RETRO ARCADE GAMING 80'S style

I have recently acquired a brand new 80's Cocktail arcade Cabinet (pictures below) that plays many of my favourite games from the 80's. Besides the unit being very nostalgic , and presents the games in the same way as they were, there have been a few things that occurred to me on why these old units are so much fun to play. 

 I hear you say, "but I can play all these games on my xbox or MAME on my computer".  While this much is true there a few things that can NOT replicate the real arcade experience..... let me explain :

The controls are important!

First an most importantly these games were designed to be played with the real controls of the day, not control pads of the xbox, not touch interfaces , real control sticks that were digital, and real buttons you can mash. This can not be easily replicated with modern day controls. Also these games were designed with very low resolution CRT monitors, not HIGH RES monitors or LCD displays that just make the old graphics look wrong, too sharp and blocky. So if you are going to get one, make sure its a real ARCADE CRT and nothing else.



                                                            The social aspect is missing

I play online games all the time on my xbox, I have enjoyed many many 100's of hours playing various halo games online, but not too many people chat to each other, or if they do, the swear and carry on in a rude childish manner. If you did this in person in the arcade years ago, you would have been punched out! No one behaved in this manner, people played for total fun, and while you might have teased each other a bit , it all was all fun, and not taken seriously !  Nothing beats the aspect of playing games with the other person sitting right next to you, this is not easily replicated with your computer.


                                                        Plain simple fun !

Self explanatory really, but the old 80's games are simple (by todays standards), but are fun, simple and quick enjoyment. They have very little learning curve, but take practice to master, and are unforgiving, which makes it all the more fun. People who did not grow up in the 80's do not know the whole social aspect and the discovery of going to the arcades, socialising with real people in the real world have missed a golden era!  Every time you went to the arcades, you would see something different, see some new game technology or aspect you have never seen before, it would lead to conversations before and aftwards of games, or things that happened in the arcade.. it was a total real life experience, this is not replicated in any way.  So if you are like me, and grew up in the late 70's and 80's with going to arcades as your social aspect, relive some of the fun you had with your kids, friends etc, and get yourself an arcade table, you won't regret it!

I liked the aspect of a cocktail cabinet, which were very popular in Australia, and were found in many fish and chip or pizza shops of the day. I intend to get a stand up unit later this year (like the one pictured above) to replicate al those horizontal games I liked, and to play some head to head games that come out in the later 80's. Finally I hope to complete my collection of 80s nostalgia and fun with a pinball machine, as I haven't seen any thing that comes close to replicating the real feel of a pinball machines, its so real and tactile its not an experience that can be reproduced by any other means...

Alas the expense and the maintenance of such a machine is a little daunting to me, so it will be a few years I think till I can muster enough funds to acquire such a machine.

ANYWAYS GO AND AQUIRE YOUR FAVOURITE 80'S ARCADE TABLE AND GO HAVE SOME REAL FUN :)

Friendships and Human Relations

Todays post is not about anything technical related, its about friendships and humans relationships, something that can be one of the most important, joyful or frustrating things of our human existence. 


Some people give little thought to our human interactions with others, others can find it defines who we are as a person,  it all relates to a conversation I had with my son a little while back. 


As I am now in the "seasoned" part of my life , my son (whom is his early 20's), asked me this question the other day, he said "Dad, how come some friends of mine, never return phone calls, e-mails or SMS's , and I have to chase them up all the time? what's the story?"

My response, was, well son, sit down and let me tell you a story about friendships...

Having been around a while, I have asked this question of myself (many times), and so has my wife of 25 years, we have both found over the years that many people treat friendships as one way streets. They never drop in to see you. You have to go and see them, they do not call you, you have to call them, they never return phone calls you have to keep leaving messages. Does all of this sound familiar? I find after a few years I no longer see these people. I have had many "friends" whom I have had over for dinner parties, but you never get invited back, but then even go so far as to ask you, when are you doing another party? I have even said out loud, to one so called friend, "when are you going to do one at your place?" then you get looks of offence, like how rude of rude to impose yourself at our place.

On the odd occasion you might see these "friends", (which are not friends, I call them an acquaintance now), and they state "Oh I haven't heard from you in ages, how have you been? " etc etc... and they are all friendly, but wonder why YOU haven't been in contact with them. One person in whom this type of conversation was going on for years, I eventually confronted them , and said, " has your phone been out of order? " with puzzlement they looked at me, and didn't understand my question, "what do you mean?" , they asked? I said" you haven't phoned me, or seen me, so I presumed your phones been out, and your mobiles been stolen, and your internet has been out and your legs broke".... "Oh, ha ha , funny, I was waiting to hear from you!" , they stated. This is when I sigh, and just walk away... many people don't see it, they don't see when they are being all one way with their "friendship" (if you can call it that). They expect you to do all the running around after them, do everything their way. They cant take the time out of their day to see you, or put themselves out. I myself have always made time for, and done things for true friends, to which over the many years have found very few. 

Many acquaintances I have had, but VERY few true friends, and by true friends, I mean the ones they will put them selfs out for you, invite you back for dinner parties, make time for you, and return your phone calls, even if they are busy they will let you know they cant talk right now, but want to as soon as possible, when they have a free moment. These are the people that want to know you the person, not you the person that may know people that can help them leverage things or be able to do things for free or cheap for them. Those people are very rare indeed, and if you find a friend like that, hang on to them, as they are as rare as diamonds. I married my best friend, and thats the best friend I have ever had, hopefully you might find a friend like that too... but don't worry son, real friends do come along, but you will find most people you meet are not friends in the true sense of the word but really are acquaintances. Thats just life. I have only a few people in the category of true friends, one which lives out of state, but when we do catch up, its like nothing has changed. Maybe its the distance that keeps this type of friendship fresh alive, fresh and meaningful, or maybe its that they are true friends, and distance doesn't mean anything, and both parties accept that you will be out of contact for months. Although you still may exchange e-mails, phone conversations etc... its still not the same as being in physical presence with some one. A person that you can read all their body language, facial expressions etc.

(A side note, a famous linguist once said 70% of communication of the human language is done via body language, facial expressions, with tone and inflection of voice. The actual words themselves make up 30%. Maybe why e-mails and forum threads get so out of hand so quickly, as they are misinterpreted, as much of the meaning of the words are lost, as they are stripped of their "voice" and "body".) 

Alas I digress, friendships (the real ones) do come in many different forms, its just recognising the real ones to the fake ones that one gets better with wisdom. 

(* Notice I said wisdom, not age, as they two are not always linked. Usually as a person matures, they do gain wisdom, but not always. I am sure we have all met the very wise young person or older person, at the same time, met the old unwise person or young idiot. 

the old saying, quality not quantity seems to apply for so many things in life... this seems to be one that fits that mould as well... many "friends" some people may have, but very few real friends are had. )

Over the years I have heard many people say that have 100's of friends... but really the reality is, they do not have that many true friends in the sense of the word. The rest is just an illusion. It also maybe us more emotional types are more privy to what people what people want from other people in a friendship, maybe its material, or maybe is emotional or maybe a mix of both or something else. 


Since this conversation, my son has had a different view and seems to be more content with his life. 

Others might think I am little jaded with too many bad experiences, or others might see that I am seeking too much from friendships. I just know that getting to know a person, the real person, whom is genuine down to earth person, whom relates very closely to the core values I hold dear is the most rewarding thing you can have on this planet, and brings some meaning to our existence as humans. For me, life isn't about the collection of material possessions, or the acquisitions of wealth or power as symbols of success, it is how we value ourselves and others, and how we can all try and help make this world a better place. Its is the values of respect, charity, honour, honesty, passion, compassion, integrity, and love that are the important possessions of life. 

What do others think? My life experience is obviously different to many others, but I am sure there are few people that can relate to this story... thoughts??, comments ??

TELSTRA FAIL AT HOME ADSL SERVICES

For almost a year now,  my new home has had the dreaded ADSL congestion issue. This means during most times when you are home the rest your suburb is trying to use the internet and it slows to a crawl,  to where its worse than old dail up speed. I often can get no more than 56kbs in speed or slower and pings are 1000ms or more making the internet useable for sending e-mails. No voice chat, no video chat, no downloading anything.,. even web surfing is a major chore with web pages taking minutes to display. Its like sharing your internet connection with 1000 other people in your house.

This is not helped by the fact that my 2 year old suburb was fitted with 10 year old infrastructure from Telstra. Telstra saw fit to install outdated ADSL 1 only multiplexers with no Backhaul to support them!  Thank you Telstra, good to see you have the nations future at heart!

I have complained on a weekly basis to them, to which I NEVER get a reply, I have been to the TIO, Local Member, council, you name it.. no one can do anything. The ISP who buys from Telstra whole sale has said there is a scheduled upgrade to the backhaul in October. No mention of upgrading the old ADSL 1 multiplexer to an ADSL 2 one. Even so , that will be a year of charging a premium amount for a rubbish service!

They charge me 100 bucks a month for a dial up speed service, and think that's ok. Its criminal that any business is allowed to conduct themselves this way. If I bought a plane ticket from Melbourne to Sydney, and instead a plane ticket I got a pair of running shoes, and told to RUN to Sydney, I would have a legal recourse. But Telstra are a law unto themselves, and no one has any say in how they conduct themselves. I do not see how this is acceptable nor legal in this country to act this way!

So Telstra stop FAILING at providing a service, if you cant provide a service then don’t offer it, or offer some compensation or alternatives. Stop ripping off the Australian people with substandard services!

The most AMAZING Southern Skies of Australia

Why I will never buy Golden Circle (Heinz) products!

A totally different rant today, not even tech related. Amazing I know!

 I have had a long respect for the farmers of Australia, who work hard and get little return from the greedy Coles and Woolworth's conglomerates. I get cranky and annoyed when companies decide it will be better for the massive bottom line to ship jobs overseas and import food into this country because its cheaper.  What gets me even crankier is when the consumer is conned.

Let me explain, Golden Circle is currently moving much of its product to New Zealand, leaving many local farmers dismayed and upset (see link), Whats even worse, many of those farmers have just been through the worse floods in 40 years, and are trying to get their life's back on track.

So Australians will now be importing food from New Zealand, or will they? Under New Zealand law only 50% of its product has to be from NZ to classify the product as being made in New Zealand. Unlike Australian law which states it must be 100% from Australian to have the made in Australia label! So Golden Circle's NZ product could have as much as 50%  coming from China!  This will most likely be the scenario, as the chinese product will be cheaper than the NZ product, but will still have the "made in NZ" label on the side. The consumer will think that it all comes from NZ, when this is NOT the case!   If one does some research,  China uses human waste as a fertiliser for many of its crops.

So, if you like buying your golden circle products from China that has been fertilised by human crap, go right ahead. Otherwise go buy a real Aussie local product that has the Made in Australia 100% label, and give Golden Circle the big heave ho!

Support local Aussie Farmers !

Change your Signal

Time to change the Signal....

Control your information life…

This stems from the other article I wrote about don’t worry be happy, its time people took control of the way they receive their information, be it news, information, the state of the world .. whatever, and stop being just a passive individual willing to eat the feeds of the negative so called “news” coming from commercial TV networks, magazines , radio and newspapers. Lets face it, TV news is just a platform to feed lots of horror stories on the latest flu epidemic, latest terrorist bomb, or murders etc, nothing about scientific discovery, or things that really inertest you. Radio has become totally irrelevant, with FM shock jocks talking about where they found their dirty undies last night, or what come out of their kids nose this morning. Newspapers are nothing more than advertisements disguised as news or information, or paid political announcements. Magazines are an amalgam all the above. Time to take control.

How to take control.

Well stop watching TV news, and listening to Radio, and read what you want. Use google, use the net, and read really what’s interests you, and you will find that suddenly the world isn’t this big terrorist camp, war ridden, plague ridden world. Not to deny these things are going on, but these things have been going on for 1000’s of years, we just didn’t have some media moguls feeding us lots of negative crap about how many car smashes happened today, or how many people died in some natural disaster. Get into podcasting, listen to what you want, not what packer wants you to hear with the occasional cute puppy story thrown in to try and balance all the terror. Get into RSS feeds on particular scientific, medical, SCI FI stories or whatever things interest you.

INFORMATION, should be selective about your interests, what drives you and your passions. Maybe if more of us got our view on the world this way, everyone might stop thinking how bad everything is for a change, and lighten up, and stop being so mean and selfish to each other. The current media feeds on everything negative, people in turn become negative, because its so much easier to be negative about everything than positive. You can start being more positive by controlling what you see and hear by taking these steps:

• Get a PVR (personal Video recorder, a hard drive unit that records TV). We all complain that there is nothing on TV, then control it, select what you want to watch, there are so many DVD’s and Box sets of good TV shows, watch them instead. Get a PVR and programme it to only record the shows, and doco’s you want, so what if they are on 2am in the morning.. get your PVCR to do all the work.

• Get and Ipod , and control what you hear be it music, podcasts etc. Hear info and science shows, debates, sci fi discussions whatever, and stop listening to the 90% of dribble coming from your FM radio or the 90% advertisements.

• Use the Net to get the rest of your once printed material, besides saving trees, you will have full control of the topics that interest you, and you will avoid the negative linear feeds of news papers and magazines.

* Use twitter! Yes twitter is not just useless tool for saying the last time you fed your cat, follow organisations, news feeds, people that have interests you like, and would like to engage in. News does not have to be passive, but interactive. Information exchange should be social. Twitter can make this happen. And if you have an iphone or other type of smart phone, why do you not have twitter? Look at how valuable it has been in recent events in Australia for the distribution of information.

For a long time now I have done most of these things to keep myself update on things that interest me, and its amazing on what a brighter world it seems when you are not fed the totally negative self serving rubbish of 90% of media outlets, epically the nightly so called “news”. Try it for a month and see how well your outlook on life becomes. As Captain Mal would say “CHANGE THE SIGNAL.”

Catalyst: Faster Computing - ABC TV Science

Catalyst: Faster Computing - ABC TV Science

We are on the verge on the next computer revolution with 3D chip design.

Silicon wafers historically have been two dimensional. Intel on just changed all of that with 3-D transistors, dubbed Tri-Gate. The aim: Ensure that Moore’s Law, which dictates that transistor density doubles every two years, keeps chugging along.

These 3-D transistors are in-production technology and are expected to be used in handhelds as well as servers. The 3-D transistors will be the crux of a range of 22 nanometer processors—code named Ivy Bridge. Ivy Bridge will be ready for production at the end of the year.

These 3-D-based chips will first hit servers, desktops and laptops; Atom-based products will come later. Intel didn’t detail exact delivery targets, but later this year is likely. The company said it expects it will have a three-year lead on rivals.

Intel first detailed 3-D transistors in 2002, and now these chips will hit the market. The general idea is to pack more computing cycles with lower power. For Intel, which demonstrated a 22nm chip, 3-D chips will allow it to move into more markets such as cars, medical devices and other devices.

Intel likened the Tri-Gate transistors to skyscrapers, which allowed developers to optimize space by moving upward.

Among the key points:

• 3-D Tri-Gate transistors will operate at lower voltage with less leakage. The upshot is that performance will improve.
• Chip designers will be able to pick fins and choose transistors for low power or performance.
• 22nm Tri-Gate transistors will use less than half the power at the same performance as 2-D 32nm chips.
• These 3-D transistors have a 10x lower depletion rate.
• Applied to a CPU, you can have a lower clock rate with the same performance as higher speeds.

Thus in 5-10 short years we will see memory and speeds of computers be around a billion times more efficient, faster, and INCREASE in capacity than today. It is an amazing time to be a gadget person :)

Imagine your iPhone 7 having 1TB of flash memory storage with the power of a super computer of today in your pocket in 2016, with a battery that lasts for weeks, It looks like its going to happen.

Blu Ray Disc is a Con!

Every time I hear some one go on about how good Blu Ray is, I hear this:


“blargh blargh blargh my valve amp is better than transistor based ones, my quadraphonic stereo is better than stereo, my 8 track is better than compact cassette, my beta max is better than VHS, by Blu ray is better than everything else... blargh blargh.."

I just not buying into it, Don’t get me wrong I have a top notch set up at home, a brand new 55INCH Bravia and a mid level Blu ray player (gladly it was free), I am just not convinced its much a progression beyond DVD. And its not just me , 68% AND 65% of the US public respectively said (in two independent surveys in 2009 and 2010) they cant see the difference between BLU Ray and DVD or wouldn't invest in it, as there is not enough of a difference to justify the costs to get the best out of it. I agree with the majority!

When we went from VHS TO DVD we all got:

1. much better picture
2. much better sound
3. Random access to content
4. Special features
5. Different languages, and commentary tracks
6. The vision doesn't wear out no matter how many times you play it

DVD to Blu ray we get

1. Slightly better picture...


and for the publisher you get:

1. licensee agreements that cost a fortune, DRM licenses etc... thus preventing anyone but a Hollywood film studio to produce content for it....

Not worth it IMHO, nor the upgrades that you have to do to FULLY appreciate it all, the public are not going for it in masses either, they are not going to throw out all those DVD's etc just to have one questionable feature? Its too little to late, and its all moving to downloads in HD, so why bother? Like the Sony mini disc it will die off and only be in the hands of the audiophiles.

I haven't seen a compelling reason why BLU Ray is better than DVD, however I have many reasons why its worse than DVD, so if a technology actually restricts how you use it, how is it an upgrade? I see blu ray as nothing but a money waster and a downgrade!

Blu Ray is, lots of pain for everyone else, drm means you cant do jack with it, no media shifting, no backups, you pay more for it, due to the license agreements, and less profit for everyone, interesting definition of vastly superior!

Quadraphonic stereo and 8 track all sounded better than what's playing in your iTunes library, it doesn't mean its a better technology, convenience will win over better looking or better sounding any day.

Why hasn't apple adopted it? The same reasons I suspect its a downgrade for consumers and a backward step!

HD is not deemed as important by the average consumer, shown time and time again in many studies for the past 3 years, here , the USA and the Uk (the only places I have data on), content is king, and that means getting it, and watching it on what you want, where you want. Also with the rapid uptake in the independent producers of video and content these days, Blu Ray is not the way forward.

Online, without DRM is the way forward. Blu Ray heralds back to an old area and is more locked up than DVD so not seen as any progression from the consumer or the producer.

Many people enjoy their 8 track, record players, valve radios, and amps, even quadraphonic stereos or quarter inch video tape, or laser disc! Each to their own, they are again not what I call mainstream, or convenient or even practical solutions to enjoying media

Blu Ray was a crock way before apple said it was, and again the amount one has to spend to enjoy blu ray's slightly better picture isn't justified IMHO, its not like the big shift we had when we went from VHS TO DVD!

I am just not accepting any decisions to move anything to blu ray, I have had a HD TV for a few years now, and I have a blu ray and a brand new 55inch Sony set, I enjoy much HD content just not from Blu Ray

Thus in Summary:

positives for blu ray:

1. picture

negatives

1. DRM
2. licenses
3. unable to backup
4. unable to media shift
5. many new titles have lock codes for extra content
6. having to have online access for your player to play content
7. The media can be damaged
8. cost of media and associated equipment to enjoy the picture

9. Region locking

Thus my reasons for saying its a step backwards.

Both BLU Ray and download (legal models) both suffer the drm issues right now. However, the download model is the best way for any content provider right now, and until such time as places like iTunes get rid of DRM, as they did for music, the current download models don't offer many more advantages over blu ray (except convince, and having a backup method.. a legal one..and no big hoops that Sony make you jump through).

Maybe they will come to their senses and loose the DRM, and on that day BLU Ray is doomed, (if not already) or even if Australia, had a big Netflix online library for wii, Xbox and ps3 or your new internet connected Bravia TV or any other media streaming box, then the shinny disc of blu ray and DVD will both look like they will go the way of the dodo !


Some things you can Google...

Consumers Putting Off Blu-ray Players?

“Consumers were happy to embrace standard DVD when that format arrived because the improvement in quality over VHS videotapes was dramatic,” noted ABI Research analyst Steve Wilson, in a statement. “Standard DVD didn’t require the purchase of a new TV, either.”


or this...


Study: even at $199, consumers still don't care about Blu-Ray - Boing Boing Gadgets


"One of the biggest problems? The cost. Even though the Blu-ray players have dropped in price, in order to actually get the benefit of Blu-ray you need to own an HDTV, which is still a very expensive investment (though Sharp has unveiled an HDTV with a Blu-ray recorder built in). Then when you consider that each Blu-ray movie costs about double the price of a DVD the numbers don't add up in Blu-ray's favor"

or this...

How can we expect Blu-ray to succeed? | The Digital Home - CNET News



laser disc is calling you... Is Blu-ray the next Laserdisc? | Where the Long Tail Ends



Don’t buy into the Sony Blu Ray con!