Being a huge TechTV fan, when I read on Digg that Chris Pirillo had started a new pseudo call for help, I was instantly curious. Because really, every TechTV fan has at one point or another secretly wished that somehow all of those people could make a tech show and be paid as handsomely as any actor or actress who stars on the next CSI spin-off. Alas, however, this is not the case. But through following their expliots, I have come across some interesting tech for consuming the same content but in new and free options. My favorite examples are Diggnation, which is based on the social news website Kevin Rose created (by the way, my profile page is here) and This Week in Tech (or TWiT as its seen around the net), and now I've found another. Chris Pirillo Live, as its called, is vastly different then Diggnation's videocast or TWiT's podcast, but more akin to the word netcast then how Leo Laporte tried to coin the term (find out why podcast might be a hot term here). People open the page, and on it streams a live webcam with Chris Pirillo's happy mug on it as he answers questions from a chat room on the page. This chat room, when viewed as it was being dugg last night, quickly devolved into a melting pot of obscurity and internet slang. The good news though is that he promised that tomorrow would be different as there would be more serious people and not the entire Digg community, unmoderated.
That unmoderation and what Pirillo himself said was the most damning thing about Digg users in general. Their language and breadth of topics do not stray very far from the sort of racist and homophobic banter of Xbox Live on Halo 2. The majority of the questions were pretty much this:
Do you play Counter Strike: Source? No
Where did you go to school and what was your major? University of Iowa, Magna Cum Laude, English
Who is your hawt asian girlfriend? My wife Ponzi (Latthanapon Indharasophang), met on Match.com but use manyfishinthesea.com!
Do a barrel roll. (ytmnd reference)
Put a shoe on your head. (urban dictionary definition)
What car do you drive? (Didn't pay attention)
Do you play World of Warcraft? No
What do you do for a living? "This!" He exclaims.
Why are you acting like a tool? (laughter)
Welp, I'm holding Chris to his word and checking it out tonight whats in store. Not sure if I'll ask any questions but on thing is for sure...
...its gonna be entertaining.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
To Explain Away a Phenomenon
Gamers.
For some, this is you. The people who choose to play digital entertainment for the sole reason of having fun, killing your friends, or the simple glory of the high score. For those of you who don't identify, this is not you. Those people are the nerdy, socially closed in people who need a good drink and get laid worse then any other social group out there (including Al Queda). Personally as someone single, and dating, this tag presents a huge problem. While it's simple enough to find someone who doesn't play and meet somehow halfway, that its problematic. Especially for MMO players, non-gamers rarely understand the motivation of playing, let alone be able to explain the expense.
Personally I believe that excessive gaming is a sign of a myraid of mental illness ranging from depression to anxiety problems, I still feel though that its a better outlet then some alternatives like drug use or drinking. If a gamer is willing to go halfway to say, "Hey maybe we do play excessively" isn't it equally important to acknowlegde that the non-gamer likewise does something all encompassing and possibly more destructive.
All of this talk came from a friend of mine's discussion of my playing World of Warcraft (Asad on the http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/ website). While I might play 2-3 hours a day, I'm usually with friends and even having fun doing it.
And in the end, that's what its all about.
For some, this is you. The people who choose to play digital entertainment for the sole reason of having fun, killing your friends, or the simple glory of the high score. For those of you who don't identify, this is not you. Those people are the nerdy, socially closed in people who need a good drink and get laid worse then any other social group out there (including Al Queda). Personally as someone single, and dating, this tag presents a huge problem. While it's simple enough to find someone who doesn't play and meet somehow halfway, that its problematic. Especially for MMO players, non-gamers rarely understand the motivation of playing, let alone be able to explain the expense.
Personally I believe that excessive gaming is a sign of a myraid of mental illness ranging from depression to anxiety problems, I still feel though that its a better outlet then some alternatives like drug use or drinking. If a gamer is willing to go halfway to say, "Hey maybe we do play excessively" isn't it equally important to acknowlegde that the non-gamer likewise does something all encompassing and possibly more destructive.
All of this talk came from a friend of mine's discussion of my playing World of Warcraft (Asad on the http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/ website). While I might play 2-3 hours a day, I'm usually with friends and even having fun doing it.
And in the end, that's what its all about.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Melee Hunters and Being Epically Mounted
The Lone Melee Hunter
Gweryc Halfhand is a hunter with a mission. Forego any notions of being a ranged class and fight right there with your pet, melee style. Now you may ask why anyone would make such a seemingly unsound decision. After all, the game is pretty much drawn out all abilities, weapons, and gear for the hunter for its ranged aspect, its a little understatement to say this is swimming upstream. Stated on his blog, his reasoning:
"For me, World of Warcraft ceased being about pwnage and phat lewtz a very, very long time ago. My monthly subscription rents me a playground, not a bunch of pixellated e-peen enlargers, not a spot as somebody's slave in a raid guild. It's all about fun, and I get a major kick out of pushing the envelope. So I suppose it was really inevitable that I level a 100% pure melee hunter at some point."
On his blog are the various links that circle around what hes trying to do as well as another example, specifically talking about the Naked Troll Project as well as his armory links and forum posts on the official WoW forums.
Whats the Cost of That Mount Again?
Whats funny though is thats not even the strangest WoW news to come from the internets. As reported by Kotaku as well as the Lengendary Thread podcast, a female WoW player offered on Craigslist to have sex for the gold to buy an epic flying mount. In real world value that comes out to $800 USD ($16 per 100g). In an update she had voiced her opinion that, contrary to Kotaku's post, she is not a whore, she and her benifactor both got what they wanted, and were going to see each other the following week. §
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Gearing Up for the Mac Adventure
So I've been wanting to know what its like to roll wit da Apple Macintosh crew with their fancy shmancy computers and to be honest I'm not enitrely impressed with Microsoft's Vista offerings. Also to really get me to leave was the failing commitment on Microsoft's part for security and their over-the-top lockdowns on blue ray/hd-dvd, so I made the switch. Purchased through my school a 17" Macbook Pro with no enhancements and a glossy screen. Why else switch? Well, the one app other then Firefox I use on a daily basis, World of Warcraft, runs natively on Mac, I'm pretty much set. All you Office fans should be happy to know I haven't forgotten that I may need to update a word document or spreadsheet so I actively use Google's Docs and Spreadsheets. I'll also probably download NeoOffice and hopefully can't think of many other apps I use with any frequency.
Long story short, stay tuned on my road to switching when the stupid thing finally makes it in. §
Long story short, stay tuned on my road to switching when the stupid thing finally makes it in. §
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