If you think you’ve seen the best of what multi-touch technologies can offer, wait till you see these guys playing a giant version of missile command on a multi-touch wall.
Looks like great fun, doesn’t it?
“We are the Borg Collective…we are writing a wiki book….”
By Mark O’Neill
As a professional writer (and one who is also working on a novel), I found the following project quite amusing and also quite cringing in its own way. Penguin Books and De Montfort University wanted to see if a novel could be written by a collective group of people using wiki software (the same software that Wikipedia uses) and thereby blow away the image of the solitary writer sitting toiling away at his craft year after year.
So someone can help to write chapter one, then someone else can come along and rewrite that part if they didn’t like what the previous person had written and so on… sounds like a recipe for total anarchy if you ask me.
1,500 people ended up taking part in the project which came to be known as A Million Penguins and it is now finished for you to read. If you can make it as far as Chapter Two without losing the will to live that is.
The critics’ verdict? Bloody awful. That’s not just my opinion but everyone’s. As one blog pointed out, being a wiki, the project was plagued by vandals from day one. Gawker too didn’t really have nice things to say about it either. I mean, just look at the opening paragraph :
The deep waters, black as ink, began to swell and recede into an uncertain distance. A gray ominous mist obscured the horizon. The ocean expanse seemed to darken in disapproval. Crashing tides sounded groans of agonized discontent. The ocean pulsed with a frightening, vital force. Although hard to imagine, life existed beneath. It’s infinite underbelly was teeming with life, a monstrous collection of finned, tentacled, toxic, and slimy parts. Below its surface lay the wreckage of countless souls. But we had dared to journey across it. Some had even been brave enough to explore its sable velveteen depths, and have yet to come up for precious air….”
Jesus… it’s enough to make my English teacher have a multiple coronary! As a social experiment, I’m sure it was interesting but it sure isn’t Shakespeare!
Hackers can turn your home computer into a BOMB!
Hey, if the Weekly World News says it, it must be true! Click the picture for a larger version.
Grand Theft Auto IV on Saturday Night Live
Our friend Niko and Vlad from GTA IV appeareared in last weekend’s edition of SNL. They’re not really happy about how media talk about the game, saying that the coverage paints a bad picture of how people live their lives in Liberty city. Check it out.
Cell Phone Secrets: Getting the Most Out of your Phone
By JR Raphael
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
It’s no secret cell service isn’t cheap. What you may not know, though, is how many cool tools are out there just waiting to make your life easier. Most of them are free, and all of them will help you get more bang for your buck. So grab your stylus and start taking notes — this is stuff you don’t want to miss.
Play a computer game and help make medical discoveries
By Mark O’Neill
For years, you’ve probably played computer games and helped save beautiful princesses, defeated the evil warlocks, blasted away your enemies and racked up countless points. But how about playing a different game this time? One in which the better you get, the more chance you have to help make real medical discoveries such as a cure for HIV or advances for Alzheimer’s and vaccines? Wouldn’t that shut up all your critics (like your parents) who accuse you of wasting time in front of a Playstation?
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a new free online game called Foldit which is designed to turn protein folding into a competitive sport. These same researchers want to use the competitive spirits of gamers in the hope that there are people out there who will play the game over and over in a quest to become faster and faster and in doing so, help medical science for the better.
I know what you’re thinking. Protein folding? Yawn! Give me a gun and a bad guy to kill! But apparently the game is very addictive. The game has been described as a “21st-century version of Tetris” and already countless volunteers have signed up. I’m one of them. Want to join me? Come on, think of the medical research! Your inner geek is talking to you! Just look at that protein structure! Isn’t it a BEAUTY?!
**PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO EXCESSIVE DEMAND THE FOLDIT SITE IS RUNNING VERY SLOWLY. IF YOU CAN’T GET THROUGH, TRY AGAIN LATER**
Via Science Daily
Spammers moving from email to the cellphone
By Mark O’Neill
This article in the New York Times really struck a raw nerve with me because it is a touchy subject in my life at the moment. The article is about spammers who are moving their harassment from emails to the cellphone (or mobile phone if you are in Europe). Never a day goes by without my phone buzzing with the latest spam SMS message. In fact the last message was five minutes ago so I am still fuming a bit.
The biggest offender in my case is, ironically enough, my mobile phone provider! T-Mobile is sending me countless SMS messages getting me to change calling plans, telling me of new promotions, and on and on. I keep calling them to complain ferociously (and trust me, I am a ferocious complainer). But still they keep on coming….it’s getting to the point where I am about to change phone providers. But who’s to say it will be any better with the next crowd?
I have also had spam SMS messages from German pornographic phone numbers, the kind of which normally flood the television stations late at night. How they managed to get my mobile phone number I have no idea.
The biggest problem with mobile phone spam seems to be that, unlike email spam, there’s no filtering in place. There’s no “mark this as spam” button to stop it coming through in the future. Plus, some plans make you PAY to accept these messages! Luckily I don’t pay to accept SMS messages so I am not suffering financially otherwise my Scottish blood would be really boiling!
Do you suffer from cellphone / mobile phone spam? If so, what have you done (if anything) to stop it? What kind of spam have you received?
Levi Strauss hits the viral jackpot on YouTube
By Mark O’Neill
Levi Strauss are celebrating getting onto YouTube’s coveted “most viewed” spot with their “back-flipping jeans” video clip. Since Monday, it has clocked up 1.4 million views and no doubt it isn’t doing any harm to the Levi Strauss sales targets either.
The company insists that no trickery was performed. The people in the clip are all professionals. They wore silk boxers and the jeans are starched. However, as a man, I still instinctively clamped my legs together and winced! I dare you not to do the same!
Look out for them now in the next South Park episode next to the Chocolate Rain guy.
Tags: jeans, levi strauss, viral, youtube