Today was the UMPTEENTH time I got 'Rickrolled'! Hence, I decided to shed some light to this internet phenomenon which has affected thousands of unsuspecting online surfers over the past two-three years.
Rickrolling has become quite widespread and is a famous viral prank playing on the 'bait and switch' technique where the unknown visitor is taken to the 1987 video of English singer-songwriter Rick Astley song 'Never Gonna Give you Up' while the title of the link says something else like 'Cat survives mauling down by truck' or 'Biggest jump ever from a plane!'. Most of these random links can be seen on Youtube.
Incidentally, Rick Astley himself got 'Rickrolled' sometime back by his own friend. To take it onto a new level, Youtube 'rickrolled' the world on 1st April, 2008 when all the videos on the homepage of youtube were linked to Rickrolled video.
So, remain careful in the future of 'rickrolling' or you can 'rickroll' your friends through an IM or Video by choosing unsuspecting victims who are susceptible to get curious in random topics and open the prank link.
So, rickroll someone today by using the video below!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Goodbye Xbox, PS3, Hello OnLive!
It seems the prayer of every avid gamer and gaming enthusiast (including yours truly) has been answered! The ultimate gaming gadget/console/device has been launched which will provide the customers with the ability to purchase, play demos of hundreds of high-definition, super-graphics ridden games right off the shelves of renowned game developers including the likes of Activision, EA and Codemasters. Its called OnLive.
This is a new gaming service, currently only in the US, which enables people with even the most obsolete computer configuration play the most advanced of games right on their old trusted PC or TV. All you need is a stable PC and an internet connection. It doesn't even matter if its Broadband or not. The service seems to run seamlessly even on DSL cable.
All you need is to purchase the OnLive Microconsole which will allow you to enjoy newest gaming titles in the comfort of your home without even going out to buy them or better still, you can try the demos free of cost before purchasing.
Though it is still unclear as to how much it will cost. Currently in beta testing, some predict the service might require monthly payment. It all depends on the cost now. OnLive can either turn out to be the ultimate killer of conventional consoles of Microsoft and Sony, or may go bust purely because of the cost factor.
Until then, beta testers can use the service.
So prepare your swords, gather your hordes, do some burnouts, get into overdrive and let's get fragging!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The magnificent sprint cam!
One of my friends forwarded me this link about the superb video quality of the Sprintcam V3. The camera records video at an astonishing rate of 1000 frames per second (fps) giving it the ability to play the smallest and the slightest movement in the video to a great detail and with precision.
Below is a sample video shot by the camera.
Below is a sample video shot by the camera.
I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel from David Coiffier on Vimeo.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
The online birthday party called Facebook
I have been thinking of writing this post since quite some time. Over the past few days with most of my hours of daily life being spent on facebook due to end of classes, I have come to realize the awkwardness created by facebook.
The awkwardness here I am talking about is the situations created when people associated with you from different sections of your day-to-day life are linked to you on facebook. I mean you have people from your workplace, your family members, your school friends all on the same network. Usually you behave differently when in a different setting - you will hold your act together when talking to your office colleagues, your language will use more of slang when talking to your friends etc. you get my drift.
However, with facebook you have to maintain a general code of conduct acceptable in all settings of network of people. This reminds of the birthday parties I use to attend when i was a kid. There were your school friends, kids of your family friends and then there were people about whom you had no clue. You usually tried to hang around with your friends as you had a good rapport with them and behaved in a formal manner with your family friends or friends of your parents. This became quite difficult as you had to have different presentation of yourself to different people in the same room.
The same case is with facebook now. With the new look and feel of facebook, every feature (the wall, the post, the comment) has become homogeneous with other aspects of the website. Now, everybody from your office, your university, your college and even your mother can keep a track of what you do - thanks to the big blast facebook shows about you in their home pages. Some things are meant to be kept private or to be shared with only a limited number of people. What if your comment on the good looks of a friend (if it is a girl) is read by your family member, you may end up giving some explanations to people who may have no business of theirs to interfere with what you do but thanks to facebook, now they are interested more than ever. Similarly, I am not interested in the kind of flower you are, or the fishes in the virtual aquarium on your profile, or what colored egg you just received from your friend!
Thanks but No Thanks!
This reminds me of the recent case where a certain person got a job offer from certain company and before he could join, he 'tweet'ed about the company which he shouldn't have 'tweet'ed about! This led to him being fired even before he was hired. You can read about it here.
This leads to ponder about the reach of technology and social-networking forums into our lives to the extent where our lives have become a public discussion topic for people who are not even remotely related to us.
Just my two cents worth.
The awkwardness here I am talking about is the situations created when people associated with you from different sections of your day-to-day life are linked to you on facebook. I mean you have people from your workplace, your family members, your school friends all on the same network. Usually you behave differently when in a different setting - you will hold your act together when talking to your office colleagues, your language will use more of slang when talking to your friends etc. you get my drift.
However, with facebook you have to maintain a general code of conduct acceptable in all settings of network of people. This reminds of the birthday parties I use to attend when i was a kid. There were your school friends, kids of your family friends and then there were people about whom you had no clue. You usually tried to hang around with your friends as you had a good rapport with them and behaved in a formal manner with your family friends or friends of your parents. This became quite difficult as you had to have different presentation of yourself to different people in the same room.
The same case is with facebook now. With the new look and feel of facebook, every feature (the wall, the post, the comment) has become homogeneous with other aspects of the website. Now, everybody from your office, your university, your college and even your mother can keep a track of what you do - thanks to the big blast facebook shows about you in their home pages. Some things are meant to be kept private or to be shared with only a limited number of people. What if your comment on the good looks of a friend (if it is a girl) is read by your family member, you may end up giving some explanations to people who may have no business of theirs to interfere with what you do but thanks to facebook, now they are interested more than ever. Similarly, I am not interested in the kind of flower you are, or the fishes in the virtual aquarium on your profile, or what colored egg you just received from your friend!
Thanks but No Thanks!
This reminds me of the recent case where a certain person got a job offer from certain company and before he could join, he 'tweet'ed about the company which he shouldn't have 'tweet'ed about! This led to him being fired even before he was hired. You can read about it here.
This leads to ponder about the reach of technology and social-networking forums into our lives to the extent where our lives have become a public discussion topic for people who are not even remotely related to us.
Just my two cents worth.
Monday, March 30, 2009
The Sixth Sense!
My friend recently forwarded me this amazing and interesting video about the concept of sixth sense. The advancements in technology have enabled now to develop a prototype of a form of sixth sense to interact with various objects in our environment around us through our behavior.
A research team at MIT have developed a prototype consisting of a simple camera, a battery powered projector, a mirror and plastic finger tips accessory. This wearable device can communicate with your phone as well. The demo presents some common usage of the device. Activities like taking pictures with your fingers, using your palm as a numeric keypad are revolutionary. But I wonder how much of it is real or was it just a gimmick for the presentation at TED. Oh, by the way TED is a great platform for new ideas and researches taking place all around the world. Visit their website: www.ted.com
The video link is this.
The idea itself is quite revolutionary though it might have been inspired from the interactive UI from the movie 'Minority Reports'. Below you can see a clip from the movie showing the UI.
Though inconceivable at that time, the prototype is quite a step in that direction.
The product is still in research stage but I wonder who would like to walk around wearing that combo-pack of gadgets from their head down. It is not small enough to not get unnoticed. However, with the technological advances in the components going into its making, I believe the UI screen shown in the movie might not be a distant dream and may become a reality soon!
and I'll be the first person to get the gadget once it becomes commercial! :P
A research team at MIT have developed a prototype consisting of a simple camera, a battery powered projector, a mirror and plastic finger tips accessory. This wearable device can communicate with your phone as well. The demo presents some common usage of the device. Activities like taking pictures with your fingers, using your palm as a numeric keypad are revolutionary. But I wonder how much of it is real or was it just a gimmick for the presentation at TED. Oh, by the way TED is a great platform for new ideas and researches taking place all around the world. Visit their website: www.ted.com
The video link is this.
The idea itself is quite revolutionary though it might have been inspired from the interactive UI from the movie 'Minority Reports'. Below you can see a clip from the movie showing the UI.
Though inconceivable at that time, the prototype is quite a step in that direction.
The product is still in research stage but I wonder who would like to walk around wearing that combo-pack of gadgets from their head down. It is not small enough to not get unnoticed. However, with the technological advances in the components going into its making, I believe the UI screen shown in the movie might not be a distant dream and may become a reality soon!
and I'll be the first person to get the gadget once it becomes commercial! :P
Friday, March 27, 2009
Alienware coming to Asia!
Alienware is a market leader in gaming and peripherals PCs and is a high-end premium line under the management of Dell.
Though the prices are exorbitant but the machines are totally worth the money.
They have had quite innovative features and machines developed for the gaming industry like their highly acclaimed curved screen which was first featured at the CES 2008 gaming show in Las Vegas. Below is a video about the curved screen.
Read more about the announcement here.
Alienware Website: http://www.alienware.com/
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