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Meet your desktop's ancestors: AT&T exhumes footage of the Bell Blit (video)
AT&T's video archives are rich seams of juicy historical tidbits, and today's offering is a fine example. It's sharing footage of the Bell Blit, a graphic interface that Bell Labs developed after being inspired by the Xerox Alto. Originally named the Jerq, it was created by Rob Pike and Bart Locanthi to have the same usability as the Alto, but with "the processing power of a 1981 computer." Watch, as the narrator marvels at being able to use multiple windows at once, playing Asteroids while his debugging software runs in the background on that futuristic green-and-black display. The next time we get annoyed that Crysis isn't running as fast as you'd like it to, just remember how bad the geeks of yesteryear had it.
Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center founder Jacob Goldman passes away at age 90
Jacob Goldman, the man who helped found the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) as Xerox's chief scientist in 1970, has passed away at age 90. PARC holds a special place in gadget lore, as it was responsible for creating Alto, the first modern computer with a GUI and a mouse, the first WYSIWYG text editor, and Ethernet, among many other innovations. Prior to his time at Xerox, Dr. Goldman was the head of R&D at Ford Motor Company, and after retiring, he served on the boards of several companies, including Xerox. The New York Times reported that Goldman created PARC to research "the architecture of information" -- and the fruits of PARC's labor listed above show that he's made an immeasurable and lasting contribution to the computing world, and consequently, life as we know it. Godspeed, Dr. Goldman, and thanks for everything. [Image credit: PARC]
Gnome Rogue with Pink Mohawk wants your data
Nick Yee from the Daedalus Project is now looking for data for a new project he's working on with the Palo Alto Research Center. Now, PARC is a pretty big name in computing, and Nick Yee is justly known for his long running work on the Daedalus Project, so the idea that a group with PARC's resources is studying WoW and other MMO's using someone as knowledgeable as Mr. Yee is very interesting all told. The idea of trying to 'predict who people are just from the way they behave in a virtual world ' and my own personal curiosity for whether nor not they'll run into a certain Mr. Gabriel's GIFT (warning, there is a swearword behind that link) has me decidedly curious. The full text of the press release will be behind the cut for those interested.
The advantages of being an online gaming parent
The issue of parenting as it relates to online gaming is not only a delicate one, but its popularity is growing as more children are getting into the virtual space. We would be willing to bet that a healthy percentage of Massively readers are gamers with children. Not only that, but as online gamers age, their children inevitably continue into the next generation of online gamers.According to a new video podcast by Palo Alto Research Center's Nick Yee, parents who game have an advantage over those who don't game. This video -- the first in his series -- aims to show non-gaming parents how they can set reasonable guidelines and provide leverage for their children's online activities. He interviews several parents and gets their own experiences with how they raise their online gaming children. You'll find the complete 12-minute video right after the jump.[Thanks Efrem!]
The Daedalus Project tracks MUD
Actually, it tracks MMOs, but what a clever title, huh? The Daedalus Project is the demographic/analysis website created and maintained by Nick Yee, a graduate student of Stanford University in the field of Communications who now works at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Nick's site is noteworthy both for the online surveys of MMO players that are open to anyone who wants to participate, and also for the conclusions he draws based on those survey results.This statistical data has been used by Washington Post, CBS, TechWeek, CNET, the Associated Press, Nature.com, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. Nick always has a survey or two running, so if you're interested in contributing your experiences and thoughts to the collective (and growing) body of knowledge concerning MMOs, you can do so at the 'Current Surveys' section of his site.For those of us interested in metadata, The Daedalus Project is a genuine boon, and we hope he continues his necessary and groundbreaking work well into the future. [Thanks, Nick!]
