So long, ICQ
So, ICQ is shutting down. I decided to log in one last time, since I still, miraculously, have my original credentials. UIN 5437541, password unchanged since 1998—still rolls right off the fingers.
ideas and ramblings
Latest posts
Wither offline mode?
One of the major driving factors for the move to Single-Page Applications (SPAs) over the past decade has been the potential to allow offline (or low-connectivity) usage. When any given interaction within an app has the potential to require a network request, having a fast, reliable internet connection is critical.
Communicating Cartridges
A lot of contemporary video game players take online communications for granted—after all, online services have been a standard feature in consoles for nearly fifteen years at this point1. However, before the ubiquity of the internet there was a time when some clever cartridges let gamers run up to the bleeding edge of technology and peer into the future.
Sensors in Game Boy cartridges
By the late 90s, most home video game consoles had moved from cartridges to optical discs. With few exceptions, however, most portable consoles never moved to optical discs; instead, they stuck with cartridges and gradually migrated to downloadable content1. Cartridges were relatively small, just rugged enough for the task, and they didn’t need to delicately focus a laser on a tiny spinning disc…
You should have a personal web site
Hello! This is my personal web site. It’s not much, but it’s mine. After nearly a decade of just barely existing, I’ve spent quite a bit of time in 2019 trying to breathe new life into it. At this point, I think just about everyone–but especially folks in the software engineering universe–should have a personal web site of their own. Let me tell you why.
A system of cartridges
Last time, we took a look at three cartridges that had a little something extra: a cartridge slot of their own for other cartridges to get plugged into. A few other cartridges took that idea a step further, cramming separate video game consoles into the cartridge slots of their host consoles. These were no ordinary hardware add-ons: they required completely distinct and incompatible cartridges of…
Lock ‘n roll: a tale of three cartridges
Nearly all video gamers of a certain age are familiar with game cartridges and how to use them: plug a cartridge into your console, turn the console on, and start playing. Less known are the cartridges that were not quite so simple, including a subset that were designed to have other cartridges plugged into them. Let’s take a look back at three of these quirky middlemen to see why the creators of…
A brief history of saved games
A modified version of this article ran on Tedium as well. I’m very grateful to Tedium’s editor, Ernie, for the additions he made to the version there and the opportunity to share my writing with his audience.
Using GitHub webhooks to rebuild static web sites
GitHub’s webhooks are wonderful things: with a little bit of configuration, you can be notified whenever your repository has new code pushed to it.
The life & times of the Nintendo 64 controller
The 1990s were a wild time for the video game industry. Advances in technology had finally brought true 3D graphics to video gaming, and although this innovation was initially confined to the arcades, the march of technology brought it within reach for home gaming consoles.