Eye Dull Musings

Random Eye Dull Photo: Bats!

2011-08-18T21:34:00.002-04:00

The past few nights I've seen a large number of bats flying around at dusk. A friend asked me if I took any pictures of them, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Given the low lighting, it proved to be a bit challenging. I initially tried using autofocus, but that proved impossible.

I then tried setting a fixed focus point and guess when the bats were in the right place. This gave slightly better results, but still the low light just gave a blurry result.

I then opted for a flash, along with manually focused at a fixed point, and this gave somewhat decent results. They're not going to win any awards, but you can at least tell they're bats.

Random Eye Dull Photo: Cardinals

2011-01-23T14:06:00.002-05:00

(You can click on image for a larger view)

Random Eye Dull Photo: Golden-Crowned Kinglet

2011-01-22T12:18:00.003-05:00

Caught this little guy digging in the snow looking for seeds. (You can click on the image for a larger view).

Random Eye Dull Photo: Faucet Drip

2010-12-12T15:48:00.002-05:00

It's a cold rainy day - what better time to take pictures of a dripping faucet?

Random Eye Dull Photo: Eye-closeup

2010-12-05T18:06:00.002-05:00

I bought another new (used) lens for my camera, this time one for macro photography. It's the Nikon AF Micro Nikkor 105mm 2.8 D.

This being late fall, there's not really any flowers or insects to photograph outside, so I've been experimenting with the camera indoors. Again, Hiro was the test subject. He will generally sit fairly still while I put a camera lens very close to his face.

Took me a few tries to get his iris in focus... Coincidentally, you can also see my other dog Bodhi reflected in his pupil.

Random Eye Dull Photo: Hiro

2010-11-13T16:54:00.003-05:00

I bought a new (used) lens for my camera, and was testing its ability to shoot wildlife in low-light outdoor conditions. Since there wasn't any actual wildlife in the area, one of my dogs had to play the role.

The lens is an old Nikon AF-D 80-200mm f2.8 ED. It's not as nice as the new Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR lens, but at about 1/4 the price, it'll do the job well enough.

The above photos aren't super sharp, but the sun was setting, I was in the woods, and I don't have the steadiest hand, so given all that, I was happy with the result.

Random Eye Dull Photo: Greenwich Bay

2010-10-31T13:06:00.003-04:00

A picture taken with my iPhone last weekend

Random Eye Dull Photo: Fledgling Blue Jay

2010-08-22T13:15:00.006-04:00

Who you calling ugly?

I've been seeing a lot of young birds that appear to have recently left the nest - tufted titmice, cardinals, grackles, and now blue jays.

Random Eye Dull Photo: Rose Breasted Grosbeak

2010-07-25T18:04:00.003-04:00

Not the best of pictures, but I managed to snap a picture of the visiting rose breasted grosbeak. It's a first time sighting of this type of bird for me. Growing up, I used to see plenty of evening grosbeaks but no other types.

Random Eye Dull Photo: Wild blackberries and peas

2010-07-15T23:53:00.004-04:00

Went with some friends to a great spot for lots of wild blueberries, blackberries, and huckleberries. I even found some wild peas that tasted pretty good.

Giant strawberry plants

2010-06-05T18:34:00.000-04:00

Not sure what's different this year, but these strawberry plants are
way taller than last year - over a foot tall. The strawberries are
normal size, but the plants are huge.

Random Eyedull photo: Bobwhite

2010-06-04T14:15:00.003-04:00

While waiting for my Internet service to come back, I saw these two bird hanging out on the lawn at the edge of some woods. My best guess is a male and female Bobwhite.

Verizon using the GLADOS system for automated telephone support?

2010-06-04T11:28:00.000-04:00

For the first time in years, I experienced a DSL failure with my Internet service. As a compliment to Verizon, it’s been so stable all these years, I’ve taken it for granted. And since I now work from home, when the service was down I felt completely crippled in regards to getting any work done.

After logging into my Internet modem, it was obvious the problem was with Verizon and not something local on my end. The DSL portion of the the connection was up, but the PPP portion of the link was down. So, with that info in hand, I figured I’d make a call to Verizon to get the problem resolved. And then the fun began.

Verizon, like so many other companies these days, is taking the cost-cutting measure of providing an automated telephone support system. It’s a helpful friendly sounding female voice, similar to the computer voice, GLADOS, from the game Portal. (If you aren’t familiar with Portal, you are missing out. It’s a very clever 1st person puzzle game from Valve Software and is available on PC, Mac, XBox, PS3, etc.)

First off, the automated system doesn’t just use touch-tones for answering questions. It attempts to implement a form of speech recognition. You can interrupt the computer voice (I’ll call her GLADOS) at any time with your reply, but the problem is, even background noise is attempted to be recognized. I bumped my leg on the table and GLADOS stopped in mid-sentence and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that.” Then I had to wait for her to restart from the beginning and retell me a bunch of stuff I already heard before I knew how to proceed to the next menu.

As part of the automated system, GLADOS told me that she was able to perform a remote diagnostic of the problem. After hearing GLADOS repeat about 15 times, “I’m still waiting for the results of the test”, she finally told me there was a problem which required me to reboot the DSL modem. And this brings me to the second problem with an automated system. Unlike when talking to a real human, I can’t just say, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear what you just said, can you please repeat that?” Of course, GLADOS will say that plenty of times, but I can’t make the same request of her. In my case, as part of the automated system diagnostic, GLADOS asked me to walk to my DSL modem and reboot it. Near the modem, the mobile phone service is poor, so GLADOS’ voice began to get garbled (just like in Portal) and I wasn’t really certain what I might have missed in our “conversation”.

After rebooting the modem, and telling GLADOS, “YES, I really did reboot the modem,” GLADOS helpfully then asked if my Internet service was working. It wasn’t working, which was no surprise to me since I had also tried rebooting the modem several times myself before calling Verizon and each time the modem would fail on the PPP connection and would display a red error light for the Internet. Of course, I couldn’t actually tell the helpful GLADOS any of this, since she didn’t really understand speech, so instead I had to follow her next step in resolving the problem.

Since I answered “No” to her question on whether rebooting the router fixed the problem, and despite the fact that the modem was displaying a red error light saying the Internet was down, GLADOS then helpfully suggested that I reboot my computer.

The conversation went something like this:

GLADOS: Please reboot your computer. If you need help rebooting your computer, please say ‘I need help with that.’ If you know how to do it, say, ‘Skip this.’

Me: Skip this.

GLADOS: Ok, please say ‘Yes’ or press 1 when your computer has rebooted.

Me: (Seeing there’s still a red error light on the modem, I know rebooting my computer will have no effect so I just say ‘Yes’ without actually rebooting.)

GLADOS: Ok. Please try viewing a Verizon.net web page. Can you view it?

Me: No

GLADOS: I’m sorry this has not resolved your problem. Please reboot your computer. If you need help rebooting your computer, please say ‘I need help with that.’ If you know how to do it, say, ‘Skip this.’

Me: What? We just did this.

GLADOS: I’m sorry, I did not understand what you just said. Please reboot your computer. If you need help rebooting your computer, please say ‘I need help with that.’ If you know how to do it, say, ‘Skip this.’

Me: Skip this.

GLADOS: Ok, please say ‘Yes’ or press 1 when your computer has rebooted.

Me: (Thinking maybe she didn’t understand when I said ‘Yes’ last time, I press 1 on my phone this time.)

GLADOS: Ok. Please try viewing a Verizon.net web page. Can you view it?

Me: NO!!

At this point, it should be obvious there’s a problem with Verizon’s automated diagnostic system. Besides the fact that it got stuck in an infinite loop asking me to repeatedly reboot my computer, there’s something else wrong. First, they did a test and determined there was a problem. As part of the resolution, they had me reboot the modem. That makes sense. Then, where the test process broke down, however, is they didn’t do another diagnostic after rebooting the modem. Instead, they just assumed the modem was OK, even though I could see it was definitely not OK since it had a red error light on it. And then, they had me perform a completely useless step of rebooting my computer.

Were I speaking with an actual human, I would have been able to interrupt and try to explain this problem. Instead, I was stuck in an automated system.

I finally resorted to pressing 0 to speak with a real person, and after several minutes of being on hold, with GLADOS periodically chiming in to tell me I can probably resolve my problem by viewing their tech tips at verizon.net (even though I have no Internet service!), the phone call went completely silent with no explanation. The call was still connected, there just wasn’t anyone on the other end anymore. Pressing numbers on the touch pad had no effect. Apparently GLADOS gave up on helping me.

Then, ten minutes later, my DSL Internet connection started working again. And I never rebooted my computer. Sorry I lied to you GLADOS.

Black Raspberry Brambles

2010-05-20T17:33:00.000-04:00

There are a large number of wild black raspberry brambles growing in
the backyard and based on the number of flowers, it looks like they'll
be bearing fruit this summer, too.

I had noticed them growing last summer, but since they were just
thorny brambles with no flowers, I wasn't certain they were raspberries.

Now I just have to make sure the dogs don't take a liking to them as
they have with the strawberries.

Swamp dog

2010-05-18T20:34:00.001-04:00

Guess who likes to play in the swamp...

Random Eyedull Photo: Mourning Dove

2010-05-16T15:23:00.001-04:00

Snapped these pictures of a mourning dove sitting in a tree outside the window.

Random Eyedull Photo: Atom Ant

2010-05-09T10:29:00.002-04:00

Based on a recent comment made in jest with some friends, I was trying to take a picture of an ant. It proved more challenging than I expected. First I had to find an ant, and for some reason all the usual ant hang outs were ant-free. Second, once I found an ant, it wouldn't keep still. And those ants that did keep still would be quickly eaten by one of my dogs.

So, the above photo is about all I have to show for my efforts. It's way overexposed. The ant was in some dark shadows, so I used the built-in flash on my camera, which at such close range reflected back and blew out the light levels. The end result gave the picture a weird radioactive look when I adjusted the exposure in Lightroom.

Random Eyedull Photo - Crazy Sky

2010-05-08T17:04:00.001-04:00

There's a storm brewing!!

Photoblogging without a computer

2010-05-05T20:13:00.002-04:00

The previous Random Eyedull Photo post was made using just my Nikon D200 camera and an iPad. No other computer was used.

I used the iPad Camera Connection Kit to copy to photos off the camera and then used the handy free iPad app called PhotoPad. This app let's you do a handful of image edits, including cropping. And for free, you can't beat the price.

This is good news for when I'd like to travel and take higher quality photos than my iPhone allows and upload them remotely, but don't want to also take along a laptop. It's now easy for me to sort through the D200 photos, edit them, and upload some to my blog, all without a full computer.

(This post was also made from my iPad. I snapped the photo using my iPhone and then used the Camera Connection Kit to transfer the photo from iPhone to iPad. I could have just posted this from my iPhone, but the larger keyboard on the iPad makes for faster typing.)

Random Eyedull photo - Buzzzzz

2010-05-05T19:35:00.000-04:00

Tried to snap some pictures of a bee that is getting very territorial about my front deck.

Knot of the day: Monkey Fist

2010-05-03T23:36:00.000-04:00

Working on learning a new knot each night. Today's is called the
monkey fist.

Originally used by fisherman for weighting a line (the knot can be
made around a lead ball or other weight), it also makes a nice
decorative knot.

Barcode scanning on iPad

2010-05-03T19:26:00.005-04:00

Today I received the iPad Camera Connection Kit. As the name implies, it is designed for connecting a camera to the iPad for the purpose of importing photos. And that's the primary reason I bought it.

But, another point of interest for me was the kit provides a USB host port on the iPad. Although not really publicized, the USB functionality of the iPad allows it to act as both a USB function and a USB host controller (it is in function mode when docked with a PC/Mac and is in host mode when a camera or other device is attached to it).

As a result, when the camera kit adapter is connected, you can plug in all sorts of USB function devices, such as keyboards, USB headset, etc.

So this got me thinking... what other USB devices might work? One USB device I happened to have handy is an old Symbol barcode scanner. I plugged it in, and sure enough, it works!

This could potentially open up all sorts of ideas for using the iPad for workforce automation. Of course, this isn't an official use of the iPad Camera Connection Kit, and in fact, it does have some serious limitations as is. First, when the barcode scanner is initially plugged in, an alert pops up stating that the device is unsupported. Second, since the barcode scanner is identified as an input device, it prevents the onscreen keyboard from appearing. While plugged in, you are limited to only being able to input text data via the barcode scanner.

I don't expect to find myself keeping a barcode scanner plugged into my iPad all day, but if I did need to capture a bunch of barcodes while away from my PC, it is an option.

Now if they'd only come out with a version of Delicious Library for iPad...

A different perspective

2010-04-27T17:38:00.001-04:00

"Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark “other” does so, however, it isn’t viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is why Rush Limbaugh could say, this past week, that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary, common Americans stood up for their rights: a statement that erases the normalcy and “American-ness” of blacks in the civil rights struggle, not to mention women in the fight for suffrage and equality, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBT folks as they struggle to be treated as full and equal human beings."

From http://cosmicnavellint.blogspot.com/2010/04/imagine-if-tea-party-was-black-tim-wise.html

Lego My iPad!

2010-04-25T20:52:00.003-04:00

Inspired by someone else’s use of Lego as an iPad stand (http://coreymarion.posterous.com/lego-ipad-stand), I decided to fish through my dwindling Lego collection to see if I might have any pieces suitable for making an iPad stand for myself.

I had long since given away all the cool technic pieces, but surprisingly I found I could make a decent stable stand out of just 8 Lego pieces. Granted, two of the main pieces are fairly non-standard Lego fair. They’re legs from some Lego set I’ve long since forgotten, but were the proper angle for acting as a back support for the stand.

Here’s the design:

The two black angle shaped pieces are the front of the stand and hold the iPad in place. It's not the most esthetically pleasing design - some of the blocks are a few pegs too wide and coloring doesn't match - but given I no longer have 1000s of blocks to fish through, I'm happy with what I was able to find.

Here’s what it looks like in use:

I’ll probably add a few extra pieces to the front to reinforce the two black blocks and reduce the risk of them popping off, but overall even in its current form, it’s quite stable, even with the iPad in portrait mode.

I had been looking for something to use as a stand for the iPad in the kitchen. I have the Apple docking stand already, but it only works in portrait mode. I use Epicurious on the iPad in the kitchen and landscape mode is much more usable when following recipes.

First wildflowers of the season

2010-04-21T17:02:00.000-04:00

Saw these today on a hiking trail in the Douglas State Forest.

Enjoying the game called "work"

2010-03-26T13:08:00.002-04:00

I recently came across a very interesting article regarding the addictive qualities of video games. Specifically, it was talking about how some video game companies intentionally try to make their games as addictive as possible. The point is, they're not trying to make the games as fun as possible, but as addictive as possible. There's a big difference between those two goals.

You can read the full article here. It's well worth reading if you can spare the time.

One of the points raised in the article was how playing a video game tries to fill a void in another aspect of someone's life. For example, from the article:

"to be satisfied with your job you need three things: Autonomy (that is, you have some say in what you do day to day); Complexity (so it's not mind-numbing repetition); Connection Between Effort and Reward (i.e. you actually see the awesome results of your hard work). Most people, particularly in the young gamer demographics, don't have this in their jobs or in any aspect of their everyday lives. But the most addictive video games are specifically geared to give us all three... or at least the illusion of all three."

I find this to be true. I am currently self-employed and do freelance software development. I find lately I spend very little time playing video games (a couple hours a week) and will often instead choose to work on my own software projects in my free time. I guess the appeal of the definite connection between an effort and reward with software I can sell overrides the thrill of acquiring any virtual goods in a video game. Contrast this to when I used to work for a corporation a few years ago: the pay was great, but the job wasn't very satisfying and I would often spend many hours a week playing video games.

Huh?

2010-03-20T19:07:00.000-04:00

Not quite sure about this fortune...

Random EyeDull Photo: Titmouse and Chickadee

2010-01-29T10:16:00.002-05:00

Random Eyedull Photo: Dishes

2010-01-28T18:11:00.001-05:00

This arrangement of dishes makes me chuckle every time I open the
cupboard.

Random EyeDull Photo: Junco chirp

2010-01-16T10:42:00.001-05:00

Random EyeDull Photo: Male Cardinal #2

2010-01-16T10:28:00.002-05:00

Still not a clear shot and a lousy angle, but at least the feathers are in focus... (you can click on the image for a larger view)

Ice Invaders

2010-01-02T18:53:00.001-05:00

Some friends of mine gave me an ice cube tray that makes ice cubes shaped like space invaders (from the old video game). Surprisingly, even though I think they bought it in Montreal, Canada, it turns out to be made in Cumberland, RI!

http://www.worldwidefred.com/iceinvaders.htm

New camera tripod

2009-12-30T19:00:00.000-05:00

For the past several years, I’ve been using a really cheap tripod with my camera. I knew it wasn’t very high quality (I spent probably $20 on it years ago), but whenever I looked at higher-end tripods, the prices always scared me away.

Well, this week, after struggling with trying to get sharp pictures using a wobbly flimsy tripod while using my heavy 400mm telephoto lens, I finally decided to get a better tripod. I talked to a friend of mine who does professional photography and got some recommendations. I ended up settling on a tripod made by Manfrotto - the 190XPROB with the 486RC2 ball head attachment.

I received the tripod today and WOW, it makes a huge difference in the sharpness of my pictures vs. using the old tripod.

Here’s a picture of what the whole thing looks like with my camera attached:

This is a close-up of the ball head attachment. The ball head uses a nifty quick-release mechanism for quickly attaching and releasing the camera. No more scrambling to quickly turn a hard-to-reach screw to attach the camera to the tripod before a bird flies away.

The tripod also includes a small spirit level built into the frame for quickly determining if the tripod is level.

The tripod cost about $145, and the ball-head was another $75. Yeah, it seems very pricey compared to the $20 tripod I had before, but this thing is very well made and should last my lifetime. Plus, the key point is it lets me take noticeably better photos, so I think it’s definitely worth it.

An interesting quote from "The Last Lecture"

2009-12-29T10:57:00.000-05:00

I got a copy of the book "The Last Lecture" from some friends for Christmas. I was reading it today and came across this quote:

“No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse. At the same time, it is often within your power to make them better.”

I find it an interesting way to look at situations - it’s realistic, yet somewhat optimistic.

(In case you haven’t heard of it, “The Last Lecture” is a book based on a talk given by Randy Pausch, a professor from Carnegie Mellon, after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. You can read more about it here.)

Random EyeDull Photo: Male Cardinal

2009-12-24T14:51:00.003-05:00

It's a bit grainy, but so far this is the best I've been able to get of this guy. I often see him out the window while I'm working at my desk, but he doesn't seem to sit still for long.

Random EyeDull Photo: Female Cardinal

2009-12-24T14:38:00.001-05:00

Random EyeDull Photo: It's all a blur

2009-12-24T14:26:00.001-05:00

Gah! I'll get a clean shot of you one of these times!

Random EyeDull Photo: One that got away

2009-12-24T10:50:00.000-05:00

Douglas Hut

2009-12-21T14:14:00.000-05:00

Nice day for a hike to the hut. Got to make some fresh tracks in the
snow. Surprised no one hiked this trail yet since the snow storm.

Sled dogs?

2009-12-21T14:12:00.000-05:00

I should have worn skis for this hike in the snow.

Lemon Blossom

2009-12-07T15:50:00.000-05:00

It may be the first snow of the season here, but this indoor lemon
tree decided to bloom today.

First decent snow of the season

2009-12-06T10:26:00.000-05:00

Thought for the day... or life

2009-11-21T09:50:00.002-05:00

"Whatever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings; believe and cling to that doctrine, and take it as your guide." -Buddha

I came across this quote while browsing a memory book given to me for my 40th birthday a few years ago. It's definitely a good summation of how to try to live.

TiltShift Generator

2009-11-04T19:25:00.001-05:00

Goofing around with the TiltShift Generator camera app. Nice features
for just $0.99.

The Fun Theory

2009-10-21T10:05:00.005-04:00

I recently saw a twitter post about this thing called "The Fun Theory" (Thanks Dylan Beadle). The idea behind the initiative is to make mundane tasks fun so people are more apt to perform them.

Here's one example with a very deep trash can:

You can see all three projects (sponsored by Volkswagon) here.

Beautiful Fall Day

2009-10-19T12:46:00.000-04:00

This is my favorite time of year. Cool temps, no bugs, and autumn
colors.

#beatcancer - Raise money for cancer research just by using that tag

2009-10-16T16:51:00.003-04:00

What's this all about? It's a one day promotion to raise money for cancer research. Sponsors have agreed to donate 1 cent for every time someone uses the #beatcancer tag in a Tweet, blog post, or Facebook update for one day only - on Friday October 19 16th, 2009.

You can read more about it here: http://beatcancereverywhere.com/about.html

I'm helping to raise funds to
#beatcancer, by blogging, tweeting
and posting Facebook status
updates.

Click here to join me!

Friends Don't let Friends

2009-09-11T16:22:00.001-04:00

I got a chuckle out of this sign at a coffee shop in Albany, NY:

Lock picking

2009-09-11T16:19:00.000-04:00

I've been tinkering with lock picking recently and was surprised just
how quickly I can pick a Masterlock padlock. Takes me about 5 seconds
in this video:

Random Eye Dull Photo - Mayfly

2009-09-11T16:06:00.002-04:00

One early morning while camping I took some pictures of an idle mayfly. This is the same photo, zoomed in various levels (click on the images for larger views):

Mayflies are pretty interesting creatures - they spend most of their life underwater and then when they grow wings, they leave the water - only to live for 30 minutes to a day or two. You can read more about them on Wikipedia.

Random eye dull photo: cartoon worm

2009-08-30T14:11:00.002-04:00

Saw this crazy colored worm on a hike today. It looks like a cartoon
character. I assume the fake eyes are to make it look like a snake,
but I think it looks kinda silly.

Update: I've been told this looks just like a Pokemon Caterpie. I had never heard of one of those, but that was enough information for me to be able to find the real caterpillar name. It's a spicebush swallowtail caterpillar. You can read more about it here.

Random EyeDull Photo: Clear River

2009-08-29T14:37:00.003-04:00

A snapshot from a kayak trip on the Clear River in Burrillville, RI earlier this summer.

Blueberry picking

2009-08-23T18:36:00.002-04:00

Happy to find loads of blueberries still around in the forest... I
should have brought a larger container. I easily filled a quart-sized container.

Howard Johnsons?!?!

2009-08-13T10:42:00.000-04:00

I didn't know there were any of these left! This one is in Lake
Placid and is one of two left in existance.

View from atop Whiteface Mtn

2009-08-12T12:35:00.000-04:00

Random eye dull photo

2009-08-11T18:43:00.001-04:00

Camping on the Ausable River...

Random Eye Dull Photo: Farm

2009-08-09T17:28:00.001-04:00

Enjoyable view from the porch while eating blueberry pancakes.
Blueberries were picked just 15 minutes ago... Doesn't get any better
than this.

Foggy mountain

2009-08-09T17:22:00.001-04:00

Climbing in the fog...

Mutant Night

2009-07-12T21:59:00.002-04:00

One of the enjoyable activities for me in New Hampshire is playing the ol' video arcade machine with my nephews late into the night. We always seem to manage to discover some crazy game which none of us had ever heard of before, but ends up being lots of fun. Not that the game itself is necessarily that great, but its quirkiness combined with our silliness ends up making the game 10 times better.

Last night we discovered the game Mutant Night. You can read a little bit about it here. It's a very bizarre game - you play the role of an eyeball that runs around in some wacked-out world with attacking monkey skeletons, vicious sand trout (they come up out of the ground like sandworm from Dune), deadly floating flat-head screwdrivers, and other odd abstract items to which we ended up giving silly descriptive names.

The game even has a giant mechanical flounder with a freaking laser beam mounted on its head! What more could you want? How about power-up eggs that make you grow giant like in Super Mario where you can just stomp over everything you encounter, or other egg power-ups that make you produce temporarily indestructible clones? The game is just too bizarre for me to fully describe.

Anyhow, I was having a fun time playing the game, acting like an idiot, talking in a stupid sing-song loud voice narrating the game as we played, trying to explain what all the bizarre stuff we were seeing actually was. After a while we got a group of 5 us taking turns playing the game trying to see how far we could get.

Certain parts of the game seemed ridiculously hard - impossible almost - which made us try even harder at trying to get past them. At one point after trying for the 50th time to get past a certain point, I joked about how it would be funny if a person from Japan who was familiar with the game happened to see us playing and asked us why we didn't just climb inside the deadly mechanical flounder and drive it around to fight the other creatures. We all laughed and continued playing trying to fight the deadly flounder.

After several hours of playing, we finally gave up when we discovered the game had "wrapped around" back to the start level and was just now playing at an increased difficultly and was never really going to end. Since we had never watched the intro screen which may have explained the game, we decided to let the game run in demo mode. And wouldn't you know it, you really can climb inside the deadly mechanical flounder and drive it around to fight all the other creatures!

Here's a screenshot of the game showing the dreaded sand trout and a stone dragon that looks suspiciously like Bub from the game Puzzle Bubble:

Random Eye Dull Photo - Loon

2009-07-12T21:50:00.001-04:00

Managed to use my kayak to stalk a loon. I even saw it catch a fish. Too bad my hand wasn't very steady on the water - the picture isn't in focus at all...

Random Eye Dull Photo - Crow Silhouettes

2009-07-12T21:40:00.004-04:00

More nature photos from New Hampshire... I like the simplicity of photographing crow silhouettes. (Looks like I somehow messed up the default quality of thumbnails recently. Click on the images for less jaggy images while I search for the setting I accidentally changed...)

Random Eye Dull Photo - And what are dragons without damsels?

2009-07-12T21:25:00.005-04:00

To go along with the previous dragonfly, here's a damselfly I also saw. I liked the shiny blue color. (Sorry the thumbnail image is kinda grainy. My auto-converter seems to be lacking...)

Random Eye Dull Photo - There be Dragons!

2009-07-12T21:16:00.003-04:00

Saw this cool colored dragonfly up in New Hampshire.

It had a tiny red spot on the side of its neck. Not sure what it was...

Random Eye Dull Photo - Butterfly Pounce

2009-07-12T21:10:00.004-04:00

This weekend up in New Hampshire my sister hosted a family get-together. As part of the weekend activities, my sister put together a nature photography scavenger hunt. One of the pictures we needed to get was a butterfly. This was my favorite of the ones I managed to snap:

I liked how it looks like the butterfly is pouncing on the flower...

It sure is hard to photograph a butterfly in flight. Talk about chaos!

Arcade: Mission Accomplished

2009-07-10T21:36:00.000-04:00

I finally replaced the broken flight stick in my home-made arcade
machine with a true heavy duty arcade controller. I seriously doubt
my nephews with be able to break this. I forget which arcade game it
came from (snagged on eBay a couple years ago), but it works well with
discs of tron, which was my goal.

Accidental graffiti

2009-07-09T13:22:00.001-04:00

It's the little things that amuse me. Some of my recently cut hair
fell in the trash this way... (ok I admit, I adjusted it slightly
after I saw it.)

Stuck in a rut - literally

2009-07-06T00:29:00.002-04:00

Today was fun. I went for a drive with a friend with the intent of going hiking. We were driving around Sutton, MA, looking for a place where the Massachusetts Mid-State Trail becomes a trail again rather than following a paved road.

We eventually found a dirt road turn where the trail headed into the woods. Since there wasn't any parking at that junction, we decided to drive along the dirt road. After a few minutes of driving, the road quality got worse and worse. Eventually, it became a rocky mud thing that somewhat resembled a dirt road, but definitely wasn't suited for most cars. I was kind of enjoying the adventure, and decided to push onward. "What's the worst that can happen?" is something I think I said to my friend at some point. The road was bad, but the worst I expected was getting some scrapes on the bottom of my SUV from some larger rocks that I might accidentally hit.

Well, it turns out something worse could happen. While my friend was outside the vehicle helping me navigate some extra large rocks - I managed to drive a little too far off the edge of road and wedged my front right tire between two very large rocks. Woops! I was being a bit impatient and rather than slowly creep around some rocks in the middle of the road, I went a bit faster and thought I was clear - and didn't even see the brush covered rock on the right that the right tire dropped over. From my friends point of view in front of the car, it looked like the right tire had just bumped into a very large rock and stopped forward progress.

The rock on the right that was behind the right tire was so well hidden, it was a few minutes before we even realized that's why the car wasn't moving. At first I though it was no big deal, that the vehicle was stuck from going forward because there was a rock in font of the right tire. And when going in reverse didn't work, I just assumed it was because left front tire was slipping on a muddy rock. After getting out of the vehicle I saw the right tire nicely placed between two very large rocks and instantly got that "OH Crap!" sick-to-the-stomach feeling.

It wasn't looking good. Both rocks were a couple feet in diameter - not something that two people could reasonably expect to be able to move. Moving the one behind the tire definitely wasn't an option - it was under the car and appeared to be well rooted in the ground. The one in front was big enough to weight about 800 pounds, maybe more. Again, not something easily moved.

So, the first thing we tried was using the car jack to raise the front of the car enough so the tire would be lifted and we could put other rocks underneath. It seemed like a good idea, but due to the way the vehicle was titled on the edge of the road, the jack, while positioned adjacent to the front tire, was actually lifting the whole back end of the vehicle. Eventually the back right tire came off the ground rather than the front right one! The weight of the engine combined with the slope of the road was working against us.

Plan B: While the rock in front of the tire was quite large, it appeared to be sitting mostly on the surface of the ground. So, there was a chance we could move it. I began to dig behind the rock while my friend went searching for something decent to use as a lever. Surprisingly, he quickly returned with 2 good quality 2x8 planks about 4 feet long that just happened to be on the side of the road not too far away. Perfect! After more digging and the coordinated use of the levers between the two of us, we we able to slowly pry and push the rock over enough so the tire was no longer obstructed. It took us about 2 hours in total to get the vehicle free. At that point, we decided we probably shouldn't push our luck and reversed direction back to better road conditions.

I think in the future, I'll keep a few more tools in my SUV than just the standard jack and tire iron. And maybe not treat my Toyota RAV4 like it's a Jeep. But where's the fun in that?

Random Eye Dull Photo - Yellow Mushrooms

2009-07-05T13:14:00.001-04:00

Spotted these colorful mushrooms on the first sunny day after what seemed like a month of rain.

"Wait for Me"

2009-07-05T11:26:00.002-04:00

I'm really enjoying the latest Moby album - "Wait for Me". After just one listen all the songs feel like old friends. I especially like the melancholy "Mistake" and "Jltf". Such a nice way to present those god-awful feelings of times gone bad.

If you like Moby's earlier more ambient-style moody music, this new album is definitely recommended.

More Douglas State Forest

2009-06-27T16:10:00.001-04:00

Another trail in the forest... was a nice day for a hike.

Ominous skies

2009-06-26T21:45:00.002-04:00

Crazy cloud formation directly overhead this evening... I've never
seen anything like it before.

[EDIT: thanks to The Crow I now know what these clouds are called - Mammatus clouds. Here's a link to a good description of them.]

Enjoying More with Less

2009-06-01T23:12:00.003-04:00

Here's an interesting side effect of being self-employed and making about 1/4 the amount of money I was making at my previous corporate job. I find I'm enjoying things a lot more.

Sure, I can't afford to go out to eat every day like I used to, or buy just about any gizmo that piques my interest. But having less money, I find I'm actually much more content. I appreciate what I can afford much more. In the past, if something broke, I wouldn't think twice about buying a replacement - and this time getting something even better than what I had before. Now, if something breaks, I take the time to try to repair it. And it's a very satisfying feeling when I've successfully repaired something, knowing I'll get some more life out of the product... and I saved some money.

If only I could have appreciated the frugal lifestyle while still making a nice salary. I could have saved a whole lot of money. But, as my mom once said to me in my younger days- money burns a hole in my pocket. If I have the spare cash, I tend to spend it. I don't go into debt - I always pay my credit card balance in full each month - but other than maxing out my 401K contributions each year at my old job, I didn't do much in regards to savings.

I guess this is just another reason why I'm very happy with my decision to quit my job and try the self-employment route. Who would have thunk it? Less money is a perk! I suppose it does make sense. Since I have less money, everything I do have is now more valuable to me. I don't take things for granted because I can't easily replace what I now own.

One of my favorite Buddhist sayings has always been, "True happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have". (No, really, it wasn't that pop singer who made up the phrase...) I always knew the statement was true, but just had a hard time living it. Now it's much easier for me to enjoy more with less.

An unwelcome promotion

2009-05-28T21:55:00.002-04:00

This past week I hosted 2 guests from Okinawa, Japan. They were visiting the Kodokai Dojo in North Smithfield to provide us with some instruction in a form of martial arts called Motobu Udundi. They were only able to visit for three days, but it was a great experience for everyone involved. Several people from our dojo have visited Okinawa in the past to learn techniques in this martial art and we've been practicing for a few years now, so it was a great opportunity for us to show our teachers what we've accomplished and get some much needed correction on details.

When I visited Okinawa this past December / January, I was dreading one aspect of the trip - the potential of being given a rank in Motobu Undundi. Even though I've been practicing this style for a few years, I don't feel confident that I know what I'm doing or that my techniques are very good. So, the last thing I wanted was to be given a black belt and then have people look at me as an example of how something is supposed to be done. Much to my relief, I was not promoted in January. My teachers had mentioned they were going to promote me, and they had me wear a black belt while taking classes at their dojo, but nothing official was ever done (again, much to my relief). So, I was quite content to return home and continue to wear my white belt and blend in with the crowd.

And I almost made it through this visit last week. While driving the two senseis back to the airport, I was asked what my current rank was in Motodbu Udundi. I said that I didn't have a rank. A discussion then ensued in Japanese between the two teachers and the end result was I was told I was being promoted to Shodan (the starting black belt rank). I was then asked what I thought of it. I explained I didn't think I was good enough to deserve it. He said that was good. The sensei then explained that he didn't think he was good enough to be called an 8th degree black belt, and that his sensei didn't feel he was good enough to be called master (10th degree - highest black belt rank), yet that was their titles.

He further explained that the point of the rank is people will now expect more of me - I will need set a good example - and this will force me to work to a higher standard. In his profession, he is a public speaker. People look to him to know what he is talking about, they expect an expert speaker, yet he doesn't feel he really is an expert. Instead, he must make sure he learns more and thoroughly knows the topic he is presenting so people have the impression he is the expert. He said, as a teacher, you end up learning a lot more than the people you are teaching.

The same applies to rank in martial arts. Being given a "promotion" in not an award - you are now being asked to do more, to live up to a higher standard than you are currently setting. It's a big responsibility and that's one of the reasons I've been trying to avoid it for so long. And I almost avoided it this time - if only the drive to the airport had been a bit shorter...

So now, like my sensei said tonight at class, it's up to me what I do with this new responsibility. Hopefully I won't disappoint anyone.

No Time for Bullies

2009-05-26T23:00:00.002-04:00

While eating dinner this evening I decided to do something I rarely do. I turned on the television. I caught the end a National Geographic program about stress, its causes, and how some baboon studies were giving some insights into how stress affects health.

One interesting event was described where a certain troop of baboons experienced a mass death in the early 80s. The baboons had been foraging in a garbage dump for food and ate some meat tainted with tuberculosis. The majority of the baboons that died were those that were considered "alpha males". They were the most aggressive and dominant of the troop. As the researcher put it, the remaining male baboons left alive were "nice guys". This dramatically changed the social behaviors in this particular baboon troop - less time fighting and more time was spent grooming. As a result, the baboons had reduced stress levels (as shown by medical tests) vs. baboon in other troops.

Even more interesting, this change in baboon culture has been preserved for 20 years. Adolescent male baboons normally leave their troop and find a new troop to call their home. When a new adolescent baboon arrived in this troop, it displayed the usual "jerky male" behavior of a normal baboon, but after about 6 months, the baboon some how learned that the jerky behavior was not acceptable in this troop and he became more passive.

It's a very interesting study. You can read more about it here: http://www.primates.co.uk/baboons/culture.html

Saturday Morning Physics

2009-05-12T00:34:00.003-04:00

Some days I'm just struck by how much there is to know about the world, how much I'd like to learn, and how little time I really have to get things done. There are so many things that interest me, but there's no possible way I can dedicate time to all the topics.

Today I ran across this video podcast series called "Saturday Morning Physics" (link opens iTunes). It's a series of 45 to 60 minute long physics lectures from the University of Michigan designed for the general public. Based on the audience in the videos (retirees), it appears these lectures were probably really given on Saturday mornings for the general public. (Not many college students would get up early on a Saturday morning to listen to a physics lecture for fun.)

Anyhow, it's an amazing resource, currently with 38 videos available - and it's just one small piece of an enormous collection of education videos found on the Internet.

A real spring day

2009-04-29T21:39:00.004-04:00

I took advantage of some real spring weather today (with temps in the low 60s rather than the mid-80s we've had recently) and decided to ride the full length of the Blackstone River Bikeway.

I didn't bring my full-size camera with me, but did have my iPhone with the Pano app, so I took a few pictures.

The path starts about a mile from my condo at a recreation park. It has a bunch of soccer fields along with a small pitch and putt golf course. (As usual, you can click on the images for a larger view...)

Since the Blackstone River was a site of the industrial revolution, there are lots of old mill buildings along the path as well as dams and waterfalls.

One of the parking lots for the bikeway is the site of an old drive-in movie theater. I thought it was nice the town is showing a good sense of humor with keeping the original sign:

Unfortunately, the southern most portion of the bikeway has seen better days. Every sign and stone bench in the last mile or so of the path was covered with gang tag graffiti. This one sign is an example.

But, at least one of the graffiti people apparently loves me:

For future rides, I may turn back at the bridge on the Lincoln / Cumberland town line. It's just a bit discouraging seeing all the vandalism.

One the ride back, I stopped at the RT 116 bridge to ride a short dirt path up a peninsula that gives a very peaceful view of the river.

Blackstone River Bike Path

2009-04-26T20:15:00.003-04:00

Went a'biking on a nearby bike path. It's part of the Blackstone River Bikeway and is supposed to eventually link Providence to Worcester. I live in Woonsocket and headed south on the path. I was pleasantly surprised to discover it is now fully paved to connect to the path in Cumberland, which I'm pretty sure goes all the way to Central Falls.

Since the path runs along the Blackstone River and it was an unusually hot day for late April (temps in the 80s), the bugs were out in force. At one point after going through a particularly thick cloud of bugs, my arms were coated with bugs. I was tempted to cue up the Whale Song app (link opens iTunes) on my iPhone and bike along with my mouth open to get my day's fill of protein. Mmmmm.... bugs.

I ended up riding about 15 miles round trip. I would have gone further had it not been for the approaching dusk and my lack of forethought in regards to bringing a light. The fully paved portion of the path is 10 miles, so taking into account the 1 mile ride to get to the beginning of the path from my condo, I now have a decent nearby place to go for a 22 mile biking. And, since the path goes under Rt 295 and is linked up with the rest stop there (provided you don't mind adding an extra 1 mile round trip detour on a very pleasant uphill ride overlooking a scenic part of the river) you can even stop at a Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins midway through the trip without ever having to ride on a road.

Bike path bridge

2009-04-26T19:22:00.000-04:00

Disovered a new bike path nearby is now linked to a much longer path!

Nice ride 'cept for the swarms of bugs.

Am I getting dumber, lazier, or more efficient?

2009-04-13T15:12:00.004-04:00

I'm beginning to wonder if my brain functions are in decline. I've been reading some physics texts for an iPhone app I'm developing and I find myself glossing over all the explanatory text and just cutting ahead to the final formulas which I need.

While I find I am interested in the why of it all, I just don't seem to have the mental energy to spend on it. I'll start to read the descriptions of the derivations of various formulas, but after a few minutes I'm finding myself doing a Homer Simpson with dancing clowns and circus music playing in my head. I'd like to think I'm just being impatient and want to cut to the heart of the matter and get the formulas needed for the task at hand, but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm being lazy or I'm getting dumber as I age. It seems there was I time when I would have picked this stuff up a lot quicker.

Oh well, I should get back to my afternoon nap. And maybe yell out the window at those dang kids outside making such a racket playing ball. Young whipper-snappers!

Poor guy

2009-04-09T15:39:00.002-04:00

While waiting at the teller window at the bank today, I overhead a rather depressing exchange between a couple of bank tellers and a customer standing at the next window.

It all started with me hearing the customer saying something along the lines of, "But you don't understand, they promised they'll send me 3.5 million dollars!" Best I could tell, the bank customer had fallen for one of the schemes where you are promised some sort of large prize money, but you first need to send the awarding company "insurance" money to cover the transaction. This guy had already sent the people $500 and was trying to send more money to ensure he received his millions in prize money.

Fortunately, the bank tellers were very sympathetic and were doing their best to advise the guy to not send any more money and close out his bank account because the scammers most likely now had his bank account information. I hope the guy listens to their advice.

And for anyone else who might actually think when they win a prize they need to first send some money to receive it, it's a scam! And the same goes for some foreign national trying to launder millions of dollars in cash. That's a scam, too.

I didn't think people actually fell for these scams, but apparently they do.

Light reading

2009-04-09T13:41:00.001-04:00

Time to break out the ol' college text books for a new iphone app I'm
writing. Gotta make sure I have the physics right.

I hear there's this thing called the Internet which might also be
helpful...

Random Eye Dull Photo - more Pano fun

2009-04-09T12:52:00.002-04:00

Here's another quick snap taken using the Pano app on the iPhone.

I really need to get outdoors and take some more interesting views than just inside my condo. Hmmm... sunny spring day, almost 60 degrees. Maybe I should skip on work today...

Pano - a must have iPhone app for photographers

2009-04-08T21:55:00.003-04:00

I just bought Pano for the iPhone and for $2.99, I'm impressed! This is a simple app for taking a series of photos and having them automatically stitched together to make a panorama.

Here are two quick examples I produced while sitting at my desk at home. Note: the quality of these images isn't great - I was just doing a couple quick tests. In the second image the room is pretty dark so it's really grainy, plus I wasn't in the center of the room, so the view gets a bit distorted with the close up and far away stuff. That's not Pano's fault. It's my impatience. (You can click on the images to see a bigger view, but remember, I warned you the second image is VERY grainy.)

It doesn't always produce perfect results (as you can see in my quickly made samples), but it's very comparable to the application I bought for my Mac a few years ago to perform a similar function, and I paid about $20 for that!

A nice feature about the app is when you take each successive picture, it shows a semitransparent overlay of the pervious picture on the left edge of the screen, so you have a good visual cue for lining up the next photo.

Due to the processing power of the iPhone, the results are not instantaneous. Depending on how many photos you take, the processing time takes an equivalent amount of time. The second example above was made up of about a dozen photos and took the iPhone several minutes to stitch it together. While the stitching is being done, you have no choice but to be patient and wait - you do get to watch a progress bar, so there is some visual indication of how long the process is going to take. You should be aware you can't take a bunch of photos and batch process them at a later time. That might be a nice feature for a new version.

If you are at all interested in taking photos with your iPhone, this definitely worth a look. You can find it on iTunes here.

Get Well Tony!

2009-04-05T19:53:00.005-04:00

A few months ago I wrote an iPhone app for Tony Kahn, creator of the Morning Stories series on WGBH.

Today I was dismayed to learn Tony has been diagnosed with cancer. The good news is it appears to be treatable. He has begun writing about his experience of undergoing chemo therapy. It's a very worthwhile read to learn about his perspective on the treatment. You can find his chronicles on his web site here.

Random Eye Dull Photo - White Cedar Swamp

2009-04-05T19:40:00.002-04:00

I took this picture a couple weeks ago in a different section of the Douglas State Forest. At the time I went on a rather long bike trek through the woods with a friend. We were out there riding the trails for about 4 hours and part of the trek involved carrying our bikes for a mile or so through brush when the trail we were on ended. Rather than turn back, we decided to push on through the undergrowth since we knew there was a trail further ahead.

The spot shown in this picture is a boardwalk that goes through a white cedar swamp. I think it might be some sort of bird sanctuary as there is a large wooden blind you can hang out in for watching for birds. There are also some numbered plaques along the path, but I didn't see any map or brochure that mentioned what the numbers represented.

Caw! Caw!

2009-04-05T19:22:00.003-04:00

Well, I found the crows I mentioned earlier. Too bad my hand is a bit unsteady. This would have been a nice picture had it been in focus.

Random Eye Dull Photo - Wooden steps

2009-04-05T19:10:00.002-04:00

I liked how this cut stump, when viewed up close, looked a bit like a set of stairs...

The actual stump wasn't as impressive when viewed from a distance.

Found some green

2009-04-05T19:02:00.002-04:00

While bush-whacking through the woods, I did find some green - lots of fresh moss along the banks of a spring.

Peace and quiet

2009-04-05T17:27:00.000-04:00

Mmmmm... Lorna Doone cookies and a frappuccino drink while tramping
through the forest...

Soon this will all be green instead of gray and brown.

It's surprisingly quiet... just the occasional crow squawk off in the
distance. I was hoping to get some bird pix with my telephoto lens,
but no luck so far.

Boundary condition

2009-04-05T15:56:00.000-04:00

The trail now looks familiar. I reached the boundary of the cutting.

Lost in the not woods

2009-04-05T15:51:00.000-04:00

I used to frequently take a short hike in this section of the Douglas
State Forest. Now I don't even know where the original trail is.
The area has been recently harvested for timber. I'm hiking the
logging road to see if anything with look familiar. So far it all
seems so foreign...

Rogue flower

2009-04-05T13:49:00.001-04:00

A couple years ago I left a potted plant with my parents for a few
weeks. It was a grape fruit tree and since the weather was warm I
left it outside on their deck.

Several months later, with the tree back indoors at my condo, I
noticed a new plant sprouting. I figured it was most likely a seed
from a weed that landed while the pot was outdoors. But I decided to
let it grow to see what it was.

To my surprise, it was some sort of flowering plant. I assume my mom
must have the same plants on her deck.

The flowering plant continues to share the pot with my grape fruit
tree. This past week it started flowering again. It must be spring...

Board Games in the news

2009-04-02T11:22:00.002-04:00

Here's an interesting article from Wired Magazine about the increasing popularity in "German-style" board games:

http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/magazine/17-04/mf_settlers

The article mainly focuses on one game in particular - Settlers of Catan - but still it's nice to see this style of game getting more press.

Random Eye Dull Photo

2009-03-30T12:18:00.001-04:00

Slightly foggy path in the Douglas State Forest.

Artificial Life

2009-03-18T21:37:00.005-04:00

My latest iPhone / iPod Touch app - called Artificial Life - is now available for purchase on iTunes. You can buy it here if you are interested. You can read many more details about it at my company web site:

stormyprods.com/alife

This app has a somewhat long history. It's based on a program I was tinkering with about 7 years ago.

(Actually, there's a blog post about it buried in the archives here and another here back when I was revisiting the project and porting the code from my PC to my Mac.)

When I was first working on this, I had been inspired by the ideas of genetic algorithms. The idea behind genetic algorithms is to apply evolutionary techniques such as inheritance, mutation, and selection to computing problems. I thought, why not go full circle and apply these techniques to a basic biology simulation?

Anyhow, at the time, I had grand ideas for the program. I wanted to write it for the Palm Pilot PDA (remember those?) and thought it would be something neat to play with while killing time, and also, since the Palm has an infrared port (like a TV remote control), I thought it would be really cool to be able to "beam" the critters from the world to a friend nearby who was running the same program on their Palm PDA. As it turned out, my ideas were way too ambitious for the technology at the time - the Palm was just too slow. But now, fast forward 7 years and this is a feasible idea. And now, the screen is in color even!

So, this app represents my first pass at having the simulation on the iPhone. I have lots of ideas for future free enhancements to the app, including the ability to "beam" critters to other people running the app. But now, rather than using line-of-sight with IR, I will be able to send them across the world using the Internet! I haven't yet finished the "world-wide" sharing feature, but it's definitely on the TODO list for upgrades.

Okinawan print

2009-03-15T20:46:00.001-04:00

Picked this up in Okinawa in the markets off of Kokusai Dori back in
January. I finally got around to hanging it on a wall at home today.

My latest addiction

2009-03-15T20:41:00.001-04:00

Dangerously tasty... A nice replacement for coffee syrup - with a kick.

All work and little play makes Jack iNSaNe!

2009-03-12T12:55:00.005-04:00

I've recently discovered a downside to working on my own business. I'm pretty much working on computer programming projects 12 to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a short 2 or 3 hour break on weekdays for my karate classes. I'm enjoying the work, which is why I'm voluntarily working this much, but I'm beginning to think this pace isn't mentally healthy.

The last few nights I've found I have been having a harder and harder time getting to sleep. Instead, I lay in bed with my mind racing to solve programming problems. Last night was the worst - I laid in bed for about 5 hours before I finally fell asleep.

I definitely need to cut back on the time spent programming and give my mind a break. I think I've taught my mind to concentrate so much on programming that that's all its in the habit of doing now.

This just reemphasizes a lot of the principles of Zen. It's my brain, yet I seem to have so little control over it. Gotta get back on track with that...

A game of cat and mouse

2009-02-25T00:26:00.003-05:00

As if iPhone developers don't have enough challenges simply dealing with Apple's somewhat unpredictable and arbitrary approval process, now there's the software pirates to worry about, too! There have been recent articles in the tech news circles talking about a new utility called Crackulous which makes it fairly simple for someone with a "jailbroken" iPhone or iPod Touch to steal apps rather than buy them in the iTunes store.

Since I am trying to make a living developing iPhone apps, I'd prefer people pay the 99 cents for my app rather than steal it. So, in my recent Time Bomb app, I included some code to detect when an app was running when it hadn't been purchased. I figured I'd be obvious about it and I pop up a message on the offending iPhone or iPod Touch and tell the user that the app was stolen and it won't function properly. And then, as promised, the app won't function properly.

Surprisingly, I just discovered that my app was in fact pirated and ~~thieves~~ users have begun reporting receiving the friendly message I included. It was even written about recently on CNET.com. You can read the brief article here, or read my take on it on my Stormy Productions blog here.

Ah, the joys of software development. Never a dull moment, that's for sure!

I wouldn't be surprised if some pirate with a bit of free time on his or her hands will take the time to work around my anti-piracy code. And then, I suppose I'll add a few more counter-measures to the next update of my app, requiring a pirate to spend a bit more time to crack it. All this for something that only costs 99 cents, too.

The frustrations of developing apps for the iPhone

2009-02-13T16:53:00.002-05:00

After yet another rejection of an iPhone app submitted to Apple, I've posted a rant about it here on my company blog:

http://www.stormyprods.com/blogger/2009/02/biggest-hurdle-with-iphone-app.html

If you are thinking about developing software for the iPhone and iPod Touch, it's good to be aware of the major source of frustrations that come with it: Apple's review process!