Tag Archives: Project

Kuwait Adventures continued!

Posted by Steve on January 28, 2013 No comments

Rapidly closing in on finishing up my full month in country, I have to say I have certainly learned and seen a lot so far. With my Project 365 task, I have tried to keep the pictures themed to what I have been doing here and some of my experiences. I can look back at these pictures and probably tell you all about what happened that day.

Recently I had a great adventure when I met up with a local, Mohamed, who got in contact with me via Reddit. I know it’s not the safest or wisest thing to do, meeting random strangers on the internet and having them take me through a foreign country, but hey, I like to live dangerously. (Also a fan of not getting raped or stabbed, thankfully that didn’t happen)

This meetup was to show me what gaming culture was like in Kuwait. Boy did I learn all about it too. I don’t want to put too much into this post because the whole reason for researching this was to have some great knowledge for the next RetroNick Radio podcast. All my findings will be there!

In the meantime, you get to catch up on my P365 photos. Also, don’t forget to check out the Trooper Adventures! These Lego guys are out on a tour of whatever they can find.

Blue Ring (P365-27)
When I got here to Kuwait, it was VERY dry. Back at home I am used to higher humidity levels so I went out and bought a humidifier. I found one in a place downtown, it cost me about 18KD (close to $60) but it really is amazing. And it looks cool too.

Fighting at the White Tower (P365-26)
This one is more of a snap shot of something I went to do today. I was guided by a great Local guy to one of Kuwaits main gaming communities. The White Tower (Facebook.com/whitetowerq8)
Here you will find the elite of the Kuwait fighting game league. It was a great glimpse into Kuwaiti gaming life. Much more about this trip will be covered on the RetroNickRadio pod cast. Www.retronick.com.

Keyboard Conundrum (P365-25)
Spent a lot of the day working, which meant typing away on a keyboard. This one is not my regular laptop but one from a small netbook sized laptop I bought while here. I have been using it as a media PC running XBMC.
You can see from the keys that it has both english letters and arabic letters. Just in case I need to write out some letters to the locals.

Pop Pop relief. (P365-24)
I mentioned on my blog that I had a minor crisis when I left for Kuwait. I left my battery charger at home. Yeah I know! My battery normally lasts around a week, two if I conserve. You would also think I could just buy one here, but alas, no. I tried 12 places and no one had any DSLR chargers. (not even Canon ones!)
Thankfully, my lovely wife slipped my charger (and fully charged spare battery) into the mail and about a week later, it arrived. She loaded it so full of bubble wrap it was comical.
This bubble wrap may show up again. Just warning you now.

Play time is over (P365-23)
Another walkabout brought me upon this old abandoned playground. I have to imagine that there were many days of kids swinging and laughing here. On the plus side, across the street from here is a large park with a new playground that looks much safer.

Night Transit (P365-22)
Wanted to try for a long exposure night shot of the road in front of my building here. There are always cars zipping by till pretty late, and the cross road is sually pretty busy as well. My angle for the view isn’t the greatest but it gave me a chance to play around with it.

Fishing boats in the Mists (P365-21)
Went to the local open air market and found some of the fishing boats that supply it. The fog rolled in today so I took advantage of it.

Smug Camel is Smug (P365-20)
We went to visit the camel breeding and trading post today. While we did not actually find the trading post, there were plenty of camels around and all of them were very friendly.

A taste of home, abroad. (P365-19)
I love ginger beer. Back home I would find all sorts of brands to test. Here in Kuwait is almost impossible to find. Thankfully one of the stores imports Barr brand from England.
This was a backup picture I took as a “just in case”. I have started the habit of shooting a few things through out the day just to have something for later.

Chillin like a goat (P365-18)
Came across this guy while I was out on a little expidition. I love the way he is staring longly at his watering hole conteplating his life……… as a goat.

Machine City during the day (P365-17)
The nearest large refinery looks amazing both during daytime and night time. It really does look like a giant machine city. I’ll work on getting a shot at night with all the lights.

Pocket Stuff (P365-16)
At any given time I almost always have 4 things in my pocket, and my fitbit clipped to the side. Two are very basic, some lip balm (which is more for Sarah than for me), and a USB stick with some basic documents on it. The more interesting items are the 20 sided dice and the brass acorn.
Most gamers know that your dice are sacred, they have a connection to you. This one has been in my pocket for years and is very connected. Also, you never know when you may have to make a roll to resist temptation.
I always get asked about the acorn. When we started dating, Sarah and I were out for a walk and she randomly picked up an acorn and handed it to me. Not thinking much about it, I put it in my pocket. At the end of each night, I take the stuff in my pocket out and put it on the dresser, then the next morning it all goes back in my pocket. At my bachelors party, the real acorn disappeared and I was devastated. Sarah found the brass one online and gave it to me just after the wedding. It’s been in my pocket ever since.

FishEye view of the coast (P365-15)
Decided to give the DSLR a rest today and broke out my GoPro camera for a nice super wide angle view from my balcony here in Kuwait. Even in a foreign country, I still end up on the East Coast!

Old habit with new things. (P365-14)
I am a big tea drinker. I had thought that coming to the Middle East would open up the types of tea I could try. Turns out that’s not the case. They are a big fan of Lipton here. I found this Red Label tea that’s not too bad, but kind of strong.
The mugs in my apartment are tiny, so I picked up this one on the base.

The Niantic Project

Posted by Steve on November 28, 2012 No comments

As much as I am on the Internet and paying attention to trends and games, this one blew right past me. I only learned about Ingress while on one of these work trips and a work buddy started talking about his Android friends (the phone users, not actual androids) who were playing. I thought, “Hey, I am an Android user! I should be playing this!” So I set out to learn about The Niantic Project.

A few months ago Google came out with a fun app called Field Trip. This app runs in the background of your phone and alerts you when you are near something historical or interesting. I get a kick out of it sometimes when I am driving around and find out I am near the largest ball of twine, or the location where George Washington’s third horse is buried. Little did I know that it would lead to their new Augmented Reality game called Ingress.

Augmented reality apps have been around for a while now, but none of them actually held any value past a good “Yup, that’s a thing!” You use your phones camera or GPS to tell where you are and your phone displays something virtually where you are physically. For the most part it was only for just that, to view something. Google stepped it up a notch with Ingress. You aren’t just viewing things anymore, you are
interacting with them and everyone else around you. Under the guise of “The Niantic Project” which is the secret organization behind Ingress.

Two warring factions are fighting for the well being of mankind. A crack in the universe has caused something called Exotic Matter (XM) to leak into our plane of existence. Much of it was concentrated around Portals. These portals can be hacked and linked up to other portals to create a field. This field is a protective barrier that covers those who live under it. Got all that? So using the software on my phone, I can go to a portal location, which is only visible on the software, and hack that portal for my given side. By
hacking it, I have the chance to gain some equipment:

Resonators – Attached to portals to extend their range and link to other portals.
Bursters – Weapons used to attack other resonators.
Shields – Protective devices that can attach to portals to prevent damage from attacking factions.
Portal Keys – A virtual link to a specific portal
Media – Documents and pictures pertaining to the origins of the portals and XM

Resonators come in various levels (1-8) and can only be used at the level you have reached. (if you are level 4, you can use any item L1 to L4). Each portal can hold 8 total resonators, and their combined level averaged is the level of the portal. An unclaimed portal has no level, while one with all level 5 resonators is a level 5. Depending on the total of the level of resonators, that portal may be able to link to another portal. There are plenty of charts out there to show the distances. Resonators degrade 10% of their energy each day and need to be recharged if they are to stay active.

Bursters also come in levels and can only be used by their respective level user. It’s a simple 360 degree bomb that takes out enemy resonators. The higher the level, the more damage.

Shields can be attached to portals, like resonators, and can deflect some of the damage from Bursters. Up to 4 shields can be added to a portal, and as of now, I have only seen 3 types of shields.

Portal Keys are interesting. They give you a link to the specific portal you have hacked. This link can show you it’s status, allow you to remotely recharge the resonators, and they give you a way to link a portal over a great distance. If you are trying to link to a portal that is out of range of your local map, you need it’s key. From what I have been able to tell, hacking a portal may “Steal” it’s key from its owner, same with destroying all of the resonators.

Media objects are just some documents that lend to the over arching back story. I have managed to collect 4 if them.

Using these tools, you can add the “Mind Units” of a covered area to your factions totals. The factions are:

Enlightened – The group who feel that the portals are part of the greater good and look to use them to influence mankind to their way.
Resistance – Those who want to keep free will and mankind away from influence from outside sources.

Now, there is a larger story going on that hasn’t yet been released. The Website NianticProject.com has been leaking out documents and videos that tell us there is something much bigger coming. I guess we will have to wait and see what that is.

I am currently on the side of the resistance. Time will tell how it ends up for us.