Helping to change the future by leaving your PC on? / Gaming socially?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/7329990.stm

Hey folks, recently i added a post about a piece of software on my Playstation three. I was browsing the web for more on New Media Technology and i saw this article on the same software. This piece is for Personal Computers rather than Playstations, however it works upon the same lines. Dontaton of computing power for other causes, just by leaving your PC, or playstation's power on. Is this a waste of electricity? No, probably not as thinking about it. The scientific project now using our computing power, would have probably had to use the same amount of electricty to power its own computers had they been left on. The Link for the BBC's Article is above.

I was also recently researching my own topic, of the convergence between Social networking and the gaming industry. I happened to stumble upon this article about PlaystationHome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Home <<< This is a link to the Wikipedia article about PlaystationHome. I will soon be updating again and following the progress of the developers of PlaystationHome to see when it is released so i can download it!. Then i can write about it all.
I have also made a purchase of (Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare) for the Playstation three. I thought id take a little time out to say what a fantastic game with a fantastic online multiplayer. If any of you out there have this game look out for "Thecarbonator" by the way... add me as a friend and we can have a game or two. The game uses the PlaystationNetwork to match make games of up to 12 players in combat situations of arenas all over the world. You can use any bluetooth headset to chat to the players you are playing with and coordinate your teams combat against other teams in the game. The System is quick and even players on a low bandwidth do not get Pinged from the game as it runs on one flat server with only one playspeed. Which happens to be quick. If you ever get the chance to play this game then definately do. Its like a gaming social networking with people becoming members of Clans, with the clans having their own Tags etc.
Thanks for listening...

Update soon.....

T'internet... Of The Future??

Whats good people.
I know my specific area to write about was Social Networking and Online Gaming, however, i decided after seeing an article on a popular news site that i would broaden my horizons. I have copied and pasted this article about "The Grid" for you.

"The Internet as we know it, could become obsolete within a decade".

Forget dial-up; forget broadband: The future, it seems, is The Grid. It's the brainchild of CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research based in Geneva. It's there that Sir Tim Berners-Lee first invented the internet, so it's appropriate that the next stage in its evolution should emerge there. But what is the Grid? In fact, it is a spin-off from another major research project. For several years, the particle physicists at CERN have been building a device called the Large Hadron Collider. Knowing they would need massive processing capability to cope with the data from the new device, the scientists set about integrating thousands of computers all around the world. Professor Tony Doyle, technical director of the project, says: "We need so much processing power, if all the computers were here at CERN there would be a problem getting enough electricity to run them. "We had to have a new network powerful enough to send the data instantly to research partners in other countries." That network of linked computers - connected by superfast fibre-optic cable and combining together to act as one giant super-computer - is the Grid and, one day, it won't just be for scientists. We'll all be connected to it. It's not actually a new principle. SETI@home is a programme for PCs which is helping to analyse the data of the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. It's been downloaded by half a million public-spirited people who allow the spare processing power of their personal computers to be used remotely by the astronomers to number-crunch their scientific data. But while SETI@home runs on private PCs and over existing telephone cables, CERN's Grid uses fibre-optic links to dedicated resources in major computer centres and can therefore handle much more complex calculations.

This is interesting as, recently i was on my Playstation3 and i decided i would sign up to an external programme called "mobilehome". when turned on, the extra computing power of my playstation3 is donated to universities around the U.K. to help their research into various aspects of science and technology. SO this principle hasnt just been established in Puerto Rico, but in the Homes of games console owners!

The long-term possibilities for home entertainment are immense. It's estimated that connection speeds could be 1,000 times faster than current broadband capabilities. Imagine being able to download feature films in the blink of an eye, or the entire Beatles back catalogue in less than a second. Grainy webcam images would be replaced by crystal clear pictures and sound, and video gaming would be transformed. According to Professor David Britton, a leading figure in the Grid project: "With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine." And there are also medical applications. It's already been used to help research anti-malarial drugs. Researchers used the Grid to analyse 140 million different compounds - a process which would have taken 420 years to complete on a conventional internet-linked computer. The Grid might soon be used to help unlock the secrets of the human genome.

Hows that for processing power?. Truth of this matter is that all of this power, within computing and other technological advancements starts with people like me, who are simply adding programmes, that dont hinder the performance of your Personal Computers or Games consoles but help to advance technology. So if its true what they say, about computing power this large being able to unlock the human genome and further medial research. I could be contributing to curing a major disease just by adding this application to my playstation3.
Thanks, Let me know how you feel about these posts, its nice to have feedback.
xxx

The Playstation 3 Network? Soon To Be A Gaming Myspace?

Alright Guy's Once again id like to take this time out to apologise for not having a post up sooner. the last post was over a month ago and is overdue, due in no small part to the fact that i had to also contribute to another blog, coinciding with my media studies project in school. Recently i was in lesson and we were discussing key terms in Media studies. One of the terms that interests me most is "convergence". If you wish to find out more about this "word" and its meaning, I recently started looking at "The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies" to try and gain an insight into what "convergence" actually means, in terms of the media and its respective branches.(http://convergence.beds.ac.uk/) << This is a series of magazines, published by a university on "convergence" that i intend to glance over very soon. Im trying to find something similar online, but so far havent been sucessful.
Moving on, what does it mean? Well to put it shortly and in my own definition, the "mergance" of two different aspects of the media, in this case, into one single aspect. Social Networking (Myspace, Facebook) and Online Gaming (Dedicated Servers for MMOG's). As I said in my last post, i now own a Playstation 3. Im still trying to explore all of the features, due to a lack of time to play with it, that the playstation 3 has to offer, but the one that im most interested in, and most relevant to the "Convergence" topic, is the Playstation Network. SO...What is the Playstation 3 network? Wikipedia says...

PlayStation Network, often abbreviated to PSN in the gaming community, is Sony's free online service provided for use with their PlayStation 3 (PS3)[2] and PlayStation Portable (PSP) video game consoles.

I was quite amazed to hear that since the Playstation 3's Release a year and a bit ago, there are 2.9 Million people registered in North America alone. Not to mention Japanese Figures at 4.34Million people. So.. Obviously this is popular, it doesnt quite rival myspace yet, at 10.96Million people but then again it has been out for not even a quarter of the time "myspace" has existed for. I thought that id try and see what the "playstation Network" was really about and signed up, hoping that i would find some "convergence" between Social Networking and The Gaming Industry. Surely enough, i did. I was even amazed to find my own personal "AVATAR" winking at me every time i logged in. And then i recieved messages from friends i know, that wanted to play a cup final at Wembley or work together, using a "bluetooth" headset, to take down a russian warlord in a popular shoot-em-up game, came pouring in. So now, i dont have to invite my friends over to play with them, and i get a free internet browser on my T.V... Im Impressed. Games are fairer, due to matchmaking setups and i no longer need to spend my days on MSN Messenger, as the "PSN" provides me with my own instant messaging service. I could go on and on about the features. Sure there are downsides, not having a keyboard means typing a message takes for ever. But when there is so much offered by the console and the Network you cant realy fault Sony here.
Im going to be investigating this more, by covering more consoles and see how "Microsoft" have countered Sony's biggest project since the Original Playstation more than 15 years ago. Consoles have come a long way since then.
Ciao..
Let me know your thoughts, provided you have time to read the amount ive written.

(I think that deserves a promotion up the Blog Rankings Sir..HintHint)

Playstation Generation!

Hey People,
Just thought i'd say sorry for not posting a blog earlier. Due to my exams i havent been able to post a new blog or any comments. Once again, Sorry.

So recently, i finished my exams and the first thing i did was to unbox and plug in my new Playstation 3 games console. I must hastly add, i am a Sony fan and heavily disregard any comments that state the X360 or Wii are better. I opened up the menu, and played Fifa Football 2008 for a bit. The next day i had a lot of time on my hands and seeing as usually setting up games consoles or PC games online takes forever i decided to do it. Surprisingly i found that i had a completed the setup and the registration within five minuites. FIVE MINUITES... i was shocked, expecting this to take for ever i was over the moon. But the thought about what is exactly in the Playstation 3 to enable this sheer ease of its wireless imternet access and remembering back to how long gaming used to take with a PC and that stupid noise of a dialup. However, there is a problem with this. Im Addicted. Any free time i have, i want to test my dribbling, driving and shooting skills against other online. The ease of the access is incredible and im online in a forum preparing games with others in the school in no time. Even Mr Chan is in on the act! Incredible in my eyes, especially when we look at how unsophisticated my Sony Vaio laptop is, now that its 12 weeks old.

If anyone happens to be as into PS3 online gaming as me, my network ID tag is...
>> Thecarbonator <<
Feel free to add me onto your friends list.

Much Love gamers and guests.

Ergonomics (one off post, Just beacuse i feel like it lol)

I Thought, as i have a study period, that ill write another blog article. I also realised id been promising a blog, for a long time on ergonomics. Ergonomics, according to wikipedia, is the application of scientific information concerning humans to the design of objects, systems and environment for human use. Get it? If you didnt, basically its when man uses machine to enhance their performance, from anything to integrated weapons, to computer chips in the brain. So why have i taken an interest in this? Well some of you may have seen the James Bond film, Die Another Day, One of my personal favourites. There is a scene towards the end of the film where the Villain picks up and puts on a glove, that enables him to shock anyone that he touches. This is one such example of what simple ergonomics is. The Mergance of man and machine. However, what im interested in is not for human demise, but for the greater good. I read somewhere, cant quite remember where though, that some scientists growing were limbs on Mice? nothing new? But with a difference, they were using robots and machinery to recreate from scratch, animal limbs. So effectivly creating life from one simple cell, from the process of cloning and grafting. Obviously there is a question of ethics here. Some believe that the hunman race wil fast become a race of enhanced beings, where babies can be effectively made to order. Fancy an athlete? the Superchip 1000 can enhance your child to make him run faster than any olympic athlete!. Mabye an advert of the future. At the moment i havent heard, apart from films and computergames any sign of chips influencing the brain, perhaps due to the completxity of it all, but no doubt this is the next step and the evolution of what ergonomics is today.
Anyway i found this all interesting, and thought id persue my interests, and writer an article, after one of my school teachers assemblies on the subject of "love to learn". Anyway, if you have taken the time to read a article of personal interest to me, and you like what you see, make sure you leave a comment, tell me your feelings. Sweet.

The Game of Life........

Hello again,
I just thought i'd write down my thoughts about some thing that interested me. Today, i was in a contemplative mood when I was on the bus today, just gazing out of the window with my MP3 in, wondering where i want to be in the future. I was just thinking of various different things i could be doing with my life in the future. Banking?....Boring, Teacher?.....Too many bratty kids, What about an stock market job?....24Hr day, No play. So what can i do with my life? Then came a revelation, i started to think about a game that i used to play, called StarWars Galaxies (with expansion pack). What a Geek, i know, but i really loved it, Why?. In this massive online world, i existed not as Average Joe from Ilford, but CARBONATOR, A ruthless Bounty Hunter from the criminal underworld of Nar Shadaa. I was thinking once again.... That person is me? i have created him? he is modeled in my Image and plays by my rules, even if he is only an online creation. But its funny how noone creates Joe Blog's, a human from London, Earth who walks around with a kebab instead of a blaster rifle.
But the crunch is? This game, for me, got addictive, beacuse i started to become someone, notorious within this galaxy. beacuse of my hunts, I had an online Bank with around 10,000,000 republic credits in (which is a heck of a lot). Similar things have been said from players of games such as the world of warcraft etc. Who start to love their online identities. People seem to become facinated by themselfs, in online gaming worlds in which they know they will never be in, but yet provide some joy i knowing they are someone. To cut a long story short i think that the market for online gaming will become popular, quickly. Now as a Media studies styden i realise that a lot of this is comercialised and about making money but regardless, It may end up more popular than anything we have ever seen before.

I am predicting a Playstation 3 for christmas, and critics have rated the online community already as one of the best features of the system. I Will investigate this further if my prediction comes true. I will speak about the online Gaming side of things which is what i have decided to focus my Blog on. I also want to post a blog about Ergonomics which will come along shortly as a kindof one off blog for anyone who's interested.

Tell me your thoughts on my articles please, comments much apreciated.....

Recent Home Study task (13 December 2007)

Coded Vision- Future/Fantasy


Hello Again,
Once again ill say sorry for not having this task up and sorry to the others of you that are fans of my blog for not having a more recent Post. However i will keep you up to date and intend (Homework task or not) to have update the Blog with a new article every ten days.
Thanks ...........Joe

My Teacher put this interesting article on the General blog a few days ago.... I have edited it down to about 300 words so if it seems some Bits are missing then thats probably why!

The Article.......

It is my honor to appear before you today to discuss the future of the World Wide Web. I would like to offer some of my experience of having designed the original foundations of the Web, what I've learned from watching it grow, and some of the exciting and challenging developments I see in the future of the Web. Though I was privileged to lead the effort that gave rise to the Web in the mid-1990s, it has long passed the point of being something designed by a single person or even a single organization. From its beginning, it is a medium that has been created and sustained by the cooperative efforts of people all over the world.
The testimony I offer here today is purely my own opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of the World Wide Web Consortium or any of its Members. The special care we extend to the World Wide Web comes from a long tradition that democracies have of protecting their vital communications channels. (So thus the internet is a communication device?)We try as best we can to nurture and protect our information networks because they stand at the core of our economies, our democracies, and our cultural and personal lives. I am gratified that the United States and many other democracies around the world have taken up this challenge.


Joe's Thoughts = So to cut a long story short would i be wrong in saying the Internet is Alive ? To care and sustain it? To feed and nurture it? Sounds like the Internet is more than just a way of simply communicating. It sounds, to me, like it has its own intelegence and it is learning from us and our inputs into it. What interests me is how we can make movies such as the Terminator, where a computer takes over the U.S. military, I-Robot, where a computer that thinks for itself takes over a whole city and finally the daddy of them all, The Matrix, where man and machine are one. Ergonomics (The mergance of man and machine) could be the future so my next post has just found its title.

Much Love........ I Thought id Leave you with a very relevant quick vid
Its Worth Watching..........