New Icrontic features: Icrontic Viewpoint and Reality Check

Brian Ambrozy 24 Apr, 2010 at 9:08pm ET Article published in Life

Icrontic has always had the unique advantage of highly knowledgeable staff writers. Sometimes, however, this knowledge doesn’t resonate with the average reader. “A semiconductor manufacturer in Taiwan has refined their lithography process” may be important news, but most people’s eyes glaze over because they don’t know what that means for them. Perhaps if readers knew that because of the refinement, Apple will be able to create a faster Macbook, well then hey—that means something.

To that end, this week we’ll be launching two new features on select articles that we hope will bridge the gap between sometimes dry tech news and our readers. After all, a little knowledge never hurt anybody, and the Icrontic community has always been about sharing the knowledge and sharing the love.

The first new thing to look for is the Icrontic Viewpoint. For an example of this, check out the news this past week that Windows 7 is now on 10% of PCs worldwide. The Icrontic Viewpoint will bring conversations between Icrontic staff writers right into the article. Many times, our own stories will generate lots of interesting conversation in various channels such as our own private staff chatroom, Twitter, or even IRC. Many times, we’ve said, “Man, this is good stuff…”

Well, this is our attempt to bring this Good Stuff™ to our readers.

Next up, we’re introducing the Reality Check. The Reality Check is our attempt to cut through the PR schlock, the jargon, and techspeke, and give you the real deal. We’ll dissect press releases and give you our best crack at what the news really means for you. For example, this week’s announcement that Elpida is readying 512mb DDR3 chips sounds great on paper, until you realize that most computers can’t handle the memory chips that will result from this advancement. Not to say that it’s not important news, but you don’t get the whole story from the press release. We’ll help you out here and let you know what it means for you.

These two features are our attempt to bring our news to a wider audience. Do you have any suggestions or requests that can help us with this goal?

Comments

24 Apr 2010 ~ 11:41pm Cliff_Forster You should start a forum thread for reader suggestions for specific Icrontic Viewpoint features.

For example, I might like to see the staff debate the merits of a project like folding at home, or maybe talk about the various physics implementations. Really connect with the community to see what they want discussed.
25 Apr 2010 ~ 1:41am Butters Question #1. How are we supposed to interpret the graphic above? I guess thats one long thumb or Good Stuff<sup>TM</sup> must make him really happy.
25 Apr 2010 ~ 2:38am GooD I love the view point idea

Good Stuff is a nice bonus but i read almost everything that is posted here in the news anyway
25 Apr 2010 ~ 10:54am Bandrik I love the idea (thanks Thrax for pushing this forward). It sounds like a great way to bridge the gap between the highly technical and the not-so-technical-but-wouldn't-mind-being-educated.

Incidentally, GooD... what is your avatar icon? It looks suspiciously like Randi, the main character/hero from SNES game Secret of Mana. Is there a bigger version somewhere? I must know!
25 Apr 2010 ~ 12:06pm GooD Oh my god, big question here... First of all, i never played Secret of mana games so i can't remeber from my "playing time" if he's from SOM... BUT, At the time i found this avatar, i was looking for sprites for a game concept (RPG) i was developing in Pascal on my spare time like 8 years ago :P

I found many things from many games. Mostly Breath of fire games. This one was nice enough to become my avatar. There was effectively if i remember well some sprites from Secret of mana in one of the packages i took. But i can't be sure enough to say 'its from SOM'. He's bad ass though

Sorry if i can't help u more than that
25 Apr 2010 ~ 2:10pm Garg I think these are great additions. All too often news sites regurgitate press releases, but we've got the talent to really put things in context.
25 Apr 2010 ~ 8:09pm Linc This is slathered in awesomesauce.
25 Apr 2010 ~ 9:23pm Bandrik

GooD wrote:

i can't be sure enough to say 'its from SOM'. He's bad ass though

Ah, well then he's probably not the same guy. He looks similar, but the SOM guy didn't have a hawk/raven compatriot. You can see a little art piece for the guy I was thinking of here.
26 Apr 2010 ~ 11:27am UPSLynx I love these additions SO MUCH.
3 Jun 2010 ~ 4:09pm petesmom As a "no technical knowledge but really want to understand" person, THANKS! Sounds like a thread I should follow...if I only knew how!