Douglas Adams Lecture - Parrots, the universe, and everything.

 I haven't had the chance to rewatch this yet, but I've read several samples from the transcript. He is greatly missed.



(via boingboing.net)

Ostrich Legos! O!S!T!R!I!C!H! L!E!G!O!S!

Between this and a good set of lego knights you could build a recreation of joust with legos!

Throw in a few mindstorm kits and you could motorize the whole thing.

Cost is approximately $10 per ostrich.

Available for purchase here.

I plan on ordering some at some point in the near future. Even if I never do anything with them, Ostrich Legos have to be one of the coolest inventions ever.

$100 dollars - a laptop or a pair of jeans? (A discussion of value)

I am continually amazed at the inconsistencies of our modern society. I look around and I am confused. The things that people spend money on, the values that we assign to things.   

The laptop pictured at the left cost $100. It isn't a great laptop by today's standards, but it is comparable to $2500 computers from 10 years ago.

That is to say, it will do everything you need it to do, slowly.

The other device featured in this post is called a Wiki-Reader. Designed for people who want Wikipedia but don't want, or can't afford, the internet. The concept initially struck me as ludicrous: Wikipedia is fluid, dynamic, changing; that's what makes it great. But it is also a fantastic, if often inaccurate, resource and access to it shouldn't be limited to those who pay their monthly fee to access the internet. I realized that the wiki-reader is probably as close to a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as we will ever see in my lifetime.

That same $100 could buy you a laptop, one album (The Beatles White Album),  two PS3 games, a pair of jeans, or a Wiki-Reader.


Let that sink in, for the cost of a pair of jeans and a T-shirt from Abercrombie and Fitch you could have access to the wealth of uses afforded by a computer, or the cornucopia of information that the Wiki-Reader provides.

Knowledge - Communication - Music - Jeans - Same price across the board.


CherryPal Africa

The specs for the laptop from the Cherrypal website:

A Laptop "Slow and Sufficient."


* The 7" Cherrypal Africa is a 'net book' powered by a:

• 
  
• * 400 MHz processor,
• * 256 MB DDR / 2 GB NAND-flash
• * and runs Linux
• * 7 inch high-resolution TFT .(800 x 480 pixels)
• * LAN:10/100M
• * Ethernet Access
• * WIFI: IEEE 802.11 b/g
• * Ethernet RJ-45
• * Keyboard: QWERTY 86 keys
• * Mouse&Touch pad:build-in touch panel,
• * set two shortcut key,
• * and support usb port mouse
• * USB Port: USB 2.0 x 1 (aid external memory)
• * USB 1.1 x 2 (aid keyboard & mouse only)
• * External Memory : SD card , U-Disk , USB-HDD
• * Card port: SD / MMC card slot (8GB)
• * Battery: 7.4 V 1800Mha built in Lithium battery 1800MAH Last time:4 HRS
• * Sound effect:build-in realtek sound effect chipset,
• * Built in 2 x 0.5W
• * Built in speaker 1 x microphone
• * Weight:1.2kg Size: 213.5 x 141.8 x 30.8 mm

It is  targeted at the developing world, but they will ship it anywhere. I can see uses for such a machine in nearly any community. It's size and price would make it a great first computer for children, it's portability makes it great for people on the go. I have considered getting a machine like this to replace my 200LX, though it is still a bit larger than I would like.

The fact that it isn't running windows is seen as an issue by many consumers. The only real issue is that Linux tech support is not going to be found a Geek Squad. That being said, the kinds of things Geek Squad fixes tend not to go wrong on a Linux machine. 

Be aware that the africa running 'Windows' is actually running the version of windows used for cellphones. It is a much less robust operating system than the (cheaper) linux. I wouldn't buy that or any other machine running 'windows mobile' or 'windows ce.' (The 'bing' laptop appears to be running windows XP, though it is far from the cheapest XP laptop available.)

The Wiki-Reader

Specifications are less important for the Wiki-Reader. It reads Wikipedia, it has three buttons, it has a touch screen. It costs $100. If you pay an extra few dollars a year they will mail updates to your door. The one feature that would seem to matter most, battery life, is amazing. They are claiming the device can run 15 minutes a day for 365 days on 2 AAA batteries.

This video sums things up nicely:



I want to get one for my grandmother, though I fear the screen might be a bit small. I'll probably end up building something for her. For the price, and ease of use, it actually seems like a pretty neat little device. I think a parent could do far worse than giving their kids something like this.

---

Even though the price tag of $100 is well outside the 'impulse buy' zone for most of us, it is hard to argue that the value brought to the table by the wiki-reader or the cherypal laptop seems to far outweigh the value of a pair of jeans, or a night at the cheesecake factory.

What a world we live in.
Cherypal
Wikireader
Note: I've never ordered from either of the companies listed. In my research I found that the reviews for both were commonly favorable, with very few complaints.

CCTV and Free software

Image by  jordi.martorell
I do a lot of work with local businesses. I design websites, install point of sale systems, and do computer repair. Several weeks ago a local business owner who I've worked with in the past approached me with a computer that was refusing to boot. He needed it back quickly, as this PC controlled his CCTV.



"I had someone look at it, and they said the power supply was bad"  he said to me. Normally I would run the system through its paces and test it throughly before I returned it. This machine, however, was the controller for his security cameras. He need it back quickly, so I replaced the power supply. I turned it on, watched it boot, shut it down and returned it.

Long story short, two days later I have the same computer sitting in front of me. The power supply is fine, but the motherboard is shot. I've got a week to build a CCTV system as cheaply as I can. Hardware is easy, generic (linux compatible) capture card, new motherboard/processor 1GB ram, 2 HDs.

Software was a little less easy. I was unfamiliar with the whole scene, but it was highly recommended to me that I try Zoneminder. So I installed Xubuntu, downloaded and installed all the codecs that Zoneminder requires, and installed zoneminder and XawTV. None of this was anything out of the ordinary. I had to follow some basic set-up instructions as detailed here.

Everything appeared to be working. I took the machine back to the shop, plugged it in and started Zoneminder. I pulled up a firefox window and was able to get video feed for 4 of his 13 cameras. Things are going much more smoothly than normal, and 4 cameras is much better than no cameras. But as a long term solution 4 just isn't enough!

I was confused, I expect all the cameras to show up. The card billed itself as having 16 inputs through a special dongle. It turns out that the card has 4 chips that support 4 channels each, for a total of 16 multiplexed channels. Apparently this is the common way for capture cards to be built.

So each of the digitizers, the chips on the card, appears as a separate device to the computer. I can pull 1 frame at a time off of four cameras. Then I 'change the channel' so to speak, and pull 1 frame off of four more cards, repeating this until all the cameras are accounted for. This means that I'm pulling down 3-5 FPS off of each camera.

As I've never done this before, I still had a hard time figuring out exactly what was going on. I used the wonderful XawTV to figure out which channels on which devices lined up to which camera. Within minutes I had the software recording live feeds. With a little more configuration, I had each camera recording while the store was open, and running motion detection when the store was closed. If a movement was detected, the camera would start recording, and even send out an email!


All in all it has been a rewarding and interesting experience. and I've discovered that a security camera system can be set up cheaply and quickly. A basic set up, with 1-2 cameras shouldn't cost more than $400! I look forward to the opportunity to set up some more!

Heavy Rain and the future of Interactive Fiction

Photo by believekevin

Recently I've heard a lot of Buzz about a new console game called Heavy Rain. I've not played it personally, but I've read several reviews, I've watched the game be played, and I've done a fair amount of research on it. It's being called a new paradigm in gaming, and hailed as incredibly original. 

As I listened to all the hype that surrounded the game, I was met with something akin to Deja Vu: an intense sense of 'this-has-already-been-done-to-great-effect.'  Heavy Rain is billed as an "interactive Drama" one player I spoke with went so far as to say "It's like a movie, only you're the main character, you write the story." 

When I heard that, it clicked. These games aren't new and innovating, they are moving a time tested format (that dates back to the 1970s and Colossal Caves) known as interactive fiction from words to pictures. 

Interactive Fiction games are a small subset of the 'Text Adventure' style of games.There are hundreds upon hundreds of Text Adventure games that are not interactive fiction. These games often have a sparse setting, and a more sparse plot. They don't understand what you tell them, at all. They are frequently frustrating, and rarely fun. If your only exposure to Text Adventures was the 1980s Scott Adams style, please consider giving them another chance. 

There are, however, a large, perhaps equal, number of 'Text Adventure' games that are interactive fiction. These games are works of fiction in which the player assumes the role of the main character. He wanders through well crafted prose, marveling at the locations that the author has beautifully formed, conversing with the characters that inhabit this world of prose. The things the player says are understood, or at least mis-understood in a helpful (or amusing) way. 

If Heavy Rain is a movie, then a Text Adventure is a Novel, a Short Story (occasionally, a poem). They are rarely as easily accessible as they're screen counterparts, but they are often far more fulfilling and complex. 

As I said, Text Adventures have been written for as long as we have had computers. The first, Colossal Caves, (which became Dungen, which become Zork, which became the Zork trilogy that launched Infocom, who was acquired by Activision, who still makes good video games.) was written in the late 70s on a mainframe at MIT.

 I have a hard time calling Colossal Caves and games like it "interactive fiction."  It isn't the quality of the prose that prevents them from attaining this distinction. The prose is actually quite nice, with some highly detailed descriptions, and some incredible bits of humor. What limits these games to being 'text adventures' is that there isn't really any fiction with which one may interact. What plot is there is just an excuse to string together some puzzles, and explore a cave/dungeon. It's a fun game, but it's just a game. 

For my money, the first real work of interactive fiction was the game "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" published by Infocom in 1984. This is the first time that a Novelist collaborated with the programmer to create not just a game, but an entire world which a player might lose himself as the protagonist. (I know I've mentioned this game in several recent posts. But it's a good game. You should play it.) This was a story first and a game second, in much the same way as Heavy Rain. 

The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy was one of many incredibly rich and plot driven works that Infocom published in it's heyday. No commercial works have been released since the late 80s (or the early 90s, depending on how far you stretch your definition of Text Adventure), but Text Adventures are not a lost art form, any more than the novel is. They are still being written, and written well. It's about as easy to pick up a text adventure game as it is to read a book, provided you're willing to take the time to do it properly. 

From the collapse of Infocom circa 1990 until very recently, text adventures haven't needed to be particularly friendly. The people who were playing them were, by and large, the same people that were producing them. This became a bit viscous cycle, as authors began to make their games less and less accessible to the novice user. Many of these are good games, but they lack the polish often found on the really stellar games and the better commercial titles. 

This all changed right around the year 2000 with a game called Photopia (click to play online.) Photopia is a non standard Text adventure. It's a game that can be enjoyed by someone who has never played a text adventure. It is not a simple game, though it is a straightforward one. You make choices that dramatically effect the outcome of the plot, but there isn't much problem solving involved. The prose is eloquent, the plot is stunning, and the game is fueled by emotion. 

As the written word goes, it falls closer to short story than it does to novel but, I for one, would not fault the game for that.

Since Photopia, other games have emerged, seeking to bridge the gap between interaction and story, and to really open up the idea of Interactive Fiction to a new audience. Games like 'The Dreamhold' and 'Curses' are highly recommended introductory games, that were specifically targeted at new players. 

I've just started playing Interactive fiction again recently, with all the hype around heavy rain, so expect to see a few more posts on the games I enjoy. 

Playing

All of the games I discussed here to day are written in the wonderful Inform programing language. 

On Windows systems they can be read with one of several programs:

• Gargoyle - This is an installer. For people who like things to be simple, download this. Download a game, save it to a folder, double click on it, and it open.s 
• FROTZ (see the link below.) . Frotz is a far older program, that is sadly, beginning to show its age. It is slightly more difficult to use than Gargoyle.

There isn't yet an iTunes like library system for Text Adventure games, but the community is working on it. When it launches, you'll hear about it here. 

On BSD, Linux, and other *nix system, I suggest Gargoyle (sudo apt-get install gargoyle from ubuntu/debian) There are several other programs available, and they work to varying degrees, but Gargoyle remains my favorite. 

For Mac OS X users I suggest ZOOM , it supports the big three text adventure languages. The more esoteric games might require an additional interpretor, but good games for anything other than Inform or Tads are so rare that I wouldn't worry about it. 

iPhone users should do a quick iTunes search for Frotz. I think its a free download from the app store. 

Android users should look at Twisty and Hunky Punk. Neither is perfect, but both are good. 

Resources 

A Beginners Guide to Interactive Fiction

The Dreamhold- bundled with Frotz. Unzip- Drag the game file onto the file called Frotz. Drop it and play. Alternatively, install Gargoyle from the link above. It makes life a bit easier. 

Files

Curses

The Dreamhold

Photopia

Lost Pig - Lost Pig is a very funny, well written, and challenging game. It is fair, has a good hint system, and has a much larger plot, and much richer characterization than it might initially appear. Expect a full review very soon. 

GET LAMP: THE TEXT ADVENTURE DOCUMENTARY

GET LAMP: THE TEXT ADVENTURE DOCUMENTARY

I want it! I discovered that it existed while I was doing a little research for my last post. Anybody want to make it a belated birthday present?

No?

A Housewarming gift?


This, apparently, is also the reason that MC Frontalot's amazing video "it's pitch dark" was created. (video after the jump)

Enjoy

Dining at Milliways, and other Interactive Fiction

photo by bre pettis Licenced CC non comercial 

It should come as no surprise to most of you that I am a long time fan of Text Adventure (or Interactive Fiction) games. I've played through hundreds of them, and was planning on doing an article detailing the best way to do that on an HP200 LX (Short answer, DOSFrotz and patience!). In light of the fact that my 200lx is now little more than a waterlogged mess, I bring you the Douglas Adams interactive fiction tribute.

In 2001, shortly after Mr. Douglas Adams took his leave from the planet earth, a competition of sorts was held to honor him. The original rules stated "Create your own tribute to Douglas Adams in no more than two hours. Sign the location below when you've finished the game." with a deadline of just a few days later. In true Adams style, the deadline was quickly extended to "when no more games come" which means the contest is technically still open.

Though technically most of these works are infringing copyright (something I point out only in order to highlight how ludicrous current laws are), they are among some of the most enjoyable text adventures I have ever played.


The two hour time limit means that some of the games lack polish. There are occasional 'Guess the verb' moments, times where you have figured out the action that is required of you, but fail to find the syntax. That being said, many of the games featured here are absolutely brilliant, and a fitting tribute to one of the authors that kept the genre alive with his wonderful Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game.

If you're new to IF or you'd like more information about playing Interactive Fiction, I suggest reading this, as the IFWIKI sums things up much more thoroughly than I would.

The Sofa At The End Of The Universe 

You are Dirk Gently. You have a SEP Field Generator (Somebody Else's Problem.) There is a sofa wedged in your stairwell.

Witty prose, fantastic puzzle, evokes memories of the man himself.

A Night at Milliways

You're about to go to Milliways, and you've got a table with a view.

Less polished than the last, but just as enjoyable. For those that aren't veteran interactive fiction gurus, the proper syntax for asking someone for something is ASK person ABOUT thing.

This game made me cry a little bit.

Catharsis- it's not a word I get to use often. This game was cathartic.

The Death of two great Minds 

You're in the desert with Ford and Fenchurch. You find Marvin. He isn't doing well at all.

Not as difficult or as well written as the previous two, but still very enjoyable. Great concept, well executed.

How Many Roads Must a Man Walk Down?

You have arrived at the abode of Wonko the Sane.

Clever and thoughtful. At the same time, irreverent, silly, and heart-wrenchingly sappy.

Into that Good Night 

Turns out Mr. Adams wasn't the only one to pass on. You find yourself playing the roll of one Dirk Gently as he navigates the afterlife in order to finish his case.

Some of the best prose of the whole show. This game is very polished. (Although the first time through I was confused as all get out. if you get stuck, help is here) Of all the games of this competition, this one had the most enjoyable writing. It's a shame the game itself wasn't better. (There are really only two puzzles, and neither of them is particularly obvious.)

Deadline: or Being Douglas Adams

Not really a game, no puzzles, no goal. You are in a bathtub. A deadline approaches, and passes.

(I don't have a HUGO interpretor, the title of the game doesn't make it sound fun. I decided it wasn't worth the effort.)

You can find all of the games in a wonderful little zip file at this IF Archive Mirror.

As an added bonus, the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game: You can play it on Mr.Adams' website: http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/infocom.php (serial number is in the screenshot), or on the BBC HHGG page.The first requires Java, the second requires flash.

-or through a bit of HTML source code digging  download it directly- http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/hhgg.z3

Flooding

There has been extensive flooding in the area that I live. Several months ago, my girlfriend and I were coming home and our car was washed off the road. For whatever reason, I had both my laptops, and my palm top stowed in that car, as well as two analog SLRs, and lots of other personal effect.

Needless to say, I was left just a bit devastated by all of this. It's been quite an ordeal to try and rebuild everything. I lost several posts that I had been working on, documents and pictures, not to mention the film that was in those cameras.



As a result, I'm a bit behind. I've got several posts in the works, but I'm having a hard time picking up steam. Expect that you will get far more frequent posts, and some interesting photographs (mostly technology related.) from this point forward.

My poor cameras. It used to be a nice Minolta

I think the most difficult item to replace will be my beloved 200LX. I paid far too much for the first one, and I doubt that I'll have the time to find another one, or the money to pay for it at any time in the near future. For the time being, I'm considering a Tandy Model 100, or perhaps a portable word processor. 

But, as they say, life goes on. No use dwelling on that which was lost. 

In the wake of this, I scored a new desktop computer (a svelte Acer Aspire Revo) to replace my fallen laptop. I managed to replace my old cameras with some new old cameras acquired via Goodwill. I also finally got my hands on an android handset (sadly, not a nexus one or a Droid) and I am as pleased as I thought I would be with it.