As much as late-night infomercial fodder such as the venerable vegetable slice-n-dicer and the towel-cum-chamois hybrid infuriatingly dubbed the ShamWow have become the subject of intense ridicule, these gadgets have at least one thing going for them – they exist. If nothing else, we can rest easy knowing that someone, somewhere was able to dream up an idea, turn that idea into a product that does what it’s supposed to do, and bring that product to market.
Tag Archive: Brooklyn
Almost Perfect Reviews For GTA IV
Released virtually without hype, it’s still managed to be one of 2008’s most-anticipated video games. Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA), the latest offering in the controversial franchise fromRockstar Games, came out at midnight, with many stores open to sell it – an indication of its popularity. Reviewers were only allowed to playit at Rockstar’s offices – no review copies were sent out – but they didn’t let that restriction stop them from raving about the game. Eurogamer summed it up by commenting, “GTA IV is the 10/10 you were expecting. Almost everything you do in Liberty City would be good enough to drive itsown game, and the best parts would be good enough to outrun the competition, but the reason it works so well is that Rockstar has made a game that requires no patience to play.” Itpraises “the best script in the series” and the refinements, such as making the cell phone central to the game, not merely as a device for making calls and texting (while you drive, ofcourse), but as a tool for maneuvering between gameplaying and activities. The New York Times calls the game “a violent, intelligent, profane,endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun” and points out that this time “the real star of the game is the city itself.It looks like New York. It sounds like New York. It feels like New York. Liberty City has been so meticulously created it almost even smells like New York. From Brooklyn (called Broker), throughQueens (Dukes), the Bronx (Bohan), Manhattan (Algonquin) and an urban slice of New Jersey (Alderney), the game’s streets and alleys ooze a stylized yet unmistakable authenticity.” Reviewer Seth Schiesel concludes by saying “It all adds up to a new level of depth for an interactive entertainment experience. I’ve spent almost 60 hours practically sequestered in a(real world) Manhattan hotel room in recent weeks playing through Grand Theft Auto IV’s main story line and the game still says I have found only 64 percent of its content. I won’t everreach 100 percent, not least because I won’t hunt down all 200 of the target pigeons (known as flying rats here) that the designers have hidden around the city.”
Yamaha’s Tenori-On Comes to the U.S.
Electronic musicians, ready your fingers: Yamaha’s futuristic Tenori-On electronic instrument is coming to the United States. Yamaha will swing by Brooklyn and San Francisco later this month to introduce U.S. audiences to the Lite-Brite-like musical contraption.
The product of Japanese media artist Tosio Iwai, the Tenori-On uses an interface of 256 LED lights arranged in a grid to produce music from touch. Yamaha’s YouTube demo, which has garnered over 750,000 views (and debate over whether or not it’s an instrument), shows how the device uses the LEDs to represent different sounds that can added, deleted and altered by simply touching the lights.
Microsoft Files Software Piracy Lawsuits
Computer software giant Microsoft today announced they’d filed eight lawsuits against companies in Arizona, California Illinois, Minnesota and New York. Each company named in these lawsuits is accused of distributing counterfeit and/or infringing Microsoft software or software components. Microsoft, based upon tips they’d received on their anti-piracy hotline, filed some of the lawsuits after purchasing evidence against the alleged pirates through secret shoppers. Other lawsuits were filed based upon evidence gathered in the company’s test purchase program, which is used to test the authenticity of products purchased from resellers. Two of the lawsuits filed were against business allegedly in violation of settlement agreements they’d already entered into with Microsoft. The companies named in the lawsuits include BWT Industry Technology Service Inc., an Arizona corporation, doing business as Computer Max Co. of Sierra Vista, Ariz.; Data Day USA Inc., of Vallejo, Calif.; MicroCity4Less.com, et al., of Torrance, Calif.; Winvtech Solutions, Inc., (aka Winvision Computers and Winvision Technology) of South El Monte, Calif.; Global Computing Inc. of Addison, Ill.; Ion Technologies Corp. of Minneapolis, Minn.; Compustar Co. of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Chips & Techs of New York, N.Y. "Microsoft does not take legal action lightly. We remain very serious about protecting honest software resellers and consumers from the illegal activities of software counterfeiters," said Mary Jo Schrade, senior attorney at Microsoft.
Popular Oldies DJ Coming to Sirius
Sirius Radio announced today they had lined up another well known DJ to man their satellite radio airwaves in the fight to catch up to XM Radio. Legendary New York City radio personality Bruce Morrow, aka “Cousin Brucieâ€, will start appearing on the satellite network during the July 4th weekend, followed by three regularly scheduled programs and daily features each week. His focus will be popular hit music of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s.
Xbox LIVE Reaches 1M Subscribers
From the press release:
With peak usage time for Xbox Live between 7:30 and 9 p.m., this thrill-seeking throng is showing that they prefer to play TV.
As evidence of online gameplay’s mass appeal and growing importance in the digital entertainment landscape, Xbox Live reached the million-member mark three times faster than other subscriber-based entertainment services such as Home Box Office Inc., America Online Inc. and TiVo Inc.
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