I have my phone acting as a high-speed modem for my laptop via USB. Neat… I never tried this before, but this hotel had no Internet, so it was worth the frustration. Of course, I had to use the phone to Google the instructions, then keep switching back and forth.
I realized that it has been a while since I posted anything about how it is going — so here’s a bit about recent happenings.
The big thing first — yes, more alpha testers are getting in this week. 🙂 So if you’re not in yet, well, time to start calculating the odds again. Remember, there were 10,000 people in line alongside you.
Naturally enough, we are paying close attention to participation on the forums — lots of great discussions there, and a great pool of potential folks to let in early. Of course, the gang there is near and dear to my heart because they have embraced the sqronk (you’ll just have to visit to find out what that means…!)
We’ve also been doing a weekly blog post with info — the latest one just went up. These are pretty detailed posts, too, sometimes with code samples. Among the topics covered:
For example:
Is flying cross-country all stuffed up with a head cold. I can’t hear out of one ear now.
Unfortunately, I have several more days of travel. I’ll be doing a panel at MIT’s Futures of Entertainment on Friday over in Boston.
Just finished watching the recorded episode of Numb3rs I had on the DVR. It was about an MMO crossed with an ARG.
Two thoughts:
Anyway, it got surprisingly more right than it got wrong — the distinction between MMORPG and ARG for example, proper use of the term “PvP,” and even a clear distinction between fantasy violence and real life violence. And it did show the huge diversity of game players: a cute old grandma, a biker dude, a day trader, a district attorney.
Most importantly though, it said that the head of the game company making the game was named Binky. Yes, as in Chris “Binky” Launius. Possibly a scribe or consultant knows whereof they speak?
By sheer coincidence, two different friends sent me links to a couple of notable fingerstyle guitarists within the span of just a few hours. One of them was Andy McKee; the other was Don Ross. And of course, these two guys play together from time to time as well. You can get a good taste of what these guys can do by checking them out on YouTube — for example, McKee’s version of “Africa.”
Wait, don’t go listen yet. I’ll sound awful in comparison. 🙂
Anyway, I noticed somewhere that the tuning that McKee was using was CGCGBbC. So I figured I’d give it a whirl, and this is what popped out after a couple of hours. Unfortunately, I developed a blister on my finger pretty early into the process, and ended up with a performance I am really not very happy with. Lots and lots of timing issues. 🙁 On top of that, I don’t think I managed to capture the resonance of the guitar very well in the recording this time… a tuning like this excites harmonics all over, and should sound rich and deep, but it sounds a little harsh and tinny when I listen through my desktop speakers. But here it is anyway. (If you still want to listen after all those disclaimers!)
