Those Crazy Japanese

I’ve rekindled my love affair with YouTube, and those crazy Japanese game shows:

Human Tetris:

and…

Silent Library Torture:

Playstation 3: First Impressions

I’ve been maxing out the credit card recently, so was pleasantly surprised when I found out that I had accrued enough hotpoints for a brand spanking new Playstation 3!

I’d been itching to get an AppleTV, but when I found out about the media capabilities of the PS3 I was sold.  I’m a keen, but amazingly crap, gamer too!

Here’s my first thoughts.

Getting Physical

The packaging ain’t gonna be Apple, but I was up and running in no time at all.  The PS3 is pretty heavy, much more so than I expected.  And it also felt a little fragile.   It’s certainly not like the original PS1 and PS2s – which have undergone “one hell of beating”.

The SimAxis controller is great though, and whilst it feels no different to the original PS2 controllers, there’s actually some motion sensors inside!

Starting Out

Ok – so you turn the box on in eager anticipation!   You get a nice string quartet playing the startup jingle!  Lovely.   But then it says “you need to update your system”.   Gah!!!   SIXTY minutes later – it finally did it.  Yes folks, you buy a PS3, and needs to go off for an hour or so to update the firmware.   You can, of course, opt out of this, but it was a disappointing start.

Gaming

I’d held off the PS3 deliberately until some solid titles started appearing.    But then GT Prologue, Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, and Grand Theft Auto IV (out tomorrow) are now on the scene.   I can’t speak for the last one, but the quality of the games are incredible.

I gave the online gaming a shot (which again frustrating involved downloading updates to games – another sixty plus minutes).  OK, but not brilliant.  Not sure if it’s the internet connection or not.   Plus, compared to the whizzkids out there I’m crap – so I get hammered every time.

Media

So, I have an iMac at home with a 500GB hard drive attached.  Lots of photos, lots of music, lots of movies and UK television!

I tried installing a couple of different media servers:

First up was TwonkyVision.   I found this good enough for pictures and music, but awful for video.

Next up was EyeConnect.  Good for video and pictures, but not for music.

Interestingly, I only appear to be able to stream avi formats.   The mp4 format most of my movies and tv are in streams, but stutters every 3-4 seconds.   Aaarrrgghh!   Help would be much appreciated.

PSP Remote Play

Here’s a cool wee feature.   You can hook up your PSP to access content remotely (from anywhere in the world) over your PSP.

I was accessing content from my PSP, which was being served via my PS3, that was sourced from my iMac!!  Photos, videos, music – the lot.   And apparently there are some games coming out that are PS3 and PSP compatible.   Pretty amazing stuff.

Only issue here is that the streaming was a bit slow so the videos weren’t great.

In Summary

In summary, once those bloody downloads were out of the way, the PS3 has been a good experience.  Not great.  But good.   I now have a home media server that is almost exactly what I needed – I just need to nail the mp4 streaming.

Only thing now is that I need a nice big HDTV.

Which means the missus will want a nice new sideboard to put it on….

Sigh.  Technolust is never ending.

Bits of Fun

OK. A couple of goodies here.

#1 X-Moto

Brilliant timewaster stress-reliever reminiscent of that old UK gem-of-a-series otherwise known as Kickstart.

#2 Bin Laden at the APEC Summit

Unbelievable that this happened. Got to make you laugh.

Xero goes Mobile

Shopping at the supermarket tonight and I realised that Xero have now gone mobile!!

Great branding – really eyecatching.   I particularly like the top of the car!!  Almost looks iPhone’esque’.

     

Adidas – Kings of Marketing

Couldn’t resist. This is classic.

20% Product, 80% Execution

They say you might have the best idea/product in the world, but it’s all about execution. Get that wrong and it’s game over.

The All Blacks found that out the hard way this morning.

(Disclaimer – I follow the team in white)

Killer Invention. I can retire now.

Clag-Gone! Thanks Viz!!

Freakonomics and Geekonomics

I’ve just finished reading Freakonomics.  It’s a great read, and don’t be scared off if economics ain’t your cup of tea.

I won’t spoil it for you, but it answers questions such as:

• what have schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers got in common?
• how is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of real estate agents?
• why do drug dealers still live with their mums?

It’s really good fun, and  if anything, makes you take a slightly different approach to “conventional truth”.

Now, my fellow techies,  we all know that IT does not have the best of reputations.  According to these surveys the project failure rate is about 50%, if not more.  That’s pretty abysmal.

The conventional truth is that projects fail because of:

• poor planning
• poor project management
• poorly defined requirements
• lack of user buy-in and involvement
• over ambitious technology
• and there’s probably a few more (feel free to add)

After reading Freakonomics, I thought challenge the conventional truth about what influences IT project success – let’s call it Geekonomics!!

I’d love to see some stats/evidence to prove/disprove the following hypotheses (some of which I think maybe true, some not!):

• Developers using Mac have a higher project success rate than developers using PCs!
• Bloggers are involved in more successful projects than non-bloggers
• More caffeine intake equals more project success
• Less time in meetings means a bigger chance of a successful project
• Less management of (bloody) Gantt charts results in more successful projects
• Locking down internet access at work decreases the chance of project success
• Giving your employees “free” broadband increases the change of project success
• “True geeks” deliver better projects

and finally,

• the success of a project is inversely proportional to the size of the papertrail it leaves behind

These are just a few to get you thinking.  It’s a bit of fun – but you never know!  Go on, feel free to add some more.  And if you know of any stats around them, then please do let me know.

Comfortable Surroundings…

The picture of me on the right is me eating my first UK curry for over three and a half years.

My usual order in Wellington is a chicken vindaloo, which I can quite easily handle.  So I thought I’d play it safe and go for a chicken madras, as I knew that UK curries (the national dish!) are a bit hotter.

The moral of the story – don’t get too comfortable with your surroundings – or you may get left behind.

Yes, the curries are hotter than I remembered.  But the UK has changed a bit since I was last here.

• The UK banks are now all Chip and Pin, and my NZ credit card seems archaeic.
• UK houses have to recycle things into five different bins, and if they don’t do it properly they get fined eighty quid!  Yes, eighty quid.
• Broadband is in your face, everywhere.   The range of mobile phones and plans is incredible.  Competition is good.  And it makes the prices far more attractive.
• The SatNav/TomTom things are everywhere – but then again you need them here.
• Speed cameras.  Like an infectious disease (erm.. foot and mouth, anyone!!).  They are EVERYWHERE.  And they have the differential ones that you simply can not cheat. 😦
• The trains have finally all been upgraded – and they’re pretty sexy – as long as you’re travelling off-peak.

Only three more days here before I head off “home”.

I’m gagging for a decent coffee.

🙂

Big Ass Table

I actually think that Surface is pretty cool, but I laughed when I saw this:

[link]

Hat tip to Rakesh