The NBN: Lower Prices vs Higher Speeds

Today's Australian reports that the general public would prefer a compromise between the price they pay for the increased speed in FTTH connections and the speed. It says that "for most people, the prices for access to the fibre network would have to be comparable to what already exists in the marketplace today -- at speeds that would only be modestly higher".

This is completely stupid, most people would love to have 100Mb/s speeds and, as the actual infrastructure is being payed for by taxes, there won't be a huge increase in prices.  The article also says that there will be a push to "encourage people to make the switch to fibre and then only slowly increase speeds and prices as consumer demand grew over time". The demand when this network goes live around 2020 will be huge initially and therefore if they are to increase speeds and prices as demand grows they we will probably end up with at least 80Mb/s from day one and prices around $89.99/month. Where could any incrase go after that? Nowhere.
Anyone with a brain can clearly see that when this network is rolled out, prices will not increase drammatically, as hinted in the article, because the infrastructure has been paid for so there will only be access fees which will only be marginally higher than prices today. Most peole would be happy to pay $20-$30 more than now to get an 80% or more speed increase.

The whole NBN plan is in a shambles and people who follow tech, like me, are gettign sick of the talk and just wanting teh network to be built and running on schedule, givign Australians faster internet speeds comparable to those overseas.

Introducing ...Tagged Politics

Want to get your Political opinion fix...then head on down to the newest member of the Tagged family Tagged Politics. Over time Tagged Politics will become full of political opinion and wisdom for you to ponder over whenever you like. Hope you enjoy!

No Youtube Live in 2009...but maybe 2010

This week I emailed Youtube to ask if there was going to be a Youtube Live in 2009...their answer was no. This is probably appropriate considering it is already October and they would have made they announcement at least 2 months ago. However, they haven't ruled out a Youtube Live 2010, saying "We haven't taken that possibility off the table". Youtube Live in 2008 was a very expensive endeavour and with the Global Financial Crisis this year, and Google's declining stock price, Youtube Live was probably not a priority. If there is to be a Youtube Live in 2010, we will hear about it next year.

Steam - Is it really a conflict of interest?

 There has been a lot of talk lately in the gaming realm about whether Vale's Steam distribution service is a blatant conflict of interest. The argument for this is that they make games and they have a platform to sell them and can therefore rip off 3rd party developers (including EA and Activision) and exploit them, while still maintaining a positive revenue stream.

This is preposterous as  games sold on Steam, including those made by Valve, are clearly cheaper than if bought at a bricks and mortar store. If Valve were trying to rip off 3rd parties then they would charge less for their games. Also if these other developers were being ripped off and exploited then they would have pulled out of Steam, leaving it to die.

The only way that these developers could be exploited is through binding contracts with Valve, to distribute on Steam, giving Valve a larger than normal slice of the profit made on the game.

Steam is one of the most successful online distribution systems and it isn't going anywhere anytime soon. If these developers and publishers think they are being ripped off then they should just pull out of Steam. Take Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, his game Borderlands, which Tagged previewed a month ago, is being sold on Steam and yet he is making comments against Steam...SHUT UP AND ACCEPT STEAM FOR WHAT IT IS. If he doesn't like it then maybe he should not distribute his game using it.

New Firefox UI Plans

This week Mozilla announced plans to make the Firefox User Interface more Windows Friendly and more like the Windows 7 task bar and teh Office 2007 Ribbon. This new UI would only be availiable to Windows Users, startign with Windows Vista then Windows 7. It would start to be implemented in Firefox 3.7 before being completed in Firefox 4.

I find it interesting that people complained bitterly about the Office 2007 Ribbon, especially how it was so vastly different to the UI of Office 2003. What is to stop this same reaction to the new Firefox UI? Mozilla is making the right move in the gradual UI change over 2 versions, one minor and the other major. This won't isolate their users and users will have plenty of time to get accustomed to the UI. However new users may beturned away by an unfamiliar interface which can only be overcome by a tutorial to teh new UI...WHICH IS NOT ON THE PLANS!!!! Mozilla will need a tutorial video on the new UI if anyone is going to be able to use it as people are very stupid and do not like change unless they know that they will be able to handle it.

Another idea put forward is App Tabs which would be tabs that you would have open all the time, like GMail or Facebook, and could access all the time without the clutter of the bac/forward buttons, freeign up space making it more user friendly for the site you wnat to view. This is a brilliant idea which Mozilla started planning with Prism, and now to carry it into Firefox itself...genius. In GMail I do not want to have the Back/Forward/Stop/Refresh buttons as they just take up space and are useless. People will catch on to this very quickly and I expect it to be one of the more popular changes.

Personally I think that Firefox is due  for a major UI update and the plans put forward are great but Mozilla should be catious with making radical changes and should definately listen to their users about what they want. The changes make it sort of CHrome like, which is good, and the tab bar will be moved to the top (in FF4) and a progress bar will be added above the tabs. This will free up clutter and make Firefox a very sexy browser.

Firefox 3.7 Planned UI

Firefox 4 Planned UI

Preview: Bayonetta

Platinum Games, creators of Madworld, are once again creating a good lookign game called Bayonetta. The main character, called Bayonetta, is a shape shifter who has no memory of where she is, so in typical video game character style she goes around killing things to find out what she wants to know.

The gameplay seems very good , with good graphics, epic battle sequences and excellent music. However the camera controls were a little off with transperancy having to be used to get over this. Also, a typical Japanese collectable item has made it's way into the game, Rings. Yes, Rings as in Sonic teh Hedgehog rings even though the game has nothing to do with Sonice (although the PS3 port is being made by SEGA).

Overall after the 10-15 minutes Tagged spent with this game at GenCon Oz, it seemed to be a great game but the story seems a bit cliched. Nonetheless, we are looking forward to this game which is coming to Playstation 3 and XBox 360 sometime in 2010.

Preview: Borderlands

Gearbox software, best known for their work with Valve on Half Life expansions and for their Brothers In Arms series, are launching a new game called Borderlands, to be released on October 20 (USA/JP) and October 23 (PAL). Tagged was lucky enough to get some hands on with the game at GenCon Oz.

Borderlands is an FPS\RPG that is set in a futuristic world called Pandora and centres on missions to try and advance the story of one of 4 playable characters. Graphically this game has Halo-style graphics, except better, and the controls are easy to master but seemto be a little sensitive. The maps are hard to navigate but when you get the hang of the waypoint system (where a compass is positioned at teh bottom of teh screen) the game does start to get quite fun. The enemy AI is quite good with creatures knowing when you get too close and attempting to attack you from distances.

Borderlands has a level system but after a short play Tagged is still unsure what importance the level system has on the game.

Over the next few days I will be giving you 1 more preview, Bayonetta, and a review of the free MMO Planet Calypso.

Senator Conroy...please just give up!

This week Senator Conroy proposed that australian ISP's would be allowed to intercept their customers downloads to ensure proper use. He said this in responce to the piracy suit against iiNet.
WTF!?! I don't want my internet downloads intercepted, it will slow down my internet, it goes completely against any notion of privacy and it will just mean more work for the ISPs to actually monitor what EVERYONE on their network is doing. Moreover, they would have to disclose what their customers are downloading, meaning the government to charge thousands of people with criminal offences and get more money. really it is just a scheme for revenue raising, WHICH MAKES IT WORSE!!!! I don't want my internet filtered and I certainly don't want my download record perused by the government, it  just goes against the basics of privacy.


This is just one of many stupid ideas that Senator Conroy has had recently. A month ago he said that he was considering a 3-strikes policy towards piracy...somilar to what was REJECTED in France. It is almost  like he is ignoring the rest of the world and coming up wit hbold and stupid ideas to screw over Australian Internet users and ISPs.
If, for 1 month, senator Conroy would keep is big mouth shut and listen to what Australians think of his ideas and look at the rest of the world to see what works he might see that all he has to do is implement the NBN eventually and NOTHNG ELSE!
No filter, No download intercepting and No 3-strikes policy!!

Is the Microhoo deal going to hurt Google?

This week Microsoft and Yahoo announced that they had struck a deal, to come into effect in 2010, to make Bing the replacement for Yahoo Seach and to share advertising revenue. People around the internet were up on arms about how this is going to harm Google and how Google is going to have to change their model because of this but I really don't think that this is going to affect Google in any way whatsoever.

This deal is essentially going to remove Yahoo Search and replace it with Bing so all the Yahoo Search users will now be using Bing, removing one competitor of Google, who will not lose any users. In fact Yahoo Search might not like Bing and decide to make the switch to Google, giving Google more users and more revenue.

On the Advertrising side, Google will not be affected at all, they are not going to lose advertisers and may gain some from Microsoft/Yahoo because they may be turned off by the advertising model. Microsoft/Yahoo may look like they are getting more advertising revenue but Google will lose none, essentially meaning that Microhoo are making themselves look good while not harming there main competition.

Overall, this deal is going to be good for Microsoft and Yahoo as they will get more money from each other and, in the case of Bing, more people searching using their service. Google, however will not be affected much by this deal and they really shouldn't be worried by it.

Ubisoft reports loss

Yesterday Ubisoft released their First Quarter 2009 sales report and unsuprisingly they reported a loss. They had a 51% drop in sales with the Nintendo DS being their most popular console, followed by the Wii and PC.

This loss was going to be obvious. Ubisoft's main market appears to now be the casual market for the Wii and NDS, with game series's like the Imagine series which seems to have the aim of turning young girls into sluts. Most games to come out up to September are casual games for the Wii and NDS with only one, Heroes Over Europe, coming out only on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC only.

Why did they report a loss? Well I blame the lack of hardcore games and the increased focus on the casual market. Based on the earnings report, we are already seeing Ubisoft beign affected by this and if they don't get a real hardcore game out soon then they may lose enough money to force them out of the big-budget market alltogether. The next hardcore game, Assassin's Creed 2, isn't slated to come out until November but they still have the second quarter to go which, as I have said, is dominated by the casual games.

Overall, Ubisoft should change their focus towards the hardcore market and move away from the casual market that is clearly hurting them and turning young people into wannabe models and glamour pusses. By moving this focus they will help their profits and will put their mark on the industry as a whole.

3D Everywhere!

3D is taking over the world!!!!

Everywhere I look there is a new article on CNet or Techcrunch detailing the latest 3D innovation. 3D cameras, 3D monitors, 3D Youtube, new 3D movie glasses, the list will eventually go on and on and on until our lives are full of unecessary 3D products that add nothing to our lives.

We already see in 3D and we are perfectly happy with our current videos and monitors and cameras, so why do we need to have 3D versions of these products. All that unecessary tech for something teh average consumer wouldn't use.

Why would you want to see yours or anyone else's holiday photos in 3D! It adds nothing to the atmosphere of teh image, adds nothing to the way you will percieve the image as an image and will just end up being down right annoying!
Admittedly the technology involved is pretty cool but it is just a waste of money and time which could be spent creating 15-30 megapixel cameras or monitors that can handle higher resolutions.


I am also afraid that the next 3D device we see is a 3D touchscreen or a 3D mobile phone, now that would be even stupider.

Name and URL change

Ever since I created about:tech and gaming I recieved a number of complaints relating to the URL length and that it wouldn't be easy to remember. Today I have solved this problem by changing the name of the blog to Tagged and the URL is now http://taggedblog.blogspot.com. The Feedburner RSS Feed has also been updated and now has the new name and the URL is now http://feeds.feedburner.com/taggedblog. If subscribing to teh RSS Feed please use the Feedburner RSS Feed and not the Blogger one.

A few minor layout and header changes will be coming soon but I won't post about those.

I hope that this helps make this blog easier to get to and easier to type  into the URL bar.

Asteroids Movie...WTF!

This week it was revealed that Universal Pictures nabbed the rights to a film adaptation of the classic game Asteroids. It will have a script...somehow...which will be written by Matthew Lopez and will be produced by Lornezo di Bonaventura.
There is only one way that this will work...if it is a movie about people playing Asteroids but if not then IT CAN NOT WORK!
Asteroids is a 2D game where you are a spaceship and you have to fire on Asteroids and destroy them to get points. There is no story so making a movie will not work unless it is my previously mentioned idea. You cannot have a scrpit in a movie based on a game with no story or dialogue so the entire idea a just plain dumb ands should have been put in the bin like every other bad idea.
I really do not know how Universal Studios managed to come up with the idea of making a movie based on Asteroids as it is so far-fetched and risky that I would have just shunned the idea and moved on without a thought. BUt I guess that it is Universal's Choice wther to make this movie and there is nothign we can do to change there mind...except spam but that is a very bad idea.

Personally I really hope that this is just a rumour and that it will not be true as that will be an epic fail and in this economic climate Universal  cannot afford to have a movie flop.

Blogs...

Just today at the National Press Club, the CEO of News Ltd in Australia commented on bloggers as being essentially nothing but worthless opinion and that what is said on blogs is inaccurate and unprofessional. I would have to stringly disagree.
Blogs are people expressing there opinions on topics and anyone can do it, but not everyone will read it. This is key to good blogging, readership. Most blogs will have very low readership others, and the better ones, will have high readership equalling that of online news sources. Blogs are becoming more and more informative as they evolve and this is helping to change the way the internet works and by saying that blogs are not as useful as online news is basically saying that the internet should move away from the opinion of the people who have the right t ofree speech and move toward a fact-only society. This will make the internet very mundane and boring to read and will kill any use of it for the view of the people, even if they are in the middle of a breaking story. If people were not able to express their view on what is going on, even if they were involved or if they know details then the internet  would die.
Blogs can be professional if they want and it is the readership that will determine this. If a blog is a personal blog then obviously it will seem unprofessional but blogs like WirelessMuse provide informative professional opinion from people in the tech industry. If we shun blogs like this then people will turn away from teh internet and the world will move back to the pre-blog era of an internt with nothing on it.
Basically what I am saying here is that not all blogs are bad and unprofessional and that without blogs the internet ould be a fact and business based medium where no one would turn to and where no one would be able to express their views on current events.

Theora vs H.264

The debate between whether the open source Ogg Theora is better than the propriatary H.264 format has been around for ages. In this post I will give my view on which one of the two I believe is better.

Firstly the Ogg Theora format. Ogg Theora has been around since 2002 and has come a long way. Beta versions of Opera, Firefox and Chrome all support it natively when embedded with the video tag. It is by far the best format for low bitrate videos and is open source, meanign that you can modify it and make it better if you want.

Next, H.264. H.264 is one of the most widely used formats for video with site like Youtube and Revver using it. It is very good for high bitrate videos and crap for low bitrate videos. With such wide use of this format, you would think that it would be very good but from my personal experience...it isn't.


My personal opinion of this format war of sorts is that I prefer Theora over H.264 mainly because of it's clear picture and good sound. However, if I wanted to look at a higher bitrate video I would still go with H.264. To show my support for the Ogg Theora format I will be posting all videos on this blog in the Ogg Theora format...more work for me but oh well.

IE Unbundled!

This week saw a huge milestone for toppling the monopoly that Microsoft has held in eth browsers wars with all copies of Windows 7 sold in the European Union having Internet Explorer unbundled. How the user will end up getting a browser is anyone's guess as Microsoft has not said anything about this. Most sources are expecting an internet browser chooser that will install the internet browser of the uers choice and that OEMs will go instinctivly with IE8.

I really don't see how this will solve any problems as if OEMs will go with IE8 and considering the typical end user can't install an operating system...we will all just end up where we started, with a Microsoft monopoly.

11m Safari Download in 3 Days...how many want to use it?

Apple today sent a press release out saying that in the three days since Safari 4 launched 11 Million people have downloaded it including 6 Million on Windows. These figures really tell us nothing...people using Macs have Safari pre-installed and set as their default browser so a simple update by these people is all that is required for Apple to claim that they have 'downloaded it'. Also regarding the 6 million Windows users...how many of them downloaded this by choice? As far as I can see Apple still has the checkbox checked for downloadign Safari when users update iTunes or Quicktime so many of these people may have been tricked into downloadign it, increasing the download count significantly. This is utter stupidity and madness on Apple's part as they are cheatign the system by tricking users into downloading software they don't want. Maybe if apple left out these people who are downloading through the Apple Updater and through updates to Safari on Mac we might see a more accurate number of downloads.

Usernames on facebook...finally

Tomorrow Facebook finally will allow users to have usernames instead of the id system that they currently use. Under the old system the profile URLs were facebook.com/user.php?id=12345678. Now users will have the option of changing it too facebook.com/.

It has taken Facebook 3 years to implement this and I say that it is about time. Other social networking sites have had this option for a while and it has worked. Why Facebook took so long to get this feature no one knows but it is an excellent addition and will make the best social networking service even better.

New iPhone...as we expected

As everyone thought Apple has released a new iPhone, the iPhone 3G S at WWDC 2009. This new iPhone sports video recording, voice control, a faster processor (hence the S in the name which stands for speed) and even a magnetic compass. Most of this was leaked several times all over the internet and we have had knowledge of this for at least a month.

The new iPhone does look like a very good device but the novelty is really starting to wear off. Every year a new iPhone is released with some new, rarely used feature that people will think is useful but then they will end up not using it.

Apple should slow down their release schedule for the iPhone and release one every 1.5 - 2 years. Maybe if they went back to MacWorld they could release it there instead of at WWDC. That would allow people not to feel saturated by new iPhones every year.

I am, however waiting for the iPhone that has an inbuilt cup-holder and can control your household appliances...maybe next year when the next iPhone is released.

Office 2010 Web...maybe not.

Today I emailed Microsoft regarding Office 2010 Web, I was emailing regarding whether it would have any integration with Google Docs or OpenOffice. Instead of a yes/no reply I recieved this:

"I am afraid that we have yet to receive any updates regarding Microsoft Office 2010 Web. At the present moment, we are unable to confirm the future of Microsoft Office 2010 Web."

If I am reading this right, Office 2010 Web might not actually happen...shame because it would have been an alright competitor to Google Docs.

E3 2009 - Recap - Nintendo

Nintendo has been renowned for being very stingy with their E3 Press Conferences with not much being announced since the  Wii in 2006. This year, however they did showcase a lopt of good new titles, clearly aimed for a more hardcore audience.

They showed off a new Metroid Game, Metroid: Other M, which looks really, really great. It looks like a prequel but Nintendo is very tight-lipped about anythign to do with the games plot. Oh and id I mention that it is being created byu Team Ninja? Yes...Team Ninja, the people responsible for teh Ninja Gaiden deries on teh Playstation. They also showed New Super MArio Brothers Wii, a 4 player game which is basically like the other Supoer Mario Brothers Games...only Co-Op. Finally, they showed Super Mario Galaxy 2...a bigger, better Super Mario designed for Core Players.

Overall, it was a less dissapointing press conference from Nintendo and below is the 2-part video.

E3 2009 - Recap - Sony

Sony showcased their new PSP Go which i sa smaller version of the PSP, most likely designed to go after the Nintendo DS. It seems like a great device but the fact that is clearly just another attempt by Sony to regain lost ground in the gaming market sort of makes it lose it's touch as a good idea.

Like Microsoft, Sony showed off Final Fantasy XIII but they also showed Final Fantasy XIV Online, for the Playstation 3 and Microsoft Windows. This looks like a good game and will certainly mean more of that much needed money for Sony. They also showed Uncharted 2 and more of Gran Turismo 5 (which is taking forever!) as well as God of War 3. All these games look top quality and Playstation gamers are going to love them when they come out.

Finally Sony showcased their Motion Controller. It is basically liek teh Wii controller only it has a better handle of a 3D space. It looks like a good idea with graphics overlay but the motion required at this early stage appears to be a little extreme. Hopefully this will be ironed out before release

It seems that everyone is getting into the motion sensor businesss...but the Wii got there first! Below is the 3-part clip of the Sony Press Conference:

E3 2009 - Recap - Microsoft

E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, in 2009 was one of the biggest since they stopped opening it up to the public.  Assassin's Creed 2, Final Fantasy 14 Online, Project Natal...the list goes on and on.

E3 in 2007 and 2008 were big failures with people not even notricing that they were comign up. Game Coverage was weak and money was being lost. Companies pulled out in 2008 and when the news came that they were going to make E3 2009 bigger people started caring again.


This week I am going to go through each press conference of E3 2009, with videos and trailers, and tell you my view on what I think.

Let's start from the beginning with Microsoft....

The main thing that came out of Microsfot was Project Natal, a whole body motion detector. It was only shown at E3 and as far as I am aware no games are being created for it by 3rd parties at the moment. It will be interestign to see where this goes as it opens up a whole world of possibilities for motion detection and simulation. I do see this, however, going the way of teh Wii, with lots of fitness games. I also excpect the price for this to by at least $250 (AUD). 

IN terms of games, Rock Band: Beatles was shown which doesn't really surprise me...it had to happen.  Modern Warfare was shown and a November 10 release date was announced. Great news for Call of Duty fans but the whole "modern" thing...go back to the wars that HAVE HAPPENED.
Final Fantasy XIII was shown and all i can say is that it looks amazing.
Below is the full press conference in 3 parts:

Everyone's Monopilising!

Microsoft...Accused of Monopolizing in the EU
Google...Being investigated for monopolizing
Intel...Charged with Monopolizing in the EU

What are the similarities (apart from the monopoly bit)...THEY ALL HAVE COMPETITORS!!!!

So many big tech businesses are being accused of holding a monopoly and for killing competition. This isn't new but do they really have such a monopoly?

Let's start with Microsoft...

Microsoft hold the biggest Operating System install base. However Apple comes in second and their install base is climbing. If Microsoft did hold a 'monopoly' then you would see hardly anyone using competitors products and the competitors would never be talked about.

Windows is designed for business and productivity...Macs are designed for creativity...Linux is designed for both while still having major customization options. Microsoft isn't stopping other companies from making other operating systems designed for the same use but they already have a basis and reliance because people have grown used to their products. If I were a billionaire and even a millionaire I would attempt to create an operating system and I would market it to the same people as Microsoft. Why isn't anyone doing this? Because they know that business has already established Microsoft as the most productive solution. There is no rule or law against using a competitor but if it is the most productive solution then they use it.

Next...Google...

Google is the biggest search engine and the most widely used. They were also the first search engine so they have an established user base. Of course they will have a monopoly of sorts because people have come to rely on their services. They also have competition and their competition is doing quite well considering this reliance. Their competition also consists of large tech companies like Microsoft and Yahoo. Advertising revenue is a key part of the law suit but Yahoo and Microsoft get revenue in other ways while Google has to rely on advertising to get money. This works as just about everyone uses Google and teh ads will be seen all over the globe.

Finally...Intel...

Intel makes processors...processors are hard to make..lot's of money is needed to make processors. Intel has been used for over 15 years for processors in Computers...Apple started using them 5 years ago...they have come to be relied on in a similar way to Google. Intel also has competition and people use and like AMD and some prefer it to Intel. AMD has made progress that Intel is yet to make. Intel isn't falling behind but they hardly have a monopoly if anything is almost looks like AMD is slowly catching up to Intel huge lead in the number of computers using their processors and AMD certainly have leapfrogged Intel in new developments (like a DirectX 11 Processor).

Overall none of these companies really have a monopoly and the lawsuits should be dropped. However these companies could allow their competition to exist and not to wipe them out completely.

BING! and Google Squared

Microsoft officially released their new search engine Bing this week. Bing is a replacement for their previous search engine, Live Search which wasn't very good and very few people used it except for seaching for Google. Microsoft hopes that Bing will bring them more revenue and will revolutionize web search.

I have been using it a bit lately and it has it's good and bad parts. Firstly the bad...It doesn't have pages for image search which means that it will load all the images on the one page meaning some lag and also it will be harder to get to the first image if you are near the bottom. Another bad thing is that that in the video search the live previews are too small and it is hard to get a real idea of what the video is. Also...it has a very bad background and the interface is very much like that of Google and that it doesn't have a very good search ranking system.
The good things are that it does provide good related search terms on the side of the page and the advanced search options are very easy to use and access.

Next to Google's new tool...Google Squared which was also launched this week. I have only just started using this and so far it can be very useful for accessing simple information very quickly and for accessing a whole set of data simply and easily. Just think of it as a much simpler WolframAlpha but without the real language search abilities. I will post more soon as I use this more but so far it looks like a very good tool from the overlords at Google.

The future of mobile phones...all extras, no connectivity

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.