September 2011
51 posts
"Page Blanche" →
If David is the literary genius on the English side of my friends, then Alex is definitely his French equivalent.
I actually got to read this essay the day after it was written two years ago around the same time I was foolish enough to attempt writing a novel1. It’s still as good as I remembered it to be. If you can read French, do yourself a favour and read this.
Oh yeah, about that....
Pictures of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 over at This is my... →
Joanna Stern: “As far as software goes, everything I said in the original TouchWiz UX hands-on remains true — there are some helpful tweaks (notably the expanded QuickPanel), but with all the homescreens wallpapered with widgets, there’s some obvious lag.”
Okay, I’m a little whiny bitch when it comes to scrolling, so I’m not going to hold back.
Samsung, what the fuck....
Spotify Now Requiring Facebook Account For Signups →
“Unfortunately you will need a Facebook account to access Spotify from now on, unless you already have an account set up.”
Sounds like a mistake to me.
What if Facebook goes mental and alienates all their users? Arguably, that is what they’re doing right now, but let’s say they really lose it. Is Spotify really confident that their service is so great that it can keep...
Over the past few hours, Facebook flipped the switch on a news feed redesign.
As usual, I expect to see the swarm of “XYZ joined PETITION TO GET OLD FACEBOOK BACK” messages in my feed and status updates whining and bitching about the change. Except this time there might be some actual justification for it.
If you haven’t gotten the redesign yet or you don’t have a Facebook account, the...
“We’ve dubbed it the Hellaphone—it was originally Hellphone, to keep...”
– Inferno is now available for Android phones. It’s not pretty but it’s still pretty cool.
Why Japan Never Got Rock Band →
Arcades were too noisy?
Probably they’re too noisy because Konami’s too busy making a fortune with their music games, which aren’t mentioned at all during this post?
Sakurina: Moshidora is basically "I want to become a manager for my high school baseball club but WHOOPS I bought a book about managing a company, let's see how that goes"
Sakurina: so like 40% of the time it's talking about marketing and shit
Sakurina: and there's 30% in the hospital with her friend
Sakurina: and then 30% is baseball
Sakurina: but it has a super sad ending so it is awesome
Sakurina: the super sad ending is you have to watch them play baseball of course
Anthony: LOL
Two iOS Import Music Games Gone Stateside
There’s been lots of music gaming news coming out of Pentavision and Konami recently that it reminded me I forgot to plug two of their iOS music games that have recently been made available to the North American App Store:
jukebeat is the Western version of jubeat plus. There’s a 4x4 grid of buttons and visual cues show up to get you to press them to the music. That’s a...
Spotify Playlist: Music of The O.C. →
I don’t believe I’ve linked this playlist here before, but shortly after Google I/O in May, I went through the complete list of songs ever featured on The O.C. on Wikipedia and created a Spotify playlist out of it.
459 tracks, sorted by artist. You’re welcome.
I really need to rewatch The O.C. Season 2 again. And again. And again.
No Baggage Challenge Packing →
As someone who is planning on going to Japan next year bringing the bare minimum (more or less what I brought to I/O), the idea of going to Japan for 10 days without any baggage sounds awesome. (Then you could bring home one big carry-on filled with goodies from Akihabara!) That said, I’m not sure how light that Scottevest would be with all that in there. Still, love it.
(via the awesome...
The Last Time the Beeper Went Off
Ten years ago, I was sitting in what was called “moral religious education” class at Three Rivers High School.
The school principal came on the intercom, clearly still in shock, as he said something brief to the extent of “terrorists are hijacking planes and running them into buildings”, completely omitting which buildings were attacked.
For a while, there was complete...
“A judge has handed down jail sentences and fines to censors and pornographers...”
– Sankaku Complex’s coverage of censors convicted (link nsfw) due to genitalia being too identifiable in Japanese porn. So ridiculous.
Making Movies
Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I write really long (almost 3000 words) essays about subjects few people are that passionate about. If you don’t care for Apple’s video editing software, just skip this post. I won’t be offended. Otherwise, you might want to send this to Instapaper or get a sandwich or something.
The Early Years
iMovie came out when I was eight years old. It was bundled with the...
Rogers’ Pay As You Go top up number has roughly 1 minute and 30 seconds of talking before you can enter in your voucher number. Most of it consists of “please wait while I look up that account”.
The automated computer lady on the other end tells you your account balance about halfway in, and then tells you twice that she’s still looking up your account, despite having...
You know your language learning is coming along great when you’re listening to a Japanese podcast and all you understand is that at some point, you know they’re talking about G cups and milk… and that’s about it.
In related news: Seikon no Qwaser II.
Just kidding, not going there. I try to keep the blog reasonably work-safe.
I am completely baffled by Samsung’s Android device product line.
The original Galaxy Tab 10.1 was shown prior to the iPad 2 announcement. When the iPad 2 was announced, they felt they had to change the product to compete, so the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 was renamed to the Galaxy Tab 10.1v, and then the redesigned 10.1 was announced and released as the Galaxy Tab 10.1.
At the same event...
Santorum: The Gay Community Is On A ‘Jihad’... →
No, Mr. Santorum.
It’s not just the gay community that’s after you. At this point, it’s pretty much anyone who isn’t a fundamentalist nutjob.
If anyone outside of Japan is interested in buying books/DVDs/music from Japan and isn’t satisfied with Amazon.co.jp’s outrageous international shipping prices1, check out bk1.jp.
I bought two manga volumes (Helvetica Standard and Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Vol. 1) and the ZONE tribute album and saved roughly $16 on shipping. I ordered Saturday night and stuff got here this morning. You...
“Oh, Mufasa, you’ve been up there too long; your head is in the clouds!”
– Rafiki was onto something.
HTC announces more Windows Phone devices
The Titan and the Radar.
You’d think if manufacturers would ship phones with comically large displays, they’d at least make sure the resolution would be decent. But no. 4.7-inch display with 800x480. What the hell, Microsoft.
Seemingly missing from the IFA announcement party: Samsung. How about they stop announcing tablets no one’s going to buy and announce a kickass sequel...
