The difference between News and Speculation. (Malaysian Flight MH370)

What I do in this blog is not news. That is made clear by the distinct lack of supporting information I usually offer and that fact half of what I write about is merely my opinion. For a story to truly be "News" it is required to contain noteworthy information on a recent event or change. While this was true for the initial disappearance of flight MH370, it has been far from the case since.

The story of flight MH370 is in reality a very simple one, given what we actually know. A Malaysian Airlines flight and its 239 passages has gone missing as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Communication with the plane was lost at around 2.40am on 8th March over the South China sea and was never reestablished. No wreckage or telling signs of the plane have so far been discovered.

These facts were rapidly established in the immediate aftermath of the planes disappearance, yet in the 11 days since news organisations around the world have been updating their viewers on the situation with constant updates and breaking "news" on the case.  The problem is the story has yet to develop.  

News outlets require viewers. They are no different to any business in this sense, they succeed when more people are using their product than their competitors. This requires news agencies in the world of rolling 24-hour news to take one of two main stances, try and be the most thorough or try and be the quickest. The uptake of the internet as a primary source of news for many means that journalists often have to be the later. When it is so easy to share a story of twitter or any other number of social networking sites the reasons for this become all the more apparent.

In the case of MH370, pressure to deliver that breakthrough peace of granted what is a mysterious story has led to a compromise of the word "News", for a consent to speculate. Be it stories on passports, aeroplane handling or the captain's distate for cuban food (asinine, but you get my point) everything and anything has been reported on a story with no more facts that those which I presented earlier.

For some reason the development of the internet and 21st Century news broadcasting has meant that it is unacceptable to just report that a story has seen no updates. Concocting a web of half-truths and conjecture to distort and pervert a story is acceptable, because, well, then at least there's always something "new" to say.

Get it?

Until then.

Sources:

http://www.heavy.com/news/2014/03/malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370-beijing-missing/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26644085

Happy 25th Birthday Internet!

Back in 1989 nobody had ever heard of Twitter or Facebook, Cyber-bullying could be misconstrued as science fiction robot warfare, and yet still surprisingly no one wanted to see pictures of what you had for lunch that day. This was all back in the dark, dark time before the creation of the world wide web. 

The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) went online in December 1969, creating a link for research and education between four major U.S Universities. The technology was also harnessed for defence reasons, connecting the country in the event that conventional means were unavailable.

The technology took a big step forward in 1972 with the creation of e-mail and then again in the next year with the creation of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). IP addresses allow easier access to a network and felicitate the ability for File Transfer Protocol and downloading files from a remote server.

The term "internet" was first used in 1982, but it was on March 12, 1989 is when I took another major step forward. Sir Tim Berners-Lee was working at Swiss physics laboratory CERN (Better know for its later work with the Large Hadron Collider) when he presented a technical blueprint for "the world wide web."

The response from his seniors was "Vague, but exciting."

Berners-Lee pressed CERN into creating an online telephone directory for the laboratory, and this began to show people the potential of the idea he had created. The innovation created through hypertext that allowed hyperlinks into a for of net like structure, a web if you will.

It was not until 1993 that Marc Andreeson created the first web browser Mosaic, that the technology really took off, as Prof Murtagh head of computer science as De Montfort University, says, "The web made the transfer and sharing of documents quicker and easier, and it still does today."

...and that's why I'm subjected to your damned food pictures. So, Happy Birthday to the internet 25 years old (But if you ask me you don't look a scratch over 21)

Until Then.

Sources:
http://news.sky.com/story/1224176/world-wide-web-celebrates-25-years
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0193167.html

Couch Co-op Cop-out? (Is local multiplayer gaming in decline?)

As long as there has been home console gaming, there has been co-operative gaming. Numerous early platforms games were developed with the specific intention to be played by more than one individual (...and were often poor or exceptionally difficult if played alone, Contra anyone?) Now as the medium continues to grow and grow, the scope for multiplayer has exponentially increased with the development and uptake of online gaming. The popularity of multi-million selling franchises such as, Call of Duty and Battlefield originates from the competitiveness of online multiplayer action, where players can test their skills against the best the game has to offer. As these online multiplayer games continue to grow, the inverse seems to be true of local multiplayer gaming. But is local multiplayer actually dying out?

In an editorial on just this issue back in 2011, Co-Optimus (A website devoted to multiplayer gaming) argued that statistic show that local multiplayer gaming was not dying out, but had steadily grown between 2007-2011. The misconception or myth that this was the case could be attributed to the faster and far more rapid growth of online gaming making it seem the case. Of course this was back in 2011 which in the rapidly developing world of home gaming can seem a generation ago, (indeed given the release of the WiiU, Xbox One and PS4 it actually is.) and multiplayer gaming has certainly undergone some changes since.

A issue not raised in Co-Optimus' overtly positive study on the issue was the range of video games available for multiplayer gaming. While certain genres of games such as, sports and first-person shooters naturally lend themselves to co-op, other genres such as role playing games and action-adventures have to be more intelligent in the way they incorporate multiplayer gaming. An argument can be made that as games themselves become more intricate and complicated this becomes an even finer issue. Multiplayer gaming on a single console is more taxing for the processing ability, this can effect frame rate and slow down the game. (as was an issue in Left 4 Dead 2.) This often means there is a need to restrict what multiplayer gaming can do whether it means to force the players to stay close to each other, or remove it from certain games completely.

There is no doubt that online is the present and future of the gaming industry, as companies continue to guide their products to support a level of online functionality. This gives these games a bigger selling factor and more replay-ability, not to mention an avenue for more profits through online micro-transactions. (I'm looking at you EA) Still for many gamers, me included, there is a place for local multiplayer (and maybe even offline, perish the thought) gaming that isn't a kick about on FIFA or shooting people in the face on Call of Duty, we just have to hope that AAA games studios can keep recognising that were still out here and not rely solely on indie developers who have been the main source of quality local multiplayer gaming over the last few years. We live in hope.

Until Then.

Sources:
http://www.co-optimus.com/editorial/940/page/1/is-couch-co-op-gaming-dying.html

Shanghaiing Sport?

This blog has of late become in danger of becoming solely sporty, so I'm just writing to assure you that the next couple of stories will be about something else. Anyways...

Until then.

Russia's a Good sport and Good at sport? (Saying so long to Sochi)

Be prepared for a follow up story. The games of the twenty-second winter Olympiad have come to a finish and all the major headlines are thankfully related solely to feats of great sporting accomplishment, only the small matter of the Olympic Rings during the opening ceremony being the obvious exception...

Of course this was just a small technical error in an otherwise exceptional opening ceremony from our Russian hosts. (...or maybe a sign of renewed Cold War tensions as the fifth ring represents North America, no definitely just an error.) Russia shone themselves in a good light throughout the tournament as fit and willing hosts, which was in stark contrast to what many believed might be the case given the numerous controversial issues preceding the games. (See previous article for sparkling commentary on these.)

Not being a country know for its whit, Russia managed to share in the joke at their own expense with a fitting call back this issue at the closing ceremony, in which the mistake was recreated by a group of sparkling performers as part of the heavily choreographed routine.  

Good going Russia, you showed that you can take a joke and come right back with one of your own...For that and a great tournament, you deserve our applause.

P.S - Congrats on topping the medal table, that's an achievement in itself.

Until then.

News/Personal Thought Piece Incoming!

Expect an update tomorrow. I mean I've even put a reminder in my phone so you know it's official.

Until Then.

Time for a sojourn to Sochi

The Olympics is coming up, but this time it's the cold kind.

Back in Mid-August 2012 the highly successful London Olympics was coming to a close. The event, at much a surprise to many, went off without so much as a hitch. The natural pessimism of the British public was sworn off to welcome the world to her shores in the promise of a good time, even the lovably cynical Londoners relented in there ways. This could not be more in contrast to the controversies and problems surrounding the Sochi games in Russia.

Issues with culling stray dogs and worries over the safety of the course have been just a few of the problems that have been raised before the Olympics officially gets underway on Friday, but the overarching issue that remains in Russia is their controversial "anti-gay" legislation introduced in 2013.

Without wanting to get into a debate over the validity of such a law in Russia, the question of the IOC decision to host such an event in a country that would allow such intolerance has to be questioned. The Olympics official website cites "Olympism" as a philosophy of life and balance to be followed without discrimination of any kind, a point that seems somewhat hollow given the present circumstances.

To play Devil's advocate at this time it must be mentioned that the decision to award Russia these games was made in 2007, a full six years before the new law came into creation and moving the games at such short notice (even to the previous Olympic location in Vancouver) was realistically unfeasible. 

All that really can be said at this time is that it will be interesting to watch how the Sochi Olympics unfurls. Will the "spirit" of the Olympics take hold of the Russian people as it did the Brits before them? Will some brave soul take an active stand against these Russian laws against the advice of the IOC? I guess we will have to wait and see. What we can say is that if something serious does occur at these games then attention will swiftly turn to FIFA who have awarded the country the 2018 world cup, as an organisation that does have time to make some changes.

Anyways, this was actually quite fun to write. Best of luck to all the athletes competing in Sochi this year, especially the gay athletes, you go and show them what you can do and just remember I think your fabulous! ...Especially the Norwegian Curling team, those suits man.

Until Then.