Digital Divide in the 21st Century

“There’s a new digital divide taking shape…”Not between rich and poor,but between private sector and govt – @gavinnewsom #chmnewsom — Tim O’Reilly (@timoreilly) February 20, 2013 Who has more to lose from the use of social media? The public sector or the private sector? Yet, which sector uses social media more? Related posts: The Broadband … Continue reading “Digital Divide in the 21st Century”

Who has more to lose from the use of social media? The public sector or the private sector? Yet, which sector uses social media more?

Yahoo wields the axe on Mobile?

Marissa Mayer wants to ax 80% of Yahoo’s mobile apps wp.me/p1re2-2Bzl by @seanludwig — VentureBeat (@VentureBeat) February 12, 2013 Which implies that Yahoo has at least 5 apps. Who knew? And I think it’s the wrong way to do things. Sideline them, move them into other departments but axing them is just going to aggravate … Continue reading “Yahoo wields the axe on Mobile?”

Which implies that Yahoo has at least 5 apps. Who knew?

And I think it’s the wrong way to do things. Sideline them, move them into other departments but axing them is just going to aggravate the developers. It’s like everything else – this is more a human issue than anything else.

Still. Yahoo has about 60 mobile apps. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

Crazy.

Minecraft Pi Edition Snippets

If you want to get Minecraft Pi Edition: see here This is more difficult because I don’t know python (or any language for that matter) I open LXterminal: cd /home/pi/Desktop/mcpi cd /home/pi/Desktop/mcpi/api/Python/mcpi python import minecraft as minecraft then python shows >>> To connect with the new API: mc = minecraft.Minecraft.create() mc.postToChat(“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey”) … Continue reading “Minecraft Pi Edition Snippets”

If you want to get Minecraft Pi Edition: see here

This is more difficult because I don’t know python (or any language for that matter)

I open LXterminal:

cd /home/pi/Desktop/mcpi
cd /home/pi/Desktop/mcpi/api/Python/mcpi
python
import minecraft as minecraft

then python shows >>>

To connect with the new API:


mc = minecraft.Minecraft.create()
mc.postToChat("Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey")
mc.postToChat("Hey, beautiful day")


mc = minecraft.Minecraft.create()
mc.setBlock(0,0,0,46)
mc.setBlocks(0,0,0,10,10,10,3)

The latter creates a block of dirt, 10x10x3.

Code from MinecraftForum

Others:

From StuffAboutCode:

  • Minecraft – API – The basics – an introduction into the Minecraft API, its functions and how to use it.
  • Minecraft – Hide and Seek – a really simple game of hide and seek for Minecraft.
  • Minecraft – Auto Bridge – an absolutely brilliant utility (even if I say so myself) which automatically creates a bridge in front of you, no more falling off cliffs, no more having to swim across oceans, the auto bridge allows you to walk straight on

Television

Craziest most disruptive thing about House of Cards on Netflix: 1st time ever tv producers will have accurate data on number of viewers — Aaron Stewart-Ahn (@somebadideas) February 2, 2013 They know when you hit play, when you hit pause, when you stopped watching, when you resumed (if you resume). Related posts: On The Box … Continue reading “Television”

They know when you hit play, when you hit pause, when you stopped watching, when you resumed (if you resume).

The Making of: Battle: Los Angeles

Related posts: The Broadband Blueprint (re DETI Telecoms Consultation) cultureTECH: What I did… Digital Circle going independent and my thoughts on the Future One Vision for the North of Ireland

Guns and Games: it’s a dirty deal

This is really disturbing. Eurogamer.net: How Games Fund Arms Manufacturers The Eurogamer article is about the link between the games industry and the armaments and munitions industries. Toyota and Nissan work with racing game developers to show off their vehicles as pristinely desirable. Nike and Adidas position their logo on virtual boots. Gibson licenses plastic … Continue reading “Guns and Games: it’s a dirty deal”

This is really disturbing.

Eurogamer.net: How Games Fund Arms Manufacturers

The Eurogamer article is about the link between the games industry and the armaments and munitions industries.

Toyota and Nissan work with racing game developers to show off their vehicles as pristinely desirable. Nike and Adidas position their logo on virtual boots. Gibson licenses plastic versions of its guitars in the hope players will progress from the coloured buttons of the peripheral to the nickel-wound strings of a Les Paul.

And Barrett, creator of the M82, a shoulder-fired, .50-caliber semi-automatic sniper rifle, hopes that the appearance of its weapon in a video game will, in time, turn young players into gun owners.

Aha, so the guns make their way into games as advertising. That’s cool. Sounds like an additional way for a game developer to make money. It’s product placement after all.

But…

“Most of the guns in the game were modelled on real weapons,” he says today. “The Walther PPK, Kalashnikov AK47, FN P90 and so on.”

But at a late stage in development Ken Lobb, the game’s producer, called Hollis to say they could not use the genuine brand names.

The use of fabricated gun names was acceptable in the fictional universe of James Bond, where a licence to kill did not rely upon licensing. But for those games based around real armed forces, the inclusion of brand names was necessary to remain faithful to the source material.

However, the gun makers are more forthcoming. “[It’s] absolutely the same as with cars in games,” says Barrett’s Vaughn. “We must be paid a royalty fee – either a one-time payment or a percentage of sales, all negotiable. Typically, a licensee pays between 5 per cent to 10 per cent retail price for the agreement. But we could negotiate on that.”

So, they use the games as advertising and also expect a royalty fee? That’s really shitty.

Barrett insists the game developer purchases one of the company’s guns to aid the 3D modellers in their work. “[The gun must] perform to the standards that our rifles do in the real world,”

That’s a minimum of a $10,000 fee on top of the licensing fee.

Read the article for even more disturbing details. It’s plain to me that the guns and games relationship needs cleansed.