Oregon Trail Makes the Long, Arduous Journey to iPhone

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

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My iPhone says I’ve died of dysentery. Though somehow, the fact that it comes from a cute little cartoon makes the blow a little easier to take than back in a computer lab twenty years ago with the green-and-black pixels of the original Oregon Trail.

Last week, Oregon Trail became available as an iPhone app for $5.99. Which, actually, is a bit on the pricey side for apps these days. Is it worth the cash and the space? Well, to be honest, despite the joy of writing this article for you people, I don’t think I’ll be getting much use out of it. Because the game has been pretty much completely overhauled, there’s actually not that much nostalgia value. And whereas it was pretty fun when (a) I was ten, and (b) it was the height of gaming technology, it’s not really holding my attention anymore. On the bright side, I think that it might appeal to kids as much as any other “educational” game (and indeed, it’s even more educational than the original since it’s got a lot of fun facts about history mixed in). Though how many ten-year-olds have iPhones?

Some of the major changes (besides the graphics) are that there are mini-games – besides hunting as in the original, there’s also fishing, telegraph sending, and fixing the wagon, for example – and “quests” (which don’t seem to involve any work or have any effect, but rather are just completed as a side-effect of going through the game). Though it is kind of neat that you guide your wagon down rivers by tilting the iPhone. The game logic is a little different, too; for example, when you start out you choose banker, carpenter, or farmer, but it’s based on more than just money – a carpenter can fix the wagon more easily, and a farmer requires less food.

Of course, there’s one missing element that was particularly disappointing… remember how in the Apple version of the original you could write whatever you wanted on the tombstone of someone who died? This was, of course, the opportunity for kids to use all of the dirty words they knew.

All in all, it’s a cute game. But I still think I would rather just get a port of the original for $.99 – in my opinion, the appeal of Oregon Trail for most iPhone users would be the nostalgia, not the gameplay.

The Corpus Clock & The Chronophage (Time Eater)

Invented and designed by Doctor John Taylor, the Corpus Clock is a large sculptural timepiece that has been invented to pay honor to John Harrison, pioneer of Longitude and inventor of the esoteric clock mechanism known as a grasshopper escapement. The Corpus clock has a diameter of 4 feet and 11 inches and is valued at about £1 million.


Best Music Video Mash-Up of All time

What you’re about to hear is probably the most brilliant amateur musical mash-up of all time, or at least, the best one I’ve ever heard. Kutiman, the Youtube user who appeared to have produced it, took a bunch of random youtube clips featuring people playing solos using various musical instruments, and artfully combined them to create a something that will leave you amazed. Enjoy!

The Price of Marrying a Geek

bunnyGeekdad has a list of the 10 Annoying Habits of a Geeky Spouse. Matt Blum is writing from the perspective of things he does that drive his wife crazy, and someone in the comments noted that this is “Yet another article talking about how guys have to change for women.” Oh, not so! First off, there is a difference in being aware of how annoying you are and changing yourself. Then there are (believe it or not) female geeks. I’m single right now, but I plan to eventually marry my definitely not-a-geek boyfriend. I’m well aware that I am oh so guilty of numbers 3, 4, and 10 on the list. He can live with 3, but I’ll try to tone down the others for the sake of family harmony. How about you?

The Network Rockstar Challenge

By Brian Boyko
Contributor, [GAS]

For too long, network administrators, engineers, and architects have longed for a way to determine dominance within the IT pack. Unfortunately, those efforts have been stymied without a quick and convenient way to determine IT knowledge on a quantitative scale, leading to unsatisfying substitutes like Guitar Hero or Halo tournaments.

Finally, we have solved this problem. The Network Rockstar Challenge is a way for enterprise IT geeks to determine who’s got the biggest IT chops. Much like the old “You Don’t Know Jack” games, the Challenge asks you ten network related questions with a ten second time limit. Get 7 or more, you’re a rockstar. Six or less, and you’re tossed out into the alley. The faster you get the questions right, the more points you score.

I do have to warn you – the questions are HARD – even for people in networking, and the time limit makes it even tougher.

Full Disclosure: The game is being produced by NetQoS – the network monitoring solutions company which signs my paychecks at my day-job. We even created a video to promote the game – showing off some of our (ill-fated) beta testers trashing a conference room. Conflict of interest be-damned, though, it’s still a sweet game. (In my opinion, it’s best played with friends shouting answers over your shoulder.)

If you’re taking a long time to load up the game, some users have been able to speed it up by dumping their browser cache and reloading.

HOW TO: Reset your Lost 2003 Active Directory Admin Password

AskTheAdmin is back again with another “how to” for the GAS readers. Today’s tutorial will be covering a technique that will allow you to reset your lost 2003 Active Directory Administrator Password.

Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us and you are not alone. I have never had this happen to me in a production environment but it did a few times in test domains.

This article assumes that you forgot the AD admin password, someone changed it on you, or you are recovering from an attack.

This is not meant as a how to hack your company’s Active Directory – nope, not in any way, shape, or form. In case you decide to use this tutorial for nefarious purposes, we can not be held liable for your stupidity. With that said let’s move on.

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