This has already been around most of the big geeky online news feeds, so it’s nothing new but figured I’d share in case anyone missed it.
So I figured I would come and post something; I’ve been a bit silent for a while now. Work has been pretty distracting and demanding (in a good way) — so my hacking and cybernetic tinkering time has been drastically reduced.
I’ve been drafting and implementing a pretty interesting content system that is based around the concept of the Directed Graph as the primary data structure. In the most basic form it’s a great structure to represent connections and relationships between arbitrary data. It can also be used in a way to model n-dimensional space. Kick ass.
Besides incorporating some really useful philosophies in the system that I’m excited about (that are already yielding the desired results) - I managed to connect the data to Unity 3D which is a fantastic 3D game engine I’ve been using off and on since its first version. All sorts of things are possible and I’m particularly interested in visualizing the data in novel ways spatially (like exploring it as a cosmos with orbiting bodies) and gesture-based browsing and editing.
Ultimately this all leads back to my secret Metaverse fetish; I won’t lie. Now that one of our major milestones at work of getting this system up and running has been reached I’m sure I will slowly drift back to cyberhoodie development and start drafting the custom printed circuit board, but for now I’m geeking out on using the system we’ve built and writing some electronic music on the side.
I also decided that post-cyberhoodie-creation my next project might involve exploring the world of a symbiosis between plants and technology. There seem to be some pre-established communities like Botanicalls that might be a good launching point. The idea of making plants more aware of us (or us more aware of them) with synthetic senses intrigues me.
Or it is entirely possible I might get caught up playing Dragon Age II. And props to my brother Alien Jon for helping me defeat the last level of Hard Corps Uprising. It was, well… hardcore.
This is me; blue. Cyberhoodie soldering decided to be difficult :( Actually this picture was taken a while ago but, it serves its purpose.
That’s OK though, I’ve already planned out my custom circuit board plan of attack, and ultimately it’s a better move than hacked-together-hand-made-stuff. I will have my vengeance against circuitry injustice.
When I was about 10 I beat a computer game called Another World on my Amiga. I loved that game. It also came out on SNES but titled “Out Of This World”. Early rotoscoped animation platformer. Anyways I noticed some of the names in the ending credits… I opened up the game files in a hexadecimal editor, searched for the ASCII characters of the names and found them in the file. I replaced the letters with my own name and saved the file. Then I invited some friends over to watch me beat the game and see my name roll up the credits screen. I told them I helped make the game. They believed it (for a while).
It wasn’t a very nice thing to do, but at the same time it was pretty glorious and no one really got hurt. Made me feel pretty maniacal and devious in a good hackery-sort-of-way. I will approach this problem with the same sort of devious hacker attitude that was required then - and I should be fine.
Well, I am saddened to say the Cyberhoodie project suffered an unfortunate setback today. I attempted to basically do the last of the soldering and assembly tonight and it did not go so well. I knew it was going to be pretty treacherous and that there would be a chance I would hit a brick wall. I was mostly just hoping with a struck of luck and perseverance it might just work.
But not all is lost because I did learn some valuable lessons. The main lesson is that I will need to design my own printed circuit board for this project and have it manufactured. That was the next logical step anyways; just looks like I will be pursuing it sooner than later. For the number of wires in use I was just way overzealous with the form factor for this stuff.
Fortunately most of the parts are still intact and not throw-away. Not sure how long it will take me to design the circuit board but it is certainly going to add a delay. Assuming I don’t get overzealous with the PCB design it’s just a matter of designing the board, and then the 2-4 weeks I will have to wait to send it off for manufacture. The good news is the form factor will be much better and there will be a lot less soldering and cramped spacing involved.
I can’t be had that easily. Did I mention I’m self-taught with everything I know? It’s also generally impossible for computers and electronics to truly defeat me.
If everything this article is saying happens to be true I expect very good things from this and so should you. Quadrillionth-of-a-second laser pulses. Fantastic.
