Clive Thompson writes about the myth of the 40 hour game in Wired. And uses the newest Tomb Raider game as the introduction.

Introduction to the growing gap between hardcore and casual gamers, and the inability of the latter to finish games. Despite games getting easier and shorter, they still represent a formidable hurdle for the truly casual gamers. Demanding dedication, learning and time. Especially time.

Unlike Mr. Thompson, I actually finished the newest installment of the Lara Croft franchise. The game was of an optimal size, and the individual levels interesting enough to warrant the fifteen hours it took to finish the adventure.

The first Tomb Raider game was pretty much the reason I bought the original Playstation back in 1996, but the series deteriorated quickly after that. Moving from sense-of-wonder- filled thrills to too common firefights and repetitive storylines. But this game brings the Indiana Jones back into the fold. Free-form exploration is coupled with massive set pieces involving physical puzzles and graceful acrobatics. The storyline, sadly, isn't very good. But then again, I didn't expect much better.

The game itself is pleasant to play, though it is slightly marred by the odd autosave system, which allows no easy restarts of individual levels. Got bitten twice - and ended up spending a lot more time within two major fights than I would've needed, had it been possible to rewind a bit and not waste first aid kits or ammo in lesser combats prior to a tough one.

A swiss company has announced a camera with a "substantial resolution", to use their wonderfully understated expression.

Seitz 6x17 packs 160 megapixels. 26 times more than my S3. Number of pixels is of course no guarantee for great art, but it sure isn't a hindrance. The substantuial size of the camera (weighing in at 2.8 kilos) probably is, this isn't a piece of equipment to be lugged around everywhere.

But if it was a must to travel with it, it'd probably be wise to pack it up with a gun.

Shaun Alexander, the coverboy for Madden 07, is indefinitely out with a fractured foot.

As noted in a sidebar in ESPN, this is yet another case of the Madden Curse, which has struck invariably the cover subjects.

Terrell Owens, the pernnially troubled WR, now in his third team in four years, has hit the headlines again. While he hasn't been the troublemaker everybody expected, he hasn't exactly been a rainmaker for the Cowboys either.

Luck of the draft prevented Hakkapeliitat from getting Alexander, and I purposefully ranked Owens much lower than the unexpectedly high default rank. Got burned by the latter last year, and saw the damage wreaked by Alexander two years ago in the worst possible moment. The bowl.

Endured three hours of downtime today.

The servers (as provided by louhi.net) were moved to Finland from Norway (or wherever Telenor was hosting them).

The downtime was according to the schedule, and of the advertised length, so major props to the hosting company for predictive abilities.

Looks like an interesting play is coming to a close in Tampere this week. It features two Neil Gaiman short stories - one that's been a personal favorite for a long while (Snow, Glass, Apples) and one that's not too hot (Troll Bridge).

Both based off old faery tales, and probably not very easily applied to stage. And probably not one that I'll be able to catch, there being just two shows left.

First loss, now at 2-1.

An easy shoulda would have been replacing the newly Seahawks-installed Deion Branch, with Steve Smith, walking off a nasty achilles heel injury.

An even better coulda would have been Eli Manning not throwing three interceptions, before putting in an impressive 27-point rally in the fourth quarter. Giants, as a whole, have been late to start, and this time they did not pull an upset like against the Eagles last week.

After a brief pause (missed "memory" last week), here's this week's entry - an icon.

The Stockmann Clock is probably familiar to every finn, and thus fits the challenge.

Taken with a camera phone, and heavily cropped - so the original won't be available.

The last movie of the festival was Michael Winterbottom's not exactly brand-new Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.

And quite a good movie it was, packed with quality english comedy actors. Steve Coogan was the star of the show, but adequately supplemented by the likes of Stephen Fry (in a criminally small role) and Mark Williams (one of the bespoke tailors from the Fast Show, for the uninitated). But it's Dylan Moran who almost nicks the goodies as a modern doctor. Gillian Anderson's screen-time in minutes is calculated in single digits.

But it's the demented story that's truly the star of the show. The original book is supposedly unfilmable, and the hardships of the crew attempting just that are documented here. If the narrative was occasionally hard to follow in Takeshis', it's utterly lost here. Amusingly so, the storyline never gets stuck, and the main ideas behind both the book and the movie are very adequately explained in the first fifteen minutes or so. The film clocks in at just over 90 minutes, and is enjoyable throughout.

The finnish translation had some strokes of genius in it. Starting from the subtitle of the movie, which is neatly given as a sonninjoutava heijaritarina.

Haven't read the book, but based on the strength of the movie, I'll certainly look into picking this up at the first chance. Ought to be out in one of those cheap-o Classics-series.

Recommended. And probably worth a second viewing, there's just too many snide inside jokes that get missed on the first trip through.

Attended a friend's birthday party, and the connected sports event: a darts competition organized already for the twelfth time.

Hadn't thrown a single dart in almost a year, didn't know the rules offhand (game's called Kangaroo, and rules are indeed available).

Didn't suck, totally, and managed to stay off the last place. Barely.

Hadn't been to Manala in ages, and the place had been neatly renovated. The upper floors, on the other hand, were just as they've always been. As they should.

Dropped in on a very brief visit to the annual Helsinki Comics Festival.

Missed out Warren Ellis completely (commitments are a burden), and didn't feel like hanging around for long. The hall had both the stage and the salesfloor, and the effect was a bit too chaotic.

Bought a couple of albums, but was rather miffed that the publisher hadn't brought a mock-up of the forthcoming Collected Carl Barks. At the cost, I'd sure have liked to see what the product actually looks like.

The second movie of the evening continued the weird Japanese theme. Takeshis' has Beat Takeshi in two leading roles, as well as handling the scriptwriter, director and editing duties.

It begins almost like a reality-movie, with Kitano playing himself and living the high life. Pretty soon the second character played by him (a lowly convenience store clerk) enters the picture, and things start to turn odd. Narration is broken into fragments, and several characters show up, expecting the viewers to know who they are and why they act the way they do.

Around the halfway point the film goes seriously Lynch, and reality and dreams are thrown into a blender for a surreal result.

Fun for a while, but gets old before the reels run out. And despite the quintuple duties this never feels like a vanity vehicle - just a weird art movie, with sporadic scenes that remind of Kitano's older films.

Had to select a few movies from the remaining three days of the festival, and the pickings were on the meager side.

First up was supposedly hilarious, yet worrisomely weird The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai. Which turned out to be campy soft-core porn, with an improbable subplot concerning the cloned finger of George W. Bush.

Wasn't horrible by any means, yet mercifully short. And an extra comet (or half a star) for the impressive rendition of Star-spangled Banner in japanese during the credits.

It's never a good sign when you're able to read a whole book and watch the better half of a movie in the hours between 2am and sunrise.

Indeed, mr. Jetlag shooed mr. Sandman away, and had a very long night instead of restful sleep.

Surprisingly few slumber-induced calamities at work, and no broken glassware this time.

Yet, at least. Time to catch up an episode (or two) of Lost, and retire early.

Got half a booklet of tickets for the ongoing Rakkautta & Anarkiaa film festival. But was sure of nodding off in the middle of any movie, and decided to postpone first visit till tomorrow.

2-0, after the second week. Seems that every guy on the team outplayed himself with regard to expectations. And Deion Branch got traded to Seattle, so that's one fewer receiver to worry about.

Eli Manning was just scary in executing a comeback victory over the Eagles. But I certainly ought to pick up a second quarterback soon.

Back. Eventless flights. With decent food (though I struggled with the dinner after the largish pizza in Logan). No sleep worth mentioning.

My 5´11" height felt like made for the cattle wagons, compared to some of the travel companions on the last leg from Frankfurt. The finnish national basketball team returned from Luxembourg, and the guys were hurting in the miniscule leg room offered. I just hope Hanno Möttölä, at exactly a foot taller, got a seat in the business class. Or at least very understanding folks in the row behind him.

Luggage arrived without a hitch. Though the smaller suitcase did some extra rounds on the carousel - it was lying face down and I missed the bright orange tags completely.

Had my first ever items confiscated by the TSA at Logan.

Didn't think that a jar of mustard would qualify as a liquid or creme, and thus neglected to pack it in the checked luggage.

And despite me providing a better answer to the officer's question of "sir, did you pack a candle?" than "not that I know of", the jar was a goner. Too bad, would have been interesting to find out what mustard made of maple syrup would have tasted like.

And sadly, there are no equivalent condiments available this side of the security.

Visited the New England Aquarium on the wharves of Boston. This was actually my second time in the building, enjoyed the first visit some eighteen months ago a lot, and wanted to check out whether the facility had evolved in the meantime.

Not much, it seems. The special exhibition was still about jellyfish, and they were as photogenic as ever - gliding luminously through their empty tanks. Got better pictures than last time, clearly there's been positive developments between G3 and S3.

As it was a saturday, and a nice one at that, the place was full of kids. Mostly well-behaved, though.

Arrived just in time to see the feeding of the penguins. Who, like the kids, were behaving oddly well. The divers supplying them with small fish were actually able to feed them one bird at a time.

The central tank, 40 feet wide and 23 feet deep was the biggest attraction, and the sharks and big turtles (sadly without the surfer dude-voices from Nemo) within evoked the biggest oohs and aahs from the crowds. I slinked around the edges of the building, looking at the smaller tanks.

In comparison to the rather unkempt National Aquarium in D.C., the New England Aquarium's fishy abodes were in excellent shape. I think there were more freshwater displays last time, and the seashore tank (where small crabs and seastars were up for a feel) was definitely new.

Had a slow lunch in the McCormick & Schmick in Faneuil Hall. Watching Notre Dame getting maimed at the hands of Michigan over boat-fresh calamari and a pint of Sam Adams' finest sure was an enjoyable way to spend a good chunk of a lazy afternoon.

After browsing the nearby marketplace for gifts - mainly chocolate and tea, witnessed the greatest display of breakdancing like, ever. Five guys twisting and turning to an old beat was an unexpected show - I'd thought breakdancers were an extinct species. Completely forgot I was packing a camera, hence the lack of evidence from the bout.

Visited Harvard, the usual location of accommodation on trips to Boston.

Harvard Bookstore had stocked up on Moleskine products. Which was nice, as I'm pretty close to filling out the last pages on the work notebook. Bought two new ones. The material seems as sturdy as it has been.

Tower Records, the ever-reliable supplier of musical goods, did not fail on this visit either. They had the cheapest entry on the "new Mars Volta"-competition, but, like all the others, were utterly sold out of Prison Break. Did the Fox's dvd division sell it short, or what's the cause for the lack of availability?

Had a brief stop at MIT before getting back to the hotel to check out. Had forgotten the camera, so didn't really bother walking around (and besides, after the Stata Center, the others do not really make much of an impression).

Acquired rights for a late checkout, which was nice. But there's still almost half a day to kill before the flight. Off to the waterfront...

Had an excellent steak dinner at Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse.

It's one of those high-end restaurants, where everything is ordered specifically - the steak is just a steak, and picking the potatoes and other garnish is up to each diner. Had a just-right cajun seared ribeye, of an optimal size - wasn't left hungry, nor had to roll down the street to get back to the hotel.

The split pea soup for appetizer and the key lime tart for dessert played nice second fiddle to the entree, both had taste of their own, but not powerful enough to distract from the main event.

Definitely recommended, and easily places within the top three steaks I've had the pleasure to enjoy. (The coveted #1 spot still belongs to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Parsippany, New Jersey.)

Cambridgeside Galleria seemed like a nice fit for the shopping needs: nano for me and a Canon S3 for Mr. T.

Killed time waiting by visiting the reliably excellent MIT Press bookstore next to Kendall Square T-station. I've never been successful exiting the shop without spending money. Though this time got off easy: just two books and the newest issue of Technology Review.

The shuttle to the Galleria was way more convenient than expected, and we had two hours to take care of. Ended up with a persistently beeping backpack, and the security guys were not able to tell what was the cause. Figured that the visit is more pleasant not setting off every security gate passed, and gave up after a couple of shops.

Did get the nano. The eight gig model is available in the same color configurations as the original T-model Ford, which shattered my wishes of owning a purplish pink player. The packaging has shrunk a lot since the last purchase - the size does not bode well for a proper charger.

Prison Break was still consistently sold out in every dvd outlet. Bought the first season of Soap, just to check out whether it's as good as I remembered (and the folder was plenty cheap).

Visited the Prudential and Copley Place malls, looking for three things: something to eat, something to drink and something to buy.

The last item was easily fulfilled. Located the second season of Deadwood and parted from more than a single per-diem to purchase it - the R2 version is vanilla, this one packs a full disc of extras. Prison Break was sold out. In all shops visited. Lost, on the other hand, was easily available.

Discovered a neat version of Hamlet, with which I had such trouble last winter. A double-paged version where the odd pages contain the original text, and the even pages (like, facing the odd) have a modern translation. Would have made reading less chore-some. And the bigger font would have helped as well.

No camera shops in either mall, nor any place to check out the new iPods. Meaning that we're "forced" to cross the river tomorrow for even more shopping.

Ended up having dinner at the food court. It was raining outside, the Cheesecake Factory was packed to the gills and the collective energy levels were hovering near zero after bad sleep and four days of sitting down. The lobster roll surpassed all expectations, this was easily a restaurant-quality meal.

Low enough to skip the traditional post-event visit to a pub. Then again, there's college football on television - and I'm pretty stuffed from the roll anyway.

Last day in the conference went pretty much as the previous. Listening to presentations of variable quality, and walking in the expo floor in the meantime.

Today's lunch was of buffet kind, which was a rather severe disappointment after the properly waitressed ones of previous days.

Listened to a pointful ENUM-presentation. And learned that the OSI-model of ISO is missing some layers: economic, political and religious.

Video ringtones (and ringback tones) seemed unnecessarily bling, which likely means that they'll be all the rage in a year or so.

Took 28 pages of notes. Ended up with a copious amount of loot. The hardest thing to transport will be the basketball. Those babies do not compress well.

One more meeting, and that'll be tomorrow.

Time to meet a colleague enjoying a different conference, compare notes and obtain some retail therapy.

Spent the evening in the official conference party.

Held in Roxy, very conveniently almost next door to Radisson.

Roxy is a multi-floored mid-profile club, which was not uncomfortably full when I got in (fashionably late, obviously). No coat check, which meant lugging a jacket in a warm environment a necessity.

The band of the evening was Herding Cats, definitely a quality cover-band from Seattle. Played three (if not four) extended and enthusiastic sets with very varied content: ranging from Jamiroquai to AC/DC via Elton John and Blink 182.

The band was loud, as were the DJs who seamlessly segued in after the band went on their breaks. Discussion in the main club was pretty much impossible.

Missed most of the food due to late arrival (mental note: these things seem to start on time), but plates of appetizers were carried around for a while by waiters, which eased up the situation slightly. The buffet tables were in the darkest areas of the club, and thoroughly raided already.

Thought the visit would be much shorter, but enjoyed the band's versatility and stayed till they finished.

Whoopsie. My bag of laundry had not arrived. Upon wondering "why", I noted that I'd given a wrong room number for housekeeping. Whoopsie, indeed.

Luckily the bag full of clean laundry was located, and the bell captain sure earned the five dollar tip.

So let this serve as a further warning: jetlag-induced stupidities may be incurred rather late into the trip...

Apple launched several new products in Steve Jobs' It's Showtime-keynote.

The item of most immediate interest is the new nano. Now with rounded corners, an even better battery and 8GB capacity. My old fourth generation iPod is showing its age, and considering that the eight gigabytes are available for 250$, it might be time to upgradesupplement... Let's see if the local apple store has them in stock on friday.

The iTV (this time Apple had a "one more thing"-moment) sounds interesting as well, and I'm sure the spin machines will start to go into overdrive before the product is actually launched in Q1/07.

First presentation of the wednesday morning was on an interesting topic, a Broadband Home, but rendered semi-unbearable by the guys giving it. All three were intimately involved in building such homes, and as such, tried to push the products of their companies rather fiercely. Hence the approach was far from objective or any kind of scientific, sadly. Some interesting pointers: a triple play (phone/television/broadband) is a very common concept in the US - and the single bill is seen as a big boon, telemedicine becomes very important in the era of aging homeowners, the high-end stereos these days scale up to 12+2-speakers.

Tried my arm at a baseball simulator on the salesfloor. Iperia's stand had a nerf bat rigged with sensors to figure out the hits and misses. Was the first time I ever swung such a bat - and my skills were not propely calibrated: missed one pitch, hit three fouls (all to the same side) and one that missed being a home run by inches by hitting the rear wall - would've been a triple play, but only home runs were rewarded, sadly.

My poker-fu was strong, on the other hand, and won a t-shirt off Jeff Pulver's Tech Titans campaign. Sadly I beat the booth bunny only with a wheel of fortune, not an actual poker hand.

Wireless Access concentrated on deployment possibilities of VoIP over WiFi. No major news here either. Network quality is not up to the needed level, and existing operators are scrambling for a must-scenario for 3G. Billing seen as a big issue - especially until an all-IP phone network materializes, it's going to be challenging to figure out the payments to all intervening components in a network.

The Blogging-panel was one of the most entertaining sessions thus far. While the discussion provided no great insights (and was complicated by Om Malik teleparticipating), it was interesting to hear the viewpoints on why blogging is an important part of the business establishment already as well as the participants insights into the status of the environment. Picked up a few interesting links to more or less relevant blogs, some of which will probably end up on the list of regularly read. E61 got another very positive namecheck, and one of the presenters brought out his 770 but the latter failed to get any exposure.

British Telecom's presentation of their very fast-paced move into a 21st Century Network was almost scary at times. The company seems to be very forward-leaning in their move. We'll see how well they accomplish the first goals even before the end of this year.

Presentation on Convergence of Services, Platforms & Organizations was the only Nokia-presentation that I saw (the other being a member on a panel). An overview of the plethora of convergences (five listed here, but up to 23 have been identified) faced by the industry raised surprisingly few comments and questions from the audience.

Seamless Future of the Internet was presented by Opera Software. Despite being a thoroughly product-led presentation, it was quite an entertaining one. And spurred me to download version nine of their browser. Which seems to offer yet another widget-engine. The presentation was most gadget-centric I've heard thus far - 770 got a positive mention, as did the trend of increasing size of mobile phone screens.

Ghost of Open Source ended up being very brief. Asterix, the open source PBX, was quickly introduced, as was its licensing model. Obviously this was a regular topic in these conferences, since there were only very few questions from the audience.

Spent the rest of the day in the Video-side of the conference. Youtube got massive props from the presenters, as being the factor that pushes video over net into the mass market. Slingbox looked very interesting, and it seems to be available in Finland already (sadly through Viasat only).

Had dinner at the closely located Rock Bottom brewery/restaurant. A decent burger accompanied by their North Star amber ale neatly tied the lengthy day together.

Snapped a couple of pictures of the nightly Boston from my own balcony, and from the doors of balconies in the corridors. Which sadly didn't open more than four inches - so precision was needed. As would have a tripod, most of the images turned out to be on the "shaken, not stirred"-niche.

The top floor of Radisson, at 24 above the ground did provide an excellent view to most directions, but one towards the downtown/financial center was not available.

I finally remembered to check out the finnish version of System of a Down, Taunon Systeemi, as pointed out by Mr. Musicnaut. Not for purists (as is apparent from song titles and the names chosen by the band members), but worth checking out for everybody else.

Also, in an attempt to stave of sleep by surfing, noted that Emily Short has re-done her interactive fiction page. Curiously, a link to her magnum opus, City of Secrets is absent, as is some authoring-related material offered previously.

And trying to view this sizable work of pixel art takes a while. Especially behind a slow link.

The second day of the conference began with a duo of keynotes.

First by Jeff Pulver, the head honcho of Pulver Media, the instance organizing the whole series of VON-conferences around the world. Nicely begun by namechecking the Nokia E61, and proceeding to extol its virtues as the first SIP-capable phone offered. Video over net (featured for the first time as its own track in the conference) was a recurring topic - with the unexpected success of youtube and streamed video in general, the tipping point has been reached. And Hollywood and other established players are now running scared, and a new bout of regulation is expected to hit. Hard. Soon. Bizarrely enough the keynote was broadcast in the Second Life virtual world/MMORPG as well, and for a brief time the screens in the arena reverted to Second Life to show the activity there.
EDIT: The keynote is available here.

The second keynote was by AOL's Ted Leonsis, and it pushed the advent of video over net even further. AOL launched a new service "Gold Rush" concurrently with the VON, and every attendee got a t-shirt carefully crumpled into a cardboard gold bar. The session obviously and expectedly promoted AOL's progress: I really thought that the concept of a buddy list to be much younger than ten years.

Visited the sales floor and was struck by the fact that many companies are pushing very similar products: IP phones were dime a dozen as were soft switches for small enterprises. A few companies had managed to replace the conventional call stack on a mobile phone with a VoIP-based one. Considering that none of the phone environments are thought to be exactly the most programmer-friendly in the world (and prone to change in every release, of both hardware and software), this was quite a feat. Swag-wise there were a lot of ballpoint pens, and very few t-shirts around (but perhaps the latter are just hiding - we'll see over the next few days).

Around lunch were several industry perspective-sessions, usually 30 minute presentations from companies such as BT or Verizon. Interesting for the most part, but also gliding at a height of 10 kilometers, and obviously not providing any tidbits that have not been communicated elsewhere. Voice over IP was a "when" question for pretty much everybody, but the wireline and old school mobile services are still bringing in a lot of revenue.

Took a brief dip into the Video-track, and instantly noted that the presenters are way more confrontational there - Jeff Jarvis didn't use many slides, just talked his way through an entertaining take through the current state and expected future of television. When the bar to produce content is lowered sufficiently, the material available will just explode - thus moving couch potatoes into a post-scarcity world already enjoyed by the internet users.

Experiences from deploying IMS was the topic of a full panel session, with presenters providing views from actual on-field deployments. No common theme emerged from the setup, though the immaturity of the standards as well as the interworkability between equipment from different vendors were seen as major hurdles. And like said already in many previous sessions, no killer app for the service exists. Yet.

The last topic of a lengthy day was Unified Communications-panel, where most of the presenters tackled the issue from very different perspectives. Some in general (showing the huge number of permutations between communicating endpoints), some very specifically (converging instant messages between different networks) and some even straying from the given topic into the realm of identity management. A couple of good pointers for further information, but nothing too concrete. Though the very fragmented landscape seemed very ripe for a couple of market-shaking products.

The morning sun hits the nearby buildings with a soft glow.

Sleeping better now. 5:30 is a big improvement over 3:00 when it comes to waking up.

Kept the television tuned to ESPN most of the evening - this was the first week of Monday Night Football, a fact that been drummed in for the best part of the week in advertising.

Missed most of the game between Minnesota Vikings and Miami Dolphins, and caught the lopsided affair between Sand Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders. Lopsided in the sense that Raiders were completely shut out, and seemingly inept in both offense and defense. But the Chargers' game was pleasant to watch - the improbably named LaDainian Tomlinson carved up the silver'n'black defense for 100+ yards without trying too hard, and the perennial tight end, Antonio Gates, caught his first receiving touchdown of the season.

The week ended in a victory for Hakkapeliitat, but the margin wasn't very wide. Especially when I left the highest scorer of the week, Jeff Wilkins, the St. Louis Rams' kicker, on the bench. And it was pleasing to see that niners had a credible game - with both the running and passing games featured on the box score.

Figured that the easiest way to get to the BCEC would be a cab, and wasn't wrong - the distance is quite a bit longer than shown on the maps.

To call the Boston Conference and Exhibition Center a "somewhat large building" would be an understatement. It's huge indeed. The sales floor is not open until tomorrow, but the salespeople are busy building up their stands. Registered, grabbed the conference bag and a couple of trade magazines from the lobby. Ready to spend a big chunk of the next four days here.

Today was nominally a tutorial day in the conference, I originally signed up for the SIP-sequence, expecting to much improve my understanding of said protocol and the current endeavours around it. And was partially successful. The first presenter did his work with ease, ably describing what the current status of the protocol stack specification and adoption is. A complete contrast to the other main presenter of the day. Initially I thought that it's my jetlag that's preventing me from getting the point in the show, but turned out that other members (unlikely to be similarly affected) were not making thorough sense either. The presentation tactic was straight reading from the slides, without any expansion via examples or war stories. Obviously the guy knew the topic, but wasn't able to convey his knowledge onto the audience.

So, switched to the Fixed-Mobile Convergence-track on a convenient break. And hit a very interesting panel right away. The treatment of the day turned out to be much wider than the usually rather narrow view of the topic. It neatly encompassed strands from billing to the advance of skype, via many unexpected turns inbetween.

Last presentation of the day was State of Messaging, a panel which again strayed from the topic. Interestingly the show started with some very explicit figures from the three main players in the communication area: skype served 40 billion minutes in 2005, whereas fixed and mobile served 8.3 and 5 trillion, respectively. A big item was the layering of services, where real time communication becomes a platform, and the applications built on top is the real value added for most users (and nope, no known killer apps exist right now).

The welcome reception held in the center was a two-hour affair - had sushi and fingerfood accompanied by a quality selection of beers. Happily noted that one of the chartered buses stops next door to the Radisson, very convenient for the later days, no more cab rides.

Watched NFL before turning in.

The game of the evening was Indianapolis Colts against New York Giants. Placing two brothers against each other in the quarterback position.

The elder Manning took the victory, but not easily - his throws were close to getting picked off several times. Only the shakiness of the Giants' cornerbacks saved the multi-MVP from more than just one interception. And #18 had to rely on passing game heavily, as the Colts' running force dissipated with Edgerrin James move to Arizona.

Eli, the younger Manning, is the starting playmaker of the Hakkapeliitat this season. And he got off to a good start - two touchdowns slightly marred with an interception and a fumble were pretty much expected against one of the toughest defenses of the nation.

Had dinner in the dependable McCormick & Schmick restaurant. Though not in the Faneuil Hall, but the other location on Columbus Avenue.

For the main course selected the dish advocated multiple times by Mr. Srpnt: scallops with artichokes and bacon. And wasn't disappointed at all, an exquisite dish all right.

The key lime pie for dessert was very traditional selection, and as good as ever. Definitely a cake I shall attempt to recreate at some point.

Took a half-day tour of the Cape Cod peninsula with the Gray Line.

Had missed such a trip to the Cape on multiple occasions, and a free day on the visit finally allowed a possibility to visit the biggest tourist attraction of the state.

Visited the lower and middle parts of the peninsula only, as time did not allow for more extensive exploration. Despite hefty traffic on the way back, the driver made it back almost on time - expected far worse after getting stuck on the highway.

The scenic highway through the landscape gave access to the uncommon features of the area: cranberry bogs and saltmarshes. But by far the biggest surprise was the very high Sagamore bridge across the wide manmade channel separating the peninsula from the mainland. Didn't get a decent picture of said bridge from the bus, unfortunately.

The main attraction of the first stop, in Hyannis, was not the nearby Kennedy memorial, but a walk on the beach. The Atlantic waters were not warm, and thus the beach was deserted of all but us tourists. The tide had brought in some seashells and algae - the most noticeable element of nature was a flock of seagulls, all lying in the sand, and bracing against the wind.

Had lunch in Yarmouth - a decent, and surprisingly cheap chunk of a swordfish accompanied with tasteless fries.

Harbor cruise off the Hyannis docks was chilly, and allowed peeping at the Kennedy compound from afar - a couple of big houses nestled on the hills were not much of an attraction. But the sunny and calm sea was. As were the swarms of very large and doubtless expensive boats seen in the marinas of the town.

Picked up a couple of cheap t-shirts off an end of season sale, and admired a centrally located mini golf course. Compared to the ones in Helsinki, the equipment was stellar - after all, waterfalls and whales are not exactly common fare on the local courses.

Had a four hour stroll around Beacon Hill and Back Bay to stave off Mr. Sandman's advances.

Walked on the Charles River esplanade and was quite impressed by the activity on the river. Sailors, scullers and a few gondolas (equipped with punters wearing silly hats).

Visited an outdoor festival next to the river - no idea who the female vocalist was, but the few songs were definitely pleasant to listen to.

Had dinner in the Cheers-pub next to the park. Contrary to expectation this was not the authentic set used in the tv-show, but a real pub with its own nooks and crannies. A pint of Sam Adams and a real gourmet cheeseburger took care of the most immediate needs, sitting down brought a pretty good understanding that sleep is not far away.

Flew to Boston for a conference next week.

The flight was way too early, the first leg taking off from Helsinki 7:35, meaning that had to check in around six.

Apart from a worrisomely slow security checkpoint line in Frankfurt the trip was pretty much uneventful. Though two consecutive non-nauseating meals offered by Lufthansa would cross the news threshold in most civilized countries.

Boston is enjoying a spot of a late summer heat wave. The temperature is around +26, and the humidity isn't exactly low either. The shorts I optimistically packed will come in handy...

Accommodated in Radisson in the Theatre District. The hotel is narrow but tall, my room's on the 24th floor, with a nice view over the Back Bay towards the Charles River. Stay tuned for nighttime skyline photos.

The heat is on in Yahoo Public 689962. The Hakkapeliitat team is ready to defend its three consecutive bowl appearances (never mind that all of them turned out to be losses).

As with last year's effort, the draft didn't go too well. Got the seventh ticket, by which time Peyton Manning, the cornerstone of the last two years was gone, as were the running backs with the highest expectations.

But in a sixteen game season, each game may be decisive, and every year there are both flameouts and new stars. The rest of the year shall show whether I picked more of the latter than the former.

Read this, and weep, blogger.

I'm not certain what words would constitute an ultimate #10 posting, but "indeed" and "actually" would probably be amongst the ones chosen.

The sixteenth photo thursday challenge is about uoma, which doesn't easily translate. The closest equivalent, I guess, would be channel (in the context of a river flowing through it).

The subject is Vantaanjoki in Viikki. With the water level really low in late july.

The second game in the qualification for the Euro 2008 is now past.

And Finland continued its certainly formidable domination begun in the first game against Poland. By drawing against Portugal, packed with stars.

The difference between Portugal and the home team was way less than the fiftynine spots separating the two in the official FIFA ranking. At times Finland controlled the game, and by the end, had more scoring chances than the #4 team from this summer's World Cup. Litmanen was not as dominant as against Poland, but the whole team played like no tomorrow - and even the guys prejudged as weak links against the zephyr-fast Portuguese offense succeeded in holding up the fort.

Two games down. Four points in hand. More than anyone but the chronically optimistic ever expected.

And of course the rankings do not matter much in the end - and Finland sure will have its hands full against lower-ranked teams when the next roll of the wheel happens in a month or so. But right now, let's just savour the draw - it could have ended so much worse.

The newest issue of Mondo, the decentest finnish travel magazine arrived today in mail.

Accompanied by its traditional subscriber gift: a city guide. This year's book is about Copenhagen.

Only browsed the guidebook briefly, but the contents evoked a wish to visit the city. After all, it's been more than twenty years since I set foot on danish ground - plane changes and layovers in Kastrup don't really count in this respect.

So, a definite target for a weekend trip has now been marked.

And so it begins... After too many weeks of just not remembering to act, here's my first contribution to the weekly photo thursday. This week's challenge is light.

Somewhere just between sunset and sunrise on the baltic coast in mid-june.

Now, don't hold your collective breaths on me joining the ranks of poetry thursday.

A new novel by Tim Powers is a Major Event in my book. Thus, the fact that his newest, Three Days to Never, crept up on me was unexpected. It did, no denying that - and only a pointful clue in Ken Hite's blog showed me the light.

I belong to the minority who actually didn't really worship his previous book, Declare. Hence, in the interest of not burdening my poor Lundia with yet another hardback, I'll wait until this one comes out with soft covers. Or until an unmissable deal happens. Or someone lends me the book.

Shield is back. The fifth season just premiered on canal+.

And while the key figure of previous season, the tough as nails Glenn Close, is gone, the magic is still present.

Perps on the streets, racial violence, friction amongst the troops, clueless superiors - it's all here. Consider me hooked, again.

Mike Judge's Office Space was a late-blooming sleeper movie. Originally it bombed in the box office, but went on to gain mass following on later releases.

Wasn't aware of it, but Mr. Judge has cooked up a new movie, Idiocracy. And it appears that not many others are, nor will be aware of it, since the production company seems to have decided to ignore the movie completely.

A big chunk of the song list for soon-arriving Guitar Hero 2 is out.

And it's an interesting collection to say the least: ranging from speed metal (Anthrax) to slide guitar (Dick Dale) via unexpected stops along the way. The two southern rock classics (Jessica and Free Bird) featured on the sequel will be stamina-sapping, unless they are somehow curtailed in length.

The first Guitar Hero has been an enjoyable game - though being rhythm-deficient in some key fashion has not exactly led to speedy progress through the higher difficulty settings.

One more iteration of the nine questions on pop culture-meme (previously featured: music and books). This time the topic's television, and serialized shows at that. Wasn't challenged or anything, just happened to see the original.

1. One television show that changed your life
No such beast exists. Though I'm sure that I've been influenced by many. >MacGyver and West Wing at least, I still like tinkering with things, and the latter showed me that workaholism can be taken beyond any sensible limit.

2. One television show you've watched more than once
Hill Street Blues. Though it is curiously absent from the dvd-collection.

3. One television show you'd want on a desert island
Lost? Nah... I'd prefer something that lasts for a Really Long Time, and Doctor Who with its 27 seasons pretty much fits the bill.

4. One television show that made you giddy
South Park. The first time Mr. Hankey put in an appearance, I had to stand up while watching. On account of being afraid that I'd rupture something laughing.

5. One television show that wracked you with sobs
I don't think that this has happened any time recently, but Band of Brothers came close-ish, having just right amount of sentimentality mixed in to the grit and testosterone.

6. One television show that you wish had been recorded
No concrete wishes in brand-new concepts - but some shows were cut off way way too early, such as Lone Gunmen, Brooklyn South, Futurama.

7. One television show that you wish had never been recorded
I'm sure that there's some decent reality-tv. I just haven't seen any.

8. Television show that you just watched
HBO's Rome. Thus far the company name has been quite synonymous with quality (Deadwood, Sopranos and the already mentioned Band of Brothers to name just a few).

9. One television show you've been meaning to watch
Well, Prison Break premieres soon. As does the first season on dvd. I'm opting for the latter, eliminates commercials and allows watching on my own time. While on the subject matter, I've missed unconfortably many episodes of Oz. And with that the dvd-collections are not really an option (humongously expensive for just six or so episodes each).

And that's Jari Litmanen for the #10 position, not me.

Finland beat Poland in the premiere qualification game for the Euro'08. In Poland. After rather low-quality warm-up game, this was an unexpected, but extremely pleasant result.

After all, Finland was very much considered the underdog in the game, yet managed to score thrice. The polish goal to narrow the gap occurred on the last minute, way too late to affect the final result.

And it was indeed the demigod of Ajax, Jari Litmanen, who was the godfather behind it all. Meticulous one-timer playmaking seemed effortless, especially considering that he's played a grand total of ONE game after a three-month absence.

Excellent refereeing complemented a very active finnish game. A game in which no-one was left alone in defense, and the offense was not of the long-ball-and-see-what-happens- style.

No time to rest on laurels though, the next qualifier game is on wednesday, against Portugal. Portugal, who finished fourth in this summer's World Cup. Portugal, who's just bristling with stars. Portugal, who plays enjoyable football. Portugal, whom we have beat before.

Watching the first episode of Rome (taped off canal+) just before it hits the screens on mainstream channels was foiled by circumstances. Turns out that I'd lost four of the episodes on the Procaster's disk - some were entirely munged, some had sound and subtitles, but no image.

Cleaned out the disk of affected files (two other, completely unrelated were similarly visuals-free), and reset the thingy to factory values. Hadn't happened before, and no idea what exactly occurred here. Have to start checking things out sooner after recording (at least that something actually got recorded) and Take Action should this repeat itself.

Spent the day in Tampere. Actually travelled there already yesterday due to an unfashionably early meeting.

Stayed in Holiday Inn on Yliopistonkatu. Obviously not an exercise in opulence, but a very suitable hotel nonetheless. Cheap broadband in the rooms, wireless access (available only in the lobby) would have set me back fifteen euros. Decent breakfast, and a wide selection of magazines available for picking up. Not bad at all, and location was central as well.

Had dinner at a cuban restaurant - if pushed, I could hazard a guess that its name was Havanna. Chorizo and fried cassava accompanied by a Corona, pleasant indeed.

And of course it's impossible to visit Tampere without dropping in to Swamp Music, one of the very best bricks-n-mortar record stores in the country. Picked up the newest Zutons-album and a couple of others (but failed to spot Peter Gabriel's "3" or the new Poisonblack amongst the offerings).