seanmonstar

Star Wars Rebels

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:07:48 -0700

I’ve always thought it would be awesome to explore the time period between Episode III and IV. My imagination went into overdrive seeing the Correllian Corvette towards the end of Episode III, and The Force Unleashed got to show the rebels make a formal declaration, but I want more.

And now, next year, we get a CG TV show exploring exactly that. Considering Star Wars’ previous TV shows, this should not disappoint.

'Hangouts... doesn't really unify anything'

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:00:18 -0700

'Hangouts... doesn't really unify anything':

Hangouts is beautiful, and finally you can copy text from conversations, but it’s not as awesome as it should have been. Or could have been.

Android Studio: An IDE built for Android

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:38:49 -0700

Android Studio: An IDE built for Android:

A new IDE to use when developing for Android. Hopefully it’s easier to work with than Eclipse. The way the code shows the resources dynamically and showing the icons in the side looks sweet, and the NullPointerException warnings look truly helpful.

I’m cautiously excited.

'DRM in HTML5 is a victory for the open Web'

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:00:28 -0700

'DRM in HTML5 is a victory for the open Web':

In other words, the alternative to using DRM in browser plugins on the Web is not “abandoning DRM;” it’s “abandoning the Web.”

'Teens aren’t abandoning “social.” They’re just using the word correctly.'

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:00:10 -0700

'Teens aren’t abandoning “social.” They’re just using the word correctly.':

You see, we’ve come to define “social” in unintentional Orwellian double-speak. “Social” has come to mean the exact opposite of what it’s meant for centuries. Instead of actual interaction and communication, we define “social” as once- or twice-removed ego validation through button-clicking.

Ding.

EA gets multi-year Star Wars games deal

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:00:20 -0700

EA gets multi-year Star Wars games deal:

Uh oh. Considering EA’s recent reputation, do we assume we’re doomed?

1313?

The proper way to handle game piracy

Thu, 02 May 2013 17:52:01 -0700

The proper way to handle game piracy:

The makers of Game Dev Tycoon, a game where players run a game development company, released a “cracked” version of their own game. It worked just fine, but as the pirates would play, they would start to see this beautiful message:

Boss, it seems that while many players play our new game, they steal it by downloading a cracked version rather than buying it legally. If players don’t buy the games they like, we will sooner or later go bankrupt.

DRM done right.¹

It’s worth buying just for this alone. ↩

Android Babel API?

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:31:19 -0700

The communication situation on Android has gotten worse with the introduction of Google+. We used to have just Messaging (SMS), and Gtalk, and then they added Messenger. And they did this after Apple introduced iMessage, which simplified messaging. It seemed so counter-productive. So when I read things like this, I jump for joy:

Rumors have been swirling that Google is working on a cross-platform messaging service called Babel that will tie together all of its existing communication products, from Google Talk and Hangouts to Voice and Google+ Messenger.

It sounds like it could fall slightly short of everything that I would hope for, though. Android is in a perfect place to make their system even better, for everyone, not only when in Googleland. Android already has an API to allow any app to sync their contact details into your People app. What if they made a communication API, that any app could tie into, that would allow you to use just the native Android communication app, and be able to talk to everyone on all platforms. It could be SMS, Gtalk, WhatsApp, and Facebook, and I wouldn’t have to care how.

Someone on the Android team, please do it!

Additionally, this global app needs to behave similar to Facebook’s new Chatheads. Being able to keep browsing and doing other things while my chat is minimized, and then opening it partly to answer, and get right back to it: that is the way messaging must work on Android going forward. No butts.

I’ve always enjoyed Android messaging more than iOS, and a big reason is because the Android Messaging app shows the person’s picture next to their messages. For that reason, I’ve always assigned people I message frequently with a photo, if they haven’t chosen one themselves. This new API (call it Babel) would be really push it into the new age of text communication.

'Feed reading is an open web problem'

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:32:39 -0700

'Feed reading is an open web problem':

Luis Villa raises an excellent question about RSS being an open web problem:

In other words – why is RSS an open web problem? why is it different from, say, email?

His answer:

If my browser doesn’t tightly integrate email, the open web doesn’t suffer. If my browser doesn’t tightly integrate feed discovery and subscription, well, we get exactly what is happening: a mass migration away from consuming (and publishing!) news through the open web, and instead it being channeled into closed, integrated publishing and subscribing stacks like FB and Twitter that give users a good subscribing and reading experience.

And then he explores what is needed (by browsers) to fix this open web problem.

Tech sites covering the Boston bombing

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:32:09 -0700

The Boston Marathon news is certainly a tragic thing, but to read about it on The Verge felt shockingly out of place. I wasn’t alone. MG Siegler on the coverage of the Boston bombings on tech sites:

Rather than directly send their readers to other places doing actual reporting, these sites all wrote at least one post (and in the case of Mashable, something like a dozen shameful posts) simply embedding, copying and pasting, or rejurgitating others’ information. And guess what they all got as a result? Pageview gold.

It seems the editor-in-chief disagrees, but then, of course he would. Still, his argument seems obtusely wrong:

We have never thought of ourselves as a “tech” site (and certainly not a “blog”).

Ohhhhh rrrealllyyyy? Not a tech site, you say? Strange, how when I hit the home page, the “sections” show me “web”, “gaming”, “apps”, “Apple”, “Android”, “mobile, and the like. What’s their About page say?

The Verge was founded in 2011 in partnership with Vox Media, and covers the intersection of technology, science, art, and culture.

Not tech? Alright, I get ya. Clearly, The Verge is about technology culture. Being a person who likes technology, and all that. But, you say the intersection. I used the think that meant “when a story touches on all of these subjects”, but now I’m less certain.

Instead, his argument continues:

We think of ourselves as a news site which covers the culture of now (for lack of a better term), the world at this moment, as it is — what matters to people who live and work in 2013.

So all the people who live in 2013 are interesting in the Asus Taichi tablet? Or that a Twitter exec didn’t say no to a ‘Twitter Home’? Or Facebook hiring a Maps manager?

My wife lives in the same century as I do (I have to assume), and she doesn’t care about any of these things. I care about them though. I also care about how Barcelona is doing in the Champions League, and how much I have to pay in taxes, but I wouldn’t expect to find anything about those on The Verge.

I do see that how I (and much of the world) would be interested in the Boston bombing. We’re also probably interested in what’s currently happening in Egypt, and how the North Korea situation is proceeding. But I don’t see anything about those on the Verge, except where they point out when insane world leaders take to Twitter. Interesting.

The Verge home page also had a huge box the same day of this timely article: “Staying safe: how can we find and defend against explosives?” Say what? I came to read about tech. Sorry, not tech, but things interesting to a technologist. This is just a second article taking advantage of our human fear of blowing up.

In the following days, they have indeed had several articles about the tech related to the Boston situation, and that seems fine. Still, when it’s not your field, simply link to the people who do report in that field. The same way we wish the LA Times would just point at a tech site instead of blabbering about something they don’t understand.

New 'Star Wars' films to be released every summer

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:09:23 -0700

New 'Star Wars' films to be released every summer:

Great news:

[Disney] has just announced at CinemaCon that it will be releasing a new film in the universe every summer, starting in 2015.

I’m stoked. So this would mean:

2015: Episode VII
2016: Boba Fett?
2017: Episode VIII
2018: Han Solo?
2019: Episode IX
etc

Persona Beta 2

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:55:50 -0700

Persona Beta 2:

Oh yeah! So excited about all this hard work the team has put in. And it feels so good to know I helped on these features:

Use your Existing Accounts. We’ve bridged yahoo.com, but of course we built an open system: any domain can now become a Persona Identity Provider so users can reuse their existing accounts on any site that uses Persona.

Built Into Firefox OS. We built in support for Firefox OS and made Persona much faster on all mobile devices. This gives Firefox OS apps an even better experience when using Persona.

Action Launcher Shutters

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 18:46:12 -0700

Action Launcher Shutters:

Android launchers have been all pretty similar, just with a few different bits of customization. I can honestly say that Shutters are an awesome new feature added to my Android device. Swipe up on an icon, and it shows the related widget.

I know, right?

Disney closes LucasArts, Cancels Star Wars 1313

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:16:53 -0700

Disney closes LucasArts, Cancels Star Wars 1313:

That’s it. Like I said, I’ll lead the #OccupyDisneyland movement myself. Who’s with me?

Game Informer says there might still be hope:

We still believe in the video game industry, we still will provide Star Wars games, we’re just looking at different models rather than internal production[…] There’s always a possibility that it [Star Wars 1313] can still come out via licensing.

But really: Nooooooooooooooooooo!¹

All my childhood memories of TIE Fighter, X-Wing, Rebel Assault, Rebellion… ↩

Are Pre-Purchase Rewards Ruining the Game Industry?

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:00:16 -0700

Are Pre-Purchase Rewards Ruining the Game Industry?:

You’ve noticed that terrible practice also, right? The one where you see a game trailer, and then at the end it tells you the list of stores you can pre-order it from, and which bonus-piece-of-crap you’ll get from each?

Kyle McArthur has an excellent in-depth critique of the practice:

If you buy the game, you’re voting that whatever the developers, publishers, or retailers did, worked. It doesn’t matter if you only liked some of it, and didn’t like other parts, the money speaks for you.

Worth a read. And a scotch.

A Facebook Phone?

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 22:01:17 -0700

A Facebook Phone?:

If that’s true, the most fascinating thing to me about this invitation is that it mentions Android at all.

Indeed. The phrasing “New Home on Android” makes me think of a Facebook themed launcher, or otherwise some sort of new app that replaces the current Facebook app.

The Real Firefox OS Mission

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:00:20 -0700

The Real Firefox OS Mission:

Clearly, we hope Firefox OS in itself helps a lot of people. But here’s the real mission:

In this sense, Firefox OS is as much a project to improve the Web as it is a project to build a new mobile operating system. Every Firefox OS API Mozilla can get adopted by other major browsers makes it easier for developers to convert vanilla Web apps into “native” Firefox OS apps, and vice versa. Even if Mozilla’s OS never gains significant market share, the effort to flesh out a complete set of Web standards for mobile computing will help to push the Web forward.

And:

Firefox OS could have a big impact on the Web even if it never gains significant market share. By pushing the Web forward, Mozilla is helping to ensure that mobile websites will continue to be relevant even as developers create hundreds of thousands of proprietary apps. Firefox could lose the battle for the smartphone OS market but still win the war for open standards.

Unreal Engine 3 in JavaScript

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:54:54 -0700

Unreal Engine 3 in JavaScript:

This is Epic!¹ JavaScript has really been gaining ground recently. Soon we will play triple-AAA quality games by going to a website.

Zing! ↩

Friends Don’t Let Friends Curate

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:00:20 -0700

Friends Don’t Let Friends Curate:

As we all venture further and further into the depths of the internet we find people that share our interests. Lots of them, actually. Letting these people — people you look up to or share interests with or share careers with — curate the content you see starts to make more sense than letting your great aunt Sally run the show.

This sums up why we always want something besides Facebook. We want to see content from people who are experts in the topics we like, not from people we get along with who happen to be physically located near us.

Google Keep

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:03:44 -0700

Google Keep:

After playing with Keep for a few days, here’s my brief brain dump about it:

The design is gorgeous!
It’s oh-so-fast! Using the widget, it’s near instantaneous to hit the the Record button, and be recording a new note that gets transcribed with barely an error. Compared to Evernote, which takes a couple seconds to get up and running with a new note.
It’s already integrated with Google Now. Just say “Google, note to self…”, and blam-o.
I use the widget as a super simple reminder system. I’m terrible with todos, but occasionally need to remember to do a simple action when I get home, or when I wake up. The widget helps show me this reminders.
It integrates with Drive, so you should be able to write and store decent notes or photos, and find them again.
There’s FUD about Google potentially shuttering Keep in the future, and while that may happen, I’m not too worried. It’s part of Drive, which is a for-pay product, like Dropbox. Plus, if they still decide to close it down, you can access all your files from Drive just like a normal file system. Drive can sync to your computer, so all your files are still there.
Android was in need of a default note/reminder app, and this fills it.
I look forward to the things Google could add to Keep to integrate even more with the Google eco-system. Like some of these suggestions from David Pierce:

We immediately had visions of being able to jot down notes with Keep and seamlessly email them out through Gmail, or convert the hastily-scribbled “get lunch with Jane on Wednesday” into a Calendar event. What if you could send photos from your Google Glass to your Keep stream, or jot down an address and then have Google Maps navigate you there later?