Category: geek

Google Maps is Awesome

So I’ve been messing around with a little website project I came up with, and part of it requires the use of the Google Maps API. With more than a little fear and trepidation, I set forth to give it my best shot…

…and was blown away by how simple it was. Seriously, the team that came up with Google Maps did a fantastic job with the API. It’s functional, extremely easy to use, and just plain works. No unexpected quirks or errors whatsoever. So I thought I’d take a moment and tip my hat to the team at Google for doing such great work, and now have one more reason to look forward to Google Wave, since it’s done by the same team.

Now if only OpenID was so easy…

The People vs. George Lucas

As a long-time Star Wars geek, I thought the prequel movies were terrible. The 3rd was the best of the three, and my initial reaction was “that was actually pretty good,” but after rewatching it I realized that the evening’s Starbucks coffee must have been laced with hallucinogens, because the steaming pile of dog turds presented to me on the screen was nothing compared to the Star Wars I remembered. I remember telling someone that I felt like George Lucas had raped my inner child with those films, and I still view anything he touches with a certain distrust.

And it’s because of people like me that a group of fans have decided to explore the phenomenon that is George Lucas Hatred, with a documentary called The People vs. George Lucas. There’s a trailer up on there to get an idea of what you’re in for.

But my irritation with Lucas comes nowhere near that of this fellow, who may have just secured himself a spot in the film:

Continue reading The People vs. George Lucas

Good Old Games

I need to take a moment here to pimp one of my favorite websites: Good Old Games. The guys here are simply genius: they’ve taken their passion for classic games and put it to good use by creating a site that allows you to find some of your favorite old games, fully updated for use in XP/Vista, and download them DRM-free for $6-$10. What “favorite old games,” you might ask? Well how about:

And more… with any luck they’ll bring back the old Wing Commander games, Alpha Centauri, and maybe some of the old Sim games… and then I will never have to buy a new game again.  Although I’m not entirely confident about Wing Commander, seeing as EA bought out Origin back in the 90s and they’re not exactly a bastion of software freedom.