biography
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Hyperspace Beacon: More hidden messages
A little over a month ago, I mentioned there were hidden messages within the Star Wars: The Old Republic website. Site designer Alyssa Gobelle had some fun and riddled all the pages with Aurebesh phrases. This gives the site not only an interesting aesthetic but also a direct tie to the story being told. Gobelle said to The Holonet Project in an interview, "[W]e planned to add some generic Aurebesh to start. But we also wanted to add some hidden teases and notes for you guys to devour and ponder upon and play with. Give some more fuel to the speculation festivities." For those who aren't aware what Aurebesh is, I will explain briefly. Obviously, since Star Wars happens a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the language is not going to be the same as ours. The accepted history of the "language" starts in 1993 when a graphic designer for West End Games, Stephan Crane, wanted to add some extra flavor to the Star Wars Miniatures Battles Companion. So based on symbols seen in Dark Forces and monitor readouts from Return of the Jedi, he created one corresponding Aurebesh letter for every English letter. And the name Aurebesh, like the English word alphabet, is derived from the first two letters: Aurek and Besh. (Alphabet is from the Greek letters Alpha and Beta.) This week we dive into the messages hidden within the Biography pages and into a bonus screenshot that may give us some insight into a PvP mechanic. Follow me after the break to help me unravel these mysteries.
Flickr Find: Fan-made imaginary covers for Steve Jobs' biography
Personally, my favorite is Connecting The Dots. It uses a photograph by Diana Walker called STEVE JOBS AT HOME IN 1982. Steve Jobs said of the photo: "This was a very typical time. I was single. All you needed was a cup of tea, a light, and your stereo, you know, and that's what I had." I love the layout of the title and the fact that flypigs took the title from Steve Jobs' 2005 Commencement address at Stanford University. What's your favorite? Vote in the poll! %Poll-41968%
Coming to an iBookstore near you: The authorized biography of Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs is an intensely private man. He values his privacy so much, he's had no qualms fighting the Times of London about a profile they wrote on him last summer. Four years earlier, Jobs played hardball with Wiley & Sons, the publisher of 'iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business'. Jobs told Wiley & Sons to halt publication of the unauthorized biography. Wiley & Sons refused to back down so Steve punished them by pulling every book by Wiley & Sons from all Apple retail stores. Talk about hitting someone where it hurts; some of Wiley & Sons' biggest selling books were titles like The Mac OS X Bible and Mac OS X Tiger For Dummies (you can see a full list of their Mac titles here). It looked like anyone hoping for a look inside Steve's past would be hoping forever. Not any more. The New York Times is reporting that Steve himself is set to collaborate on an authorized biography, to be written by Walter Isaacson, the former managing editor of Time magazine. The New York Times says the book is still in its early planning stages and would cover the entire life of Jobs, from his youth through his years at Apple. Isaacson is the author of two best-selling biographies, "Einstein: His Life and Universe" and "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life." All of his books have been published by Simon & Schuster who, coincidentally, got the center spot in the iBookstore participating-publishers slide during the iPad unveiling. Neither Apple or Isaacson would comment on the rumors, but seeing how Apple is now in the book business, now's as good as time as any for an authorized Steven P. Jobs biography. What do you think? Buy an iPad, get the biography of its creator for free?
Greetings from 30,000 feet
I'm typing this somewhere in the skies over Utah using a fast wireless connection on an 8 GB MacBook Pro killing time while flying to Las Vegas. When I started with computers this experience would have been considered somewhere between science fiction and magic.Hi, I'm David Winograd and although I've been writing for TUAW for a couple of months, all of us new arrivals have been asked to write an introduction to give all of you an idea of just who is writing this stuff.Steve Sande introduced himself as the old guy in a piece he did when coming on board. Well, I'm the new old guy. I beat out Steve by a couple of years, but we both have gray beards and wear safari-looking hats from time to time.I got started with my first Apple ][+ in 1979 after overdosing on Creative Computing, a long defunct hobbyist magazine. I was in awe of all the neat (albeit amazingly pointless and even more amazingly expensive) things that could be done with what seemed to me as the best toy since the Betamax.Eventually I saved enough to buy the Apple ][+ at a franchise called ComputerLand (also defunct, there's a pattern to this), where for $1795 I bought a 48k processor, a bunch of expansion slots and a yellow on black, decidedly non-graphics capable monitor. No disk drive of course since Apple hadn't made them yet, so programs were sold in hobby store racks in baggies containing a cassette tape and a mimeographed instruction sheet. Getting the volume level just right was critical for computing since one mistake and you needed to go back to the start of the tape. When playing a game,when you lost, the tape would rewind and reload taking another 20 minutes. Ah -- Good times!Since then I started what was arguably the first themed BBS (Bulletin Board Service) in New Jersey, called 'David's Place' which was themed like a restaurant that read like Zork. After signing on and getting my first monthly CompuServe bill, which was over $2,000, I wheedled a decade-long CompuServe gig checking Apple ][ downloads and later running their Macintosh Community Club Forum. I also wrote for the long dead Apple ][ GS Buyers Guide.
Sky to launch AETN's Crime and Investigation HD / Bio HD on November 5th
UK / Ireland, it's time to celebrate a minor, albeit very important victory. Your lands are the first non-US countries to get A&E Television Networks' (AETN) Crime and Investigation HD and Biography Channel HD. Starting on November 5th (mark it down, people), Sky will launch both networks as part of its sluggish high-def rollout, though we can only hope this means that more channels are on the way. It's clear there's a desire for HD programming in Europe as a whole, we just need more content owners to get on the delivery bandwagon before adoption skyrockets.
EVE Online writing contest at BattleClinic
BattleClinic is running an EVE Online contest, as a tie-in to go along with their exclusive Faction Warfare Enlistment Debrief, written by 'Sergeant-Major Illivia of the Federal Defense Union.' But, as BattleClinic notes, "no one seems to really know who the hell Sergeant-Major Illivia is." And that, all of you aspiring fiction writers, is the basis of the contest. Sergeant-Major Illivia needs a biography, no longer than four paragraphs, completely original, and set within the EVE universe. If your writing makes the cut, the prizes offered include The Art of EVE, a 60-day EVE Time Card, and a 1GB EVE USB FlashDrive. Check out the rest of the rules and conditions over at BattleClinic, but remember the deadline for your bio submissions will be Friday, July 11. And for the love of the Amarrian God, don't begin with "It was a dark and stormy night..." Via EVE Online
Presenting Gametrailers' new series: Star Wars Retrospective
If you were like us, you obsessively pored over every installment in Gametrailers' Final Fantasy Retrospective. Mixing one part nostalgia and one part detailed biography, it was one of our favorite (and one of GT's most viewed) online video series ever. You can understand our elation, then, when we heard they would be doing another retrospective on yet another major facet of geek culture -- the Star Wars Retrospective.Based on the trailer above, we assume it will follow the same format as their first retrospective, chronologically detailing the history of all ninety-some video games that take place in the Star Wars universe -- from the good, to the bad, to the ... well, you know. The first chapter of the ten-part series drops this Saturday -- to help pass the time, why don't you tell us about your favorite midichlorian-infused LucasArts adventure?
