DTNS WEEKLY TECH UPDATE 02/20/2020 (Patreon)

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Roger’s Guilty Pleasure: FMV Games

One of my favorite pastimes is playing and watching gameplay of FMV or Full Motion Video games. These are games that rely on pre-recorded video, either live action or animated, to express action in a video game instead of using 2D sprites or 3D models. Although FMV games carry a reputation for bad scripting writing, acting and tedious gameplay, I love them.

My first taste of FMV was the arcade game Dragon’s Lair. This Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and Rick Dyer collaboration featured an animated knight that would be drop into a variety of dangers and only by watching for a tell-tale flash on screen would you know which way to move the joystick or press button to advance to the next piece of pre-recorded animation. In college I became addicted to Star Wars Rebel Assault II and Access Software’s Tex Murphy CD based adventures. Many of these games in fact influenced my studies and eventual career choice. I saw the marriage of live actors in an interactive game as innovative. A creative blend between the old and new. They were a harbinger of things yet to come as both PC and game console technology began its shift away from 8 and 16-bit 2D sprites to a 32-bit world of seemingly endless possibilities. Unfortunately like all gaming trends FMV suddenly became the shovel-ware of choice as publishers hopped on to multimedia/CD-ROM market and filled the market with mediocre games and experiences. The final nail was the shift to 3D accelerated games in the late 90s relegating FMV an exposition device used in-game cut-scenes for titles like Wing Commander IV.

However a new slew of FMV games has taken to the market in recent years reviving my interest in the genre. Unlike the previous generation of FMV titles the current crop of games aren’t reliant solely on traditional storytelling techniques. Titles like The Late Shift and The Bunker immerse the player in a film style narrative while giving the audience/player a choice of which story path to follow at select moments. Others like Her Story, Simulacra and Telling Lies are non-linear and rely on the found footage plot device allowing players to become embroiled in a complex tale of truth and lies. What’s so amazing about these new games is the amount of polish dedicated to not just script writing but cinematography giving an additional impact to the stories they tell. I’ve easily spent a weekend or two of spare time playing amateur sleuth on these games. The flourishes added to make it feel like your rummaging through a dead person’s cellphone or accessing stolen interrogation footage are uncanny.

Ultimately these titles are paving way for the continued resurgence in FMV as a game mechanic. Even Sony Interactive has jumped on the train with Erica for the PS4. Personally I'm hoping this round of FMV gaming sticks around for awhile.  

News

Scientist at Switzerland's EFPL have developed a 3D printer that can build an entire object at once in seconds rather than building it layer by layer. The printer shines a laser on a liquid photosensitive resin (either biogel or liquid plastic) from multiple angles. An algorithm guides the laser to create a precise version of a 3D model. It can make two-centimeter structures at 80 micrometer precision right now. The team thinks it's capable of up to 15 centimeters. Printing can be done inside sealed sterile containers as well, which is useful for medical applications. A company called Readily3D has been created to market the system. https://actu.epfl.ch/news/printing-tiny-high-precision-objects-in-a-matter-o/ 

As we reported on Wedensday's show, Mobile World Congress was canceled because the GSMA found it impossible to put the show on, despite health officials not requiring it to be canceled. Most big names had pulled out leaving smaller companies without anything for the money they spent in preparation and without the chance to make contacts and build awareness for their products. In addition many companies are facing other problems related to the Chinese coronavirus, which has shut down factories in China, meaning parts for their products are delayed. Firms of all sizes are looking for alternate ways to make announcements and build relationships including more smaller trips and meetings and independent press conferences. While the GSMA says it will definitely hold MWC next year, some companies may learn they don't need it. https://www.theverge.com/tech/2020/2/13/21135777/mobile-world-congress-cancellation-whats-next 

Facebook announced it will let influencers in the US post paid content for political campaigns if the posts are clearly identified as ads. This follows a New York Times report on Thursday that Democratic candidate Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign had paid popular Instagram meme pages for posts, and had partnered with a group called Meme 2020, led by the CEO of the viral media group Jerry Media. Facebook says sponsored political content won't go into Facebook’s political Ad Library unless the creator pays to boost their posts. On Instagram paid posts will need to use the Branded Content Ads tool that ads the paid partnership label to a post. Posts that contain the voice of the politician will not be fact-checked under Facebook and Instagram policy but posts in the voice of solely the influencer will be. https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/14/21137719/facebook-bloomberg-memes-influencer-campaign-ads-election-2020 

Security researcher Jamila Kaya and Duo Security informed Google of 71 Chrome extensions that were part of a malvertising and ad-fraud scheme, and had been installed over 1.7 million times. After being informed, Google identifed more than 500 extensions as part of the scheme and removed them and disabled them on Chrome installations. Each plugin would initially connect to a domain with the same name as the plugin to check for instructions. From there, browsers would be redirected to hard-coded control servers to receive locations to upload data, advertisement feed lists, and domains for future redirects. User data and updated plugin configurations were subsequently uploaded to the servers. Redirects might take a user to an affiliate page of a legitimate site or to a malware or phishing page. https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-removes-500-malicious-chrome-extensions-from-the-web-store/ 

Want to go to space? SpaceX plans to send four private citizens into orbit at the of of 2021 or early 2022. Space Adventures, which has helped 7 private citizens visit space will help with the project. The tourists will fly in a Dragon capsule at around the same height as the International Space Station, orbit two to three times and return to earth. The first crewed Dragon flight is supposed to take place with NASA astronauts on board later this year. SpaceX also has a contract with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa to fly around the Moon on the future Big Falcon rocket. Both Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are planning suborbital flights to let paying customers experience weightlessness. https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/16/21139897/samsung-galaxy-z-flip-ultra-thin-glass-durability-scratch-test-jerryrigeverything 

Starting this week, Ring will require all users to use a second factor when logging in. Users will be offered text message or email to receive a six digit code. Ring also introduced new options for controlling when data is shared with third parties. You can turn off sharing data with companies that create personalized ads. And data sharing with analytics services is paused while Ring works on an opt out system. Last month Ring added a privacy dashboard and options to control whether or not police can request footage. https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/18/21141948/ring-two-factor-authentication-default-mandatory-data-sharing-third-party-analytics-advertising 

TikTok announced a new set of parental controls, called “Family Safety Mode,” so parents can set limits on their children’s app use. The featurres include screen-time management controls, limits on direct messages and a restricted mode that limits the appearance of inappropriate content. These features were already available in the app for users to set for themselves, this allows a parent or guardian to take over toggling the switches on or off for their teens. The new features are available in the UK now and will roll out to other markets over the next several weeks. https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/19/tiktok-introduces-parental-controls-with-new-family-safety-mode-feature-launching-first-in-u-k/ 

Twitter acquired Chroma Labs which makes iOS photo editors targeted at Instagram and Facebook Stories and Snapchat. Twitter does not have a similar ephemeral post feature. Chroma Labs is shutting down its products and will only update in future if an iOS update breaks it. Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour said Chroma Labs' employees will join the product, design and engineering teams "to give people more creative ways to express themselves on Twitter." https://www.engadget.com/2020/02/19/twitter-acquires-stories-photo-and-video-editor-maker-chroma-lab/