Archive for the ‘Tech’ Category

Fish Wizard

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

There are few corners of this planet over which I hold no influence, but ironically one of those is the biggest corner of them all.

The Big Blue. The Great Green. The Endless Ocean.

It has always been a frustration of mine, but finally I have a remedy! I present… (drumroll)… this:

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Yes indeed my good friends, for the first time in æons I once again sport a watch. But not just any watch, for this is the legendary Fish Master 5000.

Let’s get the basics out of the way quickly: stopwatch, countdown timer, thermometer, alarms, world times and phases and age of the moon. Simple stuff. Oh, and it tells time as well.

But this watch takes timekeeping into a hitherto unexplored dimension in that it gives the wizard that wears it (that would be me): supernatural knowledge of fishes!

Let’s take a closer look at the face:

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Look just above the time, just below the center. See those fishes? Well the watch keeps track over a countless amount of incomprehensible (to humans) “fish variables” and distills the necessary information into a four point scale. It then displays the output as a number of fishes on the face of the watch. In the above image, what I shall call ‘fish power‘ is currently at 50%

This fish power is dependent on the location of the wizard wearing the watch, and this can be set by changing the longitude. It is also influenced by the time and age of the moon, as well as (no doubt) other mysteries that (those arch-wizards at) Casio are unprepared to reveal. All this magic in such a tiny package! Steve Jobs would be proud 🙂

The effect of having this device on one’s wrist is to make the world of fish no longer impenetrable to the wearer. As soon as I put on this watch it was as if my eyes had just opened, and I immediately knew everything about fishes.

For instance, a quick glance at my Fisher King 9000 tells me at this very moment, were I in the vicinity of Addis Ababa, I may be heading to the nearest lake with a fishing rod in my hand.

No longer – I could finally say – could any fish hide from me. Never again would I fail to know where (or when) all fish are, anywhere on this great planet of ours. At first, like a child, I reveled in this newfound power. I would swagger around the house bellowing such comments as “Try hiding from me now you scaly little bastards!”, or “I am the God of all fishes!”. But after some time a strange calmness began to descend upon me. I became reflective,  and began to realize that what this device had given me was not dominion, but invitation.

Perhaps – I came to see – my destiny was not to rule the fish. Perhaps my destiny was to join them. At last – I ultimately realized – my world and theirs has finally intersected. At last I have become one with the fishes. Truly I am now a brother to every fish. Into their scaley little hearts I have been welcomed, and all because of the power of this magical device.

For the Fish-a-Tron X-9 is so much more than a timepiece: it is a ticket to a fuller existence – a land where the barrier between man and fish has broken. Where the endless depths of the ocean are no longer a mystery, more a promise.

And where the ancient silent song from sunken R’lyeh has never been clearer…

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Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!

The King Of Kong

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

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In 1982 our dad bought us a Colecovision TV game system. What immediately followed was joy and exultation. What followed over the next few years was an evolution of my gaming fandom into a more robust and complete part of my being.

We owned – and I enjoyed – many different games on the system. But one of them seemed to stand above all others, and it was this one I put a great deal of my time into during the year or so that followed.

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I became so familiar with the game I could almost play it in my sleep. Only three screens… endless repetition… no purpose other than to get a high score.

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And score I did! In fact I obtained a high score that made me proud enough to boast about it. A picture was taken of the screen, time passed, the developed picture was obtained from the store, it was placed in an envelope and sent overseas to a magazine in England.

All these years later I can’t say I remember even which magazine it was. But I think it may have been this one:

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Not that exact issue of course, but one from 1983 or maybe 1984 (although I did own the above…). I was proud of my score, and the  magazine I chose had a ‘high score’ section. I hoped my score was good enough to be included.

Eventually, many months later (due to the combination of the print delay and the sea-mail delay) I bought an issue and saw my name in it! I was absolutely stoked. My score had been good enough to make the magazine! All it said was my name and my score, in tiny print on one line. But it was enough for me 🙂

Although I never guessed at the time this ‘high score section’ was of course just for kids. There was no authority in the scores, and I assume is they printed any scores received just so the twelve year old that wrote to them would be as excited as I was. It is perhaps likely they didn’t even care about any real proof.

One regret of mine is that I never kept the magazine. I don’t even remember when I disposed of it, or how. It was probably destroyed decades ago, all evidence of my Kingship of Coleco Kong long lost to time.

But at least it lives on in my heart!

When Verizon Told Me How Much An iPhone Upgrade Cost, I Told Them To ‘Saugen auf da Bein eines Hundes’!

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

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Since I apparently am not eligible for an upgrade, it would cost me $650 to switch my Droid phone for an iPhone when they are released next month.

I calmly explained to the Verizon monkey that this is actually more expensive than if I canceled my current contract outright, paid the early termination fee ($300), then signed up for a brand new contract and choose an iPhone ($200). In an act of stunning genius, his only response was “Smartphones are expensive.”

So what about the ‘early upgrade plan’. Since my contract is one year old on February 8, surely I could take advantage of that plan (which I got when I signed my current contract) to upgrade to an iPhone for a one-time fee of $20?

Well, the problem is Verizon canceled the early upgrade plan entirely on January 16. Only the most cynical person would suppose this date had anything to do with the iPhone launch 2 weeks later…

In short, looks like I’ll be waiting till Feb 2012 for my iPhone.

At least I’ll get an iPhone 5 then 🙂

(BTW to JAF, since our contracts are essentially identical, I’m pretty sure all the above applies to you as well.)

No 3DS For Me?

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

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Yesterday Nintendo announced the launch date (March 27) and price (US$250) for the new 3DS handheld.

If you hadn’t heard, this is a more powerful, higher resolution handheld that allows for 3D gaming without using glasses.

Now as you all know I’m quite the early adopter, but I must admit I’m cool on this device so far for the following reasons:

1. The launch games are poor. Not one of them interest me, and without a compelling game what is the point?

2. I don’t care (much) about the 3D. Sure it would be a fun gimmick, but I see myself turning it off most of the time.

3. $250 is a lot to spend for a dedicated device. This may be a strange comment coming from someone who has played one game on his PSP for over 400 hours alone, but given 1 and 2, there is very little else about the 3DS that has me excited right now. Other features will come in time (via OS updates), but why are they not present at launch.

4. The 3DS is region locked. This is a big, big one for me. I hate it. I hate that I wouldn’t be able to buy games in Japan (or Australia) and play it on my American device. Or send games to my Dad (were he to get one) from America. Boo-hoo Nintendo :<

On the other hand – and this is unfortunately significant – the L button on my current DSi is showing signs of deterioration. If it goes I’ll need a new DS immediately. It would be sad if that ended up being the principle reason I buy a 3DS.

Show me some good games Nintendo, and ASAP, if you want me to early adopt.

You Can Do It!

Sunday, December 19th, 2010

As promised, many moons ago:

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Here’s Emi’s reaction to the above:

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