This Week In Games - TWIG - is a weekly podcast. In every episode I’ll give you the lowdown on what’s going on in the industry, and tack along my personal opinions.

I’ve taken a different appraoch from the drab copy-reading and added a little spice to this episode.

In this episode we’ll discuss World of Warcraft, another video game movie, AMD vs. Intel, and why you shouldn’t blame GTA 3 for violent crimes.

I want to apologize ahead of time as the audio quality in this episode is sub-par, and I could not convert it into WMA format. Sadly, my hard drive had crashed, and I lost everything. So, I’m now running Linux (Ubuntu to be exact), and I’m still trying to learn the best way to handle things. Please excuse the mess ;)

Provided by Geekstreak

These links come courtesy of the chat room at Where 2.0:

• GoogleMappingBOF - Kwiki
• Flickr- Photos tagged with where2005
• API (gmaps) Demo
• Google Maps API Documentation
• del.icio.us-tag-where2.0
• mapufacture — Where 2.0 collaborative map by mikel
• GPS fun on Mobile Phones
• SourceForge.net- Project Info - 93 Photo Street
• Road Sage Project
• gMapTrack - Your Locations, Trips and Trackers with Google Maps
• OpenStreetMap
• MappingHacks PPT
• Whitelabel.org » London Underground accelerated time disruption map
• del.icio.us-tag-geo+wms

[Observed at Where 2.0] Tim O'Reilly, in his presentation, keeps speaking to the term “hacker friendly” when referencing newer, less rigid applications: Users add value, Network effects by default, Small pices loosely joined, Software above the level of a single device, Data is the next 'Intel inside.' These bulletpoints have been pulled directly from one of his slides. “Alpha Geeks” also keeps rearing its head - so, are these labels set to become a pivotal part of forthcoming elevator pitches? This is a call to arms by Tim, and investors should undoubtedly be listening. What needs to be understood, however, is that geekitude continues to vary on a sliding scale. Opening your APIs is one thing, but listening to non-programming PowerUsers is just as vital. There needs to be a balance in the force for it to truly work.

[Observed at Where 2.0] We have a few WiFi-capable digital cameras, right? We have EXIF information automatically recorded with JPEGs, right? Why couldn't we embed a simple GPS into the same device, tag the images with proper coordinates, instantly upload them to a Flickr-type Web service… and suddenly make the photoplanet a one-click reality? Are there any mediahackers up for the challenge? Forget about waiting to come home before you can document a trip to, say, Seattle. Let the technology work for you out-of-the-box. It's not like this can't happen - it's that it hasn't happened (and the hardware manufacturers and larger software companies ain't gonna get it as quickly as we do). Opportunities are sitting here like ducks on a pond! Kudos to Tim and Nat for the foresight to assemble this conference - my mind is racing. UPDATE: From the chat room, “coral” passed along this link… and “_dav” passed along this one.

[Observed at Where 2.0] Where are we this morning? Sitting next to ubergeek, pt, at Where 2.0 - and it looks to be the most visual conference of the year. Everything is about mapping, and there's plenty of maps to see - not just your regular Thomas Guide stuff, either. Without my in-car navigation system, I'd get lost in Seattle (as evidenced by an upcoming episode of the 'Chris and Ponzi Argument'). We're going 3D, folks - we're seeing the future in the present. World Wind is a good starting point for the mapping n00b, and we now have Google Earth. Let's follow the breadcrumbs here, folks: what happens when we merge Google Earth with Picasa? Web 2.0 just became Desktop 2.0… and that's just the beginning. The next generation “Office suite” appears to be mere months away.

I don't have iTunes installed on my computer, largely because I don't need yet another media manager at my fingertips. If it supported WMA natively, I'd be more inclined to give 'er a spin (due to my personal library containing thousands of WMA files not willing to be converted to another proprietary format). Since buying Ponzi a shuffle, she's had problems getting it to work like the Windows Media Player - which is likely never to happen. Regardless, I may be remotely interested in giving the new version a shake - if only to see how it handles podcasts. Again, I find myself thanking Apple for making this whole process easier for the masses. They moved quickly on this - a lot quicker than I think anybody had expected. In viewing their podcasting page, however, I find myself a little put off. I thought the whole allure of podcasting was its grassroots-ness? Instead, I see traditional brands like Disney, ABC News, and ESPN sitting there. Certainly, this adds legitimacy to the movement, but it also has the great potential for taking away from the indies. Just like newer aggregators have gone with default “traditional press” feeds over much better independent content publishers, I fear the same thing will happen in this audio space. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but…

We've always had sponsors at our conferences - they're quite welcome beyond necessity. However, we've never incorporated sponsorship like other conference coordinators have done. Microsoft could have demonstrated a month-old product this year, but instead opted to debut news that caused the content community to shoot milk out of their noses (in a good way). Yahoo had a wonderful set of furniture in their designated area at the conference, but we were pointing people to Flickr from day one. Audible started talking about their entry into the podcasting world at the conference, Google had a Blogger corner at their party, Ignition Partners' crafted an awesome mFoundry app for cell phones, PubSub tweaked their tracking feeds for Gnomedexers, etc. The conference was made complete with truly integrated involvement.
We strive to go beyond mere banner placement - and we don't sell content. This philosophy stretches beyond the conference, as witnessed in just about every episode of our Show. Everybody walks away a winner; sponsors get exposure, attendees get information, and Lockergnome is able to produce a fantastic experience for everyone involved. It is my hope that we made all of our 2005 sponsors proud to be associated with the conference.

Never EVER put boulders in the washing machine… again.

We use American Express almost exclusively in our house, largely because they automatically tally and organize our spending habits (making it much easier to organize income come tax time). American Express isn't accepted everywhere, but not to a fault. Ponzi turns to me a few minutes ago and says… “American Express has RSS!” I didn't believe her, until she showed me the message. I clicked on her co-branded link and… witnessed what a few folks (namely Dave) were talking about at Gnomedex this weekend. It's like catalogs! I'm not sure how good the feeds are going to be, and I don't know why they're in beta, but it's cool to see AmEx embracing syndication. MasterCard is no longer everywhere I wanna be.

Exactly. No, seriously. On the heels of Gnomedex, we're flailing down to SF for a few days to cover Where 2.0 for the Show. I'm not sure what we'll find once we're there (at Where), but I'm expecting to never get lost again as long as I live. 90% of their speakers / represented companies aren't familiar to me, which oughta make the questions much more genuine. It's Jake, Ponzi, and myself - with a bit of time to kill on Friday. I'm thinking I'd like to hook up with all my new and old Bay Area friends for a Peet's. We're staying at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in Union Square.

Location-aware technologies combined with mapping and other data are poised to create a whole new class of web apps and services. Maps are becoming an interface, helping us to visualize and access a variety of data. Location is fertile ground for hackers and researchers who mash up Google Maps with Craigslist or plug restaurant info into dashboard navigation.

Maps. They do a body good.

I had forgotten about this stupid little tune that I recorded a few years ago, after hearing some folks complain about paying for anything online. Kinda upset me, so I tried to send a message in parody - based on Eye of the Tiger, it's I 0wn the Software. A recent dinner discussion sent me on a wild goose chase, but I finally found what it was I sang (horribly). What can't you do with MIDI, a cheap microphone, and nothing but too much *CLAP CLAP* time on your hands? Ponzi would never let me do this nowadays, as she hates when I sing - and she can't stand the music-box sound of MIDI. Okay, so maybe I should stick to typing.

I'm still reeling with excitement from this weekend's event. New articles, photos, videos, and audios are likely to keep streaming in steadily over the next few weeks. I'd only hope that people would tag what they're posting, so that we all may refer to a few points in the time/space continuum. The Gnomedex Wiki is still alive, although it needs to be cleaned up a bit. There's just so much being published about the conference right now, I'm even finding it difficult to catch up with and catalog everything.
My fellow TechPodcasters just uploaded a roundtable interview a few minutes ago, and my ol' buddies from TechTV just twitterpated me. I was also taken aback by this rather unique comparison made by a Gnomedexer (causing me to think about how Gnomedex could be liknened to a religious experience of sorts). I was thrilled to read TSMI's report, as it places our li'l conference in perspective within the industry. News references continue to roll in, although Google News still refuses to use original Lockergnome content.
So, what's going to happen next? We don't know. Gnomedex will be just as open, just as freeing, just as transparent as it has been in years past. I'd love to involve our world's leading technology companies (on a sponsorship level, or on stage if they have something REALLY COOL to share), although Apple has yet to return my emails. :) In the meanwhile, however, I'm content in seeing that we're becoming the conference against which others are compared. Thank you, one and ALL, for helping make that a possibility.

Dave Winer demonstrated his new OPML Outliner from the stage during the opening keynote at Gnomedex 2005 kicking things off Morning Coffee Notes style. A few days prior to Gnomedex, Chris and Ponzi chatted with Dave about the event, RSS, podcasting and the now widely discussed Microsoft announcement of RSS in Longhorn. During the conversation, Dave suggested even Chris wasn’t aware of every announcement planned for Gnomedex and I’m inclined to think Dave was correct. If you liked the story of Chris and Ponzi meeting, more is revealed during this chat as the discussion shifts to public display of affection, nail polish remover, inflatable people and the Seattle Public Library

If you missed my opening presentation for Gnomedex 5.0, here are
the words - with the audio transcript forthcoming.

Samedycation /n/ - 1. Any
new standard that replaces an existing non-standard standard that's already been
adopted as a standard, regardless of its non-standard
nature.