| Review: 'Second Lives' makes the virtual real
A Journey Through Virtual Worlds," an engrossing travelogue of the author's explorations in alternate gaming realities, this kind of dual life is growing in popularity with staggering speed. For instance, consider the digital world of Second Life, which allows "residents" to interact with others in a quasi-realistic landscape where players can build giant castles on their virtual land, give their avatars angel wings or jetpacks, and even start businesses that lead to real-world cash. In 2003, when the game premiered, it had 25,000 players, who paid monthly fees for access; today, it boasts more than 12 million residents. (It's so popular that the news agency Reuters has a reporter working full time in the game to sleuth out the latest virtual news.) In total, an estimated 70 million people worldwide regularly log onto enormous online game worlds like EverQuest and World of Warcraft, to do everything from hunt monsters to break dance in floating clubs.
Blackboard Wins Lawsuit Over E-Learning Patent
They're a for profit trade school so if they had a choice between patent royalties and not doing it, they'd probably not do it. So go Blackboard! Way to promote education: sue others into the ground to prevent them from doing it online. PS, in 2002 I took one of my classes online during the summer at Clark Community College so I wouldn't have to take it in High School. But that's probably not prior art to their patent, or grounds for it being obvious. I mean it's only what just about every school in the Northwest offers due to weather and distance conditions. (reply to this comment) (link to this comment) Pre-Web Concept by Maram on Feb 26th, 2008 @ 3:46am Distance Learning is a patent concept?! give us a break..this concept exists even in the pre-web age through open universities.
Duplex offers location, views
Above the 12 floors of apartments, a large roof-top sun deck presents a dramatic view of the downtown skyline and Lincoln Park to the south, plus Lake Michigan to the east. Outdoor seating in summer allows for socializing and sunbathing.
Shopping and restaurants abound one block south along Diversey Parkway, and three blocks west along Clark Street. CTA Sheridan Road No.151 buses stop outside the front door; No. 76 buses run west to the CTA Diversey Brown line elevated station.
For information, call 773-248-3800.
- - -
Vital stats
Address: 2850 N. Sheridan Rd.
Size: Three bedrooms, two baths
Rent: $2,275
Security deposit: $515 move-in fee.
Utilities: Tenant pays electric and heat.
Marion D. S. Dreyfus
Homeland Security in the Northeast: Better or Worse? | NAVIGATE HOME| SITE MAP | PUBLISHER | CONTACT INFORMATION |
Marion D. S. Dreyfus
Special to Think & Ask
New York
Half an hour late, Lisa M. Black, director of New York City Public Affairs and legislative media director for the much-storied Senator Joseph (Joe) Bruno (R-NY,) comes in like a whirlwind. Alert, attractive all-American face, hair pulled back tightly in a ponytail to counteract the swampy 100 percent humidity of a wilty Noo Yawk summer day, a mischievous smile topped a fairly low-cut sleeveless white piqu baby doll-style top.
She's like Ari Gold in Entourage, completely on top of it all. Snap: Facts, figures, pending legislation, back-room semi-deals and important state and city pol names rat-a-tatting out of her, shooting fast, smart, knowledgeable answers to every question.
Small Venezuelan plane reported missing
CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A small airplane was reported missing Thursday in the mountainous western region of Venezuela, Globovision TV reported.
The plane, a jetliner for the Santa Barbara airline, was reportedly en route from Merida in western Venezuela to the capital, Caracas. It was carrying 46 people, published reports said.
Officials said they had no indication what happened to the plane, which did not report to the control tower in Merida after takeoff.
.
Why the media will hound the girls - but leave the boys alone
When Britney Spears goes into hospital for treatment for mental illness, we don't get quite so much sensitivity from the press. Even, or maybe especially, when tragedy strikes, the boys get much better treatment. Heath Ledger's recent death, like that of River Phoenix, was handled with great care by the press. Anna Nicole Smith's not so much. When Kiefer Sutherland went to jail for drink-driving, you barely noticed it. When Paris Hilton went to jail - well, everyone on the planet knows what happened. I was actually staying at a friend's house in LA when that happened and believe it or not, my friend lives on Paris Hilton's street. One day some reporters knocked on the door and asked me what I thought of all the media coverage and did I think that Paris should be asked to move off the block? Apparently another neighbour was trying to get her kicked off her block because it was just too crazy having all those paparazzi and reporters swarming up and down the street all the time; did I think Paris should move? I wanted to say, 'Oh well, it's a free country and it's not like she's a sex offender - isn't she really just a pretty girl who parties a lot?' But I copped to the fact that I was just visiting my friend Lisa and when they found out I didn't actually live there, the reporters didn't care what I thought.
Red Hat Infrastructure Strategy Spans Virtualized, Cloud and Appliance ...
RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced its strategy to solve the key problems facing IT by enabling increased operational choice, flexibility and efficiency. Increasing IT complexity and server capacity, coupled with application proliferation, requires new automation paradigms that allow CIOs to handle rapidly changing business needs. As the leading open source infrastructure company, Red Hat uniquely enables customers to automate and simplify their Linux infrastructure, allowing any application to run on any server, at any time.
.
|
