XplanaZine

Here’s our take on news that matters for Friday, March 24. Today’s theme is it’s not what it seems , and here are a some links to headlines about technology that is changing the way we live and learn.

• Gaming — As we think more and more about games in education, keep these numbers in mind. According to the latest survey conducted by the Entertainment Software Association, the average gamer is 30 years old and 75 percent of heads of household play video games. The survey also reveals that almost half of all video game players are female.
  In his GDC keynote, Jesper Juul explained that open-ended games that provide a multitude of meaningful choices will attract a broader audience. A wider range of potential and current gamers could be attracted to games with no or optional goals.

• Blogging, mediacasting, and online creations — David Scott Lewis has a nice analysis of various podcasting solutions out in the wild. He discusses everything from podcatching to audio tools and it’s definitely worth a read.
• Handhelds – Cory Doctorow has an interesting take on Apple’s response to proposed French legislation requiring the iPod DRM to be opened up for users in that country. “If Apple doesn’t think iTunes stops “piracy,” then why include it? Because it lets them send legal threats to competitors like Real when they make players for their own DRMed music that run on Apple devices.”
• Social Networks – Mobber is the latest in new mashups and Web services to get some hype. In the company’s own words, Mobber “shows you who’s on a particular web page, allowing you to chat with them privately or in a group. We make the web a two-way real-time medium.” Also, Wired has a good take on personal map-mashup Palatial. “provides a home for people who love quirky geographical information or just want
  to mark the locations that have meaning to them. Sign up for a free account, and
  you can start building and sharing personalized maps, complete with place
  markers, tags and descriptions of each spot. Collaborate on them with your
  buddies, or keep them to yourself.”
• Technology Talks — Well, if you thought Writely (bought by Google) was an interesting Web-based word processing application, check out ajaxWrite.
  It was developed by the well-known Michael Robertson and looks amazingly like MS Word circa 1997. here’s how he describes it.

  “What’s unique about the approach with ajaxWrite is that it’s the first ajax application which doesn’t feel or look like a web program, but looks like a traditional software program,” explained Mr. Robertson in an e-mail to Ars. “ajaxWrite is just the first program we are releasing. We’re going to release a new one every Wednesday on ajaxLaunch.com. The goal is to obsolete big bulky desktop software and replace them with snappy ajax programs.”

Finally, the release of Microsoft Office 2007 to the general public will be delayed to coincide with the al ready-delayed launch of Windows Vista. Sorry about that, folks (at leas for those of you counting on seeing it earlier). In the meanwhile, ajaxWrite and its creator Robertson may keep you busy.