Script idea I'll never develop No 1

Some unspecified time in the not to distant future the first affordable robotic humanoid is released to the world.

One happy person in deep south America's outback opens his robot and shows it round the house and yard.

It's taught simple tasks and set a schedule via remote computer interface.

While doing a bit of shooting in the back yard an idea occurs to the guy.
Soon he is teaching the robot to strip and reassemble guns, reload and eventually fire at targets. All with lethal speed and accuracy.

A bit of research on the web, a hack or two for the robot to bypass the security features... Then you have the robot building simple bombs, gathering the resources needed for that too.

Robot goes AWOL for a worrisome week then one morning wakes to find a shed full of bombs.

Next lesson. How to make all those bombs safe and dispose of them. Next day all taken care of.

Next up is to load just about every conceivable weapon design and where to source the raw materials into it's database. Export a copy and upload it to the dark net.

Finally the robot is stripped of all it's identification both hardware and software.

Now it is ready to be sent on it's mission to kill the minorities that person has a hatred for and anyone who gets in its way...

FIN

Open source idea, feel free to use and abuse...

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CES 2011

Well the tech year stars of with the trade show CES where all the new products that will be tempting us to part with our cash over the coming year.

This year, like last year is the year of the tablet. Last year was all about the iPad which went on to sell well.

But it looks like Apple have not learnt their lesson from the PC wars, or are stubbornly sticking to their current plan. With the desktop market they were a leader, innovator and only sold high end hardware. This did them well in a fragmented market but when all the competition choose Windows they struggled and almost bankrupted the company.

In both the phone and tablet market it looks like they are following the same pattern. They are defining the phone and tablet space with Android learning from their innovations. Though with their restrictions, high prices and ever increasing problems with the new devices along with the fact most of their competitors are switching to Android, could Apple once again run out of steam?

The chances are high, like Microsoft their partner in crime in the desktop wars, both companies make most of their money from a continuous upgrade cycle. Give your customer a product that will do everything they want for the next 10 years and you will be out of business.
Apple knows this only to well. That's why they always have the 'it would be perfect if it had...' factor. Always save something back for the next version. This is an ever decreasing success though, the more you add to sell the next version the harder it gets to find the next big thing to get people to upgrade.

Microsoft classically had this problem with Windows XP. Yes it was a pig when it came out but after a few service packs it became good enough for most people. There were many flaws they could fix in the new versions but people had found work arounds or got used to its flaws. The only thing that kept Windows as No1 was the hardware upgrade cycle along with almost all new computers coming with the latest version of Windows. This ensured Microsoft revenue from every new computer sold with Windows on it.

This decade seems to be the beginning of the stabilization of the computer hardware market. With the current trends of multi core processors, solid state hard drives, low power consumption and falling prices its hard to imagine that these two companies (Apple and Microsoft) can keep finding new hooks to make the faithful buy each and every new version.

By the end of this decade we could well have affordable, durable and powerful computers with all the software you could need that would be just as good at fulfilling our needs as the computers made a hundred years later.

It looks like Android devices could massively out sell Apples devices this year which could lead to Apple once again be heading for that 5%-10% of the market selling to the high end of the market, while 90%+ of people are using Android devices. It also seems likely that these new phones and tablets, along with the fact that as these 'mobile' devices will get more powerful, they could start replacing the need for 'desktop' computers for a large number of people. It seems likely that desktop sales will fall off and you will be able to do a lot from your little touch screen interface using cloud computing to process heavy duty tasks that can't be done efficiently on the hardware in your hand. Need that bigger screen? This will be either handled with a dock that can transform your mobile touch device into a hub where you can connect keyboard, mouse and peripherals like storage and big screens. Maybe with an extra processing boost. Alternatively a wireless link to your tv or other screen could allow you to display your devices screen in glorious high quality for those more precise tasks or for the advantages of the bigger screen. These things are not science fiction, they are the latest developments on show this year.

At the top of this game seems to be Google. They are the people behind Android, which is an operating system currently mainly used on mobile phones. But is now coming out on 7-10in tablets and its only a short hop from there to replacing the desktop which is just a larger screen, keyboard, mouse and more power. But this is not Googles only tool. They also have the Chrome browser, your gateway to the internet and the default Android browser. Also they have the online services like gmail, Google docs and are heavily promoting online replacements for software you run on the desktop.

Android and Google have become the No 1 threat to both Apple and Microsoft. Probably a bigger threat to MS as Android could totally replace Windows as the dominant OS with MS becoming like Oracle/ Sun and IBM mainly selling to big business. While Apple could once again remain the biggest alternative choice and keep selling to the dedicated fans.

The loss of desktop sales will hurt both companies though, as it is a large chuck of their revenues. Apple mainly made iPods, iPhones and iPads to sell more desktop computers. So far it has worked. But for how much longer?

There was a great description of Microsoft after it's disappointing showcase of what it has for this year. It went something like this...

Microsoft is a company where Windows and their MS Office software make up 114% of their income and all their other departments like xbox and online services loose them money.

If the demand for Windows PC's running MS Office software falls they don't have a working plan B.

Apple on the other hand have iTunes the app store and hardware sales to spread their income stream.

So the year of the tablet could also be the year of Android and possibly the beginning of the end of windows as they have failed to get an OS working on these new devices.

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2011 may be my year of blogging.

Well it's been four and a half years since I signed up to blogger.
In that time I have stared three blogs and this will be my 30 th post.

Its or should that be it's, I never can remember which is which.. Anyway its not that I have neglected my blog its more a case that my blog is a smaller more concise record than the rubbish I have posted over the last few years on chat rooms then forums and now on social networks. Take Facebook, how easy is it to find something you posted 6 months ago (assuming you are a heavy user like me). Forums taught me many years ago that if you post thousands of stuff on any platform it gets incredibly hard to find that thing you posted a few hundred posts ago.

So this is my quiet park bench where I spend a bit of time writing something that hopefully in many years time will take me back to this moment in time and remind me what I was doing, enjoying or making an impression on me.

But I am tempted to spend a year dedicated to getting more of that crazy stuff out of my head and in the public space.

After all the world could end next year.

Photos and video shot with the Cannon PowerShot G12

I've uploaded royalty free images to Picasa which you can download (link at top of page).

Canon Powersot G12 Test Shots

Also on YouTube there is a video of shots from around Brighton seafront at dawn and during the morning along with night shots of London.

Now where's my cv?

Fun at work this week, thankfully not for me. Two people who are not supposed to be on holiday at the same time both booked the same day of. One for one day the other as part of a two week holiday.

The director signed of both holidays without doing their job right of making sure they were not off at the same time. Late when they realised the mistake they told the person with the two week holiday that they must change their holiday. Obviously by then the family holiday was booked and there was no way they could change their holiday without financial costs and a lot of trouble.

The director trying to cover their own back said 'you sort it out'. So the person went to their manager and explained they could not move their holiday leaving the problem with the manager.

Holiday time comes up and they have not heard anything so they go away for a well deserved holiday.

Upon returning they are faced with a disciplinary for taking time off without someone covering them. Their defence is 'well you approved the holiday and were aware of the issue' which the director denied. Upon protesting the director accuses them of calling him a lier and said that is a written warning offence, even though half the company knows he lies a lot.

So this poor person is being dragged over the coals because his manager and the director failed to do their job.

You can't get the employers these days!

When Apples bit back.

"This problem is not an OS 3.1 or 3.1.2 problem, that's just a cooincidence. The problem is the lack of ability to do a CLEAN install. "

Could not agree more. I know my iphone worked fine before OS 3.1, but ever since it has not.

The problem is I am 2 months out of warranty and still have 4 months left on my contract. My phone quite probabbly would work fine on 3.0 but does not like the 3.1 versions for some reason. Apple will be trying to fix it and it's easy to miss the odd bug that only affects a small percentage of users.

Even after waiting weeks for a fix the new fix did not work for me, it solved it for some but I must be in the unfortunate even smaller sub group where the problem was not solved, dispte removing all my free apps, hours of reinstallng iTunes, iPhone OS and playing with settings... The coma problem is creeping back in and slowlly getting worse again.

It has given me plenty of time to think about why the problem is there, what could be the cause and why Apple does not want us to use an old version of the OS.

Understanding a bit about software I can see how hard this bug is going to be to track down. From reading all the posts in the 3.1 threads, there seems very little in common between the people having the problem.

But equally I understand how easy it would be to add the function to itunes to allow you to download and install OS 3.0 clean install on the phone, it would barely take a good software engineer half a day to patch itunes with an option to load the latest OS or previous version.

This would be enough for most users, you could upgrade without fear knowing you could always roll back. So this leads us onto why we can't go back...

One obvious reason would be it's easier for developed only having to support one OS at a time. That's not a strong enough reason though, like the it's easier to support argument, you could offer the option with a warning you may have problems or lose support. So why the barrier? The most logical reason I can see is its part of the cat and mouse jailbreak game. If you can roll back its easier to hack your phone. This means that the reason we can't fix our phones is because Apple is in an anti-piracy race it feels it can only win by forcing everyone using their device to only run the latest version of their OS. Now I understand Apple's want to protect their revenue stream from the app store, but I for one will not be spending any more money at the app store while my phone is playing up, in fact I'm regretting the money I have invested so far.

Now if I have to hack my phone to go back to a version of the OS that works I might as well go the whole hog and get some of those grey apps. I'm not bothered about pirated apps, if it's priced right I'm happy to pay for stuff, but some of the non Apple approved free apps seem worth a look.

If Apple gave me an easy option I would not be bothered, but if I have to go through the bother of hacking my phone to get it
useable then it's worthy the little extra effort.

Not decided yet on whether its worth waiting this one out, with Apple you just don't know how long it will take.

What really bugs me is the fact that I did not know this was going to be the case when I bought the phone. Almost every updateable product I have bought so far has had the option to restore it to the same software that was on it when I bought it. Now I have a product I happy with, but the software has gone bad, I can't restore it to the same as when it was working, its out of warranty and I still have 4 months left to pay four it on my contract. Enough to make you frustrated, Any other device and I would not care but this is my only phone and I'm missing calls and unable to make some calls when I want to. I've even resorted to carrying my old iPod around with me so I can listen to music if I can't wake my phone!

So a more open option is looking like a good choice for my next phone. Although with every other phone OS now having a crack at an app store of their own you have to wonder if this could be the beginning of a dangerous trend. If all phones follow Apples lead, if you ever have to restore your phone you may only get the option to use the most recent OS. This in it's self is not bad but it seems unfair to have a shorter warranty than the contract and no way to roll back to the software you had while it was working within warranty.

The one thing I will be doing this weekend will be writing to all the UK and European regulators I can think of. I'm going to ask them to consider bringing in regulation where software updateable devices must give you the option to fully roll back the software to the same state as when you took it out of the box. I think the European Union could well pass something like this.

If you are having problems, would like the option to roll back or are scared of the possibility of an update killing your phone one day then do the same in your local area.

My take on the 3DR NDF affair 13th May 2009

Now don't know about this one. Put it down as a 'what if'.

DNF is going to be released for free!

Sounds Crazy?

Well yes but so was giving away 1/3 of a game when DN3D came out.

The radar group? An alternative to the likes of Epic and Valve. What do they have in common? An engine.

3DR have not just been working on a game. They have their own development suite they made the game in.

Now what if they figure their engine and tools can make a rich game in a fraction of the time.

It would make sense of some off the stories like levels being scrapped and rebuilt over and over again.

Then there is the dispatching off the staff, who know the development suite. The jobs fair, to showcase the engine and what can be done with it.

Hmmm sounds a bit far fetched...

So you are selling a development environment and staff that can make heavily scripted immersive games quickly.

5 deals could net you more than a million people buying the game, think Sony, Disney, Universal, Fox or even book authors!

http://www.radargroup.com/projects.html

Unannounced Project 1 & Unannounced Project 2?

DNF & DN3D both made with the new engine, both for free!

Why free? Remember "Radiohead offers next album for download by donation"? Remember donation-ware?

How many people have said they would give all their money to see the game?

Save DNF donation site with rumours of it being set up before the news was announced.

Give the game away and ask for donations and sell the development suite.

Think I'm crazy?

http://www.3drealms.com/news/about_3dr_3dr_staff/


3rd Newest news story.

"Because in today's industry it's nearly impossible, unless you're Epic or Valve, to create original games and not give away full IP ownership to the publisher."

Or develop your own games with our easy tools...

"Another key part of the Radar plan is that all of our projects are built around a rich storyverse. Think about properties like Star Wars, Harry Potty and Lord of the Rings."

Turn a story into a game with our storyboard to game development suite.

2nd to last story.

"How long should a demo be? A level? Two levels? Apogee had different ideas. Starting with the concept of "shareware" (try before you buy), they pioneered the idea that a game could be successful by giving out anything up to a third of the full game for free, and encouraging gamers to pass on the disks."

Giving the game away makes a game popular, spreads it faster and makes the development suite worth more. I bought DN3D because it had build for free, maybe this time it will be game for free pay for the tools.

Last story Good-bye?

Were off to get new jobs, guess which development suite is on the CV's?

Hmmm ok but it better be good...

So there is the media leak. Always smelt fishy to me.

First the shots that look like production shots, Models next, a bit off video showing off some heavily scripted scenes. All from within the development suite ;)

Bit off eye candy and better quality shots.....

Now here's the REALLY CRAZY bit....

We are watching the game development as it happens for a massive demo?

Yep in real time?

Days not months....

If true they will be kings, if not anyone else fancy a go sounds like a cunning plan :)

As I've been saying WIN (when it's done) has become WAS (wait and see)