Streakmachine

Nintendo kicks “Let’s Play” videos off YouTube then slaps ads on them

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:00:35 +0200

Nintendo kicks “Let’s Play” videos off YouTube then slaps ads on them:

I’m far from always on Nintendo’s side, and this is definitely one of those times when I’m not. This whole thing just stinks.

How to Convince People WiFi Is Making Them Sick

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:00:14 +0200

How to Convince People WiFi Is Making Them Sick:

Pretty interesting stuff. Also, I learned the word “nocebo” today.

Here’s Nine Minutes From Shadow Of The Eternals

Sun, 12 May 2013 15:00:30 +0200

Here’s Nine Minutes From Shadow Of The Eternals:

This needs to get funded! Looks pretty darn good so far, and I’d love to have more Eternal Darkness goodness coming, even it’s “just” a spiritual successor.

International Space Station switches from Windows to Linux, for improved reliability

Sun, 12 May 2013 10:30:21 +0200

International Space Station switches from Windows to Linux, for improved reliability:

From my perspective, this just plain makes sense.

[Via: The Loop]

Here’s Five Minutes Of Gameplay Footage From Watch Dogs

Sat, 11 May 2013 19:30:25 +0200

Here’s Five Minutes Of Gameplay Footage From Watch Dogs:

Excitement: Building!

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Sold 310,000 Copies On Wii U

Sat, 11 May 2013 15:00:21 +0200

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Sold 310,000 Copies On Wii U:

Keep in mind that this is not a game that sells for $0.99 either. SEGA has made a boat-load of money off of this, and clearly there are people out there buying both games and the WiiU… oh sorry. I’m supposed to say something along the lines of “Nintendo is teh d00med”, “They’re doing it wrong”, and “traditional games, consoles, and game pricing is wrong because Apple isn’t doing it.”, aren’t I?

Anticipating iOS 7 - What Will Jony Ive Bring To The Table?

Wed, 08 May 2013 23:05:29 +0200

Anticipating iOS 7 - What Will Jony Ive Bring To The Table?:

My first article for All Things Apple has been published today, and you really should go read it! I’m pretty biased, but I do think it’s quite good.

Playing with paper: with Pixel Press, design your own game by drawing it

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:00:25 +0200

Playing with paper: with Pixel Press, design your own game by drawing it:

Seriously awesome!

'Pop idol' robot converses with customers at Osaka store

Fri, 03 May 2013 15:00:17 +0200

'Pop idol' robot converses with customers at Osaka store:

Sure, it’s very impressive from many aspects, but it still creeps me out. It’s the dead eyes, I think.

tinycartridge: Off of the newest 8bitpeoples release, Sulumi...

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:00:29 +0200

tinycartridge:

Off of the newest 8bitpeoples release, Sulumi takes Nanoloop to the next level and delivers a MASSIVE dance track. The other two remixes on there are just as brilliant, including a remix by Covox, who never fails to amaze me. As usual with 8bitpeoples, the release is completely free.

If you hadn’t heard about it, you should also really check out Nanoloop. It’s deceptively simple software available for a variety of platforms (including iOS and Android).
BUY a Nanoloop-inspired shirt from Fangamer

Consider this a part of Chiptune Friday!

Sega controller houses auto-launch emulator

Wed, 01 May 2013 19:30:10 +0200

Sega controller houses auto-launch emulator:

Very slick little hack, and a clever use for the CDFS auto start trick!

Troy Hunt: Your Mac, iPhone or iPad may have left the Apple store with a serious security risk

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:00:19 +0200

Troy Hunt: Your Mac, iPhone or iPad may have left the Apple store with a serious security risk:

And in relation to the previous link, Troy Hunt has a few things to share.

Wifi Pineapple project uses updated hardware for man-in-the-middle attacks

Wed, 01 May 2013 10:30:13 +0200

Wifi Pineapple project uses updated hardware for man-in-the-middle attacks:

It’s not expensive, nor is it particularly difficult to set up a really slick MITM attack these days!

Three Years

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:00:23 +0200

Without any fanfare, mostly because I’m a parent now, the third birthday of this site rolled by last week. Usually this is the time of the year when I sit down and reflect upon what I have done with the site over the last year and make some reasonably bold plans for the coming year.

For three years I have been yelling into the wind, fighting the windmills, trying to bring something of value to the horribly overpopulated world of online tech commentary. I’m not sure I’ve made any difference, although some things have at least garnered some slight international attention. So what now? Keep shuffling along and hope for the best? Not quite.

I think it’s about time I get more serious about this whole thing if it’s going to get anywhere. That means a few things will have to be different, going forward. Hang on to your pants, kids, it’s gonna’ get bumpy!

There Will Be Changes

For good or bad, there will be changes around here. It’s still very much my site and I intend to keep it that way. As you might have seen the last couple of months. I have been experimenting with doing a lot of linking to things that interest me, and I intend to continue doing that. I will, however, make it say to see only the linked posts or my writings, in case you only like one but not the other.

There Will Be Podcasts

The Streak Speaks will return! But that’s not all, it’ll be joined by at least one new podcast that I will tell you more about when the project has matured a bit more. If you’re into electronic entertainment, it’ll be right up your alley!

There Will Be Moving Hosts

I have been living on tumblr, not a prayer, since mid 2010, and while the experience has been great, there are things that are starting to worry me about the future viability of this arrangement. I also don’t like the ads and pushing people to tumblr just from visiting my site. Now is a good time to move to a dedicated server as any other.

There Will Be A New Design

Together with the move to a new hosting service, it’s time to improve and update the look of the site. Don’t worry, it’ll still be very minimalistic and pleasant for the eyes. It’s all about the content and I think that’s the way it should be presented. There’s just a lot I want to do in terms of user experience, both in aesthetics and speed on all different kinds of devices.

Anything Else?

There are a few other things up on the whiteboard, but not far gone enough for me to talk about it just yet.

But What About Financing?

I haven’t made a penny off of the site in terms of advertising, and given how few of you out there actually visit the actual site, there will be no more ads here. I frankly find them to be an eyesore and they ruin the general user experience of almost any site. So bye-bye to ads!

There will also not be paywalls or memberships offered either, as I don’t like the ideas, nor do I have enough of you lovely people come read my stuff for it to be profitable for me anyways. Less for me to setup, manage and keep up to date, which I like!

The only way you’ll be able to support this site (financially) will be through the virtual tip jar, and through buying the digital wares I’ll be making available in the near future. No more taking control out of my and the readers hands!

Naturally, if things change I could reconsider my stance, but for the time being I prefer to have it as easy as can be for both me and you, dear reader.

So. Welcome to the next phase of Streakmachine.com!

Henry Doesn't Get iOS Multitasking

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 19:30:00 +0200

Henry Blodget published a (probably) well-meaning little article over on his hole on the web, Business Insider, all about how you can save battery life on your iPhone. No link to it because, well, Business Insider and Henry Blodget. Nuff’ said!

Blodget goes through some actually realistic and sensible advice, like turning down the screen brightness and switching off the feature to auto adjust the lighting level. Just how useful it might be in real life is hard to say, but you would definitely save power by having a lower lighting level.

The second tip is a bit silly, as I find it hard to believe that anyone who owns an iOS device would not know how to sleep the screen. But given who probably reads on Business Insider, I guess those 4 people now know what that little button up on the top right of their devices actually does. Of course, there’s nothing incorrect about the notion of sleeping your screen as soon as you’re done using the device for the moment in order to save battery.

So, not too bad for old Henry so far, right? Two out of two tips correct and even somewhat realistically able to save some electricity. Well, then we get to the last nugget of wisdom* in this whole piece.

And of course it’s about multitasking. The same old trope again, just like it has been ever since Apple unleashed the feature back in iOS4. Anything and everything “wrong” with iOS pertaining to battery life gets blamed on the multi-tasking, which is explained to work in the exact opposite way of how Apple has implemented the function. Naturally, Blodget gets it completely wrong, as so many others have done before him.

But don’t take it from me, listen to someone who really knows his shit; Fraser Speirs:

Let me be as clear as I can be: the iOS multitasking bar does not contain “a list of all running apps”. It contains “a list of recently used apps”. The user never has to manage background tasks on iOS.

Fraser Speirs explains iOS multi-tasking

So yeah. Those apps down there in the “multitasking bar” on your iOS device? Not something you need to concern yourself with, unless they’re coded by monkeys who don’t know better, but that’s pretty much and edge-case. Basically, you really shouldn’t ever need to worry yourself with these kinds of details, that’s for the system to deal with.

iOS 7 - The Ive-ing!

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:48:24 +0200

Rumors of late have been talking about how Jony Ive have been pushing hard for a “flatter design” in the upcoming iOS 7, which does make sense considering how he apparently feels about the “skeuomorphic” designs of the past few versions of the system.

Are we not just focusing on the veneer once more? Looking at the aesthetics on top of the system, rather than what lies beneath it? While a lot of us could perhaps appreciate a refresh of the graphics used in the GUI, this is by no means reason enough for adding another version number on the system as a whole. This is stuff that could be pushed out in a point release, really.

Looking at the Apple Podcasts app might be an indication of the new Ive-direction of GUI aesthetics, or just that whoever bolted it together got bored of the reel-to-reel animation and made it more functional, in a minimalist sense.

If Apple feels a need to pull engineers from OS X development in order to get iOS under control again, then so be it and it’s far from new. Back when the original iPhone was getting ready that was the case as well, so seeing almost the same story once more doesn’t surprise me, should it be true. Besides, if they get some more time to think about OS X 10.9 then surely that’s not a bad thing.

It would be good to remember that there are a lot of changes at Apple now, with the system teams from OS X and iOS merging into one, directed by Craig “Hair Force One” Federighi. This would logically make the transition between developing for iOS and OS X smoother and hopefully quicker, rather than as it probably was back in 2006/2007 where iOS was most likely a skunkworks project behind some very large doors. And a certain Scott Forstall standing guard at the door, ready to shoot you down with lasers. You know which lasers I’m talking about…

Rumors are fine and all, and the people who are talking about these things at least have some kind of closer connection with real people at Apple, and not some weird voices in their heads like most of the numb-nuts who talk on Wall Street. All I’m saying is that just because Jony Ive is now in charge of pretty much all the industrial design aesthetics, both in hardware and software, we need not put everything on his particular table, so to speak. There are a great deal of other things that may have caused any delay in iOS7 announcements, not just that Mr. Ive wants everything to be “flatter”.

Please people, try to think beyond what your eyes see. There’s so horribly much more to iOS and Mac OS X than just the surface, as well designed as it might be!

Official Grand Theft Auto Radio Playlists on Spotify and iTunes

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 10:30:11 +0200

Official Grand Theft Auto Radio Playlists on Spotify and iTunes:

There’s some really good stuff in these lists, specially from my favorite game in the series; Vice City. Yes, I’m a total and complete sucker for that 80s look and feel.

Cut The Rope Coming To Nintendo 3DS eShop

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:30:21 +0200

Cut The Rope Coming To Nintendo 3DS eShop:

Another game that started its life as a smartphone game is moving over to a conventional portable games console. I don’t think I mind that as long as they do a good job porting it!

we used to sleep twice each night

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:00:13 +0200

we used to sleep twice each night:

zenhabits:

Artificial light has changed the way we sleep.

Utterly fascinating!

The new Sim City is a tad broken in some aspects, yes…

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:30:05 +0200

The new Sim City is a tad broken in some aspects, yes…:

Really, EA? Might I suggest a patch or a few to address the growing list of issues and problems people have found with this game?