Daily Bits

noemi

Get Ready for Blue Monday

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Blue Monday
Did you know that there is such a thing as Blue Monday? I am NOT talking about having the blues on Monday, but a special Monday of the year that is characterized as statistically being the most depressing day – ever. No one really knows just how true this is, especially since the idea started as a publicity campaign by Sky Travel. (You can never really tell when it comes to these kinds of campaigns.)

However, it is not without some sort of scientific support. Psychologist Cliff Arnall is attributed with the formula that calculates just how depressing this day is. See if you can make the formula out:

[W + (D-d)] x TQ
M x Na

where weather=W, debt=d, time since Christmas=T, time since failing our new year’s resolutions=Q, low motivational levels=M and the feeling of a need to take action=Na. ‘D’ is not defined in the release, nor are units. (Wikipedia)

There is no doubt that a lot of people experience the Monday Blues, and that the period immediately after the holidays can be quite difficult, but does Arnall’s premise hold water? Not surprisingly, he has had his critics. It seems that even the exact Monday is unclear – is it the third or the fourth Monday of January? Wikipedia says it’s the fourth, while other sources (MNN) say it’s the third.

I have an idea. Whether or not Blue Monday exists, why don’t we just gear up for the weekend and start having fun early on a Friday? What do you say? 😉

Photo via Softpedia

A is for Arial, B is for Baskerville

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Font Alphabet
Learning the alphabet is always fun, teaching it even more so. I realize that that statement is questionable, depending on your point of view, but how can you not have fun with the alphabet if you have tools such as that book (A is for Ackbar) I wrote about recently? If Star Wars isn’t your thing, then video might do it for you.

Alessandro Novelli is obviously a font lover, and he came up with his own version of the English alphabet. Each letter stands for a font, starting with A is for Arial. It is followed by B is for Baskerville, then C if for Cochin, and then D is for Didot…

Care to complete that list before checking out the video below?

The Alphabet from n9ve on Vimeo.

I have to be honest and admit that many of the fonts in the video are unfamiliar. Then again, I have never been a “font person”. Still, the concept and its execution is worth spending a minute or so on.

If you were given the chance to create your own font alphabet, which fonts would you choose?

FRACT Beta: Get Your Abstract Fix

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FRACT
Video games a pound a penny these days, with everyone and their mom creating their own video games. The big studios have the budget to churn out one game after another, and there are many gamers who will not hesitate to buy their creations. There are some people, however, who prefer the indie games every now and then. If you belong to the latter group, then here is a new game that you might want to try out.

Developed by Richard E. Flanagan, the game is called FRACT, and it is in its beta stage. FRACT is a first-person puzzle game which is sure to make your head spin – figuratively for some and literally for others. The premise is quite simple: the player enters an abstract world, the foundation of which are sounds and structures inspired by electronic music. The objective of the game is for the player to figure out the puzzles by “resurrecting and reviving the long forgotten machinery of the musical world”.

The game is actually a project that Flanagan worked on for his Post Undergrad in Game Design at Universite de Montreal. Being still in the beta stage, the game is not quite complete, but is already playable. Yes, there are bugs in the game, and he can use the help of players in finding them.

There are versions for Mac and PC, both of which are free to download. Here’s a preview of the game.

FRACT – Indie Adventure Game from Richard Flanagan on Vimeo.

Oh, and if you need more reason to give FRACT a try, it has been selected as one of the 2011 Independent Games Festival student showcase winners.

Color Me – Julian

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Julian Assange of WikiLeaks fame has graced the front pages of newspapers (the traditional kind), news web sites, blogs, and practically every other kind of web site you can find. Whether you admire him or you detest him, you cannot deny that he does attract attention. How can he not?

Here’s another web site that places Julian Assange in focus – in a different way. The Julian Assange Coloring Book may not be on your list of gifts for your children, but it might give you something to do if you do not feel like working. More so, if you are particularly interested in expressing your creative side, you will find the site a nice distraction.

The concept is the same as that of any other coloring book’s concept: you get pages with sketches that need to be filled with colored. The difference is that you get eight pages – all of them virtual – of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks-related images. You also have a color palette from which you can pick colors. As long as you have a computer, you will be able to color your heart out. Now all you need is a teeny weeny spark of artistic sense in you.

Here’s a sample image that needs some work.
Assange Plain

This one is a work in progress.
Assange Colored

As you can probably see, I did not spend much time with coloring books when I was a kid. This web site is not bound to change anything for me.

Atari’s Asteroids on the iPad

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asteroidsThere is something to be said about retro consoles and games. While this sector has made leaps and bounds, and consumers are demanding more (graphics, game play, etc.), a trip back to the past is always a welcome change every now and then.

Ion – that manufacturer responsible for “high tech turntables” – has come up with a new dock that will satisfy the nostalgic feelings of every gamer out there. The dock is meant for the iPad and will turn this ultramodern gadget into a console reminiscent of the past. It will allow you to play Atari’s Asteroids and even give you realistic buttons and knobs.

Just to refresh your memory, Asteroids was released as a video arcade game in 1979. The two dimensional game has a simple premise that it easily caught on and soon became the best selling game of all time. The idea is that the player controls a spaceship that flies through fields of asteroids. Flying saucers also come into the screen. The player has to shoot at the asteroids and flying saucers with the aim of destroying them without crashing into them.

Drooling now? Watch the demo video below, and I am sure that you will be wanting the dock for your iPad.

Teens’ Brains, Technology, and Multitasking

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brain-mriMultitasking is a skill that not everyone possesses, and there is even this saying that men can’t multitask if their lives depended on it. (Now that is definitely something that is up for debate nowadays.) For teenagers, though, multitasking is an inherent part of their lives. Indeed, they might suffer if they are not able to multitask.

News Hour science correspondent Miles O’Brien took a look at this phenomenon and how technology plays a crucial role. What did he find out?

Basically, I think he just confirmed what many of us already acknowledge: multitasking and technology go together. At any given time that you are online, you probably have at least five windows open. You probably have at least one instant messenger account on. Add to that Facebook, e-mail, and your mobile phone (which you check every so often).

So what’s there to talk about?

What I found pretty interesting about O’Brien’s report is the “brain science” behind it. He took a look at how the brain lights up during an MRI when one multitasks. Yes, the lights are bigger and there are more of them – the brain gets more taxed with more input. No surprise there.

The significant point is the effect of these activities on a teenager’s brain. At that stage in a person’s life, his or her brain is still developing. It continues to learn and to improve according to how it is used. O’Brien’s question is one that should be considered by everyone: are the teenagers of today benefiting from the use of technology in such a way that their brains are being hardwired to perform better?

Watch the video report below and tell me what you think.

Photo via Dangerous Intersection