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Matt
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Posts by Matt
Google Blacks Out Logo In Protest To SOPA
Jan 18, 2012
Today Google has blacked-out their logo to protest the SOPA act. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a bill that was introduced last year that would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Proponents of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws, especially against foreign websites. Opponents say that it violates the First Amendment, is Internet censorship, will cripple the Internet, and will threaten whistle-blowing and other free speech actions.
Wikipedia has taken a different approach into shedding some light (or dark) on SOPA. They’ve made every Wikipedia article forward to a page where the user can input their zipcode and contact their local political representative about stopping the SOPA bill. Social news site Reddit is going down for 12 hours to protest SOPA and PIPA later today. Other websites scheduled to go black include:
Video Flood HD: Streaming Video on the Touchpad
Jan 16, 2012
Yesterday I checked out Video Flood HD, a streaming video player for Touchpad. Instead of individually going to your favorite websites with streaming video content such as ABC Family, CBS & Fox, Video Flood HD gathers them into one app for an easy way to view them. All of the big streaming sites are here including many of the smaller ones you’ve never heard of before. In fact, Video Flood HD is a good way to find some of the web shows without a big budget but that are just as entertaining and boil down to specific genres you may be interested in. I never knew Ben Heck had his own show! Another neat feature of this app is that it allows you to not only stream the videos but also download the content to your Touchpad. Add favorite shows to your favorites tab for easy access to them. You’re not just restricted to shows because there’s even a section for easy access to Hulu, Crackle and other movie websites. Overall a pretty cool app and reasonably priced at $1.99.
More @ HP.
Is That a UFO Or a Hotel Room?
Jan 14, 2012
That’s the question that one may ask when they first see this picture. The answer of course is that it is indeed a hotel room that is part of Treehotel, a unique hotel experience located near the small town of Harads, Sweden. The Treehotel has six rooms available for nightly rental each with unique styles including a birdsnest type of room and a mirrorcube. The inside of the each room is designed with custom furniture, lighting and fabrics. Each one feature views of the Lule River valley and miles of forest. Rooms currently go for about 5,000 Swedish kronor or roughly $715 US dollars/night.
More @ Treehotel.
Kool in Disorderlies
Jan 14, 2012
The Fat Boys may make some of the worst Orderlies in the country but honestly Kool needs to get his priorities straight. After having a bad day and almost killing Mr. Dennison on the chair lift at the $5,000 a plate lunch, Kool decides that he’s had enough of highbrow life in Palm Beach and wants to head back to Brooklyn. He goes to wake up Markie and Bufie who are sleeping in Mr. Dennison’s room but what is with his sack full of balls? I mean come one, he’s demanding to go to a bus station with a sack full of balls over his shoulder. I would understand if he was a gym teacher or something but nope, he’s an Orderlie. What is he going to do with them?
Astraware Brings Solitaire To Touchpad
Jan 14, 2012
Astraware has extended support for the Touchpad by releasing Solitaire, a combination of 12 different card games. I downloaded Astraware Solitaire and I am impressed with the amount of fun I’m having. So far the games I’ve explored are my favorites from the past, Klondike, Golf and Pyramid. Over the past couple of months Astraware has also brought us Sudoku & Mahjong. I went to check out Astraware’s website and noticed that they posted something called The Touchpad Totalizer which is counter that displays how they will continue support as long as fans keep buying games for Touchpad. The next games on the list that are scheduled to come out are OddBlob and then Astraware Casino so keep buying those Astraware Touchpad games.
More @ The TouchPad Totalizer.
Kid Icarus Updated Into Playable 16-bits
Jan 12, 2012
Kid Icarus, Nintendo’s most demanded sequel of a game is now available in a new, updated web version that looks like it’s from the Super Nintendo generation. Technically it’s a remake and not a sequel but that doesn’t matter so much because it’s a new new version of Kid Icarus! It might even be enough to hold us over until March 23, when Kid Icarus Uprising comes out for the 3DS. Then again maybe not. Much like Super Mario Bros, the original Kid Icarus just doesn’t age. When you play it you think oh I’m playing Kid Icarus, not what is this dated garbage? I can’t stand it.
More @ Super Kid Icarus.
Charles Adams Goodle Doodle
Jan 7, 2012
Growing up I was a big fan of The Addams Family so when I saw todays Google Doodle, I figured I should blog about it. The Doodle was made to celebrate Charles Adams January 7 birthday. Charles Adams was a cartoonist who created the Addams Family characters which led to two TV shows, cartoons, movies and a broadway show. My favorite Addams Family series was the 1964–1966 black comedy live-action sitcom. I was a big fan of that show when they played it on Nick At Night along with The Brady Bunch, Three’s Company and Gilligans Island which are some of my other favorite old shows from the 1960′s/70′s. I was surprised to see that there were only 2 seasons of that series made. It upsets me that these shows are hard to find on TV anymore.
Girl Sneaks Into A Russian Military Rocket Factory
Jan 6, 2012
I’m sure that sneaking through pipes and tunnels as you work your way into a Russian military rocket factory to take pictures may be easy for some but it’s not for me. if you have the guts to do it then more power to you. A girl named Lana did just this right outside of Moscow. I think I’ve played this video game before (Metal Gear Solid). And when the pictures turn out as beautiful as they did then even more power to you. The photographs turned out to look like something out of a sci-fi movie. In fact I think I’ve seen the photo above in a movie (2001: A Space Oddysey).
Lana’s pictures can be seen here.
A Child Accomplished Art Exhibition
Jan 3, 2012
No one knows why kids get such a joy out of placing stickers on things but why not turn that idea into an art exhibition? The first part of Yayoi Kusama’a ‘The Obliteration Room’ features a space reminiscent of the average Australian home, filled with furniture and objects painted entirely in white. Next, children are given brightly colored stickers and let into the bland rooms to place these stickers and create the exhibition. Thousands of stickers were used to create the colorful rooms. You can visit at ‘The Obliteration Room‘ during ‘Yayoi Kusama: Look Now, See Forever‘, on display at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia until March 11, 2012.
More @ Queensland Art Gallery website.
What Would A Year-long Photo Exposure Look Like?
Jan 3, 2012
A year-long photo exposure looks something like this because that’s exactly what this is. Photographer Michael Chrisman used a pinhole camera to make a 365-day exposure of the Toronto skyline from Jan. 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2011. A typical exposure with a DSLR camera on a bright day might last between 1/250th and 1/1000th of one second. With this photo, the pinhole has been open for over 31 million seconds. The trails of light that are seen in the image are due to the earth shifting up and down in rotation during to the change in seasons. Those familiar with the Toronto skyline will recognize the CN Tower in the distance and Lake Ontario covering the bottom portion of the photo. This is quite a unique way to capture so much movement with one photo.
More @ Toronto News or purchase a print on Etsy.
Taito’s Kick Through Racers Arcade Game
Jan 2, 2012
The cutesy artwork has drawn me into researching this arcade game called Kick Through Racers. In the game, you control a scooter that resembles a razor scooter, one of the hottest selling items about 10 years ago. The game is brought to us by Taito, a developer that has brought us some great games over the years. Taito released a similar game a few years ago called Hopping Road where you race along on pogo sticks. But this time it’s scooters and after viewing the trailer for Kick Through Racers, it may not be a game that blows anyone away graphically but it does looks like a fun concept to try for all ages. Kick Through Racers arcade game is currently available in Japan for about $9,600.
Radiant HD Arcade Game for WebOS
Dec 31, 2011
For fans of Space Invaders comes Radiant HD, a game from Hexage available on WebOS along with Android and iOS. Hexage has been very supportive of WebOS and has released many other games for the Touchpad including Totemo, Robotek, and Quell. Think of Radiant HD as a mash-up of a bunch of classic space shooter games combined into one.
The controls in the game are fantastic because instead of using awkward touch buttons that are difficult to locate, you simply tap the screen either on the left side or right side to control your spaceship. Firing is super easy because it’s automatically done for you. At first this may seem crazy but it actually works great because it lets you focus on where your bullets go. The graphics are also well done with vibrant neon colors and pixelated character shapes to bring that old-school game feel. The music is nothing special but suits the game well with its spacey way.
You get points for upgrades after killing certain enemies during level play. At the end of the level, you get to choose from upgrades that give you things like double guns and missiles which help you to perform better in the next levels. These weapons do well against the larger enemies and bosses throughout the 100+ levels of the game. The weapons include a Vulcan Cannon, Bio Blaster, Plasma Gun, Disruptor Laser, Seeking Missiles, and Smart Gun. If you are into classic arcade shooters, then I recommend Radiant HD. It is another game that will help build up your library of games on your Touchpad, a device with not a lot of support app-wise compared to Android and iOS.
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Huge Nintendo Image Shows Many Characters
Dec 28, 2011
Artist Luis Carrasquillo put together this massive montage of Nintendo characters that have appeared across numerous consoles. It’s difficult to comprehend just how many games make up Nintendo console libraries but this massive image may give you a better idea. And what you’re looking at above is just a screengrab of a small portion of the image. The full image size is over 3,000 pixels in width.
See the full image @ Kotaku.
Original Poem “White Noise”
Dec 27, 2011
Growing up I had quite a childhood delight
Which involved me watching TV in the middle of the night
I’d skip through the channels that had something to say
And find the ones where all the broadcasts went away
Some call these blank channels ‘snow’ or ‘white noise’
But watching them for me was so much better than toys
While watching, little people would pull me inside
the TV, where all my dreams and fantasies came alive
One particular night when I went inside the TV
I immedietly realized that it was not a safe place to be
These dreams that were usually loving and nice
Were replaced with the most painful night of my life
Now when people ask me if I believe in heaven and hell
I tell them I’ve experienced one of them and I tell
The story which the little people told me never to repeat
Whoops, too late it looks like you too are in for a treat
Animated Comic Book Covers
Dec 26, 2011
Kerry Callen came up with this awesome animated comic books that are based on actual comic book covers of the past. There are also three more covers at the link below. This technique is very time consuming but can all be done in Photoshop.
The artwork has to be cut up into layers. In this case, the area of the artwork that doesn’t animate should be the layer in front and the other layers that animate should go behind that layer and the animation should be created. Finally, in the example here it looks like there would need to be another two layers that contains arm and shot glass to go in front of all the other layers. Although there looks like there is quite a bit of movement in this comic cover, the entire animation can really be done with just two or three frames.
If I had more spare time I’d love to work on a similar project with classic NES game covers.
More @ Kerry Callen’s Blog.