New in Ableton Live 8

The emminent Peter Kirn over at CreateDigitalMusic.com has posted a video playlist outline the new collaborative working facility in Ableton Live 8. Sharing and working on sets via the web looks pretty cool to me and is a genuine step forward. I must investigate the Max for Live package, although maybe not this week!

Excellent Prospects for Technology Graduates

From the Irish Times:
"Ireland has been facing a growing shortage of graduates in technical disciplines, even though computer scientists, electronic engineers, and IT professionals have excellent career options."

This echoes similar statements from the Irish Software Association, ICT Ireland and GameDevelopers.ie

Students graduating the next 2 years will certainly have their pick of jobs. If the government actually implements some of their 'knowledge economy' rhetoric, then the future is certainly bright within the ICT sector for the foreseeable future.

Now, let's get some more indigenous companies going and not have to rely so heavily on multinationalis ....

Are Games Better Value Than DVD/Blu-Ray?

TechRadar poses and interesting question as to the perceived relative value between games and DVD/Blu-Ray movies. Quite simply, if you had EUR40 to spend, do you think you'd get more 'bang for you buck' from a game or a film? Interestingly, where does music fall into all of this? A few years ago, the same question was posed about DVDs against CDs - if you had EUR20 would you get more value from a film or an album? Unfortunately, the record industry doesn't seem to have evolved in any meaningful way - iTunes and other digital services are still using more or less the same model as vinyl sales, just the media and distribution methods have changed.

There are no simple answers to all of this. However, it is of significant importance that we keep a watch on the situation. Without continued sales, there will be a cut-back on new product, which means less jobs.

Also, where do ISPs fit in all of this? Nobody installs a 10Mbit broadband package to send and receive EMail. Do the ISPs owe some responsibility in declining revenues for content generators? Or are they increasing revenues through online stores?

Answers on a postcard to .....

Game Sales Overtake DVD/Blu-ray

"For the first time ever, worldwide videogame revenue had exceeded that of DVD and Blu-Ray sales in 2008 .... global sales of videogame software has risen an encouraging 20 percent in 2008, reaching US$32 billion"
Read the full article over at CVG

Inauguration 2.0

Last week's Inauguration of President Obama was historic for a number of reasons. Whatever about race/society and other impacts, from a purely technical perspective it was pretty groundbreaking. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and many more Web 2.0 technologies were used by mainstream media to broadcast the event.

Silicon Republic summarises some of the technologies used here.

Games On The Up

Here's a link to a very interesting article from the UK Independent about the success enjoyed by the games industry, despite declines in virtually all other market segments.

In a tough consumer market, this is an industry that is one of very few winners. Computer games are enjoying record sales of consoles and software across the globe. Mike Griffith, who heads the video game group Activision, said: "Movies, recorded music and television – these are all stagnating or contracting entertainment sectors. Video games are poised to eclipse all other forms of entertainment in the year ahead."

Read the full piece here.

Welcome Back

Welcome back to Semester 2! I hope you're all suitably refreshed after the Christmas break.

As you can imagine, timetables will change over the next week or so, but the latest copy will always be posted on the notice board outside the School of Science office.