Lunchtime Slashdot Roundup

Here be the news from the last few days as garnered by Slashdot.

2006 Ig-Nobel Prizes Awarded

The Ig-Nobel Peace Prize went to Howard Stapleton for his groundbreaking research in teenager-repellent technology. D. Lynn Halpern won an award for research into why fingernails on a chalkboard are almost as annoying as teenagers. Ivan Schwab garnered his award for research into avian headacheology. Two French researchers cooked up a medal for spaghetti research. Read more about these and other prizes here and at the Improbable Research official web site.

Working from a Third Place

As sort of a tie-in from a recent blog post of mine, Krishna Dagli wrote to mention a USA Today report on the social and business ramifications of working from a third place - somewhere that is neither home nor office. From the article:

An estimated 30 million Americans, or roughly one-fifth of the nation's workforce, are part of the so-called Kinko's generation, employees who spend significant hours each month working outside of a traditional office. This rootless army is growing 10% annually, according to Gartner Dataquest research. The reason? Corporations are increasingly supportive of teleworking for reasons that range from saving money on office space to needing a backup in the event of a natural disaster or terror attack.

Though it may very well be that working out of a third place would alleviate some of the distractions you might encounter at home (like visiting your MMO third-home) I would imagine, even if you are lucky enough to be in a spot with free wireless, that the hourly drink/snack bills would mount up... $5 for a glass or orange juice at that CA cafe?? Yikes!

Fusing Design with Technology

Since the creations by Walt Disney of Space Mountain and EPCOT, progressives have attempted to show us a picture of how technology will affect our future lives. More often than not, these pictures become laughable after 20 years. Not for Royal Philips Electronics, who at their Simplicity Event in London unveiled their picture of the seamlessly technological future, including e-blackboards, cosmetic skintone scanners, and (sure to make the mouths of geeks water) the amBXT Immersive Gaming Experience.

Interestingly enough, I don't see any mention of these specific features like the amBXT. There is, however, a sponsored blog for LiveSimplicity. Maybe I'm just not digging far enough...

The AOL Roller Coaster

There's a lengthy article at Information Week about AOL's history. A lot of us are familiar with AOL's history but few of us realize that it sits at a crossroads today where it could potentially find its way back into consumer's pockets - something it's tried to do before in a hit-or-miss fashion. From the conclusion of the article, one analyst states: 'Ironically, although you'd think AOL should dump its family mentality in light of its competitors like Yahoo, the key to AOL future branding success vs. Yahoo could be to actually capitalize on its family friendliness alongside targeting the tech-savvy community currently owned by Apple.' AOL has been met with many problems as of late, but can they pull themselves out of the hole this time?

Standard disclaimer: I am an AOL employee, yadda yadda... Bottom line from the article:

Will AOL make it? Focusing on its core strengths of community and ease of use, using its video and music capabilities, and then getting the word out to users who realize they can't live without you are enormous tasks. Still, time will tell whether AOL has the stamina to get back on top, or if it will simply run out of gas.

What Are Your Top Five 'Comfort' Games?

Via GameSetWatch, an article at The New Gamer talking about comfort games. These reliable, fun titles are the old favorites you consistently look to for amusement and solace after a bad gaming session, a bad day, a bad week. From the article, with the author's comfort games:

Mega Man 2 - This Capcom classic has been with me since I was a kid, and I know it like the back of my hand. I'm sure that, if blindfolded, I'd somehow intuitively be able to maneuver through the levels, but I'd much rather be able to view it in all of its 8-bit goodness and remind myself of the good times.

I guess my top comfort games would be the ones I currently play (World of Warcraft, Battlefield 2) plus maybe that old standard CRPG I go back to every now and again, Temple of Elemental Evil.