In a twist of cruel ironic timing, a handful of my electronic luxuries are closing in on the finish line of the race to be replaced. The imaginary unwritten rules that exist in the town hall basement of my brain (protected by an understandably upset cougar, of course) clearly state “a device must fail to the point of complete lack of operation or at least to the point where I derive little to no enjoyment out of it from sheer frustration at it’s refusal to operate properly”.

My iPod, my TV, my camera, and my phone are all showing signs that they are checking out of this world. The phone and the camera are the most surprising, because they really aren’t that old. The camera is actually the newest device to become a contender. There’s above average wear and tear on the body (I usually have my camera with me when I go places), the lens is perpetually dirty and the wheel that selects the camera mode seems to be off, at times cycling through without any turn of the wheel. Also the battery life is nothing like it used to be. Most of these problems have a simple remedy: clean the lens, get a new battery, so it only seems like just the beginning of the end for this.

A new battery may also just be what my phone needs to keep it alive for a while. I keep it in my pocket while I work, so it gets it’s fair share of dust. Some of the pieces of the phone are missing, and it’s been dropped over and over, making it’s movements a bit less smooth than it was before.

My TV just started giving me problems. Turning it on, I’m greeted with 10-15 minutes of grainy picture, chock full of horizontal distorted lines. It’s the same for all video settings, so I’m pretty sure it IS the TV itself and not my connection or anything. After a while, the lines go away and everything is clear. Occasionally they will come back after 5 minutes of clear picture, but this time only for a brief amount of time, and then it stays clear for as long as the TV stays on. Another issue that plagues the television is it’s owner. I’ve been keeping my eyes open for deals on an LCD TV and anticipate that come Black Friday, I’ll find a deal I can’t overlook.

My iPod is the epitome of perseverance. That thing has been on it’s last leg for longer than most last legs last. It’s a Click Wheel Ipod (the ones that came out before the color screen ones). When I first got it, the back was shiny and mirrorlike. Now, it resembles a brushed metal finish. It’s been dropped, kicked, dropkicked, and it has the scars to prove it. I can feel the hard drive moving as it continues to work despite its old (digital) age, and there seems to be something loose inside of it; every once in a while I can hear something tumbling around. I’ve had a few scares with it turning off unexpectedly, but all in all it still works; though it doesn’t hold a charge like it used to.

So who takes the prize? It really is anybody’s game as each problem can easily escalate into massive failure without additional warning. Will any devices make it through this decade? Am I that cheap not to upgrade some things? Maybe. And while the iPod seems to be one that should go first, I’m pretty sure it’ll outlast the TV, and quite possibly the others as well.

One thing is sure: as much as you like to think you really don’t care at all about my latest adventures in what’s going on with my various electronic devices, you really do. Otherwise you wouldn’t have read this too long of a post all the way to the end. Good for you!

Yes…it’s time to discuss Google’s attempt to jump into the browser war.

‘Sorry about that to all the Mac or Linux users. It’s just too bad.’ (BOOYA!) I’ve just got to say the ‘Dynamic Tabs’ are crazyawesomecool! Have as many as you want, easily change the order of them by drag/drop, pull a tab away and it automatically opens up as a new window, or drag a window to the Tab bar and it becomes a tab.

Next favorite thing is the Crash Control. Ever had something really frustrating going on and just to make it worse, one dumb tab decides to freeze up and bring the whole browser down. Lame… But with Crash Control, each tab is independent and can be controled by Chrome’s Built-In Task Manager. You can also check the memory use of each tab at anytime so you know when to end the dumb tab. Love the much simpler downloads.

I’m sorry to be disloyal to Firefox but I totally HATE that stupid download box. ‘Yes…I downloaded something…please just get in my way and tell me all my business!!!’ Chrome shows the process at the bottom of the browser. You can just click for more option or drag to the desktop. It puts any Javascript that decides to freak out basically into a box.

The Incognito Mode gave me a nice laugh. Everyone knows that the searching for surprises like gifts is a bunch of baloney. It would be really useful to someone stuck in a cubicle that wants to ’stick it to the man!’ But Incognito Mode has it’s limits.”Yes, be wary of the people standing behind you, secret agents, and other tin-foil hat wearing paranoids. Google’s got your back on this one.”

The last nice thing I have to say about Chrome is, of course, the Omnibox. Simple and easy. Don’t have to add an extra toolbar for quick searching.  (AND HAD TO ADD AS A SIDE NOTE AFTER WRITING ALL THIS–UPLOADING TO LIKE IMAGESHACK.US IS INSTANTANEOUS!!!)

Now the bad stuff. No RSS Support with Chrome????? I was just finally remembering to use those! As mentioned early, it’s not available to Mac or Linux users, but Google will probably come out with one pretty soon. It’s still sad that it’s only available to Windows only; Specifically only to Windows XP and Vista. With

Incognito Mode it does not mask your IP Address, so most websites will still be able to record your information. (Also, if you’re not using Incognito Mode, you have complete lack of control of your History. You can’t just go in and delete things)

I really hate the fact that Chrome stores your password in plain visible text. It’s not encrypted which is crazy and bizarre.  There is some debate over the vulnerability of Chrome users who could download a malicious code because Google used an older version of Webkit (also in Apple’s Safari Browser). Also, it could let hackers crash the browser using a malicious link that crashes when clicked. (Ok…maybe the dumb Firefox downloading box isn’t too bad because it checks for that stuff)

I think Chrome has potential and a lot of neat gagets. It is only a Beta and needs some work. Hopefully, Google will buckle down and fix the flaws so that it can be more than a glittery fad.

It would have been really great if Simon could have been born on the day it was launched because I think the Chrome logo looks just like the old school Simon Says game; so he could unofficially be connected to it…unless it becomes a flop..in that case—no connection.

Last week we gathered up as many of our group of friends as we could muster and drove out to the beach to take group pictures. The idea was Mike’s to get everyone together and, to make it more than just a group shot, mimic the style of the promotional cast photos for LOST. The idea was not to have each person specifically be a certain character, more than we tried to copy the variation in styles so we didn’t all look alike.

So here we are in our best “stranded on a semi-deserted island” attire:

There’s more pictures in the gallery, and I’ll be adding more of the group pictures as we get them (there’s some processing involved), as well as some general photos that we took while out there.

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All of us at sometime wished that we really had Jedi Mind Tricks where we could lift a starfighter out of a swampy mess. We can’t do this yet..but about a month ago the game Mind Balance was demonstrated for the first time at MIT Media Lab Europe in Dublin (everything awesome happens in Ireland now).

Mind Balance is based on a new wireless headset with six different types of nodes positioned over the occipital lobes (on the back of the head just above the neck) which are resposible for processing light, vision, and hallucinations. The cap is able to monitor electrical signals from the surface of the scalp and basically create a direct connection to the eyes from the brain’s optical nerve. The Mindgames Group was able to take the brain activity into a C# signal-processing engine that can analyze these signals in real-time and decide which way the player is looking.

They have created several different games and the most effective is Mind Balance. Here the player must help Mawg-a cosmic tight-walking crazying frog looking guy that’s suppose to represent a Behemoth. The player helps this Scottish bloke keep his balance by a brain cap.

If Mawg totters to the right, the player can shift him to the left by staring at an orb on the left hand side of the screen. So that the blinking orbes produeces a signal that can be detected, the orbs have to render a consistent 60 frames-per-second or more.

Mindgames have developed several other games like Peace Composed- where the player must relax to fully enjoy a piece of Phil McDarby’s orchestral music. The more the player relaxes: the more intricate the music becomes. Also, Still Life was developed by physiotherapists at the Central Remedial Clinic in Dublin. It uses a movement interface designed to reward the player for practicing a movement over and over again correctly. Still Life turns boring exercises into a ‘engaging interaction’. The program is able to monitor the improvement of patient/player’s exercise.

Today, we might be taking Mawg for a walk on a cosmic tightrope or making pretty colors while we exercise, tomorrow we could be pulling an X-Wing out of the icky swamp mud!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy says very little about internet browsers. It says even less about the “browser wars”. About this struggle between browsers for popularity and market share, it reads:

The smart thing to do if you find yourself in the middle of any type of browser-based fray is to quietly excuse yourself with your browser of choice kept silently to yourself. These kind of battles generally focus on negativities and don’t really serve to accomplish much.

This doesn’t mean that browser preference is a taboo subject. Explaining why you might prefer one over another is much different than discussions that start with “Internet Explorer sucks because…” or “Firefox is gay because…” or “Safari is for losers…”. For example, I’ve nothing against IE, but I use Firefox most of the time for a number of reasons.

Checking my stats, I notice that most of my visitors (about 50%) are using Firefox. So I’m likely preaching to the choir, or at least a regular church goer. But there is so much more to browsers nowadays than just the ability to view websites, I’m sure there’s many out there who aren’t taking full of advantage of some of the additional features of their browser (myself included).

Tabbed browsing is nice and convenient. Firefox also makes good even if it crashes or has to close for one reason or another by remembering your last session (all Firefox windows and tabs) and offering to put everything back the way it was before the crash.

The main reason I use Firefox, though, is the Add-Ons. “Add-ons extend Firefox, letting you personalize your browsing experience.” Personalize is an OK word…but I see the add-ons as more of a streamlining tool. Aside from being easy to install/implement, they make doing the things I do with my browser much easier. Sure, there are themes and things you can add to make the browser look a certain way, but I don’t use those. To give you a better idea of what I’m trying to say, I’ll list the add-ons I’m using:

Sage - This is my RSS reader. It’s a very simple application, but that’s all I really want from an RSS feed aggregator. I can pick up feeds from a website, save them, and see when they update. Easy peasy blog browsing.

FoxyTunes - It controls any media player from a minimal set of buttons placed on my status bar. Even Pandora. It’s also skinable, so if you’re into the whole theme deal, your FoxyTunes buttons will match your browser.

FireFTP - An FTP client. Not much bells or whistles…just an uncomplicated application I use to add images or any other files to my website.

Web Developer - This is a menu and toolbar that is basically a must-have if you’re a designer/developer. WordPress themes and templates can get pretty complicated, and the Web Dev application made customizing and wading through the PHP and CSS so much easier. Just a simple keystroke and I can see all the element information (div blocks, CSS styles, etc) just by moving my mouse over a certain area. This is probably my favorite add-on; it’s so robust and, like the other add-ons, super easy to use.

If you use Firefox, I’d suggest checking out the Firefox Add-Ons website. The tools I use mainly help with blogging and stuff, but there’s so much more than that available. Happy browsing, and stay out of trouble.

OK. I can say without much expectation of negative feedback that the Nintendo Wii has universal appeal. The realistic demographic of this system is probably quite similar to the age range found on those Yes & Know invisible ink books.

Video games used to be a relatively focused territory of adolescent/teen/20 something boys. Rarely would parents or grandparents or girls venture into this button-mashing pastime. When mom or sis would somehow get reeled in for a game of Sonic the Hedgehog or MarioKart, we would laugh as they’d gesture emphatically with their controller in an effort to assist whichever character they were controlling. As if Mario would jump higher if you thrust the controller upward at the moment of your jump…how silly!

Fast forward to now. All those amateur game maneuvers have become an essential part of playing many games on the wii. They’re putting wiis in nursing homes and these old people are digital bowling their liver-spotted heads off. Moms, sisters, girlfriends and wives are all waiting in line for their turn to play wii tennis.

But there’s more to the wii than just extreme overall likability. The wii and its components have huge potential for abilities beyond what they already can do. Thankfully, there are people who realize this and are doing their best to take advantage of it. Take, for example, Johnny Chung Lee. He’s put together a number of different projects using the Wii Remote. Here’s a quote from his website:

“[The Wii Remote] happens to be one of the most sophisticated [computer input devices in the world]. It contains a 1024×768 infrared camera with built-in hardware blob tracking of up to 4 points at 100Hz. This significantly out performs any PC “webcam” available today. It also contains a +/-3g 8-bit 3-axis accelerometer also operating at 100Hz and an [expansion] port for even more capability. These projects are an effort to explore and demonstrate applications that the millions of Wii Remotes in [the] world readily support.”

Here are his projects:

Tracking your fingers…think, Minority Report

Multi-Point Interactive Whiteboard

Headtracking (3-D)

www.johnnylee.net

I was going to attach this to the last post, but it got a bit long, so I decided to just give it it’s own post. If you’ve read my old blog, you’re familiar with my HitchHiker’s Guide entries. If not, they’re basically additional related information at the end of a post (usually), done in my best HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy style. So keep an eye for the occasional guide entry at the end of a post.

On to the subject at hand:

It’s a feeling that can go straight to the pit of your stomach. You have difficultly swallowing. Vision is slightly blurred and your head is spinning. A million curses go through your head as you stare at your Ipod (or other important electronic device) at the bottom of the washing machine.

Actually, when I found my iPod, after the full heavy duty wash setting, none of the above happened. I was pretty confused about why my Ipod (his name is Moose, by the way) would want to be in the washing machine. I’m what you would call a ‘Google Child’. I Google the unknown.

For example, we had a bird stuck in our wood stove. My mom thought she could put bread crumbs in her hand; the bird would hop into her hand and she carry it outside after singing a song with it. My dad wanted to stick Ringo (my cat) in the woodstove and shut the door. Google child checks it out. You use a pillow case on your hand like a glove, grab the dumb bird, turn pillow case inside out and release the bird outside.

After five minutes of painful research about my iPod: plan of action! The good news was the ever powerful ‘Hold’ setting kept it off during the spin cycle. I was smart enough to not try to turn it on right away.

So number one— DO NOT TURN THE iPOD ON. It is recommended to shake in a circular motion (taken care of with the Spin Cycle) or sucking on the end of it to draw the moisture out (I think they just wanted to see how many dummies would do that).

It needed to dry in a warm place but not somewhere so hot it fried the gizmos. I decided not to try the ‘Oven Technique’ like a friend of mine did with his phone after he ran into the ocean with it. I have an adapter for my DVD Player and TV (I cannot remember why I even need that now…) that generates a nice bit of heat so I stuck it under there. Tried it a day later and it worked but there was a water stain on the screen.

Later that evening, a crazy message about my battery being dead came up (that’s stupid–my iPod battery only died once and took a week to do that). I was worried that there was water still in there. So I plugged it into my computer and stuck it between two adapters in the wall. A day later of being nice and toasty—works better than ever and what I thought was a water stain is gone. One of the websites said that if my iPod survived this was actually a good thing because it cleaned out all the dust and grime.

So if you submerge your iPod (or other electronic device of importance) hope is never lost as long as you have the power of Google [ed. note: or TheFourTwo.com]. Chances are someone else has done the exact same thing and, like myself, made themselves the center of humor by revealing their stupidity online for everyone to see.