Endless Googling

First of all, I apologise for not blogging as often as normal; I’ve had a very busy couple of days, but expect to be back to normal by late tomorrow evening.

Now the topic at hand – Google have just released Google Checkout.  Now because I’m not going to be talking about that particular system in itself, here’s a link to the BBC.co.uk page I found it on.

What I really want to talk about is Google’s endless little creations.  It’s not just a search engine anymore, it’s anything it wants to be.  I can imagine that if Google was a person, it would just wake up one morning thinking “I know, I’ll be a shop today”.

When Google released its April Fools joke, Google Romance, although I didn’t believe it; half of me expected it.  They seem to be making anything into a form of Googling nowadays.

Google Scholar for example; I don’t know anyone personally who uses it, and when you think about it, are the few that do use Google Scholar really enough to make it worth while anyway?  And Google’s built-in calculator, the majority of people I know aren’t even aware that it exists.  Surely if you’re not an internet / Google geek, and you needed to solve a math problem, you’d use a) a real calculator or b) the built-in calculator on your OS?

I’m happy for Google that they’re a very successful company and that they’re never short of ideas, but they may be getting a bit too Google-happy.  Don’t get me wrong; a lot of their creations are very intelligent and useful – like their new Google Checkout – but some people might start taking Google for granted if they keep this up.

Brilliant Find or Out of Their Mind?

A new computer system is being designed to read consumers’ minds.  It’s set to learn people’s facial expressions in order to calculate what they are thinking.

What do I think about this?  Genius, but possibly an invasion of privacy?  If you want to have your mind read, you go to a specialist.  It’s like a modern day horror film having to walk down the street wondering whether there’s a form of robot  watching you and reading your thoughts.

How many times have you gone to a shop, been shown something by the salesperson and thought “Urgh, that’s horrible”, but said “Hmm, it’s nice, however it’s not really my thing” so not to come across as rude?  Well imagine every time you go into a shop, that every facial expression and movement you make is being monitored.  Wouldn’t you feel a bit self-concious and intimidated?  I would.

For decades, man has wanted and tried to read people’s minds, and so if this works, it’ll be a clear breakthrough – and a good one – but it needs to be used responsibly.  Generally, very intelligent technology, and I’m impressed, but maybe they should be careful with it when it gets out.

On That Note…

Here's a song about texting, written by one of the best comedians of Britain, Bill Bailey.

You texted me on a Monday
But I did not get your text 'til the Tuesday
Because of a network problem

I texted you on a Wednesday
But I did not know that you had called
Because your sim card was not correctly installed

Oh no no no

You texted me on a Thursday
To say that you would meet me at the shopping centre
I texted you back and said 'where should I meet you?'
And you said Dixons, but I did not know which Dixons you meant
Was it the one inside the door, or the one further by Currys?
These are my worries
You texted me on a Monday to say that it was over
But I did not understand
Because you used predictive text and it was
"Shur gur blur gur gur"

Texting

One of the most popular and useful features of a phone that's taken the world by storm, but is it all it's made out to be?

Due to a recent calculation, an estimated 36.5 billion texts will be sent by users throughout the UK this year.  That's a lot of money.

I for one love texting; it's a quick, easy and reliable way of keeping in touch with friends and family, but is it better than the classic phone call?  I'm undecided.  A phone call is easier to express yourself in, much more personal and depending on the network and network package, most likely cheaper than sending several texts back and forth.  But it's also inconvenient if you or the person you're ringing is in the middle of something and can't answer, if a decision is needed to be made and isn't possible to make 'on the spot' and – depending on how often your mobile phone is used for calling – mildly dangerous.

Text messaging on the other hand is limited on the amount of characters sent in a single message, which means either upping the price to send more than one, or using texting language, which unless you can read and speak fluently, can take a few glances to fully understand.  If you're texting someone to arrange a meeting or socializing, it's impossible to really organize in one message, as you need to suggest a time and place, wait for a reply which may or may not agree with your suggestion, then reply to confirm, or make a new suggestion.  This, again, ups the price; not to mention that it gets a bit annoying after a while.  

I've recently started getting back into speaking on the phone (as I used to be a committed texter and nothing else), and I'm glad of it.  My last phone call only lasted around 3-4 minutes and I managed to talk about everything I wanted to plan and arrange, which would have cost a lot of money had I done the same planning in text messages instead. 

Is There REALLY A Best Ever Game?

It seems that retro gaming's taken the popular vote in IGN's Top 100 Games chart. I'm pleased about this since I'm an avid gamer – and a retro one at that – but not too impressed with the particular order for the results on the mentioned chart.

I grew up playing Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 on the classic Sega Mega Drive / Genesis and was inspired by it to continue further into the world of gaming, as were many, many others. So where did I expect to find it? I was hoping at least one of the many Sonic titles in the top ten. Was it in the top ten? No. Top twenty? No. Surely the top fifty? Nope.  Number 63.  With Civilization II in at number 4, I think there's something horribly wrong going on.  But then again, their overall number 1 was Super Mario Bros., so we clearly have some Nintendo supporters here.  Nintendo supporters that date back as far as the early nineties tend not to love Sonic. 

Along with Sonic which I felt was wrongly placed at 63, was the original Rayman, Monkey Island, Earthworm Jim, Broken Sword, Myst, and the legendary Tomb Raider – none of which featured at all.  

The only good placings I thought were Ico (in at number 18) and Tetris (in at number 3), but even those positions could be different.  It took me just ten minutes of playing Ico before I decided it was my new favourite game, and since its release in 2001, it's still my favourite today.  It really made an impact on new-generation gaming, and I don't know what on earth's happened to the allegid sequal.  

As for Tetris, I think I can safely say that it truely deserves its place in the top ten – if not number one.  I personally would have put it at number one because it's a game that ANYONE can play at ANY time.  Tetris is a game for every generation – if it was created today then it would still be the sheer class it was all those years ago.

What do you think?  Is this chart wrong, or do you agree with it?  Does Super Smash Bros. deserve to be number one?  Is it even possible to pick out a number one best ever game that we all agree on?

Let me know. 

The Next Step Up From Blogging?

People like to read about subjects and hobbies that interest them through others' blogs.

But wouldn't you rather watch an entire channel devoted to subjects and hobbies that interest you?

As I mentioned here, internet TV seems to be taking the world by storm, and this is nothing different. What am I talking about? The growing number of niche TV channels created by normal people, themed to a certain subject or hobby (i.e. Cycling TV) and currently becoming more popular as they get discovered.

As I've said before, I don't like watching TV on a computer when I could be watching it on a television set, but, when it's internet TV or nothing, I'd be grateful to do so.

I'm not entirely sure as to whether this 'new' (although a lot of channels have been around for a long while) fad will be just that – a fad – or whether it will become the new 'advanced blogging' as more people discover the channels; but I am sure that blogging won't be forgotten.

Downloads or CDs?

With the ever-progressing high tech world, music downloads are becoming ever-popular – so popular that the BBC's famous music show Top of the Pops has had to come to a close due to a dramatic loss of viewers (allegidly because of the increasing number of online music channels) and will be showing its last ever show on July 30th.  Yes, music downloads (such as Napster and iTunes) are very convenient, but are they better than 'old-fashioned' CDs?  

I personally don't think so.  Music downloads have awkward and confusing rules over how many times you can burn the songs to CD before re-paying, monthly contracts, etc., you can't play them on a stereo (unless you burn them to CD, which can cause problems as just mentioned depending on how many copies you make), easily lost unless backed up and you don't have the 'luxuries' of a CD (i.e. the booklet, case / cover, etc.).  Yes, they're good in that they're quick and easy to get hold of, cheap if you're looking for a rare song that would cost extra to have imported if buying in the high-street and instantly ready to be added to your playlist… but I think that's about all. 

With CDs, you can easily put them on your computer for if you want to listen to them via a playlist, but you can listen to them on any stereo without fuss.  If you're going for a chart CD or something that doesn't require importing from another country or area, then there isn't much price difference in buying the real deal – and even if the little price difference that does exist bother you, then buying the CD off a reputable online shop instead of the high street should fix that.   

So what'll it be; CDs or downloads?  Am I making a good point or just living in the past?  Let me know your thoughts on this one. 

Why Didn’t I Think of That?

Last.fm.

It's absolutely brilliant; a great way of meeting new people with similar music tastes, a great way of finding new artists to your liking, and a great way of discovering how many songs you actually listen to (and how many times you listen to the same ones…).

This for example, is a chart of my current top 10 just played songs, kept track of by Last.fm's AudioScrobbler PlugIn for WMP. 

This is a fantastic way of archiving, updating and discovering music for any music lover – if you don't already, get yourself an account! 

Mobile + Lightning = Immobility

Doctors in the UK have sent out warnings on the dangers of using a mobile phone in a storm. Studies show that the metal in the phone sends the current to the body.

But isn't this common sense? Ever since I was tiny, I've been brought up to never use a phone in a storm; whether that be landline or mobile – and especially not outside in a storm.

Sadly, it clearly isn't common sense, since a 15 year old London girl was struck by lightning from speaking on her mobile in a storm, says the BBC website. The damage she suffered was severe, and she is unfortunately now in a wheelchair.

It really upsets me to read about this because it's so easily prevented. No phone call is important enough not to be able to wait 2 minutes while you get inside a building. And this phone call clearly wasn't an emergency one either.

We hear about too much suffering in the world as it is, so please, next time you're out in a storm and your phone rings – save yourself the aggrivation of losing your mobility, by not answering your mobile.

Virtual PC

I absolutely love it. What an ingenious creation! This is one program with over a million uses, and I'm still yet to find a fault.

Being the keen gamer I am, I was extremely pleased to get my original copy of Rayman Gold for Windows 98 working in perfect order after years of not having MS DOS.

The brilliance of Virtual PC is that you can do anything you want knowing you'll never break anything. Browse the web knowing you'll never catch a virus that could harm your real PC, download beta software knowing you can always return to the previous version.  Even run Linux or Mac without getting rid of XP (or whatever OS you're using).

I don't see why such a program wouldn't be liked – call this a pointless post, but I felt like saying that.