The unofficial Google Operating System blog has some screenshots of potential integration between gTalk and AIM. As a user of gTalk through my gMail and AIM once in a while, this is gonna be awesome should it happen. Makes it easier than having to open different windows or programs. Then again, further integrating things and making gMail and Google a one-stop-shop for all things web makes me a bit uneasy. Not that I’m doing much to resist it…
Patrick Ruffini has a new project: ECorps:
ECorps is a collaborative, blog-based effort to network conservative web geeks across America. From graphic designers to hardcore developers, ECorps will serve as a community for people just like you, providing a venue for discussion and connecting you to exciting projects.
You don’t have to be especially political to join. We’re looking for the best new talent, not inside the Beltway political junkies. And you don’t need to have architected a Fortune 500 website either: a snazzy personal blog will do just fine.
Tired of the liberal tilt on Slashdot? Does it seem like every other Flash designer like you is a Michael Moore-addled lefty? Then join ECorps!
Creating a network like this is a great idea, especially leading into 2008. Not just so like-minded folks can collaborate on projects, but also to provide a ready and waiting pool of capable people that campaigns and activists can tap into if need be.
Update: Be sure to check out the ECorps Facebook group ”Code Red”.
Electronic Arts has announced that it will donate the original SimCity for installation on every One Laptop Per Child computer:
The original SimCity game, which won numerous awards and paved the way for an immensely successful franchise, transforms the player into the mayor of a virtual city. The simulation encourages cultivation of problem-solving skills and requires users to plan elaborate city infrastructure and respond to the needs of virtual citizens. The idea of including SimCity on the OLPC XO laptop was conceived by Electronic Frontier Foundation cofounder and OLPC advisor John Gilmore.
The game is currently being ported to the OLPC by Don Hopkins, the man responsible for the original multiplayer Unix port of the game. Hopkins created the Unix port of SimCity—which uses TCL and Tk—for DUX software in 1991. When the ten-year distribution contract between Maxis and DUX expired, Hopkins contacted Maxis parent company EA and attempted to negotiate for licensing rights so that he could adapt the program for educational uses and continue distributing. He didn’t succeed at the time, but now that EA is gifting the program to the OLPC project, Hopkins finally has a new chance to reinvent SimCity for academic uses.
As a fan of the SimCity franchise I think it’s great to see it get cracked open and be tweaked for educational purposes. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to it. (OLPC)
