iPad used by 100 Year Old Gran

This video supports everything I have said about the iPad, in that it isn't for tech-people, it is for people who for whatever reason struggle to use a traditional computer.

Random Fact

In Italy drivers loose points for breaking traffic rules rather than gain them. The idea is that loosing good points has a stronger phycological effect than gaining bad points.

Duck Face

Is it pouting, making a kissy face or making a duck face? I don't know, but Stop Making That Duck Face is funny.

I'm Here by Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze director of Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Where the Wild Things Are also directs music videos and short films. And last month I'm Here was launched on it's website.

The thirty minuet short features two robots in an adaptation of The Giving Tree. And is one of the better shorts I have recently seen.

Greg Mutt

I seen Greg Mutt first after Avatar was released, he is a very lifelike anthropomorphic CGI Dog. At the time I though it was done by some Hollywood guy who had too much time on his hands, but turns out it is a short film company in Wiltshire UK called BustyKelp who are mainly know for their work on commercials.

The reason why I know this is because AudioMotion the tool they use has been using Greg to promote their tool. I just hope they make more videos now the secret is out, because Greg is cool.

A Very Long Wee

I have had long urinations, but this is something completely different. I should point-out that this isn't me.



Update: Fixed video.

The Codex Of Alchemical Engineering

This is one of those things on the internet that passed me by. Mainly because I was linked to it, couldn't work out how to play it by clicking around it's interface and so didn't bother with it. This has happened a couple of times in the last year, but yesterday when I found myself looking at it yet again (it was mentioned in An Episode Of Geek Nights on Programming) I thought I would give it a proper go. And I am so glad I did.

What I am referring to is a flash game called The Codex Of Alchemical Engineering. In it you are given a set of atom modifiers and some manipulator arms that you must use to collect basic atoms and from level to level make more and more complex elements from them. The game plays very much like a simpler version of CeeBot.

Here is a video tutorial that should help get you started.



NOTE: To rotate one of the arms you have to click and hold the left mouse button as if you where dragging it, and while still holding the left mouse button press the Ctrl or Shift keys on your keyboard to change the arm's orientation or start length. This is not very well explained in the game's instructions, the video does a slightly better job, but still doesn't spell it out.

Some of my solutions:

Level 1 (a very fast solution)
m,11,12,180,3,crol;m,3,12,270,3,orcl;m,3,4,90,3,clor;m,11,4,180,3,olcr;

Level 2
b,7,9;m,6,6,0,3,clorwwwww;m,10,9,270,1,lucdowcro;m,7,12,0,2,clolcrorw;

Level 3
t,4,11;b,6,9;m,4,9,90,3,cddloruuwwww;m,10,9,90,3,cdrwwdrolluu;m,7,6,0,2,clor;

Level 4
b,4,11;b,4,9;m,7,11,90,1,crolww;m,1,11,90,1,cludor;m,4,7,90,2,douucd;m,5,5,0,3,rcllor;m,7,9,180,1,rrcllo;m,13,9,90,3,crolww;

Level 5
c,11,13;t,9,11;t,7,9;b,4,9;m,9,13,0,3,cddloruu;m,9,9,180,3,oddlcruu;m,1,9,0,2,oruwwcdl;m,8,7,180,1,wwcruodl;m,4,7,90,1,clorwwww;

Level 6
t,9,9;t,11,11;c,9,13;c,1,11;b,4,9;b,5,7;m,1,9,90,3,cddluoru;m,11,13,0,1,cllorrww;m,9,11,90,1,llorrcww;m,9,7,180,1,dlcruoww;m,6,5,90,1,crrruodr;m,5,13,270,2,lucdruod;m,5,5,90,3,cddouuww;m,11,5,180,1,cllluodl;m,13,2,180,1,oddwwcuu;

Level 7
p,9,11;b,6,9;b,1,9;m,10,13,0,2,cdloruww;m,7,11,90,1,cloclorr;m,9,9,180,1,dwwwwcuo;m,6,11,270,1,lorwwwwwwwwwwwwc;m,2,11,270,1,rclo;m,1,11,90,1,rrollwwwwwwwwwwc;m,1,6,90,2,lorwwwwwwwwwwwwc;m,7,6,180,2,crol;

Level 8
t,3,9;c,13,11;t,11,9;b,8,11;c,1,11;b,3,7;m,13,13,180,1,crolwwww;m,8,13,0,1,wwlorucd;m,3,11,90,1,rrudollc;m,3,5,90,1,uuwwcddo;m,11,11,0,1,cludlorr;m,6,11,270,1,rclo;m,6,7,90,1,rolc;m,4,5,0,1,rclo;m,8,5,270,1,lcro;

Level 9
b,5,13;c,13,9;t,13,7;b,10,11;c,3,10;b,5,7;m,3,13,180,1,currodllcrrollwww;m,5,10,90,2,wwwwwwwwwwwcrroll;m,6,11,0,3,wwwwwwwwwc11lorww;m,11,13,0,1,wwwwwwwclorwwwwww;m,13,11,90,1,crruududlodlwwwww;m,6,5,90,1,cll22uuoddllwwwww;m,2,1,0,1,cuuodd;

PhotoShop CS5's Content Aware Fill

Like I took this photo at a wedding and cut someone off because they where outside the frame and I don't know who they are, can you fill them in?

Adobe PhotoShop CS5's Content Aware fill just might.

Random Scifi Idea

I was just thinking the other day how cool it would be to have some photo editing software that would change the season, or time of day a photograph was taken.

So you would for example load in a photograph taken in the summer and then you could change the season to winter. It would adjust the lighting, put snow on flat surfaces, even change the cloths people where wearing in the photograph to make it look like winter.

Also if you took a photo and didn't like the time of day it was taken, it would figure out where the sun is and then change all the lighting and shadows to make it look like a different time of day.

I don't have the time or money to make this software, but if I patent it then maybe my grandkids can sue whoever makes it after I am dead.

Earth Hour

Just a reminder that this Saturday from 8:30pm to 9:30pm is Earth Hour.

Failure Is Always An Option

Adam Savage who you might have seen on Mythbusters gave a talk at Makers Fair about times in his life where he has failed.



[Direct Link]

EVE Online's Dr Eyjolfur Gudmundsson

The BBC of all places did An Interesting Article about Dr Eyjolfur Gudmundsson and the role of economy in EVE Online.

If you didn't know, Dr Gudmundsson was an Academic Economist who joined CCP to help the staff with the in game economy and produce quarterly economic reports.
As the game is player driven, and all items in the game are the result of in-game crafting. So keeping the system fluid and fair is key to keeping EVE a fun place to trade. Hiring an economist seems then like a logical decision, but I know of no other MMO that has one; despite how everybody seems to realise or Write About how important a stable economy is.

And if you are so interested, you can download EVE's 2009 Fourth Quarterly economy report from Here.

During the BBC's video interview, Dr Gudmundsson talks about how pressures in real our world economy could be lessened if like EVE it was transparent and allowed people to make their own choices. But I think Jon Stewart Has Proved That Will Never Happen.

Happy National No Smoking Day

Penny Arcade's The Tester

This is just me trying to get you to watch the Penny Arcade WebTV series so if you already watch it, you don't need to read this.


Sony put together a show called The Tester which is a reality show about a group of people playing silly games in order to win the show prize of becoming a video games tester. See trailer:



Working in the video games industry is though and sucks the life blood out of many unfortunate souls. But the lowest position is that of a tester. If you work in other industries Quality Assurance can have some respect, but not in the video games industry. If the company misses a milestone payment from the publisher, before management will give-up their quilted toilet paper, some testers are going to go.

Penny Arcade captured this competition and the crushing reality of the prize in a strip titled Here's Your Reality Program.

Now the reason for this post. Jerry and Mike have a reality show of their own and last week their documentary team (2PlayerProductions) released a Video Of Them Creating That Strip.

STEAM Lies

It is post midnight and I am waiting for Supreme Commander 2 to unlock. All I have to look at is the pre-load screen and that keeps telling me that when the game is released I will be able to play it immediately. I am not sure about Valve's definition of immediately, but clearly we have a disagreement in this matter.

Identify Unknown Fonts

There is a website called Identifont that has an Identify Fonts By Appearance feature. Kind of cool since I already used it productively at work to identify a font we used as a company a long, time ago.

Home Music Systems

For a few years now I have been thinking how cool it would be if all the speaker systems in my home could sync up and play the same track simultaneously and then remain in sync. There is ShoutCast which is a free WinAmp Plug-in that will allow you to connect to an audio stream and then there are other plug-ins you can use to remotly controle winamp like iAmpRemote, but this all needs setting up.

But there is a company called Sonos that does room speaker systems that sync themselves and has a load of remote control options that are all really cool. However I don't think a lot of traditional consumers of music are going to be into Sonos because it is more tuned to the digital age.

A Different Type Of UK Plug

British plugs are large by international standards. The story goes that in an attempt to save on copper wiring in a post World War 2 Britain each plug was wired through new homes in series. This created the problem of a lot of voltage behind each socket. To help prevent people from being electrocuted the BS 1363 Standard was created. In this each plug was given it's own fuse, an earth, a socket on/off switch and a shutter cover inside the socket so that the socket would only accept compatible plugs. The result of all this is was very large large plug.

After spending my life unfortunately standing on these with their prongs pointing upwards as they tend to do I was delighted to see (by way of Engadget) a slimline British plug design.

And the designer is looking to get it into production, so we might be seeing it soon in Ireland, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Oman, Jordan, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, Botswana, Ghana, Hong Kong, Macau, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Nigeria, Mauritius, Iraq, Kuwait, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe (yes I just lifted that from wikipedia).

Restaurant Menu Phycology

I would have bought the fried pickles because I love to try stuff.

William Poundstone has written a book called Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value, it is about how companies manipulate prices to make you spend more. I haven't read it, but it's going on my reading list.

Zoom In On That Reflection, ENHANCE!

If you have a photograph, you can not use special software or an algorithm to zoom in on stuff that doesn't exist in the original image.

This scene from Blade Runner.


Has spawned many copy cats.


Including CSI.


But we all know how silly it is.