Product Review: Geekify Inc.

I recently purchased two products from the good people at Geekify Inc. whom are based over in one of the quadrants of Colorado.  I cannot remember how I first spotted them, be it in an add over in the facebook margin or from Reddit or someone who retweeted something about the company or someone I follow on facebook.  The point is they were founded out.

The people over at Geekify Inc. make products based off of, mainly books from various sources such as Beetlejuice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Myst, The Neverending Story and Skyrim.  There are a lot more sources that they pull from, but then I would be simply listing nearly everything in their catalogue. 


I initially sent the company a request for a custom job to make an iPad cover for Conklederp for her birthday.  I loved the book covers that they currently had on hand from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but Conklederp's character, Magicia, focused more on destructive magic and that option was not available.  I sent the company an message to their Esty account asking for a quote on making the Destruction Spell Book.

Three days later, Mr. John Taylor at Geekify Inc. let me know that in fact they had just put up the destruction spell book in their catalogue.  A day later I went ahead and ordered the iPad cover and patiently waited for its arrival.

The only pseud0-complaint that I have is that it took roughly a month to receive the cover from the time I placed my order.  Both their Etsy page and official webpage say that it can take "7-10 business days to craft and ship," but once I received the cover and was able to hold it in my hands, I knew that the longer processing/creating/shipping/receiving time was well worth the wait.

The cover is made from what feels like a 2mm thick piece of wood covered with faux-leather.  The circles around the border are white paint.  The Destruction Magick emblem is layered wood, brown on white and solidly glued on the cover.  The inside consists of a thick cardboard-type material (I am only guessing) covered with black micro suede on both the front and back covers as well as the spine.  The iPad is held in place by four 1" thick elastic bands, one crossing each of the corners.  Presently, Conkelderps main critique is that the upper right strap would cover up the volume buttons and mute switch, so she leaves that strap off.  The three remaining straps however are securely holding the iPad in place with no slippage or fear of coming loose.

Impressed with the quality of their work with this gadget cover, I knew that I wanted to buy one for my Kindle.  I first checked their Etsy store, but then decided to see if their non-Etsy webpage held any additional offerings.  They do not.  But, their prices on their page run $4-10 cheaper due to Etsy's operating costs.  Plus by ordering from Geekify's page, you have additional options such as name engraving, quote engraving, magnetic cover clasp or a strap for the spine, all for a separate additional cost.  

Ultimately I went with The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy cover for the Kindle Paperwhite.

As with Conklederp's cover, mine took about a month from the date I ordered to the date the package arrived.  

The Hitchhikers Guide is wood covered with faux-leather.  The inside is that hard cardboard-type material covered with a deep red micro-suede.  The "blocks" on the cover and back are additional pieces of wood to give them an industrial appearance.  I could easily have seen bolts or screws in each of the four corners, but it looks equally great without them.  The cover thumb and lettering are all paper with each of the red letters being glued on top of the the yellow letter backing, making the "THE" about a quarter of an inch tall and impressively cut.  The Kindle fits very well with the elastic straps (these being about 1cm wide) and do not cover either the usb charging port at the base or the on/off button right next to the port.

When I placed my order, I asked if I could have The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy text read from the top of the spine to base as opposed to how it looks on their page.  Since 99% of my books and DVDs all have the text reading from top to bottom, I knew that having the text go the other way would bother me, so I put in the request.  Request was fulfilled and at no additional cost.

When I received the cover, I did notice that the upper left corner of the "P" in "DON'T PANIC" was starting to peel back, maybe about a millimeter or two, but enough that I knew if something was not done, the whole word would eventually peel off.  I contacted Geekify the same day and within an hour received a reply from Mr. Taylor as to how to fix the peeling "P."  "A dab of superglue will keep it sticking forever," and it currently is and aside from the very slight crease that I put in the corner of the "P" moving it back to make sure the glue reached back far enough, you would not be able to tell.

Geekify also makes other products such as pendants/necklaces based off of the Imperial symbol from The Elder Scrolls, a wall poster based off of Portal, something I do not recognize from Starcraft or you can do as I thought I was doing an request a quote for a custom order.  They also can do laser cutting and custom 3D printing if you happen to be looking for company that does that sort of thing.  They come across as good people who make a great looking product so give them a look the next time you are looking for something "geeky" that is handmade and that you cannot find on ThinkGeek.com.


~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Like The Daybreak In Spring


P.S.  And a very big thank you goes to Heidi at Geekify who made both my Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy cover and Conklederps Destruction Magicka Spell Book.

Video Games as Therapy?

This weekend, Jaconian and I were lucky enough to have the one and only DRPOTTS come visit us in Portland! Lots of fun was had. In fact, lookit this shot from Ground Kontrol, a sweet "barcade" here in town!:

Drinking and Driving is Bad!

This weekend was also the Western Region American Music Therapy Association conference (phew! more easily referred to from here on out as WRAMTA). I, being a brand new music therapist, went to check it out. One of the presentations I went to was by a software developer named Kim Swisher, who makes some really sweet programs for music therapists using motion capture technology. Her website, playsoundtechnology.org can explain what she does much better than I can, but she uses technology in a really thoughtful and innovative way. She writes programs for the Nintendo Wiimote and the Xbox Kinect, as well as for computers.  One program, called MIST uses the Kinect to transform your room into an auditory forest. In the right hand corner there might be a pond you can splash in, or a little froggy that gets louder as you approach. I promise she didn't pay me to write this! I just can't get over how cool this stuff is and I really recommend looking into it.

Kim's presentation got me thinking about how we can use technology, and more specifically, video games in the therapy world. When people talk about technology leading our society downwards, it kinda riles me up! I use my iPad frequently, and not just with young clients who are familiar with technology. I've seen a 93 year old rock out using the touch screen keyboard in Garage Band. A person with limited mobility played Echo String with his nose (of course I wiped my iPad down afterwards!). I have tons of anecdotal evidence of technology being used therapeutically. I know there are studies out there too. If you guys are interested enough/I feel extra motivated I will go look some up, but to start, here's a list of iPad apps used in music therapy with children compiled by Dr. Petra Kern, past president of the World Federation of Music Therapy.


Another thing I know-- the right kind of video game can absolutely be used as a therapeutic tool. You can work on hand-eye coordination (duh), fine motor control (tell me something I don't know), and even social interaction.

What's this? Video games to increase social interaction? Think about this--how many friends did you make as a kid just because you played video games together? One example I can think of off the top of my head is using games as a way to encourage interaction between children with autism and their neurotypical peers. There are studies that link playground music making to increased social interaction. I do have a source for that one, if you're interested. (Kern 2006). In a similar vein, co-op games require teamwork and group problem solving, and I think that could easily be used to foster meaningful social interactions. Like I said, I don't have any research to link you to, but I sincerely think the potential is there.
Hey, I think I just found my future thesis...

-Conklederp

The Smartphone As A Portable Gaming Device

A lot of what I would want and could say about this topic has already been gloriously covered by Extra Credits from season 6 episode 18 titled, "Designing for a Touch Screen."  Now, if you haven't seen it, the episode looks at touch screens in the development of games for all touch screen devices.  Right now, I'm going to take one step more and look at specifically smartphones and since I've had a smartphone now for less than a month, I am an obvious expert on this topic.  What else is the Internet for?

I don't have a whole lot of experience in this arena, only what I've played on one of Conklederp's iPhones and her iPad.  Oh, and I've played a bit of Tetris and Snake on an old Nokia, but those weren't "smart"phones, so moving on.  Game-wise, there's been Fruit Ninja, some ice cream balancing game, Tiny Wings, Angry Birds, Bejeweled Blitz, you know, games that came out a number of years ago.

When thinking about smartphones, you have to take into account the size of the screen as most are anywhere between 4 - 5.5 inches, any larger than that and you're delving into tablet sized platforms.  Granted the smartphone I have is titled a "Mini" although it has roughly the same size screen as an iPhone 4, so it's not really miniature.  I didn't acquire a smartphone because I wanted a new gaming platform, but because I would be paying nearly the same as for my previous phone.

Taking into account the size of my hands which measure 6.5" x 7.5" and the area each thumb takes up (.77312 sq in).  Let alone just the size of my thumbs when pressed up against a screen, that's 13% of the screen covered if I'm just using my thumbs on touch buttons in the corners of the screen.  With this in mind, imagine that you're playing a console game, and two football keep moving in front of the screen at the corners.  The standard response would be some variation on "Move!"  This is all taken for granted with touch screen games that there will be something obscuring the screen for at least a portion of the gameplay.

Taking all this into context, I was considering purchasing the Dead Space mobile game, at first on Conklederp's iPad then on my phone when I saw it was available through the Google store.  I was excited at first, then I watched the trailer to see how the game would look on my phone.  That's when it dawned on me that I would most likely not want to buy the game on my phone but on Conklederp's iPad (with her permission of course).  Dead Space is a game that deserves to not only be played, but to be explored and looked at.  I mean there were elevator service checklists in the first game.  I want to look at those and be immersed in the world.  I don't see that happening with my fingers/thumbs covering 13% of the screen; depending on the control set up for touchscreens. 

Presently I have 10 games installed, six of which are from Humble's recent Mobile Bundle 2 and of those six games, only two really take advantage of touch screen controls, and just barely at that.  Are the games themselves any good?  I'll get to that later.  Three of the games I got for free (Bejeweled Blitz, Angry Birds and Angry Birds: Star Wars) make perfect use of not only touch screen controls, but also the fact that the screen is only 4.8 by 2.5 inches and not 32 inches.  My finger (not my thumb!) is on the screen for only a portion of the time spent playing the game.  Another perfect usage of a touch screen device.  The last game Words with Friends I got because I plan to piss off flight attendants, but not really.

So in answer to my title, which really was not a question: no, my smartphone will not replace my 3DS as my portable gaming device of choice.  And developers could take a lot from the people at Extra Credits.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

I Could Bare This Burden With You