If you're waiting for the vaporware that is Duke Nukem Forever then...what's wrong with you? The game isn't coming people, let's face it. I suspect it's some large publicity stunt that hasn't unfolded yet. Maybe a movie or something? An official Duke Nukem soundboard being released? Who knows.

Anyway, the Xbox Live game is good stuff. The other game? Vaporware. Happy Monday.

for more info check: Gamertell and 1Up.com

es gibt mal wieder neues von duke nukem forever zu vermelden. na ja, eigentlich ist der informationsgehalt ziemlich alt - richtig abgehangen. trotz über zehnjähriger entwicklung wird weiter an dem shooter garbeitet, das leveldesign kommt voran, alles ist bestens, der release bleibt bei "when it's done". und immer wieder grüsst das murmeltier. und grüsst das murmeltier. und grüsst das murmeltier. und grüsst das murmeltier. und grüsst...

wie schön, dass man als duke-fan bald mit der xbox 360 die "guten, alten zeiten" aufleben lassen kann. und auch auf dem ds und der psp soll es bald wieder "let's rock" heißen. zwei gründe, warum sich 3drealms mit der fertigstellung von duke nukem forever wahrscheinlich noch etwas zeit lassen wird. auf die nächsten zehn jahre mit "brandheißen infos" zum running gag der spieleindustrie!

OK, it has been a while since I wrote about stupid tech, but when the lovely Denise sent me this, I had to respond publicly.

After watching the video demo from Goatee Saver, I... I... I just can't believe it has come to this. Do guys REALLY need to chomp on some ginormous contraption that brings us just that much closer to looking like Darth Vader while we shave!?!?!

Why couldn't this have just remained vaporware?

Thanks to Gizmodo for the above pic.

Dany

Sei que trata-se apenas da velha prática do vaporware, posta em ação sempre que há interesse em não perder espaço nas manchetes para a concorrência, mas o verdadeiro problema está na crescente ousadia (ou desespero) da Microsoft e na falta de pragmatismo de alguns articulistas - afinal quantos deles realmente já se deram ao trabalho de ler um paper sobre o estágio atual de desenvolvimento de projetos como o 'badalado' Singularity?

Enquanto isso acompanhamos a sucessão de lançamentos de novos produtos e tecnologias desenvolvidos pela concorrência. São coisas reais, palpáveis, que você pode comprar ou consumir ainda hoje mesmo.

O mais interessante aqui é que a quase totalidade dessas coisas não depende diretamente da plataforma Windows - parece que tudo o que é novo e bacana não está sendo mais planejado tendo o Windows em mente, ou quase isso.

O maior risco que a Microsoft corre com esses anúncios fantasiosos e exagerados (são coisas que ainda não existem como Windows 7 com interface multitouch, Singurality, Midori e afins) é de produzir na cabeça do usuário do Windows Vista a desconfiança de que ele foi ludibriado.

Com atitudes como essa, mais do que qualquer outra coisa, a Microsoft pode estar contribuindo para reforçar a percepção de que o Vista não oferece valor suficiente para justificar a migração. E eu acredito que isso é tudo o que Microsoft menos precisa no momento.

No lugar de realmente corrigir o rumo do Windows a Microsoft pode estar estimulando o usuário do sistema a se aventurar por outras águas. E se considerarmos o nível de qualidade atual das plataformas concorrentes não será difícil imaginar que alguns deles acabarão optando por não retornar.

Now, I don't know how long this 3 part miniseries from Joss Whedon will remain online, but if you haven't seen it, try and catch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog here.

Dr. Horrible is a 3 part miniseries starring Neil Patrick Harris (yes, Doogie Howser), Felicia Day (from The Guild [subscribe here]) and Joss Whedon regular, Nathon Fillion.

I don't usually like musicals, but a Joss Whedon musical is different, just watch the Buffy musical, Once More with Feeling, to see what I mean,

For now at least, this miniseries is free via Hulu.com, but you can keep it by buying it off of iTunes by purchasing each individual episode for $1.99 or get the season pass for $4.99 and it will eventually be released on DVD, which I will buy in a heartbeat.

Thanks to Stuff.co.nz for the above pic.

Hope you all get to enjoy it

Dany

*8/2/2008 Update* As of right now, the entire 3 acts of Dr. Horrible have been combined into one 42 minute movie and are available to watch via the Official site and Hulu.

*8/9/2008 Update* Or watch it here:

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1461968&w=425&h=350&fv=]

*9/1/2008 Update* Thanks to Nathan Fillion for sharing Dr. Horrible's iPhone remote van controls from Act I.

We can't do it this way in the software business anymore. Oh sure, in the past, there were a few times when customers have asked for functionality that wasn't there and we could tell them it would be in the next release. And they would buy. And we would build it as the customers had asked. But after March 10 2000, (this date marks the rapid fall of the NASDAQ index - or the fall of the "dot.com"), clients are not only skeptic about vaporware...( for the neophyte, vaporware - as opposed to software - is when you have nothing but pretend to have a fully built solution), they just plainly refuse to hear the story. These are the "show me" times. " I want to see it, play with it".

We could try putting an ad in the paper and talk about all the great features, time saving opportunities the sales organization will now have with our solution etc...but unless we write that code, test it, show that it works.... no one will buy or even talk to us for that matter. This is where we are right now. Writing. Well, that is the corporate "we" that I am talking about. People who know me and especially my past customers, would definitely not be excited by the thought of me writing code. No, I am on the sidelines, waiting and anticipating.

We are now getting more sophisticated as well. We are now tracking updates, requests, time lines and tasks assignments online through collaboration. Or so I am told.

On what street will this concept house be built again?

Well, I'll be honest. I'm working with an indie gaming company. The possibility of the game being vaporware is there. I am well aware of that. So is everyone else involved in the production and development of the game. If we all thought about that all the time, we'd be so discouraged we'd never bother.

There's a lot to be said for this game. Let's take away the fact that Conquest of Heroes has a novel and, some other aspects being released. Let's just say there's only a game in development and, that's all there is.

The experience I am getting from being a part of this is huge. I've been doing voice-overs for awhile now but, never anything on this scale. The fact that I'm able to be a part of a video game is huge. It's even more so for me considering I have the opportunity to voice the “sexy heroine” which is always fun.

Also, I'm getting experience on the other end of things as well. Because of what I do for a living, I'm able to help Burning Man Studios with some media relations, community relations and, other things that they need a hand with. All of this is experience for the future for me.

Whether this game is released or not doesn't matter to me. I am still a part of something that is a great opportunity. I am still gaining experience that will help me in the future. I am still meeting a talented group of people – from voice actors, to composers, to programmers, artists, writers...oh man, the talent we have on our team is really amazing.

The vocals I am doing for Conquest of Heroes can be used in the future. I can use them on a demo reel to give other companies examples of my work. The experience I'm gaining by working directly with a game company on the business end can be used in a resume. Plus, the people I work with now are people I will keep in contact with no matter where they go.

It could end up being vaporware. But, look at what I gain from it no matter what happens with the game itself. For the record, I doubt this game will be vaporware. I've got a couple of inside sources that leads me to believe otherwise.

Ever since I started reading "I never promised you a rose garden", I have become more and more aware of the connection between Greenberg and myself. Supposedly, in spite of the book being a self-admission to schizophrenia, it's currently believed that she only had depression, with schizophrenia being a trashcan diagnosis. Although I only know her from this one book, I don't believe that she was merely depressed. The book ends with her leaving Yr, to live in the "real world", but I think that was just closure on her part. She never really left, she just compromised. To live in the real world, she learned to accept lies, adapt to things, force Yr into the background, and most importantly, exercise inhibition. Perhaps I'm just "believe[ing] what [I] want to believe" (quote from Matrix), but it seems to me that Joanne still senses the world of Yr, but sets it aside in favor of the semblance of sanity.

To better understand the connection between us, I made use of metaphors to illustrate our independent relationships to "the world":

spiritual vs. physical: spiritual=me; physical=her.

I can't imagine anything for more than a few milliseconds. Although a great amount of concentration can yield the semblance of imagination, I know that in the sessions I have done this, I have produced the equivalent of a 3 fps (frames per second) video clip. On the other hand, I'd say I'm a prodigy when it comes to "imagining audio" (I can't think of the right terminology for it- if someone could please comment filling in the blank- "imagination is to visual as ________________ is to auditory). If I were to re-learn how to read music, I could probably improvise the audio and lyrics of most Linkin Park songs currently released (though I wouldn't- it would be a waste of effort.)

Although this theory still need a lot of fine-tuning, it goes like this: Greenberg had an incredible imagination, which was materialized with Yr. I have no imagination- our difference in this regard is worth noting. the physical-spiritual comparison is, the more I think about it, inappropriate, but it was where these thoughts started out. What I was trying to illustrate with this comparison was that it was "different ways of looking at the same thing" In all truth, the fact that I used "physical" and "spiritual" for this comparison, is because my insights were influenced by Spinozan pantheism. Actually, after looking up the wikipedia article on it, I realized that "physical" should be replaced with "natural", or rather, the comparison should be "spirit vs. nature", in accordance with Spinoza's theory- as well as being more appropriate for my own.

Different ways of looking at the same thing (i.e. the glass is half-empty=pessimism; the glass is half-full=optimism) are pure in form, and are mirrored in reality, many times radically (i.e. crime vs. justice). What I find most interesting is the startling connection between

(a) "nature"--> and evil, witchcraft, idols, human/animal sacrifice, fantasy, etc.

(b) "spirit"--> and good, "white magic", psychics, prophets, etc.

It's important to note a few things: the latter (b) is very compatible with modern morality, and even Christianity itself. Again, it's just different ways at looking the same thing (a dualism within a dualism!)- If we set aside all bias and preconceptions, it's quite easy to see the resemblance. Christians just use words like that to denote that "they didn't do it our way". (just a little IMHO)

This dualism was utilized in the production of Stargate SG-1, in the form of the Alterans, who adopted a more scientific/rational outlook, and the Ori, who fervently pursued religious belief. Both started out with good intentions, but both ended up being controlled by their desires. On one hand, the Alteran civilization was destroyed partially due to their nonchalant nature, as they were completely taken off-guard. Even as ascended beings, they allowed much turmoil to devastate the physical world, and eventually risked their own devastation for the sake of maintaining balance, keeping to the code, and non-interference. The Ori, on the other hand, had what the Alterans lacked- desire, but what they received in power, they paid in integrity, and they lost even the the semblance of satisfaction. Their followers also paid the same price they did, if only at smaller scale.

In addition to serving as a worthy illustration those concepts further discussed below, the Alteran-Ori allegory also illustrates the conflict between science and faith.

I myself have heavy tendencies towards the path of the Alterans- I too have a lack of concern for the state of things, a need to protect balance, and am indeed one who prefers to think and not act. In fact, I am just as satisfied with thinking of doing it as I would be with doing it, so I would have no problem with the suggestion, "let's not and say we did". I have the intention of getting a girlfriend/etc. who is either very occult or very religious- the reason being to (a) balance out my opposite tendencies, and (b) to initiate a "spiritual" connection between "nature" and "spirit", spawning balance, fidelity, and a nexus between the two.

Another point of interest: natural (black) magic puts and emphasis on carnal desire, impulse, immediate gratification, and lust. Partly for this reason, I initially wanted to merge [what was the beginning of] the contents of this post with Id versus Ego:

In other words, [black magic, etc.] exists to please the Id, and [white magic, etc.] exists to please the Ego. As quoted in a 1933 newspaper article, Crowley said "Black magic is not a myth. It is a totally unscientific and emotional form of magic, but it does get results — of an extremely temporary nature.
It is like looking for an escape of gas with a lighted candle. As far as the search goes, there is little fear of failure! To practice black magic you have to violate every principle of science, decency, and intelligence. You must be obsessed with an insane idea of the importance of the petty object of your wretched and selfish desires. I have been accused of being a "black magician." No more foolish statement was ever made about me. I despise the thing to such an extent that I can hardly believe in the existence of people so debased and idiotic as to practice it." The recoil upon those who practice it is terrific." Crowley's thoughts on black magic perfectly illustrate the connection between the Id and "nature", and it also manages to merge with Schopenhauer's chaotic will-to-life world.

Thus, the reason why we find happiness in the Id, and torment in the Ego, is because the Ego mirrors the agony of the soul- or, as Spinoza put it, "spirit". Now it's time to get the primary focus of this post, which, would you believe it (?!) has not even been addressed in the ~1300 words thus far.

That point being, "naturally"(!) that I am "in the world, but not of it"- so, what do I mean by that?

In I never promised you a rose garden, Blau explains how, after discovering Yr, the Censor appears to act in her stead whenever she was drawn into the world of Yr. The Censor's name is self-descriptive- its job is to provide the semblance of sanity, by [my interpretation:] using knowledge of "norms", "habits", and "common sense". Thus, the world never actually knew Deborah Blau, they only knew the Censor. As I wrote in Maria, who I appear to be in person, or any type of direct interaction, is a shallow reflection of who I truly am. All my real memories are in this blog- this blog is my real life. After thinking about the purpose of the Censor, I realized that I too, have a Censor- giving the semblance of sanity- or in more conservative wording, normality. This blog is my Yr.

There are many things that baffled me before that this insight make sense of: Why am I so detached? Why can't I remember my emotions in the past? Why do I lack friends, despite having a great desire to socialize? Essentially everything I do that involves interaction- I don't know why I do it, I just do. It's as if it's not even me that's doing it. I don't know why I do any of the interactions I do, either in conversation or action, until after I do them, and yet I approve of all of them. This can't be a coincidence. Why do I approve all of them? It's because I am not the slave, I am the master. My Censor acts in my name, I only oversee as the Observer. Where my true self lies, and that which is reflected more accurately in this blog, is elsewhere, which for lack of a better word, I dub "the spiritual realm"

So if you ever meet me, talk to me, befriend me, remember that it's not "me" that you know, but a zombie! :p

Update: I just realized another interesting thing: Christianity was (no matter how you look at it) originally a cult of Judaism. Now, Judaism is strikingly similar to black magic (temples, rites, rituals, animal sacrifice, etc.) with some white magic elements (prophesy, "miracles", etc.) So it's relatively likely that Christianity evolved out of a Jewish sect that felt the more "black magic" practiced were "old-fashioned", and should be "phased out" in favor of more "white magic" oriented practices. Modern Christianity has predominantly "white magic" practices, although, presumably due to its heritage, it still retains some "black magic". So if that was the plan, they definitely suceeded! :-)

It kinda makes me want to download Chandler, and give it a whirl, even though, according to some friends of mine, it is already vaporware. I am more optimistic. I think they still have a chance to pull it through. I think that the project was simply too large for them to be able to leverage an open-source community fast enough. People simply lost interest before the core developers had something to give them. They still seem to be moving along, bit by bit.

For a fun time, check out Wired magazine's Vaporware awards (Chandler hasn't made the list yet, by a long shot).

The book was excellent. I found the pace a bit slow at times, but the handing of some of the major problems with software design and construction were handled beautifully. The best thing about it was that it managed to do the one thing that any good book must do: make me want to read more books. In this case, it has made me want to redouble my efforts to get through Kurzweil, and I am considering reading some of Knuth's works as well.

Free access to Encyclopædia Britannica is now available online for "online publishers." What does that mean? Well, it means that anyone who writes regularly (bloggers, webmasters or any writer) should be able to access this new offer without paying the $70/year subscription fee.

I wanted to test this out, so I went to Encyclopedia Britannica's registration form and filled it out. Hopefully I'll find out soon how this turns out. If I get access to this, it will mean I can add free links to Britannica's pages with relevant content, instead of depending so heavily on Wikipedia. I don't know how long it will take to get access to this though, since they claim to look over every single registrant for this offer.

Thanks to the amazing Buzz Out Loud (subscribe here), it was their 707th episode that brought this to my attention, yeah that's right, they've released over 700 episodes already! They ROCK! Also, thanks to NowSourcing for the above pic.

Dany

CollegeHumor (subscribe here) has come out with another funny video. This time, they ape Apple's Steve Jobs' traditional keynote style with their new video, called The Apple "i."

The whole thing perfectly captures the reality distortion field that Steve Jobs seems to bring to anything Apple!

Thanks to CollegeHumor for the above pic.

Check it out

Dany

Zap! sai haltuunsa Lotuksen kehittämän kevyen runkoratkaisun, jolle tulevan Zap-X Crossover -automallin on tarkoitus perustua. Kuvan konseptimalli on muuten Lotuksen oma APX-konseptimalli, joka automaattisesti esitetään Zap!:n mallista puhuttaessa. Zap! ei ole kuitenkaan tuonut esille edes konseptiautoon viittaavaa tulevasta mallistaan, jonka valmistus piti alkaa vuonna 2008. Nyt auton luvataan tulevan saataville 2010. Uskoo ken tahtoo. Tästä huolimatta firma saa paljon "uskottavuutta" mainitsemalla Lotuksen yhteistyökumppanina ja myymällä ominaan muutamia kiinalaisvalmisteisia 3-pyöräisiä NEV-sähköautoja. Yritys on kunnostautunut myös julkaisemalla lehdistötiedotteita siitä sun tästä. Nyttemmin otsikoissa on vuodelle 2009 suunnitteilla oleva Alias-niminen ja Aptera Typ1-kaltainen 3-pyöräinen sähköautomalli. Samalla Zap-X Crossover on lakaistu otsikoista sivummalle. Tästä huolimatta, jos Zap-X joskus valmistuu ja tavoittaa luvatut ominaisuudet niin käsillä on menestysmalli. Katso siis miten auto pärjää sähköautolistan vertailussa.

Tuntien Zap!-yhtiön metodit, on järkevää suhtautua epäillen myös muihin sen tarjoamiin tuotteisiin. Olkoonkin, että ne todennäköisesti ovatkin olemassa (aivan kuin se olisi jokin ansio!). Näitä ovat mm. sähköskootterit ja sähkömönkijät, joita voi tilata myös suoraan Zap:n kiinalaisen konttorin kautta. Näiden laatu ja suorituskyky on minulle suuri kysymysmerkki. Mutta jos joku teistä näitä omistaa niin olisin kiinnostunut kuulemaan kokemuksistanne!

Como podeis comprobar deja en bragas al real y decepcionante Windows Vista. ¿Veremos a MS publicitar de manera similar el Windows 7? Lo mas seguro es que sí, aunque deberían ponerse las pilas. Teniendo en cuenta que la ausencia de innovaciones para el usuario en Vista ha dejado a Microsoft varios años por detrás de la competencia. Imperios mas grandes han caído y Microsoft últimamente juega con fuego, mucho fuego....

note - only stupid people don't follow the instructions on the "leaving comments" page. don't be stupid. thanks.

they came from hollywood...

so, it's a slow news day & i don't feel like writing much but i'll write something anyway.

everyone knows about "duke nukem forever," it's an fps game that a company named "3d realms" has taken forever & a half to make & they give out all these excuses & whatever for why it's taken decades to make a stupid fps game that even 4 monkeys in a moscow apartment could make in 6 months on a computer bought brand new in 2001. they're lazy, they know they're lazy & if they had any organization we'd be playing "duke nukem forever 3" by now but we aren't. so, in other words, it's the self-proclaimed "king of vaporware" because every year there are rumors that it will come out soon & it never does.

if "duke nukem forever" is the king of vaporware, the game "they came from hollywood" is the indie prince of vaporware that absolutely no one has heard about.

"they came from hollywood" puts you in the shoes of "godzilla"-like monsters trying to destroy a city. the company making the game, octopus motors, has been trying to make this game before a couple of towel heads rammed a plane or two into the twin towers. every couple of months, i check the website just to laugh at it.

how freakin' long does it take to program a game about a monster rampaging through a city? sheesh! i'm not a programmer, i can't claim any programming street cred but to say that a game about a monster rampaging through a city can't be coded in 7+ years is just retarded. make the game already.

here's a hint - if it takes you more then 3 years to make a game, you're doing something wrong.

the whizzball report...

started = 429. ended = 424. net gain = +3.

Vc sabe o que sao vaporwares? sao tecnologias que antes do seu lançamento prometem muito, mas depois nao passam disso mesmo, ficam por aí, nao passam além da fama. A CNet publicou uma lista dos 10 maiores vaporwares da historia.

Siis juuri nyt näitä vaporware-firmoja alkaa paljastua nopeaan tahtiin. Yhden paljastuessa tippuu myös loppujenkin uskattavuus ja ovat siten joutuneet kaikki lyömään lisää löylyä. Onko sattumaa, että LionEV (ks. ABG:n uutinen ja Spark-EV (ks. ABG) ovat suurinpiirtein samoihin aikoihin toimittamassa autoja? Yrittävät pitkittää rahansaantiaan peittämällä valheen vielä suuremmalla valheella? Tämä taktiikka on meille suomalaisille tuttu menneiltä vuosilta sosialistisesta naapurimaastamme, mutta näyttäisi toimivan hyvin kapitalistisessakin maailmassa. Sumuttaminen on ollut ilmeisen tuottoisaa, sillä nämä firmat ovat olleet pystyssä jo useita vuosia. Vai olisiko liikkeellä ovelat amerikkalaisten öljy- ja autojättien edustajat, jotka luovat Interwebbiin disinformaatiota? Ehkä ei pidä olla ihan näin vainoharhainen... Kannattaa kuitenkin muistaa nyrkkisääntö: jos se kuullostaa liian hyvältä ollakseen totta, niin se myös todennäköisesti on.

Toimintatavan selkeys, avoimuus hankkeen etenemisestä ja puitteista (rahoitus, aikataulut, sopimukset, toimittajat, kuvat autosta, työtiloista, testiajoista jne.) sekä erityisesti avoimuus sen puuhamiehistä ovat siis tärkeitä kriteereitä mitä tahansa sähköauto-konversiohanketta arvioitaessa. Uskottavuus on tärkeää ja mielellään informaatiota tulisi olla liikaa kuin liian vähän. Tosin lehdistötiedotteiden laatiminen jopa toimistovälineiden hankinnasta taas vähentää uskottavuutta (tämä on ollut Spark:n strategiana). Se on juuri nyt tärkeämpää kuin aiemmin, kun kupla on samaan tyyliin puhkeamassa kuin IT-alan kohdalla aiemmin. Tärkeää se on nyt opitun perusteella, etenkin konversio-strategialla liikkeellä oleville hankkeille. Huomioin tämän entistä tarkemmin sähköautolista-arvioinneissani.

I first saw the Hawaii Chair infomercial on youtube and thought it was a gag product, I didn't think it was real. Then I saw clips of it demoed on Attack of the Show and The Digg Reel! I still can't believe that anyone would actually try and get any work done while riding this combination mechanical bull and 1950's style vibrating belt exercise machine! Knowing it's real, makes me wish it was just another case of vaporware.

Dany

• Exercise.
• Brush Cats.
• Finish yesterday's personal challenge.
• Work on jigsaw puzzle.
• Watch "American Idol."
• Remember to record the new episode of "Mythbusters" for later viewing.

Observations:

• I was on the fence about purchasing an ocarina from Mountain Ocarinas but they seemed to have raised their prices recently. That's too bad - The price on their entry-level ocarinas just went from barely tolerable to a wee-bit too much. Furthermore, it appears that their "Pro-Range" ocarina is vaporware for another straight year. I had high hopes for that company. Oh well.
• It looks like we'll have a white male president for another four years. You figure it out.

Resume Update:

• Nothing so far.

Mission ACCOMPLISHED!!!!

• Taxes are done for the year! Yea! All ready to be mailed out tomorrow!

My personal challenge for tomorrow:

• Vacuum my room. The carpet is getting dirty.

This is a really funny short from Brian Hogg over at dobBoom that explains how Steve Jobs REALLY got his idea for the new Macbook Air.

dotBoom is a great adult oriented puppet video podcast. No, adult oriented does NOT mean this is puppet porn!

Enjoy it.

Dany

1. Cookbook, a recipe manager, is the first of the three MyDreamApp applications that have been in development since the Fall of 2006. The picture below (An actual screenshot apparently, not a mockup) is from the last time we heard anything about Cookbook, July 11, 2007. At that time they were "actually implementing the interface and integrating it with the backend." So here we are 6 months later will no new information.
2. Atmosphere, an app for using actual weather data to constantly change your desktop background, is the second MyDreamApp winner. Although it's been a full 9 months since we heard anything about its development, an alpha build of the app was actually released at that time. Back then, in April, we heard about the "pretty damned sophisticated" interface that wasn't "polished enough yet for [our] eyeballs" We were also told to "look out for a sneak preview in May!" Below is a picture of the original mockup for the competition.
3. Portal, an app designed to sync data between multiple Macs, was last blogged about on the MyDreamApp site in April of 2007 as well. The latest news back then was the implementation of Portal, and how it depended on Unision, an open source application. Below is what Farzad Sadjadi, the guy who thought of the idea for Portal, thinks its UI could look like.
4. Delicious Library 2 is the long awaited sequel to the app that gave rise to an entire "generation" of Mac shareware apps. It was originally supposed to "ship the day Leopard ships," but now could come next month. In October, a few preview shots were shown, including the one below. The long delay is probably due to the fact that the app will be Leopard-only. According to this thread it went from limited to private beta in November 2007.

No MySpace há uma endereço para cada um mas, ironicamente, o endereço do miserylab fala de Porl King, e o de Porl King fala do miserylab, será isso mais uma demonstração do famoso humor britânico? Tenho minhas dúvidas já que King não tem papas na língua, isso pode ser facilmente comprovado ao ver a explicação que ele dá para a criação do nome miserylab:

I'm told I see only the negative ... I over analyse and take the fun and spontaneity out of everything ... my almost scientific approach to cynicism is how I came about the name miserylab ... though it also serves as a reference to vivisection in all it's cruel and corporate pointlessness ...

Em seus endereços no MySpace podemos vê-lo cada vez mais direcionado à misantropia, ao anti-capitalismo, ao veganismo, aos direitos dos animais, dentre outros. Diferentemente do Rosetta Stone que tinha uma preocupação muito maior com os valores góticos e pós-punk, miserylab é totalmente político, no entanto, novamente em seu espaço no MySpace algumas coisas são deixadas bem claras:

miserylab is an observation - a perspective ... it isn't a rallying call ... and it isn't the optimism for change ...
miserylab may harbour unrealistic hopes - for a utopian anarchic society ... but it knows full well it will never come ...
miserylab has no pedestal ... it doesn't want to change you ... it doesn't want to dictate to you ...
miserylab isn't more intelligent than you ...
miserylab doesn't know enough about - the things that matter ...
but it tries hard to see things for what they really are ...

Por enquanto com apenas um EP com apenas quatro músicas (uma delas instrumental) o conteúdo precisa ser marcante, as músicas disponíveis para download gratuito chamam-se "no cure for life", "raze it to the ground", "all there is" e "romance is manipulation". King, que afirma estar indisposto com gravadoras, e pede aos fãs para que as músicas sejam distribuídas livremente para o máximo de pessoas possível, atitude essa bastante louvável e possivelmente de um visionário.

1 - no cure for life (3:40)
Os remixes feitos por King ainda na época do Rosetta Stone viram-no explorar bastante as possibilidades, e aqui em no cure for life é onde pode-se sentir mais claramente isso: som da bateria abafado, teclados bastante destacados e alguns efeitos no vocal. Por incrível que pareça essa música tem uma sonoridade muito mais oitentista do que as músicas do Rosetta.
A letra caracteriza o homem como um vírus implacável que infecta tudo e todos. Poluição, transgênicos e capitalismo selvagem ficam claros quando ele diz:

we fear the air we breathe
we fear the food we eat
we fear the tampered seed
we fear the corporate greed

2 - raze it to the ground (3:13)
Controle de massa, alienação coletiva e consumismo desenfreado são a tônica aqui. King deixa um pouco seu lado oitentista e se desloca mais para perto do século XXI. Bateria abafada, alguns efeitos nos vocais, guitarra discreta e umas pitadas de sintetizadores combinam perfeitamente com a letra:

it's the optimist that's only half full ...
forget the glass

here's another piece of shit for you ...
be sure to make it last

3 - all there is (2:57)
Sem pudores King chega dizendo:

I fucking hate you all
I couldn't hate you more
I fucking hate all of you
can't deal with you anymore

Seu lado misantrópico não poderia ficar mais claro, logo depois disso no fundo pode ser ouvida a voz de George W. Bush falando sobre armas biológicas e armas de destruição em massa.
Mais alienação? Mais aceitação cega da realidade? Tem, sim senhor!

we are numbers we are fields
we are fools if this is really for real
we are numbers we are fields
we are fools if this is really all there is

4 - romance is manipulation (4:03)
A música é instrumental mas a idéia é clara: a idéia de romance e amor são invenções para nos manipular. Diferentemente da agressividade do título a música é a mais bonita do EP, ótima para ser escutada a qualquer momento.

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I just got done going through the humongous backlog of unread Engadget stories I hadn't had time to read over the past month (995 to be exact) and I wanted to highlight a few of the more interesting ones that caught my eye just before the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicks off.

First there's the potentially fetishistic and definitely creepy/weird vibrating bluetooth bracelet.

Then President Clinton, while speaking in Iowa was heckled by a robot protester! Don't worry though, he can handle himself.

How about a 10+ inch, 10mm thick, color plastic LCD display?

Lonely? Ever thought about building a creepy $30 android for that needed companionship?

Hey, wow look at that, Former President Clinton is BACK and this time reveals he uses an iPhone... the man even signs it too!

You know, there are some days when I'm so lazy I wont walk across a room to charge my cell phone... look at what some people in India go through for their cell phones. It makes me exhausted just thinking about it.

My handwriting is already illegible as it is, I can't imagine writing any smaller than I already do, so seeing the whole Bible written on something smaller than a grain of rice is pretty daunting.

Now, for the winner in vaporware keyboard technology, Art Lebedev and his LCD touchpad keyboard.

I also want to try the pillow that relaxes you, using light and sound, but yet manages to look like a whoopee cushion.

I am very excited that you can now order a mac tablet computer here through pretty much the only official 3rd party Apple builder. It's called the Modbook and it uses Wacom tablet technology.

Are you tired of those prankster scientist friends of yours, always putting ink on your microscope viewfinder, giving you raccoon eyes? Well, no more, enjoy the newest LCD view microscope.

Get the Pinnacle Video Transfer if you want to bring ANY analog video onto your portable usb video player (that means you iPod and PSP).

Now, saving the BEST for last, learn how to REALLY play the guitar using a REAL guitar with Guitar Wizard! Stop wasting your time with Guitar Hero! At least with Rock Band, you can learn to play drums.

Thanks Swiftpage for the picture.

Dany

(teaser rilasciato questo mese, quindi incrociamo le dita in coro...)

PS: sbaglio o assomiglia ancor di più a zio Bruce? :P