Monica Seles Is Working on Memoir
Former tennis great Monica Seles is working on a memoir.
She said in a statement Wednesday that she hopes “to share how I found balance, strength and happiness in my life after a rollercoaster ride of exhilarating accomplishment and sometimes overwhelming tragedy”
The book, currently untitled, will be published in 2009 by Avery, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA).
Seles, 34, won nine Grand Slam tournaments and as a teenager was the top-ranked women’s player for three years, in the early 1990s. But she is also known for one of the sport’s most bizarre and terrifying incidents: In April 1993, at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany, she was stabbed in the back by a man who climbed out of the stands.
Seles returned to the game 27 months later and immediately reached the 1995 U.S. Open final. Her final Grand Slam title then came at the 1996 Australian Open. She did reach two more major finals but was hampered by a left foot injury. Her last match was a first-round loss at the 2003 French Open. She officially retired last month.
Seles, who has struggled with weight problems, is currently a contestant on the hit ABC series “Dancing With the Stars.”
“After years of having every aspect of her training, diet and life dictated and scrutinized by others, Monica took control, deciding what she wanted from life and set out to obtain it,” her publisher, Avery, said in a statement.
“Cutting through the fog of sadness, fear and frustration that made Seles overweight and unhappy, today she looks and feels better than ever and has created a life in balance.”
via AOL
Tennis icon Monica Seles has sold her memoir to Avery, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA). The untitled project is scheduled for publication in March 2009. The auction for world rights was conducted by Dana Beck at Bill Adler Books.
In this inspiring and revealing memoir, Seles will explore her remarkable journey of brilliant tennis, fame, tragedy, loss and self-discovery. After years of having every aspect of her training, diet and life dictated and scrutinized by others, Monica took control, deciding what she wanted from life and set out to obtain it. Cutting through the fog of sadness, fear and frustration that made Seles overweight and unhappy, today she looks and feels better than ever and has created a life in balance.
Seles said, “On February 14th, I officially retired from professional tennis, closing one chapter of my life. I’m now opening a new chapter where I hope to share how I found balance, strength and happiness in my life after a rollercoaster ride of exhilarating accomplishment and sometimes overwhelming tragedy. Avery is giving me the opportunity to put this journey in words, and I’m thrilled to be working with them.”
Megan Newman, Publisher at Avery, said, “Avery is delighted to be publishing Monica Seles’ book. Her remarkable, uplifting story is one that will resonate with readers — those who were fans during her illustrious tennis career and those who will meet her for the first time. It is an honor to be working with such a talented athlete and promising author.”
John Steele, Senior Vice President at IMG, who represents Seles in her non-tennis activities, added, “Since Monica won the French Open at age 16, she has been living in the public spotlight but she has never really discussed the struggles that went along with all the victories. It will be both a remarkable read and a motivating story of finding health and happiness.”
About the Author
Earlier this year, Seles, 34, announced her retirement from professional tennis. Over her extraordinary career, she earned nine Grand Slam titles and won 53 singles and six doubles tournaments. She first became No. 1 in the world in March 1991. Seles was No. 1 for 178 weeks during the next two years — the youngest No. 1 ever at the time — until tragedy struck in April 1993, when she was stabbed in the back by a deranged fan during a match in Hamburg, Germany. She was not able to play again for more than two years. When she did return, she won even more hearts with her comeback win at the Canadian Open, and then reached the U.S. Open final the following month. Remarkably, she then won her ninth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January 1996. Seles joined the cast of the sixth season of ABC’s hit “Dancing with the Stars” in 2008.
About Penguin Group (USA)
Penguin Group (USA) Inc. is the U.S. member of the internationally renowned Penguin Group. Penguin Group (USA) is one of the leading U.S. adult and children’s trade book publishers, owning a wide range of imprints and trademarks, including Viking, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, The Penguin Press, Riverhead Books, Dutton, Penguin Books, Berkley Books, Gotham Books, Portfolio, New American Library, Plume, Tarcher, Avery, Philomel, Grosset & Dunlap, Puffin, and Frederick Warne, among others. The Penguin Group is part of Pearson plc, the international media company.
About IMG
Operating in 30 countries, IMG’s diverse businesses include: consulting services; event ownership and management; fashion events and models representation; licensing; golf course design; and client representation in golf, tennis, broadcasting, speakers, European football, rugby, cricket, motor sports, coaching, Olympic sports and action sports. IMG Academies are the world’s largest and most advanced multi-sport training and educational facilities, delivering world-class sports training experiences to more than 12,000 junior, collegiate, adult, and professional athletes each year.
IMG’s media and entertainment operations include content production subsidiaries Darlow Smithson Productions and Tiger Aspect Productions. Globally, IMG produces and distributes more than 11,000 hours of sports, documentary, drama, comedy, entertainment, popular factual and children’s content annually. IMG also represents the broadcast rights to many of the world’s premier sporting events and has the world’s largest sports archive with more than 250,000 hours of footage.
Forstmann Little & Co. purchased IMG in 2004.
via MSN
Terminator 4 to open May 2009
The fourth TERMINATOR movie, entitled TERMINATOR SALVATION: THE FUTURE BEGINS will open in May 2009, according to Variety.
Warner Brothers announced the news to the trade. The actual date penciled in for the McG starrer is May 22, 2009, the start of Memorial Day weekend. Christian Bale will star in the new movie as hero John Connor.
The trade says that he plot of the latest movie is being kept under tight wraps, but the film is the first part of a planned three-picture arc that begins after Skynet has destroyed much of humanity in a nuclear holocaust.
Shooting kicks off in New Mexico on May 5th of this year. Bale will next be seen in another Warner Brothers franchise, the highly anticipated BATMAN BEGINS sequel THE DARK KNIGHT.
via thehollywoodnews
T4 Gets Release Date
So much for Judgment Day. The Terminator has been assigned a new target: May 22, 2009.
That’s the date Warner Bros. has scheduled to unspool its heavily anticipated Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, per the trades.
The sequel, which will also serve as the first installment of another planned trilogy in the fabled man vs. machine sci-fi tale, picks up shortly after the first Terminator trilogy left off. Christian Bale plays the adult John Connor, leading a rebellion against the sentient computer network known as Skynet that seeks to wipe out all of humanity.
The studio will distribute Terminator Salvation in North America after securing a pact with Halcyon Co., which owns the franchise rights. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group will control international distribution.
Warner Bros.’ summer tent pole will bow the same day Twentieth Century Fox plans to roll out Night at the Museum II: Escape from the Smithsonian, the follow-up to its 2006 comedy hit Night at the Museum, in which Ben Stiller will reprise his part as the hapless security guard of a museum whose exhibits come to life after dark.
The original fantasy grossed $250 million in domestic ticket sales and the second Night is sure to give Bale and company a run for their money at the box office.
Despite its overwhelming popularity with the ComiCon crowd, the billion-dollar Terminator series has seen its blockbuster status slip in recent years. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger back in the indestructible robot role that made him famous, grossed $150 million domestically when it opened in 2003, but cost an estimated $200 million to make. However, the film more than made up for it internationally, raking in $283 million in foreign ticket sales to bring its global haul to $433 million.
By contrast, 1984’s The Terminator cost $6 million and tallied $38 million in the U.S., and eventually finished with $78 million worldwide. The biggest of them all was 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which generated a whopping $204 million in U.S. ticket sales before going on to earn $516 million internationally.
The first two films were written and directed by James Cameron and the third by Jonathan Mostow.
Taking the reigns on the fourth chapter will be McG, a Hollywood director who started out in music videos but found big-screen success helming the feature film version of Charlie’s Angels and its subsequent sequel.
But whether or not the director, whose real name is Joseph McGinty Nichol, has the chops to deliver the high-octane action goods of his predecessors remains to be seen.
The filmmakers have been tight-lipped about T4’s plot, but one thing’s for sure: it will not feature Schwarzenegger, who’s busy finishing out his term as California’s governor.
The story, penned by T3 writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris, is said to be set in the postapocalyptic nightmare briefly alluded to in the first three movies after Skynet fomented a nuclear holocaust hoping to destroy its human makers.
Aside from Bale—who’s pulling double hero duty as the Caped Crusader in this summer’s Batman sequel, Dark Knight—actor Sam Worthington is also in talks to come aboard. As it happens, Worthington is in the midst of wrapping a key role in Cameron’s sci-fi action-adventure epic Avatar, the self-anointed king of the world’s first Hollywood film since 1997’s Oscar-winning Titanic.
Shooting on Terminator Salvation is scheduled to kick off in New Mexico on May 5 and continue there for two months before moving on to other locales.
via eonline
Reference: The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction/action film directed and co-written by James Cameron. It features Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn.
The film takes place in 1984, introducing the concept of a “terminator”, specifically the titular character (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a seemingly unstoppable cyborg assassin who has been sent back from the year 2029 by a race of artificially intelligent computer-controlled machines bent on the extermination of mankind. The Terminator’s mission is to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) whose future son founds a resistance against the machines. A human, Kyle Reese, is also sent back from the future to protect her.
Why scientists love games consoles
Leading scientists are turning to the extraordinary power of games consoles to do their sums and simulate everything from colliding black holes to the effects of drugs.
Reprogram a PlayStation and it will perform feats that would be unthinkable on an ordinary PC because the kinds of calculations required to produce the realistic graphics now seen in sophisticated video games are similar to those used by chemists and physicists as they simulate the interactions between particles ranging from the molecular to the astronomical.
Such simulations are usually carried out on a supercomputer, but time on these machines is expensive and in short supply. By comparison, games consoles are cheap and easily available, says New Scientist.
“There is no doubt that the entertainment industry is helping to drive the direction of high performance computational science - exploiting the power available to the masses will lead to many research breakthroughs in the future,” comments Prof Peter Coveney of University College London, who uses supercomputing in chemistry.
Prof Gaurav Khanna at the University of Massachusetts has used an array of 16 PS3s to calculate what will happen when two black holes merge.
According to Prof Khanna, the PS3 has unique features that make it suitable for scientific computations, namely, the Cell processor dubbed a “supercomputer-on-a-chip.” And it runs on Linux, “so it does not limit what you can do.”
“A single high-precision simulation can sometimes cost more than 5,000 hours on the TeraGrid supercomputers. For the same cost, you can build your own supercomputer using PS3s. It works just as well, has no long wait times and can be used over and over again, indefinitely,” Prof Khanna says.
And Todd Martinez has persuaded the supercomputing centre at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, to buy eight computers each driven by two of the specialised chips that are at the heart of Sony’s PlayStation 3 console.
Together with his student Benjamin Levine he is using them to simulate the interactions between the electrons in atoms, as part of work to see how proteins in the body dovetail with drug molecules.
He was inspired while browsing through his son’s games console’s technical specification “I noticed that the architecture looked a lot like high performance supercomputers I had seen before,” he says. “That’s when I thought about getting one for myself.”
The Wii, made by Nintendo, has a motion tracking remote control unit that is cheaper than a comparable device built from scratch. The device recently emerged as a tool to help surgeons to improve their technique.
Meanwhile, neurologist Thomas Davis at the Vanderbilt Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee, is using it to measure movement deficiencies in Parkinson’s patients to assess how well a patient can move when they take part in drug trials.
via telegraph
Reference: A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or electronic device that manipulates the video display signal of a display device (a television, monitor, etc.) to display a game. The term “video game console” is used to distinguish a machine designed for consumers to buy and use solely for playing video games from a personal computer, which has many other functions, or arcade machines, which are designed for businesses that buy and then charge others to play.
WALMART TO COVER UP “M” RATED GAMES
Bentonville, AR – Censorship, of course, is nothing new. Every creative form of entertainment has endured attempts to restrict its content or who can access it at some point of its existence. Over the past few years video games have taken the brunt of those restrictions. The virulence of the attacks against the industry has only grown along with its rise in popularity.
Early on the industry seemed to learn from its predecessors. With the voluntary introduction of a rating system in the 90’s, the video game industry took a proactive approach to self regulation. The hope was that this show of responsibility would help stave of the more radical proselytizers and give the industry room to breathe. Throughout the Nineties, that approach seemed to be working.
Gaming had its controversies early in its life. Titles such as “Custer’s Revenge” and “Beat ‘em and Eat ‘em” broke boundaries and outraged parents in the nascent days of the industry when they were released for the Atari 2600. Natural selection and technology changes from companies like Nintendo doomed titles of such a controversial nature to extinction. In the early part of the 1990’s though, saw a surge parental outrage, and even US Senate hearings, with the release of titles like “Night Trap” and “Mortal Kombat”.
The resulting controversies forced the industry to form the ESRB and begin to regulate their own product, hoping that they would avoid the censorship the plagued the Film and Music industry before them. For a while, that seemed to work.
The start of the new millennium saw the release of two products that would forever change that calm peace the industry had brokered.
The Sony Playstation 2 and “Grand Theft Auto III” broke new grounds for controversy and popularity. All of a sudden, the industry found itself on the defensive again, and as the decade has progressed, the vigour of the attacks seems to have only increased.
With recent controversies over titles like “Bully” and “Manhunt 2” video games have never been under such scrutiny. That focus has caused not only developers and publishers to become nervous about the content in their titles, but also retailers.
The largest retailer of all has taken new measures to try to protect its consumers from potentially controversial video games.
Much like adult magazines had in the past, Wal-Mart will soon be displaying M-rated titles with a black sleeve covering three quarters of the cover of each title. The hope is that this will prevent children from any kind of exposure to anything that might be offensive on the cover of a game.
“It is the responsibility of Wal-Mart to protect our children from potentially damaging content, such as the covers of some video games,” said a company spokesperson.
When asked why the sleeves would matter when the titles are stored behind glass, the company had no comment.
The new program is expected to be implemented later this year. There are also plans to cover T-rated titles with a more modest half sleeve.
via scrapetv
Reference: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. It is the world’s largest public corporation by revenue, according to the 2007 Fortune Global 500.[3] Founded by Sam Walton in 1962, it was incorporated on October 31, 1969, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is the largest private employer in the world and the fourth largest utility or commercial employer, trailing the Chinese army, the British National Health Service, and the Indian Railways. Wal-Mart is the largest grocery retailer in the United States, with an estimated 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business, as well as the largest toy seller in the U.S., with an estimated 22% share of the toy market.
Wal-Mart operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the UK as ASDA, and in Japan as Seiyu. It has wholly-owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the UK. Wal-Mart’s investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in South America and China are highly successful, but it sold its retail operations in South Korea and Germany in 2006 after sustained losses.
Wal-Mart has been criticized by some community groups, women’s rights groups, grassroots organizations, and labor unions, specifically for its extensive foreign product sourcing, low rates of employee health insurance enrollment, resistance to union representation, and alleged sexism.
The end of cheap food
FOR as long as most people can remember, food has been getting cheaper and farming has been in decline. In 1974-2005 food prices on world markets fell by three-quarters in real terms. Food today is so cheap that the West is battling gluttony even as it scrapes piles of half-eaten leftovers into the bin.
That is why this year’s price rise has been so extraordinary. Since the spring, wheat prices have doubled and almost every crop under the sun—maize, milk, oilseeds, you name it—is at or near a peak in nominal terms. The Economist’s food-price index is higher today than at any time since it was created in 1845 (see chart). Even in real terms, prices have jumped by 75% since 2005. No doubt farmers will meet higher prices with investment and more production, but dearer food is likely to persist for years (see article). That is because “agflation” is underpinned by long-running changes in diet that accompany the growing wealth of emerging economies—the Chinese consumer who ate 20kg (44lb) of meat in 1985 will scoff over 50kg of the stuff this year. That in turn pushes up demand for grain: it takes 8kg of grain to produce one of beef.
But the rise in prices is also the self-inflicted result of America’s reckless ethanol subsidies. This year biofuels will take a third of America’s (record) maize harvest. That affects food markets directly: fill up an SUV’s fuel tank with ethanol and you have used enough maize to feed a person for a year. And it affects them indirectly, as farmers switch to maize from other crops. The 30m tonnes of extra maize going to ethanol this year amounts to half the fall in the world’s overall grain stocks.
Dearer food has the capacity to do enormous good and enormous harm. It will hurt urban consumers, especially in poor countries, by increasing the price of what is already the most expensive item in their household budgets. It will benefit farmers and agricultural communities by increasing the rewards of their labour; in many poor rural places it will boost the most important source of jobs and economic growth.
Although the cost of food is determined by fundamental patterns of demand and supply, the balance between good and ill also depends in part on governments. If politicians do nothing, or the wrong things, the world faces more misery, especially among the urban poor. If they get policy right, they can help increase the wealth of the poorest nations, aid the rural poor, rescue farming from subsidies and neglect—and minimise the harm to the slum-dwellers and landless labourers. So far, the auguries look gloomy.
In the trough
That, at least, is the lesson of half a century of food policy. Whatever the supposed threat—the lack of food security, rural poverty, environmental stewardship—the world seems to have only one solution: government intervention. Most of the subsidies and trade barriers have come at a huge cost. The trillions of dollars spent supporting farmers in rich countries have led to higher taxes, worse food, intensively farmed monocultures, overproduction and world prices that wreck the lives of poor farmers in the emerging markets. And for what? Despite the help, plenty of Western farmers have been beset by poverty. Increasing productivity means you need fewer farmers, which steadily drives the least efficient off the land. Even a vast subsidy cannot reverse that.
With agflation, policy has reached a new level of self-parody. Take America’s supposedly verdant ethanol subsidies. It is not just that they are supporting a relatively dirty version of ethanol (far better to import Brazil’s sugar-based liquor); they are also offsetting older grain subsidies that lowered prices by encouraging overproduction. Intervention multiplies like lies. Now countries such as Russia and Venezuela have imposed price controls—an aid to consumers—to offset America’s aid to ethanol producers. Meanwhile, high grain prices are persuading people to clear forests to plant more maize.
Dearer food is a chance to break this dizzying cycle. Higher market prices make it possible to reduce subsidies without hurting incomes. A farm bill is now going through America’s Congress. The European Union has promised a root-and-branch review (not yet reform) of its farm-support scheme. The reforms of the past few decades have, in fact, grappled with the rich world’s farm programmes—but only timidly. Now comes the chance for politicians to show that they are serious when they say they want to put agriculture right.
Cutting rich-world subsidies and trade barriers would help taxpayers; it could revive the stalled Doha round of world trade talks, boosting the world economy; and, most important, it would directly help many of the world’s poor. In terms of economic policy, it is hard to think of a greater good.
Where government help is really needed
Three-quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas. The depressed world prices created by farm policies over the past few decades have had a devastating effect. There has been a long-term fall in investment in farming and the things that sustain it, such as irrigation. The share of public spending going to agriculture in developing countries has fallen by half since 1980. Poor countries that used to export food now import it.
Reducing subsidies in the West would help reverse this. The World Bank reckons that if you free up agricultural trade, the prices of things poor countries specialise in (like cotton) would rise and developing countries would capture the gains by increasing exports. And because farming accounts for two-thirds of jobs in the poorest countries, it is the most important contributor to the early stages of economic growth. According to the World Bank, the really poor get three times as much extra income from an increase in farm productivity as from the same gain in industry or services. In the long term, thriving farms and open markets provide a secure food supply.
However, there is an obvious catch—and one that justifies government help. High prices have a mixed impact on poverty: they hurt anyone who loses more from dear food than he gains from a higher income. And that means over a billion urban consumers (and some landless labourers), many of whom are politically influential in poor countries. Given the speed of this year’s food-price rises, governments in emerging markets have no alternative but to try to soften the blow.
Where they can, these governments should subsidise the incomes of the poor, rather than food itself, because that minimises price distortions. Where food subsidies are unavoidable, they should be temporary and targeted on the poor. So far, most government interventions in the poor world have failed these tests: politicians who seem to think cheap food part of the natural order of things have slapped on price controls and export restraints, which hurt farmers and will almost certainly fail.
Over the past few years, a sense has grown that the rich are hogging the world’s wealth. In poor countries, widening income inequality takes the form of a gap between city and country: incomes have been rising faster for urban dwellers than for rural ones. If handled properly, dearer food is a once-in-a-generation chance to narrow income disparities and to wean rich farmers from subsidies and help poor ones. The ultimate reward, though, is not merely theirs: it is to make the world richer and fairer.
by economist
Grateful Dead to reunite for Obama concert
The Grateful Dead, the San Francisco cult rock band that has played at political events since the 1960s, will reunite on Monday for the first time in four years to rally support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, a spokesman said on Friday.
Band leader Jerry Garcia died in 1995. Surviving members have played together occasionally since then, most recently in 2004. On Monday, original members Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir will play at a San Francisco theater a day before California’s primary.
“They have agreed to reunite for this one-time-only event in order to lend support to Senator Obama leading into the crucial ‘Super-Tuesday’ series of primaries held on Tuesday, February 5th,” the band said in a statement.
The band gained fame with its free-form psychedelic music when the counterculture movement flourished in San Francisco in the 1960s, and they attracted many loyal fans who came to be known as “Deadheads.”
by Adam Tanner
Reference: Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco, California. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, jazz, psychedelia, space music and gospel—and for live performances of long musical improvisation. “Their music,” Lenny Kaye wrote, “touches on ground that most other groups don’t even know exists.”
The Grateful Dead’s fans, some of whom followed the band from concert to concert for years, were known as Deadheads and were renowned for their dedication to the band’s music. Many fans referred to the band simply as “the Dead”. As of 2003, the remaining band members who had been touring under the name “The Other Ones” changed their official group name to “The Dead”. Deadheads continue to use the nickname to refer to both versions of the band.
Their musical influences varied widely, and in concert or on record album one can hear psychedelic rock (in the late sixties), the blues, rock nuggets, country-western, bluegrass, country-rock, and although they rarely played jazz music, the band certainly borrowed for their music the kind of long improvisatory sequences that jazz artists such as Charles Mingus and John Coltrane perfected in the 1950s. These various influences were distilled into a diverse and psychedelic whole that made the Grateful Dead “the pioneering Godfathers of the jam band world.”
EDITOR’S VIEW: The PlayStation 3 Rebirth
It has endured a horrible introduction to the world, but PlayStation 3 has survived. Now it’s set to prosper. Next-Gen’s editor-in-chief Colin Campbell explains…
The thing about brands? They’re all about reputation. And PlayStation’s reputation has taken a beating.
We need not go into detail here, but it’s sufficient to make the point that Sony’s dominance is over forever and its survival in the game industry at all has seemed, at times, less than certain.
Many brands would not have lived through the ignominious introduction of PlayStation 3.
But the PlayStation brand and the Sony brand have survived. They have clung on. They are still here. And now they are going to come back into play. The battle against Xbox 360 (let’s leave Wii aside for now) is not over. In fact, it’s only just beginning. And PlayStation will be the ultimate winner, although what that actually means is something I reckon is worth analyzing in its own right.
Here’s why PlayStation 3’s fortunes are turning.
PlayStation has, rightly, been losing because its software line-up is not as compelling as Xbox 360.
If you look at the best games of the last year, Xbox 360 had a better year of it than PlayStation 3. Next-Gen placed four platform-exclusives from both consoles in our end-of-year top 30, but the Xbox 360 games’ average position was 10th while the PS3’s was 19th. The former had two games in the top ten; the latter had none.
However, a look at the big games for 2008 offers some promise for PS3. Apart from Metal Gear, Tekken 6, GT5 and the Final Fantasies we have two good FPS games in Killzone 2 and Resistance 2 and, perhaps most crucially, two delightful mainstream offerings in SingStar and Little Big Planet. Xbox 360 has a good line-up too, but it’s no better and, you could argue, a bit less thrilling, than its blue-chip 2007 offerings.
Microsoft has been fighting its console battle according to the tried and trusted rules of an age when consoles were largely sold based on their merits, chief among which was their games library. And it’s done very well. But PlayStation’s software offering is in the ascendancy and, anyway (here comes a heresy) sometimes it really isn’t about the software. “What?” – you splutter with incandescent bellicosity. “Not about the software? You sir, are a buffoon and a scoundrel.” Wait. Hear me out.
BLU-RAY
This is the real nub of the hardware war. It always was. For Sony, it has proven a dreadful disadvantage these past two years. It will prove the company’s most fearsome weapon in 2009 and onwards, and it will begin to make a difference in 2008.
The decision to go with Blu-ray as PS3’s drive was simultaneously a bad decision and a good one. It was bad because it hiked the price of the hardware. It was bad because it caused technology challenges and delays. It was bad because no consumers – none – were asking for it. It was bad because it looked like the company was trying to use its leverage in the game business to further its bigger picture ends.
It was good because Blu-ray is going to emerge as the winning platform in the war against HD-DVD. It was good because millions of people will be upgrading to hi-def over the next five years. It was good because a significant percentage of them will make PS3 a central part of that upgrade process.
For Jack Tretton and his pals at Sony, 2008 has begun with the sun shining and the birds singing – Las Vegas style. At CES Warner quit HD-DVD; the HD-DVD booth was way quieter than the neighboring Blu-ray booth. The consumer electronics zeitgeist declared the war over and Blu-ray the victor.
It’s not the end of the war, but it is the beginning of the end, and Blu-ray is the one going forwards. The end of this foolish war will usher in a period of growth triggered by consumers relieved that they can make a purchase and not get screwed by this dim-witted squabble.
Consumers are replacing their TV sets with high-def flat-screens. They will also replace their DVD players with Blu-ray players. They will seek the machine that is noted for its quality; the one that is future-proof; the one with the trust-worthy brand name; the one that, wow, also plays games. They will invest in PlayStation.
So is it all over for Xbox 360? No, the sales numbers are still in that platform’s favor. But sales numbers change quickly. I’m going to predict that, at some point in 2008, Xbox 360 will enjoy its last ever month outselling PlayStation 3. It will be Blu-ray, not Metal Gear Solid, that makes this happen.
PRICE
Up until this point, Xbox 360 has represented the best value. No longer. PS3 is $50 more expensive than Xbox 360 but you get a bigger hard drive, you get a Blu-ray drive and you get to play online for free. It is becoming extremely difficult to argue the case that Xbox 360 is better value than PS3.
In fact, Microsoft is the one most under pressure to cut price. Its paid-for system on Xbox Live looks wholly unsustainable and its lack of a Blu-ray drive is not compensated by that $50 differential (we don’t count the Arcade Pack – does anyone?).
It may be that Microsoft will cut its price to sustain its lead, but two can play at that game (PlayStation 3’s manufacturing costs are dropping substantially) and, anyway, market-share is not as valuable as it once was, certainly not valuable enough to persuade Microsoft to take a big loss on its hardware so far into the console’s life.
BRAND
PlayStation 3, as a model, looks, to me like a pregnant platypus. But some people see beauty in its lines. (I think all the hardware boxes this generation are pug-ugly, but that’s a different point.)
For many people, it looks like a tres-moderne piece of under-the-telly technology. And, what‘s more, it carries the Sony logo and the PlayStation logo. For those of us entrenched in the biz, both these brands carry baggage. But for them out there – the Year 3 Console Adopters, the people who bought a DVD player after the Millennium – these are brands to trust. They speak of sophistication and quality.
I don’t even posit this as an argument against Microsoft or Nintendo, simply as a point about Sony and its relationship with consumers. Sony still means something to billions of people, and so does PlayStation.
HOME
Will PlayStation Home make a difference? When I saw it a year ago, I was convinced that this piece of software would play a major role in the console wars. I still believe it has a touch of genius, the common touch, to take virtual living out of the machismo ghettoes of Xbox Live or the vacant loonyness of Second Life. If it works, it’s an amazing thing.
So, for the first time, Sony is holding some decent cards, even if its chip-stack has been eroded these past few years. It should go on to rack up a hardware base that rivals and then overtakes Xbox 360.
All the above looks like some sort of prediction that PlayStation 3 is going to “win” the hardware wars. It really isn’t, because winning doesn’t mean what it used to mean.
This hardware cycle has confounded most of what we thought we knew about the console games market. We used to believe that there would always be an ultra-dominant console and a distant second-place. We used to believe that third place was no-where. It was once a central belief that games consoles ought not try and be something else; that convergent devices were anathema.
Those things don’t seem to hold any longer. All three console manufacturers are in a strong position to take a win from this generation; simultaneously.
There was a time when “winning” meant creating a big enough share that third parties would work exclusively with the publisher, thereby guaranteeing the growth of that share. Those days are gone. That fight is no longer relevant. Third-parties no longer see value in exclusives. Hell; there’s almost an argument for first-parties to tickle their rivals with certain game releases.
Now, each company must win or lose according to its own criteria.
Nintendo will sell more hardware units than anyone else, and it’ll make a heap of money. In pure numbers on the ground terms, Wii may well win.
But this isn’t a big win for the game industry as a whole, because Nintendo takes such a huge percentage of the software market. Even with today’s massive installed base, we don’t believe Nintendo’s third-party partners can sell much more than 500,000 units of any game in first three months on sale (in either North America or Europe), whereas Nintendo games can and do sell millions.
Microsoft has broken into the games console club and, crucially, created itself a solid reputation as an entertainment brand. It has a larger installed base than PS3 and will continue to enjoy that lead for many, many months to come. Xbox 360 is also going to be a player – albeit not the dominant one – in the emerging entertainment download hub revolution. Crazily, Microsoft might actually make some money from its console adventure. That’s got to be a win even if it sells fewer consoles than its rivals.
PlayStation 3 won’t repeat the successes of the previous two cycles. It won’t dominate the market with solid gold exclusives. It may well spend a significant proportion of this cycle as the console with the smallest installed base. But it will succeed in aiding Blu-ray’s march onwards. That, arguably, is the most crucial factor in its play. As a corporate goal, it diminishes any rivalry with Microsoft to almost zero.
PS3 will one day be seen as a great product – certainly getting a 40% share this generation is a much more challenging proposition than an 80% share in the 1990s (against weak-assed Sega and stubbornly cartridge-a-phile Nintendo, for Chrissakes).
PlayStation 3 is set for greatly improved fortunes in 2008. Blu-ray is the factor that is tipping the balance. For Sony, there remains the enormous challenge of making sure those Blu-ray / PS3 owners engage in PlayStation 3 as more than just a fancy hi-def movie player.
By Colin Campbell (next-gen)
Reference: The PlayStation 3 (officially marketed PLAYSTATION 3, commonly abbreviated PS3) is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game systems.
A major feature that distinguishes the PlayStation 3 from its predecessors is its unified online gaming service, the PlayStation Network, which contrasts with Sony’s former policy of relying on games’ developers for online play. Other major features of the console include its robust multimedia capabilities, connectivity with the PlayStation Portable, and its use of a next-gen optical format, Blu-ray Disc, as its primary storage medium.
The PlayStation 3 was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November 17, 2006 in North America, and March 23, 2007 in Europe and Oceania, with two stock keeping units (SKUs): a basic version with a 20 GB hard disk drive (HDD), and a premium version with a 60 GB HDD and several additional features. (The 20 GB version was not released in Europe or Oceania.) Since then, the console has had several revisions made to its available SKUs and has faced stiff competition from the other seventh generation consoles. As of December 2007, the PS3 is in third place in sales for its generation.
THE 2007 DARWIN AWARD WINNERS WERE SELECTED FROM 17 NOMINEES:
What Goes Up Must Come Down (8976 votes) 80%
The Enema Within (4252 votes) 80%
Support Group (3728 votes) 78%
Weight Lift (2191 votes) 78%
Stop. Look. Listen. (1763 votes) 77%
Beer for Bears (2225 votes) 76%
Mole Hunt (5366 votes) 75%
A Prop-er Job (4431 votes) 74%
Oil Tank Trampoline (5737 votes) 74%
Cow-ard (38 votes) 72%
Barn Demolition (3336 votes) 71%
Superior Momentum (2112 votes) 71%
Elephants Press Back (1249 votes) 71%
Electronic Fireworks (3620 votes) 70%
Fatal a-Traction (52 votes) 68%
The Laptop Still Works! (1172 votes) 57%
Fatal Foaming Action (1443 votes) 49%
RUNNER UP # 5:
THE LAPTOP STILL WORKS (Confirmed True by Darwin)
“Driving is not a time to be practicing your multitasking skills,” remarked CHP spokesman Tom Marshall, commenting on a 29-year-old computer tutor’s decision to drive along Highway 99 in California while working on his laptop. He drifted over the center line, and was killed by oncoming traffic. CHP officers found Oscar’s computer still running, plugged into the Honda Accord’s cigarette lighter.
RUNNER UP # 4:
SUPERIOR MOMENTUM (Confirmed True by Darwin)
June 2007, Illinois | Two Valparaiso men tested their reflexes by playing “chicken” with a train. Which man could stay on the rail the longest in the path of an oncoming train? At the stroke of midnight, the contest was decided. The winner, aptly named Patrick Stiff, lost his life. The train continued on, as the conductor was unaware that it had hit anyone.
RUNNER UP # 3:
BARN DEMOLITION (Unconfirmed by Darwin)
January 2007, West Virginia) Three friends set out to dismantle a dilapidated barn one bracing winter afternoon. Speaking of bracing… One industrious man fired up his chainsaw and ripped through a crucial support post. Carrying the weight of a full barn roof, those wooden support beams were all that stood between the demolition worker and structural collapse. It was all fun and games until the roof, sans support, succumbed to the pull of gravity and flattened the man with the chainsaw. As a consolation prize, the deceased was indeed successful at demolishing the barn.
RUNNER UP # 2:
MOLE HUNT (Confirmed True by Darwin)
January 2007, East Germany | One man’s extraordinary effort to eradicate a mole from his property resulted in a victory for the mole. The metal rods he pounded into the ground and connected to a high-voltage power line, electrified the very ground the man stood upon. He was found dead at his holiday property on the Baltic Sea. Police had to trip the main circuit breaker before venturing onto the property.
RUNNER UP # 1:
WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN (Confirmed Double Darwin Award)
June 2007, South Carolina | A passing cabbie found a 21 year-old deceased couple laying naked in the road an hour before sunrise. Authorities were baffled. There were no witnesses, no trace of clothing, and no wrecked vehicles present. But investigators eventually found a clue high on the roof of a nearby building: two sets of neatly folded clothes. Safe sex takes on a whole new meaning when you are perched on the edge of a pyramid-shaped metal roof. “It appears as if [they] accidentally fell off the roof,” Sgt. McCants said.
AND THE 2007 DARWIN AWARD WINNER IS…
THE ENEMA WITHIN (Confirmed True by Darwin)
May 2004, Texas | Michael was an alcoholic. And not an ordinary alcoholic, but an alcoholic who liked to take his liquor… well, rectally. His wife said he was “addicted to enemas” and often used alcohol in this manner. The result was the same: inebriation. And tonight, Michael was in for one hell of a party.
Two 1.5 litre bottles of sherry, more than 100 fluid ounces, right up the old address!
When the rest of us have had enough, we either stop drinking or pass out. When Michael had had enough (and subsequently passed out) the alcohol remaining in his rectal cavity continued to be absorbed. The next morning, Michael was dead.
The 58-year-old did a pretty good job of embalming himself. Toxicology reports measured his blood alcohol level as 0.47%.
In order to qualify for a Darwin Award, a person must remove himself from the gene pool via an “astounding misapplication of judgment.” Three litres of sherry up the butt can only be described as astounding. Unsurprisingly, his neighbors said they were surprised to learn of the incident.
by DarwinAwards
Reference: A Darwin Award is a tongue-in-cheek honor named after evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin. “Awards” have been given for people who “do a service to Humanity by removing themselves from the Gene pool”, i.e., lose the ability to reproduce. It is for people who kill, or in rare cases, sterilize themselves accidentally by attempting to do stupid feats. As described in the Darwin Award books: The Awards honour people who ensure the long-term survival of the human race by removing themselves from the gene pool in a sublimely idiotic fashion. While an attempt is made to disallow urban legends from the awards, some older winners have been ‘grandfathered’ to keep their awards. The Awards have circulated since 1985 as emails and Usenet group discussions; the Google Usenet archive records two early mentions of Darwin Awards, 7 August 1985 Vending Machine Tipover and the 7 December 1990 JATO Rocket Car urban legend. The JATO legend was widely distributed via emails from 1995–97. Several anonymously authored email lists titled (for example) 1999 Darwin Awards have appeared annually since 1991.There are several websites that record “Darwin Awards” — a well-known one started in 1994 is darwinawards.com run by Wendy Northcutt, who has also written several books on the Darwin Awards.
Comparison Test: 2008 Subaru WRX STI vs. 2008 Mitsubishi Evolution GSR
Ladieeeez and gentlemen, welcome to the octagon for the main event, a grudge match of epic proportions pitting the top two contenders in world for the title of all-wheel-drive, turbo four-cylinder champion.
In the red corner, weighing in at a trim 3356 pounds, is a black belt with the heart of a boxer: the all-new 2008 Subaru WRX STI.
Wearing gray and also hailing from Japan is the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution GSR, a 3546-pound track master capable of throwing down in conditions ranging from tarmac to gravel to snow.
Like human mixed-martial artists, the Lancer Evolution and WRX STI are multitalented warriors that excel in all forms of combat. They both see regular competition around the world in everything from rally to enduro racing, autocross to circuit racing, even drifting and street racing. Pound-for-pound, dollar-for-dollar, these two are the most versatile sport sedans in the world.
They’ve slugged it out before in the pages of this magazine. When they first met in our October 2004 issue, the 2005 Lancer Evolution MR took the title. In our December 2005 issue, the rematch favored the 2006 WRX STI. This time around, a knockout may be in the cards, as each contender has been completely redesigned.
TALE OF THE TAPE
Subaru’s WRX STI steps into the octagon with two significant advantages over its rival: less weight and more power. It certainly looks the part, too. The five-door Impreza wagon is a no longer a skinny shrimp; flared fenders, broadened bumpers, and quad exhaust tips give it a chiseled physique. Underneath this impressive musculature is a 305-horsepower, 2.5-liter turbocharged boxer engine and all-wheel-drive system carried over from the larger Subaru Legacy sedan.
In the name of more stringent safety standards, Mitsubishi’s 2008 Lancer Evolution is larger and heavier than it’s ever been-and a full 3.2 inches longer than the STI. Power comes from an all new, all-aluminum, 291-horse, 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. Though it’s down 14 horsepower and weighs 190 pounds more than the STI, this is no wheezin’ Butterbean; what the Evo lacks in power and displacement, it makes up in electronic trickery. At its core is a system called Super-All Wheel Control, a complex array of structural and dynamic improvements, most notably Active Yaw Control (AYC), that could very well be the Evo’s secret brass knuckles.
Fighters, are you ready? Then let’s get it on!
ROUND 1: California Speedway, Fontana, California
Two issues ago, we ran an exclusive test of the new Lancer Evolution GSR (”Razor’s Edge,” January 2008) and it performed, well, miserably. Mitsu blamed the problems on an early preproduction car plagued by electronic gremlins. All we know is it managed to squeeze out a 5.4-second 0-to-60-mph time, making it one of the slowest Evos we’ve ever tested.
This time around, our Evo is clearly in fighting condition, needing only 5.2 seconds to sprint to 60 and only 13.9 seconds for the quarter mile. Problem is, the STI is even more fit-4.7 seconds is all the STI needs to hit 60 mph, and the quarter mile arrives in 13.4 seconds.
The STI smacks the Evo around in the braking test as well, needing five fewer than the Evo’s 111 feet to stop from 60 mph, even though the Evo sports larger-diameter brake discs. Must be those extra 190 pounds of curb weight.
The Evo battles back on our figure-eight course, running three-tenths quicker at 25.1 seconds. The big surprise is on the skidpad; while the STI shucks and jives to a 0.94 g, the Evo stings it with a 0.99 g. Credit the Active Yaw Control torque-vectoring element of the Evo’s slick S-AWC system, because it can’t be the shoes; these two wear the same size wheels (18 x 8.5) and tires (245/45R18) with similarly sticky compounds.
ROUND 2: K&N Dyno Facility, Riverside, California
Immediately after Round 1, we send our fighters to K&N Engineering, Inc., to make sure they’re not juiced. The aftermarket air-filter manufacturer’s headquarters are just down the road from our test track, and they generously give us time on their dual side-by-side in-ground dynamometer setup.
The STI runs first, and lays down three passes that average out to 255 horsepower and 278 pound-feet of torque at the wheels. Subaru claims 305 horses at the crankshaft, and with approximately 15 percent lost to drivetrain inefficiencies, these are numbers that seem spot on. The Evo’s 245-horsepower and 259-pound-foot of torque average are also in line with its claimed 291 crankshaft horsepower.
So does this round automatically go to the STI because of its greater power figure? Not so fast, because the Evo manages to hang with the STI despite being half a liter down in engine displacement. Fact is the Evo’s 122 horsepower per liter easily bests the STI’s 102 horsepower per liter.
But it’s not that simple either, as another important ratio to examine is weight to power. And no matter where it’s measured-from the crankshaft or wheels-the STI has at least a 1.2-pound-per-horsepower advantage over the Evo. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but with fighters so evenly matched, that could very well be enough.
Looks like it’s going to come down a decisive round three at the track.
ROUND 3: Buttonwillow Raceway East Loop, Buttonwillow, California
So far, it doesn’t look good for the Evo. It’s been bloodied and bruised by the STI’s greater power, straight-line speed, and braking ability. Sure it has better cornering ability, but will that be enough around the short 1.04-mile East Loop of Buttonwillow Raceway?
Maybe, says one of the ringside judges, senior editor Ron Kiino. “The Evo handles much sharper than the STI, with crisper turn-in and better steering feel throughout the range. The Evo also allows for more rotation, which lets you to attack corners harder. AYC takes some getting used to, but once you trust the sensations it creates (oversteer), it becomes fun and addictive.”
In comparison, the STI feels like a blunt instrument-more ground and pound to the Evo’s slice and dice. Continues Kiino, “The STI’s steering offers decent feel, but it’s less organic than the Evo’s. It also exhibits more understeer, as if it’s protecting you out there and won’t let you seriously screw up.”
The Evo’s sharper steering and better turn-in are a product of the S-AC system, notably AYC, which actively splits torque between the rear wheels in hard cornering situations. AYC accelerates the outside rear wheel in tight corners, rotating the car faster and allowing for earlier throttle application.
The STI’s fancy electronics consist of Subaru Intelligent Drive (SI-Drive) and a manually adjustable Driver Controlled Center Differential (DCCD) all-wheel-drive system. SI-Drive optimizes engine response by tweaking the electronic throttle. In its most hardcore mode-Sport Sharp-throttle response is markedly improved. DCCD isn’t as helpful; though this system has three modes (auto, - and +) and six manual differential locking settings, their purpose and benefit is felt more on surfaces other than dry pavement.
While Subaru’s DCCD system offers more manual control, it doesn’t address overall handling with the same precision, clarity, and focus on driving pleasure as Mitsubishi’s S-AWC system-a point driven home on the East Loop’s uphill corner; while the STI defaults to speed scrubbing, fun-killing understeer, the Evo can be coaxed into exhilarating powerslides.
And then there’s this devastating blow: The Evo is simply faster around the track. Road test editor Scott Mortara’s fastest lap in the Evo stops the hands at 57.6 seconds. The STI finishes exactly one second behind.
MR FOR YOUR MONEY
For round three of our title fight, we’ve also evaluated a preproduction 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR. The key difference with this model over the base GSR is the ultra-quick-shifting, six-speed dual-clutch transmission Mitsubishi calls TC-SST (Twin Clutch-Sport Shift Transmission).
Test ace Mortara steps out of the car singing the praises of the MR, particularly the TC-SST’s Super-Sport, which was purpose built for track days like this. While Mortara swears his MR time is the fastest of them all, that’s not the case. The MR’s 58.2-second lap time puts it just ahead of the STI, though it could have beat the GSR had our test vehicle not been plagued by a high-rpm hesitation. Mitsubishi claims to have already solved this problem and finalized the ECU software that has delayed the release of this MR. Look for a full test shortly.
By Motortrend
Avoid these Common Condom Mistakes
For being such an inexpensive item, condoms pack a powerful punch. They protect its users against many sexually transmitted diseases as well as guarding against pregnancy. In the heat of the moment, however, many couples do not stop during foreplay and pull out the condom instructions from the box to ensure they are using the condoms properly. So, for those condom users who are not currently engaged in sexual activity, here is a brief rundown of some condom no-no’s for you to peruse.
• A very good friend of mine met her husband in college and she recalled the first time they were about to have sex. Being a responsible man, he pulled the condom he kept in his wallet out as they were about to leap from third base and slide into home. He opened up the condom wrapper and the package was empty. The condom had expired years earlier and had disintegrated into a powder. Lesson learned? Never use condoms that have expired (they may no longer exist, as in this case) as they become weaker with age and more prone to breakage.
• If you are planning a night of unbridled passion and plan to have sex at least four times, pack at least four condoms. Add to that number any other kind of sex you plan to have, including oral or anal. Never use the same condom multiple times. If, for instance, you are using a condom and have just engaged in oral sex and are planning on moving to vaginal sex, dispose of the used condom and start with a new condom before engaging in the vaginal sex. Along the same lines, if one single sex act is continuing beyond thirty minutes, it would be an excellent idea to put on a fresh condom to avoid the condom breaking.
• While double-bagging your groceries may be an excellent idea to avoid your groceries from spilling all over your back seat, you will want to avoid double-bagging your condoms. Use only one condom at a time. The extra friction caused by rubber rubbing against rubber is sure to result in breakage.
• Never expose your condoms to anything that could cause it to potentially tear, rip or break. Some things you will want to keep away from a condom include, but are not limited to, the following: hot cars on summer days, pointy fingernails, sharp teeth, scissors or box cutters, fresh stubble, chainsaws, etc, etc.
• Once the sexual act is complete and the man has ejaculated into the condom, never let the penis go flaccid inside or the condom is likely to leak or slip off exposing those same fluids you were trying to protect. Also, never pull out without holding firmly onto the condom at the base of the shaft. This will also prevent unnecessary leakage.
• As tempting as it may be to only wear the condom towards the end of the sexual activity right before ejaculation, resist the temptation. Never let genitalia touch before you are protected with a condom.
• When friction becomes a problem with condom use, turn to a water-based lubricant for aid. Never resort to using petroleum jelly, lotions or oils as these products can cause latex to weaken and break.
• Never put on a condom so tight that there is no space for the semen to accumulate after ejaculation. When rolling a condom on, be sure to leave an air-free space at the tip.
Reference: A condom is a device most commonly used during sexual intercourse. It is put on a man’s erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner. Condoms are used to prevent pregnancy and transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs—such as gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV). Because condoms are waterproof, elastic, and durable, they are also used in a variety of secondary applications. These range from creating waterproof microphones to protecting rifle barrels from clogging.
Most condoms are made from latex, but some are made from other materials. A female condom is also available. As a method of contraception, male condoms have the advantage of being inexpensive, easy to use, having few side-effects, and of offering protection against sexually transmitted diseases. With proper knowledge and application technique—and use at every act of intercourse—users of male condoms experience a 2% per-year pregnancy rate.
Condoms have been used for over 500 years. In the early twentieth century, with the invention of disposible latex condoms, they became one of the most popular methods of contraception. While widely accepted in modern times, condoms have generated some controversy. Improper disposal of condoms contributes to litter problems, and the Roman Catholic Church generally opposes condom use.
