Goalie Masks - November 27

Goalie masks have evolved over the years. There was a time when goalies didn't even wear masks because of the coach's fears that it will hinder their ability to play. The first mask worn in an NHL game was on November 1, 1959 by Jacques Plante after a puck broke his nose. The coach, Toe Blake, was extremely angry but had no other backup goalie. Ever since then the goalie mask has been worn, and has grown beyond something made just to protect them. Most goalies have a design on the mask that is a reflection of themselves and are very personal. In the picture above the words "Bulin Wall" are a play off his name, Khabibulin. The picture underneath is of Rick Dipietro and he has a design of Vietnam war veterans, after his father. Not all goalie masks are as great as these, but for the most part they are pretty cool nowadays. Some just have the team's mascot or name on their with a design, and some go to a more personal level. In the future they may change even more. We've seen them go from no mask to a plain white masks to all out colorful designs. Maybe they can go holographic next, or employ some ways to distract the opposing team. It's all up to the goalies and how far they want to take it.

Interactive Shower - 11/4/09

I saw this design for an interactive shadow today on Gizmodo. It's an interesting idea to say the least. The idea is to have a touch screen shower that is able to control the temperature, the jet intensities, whatever media you are wanting to play, and the sound. I don't know if people would actually use it for these functions unless they're taking a bath, but a shower...it just doesn't seem even remotely practical. The shower doesn't actually exist or anything, it's just a design. It would be pretty amazing to see it in action though. Watch some Jaws with the jets turned all the way up; sounds like good fun.

American Mcgee's Alice - 11/04/09

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was always meant to be a book for children. A world, not necessarily of happiness, of wonder with talking animals who inhabit it. It's completely made up of the imagination of a child who is bored and wants to go on an adventure. American Mcgee's Alice corrupted this story, and world, and twisted it into a macabre, but amazing adventure. The story is about the same Alice who went to Wonderland, this time a few years in the future, after who first couple adventures. It starts with her dreaming in Wonderland when her house catches fire. Her dream friends wake her up and she listens to her parents screaming in pain as they burn alive. This corrupts her and she is sent to a sanitarium. Then the game begins, and you enter the new evil that is Wonderland. Her insanity has changed the place beyond belief, and any resemblance of a child's imaginary playland is gone. Like I said, the opening scene hits hard and you really feel her pain. As the game goes on it becomes increasingly violent, and you can feel her mind slipping even further away. It's a brilliant design and a nice break from the norm. With the new Tim Burton movie coming out I wonder, and possibly this version if they ever get around to it, if this game will get overshadowed and seen as nothing more than a copycat. Even after 8(?) years this game still manages to hypnotize me and I get lost in the world that is Wonderland.

OnLive - 11/1/09

http://www.onlive.com/index.html

Onlive is a new service that was officially revealed earlier this year and will make it easier for people with not so great computers to play demanding games. Using an internet connection you connect to one of the OnLive servers. The server runs whatever game you choose at the highest settings your internet can handle, up to 720p. The games will run in real-time, meaning no lag, and will basically be beautiful and smooth. There is also a micro-console that can be hooked to the TV to play and can handle up to four controllers. The games aren't downloaded so players can jump into a game right away. Right now there are no details on the pricing model, but you can expect it to be reasonable. It is currently scheduled to be released in Winter 2009. People with bad computers or just can't afford to get a new computer every 3 years will benefit from this if they decide they want it. Then again, the people with bad computers probably can't pay for the fast internet connection it demands so who knows whats going to happen. It's pretty cool to see that we are capable of streaming some very demanding games instantly, and with no lag. It's been tried before and didn't really go anywhere, but this company has tons of support behind it and the demos looked to work flawlessly. We'll see how it all turns out this Winter!

Funkins! - 10/31/2009

Since it's Halloween I suppose I could do a blog about something related to the holiday. Apparently these have been out for a while, but I've never seen them; a plastic pumpkin called a Funkin. A Funkin is basically just a plastic pumpkin that can be decorated better(?) than regular pumpkins. They come in various shapes and sizes and even pre-made "classic" pumpkin carvings. The real up-side is that there is no mess to clean up, other than some plastic pieces, and it can last as long as you want it to. They are also somewhat pricey with a regular sized pumpkin coming in at $20. But hey, if you re-use it the next 10 years then you'll make your money back! Unfortunately it isn't bio-degradable and that could set some people off of it. Now I've seen the foam pumpkins before, and I'm guessing that this is pretty much the same thing, and people can get some really crazy designs with them. Before you know it they'll have pumpkins that can have LED animations programmed into them, with speakers and all. Something along the lines of..."Go to our website to BUY and download new realistic pumpkin animations! It'll be like it's alive!" Ohhh yeah, can't wait.

Candy and its many forms...

Candy has always been in different shapes to appeal to people that eat them, but almost always are aimed at children. On stupid.com they are selling gum shaped as different digital devices and call it “Digital Candy Gum”. They have cds, video games, handheld devices, computer mice, keyboards, and cameras. I’m sure they care about the taste, but the main point of it is to make money off of the kids who use these devices every day and think, “Oh wow, this is awesome!” I’ve worked at CVS for the past 2 years and I’ve seen my share of crazy candy. They had Wiimote pez dispensers last year and this Halloween we even got mini board games contained inside boxes of candy. In a couple months they’ll have those little nasty chalk hearts for all the lovebirds out there to buy. So we have candy made for whatever is popular, candy that “talks” to you, and candy with games. What’s next? How about something along the lines of the wonderball idea except it’s a magic 8 ball. I have yet to see one and really don’t think it would be smart to make, but man would it be cool. We’ll just wait and see what the oompa loompas come up with next.

Mighty Mouse - October 21

A couple of days ago Apple unveiled a whole truckload of new products that they're releasing including this multi-touch, buttonless, wheel-less mouse. It works like this. You simply click something just push down on the top left of the mouse, to right click push down on the top right. Need to scroll down? Just run your finger down the mouse and it will scroll, same with side to side. Something that really sets it apart that other mice don't have the capability of doing is the full 360 degree scroll which you can do by moving your finger in a circular motion. This will make it easier to work with large photos or files that have a size much larger than the window it's in. To zoom in, hold the control key and run your finger up or down the mouse to zoom in and out respectively. And if you don't like any of those features you can just stick with the good ol point and click. And lefties don't need to worry, left and right click can be switched around and customized.

Sounds great huh?! Well it doesn't seem very practical, especially to someone who doesn't usually use a mac. I don't really understand how it's easier to move your finger in an unnatual motion down the mouse to scroll than to use a scroll wheel. This way makes it seem like you almost have to lift your hand up, especially if you don't have the most nimble of hands. While I do think that superscroll feature is pretty cool, how useful will it really be to someone who doesn't work with editing programs? I would hate to be playing a game, accidently make that motion, and all of a sudden I have my grenade out with the pin pulled because I accidently touched the top left to set my hand back down. The lack of feedback is going to absolutely destroy people's experience using this. People are used to instant feed back when they use a computer, if there isn't any then SOMETHING must be wrong. Think about how hard it would be to use a keyboard that was completely touch based, and the only feedback you got was on the screen. This mouse is made for anyone but a normal user. Yes it may lead to better designs, I really truly hope it does, but please leave us the buttons until then.