As you might have figured from my twitter updates, I spent the weekend at the locally hosted LAN party ‘the Reality’.

A LAN party is an event where a bunch of computer-loving geeks take their computers with them to play games and have fun together, which I certainly had. I made a little video to show what it looks like when over 730 people come together and go crazy. It’s HD – fullscreen playback is recommended!

While using Windows was a bit bumpy at times, the party was great and I’ve had a lot of fun.

Already looking forward to next year.

Generally, a Mac owner is expected to have a lot of Apple peripherals, like keyboards, mice, and even displays and display adapters. I’m no exception, which isn’t very strange, because I love the way most of them look and feel. Apple doesn’t offer everything you might need, though – full-size headphones, a great love of mine, are something that could use the nice design touches of Apple, but I had to look elsewhere for a fitting solution that also has an acceptable sound quality.

I set out for an affordable and quality headset. Design may be important, but since you typically wear the things, it’s best to do a selection based on technical merits. However, I found a set of ‘cans’ that qualify quite well in both departments. Read on for the full review of the Steelseries Siberia headphones. Also, read the last bit of the post for a shot at winning a free Siberia.
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Originally I’d printed a small series of my WWDC shirt while I was in San Francisco, but after almost a hundred comments on my blog, and almost a thousand combined emails, twitter replies, messages, and flickr comments, I had figured out that it might be a good idea to make my shirt available for sale.

Well, it’s taken me a while, but here it is in full American Apparel glory: the Exploded Settings tee. It ships in 2-3 days, and it’s handled, printed, and warmly packed and sent off by the awesome guys at BuyOlympia. They also do the shirts of well-known friends in the industry, such as Rands, the Iconfactory, and of course Panic.

If you want to be really awesome, get one. But, you can be even more awesome, and take a picture of you (or your girlfriend/boyfriend. Or you AND your girlfriend/boyfriend!) wearing it, and I’ll hook you up with an unreleased icon and wallpaper. Ohh, exciting! Of course you also get a free, non-returnable and virtual pat on the back.

People who won a shirt during the giveaway will be sent one as well. If you got a reduced price offer because you participated in the giveaway, just send me your paypal receipt and I’ll send you 4 dollars per shirt you’ve bought. Zing!

Why are you still here?

Ah, I remember the day when Lights Off was released, the first truly native game for (jailbroken) iPhones. With not even a rumor about Apple’s now legendary and infamous App Store, the game was available for free through the somewhat clandestine Installer app. Designed by Adam Betts and developed by the now Apple-employed Lucas Newman, Lights Off was not only a joy to play, but also beautifully designed.

It made me incredibly excited about the prospect of native games on the iPhone. Fantastic iPhone-worthy design coupled with addictive games was a reality I couldn’t imagine. That turned out to be a positive limitation on my brain, since the introduction of the App Store has brought about mostly horribly ugly (yet sometimes quite playable) games. It’s Ramp Champ that brought me back to those good thoughts, though.

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