External SuperDrive

As some of you may know, I currently own an 11" MacBook Air. It's a great, portable, powerful computer, but the lack of a disk drive can (occasionally) be a bit irritating. You can sort of "borrow" someone else's disk drive, but it hogs the bandwidth on that network, and it's often laggy. But anyway, I didn't really think I'd need a disk drive much, but there have been a few times where I'm sitting somewhere, and I see a DVD I'd like to watch, but then I remember, "Oh that's right, I can't.". And then I have to go get a big heavy computer that can. But now there's a solution to that dilemma:

THE EXTERNAL SUPERDRIVE.

This thing is great. It's this tiny aluminum case, with just a small slit for the CD to go into. It can read and burn CDs and DVDs. It's actually kind of neat, because it takes in the CDs a lot faster than the one on the MacBook Pro and the iMac. The first time I put a disc in, I was quite surprised when the disc just shot in there. It reads the discs really fast, and it's quite quiet after the first little bit. It's almost as if it reads the whole entire disc in the first few minutes, then just lets you watch without noise for the rest of time. Anyway, I got one, so here are some photos of it and (for the first time on this blog, actually) my computer: (I apologize that these are rather low quality images, but I took them with my iPod under low light)

There they both are.

Now the laptop is open, and the DVD for "Naqoyqatsi" is sticking out.

And the DVD being played, flawlessly.

So, summary: Another great product from Apple. Works beautifully. The end.

Oh and by the way, just a quick message, I encourage you (whoever you are) to comment! Go ahead! It only takes 30 seconds, you don't need an account, and I want to know that these hundreds of views aren't just robots that randomly browse the internet.

How To Play Riven On Mac OSX

I apologize in advance if I've accidentally already made a post like this one.

If you're a Myst-loving Mac user like me, you'll be very frustrated that you can't play most of the Myst games on modern Macs. When it comes to Riven, unless you're willing to wait for realRiven (StarryExpanse.com), there's only one option:

Thanks to the work of a few dedicated individuals, there is now a simple application which allows you to insert your Riven disc(s), and it then installs it so you can play it any time. It's very good, it works with Lion, Snow Leopard, Things, Stuff.
Anyway. So I tried installing it a few months ago, but, much to my dismay, when it finished processing all the discs, the files would self-destruct without warning. So I thought, well, I'll just copy the files over manually. It can't be that hard. I did so, and it was able to play. However, I hit yet another roadblock. Whenever it got to the point where my five-disc version would ask you to insert disc 1, the game crashed. So I decided, arr, the loot belongs to us, matey! In other words, I gave up and pirated the DVD version. It was so much easier. I have no idea why I didn't just do that in the first place. From there, I did the automatic install, and it worked perfectly. Summary: don't use CDs. Use the internet.
Anyway, I'd recommend this method for anyone who doesn't want to spend time looking for their disc(s), trying to get the formatting right or whatever you might have to do. Or, if you have a MacBook Air like me, or any other computer lacking an optical drive, do it as well! So, here are the necessary links:

Riven X:

Click me!

Riven DVD Edition Torrent:

Download!

And, if you've been in a coma for the past 10 years:

Shame on you! (just kidding)

Blah

Don't feel like explaining this one. Just go here and sign their petition of whatever:
http://demandprogress.org/

D'ni Font

So as many of you people who may or may not be reading this on a regular basis or just happened to stumble upon my blog...
Um, anyway.
I am a large fan of the Myst series of video games, and also the culture they revolve around known as the D'ni.
The D'ni were a very sophisticated race, and Cyan Worlds has done a very good job at making that sophistication show through. They've thought through every aspect of their race. In fact, one amazing person known as Richard A. Watson, employed at Cyan, has made a language and unique lettering system. As a result, it is inevitable that a fancy font would arise, and therefore it is inevitable that I would have have that font. Here's a sample of it:

As you can see, if you looked at the large version, the detail is very high, and I wasn't anywhere near being zoomed in all the way. Anyway, that being said, you can download the font here:

http://linguists.bahro.com/essentials/Dn______.TTF

You can search pi here:
http://www.angio.net/pi/piquery

Um, yeah, that's just a random thing. I don't have a good reason for including it.

Now, if you haven't noticed, I've altered the look of my blog slightly. It now uses Times New Roman as a font in some places, because I believe it is serious looking enough to make it look like things should be taken seriously, or at at least important, but not so intimidating that it gives my blog that scary, high-tech internet look, which abides by my philosophy of the internet which is that it should be for everyone and not just technology people who don't feel intimidated by this whole "internet" thing. [ALERT ALERT MELODRAMATIC SENTENCE AHEAD] As a technology person who doesn't feel intimidated by this whole "internet" thing, and, as it probably evident by now, is obsessed with detail, I feel that this change of font is a good deed for humanity.

Did you know that the internet was originally developed by a team led by some guy called Tim Berners-Lee? Queen Elizabeth II decided to knight him for some reason. But really, Tim's just this guy, you know? Anyway, I feel way more comfortable with the internet (not that I ever wasn't) now that I know who the people were behind it. And actually, something cool, there was an original webpage for the internet, explaining what the project was about.

http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

What the heck?!

So I've been looking through a lot of my traffic sources lately. The top one is this:
http://www.massprofitsites.com/?hop=diamondium
And I've had another top one that is like that, but it's called "mobile money machines" and uses a "backdoor" of the internet to get you money. I'm pretty sure these things are just a stupid scam, but why SO MANY WEBSITES?! And how did people get redirected here anyway? RRRGH! I hate when I can't figure stuff out.

Anyway, another thing I wanted to talk to talk about is that THE COVER FOR THE BEETHOVENIST BIBLE MIGHT BE DIFFERENT THAN I POSTED! OH MY HOVENBEET! Anyway, so yeah, it's probably just going to say "MIG", or be like the one now, but have something completely irrelevant in the background. So, yes, that's all for today. The Beethovenist Bible is still in progress, and might be coming out sooner, but probably later.
MIG

Infinite Screen Sharing

You know when you have two mirrors directly opposite each other, making an infinite display of whatever's around the edges? Well, today I did just that, but the technology way.
First, I went on to my computer, and shared the screen of another computer. I then shared the screen of My computer with THAT computer. Since each computer is staring at the other's screen, over and over and over, you get an infinite loop. I now present, infinite screen sharing, from the other computer's perspective:

So, yes. If you have two compatible computers with screen sharing enabled, you can try this any time. It won't harm your computer in any way; it's just a cool trick you can do.

So...

Okay, so the top image is okay for the time being. It's a picture I took of some glowey sticks.

So now, THE BIG EXCITING THING!

Basically, me and my friend are starting to kick around a few ideas for the Beethovenist Bible. We've already got a plan of how it will work, and will probably start writing in a few days. So for now, I present to you, a simple idea for what the cover will look like:

Yep, so that's that. In the world of technology, apparently "they" are coming out with a version of LEDs for lamps that's supposed to last something like 25 years. Do you have any idea how long that is?! If you get one as a teenager, your kids (if you buy any) will be able to buy some! So do yourself a favor, and BUY SOME! So, yes. Amazing new technology. You can read more about it here:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/22/samsung-introduces-advanced-led-light-bulbs-preps-for-zombie-ap/
And if you're impatient for the Beethovenist Bible to come out, there's lots of info here:
http://kikiwa.wikia.com/wiki/Beethovenism
And I'll see you soon.