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With 300 horsepower and 362 lb-ft of torque, it's still powerful by today's standards, and everytime I take it out for a drive, I have to remind myself that 60mph is only 6 seconds away, and that without very much effort at all I could be at 110, and not even feel like I'm going faster than 70.

Running a V12 engine along with all the electrics in this car requires not just one, but two car batteries. Every year around this time (because the registration notice for this vehicle arrives) I get into the car, put the key into the ignition, turn the switch, and instead of hearing the soft purring of a 12-cylinder engine, I hear silence. The batteries are completely devoid of charge, and I'll need to recharge the batteries before the 8 can thunder off onto the highway. Of course, having a dead battery presents a problem, as the car normally uses the LAN to signal to the trunk that the doors are unlocked, and that the trunk should open if the doors are unlocked. Without power, you can press on the latch all day, and it won't open ever. Every year, I forget about how I go about solving this problem. The first time the batteries died, I used the other car and jumper cables to supply enough power for the doors. This year, because of how I had parked the cars, this wasn't an option to me.

Instead, I turned to the low-tech solution: the car key. It seems that next to the trunk latch on the underside is keyhole. The directions for opening the trunk get complicated here, and I'm not sure why they didn't just have the standard turn the key, trunk is unlocked method, as the procedure is as follows:

1. Insert Key.
2. Push Key up into the keyhole.
3. Turn Key Counter-Clockwise
4. Stop Pressing Up and Return Key to Normal Position.
5. Remove Key from Keyhole.
6. Push Keyhole Up.
7. Trunk is now unlocked.

Posted by Michael Huang at 04:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The financial success of this film pretty much guarantees the making of an X4.

Posted by Michael Huang at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Superhero Modern Renaissance 2
Superhero Modern Renaissance 2

Posted by Michael Huang at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Recent sleep research has shown that 8 hours of sleep is a myth, and that the amount necessary varies from individual to individual. I find my natural sleep space to be about 6 hours, which is likely why I'm sleeping 12 hours to catch up for the 6 that I missed earlier. The sleep deficit seems like a real enough effect.

I need to readjust my internal clock -- I'm so used to getting up at 6am that getting up at noon makes me feel as if I've lost most of the day. One day last week, I woke up at 3pm, and I really did lose that day completely.

Posted by Michael Huang at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The DS Lite doesn't feel as toy like or cheap as the original Nintendo DS by being smaller, lighter, and having a nice glossy surface. The DS Lite has numerous improvements over the DS, and reinforces the idea to me that I should always wait for next gen Gameboy hardware. I've owned just about every iteration of the GameBoy platform, from the original green-screen GameBoy to the GameBoy Advance SP. One of the really smart things they did when making theses systems was complete backwards compatibility with previous game hardware, as well as being region-free.

As hot as the DS Lite was in Japan, it would appear that the popularity and demand for the system will also be high in the United States -- many U.S. retailers have stopped taking pre-orders for the system, and are now only selling the DS Lite as part of a $200+ bundle package. While I have my doubts that demand will be like the XBox360 (as the DS Lite is simply an upgraded DS, and historically second iteration gaming hardware just doesn't have the same demand as the first iteration, even when the first iteration has a power supply that burns out the game console (XBox 360).

View eBay Listing of Nintendo DS Lite

Posted by Michael Huang at 06:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When the ratings system first started, software developers didn't think it would work very well, but here we are, almost a decade later, and the ratings system still isn't doing what it ought to be doing (on the first pass, anyways). The reason for this is that the ESRB, while they do review the game, don't play the whole game throughly looking for hidden things such as this -- the person who fills out the form for ESRB submission might not be a developer with any knowledge, and ESRB does not ask for code to do an audit (nor should they -- developers should be open and honest about such hidden features to the ESRB). However, the nature of the Oblivion player mod (a third party app unlocking an art asset) is one that is difficult to prevent. While including a nude texture was a mistake on Bethesda Software's part, there is little to stop a player from applying a nude texture of their own, which makes the whole thing seem kind of silly. I remember in the early days of playing Quake, in games that allowed custom models, it was only a matter of time before one saw a unclothed player run by -- or worse, a flying body part. In short, having any kind of custom modifications leaves one open for this kind of behavior.

But it seems that in the world of PC and console games, the ratings have another effect, one that strikes a little closer to the game publisher -- the lower rated your game is, the bigger audience it can reach, and the more outlets one can advertise on. 'M' rated games are targeted mainly for the PC audience, the big game publishers like EA won't make 'M' rated console games because they're not likely to sell well -- 'T' games sell much better, and 'E' games sell even better than 'T' games. EA however doesn't make the most 'E' rated games, the 'E' rated games are actually most likely to be published by Nintendo (out of the major publishers).

Some retailers won't carry 'M' games because the penalty for selling M games to those under 17 years of age is a really heavy fine. Major retail chains like Wal-Mart and Target don't carry them for this reason, so there is definitely motivation on developers to underrate the amount of violence and sexual content in their games. (Of course one could argue that by having controversial content, one generates free advertising as the incident is broadcast on the media -- sales of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas spiked when Hot Coffee was discovered).

For a game like Oblivion, which was selling well before it was re-rated, a re-rating to "M 17+" stops sales in its tracks as retailers are forced to pull the game from their shelves and wait for remastered versions to arrive.

Shack News: Hot Coffee Strikes Again, Oblivion Re-rated

Posted by Michael Huang at 06:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If someone can recreate Magical Trevor or Kenya in World of Warcraft, then I'll be impressed. (Magical Trevor is the harder of the two, because while lions, tigers and zebras exist in WoW, I don't think there are any beans).

Posted by Michael Huang at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Michael Huang at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The flight back was relatively uneventful -- the plane was very empty, so while the boarding agent hassled me about bringing as much carry-on luggage as I did, they let me board with more items than I should have been allowed to (I ended up checking in one of the four bags I attempted to carry-on, partially out of guilt of bringing so much stuff, and partially because I was tired of dragging four bags everywhere). The result of this late check in was that this bag was the very first bag to pop out of the conveyor belt in the luggage carousel. This makes me wonder if the next time what I ought to do is check baggage in at the gate rather than the counter.

My keep awake material on this trip was my 3 year old GameBoy Advance SP, which still seems to hold an extraordinarily long charge -- 8+ hours, even with the screen lit. I'm a quarter of the way through Advance Wars 2's Hard Campaign now (I started the Hard Campaign at the beginning of the flight).

Coming back from San Jose was an interesting trip -- I mistakenly hopped on the airport shuttle that takes you to the VTA Light Rail Station rather than the one destined for CalTrain -- but VTA runs to downtown Mountain View anyways, so the trip ended up being a little cheaper, but a little longer. Dragging five bags of stuff down through Castro Street was definitely not the highlight of the return journey home.

I'll be doing a complete writeup with the events and photos of my Japan trip as soon as I organize all the material. Quick trivia:

• Over 3,000 photos were taken over the 2 weeks worth of travel.
• I covered 410 kilometers in one day going from Hakodate to Sapporo to Wakkanai over the course of 9 hours.
• Shinkansen are the fastest way to travel by land in Tokyo, going over 250 km/h.
• Japan gets more varieties of everything including KitKats, colors for electronics, and Pocky.
• The abundance of vending machines makes dehydration nearly impossible.

Posted by Michael Huang at 02:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Afterwards, Harajuku was revisted for the Omotesando Hills building, which sadly in photos somes out looking like any other mall. Because the guidebook had noted a second Tadao Ando building, we trekked to the other side of Omotesando and encountered other architectural marvels, such as the Cartier building and the Prada building.

Posted by Michael Huang at 03:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Nintendo DS is huge here -- they have advertisements for it on the subway lines, as well as many unique software packages that I hope will see conversion to the U.S. market. The DS Lite is sold out everywhere and the normal DS is rare to find.

Posted by Michael Huang at 05:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sapporo is one of those cities that's dangerous for a foodie like me.

The main JR station is located in the center of town, with a huge mall located on top of it, as well as several department stores around it. The 6th floor is full of restaurants and dessert cafes, and most importantly, most of them don't close until 11 pm. A movie theater sits on the 7th floor of the JR station/mall. Sapporo Tower connected to the JR station rises 38 stories into the air to give a view of the entire city. At the top of the Tower is a tea cafe, as well as a lounge to just chill.

If Tokyo is the Japanese equivalent of New York, I'd say Sapporo is San Francisco with food competition restaurants. In Sapporo, there are a number of restaurants here that offer as-much-as-you-can-eat (fill-in-the-blank)-in 120 minutes.

After the harrowing journey to Sapporo, I found myself hungry, and unlike the malls in the United States, the restaurants in malls in Japan are actually pretty good so I stopped in at a restaurant called Molette -- their specialty is omelettes, but I ordered bacon spaghetti topped with green peppers, onions, basil, and japanese eggplant instead, as I dislike having omelettes for dinner. It was tasty, but also very greasy -- no doubt the spaghetti was stir-fried in the grease leftover from the bacon. It's also a place for desserts. If I had more time, more money I'd likely try many more things, but alas, both are a limited resource.

Posted by Michael Huang at 07:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow, while my friends attend the conference in Hakodate, I will set out for the northwest corner of Hokkaido, to visit the city of Wakkanai, which is apparently the location of the best uni in Japan, as well as home to some spectacular views. If all goes to plan, I should be back in Hakodate by Friday to continue our trip down to Honshuu.

Posted by Michael Huang at 03:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Michael Huang at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Originally, the plan was that a revised edition, would replace the un-original plagiarized version. She had a movie deal. She had a deal for a second book. Those things are most likely gone now. Of course, there's still a way for her to profit from this by turning her true story into a made-for-tv-movie.

I think the lesson here is that if you're going to put your name on something, make sure it belongs to you first.

Posted by Michael Huang at 08:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by Michael Huang at 07:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'd rather they produced more fun ads like iMac G3 "Colors" ad and less testamonial ads like Jeff Goldblum for Apple iMac, because I think the whole point of an ad is to communicate to the person on the other end subtlely why they need to own this product, how it will change their lives. A good advertisement will create desire for a product. The "Safe Happens" ad campaign of Volkswagen which started 3 weeks ago has according to USA Today, "resulted in requests for brochures are up 37% at call centers and 56% on the Web compared with the first 15 days of March, and Internet requests for dealer price quotes are up 58%."

Is it possible for this new series of ads from Apple to generate this kind of interest? Possible, but unlikely in my opinion. While targeted for potential switchers, these ads appeal more to the Apple faithful than the outsiders.

Posted by Michael Huang at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)