Patrick James

Is it a good thing when technology makes the unattainable easily accessible… and can the realm of the virtual offer the same allure as the realm of the actual? Apparently so, if Xbox and Play Station style game sales are anything to go by, but several of these games are fantasy based, with a number of them having no real world comparison.

What if the computer based game has a real life counterpart with beyond legendary status as is the case with a Vegas Casino?

Does the gaming experience of online casino games have the same allure for players? One thing comes to mind. While I have never been an ardent gambler and have always been well aware of the limitations of my own luck, I have always loved a little flutter on the two-penny falls, whenever I visited the fairground – something about the physical aspects of the win and the sounds of the coins falling into the pick-up tray, was the only hook I needed to run the risk of losing a few coppers. No amount of computer graphics or special virtual audio can recreate that for me… Maybe not ever!

Regardless, the online Vegas Casino industry is responsible for an annual fortune in revenue each year… so it offers something else! Simply based on my own experiences and the excitement with a fairground wager, I can only imagine Las Vegas in person (yet alone a local casino) must be over-whelming and the temptation to over-indulge must be daunting beyond belief… So is it possible that people feel safer playing the game-of-odds online and from the comfort of their own home? Could it be, that for so many people like myself the possibility of ever being able to visit Las Vegas, is just something way beyond what is ordinarily attainable and internet technology allows people a glimpse into that world of bright lights from the convenience of their home computer?

Blog themes are always something I find it hard to be content with for long…  and needless to say I’d got weary of the look of the Facia on the site, but getting time to work on it was always the problem. Had a morning free, so instead of doing a thousand and one other wasteful things I could have indulged in, I decided on a make-over. Happily, I’ve just finished putting a new theme in place…

The free iPhone OS 3.0 Software update includes some great new features and really good stuff, including “Cut & Paste” and “Internet tethering” (modem) so that you don’t need a Wi-Fi hotspot to surf the web from your computer – But it has one fatal flaw that O2 customers need to be aware of… If anyone is thinking of the iPhone OS 3.0 Software update… I recommend Unlocking your O2 SIM card and leaving it PIN free before attempting the update! Download works ok but if the PIN is active it will prevent phone from activating after upgrade ! I know… I learned the hard way!!!
To deactivated PIN, go to Settings > Phone > SIM PIN > Switc to OFF. Upgrade should work ok then…

I only recently got into using facebook, but have always been into Conspiracy Theories, so needless to say when I found a great linkage on Bifsniff to an article in the NZ Herald, about this particular social network being started by the CIA I was fascinated!

The dark side to the facebook success story, that’s been spreading across the blogosphere is the complex big Brother-type conspiracy theory which links Facebook to the CIA and the US DOD (Department of Defence).

Let’s be honest, Facebook is a great information gathering tool as data is voluntary (in some respects)  and as  superbly pointed out by Eoin at Bifsniff regarding Facebook’s policy document:

Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (eg. photo tags) in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalised experience. By using Facebook, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States.

Could this be Google humour for April’s fool day… or one of the coolest technology developments this year?

Research group switches on world’s first “artificial intelligence” tasked-array system.

For several years now a small research group has been working on some challenging problems in the areas of neural networking, natural language and autonomous problem-solving. Last fall this group achieved a significant breakthrough: a powerful new technique for solving reinforcement learning problems, resulting in the first functional global-scale neuro-evolutionary learning cluster.  READMORE.

CADIEs Blogsite

Today is the 20th anniversary of the invention of the internet by British scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

Common belief is that he came up with the idea in a research paper on March 13, 1989. Sir Tim gave it to his boss at the CERN nuclear research centre, who called it “vague but exciting”. The first website was built at the lab in Switzerland and went online in 1991. There are now more than 80million worldwide. But rather than cashing in on his invention, Sir Tim, set up a foundation in 1994 to ensure the web was free for everyone to use.

I am just trying to picture the world today, without that moment in history!

“Google’s web-based e-mail service Gmail crashed earlier today, leaving millions of users around the world unable to send and receive messages.”

Imagine… and let’s face it… It has all the signature hallmarks of a block-buster, End-of-the-world Disaster movie.

The Plot: Gmail crashes permanently… leaving the world in chaos! Luckily, Will Smith turns up in time to save the day (and on the 4th of July no less) and restores global communication!

The Moral of the story: God forbid anyone ever put pen to paper anymore and wrote a letter to someone!

Availability of the Windows 7 Beta has been extended until January 24th 2009.  You can download your own copy of the beta here.

• You’ll need some technical skills, like knowing how to:

  • Burn an ISO file to make an install DVD (A good example of what we mean by “technical”)
  • Install Windows (of course)
  • Backup and restore your PC (There’s a chance of losing files, so it’s a good idea to do a backup of anything you want to save.)
  • Set up a network

  It can be glitchy—so don’t use a PC you need every day.