29 CommentsI recently managed to successfully install Ubuntu Linux. Here’s a couple of impressions:
chkdsk couldn’t repair.apt-get?Point of note: I haven’t given up on Ubuntu yet. It’s just become clear to me already that there are some things they need to fix before Ubuntu can ever be an alternative to Windows or OSX.
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Last friday, the one and only band - reunited after a 10 year hiatus - Atomic Swing played live at Malmöfestivalen in Sweden. Malmöfestivalen is an annual event where bands from Sweden (and elsewhere in the world) come to play for free. Let me say right away that this was an excellent concert. No, it [...]
12 CommentsThere are several ways to watch Superman Returns. One way is dwell on the sheer triumph with which the story of a man in blue tights has been updated to 2006; everything from the great music to the tacky intro sequence to final wink to the camera. Another way is to simply enjoy a $200 million action extravaganza gone right.
Which ever way you choose to see it, Superman Returns is eminently watchable. With the wealth of mythology, the “last son of Krypton” twist, the power of the sun and the whole saviour metaphor, it quickly becomes clear that Superman is the original hero, even if he appears dated. Superman Returns is a small part of a whole, that whole being a superhero opera.
By the way, did anyone else notice a film reporter early on mentioning the city “Gotham” — as in Gotham City?
9 CommentsA good friend of mine unknowingly convinced me to try out Ubuntu Linux. Armed with version 6.06 I tried the bootable install disc. Impressively, this disc booted directly into the OS, a live version running directly off the CD. Setup would be as simple as clicking the “install” shortcut on the desktop.
Yet it’s never that simple, is it? I need a partition to install Ubuntu on. I have space for such a partition, but I haven’t enough space to wipe the entire drive and format/partition. As such, I’m in need of reliable partitioning software that’ll rescale current partitions and create a new one for Ubuntu.
Does anyone have advice for rescaling partitions? Software (preferrably free) recommendations? Ubuntu specific install tips?
3 CommentsWikipedia is not the end-all, be-all wiki. Wikia specializes in hosting wikis (plural) and hosts two such star related ones;
Welcome to Memory Alpha, a collaborative project to create the most definitive, accurate, and accessible encyclopedia and reference for everything related to Star Trek.
Wookieepedia is a lavish and stunning homage to the Star Wars pop cultural phenomenon. Thanks to its professional appearance, the scope of its content, the quality of its writers and diligence of its administrators, Wookieepedia has become a valuable resource to fans both casual and obsessive, as well as to Star Wars authors.
Also look out for: Mega Man Wiki, Doom Wiki, Muppet Wiki, and Psychology Wiki.
My good friend Khaled writes for all of the Shuttle team in his latest post, Contributing to Open Source. Shuttle was a redesign of the Wordpress administration section. 6 team-members worked hard to make sure it was the best it could be. Unfortunately, it seems, it might never reach Wordpress. See also a Flickr photoset showing some of the design process. I’m still hoping it’ll reach Wordpress.
CommentI’m proud to have supplied Sebastian Schmieg with fresh spam using his modified Wordpress anti-spam plugin. The results are in, and they’re pretty.
While millions of “bloggers” are annoyed SpamPaint tries to win something from this problem. SpamPaint converts comment spam into interesting and refreshing graphics and thus turns the table: looking forward to spam.
Spam is beautiful. Visit SpamPaint. Be sure also to read how it was all created.
5 CommentsCCleaner, a.k.a. CrapCleaner for Windows is a tiny application which does just that, cleans crap from your system. That means “fixing issues in the registry” , removing stray temp files and useless installers, clean cache and so on. Upon first run it cleaned 500 mb off my system, a system I thought fairly optimized.
If you’re a Windows user, this’ll speed up your system. Just make sure you don’t accidentally delete all your cookies in the process, unless you actually want them gone.
4 CommentsJoin the honorable fight for net neutrality: we are the web!
18 CommentsLucky me, I’ve been nominated for “Most influential Flash site of 1998″ with my Turtleshell Flash site. It’s an honor just to be nominated, but I would really enjoy actually winning the title. So please, be a pal, vote turtles’ hell. Vote!
CommentThe Titoonic website has been revamped with a brand new section, “Articles”, where employees detail their trade, tricks and secrets. The first installment details game design, specifically with regards to advergames. From Game Rules as Commercial Messages:
If I hurl myself out of the window in my apartment, I expect to fall to the ground. And as I live on the 5th floor, I will most probably die. This, however, is not necessarily the case in computer games. In the new Xbox 360 shooter Prey, for instance, I am able to walk upside down on the ceiling. And should I die, I will be able to return.
A major part of the fun in computer games is figuring out what the rules are.
We can use this if we have a complex message to deliver. Banks, credit institutions or insurance companies for instance may have more complex products; there may be a lot of subtleties that the consumer has to learn. And as it takes time to learn about the products, we also need to keep the attention of the audience.
A branded version of Pac-Man won’t cut it.
6 CommentsThe newest offering from Danish brick company LEGO, entitled “Mindstorms”, launches today in North America.
Mindstorms lets you use build your own custom robot using a computer brain, various attachments such as motion sensors, sound sensors, light sensors and various interactive motors. Once built, you can program your robot on your PC or Mac. Essentially, you can build your own robot and make it do exactly what you tell it to.
At Titoonic we’ve been working hard with LEGO for the past 1? years to improve Mindstorms from its predecessor — Robotics Invention System. The end result is not only prettier (even though it looks like it was built by the Borg), but it’s much more powerful, it works on a Mac and the Mindstorms software is better and more intuitive. The latter is what we primarily worked on, making sure the Mindstorms programming experience was as easy and usable. While not all our GUI decisions were honed, the program is parsecs beyond what was RIS 2.0, and it goes a long way in visualizing object-oriented programming to ten-year old kids.
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