Obama Lambasts Ipod, Ipad, XBOX and Playstation

[Z-06]

Linkity

And meanwhile, you're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank that high on the truth meter. And with iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it's putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy

[Drew Dowdell]

Wut?! You mean it's a waste of time to play farmville on my iPad?

[FAPTurbo]

Obviously, Obama recognizes the only platform worth gaming on is the PC.

[Intrepidation]

Obviously, Obama recognizes the only platform worth gaming on is the PC.

You win this thread.

[CSpec]

I thought he was supposed to be tech-savvy and stuff. Maybe he thinks the Internets are a series of tubes?

[Robert Hall]

Obviously, Obama recognizes the only platform worth gaming on is the PC.

Or the Wii.

Maybe he's a Kindle and Blackberry guy rather than iPad and iPhone.

[FAPTurbo]

Or the Wii.

Nah, he likely just forgot about the Wii, like everyone else does.

[Robert Hall]

Nah, he likely just forgot about the Wii, like everyone else does.

The people I know that are big Wii fans seem to have rejected other gaming platforms. On the other hand, I prefer Farmville above all other games.

[Intrepidation]

That's because they prefer mass market "games" as opposed to real games. Also waving a stick around is apparently OMFGOSMTASTIC.

[balthazar]

Just a veiled verbal threshold for FCC 'oversight' of the internet. "Net neutrality" is coming; can't wait.

[loki]

capt.. so.. if i found sales figures of those consoles....the wii would be a tiny fraction of the others, right? lol

except all those have net access, and could theoretically be a tool of "emancipation", just as much as his idea of slavery.

balthy, yes, any regulating of the net even under the name of net neutrality, will not be so good...

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I would tend to agree from a certain standpoint. (I voted yes)

From a psychological and social standpoint, our 'addiction' to technology as both individuals and a society is/can be a VERY unhealthy thing. (Hell, this site alone has probably taken years off of my life, as stressed out and pissed off as it has made me at times) I think it is extremely unhealthy for our youth to have technology 'IV-ed' in all the time.

On the other hand, there is absolutely NO way in hell that we as individuals, or as a society can ignore this technology or wash our hands of it. So the point is to teach moderation. But 1) that makes too much sense and 2) americans don't know the meaning of moderation.

BTW, the Wii is the most MISERABLE piece of crap that I've ever played in my life.

Edited May 11, 2010 by FUTURE_OF_GM

[Camino LS6]

I have to say that I agree with the quoted text in the OP.

Never expected that, did you?

[pow]

I have to say that I agree with the quoted text in the OP.

Never expected that, did you?

Agreed - the internet sometimes brings out the worst in people. If the world were only made up of internet comments and angry netizens, it would be a very depressing place indeed.

[Blake Noble]

I traded my 360 for an Alpine White Limited Edition SG.

I think that just about says it all.

[Robert Hall]

I have a Sega Dreamcast and Playstation 2 from back when I dabbled in video games. Really haven't had much interest in games at all for many years now. More interested in travel and other non-gaming pastimes (building/collecting model cars, watching movies, listening to music, etc).

My interest in Android and mobile technology is for side development projects/new skill areas (mobile development) as an alternative to the corporate enterprise application development I do in my day job.

As far as iPods and iPads, I'll probably get a 120gb iPod Classic to replace 30gb iPod that I've filled up...do like to take a lot of music and podcasts w/ me. If I were flying weekly like my sister, I'd think about a Kindle or iPad, she's looking at getting a Kindle.

But on the theme of the thread, access to information and connectivity has exploded over the last decade, no doubt. 20 years ago my internet access was limited to dialup and a PC at home or 'fast' connections at school via the text-based internet (telnet, ftp, usenet). Portable music was CDs in my Sony Discman. Nothing like the capacity and convenience of an mp3 player of today. I used to go to 'libraries' then to look up information in books and journals. Haven't been in one of those over a decade, what with the explosion of information on the WWW.

Now, wireless high speed connnectivity nearly anywhere, anytime via a smart phone (or laptop w/ wireless) is pretty ubiquitous. It can get distracting.

Edited May 11, 2010 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[the_yellow_dart]

...if you're lucky enough to get work to pay for a data plan.

[FAPTurbo]

Agreed - the internet sometimes brings out the worst in people. If the world were only made up of internet comments and angry netizens, it would be a very depressing place indeed.

YOUR MOM IS A VERY DEPRESSING PLACE LOL! YOU SHOULD GO UNINSTALL YOUR LIFE. OHWAIT U DONT HAVE ONE L!OL!

[Intrepidation]

THE INERNETS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS

[Robert Hall]

The internets are not a big truck.

[Intrepidation]

The internets are a series of tubes.

[mustang84]

That Al Gore invented.

[FAPTurbo]

I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

[loki]

I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

clogged tubes!

[Intrepidation]

[Blake Noble]

I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

what is this i don't even

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I think the worst site I've ever been on is YouTube. The comments are nothing but constant negativity, bitching and trolling.

[Blake Noble]

I think the worst site I've ever been on is YouTube. The comments are nothing but constant negativity, bitching and trolling.

YouTube has slowly become quite the cesspool since Google took ownership of it, not only in comments, but in general site quality.

Videos sometimes refuse and keep refusing to load and the two new redesigned players they brewed up since they started taking a steaming dump on the site were/are awful compared to the original. The original player wasn't broke, Google, so why the fuck did you feel the need to try and fix the sunnabitch? The WMV Nazis are always skull-fucking some great video by stripping the sound out of it because they feel someone is making boo-koos and boo-koos of bucks off of including a 45 second clip of "Enter-fucking-Sandman" in it. Uh, how? Seriously. That is something I would like explained because I don't even see how that could be done, even if YouTube is paying some schmuck pimple-assed teenager out of Wisconsin $5 bucks a pop to make videos. I haven't seen any uploader try to lay claim to any copyrighted song in, well, literally forever.

And sites like Vimeo or whatever still just aren't as good as the original YouTube.

Edited May 12, 2010 by whiteknight

[Lamar]

YouTube has slowly become quite the cesspool since Google took ownership of it, not only in comments, but in general site quality.

Videos sometimes refuse and keep refusing to load and the two new redesigned players they brewed up since they started taking a steaming dump on the site were/are awful compared to the original. The original player wasn't broke, Google, so why the fuck did you feel the need to try and fix the sunnabitch? The WMV Nazis are always skull-fucking some great video by stripping the sound out of it because they feel someone is making boo-koos and boo-koos of bucks off of including a 45 second clip of "Enter-fucking-Sandman" in it. Uh, how? Seriously. That is something I would like explained because I don't even see how that could be done, even if YouTube is paying some schmuck pimple-assed teenager out of Wisconsin $5 bucks a pop to make videos. I haven't seen any uploader try to lay claim to any copyrighted song in, well, literally forever.

And sites like Vimeo or whatever still just aren't as good as the original YouTube.

Don't hold back now, whiteknight!

But you're spot on.

[siegen]

[ShadowDog]

For a short time, the internet used to be considered the next step over CD-ROM encyclopedias. In high school, the instant and mostly factual information was listed on WebCrawler and gave varying details that could be used for what I was working on. Now, one has to filter through an alternate universe of teenage webspeak, opinion-laden Yahoo! Answers, glorified columnists and their blogs, cheersandgears.com and other 'expert' forums (chortle), etc., and likely end up with a paper that has more to do with what Lindsay Lohan crapped for breakfast than what was intended.

Yay internet. You've created a society that takes the crap you provide like a hooker suck starting a leaf blower.

Tidbit of info: Today's cell phone addicted culture and youth sets an interesting average. I don't text, ever. On Dr. Oz they interviewed a family with two kids, a 16 Y.O. son and 12 Y.O. daughter. The son averages 6 to 7 thousand texts per month. The daughter wasn't far behind... at 12 years old, that's an odd obsession to have. Today, it's the norm. A constant bombardment of useless information that can only succeed in bringing attention spans and productivity levels, even on a personal level, down to where everyone has one arm and half a brain to work with at any given moment.

[Robert Hall]

It's looking more and more like the future will be like 'Idiocracy', and probably sooner.

[balthazar]

A constant bombardment of useless information that can only succeed in bringing attention spans and productivity levels, even on a personal level, down to where everyone has one arm and half a brain to work with at any given moment.

SPOT-ON!

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

For a short time, the internet used to be considered the next step over CD-ROM encyclopedias. In high school, the instant and mostly factual information was listed on WebCrawler and gave varying details that could be used for what I was working on. Now, one has to filter through an alternate universe of teenage webspeak, opinion-laden Yahoo! Answers, glorified columnists and their blogs, cheersandgears.com and other 'expert' forums (chortle), etc., and likely end up with a paper that has more to do with what Lindsay Lohan crapped for breakfast than what was intended.

Yay internet. You've created a society that takes the crap you provide like a hooker suck starting a leaf blower.

Tidbit of info: Today's cell phone addicted culture and youth sets an interesting average. I don't text, ever. On Dr. Oz they interviewed a family with two kids, a 16 Y.O. son and 12 Y.O. daughter. The son averages 6 to 7 thousand texts per month. The daughter wasn't far behind... at 12 years old, that's an odd obsession to have. Today, it's the norm. A constant bombardment of useless information that can only succeed in bringing attention spans and productivity levels, even on a personal level, down to where everyone has one arm and half a brain to work with at any given moment.

Absolutely!

[the_yellow_dart]

Yes. Anyone here who hasn't seen "Idiocracy" needs to see it!