Personal Tech Rant
Okay, so this has to happen. Feel free to ignore whilst I geek out.
Random Rantings
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Posts tagged with "technology"
First Look at Xbox One
While everyone else was scrambling to get stories written as quickly as possible following the Xbox One unveiling, Wired’s Peter Rubin got the “exclusive” early look. And Wired’s presentation is quite nice.
I’m still not sure what to think of the new Xbox. Certainly, Microsoft did a better job presenting it to the world than Sony did a few weeks back with the Playstation 4. But even Rubin’s thoughtful walk-through makes the whole thing sound fairly complicated. I’m still just not sure that tablets and smartphones haven’t changed the gaming and living room space more than any of the old guard in the console arena cares to admit. (Though it’s looking like Nintendo will have to sooner rather than later.)
I had both the original Xbox and the Xbox 360. Overall, I found them to be solid systems with a number of UI/UX frustrations that I simply don’t think I have the patience for anymore. And then, of course, the red ring of death. Maybe Microsoft has greatly improved the experience here. We’ll see.
Certainly some of the new Kinect stuff sounds interesting. But the “wow” factor of the first Kinect seemed to subside faster than anyone thought it would. Just like the Wii before it. I’ll take simplicity and great user experience over something that gives good demo any day.
With that in mind, I’m still more optimistic about whatever Apple brings to the table here whether it’s later this year or early next year. Surprise, surprise, I know. But there is zero chance I’m going to deal with IR-blasters to have a “seamless” experience.
This. Pretty much my feels exactly. Although, I’m also interested in what android gaming consoles develop into.
This is pretty cool. I wouldn’t mind driving this. Or engineering it.
Yes. Just Yes. If someone got me one of these I might have to trade them my soul.
They could release a revolutionary 60-inch 4K TV for $99 with built-in nanobots to assemble and dispense free smartwatches, and people would complain that it should cost $49 and the nanobots aren’t open enough.
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Marco Arment, correctly calling out the current pessimism surrounding Apple in the press (and on Wall Street) while also arguing for an “iPhone 6” moniker for the next iPhone — or really anything but the “iPhone 5S”. (via parislemon)
This. But, no, seriously, this. Read it. Think about it. Is it not the most truthful thing that you’ve read today?
Navy Ship Shoots Down Drone With Laser Blaster
Star Wars fanatics who’ve longed for the days of fleets of laser-equipped vessels blasting enemies out of the sky and sea, your ship has quite literally come in.
yup, this is a pretty cool adaptation of the 747 mounted experimental laser
Wearing a Badge, and a Video Camera
Randall Stross of NYT looks at the growing trend of police officers wearing tiny cameras to record all of their interactions with civilians. It may sound intimidating, but at least one study shows this is a very good thing:
THE Rialto study began in February 2012 and will run until this July. The results from the first 12 months are striking. Even with only half of the 54 uniformed patrol officers wearing cameras at any given time, the department over all had an 88 percent decline in the number of complaints filed against officers, compared with the 12 months before the study, to 3 from 24.
Rialto’s police officers also used force nearly 60 percent less often…
Part of this reminds me of Google Glass. Part of it reminds me of End of Watch. Also interesting: Taser makes these cameras — yes, that Taser.
[via @cdixon]
It’s a really great way for police officers to protect themselves. When there is video evidence, they can quickly dismiss nuisance cases against them for improperly following the law.
Also, this will hopefully cut down on the number of appeals based on improper police treatment, because video evidence will show that the cops are actually following the law.
About Random Rantings
I'm Erik. I think my life is cool so I write about it here for all the world to see. I'm proud to have been a fighting sioux before the logo was retired, and I will always call myself a fighting sioux. I tend to post pictures and whatnot about lacrosse, Fighting Sioux, the University of North Dakota, Pokemon, and Star Wars. I tend to "like" posts about technology and other generally funny things. That is to say that this blog is about what I'm thinking about at any given time. I try to keep posts happening every day. But if you take a look at my blog page, you probably already know this.
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