How Tech Addicted Are You?

Answer each of the 50 questions below and give yourself one point per question you answer “yes” to. At the end, score yourself. Be honest, this is just for your own benefit… until you report your shocking score in comments, that is.

1. Do you eat most of your meals while at the computer or in front of the television?

2. Do you sometimes bring your laptop when you sit on the toilet?

3. Do you check your feeds more than 1x per hour?

4. Do you make a nervous habit out of refreshing your inbox over and over, just in case someone emailed you in the last 45 seconds?

5. Can you not remember the last time you didn’t check online reviews before eating at a new restaurant?

6. Do you freak out if you’re in a car and there’s no GPS?

7. Does the verb “tweet” come up regularly in your real-life conversations?

8. Have you ever changed vacation plans based on wi-fi availability?

9. Are there more than two portable electronic devices within reach right now?

10. If your house were on fire, would you run in to rescue your laptop?

11. Are you closer with some online-only friends than people you actually see in real life?

12. Are you pretty sure you’d have killed yourself if you lived in the days before Internet?

13. Do you buy things online that you could easily drive across town to get in person?

14. Do “electronics” have their own category in your monthly budget?

15. Are you a member of any sort of online “guild?”

16. Do you answer questions in support forums when you’re bored?

17. Do you bring your smartphone with you to church?

18. Do you own 3 or more video gaming systems? (Oh come on, portables count.)

19. Do you have multiple t-shirts with references to Internet memes, linux, or webcomics?

20. Do you know what the word “meme” means, for that matter?

21. Has your significant other (or mom, if applicable) ever banned you from your smartphone?

22. Do you spend more time on Facebook than you do in the presence of actual people?

23. Are you currently in a virtual relationship? (WOW, Second Life, etc)

24. Do you have 3 or more active social media accounts?

25. When something happens in your life, is your first thought usually “How can I fit this into 140 characters?”

26. Do you need multiple wall outlets to charge all your stuff at night?

27. When you sit down in a coffeeshop, do you tend to position yourself close to a power outlet “just in case”?

28. Do you generally spend most of your day looking at a computer screen and then go home… only to look at a computer screen for the rest of the night?

29. Have phrases like “BRB” and “ROFL” worked their way into your real vocabulary?

30. Do you often skip meals because you’ve lost track of time in front of the computer?

31. Do you call people by their screen names when you see them in real life?

32. Do you have more than five tabs open in your browser right now?

33. Are there more than three screens of some kind in the room you’re in right now?

34. Are there more computers in your house than there are people?

35. Do you tweet or read blogs while watching movies at home?

36. Do you put your phone on vibrate at the movie theater rather than turn it off, even though you’re not expecting anything important?

37. Have you ever turned down a romantic encounter in order to play video games?

38. Does your Internet usage cut into the time you should be spending on personal hygiene?

39. When you see the last names Cerf, Otellini, Ballmer and Berners-Lee, do you know who is being mentioned?

40. Do you ever leave your laptop open in social settings, even though you aren’t actually doing anything on it?

41. Have you ever had a dream where you were surfing the Internet?

42. Can you type text messages faster than you can handwrite the same words?

43. Have you ever left an event or date early so you could get online?

44. Would you classify yourself as an “expert” multitasker?

45. Can you read machine code?

46. Do you regularly have to put blocks of ice, portable fans, or frozen packages of hash browns on or near your computer to keep it cool?

47. Do you have carpal tunnel syndrome?

48. Do you keep multiple webcams around your house?

49. Are you up on the computer past 3am at least once a week?

50. Did you make it all the way to the end of this quiz?

Scores:

0-1: Clean as a Whistle – You are either 95 years old, or you lie compulsively to make yourself feel better about your internet addiction. Sorry to call you out like that.

2-9: Social Drinker – You’re not great with technology, but dabble. You probably play sports and actually have a significant other. Either that or you’ve recently been released from Internet rehab and haven’t slipped back to the old ways yet.

10-19: Coffee Fiend – You’re about as plugged in as the next person—but you gotta have your daily fix. Let’s face it, gadgets are everywhere nowadays, right? That’s what you tell yourself at least, but what you don’t know is everyone calls you “nerd breath” behind your back.

20-29: Chainsmoker – You recognize that you’re a little too plugged in, and you’re trying to quit. Your tech addictions are starting to ruin your social interactions, between signing out of the real world every 10 seconds and stinking up the room when you enter. Take this as your cue to shower.

30-39: Pothead – You’re addicted, but you have no desire to quit. There’s a box of Ho Hos on the desk, and you had to brush Cheeto dust off the keyboard to log into your computer, which you keep password protected with heavy encryption. You hurried through this quiz because your guild is waiting for you in the other window. You really should consider counseling.

40-49: Crackhead – You get all shaky when you think about technology, always searching for your next fix. You’ve considered constructing a biotech bathtub for your body to lie in, so you can plug your consciousness permanently into the Internet. Family members are planning to stage an intervention and check you into a clinic. You look forward to the shock therapy.

50: Permafried – There’s no higher brain activity going on anymore. Doctors should prescribe you video games and/or marijuana for medicinal purposes. Just to keep you from flat lining.

Original Article on Gizmodo

Classic Gaming on New Hardware

I fell further in love with my little netbook when on a whim I broke out Quake II and Driver. The joy of long late nights playing Q2 with my boys over a LAN game suddenly rushed over me. It was epic. Amazing to see that such a small machine just cranked out the video and 3d rendering that Q2 required. Such a perfect example of Moore’s law in effect. The machine I used to play Q2 on needed its own video card and lots of RAM and a great screen. Now all the same requirements can be met by a device that is a little bit bigger than a hardbound book. The same could be said for Driver. I used to have lag and get frustrated cause my computer couldn’t keep up with my speed. Now this little netbook puts me to shame because I am having to keep up. As they continue to cram more and more processing power on such tiny chips I am awaiting the day when I can rock Crysis at full res on a netbook. It’s not too far away.

iSlate = iPad

The revolutionary internet device has been released and the better part of the tech world said “meh”. Unfortunately the hype surrounding the iPad made living up to said hype as improbable as Bigfoot actually speaking the queen’s english and inviting everyone over for scones. The reality is that Apple’s last few revolutionary devices were just that, revolutionary. The iPod was not the first harddrive based MP3 player on the market but the way one could interact with it (click wheel) was revolutionary. The iPhone with its iPod/phone integration was amazing. The apps made it groundbreaking, but even here iPhone wasn’t the first. Windows Mobile has had hundreds of thousands of apps available for its platform BUT it never had an easy way of finding all of them (i.e. App Store).

As for the iPad I am afraid it had some serious competition it had to face, its own family of products. Since the iPad was not on a custom OS and built using the same software as the iPhone/iPod touch it ended up seeming like a very large iPhone (that doesn’t make calls). The iPad offered users the ability to work on iWorks with Keynote and Pages but without the true power of a laptop some of the Keynote presentations could get laggy on the tiny 1 Ghz chip it is running. Even there the hardware though beautiful seems like it missed some key features.

If it was a true “pad” I should be able to just turn it on and just write onto it like a piece of paper and maybe do some handwriting recognition. That would have been revolutionary! Oh wait… no not really… that functionality was in Windows Mobile phones since the days of the HP Jornada and Windows CE. It was also in a previous Apple product, anyone remember the Newton, anyone, anyone? Plus a device like this would be awesome for video webconferencing and “couch computing” since it is more “intimate than a laptop” but Uncle Steve I guess decided he didn’t want to put the camera in. Maybe on version 2.0

I think the problem for the iPad was the enormous amount of speculation. People were researching patents that were submitted from a company called “Fingerworks” which was acquired by Apple. That company had some amazing gesture based patents in their filings, but Apple decided not to use it or decided to shelf it till they could work it in.

Now there are rumors of a second version of the iPad and there is no surprise there. I know that Jobs has a pattern of releasing something awesome and then soon after releasing an update that gives the proverbial kick to those early adopters.

Will I get an iPad… Maybe… Will I get in the boat and buy this 1.0 version? Probably not.

iSlate or iFake

The upcoming rumors of the mythical Apple device has the whole internet a buzz. Research into patents, companies that were acquired, website registration, and even a HIGH bounty for pictures, video, or physical interaction. There is reason to believe that this could be Jobs last hurrah and a parting device for all of us to fall in love with. With netbooks becoming a massive growing market Apple has been quiet about what their plans were. People have made their own ways of dealing with it by hackintoshing some of the Intel based netbooks that seemingly work perfectly with OSX (even Snow Leopard). Of course this is a breach of the EULA that Apple has about installing on non-Apple hardware, but Apple had to realize that everyone wants a small, cheap, machine to just pop in a purse or bag. Especially with cloud-computing and more and more web based interaction than heavy application use people just need a way to get access to their online content. Apple has been silent through all this and only offering more innovation in the higher end mobile computing. Yes the iPhone and iPod Touch have been wonderful convergent devices but still not with enough horse power or screen estate for some applications.

Now the speculation might lead to some results when Apple has its event in California on January 27th. The word officially came from Apple when it sent out invites to “See their latest creation”.

In fact when I started this blog entry more information keeps coming out so I just want to post this article. The live blog hosted by gdgt will be my source of information as they do a great job with their impressions.

UPDATE: Analysts state now that the iSlate might take some time to release. Similar to the iPhone release when the announcement came out but the actual device took 6 months to release.

Ubuntu Goodness

After installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix on my Dell 2100 I have once again fallen in love with Ubuntu. I am just blown away at how snappy and responsive it is even with just an Atom N270. The fact that this little netbook operates so well with such little hardware power is a hat tip to the wonder of Linux. I was even pleased at how easily the drivers were recognized and up and running. Other than the touch screen (which I am about to remedy) everything on this wonderful little machine just works. I think I might have a new favorite.

Hacker Spring Cleaning

I finally succumbed to some weird funk that my body has been in for a few days and decided to stay home and be sick. Hopefully I can recover with the 3 day weekend giving me an advantage. In the mean time though I decided to try my had again at some light hacking. My Dell Latitude 2100 sits OS free right now and I would really like to do something interesting with it. Especially with it having a touch screen it could make for some interesting computing. I have tried to hackintosh it to no avail and might instead give Linux a shot. I know most people do spring cleaning and for me that is OS installs and reformatting hard drives. For example I just realized that one of my terabyte drives is formatted as FAT32!! I do not know why its not NTFS.

Oh well fun either way to clean up a drive that needs to be setup anyway. Now if only I could find a broom…

Christmas Goodness

Desserts in Piedigrotta

I love finding little places that serve the best food and have really good history. Piedigrotta is now my favorite foodie spot in Baltimore for desserts and goodies. What is also amazing is the claim to fame that Carminantonio Iannaccone was the man who invented the Tiramisu. This past week over Christmas I went to Baltimore to spend some time with my cousin and with the intent to directly enjoy the goodies and boy did I. It was awesome… I will definitely visit the spot again and bring back all the goodness.

Wordpress updates = Frustration

I love the open development of Wordpress because there is constant security updates and usability fixes. The downside is some of my extensions lose their functionality. I have so many neat little plugins that I would love to have work, but the ever changing version numbers of Wordpress keep my plugins from working. Well I will just hope that the plugin development will keep updating right along with my core Wordpress engine.

Avatar: A Masterpiece

AvatarI just came home from seeing what can only be described as an epic master piece of cinema. James Cameron has once again created an amazing world that truly was tangible. Aside from the amazing 3D experience and filming in IMAX the emotions that swirl from the beautiful characters that inhabit Pandora really make the viewer feel for each individual. Not to mention the motion capture was so well-detailed that I could pick up on the slightest nuances of emotion that come with an actual human face.

The detail of course does not end there. Though the detail on the characters and the mechanics of those characters were well thought out and planned, the world itself was full of such detail. Pandora as a world was truly something remarkable. James Cameron not only created an expansive environment for the movie to play through, but he created a true ecosystem. A biology and anatomical system that was unique and absolutely detailed in all aspects.

Admittedly the story resembled some story themes that are common in other movies and literature. The truth though is the depth of that world and the creatures inhabiting it were so well thought out it once again shows the genius of James Cameron.

Snowed in Productivity

I love a good snow. Sledding happens, bonfires, and some crazy play time with my dog. Right now I am going to do some house cleaning though because I have some great cable organization tools I got from my friend Bill. My desk is chaos right now but I will update soon. In the meantime check out the video of Diesel being crazy and I will post more Christmas images and video.