Innovation

About Medicine X – That Time I Wore Google Glass

/ Christopher / 2 Comments

“Christopher, what do you think about this song for the end of the conference?”

That was the question to me from Medicine X’s conference director, Dr. Larry Chu. I had been somewhat vocal about my support for the true Club MedX experience, including lots of bass, between sessions on Twitter so that earned me the honor of unofficial music consultant as the weekend came to a close. In the middle of our discussion about the the upbeat nature of ‘Titanium’, I asked Dr. Chu about the Google Glass that he was wearing.

“You want to try it? Here!”

He didn’t think twice about it. That’s how cool Medicine X is. That’s how awesome Dr. Chu is.

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This is happening. #googleglass #MedX

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After a 2-minute tutorial, Dr. Chu was off attending to more important matters and I was left to experiment with the reportedly $1,500 (in beta) device for the duration of the final day of the conference.

For the next four hours, I proceeded to toy around with the various functionality of Glass, while remaining respectful that it was configured for Dr. Chu, his twitter account, and his email. Every time he received an email deemed “important” or a Twitter mention, a chime would sound in my right ear letting me know I could engage with the notification. From what I could tell this meant reading the headline of an email or seeing a full tweet. But reading is not the only thing you can do with Glass.
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Misfit Wearables

/ Christopher / 3 Comments

Sonny Vu is one of the people responsible for the iBGStar. I was fortunate enough to see Sonny speak at Medicine X a couple of months ago. He’s a smart man. I know the Shine isn’t specifically a diabetes device, although being active certainly helps keep things in check, but the basic idea behind the Shine is what intrigues me the most.

“Simple. It’s about overcoming complexity.”

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On Iteration and Lefty

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I’ve had a busy week. Between the new Modern Warfare 2 Trailer that was released, writing like a fiend, catching up on podcasts and becoming inFamous, sometimes the little things will fall through the cracks. Every now and then however, I’ll come across a comment or two that may not initially trigger a response, but will still linger around, cooking in the back of my mind like a good stew. I came across one such exchange of opinions regarding Modern Warfare 2 (and Killzone 2) between JVB and Parris and something didn’t quite sit right with what I read. Continue reading →

On Innovation and Hypocrisy

/ Christopher / 1 Comment

So I’m sure you’ve seen the footage for the new Punch-Out game coming out in a couple weeks. If you’ve done any digging you’ve likely noticed that nearly all of the roster from the old school NES game is returning with a few additional stereotyped characters. And yes, the pink jumpsuit appears to be coming back too. After seeing all the screen shots and reading the hands-on articles, I think I’ve reached a tipping point. All of these remakes are starting to make me sick. And the worst part of all of this is that we are to blame. You (my eager reader) and I, as serious gamers are responsible for the lack of innovation on the White Waggle Machine of Might. Ok, I’ll admit that was a blanket statement. But I’ll do my best to support that assertion. Continue reading →

Are You Not Entertained?

/ Christopher / 1 Comment

As a collective, we the gamer constantly complain about the apparent lack of innovation in game design. We are always looking for the next big thing to push the envelope. We want something to satisfy the cliche, to live up to the hyperbole. My concern is that collectively, we are both clueless and hypocritical. For all the cries for new, exciting and innovative, there are numbers to suggest that none of that matters. So what’s the point? Continue reading →