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Hyperspace Beacon: The summer of SWTOR
Every time I listen to the BioWare developers talk about Star Wars: The Old Republic, I am impressed with how passionate they are about the game. When Producer Bruce Maclean, Executive Producer Jeff Hickman, and Community Manager Eric Musco spoke to us yesterday, they sat on the edge of their seats because of how excited they were about telling us about the next updates coming to their game. Despite the game being a year and a half old, these three appeared to be riding the same hype-train the game launched with. Although these three BioWare employees suggested that the majority of the conversation on the livestream would feature discussion about Game Update 2.2, they ended up highlighting features and events taking place beyond the next patch. The questions they answered, filtered from the forum, Twitter, Facebook and the chatroom, jumped all over the place, but I believe they can be narrowed down to three major categories of concern: events, PvP changes, and the valued subscriber.
Swiss van driver gets stuck up a 'glorified goat track,' blames GPS
It's reassuring to know that while some things may change dramatically, others will and do stay the same. Overreliance on GPS is one of those highly consistent trends, as exhibited most recently by one Robert Ziegler, a full-time van driver and part-time goat track explorer. The unfortunate gent found himself growing increasingly uncomfortable with the directional instructions his satnav unit was handing out, but his hope was that "each little turn would get [him] back to the main road." Eventually, after having its fun, the GPS guide told Robert to turn around, but by that point he wasn't in a position to do anything other than call the local rescue services, who kindly airlifted him and his van back to more hospitable terrain. See a picture of the van's delivery to ground level after the break. [Thanks, r3loaded]
The 12-hour iPhone app
Gizmodo has an interesting story from David Quinlan, a coder who decided to sit down over a weekend with a few friends to crank out an iPhone app. It's an excellent read, not only for the little quirks and tips about organizing a collaborative project very quickly (they sketch out features and then prioritize them, and use Dropbox to keep all the files in the right places), but for the sheer push of how you actually go from idea to concept to code and finally to released iPhone app. I won't say it sounds easy -- these guys had a good amount of experience at development and releasing software even before they started work on this app, and if you sit down with Erica's book [Amazon link to the 2nd edition, PDF downloadable version] and hope to release your very first piece of code after just a weekend of solo work, it's not going to happen. But it definitely sounds possible -- the iPhone's development platform is relatively easy to pick up (especially if you're already experienced with coding in other languages), and Apple's release process is open to anyone willing to spend the $100 to become an official developer.
GPS leads couple into Oregon wilderness, snow and lack of common sense keep them there 3 days
So you're cruising along, in your GPS-equipped SUV, taking your dear wife back home to Reno. The trusty onscreen guide instructs you to "turn right" and you follow its typically reliable instructions. At what point in the next three days of plowing deeper and deeper into snow-covered Oregon do you start suspecting that maybe something is amiss? Alright, so this isn't quite on par with others driving buses into low-clearance tunnels, dipping their cars into rivers, or jamming heavy load trucks into unsuitably tight farm lanes. But we don't discriminate here, all instances of idiotic GPS dependency deserve their moment in the sun, so here's to Mr. John Rhoads and his tastefully named wife, Mrs. Starry Bush-Rhoads, who are now safe and sound after their phone pinged out its coordinates to emergency services when it began losing signal.
Don't get stuck in the Sunwell Plateau
I've found recently in my raiding of the Sunwell Plateau (here after and forever more referred to as SPLAT) that there are a few places folks shouldn't go.Kalecgos is one of them, that boss should just be wiped off the map. He's just that annoying. But baring that, there are these lovely little hedges placed around the instance. Don't go on those. If you do, you might just make your raid leader and Warlocks scream at you.If you get on one of these hedges and step the right way, you'll find yourself stuck behind them (click the image above for a high resolution version), unable to get out. The only way to get out is for you to hearth, for a Mage portal to be placed behind the hedge, or for a Warlock to summon you out. All the while you've taken up a good couple minutes of raid time.
Trucker blindly follows GPS, gets wedged in farm lane
At first glance, we seriously assumed that we had mentioned this exact same story before. Turns out, one particular Maxi Haulage driver doesn't tune into Engadget, as he pulled the exact same trick in (almost) the same circumstances. Reportedly, this timber haul was cut short as the driver followed his personal GPS system down a "farm lane" suitable only for (presumably small) tractors, and needless to say, the 45-foot vehicle has been wedged ever since. Additionally, the owner of the property is quite irate, as the mishap is forcing her to drive an extra two miles until rescue arrives. Still, the motorist did cruise right by a sign noting that the upcoming road was unfit for heavy goods vehicles, so at least the sat nav can't take all of the blame this go 'round.[Thanks, Carl H.]
Apple's 5th avenue store elevator gets stuck
Not all visitors of the NYC 5th Avenue Apple Store are having the retail experience of their lives, as one group of customers were trapped in the glass elevator for 45 minutes. Ultimately, the hydraulic lines had to be leaked in order to lower the elevator down to the store where the NYPD had to pry the doors open. Store employees who were looking for a fix before the boys in blue arrived were able to lower water bottles down into the elevator.I wonder if this is what happens when you leave the Apple Store without purchasing anything?[via UNEASYsilence. Thanks also to everyone who sent this in!]
