Microsoft Research presents one of their latest projects, Microsoft Songsmith! … yeah… No, wait! It gets better! Watch this erm… whatever this was supposed to be:
On YouTube, I found these comments that seemed to just perfectly describe Microsoft’s wonderful little project here:
So yeah, Microsoft Songsmith: a great example of how NOT to use research and resources. I’m sure we’ll all just eagerly await this product’s final release! -_-;
According to Famitsu, a Japanese gaming magazine, a new .hack game for the LINK generation is in the works for the PSP. This is most likely the game behind the big countdown that appeared on the CC2 site.
Although I’m glad to hear something about the next .hack game, I’m upset that it’s not only part of .hack//LINK (which utterly fails in my opinion), but it’s also for the PSP. I dislike the PSP for numerous reasons, but I won’t go into that here.
Scans of the Famitsu article (courtesy of dothackers) below:
I’ll try to keep posting about it as more information is revealed.
I’ll be posting my Analysis & Results here, and more information (references, clips, etc.) can be found in the file linked to at the end.
Analysis & Results
Analysis According to Objectives
The Knowledge Generation Bureau (KGB) claims to be a telecommunications service (started in 2007) that will answer any questions you may have over the phone or through texting.They apparently hire “special agents” that are on standby to answer questions asked of the company in less than ten minutes.
Aside from its provided service mentioned above, information about the company itself is kept somewhat secret.They also mention the “Knowledge Project” on their website, but no information about its full purposes, etc. are revealed.
The main concern (or rather curiosity) about this company, for most people, came from their commercials (linked above).The strange nature of the commercials, and the fact that they do not actually say what the company does or provides, may have been used as marketing techniques to get people to look them up.Although you may say, “duh, it’s a commercial”, I felt it was worth noting since their style is so unusual.The odd commercials, along with the company’s initials, generated curiosity and skepticism among some viewers (as evidenced by the clips found in the file).
The company’s initials, KGB, most likely originated from the Soviet Union’s secret service / police, and were probably used for the same reasons as the commercials. (more info in the file)
This company is probably not worth watching for anything bigger than it already is, although this should be reconsidered once they move into the subscription services they seem to plan on (as their services could develop into something else at that point).
Other Results
The Knowledge Generation Bureau, for its services, seems pretty pointless to me.Unless you enjoy waiting ten extra minutes to find a bit of information (and paying for it) that could have been obtained as easily through Wikipedia or a web search, I don’t see much reason for it.
Just twelve (12) days into 2009, and we already have a mysterious countdown from CC2. This countdown reveals no information other than an unveiling date.
I love Yahoo! I use it for my homepage, to check the news, and as one of my main e-mail addresses. One thing about Yahoo!, though, (whether good or bad depends on who you’re asking) is that they change the layout of their site fairly frequently. Especially when you compare it to competitors like Google, whose main page has remained largely the same for as long as I can remember. It seems that not so long ago that they changed the layout to what most Yahoo! users, use today. Most. Apparently, there’s a new Yahoo! homepage layout being tested again now, and it’s once again a fairly complete overhaul.
A “fraction” of random Yahoo! users are currently being forced, without their consent, to test this new layout (which can be seen in the screenshot below). I’m one of the *cough un cough* lucky random users that “gets” to test their newest design.
While many don’t like being forced to test this new version (me…), and others dislike the change for various other reasons, it could be nice to have a fresh new screen to look at every day when I start up my browser.
Welcome to the Delta Network (tentative name)! We are a beginning social site / community blog that will allow open blogging and encourage community discussion and interaction by giving members the ability to contribute to our articles and main blog, …, and of course provide forums for discussing whatever we want. Everyone is encouraged to join and contribute to our discussions and articles. If you would like, you can contact me with the information found on the Contact page.
Jag on January 26th, 2009
Welcome to the Delta Network (tentative name)! We are a beginning social site / community blog that will allow open blogging and encourage community discussion and interaction by giving members the ability to contribute to our articles and main blog, …, and of course provide forums for discussing whatever we want. Everyone is encouraged to join and contribute to our discussions and articles. If you would like, you can contact me with the information found on the Contact page.
