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Google chrome as a PAF

Byrichard
Reading Time: < 1 minute

PAF is not just the way you discribe something hitting something else. It is also used to define a portable application file. These are self contained executables that you can use for mobile versions of your favourite browser.

chromo logoOne of my personal favourites at the moment is Chrome, it’s fast, light, and behaves the way I want it to. Better still it incorporates flash into the code. This means that I can view flash content without it being installed on the computer I’m using.

Get it here

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Is twitter changing your blogging habits?

Byrichard

is twitter changing your blogging habits? (original post)

Yes and no. Twitter is replacing instant messaging and chatrooms. It’s an open method by which for people to communicate instantly with others. It’s also about the overheard conversation although that term has dissapeared.

What does “overheard” mean? Well simply that whenever two people discuss a topic hundreds of people are following this conversation and when they decide they have an opinion they can cut in. They do have that 140 character limit though, so they need to get to the point is efficiently as possible.

When that isn’t possible then they can do the next best thing. Write a comment in a blog post or even write a blog entry of their own where the conversation that took place on twitter is synthesised into a more digestible chunk of information.

As a result twitter is changing people’s habits but the question is why people want to chat publicly rather than in an enclosed space. Today people like transparency.

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The small matter of Cairo

Byrichard

What makes the situation in Cairo so interesting is the number of media outlets that you can use as sources. From 24 hour news channels like France 24, Al Jazeera, BBC World and others to individual people with mobile phones. For France 24 you have three languages to chose from, with Al Jazeera to you have three languages to chose from. With Sky News you have the choice between Standard definition and High definition.

You have live cameras looking into the square. There is no lag time between the acquisition and distribution of images. There is the challenge of aquiring images from the ground though. Journalists have been attacked, as reported on twitter, and through interviews once they arrive in their home countries.

Tweets have told us of arrests of certain individuals, of attacks on certain media offices etc. It means that whilst those within the country may not have access to this information we on the outside see it.

One of the aspects that is so interesting is the way in which people have been able to organise themselves. Facebook, twitter and other social websites have been important, like Bambuser and flickr. Mainstream as well.

I am looking forward to the literature that will come out from this event, especially if it successful. Imagine comparing a situation like that of Tomas in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” to this situation, especially if the end result is greater freedom.

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Chindrieux Dives

Byrichard

Earlier today I was at Chindrieux, a lake side village looking out over the Lac du Bourget lake in France. It is a nice lake with good visibility. The dive site where my friends and I usually dive is a wall. You swim out for 300 meters before heading down the bank to a little gap in the cliff. At 9 meters depth you start going west along the wall. On this wall you can find lots of shells and the occasional fish hiding in one crack or other. There are overhangs and scree fields. The bottom of the wall is at 65m. From there it slopes gently off to 110m.

So far my dives have only taken me to 40 meters on this wall. Diving in this part of the world takes a certain character type. The water at depth is at a stable 5°-6°c but the water column varies from 21°c at the surface in Summer zo 6°c at the surface in winter. In summer you go from warm water to cold, and then you get back to warm. You’re sweating in your dry suit and to cool down is welcome. In winter the opposite is true. You’re cold. You’re happy to put your dry suit on, and gloves, and hood. The drawback is that you go from cold air to cold water and back. Friends of mine and I have come out of the water shivering in winter, unable to use our fingers anymore. This is all part of the fun.

Today for a change I went with my video camera. I am currently working on a diving documentary and I want to get footage of the surface as well as down below. The vista are nice. You can see parapentistes, the occasional boat, trains passing by and in the distance snow covered mountains. They serve as a backdrop to Aix Les Bains.

I will keep you informed about how this project progresses.

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Playing Ingress and Pokemon Go in parallel

Byrichard

People are playing Ingress and Pokemon Go in Parallel. Both games use the same geo-located points and walk the same routes. They have the same places to farm and combat. I started playing Ingress again, but only a few minutes here and there. As I play I see new faces and new people at Ingress portals. They are no longer my age or older. They are much younger, in their teens.

Yesterday as the neighbours were having a party I decided to take advantage of the excuse to go out and play Ingress. I went to the four or five portals in my village. At the village church I saw a youth drive up to it on a scooter, farm via the Pokemon Go layer and then leave. Nothing changed on the Ingress layer. No damaged resonators, no upgrades.

I like that people can play two entirely different games at the same location. I see this as the future of geo-located games. I see this as the next wave. The physical world provides the location and then the layer (or game) provides the user interface, the virtual world we interact with. With imagination more and more layers can be added. This will provide people with choice.

The next step is smartwatches and augmented reality goggles. Those who have played Ingress intensively know where all the portals are so they can put their phone away when walking from point to point. The same is probably true of Pokemon Go players. One person wrote that he uses his smartwatch to farm when walking around. Imagine if Google Glass had come out now. If it had come out now, with the Pokemon Go craze people would buy them.

At the moment to play pokemon Go and Ingress you walk in a position, that given time, will turn us in to hunchbacks. Rather than being from manual work in a field or a coal mine it will be from walking staring at a phone. I write this with a certain sense of humour. The market for Augmented reality goggles is ripe. Device manufacturers should grab this opportunity while it lasts.

First Saturday in Lausanne

Byrichard

First Saturday in Lausanne

Now that we are between the via ferrata season and the snowboarding and scuba diving season a distraction is provided by gamers who like to use the physical world and mobile phones.
Dear Ingress agents of Lausanne and elsewhere,

The first Saturday of December (06/12/14), our city will participate in a special Niantic event named #IngressFS (https://plus.google.com/+Ingress/posts/7oVmNtssWGu). Meetings, fun and competition will be there !

Schedule of the day:

10:00 AM : Cross-Faction Coffee / Croissants at Qwerz bar. Meeting between the players, advices and help to the new players, sharing experiences and explanations for the rest of the day.

12:00 AM : Start of the Level-Up Bootcamp event. AP of players will be registered and the teams will be formed (experienced players with new agents). Note that the Visur Game Mechanic system will reward most handsomely low levels agents.

2:00 PM – ? : End of the Level-Up Bootcamp event. Back at the meeting point (Qwertz bar), the AP gained will be recorded and prizes will be given.

Then : beers, beergress & other activities / surprises for you.
For those who also want to eat together at the evening, we created a separate event which you need to register if you want to come : https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/ccbaf6qv7rjgndtoo0b7upbu5mo

Lausanne was selected by Niantic as the main city for the event #IngressFS December 6, so we should receive kits First Saturday (IFSK-100) you distribute: https://plus.google.com/+Ingress/posts / Ai7yxoCpq2L ! Agents of all levels are encouraged to participate to have a good day between Ingress players.

Please fill the following form for the organization of the levelup (we will contact the low levels some days before the event to know their new level) : http://goo.gl/forms/CNSz5ZZVMT

Additionals informations concerning the organization will be provided here. Thank you to register if you would like to participate, so that we could have the best organization possible.

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