Mapping Heroism

James Kim’s death while trying to save his family has been in the news for the last couple of days.   This sparked on the tech blogs when the family first went missing in late November.  I didn’t know who James Kim was, but I was crushed to read the news that he had died in light of the outpouring of comments and unconditional support that I’ve read since they went missing.

To show just how hard this man worked to save his family, someone took screencaps of several maps showing the path he walked in the dead of winter.

The amount of determination to walk this in the cold after days without a real meal is staggering.

Why the Hell Am I Inside Painting?

The weather outside is perfect! Yet, I’m inside, sitting on my ass surfing the web for news of interest and catching up on the Geek Porn that is video game sites showing videos of them unpacking the new Wii. It’s kind of sad, yes, but my blinds are open. I have a great view of, well, the apartment building across the parking lot from mine. They keep their blinds closed on that side of the complex.

I did find something sure to interest more than two people, though. Or one. It’s ArtRage, an art program that loads over your entire desktop and lets you do some really fun stuff. It works on both PCs and Mac and there’s a decent free version that’s missing a few tools. Wonderfully easy to use and fun to play with, it does a wonderful job of looking fancy while being easy to use. The interface is amazing as well with toolboxes automatically hiding when the active cursor comes near them and dialog boxes bubbling in from no where.

Download the free version and have a great time!

Blending Marbles

This is one amazing blender.  I wonder how dull the blades are after this? And how painful would it be to inhale the glass dust?

Scrybe throws down the glove on Organization

I just found the following preview video for Scrybe thanks to Robert Scoble (as usual).

This looks hot; kind of Mac-ish. Not quite good enough to get me to move away from Google Calendar (nice features, but GCal is fully integrated with my email, great search features and other products that fit into the puzzle), but it just looks like it’s fun to use. I like that they did to-do lists (something I’d love to have on GCal) and have an eye to accessing the data while offline.

I have to say that I’m disappointed that they didn’t go for what I think is the real holy grail of web-based personal organization apps: syncing with a palm. Granted, the hard-core users will just use a mobile connection to access Scrybe in a palm-based browser. But not everyone has that kind of connection or wants to connect that way.

The real treat here is innovation.  Another company has come up with a product that is not only good on its own standing, but will also push innovation in any company doing something similar just so they can keep up.

I’ve signed up for the beta. I’m sure I’ll have more to say if I get to use it. Who knows, maybe it will get me out of the Google suite…

Square Enix not on PS3?

According to 1up, Square Enix may not be exclusively a PS3 developer any more.  This isn’t big news since they’ve been making games for Nintendo and their DS for a while now.  But it may be big news if their flagship games start appearing on consoles not made by Sony.

Really, the only reason I had to buy a PS3 was Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts.  But neither of those are worth the price tag of a PS3.  So I fall into the camp of hoping for more of my favorites on the systems that cost less and deliver what they should: a good gaming experience.

Here’s a Stupid Thing

Rumor has it that in order to reserve a Nintendo Wii at an EB Games or Gamestop, the $50 deposit must be made by trading in games.  In other words, no cash, credit, or even store credit is to be accepted.  But if you bring in old games that you probably spent more than the $250 Wii price tag to buy originally, you can pay for part of that $250 price tag and reserve a system to pick up on November 19.

Or just go somewhere else and keep your old games (assuming you have any).

Let’s count the days until the person who thought this up gets fired, assuming it prooves true.  Likely they leaked a test balloon to see how folks would react, then go from there.

Link

Haven’t We Learned More Than This?

Go here for a good look at what some people think causes an exploding laptop battery.

Then run a virus scan. That’s obviously where the problem is.

The Future of Talent

I’ve just discovered Ze Frank and The Show. This is some of the best stuff I’ve seen in a while. Daily Show level quality.

One of the most popular videos there is easily the best commentary on why social media (like blogs, myspace, digg, flickr, and many others) are as cool and exciting as they are, even if most of the people using them don’t know it. The videos aren’t safe for most work places (depending on how the workplace tolerates you watching video on the clock and swearing from said video).

Check it out.

Wii on November 19

The Seattle PI has an article from the NY Times stating that the Wii will be released in North America on November 19 (Sunday is a traditional release date for Nintendo) and cost $250. It will be bundled with Wii Sports. How many controllers and such it will come with remains to be seen.

Other news is the ability to surf the web on your TV, check news and weather, and $5-$10 per game on the Virtual Console.

Article. See also here and here.

I’m not surprised at the price. They said earlier it would be $250 or less. Why would anyone expect them to go less? Particularly when their rivals are already priced much higher.

I’m also not surprised that Wii Sports is bundled with the system. That doesn’t have the ring of a game folks would go out and buy. Plus, it’s good to have a solid game to get used to the controls with and demonstrate to folks. Who doesn’t know how tennis, golf, baseball, or bowling are played? Pretty basic. This is also the first home system to be released with a game by the manufacturer in a while, I think.

What should definitely happen is bundle the nunchuk attachment with the system. So many games seem to be making use of it that to not would be ludicrous. Then again, it could be a guaranteed $20 purchase for every gamer (in which case, bump the price and bundle it, please). Here’s hoping they don’t go the route of bundling it with every game that would use it. I don’t want to have several attachments floating around after a while.

Other news to look out for is how many controllers will it come with. Typically systems have only one, but with the “play together” feel of the Wii, two makes more sense (maybe just one nunchuk, though).

UPDATE: This will come with one wii-mote and a nunchuk attachment.  You can buy a wii-mote for about $40 and a nunchuk for another $20.  A bit high, but not bad since it looks like many of the multiplayer games will only need two controllers or have everyone share a single controller at this stage.  But how much is the classic controller?

Other excitement is about non-game content.  The Wii Channels look slick and easy to get addicted to, particularly if there isn’t any boot time to get to the screen.  I could see that becoming my first point of access for breaking news and weather quite easily (though I’ll still rely on my RSS Reader for the bulk of my news).

I’m glad to see it comes with batteries for the controller, but I’ll be picking up some rechargeables and a decent size SD card for extra storage pretty quickly.

Google Image Labeler

Michael Arrington shows why the new Google Image Labeler is a good, fun idea. At the same time, he shows us why things like this might not work.

How many images in Google are either purple or Donald Trump? Lots, by the end of today, I bet.

In related Google-ness, Robert Scoble visited Google and has good things to say about them. Google Calendar users will want to read the second post.