So it doesn’t cure cancer, AIDS, and solve world hunger, but the Apple tablet was overhyped to begin with. Regardless, I am quite pleased with the result.

I feel like I did after I saw the iPhone 3G S — it’s cool, it’s in the right direction for tablets, netbooks, and readers; it is a tad underwhelming. I’d love to see an iSight on it. Perhaps Apple chose not to implement an iSight in order to keep the cost down. If so, good move on their part. Apple is known for pouring over every detail, and for whatever reason they chose to forgo an iSight on this iteration of the iPad, I have no doubt that the next version will have one.

I love that the iPad is unlocked, however, AT&T is still the only carrier in which 3G is supported. T-Mobile uses a different frequency for their 3G and is thus incapable of providing 3G speeds to the iPad. Notice how both AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM technologies, but 3G on the iPhone isn’t supported by T-Mobile. At the same time, the Nexus One has 3G supported by T-Mobile but not AT&T. T-Mobile is capable of delivering EDGE to both the iPhone and iPad, but EDGE is significantly inferior to 3G and undesirable. Verizon is implementing LTE this year, a GSM based technology. It’ll be interesting to see if this will support the iPad and iPhone’s 3G radio when it debuts.

What is truly great about the iPad?

Its potential.

While it does look like a large iPhone, I absolutely love how Apple is treating the iPad as a third medium. I was thoroughly impressed with how Apple did not merely port iWork to a super-iPhone-sized display, but took the time to creatively craft a UI and experience unique to the iPad. While it is easy to dismiss iWork as a “work app suite”, through iWork for the iPad, Apple has shown how the iPad’s screen and multitouch inputs can be taken advantage of from a usability perspective. This is important.

Address Book, iTunes, iPhoto, iBooks — these apps look solid. I love the tangible feel Apple is going for in flipping and manipulating pages and photos with your hand. Sure, the iPhone has had this, but flicking and flipping create two different experiences and emotional responses.

Over the years, the iPhone has exploded as a medium for creativity, engineering, and imagineering. The Wall Street Journal has demonstrated in their app that inline video can be displayed alongside text. Cool. I can’t wait to see this taken a step further with interactive media and textbooks*. The potential to impact education, the textbook industry, liberal arts and technology is here; and it’s in the form of the iPad.

The future has arrived.

*UPDATE: After writing this, I learned of a company called INKLING that is doing this very thing.

Films, art, technology, anything, I base my perspectives on a more thin-sliced, emotional attachment to the object, later utilizing my analytical mind to determine the constituents of my feelings. My emotions, my sentiments, define me as the artist that I am. They make me this ardent, driven man; but when it comes to achieving goals and completing tasks, emotions get in the way.

Perhaps it is time to actively disconnect.

I am reminded by the Zen is Stupid episode, “Negotiation“: “I think you have to disconnect,” says Gwen Bell.

Right. On. The. Head, Gwen.

I find that I am a better entrepreneur, a better leader, better at achieving goals and dreams when I personally disconnect from the task at hand. While it is easy to see how this can and should be applied towards objective situations such as the aforementioned, it applies to the artistic process as well.

When I am writing, I pour my heart out. I think. I dream. I write. What do I do once these words are down on paper? Nothing. Why? I am too involved in them. Perhaps I fear failure. Perhaps I am not satisfied with my work. Regardless, while this emotional attachment is fervent, thrilling, and moving, it is also binding. It motivates us, it drives us, it is our passion. However, emotions are unstructured. Try to structure your emotions while submitting to them and you will find your feelings and creativity dampened. This is why we artists let our our emotions and imaginations run wild. It is liberating and ascending.

Emotions are fleeting, though. “Love is blind.” Why? That physical feeling is so powerful that it prevents us from stepping back and rationally observing the situation. In “Blink”, Malcolm Gladwell describes how as the heart rises above 120bpm, blood flow is redirected from logical parts of the brain towards instinctual parts crucial for survival. In these moments we are rationally bound. I have felt this before. Now that I am aware of it, I can begin to control it. It is good to escape to the world of raw emotion from time to time, but when it comes to the process of setting and achieving goals, to acquiring our dreams, emotions only give us the vision — they do not get us to our goal.

These written words — what do I do with them?

So far, I have not done enough. They sit in my story-writing software waiting to be paired up with additional typographic mates. They are infused with emotion and intent, yet they lack structure. It is at this point that one must actively disconnect. While I am sure I am not the first to coin this term, active disconnect is what I refer to as the process in which one retains their umbilical cords of emotion, that which feeds and nurtures the work, to the piece itself, but takes a step back in order to assess the bigger picture — where am I going and how do I get there?

To define this in David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” terms (thanks, Patrick), this sequence is the bridge between the mind-mapping process (read: creative, emotional outpouring) and the organizational process (read: compiling, editing, structuring, defining).

It is this small but ever so important bridge that has been missing in my life. I am so in love with the creative process that I never separate myself from my work in order to actually give it form. Remember: “love is blind.” Thus these thoughts, dreams, and visions float on in a sea of abstraction. Amorphous, they refuse to take shape; but if you were to ask me for water, I could not simply pour it into your hands. It must be contained.

The more I reflect upon this approach of actively disconnecting, the more I see its truth. Art, business, technology, dreams, life, goals, the opposite sex — it is applicable in all situations. It is the symbiosis of emotion and form.

I recall one of my closest friends telling me: “I just had to do [this film].” Elaborating, he described how he could could no longer dream of “someday.” He had to do it now. His passion to be a filmmaker stirred within him.

So what did he do?

He actively disconnected, and gave that passion form.

Emotion inspires. Ambition drives. Form defines.

The original article can be read here, though it is not a prerequisite to understanding my conclusion: http://www.gamehounds.net/2009/05/22/the-end-of-piracy/

My response follows.

Cooper,

You definitely are tech savvy. Unfortunately, every idea within your proposition can be circumvented. It may take some time, but it can and will be. Rather than spending a copious amount of time describing how it can be broken, let alone difficult to implement, we should look at why games are pirated in the first place.

There was a poll a year or two ago by an independent video game developer that asked visitors why they pirated games. The top reasons were: to circumvent DRM, the cost of games, and poor quality games.

DRM.

DRM has always been beaten — it only takes a matter of time. Companies are wasting time and money by utilizing DRM. Of course Macrovision doesn’t want you to know its DRM is worthless, but it really is. Drop DRM. Yes, pirates will be enthused, but more importantly, legitimate customers, those whom are truly hurt by DRM, will be relieved.

Expensive games.

Years ago when MGS2 first came out for the Xbox, EB Games (now owned by Gamestop), sold the game for $20 a pop for the first week of its release. After that first week the price went up to $40. A manager at one of my local EB Games said they sold boxes of that game that first week. Why? The game was incredibly affordable. Even if you walked into the store with no knowledge of the game, taking a chance that a game may be bad at $20 is not a huge risk. $40-60? That is a big risk.

I also learned that charging $60 for this gen’s games is not actually due to increased development costs as some in the industry would like you to believe. It is actually because of this: Publishers/developers began releasing standard editions at $50 and special editions at $60, offering only minimal difference between the two. The special editions sold very well, telling publishers/developers that gamers were okay with paying $10 more for a game. One could argue that the special editions came with more, which technically they did, but it’s not like these special editions came loaded like Blizzard Collector’s Editions do. Charging $10 more was clearly not going to alienate the gaming majority.

Of course games are taking more and more to create; yet games cost about the same 5 years ago and 10 years ago, perhaps even 15 years ago. Games have become increasingly complex, yet they’ve remained relatively close in price point. I don’t find these price hikes fully justified.

Poor Quality Games.

Recently I bought Universe at War on Steam for $5 during a weekend sale. I had heard of the game, and it turns out that I had played it before, but I figured $5 was chump-change for a video game and whipped out my credit card. Fortunately the game turned out to be rather good, but $5 was not much of a risk at all to find out. Yet we have companies charging $50 for games like “Transformers”, which is horrid, and “Terminator Salvation”, which is only four hours long! I don’t mind paying $40 or so for a good game such as “Morrowind”, “Warcraft 3″, any game in the “Unreal Tournament” series, or many other quality games out there, but with so many mediocre games flooding the market, it’s not cost effective to take a chance at that price point. Bring the cost of games down, the quality of games up, and games will sell themselves.

Digital Distribution.

I absolutely abhorred digital distribution when Steam was launched. How dare I be told when and where I can play my games. Another reason I loved physical mediums was that they were much easier to run on an emulation layer in OS X and Linux. I have since changed my mind.

I have become so sick of physical discs, cases, and boxes lying around, let alone having to track down a manual for a CD key, that I am in the process of thinning my movie, music, and video game collection physically. I adore how Blizzard and Bioware let you store your CD keys online for easy retrieval. Blizzard even lets you download the game client. The same can be said of Steam. With Steam, I can easily download my purchases hassle-free. As a result, I often look to digital distribution systems first when looking to purchase a video game. The downside is waiting for the game to download, but Steam has mitigated pre-orders through pre-loads, and this issue will continue to minimize as Internet connectivity speeds increase.? Digital distribution is extremely enticing to publishers and developers for two primary reasons. One, it’s cost effective. Publishers don’t have to print and ship discs, cases, and manuals, let alone give a cut to retail stores. Two, it circumvents used game sales. Ideally I would like to see digital distribution services allow you to transfer your game license to another account at will, but I fear this will never happen — at least not for some time. While the downside of current implementations of digital distribution is the inability to resell your games, services are in development that will allow gamers to rent games digitally, making gaming even more cost effective, available, and on-demand. With a shift towards digital distribution for multimedia as a whole, I believe we will see mass adoption of digital distribution for video games very quickly — especially if publishers and developers lower the cost of their games as a result of the affordability and efficiency of digital distribution.

Conclusion.

Video games need to become more affordable, better in quality, stripped of all DRM, and available on digital distribution systems. Yes, pirates can crack even digital distribution systems, but video games will continue to be pirated regardless of medium. Potential video game customers need to be enticed into buying games over pirating games. These aforementioned methods lower the cost, increase the quality, and make a game easily accessible — three core principals to selling any product.

It is easy for any industry to blame pirates for their failures and flaws. Look at how bloated “sales lost to piracy” figures are. This is done for shock value. If you research how these figures are computed, you would probably laugh. Piracy is a real threat and a valid concern, but there are efficient, affordable means to combat this nuisance, reaching out to current and would-be pirates without harm to the legitimate customer.

Recently, a friend of mine asked how he could get started in learning the shell. As the shell can initially appear a bit intimidating, I decided to put together an introduction to the shell.

Getting Started

Entering the shell from a desktop environment is as easy as opening Terminal in OS X (/Applications/Utilities) or opening GnomeTerminal or Konsole in Linux (sorry Windows users. Windows has a completely worthless shell. You do have an option, though: install Cygwin. Details in the foot notes).

Upon opening your terminal application, you will be greeted with a command prompt.

Wraith:~ tricon$

Typically this prompt will consist of your computer name, current directory, user name, and end with a “$”. This “$” shows that you are logged in as a user (more on this later). Note that in this case my current directory is displayed as ~. ~ means “home directory” or “user directory”, and is where files pertaining to your user account are located.

ls

The first command to learn is one you will use frequently: ls. Type this now and hit return.

Wraith:~ tricon$  ls
Complete        Documents       Library         Pictures        StoryMill Backups   Zinio Library       organize
Desktop          Downloads      Movies          Public          Web Sync        autopar.rb      wo_conduit.sh
Development     Icon?           Music           Sites           WebServer       dwhelper
Wraith:~ tricon$ 

ls is short for “list”. This command lists all files in the current directory.

Most commands have options. These options adjust the way a command operates or what it operates on.

A useful option for the ls command is -a. Note that - typically denotes that you are issuing options to the command in order to differentiate from a parameter. These parameters can be additional input, a file, or another form of input that the command requires (more on parameters later).

Before you re-run ls with the -a option, I’m going to teach you a very useful trick. Hit the up arrow on your keyboard. This will bring back the last command you typed. In fact, you can keep hitting the up arrow to cycle through your past commands.

Hit the up arrow and append -a to the ls command.

Wraith:~ tricon$ ls -a
.           .bash_history       .fonts.cache-1      .lesshst        .rnd            .viminfo        Library
..          .bash_profile       .gconf          .macports       .sabnzbd        .vimperatorrc       Movies
.BridgeLabelsAndRatings .bashrc         .gconfd         .mc         .sh_history     .vimprojects        Music
.CFUserTextEncoding .bittorrent     .gem            .mozilla        .smb            .wapi           Pictures
.CurseClient        .config         .gemrc          .mplayer        .spumux         .wine-243ASY        Public
.DS_Store       .cpan           .gitconfig      .mysql_history      .sqlite_history     .wine-rEp0fS        Sites
.DownloadManager    .crash_report_checksum  .gitk           .ncftp          .ssh            .zsh_history        StoryMill Backups
.FontForge      .crash_report_frames    .gnome2         .parallels_settings .sshterm        .zshrc          Web Sync
.MacOSX         .crash_report_preview   .gnome2_private     .profile        .subversion     Complete        WebServer
.Trash          .cups           .gnucash        .psync.db       .svk            Desktop         Zinio Library
.Xauthority     .dvdcss         .gvimrc         .qt         .tweet          Development     autopar.rb
.Xcode          .emacs          .irb_history        .rails-plugin-sources   .twitter        Documents       dwhelper
.adobe          .emacs.d        .jedit          .rdebug_hist        .vim            Downloads       organize
.banking        .fontconfig     .kismet         .recently-used.xbel .vimfuzzyfinder     Icon?           wo_conduit.sh

ls -a lists all files in the current directory, including hidden ones. Files beginning with a period are considered hidden.

Now type: ls -l

Wraith:~ tricon$ ls -l
total 32
rwxr-xr-x    4 tricon  admin   136 Apr 11 03:52 Complete
drwx------    8 tricon  staff   272 Apr 23 06:30 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x   13 tricon  staff   442 Apr 21 18:37 Development
drwx------   88 tricon  staff  2992 Apr 18 14:18 Documents
drwxr-xr-x@  75 tricon  staff  2550 Apr 23 05:29 Downloads
-rw-r--r--@   1 tricon  staff     0 Nov  8 18:48 Icon?
drwx------   65 tricon  staff  2210 Feb 10 20:13 Library
drwx------    9 tricon  staff   306 Apr 23 06:18 Movies
drwx---r-x   72 tricon  staff  2448 Apr 19 22:13 Music
drwx------+ 130 tricon  staff  4420 Apr 23 05:20 Pictures
drwxrwxrwx    8 tricon  staff   272 Feb 14 17:43 Public
drwxr-xr-x    5 tricon  staff   170 Dec  2 22:52 Sites
drwxr-xr-x    8 tricon  staff   272 Apr 19 21:30 StoryMill Backups
drwxr-xr-x    6 tricon  staff   204 Mar  6 23:22 Web Sync
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root    wheel    19 Feb 10 19:42 WebServer -> /Library/WebServer/
drwxr-xr-x    7 tricon  staff   238 Dec  9 17:13 Zinio Library
-rwxr-xr-x@   1 tricon  staff   341 Jan 24 14:43 autopar.rb
drwxr-xr-x@  37 tricon  staff  1258 Apr 23 06:42 dwhelper
drwxr-xr-x    5 tricon  staff   170 Jan 17 16:38 organize
-rwxr-xr-x@   1 tricon  staff   120 Mar 14 06:09 wo_conduit.sh

This lists files vertically, showing their attributes (more on this later).

Now type: ls -al

Wraith:~ tricon$ ls -al
total 43616
drwxr-xr-x   98 tricon  staff      3332 Apr 22 22:26 .
drwxr-xr-x    5 root    admin       170 Jan 23 10:16 ..
-rw-rw----@   1 tricon  staff       173 Aug 26  2008 .BridgeLabelsAndRatings
-rw-------    1 tricon  staff         3 Apr 12  2008 .CFUserTextEncoding
drwxr-xr-x    6 tricon  staff       204 Nov 25 00:47 .CurseClient
-rw-r--r--@   1 tricon  staff     21508 Apr 23 04:47 .DS_Store
drwxr-xr-x    4 tricon  staff       136 Jul  3  2008 .DownloadManager
drwx------    2 tricon  staff        68 Feb  1 18:32 .FontForge
drwx------    3 tricon  staff       102 Apr 22 02:44 .MacOSX
drwx------    2 tricon  staff        68 Apr 23 06:18 .Trash
-rw-------    1 tricon  staff         0 Mar  8 19:10 .Xauthority
drwxr-xr-x    2 tricon  staff        68 Jul  1  2008 .Xcode
drwxr-x--x    3 tricon  staff       102 Apr 17  2008 .adobe
drwx------    2 tricon  staff        68 Jun 23  2008 .banking
-rw-------    1 tricon  staff     64347 Apr 22 23:31 .bash_history
-rw-r--r--@   1 tricon  staff        17 Mar  4 16:54 .bash_profile
-rw-r--r--    1 tricon  staff       314 Apr 16 17:27 .bashrc
drwx------    3 tricon  staff       102 Sep 23  2008 .bittorrent
drwxr-xr-x    4 tricon  staff       136 Jun 17  2008 .config
drwxr-xr-x    5 root    staff       170 Jun  2  2008 .cpan
-rw-r--r--    1 tricon  staff      5745 Nov 20 04:14 .crash_report_checksum
-rw-r--r--    1 tricon  staff     11021 Nov 20 04:14 .crash_report_frames
-rw-r--r--    1 tricon  staff     17927 Nov 20 04:14 .crash_report_preview
drwx------    3 tricon  staff       102 Apr 13  2008 .cups
...

Here we provided two options to ls: -a and -l. With most commands you can append them behind a single -.

Notice that when using -a with the ls command there are two odd looking entries: . and ..
. refers to the current directory that you are in while .. refers to the parent directory — the one above the current directory. These are very useful and lead us into the next command.

cd

cd stands for “change directory”. This allows you to move between directories in the shell.

Type: cd ..

Wraith:~ tricon$ cd ..
Wraith:Users tricon$ 

cd .. means “change to directory ..” Since .. refers to the parent directory, you just went up a directory in the shell.

Wraith:Users tricon$ ls
Shared  tricon

We are now in the directory for user accounts (/Users/ in OS X; /home/ in Linux). You should see your username in this listing. Here’s a neat trick. Type: cd followed by a letter or two of your username and hit the tab key. Your username was just auto-completed.

Auto-completion is a huge time saver. At any point while you are typing part of a path, you can hit tab to auto-complete the part of the path you are typing. But what happens when there are multiple possibilities? Hitting tab the first time will do nothing on the command line (thought it will typically make a beeping noise). Hitting tab again will list the possibilities. In order for tab to auto-complete, you need to type enough characters so that the possibilities are narrowed down to one, at which point hitting tab will auto-complete.

You’ve just learned two very common and important commands. This next command is one of the most important as it will allow you to learn how to use virtually any command.

man

man is short for “manual”. This command will display the manual, or “man page”, for virtually any command. Type: man ls.

You will be shown a window with all of the details you could ever want to know about the ls command. Within this screen you can use the arrow keys to navigate. Hit q to “quit” and return back to the command prompt.

Homework

For your homework, practice changing directories and listing their contents. For bonus points, practice using some of the available options listed in the man page for each command.

Final Notes

You have begun your journey to learn one of the most powerful ways to interact with a computer: the command line. While these two commands may not seem like much, they are building blocks for a shell that features hundreds of commands. These copious commands allow you to do virtually anything, from mass renaming files to looking under the hood of your operating system, automating tasks, and beyond.

In part two we’ll cover more commands, show you how to manage files from the shell, and explain what attributes are and why they are important.

Cygwin

For you Windows users out there, there is hope! Cygwin is a Linux shell environment for Windows. Upon installing this, you will be able to launch a program from your Start Menu that will provide you with a shell nearly identical to the ones available in OS X and Linux.

Cygwin can be found here: http://www.cygwin.com/

Nearly two years later, Twitter is still a part of my daily routine.

For my reflection, I would like to mention some of the Tweeple that I have grown closer to because of Twitter. These select individuals have transcended from Internet acquaintances to real life friends.

Graham English (@grahamenglish)
Graham was one of my early mutual follows. A successful musician, blogger, and a fellow coffee aficionado, Graham has become very dear to me. In the early days of Twitter, we connected through our love of keyboards, music, and Macs. Nearly two years later, we have grown to share views on politics, science, religion, film, and life in general. I greatly admire Graham for his fervor for music, making a living out of what he loves, and as a freelancer. Graham is the kind of friend that always has your back. I most certainly will always have his. While I have not had the pleasure of meeting Graham in person, I aim to do so within the next year, buying each other that beer we have been promising.

Gwen Bell (@gwenbell)
I discovered Gwen Bell’s blog through Graham English. As one of the most passionate individuals I have known, Gwen’s expertise is broad, ranging from social media to technology, spirituality, humanism, and beyond. Her enthusiasm not only brightens my Twitter stream, it inspires me personally. A creative woman, I will never forget a hilarious prank her and I pulled on our mutual friend, Patrick Reynolds. Hearing her unforgettable laugh brings a smile, reminding me of what a caring, light-hearted woman she is.

Patrick Reynolds (@patrickcantype)
Through Gwen’s blog and the podcast she co-produces, “Zen Is Stupid”, I discovered a man on a mission. That man was Patrick Reynolds. His mission: The Peak Condition Project. His goal: to achieve the body of Bruce Lee through daily exercise and conscious, life-long change in body and mind. He succeeded and has now developed a business inspiring others to make such changes in their lives as well. Also a music connoisseur and graphic designer, Patrick is wise and understanding, having helped me through many parts of my life. A visionary, Patrick has become dear friend, and a model of hard work and dedication.

Jeff Ledoux (@rambls)
My friendship with Jeff is a perfect example of how truly small the world is. Over a year ago I emailed the web service Me.dium suggesting they release a plugin for Safari. A response came from a man named Jeff Ledoux. As further emails were exchanged, Jeff and I began to connect and develop a friendship; one that branched through IM, Twitter, and other web sites and services. Jeff and I have a deep friendship that has allowed us to open up about very personal parts of our lives — a friendship that is only growing stronger.

Chris Owens (@ocell)
Chris Owens is an upcoming industrial designer. His attention to detail and taste for quality art and product design is inspiring, and his penchant for 3D imagery gives us a common ground. My friendship with Chris solidified when we discovered that we were both on a journey. Taking the conversation to a more personal level, Chris and I were able to relate further and encourage each other. Chris has become a very good friend, and I am looking forward to watching our friendship evolve even further.

Jeff Tippett (@jefftippett)
Jeff Tippett is many things rolled into one. He is a people-person, a natural leader, outgoing, and an incredible friend. Jeff is one of my early mutual follows as well, and is one of the few people I have met over the Internet that I have actually talked to on the phone. Jeff has always been there for me, whether he is offering words of wisdom, cracking a joke, or making a friendly jab. He inspires me through his words, character, and love for his children. I adore Jeff and know that our friendship is just beginning.

Leah Wallace (@MatthewsChick)
Leah is one of the most energizing women I have ever met. Full of life, love, and laughs, Leah is the kind of friend you always greet with a hug. Her warm demeanor and love for her friends and family is intoxicating, setting an example of how truly beautiful the selfless love of others is. Though my friendship with Leah has just begun, her reception of our new-found friendship has made me feel as if we have been friends for years. Leah is truly a blessing, and I am thankful for her friendship.

Jerry Chen (@jcsalterego)
Some time ago, I received a new follower notification. It was a man named Jerry Chen. Following him back, I learned that he used to live here in Champaign, IL, and now lives where I intend to move: Austin, TX. Jerry cracks me up as he is highly intelligent and witty. We always have something to chat about as he is also a programmer, though he worships the snake (Python) as I envy the gem (Ruby). Jerry introduced me to an IRC channel for Champaign-Urbana computer scientists, and it was through this chat channel that I was able to get to know Jerry better, meet like minds, and make new friends.

Don Yuhas (@DonAtPoundCS)
Don Yuhas is a badass. I was introduced to Don through Jerry as Don hangs out in the aforementioned chat channel. We shortly began following each other on Twitter, finally meeting at the first C-U Tweetup on April first. Don is a computer scientist and future fellow motorcyclist. He is an incredibly supportive, welcoming individual and is the kind of person that you are always eager to chat or hang out with. I look forward to getting to know Don better over the coming years.

Nick Tabick (@nicktabick)
I first met Nick Tabick in the aforementioned chat channel and later in person at the local Tweetup. Thoughtful, intelligent, and open-minded, Nick is a person whose advice I greatly trust. Though programming, Linux, and classic PC gaming give us plenty of ground to relate on, it is his cool, collected, welcoming presence that makes Nick one of the most unforgettable people I have met. He is an incredibly observant individual, and while I have not known Nick very long, is quickly becoming a good friend.

Twitter has opened social doors over the Internet in a whole new way. Unlike services like Facebook that connect already connected individuals, Twitter is about building a network — your network. Through friends, mentions, and search, one can begin to build a personalized community organized around like minds and common ground, or differences. You decide. Your Twittersphere allows you to receive influence from those you follow while allowing you to exert influence upon those that follow you. It is a powerful system.

I, for one, am thankful. I am thankful for the opportunity Twitter has given me to get connected to others, to become acquainted, to become friends. Graham, Gwen, Patrick, Jeff, Chris, Jeff, Leah, Jerry, Don, and Nick — thank you. Thank you for your follows, and most importantly, thank you for your friendship.

Thanks to all of you for connecting with me, whether on this blog, Twitter, IRC, or otherwise.

This is just the beginning.

Vimeo has changed their Terms of Service to state:

“VIMEO shall be entitled to unrestricted use of any Submission for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without compensation to the submitter.”

In contrast, Blip.tv’s TOS states:

“Blip.tv respects the fact that your content is yours, and will not sell advertising on your content or sell your content without your permission.”

There’s a rather stark difference between these two TOSs. Vimeo backs up their TOS by stating, “For legal reasons and technical realities, we need to keep the language broad in our Terms & Conditions; however, that being said, we do not generally commericialize any members’ videos, and if you are making your posts private, it is very unlikely we ever would.”

I understand that when running a service such as Vimeo, things can get hairy on the legal side. Having a more liberal TOS in favor of Vimeo eases that pain for them. However, if Vimeo wishes to grow its user base and avoid a potential boycott, it needs to endure the pains of writing a more clearly defined TOS in favor of the user.

What you create should belong to you regardless of where you choose to host it. Vimeo has rights, but only as the distributor, not as the owner. Decide for yourself, but I for one will not be hosting any material on Vimeo until their TOS is reflective of Blip.tv’s attitude towards user content.

For some time I have wanted to move to Austin, TX. Its center as a music, technology, and film hub has always excited me. I must say, though, that LA has attractive elements as well. Hollywood creates an atmosphere of opportunity with the rush of traffic and winding roads posing desirable foes for my motorcycle addiction. However, my time in LA reinforced a philosophical concept that I had forgotten: I am small and insignificant. While I am confident in my abilities, so are many others. It is a highly competitive world out there, and to “succeed” I must continue to work diligently and valiantly. I find this exciting and reassuring that my new-found direction is apt for me. I will be working as hard as I can to raise money so that come July, I can relocate out of state to pursue my passions.

With my partner, Luke, buying a house in Champaign, and my other partner, Brett, seeking to relocate to Champaign, this potentially poses a problem for our company. I am confident that we will be able to work something out. My current involvement in the company does not require my physical presence at this time. It is time that I take a big step towards my future. I have a vision. I have a goal. I have an ambitious future. I will see it fulfilled.

This means that my days in Champaign, IL are greatly numbered. I adore Champaign and have many fond memories of it, but my future lies elsewhere. Over the course of my vacation, I learned what kind of city-person I am. I adore LA for the weather and its film scene, but I am more of a New York City person. I love the industrial/business scene and can easily see myself living there some day. At the same time, film is my dream. I see Austin as a good compromise.

We shall see what the future holds.

Featuring a high resolution display, the first radial LCD display on a consumer cell phone, and gorgeous laser etching that takes two weeks to complete, the Aura certainly has charm aside from its $2,000 price tag. While not a competitor to the iPhone in terms of functionality or price, the Aura servers as an elegant alternative to standard phones in terms of design. Unfortunately, Motorola has once again demonstrated their inability to polish their products.

Flip open the phone and the radial display switches to the phone’s menu after a brief pause. This is the best that Motorola can do? Motorola has a perfect opportunity to take advantage of their rather beautiful radial LCD screen, and a simple switch is all that they can come up with? How about a vibrant animation of particles merging from the edge of the screen to the center, cataclysmically “birthing” the menu into existence. Or a mechanical gear system that “unlocks” the menu. Even a simple fade would be better than a simple switch.

Alas, Motorola continues to show that it is not the great company of the 80s that it once was. Motorola, swallow your pride and take a look at what Apple does right: Apple’s products aren’t merely attractive on the outside. They’re through-and-through beautiful and polished. Just as Blizzard and Epic polish their video games again and again, you, Motorola, need to realize that the artistry of hardware and software design is more alive and important than ever. Be a leader, take us into the 21st century. You can no longer sell yourself on your name alone.

Occlude: to stop, close up, or obstruct.

Cull: to select from a large quantity.

Occlusion culling is a concept that is crucial to 3D graphics. It is the use of algorithms to select from a large selection of polygons what geometry should be occluded, obscured.

Why?

Let’s take a look at a conventional 3D pipeline.

1. Application / Scene
   1. Scene/Geometry database traversal
   2. Movement of objects, and aiming and movement of view camera
   3. Animated movement of object models
   4. Description of the contents of the 3D world
   5. Object Visibility Check including possible Occlusion Culling
   6. Select Level of Detail (LOD)
2. Geometry
   1. Transforms (rotation, translation, scaling)
   2. Transform from Model Space to World Space (Direct3D)
   3. Transform from World Space to View Space
   4. View Projection
   5. Trivial Accept/Reject Culling
   6. Back-Face Culling (can also be done later in Screen Space)
   7. Lighting
   8. Perspective Divide – Transform to Clip Space
   9. Clipping
   10. Transform to Screen Space
3. Triangle Setup
   1. Back-face Culling (or can be done in view space before lighting)
   2. Slope/Delta Calculations
   3. Scan-Line Conversion
4. Rendering / Rasterization
   1. Shading
   2. Texturing
   3. Fog
   4. Alpha Translucency Tests
   5. Depth Buffering
   6. Antialiasing (optional)
   7. Display

Note: this is but one example of a conventional 3D pipeline. Pipelines can vary.

As you can see, the conventional 3D pipeline contains a lot of science, math, logic, and engineering that we take for granted. We’re going to be dealing with but one area of this today, and that is the one that has been highlighted: “Object Visibility Check including possible Occlusion Culling”.

Let’s say you have modeled a Dodge Viper in Maya, and it contains roughly one-hundred thousand polygons. You may be inclined to think that one-hundred thousand polygons isn’t too difficult for a modern computer to render in real time, and in thinking so you would be right. However, what if you want ten of your Dodge Viper models onscreen at once? You are now sending one million polygons to your rendering pipeline.

Without the aid of occlusion culling, your hardware would be rendering one million polygons. This can be a strain depending on the hardware you’re dealing with. Either way, this is considerably more computationally intensive and time consuming than say rending three-hundred thousand polygons.

Occlusion culling mitigates the overhead involved in rendering a scene such as this. While algorithms may vary, a simple solution can be imagined with the following pseudo-code:

1. Determine the camera’s (user’s) field of view.
2. From the camera, project a vector towards every point within the its field of view.
3. If that vector comes into contact with a polygon, mark that polygon as visible.
4. Render all visible polygons.

Instead of rendering all polygons, whether visible or not, only visible polygons are rendered. This process adds an overhead of its own, however the performance gained offsets this overhead considerably.

This technology is available to all sorts of mediums: film, video games, and research to name a few. Now the next time you are working with or enjoying something that involves 3D graphics, you can truly appreciate the science and hard work that have gone into such prolific technology.

I shall leave you with this: Umbra Software’s occlusion culling tech demo — quite impressive.

It’s been six years since the last Star Trek film titled, “Nemesis”. While I enjoyed Nemesis, the Star Trek films have never been so epic until now. Hinted at in “First Contact” when Picard mentions the importance of humanity discovering alien life for the first time, the scale and magnitude of Star Trek seems to finally be apprehended in the upcoming flick by J. J. Abrams.

This trailer is truly stirring. The opening sequence teases you by making you think it’s something it’s not, but when you hear, “My name’s James Tiberius Kirk”, you can’t help but get that chill that says, “It’s here.” The trailer then begins to set the atmosphere of the film: Kirk, a lost man, looking to find his place in the world. Spock, a man of two worlds. I really hope that this film delivers on character development as Kirk and Spock are two of the most well known science fiction characters of all time.

Action ensues, and you can’t help but become excited at Abram’s cinematic approach to the piece. Swooping cameras, dolly-twists, and beautiful visuals set this film up to be a true work of art. While I’ve grown up a Star Wars fan and not a trekkie, I have always enjoyed and appreciated Star Trek — especially Star Trek’s diplomatic emphasis as opposed to Star War’s “cool factor.” This film may convert me to a trekkie.

Move over Star Wars prequels. This is how you resurrect a legacy.

I have been wanting to do an animation for some time. Unfortunately, like with many of my aspirations, it was put on the back burner. I began talking about it more regularly again a couple months ago — brainstorming, conceptualizing. I had ideas for certain elements, but I wasn’t sure how to start the story.

It came to me last night while I was at a bar with some friends in Chicago. I was sitting by myself as I was really tired and didn’t want to talk to anyone. I pulled out my moleskine, and with pen in hand, it began.

I’m pretty excited about it. I’m not ready to reveal any details other than this: it will be 2D. I feel that this particular perspective will be best for capturing the essence of this piece.

Stay tuned. The future begins…

Now. (Baloop!)

One step closer.

Things seem different. Envy’s allure is less seductive, and I begin to empathize with her. Her once coy looks are now more indifferent. I find myself less guarded. Surely this is one of her ploys; but I can’t resist.

Two steps closer.

Her beauty is striking, but she seems insecure. Her once devilish charm has been replaced with a countenance of sorrow. Where I once saw a shade, I now see a woman. A hint of emotion in her eyes ignites a revelation in me — she’s my antecedent!

Within arms reach.

She breaks. Her once enchanting eyes have been replaced by streams of resignation and remorse. Her voice breaks as she tells me her story.

As a child she lived in reverie. Desiring a life driven by her passions, she cared not what this world demanded of her. She knew not failure nor envy, for she saw all failures as a test of endurance, envy as the plunderer of dreams.

But as she grew into a woman she put aside her childish ways — including that of her child-like wonder. Where she once embraced diligence, she rested in the arms of enervation. Where she once was fueled by passion, she was extinguished by apathy. Where she once immersed herself in hope, she bathed in the recessions of despair.

She sobs.

Why then entice me with such a sad, desolate life?

She whispers. I have what she could have had: potential. If she could lure me into her trap, if she could make me like her, she could find solace in my then dismal existence. Despondent, she sold her soul to the Great Void to become the very thing she abhorred — Envy.

I think I get it now. I weep for her…

As I begin to walk away, I reflect on her sad, but inspiring, story. I hear something. As I look over my should, there she is, laughing. She looks up, her eyes enchanting once again, but this time she gives me a warm smile. I truly get it now.

Envy is not my sin. Envy is my impetus for transcendence. She is my warden. It is through her persistent conflict that I am taught courage, perseverance, diligence. It is because of her that my passions are defined.

I know not envy.

She remains just out of reach.

I see her in my mind. Shapeshifting, she confuses me. She eludes me. Do I know her? Probably not. Will I? I fear…

Nothing…. and yet everything.

Who am I, and what am I saying? My friends don’t know me. If they only knew the life I lived in the shadows. If only those who knew my life in the shadows knew of my life in the light.

I’m torn in two, woven together by the threads of sanity. But what a frail sanity that is.

Fuck you.

You know who you are. You’re reading this right now. You’re… writing this right now.

I don’t hate who I could be. I hate who I am. With every new day, I look at the past and think, “At least I’m not who I was then.” Yet a small part of me misses that old me. It’s a co-dependency — I must dismiss it.

Anyways, tomorrow will be the start of the new year. I can’t believe it’s already 2055. According to the death calender, this will be the year of my passing. What can I claim as accomplishments in my life? Upon reflection, will I mourn my failures to invoke my dreams? Or will I rejoice with what I have done for my family, my friends, myself?

I’ll have to give this more thought — tomorrow.

I’m almost done with, “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins, and I must say, I can’t put it down.

I’ve been questioning my beliefs a lot over the past few years. This year I began listening to a Buddhist podcast on Zen, and recently, my faith in Christianity. I went through this about a year ago but regressed to Christianity out of comfort. Here I am again, only this time I’m finding my belief in the Christian God waning.

To summarize my beliefs: I think there could be a God, I just don’t know who the fuck He is. I believe in evolution, and I’m living my life as if it’s the only one I have. Like my friend Patrick said, life is too short to waste mental power on an afterlife. If there is an afterlife, I’ll be pleasantly surprised providing that the God of the Bible is not real, and I don’t find myself in Hell.

Consequence

A side effect of my waning belief in the Christian God is a waxing awareness of the present. I feel more alive — lucky to belief alive that is. This enhanced awareness of the present has affected me in both big and little ways, from a newfound drive to what I want to do with my life, to an acuteness of the senses when I’m on my motorcycle.

An additional consequence is a greater desire for time management. Life is too short. I don’t have time to fuck around. Thus, things have got to go. I’m reminded of a blog post by the lovely Gwen Bell titled, “If You Can’t Pitch It, Ditch It“. Gwen describes a man she met that lived life by a stopwatch in order manage his time. It sounds extreme, but I get it now: life is too short to fuck around. A stopwatch was this man’s way of making efficient use of his time. This man would even evaluate his friendships, and call them off if they weren’t beneficial. While that may a bit harsh for my tastes, the point is that I need to make efficient use of my time.

Once I’ve finished “The God Delusion”, I’m going to read it through a second time and take notes. With these notes, I’ll post my thoughts as well as a full review on the book.

If you use MyOpenID.com as your OpenID provider, login at MyOpenID.com, go to “Account Settings”, then “Authentication Settings”. Under “Add an SSL Client Certificate”, enter a name for the computer your on and click, “Create Certificate”. This will install a SSL certificate in your browser that will automatically identify you when visiting MyOpenID.com.

A word of advise, do not use this method on a public or shared computer. Anyone that has access to your computer will have access to your MyOpenID.com account.

Alright guys, seriously… Is this a joke, or is Hostway.com just a big, fat joke in and of itself? (I’m going to go with the latter). This is such a simple request, and it’s not rocket science. Eight days without a reply… seriously? Wow… I can’t even begin to describe how shitty your service has been. I know I’m being a dick about this, but apparently that’s what it takes to get support from you. Even a simply reply saying, “We can’t get to your issue at this time because we’re engineering new ways to screw our customers,” would be better than nothing. Hell I’d give you props for having some balls. See you in another eight days! David Fendley Shatterglass Studios

It’s a damn shame that you can’t provide such basic services that are easily available through other hosts, like Crucial Paradigm (crucialp.com if you want to see why they rock). I can easily dump and manage databases with them. But hey, if you want to aspire to mediocrity, go right ahead. I can’t stop you. What I can do is cut my losses. Unfortunately, the person formerly in charge of the domain paid for the year in full. We’ll have to cut our losses as we move to other providers — providers that are competent. Oh, and you made my company’s Blacklist. We’ll be talking all of our future clients out of utilizing your services unless you can “magically” address this issue appropriately. David Fendley Shatterglass Studios