The Future. December 2, 2007
Posted by adrenjarvi in Philosophy.Tags: Future, ImagineCup, JBJ, Microsoft, Music, Philosophy, SBJ, Tech, Zune
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This is technically my 100th post. I decided I was going to look into the future, and touch on some interesting things that I think will change the way we live. This is a very Steven B. Johnson post, but that is probably because I (finally) sat down and read “Emergence” all the way through.
Lets start.
MUSIC
Lets face it, folks. Music is essentially done- as a corporation. The proliferation of… “Piracy” allows for essentially any music to be downloaded for free.
But there is another fact: People will pay for music. Lets look at the recent Radiohead experiment- where radiohead released their new album , “In Rainbows”, on a pay-what-you-want digital download scheme. At first, this seems like a moronic and truly irresponsible move. How can they make money for giving something away for free? Well, apparently a lot. The cost of the album is only in pre-production; actual recording of content and such. There is no cost for the production of the album as it is digital (maybe peanuts for hosting, webdesign, etc). Now, lets say you are a radiohead fan. Maybe you pay 12 dollars for it. Now here I am, someone who is only loosely affiliated with radiohead. I don’t want to put down any money for it, so I download it. and there are a whole slew of people who paid in-between (the rumored average was 5 dollars). Now, if Radiohead released their new album in a physical form, I would have paid what I paid the first time; Nothing. Here, I got to hear their music, and I’ll tell you, I liked what I saw. So I marched my (virtual) ass back to the website (here) and promptly gave them 5 dollars. That 5 will most likely get a lot less chopped up then the ‘physical 12′, and hopefully the majority will go to the artists. Shocking, I know.
Radiohead’s management ( in a move which undercuts the spirit of this post) said it was only to bolster sales for the real physical album. This doesn’t make sense. But what Radiohead did does; lets imagine a future where physical records are obsolete (save for vinyl, which in a totally odd discordian context is making a comeback). Now, where as the label of yesteryear was a device required to spread music, now we have internet radio shows. The vastness of social networking sites allows users to post music, that music gets shared and viewed. People interested can download at the artists site. This means that big-name artists are famous because, steady your breath: People listen to them.
Brave new world.
Games
In a similar move, they are going to go independent. Big-name studios are not going anywhere, but I envision an open platform coming; Something like an XNA portable. Microsoft announces a portable platform with a big screen, Custom OS, and the use of “XCards” as a proprietary Cartridge system.
Quick note on this; I have noticed that we, as a people, constantly move from circles to squares to circles when it comes to our media. Giant spools of video , move to VHS, move to DVD, move to HDD recording. Music is even more dramatic: Records, Cassettes, Discs, Mp3’s. Meh, whetever. I am weird.
Anyway, this platform uses a proprietary system (integrated with windows) to let users build games in a similar way that their XNA system does now. Users can both build and test games on this platform (slide out qwerty?) and then send them in for certification to Microsoft. Add some brief media functions, an internet browser, an Xbox Originals integration…. you have an interesting evolution.
Me
Really, why else are you here?
I think my little evolution might be over with for now. For those close to me, ever since something happened, I have been on this odd maturity tip. I feel different, and my lifestyles have changed somewhat to address these. Well, this is premature, but I am going to make these creeds now before new years, and do my damndest to stick by them.
I want a game, be it chalkboard warrior or otherwise, under my name before I become a junior.
I need CCSU to recognize my whims, for better or worse.
I will make an impassioned speech in front of a group of individuals, and they will cheer. This will be important.
I will travel.
I will record some ‘rhymes’.
I will go to the imagine cup.
Lofty, yes. But by posting it here, I get to keep all you bastards on my case .
-F9
Scientists make poor party guests- also, Apple. July 2, 2007
Posted by adrenjarvi in Apple.Tags: apocalypse, Apple, black hole, boot camp, Geek Squad, ipod, Science, Zune
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So there I was, on the interwebs, when I come across this article. Apparently, this is some sort of press release telling the world that “This new machine we have will totally not destroy the world, man.” This is equivalent to your buddy, half-drunk, approaching you with the phrase “Hey, you didn’t want your car, did you?”
You, the invested observer, respond; “Well, Did you do something to my car?”
The hopeful liar pauses, before finally saying, “No.” Lets all toast our impending doom.
In other world-might-be-ending-soon news, I am considering obtaining an apple product- a laptop of some sort, to be precise. Many people will be quick to shout hypocrite, because they know my disdain for the company. But my new train of thought was spurred on by a work announcement and some inner meditation.
At work, we were told that we would be starting “hero jobs” on Mac computers – i.e., we would begin fixing them. Now, my first (snarky) remark was “but don’t they ‘just work’?” but I was immediately stymied by the logic behind us fixing it; people who use macs don’t have it break often, so when it does break, they do not know what to do and will, more or less, freak out ( reinforcing my point; It’s a My First Computer). However, this began to make me think, and I really dissected what I do not like about apple into two things;
1. The iPod, and;
2. People who use Macs.
With 1, I simply believe it to be a bland platform that has established a brand and is resting on it’s laurels. It needs some sort of Innovative Competitor to get it off of it’s ass and start getting better, or it will be overtaken.
As for 2, of course I do not mean all Mac users- I mean only “those” mac users. You know…. the ones who use snarkiness to imply that anyone who uses an “inferior” operating system is three hairs away from an ape. I invision them at one giant starbucks inside of a mac store, sitting on oblong chairs and discussing movies that they will never make. These people I hate with a passion; In fact, one could say that I identify them more outwardly then I do by Mac usage.
What really hit me more than anything was the fact that I realized I know very little about the ins and outs of such a machine. There is a world of information that I need to conquer; an entire sphere of thought that lies at my feet, untouched by my hands. I feel the need to conquer a new interface, and so I choose this, my latests rival-come-friend.
But I am going to Boot camp the living hell out of it.
-AFK
