Categories
Digressions

#Throwback Column: Geek Life Unplugged: A New Year Resolution

*This column originally appeared in February 2007 for Mobile Philippines Magazine under Hinge Media Inc.

Column: The Prodigal Screen Protector and other Bedtime Stories

I found that the best way to measure your geek factor would be to turn off all the lights in your room and see how many blinking lights are left on. Upon last count, I had at least ten: speaker, keyboard, flashing monitor light, external HD, cellphone (ooh bright OLED screen), DSL modem, wireless router lights, iBook sleep light, power brick, and extension cord lights galore. I began my new year resolution early by making sure that the only lights I saw during the holidays were the Christmas lights from the tree and houses.

It’s pretty hard to detach oneself from the computer screen – closing Yahoo! Messenger, Friendster and ultimately the lid of the good ‘ol iBook. For someone who works from home, the temptation of staying in bed equals the freelancing spirit of going out to socialize and network. So I figured that it would make much more sense to merge that geek lifestyle with a little bit of fresh air – considering that most of the work gets done during the hours of the midnight oil. Here are some suggestions to keep busy while still keeping geeky:

Enroll in a gym
I was never the gym person because the gym, as I saw it, was more of a female watching spectator sport and I just got bored pushing and pulling weights. Not until I learned to schedule my podcast listening session during gym time. Not only do you stay healthy – but you’re up to date with the latest technology news. I try to work out at least 3x a week (yeah right!) so for the most part I schedule my three sessions into three podcast listening sessions: Leo Laporte’s TWiT, This Week in Media and The Cellphone Junkie. If I do decide to go the extra mile and work out longer, there are dozens of other obscure podcasts made available – you won’t run out! Hey, and if ever you do feel that urge to pull out your phone, there’s always a way to get on with mobile bingo — that way you’re entertained AND fit on the treadmill.

Join a geek community
As Jason de Villa, founder of MaPalad once said, it would be a little pathetic to lust over your gadgets, as there are other people who own the same stuff you have AND are much more interesting. Do you own a Windows Mobile Device? Pinoy Windows Mobile (pinoywindowsmobile.com) is for you. A Palm device you say? Then its MaPalad.org. Into photography? There’s always Photos.ph and if you’re into the lomo craze, lomomanila.ph. There’s PhilMUG.ph and Pinoy Mac for Mac users and yes – if you love to blog, there’s always the Pinoy group of bloggers (just do a Google keyword search for Philippine Blogcon 2007). As a member of several of these groups, I’ve managed to fill up my schedule with events and “wala lang” meets without me having to figure out what I should do for the week.

Write for a geek magazine
There’s nothing wrong with “monetizing your passion.” If you’re passionate about gadgets, you can always drop an email to the magazine of your choice. Now for the segue – we’re always on the lookout for passionate writers. If you think you have what it takes to review shiny shiny gadgets, don’t hesitate to drop an email at [email protected].

You can read Jayvee over at his personal blog at www.abuggedlife.com.

Categories
Underwater

Underwater Dispatches: Sombrero Island in Wide Angle

After five months of not getting my much needed #VitaminSEA, I was able to tag along with two friends on a day trip to Sombrero Island. We did a total of three dives on Saturday and although I’ve had the RX100 for more than two years, this was the first time I actually went all-out with wide angle photography. The previous dives always had some technical malfunction with the strobes and I wasn’t sure whether it had more to do with wrong prepping or actual hardware failure — my left strobe always had issues. As it turns out, the strobe wasn’t set to shoot as slave.

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Categories
Digressions

Schmidt’s x Llucia: Serious Hotdogs and Churros

Address:
2nd Floor Robinson’s Madison Mall
Don Jesus Blvd (Alabang Hills)

Madison is a new community mall that popped up right across the new Hillsborough Church after the Alabang Hills exit. It’s a boon for people from Alabang Hills, Hillsborough and BF Homes who want to experience new places to eat without having to cross Alabang-Zapote to get to Alabang Town Center. Strategically, Madison’s line of restaurant offerings are fresh — the Japanese restaurant ABURI is a must-try, and I heard that Relish will be opening soon as well.

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Categories
Mostly Everything

3 reasons why your game app will never sell

Common mistakes of the novice app developer to avoid

If you are into gaming and technology, then the odds are that at one point or another you have contemplated making your own game app. They are popular, they are in demand, and what would be greater than having a game that actually provides you with revenue? You get the software, you develop your app, but the game does not do well. Why is this? Here are three common mistakes that the novice game app developer makes which keeps them from ever selling their game app.

1. Your game is like all the rest available
The number one thing that stops a game from being desirable is that it is too cliché. Regardless of whether or not the game is 2D or is based on 3D models, if it is too much like another game, people will simply go with the more popular option. Do you remember Flappy Birds? After its popularity there was an overabundance of games available which mimicked the game app. However, most of these games have fallen by the wayside.

Choose a game that has something unique and addictive to play. Yes, you can build upon something which has already been created so long as you do not infringe on copyright laws. As a matter of fact it is advised that you do so and add that unique twist. What you want to avoid is mirroring a game app. Most gaming platforms have a forum of some kind for their developers. Do not be afraid to use the forum to find out what gamers want. The phone gaming market is different from the traditional gamer market (such as PS4 and x-box). Where the traditional gamer wants the open world concepts and very high 3D interactivity, the phone market will want something engaging but not taxing on their data plan. Use the forums to find what people want, create a storyboard, and move forward.

2. You forgot to debug the program
An app has to work. Period. And although the program may function well, games which have long loading times may be perceived as faulty. This is the first area you need to check. Secondly, If you have a game application that only works on one platform but crashes on other programs, it will be a failure. Always test your game out on various platforms with various processing. Try if you can to test your program on 2G, 3G, and 4G phones both Android and iPhone to ensure that you maximize the amount of people who can use your app.
AKM model
In addition to you personally testing the game app, use an actual debugging program. There are several which are available. Of course, the more professional the software is, the finer tuned your program will be. Finally, do Alpha and Beta testing on your app so that real world users can notify you of any bugs. Once notified fix the problem quickly. Lags in development and fixes can quickly ruin your game app.

3. The content used for the development of the game has a high polygon count
If you think of your phone as a miniature computer (which in most cases it is) and you keep the processing and the storage in mind, it makes since that the game has to be optimized to the phone. Yet, in many cases the novice game developer will use the best looking 3D models but not the best suited models in their games. Unity and other game engines have reduced the probability of using objects which are too high poly for a phone.
As a game developer, choose low polygon models from the beginning. Most 3D CGI purchasing sites allow for you to specify that you want a game 3D model, character, tree, prop, or effect. The lower the poly count the quicker the game will perform. Remember, the more stuff that is in the game the slower the game will perform. The last thing that you want is for your game to be glitch, for the character to have unnatural movements, or for the phone to freeze up/lock up on the user.

The bottom line
The key to having your successful game is the same as any endeavor that you take on. Do it to the best of your ability. Plan what you want to produce, research to see if there are similar games on the market, think of a unique twist on the game which will make your game more desirable than that which is available, and develop it fully. If you are using a free game development software, take the time to understand how that program works and the requirements of the 3D models and assets so that your game is optimized for performance.

Categories
Geek

#Throwback Column: Titillating scandals of text

This piece originally appeared in March 2006 for MPH Magazine.

Column: The Prodigal Screen Protector and Other Bedtime Stories
Title: Titillating scandals of text
Subhead: There are those rare moments when the demo unit reveals all

There’s a reason why I love reviewing phones for m|ph. In the beginning I ‘d choose to review phones for the pure sake of gadget bliss. Lately however, I’ve wanted to get the last dib on mobile phones, from the long line of people from the press and the rest of the local tech community. You heard that right. I like being the last person to review a press unit. But why, pray tell am I so excited to get the tail end of this month’s tech?

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