Translation Errors

Gruber linked to the following translation of Sony’s PR-speak:

Apple’s entrance into the portable gaming space has been a net positive for Sony. When people want a deeper, richer console, they start playing on a PSP.

Translation:

I am high as a kite.

Haha, zing! Right? Well, maybe not so much:

Speaking to Edge, Creutz espoused his belief that “non-traditional” formats like the iPhone and social gaming have not hurt the core gaming market. Rather, said Creutz, “We believe that these newer gaming media represent a distinct and non-competitive market segment from console gaming, which is dominated by the core gamer.” He elaborated that while casual titles didn’t fare as well in 2009, the sales of core titles were still strong (a reasonable belief).

Thanks for the clarification, Joystiq.

I have to say that, of the portable gaming systems out right now, the PSP is the only one that actually got me to play games.

You can’t really say that Peggle and WordFu are competitors to Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto, and Armored Core. The former are toys; the latter are games.

Why Jason Calacanis Isn't a Suggested User

Jason Calacanis, a major blogger who’s created some seriously successful blog companies, got really mad that he wasn’t on Twitter’s suggested users list. He even offered to pay $250k to get on the list for two years.

I think this kind of thing is why they didn’t put him on there to begin with.

Zalgo

O͟nc̛e ̧y̨où ḩa̵ve e͟nte͏red̸ ̡th͜e͝ ͞Cor̷ri͘d͡or ͞o͘f ̴Da͝rk̷ne̸ss͏
̢T̸h͘e̕ ̛L̀ÓR̛D͡ o̕f͏ ͞C̢HA͡O͠S̢ w͏ill re͡bu̸t r̡e͞a̶lįt̕ỳ
T̴he͟ ͢Śeventh ̨Ey͝e S̛ee͏s͘ ̶th́e Sins of th́e Si̴x͏t̛ḩ Sect̴
Hi͠s͞ U̸n̡h͢o̵l̡y̨ ͟mig͏h̀t̵ ͞c̸rushes ̵all̢
̡Th̀ere ̴i͝s ̶onl͘y ͝s͡uf̀f̶ęr̢i͢n͡g and̨ ͡p̢a̴i̛n͢
Z͠AL̛GO -͠- ͡H̷E̵ COM͞E͟S̀

Via Marlborotech

Apple's Tablet, My View

From Mr. Jobs:

“In order to create a new category of devices, those devices will have to be far better at doing some key tasks — important things — better than the laptop and smartphone. What kind of tasks? Things like browsing the web…”

“That’s a tall order - better than a laptop at browsing the web? Enjoying and sharing photos, videos, enjoying music, playing games, reading e-books.”

“It’s got to be better at these key tasks otherwise it has no reason for being. Some people have said: oh, that’s a netbook. The problem is netbooks aren’t better at ANYTHING.” Applause. “They’re just cheap laptops.”

So, I haven’t seen how the iPad is better than a laptop at browsing the web. Multi-touch is a nice interface, but is it phenomenally better than trackpads and keyboard shortcuts? $500 better? The screen rotation trick is cool, but my Macbook runs at 1280x800 on a 13” screen - more space than the Pad in landscape mode.

For enjoying and sharing photos, well, that’s mostly online for me. I have a Flickr account and Facebook and TwitPic. Last time I showed off photos at a party, we pulled up Facebook on my Xbox 360 and put it in slideshow mode, which was fairly impressive. Although, for finding individual pictures online, this would be pretty cool.

For enjoying music, I prefer powered computer speakers - definitely not micro-thin laptop speakers. Apple’s built-in laptop speakers have gotten better over the years, but they’re no match for real drivers.

For games, I have dedicated gaming consoles. Then again, I don’t enjoy Peggle or any games like it. And lately I’ve gotten my friends into Geometry Wars 2, I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 and a few others. Unless real games start coming out for the App Store and related platforms, I’m not going to be interested.

For e-books, I read on the iPhone. Because it’s small and has a one-handed interface, I can curl up under a comforter and read to my heart’s content. I don’t want to go back to a two-handed device which must be held awkwardly away from my face to read - that’s as bad as straining to hold a paperback open against its bindings.

So am I excited about the iPad? As a product, no, it doesn’t do much for me. If you’re not the type with a Flickr Pro account and a 360 and networked audio, I can see this being the perfect living-room gadget. My mom would love it.

What I am excited about is that it sets a direction for computers in the future - it’s a computer-ish product with a wildly different interface based entirely on multi-touch, and redefines the way we interact with it. It introduces the idea that laptops don’t have to be based on the same OS and interaction model as desktop computers. It makes me think maybe we’ll see more ideas like 10/gui - or even see them implemented in real products. A Chrome OS-based pad or the JooJoo or other products like it could change the way we think about mobile computing. That’s pretty exciting.