One year with a tablet, I’ve finally gone paperless

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Brian

One year ago my wife got me an iPad for Father’s Day. While I wanted a tablet as a cool tech gadget, I also wanted one so I could accomplish a goal I’ve been chasing for a long time – eliminating paper – notebooks, specifically. I had tried other methods before but none of them lasted.

So getting a tablet wasn’t a complete waste but I still saw it as a luxury item. Nobody “needs” a tablet. I could continue to use piles of spiral notebooks to keep track of my ideas and sketches, and I could develop web sites without actually owning a device. Plus, tablets are expensive…at least the iPad is. Hovering around the $400 price for the “large” version, I had settled on not buying one at all but the wife really surprised me and for that I am very thankful.

This post is not entirely an endorsement for the iPad specifically. It’s the tablet I received but I’m sure any tablet would have resulted in similar results.

You’re only as good as your tools

There’s a lot of novelty value when it comes to new gizmos and the iPad was no different. I downloaded games, songs, utilities and all sorts of other apps I thought I’d need. But one app was more critical than any other for my tablet, a writing app. I needed an app that I could use to write notes and sketch. I didn’t need an “art” drawing app per se and I didn’t need something that offers audio, video and extras. I just needed something that felt good and got out of my way. I tried dozens of apps in my quest and while some boasted great features the one that I always went back to was Bamboo Paper.

Bamboo Paper is one of the more basic writing apps you’ll find without a lot of bells and whistles, but the one thing I needed it do to it does very, very well. Writing on Bamboo Paper is very fast with little lag between the time you move your finger and see it on the screen. This was the biggest flaw I found in all the other drawing apps, the lag was just a killer and ultimately led to me deleting the app.

Bamboo Paper, simple but effective writing app

With the app problem solved there was one more tool I need to complete my goal, a stylus. Yes, I know tablets are meant to work with fingers (and they do quite well) but when it comes to writing words I just can’t use my finger, sorry. I tried a few cheaper styli that I found at the store but none of them worked very well. Some broke after little time and others just weren’t responsive…and all of them felt cheap (because they were!). So I took the internets to see what other people were using. I read dozens upon dozens of reviews and decided on the Maglus as it got a high score from one Verge review. I bought this thing sight-unseen and for $25 it was somewhat of a gamble but I trusted the source and the reviews. Turns out I put my trust in the right place because the Maglus stylus has been the perfect compliment to my tablet.

The stylus might not look like much but it feels great when you’re using it. It’s heavy so you don’t have to push hard, and the foam tip is pretty firm so it doesn’t get all squishy. I writes smoothly and feels like writing with a pen or pencil. Even with the perfect note-taking app like Bamboo Paper, without a good stylus you’ll have trouble reaching your paperless goals.

Putting it all together to go paperless

So I had assembled my end-all-be-all digital notebook but would I actually use this expensive thing reliably beyond it’s novelty honeymoon? It got a little getting used to but after a year of use I can say that taking notes on my tablet has become invaluable. All my notes, ideas and drawings are now in one spot and with me all the time. No more need for multiple spiral notebooks or swankier Moleskine notebooks. No more running around trying to find the right book and no more worries about crumpling, spilling or having the dogs eat my notes. All of this has kept my notes organized and thus has kept me and my projects organized and on track.

Writing, sketching...it's now all in one place

And obviously a great benefit to digital notes is unlimited historical data. Without the need to crack open a new spiral notebook, I can look back at all my notes and sketches to remember ideas I had forgotten while also pondering the stupidity of some thoughts. You can easily archive things and export notes to other places, like Evernote and Dropbox, so getting to your information is quick and painless as well.

Sure, I have a stack of games on my iPad and have found that reading on it is a delight as well. Having a tablet has been the perfect thing for 75% of what I do with technology. The other 25% is still relegated to a computer with a proper keyboard but having that separation has been kind of nice. A tablet is still a luxury device for just about everyone. It might sound silly spending $500+ to eliminate the need for paper but in the long run (and even the short run) having a tablet has made a huge impact.

Recent writings on toys, games and movies

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Brian

Writing once every other week is about all I can handle these days, thankfully that’s all I’m required to write over at TMA Toys. Here’s a short list of articles since last summer, a few of my favorites. You can check out all of my articles on my author page.

Painting for Penny

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Brian

I decided it was time to paint something for Penny’s room. Her walls have been pretty bare as I haven’t gotten around to putting up any of the shelves or things yet. A shelf isn’t much of a struggle to put on the wall but painting is a lot more fun and reward, plus it’s something she can smile at and keep as she grows.

It shouldn’t surprise you that I decided to paint some cartoons for her. I picked three female cartoons and made some small 8×10 of the tops of their heads. Might sound a bit weird but I think it looks pretty awesome.

Can you name the cartoons?

And if you’re not quite up on your cartoons, I painted Penelope Pitstop, Pebbles Flintstone and Blossom from the Powerpuff Girls. Penny and I have watched a few of these cartoons together already and I’m really looking forward to sharing more with her. Finally the collection of classic cartoons I’ve been building for years has a purpose!

Sure is better than a bare wall

Remembering Nintendo Power

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Brian

Nintendo Power was a big deal when I was a kid. It usually had everything you needed to conquer the latest NES games. I still have my first issue and even pages from other issues that had maps I needed. Of course, the magazine didn’t always cover the games I owned so sometimes I had to send them letters in the mail – yup, the mail – that thing that existed before e-mail.

Read my full article is over at TMA Toys & Games

Recent writing, Summer 2012

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Brian

Since the Spring I’ve been head editor and writer over at TMA Toys & Games after the previous editor went on to greener pastures. That left myself and one other writer on the team…until he left at the end of July. So currently it’s just me writing over at TMA, although I hope a recent distress signal results in a few guest bloggers…which I think it will.

Otherwise I’ve been writing weekly but it’s been getting harder and harder to come up with topics since I haven’t really been in a position to play many games, see any new movies or even really get out much to check out the toys. Nonetheless, here’s a list of my recent posts over at TMA Toys & Games. Hope you check them out.

As far as writing here at Morning Toast…well, I do have some new Counselor’s Corner interviews coming soon once I review and edit them. With Nintendo Power shutting down this year, I think those interviews and memories are all the more important to capture.

The Maglus stylus and the iPad

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Brian

The difference between remaking Robocop and remaking Total Recall

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Brian

The remake of Total Recall comes out in a couple of weeks and a remake of Robocop is on the way. Both of these are on my list of favorite of all-time favorite movies but I’m really only worried about one of them.

A lot people (like me) tend to poop on remakes, swearing that any updated version will ruin their childhood and is a sin to the current moving-going public. Most of the time this is true but it’s especially true when there is specific character design in a movie. Let me explain…

Arnold’s Total Recall is a classic action film that holds up pretty well shy of a few special effects that look really dated (and rightfully so). But the movie is a true Arnold move through and through. He plays the same character he plays in every one of his films…and we’re happy for that. The story is fun and sci-fi universe the movie created was quite a spectacle, but there’s very little specialized design in the film that would you upset if they were redesigned in a remake.

The new Total Recall most certainly has over-the-top special effects and action. So when you go and see it and you see that they’ve redesigned the cars, are you going to get mad? No. When you find out Kuato is a little different will you call foul? No. When the guns are better looking are you going to complain? No. None of these things made much of a impact in the original Total Recall. They all played a part to tell the story but can otherwise be replaced…and they will.

A remake Robocop, on the other hand, can’t succeed in the same way because a large part of what made Robocop so cool were the character designs. Robocop, ED-209, the 3000 SUX…they all had specific designs that played an important part in the movie. The designs *were* the character. Arnold is just, well, Arnold. When you replace him with Colin Farrel, you feel less insulted because Farrel isn’t trying to be Arnold. But when you redesign Robocop it’s a different story because when you see it on screen…it’s just NOT Robocop….it’s not ED-209.

Think about how you felt when the new Transformers movie came out and you saw the new Optimus Prime. Same thing. Part of what made Optimus, Robocop and all other such great characters was their design. How would you feel if they redesigned the Millennium Falcon? Or the Enterprise? That’s what I thought…the design IS the character.

I’m excited to see the Total Recall movie because in many ways I don’t see it as a remake of the original but just another version of the story. I know that sounds like the definition of a remake, but I think there’s a difference. And while I’m happy to see Robocop become popular again, when I see teasers that show the redesigned ED-209, it just makes me not want it.

In many ways I’m more accepting when new movies change stories and character personalities than when they start messing with major character designs. It’s a balance though, either way.

Too much wrestling

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Brian

I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve been watching pro wrestling for almost 30 years now. That’s a lot of wrestling and I’ve been witness to the evolution of wrestling. From Saturday mornings to Monday nights, I’ve seen a lot change and it’s about to change again because the WWE will start airing 3-hours of Monday night wrestling this month. Don’t get me wrong, I love pro wrestling but even I have my limits. Continue reading →

Summerland Tour, taking you back to high school

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Brian

What do you do get when you take five one-hit-wonder bands from the 90s and put them on a tour together? You get the Summerland Tour and the almost-sad part is that I was excited to go!

Despite my love classic and hard rock, I grew up on pop rock music and as such I’m not below enjoying it. Yes, I remember the 80s but the 90s was my youthful prime so if I associate my childhood with any decade most, it’s the 1990s. Sure, that meant all of the popular grunge music like Nirvana and Pearl Jam but it also meant the post-grunge era which included all the bands that were trying to be Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but it also meant a slight rebirth in the pop rock genre. Music that wasn’t exactly fluffy enough to be true Top 40 but wasn’t hard enough to make it on the heavy metal stations. The bands I lump into this class include ones like Bush, Weezer and Everclear…the latter of which is the headline of the new Summerland Tour currently making its way across the country. Continue reading →

SpaceX is making space travel exciting again

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Brian

I’ve always been a sci-fi person…spaceships, robots, planets, black holes…all that stuff has fascinated me since I was kid. While some kids were chasing dragons and wizards, I was shooting lasers and building space stations. I remember watching space shuttle launches on TV when I was little, a few times in elementary school. I even remember when the Challenger exploded, I was watching at home sitting in my TV chair. I don’t think I understood the gravity of that situation but I remember the event. Since then the space program has had some ups but a lot more downs. Space travel lost some of its luster and mystique…it wasn’t exciting anymore. I still paid attention to NASA and what was going on but shuttle launches ended up being like NASCAR races…you were just waiting for a spectacular crash, but that’s not something you want in space exploration.

SpaceX Dragon

But this week space travel got a HUGE shot in the arm when SpaceX completed their to-and-from mission into space. Shooting something into space and having it come back is nothing new, really, but this is difference because SpaceX is a private company that made their own rockets, own capsules and ran the whole thing themselves. We expect governments to be able to get into space, but a “small” private company? That’s cool…that’s exciting. Space travel is interesting again.

Yes, the future is finally here…privatized space travel. It makes me smile not just because there’s some excitement back in space exploration but because one of the common themes in science fiction is the privatization of the future. A lot of great, fun sci-fi movies predicted a future of privatized government. The Running Man, Robocop, Death Race…they all show a future where companies run jails, police and other institutions that were previously managed by the government. Not only does SpaceX open the door on new era of space travel but I think it could pave the way for more privatized government. I can’t say that I think privatized government is a good thing, but I can’t help but laugh if it starts to happen if only because science fiction has been saying we would end up that way for more than 30 years. Life imitating art.

Welcome to the future.

Shifting priorities

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Brian

Five days after my last post I became a dad, so things have changed quite a bit for me recently. I’ve most certainly kissed the days of 9-hours of sleep goodbye. It seems these days I’m lucky to score four hours of solid sleep but I’m told it gets better…but even then, it’s all worth it. If you’re connected with me on Facebook then you can see some photos of our new girl, Penny. If you’re not, then I probably don’t want you seeing pictures of her anyway. Foo on you.

A baby is a convenient excuse for not having time to write but the fact is I am making time to write, just not here. As you may know, I’ve been writing over at TMA Toys sharing stories of video games, toys and movies for a little more than a year now, week after week. Well some things changed there as well, as I am now the editor for the site. The previous editor, the person that recruited me, stepped down to pursue some new ventures and the site owners asked me to take up the helm. I was honored and happily accepted (not to mention it was a boost in pay). I talked about the conflict of my blog here at Morning Toast and that of the TMA Toys web site…what used to be fair game for Toast is now being applied to TMA, leaving this site more of a dumping ground of random thoughts.

I worked (kinda) hard for years to write about games and entertainment here at Morning Toast, trying to make a little name for myself in that area. Those efforts haven’t gone entirely unrewarded but now that I’m editor of a site that covers the same topics (and I’m getting paid), I feel I need to direct all the topics that would otherwise be here over to the other site. This includes thoughts on games, movies, toys and everything else that I dig.

Some features will remain here at Morning Toast because they pre-date my involvement with TMA, like the Counselor’s Corner interviews but given everything that’s happened recently (and is happening currently), I predict Morning Toast will really become everything that a blog was meant to be – personal. I don’t know if that means it becomes a “geek dad” blog or if I end up writing more about the web stuff I study and deal with everyday. Or maybe I’ll write about pro wrestling and soda, or it might end up being neglected entirely…it’s hard to say. To be honest, I’m not really going to worry about it (even though this post might suggest otherwise).

Priorities have shifted in all sorts of ways and some things have to be sacrificed. My obligations lie (rightfully so) first to my family and friends, then to anyone that’s paying me to do something, and lastly to myself and my personal projects. I’ve willingly given up the tons of “me” time I had prior to having a kid so I have to be very selective in what I do with that time. I’m still pushing my Redline Derby Racing web site and it’s growing wonderfully, so that’s the one project I’ve promised myself that won’t get neglected. Other things may come and go but that site, community and game will live on as long as I can muster. The personal brand I’ve built up around Morning Toast might suffer but if I’m honest with myself, it’s far less important than I believe it to be, plus all other things I’ve been doing lately have a much larger impact on myself and other people.

Even though this blog might end up with less and less posts about video games, movies and toys, I hope you follow me over at TMA Toys where you’ll get the same type of articles you’d get here, just with a different color scheme. And if you’re interested in supporting a true passion of mine, stop by Redline Derby Racing and see what we’re doing there. It’s more than just a message board for Hot Wheels collecting nerds, it’s the game that I never expected to make but one people actually love to play.

Other than all that, I’ll be taking my time and enjoying the next big thing…

Penny

A blog is not a diary

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Brian

I never had a diary as a kid. I was a boy and boys don’t have diaries, right? When I started blogging (before it was called “blogging”, I might add), I wrote for the explicit purpose of entertaining others. I knew that what I was writing would be read by others, so I crafted my entries that way…but that is not a diary. You could use a blog as a diary but just the fact that a blog is public changes the entire relationship between you and your prose. But what happens when you start a diary as a private thing but then make it public after the fact?

Not a story, not a guide. A dev diary.

One of my co-workers threw me a link to a developer’s diary of an iPhone game, The Last Rocket. My friend knows that I’m a gamer and made a few games here and there, so I’m sure that’s why he shared it, but the concept of publishing a developer diary made more of an impact on me than the game or story itself.

I have notebooks upon notebooks lying around the house that are filled with sketches, page designs, logos, database tables, level designs, web problems…the list goes on and on, but I never really annotate them in any sort of detail. In one way they are just visual brain dumps that I sometimes will go back to but not often (and certainly not as often as I should). I keep all the “thinking” in my head and after reading through Lift Off, I’m beginning to realize that’s a bad idea…and not just because you can sell it for $10 online (which is way overpriced).

Lift Off is not a story, nor does it have any guides or helpful information on how to make your own game. It is literally a diary that follows the author, Shaun Inman, on a 140-day journey to create an iPhone. He jots down what he did for each day along with questions he has of himself and often a few tweets. A lot of the notes are about the specific language he was using to program the game and otherwise aren’t very interesting, but what was most appealing to me was just following his moods while he designed and programmed.

In what is a really quick and easy read, he manages to hit every moment that any developer/designer comes across during a project. Excitement, fatigue, frustration, giving up, second guessing, quitting, procrastinating…they’re all there and it’s not only fun to see how he tries to handle each of them, but that here is someone that has the same problems I do! I’ve read many books about game design and web design but none of them get you inside the head of someone building a game. Sure, they’re great for info on theory and concepts but seem to deal within ideals…and few people get that opportunity.

Never too late to try an idea

I give up or cancel most of the projects I start. A lot of them don’t even get a release. Only a few have seen completion and even fewer of those have survived more than a month or so after launch, but all of them had a notebook full of ideas attached to them. And despite many of the projects being dead and long out of my head, the notebooks remain, scattered around my house in every nook and cranny possible. I’m now thinking about taking some of my very old notebooks and putting photos up and annotating them long AFTER their life cycle. Like I said, most of my notebooks are doodles, not words, so I think it could be fun to revisit them and see I can even figure out what I was thinking…of course, this is then another project that sounds good at the moment but may never come to pass (unless I make a notebook for my notebook).

However, one thing I hope I can start is a dev diary of my own, particularly as I continue working on my Redline Derby project. Redline Derby is something that I don’t see going away (ever) but something I will continue to support and improve, so while I may not have any early thoughts on record, I can start now and see what happens. What is likely to happen is I do it once and stop, which is fine because this diary will NOT be a blog. It will be a diary.

The Morning Toast

Now read by 11 people. Maybe 12.