Kamehameha meme FTW.
Month: April 2013
YouTube Building API for Video Game Livestreaming
Interesting story from Engadget about YouTube creating an API designed to allow developers to build in livestreaming from XBOX, PS3 and PC games directly to YouTube.
As Engadget notes, a feature to livestream directly to YouTube was built in to Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, but it had some major limitations (aside from being a COD game, that is).
Even a feature that would capture and upload a gameplay session automatically but not necessarily livestream would be a huge step forward.
Xbox Live Hoaxes
Microsoft is warning people about a hoax that promises people free Xbox Live points if they call up Microsoft and wish the company a happy birthday—the company was founded on April 4, 1975.
Of course there’s a much more common hoax involving Xbox Live. In this hoax, unscrupulous retailers in cahoots with a company with a history of legal problems attempts to sell Xbox owners a completely useless service, claiming it will enhance their Xbox experience.
Typically, the scammers call this service Xbox Live Gold. Often it will come sold even in supermarkets (presumably unaware that Xbox Live Gold’s services are a hoax) on scratch-off cards that look like this.
It is a shame that Microsoft doesn’t do more to alert consumers that Xbox Live Gold is just another ripoff too.
Batman Light Switch Covers
An Etsy seller makes the nicest looking Batman light switch covers and wallplates I’ve seen so far.
Tracking Weight? Use a Moving Average
As I mentioned the other day, I’m using a Withings wireless scale so that every morning I weigh in and that weight gets published to a number of areas where I can keep track of how I’m doing.
One thing you notice quickly when weighing yourself daily is that your weight can fluctuate quite a bit from day to day, oftentimes in ways that seems almost random. Some people report getting discouraged when they see their weight go up a few pounds even though they are following their diet and exercise plan.
As Monica Reinagel points out at NutritionDiva.com, the key is to not focus on a single number from a given weigh-in, but rather on a moving average which will give you a much better idea of what your actual weight is.
A moving average, on the other hand, is an average that slides through time. It’s a great way to see trends or changes in whatever you’re tracking…especially when things are changing relatively slowly or there’s a lot of variation in the numbers from day to day.
. . .
. . . a moving average helps smooth out the daily fluctuations to more accurately reveal the trend. In practice, you’ll probably want to use a larger window to help you focus on the longer-term trends.
I ultimately enter my daily weight into a Google Spreadsheet that then calculates a 7-day moving average — i.e. the average of that day’s weight plus the previous 6 days’ weigh-ins. As Reinagel notes, this smoothes out the sometimes wild variations that can occur on a daily basis and gives me a much better idea of how I’m doing with my weight.
