2.57pm
Get Lamp is a documentary that looks back at the era of text-based computer games. If you were born before, say, 1980, you might remember these. Basically, to get through the game, you had to type things like Go east, Take hammer, Touch lady
In the words of the documentary makers:
They presented puzzles, tricks and traps to be overcome. They were filled with suspense, humor and sadness. And they offered a unique type of joy as players discovered how to negotiate the obstacles and think their way to victory.
I remember playing a sort of ‘hardboiled crime’ text adventure on our old Amstrad CPC6128, and I surely must have played Zork at some point.
I later spent many hours playing Leisure Suit Larry, a more graphically advanced (and graphic!) incarnation of the adventure game, in which issuing instructions such as Touch lady were not only acceptable but encouraged.
(via Galleycat)
8.40am
Our TV reception only works if I unplug the antenna and thump the set-top box. Could Logie Baird have dared imagine such a wonderful future?
7.44pm
Microsoft Office autoupdates always make me nervous.
3.41pm
Lounge rooms for the little people who live inside your PC. Beautifully done, but I bet the vacuuming is a bitch.
(This Blog Rules)
4.09pm
If you gave your employer a document prepared using MS Word’s default styles, the only conclusion your employer could reach would be that they’d hired Charles Manson.
9.25am
Freelance writer Riccardo Mori steps back in time to a Mac running System 7.1 (connected to an old iBook running System 9 as "a bridge between the 'old' world and the 'new' world" of his regular setup) to avoid the shiny, internet-connected world of distraction that OS X offers: emails, RSS, spur of the moment research on the muddy muddy web. Great photo of his barebones setup; I felt instantly calmed (and envious).
5.21pm
Gorgeous iPhone sized (60x110mm) grid-lined notepads for mocking up apps and webpages (and jotting down the phone numbers of "hot geeks" if you're so inclined). Might buy one just to use as a decoy for would-be muggers.
9.07pm
If you overuse your CAPS LOCK there's a good chance you're senile, according to a new study. Judging by the comments on a typical YouTube video, there are a lot of people with really really really early onset dementia.
4.36pm
A computer technique can tell the difference between ancient inscriptions created by different artisans.
7.26pm
“Computers. How they were invented – how they work – what they can do, both now and in an exciting future.”
I wonder if K. N. Dodd Ph.D predicted that computers in his “exciting future” would mainly be used for looking at people in various stages of undress, grammatically-challenged cats, and grammatically-challenged cats with clothes on.
(Martin Isaac)
6.30pm
Why one should exercise caution when using the word ‘modern’.
(C86 | Matt Lyon)
8.22pm
The state of the art in portable music has changed a lot since I was 10
(Toshiba portable CD player image from jbcurio. iPod Shuffle image from apple.com)
8.57pm
Predictive text on my last phone interpreted ‘cous cous’ as ‘anus anus’. I shudder to think what Google Voice Search will make of it.
12.28pm
Wishing Apple would hurry up and refresh the Mac Mini, the hole where the money used to be in my wallet is burning a hole in my wallet
12.55pm
Best thing about the iPhone is that it helps me get around the “no laptop in the toilet” rule my partner instituted
8.17am
It’s a sure sign that someone’s Facebook account has been hijacked by a friend when their status update consists of the words “…is gay”
12.42pm
Apparently the name ‘Aaron’ is Hebrew for “Doomed to receive calls from friends who forget to lock their mobile phone keypads”
2.36pm
Apple’s lowercase-personal-pronoun ‘i’ thing has gone too far; takeaway joint iSushi just got added to the list of things to which ‘iObject’
10.45am
Hidden iPod controls revealed
Apple Inc. is renowned for hiding delicious features in its computers and gadgets, little operating system ‘easter eggs’ that pop up one day when you least expect it to enrich your computing life in subtle but important ways.
I recently discovered a new way of controlling an iPod without laying a finger on the scrollwheel. Mine is a 5th generation video iPod, so your mileage may vary (or as the computer geeks say, ‘YMMV’).
Step one: Travel on public transport. Find a seat next to the window, or otherwise ensure that your iPod is in your pants pocket on the side of your body nearest to a vacant seat.
Step two: Wait for an obese person to sit next to you.
Step three: Marvel at the genius of Steve Jobs as the pressing of your fellow passenger’s arse-flesh against your iPod causes tracks to skip backwards, forwards, pause and suddenly play at unbearable levels of volume.
8.02pm
A Monday morning sea shanty
I was walking down my street this morning when I heard a tune both mournful and carnivalesque.
Around the corner walked a crusty, withered old rake playing some sort of sea shanty on a mouth organ. He wore a dark navy overcoat and tugged upon his grubby sailor’s cap as we bade each other good morning.
I thought how splendid it was that he was providing his own entertainment. I thought, “Wow, that’s so much better than carrying an iPod around”.
Then I thought, “Wait a minute, you can’t listen to a podcast commentary of last night’s episode of Doctor Who on a mouth organ.”
2.01pm
Desired word: cous cous
Predicted word: anus anus
