Row over McLaren-Mercedes anthem
"The heart of the silver arrows is in Germany," he added, referring to Mercedes motor sport's Stuttgart HQ. Mercedes' Norbert Haug reacted: "I can understand the feeling of the German fans. But we are an international team and the really important thing is that we win, not what is heard on the podium." (Read on Source)
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WFW7310
Photography - Finding The Right Light Posted By : Jason Cox
From the relentless power of full sun over water to the beam from a single candle, it is light photographers play with, light in its many moods and manifestations that we capture on film.
3. Six month old Microsoft Vista crawls rather than strides
... many users are either learning to live with workarounds or sticking with Vista's predecessor, Windows XP. Industry analysts say that Vista adoption is "plodding along" as they expected, with most ...
Finding the teen gene
Ypulse Mashup 2007 concluded on Tuesday night after two days of intense discussions, panels, and presentations all about how marketers can better target… ME! Just kidding, sort of. Anastasia Goodstein brought together media professionals, marketing folks, and non-profit do-gooders at San Francisco’s Hotel Nikko to talk all about ... (Read on Source)
Nokia buys media-sharing site Twango
... suffer from a divide by zero vulnerability in the .DOC OLE2 file parsing functionality. Debian Security Advisory 1339-1 - Several remote vulnerabilities have been discovered in the Iceape internet ...
A Fountain of Youth in Mitochondria?
Cranking up an enzyme in a cell's powerhouse--the mitochondria--makes the cell resilient to stress and death, according to a study published today in the journal Cell. The findings could provide a new set of targets for drugs to treat the diseases related to aging, including Alzheimer's and diabetes. Scientists say that the research might also ... (Read on Source)
Fusion Authority Focuses on Adobe Flex and Rich Internet Applications
At this year's Adobe MAX developer conference, House of Fusion released the latest issue of the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update (http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly/), its ColdFusion technical journal, and distributed 2000 copies of the journal to MAX attendees. This issue brings the foundations of Rich Internet Application development to the ColdFusion community, and interests the wider Adobe Flex audience as well, with sections on creating rich user interfaces, a step-by-step primer to Flex development, and an introduction to working with Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR). (PRWeb Oct 3, 2007) Post Comment:Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/U3F1YS1DcmFzLVNxdWEtVGhpci1UaGlyLVplcm8=
Video: Marketing is No Longer a One-way Dialog
Earlier this year Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions put together a video that explains why the old way of advertising is no longer reaching your target customer. Every marketer will laugh at the many truths in this video… Pilgrim Partners: Why Do You Read Marketing Pilgrim? - tell the world why you read MP & get a free link [...]
La Russa wants to makes amends with Rolen
Tony La Russa said a clinching vote for his return was the "clear message" of support from influential and veteran players. Yet the first challenge of his 13th season as Cardinals manager will be handling a dissenting voice in the clubhouse: Scott Rolen. (Read on Source)
Monitor Crash Issues, Overclocking Help, and Undeletable Viruses
Celebrate the end of the week with the best tips from our forums. This week we tackle monitor crash issues, overclocking help, undeletable viruses, and much more.
Enquisite Receives 3.2 Million from Entrepreneurs Fund
Enquisite, Inc., a developer and provider of the next generation of search analytics solutions, today announced that it has secured $3.2 million in Series A funding. The investment was led by Jeff Webber, Managing Director of The Entrepreneurs Fund III, a Silicon Valley based, early stage venture fund focused on Web 2.0 Software startups. (Read on Source)
Reverse DNS to Find All Your Sites
Forum member "doogie88" was looking for a website where he could do a reverse DNS lookup. See what the other forum members posted here: (Read on Source)
Social Security Too Hot to Touch? Not in 2008
Though many politicians have fallen victim to the jinx of Social Security, the two presumptive presidential nominees do not appear to be among them. (Read on Source)
Kubica happy while Heidfeld struggles
Both BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers had a trouble free first day on the new street circuit round the harbour area of Valencia, which received compliments from every direction. Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld completed their evaluation of the harder and softer tyre compounds as planned, and both of them see room for improvement before the start of the ... (Read on Source)
It's not Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood anymore
Please won't you be...my neighbor? How'd you like to be subjected to hate-filled, unhinged, profane epithets on your answering machine by your neighbor. In Conroe, TX, Barbara Faulkner checked her messages and you won't believe the filth Richie Lougee left on hers. ( KHOU , which has a video report): "This is Richie Lougee, your next door ... (Read on Source)
Games Without Frontiers: Games Give Free Reign to the Douchebag Within
I really want to nuke Athens.
I know it's possible. Hell, I've watched and rewatched the YouTube videos of the 14-year-olds who've done it in Sid Meier's new game, Civilization Revolution. The guttural roar of the ICBM taking off, the flare of the missile as it arcs slowly across the sky, the terrifying rumble in your Xbox 360 controller as the nuke pulverizes the target: It's awesome. I can't sleep until I've rained that sort of death on the world.
What the hell is wrong with me? There are a lot of ways to win at Civilization Revolution that do not involve taking a happy, peaceful city and reducing it to a smoldering gravesite filled with radioactive trinitite. I could, for example, train my country in brilliant artistry, building Wonders of the World -- a "cultural victory," as it's called. Or I could win by becoming a great economic power, enriching my citizens and the global community.
But no. Every time I plunge into a game, I inevitably choose the most Cro-Magnon, "Hulk smash, Hulk destroy" strategy possible. Or maybe I geek out and try to discover spaceflight before anyone else, so I can outfit my hermetically sealed, glassed-in astronaut city with interstellar warp drives, blur the stars into hyperspace, arrive at Alpha Centauri, encounter alien worlds ... and then try to kill them. Ooooh, you guys back home wanna spend your time carefully building the Hanging Gardens, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Alexandrian Library? Fine. Go for it. Hippies. Me, I'm gonna reach for the goddamn stars, built some kickass mechs, flatten anybody in my way with a molten avalanche of plasma.
I repeat: What's wrong with me? One of the classic highbrow defenses of videogames is that they allow you to experience new personalities -- to, in the words of Sherry Turkle, create a "second self." This is considered supremely healthy, because self-exploration is generally a good thing.
But what happens if the second self you create inside videogames turns out to be a total dick?
Sometimes I think the best way to get a grip on my true inner self would be just to list all the people I choose to be inside games.
For example:
- In racing games, I never want gearhead realism that replicates the precise feel of a Porsche 911. No, I want cartoon, Tex Avery physics and fishtailing insanity -- pedestrians screaming and diving out of the way and not quite making it.
- In first-person shooters, I hate, hate, hate any complexity or nuance -- like protecting innocents, avoiding friendly fire or figuring out which stupid door to open. I don't even like games that don't give me unlimited ammo.
- In MMOs, I inevitably play as a class that can work solo -- like a Paladin, balanced between skull-crushing might and self-healing magic.
"OK, so, deep inside you're a frustrated geek with serious masculinity issues who doesn't like authority," said a gamer friend of mine when we talked about this over drinks. "And you're a loner who can't handle complexity."
Except, except ... wait a minute, that's not even vaguely what I'm like in real life. In meatspace, I'm a total people-pleaser who avoids all conflict (to the point where I often get completely doormatted in my professional life). And I have a superhighly tuned, sensitive-boi EQ. Christ, I cry at weddings. What's going on?
Nothing weird, said Ian Bogost, a friend of mine who's one of the smartest game academics and game designers around. The whole reason my in-game choices are so divergent from my wussy-ass actual self is because I'm using games to see life from a different perspective; the Walter Mitty effect, as it were. Nothing wrong with that. And, he added, I'm imprisoned by a lack of options. Too many mainstream games are predicated on loony macho conflict because it's easy to model, and because the industry is focused on the power fantasies of 14-year-olds. I shouldn't blame myself for getting sucked into their poor choices.
Fair enough. Except ... there's been a huge growth in alternative forms of gaming in recent years, and the sad truth is that I rarely get as excited by them. All those "click management" games, like Diner Dash or Cooking Mama -- the ones that model the chaos of real life in a charming, witty way, and let you deal with it? That stuff puts me to sleep. Hell, I don't even have the patience for computer golf. When offered a choice inside games like Civilization, given the option of picking amongst different types of personalities, I choose to play as a complete douchebag. (In Halo 3, as you may recall, I wound up embracing suicide-bomber tactics.)
Now, I'll issue my usual caveats here. I don't mean to suggest that I, or anyone else, should police their fantasy lives. Games are -- at least partly -- an exercise of the imagination, and it's always a perspective-broadening experiment to visit the dark or creepy places of the mind.
But interestingly, the rest of the world is beginning to realize that one's game preferences can be regarded as a Myers-Briggs personality type for the digital age. Plenty of college kids list their most-played games on their Facebook pages, under the presumption that this speaks as clearly about their inner lives as their religion or political stances.
And in the last few years, Silicon Valley companies have begun actively recruiting the leaders of major World of Warcraft guilds, under the assumption that people who choose those roles are good at being leaders, motivating teams and defusing interpersonal drama.
Just imagine what things will look like 10 years from now. "Hmmm, this job applicant has a kind of cool Alliance-Mage thing going on, so she'd be good in the legal support department, eh? Yeah, but her team-killing stats in Gears of War 4 are really troubling."
Or in the world of dating: "I just don't know if I can go out with someone who never plays any of the side missions in Grand Theft Auto!"
Maybe, for the sake of my social reputation, I should start playing some Diner Dash. Who knows: If I play it enough, I might get really into it. Yeah, I think I'll head out to the GameStop and get a copy.
Right after I nuke Athens.
- - -
Clive Thompson is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and a regular contributor to Wired and New York magazines. Look for more of Clive's observations on his blog, collision detection.
- Breakdowns aplenty
... ate turnovers did neither. Missed assignments and tackles contributed to the Bears rambling for 183 yards, 123 by rookie Matt Forte, including a 50-yard romp t ... (Read on Source)
Raids into Pakistan: What US authority?
Reporter Howard LaFranchi talks about the US military's raids inside Pakistan, looking for terrorists. WASHINGTON - Orders President Bush signed in July authorizing raids by special operations forces in the areas of Pakistan controlled by the Taliban and Al Qaeda and undertaking those raids without official Pakistani consent, have roots ... (Read on Source)
NTT Com to offer secure gateway service for corporate VPN
newsletters and journals containing telecom reviews on different subjects in the telecom business. T-Mobile Netherlands is now also offering mobile TV services, following rival ...
Nancy Andrews on Women in Medicine
I got interested in science in high school and went to Yale thinking that I was going to become a scientist and probably a professor. But in my senior year, some friends from Yale Medical School persuaded me to apply to a combined M.D./Ph.D. program so that I could work in areas of science that wouldn't be as open to me with only a Ph.D. This was ... (Read on Source)
Choose Your Words Carefully
Once or twice a week, I walk into my neighborhood dry cleaners with an armful of shirts. As the clerk (and it doesn’t matter which one) approaches the counter, they hopefully ask “just dropping off?” (Read on Source)
Meyer eyes historic cup double
Leicester Tigers coach Heyneke Meyer has his sights set on creating history by winning the European Cup this season. After capturing the Super 14 crown with the Blue Bulls in 2007, Meyer is now bidding to become the first coach to win the premier competitions of both the northern and southern hemispheres. The Tigers have been drawn [...] (Read on Source)
Rangers Prospect Cherepanov Dies After Collapsing During Game
The 19-year-old Russian star and Rangers prospect Alexei Cherepanov dies during a game outside Moscow. (Read on Source)
Mobile Messages Gain Awareness
NEW YORK Awareness of mobile ads has accelerated, per the new Limbo-GfK Technology Advertising Report being released this week. A record 104 million people (or an estimated four in 10 Americans) recalled seeing an ad on their mobile device between July and September -- the highest mark since the report was introduced last year. (Read on Source)
Gartner: Economy Hits Cell-phone Sales (PC World)
PC World - Economic woes slashed cell-phone sales growth in the third quarter of this year as consumers waited longer to replace their handsets, and the market is likely to contract next year, according to Gartner.
Ohio State looking for a quarterback
Ohio State, which already has 24 commitments to its 2009 recruiting class, is in the market for a quarterback, and the Buckeyes are in the running for these three prospects: (Read on Source)
Rackable offers data centre kit on the cheap
Rackable Systems has launched a leasing programme for data centre equipment for those companies not wishing to spend a great deal of money upfront in order to obtain brand new kit.
name: MAGPIE