CNet asked that very question to Savage in a chat via satellite phone.  So far, the only thing not working is her energy-efficient Spectra desalinator that was capable of producing 25 liters of water an hour.  Besides that, everything from her TomTom GPS to her iPods are still working perfectly.  To combat the problem of her lost Spectra, she uses a variety of reserve water supplies and a hand-pump water maker to pick up the slack. 

Solar panels and wind generators provide all the power necessary to run chargers for all the electronics on board the 24-foot rowboat.  "Sustainability is rather limitless," said Savage, when referring to her renewable power source and her growing of bean sprouts for nourishment.  The whole boat is a model of self-sufficiency. 

She has two laptops onboard; a MacBook and Panasonic Toughbook, that can be connected to the internet at all times via her satellite phone.  Savage uses the computers for various things, but primarily to send updates for her Web site.  When Savage rowed across the Atlantic Ocean in a race a few years ago, her satellite phone went dead about a month before she arrived at the finish, so this time, she’s packed an extra. 

She uses her TomTom GPS for the vital task of navigation and for updating the ship’s logs.  It’s nothing fancy, just a GO 720 that she took from her car, but still providing crucial data that she couldn’t live without.  Something almost as equally important is her handful of iPods she brought along, though she states she’s only used one packed with eBooks so far.

You have to hand it to her for trying such a daunting task, but the aid of so many on-board electronics makes the whole process a bit more doable, and less frustrating.

Analysts who attended the Nordic Game 2008 conference in Sweden all predicted that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is facing a sharp decline in sales in the next twelve months. Nick Parker, of Parker Consulting and a former Sony employee, said that the Xbox 360 has not been able to penetrate the casual gaming markets of France, Spain and Italy, primarily because it refuses to shake off its urban, irreverent adult male associations.

“The brand image never went away. And although Halo 3 is a big game, it just emphasises again what the Xbox is all about,” says Parker.

David Cole of DFC Intelligence was a bit more harsh with his prediction, and said that Xbox 360 will finish last in the console wars.

“When you look at an installed base basis, the Xbox 360’s going to come in third place when all’s said and done. The concern I would have with a company like Microsoft is, one of these days they’re going to have to make a profit on this business otherwise why are they in it?” said Cole.

Cole further suggested that for Microsoft to re-enter the market for next generation consoles, it must find ways to make the Xbox more profitable.

Ballmer was asked during an interview at an event he was attending in Washington DC whether Microsoft is extending the shelf life of Windows XP after the June 30 deadline. Microsoft’s top honcho did not categorically answer no, but instead mentioned that customers who buy Windows Vista can just downgrade their Vista installation to Windows XP. Thus there’s no need for customers to buy the Windows XP anymore.

“Customers get both,” Ballmer said referring to Microsoft’s licensing policies which permit customers to legally install predecessor versions of the current software they just bought, hinting that if customers don’t like Vista after installing it into their PCs, they can always revert to Windows XP instead.

Ballmer’s statement seemed vague as we couldn’t detect whether he is promoting the use of Vista or Windows XP. On the one hand, he was advocating that consumers should buy Vista instead of buying a new Windows XP license. On the other, he was also encouraging consumers to shift to Windows XP if they don’t like Vista.

But we could also look at this from a marketing point of view. Perhaps suggesting that users can always downgrade to Windows XP after buying Vista somehow reassures them that they have a viable alternative should Vista not work out.

Maybe Mr. Ballmer had other things in mind when he answered the question, or probably he was already thinking about his retirement ten years from now, which he also announced at the same event at Washington DC.

Hollywood’s history is full of films that were engulfed by controversy — sometimes, before they’d even hit the theatres. Yes, Hollywood is an easy target, and yes, there are movies that push the boundaries of society, challenging conventional wisdom and provoking a backlash that’s inevitable and deserved.

But some movie controversies are just stupid.

1. The Orphanage

After “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Oscar-nominated director Guillermo del Toro became one of the producers of a horror movie called “The Orphanage.” One year afer its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, a viral marketing site appeared called “Talk to the Dead.” One paranormal skeptic immediately recognized its technique — “the Grey Walter-Berger Construct” — as an elaborate hoax, but argued gratefully that if the site were real, it would be a “despicable exploitation of those missing their deceased beloved ones, via self-hypnosis and pseudo scientific mumbo-jumbo.

“But it would be something slightly new and with a cooler name”

2. The Golden Compass

Is it an innocuous children’s fantasy about armored polar bears and warring goblins? Or is it a thinly-veiled attack on the Catholic church? The film’s director insisted his producers stripped every mention of religion from the movie’s screenplay — leaving an entirely different message than Philip Pullman’s original story. Ironically, this also provoked a controversy from fans of the original book, according to Wikipedia, including charges by the National Secular Society that the producers were guilty of “castrating” the film.

Last October the movie still faced inevitable calls for a boycott from the powerful Catholic League (whose past targets had included the TV show South Park and even talkshow host Rosie O’Donnell). Their president acknowledged that he didn’t object to the movie per se — but it might encourage children to read books which “denigrate Christianity” and promote “atheism for kids.” This futile scapegoating will be remembered as the single most pointless boycott in Hollywood history, since the only thing controversial about this innocuous movie was a vaguely-related book that was written 12 years earlier.”

3. Elvira - Mistress of the Dark

Shortly after the release of Elvira’s full-length movie — “Mistress of the Dark” — a national controversy erupted that actually ended her contract with Coor’s beer. Ironically, it wasn’t even Elvira’s controversy. “Rumors began circulating that Procter & Gamble’s revered ‘moon and stars’ logo was related to devil worship,” remembers one ad industry magazine. Coor’s figured that if squeaky-clean Proctor & Gamble could get swamped by hysteria, “it could spill over to a spokesperson who bills herself as the Mistress of the Dark.”

Ironically, Elvira’s movie scenario about being burned at the stake led to a real-life “witch hunt” for non-existent Satanists. But eventually Coor’s realized their mistake — they weren’t selling enough beer — and reinstated her contract at the risk of eternal damnation.

4. Falling Down

Michael Douglas’s 1993 movie “triggered a media avalanche of stories,” remembers one critic, most of them about the world outside the movie theatre.Douglas plays a “ticking time bomb” — a laid-off defense worker who finally snaps, leading to an increasingly violent rampage across urban Los Angeles. In this scene he argues with a Korean grocery speaking in broken English, and the already-controversial movie now faced charges of racial stereotyping. But the Internet Movie Database supplies a late piece of trivia which puts that reaction in perspective. The movie had actually used a Korean actor to play a police detective, while the actor playing the shopkeeper was actually…Chinese.

5. Tess

Over 100 years ago Thomas Hardy wrote Tess, a novel about an English peasant seduced by her wealthy cousin. In 1979 it was made into a film by a director who faced criminal charges of seducing a Los Angeles minor.

If found guilty Roman Polanski would face a 50-year prison sentence in 1977, and he eventually filmed the British novel in France to avoid being extradited for prosecution. It became one of Hollywood’s most famous controversies, darkly overshadowing the movie to this day. (Wikipedia claims Polanski had previously had an affair with the movie’s star, Nastassja Kinski, when she was 15, and IMDB quotes her as saying that “As a director, he was 10 times more wonderful than as a lover.”)

It’s not clear whether the new rumors helped or hurt the movie — but it’s the ultimate case of a controversy centered on everything but the movie. Miraculously, when Polanski finally released Tess, the personal scandal proved nothing but helpful at the box office — and he ended up with a personal triumph in Hollywood.

The movie was nominated for six Oscars, and won three, including best cinematography.

Not stopping there, the commentary went on to say that if it hasn’t been proven video games and other threats to the movie industry are bad for you, they will prove it through studies funded by the movie industry…

I had to laugh, but then I did a double take. No, not that Hollywood or the MIAA is actually funding or encouraging these studies directly (they might be, who knows), but that when it comes to video games in general, the majority of commentary or “news” conveniently ignores film, music, other media, and basic parenting skills.

Why would that be? Is it because the movie industry is more closely tied with these other forms of media and has a better money making history with them? Is it because both movies and music have been seeing a loss in sales over the last few years? Or is it simply that violent video games in general are a more convenient scapegoat for some of the world’s ills? Probably none of these, but rather the fact that video games just happen to be the newest form of media that can be blamed, just as music and the film industry was in the past.

While video games have taken the media sales market by storm when compared to music and movie growth in sales, there are many more likely reasons for the recent drops in the other two markets. For one, many were disenchanted with DRM and many ways were found around it, especially on the internet. Now that the MIAA and RIAA have both realized their own mistakes is misjudging how much they could profit off of the public, they have finally started to drop DRM and charge decent prices for DRM free MP3’s on places like Amazon and other major retailers.

Once upon a time, people could only listen to live performances of musicians, and their “film” were plays and drama in the theater, but since the beginning of the recording industry, there has been just a little bit of manipulation and exploitation of consumers and artists/actors/etc., with a fair share of some quality products. There were still paid performances in the old days, but some music and shows were free. While that day may come again (okay it’s already here, kind of, if you don’t count advertising), the new interesting question is, how many times will consumers pay for the same product in different formats?

From records to tape to cd to mp3’s, and films to cassettes to dvd’s to downloads, the answer seems to be clear: as many times as there are significant improvements in the quality and accessibility of the product itself. Perhaps one day music and movies can be made for their own sake and all will be “free” (do we really want that?), until then, people need to make a living. While a few artists or actors (and sports players/others) live in obvious excess, and the recording industries are profit driven, the bottom line is these people only make money because of what the majority of consumers value and are willing to pay for.

Stumble It!

While no one video game alone should even be close to being held responsible for the present worldwide food crisis, will Wii Fit’s mega-popularity and sales help the situation at all? Probably not.

One of the latest studies shows increased physical activity in obese children does not help them lose weight, and if they are not losing weight with that increased physical activity, what are they doing? Eating more to account for the calories burned.

Brad Metcalf, the lead researcher of the study said, “The most cost-effective way of easing the problem would be to put all the money into getting kids to stop eating junk food rather than splitting it between that and getting them active.”

The exercise craze that Wii Fit’s into may be wonderful news to the medical industry that spends less than 7 percent of it’s budget for prevention vice treatment of ailments (many of which obesity cause or aggravate), let alone the diet, exercise, and supplement industries that are making millions, perhaps billions per year off of the “fitness” movement, but it should be obvious that more exercise is not the key to losing weight, while calorie restriction with optimal nutrition is.

Could it be that the vast majority of overweight or obese people have not learned and acted upon the knowledge that simply eating more whole, nutritious food and less calories overall at the same time would practically guarantee them losing weight, without resorting to increased exercise?

Maybe there should be a Wii Eat Less to counteract the effects of millions of gamers worldwide burning more calories and not losing weight in the process, because more than a few people see a bestseller like this on Nintendo’s ubiquitous console as being just a little bit ironic, considering the world situation today.

If video games have been blamed for some crimes in the past, many claim their is still no direct connection between the game and real world actions by the gamer, with Wii Fit however, that may change as Wii Fit becomes the world’s first exercise scale that doesn’t just make you move more, but also makes you want to eat more.

While there will be a few people who actually go beyond just relying on this device and truly eating less calories, but also more nutritious food, the vast majority may be like the lady in GTA IV saying, “I’ll take it, I’ll just double my workout,” outside at the local junk food vendor.

A significant population of several countries should be admitting Wii Fat, with a rising portion of overweight or obese people, and we’re not just talking about distorted misinterpretations of BMI here, it’s become and epidemic. Learn to live a lifestyle that restricts calories while filling you up with nutritious food, and realize that strenuous exercise is not necessary for good health.

If there is a silver lining to the Wii Fit movement, it will be in telling overweight and obese people that they are actually that, instead of continuing the fantasy that they are really just “healthy” or “big-boned” (muscular BMI exceptions aside).

A new web site promised a technique for talking to the dead. But it turns out it’s a promotion for the movie “The Orphanage,” confirming the skeptical and amused reaction online.

In the movie, a woman returns to an Orphanage housing a dark secret. It’s haunted by ghosts, and a medium contacts them in an attempt to solve the mystery of a missing boy. For the movie’s Australian release, a web development company created the web site to stir interest in the film.

“I have been talking to the dead for my entire life and after 6 years of research I have perfected a new technique that, under ideal conditions, is more than 73% successful…”

But the prank eventually confirmed the movie’s tag line — “No secret stays locked away forever.” Within days of the launch, the site Museum of Hoaxes had already recognized the site’s movie connection, “but I like horror movies, so I’m willing to give them some free publicity.” Another blogger independently reached the same conclusion, and even contacted the site’s host.

“I congratulated them for the amount of creativity and research they must have put on it,” wrote another blogger.

“Besides, you have to love that detail about how “Nicole’s next project will be the website ‘Communicating with your deceased pet’.”

This morning the Head of Creative and Strategy at a firm called Topia confirmed that, indeed, Nicole Zapruder was not a real medium, and she couldn’t talk to the dead. But in the build-up to the movie’s opening on Friday, the site had already provoked a round of what-if responses from amused commenters on the web.

“D’you think I can contact my budgie?!?!?!” joked one post at parnormal investigation site.

“Beware when talking with the dead,” warned a commenter on another blog — “a lot of them have bad breath.”

“getting them to SHUT UP is the hard part,” added a third.

Not everyone was skeptical. (One blog’s commenter teased that they had absolute faith in the technique because “There’s a strobe light involved.”)

But another commenter summed up the whole episode sardonically by offering one irrefutable criticism of the “Talk to the Dead” site.

“Didn’t work.”

Renee Beck was invited by the police to explain the auction she and her partner posted on eBay, which offered the following description:

“Baby - collection only. Offer my nearly new baby for sale because it cries too much. Male, 70 cm long.”

The appearance of the auction was brought to the attention of the German authorities by members of the public, who called them after seeing the auction on eBay. The baby-for-auction item was posted with an opening of $1 Euro. Fortunately nobody took the auction seriously, and no bids were made..

When asked by authorities regarding the “unusual” eBay posting, Beck told the investigators that it was only a joke, and that she was just testing whether somebody would make an offer for the “auction item.”

Authorities have taken the baby under custody while the joke-cracking mother will have to undertake a psychiatric test. Who’s laughing now?

PS3 RPG games (including action RPG’s and strategy RPG’s) slated for this year and next include:

1. Valkyria Chronicles, Action RPG, Sega, Nov 08
2. Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Action RPG, Square Enix, TBA 09
3. Final Fantasy XIII, Action RPG (ARPG), Square Enix, TBA 09
4. Free Realms, Persistent Online RPG (PORPG), SOE, Q3 08*
5. DC Universe, PORPG, Broadband Only, SOE Austin, TBA 09*
6. White Knight Chronicles, RPG, Level-5, TBA 09
7. Disgaea 3, Strategy RPG (SRPG), NIS, TBA 09

PS3 RPG games already released:

1. Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom, GSS 6.3

XBox 360 RPG games slated for this year and next:

1. Age of Conan – Hyborian Adv., POARPG, Funcom, PC GSS 9.0, Sep 08*
2. Fable 2, ARPG, Lionhead Studios, Oct 08
3. Dungeon Hero, ARPG, Firefly Studios, Q1 09*
4. Tales of Vesperia, RPG, Namco Bandai, rumored PS3, unconfirmed, Aug 08
5. Infinite Undiscovery, RPG, tri-Ace, Sep 08
6. Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, RPG, Ascaron Entertainment, Sep 08*
7. Two Worlds: The Temptation, RPG, TopWare Interactive, Nov 08*
8. Champions Online, RPG, Cryptic Studios, TBA 08*
9. Spectral Diario, RPG, Idea Factory, TBA
10. Spectral Force 3, RPG, Idea Factory, Jul 08

XBox 360 RPG’s already released:

1. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Elements, GSS 5.9*
2. Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, GSS 6.3
3. Lost Odyssey, GSS 8.4
4. Mass Effect, GSS 9.1*, Mass Effect 2 and 3 confirmed as titles in the works, not announced for any specific gaming machine.
5. Eternal Sonata, GSS 7.9, not on release calendar, but listed as TBA for PS3
6. Blue Dragon, GSS 7.8, Blue Dragon 2 in early stages of planning

RPG’s available or scheduled to be available on both XBox 360 and PS3:

1. Rise of the Argonauts*
2. Elveon*
3. Alpha Protocol*
4. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2*, also scheduled on Wii, PS2, DS
5. Borderlands*
6. Two Worlds*
7. Fallout 3*
8. X Quest
9. Alien RPG Project (untitled), also scheduled on Wii
10. Big Huge Games RPG (untitled)*, also scheduled on Wii
11. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance*, also on Xbox, PSP, Wii, GBA, PS2
12. Enchanted Arms
13. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion*
14. Arcania: A Gothic Tale*
15. The Last Remnant, RPG, Square Enix, TBA
16. Phantasy Star Universe, GSS 7.3*, also available on PS2

*title also available on PC

Notes:

1. Release dates and exclusivity are subject to change

2. XBLA and PSN titles not included

Well, there you have it, 8 RPG’s available or scheduled for the PS3, and 16 for the 360. While the 360 may have more total titles, even more total quality titles, does it really matter? Considering the big names (Final Fantasy, Valkyria, Disgaea) and fan base the Playstation 3 has, let alone multi-platform releases, could any one gamer get through all the good titles? Besides this, RPG’s are notorious for their development cycle, so the 360’s head start in the market is a big factor.

Also notice the increase in PS3 RPG’s scheduled for release, and it seems to be catching up to the 360. Five of the 360 titles are also scheduled for release on PC, while only 2 PS3 titles are scheduled for PC. In addition, it seems there are only 2 traditional RPG’s for PS3, while the 360 has seven. Time will tell if this makes a difference in sales, but in the meantime, it seems to be just one more feather in the 360 cap.

While Sony’s PS3 exclusives this year are outnumbered by the Microsoft XBox 360 in quality games in almost all genres, 2009 looks to be the year that the Playstation brand will finally make a comeback in. Why? Several reasons, some of which could put the 360 at a distinct disadvantage.

In the eyes of many, hardware power can be seen as an eventual race winner (though history has proven otherwise), but hopefully Sony has learned that unless that power can be tapped easily by developers, a plethora of games will not follow. Just how much untapped power the Sony console has and whether it will be used is yet to be seen, but if the Playstation 2 can be considered a precedent, the PS3 still has some tricks up it’s sleeve.

Some of the most blaring factors that could be seen as either insulting fan loyalty or shining the PS3’s armor are promises that have been made to fans since day one, but have been chronically delayed for over a year now. These include Home, Killzone 2, Blu-ray game improvement and other announcements made before launch. While unfulfilled promises give Aaron Greenberg and others fuel for their agenda, they do point to a better year for the Playstation 3 in 2009.

Though the Playstation Network (PSN) is improving steadily and is still “free”, XBox Live is still largely considered to be superior in service and overall users, despite subscription fees. Fortunately, Sony seems to be learning fast how to be successful in this complementary service, and some universal game standards and features should be in place by next year.

It may seem silly to some, but XBox Live Achievements and Gamerscore are widely enjoyed by many 360 owners, among the reasons are that they offer a tangible history of the individual gamer and his or her performance, while providing many more ways (and incentives) to play the game that simply wouldn’t exist without them. These two factors alone account for extended game play, enhanced competition, and a greater reason to actually buy any given title, which may also account for the XBox 360’s leading software attach rate.

Hopefully Home will provide the answer to challenge the XBox advantage here with not only trophies, but more detailed statistics, gamer history, and competitions for all games consolidated into one easy and fun to use system.

Blu-ray will also be seeing more sales as well next year, as more families see the PS3 not only as one of the cheapest Blu-ray players on the market, but also a console that can surf the internet (albeit awkwardly at times) as well as play games.

Though the Playstation Portable may be seen as separate from this argument, it cannot be discounted. PSN titles compatible on PSP and other game compatibility can only help sales of not only the PS3, but also the PSP. The ability to make free phone calls, read documents, watch movies, and listen to music on a piece of hardware really does push the sales of a parent docking unit that can only enhance those capabilities.

Microsoft also has no handheld hardware plans for the future, choosing instead to focus on games and online distribution. Maybe that doesn’t sound bad for the hardcore gamers and fans, but it seems that it could be a disadvantage in future sales, unless of course they continue developing software such as Viva Pinata and other titles for the Nintendo DS.

Moving on, many PS3 exclusive titles that have been years in development will come out in 2009, such as Killzone 2, God of War 3, and Final Fantasy XIII. Titles such as Killzone 2 have been delayed many times, but the argument for it was to enhance quality, so hopefully it will not disappoint like certain other titles such as Haze.

By 2009, the Sixaxis debacle will be history as the Dual Shock 3 will be sold with all consoles. While this is not a great advantage over the 360, the Playstation 3 will at least have improved a sometimes awkward control system in favor of rumble technology.

The strange thing is, excepting Blu-ray, all of these features seem to be playing catch-up to Microsoft’s lead. No worries though, because they may not even come close in comparison to one of the most important factors not yet mentioned: The Playstation 2 game releases look to be dwindling to nothing next year, with only one 2009 release scheduled on GameStop at the time of this writing.

What does this portend? A huge number of PS2 owners transitioning towards the next console in their chosen brand’s family of products, the Sony Playstation 3. Why next year? Because besides a lack of not only new PS2 games, the price of the Playstation 3 most likely have been reduced by then and the PS2 owners who have not yet made a switch will find the PS3 to be on a more even footing with the 360, considering Home, trophies, PSN improvement, a possible redesign, and even greater Blu-ray market and HDTV saturation in 2009.

While Microsoft XBox 360 sales will most likely still be steady next year, they might find the fight a little more hard than it was before, pushing them to adapt and improve further as well, as they have in the past.