I finally got around to seeing the 1.5 hour Comic Con Game of Thrones (GoT) panel discussion. As I expected, it did not disappoint though I was hoping to see a sneak preview of Season 4. If any media person is reading this, I am really curious to know why only 10 episodes are created per season, especially since this is pretty much the #1 show on Network TV right now.
It is a must watch for any hardcore GoT fan. If I could stand in line for 3 hours to see the Iron Throne in NYC, you can definitely get through this video at home :). And Khal Drogo's surprise appearance is an unexpected bonus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c96QfWVZzj8
Friday, August 9, 2013
Oculus Rift
Over the last year, I've been hearing a lot about the Oculus Rift. I still remember the first time I played a VR (Virtual Reality) Football (Soccer) game where the balls bounced of my body when I was acting like a Goalkeeper. It was like magic and I couldn't believe that I could play a game without touching any kind of hardware.
Fast Forwarding 12 years, Oculus Rift (OR) seems to be the defacto gadget discussed whenever speaking about gaming and VR. I have been waiting for a while for some reviews and I finally found a good review of the dev kit version.
I am currently very wary of 3D technologies as there seems to be no standard and hence all of them seem to have some downfalls, the main one being nausea.
Since OR takes that to another level that was one of my primary concerns and it seems that is a major issue for now. Also, another interesting challenge as quoted about loading screens in the article is "Just imagine how odd it would be if you turned your head in the real world but your vision remained the same as before. In practice, this feels like being stabbed in the brain at the same time as the world spins out from under you." which is something I had never even considered. It just seems impossible to imagine how something can disorient so much. Another good example of things being too real is "Basically, the closest I could get to Alyx before running into her hit box was at around two feet away. But as I stopped as if I had hit her physically, my brain interpreted the signal as, “Oh, if you ran into her, you must be super close—and if you are that close, your perception is wrong. She's not far away, she's just tiny!” So for the rest of the game my mind interpreted every human character as being two-thirds the size of a normal human.". So it seems that the challenges are not only with the 3D technology but also with framerate, syncing, 3D modeling and texture design.
The point to be made here is that when we are in Virtual Reality, the keyword is not Virtual, as we inherently know that what we are seeing is not real. Hence, we can make do with and process the fact that we are fighting zombies, flying alien ships or even listening to a dystopian big brother known as GLaDOS. They keyword is Reality, as we are now in a world where even in a game, we expect a human person to be an appropriately sized 3D model with detailed textures. We expect the physics to compare to those on Earth unless we are explicitly told that we are in an anti-gravity chamber and even then it may be a disorienting experience wherein the physics values need to be changed to what the general masses can get used to.
The OR seems to be at the forefront of a new digital technology world, especially with what 3D printing can already achieve. I predict that the OR or a successor will do great things for VR, similarly to what the Microsoft Kinect did for gesture recognition and control.
As an avid gamer, I hope they iron out some of the kinks soon, coz I just cant wait to play a full VR simulated game of Counterstrike, Age of Empires and GTA!
http://kotaku.com/i-played-the-oculus-rift-for-five-hours-straight-987568701
Fast Forwarding 12 years, Oculus Rift (OR) seems to be the defacto gadget discussed whenever speaking about gaming and VR. I have been waiting for a while for some reviews and I finally found a good review of the dev kit version.
I am currently very wary of 3D technologies as there seems to be no standard and hence all of them seem to have some downfalls, the main one being nausea.
Since OR takes that to another level that was one of my primary concerns and it seems that is a major issue for now. Also, another interesting challenge as quoted about loading screens in the article is "Just imagine how odd it would be if you turned your head in the real world but your vision remained the same as before. In practice, this feels like being stabbed in the brain at the same time as the world spins out from under you." which is something I had never even considered. It just seems impossible to imagine how something can disorient so much. Another good example of things being too real is "Basically, the closest I could get to Alyx before running into her hit box was at around two feet away. But as I stopped as if I had hit her physically, my brain interpreted the signal as, “Oh, if you ran into her, you must be super close—and if you are that close, your perception is wrong. She's not far away, she's just tiny!” So for the rest of the game my mind interpreted every human character as being two-thirds the size of a normal human.". So it seems that the challenges are not only with the 3D technology but also with framerate, syncing, 3D modeling and texture design.
The point to be made here is that when we are in Virtual Reality, the keyword is not Virtual, as we inherently know that what we are seeing is not real. Hence, we can make do with and process the fact that we are fighting zombies, flying alien ships or even listening to a dystopian big brother known as GLaDOS. They keyword is Reality, as we are now in a world where even in a game, we expect a human person to be an appropriately sized 3D model with detailed textures. We expect the physics to compare to those on Earth unless we are explicitly told that we are in an anti-gravity chamber and even then it may be a disorienting experience wherein the physics values need to be changed to what the general masses can get used to.
The OR seems to be at the forefront of a new digital technology world, especially with what 3D printing can already achieve. I predict that the OR or a successor will do great things for VR, similarly to what the Microsoft Kinect did for gesture recognition and control.
As an avid gamer, I hope they iron out some of the kinks soon, coz I just cant wait to play a full VR simulated game of Counterstrike, Age of Empires and GTA!
http://kotaku.com/i-played-the-oculus-rift-for-five-hours-straight-987568701
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Perceiving India
As an Indian, I come across many people who ask me myriad questions about India. Whether it be if I speak 'Hindu' (Hindi is a language, Hinduism is a religion) or where I learnt such 'polished' English from; or whether it is peppering me with questions about how so many religions and cultures coexist, everyone I come across never asks me the same question twice.
Hence, it has been very interesting to see the various queries people have and sometimes even their own personal experiences when they have visited the county.
Today I happened to come across this very interesting article about Mumbai, which can be applied to India as a whole. An Australian lady shares her love / hate relationship details with India and it makes for a fascinating and insightful read.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/mad-for-mumbai/story-e6frg8h6-1225934717682
Hence, it has been very interesting to see the various queries people have and sometimes even their own personal experiences when they have visited the county.
Today I happened to come across this very interesting article about Mumbai, which can be applied to India as a whole. An Australian lady shares her love / hate relationship details with India and it makes for a fascinating and insightful read.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/mad-for-mumbai/story-e6frg8h6-1225934717682
Monday, August 5, 2013
Humans of New York
I'm starting off this blog with a post about a page that I really like.
Humans of New York.
Brandon Stanton started the page to showcase the beauty of New York City and the people living within. It has grown over the past 2 years, to over a million people checking out his pictures everyday. What makes these pictures different, is that these are folks you and I walk by everyday, not realizing that each person has a story and how interesting those stories can be.
Every day I police my Facebook feed to see whether a new picture has popped up and what the story behind that picture is. It makes you think about a range of things: How hard people have worked to get where they are, Who and What they have had to leave behind, What they feel after having loved and sometimes lost, and just how your inner feelings come out in words and wardrobe alike.
I also have to mention that you must check out the comments in the pictures as some of those provide a lot of introspection and interestingly, most comments are overwhelmingly positive with very little acrimony in the group.
You can see the Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork
He also publishes detailed stories on his website and these are slice of life stories unlike anything I have read before:
http://www.humansofnewyork.com/tagged/stories
What I'm waiting for the most is for the Coffee Table book to be released:
http://www.amazon.com/Humans-New-York-Brandon-Stanton/dp/1250038820
Check out some of my recent favorites here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=497851986955573
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=496264670447638
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=495738480500257
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=493889850685120
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=493781924029246
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=486384124769026
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=485869638153808
I hope this project goes on for a long time, its a little hard to imagine a day going by and me not checking out HONY.
Humans of New York.
Brandon Stanton started the page to showcase the beauty of New York City and the people living within. It has grown over the past 2 years, to over a million people checking out his pictures everyday. What makes these pictures different, is that these are folks you and I walk by everyday, not realizing that each person has a story and how interesting those stories can be.
Every day I police my Facebook feed to see whether a new picture has popped up and what the story behind that picture is. It makes you think about a range of things: How hard people have worked to get where they are, Who and What they have had to leave behind, What they feel after having loved and sometimes lost, and just how your inner feelings come out in words and wardrobe alike.
I also have to mention that you must check out the comments in the pictures as some of those provide a lot of introspection and interestingly, most comments are overwhelmingly positive with very little acrimony in the group.
You can see the Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork
He also publishes detailed stories on his website and these are slice of life stories unlike anything I have read before:
http://www.humansofnewyork.com/tagged/stories
What I'm waiting for the most is for the Coffee Table book to be released:
http://www.amazon.com/Humans-New-York-Brandon-Stanton/dp/1250038820
Check out some of my recent favorites here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=497851986955573
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=496264670447638
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=495738480500257
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=493889850685120
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=493781924029246
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=486384124769026
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=485869638153808
I hope this project goes on for a long time, its a little hard to imagine a day going by and me not checking out HONY.
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