[MW Forums]

One of the highlights of Christopher Breen's Expo experience is hosting the MacBrainiac Challenge. This year, he lets readers show off their awesome Mac knowledge. more

[Grapho]

This seem to be more history related then anything. I guess I could not be part of any of the teams. I would definitely be the weakest link. Good by!

[PeterG]

Last Q; fedex, ups, postal service.
close?
Peter /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[TeachesWithMacs]

How about Morse code using the screen flashing from PhotoBooth? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[OM_user]

Chris, for the last question, since I assume you were in the same physical room as the two teams, couldn't they just use the Macs text to speech capabilities to "play" you a greeting? You didn't specifically say it had to arrive on your Mac, only that they had to send you a greeting.

[hgwells]

OM, that's precisely what I had in mind. You beat me to the post. Actually, I just recently used text to speech over my Mac network using ARD when I suspected someone was not by the computer in another room. Remotely, I turned up the sound. I then typed the message in TextEdit and told it to start speaking. I did it twice since I knew there would be some looking around for the first one. That way they caught the whole message. I got great smiles and surprise doing that - and I got the information across I needed to convey.

[Jason Snell]

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Chris, for the last question, since I assume you were in the same physical room as the two teams, couldn't they just use the Macs text to speech capabilities to "play" you a greeting? You didn't specifically say it had to arrive on your Mac, only that they had to send you a greeting.

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Both teams tried this approach. And both were told it broke the rules by being a physical (i.e., sound) delivery, not an electronic one.

[kwill]

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Both teams tried this approach. And both were told it broke the rules by being a physical (i.e., sound) delivery, not an electronic one.

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I was stumped by most questions. So I think both teams were exceptionally smart. Though their final solution may not have been what was expected, but it certainly appears to fulfill the instructions in a creative way. The delivered message originated electronically.

[Chris Breen]

Yeah, that solution was a good attempt but too analog. If I had been looking for sound waves pointed at my ears, I would have written the question differently. I figured "you will send me an electronic greeting" was specific enough, but it's hard to anticipate what people with such massive brains will come up with.
When these sorts of things happen, I and the judges issue a stern "nope," there's a mew of disappointment, and the teams carry on until they find the solution I'm after. We have a little pep talk before we go on stage and everyone understands that while it's fun to win, our primary goal is to entertain.
So, given that the mic to Mac solution is a non-player, what next?

[jaysoffian]

It would appear there is no way to deliver a message to your computer electronically. So that would leave delivering the message to you in some other fashion, say, to your cell phone. The message needs to originate from the sender's computer, but can't be email or browser. And you didn't specify what perihperals the senders could or couldn't make use of. And everyone's got a bluetooth phone these days, so the sending team pairs one of their phones with their Mac and then:
Address Book -> Chris Breen -> Mobile -> SMS Message
j.

[Chris Breen]

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Address Book -> Chris Breen -> Mobile -> SMS Message

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You are so close. But Bluetooth isn't part of the solution.

[sheldonc]

Geez, these are HARD! I think I may have gotten 4 of the total. Congrats to the people who got them.
Here's an interesting collision of two of your questions: An actor from the stated movie that the 20th century language was invented previously had acted in a movie speaking the language invented by the Polish opthamologist. (This is assuming I am correct on the 20th century language. I know I'm right about the Polish opthamologist). So who's the actor? For bonus points, name the movie and year.
Wish I could figure out the path to Chris' brain... my thought was the SMS route, too, or potentially a short video of me saying hi sent to his phone. How about a cake, sent to you, by your local bakery that I ordered over the internet with a greeting on it? I wouldn't be delivering it, but a 3rd party would... but you'd still be getting something physical.

[MacSlacker]

Sorry I'm a bit late to the party; I worked the show from behind the scenes, and only returned home to sanity over the weekend. Agreed with Mr. Breen, in that I think <B>jaysoffian</B> was on the right track, just with the wrong app and peripherals.
My thought on the final challenge would be to use iChat on my MBP to send an SMS message to your mobile phone. Log in to the AIM network; choose "New Chat with Person" from the File menu; then enter your phone number in the form of "+14155551212". This would seem to accomplish the task, and would seem to work within the other guidelines.
If correct, I'll be happy to take my $100 bills in gold-plated envelopes. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif If not, I will hang my head in shame and skulk off to the underbelly of cyberspace.
And Chris, I lurked at your Peachpit presentation on your iPod/iTunes book on the last day of the show - thanks much for taking the time!
Best wishes,
MBJ

[Jason Snell]

Good job.