Bam!
It’s pretty hard to get excited about hard drives. Magnetic media’s most reliable trick is that it keeps getting bigger; solid state on the other hand is obliterating every bench mark out there, but remains expensive per gigabyte. Fortunately, something has come along to fill the gap.
Seagate’s Momentus XT is awesome and we’ve got some.
SwipeHead
Most of us, at some point, will apply a label of sorts to ourselves. Are we teachers, rocket surgeons, hippies, nihilists, or maybe middle-aged? A single label rarely suffices, and I’ve gone through a few myself. I’ve alleged myself to be a musician, a coder, a technician, a writer (hah), and had a few other stints. There’s a common thread here: I like making things. With that out of the way, in the middle of December I helped to make this:
This is SwipeHead, a sort of hybrid puzzle game for the iPhone and iPod touch. I’d explain how it works, but figuring that out is one of the more satisfying puzzles. It reminds me a bit of old LucasArts adventure games in which a challenge would be posed and various tools offered, but after that it was up to the player and their wits. SwipeHead, likewise, is meant to have an intuitive learning curve and once it gets going, is very enjoyable.
Though I might seem to be trumpeting my own horn, the real kudos go to the game designer, Leanne, over at Wizkeit Games, who designed and produced the whole thing. For my own part, it’s humbling to see my code executing on other devices and available on the iTunes Store. I know there iTunes Store is a pretty saturated market these days, but it doesn’t detract one bit from the glee. More horn trumpeting yet: it was accepted on the first submission, which Leanne and I were told doesn’t happen often.
If you’re looking for a unique experience among the many app clones on the iTunes Store, give SwipeHead a try. When I first saw the design documents, it wasn’t one bit like any other puzzle game I saw out there, and remains so even post-release. Though only a mere $0.99, there’s a free version as well to whet your appetite.
Computer up for Grabs
Several months ago I had some M-Audio hardware break down on me in a way should be hilarious to any tech who worked during the capacitor plague and thought themselves unaffected. The less hilarious result is that the audio hardware needs to be replaced; the catch is that it leverages traditional PCI technology which is now 16-year old and perhaps not the best choice moving forward. So, I’m kicking out my old computer and bringing in a new one. What this means in practical terms for you, the reader, is that I’ve got a computer to give away for free to anyone willing to give it a good home. If it goes unloved, Reboot Canada will get it. Here’s what it is:
- PowerMac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors, year 2003 model)
- 1.25GHz single processor G4
- 167MHz front-side bus
- 768MB PC2700 DDR memory
- One 80GB ATA hard drive and one 40GB ATA hard drive
- One DVD-writer and one DVD-reader/CD-writer combo
- Radeon 9000 video card with 64MB VRAM
- 10/100/1000BaseT ethernet
- Mac OS X 10.4.6 (Tiger)
You’ll have to provide your own mouse, keyboard, and monitor, but that’s about all you’ll need to make it work. Note that this is not the most energy-efficient computer ever made; the power supply is rated for up to 360 watts and there are quite a few moving parts inside. At this stage in its life it’s mostly good for light computing and internet stuff, though it was a beast in its day and will still do multi-tracking if you can get your hands on six-year old software and aforementioned obsolete hardware.
If you’re interested, curious, or have any questions, drop me a line and we can discuss specifics! Bear in mind that there will be no warranty, and this offer is only good to people I know.
UPDATE: The offer is now closed.
