Monday, March 1, 2010
Brand New Site
Yes, I know my last real post was pointing you to my new Wordpress hosted site, but this time I'm directing you somewhere much better. My own website! As in, owned by me! Leave me some feedback if you wish. Thanks!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
News!
For starters, here's the latest "5 Minutes" show: 5 Minutes of Interesting. Now, the bigger news, I'm moving to Wordpress for my primary blog. This blog will still receive some attention, but there's not much incentive to continue working on this one when my new one is superior. Through the magic of XML, I was able to import this entire blog to that one, so it has the same articles and whatnot that this does. The only thing that it doesn't seem to be able to do is work with the embed code for audio files. Thus, this blog and the Contracast blog will still be the place to go for streaming audio, and the 5 Minutes Blog is still the only place that show will be streaming. What I'm likely going to do is make a permanent sticky post at the top of this site redirecting visitors to my new site.
Anyway, hope you like the new site as much as I do. Stay tuned for more.
Contrapaul.Wordpress.com
Anyway, hope you like the new site as much as I do. Stay tuned for more.
Contrapaul.Wordpress.com
Thursday, January 21, 2010
iPhone OS 4.0
Or at least- my mock-up of it. This was created for a Gizmodo contest, my idea of whats coming in iPhone 4.0.
Things of note- starting at the top:
1. Verizon- seems like the iPhone is coming to VZW this year, so its only fitting.
2. Docked applications- top right. Phone, SMS, Camera, Contacts. Whatever you want.
3. Location and weather- top left.
4. Apps and running applications- center. Scroll through them like a boss.
5. Recent Applications- last 7 apps used, on a scroll path.
6. Docked apps part 2- again, whatever you want to use.
Things of note- starting at the top:
1. Verizon- seems like the iPhone is coming to VZW this year, so its only fitting.
2. Docked applications- top right. Phone, SMS, Camera, Contacts. Whatever you want.
3. Location and weather- top left.
4. Apps and running applications- center. Scroll through them like a boss.
5. Recent Applications- last 7 apps used, on a scroll path.
6. Docked apps part 2- again, whatever you want to use.
Contracast Episode 23: Leno'd?
This show is approximately 40 minutes long, it is hosted by myself, John Kwiatkowski, Mike Pawlowski, and returning after a long absence, Steven Pawlowski.
Bill Gates joins Twitter
Link of the week: Gizmodo: Behind the scenes of Avatar
Nvidia card owners, ATI card owners
App of the week: Circle Dock
We also talk about Conan O'Brien, and the TSA- in ways that will surely make people educated on such matters RAGE! Also: pack a gun to ensure bag security.
Download Link
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Advertising on Podcasts
Advertisers seem to have some difficulty embracing certain new technologies. For instance, while they finally seem to 'get' online ads, they are still wary of advertising on Hulu, and mostly ignore podcasting entirely. Sure, there are a handful of notable exceptions- Ford Sync, Audible, Citrix, Dog House Systems, etc- most companies seem to be totally oblivious as to how to use podcasting to advertise (and help the medium). Here's a few reasons why podcasting can be an excellent medium for advertising, and in many cases, superior to other forms of media.
Podcasts feel personal.
As much as I may enjoy Lost or the Office, I don't feel any connection to the characters, so if they were to try and pitch a product, I wouldn't care so much. With podcasts, you often end up feeling very connected with the hosts. The more you listen, the more you feel like you know X host, to the point where I feel like if I met certain hosts in town, I could strike up a conversation as if I had known them for years. For this reason, when Scott Johnson or Leo Laporte recommend a product, I'm very inclined to check it out. TV commercials for GoDaddy.com are totally unappealing to me, and yet when their services are explained on Extralife Radio, I check them out, and now feel they might be the best web hosting solution for me. This sort of advertising has been done on the radio for quite a while, with X host explaining their deep love of a product, and the advertiser trying to capitalize of the audience connection to the host. As good a technique as that may have proven, nothing makes you want to buy something like a group ad on TWiT for Audible. Listening to people you enjoy hearing talk about how awesome Audible is, and hearing their various recommendations to each other really makes you want to use that product- and that's the whole goal of advertising right?
Podcasts Cater to Specific Audiences
While most popular tv shows draw very diverse groups of viewers, podcast audiences are often very niche groups. For example, AppSlappy is a show about applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. There are thousands of weekly listeners of this show, and it can be reasonably assumed that the audience A) users of the 2 devices mentioned, B) have an interest in the devices mentioned, or C) have an interest in the applications for the devices, whether or not they own one of them. Sure, there are exceptions, but those 3 descriptions probably fit upwards of 90% of the audience. Therefore, while advertising for a specific application or device might not make sense during a show like the Office, the ad would be a perfect fit for a show like Appslappy. Podcast advertising is like magazine advertising- you can assume something about the audience based on what they are choosing to consume. In this way podcast advertising could prove highly useful to companies.
Its cheap!
While the biggest shows might cost you a fair amount of money to advertise on (I assume that the TWiT network charges a pretty high price), the vast majority of podcasters will likely accept a very reasonable offer. I would bet that with the same money you could use to get a weeks worth of tv commercials you could advertise on tons of podcasts, for much longer.
People don't skip the ads
TV commercials have to try and shock you into paying attention (thats the reason commercials are so loud), and web advertising has to be incredibly invasive to get noticed (I'm looking at you annoying '24' ads on Gizmodo), but Podcast advertising doesn't have to do anything. The medium is not good for skipping ads, and listeners are likely to pay attention to them. You don't want to try and skip ahead in an audio file, you'll probably just waste time trying to find the exact spot that you were looking for. In addition, unless the ad is done by a 3rd party (in which case it is unmistakably different from the show), the listener is likely to go right ahead and listen through the ad. On TWiT, every ad is plainly announced, and yet I haven't skipped through one of them.
In Conclusion
Advertise on podcasts. If advertising companies had to tailor-make a medium in which to effectively communicate with people, podcasting would be pretty close to what they would create. People choose to listen to the show, they choose to listen to ads, and they will likely respond positively to the ads presented rather than apathetically. If you'll excuse me, I need to go purchase a blogcast hosting package through GoDaddy, while listening to a book through Audible.
Podcasts feel personal.
As much as I may enjoy Lost or the Office, I don't feel any connection to the characters, so if they were to try and pitch a product, I wouldn't care so much. With podcasts, you often end up feeling very connected with the hosts. The more you listen, the more you feel like you know X host, to the point where I feel like if I met certain hosts in town, I could strike up a conversation as if I had known them for years. For this reason, when Scott Johnson or Leo Laporte recommend a product, I'm very inclined to check it out. TV commercials for GoDaddy.com are totally unappealing to me, and yet when their services are explained on Extralife Radio, I check them out, and now feel they might be the best web hosting solution for me. This sort of advertising has been done on the radio for quite a while, with X host explaining their deep love of a product, and the advertiser trying to capitalize of the audience connection to the host. As good a technique as that may have proven, nothing makes you want to buy something like a group ad on TWiT for Audible. Listening to people you enjoy hearing talk about how awesome Audible is, and hearing their various recommendations to each other really makes you want to use that product- and that's the whole goal of advertising right?
Podcasts Cater to Specific Audiences
While most popular tv shows draw very diverse groups of viewers, podcast audiences are often very niche groups. For example, AppSlappy is a show about applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. There are thousands of weekly listeners of this show, and it can be reasonably assumed that the audience A) users of the 2 devices mentioned, B) have an interest in the devices mentioned, or C) have an interest in the applications for the devices, whether or not they own one of them. Sure, there are exceptions, but those 3 descriptions probably fit upwards of 90% of the audience. Therefore, while advertising for a specific application or device might not make sense during a show like the Office, the ad would be a perfect fit for a show like Appslappy. Podcast advertising is like magazine advertising- you can assume something about the audience based on what they are choosing to consume. In this way podcast advertising could prove highly useful to companies.
Its cheap!
While the biggest shows might cost you a fair amount of money to advertise on (I assume that the TWiT network charges a pretty high price), the vast majority of podcasters will likely accept a very reasonable offer. I would bet that with the same money you could use to get a weeks worth of tv commercials you could advertise on tons of podcasts, for much longer.
People don't skip the ads
TV commercials have to try and shock you into paying attention (thats the reason commercials are so loud), and web advertising has to be incredibly invasive to get noticed (I'm looking at you annoying '24' ads on Gizmodo), but Podcast advertising doesn't have to do anything. The medium is not good for skipping ads, and listeners are likely to pay attention to them. You don't want to try and skip ahead in an audio file, you'll probably just waste time trying to find the exact spot that you were looking for. In addition, unless the ad is done by a 3rd party (in which case it is unmistakably different from the show), the listener is likely to go right ahead and listen through the ad. On TWiT, every ad is plainly announced, and yet I haven't skipped through one of them.
In Conclusion
Advertise on podcasts. If advertising companies had to tailor-make a medium in which to effectively communicate with people, podcasting would be pretty close to what they would create. People choose to listen to the show, they choose to listen to ads, and they will likely respond positively to the ads presented rather than apathetically. If you'll excuse me, I need to go purchase a blogcast hosting package through GoDaddy, while listening to a book through Audible.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
New Podcast
I have just begun another show! "5 Minutes of Interesting" is a short-form news and commentary show, hosted by 1-2 people. Episode 1 is just me, and features 3 news stories. The show notes, links, and show itself can be found at 5 Minutes of Interesting.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Dear North Carolina Public High School System:
It's time you made a few changes. I'm not proposing anything radical, just two simple ideas to update high school education for the 21st century.
The first suggestion I have is to update "Life Skills" classes to focus primarily on current issues, not virtues and the things we can learn from "Rudy". Today's high schoolers don't seem to understand that the way they portray themselves online can affect their futures in very dramatic ways. In an age where more and more employers are checking up on potential employees before hiring them, a negative online presence can haunt someone for life. Education of this sort, along with sections dealing with online safety and current technology, would greatly augment the existing curriculum that deals with actual 'life skills', such as saving money, and credit card use. Patience may be a virtue, but it isn't a learned skill, and in a one-semester course designed to educate young adults on various post-school matters, it has no place being taught.
The second thing I would like to propose is mandatory Spanish, and additional languages only as elective courses. I'm taking an elementary Spanish course right now, and if I had to guess, I would say that upwards of 60% of the class have never had Spanish before. Spanish, unlike most other languages, is all around us. While learning German might help down the road, if you go to Germany, learning Spanish would help the community as a whole. The more people available to translate and communicate, the better society will function. I'd like to see at least 2 years of Spanish required, and the goal be for students to graduate with the ability to understand and speak the language well enough for short conversations with Spanish speakers.
There's my 2 cents on what needs to be changed to bring schools up to date. There's much more I'd love to see change, but those two don't seem terribly difficult, and could have far-reaching impacts.
The first suggestion I have is to update "Life Skills" classes to focus primarily on current issues, not virtues and the things we can learn from "Rudy". Today's high schoolers don't seem to understand that the way they portray themselves online can affect their futures in very dramatic ways. In an age where more and more employers are checking up on potential employees before hiring them, a negative online presence can haunt someone for life. Education of this sort, along with sections dealing with online safety and current technology, would greatly augment the existing curriculum that deals with actual 'life skills', such as saving money, and credit card use. Patience may be a virtue, but it isn't a learned skill, and in a one-semester course designed to educate young adults on various post-school matters, it has no place being taught.
The second thing I would like to propose is mandatory Spanish, and additional languages only as elective courses. I'm taking an elementary Spanish course right now, and if I had to guess, I would say that upwards of 60% of the class have never had Spanish before. Spanish, unlike most other languages, is all around us. While learning German might help down the road, if you go to Germany, learning Spanish would help the community as a whole. The more people available to translate and communicate, the better society will function. I'd like to see at least 2 years of Spanish required, and the goal be for students to graduate with the ability to understand and speak the language well enough for short conversations with Spanish speakers.
There's my 2 cents on what needs to be changed to bring schools up to date. There's much more I'd love to see change, but those two don't seem terribly difficult, and could have far-reaching impacts.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Yup.
So I forgot my keys earlier today. Mike came over and I left with him to go get a tv. While the trouble getting the tv is another story all by itself, all you need to know is we got it safely, and I remembered along the way that I had left my keys on my bed. Upon returning to the apartment, I went to knock on the door and discovered that my roommates weren't in, and that I very well might be locked out. Luckily enough, our glass sliding door had been left unlocked, and I was able to get in. Unfortunately, thanks to several years of dorm life, I have a habit of locking every room I walk out of- and I was really hoping that I hadn't done the same this time. Surprise! My door was locked.
The first method of door opening we tried was the venerated "credit card system", in which you attempt to open the door by forcing the bolt open with a flexible plastic card. Although some people have tremendous success with this system, I can't say that I've ever been able to open a door with it. This time was no exception. After 15 minutes of trying, I gave the handyman a call, and like every other time I've called the guy, my call went straight to his machine... We then tried knives, and other such things, to both pick the lock, and force it open, to no avail. I found a coat hanger in the laundry room, which I was able to bend in to an assortment of MacGyver'd shapes, but nothing I tried worked.
I had been playing Uncharted 2 at Walmart while the tv was purchased, and the idea popped in to my head (thanks video game critical thinking) try the window! My window is right next to the door, although the door has wood floor outside it, and my window features a 15 foot drop instead. Yay. I gave the glass a push- and wonderfully enough, it pushed open. My blinds were down, but I was lucky enough to be on the side with the open/close strings, and so I pulled them up from the outside. Carefully climbing up on to the deck railing, I was able to put one foot on the window sill, and reach inside and grab the wall. Thankfully, my Splinter Cell window entering move ended with me landing on my bed, and not the rocks below.
My keys were on my bed, where I had left them, and I was able to unlock my room and consider the entire ordeal ended. I think I'll try the window faster next time.
The first method of door opening we tried was the venerated "credit card system", in which you attempt to open the door by forcing the bolt open with a flexible plastic card. Although some people have tremendous success with this system, I can't say that I've ever been able to open a door with it. This time was no exception. After 15 minutes of trying, I gave the handyman a call, and like every other time I've called the guy, my call went straight to his machine... We then tried knives, and other such things, to both pick the lock, and force it open, to no avail. I found a coat hanger in the laundry room, which I was able to bend in to an assortment of MacGyver'd shapes, but nothing I tried worked.
I had been playing Uncharted 2 at Walmart while the tv was purchased, and the idea popped in to my head (thanks video game critical thinking) try the window! My window is right next to the door, although the door has wood floor outside it, and my window features a 15 foot drop instead. Yay. I gave the glass a push- and wonderfully enough, it pushed open. My blinds were down, but I was lucky enough to be on the side with the open/close strings, and so I pulled them up from the outside. Carefully climbing up on to the deck railing, I was able to put one foot on the window sill, and reach inside and grab the wall. Thankfully, my Splinter Cell window entering move ended with me landing on my bed, and not the rocks below.
My keys were on my bed, where I had left them, and I was able to unlock my room and consider the entire ordeal ended. I think I'll try the window faster next time.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Photoshop Portfolio
For now- here's this link. I'm adding a Flickr gadget to this blog, so my creations should soon be cycling through. I omitted lots of repeat pieces, sub-par work, etc. Now I just need to add some.
Flickr Photoshop Album
Flickr Photoshop Album
Classes
Good morning! Seeing as how my Spanish homework is already done, and I'm on campus, I believe it's a decent time for a article. Today's topic? Just my classes this semester.
Christian Controversies
In my ongoing quest to be a religion minor, this is 1 of 2 that should round out that mission. Thus far, it's been fun! Unfortunately, it's an 8 o'clock class, and even more unfortunate, we were given a choice of day to meet (the class is half online) and the religion majors- who have "long Wednesdays" voted to meet Monday morning... Despite this, the class has been enjoyable, and looks to be insightful. We're focusing mainly on the 20th century (and the few preceding it) which means it will be relevant for today rather than just the past.
Spanish 1
I took 3 years of Spanish before this. In 8th grade through 10th. We spent more time on verbs than nouns, and as such I can figure out the gist of a sentence even if I don't know all the words. This class is for people who "have had very little Spanish or no Spanish before", and while that isn't me, I'd rather get an A here than a C in Spanish 2 or intermediate Spanish. So far I feel like I'm way ahead- I understood everything from the first class, while most of the class was totally lost. My hope is to soak up all the spanish I learn now, and be able to speak consversationally after school, something I don't think is that unrealistic.
Old Testament
Henceforth known as "Hebrew Bible", is only fitting, since I had a class focusing on the sequel back at ASU. My knowledge of the Hebrew bible is much more limited than my knowledge of the New Testament. It seems like church always spent more time on the New Testament, and when covering the Old testament focused on more widely known parts (David, Noah, etc) than the more obscure books. Here's hoping I learn some worthwhile facts.
Film Studies
I was betting on this class to be fun, and it looks like I got what I wanted. My teacher held up an older edition of our textbook- and ironically enough, it was a book that I read back in 2006 when I worked at the library. I read our textbook for fun.
Political Philosophies
I may be the only upperclassman in this class. It's intro level, and it wasn't required (or offered) at ASU. The teacher asked who had already had methods, and surprise, just me out of 80 people. Looks like this might be fun though, philosophy was enjoyable, and we're discussing Locke and Hobbes again here.
And I did some research- I need 120 hours to graduate. I have 104 hours after this semester- but WAIT my AP credits still aren't applied to that, and depending on how they are counted, that's either 6 or 12. Meaning my last semester is either 10 hours, or just 2 classes.
Oh, and this whole article was composed and posted from my iPod. Photobucket App for the picture, notepad for most of the text, and safari of course for posting. Sure, it took a little longer than it would have on my laptop, and typing HTML is no fun, my iPod weighs around 4 ounces, and fits in my pocket.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
A quick note
Nothing much, got a few minutes before class.
RealD 3D glasses don't work with conventional polarization
This should have been obvious to me, but I figured the glasses were polarized in such a way that it was undetectable by me, but still produced a 3D effect when looking at a typical red//blue 3D image. Unfortunately, RealD uses a different technology, where the lens is polarized in such a way that it cannot see half the frames of the projected film (or a special monitor/tv), and not so that red and blue converge and pop out. Until I find some old-style glasses, I'm going to have to keep playing my games conventionally.
CSS
I had a nice chat with my dad about CSS the other day, and when I have time (summer- hopefully) I'm going to read some books and hopefully learn enough to do some basic work with CSS. I really need to grab a few books (because nothing says high tech like a book) and play around with web design, since I haven't done much in the way of coding since 2002 or so. Of course, the hope would be that I also purchase a domain by summer, and get hosting set up. Godaddy has a "blogcast" package that is priced pretty low, and if I use wordpress I'd be able to export this blog to that site easily. Why you ask? The ".blogspot.com" is fine for now, but my own domain would certainly look more professional- and would also give me a space for portfolio, shows, etc.
RealD 3D glasses don't work with conventional polarization
This should have been obvious to me, but I figured the glasses were polarized in such a way that it was undetectable by me, but still produced a 3D effect when looking at a typical red//blue 3D image. Unfortunately, RealD uses a different technology, where the lens is polarized in such a way that it cannot see half the frames of the projected film (or a special monitor/tv), and not so that red and blue converge and pop out. Until I find some old-style glasses, I'm going to have to keep playing my games conventionally.
CSS
I had a nice chat with my dad about CSS the other day, and when I have time (summer- hopefully) I'm going to read some books and hopefully learn enough to do some basic work with CSS. I really need to grab a few books (because nothing says high tech like a book) and play around with web design, since I haven't done much in the way of coding since 2002 or so. Of course, the hope would be that I also purchase a domain by summer, and get hosting set up. Godaddy has a "blogcast" package that is priced pretty low, and if I use wordpress I'd be able to export this blog to that site easily. Why you ask? The ".blogspot.com" is fine for now, but my own domain would certainly look more professional- and would also give me a space for portfolio, shows, etc.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Thoughts for the day
I'm pretty well moved in to my apartment now. Thanks to Ikea, I can see, which is always a good thing. Here's whats been on my mind the last week:
Job Hunting
I still have to go to Barnes and Noble- the closest store isn't a stone's throw away. Also Walden Books. Aside from that, I've applied at Best Buy, Borders, Target, Walgreens, and even sent a few emails inquiring about offers on Craigslist. Still have lots of applying to do though. Is the obligatory 30 minute "Quick Answer" section really that important? No- I don't think stealing office supplies is ok, and yes- I do get along well with others.
Lost
This show is good, and its all on Hulu. I'm hooked.
School
I should have genuinely fun classes this semester. I have Spanish 1, which I hope won't be difficult- I was good at Spanish in high school, and I really want to be able to at least converse enough out of school to put it on my resume. I also have film studies, and I'm really hoping that it turns out to be fun.
CES
The Consumer Electronics Show 2010 is going on right now, and honestly, nothing that interesting has come from it yet. Sure, super thin 3D tvs, 3D tvs, and 3D DirecTV are all innovative (I suppose), I just want to see something truly cool. Last year we saw the Palm Pre, and everyone thought it would save Palm, and I suppose that would have been the Nexus One, if it hadn't been revealed before CES, and was a little more revolutionary. Ford's Sync (wasn't it MS Sync last year at this time?) endeavors just don't really do much for me. Make a system that goes into cars, rather than comes with them, and I'll be a little more excited.
Poker
One poker night over Christmas break became 4, and I'm setting one up as soon as the rest of the school gets back. I don't believe in that hat wearing/sunglasses shielding business though. Thats basically an excuse for not looking tough enough.
And- thats a bit of whats been on my mind the last week. I'll give my full take on CES 2010 this weekend. Wish me luck job hunting.
Job Hunting
I still have to go to Barnes and Noble- the closest store isn't a stone's throw away. Also Walden Books. Aside from that, I've applied at Best Buy, Borders, Target, Walgreens, and even sent a few emails inquiring about offers on Craigslist. Still have lots of applying to do though. Is the obligatory 30 minute "Quick Answer" section really that important? No- I don't think stealing office supplies is ok, and yes- I do get along well with others.
Lost
This show is good, and its all on Hulu. I'm hooked.
School
I should have genuinely fun classes this semester. I have Spanish 1, which I hope won't be difficult- I was good at Spanish in high school, and I really want to be able to at least converse enough out of school to put it on my resume. I also have film studies, and I'm really hoping that it turns out to be fun.
CES
The Consumer Electronics Show 2010 is going on right now, and honestly, nothing that interesting has come from it yet. Sure, super thin 3D tvs, 3D tvs, and 3D DirecTV are all innovative (I suppose), I just want to see something truly cool. Last year we saw the Palm Pre, and everyone thought it would save Palm, and I suppose that would have been the Nexus One, if it hadn't been revealed before CES, and was a little more revolutionary. Ford's Sync (wasn't it MS Sync last year at this time?) endeavors just don't really do much for me. Make a system that goes into cars, rather than comes with them, and I'll be a little more excited.
Poker
One poker night over Christmas break became 4, and I'm setting one up as soon as the rest of the school gets back. I don't believe in that hat wearing/sunglasses shielding business though. Thats basically an excuse for not looking tough enough.
And- thats a bit of whats been on my mind the last week. I'll give my full take on CES 2010 this weekend. Wish me luck job hunting.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Friendly reminder:
The US pays too much for internet, and it isn't even that fast. That figure for Japan is the AVERAGE speed. 61mbps. At only 27 cents each mbps.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Contracast Episode 22: Avatar3d
This week we discuss Avatar, the decade that was, and the year to come. Also, we discuss the article I wrote about here.
Picturing the Decade
Download Link
DERP!
The show is coming- we recorded it a few days ago, and due to work, laziness, and the editing software expiring on my pc, the files sit idly by. In the meantime here's a tip for quickly accessing lots of sites in Chrome or Firefox.
You may already use the bookmark bar to keep a handful of links- to email, facebook, news- whatever, but you probably haven't filled it up, or if you have there's only 6-10 links on there. Here's what I do: erase the text next to each icon. You clean up the bar, and save space, so that you- like me- can have 20 links, and not even fill up half the bar. This way I open the browser, and middle-click on however many I want to open, and in seconds I have a couple blogs, digg and reddit, email, twitter, facebook, etc, open.
You may already use the bookmark bar to keep a handful of links- to email, facebook, news- whatever, but you probably haven't filled it up, or if you have there's only 6-10 links on there. Here's what I do: erase the text next to each icon. You clean up the bar, and save space, so that you- like me- can have 20 links, and not even fill up half the bar. This way I open the browser, and middle-click on however many I want to open, and in seconds I have a couple blogs, digg and reddit, email, twitter, facebook, etc, open.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
New Years internet resolutions
Seeing as how 2010 is just a couple days away, its about time to make resolutions again. I'm more of a fan of making realistic and specific ones, than the open-ended ones most people make. Here's a handful of my "Internet Resolutions" for 2010.
1. Produce 40 episodes of Contracast. We've managed 21 so far, and 22 is most likely tomorrow, so in half a years time we nearly made an episode a week. 40 episodes is hopefully a conservative number, but its a number I'd be happy with.
2. Create 40 unique photoshop pieces. I managed to turn out somewhere between 20 and 40 pieces this year, but they weren't all great, and aren't all "portfolio quality". I want to take the better works from my 14 days of photoshop project, and make 40 of them.
3. Write at least 8 articles a month. Articles- not Contracast stuff, not pictures, not simply 2 minute reviews, I mean several paragraph long, cohesive articles. I wrote a few this year, but I need to turn out a bunch more.
4. Tweet better. Sure, its open-ended sounding- but what I mean is tweet like the pros tweet. Link my articles, link others articles, use hashtags and comment on the trending topics occasionally. Right now I don't link much, and my tweets are mainly thoughts about my daily life and so on.
5. Write 5 Instructables. I make lots of things. I have a decent phone camera. It's only fitting that I should write some of these. I enjoy reading them, and writing them is both fun and rewards with free publicity and visibility.
6. Use Google Wave. Actually use it, you know?
7. Use Google Voice. Same deal as before.
8. Comment more often. Again, a little open-ended, but I hardly comment on anything at the moment. commenting is yet another easy way to gain some visibility.
9. Start a new, focused blog. Everyone else is doing it. Fancy fast food, Stuff white people like, people of Walmart, etc. Simple idea- Step 1: Obsessively cover ______, step 2: ???????, step 3: Profit!
10. Reconnect with Facebook.
1. Produce 40 episodes of Contracast. We've managed 21 so far, and 22 is most likely tomorrow, so in half a years time we nearly made an episode a week. 40 episodes is hopefully a conservative number, but its a number I'd be happy with.
2. Create 40 unique photoshop pieces. I managed to turn out somewhere between 20 and 40 pieces this year, but they weren't all great, and aren't all "portfolio quality". I want to take the better works from my 14 days of photoshop project, and make 40 of them.
3. Write at least 8 articles a month. Articles- not Contracast stuff, not pictures, not simply 2 minute reviews, I mean several paragraph long, cohesive articles. I wrote a few this year, but I need to turn out a bunch more.
4. Tweet better. Sure, its open-ended sounding- but what I mean is tweet like the pros tweet. Link my articles, link others articles, use hashtags and comment on the trending topics occasionally. Right now I don't link much, and my tweets are mainly thoughts about my daily life and so on.
5. Write 5 Instructables. I make lots of things. I have a decent phone camera. It's only fitting that I should write some of these. I enjoy reading them, and writing them is both fun and rewards with free publicity and visibility.
6. Use Google Wave. Actually use it, you know?
7. Use Google Voice. Same deal as before.
8. Comment more often. Again, a little open-ended, but I hardly comment on anything at the moment. commenting is yet another easy way to gain some visibility.
9. Start a new, focused blog. Everyone else is doing it. Fancy fast food, Stuff white people like, people of Walmart, etc. Simple idea- Step 1: Obsessively cover ______, step 2: ???????, step 3: Profit!
10. Reconnect with Facebook.
End of the month round-up
Thanks to Christmas, work, and general laziness, we've been putting off the show for a little while. It'll be back soon, don't worry. In the meantime, here's some pictures from my phone:
1337! L33T! Get it!
When did Megablocks get cool?
I used to paint Lord of the Rings figures for a game back in 2003. As of March I still have the skill. For reference- the base is 1 inch across.
This is my iPod Touch dock. Made from Legos.
Avatar tickets and glasses. Man that was an amazing movie.
Peggle for iPhone is $1.99 until Jan. 3! The most addictive game ever!
And thats all I suppose.
1337! L33T! Get it!
When did Megablocks get cool?
I used to paint Lord of the Rings figures for a game back in 2003. As of March I still have the skill. For reference- the base is 1 inch across.
This is my iPod Touch dock. Made from Legos.
Avatar tickets and glasses. Man that was an amazing movie.
Peggle for iPhone is $1.99 until Jan. 3! The most addictive game ever!
And thats all I suppose.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
2 Minute Movie Review: Avatar
Synopsis: In the year 2154, we've reduced earth to a brown, resource starved planet, and need to mine our minerals elsewhere. We've discovered a distant world, named Pandora, that takes 6 years to fly to, that is rich in the mineral "Unobtanium". Apparently this rock sells more "20 million a kilo", which I will assume is slightly more than the trade value of graham crackers. The RDA- a private military organization- are running things on Pandora. The Na'vi are an indigenous people who just happen to live on the biggest deposit of the rock for hundreds of miles in any direction. The humans have built host bodies with human and Na'vi dna, and through neural link machines, people are able to "pilot" their bodies, or "avatars". (IE- you play the online sensation, "World of Everquestcraft", your character is your avatar). Plot ensues.
Loved: 3D that was subtle and never overdone. Totally immersive environments. Amazing animation. Excellent direction. Great music. Basically everything you want from a movie. I'm still blown away. Its nearly 3 hours long, and when it ends you want it to keep on going. The Na'vi are so real that they seem more real than the humans. Pandora is breathtaking. Avatar was an experience, not just a movie. All the theories about how it was going to be awful we not true. Even the previously dumb "Papyrus" font worked well. (Subtitles in 3D are cool.) Its cool to see movies finally taking things from video games, and not only the other way around. 3 quick things that were direct lifts from games: The "Scorpion" helicopters (Halo series- Pelicans and Hornets), the RDA mechs (loads of games- notably Dawn of War (Tau XV8s and Marine Dreadnaughts), the Viperhound (?)- six legged crazy predator- Warcraft.
Hated: Well, the preview for "Piranha 3D" made my head hurt.
Verdict: This movie reminds me of Lord of the Rings. I felt a certain way after seeing those movies, and thats how I feel now. Totally immersed, amazed, and wanting to see it again. I wonder how well 3D will transfer to Blu-ray, because thats how I want to see it next. 2d may look fine, but you'll never feel like you're in a room or on Pandora. 10/10
Monday, December 21, 2009
Dear Microsoft:
Please reboot Crimson Skies.
While playing it again this weekend, I realized two things: 1- it's still way fun, and 2- it's an awful like "Uncharted" in the sky. Sure Microsoft, you'll have Halo: Reach all to yourselves next year, but wouldn't you like to have some of the "game of the year" buzz Uncharted is getting? Here's 3 ways you can make a Crimson Skies reboot as successful as Uncharted 2, ready?
Story: You need a coherent, exciting plot, that takes between 12 and 24 hours to play out. Hire a full team of TV quality (as in- writers of 24) writers, to flesh out a story that will make people want to keep on playing. Use extensive in-game cutscenes to develop a deep story, and make each action level have a purpose. While there exists some story of the Crimson Skies universe, take a lot of creative license and craft a new story. The setting is great, but we need a new protagonist, new antagonist, and lots of supporting characters. You can't simply have one goal from start to finish, there have to be a lot of plot developments, and an unpredictable end.
Marketing: Take a page from Uncharted 2's book- make this THE system exclusive to get. Do combo ads with Halo: Reach for all I care. Sell the movie-like experience, and the "awesome factor", not just the typical "Look at how much fun this game might be" sort of advertising. The PS3 ads where the guy is complaining that his girlfriend won't let him stop playing because she thinks Uncharted 2 is a movie is genius on several levels. It sells it to the target demographic- 18-34 year old males with the promise of action and adventure, but it also appeals to pretty much everyone by telling them that if they like movies, they'll like this.
Gameplay: Crimson Skies is essentially Rogue Squadron- with more options. You can repair your plane, upgrade it, do missions, etc- but the main gameplay is still "Arcade Flying". "Arcade Flying" is fun, but it won't get the buzz, or the money that an "Uncharted" will, because flight doesn't appeal to everyone. Some flight though- accompanied by lots of 3rd person action would work fine. In the vision I have for a reboot- planes are tools, used for transport, air-to-air combat, and other such things. The core of the game would be 3rd person shooter. You can hop in planes, and would spend plenty of time piloting and defending planes, but to sell this as a full movie experience, you need the ground combat too. Combining the two types of play is a decent enough idea- pilot plane to zeppelin- retrieve object inside on foot- escape zeppelin by plane- land on ground and fight off enemies- sounds like an exciting enough experience. This adds possibilities for multiplayer too, where 2 teams could defend their zeppelin and try to destroy the other's, in the air, on the ground, and in the zeppelins. The inclusion of both elements also means that you can include things such as boarding other planes mid-air or bailing out over zeppelins, both of which would make a great action shot for commercials, and would make the game memorable not just for the cutscenes.
So if anyone else thinks that this might be fun, or a decent idea for Microsoft, let me know! If anything else, this is simply a game I'd love to play, whether or not MS makes money on it. And as a bonus, pay homage to the movie "The Rocketeer", and give the protagonist a jetpack and helmet for at least part of a mission.
While playing it again this weekend, I realized two things: 1- it's still way fun, and 2- it's an awful like "Uncharted" in the sky. Sure Microsoft, you'll have Halo: Reach all to yourselves next year, but wouldn't you like to have some of the "game of the year" buzz Uncharted is getting? Here's 3 ways you can make a Crimson Skies reboot as successful as Uncharted 2, ready?
Story: You need a coherent, exciting plot, that takes between 12 and 24 hours to play out. Hire a full team of TV quality (as in- writers of 24) writers, to flesh out a story that will make people want to keep on playing. Use extensive in-game cutscenes to develop a deep story, and make each action level have a purpose. While there exists some story of the Crimson Skies universe, take a lot of creative license and craft a new story. The setting is great, but we need a new protagonist, new antagonist, and lots of supporting characters. You can't simply have one goal from start to finish, there have to be a lot of plot developments, and an unpredictable end.
Marketing: Take a page from Uncharted 2's book- make this THE system exclusive to get. Do combo ads with Halo: Reach for all I care. Sell the movie-like experience, and the "awesome factor", not just the typical "Look at how much fun this game might be" sort of advertising. The PS3 ads where the guy is complaining that his girlfriend won't let him stop playing because she thinks Uncharted 2 is a movie is genius on several levels. It sells it to the target demographic- 18-34 year old males with the promise of action and adventure, but it also appeals to pretty much everyone by telling them that if they like movies, they'll like this.
Gameplay: Crimson Skies is essentially Rogue Squadron- with more options. You can repair your plane, upgrade it, do missions, etc- but the main gameplay is still "Arcade Flying". "Arcade Flying" is fun, but it won't get the buzz, or the money that an "Uncharted" will, because flight doesn't appeal to everyone. Some flight though- accompanied by lots of 3rd person action would work fine. In the vision I have for a reboot- planes are tools, used for transport, air-to-air combat, and other such things. The core of the game would be 3rd person shooter. You can hop in planes, and would spend plenty of time piloting and defending planes, but to sell this as a full movie experience, you need the ground combat too. Combining the two types of play is a decent enough idea- pilot plane to zeppelin- retrieve object inside on foot- escape zeppelin by plane- land on ground and fight off enemies- sounds like an exciting enough experience. This adds possibilities for multiplayer too, where 2 teams could defend their zeppelin and try to destroy the other's, in the air, on the ground, and in the zeppelins. The inclusion of both elements also means that you can include things such as boarding other planes mid-air or bailing out over zeppelins, both of which would make a great action shot for commercials, and would make the game memorable not just for the cutscenes.
So if anyone else thinks that this might be fun, or a decent idea for Microsoft, let me know! If anything else, this is simply a game I'd love to play, whether or not MS makes money on it. And as a bonus, pay homage to the movie "The Rocketeer", and give the protagonist a jetpack and helmet for at least part of a mission.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Education vs. Online time
Turns out that the more educated you are, the more time you spend online.
The article mentions education's correlation with higher income as a possible reason- since more money means a higher chance of having a pc. I would simply hypothesize that highly educated people are more likely to do shopping online, read blogs, and use tools online, than people with less education.
Thenextweb.com article
The study, that covered households containing at least one person aged 16-74 across Europe, shows that nearly 90 % of the EU population with high formal education used the internet regularly, more than twice as much as the share of the population with low formal education.
The article mentions education's correlation with higher income as a possible reason- since more money means a higher chance of having a pc. I would simply hypothesize that highly educated people are more likely to do shopping online, read blogs, and use tools online, than people with less education.
Thenextweb.com article
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