Disney Parks Pave The Way For Interactive Gaming Ideas

On November 4, 2010, Microsoft launched its interactive gaming accessory Kinect for the Xbox 360 gaming console. The device offers players a "controller-free gaming and entertainment experience." There are several games that are available for the Kinect. These games offer players the ability to interact with games using their body as the controller.

Kinect consists of a horizontal sensor bar (pictured above) that is mounted on a motorized pivot and connected to the Xbox 360 via USB cable. The bar is designed to be positioned above or below the television display.

Thanks to a product tear-down by Tom's Guide, we have learned that there are several pieces of technology inside the Kinect bar. Here's a list of some of the key components found inside:

• InfraRed CMOS Camera (part of depth sensor functionality) - (320 x 240)
• InfraRed Projector (part of depth sensor functionality)
• Color CMOS Camera (640 x 480)
• An array of four microphones
• Tiny motor
• Three-axis accelerometer
• 64MB DDR2 SDRAM 
• Cooling fan

There is no doubt that Microsoft has packed a lot of technology into their new product. The device has been selling very well this holiday season. Along with the introduction of the Playstation Move, gamers have finally been treated to a more immersive gaming experience at home.

Is this style of interactive gaming brand new? Not entirely, if you look at the innovative things that the Walt Disney Company has been doing in its theme parks for several years.

In late summer 2007, Disney unveiled a series of five interactive games in their Soarin attraction queue that allows groups of waiting park-goers the chance to control the action on large 11' by 25' overhead screens using their arms and bodies, without the use of a controller. Each game allows groups of approximately 50 people that form in front of each game screen to collaborate and compete in a series of interactive experiences.

Soarin' queue games developed by Playmotion - Photo via Playmotion

The developer of the Soarin' queue attractions PlayMotion states "In all five experiences, the PlayMotion Vision Engine is employed to detect various individual gestures as well as overall crowd motion dynamics, and translate that data into input signals for a videogame, much as one would use a joystick or controller pad at home."

The games allow those waiting for Soarin' to have a blast while they await entrance to the attraction itself. The interactive games take about 25 minutes in total. Certainly a welcome diversion opposed to simply standing idle and doing nothing while waiting.

While Microsoft has certainly been successful in packaging similar technologies into a relatively affordable consumer entertainment product, we need to tip our hats to and give major kudos to Disney and the developers at PlayMotion for having the foresight and drive to get this style of interactivity out in the public eye well in advance of Kinect's debut. I wonder if Microsoft saw how successful these queue games are and used them as an impetus to develop Kinect.

Disney has been revolutionizing entertainment and experiences for decades. To find out more about how Disney is using interactivity and technology to manage theme park queues, please read this excellent article at the New York Times.

What do you think about Microsoft Kinect? If you have it, do you like it? Have you seen the interactive games at Disney parks first hand, and if so, what are your impressions?

How Much Do We Really Care About Privacy?

Over the past decade, my perception has been that we have lost a lot of privacy. Since the Patriot Act was signed in late October 2001, the US government has had less difficulty in obtaining any personal and private information they want, as well as given themselves the opportunity to search our homes and personal effects with much less restriction.

Although I am opposed to the loss of several layers or regulation and restriction on the governments use of my information and preferences, the last couple of years, we have voluntarily been handing over this information to third party advertisers, application developers, and other businesses. The new gorilla in the room could be... apps.

A recent investigative article from the Wall Street Journal shows that smartphones and their popular applications are sharing your personal information such as phone numbers, current location, the owner's real name and other unique identification information widely and regularly. A link to the original article can be found HERE.

The WSJ goes on to illustrate that several of the most popular applications like Pandora Radio sends your information to up to eight trackers. Although the fact that these applications send data to application developers, advertisers, and other companies is outlined in many of the application license agreements that you must accept to use them, end users rarely if ever take the time to read them. Many software and hardware products come with lengthy end user license agreements (EULA) they are often peppered with legalese that most folks, myself included have difficulty deciphering. 

I personally am ok with most of my applications sharing the data that they have. Some applications actually share your personal contacts with third party services. This bothers me somewhat. When I learn that an application takes a little too much liberty with the information it gathers, I remove the application and cease using it. Many of these applications are free. I can understand how free applications need to be subsidized with in application ads, or sharing some information to offset development costs and the costs that would be paid for if users were to outright purchase the apps, but many paid apps share the same information as well.

As an example, the WSJ uncovered that the most popular smartphone game Angry Birds from Rovio Mobile, Ltd. transmits your contacts, location including city and gps information, phone id, and your username and password to third parties. The developer claims that it transmits this data to a game platform and analytics service to better understand what its users want. My question is, how secure are third parties when they handle this data.

Although we are often quick to cry fowl when the government accesses and transmits our private information, we seem to look the other way and be unconcerned when out must-have apps and games do the same thing. As a society, I think we need to be more diligent in controlling all of our information. I see this situation getting worse, not better. Consumers really need to be educated and take action.

What are your thoughts on the way application and hardware developers are handling your information. Although we have to opt-in to use these games, so few of us take the time to understand what is being done with this information.

Wow - No Effort Needed, Ever!

Lose weight fast, become rich overnight, lose those aches and pains instantly! Advertising today hasn't changes much since the snake oil carts of the past. When I see these commercials on television or in print, I find them better than any comedy film. They are simply hilarious and entertaining.

Last week I started reading the new book from Timothy Ferriss entitled The Four Hour Body. Tim describes various techniques he has implemented to achieve significant weight loss, fitness results, sleep optimization, enhanced sexual pleasure, and more. This book is the result of a tremendous amount of research on Tim's part, and a significant investment of his personal money as well to gather the best equipment and expertise in each field to assist him with his studies.

Although rather bold, Tim Ferris knows of what he writes about. He has spent his career hacking the body and personal processes to obtain the maximum results with the least effort. Let's make a note here... there is still effort involved. You must follow plans properly, as well as implement techniques as demonstrated and described. You need to do some work...

That's why I laugh so much when I see these commercials that tout simply popping a diet pill as the answer to your weight problems. Heck, even real pharmacy companies market to us this way.

Look at Viagra. It has given many men the opportunity to experience sex in a somewhat normal way. Although Viagra assists men in one area, there is no one pill that will solve all sexual issues. There is no one stop answer... period.

How can one expect to be rich overnight? Unless you are given an incredible financial settlement or inherit a fortune, there is no possible way you can become wealthy in a relatively short period of time without absolutely incredible effort. The fact that you pay $100 for some television infomercial from some guy in a question mark outfit will not make you any money. You have been taken for a ride. I'm sorry if you have fallen victim to the fallacy of infomercial television.

These companies are making millions of dollars selling snake oil. What I find most hilarious is that people still buy it in droves. However, what I find sad is how little the intelligence of the general populous has evolved and are still led like dogs to this garbage.

I'll finish reading Tim Ferriss' The Four Hour Body, work on implementing his techniques, and report on my findings. But to achieve results, I'll be putting forth something that is always needed to achieve results... effort.

What do you think about all the products sold on television infomercials and in some stores?

What Christmas Means To Me

Yesterday, I enjoyed a great Christmas with my family. I am fortunate to have many family members visiting, and enjoyed speaking with many family members in different areas of the United States. Although having a full house can be stressful at times, I feel truly blessed to have them with me.

Watching the children open gifts is always my favorite part of Christmas. I've always been more concerned with giving gifts to others than receiving. I have all that I really need, and sometimes, although gifts are nice, I feel like I have more than I need, or even deserve.

This leads me to what Christmas means to me. The spirit of the holiday is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, not to receive gifts or chow down on a huge meal. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy gifts and a great feast, but I found myself contemplating how blessed I truly am in comparison with many others locally and around the world.

While my children received more gifts than they probably should have, I try hard to help them understand that they need to appreciate what they receive, as many are not as fortunate. Each year, we participate in our churches Angel Tree mission, in which we purchase gifts for local children that otherwise would not experience the joy of receiving gifts. Our children actively participate in the process of selecting gift tags from the Angel Tree, and the wrapping of those gifts.

At church on Christmas Eve, they showed a video of a local charity group that works to help the homeless in Smithfield, NC, an area that is about 15 minutes from my home. At any given point there are many individuals and families without a place to live or a place to eat. Especially at holiday time, I feel like I sometimes have an abundance of comforts while so many do not.

I also find myself reflecting on those that serve our country and may be in harms way. So many families and children cope at holiday time with the fact that a father or mother may be away fighting to preserve our way of life and to bring freedom and hope to others. My heart goes out to those families, and my sincere thanks and appreciation goes out to the brave men and women that serve us unselfishly.

This Christmas and holiday season, I wish all of you comfort, joy, and blessings for the upcoming year. 2010 has been a very positive year for me, and I have been blessed with great friends that have inspired me in countless ways.

2011 is just around the corner. I'm so excited to see what it brings!

Managing Your Finances - Strategies and Tools

Managing finances has been a challenge and a passion for me. Each month I strive to tweak my spending habits to optimize for short term and long term goals. There are several online tools and blogs that offer strategies for making your money management process easier.

I'm not yet devoting a large portion of my income to investments. A couple of years ago, I was saddled with several credit card debts, car payments, a mortgage, and a school loan. Being that currently we are a single income family, it was quite a hurdle to eliminate debt.

At my Church, I came across the book Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. The book offers a incremental step by step process for eliminating debt and taking control of your finances.

Here is an overview of what Dave Ramsey calls "Baby Steps" to reach your financial goals. These steps need to be addressed in order before progressing to the next step. Several steps like steps 4-7 can be tackled at the same time if you have the resources.

• Baby Step 1 - Start a $1,000 Emergency Fund
• Baby Step 2 - Payoff all debt using the debt snowball
• Baby Step 3 - Place 3 to 6 months of expenses in your emergency fund
• Baby Step 4 - Invest 15% of household income into Roth-IRA's and pre-tax retirement
• Baby Step 5 - College funding for children
• Baby Step 6 - Payoff your house early
• Baby Step 7 - Build wealth and give

Currently, I am on Baby Step 3, and am on my way to having 6 months of expenses in my emergency fund. This will offer security in the event of a job loss, or other financial emergency, without the need for me to incur debt.

It has been hard this past two years to payoff all debt. I currently have no debts other than my mortgage. Soon, I believe I will need to replace a vehicle. I'll need to financially position myself to do that without incurring more debt, and without depleting any of my emergency funds.

Dave Ramsey has a course that he offers online and at several churches called Financial Peace University. My church offers this course, but I have yet to take it. I know several people that have taken it and have been applying the principles taught to the way they handle money. My friend Vincent Davis chronicles his experiences in entries on his blog entitled Dollars & Sense. He offers great insight into the challenges and how these strategies can help.

There are several other great online tools like Mint.com and Quizzle that help you track your money and manage it through budgets. 

What other strategies, tools, or online tools have you found have helped you take control of your finances?

3-D Here To Stay Or Go Away?

These days, 3-D seems to be everywhere. Originally gimmicky and popular in 60's films, 3-D experienced a revival in the early 1908's with schlocky horror films such as Friday the 13th: Part III and Jaws 3-D. These films relied heavily on the 3-D gimmick that made objects appear like they were popping out of the screen.

Today, 3-D technology is used to create more depth and immersion in film. I have seen several films in 3-D in the past year. In my opinion, the best usage of 3-D in a film this far is James Cameron's Avatar. The film used depth of field in incredible ways, and was very pleasing to look at visually, although some filmgoers complained of headaches when watching 3-D for too long.

My take on 3-D is that although it offers a good experience, it is not worth the need to wear special glasses to view a film, nor worth the additional cost at the box office. The colors are more vivid when viewing the film with the glasses off. As long as the film is shot well, two dimensional prints are more than fine for me. Is this latest resurgence of 3-D another fad like it was in the 1960's and 1980's, or will it exist from this point forward in shaping our content experiences?

Now that I have tossed my opinion out there, let's take a look at what the electronics industry is doing in regards to television manufacturing. A large percentage of televisions are currently being manufactured that allow users to experience 3-D. To gain this experience, content must be 3-D enabled, and special pricey glasses must be worn. The distance and angle of the viewer to the television also will affect the quality of the 3-D experience.

In a few years, many predict that 3-D televisions will be the only option you will have when purchasing a new television. Just like how LED lit HDTV is pushing the older LCD technology to the boneyard.

A recent posting by GigaOm cites Nielsen data that shows us that consumers in North America are not really all that interested in 3-D TV. In particular, it illustrates that the majority of consumers polled were actually opposed to the technology.

In a survey of more than 27,000 respondents, less than 3% of the North American respondents said they planned on buying a 3DTV over the next year. On a worldwide scale, about 15% said they planned on getting a 3DTV set in the next year.

Hollywood and US media has sunk millions of dollars into 3-D. It seems like their efforts look to be failing as far as generating interest for home consumers.

Do you plan on getting a 3DTV? Is 3-D a repeating fad or will it stick around this time? What are your thoughts?

Movie Review: Restrepo

Restrepo, a 2010 film directed by Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, chonicles a year in the life of a US platoon in the deadly Korengal Valley of Afghanistan.

The film offers an unfiltered look at what the Second Platoon experienced daily as they fought hard to push back the Taliban.

Never before have I seen a film that illustrates the tremendous labor, valiance, and personal turmoil that our soldiers face in the warzone. Prior to seeing this movie, the opening Normandy landing sequences depicted in Saving Private Ryan was the most visceral depiction of war action I had seen.

At times, the film was difficult to watch due to the true-life experiences it so honestly illustrates, yet it was impossible to turn away. The steadfast bravery and emotions shown by our soldiers evokes such strong emotion while viewing the film. The film offers a no-holds-barred look at life on the front lines.

The film captures the platoon engaging in deadly firefights, meeting with Afghani elders, dealing with the death of comrades, and the strife caused by being far from loved ones. Unless you have been on the front, this film will offer you the closest look at what that experience is like.

After having watched Restrepo, I feel so blessed that we have such dedicated and brave soldiers that are willing to fight in distant lands to protect what we hold so dear at home. The traditional media does not come even close to giving us an honest portrayal of what is happening afar. If you get the chance, please take the time to watch this film, and then join me in praising the valiant efforts of our military.

Have you seen Restrepo? What are your thoughts and reactions?

How To Make Your Blogger Blog Load Faster

I'm fairly new at blogging, but I constantly like to learn how to optimize my content and site.

With all of the different web browsers out there, and different speeds at which people access the web, it's increasingly important to pay attention to how your page looks across the gamut of browsers, as well as to optimize for the fastest delivery to readers as possible.

Google has a really good article "How can I make my blog load faster?" with some really good information that makes some suggestions on making the experience faster for your readers.

Some of the highlights:

• Limit the number of posts that appear on your main page
• Decrease the size of your images or use thumbnails that link to the full-size image
• Make sure you put any custom CSS you have added at the top of the page

For more comprehensive information about these optimization techniques, and for more tips, please visit the original Google article How can I make my blog load faster?

I hope these tips help you make your Blogger blog speedier and more efficient! Do you have any additional tips you'd like to share?

What Are Your Household Paper Management Techniques?

In my kitchen, there is a corner of the counter that is constantly assaulted with a barrage of papers. Incoming mail, things waiting to be filed or scanned, school information notes, receipts, and so on. If it's paper, it is there at least once. Do you have a corner of your home that is a paper magnet?

Messes are one of the things I hate most in life, yet I can't seem to ever tame the paper clutter in my home. I've tried many techniques, including placing a small shredder in the corner to shred no longer needed papers and junk mail, using a drawer for specific paper items, even trying to designate specific times of the week where I would tend to filing away or scanning items that we need to save.

It seems to be a never ending battle. We recycle junk mail that does not have any personal information on it. We also use our fire pit to burn paperwork and mail that we no longer need. I am not a hoarder, but I find it difficult many times what to save and what to toss.

My daughter loves to draw. I have amassed hundreds of her drawings. Several of them are incredible, and some of them are just scribbles from when she was an infant and toddler. I'd love to keep everything, but realistically, I can't. One idea I had was to photograph the drawings individually and only physically keep the ones that I really thought were special. Then I realized how much time that would take. How do you deal with keeping children's creative and/or schoolwork without having to rent a storage facility?

With so much great technology available today, the need to have actual paper documents for bills, etc. is decreased. Other than keeping important documents like house deeds, birth cirtificates, and other critical information, the rest is mostly useless to me. Still, I file much of the unnecessary paper away. I need to break that cycle.

What tips and techniques do you have that you have found helpful in taming the clutter of paper in your household?

Did Hollywood Really Need To Remake That?

It seems like everytime I turn around, there is a classic film or television series that is being redone, re-imagined, or "rebooted." Maybe you have asked yourself the question, was it really necessary for the new version to be made?

Let's take a look at some recent examples of this ongoing trend.

Earlier this year, the  re-imagining of Disney's Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp was released and did incredibly well. 2009 gave us J.J. Abrams adaptation of Star Trek. These films did incredible business, but the question is, did it improve upon the classic originals that we love? Last summer, we saw the release of the A-Team, an 80's television show turned film. The film topped out at over $100 million at the box office. A re-imagining of the The John Wayne classic True Grit directed by the Coen brothers was just released into theaters.

In years past, there have been good re-makes or reboots like Starsky and Hutch, that infused modern humor and campiness into old franchises. Star Trek was also a good film. There are also those like The Dukes of Hazzard that were so bad they should burn the celluloid that the movie was filmed on.

There is an incredibly long list of movie remakes that are currently in the works. The list includes remakes of the classic Ridley Scott film Alien, John Carpenter's The Thing, as well as the 80's favorite Short Circuit. The list goes on and on.

Are there no original ideas anymore? Hollywood seems to want to dip back into back catalog to find source material for current films. From an economic standpoint, I can understand that. The studios will do what makes them money with the properties they own or can acquire.

Once in a while, a director will take a property in an entirely unique direction, and deliver a platform for the franchise to continue developing in a creative manner. I think a good example of this is J.J. Abrams recent Star Trek reboot.

What do you think? Do you like remakes and reboots? I'd love to hear your thoughts and see which ones you like or dislike,

Are You Drinking The Kool Aid?

Each year, many companies release their latest revisions of hardware and software and attempt to convince people to spend their hard earned money for new items and upgrades. It's fairly easy to identify the times of year companies will release their latest and greatest items, often at times optimized for back to school or holiday purchases.

To illustrate the scheduling expertise, we can look at a company like Apple. For the past year, in June or July, they release a new version of their incredibly successful iPhone. The timing is perfect for adoption of both the general public as well as ideal for capitalizing on the fact that college students return to campuses in late summer. The same is also true of their iPod products. After the back to school buying season, they seed their latest iPod models. This almost ensures these models will sell like hotcakes during the holiday shopping season.

I see nothing wrong with how Apple and many successful companies determine their product release schedules. In fact, Apple has done incredibly well at using the typical annual buying trends of consumers to their advantage.

One thing that has always bothered me about technology companies is how they try to tell us what we want. In the case of Apple, run by the visionary CEO Steve Jobs, they demonstrate technologies that they claim will forever improve our lifestyles.

With the latest iPhone 4 release, looking back at the keynote announcement address, a significant amount of attention was given to the Facetime feature they included with the new phone. This feature allows you to have a real-time audio and video call with another contact in your contact list as long as they are using the new iPhone 4. Steve Jobs went on and on about how revolutionary it was to have the videoconferencing capability in your phone.

I have happily been an iPhone4 user for 4 months. Other than the one time I tried out Facetime with a friend shortly after purchasing the phone, I have never used it. The online community and technical pundits are illustrating the same. People have tried it once or twice, seen that it is neat to use, and have not touched it again. Certainly, there may be a small portion of iPhone 4 users that use the Facetime feature regularly, but I'm thinking most users simply don't find the feature that revolutionary.

My point is that each year companies toss out the one feature that they feel consumers will most want in their products. More often than not, users will never use the new functionality, but still buy into the hype the new feature offers in making their purchase decisions.

The same is true for operating systems and other software. Take Windows 7, each revision of the Mac OS X operating system, and Microsoft Office. Each year, new versions of these products are released with several if not hundreds of new revolutionary or must-have features. Companies sell boatloads of new software packages, but usability surveys show that an incredibly small percentage of users actually embrace these additions.

How do you feel about how technology products are marketed? Do you find that more often than not you do not use most of the new features each product revision offers? Do products deliver on their promises? Will you continue to drink the Kool Aid?

Staying Idle

The last couple of days, I've been home with some physical discomfort that is pretty painful if I if I do a lot of walking, or twist around in certain ways. If I sit down and don't try to do too much, I feel otherwise fine.

On Tuesday I went to the doctors and they made a preliminary diagnosis of the source of the pain. This morning, I will have a CT scan so they can truly see what is going on. I'm pretty confident that it is nothing serious, but my boss and others have pretty much recommended that I take it real easy until finding out what is wrong.

I hate doing nothing. My job mainly involves desk work, and usually it is not physically demanding. My thoughts are, if I have to sit and stay relaxed, I may as well do that at the office while accomplishing something. Why sit at home and accomplish nothing? There are few things that bother me more than being idle. I have to be doing something that is engaging my mind at all times unless I am sleeping.

I'm looking forward to drinking the tasty vanilla barium contrast this morning before my CT scan. Hopefully you can sense the sarcasm. :)

How do you deal with unwanted downtime? Do you find it challenging to get needed rest when home from your job with an ailment?

Enjoying Your Favorite Holiday Films

Images Copyright Warner Bros.

I love the holidays. Other than the hustle and bustle associated with this time of year, I always look forward to the holiday season. Once the commotion is behind me, I find many opportunities to enjoy films and television that showcase holiday themes.

What do I  choose to watch this time of year? I have a pretty extensive collection of holiday themed films that range from classics like It's A Wonderful Life to modern fare such as the new CGI-laden remake of A Christmas Carol. It's amazing to look at some of the older black and white films and see that thematically they still hold up well.

There are a few films and shows that certainly make it into the viewing rotation every year in our household: Christmas Vacation, It's a Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas, and of course A Christmas Story. Each year I view each of these titles multiple times, and I find that I never tire of them. In fact, I pretty much refuse to let anyone in my house watch any television on Christmas day other than 24 hours of A Christmas Story on TBS. As you can tell, I am pretty nuts about holiday fare.

In addition to the films and shows mentioned above, several others that I enjoy are Elf, The Year Without A Santa Claus, and Jingle All The Way, featuring one of my favorite comic actors, the late Phil Hartman. When I was very young one of my favorites was an Italian film called The Christmas That Almost Wasn't, and I have watched that occasionally as well.

Holiday films are just plain old fun for me. This time of year, my wife and I find ourselves frequently quoting Christmas Vacation, and then wanting to pop it into the DVD player one more time. Watching Emmet Otter brings back childhood memories and it is very nice to be able to share my favorites from my youth with my young kids as well. Watching them together is almost like passing the torch to the next generation, and I enjoy seeing them learn to appreciate these treasures.

What do you and your family most like to watch this time of year? Do you have any holiday traditions as far as viewing holiday themed movies and shows?

Not About Presents

Here we are approaching the Holidays. Each year at this time, I reflect on what I've been truly blessed with. When I think back over the past year, reviewing ups and downs, a feeling of peace fills my mind. It's often a challenge to find peace at this time of year with all of the errands, gatherings, and deadlines, but for some reason, I feel calm and at peace.

This year, while I reflect back, I think most about how my family and I have grown closer. My wife and I have been making an effort as parents to raise our children to be spirit-led, giving, goal-oriented, eager to learn, and to love themselves. In thinking about parenting further yesterday, something that Pastor Matt Fry at our church illustrated during sermon. It's something I have thought about before, but never so deeply.

"How many presents from past years do you still have?" our Pastor asked. I started thinking... actually, not many. Things break, lose their utility, no longer fit, or simply begin the trek to the corner of the attic or to the donation box. There are only a couple of things that I have received as gifts that I actually can recall still having.

This question forced me to look at how I teach my children about gifts. Sure, we all want our kids to have more than we did as children, but are we teaching them what the holiday season is really about? Kids certainly need some toys to stimulate creative play, learning, and to offer them a needed release from necessary tasks. I know that my kids, although they do not get everything they ask for or would like, are certainly not lacking in the Christmas gift department.

I feel that the real joy of the holiday season can be found while you gather with family and friends to celebrate your blessings, and to offer praise to God for all that He does in your life. These are the things you will look back on in a couple of years and have fond reflections of. Would I like a new television or a new entertainment center? Sure I would, but in a few years, I'll forget I even had it.

This holiday season I wish you comfort and joy, and that you offer praise for the true blessings that you have received.

Tangled - Movie Review

In this CinchCast, I review Tangled, the latest release from Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Remembering Tron

In 1982, I was almost 10 years old when Tron was released on July 9, 1982. From what I remember at that time, I wanted to see the movie because it looked so cool. I knew it also set the bar for computer generated special effects of the time. Plus, the hottest band at the time, Journey, provided some music for the soundtrack.

Game arcades were incredibly popular at that time. The Tron videogame debuted in arcades around the same time as the film hit theaters and remains one of my favorite cabinet-based games to this day. The music from the arcade game, a digitized portion of the film score, is instantly recognizable to me.

The movie holds up well today as far as special effects go, because the CGI created environments that were not based in reality, so we have no real world items to base a comparison on. The plot was interesting, but the story lacked in some ways. It wasn't worthy of winning an award for screenplay, but it was acceptable dialog. Today, some of what was written seems campy, but that in my opinion makes it endearing.

Jeff Bridges (Kevin Flynn / Clu) was a known actor at the time Tron came out, but he had not yet achieved the critical and commercial success of his later films such as Starman, The Big Lebowski, Iron Man, and his Oscar-winning turn in Crazy Heart. The film also features actors Bruce Boxleitner (Alan Bradley / Tron) who had future success as an actor in several TV Movies and series, as well as David Warner (Ed Dillinger / Sark / Master Control Program), who appeared as supporting characters in box office smashes Titanic, and Avatar.

I recently re-watched Tron as I have the 20th anniversary collectors edition on DVD. It was enjoyable to revisit this film and marvel at the technological advances of the day that went into this film. I found it carrying me back to my youth when I was wowed by the light cycles zooming along the grid.

Next week, I will be going to see Tron: Legacy at midnight on December 17th when it is released. I eagerly anticipate being taken back to the feeling of whimsy and marvel I felt as a kid.

What are your memories of seeing Tron in the early 1980's? How has it held up after all these years? Are you planning on going to see Tron: Legacy?

Should States Collect Sales Tax From Online Merchants?

Many find the convenience of online shopping valuable, especially during busy times of the year such as the current holiday shopping season. Federal law dictates that internet retailers are required to only collect sales tax from buyers in states in which they maintain a physical presence. Many shoppers avoid paying sales tax from convenient online retailers such as Amazon.com since Amazon does not have a physical presence in their state.

States such as North Carolina offers taxpayers the ability to pay their own sales tax for online purchases on their tax returns. The state claims that only a fraction of online purchases are actually accounted for by taxpayers.

North Carolina's new Revenue Secretary David Hoyle is pressing hard to force internet retailers that ship to his state to collect sales tax. Currently, the state of North Carolina is involved in several court battles with online merchants such as Amazon.com to push this mandate forward. Secretary Hoyle has mentioned that he intends to push the retailers to collect or pay taxes on all of the purchases shipped to North Carolina since the company began shipping into the state.

Will these changes impact your purchasing decision if they are implemented? In many states such as New York (where I am originally from,) online retailers are required to collect sales taxes on items purchased by those that reside there.

What are your thoughts? Should the government keep their hands off internet sales, or do you feel that the increased tax revenue the state will see will be a benefit to its residents?

Check out the video from wral.com below:

Men Want Androids, Women Prefer iPhones

A recent report from The Nielsen Company illustrates that the iPhone is the most desired phone among those seeking to upgrade their smartphones. The three leading smartphones in the US are the Apple iPhone, RIM Blackberry, and various Android phones. Nielsen was able to generate some interesting information from the data they gathered in October 2010.

• Women prefer iPhones over all others: 30.9%
• Men prefer Android phones over all others: 32.6
• Current non-smartphone users looking to upgrade would prefer moving to Android: 28%

What is really interesting is that those that currently do not have a smartphone would prefer getting an Android phone, as opposed to those that have currently have smartphones and want get the iPhone. Does this tell us anything about the experiences users are having with the Apple iOS and Android OS once they become smartphone users?

It almost seems like the statistics may be telling us that those that use the iPhone as their current smartphone may be unwilling to move to a different platform, whether it be the Android OS, or RIM's Blackberry OS. Are users unhappy with their experiences using Android and Blackberry and looking for a change at the next upgrade? How would you interpret these results?

I'm wondering if there is something about the interfaces of these phones that dictate whether men or women favor certain phones in particular. Perhaps the ease of use of the iPhone interface appeals more to women as opposed to the perceived openness of the Android platform appealing to men.

I'm interested in your take on these findings and my perception on the results of the data.

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