Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2008 > July
July 2008
Social Media Camp and the Mashable.com party
World collided.
Yesterday, a Social Media Camp (more on what that means in a bit) was held downtown at the Thistle Cafe. I only began hearing this was happening last week, but I knew one of the organizers was Erica O’ Grady, whom I’d met briefly in Houston at Caroline Collective.
When I started hearing how many people would be there with whom I connect on Twitter (as well as several Statesman folks who were going), I managed to find a way to spend the day there. Usually a mid-week conference that takes place in the middle of the week and lasts all day isn’t something I’m able to attend.
I’m glad I did. Social Media Camp was set up like Bar Camp: attendees show up and decide what the contents of the mini-conference will be. Since everyone involved is probably an expert in some area or other, the topics of discussion are decided early in the day.
What this means is that some people arrive ready to present, with a PowerPoint, even, as the folks who use Twitter at Dell did. Others (like our small Statesman crew) were winging it.
But because the topic of the entire day was social media tools, everyone there was inclined to meet others, participate and connect.
I won’t go into the individual tracks, but I’ll say that the turnout was pretty amazing: more than 200 people showed up at 10 a.m. and braved some major Wi-Fi problems to meet and greet. Other people trickled in throughout the day.
There were plenty of “take-aways,” as they’re called, but what most impressed me was that there is a real movement to change the world for the better among some of the top speakers at the event, not just to use Twitter, Facebook and other social nets as marketing tools.
The second half of Austin’s Massive Day of Social Media was a Buffalo Billiards party sponsored by Mashable.com. More than 400 people were crammed into the upper floor of the pool hall (it was called, appropriately, the SummerMash). it was crowded and hot, but drinks were free and when I left at 9, the crowd had only grown larger.
It began to get a little surreal for me: so many people I’ve written about or communicated with on Twitter or over e-mail were suddenly there in person. World collided, like a dream where all your past friends and family show up in one place. Putting faces to names and online IDs was a bit thrilling, but so was catching up with people I usually only type to.
It took me a half hour to leave, obligated as I felt to say goodnight to everyone I knew who was there. This morning, I’ve been overloaded with new Twitter friend requests and messages.
Maybe it was just me, but it felt like one of those magical, transformative nights that people will still be talking about, at least in this sometimes insular online world, for a while. Many drinks were consumed, many business cards and “@” identities exchanged, and from what I hear, things got a little wild after I left.
I told O’ Grady that we could stand to have more events like this in Austin and I think a lot of people are thinking the same thing.
Here are a few photos I shot last night:
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Away at camp (minus the cabins)
I’m spending a rare day away from the office attending an event called Social Media Camp downtown at the Thistle Cafe.
The event is a take-off of Bar Camp, where techies get together and put on impromptu panels and information sessions as experts in their respective fields.
Rather than give you the blow-by-blow as its happening, I’ll just direct you to a FriendFeed post I’ve made where I’ll be adding comments as the day progresses. I’ll have a lot more to write about it later on, I’m sure.
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Dell Studio Hybrid is for real; Scrabulous no more
The Dell Studio Hybrid computer that I mentioned yesterday is now a three-dimensional reality:
Dell has not always been known for its fashion-forward PCs, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. The diminutive setup includes a wireless keyboard and mouse, a PC base that looks more like an external hard drive and a flat-screen monitor.
It also comes in multiple colors and one possibly ill-advised Bamboo model:
The energy-efficient Hybrid starts at $499 and be equipped with a Blu-ray drive as an optional feature.
Oh, Scrabulous.
The popular Scrabble-like Facebook application is no more. Hasbro has added its own version of Scrabble to the social networking site and has taken legal action against the popular knockoff.
It didn’t take long for a Scrabble protest group to show up on Facebook.
The New York Times Bits blog has more updates — apparently the Scrabulous developers took the game offline themselves in North America, not Facebook.
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Is this Dell’s new Studio Hybrid Mini PC?
Apple isn’t the only company that has to content with rumors and speculation about its product line ruining potentially huge announcements.
Dell Inc. may have had a new product exposed on the Engadget blog. The so-called Dell Studio Hybrid Mini PC has been pictured (at least in drawing form) on the site and supposedly sports a wireless mouse and keyboard, a diminutive, rounded based unit and, of course, an obligatory flat-screen monitor.
It looks very nice — we can’t wait to see actual photos if this is indeed a new Dell product that’ll be rolled out online soon.
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‘Star Trek’ MMO, Social Media Camp, Mobile Me woes and more
Let’s play catch-up with some goodness from around the Web, bulleted for your reading pleasure:
- Trekkies rejoice! You’ve got a J.J. Abrams franchise reboot to look forward to and, now, a massively multiplayer online game, “Star Trek Online.” Here’s the official site. Truly good times for those who covet pointy ears.
- Social networking geeks: a Social Media Camp takes place Wednesday at Thistle Cafe with a happy hour sponsored by Mashable.com to follow in the evening at Buffalo Billiards.
- Some ex-Google types have launched a new search engine, Cuil. It says it can find information from 121,617,892,992 Web pages, yet it can’t find its own About Cuil page. Oops. Check it out — you may like the more-horizontal visual presentation of search results.
- Even after getting slammed by the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg, Apple still hasn’t quite gotten all the kinks out of the new Mobile Me service. Here’s another Apple apology.
- Speaking of Apple, talk of Steve Jobs’ health woes came to a head in this New York Times story. You must read the last three paragraphs.
- Futurist and sci-fi legend Bruce Sterling will deliver a keynote at the Austin Game Developers’ Conference in September. The topic is “Computer Entertainment 35 Years From Today.”
- I linked to this on Twitter, but it’s worth repeating: an iPhone Web app for tracking Austin Capital Metro bus lines.
- This product, the BrickHouse Child Locator has apparently been selling very well since it was featured in a Duracell ad campaign.
- Don’t forget, Digital Savant has a FriendFeed page where you can chitty-chat and check out links and other info relevant to the blog that I post from time to time.
- And lastly, it’s nice to know that the Muppets have something brief, relevant and witty to say about the YouTube era:
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Time Warner Cable rolls out Start Over, PhotoShowTV in Austin
Time Warner Cable has introduced two new features for its digital cable customers, and both are free to current subscribers.
The first sounds incredibly useful. The second is a bit troubling.
By storing programs on these channels on its servers and shooting them over via Video On Demand technology, you could start a movie or sitcom back from the start if you catch it late or forget to record it with the DVR. (You don’t need a DVR to use the service; it works with the company’s four current digital cable boxes.)
We tried it out at the plush Texas Cable Association offices in downtown Austin and Start Over works as advertised: a helpful prompt shows up automatically when a program is available to begin from the start and doing the time warp is instantaneous, far faster than a typical Video On Demand download.
The catch is that not every program can be started over and that it only works on a few channels: Showtime’s premium channels (730-737), TMC (746-747), USA (66 and 504), TNT (67 and 510), National Geographic and NG HD (232 and 1620), Comedy Central (59 and 530), Cartoon Network (43 and 110) and MTV (72 and 570). Time Warner plans to add a another tier of channels in a few months.
It’s available at no extra cost to digital cable subscribers.
The second service requires both Time Warner digital cable and a Road Runner high-speed Internet account. Subscribers can access a Web site for Roxio PhotoShowTV that allows them to make a photo slideshow within a browser window.
PhotoShow doesn’t require downloading an application and is pretty slick: you can add effects, music and titles to a set of photos. Once your photo slideshow is done, you can e-mail it to someone or upload it to Local On Demand channel 1401.
Here’s where things get a little weird: the slideshow takes about 24 hours to appear on the channel as it’s reviewed by humans to make sure you didn’t try to sneak in some shots from your trip to Hippie Hollow.
If you’re bashful about strangers looking at your family snapshots, you really won’t like the next part: anyone in Central Texas to channel 1401 can view your slideshow once it appears. There are no privacy filters, no passwords, no way to make sure that only friends and family members can view your slideshow.
Also, relatives in other Time Warner Cable cities can’t currently view your slideshow unless you e-mail it to them directly.
To prove the point that this could lead to some embarrassment we pulled up a few slideshows and promptly began making fun of dogs dressed up for the 4th of July (oh, the patriotic hats we saw!) and formal photos featuring someone showing off way too much cleavage.
I’m not a big privacy freak, but PhotoShowTV sounds like an accident waiting to happen, and I’m not convinced that people know what they’re getting into when they post photos online for all the world to see: especially when those photos are going to be blown up to giant proportions on cable viewers’ giant-screen TVs.
It’ll be a promising, useful application (and free to boot), but it’s desperately in need of better privacy controls.
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Bealls skips the clipping with cell phone coupons
I recently organized all my coupons into an accordion-like clip filer (you can stop pointing and laughing, please) and everything is neat and labeled.
But I don’t think I can compete with eliminating the paper part altogether: retailer Bealls is working with mobile coupon service Cellfire to offer some back-to-school deals over mobile phones.
By sending the text “BEL” to 22888, customers will receive deals every two weeks until Sept. 1. Alternately, you could go to the Cellfire Web site and sign up there.
To use them, you show your cell phone to the cashier, which doesn’t sound like the most natural way of redeeming an offer, but hey, baby steps.
Will cell-phone-based coupons be the future for discount hunters? No idea, but this sounds like something that could really take off, especially if somebody writes a great iPhone couponing application.
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Obama Girl responds to Statesman video
I meant to post this over the weekend, but we’re all back at our desks now and able to fully appreciate it. Late Saturday night (about 1:33 a.m.), Amber Lee Ettinger, better known as Obama Girl, posted a response to the Statesman video we posted on Thursday. I’m trying to reach her associate Melissa to make sure it was really her, but this is what was posted under Amber Ettinger’s name:
Omar, wow how uncool and ridiculous you are. I did walk in there 2 minutes before you put your camera in my face and attempted to ask me questions just to make me look stupid. I am not a political expert and I have said that time and time again. I can answer my own questions and I chose not to answer yours because I wasn’t there to talk about Howard Dean and YES I was bored. Sorry everyone. And to the comment below, I graduated from College, get your facts straight.
As I noted in a Twitter message over the weekend, her assertions of my being uncool, ridiculous and boring are at least accurate. As to the putting the camera in her face, I didn’t know that was out of bounds when she was specifically brought to the Media Room to talk to press. I asked, “Can I shoot a video with you?” and she said yes. I can see how that could be taken as a complete intrusion.
I do not, however, have a sufficient defense for the commenter from France who reposted Obama Girl’s response several times, adding only, “IN YOUR FACE Omar,” It kind of is in my face, so I believe that’s on point.
I like to think I’m one of the nicer journalists in the business, and I honestly meant no harm. As to suggestions in some of the Postcards from the Lege blog comments that I set out to embarrass Ms. Ettinger or make her look dumb, I can assure you that I don’t possess the foresight or the mad scientist skills necessary to pull off such a crackerjack caper. I was rattling off questions off the top of my head based on my limited time at the conference as a non-political reporter.
The whole affair could have been headed off at the pass if Obama Girl had simply told our viewers why she was at Netroots Nation and what she planned to do while she was here. Surely she and Melissa must have discussed this on the plane ride over.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Obama Girl knew, and that’s where the problems started.
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Live blog with Andrew Butler of Hill Country Rambling
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iPhone 3G: the review
It’s been a week and people are still standing in lines, trying to get their hands on the iPhone 3G, the second coming of the so-called Jesus Phone. A year after the first iPhone came out, it seems the pretty slab of plastic, metal and glass hasn’t lost its luster.
Is it the new iPhone App Store paired with the new iPhone 2.0 software that’s got people buzzing. Is it the misleading “Half the price” ad campaign, touting a $199 iPhone as a bargain? (It’s not; as I’ve pointed out before, you will pay more in wireless fees during your two-year contract than you would have with the first iPhone.)
I think it’s a combination of these things, but also a mass exhalation from all the people who swore they wouldn’t buy a first-generation Apple phone, especially at its initial price of $600. It was a big sigh of relief from all the people who’d maintained their self-control for a year and swore they wouldn’t lose their resolve until the iPhone surfed AT&T’s 3G network and had built-in GPS.
That’s why the lines are swelling. Some people had been waiting a whole year for Apple’s version of Christmas morning.
But how’s the phone itself?
For the last week, I’ve been test driving a black 8-GB iPhone 3G on loan from AT&T. I’m keeping my “old” iPhone (purchased earlier this year) for the time being, so I was able to compare the two phones side-by-side, using the same iTunes account to sync music and applications.
I’ll go point-by-point with the caveat that all iPhone users will have varying experiences with the new phone. A lot depends on where you live as far as the 3G coverage goes and how you’ll use your phone: we’re not on a corporate e-mail system, so I wasn’t able to test out the new business-center Exchange features.
Your mileage will vary depending on how you use it, but I’ll try to cover the basics.
Looks: The 3G has a plastic, rounded back now, with curvier edges. On the black phone I tried out, the reflective Apple logo on the back stands out nicely, but the metal circle around the camera hole looks cheap and blingy. The design is a bit of an optical illusion, though — setting it next to the earlier iPhone, they’re not significantly different in size or thickness. Some people I’ve talked to hate the plastic rear and liked the brushed metal better. Others love the option of a black or white plastic phone. Since I slapped a Gelaskins sticker on my phone long ago, I don’t really have a preference either way.
I do like the new metal buttons along the edges, which feel sturdier than the plastic black ones on the earlier phone. And the recessed speaker holes on the bottom and the flush headphone jack (which no longer requires an annoying adapter or super-skinny headphone jack to use) are both welcome additions.
Sound: This is a big win for the 3G: when Steve Jobs announced the new phone would sound better, nobody was sure exactly what he meant. It turns out the speakers put out much louder, clearer sound than the first edition (as long as you’re not covering the speakers with your hand). Phone calls sound sharper, with less of a tendency to break up. If you have a tendency to listen to voice mails or podcasts via the speakers, the 3G is a noticeable improvement.
Visuals: I’ve heard a few reports that video on the iPhone has a warmer, richer look. Though the screen itself hasn’t been upgraded on the 3G, the color temperature has been adjusted. Most people, I think, wouldn’t notice, but if you watch a lot of video on the iPhone, you might see the difference.
Battery life: All right, here’s where we hit a major snag. 3G on the iPhone sucks up a lot of battery life. In my usage, using iPhone apps or doing any heavy Web browsing caused a fast battery drain unlike anything I’d experienced on my older iPhone before. Once I turned off the “Push” option to pull down online information, things got a little better, but the battery life is still the biggest disappointment on the 3G. Before announcing the phone, Apple had acknowledged that battery life on the 3G phone was a big challenge, and apparently they weren’t able to surmount it. One shock I got was when I tried to use the iPhone 3G while it was plugged in to a power source: the battery kept draining as I used the Safari browser. The charger couldn’t keep up with the amount of juice being sucked out of the battery at the same time. WOW. If you buy an iPhone 3G, expect to invest in extra chargers to keep around (make sure they’re compatible; not all iPhone accessories work with iPhone 3G) and maybe even an external battery for emergencies. This is a major issue and I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple addressed it somehow if they’re faced with a barrage of complaints. My advice for conserving battery life: turn off “Push” if you don’t need it, disable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you’re not using them and keep your screen turned off when you’re just listening to music. You don’t have to like it, but it’ll help you eke out another hour or two of battery if you’re lucky.
3G: Depending on how you look at it, 3G is either a big boon to the phone or a big bummer. The 3G network is indeed much faster than the pokey, but consistent, EDGE network. Unfortunately, 3G is not perfect or ubiquitous. Sometimes, the iPhone 3G takes a full 15-30 seconds to start downloading a page speedily on 3G, even when you’ve got full bars and the 3G logo at the top of the screen. I’m not sure if the phone is attempting to connect or what, but sitting there watching the phone try to take a running start at downloading data is one of the most frustrating experiences anyone who’s waited for 3G will experience. Once it gets going, 3G is great. Using Google Reader, I zipped through my RSS feeds, pulling down lots of images and text. It was close to being in a Wi-Fi area. But, again, more problems: even in parts of Austin, the phone would drop the 3G network and switch to EDGE for no apparent reason. I was able to pick up 3G in New Braunfels, but on I-35, 3G went off and on the whole way. (Please don’t iPhone and drive.) AT&T has apparently made big upgrades to its 3G network and expanded it at a huge expense, but it’s just not enough. The network has to be more consistent and have a wider coverage area to justify the $10 more a month iPhone users are paying for the privilege of using it.
Text messages: Text messaging works exactly the same on the iPhone 3G as it did on the earlier iPhone, which is why it’s mystifying that AT&T is now charging $5-$20 a month more for texts. Color me completely annoyed by this. If you want to avoid text messaging altogether, just to mess with The Man, there are work-arounds.
GPS: A pleasant surprise. An early review by David Pogue of The New York Times made it sounds like the GPS on the iPhone 3G was total weak sauce, but maybe he was trying to use it among giant skyscrapers in Manhattan. I’ve been surprised with how well the GPS works in Google Maps: watching a red dot of yourself going down the highway is a very cool experience, and it seems very accurate. The sooner the right applications come along to take advantage of the GPS feature, the sooner iPhone users will be able to ditch their other redundant, clunky GPS devices.
iTunes: Aside from the complete fiasco that activation and upgrading was on launch day, the new iPhone 2.0 software has introduced a few annoyances to the iTunes experience. For one thing, the iPhone now tries to back up its entire memory every time you sync. You can stop it in mid-backup by clicking the tiny x in the dialogue box at the top of iTunes, but it still takes much, much longer to do a sync than it did before. New iPhone 3G users may not notice anything’s amiss, but older iPhone users will definitely be annoyed. Another weird feature is having your applications backed up when you sync. This is nice in theory, but one I download an app, I don’t want to have to worry about it every time I sync.
iPhone 2.0: This is a bit of a moot point because except for certain GPS or 3G-specific items, the software runs the same on the iPhone 3G and on the older iPhone (and, even, on the iPod Touch). The new software creates a new “Contacts” icon (previously only accessible via the Phone icon), adds the App Store (more on that in a bit) and a few improvements like a scientific calculator that appears when you run Calculator and turn the iPhone on its side. You can now search contacts (finally!), mass-delete e-mails and open certain e-mail attachments like PowerPoint documents. Unfortunately, the new features come at a price: overall, 2.0 is less stable than the previous iPhone software. It’s more prone to crash, lag when you’re tying, or simply stop responding. Expect a patch soon to address performance issues that the new operating system version seems to have introduced.
App Store: Hands-down the best new feature on the iPhone 3G or the older iPhone. With the iPhone, you now have access to literally hundreds of new programs, many of them free. It would take a whole other review just to talk about some of the great applications available, but taken as a whole, the App Store is simply an overwhelming ocean of goodness. Sure, there are some clunkers in the store, but there are more than enough enjoyable, free Apps that they make up for the weak ones. It’s simply long overdue and totally welcome. My favorites so far are Remote, a simple and beautiful way to control iTunes or an Apple TV with the iPhone, Pandora’s music service which streams songs directly to the phone based on your musical preferences, the useless but entertaining PhoneSaber (like having a light saber in your pocket with accompanying sounds), the Facebook and AOL Instant Messenger apps and Yellow Pages’ YPMobile, which shows you restaurants and other businesses in your area, including reviews and phone numbers. It’s worth wading in the deep waters of the App Store and finding the programs that suit your interests and needs. The best part is it’s not exclusive to iPhone 3G users. Check out Webmonkey’s poll of the top Apps.
Conclusions: Is the new iPhone 3G great? Yes. Yes, it is. Is it much greater than the original iPhone? If both phones have the new iPhone 2.0 software installed, not so much. 3G service is inconsistent, and while GPS is very nice, there isn’t enough software yet to really make it a killer feature. The phone sounds better, has a more refined design and a cheaper price at the register (but watch out for that phone bill later). The verdict is that those who don’t already have an iPhone will certainly fall in love with the 3G if they’re already used to paying Blackberry-like data fees. For those who got the original iPhone, there’s no shame in hanging on to the original phone and seeing if the price or service fees drop in the next few months. (Or at the very least, whether AT&T gets rid of the ridiculous text messaging fee increases.) As for me, having a 3G for a week hasn’t convinced me to go out and buy one for myself. But, I have a feeling it’ll be my next phone at some point in the future, perhaps after the 3G network has matured enough to provide a better experience.
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I got crushed by Obama Girl
I spent the day covering the Netroots Nation convention for the Postcards from the Lege blog (my entries are the ones that totally sound like they don’t belong there).
Unexpectedly, I got to meet Obama Girl. You can read the story of how this video was almost thwarted over there, or just watch the video itself here:
See how she starts looking away for someone else to talk to? I just don’t think she was that into me.
Guess which one’s the print journalist and which one’s the lusted-after Internet sensation.
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And on drums… Governor Rick Perry! (Corrected)
This is too good not to share.
I thought I’d have my iPhone 3G review all ready for you, but I got swamped and won’t have it ready, unfortunately. In the meantime, I’ve got something even better (besides, aren’t you tired of hearing about iPhone stuff yet?).
Texas Governor Rick Perry spoke at the E3 convention in L.A., and the Joystiq.com blog has a photo (and a write-up about his remarks) so awesome, I can only point you to it and guarantee you will love it.
Oh, Governor. At this moment at least, you do rock.
Edited to add: Let me explain — yesterday when I posted this entry, maybe I had “Rock Band” on the brain, but I swear it looked like Perry was sitting behind a set of virtual drums. I don’t know why that got into my head, but it did. Little did I know it was just a podium with an unusually round logo. My bad, folks. How cool would that have been, though?
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iPhone 3G: Charger snob?
I’m still playing with the iPhone 3G, putting it through its paces and trying out different downloads from the App Store. I’ll have a post of my impressions up tomorrow, but here’s something a little troubling in the meantime.
On the way to work this morning, I noticed the 3G was low on battery, so I plugged it into my handy car charger, which I’ve been using for my 1st-generation iPhone and iPod for ages.
It didn’t work. Here’s what the iPhone 3G told me:
I think anyone who’s upgraded an iPod has felt the sting of defeat when your old accessories don’t work on your new device (usually because of the regularity with which Apple redesigns the hardware), but this is just silly. Why would a charger that works fine with an original iPhone not work with the 3G?
Is anyone else out there finding accessory incompatibilities withe the new phone? Post them in the comments here or on the Digital Savant FriendFeed page.
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Another experiment: Digital Savant’s FriendFeed
About a month ago, we added a Twitter feed to this page, where you can keep up to date on what I’m writing over there. You can find it below the most recent entry, but before the comments section of this page. Since that time, it’s become a permanent part of Digital Savant.
Now, another little experiment: I’ve created a room for Digital Savant on FriendFeed.
What’s FriendFeed? It’s an aggregator that allows you to import information from lots of blog and social networking sites, including Flickr, Blogger, Twitter, YouTube and others. It’s very easy to pull lots of information into one place and, like a lot of those sites, FriendFeed allows you to follow or be followed by other friends.
Most importantly for this, however, is that FriendFeed has a great commenting system that allows for more fully fleshed out conversations than Twitter or other micro-blogging sites. And, unlike the comments system here (and I do love your comments, so please keep posting them), FriendFeed comments do not require moderation and approval.
Why would we need this? We really don’t, but I believe in the next six months or so, we’re going to see a big shakeout in social networking sites. There are simply too many of them and there’s too much information to keep track of, at least for me. I find myself checking too many sites and trying to keep track of too many friends, colleagues and readers in too many places.
I don’t know if FriendFeed is the answer, but I’m willing to give it a try even as I drop out of once-promising social networks like BrightKite, Plurk and Pownce. For a more in-depth analysis of why you’d want to use FriendFeed (or a close competitor, SocialThing, for that matter), check out my friend Dave’s blog post on the subject.
I’ll be posting interesting links from my Google Reader feeds, blog entries from this page and other stuff I see on FriendFeed to the Digital Savant page — all ripe for discussion. I’d love it if you’d check it out, join up, and participate. Let’s see how this goes.
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Review: Video Games Live
Video games are primarily a visual medium, but at a performance Friday night of “Video Games Live” at the Long Center for the Performing Arts, players of all ages were reminded of how much impact the audio side packs.
Beginning with the opposing bleeps of 1972’s Atari classic “Pong” and continuing to so-new-it’s-still-shrink-wraped game “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith,” it was a nostalgic night, even for gamers who don’t remember anything older than what was on the PlayStation 2.
The touring production, which on Friday night was played by the Austin Symphony, a choir, a vocal soloist, video game composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall and one very talented piano player, was made up of wonderfully realized moments. Many of the games spotlighted are not individual games at all, but long-running series like the “Mario Bros.” games, the Japanese epic “Final Fantasy” or “The Legend of Zelda.”
What was clear from the gasps of recognition and loud applause from the audience is that moments in video games they lovingly played are hardwired to musical cues. A particular song from “Final Fantasy VII” was enough to get some audience members emotional, while the Russian theme from “Tetris” earned a chorus of clap-alongs.
The production was enhanced by a large screen that showed clips from the games that were being spotlighted. Some were put together like movie trailers, while others merely cobbled together memorable moments from games old and new of a series like Nintendo’s “Metroid.”
As the clips played, the audience was treated to a history of video games, from crude sprites to the lush, motion-captured digital animations of today. It’s one thing to reminisce about “Asteroids” — it’s another to hear its throbbing score played by an orchestra and its stark black-and-white gameplay projected on a giant screen.
The performance, one of about 60 planned worldwide this year strived to be interactive: audience members were invited to whoop it up. A “Guitar Hero” player from Austin wowed the crowd by playing “Sweet Emotion” to a high enough score to earn himself an AMD/Dell laptop.
Another segment featured an audience member being invited to play a live version of “Space Invaders.” His movement on stage corresponded to the endangered, laser-blasting ship on screen.
Inside jokes abounded: while playing selections from the “Metal Gear Solid” games, a spy walked on stage, followed by a walking cardboard box. If you get the joke, you just might be a video game fanatic.
And a standout performance from pianist Martin Leung (video below) earned one of several standing ovations from gamers who are used to consuming their medium of entertainment sitting down.
Lasers lit up the concert hall, and disco balls added to the sensory overload. The audience was made up of video game players pushing 40, hipster twentysomethings and quite a few kids. Were they bored by the trip down memory lane to the coin-op attractions of the early ’80s? It’s hard to say, but one teen sitting near me said wearily during music from “Frogger”: “Oh yeah, I have that on my cell phone.”
Amid some truly gorgeous arrangements for epic games like “God of War” and “Halo,” there were some indulgences that proved less than organic. “Mass Effect,” a well-reviewed game that debuted late last year and had music composed by Wall, was shown, but received a subdued reaction despite great music and strong visuals: it’s very likely few in the audience had played the game.
Contrast that with Blizzard Entertainment’s “World of Warcraft” music, which was sweeping and thundering: it received some of the most enthusiastic applause of the evening.
Much of the the indulgence was due to the showrunner, however. Host Tallarico, who never missed an opportunity to mention that he’s Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler’s cousin, increasingly inserted himself into the proceedings as the night went on, joining in on electric guitar. By the night’s encore, which ended badly on music from the good, but not iconic, “Castlevania,” Tallarico was jamming all over the stage, clearly more in love with this particular piece than the restless audience was.
Ending on “Castlevania?” Why? There were so many stronger pieces throughout the show that “Video Games Live” stepped on its own finale by focusing on a game that has a long history, but is not particularly loved by gamers.
And some of the video montages, as lovely as they were, didn’t seem to fit: music from the Square ENIX/Disney crossover game “Kingdom Hearts” showed plenty of scenes from Disney animated classics, but no footage of “Hearts” itself. It was a weird choice. And don’t get me started on a performance of music from the latest “Harry Potter” game. It was an orchestral performance based on a video game based on a movie based on a book, with appropriately diminishing returns. It felt like little more than an advertisement for a year-old title most gamers ignored.
Nevertheless, the show itself had enough killer moments to warrant recommending the second performance, 8 p.m. tonight. The symphony was in top form and the music itself was gorgeously performed.
I give it a solid 1Up.
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Is it safe to iPhone yet?
Image from Sean Osteen’s Flickr page.
When the headline up near the top of CNN.com reads, “Problems reported with new iPhones,” well… you’re not having a great day if you’re Steve Jobs.
It was supposed to be a day of triumph for Apple (and, by extension, their partner AT&T): the launch of a refined, faster iPhone, along with the simultaneous launch of new 2.0 software that would elevate first-gen handsets. Oh yeah, and Apple would also be revamping its .Mac service to relaunch as “Mobile Me.”
Maybe it was a little too much launching.
By about 10 a.m. (see earlier Digital Savant entry), two hours after the iPhone went on sale locally, there were widespread reports that stores were experiencing problems activating new phones under the bulging, sausage-in-a-tiny-casing strain of Apple’s Intertubes. Indeed, it seems like iTunes activation wss the culprit here (just like last year). New iPhone owners were told to go home and try again later (and don’t try making any phone calls on that new gadget; you’ll have two contracted years to do that later).
Meanwhile, people like me who decided to stick with the old iPhone were caught in a nightmare loop trying to upgrade to the new 2.0 software. Maybe we should have jumped on the bootleg release yesterday to avoid the traffic jam.
I brushed aside my worries about updating a jailbroken iPhone (reports online said the new update wouldn’t harm anything). But midway through, after all the data from my phone was wiped in the “Restore” process, iTunes couldn’t connect to the store to complete the activation and load everything back into the phone. I waited. I looked online and found that hundreds, maybe thousands, of others, were having the same problem. I’m waiting for “Apple really pulled an error -9838 on this one” to start being used in casual conversation.
I kept trying, but for the time I was stuck in brick limbo, I couldn’t make or receive any calls. I don’t have a land line anymore, so I was unreachable by phone.
Finally, about an hour and a half later, the phone reached the iTunes store and updated to the 2.0 software. Immediately, I was able to download Apps straight from the phone like AOL Instant Messenger and the excellent Pandora radio player. They ran fine. But none of my music or podcasts could sync with iTunes because it still couldn’t reach the store. (The storefront itself, meanwhile, was running fine, just not when it was trying to connect to all the activation-hungry iPhones out there).
While all this was happening, I tried to keep up with what was going on at Austin stores. People waited. Some were sent home. But as of this writing, it sounds like there are still plenty of iPhones at the Domain Apple Store. (The line, however, is about three hours long, last I heard, but activation servers are back online.)
So what did we learn? Even with a year of preparation, Apple and AT&T were still caught flat-footed by the crazy demand. And I think it was insane for Apple to try to perform three simultaneous launches. Steve Jobs may seem magical, but we learned today that his lovely little phone is no match for the crush of Internet traffic that greets pretty much every move Apple makes these days.
I think a lot of people will activate their phones over the weekend as traffic eases up and be pleasantly surprised. The 2.0 software, though a bit less stable, has a wide range of pretty great apps, many of them free. Apple Remote alone is worth the aggravation of upgrading this morning.
But the taint of the launch experience, so un-Apple in its inelegance, is going to stick with the iPhone 3G launch for a while. It may make some hesitant to go buy the phone while they wait for the “Glitches,” as CNN calls them, to get sorted out.
It pains me to say it, but on a technical level, iPhone launches are beginning to feel more and more like something you’d associate with Windows.
One more thing, a bit of irony: it seems as much as I’ve decided to stick with my first-generation iPhone, I still can’t get away from 3G. A representative from AT&T called this afternoon and said they have a 3G iPhone set aside that they’d like me to try out for the weekend. I’ll report back on Monday with some impressions, though I’m sure many other parts of the Web will be buzzing with reviews from now until then.
UPDATE: AT&T says iPhones are sold out at all 27 area locations, but they’ll be getting daily shipments. I’m not sure if The Domain Apple Store still has them in stock.
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iPhone 3G launch: botched activations one year later?
Photo courtesy of AT&T (minus the “FAIL”)
Remember when the iPhone launched last year and there were some reports that people couldn’t activate their phones from home?
This year, for the new iPhone 3G launch, AT&T and Apple decided (partly to stem the proliferation of unlocked iPhones abroad) that new iPhones purchased for the $199/$299 price today had to be activated in-store.
That might not have been such a capital idea. In addition to the time it takes to service individual customers with activations, it seems Apple’s servers are being crushed by not only new customers but people (like me) at home trying to upgrade their older iPhones to the new 2.0 software.
Like many others, I’m stuck in mid-upgrade, unable to reach the iTunes store to re-activate my phone. All my phone data is wiped and the phone can now only make emergency calls. Luckily, I’m expecting to be at home a few more hours, so I’ll wait it out, but I’m hoping I won’t be stuck without a phone for the rest of the day/weekend.
As for new customers, Engadget reports that some are being sent home with their iPhones without having had it activated in-store. Talk about disappointment. Is it completely unrealistic to expect that when you sign a two-year contract that you might be able use your new phone sometime soon?
Personally, I think it was a huge mistake opening the floodgates for the 2.0 upgrade to something like 7 million of the original iPhone owners while simultaneously trying to launch a brand-new product that requires online activation. But, hey, that’s why I don’t make the big bucks making these decicions.
One year later and Apple/AT&T still haven’t figured out a way to deal with launch-day hysteria, apparently. Chalk this up to a big, fat FAIL. We’ll update later in the day as things progress (or regress).
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iPhoners hit the new App Store, update early
The excitement began last night, when the TechCrunch blog posted that the App Store, a place where iPhone owners could download brand-new applications for their beloved device, would be opening in the morning.
And it was true.
Anyone with access to iTunes can now see a dizzying array of new downloads for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The catch: the iPhone 2.0 software necessary to run the new apps won’t be available until tomorrow, presumably around the 8 a.m. hour when the new iPhone 3G is rolled out. You can download all the apps you like, but they won’t be active until tomororw.
But… Some crafty iPhone fans have already figured out how to get the 2.0 software early and enjoy the apps today.
The apps themselves are a good variety of prices (a lot of them free) and utility. Among the most popular so far are “Remote” which converts your iPhone into a remote controller for iTunes and the Apple TV, an iPhone version of AOL Instant Messenger, apps for Google services, Facebook and Twitter, as well as the game “Super Monkey Ball.”
I’m hearing that some apps are just gussied up collections of Web pages or podcasts, while there are lots of calculator, shopping list and chat apps.
As David Pogue points out in his iPhone 3G review, the new hardware is fine and all, but the Appe Store may be the true killer application for those of us who plan on sticking with the original iPhone a while longer.
As for me, I’m going to hold off until the official software is out and see what people say online — my iPhone is jailbroken and I want to be absolutely sure I’m not going to kill my phone by upgrading to the 2.0 software too soon. I’m hearing you can go straight from a jailbroken (but not unlocked) iPhone to 2.0, but I want to make absolutely sure I don’t need to restore my phone first.
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Geektastic weekends on the way
Because I care for a nearly 11-month old small human who doesn’t yet drink alcohol or stay up past 8:30 p.m., I’m not much for going out and enjoying the scene. You won’t find me wearing a snarky T-shirt and rocking green hair in an A-List photo, is what I’m saying.
Nevertheless, Austin has a way of pushing my buttons and making me want to come out of my domestic dome. That’s why I live in New Braunfels: when I lived here, there was always too much cool stuff happening that forced me to spend all my money and stay out every night.
If you are a geek and you like video games, your next two weeks are going to be packed with options. Like:
Video Games Live — I’ll be going to the Friday night performance and posting a review on Saturday. It’ll be my first visit to The Long Center. The show promises to bring us the best and most memorable of video games music through the years. It’ll feature a giant screen, orchestral performances and, I’m told, some interactive surprises. It runs Friday and Saturday (July 11 and 12), 8 p.m., at the Michael and Susan Dell Hall of the Long Center. Tickets are $24-$49, available at thelongcenter.org or at 474-LONG (5664). Will I tear up if they play something sad from “Final Fantasy VII?” I just might.
“Frogger!”
Classic Game Fest ‘08 — The kick-off to a new summer festival starts Friday with a “Combat” tournament. That’s right: Atari 2600 action! the tourney will start at sundown and will take place on a giant screen provided by the Alamo Drafthouse at Game over Videogames on the southwest corner of 183 and Lamar. They tourney is free and kicks off several Friday-night events. They are: July 25, “Tetris” tournament (Nintendo NES version); Aug. 8, “Street Fighter II” Tournament (Super NES version) and Aug. 22, “Mario Kart” Tournament (Nintendo 64). It’s free and open to the public. More info here.
“Wargames” — It’s the 25th-anniversary of the Matthew broderick movie “Wargames” and the movie is being re-released to theaters, including four locations in Austin. On Thursday, July 24 at 7:30 p.m., Cinemark Southpark Meadows, Gateway 16, Metropolitan 14 and Tinseltown USA Pflugerville will present the movie as a digital broadcast. Further details can be found online. Oh man, remember his clunky phone-cradle modem? Good times…
Austin Swim — I never quite know if the long-running Austin Swim, which shows Cartoon Network “Adult Swim” programs on a big screen and has live performances, is running or not. It looks like for now, the presentations are up and running, with the next one scheduled for 8 p.m. Sunday (July 13) at Tiniest Bar in Texas (517 W. 5th St.) with a swimsuit contest, live game show and comedy. It’s a third-year anniversary celebration and cover is $5. More info here..
Maker Faire, the crafty exhibition, returns to Austin October 18 and 19th and already, auditions for the event are upon us. The team from Make magazine is scheduling 15-minute appointments for Sunday, July 20, 1 to 5 p.m. at the Austin Children’s Museum. If you’re a possible exhibitor, crafter or inventor, e-mail Sherry Huss to set up an appointment.
“i google myself” — Jason Schafer’s comedic play is revived at Hyde Park Theatre July 17th to Aug. 2. Tickets are $15 to $25 and can be reserved online at the Web site or at 479-PLAY (7529).
Now go out there and geek out!
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Join the Austin-based cancer computing grid
You want to help cure cancer, don’t you? What else are you doing that’s more important than that today?
Instead, it’s an area of research into why certain cells stick and others break free, such as the moment when cancer cells break free and spread throughout the body.
The research project is headed up by assistant professor Muhammad Zaman (pictured on the right).
Here’s where you come in: the research involves harnessing the power of multiple computers online and having them share their processing power in a passive way. You can download the BOINC program to contribute your computer’s idle processing power to the Cellular Environment in Living Systems @Home project. The program runs in the background like a screensaver and won’t get in the way of any naughty Web browsing or exciting instant messaging you may have planned.
Find out more about Cels@home here and read up on downloading instructions.
I’ve played around with similar projects like the Stanford-based Folding@Home project with the PlayStation 3 and it’s pretty amazing to watch scientific work being done inside your home. Check it out.
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Twitterers out for blood (for a good cause)
The bad rap that Twitter usually gets is that the 140-character microblogging is frivolous, useless and ultimately a waste of time.
Today, though, a few Austin Twitter users made good use of the service by organizing an Austin Tweetup Blood Drive at the Blood Center on North Lamar. More than 100 people showed up to donate. Some (like yours truly) were ineligible to donate (speculate all you want on why), but a fun time was still had by the bloodied and the deferred.
Whatever you think about Twitter, mobilizing that many people through just the power of blogs and little Twitter messages is just coolness. Especially on the day before a major holiday when most people are more worried about buying enough hot dog buns than helping out those in need.
Here are a few photos from the Tweetup, including photos of the giant Sammichometer, a sandwich-based measure of how many donated. If only all things could be measured in sandwich lengths:
You can see more photos here.
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New ‘Dancing Matt’ video features Austin
Our old pal Matthew Harding (“Dancing Matt”), whom we wrote about last year when he was passing through Austin, has posted the video in which our fair city appears. If you find yourself feeling a little misty-eyed by the cast-of-thousands production, you’re not alone. Austin appears at the 2:04 mark:
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
Edited to add: you can find Matt’s official site here.
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The good news magical happy blog links report
I’ve filled my quota for curmudgeonly grousing for the day (see my last post about iPhone nickel-and-diming), so for the rest of this Tuesday, I’m only going to share happy, sunshiny tech news. Look at all the wonderful things happening:
- Some local Twitter users are organizing a Twitter blood drive on Thursday. You can sign up, meet some cool people and help someone with your precious bodily fluid. Sign up!
- A Minnesota airport now features a Samsung gadget charging station that you can use to electrify your devices for free. I want one in Austin! Make it happen, Austin-Bergstrom!
- Speaking of our lovely airport, they’re one of several airports testing out a new kind of laptop bag that will allow you to pass through security without having to take your notebook out of the case. Truly we live in a time of glorious baggage.
- The Rhapsody music service is set to offer legal, copy-protection-free MP3s, just like Amazon.com. That’s good news!
- I was just getting over my Pixies “Doolittle” download only to find out that 12 songs from The Who are coming soon. Welcome to my Xbox, “Baba O’ Riley.”
- Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Junot Díaz dissects “Grand Theft Auto IV” and gets to be all slangy in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. He decides that “GTA IV” is certainly art, but it’s no “Godfather.” Fair enough. The medium is young. It still was an enjoyable read!
Happy Tuesday!
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iPhone’s second coming: more pricing details
After Steve Jobs dropped the iBomb about the new iPhone 3G last month, things got very quiet information-wise. A flash presentation, then nothing.
Today, we’ve got iPhone 3G information coming out of our ears. AT&T and Apple have unloaded a boatload of info about the July 11 launch of the device, perhaps in an effort to distract us from the fact that text messaging with the iPhone now costs $5 to $20 extra depending on your plan (more on that in a bit).
AT&T has launched an info portal to answer questions about pricing, upgrading and new features. The iPhone 3G is still expected to cost $199 for an 8-gigabyte device (or $299 for a 16-gigabyte version) for new customers and those who are eligible to upgrade. That includes all buyers of the previous iPhone (at least through July 11). Those who are not eligible for the price subsidy will pay $399 or $499, in line with current pricing.
AT&T says, “Both options require a new two-year service agreement. In the future, AT&T will offer a no-contract-required option for $599 (8GB) or $699 (16GB).” O, the glorious future!
iPhone upgraders will pay an $18 service fee. New AT&T customers will pay a $36 activation fee.
I’ve said before that I may be a bit slow to upgrade to the new phone and the pricing hasn’t changed my mind about that. In addition to paying $10 more a month for the faster 3G service (reasonable), I’d also have to start paying for a separate text messaging plan that starts at $5 for 200 texts a months and goes all the way up to $20 for unlimited texts.
Want a 3G iPhone with unlimited data and unlimited texting? The cheapest plan for that, with only 450 peak minutes, will cost you $90 a month before all those taxes and fees that show up on your bill. Maybe we should just give up on texting altogether. It’s starting to be a lot pricier than just e-mailing or doing online chat.
If you want to hear lots more whingeing about the pricing, visit Engadget’s comments section, where people are unloading their spleens in more colorful ways than I could here.
Still: iPhone 3G. Lots of people will want it and won’t mind the nickel-and-diming. Such is the power of Apple.
Edited to add one important detail: The iPhone 3G goes on sale at 8 a.m., local time, Friday July 11, at AT&T and Apple stores.
Now, how do we make our old iPhone a hand-me-down? AT&T explains the process below as part of its series of “Get ready for the new iPhone” videos.
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