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.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
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.
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.
Monday, June 26, 2017
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.
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.
Thursday, June 15, 2017
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.
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.
Monday, June 5, 2017
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.
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.
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