Maps for your video games

Getting lost in the sprawling landscape of the virtual world in your video games? Fear not. This website is for all you gaming tourists out there. Say you're taking Link on a trip in the Legend of Zelda or taking your warrior on a quest in Morrowind, you can head to this site to look at maps of the world you are exploring. Pretty handy for those who are not so good at getting their bearings in a virtual world.

Blokus-the board game

Board games are fun. If more people play board games, life on earth would be so much more fun, and peaceful. Just kidding. Anyway, I love playing board games, it's just that sometimes it's hard to get a large number of folks together to have a game so I tend to favour games for 2 persons. There's this game called Blokus that I saw on the Internet. It is a mixture of Go and Tertris. There's a 2-4 players version and also a 2 players version. It looks fun and maybe it'll be on my to-find list when I travel next time.

Relaxing @ Angsana, Bintan

This is my first time in Bintan and I'm staying at Angsana Resort. This is the view from my room. Did everything one would do here, like swimming, wading in the beach, dinner at the beach front, and even went for a spa treatment. All nice!

Digital Map Projection for D&D session

D&D computer games aside, never though that tabletop roleplaying games will become so high tech. These folks use a laptop and a projector to beam the map onto their gaming table so that the projected map can be seen on the table. When such expensive equipment needed for this set up, it's truly a techie meets old school gamers heaven.

Doom 3 Case Mod

You've not seen an impressive case mod till you've seen this case mod based on Doom 3. The maker of this case based his design on the look and feel of the setting you see in Doom 3. It's detailed and looks downright cool, just like it's part of the set of Doom 3. Head over to this site to see this amazing creation and if you're ambitious enough, you can follow the step-by-step guide to make your own.

Holy LEGO Batman!

LEGO has offical sets for Marval's Spiderman. For fans of other
superheroes, they'll have to custom-make their own. Anyway, fans of the
cape crusader has done that and is actually making a film using
computer-generated LEGO blocks. They also have an impressive-looking
trailer on their website.

A better Shuffle?

Has Apple finally realised that the Shuffle is pretty plain and has now added a FM tuner to add functionality to it? Of course not! But some manufacturer in Taiwan has certainly realise that and has added a FM tuner and a voice recorded into their MP3 player which looks exactly like an iPod Shuffle. They've even called it a 'Super Shuffle'. There's also a 1GB version! Only problem is that it still does not have a screen. MP3newswire has a story that shows the actual Shuffle and the enhanced version side-by-side. Only problem is that we can expect Apple to shut this down. So those interested may just want to try get their hands on it before Steve Jobs goes after these guys.

Star Wars Episode 3: A Lost Hope

Sick of how disappointing Episodes I and II are? You're not the only one. This group of fans took their disappointment in the Star Wars prequel to the extreme to produce a spoof of the Ep III trailer, calling it... A Lost Hope. Let's just hope that the actual Sith-titled movie will not be disappointing.

Isreal's Army frowns on D&D

You may be a powerful knight when playing Dungeons & Dragons, but if you're going into the Isreali Army and want to rise in the ranks, you'd better keep your dragonslaying fantasy to yourself.

Does the Israel Defense Forces believe incoming recruits and soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons are unfit for elite units? Ynet has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance.
...
Why does IDF believe game is dangerous? "These people have a tendency to be influenced by external factors which could cloud their judgment, a military official says. "They may be detached from reality or have a weak personality - elements which lower a person's security clearance, allowing them to serve in the army, but not in sensitive positions."

Only 15% of gamers are Net addicts

Slashdot has reported that a doctorate student from the Universoty of Iowa has done a research on MMORPG addiction. The results showed that only 15% of gamers meet the criteria for Net addiction. For more details, go to the links. So who says gamers are addicted? It's such a downright unfair stereotype.

Mozilla on a cellphone

If you're a Mozilla supporter, you'll be glad to hear that some folks are working on getting it to work on Windows Mobile powered cells. Called MiniMo, this is an open source project that is trying to get the Mozilla browser on cellphones, and from the photos there, it seems to be coming along. Now, how about doing it for the PalmOS?

Details on the next Xbox

The folks at Microsoft have posted some screenshots of what the software on the next-gen Xbox will look like. It doesn't reveal a whole lot but it's enough to get those who're into the Xbox excited. The site also has the audio files of the keynote delivered MS Corporate VP J Allard.

Blair liar

Outside the Houses are banners protesting against the War in Iraq. What the banner says on this one is pretty self-explanatory.

Churchill in oak

After the walk, went to see the House of Lords in session. Can't take any picts in the House but at the exit. There is an artwork dedicated to Winston Churchill made of oak and it also has pages of a speech he gave embedded in the wood.

House in golden light

This was taken at the end of the walk and has the tower of the House bath in golden lights.

Westminster by gaslight

I'm in London right now for the Financial Times conference for New Media and Broadcasting. Since I'm here, I took the chance to go on a few of the famous London Walks at night, since I can't do any shopping after 7pm anyway. Last night, went on the Haunted London walk which brought me to a number of locations in the old city area with sightings of the supernatural. Tonight, went on a walk of Westminster. This pict was taken along the bank of the Thames across the Houses of Parliment. The Victorian gaslights are not there anymore but in the cold winter rain, the sight is still beautiful.

Superheroes comics can be funny

When things are taken out of context, it can become really funny. Just take these comic panels for example. This site contains a collection of single panels taken from comic books. Taken out of context, they can be hilarious. Of course, you need to use a bit of your imagination to catch the joke.

More Beatles mash ups

Here're more mash-ups of The Beatles tunes. This mash-up album is called Revolved and include tracks like "Close to No One" (mix of The Beatles' "For No One" and The Cure's "Close To Me") and "Eleanor Ciccone" (mix of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" and Madonna's "Ray of Light"). Who would have guessed that mash-ups are so much fun? Especially if they contain Beatles tunes!

The Walkman meets Sony Ericsson phone

After plain old Ericsson became Sony Ericsson, the mobile phone maker's design and features have been quite impressive. Until I got my Treo 650, I've been using the old SE T68 phone and have always dreamt that my next phone will be one of the SE models available. Anyway, SE is furthering improving their phones and has even brought the Walkman brand to the new model which shows their effort in bring music to mobile devices. Having missed the MP3 boat to Apple's iPod, this is perhaps one strategy to win back the music space Sony has always been associated with since their Walkman and Discman days. This phone is quite a beauty and the only negetive is probably its use of the Memory Stick. Well, if not for my Treo, this one would have been on my shopping list.

Moblogging from a Treo

I finally got my Treo. After spending time setting up stuff, it's ready to go. Still flaky sometimes but for the most part, it's fine. This will be my first post from a Treo. More good things to come, unless this bust my handphone bill.

Spoilers-Scenes from Star Wars Ep 3

Don't ask me how they got it, but this site contains tons of photos, screens from the upcoming SW movie. They sure look good and may be signs that Ep 3 may be better than the previous two. I sure am crossing my fingers that it will be so. For those who don't mind spoilers, head on to the site and join in the excitement!

Mobile PC Top 100 gadgets

Mobile PC has come up with a list of the top 100 gadgets of all time. They have a specific definition of gadgets though, it has to be able to operate on it's own and also have to be electronic or moving parts. Some items that made the list include the Pez Dispenser, the Rubik's Cube, the Tickle Me Elmo (how did this make the list?), and even the Nintendo Game Boy. As for the item at the No. 1 spot, you just have to go find out for yourself.

Multimedia Player

Sarotech has come up with a 2.5" hard disk enclosure that also has 5.1 home theatre DTS audio output, composite video output, a FM transmitter, and support for various media format. This means that you can place it together with your home theatre equipment, or you can bring it in your car to listen to MP3 using FM, and of course, you can watch any files of most video formats that you have. It is retailing for S$249 without a harddisk. Although the features sound exciting, the 2.5" disk storage is still not the uber storage that I'm looking for. Still, it should serve others with less appetite for storage quite well.

Katamari Damacy madness

The PS2 game Katamari Damacy has certainly achieved a cult status of sorts. The simple gameplay and its quirky presentation has inspired fans to not just play the game, but do things beyond what a normal gamer would do. This fan has used Play-Doh to recreate scenes from the game. Who's going to do a stop motion video of the game next, I wonder?

Game reviews with Maoist slant

A game review is just that-a review that tells you if a game is worth playing, right? No always. Like critical film reviews, some game reviews are taking on a critical analysis perspective. This is one perspective that you would never think of reading about in game reviews. The Maoist International Movement has a page that looks at games from a socialist perspective. Reviews include Sim City 3000, Tropico, Fallout, and even KOTOR!

GSM phones with keyboard

Since I'm gonna get my Treo 650 pretty soon, in fact, probably in the next 8 hours, it's interesting to know what other phones out there have a keyboard. Thankfully, the good folks at Treonauts has a round-up of all (almost all, I think) the phones with a keyboard. It's actually a pictorial of such phones taken at the recent 3GSM conference. Some of the devices featured include the Motorola MPX, the Nokia communicators, and even BenQ's P50. Non of these are like the Treo though.

50 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Works for Socialists

Sci-fi writer China Miéville has come up with a list of 50 titles that'll appeal to those with a socialist bent. Not all of them are strictly political in nature, but I guess it's more of the themes that matters. Some titles on the list are on my to-read list, just have to find the time to read them. They include, Lucius Shepard's Life During Wartime, Kim Stanley Robinson's The Mars Trilogy and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

Pepsi giving away cool blue DS

How about that? A blue DS! Since the GBA SP comes in plenty of funky
colours, it's no suprise that the DS will have something similar too.
Now, if only there's a way to get our hands on it.

Ska for the Skeptical

This is inspired by Bollywood for the Skeptical I mentioned about some time back. It's a really cool intro to ska music and is a good intro to those who're only aware of No Doubt. There's a greater ska world out there, dude!

Podcasting, music and the law

I've been hooked on to this thing called "podcasting" recently. It's really just MP3 talk/radio-type shows done by folks and there's this software where you can download the audio MP3 files using a RSS feed. These podcasts are interesting because you can just look for topics that interest you. Some podcasters are also playing interesting music in their podcast and I've been introduced to a number of great music that way. But now, the law wants to mess with the music. It seems like the ASCAP (the Singapore counterpart will be COMPASS) wants to license the music on podcasts. It really sucks. Really, I beginning to want to reject the labels and go for music with a creative commons license. Boing Boing has more reader response on this.

My LEGO pictures

Since I'm getting my Treo 650, I'm going to start to incorporate a moblog
into this blog. I've signed up with Flickr for it to talk to Blogger and it
seems to work pretty OK. This is going to be a test and hope I can get it
up and running.

We don't like MPAA

We don't like MPAA and RIAA's conduct when it comes to going after P2P networks. So here's a website set up to express the community's outrage at their behaviour. Will the movie and music biz shut this down too?

This website has been erected out of consumer outcry over the passing of sites that facilitate the free availability of perpetually copyrighted motion pictures. The unauthorized downloading of motion pictures denies thousands of dishonest, lazy executives of their crack smoking livelihood, and is the only way to bring an artistically bankrupt monopoly under control. Downloading movies without authorization violates laws distorted beyond their original intent, is not tangible theft, and is impossible to stop. You can't catch everyone. The only way to win is to stop waging war on your own customers and accept the fact that we are in control, not you. You brought this on yourselves.

Swiss knife for the gals

A Swiss Army knife is certainly a useful item to have for boys. Me? My trusty knife has been with me for more than 20 years and it's still serving me well. But what about the girls? Here's one that they may find useful. This one contains needle & thread, mirror, perfume bottle, in addition to the standard items such as bottle opener and of course, the knife. Still, don't think anyone can bring this up the airplane if the owner is a globe-trekking gal.

Debian GNU/Linux on the Mac Mini

Other than the form factor, the Mac Mini didn't really impress me much. It's essentially a stripped-down computer running on the Mac OS. However, if this baby can run the Linux OS, then that would be something... In fact, the resourceful Linux community has already provided a howto on installing the Debian Linux distro on the Mac Mini. Mac running Linux? Now that's something that can get a geek excited.

Stealing vs downloading

Maybe it's cheaper to steal a CD off the shelves. This website has done a comparison between the penalties for shoplifting as oppose to downloading copyrighted materials. Taking the real world example of Winona Ryder's shoplifting case, it sets her back US$10,005 (including lawyers cost and etc.). On the other hand, a RIAA infringment is on average US$14,875. Also, the maximum punishment for stealing is US$10,000 plus 1 year jail, while copyright infringment is $3,400,000 and a year's jail term. The comparison may not be entirely accurate, but something is seriously wrong here.

Homebrew Tetris for DS!

It's a matter of sooner or later. Now, someone has actually managed to code a homebrew game for the Nintendo DS. It's of course the classic Tetris. Is this a sign that flash carts and more creative homebrew games are on the way for the DS? Hope so.

Cellphones-a musical for geeks

If you're a geek who love musicals, then this one is for you. There is now a musical called "Cellphones", and it covers everything from MP3s to soccer moms. Seems like the audience will also get phone calls on their cells during the performance! It's best for the description on the site to speak for itself though.

The night before the booth opens, twenty strangers gather and wait in line. While they wait, they rock out about timely topics such as Britney Spears, botox, SUVs, MP3s, rap music, fast foods, low fat diets, saving Michael Jackson, gay marriage, the Internet, porn, soccer moms, Enron, Bush, Starbucks, Martha Stewart, weapons of mass destruction, and of course, cellphones.

Ipod LEGO minifig

The ipod ads featuring the silhouette user with the white earbuds have certainly caught the imaginations of many. Now, these folks have modified a LEGO minifig to look like the ad. I certainly love the LEGO, not too sure about the ipod though.

Copyright does not benefit artists

The RIAA and other related bodies have always claimed that the need to prevent P2P sharing is because the take away the benefits of copyright from artists. This study which looks at British and Geman musicians actually blows away that claim. Once again, another salvo into the heart of the greedy industry.

The evidence here is contradictory. The often–made claim that copyright supports the creative basis of a society is empirically doubtful. There is a suspicion that copyright underpins vastly unequal rewards.

Creator and investor interests are not the same. Copyright suits investors (music publishers, labels) who are incentivised to market and distribute the works they exclusively control. Copyright also suits creators with a track record of hits who can extract favourable terms from investors.

Copyright does little for new and niche creators who often sign away their bargaining chips cheaply. In the absence of alternative compensation schemes, digitisation so far appears to have brought few financial benefits from disintermediated distribution.

LEGO Star Wars video game webby launch

One of my most anticipated game is not those frantic FPS or fighting games. It's actually the cutesy Star Wars game with LEGO characters. Or rather, Star Wars characters in the LEGO style. The website is now online and I can't wait till April to get my hands on this one.

Xbox-Millenium Falcon

What to do if you're a Star Wars fan (specifically a Han Solo/Millenium Falcon) and a Xbox gamer? You blend the best of both worlds and put your Xbox into a Millenium Falcon! This guy has placed the Microsoft console into the 1979 vintage series of the M-Falcon toy. Want to get your mitts on it? It's up for sale at UK's ebay site with starting bid of 800 pounds.

Chinese Military Train Soldiers To Be Gaming Geeks

It's hard to believe but it's true. A blog run by someone called Tian is reporting that during a CCTV (Chinese Central) TV broadcast, folks in the Chinese army are shown to be playing Counter Strike!

Instructor Wang Qiang quoted saying: "Our priority is not about battling Muslim terrorists, but to kick some teenager punks' asses. We are tired of getting our asses handed to us by some zit-faced kid living in Des Moines, Iowa."

Are the Chinese military that serious?

The P2P Manifesto

Despite what the RIAA or MPAA are doing, I think it's inevitable that P2P is here to stay. Here's a major addition to the movement for P2P-a manifesto for P2P. In a nutshell it's this...

P2P is unstoppable
P2P is positive for Companies
P2P is positive for the market
P2P is good for users

Mario music sheet

Hip hip hooray! Now, I can play the Mario themes on my piano!

LEGO PC cases

I've mentioned it again and again, it's amazing what you can do with LEGO bricks. This folks has surprised me with what they did-a working PC with the case made of LEGO bricks. Everything is there, CD-ROM drive, HDD, cooling fans, and all the works. There's even a Shuttle-like case! Awesome!

World's smallest P2P app

Now, this is the smallest P2P app, ever. Edward Felten, CS Professor at Princeton and outspoken supporter of the digital rights, has written a P2P app called TinyP2P using only 15 lines of Python code. The purpose? To proof that P2P software is so easy to write that attempts to ban it is futile. The record and movie industry had better start to stop P2P and making use of it to provide legit content for folks to share, rather than brand file-sharing as a crime.

Famous moments using HL2

Someone has used the Half Life 2 engine to recreate famous moments in history that were captured in photos. There's one on the burning of the monk made famous during the Vietnam war, and also the one of the assination of Oswald. It's funny what gamers can think up of when they put their creativity thinking cap.

T-shirt blog site

Who doesn't like T-shirts? Especially those with cool, witty, and killer designs? Now there's a blog that features these desirable tees and also tells you where you can buy them. Give me more cool tees!

Incredible Beatles mashup

This track is simply amazing. It is a mash up track that contains about 40 Beatles tune, from Blackbird to Hey Mr Postman. Just listen to it and see how many you can identify! On another note, is this track a major copyright infringement? If so, then there must be something seriously wrong with the copyright laws that disallow such creativity to be exercised.

Bollywood for the Skeptical

Need some intro to Bollywood music? Here's a downloadable collection of Bollywood tunes and a guide to the music from Bollywood films, including notes on the music and the language.

Star Wars-a "horrible" Christmas album

If you're a Star Wars geek, then maybe you can stand going through this Star Wars Christmas albums. You can listen to the album "Christmas in the Stars" and laugh, and be thankful that Ep I and II are not as bad. The author of this website has this to say about this album.

After listening to a mere 30 seconds of this thing, the only thought going through your head is: "WHY? WHY!? WHY DOES THIS EXIST!?!?!?!?" And there's no reprieve. You'll never have a decent answer to that question. If you think "Episode I" and "Episode II" have forever tainted the good memories of our childhood Star Wars films, then this album takes it one step further. This album will make you feel like not only does Star Wars suck, but that Star Wars is an evil force that raped your mind... and your family.

The NitPicker's Guide to the Lord of the Rings

If you're an elf from Middle Earth or just a picky LOTR fanboy, you just might want to read this to get a complete list of the differences between Peter Jackson's movie trilogy and the original Tolkien's text. The deviations aside, the LOTR films are still great... unless you're a complete purist.

Top 100 Toys

TV Cream complied a list of the Top 100 toys... many of these brought back fond, nostalgic memories, others, I've never even seen before. Things I remember fondly included Dungeons and Dragons, Subbuteo (where I had to save up to buy a set of second hand teams and the pitch), and the Star Wars Death Star playset which I wanted but couldn't have.

Half Life 2 causes motion sickness?

There has been reports that those playing HL2 are getting sick... from motion sickness! In my years of gaming, I've only encountered this problem when I played the classic Dark Forces. After that, I guess my body somehow got used to it. I've also met many non-gamers complaining of motion sickness when playing, or even looking at FPSes. Now, it seems like the realistic graphics of HL2 is bringing up this problem for many, some of them veteran gamers. I've not got around to playing HL2, as I'm still on Doom 3, but will certainly be wary of this problem when I check the game out.

There has been numerous reports from gamers who has experienced motion sickness in Half-Life 2, even those who play tons of games and never experienced this issue. Some people theorize that it is caused by the frame of view being set to 70 (as a reference, most FPS games have it set to 90.) Others say it’s caused by the default low refresh rate, and still others think it’s the physics of the world seeming to be so real.

Real investment in virtual land

To make money, you've got to invest money. It seems like it's the same in the virtual world and the real world. BBC is reporting that a 22-year-old gamer has spent $26,500 (£13,700) on an island that exists only in a computer role-playing game (RPG), the MMORPG called Project Entropia. The virtual island will be developed as if it was a beach front property. The buyer, with the nick Deathifier, will be able to tax other players when they visit his island, he can also lease out the land and reap the earnings. It's a completely new economy at work here and it seems like the virtual world is catching up to the real, day by day.

Records for kids

The website called Kiddie Records is posting kiddie records transferred from the original 78s vinyls into MP3s. They will post one record a week from 2005 onwards so there'll be a total of 52 records in all. Their aim is to let folks hear these records as they are not available anymore and to give them a new lease on life. Don't know if they will be violating any copyright though. Some of the titles currently listed include Disney's Story of Robin Hood, The Happy Prince, and even Dumbo!

Half Life 2 cookies

Getting hungry while playing Half Life 2? Bite into some HL2 cookies! Someone has baked some cookies in the design of the HL2 logo. Do check it out if you're Half Life crazy.

Modding the Nintendo DS to play Gameboy & Gameboy Color games!

This had to happen. Someone managed to mod the Nintendo DS so that it can play GB and GBC games. From the description given, it's only a matter of some filing and soldering, nothing too complicated. Of course, for those without knowledge of electronics, this would be a daunting task. Still, it sounds almost quite simple.

Skeletons of cartoon characters

Ever wondered what the bones of Hello Kitty looks like? This site by artist Michael Paulus gives the curious a glimpse of what the bone structure of cartoon characters could be like. Characters include Tweety, Pikachu, Charlie Brown, the ladies from Powerpuff Girls and more. Geez... makes you wonder if Tweety bird can withstand all the toon-like thumpings, won't the bones be out-of-shape by now?

Is EA evil?

Is Electronic Arts evil? Some people think they are. First, there's the bad publicity they got with the bad working conditions in the company. Now, there's the news that EA and NFL has signed an exclusive five-year deal, thus preventing other NHL football games to be made. This has led to Take-Two, publisher of the better ESPN football game to say that it's "a tremendous disservice to the consumers and sports fans whose funds ultimately support the NFL, by limiting their choices, curbing creativity and almost certainly leading to higher game prices." Even analysts are saying that "EA is both evil and really smart." So for those EA employees who're unhappy with EA and their evil-ness, they can now wear their frustration with this T-shirt that reads: "I worked 90 hours a week for EA, and I didn't even get this lousy T-Shirt."

Who says GTA is bad?

This use of GTA actually helps to scare off robbers!

Back in March, Sandy Wilson was taking care of her three grandsons when a group of men attempted to burglarize her home, pointing a gun at the kids.

The children happened to be playing a video game called Grand Theft Auto at the time. The game has dozens of random police scanner messages, which blare out calls such as "This is the police! You’re surrounded!" Believe it or not, Wilson says the burglars heard that message and thought police were outside the door waiting for them.

Hacking (personalising) the iPod

Engadget has an article on how to hack the firmware of the iPod. Well, the word hack may be the correct word to use but it's also about personalising the popular MP3 player. With the hack, you can change the graphics that appears on your iPod. As an example, the folks at Engadget turned the 'Do not disconnect' screen into a showcase for Hello Kitty. Apparently, you can also change other elements, such as the battery indicator. Hmmm, I wonder if any one would actually place a Microsoft logo there instead...

Latest from the "Doom" Set

Apparently, the production of the Doom movie is already in progress. Dark Horizons contained a report which detailed some items of interest, especially to all Doom fans...

...there are some "minor" changes done to the film's concept: The monsters have nothing to do with hell, the plot is not taking place on Mars and "space marines" are not well "space marines" as their outfits are more like SWAT team members...

Although I sincerely wish that this movie won't suck, the changes made to the movie does not sound good to my ears.

Gallery of toys made in China

This is a cool picture gallery of toys in an art installation...

The idea was to cover a gallery or museum wall with thin metal sheets and then attach the magnetized toys. The magnets are a practical solution to allow me to move the toys around the walls and give me flexibility in the way I build the installation.

Public Service Publisher anyone?

UK's OFCOM is toying with the idea to have a Public Service Publisher. Just like the BBC produced Public Service Broadcast programmes, this PSP will produce books and literature with public service in mind. Now, isn't that a great chance to use the Creative Commons license?

Catholic sex guide

What else is there to say about this... does sexual behaviour really need theological justification?

A Vatican-sanctioned sex guide is encouraging churchgoers to make love more often in an effort to offset "impotence and frigidity" and address papal concerns over declining birth-rates among Italian Roman Catholics.
...
Another chapter likely to raise eyebrows unearths theological justification for post-coital masturbation for women who fail to achieve orgasm during intercourse.

Nintendo Censorship

Did you know that Nintendo US has a censorship policy? Some games released in Japan were altered for the release in US. This page details some examples which include changing blook to sweat in Mortal Kombat and changing the cross on tombstones of Ducktales to the letters RIP. Interesting.

Sony Ericsson Concept Phones

This webpage contains the many entries submitted for a Sony Ericsson concept phone design competition. Some are looks cool, others look functional. There are also some that looks futuristic, and yet others are just downright insane. Whatever it is, it'll be so cool if even one of these makes it into the market.

Turn off that TV set!

Irritated by TV sets blasting everywhere? Wanna turn them off? There's this device called the TV-B-Gone, which is a new key-chain size universal remote that turns off almost any television. The device, which looks like an automobile remote, has just one button. When activated, it spends over a minute flashing out 209 different codes to turn off televisions, the most popular brands first. Good when you need some quiet time or some prank at your local electronics store.

Give to Child's Play

The folks at Penny Arcade are doing their bit for charity again. Last year, they got gamers around the world to donate over $250,000 in cash and toys (you can check out the pictures of the amount of toys and games they bought on their website) to the Seattle Children's Hospital. This year, they are expanding their effort to more hospitals in the US. Who says gamers are not socially conscious? And won't it be good if we can do something similar in Singapore? This will help to dispel the misconception that gamers are recluse.

Understanding Games

How about that? Raph Koster, the lead designer of Ultima Online is writing this book called Theory of Fun for Game Design. It's suppose to be for gaming what Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud is for comics. For those who read McCloud's book, it is an essential read for comic book fans or anyone trying to understand what comics is all about. It explains the theory of how comic books works. If Theory of Fun can do a similar thing, then it will certainly help more non-gamers understand gaming.

Gaming helps traders score big-time

More evidence of why gaming is good for you. I bet now everyone wants to be a gamer...

Video game skills and a good poker face online are becoming essential job qualifications in the financial markets, with recruitment drives assessing potential star traders in online gaming exams.
...
And part of their assessment process involves studying an applicant in a video game exercise.
...
"It is unlikely that we would hire someone who didn't show good proficiency at a GameBoy or online poker or similar video-type game where hand-to-eye coordination is important."

Media Center extender using a Xbox controller

What this guy did was to repurpose a Xbox controller and a Hip Gear LCD screen and use it to remotely control his Media Center PC. Quite an ingenius use of the Xbox controller.

Bible stories using LEGO

Is there any story that you can't use LEGO bricks to tell? This site called The Brick Testament uses LEGO bricks to tell the stories in the Bible. Come on, it contains the greatest story ever told and now it's told using LEGO. Is that cool or what?

The New Games Journalism

This piece could become a manifesto for games journalism and writing in general.

New Games Journalism exists to try and explain and transfer the sensations allowed by videogaming to anyone who's willing to sit and take time to read it. It paradoxically manages find a way to be more accessible to the average human being by actually concentrating on the real reasons why people devote huge chunks of their waking hours to games rather than obsessing in tedious detail over the ephemera that surrounds it (How many levels? how many guns? Can I be Goro?). It asks the question “Why game anyway” and then gives as many answers as they are people, as interesting as people, as precious.

I fully agree. It's time games writing grows up, time to be taken seriously.

The Dilbert Ultimate House

Based on readers' suggestions, Scott Adams have come up with the Dilbert house for Dilbert to stay in. Real world experts have also helped to conceptualised this house. There are indeed some nifty features found here, including basketball court in the basement and a vacuum robot. Must be a dream home for a single guy!

Video games stars in MTV

We've seen many crossovers in media today. Book characters in movies. Movie characters in games. Comic book heroes in movies. Now, video games characters are on MTV. MTV's programme Video Mods have game characters from games like Tribes and BloodRayne forming a band and playing the music of bands like Evanescence and Fountains of Wayne. Sounds like a promo tool for the games? You bet. But it's yet another proof that gaming's cultural influence is here to stay.

Star Wars TV show in the works?

First the Star Wars original trilogy on DVD. Next year, Episode 3 the Revenge of the Sith. There's more. Apparently, a Star Wars TV show is in the works. Lucas won't be helming the thing, but a possible name which cropped up is "fan boy" Kevin Smith. As a Kevin Smith and Star Wars fan, I certainly hope this will come true. Seems like all Star Wars fans will still have something to look forward to even after the prequels are done.

P2P and the Copyright Law

Anyone who's interested in developing P2P applications, or just anyone who's interested in copyright and file sharing in general should take a look at this piece. The writer, Fred von Lohmann, is the same guy who won the Grokster case which ruled that P2P networks are legal. So, what he's saying is not just musings, but actual truths that was held up in the US courts.

The Pez MP3 Project

This is definitely a cool idea. Imagine a PEZ dispenser that doesn't give you candy but music! That will be really really sweet! Plus, you can swap the big heads with any time you want.

Worst Jobs in History

Tony Robinson, who played Baldric on the funny Black Adder series, is doing a series called "The Worst Jobs In History". This is interesting because he looks at some of the most disgusting jobs over the years, many of them found in the medieval times. In this piece, he highlights some of the jobs... and thankfully most of us don't have to do these jobs any more. Here's an excerpt for the job of Bath Attendant.

In the Georgian period (1714-1837) people were employed to help others in and out of the baths at Bath.

It was a very foul job because the posh ladies and gentlemen of the time did what we constantly tell our children they mustn't do – they p***ed in the water!

The baths were like minestrone soup by the end of the day, and you had these assistants with smiles on their faces constantly having to sweep the surface to get rid of all these little bits and pieces bobbing around all the time.

Oakley says wear your MP3 player

This one brings wearable tech to a next stylish level. Oakley is releasing the world's first digital music eyewear, which is essentially a MP3 player attached to the sunglasses. Knowing Oakley's stylish design, this gadget looks cool will make you look like a music fanatic from a sci-fi movie. Although it's pretty expensive at US$395 for the 128MB version and US$495 for the 256MB one, those with the cash will want to order it for Christmas! How about adding a HUD display to the glasses sound for the future model?

Star Wars DVD updates Xbox dashboard

Xbox-scene.com has reported that the recently released Star Wars trilogy DVD actually contains a feature that some would rather not have. The bonus disc of this set comes with the Star Wars: Battlefront game demo. But if you try to play it on a modded Xbox, the disc will automatically update your Xbox dashboard. Why is this important? Well, for those power users doing homebrew stuff on their box, this will affect those with older bioses (booting xboxdash.xbe), people using exploits or simply those who don't want their dash upgraded. Not good. Thankfully, there's still a way to get to the demo if you really want it. The site has more details of the work-around.

What's inside an iMac G5

Curious as to how Apple manage to squeeze everything into the slim form factor of the new iMac? Here's a series of pictures where a user strips open the machine so that we can see how the fit the parts inside this box. There goes his warranty but hey, it's the hacker spirit at work!

Emulator will let Xbox 2 play Xbox games

A company called Transitive Corp is claiming that they've come up with a piece of software, named QuickTransit, that allow Xbox games to be played on the Xbox 2 consoles. This is certainly good news for gamers considering that the have been news that the next-gen console will not be backward compatible. However it's too early to cheer, because it's not clear whether Transitive is actually working with Microsoft on Xenon emulation technology, and it seems like it is an unlikely scenario.

So until there is definite news, those who love their Xbox games should hope that their original Xbox consoles will last for a long, long time.

Mini lightsabers

Someone get me one of these! It's a lightsaber-like lighting device shaped like the weapon used by the Jedis. It's powered by AA-batteries and lights up just like the real lightsaber. Just imaging having a whole series of these things to decorate your house. It's the Force, baby!

Satire: Computer industry lied to entertainment industry

This blog entry is inspired by Cory Doctorow's DRM speech. It has the computer industry explaining to the entertainment players how the DRM won't work and P2P and other tech innovations are the future. It also expresses how the entertainment industry is treating their customers.

Look at us: every year, we churn out more computer games than your entire industry is worth. You know how we do it? We like our customers. We don't treat them like potential criminals, and try to make our products do less. We invent new things like online role-playing -games, where the money does not come from duplication of bits (which cannot be stopped, regardless of your DRM scheme) but from providing experiences that the people want.

Inspiring yet funny stuff. Hope the entertainment people gets it.

Google creating a browser?

What's next after getting your hands in search engines, shopping comparisions, and even email? Build your own browser of course! And this is what Google may be doing. According to this website, Google has registered the domain name of gbrowser.com, and a bug report on Mozilla's bug tracking system also offers some clues. Here's some more speculation on what a Google browser can have...

Google could use their JavaScript expertise (in the form of Gmail ubercoder Chris Wetherell) to build Mozilla applications. Built-in blogging tools. Built-in Gmail tools. Built-in search tools. A search pane that watches what you're browsing and suggests related pages and search queries or watches what you're blogging and suggests related pages, news items, or emails you've written.

Sounds good to me...

A blog of opinions

It's a well-known fact that blogs contains many people's opinions. In fact, you may just want to say that opinions are a dime a dozen in a world filled with blogs. Still, some of these opinions are carefully thought through and provide some interesting insights. This web site called Blogcritics.org is a collection of reviews taken from blogs and subject matter range from books to films to video games. Want to know what the lay person think of something? Maybe this is the place to start.

Complete Calvin & Hobbes

I love the antics of the mischevious boy Calvin and his imaginary tiger friend. Who doesn't? For those who want the definate collection of this comic strip, there are plans to release a three-hardcover slipcased complete collection of the popular comic strips in 2005. It's suppose to cost about US$150. Expensive but looks like it's gonna be real cool.

Star Wars episode 7-9

Mark Hamill in an interview has mentioned something about what George Lucas told him about the trilogy after the original Star Wars. Part of the interview is also available as an MP3 that can be downloaded from the site.

"Ludology" vs. "Narratology"

Gaming is on its way to become an academic discipline. It's not such a far fetch thing when you consider that there's a debate going on between the idea of ludology vs narratology. The former is about game play while the latter is all about the story or nattative in a game. Interesting read. Personally, I think both game play and story are just as important. Of course, you can have a great game with just either one of the two elements alone. So ultimately, it's not a case of one winning over the other but which is more important to different certain type of games.

A PC in a NES casing

For those old school gamers into nostalgia, this web site showcases someone who managed to fit a normal PC into a NES case. They even made a keyboard and mouse using the black and red colours of the NES system! It's really cool for those who're into DIY and modding.

Here's a LEGO brick phone

If you're a LEGO fan, you'd know that many people have removed the casing off ordinary objects and encased it in LEGO bricks. It's testament to the durability of these plastic blocks. I've heard of a Palm encased with LEGO, this time round, it's a phone. It's a bit old, judging by the 1985 date given on the site, but hey, it's LEGO!

Music ripping flow chart

The London News Review has produced a flowchart documenting the steps one may want to ask before ripping a CD or a music track. It starts with the question of whether a recording is at least 50 years old (based on the British copyright laws, i suppose) to asking yourself if the label owning the track you want to rip has a history of swindling its artists. Kudos to this web site for taking a humourous look at the music ripping issue and injecting certain moral and ethical questions into the thought process. It's stated that this flowchart is only version 1.0 so maybe we can expect to see improved versions of this which will include other questions?

UNIX on the Game Boy Advance

Running Unix on the GBA? Of course you can! I don't know if this proves that the Unix platform is versatile or that the GBA is such a flexible (I hesitate to use the term powerful) device. This web site documents a project called "gbaunix". It attempts to run an ancient version of the UNIX OS on the GBA using a simulator. I'm not too sure the value of this, but as an experiment, it sure is interesting.

Ludologica-critical books on games

An Italian press has published a series of books taking a critical and academic look at video games. The series takes an in-depth look at themes, techniques, context, and other aspect surrounding games. Unlike other books that tries to cover the gaming culture in broad strokes, this series focuses on individual games and dispense with the standards intro to the game which most gamers would already know. These wonderful guides into the study of games should be interesting reads.

Building your own PVR

Sick of waiting for TiVo to reach Singapore? Why not build your own? AnandTech has a 2-part feature on how you can build your own PVR. There may even be a Part 3 to this feature if there is a need. This setup uses MythTV and the Linux OS. So if you're game to try this out, it's not a bad way to make your own PVR than get one off the shelves.

Studying the body and brain of gamers

This interest in gamers that is reported on BBC is so weird. It is like gamers are a whole new species that needs to be studied and examined. Anyway, this is also a signal that gaming is becoming an important part of culture. As a gamer, I'm also interested to know what happens when I play games. If there are concrete scientific evidence with regards to the positive benefits to gaming, then gaming won't be seen as a juvenile hobby. But who cares? I love playing my games and no one is gonna stop me.

Downloaded music Top 40 chart

It seems like downloaded music is a phenomenon that has hit mainstream. BBC Radio has started to compile Top 40 charts of downloaded music. Although this chart only reflects legal downloads, perhaps if one can factor in illegal downloads as well, there could be a more accurate indication of the popularity of a song. Regardless, this is a commendable step forward for downloaded music.