Dylan Greene dot com

This is really funny. True and funny.

"20 things gamers want from the seventh generation of game consoles "

Example:

3. Don't bullshit me about your graphics

How, in 2005, can there still be gamers taken in by EXCLUSIVE SCREENSHOTS of games that are obviously taken from cutscenes and have NO connection with what the actual game will look like? I blame the developers formerly known as Square for this. They're the ones who ran their entire ad campaign for Final Fantasy VIII with shots like this:

...for a game that looked like this:

Now, that was a great game and the actual game looked fine for its time. But stop treating us like morons.

Link: http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/games/manifesto.html

Source: http://www.hellogamer.com/2005/05/24/a-gamers-manifesto/

Will Wright got his start with SimCity and is now most widely known for The Sims.

Forget everything you love or hate about The Sims and watch Will Wright's Game Developer's Conference demo of his next game in progress, Spore. This demo is actual game play, not amazing pre-rendered graphics with no game play (*cough* PS3 *cough*).

You start with a micro-organism in a pool of water and build it up to a sentient civilization that spans galaxies. You "evolve" your organisms with a Lego-simplistic interface that could be a game in itself.

It's an hour long, and the premise is how to let gamers create their own content.

Here are some clips from the video:

VIDEO: http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/gdctv/

The video requires "registration" but you just need to give a realistic-looking email address.

Source: GamingSteve.com (More about Spore)

Because of a post I wrote almost two years ago (iTunes for Windows... worst Windows app ever?), I get a lot of emails from jilted iPod owners who hate dealing with iTunes.

Bugboard.com sent me an email about this today:

ml_ipod - it's a free download that lets you manage your iPod music from Winamp instead of using iTunes. http://www.mlipod.com/

Wired has an article about ml_ipod.

This isn't the first iTunes replacement. Anapod from Red Chair Software is also fairly popular.

Gary Hendrickson has started a new challenge: Make $100,000 in one year just from web-based income.

Web site: http://www.6figurechallenge.com/

I'm joined the challege, but I have long ways to go.

While I'm very excited about the next generation XBOX, the XBOX 360, I hate the official web site at XBOX360.com. I'm boycotting the web site until they fix these problems:

1. It asks us what content, country, and language we want every time we go to the site. It should just default to our user's computer's language setting and not waste our time.
2. One you choose a language it opens another window. Use the same window, what was wrong with it?
3. The new window is full screen. Why full screen? So I can't check email, pause my mp3 player, or do anything else but look at the 360 site? That's fairly arrogant. Never make the browser full screen - in fact never change the size of the browser. I liked the size it was, thank you very much.
4. While the site loads there is no progress bar with % complete. Is it going to take 10 seconds or 20 minutes? Who knows? It's anyones guess - welcome to download roulette!
5. Before the site even finishes downloading the sound begins. Sound you can't turn off because it doesn't give you an obvious way to lower the volume. After the site loads you do get a fairly hidden graphic (look to the right) that will mute the sound. But I just want to make it softer. Why not?
6. Okay, now to the actual content. This is what we see:
   
   
   A few seconds later this is what it looks like:
   
   
   The reason everything is positioned different is because everything on the page is rotating (360, get it?). Nothing is labeled, even if you move your mouse over the various circles, dots, and rectangles. So while there might be lots of cool stuff on this site, finding it is too much work for me to bother with.
7. The final problem effects all sites that ridicule themselves to using Flash for their entire content: there's no way for me to give you a link to any particular bit of information on that site. So even if I did find something cool, the only way I could show you is via a screen shot. I couldn't even tell you how to get to the page, because there's no labels on the floating circle things.

I really hope more thought is going into the design of the XBOX 360. This site is a huge disappointment, especially for a marketing site trying build interest months before the product will be available.

What I would like to see:

1. A blog written by people on the XBOX hardware, software, marketing, and/or developer relations staff. One entry a day at most, once a week at least, like what Bungie.net did leading up to Halo 2. It must have an RSS feed, other sites must be able to link direct to the blog entries, and should include updates such as links to the newest 360 videos and announcements. This will get people to go to XBOX360.com on a regular basis and will get other sites to link to the 360 site more frequently.
2. Lots of pictures of the new hardware. I found rotating zoomable images on XBOX360.com but I have no idea how to find them again. More of that. (Downloadable backgrounds with these images must be the size of our desktops - so 1600x1200 is expected, not 800x600 like the site current has.)
3. Lots of techie info for the geeks. Lots. From memory bandwidth to RF frequency.
4. Explain, in non-geek terms, what people need to enjoy the XBOX 360 the fullest. Don't just say "HDTV" - say what inputs need to be available, because if people plug their XBOX 360 to their $3000 HDTV using S-Video, their XBOX 360 won't be doing HD. Give links to example products at Samsung, Panasonic, Toshiba, etc with photos of which connectors to use. Kids need to know what to tell their parents to start saving for and justify getting a system with multiple component or HDMI inputs.
5. Link to trusted often-updated community web sites like TeamXBOX.com and XBOX employee web sites like MajorNelson.com.

I wrote this post directing to XBOX360.com, but a lot of this advice can be applied to almost any commercial web site.

From Engadget:

The Scooba is designed for some industrial strength cleaning action on your tile and linoleum floors, which it achieves by first vacuuming up the flotsam and jetsam, then applying a liquid cleaner, and following up by drying the floor making it also safe when used on wood floors.

I'm a huge fan of the Roomba (and any robot that does household chores for me), though I don't use it much anymore because I hate cleaning (it takes about as long as it would have taken me to vacuum). I have the first generation and the newer ones supposedly fixed that problem.

Microsoft's new map service called MSN Virtual Earth looks pretty cool:

Click for a larger image:

SimCity view!

It's not available until this summer, but there's a great 30 minute (!) video of the dev team showing off the new features.

Apparetly my site was mentioned on 98 Rock this morning in reference to my Preakness Photos.

Anybody know why?

Yup, I'm not at webMethods anymore. Surprised? Yeah, me too! Disappointed? Well, don't be.

I've decided to work on my own company for as long as my savings can support it. It should be fun, challenging, exiting, and I get to work on projects I've wanted to spend more time on for many years. I already have many ideas I'm working on, such as TeacherReviews and this yet-to-named blogging and photo album software. Now it's just a mater of focusing and making money.

A very brief personal history: At the end of college I turned down an opportunity to stay with Microsoft to join webMethods back when webMethods was less than 100 people because I believed in the vision, loved the people, and I wanted to learn about working for a start-up. Six years later I have a learning experience that can't be beat by any MBA program. Hopefully I've learned the right things at webMethods to be successful at my own venture. Of course I don't know everything, so maybe some day I might be lucky enough to extend an opportunity to a former webMethods coworker or two to come work for me.

I've received a bunch of emails asking if I need anything. Thank you for being so generous. The only thing I can ask is to make sure we're "linked" on LinkedIn.com so that I can continue to keep in touch with you. If you would like, I would greatly appreciate your "endorsement" on LinkedIn as well. Your honest impression of me and my work will go along way as I look for partnerships, funding, or, if my business ideas don't work out, future employment. I will be returning your generosity by posting endorsements of your work as well.

My LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=566313

Thank you everybody at webMethods for the great experience. I've enjoyed working with everyone, I had a great time, and I hope you continue to do great things at webMethods.

Starting now I'm officially working full time on TeacherReviews and my other projects, including this blog and the software that powers it.

A huge exciting change in a short bland blog entry.

Friends are coming over now to celebrate. If you know where I live, come on by!

Item 1:

A Capella troupe sings classic Nintendo Entertainment System tunes [video],

Can you name all the games?

Item 2:

When I was in college I found a web site that had free 3-way calling. We used it to call two pizza places and silently listen in at the chaos. A radio station in England took this a slight step further with two Chinese restaurants and the results are hilarious [audio].

Item 3:

HowStuffWorks.com presents... How Lightsabers work

My favorite section is Using Your Lightsaber Around the Home...

Reheating Coffee

Yet another online music store, this time from Yahoo.

Yahoo! Music Engine. $5/month for unlimited music and videos.

I'm not going to use it, but I love this blog entry from one of the developers, which is pretty convincing.

Just days after announcing the Google Web "Accelerator" (GWA), Google removed it from their site.

From Ars Technica:

This news was not greeted with universal praise. Some critics questioned the need for such a tool, given the ever increasing speeds of broadband. Cynics suggested that this was simply a marketing tool for Google. Loudest of all, though, have been the security concerns. Testers who used GWA to browse certain forums discovered they were logged in as other users. Despite its friendly image, many are growing uneasy at the level of data gathering Google has at its disposal, and that capacity would expand by an order of magnitude with the widespread use of GWA.

Full Article... [Ars Technica]

From MTV:

Elijah Wood will host a half-hour global premiere, with a performance from The Killers, airing exclusively on MTV channels around the world on May 12 and 13.

In the US, it's 9:30 PM in every time zone. For international folks, you have to figure out this slightly overwhelming chart.

There's a couple "leaked images" from this event. We'll have to watch to find out if they are real and if so what we are seeing.

From ActiveWin:

Have unlimited text messages? Take full advantage of it and get into the Guinness Book of World Records.

From Engadget.com:

Deepak Sharma went on record with the Guinness Book for having sent the most SMS messages in a single month: 182,689.

Thats about 6,100 messages a day, 253 an hour, 4.2 a minute, or a new one every 14 seconds or so.

His phone bill was 1411 pages long.

Full Story [WebIndia123.com]

May 5th, 2005 is 05/05/05. There's probably a word for that.

Shouldn't something special happen today at 5:05?

From Haacked.com:

Google announced on its blog that they've release a beta version of their new web accelerator designed for broadband use. I'll give it a shot and see how well it works.

Not much later Phil Haacked posted this:

UPDATE Wow, check out the privacy policy for Google Web Accelerator... On second thought maybe I'll hold off on installing that.

From Google's Privacy Policy:

When you use Google Web Accelerator, Google servers receive and log your page requests. Page requests and data sent in encrypted form using an HTTPS connection will not go through Google. It is possible that some personally identifiable information could be sent to Google, if the information is sent without using an encrypted (HTTPS) connection.

To enhance Google Web Accelerator's performance, Google temporarily caches cookies from third party sites that are used in your Web requests. For more information, please see our FAQ.

To accelerate delivery of content, Google Web Accelerator retrieves and caches webpages before you request them. Therefore, your Google Web Accelerator cache may include copies of webpages you have not visited. You can clear the cache following instructions in the FAQ.

Google: Reinventing Big Brother?

Microsoft is finally having some cool competitions. In this one, whoever gets the most .NET questions right gets $25,000.

Sign up at LastDeveloper.com

UPDATE: You had to sign up by May 2, 2005, which was earlier this week... Good job Microsoft promoting this competition before the sign up date. At least update the web site now that the date has past.

AOL Time Warner finally has something profitable on their hands and what do they do with it?

Sell it...

The New York media conglomerate said in its quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it sold its 5.1 million Google shares on Tuesday at an average of $185 a share, receiving total cash of roughly $940 million.

Continue... [dowjones.com]

Source: John Battelle's Searchblog

Not since the Matrix have I had a movie stuck in my head for such a long time.

Primer is one of those rare science fiction movies that's centered around a mysterious story, interesting characters, beautiful cinematography, and perfect soundtrack. No high-budget special effects, well-known actors, or space aliens here.

I don't want to give away the story or premise, I think it's more interesting to discover it along side with the characters.

The movie has a web site, which has the trailer, but I don't think the trailer portrays the movie correctly. Or at least not how I saw it. Maybe that's on purpose. The site also has a message board, but don't go there until you've seen the movie.

Oh yeah, and the kicker... the movie was made for just $7000.

The DVD is now available: Primer on DVD at Amazon.com

The Acurabot holds a secret in the trunk....

The dashboard holds a few secrets too... such as how fast you are going... where is that dial again?

I'd be way to distracted to drive this thing...

More photos...

i am 8-bit is an exhibition at Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight in Los Angles. It's open until May 18, which happens to be the first day of E3, which is also in LA.

Here are some of my favorites:

More items from the show.... [Fort90.com]