James Branch
I started my I.T. life back in 1987 with a Commodore 64, swiftly moving to the Amiga 500 and 1200, but got my first (What I could call 'real') PC in 1991.... a Packard Bell 486 DX running Windows 3.1 and from then on, I was hooked!
I've been working in the I.T. sector in the U.K. for over 10 years now. My career started as a junior technician for Sage Software (Working in house as part of the I.T. tech teams, not developing their software as such) repairing PC's and doing the boring jobs that nobody really wanted or could be bothered to do! It was my first taste of work in the I.T. sector since leaving college (Where I studied I.T. and Business believe it or not!) so as far as I was concerned, I had the best job in the world!
After a couple of years I left Sage as a Desktop Support Engineer and worked for a number of I.T. companies, with most of my concentration and dedication being aimed at PC, Server and Network support/design.
I'm currently working as part of a two man I.T. support team, so tend to get my hands dirty with not only network design and support, PC & Server repair/maintenance, but I also maintain VoIP telephone systems, have mastered Sharepoint (MOSS/WSS Design, Document Library and Workflows), setup Virtual Servers using VMWare & MS Virtual Server, systems administration, Unix maintenance, and I like to dabble in SQL now and again.... just for my sins! :)
I tend not to go very far without my iPod shuffle and can't live without my Blackberry 8820 - it's like an extension to my right (or even left!) hand!
As you can probably gather, I'm also addicted to gadgets.... I have quite an impressive collection of toys now, which seem to take up too much space at home! I've gone through more digital cameras that I care to think of, had far too many Palms, games consoles, smart phones and an impressive of collection of PC's and laptops! Not a bad thing though, I think anyway!! My wife might think otherwise! :)
When I'm not playing with gadgets or on the internet, I'm spending time with my gorgeous wife and three kids (All boys!) who'll no doubt grow up to be gadget freaks too, I hope! :)
You can always find me checking e-mail, Twittering or mooching around Facebook, or indeed finding the next gadget(s) to review!
James
Seemingly out of nowhere, Nintendo have announced the release of their latest handheld gaming system, the 3DS. It will be a 3D ‘glasses-free’ version of the DS/DSi, allowing full 3D play without the need to wear any 3D head gear.
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Personally I’m cynical about the value of 3d in a portable device as anything other than a pointless gimmick that will make my head hurt. Still, no matter what Nintendo does for its next generation system, I’m sure it will have plenty of games I’m interested in, so I’ll get one regardless…
Apparently (You might want to take it with a pinch of salt!) Nintendo are looking further into the problem of suffering from headaches when using 3D kit. They say the 3DS (or whatever it’ll be called when it comes out) will be able to be used for longer periods, without straining your eyes, or giving you a bad head.
Again, I’m not sure what technology they are looking at, but we’ll see.
It’s cool that Nintendo is pushing new technology, but I’m not sure that I’d bother. My DS and DS Lite are already gathering dust because my iPhone has addressed the greater portion of my portable gaming needs. I don’t expect that things will get any better for my DS once the iPad is released.
I think that I’d have to be quite thoroughly blown away by an in-person demo of this 3D tech for me to even consider buying a 3DS.
Hopefully it will be lenticular display. No glasses.
@Cross Eyes – Yep, looks like it’s being developed to be used without 3D head gear.
Virtual Boy would be a better pic insert, btw I’m not in the mood to strap on a 10 pound weight of my forehead with a batman battery pack on my belt
In 1978, while watching a local news type program, I saw a demonstration of 3D technology right on my little B&W television from a couple of professors at a university. No special glasses needed. The picture did not appear to extend out into the room like most 3D images do, instead the image appeared to have natural depth and dimension inside the TV. This was the result of research into how persons with only one eye can have depth perception. The professors managed to build a single lens video camera that produced a 3D image. The only problem – the picture began to jump / bounce after about 20 seconds. The profs were looking for investors to further research and marketing. Never heard of them again. Maybe this is what Sony has – ?