dogma
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Defying App Store dogma with the Kevin Smith app
The question is this: If an application that simulates flatulence is worth 99 cents, is it reasonable to spend the same amount on an app that delivers a full-force, stun-an-elephant dosage of information about one cult actor/director? We're about to find out: here comes the Kevin Smith app [iTunes link], for everything Kevin Smith and all your Kevin Smith needs. If you're thinking "Who is Kevin Smith and why should I care?" you can tune out now; this app isn't for you. If you quote Chasing Amy, have dressed up as a character from Clerks for Halloween, and voluntarily chose to see Jersey Girl: it's your lucky day. The $0.99 app includes a custom feed of candid Kevin photos, a single-user Twitter client (!) so you can follow Kevin's 140-character bon mots, news feeds from Kevin's site with podcast/media downloads, a "photo with Silent Bob" tool, a Rant soundboard of Kevin quips... even a Kevin ringtone to go with your Kevin wallpaper. I am not making any of this up. In fairness to Kevin and his development team, I don't think they're taking themselves completely seriously here -- and if when Kevin and co. come to Macworld Expo to promote the app, you can bet we will be there to get an in-person demo. To quote the man, the myth, the legend: Yes, it may be the Pet Rock of the 21st century. But be honest: you've spent .99 cents on way dumber crap. If you're remotely into my nonsense, at the very least, this me-centric app will make you smile. At the very most, you'll put a noose around your neck, utter "It's all for you, Official Kevin Smith iPhone App!", and step off a ledge. Let's hope your reaction's somewhere betwixt the two. I'm almost afraid to search the store to see what other single-subject apps have been officially endorsed by their celebrity co-creators. If you had to pick a person that was deserving of his or her own app (aside from Kevin Smith), who would it be and why?
On lag and communication: Two interrelated issues
On Thursday, January 8th Nethaera sent out a memo to all the fan sites asking them to announce it, and Eyonix posted on the forums for all the rest of us. Latency and connectivity issues will be fixed in patch 3.0.8. The crowds cheered, babies cried in joy, and dog and cats started to live together. The world would be right again.Fast forward 15 days later.The high latency while raiding places like Naxxramas and Malygos is still there. The servers are still packed with queue. The patch was a near disaster. And we're still getting bug reports in every 10 minutes, both in comments and via our tip-line.Many people want to know why this hasn't been fixed. People are out looking for blood. The whole head on a pike sort of thing. A better way to approach the situation is to try to come up with contingency plans and other activities to do. If Blizzard cannot get their servers to work, to the point that many consider the game playable, then people will need to focus on other aspects of the game or try to work around the problematic parts.On the couple servers I play on many of the top guilds have decided to stop raiding for the night if there are any problems with high latency in the raid instances. On Alex's server people raid only for a couple hours after 10pm when the queues and population have dropped off. And still other guilds I know have just said forget it completely and are on hiatus until these issues are fixed.
