Productivity: IMified and 30boxes

I had never even heard of either IMified or 30boxes until I saw a demonstration of both provided by Scoble (actually, it’s courtesy of Erica, but Scoble videoed it). Now I’m using both, and absolutely loving them.

30boxes is essentially a calendering suite. But it’s much more than that. It’s faster and sleeker then Google Calendar, and much more open, as well. Entries are easier to make, especially using IMified as my interface.

IMified is by far the coolest web app I’ve used in the past couple of years. Basically you just add a buddy to one of your IM clients (for me, that means adding the IMified AIM buddy to my Meebo account). And then you create a bunch of custom shortcuts that you can use to add entries to your 30boxes calendar, setup to-do’s, view your upcoming events, etc. IMified can connect with lots of web apps, including Blogger and WordPress. I can make blog entries from my IM client. That’s slick.

Now, if only it could integrate with Ficlets.

Ficlets: making mini-fiction into a social app

This. Is. Brilliant.

John Scalzi has announced the creation of Ficlets, which is basically a social app consisting entirely of collaborative short fiction. And it is a phenomenal idea. At the very heart of the concept is what we’ve been trying to do over at the Evil Avatar Writer’s Guild. Which is concentrate writing into short collaborative projects that everyone can participate in.

First, you create a profile. Luckily, Ficlets is one of the growing number of social sites to include myopenid single sign-on functionality. Then, you begin creating short (very short — maximum of 1,024 characters) pieces of fiction. It can be anything. Not only that, but you can go through and read everyone else’s submissions. You can rate other authors’ written works, leave comments, AND you can even create a “prequel” or a “sequel” based on their writing. I have one piece out there right now that is a sequel to another piece, which was in itself a sequel to something started by John Scalzi. And in those simple three hops, the “story” (more of a collaborative “chain”, really) has become something completely different.

Fun! And absolutely brilliant.

And if you’re looking for some quick inspiration, Ficlets has you covered. Randomly-generated Flickr photos can be queried and displayed. Click on any image, and a new story entry opens with your inspirational image to the side for your to reference as you write. They even have randomly-generated story starters and story enders that you can use to get ideas flowing. Find something you like? Save an author’s work to your Favorites. Or save pieces of text in your Clippings.

Ficlets completely embraces the web 2.0 open mantra. In addition to utilizing such services as myopenid and Flickr, it also includes RSS feeds of all authors’ works and comments, extensive tagging functionality, and the ability to add authors as “friends” and track their content.

As I continue to focus more on my writing, I plan to hit Ficlets often to throw quick pieces of fiction out there. If I keep my mind moving and my fingers tapping, I can hopefully keep the ideas fresh and fabulous. Or, at the very least, topical.

Nintendo to use tin cans and a string for Wii online

I don’t know. I’m not sure what to think about this.

LOS ANGELES –(Business Wire)– GameSpy, a unit of Fox Interactive Media, announced today that it will provide multiplayer technology to game publishers developing titles for Nintendo’s Wii(TM) video game system. As part of an ongoing partnership with Nintendo, GameSpy has developed middleware technology to enable Wii titles to offer community features, such as friend rosters, advanced matchmaking capabilities and comprehensive rankings data.

“This partnership will expand our wireless community of players on Nintendo(R) Wi-Fi Connection,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “Millions of Nintendo DS users have already logged on using GameSpy’s technology, and now Wii owners will be able to do the same in a fun and easy-to-use environment.”

So, just like the GameCube before it, Nintendo will use GameSpy to manage the Wii online component. The problem is, as with many gamers, I’ve been trained to not like GameSpy. However, hearing that Nintendo has been secretly utilizing GameSpy’s technology for the DS WiFi connection gives me hope that they can be trusted to handle this level of service. But I’m on the fence. I suppose the best thing to do at this point is wait for Pokemon to come out this summer and hear reports of how well the online service runs. Then we can get a sample of how the online multiplayer might work for games like Battalion Wars 2 and Super Smash Bros.: Brawl.

I suppose for the time being, I’m hopeful, but remaining a bit skeptical, and completely and totally without a clue how to react. As if that weren’t already obvious.

‘Machine of Death’ – no longer worth the effort

I have a feeling the guys behind the Machine of Death anthology have had enough. They posted a new page in late February called “Approaches to Avoid“. This translates roughly to “we’ve received about 10 versions of each of these poorly-constructed concepts, and we’re through.”

Unfortunately, it seems as though they’ve tossed every concept out the window, including the original premise that the anthology was essentially based upon. Here’s a collection of some strange head-scratchers:

Gimmicky predictions regarding the machine itself In our opinion, a machine predicting itself as a cause of death is not by itself an interesting story. Examples include “PAPERCUT”, “INFECTED NEEDLE”, and “CRUSHED BY FALLING MACHINE”. This concept may be an interesting jumping-off point for a more complex story, but that story would frankly have to be brilliant to make us look past the gimmick.Stories entirely about the protagonist getting their first prediction There is really only so much internal musing about “THE NATURE OF FATE” that we can find interesting, without something more dramatic happening.

Stories that open with the protagonist getting their first prediction Again, nothing really wrong with this setup, it’s just that we’re seeing it an awful lot, and would rather see more variety.

Stories in which the entire narrative thrust is someone trying to avoid their prediction See above. More variety please!

Stories in which the entire narrative thrust is someone trying to prove the machine wrong This may well be an element of a good story, but there should be more going on than just this.

That is, essentially, every possible idea anyone could ever entertain for this specific type of story. Remember that you’re stuck in the world they created for this story. You can’t venture outside the lines very far, and I wish they had given writers more flexibility in creating their own world with the addition of the “machine of death” thrown in as a catalyst for creative concepts. Instead, they get inundated with hundreds of potentially mediocre ideas that all sound similar because the writers have been boxed in by the limited criteria. And it isn’t enough to take away every interesting option and then tell the writers to “be creative!” It really just reads like they never really understood what kind of submissions they were searching for in the first place. Listen, if you guys don’t even know what it is you want to read, just stop trying to put together an anthology.

I’ll be going back to the historical zombie fiction story for now, as it gives me more freedom to write and it was already about 2/5ths completed when I stopped it to work on the Machine of Death story. Not to mention that these guys appear to be doing everything they can to halt further submissions coming in.

At least they’re honest about it

Number six on the list of things you evidently didn’t know about Wikipedia:

We don’t want you to trust us. It’s in the nature of an ever-changing work like Wikipedia that, while some articles are of the highest scholarly quality, others are admittedly complete rubbish. We try to keep the ratio of the greatest to the worst as high as possible, of course, and to find helpful ways to tell you what state an article is currently in. Even at its best, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a primary source, with all the limitations this entails. We ask you to not condemn Wikipedia, but to use it with an informed understanding of what it represents.

On blind dates with school girls…

The Blind Date II event is all paired up. I was paired with the gracious and absurdly talented Whitney Jane Robinson of Alma Mater, a fantastic comic that just recently joined the ranks of the Modern Tales collective. To commemorate the event, she was interviewed by the illustrious Shaenon Garrity.

It’s painful to read Robinson’s painstaking creative process, involving multiple instances of rough sketching, scanning, inking, filtering, tweaking, merging, etc. It reminds me of how far down the quality totem pole I am. It’s almost embarrassing to answer someone who asks about my own creative process with a lackluster “I do it all in Flash. Takes me about a half hour.” Pathetic.

I admit, I’m no true artist. Robinson, however, is the real deal.

Nintendo reaches out and touches…no one

I’d take a Nintendo Phone over an Apple iPhone any day of the week.

[E]ngadget imobile has found a patent for a Nintendo Phone. Initially filed in 2001, and issued just last June, the patent describes an “electronic apparatus having game and telephone functions,” and details how the device would pause a game for an incoming call and resume after the call was completed.