Actualizing the Internet of Things

At the 2007 TED Conference, Kevin Kelly, the founding executive editor of Wired magazine and the former editor and publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog, predicted the "next 5,000 days of the web". During his talk, Kelly argued that the web will evolve towards the linkage of ideas or the semantic web and eventually the "Internet of Things".



We have discussed at various times the convergence of the digital and physical worlds. There are many ideas and products that currently exist that link the two worlds and can usefully integrate into THE GAME. Beginning this summer, a new product by the startup Fugoo will attempt to facilitate and accelerate, at a relatively low cost, an Internet of Things.

Fugoo co-founders John Hui, Chris Chung and Wayne Inouye started eMachines, the low-price PC maker, back in the day. These days, they are hoping to release a brick-size box, the Fugoo Block, that will plug into specially outfitted home appliances and connect them to the Internet, and one another, delivering information and content to "anywhere and everywhere". Fugoo has partnered with Microsoft, VIA Technologies and Foxconn Technology Group to form the Open Fugoo Alliance. The stated goal of the Alliance is to:

"Accelerate innovation by developing the first complete, open, and free hardware and software platform, the Fugoo Block. The Fugoo Block opens development for OEM manufacturers such as toy, furniture and appliance manufacturers to easily create new products that are 'smart' and Internet enabled. In addition, developers can easily design and build customized applications to engage all types of Fugoo users."

To spur innovation and content created for the Fugoo, the Alliance will soon offer a software development kit for application developers and a Fugoo connector for OEM manufacturers.

Cloud Gaming

Yesterday, a company called OnLive released a service that could break the cost barrier of game consoles and high-end PCs. After seven years in development, OnLive has developed a svelte set-top box that will allow users to access the "latest and most advanced games instantly, on any TV via a sleek, inexpensive MicroConsole, or on almost any PC or Mac" essentially utilizing a demand-based gaming model.

The advantage is OnLive virtually eliminates the upfront cost of buying a gaming console or PC and the upgrade costs that go with purchasing these gaming systems. The OnLive platform is currently supported by Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive Software, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, THQ, Epic Games, Eidos, Atari Interactive and Codemasters. An obvious extension of the demand-based gaming platform is an eventual demand-based entertainment platform where one could also view and access movies, download and/or stream music, shop and interact online and so forth. However, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have struggled selling this vision of an online living room hub to gamers, specifically, and consumers, in general. Time will tell...but, clearly an interesting new entry into the gaming world.

Sid Shuman from GamePro and Darren Gladstone from PC World give their take on the OnLive gaming system.

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THE IdeaBOARD is Up and Running

This is just a reminder to everyone that THE IdeaBOARD is now open for new, creative ideas and twists to THE GAME. For those of you who don't know, THE IdeaBOARD is a forum where members can create, develop and share ideas from the worlds of sports & recreation, business, politics, the sciences, technology, the internet, life/style, arts and entertainment; integrating these ideas into a competitive context and creating/building THE GAME. The content that is created and developed on THE IdeaBOARD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Under the license, you are free to copy, distribute, display, and perform the works created in the forums; as well as making derivative works under the conditions specified under the license. See the IdeaBOARD's terms of use and their updates here.

We have created THE IdeaBOARD for two distinct interfaces: a Meta layout in which this site is adjacent to THE IdeaBOARD portal; or if you prefer, a standalone site (portal | forum index). For those of you who prefer to work in a multi-monitor setup, you may prefer the Meta layout so that thoughts, ideas and comments from this site can be expanded and compared side to side with those found on THE IdeaBOARD . 

At the moment, we are using rudimentary Javascript browsers for the Meta layout site so you can navigate the sites independently. There are some issues with the back and forward buttons inadvertently changing the states of the adjacent sites. We are currently working on a inline browser upgrade for the next version that will eliminate this issue. If you would like to participate in this project please let us know. 

In the meatime, we would appreciate any and all comments about this G.3 site, THE IdeaBOARD or anything else GAME-related below; as always please be constructive. Thanks! 

The Metaverse: Virtual Worlds and Mirror Worlds

In previous posts, I've stated that virtual worlds and the convergence of the digital and physical worlds are essential pillars in the ever-expanding structure of THE GAME. Whether it is creating/augmenting supercompetitions in existing/evolving virtual worlds or in a real world context, or linking physical objects used and referenced in THE GAME with the digital world, technology is the one thing binding G.3 across all worlds. The technologies that are helping propel and shape THE GAME are simultaneously enabling the construction of an infinitely rich and diverse virtual reality-the Metaverse.

In the July/August 2007 issue of MIT's Technology Review, a fascinating article by Wade Roush entitled "Second Earth" (please note that access to the article requires registration) explains that "free-flowing and ungoverned" virtual worlds like Second Life, There, Entropia Universe, Moove, Habbo Hotel and Kaneva; and mirror worlds ("if they were books, virtual worlds would be fiction and mirror worlds would be nonfiction") such as Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth represent the fundamental technologies that will be required to construct the Metaverse .

Roush proposes that, "what is coming is a larger digital environment combining elements of all these technologies-a "3-D Internet"....People will enter this environment using PC-based software similar to the programs that already grant access to Second Life and Google Earth. These "Metaverse browsers" will be to the 3-D Internet what Mosaic and Netscape were to the dot-com revolution-tools that both provide structure (by defining what's possible" and enable infinite experimentation."

"There will be a bunch of different worlds, owned, controlled, and operated by different organizations," predicts David Rolston, CEO of Forterra Systems. "They will be built on different platforms, and you will have community standards about how you can connect these worlds, and open-source software that carries you between them." The word "Metaverse" will refer to both the overarching collection of these worlds and the main port of entry to them, a sort of Grand Cyber Station that links to all other destinations. The central commons itself could be designed as a mirror world or a virtual world or some interleaving of the two: people logging in to the Metaverse might want it to look like Manhattan or the Emerald City of Oz, depending on the task at hand. But either way, partisans say, the full Metaverse will encompass thousands of individual virtual worlds and mirror worlds, each with its own special purpose. To borrow a trope from corporate networking, it will be an "interverse" connecting many local "intraverses."

G.3 and Google: Connecting Everything and Everyone

I entered the search term "everything to everyone" into Google the other day and on the second page of results, I found an interesting article from 2007 regarding Google's ambitions for the future of the internet. In his 2007 blog entry from Google Operating System, Alex Chitu analyzed The Sunday Times' fascinating article "Google. Who's Looking at You?".

According to the article, Google's dream of “organizing all the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful” consists of three pillars: 

• universal search--bringing everything online and to make it searchable; including objects and people
• personalized search--indexing personal information about users 
• cloud computing--creating new things online using Google's web-based software

This would make Google the largest, most powerful super-computer ever; literally connecting everything to everyone and converging with our vision for THE GAME (creating an open, collaborative and evolving onmicompetition by referencing every conceivable idea, activity, etc. (nodes) from the past, present and future and exponentially/infinitely scaling THE GAME by merging it with existing nodes, newly created nodes and remixed/mashed up/recombined nodes).

Stringing 75 Monitors Together Makes For One Killer Display

The Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas just set up the world's highest resolution display, linking together 75 30-inch Dell monitors to make one extreme display

As our meta page continues to grow, having a similar, albeit more modest, setup of monitors will allow the user to efficient browse this page. At the moment, we recommend at least a dual monitor setup to view THEGAME-online.com, but would certainly love to see G.3 and its content across 75, 30-inch flatscreen monitors.

Originally posted by BlueTooth -- 11/29/2008 12:05:00 AM

Bridging Worlds: Blending the Real World, Virtual Worlds and Everything in Between

Over the past several months, many people have been noting and asking us, "I'm still not sure what THE GAME (G.3) is. What is G.3?"

Phenotypically, G.3 is an evolving, open and collaborative supercompetition. Genotypically, the G.3's "genome" consists of every object, market, competition, idea, invention, created work, etc. that has been and will be created. The G.3's genome grows and evolves by adding and bridging these objects, markets, competitions, ideas, inventions, created works, etc. from the virtual/fantasy worlds with everything in the physical world; blending and mixing, for example, online and offline, fiction and nonfiction, old and new, past and present--as well as the future, digital and print, ideas that have proven to be successful and ideas that have not; the list is infinite.

Currently, the "genetic" nodes that make up G.3 come from anything and everything in the domains of sports and recreation, business, politics, internet, science, technology, arts and entertainment, and life/style; creating a supercompetion.

New G.3 nodes that are created and evolve from this blending and mixing can create new nodes that can include composite entities and composite worlds composed of virtual bits, real world elements and everything in between. As these new entities and worlds continually come into existence, grow, evolve and blend together, an essential element of G.3's growth and success is going to be its ability to connect seemingly disparate worlds. One example of this is bridging the digital and real worlds. Some of these linking applications exist today. Others will need to be created and/or developed.

From the perspective of a G.3 participant/consumer, there are ideas and technologies being proposed and ideas that currently exist that bridge the real world and virtual worlds:

• Location-based games and live action role-playing games are two specific frameworks that can bridge the digital and physical worlds. Participants can participate in a competition and/or a scenario in a physical environment while simultaneously utilizing technology to provide a competitive advantage and/or to enhance the participants experience.
• Multiple-Computer User Interfaces: “Beyond the Desktop” Direct Manipulation Environments is a paper by Jun Rekimoto, a researcher at Sony. He proposes a concept called "multiple computer user interfaces" (MCUIs) which dynamically combines multiple digital devices to perform a task, similar to combining several physical devices to perform a task in the physical world. By utilizing MCUIs, users can participate in a collaborative environment; moving information using “hyperdragging”--dragging and dropping a digital object between a PC, for example, and a digital table, digital wall and/or even a physical object; creating a link between digital and physical objects. Very interesting paper! Youtube used to have a demo video of MCUIs in action; if the video is reposted, we'll post it here.
• Hardlinks are hyperlinks for physical objects. BUILDhardlink.com explains: "Just as a hyperlink takes you from one web page to another, a hardlink takes you from a physical object's reference identifier to a data store of information about that physical object. The medium for this communication is your cell phone. To use (BUILDhardlink's) service, point your cell phones browser to the top-level domain (TLD) gateway at hardlink.mobi." Here are some ways one can utilize hardlinks.
• Virtual economies are observed in MUDs and massively multi player online role-playing games (MMORPGs). The largest virtual economies are currently found in MMORPGs. Virtual economies also exist in life simulation games which may have taken the most radical steps toward linking a virtual economy with the real world. This can be seen, for example, in Second Life's recognition of intellectual property rights for assets created "in-world" by subscribers, and its laissez-faire policy on the buying and selling of Linden Dollars (the world's official currency) for real money on third party websites. Virtual economies can also exist in browser-based internet games where "real" money can be spent and user-created shops opened, or as a kind of Emergent gameplay. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
• Mytago uses tags that work like common barcodes to connect the offline and online worlds. Instead of using a barcode scanner, you use your phone camera to "scan" tags. You can take a snapshot of a tag with your phone camera and later get the details of the tag on your PC. The tags are created by you and linked to the the information you provide. Mytago allows you to scan the tags posted by others to get more information about an event or service and/or you can create your own Mytago tags to promote your own event, service or cause. Clearly, there are useful and interesting applications for Mytago in the development of THE GAME.
• Semapedia.org is a community-driven project whose goal is to connect the virtual and physical world by linking information from the internet to the relevant place in the physical world. You can create and distribute Semapedia-Tags which are actually cellphone-readable physical hyperlinks to Wikipedia or other Wikipedia projects such as Wikibooks and Wikinews. You can create Tags by copying and pasting a Wikipedia URL into a creation-form app . Starting the app will generate a custom PDF file to download and be printed. Once created, you can put the Tags up at their physical location. Others can now use their cellphone to 'click' the Tag and access the information you provided them. Like Mytago, an interesting way of linking the physical and virtual world using a ubiquitous cellphone.
• The future of credit cards - earning virtual currency for spending in the real world. Very soon, proclaims Make Magazine, "credit card companies and game makers will reward their customers who spend money in the real world using private label 'rewards' credit cards. The credit card companies will use gifts of virtual currency such as Blizzard's World of Warcraft gold and Second Life's Linden dollars".
• A research team in Dartmouth College proposes, "that in order to have a seamless integration between the physical and virtual worlds, and to maximize the scale of adoption, the system should rely on devices that people already use every day." They propose the use of sensors embedded in commercial mobile phones can be used to infer real-world activities, that in turn can be reproduced in virtual settings, such as Second Life.
• The HP Memory Spot was proposed in 2006. The Memory Spot chip incorporates a processor, memory and a wireless receiver, all bundled together in a device 1.4 or 2 mm² (about the size of a grain of rice). HP says that the chip is so small that it can be built into almost any object. They have proposed several possible uses including ensuring that drugs have not been counterfeited, tagging patients' wristbands in hospitals, authenticating prescription-pill bottles, adding multimedia to postcards, incorporation into books, and storing image files on printed pictures to print an identical copy.
• Linden Lab Builds Bridge Between Second Life and Real World With New Voice-Driven Instant Messaging Client
• In May 2007, Starfruit placed a few virtual telephone booths in Second Life. From these booths, users in Second Life could send free SMS text messages to mobile phones anywhere in the real world. In July 2007, Starfruit opened its first real product shop. Users could send real gifts from Second Life to real life recipients. A Second Life user could buy a virtual flower or chocolates in a Starfruit shop. The recipient could in turn redeem the gift and receive the flowers / chocolates delivered by Starfruit's retail partners to the recipient's real life home, making it possible to send real gifts from Second Life.

• More ideas and possibilities are being posted/discussed and nodes are being mixed and created daily on THE IdeaBOARD forums ------>>>.

Originally posted by BlueTooth -- 10/05/2008 02:45:00 PM