May 23, 2012

parislemon:

alexheath:

UI design in The Avengers

So awesome.

Definitely some interesting interfaces. So. Much. Translucence. 

Looks like someone was playing some Mass Effect before they did the screen design on these. Seriously, though these look cool, and there is a time for transparency (like in the HUD for IronMan’s suit), why would this be the screen design? The transparency would make the screens very hard to read, and there is no reason for it since there isn’t anything going on behind the screen that needs to be seen by the operator. Most of those screens would be just as cool and much more useful if they were non-transparent and just as thin.

Most of the screens in the new Prometheus movie show this… the HUD screens are transparent, but all the rest are not, as there is no reason to see through the screen to the back of a station ahead of you. Much better (and probably more age proof) movie computer design there than here I think.

10:39am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZNUaDyL-dvtQ
(Notes: 115)
  
May 3, 2012

Someone needs to get Don Draper on the phone…

They seriously think this is a good commercial? They seem to completely miss the creepy nature of the messages in the copy, especially the final statement: “waits till you’re asleep.”

I just don’t get it.

12:15pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZNUaDyKp5h1n
Filed under: samsung phone andriod ad wtf 
April 8, 2012
Morning walk (Taken with Instagram at Willow Lake)

Morning walk (Taken with Instagram at Willow Lake)

9:21am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZNUaDyJIxSTR
April 7, 2012
One of the better mash ups I’ve seen recently. Archer and Mad Men just go together so well.

One of the better mash ups I’ve seen recently. Archer and Mad Men just go together so well.

(Source: sterlingarcherdraperpryce)

5:18pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZNUaDyJGlRTk
(Notes: 97)
  
Filed under: Archer mad men 
March 29, 2012
The worst part of iOS on the iPhone. Why couldn’t they use some of the extra space to widen the gap between the back, play, and forward buttons? And it gets worse if the airplay button is on the screen. I accidentally hit the wrong button at least once a day.

The worst part of iOS on the iPhone. Why couldn’t they use some of the extra space to widen the gap between the back, play, and forward buttons? And it gets worse if the airplay button is on the screen.

I accidentally hit the wrong button at least once a day.

4:48pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZNUaDyImXQ0e
Filed under: iphone apple tech 
March 21, 2012
The Halo 4 news that everyone is excited about is that the Battle Riffle is back. What I was the most interested in, though, was the fact that the gun still has an action that doesn’t make any sense. The three round bust and the general look of the gun is very realistic and on par with modern weapons, but the Bullpup action is a well known configuration, and the fact that the clip is behind the bolt doesn’t make sense. The way an action works normally is that the rounds feed in the gap made by the retreating bolt, and are then pushed in to the action by the bolt moving forward again. If the bolt is ahead of the clip, then the round would have have another mechanism of moving forward from the clip and into the chamber. Now, the pictures shown so far have all been from the left side of the rifle, which means we can only see the bolt carrier handle; so it’s possible that the actual bolt and chamber are behind the handle, but that is a strange design. Additionally, having the bolt handle on the opposite side of the ejection port is a very strange design for a Bullpup that basically guarantees that you will be getting smacked in the face with the handle. I know that this is a way too in depth critique of a video game weapon, but it speaks to a general problem with video game weapon design. Would the weapon have looked any less cool if the bolt handle was on the other side? And the designers spend lots of time making the sounds realistic and the “feel” of the weapon correct, but then they always seem to have the visual design done by people who have never fired a similar weapon. Just seems strange.

The Halo 4 news that everyone is excited about is that the Battle Riffle is back. What I was the most interested in, though, was the fact that the gun still has an action that doesn’t make any sense. The three round bust and the general look of the gun is very realistic and on par with modern weapons, but the Bullpup action is a well known configuration, and the fact that the clip is behind the bolt doesn’t make sense. The way an action works normally is that the rounds feed in the gap made by the retreating bolt, and are then pushed in to the action by the bolt moving forward again. If the bolt is ahead of the clip, then the round would have have another mechanism of moving forward from the clip and into the chamber.

Now, the pictures shown so far have all been from the left side of the rifle, which means we can only see the bolt carrier handle; so it’s possible that the actual bolt and chamber are behind the handle, but that is a strange design. Additionally, having the bolt handle on the opposite side of the ejection port is a very strange design for a Bullpup that basically guarantees that you will be getting smacked in the face with the handle.

I know that this is a way too in depth critique of a video game weapon, but it speaks to a general problem with video game weapon design. Would the weapon have looked any less cool if the bolt handle was on the other side? And the designers spend lots of time making the sounds realistic and the “feel” of the weapon correct, but then they always seem to have the visual design done by people who have never fired a similar weapon. Just seems strange.

4:41pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZNUaDyIMPnzZ
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: halo halo4 reddit 
March 20, 2012
An Honest Wage

parislemon:

LOL

Just got this today. Gotta love it.

9:38am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZNUaDyII309e
(Notes: 26)
  
Filed under: google wave oops 
March 16, 2012
Belkin AirCast

I picked up the Belkin AirCast about a month ago to replace an old, broken down, car kit I had been using. My previous kit had a cradle with a dock connector on the bottom to charge my iPhone, and a plastic hook that went over the top and held it down while a head set style jack plugged into the iPhone’s head set jack. This worked fine for quite a while, but had problems with different case styles, and the plastic just didn’t hold up.

Eventually, it came time to replace it, and since my car doesn’t have bluetooth built in, this Belkin looked to be the perfect solution. So far, its been pretty good. Lets go into some more detail:

The Basics

The basic setup is a puck that contains all the important bits, with a cable that runs to a split. On one side of the split is a standard headphone jack for connecting to the AUX input of your car stereo, and on the other is a standard 12 volt cigarette lighter plug. The plug also has a USB port so you can connect a charging cable, which is not included.

Initial pairing is easy, and once it’s paired, all that is needed is to hit the button once you start your car. It will auto connect, and start playing your music automatically1.

Phone Calls

The microphone seems fairly clear and it cancels out the voice output signal, so you don’t get an echo, but you do tend to pick up a good deal of road noise. Finding the best position for the puck (which contains the microphone) seems to be key here.

Controlling the calls is as simple as it is with any bluetooth headset: push the button to pick up, push it again to hang up. If you hold it down for a two Mississippi and let go, it will activate Voice Actions (on the iPhone 4), or Siri and you can voice dial, or you can pick the phone up to start a call.

Music

For controlling music, its much the same as other headsets or car kits. Again, hit the button to play, hit it again to pause. A double hit skips forward, but the timing is a bit hard to get down. The sound is clear and I can’t discern any quality loss over a physical connection, but I’m just using a stock car stereo.

Conclusion

We’ll see how long it holds up, but so far, functionally, it’s been great. Being able to simply jump in the car, pair, and then start playing my music with out having to take the phone out of my pocket is glorious. The voice capabilities are also head and shoulders above what my previous car kits have had. All-in-all I think its been a good $66.

  1. This stopped working for me about 2 weeks after getting it. It suddenly required me to hit the button again after it paired with the phone to start playing music, like it would pair then pause the music. Strange. ↩

1:29pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZNUaDyI4zRpp
Filed under: iphone bluetooth carkit 
March 13, 2012
The Greatest Reaction

Mike Monteiro has the greatest reaction to the CNN/Mashable deal. Now, I don’t object to CNN buying a more modern news site to jazz things up, but… Mashable? Really?

1:09pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZNUaDyHxH4mW
Filed under: CNN mashable badmergers news 
March 7, 2012
Looking forward to their reaction in a few months

Some spectacular Apple hate in this Financial Post article:

It now appears that Apple’s move from second to third generation iPad is even less of a bold leap forward and more of a tepid shuffle from an underwhelming top dog.

Their follow up when Apple once again sets sales records and the new iPad officially a hit should be good…

8:42pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZNUaDyHeREUK
Filed under: ipad apple claim-chowder 
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