Benny Ling’s Bling

This unusual triumph of kids over grown-ups suggests that the brain’s capacity to consider the context of visual scenes, and not just focus on parts of scenes, develops slowly, say psychologist Martin Doherty of the University of Stirling in Scotland and his colleagues. Even at age 10, children lack adults’ attunement to visual context, Doherty’s team concludes in a paper published online November 12 in Developmental Science.

via YOU MIGHT FIND YOURSELF.

Spotted at Wellspring offices, Sandy Bay.

Posted via email from Benny’s randomly-updated Posterous

• Lunch at 3:30. This isn't madness, and it's certainly not sparta either #
• What is this effect called and how do I create it? http://j.mp/64zyrQ @vark #photography #
• Multiple people with the same avatar on #OCAU make me confused. Pretty sure @glasnt started it, as well… #
• Whoa, WTF DrayTek? Top of the line Vigor2820Vn only has ONE gig ethernet port? Guess it's not so top of the line, even if it does dual WAN. #
• So I'm getting 70MB/s from my Windows7 box to my Mac, but only 10MB/s back the other way over. I'm thinking SMB write sucks in Snow Leopard? #
• Need a +1 for work's Christmas party, but can't imagine a scenario where such a thing wouldn't be awkward beyond all hell. Hmm. #
• On second thought, it probably is too hot for a jacket today in Hobart. Heh. #
• Couple in front of me are joined at the lip + everyone else (inc me) seems to know the person sitting me.
  Ahh, the joys of public transport. #
• Bought Popcap's excellent Plants vs Zombies and Burnout Paradise for $5 and $30 respectively, via Steam. Gotta love digital distribution #
• Fscking 14 year old asking damn stupid, downright pants-on-head retarded questions on Aardvark make me mad. FFS, people. Learn to internets. #
• Found the copy of the @Mactalk magazine from way back when. Still trying to get my hands on a MacTalk mug, but that probably won't happen #
• Pic of said @Mactalk mag: http://twitpic.com/qxwav #
• Absolutely loving the Steam sales on at the moment, but it's a shame my wallet doesnt http://store.steampowered.com/early-holiday #
• I'm all for full content in RSS feeds, just not at the expense of my mouse's scroll wheel. #
• 3 Credits and a Distinction for Semester 2. Considering the amount of effort/motivation I had (ie close to none), that's pretty damn good. #
• ZOMG! @Mactalk is DOWWWWWNNNN – VBULLETIN 4.0, anyone? #
• Gotta love the Black Friday App Store sales. Here's a pretty comprehensive list for all of you cheapskates out there http://bit.ly/4HAVSm #
• This is actually the scariest kitteh I've ever seen. http://twitpic.com/r58tn http://twitpic.com/r58tm #
• Absoloutely horrible weather in Hobart today. Pouring all bloody day, and #OCAU seems to be down as well. #
• Enjoying the sensation of the blood vessels in the roof of my mouth contracting. #
• Just realised that 100% completion on Burnout Paradise is gonna be harder than I first thought. Still have 101 races to win, then more after #
• I suppose now's a good a time as any to start from the start, with Stargate SG-1 Season one, episode one: "Children Of The Gods". OLD SKOOL. #
• I just didn't generate my TweetCloud out of a year of my tweets! Top three words: die, in, a, fire – http://bit.ly/877IVV #
• We miss you horribly, @bastardsheep. This has got to be the best thread (with a poll!!) ever on @Mactalk. http://bit.ly/6dbJFa #
• Fscking TweetCloud alledges that @mister_peterman's, @ashlaws', and @dshephard1's top 3 words are people, iPhone, and awesome, but I'm not. #
• Fscking TweetCloud alledges that @mister_peterman's, @ashlaws', and @dshepherd1's top 3 words are people, iPhone, and awesome, but its wrong #

After around 440 hours of work, and just in time for the 10th anniversary of the original movie release,

we are pleased to present to you our Lego version of the famous Bullet Time dodge scene from The Matrix.

via YouTube – Lego Matrix Trinity Help.

If you’re looking at getting a new thing-that-powers-your-internet, then you’ve come to the right place. Warcom has an amazing selection of high-quality routers available, and all of them will get the job done (and no, I’m not just saying that). Here’s a quick breakdown on what sorts of technologies you’ll be diving into.

via warcom.com.au: The Blog!.

Post on Warcom blog by yours truly.

And that’s all I have to say.

a couple of years ago when i was living in shanghai i bought a revenge of the sith dvd off the street. it came with hilariously mangled subtitles that ranged from somewhat close to what the actors were saying to far, far away….

via winterson.com: episode iii, the backstroke of the west redux.

a quick pause in the caption commentary. for a while i couldn’t figure out how the captions got so mangled- i thought maybe it was done by computer, but in some cases like this one the captions make sense but have no relation to what is going on. general grevious is actually saying, “just as count dooku predicted”…

But wait, there’s more!

As usual, hit the link to read the full article, or just follow mine to see highlights…

Read the rest of this entry »

Finally, a third blue t-shirted tossrag comes to patronise me further. ‘Just leave it with us’ he says. No. Then he says oh, if it’s the HDD, we dont have them in stock. You will have to wait till next week.

I call bullshit. This is APPLE. People. APPLE.

So I ask if there is any alternative. Could I bring in a drive to be installed? No. Could I take it to another store for a faster resolution? No. Clearly the whole I AM HAVING A BABY VERY SOON part wasnt relevant here. Driving to Doncaster and back 7 times is a JOY.

via A Week At Apple — sunrisesister.

For those of you that didn’t bother to click the link and read the whole story, it goes a little like this:

Customer brings computer in to be fixed for dead graphics card (which results in logic board replacement). Not in stock, so customer waits.
Waits for quite a long time in Doncaster, noting that the seats aren’t made for pregnant women. So she stands for the 4.5 hours that she waits for. Apple are late for their appointment.
Anyway, logic board replaced, but as soon as she gets the machine home, she finds that the hard drive has died. Calls Apple, explains that she is, and I quote, “EXTREMELY PREGNANT”, and Apple aren’t helpful as they could be.
Continue debacle at Apple store, where it turns out her second appointment hasn’t been made. Manager asks for her to wait – which turns out to be an hour or so. Finally, you enter the crazy scene above, in which a guy tells her the bad news – machine needs to be left with them, hard drive not in stock, and so on.

As much as I respect the person who wrote this particular blog post, it’s stuff like this that shits me to tears – people who think that the world revolves around them, as much as it should do.

Working in retail exposes you to some fairly scary people – the loonies, the downright insane “I WANT IT DONE THIS WAY AND I WANT IT DONE NOW” people, yes, even the crazy ones. Some of these people aren’t satisfied with your work, no matter how much you try to please – nothing’s ever going to be good enough, fast enough, or cheap enough to satisfy their consumerist hunger.

Notice how many times I mentioned that she made a big deal of how she was EXTREMELY PREGNANT? That’s exactly the attitude I’m trying to get at, because to Apple, you’re just another faceless wannabe, someone that they couldn’t care less about, just another brick in the wall (apologies to Pink Floyd).

You’re pregnant. You’re elderly. Your right index finger was shot off in the war. Thanks for serving our country, reproducing, and living a good life, but if you think this entitles you to any special treatment, you’re wrong, no matter how pregnant you are, no matter how elderly, or how index finger-less.

FFS, just get over yourself already.

• Ugh. My Nutella has reached the consistency of some putty-like substance that's been liquified, then frozen again – now it doesn't spread #
• Wow. Even in the holidays period my Reader is still on the wrong side of 1000 – obviously this means I need to cut down on RSS a little. Hm. #
• Whoa, WTF? This is what 6 decent months of dust looks like. I need some more dust filters… http://twitpic.com/pyaeb #
• "Failure is an important measurement of what is needed to achieve" – /by DF #
• My dad ran over a bird with the lawnmower while he was mowing the grass.
  I feel for the poor birdie :'( #
• Ahh, family – they may take away my awesome hi-fi system, but they will NEVER take my ability to listen to music (albeit at lower fidelity)! #
• Have you ever seen one this big before? http://post.ly/Ct5f #
• Feeling quite desparate for work. I've already got a job, just with not enough hours. Need $ to buy things, because that's the way it works. #
• If you're in on the new retweet feature, any retweets by your tweeps won't show up in third-party clients (yet, I hope). Also, tweet. Tweet. #
• If you haven't seen this yet, you're missing out: http://bit.ly/1KJoqM
  Like the thermonuclear grenade, ridiculous and genius simultaneously. #
• Looking for a decent set of 2.0/2.1 speakers. Would love AudioEngine 2's, but they're a little out of my price range at the moment… Bah #
• Huh – a website that has an ajax-powered "continue reading" function? Wait, no page-refresh?
  That's new. And damn refreshing, I might add!! #
• Right – which one of you chaps broke the @Mactalk frontpage? The page buttons don't work for me – keeps showing page 1, no matter what page. #
• RT @tomricci: What the? http://www.engadget.com/ #
• If any of you CSS/Javascript magicians manage to write a GreaseMonkey script for this, then I'd love you long time!
  http://vimeo.com/6977587 #
• Finding it hard to find the line between web design and graphic design, I mean, what's the difference, really? #
• Um, does Google Reader know how to count? Or do I have items I'm can't see? http://twitpic.com/q3hyb #
• 1Password, I've already purchased a an upgrade to 1P3 from way back when, yet your "upgrade" tool says I need to do it again? Nice try there #
• Checking out 1Password 3. Pretty impressive so far, and my upgrade from my MacHeist'd 1P2 license seems to work fine. /cc @RLFloyd #
• Wow. ABNs are actually a whole lot more complicated than I thought. Goodbye, simple tax return. Hello, complicated-as-hell tax return… #
• I have an ABN, now what? #
• Many loves for my new homescreen! <3 http://twitpic.com/q7etv #
• Kids watch the Christmas pageant, geek mums and dads come into the Apple reseller.
  It's a vicious cycle. #
• It's no Aeron, but it'll do for the next couple of years. Now, where'd I put those instructions… http://twitpic.com/qbtw1 #
• Disappointed that the Harmon Kardon Soundstick II's I wanted are now discontinued
  No idea how long I'll have to wait for a successor.. #
• Yes, this looks quite a bit more complicated then my Zack chair I built earlier. 33KG and multiple pieces? Damn. http://twitpic.com/qc0zj #
• Hey @mactalk, is there a reason The Orange Sofa is world-readable? Not logged in, and I can read every post? What happened to the sanctuary? #
• Out of 6140 items in my iTunes Music Library, 2334 songs have play count >=1, which means that I only listen to roughly a third of my music. #
• Getting stuff into my Instapaper account is as easy as hitting a bookmarklet.
  Getting it out and into my blog, however, is a separate story. #
• I think it's time for a twitter-spam account, a place where I can spam as much as I like… #
• That is some serious dust buildup right there. Urgh… http://twitpic.com/qh2w2 #
• Cleaning my room like it's 2005. Which is ironic, considering that's probably the last time it was done properly, like, with a vacuum… =/ #

The home page features many new benefits: the publisher toolbar enables users to post content from any page within Facebook, saving time in navigating needlessly through profiles; the streams’ two-tiered filter (content type & content contributers) also creates a more coherent structure with the core elements retaining their position throughout most of the site; and the live feed displays a constant stream of all content posted in a users network, which expands upon mouse over.

via Facebook Facelift – Home & Profiles on Vimeo.

Oh – that’s right, because there will be 1000000 people complaining that they liked it how it was, and 100000 new groups saying to “change it back”.

FFS. Progress, people.

Really? Have you?

Solo can there to prove just how massive this gargantuan light-switch is.

No really, it’s THAT huge.

Posted via email from Benny’s randomly-updated Posterous

Hounds indeed.

I’ll admit that the Spec Ops mode certainly tempts me. By all accounts, it sounds completely *awesome* – and if were released as it’s own mini-game (akin on Crysis Warhead or similar), I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

It’s a shame the rest of the game doesn’t quite stack up.

Lag? You bet. Within a matter of minutes I’d been fragged by a bouncing avatar that transported itself across the map, and that doesn’t include the noticeable banana bullets that occur just too frequently to ignore. Based on this, it’s fairly clear to see why they’ve limited the game to nine per side, I’d hate to see what it looks like with Modern Warfare’s original 64 player limit, presumably like a very tedious slide show from a trip to Borneo. It’s of absolutely no interest to me how well the rest of the developed world can play this title online, if it’s a miserable experience for Kiwi players then Infinity Ward have dropped the ball, plain and simple.

[...]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for the PC is simply a next-gen console game with mouse support, in-game text chat and rudimentary graphics options. Infinity Ward have made it pretty clear that as a PC gamer, your platform advantages don’t count, and neither does your community, your history and your considerable modding skills.

via Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PC) – Gameplanet Review.

Ouch.

To say multiplayer MW2 is flawed would be like saying water is a little wet – an understatement if I’ve ever seen one.

GameArena says:

We’re massive fans of Modern Warfare here. Even though purists and elitists may sneer, we had no problem in awarding a 10/10 for Call of Duty 4, because it was such a terrific effort on console AND PC. If you told me three months ago we would be suggesting PC gamers hold off on buying Modern Warfare 2 I would have thought you’re crazy. But if you are buying this game mainly for multiplayer – especially if you’re contemplating serious competitive play at a high level – that’s exactly what we’re saying. The single player story is great, and if your idea of multiplayer is a quick zap with mates maybe an hour or two a week then by all means – it’s great for your purposes. However if you’re a Counterstrike, Battlefield, ETQW or even a COD4 player looking for a serious competitive platform to move to – best wait. Wait and see if Infinity Ward can implement dedicated server support; failing that wait until early next year to see how Battlefield: Bad Company 2 turns out.

via BigPond GameArena – Modern Warfare 2 Reviews.

Don’t get me wrong – from what I’ve read, it’s a great console FPS – fantastic, even. It’s just a huge shame to see the PC side be so neglected, disowned, that it kinda makes you think Infinity Ward have shunned the PC community, Big Time.

It’s not all doom and gloom for us PC players, though – the single player is excellent, and as I’ve mentioned before, Spec Ops will keep you entertained for a decent number of hours after you’ve finished the relatively short single player campaign (roughly 6-8 hours).

It’s current price on Steam is laughable – a cool US $90 for us Aussies, compared to $60 for the same game? Right. I know I can buy it from Steamerica for cheaper, but that’s not the point, is it?

The point is, Infinity Ward have seemingly screwed over PC players.

I think it’s only fair that they get screwed over themselves – but one can only dream…

oEmbed, as described at oEmbed.com, is a specification that allows media providers like Flickr, YouTube and others to provide data for consumer applications like WordPress about media. So by including an Embed (Use the File uploader and choose “From URL” and paste the link to the page that contains the media, not the media file itself) in a post or page, WordPress can retrieve the relevant specs on the media file and formulate a properly formatted embed accordingly.

via 10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress 2.9 — Technosailor.com.

You know, I probably couldn’t care less about oEmbed. So I can embed media from different providers, great. Sarcasm intended.

The thing is, I don’t work with media that much. Sure, I’ll stick in the odd YouTube video here or there, and I’ll also use pics once in a while to illustrate a point, but in those cases the standard tools just don’t cut it.

For example, I’ll Press something from a cool YouTube video, and while WordPress will automatically fetch the embed code for me, it’s usually miniscule and doesn’t represent the content I want. By using the custom embed options available to every embeddable video on YouTube, I get to customise things like the border, related content, and size – you’ll have noticed that videos seen on this website will have a grey border, show no related content after the video finishes playing, and, most importantly, are bigger than the normal YouTube size.

From what I understand about oEmbed, it won’t let me customise these options at all – “…and formulate a properly formatted embed accordingly.”

I’d say more about customisability and WordPress, but that’s for another time.