The title pretty much says it: I have been waiting for a proper Flickr app to appear for iPhone, and now that an official one has been announced to be available, I am of course eagerly trying to install. But it seems that this app is for some reason filtered out of the Finnish iTunes Store; at least I cannot found it anywhere. Anyone out there with more luck?
Category: moblog
mobile blog notes
New games research in DiGRA-09, Brunel
DiGRA-09 @ Brunel, UK, 2.9.2009, originally uploaded by FransBadger.
This week the bi-annual Digital Games Research Association’s international conference takes place in Brunel, UK (the conference pages are here). Near Uxbridge, outskirts of London, the conference is a rather cosy event, with not exactly similar kind of large crowds that have filled the previous three conferences in Utrecht, Vancouver and Tokyo. This has the double effect of comfortable familiarity on the other hand, and perhaps some lack of impetus on the other. But the quality of research looks fine, and that is the most important single thing, of course. Some more photos in my Flickr account, and you can also search for #digra to see the stream of Twitter updates from the audiences of various ongoing sessions. Really great to be in this kind of conference again (missing my family badly, though.)
Nokia and University of Tampere into Collaboration
24.08.2009, originally uploaded by FransBadger.
Photo from today’s press conference that announced the collaboration agreement between Nokia Research and University of Tampere. The idea is to expand the research collaboration into interesting new fields and strengthen existing collaboration areas, such as Human-Computer Interaction and Games Research. Pictured is professor Roope Raisamo (speaking), Rector Kaija Holli and Laboratory Director (NRC) Jyri Huopaniemi (sitting).
Our little lion
21.08.2009, originally uploaded by FransBadger.
The second lion to our family, the little brother was born to Luka today, at five minutes past seven in the evening. Long waited, the birth was finally quick (albeit not painless, like these things tend to go). Happy? Yes. Tired? Very. Now we just stare at his little round face, and try to understand.
Finncon packed with anime people
The Finncon program was once again very interesting (since we were traveling with family, I did not take part in that many sessions, though). One thing that was again increasingly obvious was the dominating presence of cosplay and manga/anime fans. It was actually difficult to move around Kaapelitehdas (see picture), due to the huge, colorfully costumed crowd. Fun, but as an ‘old-school fantasy & SF fan’ I felt somewhat an outsider myself.
Mia Consalvo's visit
Mia Consalvo visited us today, and gave an interesting talk on the casual games, players and game cultures — something that relates directly to much of the work that our team has been carrying out in similar areas. We also had an opportunity to continue with coffee and cinnamon buns afterwards, discussing about the similarities and differences in the contexts of doing game studies in the US and here in Finland. Fascinating! Tomorrow more of Mia, as she will be acting as the opponent in Tanja Sihvonen’s thesis defence in Turku.
Vaio Z31
Ok, my new workhorse, Sony Vaio Z31WN has finally arrived. (Will post more about it after some test runs…)
Edit: here is a photo showing also the Z series dock:
Forthcoming: The Player Barometer 2009
Here is a snapshot from our games researchers’ rooms — Juho Karvinen, the research assistant of Player Barometer/Pelaajabarometri 2009 is here faced with the grim reality of manually handling a survey sample size of 4000 in the form of traditional mail survey forms & envelopes. (Results from the survey hopefully will be coming in the autumn, and then provide us with more information about who really plays and what & how much in Finland today.)
IT in the garden
Lying in our garden swing, I can currently see six wifi access points — that’s urban nature for you! 🙂 Comparing LCD screen and paper (Luontokuva magazine), it is clear that traditional paper is still far superior when reading anything outside. The screen in AA1 is very good, but still very pale in sunlight. Wonder if e-ink/ebook reader screen would make a real difference to the benefit of IT? At the moment — closing this webtop and app is the best way to relax, so: enjoy the summer, everyone!
Mansegames seminar
Today in Werstas auditorium we have the Mansegames seminar (ICT Werstas) which discusses possibilities for boosting games industry in Tampere region. More: http://www.hermia.fi/?x43=317726
frans goes blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.