In an attempt to combat the influx of online games that have become popular in every computer lab across the US, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board has announced a new system for rating games through a computer automated network and questionnaire. Digital gaming growth placed a strain in the self-regulated organization, and it has made the process of assigning age ratings to games an antiquated model. Since several game platforms won’t release games without a rating, the former system was a problem, but the new system should solves some of the former qualms.

The new system would place a lot of trust on the game publisher. With the help of the questionnaire a computer program will evaluate every aspect of the game, including violence, sex, profanity, drug usage, and bodily function. Publishers will be expected to fill out detailed questionnaires on these categories to help the machine with the rating process. Once the game is evaluated, the computer gives the game a rating, and the game will be available for release. Some distributors will require a follow-up evaluation by a human of the computer’s rating, but the computer will do most of the work.

The questionnaire begins with eight basic questions about the content of the game. Based on the yes answer, there will be more detailed questions. For example, if you answer yes to sexual content, the questionnaire will then ask about the context of the content, etc.

The publishers will also be expected to submit a video with the example graphics detailed within categories on the questionnaire. The ESRB is relying on the publisher to submit each scene that could affect maturity ratings, but there is no system in place when a publisher does not disclose portions of the game. Presumably, game sales would halt until the case is evaluated. Most publisher would benefit from complete honesty in regards to the questionnaire process, since game ratings are more strictly enforced than movies and music, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Although, this system only applies to digital releases, eventually box releases and casual gaming environments may have the same process. The perk of this system is it’s a more cost-effective way toward a game release for the publisher and ESRB.

This new ESRB system is more of an experiment, until the organization has a better idea of the effectiveness. If the program is successful, there may be an expansion of the process within the next few years.

Rent or buy? That’s it? Are you kidding? We are talking about where we live our lives and we only have two choices? Seems like the streets or life on the road would be better at times.

Then why not have a Real Estate product that puts a portion of current rent towards a slowing growing chunk of (pseudo-)equity in owning a (potential) future home from the same property owner.  In other words, you wouldn’t be pissing away all of your rent money knowing you’re getting nothing except more and more rent coming due.

Say your rent is $500 a month. $10 of that $500 would go (into a fund) toward owning a home from the same property owner — if you ever decide to buy later. Best of both worlds.  Participating property owners would have a great edge by offering such incentives while renters wouldn’t constantly lose money keeping someone else’s roof propped up.  Renters would get a tiny slice of what they are hopefully trying to do anyway: gradually striving towards a real stake in owning a home.

Potential markets may spring up to roll over this pseudo-equity from one property ownership company to a different property ownership company.  And time would tell if such a product could fall victim to its own version of messes pivoting the current housing crisis like default credit swaps and mortgage backed securities.

Sure this is kind of a radical housing product, but it may take something a little different to pull us out of this crisis and restore faith and credibility to how and where we live.

Please chime in on why this wouldn’t have a chance in hell, or what you believe needs to happen before a scheme like this could take hold.

By the way, the awe inspiring stuff below deals with building new and innovative structures. I credit this for spawing the question, “This is awesome, but what do we do with the houses here today?  And how are we to better finance all of this?”:

Dan Phillips: Creative houses from reclaimed stuff — Dan uses building and construction waste to build unique dwellings.

John Gerzema: Liquid Living And Modular Homes — Definitely not mobile homes. These energy-efficient, low-cost homes comprised of green materials fold up into shipping containers to go anywhere for quick and easy assembly.

Lookotels — “LOOKOTELS is a new concept in the design and construction of hotels for a cost effective price, thanks to reduced construction times and raw material costs.”

Corn Waste Transformed Into Versatile Building Material — “a proprietary corn-based composite board that can be used as a construction material instead of plywood or fiberboard.” Creating building material from corn stover (the corn husks and stalks remaining after harvest) seems more profitable than letting it rot in the fields like it often does.

The Multi-part postings “The dreaded ‘Idea’” addresses minor world needs that I’d like to see happen but don’t believe any single one is important enough (for me) to go to anybody with.

Part 1 spouts freely about Twitter and iPhone/iPod Apps & iOS along with a short treatise-like rant on ideas in general.

Part 2 explores needs in the web media landscape.

Part 3 tackles eReading and Music.

Saved a quick blog post draft about the The Johnny Cash Project back in April of last year when I first learned of it. The collaborative project site describes it:

Working with a single image as a template, and using a custom drawing tool, you’ll create a unique and personal portrait of Johnny. Your work will then be combined with art from participants around the world, and integrated into a collective whole: a music video for “Ain’t No Grave”, rising from a sea of one-of-a-kind portraits.

Strictly Global just aired he the ever evolving video of “Ain’t No Grave” on regular old TV and it is high past time to blog it.

The video itself as of 9/30/10 starts around the 2:45 mark.

As my description of this on YouTube says:

Hastily assembled time lapse of the blizzard in Missouri. Shot with iPhone 4 from morning until sundown on 2/1/2011.

Music: “Dance of the Stars” by Beauclerk ( http://www.myspace.com/beauclerk )

Sort of duplicating, or triplicating, content here, but the text of an old blog post “IM babble: Lash La Rue, Twitter, Randy Travis and Tramp Stamps“ found its way to becoming an animated video via Xtranormal.

Part 1 [Contains moving drawings of non-sexual, topless nudity, aka boobs.]

Gandahar, aka Light Years is a truly mindbendingly bizarre animated fantasy epic based on Jean-Pierre Andrevon‘s novel “Les Hommes-machines contre Gandahar (The Machine-Men versus Gandahar).”

The english language version is from Miramax Entertainment and according to Wikipedia there are currently no plans for a DVD release in the States.

The plot summary from Wikipedia:

The paradise world of Gandahar is threatened by a mysterious power, so Queen Ambisextra and the Council of Women send the warrior Sylvain to scout for this danger. He discovers metallic humanoids with a paralyzing ray who send the bodies of those they capture through a portal. Later these individuals return, also encased in metal.

Airelle serves as the love interest for Sylvain. He meets “The Deformed,” a group of mutants who Sylvain at first mistakes for the enemy.

The cause of this terror is traced to the giant brain Metamorphis, although Metamorphis is puzzled about how he could be the cause. The metal humanoids are coming back in time from the future, so Metamorphis offers to place Sylvain in stasis until that time. Sylvain awakens in 1,000 years as planned, and destroys the old, weakened, and now insane, Metamorphis.

Gandahar likely contains many political, religious, cultural, societal and technological thematic undertones I’d rather not attempt pondering for fear of my head spinning faster.

Watch the remainder of Gandahar after the jump.

Part 2

Part 3
Note: Start (this) Part 3 at 46 seconds in and end at 6 minutes 30 seconds — then go to the overlapping, better quality version of Part 4 below.

Part 4

Part 5

Part 5b/Part 6ish?
Note: Actually start this one at 7 minutes and 50 seconds in. After starting at the 7:50 mark and playing until its end there still appears to be a gap — because of no subsequent overlapping video — until any next part of Gandahar online. [I went through the (Gandahar) uploads of YouTube users "xeokym" and "woof221". Please contact me if you find any (of the) missing footage or a full and complete, decent quality version of Gandahar, online, in English, and legally posted.]

Part 7

Part 8

While already ancient in Internet years, these three stood out after a recent video viewing catchup binge:

Sport:

If this hasn’t been on repeat on ESPN can anyone really even utter the word “sport” anymore?

Meatspace:

The 600 Years from the macula on Vimeo.

Video Projection Mapping for the 600th anniversary of the Astronomical Clock in Prague — it’s a video of video projected on the clock itself.

Art/Architecture/3-D computer modeling/Music Video/Or something like this:

(via BoingBoing)

The Glif is a small thingy that fits snugly onto the corner of your iPhone 4.  It enables you to then mount your iPhone 4 on most tripods.

It also:

• Props up your phone so you can watch video
• Can turn the iPhone into a mini computer (with the use of a bluetooth keyboard)
• A handsfree method for FaceTime calls It even acts as a shield for the phone’s antenna issue.

But the thing has yet to even be manufactured.  Regardless, this future product fills such a need and want that at last check those behind The Glif are up to $95,120 — vastly exceeding their goal of $10K — with 21 days remaining on their Kickstarter project.

I recently called B & H photo, the massive Audio/Visual outlet based in NYC, to find out if their website was erring.  How is there are millions of iPhones — with an OK camera and now capable of HD video — and no way to mount them on tripods?  I believe B & H told me they don’t carry anything like this because there is nothing like this currently on the market worthy of their store.

Maybe the The Glif could rectify.

Looks like a $20 contribution to The Glif KickStarter project will snag you a pre-order of long awaited iPhone accessory.

Related articles

• A Simple Tripod Kicks Up iPhone Photography a Notch (mashable.com)
• Glif iPhone 4 tripod adapter & stand has huge public appeal (slashgear.com)
• The Glif: We Need This iPhone Stand & Tripod Mount (macstories.net)
• iPhone Mounting Stands – The Glif iPhone 4 Tripod Stand is a Convenient Accessory (VIDEO) (trendhunter.com)

NINJA TUNE XX Video Mix by MOX

The most decent Ninja Tune record label is celebrating its 20 years anniversary with a box set.  It includes six CDs, six 7-inches, two posters, and a hardcover edition of the retrospective book Ninja Tune: 20 Years Of Beats & Pieces.

Stream its music free. And buy it. It is now sold out, but “A limited number have been held back to go on sale on when we launch the new NINJATUNE.NET.”

Related articles

• Ninja Tune Xx London Party (kspace.tv)
• Ninja Tune: XX, CD review (telegraph.co.uk)
• Various Artists: Ninja Tune XX | CD review (guardian.co.uk)
• Ninja Tune Blows Out Birthday With Box, Book (wired.com)

Vasulka.org – an interwebs spot for electronic, computer and video art — somewhat recently opened their archives.  Its 27000 pages of scanned documents include hand typed texts, circuit diagrams, program bulletins and correspondence.

[The Vasulka Archives]