Zune < > iPod Vista < > Mac OSX
X Box < > Playstation Vision < > EyeToy
Microsoft has diversified far from its roots as a producer of operating systems into various other fields such as hardware, games and now the portable media markets but how much of what Microsoft makes now is Microsoft? Most of their attempts seem to be either rushed or copied and/or don’t work as well as what they took the idea from. The Zune is an easy target as it is so obviously an iPod in big, brown, Microsoft clothing with the added feature of wi-fi. This could have been a really good move, the wi-fi could have been successful if it could wirelessly stream music to other media players but it can’t even be used as a storage device and has killed the market not just on itself but could have caved in the market for the other companies which adopted the “Plays for Sure” format. Maybe the iPod is the only player left that could succeed, and even that ties you into the iTunes store and it’s own software to transfer tracks.
Other things that Microsoft have taken include the X Box which it might be suggested was taken from the PS2 in the first incarnation and rushed into development to beat the PS3 before launch. Their claim about adding the external HDDVD drive was an ‘option’ for consumers suggests to me that they only wanted to beat the PS3 in terms of sales. However this time period has allowed the X Box to find its feet to make quality games whereas the launch titles for the PS3 look similar to those at this stage of the X Box.
I’ve talked about how Vista has copied most of the features of Mac OSX and tried to implement them into its shiny OS before, so won’t today. However I would like to propose an insight into my prediction for the next Microsoft product. Due to its past few years of doing what other companies have done, I think that Microsoft will improve upon their success of the X Box 360 and launch a portable version, like the PSP from Sony and the DS Lite from Nintendo. To make this clear, this is my thought of what might happen and not what is happening but if the past few years is anything to go by it will either be this or more and more reincarnations of the Zune to iron out the wrinkles. For example they could allow it to be a portable storage device and stream content to other Zunists in real time, like a portable stereo but for the 21st century to name a few improvements.
Oh and if Microsoft read this and decide to do this, I’d like some money for thinking of these ideas, I’ll do it so you don’t have to!
Archive for November, 2006
What next for Microsoft
November 27, 2006Are Wii there yet?
November 27, 2006Judging on the reported breakages of TVs and now windows by playing with the Wii a little too strongly I can’t help but think that it might be safer to actually play the physical versions of the game in your bed/living room. I’m almost certain that using a real baseball bat would cause less damage to your TV at the rate that over active Americans have been blaming the Wiimote strap for “breaking.”
Another problem with the state of Nintendo’s gameplay is that the line that they’ve chosen of innovation rather than power has to end somewhere, which is surely virtual reality gaming where you are in the game in a digital form. But seriously, how far away from that? Either way, if they’re aren’t that many steps between then Nintendo are going to have to get into the power war that has been going on between Microsoft and Sony over the past few years. Their strategy has paid off for sometime now but how long can their innovation really last, and how much more innovation can the home take? After reading about the exagerated breakages that have occurred over the past month I seriously doubt that we’re ready for virtual reality; that could get seriously nasty. Imagine it now, you die in the game, you die? On second thoughts that would be very interesting! A REAL gaming war.
A dream come true, almost
November 27, 2006I’ve been saying it for some time, we don’t need another format (blu-ray/HD-DVD) as legal downloads are coming. And not that far away either; for Australia anyway. The service promises to be a good service that despite being in standard definition movies will be released alongside their DVD launch titles for downloading. The best bit though is the fact that you don’t just get one copy, you get one for your PC, one for your mobile media player and one to be burnt to disc. DVD is getting nearer its demise whether it be HD-DVD or blu-ray and now legal downloads that will be priced the same as the DVDs of yester-year. And the best bit? No new format. Especially if high def downloads are launched, they could be streamed to your HD TV. Oh and did I mention that they’re for keeps? Well they are, meaning that its not like the on demand services such as Telewest and the XBox services which allow you to ‘rent’ the content to watch over a period of time. This is brilliant, anyone ready to ditch the TV schedule in favour of streaming contnet now?
Currently Universal is on board with ReelTime with delightful features such as Kong and The Bourne Supremacy plus another 33 other launch titles.
Antisocial Zune
November 26, 2006So it’s sort of established now that a lot of people don;t like the Zune, for various reasons but I think that Microsoft actually had a good idea with the wi-fi connectivity but has been poorly implemented. For instance wouldn’t it be more appropriate to use the wi-fi to hook it up to your computer to transfer tracks (probably slowly) or to be able to stream your content around your home network? Instead the Zune is another media player where you have to use the bundled sofware to tie you into their Zune market place. This is the exact same as what Apple did with iTunes and similarly Sony with their Connect store with the Sonic Stage software. Why can’t we just transfer tracks to media players using the utilities on the system already such as Windows Explorer, it is so much easier and quicker than using their software anyway and so many no name brands do it this way. The answer is that the bigger brands want to stay bigger brands by taking even more of your hard earned money.
Wouldn’t it have been better to put a tried and tested technology into the Zune such as Bluetooth that is wholly used for transferring media freely over short distances. Bluetooth is a standardised technology though so Microsoft wouldn’t want anything to do with it would they? Bluetooth would work perfectly for this, just last night I was wirelessly sending some pics from my PC to my phone. It is so much easier than using cables for this sort of thing. It could also be used in the Zune for sending media between friends. And I know the DRM restrictions are there for the artists protection (rather the music companies) but 3 days or 3 plays and then asking you to buy it? This is terrible, if I receive content from one of my friends on my mobile phone, I can keep it as long as I want, send it to someone else or even send it to my computer to use as long as I want.
And the worst thing about the Zune only being able to send/receive content with other Zunists is that you need to find someone with another Zune. This seems to have proven to be a very difficult task in even the largest of areas in America but I suppose time will tell whether or not enough people will buy the Zune to make this feature anywhere near possible. It’s the only thing that makes it distinctive, apart from the comparatively large chassis to hold the wi-fi adapter.
Visual FX
November 26, 2006Did you ever wonder why the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben were still standing in one piece after you’d seen V? Or how Davy Jones had a squid face and beard of tentacles. Of course you didn’t, but did you ever wonder how it was done?
CGI, mo-cap or Miniatures?
As I said in the tech review about Casino Royale, I think that whilst CGI is an amazing technology, I think that it is better used to enhance rather than being the determining feature. Take V for Vendetta as an example, Big Ben obviously still resides in London but you still believed the spectacle when you saw it didn’t you, well that’s more than likely because it was a miniature that was constructed to a high level of detail over several months and blown to pieces in a matter of milliseconds. This was captured on a 1000 frames per second camera, any less and you wouldn’t have seen anything (ordinary footage is shot at 24fps). A miniature is rather an understatement as they’re highly detailed, scaled down models that are actually quite big. CGI was merely used to enhance the experience and set the explosion in futuristic London. The London in the future (2038) unlike science fiction movies set in the same time period is also much more realistic and normal compared to the hover skateboards seen in Back to the Future 2.
Pirates of the Caribean (POTC) Dead Man’s Chest used motion capture to capture the movements of Bill Nighy using a track suit of referential dots. This was similar to how Andy Serkis’ movements were captured in Kong but POTC didn’t use mo-cap in a studio off set in a surrounding of green. POTC used a brand new technology, image motion capture, that allowed Nighy to act his scenes out with real cast members. This has to be worth it as the expressions and body language of both Nighy and the rest of the cast synchronise to make a ‘real’ performance. The features of Davy Jones were added as layers after they were acted out.
CGI has come a long way in terms of realistic detail but you just can’t beat the realism that real stunts and actors have upon the performance to the audience. CGI mainly plays a part and cannot be used to replace actors, at least in the near future. Sure some movies already use CGI for most of the movie but actors are still needed for the human qualities and movies that solely use CGI are often aimed at a younger audience and have seemed to replace the 2D animatics. 2D still has a place too, I mean look at the statistics for the Simpsons, which incidentally has its own movie launching mid next year and is guraranteed to stay on our screens until the 19th season (currently airing 18th) and much longer than that. Can you really imagine the Simpsons in anything other than 2D? And the Simpsons aren’t the only successful animated show in 2D, look at South Park, Family Guy, American Dad and Futurama to name a few.
Another Update
November 25, 2006The stats are in and my videos accumatively have broken the 1000 views barrier with 1003 in total. A Mini Presentation gained the highest number of downloads with 25 exceeding all others. Most of which were created on Tuesday November 22nd with a staggering 19 downloads in one day, more than the total number of views for all videos together. A Mini Presentation was also launched on YouTube this week.
The stats are listed below:
Yesterday
A Mini Presentation, Russ Swift at Meadowhall Shopping Centre, Sheffield
10
0
Coaster Dynamix – Model Rollercoaster
9
0
Faller Theme Park Model Fairground
4
0
Totals
29
0
All Time
A Mini Presentation, Russ Swift at Meadowhall Shopping Centre, Sheffield
289
25
Coaster Dynamix – Model Rollercoaster
472
0
Faller Theme Park Model Fairground
146
0
Totals
1003
26
(The videos weren’t uploaded simultaneously)
Banged to Rights?
November 25, 2006We now live in a world where it’s possible to send your home AV sources to you anywhere where theres a connection to the Internet but by doing this you’re technically breaking the law.
In Austrailia a proposed new copyright act indicates that anyone who possesses copyrighted material on their device with the intent to copy the media and make it available to others can face up to five years in jail and a fine of AUD$65,000. Even if you don’t intend to supply the material you could still be fined on the spot by a police officer for simply having copy protected material on your portable media player. Can you imagine walking down the street, bumping into an officer of the law and having your entire content library scanned for copied music and then being fined $1320? Surely there has to be more important things for Police to be worrying about or is this the only thing preventing Austailia from being the “safest” country in the world? Copyright acts allow you to make one main copy for personal use but once you’ve put the music onto your computer, you already have that backup so then you’re not “allowed” to copy it to a media player or a second CD. Even worse is if you purchase your music online and it happens to be deleted from your machine, the store where you bought it from won’t simply give it back to you. So you need to back it up, but then you would defeat the object of putting it onto your media player if you abide by the law.
Also if you have a device such as a mobile phone with a Slingbox client on Symbian phones or an Archos AV700TV then it’s free to watch TV signals whenever whereever right? Yes – until your battery runs out and you connect it to the mains outside of your home. If you try and watch TV signals whilst its connected to the mains in a hotel for example; you’re breaking another law. The nice TV licence that UK homeowners pay for the privilige of 8 BBC channels only covers your viewing at home. That means that the investment that you pay to the BBC for their “quality” programming prevents you from viewing any other channel as you chage up your device. The TV licence in itself is slightly outdated anyway as most television viewers now have either Satellite or Cable digital services which they have to subscribe to and get much more than 8 channels. However viewers have to pay both their cable or satellite provider and the BBC. I think that this is considerably unfair, especially for those who don’t even watch the Beeb tube. In fact a growing number of people don’t even watch TV due to the growing competition from the net. TV broadcasts will be dead soon if something doesn’t change. Sure theres high definition but currently the Freeview service that the BBC continues to push won’t have that until the analogue feeds are turned off. So if you want to experience HD now, you have to pay a cable or satellite provider plus the BBC.
Maybe laws are meant to be broken, theres certainly no avoiding breaking them if you want to enjoy the content that you have. As long as your not distributing the content and it’s only for personal use then why shouldn’t you be able to have as many copies as you feel comfortable with. However a change is slowly happening, especially as come Christmas FM transmitters will be legal to use from Christmas. (There already legal to buy but not use – yet) Yes OFCOM realised that not everyone wants to set up a pirate radio station but they do want to be able to stream their music, wirelessly, to their car stereos. Now lets abolish the TV licence shall we? The BBC make more than enough by their TV DVD range and selling to other networks and countries. Would it really be that bad without a BBC anyway?
Linux wants to play
November 23, 2006So Apple has had the crown of portable media players for some time now and Microsoft has launched the Anti-Social Zune (in America at least). Now Linux is joining the party as a player that has a respectable Nano challenging 4GB of internal flash based memory that plays most formats (MP3, WMA, AAC and OGG as well as DivX).
These are common nature though in most rival players and without the bulk of a wi-fi module, though I suppose the Zune does have a larger capacity of 30GB but then so does the iPod and more in a smaller chassis than the Zune. Where this one stands out from the range of other media playing devices is that this one, when plugged into the USB port launches its own operating system. And you thought that designated players such as iTunes were irritating to have to launch to transfer your music.
1.5GB of the memory is set aside for TurboLinux Fuji OS. Meaning that when this is plugged into the USB port and you restart your Windows machine, you’ll say hello to Linux when it reloads. Firefox (web-browser) and Skype (VoIP calls) are included too with some other applications to get you started using the free, open source operating system.
It looks a little like a mobile phone but is a fully fledged media player in disguise and it’s called the Wizpy; only available in Japan for now but you never know, besides you could just ask a nice friendly importer to blag one for you.
See it
Wii want a new TV
November 23, 2006The wii-mote flung across the room and took out the guys 60″ television as he was playing the bowling game on Wii Sports. He says that the strap on the wii-mote snapped as he ‘bowled’ with the controller. After so little time on release though, I doubt very much that the strap ripped. Companies test products heavily and something like this that is designed to be physically abused should have used a material that would last a few years not weeks of general gaming. So maybe he had overused it or not used the strap at all. Which would explain the rather clean cut of the strap. He insists that he’s not pleading for a new TV from Nintendo but if not then why is he making such as fuss?
However after reading some of the comments, I might believe it as apparently the same has happened to other gamers. Does this mean that Nintendo’s cheap and cheerful persona is rubbing off onto their products? I don’t think so he’ll have cut it after he was so embarrassed that he had been flinging the wii-mote around by the string alone. Especially as the cut happens to be on the side where little pressure would be if general (that’s surely not the right word for Nintendo’s new brand of physical games) gaming.
Read full review and comments
Mail your PS3
November 23, 2006It was bad enough yesterday as I blogged about a PS3 scam that was made of a PS1+PS2 stuck together. But now someones gone too far, they’ve copied all of the specs of the PS3 onto eBay and, improving on yesterdays, a photo of a real PS3. All for $890.
So wheres the problem, well in eBays version of small print (at the bottom of the page) the user admitted that you won’t be getting a PS3 but an account with hotmail. I bet its the free version too (with its respectable increased mail box size of 1000mb). The address is Hot_PS3s@hotmail.com and the winning bidder will receive the password and a lot of spam. It’s not even that unique like PS3@hotmail.com; although it is very hard to get an email address with hotmail now that isn’t already in use. But it just goes to show that no-one reads the small print, or indeed to the bottom of the page in this desperate attempt to get the hottest gadget of err. 2007?
Get your bids in now
OR
Spam the account
(that’ll teach ‘em for their lack of patience and the users nerve to sell a hotmail account)
