Video Games Boost Vision, pew pew pew

Kapow! Take that mofo! Blam! Headshot! First person shooters sharpen vision. ORLY? Results may be interpretted differently according to how you see it (no pun intended). The gamer’s mentality is more focused. Anticipating certain outcomes and being prepared to respond makes a gamer good. It of course also helps to have 20/20 vision but is not always necessary. I’ve seen many “coke-bottled-4-eyes” out game the best. Hand eye coordination helps too. Unless you just enjoy playing Time Crisis. Let’s face it, the best FPS are Halo, Call of Duty, Resistance, Gears of War, and that age old classic Counterstrike.

“The researchers found that the action buffs were 50 percent more efficient at detecting contrast.

But there remained a chicken-or-egg question: had their vision been improved by playing, or did they become action game players because they had better than average contrast sensitivity to start with?”

Logitech develops sexy quick cam, but only for Mac

To help you stay close to those who matter most, Logitech, the world’s leading manufacturer of webcams, today unveiled its first Mac®-compatible webcam with premium autofocus technology and Carl Zeiss® optics: the Logitech® QuickCam® Vision Pro webcam for Mac. The new Logitech webcam delivers image-perfect detail and clarity, and exceptional video calling with iChat® and Skype®.

“With this new webcam for Mac computers, we’ve integrated our most advanced video technologies to truly enrich your video-calling experience,” said Gina Clark, general manager and vice president of Logitech’s Internet Communications business unit. “The lens and autofocus, the sensor and the lighting software all contribute to create image-perfect detail and clarity. Whether you’ve used a standalone or an embedded webcam in the past, you’ll be amazed at the difference in quality our new webcam makes.” (link)

Bill Gates: Internet cannot be controlled … except in China

Bill Gates waxed eloquent about the openness of the Internet. In a burst of techno-utopianism, Gates at one point told the crowd, “I don’t see any risk in the world at large that someone will restrict free content flow on the Internet. You cannot control the Internet.” This seemed rather a curious thing for the Microsoft chief to say, considering that his company (along with Google, Yahoo, and others) has cooperated with China’s censorship efforts. The entire Chinese Internet experience, in fact, raises questions about whether Gates’ beautiful vision is true to the facts as we know them. Certainly the country is doing a pretty decent job of “controlling the Internet.”

IDG News, which reported on Gates’ speech, also noted that he tied the openness of the ‘Net to economic development. “If your country wants to have a developed economy… you basically have to open up the Internet,” said Gates. (link)