"We want pong!. We want pong! We want pong!"

   Remember those video game systems your parents used to talk about, the 'Atari' and the 'NES'? Time sure has flown since then hasn't it? Technology has progressed since the Sega Genesis, and the Super Nintendo. Today, we have the #1 gaming system, the Xbox 360 along with Sony's PlayStation 3 that both function as the most innovative multimedia systems, ever. Its crazy how we've come from the Atari which had hundreds of pixels to form a scene as opposed to the billions pixels formed to create a scene from a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360. Its literally mind blowing. 

   In the future, will there be any gaming with a controller? With motion gaming (as described in an earlier post) being the "next big thing", the answer to my question might just be a "no". As you can see, the future portrayed in the film 'Gamer' has a way of gaming of their own. Its like the video game 'The Sims', a virtual world where you create an avatar to do your dirty work. Its pretty much another universe where you can wander of too and create a life you've always dreamed of. But that's not always as great as it sounds. 

    The video game simulation the heavily obese man in the trailer above is playing as a female avatar and it just proves the fact that some people feel the need for this form of gaming. My question is: how far will this go? Will the future of gaming actually be as the one portrayed in 'Gamer'? A life of virtuality? Where people sit at home controlling another human for some kind of entertainment purpose. Look at how dark the man's room is. One should understand that this is what awaits us if we don't put an end to the video games and the creation of hands-free apparatuses.A life where the only place you want to be in is in the virtual world where you can be whomever you choose. A life of obesity and obscurity. :]

Hey mom, can I get an iPad? Its for school.

Source. 

    In today's day and age everything is being upgraded to become "better". Even things in which we probably all thought would stay the same forever since they have been the way they are for so long. The most recent addition to this category is books, specifically text books. When I was in middle school and even throughout my high school career, text books were the only form of book I knew of when it came to studies. But in 2011, people are walking around with kindles and iPads and using them as reading books, electronically, instead of the actual hard copy. This is very versatile and easy, especially for a student who wouldn't have to lug home a 10 pound book to and from class and home. In some high schools they are taking this initiative for their students.

    The high schools like Burlington High, in Burlington Massachusetts, have given their student iPads instead of text books for classes. There are plenty of pros to the administration doing this, like the fact that its lighter and multi functional. The only problems with this though is that it will eventually start becoming this way for everything. All books will eventually become avalible electronically but if everything becomes this way there is a chance that if by some bad accident all of the information could be crashed and lost and then all of the books would be gone.

    With that said comes a connection which brings together Fahrenheit 451 with this blog. Perhaps Beatty had no clue of what actually happened to books. There was nothing important in them because, maybe in his past, there were no textbooks. All there was, were touch pads which allowed you to read e-books. With the technology it takes to have an e-book, there has to be some type of internet function within the device, so think about it. Books offer nothing but words and grey pages, as opposed to Kindles, Nooks, and iPads which offer an endless mass of electronic function. JW:]

"There's no need to walk"

    I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Wall-E is a dystopian film. In a place where one can hop on top of a hovering chair to move from place to place, everyone's going to be overweight. What's funny about the advertising of the Axion cruise ship is that everyone in the commercial is skinny or in shape but in the reality of the cruiser, everyone is fat. In one of the clips (1:23), you can see the affects of the hovering chairs. In that scene the man falls down and can't get back up because of his obesity. Wall-E has to help him get back onto his hover chair. This is just one way, the hover chair affects people. 

    At 1:30 you can see just how accustomed these people are to living the way they do. There's a pool that no one is in, because they'd rather soak in the sun, sitting on their hover chairs, doing nothing but letting the computer do everything for them. These people don't even need to change out of their clothes. Since everything is so communist-like, everyone is dressed the same, everyone has the same thing, and people do the same things. There's no need to walk into a store to buy new clothes. Who needs that, when you can push a button that changes the color of your whole outfit (2:04)? 

    Further more, at clip 2:08 you can see their way of living being embedded into younger children's (infants) minds. Even THEY are on hover chairs, and when they see the letter "A" on the holographic screen, Axion is the example. Not only does the hover chair allow the luxury of not walking, it gives you the option to adjust the chair back in order to reach over and grab something you can't reach since you're so overweight (2:33). The hover chair, alone, is what caused the people on the Axion cruise ship to be so overweight. :]

Can't go lean if you go Green.

    50 miles per gallon. Boy does that sound marvelous. Toyota has allowed us to move from from city to city without stopping to get out of the car to refill the tank. Not only can I travel 50 miles in a car, I no longer have to spend money on gas every-so-often. Now, that's genius; a car that offers 50 miles per gallon, room for more AND its good for the environment. But is it really genius? Or is the fact that it saves the planet from more disaster genius? This is one to think about.
    
    If saving the planet costed risking your health, is it worth it? One might ask how it risks another's health but the answer is simple. 50 miles per gallon equals 50 miles you don't have to walk. Meaning you can travel 2,640,000 feet without using a single bit of energy. Is that safe? I don't think so. The technology we're coming out with today seem to be pretty awesome and creative but when the long term affects kick in, we blame the companies when really its our faults. If we didn't give in to propaganda, half of the U.S. wouldn't be nearly as fat as they are. All of the new gadgets make life easier for us to substitute exercise for luxury. :]

Before sitting in a plane for X number of hours, let's be very lazy, okay.

    The first moving walkway, moving sidewalk, walkalator, horizontal walkway, movator, people mover, or autowalk (whatever you want to call it) was introduced in 1893. How about that? The moving walkway is arguably one of the greatest inventions. Getting somewhere you need to be without having to exercise or waste any energy. Although, you're going onto a plane where you're going to sit down for 2-24 hours, you still get onto the walkway and stand still because you have the luxury to do so. That's the way the human mind works. If one was to arrive early to the airport and was in no hurry to get to the waiting room, they have the chance to relax and let technology do their job. 
    
    Is it okay for one to abuse the luxury they are offered by society or should one use what is handed to them when they absolutely need it? That is a question I have for the reader of this blog. Think about that one, because I need to know what the people feel about this. In my opinion, its wrong for the moving walkways to exist. Yes, its a fine invention, its "arguably one of the greatest inventions" to hit the surface of the earth, but is it a force? Yes it is. 
    
    If one was to think about what the moving walkway could do to the world, they'd join me in my argument. Although, the moving walkway allows one to maybe catch up on a book they've been reading or gives them the time to eat their bagel, it also TAKES AWAY from the exercise we get from walking. The average healthy amount of walking that should be done a day is 10,000 steps. They're are 5,280 feet in a mile. So if one was to be on a moving walkway for more than 4 miles a day, they'd be losing two days worth of a healthy day of walking; 21,120 feet. :]

Xbox Diskinect.

    Ever since I was a child, I've dreamed of virtual video games. Playing without playing. Controlling my avatar without a controller. I wished it would come true, year after year and finally, it has arrived. Xbox Kinect allows you to connect with your avatar, explore different levels of game play as "one". But is that what we need in society, as a whole? 

    Let's be honest, everyone loves the idea of interactive video games. But do we really love the idea that it could be what destroys sports as we know them? Think about it this way, playing sports and playing them well is every teenagers dream. So why not allow them to set the difficulty level and replay the same levels until they get better with no consequence? Because it will cause the world to have a disconnect with verbs. 

    Verb: It's what you do. I remember hearing that statement back in the 6th grade and since then, that's what I know the definition to be. Are today's sport video games killing this idea of verbs? The thought of motion and action. With all of the high tech gadgets in this century, can we survive without them? My idea of "Diskinect" is...if you create a project named 'Kinect' that does, indeed, connect with the user, but also disconnects their actions outside of the virtual world, the world of sports we know of today will be eliminated, indubitably. 

    People, today, are forced to believe that living in a state where you can use your body to maneuver gadgets is fine. And not even your body with physical interactions, just the motion of the figure. Soon enough, the transferring of telepathic messages will be the way we control our lives. Without the lift of a finger. Thus, taking away our youth. How's that for irony? :] 

Flying cars? Not just yet.

 
    Toyota: a company which provides vehicles for performance, everyday life, and luxuriousness. The 2013 Lexus GS Concept is a car ahead of its decade. With it's beautiful, sleek, spacious interior, you can tell just how great this car will feel underneath that butt of yours or better yet, right at the tip of those fingers. The dashboard proves to the eye, just how simple it can be. Without the flashy buttons, the simplicity of this car allows one to feel powerful in it. With its 12.3-inch multimedia screen, it allows you to play internet radio, check your Facebook status (any social network, for that matter) your e-mail, any organizer, purchase movie tickets at the theater, or even set up a reservation at your favorite dinner spot. WHATEVER you need it do to, it will do. Okay...maybe not everything but setting up a date while your navigation system tells you to turn right, its pretty impressive. I forgot to mention the fact that it comes with window screens for that trip you and your family go on when your children want to rest without the lights of Las Vegas ruining their dreams. You got it. Everything you need in life, in a car.

    If you've not added this to your wish-list yet, check this out. Its a hybrid. Yes. People always wonder "how much is it going to take me to get here and there and here and there" well, with this bad boy you can put your wallet away and say "hey, I'm just gonna use the money from my coin jar." Its that easy. Which brings me to another point: How far people will go to make this life perfect. All of these advances in technology are screwing with the minds of civilized people. People who like to live freely, people who enjoy living without all of the networking and typing and picture tags and wall posts. How far will "The Man" go to succeed in flushing the human mind out with a bunch of this "makes life easier" thing? Some people don't like to have all of the luxuries at their fingertips. Being so comfortable could easily trigger the mind into thinking, "I don't even need to drive" and then BOOM goodbye Hybrid, hello wheelchair. Its definitely something to think about and more of my posts will give the reader an idea as to how well or how bad it is to mess with how people live. :] Lexus GS Hybrid