binary

A shrink might find this clock useful

There's still no good purpose for indecipherable watches as far as we're concerned, but we may have actually figured out why people would want a mystery wall clock.

This binary LED table clock could come in handy, for example, in awkward social situations when you're pressed for time but don't want a guest to know you're counting down the seconds till you have to kick them out of the house. Or maybe a therapist could strategically place on a shelf and pretend it's conversation piece.

Better yet, they could be used in casinos, which … Read more

Bits from Beyond Binary--Dec. 13, 2007

Activision sued over 'Guitar Hero' for Wii--Suit follows admission by Activision that the Wii version of Guitar Hero III was outputting mono, rather than the advertised stereo sound. Office 2007 SP1 autoinstalls confuse Vista, XP users--While most users won't get the Office service pack automatically for some time, beta testers of Vista Service Pack 1 are having the update pushed automatically. Microsoft's Ministry of Truth--Blogger Long Zheng noted last week that Microsoft is hiring for a Director of Windows Client Disclosure, a position designed to making sure there are "zero surprises," when it … Read more

Bits from Beyond Binary--Dec. 12, 2007

Here's a collection of links from the "Stuff I'm reading" section. To see these as they post, come back to the Beyond Binary blog and check out the right-hand column. I recommend doing it ten times a day, but, the digest below is here for those that have other things to do:

Are Microsoft-served ads slowing down Web sites?--Blogger Long Zheng noticed that his recent visits to Digg had been slowed by ad requests to MSN. He did some more, well digging, and found that some other sites with MSN-served ads are also sluggish. (istartedsomething) … Read more

Gates wants to make his presence felt

Anyone who has ever used an instant-messaging program has seen the basic idea of presence. That little status bar that says "available," "away," "out to lunch" or "cursing the Mets" is your presence--the computer's understanding of how and under what means you are available.

Today, that information is stored on the computer, but is mostly acted on by other people. Perhaps you see that someone's status is busy, so you send them an e-mail asking them to call rather than pestering them with an IM. Or, you see that someone … Read more

Binaries are great, if you are a computer

Welcome.

So what the heck is this Beyond Binary blog anyway?

The idea is to give more space to some of the best parts of my job as a reporter for CNET News.com--helping to connect the dots, talking about where things are headed in the industry, and telling some of the stories behind the stories I write.

As for the title, I wanted something to suggest that there's more to technology than just the code that underlies the products. What's really interesting is the way technology makes our lives simpler, or more difficult. Technology can help connect … Read more

Echoes of 'Geometry Wars'

If anyone knows me, they know one thing: I love free PC shooters. The developers at Binary Zoo have made me very happy in recent years with their excellent releases Duo and Mono, and it seems like they've done it yet again. Their new game, Echoes, combines Asteroids and Geometry Wars to create another entertaining and addictive shoot-em-up.

The game menu is very similar to Duo and Mono, and easy for anyone to quickly understand and start playing. If you've never played either of those two games, before, a helpful "Instructions" button will break down the basics for you:

10 SHOOT STUFF 20 DIE 30 GOTO 10

If that's not enough info to get you started, there is an HTML document with instructions included in the Echoes package. The gameplay is as basic as it gets. You move your ship and fire independently in 360 degrees, and there are 10 levels of enemies for you to destroy: mini asteroids, small asteroids, large asteroids, extra-large asteroids, comets, meteor storms, asteroid belts, planets, black holes, and the sun. If you're hit by any enemies, you'll lose energy. The game ends when your energy reaches zero, or perhaps when you blow up the sun. I wouldn't know as I can't seem to get past those wicked blue planets.… Read more

BTU-retention device

What's better than a case of "No, I will not fix your computer" t-shirts and caffeine-molecule mugs? And no, the answer is not "A 'killer coding ninja monkeys' bumper sticker." C'mon. You're past that now. You might even have furniture! Or perhaps you've answered the call of the wild and are living out of a special tech-outfitted van. Anyway, you're a geek, and geeks gotta stay warm. Winter's a-comin'. You need this--to snuggle up, to brave the blizzard, to fend off the arctic blast.

Deeply fuzzy, with its two-centimeter-thick … Read more