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forenoon filings

shiny, oh so shiny

if ms designed ipods...

Tuesday, February 28, 2006
We don't usually cover virals, but this video has been doing the rounds at a fair rate recently.

An amusing parody of Microsoft's packaging house style.

how to increase public wi-fi use

Recent press reports here in the UK have been lamenting the fact that although we have had wireless technologies for many years, the public use of it is still slow in its growth.

Although commercial wireless networks have become more widespread in larger cities - it is often the case that the price of using this a deterrent for extended use. To combat this, and to attract more use of Wi-Fi - it should be the case that public libraries could be used as hotspots. Many libraries have been suffering drops in use since the dawn of the internet - a problem that many have tried to stave off with ventures such as DVD/CD rentals and other media schemes. But to return to this proposal, the library seems to be the ideal venue for lower-cost internet access - without the headache of hardware and software maintenance. The greater number of people that there will be back in the libraries will surely have a knock-on effect on the other services that they provide.

(As an aside recent article on Boing Boing has articulated something that has often been a suspicion of late - that charging laptops in public Wi-Fi hotspots is something that is becoming more and more trying).

february round-up

Monday, February 27, 2006
This method of summing up recent news seems to be more common here these days, but time has been a rarer commodity during this past month.

Top stories that have caught our attention (in no particular order):

- Finally, there is a way to browse and access your del.icio.us bookmarks from your Mac. I have always found del.icio.us to be rather one sided affair - not to detract from its excellent uploading and sharing features - but sharing and using boomarks while away from you home system has proved to be tricky up until now (The del.icio.us bookmark listing unfortunately does not emulate your native bookmark organisation). This new app called Delibar now offers a new menulet which will draw down all of your accounts' bookmarks for browsing and editing. Caveats on the site warn of its pre-stable release state, so we'll watch this app for some time before installing.

- Mac users have had a tendency to be rather smug when it came to system security. However, to effectively secure your system, you really need to understand the basic security concepts that underpin your OS - this isn't a Mac issue - rather, it's a general computing issue. Most importantly for laptops and notebooks, don't let them get out of your physical control. In the event that this does happen, then you would need to ensure (beforehand, of course) that they are setup in such a way that thieves are given a rough ride if they try to sift through your system. A great starter tutorial is right here.

- Essential reading for any web-site administrtator or designer. Don't make pages that scream!

- A very popular meme that is being spread at the moment concerns the remixing of various Tube and Metro maps from around the world. It started with the world famous London Underground map - that is until TfL decided to issue a cease and desist. This seems to have started something, as lots of city maps have been given the same treatment: Amsterdam, Toronto, Vienna, Washington DC to name a few. Boing Boing is chronicling them.

- Looks like iTunes may have some competition soon - in the form of Songbird. Although there are differing opinions on its feature-set, one thing the designers of this application have realised, is that in this current era of digital music, customers of rival services are being locked into exclusive and non-compatible business models - an anomaly that is only punishing the consumer at the end of the day.

- While we admire the resourcefulness of reverse engineering comments into your iWeb published pages, it does leave Forenoon Filings wondering how such a glaringly standard weblogging feature could have been left out of a retail web publishing program (A similar point could be made for iCal). Let's see what v2.0 will bring...

ruination of a good character

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Just as we finish reminiscing about the great 16-bit era, we notice news of the updating of one the best loved characters of that era.

Hudsonsoft has one of the richest gaming heritages from the early 1990s (giving such well known characters like PC Kid). Their best known character was without a doubt Bomberman. However to view the gaming output of Hudson in recent years, it is fair to say that Bomberman has kept them alive, culminating in the pinnacle of the series with the 10 player Saturn version.

But times, and tastes change and Hudson seemed to be struggling to keep up with the 3D PlayStation generation. How to claw this market-share back? If you are to wholeheartedly follow the advice of the marketing sector, then Hudson follow the crowd and recreate their iconic characters in a post-modern angst ridden setting. But Bomberman? He's just a cute looking cartoon - point taken, but really do they need to resort to such desperate tactics? (The picture above being a case in point - taken from the preview art of the game)

But this panic driven posturing isn't restricted to this company; SEGA seemed to have similar jitters when releasing Shadow the Hedgehog to a confused public last year.

So what causes this? It is heartening to read of the internal struggles and scepticism that Yuji Naka had to face to get Sonic universally accepted inside SEGA. This is often the case with many groundbreaking original IP. Unfortunately as the average gaming budget increases, such risk taking is going to become more and more a rarity (with rare exceptions - Katamari and Shadow of Colossus being two examples that spring to mind).

Forenoon Filings shall keeping a close eye on the development and release of titles such as Loco Roco, Every Extend Extra to counterbalance this trend.

the role of the search engine

Thursday, February 16, 2006
After seeing the news of the various Congress hearings aimed at questioning representatives from the biggest Internet search engines (most notably MSN, Yahoo! and Google) it has left Forenoon Filings pondering about the role that the search engine is taking up.

The amount of information that has become available online has and will continue to grow exponentially, so much so that it is humanly impossible to be able to sift through even a small fraction of it. It is not disputed that the service that search engines provide is becoming more and more valuable.

Commercial companies recognise this – and it is no secret that there are some that go to great lengths to use any means (foul or fair) to ensure that they always top the search rankings.

Although the hearings were mainly aimed at the big three’s dealings in China – it should really prompt us to examine the role of the search engine – they are there to present information based on what a users type in.

But the user queries are fast becoming a valuable commodity. Advertisers chasing that ever appealing connection with the 16-24 age bracket would fight tooth and nail to be able to re-direct search queries and results to their products - often with the aim of falsely ecplising a rival company's product.

Should a search engine intervene in preventing this type of manipulation? It seems like the fair thing to do, but what if the measures or filters put in place wrongly alter good results? Who is then to blame?

Forenoon Filings has not yeat worked out the answer, but the question is there - ready and poised.

a re-appreciation of the 16-bit era

Tuesday, February 14, 2006
This may be in some way related to my hasty updating of the PSP's firmware (and assoicated lock out of the emu scene), a general tiring of the current generation's generic offerings; but the 16-bit area of gaming suddenly looks all the more appealing. Coupled with the availability of a number of stable and easy to operate emulator options (found on the PSP, ROM-Nation, MAME and many others), it looks like this will be continuing.

But this musing makes us ponder the lack of history that the videogame scene inherently has built into it. Whether by accident or design, consoles have been designed in the past to be become obsoelent and as such, many succeeding systems from the same manufacturers are often in no way compatible (can't really count the 360; however at least Nintendo are trying to balance this with the Revolution).

The message to all console designers should be to avoid being too quick to jettison the past. As gaming trends are showing that less and less gamers are finishing (let alone getting 50% through) many titles, this should be recognised as worrying sign - especially as many simple intuitive games can be had for (next to) nothing through the emulation scene - a prospect that may very will be inflated when many come to realise the asking price of the next-gen titles.

At least 5-button combos and telephone directory sized instructions aren't required here. For now Darius Gaiden will be keeping the thumbs primed...

flickr shot of the month #4: january 2006

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

This month's selection has a bit more of a local (London) flavour to it.

I especially like the composition - and the way the tower looks like it is about to topple on top of you!

This shot was taken by Dave Gorman.



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