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Justin Pierce

Interactive Designer :: New York office

Today: TBG Park(ing) Day!

posted by on September 18, 2009 at 11:30 AM
filed under: Internet Culture, Mobile, Microsites and Minisites, and New York

TBG New York is out working from the streets RIGHT NOW. We’re partaking in Park(ing) Day. Stop on by, say hi, and get yourself a free website.

We’ll be on Grand between Broadway and Mercer all day today.

The Past's Future: Internet Enslavement

posted by on June 19, 2009 at 01:16 PM
filed under: Entertainment, Internet Culture, The Networks and the Internet, Technology Industry, and The Internet

I recently caught a clip from 1994 where Tom Brokaw reports from a Las Vegas convention on technology. “It’s called The Internet,” Brokaw proclaims as the story goes on to cover the hilariously rudimentary internet of the mid-90s. Some of the predictions include a dude from Sun Microsystems that says every company large and small will have a website by the year 2000 and Bill Gates himself says we have plenty of time before computers and flat displays shrink down to the size of books.

Watching that clip reminded me of an awesome episode of the revisited Outer Limits that aired just three years later in 1997. It was actually one of my favorite episodes from that series only because it was so ridiculous. Here’s why:

(Original Airdate: February 7, 1997)

In a world where neural implants allow everyone instant access to information, Ryan Unger (Adventures in Babysitting) is a throwback, a moron. Because of a brain injury he suffered as a child, Ryan cannot tap into the Stream — an electronic collection of all human knowledge. Instead he struggles to keep up by reading books, a primitive and forgotten art.
But then a virus in the Stream starts killing people by overloading their brains with data. Only Ryan has the skills and independence to stop it. Can a primitive human, relying only on books and his own brain, save a world of machine-made geniuses from self-destruction? Or will the Stream wash away all of humanity?

The data stream, now simply known as The Stream, was developed 50 years ago so that the Earth’s population could have immediate access to the newly built World Information Network. Data relays, known as Eddies, transmit information directly to an individuals cranial implant??

OMG. LOOK AT THE STREAM. IT IS AMAZING.

Stanley: “You know there was a time when reading was a sign of intelligence.”
Mark: “Oh yeah? Thank god those days are gone.”

This is Ryan Unger. The first half of the episode basically points out how inadequate he is at everything because he cannot access the Stream.

Example: “Oh. You need to hear the menu then.”

Another example:
Cheryl: “Stanley says you can even do arithmetic in your head.”
Ryan: “I wouldn’t be too impressed. I don’t have a choice.”
Cheryl: “Well, I wouldn’t mind learning myself one day.”
Ryan: “That’s like telling a cripple you’d like to learn how to use his crutches.”

AHHHHHHHHHH IT’S THE STREAM AGAIN

Unfortunately, the Stream isn’t all sunshine and lollipops. It starts enslaving people to acquire useless data to the point where they go crazy…

And die.

Fear not though, Ryan, who can’t access the Stream stays crazy-free and tries to get to the bottom of the problem using none other than… Yup. Trusty old books.

As the Stream affects more and more people, the doctors and scientists determine that it’s a virus. Ryan attempts tell them they need to shut it down at the source, AKA shut down the Stream. This freaks people out because they can’t shut down their one source of knowledge.

Ryan then freaks out because no one will listen to him so he takes Cheryl to some abandoned building in the old part of town. (Hint: it’s a library)Here Ryan finds the one book that has the answer to the problem.

Then, the Stream people start shooting lasers at Ryan and Cheryl. Pew pew pew.

Ryan takes Cheryl and the book and hides in a nearby bank’s safe. Ryan, being the clever that he is, tries to get Cheryl to read said book.

See, the special thing about this book is that it contains the code to shut down the Stream. Since Cheryl is still hooked on Stream, the very act of her reading it will supposedly shut down the Stream.

OMG IT WORKS. NO MORE STREAM.

And everyone lives happily ever after. Especially Ryan who now gets to teach everyone the alphabet and how to spell cat.

The End.

To sum it up, we should be concerned for the following things:

- Soon we won’t be able to write, do math without calculators, and even read.
- The gap between those who have access to instant information and those who don’t will get to be so large it becomes a physical disability to those without access.
- We’ll eventually become so dependent on our instant information technology that we won’t be able to give it up… even if it kills us.
- The internet will eventually be beamed straight into our brains, but it will still have sweet trippy visuals we can watch as it does.

While the last two are still pretty absurd at this point in time, but the first two are happening as we speak.

This post is dedicated to Cursive Handwriting and Long Division.

An Alternative Internetting Mind-set

posted by on January 26, 2009 at 08:52 PM
filed under: The Internet and User Experience

While hanging out with some friends the other night, I experienced something that surprised and impressed me to an interesting degree. As that night progressed, our conversation slowly shifted its way toward the familiar topic of things we had seen on the Internet, which it frequently does. It was during this progression that a laptop appeared and immediately garnered all of our attention.

While my friend continued to describe to us what she was about to pull up on her laptop, I noticed something strange about her browser. The back button on her Firefox was completely off. At first this didn’t strike me as anything odd because she had just opened a fresh browser window, but as she started jumping from link to link I noticed that the back button remained inactive.

This was the point when my curiosity kicked in and I interrupted her casually to ask why the back button wasn’t working. Without a pause, she said that it hadn’t worked for a while. Immediately, my first reaction was to offer to try and fix this amazing problem, but before I could, I tried asking how she’s used the Internet this whole time without a back button.

Seemingly, before I could even finish the question she was already giving her reply:

The beautiful thing about her statement was the honesty of it and its complete seriousness. Somehow, not being able to just ‘go back’ seemed like a big deal to me, but that’s probably only because I’ve been somewhat of a hardcore user of the Internet for some time now. Though, as this new mind-set began to sink, I realized it wasn’t as completely flawed as I had assumed.

Upon the revelation of this new outlook on navigating the web, my friend began to explain her technique of not using the back button. The step by step process that unfolded was an amazing journey through a very unconventional user walk-through. The interesting thing though, was how she coped with the absence of crucial function instead of just trying to correct the problem.

Fascinatingly, all of this reminded me how relevant it is when it comes to any web experience. Not just navigating a website, but the Internet as a whole and even the tools that you use to do so. And as the interactivity online branches out from the computer into phones, TVs (again), toasters, and deck chairs, it’s the responsibility of the movers and shakers online to create an experience that transcends some of the most basic mentalities we’ve held on to since those early days online.

Oh, and I also coined the term ‘Linear Netting’ to describe the mentality that is never go back online. Try it out some time.

Tales from the Internet

posted by on August 07, 2008 at 03:31 PM
filed under: Internet Culture and Entertainment

Despite my better judgement, I found myself clicking on yet another obscure list that had made it to Digg’s front page. The list itself, the ten most amazing unreleased things ever made, wasn’t all that amazing, but it did tip me off to a wonderful little Internet gem from 2005. This gem, a 17-page thread from a message board, is about an NES video game that never was. Its also has all the intrigue, drama, treachery, and humor one could want from a story, much less an Internet one. Since I’m sort of a fan of these kinds of stories, I thought I’d pass on my summarized version.

The story starts on an average little website known as Digital Press. Digital Press is a video game database, that happens to also cover the nerdy sub-culture of vintage video game collecting. It was in this forum where a seemingly new member known as paulB812 decided to post a new thread about a game called Bio Force Ape.

First though, here’s a quick backstory about Bio Force Ape. It was originally scheduled to be released on the Nintendo Entertainment System sometime back in 1991. Seta, the game’s developer, made sure that it had all of the usual side-scrolling action tomfoolery. Apart from playing as a genetically enhanced super chimp, players had to fight enemies with acrobatic wrestling moves, ride in coal mining carts, and collect giant apples all while attempting to rescue the chimp’s adopted human family. Even with all that awesomeness, Bio Force Ape was cancelled and never made it to the shelf.

Now to get back to the story. The thread begins with paulB812’s first post on Digital Press:

Hi, I found this at a yardsale while visiting relatives in Carson, California. The plain label caught my eye in a pile of Nintendo cartridges, for 3 dollars I thought why not. After doing some searching online am I right to assume this game has not been released?

This, of course, immediately peaks the interest of a community full of pack rat collectors always eager to find something extremely rare. One member replies with memories of seeing it in Nintendo Power while others send a private messages interested in buying it. The conversation begins to move from nostalgia to worry as some members wonder what the newly uncovered prototype’s fate will be. Another member posts:

Oh. My. God. Long have I waited for this day. I can only hope that it falls into the right hands.

More and more members continue throwing in what they’ve heard about the game:

Some devoted prototype hunters may have more details, but for the general gaming public, those magazine scans represent all we know: Seta developed Bio Force Ape, supposedly finished it, and then decided not to bring it out anywhere. It’s one of the most sought-after unreleased NES games, up there with the Ultimate Journey and Hellraiser.

You’ll get a lot of questions in this thread, so I may as well add to the pile. Does the game have any story sequences in addition to that one shot of the roaring ape?

paulB812 responds with more info on the gameplay:

Kid Fenris, as a matter of fact there is. After level 3 you rescue a girl, here are some of the screens after you beat the level 3 boss. I haven’t got far enough to save anyone else yet.

Talks about “dumping” the game start to fly around the thread and the first claim of its value turns up:

Thats crazy.. finding a unreleased NES game for $3 which is worth maybe $2000++
Advice, dont dump it if you can, the value will drop.
Damn lucky and great find

The act of dumping a game, especially these old cartridge based games, usually means copying the read-only memory (ROM) chip to a digital image. Turns out, some collectors hate when this happens to rare games (esp. prototypes) because those ROMs end up finding their way online. This removes some of the value of the physical game cartridges and whoever dumps it tends to end up profiting for doing it.

The thread continues with members discussing the topics of dumping and greed. At one point the conversation of butter finds a way to work itself into the foray. Talk of buttery bastards, regular butter, peanut butter, and butter fetishes are posted. Butter becomes a running joke in the thread when paulB812 interjects again:

Hey guys I played a little more with the game today and discovered a new move! You hold the punch button, hold down and release and the ape unleashes a super move. It’s so powerful it messes up the game’s graphics.

Paul’s attempt to get the topic back on track has little effect. Typical message board chatter runs rampant with arguments, diatribes, and more. A second attempt to return to the original topic is posted:

As much as I love to discuss the ingestion of swine and the inevitable correlation of butter to hardcore game collectors, we owe it to the thread originator to stay on topic and discuss Bio Force Ape.

Paul, I noticed the ape looks a bit…different in a couple of the photos. If you get another pic as you progress further into the game I would love to see if the ape continues to look like an ape or if it completes its morph into an angry Lou Gossett Jr.

The back and fourth continues. More discussion around the dumping issue is made between purists who are argue against emulation and others who support the idea of sharing it with the masses. Some comments on whether or not the chimp is farting trickle in based on the previous screenshot posted by Paul. Then paulB812 quotes another members post and adds:

My favorite part of this thread is when Dr. Morbis realizes there isn’t a Santa Claus.

All of the posts immediately turn to laughter and praise due to the latest set of screenshots. Then they turn to shout-outs for the thread as a whole and pile on in between other members’ verbose posts about dumping. These posts on dumping as well as laughter, gameplay, and everything else become dispersed amongst each other to a degree where the thread loses most of its linearity. During that whole mess, one member chimes in with a name for the newly found thread hero:

Oh My God….. I don’t even have words for that last set of screenshots…...
Anyone have any ideas on how this game came to end up in a stack of commons?

I think that is the most interesting thing about this game…. (well, asside from the butter monster)

The butter monster takes the spotlight and most of the next few posts move to speculation. Some continue the dilemma of dumping while others remind everyone on the estimated $2000 value of the game. All of this continued debate over dumping and money force paulB812 to post:

Having seen the anger that revealing this game’s existence has caused, I have decided to destroy the cartridge. It is too powerful like that ring some midgets had to throw in a volcano. Please everyone calm down now. It was just a game.

Up to this point I was oddly and completely enthralled with the thread. I had been Googling all the information I could on Bio Force Ape while enjoying the back-and-forth banter that these random people were having over two years ago. Thoughts jumped through my head as I wondered why Paul had smashed the cartridge. I quickly examined the new photo to see if it was a fake or not. I really didn’t know what to think, but after my own moment of surprise had waned, I went back to the thread to read more posts.

Back in the thread, some members reaffirmed its legendary status while others debated the authenticity of the latest bomb dropped by paulB812. Mourning comments begin to sprout up and continue for a while. Some offer to purchase the wreckage. These comments make way for skeptics claiming that the whole thing is nothing more than a complete farce. Images of a supposed Zelda III are posted to support the theory of everything being fake. Paul interjects in briefly:

Everyone keeps saying it was fake but whatever, if that’s your coping mechanism more power to you. I’m going to celebrate Halloween now by absorbing the souls of wandering children if you’ll excuse me.

More and more posts pile onto the thread. At this point, I’ve read through seven pages of posts on a thread that took place years ago. I’ve been a spectator just along for the ride and enjoying every bit of it so far. As I continue to read through more posts, I get to post #180. Paul’s back and he has some important news:

Just to get everyone on the same page this whole thing was fake. I set out to see if I could fool people and did so well I had to make a concerted effort to drag people to the light. I thought for sure the fart so powerful it garbled graphics was going to be it but apparently some guys still believe I smashed the potentially last copy of Bio Force Ape in existence.

And this was a week after that Zelda III mess. Hopefully this will be a powerful lesson to all of you not to be so sure of yourselves in the future.

About the comment asking why I didn’t scam someone for thousands of dollars, I only use my super powers for good, not evil. Okay, that’s subjective. To some third world pot-bellied kid I’m probably the worst villain ever, but I’m okay with that.

Anyway, I’ve shed about 5 pounds just from laughing this week. Game on!

Played. Had. Duped. Conned. It was all a fake. A fake that shouldn’t have surprised me as much as it did because there was one thing that I had completely omitted from my memory. This omission, the top ten list which originally led me to the thread, did so because the thread itself was a prank. In a way though, I’m glad I misplaced that tiny bit of info because the impact of everything may not have been as great as it was. And that impact was great enough to get me to post this blog so that I can share it with you and continue its legacy.

The thread continues to go on for another nine pages. There’s some more good stuff in there, but nothing that really adds any more to the story so I won’t go over that. It’s also still open too and was even rekindled yet again by someone posting about the shout-out from the top ten list. Way to go Internet.

For more info:

The Original Thread
Durbutter.com – A tribute site
Background Info on Bio Force Chimp
paulB812’s Photobucket
A Butter Monster YTMND Page
Another Butter Monster YTMND Page

Here comes the Petabyte Age

posted by on June 24, 2008 at 07:52 PM
filed under: The Internet and Internet Culture

So I was reading a series of articles on Wired about the Petabyte Age.

While I didn’t agree or disagree with the author’s point that massive amounts of data will fossilize the scientific method as we know it, I did start thinking about the future of data and how it will change everything.

Most of the supporting articles talked about existing large databases that are helping people understand immensely complex systems and information. Stuff like a satellite that takes a picture of the entire night sky every three days, unimaginable data from the Large Hadron Collider, years of airline ticket prices, and even the projected agricultural supplies for countries. Some of this stuff has been around since the turn of the century with the others right around the corner. What’s cool about all of this is that we’ve been able to harness huge amounts of data back around same time I was deleting things because I ‘ran out’ of disk space. Back then you had to be able to afford storage to stop worrying about it. Now anyone can get access to more storage than they’ll ever need at almost no cost.

So in comes the Petabyte age. Unlimited data. Not only can we stop worrying about deleting anything ever again, we can now store everything. Literally. Collective human knowledge is growing within Wikipedia and the rest of the Internet daily. We can assume that everything man-made will eventually be cataloged and remembered somewhere. People are blogging and micro-blogging by the minute. They’re shooting videos and taking photos and putting all of this onto digital storage. This is happening now.

Babies being born this very second will have their entire lives digitally recorded once they’ve left the womb thanks to their eager parents. Once they’re old enough to master a language and access a computer, they’ll take over that roll themselves by Facebooking their preschool classmates and emailing around cellphone photos of their boogers and crayon art. None of that sounds too outlandish until you wonder what celebrities or politicians do in the future when their entire lives can be perused by complete strangers. Instantly. Privacy being irrelevant.

That’s all near future stuff though, what’s after that? We could archive every tree on the planet. Then each one of their leaves. Do all the animals while we’re at it. Tracking individual atoms starts to sound less like wizardry when you’re thinking on the infinite storage level. This being the level where things start to get really interesting.

Star Trek brought us science fiction like transporters that memorized our atoms and scattered and resorted them instantly. So in 20 years, or even 10, when every baby’s DNA is coded and their atomic makeup is on file somewhere, we can finally take a crack at thinking about teleportation. THAT’S the future, all of this data and our ability to discover crazy things from it. We’ll be solving problems we never even knew about. Then again, we’ll probably also generate a whole slew of new ones we can’t solve.

Like what happens if all that information starts getting permanently erased…

the barbarian group

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