Virtusphere

One of my lifelong passion has been gaming.  I find it a way to live another experience than the old routine life.  So I decided to research a little bit about the latest technological advancements of gaming.  As it was quite expected, it is the virtual world that is gaining on popularity and enhancements.  I found a very interesting article on a new type of virtual gaming that will transport the player into the virtual world by stimulation of 3 of the senses, i.e touch, sight and hearing.  This wonder of the modern world is called the Virtusphere. It is literally a technological revolution in the area of gaming.  Physically it is a giant metallic hamster-ball in which a virtual world is simulated through various technological advancements such as:

• 10’ ft. Virtusphere
• Steel-wheel platform base
• Gaming software
• POS software
• Intel Architecture Laptop Computer (Pentium 4 processors) with Windows 2000/XP
• Wireless head mounted display (HMD)
• Wireless 3DOF sensor
• Gun manipulator

In plain English, it is a hollow ball that one goes into and wears a wireless headband on a display that will project the virtual domain as we would see the natural world.  You can move around physically, thus rotating the ball and your avatar would move accordingly in the virtual world.  It is like you are really in the game.  One can move in any direction; walk, jump, roll, crawl, run over virtually unlimited distances without encountering real-world physical obstacles. The movement by the user is replicated within the virtual environment. The Virtusphere will pick up your precise movements, and translate them to the simulation in real time. I find this quite fascinating and would love to try it myself.  At the moment it is still being launched into the market and it is enormously expensive but I can already see where the future of gaming is going.  The creators did some fantastic job on that design and were very ambitious since their early years.  I think that paid off pretty well.  These are some links where one can find information on that marvellous device.

• http://www.360virtualventures.com
• http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/technology-issue-extra-the-virtusphere

and this is how it looks.

 

Things to consider when buying a new laptop

I think a lot of things need to be considered when buying a new laptop such as:

·      The applications that are intended to be run on the laptop may vary so te software attributes may be depending on the user’s choice.  For example a laptop that will be used for editing multimedia designs and gaming may require a better graphic card than one which would be used for business purposes of documents and presentations.

• ·      Hard Drive- this is the part of the computer that is used to store and retrieve data and information.  It is nowadays measured in gigabytes ( 1 GB = 1, 000, 000, 000 bytes).  It suggests that the more memory a computer has, the more information it can store.   A normal laptop would require about 4 GB to run the new windows 8 without difficulty.
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• ·      RAM (Random Access Memory) – This is the volatile memory part of the computer which is used as a platform to perform ongoing operations.  It is also said to be a lot less than the hard drive in terms of memory.  The more Ram a computer possess, the faster it would be at implementing commands and processing information.
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• ·      Screen size and resolution- This would be a particular factor as it is normally subjective to the buyer’s choice, for example if the laptop is to be used for gaming purposes and watching HD movies, a larger screen may be more suitable as well as a high value of DPI (Dot Per Inch) would be recommended so the graphics would be clearer and more realistic.   Graphics card would also play a major role in that area as better graphics card may be incorporated in some laptops to optimize the visual effect.
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• ·      Mobility- Laptops are known for their relatively small size and weight compared to the desktop computer.  The weight and size should be considered if the user intends on using the laptop on the go or if would use it as a desktop machine.   The battery life is also an indicator on how much time someone can use the device without a power plug, so it would also be a factor to consider when moving about.
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• ·      Optical drives- This would be particularly important if the user would want to watch a movie or access information stored on a CD or DVD.  Some optical drives can be incorporated in the laptop already or it can be purchased and attached to one that doesn’t already contain it.
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• ·      Ports and Expandability- Most laptops nowadays already contain USB ports (2.0 or the faster version 3.0). This would be a crucial way of getting information on your computer from a USB key as well as other devices that use a USB port to connect with the laptop, such as webcam or printer.  There are other expandability means such as the HDMI (The slot to connect a laptop to a TV) or memory cars slots, where you can put an SD memory card into the slot and access it on your computer.

useful psychology links for journals and books

Here is a small list of some useful psychology links related to my course.  som econsists of online journals which are great for referencing and also relative views about different topics. You may also find some online psychology books which may be relevant (or not) to the course but it is always enriching to gain more knowledge.  So here goes:

http://link.springer.com/

http://www.psywww.com/

http://www.clickpsych.com/

http://www.apa.org

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/psci?

http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/

http://www.psychnet-uk.com/x_new_site/books_journals/books_online.html

http://www.onlinebooks4free.com/books/Philosophy_and_Psychology/Psychology/

http://cpx.sagepub.com/content/early/recent

http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk

Psychology troll

Your body language shapes who you are

I think the lady is on to something here.  The thesis may not be applicable to eveyone in most circumstances but it is still very helpful if someone want to achieve something but lacks self-esteem or confidence in their abilities.   Hope you find it interesting.