From MSNBC: "Uhazi is drowning in a sea of debt ($60k). And, like millions of other Americans, it is a debt load that she built up slowly over more than two decades of easy credit that made it all too simple to spend. Now she worries she won’t be able to pay it off because of the recession, which has led to a reduction in her salary and an increase in her credit card bills... Still, Uhazi said she didn’t often worry about her credit card debt, reasoning that she paid at least the minimum balance on all her cards....Perhaps the worst part was trying to figure out how her debt had reached that point."
I don't know how many thousands or even millions of stories there are just like this one, and I can only guess that the answer ultimately is stupidity. How can someone not realize after two decades of their credit card debts going up that it wasn't a problem? Her minimum payment according to the article was around twice her housing costs! What basic level of fiscal training does someone need to realize that a balance will only go away with regular payments IF you are not also increasing that balance on a regular basis? This lady didn't have a single life altering event that got her where she was. She had steady employment and simply spent stupidly and consistently over her means for a 20 year period accumulating a debt that ended up being nearly twice her annual salary and at interest rates upwards of 20%.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Innovation in the Financial Sector
"Our framework for financial regulation is riddled with gaps, weaknesses and jurisdictional overlaps, and suffers from an outdated conception of financial risk. In recent years, the pace of innovation in the financial sector has outstripped the pace of regulatory modernization, leaving entire markets and market participants largely unregulated." - Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury
If the above quote doesn't scare people into questioning what was going on in an industry most of us know little about then crawl back under your rock. The idea that there has been ANY innovation in the financial sector should have been a warning sign to some regulator or body somewhere. If there was "innovation" in the tax sector then the IRS damn well better be getting on it, tracking down and understanding what's going on in order to fix whatever hole broke open. But here somehow the "financial regulation" is admittedly broken and has been so for years yet no action was taken until it all crumbled simultaneously. At first I didn't think it was really the governments fault. I chalked most of the current situation up to greed, both of homeowners overstretching, consumers overpurchasing, lenders being overly risky, and corporations overly compensating. Now I'm starting to think that maybe the fault should rest squarely on the head of a government who is the only entity sizable enough to detect and monitor this situation yet let the people it should be designed to protect be let down.
If the above quote doesn't scare people into questioning what was going on in an industry most of us know little about then crawl back under your rock. The idea that there has been ANY innovation in the financial sector should have been a warning sign to some regulator or body somewhere. If there was "innovation" in the tax sector then the IRS damn well better be getting on it, tracking down and understanding what's going on in order to fix whatever hole broke open. But here somehow the "financial regulation" is admittedly broken and has been so for years yet no action was taken until it all crumbled simultaneously. At first I didn't think it was really the governments fault. I chalked most of the current situation up to greed, both of homeowners overstretching, consumers overpurchasing, lenders being overly risky, and corporations overly compensating. Now I'm starting to think that maybe the fault should rest squarely on the head of a government who is the only entity sizable enough to detect and monitor this situation yet let the people it should be designed to protect be let down.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Game Designers, Heed my Words
This was prompted by playing Prototype, but I also recall it coming up in Star Wars: Force Unleashed and I have felt it playing through demos before... Don't start a game with a fully powered-up superhero character and then take those powers away or go back in time to square one when you don't have those powers. It's a tease, and it makes the beginning of the game not as fun because you wish you had all the things you did at the very start. It's a mistake, plain and simple. If you want to show me all the things I might be able to do later, that's fine. It would give me something to look forward to. But to start by doing cool things and then to go back so far that you're only slightly above average is lame.
Besides that, Prototype has interesting elements to drive the story along. It certainly qualifies in the genre of open-world superhero games ala crackdown. I feel pretty super doing the things they designed for the character, and once you have your legs you can definitely pull off some exhilarating moves. I've heard the main criticisms heaped on the game is that it lacks variety. It actually seems like that's a common theme for open-world games and I think that all reflects the gamer instinct to hone in on a strength and master it. The reality is that Prototype can let you do whatever it is that you're interested in, whether it's finding hidden orbs, attacking military bases, attacking infected hives, or progressing in the story. If you just want to cause chaos you can do that too. If it feels repetitive that's because you're doing it the same each time, and maybe that's the games fault and maybe that's yours. Who am I to say?
Besides that, Prototype has interesting elements to drive the story along. It certainly qualifies in the genre of open-world superhero games ala crackdown. I feel pretty super doing the things they designed for the character, and once you have your legs you can definitely pull off some exhilarating moves. I've heard the main criticisms heaped on the game is that it lacks variety. It actually seems like that's a common theme for open-world games and I think that all reflects the gamer instinct to hone in on a strength and master it. The reality is that Prototype can let you do whatever it is that you're interested in, whether it's finding hidden orbs, attacking military bases, attacking infected hives, or progressing in the story. If you just want to cause chaos you can do that too. If it feels repetitive that's because you're doing it the same each time, and maybe that's the games fault and maybe that's yours. Who am I to say?
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Sugar Pills
From MSNBC: "Ten years ago the government set out to test herbal and other alternative health remedies to find the ones that work. After spending $2.5 billion, the disappointing answer seems to be that almost none of them do. Echinacea for colds. Ginkgo biloba for memory. Glucosamine and chondroitin for arthritis. Black cohosh for menopausal hot flashes. Saw palmetto for prostate problems. Shark cartilage for cancer. All proved no better than dummy pills in big studies funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine."
My first question is: Where is this taxpayer funded information available? Turns out it's http://nccam.nih.gov/ ! Pretty catchy, right? I would like it, although I'd never expect it, if the government created some sort of portal web-site to locate any and all information that they produce. A while back my complaint was that even in locating the information as to where the stimulus bill funds would go, I was linked to an outside web-site and had to do more searching to find the full text. This really shouldn't be the case.
The other problem the article raises, and is clear even from the echinacea research prominently posted on the front page is that this government body lacks the backbone to stand up for its research. If the researcher was bad then they shouldn't have gotten the money, but the research had a person test 3 different delivery vehicles for a type of echinacea at a specific dose. When the results showed no improvement they were published, and because of backlash the "Research Challenges" section was added, which is almost as long as the article itself, suggesting that there are different varieties and doses of echinacea that they can't speak for that may work! Useless.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Miracle Fruit 3 month Comparison
There's my change in 3 months. Not much growth in the height department but plenty of foliage. In the very top right is the strange long sprout I've recently blogged about with a small leaf at the end.
Seeing the future of entertainment
I'm not sure when exactly "augmented reality" went mainstream, but I remember when I first saw it in practice. Mini ran a print advertisement that, when viewed on a web-cam through their web-site would show a 3D car that could be rotated when you turned the magazine. Since that point Sony has toyed with the idea by combining their eye-toy with cards to create 3D creatures with the future promise of them coming to life.
Sony's Eyepet has not yet been released, but seems destined to come out eventually and be the first program to put this into practice. A 3D creature that you interact with by looking at your television and observing the augmented reality of your own world with a pet wandering around that you can interact with. While the demos all suggest that you will either need to play this on the floor (as most pictures show) or have a table in front of you, the idea of looking into what is effectively a mirror, but seeing an altered reality is clearly a glimpse into the future. This isn't far from the star trek holodeck!
Since the Sony camera is limited to a 2D understanding of the world, the interactions with this pet will be limited. You may not fully get the sense that you're in this world because you could grab your pet from various angles and the system would not know the difference. That's why the 3D camera from the xbox makes the technology all the more promising. From all accounts the 3D camera has no problem identifying one or more people and converting them into a virtual stick-figure and moving them in a 3D space. Clearly the "augmented reality" portion of the exercise is nothing incredibly complex since it has been run in web-browsers and even on the PSP. So now that we have the technology for the holodeck remind me, what did they do on that? I never actually watched star trek... Sorry!
Sony's Eyepet has not yet been released, but seems destined to come out eventually and be the first program to put this into practice. A 3D creature that you interact with by looking at your television and observing the augmented reality of your own world with a pet wandering around that you can interact with. While the demos all suggest that you will either need to play this on the floor (as most pictures show) or have a table in front of you, the idea of looking into what is effectively a mirror, but seeing an altered reality is clearly a glimpse into the future. This isn't far from the star trek holodeck!
Since the Sony camera is limited to a 2D understanding of the world, the interactions with this pet will be limited. You may not fully get the sense that you're in this world because you could grab your pet from various angles and the system would not know the difference. That's why the 3D camera from the xbox makes the technology all the more promising. From all accounts the 3D camera has no problem identifying one or more people and converting them into a virtual stick-figure and moving them in a 3D space. Clearly the "augmented reality" portion of the exercise is nothing incredibly complex since it has been run in web-browsers and even on the PSP. So now that we have the technology for the holodeck remind me, what did they do on that? I never actually watched star trek... Sorry!
Friday, June 05, 2009
Microsoft Free Idea Day
Since I'm already giving out free ideas to Microsoft, here's another one for their camera:
Minority Report style menus. Forget the slow scrolling through pages on the dashboard. With a 3D camera and recognition of hands you can easily allow for full navigation of menus, etc. with no controller. Gamers would dig that shit. It's like Surface without the Surface (I know it might be hard to drown that baby already but it's worth considering). Here's the hint: open hand = nothing, closed hand = click/grab functionality. Your camera should be able to pick up the five distinct dots for fingers vs. a closed hand. Alright, ponder that for the weekend.
Minority Report style menus. Forget the slow scrolling through pages on the dashboard. With a 3D camera and recognition of hands you can easily allow for full navigation of menus, etc. with no controller. Gamers would dig that shit. It's like Surface without the Surface (I know it might be hard to drown that baby already but it's worth considering). Here's the hint: open hand = nothing, closed hand = click/grab functionality. Your camera should be able to pick up the five distinct dots for fingers vs. a closed hand. Alright, ponder that for the weekend.
State of the Motion Controllers Address
Engadget put together a very nice summary to all 3 console makers ideas regarding motion controllers so I'm simply linking to that in the title. Now, here's my take on the potential for actual implementation.
The wii is the easiest. The only controller they have is a motion controller. Adding additional information to make it more accurate can only help developers program for it, and if they choose to they can ignore it, but they'll still use some form of motion control. The other big point is that it gets the job done and gives people a tangible enough feel for what they are doing that they feel satisfied with the result.
The Playstation camera approach is novel, but as the tech demo showed, while you can achieve a similar 1:1 movement that other motion control approaches have, it's still missing elements. Nowhere in the demo did the character move. The person shot arrows, threw ninja stars, and fought with a sword and shield, but they didn't move. This is clearly a problem because they can't easily tack on a thumbstick to the controllers like the wii's nunchuck to give that free movement, when it's also supposed to be your shield arm (or they could, but it would feel odd. I think the Playstation solution serves only as a tech demo that could sell with a minigame collection just as the original eyetoy did, but it can't and won't get widespread appeal, especially considering the number of controllers one would theoretically have to buy in order to get a group of people playing.
And then there was the Xbox solution of a 3D camera with no controllers. Playstation was right in my opinion when they said sometimes you just need buttons. That's the fatal flaw in regards to project Natal gaining widespread adoption on the level of the wiimote for playing games. Sure, some minigames might be created like the breakout game they demonstrated, but the most practical applications will be those like EA is already pondering, which have a workout focus. I think the reason Peter Molyneux demoed a boy that could react and respond to you was that he realized that this was the most elegant and useful implementation of the technology. It shouldn't be an extension of the controller, it should be an extension of the experience. If Microsoft handed out simple instructions for even the most straightforward thing, headtracking where every character would tilt or turn their head towards the direction of the person playing, even that little element could make a game more immersive. Letting you actually speak to characters in role playing games would also add to this. These are things that could be implemented without a lot of effort on the 3rd party programmers, but might lead to gamers picking it up, just so they can experience it. Maybe I'm just the one lacking imagination for this technology. I wouldn't mind an elebits style tech demo just for fun, but in the end I just want the game to be a little more aware of the player.
The wii is the easiest. The only controller they have is a motion controller. Adding additional information to make it more accurate can only help developers program for it, and if they choose to they can ignore it, but they'll still use some form of motion control. The other big point is that it gets the job done and gives people a tangible enough feel for what they are doing that they feel satisfied with the result.
The Playstation camera approach is novel, but as the tech demo showed, while you can achieve a similar 1:1 movement that other motion control approaches have, it's still missing elements. Nowhere in the demo did the character move. The person shot arrows, threw ninja stars, and fought with a sword and shield, but they didn't move. This is clearly a problem because they can't easily tack on a thumbstick to the controllers like the wii's nunchuck to give that free movement, when it's also supposed to be your shield arm (or they could, but it would feel odd. I think the Playstation solution serves only as a tech demo that could sell with a minigame collection just as the original eyetoy did, but it can't and won't get widespread appeal, especially considering the number of controllers one would theoretically have to buy in order to get a group of people playing.
And then there was the Xbox solution of a 3D camera with no controllers. Playstation was right in my opinion when they said sometimes you just need buttons. That's the fatal flaw in regards to project Natal gaining widespread adoption on the level of the wiimote for playing games. Sure, some minigames might be created like the breakout game they demonstrated, but the most practical applications will be those like EA is already pondering, which have a workout focus. I think the reason Peter Molyneux demoed a boy that could react and respond to you was that he realized that this was the most elegant and useful implementation of the technology. It shouldn't be an extension of the controller, it should be an extension of the experience. If Microsoft handed out simple instructions for even the most straightforward thing, headtracking where every character would tilt or turn their head towards the direction of the person playing, even that little element could make a game more immersive. Letting you actually speak to characters in role playing games would also add to this. These are things that could be implemented without a lot of effort on the 3rd party programmers, but might lead to gamers picking it up, just so they can experience it. Maybe I'm just the one lacking imagination for this technology. I wouldn't mind an elebits style tech demo just for fun, but in the end I just want the game to be a little more aware of the player.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Miracle Fruit 6-1-09 Alien Growth
GM Restructuring
Since the goverment is going around "rescuing" whomever it wants with taxpayer money and now the government owns 60% of GM on our behalf, how about all taxpayers get a 60% discount on GM vehicles? Then maybe they'll actually sell better than foreign cars. I feel like that's about the only fair way for this whole thing to shake out because there's no other way that money is going to get back to the government. So yeah, that $50B in taxpayer money? Split the difference with voucher subsidies and GM could get rid of all the cars they've made and we'd have something to show for this whole debacle.
I'll get me one of them new Cameros that look kinda like the old Cameros. Thanks.
I'll get me one of them new Cameros that look kinda like the old Cameros. Thanks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
