simsbox.net

I don’t usually listen to much music, mainly because of time and money.  I quickly lose interest in a song or album so I have no interest amassing a huge collection.  When I do listen, I like a constant stream of new music fed to me without any effort on my part, and for free of course.  Services like imeem and last.fm fit my needs perfectly.  Sadly those services are not available to me away from a computer (although I did try to stream it off my desktop to my phone, but my t-mobile data service can’t keep up).

I have about an hour of driving a day, so how do I entertain myself?  Radio music sucks: way too much repetition and advertising.  That leaves me with Talk Radio, but morning shows kill brain cells.  AM talk shows aren’t much better and half the time are filled with static.  The only beacon of hope left on radio is NPR (on 90.1 WABE in Atlanta).  NPR is the only high-quality, interesting, and entertaining programming on the airwaves… but even it has it’s limitations.  Some programs only air once a week or on weekends.  Outside of rush hour it plays classical music all day, which is nice, but it does get old.  I need something for when NPR is off-air.

That finally brings me to podcasts.  See, the internet is full of mp3s (and videos), which can be automatically downloaded to your portable audio device.  The problem is that when you give the whole world a mic and a stage, you quickly realize you should cover your ears.  Finding a good podcast is like finding a plastic ball in a pit of dirty diapers.  But I managed to find a few, and not surprisingly, most are hosted by NPR.  Distributing quality audio-only programs is what they do, and they do it well.  So here is my current playlist:

This American Life - Chicago Public Radio
Amazing, inspiring, and funny stories from everyday and not-so-everyday people, all on a certain theme for each episode.  This show is awesome.  You will be instantly hooked.  Maybe it’s something about Ira Glass’ voice that just draws you in.

Geek Speak - Central Coast Public Radio
These ”geeks” keep up with the latest tech news and usually they actually know what they are talking about.  They do attempt to explain things in a way that non-geeks can understand, but they also don’t dumb it down.  They invite well-known guests from the tech/web2.0/science world so it’s always an informative discussion that you can learn from.

Car Talk - Dewey, Cheetham and Howe
This is my podcast guilty pleasure.  The hilarious/cheesy antics of the auto-mechanic brothers Tom and Ray will keep you entertained as they attempt to diagnose caller car problems.  They even manage to squeeze in a puzzler in between all their wise-cracks.  I really need to give them a call and let them laugh at me as I attempt to reproduce the thwacking sound my car’s AC makes.

1UP Yours - 1UP.com, EGM, and others
I like my podcasts to be focused and to the point.  Almost every gaming podcast I listened to would break off onto tangents like what they had for breakfast, movies, or whatever.  1UP Yours is the only professional gaming podcast I have found.  They spend over an hour discussing the their personal thoughts on games, the latest news, and other industry tidbits that only those in-the-know would know.  If you just want to know what the latest Wii game is, then pass on this.  If you want an in-depth look into the world of gaming and insight into it’s future, this is right Up Your alley.  I also recommend the 1UP Show video podcast.

The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack - Jay and Jack
These guys discuss the latest and upcoming episodes of Lost.  They mostly take calls from listeners who give their crack-pot theories.  Lost is a show you can sit around and talk about for hours, so it makes great podcast material.

The Digg Reel - Digg.com + Revision3
All the latest top rated videos at Digg.com are collected and put into this video podcast.  A host introduces each video and also reads some of the digg comments.  It’s a nice and easy way to see popular YouTube videos without having to weed through all the YTP.  Video podcasts arn’t good for the road, but they are good on a lunch break.  The good thing about The Digg Reel is that they offer it in almost every format and size you could want.  I have a windows based player, so it’s nice to not have to convert from an Apple format.

I suggest you browse NPR podcast directory to find more that fit your taste. I am trying out a few more now and if they stick I’ll probably write up an updated list.  I also plan to write up how I subscribe and play these mp3s, because it can sometimes be a challenge if you don’t use iTunes.  If you have a favorite podcast, please share!

Jeff Atwood has a great blog for programmers: Coding Horror.  His article about how he grew up with BASIC really brought back memories for me.  BASIC was also my first exposure to programming.  Although I did not have an Atari 2600 like Jeff, I did have a Ti-83 calculator.  I don’t mean to boast, but I am kind of a big deal in the Ti-83 BASIC gaming world.  In high school I spent many a classroom hour thumbing code into the tiny memory of a Ti-83 calculator.  Using lots of inefficient GOTOs and Graph Screen pictures, I managed to create over 20 exciting games.  I dabbled in assembly hoping to make the next Avalache or Penguins, but it was a little over my head at the time.

Using my old aol screenname, RaptureDan, I created my first real website: Only the Best of TI.  It hosted my games and I even had tutorials to help others learn.  I also submitted my games to the legendary ticalc.org and my games quickly got popular.  I currently have the most downloaded Ti-83 BASIC game of all time, Agent007.  Actually it was one of my worst games, and I think it was the James Bond reference that made it so popular.  You can see all my Ti-83 games here.  I am especially proud of Command & Conquer, (which was so big, you could only fit in one turn before running out of memory) and Quake, which was actually a networked FPS with AI bot (it got TiCalc.org September ‘98 Program of the Month!).  Needless to say, I pushed it to the limits.

I then got into QBasic which was included with DOS and Windows (remember Gorillas, the pre-Worms banana-throwing game?)  I ported some of my calculator games over and dabbled with sprites and some game physics (my Jeep game is unplayable now because it runs 100x faster, lol).  Then I went to college to learn “real programming” and the rest is history.

One of these days I hope to have time to get back into creating video games.  It really is the perfect balance between science, math, and art.  I would at least like to take my old Ti-83 games and port them to Flash or even Javascript!

I leave you with this farewell from my glory days:

December 23 1998

Well, I’m not dead…  just very busy.  School, work, church, and driving around in my Beetle has taken up just about all my free time so I havnt been able to update my site, or work on any games.  So due to a lack of time, and a loss of interest in calculator games, there will be no more updates to this site.  As a final farewell, I have added the text version of Command & Conquer and I have added an example program to the Programming page.  I will leave this page up cause it is helpful to many people, but dont expect any more updates any time soon.  When I go to GA Tech, I will major in Computer Scince, so keep an eye out for me as a future game programmer!

Last month I got out of my Sprint contract early.  Now this is really my first time shopping around for phone service.  Because of my poor/lack-of reception in my house, my provider options are limited to GSM networks like T-Mobile and AT&T.  Well I narrowed my choices down to an iPhone or AT&T Tilt ($150 from Amazon.com), both are with AT&T service.  The Tilt has Windows Mobile 6, GPS, WiFi, SD, full keyboard, and touchscreen but has video driver issues.  The iPhone ($399 from apple/at&t) has an amazing UI and great media capabilities, but has a locked down OS and hard drive, virtual keyboard, and a slower data plan.  AT&T in general has high priced plans, but I am willing to pay a little extra for the better phone/service capabilities.

The downside to both these phones (and all new phones) is of course the required two year contract.  In fact, most cell phone companies require you to sign a contract even if you don’t need a new phone.   What other industry requires you to sign a two-year contract?  This really hurt me with Sprint.   They had me sign a two year contract just to get off of my parents family plan and keep my number.  When I moved, I found that I had little to no reception in my house.  Since I don’t have and don’t want a land-line, this made life difficult.  If I left Sprint early I would have to pay a $200 fee.  Good thing that loophole came along when it did.

Another reason I don’t want to sign a contract is that the cell-phone industry is rapidly changing.  Sure, new technology is always around the corner, but with phones running Google’s Android OS coming later this year, or even a 3G iPhone with a developer SDK.   It’s all still up in the air at this point, so this is worst time to get locked into any phone or service.

Then I saw T-Mobile’s Flex Pay NO contract option.  You can sign up with any of their regular plans and features (including data), pay the same monthly fee, but there is NO contract.  As far as I know, no other company offers this.  You don’t get any discount on a new phone, but you can usually find the phone you want on eBay for not much more than the phone company’s discounted price.

I ended up using my wife’s spare T-Mobile Shadow, a Windows Mobile 6 slide phone with a XT9 SureType (2 characters per button) keyboard, nice bright screen, SD card slot, and a decent dashboard UI.  No touch screen, but I’ve found that it’s not really needed.  Even if I had to buy it myself, it’s only $50-$100 more on eBay than T-Mobile’s subsidized price.  As for the plan, I got the basic $30 plan and added the $5.99 T-MobileWeb T-Zones option, which after changing some proxy settings, you can get unlimited web access (EDGE is only worth six bucks IMO).

So a new phone, cheap monthy fee, and NO CONTRACT.  I pre-pay each month, can change my plan or drop it at any time.  If I want the latest and greatest phone that requires a contract, that option is still open to me at any time.  If I have to move or something, I’m not stuck paying for a phone I can’t use.  If a better deal comes along I can jump on it.  All of this because I’m not in a contract.  Don’t get put in cell phone jail.

Last month, Sprint sent out a postcard to it’s customers detailing a change in fees.  This is a ticket to getting out of your contract with Sprint, or perhaps a better deal!  According to the terms and conditions:

If a change we make to the Agreement is material and has a material adverse effect on Services under your Term Commitment, you may terminate each line of Service materially affected without incurring an Early Termination Fee only if you: (a) call us within 30 days after the effective date of the change; and (b) specifically advise us that you wish to cancel Services because of a material change to the Agreement that we have made. If you do not cancel Service within 30 days of the change, an Early Termination Fee will apply if you terminate Services before the end of any applicable Term Commitment.

So there it is in black and white.  The fees were changed, so you can terminate without incurring ETF.  The fact that the contract was changed at all should be enough, but Sprint will require you to wait till you get your bill with these new fees on it.  When you get your January bill, call Sprint retentions at 1-877-766-7697.  Say that you are calling to have your service cancelled due to the recent changes in fees and that your bill was effected.  They will ask if there is anything they can do and here is where you can ask for a new phone or lower rate, or maybe even get a SERO plan.  If you really want to cancel say so and they will confirm by making a note on your account.  Make sure you get the phone rep’s id.  Now when you port your number elsewhere, you can call Sprint back to have them waive the ETF fee that they will most likely charge you.  Just make sure you get out of Sprint within 30 days of your latest bill.

I am leaving Sprint because I don’t get service in my house.  If it wasn’t for that, I would stay with them because they have the best plan prices by far and a decent phone selection.  I will probably be switching to AT&T, for a Tilt with 3G or maybe an iPhone.  Stay tuned…

Jesslyn won a Zune (30GB) a few months ago, and I finally got around to playing with it.  It has a large screen and can play video, so I searched and searched for a way to get a DVD onto it.  After trying out a ton of programs, I finally found a combination that works consistently.  It is not just a one-click process, it takes a few hours, and you will temporarily need at least 5-10GB of free harddrive space… but it works and it won’t cost you anything.  These steps should also work for a video iPod.

1. Get the DVD onto your computer.  Download and install DVD Shrink (direct link to download). Insert your DVD into your DVD drive and click Open Disc to select it.  Wait a few minutes as DVD Shrink analyzes the disc.  Then click on Re-Author.  On the right, scroll down to the Main Movie listing.  These are the parts of the DVD that have the actual video (We dont need the menus, previews, etc).  Drag the Title you want (most DVD TV episodes will appear as individual Titles) under Main Movie into the Re-authored DVD list on the left.  Click on DVD above your Titles and on the right window click on the Compression Tab.  Uncheck any audio or subtitles you don’t need.  Go to Edit -> Preferences… Output Files tab.  Uncheck “Split VOB files into 1GB size chunks”, click OK.  Now click Backup!  Your video will be saved as a .VOB file. 
   What if DVD Shrink doesn’t work?  DVD Shrink is the most user-friendly option I have found, but sometimes it can’t get past some DVD encryptions.  If it fails, you may need to restart your computer to regain access to your DVD drive.  Install DVD Decryptor (direct link to download).  Run it and you will see a list of files on the right.  Hold down shift-key and select the series of large files that are named VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB, etc.  Go to Tools -> Settings… File Mode tab to change File Splitting to ”None”.  Click OK and then click the big green-arrow decrypt button in the lower left.
2. Convert VOB to mp4.  Ok, we now have the DVD decrypted to your hard drive as a single .VOB file.  We now need to convert it to a format that the Zune knows about.  For this we will use MediaCoder.  Download and install it.  When you run it, it annoyingly launches your web-browser, but hey whatever, it works.  Click Add to add the .VOB file that you just created.  The window on the lower left has a bunch of tabs to change various settings.  Click Audio tab and change the Encoder to FAAC, make sure MPEG4 is selected on the right.  On the Video tab the format should be H.264.  The Picture tab, set Resize to be 320 x 240 if the video is 4:3… if it’s a widescreen movie try a resolution that matches the original video aspect ratio… like 320×180.  Check “Display encoding frame” to get a preview of the video as it is being created.  Click Start at the top to start the encoding.  If the preview video doesn’t look right, you can hit Stop and adjust the settings again.
3. Send to Zune.  So now you have a Zune-software compatible mp4 video!  Connect your Zune and start up the Zune software.  Drag your mp4 video into your Video Collection, and then onto the Zune to start the sync.  While it is syncing, first the Zune software will convert it to wmv format and then transfer it to your Zune, so it may take a while.  But now you can enjoy your DVD anywhere, congratulations!
   What if Zune software said it was invalid?  When I made a 320×180 mp4 video, the Zune software say my video was invalid.  I’m not sure why it is invalid because it didn’t bother to tell me.  So, to solve this problem, we must convert it to a .wmv ourselves.  Download and install Windows Media Encoder 9.  Follow Microsoft’s instructions here to encode your video.  If you create a wmv file that conforms to their specifications, the Zune software wont have to do any conversion when it syncs, saving you some time.  Ideally we would just use Windows Media Encoder to encode our .VOB file in the first place, but WME crashes when I attempt to do… so we must convert to something else, like mp4, first.

Video technology is very buggy and different computers with different environments can have different results.  I am using Windows Vista, with an administrator account, and UAC turned off.  I’m sure many other programs might be better, but these were the only ones that would work for me on Vista.

It is amazing to me that there are so many portable devices out there with nice screens and huge hard drives, but a major lack of video content and absolutly no support for getting your existing video content onto your device.  They market these things to the average consumer, and make them think that they can take their favorite movie with them.  The reality is that it requires you to spend many frustrating hours of trial and error and/or money to buy additional software.  Hopefully my write up has helped you save some time, money, and headache.

Oh, and while I’m on the Zune… you can hack the registry to get windows explorer access to the hard drive, but you can only put files onto it if you trick the Zune software by starting a sync and then immediately closing it.  Gee, thanks for “protecting” me from myself Microsoft.  Because of this, I would not recommend the Zune to anyone.

About a month ago Jesslyn and I purchased our first house!  We are the proud owners of a new 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath townhome in the Brookhaven area.  What I’m most excited about… the garage!  I can finally park my car without fear of getting keyed overnight.

The home buying process wasn’t that bad, although there were a few bumps.  We went with the builder’s mortgage company, because they offered to pay closing costs.  We talked to a few other mortgage brokers just to be safe, so we think we got a good deal.  The one big problem we had was our credit score had errors on it, and it was making a big impact on our loan options.  We did get it corrected in time though.  Make sure you check your credit report before you start looking for a house.  If you have any questions feel free to ask me, since I feel I know too much about the housing industry now :P

There are still boxes everywhere, and we need some furniture (I HATE buying furniture), but it already feels like home.  Let us know if you arei n the area, we would love for you to stop by.  Jesslyn keeps talking about throwing a huge party too.

I decided to put all my stupid-driver rants down in writing: http://www.simsbox.net/how-to-drive/. It is a work in progress.

And appropriately, I stumbled upon this cartoon about the dangers of driving too carefully:
A dyseducational road movie: Yes & No

According to Google Maps, it is 9,751 miles (about 33 days 13 hours) to drive from Fairbanks, Alaska, USA to Moscow, Russia. 3,462 miles of that is just crossing the Atlantic Ocean. What is the speed limit there anyways? I could probably shave off a few days.

Update: A few visitors have found longer routes, but apparently Google has now removed the cross Atlantic path.  But a route to Brazil was found! So we can go Unalaska to Boa Vista, Roraima which is 15,082 mi (24,276 km) – about 56 days 2 hours!

DIGG THIS

Now for the first time ever, after 15 years of off screen name calling and momma bashing, Sonic The Hedgehog and Mario (the plumber) are appearing in the same game. What better show of competition than to have the two most well known video game stars of all time battle it out on the 400yd dash (sonic for the win) or the triple jump (gold for mario). This NeoGAF message board summary basically puts it all into perspective: Mario vs. Sonic Olympic discussion summary. I think the biggest news from this is that there is more backing to the rumor that Sonic will be in the new Smash Bros.

Takes all me back to the good ole’ days of Nintendo vs. Sega (warning! very vulgar language!). Sonic was the sole reason I caved in and got a Sega Genesis and later a Game Gear. Strange that now Sega is kinda on Nintendo’s side now, in the new war of Nintendo vs Playstation vs Xbox, but that story is still being written on the playgrounds today.

Its been 14 years since the last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, so I have been looking forward to seeing this new CG rendition. So opening night I drug a few friends to the nearest theater. My review may contain a few spoilers. You have been warned.

The plot line is good but not well balanced. The turtles have officially been out of action for a while since they defeated Shredder. Donatello and Michelangelo have menial day jobs. Raphael rebelliously stays up late fighting crime on his own. Leonardo is off training in the jungle at Splinter’s request.

Eventually Leo returns to lead his brothers. Everyone is thrilled except Raphael. The tension between Leo and Raph grows, and eventually leads to an awesome showdown between the two. This is about the point when the movie changes from old-school turtle goodness to a typical Saturday morning cartoon.

The other side of the plot involves a 3000 year old general with a curse of eternal life. He brings to life his old war buddies, who have been turned to stone, and uses them and the Foot Clan to collect 13 monsters from space. Once they are collected, the curse will be broken, but the stone buddies don’t like that plan. As far as I know, nothing about it is tied into any part of the Turtle’s universe, and it all felt like a rushed afterthought.

Despite the crazy plot, the movie was pretty enjoyable throughout. Even though the live-action Turtle costumes were great, I think CG fits them well. I would tweak the models a bit to make them look less like frogs though. The jokes were not as bad I as I feared and I even laughed out loud a few times. The fighting was OK but nothing too violent to scare the kiddies. The Turtles and Foot Clan (and sadly April and Casey too) all displayed quick ninja fighting skills with a heavy dose of roof-top jumping. There was only one real cheesy scene (Mikey skateboarding through the sewers) which apparently is a requirement for any TMNT movie.

I am looking forward to the hinted-at sequel. Hopefully they can get the story straight from the comics.

I give TMNT 6 pizza slices out of 8. Needs more Shredder.