Itp 2008: Full-Body Virtual Foosball Game Called Ukikit Get It?
The Wii-volution is in full effect at NYUs Interactive Telecommunications Program—a perfect example is this physical virtual foosball game called Ukikit. You Velcro a pink strap to your foot, and an iSight camera tracks its movement while a sonar sensor tracks your proximity. The data translates into swivel kicks and side-to-side slides in almost realtime. I loved playing it with inventor Thomas Chan almost as much as I enjoyed the “Moving Parts” virtual pinball game, but as you can see in the video, both the system and I both need a little more practice before were perfect.

Congrats to Thomas for getting picked up by Gizmodo about Ukikit. Looks pretty damn cool.

Recently I brought my wife’s 2002 Honda Accord V6 in for service. It has 102,339. Frankly, I dread going to car repair places more than anything else. Why? Because I feel like I know so little about automotive maintenance, the true cost, and the true time it takes to do certain repairs.

It also bothers me that you generally can’t find prices about car repairs and service until you actually go there - this in an age where you can buy a car and a house online! How frustrating. And I bet a lot of people don’t blog about this because they’re embarrassed that they got ripped off - or that they don’t know that they got ripped of.

So here goes! An experiment! Here’s a recent bill from a repair place near me. Identifying details omitted:

Was this reasonable? Remember, I’m in no position to do any of these things myself.

Recently this came to my attention:

Letter from Chancellor Birgeneau regarding 2008-09 fees

As you may know, the Governor’s 2008-09 proposed State budget includes deep cuts to the University of California to address a projected $16 billion State budget deficit. As a result, UC faces a $417 million gap between what is proposed in the Governor’s budget and the amount requested by the Board of Regents for the University’s operations.

The University is doing all it can to advocate in Sacramento against cuts of this magnitude, but given the gravity of the budget crisis, it is likely that the Board of Regents at its May meeting will consider raising student fees as one part of the University’s response.

The Governor’s January budget assumed the University would enact a 7.4 percent increase in mandatory systemwide fees, composed of a 7 percent increase in the Educational Fee and a 10 percent increase in the Registration Fee.

Given California’s tax (often direct voter led) borrow and spend tendencies, the current state budget crisis shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Still, as someone who will be paying tuition later this Fall - ouch!

That said, this part of the letter caught my attention:

Keep in mind, too, that financial aid would increase along with any possible fee increases. For undergraduates, the Governor has proposed sufficient additional funding in Cal Grant awards to offset any mandatory systemwide fee increase for UC Cal Grant recipients. In addition, as it has done in the past, the University would dedicate 33 percent of new fee revenue generated by undergraduate students to provide additional financial aid for needy undergraduates. For graduate students, at least 45 percent of new fee revenue generated by those students would be earmarked to help offset the impact of higher fees. Finally, the University would dedicate 33 percent of new fee revenue associated with professional degree students for financial aid to those students.

Perhaps it’s just me, but doesn’t this sound like circular reasoning? Tuition will go up, financial aid will go up, but financial aid is funded from tuition. I wonder if this would work backwards: cut financial aid, reduce the amount of tuition spent on financial aid, lower tuition.

That said, I can sort of understand why one would want to implement a policy like this: price discrimination. For those who can’t possibly afford tuition due to gross lack of income, tuition would remain the same. For those who can possibly afford tuition, they would be socked with bigger bills and larger debts.

Recently I recalled the story of a colleague to a financial planner: the colleague moved to another state, took a small pay cut of about 12%, but saw a cost of living decrease of nearly 30%. The financial planner pointed out that this was a very smart move, as our tax system and financial aid systems are all tied to income, not purchasing power. So it’s far better to have less income and less spending, than more income and more spending - even if the purchasing power is the same.

It seems that all of this just further drives the debt-culture of our nation.

Someone at work recommended Monoprice for cables and accessories. So far, I’ve been pretty impressed.

Every once in a while, I read something that makes me think “Wow, that’s sheer genius!”

Here’s one:

The War on Returns - WSJ.com
Sony Corp. has taken a different approach with some of its products that makes it harder for consumers to bring them back. The company in 2006 added an option allowing consumers to engrave their name or other message on a Vaio computer. It expanded the program to its digital cameras last year. Sony says the program was started to let customers personalize products, but a side benefit for Sony is that engraved products can be returned only because of defects or other reasons that are the company’s fault.

Return rates on engraved Sony Vaios are negligible, compared with about 5% for non-engraved PCs, the company says, saving more than $1 million so far. “I have a feeling that people are understanding the condition that you can’t return it,” Mr. Abary says. “But also once they have engraved it, they feel like it’s a part of them.”

Wow, that’s sheer genius!

Recently I tried to buy tickets for a show. When I searched the venue’s website, only seats way off to the side, at all price points, were featured.

When I called, I was able to buy seats smack dab in the middle - and at the same price.

It bugs me when it’s better to do something by phone, than online.

This is actually old news as it happened last week, but too many days of being at the office 12+ hours sort of put a hamper on this blog.

Please visit the refreshed Live Search QnA: http://qna.live.com/

It’s just the start…