I find it hard to really write about a topic like this because I feel like most people think gaming is doing the best it ever has right now, and while that may be true I’m not so sure if I’m a big fan of the future of the gaming market. I feel like I’m seeing the same video games with different names produced over and over by different companies. The same void, colorless world, dominated by aliens and/or a terrorist organization, with the same old First Person Shooter game style. Are these games destined to be the mainstream forever, or are they already?

Just take a look at the top-end games on the market.

Call of Duty 4

Gears of War

Metal Gear Solid

Halo 3 (CG)

Each of these games has a similar visual style to it. To me, it screams that developers are tired of taking risks to be creative, and would rather just copy the other competitors to make a quick buck. On a business standpoint, I understand that you have to do what is required to make money, but I feel like it has gone out of control. Even companies like Rockstar, that are known for their colorful and creative worlds, have slightly fallen under the same syndrome of a monochromatic world:

Grand Theft Auto 4

So why exactly is this happening? Well, with the advent of this new generation of gaming, the goal has always been to create a “HD, lifelike experience.” And while I’ll admit that I love games with great graphics, I feel like developers don’t really know what to do with that power, so instead they create a boring, photo-realistic worlds so they can claim their game is next-gen. There are obviously exceptions to this; just take a look at games like Bioshock that have a dark, realistic world.

Bioshock

In the end, the dreary world of Bioshock worked out for it and made the game the great experience that it is. I think games like Bioshock are how next-gen titles should be approached; using those powerhouse consoles to create unique and creative worlds rather than just another FPS shoot-em-up clone.

Now don’t get me wrong, all of these games are great, but when we have the power to create anything, I feel like we shouldn’t be limited to just the same-old trends. Now most of you might be saying “so what about the Wii?” Well, I don’t exactly think they’re doing things correctly either. I understand that Nintendo believes in gameplay (and gimmicks) over graphics, but they just don’t have enough games with actual gameplay. Yes, Mario Galaxy and Zelda: Twilight Princess are incredible titles, but can you name 10 third-party titles on the Wii that aren’t total garbage? No. The fact is, that while the Wii may support a noble cause, they have no one to help them do it. Instead, the Wii is infected with passable bargain bin titles.

The success of the Wii has probably gone to Nintendo’s head. They’re just too obsessed with the casual market these days, and I can understand that, but they’re cashing in on their success too much. Nintendo had some great ideas, but they’re becoming less of a game company with every new title they release (Wii Music anyone?). I would expect Nintendo to be out of the whole gaming market with their next new system, focusing entirely on virtual experiences instead. Just take a look at peripherals like the Wii Fit and tell me that isn’t where Nintendo is headed?

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of any of the current console games these days. Nothing really screams epic to me like games did when I was a kid. On the Nintendo 64 or Playstation I could pull out 10 games from my library and each would be an entirely different and unique experience, but these days that just isn’t so anymore. I don’t even have 5 games for my Wii because the choices suck so much.

I pretty much threw out my past rules when it came to forum design, which were basically:

• Don’t use images from video games or anime.
• Don’t use images or sprites from other games.
• Create all icons myself.

I was stupid to follow these rules my whole life building my forums, and although I bent them when designing past layouts, I certainly haven’t taken it to the degree that I have with this new design. For the icons, I used a special batch of Silk Icons from FamFamFam, an excellent icon artist whose icons you can find in tons of Open Source applications. I even spotted them in my Developer Firefox addon. To be honest, the forums look fantastic with the icon set (which includes over 700 icons), and I’m really glad I decided to use them. Quite frankly, I’m a terrible icon designer, especially when it comes to miniature icons like those required in modern forum software packages. I remember painstakingly designing the icon set for the original Enshare Forums. Not that they didn’t look semi-decent, but they had their share of downsides. Most notably was the over-monotonous color tone I applied to every icon, as well as some icons being hard to distinguish what their purpose was.

As for images throughout the forum, I’ve used sprite sets from one of my favorite games (Final Fantasy Tactics Advance) for various buttons, and for NPCs throughout the RPG game world. I really love the color and arcade-like aura they give to the forums. For the header, I used a combination of images from the Final Fantasy VII compilation, however I had to painstakingly cut them out of their respective images; a process I’ve gotten better at over the years. As of yet, the forum is still in the early stages of development, as I still need to work on the full creation of the RPG modification, which is much harder to work on than most would think.

Designing a RPG game world

You know, when you think of a game like World of Warcraft, or any MMO really, you can always nit-pick at how unbalanced certain aspects of the games are. However, after having to create a RPG world from scratch, I realize what exactly goes into creating and balancing a game world. You have to create everything from scratch. Just to name a few:

• Creation of NPCs, locations, monsters, quests.
• Stats rewarded per level, skill points rewarded per level.
• Items, item classes, item sub-classes, and the bonuses/pros/cons that come with using each items including stat modifiers, and so on.
• Balancing enemies to scale with level differences appropriately, making sure leveling is never too tedious while at the same time allowing progression to become slightly harder.
• Creation of spells, their effects, scalability, and balance.
• The creation of tools, components, craftables, usable items, and the balance that comes with each of those.

Indeed, each RPG is 1000x more complicated and detailed than the average user ever comprehends. The smallest details are there to make sure that a game is balanced in every regard, from level 1 to level 1000. In a game like WoW, people complain all the time about class balance, but they rarely consider how balanced a game like WoW, or really any successful MMO, really is.

I have a new respect for the developers of RPGs, a genre that some consider the easy way to game production.

Just finished a new illustration. This time I got to try out my new Wacom tablet, which worked out very well and sped things up exponentially. In the past I always had to use a mouse to make all the lines, curves, and shading, but this time the Wacom pen made everything much more streamlined. I really had fun with this piece, and this was also my first woman that I’ve done an illustration of. This probably took about 10 hours total to work on. The line-art was made in Corel Painter, then colored in Photoshop Elements 6.

I provided a wallpaper download of the image in 1920×1200 so it should fit pretty much all screen sizes. Enjoy it guys!

Some of the things I’ve noticed are:

• More energy
• Better sleep that came easier
• Overall better mood
• More confidence in my own skin
• Weight loss (in my case, not gaining)
• Desire to eat unhealthy foods decreases

It’s easy for me to see these, they are painfully obvious as I incurred an ankle injury, and have been off of it for the past month.  I remember how good I felt, and miss it like a fat kid at fat camp misses cake–no actually I miss it a lot more than that.

Okay, great the benefits are huge, and probably unbelievable.  Get your ass of the couch, or computer chair and get out and do something!  It is NEVER too late to start.

• If you are obese, or have some kind of other condition, visit a doctor or hit up WebMD to see what you need to watch out for.
• Don’t start out running a ton.  Hell, you don’t even have to start out running.  You could start out walking and then slowly progress to a slow jog.  Do not overdo it, but don’t be afraid to shock your body.  It isn’t a bad thing.
• Walk/Jog/Run for mileage.  Don’t just do it for time until you can nail down a pace to determine different distances.  This way you can keep track of how far you go more easily and this will also prevent you from cutting a workout short.
• Create a log.  I mentioned this earlier, but nothing is more satisfying than watching mileage per week increase over time.
• Run regularly.  6 times a week is ideal, but running 3 or 4 times a week is far  better than doing one super long workout on one day.
• Get proper equipment.  Go somewhere like the running company to figure out what kind of shoe you need. Are you an overpronator?  Yeah, you’ll pay what seems like a premium for the shoes, but you’re also paying for their expertise.  You won’t get hurt this way.  It’s important.
• Find a running buddy.  This is extremely important just for pure motivation.  There is no way I would have logged all of the miles I have without the help of some friends. I would set my alarm clock and get up each morning knowing they were doing the same for me.
• Run in the mornings.  Get it done early, let it be the first thing you do before you ever even take a shower.  This way it is out of the way, and you won’t keep putting it off for the rest of the day.  Believe me, excuses are easily made.
• Most of all, do not get discouraged.  It takes about a solid month of running before you don’t want to be without it

If you follow all of those, key tips, the benefits will come and everything else will take care of itself.  Again running may seem like punishment, or sometihng stupid you’re forced to do in gym class but there is a reason behind it.  There isn’t a better way to get to know someone else or a group of people better than running with them everyday.  Theres a reason cross country teams are usually so tightly knit.  It is a social sport, and most of all, eventually becomes fun.

I’ll be starting next week, hoping to hit 20 miles.  I already have a running partner, and some great shoes.  Its the cheapest way to lose weight, and improve self esteem.  I shit thee not.

If you need inspiration, just read about Prefontaine.  He was more of a man than most of us could ever dream of being.

“Some people create with words, or with music, or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, ‘I’ve never seen anyone run like that before.’ It’s more then just a race, it’s a style. It’s doing something better then anyone else. It’s being creative.”

-Steve Prefontaine

Note: This was a paper I wrote for English Composition during my senior year of high school. I was tired of the constant Mac vs. PC arguments I see everywhere around the internet. To be honest, it seems like no one ever considers the facts and just spews out nonsense to back up their “claims.” I received an A+ on this and I believe it objectively tackles the famous debate.

History

An age old argument and debate that has been discussed, reviewed, written about, analyzed, and re-examined by some of the greatest minds for the past 30 years, the so called “Holy War” of computing rivalries. Mac vs. PC is one of the oldest and most famed competitions in the technological world, and only those with a savvy understanding on the fabrics of programming and operating system compatibility and usability dare to enter the debate. Technological tyrants stand on both ends of the battle field: Bill Gates, co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation, and Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc. These two figures have garnered quite the media attention with their indirect attacks at each other over the years, flinging technological advancements under the others’ feat. Both company’s started in the mid 70s, and yet the battlefield has tilted towards Microsoft’s’ Windows components in the last 25 years, but will their reign over the computing market hold forever with more people buying Macs than ever before?

Although the debate has many names; Mac vs. PC, Apple vs. Microsoft, etc, the two companies simply produce an operating system that many people take sides with. Consumers know the Microsoft operating systems well, including Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and the critically unapproved Windows Vista. Apple, on the other hand, has garnered new attention with their OSX (Operating System 10) series, including 10.2 “Jaguar,” 10.3 “Panther,” 10.4 “Tiger,” and the new 10.5 “Leopard.” Some experts speculate that Apple will be running out of feline names within the coming years. However, Apple and Microsoft didn’t start out writing expert software right off the bat. Originally, both companies built their first operating systems as extensions of DOS, which stands for a Disk Operating System. DOS is a single-task, single-user operating system outline that includes basic kernel functions. DOS was a popular architecture that many operating systems originally stem from in order to make the construction processes easier. (freedos.org)

With that in mind, when referring to a PC (personal computer), no matter what operating system the computer runs, it is still considered a “personal computer.” So the argument is really: Apple’s Mac OS vs. Microsoft’s Windows. Apple does not allow third-party companies to build hardware for their operating system, which is why all Apple computers are slick and sport the same stylish composition. Microsoft on the other hand allows anyone with basic computer components to apply their operating system to the hardware. This is why many producers exist, such as Dell, HP, Sony, and Toshiba. Ironically, now that Apple systems work with Intel chipsets, since they are essentially PCs, can run Windows as well if one were so inclined.

Thanks to the flexibility of the applications of the Windows operating systems, this is their trump-card on the entire market, and why many consider Windows to be the superior operating system. IT architects must consistently build customized computer systems and set ups, which are more easily accessible and require less work-around to set up, whereas Apple systems are highly un-customizable, if at all. Most people consider the ability to upgrade their computer at all, to add and remove new parts at will, the number one benefit of Windows. Apple’s disallowing of third-parties to use their software on their system has been the number one hindrance on the operating system’s popularity, and yet at the same time is the main reason that their systems work so much better.

Although Apple’s original plan has hindered them in the market over the years; it may be working out after all. Microsoft has had increasing troubles with stability, compatibility, and security with their Windows operating systems in recent years which should be partially blamed on the company’s publishing freedom they allow third-parties to have. The freedom has almost backfired and caused the operating system to require more bulk in order for it to be compatible with every possible hardware configuration, while Apple’s OSX is completely unaffected by this problem thanks to their hardware production rights, allowing Apple to regulate all hardware that their operating system is present on in the market.

The Windows Problems

The heated competition now revolves around Apple’s OSX 10.5 “Leopard” vs. Microsoft’s Windows Vista. Needless to say, Microsoft has finally started to lose ground and market-share since the release of their new operating system. Many Windows enthusiasts were dissatisfied with the “upgrades” that the system offered. Meanwhile, Apple has been gaining a healthy amount of market share with Leopard, and has been featured in many magazines and many websites since its initial release. One of the main reasons users are getting fed up with Vista is it was a bulkier, slower operating system that required a better PC to be able to handle its inefficiently programmed architecture, whereas Leopard was a one-hour upgrade that provided over 300 new features that require no new system upgrades, reformatting, reorganization, or reassembly. (Apple.com/getamac)

Thomas P Milley, a Mac Forensic Examiner at dNovis RDI Systems is heavily experienced in both Windows Vista and Mac OSX operating systems and their pros and cons. He highlights one of the main problems with new Windows releases: “What’s uncanny is that Microsoft’s perpetual ability to write sloppier and sloppier code, hogging eternally more memory without freeing it, code that’s ever becoming more and more bloated so that their software inefficiencies more than make up for any gains Intel gives us with it’s perpetual doubling of internal clocks and transistor counts.” (Milley, The Inquirer) This indeed describes some of the roots of the problems with Windows and its inheritance of problems over the years from one upgrade to another. Vista has met with a number of problems with compatibility and security since the system is built on a new architecture that supports less software than Windows XP. Thomas states that “Now that Apple has rolled their systems onto an all Dual Core Intel Architecture you are finally going to see the beginning of the end for Microsoft. Vista is going to flop and big time.” (Milley, The Inquirer) This may be evidently true, especially if major corporations stop supporting Windows systems and switch to Apple OSX.

Window’s number one problem over the years has been security issues, which has plagued each consecutive release of the operating system over the years due to code becoming bulkier and harder to maintain. (Markoff, NY Times) XP devised a terribly inadequate security system with their XP release, bloating the Security Center as the beacon of defense for the operating system. Microsoft also introduced a slew of overprotective firewalls that hinder the user more than enhancing the experience. Windows XP introduces new “system updates” periodically that install large, bulky hotfixes to the operating system that slow down the computer and take up valuable hard drive space. These updates also download a number of unwanted and unneeded programs that a user may not want or need to begin with. Vista is no exception, with the release of the Windows Defender, one of the worst afflictions known to modern operating systems. Rather than reorganizing their code, Vista’s Defender asks the user every time they wish to start a new unknown program that Vista doesn’t recognize. Defender even fails to learn what programs the user continuously executes, whereas simple software like Black Ice or Zone Alarm does. (Milley, The Inquirer) This is hardly the efficient way to build a security system for an operating system; it should not affect the efficiency of the user.

Microsoft has had a large problem over the years with its internet browser: Internet Explorer. The many incarnations of this browser have been one of the main sources for unwanted downloads of malicious spyware, adware, viruses, Trojans, and general malware. (cybercoyote.org). Internet Explorer has become vastly superior to many third-party browsers, most notably Firefox and Opera, which have become vastly popular for technology savvy users, designers, and IT developers. Even Apple’s native browser, Safari, has become increasingly popular with users over the internet, now sporting browsing speeds that clock faster than Firefox load times. The question remains, with Microsoft’s vast amount of programmers, money, and resources, why can’t they fix the number one security flaw with their operating system by completely reprogramming it from the ground up? Microsoft seems to be adamant in their refusal to reprogram their software from scratch to fix their problems.

Buy a Mac

Today’s consumer may very well be confused with which computer to buy, and why to buy it. After all, the average consumer has probably been using a Windows based operating system their whole life, and as well isn’t ready to try an Apple OSX based system. There are thousands of reasons to buy an Apple computer, and now is the best time of all since the new versions of OSX are vastly superior to Vista. When it comes time to purchase a new computer, Apple provides a copious amount different computers and components to choose from so that anyone transitioning from a Window’s based computer to a Mac will have little to no trouble at all.

One of the best reasons to invest in a Mac would be because of Apple’s uncanny ability to innovate, explore, and implement the newest technologies. James Duncan Davidson describes Apple well: “Apple is innovating harder than anybody else out there in the personal computer landscape. They’ve been pushing the state of the art through the downturn of the last few years when other PC vendors’ innovations have all revolved around… well, what the heck have they been doing?” (James Duncan, Preoccupations.org) Apple is known to innovate with their computers and products, and in recent years is more determined to stay up to date with the latest hardware upgrades that Intel has to offer. Apple’s hardware is well known to be sturdy, reliable, well crafted, long lasting, and easy to repair through web site.

Apple’s innovation is not simply limited to their computers, as they invest in a number of other products and programs that lead the way for others to mimic. The number one example would be with the success of Apple’s iPod, which is the top selling MP3 player of all time. The iPod pushed the limits of technology by being the first MP3 player to garner an internal hard drive for storage of not megabytes, but gigabytes of music, photos, games, and movies. Recently, with the release of the iPhone, Apple released one of the most remarkable jumps in technology in decades. The phone has one of the most unique interfaces in the world, with the patented multi-touch system that utilizes the movements of fingers and screen rotation to provide a multitude of displays and uses. (Google Patents) Third-party competitors simply follow in the large wake that Apple creates; take a look at Microsoft’s Zune, which is a poor selling and lacking emulative attempt at the iPod.Apple also provides their own software that largely goes unrecognized by many as being inferior to Microsoft’s equivalents, however this is vastly untrue. Most of Apple’s software is unique in its own ways as well, for example, iLife is loaded on every Mac computer and provides the essentials for creating and managing photos, movies, email, websites, and a slew of other personal projects that a user may choose to delve in. Apple’s iTunes is the number one source of music in the country, as well as podcasts, movies, and TV show downloads. iTunes is simple, easy to use, and works with any iPod or iPhone that you may have purchased, however, it isn’t required. (apple.com)

Most people question whether or not they should purchase a Mac because of the many Windows-only programs that are required for their jobs. Firstly, most of these products are within the realm of Microsoft office, which is compatible with OSX and shares the same file types so that files are seamlessly transferred from one operating system to another with little to no hassle at all. Apple’s upgrade to Intel-powered systems allow it to run Windows operating systems, since they were native to Intel chips on basic PCs. Programs like Parallels and Bootcamp allow a user to partition segments of their PC to run both OSX and Windows Vista or XP, or even all three, so one can simply switch between them when it is needed. The most recent upgrades of Apple computers and Parallels allow Windows to be opened while Leopard is running, at full speed, so a reboot isn’t even necessary to work on a Windows-only project. (apple.com)

Conclusions

If you are still working with PCs, you may be wondering why you’ve been missing out on the best operating system ever created, but you shouldn’t be too concerned. Until recent years, with the success of the iPod and Apple’s switch to Intel-based computers, Apples have been largely out of the question for almost 95% of the consumer market. If you are considering buying a computer for college, work, fun, or necessity, consider a Mac, because you have nothing to loose and benefit from the best of both worlds thanks to the Bootcamp and Parallels applications. However, besides the obvious technological superiorities that Apple computers offer over most Windows based computers, there are moral issues to consider as well that have become more apparent with the release of Vista.

Since Vista’s release, it has required necessary hardware upgrades in order to run the bulkier operating system effectively. A consumer has to ask themselves, why exactly they should be forced to pay hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars for new components to “upgrade” to a substandard upgrade for Windows. How can Vista be constituted as an upgrade if it requires a new machine or components that rob your wallet dry, whilst Leopard will work, and work faster than its predecessor, on any Apple machine within the last few years? Simply put, it the situation makes no sense at all, and with Microsoft’s latest announcement about refusing to stop selling Windows XP on June 8th, 2008, users and companies around the world will be forced to upgrade to Vista, along with upgrading their machines, in order to stay up to date. As a consumer, it is your responsibility to decide what is right, and what isn’t.

Take everything with a grain of salt, as Carry Lu says when considering the switch to a Mac: “…if you ask which computer should you buy, the most common answer - from computer sales people, data processing managers, and newspaper columnists - is a PC. But before you take that advice, ask if your adviser actually uses both Macs and PCs.” (biosci.edu, Carry Lu) Most salesmen at stores are inexperienced with either one or both operating systems, and can never give you a proper analysis of each system.

As Apple computers get more popular, security flaws will appear, and it could start to lapse into some of the problems that Microsoft is experiencing with their Windows endeavors in recent years. For example, a security flaw was found with the way OSX downloaded files, something that Mac users rarely experience. (USA Today, Swartz) As more users switch to Apple computers, the same population based problems could be expected as with Windows, but hopefully will be maintained to a greater extent thanks to Apple’s ability to innovate with new upgrades and innovations. Will Windows continue to dominate the market, or will Apple’s innovation pull them to the top once and for all?

I generally tend to avoid this subject for two reasons: a. I hate commuting in general. b. Occam’s Razor doesn’t really apply here.

But Jinno, how doesn’t it apply? The prices are high, having nearly tripled in the past 8 years! They must be jacking up the prices, why else would they be turning such humongous profits?

It’s true that oil companies are turning record profits and it’s true that now more than ever gas prices seem high. I mean look at this graph:

Surely that shows as absolute proof that they’re gouging the price! Surely that shows that they’re throwing us citizens for a loop, and doing it all for malicious profit.

Check after the break to see my analysis of this.

Well, nominally that’d be correct. But any true economic analysis would be based upon a REAL price showing of the data. So here are the prices adjusted to inflation since 1970:

As you can see, inflation adjusted the prices are just now getting to the point where they’re more than they were during the Iranian Oil Crisis of the 80’s. So oil price wise, we are indeed at our highest point in recent history. But what about Gas prices, that’s what we care about, right?

Again, consistent with the oil prices, we are truly at record highs. We are being charged more for oil now than we ever have been before.

But I think some analysis of the situation is in order. Why have prices gone up? Well, the Second Iraq War has been the cause for a good portion of this situation. We’ve reduced the supply by our occupation, by one whole country. Hurricane Katrina for a good deal of time shut down some of our more important crude oil refineries, but we recovered from that.

There has also been other shifts in the world market that have been partial cause to this bad situation. We’re seeing an increased industrial, and modernized situation in countries that previously had little use for oil, but now are having an increased demand for the good.

The impact of new countries in the market has had a significant increase in the demand for the product, and as such has given rise to the price. This, on a global market, is not a bad thing, but for the economy of America, where oil is an extremely inelastically demanded product, this has harsh consequences.

What’s the real reason that this country is worse off because of the crisis? Well, the inelasticity of our oil trade stems from the fact that we have very few alternatives to oil based travel. Countries like Germany and the UK have largely invested in public transportation methods, they have cities that make electric vehicle and small vehicle use a much more prevalent solution, in short the demand and need is much less. They’ve also gone about decreasing demand with a much more violent approach that we could never get approved in this country… in short:

They raised taxes… A LOT.

I’m not even kidding, a quick trip to Wikipedia reveals that taxes equate to as much as 117% of the actual oil price in Britain. Taxes have raised prices in Germany by as much as $7.62 a gallon. These are countries that have literally forced a decrease in demand on it’s general public, countries that have forced their citizens to not be dependent upon oil.

It’s an odd idea, to be sure, and likely wasn’t the true purpose behind the idea. But for whatever reason these taxes were implemented, in those countries the free market has either coped with the prices, or found a different, more satisfying solution.

In America we’ve not had these kinds of barriers. Taxing gas has been largely unpopular, and so it has been avoided as much as possible it would seem. In America, public transportation has found some difficulty finding funding in smaller cities, and is virtually absent in all towns and suburbs. Americans on the whole are often in situations where they commute by highway to their job that is 10-20 miles away from their suburban home or more. Electric Vehicles existed for a short period of time, and then vanished, and are just now making a resurgence, but on a much smaller level - the Chevy Volt having a predicted range of only 40 miles. Subsidies and tax loopholes have existed for oil companies and for ethanol producers, but much less has existed by the way of Electric or Hybrid electric vehicles.

As this crisis compounds, we need to somehow shift demand down so that prices can be lowered. And despite what a myriad of Facebook groups seem to think, this cannot be done by simply not buying from one leading company on one day of the year. We need to do something that will have a significant impact on our demand, we need to start carpooling, we need to start biking to our destinations, we need to ween ourselves off of oil and we need to do better things for ourselves. We need alternatives.

I realize there are a bajillion other factors here that I haven’t examined, such as the general inflation of the dollar over the past few years, the average real wage of the middle class, and a true comparison of American usage to other countries. But for now, this is how I conclude:

The reasons that we as the American people are so heavily affected by this crisis are based highly on our decisions. With the ever steady increase of prices it is now time for us, as consumers to make the final impact on the situation. Are we going to decrease our own demand, and spring for more efficient vehicles, and push for better public transportation in our cities and states? Or are we going to simply wait this out, and watch as oil continues to be a problem for our citizens?

Thanks for reading.

Image sources:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/
http://mises.org/
http://inflationdata.com/
http://www.econbrowser.com/

For starters, the operating system is just incredible, I honestly love the look and feel of Leopard. Some of these features, my favorite being Spaces, improve productivity ten-fold. Lets say I want to use iTunes and browse Firefox; a simple feat on any PC, but made even more simple with a Mac. I can browse a multitude of pages and use spaces to ctrl+arrow key to flip to each program without having to touch the mouse at all. When coding, this makes things even more simple, ctrl+arrow key to your text editor, FTP, and then view the changes online. Beautiful.

The reason Macs cost so much more is you don’t get so much of that junk software that you get with every PC you buy on the market, save for the ones you build yourself. Now I’ll admit, if you do build your own computer, you’ll probably be much happier with XP/Vista than I ever will be, but lets be honest, Leopard is clearly the victor here. When I loaded my computer for the first time, there wasn’t any junk software at all. I honestly thought something was wrong because the computer was so damn empty. I’m honestly so used to Dell Support Pack X or Gaming Service N, but I honestly have none of that crap in OSX. Beautiful.

Macs are great for developers, and this became apparent to me the moment I started screwing around in the library folders of the computer. It comes preloaded with Java, PHP, Python, and all sorts of other different languages, whereas these would have to have been installed on any other Windows platform. Finally, the browser. I’m honestly happy with Safari, its incredibly fast and slick, especially on the Mac. I’ll probably always be a fan for Firefox though, especially now that I’m using Firefox 3. By the way, did I mention everything looks more slick on a Mac? Lets not forget that my Mac came preinstalled with iTunes, iCal, and pretty much every other i-product that doesn’t suck. So awesome.

I love you, my beautiful Macbook Pro.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that vertical repeating background-images are semi outdated, however, there are certain circumstances where you want to put an incredibly detailed background image that fills the sides of your layout (repeating textures, notebook paper, and crazy stuff). In order to do this, you would simply put the following code in your CSS:

body { background: url('whatever.gif') center top repeat-y #color; }

Lets say you have a one pixel line going down the middle of your screen that you use to align stuff. Now, you’d expect that if you used the above code that there would be exactly 100 pixels on each side of our divider line. Essentially, this happens in Firefox. In IE, the repeating image would be 2 pixels too far to the right. This might seem small, but for certain layouts, it can really ruin the continuity and fluidity of the presentation. This is where IE conditional tags come in to play.

What I did to fix this problem was create two style sheets: style.css and style_ieisretarded.css. Then, in my header section, I formatted them like this:

<--[if IE]>

Obviously excluding the spaces between the < > symbols (I’m working on how to present code on a website). When the browsers parse the code, it will run the first style.css through the interpreter and apply the background image to the website. Now, if this page is loaded in IE, the secondary style_ieisretarded.css will be run, which has a single line of code in it that links to a separate background image that is offset by 2 pixels to the right. The best part about this is that those conditional tags will only be rendered in IE.

So basically in my Firefox CSS I’ll have:

body { background: url('image1.gif') center top repeat-y #color; }

Along with the rest of the CSS. In the IE-only CSS I’ll have just:

body { background: url('image2.gif') center top repeat-y #color; }

This will override the image declaration that was already interpreted in the first style sheet.

This is a fairly simple fix to an incredibly annoying problem, and I hope it helps anyone who is dedicated to making everything pixel-perfect.

I, as a consumer, have been watching a large number of things in the past few years. I’ve watched as new companies enter markets, only to be thrashed. I’ve watched as old formulas have been tossed out in the exact same way, only to be beat out by the company with the most simiplistic idea.

Don’t believe me? Look at the numerous examples.

MP3 Players:

The Creative Zen

The Microsoft Zune

The devices were superb, technologically superior to the overall winner of the market, and the one that is still the dominant force. I believe you’re familiar with this:

Yes, folks… the iPod. But why did the iPod win this market? It wasn’t the first in the race. So how? Because it’s been consistently the best designed. The idea of the scroll wheel is intuitive, and in the newest iteration the touchscreen interface has proved its dominance to the traditional formats.

Apple won because of it’s simplicity. That’s why their becoming a major winner in the forum of Cell Phones. I mean here’s the iPhone stacked up against a Blackberry (image conveniently stolen from TUAW):

Which would you rather use? The one with the vivid colors, and the smooth interface? Or the one that just looks complicated. No matter how superior the other might be in any certain aspect, it’s design is more complicated, and it cannot win.

And even though I’ve made my point, one more example. Search Engine’s/Webhubs. MSN and Yahoo are lagging behind Google in every sense of the word. Their search engine’s aren’t faster, their mail services aren’t better, and the information they provide much more complex. But just for shits and giggles let’s take a look at their home pages.

Google provides you a simple search bar, their logo, and at the top, far from where the user will tend to look, that’s where they provide their non-search functionality. That’s where you get image search, where you get Maps, where you get your finances, where you get your news. MSN? Searchbar at the top, major headlines in the center, a shit-ton of links to the side, and it’s just visually complicated. Yahoo atleast tries for something of a hub, but ultimately has so much side browsing that it makes it ultimately a bad time for all parties involved.

Google is winning.

But none of the preceding examples are truly my forte, nor are they where I’d even think about placing my career plans. I’m talking about Game Development and Design. Microsoft and Sony scoffed the very idea of Nintendo making a resurgence this generation. And I’ll be damned if they haven’t. The Nintendo Wii had outsold the Xbox 360, which had a one year advantage, by the end of it’s second Christmas. And the console is still selling out in stores around the globe.

Because it’s designed simply. Point at the screen, that’s where your pointer is. Swing the remote, you’re swinging a bat or a club. There’s nothing intimidating about it. The graphics are usually simplistic to compensate for the uncomplicated hardware. The console is a pushover, and people love it.

But it wouldn’t be selling if the games didn’t also provide that same simple fun. Twilight Princess was exquisitely easy to play. Mario Sunshine was fun and simple. Mario Kart is fun and simple. You can pick up and play a Wii game without having to go through any significantly long tutorial, because the games don’t usually have a complicated enough design to warant a long tutorial.

Things work as you would expect them to, and that’s what people want in a product.

Maybe that should be the overall focus, instead of games like Alone in the Dark that are simply compounding on an overwhelming storm of complexity.

Image Sources:

http://karthik3685.files.wordpress.com/
http://www.zunegroove.com/
http://skattertech.com/
http://www.tuaw.com/

I’d love to make my own CMS someday, but for now, this will work out perfectly. I believe eveything is in working order, but if anyone notices any bugs, please let me know as soon as possible so I can iron them out.

I also want to clarify that this site will be my main portfolio exhibition where I’ll show all my work on past websites and projects. I will also continue to host the forums indefinitely. I’m also in the process of recruiting a number of authors to submit interesting content to the site about an array of different topics to help bring more traffic to the site, while also creating an interesting read or two :D.

Thanks, and enjoy the site!

PS. I’d just like to quickly mention that the site is completely valid XHTML. Man, that feels so awesome!