Month: August 2006

links for 2006-08-14

Develop Your Own Xbox 360 Games

Microsoft is announcing new tools today that it says will allow people with little technical background to create video games for Windows and the Xbox 360 gaming system.

Dubbed XNA Game Studio Express, the free software is expected to be available in beta form by the end of the month, with a final product available sometime this holiday season.

With this release, the software giant is hoping to lay the groundwork for what one day will be a thriving network of enthusiasts developing for one another, something akin to a YouTube for games.

The idea is to bring new blood into the video-game business, which has struggled to retain talent and recruit new developers, said Scott Henson, director of platform strategy for Microsoft’s game-developer group.

In the first incarnation, games developed using the free tools will be available only to like-minded hobbyists, not the Xbox community as a whole. By the end of the year, Microsoft will debut a $99 annual subscription service that allows developers to target their games to the Xbox 360.

Next spring, Microsoft hopes to have a broader set of tools that will allow for games to be created that can then be sold online through Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade.

I think this is a good and smart move by Microsoft to lure new and potentially creative people into the game design business. I also think that opening up the Xbox to become an accessible game platform that anyone can develop for will help build a better following for it and some sort of sense of community around it, which can only be good for the company.

[Sources: Seattle Times, CNet News]

Transamerica

One of the movies I watched this weekend was Transamerica starring Felicity Huffman.

The movie is about Bree/Stanley, a pre-operative male-to-female transexual awaiting gender-reassignment surgery who learns she has fathered a son named Toby, who is in jail. When her therapist strongarms Bree into facing her past, before getting to go through with the operation, she bails Toby out of jail and they end up on a road trip across the country.

I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting much from this movie, maybe it’s because I didn’t know what to expect, but well, it turned out to be quite a good movie.

It’s more or less a typical movie about a parent and child getting to know each other and themselves better through a road trip, with the additional quirk of the parent being a transexual.

Felicity Huffman does a really good job in this movie, her acting was brilliant, and I liked how well she conveyed the set of complicated feelings that her character is going through.

I do recommend this movie if you’re in the mood for something of this genre.
My score for it would be: 6/10.

A Question To American Taxpayers

Did you know the United States awards Israel over $5 billion in aid each year?

Did you know that Israel receives its annual foreign aid appropriation during the first month of the fiscal year, instead of in quarterly installments as do other recipients? This enables Israel to invest the money in U.S. Treasury notes. That means that the U.S., which has to borrow the money it gives to Israel, pays interest on the money it has granted to Israel in advance, while at the same time Israel is collecting interest on the money.

Did you know that US aid to Israel accounts for $14,346 for each man, woman and child in Israel?

Did you know that Israel has never been required to repay a U.S. government loan? Most U.S. loans to Israel are forgiven, on other loans, Israel was expected to pay the interest and eventually to begin repaying the principal.

Did you know that, excluding all of these extra costs, America’s $84.8 billion in aid to Israel from fiscal years 1949 through 1998, and the interest the U.S. paid to borrow this money, has cost U.S. taxpayers $134.8 billion, not adjusted for inflation?

Did you know that therefore the nearly $14,630 every one of 5.8 million Israelis received from the U.S. government by Oct. 31, 1997 has cost American taxpayers $23,240 per Israeli?

Don’t you ever wonder why you Americans have to pay all this money to Israel, which it uses to buy and manufacture weapons to occupate other people’s land, defying international laws, and to kill and terrorize hundreds and thousands of innocent people?

Interesting reads:
– The Cost of Israel to US Taxpayers by Richard Curtiss.
– Did You Know?

Nabaztag: The Smart WiFi Bunny

wifibunny.jpgFrench company Violet has released a cool Wi-Fi Bunny by the name of Nabaztag, which means rabbit in Armenian.

The plastic bunny, which stands 23 cm tall and has a white cone-like body that lights up when it speaks, with ears like TV antennae can read out e-mails, mobile phone text messages and news, tell children to go to bed, wake you up alert one to how the stock market is doing, provide weather reports, give traffic updates and tell you about air quality in your city by receiving Internet feeds via a wireless Wi-Fi network.

Nabaztag costs 115 euros in France, 80 pounds in Britain and $150 in the United States. It is made in Shenzhen, China.

I think it’s a pretty cute, cool and interesting gadget with really nice features and capabilities.
I didn’t come across these when I was in Paris last march or I might have been lured into buying one.

For more details about the bunny, check out this review at : Come Across.

Soft Drink Ingredients Disclosure Necessary

First, a news bit from India…

India’s top court has asked the local subsidiaries of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to disclose the ingredients in the soft drinks they sell, amid allegations that they contain high levels of pesticide.

A New Delhi-based independent research body said it found pesticide residue in samples of Coke and Pepsi that was 24 times above the limits set by the Bureau of Indian Standards, and 30 to 36 times higher than European Union standards.

A petition filed in the Supreme Court said that the drinks “contained highly toxic, acidic and addictive ingredients dangerous for human consumption,” and that the consumer had a right to know about the contents.

The toxins found in the soft drinks could, if consumed over a long period, cause cancer, birth defects and damage to the nervous system, the Centre for Science and Environment said in a report released last week.

[More: India wants to know Coke, Pepsi ingredients]

I don’t think this is a problem that solely concerns India. I’m sure the problem exists elsewhere, and maybe even here in Tunisia.

I personally think that all soft drink companies should disclose the ingredients they use in their soft drinks, not just in India, but everywhere, and these ingredients should be closely studied by the health authorities of each country.

I’m sure that when these companies say that the soft drinks they manufacture and sell in every country “comply with stringent international norms and all applicable national regulations”, it’s not always truly the case.

In most cases, a local company gets the license to manufacture a certain soft drink, and even though I guess they have to go through a number of tests at the beginning, I’m not sure there are constant inspections that assure the quality of the product is the same and that the ingredients being used are at the accepted levels at all times.

I think this responsibility falls upon the mother company that is licensing its brand and has to protect it from being abused, and on the local authorities who have to make sure every product on the market is healthy and safe for consumption by the public.

[Thanks to Sulaphat for the article link.]

Boss Bitching: For Your Worst Boss Stories

BossBitchingBoss Bitching is a simple, cool, user driven website that allows anonymous postings of stories about bosses. Posts can be made about a current boss or someone from a previous job.

Complainers can categorize their bosses by archetype and visitors to the site get to read and rate the bosses, choosing between three responses.
Users can receive updates of the most popular posts through RSS.

Boss Bitching was conceived by someone who identifies himself as Unknown Tech Guy. It seems BossBitching is the first of a series of services that will be launched under the UberBitching brand.

It’s quite a simple idea that should help some people relieve themselves of the desire to ramble about their bosses.
I’m not that kind of person really, but it could be fun to read some posts every now and then, when I’m in that kind of mood, which isn’t very often, but well…