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Business Insider reports that prior to the season, Microsoft and the NFL struck a 5-year, $400 million deal with one of the major components being that the Microsoft Surface would become "the official tablet of the NFL" with coaches and players using the Surface on the sidelines during games. But the campaign is off to a rocky start when during week one of the season at least two television announcers mistakenly referred to the tablets as iPads giving Apple some unexpected exposure. As the camera focused in on the sideline during Sunday’s matchup between the Saints and the Falcons, the commentators mentioned that Drew Bress wasn’t “watching movies on his iPad.” Instead, he was studying the Falcons’ defense on his “iPad-like tool.” The people in the booth seem to know that a deal has taken to place to get tablets on the sidelines, but it’s clear they weren’t briefed on the actual name of the device in question. Adding to the confusion, the tablets have been covered in enormous, protective cases to ensure they aren’t broken while dozens of 300 pound linemen stomp on and off the field. Microsoft may be understandably peeved about this after committing to spend $400 million on an exclusive advertising and equipment deal with the NFL, but then the networks that cover the games aren't under the league's control.
(Score: 2) by Zinho on Saturday September 13 2014, @03:15AM
My favorite scene from that, I think was one where there was a tile on the Surface home screen that was streaming data from the nearest CCTV camera, which expanded to full screen when selected. Slick looking, and totally impossible. But hey, it's a TV show about a comic book character.
Why is that "impossible"? [lots of stuff about it being plausible] There's an app for that™.
Here's my list for prerequisites for an actual "app for that™":
[lots of reasons]
Or you could just suspend disbelief for the 42 minutes required to watch a fantasy TV episode.
Umm, what? How am I both unreasonable for thinking that something in a show is impossible and for not suspending belief because of it?
I never said I'd stop watching or that I didn't enjoy it. I thought I had that point covered at the beginning with "guilty pleasure" and "But hey, it's a TV show about a comic book character." I can enjoy something and still have valid criticisms of it.
I'm pretty sure you're just trolling.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 1) by arashi no garou on Saturday September 13 2014, @03:01PM
I never said you were unreasonable, don't put words in my mouth. So let's back up. You said something was "impossible" in a show that you already accepted as fantasy. I presented a point of view that it is at least plausible, fantasy or not, with a real world example, and no malice intended; it was just an observation, like yours. You went into great detail about how it's not possible, taking an argumentative tone, which makes it seem that you take the trope very seriously and way out of the realm of a simple fantasy show. I rebutted with a suggestion that instead of trying so hard to disprove a fantasy trope, you could just accept that it is indeed fantasy and enjoy the show for what it is, which we both agree that it is.
With all that said, it seems like you took my initial post as an attack or argument, when I meant it just as an observation. This apparently set off something in you that made you want to prove me wrong. If that's what you need to hear, fine, I'm wrong, you're right. There. :)
And for the record, I never troll. For you to resort to that tired cliche just because we don't understand each other, speaks volumes about your state of mind.
(Score: 1) by Zinho on Sunday September 14 2014, @07:42PM
it seems like you took my initial post as an attack or argument, when I meant it just as an observation. This apparently set off something in you that made you want to prove me wrong. If that's what you need to hear, fine, I'm wrong, you're right. There. :)
And for the record, I never troll. For you to resort to that tired cliche just because we don't understand each other, speaks volumes about your state of mind.
*head asplode* Yep, I think what you're seeing is that I need some detox time from that other site. I've become hyper-sensitive to trollish behavior and have kinda stopped giving people the benefit of the doubt. I keep being pleasantly surprised by the level of civility on this site, thanks for keeping that trend going. Also, I think I was channeling XKCD [xkcd.com] a bit when I wrote that response. And, I'll confess, I do love a good argument; I didn't mean my tone to be hostile, so I apologize if it came across that way.
Looking into my psyche to find what bugs me about that scene, I think it's the "Reed Richards is Useless" [tvtropes.org] aspect of it that gets to me. If one genius hacker could casually code strong AI into a tablet, it would have been independently duplicated elsewhere, and weaponized. If that were to happen, I'd not be watching Arrow, I'd be watching Person of Interest. Oliver Queen wouldn't be roaming the night putting arrows in criminals because he and all the other metahumans would have been rounded up by the the Feds after they reprogrammed The Machine to locate and identify metahuman activity. In contrast, if the writers of Person of Interest were to include a Surface app like that I don't think I'd blink an eye.
In short, for me having the hacker on Arrow casually access conveniently-aimed cameras breaks the show. The fact that it's done as an in-passing advertisement for a real-world device of much lower capability offends me. I didn't mean that offense to be pointed at you. When you invited me to explain myself I offered the factual part in my text and you caught the emotional baggage in my tone.
Anyhow, thanks for being civil! In the future I'll ease off a bit before calling people trolls here. I'll probably still be argumentative, but I'll try to watch my tone; I really do mean it to be friendly about it.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 1) by arashi no garou on Sunday September 14 2014, @10:38PM
No harm done, no offense taken.
As for "Person of Interest", I find just about everything in that show plausible on one level or another, except the Machine's ability to tell Root and John exactly where to shoot. Granted, John is a trained operative, but Root is just the stereotypical mad genius. She shouldn't be able to respond to spoken coordinates that quickly and aim a gun behind her back, perfectly hitting the target. Then again, we don't hear what the Machine tells her; there could be some sort of audio shorthand that only Root would understand and be able to act on so quickly.
But again, I file it away under artistic license and just enjoy the show for what it is. Most of the backstory of the show would have been science fantasy two years ago, but the Snowden revelations made the show uncannily accurate on a lot of levels. Certainly, in today's post-revelation days the show serves more as a "we told you so" than a "this is what could happen" cautionary tale.