Retwact — whose full name is Retweet Retraction — is the brainchild of a programmer named Stonly Baptiste, a developer in Pennsylvania. In a nutshell, the service archives your incorrect tweet with a correction or apology of your choosing, then shoots a link out to all of your followers to try and encourage them to read the corrected version. In addition, it also sends an @ mention and link out to the first 100 people who retweeted your original incorrect message, in the hope that they might also help spread the correction.

Correcting tweets would be complicated

As it turns out, this latter feature appears to have run afoul of Twitter’s terms of service, which are designed to prevent spam accounts, and Retwact’s account was suspended on Thursday. Baptiste says that he plans to go ahead with the other features regardless, and may even make his project — which received a lot of support on Y Combinator’s Hacker News forum — open source.

The impulse behind a tool like Retwact is an obvious one: as Wired writer Mat Honan notes, there is a sinking feeling whenever you tweet or retweet something that is incorrect (or turns out to be incorrect), and it would be nice to be able to retract or remove not just that tweet but all the subsequent retweets of it as well, to clear up the public record. Honan joins a growing chorus of critics asking for a correction mechanism (or trying to design one, as some members of this post-Boston Branch discussion did).

Adding that kind of editing or retraction/clarification ability seems to be something that is within Twitter’s grasp: in the same way that it has built hooks into Twitter’s code so that media companies can embed video clips and other data within its “Cards” or expanded tweet feature, it would theoretically be possible for Twitter to add a hook that would connect a mistaken tweet with its subsequent corrected version, so that both would follow each other around the social web.

As Twitter engineer Nick Kallen has explained, however, the likelihood of Twitter actually building in this feature seems somewhere between slim and nil — in part because they driving force behind most of the company’s changes over the past year or so (with the exception of expanded tweets) has been to strip functionality and features away rather than to add them. An editing or correction function could also theoretically be abused in a number of ways.

Twitter is a real-time stream

But more than that, I think Kallen puts his finger on the problem when he says that adding correction features would change the nature of what Twitter is in a fairly fundamental way. The whole point of the service is that it is a stream of content that never stops — and the only way to correct a tweet is to send out another one. In that sense, it mimics conversation, which is also inherently un-correctable except through more conversation. It may be flawed and messy, but that’s the way information works now, for better or worse.

And yes, this has obvious flaws, because the correction never travels quite as far as the original mistake (as Craig Silverman of Regret The Error has pointed out). But over time, I firmly believe that Twitter becomes what Sasha-Frere Jones of the New Yorker called a “self-cleaning oven” for news.

On top of that, I don’t think adding an editing or correction function like Retwact would actually help all that much. People would continue to believe whatever they want to believe — as wrong as that might be — and no matter how thorough the mechanism was, it wouldn’t stop those who created their own manual retweets or retweets of retweets. I also think that having errors emerge and get stamped out over time is a positive process that creates more skepticism about real-time news, something that we need to encourage. It is a process, not a finished product.

So as much as I cringe internally whenever I send out a mistake — which I have done, and will no doubt continue to do — I hope Twitter ignores the requests of its critics to implement an official editing or correction function.

Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Shutterstock / Hirurg

Retwact — whose full name is Retweet Retraction — is the brainchild of a programmer named Stonly Baptiste, a developer in Pennsylvania. In a nutshell, the service archives your incorrect tweet with a correction or apology of your choosing, then shoots a link out to all of your followers to try and encourage them to read the corrected version. In addition, it also sends an @ mention and link out to the first 100 people who retweeted your original incorrect message, in the hope that they might also help spread the correction.

Correcting tweets would be complicated

As it turns out, this latter feature appears to have run afoul of Twitter’s terms of service, which are designed to prevent spam accounts, and Retwact’s account was suspended on Thursday. Baptiste says that he plans to go ahead with the other features regardless, and may even make his project — which received a lot of support on Y Combinator’s Hacker News forum — open source.

The impulse behind a tool like Retwact is an obvious one: as Wired writer Mat Honan notes, there is a sinking feeling whenever you tweet or retweet something that is incorrect (or turns out to be incorrect), and it would be nice to be able to retract or remove not just that tweet but all the subsequent retweets of it as well, to clear up the public record. Honan joins a growing chorus of critics asking for a correction mechanism (or trying to design one, as some members of this post-Boston Branch discussion did).

Adding that kind of editing or retraction/clarification ability seems to be something that is within Twitter’s grasp: in the same way that it has built hooks into Twitter’s code so that media companies can embed video clips and other data within its “Cards” or expanded tweet feature, it would theoretically be possible for Twitter to add a hook that would connect a mistaken tweet with its subsequent corrected version, so that both would follow each other around the social web.

As Twitter engineer Nick Kallen has explained, however, the likelihood of Twitter actually building in this feature seems somewhere between slim and nil — in part because they driving force behind most of the company’s changes over the past year or so (with the exception of expanded tweets) has been to strip functionality and features away rather than to add them. An editing or correction function could also theoretically be abused in a number of ways.

Twitter is a real-time stream

But more than that, I think Kallen puts his finger on the problem when he says that adding correction features would change the nature of what Twitter is in a fairly fundamental way. The whole point of the service is that it is a stream of content that never stops — and the only way to correct a tweet is to send out another one. In that sense, it mimics conversation, which is also inherently un-correctable except through more conversation. It may be flawed and messy, but that’s the way information works now, for better or worse.

And yes, this has obvious flaws, because the correction never travels quite as far as the original mistake (as Craig Silverman of Regret The Error has pointed out). But over time, I firmly believe that Twitter becomes what Sasha-Frere Jones of the New Yorker called a “self-cleaning oven” for news.

On top of that, I don’t think adding an editing or correction function like Retwact would actually help all that much. People would continue to believe whatever they want to believe — as wrong as that might be — and no matter how thorough the mechanism was, it wouldn’t stop those who created their own manual retweets or retweets of retweets. I also think that having errors emerge and get stamped out over time is a positive process that creates more skepticism about real-time news, something that we need to encourage. It is a process, not a finished product.

So as much as I cringe internally whenever I send out a mistake — which I have done, and will no doubt continue to do — I hope Twitter ignores the requests of its critics to implement an official editing or correction function.

Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Shutterstock / Hirurg

Let me explain what I mean…The ‘Friends’ theme song is played at the start of every episode. During the song, visuals on the screen are displaying screen shot images from past episodes.

Now, I am a huge ‘Friends’ fan – so when these images (frozen moments in time) appear, I am able to recall the exact episode it was from and what happened in that particular scene. Without even watching/listening to the scene, I am even able to recall the script. (I know what you’re thinking…I’m completely obsessed with Friends). But my point is, I am able to analyse paused images and recall a story- thus proving, the power of visualisations and moving pictures in a ‘window’.

On another note, Professor Andrew Murphie also spoke about Lolcatz in the lecture. This idea explores the way of adding words to an image of a cat to portray meaning; it’s somewhat similar to the idea of Friends memes. Memes act to carry cultural ideas, symbols and messages; they are a form of expression and content. Here are some of my favourite ‘Friends’ memes:

Sources:

Editors and Friedberg, Anne (2007) ‘The Virtual Window Interactive’ Vectors, 2(2) http://www.vectorsjournal.org/index.php?page=7&projectId=79

https://www.facebook.com/FriendsLols?fref=ts

This refers to the concept ‘real time visualisation’, which is when a form of data is transmitted into a visual in the immediate time. For example, ‘VJ-ing’ takes music currently being played and converts it into its visual form at the same time, involving a sense of interactivity and immediacy. The form in which in converts itself is called ‘cross signal processing’ in which one signal (or data formation) is turned into another, ultimately changing the platform.

Video: ‘Celebration’, Everydayswiss, 2013, Creative Commons Attribution, <http://vimeo.com/57026994>

These forms of real time visualisation and ‘cross signal processing’ are so important that they are being used in scientific research to further develop theories and our understanding of concepts. An example is the Scientific Visualization Studio of NASA, which utilises data and forms visual maps and imagery to “facilitate scientific inquiry” (SVS 2013). This example exemplifies the importance of conceptualising scientific research through visualisation.

Therefore through this modulation of scientific research, the marketplace of publishing and notions of publics are adjusted. Publishing has evolved to further aid the greater population through the use of easy to understand real time visualisations. Thus it informs our own ideas of the public. I believe the use of these visualisations helps the public feel as though our understanding of these complex issues is important in society. That through our common understanding of these scientific visualisations, we may come to appreciate the technological development of science.

Sources:

Video: ‘Celebration’, Everydayswiss, 2013, Creative Commons Attribution, <http://vimeo.com/57026994> Accessed 1st of May, 2013.

United States Government (2013), ‘Scientific Visualization Studio’, < http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/> Accessed 1st of May, 2013.

Wired (2012), ‘The 16 Best Visualizations of 2011’, <http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/tag/science-visualization/> Accessed 1st of May, 2013.

Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education 2013

Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education 2013 is July 24-27, 2013 and will be held in Second Life, Cloud Party, Unity and Open Sim. The conference is free and you can obtain a voucher as well as participate in the array of activities we have planned for you. Please join us.

“Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education is a global grass-roots community event focusing on education in immersive virtual environments. This open conference is organized by educators, for educators, to provide an opportunity to showcase the learning that takes place in this community of practice. All educators are encouraged to present, attend and take part in this discussion of collaborative deeper learning and co-presence in virtual worlds and games.” from http://VWBPE.org

These conferences provide educational as well as fun gifts, exploration, Machinima, as well as seeing how professors and teachers are using virtual worlds from K-12 through Higher Education such as Colleges and Universities. Each year proposals are submitted and go through a peer review process. As that is being done different venues throughout the worlds we are sharing our team is building the venues for these presentations. The Social Area is a fun way to network with colleagues. The activities this year are in four worlds. Of course to build the venues we require land. Generous people offer their builds  and designs as gifts for you. When you go to our main website you can also get involved if you like. We have many roles for people to volunteer and through Eventbrite we provide a ticket or “voucher” so you may share that with your facility as attending a conference. Feel free to go to http://www.VWBPE.org to learn more.

These conferences do have costs for things such as land, content creators and we work only through your donations. If you are so inclined to help us out please go to http://www.indiegogo.com/individuals/3099298/campaigns and donate any amount starting at $25.00. Our goal is to raise $15,000 USD between April 1st, 2013 and July 15th, 2013. The funds raised will provide for venue design and set-up, high-definition and low-definition video streaming of the conference in real-time to the internet, transcription for those people who are Deaf and hard of hearing, community development social activities and other incidental expenses. How much or how little of these activities depends on our sponsors. You can sign up on our Sponsor Entry page. Sponsorship donations are accepted through: http://vwbpe13.eventbrite.com/. You will be not only listed on our website but also at our main venue.

We hope in the future to explore new worlds and bring new insights on the different applications of virtual worlds to you in the following years. There are so many places to explore.

I hope you’ll accept my personal invitation to join our conference and if you’d like to get involved with the volunteer areas such as Stage Manager, Greeter and some more technical areas please feel free to complete http://www.vwbpe.org/contact and the volunteer requests will go to me. Feel free to offer friendship to CallieDel Boa in Second Life, Open Sim/ Jokaydia Grid and although I am CallieDel Boa in most virtual worlds to be honest I am learning so many worlds that I will have to write a future post with ways to reach me in other worlds. I love friends, I am fascinated by all of the educators I have met and I have found that each person is unique and has wonderful things to offer. I cannot wait to meet all the new people and am very excited as Virtual Worlds Best Practices goes Beyond The Stage and for the first time in six years goes beyond Second Life and journeys into new worlds with different styles. I have found there are so many ways to learn in different virtual worlds that some people combine these worlds for their students applications.

See the cutting edge of technology happen and save the dates July 24, 25, 26 and 27 for Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education!

]]> http://gigaom.com/2013/04/29/ibm-has-a-new-protocol-and-a-box-for-the-internet-of-things/ Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:00:47 +0000 Stacey Higginbotham http://gigaom.com/2013/04/29/ibm-has-a-new-protocol-and-a-box-for-the-internet-of-things/ IBM (s ibm) may be in talks to sell off its server division, but it’s not abandoning hardware just yet. Instead, Big Blue is introducing an appliance for the internet of things, as well as a new use case for an existing protocol optimized for delivering messages between sensors.

IBM considers both efforts part of its Smarter Planet and Mobile First strategies. The box is called the IBM MessageSight, and it combines the ability to process a lot of information in real time — which experts believe the internet of things will need. The logic is that billions of sensors sending trillions of bits will need some type of special equipment to process the incoming information in real-time and send instructions back to a human or a device.

IBM uses the example of the hundreds of sensors in your car recognizing a problem, turning on your check engine light, and then notifying the dealer so it can do remote diagnostics. As someone who is heading to the dealer tomorrow for a check engine light, this example caught my eye. Yet, I’m not sold on the need for a special box over more intelligence at the sensor, or perhaps a mesh network with nominal “intelligence.”

The internet of things exaflood is coming!

The idea is compelling, but it also grossly simplifies the flow of data inside the internet of things. For example, it assumes all sensor data must be processed in “real time.” It also assumes all the data must be processed. Both of these are untrue, especially in the early days of the internet of things. But IBM is looking ahead. From its release on the MessageSight appliance:

Over the next 15 years, the number of machines and sensors connected to the Internet will explode. According to IMS Research, there will be more than 22 billion web-connected devices by 2020. These new devices will generate more 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data every day, while every hour enough information is consumed by Internet traffic to fill seven million DVDs.

It’s the same exaflood of data that telephone companies were so fearful of a decade ago. And like the telephone companies, IBM is hoping to cash in on these fears — with its box. IBM’s appliance can totally stand up to this tsunami of information, or so goes the pitch. A release from Big Blue noted that the machine can handle up to 1 million concurrent sensors and can scale to manage up to 13 million messages per second.

The new protocol for the internet of things?

Inside this magic data-defying box will be a protocol called MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport), which the OASIS standards organization recently proposed for the internet of things. The standard, which is backed by Kaazing, Red Hat, TIBCO, Cisco and IBM, is a lightweight messaging transport system for communication in machine to machine and mobile environments.

The idea is that such a lightweight protocol will allow sensors to communicate wirelessly without needing massive batteries to support a fully functional wireless radio. I’m unclear on what radio protocol one might use, but have reached out with questions. As for MQTT, it’s already in use for satellite transmissions and in medical and industrial settings where low-bandwidth communications are essential.

IBM said “sensors can use MQTT to send messages wirelessly using 10 times less battery power and 93 times faster than before, making it possible for a sensor to send real time updates that can be acted upon immediately.” IBM is positioning MQTT as the same enabler for the internet of things, as HTTP was for the web. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but it’s worth watching to see how the standard evolves.

As for IBM’s appliance, I’m pretty sure people can build connected homes, buildings and possible cities without it, but IBM’s marketing will snag customers, especially as part of an overarching integrated smarter cities deployment.

Updated at 11:41 PT: This story was updated to clarify that the MQTT protocol is new for use in the internet of things. The protocol itself is not new.

I’ve been playing around with a cool, real-time, client-side code driven cloud database called Firebase for the last while, and here is one of the projects that came out of it.

There is a local need to identify the streets and other routes that are actually used by cyclists in Prince George, BC (not just “where are the bike routes?”). That sounds like a heatmap to me. Using jQuery Mobile (frontend), Google Maps API (maps), and Firebase (backend), the user can add a direction line to the map (“Add Route” button), modify the directions if they do not show the desired route (drag the route or end points), and save the route (“Submit Route” button). Once the route has been saved, the heatmap will update to reflect the addition. And the cool part is: it will update everyone else’s view in real time, which is important because I know this will go viral. Also cool, I didn’t write a single line of server-side code.

Go ahead and play with the map – add as many lines as you want. I’ve set it so the directions default to Prince George, but you can drag and submit them wherever you want. The biggest limitation of the map is that the directions are converted to points to feed into the heatmap, so in the end it is really a heatmap of most popular corners, not routes.

Disclaimer: this seems to work fine in my versions of Chrome and IE (surprise), but not my iPad’s Safari. Please let me know if you have any insight.

Different technologies and advance electronic device can ensure the perfection of real-time visualisation performance. A blog from week eight’s reading is one about the VJing CHIC 2012, which has shed light on the technologies and applications that involves in VJing, which includes VidVox’s VDMX on Mac Pro with 4 hard drives, iPad with app like Hexler’s TouchOSC app and VDMX, alongside with Playback Media’s Cosmo’s Digital Bundle and LED screens. The combination of these applications constructs different images and sound, then publishes them in order to constructs a public in real-time. In this case, the VJing is occurred at the event such as music festive or live show, different effects and sound is used as the show goes on, in some way these digital images and sound help the public to engage even further to the event.

Another example of VJing is from the http://vimeo.com/7666966

In this Multitouch VJing Application, a further user engaging design is added to the digital VJing device, more than one person can interacting (changing the patterns of the moving images on the screen) with the digital interface. This design can be used in various occasions to create vivid real-time performance, including museums, galleys and nightclubs. (Multitouch VJ Application, 2013)

Reference

Luke McElroy, 08.08.2012, VJing CHIC 2012, Triple wide media, accessed 4.05.13

https://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.triplewidemedia.com%2F2012%2F08%2Fvjing-chic-2012%2F%3Futm_source%3DTwitter%26utm_medium%3DTwitter%26utm_content%3DCHIC2012%26utm_campaign%3DNewBlog?tab=people&uname=andersand

Wikipedia, Real-time, accessed on 4.05.13

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_time_(media)

Wikipedia, VJing, accessed on 4.05.13

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VJing#cite_note-1

Video du jour: Multitouch VJ Application, accessed on 4.05.13

http://blog.lecollagiste.com/article-video-du-jour-multitouch-vj-application-49774323.html

“The man who best gets along with women is the man who can get along without them.”

With all these differences it’s important to understand how they help us work together as a team.  Instead of letting our little differences and severe quirks lead to frustration and annoyance, we take them and work with them in a way that leads to little to no anger or confrontation.

We also broke up the first time we dated because we didn’t take the prior into consideration.  We also didn’t have any ideas what we wanted to do with our lives.

At that point we were on different paths, unable to work together and  have a meaningful relationship.   We had to learn about ourselves before we could ever begin to consider learning about each other and working together.

“A relationship, I think, is like a shark. You know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies.

It’s like your classic yin yang.  You’ve got to understand that both of you are two different people but you’re working together as one.  Both parties will have their flaws and have their own schedule, but it’s up to both of you to make it work.  If you’re not communicating what you need to your partner, they’re probably never going to know and vise versa.  If you’re annoyed at something they do, tell them.  They probably won’t change, but they’ll find a compromise for you.

Things won’t be perfect, but if you are willing to accept each other’s sense of autonomy and have the same goals in mind, you’ll have a higher rate of success than just basing your relationship on the initial infatuation and the great sex (though both are good initiating factors).   If both of you are unable to compromise with out compromising yourselves then it may be best to end things before they get messy.

This is our introduction.  Enjoy the vids.

Men of War: Assault Squad Game of the Year Edition v2.05.15 (2011/Multi6/RePack by RGBestGamer)
2011 | PC | Language: (MULTi6) | Developer: 1C Company | Publisher: 1C Publishing EU | 1.84GB
Genre: Strategy (Real-time / Tactical) / 3D

Info:
Men Of War: Vietnam military strategy with elements of tactics that devoted to one of the most controversia and protracted conflicts in history – The Vietnam War. We offer two large-scale plot campaign, consisting of five episodes in which you play as for Soviet soldiers, as well as on the side of the U.S. military. In Men Of War:Vietnam you will not have available a large selection of firearms bestgeymer and cold weapons that were used in the war. In addition, you can manage military equipment, as well as capture any fighting machines,including the enemy, and use them to their advantage.

Features:
- Large selection of firearms and bladed weapons, which was used during the Vietnam War.
- Access to manage military equipment, the ability to capture and the use of any combat aircraft, including the enemy.
- Destructible environments, as well as the ability to use any objects as a shelter.

Features repack
Version of the game has been updated to version 5.20.15
Enclosing all additions expanded edition

MP Supply Pack Alpha is the first official DLC for Men of War: Assault Structure and function of 5 new competitive multiplayer maps for various numbers of players. Each card has its own unique setting and battle landscape. 5 new multiplayer maps for the gamemodes Assault Zones and Combat.

MP Supply Pack “Bravo” – the second official multiplayer DLC for Men of War: Assault Structure and function of 5 new competitive multiplayer maps for various numbers of players. Each card has its own unique setting and battle landscape. 5 new multiplayer maps for the gamemodes Assault Zones and Combat, as well as for the DLC exclusive Day of Victory gamemode.

MP Supply Pack Charlie is the third official multiplayer DLC for Men of War: Assault Structure and function of 5 new competitive multiplayer maps for various numbers of players. Each card has its own unique setting and battle landscape. 5 new multiplayer maps for the gamemodes Assault Zones and Combat, as well as for the DLC exclusive Day of Victory gamemode.

Skirmish Pack Get a full set of 5 new skirmish missions, 1 for each faction, USA, Germany, Soviet Union, Commonwealth, Japan. Mission objectives provide a completely new challenge as your task is to protect strategic positions against waves of enemy troops to hold out long enough to launch a counter attack and finally defeat the enemy. High playability is guaranteed thanks to the intelligent AI and up to 8-player coop.

Skirmish Pack 2 Get a full set of 5 new skirmish missions, 1 for each faction, USA, Germany, Soviet Union, Commonwealth, Japan. The mission, objectives provide a completely new challenge as your task is to infiltrate the enemy, kill enemy officers stopped the convoy and capture strategic positions to support current allies bestgeymer no offensive action. Generated randomly strategic positions, defense and enemy patrols generate a positive return.

System Requirements
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: 2.6GHz Processor or higher
Memory: 1GB or higher
Graphics: DX9c compatible GPU
DirectX : DX9c
Hard Drive: 4GB
Sound: any OS compatible

Men of War. Assault Squad Game of The Year Edition [PROPHET].part1.rar
Men of War. Assault Squad Game of The Year Edition [PROPHET].part2.rar
Men of War. Assault Squad Game of The Year Edition [PROPHET].part3.rar
Men of War. Assault Squad Game of The Year Edition [PROPHET].part4.rar

Tropico 4 Collectors Bundle-PROPHET
PC | ENG | Developer: Haemimont Games | Publisher: Kalypso Media | 4.83 GB
Genre: Strategy (Manage / Busin. / Real-time) / 3D

Info:
In Tropico 4 again you find yourself in the role of lord of the President, the tyrannical (or friendly), the ruler of a paradise island in the tropics. All actions that you predpriymite will determine the future of your people and their attitude towards you.

In the game you will find 20 missions in 10 maps, 20 new buildings, including the stock exchange, shopping and entertainment center, water park and the mausoleum of El Presidente, as well as integration with Facebook and Twitter. This allows you to leave comments on Twitter directly from the game and automatically update them when you pass a mission or get a new achievement. You can even take screenshots of the island, put them on his Facebook page Tropico 4 and compare interactive rating dictator with online leader boards.

Addon urban and political simulator Tropico 4, in which El Presidente will finish building communism on the island paradise in our time the internet and iPhones. The developers propose to pass a new campaign of 12 missions, 10 new buildings, among which is the launch site and the office building, as well as 10 presidential decrees, and not very democratic, allow us to solve various social problems faced by citizens of El Tropico.

Features:

* El Presidente was elected for another term, 20 missions on 10 maps.
* 20 new buildings, including the stock exchange, shopping center, water park and … Mausoleum!
* Nature of against you. Forecasters are predicting volcanoes, droughts, and tornadoes.
* Give your people the Council of Ministers to push you to the best laws.
* Integration with Twitter and Facebook. Let the world know about your successes

NOTE:
This Collector’s Bundle includes Tropico 4 main
game along with all available DLCs and addons:

* Steam Special Edition Extras
* Junta Military DLC
* Plantador DLC
* Quick-dry Cement DLC
* Modern Times Addon
* Pirate Heaven DLC
* Megalopolis DLC
* Vigilante DLC

Game version is 1.6.345.25459

1- Unpack, burn or mount
2- Install the game
3- Copy the cracked content from PROPHET dir
4- Block the game in your firewall
5- Play!

Tropico.4.Collectors.Bundle-PROPHET.part1.rar
Tropico.4.Collectors.Bundle-PROPHET.part2.rar
Tropico.4.Collectors.Bundle-PROPHET.part3.rar
Tropico.4.Collectors.Bundle-PROPHET.part4.rar
Tropico.4.Collectors.Bundle-PROPHET.part5.rar

The Podium idea is quite straight forward…give people a platform to voice their opinion on something that matters to them. This isn’t reinventing the wheel, but Podium are aiming themselves at the younger end of the life spectrum, giving the youth of today a mouth piece.

The bit that got me thinking was this; could this be what Google might one day become?

We have embraced mobile technology, and most smart phones have the ability to record media. Is there anything stopping a human driven real-time search engine, that’s purely news, with content entirely as video and sound?

Of course, there would be the issue surrounding sources being legitimate, so I guess only accredited journalists could be granted the access to appear on such a service, if only to guarantee some sort of reliability to it.

The other problem, if something like this became a reality, would be what effect would it have on printed media? I honestly wouldn’t know.

It’s maybe a nice idea in principle, an audio/video real-time news engine, but I’m sure one day it will be a reality.

As for Podium…I glad they exist, and that they are effectively time-capsuling opinion from the youth of today. I’m confident that in years to come, the text results that we already know will still exist, but believe fully that historical audio archives of what life was like will become more dominant, and this will be our ‘Google’.

As you know each book is a stand alone story and I have chosen to write about the clan and its members rather then get in to the political aspects of the family they guard. [clans are more fun]

Where Emerald Tears may have introduced everyone to the clan and gave a glimpse in to their world, Hands of Onyx jumped several years and answers a little bit of the question, What is their universe like. Diamond Mind (due out fall 2013) answers, What if one was left on their own. [Sorry I had to jump several more years for my Tech to develop enough for my main character to survive.] So far I’ve been working on Sons of Amethyst (due 2014) and it goes back to the beginning (or close to it) and asks the question  What if there was more then one replicant? (I dare you to find the hint in Emerald Tears) I also inadvertently answered the question of, What if squad members didn’t get along. Dysfunctional was not what I original intended but that’s what I ended up with.

So here is my answer to you the reader, What if…[you fill in the blank]

I’m looking forward to your thoughts on the Sav’ine.