Seiko Wrist Computer

Having been bit by the computer bug early, I was interested in tech gadgets all the way back in elementary school. I admit that I had one of those über-geeky Casio calculator/databank watches. But the ultimate object of affection was the Seiko Wrist Information System UC-2000. Dot matix heaven on a wriststrap!

Seeing it featured on the SportsCounters.com blog brought a lot of memories back, even if I never did get it from Santa.

It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

The very first computer game I played was Zork I on the Apple II. While the era of text-based adventure games is over, the art of interactive fiction is still holds a magical appeal despite the billions of polygons and realistic physics of today's games.

Once the family got a PC clone, I played almost all of the text-based Zork series, as well as other Infocom gems like Planetfall, Spellbreaker, and A Mind Forever Voyaging.

So it brought a smile to my face to see the Zork 404 page. I know it's not new, but it's the first time I've run across it in my many years surfing the web practically every day.

To Serve Man

Seeing the footage of the remake of TDtESS today got me thinking of classic sci-fi from 50's through the 70's.

There's certainly some good candidates: movies such as Westworld, The Black Hole, and 2001: A Space Odyssey and shows like Star Trek, and Dr. Who, Plus there's also the non-traditional ones like The Prisoner (which will one day warrant an entry of its own) and even The Wild Wild West.

For me, I think The Twilight Zone takes the prize as the best traditional sci-fi. Incredibly smart writing, a who's who of acting talent, and some definitely mind-warping plots. I remember watching re-runs at my grandparent's house when I was a kid, and the theme music would send shivers down my spine.



Some of my favorite episodes (warning, links have spoilers): "People Are Alike All Over," "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," "The Invaders," and, of course, "To Serve Man."

Too bad they don't make TV like that anymore...

I'm still a button masher

I finally got around to playing the PS3 demo of NHL '09, and it reminded me why I don't buy sports games. Sure, it's gorgeous and has great commentary by Gary Thorne and Bill Clement. But despite missing plenty of classes in college playing NHL '94 on the SNES, now, as then, I'm a button masher. That means I often get owned by the CPU because I can't master the finer mechanics of the game, and that makes it not-so-fun.

Looking at some videos of NHL '94 vs. '09, it's amazing how far the graphics, artwork, and animation have come. In some respects, it's getting almost photorealistic, but every few seconds, wooden animations and bad texture mapping jarred me back to reality. As far as the demo, I didn't manage a win in several attempts to play through the demo's final period of a Penguins/Red Wings game, so no chance of me picking up this title.

Unfortunately, besides confirming that my mashing skills are intact, I've got the song from the demo, "Warriors of Time" by Black Tide, firmly stuck in my head. Woah, woah, woah...

Sorry, we're out of Beverly

Here's news about the upcoming 100-flavor soda stations (which will make ordering a Coke in the South even more interesting since all soda is known as Coke). Brings back two fond memories: first, mixing Suicides at 7-Eleven: combining all flavors of fountain drinks (or Slurpees or both) in the same cup. Second: taking relatives and guests to The World of Coca-Cola and innocently getting them to try a healthy sample of Beverly from in the sampling room.

Let's See How Far We've Come

It's been about 15 years since I started working with laptops, and I started thinking about how far technology as come since ThinkPads I was setting up and servicing back in the early 90's and it's descendant, low-end, netbook of today:

	IBM ThinkPad 700 (1992)	Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (2008)	Percent Change
Processor	25MHz IBM 486 SLC	1.6GHz Intel Atom	+6,400%
Std. Memory	4MB	512MB	+1,280%
Hard Disk	80MB	80GB	+1,000%
Screen	9.5" monochrome, 640x480	10.2" color, 1024x600	infinite ;-)
Weight	7.5 lbs.	2.4 lbs.	-68%
List Price	$4,000	$429	-89%

Stats from Ken Polsson's Chronology of IBM Personal Computers and from Lenovo's S10 press release

Amazing stuff!

Vancouver or London?

As I watch the Olympic Closing Ceremony--incidentally, not nearly as amazing as the Opening one despite Beckham and Jackie Chan--I think my wife and I have decided to try to make it to one of the upcoming Olympics. So that's either the Winter Games in 2010 or the Summer Games in 2012. It will probably be Vancouver, since we're closer and it holds more appeal to us than London.

Some of my fondest memories are from attending the '96 games in Atlanta, where I saw the torch relay, watched USA baseball and basketball, and hung out in the Centennial Olympic Park and traded pins. So I really hope it will work out that we can get there.