Ethan's Digital Design Blog

Drones - The Cooliest!

A DJI vision 2+

Drones are so cool man. I wish I had one. I really want one for Christmas, although most are far too expensive. This is mainly because I want one with a controllable camera mount/gimbal. Flying drones is fun, but the aerial pictures you can take from 100's of feet up are crazy. (see the pictures at the end of the post). Drone technology is always evolving, and there are even drones with auto pilot that can fly to a set destination, take pictures, and return back to its flyer. Drones are freaking awesome, however there are privacy concerns with being able to take video and pictures from high above. Drones also pose a security threat, as they could be equipped with weapons ranging from automatic guns and turrets to dropping bombs of all types on civilians.

Here are some crazy-cool aerial shots people have gotten with drones:

Rocket League or Super Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars?

Rocket League is the sequel/remake/update to its predecessor: Super Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars. Yes. That is actually what the game was called. Oddly specific, however 100% accurate description of the game. Rocket League updates the graphics and physics, as well as various other general improvements. More cars, skins, decals, paint colors, wheels, hats, and antenna have also been added. This game is awesome. It is literally soccer with rocket-powered cars. This is one of my favorite games of all time, and a boatload of fun to play with friends.

Here are some pictures of some people's customized cars:

Linus Sebastian - A God Among Men

Look at this face. This man is a god. All the ladies love his socks and sandals.

What a cool guy. This is the type of guy you invite to ragers. This guy is the highlight of the party.

This man is 100% certified bad-ass. Look at those bomb-ass shades.

Who Dis?

This is Linus Sebastian. Father of 2, entrepreneur, tech-lover, and the sole survivor of the socks and sandals fashion craze. Linus started out working at a technology and electronics store in Canada called NCIX. NCIX is basically the Best Buy/Microcenter of Canada. While working there, he made videos of unboxings and reviews of various tech products. After seeing his success and potential in the content creation space, he left NCIX to pursue his youtube career. Over time, his channel and production team grew, and he now has a large office space/warehouse for his company titles "Linus Media Group" (dumb name, I know.). He is now one of the top 5 most popular tech youtubers (around number 3ish, behind Unbox Therapy and MKBHD).

I wanted to include him on my blog as I love the videos he and his team put out, ranging from computer builds and reviews to mobile devices and cool tech projects on Linus Tech Tips, short and to the point informational videos on various core principals and conecpts of technology (as well as some more abstract matters) on Techquickie, and stupid toys, games, and pranks around the office and team on ChannelSuperFun.

A Story About My Uncle (The video game. No family stories here.)

A Story About My Uncle is one of my favorite games of all time. Published by Coffee Stain Studios, creators of the popular and ridiculous Goat Simulator, ASAMU is a beautiful 3D puzzle made in Unreal Engine. The primary mechanics of the game revolve around swinging through caverns and the inside of mountains using a strange power suit, with the light beam-type thing that you shoot at things to grab on resembling the same core ideas as a grappling hook. Later on in the game, you can grapple more times before touching ground to recharge and can even get a boost in a direction through the usage of rocket boots.
The story however, is quite awful. The voice acting isn't very good at all and there are clearly some translation issues (the game was written in Swedish). The story is short and ends abruptly, without much explanation or build upon. The story is the only thing stopping this from being my favorite game of all time. The graphics are stunning and the game play is to die for. But the story just sucks.
I included this because I love it, and highly recommend the game to anyone and everyone. Do yourself a favor. Buy this game. Here's a link to the game's Steam page.

LG's new Curved 4K OLED TV

LG, a popular electronics brand who makes phones, TV's, and more, recently released a brand new top of the line, bleeding-edge TV. It has all the fillings: 4K, Curved, passive 3D, and most interestingly, the TV uses an OLED panel instead of a regular LED or LCD panel. The advantage of OLED is their contrast and sharpness. This is primarily due to the fact that when there is black in the picture being displayed, OLED panels display absolutely no light. This creates stunning sharpness and contrast. This, combined with its 4K resolution, creates the best picture money can buy. That is, if you have $5,000 to spend on a TV. For pricing and availability, click here.
I posted this because, as you can probably tell, I love technology, especially media. My love of TV's and TV quality also came from my dad, who loves TV's. (and a good deal).

Here is a brief review and overview by popular tech youtuber Unbox Therapy

The Steam Link

This is the Steam Link. The Steam Link is a revolutionary game streaming device made by Valve, creators of the online gaming platform Steam. The idea behind the Steam Link is simple - why complicate living room PC gaming by dragging your computer down to your living room? Why suffer through using a gaming console? The Steam Link solves all of these problems.
On the outside, the Steam Link is quite simple - 3 USB ports, power in, HDMI OUT, and one ethernet in port. The Steam Link itself is quite small, measuring smaller than its controller counterpart.
Functionally, the Steam Link is quite basic - it streams games from a user's steam account on their computer to their TV or wherever they have the Steam Link plugged in.
The Steam Link has forever changed how games will be played in the living room, and I believe it will help bring PC gaming to the mainstream.

A Brief Overview of the Steam Controller

The Steam Controller

The steam controller is made by Valve, creators of the massive online gaming platform Steam. The purpose of the Steam Controller is simple: bring PC gaming to the living room, and make your PC easily accessible from the couch. This has been Valve's goal over the past 3 years, and is supported by SteamOS, valve's attempt at a console-like interface for PC gaming, and the Steam Link, and easy plug-and-play option for streaming games from a users main, heavy-duty gaming PC to their living room TV.

The front of the Steam Controller features two circular track pads (one of which doubles as a D-Pad), an analog stick, 4 standard ABXY buttons. On the top, there are 2 shoulder buttons and 2 dual-stage triggers (meaning there is a standard pull, and then a further click which can perform a second action. Around back you will find two grip buttons which can be bound to any key or function.

The front of the steam controller

Technology's Impact on the Upcoming 2016 Presidential Election

For years, technology has been changing our lives and altering how we perceive the world around us. Advances in mobile technology makes everyone a reporter. Events of peace and love and police brutality are all being recorded and brought to the attention of the public. Social media has changed how we interact with our friends and family and has revolutionized the way we get our news and information. Events like the recent terrorist attacks in Paris were on social media before any major news outlet. Technology, specifically social media, will alter the presidential election forever.

Virtual Reality: A Leap Into the Future

For years, people have dreamed of virtual reality technology. The thought of being in whole other world has boggled the mind of people young and old alike. Virtual reality is seen in movies depicting the future, and it looks different every time. Up until now, virtual reality was just a glimmer in science fiction-loving people's eyes. Now, virtual reality has hit the mainstream, and many consumer-grade units will be available in the coming months.

Virtual reality (commonly shortened to VR) is actually quite a simple concept. The user wear a device on their head which covers their eyes. Inside the device, there is a screen that displays the virtual world that the user is viewing. With the combination of special lenses aimed at the screens, the images being displayed seem like they are actually in front of the user. The VR headset uses motion tracking, usually through the usage of gyroscopes, to move the image according to the user's head movement.

One of the first prototypes of a virtual reality headset was made by a small company called Oculus. Oculus began their journey by starting a crowdfunding campaign on the popular platform for doing so, Kickstarter. The campaign was a huge success, raising over $2,000,000. The Oculus Rift CV1 (which stands for consumer version 1) will be available for purchase in Q1 of 2016. This will be the first publicly-available virtual reality device. The Oculus Rift started the VR trend, inspiring companies such as Valve, the PC gaming giant, to make their own VR headset.

Virtual reality technology could have a huge impact on more than just the gaming community, however. The usage of VR technology could help a doctor perform micro-robotic surgery inside a patients ventricles. Looking around the OR room would allow them to see the robot's surroundings and help the doctor repair said ventricles with ease. A video that is recorded to show 360 degrees of an area could make movie and TV watching an awe inspiring experience.

The Oculus Rift CV1 Prototypes

Google Cardboard, a rudimentary form of VR that uses the user's phone as the display

My favorite person in the Information Technology Field

My favorite person in the IT field - Gabe Newell

Background Info

Born on November 3, 1962 in Seattle, Washington.
Gabe attended Harvard University, however he dropped out after three years to begin working at Microsoft.
He became one of the "Microsoft Millionares."
Newell worked for Microsoft for 13 years until he left with fellow Microsoft employee Mike Harrington. Together they founded Valve in 1996.
The duo created the popular game "Half-life" to fund Valve.
Valve is the owner and maintainer of Steam, the largest digital video game distribution.
His current net worth is 2.2 Billion

What he means to the IT field

Gabe Newell revolutionized the sales and distribution of video games. Steam, the platform he created for doing so, pushed digital downloads of computer games into the mainstream. Before Steam, most PC games had to be bought from a brick and mortar video game store, taken home, and installed on the user's computer. Very few games were available for download, and those that were had awful download speeds and the servers were incredibly unreliable.
Enter Steam: The gaming platform for a new generation of gaming. Steam made multiplayer and online games and chatting with friends easier than ever. Many video game publishers started creating games for PC's as well as the current generation of consoles due to the ease of use of Steam. Steam enabled small, budding game development companies to get their content out their and into the ever-expanding world of PC gamers. Independent developers working out of their basements are able to share their amazing creations with the world. Gabe Newell ushered in the era of mainstream PC gaming, and has changed the landscape of video game distribution forever.

What he means to me

I enjoy playing video games with my friends, and steam allows me to do this with ease. Gone are the days of manually setting up a server to host a game, having your friends connect, and still have lag and issues. Steam has a simple "invite to game" option, making inviting my friends to play a game with me a breeze. Steam also hosts many of the game servers themselves, and provide some of the best and most reliable online games. Valve, the company who made Steam, is owned and created by Gabe Newell. Steam, however, is not all that Valve has done that has impacted me. Valve made the Portal series, one of my favorite game series of all time. This, combined with Counter Strike: Global Offensive, make Valve my third favorite video game publishing company..

Here is his glorious face:

And here is him as the king of PC gaming and sales: