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Beyond : Two Souls – Game (or Movie?) Review

Monik — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 14:27:59 +0000

Beyond is an exclusive title for PlayStation 3 and probably, "A last hurrah" for the current PS generation. The game stars Ellen Page as the protagonist alongside Willem Dafoe. The game is no way close to "shoot the cr*p out of all" type games we've been seeing lately. Beyond requires a mature mind to enjoy the subtlety of the story. Throughout the game there aren't many choices to make, and the player decisions don't really affect the progress of the plot much. Most of flow is set in stone, which is why more than a game, it feels like a "user-controlled" movie. Yet, the game is enjoyable because of its strong plot and the eeriness that accompanies the characters throughout the game.

The game is centred around the life of Jodie, who has a psychic connection with a supernatural entity called Aiden. This enables Jodie to perform telekinetic acts, communicate with the dead, move through walls and a variety of 'paranormal' things. The game begins with loosely connected scenes from Jodie's past. At once instance, the player will be controlling 8 year old Jodie in a lab where her paranormal behaviour is being studied. Few scenes later, Jodie will be in her 20s training with the CIA to become an agent. This confusion generates enough curiosity to make the player complete the game to unfold the climax.

As the story moves ahead, the player will become emotionally invested in Jodie's character. This makes the gameplay all the more entertaining. In one of the scenes, Jodie attends her neighbour's party where she's shooed away and locked up. The control shifts to the supernatural being Aiden, who takes the revenge on her behalf. Objects can be displaced, characters can be made to feel uneasy, and various freaky things can be done. But all of it, eventually leads to the destruction of the house which is essential for the story to progress. The game creates the illusion of having multiple choices when there aren't any and is successful in concealing it.

The theme of fear and insecurity is brought up constantly. The surroundings, the emotions on Jodie's face, sound effects and almost every component seems to be contributing something to it. The special effects added to the game make the story appealing and relevant. A casual gamer is more likely to enjoy this game compared to a serious gamer. The plot is singular, the graphics are decent and the gameplay doesn't permit much freedom. The game has a 'co-op' mode which allows two players to play the game, but assigns each one a different character. Either Aiden or Jodie. So there isn't any multiplayer capability in the game. To wrap up, Beyond : Two Souls is a very different game. I'd give it a 7.5 - great plot, lack of interactivity, ellen page, realistic environment setups and an interesting climax.

Information Overload : Jack of all trades but master of none

Monik — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 13:18:47 +0000

If I land up on one ( Mashable, Yahoo, TheVerge, Reuters, ... ) It's humanly impossible to sort out information on these pages. I can't decide which column to start from and which order to go in, to make sure I don't miss anything Interesting. [caption id="attachment_6271" align="alignright" width="300"] Death of Design[/caption] The pages looks colorful with lot of pictures and good typefaces scattered, typically resembling some Red Light District stores, just begging and luring you to get in. This defeats the purpose of technology, which was to scale down the time taken to make choices. Inundating information on the face of the reader might stun the poor guy but it is ultimately worthless. User time on site shoots up (which makes webmasters happy) but conversion rates droop down because the selection process consumes lot of brain power, something that people hate. If you are still wondering why these websites get lot of traffic then you need to look at their sources. Its either Google or Links posted on Facebook, Twitter and other social mediums. The sources are hyper focused on one piece of content which sounds sensible. So why not adopt it and change the damn homepages? It's not about the feel the site gives but more importantly, about the process of discovering interesting information. Organization is the key.

Where Inventors and Visionaries differ : Present and Future

Monik — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 06:05:36 +0000

History has made the split between inventors and visionaries quite evident. And right now, it matters the most because it decides the fate of an idea, whether it lives to see itself revolutionize the world or find its place in a museum. Inventors are concerned with "how" while visionaries are busy figuring out "what". You just can't simply say who is more valuable, its more like the chicken-egg problem, both are equally important and in no manner am I going to debate their significance but what direct impacts they had.

Edwin H. Land, straight from the 1930's, devised the first inexpensive polarizing film. These were to become the foundations of the modern day cameras. He founded Polaroid which tried a hand at making it a commercial success. At first, it worked out because they were the first ones in the market but the future was bleak. His next attempt, Polavision -- an instant movie system venture, was a financial debacle which lead to his resignation from Polaroid's board. Later, Polaroid went through multiple reorganizations and finally went bankrupt. All the while he was at Polaroid, he was a genius chemist and inventor but not a visionary. It was meant to happen. Land wasted the potential. Although he did make attempts like the optics in Lockheed U2 program but not enough to just make it. It could have been great, but things are different now. He didn't see his idea's future. He failed to imagine the possibilities with his products and concepts and thus became a great example for my post. I would be deemed insular to measure success merely on the basis of financial gains. But Money, you see is like food. You like it or not, you need it to survive. Land failed miserably here as he couldn't make polaroid a financial succes. Ironically, he inspired one the visionaries of our times, Steve Jobs. He wasn't the inventor, he just knew what was to be done and he executed it perfectly. He filled up all the loopholes in Land's story. He founded Apple with a team of inventors who were guided by him. He simply polished their work. Every product manufactured by Apple after Job's return to Apple was a hit. It's not just luck. Every idea seemed to invite the future and exploit everything Apple had (Ofcourse, until Apple felt it was ready for the public). More than the products, he left a culture and culmination of methodologies which keep Apple alive today. He filled all the top ranks with his vision and hypnotized them into taking every decision with future in mind. Only the far-sight and foresight have allowed Apple to reach crazy financial benchmarks coupled with technological breakthroughs. Jobs and Land are symbolic of those people who construct the future. Its difficult to spot someone with Scientific and Rational thinking of an Inventor combined with the creative and imaginative decision taking approaches but when these two come together, expect a good show.

Christmas Giveaway at Etiole! : 2 Binverse Premium Accounts up for the loot!

Monik — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 06:09:03 +0000

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all our readers! We do not intend to miss the party either! To make sure of that, we are giving away 2 Binverse Premium Accounts!

Binverse is a Usenet solution. Usenet network arrangement enables users to download data at the fastest speed possible. When you generally download anything from the internet, your request is queued and the server slogs and allows you to download files. But with Usenet, the data is stored in commercial grade servers which allow you to download at super fast speeds.

What this means is that if your internet speed is 2 Mbps or 10 Mbps you will be able to download files at those speeds and not few kbps!

Binverse has over 800 TB of content – Audio, Video and all types of files.
Preview audio and video files before download.
50 GB of download limit with no expiry date.
Every Binverse account comes with 256-bit SSL server connections. (Your ISP cannot “sniff” what you are downloading).
Built in search engine to browse through thousands of files.
Each account is worth $25!

How to get into the contest

To enter the contest you can : –

Share at least 1 (More if you like!) posts from Etiole on Facebook and tag it with #cEtiole. Make sure you’ve made the post visible to everyone or else we won’t be able to find you!
Tweet at least 1 (More if you like!) posts from Etiole on Twitter and tag it with #cEtiole.

There are share buttons below every post on Etiole to make your task easier! You can share this post too if you want to enter or head to our archives (To the lower most right, on the sidebar and select a month randomly to read) and share from there! Each share amounts to 1 entry!

The contest ends on the 31st of this year! Results will be announced on 1st January, 2012! Good Luck and Happy Holidays!

Update : The winners are

Ojas Rahate
Pratyush Varma (@pratyush345)

Flash did turn out to be Adobe’s Achilles’ Heel

Monik — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:08:42 +0000

Adobe's decision to halt the development of Flash Player on the Mobile came as a blow to the company's 2+ year long commitment. They almost went to war with Apple to protect it. And now this. Adobe's shift in focus from Flash to HTML5 for Mobile Browsers was taken keeping most developers out of focus. It has left them stranded. What happens now? Adobe says despite discontinuing development they will continue to release bugs and security updates. That's all for the show. They will drop support for all future device upgrades. This is a rash decision and disrupts the developer ecosystem who were dependent on Flash for mobile integration. Adobe tried hard implementing Flash into mobiles but performance reports showed poor results. It almost led to diverging of the mobile development, which either for-sided flash or not. This was yet again, not in anyone's favor. Flash, as Jobs said, was made for the PC-Era. It couldn't adapt to the newer standards. It altogether needed a replacement and a gradual shift but continuous upgrades to same old thing wouldn't do the trick. Adobe failed to understand it and the reason too is clear, it was and is (On Desktops) its cash cow. They decide to channelize their advancements onto HTML5, the newest open standard for web development. As the market changed, media consumption habits altered and as everything moved to faster performance - Adobe slogged. The Cost was high. Today, the entire brand identity is at stake. Obviously, by letting mobile phones go away, it's already running a race to lose. Who would want to develop applications for Flash despite its great features if it offers no reliability. Who would want to waste their hardwork? This would shake any developer's faith in Flash on ANY platform. How can you suddenly stop supporting a widely distributed client for the newer devices with one blog post? The last two decades, when closed standards were treated with respect, Flash rose to power. Now it's time that industry moves to Open Standards like HTML5, CSS and Javascript which offer more reliability and if not provide features like Flash but at least turn out to viable alternatives (for now). There are several reasons why Flash failed.

It didn't garner support from Apple. They hold a lot of Mobile Market Share. A lot of.
It really wasn't that good. Performance sucked and it didn't go with the concept of newer devices.
It had a premium tag for its developer tools. Premium tag for making something while you could run the same trick with Open Standards turned out a price too high to pay for Adobe.

With Flash going, the industry that suffers the most is Gaming. Zynga built an entire platform on Flash, it is now going to have a tough time. Even the newer standards don't support something that advanced as of yet. What's the only option left to developers is to start focusing on making native apps for the Mobile OS's. This step will of course be readily be welcomed by phone companies who desperately want to expand their App Stores.

Conclusion is that this move is going to cost Adobe everything. ABI Research data suggests that HTML5 adoption on mobile devices will be 2.1 Billion in 2016. Flash could have been there but now it will not.

Steve Jobs was Rethinking Television : It indeed is the Last – One Last Thing…

Monik — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:20:04 +0000

Steve Jobs said, "I've finally cracked it". When the word was out, there erupted a billion guesses about what he had found out. He was talking about something that all of us have grown up with. The TV. When I first heard Apple's releasing a product called Apple TV, I thought it's a television screen that they're selling. It was an obvious guess. Later on, I learnt, it's type of a device which controls the content on your Television and connects it to the internet, iTunes, Netflix and other services. It sought to revise the TV concept. Then the Remote app to control Apple TV from any of the iDevices reckoned the existing remotes useless. But now, Apple is turning back to my conjecture. They are eyeing Television. If you clearly observe, Apple has constantly been trying to narrow it down. Either by bringing iTunes to your TV or remote to your iPhone or App Stores to Macs. This is all part of their long term strategy and vision. To put it across, at one time everything is just going to converge into one centralized system. iCloud was made for this. To stitch all the devices together into a simple system. In this, I see Job's vision and his Zen philosophy,which stresses on focus and simplicity.

The problem with innovation in the television industry is the go-to-market strategy. The television industry fundamentally has a subsidized business model that gives everybody a set-top box for free or for $10 a month. And that pretty much squashes any opportunity for innovation because nobody’s willing to buy a set-top box. Ask Tivo. Ask ReplayTV. You know, ask Roku. Ask Voodoo. Ask us. Ask Google in a few months. Sony’s tried as well. Panasonic’s tried. A lot of people have tried. They’ve all failed. - Steve Jobs at the D8 Conference.

Apple is eyeing the Television Market and definitely urges to redefine and change this market. Surprisingly, this industry has not undergone much change since its inception. They've grown thinner and SMART TV's began by changing the interface. Every product from Apple focuses heavily on User Interface. This is it. An opportunity to re-invent another industry. What analysts think is that since Apple came up with the Siri on the iPhone, the voice controlled assistant they think it makes a lot of sense to them to bring it to TV. It wants to kill the concept of a buttoned remote. It could bring a revolution in TV industry like what happened in Music when iTunes came out. If you command Siri to play a movie according to your mood, using its own Artificial Intelligence maybe it can. You let your assistant pick up stuff you'd like and your in command. It's not a new idea, something like this is already in the market. Can you guess what it is? Damn. It's Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox. Basic TV controls are present but something like Siri (assuming an adaptive version of the iPhone Siri for TV) is far away from Kinect's imagination. But I don't get it and I don't think this is what "Jobs Finally Cracked it". Apple could have something like this ready in few months. They could work on Siri, connect the iPhone to the Apple TV and then all the commands would be processed on the iPhone and sent to Apple TV. There is something more to it. A new method of media consumption and a brilliant user interface. Something that we haven't imagined as of yet. Yeah, I'm excited.

These are what Nokia’s first Windows Phone 7 Devices are going to be : Lumia 800 and 710

Monik — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:05:24 +0000

Lately, a lot of ups and downs in the smartphone market have forced many good players to go broke OR partner with rivals. Nokia's daring step to go into "strategic partnership" with Microsoft is due effect, tomorrow. But you know what? We've heard it before Nokia's big event tomorrow and we present to you the first ever Nokia Phones on Windows Phone 7. Namely, two of them.

Lumia 800[caption id="attachment_5488" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Lumia 810 Leaked"][/caption]

Looks a lot like the Nokia N9, infact it's a design replica. It features a 512 Mb RAM and 50 hrs music playback support and NO MicroSd slot. Fair enough. The startling feature, its running WP 7! What excites me the most is, will the hardware get a long well with the software?

Lumia 710

[caption id="attachment_5488" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Lumia 710 Leaked"][/caption] Lumia 800 is supposed to be the higher end model while Lumia 710 serves as the bottom. It looks "cheaper" and also lacks a MicroSd Slot. For now treat them as rumors if you want, till they're proven right tomorrow. Thanks WinRumors.

iPhone 4S Review : It fills the gap before the next powerful iPhone

Monik — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 07:29:31 +0000

If you've come here reading reviews and posts deciding whether to the buy the iPhone 4S or not, get it if you are a diehard Apple fan, only and only. There are no major improvements in the 4S except the name (which reminds me of Steve Jobs so much). I've got an iPhone 4 and I have no reason to upgrade to iPhone 4S because it looks just the same. Even if I would want to show off the 4S, who knows the phone I have is the new or the old one?

Hardware

Major changes have been made under this section. The core processors have got a facelift and the 4S rocks a dual core A5 CPU (800 Mhz approx). This is what appears in iPad 2. Undeniably, Apple has focused its vision onto hardware now. They are eliminating hardware which is not engineered or made by Apple one by one. (FYI iPhone 1 was running on Samsung ARM 11 CPU) You know what this means, Right? The iWorld. The new CPU wouldn't make much impact if you're not used to playing games which flaunt brilliant graphics or apps which require such higher processing power. Even if you don't use such apps, this could work out well if you multitask with several apps. 4S is capable of running Siri, the digital assistant that Apple revealed only because of this dual core. As of now, we don't think other iPhone versions are capable of running Siri due to hardware constraints.

Design Same as iPhone 4

Camera

During the Keynote, Tim Cook's most lethal weapon indeed was the camera which turns out to be a game changer here. Compared to other smartphones, this is the most superior camera you will see. And if you didn't know, megapixel don't matter much in a camera quality. What matters is the sensor quality and the materials used. Apple got this right, Big time. The sensor on the 4S is larger than the previous and has got five lens elements. It shoots at 8 Megapixels, 3264×2448 pixels with backside illuminated sensor. It's got a larger aperture, f/2.4 and the image sensor is backside illuminated. For not so Techy people, it means that your photos will be better in low light settings. You know what's the biggest add on? You can shoot two pictures one after the other in about .5 seconds which no available phone allows you today. Apple's got video right too. 1080p HD video and the clarity is as good as the photos. This could give all the camcorders a run for their money. Maybe after getting an 4S you could possibly call yourself a photographer?

Siri Assistant

If you've used Siri's app, you would know that Apple's version is just a tweaked and advanced version of the previous software. It's more intelligent than you think. The application revolves around logic and learns from your previous commands, easily follows up conversations. We're going to post more on this once we get a hands on. These are the major changes on the newer version of the most selling smartphone. I would recommend you to stick to your iPhone 4 and wait for a major upgrade which will have LTE support (which means blazing fast speed) and NFC (Near Field Communication). Much to talk when iOS 5 comes out.

You know, “The Journey is the Reward” : Steve Jobs

Monik — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:39:55 +0000

The title represents one of those frantic buddhist quotes that Steve Jobs believed in. I had this strange feeling that Jobs was going to pass when he resigned from Apple. It was obvious, why would a man leave his dream job? Especially a man like Steve who always followed his heart? This morning I woke up to find that the greatest idol of my childhood (and for many more years to come) is no more. I couldn't help myself from getting too emotional.

Relation I (and many more like me) shared with Steve Jobs

I don't know Jobs and not had one conversation with him. I'm not even sure if he has ever read my name. There are millions like me whom he has helped and changed while not knowing us. But we knew him. He was the great visionary who had the guts to always follow his intuition and make the Apple of his dreams. We're connected to him through all his inventions, we're listening to Music, Playing games, Surfing the Internet, Watching Television Shows. We're all surrounded by Steve's creation. For me, one of things why Technology always enticed me was Apple. They always challenged their past to make something better. The perfectionist Jobs lead to the perfectness of the products.

What about his family?

Steve Jobs had 4 children and wife, Laurene Powell Jobs. Three Daughters (One of which is adopted) and a son. They will be good and FYI Laurene is also a good-to-do entrepreneur.

Will Apple be the same without Jobs?

Ofcourse not. Nothing can fill the gap of a brilliant personality like Steve's. The Optimistic attitude. The Aura. Nothing can replace it. Apple will never be like Jobs' Apple.

Will the world be the same without Jobs?

Obviously not. His ideas changed the way we interact with Digital Media and probably shook the hell out of mobile companies. He raised the standards and ethics of business. He made the tech scenario beautiful and perfect.

Emotional Attachment..

I shared something more than just what most people do. He's served as an inspiration for me. His presentation skills have awed me, time to time. I started blogging and first few posts were dedicated to Apple, a company who we knew to make MP3 Players. Today, six and a half years later under the direction of Jobs, they shaped the Digital World. I've covered almost all product unveilings from 2005 and liveblogged many. His controversial statements, sudden replies to emails and random acts have left a mark on my mind. I can never forget him. He's left a legacy and inspired millions of children like me to get up and follow our hearts. How can I miss his speech? I've seen it 100's of times and I request you to see it too. After 15 minutes you will know why.

Steve Jobs steps down as CEO and puts an end to a legacy

Monik — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:02:39 +0000

Steve Jobs resignation came as a shock to many but to the man, it was exactly how it was supposed to be. Every day when I come across news cooked up in Cupertino, it reminds me of a classic tale in the making. Every decision Jobs takes is rapidly leading him to preparation of a legacy to leave behind. Its his sheer luck, a planned adventure or whatever. I don't know. One thing that I'm sure about is his daring and dauntless character. Steve Jobs was my idol. I've seen his Stanford Commencement Speech more than a hundred times, not once did I not sense the energy that I felt the first time. I've read many books about him. iCon, his unauthorized biography tells me a lot about him and his perseverance. He was a perfect entrepreneur. I've spent infinitely many hours studying Apple's market tactics, ideas and their execution. Through all of it, flows the vision of this man. Being a tech blogger, I knew that if any news has something to do with Jobs, it's definitely worth a chase. And it always turned out to be. Steve amazed us and gifted us those breathtaking moments when he unveiled the most revolutionary concepts before anyone else. Ah, I'm feeling nostalgic. What happens next at Apple under Tim Cooks leadership? I don't know. But Apple is Definitely not going to be what it was without Jobs. I surely won't feel the excitement. Thank You Steve Jobs for filling our jobs with emotions. Thank You.