Category Archives: Uncategorized
Games are big money, just ask this guy
First it was the fact that the most successful popular entertainment releases of all time are games, with the Call of Duty franchise leading the charge, again and again and again. Then it was the growing popularity of what some refer to as eSports, or professional gaming, with a prize pool of $11 million and school-sponsored teams. More recently, it was the news that Marcus “Notch” Persson, the creator of Minecraft, sold his company Mojang to Microsoft for $2.5 billion, making him a billionaire overnight and allowing him to instantly buy the most expensive house in Beverly Hills. I’d have retired too!
Microsoft and Apple face harsh realities
It hasn’t been a good week for Microsoft or Apple, and difficult decisions will have to be made at both companies. I suspect Microsoft’s will be more difficult, but neither is off the hook.
First, Microsoft: Layoffs at the company are rare, with a one-time layoff of 5,000 employees back in 2009 the first major staff reduction the company had ever seen. With their renewed push into mobile, however, and the heavily-questioned acquisition of Finnish smartphone maker Nokia, as well as the appointment of new CEO Satya Nadella, layoffs are not as rare as they once were.
Finally!
You know what this world needs? More giant robots. If the movie Pacific Rim taught me anything, it’s that nothing can protect the future of humanity – and gloriously destroy our cities – better than them.
And just like our own armed forces have friendly competitions with each other for good causes, to test themselves, have fun and earn some bragging rights, so should the colossal mechs that we will depend on in the future.
It’s the Fourth!
Since it’s Saturday and also the Fourth of July, and since no-one ever reads this site on Saturdays, I thought I’d repost something from last year that talks about how fireworks displays are made.
Be sure to check out the Bing homepage! If you don’t see the fireworks display (if you view the page after the Fourth), you can click on the little left arrow in the bottom-right of the page to scroll back).
So since today is the 4th of July and you should be out celebrating Freedom and Liberty, I’ll just put up a brief post talking about the technology behind putting together a fireworks display.
Some (maybe) useful websites
That won’t turn rogue and digitize you.
Occasionally on Fridays I post a few websites or even tools that present something interesting and show a unique application of technology. Today it’s websites that do something unique and use the web as a platform to illustrate…well, you’ll see.
Tetris in HD
Tetris in HD
First, we’re all familiar with high definition, right? If you have a 1080p TV, then you know it looks pretty nice, it has a lot of data, and in fact the ‘1080’ means it has 1,080 lines of resolution (of course, with 4K here and its 3840 lines of resolution, now HD looks downright poor). Even so, remember the old, big, heavy CRT displays? How would that content look (scale, really) on HD displays if everything else were left the same?
Ever wanted to see the inside of a spider?
Needless to say, if you’re afraid of spiders, this may not be the post for you. I mean, it’s a completely irrational fear, but hey, I’m not here to judge. Just to be safe, I searched for a header image of the most inoffensive, affable spider I could find (thanks to SawokMrGreen at DeviantArt).
So as I briefly mentioned in class, I almost went to grad school for biology, specifically to study the cognitive capabilities of spiders; I believed some of them have the ability to problem-solve, and that has since been proven true.
I also recently made a post about my trip to the annual convention of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. It’s always incredible to see the new technologies available to the medical industry, from digital x-ray machines to 3-D printing of artificial body parts.
The new trailer for “Steve Jobs” is here.
There is yet another movie being released that is purported to tell the story of industry luminary Steve Jobs. Aptly titled “Steve Jobs,” it seems to tell the story we all know and love: He was a driven dreamer, with perhaps less-than-stellar people skills, who luckily had some help along the way to forming one of the most important technology companies ever.
There have been other movies made about him. There was “Pirates of Silicon Valley” which I enjoyed greatly, although it was more about Steve Jobs *and* Bill Gates. of course, Bill Gates was never part of Silicon Valley, but you get the idea. This movie is probably the best one out there, and is highly regarded, but there was also the 2013 release “Jobs.” This movie was not well-received, however I thought it was very good. Never mind that Ashton Kutcher is a dead-ringer for 70s-era Steve Jobs, and although I’m no connoisseur I felt his acting was fine, but the story, at least the parts it told, were accurate and it showed the rise and leveling-out of both Steve jobs and the company he helped found.
California’s kill-switch law goes in to effect today
Sometimes I just can’t figure out why an obviously great – and necessary – idea doesn’t immediately become a law, even if it adds a miniscule extra step on the manufacturing end.
In this case, I’m referring to a “kill-switch,” a feature that would allow the owner of a smartphone to remotely render the device unusable in the case of loss or theft. Today in California, a law goes into effect statewide that mandates all smartphones have kill-switch functionality implemented and on by default (something I suspect will not be the case universally). Minnesota is the only other state with a mandatory kill-switch law, however their version does not require the feature to be enabled by default.
Welcome to IS301, and IS301.com for Summer Session 2!
Welcome to IS301 at NSC during Summer Session 2, and to is301.com! As you may have read in the syllabus, this is the companion site to the IS 301 class offered at Nevada State College. On this site I will make posts that supplement the topics we talk about in class and provide additional topics of interest.
That being said, the posts don’t necessarily mirror the topics we cover, although on occasion they might; rather they are meant to introduce additional topics of relevance to technology. They may cover robotics, social media, marketing, input methods, standards, lasers, military, virtual reality, the Retroencabulator, random links, or anything else that strikes me as relevant or even mildly interesting. The posts may be simply news, informing you of a new development, or they may be reviews, opinion, videos, examples, or a mix of all that and more. They will be peppered with links that provide additional information, as well as images, videos, and other media that add to the (hopefully) informative nature of the post.
Thanks for letting me know, Microsoft!
Recently I received a notice on my Surface Pro 2 tablet that the battery was running low. Then I got it again. And again. And again. And again…you get the idea. Usually if the battery is running low a band appears across the center of the screen informing you of that fact, however this time it gave me the full-blown strobe treatment (which, appropriately, syncs up perfectly to “Boogie Shoes” by K. C. and the Sunshine Band). Not only that, every time the banner appeared, it took control away from whatever I was doing, so this video of it happening was not easy to record.
Apparently I had not fitted the magnetic power adapter to its receptacle properly, so I’m glad it informed me, but it really wanted me to know!
Here’s the video of it happening. It goes on for over a minute, although the actual event was much longer. Watching it now, it’s almost hypnotic, mesmerizing. Bask in the Zen of Microsoft’s low battery warning, let it relax your soul and clear your mind. Or let it hypnotize you into thinking you’re a duck. Either way, be sure to charge your tablets!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOxC_Cpp2_4&feature=youtu.be
