Cool Stuff

Sky Guide on the iPhone Is Awesome

It’s the beginning of August when the angle of the sun, color of the clouds, and my garden signal the end of Summer. These summer nights are the last in which I’ll be able to enjoy the night sky in comfortable weather conditions.

One application on my iPhone that’s helped me enjoy the night sky even more this summer is Sky Guide. Using this app on my iPhone, I’m able to look at the night sky in a new way. It shows constellations and the orientation of the night sky in real-time.

I’m able to see constellations of stars I didn’t know existed. It’s a fantastic app I recommend to anyone who owns an iPhone and enjoys looking at the night sky.

Playing Multiplayer SNES Games With People Hundreds of Miles Away

Jeff Matson figured out how to play multiplayer SNES games using Retroarch. Although it was laggy at first, we’ve made a few adjustments and now it plays smoothly with little lag. It’s a joy to be able to play SNES games with people hundreds of miles away.

I’ve ordered a retro SNES controller from Amazon because playing games with the keyboard absolutely sucks.  Once it arrives later this week, I’ll let you know how it is as I’ve read some reviews commenting on the quality of the D-Pad and sticky buttons.

Although it took a few games, I managed to beat Matson fair and square with Stockton and Malone from the Utah Jazz in NBA Jam TE. NBA Jam is an excellent game because there is a small learning curve and it’s anything goes basketball. It’s one of my favorite games from the 90s and one I didn’t realize was on the SNES. I thought it was only available on the Sega Genesis.

I win!

I win!

The Tech That Generated The Video Game Cartridge Revolution

A long, long, read on the history of tech that predates the NES, my beloved 8-bit video game system. I enjoyed reading about the innovations that lead to the beginning of the video game cartridge era. It’s unfortunate that the true innovators didn’t make out as they’re trumped by Atari, but a great read none the less.

Also read the comments to learn how video game piracy took place in the 70s.

The company where I worked had a PDP (something) and all the engineers and programmers had access to the system and storage. Being an engineer it didn’t take long for them to take apart the cartridge and realize what was or was not inside. With in a short time a small circuit board with a E-Prom programming socket was produced. When a new game came out the first purchaser would buy the game and bring it in to work.

The e-prom/rom would be read and stored on the PDP system then each programmer/engineer who wanted to use the new game/software would burn a prom and use it on the adapter board. It didn’t take long before the higher ups realized what was going on and they forbid the storage and use of the PDP from any more games. So the Programmers encrypted the files and hid them in side another file. One needed a decryption key and knowledge of where and what was stored inside this archive. The file would be transferred to tape and hidden in the company safe. So much for security.

Documentary on The Rise and Fall of Napster by Alex Winter

I recently watched a documentary on Napster by Alex Winter via Jeff Lee. The documentary covers the rise and fall of the company, but does so by giving a 360 degree view of the time period.

It features interviews with the company’s founders, representatives from the RIAA, the recording industry, and a few other notable organizations during that time. In the film, you’ll see RealPlayer used to play a video, Winamp, and a microphone at a press conference with the TechTV logo. I love the way Winter uses material from the late 90s and early 2000s and shows it in the same way we consumed it in that time period.

http://on.aol.com/video/downloaded—full-documentary-film-517844258

When I Discovered Napster

In 1999, I turned 16 years old, received Quake 3 as a birthday present, and discovered Napster. I had a mediocre sized hard drive, an AMD K6 350 processor, and more importantly, a 56k modem connection. I routinely browsed Napster looking for singles I heard on the radio. While browsing for songs I knew, the vast catalog of content indexed by the service lead to the discovery of so many tunes and bands I’ve never heard of.

https://jeffc.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/winampandoctivmax.png

Winamp Plus OctiMax

56k Sucked!

Downloading songs via a 56k modem was a painful process. Depending on the connection and how many peers I connected to, it could take anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour to download a 3-5 Megabyte song. In 2000, we purchased 1.5Mb DSL from Ameritech. Not only did my Quake 3 skills increase (less lag) but download times for music were no longer an issue.

I remember when my family gathered around the Gateway PC with the familiar cow look and watched as I downloaded song after song in record time. Once speed became a non issue, I hoarded music and downloaded everything I could get my hands on. Some of it was junk, but most of it was awesome.

Napster as a Social Network

Napster wasn’t just about discovering and downloading music. Newer versions included the ability to chat with the people you downloaded files from. You could also add people as friends and join various chatrooms. In many ways, it was a social network. It sure was cool to chat with people at the same time you were downloading files from.

Napster Disappeared, But The Technology Never Will

Although Napster couldn’t survive the court system, it’s peer to peer file sharing technology lives on. Once Napster shut down, people moved in mass to similar products such as Kazaa, K-Lite, BearShare, LimeWire, and Morpheus. The courts shutting down Napster in effect created hundreds of smaller Napsters. Although similar technology is used in Torrents/BitTorrent, the concept and ease of use is clients doesn’t match that of Napster.

How I Listen and Discover Music Today

At the age of 31, 15 years after the launch of Napster, I hardly ever download an MP3. I either listen to music via YouTube playlists or listen to the MP3 catalog on my hard drive. I’ve purchased a few tracks on Amazon and maybe one or two on iTunes, but I rarely purchase music at all since it’s on demand from somewhere on the web.

As I get older, I’m making a more concerted effort to increase the audio quality of the content I listen to. MP3’s are a compressed format which ruins the subtle sounds in music. Great for shrinking the file size down, bad for audiophiles.

Wav files are a lossless medium for raw and uncompressed audio but the amount of data contained in them makes it hard to share. If Napster was the golden age of peer to peer sharing of MP3 files, will the increasing speeds of broadband connections generate a golden age of sharing raw, uncompressed audio files or will that too be relegated to the cloud somewhere as on-demand content?

Bonus Interview With Alex Winter

The guys over at the 404 Podcast did a great one hour interview with Alex Winter to discuss the making of the documentary. In it, he gives some behind the scenes info and discusses the industry today and how we’re still nowhere close to having a fusion between the record labels and digital distribution. A great interview to watch after you view the documentary.

http://on.aol.co.uk/video/the-404–napster-downloaded-517830627

How I Save Money Using AT&T Services

I’ve been an AT&T Uverse customer for a few years. The service has been great and I have no complaints. When I signed up for Uverse internet, I received an introductory rate for a one year commitment. Once the year was up, the rate increased to the normal price.

In order to cancel a service, you need to speak with a rep so they can figure out why you’re cancelling and provide anything possible to keep you as a customer. Just to see what would happen, I called AT&T to cancel my service.

I spoke to a friendly lady and explained that I was receiving offers from TWC, Comcast, and others for equal services but at a great introductory rate of around $30 for two years. I told them that I had no problems with my Uverse service but paying $56 per month had me considering switching. I asked if there was anything they could do to lower my bill as I’d prefer to not leave them.

After crunching some numbers, they had two offers. One would allow me to keep my same internet speed and lower the bill by $10 a month. I almost went with this plan but the service rep told me if I wanted the lowest price possible without bundling any other services, I should take advantage of the manager special. The manager special bumped up my internet speed to 18Mb for $30 per month if I agreed to a one year commitment. Of course, I went with the manager special.

These big service providers like AT&T will do almost anything to keep customers. I know that and use it to my advantage. So far, I’ve been able to avoid paying regular price since I became a Uverse customer. After this one year commitment is up, I’m going to call them back and re-negotiate a new plan that avoids paying regular price.

Matt Mullenweg Eats Food That Doesn’t Look Like Art

If you follow Matt Mullenweg’s blog that doesn’t pertain to WordPress as I do, you’ll notice he publishes a lot of pictures of food. The food always looks delicious. For example, look at this scrumptious Duck Confit with Sauerkraut he published October 5th, 2013.

Put a frame around it!

Put a frame around it!

Now who would eat a piece of art like that? Put a nice frame around it and it’s ready to be displayed in a gallery. Not once have I seen a picture of a Whopper from Burger King or a Big Mac from McDonalds.

Matt recently joined the Advanced WordPress group on Facebook and opened the floor to questions about WordPress, the Foundation, Jetpack, Automattic, and a host of other topics. I decided to use the opportunity to finally ask him a question that’s been eating away at me for a few years.

I have a question not related to WordPress. Do you ever eat food that doesn’t look like it belongs in an art gallery? Like a Big Mac or something.

His Response: I had McDonald’s as recently as Sunday, just a few days ago. I just don’t usually post it to my blog. McDonald’s I’m a chicken McNugget guy, though I’m curious about their new jalapeno burger. Burger King it’s always a Whopper. Growing up in Texas I have a soft spot for Whataburger and Sonic, I think In-n-Out is overrated but usually tasty, and I’ve been really enjoying Five Guys when I come across one.

I will always be happy with fried chicken from Popeyes or KFC, though the former has better biscuits and I grew up just a few blocks away from one. When Automattic had an office in the Mission in SF there was a KFC on the opposite corner and I’d often sneak over there for lunch or a late snack when I was in the office till odd hours.

So I finally have the answer to my question. Although I’m satisfied with his answer, I want him to take a photo of a bucket of KFC or a Whopper and publish it to his blog. You know, pics or it didn’t happen! If anyone has the skills to make a Big Mac or Whopper look great in a photo, it’s him.

Winamp Plus OctiMax Is Music To My Ears

I’m not sure how many people will remember this, but back in the early 2000s, there was a plugin for Winamp called OctiMax. I’m not sure what exactly it did, but it made music sound so much better in my headphones. It’s the perfect complement to Winamp which I still use as my primary music player.

https://jeffc.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/winampandoctivmax.png

Winamp Plus OctiMax

Don’t make fun of my playlist! As you can see, the plugin has presets for different types of music and a slider for Bass and Drive. Drive increases the volume while Bass increases the low notes. I usually keep the Bass at the lowest setting because anything more than that is too much.

Unfortunately, the plugin is no longer available on the web. I have two different versions saved to my external hard drive and who knows, they may be the last copies in existence.

Two Versions Of Octimax

Two Versions Of Octimax

I’m using Winamp 5.666 and the plugin works just fine. I don’t know how I ‘d be able to listen to music through Winamp without it. I’m just curious if anyone else still uses Winamp and OctiMax or did at one time? Milkdrop is cool, but it doesn’t make music sound better!