Will's Blog

How Nintendo won E3 and killed Sony

2011-06-08T07:43:00.003+10:00

This recent week, E3has crystallized the big players' plans for the future, and now the verdict is in. Nintendo announced their new console, the Wii-U.

This is big news for Nintendo, following their great market success with the first Wii, anticipation has run

high for their new system. Nintendo has a history of innovation, which often sees them at the cutting edge of the entertainment business. The Wii-U is no

exception, but the particular advances and innovation may have an even greater effect on home console entertainment.

Since the first Wii was released with its ground-breaking motion controls, Sony and Microsoft have been languishing in their respective lack of innovation, desperately trying to catch up to Nintendo and produce motion controls for their respective consoles. Now at a time when both Microsoft and Sony are finding success with their motion controls, and are displaying triumphantly their sales figures and new titles, Nintendo has stepped in front and very effectively rained on their parades.

But more than that, Nintendo has - with the announcement of the Wii-U - now taken clear steps to become the dominant force in consoles once again.

Since the first Wii's launch, there have been a number of complaints from the traditional console

market. The major complaint revolves around the Wii's underpowered hardware. The Wii sold many units, and provided good value for the 'casual' minded gamers, but due to the consoles inability to produce better graphics, has suffered a lack of third-party AAA major releases. This has caused the perception that the Wii is a casual-only system to perpetuate in the minds of many traditional gamers, and has more recently left it behind the current generation of 'next-gen' consoles.

However, with the new Wii-U, Nintendo has moved into the 'next-gen' space, providing hardware which itself is more powerful than Microsoft and Sony's current models. While it can be assumed that Sony/Microsoft will produce entries with ever more powerful hardware in the future, the fact that Nintendo has now moved to powerful hardware means it can fatefully move out of the 'casual' market and into the mainstream.

The single setback of the original, wildly popular Wii, has been overcome, and what's more, Nintendo has again created revolution with their tablet+control. Giving developers a powerful hardware platform, coupled with innovative peripherals will undoubtedly lead to interesting new products which will help Nintendo lead the next console wars.

But more than innovation and performance, Nintendo has timing on their side as well. At E3 this year, Microsoft produced no remarkable ideas at all, and Sony had to spend their time apologizing to its customers for the absence of their online services.

What's even worse for Sony is the reception their new 'PS Vita' hand-held gaming device has been underwhelming. Sony's portable will have to compete with a lineup of already successful and acclaimed Nintendo devices, including the 3DS which is already on the market, and will soon be getting more new innovative titles. This leaves Sony's 'new' device - which looks more like an upgrade of the mediocre PSP - with a lot of work to do, especially after the dismal failure of their PSPGO.

What all this means is that Nintendo now is poised to take a clear and commanding lead in the home entertainment sector. With their new Wii-U ready to launch in 2012, they will have a significant head-start over their competition. Casual gamers will latch on quickly to the updated version of the console they have come to love, complete with new innovations and support for their old favorites, and more traditional gamers will find it hard to find fault with the powerful new system, fully capable of all the things the old one wasn't, and everything they've come to expect from 'next-gen' gaming. Replete with innovative ways to play and interact with their consoles, big-name AAA titles and the value of Nintendo's many popular franchises, the Wii-U has surely put the other big-names on notice.

5 Things the iPad needs

2010-01-28T17:40:00.010+11:00

I figured I might as well blog about the iPad, seeing as everyone else is. My level of interest peaked the day before release, and with release has waned significantly. After seeing the specs, I feel the device doesn't offer anything that the iPod/iPhone does. But instead of simply deriding the newest Apple craze, I've decided to put forward my suggestions that might improve the iPad further.

I've always felt that tablet PC's are a good tool for a number of professions, and also flexible gadgets to own, but have always been far too expensive. The iPad starts at $500, which puts the device in the 'reasonably priced' category.

The following are a list of things that the iPad needs before I really start wetting myself with excitement like so many people have.

A proper OS. The iPhone OS simply isn't powerful/customizable enough to be able to create exciting/useful software. The App Store has been a revelation in mobile software, but this platform isn't a phone, at least, it should strive to be more than that. Maybe once the jailbreakers get to the iPad, they'll have other OSes running on it.
Proper games. The screen is a good size for mobile gaming, but the hardware will be barely capable of rendering graphics at a playable frame rate. This, coupled with the OS will restrict the gaming capability of the platform.
Infra-Red. I know it might sound outdated, but I imagine using the device as a remote control for my television and multimedia equipment. It wouldn't be much trouble to create a good-looking TV guide/remote control app, and it would add serious usability around the house and also other projects.
Productivity/Business Software. iWork doesn't count as proper office software. I'm also not aware of any proper medial software available on the App Store. This is not restricted by the hardware as much as gaming, but is because of the OS and Apple's control over what goes on the App Store.
Photoshop (and other PC integration ). The iPad is basically a giant, colourful, multi-touch drawing tablet, like a Cintiq maybe?. Or maybe it's more like an Optimus Maximus. Or maybe it's both, but doesn't know it. There are so many features that haven't been announced that would make the iPad innovative and powerful.

If you have thought of something you want to see, but I haven't mentioned, please comment below, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

2009-03-04T00:25:00.000+11:00

There's a great article about the inner workings of a Kenyan cooperative which produces Honey and Beeswax, and the ingenious little bits they use to make it. Apparently they produced 8 tonnes of Honey in 2008 and made over Ksh640,000 - over $12,000AUD. I especially like the bit where they said the honey is collected at night, by completely naked men (so no bees get caught in their clothing). This article is a must-read.

Via

How piracy makes your life better, or, the Napster effect. Academy Award Winning Films Distributed For Free At 'Kopime' Stations

2009-02-24T13:28:00.001+11:00

At a cafe in Berlin is a 'kiosk'. Quite simply, someone puts in their USB stick and pushes a button, and the movies are uploaded to their USB stick.

The mechanism by which this works is dead simple. The image below shows the off-the-shelf device which facilitates the transfer of the files.

A system which lets users select their movies would be simple to set up, Red Room DVD offers these services already, but by removing the physical media, the distributor could save lots of money, and solve many problems. I've gone to Red Room kiosks, and the movies I really want are always unavailable, because somebody else has rented them.

While there are a number of minor issues such as DRM, digital distribution is catching on. It's easy to see the possibilities for the legitimate application of this technology.
Via

If I could tame a wild animal I'd have a Polar Bear

2009-01-30T14:53:00.001+11:00

Why a Polar Bear is a perfect pet.

Polar bear, Saint-Felicien zoo, Quebec. by Aramisse

I'd have a pet Polar Bear, because Polar Bears are awesome. I would ride it to work, let it eat annoying dogs and small children, and play fetch with it.

Masdar Breaks Ground on Largest Solar Plant in Middle East

2009-01-22T13:45:00.001+11:00

Masdar, the new sustainable super-city being developed by Abu Dhabi, recently announced that it is building the largest grid-connected solar plant in the Middle East. The 10 MW solar plant will be half thin-film and half crystalline silicon photovoltaics, with 5 MW of thin film solar panels being provided by Arizona-based First Solar. The Masdar solar power plant is expected to reduce emissions of 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually and cost around $50 million.

Designed by Foster + Partners, Masdar is poised to be the world’s most sustainable city. Their masterplan envisions a dvelopment that is zero-waste, car-free, and carbon neutral. Solar power will be an essential resource for the city, as the sun will also power their Rapid Transit System.

First Solar’s thin film photovoltaics utilize Cadmium Telluride as a semiconductor, which enables them to use only 1-2% of the semiconductor material required for traditional photovoltaic panels. Manufacturing a thin film panel takes around 2.5 hours from start to finish using First Solar’s process. The efficiency of these panels is estimated to be around 9%, and costs are expected to be below $1 per peak Watt per module. Currently, commercial efficiencies for traditional photovoltaics are above 20%, but costs rise above $1.5 per peak Watt.

The real treat here is that they're using thin-film solar cells on a massive scale ( 5MW ). This will be one of the first applications of to-grid power, and I'm sure there will be lots learned from this project. I'm a big fan of thin-film solar cells, I think it's only a matter of time before they comprise 100% of new solar installations, due to their increasing economy - the $1/watt barrier is generally regarded as the cutoff for any sustainable technology, and companies like nanosolar and First Solar are beginning to produce systems which meet that economy!

Via Reuters

Versabikes: Adaptable bikes –Bear that eco-friendly tag!

2009-01-19T19:08:00.001+11:00

Conventional bikes are quite sustainable as far as their usability
and utility is concerned. But, frame size might make you dispense them
off as all users don’t have similar heights. The problem begins
when a cyclist needs to resells his/her bike, but can’t find
anyone because of the frame size. So how can a bike somehow adapt or
grow with a user or multiple users? Nathan Durflinger addresses this difficulty through his unique bike design.

The final design while flaunting to be eco-friendly does adjust to a
range of different user heights. Pieces of finished plywood,
polycarbonate, or machined aluminum could be made use of in fabricating
one. The frame would accept all standard bike hardware found at most
bike shops. The frame of the bike has been designed to expand out or
contract in on motion. The bike could be manufactured in two different
sizes:

Via [ The Design Blog ]

Tapping the Earth for home heating and cooling

2009-01-19T11:36:00.001+11:00

Ground-source heat pumps have been around for decades but every year
seem to attract more homeowners and organizations who are looking for
alternatives to traditional space heating and cooling. They can hook
into existing forced hot air and hot water systems but not steam heat. Systems including ground-source heat pumps, a water-source heat pump, and geo-exchange systems.

Via [ cnet ]

Mythbusters and Helium/Sulfur Hexaflouride

2009-01-18T20:17:00.001+11:00

He says 'don't try this at home', but I defy you to not! He sounds a lot like Penn from Penn and Teller. I want Sulfur Hexaflouride now please!

Tasty deviled eggs with smoked salmon.

2008-12-23T17:36:00.000+11:00

I can't wait to try 'em ! The salmon is a real treat. The bears think so.

George Bush - Shoe, Bugger. Priceless Shoe Jokes

2008-12-16T01:44:00.003+11:00

As is being rampantly reported now some brave Iraqi chap has thrown not one but two shoes at US President G.W. Bush.

Some very clever people have made some very funny comments on this event, and I'm going to cobble (get it) together as many shoe puns as I can.

Credit to @paulcarr and @domsparks on twitter for their wit and insight.

Lace/Off
The Aiming of the Shoe
"Confirmed: one shoe-ter."
If the President is attacked by a shoe, are the Secret Service trained to yell "SHHHHOOOOE!" like in In The Line Of Fire?
A shoe to a kill.
Round of applause for @tewy for his brilliant Bush shoe pun: "Sock and awe"
@acton Bush Puppies? No, that doesn't work.
Oh, @acton, I'm disappointed in you. A shoe in the hand is worth two on the bush.
Hopefully DHS will now see the obvious flaw in their plan of x-raying our shoes before we fly.
@paulcarr 'One Shoe Over the Cuckoo's Nest'
@paulcarr George Bush is an anagram of, Shoe Bugger
@paulcarr I think they have orders to shoe-to kill

If you've got a fitting (get it) pun, please feel free to put it in the comments. Enjoy.

In memory of Kerryn McCann

2008-12-08T13:05:00.001+11:00

Melbourne Commonwealth Games marathon champion Kerryn McCann passed away at 11.20pm last night.
She was 41 years old.

Kerryn had been battling illness since she was diagnosed with breast cancer on August 10 2007.

For some unkown reason, I watched her Marathon at the 2006 Commonwealth games, and I'm glad I did. It was the single most amazing thing I've ever seen in my entire life. Just thinking about it now gives me shivers. I doubt there will ever be a moment in sport that will ever come close.

I'm truly saddened by her passing.

Pictures of my surgery

2008-12-03T19:28:00.001+11:00

Here we see me at the hospital recovering and my wounds with dressings off. I had a heller myotomy with fundoplication. Im home now. I hope tomorrow is cooler then today.

Caryl's thoughts on dinner.

2008-11-29T22:35:00.001+11:00

Chow praya, duck penang curry and chilli basil chicken. Yummy!

First post from a new phone

2008-11-29T00:51:00.001+11:00

Thats my good little product waif showing off her new HTC touch pro. Its pretty crap actually. The touch is innaccurate and the interface is laggy. The screen is nice, but it doesn't make up for how much I dislike WinMo. For the record I'm writing this on a Symbian P1i.

New Hot Gadget - RED's Digital Still and Motion Camera System now official(ly awesome)

2008-11-14T01:08:00.004+11:00

The guts of this camera are top notch, and with pricing starting at $2500, it's uber-affordable ( as far as these systems go ). I'm a big fan of 599 ( http://599productions.com/599/Home.html ), and some of their stuff's been shot on old REDs. So there you have it. The new Hot Gadget. The HTC Touch HD, though hot, isn't dropping in the US, and there's another HTC with WiMax and the same amazing screen, so maybe HTC still has a shot at taking the spot. After a morning of drip-fed images, RED just went official with DSMC (Digital Stills and Motion Camera) System. The system starts with your choice of the professional Scarlet or "master professional" EPIC brains which can then be configured into about 2,251,799,813,685,248 possible camera configuration, RED only half-jokingly chides.

read more | digg story

My New Website

2008-11-12T18:56:00.004+11:00

I just got finished making my new launch page on my new domain. It's got links to lots of stuff, right now, and later, maybe it'll be great.

http://www.willhiggins.net/

Palin Didn't Know Africa Is A Continent, Says Fox News

2008-11-06T16:41:00.002+11:00

This story is absolutely exploding on digg.com. I must have commented on it 10 times at least. I think it's almost better that this is coming out now, because if it came out during the campaign, people would have just dismissed it as negative campaigning. At least now, everyone can have a crack at Palin.

According to Fox News Chief White House Correspondent, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked "a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency," in part because she didn't know which countries were in NAFTA, and she "didn't know that Africa was a continent."

read more | digg story

2008-11-04T11:25:00.002+11:00

Trends
From your 109 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 7,578 items, starred 7 items, shared 193 items, and emailed 2 items.

30 Days

Time of day

Day of the Week

These are my reading habits! Sorry if you get a bunch of feeds at once, but it's my routine to always read 'em in the morning. It's sort of like breakfast for me.

The Jacarandas in Bloom

2008-11-03T13:24:00.002+11:00

Here in Sydney the Jacarandas are blooming, there's a bunch on campus at the University of Sydney. I took some fuzzy pictures. I'm not entirely sold that it's spring yet, the weather seems so fickle this year. See the pictures.

Is everyone motivated?

2008-11-02T01:08:00.003+11:00

We were out having dinner at one of my new favorite places, A Fish Called Coogee (shown) with some new friends, and we were discussing motivation to succeed. A couple young professionals and a couple aspiring young professionals, we all seemed to agree on the topic. It was said "if you're motivated, go out there and do it", if you have a dream, all it takes is the motivation to make it come true (in a business sense).

At one of my part time jobs, I do menial, mind-numbing stuff all day long, in a boring drab office filled with colleagues doing the same. I don't mean to be cruel to them, but not one strikes me as the type who feels the desire to do more.

I'm always confused when I see people or organizations that are successful despite an apparent lack of talent. It's confusing because I also see lots of talented people and organizations struggling to compete in areas where I think they should succeed.

Sometimes I feel that I'm the only person I know who thinks about being an entrepreneur. Caryl had a thought the other day for a private health organization, which was pretty clever, and it delighted her to imagine what the organization could do. I started thinking about if it was financially viable, and what scale it would need to operate on to be profitable, and then I thought about how to get funding, build facilities and market the product.I have ideas, and I think about things like that all the time. I'm certain I'm naive, but I still feel I understand what it takes to run a business. I pin two thoughts that always come first:

Can it make money?
Why isn't anyone else doing it?

Understanding the market correctly is extremely difficult, and very talented and experienced players misjudge demand for products all the time. Understanding a concept well enough to be able to produce something unique can come from knowledge, which can be expanded through diligent study and creativity, which comes in many forms. Everything else just seems a question of motivation, cojones and sense (see, naive).

Reading more and more about the financial crisis, I feel like opening an investment bank. I'll leverage a leveraged leverage and make some dodgy investments. If they go bad, I'll go crying to the government to bail me out, and no matter what, I'll be fine because I'll give myself a mutli-million dollar pay packet. And you can all be on my board of directors.

My new tlog at tumblr

2008-10-27T15:10:00.008+11:00

I've now got a really great tlog with tumblr. It is great because it shows a lot more then this blog does. This blog is mainly for original entries, whereas my tlog gets updated much more frequently with stuff from all over the internet, as well as my thoughts and comments and what I'm doing (via twitter).

The tlog is here : http://tchiseen.tumblr.com/ There's also a link on the right, with the rest of my links. There's a RSS feed on the page, for those who like RSS. It's really easy to sign up and use with their chicklet/bookmarklet to add your own entries.

Here are a few of my recent entries. 10 of my most recent entries follow:

Blog Action Day 08: Urban Poverty and Engineering

2008-10-15T18:01:00.004+11:00

Poverty is an issue today, but the future of poverty must be considered as well. It is estimated that over the next 20 years, urban population will grow by 2 billion people [1]. This growth is expected in 'less-developed' areas. There will be a multitude of issues steming from this expected growth in areas including:

Housing and shelter
Utilities such as water, waste and electricity
Transportation

As well as others. For me, these problems all seem like engineering projects, and the only question which remains is will the projects be completed?

The main issue I see is that the projects are not economically profitable. This is beacuse:

Utilities/Infrastructure aren't particularily profitable
Less-Developed countries usually have less money
Planning for the future is hard when there's a big enough problem with the present

It's not hard to imagine how the general obstacles that are facing us today will impact us tomorrow.

The solution? Start planning for the future now.

A number of steps including the following may have an effect on Urban Growth:

Understand the potential for growth in a city/region - Certain major urban areas are expected to see growth from many areas, including migration and displacement. People in rural areas may find their way of life becoming unsustainable due to global warming.
Plan for the future - This means that government funded infrastructure projects need to incorporate expandability. Even if it's not economically possible to create a system which will be sufficient for the future, the system must be expandable to allow for work to be done in the future as it is necessary.
Start building now - There's no better time then now, every journey begins with a single step, etc. Major urban areas and possible centers for growth need to realize the issues which are facing them, and begin action now. Countries need to begin training skilled workers, teaching engineers and bringing in experts to help start planning major projects.

Population Growth Rate
2007

Global health data provided by GlobalHealthFacts.org
Customize a map for your website

I love technology and I think that a lot of helpful technological advances lately have improved the possibility for sustainable growth in less-developed areas. However, it is not enough to sit back and imagine technology will save us from the future. Technology is great, but is only ever part of the solution. It takes powerful, intelligent, willing people to enact change. This is why BlogAction Day is so important. It's important for us now to realize what will happen in the future, and by coming together and speaking and discussing issues such as poverty, we can move towards common goals in the future.

Reviews - The first ever Hot Gadget

2008-09-25T00:24:00.004+10:00

I've had a thought. Since I love gadgets so much, I've decided that I'm going to keep track of what my favorite gadget is over time. They will only be replaced once I actually get one (not likely) or I come across a newer Hotter Gadget.

Without further ado, the first ever Hot Gadget is the HTC Touch HD.

This smartphone is the high end model in the coming HTC lineup.

That's it on the left with its uglier smaller brothers, all running WinMO with TouchFLO.

What makes it good enough to be the first ever Hot Gadget? It's got all the features you want, GPS, wifi, 3G, flashy UI, and a party peice, a "positively gorgeous" 3.8" 800 x 480px resolution touchscreen. The combination of 3G, wifi and a massive clear screen make it perfect for browsing the web and using web apps. It's about the same size as an iPhone, it has all the features, plus an expansion slot and a sharp 5MP camera, and a screen with twice the resolution. It's currently set for release in Q4 2008, and has been reviewed and compared already, and it looks great.

The HTC Touch HD has beaten out the Voodoo Envy-133 to win this honor, so I hope that it does me proud when it releases.

Clark-Y section data .dat

2008-09-18T22:21:00.002+10:00

The following is section data for a Clark-Y aerofoil section acceptable for use in panel2d.exe, thinaero.exe and Xfoil. Reformatted from UCIC ( http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/m-selig/ads/coord_database.html ) database .dat. Copy and save as a .dat file.

2D:Clarky
         121 Data Points
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