The Magic of 71

This makes my 9th year of writing 71 blog posts for the year. So what is magic about the number 71? The first year I started writing in my blog, I wrote 71 posts. The next year I felt it appropriate to write the same number. That trend has continued for 9 years now. So if you ever wonder why I have the same number of posts every year, it is just because it is a good goal to shoot for. Otherwise I am afraid I would write less and less each year.

I am amazed at the varying topics I write about and am excited to see what the new year has in store. Hopefully there will be some really fun video games. I would also like to see some really useful technology. Will it be with drones or robots? I don't know but am excited to find out. Until then, enjoy the end of 2017 and I wish you a Happy New Year.

Vinyl Records

Now that Christmas is over I can share a gift that I picked up for my wife: a record player. Naturally I also had to get a record for her to play. I recently received the Top Gun soundtrack as a vinyl record and so I threw that in with the record player and wrapped them both together.

On Christmas morning, my wife opened the gift and liked the record player. My kids, on the other hand, had never even seen one before. They had only heard about them. When compact discs first emerged, we were all told that they did a better job of reproducing the sound than cassette tapes and vinyl records. Everyone believed that to the point that those older forms of media almost completely disappeared. Now the trend is reversing and experts are saying that analog signals provided by a record are superior to digital signals provided by streaming services, mp3 files, and CD audio discs. Personally I believe that record companies are figuring out a way to become relevant again and are bringing back vinyl. Will it last, I'm not sure but I did get a record player for my wife.

My wife is not the only one that wanted a record player for Christmas. My oldest son's sister-in-law also wanted and got one. My son enjoyed listening to it on Christmas morning as he spent time with his wife's family. It is a more basic one than my wife's and so when we finally set up the one I got, it blew him away that the tone arm moved by itself when I started the record. I had to laugh as I explained that this is not new technology. I find it funny that an electronics device phased out 20 years ago seems amazing to my children. They say that if you wait long enough, old becomes new and that is the case with vinyl records.

A Quick Review of Ubisoft's Steep Video Game

A few days ago I found myself with some spare time at home alone and so I loaded up Ubisoft's Steep video game on my PS4. I started playing it and wanted to provide a quick review before moving on to my next winter break game. I don't want to keep playing the game right now because it is something that will appeal to me more in the summer when I can't ski and need a good snow escape.

The game does a good job simulating snow. It is one of the best I have seen. The Frozen Wilds DLC from Horizon Zero Dawn looks very similar and this is because of the graphics processing power of the latest generation consoles. Otherwise it plays very similarly to any of the other skiing and snowboarding games that have been around for a decade. You have a number of challenges where you try to beat times or get scored for tricks. My first challenge was to beat a specific tine down a course. I also had to fly through a wing-suit course in another one. Something new that I did was to follow another skier and try to stay behind her as she went off cliffs and through trees. I enjoyed it a lot.

Steep is a great video game for anyone. You don't have to worry about violence or nudity. It has an ESRB rating of T for Teen because of language but I have yet to come across any. I am a fan of Ubisoft games and play a lot of them. This is definitely one I will keep playing. I will just wait until the summer months before finishing it. You can find the game for around $25 if you look for a deal and it is worth that price.

Bad Weather

Scandinavian countries have a saying, "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing." My youngest daughter works for an outdoor clothing retail store and she loves to use that saying on days like today where it is wet and cold outside. A lot of people chuckle and think she is just trying to sell really good snow jackets. Sometimes it even works.

I love wet and cold days like today for several reasons. It means there is snow in the mountains and this year we need a lot more snow. This morning I got up and was pleasantly surprised by 6-inches of fresh snow for my morning skiing. I also didn't feel guilty about seeing a movie in the middle of the day. Bad weather just makes it easier to stay inside. Now I am back from the movie and about to begin a nice long video-game session.

Sometimes a cold-wet day can be a bit of a drag, but not today. Instead of being sad because I can't go outside, I am using it as an excuse to stay inside and do all of those fun things that one does when the days are short and the nights long. Hopefully you are enjoying the weather where you are too, no matter the conditions outside. And remember that if you have to be outside, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.

WiFi at Alta Ski Resort

Yesterday I decided I would spend my day working from Alta Ski resort instead of at home. Normally I would have gone up in the morning, done a bit of skiing, and then come home to work. Instead I drove up with my daughter who teaches skiing there. Upon arrival, I immediately headed to the Albion Grill where I set up camp for the day. I sat at the window and looked out at the spectacular mountains. I found a place where I could watch my daughter teach her little groms. I enjoyed watching her instruct cute little kids.

When the lifts opened up, I went out and took a few runs. The high temperature of the morning registered around 5 degrees Fahrenheit. So after 4 runs, I headed back to the lodge to warm up and do some more work. I found the WiFi in the lodge to be superb. I had to download a 500 MB file and the free service didn't get too slow for everyone else. Furthermore the file seemed to be ready to use in a matter of seconds. Out of respect to everyone else, I didn't try to download any more large files.

At lunch I noticed the lift lines became non-existent. I headed out for a few runs until everyone finished lunch and the lines returned. Then I headed back to the lodge for more software testing and e-mail reading. My wife arrived around 3pm to take a few runs with our son and daughter-in-law. I headed out with her for an hour or so and then we drove home.

If you find yourself looking for a change of scenery and have the option of working from home, I highly suggest heading to a ski lodge. If the WiFi is as good as Alta's, you can get a lot done. Furthermore the scenery and atmosphere is awesome. I highly recommend it.

Christmas Break Video Game List

This afternoon I am taking a small break from working at home to watch my son play Horizon Zero Dawn with the downloadable content (DLC) The Frozen Wilds. It has me thinking about the games I want to play over the break. I made sure to pick up a number of games from the office before leaving and I will see how many I can get through during my time off. I will probably save the Horizon games until I head back to California as it looks like a good game to play during my evenings on the boat. Here is my list for the break:

Star Wars Battlefront II - I watched my son start out this game a few days ago and it looks very interesting. I must confess that I am a huge Star Wars fan and we will see if it lives up to my expectations.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy - I am a huge fan of the Uncharted series and have played all of the other games. I have high expectations for this game and think I can get this completed before the break is over.

Steep - I have wanted to play this game for a long time and finally picked up a copy. Of course I will also be skiing Snowbird and Alta so we will see how much time I want to swap from real skiing to do virtual skiing.

I have a bunch of other games in my library but I think this is a good start for my break. We'll see how many I get played.

Disk or Digital Download

This evening I watched the movie Cars 3 using a digital streaming service. This brought up a conversation about purchasing disks on movies or streaming them. My personal preference is to purchase disks and my oldest daughter echoed that sentiment when she pointed out that she tried to watch Cool Runnings on a streaming service but it is no longer available. When you own the disk, you never have to worry about that problem.

At the office we have similar discussion going on: are disks better than digital downloads for games. Once again my preference is a physical disk. I do see how a digital download can be better though. I travel between Utah and California weekly. When I play a video game from a disk, I have to carry that disk with me back and forth. If I purchased the game as a digital download, I would just need to download it to my console in California and my console in Utah but only purchase it once. Then I wouldn't need to carry a disk back and forth.

The reason we watched tonight's movie as a digital download is that nobody felt like going to a store to purchase a disk copy. I just turned on my TV and ordered it through one of my online services. I also had a free coupon so I didn't even have to pay for the viewing this evening. Ultimately I will be going to get the movie on disk as it is one I want to keep in my video library. That way when the grand kids show up, I can just pull out the disk.

What would be nice is a service that lets you buy the movie or game online. Then they ship you the disk so you can have a copy later. That is the best of both worlds.

Online Security

This afternoon I spent several hours reading through computer and online security policies for my company. They are not different from what you would find at any company concerned about making sure sensitive information remains so. While there is a lot that I read, the interesting point I would like to share today is with passwords.

I am going to start by saying that I hate my company's password policy. My company laptop password has to be a minimum of 12 characters, contain upper and lower-case letters, contain at least 1 number, and can optionally contain symbols. Furthermore I have to change the password every 90 days but cannot change it within 2 weeks of creating a new one. Why? So users don't just cycle through difficult passwords until they get back to their familiar one. We cannot use the same password again for a really long time. That means our password system remembers quite a few of our old passwords and won't let us re-use them. Of course, we are not allowed to write our passwords down. While this all sounds cumbersome to me, it actually has merit and should be adopted by others concerned about security.

Instead of looking at long passwords as being difficult to remember, I now look at them as ways of creating short sentences. For instance, when I have to create a password for someone and give it to them with the instruction to change it immediately, I always use something funny like "MattIsT0tallyAwesome!" It is longer than the 12-character minimum and is filled with upper and lower-case letters. I have also replaced one of the letter O's with a zero so I get a number in there. Then I end with the exclamation point which is an optional symbol.

The other thing that can get confusing is having to change my password so frequently. While I have come up with a short sentence for my first password, in 3 months I will have to change it again. Instead of coming up with a new password, I simply create a follow-on sentence. One example might be "YesHeReally1s!". Notice how all the rules are followed again with the number one replacing the capital letter I in the word "is". Once again I have used an exclamation point at the end but could have used another symbol just as easily. By the time I have changed my password 10 or 20 times, I have a fairly funny dialog that has been going on. The only trick is remembering which sentence I am on for my current password, but that is much easier than remembering a bunch of random characters.

For the record, I have never used either of my example passwords and they only serve as ideas. After all, what good is having a clever password if you post it somewhere for everyone to read?

The Christmas Spirit

This evening I am home alone while my family participates in a great extended family activity. I would like to be with them but have another engagement and can't make it. They will be back in an hour or so and we can do something to celebrate the Christmas season. In the mean time I am trying to keep in a happy mood and I am using music to help me.

My youngest son got married in October and one purchase I made for the celebration is a large powered speaker. We used it to play dance music at his reception and it worked very well. This afternoon I pulled it out and connected it to one of my smartphones. Near Field Communication (NFC) makes things easy because all I had to do is touch the phone to the speaker and the two devices paired right up without having to do anything else. Then I just turned on the Pandora's Christmas Radio station. I can't think of a better way to get into the Christmas spirit.

Christmas List 2017

Every year I try to put together a Christmas list for those of you interested in ideas on what to get that nerd in your life. This year I have come to the conclusion that I am not your typical nerd. A few weeks ago I talked with a few guys in the airport while waiting to catch my flight. During the conversation it came out that they both spend free time developing mobile games when they are not at work in front of their computers. I discovered a long time ago that every man needs a hobby and while computers pay my bills, I need something different to occupy my free time. I spend my winters skiing and my summers rock climbing, cycling, and sailing. So this year, I want to create two lists: one for the really nerdy person in your life and one for the nerdy person that you don't want to be nerdy any more.

Nerd List:

• Second or third phone charger - I have two phones that I carry around on a daily basis and so I like to keep chargers in places I may need to use them. I have a charger on my sailboat in California for when I am there during the week. I also keep spare chargers at my office in addition to the ones I keep at home. I hardly spend any time in my car but I have recently put some there for those long drives I am starting to take more often. These can be found relatively cheaply and cost around $10 - $20.
• Classic video games for the latest generation of consoles - The latest consoles have been out for a while and some of the original games that have been out since launch can be found at places like GameStop, Best Buy, or Target for next to nothing. Look through your nerd's stash of games and see if there are not some classics that can be found inexpensively. One of the best sites to visit for reviews is Metacritic and you will find a number of high-quality games to choose from.
• Steam Gift Cards - Not everybody uses consoles to play video games. Some like to game on their computers. For those that don't know what games to get but have someone that likes to play games on the PC, there is always a Steam Gift Card.
• Smartphone case - Mobile phones are replacing laptop computers as the computing device being used most frequently. I am pretty good about not dropping my phone but it does happen. I highly recommend getting a protective case for that special someone in your life that spends a lot of time on the phone. There are a number of different models and features to choose from. My preference is to have one that doesn't add a lot of bulk to the phone but still has some level of protection.

Reformed Nerd List (my preferred list this year):

• A National Parks annual pass - I love visiting Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion National Parks as well as many others. There are a large number of National Parks and so I highly recommend getting an annual pass. At only $80 for a year, it is really inexpensive. When my daughters complained about the current administration tripling the entrance fee to certain overcrowded National Parks during peak season, I realized that an annual pass is only a few dollars more and will allow you to visit every park in the country all year long. I really hope I have one in my Christmas stocking this year.
• A Bird Identification Book - Recently I rode my bike to work and rode next to a beautiful bird and would love to know what species it belongs to. It was black with beautiful red markings on its wings. I have never been much of a bird watcher but think it would be a fun thing to get into as I spend my time outside. A good set of binoculars would make a nice companion gift.
• Global Entry or TSA Pre - This year my wife put something interesting on her Christmas list: experiences. She said she would prefer experiences over "stuff." While there are a number of experiences that can be had close to home, sometimes you need to get on a plane. I signed up for Global Entry earlier in the year and it has made travelling so much easier. When I came back from Japan a few weeks ago, I got through Los Angeles International Airport's (LAX) customs and immigration in under 7 minutes. It used to take me almost 30. Global Entry also comes with TSA Pre which gets me through all domestic airport security lanes significantly faster and with much less hassle than before. At $100, Global Entry is well worth the price. If you don't plan to do any international travel, TSA Pre is only $85 and much easier to get.
• Rock Climbing Guides - This gift is rather specific to me but should serve as an idea for other gifts. It is great to be able to find a guide book to help me locate good climbing areas close to home. I have also picked up guides for famous venues such as Yosemite and Zion National Parks. There are a number of other great climbing places that I would like to find out about and guide books are a great way to do that.
• Waterproof protective phone case - Yes, this appears on both lists because recently I have started doing some Canyoneering where you have to swim through parts of the canyon. Dry bags are recommended but make it tough to take pictures of your adventure. I have a waterproof phone case that I use for such events and am glad I have it. I don't use it on a daily basis because it adds too much bulk to my phone.

As always, I hope this gives you some ideas for that computer person in your life as you try to find last-minute Christmas Gift Ideas. If none of these seem to be the right gift, then might I suggest good old fashioned kindness and Holiday cheer.

Time to Replace a Phone

Once again it is time to replace my old Android Smartphone. The old one had this funny problem where it would turn itself off and I could not turn it back on unless I plugged it into the charger. It didn't happen very often but I finally got tired of it and asked for a new phone. After all, it is the phone provided by my place of employment and I don't have to pay for a new one.

I had the option of an iPhone or an Android phone. As my personal phone is an iPhone, I opted to get the Android phone. I like the flexibility of having both an Apple and an Android. My new phone is very similar to my old one in features and is waterproof. While I don't really plan to ever test that feature, it is good to know about it in case something bad happens.

Any time you need to replace an electronic device like a laptop or phone, you will need some time to set up the new device. Fortunately I didn't opt for the iPhone as it would have been very difficult to get all of my applications and data moved to the new phone. Ultimately I just ended up moving the SIM card from my old phone to the new one and turned them both on. They were both connected to the WiFi network and recognized that one needed to be backed up and restored to the new one. That made everything convenient. I didn't need to transfer contacts as that happened the moment I entered my Google login information on the new phone. It is also important to remember that the process was not instantaneous. It took a few minutes and required me to enter some information on the new phone.

Today I finished pairing up my exercise headphones to the new phone. That is something I forgot when I got the new phone last week. There are a number of speaker systems I have at home that are also not paired to my new device. Fortunately it comes with NFC pairing so I just have to touch the phone to speakers and they will pair automatically. That is not something you can do on an iPhone but is a very convenient feature.

It is nice to have a smartphone without little problems. It is also nice that moving to a new one has gotten to be so seamless. Now if we can make upgrading computers this easy, I might think about replacing my laptop computers more frequently.

Mixed Reality or MR

Yesterday I participated in a Mixed Reality demo. What is Mixed Reality? It is the intersection of virtual reality and the real world. In Disney's "Mary Poppins" there is a scene where a live human (Dick Van Dyke) dances with animated penguins. That is sort of an example of Mixed Reality.

I can't go into too much detail about the demo I saw yesterday because of non-disclosure agreements but it consisted of a virtual reality headset like the PlayStation VR or Oculus Rift with external cameras added. The demo started in the virtual world where players could interact with simple objects like wooden blocks or bouncing balls. The demo then shifted to mixed reality where the player could see their surroundings with some of the elements of the virtual world included. My favorite part of the demo is when one of the characters from the virtual world interacted with a lamp in the real world and turned it on.

I enjoyed the demo and found the idea of Mixed Reality to be very interesting. Now I wonder what uses it will have in the future. A few days ago I mentioned that it is best to meet work colleagues in person for collaboration. I wonder if mixed reality can be used as a good substitute. Perhaps I should create my own demo and see.

Inventions in Japan

I am in Japan this week and it is probably the only time I ever read Time magazine as there is a copy in my hotel room. This week's cover story is about the 25 greatest inventions of 2017. I have glanced through the list and have to wonder how many of the devices will continue to be great in 5 years. I know that predicting what will be great is a bit difficult and nobody ever gets it right but that doesn't keep us from trying.

If you were to ask me my thoughts on the greatest inventions in the past half-century, personal computers would definitely make the list. There is one invention that has yet to really make its way from Japan back to the United States that I would like to highlight instead: the heated toilet seat. I don't know why I continue to forget about this modern marvel until I return to Japan each time, but I do. I constantly tell my wife that we need to redo the master bathroom so that it has a heated toilet seat but there is a lot of work that goes into it. It is not something you can just bolt on to your existing toilet. Why? Well it needs electricity to keep it warm and power outlets are not something you generally put next to water-filled objects that occasionally have the tendency to overflow.

In the middle of summer, I don't mind a cool toilet seat. It can be somewhat refreshing on a scorching-hot day. In the middle of winter a cold toilet seat can be quite a shock and downright uncomfortable. It may sound funny but a heated throne adds significantly to your personal comfort. In a world of uncomfortable situations, who doesn't need more personal comfort. I therefore nominate heated toilet seats to be one of the greatest inventions of that past 50 years and encourage you to give one a shot. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Sharing Information

Yesterday I hosted a conference for my company. It is the 9th one and it turned out better than expected. In the week leading up to yesterday I didn't think enough people would attend to make the conference worthwhile. It turned out that we had some last-minute registrations and I am thankful for them.

Yesterday morning I really questioned the efficiency of getting a bunch of people from around the world to meet in the same room. I wondered if the same people might be served better by a newsletter or some other form of collaboration. At the end of the conference, I asked everyone the question that had been on my mind while planning the event: Should the conference continue? I then tossed around some ideas I had on how to replace it.

While I expected everyone to say that they wanted the conference to continue, I was not prepared for the answers given as to why. Everyone agreed that nothing beats meeting colleagues in person. I could try sending out a monthly newsletter but people would just glance at it before throwing it away. I could set up a video or teleconference but then the important side conversations wouldn't happen. Ultimately having everyone in the same room for a day allowed for collaboration that wouldn't take place otherwise. I also had managers tell me that they are working to increase their travel budget so more people can attend next year's conferences. So it looks like I need to keep planning them.

This should not sound too surprising. Think about your own family. Would you rather talk to a loved family member through e-mail, on the phone, using a video conferencing tool, or be together in the same room? All the money spent traveling during November and December shows that there is value being physically together.

Chromebook Update

About a month ago I wrote about a new Chromebook that a company sent me for free. Since then it has been in my family room, next to the kitchen. I have to say that it has been used non-stop by the family. It really only has one purpose: a web browser and it does it very well.

I came home from California before Thanksgiving and needed to look something up. I opened the screen and saw that my wife had used the Chromebook to look up a recipe for Polenta. I found that fitting as that is what I said it would get used for last month. The family also uses it for a number of other things as well. I used it to help figure out what tires to put on my wife's Jeep Wrangler. Throughout the Thanksgiving break, we used the device whenever anyone had a question that nobody else could answer. Need to know how late a store is open? Just do a quick Internet search and look it up.

Yesterday my youngest son grabbed the Chromebook and did some quick Christmas shopping. When he finished, he remarked that the device makes a great addition to the family room and thinks it makes a great family computer. Of course he wouldn't want to give up his laptop with all its capabilities but having a device for everyone to use to do quick look ups is very convenient.

I closed last month's review of the device stating that I probably wouldn't spend money on one because I prefer my laptop. After having used it for a while, I have changed my opinion and think the device is well worth the $200 price. I would also suggest that if you are looking for an inexpensive family gift to consider one. Especially if you need to replace the family computer that is really only used to search the web.

Be Careful What You Like

This morning I got up early and thought I would play Rocksmith on my PS4 to help me get in some guitar practice before work. Imagine my surprise when I turned on my PS4  and saw that I had liked the movie "Let's Talk About Sex." I've never even seen the movie but the title might make some question my taste in movies.

So how did I "Like" a movie I have never seen? Well it is quite a funny story. Someone turned on a PlayStation 4 that I have logged into before (there are a lot of them), signed in as me, found a movie with a shocking name, and selected the thumbs-up icon indicating that I liked the movie. It is a funny practical joke and I know who did it. Yes, I will be sure to get back at the person in an equally harmless way. However it brings up an important point: how do you un-like something on social media?

When I saw my movie recommendation on the What's New part of the PS4 interface, I immediately jumped in and un-liked the movie. Unfortunately that didn't do anything and the What's New section on the PS4 still registered that I liked the movie. Next I figured I would like another movie. Keeping with the theme of liking movies I haven't seen, I liked "Rogue Elements." It is a skiing movie I have yet to see but contains some skiers my kids grew up skiing with on the Snowbird Ski Team. Now the What's New section says that I like 2 movies and lists them both. I hoped that the new like would overshadow the old one but that didn't happen.

Rather than waste any more time on it, I figured I would let it stand. Now I wonder what the recommendation engine is going to do with the 2 likes for movies I have never seen. Perhaps the next time I log into my PlayStation I will be inundated with ads for ski porn (the link goes to Urban Dictionary . . . not a website that would be unsafe for work).

A Dreary Bay-Area Day

Last night I rode back to my sailboat from my office just before the rain started. I managed to put my bike away and then the sky opened slightly with a heavy mist coating everything. I just buttoned up the boat and pulled out my guitar for several hours of practice.

The rain falling on the boat deck has a very comforting sound, making it easy to fall asleep. This morning I woke up to the same sounds of rain around me. I altered my usual routine to make sure I stayed as dry as possible by staying inside the boat. Then at the last minute, I got my bike out of the boat, vacuumed the cabin, and rode off to work. I arrived less than 15 minutes later and very pleased with the high-quality rain gear I purchased several years ago.

Once at the office, I spent more time on an exercise bike looking out the window at the rain soaking everything outside. Fortunately I could look at the miserable weather from the comfort of the company gym and didn't have to try and go anywhere on my bicycle.

Now I am at the San Francisco airport getting ready to catch my flight back to Salt Lake and am pleasantly surprised that my projected departure is still on time. I also find myself in front of a large window looking out at the poor baggage handlers having to do duty in the elements outside. It does not look pleasant.

It is days like this that make you want to curl up with a good book or jot down your thoughts on a computer. When I look at the technology involved in keeping me from having to live in the outside elements I have found something to be thankful for. That is important during this time of the year.

Should Kids Play Video Games?

This is a question I get a lot when people find out I work in the video game industry. I'm not sure what they expect as I don't know how they think they are going to get an unbiased answer. Of course I think kids should play video games. Where do you think my Christmas bonus comes from? To be completely honest, I don't actually get a Christmas bonus. My annual bonus generally appears around June but it is tied to sales made around the Holiday period.

While I work in the video game industry, I am also a parent of 4 children and so for those that want my true opinion on the subject, continue reading.

As a child, I participated in a study where I was asked to read several pages out of a book. I then played a popular video game at its highest speed for around 15 minutes. Then I went back and continued reading. Everyone in the test read significantly faster after playing the high-speed game. Since then, I have had a bit more of an open mind when it comes to the benefits of video games. That may even contribute as to why I work in the industry.

There are a number of studies that have emerged showing that there are positive effects of video games. One back in 2014 shows that video games can be considered part of creative play, which is healthy for both children and adults. Another more recent study done in Germany shows that kids who play video games learn better than those that don't. There are many more that show the positive effects.

So what do I think? I think there is some good that can be had by allowing your children to play video games. I also think it should be done in moderation. When your kids come home from school, it is fine to let them play a video game for an hour before having them start on their homework. It allows them to release some aggression pent up from spending the day in a classroom. I think that more than an hour is too much and recommend against it. I also think parents should take a proactive role in helping children select video games and not just let them buy anything. For instance, I am not a fan of allowing kids to play games with nudity and strong sexual content. However those are my values and I can't direct you to any studies saying that I am right. While those studies may exist, I have not come across them yet. There are benefits to having parents take an interest in the activities of their children and knowing what your kids are playing is a good first step.

Taking the Best Outdoor Pictures

Last month I took my youngest daughter on an adventure vacation to Zion National Park. I had so much fun that Saturday I decided to sneak another quick trip down there before the snow arrives and I occupy my leisure time with skiing. I announced my idea on the Sunday before to get a count of who would be able to go with me to hike Pine Creek Canyon. I then checked with the National Park Service (NPS) to see if I could get a hiking permit for the group. Once I got it, I made hotel and equipment reservations. Friday night we drove down, spent the night, and then began the adventure the next morning.

One mistake I made with the trip a month ago is that I didn't take enough pictures. I have a really high-end waterproof camera and so I made sure to bring it on this trip and keep it in a place where I could easily get it for pictures. This time I brought my wife, youngest son, and his wife. We had a great time doing the various rappels (technically, there are 7 of them). There are 2 very spectacular drops: the first one into the Great Cathedral and the second one being a 100-foot free rappel (meaning it is just you and the rope with nothing around you but air). I took a lot of pictures and think they look great.

At the end of the hike, I hitched a ride back to the car and then came back for my crew. As we drove out of the park, a large group of people assembled on a bridge with cameras to catch the magnificent red rock perfectly lit at sundown. The picture everyone was trying to get has been recorded thousands of times in other photographs and can be purchased inexpensively in the form of calendars and post cards.

We got home and I passed around my camera so everyone could select the photos they wanted me to send them. Interestingly enough, nobody cared about the various landscapes that I worked hard to frame. Instead they wanted the pictures with people in them. My wife wanted the ones with my son and his wife while my son wanted the pictures of his wife hanging from a 10 mm rope 100-feet off the ground. In the end, it is the people that make the surroundings special not just the scenery. So when you go someplace exciting and new, don't worry about the setting. Make sure you include the people in your group. It will make your pictures that much better.

Video Game Review: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Last night I just finished playing the 4th game in the Uncharted series and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is no secret that I am a huge fan of the series and I think is the best game so far. Fortunately there is another installment in the form of "Lost Legacy." I will give that a shot after playing a few other games in between.

The game starts off with an exciting boat chase and then moves to the beginning of the story. Doing this received a lot of acclaim when they did it in Uncharted 2. The thing that I didn't like with the 2nd game is that when you got back to that part of the game, you had to go through the whole scenario again. I appreciated that Uncharted 4 just shows highlights of the encounter and lets you continue without having to redo anything.

The scenery in all of the Uncharted games is amazing and the 4th game does not disappoint. There are the usual tropical islands but other parts of the world as well. While pictures can give you an idea of the detail in the game, you really need to play the game to appreciate it.

I felt a real connection with the story and think it is the best one yet. I felt that Uncharted 2 really just repeated the same story from the first game. I also didn't like the "mystical" aspect of those two games. With Uncharted 4, the story is very believable and it really felt like I was discovering ancient ruins.

During the story, you continually add entries to a journal. Once I completed the game, I would have paid a healthy sum of money to get one sent to me in print. Perhaps Naughty Dog, the game developer,  should make a completed journal available for fans of the game like myself. You can purchase a blank journal but I want one already filled in with drawings from the game.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and Uncharted 4 is the last game featuring Nathan Drake as the main character. It is clear that he won't be going on any more adventures. When I first heard that, I thought something bad happens. I don't want to give any spoilers but it is a happy ending and not tragic.

Uncharted 4 is rated "M" for mature because of violence and language. You wind up killing a lot of bad guys and people do use some colorful language. The language is not as bad as some of the other "M" games I have played but you should be aware of it. You can purchase the game new for around $40 or used for $15. I don't know why anyone would sell their copy as this is one of the few games I would consider replaying. I definitely recommend this game for teenagers, young adults, and those of us older guys that still like playing video games. I got my copy using an industry discount for around $11 and plan to keep it in my library.

My standard disclaimer is that I do work in the video game industry, know several people who worked on the game, and may even be associated with the developers in some way shape or form. I still hope you find the review somewhat objective.

Video Game Walkthroughs

I am doing a bit of video game research for my current project and found myself reading through an online walkthrough for one of the video games I played recently. I chose a game I have finished because I don't want to ruin one I am currently playing. After all, getting surprised is half the fun.

This has me wondering if online walkthroughs constitute cheating. I must confess that I have used them to help me get through particularly difficult sections of games. Once I played Uncharted 3 with my son and we looked up the solution for one of the many puzzles. When it came time for me to play the game, I remembered how we cheated. I tried to solve the same puzzle using clues from the game and remember feeling a sense of accomplishment.

Sometimes a game can feel like it is just going on and on or I may be up against a time limit and need to keep things progressing. It is times like this that a game guide or walkthrough can help out.

As I can't condemn anyone for using a walkthrough because I have used them myself, I think they should be used sparingly. Going through one today left me with a very unsatisfied feeling. Perhaps it would be different if I was reading a guide for a game I haven't played yet.

Happy Halloween

This year Halloween is on a Tuesday and so I find myself in the Bay Area. Nobody will come trick-or-treating to my boat and so there is no need to provide anyone with candy. That is a good thing because I don't need any candy tempting me to eat more sugar than I already do. So I am wondering what I will do to make today unique from any other day of the week that I am on the boat.

I thought about playing a scary game. One of the free games for PS Plus subscribers is called Amnesia and is supposed to be scary. I started playing it at work last week and decided it is not a game that I enjoy, so I stopped playing it. This surprised a lot of my coworkers as they have all seen the critical acclaim it has received. Instead I will continue playing Uncharted 4. It should be a fun evening but not really different than last night as I did the same thing.

While I may not be in the Halloween mood, I have decided that tomorrow I will string up Christmas lights on my boat. Last year I did that for the first time and liked it so much I am looking forward to doing it again this year. Sure Christmas is several months away but I always enjoy the season and am looking forward to starting early this year. In the mean time, I hope everyone enjoys Halloween this year.

Enjoying a Solo Roadtrip

Thursday last week I drove my car from San Francisco back to Salt Lake. It is a trip I make about twice a year. Once I drive from Utah to California and then I drive the other way. I do it as I take a lot of vacation at the end of the calendar year and don't want to leave my car unused for such a long time. It is also a great time to do maintenance and take care of licensing.

There are a number of strategies I have used to combat boredom on the trip. On occasion I have enlisted one of my children to drive with me. My youngest daughter often shares with others about the time she flew to San Francisco and only stuck around for an hour or two before driving home. We had a fun time and listened to book on CD. We both enjoyed the fictional story and could talk about it as we drove the 11 hours.

Unfortunately my car is 17 years old and does not have a Bluetooth nor other type of audio connection. That eliminates being able to use a service like Audible. So before my trip on Thursday, I went to the local bookstore and purchased a non-fiction book on CD and loaded up the 6-disc changer in the trunk. At around the 5-hour mark, I swapped out CD's and loaded the remaining 3 as my book required 9 discs. The system works well but books on CD are more expensive than other sources or services.

My chosen listening material recounted the non-fictional story of Apollo 8. There are some familiar characters if you have seen the movie Apollo 13 and I enjoyed the references found in both. The story kept me entertained and the miles seemed to pass quickly. Of course, the 80-mile-per-hour speed limit in Utah and Nevada helped a lot too. If you find yourself wanting to go back and learn a bit about America's space program, I highly recommend the book. It is called "Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon" by Jeffrey Kluger.

I plan to bring my car back to California after the new year as soon as I catch a weather window where I don't have to worry about snowstorms closing the freeway around Lake Tahoe. When I do, I will be sure to get another book to listen to. With enough warning, I can probably find a better source for the stories so I can play it from my smartphone instead of on CD. That should save me some money.

My New Toy: An HP Chromebook 11 G5

Last week I received a package in the mail at work that contained a laptop sleeve. Included with it was a note from a vendor that told me how to get a Chromebook that fits perfectly in the sleeve. I thought about not contacting them because I knew it would involve a sales call. Then they guys around me at work actually thought talking to this vendor would be well worth our time. I submitted my information and soon received an e-mail from our sales representative. It is someone that I have had frequent contact with and so we set up a meeting to talk and catch up. That meeting happened yesterday and actually went very well.

I got home late last night from the Bay Area and my HP Chromebook 11 G5 was waiting for me on my desk. This morning I pulled it out and started playing with it. In order to use the device, you need to connect it to the Internet. That didn't take too long. Next I pulled up YouTube and played a video of one of my favorite songs. The speakers are not too bad considering the size of this very inexpensive device. Next I did a search to see what you can do with a Chromebook.

Over a decade ago I worked for an Oracle spin-off called Network Computer that later changed its name to Liberate Technologies. We created a Network Computer which is exactly what a Chromebook is now. If only we had continued refining our idea instead of going after the set-top box market, the company might still be around.

I have spent about an hour playing with this very functional device and think it is well worth the price I paid for it (free). If you are someone that uses your computer to read e-mail and surf the web, a Chromebook is a very inexpensive option with mine having a suggested price of around $200. I actually like it more than my Samsung tablet I got for free several years ago. Part of that is because of the keyboard included with the device. I also prefer using a mouse over a touchscreen. I hate fingerprints on my screen.

So would I run out and get a Chromebook? No, but only because I have a laptop that I don't mind carrying around. So what am I going to do with this free gift? I am going to put it in my kitchen for when my wife wants to look up recipes or one of the kids wants to surf the net. It is replacing a very old desktop computer that stopped working recently. I expect it will work quite well.

Video Game Review: Battlefield 1

Last night I finished playing EA's Battlefield 1 on my PlayStation 4. I started playing the game as I wanted a well-done title that didn't take a lot of time. Battlefield 1 definitely fit that criteria and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I only completed the campaign for the base game and didn't try any of the online play nor did I download any of the extra content. If I didn't have such a backlog of games to play I would give both a try.

I have to confess that my history of World War I is very shallow and that serves as the time period for the game. My understanding is that EA put a lot of effort into making the game historically accurate and that made the game very appealing. I always enjoy learning new things and doing so while playing a video game makes it more worthwhile. I especially appreciated knowing that the German tank in the recent Wonder Woman movie was actually British and I got that from this video game.

There are 5 different stories once you complete the opening section of the game. Each story can be played independently of the others and I took around 2 hours per story. I thought I would enjoy the flying one (Friends in High Places) the most and confess it is very well done. Several people in my office that have played the game would agree that it is the best one of the group. However last night I played the Arabian desert story (Nothing is Written) and enjoyed it even more. Part of my preference has to do with the character development as well as the environment. I have spent a bit of time in Southern Utah over the past week and the Arabian desert looks very similar in some regards. I felt very much at home. All 5 stories are very well done and enjoyable to play.

We have seen a lot of games set in World War II and I appreciated a new venue for this type of game. It helps put things in perspective and shows the importance of constantly improving technology.

Battlefield 1 has been available for a while and you can get an all access pass that includes new downloadable content as well as the original game for around $25. That is about what I paid for my copy of the game and is a good value for the price. It has an ESRB rating of M for Mature because of violence and strong language.

My Halloween Movie List

I love this time of year as it means that ski season is just around the corner. It also means that we get to start the extended Holiday season that includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. It also means it is time to start watching Halloween movies. Now I am not a big fan of scary movies and so when I think about Halloween movies, I think about fun ones. So with that preface, here is my list of Halloween movies that I enjoy.

Hocus Pocus - This is more of a fun movie than a scary one. Yes there are 3 witches that run around terrorizing a small New England town, but it is more comedic than horror.

Ghostbusters - I prefer the original as it brings back fond memories of my youth. Once again, this is more comedy than terror.

Casper - I used to come home from school and watch the old Casper cartoons. The movie is much better done and is a good way to celebrate Halloween.

Pirates of the Carribean - The original film got released in the summer of 2003, not even close to Halloween. However it is a very well done ghost story that ties into one of the classic rides in Disneyland. That makes it a good addition to my list.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - This film's original release date happened after Halloween but ultimately is a movie about witches and wizards. In my opinion, that makes it a great Halloween movie. It has a few scary parts but is mostly good entertainment.

Looking at this list, I realize that most of these movies are for children. I guess that makes me a big kid and I'm fine with that.

Adventure Vacation

I spent the first part of the week down in Zion National Park with my youngest daughter. She is out of school for a fall break and wanted to do something adventurous while I needed a short break from work. I had her set up the itinerary so I took care of the hotel. One of the hikes she wanted to do is called, "The Subway," and requires a permit in order to hike it.

The Subway at Zion National Park

As I left all of the itinerary planning to my daughter, I didn't worry about the technical things like the equipment we would need or if we would need help shuttling between the start and the end of the hike. We entered the lottery to get a permit the Monday before our arrival. If we didn't receive one, we had a backup plan. On Saturday at 1pm, my daughter received an e-mail from the National Park Service congratulating us on being awarded the chance to hike "The Subway." The next day we stopped by the park's visitor center to collect the permit.

In talking with the Park employee, we discovered that we needed to get dry suits as we would be swimming in very cold water to get through the hike. We would also need to do some repels during the hike but had all of the necessary equipment. We also needed to set up a shuttle as we would drop our car at the exit and take the shuttle 7 miles up the road to the beginning of the hike.

So what does all of this have to do with computers and technology? While we could look all of this up on the Internet, once we left the hotel at 6am on Monday morning to begin the hike, we couldn't rely on technology to help us get through the hike. We had no mobile phone service nor Internet. Furthermore the conditions for the hike can change from day-to-day and so none of the sources we looked at told us we would need wet suits or dry suits. We only got recommendations for them. However when we collected our permit, the National Park Service told us it was a requirement to have one or the other because of the nighttime freezing temperatures. I'm glad they required it as the rented dry suits came in handy during the hike.

We had a wonderful adventure on Monday and really enjoyed the hike. It took us about 2 hours to get through the beginning of the hike where we carefully navigated our way through an alpine forest and across Southern Utah's famous slick rock. It then took us 3 hours to exit the subway. When we look at how much time we spent actually in "The Subway," it was 4 hours of fun. Amazingly that time felt like only 15 minutes. We had a lot of fun and I recommend the hike.

A Scary Thought for Halloween

This morning I answered a one-question survey about what is the most scary Halloween character. A number of the usual suspects could be chosen. As a child, a monster would have definitely have made the list. Now that I am an adult, the most scary things in my life are much different. I am scared of things like getting extra random screening at the security in the airport or having the IRS decide I didn't pay my fair share of taxes. I am also afraid of illnesses like cancer or Alzheimer's disease.

If I stop to think about monsters, the scariest one on the earth today is man. Think about the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas and it has totally stolen the spotlight from natural disasters like hurricanes Irma and Maria. This has me rethinking several of the projects I am researching at work. I am helping to build some really fun technology, but in the wrong hands, it could be used to do much more scary things than any mass shooting to date.

Artificial Intelligence is one of the subjects I am researching and still think it is pretty stupid. However there are some areas where great progress is being made. Pull out any of the latest smartphones and try to take a picture of someone. The first thing you notice is that someone's face gets highlighted so you can provide a name or tag to be used by Facebook or some other social media site. This means that a tiny device that fits in your pocket knows the difference between a person and a random object. Now couple that with acoustic analysis where a couple of speakers can tell the direction that person's voice is coming from. A number of toy-robot researchers are using this technology to create robots that look at who is talking in a group of people. All of that seems pretty harmless and fun, right?

Now let's take that same technology that can recognize faces and knows how to aim at a person. I don't want to elaborate any more as I don't want to give anyone any ideas. However my realization this morning left me with a sick feeling in my stomach and the thought that while it isn't quite SkyNet from the Terminator movies, it is moving in that direction. Perhaps I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the scary uses of Artificial Intelligence. Monsters are not the things scaring me this Halloween season.

Software Quality vs. Getting it Done

Yesterday I had to be at our San Francisco office for some meetings and arrived shortly before lunch. My office in San Mateo has a cafeteria and so I didn't know what my lunch options might be in that office. Sure I could have walked around and found something quite easily but I wanted to catch up with an old work associate and so I sent him a lunch invitation e-mail. He had the time and so we headed to his favorite place and caught up.

We didn't go any place fancy and I appreciated that. A simple meal is all I needed. We got to talk about the differences between the two offices that belong to the same company. Even though he is doing similar things as to when we worked together, there is a different feel to it. When we worked together, my friend felt like he could do the job correctly and fine-tune the software he created. In the new environment, he feels like there is more of a push to get something out and working. It doesn't matter if it is not optimal, it just needs to work. He mentioned that he appreciated being able to create quality software and not just quantity.

If you talk to a software developer, his or her code is never really finished. It just gets good enough to use. Therefore a healthy balance needs to be struck when creating software. Programs need to be created and they need to work. They also need to be put out in a finite amount of time. So if you see a video game release date moved to a further date, you can be sure the development team is wrestling with getting the product into your hands as a consumer but also making sure it meets minimum quality requirements.

Looking Forward to Red Dead Redemption 2

The second trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 was recently released and has me excited about the game. After watching the new footage, I immediately called my friend that used to work for Rockstar Games and asked if he had a way of getting me a discount copy of the game. While I would be willing to pay full price for the game, I also try to leverage my contacts in the video game industry to help me get good deals.

Red Dead Redemption is a special game to me. It showed me that playing video games in the evening can be much more rewarding that watching television. After several weeks of playing the game nightly, I felt like I was losing a friend when the game ended. In the trailer for version 2 of the game, there doesn't seem to be any connection between the two games other than they both take place in the western United States in the mid 1800's. Someone explained to me that the new game is a prequel. I'll be very interested to see how the two games are related.

The only bad news delivered in the trailer is that the game will not be ready until the spring of 2018. With all of the anticipated game releases between now and Christmas, that is probably a good thing. I can still be disappointed though.

Video Game Review: Uncharted 3 Drake's Deception

Monday evening I finally finished playing Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception on my PlayStation 4. This is a game I started playing with my son over Christmas last year but didn't have time to finish until now. Rather than pick up where I left off, I started over a few weeks ago. I'm glad I did as I had forgotten a number of the controls. Besides, the beginning of the game is a lot of fun and worth playing over again.

I have mentioned that I am a fan of the Uncharted series of games and really looked forward to finishing up the original trilogy. I have to say that my favorite of the 3 is the last one. I felt that Uncharted 1 and Uncharted 2 were the same story with just a bit different window dressing. I think that 2 did a much better job telling the story than 1 but they had a lot of similar elements. Uncharted 3 continues to share some of those elements but also has a lot of new elements that increased my enjoyment.

I felt like the end of both Uncharted 1 and 2 required me to fight some pretty difficult battles with superhuman monsters. Naturally I would die and have to restart the battle.  Eventually it got rather tiring and only my desire to finish the game kept me playing. With Uncharted 3, the end battle also felt difficult but I didn't have to worry about superhuman monsters. I will confess I didn't make it through without dying once or twice, but the battle felt more natural and I enjoyed it significantly more.

Uncharted 3 is part of the Remastered Uncharted Collection game available for the PlayStation 4 and has an ESRB rating of T for "Teen." There is some mild language and violence but I have and would allow my teenage boys to play the game. If you have a PlayStation 3, you can find the game for that platform relatively inexpensively and it is definitely worth the price.

Now that I have finished Uncharted 3, I will take a bit of a break and play a different type of game. Playing the same game series one after another can lead to a bit of a burnout. Once my next game is complete, I am really looking forward to Uncharted 4 and will play that.

New Product Hype

Apple just released some new products this week. A friend of mine caught me in the gym and commented about how the reporting on the iPhone is not really that objective. I had to agree with him to a point. I have come to the conclusion that iPhone reviews come in only two flavors: lovers and haters. Lovers talk about all the merits of the new device and think it is the greatest invention ever. Haters talk about how there is nothing innovative about it and how other smartphones already have those features.

It is important to look at all new product reviews and try to figure out if the author is a lover or a hater. Some reviewers have been burned by products in the past and try to dissuade anyone from buying anything from the manufacturer ever again. Other reviewers are simply looking to get free products and will say nice things about mediocre products.

I have yet to see much of anything about Apple's new phones but am not really looking. I currently have 3 different smartphones and am not in the market to replace any of them. One of my phones is an iPhone SE and it works just fine for me. My other 2 phones are both Android ones and also work amazingly well. Given the $999 price tag for some of these new phones, I'd rather spend the money on a better laptop and get a cheap phone. You may think differently.

Telltale Games

This afternoon I finished playing "Game of Thrones" from Telltale Games. A few weeks ago I finished playing "Tales from the Borderlands," which is another Telltale game. Rather than review them separately, I thought I would review them together. Review is probably too strong a word as I will do more describing of what it is like to play any Telltale game. They all play very similarly. These are not the first games I have played from this game developer as I also played "The Walking Dead."

Playing Telltale games is a lot like watching a slightly interactive movie. There are a lot of scenes where you have no control over what is going on. Then every once and a while you can choose your dialog or make some minimal button presses on your controller. If you don't select the dialog quickly enough, you don't say anything and that has an effect on the story. Given the choice of watching a movie alone or playing a Telltale game, I much prefer a game.

"Game of Thrones" played very similar to "The Walking Dead." I felt like no matter what I did, people I cared about still died. When things started going well, bad things quickly followed. I am sure that a lot of that has to do with the original content that the games are based upon. I have never watched an episode of "Game of Thrones" on HBO but I did watch a lot of "The Walking Dead" on AMC. Ultimately I stopped watching because I got tired of seeing people struggle against all odds to better themselves only to have circumstances beyond control propel them back to having where they were before. Some people enjoy that formula and it keeps them entertained. I don't and so I stopped watching. After playing "Game of Thrones," I probably won't be watching that series at all.

"Tales from the Borderlands" is based on a video game and is actually quite humorous. I enjoyed finishing the game and it constantly kept me entertained. The game still had the element of succeeding only to crash but much less than the other games.

One nice thing about Telltale games on the PlayStation platforms is that most reward you with a platinum trophy for completing the game. Both "Game of Thrones" and "Tales from the Borderlands" had platinum trophies. If you are into trophy hunting, then definitely play as many Telltale games as you can. I paid nothing for either of my latest Telltale games as they came for free as part of my PlayStation Plus subscription. If you had the chance to add them to your library while they were available, I highly recommend playing them. If you ask me how much I would pay to play them, $5 sounds about right but I doubt you could find them for that price.

Demystifying Artificial Intelligence

One of the nice things about my job is that I get to play with some of the latest technology. Right now I am doing a lot with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). I remember back in the 1980's and how AI had the potential to be something great. Then it stagnated for 2 decades. Due to the low cost of computer processing power and memory, AI is making a comeback. Hopefully it has a bit more staying power this time around.

As I research new technologies it is important not to buy into the hype. I read one article today claiming that those that don't make the effort understand AI and ML will begin to look at computers as magical machines that they understand less and less. That can be true of any technology and so if you find yourself thinking of a new product as magic, that is what the marketing people want you to believe.

The more I work with the current state of artificial intelligence, the more I realize it is just really good at guessing the right answer. Most AI engines get fed a bunch of numbers (characters and words can be represented by numbers) and what those numbers mean. The engines then try to figure out what a different set of numbers mean. It then becomes very important to train the AI engine with a lot of data as well as the correct data.

What happens if you train your engine with the favorite breakfast cereals of children between the ages of 5 and 7? When you ask it what an adult would like for breakfast, you will most likely get the wrong answer. While I do like Fruit Loops, I don't eat them for breakfast anymore. What happens when you recognize the age mistake but only train the engine with data from Americans? If you ask what someone from Japan eats for breakfast, once again, you will get the wrong answer.

Currently artificial intelligence is at an interesting point. We are creating useful applications for it that can greatly help us in our daily lives. It is also important to remember that it isn't magic and is only as smart as the data with which it has been trained.

Help Forums

Several weeks ago I went to start my car and had a dead battery. Fortunately I anticipated such a problem and carry a lithium-ion battery that can be used to start cars and charge mobile phones. I connected it to my car battery and the car started right up. Then I drove around for a half hour so I could start my car the next day. Sure enough, that worked and I forgot about my battery problems until the following week when it happened again.

I had replaced my car battery only 18 months ago and figured I had a defective battery. So I brought the battery to a sister store of where I originally purchased it. They did some tests but could not conclusively tell me the battery had died. To do that would take an hour. They listened to my symptoms and agreed that the battery must also be dead and so after only 15 minutes, gave me a new one under warranty. That made me happy.

The car worked great for a few days and then I left it over the weekend. When I got back in town, I went to start the car and once again the battery was dead. Oops! My other battery was probably fine and the car turned out to be the source of the problem. So how do you find a battery drain in your when it is off? The first thing to do is check the Internet.

I did an Internet search with the make and model of my car along with the two words: "Battery" and "drain." After about 10 minutes of reading I discovered that the final sending unit (FSU) on my car often goes bad and leaves the cabin fan running even when the car is turned off. I looked for a replacement part online and discovered that if I ordered it from a local autoparts store I could have it that day for $100. If I ordered from an OEM parts supplier, I could have it in 2 or 3 days and it only cost $50. Not being sure that the new part would fix the problem, I opted for the OEM part. For those that don't know, OEM means it is the same part supplied by the manufacturer instead of an aftermarket part. I always try to use OEM parts when possible unless the aftermarket part is much more reliable and preferred by professional car mechanics.

To combat my dead battery each morning, I just unplugged the negative terminal from the car battery each night and reset my clock when I went to use the car. Once the part arrived, the Internet provided step-by-step instructions on how to replace it and I spent a total of 5 minutes doing the work. It is now a week later and my car is working very well. I don't have the dead battery problem any more.

I wonder what I would have done without the Internet to help me crowdsource the solution to my problem. Several less mechanical people had taken their cars to the dealer only to spend upwards of $1000 and still not have the problem fixed.

Sometimes online help forums can backfire but I have used them with mostly good results. This weekend I was doing laundry and noticed that my washing machine was not spinning the clothes to remove all of the water before I tossed them into the dryer. I looked at several online appliance forums to discover that I may have had a sensor problem. They told me to get the diagnostic code from the washer. I went to do that and noticed that my son had simply turned off the spin cycle. Turning it back on solved the problem. I guess I didn't need the help forum for that case as I just needed to be a bit more observant.

Having Fun with Sentiment Analysis

Recently I have been playing around with sentiment analysis and thought I would have some fun. I decided to take my wife to lunch today and am hanging out in her law office waiting for her to finish her day so we can drive home together. She has put me in one of her unused conference rooms with my laptop which has allowed me to continue my playing.

If you want to play with sentiment analysis, you can do so with Python using the Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK). Here is a very simple program that is only 2 lines:

import nltk.sentiment.util as s
print(s.demo_vader_instance("Text to analyze here"))

The program uses the Valence Aware Dictionary for sEntiment Reasoning (VADER) created by C.J. Hutto and Eric Gilbert. It is a great little algorithm that is quite accurate.

I started by analyzing the sentence, "I love my wife" and got a score of .6369 (scores run between -1 and 1). This happens to be the same score I got for, "I love to ski." So according to VADER, I love my wife about the same as I love to ski. I showed that to my wife and got a laugh out of her. Next I added a smiley face ":-)" to the sentence and watched the sentiment increase to .7351. More laughter.

I now have a chat log with 2.3 million lines I will run through it and see what happens for each line. I will then only check a select few but time how long it takes. If you have Python and want to have some fun, load up the NLTK and give it a try.

Satellite Radio

I bought my wife a new car a few years ago and it came with satellite radio. We had the service free for a year and really liked it. We opted to continue the service. With the ubiquity of the Internet, I am beginning to wonder if the days of satellite radio are numbered. Why limit yourself to someone else's music tastes when you can customize your listening preferences with streaming music like Pandora or Spotify?

My wife's car is a bit special in that it is a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. That means it is meant for going off road and we do so often. We visit some places so far from civilization, there is no mobile phone service nor Internet. In those cases, satellite radio wins out over streaming music.

Recently I did a road trip from Utah to California and I took Interstate 80 the whole distance. Mobile phone service providers have ensured that Internet service is available the entire way. While I opted to listen to a book on CD, I also could have streamed music on one of my phones. In that case, streaming music wins over satellite radio.

It is also important to point out that the two services are not mutually exclusive. Both can co-exist nicely. However if you have a smartphone and unlimited streaming data, it might not make sense to pay extra for satellite radio. It is that case that has me worried about satellite radio's future. If anyone disagrees, feel free to let me know.

Night Rock Climbing

My youngest daughter had her birthday a week ago and so my wife joined me in the Uinta Mountains to spend time with her. This daughter is the director of climbing for a summer camp and spends her weekdays teaching Boy Scouts how to climb. On Friday nights they will do night climbs and last week's evening of fun happened to fall right on my daughter's birthday.

My daughter had explained night climbs before but I had no idea what a party the evenings turn out to be. My daughter's boss has a set of outdoor speakers that he sets up with the help of stored music on his smartphone. Then all of the boys show up headlamps ready to climb about 50 feet. When I first heard of the event, I thought there might be 10 or so boys. Nope, imagine the entire camp showing up. Throw in the loud music, bobbing headlamps, and excitement of 14 to 18 year old boys. The sight impressed me and seemed like a lot of fun.

Last week my wife and I really enjoyed our evening watching our daughter celebrate her birthday. Our daughter enjoyed herself as well. In a world where I imagine most teenage boys enjoy video games and technology, it pleased me to see such a large group outside having good clean fun.

Famous in Japan

I had a visitor from Japan at my office this week as we continue to wind down a project I have been working on for the past 5 years. We went to dinner the other night and started talking about all of the people we have worked with on the project. One of my good friends in Tokyo has made quite a name for himself. He moved his family to Nagano, Japan a little over a year ago. He commutes to Tokyo every Monday and then heads home on weekends. While in Tokyo, he stays with his parents. This allows his family to have a very comfortable lifestyle in the mountains.

The business press in Japan has found out about his commuting lifestyle and has written articles about him. All the press has made him a bit of a business celebrity. One of the questions he is constantly asked is how he came up with such a unique lifestyle. His response is that there is a manager in the United States that lives in Utah near a ski resort and commutes to San Francisco every week.

I had to laugh when my associate told me this story. My friend from Nagano has always thanked me for showing that technology allows us to live where we want even though it may be far from our place of work. He seems to be doing a good job capitalizing on my example as now there are a lot of companies that admire him and want him to work for them. So if he is famous and credits me for the idea that made him a celebrity, does that mean I am famous too?

My 2017 Vacation From Technology

I spent last week high in the mountains while the rest of the country celebrated Independence Day. One benefit of my trip is that I didn't have mobile phone service at all. I thought I would have technology withdrawls but surprisingly did not. I actually enjoyed not having to carry a phone around with me.

I had a number of different activities to choose from last week and didn't know what to do until the last minute. Finally I decided to spend a week with my youngest daughter in the Uinta mountains of Utah. She is the director of rock climbing at a summer camp and I figured it would be fun to spend more time with her. I packed up some clothes along with my guitar and headed to the camp.

One advantage of the holiday during the week is that most of the camp staff went on vacation. While my daughter normally shares her cabin with 4 other young women staff, she had it to herself. That meant that I could join her and didn't have to worry about sleeping in a tent all week. I also took the opportunity to join a session of leadership training known as Wood Badge that is put on by the Boy Scouts of America. I highly recommend the course as it is worth the cost and teaches skills useful in most careers as well as when dealing with young men or boys.

The week provided me with a lot of fun. I didn't even notice the lack of Internet connection. This allowed me to practice my guitar in the evenings and form lasting friendships with those around me. I miss some of those friends now and found it very difficult to go back to work. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and I found myself catching my usual Monday morning flight at 6:25am earlier this week. This was not my first vacation from technology and definitely won't be my last. I kind of enjoy getting away and hopefully you do as well.

TSA Precheck

Monday I sat in line for 11 hours so I could get my in-person interview for Global Entry. This allows me to easily pass through customs and immigration on any of my many international trips. It also comes with the TSA Precheck benefit. That allows me a special line at the airport security that is generally faster than even the frequent flyer line. One thing that makes it fast is that you don't have to take off your shoes, pull out your laptop, nor pull out your liquids. It is like going through airport security before 9/11.

At the time, I really hated waiting all day long to get my interview. Once in, the interview only took 10 minutes. The reason waiting took so long is that I didn't have an appointment. My scheduled appointment isn't until November and this is a service I can use long before then. I didn't have a busy schedule at the office and so I worked from the comfort of an airport chair. Yes, the word "comfort" in the last sentence is dripping with sarcasm.

Today I got to the San Francisco airport and got through security in a matter of minutes. There was nobody in front of me and even though I got randomly flagged for extra screening, I passed through 20 to 30 minutes faster than if I had stood in my regular line.

So now I have to ask myself if that 30 minutes is worth the 11 hours I spent on Monday. One may argue that the time just doesn't add up. I would disagree. All it takes is standing in line a bit too long to miss a flight and then 30 minutes easily turns into 24 hours. Yes, I would have to say that this one episode more than makes up for all the time I spent on Monday.

If you travel more than 4 times per year, I highly recommend spending the $85 for TSA Precheck. If you also travel internationally, I suggest spending an extra $15 for a total of $100 and getting Global Entry. If you are planning a single international trip sometime in the future: don't waste your time nor your money. You don't need it. Furthermore you might be taking up a badly needed interview slot for someone that does travel a lot.

Grandpa Time

This morning at 12:11am PDT I became a grandpa. My oldest son's wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy. I tried to stay up late as I knew labor had started and it was only a matter of hours before the baby came. Of course my son made sure to take a few pictures and send them to the family. At 4am the birds that like to hang out on my boat started making noise and woke me up. I checked my phone and saw the pictures sent by text message. My first thought is how much my new grandson looks like my oldest son at that age.

Fortunately I have Do Not Disturb set up on my phone. Otherwise I would have been bombarded by a constant stream of text messages as family members awoke to the good news. My phone patiently waited until 7:30 and then alerted me to all of the congratulatory messages.

This evening I had a meeting with coworkers in Japan and knew I wouldn't be able to drive down to San Jose to see my new grandson and so I went at lunch. Yes I took a long lunch but more than made up for it by staying late at the office. My son took a picture of me holding the baby and once again sent it out to the family by text message. Naturally that elicited a number of new text messages being sent by everyone.

Technology is great as it allows us to share life's miracles much easier. I look at all of the messages being sent and the participation allowed even though great distances exist between everyone. I think it is great.

Trophies vs. Achievements

Both PlayStation and Xbox consoles reward you for accomplishing various tasks in video games. On the PlayStation they are called trophies and on the Xbox they are called achievements. While they are similar, there are one or two differences that do exist.

It is no secret that I am a fan of the PlayStation console more than the Xbox. This stems from when my brother used to work at PlayStation and got me a PS2 for my birthday. Therefore I am very familiar with the trophy system. If you are playing Far Cry 4 and rescue 15 hostages, you get the bronze trophy titled "No One Left Behind." Trophies come in 4 levels: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. They are supposed to be in levels of difficulty. That means that it should be more difficult to earn a gold trophy than a bronze one. Interestingly that is not always the case. I have earned a number of gold trophies much more easily than some of my bronze ones. It is the game developer that sets up the trophies and determines what actions are required for each award.

Achievements operate similarly to trophies with the addition that you are awarded points. The more difficult the task, the more points the achievement is worth. You can earn the same "No One Left Behind" achievement in Far Cry 4 for rescuing 15 hostages. You also get 10 points for your work. With achievements you are not restricted to 4 differing amounts of points. Scrolling through the Far Cry 4 achievements, they can be 10, 15, 20, 50, or 100 points. I'm sure other point values exist as well.

Trophies and achievements can help show how much of the game you have completed. If there are 1250 achievement points for a specific game and you have 1150, you know you only need 100 more points to complete the game or one final achievement.

One big difference with the PlayStation system is that they have a platinum trophy that is awarded once you have achieved all other trophies. Last week I finished earning my last trophy for Far Cry 4 and I can now say that I have "Platinum'd" the game. While some may argue that it is easier to indicate game completion with trophies than achievements, I don't see the difference between a platinum trophy and receiving maximum achievement points. The one exception may be when the game developer releases new content for the game and increases the achievement or trophy count. With trophies you will always have your platinum but you may only have 1000 achievement points out of a new total of 1250 unless you go back and earn the achievements for the new content. I'm not sure it matters that much.

Trophy and achievement hunting is a game itself. While I enjoyed Far Cry 4 enough to earn all of the trophies, it is not something I do for all the video games I play. After all, I think I am doing good just to get to the end of the main story.

E3 2017 Impressions

I am not able to attend E3 in Los Angeles this year but have tried to keep up with all of the game releases coming from the various studios. I am impressed with what I have seen and think we have a number of really good games soon to be released. Unfortunately there is no unbiased way to talk about what is expected to come out. I have my favorite video game companies and also work for one. So instead of naming specific game titles that I am looking forward to playing, I thought I would talk about trends.

First, the graphics all seem to be getting much better. We have had the XBox One and PlayStation 4 consoles out for a few years but the games now being released seem to be much better graphically than the launch titles. This is because the game engines have had time to evolve and can now take advantage of the hardware included in the latest consoles. We all benefit. I also noticed that there are a lot more games being shown in 4K. They sure do look good. Well at least the demos do.

The second thing I noticed from the show this year is how many games realize that the story matters. Perhaps it is the type of game that I am more likely to play, but video games have evolved from a circle munching dots on the screen to complex scripts that draw the players into the story. More and more, video games are starting to resemble blockbuster movies.

I normally am not a fan of sports games. This year I have seen quite a few sports games that are really tempting. I may even pick up one or two and give them a shot. Look for reviews in the future.

While it may be fun to be at E3 for a few hours, I am not sure the chaos would be worth the trip and so I have stayed home this year. I think I am actually getting more out of the show because I can pick and choose what I watch without having to wade through the large crowds. Yep, it is a great show this year.

Virtual Reality: A New Way to Watch Videos

This past weekend I wanted to do some research on an area that interests me: 360-degree video also known as virtual reality or VR. There are a number of videos on YouTube filmed using 360-degree technology. So I loaded the YouTube application on my PlayStation 4 Pro and put on my PlayStation VR headset. I could have also done the same thing with my Google Cardboard and a smartphone so PlayStation hardware is not required. You can also use an HTC vive or Oculus Rift.

YouTube has a whole section of 360-degree videos with lots to choose from. I like to rock climb in the summer and so I selected a video on one of the USA's toughest climbs. Even though the video is in 2D and VR is capable of 3D, I still felt immersed in the action. Rather than having to scroll around with a mouse to see different perspectives, I could just turn my head. I found it so interesting I had my youngest daughter who is a professional rock climber watch and later my wife. Both found the VR experience significantly better than viewing something similar on a flat TV or computer monitor.

I spent about an hour watching VR videos and have decided that I much prefer a low-quality VR video to a well-made TV documentary. I have to confess that most of the videos I watched were documentaries. I tried watching one Star Wars fan film and while it was put together very well, didn't appreciate it as much as the other real-life experiences I enjoyed.

During my weekend research I could only find one 3D VR video and it documented a fashion shoot. Normally I wouldn't have bothered as I am not interested in watching models parade in front of the camera, however, I discovered something very important. When we take a 3D object like a human being and flatten it into a 2D photograph, we distort the person much more significantly than I realized. This is where we get the phrase, "The camera adds 10 pounds." While I enjoy watching 3D movies and even have a 3D television, a VR experience puts you much closer and I realized how skinny most fashion models are. I actually found them to be much too thin and unattractive.

Another thing I noticed during my hour-long journey through VR videos is that you don't know where viewers will be looking. If you want to put text on the screen, you have to put it in multiple places. One video only placed it where they expected you to be looking. If I looked somewhere else, I had the potential to miss it. Other videos placed the text in 3 different areas so I had a much higher chance of seeing it. I appreciated that as it gave me the freedom to look around all of my surroundings and not have to focus on one area.

I think virtual reality has the ability to change the way we watch videos. While I am not sure I want to watch a full movie in VR, I do think that travel videos and documentaries are much better with the technology. Now if I can only create a huge playlist of skiing videos, I might be able to make it through the summer.

Machine Learning and Lots of Data

At the beginning of the month I wrote about artificial intelligence and how it is not going to take over the world any time soon. I have continued to play with it and have been working on a branch called supervised learning. My basic example or use case is to feed my simple program a bunch of training sentences that are categorized as questions or statements. Then I have a test group of sentences to see how well my program has learned.

I started with a very small set of training sentences thinking that a person would be able to distinguish between a question and a statement fairly easily using just these examples. My training set began with only 30 sentences and my test set had 20. After training, my program correctly identified 16 of the test set. That sounds pretty good at 80% but I really need to get closer to 100%. So I added more training data. I found a list of 800 random questions and added them as well as several pages of text from two popular books I found online: Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Old Man and the Sea. That brought me closer with 18 sentences correctly identified as statements or questions.

The statement, "I like to ski," was wrongly classified as a question while "Who is your favorite actor?" got classified as a statement. So I added more training data until I got 100% correct classification. My original training data started with 30 sentences and is now close to 1000. That seems like a lot of extra work.

Now it is time to tune my algorithm. There are some things I can do to get better results with less data. However if you plan to embark on your own supervised learning project, be prepared to collect a lot of training data. You will need it.

Learning from the Internet

The Internet is full of wonderful information and can be a great source of learning. It can also be full of lies and misdirection so you need to be careful with the information you find.

Today I am working on machine learning where I classify types of sentences. There are plenty of examples already created and so I am trying to leverage them instead of trying to recreate something. One of my Internet searches brought me to an interesting article that has nothing to do with machine learning or even sentence classification. It is an article about 5 writing tips that C. S. Lewis sent to a young aspiring author back in 1954.

I wrote a book back in 2001 called "Programming with Oracle Developer." Now I consider it a cure for insomnia but I am still proud that I managed to devote enough time to write a book that got published. During the process I would submit a chapter to the publisher who had several editors review it. One focused on the technical correctness while another fixed the grammar and wording. That process taught me that my writing needs a lot of fixing. So if you are like me and interested in learning about how to be a better writer, take a look at the link above.

The Official Start of Summer

This weekend signals the official start of summer as Memorial day is on Monday. In addition to the warmer weather, the days are also longer. This has me rethinking my nightly activities when I am in the Bay Area. While I could continue playing video games each night, the longer days have me thinking that there might be some better things to do with my time. Don't worry, I still plan to play video games, I just don't need to play as long.

One option is to spend more time on my kayak. While it might be fun to take my sailboat out every evening, that involves a lot of work stowing all of the electronics on the boat. It is much easier to take the kayak out and explore the local coastline. That also gives me some much-needed evening exercise.

Another option is to spend more time at the office. I ride my bike from the office to the boat each evening and the longer days mean I can spend more time working. While that may not sound like fun for most jobs, there are a lot of fun things to do in the evening at an office in the video game industry. We have a lot of "toys" to play with and I could use the extra time to experiment with new technologies. This is time I don't have during regular working hours.

I can also use this time to visit my son and his wife who live in San Jose. Of course this requires that I have a car because riding the 30 miles each way on my bike might not be possible even with the longer daylight hours. Getting a car in the Bay Area is an easy problem to solve and I can even bring one out on Monday as I have the whole day to drive it out.

More than likely I will come up with a mixture of the options mentioned above. Hopefully you also recognize the change in daylight hours and modify your schedule to use them to your advantage. Several years ago I would not have changed my daily routine as the seasons changed because every night involved watching TV. Now I realize there is more to do and it has opened a number of possibilities.