The Video Game Revolution

So... I am not a big video gamer but I know that there are far more people who enjoy video games than those who don't. I am the kind of person that likes real life situations rather than fantasy, so if I were to play video games I like racing games or sport games. These games are based on real life situations and not based on anime characters. However watching this movie on the video game revolution makes me realize why so many people are interested in these games. I think that the development side of video games is cool how they create the games. I like the grids that they use and the real people who mimic moves that allows the developers to simulate what moves the characters should make. This element can be anything from running, kicking, punching, even as much as how the mouth moves when someone is speaking.

One of the things that are neat about modern video games is the ability they have to make these games appear real. And that is one of the reasons why so many people are addicted to the games! Like the video says, its a way to escape reality and for a moment be part of something bigger and ideal. This video also makes me have a lot of credit for the developers and engineers I honestly had no idea how much work goes into making one video game! They said it can take up to years!! I also thought that the video games progressed so quickly from simple games with little color such as pacman to intense real life games such as Call of Duty.

Just as a side note, I don't remember if this was mentioned in the movie but I think that video games lead up to the use of simulations. These can be used to teach pilots how to fly a plane in unideal conditions, to the ice road truck drivers who need to learn how to drive the truck when there is so much ice on the roads. Situations like these, and war simulations, are helpful because they allow the person to get a feel for what is going to happen in the real world without being thrown out there to make mistakes that could potentially be life-threatening.

Steve Jobs Commencement

The Steve Jobs commencement at Stanford University was a great speech! Although we only viewed 15 minutes of it I thought that he had a lot of great things to share and was a good motivator. I should be graduating next Spring and that scares the shit out of me!! I have no idea what I am going to do and how it is going to work out. But I think that what he said about not being able to connect the dots looking forward, only looking back is the best advice. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Jobs says that if you know that you can only connect the dots looking back, you will be more motivated to live life in a way that makes you happy. This is because knowing that 10 years from now all the pieces will have fallen into place gives you the courage to live without the fear of regret. And I think that is wonderful advice! :)

Grid Art

My grid art project was inspired by my doggy Ginger. She's my baby!! We adopted her in December if last year, she has made our house a home! When I heard the project was grid art I first was confused and did not know what I would create. When I started looking at stores for a pre-existing grid, I remembered rug kits that I used to use as a kid. They are easy to use with a certain piece however I didn't have that piece. I had to make the rug by hand and it took probably 12 hours of work to get this complete. 

Here are some pictures of my grid art: 

Above is the original picture, below are the front and back of the rug I made. 

I thought that the class had really great assignments too, I think that my favorite was the guy who did the Mario out of bottle caps. That was very creative and original. 

Triumph of the Nerds Part 3

This was by far the best of the three videos! I really liked this one because it had a twist in it that I did not see coming.. I did not know that Steve Jobs job fired from Apple!!! And all because we are so passionate about his ideas.... that's ridiculous! I cannot believe that. I think that in this video as he was talking about how he did not make it in Apple he was a little sour towards Microsoft Windows. I also think that it's interesting that they were all friends and then ended up going in their separate directions. Also Steve Jobs and Bill Gates became two of the biggest rivals in computer history. That is sad because their jobs most likely took away from their friendship.

But I did think that the video was interesting to see how these companies were made and how they fought to stay alive. I personally, am an Apple user. I find that they are easy to use and much more dependable. I have had my MacBook for over 3 years now and it has yet to crash. My roommate has had her Windows PC for 3 years and is now on her second computer because hers has crashed so many times.

I also like Lennol. I think that he has the right idea that computers and PC will not be the future, that internet will be the future. And we have already seen that in way of the Cloud. This information can be reached from everywhere and anywhere. Another thing that I like about the MacBook is that you can connect all your devices together in one place. So my iPod and iPhone and Macbook can all have the same information. Now that's easy!

Triumph of the Nerds Part 2

Unlike the first part of these videos, the second one is about the rise of Microsoft and Intel. They also discussed the fall of IBM company. This video was not as interesting as the first one just because I am an Apple user so it is more interesting to me to watch about the rise of Apple than the rise of Microsoft just because I do not use that program as often as the Apple. However, it is still interesting that they were all friends, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak and they ended up all competing against each other in different computer companies. Fortunately they were all luck enough to make it big in this industry and are all wealthy men.

I did realize after watching this video that you really need to act fast on ideas that you have. I learned this through watching the IBM fail. They were a big company however did not have their eyes open to new opportunities and basically let them slip through their hands onto someone else. After this one mistake in their business they were left in the market with few buyers. I also learned some business skills throughout watching this second video.

1) Getting ahead is a lot in who you know and making good connections.
2) It is good to get out there and start making connections because you never know in the future who you might like to work with or what they have to offer you.
3) And finally I learned that the best business skill to have is to think ahead, think quickly, and most importantly ACT on it!

Triumph of the Nerds Part 1

This first 50 minute video is basically an introduction to how the computer industry evolved into what it is today. I thought that although the video had a lot of background information it was pretty interesting. This first video describes mostly how Apple company became famous and it's two founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. I liked that these companies were like started in garages and were meant to be used for fun and to impress their friends. I think that those make the best companies and fortunes is when you least expect it. These nerds had the intensions to make a device that was easy to use and could get things done, not with the intention of making millions of dollars. That was just an added bonus!

From this video I learned a lot, I learned that Apple company was started by two college friends who were super nerdy. They were early on fascinated with the digital world. They went on the school however found themselves attending conferences with computer companies. During the spare time these friends would hangout and listen to music while building the beginnings of personal computers. When several doors opened the two men took it upon themselves to start marketing for this idea that they believed would be a good sell. Luckily for them these ideas landed them big time jobs and boat loads of money all before the age of 25. These men did not even need to finish college because they realized that they were set for life. They got pretty lucky with that one, I wish that at 25 I was worth 3 million dollars!!