Tretakoff Musings

Gentle readers, you know of my quasi obsession with all things steampunk. Unlike many who share in this quirky alternate history reimagining, I posses extremely little actual talent in the use of tools or the artistic skills to put them to good use. Luckily, Bruce Rosenbaum of Sharon, MA, has not only the skills, but has transformed his home into his canvas of expressions. My friends, I give you the Steampunk Home . T here are so many jaw dropping elements to this abode, I can barely believe it. The door to his file storage room in his home office pictured here is just the beginning. Not only does it simply stand on its own, but: The lock wheel is functional and the signal light over the door illuminates along with the interior lights when the door is opened. The kitchen alone is a marvel of design and efficiency, not to mention a first that I have seen at how it combines human and canine creature comforts. The false fireplace/mantle that artfully houses the home entertainment is anoth...

It only looks that way. Work has been brutal, but the end is nigh: I have hired two new staff members, and one has already started. With trips to Chicago and NY coming up, the extra help could not have come at a better time. I've also been logging a lot of biking and other fun exercise, so blogging (and calls to my mother, father and friends) have suffered. I've been reduced to Facebook status updates and occasional snippets...but hopefully, I'll be back in a regular publishing groove soon. I owe a big post on Plaxo , as they worked through my issues to get me fully working. And man, is it sweet. Look for it shortly. I also need to point out the best PC deals ever in the Dell Outlet ; top of the line PC's for under $400. Plus my recent solution for podcasts on the Treo, syncing with iTunes. And that's not mentioning my recent transition to Skype . And finally, a review of Madden 08 on the Wii: the results will surprise you. For now, I leave you with an image of the ...

Ok, so what the heck is with this trend to deliver data via alternative indicators? For example, Ambient Devices makes the Orb , which changes shade of color to determine weather, stock trends, etc. We've all heard the little chirp of the IM client as a message comes in (like you couldn't see the window spawn). But this one takes the cake...er, cup. News Brews brings the world of RSS feeds, dynamic data monitoring and on demand computing together with...a cup of coffee. Yep, the system monitors RSS feeds for the mention of certain countries and dynamically, once a minute , changes the brew of coffee it makes, in response. As TechDigest says, "The concept behind News Brews is, why read the news when you can just drink it? The steampunk-style machine contains a wide geographical assortment of coffee beans, and generates a custom blend every minute depending on what coffee-origin-country is in the RSS fees. If Ethiopia scans at 33%, Kenya at 50% and Costa Rica at 17%, you...

Always nice to occasionally remember the biggest charm of the Web is to encounter people with like philosophies that you might not have ever encountered. Case in point, I blogged about Brass Goggles in the past, a British blog devoted to all things steampunk (think Jules Verne). I've enjoyed reading it, and dropped the blogger a line to let them know about a steampunk Yahoo Widget, Steam Gage . Imagine my joy to see that the wonderful blogger added a whole entry on my submission , and thanked "Mr. Tretakoff" for the information! My thanks to Brass Goggles for immortalizing me as such. I am honored.

I've always been much more satisfied with analog displays than digital. They are somehow more alive, more vibrant than the cold displays of numbers on most LCDs or LEDs; give me a Nixie Tube any time over any of those. Certainly, my wishlist has always held a valued spot for the Ambient Office Dashboard , with it's delightfully analog gauges and punch card programmability, but it's a mere pretender to the throne when compared with The Device. The Device (it's full name is The Device Patented Process Indicator) is all I have ever imagined for a desktop widget of the first order. With 2 analog dials, a glowing beaker of liquid, and a bezeled red light, you can use the software to decide what 4 things you want to watch on each. Stock prices? Temperatures? Blog page loads? take your pick and take in all the information at a glance, in magnificent style. Courtesy of a link from Brass Goggles , The Device is almost on sale. As soon as it is, count on me as a very happy early ...

I'm an unabashed fan of alternative fiction, where visionary authors look at key times or key events and wonder "what if this turned out differently?" From the books of Harry Turtledove , to the more obscure such as Richard Dreyfuss (yes, that Richard Dreyfuss), as well as the movies that attempt this (though usually with some annoying subplot of time travel), I'm hooked. One sub-genre that particularly gets my full attention is steampunk . In essence, the idea of many of our technical innovations today, powered by steam engines, usually set in the 1800's. Good examples are the works of Jules Verne, or Bruce Sterling/William Gibson's The Difference Engine . Unfortunately, when Hollywood tries it's hand at steampunk, it usually is abysmal. Take, for example, the painful-to-watch film version of the Wild Wild West , or the movie that drove Sean Connery into retirement, vowing never to appear on the silver screen again, the terrible adaptation of Alan Moore...