Tip of the Quill: A Journal

Category Archives: Technology

Twittering, again.

Taking a brief geek break from a massive amount of projects (that seem like they will NEVER DIE) to play a little bit more with the Twitter system. The premise is simple: update a tiny section of your blog via text message. Your friends can also subscribe to your twitter minifeed, which in effect turns […]

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Xbox Live Arcade: Microsoft’s real trojan horse, part II.

Remember that post I made earlier about Xbox Live Arcade being Microsoft’s killer app? There’s been a spate of other posts made recently over at GarageGames that back my theory up: How Much Money Can Your XBox360 Live Arcade Game Make? XNA Game Studio Express Doubters Get It Wrong How Much Money Can Indie Games […]

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iPhone?

It seems doubtful that this little gadget will drop at today’s “It’s Showtime” press conference, but for the purposes of my research I’m really, really excited about Apple’s multifunction handheld plans. According to the patent, Apple’s got a combo device in the works that’s a video iPod, game device, phone and kitchen sink all rolled […]

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Code folding!

It’s rare that something related to web development gets me really excited anymore. Most Flash stuff doesn’t thrill me. Most Web 2.0 stuff strikes me as Web 1.0 rehashed. But this – this rattles my chain. Bare Bones Software has just released what might be the most amazing upgrade to their flagship product BBEdit to […]

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Sacrilege.

Ugh. One of the “perks” of having to upgrade to a new MacBook Pro is now I can run Windows on it. Whee. I’ve run Windows on a Mac before, in the eternally-pokey Connectix/Microsoft “solution”, but now that I can run Windows natively using Boot Camp or Parallels Desktop, ‘m hoping it will be somewhat […]

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The wisdom of Peter Morville.

“In a world where the haystacks get bigger and bigger, how do we create bigger needles?” – Peter Morville

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3D projections in midair.

This is the kind of wicked-cool thing that you get exposed to here at MIT: Japanese Device Uses Laser Plasma to Display 3D Images in the Air. How cool is that?!

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Prototype of the 21st century studio: The Weinstein Company

Cinematical reports that the Weinstein brothers just struck a deal to handle their own DVD distribution. The brothers’ new post-Miramax venture, The Weinstein Company, is emerging as a case study in 21st-century convergence filmmaking. First they unveiled a US$490M round of private equity from investors (including a hefty chunk of change from Mark Cuban), then […]

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Torque 2D does nothing to promote its sale.

So I’m working on a project for class this week, and I’m trying to decide between Power Game Factory and Torque 2D. PGF is cheaper ($44 vs $100) and is more Mac-friendly (heck, it’s Mac only), but Torque is more widely respected and allows cross-platform development. I expect I’m going to wind up buying PGF […]

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So close, and yet…

Hat tip to David for pointing this out to me: my dreamed-of iPod wristwatch control is almost a reality. The trouble is, these guys did a rotten job of executing the concept: for starters, if you look at the controls they’re oriented the wrong way, so to use them properly you’d have to hold your […]

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