Virtually Infamous Network

Back from AFK

2008-10-04T18:52:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted in about a month now and I'm happy to say it's because I've been very busy with transitioning from the east coast to the west coast in my new job. I'm working for ngmoco:) now and I'm excited to be in the iPhone gaming space. Those of you who read my blog know that I've been keeping track of it for a while now.

I'd like to say that Neil Young hired me because he was impress at my blog about ngmoco:), but more than likely, this blog was under his radar before I introduced myself.

Interestingly enough, this blog and ngmoco are lining up well with Apple positive stance on gaming, who recently declared that the iPhone and iPod Touch are "the best portable device for playing games on".

Lastly, check out ngmoco's blog for the latest updates on games. And I will continue to post here on interesting tidbits in tech and gaming in my usual sort of way.

Shred Nebula Design Documents

2008-09-06T03:42:00.002-04:00

CrunchTime Games has released the design documents for Shred Nebula. For anyone interested in creating games for XBLA, PSN or WiiWare, this is a pretty good look at what a game maker has to do.

Anyone not in the industry but interested in the business aspects should check it out.

I don't know much about the game, but the documentation is definitely good. I can honestly say that the docs give me a good idea of the game play (from a development/pitch standpoint). It was good enough to get me to try the game, which was released this past Wednesday.

Initial impressions are pretty good. The design docs say this game was influenced by Asteroids, but I was a little disappointed that they didn't fashion the basic controls more like Asteroids (rotate left/right, accelerate based on where you are pointed).

Overall though, it's definitely worth checking it out on XBLA and I have gained tremendous respect for any company who is willing to share documentation info like this. Thanks!

Funny you should mention X-COM

2008-09-05T03:35:00.002-04:00

Not really super exciting news, but amusing to me. My friend and I were talking about X-COM today and I come home to find that the X-COM series is now available on Steam.

I've also realized that games made in 1993 just aren't as fun anymore, mostly because the DPI's on my laser mouse prevent me from being able to accurately click on any of those cruddy pixelated buttons and units.

XBLA goodness

2008-09-01T22:21:00.002-04:00

Remember all those great four player arcade smashers? If you ever wondered where they went, look no further. Castle Crashers brings back old fashion fun and it's fantastic. I'm a particular fan of the music, it really builds the mood. Besides a somewhat marred first couple of days, it's being patched and really, it wasn't that big of an issue.

One of my favorite genres seems to be making a come-back as well. That would be the manic shooter. Galaga Legions is incredibly insane in that regard, and I still haven't been able to beat the third act. I'm losing my reaction time in my old age.

Lastly, is 1942: Joint Strike. This classing scrolling shooter is back with updated graphics and a new twist. In co-op mode, you have the ability to, well, joint strike with your partner. It's basically a fancy word for being able to link attack with a partner. The game itself is very enjoyable, especially if you're a fan of the original.

Honorable mentions to Braid and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, but the above games on XBLA made me happy to own an Xbox 360.

Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures Initial Impressions

2008-08-24T01:55:00.004-04:00

Are you a Dungeons & Dragons fan? Are you on FaceBook? You should probably check out D&D: Tiny Adventures on FaceBook if you said yes to both.

I think the concept is great. Create a character, pick an adventure. Adventures update in intervals and you can check on the status. You can use potions to get the results you want during encounters. Invite friends and you can boost their stats while they are on an adventure, or heal them when they are complete. Other than that, you really just get into encounters, get experience, get loot, get rested and go out again.

Hardcore players be warned: it's not a very deep or accurate portrayal of the game. The classes don't mean much except for initial stats. They really only dictate what kind of environments your class will be good at.

There is potential here, it's rather addicting to check up on how your character is doing, but otherwise, it's just checking up to see how you're doing. The looting and leveling aspect is as addicting as any other RPG, except you really don't have much choice.

I'd like to see the next iteration of this game add a choose-your-own-adventure kind of control. Instead of just randomly picking events and telling you the outcome, Tiny Adventures could let you sort of maximize your class abilities. Rescuing a wounded soldier? Maybe a Cleric would choose to heal the soldier and then have help instead of rushing straight in and defeating the attackers.

The class distinction should also dictate what kind of support you give your friends. Perhaps a Cleric could heal a friend once per adventure, or a rogue could sense a trap for you. These distinctions would allow a group of friends to pick different classes and pretend to adventure together.

Lastly, in a social network environment, I'm surprised that I can't gift items I find and can't use. I find it kind of strange that the class choices don't give you any benefits, yet I have the restrictions of that class when it comes to items. The simplest solution is to allow trading and gifting of items. It would also make the game more social.

Anyway, so far so good. Wizard's of the Coast at least put out a great little app that draws interest for D&D. It also seems to use a bit of 4th edition rules, so it's interesting to see it play out on such a Tiny scale.

Next Generation Mobile Company :)

2008-08-13T01:17:00.002-04:00

Neil Young, CEO of ng:moco:) and 11-year EA vet, had a keynote speech at iphonedevcamp2. He talks about the iPhone as a gaming platform.

Neil Young > iPhone is greater than... from Dom Sagolla on Vimeo.

I've posted about this before and totally agree. Neil Young brought up some interesting points. The iPhone is a multimedia device that could potentially allow games to tap into all sorts of functionality that no one has considered before. What if the game changes based on GPS? What if an SMS text was a medium for action? What if games spanned multiple days to play (one doesn't turn off an iPhone)?

These are very interesting things to think about and I am excited that a company like ng:moco exists to foster a new generation of game developers.

Running the Labyrinth

2008-08-07T03:37:00.003-04:00

Every once in a while I check out Jane McGonical's blog. I saw her keynote speech at E-tech in 2007 and have been enamored by what she stands for and works toward. Her most recent blog entry talks about The Lost Ring, and like most alternate reality games, it is a site that is slowly revealing rules on how to play an interesting game.

The rules are being collected here, but basically it looks like one runner is blindfolded and must navigate a maze with nothing but a team that will build the walls and hum so that the blindfolded runner will not run into them. You can read the rules here.

By the way, Jane is all about these social game experiments that foster teamwork and build relationships. Her games usually involve interacting with complete strangers in order to accomplish a goal. Thumbs up, Miss McGonigal!

Social network games

2008-07-30T00:07:00.002-04:00

So you probably read by now that Hasbro has officially shut down Scrabulous on FaceBook. While I don't have an official opinion between Scrabulous and the Official Hasbro-EA Scrabble, I do think that social network gaming is an interesting game medium that can only get better.

Facebook's goal obviously is to get you to log on as often as possible and games like Scrabulous keep players logging in. Now that Scrabulous is gone what do you do? Even Hasbro admits that Scrabble is still in a testing phase. How about going classic and playing some FaceBook Chess? Or maybe oldschool is the way to go and compete for top score on Tetris Friends? You could always just play Hold 'Em.

There are some other games that I think would be interesting. Hangman? Monopoly? There are a ton of turn based games that would work.

Interesting though is how to get your piece of the pie as the game developer. Helping FaceBook become more dominant with an addicting app that keeps users logging back in is great, but what do you do with all those users?

When fun steps aside

2008-07-28T01:23:00.002-04:00

My one pet peeve against game reviewers is the fact that they will review a game taking every aspect into consideration except for the aspect that matters most: fun. I don't understand reviews that focus on games that are visually stunning or really took a chance on creating a different kind of world. Those things are all great and I respect developers that are willing to evolve the video game genre, but sometimes I feel that they sacrifice fun to do it. When did that not become the the one reason most people play games?

I'd hate to bash on BioShock, because it is an extremely stunning game. The first time I crawled onto land and looked up at a golden statue, I had chills. The opening sequence was immersive, I wanted to find out what happens next. Then I realized the game was exactly like System Shock 2. The looting system took me out of the flow of things, the enemies are surprisingly dull after a few Big Daddies, and I just wasn't having a pleasurable time while fighting my way to the next chunk of story.

Then there are games like Rez, which nobody cared to play when it came out in in 2002, but it gets released on Xbox Live Arcade in HD and suddenly it is a cult classic that everyone who knows games should have played six years ago and must pick up again now. For anyone who doesn't know what the game is, it's basically Panzer Dragoon with techno/dance music. You add to the soundtrack when you kill enemies, but the sound effects don't seem to make any sense. It's not particularly rewarding to go into a rhythm. It's not to say i'm not a fan of music games, I think Lumines (by the same creator, but 5 years later) is a great example of a game that rewards you for playing well both in terms of the music and also in your score/advancement.

So what makes a game fun? Well, I'm sure there will be plenty of opinions, but here are some things I look for:

Intuitive, easy to learn, but rewarding for being good (The whole Othello mentality)
The pacing of the game is steady and can be hastened or slowed by the player's skill, not force by the gameplay or environment
Responsive controls that let a player do what he is thinking (this is a combination of intuitive gameplay and pacing)
Short levels/checkpoints/missions/travel so that a player can feel rewarded for his efforts at regular intervals.

Think back to the truly classic games like pacman, donkey kong, or tetris. They all had these elements.

Virtually Sniping

2008-07-25T21:11:00.007-04:00

Sniping in multiplayer shooters has gotten a pretty bad rap in gaming culture. Some of the comments I read: If you like pointing and clicking so much, play your windows desktop. Every sniper in the game just cares about their kill-to-death ratio. Snipers have no skill.

Sniping in a shooter can be rewarding though. My favorite thing to do is what I call "offensive" sniping. Basically, following the assault troops in and picking off dangerous targets as they are identified, leaving the easier and more accessible targets to the run-and-gunners.

So the good and the bad stated above have an underlying commonality though. Real-world sniping is not easy. One should not be able to run with a sniper rifle and take a fully accurate shot on the fly. One also should not be able to spot a target and execute a flawless shot with a flick of the wrist.

There are some attempts to simulate realism (or at least simulate difficulty). The Call of Duty series uses holding your breath, which is a realistic tactic for sniping. Games like Team Fortress 2 have a power meter build in to simulate how snipers have to wait for a shot. The execution is still flawed though, since a headshot is an instant kill. It sort of encourages twitch gaming.

Why aren' t games like real-world sniping? I'm not asking for snipers to be prone the whole time and wait for someone to walk past the reticle. How about zeroing the scope? It would be interesting if snipers had to calibrate the reticle and distance actually matters. This would force a sniper to pick a zero point and allow them to choose to fire at a target further away by aiming slightly below the crosshairs. This forces snipers to think about their shot and puts some guesswork (or experience) into sniping.

How about gradually building accuracy for remaining still? Sniping should reward calm, collected and carefully chosen shots rather than firing re-actively to the first target that comes into view. Sniping should also be dangerous where one should have to decide between remaining in a known position to take a shot or moving to a better/safer location and having to set up again.

Well, before this post becomes a wall of text, I'm just going to end here. I'm sure there are plenty of other reasonable ideas, but as it stands, sniping is an experience that can be even more challenging and rewarding for those who enjoy it. It can also be a role that commands respect.

It's almost like a movie

2008-07-22T23:55:00.003-04:00

Just some food for thought. Grand Theft Auto 4 had a budget of around $100 million. It sold 3.6 million copies on its first day and sold around 9 million in a one month period. The numbers add up to about $500 million on GTA4's first week.

In comparison, The Dark Knight grossed $155 million on opening weekend with a budget of around $180 million.

I understand that a movie's revenue stream doesn't just end at the box office, there's DVD sales and digital rentals to consider but that can be countered with downloadable content and expansion packs on the video game side. Anyway, I just wanted to lay this info out for consideration.

With game studios getting bigger budgets every year backed up with staggering numbers like this coupled with more sophisticated online capabilities, who knows what the game industry will be like in ten years.

Real-time Strategy games to look forward to

2008-07-22T00:56:00.002-04:00

Many of you have probably kept track of StarCraft2, which will undoubtedly be a game that will sell millions of copies globally. But any RTS fan should really remember Red Alert. This fall, EA will be countering with Red Alert 3.

Why Red Alert 3? How about base building on water, a heavy focus on naval combat (dare I say complete maps that are water only?) and a troop carrier that has an aptly named weapon: The Man Cannon.

Not to be outdone, developer Relic and publisher THQ will also be shipping Dawn of War 2 this year. There is still relatively little information available, but this is the latest released gameplay trailer and cinematic trailer.

Any fans of the Warhammer 40k world can speculate whether the Orks, Space Marines and Eldar will be joined by Chaos or Tyranids. If Relic does choose to include Tyranids, it will be an interesting choice, as they will be egging on Blizzard's Zerg counterpart.

Don't worry though, there need not be any mudslinging on which game is ripping off the other's alien hive. They both are ripping off the original Starship Troopers.

The games are also completely different styles of gamplay. While SC2 will focus on the classic RTS gameplay of base building and micromanaging resources with single units, DoW2's focus will be on small tactical armies with very little base building or resource management.

All three games will be very interesting and worth playing for any fan of RTS. I think the three games have very distinct qualities that will appeal to different audiences or those who appreciate just having three separate games to play.

Will gaming on the iPhone be successful?

2008-07-21T01:49:00.004-04:00

It's a good sign when Apple stores are on record as not having 3g iPhones in stocked. Well, ok, that has very little indication as to how gaming will be like on the iPhone. It does, though, show that there is a high demand, and high demand means lots of users. A developer really wants to target as many users as possible and it should be no different that game developers will only invest in developing software for a product that has the most number of users.

And Apple is setting up the proper environment. Since you can download apps directly from itunes, it makes things really easy. To go along with this, Pinch Media's been aggregating data on both top 100 paid and free applications. Not surprising to me, as of this post, the top five iphone paid applications are all games. If we expand out a bit, seven of the top ten paid applications are games.

But it's not just small publishers that are trying to make a quick buck. Big publishers like EA are releasing versions of AAA titled games on the iphone. Like Spore:

And LucasArts with Star Wars: Force Unleashed

Anti-iPhoners and those who don't see a reason to combine their lame Nintendo DS with a mobile device have been voicing their opinions on how gaming would not work very well since their are no buttons for input feedback. I think the videos above show the pioneering effort in not trying to make the old classic game interfaces work, but really trying to do something different. Games for the iPhone are still in its infant stages. There is potential here.

And if you're not a gamer, you could always just turn it into a light saber.

Oh how horrible!

2008-07-18T01:44:00.004-04:00

The title probably doesn't work as well as I want but I am horribly addicted to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. This wonderful epic web series featuring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day is truly going to change the way web shows are looked at. The webisodes are being premiered for free until July 20th and afterward will be available to download for a few bucks each.

As Joss Whedon says in his open letter on the Dr. Horrible site, it's not about making money, but more about paying the crew that invested lots of time and effort into bringing something fresh to the internet.

I'm hoping that it will spark something new. Professional high quality shows made directly for the internet and digitally sold and distributed? Uh oh! What will all those television and movie studios do?

Define game?

2008-07-12T12:07:00.003-04:00

I came across this gameproducers.net article challenging readers to define 'game'. Since I'm not registered, I couldn't reply, and thought it would be better to define it on my own blog. What how would one define a game?

The gameproducers is about video games, my definition is simple and applies to almost everything on the internet: Any activity where one can define a goal, achieve it and redefine the goal with higher requirements.

Life is a game, and as one commenter on gameproducers noted, it just "doesn't have a reset button". Everyone has goals that they set themselves and challenges that they put forth. Some would say games have rules and the rules for life are those defined by the laws of physics and the laws of the government.

The internet is equally a game and this is not a new concept. It was in fact, a big theme at E-Tech in 2007. Jane Mcgonical had a keynote about game design in technology, so did Raph Koster, and Amy Jo Kim on making apps more fun. The idea is that every website is really a game. Forums have post counts and users try to increase their post counts. Maybe they get feedback for the quality of their posts, so they spend time being as relevant as possible. Social networks are huge sites for games -- Number of friends, number of replies, number of tagged pictures, best looking layout, best choice of music.

The rate of return users and frequency of use is a result of the site itself being a game. Users would never stay at a site that wasn't fun or entertaining. The goals are simple in this case: "Can I increase my forum post number by X today?", "What do I have to do to gain X friends in a week?", "Can I beat user Y who has a very similar layout to mine in feedback?". Achieving these goals are satisfying and fun. Being able to redefine the goal is up to the user, they system itself doesn't have to provide goals.

Not have defined goals laid out for you is already prevalent in video games. Grand Theft Auto 4 (and 3) is an open sandbox world, as are numerous others. MMO's have the same thing. Though there are missions, for the most part, once those are done, it's up to the user to create their own challenge.

Anyway, I think this simple definition is something that if tucked in every developer's head, will create some very interesting games, websites and applications. Can you create something that will cultivate users to define their own goals and keep them coming back?

Firefox 3 is out of beta

2008-06-17T22:29:00.002-04:00

I'm sure a lot of other tech blogs out there will give you the full scoop of how Firefox 3 is better than Firefox 2 and the latest iteration of Internet Explorer. But I think you should just download Firefox 3 and see for yourself.

I played with the Beta of Firefox 3 for a long time now and I've been very excited about the full release. It definitely looks better and is faster. It's also a great deal more stable on a Mac than the old Firefox used to be.

And web developers can be content knowing the Firebug and Web Developer both work in FF 3.

Microsoft donates for your addictions

2008-06-10T21:48:00.011-04:00

God may be killing kittens, but Microsoft makes it better.

Microsoft is really trying to get people to use their products. First they work it out with paypal to give users cashback for using microsoft search. Now they're donating to charity for Hotmail and Messenger usage.

I'm on board with these ideas but didn't think it was worth posting about until I got wind of the I'm Initiative. It's great for Microsoft, they get a chance to boost their users. It's great for users, they get money back for doing what they already do (consider cashback credit card + MS cashback). And now with I'm, you get a warm little fuzzy feeling whenever a guy in Peru mistakes you for a girl and hits on you in Spanish.

What? Am I the only person this has happened to?

Iphone app stats? Pinch Media!

2008-05-29T13:45:00.004-04:00

If you're like me, you spent some time playing with the iPhone SDK. At this point you probably built something, but just like when you first developed a website, you didn't really consider how to grab statistics of how your site was doing. Who's visiting? Where they coming from? Where are they going? How long are they staying?

Along comes Pinch Media to provide you this info for free. And the best part is, Pinch Media just launched their analytics tool for iPhone applications today.

Think about what life was like before Google Analytics. It was pretty hard to gather statistical data. You either had to write it yourself, install a package or hope that your webhost had statistics.

Pinch Media is going to save iPhone apps developers a lot of time and effort.

All elected officials should play video games

2008-05-29T02:39:00.002-04:00

Not that I really believe this kid is a hardcore gamer, but it's refreshing to know that a 19 year-old can be a 70 year-old for being elected mayor.

The new mayor admits to playing video games, so what if it's a tiny town in Oklahoma.

I'd vote for him if he ever ran for president.

Fly me to the moon

2008-05-16T21:18:00.003-04:00

My friend's mom is launching a satellite. You can submit your name and it will be launched as part of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter “Send Your Name to the Moon” Project.

As BT said:

Mom's name will be engraved on the hull, names entered at the site will be stored in a microchip. And after the mission is over, the satellite will crash into the moon with all the names on it =P
Fuck, emoticons are back!

The last line has nothing to do with the quote, but he apparently doesn't like Digsby's forced emoticons.

Mr Cuban and Me

2008-05-15T19:48:00.003-04:00

I knew it was a good idea last year to bother Mark Cuban for a moment of his time after an EFF awards ceremony in San Diego. I wanted a picture with a billionaire because, hey, why not, right?

Now that Carl Icahn has decided to put Mark Cuban on Yahoo's proposed board slate, I feel like the circle has been complete.

I don't really have any comments on what Icahn is trying to do or what the future holds for Yahoo, so go away you Valleywag snoops. I do like that he posted thoughts on his blog on how to beat Google. Though I couldn't say if it's a good idea or not, I do find it extremely assuring that he's got his sights set.

Anyway, here is my (extremely bad) picture with Mr. Cuban. Enjoy.

Johnny Lee and his Wiimote

2008-05-10T13:22:00.002-04:00

You've probably seen this guy by now, but he's worth talking about. He basically did some experimentation with the infrared camera on a Wiimote and came up with some pretty interesting results.

I think the most interesting thing to note, as he explains in the above TED video, is his desire to bring technology to those who cannot afford it.

Personally, I'm more interested in what future researchers will be able to realize now that the gates are open. How about 3-D touch games that are powered by an infrared camera and some infrared dots on your head and hands?

How about 3-D photo browsing? Or turning your monitor into an iphone-like touch screen?

Thanks Johnny, you're defining the future.

I Hate the Internet (still)

2008-04-08T00:41:00.003-04:00

Apparently the top searched term that links to my site is "I hate the internet", which links to this article about me hating the internet that I wrote a year and a half ago. I still hate the internet, for various reasons. And since I'd love to become the number one search result of people who seek others who hate the internet, here are the reasons.

Can we all stop being lemmings on YouTube? Ok, I get it, chocolate rain is kind of funny, but I don't need to watch your own personal rendition of it. Sure, digital cameras are cheap now, in fact, they're practically handing them out to you whenever you walk into Circuit City, but still, must you?

Here's a better idea. Now that you bought a camera in order to join this wonderful 2.0 craze of self produced content, do something to become the next internet sensation instead of riding on the coat-tail of someone else's brilliancy. Film yourself for 20 minutes and when you watch the replay, you'll realized you truly are uninteresting. Because if you were, you wouldn't be surfing for videos on YouTube and trying to create a Response Video.

I don't participate in this random adding of friends on MySpace and Facebook. I really do like the concept: keep in touch with old friends, be in the loop with what their doing, and never really have to talk to them. I don't see the point in doing that with people I met once. Stop adding me as your friend. I can't validate your existence for you, guy I met once at a college meet-and-greet.

No, i don't want a free i-pod, a free X-Box, free ringtones, wallpapers or knick-knacks. I don't want a magazine subscription or to find friendly singles like me. No, you didn't just stumble across my profile and want to chat with me. I don't want to see your pictures that got banned by going to your other social network site at genericcamwhores2.com/loosepanties23.

Yes, we get it, anyone who can kill your ranked 50 ass is hacking. What we don't understand is why you're twelve-years old and your mother hasn't beaten you for still being on Halo at 2 in the morning. I also don't understand why people twice your age are actually entertaining your existence by arguing with you. And fix your mic, you sound like a chipmunk using a blender in a wind tunnel.

Also, your passwords are terrible, change them. You're going to get hacked. See previous post for more info.

Let's talk passwords

2008-04-03T00:40:00.006-04:00

As the internet becomes more applicable to storing everything you need in your entire life, it also creates larger risk if someone were to find a way to break in.

How many applications of yours use the same password? There's a good chance that if I know you're email address and password, I have access to everything you belong to. How many of these could someone break into at once for you? Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AIM, Y!IM, MSN, Ebay, Amazon, YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, iTunes, Citibank, Washington Mutual, E-trade, TradeKing, ING, and of course, Girls Gone Wild Online.

If you're using the same password for more than any two of those sites listed above, there's a good chance a hacker will try out the same email/password combination for those sites.

Okay, so nobody is insane enough to have a different password for each site and I understand that. It doesn't mean though, that we can't work on trying to create a password that will not be easy to steal. You already know passwords should have both letters and numbers, at the very least, so I won't baby you. But you probably only have numbers at the end of your password, right?

Remember, a hacker isn't targeting a person specifically, they're just trying to find the weakest link in order to break in somewhere. They don't really care who you are, only that they can get to your stuff. A hacker may only try combinations of passwords that begin with lowercase letters and end with numbers, knowing that's what most users do and hoping you're one of them (remember, in the computer world, lowercase letters are different than uppercase letters).

So what's a good password that I can remember?

I always tell people to create sentences, because even a single number thrown into the middle of a password will decrease the chances of being hacked significantly.

Here's some examples:

il0veCats - the 'O' is a zero. It's short, easy to remember, and the number and capital letter gets you out of basic hacking range.
gr8shesL8 - Great, shes late. A simple sentence, but uses 8's to form words.

If you're really serious about a good password, throwing in a symbol increases your safety even more. Think about sentences like this:

hey!Thatsm1ne = Hey! That's mine. The exclaimation mark is easy to use in a sentence, which most people automatically want to use a capital letter afterward. The 1 in the word 'mine' creates added safety as well.

Some of your passwords are too long, dude

You're right. Unfortunately some sites still only allow passwords that should be eight letters. These sites probably aren't very secure.

My next recommendation is always to have three different passwords memorized.

1) A trivial eight character length password for basic things.

2) A very secure eight character length password for sites you think should be secure

3) A longer length password, remember, the longer it is, the safer it is. But it should only be as long as you are comfortable in typing it over and over daily.

Having three passwords at least ensures that a hacker won't be able to break in to everything. And who says the passwords can't all be the same?

lovecats, l0veCats, and omg!il0veCats are completely different passwords in the computer world.

And lastly, pin codes

Nowadays, banks have evolved to beyond just having 4 number pins for your ATM card. The scary part is that some banks use your pin as the password to your online banking login. Keep in mind that the rules still apply. Longer is better. And with pins, since you can't use letters and symbols for security, length is your only safety.

So how to form words with just numbers? Just try to think of some numbers as letters.

811194732 - BILLGATES. Ok, not really easy to grasp, but think of the 8 as a 'B', the 1 as both an 'I' and 'L', the 9 as a lowercase 'G' and so on. It's only your pin, so it really only has to make sense for you.

You won't be able to form every word you want, but it works.

Go change your passwords

Now spend some time and go change your passwords. You'll find that if you come up with a good one, you won't even have to write it down (which is also very bad).

Congrats, your secret internet life is now a little more safe and secure.

The Future of Mobile

2008-03-02T01:53:00.005-05:00

There are some big players banking that mobile is the next big thing. Google has android, Dell is thinking about making a handset, Apple is killing with the iPhone, and various services are experimenting with GPS (friend finding, directions).

Let's try to picture the future for a moment. Let's imagine a post 3G world where mobile bandwidth is as good as or better than wi-fi hotspots. You're handset is anonymously tracked and the bottom inch of your 4-inch touch screen randomly shuffles through ads based on where you are.

An Exxon is coming up, perhaps you should stop for gas.

There's a Best Buy at the next exit, and oh, Blu-Ray box sets are 20% off.

Macy's is two blocks up, and they're having a sale (today only!).

And those are just the involuntary suggestions.

You hit a button, select restaurants, and suddenly, you're zoomed in on a map that shows the 10 closest eateries within 4 blocks.

You pick the nearest restaurant and you bump into some girl you met the other night at a party. She says hi to you, but you don't remember who she is. After making some small chit-chat with her you pull out your cellphone and beam a blue tooth request to her. She acknowledges your request and beams back her info.

That's right, you totally remember her now that you have her cell number, email, and links to Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn.

Your friend walks in right as the girl leaves and says hi to you. He saw that your GPS Twitter auto-update had you pegged at this location.

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Mind you, in my future, I assume that people are all voluntarily enabling this sort of tracking and open access to information about one's self. I'm not really here to discuss the social or ethical implications of the scenarios provided above, I just think it's kind of interesting.

There's a great deal of opportunity for advertisers, startups, and tech-savvy users who want to be THAT connected to the internet.