When it comes to computers, I'm an early-adopter, living on the bleeding-edge and loving it. However, when it comes to TV shows, I tend to be more cautious. There a lot of mindless crap on TV these days, so I usually just wait for recommendations from others before I start watching new shows.

Recently, I've been hearing a lot about "Heroes" from various people, so I decided to jump in. What better time to start than during the holidays, right? I've watched the first three episodes so far, and I'm enjoying it. It's actually darker than I expected it to be, which is nice, because it makes the storyline much more interesting compared to Smallville, which has really gone downhill.

So that's one more thing to add to the DVR before I go back to LA in about a week!

How many of you remember Descent:Freespace, and its sequel, Freespace 2? Even to this day, they're the two best space flight/battle simulation games I've ever played.

Everytime I watch Battlestar Galactica on TV and see the dogfights between the Vipers and the Cylon Raiders, I think to myself - wouldn't it be frakkin' awesome if there was a game like this?


Apparently, I wasn't the only one. A group of BSG fans came together and decided to create Beyond the Red Line, a BSG sim with multiplayer support, built on the open-source Freespace 2 engine! The project has been in development for a long time, but it looks like things are progressing well. According to a forum post by one of the developers a couple of days ago - "No date, missions are nearly done but sounds are still in progress. In theory we can release without voice acting but it just wouldn't be the same."

In the meantime, check out their video gallery for actual, in-game footage of what's done so far. It looks incredible! I really, really, really hope this gets released sometime in the near future.

Pingdom, a site monitoring service, is offering free 1-year accounts (a $120 value) to everyone who signs up within the next 9 hours, as of the time of this post.

The free account allows you to monitor upto 5 sites, and you get 20 SMS credits. I just signed up, and although it hasn't collected any statistics yet, the control panel looks pretty good.

You don't need to provide credit card details during sign-up, so you don't have to worry about being charged if you forget to cancel in a year. Check it out if you maintain any blogs/sites that you want to monitor.

Scoble suggests that Google's deprecation of the SOAP Search API is their way of saying they don't care about Windows applications anymore. I personally feel that puts too much emphasis on the (over-hyped) Google vs. Microsoft rivalry issue, and that it isn't the real reason behind Google's decision. There are thousands of web developers out there who are using the SOAP API for things that have nothing to do with Windows, and they're losing out from this change too.

If you ask me, I think it was purely a decision that made business sense from a revenue perspective. See, the thing is, SOAP Search APIs are so flexible that they allow developers to get query results from a search engine and do whatever they like with them after that. For example, if it weren't for the little "Powered by Google" logo that I added at the end of all my search results pages, most people firstly wouldn't even know that Google has anything to do with the search functionality on this blog. The SOAP API allows me to take Google's search result set and customize it to fit in perfectly with the look-and-feel of my site. Moreover, unlike Google's own search result pages, my blog doesn't even display ads, and therein lies the basic problem.

Google's monetization strategy revolves almost solely around advertising. The SOAP API gave developers a great way to tap in to Google's search results, but it gave Google nothing back in return - brand loyalty and mindshare, maybe, but nothing concrete. So here comes the new kid on the block - the AJAX Search API that takes away control from the hands of the developer and puts Google in charge. With this new API, you're getting AdSense ads with your search results whether you like it or not.

Now before anyone jumps in and accuses me of trying to be a freeloader, let me make it clear that I have nothing against contextual advertising. In fact, I think Google's model of ad-supported, free services is brilliant (Disclaimer: I worked on the Google AdSense team as an Engineering Intern last summer). Every corporation is in the business of making money, and Google has no reason to be any different. I would gladly display ads next to my search results if that were a condition in Google's Terms of Service, and wouldn't even mind if Google somehow forced me to do so. (I do see how it can become an issue for companies, as Scoble points out in another post, so maybe a paid, ad-free alternative makes sense?)

But there's another ugly limitation in this new AJAX API that I take issue with - there's no way to get back all the search results from Google with support for basic things like pagination, which the SOAP API did without a problem. The AJAX API limits you to a maximum of 8 results (that's right, eight!), beyond which your visitors/users have to click a "More results" link that takes them to the regular Google search results page (which obviously also display ads). So there's basically no way to create a custom search system that blends in with the look and feel of your blog/site or application. If you want more than the measly 8 results, you're getting redirected to Google's search results page. What kind of API is that? It takes away virtually every bit of customizability and control from the developer. Web developers who were using the AJAX API even before the SOAP API was deprecated have been asking for more than 8 results and pagination on Google's support group, but nothing has happened so far. A feature request for the same has been closed with the status "No Fix Planned." It's obviously not a technical hurdle, but a pure business decision - a classic case of when something that's good for a company is not good for its users.

This limitation is the reason why I won't even consider using the AJAX Search API here. Back when I decided to add a search box to this site, my first and most important requirement was that visitors would stay within this domain, and that search results would blend in with the rest of the site. If Google wants to take that away, Microsoft and Yahoo are waiting with open arms...at least for now? :)

If you go to the Google SOAP Search API page, you'll now see the following message:

As of December 5, 2006, we are no longer issuing new API keys for the SOAP Search API. Developers with existing SOAP Search API keys will not be affected.

Depending on your application, the AJAX Search API may be a better choice for you instead. It tends to be better suited for search-based web applications and supports additional features like Video, News, Maps, and Blog search results.

I remember taking a look at their AJAX Search API a while ago, and while it was definitely more newbie-friendly (you just copy/paste a JavaScript snippet into your blog template), I felt that it lacked the flexibility and customizability of the SOAP API. Things might have changed now, although initial reports that I've seen on the web indicate otherwise.

Google claims that it will not shut down the SOAP API for existing users, but that it is also no longer supported. The question now on everyone's minds is - how long will the SOAP API actually continue to work? I've already started noticing some flakiness - HTTP 502 errors appear intermittently when I run search queries through this blog. Since the SOAP API is now deprecated and unsupported, I wonder if such issues, and any others that might crop up in the future will ever be fixed.

So I'm considering three options now. The first is to stick to the Google SOAP API until it eventually dies, but I'm not sure how prudent this is. The second is to take another look at Google's AJAX Search API as per their suggestion to see if it's more flexible now, and a good fit for my purpose. And the third is to move to Microsoft's Live Search API, which is still a SOAP API. Some of you might remember that I was using this before I switched to Google's API, so it shouldn't be very difficult to go back.

If you're using the Google SOAP Search API, I'd love to know what your plan of action is.

Update: I've posted a follow-up on this topic.

Last night, a new 7-minute, hi-def Halo 3 ViDoc (Video Documentary) went live on XBLM. It's all about the Brutes, and you even get a sneak-peek at a pre-alpha (i.e. no finished graphics) Halo 3 build!


Check out the FAQ on Bungie.net, and if you don't have a Xbox 360, you can still download the video from TeamXbox.

And while we're on the subject of Halo, you should check out this video of a band called Corporeal doing an awesome, live rendition of the Halo theme song. [Via Sean Alexander]

I wanted to blog about the new Windows Live Search for Mobile app that launched a few weeks ago, but didn't get around to it. Anyway, I've been using it on my MDA/Wizard for a while, and I have to say - this thing rocks. In fact, this is one of the most well-designed mobile applications that I've used so far.

Windows Live Search for Mobile (can I just call this WLSM now?) is basically a mobile version of Live Maps, but it's very different from the Virtual Earth Mobile app that's been around for a while. Virtual Earth Mobile is more like the mobile version of Google Maps, and they both feel primitive compared to WLSM.

There are two things that I like the most about WLSM - the speed, and the UI. The mobile version of Google Maps runs in a Java VM and is consequently slow and clunky. The Windows Mobile version of WLSM is a native app, and you can really feel the significant difference in speed. There's also a J2ME version of WLSM for non-WM devices, but I'm not sure how that compares.

The WLSM UI is beautiful. This is the part that makes it one of my favorite mobile applications to use. It's designed to be very similar to the UI of most modern MP3 players, with sliding menus that allow you to drill in from the more general to the specific when performing local searches for restaurants, banks, etc. The UI for driving directions is also great, and allows you to choose between a minimalistic turn-by-turn, text-only view, and a route view plotted on a full-color map.

If you have a Windows Mobile device with a cellular data plan, I highly recommend installing the WM version of WLSM. I think it's so well implemented that it should be integrated into the next version of the Windows Mobile OS as a standard component. If you have don't have a WM device and decide to try the J2ME version, let me know what you think by leaving your comments here. I'm curious to know how it fares as well.

Finals ended on Friday, and I came back home that same evening. I've been catching up on lost sleep by staying in bed until almost noon everyday since then! It's been a crazy quarter, and it couldn't have ended sooner.

January 8th, 2007 will also be the start of my last quarter at UCLA. It's been a long three and a half years, and I'm all set to graduate at the end of the Winter '07 quarter in March. I submitted my "Statement of Degree Candidacy" to the university office a couple of weeks ago, and signed up for the last three courses that I need to finish everything up. :)

On a different note, I finally got a chance to play Gears of War on the 360. I had a 48 hour Xbox Live Gold trial card, so I used that up and played online co-op with my brother. We finished the game together on "Hardcore" mode, the intermediate level of difficulty. "Insane" mode should be even more fun. :D I'm going to sign up for the 12-month XBL Gold subscription later this week. My gamertag is NetRyder, by the way, so feel free to add me to your friends list.

Other than that, I'm just relaxing and enjoying the downtime. What are your plans for the holidays?

A new Halo 3 video was shown in an ad spot tonight on ESPN. You can check it out here if you didn't catch it on TV. A sweet 720p hi-def version will be up on XBLM soon.

Also, Bungie has opened signups for the Halo 3 multiplayer beta that's scheduled to begin sometime in Spring 2007. The site was getting slammed earlier this evening, and I'm not sure if they're selecting on a first-come first-served basis, but it's worth putting your name in the hat if you're a Halo fan.

That reminds me - I've got my copy of Gears of War as well, but unfortunately, with finals coming up next week, I won't get a chance to dive in until the 15th. I did get a chance to play it for a little while at a friend's place and with my brother when I was in NYC a few days ago though, and it's fantastic! Should be a fun way to celebrate the end of the quarter. :)