Monty's Gaming and Wireless Outlook - Issue 174

Paint the town white! That’s the message from environmentalists who are trying to convince Los Angeles residents to change their white roofs to darker shades of pale.

The reason for this is that Western architects tend to shy away from painting houses white because it shows dirt. Unfortunately, for a city in a climate such as LA, dark-coloured houses become much hotter than white ones. So, extra heat seeps into the house and the air conditioning has to work harder.

What’s worse is that when a large number of dark-roofed buildings are in close proximity and dark asphalt roads are thrown into the mix, a ‘heat island’ is created that raises the outside air temperature by several degrees. Consequently, the city unnecessarily uses power that equates to about three percent of California’s total summertime energy bill. It never (pays to use the) mains in California?

The etymology of the phrase ‘painting the town red’ is an interesting one. Apparently it came about because the jolly old Romans enjoyed washing the walls of a conquered town with the blood of their victims. Maybe some things never change, that sounds like any UK city centre on a Saturday night.

Fortunately, there are more salubrious things happening to city centres in the UK. Earlier this week, wireless provider The Cloud announced plans for blanket Wi-Fi coverage in cities that include Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh. The Wi-Fi equipment will be attached to lampposts and street signs, and ensuing revenues will be split between The Cloud, ISPs and the local council.

That’s nice, but how much will it cost? Knowing local councils and their love of giving parking tickets to anybody who dares to stop a car anywhere within their aegis, it won’t be cheap. Maybe better to come to Brighton, where local likely lads Loose Connection have set up FREE Wi-Fi access on Brighton beach and the better pubs of the city.

Finally this week, congratulations to Ian Livingstone on receving an OBE in the New Year's Honours List for services to games. In effect, this newsletter's recognition of Ian's achievements is a personal apology for continually calling him Ian Baverstock (of Kuju) at last year's Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival.

Still that type of faux pas happens when one decides to go out for the night in Edinburgh and attempt to paint that particular city every colour in Noah's great rainbow.