Grand Theft Auto IV…for the NES?

What if Grand Theft Auto IV had come out in 1990, for the NES? The ad would probably look like this:

Sleep Deprivation is not a Badge of Honor

Sleep Deprivation is not a Badge of Honor: I’ve written about this topic on the Accordion Guy blog (see “Crunch Mode” and Sleep), but it’s nice to hear other developers talks about it. Sleep is not the enemy, people!

A Great Geek Meme Diagram and a Gary Gygax Elegy Too!

Included with this nice New York Times elegy to Dungeons and Dragons creator Gary Gygax is a pretty cool diagram of geek memes. Read the article to see the whole diagram.

The Best Reinterpretation of Pac-Man I’ve Ever Seen…

…is this Threadless T-shirt design whose title is The Madness of Mission 6:

Click the image to see the t-shirt order page.

“Sorry, Boys, This is Our Domain”

The New York Times has an article titled Sorry, Boys, This is Our Domain that opens with “The prototypical computer whiz of popular imagination — pasty, geeky, male — has failed to live up to his reputation. Research shows that among the youngest Internet users, the primary creators of Web content (blogs, graphics, photographs, Web sites) are not misfits resembling the Lone Gunmen of ‘The X Files’. On the contrary, the cyberpioneers of the moment are digitally effusive teenage girls.”

How Devotees of Older, More Traditional Programming Language X See Newer, Different Programming Language Y

They see it in pretty much the same way that Grandma sees the remote:

Click here to see a larger version of the comic.

Silicon Island: Montreal’s High-Tech Community

In today’s Montreal Gazette article, there’s an article titled Silicon Island? that looks at their high-tech community’s grassroots movement. Read on for more…

Ideas to Steal from Silicon Valley and Seattle

Many communities dream of becoming the next Silicon Valley. According to the New York Times, Seattle is actually doing it. In this article, I’m going to talk about ideas that Toronto can borrow from both Silicon Valley and Seattle.

Read on for more…

Linuxcaffe

It’s yet another one of those things that’s helping make Toronto a great place for techies to live, work and play: Linuxcaffe, where coffee, code and community meet. Read on for more…

At Last, a Computer Peripheral for Those Romantic Encounters

The use of computers as assistive devices for romantic encounters isn’t new: from the “computer dating gone terribly wrong” plotline used by some ’60s and ’70s sitcoms to the likes of LavaLife and eHarmony, we’ve had a handful of dating generations’ worth of software approaches. However, there wasn’t much in the way of romance-assistive computer hardware…until the USB Aroma Radio + Speaker!

How to Work the Room

Here’s a handy list of tips to follow when you’re at your next social function…

Rock Star Coders [Updated]

My thoughts on the ComputerWorld article Rock Star Coders (Click here for the full article).

T-Shirt of the Day

Here’s a fine t-shirt that you can get made at any shopping mall that has one of those stores where they’ll stick the slogan of your choice in Cooper Black letters onto a t-shirt or sweatshirt with one of those big press irons. You’ll be a big hit at your next geek gathering!

Read the full article to see the picture at a larger size.

75 Words Every Sci-Fan Should Know

75 words every sci-fi fan should know: a list of terms that science fiction has invented or popularized. Among these is Whuffie, a key word at Cory Doctorow’s start-up, OpenCola, where I worked and had my “bubble” experience, including to move to and away from San Francisco.

The Invisible Computer Revolution

“If I had told you ten years ago that by the end of 2007 there would be an international network of wirelessly-connected computers throughout the developing world, you might well have said it wasn’t possible.
…it was created, and it continues to expand, not through Non-Governmental Organisations or charity or development grants but through the market, […]

“MP3-Ready” George Foreman Grill

There have been times when I have been grilling and wished that I had some music. My prayers have been answered…

Coding Horror on The Magpie Developer

I think both youth and the sort of person attracted to programming both contribute to the tendency to collect shiny new playthings, a syndrome covered in Jeff “Coding Horror” Atwood’s article, The Magpie Developer. I find that having a strong “get outside and away from the computer” lifestyle helps, and if that doesn’t work, growing […]

Facebookers Playing Fast and Loose with Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act

For the second time in a week, a group of Canadian Facebook users broke the law by publishing the names of youths charged under Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act…

Whirlpool’s Fridge has Docks for Tablet Computers, iPods and Digital Photo Frames

Gizmodo reports: “Whirlpool’s latest tech for their refrigerator line is based on their ‘centralpark’ feature, which is a essentially dock that lets you plug in a bunch of different gadgets into the big gadget that holds your food.” Such gadgets include digital photo frames, tablet computers and the Brandmotion iPod speaker system.

Losing an Edge, Japanese Envy India’s Schools

From the New York Times: “Despite an improved economy, many Japanese are feeling a sense of insecurity about the nation’s schools, which once turned out students who consistently ranked at the top of international tests. That is no longer true, which is why many people here are looking for lessons from India, the country the […]