5 posts tagged “cool stuff”
Like a lot of the current crop of adult geeks, I grew up on Star Wars. I remember standing in line for Jedi when I was eight years old and I remember watching the cartoons on Saturday mornings. And, of course, I had a metric ton of toys. Including R2-D2 and C-3PO.
I remember being disappointed by the fact that I could not get a real R2 unit; I was crushed when I found out there was an actor inside the little metal 'bot.
Fast forward 25 years and I still want a working, independent R2 unit. (Preferably one without a bad motivator.) And, now, it seems like things are finally heading that direction.
My wanderings across the great and dusty interwebtubes have brought two droids to my attention recently: Chumby and the Tux Droid. Chumby is a small screen-in-pillow device that gathers fodder from the 'tubes and displays it back to you whenever and however you want. The Tux Droid is a small, stuffed Penguin that works via IR and will do mundane online chores for you.
Chumby may look like little more than a glorified alarm clock but it lists an impressive range of features, including: acting as a digital photo frame, internet radio, YouTube video player, feed reader, and calendar. And alarm clock. Chumby is open source and designed to be hacked by just about anyone. Users create "widgets" that are then placed on the Chumby network and then downloaded by anyone who wants one. According to the website, the physical unit will work on any open, wireless network.
Tux, on the other hand, is designed to be a little more active than Chumby. The Tux Droid has several inputs, like a microphone and touch sensors, built into it. They allow Tux to respond to commands and the 'bot will check to see if you have new email or if something has finished downloading. Once it has done your bidding, it will report back by dancing or blinking its eyes.
The kid in me sees both of these products and gets an immediate -5 against my saving throw for Shiny. And, truth to tell, I would like to have either or both, just to play with because I think this is one of the futures of consumers goods. Why wouldn't kids like to have a doll that can talk back? Why wouldn't adults want web-enabled devices that do what we want without the bother of a direct interface?
These ideas are not new. I remember my sister's Teddy Ruxpin doll when we were kids. It was basically a stuffed bear with a cassette deck built into its back that would simulate a conversation and tell stories to its owner. And more recently, Ambient Technologies has been taking the idea of ubiquitous computing and running with it. Products like the Ambient Orb, which lets you know, for example, how your stocks are doing by glowing a different color, are in this same idea of hardware that anyone can program doing the work we do not want to do ourselves. And it's brilliant.
So. If anyone's got a spare couple of hundred bucks laying around, well, you know what I want.
Lots of things I don't have time to give the attention they deserve; these are the things on my mind right now.
Robert Jordan, RIP - I've been reading the Wheel of Time series since a friend handed me a copy of "The Eye of the World" in 9th grade. Sad to say that he passed before finishing the series, yet the more important sentiment is condolences to his family.
I really, really want one of the new iPod Nanos. Also known as the Fattie.
If interested, please vote for my submission to JPG magazine for inclusion under the "Passport" theme.
Yesterday, I bought a copy of a Buster Keaton DVD for my mother-in-law. She loves the old Charlie Chaplin shorts, so I thought she might get a kick out of Chaplin's friendly rival.
A few nights ago, at the gas station, I signed the credit card slip, as per usual. The girl, a new staffer, looked at it and said "Sono sign wa kakkoi, ne!" Translation: "Wow, you're signature is really cool!" Twenty ego points to Smiley and the game continues.
This series of softhacks for the xBox actually has me thinking about buying one.
Nintendo has released a yoga program for the DS. I may have to give it a try.
While in Italy last month, I picked up a nice badger hair shaving brush and some quality shave cream. It has made a world of difference, especially during these last few days of summer. Far less redness and ingrown hairs thanks to these accessories.
We went window shopping in the art supply store tonight. Between all my hobbies and all the things I'd like to try, I could have dropped several hundred dollars, easily. Fortunately, common sense prevailed and we walked out before I could get the wallet open. I am thinking quite seriously about picking up some sculpey, just for the hell of it, when the schedule clears a bit and I can play.
Lastly, the Red Elvises, "Venice, U.S.A." is one of the best songs I've checked out in a while. Surfy and sarcastic all at the same time. Good stuff.
I subscribed to the series and soon found myself pushing each new episode to the front of my playlist. It was not long before I had found The Red Panda Adventures as well and found it to be just as enjoyable as Black Jack Justice.
Black Jack Justice, in brief, is a radio drama featuring a hardboiled detective named Jack Justice and his partner, Trixie Dixon, Girl Detective. The pair work through a case in about thirty minutes per episode with all the snappy patter and brilliant deductions of the best pulp novels.
On the other hand, The Red Panda Adventures are an adventure show, naturally enough, centered around the Red Panda, Canada's Greatest Crimefighter, and his sidekick, the Flying Squirrel, aka Kit Baxter. The duo battle everything from supernatural villans to mobsters and bank robbers and every other pulp adventure trope you could name.
Both shows are acted and produced by the very talented group at Decoder Ring Theater. The group was founded by the writer for both shows, Gregg Taylor and both shows started out in much different incarnations than they are at present. DRT puts out an excellent product, both in terms of Mr. Taylor's writing and the excellent production quality, but the real standout is the superb voice acting talent on display in the episodes. In particular the back and forth between the male and female leads in both shows is what keeps me coming back for more.
I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that Black Jack Justice, Season 2 has been added to Podiobooks.com and that The Red Panda Adventures, Season 2 is currently being released via the group's website. Additionally, there have been several summer specials released recently; they're being downloaded as I write this.
The shows are available for free download from Podiobooks and the website, and archival CDs and even a script collection are available at Lulu.com.
These shows are perfect for anyone who has read any of the great pulp novels from the thirties through the fifties, not to mention any fans of old time radio serial adventures. The sound quality is excellent, the voice acting top notch, the stories fun and engaging, and every episode is available for free.
I cannot recommend these shows or Decoder Ring Theater enough.
Please try to ignore my ego there, writhing on the floor, mortally wounded, while I explain.
This evening, via Make Use Of, I found the brain training site Lumosity. Their comments:
"cool brain fitness program that claims to improve your memory, attention and processing speed. Make sure to take their 10-min LumosIQ brightness test (free only while in beta)."
I surfed over to the site and took the IQ test, where I scored, almost exactly, average. The test is actually broken into three smaller games that test Attention, Processing Speed, and Memory.
The Attention test is a game centered on the idea of Bird Watching. A background picture is loaded and then birds appear in various locations on the screen. Meanwhile, in the center of the screen is a small box where a letter of the alphabet appears at the same time as the bird. The idea is to use your mouse to locate the bird while keeping track of which letter has appeared. Essentially, the test determines how well you can track two simultaneous pieces of new information.
The Processing Speed Test was a series of mathematical equations. Simple problems involving the four basic mathematical skills are presented in a series of falling water droplets. The goal is to type the answer before the droplets hit the water. Wrong answers are penalized.
The Memory Test is another game, this time an "avoid the monsters" style maze. A character is presented on screen, along with a flower. Monsters are shown in various locations and then hidden. You must remember where the monsters are and avoid them on your way to the flower. After you have gotten the flower, you will have a chance for bonus points for correctly identifying where various kinds of monsters are hidden.
Once I had taken the test (and presented with my score) I was given a chance to sign up and begin a series of training exercises designed to improve my score. I signed up immediately.
The screenshot you see with this post is my score page after my first session. Not perfect, but it says that I'm improving.
Which is where my question comes in. I enjoyed the test and I like the challenge of trying to improve my scores, but will this actually result in any real world changes? I like to think so, but what does improving a score really prove? That I can play the games better? Doesn't everyone play better with practice?
I plan to keep up with the sessions. If nothing else it's another way to avoid real work, but I really am wondering if I'll be able to see any results in a month. I wonder if I'll notice a difference in my memory or in my ability to do simple math more quickly.
Anyway, the beta is free and the site notes that there will be fees eventually, so get in and see how well you do. Let me know. Unless you scored better than I did. In that case, just give me a month to prep for the re-match.
Cheers,
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