MikeBerggren.com (4.1)

Here’s another great song from the Assassin’s Creed...

Tue, 22 May 2012 16:38:00 -0700

Here’s another great song from the Assassin’s Creed Revelations soundtrack. Reminds me of Deus Ex.

Props to Morgan Page for finding a way to combine techno with...

Mon, 21 May 2012 19:25:00 -0700

Props to Morgan Page for finding a way to combine techno with country and have it sound freakin’ awesome.

Catching up on emails, enjoying some Vanilla Chai tea, and...

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:10:00 -0700

Catching up on emails, enjoying some Vanilla Chai tea, and listening to Röyksopp. All things considered, it’s a pretty good start to the week.

How To Sync Twitter To Google+

Sat, 19 May 2012 16:56:00 -0700

Ever since Google+ came out, I’ve been looking for a way to automatically sync my twitter updates to it. Yeah, yeah, I know the API has been released to developers but the tools I use on a daily basis (most notably hootsuite) don’t have integrated support yet.

So after some lengthy testing/googling, I FINALLY came across a method for doing it. The only problem? The steps were a little convoluted. For that reason, I thought I’d re-write them and hopefully make it a little easier for the next person who tries this.

Prerequisites:

1 Google Email Address.
1 Google Voice Account (can be the same google account).
1 IFTTT Account
1 Twitter account
1 Google Plus Account (can be the same google account)
Plenty of patience.

K. Here are the steps:

1) Bring up Google Voice and navigate to Settings » Voicemail & Text. Select the option to “Forward text messages to my email: <email address>”.

Note: It’s important that this points to the gmail address. If it doesn’t, take the necessary steps to add a gmail address here.

Save changes when finished.

2) Send a text message FROM google voice to 33669

Note: The address can/will be different in other countries. Check with Google+ SMS support for details on which numbers to use internationally.

3) Check your gmail address for an error notification back. It should say something like:

From: 33669 <1123456789.33669.aabbccddeeffgghh@txt.voice.google.com>;
To: <yourgmailaddress>

G+ SMS: Existing Google+ user, verify your phone at http://g.co/gplussettings. New users signup on your phone, at google.com/+

Ignore the message. The most important part is the from address. It’s your direct email address forwarding address for EMAILING updates to google+. Let’s look at it in more detail:

1123456789 - This is your google voice number. In my example, it’s 1123456789 but in actuality it should match your own number.
33669 - This is the Google+ text number.
aabbccddeeffgghh - This is a random security sequence number for email-to-text in Google Voice. In my example, it’s aabbccddeeffgghh but in actuality it should be completely different.

KEEP THIS EMAIL ADDRESS PRIVATE. DON’T SHARE IT.

4) Sign up for an account at http://www.ifttt.com and login.

5) In IFTTT, Choose the option to create a task and have it point to twitter. You’ll be guided through authenticating with Twitter.

6) In IFTTT, continue the task creation process and choose the “New Tweet By You” trigger. Optionally, you can have it trigger on @replies and retweets. I wouldn’t suggest checking these as they’ll clutter up your google+ stream needlessly.

7) In IFTTT, continue the task creation process and choose an action of “Gmail”. You’ll be guided through authenticating with gmail.

After authenticating, you’ll have the option to send a gmail message. Choose the following options:

To: Set this to the Google Voice email address from step 3.
Subject: Set this to whatever you want. Google+ pulls the post details from the email body and ignores the subject. I set mine to “Twitter Update”
Body: Delete the default body text and add an IFTTT action (available on the side bar) to add the tweet.
Attachment URL: Leave this blank.

Save changes. That should be it. Cool huh.

While I’m at it, I should mention a few important notes:

By default, the tweets will be shared with everyone in the “your circles” set of contacts. If you want to narrow down the contact scope, check the Google+ SMS help pages for tips. Personally though, I would just assume that anything/everything you send here will be publicly available.
IFTTT checks twitter feeds every 15 minutes.
You MUST leave the “forward text messages to my email” option (step 1) enabled. If you disable it, these emails will be rejected (with an incredibly vague non-delivery receipt).

Enjoy. Let me know if you have any questions.

30 Second Review - Batman #8

Fri, 18 May 2012 00:10:00 -0700

Since The New 52 reboot last year, the Batman comic series has been consistently earning my respect. In fact, I can confidently say now that it’s my favorite DC comic. Why? Simple: it has solid writing. Each issue has rich storytelling, believable character dialogue, and fantastic moments of suspense.

So with that said, it should come as no surprise that I enjoyed issue #8 a lot. In fact, my only complaint is the artwork — I prefer Tony Scott’s artistic interpretation of the Dark Knight.

I’d love to dive into details about this issue but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. Check it out now!

FINAL VERDICT: A-

"Always accept good fortune with grace and humility."

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:49:34 -0700

“Always accept good fortune with grace and humility.”

- Mark L. Mika

Max Payne 3 is on it’s way. W00t. Hoping it can be more...

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:16:00 -0700

Max Payne 3 is on it’s way. W00t. Hoping it can be more like the original and less like MP2.

Pandora reminded me of this musical gem from Assassin’s...

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:09:00 -0700

Pandora reminded me of this musical gem from Assassin’s Creed II. Jesper Kyd is one of my favorite composers. Brilliant.

This was pretty much the only SNL skit I laughed at last...

Sun, 13 May 2012 18:22:03 -0700

This was pretty much the only SNL skit I laughed at last night… but that being said, it is pretty damn funny.

First attempt at tilt-shift technique/editing. Not too bad for...

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:59:00 -0700

First attempt at tilt-shift technique/editing. Not too bad for a n00b. =)

Quite possible the perfect 80’s song to listen to while...

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:29:00 -0700

Quite possible the perfect 80’s song to listen to while driving… on the weekend. Oh 80’s. I <3 u.

My favorite part of tonight's Game of Thrones episode.

Mon, 07 May 2012 01:17:11 -0700

Joffrey: "You're talking to a king!"
Tyrion: (*slap*) "And now I've struck a king. Did my hand fall from my wrist?!"

My wife and I spent the evening at the beach. Along the way, I...

Sun, 06 May 2012 20:23:02 -0700

My wife and I spent the evening at the beach. Along the way, I learned three things about my photography interests:

I like coastlines.
I like shiny things.
I (sometimes) like vintage effects.

I silently weep and shed a tear for the youth of today. This is...

Sun, 06 May 2012 16:05:28 -0700

I silently weep and shed a tear for the youth of today. This is what they think Star Wars is. Eff you, LucasArts.

I’m digging the trailer for Dishonered. It seems like a...

Sat, 05 May 2012 14:10:50 -0700

I’m digging the trailer for Dishonered. It seems like a refreshing spin on things. Plus it has lots of steampunk references. How can you go wrong with that?

Dubstep in all it’s glory: the background music for the...

Sat, 05 May 2012 12:03:00 -0700

Dubstep in all it’s glory: the background music for the Assassin’s Creed Ancestors Character Pack trailer. If someone knows the actual name of the song, please leave it in the comments below.

I love this character art from Andrei Cristea. Check out the...

Fri, 04 May 2012 09:15:00 -0700

I love this character art from Andrei Cristea. Check out the rest of his work here.

New favorite song on my playlist…

Thu, 03 May 2012 10:50:00 -0700

New favorite song on my playlist…

One of the highlights of our recent trip to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii:...

Wed, 02 May 2012 18:10:05 -0700

One of the highlights of our recent trip to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii: a Hawaiian earth oven demo during a luau.

"You never wanted any friends, brother. But a man without friends is a man without power."

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:08:00 -0700

“You never wanted any friends, brother. But a man without friends is a man without power.”

- Renly Baratheon