Warning: squirrels.

What's the next big computer game?

Now that Grand Theft Auto IV is out, I've been wondering what the next big video game will be.  Spore promises to be big if only because the game's designer, Will Wright, has a history of making games that are massive hits [e.g., SimCity and The Sims]. I am extremely excited about Fallout 3, first because the teaser trailer was astonishing and second because the game is being designed by the same team that made Oblivion.

There is a third game I've added to my "okay, this could be cool" list: Mirror's Edge. Scheduled to be released around the same time as Fallout 3, Mirror's Edge is a first-person action-adventure video game that focuses less on shooting and more on interacting with the in-game environment. The following trailer from GameTrailers.com shows you gameplay footage of what Mirror's Edge will look like.

The second video deconstructs the trailer, pointing out some things you might have missed.

Color me intrigued.

Cal State chooses Angel and Moodlerooms ... for now

For those who think that accessibility is not important, here is a cautionary note from California. Last week, the California State University [CSU] system announced its intent to award master enabling agreements with learning management system providers Angel Learning, Inc., and Moodlerooms.

One of the reasons why Blackboard/WebCT, the largest educational learning management system provider in the world and the system used by 18 of CSU's 23 campuses, was not chosen was that BeachBoard failed to meet the CSU's minimum accessibility requirements. Blackboard's barriers to accessibility were found to be both serious and densely distributed across the application.

Desire2Learn was not chosen both because of concerns about its possible patent infringement and because it too has accessibility gaps, although those gaps are few and may be repairable.

The California State University system recently established the goal that all instructional materials and instructional websites [including learning management systems] for all course offerings at all 23 campuses will be accessible by the start of the Fall 2012 semester.

Blackboard and Desire2Learn will be given a chance to fix their accessibility gaps and resubmit a proposal for reconsideration at a later date.

<opinion>Considering the fact that it usually takes campuses up two two years to migrate from one learning management system to another, and considering that the CSU's 100% accessibility deadline is only four years away, time is rapidly running out for BlackBoard and Desire2Learn to 'cure their ills.' One thing is for certain: The higher education academic technology community is in for some interesting times.</opinion>

We have a winner!

In my Crispen's Guide to What's New and What's Next presentation, I strongly recommended that you stay away from next generation DVD players until the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war is over.

It's over. Blu-ray won.

Last week Warner Bros. announced that they would exclusively support Sony's Blu-ray format, leaving only Paramount, Universal, and Dreamworks aligned with the HD DVD camp.

There's more. According to the Financial Times [via Gizmodo], Paramount has

a clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp that would allow it to switch sides in the event of Warner Bros backing Blu-ray, according to people familiar with the situation.

Without Paramount, Blu-ray now has 70% of Hollywood's next generation DVD market. That's without Paramount. And don't forget that Paramount distributes Dreamworks Animations films, making it hard to imagine that Dreamworks won't follow if Paramount abandons HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray.

Folks, It's over. Blu-ray won. The HD DVD camp may not realize it yet, and Universal may drag its feet for a few months before finally throwing in the towel and following 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Sony, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros. and the rest of the Blu-ray camp, but Blu-ray won.

Rocky Top

As an alumnus of the University of Alabama, I did not think it was possible for me to hate the song "Rocky Top" any more than I already do.

I was wrong.

My thoughts on the iPhone

In  a recent post my partner in bus-driver-ey provides 10 reasons why he won't be  purchasing an Apple iPhone. While I certainly hold Bob's opinion in high regard,  I respectfully disagree with his conclusion.  In that light, I present my 5 reasons why the  iPhone IS my phone.

The Good

1. It  *IS* my phone

I  have an iPhone. It was a wedding gift from my wife.

Would  I actually pay US$499/$599 for an iPhone if I hadn't received one as a gift? My  answer is "yes, despite its flaws." And since I was already a  Cingular/AT&T subscriber with a monthly data plan, the activation process  was a snap. In fact, I think I am paying AT&T less per month than I was  with my old phone.

2. The Interface

If  you've seen the iPhone commercials, you know how to use an iPhone.  No, really. The interface is at once beautiful  and intuitive.  Launching and switching  between applications is a snap. And as hard as this is to believe, the iPhone's  virtual keyboard works quite well.  It's  even good a predicting what you meant to type if you make a mistake. Punch in  "Hwlli" and the iPhone predicts, based on keyboard quadrants, that  you meant to punch in "Hello" instead. Pretty slick.

3.  Google Maps

I  downloaded and installed Google Maps on my old phone -- a Palm Treo 650 -- but  the Google Maps application that comes pre-installed on the iPhone just plain  works better. In fact, it has changed the way I use my cell phone. Case in  point: on Saturday Christine [my wife] and I went on a quest to find a store  that sells Red Hots cinnamon imperials candies by the bag instead of by the  box. After striking out at CVS, Ralph's, and Target, I launched Google Maps,  typed in "Walmart", and up popped six Wal-Marts within about 10 miles  of me. A quick trip to the Wal-Mart in Foothill Ranch and my Red Hots craving  was satiated.

And  because the iPhone's Google Maps application shows live traffic conditions, I  no longer need my TrafficGuage [see http://www.trafficgauge.com/] to see what the freeway congestion will be like on my trips to and from work.

My  only complaint about the iPhone's Google Maps tool is that the iPhone doesn't  have GPS. This means you have to manually tell the iPhone where you are before  you can use Google Maps to get driving directions or a list of local  businesses. For example, in Apple's "Calamari" commercial  [http://www.apple.com/iphone/ads/ad2/] you have to start with an already  zoomed-in map of San Francisco and then search for the keyword  "seafood" to see a list of San Francisco seafood restaurants. Other  than that, though, Google Maps works just like it does on the commercial. The  red location pins even drop in from the top of the screen.

4. Call  Quality

Despite  assertions from Consumer Reports [http://tinyurl.com/24kqx6] and others to the  contrary, the iPhone sound quality is as good as or better than other cell  phones I have owned. And it is SIGNIFICANTLY better-sounding than my old Treo  650 [motto: "Are you still there?  Can  you speak up? I can't hear you!"] 

But  don't take my word for it. The folks at Wirelessinfo.com ran the iPhone through  a series of rather expensive lab tests and concluded that the

 

iPhone  scores higher on [the Sound Receive Frequency Response]    test than all of the five comparison phones,  and only one phone    that we  have tested so far (the BlackBerry Curve) scored higher

As  for the Sound Send Frequency Response test, the conclusion was that

 

The  bass response ... is perhaps a little higher than we like to see; this could  make your voice sound a little bit bassier than it really is. But overall, the  sound quality is very acceptable. It scored almost identically to the Treo 750,  slightly higher    than  the Nokia N95, and much higher than the BlackBerry 8800.

I  have a deep voice already so that extra bass makes me sound like Barry White. And  my wife thinks Barry White is hot ... or that his tractor is sexy. I forget  which. Either way, it's a win-win.

You  can read Wirelessinfo's full report at  http://www.wirelessinfo.com/content/Apple-iPhone-Cell-Phone-Review.htm

5. Web Browsing

The  number one reason I bought a Palm Treo 600 in 2003 and replaced it with a Palm  Treo 650 a few years later is that I wanted to be able to surf the web from my  cell phone. Unfortunately, using the Treo's browser on Cingular's EDGE network  was a trial of patience that even Job would fail. Web pages took forever to  load and didn't look right when they did load. But it was better than nothing.

And  then I got an iPhone. Browsing the web on the iPhone's built-in Safari browser  is an absolute joy. Check out http://www.apple.com/iphone/ads/ad3/ for a video  of Safari in action.  Notice that when a  web page first loads the page's text is so small that it is quite difficult to  read? To fix that, just double-click on a part of page to zoom in. Voila! The  text is readable. And if you hold the iPhone horizontally, the page's text  become's even larger.  Oh, and the video  doesn't show this, but by doing a "reverse pinch" you can zoom in  even closer.

I've  had absolutely no problems reading Digg, Fark, Slashdot, and even my campus  Lotus Notes webmail messages on my iPhone. In fact, shortly after getting  married, I went to the campus' human resources office to add Christine to my  health insurance. The folks at HR asked me for a piece of information that  could only be found on my pay stub. So I fired up my iPhone, browsed to the  campus' PeopleSoft webpage, logged in, pulled up my most recent pay stub, and  then showed the HR staff the information they requested.

I'm  such a geek.

Now,  do not read into this that marriage has turned your fearless bus driver into an  Apple fanboy. I am still a true-blue Windows user. My next computer will most  likely be a Lenovo T61P Thinkpad [see http://tinyurl.com/2nu7m6], not an Apple  iBook. And as much as I love my new iPhone, there are a few things I don't  like:

The Not-So-Good

1. Network Speed

Bob  writes that "[t]he cellular network that the iPhone uses is Slow With a  Capital S." Bob is overly generous. Cingular/AT&T's EDGE network makes  glaciers seem downright speedy. But AT&T has slighty bumped their EDGE  network from "it's headed this way ... slowly crawl for your lives"  speed to "it's headed this way ... casually saunter for your lives"  speed. So, yeah, it's still slow. But as an old Cingular/AT&T subscriber, I  am used to this slowness. And when I connect my cellphone to a Wi-Fi network at  home or at work, the iPhone's network applications absolutely fly.

By  the way, to check *your* mobile phone's internet speed, visit  http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed   in  your phone's browser and select the 100k test. And to see today's mobile speed  test results, fire up any browser on any device and go to http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed?results=1. According  to the data from 7/23, the iPhone's network speeds fall somewhere between a  pathetic 21 kbps [worse than most dial-up connections] to a semi-decent 153  kbps [better than dial-up but well worse than DSL].

2. Headphone Jack

Another  complaint is that the iPhone's headphone jack is so deep that you need a  special, longer headphone adapter to be able to plug in your older headphones  and accessories [see http://tinyurl.com/2cmj7c].  So add an extra US$10.95 to the iPhone's total  cost of ownership. :(

3. Sunny, 73 Degrees

This  is a minor gripe, but while the calendar icon automatically updates to shows  you today's date [for example Saturday, July 7 or Monday, July 23] the weather  icon never updates. It is always sunny and 73 degrees, even when it is raining  and 85 degrees. You have to click on the icon to see the correct weather.

4. Voice Dialing

The  iPhone does not have voice dialing [where you say "Call Home" and the  phone automatically dials your home telephone number] which is a downright  criminal omission. Since many US states now prohibit 'driving and dialing,'  this may be the deal breaker for some.  However,  I never make calls while driving. I only answer incoming calls. And my  Bluetooth headset [see http://jawbone.com/] works perfectly with my iPhone, so  I can keep both hands on the steering wheel.

Final Thoughts

As  I mentioned earlier, I wish the iPhone had GPS. And a Red Hots dispenser. But  would I buy an iPhone again? Absolutely. And I cannot wait to see what new  features are added to the next iPhone. [Hint to Apple: People like Red Hots!]

A little technology/security rant

Imagine for a moment that you accidentally invited Osama bin Laden into your bedroom and that, once safely ensconced in your boudoir, bin Laden immediately opened your bedroom window and let dozens of other terrorists into your house.  Clearly this would be both a frightening and newsworthy event.  But how, exactly, would the news media cover this?

One way would be to focus on the new “threat vector.”  To my knowledge, there has never been a case where terrorists have broken into American homes through the bedroom window.  So, clearly, the 24-hour news channels would have a field day with this story, spending days warning you about the potential danger lurking in your bedroom and inviting pundits from Pella and Andersen windows to talk about what anti-terrorist protections are built into current bedroom window technologies.

The less sexy approach – and the approach that I favor – is to simply ignore the “your bedroom window may be a conduit for terrorists” story and instead focus on the real issue: YOU SHOULDN’T LET OSAMA BIN LADEN INTO YOUR BEDROOM IN THE FIRST PLACE!  The fact that he opened your bedroom window for other terrorists to enter is IRRELEVANT.

What does this have to do with technology?  Well, last week the media reported that a virus/Trojan horse was targeting Windows Update, giving the false impression that Windows Update [your “bedroom window” in my convoluted analogy] is no longer safe.  That’s complete and utter hogwash.  If you read the media reports closely you’ll discover that

1. Some idiots double-clicked on a Trojan-infected email attachment and infected their computers with a virus [“invited bin Laden into their bedrooms”].  If these idiots had had up-to-date antivirus programs, or if they had practiced “safe surf” and not clicked on unsolicited email attachments in the first place, their computers would have been fine and there wouldn’t have been a story.  But they’re idots.

2. The newly-installed Trojan horse connected to the Internet and downloaded more bad stuff onto the idiots’ computers [“opened the bedroom windows to let in more terrorists”].  This sounds scary but is actually quite commonplace – once an idiot’s computer is infected with a virus or Trojan horse, it is not uncommon for that virus or Trojan horse to try to download and install more malware onto that idot’s computer.

What is abnormal about this particular Trojan horse, however, is how the Trojan connected to the Internet to download and install its extra payload.  Instead of using the idiot’s front door [the web browser or email program], the Trojan opened the bedroom window [the Background Intelligent Transfer Service].  The “scary” part – and note that the word “scary” is in quotes – is that the Background Intelligent Transfer Service is also used by Microsoft Windows Update.

OH NOES!  IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD!

Or not.  Look, just as your bedroom window can be used for both good [letting in air and light] and bad [letting in bin Laden’s buddies], so can the Background Intelligent Transfer Service.  It can be used by Microsoft to connect to Microsoft’s servers to download critical updates, or it can be used by a Trojan horse to connect to some criminal’s server and let in all sorts of nastyware.  But – and this is the key point – as long as your computer isn’t infected by a Trojan horse in the first place, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.  Just as you don’t have to fear your bedroom window, you don’t have to fear Windows Update or the Background Intelligent Transfer Service it uses.  No Trojan, no worries.

And, unfortunately for the tech media, no story either.  Windows Update is still safe.

As for your bedroom window, well …

Who's to blame for the Virginia Tech massacre?

While I'm still convinced that what happened at Virginia Tech is solely the fault of the crazed gunman, that hasn't stopped the pundits from using last month's tragedy to promote their own political agendas.  For example, one group of pundits says that what happened is the fault of lax gun control laws -- stronger laws would made it harder for the shooter to purchase a weapon.  Another group of pundits argues that what happened is the fault of strong gun control laws -- weaker laws would have mean that more students could have protected themselves.

Our friends at Cynical-C have collected a huge list of who the pundits are blaming for the Virginia Tech shootings.   I still blame the shooter, but I guess that's just me.

I hate Pachelbel's canon in d!

There are exactly two things in this world that I absoltutely HATE with every essence of my being: comic sans font and Pachelbel's canon in D.  It is nice to know that I am not alone in my loathing of the latter.

Vegas trip report

Well, Christine and I spent the weekend in Las Vegas finalizing our plans for our July 7th wedding.  We had the misfortune of staying at the Best Western Mardi Gras Hotel and Casino [motto: "As seen on COPS"].  The place wasn't horrible -- well, the maid did steal the remote control and we never got it back -- but I'm not sure I would recommend it to others.

After breakfast at Bouchon, a visit to the tuxedo rental place, and a quick stop at the county clerk's office to get a marriage license and be accosted by dozens of salesmen asking us if we have a chapel, we spent the rest of our time shopping and losing money in the casinos.

If you are headed to Sin City anytime soon, some of the places I recommend visiting include:

• The Carnival World Buffet at the Rio.  Sure, it's no Joël Robuchon, but if a buffet larger than many grocery stores doesn't excite you, you have no soul.  Oh, and the Carnival World Buffet is a favorite with Vegas locals as well.
• The Buffet at Bellagio.  While the Rio offers a staggering quantity of food, the Belagio offers great quality ... especially for a buffet.  Rated the best buffet in Vegas by the readers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, don't be surprised to see both buffet mainstays like roast beef and shrimp next to stations serving duck, venison, and fresh sushi.
• David Copperfield's An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion at the MGM Grand.  Even if you have seen illusions like the squeezebox, reunion, and man versus steel on TV, Copperfield does one heck of a live show.  No, really.

GTA IV: Is it October 16th yet?

Last Thursday, Rockstar Games posted a one minute trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV [GTA IV].  The demand for the trailer was so high that it soon crashed Rockstar's servers ... and Gametrailers' ... and Gamestop's ... and IGN's ... and ...  Needless to say, this game is going to be popular.

And, from what I have seen so far in the trailer, the game will be visually stunning.  A Rockstar spokesperson quoted by Gamestop announced that "all footage in the trailer ... was captured directly from 720p gameplay running real time..."  Even if you have no interest in playing GTA IV, you really should check out the trailer just to see what's possible in current-generation console games. 

<soapbox>

Of course, this hasn't stopped officials from stampeding to the microphones to denounce the game and make themselves look foolish.  A spokesperson for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg quickly took the idiot lead by proclaiming that "the mayor does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers."  Of course, the spokesperson failed to mention that Grand Theft Auto doesn't have any points and that the only reward for injuring or killing a police officer is a mess of other officers who descend upon you and shoot at you until you die.  And if you injure or kill those officers, you are soon visited [and shot at] by SWAT team members in helicopters, the FBI in armored vehicles, and the Army in assorted martial implements.  In other words, injure or kill a police officer and Grand Theft Auto "rewards" you by KILLING YOU.  Some reward.  But as Homer Simpson once said, "Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!"

Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to play some Pac Man.  You remember that game, don't you?  That's the game that rewards you for being eaten by ghosts.

</soapbox>