Lucky Day
Posted on May 7th, 2008The mother of a good friend of mine had herself quite a day in Las Vegas. Couldn't have happened to a better person.
Mount Toast Images in Windows with Daemon Tools
Posted on May 5th, 2008Unfortunately, I recently needed to mount a disc image I created in Toast in Windows. After searching the intertrons for an answer, the best answer I could find was, rename the .toast to .iso, mount through daemon tools and pray for the best. One obvious thought that came to mind was, "Has anyone just tried to mount the toast file directly from daemon tools?" I was certain someone had tried and failed, but, to my surprise, it worked perfectly. I have not seen this documented anywhere, but, nevertheless it seems to work.
Dynamic Text on Transparent Background in Papervision3D
Posted on May 2nd, 2008So, for the last couple of weeks I've been playing with the very cool Papervision3D library for Flash. More specifically, I've been mucking around in the Effects branch of version 2.0 alpha, code-named GreatWhite. One of the things I wanted to do was create a dynamic text field on a plane. Luckily, I found this post, which gave me all I needed to know to get what I wanted, or at least I thought it did.
I wanted my text on a transparent plane, so that it had no background. Simple, I thought. I'll just create the TextField, add it to a MovieClip and create a material out of said MovieClip. Unfortunately, doing so will result in the ugliest text human eyes have ever beheld on a screen. After a bit of trial and error, I came to this conclusion / solution: Draw a rect below the TextField and give it a fill opacity of 0. Doing this made my text look beautiful and I still had a transparent background. My code looks like so:
Handy Actionscript Utility
Posted on April 26th, 2008My buddy Chris Rebstock just posted on a project that he released to the world today. Read his post to learn more about it. Of course, I've had access to it for some time and I can say that it has made my life much easier. Plus, if you read his post I'll tell you how to use a dynamic text field on a primitive in Papervision3D. Think of the endless possibilities.
Possible Fix for iPhone Battery Problems
Posted on April 13th, 2008Having upgrading my original 1.0.2 version iPhone all the way up to version 1.1.4 and stopping at 1.1.1, 1.1.2 and 1.1.3 along the way, I noticed that the battery really seemed to drain much faster in versions 1.1.3 and 1.1.4 than it had using previous versions of the software. I was perusing the hacktin0sh forums last night and stumbled upon a discussion where some were claiming that flashing a bootloader from version 3.9 to 4.6 helped return the iPhone's battery drain to its normal levels. Because I recently used the dev team's fabulous pwnage tool, I had a copy of their bootloader flashing app, BootNeuter, on my phone. Among other things, BootNeuter can upgrade and downgrade the iPhone bootloader to and from versions 3.9 and 4.6. Without much hesitation, I fired up BootNeuter and "upgraded" to bootloader version 4.6. The quick and painless process finished in only a few minutes after which I hard booted my iPhone. Much to my surprise, my iPhone battery meter seems to not have even moved today. Normally, it would have drained close to half just sitting idle. It looks like it may have worked. If you've experienced the dreaded 1.1.4 battery drain problem, give BootNeuter and 4.6 a shot.
Blu-Ray Wins the Right to Get Slaughtered by Download Services
Posted on February 17th, 2008In case you haven't heard, Toshiba bailed on HD-DVD — essentially waving the white flag to Sony's competing Blu-Ray standard. Playstation 3 fanboys and the 46 people wealthy enough to buy set-top Blu-Ray players are rejoicing no doubt. Unfortunately for them, and for Sony, the only thing they've won is the right to be the only format stomped by the combination of cheap storage and movie download services, such as Apple's iTunes movie rentals.
With storage becoming insanely cheap (I purchased a 500 GB external hard drive this week for $130) and cable and phone companies continuing to pump up the bandwidth available to their customers, digital movie downloads are becoming increasingly attractive. I believe that the only thing holding back widespread adoption of the practice was an easy-to-use service and Apple, in my humble opinion, solved that problem with the release of its rental service and Apple TV Take 2 software upgrade.
Now, videophiles will tell you that Blu-Ray offers 1080p quality video that just isn't available anywhere else and they'e right — for now. They'll argue that Blu-Ray offers interactivity beyond your wildest dreams. I've yet to see that and I heard the same thing about DVD. They'll tell you all about how awesome the 8.1 surround sound on Blu-Ray makes their home theater setup bump and they're right. But this is only a temporary advantage.
You see, as ISPs continue to "fatten the pipes" 1080p movie downloads will become feasible. 20.1 surround sound? Feasible. Interactivity? Use a cross-platform runtime, such as Adobe's AIR to distribute your "interactive movie companion application thingy." Your computer can already do everything the Blu-Ray set-top device can. Why mess with the hassle of keeping flimsy, easily scratched discs around? Why buy yet another device for your home theater setup?
Of course, there are legitimate uses for set-top devices and Blu-Ray, or whoever format enters the fray next, will have its place, albeit a very small secluded one. I just hope Sony can sell enough merchandise to make up for the ridiculous amount they've spent so far trying to win the war. Actually, no I don't. I hope this is the failure that puts them out of their miserable existence. Time will tell.
[Update: Looks like Duncan Riley believes Blu-Ray will eventually give way to download, but not anytime soon. I failed to mention one very important issue in my original post and that is Time Warner. If their proposed "pay-per-megabyte" plan actually takes hold then look for other ISPs to follow suit. This, of course, will pretty much kill all digital distribution services. According to TW's most recent figures, downloading an HD movie rental from iTunes would cost somewhere north of $30. This decision, more than any other, will determine who wins the war.]
CNN Drops a Racism / Sexism Bomb on Innocent Readers. Will Anyone Notice?
Posted on January 21st, 2008Earlier today, I saw this article over at CNN's website. I was startled by one headline in particular, which read, "Gender or race: Black women voters face tough choices in S.C." Interest piqued, I decided to read the article. After reading the following line,
For these women, a unique, and most unexpected dilemma, presents itself: Should they vote their race, or should they vote their gender?
I was particularly taken aback. Several questions started running through my mind. Did CNN, the self-proclaimed "Most Trusted Name in News", just intimate that black women will vote solely based on allegiance to their race or gender and not on the strength of the candidates' perceived ability to run this country? How in the world did any editor, let alone an editor at CNN, allow this story to be published as is? Am I the only one that sees something terribly wrong with this?I have no answer for the first two questions. The answer to the third seems, fortunately, like a resounding no. A quick look at the comments section of this story on CNN's website indicates that I wasn't the only one who was appalled by CNN's egregious mistake. In fact, while I was writing this, CNN posted a follow up story reporting that,
...readers reacted quickly and angrily.
Good. Even if black women were basing their vote solely on gender or race of the candidate (I do not believe this to be the case, however) CNN has absolutely no basis whatsoever to report its assertion of such as fact. I hope appropriate action will be taken by CNN in this matter and that all of those who feel as strongly about this as I do will make their feelings known to CNN.[Note: I very rarely, if ever, publish posts of a political nature on this blog. However, I felt very compelled to share this as its implications are broader than just a political scope.]
Tales From The Non-Compete Crypt
Posted on January 18th, 2008As of about 88 minutes ago I am no longer bound by the terms of the non-compete clause of the shareholder's agreement I signed while an employee at Somnio—the creative agency I helped start in 2002. It has been one full year since I resigned my position there on January 18th 2007. It's been quite an interesting year for me in terms of work and my career. I've experienced a range of emotions while thinking about the events that led up to and included my decision to sever my relationship with the company I had worked worked so hard to build. While I've felt it unnecessary to publicly discuss the circumstances under which I left that position, I would like to share a few of the things I have learned since I decided to "go in a different direction" one year ago.
First, I learned that if you are asked to sign a document that was written by a lawyer who is not your lawyer, it probably contains some language that can severely hinder you in some way, shape or form. No matter how benign it might look, or how sure your best friend is that your newly hired project manager's lawyer-buddy says it's kosher, it's not. Read any and all documents you sign very thoroughly. Have legal counsel read them. Have more than one legal counsels read over them. Question everything in the document. Don't assume you know the law because you don't. Nor, apparently, does your newly hired project manager's lawyer-buddy, despite your best friend and co-worker's adamant belief to the contrary.
Second, understand and embrace two age-old adages: If it looks like garbage, and it smells like garbage and it tastes like garbage then it probably is. Tigers don't change their stripes. If something doesn't feel right, it's probably not. If that something is the behavior of a person, it's probably going to continue and they most likely won't change. If these two things cause you to think that you may need a change of scenery, you probably do. Don't wait around for the tiger to change into a leopard, because it's not. Don't let your well-intentioned but highly gullible and easily fooled co-workers convince you otherwise. If a superior is being confronted about the same problem for the fourth time, it's always going to be a problem. Always.
Finally, have a backup plan. Even if things are seemingly going well and you're not looking for something else, you should be looking at least at what's available. Doesn't mean you have to be looking to leave, just that you know what's out there and know where you'd go and what you would do if you had to. When the decision to make a change comes, and it probably will at some point—and maybe very suddenly like it was for me, be prepared. I wasn't and I paid the price for it.
Fortunately for me, I made it through this experience in one piece and I've got all of my career options once again available to me. Some people never have any to begin with and that fact is not lost on me...ever
The Morning After (Macworld)
Posted on January 16th, 2008After digesting yesterday's Stevenote, I decided to go way back—all the way to Christmas day—and revisit my predictions for the big event. Now, I'm not one to toot my own horn; and certainly a lot of what I predicted was already being buzzed about by the usual suspects. However, I do have to say I called a really nice shot on the Apple TV, but more on that later. Here's a recap of my predictions and my morning after analyses:
Prediction: Ultra-portable Notebook: Everyone seems to think this is a foregone conclusion. I'll buy it, although I don't see the love affair with a 13" notebook. It's got to have something special about it to set it apart from the Mac Book.
Morning After: Even though me and everyone else were expecting this, I think a lot of people were stunned at how thin and beautiful it turned out to be. I am amazed at what the industrial design team at Apple was able to pull off. I said that it would have to be special to set itself apart from the MacBook and it certainly is, in my humble opinion. Score one for me, and just about everyone else on the planet.
Prediction: iTunes Movie Rentals: I can definitely see this happening, although I think it may be a part of something bigger...
Morning After: Like the MacBook Air, this was widely predicted by most everyone who keeps up with the Mac Universe. However, I alluded to something bigger and it turns out I was right. More below.
Prediction: Mac Pro Refresh: Those in the know say OS X 10.5.2 is very nearly ready and supports Intel's newest Xeon chips, which are currently only used by the Mac Pro and Xserve. Macworld is a consumer show, however, so I hesitate to think he'll spend much time talking about a decidedly professional product.
Morning After: My initial hang up with this rumor was that it wouldn't be presented during Macworld because it didn't make sense to announce professional products during a consumer show. It turns out I was right about that, too. Apple released updated Mac Pro and Xserve models, based on Intel's latest quad-core Xeon chips, several days before Macworld.
Prediction: iPhone Software 2.0: Some of the rumor sites have started to buzz about an iPhone hardware upgrade, but I'm as much or more convinced that Uncle Steve will hit us with a big software upgrade for our beloved iPhones. Despite all of its awesomeness, the iPhone still lacks some basic features that most all other phones possess. My gut says Steve unveils a major iPhone software update that will bring us among other things, video capture, MMS, copy and paste and the previously seen Notes syncing. One would also have to think that such an update would prepare the way for installation of the third party apps that will be coming once the iPhone SDK is released in February. I think SJ will use Macworld to tout the SDK and invite a few choice developers to show off the apps they've been working on with an advance release of said SDK.
Morning After: I was wrong on this one. I though the leaked firmware making the rounds over the last couple weeks were only a sliver of what we would get from Jobs at Macworld. In reality, the leaked firmware was exactly what was released yesterday—even a bit-for-bit copy according to Nate True. My guess is that we'll get another update in February to pave the way for third-party apps created with the forthcoming SDK.
Prediction: Apple TV: Some have already written the inscription on the Apple TV's tombstone, but I believe Steve has other plans. I believe something big will happen with Apple TV at Macworld, either in the form of a major software upgrade or a new hardware configuration or both. I can see iTunes movie rentals playing into this, but I think it would be much more than that. I think we're going to see some way(s) to get HD content from Apple and onto our TVs. I think we'll see improvements to media sharing with iTunes. I think we may even see some more integration with YouTube and possibly other content providers. I really think every attempt will be made to make the Apple TV relevant.
Morning After: I really nailed this one and most of what I saw from the blogosphere was a prediction of Steve holding a funeral for Apple TV. The only thing I didn't predict was a price drop, which should make it even more desirable. I called the major software update (Steve even went so far as to call it version 2). I was right about HD content. I was right about media sharing, with the ability to procure content directly from the device and sync it back to Macs or PCs. I was right about YouTube. I was right about other content providers (in this case, it a provider—Flickr). I predicted Steve would make every attempt to make the Apple TV relevant and I believe he did just that.
Overall, I didn't do a bad job, although I went with some fairly safe predictions. Save for Apple TV, every prediction was being thrown around by most, if not all, of the Mac rumormongers on the interwebs. Now, it's time for me, and all fellow Apple fanboys, to turn our attention to NAB and WWDC. Until then, I'll be praying for someone to buy me a MacBook Air
Iran So Far Away
Posted on December 25th, 2007I've been catching up on Andy Samberg's work during my time off this weekend. I came across a short he did with Fred Armisen and Adam Levine. If you don't watch Saturday Night Live anymore I don't blame you, but I'll watch just to see what Samberg and his crew are pumping out. Pure comedic genius if you ask me.
