Bit.ly - the new Google Analytics?

Ok, so maybe I'm overstating it. Obviously, Google Analytics (especially for the low low price of FREE) remains one of the best systems for being able to drill into the details of who's trafficking your site, who's driving people, what they're doing there, etc. But for those of us living in the never-been-more-impatient, instant Tweet-world, that 24 hour wait to see results can be excruciating. (This is especially true when you're trying to test & tweak goals, ecommerce tracking and other configuration stuff - that delay in data means a very slow cycle for updating code and making sure everything is working. Sigh.)

Bit.ly, on the other hand, though ostensibly a URL shrinker, provides REAL TIME stats, and although it doesn't provide much detail on sources, you do get some sense of where people are coming from and responsiveness.

One of the other drawbacks to using GA for certain things is that it uses javascript for a lot of things, which isn't accepted everywhere, especially if you're using other tools or platforms. Ferinstance: email marketing. Sure, there is a tracking link system in place for Google which works great...as long as you're linking through to somewhere your GA tracking code resides. But what happens when you want to see how many people are going to your Facebook or Twitter page from your email blast? Or if you're driving customers straight to Paypal (which doesn't support GA tracking code)? The "onclick" javascript call that GA requires to track external links like this won't work in email. However, a Bit.ly link will! You can at least see (in real time) how many folks are clicking, and to a certain extent where they're coming from. Ahh. Instant data jonesing allayed.

Like I said, obviously Bit.ly is not a replacement for GA, but it's great as a supplement to solve some of the little problems in life. And that little pufferfish is pretty cute, too.

Holy Holodeck: it's Project Natal!

I'm a very casual gamer who loves horror/ fantasy type FPS (first person shooters), but can't play very long before vertigo sets in, especially when using traditional controllers with which I've never been dextrous (picture a lot of spinning around and looking giddily up & down as I try to get the camera movement down while walking - or worse, shooting... you should've seen the first time I tried to play Halo - ugh). Besides the great appeal of making music either alone or with friends, the instrument-style controllers used for Guitar Hero & Rock Band are most likely what make me primarily a rhythm gamer.

The Wii is fantastic for remedying this issue with their well-documented revolutionary Wiimote & balance board controllers; I actually managed to get through the entirety of Resident Evil 4 successfully without too many dizzy spells. However, the graphics on the Wii are noticeably sub-par*, and many games (such as BioShock, which is one of the primary reasons I bought an XBOX360, and Resident Evil 5) are simply not available for that console, which has a fairly limited processor & memory for a next-gen console.

Enter Microsoft's futuristic new interface, unveiled at E3 today with the assistance of Steven Spielberg: Project Natal. Project Natal leaps far beyond the innovations of the Wiimote and requires NO CONTROLLER WHATSOEVER to interact with games. For reals. The system uses a special camera/ microphone receiver to detect the room in 3D and recognize motion, as well as particular voices and faces to allow you to login to your account or interact with characters, and apparently can even "scan" real-life objects to insert into gameplay (the example I've seen described involves a skateboard).

Woah.

This sounds to me like we're quickly approaching holodeck technology as seen in "Star Trek: The Next Generation", or "Roger Rabbit" interaction between the real & imaginary - a true virtual reality-style interface.


So, the burning unanswered questions right now are:

• when will this be available to the public to use? The technology was just announced & released to developers today, so perhaps not too soon, but not light years away, either.


• It's been said that this technology will work with all XBOX consoles, but it's unclear whether it will make any sense for any of the existing games themselves to be re-coded to work with Project Natal, which would allow those of us wishing for at least a Wiimote type of interface some hope of being able to get through RE5.

I'm just very excited to see this sort of innovation coming so quickly. Now where the heck's that jetpack I was promised?!

*for those who doubt that the processor in the Wii is inferior to the XBOX360, simply take a look at Guitar Hero 3 which has relatively low-load graphics requirements, on both platforms - there is absolutely no comparison in the graphics quality & animation, as well as subtleties in the gameplay & audio.

Metallica Guitar Hero quickie review

I am so behind on lots of things, including posting to this blog instead of letting it all simmer in my head... but I managed to carve out a little time to get through a couple of levels of Guitar Hero Metallica yesterday on the XBOX360 ($37 @ Target through tomorrow!) which was well worth it. Now that I finally have the GH drums with the raised cymbals($30 on eBay brand new from the OEM shop, when they normally retail for $99.99... steals like this are one of the few GOOD things about the recession!!), I'm finding I'm playing GH more than Rock Band, which does not recognize the 5th pad (orange cymbal, actually). So, quickie review:

* cut scenes/ graphics / venues are fun & beautiful quality, especially if you unlock the Zombie Metallica costume achievement - or do as I did and use the cheat code via CheatCC.com [Green, Red, Yellow, Blue(2), Yellow, Red, Green], so you see them walk out in the intro to the Career mode as zombies - fantastic!

* Drums are a great workout on this - very heavy on the kick just as should be expected given Lars's style, but also very challenging because of this, esp. with some songs having a ton of syncopated kick drum, including Thin Lizzy's "Boys Are Back in Town".

* If that weren't enough, apparently some songs support double-kick drum controllers, noted by the "Expert+" level. Yikes. You can also just unlock virtual versions of these bigger kits so it looks cooler on screen even if you're still stomping just the one foot frantically in real life.

* Love that you can select your venue for songs the second time you play them, including Metallica's (super high-res - almost completely realistic when you first see it!) rehearsal space & recording studio, which means no cheering (or booing) audience but a quicker turn at the end of a song as well.

* Also love the realistic Hetfield intros to songs - waiting for him to also say "are you ready to rock, San Francisco?!".

* Pyro & lights are also very realistic & well-placed.

* I got a little lost in creating my avatar - almost too many variations, and instead of selecting from among choices of noses, eyes, etc., there are graduated controls to make these features wider, shift position, etc. in addition to the usual choices of colour and such. You're practically creating the thing from scratch. Another good 15 minutes was spent on quickly customizing my drum kit - the skin graphic choices alone are overwhelming. And then, oh yeah - I have to name my band and choose the logo - tired at this point so only chose a good name and settled for a decent logo.

* Second level seemed the hardest to me - only really knew one of those song selections so muddled through it.

* One of the best things (and I believe this may be true of GHWT as well but I haven't tried it) is being able to change difficulty levels while plowing through Career mode, so you can muscle up on the couple of songs you do well on without getting bored, but you don't get completely stuck as you level up and have trouble getting through some of the songs which would prevent you from proceeding.

* Some neat extras are available as you level up (e.g. lyrics), or as you unlock achievements, including "Metallifacts", a sort of pop-up video version of the song that plays through without you, with full concert graphics so you can lean back and enjoy them - and delivers trivia tidbits about the song across the lower third of the screen.

* Overall song list is great, but not as spectacular as I'd like it to be. Highlights for me include "Albatross" by Corrosion of Conformity (what a great surprise - I used to love this song and kind of forgot about it! It swings to play, fo' sho') and "Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy... some of the other track choices from great bands are a little odd to me, most notably the track "Stone Cold Crazy", of all the Queen songs they could've chosen.

Overall, I would say if even 50% of the full tracklist inspires you, this game is well worth it. We haven't had a party around this title yet, but I'm sure the improved graphics and big rawk attitude will entertain the spectators even more than usual.

Riedel philosophy: the right tool for the right job

Wine lovers often get painted automatically with the "snobby" brush if they show anything more than a superficial knowledge of the stuff; sometimes it's deserved (we've all met those people), but most times it's not. The enthusiasm that people have to learn everything about their passions - whether that be shipbuilding, football, or wine - often leads to deep, esoteric knowledge about the subject that can cause non-believers to feel inadequate.

One might hazard that Maximilian Riedel, 11th generation heir to the highly-regarded, world-renowned Austrian crystal dynasty, could certainly be expected to come across as one of these wine snobs when explaining the technicalities of his glassware.

Absolutely not so.



We were fortunate to attend a private seminar led by Mr. Riedel at Freemark Abbey Winery in St. Helena last week, showcasing their Vitis line of stemware with Freemark Abbey's wines. Although obviously dapper and a well-mannered global CEO with a mild European accent, Max Riedel's easy rapport slipped us straight into a comfortable discovery mode as he explained his family's philosphy and why this variety of stemware was laid out before us.



Probably the most important thing to understand about Riedel glasses is that they are engineered in these specific shapes & volumes to place the wine exactly where you want it on the tongue, to ensure that the characteristics of that particular wine come across best. We all learned about the different taste receptors on our tongues in elementary school (remember the chart, Q-tips and little vials of bitter, sweet, sour, etc.?), but probably don't think about these details much later in life. You will certainly think about them again after trying this type of wine tasting demonstration yourself!

Although we all know Riedel glasses are beautiful and that's half the joy of using them, Max says they are not a design house - they are making fine instruments, and basically it's important to use the right "messenger" to get the best out of your wines. He suggested that a good rule of thumb is to spend about as much on a glass as you would normally spend on a bottle of wine. To really see how a glass works and where the wine will flow into your mouth, you can tip the glass away from you until it is close to horizontal and the wine nearly spills out - "the angel's share" Max called it - to see the shape formed by the liquid. It's important not to overpour into the glass - the wine needs space to aerate so the flavors & aromas can develop properly - and you can swirl pretty aggressively without having a problem!

The first demo was with Freemark Abbey's 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, in its proper (Riesling) glass. The fresh pineapple/ citrusy tropical fruit aroma was clearly identifiable, and the first sip places the wine right at the tip of the tongue where sweetness is tasted so you get that lovely fruit flavor up front before the wine moves towards the center & edges of the tongue and develops into a nice minerality and a bare hint of oak. Then he asked us to pour the rest of the Sauvignon Blanc from that glass into the "joker" glass - a standard clear plastic party cup with a wide mouth. Swirl, stick your nose in - nothing. Shockingly, absolutely, nothing! The aromas of that exact same wine were completely gone, lost, "perdu" as the French say. The flavor was similarly altered - since the wide mouth introduces the liquid across your entire tongue at once, instead of getting those crisp sweet fruit flavors, it was flatter and with a touch of bitterness compared to what we'd tasted before.

We also tasted other varietals in the "wrong" Riedel glass as well as the right glass for comparison; the 2005 Pinot Noir in the Chardonnay glass places the wine just behind the tip of the tongue instead of on the tip where you want it - resulting in a drier, more bitter, more alcoholic flavor and a shorter aftertaste, whereas in the correct glass, it's "Fred Astaire in a wine glass" with lots of fresh red berry flavors and a hint of tannin (Max Riedel recalled the saying that "Pinot Noir is for lovers & artisans; Cabernet is for doctors & lawyers"). He suggested trying champagne, 75% of which is made from Pinot Noir, in a Pinot glass sometime, and that he's actually starting to move away from champagne flutes - all you get is the mousse - the bubbliness.

Similar exercises were performed with the 4 Riedel Vitis glasses (which conveniently come in together in their "tasting set" for the most popular varietals) and 4 Freemark Abbey wines including Napa Valley Cabernet & Chardonnay (in the appropriate glass, it's easy to see how it stood up so well at the legendary Judgement of Paris - we'd forgotten how classic & beautiful this wine is). Max also took the occasion to introduce his latest set of gorgeous, long-necked decanters including the coiled-serpent-shaped "Eve" - "no, they're not bongs" he joked, perhaps only because he was in maryjane-tolerant California. "Eve" requires a swirling, wrist-twirling motion to pour the wine, which creates a wonderful gurgling sound as a vaccuum is created and broken, double-aerating the wine before it hits your glass with tiny bubbles.



Bottom line is that the philosophy the Riedel family espouses is defiantly demonstrated in this seminar. Everyone understood this to be a veiled sales pitch, but we were most certainly sold as one could tell by the somewhat overwhelmed Freemark Abbey tasting room staff trying to ring up all the sales at the end of the afternoon. Especially for folks who spend more than $40 a bottle on average for their wines, it seems a real pity not to get everything you can out of them by using the correct instrument.

If you don't have the opportunity to attend a Riedel or similar seminar like this, I'd suggest trying a simplified version of this exercise using different shaped glasses you have at home to get a sense of what we experienced. I guarantee you'll realize investment in good glassware is not snobbery, but common sense!

Guide to food expiration dates

As someone who's been guilty of moving expired cans & jars of food - pasta sauce, tinned meats, etc - clear across the country (the company was paying for the move, not me!), I think this would've been a handy reference to have: http://www.stilltasty.com/articles/view/5