Bitshift

I finally ended my relationship with World of Warcraft at the beginning of this year, after two years of calendar time, and most of a year actual playing time. I'm quite happy I did. If, however, you're still immersed in WoW, and you're in the market for some satellite TV goodness, then Blizzard and DirecTV has the deal of a lifetime for you!

According to 1Up, anyone who signs up for DirecTV between now and November 30 using the promo code "57417 NEW" will receive 11 months of free WoW. That's right, folks: 11 months. At $15 a month, that's a free $165 in your pocket, to help pay for the protracted therapy you'll need when you finally emerge from underneath the basilisk of WoW. Enjoy! (No, I have no idea why they chose 11 months and not a full year. Ask them, not me.)

Zen Habits has a great article listing 50 tips for frugal living. Earlier this year I started a tight budget in an attempt to be debt-free in 3 years. It's going well so far, and articles like this both help and inspire. If you're trying to save a penny or three, head over and check it out.

Ever watched someone sit for hours, demonstrating a mastery of manual dexterity by causing a pen or pencil to hover and dance around their fingers in intricate patterns? Yeah, me too. I am, however, easily amused. If you're similarly easy, perhaps this video tutorial on how to do a few pen-twirling and pen-spinning tricks would interest you. Now you, too, can be the life of the party, making the women "ooh!" and "aah!" with your pocket-protector full of writing implements. Writing implements of sexy doom!

If you're anything like me (and if you're reading this, there's at least a slim chance you are), you occasionally have trouble motivating yourself and maintaining a high level of interest in things for a long period of time. A List Apart has a good article up on how to stay motivated. It's not a cure-all, but it'll help you focus a bit better on what you need to do when you feel your energy and interest waning. Worth a read.

One of my favorite sites, Instructables, has an article detailing How to turn a Roomba into a robotic WiFi signal optimizer. They make use of the new iRobot Create, a Roomba designed for hackers, but I suspect that with some ingenuity and a serial cable or other interface connected to the Roomba's serial port (bet you didn't know they all had one, did you?), this could be achieved with any Roomba.

hackers of yore, rejoice! Miss spending endless nights staring into the green phosphor of your old computers or terminals? Salvation is here! GLTerminal was written a year or so ago to emulate exactly that experience. Black background, green phosphor, very well-simulated phosphor lingering when things move onscreen, and even the ability to simulate various baudrates, all the way down to 50 baud (synchronous dedicated lines, anyone?) It can even simulate the curvature of the old tube CRTs that used to dominate computing.

So fire up a copy of nethack or Angband, or Frotz and your favorite text adventure, and relive your early days!

Got a PSP? Any PSP? A PSP you haven't used in forever? Then you're entitled to six months of free T-Mobile WiFi HotSpot access, just for asking.

MacDailyNews is reporting that an OS X Intel-native version of the LEGO Mindstorms NXT software has been released, finally. If you haven't yet discovered the hackish, tinkery joy that is LEGO Mindstorms NXT, I suggest you do so forthwith. But before you unleash our new robot overlords, do me a favor and send me a bit of advance warning, would you?

Erling Ellingsen has released the source code necessary to access the iPhone's accelerometer. His website features a pretty cool video of some quick demo code he hacked together to take advantage of his new discovery. Tres cool!

The first native iPhone instant-messaging application, Apollo IM, is now available. It looks like it's still alpha or very early beta code, but it's free, it's functional, and you can get it right now.

Those of you wanting an iPhone, but refusing to give AT&T your money (like me), your wait may soon be over. The fine folks at iPhone SIM Free are just days away from letting you give them an undisclosed sum of money for what is supposedly an idiot-proof, over-the-network iPhone unlock. The fine folks over at Engadget took them up on their offer to unlock the iPhones of various news sites that volunteered, and they have confirmed that it's legitimate. The Engadget crowd have an iPhone successfully using a T-Mobile SIM in the US, with everything but visual voicemail working.

This does not require the hardware hackery that Geohot's hardware unlock requires, so those of you incapable of SMD soldering, and/or unwilling to crack open your precioussss will also be able to enjoy using the network of your choice (as long as your choice happens to be GSM. In the US, that means pretty much just T-Mobile at this point.)

One of the websites I check on a regular basis is IKEA Hacker. IKEA Hacker highlights various DIY projects accomplished by modifying, molesting, or mutilating various homewares you can pick up at your friendly neighborhood IKEA. Definitely worth a glance several times a week, particularly if you're in the mood to do some on-the-cheap redecorating.

I am truly humbled each week, when a new Zero Punctuation videogame review is released. It makes my entire week. There's more content-per-frame in Zero Punctuation's reviews than you typically find in entire review sites. And they're ass-slappingly hee-larious, too! Go! Watch! Figure out what the hell "twing-twang" is!

Paul Graham wrote an interesting article two years ago, explaining why smart people sometimes have some really bad ideas. We've all been there: we, or someone we work with, comes up with something that seems both logical and exciting at the time. But as things play out, it turns out to have been a terrible idea.

I often have this trouble with projects or quick hacks I come up with: I'll get an idea, put it on the back burner and let it simmer for a while. When I revisit it a few days or weeks later, it still seems like a great idea, and I'll dive in. Sooner or later, it turns out not just to be a waste of effort and/or a dead end, but colossally idiotic, to boot. Now, at least I have more excuses for the next time it happens.