Tag Archives: Hector Malot

November 14, 2025 · 02:51

Now what?

Well that is one way to say it. I am tired of all these AI bubble stories, I stand by my point of view and there is a slim chance that I am wrong, but to be honest. I very much fear that I will become like Jamie Shipley getting hauled over at the end by Standards and Poor (see the Big Short) and I am tired. This blog will bear out the correctness of my view over time, too many are in denial and I don’t care about the losses that they incur, they are not my losses and I told my piece on this. Time to move on and I still feel strongly about a possible solution for the Apple vision pro (or the Meta Quest Pro) and I created two solutions that could bring either a rather hefty revenue cycle. One in linguistic and one in entertainment (Based on Horizons Zero Dawn/Forbidden West), the fact is that the Vision Pro was discontinued production in late 2024, but the story behind its failure tells us more about the future of mixed reality than any marketing presentation ever could. And that is one reality that some can sprout, but I saw the idea for a global linguistic solution (via Ubisoft and Guerrilla Software) two solutions that could have worked out if people at Apple had any brain and I put it here as early as November 9th 2024, in ‘the easy lesson’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/11/09/the-easy-lesson/) but seemingly Apple took a runner, as such the idea would now fall to the Meta Quest teams (3 or Pro) and I reckon that Meta would love a linguistic solution they could vendor to the world (together with Ubisoft), I reckon that catering to billions would please both those teams. As such I was overthinking the two solutions I concocted. More in the trend of what books could be used to cater to the lessons and my first thought was to use ‘Famiglia Romana’ to introduce into the Latin setting, but also into the Italian side and even into the other languages. As such each language also include another language which they get for free. There is nothing like a free sample to get the juices going. And from there every language that has one book that is transferred to all other languages. As my setting catered to French, Italian, English, Portuguese, Japanese, Latin and Spanish (AC Hexe) and there is the crux, why wouldn’t they use the idea? How many people are trying to learn one of these languages? The idea that DML is being used for teaching languages is novel (to say the least and 80% of the solution already exist (for all languages mentioned) and that is where these players (as I personally see it) lack vision. So at what point do they look at any idea and think “That would never work” or perhaps it is connected to the idea that a little more work could unfold a lot more revenue and as Far as I now it, the people with pupils like dollar signs (salespeople) are never shy for inviting revenue to their front door, especially as 80% is already done. And they merely need to include parts of the game and it is all covered with NPC’s. So I don’t see the point of walking away from this. And it is not that I am a coward, but Ubisoft already OWNS the IP, so there is little I can do. The other IP (Guerrilla) might open another door (beyond the gaming side). They could set the people of these places (Carja, Banuk, Oseram) to Native Indian languages and there they could invite a whole new linguistic side and even propagate these languages to the world. I might have initially designed the game specifically to the Meta Quest based loosely on Pokemon Photo, but there was a lot more to be had there and the fact that I can see these IP’s evolve and the owners did not is pretty laughable.

And lets be clear, there is life and software solutions beyond AI and the sooner these people realise this, the better they are off (as Google and Amazon decided to leave on excess of 6 billion annually on the floor). It is a setting where we see that the French language has Sans Famille (Hector Malot), I read it in the 70’s on Dutch, as such I knew of the book and I loved it, but there also is Les Trois Mousquetaires (Three musketeers) by Alexandre Dumas and Les Misérables (Victor Hugo) that makes merely three books and there are so many more and as such the French version takes shape. And when you get through the languages released as I saw them and we have 5-6 books per language and bind them in mini games in these games, you get a true linguistic solution. And the DML solutions we have in customer support could measure the correctness of the participant. One s of several solution I thought through in this approach of software induced linguistic training skills. The fact that I saw through the solution that Ubisoft has and they remain at least partially blind to this is even more humorous, and that is beside Meta being seemingly asleep at the wheel.

So if there is nothing else, it is time to do some snoring as it is almost 03:00 in the morning. Have a great day today as for most of you it is Thursday and I am already on Friday.

The Iranian ploy

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.

Remastering Classics

This all started this morning. I am not entirely sure how I got there, but it started with recalling an old St. Nicholas present. It was a book by Hector Malot called ‘Sans Famille’ (the original Dutch version) I think I was 12 or 13 when I got it (see cover below).

It suddenly dawned on me that the stage of reading books is falling away, we need to temper it, we need to alter the perception of people, but how to do this? Then I suddenly realised that Ubisoft has an inside track here. You see, we can do more with streaming systems, especially Amazon. Consider the game AC Origin, the first DLC adds a travel option, to go to certain parts of the game and do a walking tour. Embalming, beer brewing and several other parts were added. Now you might think it was trivial, but it was not. I had partially missed it, but these parts were all added to the game, the game was almost flawless and had several additional parts to the game we never realised before, Ubisoft with this game hd outdone themselves. Yet when you combine the ideas you get something more. First we take the environment of AC Unity (buggiest game ever) and we use the environment to set the story of Hector Malot in motion. It will be a little more than a walking tour, but as you complete the chapters, you get a whole book and optionally, you could unlock the book in your Kindle, Amazon would have a massive advantage here, and it would not be bad for Ubisoft either. AC Syndicate would allow for Oliver Twist (and a few other books), AC2 or Brotherhood could add several Italian works including those of Master Machiavelli. And it would not be part of the game, and the full game would not be included, merely the environment. Games and challenges to unlock books you can then read on your Kindle. These are mere top notions. The settings allow for so much more and it could gently push the gamers (especially the younger ones) to start reading more. We see environments as a set stage, but they do not need to be and in the streaming environment all elements are non connected and are merely that, elements to use in other ways. I wonder if Ubisoft and Amazon have considered that option at all. It is a side towards a direction I do not think anyone ever considered taking at present and the stage could grow from there.

What if books are for a system like this achievements? Consider Watchdogs: Legion. Consider that they add 3-4 relics which are in facts unlocked books when you complete the relics, in that case books on London, on London history, or some setting thereof. Interesting that thee two didn’t consider projects on the side to fatten the chest of users and their love for free stuff. Just a thought.

Tag Archives: Hector Malot

Now what?

The Iranian ploy

Remastering Classics

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