The Blogaboutech Mixtape, v. 2

So since I can't focus on a clear topic to write about, once again, I'll share some of my thoughts on today's more interesting tech news in The Blogabout-ech Mixtape.

Locks that "Talk"

This is the coolest device that I've ever seen. Did you know that you can buy home locks that you can open and close remotely? I know the guy who owns a co-op work space called Citizen Space in San Francisco. I saw this dude open and close his front door locks with his iPhone 4. I geek out over those things, but considering that I was in the company of a grown ass man I had to try really hard to evoke the same sense of boredom I did in 2000 when I was hanging out on a topless beach in Sydney, Australia. Yeah, well this is how we roll....where I come from.

But, that wasn't the coolest part of the Kwikset locks. Do you have a problem with stalkers? Do you live in East Oakland? Did you forget how many ex girlfriends you've given a copy of your key? Have you watched Silence of the Lambs far too many times? If so, you're going to love this nifty other feature. You can program the locks to email you when they unlock whether they have access or not. Now, that is cool.

YouTube's $100 Million Star Power

This is happening on the under somewhat, but YouTube (which is actually Google) is paying close to 100 million buckaroonies to clients such as Shaq, Ashton Kutcher and The Onion to come up with original programming on their site.

This means two things:

One, with similar developments going on with Hulu Plus and Netflix and the rise of these really cool Internet Televisions (I. Want. One.) cable is going to be terribly obsolete in the next few years. Two, the Onion produced buddy cop television show starrting Kutcher and Shaquille O'Neal will be the 2012 Armageddon that the Mayans warned us about.

Fashion of the Future?

You bet it is. Those green, brown and/or beige fatigues are so last year. Camo firm, HyperStealth has designed a new type of camouflauge (seen here) that is sitting on the precipice of blowing the f*** up. Apparently, computer simulations have shown that this pattern works for both indoor and outdoor environments.

This is the unconventional pattern in field trials... The perceived depth within the pattern throws off the ambient and focal vision from noticing the target.

Now, that is what they're telling global military's and private security firms like Blackwater and such. But, they have an entirely different division that is currently pitching it to the likes of the Gap and Urban Outfitters. Here's what they had to say.

Shirts adorned with this pattern are great for urban hipster clubs and also the modern day gang-banger's who must blend in with their backgrounds since high gas prices have all but erased the once famous drive by's. Once these shirts hit stores we expect the new name to be Pop. Stop and Freeze.

The rumor is that we'll see these clothes on store racks as soon as Spring 2012. Start saving... or, running.

Look Ma, I'm Comfortable w/ HTML Code

At least once a week I click over to Gizmodo to read the latest in tech news. Honestly, most days I understand perhaps half of what gets posted on that site but I read through because I figure I'll pick up on some things.

Yesterday they had an article on the site that would generally fly high over my head. Apparently, Gizmodo mistakenly displayed website Reddits HTML code when they were reporting that the Pentagon's underwater drones were being cyber attacked.

Usually, this bit of news and the joke that follows would be like reading Hebrew but as I was staring at the HyperText Manuscript Code for Reddit's website I started to ask myself: "That's an open and closed div. Why isn't there anything in the middle of that?"

It was a simple thought about a simple article but it got me thinking about their code and it made me realize that I am starting to warm up to it... a little, at least.

Gamer Stuff: Nerd is a Matter of Perspective

“Obviously, it’s a lot different now, because games have become so mainstream. But back in the ‘80s, games were perceived as more of a nerdy thing."

_____________________

"I don’t think so, though. I guess in the nerd world, it was considered that. But there’s a lot of mistakes [people make] with hip-hop. People watch us and they might pick up the low-riding and all that, but they miss the humor. We’re still kids; we’re just like y’all. We still f— around; we still do pranks – all that same stuff is a part of our make-up. So, we don’t really look at it as nerdy, we look at is as something to do. Go into a crack house, and they might have a video game! There’s nothing I’ve found that really burns time like video games. I’ve always said that if you put games in the prison system, cats would get out of jail and be like, “Hold up, I gotta go finish this level.” [Laughs] So, I’m here to say that it’s an absolute misconception that gaming is nerdy. I’ve been in some dangerous *** spots and there’s been a console there.”
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That's an excerpt from an interview between Ice T and Gameinformer interviewer, Matt Helgeson, that released earlier this year. According to Helgeson, video games were something nerdy people did in the 1980′s. But, Ice T is someone who grew up around a different group of people, like myself. Call ‘em what you want: thugs, pimps, players, hustlers, dealers or just hood folk. They were people to us. Some of them were family. And yes, they played video games but you wouldn’t dare call them nerds.

You knew better than to call someone a nerd for sitting on their laminated couch playing Frogger or Pitfall. Outside of the living room these people had reputations and that is what we call social capital. Being labeled a nerd would have been grounds for conflict. People had reputations to keep and social capital to protect.

But there was another reason. Living in low income communities, for many, is a life of disempowerment, shame, and stress. Each day presents a challenge that you can’t quite win. A person may have found some money to pay the bills this month but how are they going to pay them next month? They managed to avoid the corner boys today but what about tomorrow? They smiled through their bosses diatribes this week but how long can they keep it up?

Like life, video games can be challenging, but the cost of failure is one reset away. Through multiple play-throughs, a person starts learning patterns. They begin creating strategies for success. What was once hard becomes manageable. Over time they win. They save the world. Rescue the princess. Defuse the bomb. Find the treasure. They feel empowered. They escape from their problems.

I remember, a friend of the family had a Nintendo. He lived in the old projects by Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. I remember walking up urine scented stair cases to get to his second floor unit. The hallway smelt like burnt toast. It was dim because people kept knocking out the light bulbs. The maintenance man was always slow to get them fixed. You could hear people arguing through the walls to a loved one, maybe someone on the phone. I hated going to the projects. But, I loved playing Duck Hunt and Super Mario Brothers. Calling someone a nerd because they like playing games was just – inappropriate.

I think, the people Ice T grew up around understood this. We discovered, in the 1980′s, what Jane McGonial describes in her book, Reality is Broken). “[I]n today’s society, computer and video games are fulfilling genuine human needs that the real world is currently unable to satisfy.”

For some folks this is too true.

Gamer Stuff: Feel the Love, Joystick Jocks!

Well, this is kinda cool. I just stumbled onto an article that my boy Alejandro Quan-Madrid for Bitmob a ways back. I'm late but the news is no less intersting. Apparently, The Grammy’s are officially recognizing “Visual Media” in four categories – Best Compilation, Best Score, Best Song, and a confusing category called The Music for Visual Media.

This is pretty timely considering that Christopher Tin won the first ever Grammy for a theme song to a video game ("Baba Yet" for Civilization) last year. With the attention that games have been getting on late night talk shows like Jimmy Fallon and the ubiquitous marketing campaigns for triple A titles, it looks like niche is going nice.

Although, Madrid generally believes this is a good thing, he wonders if this is simply an attempt to give Hollywood film composers who have composed video game scores – like Hans Zimmer, Bear McCreary, or Clint Mansel – an extra category to win in. Implicit in his article, is the million dollar head-scratcher: does a smaller, less orchestral score like Baiyon’s work in PixelJunk Eden have a chance against, say, Harry Gregson-Williams’ score of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot?

It’s a good article that has a few links to related articles from The Independent and Industry Gamers. If you’re a gamer with a conscious, give it a read.

Ronald Reagan, Stick Figures and Adobe Photoshop

In elementary school the only thing about politics that you're required to know is the name of the President of the United States. When I was in the third grade, the person in the oval office was Ronald Reagan, a man who was a famous radio, film and television actor. I mean, like, Kevin Bacon famous! I remember that being a big deal when I was young . It didn't mean anything to me, however. To me he was just the President.

I had a group of friends that I used to hang with then. They lived near me and every time we hooked up my buddies and I had this ritual. We would ask our parents for a few bucks and go to the store to buy junk food, of course, but also small notepads. We'd take a pile of candy, chips and sodas and hike back to my crib. Next, we scoured the house for pencils, pens, crayons and markers. High off of caffeine and sugar we sat in a circle and drew pictures in our newly bought little notebooks.

I was the big idea guy so I would come up with the story. Another buddy of mine was the artist so he drew the characters and whoever was left threw in some coloring. We passed the notebook around and took turns scribbling in it, drawing dragons and stick figure warriors. Ghosts. Vampires. Zombies. Whatever, our sick and deviant little minds could come up with.

Once the pencils dulled and the candy supply ran out the picture show would start. Hunched together we belched like Vikings while one of us flipped the little notebook of our animation production. It was easy, simple and fun. We taught ourselves how to do it. We made our little cartoons for shits and giggles.

I thought about this Wednesday while I sat in front of my television monitor trying to figure out how to recreate those kid movies using Adobe Photoshop. The instructor explained to us how she made the animation of a pooping dog just as easy as my explanation above. While the explanation sounded simple enough (Remember, I had done this before) the process was totally different.

Ok, Damon click this.
Now, drag that into here.
No, click this first.
Draw this line.
Wait, why does the line look like that?
I need a marker. Where is the marker?
No, that's a Brush Tool.
And, that is a Line Tool.
What the fu..?
What I would give for a real marker, for God's sake.

In the end, I settled for a very simple animation project...a boulder rolling down a hill. I'm still learning. After, I took a tour of the room and looked at the other students' animation projects. I was amazed at what these younger blokes managed to put together in such a brief time. A breaking cup. A comic-like family portrait. A giant head with crazy stuff shooting out of its mouth.

The experience of struggling through a computer program that replicates what I did as a third grader and watching the ease at which the other students tinkered around with their animations was fascinating. A complete "flip of the script" in less than twenty-years.

Like Ronald Reagan's Kevin Bacon-like stature that I could care less about, I wonder if my classmates feel the same way about #2 pencils, Bic pens, and tiny notepads. How would they feel about stick figure super men and dragons that coughed up wax textured red crayon for fire?

What the HELL is a Magazine? No, really...

This won't really surprise anyone, but it is amazing to watch. There's a Youtube video making its rounds that show a 1 year old's bewilderment over a magazine that doesn't seem to function like an iPad. In the video the child comically acts as if the magazine is broken because it doesn't respond when she touches it. Written in the description is this great line: "For my 1 year old daughter a magazine is an iPad that does not work."

Again, this shouldn't surprise anyone. Even in my Art classes there isn't too many books for us to purchase. Most of our readings are Wikipedia posts and Youtube videos. But, it is amazing to see this. It points to the creation of a new literacy. To prepare for undergrad I had to "learn" how to read properly. I had to learn how to take notes, highlight passages, speed read when necessary, etc.

It's a really cool, bizarre and scary thought to consider what this will look like in twenty years. What skills will be necessary for this 1 year old's generation? They'll need to understand user interfaces and operating systems. Perhaps, it'll be important for them to know which are the best and most convenient applications to use for a given task, similar to the way a carpenter needs to know which are the best tools to use to build a dog house vs. some new kitchen cabinets.

On another note, keep a look out for more videos of the 1 year old as she touches a television screen, her fathers head and the iron while trying to understand why the world is just so 1982.

A Moment of Irony

Wednesday's class was a bit strange.

When Steve Jobs passed away I was in Web Design class. A dude to the left of me announced it to everyone in my corner of the class. The news was 7 minutes old so the world had just found out.

I was shocked for a second. We shared a few words about it, the dude and I. We knew that Jobs had been sick for many years. We knew he resigned from his position at Apple. I didn't think for a minute he was going to pass away. Yeah, we shared a few words but then we went back to work. I directed my attention back to Dreamweaver and prepared to show off my Mood Board to the class instructor.

But, then something weird set in. It was when I was trying to figure out how to use the mouse. I wanted to split the screens like I always do with my MacBook Pro, but I didn't know how and it frustrated the crap out of me. I looked around the room to, perhaps, steal a peak at how someone else did it. A flick of the wrist? Those awkward side buttons? And, that's when it hit me.

I was sitting in a room full of iMac computers. People were doodling on their iPhones. A couple of people were using MacBook's. My iPod was sitting in my breast pocket paused on a Janelle Monae track. The whole room was filled with Apple products and I had just found out that the guy who invented them, these life altering devices, had just passed away.

Getting "back to work" just didn't feel cool anymore, so I stopped and smiled. It was awkward. I had no idea why until I read this earlier today:

The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.
- Barack Obama

That kind of moment is something that will happen once maybe twice in a person's lifetime? I was experiencing history. I was living irony. I smiled to soak it all in.

Well this is interesting, timely even. If you're a New York Times reader you might have a serious bee in your bonnet over how much information there is on their web page. Seriously, check it out here. In a moment that feels similar to the "Bag on a Website Hour" in Web Design class (So. Fun!), I have to say that the NYT is killing me softly with their site.

I mean, it's the Times so they have great content and fantastic articles. I get it. But, there are entirely too many links in their design and its all in these tiny Times and Calibiri fonts. I'm not even sure where the fold ends on that behemoth of a site. Perhaps, you just want to go to good 'ol NYT, find an article and read it. Makes sense to me. Well, it also makes sense to developer, Michael Donohoe who just made an app called Ochs which is exclusive -- and $free.99 -- for Google Chrome.

The Ochs app increases the type, cleans up the clutter adding more white space, and my personal favorite: it limits NYT's proclivity towards multiple page articles that you have to click over and over and over. It's available now over at the Chrome Web Store.