Mother 3 Fan Translation Nears Completion

The long wait is almost over for thousands of English Speaking Mother 3 fans.  After much anticipation, hard work and many challenges the group announced four days ago on the Mother 3 fan translation site that all of the necessary game hacking is now complete and all that has to be done is game testing. The Translation group formed when Nintendo refused to release the Japanese made game in the US or in English claiming that there was no interest. The fans responded and even after 30,000 signatures were collected in support of an English release Shigesato Itoi and Nintendo did nothing. The translation is a huge victory for Nintendo fans, gamers, and RPG lovers alike.  When completed the translation will be released as a patch and will be able to be played on any GBA emulator or on any Nintendo DS with the use of a Flashcart.

Mapping Space Assignment

The three main factors that seem to have come into play in planning out the layout of “Big lots!” are ease of movement, Theft Deterrent and Product placement. Upon Entering  you are given a direct path to follow that leads you away from the cash registers and towards either merchandise or the Service Desk. This is achieved by the purposeful placement of the Service desk and shopping carts. When you walk straight froward from the entrances you walk into the Furniture department.

The furniture is placed in such a way that it looks like several small living rooms. There is adequate space to move about and try out all of the different pieces. The bathrooms are against the wall to the left making them visible from the service desk so that customers can be monitored by the associate attending the desk.

Facing East away from furniture there are several rows of shelf counters facing horizontally which provides several small hallways that are measured perfectly to accommodate one cart going in each direction. The shelf aisleways are actually very similar to a well planned out urban area. Each shelf unit represents a city block and their surrounding aisleways form streets. However, in some aisles there are oddly placed support poles that make it so that only one cart can pass, causing some congestion. Similar sections such as Auto and tools are placed next to one another to focus customer’s interest towards impulse buys. In addition, the electronics section is placed in such a way that it can be seen from the service desk because it is a high theft area. The cashier desks and service desk also make a path from the cash register directly to the exits. This makes customers exit without passing any additional merchandise that they could exit with without the cashier noticing.

The shelves are broken into two sections by a set of shelves that are vertical when facing East. This area is formatted differently so that it stands out from the other rows of shelves because it features seasonal merchandise that has to sell quickly. The area is more open to allow more customers to move around and access merchandise.

New media is seen to an extent within this space. The shelves on the shelving units can be removed and placed at one of many levels of the shelf counter through a peg and hole type system. This makes them customizable to the user and allows for modularity. The backing on the shelving units is made of a peg board with a grid of small holes that special hooks can be pushed into. This allows for a mix of pegged and shelved merchandise that can accommodate almost any size or shape of merchandise. This makes the environment very writerly for the merchandiser but readerly for the customer . However, the wide aisles that run adjascent to the shelves allow for the shopper to browse each section without being forced to walk down any of the actual aisles. This makes the shopping experience non-linear and more writerly for the customer.

The space is actually very similar to that of an online shop like Amazon.com . The Service desk would represent a home page in which vital information is placed and the “check-out” interface can be reached as well as information on where a customer can contact the seller. The merchandise is off to the side and organized by type. The aforementioned “adjacent aisleways” act as a link list that a website would have as a sidebar menu  list of links. The user is interactive with the interface and either clicks a section or chooses to turn down a specific shopping aisle. The larger aisleways also act as “links” back to the “homepage” because they lead to the direct path of the Service Desk.

Scanned Image of 2D Map

Forms of News

Part 1

The newspaper felt heavy in my hands and it was interesting to feel the weight of what had happened around the world in this one single segment of time. The pages themselves were smooth and familiar and gave off small amounts of ink with every turn of the page. My kitten took the paper as a challenger and attacked each page with fervour. The date was printed at the top showing how permanent the document was. The front page article featured a slightly grainy color picture of hurricane damage, the paper smelled like dirt, rain and ink all at once.
I flipped through each section and ran into some ad flyers in the middle and a book of coupons for various products I removed them and put them aside. The articles themselves were even littered on either side with ads and the article’s content was in rectangular blocks running down each page. I flipped back through the sections and pulled out the segment labelled ARTS and placed the rest of the paper next to me. I scanned the various articles and noticed that color images were only on the front pages. I read a couple of synopsis of new fiction novels coming out this fall and noticed that underneath the articles were movie show times and various upcoming concerts.
I found another article concerning the upcoming presidential election and began reading and halfway through was instructed to turn to A8 to finish reading the article. I folded the paper twice in order to single out the article I wanted to read which made it much easier to read. By this time half of the newspaper was destroyed strew across my floor as my kitten pranced about it performing a victory dance of sorts.

Part 2

I sat down at my computer and opened up Firefox and simply typed in USA Today in the address bar and the built in search engine pulled up the digital version of my newspaper. The homepage reflected the same article that was on the front page of the paper I had looked at but it was squished over to one side of the screen. The format was almost overwhelming. I speculated that in order to explore all of the content on just the homepage would take several hours. My kitten took equal interest in this form of the newspaper as well, or rather the clicking noises that I was making with my mouse.
On each side of the article were advertisements for Dell and Verizon, obviously pointed at more electronically inclined individuals who would rather read the newspaper online. The front page had many more options than the paper format and the various sections of the newspaper were in a block going down the other side of the homepage. The top of the page also featured the different sections on brightly colored hyperlink buttons. I selected the “Tech” section and was greeted with a full page Dell ad and a button which I could click to “Continue Reading”.
I chose an article about the videogame Spore and another page loaded with even more Dell ads and this time the inner articles had several full color pictures and graphics. On the side of the article was a list of hyperlinks that you could use to share the article with others including: Digg, Facebook and Newsvine. Below the article was a list of tags regarding other articles I might be interested based on the article I had previously chosen. The Tags included subjects like Windows, Youtube and Playstation.
I scrolled down further and found a section in which other readers could comment about the article and at the very bottom was another menu with the newspapers sections, an option to email the editor and a list of partners. I scrolled back up to the top and noticed a convenient search engine that boasted that I could use it to search for “Articles, graphics and more” and typed in “Global Warming”.
The search function loaded a new page and sure enough on the right side was a list of articles about Global Warming and on the “latest” that was related, as well as a list of the top searches.

Part 3

Both papers attempted to stick to the “Block newspaper format” and to the article accompanied by a picture format. However, the digital newspaper typically had more pictures and even videos. Both papers had advertisements but the digital ones were very electronic related and those in the actual newspaper tended to be about cars and other various machinery.
The digital newspaper also seemed to have many more articles, pictures and information about stocks and celebrities, probably the work of years of market research on who prefers online resources verse offline.
The Digital paper offered many more chances for the reader to give their opinion on each article, as the material newspaper only offered a “letter to the editor” section in which your opinion may or may not be featured. In addition the online newspaper was easier to navigate and less of a mess. It allows the reader to jump to an exact subject right away rather than flipping and removing sections and then folding the paper up like some kind of origami in order to read an article. Just a simple click and the whole thing is isolated from the rest of the paper, but a simple scroll down and the rest of the paper is at your fingertips.
Another difference is that the physical paper is completely concrete and permanent. It contained articles from a specific times and dates that were permanently printed on ink. A misprint would have to be retracted in the next issue. Whereas the digital paper could be edited at a moment’s notice and updated by the hour. The information is certain to be fresh and new unless you wanted to read an older article in which case you simply would search for the subject you were after. In order to do the same with a physical newspaper you would have to read through each issue, or of course, just go online.
The digital paper in essence simply takes the same paper as the one you get on the newsstand and adds a myriad of features, graphics, content and different ads and places it all online . But also gives a way in which the reader can talk back and communicate with other readers about how they feel about the paper. It becomes more of a community experience that grows with the reader in unison.

Physical World Hyperlinking With 2D Barcodes

2D Barcodes or Matrix Codes are similar to the traditional Barcode used to catalog goods at a store but they can be used to give information back to the viewer.

The user simply has to install a program onto their cellphone and take a picture of the barcode. The program decodes the Barcode and the user’s phone opens a browser and subsequently an internet site. 2D barcodes can be any size, used in almost any physical environment (TV commercials, internet, billboards etc.) and allows the advertiser to instantly see who is looking at their ads, where they have viewed them from and many other specific details depending on the software on their side.

In Japan the 2D Barcode has even been placed on tombstones. The grave visitor takes a picture of the Barcode on the gravestone and their phone brings up more information about the deceased person, pictures of them or any other content the family or pre-deceased and now occupant so chooses. In spain they are being used to contain detailed train maps to make travel easier and The Washington Post is using Matrix technology to give subscribers reward points when they scan their phone at certain retailers. Heineken even used them in the UK to create an interactive game whereupon users scanned Heineken Barcodes looking for hidden Alien graphics that would win them prizes. Most interestingly the Holland Inovation Fair placed a code on each visitor’s badge and each presentor’s tent. The visitors didn’t have to exchange business cards if they wanted to learn more about eachother’s ideas. They simply scanned the other person’s barcode and their information was sent to their cellphone through SMS.

The 2D Barcode is revolutionizing advertising and communication because it allows the viewer to talk back and instantly interact with the material they are viewing. The possibilities are as endless as the number of people with access to the web and a cell phone.

Let us be Free!

Here are three New Media related Freeware tools that I regularly use. This post goes out to everyone that Googles for the milk before they buy the cow.

1. Media Monkey

Media Monkey is a program for Windows that eliminates dependence on iTunes. The program itself has every feature of the standard music player/organizer but also some unique and very useful features that make it a more well rounded application. Some of the innovative features include: Sync any MP3 player, Sync some cell phones, Audio file conversion to almost any format, Built in MilkDrop visualizer, net radio and much much more.

www.mediamonkey.com

2. Fast Image Resizer

Fast Image Resizer allows the user to drag and drop any photo file and resize it instantly. The user can even drag and drop an entire folder of photos and sit by idly as the program resizes them and can even have the program rotate the photos. This tiny tool is a must for anyone publishing photos on the web that doesn’t want to hassle of opening MS paint or a similar program to resize each individual picture.

www.adionsoft.net/fastimageresize

3.  Orbit Downloader

Orbit downloader is a download manager that supports .swf or .flv formats. Which basically means you can download that video or song you enjoyed on Youtube or Myspace and with the right converter tool put that media on your iPod or other media player device. You can even use it to download multimedia from Pandora, Yahoo, Dailymotion, etc. with a simple right click and a file format selection.

www.orbitdownloader.com