The economics of fun

Post from Sonia:

Anyone who's ever played a Multiplayer Online Game (MOG), knows how absorbing and engaging they can be. Personally, I like Second Life, but there are others such as Everquest, which was estimated in 2002 to have a per capita GNP of $2,000 -- that's about the same as Bulgaria, and bigger than that of India or China.

The economies inside MOGs can operate just like in the real world and online currencies like SL's Linden dollar trade with the American dollar. What's interesting to contemplate, especially since Time Magazine made Bono one of its "persons of the year" for his poverty work, is how online games deal with the poor. The Economist has an interesting article this week that notes that some MOGs make all the human players rich by creating a bot underclass. That's an interesting idea, and given that advances in real-space robotics are accelerating, it could be an idea the meet-space world will copy from the digital world.

Posted at 08:30 AM/ET, December 22, 2005 in 7. Ideas & issues | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Another reason to SMS: ducking the cops

Post from Sonia:

Wired magazine has an interesting newsbyte this month about how Europeans are using text messaging to avoid the cops. Apparently, users get a credit when they send texts about speed traps and pay a fee when they access the tips. What a great example of technology working in harmony with capitalism. Maybe when Americans see how text messaging can help accelerate our beloved car culture, SMS will really take off.

Posted at 02:00 PM/ET, December 21, 2005 in 8. Random | Permalink | Comments (0)

Robot toys: from caveman to creepy

Post from Sonia:

For geeks that still have children on their Christmas shopping list, the good news is that toy shopping is way more fun than it used to be. A few years ago, I tested Sony's Aibo robot dog, but the new and competing bots seem even better. The Wowee Robot Dinosaur, for instance, appeals to the caveman in all of us. It automatically hunts and bites small moving objects in its field of vision. I bet my cat would find this a more interesting object than the Aibo dog that it simply ignored...

There are also robot dolls on the market like the Amazing Amanda. Using RFID technology, the doll can "know" when her hair is being brushed, what foods she is given, and when she's "on the potty." She can also "recognize" her "Mommy" using voice recognition software. It's a huge improvement over the mechanical "Walking Wendy" dolls I grew up with, but there's the nagging issue of whether it's creepy. At a recent dinner discussion organized by Silicon Valley's uber-networker Auren Hoffman, I learned about the idea of the Uncanny Valley. The term, coined by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in his essay by the same name, refers to the creepy feeling people get when robots almost look human.

When robots look like robots, a la Honda's recent Asimo, there's little creep factor because they look as expected. When robots look exactly like humans, it is surmised that there will be no issue either, as we will be able to directly relate. It is in the Uncanny Valley, however, where the bots look human-like, but not exactly, that creeps us out. The characters in the movie Polar Express had this surrealistic quality, which may be one reason the movie tanked. The Uncanny Valley is an important emotional response that robot makers and boosters all over the world should watch.

Posted at 08:30 AM/ET, December 21, 2005 in 6. Cool/fun/weird tech | Permalink | Comments (1)