October 31, 2012
Google Earth 7 Boasts Tons of 3D Imagery

Explore the world with tour guide and 3D imagery in Google Earth 7. Can’t wait to get home to give this a try!

Posted by Arcterex at 06:03 PM
Twitter Fact Checking on IsTwitterWrong.Tumblr.com

Is Twitter Wrong? is a great tumblog of the various images you find on twitter (and around the net) to see just how accurate it may (or in most cases, may not) be.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:35 AM
October 30, 2012
Windows Phone Review

Big week for releases, here’s the Overview and review of Windows Phone 8.

Posted by Arcterex at 04:29 PM
Disney to Acquire Lucasfilm; 'Star Wars Episode 7' Set for 2015

Wow.

Posted by Arcterex at 02:17 PM
Appigo launches Todo Pro, Todo And Collaboration

Nice update from my Todo task app of choice as Appigo launches Todo Pro, a task list synchronization and collaboration service.

Appigo overhauled its Todo Online sync service and replaced it with a task synchronization and collaboration solution. The new Todo Pro service lets you seamlessly sync your tasks across your Mac and iOS devices.

Unfortunately the update to the non-“pro” version of the app caused a crash on start, so make sure you have your data synced in case you have to delete the app to get it started :) The collaboration system looks interesting, sort of a mix of enterprise messaging + todo list, similar to the endeavour that WunderKinder tried out with their ill-fated Wunderkit project.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:51 AM
Amazing Images of Hurricane Sandy: After Landfall

Pretty much the only thing on the news these last couple of days is the hurricane battering the east coast. Here are some pretty amazing images from The Atlantic’s “In Focus” site of Hurricane Sandy: After Landfall.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:21 AM
October 29, 2012
Marco Visits the Microsoft Store

My internet pal Marco went and visited An alternate universe called The Microsoft Store and got to play with a Surface RT and some MS salespeople. Not all went as planned.

I gave up. It was like arguing with a Tea Partier. But I figured, now that I had broken character a little, I’d risk a bit more. […]

Realistically, fanboy or not this is the point of view of an Apple Person looking at competing tablets, I’m sure that a similar review could be written by a Microsoft Person in an Apple Store. Marco’s a good writer though, and does well to identify some good points about the Surface, and MS’s approach to the tablet market in general.

Apple’s products say, “You can’t do that because we think it would suck.” Microsoft’s products say, “We’ll let you try to do anything on anything if you really want to, even if it sucks.”

Posted by Arcterex at 03:52 PM
Copy editing Amazon's Kindle Fire vs. iPad mini ad

iMore has gone and done some Copy editing on Amazon’s Kindle Fire vs. iPad mini ad.

If you hadn’t heard, Amazon’s front page has a front page ad comparing the Kindle Fire to the new Apple iPad Mini, obviously slanted towards the Kindle Fire. iMore’s interpretation shows just how silly comparisons like this are, almost like they’re just thinly veiled lies to prove whatever point the marketer is trying to make.

Posted by Arcterex at 02:53 PM
New Google Nexus Announced

The new Nexus Phone from Google now in three sizes,

Today, we’re excited to announce three great new Nexus devices … in small, medium and large. And they all run Android 4.2, a new flavor of Jelly Bean—which includes the latest version of Google Now and other great new features.

Other details:

  • Improvements to google now (I so wish Apple had something like this), including availability in Canada, the UK, France, Spain and Australia
  • The Nexus 4 phone is 4.7” (shouldn’t it be the Nexus 5?) and 320ppi (OMG MORE PPIS!) and Photo Sphere, which looks almost exactly like PhotoSynth and 360 Panorama.
  • The Nexus 7 tablet comes in at a great low price ($199 starting), now with cell data (HSPA+)
  • Nexus 10 is a 10” tablet at 300ppi (please please don’t lets start the PPI wars)

All in all a good looking selection!

Posted by Arcterex at 01:51 PM
CodeWeavers Giving Away Crossover On Oct 31 for 24 Hours

Here’s the Press Releases:

CodeWeavers, Inc., developer of CrossOver software which enables Mac and Linux users to run Windows software on their computers without the need of a Microsoft license, announced today that it will give away CrossOver for free on October 31, 2012 to everyone on earth with a computer.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:02 AM
October 26, 2012
Chinese Grandma Tries to Shut Down a Microsoft Event, Then Things Get Ugly

Via the loop a Chinese Grandma Tries to Shut Down a Microsoft Event, Then Things Get Ugly. I actually have no problem with the event organizers getting rid of someone trying to disrupt their event, and this has nothing to do with Microsoft itself of course, but it’s a bit jarring to see the manhandling of the old lady.

Posted by Arcterex at 03:48 PM
The Most Insane Lego Machine I've Ever Seen

Think you built cool stuff with Lego? Well, via gizmodo is The Most Insane Lego Machine I’ve Ever Seen.

Wow.

Posted by Arcterex at 03:44 PM
Preview of Evernote 5 for Mac

I’m a huge fan of Evernote and the video of The New Evernote 5 for Mac makes me yell “Give it to me now!!!”.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:33 AM
White iPad mini sells out in 20 minutes

White iPad mini sells out in 20 minutes.

Pre-orders began at 12:01 AM PT and within 20 minutes, the ship date for all versions of the white iPad mini slipped from “Delivers 11/2” to “Available to ship in 2-weeks.”

Not bad for what I was told last night by a Windows Guy was a “complete flop” that “nobody wanted”.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:29 AM
Trials and Tribulation Getting Into The Windows 8 App Store

While the title is a bit of flame bait, Windows 8 Doesn’t Want Your App. Try Again Later is the tale of trying to get a Windows 8 app into the

To start, let’s get one thing straight: Microsoft desperately needs apps in its store.  If not only for Windows 8, especially for Windows RT, which can only run apps from there.  It also wants as many apps in there as possible, and has been very active in courting and helping developers to write app for it.  For the most part, I think they have done a great job, as the tools, documentation and examples are excellent.  Where they really fall down though is in the last mile: app submission.

Just in case anyone has been saying that no one but Apple would cock up the app store submission process, looks like problems come from all sides. Hopefully this process, like that of getting apps into the Apple app store, smooths out as time goes on.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:49 AM
October 25, 2012
2012 MacBook Pro 13" Retina Teardown... With Kittens

I normally really don’t care all that much about hardware teardowns, but the MacBook Pro 13” Retina Display Late 2012 Teardown has kittens, so it’s definitely something I can get behind.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:25 AM
October 24, 2012
500px Teams up With Blurb Books

Cool stuff from my buddies over at 500px… they have teamed up with Blurb to allow you to produce photo books directly from your 500px account.

Great news everyone! We’ve teamed up with Blurb to make your upgrade experience even better. Now when you upgrade to Awesome or Plus membership you get a complimentary Blurb gift code - $25 worth for Plus upgrade and $50 for Awesome upgrade. That’s like getting a membership for free :)

Posted by Arcterex at 02:46 PM
Shit Android Fanatics Say

Shit Android Fanatics Say.

That is funny.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:45 AM
Square Canada Launches With Free Mobile Card Readers

Square Canada Launches With Free Mobile Card Readers. If you’re not familiar with Square, it’s a personal point of sale system that lets anyone with the reader and an iPhone to take credit card payments. Think Craigslist transactions, friends that owe you money, etc. Glad to see it’s finally hit Canada.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:18 AM
October 23, 2012
Apple's iPad Mini Media Event Wrapup

MacRumors has a good list from the Live Coverage of Apple’s iPad Mini Media Event. They released:

  • New 13” Retina MacBook Pro
  • New more powerful Mac Mini
  • Newly designed and super-thin (5mm omfg) iMac
  • New iPad 4 (basically the iPad 3 with the new connector and a spec bump)
  • New iPad (wait for it) Mini, 7.9” non-retina (but same resolution as the iPad 2)

So what do you think, going to be upgrading anything? Think the iPad 3 users were screwed with the iPad 4 released barely a year later?

Posted by Arcterex at 11:18 AM
The Verge's Windows 8 Review

The Verge has their very nice Windows 8 review.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:15 AM
Under the hood of Windows 8

Under the hood of Windows 8, or why desktop users should upgrade from Windows 7 over at ExtremeTech notes some of the reasons why the innards of the new Windows 8 do matter.

At this point, if you’re a desktop or laptop user, you are probably laughing in my face. “Microsoft spent three years killing the Start menu and introducing a new tablet interface,” you say. “Windows 8 is Windows 7 with a cross-paradigm UI/UX trainwreck,” you bellow — and to an extent, you are correct. Windows 8 is undoubtedly a tablet-oriented operating system. Microsoft has tried to pass it off as a “touch-first OS,” but that’s just euphemistic swill from the PR department.

Boot, security, power management, and more.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:00 AM
Apple Keynote Bingo

In preparation for the Apple iPad Mini (probably) announcement at 10am PST today, here’s Apple Keynote Bingo.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:31 AM
The Full Scale Millennium Falcon Project

Ever think your dreams aren’t big enough? I certainly think that now after seeing The Full Scale Millennium Falcon Project, a project to build, you guessed it, a full scale copy of the Millennium Falcon.

Hat tip Geeks of Doom.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:14 AM
10 Most Creative Matching Costumes for Halloween

Tis the season for the lists of things like the 10 Most Creative Matching Costumes for Halloween.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:13 AM
October 22, 2012
Special Sneak Preview For The 'Iron Man 3' Launch Trailer

The actual trailer for Iron Man 3 is in one day, but you can watch the trailer for the trailer over at the Geeks of Doom. Here’s the Special Sneak Preview For The ‘Iron Man 3’ Launch Trailer.

A trailer for a trailer. Really?

When the actual trailer is out you can see it over at Apple.com/trailers.

Posted by Arcterex at 01:02 PM
David Fincher Produces Official Halo 4 Launch Trailer

Here’s the Official Halo 4 Launch Trailer info:

For now, you can whet your appetite for the game by watching the official launch trailer of the game. For film buffs, there is the added bonus that the trailer is produced by none other than David Fincher. Of Fight Club fame, Fincher is definitely a big pull. If that is not enough for you, then the fact that Tim Miller (who is supposed to be the director of the forthcoming Deadpool film) directed the trailer might make you interested.

Posted by Arcterex at 12:24 PM
The Joy of Tech comic - The Apple Event Checklist

If you’re prepping for the rumored iPad mini event on October 23 then you’ll want to check out The Joy of Tech’s Apple Event checklist. Looks pretty much accurate.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:44 AM
Anatomy of a Hoax - The Sony Nexus X

Anatomy of a Hoax is a great look through how someone created a non-existant phone, the Sony Nexus X, and brought it into the world (virtually) and “got” pretty much all the major tech publications, wasting about 1500 hours collectively. Very interesting to see just how little work is required to put a hoax like this out there.

As far as I know, nothing of any notable significance occurred on Monday, October 15, 2012. The social web was still abuzz from the spectacular achievement in human ingenuity from the night before, brought to you by Red Bull and science. People continued to predictably politick and Rainn Wilson did an AMA. However, for an infinitesimal segment of the human population, October 15th was marked by a frenetic search for answers fueled by an anxiety that can only come from leaked photos of an up-and-coming piece of shiny new tech.

Glad it’s not just hitting Apple fans with fake new hardware :)

Posted by Arcterex at 11:41 AM
Amazon DRM Backfires

In the article Outlawed by Amazon DRM, probably the worst of all cases of DRM is exposed. This is the sort of thing that gets your Open Source friends will use as a prime example of why DRM is bad, and quite frankly, they’re right.

The short version is a friend of the author had her Kindle wiped and her Amazon account closed with no explanation and no recourse. Talking to Amazon was like talking to a brick wall in terms of either a) getting it reversed or b) figuring out why.

Not cool Amazon, not cool at all.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:29 AM
Back From Yet Another Globetrotting Adventure, Indiana Jones Checks His Mail And Discovers That His Bid For Tenure Has Been Denied

Funny stuff: Back From Yet Another Globetrotting Adventure, Indiana Jones Checks His Mail And Discovers That His Bid For Tenure Has Been Denied.

[…] Moreover, no one on the committee can identify who or what instilled Dr. Jones with the belief that an archaeologist’s tool kit should consist solely of a bullwhip and a revolver.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:28 AM
October 19, 2012
Fun Skyfall "Unlock the 007 in you" Viral Marketing Campaign

Pretty fun video, assuming it actually ever happened: Unlock the 007 in you. You have 70 seconds!

Posted by Arcterex at 02:09 PM
October 18, 2012
Tweetbot for Mac Released for $20 But in Limited Downloads Due to Twitter

Tweetbot for Mac Released for $20 But in Limited Downloads Due to Twitter.

Because of Twitter’s recent enforcement of token limits, we only have a limited number of tokens available for Tweetbot for Mac. These tokens dictate how many users Tweetbot for Mac can have. The app’s limit is separate from, but much smaller than, the limit for Tweetbot for iOS. Once we use up the tokens granted to us by Twitter, we will no longer be able to sell the app to new users. Tapbots will continue to support Tweetbot for Mac for existing customers at that time.

Oh yea, Twitter loves it’s users :(

Posted by Arcterex at 04:05 PM
Tweetbot for Mac Released

Tweetbot for Mac has been officially released. $19 is a bit steep, but Tapbots makes good work, and full kudos for (as Gruber notes) avoiding the race to the bottom.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:14 AM
Ubuntu 12.10 Released

Ubuntu has released the latest version of their software, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal. Here’s the release announcement.

You can see what’s new, take a tour or just download.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:28 AM
October 17, 2012
Android 4.2 Alpha Contains SELinux

OSNews: Android 4.2 alpha contains SELinux

The other key piece of information to get from the string file is that this is an optional mode, don’t go around saying that Google is shutting down root functionality or anything. This is for security conscious enterprise and government-types and probably won’t be enabled on consumer phones.

As someone who has actually worked with SELinux (other than just turning it off like 99.9% of everyone else who’s ever encountered SELinux (see the first few options in googles suggest for ‘selinux’), I hope so, no normal human should ever have to deal with anything, anything but a completely setup, configured and tested system using SELinux, and even then it should be a server with a very specific task.

Good to have the option to add in more security though, SELinux, when configured right, is pretty damn secure.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:54 PM
GoPro Releases New Hero3

Chase Jarvis on the New GoPro Hero3 video camera.

Posted by Arcterex at 03:50 PM
Pirate Bay Moves to The Cloud, Becomes Raid-Proof

Torrent Freak has the explanation of this blog post from The Pirate Bay. Apparently as Pirate Bay Moves to The Cloud, it Becomes Raid-Proof.

Makes sense to me.

“The communication between the load balancer and the virtual servers is encrypted. So even if a cloud provider found out they’re running TPB, they can’t look at the content of user traffic or user’s IP-addresses.”

Posted by Arcterex at 12:40 PM
Sci Fi Tattoos

Great list of 11 Wonderfully Out There Sci Fi Tattoos. That’s body art I can get behind.

Posted by Arcterex at 12:26 PM
Carmageddon For iOS Free Today

Carmageddon delivered, as promised, the Carmageddon for iOS today. It’s free today, $2 tomorrow, so grab it while it’s hot.

The game is the exact same as the classic game from 1997, same (as far as I can tell anyway) game engine, sounds, etc.

There goes my day…

Posted by Arcterex at 11:42 AM
MacHeist 4 Bundle Released

Interested in a bunch of good Mac software for $29? Hit up MacHeist and get BioShock 2, Scrivner, DiskTools Pro, 15 months of Evernote premium, plus a ton more great apps for the low low price of $25. Also 25% of each purchase goes to charity.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:03 AM
October 16, 2012
Great Video - True Skin

Another great find by JWZ: True Skin. Amazing what people can do these days.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:02 AM
Boxee Introduces a Cloud Based DVR - Boxee TV

The Verge describes the Boxee TV:

The new Boxee TV is an unassuming $99 device with a surprisingly radical feature: dual TV tuners. Plug the Boxee TV into your existing basic cable line or an HDTV antenna, and you’re watching television using a fast, fluid interface light years beyond anything from a cable company. Pay $14.99 a month and you get access to a second radical feature: a cloud-based DVR with unlimited storage that lets you play multiple shows simultaneously on PCs, phones, and tablets. You can even start a recording and watch it quasi-live from your phone with a slight delay. Not enough? Eventually you’ll be able to buy another Boxee TV and have those two tuners record to the cloud as well. Buy three Boxee TVs and you’ll get six tuners. There’s no limit.

I just got myself a Boxee box, and I’m kinda regretting it right now. I’m beyond the 30 day return period, and I think I sold my soul to my cable/internet provider already so it probably doesn’t matter. Also I’m in Canada so I’m sure things are completely different up here. However, it does seem like a really interesting bit of hardware.

You can check out the Boxee TV page for more details.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:28 AM
Mapping The Entertainment Ecosystems of Apple, Microsoft, Google & Amazon

Mapping The Entertainment Ecosystems of Apple, Microsoft, Google & Amazon is really a look at what countries are available depending on where you get your content from.

Most of the big sites and writers seem to be based on the US, and forget that their favourite music/tv/movie provider may not be available to everyone. The Amazon tablet might be the best thing in the world, but as a Canadian I don’t have access to any of it’s movies, TV, or music content. Ditto with things like Google Music. This might be part of the Apple success, while people in the US can turn their nose up at the company (or not, depending on which side of the fence you’re on), and wonder why the world loves Apple so much, looking at the charts it’s easy to see why. The music coverage of Apple vs the rest is pretty amazing, and that combined with them being able to launch new phones simultaneously in 20-30 countries on launch day is pretty impressive.

However once you get down a bit farther into Apps and eBooks, things get more even. Still a very interesting look at the world’s access to “content” when you’re not in the US, also known as the center of the Universe.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:23 AM
Notch (of Minecraft Fame) Puts His New Game 0x10c Online

0x10c isn’t feature complete, but it’s up online for you to checkout. Looks cool, but in a bit of a retro, 2001 feel to it. Not sure how this one will turn out. The Story does have some more information though:

In 1988, a brand new deep sleep cell was released, compatible with all popular 16 bit computers. Unfortunately, it used big endian, whereas the DCPU-16 specifications called for little endian. This led to a severe bug in the included drivers, causing a requested sleep of 0x0000 0000 0000 0001 years to last for 0x0001 0000 0000 0000 years.

It’s now the year 281 474 976 712 644 AD, and the first lost people are starting to wake up to a universe on the brink of extinction, with all remote galaxies forever lost to red shift, star formation long since ended, and massive black holes dominating the galaxy.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:18 AM
Apple Announces iPad Mini Media Event for October 23rd

Again with a complete lack of surprise, Apple announces iPad mini media event for October 23rd.

Apple has officially announced a media event for the much rumored iPad mini scheduled  for October 23rd. Apple today sent out invitations to the press as noted by The Loop. The event will kick off at 10:00 am PT and will be held at the California Theatre in San Jose, opposed to one of Apple’s usual venues. An October 23rd unveiling of the new 7.85-inch iPad would likely signal an early November launch and international rollout leading up to the holidays. Earlier this month The Wall Street Journal reported Apple’s supply chain in Asia has kicked mass production of the iPad mini into full swing.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:17 AM
Microsoft Surface RT Priced

Techcrunch has the details for the Microsoft Surface RT Pricing:

Microsoft today detailed pricing for its Surface tablets, at least those running the scaled down RT version of its upcoming Windows 8 operating system designed for use on low-power processors. The Surface starts at $499 for an entry-level 32GB version without the Touch Cover with integrated touch-sensitive keyboard, while one with the cover runs $599. At the top of the line, a 64GB version with the touch cover included costs $699.

Competative with the iPad, which is good, just remember than other than MS Office, the RT will only run “Store 8 Style apps” (or in the Banned Speech - “Metro Style apps”).

Posted by Arcterex at 08:06 AM
October 15, 2012
Ejecting From A SR-71 At Mach 3.2

So Forgetfoo found a nice counterpoint to the parachute jump from space: Ejecting From A SR-71 At Mach 3.2.

I don’t think the chances of surviving an ejection at Mach 3.18 and seventy-eight thousand eight hundred feet were very good. However, g-forces built up so rapidly that my words came out garbled and unintelligible, as confirmed later by the cockpit voice recorder.

Yowza.

Posted by Arcterex at 03:31 PM
GMail Changes Search To Include Calendar, Google Drive

Google blogs today about how to Find your stuff faster in Gmail and Search.

In Gmail, as you begin to type into the search box, you’ll instantly start seeing relevant emails from Gmail as well as results from Google Drive, Google Calendar, and more:

Seems like the way to do it.

Posted by Arcterex at 03:27 PM
A Space Shuttle on the Streets of Los Angeles

A Space Shuttle on the Streets of Los Angeles from The Atlantic.

Man what I would have given to be in LA when this was happening.

Posted by Arcterex at 03:25 PM
Microsoft debuts Xbox music service to take on Apple

This could be interesting, especially with Windows Phone 8 looming on the horizon, with Microsoft debuting an Xbox music service to take on Apple.

The service includes a download-to-own music store with over 30 million songs in its global catalog, more than iTunes’ library of over 26 million songs. It also carries over 70,000 music videos, available only on the Xbox console.

Maybe this will give Apple a kick in the butt to make iTunes and the iTunes store better. Lets just hope that this is more “for sure” than the ill-fated Plays for sure.

Posted by Arcterex at 01:11 PM
Helmet cam shows Red Bull Stratos skydive from space

Found a non-region restricted and not taken down copy of the Helmet cam showing Red Bull Stratos skydive from space.

Sphincter clenching.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:49 AM
October 14, 2012
Supersonic Freefall From Space Video

It’s finally done and you can now watch the Supersonic Freefall From Space over at mashable.

All this to advertise your energy drink? Really?

Posted by Arcterex at 03:31 PM
October 11, 2012
The Brads - Begin Your Journey

Awesome comic that my buddy Halkeye sent me. Begin Your Journey shows just how a software project can be like an adventure game.

Posted by Arcterex at 02:41 PM
A PSA That Aims to End First World Problems

A PSA That Aims to End First World Problems.

So many problems to solve….

Posted by Arcterex at 01:57 PM
Incredible LEGO Batcave Built Out of Over 20,000 Pieces

Think you’re hardcore into Lego? Check out this Incredible LEGO Batcave Built Out of Over 20,000 Pieces. Wow. The little 12 year old in me just sang a little happy song.

Posted by Arcterex at 01:24 PM
Apple's New EarPods Casing Simply Dissolves In Water

Apple’s New EarPods Casing Simply Dissolves In Water. Glad they included a video or I wouldn’t have believed it for a second.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:13 AM
October 10, 2012
Rescuing the Prince of Persia from the Sands of Time

Fascinating talk from Derbycon 2012 on Rescuing the Prince of Persia from the Sands of Time, and the story of what happens when you have an old floppy disk with original source code from the late 80s.

Earlier this year, Jordan Mechner, the creator of such games as Karateka, The Last Express, and Prince of Persia, was sent a box of old material from his father’s closet. In it was the original source code to Prince of Persia for the Apple II, a 1989 game he’d sold after years of work. The only problem was, he had no idea how he could rescue it from the fading floppy disks. In a fast-paced storytelling atmosphere, computer historian Jason Scott talks about how that source code was rescued, what it means to bring something lost back from the shadows, and what lessons can be learned from the process.

Note: there is swearing and this guy has an epic beard.

Kudos to the Linux Outlaws for pointing to the link.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:24 AM
October 09, 2012
MusicBrainz Announces the Cover Art Archive

Announcing the Cover Art Archive, MusicBrainz says:

So far, we’ve collected nearly 100,000 images that are attached to 54,000 releases for a 5% coverage in MusicBrainz. The largest file we have clocks in at 23MB and the largest image is 16,000 x 7842 (125 megapixels!). For all of the juicy stats on this project, check out our cover art statistics page.

This is a resource that programmers will be able to use to allow them to add auto-cover-art-downloading systems to their programs. MusicBrainz originally avoided having this sort of a system due to the legal implications of easy access to cover art (heaven forbid the music companies allow people to access the artwork for music), so I’m glad that they seem to have resolved it.

Posted by Arcterex at 04:19 PM
Tiny Cameras Mounted to Birds Capture What Life is Like With Wings

Tiny Cameras Mounted to Birds Capture What Life is Like With Wings, another awesome video from the BBC. High def and full screen is the only way to watch this.

Posted by Arcterex at 02:59 PM
A soldier and his squirrel

A soldier and his squirrel. Definitely the cutest thing you’ll see all day.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:49 AM
More Evidence that Voyager has Exited the Solar System

More evidence that Voyager has exited the solar system on the Sciguy blog.

I’m not sure which is more weird, that humans have sent something outside the freakin’ solar system, or that only now, and more than 30 years after it’s launch, has something from early only gotten to the edge of the solar system. Either way, the Voyager Program is pretty amazing.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:09 AM
Bitbucket Code Hosting Website Redesign

Kudos to the folks at Bitbucket for their nicely new redesigned site. You probably know bitbucket as “that site that’s just like github but has a slightly different pricing model but does the same stuff”.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:23 AM
ClassicMap Brings Native Google Maps To iOS 6

Cool stuff, if you miss the google maps on iOS, you can get it back with a free download as ClassicMap Brings Native Google Maps To iOS 6. The UI looks exactly like the old maps app, with an addition of a ‘classic’ option which loads the same location using google map data.

Assuming this doesn’t get pulled down, it’s a nice answer to the “whahh, but maps on iOS sucks!” complaint.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:17 AM
October 05, 2012
The Cabin in the Woods Explained -- It's a Giant Metaphor

It’s an old movie (kinda), but I just came across this post of The Cabin in the Woods Explained — It’s a Giant Metaphor which really blew my mind. Note, the review is full of spoilers. Take my word and go watch the movie first, then go and read the review :)

Watching this movie is a life-changing experience. Not only is it entertaining, but it explains every other movie. Any time you ever noticed an inconsistency or witnessed a character making a stupid decision and thought “why on earth would they split up?” you now know the explanation. This movie fixes every problem in every film.

Definitely going to re-watch this over the weekend.

Posted by Arcterex at 02:29 PM
World of Warcraft hobby sparks US political Row

As a Canadian, I heard something about a WoW “controversy” today but basically ignored it, until a friend posted this link from the BBC: World of Warcraft hobby sparks US political row.

As part of its campaign efforts, the Republican party in the state created “Colleen’s World” - a website that compiles information about Ms Lachowicz’s orc rogue Santiaga. An orc is a mythical human-like creature, generally described as fierce and combative.

In a statement that accompanies the webpage, Maine Republicans said playing the game led Ms Lachowicz to live a “bizarre double life” that raised questions about her ability to represent the state.

The page also detailed some of the comments Ms Lachowicz has made while talking about her orc rogue, in particular it highlights her affection for Santiaga’s ability to stab things and kill people without suffering a jail sentence.

Seriously… this is the crap that America is concerned with right now? Please start working the fuck about things like educating children, feeding and housing your homeless, getting medical care to the sick, and being better people, not what people do in video games. I’ve killed tens of thousands of people in video games and I’m pretty sure that my joy at getting a gauntlet kill after a rocket jump playing CTF is not a reflection of anything other than playing a video game.

End Rant.

Posted by Arcterex at 12:23 PM
Is Your To-Do List Killing You?

Very interesting read: Is Your To-Do List Killing You?, basically advocating ditching todo lists completely.

I’ve spent the last 10 years using to-do lists, and you know what? I’m absolutely EXHAUSTED from them. It’s time to stop using them.

I understand that for some people starting a to-do list can be beneficial (especially if you happen to have chaotic organisational skills). To-do lists can certainly help focus and structure the insanity … for a while at least.

I’m going to switch to starting each day by just doing what I feel like I want to do. That can be a bit scary and overwhelming initially, but eventually I believe I’ll get used to the sudden mental freedom.

I’m not sure if something like this would work, however I know I have a Todo list on the front page of my iPhone with 7 undone items that has been staring at me and guilting me for the last year or more.

Posted by Arcterex at 12:06 PM
October 04, 2012
Microsoft to launch Surface 26 October

Microsoft to launch Surface 26 October:

“Microsoft has started sending out invites to a special ‘Surface Reception’ event on October 25th. Alongside a Windows 8 introduction, the software giant will launch its highly anticipated tablet at midnight on October 26th - according to a company spokesperson.

Hopefully they’ll have pricing by then.

Posted by Arcterex at 01:51 PM
Die Hard 5: A Good Day to Die Hard - Trailer

Not a big fan of the title, but the trailer for A Good Day to Die Hard is up and ready to tease you for 2013.

Posted by Arcterex at 01:47 PM
F1 Car in Lincoln Tunnel

I’m not a very manly man, not into rebuilding engines or chopping down trees, but watching and listening to the video of an F1 Car in the Lincoln Tunnel I have to admit it turned me on in a very manly way.

Instructions for viewing:

  • Buy 30”+ monitor
  • Set to full 1080p view
  • Hit the ‘fullscreen’ button
  • Use good speakers or headphones
Posted by Arcterex at 01:36 PM
Google Street View Goes Live in the Google Maps Web App

As promised/rumored, Google Street View Goes Live in the Google Maps Web App. This will be a welcome relief for those gnashing their teeth about the new iOS 6 maps.

Posted by Arcterex at 01:14 PM
A tech support scammer dials Ars Technica

Seems to be the story of the day today, where A tech support scammer dials Ars Technica and gets, well, you can imagine. Read the article.

When the call came yesterday morning, I assumed at first I was being trolled—it was just too perfect to be true. My phone showed only “Private Caller” and, when I answered out of curiosity, I was connected to “John,” a young man with a clear Indian accent who said he was calling from “Windows Technical Support.” My computer, he told me, had alerted him that it was infested with viruses. He wanted to show me the problem—then charge me to fix it.

Posted by Arcterex at 12:56 PM
October 03, 2012
The First Trailer For 'The Lone Ranger'

Check out The First Trailer For ‘The Lone Ranger’ Starring Johnny Depp & Armie Hammer. Looks pretty hard-core.

Posted by Arcterex at 03:00 PM
Lightroom 4.2 Now Available

Lightroom 4.2 is Now Available with a ton of bugfixes, new cameras supported, new lens profiles, and new tethered capture options.

Posted by Arcterex at 12:57 PM
October 02, 2012
The 10 Steps Every HDR Photographer Goes Through

Great stuff: The 10 Steps Every HDR Photographer Goes Through:

Well I hope this article made some of you laugh a little as I (somewhat) vaguely described my journey as an “HDR photographer.”  I went through all these phases and I think a lot people reading this have gone through plenty of them as well! I still have Photomatix in my dock and I still take bracketed exposures ‘just in case’ when I can’t capture everything in camera. But now, more often than not, I continually surprise myself by seeing how powerful and efficient programs like Lightroom are at bringing in all those details. I don’t think I’ll ever abandon HDR completely, there are just too many situations that demand it in my opinion. I just know that it’s not always needed and I can now freely laugh at the views I had in the past.

Posted by Arcterex at 04:30 PM
Machine Gun Kelly gig at Microsoft Store cut short by police

You have to watch the video of the Machine Gun Kelly gig at Microsoft Store cut short by police to believe it.

Microsoft regularly books recording artists for performances at its retail stores, but this table top performance was clearly not what it expected. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for an official comment and we’ll update you accordingly.

What could possibly go wrong. The thinking was no doubt:

  1. Lets copy the Apple Store experience
  2. Ok, we created stores with a similar environment, have all our products out, and the layout of the stores is almost exact, but no lineups for store openings….
  3. I have a great idea, lets book artists and give away tickets to get lineups at the stores!
  4. Sweet! We got lineups for big names like Beiber, suck it Apple! Now lets branch out a bit.
  5. A gangsta rapper will attract great lineups, what could possibly go wrong?

At least that’d be my guess anyway.

Posted by Arcterex at 03:32 PM
Rogers, Bell and Telus Users Affected by Cellular Data Used Over Wi-Fi Bug in iOS 6

Looks like the wifi bug that was affecting Verizon customers may also be affecting us up here in Canada. Rogers, Bell and Telus Users Affected by Cellular Data Used Over Wi-Fi Bug in iOS 6. This is where the phone may use cellular data when it should be using wifi (or you think it is). Maybe time everyone check their cell data use and make sure it’s not unreasonable. Fix coming soon I hope!

Posted by Arcterex at 10:53 AM
October 01, 2012
Understanding the Unix Command Line

Great post that my buddy Gavin pointed me to on how To understand the command line on linux.

Unix was invented in the 60s. It’s considered arcane, complicated, inconsistent and unfriendly by many. And yet it, and its derivatives, are absolutely everywhere today - BSD, Linux, OS X, iOS, Android; it’s on PCs, iPhones, and servers - whereas many ‘friendlier’ and allegedly-better alternatives have appeared and died out in the meantime leaving barely a trace. Why is that? And why does it have such weird names and jargon?

Well worth the read if you have any interest in Linux and didn’t grow up at a time when Linux didn’t have a GUI.

Posted by Arcterex at 05:06 PM
The CD Player Turns 30

As The CD player turns 30 this is a nice look back.

Wow, 30 years. I didn’t know just how crazy expensive it was when it first came out, but then again, I suppose any new technology is stupidly expensive when it first comes out (case in point, iPhone version 1, the first BluRay players, the first DVD players, the first personal computers, etc).

Posted by Arcterex at 04:14 PM
Steam for Linux to Arrive 'In a Few Days'

Steam for Linux to Arrive ‘In a Few Days’, so says a request to Ubuntu developers.

Iiiinteresting….

Posted by Arcterex at 03:17 PM