What Gaming Means to Business

Fonte: http://blog.sherweb.com/what-gaming-means-to-business/

Imagine working in an environment where playing games was encouraged. If certain software companies have their way this will be a reality in the future office environment. New employees would receive their training through virtual scenario games. Information sharing would take place in a similar environment to Web 2.0. And employees would receive points based on their performance. Spending a day at the office has the potential to become more interactive. Why Games? Should games and work be mixed together at the workplace? This question was researched by IBM, Seriosity (a company that creates enterprise software that was inspired by multiplayer games), MIT and Stanford. It turns out that avid players of online mass-multiplayer games, like World of Warcarft (WoW), acquired qualities that would make them ideal managers. These skills included assessing strategic risks, gathering information from different sources, identifying problems and quickly taking on another challenge. During mass-multiplayer games it is common for a player to jump in to a leadership position to solve a problem. If this type of environment and project-oriented leadership were adopted in the business world more employees might be willing to try on the role of ‘leader’. Pieces of the dialogue between WoW gamers were also analyzed. The results showed that players who worked as a team advanced more quickly. Games could also aid in the development of qualities essential to successful teamwork amongst colleagues. Seriosity has listed more qualities that they believe gaming can enhance in the business world: incentive structures for long and short term motivation; virtual economies that design a marketplace for information and collaboration; transparency of capabilities and performance; recognition for work and; access to networks of communication for the organization. Perhaps gaming can exist side by side with work. Virtual Training in the Office Similar to how it works in the business world a gamer must undergo a series of tasks in order to advance and; since these two share qualities that are mutually beneficial; why not develop a system for virtual training? There are two types of virtual training, 3D and 2D. 3D virtual training could be used to develop interpersonal skills like those used by a salesman. Breakway has developed a game called “Virtual Training Bank” where players take part in banking scenarios. For example, for fraud detection the participant must detect discrepancies in staff members’ stories. 2D virtual training would use scenarios to spark group discussion on the subject. For example, HR staff could discuss conflict resolution scenarios in order to determine efficient methods to settle disputes. Blueline Simulations has developed “Executive Challenge” where teams compete to grow the most successful business. With this type of training staff members could take a trial run in the virtual business world before they took on the role in reality. Keep in mind that this type of training is not completely revolutionary; the military has had success with this type of training for years. Attent According to a survey conducted in 2006 by the Radicati Group, one-quarter of the average corporate worker’s work day is spent sorting through e-mails. This is due to the numerous CCs, FYIs and CYAs sent by colleagues. Seriosity has developed an e-mail system where employees would receive a limited amount of ‘serios’ each week. These serios are to be attached to an e-mail to indicate the level of importance. Outlook does have the red exclamation mark, but since there is no limit on how many times someone can use they become meaningless. In Attent there is a limited amount of serios, so the number of useless e-mails should be reduced. Workers will be able to arrange their e-mails by level of importance to ensure that urgent messages are dealt with promptly. Recipients of an e-mail can reply with a modified amount of serios. This way the sender can compare his level of importance to that of his co-workers. To continuously receive replies with more serios attached shows that this worker is adding value to the organization. To get a reply with less serios would demonstrate that your message was off target. Collaborative Environments Using “Super Groupware” David Jacobson of PrincewaterhouseCoopers would like to have gaming incorporated into everyday office life. Participation would be encouraged and the ‘gaming world’ would continue to operate even when some users were not active. This resembles the type of Web 2.0 environment that gyminee.com utilizes. Here members set individual fitness goals, check their progress and can motivate others in their group, creating a successful mixture of fun interaction with fitness coaching. Within a business “Super GroupWare” could create a collaborative environment to share all forms of information on one database. This would make sharing quicker since switching software to view certain documents would not be required. With this technology all forms of unstructured information could be digitized and made accessible. Communication between co-workers would also be simplified through instant messaging. Gartner (market researcher) predicts that 80% of internet users will have digital versions of themselves, or avatars, that they will use for recreation and the work place by 2011; and that by the end of 2012 50% of American companies will be using networked virtual office environments where they will have the capability for global communication, to train new staff members and have meetings. With the success of social media marketing in recent years and the increased productivity that the internet has introduced to the work world is it really that much of a surprise that the workplace is capitalizing on these forms of information sharing?

What happened to Second Life?

Fonte: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8367957.stm

Not long ago Second Life was everywhere, with businesses opening branches and bands playing gigs in this virtual world. Today you'd be forgiven for asking if it's still going.

Once upon a time Second Life had a Twitter level of hype. Even those without a cartoon version of themselves couldn't plead ignorance due to blanket coverage in newspapers and magazines.

Second Life is a virtual world started by the US firm Linden Lab in 2003, in which users design an avatar to live their "second life" online.

And everything about this world can be customised for a price - new outfits, drinks in a bar, even a luxury mansion can be bought with Linden dollars.

Mentions of Second Life first crept into the UK media mainstream in early 2006.

The Maldives were the first to open a virtual embassy in 2007

A year later, newspapers fell over themselves to cover it, devoting many column inches in their business, technology and lifestyle sections to profiles and trend pieces. By the end of 2007 Second Life had secured more than 600 mentions in UK newspapers and magazines, according to the media database Lexis Nexis.

IBM bought property in 2006, American Apparel opened a shop the same summer, Reuters installed avatar journalist Adam Pasick - also known as Adam Reuters - to report on virtual happenings, and countries established virtual embassies.

The number of people joining the site jumped from 450,000 to four million in 2007.

But just as quickly as it had flared, media interest ebbed away. References plummeted by 40% in 2008 and dropped further this year. And businesses diverted their resources back to real life.

American Apparel closed its shop just one year after opening. Reuters pulled its correspondent in October 2008. When asked about his virtual experience, Pasick says: "It isn't a subject we like to revisit."

So, what happened?

SECOND LIFE'S PRECURSOR In Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson, a seminal sci-fi work of the 90s, one of the plots is that there was this whole metaverse exactly like Second Life, only cooler. You had a whole generation of people who read Snow Crash and were talking about this idea of the internet as a 3D world you could immerse yourself in Ben Hammersley

Not much, says Wired UK editor-at-large Ben Hammersley, and that was the problem.

"You could go and open these stores and no-one would turn up," he says.

"They would have 20 to 30 people there when it opened, and after that no-one would bother going in there again. It just wasn't worth the spend."

The "spend" varied from business to business. A retailer like American Apparel might spend £10,000 on designers, as well as storage space from Linden Lab, to build a virtual store.

But at the peak of the hype, the cost of purchasing or building property was worth it.

"The first to go online would make the front page of the Guardian," Mr Hammersley says. "But when you're the 15th country who goes on Second Life, no magazine, no newspaper touches it."

Some businesses and users found it wasn't quite for them. The technology wasn't easily grasped and some computers couldn't handle it.

Second Life has had to temper its ambitions for the quality of graphics to extend its accessibility across varying speeds of broadband around the world, leading to complaints about the cartoony look and feel of the site.

And there is a fundamental question about whether Second Life is a game or a social networking site.

"It's not a really good social space," Mr Hammersley says. "Not as good as Facebook or any general online forum.

Avatars can walk, fly and teleport

Simon Gardner, a 23-year-old freelance social media marketer, believed the hype in 2007.

He signed on, created an avatar with a shock of red hair that vaguely resembled him, and jumped into what he found to be a lacklustre experience.

"It was a real pain. You have to learn how to control things and read manuals on how to get to islands and get off. Half the time you're just wandering around talking to weirdos."

After three months Mr Gardner became bored and left.

Mobile dilemma

And the online social network scene is a crowded one. "The key to anything online is to get a broader reach of people," says Jim Clark of market researchers Mintel. The learning curve required for Second Life prevents many general users from returning regularly.

As more people turn to smart phones, sites need a mobile presence to stay relevant.

"Mobile is the future of any activity online. This is something that Second Life will struggle to penetrate," says Mr Clark.

This is because the graphics require more memory than current smart phones can handle.

But Linden Labs isn't worried, because the number of users continues to rise.

"Monthly repeat login - a metric we use to gauge the number of users engaged with Second Life - grew 23% from September 2008 to September 2009," says Mark Kingdon, chief executive of Linden Lab.

In IBM's Virtual Green Data Center, avatars can seek IT advice

On average, a million people log in each month, he says. In October 2009, 75,000 of those were in the UK.

And the site continues to evolve, Mr Kingdon says. It launched a new product earlier this month geared towards businesses, and will soon be launching more user-friendly and intuitive software.

And many companies and organisations are still holding on to their virtual selves - 1,400 of them says Mr Kingdon. IBM continues to be an avid supporter of Second Life.

But for many others, the jury is out.

Intel: Chips in brains will control computers by 2020

Fonte: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9141180/Intel_Chips_in_brains_will_control_computers_by_2020

Brain waves will replace keyboard and mouse, dial phones and change TV channels

By Sharon Gaudin

November 19, 2009 02:40 PM ET

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Computerworld - By the year 2020, you won't need a keyboard and mouse to control your computer, say Intel Corp. researchers. Instead, users will open documents and surf the Web using nothing more than their brain waves.

Scientists at Intel's research lab in Pittsburgh are working to find ways to read and harness human brain waves so they can be used to operate computers, television sets and cell phones. The brain waves would be harnessed with Intel-developed sensors implanted in people's brains.

The scientists say the plan is not a scene from a sci-fi movie -- Big Brother won't be planting chips in your brain against your will. Researchers expect that consumers will want the freedom they will gain by using the implant.

"I think human beings are remarkable adaptive," said Andrew Chien, vice president of research and director of future technologies research at Intel Labs. "If you told people 20 years ago that they would be carrying computers all the time, they would have said, 'I don't want that. I don't need that.' Now you can't get them to stop [carrying devices]. There are a lot of things that have to be done first but I think [implanting chips into human brains] is well within the scope of possibility."

Intel research scientist Dean Pomerleautold Computerworld that users will soon tire of depending on a computer interface, and having to fish a device out of their pocket or bag to access it. He also predicted that users will tire of having to manipulate an interface with their fingers.

Instead, they'll simply manipulate their various devices with their brains.

"We're trying to prove you can do interesting things with brain waves," said Pomerleau. "Eventually people may be willing to be more committed ... to brain implants. Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your thoughts."

To get to that point Pomerleau and his research teammates from Intel, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, are currently working on decoding human brain activity.

Pomerleau said the team has used Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) machines to determine that blood flow changes in specific areas of the brain based on what word or image someone is thinking of. People tend to show the same brain patterns for similar thoughts, he added.

For instance, if two people think of the image of a bear or hear the word bear or even hear a bear growl, a neuroimage would show similar brain activity. Basically, there are standard patterns that show up in the brain for different words or images.

Pomerleau said researchers are close to gaining the ability to build brain sensing technology into a head set that culd be used to manipulate a computer. The next step is development of a tiny, far less cumbersome sensor that could be implanted inside the brain.

Aprenda como usar o computador sem o mouse

Fonte: http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/Tecnologia/0,,MUL1381358-6174,00.html

Colunista ensina a usar as teclas de atalho para facilitar tarefas. Deixe suas dicas, dúvidas e sugestões na área de comentários.

Fernando Panissi*Especial para o G1

Tamanho da letra

• A-
• A+

O teclado sempre esteve presente na vida dos usuários de computador. Digitar comandos em telas pretas com um cursor verde (branco, laranja e etc) era comum e muita gente até hoje ainda acha isso muito prático. O mouse revolucionou a forma com que as pessoas usavam computador e foi a porta de entrada para o surgimento de sistemas como o MacOS e o Windows. A interatividade de interfaces com janelas trouxe a praticidade e a usabilidade à computação. Hoje o mouse já não é forma mais moderna de interação com a máquina. As telas touch screen – sensíveis ao toque – vêm se popularizando, principalmente em dispositivos móveis. PCs com essa tecnologia ainda não são para todos, mas se depender dos fabricantes e dos desenvolvedores de aplicativos isso irá mudar nos próximos anos. O fato do Windows 7 estar preparado para trabalhar com telas multitoques é um indício.

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Quem – como eu – trabalha o dia inteiro em um notebook acaba comprando um mouse portátil pois usar o “touchpad” não é algo tão prático. Este fato corroborou com a manutenção de um antigo hábito: usar teclas atalho para realizar tarefas no computador. Parece um recurso retrógrado pensando no mouse e principalmente nas telas sensíveis ao toque, mas quando o assunto é produtividade nada é mais rápido do que não precisar tirar a mão do teclado para nada. Todos os programas e sistemas operacionais contam com teclas atalho. Alguns programas são totalmente manipuláveis por teclado, sendo inclusive mais fácil operá-los desta forma do que com o mouse. Vamos aos atalhos:

Windows 7 Tecla do Windows + Seta para cima: Maximiza janela Tecla do Windows + Seta para baixo: Minimiza a janela Tecla do Windows + Seta para esquerda: Fixa janela à esquerda (recurso do Windows 7 que fixa a janela nos cantos da tela). Tecla do Windows + Seta para direita: Fixa janela à direita Tecla do Windows + SHIFT + Seta para esquerda: Tecla para quem tem mais de um monitor – Esta ação move janela para monitor da esquerda. Tecla do Windows + SHIFT + Seta para direita: Tecla para quem tem mais de um monitor – Esta ação move janela para monitor da direita. Tecla do Windows + Home: Minimiza ou restaura todas as janelas com exceção da janela em uso. Tecla do Windows + Barra de espaço: Mostra a área de trabalho desktop (quando o Aero Peek está ativo) Tecla do Windows + G: Exibe os gadgets, quando não estão em primeiro plano Tecla do Windows +* (* = número de 1 a 5): Abre uma nova instância do programa correspondente ao número fixado na barra do iniciar. Tecla do Windows + 1 abre o primeiro programa e assim sucessivamente Tecla do Windows + (sinal de mais) / Tecla do Windows + - (sinal de menos): Controle de Zoom Tecla do Windows + TAB: alterna entre os programas abertos (Aero Flip) ALT + P (no Windows Explorer à Mostra/Oculta o painel de pré-visualização dos arquivos.

Para ver atalhos para versões anteriores do Windows (XP ou 2000) clique aqui. Microsoft Office 2007 O Office 2007 tem uma série de atalhos. Para acessar os menus do programa usando o teclado, aperte a tecla ALT uma vez e repare nos menus: letras indicativas dos atalhos surgirão.

Visão dos atalhos do Word 2007. Muitas vezes não usar o mouse deixa o trabalho mais rápido. (Foto: Reprodução)

Ao acionar um comando como, por exemplo, ALT + P (para abrir a aba de Layout da página) automaticamente o WORD mostra os atalhos para as ferramentas presentes na aba, como pode ser visto na parte inferior da imagem acima. Um exemplo: ALT + P + M aciona a ferramenta de Margens do Word. Desta forma é possível controlar todas as funcionalidades do Word.

A tecla de menu de contexto ajuda na rápida correção de erros de digitação, como no caso do Exceção apresentado na imagem. Em destaque qual é o botão do menu de contexto do Windows. (Foto: Reprodução)

Durante a digitação uma palavra ficou com aquela tarja vermelha indicando erro de digitação? Não tem problema, basta clicar com o botão de menu de contexto do Windows que – além de outras coisas – as opções de correção serão mostradas e podem ser acessadas usando as setas do teclado. Escolhida a correção mais coerente, basta teclar ENTER. Se você não quer usar a tecla de contexto do Windows, pode teclar SHIFT+F10 que terá o mesmo efeito.

Alguns atalhos do Office 2007: ALT + 1: Salvar ALT + A: Botão Office ALT + C: Menu Início ALT + Y: Menu inserir ALT + P: layout de página ALT + U: Menu Fórmulas ALT + S: Menu Dados ALT + V: Menu Revisão ALT + J: Menu Exibição

Use a tecla ALT e depois use as setas do teclado para navegar entre as abas à esquerda e à direita. Usando a seta para baixo é possível percorrer os itens internos da aba. Para abrir um item é preciso teclar ENTER, como, por exemplo, abrir as opções de margem.

Ah, claro que estas dicas valem para todos os aplicativos da família Office.

Para saber mais teclas de Atalhos do Microsoft Office (versão 2003) recomendo ler esta coluna

Para conhecer teclas atalho para o Microsoft Windows Live Messenger, clique aqui.

Outros aplicativos

Alguns aplicativos se destacam quando o assunto é teclas de atalho. Pessoas que têm o hábito de ouvir música no PC enquanto trabalham devem se incomodar com o fato de precisar usar o mouse para mudar de música ou mesmo pausar o som para atender ao telefone. O Winamppermite controlar tudo do tocador apenas usando o teclado.

Outro programa que possibilita customização das teclas de atalho é o comunicador instantâneoMiranda. Ele é simples, extremamente leve e totalmente usável pelo teclado. Estes motivos me fazem adotá-lo como padrão em meu computador de trabalho. Eu ignoro o fato dele ser visualmente bem pobre.

Uma dica importante para quem gosta de usar teclas de atalho é sempre verificar o menu de ajuda dos programas, eles trazem uma lista de atalho. Por exemplo, o Editor de ImagensPaint.Net possui esta lista de atalhos em sua documentação on-line. Quando o programa estiver em inglês, procure pela palavra shortcuts nos menus de ajuda do aplicativo.

E você leitor, que outros atalhos conhece? Deixe sua dica na área de comentários abaixo. Ela também está aberta para dúvidas sobre tecnologia e internet, além de sugestões de pautas. Até quinta (19), quando responderei as dúvidas deixadas aqui.

* Fernando Panissi é especialista em tecnologia e internet, formado em Sistemas de Informação com extensão em gestão. É professor universitário e ministra cursos de extensão em desenvolvimento de sistemas. Vive a internet e suas excentricidades desde 1995 e, nesta coluna, irá compartilhar suas experiências e conhecimentos sobre os mais variados temas ligados à internet, computação e tecnologia. Também tira as dúvidas deixadas pelos leitores na seção de comentários.