1. He does concerts for charities.
2. He does those concerts dressed as the main character from Final Fantasy VIII.
3. He does his own arrangements.
4. He puts the sheet music for those arrangements online for free.

Go check out his site here.

Yesterday we sent an e-mail to a number of consumers who wrote to us in recent days expressing their concern with respect to Blizzard’s Real ID program. Given the large number of messages we received, we decided to respond with a mass e-mail so those who’d written us would receive our response as quickly as possible – rather than responding to each message individually, as is our usual practice.

Through an unfortunate error by one of our employees, some recipients were able to see the e-mail addresses of others who wrote on the same issue. Needless to say, it was never our intention to reveal this information and for that we are genuinely sorry. Those who write to ESRB to express their views expect and deserve to have their contact and personal information protected. In this case, we failed to do so and are doing everything we can to ensure it will not happen again in the future.

The fact that our message addressed individuals’ concerns with respect to their privacy underscores how truly disappointing a mistake this was on our part. We work with companies to ensure they are handling people’s private information with confidentiality, care and respect. It is only right that we set a good example and do no less ourselves.

We sincerely apologize to those who were affected by this error and appreciate their understanding.

Sincerely,

Entertainment Software Rating Board

Finn, Emily, Lewis, and Adam need your help. Check trackersbook.com in an hour and 45 minutes to see four missions. You’ll need your research skills in addition to twitch reflexes for success. Will you network with other Trackers or do you think you can take on the best of the Internet by yourself?

What I love to see is an author that continues to improve throughout their career. Trackers is proof that Carman still takes his craft seriously.

This is a caution to students, though – don’t sit down expecting ghosts to jump out at you. I did and it took me a couple of videos to realize that Trackers has a different tone. It’s the story of a high tech team of teenagers that get caught up in an Internet crime scheme that is much larger than they can handle individually. Patrick Carman’s research/previous knowledge concerning technology is appreciated and it comes out in realistic dialogue between characters (and great passwords for the videos – the majority are computing superstars like Babbage and The Woz).

Trackers takes on a neo-noir feel. Much like detective stories from the 30s and 40s, main character Adam doesn’t know who to trust (one character, Lazlo, shares a name with someone from Casablanca). His confusion grows when he’s distracted by a beautiful girl who quickly betrays him. The focus of the book is figuring out who is tracking the Trackers and what they can do to reverse the situation.

So, instead of being afraid that Joe Bush is going to stalk you from the dredge, you’re now more paranoid about going online. If you liked the movie Eagle Eye, Trackers should already be in your queue.

It’s told in an interrogation format, so the whole time you’re trying to figure out who has brought Adam in for questioning. This is book one and obviously so (well, besides it saying that on the cover), but in great Carman style he leaves you hanging at the end of the book.

Online supplemental materials are becoming a requirement for books, especially teen ones. Many have games associated with them, like P.J. Haarsma’s Rings of Orbis game (Haarsma is another digital pioneer, an author who also creates his own tech content). Patrick Carman understands technology, especially engaging technology, and trackersinterface.com offers the videos but also a very challenging Glyphmaster game. You try and organize the icons to spell a sentence. I found myself saying, “Just one more round.” My recommendation is to make it a Facebook game.

Librarians, you need Trackers. Kids will read it. But what was awesome is that he included a transcript of each video in the back of the book. This helps students who are reading in class. You can’t interrupt silent reading with a video of Finn crashing on a ramp at the local skateboarding hangout. Now students can get the info and watch the video later. Many of mine had to come in at lunch and hope the district Internet filter hadn’t blocked the Skeleton Creek site. This streamlining of the experience is one sign that the author is growing and improving.

And, like any book that involves Jeffrey Townsend, I stay up too late wanting to keep reading.

The alternative reality missions are releasing later today. While I read the book, I had my laptop next to me so I could look up any sites mentioned. I hope to see more from the missions. I can easily see the lines of fiction blurring under Patrick Carman’s expert use of media.

• Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – Wii MotionPlus and a guaranteed stylish storyline
• GoldenEye remake – When I was a Resident Assistant at NAU, the guys in my hallway played GoldenEye multiplayer until way past quiet hours. A remake with Daniel Craig as the voice and confirmed online matches makes this a ‘Yes’.
• The 3DS – it has two cameras in the front to take 3D photos as well as the ability to play 3D movies and games. I saw an ad for a 3D TV last night and they were so proud of their glasses. Dorky 3D shades – No. 3DS letting you play without the need of glasses – a benefit for those of us who wear glasses already – Yes

No

• Edward Barbie
  
  Just no. No. Jacob? No.

The library has 30 computers that are always full during lunch. I’d be interested to see students’ reactions to DimensionM, a first-person shooter (Halo and Call of Duty are examples of the genre) that pauses the action to ask Math questions. The game uses lasers and slime-ish stuff, so it doesn’t seem that violent. It’s designed with the purpose of being an educational game. I’d like to test how much Math they remember and if they’d be annoyed by the questions popping out of nowhere.

The video swim mask is as simple as it sounds: a mask that takes videos. But how cool would it be to film whatever you were swimming near? Scuba diving in shipwrecks would be awesome, since you would have both hands free to punch undead pirates and/or sharks. I had the opportunity to snorkel off the coast of Roatan years ago and have only memories to share of the underwater experience. Those are good, but I’d like to show people the barracuda that did a Maverick-to-tower fly-by past me.

Now if you plan on sleeping in this summer, then the Sleep Blaster app is not for you. But if you do have to wake up this summer and are disgruntled by the notion, you can set up your phone to respond to you yelling at it.

It also has “dynamite mode” for those people who always wanted to wake up to the sound of an explosion.

But where’s my hoverboard? Are we any closer?

While I wait I’ll have to be content with a robot moon station and the crazy balancing scooter chair.

(Check out the multidirectional moving. One large tire consisting of smaller tires. Simple, yet jaw-dropping.)