Yup, it is time to bitch about Apple products. This should be future Apple products. You see for some time I have seen that Apple has been in a wrong course. Lets not talk about to MacBook Pro. That thing actually looks phenomenal, every bit is seemingly impressive. And even though I cannot afford it (at present) the idea of a 96GB RAM with 8TB storage is overwhelming, it is a bit much (not my needs). Yet storage is what every one needs and I would be content with 4TB (and 64GB RAM). That being said, the iMac doesn’t even come close to it.
So as I saw Matt Talks Tech today, I saw the ‘announcement’ of what is to be (in about 16 weeks) and it is not good. As we see Apple doesn’t seem to learn at all. They give the ‘new users’ up to 24GB RAM, which is in many cases enough. It is the storage, still a mere 2TB. For many it would be enough. Yet the settings of 100MP camera’s is setting a new premise. Medium format in the digital field is calling new professionals and then there are the YouTubers and TikTokkers. They will all need Adobe solutions. And the full Adobe users with other software will soon find out that their 2TB hole is filled with the frustration of multiple connections. That is not why I would buy a desktop. They are throwing their market to PC (and Microsoft) troubles. What is up? Apple becomes a sour apple, a Granny Smith. Sour and meant for senile fossils, the newly adapted age of digital influencers is seemingly totally ignored.
The fact that there is no option for 4TB. We know that not everyone needs it, but any Digital streamer or medium format photographer has only the MacBook Pro. They need to be able to set to a desktop screen working in comfort, and the iMac no longer provides. They should have provided for that last year. There is some consideration that this could have come later, but the M4 news shows that the iMac just isn’t up to it (speculation by me). What are they doing? Leaving it all to Dell and HP?
As somewhat dubiously stated by me, 96GB is a lot, even in digital edition. I would consider 32GB, even that cannot be provided for as the media tells us. More important there is no mention of set aside upgrades by Apple (32GB RAM, 4TB storage), as such whatever they gained in niche markets they are throwing away to the niche graphic designers. These people only have the MacBook Pro to look forward to. This is great, but when you are working at home, it just doesn’t cook the goose. And the setting that it is due in 16 weeks and for another year people have no real option is disturbing, because this implies that the iMac is pretty much done for. No mention of an iMac Pro either. Apple needs to revisit their presentations and what they have coming and they need to do it really fast. They are opening the market (that they catered to for the longest time) to Asus, HP and Dell.
So am I right? The idea that Apple is now becoming the sour Apple no one really wants is a bad move to be considering. I stated this before (last year). There are roughly “64 million YouTube creators” at present. Now they don’t all need high end solution, but most of them want something more comfortable than a laptop screen. Even is only 1% needs high end equipment, that still amounts to 640,000 users. I didn’t ever consider the 1,300,000 TikTok creators, many of them are also on YouTube. Oh and when you consider 1% is too low, the losses to Apple get to be worse. I am pretty sure that Asus likes this setting, but when we see that Apple is lowering their expectations, can we be sure this is valid? The second side to this is that the iMac cannot meet these needs, does that mean that the Tim Cook presentations of ‘innovations’ are still valid?
So this seems like a bitch moment (by me) but consider the needs of the many (well over 640K of them). Are they getting deserted by Apple? Oh and the larger Data miners, who all need storage space, how are they served? It seems to me that Apple has been dropping the ball yet again. Perhaps they should adapt the Microsoft logo? (Me rolling on the floor laughing)
Enjoy Monday, apart from the people living in Nova Scotia and eastern from there. They are still on Sunday.
This happens, we do one thing and suddenly an idea erupts. In this case I was thinking of the second script that I am generating in Final Draft.
It was a setting that made me think for a moment. And this setting came from the days of the Commodore Amiga. I even was working an reset emulated version of the game in Macromedia Flash, just 1-2 weeks before I suddenly was made redundant. I suddenly had to relocate from Stockholm to Gorinchem when I got screwed over by my previous boss. But the thought got to me and I thought “Wouldn’t this make a great small budget movie?” An ‘almost’ one person movie with its own narration. Most of the movie in a sort of CGI and an interaction with computers and a sort of deserted place. It might not be the Hollywood stage of stories and not really for the big screen, but an idea that a streaming company might like or consider. In a stage where they have to pump billion into material, a low budget might have a much better chance. They can test an actor or actress as well as the director and director of filming in a cheaper setting. As such 3-5 people straight out of film school. I reckon that Pedro Pascal, Tom Hanks, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Steven Spielberg would be too expensive. But there are over 50,000 actors many of them do not have a place in Bel Air, not to mention of the amount of Directors in the field. New players have a hard time getting through. So, here the speculated number race through my head and now there is a viable setting. The stage of using low budget films to create a talent pool of newbies. You know people like Pedro Pascal had a lucky break. Considering he was the man behind Napoleon Dynamite (vote for Pedro), I know I can be quirky (read: funny) at times. Still the premise remains, luck isn’t always available so what then? I believe that low budget movies are part of that key and places like Dubai Media are likely to break through their own confinements and start breaking through into the West European streaming markets. There is an upside to that. When the current borders by Netflix and Disney plus start pushing their own limitations others could be there taking up the slack. You see one source is stating ‘The US will need 22,700 film directors over the next 10 years’, I cannot vouch for the accuracy there. Yet this implies that ever upper level University will need to fight off job offers with a stick for 100% of their art students. I nice setting, but not realistic. Adding a talent pool becomes essential and not merely for these people, they will all need scripts. There are plenty of them around, but how good are they?
These elements put the larger streamers on the spot and those ready to grow could enter new fields. This puts Dubai Media in a nice place and lets not forget iQiyi and Tencent Media either. America might hate all that is Chinese, but I reckon that Europe is more open to this stage. As the mindset goes that in the first century Decimus Junius Juvenalis stated “Give them bread and games and they will never revolt” It was around the age of Emperor Trajan. What strikes me was that no-one considered owning the bakers. It might be merely a coin per bread, however the Colosseum had 50-80 thousand spectators and that makes for a nice penny. And there were more places over the empire of Rome where these places had crowds. Being the admiral of baker makes perfect sense to me. Even today ‘give them bread and games’ applies but in this setting nowadays growing the streaming services makes a lot more sense. And there to centrality of content becomes a new focal point. Everyone is looking towards Hollywood, but there is a problem there. California is losing their focus, they are saturated, so new borders are required. The Middle East and Asia make sense and when Europe finds out that the American prices are getting too high the aforementioned three players as well as other other streamers will see their markets erupt. Not to mention countries like Indonesia and Bangladesh that over these two countries have a little over half a billion citizens, we see a disrupted market. All looking at California and Hollywood to hand them materials, but the ongoing mass emigration of residents and businesses from California to other U.S. states (Texas) or countries is about to leave California is a near desperate state and the desperate need to pay a lot more. That opens the doors for the Middle East and Asia to make their mark. It is almost the proverbial butterfingered aide putting all egg in one basket.
All that came to me in a near instant (in less than on hour) whilst was contemplating a low budget movie. I have no idea yet how to do that (I have three other projects in my brains) but it is something to keep in mind. Considering that this setting will take time to implode (before 2026) I still have time and until the end of the year I need to focus on the next two projects but Residuam Vitam comes first.
This is a little hard. I just read an article on the Military hacks by North Korea, it doesn’t fit. Let me explain with a little time line.
2012 The Dutch had a press tour in North Korea. The Koreans confiscated temporary their camera’s and the Dutch were howling with laughter, they still had their iPhones and Android equivalents. They kept on filming. The Korean officers had no idea what a smartphone was, as such the Dutch had all the footage.
2014 Sony get hacked and soon thereafter we get all kinds of ‘leaked’ information. In addition within a year (I have no specific date) we get an amalgamated
The FBI later clarified more details of the attacks, attributing them to North Korea by noting that the hackers were “sloppy” with the use of proxy IP addresses that originated from within North Korea. At one point the hackers logged into the Guardians of Peace Facebook account and Sony’s servers without effective concealment. FBI Director James Comey stated that Internet access is tightly controlled within North Korea, and as such, it was unlikely that a third party had hijacked these addresses without allowance from the North Korean government. The National Security Agency assisted the FBI in analysing the attack, specifically in reviewing the malware and tracing its origins; NSA director Admiral Michael S. Rogers agreed with the FBI that the attack originated from North Korea. A disclosed NSA report published by Der Spiegel stated that the agency had become aware of the origins of the hack due to their own cyber-intrusion on North Korea’s network that they had set up in 2010, following concerns of the technology maturation of the country.
The sources were the New York Times, Times magazine, The verge and CNBC. I had issues with the release of information, but my issues were speculative and based on the Dutch field trip to Korea
2017 In ‘The Good, the Bad, and North Korea’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2017/09/30/the-good-the-bad-and-north-korea/) I wrote “I got this photo from a CNN source, so the actual age was unknown, yet look at the background, the sheer antiquity that this desktop system represents. In a place where the President of North Korea should be surrounded by high end technology, we see a system that seems to look like an antiquated Lenovo system, unable to properly play games from the previous gaming generation, and that is their high technology?” This is my second opposition. Between 2012 and 2017 they had apparently gained the ability to produce their own smartphone. This is realistic.
2024 Now we get “North Korean hackers have conducted a global cyber espionage campaign to try to steal classified military secrets to support Pyongyang’s banned nuclear weapons programme, the United States, Britain and South Korea said in a joint advisory on Thursday.
My issue (still speculation) is two fold. In the first we get to se that the Sony Hack was apparently not North Korea, but the Guardians of peace (the Lazarus group). We see references to “links to” and a small byte that they are “Originally a criminal group”. It is my speculation that these criminal ‘masterminds’ are either Russian or Chinese. They cater to North Korea as it allows them to act freely and I would expect them to share whatever intel they get with North Korea.
Even if these formerly known criminals were behind this setting, the whole picture doesn’t add up. I reckon that we all work at our own speed, however when we see Reuters give us “one elite group of North Korean hackers had successfully breached systems at NPO Mashinostroyeniya, a rocket design bureau based in Reutov, a small town on the outskirts of Moscow.” I do not debunk that setting, but over the timeline I have seen (many might have seen it), it is possible that this last statement is a smokescreen. Was it breached or were the Russians willing to hand over that ‘victory’ to make them sound more of a threat? In addition when we see “The hackers, dubbed Anadriel or APT45 by cybersecurity researchers, have targeted or breached computer systems at a broad variety of defence or engineering firms, including manufacturers of tanks, submarines, naval vessels, fighter aircraft, and missile and radar systems” I mostly worry about the state of cyber security at our own shores. That they get breached by China or Russia is understandable, They are on par in technology with us. North Korea is not. It is like a hacker with an 80282 AT computer, a processor from 1982 coming up to a server with a Xeon processor stating ‘gimme your data’ It is like a swimmer slamming a great white shark with a BB gun. Utterly ineffective. That is merely the hardware, These hackers would have lacked at least a decade of hacking skills. The NSA and GCHQ would be running circles around them. No, I believe that this is another player making North Korea their patsy.
Now consider that all (or some) of my speculations are wrong. I get that, this is realistically possible, we still get the stage that the time line doesn’t fit. It is like going from an Apricot PC, to an IBM Q System One in a little over 7 years, without the required resources mind you. The other, more realistic, option is that defence and engineering firms have made a booboo and failed their cyber security requirements and now all avenues are racing to hide these facts.
Can North Korea get to this point? Yes, that is possible, but it seems to me that ‘western’ criminals are using that place to hide their actions and loot whatever they can, whilst they part time hack into places and hand these secrets over to North Korea. OK, I am still speculating. However, remember that building in Russia filled with hackers? Russian forces had to intervene there. It seems to me that these hackers would like another place to work from. It doesn’t make China innocent either. They might have the same issues and these hackers also need a place to work from. In this story, I merely come to the speculated conclusion that the term ‘North Korean Hacker’ is almost an newly seen oxymoron.
In all this the cogs are not aligned. In 1776 native American Indians got their hands on rifles. It took time to get good with them. In 1877 Satsuma Rebellion, led by Saigo Takamori faced Japanese forces with modern weapons, it took them time to adequately use these weapons. With the complexity of a system the time line expands. The timeline expands even more when excellence of a system is required. As such I feel that these technology skills do not fit the abilities of the North Koreans. But that is merely my point of view.
Have a great Friday, another 150 minutes until I have breakfast.
This is a momentous occasion for me. I completed my first film script. The movie is called ‘How to assassinate a politician’ (the alternative title is ‘Essay’) and I think I completed a version between a draft and a final version. I have no movie scripting experience. Initially I did part of the story on my blog (this one) and last year October I got myself Final Draft version 13. I have no illusion what will happen, but this is a baby step to get to a point to create a script that might be accepted. The second step I just completed. I send my script to Dubai Media.
Now that this part is completed I will learn more about Final Draft, especially the Beat Board which I haven’t used yet. The second ‘script’ is likely to be Residuam Vitam which is supposed to become a mini-series (I reckon 8 episodes) or 4 episodes set to 90 minutes. It will take a lot more then my first attempt and most of it is in my head. Some parts were blogged but lot is in me head. That story plays largely in New Orleans, A place I have only seen on TV and on Google maps. So I will face a whole range of other ‘frustrations’ also as my story is in a totally different direction it will open questions on scripting as well. From there I need to think what comes next. First there is Keno Diastima, a complete story in 3 seasons and as I see it the story end there. This story will get me to think deeper about storylines. You see in blogging and in my mind stories are like books that play in my mind. For TV series that linear way of thinking is what some call bad TV and I get that, but this is how my mind works and as such I need to reset how I think. Final Draft will help me with that. Also a secondary setting is that I keep my mind busy in new ways and script writing is certainly new for me.
After that point (far future) is the TV series Engonos, which my mind has constructed to around season 3 (optionally season 2). This comes down to the top sirloin of the Angus. It is a path I set myself to and to show certain others that I will not be tied down to their degenerative standards. In the end it is merely an exercise in creativity. On one day I design a novel way to melt down a nuclear reactor, on another day I design a new stealth weapon and now I write scripts. The funny part is that I can used the previous two stages in new scripts as well. As I stated in a Previous blog Blogger versus DARPA 5-0. If you gotta dream big, make sure that you have the intention to make big players your underling (the use of the word bitch is so harsh).
Still no matter how things turn out. In the end I learned another non-Microsoft product and I remained creative at the same time. As some would say its a win-win. I cannot tell at present, but as I stated, this is about baby steps and the first hurdle (correct or not) is that I ‘completed’ my first script. Hollywood eat your heart out.
Person is scammed and in this example a 31-year-old from Lagos says a fellow Nigerian sold him fake documents after promising a job in Canada.
The problem is that not every one is internet savvy and more important. They think that Facebook (and other social media) is a safe space.
There is another way to look at this. For one “a travel agent who specialised in providing visas to Canada and the U.K.”
Let’s take this one step at a time. There are literally thousands waiting to get legally into Canada and the U.K.. With citizens in these places setting the stage. Do you really think that such a person has any chance? People in these places know people too. Do you think that they would allow the job to go to any foreigner they do not know, when they know people that they would happily offer the job to someone they know? In addition, there are genuine shortages, but they tend to be specialised jobs like nurses, doctors and so on. And when you are on social media who can tell which person is real, who is a scammer and who is a troll farm.
There is almost literally the chance that a offer that is too good to be true is either a scammer or a troll seeking intel. And the chances of a good deal go down and down more and more.
There is a second part, but foreigners might not know that unless they investigate. You see labour market impact assessments (LMIA’s) cannot be sold, that I actually illegal.
And on a second note, this year on the Hajj, hundred of people got killed by so called travel agents, there is every chance that they weren’t even a recognised travel agent (I have no data proving or disproving that).
Australia has a offering of empty appartments that is around 1%, do you think that those with an apartment will offer it on Facebook to strangers? They can make a bundle in cash and in social commitments to people they know. And that is mostly without risk. I would love to move to Canada (I think that an outstanding donation from Jeff Bezos or Andy Jassy has 98.9% more chance for me than any Facebook claim) and I never met any of these two youthful young sprouts. 😛
The article also has a statement that I firmly believe in “If it sounds too good to be true, it is. And generally speaking, an employer in Canada is not going to ask you for money to extend a job to you.” That is especially true for social media. The bulk of posts in social media is that they are out for money, it is the rule of me, myself and my bank account. The bulk of these people are honest dealers, tradesman or retail. But the bump of scammers is growing, especially in this economy. There is one statement I have an issue with. It is “Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault denounced LMIA fraudsters for targeting “vulnerable people.”” He is correct, but that group of people in this economy is getting larger fast. So new options are needed. I believe that here the embassies are the option. They should give clear notice to anyone going to their sites how to get on a track to become a foreign worker/resident/citizen. Also give clear scammer warning and especially that the sale of LMIA documents is illegal. Now, The Australian page for Canada is clear and direct, however I did not see the LMIA issue. I think there should be a warning for scammers (on every consul page) and why a Facebook group mail is nearly always a scam.
Me? Well I will in part rely on the sale of IP and get enough to retire in Toronto, we all have wishes and this is mine.
Anyway have a lovely day, my day is almost done whilst in Vancouver it is 5 hours until this morning’s breakfast. Enjoy!
I was in a setting where I had to look at YouTube videos of the Hogwarts theme parks in Orlando and Tokyo. I saw a lot more than that. I also saw some Disney World places (for different reasons) and it struck me that there is a lot that is the same. I do not men Hogwarts, I meant that the Universal sites all work on the same premise. Now, this is to be expected, however the Disney places and the Universal places are a lot alike, more alike than unalike.
This is not any kind of critique, it just is the way it is. Then we get the Abu Dhabi Warner Brothers world. Now they are all excellent in their own way and if you are a Harry Potter fan as I am, an uneasy feeling comes over me. Don’t get me wrong, these places, there is nothing wrong with them. As I said, they are too much alike. It seems that we are all pushed in the same box (painted in some colour).
It then struck me that I might be too spoiled. I grew up in the Netherlands. As I can see it, there is nothing like The Efteling, besides the Efteling. Yes, it too has rides others have, but the setting of the Efteling, with a lot of Anton Pieck favoured styles is basically unique. In this places like UAE (Abu Dhabi) or Saudi Arabia (Riyadh or Dammam) might be in need of an Efteling styled theme park and it does not need to be a copy. The Efteling has a fairy tale forest and in Europe they strike a chord with these fairy tales. But a desert place where we can see the fairy tales like they exist in the Arabic nations would have a national and international appeal. There are “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp”, “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, “The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor”, “The Enchanted Horse” and many more. I think that most Arabic Fairy tales come from the 1001 nights book, but I could be wrong there. You see the world needs more that a Universal setting. The Efteling has earned its place amongst the theme parks with the highest awards. In 2020 they had more visitors than Disney Paris. I believe that the fairy tale forest gave the people something they had forgotten. In this I blame Disney, they fed us what to like and didn’t inquire what people would like (the cost of the park and the waiting times at rides might have been a contributing factor). So as we turn to the UAE (or Saudi Arabia) for what to seek, the international market might like an original fairy tale forest with unique stories. Optionally stories from other places like Indonesia as well. In this I feel that an Efteling approach might give people another way to look at things. There is still enough space for places like Warner Brothers, Universal or Disney. Yet consider the aging IP, as such a new park can be done in the ‘trend’ of Efteling, but need not be a copy.
There could be stories that would be present in both, no doubt about it.
There is the Gardener and the Fakir, I saw this on my first visit in the 60’s, it never lost its appeal to me, not ever when I saw it again in the late 90’s. Then there is ‘het spook slot’ (the haunted castle).
It is now either already demolished or it in the process on demolition, to make space for something new. That place had been around since 1978, I saw it in its first year which was my birthday present. The attraction had remained active for over 40 years, the show shown there which lasted about 7 minutes took an estimated 800 people per hour. And this was based on technology we had at that point. As far as I can see, unique experiences and there is more to be seen. But in reality, who has actually read the book 1001 nights? Wouldn’t it be great if someone had a different theme park based on Arabic lore?
There are many ways to do this. I still believe that ride like pirates of the Caribbean with the boats, but they take you on a show though several fairy tales, narrated by Sheherezade. The ride would be about 15 minutes, taking you to the next stage which would be on foot showing you more fairy tales with rest rooms and snack sites, after that another boat ride of the same length and that is one side of the tracks. Then we could do more walking and see places like the Gardener and the Fakir and other places. The problem is a lot needs to be ‘in house’. These two places are just too warm in summer. In a previous article. I discussed part of this in Ratatouille (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/11/20/ratatouille/) I had some ideas based on droomvlucht (Dream Flight) but now set on a magic carpet like a real Aladdin. An expansion for the Warner Brothers park, but it could become its own place, with new attractions and a wholesome dive into Arabic fairy tales and It could be in Saudi Arabia for pretty much the same reason. You see, the lesson that places like Disney never learned was that there is something like saturation. ‘More’ at some point becomes ‘too much’ and infrastructures tend to collapse when we reach the ‘too much’ point. I cannot speculate here, it requires an econometrist with serious skills to make a better estimate. I perceive it to be a setting of balance. If the theme park is in the left hand, you need something another kind of fun in the right hand, so that balance can be reached. What that is? Not sure, but I imagine that Abu Dhabi with its waterpark, zoo and Warner Brothers has a seemingly good grasp of this balance. So is that the right place for this new park? I cannot tell, but it seems so sad that they are all copying Disney and Universal and the idea of another Efteling with its own unique features and a dozen global awards is largely ignored and thy aren’t just any awards. They won in 1972 the Pomme d’Or and in 2018 the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) award. Disney lost out on both that is one hell of an achievement. Especially as the Efteling has nowhere near the cash Disney has.
But that is merely my point of view in this matter, enjoy the day, Monday is a mere 3 hours away for me.
Well, it might have been a third time that I take a view towards an altered IP. This isn’t mine, it’s actually the property of Microsoft. The first game (Mass Effect) was released in 2007 and Mass Effect 2 was released in 2010. Mass Effect 2 is still regarded by many (and me) as one of the greatest tactical shooters. Mass Effect 3 is good, but it also gave us the greatest multi player shooters ever made. These two elements are the grounds of the massive fanbase of the series.
The present we got at the launch party is still regarded by me as the coolest ever (see above), all the guests got one with themselves as the SPECTRE agent.
At the end of game 3 there were a lot of complaints. I think that one was shoddy to some effect and it should have been set better, but the story was awesome. There were 4 endings (I never found the 4th, but I saw it on YouTube). And whilst going into this I accidentally found out another part which I will illuminate soon enough. It seems that Facebook is catering to Microsoft with accusations of spam. But I have my response for Facebook ready. Anyway back to the story.
The new setting I created was set on the citadel. It happens after the slaughter starts and before Shepard makes its entry. In these weeks (optionally months) we are on the citadel. It has the familiar places (Embassy module and the stages from Mass Effect 2, yet there are a few hundred more places. This is a stealth game.
The story is that an engineer had smuggled his family on board, as such it he/she had a hiding place. As the slaughter (read: ascendancy) continues, this engineer needs to sneak its way around. The first thing that needs to be done is to secure water and sustenance. Also oxygen is needed (for the long haul).
Every place has three versions. The dirty stage (with bodies), the cleaning stage (with keepers) and the clean stage. They all have their own issues.
One of the stages is to secure personnel manifests (with local celebrity locations), locations of interest and local artefacts.
The races are Asari, Drell, Elcor, Hanar, Humans, Keepers, Salarians, Turians, Volus, Batarians, Geth, Krogan, Quarians, Vorcha, Yahg. The races in bold are the selectable races. In the citadel the Batarians, Quarians, Vorcha and Yahg have no embassy. As such they are the harder species to play. The Quarians (when found) will have information on the Geth. The Turians have data on Vorcha and Yahg and so on. As the game progresses once you have the data, you will face a setting where you have to install monitors all over the station to record what is happening as well as to set alarms so you can sneak your way around the station. You need to get a electronic shroud (a sort of digital cloak), enhance your hiding place as well as creating a few others where you can heal and rest in safety. In normal play the game will ignore several issues, but in hard more it will ‘see’ recording devices and start a hunt for you. Once this starts, you will have to set up a decoy to reset the alarm, the hiding place will be lost forever.
To set this up it is more then a simple matter. The keepers are thorough in cleaning, as such it will be important to remain invisible. The largest issue I see isn’t merely locations, This place is huge.
As you can see it is quite big. One idea is to set the stage by race (and most of the game on one of the platforms. It requires one huge LLM with deeper machine learning to create the levels. As I see it, per race you will need up to a dozen buildings (skyscrapers) to cover essential needs for the game. You will have to get the hardware you require for the tasks. The shopping district (ME2) should give you a camera and digital storage. No weapons in this game, however an idea comes to mind to get something like a mining laser (to cut through matter) and tools to open other areas.
Although the game seems straight forward. The idea came to me that the maker optionally have loads of other lore and concept art that they never used in the game. There would be use for them here. Also, other races would have data on humans like the illusive man, Shepard and so on.
The larger setting I see is how to create a sphere of thrill and suspense that makes a stealth game, a stealth game. You see in ‘cheaper’ stealth games you carry everything making you a bulkier version of you with a backpack 15 times the size of you. So it is important to set the ‘sneak factor’ to find upgrades and better hardware to do the job. The shopping district will have a version one or two of an essential tool, but better versions need to be found. In addition to that, to set the tools to a random location requires a more spiffy setting. Or as they say, to be placed in ulterior locations where we have 1000 places it could be, but with references on items in logs (embassy and security). Then there is the idea of replayability. So as the citadel has hundreds of buildings per pillar, the stage comes that in a second game (with the same race) you will get confronted with different buildings. Similar but not identical, which gives new vibes to the game.
So, whilst we all see what Microsoft is up to with more rehashing the same idea. I took one look at a great game and created (optional) new IP in a day. This is why I see Microsoft as an agent of mediocrity. Now I will accept that this is not enough. More is needed to make this a great game, but I got them this in under a day (it is basically Microsoft IP). So feel free to to wonder what Microsoft is blundering around. If I can get this done in under a day, what are they seeking to rehash the old days? Don’t get me wrong I played Age of Mythology when it released in 2002 and it is a great game, optionally to play again. But considering all the IP they have (or should have) this is not enough. Lets face it they have GREAT IP. The Flight Simulator (2020) has truly become a great game (it was always great). It is a niche market, but for those into flight simulators it is the bees knees. Bioware had many great games. My personal favourite in D&D (Neverwinter nights, 2002) is still one of the greatest fantasy games ever. Both Dragon Age and Jade empires (not my favourites) are good games, where are they now? The problem is that some games need their scope readjusted. To coin an idea, the Multiplayer version of Mass Effect 3 could have been launched on the Xbox series X as a free to play game on that console. And free to play is important is important. They can still offer the loot boxes in the same way they did. For points fought over, or for a few dollars. And there is a market. This game is still played after 12 years. The is one hell of an achievement for a game released in 2012. So why didn’t Microsoft act? I got to the top 1% of players in 2013, there were over 1.2 million players at that point. Considering that the PS5 outsells the Xbox-X by 5:1 I would think that they squandered their markets. And this is a game that can flock hundreds of thousands to the Xbox (in addition to any other system), and no one thought this was a good idea?
As I personally see it Phil Spencer was all about capturing the player base (read: legally stealing), yet the the idea of bolstering its player base by offering playability was seemingly lost to him. And his hard times are yet to come. As I see it I might not have another option but to hand my IP to Tencent technologies. Partially this idea comes as Facebook removed my previous post under the fake guise of spam, which was not the case. The idea has merit as within two years Facebook would lose millions of advertisers. Troll farms create a lot of traffic, but not a lot of commerce, merely fake locations to advertise to, when retailers figure that part out, they will find another place to go to and there is my solution. I saw this three years ago, Whilst everyone was diving for digital dollars any way they could. I saw that the power of it all relies on engagement. And a troll farm only ‘seemingly’ engages. True engagement is seen elsewhere. That is the achilles heel of Facebook and the strength of Amazon (Tencent optionally too). So as I see it Microsoft lost out two times. Didn’t you wonder why Chrome has a market share of 65% and Edge a mere 5%? They aren’t looking in the wrong direction, they aren’t looking in the proper place to begin with. And I added my gaming idea as optional evidence part N.
A setting overlooked due to the principle of spin. So whilst Microsoft relies on ‘The most powerful console in the world’, Sony and Nintendo are relying on the factor of fun and play and they are winning This year Nintendo had 123,000,000 players. Sony has 118,000,000 players. Now compare that with Microsoft and their 27.7 million consoles. And Tencent technologies is knocking at the door taking optionally more market share away from Microsoft. That is how bad it will get and I saw this 3 years ago. This is why I tried to get the solution to Kingdom Holding (so far no luck). In this environment Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud could score big, optionally the largest gain they ever had (speculative thinking by me).
My weekend has stated, in Vancouver the day is only starting. Enjoy!
I got another message last night on me claiming that Google drops stuff and that I was sitting on IP worth billions. They all want the complete rundown, but these wannabe claimers and optional IP thieves want another freebee. I can do you one better.
The setting is that your phone takes an image of any text and google Translate will translate the image. That was recently. Or better stated I got an advertisement on the matter today and things just clicked in me. You see (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/02/13/looky-looky/) which I wrote on February 13th 2022, so well over two years ago. I gave the setting that we see now. In my version I used Google glasses with a bluetooth link to the mobile. It was a setting to a new Watchdogs game. Now we get ‘the real deal’ that Google can translate it. Now, I am not claiming that they stole my idea. Google does its own thing and there is even a large chance that they never saw my story. So, what am I trying to say? Well I have been in IT over 40 years. I got into IT in the beginning of the 80’s. When you are that connected to hardware, software and IP. Your mind designs one, the other, or a combination. It is a natural setting. So when I stated that Amazon Google et al left billions on the floor, I was not kidding. The article ‘looky looky’ gives the example that I was ahead of Google by two years (more likely one year, the application did not write itself) as such they have a good idea and they made it work. I was venturing in another direction, one that Google rejected. As such only Amazon and Tencent Technologies remained (Apple as a possible third) The fact that Amazon left these billions on the floor as well made me go tsk, tsk, tsk. Now in the given example with the Google Glasses it was the story towards a game, nothing more.
So consider that I was able to set the stage (a partial design) of what Google is not able to do. Once they connect to google glasses it comes close to exactly what I had in mind. As such I am speculating that I was three years ahead of them. As such I feel comfortable with the setting that 50 million console in stage one and up to 250 million consoles would be possible (any higher is possible, but I remain driven to conservative numbers) and in this in 4 territories are the focal point. Once this goes towards a massive crowd whomever goes that way will see a lot more revenue. Consider that this streaming solution would break the record that the PlayStation 2 had with 155 million consoles, the most successful console in history. I merely did this by expanding the scope of a console. That was the setting that Amazon and Google left on the floor. In a time when they are all shedding jobs, they overlooked in excess of 5 billion a year (based on my numbers) in the first phase. In addition to this recent numbers from the sources give a rise to speculate that it is possible (depending on production) that the 50,000,000 consoles would be reached within a year and that is less than 10% of a population in three regions and there are at least 9 more regions, so I am confident on my numbers. Amazon and Google left that much on the floor (Microsoft is not welcome here). So when you see that I came up with an idea more than two years ahead of Google, wonder what more they left lying around? I am an IT brain. There is every chance that other people have a different focus that people (and me) do not have. So what can you come up with? I merely focus on gaming and IoT. There is a lot of settings that others can see because their focus is there. A year before that I contemplated that these Walking tours on Youtube could be used by Google to consider a new trace. You see wouldn’t a walking tour video be more interesting if a retail client on that tour could place its advertisement in that video (close to where the shop actually is)? Consider that we got in April 2024 “buyers aged 18-34 are 130% more likely to book a showing if there is a virtual tour available for a listing” and several walking tour makers have well over 100,000 followers. That is real money and that is a real population. I mentioned this around 2020, so what did Google do about that? I still get all kinds of nonsense advertisement. So how much did Google miss out on in this setting? I don’t know, there is a lot I do not know on this, but it is possible that Google does not know that either. Perhaps it is not profitable enough. But what was true in 2020, might represent serious cash in 2024. Johnny Strides (Toronto) has 111K subscribers. Several Dubai video’s have almost 900K views. This is a direct population. People with interest in a topic is a population that engages with the maker (by watching and optionally with feedback), so what happened? Was generic pumping of advertisement enough? With so many fake accounts and farms, at some point Google will be requested to up the quality of their ‘population’. When that happens and advertisement can no longer be seen as a direct marketing channel. They will have to change gears, or they can start to up the quality of their viewers. Two simple examples and as soon as the 5G option for real estate starts elevating real estate in a place like Dubai the numbers start adding up. They had in Q1 2024 $29.9 billion. If this solution would only add 1% (I thing it might be as high as 3%), that amounts to an additional $229,000,000 And that is only ONE CITY. So what about London, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco? You still think this is merely a bluff? All directions that Google should have done already and they didn’t. But they were were ‘eager’ to state two months ago “the company is “simplifying our structures to give employees more opportunity to work on our most innovative and important advances and our biggest company priorities, while reducing bureaucracy and layers.” Which is optionally their way of stating that they shedded 12,000 jobs. I just gave them two reasons to not do that, well one reason, they already dropped the Google Stadia, they never saw the 50 million consoles option, which leaves Amazon, optionally Apple and Tencent technology. Are you starting to see that they (others as well) dropped the ball?
All levels of people are rehashing the view of others on AI and IoT (Internet of Things). So why don’t they act what they preach? Oh and my real estate is merely one channel of a much bigger setting. Real estate was merely the most visible one, but not the only one.
So have a great day and enjoy the upcoming Friday, for me that day is only 3 more hours away.
I saw the article (at https://www.newarab.com/news/houthis-threaten-riyadh-aerial-footage-key-airports) stating ‘Yemen’s Houthis threaten Saudi Arabia with aerial footage of key airports’, the New Arab with the text “The video, titled “Just try it”, contained images of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, King Fahd International Airport in Damman as well as the ports in Ras Tanura, Jizan and Jeddah” is a possible ploy. I do not doubt that the Houthi’s (with generous support from Iran) is adding a ploy of threats to their limited tactics. It is clear that Houthi forces can bring something to the table, but I believe that this is nothing more than a ploy. A ploy that could have teeth, but I do not have the required contacts or information to see how serious this is. We see an additional setting with “The threat to Saudi Arabia by the Houthis comes amid reports that the government and Houthis failed to strike a fresh prisoner exchange deal”, which is fun because this was a deal between Houthis and the legitimate Yemen government. So this is all about posturing, or is it?
You see, a few hours later I was given through Arab News (at https://arab.news/6p5tn) ‘Iran’s new president vows balance with all countries, warns US his country won’t be pressured’ where Iran apparently made the claim “He looks forward to engaging in constructive dialogue with European countries”, so there is the carrot. Iran needs Saudi Arabia in a holding pattern, whilst Iran ‘appeases’ European nations. So as I see it Houthi forces are still the barking dogs of Iran and Iran needs this, because their support of Hamas will have secondary contemplations by any nation thinking that talking with Iran is a good idea. It has not now or yesterday worked and it will not work tomorrow either.
As Iran is hiding their hands behind terrorist organisations like Hamas or Houthi forces, we need to be weary that stability in the Middle East requires both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, they have the growing economies, the larger setting for tourism and the options of uniting Arab nations. The problem is that Iran is a problem. They are crying like little girls as they are denied a larger seat at the Arab table. The only small friend that Iran can rely on is Qatar and they have growing issues with Hamas. How that plays out is beyond me but in this setting we have Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Oman and Iraq. They are all playing nice and as I see it, there is not to much love for Iran in this. Qatar is the one successful nation that has been playing a dangerous game, so what happens with them is up in the air. I reckon that the Houthi’s are set to the threat to Saudi Arabia. In this my feelings are that if one attack on a civilian target is done, the might of the Saudi forces will bluntly retaliate against Houthi forces. This has the one complication that Iran has to either commit or desert Houthi forces. This is the ploy as I see it. Iran cries loudly towards Europeans that they are so willing to discuss peace, but they are under the hammer. It will be something like that. So the Iranian ploy is unlikely to work. Europe has enough problems with Russia and Russia could be of little use to Iran. Russia has only one carrier left and they need it in their Ukrainian tactics. But this is about Iran. They are losing ‘useful’ friends a lot faster than they are happy with. It is in that setting that the Houthi threat is (as I personally see it) an Iranian tactic.
They have to play nice with some people because they are about to learn the lesson Hector Malot taught us with ‘Sans Famille’ and Iran is rightfully worried. You see when the coins come down Iran will have to put up or shut up and they will lose a lot of face in the entire Middle East, sitting at a table where the stabilising points come from Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. That is why (my personal point of view) Iran need Houthi, Hamas and any other player that Iran can place in the field with deniability. It is why I said that whatever Palestine comes through, it will require the eradication of Hamas. Because it will be them who will terrorise the building projects in Saudi Arabia.
So how can I prove any of this? Well the history of Iran is one. Their actions towards Houthi forces is another and the Iranian actions are right after the threats from Houthi forces. I feel that one ploy is enabling other actions.
But for the most in this, I am merely speculating. So enjoy this Sunday.
This article was shown on Aljazeera (at https://aje.io/lflym6). The story states ‘Why is Greece introducing a six-day working week?’ It seems like a simple enough question. The setting is that Greece needs to kickstart its economy (yet again) and as Greece has no resources, a shortage of people, hospitality is one of the few ways to get this done. We see “While some countries in the world are considering a switch to a four-day working week, Greece is swinging in the opposite direction.” It makes perfect sense to do this. But it is not that simple. We see the following rules “Greece’s new law gives employers in some industries, including businesses that offer 24/7 services, the right to compel employees to work a sixth day in return for an additional 40 percent of their daily wage added to their regular daily wage on the extra working day.” This comes down to someone making €500 a week giving the new setting of €640 a week the €500 plus €100 +40$ getting them to €640. When we see the shortages people have, plenty will accept this idea. I do oppose the setting that Elizabeth Gozme hands us with “Numerous studies have shown that overwork has a detrimental impact on one’s mental health and can often lead to burnout, she said.” I am certain that I can poke holes in that study. You see those studies were done when there was an abundance of revenue sources and when the current revenue was on the three year old premise of cost of living. Now that people are under fire from a simple thing as cost of living, the extra income will point them to a better setting of living. It is not the greatest of ideas, but there is truth in the setting. The option of more money is at present an essential need. The lowering of a debt driven setting for all families will please plenty of people. It will not please all, but with this setting of a 6 day week, call centres might have an option against their competitors in Portugal, Ireland or on Malta.
The other disagreement I have is with “According to Eurostat, Greeks already work longer hours than most Europeans”, this might be true, but for the most part it was at a set income, now the people get the additional funds. It is not the best reason but I believe it is likely the solution to several settings. The other part iOS that Greece is trying to come into a new era. One where the debts are lowered, a setting which please both residents and government. As such I see a positive side in all of this. In this the Guardian (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/01/greece-introduces-growth-oriented-six-day-working-week) hands us also “Pro-business government says measure is needed due to shrinking population and shortage of skilled workers” where I see that the shortage of skilled workers is the greatest handicap the Greeks currently seem to have.
So a new work week setting is the start of a great free Saturday for me.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 