Monday, May 30, 2005

...pretty soon you're talkin' about real money.


SecondLifeStill
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
I was just having a conversation yesterday with my friend Patrick. Singing the praises of video games and the good that they actually contain and emit. I got into the whole "sim" thing with him and talked about all the orginizational skills they teach etc. But I failed to mention the Money. Cold, Hard Cash is rollin in for Jason Ainsworth. He is a virtual(in the pixel sense) real estate mogul in the sim game Second Life. And he pays his mortgage with the procedes!

The NY Times Story

Friday, May 27, 2005

"And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear"


shoits
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Help me settle a bet. In David Bowie's Space Oddity "ground control" poses this question to Major Tom. "And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear?"

So, if anyone actually reads this thing that I work on every day then now is your chance to let me know.

Whose shirts does Major Tom wear? We have heard it asked a million times but have we considered the answer.

I have.

Leave your answer in the comments. If I get no comments I will abondon this blog... I swearda god.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Systm's Go!


Kevin-and-Systm
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Well not quite but almost. Now we get geeky. This guy Kevin Rose started on The Screen Savers, a show about tech which eventually moved to LA, fired its coolest cast members and changed its name to Attack Of The Show. It was all downhill from there.

Kevin was able to grin and bear it while he quitely built the strength of his website The Broken. Now he is launching SYSTM a REAL tech show. How real and how tech you say? Well you have to download it for starters. AND you'll need to use bittorrent to do so. Time to roll up your sleeves and find out how easy this stuff really is.

I am a big fan of this kid. He has been a true blue geek and a stand up guy through the whole gutting of his livelyhood. He's even using his buddies from TSS. It will be great to watch Dan stumble through segments again. Check out SYSTM and show the world that you know you don't need diesel jeans and frosted tips to crack licencsing encryptions.

"But I was going in to Toschi station to pick up some groceries."


Produced
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
The cool, creative, and kind hearted folks that brought you The Meatrix (featuring Moofeus) have done it again.

This time Store Wars gets us hip to organic tip with characters like Chewbroccoli and Darth Tater.

"The opening, in space, when that huge shopping cart flys over and its just immense and..."

Thanx to Walking Spanish for this one.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Good Riddance to Bad Windu


hack VS hacker
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Oh almost forgot. About 5 hours after I got off the plane at JFK I was in the Loews on 34th between 8th and 9th peepin the latest Hamburger/action figure vehicle from Lucas. And ya know what?...

I dont care how "great the special effects were" it was yet another dissapointment. Yes, 20 years of loose ends were tied. Yes, light saber duals rock and YES Yoda is god! But...

The dialog and delivery thereof was unbareable and though I know you can never go back... It was carpenters, painters and actors that made Star Wars great... Industrial Light and Magic took my baby away.

Wanna love Star Wars again? Get into this: Clone Wars pictured here below "films greatest casting disaster of all time."

Come Back From Jamaica


What a View
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Well I'm back, back in the New York Groove, back. Jamaica was better then I ever imagined. Stayed at Tensing Pen in Negril. Outstanding

On the cellular tip my man Melvin says he was glad to see those wireless companies go. One was C&W (Cable and Wireless.) Melvin says they call it Careless and Worthless.

I'm not the vacation slide show guy so here is one picture. The view from our front deck.

Worth Noting: Saw my first "in the wild" dolphin and Moray Eel. Get your jerk chicken at 3 Dives (pronounced TREE Dives.)

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Come Back to Jamaica


CanYouEerMeNow
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Ok Quit your moanin'. You think your cell phone was expensive? Be glad you don't live in Jamaica. You see the two companies that were subsidizing their cell phone market have pulled out and...

"A check by the Business Observer shows that phones that cost between $2,000 and $3,000 late last year now sell for $4,000 and more."

Why are you telling me? you might say. Well I leave for Jamaica in the morning and thought I'd go topical. And with that I say "see you next week."

Jamaica Observer Article

Yes I know about this:
1 US Dollar = 80.10000 Jamaican Dollar
but it just kills the impact of the story.


They're Jingling Baby


RotaryClub
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP! DAMN YOU! GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!

As Tom and I predicted the cell phone has come full circle. This blast from our not so distant past is now available in "mobile."
It has undergone a battery implant and of course a cellular implant. And it uses its original bells to ring.

It aint cheap, but then it aint easy to make either.

Read all about it: SparkFun

Friday, May 13, 2005

Industrial Lightweight Magic


DaveHTop
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
GREEDONEVERFIRED WORLD HEADQUARTERS

A) X-Games B) X-Men C) X-Play D) Xbox


Xbox360
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
The Xbox 360 is officially no longer a puzzle wrapped in an enigma smothered in a secret sauce. Now its just a console.

And a damn cool looking one. I keeping hearing and reading about how ugly it is and what a pain in the ass its gonna be to stack. Well relax, first of all its sweet lookin'. Second of all you can see at a glance on the 360's site that it can be a tower or stack like every other component you had to have.

Honestly I know very little about gaming consoles, but I am fully thumbs up on this thing. C'mon give Microsoft credit for the one thing they've gotten right. And now you know where I stand on that.

If you DO care about what this baby can do these guys lay it out nicely: kotaku.com

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Gaming is fundamental


everythingbad
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Reccomended Reading:
Everything Bad Is Good for You:
How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter
Ok, I haven't read it. But I heard an interview with author Steven Johnson and he sounded smart... and I agreed with him. (redundant?) Anyway, he (and I) think video games are good for kids. No, not playing Halo all day every day, but within reason. Everyone who talks smack about video games thinks they are a series of MOVE LEFT, MOVE RIGHT, FIRE, FIRE, FIRE etc. If you actually gamed you would know there are millions of adults at work handling a fraction of the information a kid needs to juggle to complete Zelda. I personally know what it feels like to be thinking "if I can find a sniping rifle (usually on the top balcony of the west tower on Ascention) and get it safely to the dock that often has a Phanthom waiting on the end. I can fly that Phanthom to a spot on the highest point of the East tower that is unreachable on foot and snipe away." This aint space invaders.
Of course encourage kids to read, but once in a while blow their minds and say "hey put that book down and go earn some upgrades for that poor excuse for a car you've been running in Gran Turismo." or stick your head out the door and say. "Hey! that level 4 boss isn't going to slay himself!"
read about it

And lets not forget... Its a book!.


Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Game Over Man!


EGvsST
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Maybe its the fact that his work is yet to get picked up for a series or perhaps the its the not so meteoric rise of the Atlanta metal outfit that "borrowed" his book's name, but Orson Scott Card has taken it upon himself to tear a new black hole in the fabric of Star Trek.

"The original Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry, was, with a few exceptions, bad in every way that a science fiction television show could be bad."

He makes a couple of good points (and gives Nimoy props,) but really Orson talk about "biting the hand." Are you forgetting you're own LONG running series. Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Xenocide, Speaker for the Dead, Children of the Mind, and Shadow of the Hegemon.

Orson Scott Card you wrote one of my favorite stories and then you used "Buffy" to explain why Star Trek sucks.
"NOT COOL!" ®©geico2005 "not cool" is in no way registered by geico insurance, but it oughta be.
Card's Commentary

May the Force Live Long and Prosper


SpockFags
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
The photo has been absolutely killing me for years. I'm pretty sure It was taken outside the premeire of Star Wars Episode One. If you look close Triumph the insult comic dog is there too.

Monday, May 09, 2005

William And Leonard


BOTH2
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
This is my desktop. I made it from what is easily the "best Star Trek photo everr."

You can download it by clicking on it... If you are a member of Flickr. Which is free and I highly reccomend for photo archiving and orginizing.

William

Leonard

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Arthritis Relief


PERFECTphone
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Is it just me or are the * 0 and # keys nearly out of reach on most cell phones. I think I am developing Carpal Thumb Syndrome. Here is my simple solution compliments of an Ericsson ad and Photoshop CS.

Ambitious? Take this idea to the manufacturers and save my thumb. I waive any rights... minus "bragging."

Saturday, May 07, 2005

Storm Trooper Stylee


Xbox360
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Here it is, our first true blue view of the Xbox360 (or as I call my current Xbox "The Halo Playing Machine.)

The candid shot comes courtesy of engadget.com so give them a visit for details.

engadget

Friday, May 06, 2005

One Isn't the Loneliest Number


BINARYcode
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Here is a fun way to confound friends and drive away possible mates.

Roubaix Interactive

Below is your first secret mesage:

0100000101101110011001000010000001111001011011110
1110101001000000111010001101000011011110111010101
1001110110100001110100001000000100111101101110011
0010101110011001000000110000101101110011001000010
0000010110100110010101110010011011110111001100100
0000111011101101111011101010110110001100100001000
0001101000011001010110110001110000001000000110110
1011000010110101101100101001000000111010001101000
0110100101101110011001110111001100100000011100110
1101101011000010110110001101100011001010111001000
101110



Thursday, May 05, 2005

One Giant Leap Backward


POKIAphone
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Love the feel of a good old fasioned NYC payphone, but hate that chicken noodle soup smell on the reciever. This baby plugs right into your cell phone. AND its not just funny... It works REALLY well.

They make fabulous gifts... Right Tom? And there are tons of styles.

Get yours where I got mine or just check 'em out: pokia.us

And tell 'em Dave sent ya.

Seriously.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

The Big Tayback


Tayback's a Bitch 

Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Alright, this T-shirt a day thing is a cop out. So this will have to be the last one. And from here on in I will have to come up with some real content.

The shirt works if you know that's Vic Tayback. And by "bitch" I mean hard. As in "lifes a..."

You know you can see them all here by now anyway: dave.threadless.com

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

California Uber Alles


UberAlles
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Ok this one works on so many levels. California Uber Alles is a Dead Kennedys song about Gov. Jerry Brown. (He was Gov. of California.) It plays off the nationalist slogan "Deutchland Uber Alles." Which was German. Now, I realize that Arnold arnold Schwarzenegger is in fact Austrian, but so was Hitler. Who, I might add, is not held in high regard by Kevin Bacon.

Dee-Tees

The Time Traveler Convention


delorean
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
This is a one time event. Those who wish to attend simply go back or forward in time to this date and time:

May 7, 2005, 10:00pm EDT (08 May 2005 02:00:00 UTC)
East Campus Courtyard, MIT
42:21:36.025°N, 71:05:16.332°W

The skinny: MIT

Why am I telling you? I'm not. I figure the more people who write about it the better the chance of time travelers finding out about it. Like that answering service thing in 12 Monkeys... Get me?

Monday, May 02, 2005

A) Scary B) Funny C) Creepy D) Catchy E) All of the above




Many of you have probably seen and heard this piece by The Greenskeepers. I get sent a link to it once in a while and love it every time. So, time to share.

check it here: lotion

This just in... This song is available on iTunes. Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow.

Hey Yankees, you can take your apology and your trophy and shove it straight up your ass!


BEARS
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
Just want to get this one out there before folks think it was inspired by the new movie (boo hiss.) I've been wearin mine for well over a year.
Buy one Here: Dee-Tees
Oh by the way I am not hawking shirts here. The link is just there incase ya love it.
"Look Lupus, if you wiped your nose once in a while, people wouldn't give you so much crud all the time."

Greedo Never Fired


Greedo Never Fired
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
This is a t-shirt I came up with and designed a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Don't tell George. Just buy one and wait for him to see it..
Buy one Here: Dee-Tees
Explanation here: greedo

Now that you've seen one of my t-shirts I think I will post one a day along with whatever thoughts come to mind.

Sunday, May 01, 2005

PANIC


MarvinNewOld
Originally uploaded by lowereastside.
I saw The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy today and it was just OK. I was such a huge fan of the BBC version from way back when and in fact it was somewhat of a remake of that, but without all the style.
If you see it keep an eye on the Vogon que (british for line.) You'll see the old Marvin (pictured right) waiting there. As well as an old man that looks alot like the original Slartibartfarst.