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AP ignores Paris, who should we ignore?
Yesterday the Associated Press, the wire service depended upon by almost every news organization on the planet, admitted to experimenting with a weeklong blackout on the "celebutant" Paris Hilton. GameSetWatch took note of this and discussed how former head of the Electronic Software Association, Doug Lowenstein, condemned the gaming press for granting legitimacy to Jack Thompson by writing about him and thus feeding the beast. In essence, saying the gaming press should have put a blackout on Thompson ages ago.The thing is that if the gaming press ignores Jack Thompson, he doesn't just go away. By reporting on Thompson and his antics, which get ever more desperate over time, we chronicle the man. When mainstream media organizations Google search Thompson, they find the gaming press' work. It gives them a better understanding of Thompson and his work. So, other than Thompson, is there anyone or anything the gaming press should take a cue from the AP and ignore within the industry?
Wii News Channel is live
Although announced for a Saturday unveiling, Nintendo went ahead and launched the Wii News Channel this morning. The service is free and requires a system update (that you'll likely be prompted to do next time you turn on your console).The service uses a globe for news searching much like the forecast channel, which could be seen as an educational tool for those with geographical deficiencies. According to Gamasutra, the service will be offered in English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German and Swiss-German by the Associated Press, while Japanese-language news will be provided by Japanese news company Goo.There are some bugs with the globe-trotting format, as reader Ralph Kruse discovered. Give the new channel a whirl, let us know what you think and of any other bugs / easter eggs you find.[Thanks to the plethora of tipsters who sent this in!]
Wii belong together
We're all about loving the consoles, but we're not really sure about loving the consoles, you know? But we try not to judge. That doesn't mean we can't giggle behind a hand at this creative take on the relationship between a console and its owner. AP reporters Derrik J. Lang and Ryan Pearson recently went through e|Harmony's compatibility questions to see how solid their relationships were with their new consoles. These questions apparently reveal who you are at "the deepest level," and according to Lang and Pearson, the PS3 is a needy brat and the Wii is a peppy little ball of sunshine. Looks like the console wars are all decided, then!Also, apparently the Wii is a Democrat. Who knew?[Via Joystiq]
Associated Press must have Steve Jobs' phone bugged
How else could they have come up with this insightful and super-newsy headline?Hmm, "expected" -- not a strong verb. How about "we'd bet our pants on it?"In fairness to Rachel Konrad, who undoubtedly did not write the headline, the article itself is pretty well done; it discusses the metameme of Apple product introductions in the iPod age, which can have cellphone company execs quivering in anxiety even before we know the iPhone's real name. We all can remember when Apple wasn't considered a serious technology company, and the Macintosh was derided as a 'toy computer.' Times have changed: this week there are tech reporters having to make a tough choice between covering Macworld, where the big news is coming from, and everything else.
Associated Press' top handheld choice? LocoRoco
The Associated Press is one of the world's leading providers of news and opinion in the world. So, when such a huge mainstream press outlet says something good about the PSP, I take note. AP chose Oblivion as their Overall Game of the Year, and gave LocoRoco the award for Portable Game of the Year. "Sony's PlayStation Portable finally received a great, original game this summer with LocoRoco. Heaps of cuteness, creativity and charm made what could have been another boring platformer into one of the year's most original and irresistible video games." Surely, this comes as a surprise to those that expected a DS game to win. However, it's not all roses in Sony-land. The PLAYSTATION 3 got the dubious award of "Worst Console Launch." [Via Online Athens]
Asus and Planex unveil snazzy new WAPs
With all this 802.11n hubbub going on, it's refreshing to see a trio of new 802.11b/g wireless access points that have set out to make the WiFi goodness we're used to even better. Planex Communication's GW-AP54SP-P (pictured after the jump) is a two-port WAP that supports automatic power-on functionality when detecting wireless activity, bridge / repeater capability, WPA2 support, and of course, up to 54Mbps transfer speeds. Meanwhile, Asus' latest power duo -- the WL-320gE and WL-320gP -- reportedly provide "up to 850 meters" of open space coverage thanks to their 5dBi high-gain antennas; they also sport SNMP to allow system administrators to manage multiple APs from remote locations, and somehow managed to pass the FCC's oh-so-restrictive transmission guidelines as well. The WL-320gP goes one step further by incorporating power over ethernet (compliant with 802.3af) to "eliminate the hassle of locating a power source." While pricing and release date information wasn't readily available, it's probably safe to assume these WAPs won't demand the same premium as those 802.11n-compatible alternatives -- and at least this trio operates on a standardized protocol, eh?Read - Planex Communication's GW-AP54SP-P Read - Asus' WL-320gE / WL-320gP
AP election results coming to cellphones via Crisp Wireless
While voting via cellphone is still confined to contests with less geopolitical consequences, it looks like you'll at least be able to get results from the upcoming US mid-term elections from the convenience of your handset with the newly announced AP Mobile Election Results Service. Crisp Wireless is providing the tech with the info coming courtesy of the Associated Press, including state-by-state results for national races and ballot initiatives as well as political news and summaries of national trends. The service is apparently designed specifically for AP customers like newspapers and broadcasters, and is being offered as a "white-label" turn-key service for providers to market as they choose, though it doesn't seem like anything has been announced just yet. Somehow we wonder if it's powered by those totally awesome Diebold machines we've been hearing about.
North Dakota students show off Mars spacesuit prototype
We had assumed that with all the robots being developed for deployment to Mars, the human astronauts would mostly be lounging around inside the comfort of their robot-built habitats and ordering drinks from their robot bartenders, but yesterday's unveiling of a prototype spacesuit for navigating the Martian terrain proves that manned missions might not be as cushy as we anticipated. The 50-pound suit (which they somehow got The Office's Steve Carell to model) was designed by students from five North Dakota colleges in a collaborative project funded by a $100,000 NASA grant, and includes at least three innovative technologies for which patents have been filed. Among the slew of sensors and communications gear designed for the harsh, low-gravity environment are oxygen and carbon dioxide detectors, GPS system, full suite of health monitors, shoulder mounted CCD cam, Bluetooth server to coordinate all the data, and a high-power transmitter for beaming info back to the mothership -- though curiously, there's no mention of an onboard weapons system that would be crucial for encounters with the occasional hostile Martian. Also, as the AP helpfully notes, even with all the research and design that went into this project, the forty-odd students seemed to neglect a key feature of any good full-body suit, which is an "escape hatch" for when the astronauts need to "jettison their waste."[Via futurismic and abc]
CNN reports on Mac virus
Several people have emailed us to point out that CNN is featuring an AP story about the 'first Mac virus' on their front page. It looks like CNN is a little late to the party, since the Mac web already reported about this way back in February. Damien wrote that, 'The bottom line is that this really seems to be a proof-of-concept trojan more than an actual "in the wild, self-propagating" virus. So yeah, it's certainly very interesting, but I'm not about to start watching for the sky to fall.'The virus detailed in the CNN story is (though they never call it by name) Oompa-Loompa, as coined by Andrew Welch. You get this trojan (it isn't really a virus) by downloading a file that promises to give you a sneak peek at Leopard. You must then decompress the file, and then click on the resulting decompressed file. At that point an application runs that does a variety of things that Andrew details much better than I can.I wonder what took the AP so long to sensationalize this little 'virus'?
