Blog Closure

FYI anyone who has this on their feed may want to have a look at http://anthonyconstable.blogspot.com as that is where all future blogging activities by yours truly (hate that phrase) will be happening!

Thanks,

Anthony

92 transferring numbers slowly bricking my iPhone

Technorati Tags: O2,iPhone,number transfer fault

After just under 2 weeks of having my iPhone I have a problem. That is I have made the foolish mistake to transfer my old number from my orange phone to the iPhone O2 sim. The problem being that there is some sort of fault which has no resolution date, nor any way in which I can check to see if it is solved.

 

Thus I have had over 2 days worth of bricked iPhone. NOT HAPPY.

 

Looks like my first experience of O2 customer support is both good and bad.

 

Good. The woman who I spoke to was incredibly helpful and did everything that she could to resolve my issue! And I will get compensation. Time to plan beeding 02 dry.

 

Bad. She simply couldn't tell me anything useful. Communication is non-existent from the techys to the call centre support teams and as a result anything I really wanted to know couldn't be told to me. Thats nothing new really though... Most tech companies are like that.

 

Anyone else out there in the great wide internet having issues with this?

Y-Not Weather Forecast

Religion is...

Superficially maybe...

 

Religion is an exercise for the intellectuals and "the opiate for the masses".

 

I am listening to 'the forum', a world service podcast, and a discussion comparing gardens to ceramics eventually results in the metaphor being extended to religion. This seems like lazy intellectualism, bringing the uncertain to the uncertain. A unfitting (though similar) pair of metaphors to something that is infinitely able to accommodate any form of through.

 

Maybe this explains intelligent people who follow religion for the atheist.

Technorati Tags: Podcast,world service,religion,intellectualism

This weeks TWiT

Don't get me wrong, I love This Week In Tech. It, and the host Loe Laport, rock. But I have just had to give up listening to the show with more than 30 mins to go on account of the back ground noise.

 

 

 

 

NOT GOOD!

 

Anyway.

 

Just wanted to moan.

Technorati Tags: TWiT,Podcast,Noise

Job Title of the Week.

 

I am doing some work for my dad within the social work sector... Mostly data entry and retrieval of names, emails and phone numbers at the moment.

 

So look what I should find? There is actually a job title within the London Borough of Harrow's social services called...

 

Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator.

...Sounds like... Well... Dodgy to be honest.

Is your lappy-top buggered?

Engadget has a rumour posted that many of Nvidia's 8400M/8600 chips are drastically faulty... Humm. Worth keeping an eye on.

 

 

EDIT!

 

Here is a list of the cards that seem to be affected.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geforce_8_series

 

Yup, the whole GForce 8 series. Crazy huh?

The most unlikely civil liberties defender of all!

Based around the recent events of David Davis surrendering his position of MP causing a by-election in his constituency. All because the bill to extend pre-charge detention to the ridiculous and horrendous length of 42 days, here is a punk band who have written a (bad-ish) song on the matter.

 

 

Not the best ever, I grant you. But I'm very chuffed that someone has actually done this.

 

Rock on!

I WANT TO WORK AT GOOGLE

Shame I probably don't have anywhere near the skill sets that would be needed...

 

Shame..

 

Click on link for why. The slide looks ace.

Call me a geek...

...Or whatever but the concept, even when it isn't even sketched out of a Civ MMO makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Heavens knows how in the hell (ha) it will play out... Heres to hoping that Sid figures it out.

Contact Juggling

Ignoring the cheapening comments of 'FAKE!' from the numptys who read the blog, Dvorak.org/blog has a great vid of someone contact juggling.

I was genuinely excited whilst watching this vid, about half way through it somehow hits you and becomes remarkably compelling. That being said the noise at the start is annoying.

Enjoy.

For those that care

I have had a bit of a restructuring of my web experience. I now do three blogs, which instead of making posting less likely should focus things.

1) This blog, which is going to be basically a chilled out personal effort highlighting cool things online.

2) http://anthonyconstable.blogspot.com Which will be a more focused attempt to comment on politics, building up something of a library of work. I hope, that some day I will be able to use it to back up applications for work and such things.

3) http://silentdawn-guild.blogspot.com A WoW guild on Dreanor EU server. Open for anyone to join. At the moment, just a group of friends, about 10 or so, who are thinking about growing into something more.

 

Right, there you go.

 

Have fun,

Anthony

Real music.

Not really a big blues person in general. But this is great. :-)

 

As you may realise this is a repost with the second vid. oh well. Too lazy to sort it out. Enjoy.

Source.

Internet dies after fires at server farms.

Every blogger will probably have been effected by downtime recently from what I hear was caused by fires at google. On the same day (24hours) as another load of servers have brought mayhem to the internet, including my WoW guilds forums.

 

A fire at a Texas data centre known as The Planet has affected 9,000 servers, bringing down web pages across the globe.

Nasty. An easy way to 'bring down' large portions of the Internet? Meh.

Real music.

Not really a big blues person in general. But this is great. :-)

The wonderful inadequacies of the UN

 

Now I am never going to be the best sort of person to comment on such things, so take anything I say with a pinch of salt. Even so, I had to point out what I think is a failing in this understanding of the United Nations. The UN fails in doing exactly what it sets out to do in its charter. Don't Set Fire to Your Jacket comments.

This can hardly be surprising, if you set up a system where vastly disparate values are represented then you are unlikely to get a coherent voice.

Not only disparate views, but disparate politics, levels of human rights, free speech, economical development etc. The important point for Fire and Jacket was the seeming incompatibilities with the politics of some of those allowed into the UN and the charter. He (presumably) points out that the second and third clauses are basically demanding the political situation of democracy. I don't doubt that, there has been and will probably never be anything other than democracy which will be able to defend justice and human rights in quite such a comprehensive way. BUT the conclusion on the acceptance of such states which don't fully commit to these ideals is simply dangerous.

So it is interesting that McCain (and others) have postulated the idea of a "League of Democracies".

This league will be a condescending self-justifying group of states with the moral strength that allows them to invade the next Iraq and Afghanistan with whatever reason they cook up to suppress the apathetic political internal situations within the domestic scene. Maybe this is a little cynical and maybe its a little far fetched, but still it would create an in built coalition of the willing which will be ruled by the United States... or something.

Point 2. The reaction by the rest of the world will be constructive to create another bloc of themselves. A counter-point, but just as the democratic group will be solidified around an idea stronger than any ideology. The idea that their world, their sovereignty and their ways of life were under threat from a crusading force within the world.

The UN may fail at committing itself to the radical position that all within the world should be democratic and etc. But so what?! It does something far greater; it gives all states within the world a chance of having their voice heard at the 'highest' level of international society. The UN is a universal pressure valve that will only work if it keeps the pretence - and only the pretence - of an ideal.

Football + Blackberry = social greatness

Taken from the BBC's 'have your say' or something on the match tonight.

2203: "Tense or what? A group of passengers boarding a flight to Sydney are gathered round my Blackberry, hope the flight's delayed. Due off at 10.15 and looks like penalties."
John via text on 81111

Anyone know what is wrong with 4OD?

Its getting annoying, so I am making a call. If anyone has any more info please enlighten me! I want to (legally) watch peep show damnit!

Technorati Tags: 4OD,Peep show

MMO Storylines - A much neglected resource?

Over at WAAGH! (A Warhammer Online Warhammer Age of Reckoning blog) there is a great article that tackles the general lack of quality within MMO storylines and story telling.

 

The actual piece is quite long, but as I say well worth having a good look at as it highlights many important areas where I can see MMOs developing within the next 5 years or so. That being said, nothing will be able to take on board all of the suggestions as many of them were conflicting and all of them together would be a game of epic proportions needing impossible amounts of resources.

Maybe that is the point. The fact that games have tight resources makes storylines on a micro level a lesser priority, especially if they are to be developer/programmer/GM driven. Isn't it much better to have a rich and developed world on a macro level, to which small amounts of text boxes (or whatever) alude to. Doesn't this satisfy to whatever extent the needs for both those who enjoy the game mechanics, as well as those who enjoy story based gaming within the finite resources available.

The point I wanted to make, was something I was slightly disappointed to not see with the WAAGH! post: the specific example of WAR. From my reading and understanding the story of WAR will be player driven through RvR just like DAoC ultimately became for most of the players involved. Not driven by the IP but enhanced by it.

RvR became the game and the story of DAoC. The battle between the realms creating narratives all of their own. An underdog realm, underpopulated, depending on better co-operation and comradery to succeed (or not) against two other dominating realms. Tragic moments where the best laid plans of a raid were thwarted by chance, or by mischief. Keeps defended against the odds, or whole battlemaps dominated by a single realm. All of which were player driven and all of which changed night by night on account of the dedication and enjoyment by the players.

Some of this is discussed within the article shown above, but nothing I could see relating to WAR. For me WAR is the natural successor is not the the DAoC Intellectual Property but of this style of player driven story; and to a large extent extended to the world at large. Here the two factions (shame there isn't three as the extra dimension really helped with the dynamics) have the ability to not only fight on distant shores for dominance every night but take the main cites of their enemies. Supposedly safe towns will become battle zones to the point where you really begin to engross yourself within the created environment.

This will be no sandbox DAoC style battle zone (though some aspects of this will be there), but something more enhanced... I hope. Maybe the post on WAAAH! by Spy is as confused as I seem to be now I come to think of it. Do we want a single player-styled IP driven experience, or immersion through gameplay?

The point is that in reality MMOs can only develop stories through their players involvement and total immersion. Immersion is not possible with games through prose or knowledge. This immersion does not have to be in the story itself, the background, or indeed the NPCs but in the freedoms allowed for within the game and a loose set of ideals to place their own narrative upon.

As I say, WAR is seemingly doing this. Making the involvement as effective within the environment as it can, whilst at the same time preserving the sandbox style of play held for DAoC.

 

"FOR THE HORDE!"

"FOR ALBIAN!"

"FOR THE EMPIRE!

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Technorati Tags: MMO,WAR,Gaming

:( - ColonOpenBracket

With reckless abandon here you will something of a unique band. Honestly. Really! Unique! Don't believe me? Well you are probably right, but as far as unique is possible nowadays we have a band of the sort that you will never expect.

8-bit, New wave,

"nintendoemocoreodancethrash", punky, music. Yup! You heard it right. Playing around with the noises you can get from computer keyboards (and other bits of electric wizardry) they create some strange form of jerky beauty. Full of life and love and good times, here is the embryonic beginnings for a group of people who may just take over the world with the aid of Mario, Sonic and Kong.

The tracks they have online are a mixed bag though, which is a shame (when I first got into the band there were 4 gems of which three were taken down). Start with Twin Chevron Action Flash, a tour-de-force for their attempt to hack out (with ASCII-formed pick axes) their own niche space in the world of music. Strong emo hooks held together with tuneful computer-ness and a driving beat.

Other songs available for download include Bring the summer, Game Over and Negative Ways. All available from http://myspace.com/colonopenbracket

"8-bit up your ass"

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Technorati Tags: Colonopenbracket,:(,Free Music,Myspace Music