Think Forward

In Search of the Internet

I recently moved to a place with some more space and land south of San Jose.    It just so happens that where I moved to all though not far from San Jose is still the country by all definitions.   Including its lack of Internet access.    I exhausted ALL my options for high speed broadband before having to go with what I feared the most which is satellite broadband.   During this transition I was without any Internet connection in our new space for almost a week.    It has been a long time since I was that un-connected.   I believe in unplugging from time to time but there is a difference between a conscious choice to unplug and the inability to be plugged in.   I never realized how almost completely useless my computers are without the Internet. That is a whole topic of conversation for another day.   About mid-week I figured all though the lots are quite a bit bigger where I moved to there has to be some neighbors with a open wi-fi connection somewhere.   So I grabbed my computer and told my wife I was going on my quest for the Internet.     So with my Mac flipped open constantly scanning for wireless networks I traveled up and down our whole property hoping to find an open connection.    Finally I found one, so I grabbed a chair and planted under a tree to do my e-mail and surf the Internet.   

Days later after clinging to my spot under the tree every time I need to send e-mail the satellite guys came and installed my satellite connection to the Internet.    So here are all the reasons I don't like satellite Internet. 

#1. Expensive - It is much more costly then DSL or Cable broadband even for slower speeds

#2. Slow - It is quite slow and because of the satellite connection there is severe latency.   Even the slowest DSL speeds are faster then the 1.0 MBS package for satellite Internet.   The latency though really bothers me.   When I do a speed test it says I am getting around 1.0 MBS.   Yet when I go to say the NY Times website it takes on average 5-7 seconds longer to load then the cheapest DLS package.  This is due to the latency of the satellite having to send the signal up then get the data packets back down.   

Since I am always highly critical of the user experience of everything we work on, I am quite displeased with the Internet experience satellite broadband brings.    Which got me thinking that the broadband industry needs to really focus on true pervasive broadband if they want to truly deploy all the wonderful services they hope to.     Because of the latency and satellite Internet I can no longer do VOIP, video conference or play console or computer games online.    

It appears WiMax is my only hope.   

Wii Fit and Immersive Gaming

I have been playing with the Wii Fit over the past week and have some observations of the experience so far. What I love about the Wii is how it is getting the attention of a larger audience then traditional gaming consoles.   I've said all along that Nintendo needed to begin to offer more gaming experiences that can sustain a single player for longer amounts of time.   Most of the Wii games are best in a social setting so the individual experience was a needed strategy.    The Wii Fit is definitely a step in that direction.   

The Wii Fit definitely provides a great deal of gaming value for the individual in a very immersive way.   My wife and I had a great deal of fun doing the individual training and balance games.    It is clear that the game was designed more for the individual since there was no way to compete against each other in any of the mini games in the Wii Fit.  The individual experience is quite good and very fulfilling both for fun and for exercise. 

The Wii Fit or the Wii in general presents and interesting look forward to something I have been saying for quite some time.   That is that video games have an amazing potential to teach people all kinds of things in new and immersive ways.   My best example for this is sports.   Anyone who plays sports knows that to succeed in sports it takes not only great physical ability but also mental.   When I coached baseball baseball and assisted in coaching football for a local high school we recommended key positions play games like MLB and Madden football.    Particularly for pitchers and quarter backs due to the mental strategy process.   We found that the QB's that did play Madden had a much better feel for viewing the whole field and reading defenses.    Similarly for pitchers and catchers that played MLB games had a great process of thinking about how to pitch or call pitches given different situations.    Much of this is part of the practice process that can't always be duplicated at a physical process.   

The Wii Fit and Wii in general show a lot of potential to contribute to this process or immersive learning / training.   I am excited to more games in the future that have a combination or play / fun, exercise / training and learning.