neorants

Often, as I’m reading articles discussing the rollout of new mobile phone networks, or next-generation access to the Internet, I’m frustrated by the punditry that accompanies them. Frequently statements are made about how the U.S. “lags behind” Europe and Japan in terms next-gen network deployments, and very rarely are these statements given proper qualifiers, which leaves the average U.S. citizen wondering why we are so far behind the curve. Let me explain why the problem is one of profitability, not one of technology.

Continue reading ‘Why U.S. Networks “Lag Behind”’ »

Bleh. I knew this was coming when I first read the rules of this contest. You see, there were 3 different notebooks up for grabs, a MacBook Air, a Fujitsu, and a Sony, but each contestant was only allowed to choose one of the three to attempt to break into — the winner gets the computer and a nice lump of cash. It stands to reason that the slickest gadget out of the bunch would have the most likelihood of being targeted heavily.

The winner used a bug in Safari to win, and of course the winner was one of the guys who was responsible for the iPhone unlock, which also exploited Safari.

Nice! A hard plastic case for the iPhone that allows touch input too. The gallery is especially awesome, if only for the incredibly random shots which seem to indicate that the T2 case will trigger the iPhone’s nesting instinct.

iPhone nest 1 | iPhone nest 2

The clone tool is fun.

Well, I’m no fan of Hillary Clinton, but as this clearly authentic footage shows, she was telling the truth about being under sniper fire while she was the first lady. Great stuff.

The Audacity of Rhetoric - Now that would be a good campaign slogan.

My take: If a candidate was being very careful about the friends he chose 20+ years ago, it says one of two things about his choice in a church he continued to attend for 20 years. He was either sorely and consistently lacking in the judgement required to distance himself from a man who would ever spew the kind of vitriol that Pastor Wright has spoken, or he carefully chose his church as well, and backs the beliefs espoused by its leader.

You can’t choose your family. You CAN choose your friends, and your church. The american people will figure out this guy is the political equivalent of cotton candy, sooner or later. Fluffy and sweet, but ultimately lacking any real substance. I just hope they figure it out in time.

Today I got into a discussion on a message board with a friend who posted a flash animation to Ernest Cline’s Dance Monkeys Dance (the link is to an animation I find arguably better for the spoken word piece). I went off on a bit of a rant about it, because I find it to be typical of the type of stuff that passes as “insightful” today. Click the link below for my thoughts.

Continue reading ‘Does this really qualify as insightful?’ »

Check this out. This guy is phenomenal. I had no idea a guitar could make sounds like that. He plays by doing something called “laptapping,” holding the guitar on his lap and using the guitar like a percussion instrument, and sort of hammering strings like a piano, and more traditionally strumming as well.

So, I just finished Assassin’s Creed. Took me a while to pick it up, but I’m glad I did. In the end, I overcame my initial hesitation after seeing the lukewarm reviews by reading Gabe’s writeup at Penny Arcade. He was basically dead-on. This game is incredibly engrossing if you let yourself get caught up in the storyline. It seems like the folks who gave it a bad rap are the ones who have short attention spans. One other thing. The swordplay is some of the most fluid and engrossing I’ve experienced in this style of game. The move set isn’t huge, much of it is contextual, but the combat was more visceral and intense than anything in the recent Devil May Cry 4. Who cares if the tasks are a bit repetitive when the narrative and gameplay are executed so well?

…and there’s not a chance I’ll have the amount of time/manpower needed to implement it. Been brainstorming for a while on something that would make unique use of the capabilities of the iPhone to deliver a compelling experience, and think I finally have something, in the form of a game. Only problem is, there’s no way I will have the time to build all the components required. Not to mention, I’ve never programmed on the iPhone, so I’ll have to learn that environment first.

Shame the iFund looks like it requires you to be a business guy to get your foot in the door.