Bill Gates kills mouse

It has been a week since Windows 7 was leaked and Microsoft are determined to regain the PR upper hand with news of the new OS’s touchscreen capabilities.

In lieu of the success seen by platforms like Apple’s iPhone, Nintendo’s DS and (often atrocious) me-too efforts from LG and Samsung it’s a natural progression for Microsoft to throw their oar in.

If successful, the endeavour may spell the end of the traditional mouse and keyboard setup, just don’t hold your breath.

Here’s a rather good wobble-cam sneak preview of the Windows 7 interface:

Playing out of Zune

Owners of the 30GB model of Microsoft’s Zune have been suffering through a bout of millennium bug lite as the mp3 player locked up during the transition to 2009.

The glitch came about as a result of a programming oversight in the Zune’s onboard calendar which was unable to process 2008 as a leap year.

Unable to account for the 366^th day of the year the gadgets didn’t go insane and slay all of humanity, much to the disappointment of some Battlestar Galactica fans.

As with many technological problems the glitch is remedied by turning the unit off then turning it on again, possibly while swearing.

One Microsoft insider told The Times:

“It worked for me and it seems like it’s working for customers.”

Turning it on and off again that is. He didn’t mention swearing (unfortunately).

The Magpie has never been a fan of the clunky Zune and advocates the Creative Zen as a viable alternative to funding the operations of a man who lives in a mountain lair called Xanadu.

State of play: 2008

With 2008 winding down retrospective pieces are beginning to pop up all over the place. You can find a particularly good one here at BBC online.

Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux and Richard Garriot of Ultima fame are some of the industry insiders offering their two cents on the year that was.

Molyneux hints at a ’super secret’ project (Black & White 3 hmmm?) in the offing for ‘09, although a release date hasn’t been confirmed as of yet.

Molyneux’s comments on GTA IV and specifically the state of game design in general throw some light on a trend that has been bugging the gaming community for a while now: the phenomenon of dropping between £30 to £70 on a title only to blast through in hours.

“On the gaming front, GTA IV was a real moment for the industry. Rockstar nailed how you characterise a game and their engine and cut sequences are state of the art. However, only a few people actually saw all the cut sequences because the game was so tough to play. Are we making games too difficult? That’s a question the industry has been asking itself of late.”

Are we making games too difficult? Has Mr Molyneux played his own Fable titles? They practically play themselves – hold forward, move from marker to marker – its the videogame equivalent of orienteering on a train.

In terms of challenge the industry has been a victim of its own success. Moving from the realm of fanatical hobby to lifestyle accessory has created a popular motion toward pick-up-put-down playing.

The average gaming pattern has now become: wake up, work, rakishly flirt with colleagues, go home, play Burnout on PS3 for 20 minutes, go to the cluuuuub, resolve life into a Paco Rabanne ‘1 Million’ advert:

I believe that’s a custom Wiimote in the child’s hand in 0:17, and judging from his silken arm waggling throughout he’s a demon at Wii tennis.

Though it is a refreshing change to the ‘wake up, sigh, work, go home (to mother), play Zork for 12 hours, die alone’ stigma that was entrenched not so long ago.

Interwebosphere = bad (again)

Culture secretary Andy Burnham has said that age ratings could be applied to websites in a move to protect children from explicit content.

A move would target ISPs as the primary distributor of online material and require that they monitor and rate accordingly.

Although how this type of rating might be applied to the millions of individual blogs or social networking profiles remains to be elaborated on.

And isn’t there already a program called Net Nanny?

Top technology breakthroughs of 2008 – Wired

Wired have just launched their really rather good list of the year’s major tech breakthroughs with Apple’s App Store and Google’s open-source Android operating system topping the bill.

Apple-centric results come as no surprise with Wired and flexible displays should probably have been ranked higher than NASA enhanced Speedos.

Though you cant argue with the inclusion of flash memory and memristors (that means a lot faster computers – Usain Bolt on fire faster…except as a computer…that one didn’t really come off did it?)

Twittering man not hurt enough in plane crash

When Continental flight 1404 got into difficulties on Sunday and skidded from the runway Denver native Mike Wilson reached for his iPhone – CNET.

“Holy fucking shit I was just in a plane crash!” Mr Wilson tweeted, possibly while sliding down a bright yellow inflatable escape slide.

He then went on to detail how he had broken his glasses before posting an image of what is either burning wreckage or a lense-flare.

The crash, in which 38 people were injured is believed to have been caused by crosswinds as the plane was descending into Denver International Airport.

German shop does technological thing – everybody excited…

Beat the rush...

Getting back from an everything-must-go Woolworths experience a week before Christmas can be empowering. The danger, the spoils, the mortal screaming – this has to be the same rush felt by pillaging Vikings.

A blood spattered furry hotwater bottle, the majority of a Phantom Menace jigsaw, a bucket of still warm employees’ tears. Yes, my family are in for a treat this year.

And all for £1.16.

The jigsaw I wrestled from the hands of a particularly stout foeman. He wielded his shop-soiled tube of wrapping paper with skill and I was hard pressed until someone bought this head.

It was an ignominious end but I ensured he would have glory in death by interring him under a pyramid of Toblerones.

So thank goodness we can look forward to a more streamlined retail experience in future thanks to some German innovation.

Metro Groups‘ Future Store has been testing trolley tracking systems and portable scanners with the help of their customers.

Infra-red sensors work around the shop to detect shopping and queueing behaviour allowing tills to be opening or closed as needed.

The move to this kind of automation has the potential to save a 12 till supermarket around 1850 receipt rolls a year.

The move has been welcomed by bored staff working the 2am shelf-stacking shift. “These extra resources will guarantee that I am never left out of the ‘Look! I’m a mummy!’ game ever gain,” nobody said.

More here

Update

The Magpie has been out of commission for the past week.

To the dozens of fans out there: back soon.

To the other six billion who don’t care…uh…

Oooh arrr matey…

Piracy is no longer the preserve of Somalian outlaws this season with ELSPA announcing the seizure of £1m-worth of illegally copied DVDs, games and CDs in the West Midlands.

Thiry-five DVD re-writers and 19 hard drives were siezed, along with thousands of copies of horror flick High School Musical 3.

Further raids on a market stall and a residence in the area uncovered 5000 more counterfeit games.

According to Gamedaily.com several people have been arrested and released on bail as opposed to being blown up by the Indian navy.

We’re #1…

A proud day...

I’ve just rang my father and congratulated him. It had to be by telephone but if it was in person we would have hugged.

Yes, Ireland has finally topped the Google Trends rankings for searching the word ‘porn’, ahead of both the UK in second and Australia’s paltry third.

Leading the charge are the people of  Kildare, probably because there’s nothing else to do but watch the DART go somewhere more interesting.

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