Zephyrus of the Anemoi

EDIT: The Zappn blog recently posted a list of new features that have been added since launch. I highly recommend checking them out and just giving the site a tour.

I started this post back in May (the 29th, to be exact), but did not finish it as several features of the Zappn.com site were still in development. To ensure your first experience with them was a favorable one, I let them resolve said issues before I posted it. Of course, then I also got lazy and forgot to do the actual posting.

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I spent several hours tonight at the Zappn.com launch event, which was an excellent party and a perfect way to bring to life a new kind of social network. You see, at Zappn, it’s not about who you know, but rather what you do. So, for the inauguration of the new service, the Swindlr crew threw a party and let everyone sign up for an account and make comments during the party.

I was one of the lucky few to get a special beta of their iPhone app that let me make comments from my iPhone during the course of the party. Of course, anyone that was on Twitter and put #zappnlaunch in their tweet was also automatically parsed from Twitter and posted, as well. But I still felt special.

Anyway, the guys had a really sweet setup for the party. They had several computers set up with the several “Zappn girls” (special Zappn ambassadors for Kansas City that were onsite) to help get people set up with their new account and to show them how the site worked. They also partnered with Coca-Cola to provide Sprite Green to all attendees (verdict: pretty good, but not good enough to become my drink of choice; however, it is excellent when mixed with vodka and pomegranate juice). To top the night off, NOMATHMATICS was there to provide some excellent audible ambience to the evening.

So now, let me break down the service for you:

Right now, when you want to organize an event, you send out invites to all your friends via Facebook, e-mail, Twitter, whatever. Then, at the event, you and your friends take tons of pictures and throughout the night you either post the pictures and your feelings to Twitter or Facebook, or you wait until you get home and you (and all your friends) post the pictures to Snapfish, Photobucket, whatever, and then you use Twitter, email, etc. to tell all your friends to go check them out.

Well, Zappn incorporates all of those things into one service. So now, you go to Zappn and you create an event. Then you invite your friends via Zappn to come to your event. Then, while at the event, you upload your pictures and comments to Zappn directly from the event. And when you get home, you import your photos and upload them to Zappn. So, buy the end of the whole “eventstravaganza”, you can go back and see everything in one place.

The iPhone app is still a work in progress and is the only thing preventing this service from being the premier event organizer on the Internet. Once it hits, you can be certain that any event worth attending will be a Zappn event.

As soon as the iPhone app is available, I promise to have a review of it up, as it is being developed to have additional features to help with finding events to attend and allowing you to easily update your Zappn events on-the-go. I’ll be watching this space, and I suggest that you do, too.

My cousin just sent me this via AIM on his iPhone. He’s at work in the basement of his college library where cell service is unabashedly terrible.

“ok so push notifications work down here over wifi. I have no cell coverage and I’m getting notifications.”

If that isn’t a reason to get rid of SMS in favor of a push-enabled IM app, I don’t know what is.

I am disabling text messages on my phone as I can now receive them via push notification on my iPhone through AOL Instant Messenger. So, if you need to reach me and your phone supports AIM, use that instead. If, however, you prefer to use an alternative IM client (MSN, Yahoo!, Facebook, etc.) please let me know and as soon as a multi-protocol client is ready for push notification on the iPhone, I will switch to that.

Thanks for your understanding in reducing my cell phone bill and in sticking it to the price-gouging bastards at AT&T (and all other cell companies that force you to pay so damned much for a 160 character message).

i have been roland, beowulf, achilles, gilgamesh; i have been called a
hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the world goes
dim and cold. i am a hero.

she has been nameless since our birth; a constant adversary, caring for
nothing but my ruin, a sword drenched in my blood; forever my greatest
and only love. she is the dark one; the enemy and lover without whom
my very existence would be pathetic and vulgar. her eyes steam and boil
in the night (she is fantastically beautiful yet i cannot stand the sight
of her). our relationship is complex and perhaps eternal.

we met once in the garden, at the beginning of the world and unaware of
our twin destinies (not the garden of Genesis, but another; forgotten,
untended and now choked with weeds, unvisited except for ourselves).
we matched stares across a dry fountain, and i recall her smiling at me
before she devoured the lawn and trees with a translucent blue flame and
tore flagstones from the path and hurled them into the sky screaming my
sins.

our reunions there are epic battles fought without quarter, often in
the dark as the moon is seldom visible and the sun never. i powder a
granite monument in a soundless flash, showering the grass with molten
drops of its gold inlay, sending smoking chips of stone skipping into
the fog. she splinters an ancient oak with a force that takes my
breath and hurls me to the ground. she leaves and i lie in the slow
rain of burning slivers of wood, staring at the low, dark clouds,
craving our next meeting.

My dear friend and former roommate Elijah Loving just launched the revamped edition of his website, The Sixth Age. The Sixth Age is a graphic novel that he has been working on for the last couple years. The site was scheduled to officially launch on May 31st, but we were lucky enough to be granted access several days early. I highly recommend stopping by, perusing the art gallery that is available, and catch up on the info available about this world that Eli is building.

A little bit of info I think everyone should know about Elijah Loving:

• He plays goalie in soccer (footy if you’re European).
• His artwork is amazing.
• He once had a concussion that required he be awakened every 2 hours during the night. Since I was the only person that cared enough about him to do this horribly difficult job, I watched the entire* Star Wars trilogy with him in one night. He didn’t even make it through A New Hope before succumbing to the brain hemorrhage and I had to start smacking him awake.
• He beat Chuck Norris in a fight, but because he’s such a humble person, he has lied about it ever since to preserve Chuck’s image and ego.
• He is more organized than you.

So if any of these fun facts has inspired you to learn more about the awesome-sauce that pumps through his veins or how it can result in such incredibly cool watercolor art, then visit his site now.

*By “entire”, I am referring to the only Star Wars movies that matter, i.e. the original trilogy. If you disagree with this statement, kindly remove yourself from my website and do not breed.

This Next week, I’m going to be bringing you a number of reviews of iPhone apps I’ve been using lately. But before I do that, I wanted to point out a few apps I’ve been on the fence about but think would make really great additions to my collection.

Oregon Trail – This is essentially the same game we played as kids (assuming that most of my readers are past their childhoods) on Apple IIGS and IIE computers in grade school. However, the graphics have received a complete overhaul (even compared to the more robust Mac version from 10-15 years ago). The nicest part of this game is the addition of a number of new mini-games instead of just hunting and rafting the river at the end of the game. While I haven’t purchased this one yet, it’s at the top of my list as I know my son will enjoy it and am looking forward to wasting my day away placing my “friends” into my family and laughing as they die of dysentery.

Myst – With graphics that appear to be from the DVD-rerelease of Myst in the Anniversary Collection and a new touch-screen interface that makes playing this game extremely easy, this has been heralded as the best version of Myst yet. While I was rather partial to RealMyst from the early ’00s, I can’t argue that this game is flooding my brain with memories of trying to solve a number of puzzles that were just difficult enough (and too difficult in terms of that blasted audible puzzle, though I still blame that on not being able to play with proper headphones in a quiet home) to keep me engaged for hours. I hope that this game is successful enough that the sequels will see a rerelease, as well.

Pocket Tanks Deluxe – I have not yet played this game, but I own the Mac version and wasted a great many hours on it back in college. My son loves the Mac version, as well. This is actually the most robust artillery game I have ever played. With a variety of weapons randomly generated for you and your enemy to choose from, the variety of every battle is guaranteed. As you play the game, you will need to adjust your aiming (as well as your thinking) based on which weapon you’re using. I highly recommend this game to anyone that loves artillery games, has played this original Mac version, or who just plain wants to waste several hours of their life blasting away at their friends and family (two-player pass-and-play is included).

Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor – Since the release of the iPhone, I have been waiting for an iPhone version of Diablo. I have been teased with games like iDracula (which is more like Geometry Wars meets Van Helsing) and have been very nearly satisfied with Underworlds (for which a more robust review will be coming). But Chronicles promises a very uncomplicated and direct type of Diablo clone. Simply tapping to move and to attack, with a minimalist HUD to enhance usability of the touchscreen and an anime/J-RPG art style, I’ve long been looking at this game as a way to pass the time. Perhaps once finished with Underworlds, I will look to this to fill the gap left behind.

The Quest – I have long been a fan of The Bard’s Tale series of games. For those that have never played a Western-style RPG but rather only played J-RPGs like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, Western RPGs focus more on the view of the world through the eyes of the player. While Oblivion and Morrowind are often cited today, when I was younger the king of kings was The Bard’s Tale series. Gameplay for this game can be difficult to explain if you’ve never played RPGs from this era/category. So I recommend checking out the lite version.

Orions: Legend of Wizards – This particular game I’ve been looking at for a long time. The primary draw is the concept of a card-based strategy game that I can take with me everywhere. The pick-up-and-play nature of the game is also a big draw, as receiving a phone call or having to do actual work does not result in starting over or losing progress. While the game is not as robust as say Magic: The Gathering, it certainly does appear to satiate the desire to play something extra-nerdy where manipulation of stats to your advantage will be a key skill.

Last Cannon – What at first appears to be a simple missile command-style game quickly evolves into so much more. With a dark story (that of you manning the final cannon on your planet in an attempt to fend off the invading alien hordes), a puzzle mechanic based around destroying groups of enemies of the same color, and simple controls, this game has quickly garnered excellent reviews. For only 99¢, I still don’t know why I haven’t purchased it yet. It will be on my iPhone soon.

I read this over at 8-Bit Theater quite some time ago and wanted to tell you all about it, but got distracted and saved it as a draft. I figured I might as well show it to you now. Enjoy!

This post is in direct response to a post by my friend MisterD on his tumblog. It concerns Star Trek and it is laden with spoilers. So, if you still haven’t seen it yet, don’t read this. Also, go out right now and see the movie. What’s wrong with you? Where are your priorities?

Now, on to the important stuff. But first, select episodes of Star Trek (the digitally remastered versions) are available on iTunes for 99¢ each. You can get there via this link here.

WARNING: Ahead there be spoilers!

(more…)

At the suggestion of @pulletsforever that bloggers embed episodes of Dollhouse on Hulu into their blogs, I thought I’d give it a shot. Here are the final two episodes is a link to the final episode (because Hulu does their embeds stupidly) of the first season below. I recommend going back to watch the episode prior to the finale if you haven’t seen it already. If you have seen them already, watch them again. Nothing says “money” to execs like repeat viewings. Enjoy!

To whom it may concern:

I would like to take a moment of your time to plead the case for Dollhouse. It has had a rocky season and it needs all the help it can get.

First, I would like to thank you for the little things that were different in the way Dollhouse was handled versus Firefly. I’m sure the number of fans that assaulted your company was very high when Dollhouse first began airing (and they feared that the show was being “mangled” by the studio), crippling its chances of success. Likewise, a similar situation probably occurred when it was believed that the studio was intentionally holding back an episode of the show instead of airing it (due to the issues with funding for a pilot that was never aired versus a DVD release of 13 episodes.

I would like to apologize on behalf of those fans. They desperately want this show to succeed and don’t always realize that they may be hurting its chances rather than helping.

Now, on to the meat of the matter. As I’m sure you are aware, Dollhouse is a show that faces some stiff opposition. In a technological landscape that allows fans to download complete episodes of their favorite shows the day after they air (both legally and illegally), watch them for free via websites that are already looking to the future of broadcasting (such as Hulu), and record their preferred shows via DVR and skip past the commercials, advertising dollars for big-budget shows like Dollhouse can be hard to come by. On top of all that, the difficulty in getting reliable viewing numbers with the antiquated Nielsen system make shows like Dollhouse difficult to keep spending money on. How can you be certain you’re getting a proper return-on-investment?

Unfortunately, you can’t anymore. Not until the DVD release is available, not until the second season starts, and not until a method is in place for reporting accurate internet views and live and recorded viewings on televisions. With advertising on sites like Hulu and other streaming media locations a much smaller source of income, the profits for a show like Dollhouse dwindle as the world gets better educated and more connected.

Which brings me to the point of my e-mail. We love Dollhouse. We love it because Joss Whedon created it and we feel that we got shafted on Firefly and so we fought so hard for this show, even though the first three episodes kind of sucked (we’re not pointing fingers, we’re just saying). But we also love it because it is an incredible show, one with depth and controversy and incredible writing. No other show on television will be able to touch on the subject matter that Dollhouse can (voluntary / involuntary slavery, who are we without the experiences that define us) which makes it an important piece of television history. Or, it will, if it’s allowed to live.

As the world has moved more and more to delivering content over the Internet at a time of the viewer’s choosing, viewership during live broadcasts have tapered off dramatically. The secret is not to create more reality TV or to cancel good shows to give other shows a try. The answer is to embrace the Internet. And if any one man knows how to get the most out of the Internet, it’s Joss Whedon. Look at Dr. Horrible. A low-budget project with big names and incredible talent. Think of what you could do if you were the first studio to truly embrace the Internet. Air episodes of Dollhouse with the SAME commercials you air on television during the first week it’s online. After the first week, let it become just like all the other episodes on Hulu with the same commercial shown 4 or 5 times during the 45 minutes it takes to watch. Or get a corporate sponsor for the show that already embraces the Internet. Put a single 60 second advertisement at the beginning of the episode and let people stream it commercial free. Create an alternate-reality game to prep people for the second season. Ask fans of the series to market the show for you via guerilla marketing tactics. All of these are ways to increase viewership. And if you really want to help, keep the episodes online for free all summer long and encourage fans to share them with their friends and family so that when the new season starts, they’re caught up, too.

I promise you, that if you make the effort to push this show, and let Joss do what Joss does best, he won’t disappoint you.

But don’t tell him I said that, he doesn’t need the pressure.

Thank you for your time,

Jared Cash
Dollhouse Fan