We’ve picked up a couple of DS games which we’re enjoying. Here’s a quick review of them:

Prism

I believe this first came out as a web-based game. Your goal is to “light up” guys on the board using mirrors, beam splitters, color filters, etc. It’s a neat idea, and is very easy to pick up and put down. There’s no time limits (except for the “Hyper” mode), so you can play at your own pace. There are also hints at many levels, so if you are really stumped you don’t have to worry about being stuck.

The multiplayer mode, while enjoyable, is super-slow to download. Because of this we rarely play multiplayer (DS to DS, local). Also, like many of these bargin ($20) games, there is no good game-save mode, and records, etc, can’t be saved to an individual. This kinds sucks, but since it’s more of a “quick bite” game, it’s not a big deal.

Word Jong

I believe we learned about this based on a recommendation from Tiff. It is what it says: A combination of Scrabble and Mah Jong.  I believe it’s also a DS version of a web game. You pick tiles off the stack, making up words. The longer the words, the more points. Like Prism, it’s quick to learn, and keeps you entertained.

The multiplayer mode is better than Prism, since it downloads fast. Players take turns making words. The downside is that the multiplayer options are very limited, but it’s fun nonetheless. I haven’t tried any of the internet based play, as I can’t stand playing with 13-year-olds who play 20 hours a day. Not fun. (Probably the most not-fun is internet based Tetris. I swear those people are robots.)

Anyhow, the single player modes are pretty good. There’s a basic puzzle mode, a daily puzzle, and a challenge mode. The challenge can be annoying, as you can’t “back out” of a puzzle without dumping your points. (You gather points to make it to the next level.) I’ve been frustated a couple of times after making a series of great words, but end up reaching the lower part of the “pile” with a bunch of stupid “U”s and “V”s. You can undo, and try to get rid of them, but it can be a pain sometimes.

Like Prism, the game save sucks. You can’t have multiple players, which is a lot more annoyting with Word Jong than Prism. This isn’t a big deal if you are an only player, but Ev and I swap games all the time, and it would be nice to have separate records.

I find Word Jong to be more re-playable than Prism, but Prism can be pretty addicting, too. Prism is more “play 2 minutes at a time”. Word Jong is a little longer term.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a longer term game. It reminds me of the not-exactly-linear games of LucasArts fame. It has some nice animation, good sound, and in interesting (if simple) story line. The long and short of it is that you move around this village, searching for clues. The trouble is, the people in the village are all jerks, and make you solve puzzles to get answers. The game play is moderately linear, but no where near as A > B > C as a game like Phoenix Wright. (I like the PW games, but they are way way too read-through-the-story, go-to-next-step. You feel like you are being led through the story, versus really exploring. In Layton you do a lot more exploring.)

This game is all about logic puzzles, so if you hate them, then don’t bother. The only way you can move through the story is to solve the puzzles. Some are very easy, some are annoying, and others are very tough. There are hints along the way, and you don’t need to solve all of the puzzles to make it through, but you do have to solve enough of them. (For example, you can’t talk to person X until you solve Y number of puzzles.)

I had a lot of fun with this game, but was able to rip through the main story far too quickly (about 12 hours of gameplay). This is a little too quick for a $30 game without a lot of replay value (more on this later).

The production values are very nice, and you can have multiple players. I liked the fact that you can’t get really stuck, and you can never die. Don’t worry about using “too many” hints or anything. Nothing you can do will hurt your progress and finishing a “perfect” game (no hint use) does nothing to the outcome (I tried).

In addition to the story line, you can replay any of the puzzles. On the surface, this sounds really great. And it is. But the problem is that many of the puzzles are “trick” ones, meaning that once you know the answer, that’s it. It’s no longer fun. There are only about 10 puzzles that have any real replay value. On the bright side, this is better than the Pheonix Wright series, which has absolutely no replay value at all.

I think that the designers knew they had limited replay, because they did add a nice feature: The weekly download puzzle. Every week (for a year) you can download a new puzzle. It’s a neat add on, and does create additional value.

Also, if you unlock enough of a certain puzzle, or collect enough of certain “mystery parts”, you unlock special new puzzles. There are also “hidden” puzzles all over the game, so you end up clicking all over looking for “hint coins” and new puzzles. (In total, there are 120 main puzzles in the game.)

Again, I really enjoyed the game, but once you are done that’s pretty much it, except for some of the replayable (get the thing out) puzzles and the weekly stuff. I really wish it lasted longer. On the bright side, this is supposed to be a series, so I’m really looking forward to the next one.

Those who know me know that I’m a big knife fan. Whether it’s a good chef’s knife, a fancy limited edition, or a simple folder, I’m into it.

As my collection grows, I’m moving away from the hyper expensive blades, and searching out solid, dependable knives that I can use every day. This first happened in the cooking arena, where I put aside my hand-made Masahiro and replaced it with a stamped Dexter Sani-Safe. If I want to cut fish into 1/16″ slices, I grab the Masahiro. For everything else, the Dexter is the one I go to.

The same thing goes for folders. I love my Ken Onion Random Task, but it’s a valuable, and hard to replace, knife. Which means I don’t want to use it for every day work. Instead, I have been using the cheaper Kershaw Leek, in the Rainbow pattern:

As a friend of mine calls it: “The Hippy Killer”. It’s a fast, and light, knife. But the one I have doesn’t have a serrated blade (useful in certain situations) and it’s just too nice to use. It also has a pretty thin blade, and it’s not something I’d want to have in a “life or death” situation (ex. hacking off my own leg or something gruesome).

All this brings me to my newest knife, the CRKT Model M16-12ZERC. I happened on it pretty much by chance while roaming around the REI site. (I was trying to find good use for a coupon and my dividends.) I thought to myself, what the heck, it looks okay and it has decent reviews, why not.

Boy, was I pleasantly surprised. Why? Because I was expecting a weak-ish knife with a shitty opening mechanism. Instead, I got a brute that opens super fast and locks tight.

Let me diverge for a moment: Buy folding knives which (a) have locking blades and (b) can be opened with one hand. Let me reiterate: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, ONLY USE FOLDERS THAT LOCK AND CAN BE OPENED WITH ONE HAND.

Pretty strident, huh? There’s a reason. When you are trying to use a knife, the last damn thing you want is the blade wanting to slip back into the handle, cutting your fingers in the process. A liner lock, or something similar, is absolutely necessary. Do not carry a tactical folder that doesn’t lock. Period. They are dangerous and unreliable.

Second, and this holds true mainly for tactical folders, you want a knife that can be opened one-handed, as quickly as possible. Whether you are trying to untangle your legs in a river, or fending off hobos, you want a knife that opens fast, with one hand. Now I know there are a lot of people who are afraid of fast knives. Don’t be. They are some of the safest, best engineered, tools available. Any bozo can stamp out a simple folding knife. But it takes proper craftsmanship to make a high-speed opener.

Back to the M16-12Z: This knife opens fast. You can’t see it in the photo, but it uses a setup called a Carson Flipper. It’s on the back of the knife, near the pivot point. Pull it down / push it in (easier done than said) and the blade flips open. I judge the speed of the knife by how much it scares people. This knife scares people, because it flips open so quickly, and with a definite “this is the wrong person to fuck with” sound (due to the blade width). The other nice thing about the Carson Flipper, besides it’s speed, is that it acts as a blade guard when the knife is locked open. It helps prevent your fingers from slipping too far forward–excellent for dangerous situations.

The M16-12Z is a liner lock, which is pretty common these days. This means a piece of springy metal in the handle moves up when the blade passes it. This locks the blade and prevents it from wanting to fold back into the handle. To unlock the knife, you simply push down on the liner with your thumb and ease the blade back in. Again, much easier done than written about.

The problem with liner locks is that they can become unlocked under high torque twisting motions. This is a pretty uncommon movement, but it could happen under emergency conditions (like fending off a brown bear). To solve this problem, this knife includes an AutoLAWKS safety. this is a little safety level which automatically engages when the liner lock does. This means that when the life is locked, it’s locked. To close it, you have to engage the safety, push down the liner lock, and then fold the knife.

It’s kind of funny: With a handgun, and some folders, you have to disengage the safety to open/fire the device. With LAWKS you disengage the safety to disengage the knife. You see, the whole point of high-speed tactical folders is to get them open and ready as quickly as possible. These are life-and-death knives–you don’t want to be fiddling with them, or have them close one you unexpectedly. On the downside, this knife is a little more difficult to close single-handed; it will take some practice to do it quickly. But, then again, it’s more important that it opens quickly than closes quickly.

The other thing I like about this knife is it’s girth. It’s a chubbier knife, with a thick tanto-style blade. The tanto part refers to the tip, and how the thickness of the blade changes (very thick along the top edge). Long story short, it’s designed to stab and slash. The name comes from a Japanese style dagger which was developed to pierce through armor. This kind of blade will pierce sheet metal without a problem.

The handle itself is Zytel over a stainless steel frame. Zytel is a heavy duty material, and comes in a lot of colors. This knife is available in black or orange. I went with the orange, because it’s easier to find/see. The one I have comes with a 3 inch blade, serrated toward the lower half of the blade. One half of the tanto tip is also sharpened, which is different from some other tantos I have (the Random Task comes to mind).

All in all, this is a sturdy, very well made knife. At first I was fooled by the day-glow “plastic” handle, but the Zytel is some tough stuff and this knife is not at all flimsy. It can be found for between $40 and $50 and is a great deal. Highly recommended as a daily use knife.

I’m pleased to see that The Maker Store is now carrying a few of the Gakken kits. Gakken is a company in Japan which makes a whole bunch of stuff, including their line of “Sophisticated Science Kits for Adults”. I love this line of products because they focus on adult kit makers, a market which is sorely underserved.

Here are a couple of them:

Vacuum Tube Radio Kit

This great kit allows you to put together a real, functional, vacuum-tube radio! Includes a pin straightener for the vacuum tubes, a testing microphone so you can make sure everything is hooked up correctly to produce sounds, rubber feet on the fiber board to minimize “howling,” a variable condenser to allow for finer tuning, a recreation of 60-year-old circuits, and a more powerful transformer for better volume and sound quality.

Cup Phonograph

This replica kit uses the same technology that Thomas Edison used, replacing Edison’s waxed pipe and stylus with a plastic cup and a needle, but the end results are the same! You record your own voice on a plastic cup — and play it back!

The Gakken line of Adult kits are really great. A couple of years ago I picked up one of these, and it was a lot of fun to put together:

It’s a Gramophone that etches sound waves (with a needle) onto the back of a piece of plastic. They use an old CD for the plastic disk, which is really clever. The speaker code / mic is actually a plastic cup. The base is made out of very sturdy plastic. It’s not cheap feeling at all. 

Some things to keep in mind with these kits:

• The ones I’ve made require little or no electronics skills. This is either a pro or a con, depending on what you’re trying to learn. The boards are pre-populated, so you plug stuff in, but have to do no soldering.
• Instead of soldering, you will have to do some mechanical work. You’ll build the cases, have to carefully align some parts, and so on. It is not overly difficult, but best handled by an adult or a child with good mechanical experience.
• The kits do not require any speciality hand tools. If I recall correctly, the only tool I needed for the Gramophone was a simple regular (slotted) screwdriver.
• The cases are made of high quality plastic. They look pretty nice, but not quite as nice as the photos. Regardless, they will look good on your mantle.
• The Gramophone took me a short evening to complete. The phonograph looks to be about the same. I’m guessing that the tube radio will take a bit longer.

I’m really pleased that these kits are being made more available in the US. Previously they had been quite hard to find (mine had to be imported though a Manga vendor).

In many ways, I prefer these kits to many of the electronics ones out there. Too many of the electronics kits are just soldering exercises, where you learn very little about the circuit you are putting together. While these kits are also “assembly” exercises, they do seem to give a greater sense of accomplishment. Plus, the mechanics are simple enough that you can get a good grasp of how they work.

After sitting in my parents house for over a decade, I finally picked up my old Sony Laserdisc player. It still works fine, except for the fluorescent display which gave out ages ago. After using it for a while, I realized one of the great things about this machine: the remote control.

Without question, the Sony LD remote (model RMT-M37A) is the finest way to move through a movie that I’ve ever used. Better than any DVD player’s control. Better than any iPod control (yes, believe it, Apple fans–Sony made a better “jog” control). Better than any bit of A/V technology I’ve used in the last 20 years. It’s brilliance is its simplicity, and the fact that it works exactly as you’d expect it to.

It won’t win any beauty contests, but look: Look at the absense of buttons. No idiotic control with 80 buttons here. All of the common stuff is right out in the open, in big (glow in the dark) buttons. Need to access the less common commands? Just flip up the top portion and there they are (right photo). Ok, that’s nice and all, but why do I rave? I rave because of the round control at the bottom.

The round section has two parts: The inner circle, which spins, and the outer ring. The outer ring is where they got it right. It rotates 60 degrees in either direction and is spring loaded. To reverse the movie, you rotate it to the left. To forward, the right. The second you let go, it springs back to the center. The farther you rotate it, the faster it goes. Unlike most DVD remotes. You don’t have to use some stupid combination of a Fast Forward button and then, with a trigger finger, press Play again. I fucking hate DVD remotes.

The inner circle is the jog shuttle control. While the outer ring is for quickly moving around, the inner circle does frame by frame. In addition, pressing the jog/shuttle button (with a light, so you know it’s on) changes the overall behavior, allowing you do zip through freeze-frames with ease. The end result? You can navigate through a movie, stopping, rewinding, whatever–without looking at the fucking remote. You don’t search for buttons. You just spin the ring and have it snap back.

Why rant about this? Because this is almost 20 year old technology and it works better than ANY stuff I’ve used since. You can tell that it was designed by A/V guys who do video editing. Why hasn’t it been re-created? (The Apple iPod control is a sad shadow of the Sony technology. Why do I have to keep spinning my thumb around in circles? That’s fine with 1,000 songs, but not 10,000.)

The other question is why, with this old technology, are the scanning and single-frame functions so much better on Laserdisc than DVD? That one is easier to answer. You see, on normal Laserdiscs, each frame of the movie takes one track on the disc. One rotation of the disc, one frame. There are 54,000 tracks / frames on each side of a disc. So, it’s trivial for the machine to show a particular frame, almost instantly. Want to go back? Just hop to the previous track. Want to go to frame 23,564? Piece of cake. No searching through data streams, you just go right to that place on the disc.

In addition, there is no compression. One track, one rotation, one frame worth of data. This is why, even though Laserdiscs have fewer lines of resolution, they often look better than DVDs, especially for dark scenes. This is because DVDs compress data so that non-moving portions of the scene don’t get updated. Motion does. That’s why you often see artifacts, even on better mastered disks. Watch the underwater scenes in Das Boot and you’ll see exactly what I mean. They look awful.

The downside, of course, is that the disc are huge–the size of LP records (which are coming back, in a big way, by the way). Most movies take both sides of at least one disc. Cheaper players required you to flip the disc after about 30 minutes. This Sony can do both sides, though there is a pause and a big clunk-clunk sound as the mirrors move. Some movies, like Hard Boiled, require three or four discs for the entire movie and cost a lot. The resolution is also lower, though dark scenes almost always look better on Laserdisc.

Now if only this stupid “VHS/Beta: The Sequel” drama would end, I’d consider checking out the new HD equipment. For now, I’m content with my streaming video, my DVDs, and my Laserdiscs.

There is a site that offers free plans for making your own kids cardboard furniture. Sounds like a pretty neat idea; a nice parent-child project that results in a useful piece of furniture. Plus, the kids can color / paint / destroy it and it doesn’t really matter. Put some of these inside some appliance shipping boxes and you have a kick-ass throw-away fort with furniture.

The guides can be downloaded here: FoldSchool

Just when you thought that we’d be raising a country full of wimps living in padded cages, along comes a re-issue of a good old-fashioned terror of a toy. The Green Machine.

It’s too bad they don’t make an adult sized version. It would be perfect for letting off a little steam.

Let’s just hope the Helicopter Parents don’t pressure the company to pull this toy. Where’s the helmet? Where’s the seatback? My Darling Precious Snowflake might get hurt! Damn right, I say. Skin a knee. Whack a head on the pavement. Gotta learn sometime.

Update: Here’s a print-ad of the original. Like the Big Wheel, it had a hard plastic front wheel. Since the pedals were connected directly to the wheel, you usually stopped it by skidding–and creating a nice flat spot on one part of the wheel. (You notmally “locked” the wheel in the same position, depending on where your legs felt the most natural.) The new version uses a rubber tire, which should be an improvement. We’ll see.

It is interesting that this new version seems to be using less plastic, though I like the handles on the old one a lot better. (Who needs a hand brake?) Also weird that the old one had a true bucket seat, but the new one doesn’t.

Update 2: I just checked out the Huffy site and the final production model looks better. They painted the metal black & green, removed the safely plastic around the wheel,  and gave it a bucket seat. (It’s interesting to see how a design changes through the development process.) Take a look at the site here: Green Machine Site

The Chumby arrived safe-and-sound today, after a long trip. From Hong Kong, to Korea, to Alaska, to Kentucky, and finally in Austin. It came in a small box, with some really nice packaging. Take a look:

 
Click Here For A Fullsize View

As you can see, it comes in it’s own little cloth sack, with the power pack in its own sack. Some little do-dads (to the right) come along, too. The actual Chumby is that black bean-bag looking thing in the middle. It’s about four inches across, has an LCD touch screen, and a leather “body”. It’s really quite an impressive presentation.

When you first plug it in and turn it on you get a welcome movie. It has to calibrate the touch screen and set up the network settings (it has WiFi built in). You then go to their site, register the Chumby, and start choosing your Widgets.

The Chumby displays Widgets, which are little Flash-based programs. You can select stuff like Weather, Word-Of-The-Day, Clocks, eBay listings, and so on. There’s a lot of stuff out there, and more being added. Think of it as an RSS feed without the PC.

It’s actually pretty handy, as it can display useful information without taking up screen space on your PC. And since it’s wireless, it can sit anywhere in your home. Right now I have it at my desk, as you can see below:

Click Here For Fullsize Version

Some initial impressions:

• The touch screen is nice, but it doesn’t work the greatest with the fingertips. I use a GameBoy stylus and it works perfectly. (You don’t need to access the screen much. Once you have your widgets set up, it’s set-and-forget.)
• The network setup was a little annoying, as most setups are. Though it was mostly due to “user error” on my part. Once I converted by passphase from ASCII to HEX it worked fine. (I’m running an older D-Link router.)
• It seems to respond a little sluggishly now and then, but I think a lot of that was due to it not reading the touches properly. The stylus fixed that. (They should include one, and have a little hole in the Chumby to store it.)
• There are lots of sensors in it, but I haven’t seen many used yet. For example, there’s a speaker in there, a mic, a tilt sensor of some sort, etc. It will be interesting to see what they do with that stuff. (I know some alarm clock Widgets use the speaker.)
• I’d like to see a widget transition, or a widget style sheet. Some of the Widgets have white backgrounds, some dark. When it transitions it’s a bit annoying. It either needs a smooth (fade-in-out) setup, or a way to get all widgets to use the same stylesheet / color combo.
• I think it would be too bright in the bedroom (the screen is quite bright); though you can change it to “night mode” which is much-much dimmer.

It is nice to see that the technology has caught up with the concept. (Remember the ill-fated 3COM Audrey?) With wireless everywhere, these sorts of always-on internet-enabled devices will really come of their own.

Update: While it does has a 9V battery snap hidden inside, it’s supposed to run plugged in. This makes sense, because it’s always on (and driving a big, bright, display). However, it’s size is perfect for moving around, and the cord makes that process a hassle. I wish Tesla were alive today, so he could give me the wireless power sources we need.

Oddly, some of the most interesting Widgets are the Animal Cams. (You get sick of looking at the same weather report over and over.) Right now I’ve got the Shamu Cam running (yes, the whale). And look there–there are actually two whales in the tank.

Who would have known that a package’s progress would amuse me so:

11/08/2007 : Shenzhen, China
11/08/2007 : Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong
11/09/2007 : Incheon, Korea
11/09/2007 : Anchorage, Alaska

…en route to Louisville, KY. Go, Chumby, go!

Maybe I’m so amused because this package, coming from China, is getting here faster than another heading from Minneapolis, Minnesota!

We recently were at our local game store checking out board games and puzzles. The challenge we have is finding a good 2-player game. All of the mystery type games require at least three players, and party games need a group. So, we are pretty much left with head-to-head strategy type games (I’m not a big fan of card-based games).

We ended up getting a game called Blokus (Travel Edition). In the game you have tetris-shaped pieces that you try and place on the board. The challenge is that when you place a piece it must touching at least one corner of an existing one of yours, but must not be adjacent (you can’t have sides touching). A bit hard to explain, but a very simple rule that introduces a nice level of complexity.

It’s what I like in games: Simple rules, quick play, and a depth of play that is uncovered over time. You see the same thing in classics like chess, go, and dominos. (An aside: Dominos seems really too easy and uncomplicated, until you realize that you win by memorizing the dominos and knowing what your opponents are holding.)

So, if you’re looking for a good two player game, take a look at Blokus. (They also have a larger four player version, though the reviews I’ve seen indicate that it’s better as a two player game.) One other thing: I think the “Travel” in the name is a misnomer. It’s small, but it is not set up as a travel game (unless you like hauling around its box). Its name in Europe, “Blokus Duo”, is much more accurate.

I recently ordered a Chumby, part internet appliance, part gadget. Got the UPS tracking info today, to find that it has a long trip ahead:

Status:  In Transit – On Time  
Scheduled Delivery:  11/15/2007  
Shipped To:  AUSTIN, TX, US  
Shipped/Billed On:  11/08/2007  

CHEK LAP KOK, HK  11/08/2007  7:42 P.M.  HUB SCAN
SHENZHEN, CN  11/08/2007  3:40 P.M.  DEPARTURE SCAN

A week between Shenzhen China and Austin; not too bad.

Update:

It left Hong Kong and got to Incheon, Korea (four hours). An hour later it was in transit to Louisville, Kentucky. My Chumby is taking a grand tour of Southeast Asia!

And it’s free shipping!