Archive for Fun
July 3, 2008 at 10:43 am ·
Filed under Games, Fun
One of the funniest time-wasters I’ve seen in the latest year is the quite popular LineRider app. A very simple thing, but still oh so fun to try out. It’s been turned into a real art form by some, who’ve taken the design of their own game to the extreme (as shown in the clip below):
And to top it off, LineRider even got it’s own moment of glory as it was fully integrated in a MacDonalds commercial:
A few days ago, an email got sent around in the company that said the LineRider.com website was now running on Silverlight technology, which is an even better reason to try it out and promote it. And so, here we are :)
May 9, 2008 at 12:50 pm ·
Filed under Video, Fun
Yes, it’s Friday, it’s sunny outside and it’s time to glance back at a cool Microsoft clip from a few years ago. This one is called “Extreme Makeover: Server Room Edition” and it’s about Phil. It’s ALL about Phil. Quote: “Phil began his IT career with just one NT Server that we, of course, just destroyed.” :)
May 9, 2008 at 8:22 am ·
Filed under Fun, WoW
Bert Simons has upped the ante in the field of paper craft. Seriously. I remember when I used to fumble around with my little Origami books, folding swans and other cute animals. It always took so much time. Then yesterday I saw an email fly by on an internal alias about this guy in the Netherlands who makes 3 dimensional pseudo realistic paper portraits and sculptures, and all I could say was WOW! This is waaaay cooler than any paper art I’ve seen so far. Check out his site, and try the DIY thingy. Might take a couple of hours to finish it though. :)
These are papercraft sculptures made in the same way as the familiar papercraft houses and animals. Bert Simons rules.
May 6, 2008 at 11:41 am ·
Filed under Games, Releases, Fun
If you’re familiar with mash-ups and you’re into gaming, then this is the rocking fun zone for you! As the name suggests, this release builds on Popfly’s current set of mashup and Web page authoring tools to add support for easily creating and sharing casual games. There are 2 ways to get to the Game Creator. On the landing page, you have the “Create a Game (Alpha)” link, or if you select the “Create Stuff” dropdown, you will see “Game” there.
Here’s a tutorial and walk-through to get you started:
See you in the next level :)
Related:
PopFly site
The PopFly Wiki
Snapshots on TechCrunch
April 26, 2008 at 10:47 am ·
Filed under Video, Fun
I stumbled upon this very old commercial that announced Windows95. Hah! I remember the day my dad got rid of our 3.11 and I was really pissed about it. Then we got a new computer with 95 on it, and all of the sudden I was exchanging PC games with my class mates, in a time where viruses were still something you wrote yourself starting with ‘echo on’, and the baddest thing to do was adding a line of text that said: deleting all files, then when they pressed a key it would read ‘ha ha fooled you’ :) Those were the days. Long story short: here is an old school commercial:
April 14, 2008 at 11:01 am ·
Filed under Games, Technology, Fun, Gadgets
I have a few friends who own a Wii. As much as I love XBox360 and the experience it gives me, I’ve got to admit that this Wii has something special about it. I love playing with that too. I’m planning a Wii Weekend together with my friends to have 4 of them bring their Wii to a location, probably the garden of ‘friend number 1′, and have a giant screen with a beamer there, so we can game in group. I think that’s going to be a super great and fun evening. Other than that, the reason why I write here about Wii, is the clip that’s been released from the TED talks. Johnny Lee demos his amazing Wii Remote hacks, which transform the $40 game piece into a digital whiteboard, a touchscreen and a head-mounted 3-D viewer. Lee is a graduate student in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Enjoy this trip :)
February 26, 2008 at 10:31 am ·
Filed under Video, Fun
Barb, my fellow EE, just sent me this super cute extended commercial for Microsoft Office 2007. Who said Microsoft was dull and liveless? :) You just gotta check this out! I love how this movie proves that Office 2007 is so easy to use that even rabbits can have a go at it. Sit back for this one, you’ll enjoy the ride. Warning: Pinkness overload :)
Also check out the other clips for Office2007 :)
February 21, 2008 at 11:12 pm ·
Filed under Games, Technology, Fun, LSE
A little while ago, on the quarterly company meeting, we’ve had a ‘mystery guest’ - just like ‘we’ always do. This time it was a promising startup with a technology that blows away all competition. Meet SoftKinetic, a Belgian company with ideas that will rock your world!
Game developers, game publishers, and game console manufacturers are looking for ways to differentiate in this increasingly competitive marketplace. Transforming the user experience through an immersive, transparent (marker-less) and intuitive interface represents a fantastic opportunity to establish a leadership position in the next generation action, casual, sports and fitness gaming markets. The commercial availability of low-cost 3D depth sensing devices is about to make this revolution possible.
Softkinetic anticipated the availability of such 3D depth sensing cameras and is today the leading provider of 3D gesture recognition solutions for building immersive, transparent and intuitive interfaces and game plays.
Basically this company is using one single infrared camera to capture X, Y and Z coordinates of any moving object. They created an SDK that will allow any input device to be linked to the 3D movements detected by the camera, so that you can control any application with full body movement. The technology they use for that is called “Softkinetic iisu™” and it’s the most advanced 3D gesture recognition software platform available today. iisu is compatible with all major 3D depth sensing devices and allows developers to build natural, immersive, transparent and intuitive interfaces for games, interactive marketing, fitness, industrial simulation, education and military applications.
Check out their demos on their site and see for yourself how promising this superb technology is. Bye-bye Wii with your battery consuming remotes.
February 14, 2008 at 9:58 pm ·
Filed under MicroLife, Video, Fun
Everybody knows that outsourcing is a common reality in a lot of companies. Also in Microsoft, global tech support is located in India (I think). Obviously we still have a local IT department that helps us out, but when the issue outgrows the local helpers, we have to log a ticket at ’support’. When they get back to you, you sometimes have to pay a lot of attention to understand what is being said, because a dialect is very often difficult to understand. Somebody recorded a follow-up call from global support, and it’s really funny :) Check this out:
Video: Microsoft Support Call
Painful, but incredibly funny.
January 30, 2008 at 12:41 pm ·
Filed under MicroLife, Video, Fun
If there is one thing I can assure you, then it’s that we spend a lot of time on the phone to report, discuss global events, do budget run-throughs and what not. It’s a given throughout the entire company, and the most annoying part of it is the smooth jazz they play while you’re waiting for the leader of the call to dial in and open up the call. A few guys have recorded their attempt to meet and show you what happens behind closed doors of a meeting room. Rated ‘RF’ for ‘ridiculous’ and ‘funny’
Video: Conference Call
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