The future is Kuma:War| Kuma:War News 03/30/2004
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The future is Kuma:War
“‘All traditional news channels can do is ask the questions,’ says Keith Halper, CEO of the New York-based news-cum-games service. ‘What we did was get on-the-ground photos, satellite images and so on to model the building exactly. You put that all together, provide all the info for the user to consider the alternatives, to see the place as the soldiers there did, and then you perhaps understand why they didn’t storm the building, how it could have meant a lot of troops getting shot…
‘We live between being the news and being a game,’ adds Halper. ‘We wanted to put people in the middle of situations they read about or see on TV so as to better understand them. People submerge themselves in games, so they’re important in terms of the emotional perspective they can offer. And to win them you need a grasp of the strategic detail that is often hard to grasp when presented through normal news channels. This is a potentially very powerful adjunct to traditional media.’”
The VB Army starts to march | At VSLive! 2004 03/29/2004
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The VB Army starts to march:
At VSLive! 2004 Microsoft Lures Developers with Productivity:
“Finally, despite the recent pushback of Whidbey’s release until 2005, (based on the number of crashes during demos, that’s a good thing), it’s apparent that Visual Studio, the .NET framework, Microsoft’s major languages (C# and VB.NET), and a host of ancillary tools are making rapid strides that will result in more productive development and more stable applications. The overarching theme of both Bill Gates’ keynote and the subsequent presenters is that one of Whidbey’s main goals is to reduce the amount of code that developers are required to write. If the sample apps shown in the presentations are an accurate guide, they’ve succeeded”
Word & numbers have bizarre structures, also 03/25/2004
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Word and numbers have bizarre structures, also… I suppose quite different for everyone…
ABCNEWS.com : Why Some People See Numbers, Letters in Color: “
People with synesthesia might more easily detect the number 2 in the left box since they see it in a different color, as shown in the box at right. (Thomas Palmeri and Randolph Blake)”
More "embracing and extending"! Microsoft 03/24/2004
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More “embracing and extending” going on!
Microsoft looks to unite PC, Xbox games | CNET News.com: “Microsoft announced a new set of development standards and tools Wednesday intended to cover both PC games and titles for the company’s Xbox console.
Speaking at the Game Developers Conference here, Microsoft executives said the new XNA platform would make it easier for game developers to handle the technical aspects of creating games and would allow them to begin working now with the tools they’ll use for next-generation titles.”
Gates Talks Up Mobility, Whidbey to Developers 03/24/2004
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Gates Talks Up Mobility, Whidbey to Developers:
“Meanwhile, regarding the mobile space. Gates said: ‘Mobile is one of the most exciting new areas for applications. We want to make sure these applications are rich and that they fit in with other devices.’ In addition, ‘Web services are getting to be so key in this space and we want the Web services calls to be the same on all devices.’
Gates said there will be more than 100 million smart devices by 2007 and that the company’s Windows Mobile technology will penetrate the mobile phone market. In terms of Windows Mobile momentum, 37 companies are building hardware and more than 50 mobile operators are supporting it, he said. And while more than 2.5 million programmers use Visual Studio, there are now more than 380,000 Windows Mobile developers, he added.
Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition includes support for square-screen resolution and dynamic screen switching between landscape and portrait modes, in addition to support for Video Graphics Array (VGA) and Quarter Video Graphics Array (QVGA) found on devices with higher-resolution displays. “
GUIOlympics | The International XP Visual Styles skinning competition 03/24/2004
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GUIOlympics: The International XP Visual Styles skinning competition!: “The GUI Olympics is an inter-website contest in which top graphics designers from around the world compete for $15,000 in cash and prizes. This year’s contest focuses on WindowBlinds visual styles, IconPackager Icons, and Winamp 5 skin. Anyone can participate as an individual or part of a team.”
Keyhole 3D software: it’s really that good | GISCWeekly 03/23/2004
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Keyhole 3D software: it’s really that good
GISCafe Weekly Magazine – February 23, 2004:
“Welcome to GISWeekly! When we talk about making GIS accessible to a lot of people, Keyhole is the type of product that really does it. It can revolutionize the way we think about geography; how we visualize the globe and our place on it. Read about the recently signed agreement between DigitalGlobe and Keyhole, and about the Keyhole product and service, in this week’s Industry News”
Looking Glass BigAdmin Resources | Xtreme Tech Show 03/23/2004
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Looking Glass
BigAdmin Resources: The Xtreme Tech Show:
“What if windows were translucent so that you could see the multiple windows you’re working on at the same time? What if you could tack a note to yourself right on the Web page you’re viewing? What if your CD or movie database became a 3D jukebox, where titles were joined with images to make finding what you want easier than ever?
Join Eric and Julie as they check out the Looking Glass.”
Global Aircraft | MiG-23 Flogger 03/18/2004
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Global Aircraft::MiG-23 Flogger:
“From the 1970s to the 1980s, the MiG-23 was the Soviet Union’s most capable tactical fighter.”
MetaCarta, Inc. | Geographical Text Searching 03/16/2004
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MetaCarta, Inc. – Geographical Text Searching – Editorials:
“MetaCarta, a company based in Boston, uses a text search algorithm that retrieves content based on geographic keywords. Its flagship product, the Geographic Text Search (GTS), has the ability to confine searches by geography and retrieve information that it detects using the keywords, and then displays this information geographically on a map interface.”
Red, blue Green and Other Sounds | Wired News 03/09/2004
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OK, starting in earnest, beginning at the start:
Red, Blue, Green and Other Sounds: “Scientists may know an encyclopedia’s worth about the mechanics of vision but they still can’t explain how all those neurons firing give people their qualitative sense of sight. They can’t even describe ‘red’ to someone who hasn’t experienced it before.”
Guardian Unlimited | The more you look away… 03/09/2004
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Guardian Unlimited | Arts news | The more you look away, the more she smiles:
“Peripheral vision can see things that central or foveal vision cannot, simply because it is tuned to lower spatial frequencies. “
Blogging: the Next Wave | Tech Central Daily 03/06/2004
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Ok, here’s an article that helped me gird my loins, saddle up this blog, and start riding again, after two years of going nowhere:
Business visualization system | Antarctica Systems 03/06/2004
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re: business visualization system
