Beijing 08-08-08

Lenovo is working overtime to capitalize on its investment in becoming a Worldwide Partner of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The PC vendor is providing more than 30,000 pieces of computing equipment and nearly 600 engineers and technicians to support the management of the Olympic Games which begin on Friday.

Lenovo has also built several structures on the Olympic Green in Beijing that will host members of the Olympic family and visitors. The Lenovo Showcase @ the Olympic Games is a 1,550-square-meter facility which features interactive experiences that highlight tech innovations and engage participants. For example, visitors can experiment with Lenovo’s facial recognition technology or create a photograph where they are carrying the Olympic Torch.

Already highly sought after are Lenovo’s 10 pins, part of its Olympic Pin Program. The pins are usually given in friendship, but there is also a hot market in trading them, too. The pins combine Lenovo technologies with venues and images of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, such as the “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium and the “Water Cube” National Aquatics Center. Some pins have movable parts, including notebook PCs that flip open to reveal Olympic athletes on the display. The company has also opened a Lenovo retail store inside the Olympic Games Superstore which offers Lenovo licensed products such as torch-themed USB memory keys and Olympic mascot-shaped mouse devices.

Saudi Arabia is geographically distant from the action in Beijing but a personal perspective on the Olympic Games is just a mouse click away at http://summergames.lenovo.com/?language=en. At this website, Lenovo has created a platform for athletes training to compete in Beijing to blog about their experiences. Videos and photos of the activity leading up to the Olympics are posted as well.

Video gamers immortalized in space

NCsoft will launch the “Immortality Drive” into orbit when game designer Richard Garriott travels to the International Space Station in October 2008. Garriott is the creator of Tabula Rasa, a massively multiplayer online (MMO) PC game that explores the destruction of Earth.

During the campaign, Tabula Rasa players with active accounts on Sept. 2, 2008, will have their Tabula Rasa characters uploaded to the device, giving them the opportunity to go to space virtually. In order to make this opportunity accessible to as many people as possible, free trials of the game are available at http://www.rgtr.com/trial. Garriott will place the Immortality Drive on the International Space Station when he travels there this fall. Note that the game is rated “Teen” by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

Plus, through Aug. 31, anyone can go to http://www.OperationImmortality.com and participate in weekly polls on humanity’s greatest achievements which will be included on the Immortality Drive. Current Tabula Rasa players, or those who download and play the free trial, will also be able to enter a personal message for inclusion on the Drive.

Pro-gaming documentary

FRAG, a documentary on professional video gaming, produced by independent filmmaker, Cohesion Productions, was released on Friday through online distribution at www.FRAGmovie.com. Frag is a computer and video game term that is roughly equivalent to “kill,” although the kill is usually only temporary.

Professional video gaming, cyber athletes and eSports are new concepts for many and never before has anyone shown the controversy and corruption seen in this industry. FRAG sheds light on the struggles cyber-athletes face while breaking into professional video gaming and maintaining success. Like all sports exploitation, professional video gaming has a nasty underside of corruption and abuse including bribery, partying, drugs and even death. Many gamers fail to reach the top but the occasional true star does still exist. The FRAG DVD includes extended interviews with Jon Romero, co-creator of DOOM and Quake, Billy Mitchell, main character from the “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” and Michal “Carmac” Blicharz of SK Gaming.

The best of TokyoÅfs Akihabara

AKIBA Today (www.akibatoday.com) is a new English portal reporting in a cross media fashion about the latest events, goods and trends in anime, game and manga culture in Tokyo’s “electric town” — Akihabara. The “Otaku Boom” or interest in Japanese popular culture is more than just a short-lived trend and has established itself as an alternative to Hollywood. That is demonstrated by Western entertainment conglomerates creating movies that are based on Japanese comics and video games as well as the exploding number of blogs and online forums discussing Akihabara.

AKIBA Today will provide accurate information on Akihabara, its trends and how to find your way around if you actually go there. Otaku culture is very rich and not limited to video games or comics but rather spans many sub categories like PVC figurines, robots, gadgets and DIY computers. With more and more businessmen and tourists visiting the city from overseas, the site aims to help visitors get the most out of even a short trip.

Europe India Gateway

Alcatel-Lucent has signed a contract to deploy the Atlantic-Mediterranean segment of the 15,000-km Europe India Gateway (EIG) submarine cable system. EIG is the first direct, high-bandwidth optical-fiber submarine cable system from the UK to India, and will significantly enhance capacity and diversity between the countries and territories of three continents. With completion scheduled in the second quarter of 2010, EIG will deliver an ultimate capacity of up to 3.84 terabits per second (Tbps) to provide upgradeable transmission facilities that support Internet, e-commerce, video, data and voice services.

EIG was announced in May 2008 in London by the EIG Consortium. Currently EIG Consortium members include AT&T; Bharti Airtel; BT; C&W; Djibouti Telecom; du; Gibtelecom; Libyan Post, Telecom and Information Technology Co. (LPTIC); MTN Group Ltd; Omantel; PT Comunicacoes, SA; Saudi Telecom Co. (STC); Telecom Egypt; Telkom SA Ltd. and Verizon Business. Alcatel-Lucent and Tyco Telecommunications are the two submarine cable network suppliers for the project, which has a total value of over $700 million.

EIG will connect three continents, with landings planned in the UK, Portugal, Gibraltar, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, the UAE and India. Providing much needed diversity for broadband traffic currently relying largely on traditional routes from Europe to India, EIG will also provide seamless interconnection with other major cable systems connecting Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. To see the cable route, click to http://europeindiagateway.com.