Month: March 2009

What is it about slugs?

Specifically, what is it about stepping on a slug in our bare feet that causes us to recoil?

Physically, we are no danger, aside from the small possibility of slipping and falling. We are not expressing concern over the fate of the slug, indeed it probably barely registers to us. We are concerned with the sensation.

Why do we find it unpleasant?

Is this a learned opinion, or something hard-wired? Would a baby crawling along the ground burst into tears if he crawled over a slug, or would he be curious? Or would he not notice at all and just keep crawling?

If it is an evolved response, why? Why is it beneficial to find a squishy, sticky goo “icky”?

Chocolate Rain

I’ve been playing around with chocolate recently, making chocolate-covered oreos, graham crackers, etc. I’ve been using a Lego ice cube tray to make some, which has worked out well.

I wanted some more molds to play with, so I looked around, at a bunch of kitchen supply places, but… no luck. So I tried Amazon, and ordered a whole bunch for like $2-$3 each. They arrived yesterday, now I have all sorts of new shapes to try!

MacHeist Bundle

Another MacHeist bundle is out!

$39 for a bunch of Mac apps (which are normally like $20-$40 EACH).
As usual, only a few of the apps are ones I would use, but even then, still a good deal.
If there are 2 apps there that you’d use, it’s worth picking up.
25% of the sales go to charity.

http://www.macheist.com/bundle/u/59851/

iPhone 3.0 beta

Important to note:

if you are a developer, if you download the beta of iPhoneOS 3.0, if you install it on your phone, you cannot go back to an earlier version of the OS!

This means you’d be stuck with 3.0 beta on your phone until the final 3.0 release comes out sometime this summer.

Also, if you download the 3.0 SDK, you can’t submit anything you develop with it to the app store until after the final 3.0 release this summer.

Important gotchas to keep in mind.

That said, I doubt I’ll be able to resist the temptation to try it out.

iPhoneOS 3.0

There’s an Apple announcement today, so of course the nerd world is all a-twitter.

Apple just announced the features of iPhoneOS 3.0.

To sum up:

* App paid expansion packs (i.e. Buy City Guide app, then buy a city pack for it)
* Push Notification (apps can get alerts when not running, like IM alerts for example)
* Peer-to-peer Bluetooth connection (for exchanging business cards, 2-player games, etc)
* Accessory communication (create custom accessories, like a glucose meter that talks to the iPhone via Bluetooth or dock connector)
* Turn-by-Turn navigation is no longer banned (expect to see GPS apps soon)
* Google Maps API (put Google maps in your app)
* Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo (copy and paste between apps)
* Landscape mode for standard apps (use bigger keyboard in Mail and Message)
* MMS (send photos and audio clips to other cellphones – no video tho)
* Voice Memos (record audio clips, you could do this before with 3rd party apps, but now built-in)
* New Calendar file format support (support for standards used by google cal and others)
* Stock app features (now with news)
* Spotlight Search (search in standard apps, such as iPod or Notes, plus global search)
* Stereo Bluetooth (for wireless headphones)

Available NOW as a beta for developers, later this summer for release.
Will be a free update for iPhone owners, $10 update for iPod Touch owners.

I’m excited, lots of good stuff in there, and other minor stuff not mentioned.

Betcha the servers will be bogged down when I try and get it tonight. =)

Retro Game Challenge

Retro Game Challenge

Last night I started playing “Retro Game Challenge” for the DS.
It’s sort of a… 1980s childhood gaming simulator.

It does a good job of capturing the essence of gaming in the 80s – flipping through gaming magazines, talking about cheat codes, and playing the latest game while a friend cheers you on (his mom even comments every now and then “are you kids still playing that game?” from the next room).

The way it works is fairly straightforward – your friend gets a new game, and you have 4 successively harder challenges to complete in the game. Once you complete the challenges, the next game is unlocked. Your friend also gets gaming magazines in the mail, which you can flip through for tips and cheat codes for the games.

The games are not actually retro games, but invented games that are representative of the types of NES games of the era. I’m only on the third game, but so far they are enjoyable. The first game is a Galaga-like game with some nice touches to add depth, the second game is an odd elevator-action-eqsue platformer, and the game I’m on now is a racing game similar to RC Pro Am.

The game may seem somewhat restrictive, by only doling out games one at a time and making you unlock them, but that too hearkens back to the childhood days of NES gaming, where getting a new game was a big deal, that might involve weeks of saving (or begging). The challenges can also be… challenging, just like the games of the 80s were.

All in all, a good nostalgia kick. If you had an NES growing up, and have a DS now, give it a look.

Just Bad

$phrase[0] = “You so ugly…”;
$phrase[1] = “Your mama so fat…”;
$phrase[2] = “You so dumb…”;

What is it?

A disarray!

Sorry, bad programmer pun. Couldn’t help it.

Monster Manga

I’ve been reading the manga series “Monster” – I’m about halfway through and it’s really good so far. Goes off on some seeming tangents sometimes, but then brings it back together.

Kinda “Boys-from-Brazil”-esque in certain respects – a brilliant neurosurgeon tries to hunt down a serial killer who was conditioned as a child to be a perfect killer.