How personal manufacture fixed my wardrobe woes
Like many homes in what we locals call “in-town” Atlanta, mine is an older one, built over half a century ago. There are many charms and challenges that come with owning an older home, but it’s the unexpected trials that prove the most onerous. One of the unusual features of my house is the closet in my bedroom. Given the… read more
A music video complaint letter
Given my propensity for relatively outlandish, time-consuming, and complex corporate complaints (see Lucifer Notes and Disaffected, for example), I can only say that I am awed and humbled by this music video complaint letter by Dave Carroll and his band. You can read the full story here, but you’ll enjoy watching the video more. Thanks to Dakota for sharing this… read more
Speculative Realism and Digital Media
Last week I had the opportunity to visit in Cairo with philosopher Graham Harman, someone whose work I’ve known and admired for some time now. It was nice to meet him in person for the first time, not to mention having a local guide for getting around this enormous, insane city. I also got to deliver Graham’s first copy of… read more
Adds new sound settings, high score reset
Apple has just approved, finally, my latest update to the iPhone version of Guru Meditation (to 1.2). Here are the list of updates as they appear on the iTunes App Store: Added a Sound Mode setting. Options are Requires Quiet, which is the standard mode, Microphone Disabled, which allows the game to be played in louder environments like public transit… read more
With apologies to my journalist friends
Dear Expert, I am a journalist writing for Publication, a newspaper/ magazine/ website serving a Major Market or Niche Audience. I am working on a story about Your Area of Expertise, although I’ll admit don’t know much about it. I wonder: instead of doing research myself on the story I am required to write, would you be willing to talk… read more
On Brenda Brathwaite's Train and gestural interfaces. From my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra
Games have flaunted gestural interfaces for years now. The Nintendo Wii is the most familiar example, but such interfaces can be traced back decades: Sony’s EyeToy; Bandai’s Power Pad; Mattel’s Power Glove; Amiga’s Joyboard; the rideable cars and motorbikes of ’80s – ’90s arcades; indeed, even Nintendo’s own progenitors of the Wii Remote, like Kirby Tilt ‘n Tumble for Game… read more
First, behold the lovely picture my daughter (age 7) gave me today. It’s nice to see that existential angst runs in the family. Second, behold how the Mac OS X built-in thesaurus handles “existentialism.” Apt, isn’t it?
Apple Rejects Commodore 64 iPhone App
iPhone developer Manomio has created a slick, feature-packed Commodore 64 emulator for iPhone. The emulator and the five games it ships with are legally licensed. After a year of development, they submitted the program to Apple, who rejected it, citing the following SDK agreement clause: We’ve reviewed C64 1.0 and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone… read more
The joy of the bad analogy
Today I read Social Media Trader’s article How to commit social media suicide. It included the following tidbit in a section about avoid making the same mistakes again and again when targeting social media for web traffic. When I got my girlfriend pregnant, her dad clearly saw I was distraught and said â??Look, many men have been here before, youâ??ll… read more
The Unseen Power of Google's Malware Detection
I often worry about the consequences of what Siva Vaidhyanathan calls Googlization, the way Google is changing and disrupting the creation and dissemination of ideas. I’ve resisted using Google services like Gmail and Google Docs, despite their popularity and, in some cases, their convenience. I’ve mostly been disinterested in allowing Google to mine and profit from my information, but this… read more