Game Boy Advance SP

3 comments (closed), posted on august 25, 2003, tags: gaming

In 1989, I got a Nintendo Game Boy for Christmas. I loved it in all it's black-and-white, bulky glory. I ended up losing it at some point many years later, as well as all of the games I had for it.

Some 14 years later, two weeks ago, I bought a Game Boy Advance SP. What an amazing toy this is. First all of, the SP has a backlit screen. The biggest problem when the Game Boy Advance came out was its screen. People hated it. You couldn't see it unless you were in perfect light conditions. I know it's true because when I turn off the backlight on the SP I can rarely see anything. If they had only added a backlight, the SP would have been worth the extra thirty dollars (the Advance is 69.99, the SP is 99.99). But that's not all.

The Advance was shaped differently than every other Game Boy before it—horizontally (see website for image). The SP, however, heads back toward the original design of the Game Boy—vertical—but with a twist. It folds at the middle, and fits comfortably in your pocket. Also, they've finally added Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, so you don't have to keep buying AAs every few times you play. You just plug the little guy in and he's recharged in no time. In fact, the only bad thing about the SP is that you have to buy an adapter to use headphones. Luckily, said adapter is only $4.95.

In the past two weeks I've already become heavily attached to the Game Boy. I've been bringing it with me whenever I know they'll be sitting involved, and I'm loving it. Since the SP is so powerful (32-bit means it's basically a Super Nintendo in your pocket), they've started to port all the great games from the SNES to the Advance systems. And, since most GBA games tend to be less than $30, you can get tons of entertainment out of the device for a pretty cheap rate.

I've recently begun to really get back into video games (I tend to go about 6 months really into gaming again, then 6 months of being less interested), and the GBA SP has been a big part of that. If you're a fan of the Game Boy, but you haven't had once since they weighed a pound and were the size of bricks, you might want to spend some money on the Advance SP—it's really good stuff.

Forgot. F-O-R-G-O-T. Forgot.

1 comment (closed), posted on august 20, 2003, tags: entertainment

A few weeks ago Katia and I saw Spellbound, a great documentary that follows eight kids as they try to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee. It opens with a fantastic clip of one of the eight kids—the goofiest one (and maybe the youngest as well), Harry Altman—having what seems to be a mental breakdown when asked to spell the word "banns." He makes all sorts of facial contortions, talks to himself ("I've got to think of something..."), and other good stuff. It's the perfect opening for a funny and fun documentary.

It's interesting to see the National Spelling Bee from this angle. How hard the kids study, prepare, concentrate—it's all rather frightening. The subject of coaching your child to be a National finalist being like child abuse came up several times in the film as a joke, and for good reason—it seems like a form of abuse. The only reason it's acceptable is that most of the children seem to, in some sort of masochistic way, enjoy it.

If you don't get a chance to catch this documentary in a theater, you should definitely rent it when it's available. It's a really great film and you won't be disappointed.

Take that, Turtle Beach!

3 comments (closed), posted on august 20, 2003, tags: tech

I finally managed to fix my soundcard problems yesterday. About four months ago, when our building's power went out due to a screwed up powerline under the street, my soundcard blew out. Or at least it seemed to.

Once we had power the next day I restarted my P4 tower only to find Winamp erring on playback. No wave output device. That's funny, I thought. I tried to reinstall the drivers, which ended up taking about two hours since I couldn't find the CD and had to download them from the Turtle Beach website. They were 25 MB, and it took a long time over dial-up. Once I finally downloaded them and installed, the sound still didn't work.

I wasn't really that eager to deal with the problem, so I gave up after a few uninstall/reinstalls, and enabled the built-in audio device on my motherboard. It stinks, though, and so my PC has been silent for the past 4 months.

Yesterday, I really wanted to play a game. I bought a really great video card a few months before moving, and I suddenly had the urge—now that I have a cable modem again—to play Counter-Strike. But you can't play games without sound, so I decided I would fix it, no matter what.

I'd forgotten how fixing things on a PC can be. It's rough. But, here's a rule of thumb that I always remember and that almost always works (unless your device is actually broken):

Uninstall the device completely—drivers, card (from the device manager), software associated—and shutdown (don't restart... shutdown all the way). Remove the card from the PCI slot. Reboot. Now your computer should behave as if it never had the device (this does not work for video cards, obviously, unless you have a built-in video card on your mobo). Shut the computer down again.

Reinsert the PCI card into a different slot if possible, and start the machine back up. Now reinstall drivers and software. Try to install the same drivers you had when the device was working, if possible—don't always opt for the newest drivers available online. If it was working once, chances are (unless it's broken), it will work again with those same drivers.

After you install the drivers, it's a good idea to restart again, although it might not be necessary. If your device isn't broken, chances are, it's working again.

I know that advice is probably well-known to a lot of you, but even if one person benefits from it, it's worth posting. Using that method has helped me out a lot in the past 8 years.

Now I can finally put my P4 to use again.

Fun! No, Wait, Not Fun

posted on august 15, 2003, tags: new york

Unbelievable that something like this could happen not only to NYC, but to several states and Canada all at once. It's a bit scary national-security-wise that by doing something to one power station, you can effectively shut down half of the country. Sitting ducks. But, none the less, it seems to be nearly over now and hopefully this will initiate a massive investigation on how our current system needs to be reworked so this doesn't happen again.

After the power went out I went downstairs to see if I could get cellphone reception (I couldn't), and I couldn't get back into my floor (11) because the stair entrance is only one way from there. So I waited for about an hour for my coworkers, but they never showed up. I decided I should start walking home.

It took me four and a half hours, which isn't too bad considering the fact that I walked about 6 miles from work to home. The journey included walking across the Williamsburg Bridge, which is something I've wanted to do since I moved to Brooklyn anyway. I just wouldn't have picked such a hot day to do it, and especially not when thousands of others were doing it too.

But it wasn't terrible, the walk. The worst part of everything was trying to sleep last night with no AC. We also lost all of the food in the refrigerator, but luckily yesterday was supposed to be grocery shopping day anyway, so there wasn't much in there.

We finally got power back about an hour ago. The air-conditioners are running, the Internet is working, and we have television again. Life is good. Things to buy now so we have them next time something happens: a battery operated radio, a non-powered, corded phone, batteries, and a few more candles. Never hurts to be prepared.

MT Users Apparently Bad Dates

2 comments (closed), posted on august 11, 2003, tags: movable type

This not surprising, but apparently Movable Type users are also bad dates. One might make the assumption based on their enjoyment of something related to technology—which usually means their non-enjoyment of time spent with the opposite sex. Case in point this evening:

I showed up at the Scratcher for the first International Movable Type Meetup. It was supposed to be at 7PM. I got there early, having headed over after work at six. I waited until 7:40PM, and no one showed.

It's bad to be stood up by a date, but pathetic to be stood up by a bunch of personal-website-writing nerds. Boo.

WiFi Finder Finds Itself Returned

3 comments (closed), posted on august 11, 2003, tags: tech

Just before I got Cable Internet access at the apartment two weeks ago, I was at the end of my rope. I was, daily, "about to call" the satellite Internet company and sign my life away to a one-year contract at $99/month for spotty, badly-reviewed service.

Two days before I got that lovely phone call from TWC telling me I finally had high-speed access, I was pulling hairs trying to figure out some way to get a fast connection in my apartment. One idea, prompted by a new gadget, was to try to find out if someone else in the area—with a high-speed connection—had a wireless network set up. Then, shamelessly, I planned to see if it was open (ie: not encrypted) so that I might latch onto it and steal some speed. Obviously this plan is flawed... there is no way it would work long-term. But, at the time, I was willing to try anything. (Note that I also had plans to find a WiFi network and approach the owner, willing to pay to share the service... I'm not all bad).

Enter the Kensington WiFi Finder (should absolutely be renamed WiFinder), the gadget that would help me execute my plan (in theory). It's a great idea: a small device that will detect both 802.11b and g WiFi "hot-spots" with the push of a button—no computer required. It has three LEDs on its small silvery plastic face, and depending on signal strength they light up (red equals no signal, two green lights for strength).

I made a stop at the Circuit City on Union Square and picked up the last one of three they had (it's a new product). Before buying it, I pushed the button through the plastic, and the device showed I was in a WiFi hot-spot of one-light strength. I asked the cashier if they had WiFi, and he said no. Then he reminded me that Starbucks does have a network—and it's a few hundred feet away. Not bad, I thought. But the signal then turned red. I tried it again, and could not manage to get the signal to pick up, even when I walked to the window facing the Square. But it was only $30, so I bought it.

On the walk home from the subway station (about 4 blocks), I constantly pushed the button, looking for signal. I found two places where the green lights were lit, but only in one of two would the lights come back after searching again. I realized this meant nothing to me, unless I was planning on living in the street 3 blocks from my apartment. In my apartment, though, is where it really got interesting.

I have an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station, running in 802.11b/g compatibility mode (I'm using my iBook for some xPad testing in Panther), and it would only detect the network, while standing next to the Base Station, and even then, only every few times. When detected, the signal would only be one green light, unless I was utilizing the network (then it was two). I guess the WiFi Finder has an easier time finding active networks than inactive networks (which is stupid, since most of the time it would seem like you're looking for either, not just a network that's pumping bytes).

In the end, the WiFi Finder was absolutely useless to me. Not just because it found no other networks around me, but because when it did find a network, it was too anonymous. I knew nothing about it. One green light could mean 10% signal strength for all I know, or the network could be locked, and why would I want to find those networks? This device would be useful for walking around NYC making a map of hot-spots, but not as useful as, say, a laptop. I know the point here is to find a hot-spot without having to take your laptop out, and for that it will at least work partially (assuming people are actively using the network), but it's not worth carrying around unless you're a die-hard war-driver (in which case you probably prefer using a laptop anyway).

I'm a Lousy Host!

posted on august 11, 2003, tags: movable type

I completely forgot about today's International Movable Type Meetup. Lucky I got an email over the weekend, since I'm a damned "host" and I would have completely forgotten about the event otherwise. If you want to come tonight, please visit Movable Type Meetup to register (free). That link is for anyone in any city, as Meetup automatically places you in the nearest group. The event takes place tonight, August 11, at 7:00PM (local time).

In NYC, we're meeting at: The Scratcher, 209 E 5th St, New York, NY [map]

I suggest signing up and stopping by. Could be fun, right? And if not, at least they serve alcohol so that you may drink yourself into enjoyment.

Late Summer

posted on august 11, 2003, tags: me

I've been falling behind lately with Rage (and CodeBucket). I've got too much stuff going. With the public beta of xPad going on, at least development on the app itself is slowing down. I'm giving it some time before I go back to work on the specifics reported by beta testers. Outside of that, I've been busy at work, and reading a new book. The websites have been neglected simply because every time I get on my Powerbook now, it's to work on xPad, and ever time I get on Katia's VAIO it's to play Snood or Lemmings (old school shit). I don't really even touch my P4 any more (wondering if I should just sell that bloody thing).

So things are going well. It's funny—usually when things are going well my websites suffer. When I'm bored, I write. When looking at the archives I can usually see the months in which I didn't have anything else occupying my time... they're full of entries. Granted, it's not always the case (sometimes I just write a lot because I'm in the mood constantly), but it tends to be.

That said, note that neither of these two sites will lack updates for more than a week at a time. No matter my mood, I cannot let that happen. I'm just in the lull of late summer—things are breezy and humid. They shall get cold again soon, and writing will—I'm sure—gain strength.

Custom BlogShares Portfolio

posted on august 6, 2003, tags: site

A long while back I mentioned that I had created a BlogShares-related script that I had planned to release shortly thereafter. Well, here we are a month-and-a-half later, and I'm finally getting around to it.

This is a custom BlogShares Portfolio viewer that uses PHP to parse your BS portfolio RSS file. It's pretty quick (assuming BS is up and you don't own shares in a ridiculous number of blogs (remember it has to read that file to parse it)), and best of all—it's pretty. BlogShares is a horribly ugly site, but my custom portfolio script is pretty and XHTML Strict & CSS2 compliant. The script automatically highlights blogs that have a high P/E (in red) or a low P/E (in green), and can be sorted by worth, name, shares held, shares available, current price and p/e.

You can see the script in action (my portfolio) by clicking here.

You can download the source files by clicking here. To run this script on your own server, you'll need PHP 4x installed (3.2x will probably work too). You've most likely got that installed if you're using PHP anyway. All you'll need to do to install it is change 4 lines of code (they're commented and there's a ReadMe in the zip file), and you'll be on your way.

Feel free to post comments or email me with questions, comments or suggestions.

Lessons, Chapter VII

4 comments (closed), posted on august 6, 2003, tags: random

When I was in high-school, I began to write a children's book entitled Lessons. Each chapter would have a short story and from that children would learn valuable lessons. It was never finished, but here is chapter VII:

     "That's why you don't stick your head into closing elevator doors," Dominic said. "Because it fucking hurts." He reached into his pocket and drew an already-soiled, white handkerchief and wiped his forehead. Sweat escaped his skin onto the dirty kerchief, and his forehead lost its shine.
     Aaron looked up at his tall father with disgust. "You didn't really have to tell me that, dad," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm not a moron."
     Dominic rubbed the large lump on his right temple. "I know you're not a moron, son, it's just that sometimes you do stupid things without thinking about them."
     "I do?"
     "Yes," Dominic said as his stopped rubbing the lump on his right temple and began rubbing the lump on his left temple.
     "Like what?"
     "Remember when you set your mother's hair on fire last Christmas?"
     "That was you!" Aaron yelled. Spit flew from his mouth.
     "That was not m—"
     "Stop rubbing those nasty bumps on your head and remember!"
     "Oh," Dominic said slowly. "That was me."
     "Yeah, it was. And it was you who ate that piece of plastic we found on the sidewalk, you who put the firecracker in your shoe, and you who dared your sister to piss on your face." Aaron looked his father directly in the eyes. "You're the moron, not me."
     "That's fair, I guess," Dominic said. "I may have dared my sister to piss on my face, but at least I didn't drink piss this morning."
     "What are you talking about now, fucko?" Aaron said, confused.
     "Before you woke up this morning, I pissed in your mouth," Dominic said, as he punched himself in the right-temple-lump.

Lesson: Elevator doors close hard and make your dirty, lumpy, piss-faced father go crazy.

First Public Beta, Finally!

1 comment (closed), posted on august 6, 2003, tags: xpad

So I've been running myself ragged over the past few weeks, but I finally released the first public build of xPad to a group of beta testers last night. It was nerve-wracking. I'm always extremely obsessed with detail and with making sure things work before I send them, and it's a big step going from me and Shawn to a handful of, well, strangers. Who knows what kinds of bugs they might find? Will they hate it? Will they love it?

I don't know yet. If anything, this experience has been a ton of learning and work. I've been working on xPad since March 28 of this year, and I went from my first line of Cocoa code (copied directly from a tutorial in a book), to my 2,000th line. In the beginning, fixing major bugs was crazy. I remember the first real bug I encountered, about 2 weeks into development, almost made me quit. I couldn't figure out how to fix it, I just didn't understand enough. Now I'm finally to the point where bug-fixing is second nature. I'm getting much better at all of this.

And it's been fun. Now it's all about getting this sucker to 1.0. I'm damned close, and with the help of these beta testers I should get enough feedback to finally get to a release. If I'm nervous now, I can't imagine how I'll feel when I really release. Scary.

Last Chance to Join xPad Beta

posted on august 5, 2003, tags: xpad

Update: I've decided to keep the beta open even after it started. If you're still interested, contact me.

Okay, if you've got an Apple machine running OS X (build 10.2.x and later), and you've not yet signed up to beta test my application, xPad—this is your last chance. I'm beginning the beta program tonight. If you want to get in on this action and help me out (as well as receive thanks and a free copy), please send me an email with your system details (example: 867 G4, 640MB RAM, 10.2.6).

Last chance!

Finally, Porn in an Instant!

3 comments (closed), posted on august 1, 2003, tags: me

I now have digital cable and a cable Internet connection. After exactly six months, I am now browsing the web at year-1998 speed once again, rather than year-1995. Also, there's digital television (Time Warner's DTV interface is fantastic!), HBO On-Demand and more.

Thank god I didn't sign up for Satellite Internet. That would have been terrible. But now everything is alright—the Internet is fast and works, therefore rendering my Airport Extreme Base Station no longer one of the most over-kill products in the world (broadcasting dial-up via WiFi is ludicrous), television is crisp and overflowing with new channels and a great menu system, and it's all still 60 dollars cheaper than I would have been paying for the satellite service.

It's a good thing I happened to call TWC one last time on Thursday. I got a woman named Aisha, who sounded really angry to be working. But then she was suddenly extremely interested in my problem. "It's only even-numbered apartments on your street? That's not right." She worked the 4PM-12AM shift, so she said she'd look into it and call me back on Friday at 4. She didn't. I gave up, and prepared myself for ordering satellite service today. Then, at 10:30PM, she called. She said, "I've got good news. Your building is digital ready. It has been for a month now, it just wasn't recorded in the system." Anger rushed to the surface but disappeared instantly—doesn't matter now, I thought, I can get high-speed access. She signed me up for everything, gave me a confirmation number, and today I went to the TWC DTV office on 23rd street and got the equipment.

I set it all up in about 6 minutes and now it's all working. Fantastic.