9.1.1 Home Entertainment and Computing
There has been great interest in the field of home computer entertainment technology amongst researchers and developers from both the academia and industry. Digital entertainment services will soon be available to home users through a single media centre that orchestrates and controls all entertainment appliances such as the TV, the radio, etc.
In the near future the television set will be used not only for watching your favourite movies, but also for recording your favourite episodes. With the advancement of home multimedia computing, you may choose to burn your favourite episodes into a CD without the need to copy the video to your computer. Then you may choose to upload it to your personal blog or video portal.
You can also send e-mail through your television set using a wireless keyboard.
A universal remote controller will enable you to switch between the functions of your TV. Fast wireless internet connection at home allows you to keep in touch with your office through e-mails. You can even browse the Internet with your daughter while both of you are in different rooms.
Figure 9.1 shows a home entertainment system.
Figure 9.1: Home entertainment system
Source: http://www.theavlounge.com/images/snowboard.jpg
Soon you may also find your Personal Computer (PC) looking more like a sophisticated piece of furniture. The PC will soon blend nicely with your home
interior decoration just like your sofa, the cabinet, the sideboard, etc. Research efforts are trying to make sure that these home computers can be connected easily.
9.1.2 Massively Multi-Player Online Gaming
Over the last decade, Massively Multi-player On-line Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) have become big business. Normally if you want to play this game, you need to pay a monthly subscription to the game publisher. They are the hosts of the game providing periodic content updates. Can you guess how many players subscribe to the game? The 2006 statistics shows that its total membership globally (of both subscription and non-subscription status) by then had exceeded 15 million!
MMORPGs are extremely popular amongst network gamers. MMORPGs involve large numbers of simultaneous players·up to hundreds of thousands per game per session. Social interaction is believed to be the primary driving force for gamers to continue to play MMORPGs. Here they can interact and get to know each other online while playing the game.
MMORPGs are still expected to continue remaining a popular, lucrative and most profitable sector of the gaming market. In terms of network connection, most MMORPGs you see today are based on client-server architecture. Faster network connection, processors, and 3D accelerator cards have contributed to the push for the growth of MMORPGs.
Figure 9.2 shows a screenshot of Daimonin, an example of an MMORPG.
Figure 9.2: Daimonin ă MMORPG
Source: http://pcwin.com/media/images/screen/Daimonin_1744.png
9.1.3 Web 2.0 and Social Networking
Have you heard of Web 2.0? Are you aware that there exists Web version 1.0?
Actually the term Web 2.0 is coined by the web design community to refer to the second generation of web-based communities. Web 2.0 is a change in web paradigm from Web 1.0 that brings with it new approaches to Web content.
If previously you can only view and read but not leave a message or comment on your friendÊs personal homepage, now you can, through their web log (blog).
When this happens, a two-way virtual interaction begins. Web 2.0 therefore makes online presence more interesting and interactive. From a personalised portal, you can conduct countless everyday activities such as seeking information and making appointments easily. Web 2.0 has initiated a new age of web interaction that is more effective and cheaper.
Do you realize that until a few years ago, the major activity amongst internet users was just accessing information and data? However these days, the internet is increasingly used for communication purposes. The same group of people now interact socially on portals and blogs, instead of just merely searching and reading passively online.
Virtual social networking has thus turned into a phenomenon whereby a group of people that have a common interest are linked to each other on the Internet. It often involves grouping specific individuals or organisations together.
Figure 9.3 shows the concept of social networking.
Figure 9.3: Social networking concept
(Source: http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/networking.gif)
Social networking websites function as a „club house‰ for a group or a community of internet users. You can initiate a social networking site for your batch of students using MySpace.com, for instance.
Other than that, you can almost „share‰ your diary and activities on sites like Multiply.com. Can you imagine 7.5 million Multiply.com members uploading more than 2 million photos and 17 000 videos on average every day?
You could also create blogs, share photos, and post reviews on the site ă just to name a few of the things you can do. You can also find new or old friends using Friendster.com. Social networking services have thus become a fast-growing business on the Internet.
Table 9.1 lists several popular social networking sites and their purpose. The list is sorted according to the number of estimated registered users worldwide.
Table 9.1: Social networking sites and purpose
Site Purpose No. of registered users
Classmates.com School or college alumni 40 million Tagged.com General social online meeting 30 million Reunion.com Locating friends and family, 28 million
LiveJournal.com Blogging 12.9 million
Yahoo! 360Ĉ Yahoo.com users community 4.7 million
Soundpedia.com Music sharing 3.5 million
Student.com Teens and colleges 800 000
Figure 9.4 shows the homepage of Yahoo! 360Ĉ. If you have a Yahoo account, you can create an online site for your group in less than a minute.
Figure 9.4: Yahoo! 360Ĉ
9.1.4 Face Recognition Technology
Human face detection has always been an important problem especially for security purposes. Do you know that the fundamental challenge in face recognition is to find useful features on the face of someone? The simplest way to do it is by comparing selected facial features from the image and a facial pattern database. Once those features can be detected, it can be easily compared with the database.
Face recognition is one of the most successful applications of image analysis and understanding (Zhao, Chellappa, Phillips, & Rosenfeld, 2003). As a result it has received significant attention especially during the past several years.
Recognizing faces is done by computer algorithms that compare the faces in a photo with all faces that are available in the photo database. However, face recognition technology faces challenging problems such as variations in pose and photo ray illumination.
You can try to upload your photo to MyHeritage.com. Basically MyHeritage Face Recognition runs in three steps:
(a) The digital photo that is provided by the user is first loaded;
(b) Face detection technology is applied to automatically detect a human face;
and
(c) Face recognition technology is applied to recognise the faces detected.
Figure 9.5 shows MyHeritage.com face recognition online site.
Figure 9.5: MyHeritage.com Face Recognition Site
9.1.5 Wireless Communications: Wireless City
Have you ever heard of the news that in the near future, Kuala Lumpur will become the first „Wireless City‰? Through the Wireless@KL Project, 3500 Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) zones will be made available for the KLites for free (Sharif, 2007). A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) has been finalised between KL City Hall (DBKL), the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Packet One Networks Sdn Bhd in 2007.
KL is expected to become the first city in the world to apply high speed wireless infrastructure called WiMAX 2.3 Ghertz. Currently the network technology used for wireless communication is the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) 802.11b by Cisco. Hence, we expect that sooner or later, Penang, Ipoh, Johor Bahru, and Melaka will also become Wireless Cities.
Are you staying in Kuala Lumpur? Imagine soon you could enjoy sending e-mails from your Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) while you jog in Taman Tasik Titiwangsa. You could also pay your utility bills while sipping „Teh Tarik‰ at the Mamak Stall around Jalan Masjid India.
Figure 9.6 shows how the Wireless City concept works.
Figure 9.6: Wireless city concept
Source: https://www.huttononline.com/HuttonOnline/Images/Hutton/
Towers/Antenna2.jpg
SELF-CHECK 9.1
1. Explain why MMORPGs are hugely popular.
2. List as many online social interaction sites that you can think of.
3. Explain three basic processes in face recognition technology.
4. What would happen if Kuala Lumpur becomes a total Wireless City?