Monthly Archives: September, 2020

VR Games

By Don Meyer on | Leave a comment
I’m still just getting started trying various games, so I may have not gotten to some of the best ones. Plus, depends on the type of game of course.
 
Valve’s “The Lab”, which is just a demo, is actually pretty impressive. Some fun games in that even at the demo level. Seems like they could do a bit of work and sell them. Free, and a great intro to what’s possible in VR.
 
If you like shooting evil monks and other creatures with arrows, “In Death” is quite good. Unforgiving gameplay, but well done. I stuck with it and have gotten pretty. Although anyone under the age of 35 would consider me laughably unskilled. 🙂
 
“Space Pirate Trainer” is a lot of fun, shooting SF weaponry at robot drones.
 
“Moss” is a seated game with an interesting style, and not a “shooter”. I played it for a few minutes and then put it on hold until I can spend some time with it.
 
I’ve got several more well-rated games in my library, just waiting to be played. I really am just beginning to explore what’s available.
 
It’s also pretty impressive to just visit some of the “environments” that people have created. And Google Earth is neat in VR, gives a whole new depth to Street View. (Note that some aspect of that program was getting me a bit motion sick, so some slight caution is advised.)
 
As you may be aware, the Vive uses two transmitters in the corner of the room called Lighthouses to allow tracking headset and controller motion. With amazing accuracy and latency!
This is a fascinating article and video about that technology:
 
 
Posted in: VR | Tagged:

Vector Returns!

By Don Meyer on | Leave a comment

Although it’s old news by this point, I had to talk about the return of the Vector robot. Ok, “return” is still a little premature, but ongoing support has happened.

A company called Digital Dream Labs purchased all of the rights to Vector (and, I believe, the rest of Anki’s products) and ran a Kickstarter to keep the little guy alive.

I backed this of course, because robots.

While they have yet to produce the final products that may of us paid for (which is software they are working on), they are moving things formward with minor updates and od course the important task of keeping his servers up.

What’s promised is a way for those of us who want to develop for Vector to do two main things. One is redirect him to a new server, including a self-hosted server. This is the safety net should DDL someday cease to exist.

The second is full access to programming Vector, not just being able to control him via an external Python program. This is the one I’m really excited about. I like robots that can access the network and leverage it to do things, but the ability to add intrinsic behaviors is really important.

So thanks to DDL for rescuing Vector, and fingers crossed that they find the success they deserve!

Posted in: Embedded Systems, Robotics, Toys | Tagged:

Leaving Facebook

By Don Meyer on | Leave a comment

Here is the post I made on Facebook about leaving Facebook:

 

For a number of reasons, I have decided to disable my Facebook account.

 

I’ll spare you all a lengthy rant, but the short version is that Facebook has clearly become a force for bad in our country. My “so many of my friends are here” rationale for staying is no longer one I can in good conscience maintain.

 

I realize that me leaving isn’t going to bring Facebook to its knees. But at least I can stop supporting a company that is doing possibly irreparable harm to our country and society.

 

This quote applies: “No single raindrop thinks it is responsible for the flood.”

 

I’m going to try to become active on Twitter again (yes, I know, that’s not a bastion of truth and beauty either), so hopefully we can stay in touch there.

 

I’ll stick around Facebook for a few more days, so please feel free to send me your Twitter names and/or email addresses via PM.

My biggest concern and sadness is the thought of losing contact with you all!

 

Some further rationale and explanation. I felt this was more appropriate for my blog versus some lengthy Facebook diatribe that no one would read.

(Versus a blog post that no one will read!)  🙂

 

I’ve never been a fan of services for which I am the product, rather than the customer. That’s one reason I’m such an Apple fan. They don’t try to advertise to me to pay for what I get from them, I pay them for iCloud, Apple TV+, and so on.

 

But I could live with that because I do get a lot of social value from Facebook.

 

Facebook has plenty of annoying people, and annoying ads. This I dealt with by curating my friends list, and tediously telling FB to stop showing me certain ads.

 

But I could live with that because I do get a lot of social value from Facebook.

 

What became the last straw was the extent to which Facebook has profited by the ongoing destruction of our system of government and our country. It is very clear that if unchecked distribution of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate gets them more money, that is fine with Zuckerberg.

 

I cannot live with that.

 

As I said in my final FB post, I know that me leaving won’t fix the issue, but at least I can stop being part of the problem.

 

End of rant!

 

 

A sample of the endless stream of articles about Facebook’s corporate policy of encouraging hate:

 

Facebook’s Kenosha Guard Militia Event Was Reported 455 Times. Moderators Said It Was Fine.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/kenosha-militia-facebook-reported-455-times-moderators

 

 

Facebook algorithm found to ‘actively promote’ Holocaust denial | World news | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/16/facebook-algorithm-found-to-actively-promote-holocaust-denial

 

 

Facebook Admits Ben Shapiro’s The Daily Wire Has Engaged in Pay-for-Engagement Scam

 

Working the Refs Worked: ‘How Facebook Wrote Its Rules to Accommodate Trump’

Posted in: Computers, Personal | Tagged: ,