Allan D. Francisco
Who would have thought that spending hours playing computer games could equip slackers with enough presence of mind and medical skills to save victims of a road mishap?
Apparently, something like this happened, news reports of which might finally help some of our readers convince their dads and moms to buy them a PlayStation 3, an Xbox 360, or a Nintendo Wii. After reading this, their parents might at last realize that aside from helping kids waste a big portion of their youth, video games do indeed offer some benefits. (Not that the video game industry needs any help for the moment. After all, the gaming sector in the US recorded $ 17.9 billion in sales in 2007.)
According to the story published on the Yahoo! news portal, a video game player used first-aid skills he learned from playing the America’s Army game to save a couple of victims from an overturned SUV somewhere in North Carolina. A first-person shooter video game commissioned and promoted by the US Army to expand its recruitment efforts, America’s Army lets players choose the type of soldiers they would play.
Before a gamer can play a medic, he or she must go through sessions of virtual medical training. Our gamer hero, apparently, chose to play a medic and had to undergo a crash course on providing first aid courtesy of the video game.
The news report did not say if the incident had convinced the unlikely hero to enlist in the Army or become a paramedic.
Contact Lenses for Monitors
University of Washington engineers have brought together a highly elastic and safe contact lens with a printed electronic circuit and lights. Using microscopic manufacturing processes, the engineers have created a device that displays information, videos and graphics superimposed on the user’s normal field of vision just the way it is depicted in the movies.
A long list of possible applications for the contact lens-cum-information display system is being studied by research engineers and product development people. The list is likely to include consumer, business, industrial and military applications. For example, the technology could provide a truly immersive experience for gamers. Car drivers and even pilots, on the other hand, need not look at their consoles and dials eliminating a possible cause of distraction while driving or flying.
Cheaper SMS, Mobile Internet
After winning her joust matches a few months back with Western European telecommunications operators over excessive charges for roaming mobile phone calls, European Union Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding has now set her eyes on high prices of sending text messages and mobile Internet service.
Reding’s recent statements calling for lower fees for SMS and mobile Internet sound similar to her earlier pronouncements when she asserted that mobile service providers were overcharging European subscribers for mobile calls made outside their countries. As expected, telecommunications companies have expressed their opposition to Reding’s proposed caps on SMS and mobile Web fees.
How I wish we had government executives of the same caliber and who would and could fight for lower telecommunications fees, giving mobile subscribers something to be happy about in this time of the strong peso and lame purchasing power.
No More CDs?
MediaStreet’s introduction of the vAMP, or virtual album MP3 player, signals something that music labels hope will entice consumers back to record bars and other music outlets. Dubbed as a replacement for the CD, vAMP is described by the company as a combination CD and MP3 player. MediaStreet claims that the product is the market’s smallest fully functional MP3 player at 0.7 ounces, and the thinnest too at 3mm
With a retail price of $ 27.99, it may also be the cheapest around.
That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.
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