. It appears to be taking the direction of quick, easy access with minimal clutter in the browser. Good way to go but it also appears we are taking another direction which is a little troubling. We are trying to take the internet and integrate it with our everyday offline experience. This is great in one sense as it will allow quick, seamless access to your faviourite sites but in another sense it could be a bad thing. By having this integration we are opening our computers to be snooped upon by 'trusted' sites like Facebook or Google. I know this would be in the EULA but does anyone read that crap? This leaves us open to privacy breeches galore because every time we integrate the OS and the web we move ever closer to Google, Apple and Microsoft among others knowing everything we do...yes even our phone calls and what we say in our sleep.
Overall the trend of creating 'Web Apps' of our favourite sites is a positive trend but we have to very careful about our privacy when we do this. I would suggest before installing anything of this sort skim over the EULA before installing, but will anyone really do that?
This new tool however, made me think about the direction the web is taking. It appears to be taking the direction of quick, easy access with minimal clutter in the browser. Good way to go but it also appears we are taking another direction which is a little troubling. We are trying to take the internet and integrate it with our everyday offline experience. This is great in one sense as it will allow quick, seamless access to your faviourite sites but in another sense it could be a bad thing. By having this integration we are opening our computers to be snooped upon by 'trusted' sites like Facebook or Google. I know this would be in the EULA but does anyone read that crap? This leaves us open to privacy breeches galore because every time we integrate the OS and the web we move ever closer to Google, Apple and Microsoft among others knowing everything we do...yes even our phone calls and what we say in our sleep.
Overall the trend of creating 'Web Apps' of our favourite sites is a positive trend but we have to very careful about our privacy when we do this. I would suggest before installing anything of this sort skim over the EULA before installing, but will anyone really do that?
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Exclusivity - Bringing the gaming world down
Exclusivity, the art of making a game exclusive to a certain console...great if you are a console make but for consumers that means that if you want that awesome looking game, you have to buy the console it's exclusive for. Just recently the publishers of the Ghostbusters Video Game announced that it would be initially a PS3 exclusive. I for one don't own a PS3 and it looks like if I want it then I will either have to wait or buy a PS3. With the Global Economic Crisis going on I don't think I or most of the people in the PAL region will even consider buying the overpriced console that is the PlayStation 3. Shame for Sony after it's massive loss but that's the way the cookie crumble I guess.
This leads me on to be disgusted at exclusivity in general. Exclusive Reviews are a perfect example; They don't accomplish anything as people might not like the reviewers on that site and will be just as happy to wait for their preferred reviewer to review the game. But that is at the nice and happy end of my spectrum.
Console Exclusives are at the other end, the hatred end. Unless these games are being made by the Console maker (eg. Halo by Microsoft being exclusive to the Xbox 360), they should be made available to more than 1 console. The Xbox 360 and PS3 controls are similar and the PC is a little further off, so why not make it available to people with any of those consoles. This phenomenon also fuels fanboy hatred which is one of the most annoying aspects of Gaming culture. By making the Games available on more than one console you will reduce this and make people like myself and Adam Sessler very happy. I have nothing wrong with discourse over the good and bad of the games but when it comes down to "your console sucks because it doesn't have Game X" when a similar game released at a similar time is just as good.
I have delved into a number of aspects of gaming culture here but the I do believe that the one console idea is stupid and so are Console Exclusives.
This leads me on to be disgusted at exclusivity in general. Exclusive Reviews are a perfect example; They don't accomplish anything as people might not like the reviewers on that site and will be just as happy to wait for their preferred reviewer to review the game. But that is at the nice and happy end of my spectrum.
Console Exclusives are at the other end, the hatred end. Unless these games are being made by the Console maker (eg. Halo by Microsoft being exclusive to the Xbox 360), they should be made available to more than 1 console. The Xbox 360 and PS3 controls are similar and the PC is a little further off, so why not make it available to people with any of those consoles. This phenomenon also fuels fanboy hatred which is one of the most annoying aspects of Gaming culture. By making the Games available on more than one console you will reduce this and make people like myself and Adam Sessler very happy. I have nothing wrong with discourse over the good and bad of the games but when it comes down to "your console sucks because it doesn't have Game X" when a similar game released at a similar time is just as good.
I have delved into a number of aspects of gaming culture here but the I do believe that the one console idea is stupid and so are Console Exclusives.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Cloud Computing...The Answer to all?
Everywhere I see articles on how great cloud computing will be and how it will solve all our problems. I would have to disagree. Cloud Computing is in it's infancy with very few cloud computing services around. But even when more services start up it will still have it's major issues. What about down time? If you want to get your documents urgently when there is down time then what do you do? What if the server needs to be reset and you lose all you r documents? Then what do you do? I would get a portable hard drive and back up my documents onto it. But then why not just skip the cloud computing step altogether? Cloud computing will be useful but not if you don't have any backups of you data.
Admittedly not all people are calling cloud computing the answer but to those who do I say just get over the novelty and realize that it has and will always have it's issues.
Admittedly not all people are calling cloud computing the answer but to those who do I say just get over the novelty and realize that it has and will always have it's issues.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Windows7...could it be popular?
I have read in many places that Windows 7 may actually be popular. I doubt it! Why? Microsoft have had a string of duds in the past with Windows Vista and the Zune immediately springing to mind. Why will this change the way people perceive Microsoft products. It won't. If Microsoft has made a dud out of Vista then people will probably wait for Win7 to mature, maybe 6 months to 1 year. This will hurt Microsoft a lot, both financially and morally. Now if Win7 is a success then maybe Microsoft can get back on track and start making better operating systems and products. I personally will wait 2-4 months before considering buying Windows 7.
Social Networking...is it really a good thing?
Social Networking is all the rage in the 21st century with sites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter leading the way and smaller sites like Wakoopa are slowly getting more visitors. This is wonderful if you are working for these companies but what if you are a consumer?
Consumers are being inundated with friend requests and updates daily and productivity is going down. There is even a report showing that uni students who use Facebook at once per day will see a drop in their GPA of up to 4 points.
What does this show about Social Netwoking in the human mind?
It simply shows that Social Networking could end up ruing society as a whole by pushing standards down.
Consumers are being inundated with friend requests and updates daily and productivity is going down. There is even a report showing that uni students who use Facebook at once per day will see a drop in their GPA of up to 4 points.
What does this show about Social Netwoking in the human mind?
It simply shows that Social Networking could end up ruing society as a whole by pushing standards down.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Welcome
Welcome to about: tech and gaming. Here I will deliver my opinion about what is going on in the world of gaming and tech every so often. I hope you enjoy reading and please comment, I want to hare your opinion too.
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