A few weeks ago in Thailand, there was a flood that did significant damage to factories that manufacture internal hard drives for personal computers all over the world. The extent of this damage was so severe that the factories were forced to shut down effectively stopping the production of these internal hard drives and driving up the prices of the existing ones currently on the market. Asus has reported that the price of their drives have increased anywhere from twenty percent to forty percent depending on the model. Hitachi’s Deskstar 7K3000 three terabyte model debuted in the spring at one hundred and eighty dollars and, because of the flood, the price has risen to three hundred and ninety nine dollars. Similar reports have been reported from other companies for the same reason. Socially, this is obviously bad for the consumer. For those consumers who are into building or modifying their own personal computers, this flood has increased the overall cost of doing so as well as decreased the incentive to do such modifications. Now, for those people who have considered Apple products but have held off because of the lack of ability to customize those machines, this incident may sway them to go with Apple products because the overall ability to customize has taken quite a hit with this flood. For people like me, I am willing to wait for the market to recover (estimated sometime later winter/early spring) because customization is an important factor for me when shopping for a new machine; but for the average user/consumer, this temporary setback could potentially change the whole dynamic of the market in favor of Apple and companies of a similar structure.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Tech Diary
In this blog entry I will lay out and analyze my own personal use of technology for the day of November 1st 2011:
Ipod: used 3 times for a total of 2 hours
Computer/Internet: used 3 times for a total of 2 and a half hours
TV: used 1 time for a total of 90 minutes
Cell Phone: used 15 times for a total of 3 hours (texting, calls, internet)
In all honesty, these numbers were not nearly as bad as I thought they were going to be. An explanation for that would be that on this particular day (and most Tuesdays) I am usually on the move so much that I don't have time to sit in front of the TV and use other technologies for hours. Even though these numbers are lower than usual, they are still pretty high and, frankly, hard for me to look at. I really didn't realize how much I (people) rely on technology until I looked at my own numbers staring me in the face. Seeing how these numbers are admittedly conservative, I would consider myself a super communicator because my usual use of these technologies is much greater and I can only assume that my numbers would be comparable to people around my age and younger.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Video Game Review: Madden NFL 2012
Since the early 1990's the EA Sports Madden NFL video games series has been a staple of the video game sports genre. Year after year they seem to add features and adapt the game to match the evolution of the NFL whether it be something as simple as allowing the user to “challenge” plays or something more complicated like dynasty mode where you can control your team for upwards of thirty seasons. This year's version of the Madden series is no different in that they did an appropriate amount of upgrades to keep the game interesting and relevant. One new feature that I find very interesting is the addition they made to “Madden Moments.” In the past, “Madden Moments” was a mode in which you got to pick a memorable game from the past and control the team to either a legendary finish or a disappointing conclusion. In previous years, they had only a select few moments that you could choose from. Now, due to the existence of Xbox Live and PS3 online, the game developers are able to add many more “Madden Moments” week by week depending on what had happened during the actual NFL season up to that point. This is a great use of the online gaming technology to keep the game fresh and relevant week in and week out. Another thing that this game does a great job of is it's use of 3D graphics and environments to make you feel like you are in the middle of actual NFL game. The visual details are nothing short of vivid from the 3D grass to the shadows casted on the field and in the stadiums. The animations used are also very smooth and realistic. In the past it seemed as if the players would almost snap into a certain position in order for the tackle animation to work properly but due to new technologies, the game now uses more physics (rag doll) based animations so each movement seems much more smooth and realistic. The only real flaw that I found in this game is the amount of detail used in the “Franchise Mode.” I know it sounds weird for more detail to be a negative thing but when it takes away from the efficiency of the game, that's when you run into some problems. For the “Franchise Mode” in years past you would simply play the games, sign free agents, draft players and move on to the next season. Now they have rookie scouting and training camps which are time consuming and take away from the overall game experience. So all in all this game is very good and I am anxious to see how they make adjustments for Madden NFL 2013 next year.
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