Virtual Frets, Actual Sweat
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Playing Hendrix for a night has become the new karaoke.
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Padraic Brady has posted a manifesto of sorts about the work that he's been doing on his PHPSpec library and trying to work it into the approval process for the Zend Framework.   I'll be attempting to pound the Zend Framework into submission so I can apply Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD) using PHPSpec when I write a Controller. Why? Because I feel like it, and it gives me an excuse to promote one possible incarnation of PHPMock and the PHPSpec Zend Framework extension. See? Perfectly reasonable selfishness!   He hopes to move it past the typical test-driven development process that PHPUnit offers and "kick your ass into high-TDD gear" without having to have worked much with it before then (the key is simplicity).   He includes some code examples (how it should flow) and describes some of the challenges that he's coming across so far, specifically with the way that the Zend Framework works with the Controllers and what he wants to accomplish.
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A workout is certainly one way to burn off some excess anxiety after a long, stressful day at work. For wound-up video gamers, though, it's a lot more fun to fire up the console and plow through endless waves of zombies.
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Sony makes the body a living capacitator by sending audio signals through it. From Crave, CNET's gadget blog.
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Guitar Hero groupies, get ready: A third entry in the musical franchise is on the way, and it will have a wireless controller!
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If you've had a CT or MRI scan recently, ask your doctor for the CD. You can make something pretty with it. In Bodyhack.
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Tycho: Keek directed me to a radical (and potentially even "badical") article on BioShock over at Gamers Wif Jobs. I've been wondering about the recent PR shift the game has gone through, because I don't just keep hearing that it is a "shooter first," but I keep hearing specifically that it is a "kick-ass shooter," even though it's a game where you learn about Objectivism underwater while helping jealous composers get revenge. I've never doubted that the game will be great, by whatever road it reaches that greatness. The recent WWE slant just had me curious about whether I'll be able to perform a suplex in-game. You may not think that is important, but it is totally important.(CW)TB
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Researchers create digital paper that emits recorded sound in response to a user's touch.
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Three months ago I introduced my readers to a new system for hosting VST plugins compiled natively for Linux. That system has continued its development and has become a mainstay in the Studio Dave Linux audio arsenal. Here's an update on the system's recent incarnations, complete with the usual multimedia extravaganza of text, screenshots, and sounds.
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Life & style: Synthesised shark's skin? Sweat-reactive fish scales? Peta Bee looks at how the latest sportswear can enhance performance
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Can digital musicians, artists and other media creators free themselves from the tyranny of popular software design? Commentary by Momus.
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Hobbyist hackers use Nintendo's motion-sensing controller to play Half-Life 2 and bang virtual drums. What's next? By Chris Kohler.
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Tycho:  Gamespot is saying there's a reproducible crash in the new Tiger Woods for the 360, and that the Gamernet functionality doesn't work there either.  PS3 version sounds clean.    Next year, can you guys make sure you put your crash bugs into the demo, too?  It would really help the consumer make an educated decision.    It's so weird; we had problems with the last one, but it never occurred to us that the next one could be worse.  That is to say, I expect inertia.  I don't expect it to break before I even get the Goddamned thing home.      (CW)TB
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A novel set of input devices aim to reduce repetitive stress injuries by going vertical.
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Movie & video, book, images, software (games & program) and music cataloguer / database. Uses online web services (amazon, imdb, musicbrainz, freedb). Skinnable, highly customizable, reporting. Supports DVD, many audio & video file formats and Audio CD'.   Although I planned on releasing the production version at this moment I have decided against this. At the last moment I decided on changing the working of the online search drastically (see the change log for more information). As this is quite fundamental a second beta came to mind. Please help me testing in this release!   My thanks to the many persons emailing me, posting their issues in the forums and logging their bugs an request at Sourceforge.net!            Presented By     Play PSP Games Online at Thousands of T-Mobile HotSpot Locations Nationwide      Unleash the power of your PSP(r) system through thrilling online gaming against players from around the world.  And now - you can play PSP games online at thousands of T-Mobile HotSpot locations nationwide with six months of complimentary T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-Fi service! www.playstation.com/    Ads by Pheedo
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By Dorsey Griffith, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.  Jun. 21--Excessive video game playing sure can be a problem.
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Tycho:  I should have all the science lined up by the end of the week, ready to stuff into the piano black lozenge I've obtained to celebrate my return to personal computing.  Wish me luck; I've never before had the opportunity to fry four processors at once.       I know things.  Specifically, things that may be of interest to you.  For example, I know if playing Eye of Judgment online is an onerous as it might seem.  It is not!  I cannot express my relief.    Well, let's try.  In my last, vast expose, I broke down a card's unique language and expressed some misgivings about online play - ultimately just accepting it, because what they're trying to do is so weird that there's no prior art.  Essentially, you "register" your thirty card deck with the system itself, where it is stored and named for future use.  This process is extremely straightforward:  it is simply a matter of you laying your cards anywhere on the mat, a few at a time.  It will probably take two minutes if you really keep on it.  Then, you jump online, choose what nation you want to play for, and track down a partner.  At this point, the game will "draw" you your five card hand by showing you the card art onscreen.  You get one Mulligan (or redraw), but if you like your hand you move into the game proper.  We laid out our deck by element, face up, and this smoothed the turn to turn process considerably.      In the build we have, and I hope this is changed for release, it shows you these cards in a single file line without their name or text - just the art.  Once you got familiar with these images, slightly modified from their card format, it's pretty quick - but the names should be displayed on this screen.  You can use the controller to pull up the names, but let's be serious - at no point should the player be forced to interact with a mundane controller once the game is underway.     You should know that the game really wants a well-lit environment.  You don't need a flare gun or anything, but we didn't have what we needed before and certain squares would slow down the game flow with partial reads that would only resolve after several attempts and minute card adjustments.  I should state that here in the office, we removed all the overhead lights, installing a single track of illumination that we point at the ceiling, where lights used to be.  We tend to transform any place we live into a cave.  So, our scenario might be somewhat atypical.    Also, I know if playing Rock Band with all the instruments off of a USB hub is onerous.  You will be happy to know that it is not - we played said instruments spread out on an actual stage, and found it more than satifactory.  The reality is that the drum kit already needs its own wire, so it isn't as though the future had actually arrived anyway.  Plus, the mic isn't wireless either. This makes the contrived brouhaha over wired guitars a fairly transparent traffic ploy.    This is a matter quite apart from Microsoft's reticence to play ball with unique, third party hardware.  And when I say "play ball," I'm taking about the shakedown operation they've got going licensing their wireless technology, which either makes products for their system more expensive or (in the salient case of Rock Band) results in them bundling a wired controller for the same price as a wireless one on a competitor's system.  This is the last holiday they can get away with this sort of thing...  right?