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Loading ...Can video games reduce tension?
As Rock Star North Ltd. promotes its newly-released Grand Theft Auto IV, an American professor of “recreational therapy” has finished an experiment testing the effects of video games on mood.
Carmen Russoniello, a professor at East Carolina University, recently finished a six-month study of people playing Bejeweled 2, Peggle and Bookworm adventures. The study concluded the games could have “potential therapeutic applications,” according to a press release issued by PopCap games, which by sheer coincidence happens to be the developer of these three games.
The school’s department of recreational and leisure studies observed the behaviour of video game players and measured their stress, psychological tension, anger, depression, vigour, fatigue and confusion. For example, people who played Peggle experienced a 66 per cent reduction in “psychological tension” while 43 per cent of those who played Bookworm Adventures experienced a reduction in depression. Rumour has it people who reached the fourth screen in Space Invaders also experienced confusion, though that game was not included in Russoniello’s study.
The East Carolina University study did not include Grand Theft Auto, a game where players can pretend to be criminals taking on rival gang members and robbing banks. The game’s developer, Rock Star North, also makes Bully and Manhunt. We’re not aware of any studies linking these games with mental health but we’re guessing they should appeal to players who have major anger issues to begin with.
It is interesting to note the East Carolina University study found Bejeweled 2 “significantly decreased brain activity associated with avoid/withdrawal activity.” The study did not mention the affect of brain activity associated with avoid/withdrawal activity in people who abandoned their video games in favour of socializing with others.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Tired of dating attractive, nice (but dull) people?
If you thought the market for online dating sites was saturated, with Lavalife, Match.com, PlentyofFish and God knows what else, you may be wrong. One company has set up a Web site, dubbed IntelligentPeople.com, that requires members to take an IQ test before joining.
Evidently, this is designed for people who are frustrated because the folks they met on existing Web sites aren’t as smart as they are. So IntelligentPeople.com is intended for this in the top 15 per cent of the population, when measured by intelligence.
We’re not sure what to make of this. I mean, if you’re single and looking for a companion, what’s more important? Someone who has similar interests? Or someone who has memorized the Periodic Table of Elements? Do you want to meet someone who’s attractive? Or someone who can drone on for an hour about relative importance of James Clerk Maxwell and Albert Eintstein in developing the Unified Field Theory?
One of IT World Canada’s editors (we won’t mention names) said he went to IntelligentPeople.com and passed the test. However, he was unable to get his score because the site requires users to join before receiving their score. Besides, the editor said, “I like my girls dumb.”
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Pondering junk filters and ’solutions’
A thought occurs: Supposing pharma giant Pfizer had a legitimate press release regarding sildenafil citrate, say, a safety alert or the appointment of a new researcher. Would they ever be able to get get a Viagra press release past any spam filter?
It’s a legitimate concern; we’re not just being juvenile. We occasionally get press releases regarding a German tech firm called Assman, but it’s always from the PR company; we never see an address like info@assman.de. Just wouldn’t fly, would it?
And don’t get us started on Tata Communications (okay, NOW we’re being juvenile).
Right, another thread then … Tuesday, April 22 entry in The Dictionary of Corporate B——t desk calendar reads:
SOLUTION: A vague, generic, and slightly mysterious term used to describe products, of all things, particularly software; so overused it has lost all meaning, except in that calling something a “solution” is really just a way of saying it might have “added value.”
We’ll enlighten you when the dictionary deigns to define “added value.”
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...April is the cruellest month for ex-Samsung chairman Lee
After special prosecutors in South Korea ended a three-month probe by indicting Lee Kun-hee on charges of evading 112.8 billion won ($113 million) in taxes last week, the troubled Samsung chairman said he would step down. He apologized for “troubles to the nation” but did not seem sorry at all about the crappy Samsung BlackJack.
“Until recent weeks, South Koreans were unaccustomed to hearing much publicly from Lee, who has been described as a loner with a fascination for gadgets and how they work,” an Associated Press story said. Something tells us he’ll be a loner after this is all over, too.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Someone out there is hot for IT staff
The blog-slash-art-project-slash-outreach-program PostSecret posts every Sunday handmade postcards sent in from all over the world that each contain a secret.
And last Sunday’s contained one that gave a morsel of hope to all those lonely IT workers out there.
Under some tasteful naughty photos, it reads: “I have erotic fantasies about my IT staff.”
And the bottom contains more longing, albeit obscured, sadly, by a postal sticker: “Everyday I come to work hoping my computer would…” and “how much I want him to touch me.”
It’s enough to give every lonely, awkward IT pro hope that some comely young staffer has a secret sweet-on for them, and maybe the courage to ask them on a date. (Or a sexual harassment suit resulting from said come-on, so paramours be warned.)
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Robots even more interesting when they’re behind glass, doing nothing
Shark Tales would like to set the record straight: Despite our efforts to venture into new and emerging markets, the recently-announced plans to set up a US$3.4-million exhibit dedicated to artificially intelligent machines, called Roboworld, has nothing to do with IT World Canada.
The Carnagie Science Center in Pittsburgh, which will host the exhibit, jumped through major hoops and kissed some serious P.R. butt in order to wrangle some time in the busy schedule of British actor Anthony Daniels, the British actor who played C-3PO in all six “Star Wars” movies, to attend a press conference announcing an upcoming Robot Day. Meanwhile, the height-challenged thespian who made the beep-beep noises for R2-D2 was reportedly insulted to be overlooked.
According to the people behind it, Roboworld will “encompass an array of mechanized devices, including a welder that’s been modified to pick up basketballs and shoot them through a hoop.” And to think some senior executives don’t see business value from investing in IT.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Man hacks video game to propose marriage, prove geekery
Wouldn’t it have been easier to just go down on one knee like everyone else? According to the Associated Press, Bernie Peng reprogrammed Tammy Li’s favourite video game, “Bejeweled,” so a ring and a marriage proposal would show up on the screen when she reached a certain score. Luckily, she didn’t suck; if he’d tried this with Guitar Hero II he might still be waiting for an answer. Apparently the hack took Peng a month, which approximately more than 10 times the amount of time most men spend helping their brides actually plan a wedding.
Peng and Li plan to marry over Labor Day weekend, and PopCap, the Seattle company that makes “Bejeweled,” will fly the couple to Seattle as part of their honeymoon. Shark Tales wishes these two kids all the best — if it doesn’t work out, we can’t be blamed for all the “Game over” headlines their breakup would inspire.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...We’ll be happier when blogs are so addictive you need rehab
Researchers from the University of California-Irvine have presented a study which says checking blogs can become as regular a habit as checking for e-mail.
“They found that regular blog reading can become ‘an Internet ritual,’ with the content secondary to the process of checking for new posts. The researchers said this is much like the routine of checking e-mail regardless of whether a new message is expected or not.”
This is great news for Shark Tales, where content is also considered secondary to merely generating additional posts. As long as it creates an Amy Winehouse-style dependency for your Shark Tales fix, that’s fine with us.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Good old frugal IBM
If a major technology vendor invites customers, partners and journalists to a conference, the host will usually add something to make a splash. Some rent the arena of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Some put on an acrobatic show. Some bring in a marching band from a local university, plus a string quartet. Some have the CIO of a motorcycle manufacturer ride his bike on to stage.
For its Impact SOA conference this week, IBM did all of the above, and on top of that, Big Blue brought in comedian and Price is Right host Drew Carey as Master of Ceremonies.
Carey couldn’t resist the urge to roast his host.
“Good old frugal IBM,” Carey said after the acrobat show. “At IBM, every dime goes into the product.”
After waiting for the laughter to die down, Carey added: “If I worked at IBM and felt like stealing a stapler, I’d steal it.”
Carey did have some comments about service-oriented architecture – which was expected, given that “Smart SOA” was the topic for the event. Like many people who have trouble understanding buzz phrases, Carey was baffled by the concept of SOA.
“I don’t know what they’re selling,” he said. “They explained it to me 10 times, but I don’t know what they’re talking about. I know it’s smart SOA, not the stupid SOA our competitors sell.”
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...From snail mail to smell mail: This product feature stinks!
It’s bad enough that many corporate offices and hospitals forbid people from wearing strong perfumes or colognes (how’s a guy supposed to live out the dream of those Axe Body Spray commercials?). Now NTT Communications plans to offer a way to send fragrances to a cell phone.
According to our friends at InfoWorld, “a trial of the service will take place later this month during which users will be able to select and send certain fragrance recipes to an in-home unit that is responsible for concocting and releasing the various fragrances. Each holds 16 cartridges of base fragrances or essences that are mixed to produce the various scents in a similar way that a printer mixes inks to produce other colors.” If that doesn’t work, you can send it via e-mail directly to the device.
Call me cynical, but it probably won’t take long before these “fragrance home units” are commonly referred to as the Stench Centre. On the other hand, NTT can count on Foot Loops spokesbird Tucan “Just follow my nose!” Sam to be an early adopter.
Smell ya later,
Sharky
