Chad W Smith's Home online

iSad

2011-10-06T00:40:00.003-05:00

On October 5, 2011, the world of computers lost a legend.
On October 5, 2011, the business world lost a leader.
On October 5, 2011, the music industry lost its savior.
On October 5, 2011, the art of design became less sleek and more bleak.
On October 5, 2011, consumer electronics lost an innovator.
On October 5, 2011, the mobile phone genre lost a revolutionary.
On October 5, 2011, the tablet movement lost its forerunner.
On October 5, 2011, the movie studios lost a champion.
On October 5, 2011, the tech universe lost a star.
On October 5, 2011, garage tinkerers lost an inspiration.
On October 5, 2011, Apple lost a father.
On October 5, 2011, many people the world over lost a hero.
On October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs lost his life.

You will be greatly missed, Mr. Jobs. Your vision will live on in the pockets, hands, laps, messenger bags, dorm rooms, ears, eyes, hearts, and minds of the millions and millions of lives you have touched.

Thank you for thinking differently. Our world is a better, cooler, sleeker, BOOMier, easier to use place because of it.

Oh, and one more thing....

Two Video Weekend

2011-07-03T16:27:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so I was feeling pretty creative this weekend, I guess. Because here are 2 videos (for the price of none!).

The first has to do with a crucial mistake I made a few years back that still haunts me to this day.

The next video is just this song I wrote, entitled "This is the Song I Wrote". Enjoy!

In brightest day....

2011-05-22T21:19:00.000-05:00

Green Lantern is coming - but not just to a theater near you, also to consoles, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, & 3DS.

As you can see in the image above, the game is 3D compatible (on the PS3, 360, & 3DS). To check out some interactive 360° screenshots - check out the "3D Energy Viewer" on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/GreenLanternVideogame

Here are some insider screens I got for the 3DS version. Sadly, since 99.999999% of you are *not* viewing this post on a 3DS itself, they are presented in stunning 2D and full color, for your viewing pleasure.

You can preorder "Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters" now, or buy it when it comes out on June 7.

"JOLT!" by: Phil Cooke - Shocking Revelations, or Buzz-kill?

2011-05-10T14:18:00.001-05:00

"JOLT! Get the Jump on a World That's Constantly Changing"

By: Phil Cooke, Published by Thomas Nelson

Disclosure: I received a free electronic copy of Jolt! from BookSneeze and Thomas Nelson for review purposes. This review reflects my true opinion.

Fast Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars - Starts well, but doesn't keep up the intensity. Big on broad concepts, light on detailed instructions. Could be just the inspiration you need to seek out the next steps.

Jolt! is a book about changing your life. The author offers 25 "Jolts" to your system that are aimed to shake you out of your comfort zone, pull you out of the rut you've fallen into, and set you on the path towards your dream life.

At least, that's the idea.

The author is very inspirational, but despite promising to be different than the mass of self-help books out there by not just offering feel-good motivational speech, but actual nitty-gritty how-tos - the book ends up being mostly just that. A pep talk before the big game as opposed to the actual game plan.

If you are looking for motivation and inspiration, this may be the book for you. If you are looking for a life coach style plan for change - you won't find that here.

"Max On Life: Answers and Inspiration for Today's Questions" By: Max Lucado

2011-04-22T15:57:00.001-05:00

Let me start by saying that I love Max Lucado. I can't even tell you how many of his books I have read and own. He has a way of taking the truth of God's Word, the art of storytelling, and real world experiences, and blending them in ways that inspire, motivate, and build up the reader, while honoring and glorifying our Savior in the process. His latest book, "Max on Life," however, does not inspire nor motivate.
The book is a series of questions and answers. Dozens of them; 172 to be exact. And since the book - indexes, addendums, advertisements, and all, is barely over 250 pages, you don't have to be great at math to realize most questions are answered in less than a page. This doesn't give Max the space needed to draw the reader in and share a meaningful story, which is his gift.
On top of that, many times the author doesn't even directly answer the stated question. He merely uses a question as a jumping off point to share some other, almost unrelated, thought.
I was pretty disappointed in this book. I don't even recommend adding it to your shelf just in case you need to look up one of the answers, because even if you find a question that is close to what you are wondering, chances are good that the answer will be too short to help, and possibly not even related to what you are looking for.
I do want to thank Thomas Nelson, the publisher of this book for sending me an advance review copy of "Max on Life: Answers and Inspiration for Today's Questions" By: Max Lucado. I am sorry that I didn't have more good to say about it.

Augen Genbook 108 10.2" Android Netbook Hands On

2011-03-25T19:22:00.000-05:00

Thanks to a day on a woot-like site, 1saleaday.com, and another day on ebay's featured deals, for only $99 in both places, the Augen Genbook 108 10.2" Netbook running Google's Android operating system has found its way into the hands of hundreds of new owners, including one Chad W. Smith.

The sale price was for $99 with free shipping, but you can still find it online for $150 or so.

Augen 10⁸ Specs

First, some quick specifications.

800 Mhz CPU
10.2" Screen
1024 x 600 resolution
Google Android v2.1 "Eclair" Operating System
256MB DDR Ram
WiFi b/g
SD Card Slot

Now, some questions I couldn't find the answers for before I bought it, the GenBook does not have a camera - there's just some plastic nub where the webcam should be. The GenBook does not have VGA out, (or HDMI, DVI, or any other type of video out). There are 3 USB ports, a headphone/speaker jack, a mic/line-in port, and an Ethernet port. There is no BlueTooth.

Something that was really weird is that both places had the system listed as having 2GB of onboard flash storage, however, my packaging, manual, and system info all say it has 8GB, so - bonus. I'm not sure why mine is different, but I'm certainly not going to complain. Not bad to pay half price and get 4 times the storage.

I say half price because the Augen made a splash last year around Black Friday time when K-mart started selling them for $190 - a price that made headlines.

The GenBook does not come with the official Google Android Marketplace, although there may be ways to install it - a feat I have yet to test. And you could always just go to market.android.com. It does, however, come with access to the Apple-annoying-named "App Store" - officially, the AndAppStore. "And", I assume, being short for "Android", and not some attempt to be the AppStore And More, or anything clever like that.

Apps

It comes with some pre-installed apps, a web browser, a media player, the aforementioned AppStore, a file browser, and Documents2Go - a MS Office compatible mobile suite, that for some reason requires you to have the documents on an SD-card, other than on the system's flash drive.
The apps from the AndAppStore may or may not be legit - and/or not all apps will work with this system. The reason I say that is because I downloaded AngryBirds - for free - and it didn't work right. None of the on-screen "buttons" nor the score and other text appeared on the screen - just some blocky misshapen white boxes where the buttons/text should be. I'm not programmer, but I use Photoshop everyday, and I'd call it a layering issue. The top layers were missing.

Initial thoughts

The system is lightweight, 1.8 lbs reportedly. The keyboard is almost full-size, and works well - other than some weirdness I have yet to figure out with the function keys, but that could be a result of me not reading the manual and never having used Android before. The trackpad is absolute junk. It's bad enough that they are using an operating system that is clearly designed for a touchscreen phone on a netbook - but the fact that the trackpad stinks is truly awful. It was less than 10 minutes of use before I gave up and plugged in a USB mouse. Good thing it comes with 3 USB ports.

I don't know if it can be upgraded to Android 2.2 or 2.3 - but I'm not exactly sure why I would want to do that, either.

So far, I'm not sure how well I enjoy this system. If I can get over/used to the crappy trackpad, and learn how to navigate/operate the shoehorned cellphone OS - it might be a valuable edition to my tech arsenal - if not, I'll try to install Ubuntu, fail to do so, and then mothball it next to my Leapfrog Didj.

"Pujols: More Than the Game" by: Scott Lamb, Tim Ellsworth - Review

2011-03-19T10:31:00.000-05:00

Let me start by saying, I'm no fan of baseball. It's not really that I dislike it - I just can take it or leave it, and most of the time, I choose to leave it. I live in a big baseball city - St Louis - and I've even gone to several Cardinals games, and I've watched a game in Yankee's stadium… Still not going out of my way to watch the sport. To illustrate, all of the games I've been to, my ticket was free.

That said, I do appreciate a great sports story, some of my favorite movies are sports movies, and one of the best real-life sports stories that is happening right now in my own city, is the story of Albert Pujols of the Saint Louis Cardinals. No, I'm not referring to the controversial contract negotiations. I'm referring to a nice family guy who goes to church, is faithful to his wife, doesn't do drugs, and is the undisputed NL MVP time and time again. You see, Albert Pujols, the homerun leader of the Cards, is a Christian, a true, practicing, converted, Christ-following Christian.

Which is why when I was given the chance to get a copy of a book on the life - so far - of Mr. Pujols, I didn't hesitate. Much like my baseball tickets, my copy of this book was free to me, the publisher asked me to review it. The book is called "Pujols - More Than the Game" it was written by Scott Lamb and Tim Ellsworth, and published by Thomas Nelson.

The book has everything you'd expect in a book about a baseball player, overall stats and a recount of awards and accomplishments. But, as the title suggests, it's not just about baseball, in fact, more of the book is devoted to his home life than his life at home plate. Following Albert from his childhood in the Dominican Republic through his meteroic rise to the heights of success in the sports world, the reader learns about his contagious love of Christ, and how that passion for Jesus has spread to his whole family, to people on his team, and to the fans.

"Pujols - More Than the Game" is an inspiring story of someone who isn't perfect, but is true to his Savior and successful in the secular world. Too many times we are told of Christians who are true to God through their adversity, we often forget that Jesus said it is hard for a rich man to be a Christian. In Albert Pujols, we see a man who is able to have success in this life, and still is laying up treasure in Heaven. And as Albert would be quick to point out, the glory goes to Jesus Christ, and not to Albert, for his success on the field and off.

I would recommend this book for any baseball fan, and if you know a baseball fan who isn't a Christian, this book may be a way to start the conversation about becoming one. Make no mistake, it's not a bible tract. There's no "plan of salvation" page or Romans Road list of verses to follow. But I can easily see a lost person wanting to know more about Jesus after reading this book.

It's also convicting to Christians, at least it is to me, if someone wrote a book about my life story - would it be just as much of a draw to the Savior as this book is?

My review, 4 out of 5 stars.

If you'd like to pick up a copy of "Pujols: More Than the Game" - here are some places to find it, learn more, and read other people's reviews:

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

New TV means new wires

2010-12-31T03:38:00.000-06:00

So I've finally entered the HD era... Now that's it's quickly being replaced by the 3D era and/or the 4-Color era. Oh well, at least it's progress. If you somehow haven't yet taken the leap from SD to HD, I will tell you that there are a lot of cords to deal with. On an standard TV, you might have 2 different kinds of cords, a coaxial cable or "coax" cable - like the single thick wire from the cable company and old school VCRs, or a component cable with RCA connectors. So, basically, if your cord had three heads, it would go in one place, if it only had one, it would go in the other. And the 3-headed beast was clearly color coded so you'd always know which one goes where.

Not so with an HDTV. No, they have a *LOT* more options. The simplest, and best, for HD content, is the HDMI cable. The more connections for these you can have on your TV, the better. Mine has 3, and that's not enough. An HDMI cable is digital, not analog, so there's no signal loss. Basically that means you can get the cheapest HDMI cable on the market, and the image and sound will be no better, and no worse, than the most expensive cable out there, so - my advice - go CHEAP. The main concern is it needs to be long enough to get from your TV to whatever you're plugging into it. HDMI also carries video and audio in one wire, meaning there's only one thing to plug into each device. No color coding needed.

HDTVs can also still use component video, and some still have Coax. The confusing part comes with composite video. Component video is SD - Composite is HD. Not only are they spelled and pronounced almost identically, they also look very much the same. Whoever designed and named the later is an idiot. Composite video is basically the HD version of component. It's a multi-headed color-coded beast, only it has 4 heads instead of 3. And then there are hydra monsters like the Xbox 360 cord that has 6 heads because it combines the two (composite and component). They actually share one cord, and the connections are all RCA style.

So what all am I plugging into my new TV that needs all these wires? Well, 2 game systems, my DVD/VCR combo, my cable box, and my computer. (The HD also has a VGA port, so I had to get an adapter for VGA for my computer. I ended up not liking it, so I found a Mini-Displayport to HDMI adapter instead. It hasn't got here yet.

I bought all these cords and stuff from 3 or 4 different websites, and compared prices and explored options on at least half a dozen others. But one place I didn't know to look was Optimization-World.com - wish I had known about that site before I scoured the internet looking for the parts I need. One stop shopping is nice.

MacBook Pro 15.4" (Mid 2010) 2.4 Ghz Unboxing - Chadwsmith.com

2010-09-25T22:26:00.000-05:00

In the tradition of my other MacBook unboxings, here is my new MacBook Pro 15.4" 2.4 Ghz Mid 2010 (A1286 - MacBookPro6,2).

Specs:
OS: Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.4
Height: 0.95 inch (2.41 cm)
Width: 14.35 inches (36.4 cm)
Depth: 9.82 inches (24.9 cm)
Weight: 5.6 pounds (2.54 kg
15.4" 1440 by 900 widescreen
2.4GHz Intel Core i5 processor with 3MB shared L3 cache
4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 memory; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 8GB
8x slot-loading SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MagSafe power port
10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)
One FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps)
Mini DisplayPort
Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
SD card slot
Audio line in
Audio line out
Kensington lock slot
AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking2 (based on IEEE 802.11n specification); IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) wireless technology
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
Intel HD Graphics with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
Automatic graphics switching
Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors
iSight camera
Full-size backlit keyboard with 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys, including 12 function keys and 4 arrow keys (inverted "T" arrangement)
Multi-Touch trackpad for precise cursor control; supports inertial scrolling, pinch, rotate, swipe, three-finger swipe, four-finger swipe, tap, double-tap, and drag capabilities

I replaced the default HD with a 500GB 2.5" SATA 7200RPM 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache

New iPod Touch - thoughts on FM Requirement - Chad W Smith LIVE from Gat...

2010-09-16T17:28:00.000-05:00

Ok - so this is YouTube, so it can't be live.... But, yeah.

Hollywood - please become original

2010-05-01T10:39:00.003-05:00

Ok, I just read (and I'm not kidding, nor was the article), that deals have been signed to make movies based on the games: Battleship, Candyland, and Monopoly.

I can see Candyland being some weird kid movie. But Battleship? I guess it could be some sort of war movie - an armada with stealth technology that only works when the ships don't move, idk? And it's too foggy for jets? Or there's a forcefield preventing them from just physically getting next to them? But following in the success of Internet control on Snakes on a Plane - I hereby DEMAND someone shout in that movie "YOU SUNK MY BATTLESHIP!!!" It must happen.

Monopoly? I mean... A bunch of rich people buying property? This ain't the 80's, that kind of thing won't fly anymore. Are people going to go to jail? Will they get out because they have a magic card? Will someone have to be an old shoe? Is some old rich dude going to get $10 for coming in second in a beauty pageant? None of this makes sense.

But, again, I hereby demand with all the power of the Internet behind me, the line "Do NOT pass Go! Do NOT collect $200!" must be uttered as the person is hauled off to prison. It must happen.

But see, someone had to PAY for the rights to make these movies. I think Hollywood is totally missing the Public Domain boat! They need to start making movies based on games that are so old that no one owns the rights to them.

I want a WAR! movie. No, not a war movie, a WAR! movie - like the completely skill-less card game where you endlessly turn over cards to see who randomly "wins". (Much like Candyland in that respect.) Make it something like that episode of Star Trek:TOG were with every flip of the card, millions of people have to die until one side is completely eliminated. It would be like a combination of "The Lottery" and watching paint dry.

Battlefield Bad Company 2

2010-02-25T16:54:00.000-06:00

Will this be enough to make players forget about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2? Since my consoles got stolen - I can't say for sure. But it does look freaking awesome! Here's an exclusive trailer, that I am among the first to be able to share. Enjoy!

Here's a countdown timer for you - you can even put it up on your site as well.

For those of you living under a rock, here's some of the basic stats.

Game Overview

In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the Bad Company crew again find themselves in the heart of the action, where they must use every weapon and vehicle at their disposal to survive. The action unfolds with unprecedented intensity, introducing a level of fervor to vehicular warfare never before experienced in a modern warfare action game. The 'B' company fight their way through snowy mountaintops, dense jungles and dusty villages. With a heavy arsenal of deadly weapons and a slew of vehicles to aid them, the crew set off on their mission and they are ready to blow up, shoot down, blast through, wipe out and utterly destroy anything that gets in their way. Total destruction is the name of the game -- either online or offline, enemies will soon learn there is nowhere to hide.

More Info:
Release Date: 3/2/2010
MSRP: $59.95
Genre: First-Person Shooter (FPS)
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Digital Illusions CE (DICE)
ESRB: M

New stuff

2010-02-13T11:27:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I've told you what's going on with me - technologically wise. Well, since I've updated you last, I've gotten several gadgets. I'm always looking for great deals on gadgets.

First and foremost - I have gotten an iPhone. Yeah, I know that I said - twice now - that I won't be buying an iPhone... But if you read those posts, the main reason I said that, on both counts, was the contract. Since I bought my iPhone used, (it's a first gen 8 GB 2G), there was no contract to sign. And since it's jailbroken and unlocked, I don't have to but the $20 data plan. It's got its issues since it is used, but I've got a friend who said he can fix that.

I also got a Dingoo - the Linux powered game system. It's awesome. Media player, FM Radio, built-in TV-out, stereo speakers, retro system emulators. It's about the size of a Game Boy Micro, or the bottom half of a Nintendo DS Lite / DSi. If this sounds at all appealing to you , you owe it to yourself to get one.

And my final aquistion is that of a Didj - a Didj is a kids-focus edutainment handheld game ssytem, that is also Linux powered. I got it for $20.00 ($4.95 shipping) from woot. I bought that in the hopes that the homebrew scene will grow around it. There have been some advancements in that department lately. What have you gotten recently?

If this were the real Hitler, I'd be scared right now

2010-01-29T23:39:00.001-06:00

Because I pretty much agree with every word he says. Even the 4-letter ones, (cussing alert, in the English subtitles, and even I'm pretty sure in the original non-iPad related German.)

So many hopes and dreams... dashed on the craggy rocks of the announced Apple iPad

2010-01-27T23:33:00.001-06:00

After literally years of rumors - the Apple Tablet actually exists. And from this I’ve learned (once again, mind you), that reality sucks.

Let me take you, just for a moment, out of the post-Steve-Jobs-keynote euphoria, back a mere 24 hours - back when “what might have been” was still “what may soon be”. Let me remind you of what the Apple Tablet of our dreams was.

First, it was much less iPhone and much more Mac. It was supposed to run (a possibly paired down version of) Snow Leopard - not a slightly “upgraded?” version of the iPhone OS.

Secondly it had a camera - in some dreams 2! both user facing and away facing. User facing for iChat / Skype / Google Talk / etc. teleconferencing - vlogging - and everything else that we use webcams for - as well as all the DSi-style goofiness that the App Store with its billion and one iFart apps could bring us. And away facing for all the times you need a camera or camcorder. With a faster CPU, more storage (ha!), and more screen real estate, you’d think iMovie would have been right at home on the mythological Mac Tablet of yesterday.

Thirdly, it could ******ing MULTITASK! For crying out loud! Steve Jobs had the GALL to say that netbooks “just don’t cut it” and are “underpowered” and this iPad(my abilities) POS is supposed to fill that gap? BS! Every netbook for the last 2 years has had at least a 1.6 Ghz CPU, could run a full desktop OS, complete with Flash, full tilt web browsing, (a web cam, multiple USB ports, flash card slots, 120 GB or more of storage, etc.), and could ********ING DO MORE THAN ONE BLASTED THING AT A TIME. The Mac Tablet of our naive dreams could as well. Ah, the golden days of our youth - and by our youth I mean the fleeting moments before the iPad was announced - you know, a few hours ago.

Fourthly, it was 720p. Okay, maybe that high of a resolution was a bit of a stretch, maybe, but it was at least widescreen.. You know, like the iPhone, like the MacBook, like the iPod Nano, like the PSP, like every other consumer device created in the last 5 years that could display video. WIDESCREEN. Has Steve Jobs ever watched a Pixar movie that he owns? Or HDTV? Or any movie …. ever? 16:9 - 16:9 - 16:9 sixteen by bloody nine. Google it. Bing it. Freakin’ kgb it or Ask rack-a-frackin’ Jeeves about it. Why in the WORLD is this iPad thing practically square?

Fifthly, it had a name that could not be confused with a feminine hygiene product. iSlate still seems stupid to me, but you don’t get images of Kotex commercials when you hear it. When, oh when will Steve Jobs get off this **** iName kick? The name of the company is APPLE not iPod iNcorporated. Apple makes Macs. As in Macintosh - as in the Macintosh breed of apples (the fruit). This whole iNightmare needs to end. And as long as you call it the iPad - it will never be taken seriously as a computer. It’s just another iProduct a “device” as Steve Jobs is so fond of calling the iPhone/iPod Touch family of things. A device is not a computer - and it’s not almost a computer. It’s something you have that you have to sync with your computer.

Sixthly, it was a danged phone. I mean, seriously - how could they not add cellular voice to this thing? “Oh Chad,” you fanboys whine, “it’s too big to hold to your ear, stupid!” - Of course it is - but they make this thing called a BlueTooth Headset. They also make headphones with microphones in them….

Seventhly, (anyone getting annoyed with the N-thly numbering system yet? good.), all models had 3G - not just the expensive ones.

Eighthly, it had PLENTY of storage. I mean, 16GB - are you kidding me? Again, look at the netbooks that you are crapping on, Apple. You can’t buy one with as little storage as 16 GB. That’s pathetic.

Ninthly, it had expandable storage. I mean Apple finally got on the flash card reader bandwagon with their notebooks last year - you know about 5 or 8 years after every other computer maker in the world figured out this whole removable storage thing might catch on.

If you really want to know what the iTablet of yesterday’s rumors was, google ModBook - take 3/4s the price, half the thickness, 3 or 4 inches of the screen, and all of the Wacom away and add Multitouch. That was the mythological MacBook Touch.

Now, let’s look again at the reality. This quote “Magical” and “Revolutionary” end quote device - (Yes, I both typed out and “”’ed the quotes for added emphasis) - is nothing more than an enlarged iPod Touch.

Well, actually, it’s a multitask-less, camera-less, phone-less, USB-port-less, card-slot-less, Flash-plugin-less, un-expand-able, un-pocket-able, oversized, overpriced, idiotically-named iPod Touch!

Seriously, I would have preferred it if they called it the iPod Touch XL/LL - cause that’s all it is.

Oh, and they added a Bookstore. Because having the Classic app, the full library of Kindle books through the Kindle app, the full library of Nook books through the Barnes and Noble app, and tons of other ebook apps wasn’t enough. Thank Heavens that Apple was here to sell me DRM-laden electronic copies of books. There wasn’t enough ways for me to read books - Apple had to make it “cool”.

And, btw, seriously creative name for the new Apple bookstore for reading books on your iPad, (and probably iPhone or iPod Touch) - iBookstore. I bet they spent $25 million in marketing research before they came up with that one.

No… seriously, I bet they did spend millions trying to figure that out… “We need a name that piggy-backs on the success of the iPod, the iPhone, and now the new iPad - as well as the App Store and iTunes Store. But we’re not selling Apps, or Tunes… But Books…. if only there was some way to take iPod and iTunes Store and put them together with the word Books to let people know that this is a book store, not an App Store or a Music Store…. iStore for Books? iStoreBooks - no, that sounds like a storage device for books - (somebody from legal trademark that name so we can make an Apple Bookshelf someday.)… Books iStore? Store for iBooks?… dang, this is hard.”

So, no, I won’t be getting an iPad - at least not with my own money, (if someone sends me one, I’ll use it), and at least not any time soon, and not at full price, and not the first generation, (again, unless it’s used and really really cheap). Let them add a camera or two, a real, works with anything, in-and-out USB port, double or quadruple the storage, and GPS to every model - at the same or lower cost - then we’ll talk.

What I would change about Pages ‘09

2009-11-19T04:00:00.002-06:00

I know you look at my blog and you say, "That Chad W. Smith must be rollin' in it! He's bringing home the big BLOGGER money!!!" But, as hard as it may be to believe, I actually have to have a real job in order to... ya know... survive. In real life I design thing, mostly print stuff, and to do that I use a number of programs, but Pages '09 is by far the most often used app. And I've had it just about as long as it has been out, and I used Pages '08 before that.
Let me quickly state that I love Pages - as I said, I use it all the time, and I have alternatives. I have Adobe Creative Suite 4, (InDesign), MS Office 2008, (Word), MS Office 2007, (Publisher), and OpenOffice.org, etc. - but I almost aways use Pages, so it's my favorite by far - both in practice and in theory. But it is not perfect. So using my nearly a year's experience I want to share with you, (and hopefully some random Apple R&D person), how to make Pages better.

Add “Outline” Style to the text options (just like it is in iMovie ‘09). It makes no sense that an included video editing program has more text options than the not-included desktop publishing, word processing, presentation software package does. In fact, make the Outline option a universal option across all Apple software, including TextEdit.
Allow scrolling off the sides of the page - left and right - no matter the zoom level. Sometimes text boxes, images, etc. expand beyond the edges of a page - and to zoom it back to fit on the page, you have to grab the corners - but you can’t if they are off the page - but you can fix that unless you can grab the corners that aren’t on the page - but you can’t if they are off the page - but you can’t fix that................[see a pattern here? I do.]
Allow access to all the options - not just the ones you think I want to go with my selected template. I get that you are trying to help me by limiting my choice - and I understand that too many options can be frustrating and counterproductive... However, if there are 82 included “picture frames” for images and text boxes - give me the option to see all 82, not just the 11 that “match” the theme. That option can be off by default, but allow me an easy way to see them all if I want to. Same goes for any other options you might be hiding from me. (BTW, my Frames folder - Library/Application%20Support/iWork%20%2709/Frameworks/SFRendering.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Frames/ - has 82 items in it - but I've installed a few templates, so I don't know how many actually came with iWork '09.)
Make hyphenation a text box by text box option, not an entire document toggle. You can have a document-wide default, but let me override that default on whatever text box or boxes I choose.
Make columns useable in Desktop Publishing mode. How crazy is it that they are not? I mean a column on a page - not a column within a text box. If you are not sure what I mean - at least makes some kind of auto-column ruler guide thingy where I say I want 4 evenly spaced columns with .25” of space between them, and the guides show up over the whole document. Having to create my own column breaks and gaps with ruler marks and do the math to try to get them as close to even as I can is crazy. Plus - how easy are those guides to accidentally move once I get them where I want them? Which leads me to...
Make ruler guides lockable.
Make rules guides dragged-box-selectable.
Make ruler guides group-able.
Make ruler guides copy-paste-able.
Add “Select the item beneath this one” option, or some better worded version of that.
Make shadowing able to be MUCH MUCH MUCH darker so I don’t have to “layer” duplicated text boxes to get the effect I want. (This is also my only work around for the lack of an outline option - see problem #1.)
Allow me to type in the Hex code of the color I want. Again - something that should be Apple Software universal.

I hope you guys at Apple are hard at work on iWork '10 - but if you could add these to your ToDo list - that'd be great. Even better if you could make them all a Software Update for '09! Thanks!

LIVE Online Brütal Legend EVENT!!!

2009-10-01T08:20:00.004-05:00

Ormagoden, the Cremator of the Sky, the Destroyer of the Ancient world, the Lord of all things Brütal has demanded that 666 Million humans download the face meltingly awesome Demo of Brütal Legend or he will give “everyone” Swine Flu. While this may seem like a good time to panic, sell all your worldly possessions and run to the hills, fear not. Double Fine will be streaming a LIVE video “Dem-o-Thon” in support of the Demo in hopes that they can meet Ormagoden’s impossible demands and save your sinuses.
Tune in to www.brutallegend.com/demothon TODAY October 1 at 12pm PST for a LIVE broadcast from Double Fine Productions in San Francisco featuring interviews and antics with the Double Fine team. We’ll also be taking questions live from fans at www.twitter.com/brutallegend and www.facebook.com/brutallegend, giving away awesome Brütal prizes, broadcasting a message from Tim’s Swine Flu proofed bunker, conducting a special spoilers interview, giving Live Axe Lessons, and much more. Watch and interact with the Double Fine team as Drew, Emily, Lee, Colin, Erik, Brad, Levi, Tasha, Dave, Steve, Nathan, Pete, Anna, Dan and Jon take you behind the scenes of the development of Brütal Legend, covering everything from character design and animation to multiplayer, the open world and even technical development
The Brütal Legend Demo goes live TODAY October 1 for everyone on Xbox Live and PSN. You can find out what fans are saying about the demo and even add the Demo to your Xbox Live download queue instantly here if you have an Xbox Live account. Download and play this mind-destroyingly epic demo and help Double Fine Productions stave off the wrath of Ormagoden… and don’t forget the game hits shelves Rocktober 13th!

Brutal Legend Contest - One Week Left

2009-08-31T20:31:00.002-05:00

Brutal Legend is coming. Rocktober is just around the corner. Jack Black's Heavy Metal Dream/Nightmare scape brought to life on your game system of choice. Will you rock the metal, or will the metal rock you?

So there's this contest you can enter - if you are into Metal inspired artwork. And you can win an Eddie Riggs statue.

Contest Info:

Become a fan of the official Brutal Legend Facebook fan page
Post your Brutal Legend fan art onto the official Brutal Legend Facebook wall with "Fan Art Contest" somewhere in the title
5 winners will each receive a limited edition Eddie Riggs statue
Sorry to all of our international fans, this is a US only contest
Sample contest and statue image & rules/full contest details

GI Joe Rise of Cobra the Game and Movie Review

2009-08-18T19:02:00.005-05:00

YO, JOE!

I'm sorry, but every time I talk about this game, or the movie, there's just no other way to start.

http://gijoe.ea.com/

I saw GI Joe: Rise of Cobra this weekend, and it was almost 2 full hours of action. Cars flying through the air, the polar ice caps collapsing on underwater lairs... (which I totally don't understand, because ice floats... but there was steel mixed in the ice, so maybe that's it), the Eifel Tower falls down (take that France!) all kinds of awesome.

I didn't go into the movie expecting Citizen Kane, or Stop Loss, or War & Peace. I went in expecting a fun, exciting explosion filled summer blockbuster, and I got it. The movie is worth seeing - no question. There were even several twists which surprised me - not something you'd expect from an action movie based on a toy. (One of the funniest things for me was seeing "Hasbro" up on the big screen like you'd see MGM, TriStar, or Paramount....) Fans of the 80s cartoon show will appreciate it more than others - but really anyone can see this movie and have fun.

Now, on to the game. It, too, is fun for anyone who is looking for fun. I say that because you can ruin this game, this movie, or anything else, really, if you approach it with a negative attitude anyway. If you go into the movie theater expecting a thought provoking treatise on the military-industrial complex and the nature of war in a globalized geo-political culture... You're going to be disappointed. If you put the game in your system expecting to discover a new and innovative game play dynamic with ground breaking physics and AI - you too will be displeased.

But - you put the game in expecting to kill a few hours with the brain cleansing fun of blowing crap up, with the added bonus of a bit of childhood nostagila in there for the over 25 crowd - you're in luck. This is the game you are looking for.

The game play is pretty linear, and won't take forever to complete the main story. But there are side missions to explore, and 3 difficulty settings to master. There are characters to unlock, each with his or her own special attack, strengths and weaknesses. There are a ton of hidden items to find, if you are into collecting things... er, um, gathering Intel. And there is concept art, character bios, and other locked away gems to discover as you gain more and more completion of the story. Getting 100% completion and unlocking everything will take a while. Especially on the 2 higher difficult settings, which carry HEAVY penalties for dying.

You play as 2 Joes. As you progress through the story, you gain more and more Joes to pick from. You control one Joe while the computer controls the other.

I need to stop here and lodge my 2 major complaints. The first, just for context purposes, is the AI. Your "other Joe" - whichever one you are not controlling - is not very bright. It seems to me the enemy AI is several steps higher than your co-Joe's. Many times I've caught my co-Joe shooting into his (or her) own destructable cover instead of the enemy.

The second major complaint - and this by far outweighs anything else... A COMPLETE LACK OF CAMERA CONTROL!!!

This is the year 2009. It's not even the early part of 2009 - it's more than half finished. We are a few months away from entering the double digits of the 21st century. HOW HARD IS IT to understand WE NEED CAMERA CONTROL!!!?!? The first 3D third person game I ever played was Super Mario 64. This game had what has become the standard controls for almost all good 3D 3rd person games that have ever been put on a console. That control scheme is one analog stick to control the movement of your character - up for move foward, down for move backwards, left to turn to the left, right to turn to the right / the other analog stick for camera controls.... This has been the accepted - and might I add EXPECTED - control scheme for all 3D 3rd person console games that have followed it.... WHY OH WHY can't we always have that? Why can't we ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have control of the D************ camera? I hate it - hate hate HATE HATE it - when I can't control the camera in a 3D game. HATE.

H A T E.

EA - I am talking directly to you.

HATE.

Okay.... moving on....

The game is beautiful and features excellent voice acting from the actors from the film - along with other actors for other characters not featured in the feature. Although the Metal Gear esque talking head in your ear bit is a tad over done. I've never really longed for a cut scene before. But when your characters are locked down to "Why are they even letting me try to walk" speed while some off-camera voice tells you the next phase of your mission, I'd much rather have prefered to see General Hawk back in the Pit talking to the camera or something. But, eh, not a big deal I guess.

Lots of stuff to destroy. Lots of invisible walls - and sometimes I got confused on where to go because what looked like it would have been an invisible wall turned out to be just somewhere the camera would change angles on you and lead you down a completely invisible path.

You get some vehicle time, which is fun. Wouldn't be GI Joe without accessories, now would it. And you can charge up your Accelerator Suit, which basically means you get "star power" for a little while - not exactly invisible, but close enough for military work.

One thing I really appreciated was this game, for the first time I can remember in a game, actually explains why defeated enemies disappear. The nano bots eat them. :D I love it. Doesn't explain the disappearing debris for exploded buildings, though.

Overall - a fun game. Definitely worth a rent - or if you are a big GI Joe fan - a buy. You can get several hours of good old fashion BOOM BANG PISHOOOUL PHIIIISH BAAM! GI Joe fun out of it.

7 Kung Fu Grips out of 10.

And now you know... and knowing is half the battle.

GI JOE!!!

King of Fighters XII: My Review

2009-08-04T13:08:00.003-05:00

KoF XII is available now, and if you've been waiting for it, you should be playing it by now. For those unfamiliar, King of Fighters XII is the latest release in a long running 2D hand-drawn fighter series that has spanned 15 years and at least 10 home console systems, 2 of which were added with this release - the Xbox 360 and the PS3. KoF is mainly known, however, as an arcade title - at least in Japan. KoF has even had spinoffs or collections on 6 handheld systems, including the N-Gage. There was even an RPG released for the PlayStation, but it was only in Japan, where the series enjoys far more popularity than it does here in the States. And there is a film in the works as well.

That being said, despite its decade and a half of history, plethora of spin-offs and availability on many consoles - this is my first real contact with the series.

For fans of the series - this is a must have. Other than a Virtual Console release of KoF '94 on the Wii last year, this is the first time the series has been brought to the next gen consoles. (Side note - when do we get to stop calling them "Next Gen Systems" - they are most definitely no longer "next" they are current and have been for years.) Available on both the Xbox 360 and the PS3, King of Fighters XII is a rebuild of the franchise. Having more than 15 years of games to deal with, the number of characters has grown quite large, on XII, only 22 fighters are available. Also, since this is the era of HDTVs and uber-powerful consoles, all the characters were redrawn and re-rendered for the series, and they look amazing. If you are a fan of the anime style, or 2D drawn fighting games, you'll love the way this game looks.

I can't really speak too knowledgably about the fighting mechanics. I've never been good at fighters and always end up just frantically button mashing until the other guy dies, or I do. But there are special moves, and meters, and combos... just like you would expect.

What I can talk about is the play modes. There are basically 3 ways to play, against other humans online*, against other humans on your same console, or against the computer. There is a bit of a challenge for a non-fighter like me, but even I win more than Il lose against the AI. There's also a Practice mode - but it's mostly unneeded.

*The online is screwed up at the moment, SNK Playmore is working on a patch to fix the problems, and has said that it's best to only play one on one with no spectators until the problem is fixed - see the press release below. these problems, and the stop-gap solution, render the much-hyped "clan" feature as well as the series' signature 3-on-3 fighting useless.

What's lacking is a story mode. I have no idea who these characters are, or why they are fighting. For a fan of the series, this may not be a mystery, but for newbies like me, I have no connection to any of these people, and this game doesn't offer me any way to get one. There are also no boss battles - like Goro or Shang Tsung from the Mortal Combat series. It just seems like there should be so much more to a game with 15 years of content to choose from.

I can't help but compare it to the recent release of Marvel vs Capcom 2 as downloadable content for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3. MvC2 is just a port of a Dreamcast game with a wider view of the battlefield for HDTV screens. But even this old title has more to offer than KoF XII. MvC2 has over 50 characters, more than twice as many as KoF XII. It also offers online play, which is working from what I read, and does 3 on 3 battles, just like KoF XII. MvC2 has the added benefit of most people being familiar with at least some of the characters. You may or may not recognize Mega Man's sister Roll - but you probably know Spiderman. This doesn't help explain why they are fighting each other, (at least DC vs. Mortal Kombat explained that), but it does help you have some idea what the character's strengths and weakeness are, and maybe even what their special moves would be. Another huge benefit of MvC2 over KoF XII is the price - the Downloadable content price is only $15, compared to KoF XII's full retail box price of $59.99.

Bottom line - if you are a fan of the series, you probably already have KoF XII or were planning on getting it before you read this, and my words wouldn't sway you one way or the other. If you are just a fan of 2D fighters and a 360 or PS3 owner, I'd suggest buying the cheaper, more robust, and more convenient CvM2 download. If you're hard drive is full or non-existant (360 Arcade owners), you already own CvM2, and/or you just really really love 2D fighters and can't get enough of them, add this one to your collection.

My score - as is, 2 out of 5, once they get the online problems fixed, 3 out of 5. There just wasn't enough here to get me excited about this game. I hope KoF 13 has more characters, a story mode, some boss battles, and more game play options.

================ Press Release ================

Dear King of Fighters XII fans,

This week’s launch of THE KING OF FIGHTERS XII represents the culmination of four years of hard work to deliver a rebirth for the KOF franchise, but several key issues have arisen since its release that must be addressed. Rest assured that SNK PLAYMORE is fully committed to supporting the King of Fighters XII community by working to further improve the gameplay experience.

We’re pleased to announce that the next software update will address the animation glitch that users have encountered in which Elisabeth’s character sprite becomes “frozen” for the duration of the round when the character Raiden performs a specific move on her.

While software update solutions are being devised, we can offer some tips to those users who are experiencing exceptionally poor online performance. First, we suggest limiting the number of players in a room to two, as the addition of a spectator with a slow connection can currently create latency for all users in the room. Also, if your Internet connection is configured behind a firewall using NAT Type 3, we recommend reconfiguring your setup to utilize NAT Type 1 (for PS3) or an “open” setting (for Xbox 360).

Also, we’d like to take this opportunity to explain one feature of the Xbox 360 version. When playing online with the Xbox 360 version of KOF XII, players who continually battle the same opponent in multiple Ranked Matches in the same lobby will not receive additional True Skill Rank Points. This is an intentional decision to keep players from abusing the system to reap massive rewards by preying on one player. If you want to earn True Skill Rank Points, you must make a new room or leave simply leave the room and come back.

-SNK Playmore

Official Site – www.kingoffighters12.com
Asset Page – www.rocketxl.com/kof12/assets/media.html
Interactive App – www.kingoffighters12.com/widget

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Game

2009-07-30T11:12:00.004-05:00

YO JOE!

The movie looks to be incredible, but so does the game. A game based on a movie based on a cartoon series based on a line of toys based on the never ending fascination with warriors and the awesome stuff they use to kill other warriors... Well, let's not get too meta. The key thing here is, you get to blow crap up, and relive your childhood at the same time, all in what is shaping up to be an awesome game.

The game comes out in just a few days, 8-4-09, for all the major systems, 360, PS3, Wii, and even the DS. I can't wait to play it.

King of Fighters XII - KOF 12 is out today

2009-07-28T11:51:00.004-05:00

Hey KOF XII Fans! The time has finally come to grab your copy of The King of Fighters XII now available in retail stores nationwide.

Ignition Entertainment

www.ignitionusa.com
www.twitter.com/ignitionUSA
www.facebook.com/kingoffighters12
www.twitter.com/KOF12
www.kingoffighters12.com

Official Google Blog: Google Apps is out of beta (yes, really)

2009-07-10T15:51:00.000-05:00

Official Google Blog: Google Apps is out of beta (yes, really)

FINALLY! I've been using Gmail since Sat, Jun 19, 2004 at 12:55 AM. (I still have my very first "Gmail is different. Here's what you need to know" welcome letter - that's how I know the exact time.) And it's never needed the "Beta" label as far as I was concerned. But for the last 5 years, the little beta tag has been on Gmail and every Google app released since then. But no longer. A 5 year beta cycle.... sounds like Longhorn. :)

Sacred 2 Hands on review

2009-07-10T06:50:00.001-05:00

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is a epic sized game full of beautiful scenery, highly detailed characters, lots of quests, and tons of armor and gear to upgrade and collect. You can loose yourself for hours talking to everyone, reading every sign and gravestone, opening every door, jar, and chest. Truly a lot of work, time, creativity, and effort went into this game. The character models are gorgeous and the maps are huge! Nearly every terrain type you can imagine is here and several you didn't think of - and since I haven't explored every nook and cranny - there is sure to be more than I have seen. People who like WoW, Everquest, etc. will absolutely love this game. It is very much like a single player MMORPG - I know those are normally called just RPGs - but this for hard core RPG players - you know the difference. It's much more like WoW than Final Fantasy.
There are a few problems with the game. The character models, as I said, are highly detailed and very well done - but the camera angle is usually so dang far away, you can't really tell. It's only when you are able to "trap" the camera next to a wall or something that you get to see what your character - or your enemies, really look like.
Also, there are a few bugs... Sometimes, especially in a tightly packed graveyard, when you scan the area, you get error messages instead of the text of the tombstones. It's like the system is not able to find the files fast enough or something. Also, there are so many side quests, you can easily accept 10 in the first 20 minutes of the game, that you forget what you are supposed to be doing - and there is often precious little in the way of clues showing you which way to go to accomplish them. And very few of them have anything to do with your overall quest to either restore or take over the t-energy which controls the land.
The equipment system is kind of confusing, too. You often end up with equipment that you can't use, or can't use yet. And even telling the system which item you want to equip is confusing. For example, I wanted to switch to another weapon, so I unequipped my sword, and tried to pick another weapon. Of the 7 weapons I was carrying at the time, I wasn't able to equip *any* of them - including the one I just unequipped. That's either a bug, or the system is too confusing and unexplained to be usable.
One thing that really drove me crazy, too - the character creator. There are six classes. Each class has a total of 2 hair styles, and maybe 6 different colors of hair. So there are a grand total of 72 ways your character can possibly look. You can't even pick your gender. If you are a Sepharim - an Angel - you have to be a girl. Not to be overly picky - but the only angel names in the bible are male - Michael, Gabriel, Lucifer.... I'm not saying there are not girl angels, I'm just saying there are definitely male ones. Same thing for the other classes - three of them are male, three of them are female. Makes sense to me that these creatures have to reproduce somehow - and since they are obviously not asexual - we should be able to pick our gender as well as our race. Also, some more variety in the way the characters look would be awesome. There's little point to letting me "Customize" my character if the choices are so incredibly limited. It would have been better to just let us pick between 6 static characters. That would at least explain the lack of choice.
If you can get used to the wonky camera and a few bugs, can navigate unending sidequests and huge terrains, and can master the labyrinth equipment system - then you can spend hours and hours enjoying a beautiful, funny, exciting game. If you can't - skip this title.
For me, Sacred 2 gets a 7 out of 10. The makers know how to tell a good story, how to design beautiful characters and landscapes, how to come up with scores of quests, equipments, and lands - but they had a few problems translating that into a playable game. Heavy on the creative excellence, lighter on the technical excellence.

Why I still won't be getting an iPhone

2009-06-08T13:59:00.003-05:00

A year ago, when the first upgrade to the iPhone was released, (iPhone 3G), I posted 7 Reasons Why I Won't Be Buying An iPhone.

I'll summarize them here:

The 2-year contract.
There are better phones. (Here I talked about non-swappable battery, non-swappable SIM, no voice dialing, no MMS, no tethering.)
There are better pocketable internet devices. (No external storage, no copy & paste, no physical keyboard, no Flash, low-res screen.)
There are better media players. (Low-res screen, again, no stereo speakers)
There are better smartphones. (Keyboard again - copy and paste.)
There are better media phones. (See 4 + 2)
There are better GPS devices. (No turn-by-turn - not "true" GPS - no voice directions.)

Well, the 3Gs has been announced now, and some of my complaints have been addressed. Storage has been increased - up to 32GB is available, MMS has been added, turn-by-turn voice directions from someone who knows GPS devices (TomTom), Cut, Copy, & Paste is available throughout the device, Voice dialing - and voice commands - are built-in, non-jailbroken tethering is also possible in the new iPhone - but it's up to at&t to make that happen, and the landscape keyboard for the whole OS does a lot to answer my complaints against the lack of a physical keyboard.

Plus, for the better part of 2009, I've had an iPod Touch to get me used to and familiar with the power that these little guys offer. So, let's revisit the list.

The 2-year contract. I'll come back to this one.
~~There are better phones.~~ While I can't say for certain the iPhone is the best phone in the world - most of my previous issues have been addressed. The Palm Pre comes to mind as a potentially "better phone" - and I still want easy, non-warranty-voiding access to the battery and sim card. But I'll scratch this item off the list... for now.
There are better pocketable internet devices. I'm still waiting for the Nokia N900 Internet Tablet and/or the Pandora vaporware handheld. And there are other devices like the UMID and a few of the smaller, cheaper UMPCs. But it's hard to ignore the popularity and ease of use of the iPhone. I'm keeping this one in the "Valid Arguements" list.
There are better media players. I'm not even close to being an iTunes fan. I'd rather load my PMP like an external hard drive. Syncing through some draconian propritary software is just plain stupid. That's why there is no music or video on my iPod Touch. Give me a $50 iClone that I can load with any and all of my content from any source at all anyday.
~~There are better smartphones.~~ Again, Palm Pre's multi-tasking kick's the iPhone's butt. Plus there's Andriod and BlackBerry.... But the new iPhone has business-class encryption and other pro-professional features.... It's too close to call, so I'll take it off the list.
~~There are better media phones.~~ I'd say any of Nokia's media phones are better. At least easier to sync (bleh - that word) and just as good in play back, etc. But Nokia's phones are several times more expensive - at least up front. I'll take it off the list to please the kool aid drinking fanboys.
~~There are better GPS devices.~~ Let me say first that, yes, there are still better GPS devices. But assuming the new iPhone GPS works as advertised, I'd say that for a phone, this works more than good enough in the GPS department. Plus, the "Where's my iPhone" feature is just too cool for words. Scratch another item off the list.

Really, you could take off the whole list at this point, I'm pretty much sold that the iPhone 3Gs + iPhone OS 3.0 = the best currently available pocket device there is. Gaming, high quality video recording, voice controls, a compass, level, GPS, WiFi, BT, 3G, PMP... and I hear that it makes phone calls, too. :) It's really impossible to find anything better.

The only thing that's holding me back is item #1 - the 2-year contract. I'm too cheap (poor, whatever you want to call it) to pay $100 a month for phone service. If that wasn't an issue - I'd have an iPhone 3Gs on Day One. Hope your financial situation is better than mine so you can get one.

More gaming news! KOF12 site live - Fan Art contest

2009-05-13T21:04:00.002-05:00

King of Fighters 12's official site is now live - www.kingoffighters12.com - features bloodlines (visual history of KOF), character bios, new trailers, as well as a forum for discussing all things KOF.

They are also running a Fan Art Contest, which runs from now to July 31. Grand prize is $1000! Other prizes include game systems, games, and limited-edition figurines. Check out the Fan Art section for more details and to see the current submissions.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is Here

2009-05-13T20:54:00.003-05:00

After months of anticipation, Sacred 2 is here. Pick up your copy today. Mine is on the way. I'll let you know how it stands up to the hype when I get it and get a chance to play it. Order it now a Walmart.com, Amazon.com, or where ever you buy your games. Or even directly from the game website Sacred2.com PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.

Announcing the netXbook

2009-05-10T19:28:00.005-05:00

I'm simplifying my netXbook pricing. A netXbook is a netbook that runs OS X, and/or other operating systems. I'm offering 3 levels of hardware with 3 options of operating systems. If what you need is more precise than this, or if you have your own MSI Wind or derivative that you want me to Mac-ify, please see my more detailed post and/or contact me.

The netXbook is on the left. The MacBook is the one on the right.

netXbook Dual (Mac OS X 10.5 and Windows XP SP3)

Entry Model - 1.6GHz, 1GB, 120GB, WiFi G, 3-Cell battery, 3xUSB 2.0, 1.3MP Webcam
$399
Midrange - 1.6GHz, 2GB, 160GB, WiFi N, 6-Cell, 3xUSB 2.0, 1.3MP Webcam, Bluetooth
$499
Powerhouse - 1.6GHz, 2GB, 320GB, WiFi N, 9-Cell, 3xUSB 2.0, 1.3MP Webcam, Bluetooth
$599

netXbook Triple (Mac OS X 10.5, Windows XP SP3, Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04)

Entry Model - 1.6GHz, 1GB, 120GB, WiFi G, 3-Cell battery, 3xUSB 2.0, 1.3MP Webcam
$429
Midrange - 1.6GHz, 2GB, 160GB, WiFi N, 6-Cell, 3xUSB 2.0, 1.3MP Webcam, Bluetooth
$529
Powerhouse - 1.6GHz, 2GB, 320GB, WiFi N, 9-Cell, 3xUSB 2.0, 1.3MP Webcam, Bluetooth
$629

netXbook Mono (Mac OS X 10.5)

Entry Model - 1.6GHz, 1GB, 120GB, WiFi G, 3-Cell battery, 3xUSB 2.0, 1.3MP Webcam
$379
Midrange - 1.6GHz, 2GB, 160GB, WiFi N, 6-Cell, 3xUSB 2.0, 1.3MP Webcam, Bluetooth
$479
Powerhouse - 1.6GHz, 2GB, 320GB, WiFi N, 9-Cell, 3xUSB 2.0, 1.3MP Webcam, Bluetooth
$579

Add Touchscreen to any model for $199.
Add External USB DVD-DL Burner Drive for $79.

Shipping on anything - even if you order 57 complete netXbooks - $10 to the US, $25 Worldwide

All payments will be made by PayPal - but email me first to set up the order, (my email address is different from my paypal account email.)

It takes some time for me to do this - especially if I need to order parts - so please allow up to 3 weeks for me to do it.

Any questions at all, please email me, I'll be glad to answer any questions you have. Thanks!

All netXbooks are MSI Wind U100s (or rebranded derivatives). I am in no way associated with Apple. Apple does not produce the netXbook.

King of Fighters XII

2009-05-06T00:15:00.002-05:00

Talk about being late to the party. I feel like a casual lamer when there's a series of games that has got to the DOZENTH installment, and I've yet to play it. But such is the case with the long running 2D fighter franchise "King of Fighters" - and their latest sequel, the appriorpriately named "King of Fighters XII".

The game, which is scheduled for release July 7, is running a contest to pic the actual cover art for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game.

Vote for the 360 cover
Vote for the PS3 cover

BTW, here are the two you should vote for.

Option One for the 360
Option Two for the PS3

Ok, you can vote for whichever you want, but, seriously, these are the best ones.

Any of you guys fans of the KoF series?

Let me make you an OS X netbook!

2009-04-25T14:52:00.007-05:00

If you read my blog, you know that I love me some Hackintosh Netbooks. Well, I've made and sold two of them already, and my third MSI Wind is on its way to my door. So I thought I'd start taking requests via my blog. When I get the next MSI Wind - I plan on making a YouTube video and offering to make them on there as well.

How this works.

There are two basic ways you can get your very own "MacBook Nano". (Just a note for clarity's sake - there is no official Apple product called "MacBook Nano" - that's just the name that I and others have used for a Netbook mini-laptop running OS X.)

You supply the hardware - I supply the work and software
You tell me what you want, and I do it all

So far, I've only done this on MSI Winds - and from my research and experience - they really are the best bet. First I recommend using a hard drive and not an SSD. It's merely the practical matter that if you installed Windows and Mac on a 8 GB flash drive, you won't have much room for anything else, like applications and files.

Also, you want something that has similar features to a real Apple MacBook. A built-in Webcam, WiFi-N, BlueTooth, ethernet, and, and nice slick appearence help make your netbook more Mac-like. Also, Mac OS X - especially "Hackintosh OSX86" - seems to use more power than Windows. So, a powerful battery is also important.

No, you're not seeing double. The MacBook is the one on the right.

It's for all these reasons that I picked the MSI Wind - spacious 160 GB Hard Drive, one of the best prices on netbooks, 6-Cell battery, WiFi-N, Bluetooth, etc., and the only thing that doesn't work under OS X is the mic port and headphone jack (the built-in mic, built-in stereo speakers, or USB/Bluetooth options all work).

Now, why do you want this - and what will you be able to do with this?

With a dual-booting netbook, you're basically looking at carrying two fully functioning computers that you can carry with you anywhere. Run Office 2007 on the same computer as iLife and iWork '09. Use iMovie to make vlogs and podcasts on the road. Use Skype on Mac for screensharing, video chat, and cheap mobile phone calls from free WiFi hotspots. And so much more.

Options and Pricing

OK - you're interested. But now comes the hard question - how much? I'll break down the options in a second, but I want you to know you can have a full featured dual booting MSI Wind for under $500 - and that's with me doing all the work and shopping for you. If you do your own "legwork" and shop around for the hardware yourself - you might be able to go for less than that.

Here's the breakdown.

Ready Made Options

Base - MSI Wind u100 with 1.6Ghz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB RAM, 3-Cell Battery, 120GB HD, WiFi G, 3x USB 2.0 ports, VGA out, SDHC Card Reader, running Genuine MS Windows XP Home SP 3 - $339
Upgrade to 2GB RAM - $35
Upgrade to 320GB 7200RPM HDD - $100
Upgrade to 500GB 5400RPM HDD - $125
Upgrade to 500GB 7200RPM HDD - $175
Upgrade to a 6-Cell Battery - $45
Upgrade to a 9-Cell Battery - $110
Upgrade Package A - 2GB RAM, 6-Cell Battery, BlueTooth 2.1, WiFi N, 160GB HD - $60
Upgrade Package B - 2GB RAM, 6-Cell Battery, BlueTooth 2.1, WiFi N, 320GB 7200RPM HD - $145
Upgrade Package C - 2GB RAM, 9-Cell Battery, BlueTooth 2.1, WiFi N, 500GB 7200RPM HD - $250
Upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5.6 (not dual-boot, Mac Only) - $75
Upgrade to Mac OS X & Windows XP (Dual-Boot) - $100
Upgrade to Linux (no Windows) - $25
Upgrade to Mac OS X & Linux (Dual-Boot) - $100
Upgrade to Triple Boot (Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows) - $125
Software Package A - Offices - MS Office Enterprise 2007 (Windows) & MS Office 2008 (Mac) - $35
Software Package B - iApps - iWork '09 & iLife '09 - $35
Add External USB CD-ROM Drive - $40
Add External USB CD Burner Drive - $50
Add External USB DVD-ROM Drive - $65
Add External USB DVD-DL Burner Drive - $85
Upgrade to TOUCHSCREEN - $200

You supply the Netbook

OS X (not dual-boot) - $75
OS X & Windows (dual-boot) - $100
Linux - $25
OS X & Linux (dual-boot) - $100
OS X, Linux, & Windows XP (triple-boot) - $125
Installing user-supplied RAM - $15
2GB of RAM - $35
Note - Any Installation of Hard Drives Requires the Installation of one or more of the above listed Operating Systems - otherwise the hard drive will be left blank!
Installing user-supplied hard drive (any capacity / RPM) - $35 + OS
160GB 5400RPM HDD - $85 + OS
320GB 7200RPM HDD - $115 + OS
500GB 5400RPM HDD - $145 + OS
500GB 7200RPM HDD - $185 + OS
Note - If you just want a new battery - nothing else, there's no need to send me your computer
6-Cell Battery - $75
9-Cell Battery - $110
External USB CD-ROM Drive - $40
External USB CD Burner Drive - $50
External USB DVD-ROM Drive - $65
External USB DVD-DL Burner Drive - $85
Software Package A - Offices - MS Office Enterprise 2007 (Windows) & MS Office 2008 (Mac) - $35
Software Package B - iApps - iWork '09 & iLife '09 - $35
TOUCHSCREEN - $200

Shipping on anything - even if you order 57 complete netbooks - $10 to the US, $25 Worldwide

All payments will be made by PayPal - but email me first to set up the order, (my email address is different from my paypal account email.)

It takes some time for me to do this - especially if I need to order parts - so please allow up to 3 weeks for me to do it.

Prices as quoted are for an MSI Wind. If you want me to upgrade another brand of netbook, please contact me first for options. Some are easier to upgrade than others - so pricing will vary.

If you are concerned about me running off with your money - I can set up a private ebay Buy-it-Now auction, and PayPal will be protect your purchase - or we can work something out with a down payment for me to start, and then you pay the rest when I ready to ship it. I'm not about to throw away my online rep for a couple hundred dollars.

So, there you have it. Let's get you the Mac-running netbook Apple refuses to make.

New Sacred 2 Video

2009-04-13T18:50:00.002-05:00

Sacred 2 is coming out on the 360 and PS3 soon. You can see my initial thoughts here.

Here's a trailer for the 360 version.

Sacred 2 is an epic action RPG featuring 2 massive campaigns, 6 character classes, co-op and competitive modes for hours and hours of play and replay. It's a beautiful looking and sounding game, with true HD graphics and a rocking heavy metal soundtrack.

I can't wait to play it myself.

Check the specs.

ESRB Rating: M for Blood and Gore, Violence
Genre: RPG
Also Available On: PC, PS3, XBOX 360
Release Date: May 12, 2009
MSRP: $59.99

What do the Japanese have against natural hair?

2009-04-05T23:00:00.012-05:00

If the above pictures frighten you, make you gag, or make you laugh at your perceived stupidity of the artist - you will not like Lux-Pain.

Lux-Pain is a game that was just released for the Nintendo DS - at least in America. It's been out for a while in Japan and other countries. It's really less of a game and more of an interactive manga. Again - if you're not sure what a manga is, this is not for you. A Manga is a Japanese style graphic novel - similiar to a comic book, but with vastly different subject matter. Not usually anyone in a cape and tights - at least not the kind that Superman wears.

This particular story revolves around the supernatural - namely a metaphysical infection of "worms" that are the embodiment of the worst part of a person's personality. Torture of animals, suicide, hatred, self-loathing, all of these things are visualized as bumpy yellow blobs laying just beneath the surface of various characters you meet, (most of which have hair colors that are not found in nature).

Before I explain the game play - I want to say that the game does *not* explain the game play. There is no tutorial level - no intro walk through - and very little in the way of on-screen instructions. Sure, you could read the instruction booklet - but who does that? It's a little frustrating - but the game play is very simple so there isn't much instruction needed, which begs the question why the game developers couldn't be bothered to include the minuscule instructions it would take to remove a ton of frustration from your first few minutes with the game.

Basically, there is story mode, which take up much of the game time. You click through screens and screens of text, occasionally (very occasionally), making a choice on what to say in response. Then you enter "Sigma Mode" which is the main character's supernatural power, where you have to find and remove these worms. You scribble frantically on the touchscreen trying to reveal these worms, then keep your stylus on the worms until they disappear. There's a time limit, and if you fail to find and remove all the worms in time - it's game over. So save often.

That's it. Oh, and there's a map screen. And for some reason, you put the worms back in the people to see what evil thoughts they held.

As a game goes - it pretty much sucks. No instructions - and what little game play there is, is stupid. Scribbling on the screen to find evil spiritual worms that you end up putting back into the person? What? Ridiculus.

As an interactive manga, it's hard for me to judge - because I'm not a fan. I'm not anti-manga, like many of my fellow Americans. But it's not something I'm into. The story is dark, and creepy. In fact, the story tells you that it is creepy, which I thought was funny. I mean, if the story was creepy then I wouldn't need to be told. Which is even more ironic, since they feel it necessary to tell me that I should feel creeped out, but not how to play the game!

It seems like it was translated twice, once for the typed out words on screen - and once for the voice actors. That takes away from the quality of the game - since so much of the game is based on the script.

The music is ok. The graphics are similiar to those of other manga based games (Phoenix Wright, Trauma Center, etc.) - All 2D graphics that do no move. They are well "drawn" - but the lack of movement really sucks. The only thing that moves are those yellow blobs. And the words of the evil thoughts once they are released.

Overall - I don't recommend this game. Unless you are really, really into anime, manga, etc. - in which case you probably speak Japanese and should get the import so the script is what it was meant to be.

Happy April Fool's

2009-04-02T01:09:00.003-05:00

I'm not ditching Mac. My last post was (partially) an April Fool's joke. I did have all those problems with my MacBook - but it's not enough to get me to switch.

I sick of Mac - Give me Vista.

2009-04-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

I've had it. Mac has screwed me for the last time. I can't get it to stop crashing. And the constant stream of software updates! OMG. This is the most unstable piece of crap software I've ever been forced to deal with.

Look - last week my computer just freaking stopped. It just STOPPED. And I couldn't get it back again. People complain about the Windows "Blue Screen of Death" - well Apple has one too, apparently. My computer locked up - Force Quit wouldn't even show up, so I had to do a "hard stop" by holding the power button down until the screen went black. Then I restarted. Stupid gray screen - stupid darker gray apple - stupider spinning gear thing - then the blue screen.... waiting, waiting - oh, there's a cursor on the screen. waiting... The trackpad moves the cursor... waiting.... nothing happening here. just the dumb solid blue screen with the cursor.

Hard restart - Blue screen. Reset PRAM - blue screen. Unplug everything - yank the battery out - hold the power button down for 30 seconds - put the battery back in - power up - blue screen. Reset the PRAM again - blue screen. Dig out the install disc for Mac OS X - boot from the DVD (which takes forever) - English, stupid, I want to run this in English, (that should be the default for all American Macs, don'cha think? Which a small drop down menu for other languages just in case - don't make me pick English out of a list every time I restart this disc!). Disc utility, repair permissions (wtfever that means).... tons of issues show up in the 15 minutes that takes - repair disc - 2 minsicule issues show up that apparently killed my hard drive. Actually I think it was only one issue - there was one directory less than the computer expected - and one file more than it expected - so I'm guessing one of those got mislabeled.

Select the start-up disc - restart.

...

Blue screen - yup.

2 days - 4 calls to Applecare - 2 "archive and installs" later - I can finally log in. But *NONE* of my programs work. - And I can't even run a Time Machine back-up to save my files before I do a complete wipe and install.

Mac OS X --- listen carefully --- COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY SUCKS @^&%*@&

So - my MacBook is now for sale. I'll be buying a much cheaper - much more stable - Vista powered laptop ASAP.

Make me an offer. I'm DONE with Mac. I'll even throw in my crippled locked-down iPod Touch. I'm buying a Zune.

ABCFamily SUCKS!

2009-03-16T21:33:00.002-05:00

I'm done with ABCFamily - for good.

They had a show called Kyle XY. It was a good show with a weird Sci-Fi primmace. Without getting too involved in the plot, it was a classic story of an intelligent outsider who is seeing our world for the first time. Think English-fluent alien, super-IQ baby, Google-powered Robot who discovers beuaty and emotion and love for the first time. That type of thing.

Anyway, with any good story, there was drama, which means conflict. In this case, super-secret science organization. Think the Skulls meets the Masons meets Mr. Burns and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Secret super scientists try to play god, we get our thoughtful idiot savant superhero, and good wholesome TV insues....

Well, it was a bit complicated, and it never had the backing it needed to get good ratings... Plus, it was on ABCFamily. Name one ABCFamily show... At all... (Besides the one I'm talking about, if you can even remember the name of it.)

Go ahead, I'll wait......

....

...

You googled, didn't you? Admit it. Well, if you were able to come up with one, I'll wager it's either a new show within the last 2 years, a rerun of a show that started on another network, or it's off the air.

My point is, Kyle was doomed from the start. If it had been on SciFi (or Syfy as they are stupidly changing their name to), it would have at least stood a chance. USA could have made it work.

So the show is going off the air. And ABCFamily did one decent thing, they let us know that. They called the last 2 months or so of shows "The Final Episodes"... So they knew it was coming. I know very little about television production, so I can't say if the cast / writers / etc. had any advanced notice at all or not.

Maybe I just gave away why I'm pissed.

On tonight's episode the so-called "Series Finale" there was ABSOLUTELY NO CLOSURE.

If you watch the show and missed this episode stop reading now. Or not, I mean, how can they be spoilers if you don't ever get to know the outcome?

It's not like some ironic, dramatic, clever ending like the Saparnos where they end in midsentence. It's like there was a "To be continued" only... not.

Actually, it's more like they went to commerical break with about 5 more minutes of programming and they just rolled credits and went home.

So many unanswered questions. So STUPID of a plot twist to end the show on. Dramatic tension in no less than 5 subplots - and NO ANSWERS AT ALL.

Let me give you a list of unresolved things.

Main character is in a love triangle that just had the gauntlet thrown down on
Supporting character just finds out his college extracircular was using him to make an army of superclones
Supporting character's love-of-his-life moves to Cleveland (Yes, *THAT* Cleveland) and they just figure out this crazy thing called "The Internet" can keep their love alive [keep in mind, they met in an online video game, and are both teenagers who text, cell phone, email, chat, and web surf like professionals]
Super Secret Science Baddies (may or may not have) had their army of superclones destroyed by bacteria
Main character finds out that the not-so-trustworthy friendly face of the Super Secret Scientists (who, killed the mother / clone-donor of one of the corners of the aforementioned love triangle) May or May Not be his BROTHER (dum-dum-DUMMMMMM!)
Said maybe-brother is currently threatening to torture and kill everyone in the Main Character's life to get his cooperation the Super Clone Army's production
Said maybe-brother is currently (when they go to commerical and never ever come back) being held OFF THE GROUND, BY THE THROAT by the Main Character when he drops the "We's got the same MOMMY!" bomb
The 2 female points of the love triangle (who, of course, hate each other) have just formed the slightest of bonds, because they save each other's lives in the quest to end the Clone Army - protect Kyle's origin secret - and are current in danger finding this info

Will Kyle kill his brother?
Is it really Kyle's brother?
Did they stop the Clones?
Is the Society dead?
Will Kyle choose the girl of his dreams, or the girl that's basically like a clone-sister to him?
Do the girl's escape?
What happened to Kyle's sister's mom-clone's body?
Do cell phones work in Cleveland?
Where is Kyle's adoptive family?
Does college boy get the much-needed extra-credit for building those clone machines he helped (possibly helped) Kyle destroy?
Does Decland score with the blonde college chick?
Where the hell is neighbor dream-girl's parents?
Why didn't the dynamic duo of potential girlfriends JUST STEAL THE LAPTOP instead of going through a detailed how-to of "ghosting" the IP address?
Why didn't they just take the laptop after they got caught and bonked the bad guy over the head... twice?
How does a clone have a mommy and a daddy?
If a clone *did* have a mom and dad, if he's never seen his so-called mom, why would it matter if the bad guy was his half brother or not?
WHAT THE HELL WAS ABCFAMILY THINKING?

If you're going to just drop a freakin' show - just drop it. Don't build it up like you are giving the fans what they want and then just cut to commerical and never come back.

It's insane. I'm never going to let myself get invested in an ABCFamily show ever again.

Kyle, I don't blame you - or your writers. I'm sure you tried to answer as many questions as you could. If you had been given just one more show, or maybe even a hastily contrived extra 5 minutes, you could have come to some sort of conclusion, or at least let us know that you weren't given enough time to come to a conclusion. But having the ultra-nice clone holding a possible brother by the neck and then going dark... It's just not good.

What I'm *REALLY HOPING* is one of 3 things.

The program director f'ed up royal tonight and skipped a segment of the show somehow - the last one - one that answers some questions.
I f'ed up royal tonight and this is the next to the last show, or the season finale and not the series finale. (although I'm sure the last one isn't true - plus today was a Kyle marathon on ABCFamily, and it went to a different show after the neck thing.)
Kyle XY Colon The Movie Film For Theaters And DVD And BitTorrent is coming soon....

But... other than option 1 - I really doubt it.

ABCFamily - you suck. stop being on TV. Now.

GrandCentral is dead. Long Live Google Voice!

2009-03-12T10:30:00.000-05:00

I've been a GrandCentral user for a long time. From before it was acquired by Google. Since Google got it a while back, they haven't done much with it, (except shut down the invites). But now, GrandCentral is becoming Google Voice. It looks like they haven't forgot about it, they've been working hard to improve it. And once my account gets upgraded, I'll let you know what I think.

iCan spell Mac related brand names. Why can't you?

2009-03-05T19:14:00.004-06:00

Why do people not know how to type anything related to Apple?

It's Mac - short for Macintosh - not MAC - there is never any reason to ever all-caps the word Mac in association with computers made by Apple. (Unless you are yelling - or referring to the MAC address of a Mac.) Macintosh is a type of an apple, like a Red Delicious or a Granny Smith. It's not an abbreviation or a acronym. It doesn't need to be all caps. But the M is always capitalized.
It's a lowercase i followed immediately by a capital letter starting the rest of the word. No space, no dash, no space dash space, nothing. Lowercase i then the rest of the word. Never - ever - a capital i . Not even when starting a sentence. It's a brand name - that's how it is spelled. Sorry if you don't like it. And there are no dashes in any name of anything product currently being made by Apple. I can't think of one that ever did have a dash Examples

iMac
iPhone
iWeb
iLife
iWork
iPod
iTunes
iPhoto
iDVD
iBook
iMovie

There's no such thing as an iTouch - (at least not from Apple). It's an iPod Touch. If you can bother to say the middle syllable or type the 3 letters and a space that it takes to properly say the word, don't be surprised when I don't bother to take you seriously.
It's OS X - which stands for Operating System 10 (Roman Numeral- 10 = X) And it's pronounced Oh Ess Ten - not Oh Ess Ex or Oss Ex or Oss Ten.

(I often screw up and say Oh Ess Ex. That doesn't bother me as much as the I-pod and MAC typing issues. I just thought I'd mention it while on the subject.)

The first iMac was released in 1998. The first iBook was released in 1999. iTunes was released in 2000. The iPod came out in 2001. You've had over 10 years to get used to the iSpelling format. Please learn how to use it. Thanks!

If only I had 80 hours of solid free time....

2009-03-04T15:02:00.004-06:00

The source of all magic, indeed - the source of all life, was given to the watch care of mortals. Quickly, pride, greed, and the lust for power has ensnared the the world in war. As the various factions, clans, and races grasp at the power only immortals should have - the source of life becomes increasingly unstable, and becomes a source of deformity, destruction, and death.

Will you help restore order, peace, and life to Arcania? Or will you take advantage of the chaos for your own profit? Will you grasp for control of the power yourself? Or will you return the power to the immortals? The choice is up to you.

It's a game called Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. And it looks awesome! I haven't played the original game, Sacred - but from the screenshots I've seen and the stories I've read - this game should be incredible. It's coming out for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. (I think it's already out for Windows PCs.) Check out the characters below. Aren't they incredible looking?

If you are interested - there is an ongoing topic on IGN about the game. “Whats your favorite Sacred 2 screenshot or vid so far?”

My Web 2.0 Fake Album Cover

2009-03-01T15:33:00.004-06:00

Going through the steps of this is half the fun. Major hat-tip to @Chris Rowe for spreading this meme. Instructions are his. I found it though spinchange.

Go to "wikipedia." Hit “Random” or click en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random. The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
Go to "Random quotations" or click www.quotationspage.com/random.php3. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days. Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
Use an Image Editor (MS Paint, Photoshop, GIMP, or similar) to put it all together.

Here's mine, (I used Photoshop):

My Random Wiki
My Random Quote
My 3rd Interesting Flickr

Crap: As Seen On TV

2009-02-24T19:27:00.003-06:00

Infomercials, and their 90 second cousins, can make almost anything look like the One Thing That Will Make Your Life Complete!™®© But, most of the stuff there is, of course, garbage. Now, I won't say they're all worthless. In fact, most of them meet some kind of need, or at least improve on something that meets a need, or a want.

For about a year now, I've had cold-like symptoms that get worse, and less bad, but never go away. Included in those symptoms is a head that is so congested, it affects my hearing. As such, the ad for a sound boosting device that looked like a BlueTooth headset was particularly appealing to me.

However, I did not order it. I did what any self-respecting web-junkie would do, I looked it up online. There are actually (at least) 2 sound amplifying infomerical devices that disguise themselves as cell phone hands-free gear. One is called "Loud ’N Clear" (from the makers of the "Listen Up" device that tried to look like an mp3 player or walkman or something). And the other is the Silver Sonic XL personal sound amplifier from Bell and Howell.

The one I saw was the Loud 'N Clear. When I saw the ad, I forgot the name before I looked it up. So after an eternity of searching (I swear, it must have been 10 - 15 minutes of googling!), I couldn't find any direct reviews of it. I did find a few negative reviews of the Silver Sonic XL, but not the Loud 'N Clear.

Anyway, like I said, I didn't order it, but I did buy it - from Walgreens. They have a complete half an aisle dedicated to this stuff. The one I was at actually labelled it "As Seen On TV". Anyway, a moral debate with myself, and $14.99 + tax later, I own my very own personal "personal amplifier".

Having taken the plunge, I was in a hurry to actually try it out. So, in the car, I ripped open the package, put in the (included) microscopic "hearing aid" sized batteries (which, I find ironic, since they took great pains in the commercial to avoid that term), and shoved the thing into my ear...

....

...

(wait for it)

....

....

Nothing.

Nothing. I heard nothing. At least nothing different than I heard right before shoving the thing in my ear. Well, actually it was a bit more muffled on one side, since I had a plastic roach climbing into my hearing hole.... Maybe there's an on switch?

Nope, no buttons. Nothing presses, nothing moves except the volume wheel. AH! The volume wheel! Of course. I cranked it all the way up and shoved it back in my ear.

...

(okay, enough suspense building dots.) I heard it. It was loud! It was.... Some kind of awful rumbling / clicking noise!!! Like something was grinding inside of the device. It was horrible.

Turns out that only happens when there's a certain type of noise in the area, some special frequency (like anything lower than the voice of Linus from Peanuts - or louder than an idling automobile) that turns this thing in my ear into a bicycle with baseball cards in the spokes....

Needless to say, do not buy this thing.

Also, don't buy the Snuggie (or the older, less often televised, horribly named Slanket), you know - the "Blanket With Sleeves!"™®©... IT'S A FREAKING BATH ROBE PUT ON BACKWARDS!!! FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD, I FEEL LIKE I'M ON CRAZY PILLS!!! Anyone who buys this thing - ESPECIALLY if they wear it, or even think about wearing it, in public - needs to be shot.

R U Ready 2 Rumble???

2009-02-20T15:37:00.004-06:00

When I first started playing the Wii, one of my favorite games was the boxing mini-game on Wii Sports. (In fact, I knocked the guy out on my first round the first time I ever played Wii Sports.)

Well the fine folks over at Atari Games have taken the idea of Wii Boxing and expanded it to a full sized game. And, from the looks of it, it's going to be fun. It's called "Ready 2 Rumble Revolution".

It's not some stuffy photo-realistic remake of actual boxers with hyper-accurate physics where you need to be an actual boxer or physicist to play it well - it's a game for crying out loud.

I'm not saying the game doesn't have good graphics or physics - in fact, the game looks great. It's just more of a caricurture of personalities than motion-caps of real fighters. Games are supposed to be fun. There are times you want to have a driving simulator like Grand Turismo - then there are times you want to play a game, and for that there's Mario Kart or Burnout. This isn't a boxing simulator. It's a game, and from what I can see, a fun - and funny - one to play.

Let's just roll the clip.

It comes out in March, and I will likely be getting it (although I might get a review copy before it comes out - if so, I'll give you my opinion after actually playing the game for a while. If you are already sold, Walmart, GameStop, and Amazon all have it ready for pre-order, and you get $10 off! Walmart is offering a $10 eGift Card, and GameStop and Amazon both have exclusive T-Shirts that come with your pre-order.

Just thought I'd share.

"Netbook" naming nonesense news

2009-02-19T18:13:00.003-06:00

Well, it seems that Dell has joined the fight against Psion, claiming that their supposed claim to the word "netbook" is not just nonsense, but actually fraud! Way to go Dell. I think it may be too early to say that the legal battles are over, (I still want my Cease & Desist order!), but having a deep pocketed tech giant like Dell stepping up to the plate, the fat lady might be warming up for her song.

'Nother Netbook Note - Neofelis Nano

2009-02-18T13:44:00.006-06:00

(A note about the title - I like to alliterate. Since Apple, Mac, OS X, MacBook, iWhatever, Leopard, and even Lisa do not start with the letter "n" - I used the only big-cat-related "n" word I could find. Neofelis is the genus that contains two species, the Clouded Leopard and the Bornean Clouded Leopard. So, basically I'm talking about putting Mac OS X on my MSI Wind netbook.)

Here it is, folks, my Mac-powered MSI Wind. *Updated - See note at bottom

Ain't she a beaut? Okay, so it looks just like every other MSI Wind U100 black out there (well, the ones with a Canadian International keyboard). But it's running OS X!

Î ® 733† h@XÓR! w0ot¡ Witness my madd  hakksing skillz and ph33r!

Yeah, okay, so anyone who can download ISOs, burn DVDs, read internet forums, and follow instructions can do it. I am not elite. (Yeah, that's really how you spell elite.)

Basic run down of what I've done. More details later... maybe... if I find more time.

Bought an MSI Wind U100-422CA ($349.99 shipped from zipzoomfly.com)
Bought 1 GB RAM DDR2 ($10.99 shipped from newegg.com)
Bought a DVD±RW USB drive from ebay (Around $50 shipped from ebay.com)
Installed the RAM
Downloaded and burned a file called msiwindosx86.iso from the webbernetz
Reinstalled MS Windows XP Home (using the Genuine restore disc that came with my MSI Wind)
- (You don't have to do this - I just screwed up and had to start over - but the good news it, it gets rid of some of the pointless "trialware" that ships on the Wind)
Used the Ultimate Boot CD and gparted to repartition my hard drive.

(I couldn't get it to resize my Windows drive, so it was another good thing that I reinstalled Windows, because I put it on a 30GB partition to start with. I think it shipped with Windows on a 40GB partition.)
I made 4 partitions - 30GB for XP, 5GB (in fat32) for a (not-yet-done) Linux install, 20 GB (in fat32) for media sharing between the OSes, and 99GB (which I reformatted later into "Mac OS Extended" with the OS X install disc) for Mac OS X.

Installed the slipstreamed Mac OS X
Found (using another computer) the drivers for my WiFi card.
Used a Time Machine Backup from my MacBook to install all my apps and setting.

Just a note. I bought the U100-422CA because it had the bigger hard drive, bigger battery, BlueTooth, and WiFi N. That last bit is a problem. The much-touted "official OS X Wireless drivers" for the MSI Wind are not official, (not from Apple or MSI anyway), and they don't work for all models of the Wind.

Basically, if the Wind only has 802.11b/g you're fine with those drivers. But if you go all out and get the 802.11n like I did, then you have to do some more digging. Unless, of course, you are reading this. Then I can tell you the drivers are here... but they suck. (Use the 3rd one down, the "PCI/mPCI/CB (RT2860/RT2790)" ones. Not sure how long the direct link will work.)

It doesn't work like an Airport card, at all. It's not built into the System Proferences in anything close to a "Mac-like" way. You have to run a seperate app to connect to any WiFi point, at least anyone that requires a password. Don't misunderstand, you don't have to leave it running, but you do have to run it to establish a connection. And it's horrible to use. It makes very little sense, and I have no idea how to save the settings. There's not even a way to click "okay" "done" "apply" or "quit". You have to go up into the menu and quit from there. And you don't know if your settings are saved or not. It's horrid... but it works. And the settings apparently don't last if you reboot your MacSI Wind or your iWind or your MacWind or your WindMac or your iNetbook or your MacBook Nano or whatever you want to call it.

What's left? Well, it's running software update right now. Not sure how smart that was, I'll let you know. I still need to install Linux, although for the life of me, I can't think of why, other than then I can say "I've got a triple boot netbook!!!" I might try Windows 7 Beta, but I'm iffy on that, too. Since I have 4 partitions, I could possibly do both, so who knows.

Oh, since it's not a Mac, the Boot Camp feature doesn't work. I think it's a part of the hacked ISO, but what happens is, when you turn on the Netbook, if you do nothing, it will go into Mac OS X. but there's some text that comes up before the familiar gray apple screen and it asks if you want to choose which partition to boot from. If you hit any key, a list of the partitions shows up, and you can select which one to boot from. It's kind of funny because it calls the other partitions "Foreign OSes" or something like that. Anyway, just thought you might want to know how to switch. And VMWare recognizes the Windows install as a "Boot Camp partition" but it I got error messages and it wouldn't start. Apparently it couldn't mount the drive while booting.

*Update about Software Update!

Okay, I figured as much - don't run Software Update without being ready for it. It screws everything up. It can be fixed, and you can be up-to-date (10.5.6), but it takes preparation and work and a USB keyboard and mouse, (which are buried in my basement somewhere at the moment...) See this blog post for more info.

Fishing for a C&D

2009-02-16T22:45:00.002-06:00

Netbook. I'm blogging about netbooks. You know, the generic name for the slue of clamshell computers that cost less than $500 that have been selling like crazy for the past year and a half? Right, a netbook - like the Eee PC, or the Acer Aspire One, or the MSI Wind, or the HP Mininote, or the Dell Mini 9. They are all netbooks. I personally love netbooks. I've owned 2 netbooks myself. An Asus Eee PC 701 4GB Surf (Black) and my current MSI Microsoft Wind (windbook) U100-422CA (Black).

The average netbook today has a 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, 120GB or 160GB HD, WiFi b/g or b/g/n, at least one multiformat SD card reader, 2 or 3 USB 2.0 ports, a 4-cell or 6-cell battery, a 0.3MP or 1.3MP webcam, and probably BlueTooth. The screens are usually 10" - 10.2" with a resolution of 1024 x 600, (although some netbooks have 8.9" screens with the same resolution - netbooks rarely come with 7" screen anymore, although the first netbook, the Asus Eee PC, had that).

The first netbooks had really tiny keyboards - but the average netbook keyboards today are 89% - 93% of fullsized. Most netbooks don't come with optical drives, although a few have been announced with optical drives - and there are several smaller notebooks that have optical drives, but they tend to cost several times the average price of netbooks.

You may ask yourself why I'm talking so much about netbooks, and particularly why I keep saying the word netbook over and over again. Netbook, netbook, netbook. It's because Canadian firm Psion Teklogix is pushing forward with a plan (PDF) to hijack the netbook industry using registered trademarks (like this one) that experts believe to be unenforceable.

Psion Teklogix has sent "literally hundreds" of cease & desist letters (sample) to netbook manufacturers and retailers (as well as bloggers and journalists) giving them until the end of March 2009 to "transition to a different descriptive term".

This plan could raise prices, cause confusion and ultimately limit consumer choice.

I've been looking for a reason to hate Canadians. Now I have one. (That's not exactly true, dear Canadian readers, I hate all nationalities equally. ;^) )

So, Psion, I'm ready for my Cease and Desist letter. Bring it on. Netbook, netbook, netbook....

Netbook Upgrade Update

2009-02-05T15:56:00.005-06:00

I got my RAM today, and it's installed. Now my MSI Wind is up to 2GB. It's much faster now. I strongly suggest the upgrade to anyone with a netbook - or, anyone with a computer with less than 2GB of RAM. RAM is super cheap now - my upgrade only cost me $10.99 shipped.

Some people are concerned about adding RAM to the MSI Wind specifically, because to get to the RAM you have to remove the entire bottom part of the plastic case - and there is a "Warranty Void If Removed" sticker covering one of the screws holding the case in place. MSI has gone on record saying that adding RAM does not void the warranty, so fear not.

The process is fairly straightforward, there are plenty of online guides if you need help - but if you've ever added RAM to a computer before, it's a no-brainer. Quick run through:

Turn off the Wind (obviously)
Remove the battery
Remove all the screws from the bottom case
Remove the bottom case
Insert the RAM into the empty slot (make sure it's firmly seated - I had to take the case apart twice because it wasn't all the way in the first time - this could screw up your RAM and/or your machine - but thank God nothing messed up on mine)
Put the case back on
Put the screws back in
Put the battery back
Turn it back on
Done

Here's a pic of the installed RAM (this was taken the first time, so the RAM isn't all the way seated):

Triple Boot Netbook Status Update: My MSI Wind has arrived!

2009-01-27T10:26:00.005-06:00

It's here! I got my MSI Wind netbook. Here's a quick run down of the specs, (more indepth specs at the end of this post):

1.6GHz CPU
1GB RAM
160GB HD
WiFi N
6-Cell Battery
Webcam, BlueTooth, VGA, USB, SD Card reader
Windows XP

As I noted before, I picked this netbook because it's completely compatible with Mac OS X, and I plan on doing a triple-boot with Windows, Mac, and Linux. What's really cool about this, is it comes pre-partitioned!

The 160GB hard drive has two partitions out-of-the-box. A 40GB partition where Windows XP lives, and the rest on another, empty, drive. (Technically, you know how those hard drive makers are, it's a 145GB HD with 39GB for XP, and 106GB for the other drive, with 1GB on the second drive missing even though its blank.) So I have 105 GB for Mac OS X and/or Linux, even without repartitioning.

I ended up getting mine from zipzoomfly.com for $349.99 - and that's shipped ground for free. But I was impatient and spent another $28.91 for overnight shipping. So for $378.90 total, I got this kick-butt computer overnighted to me. Considering this exact same model sells for as much as $459 or higher on other sites, I think I found a great deal. It wasn't used, refurbished, open box, demo unit, or anything. It was just a great deal. There was one slight issue, but I'll talk about that in a minute.

A note about buying an MSI Wind. Much like the Eee PC, there are a TON of different models out there. It's really insane. First, there are what I call the big number differences. There are 5 lines for MSI Wind netbooks, the U90, U100, U110, U115, and the U120. To my knowledge, only 3 of those lines have actually shipped, at least to North America - those being the U90, U100, and U120. Here are the differences:

U90 - 8.9" Screen, lower specs. I don't think this model is being made any more.
U100 - what most people think of for the MSI Wind, most popular model (actually group of models, I'll explain in a minute) - 10" Screen, 1.6Ghz CPU
U110 - (just demoed from what I can tell) - Touchscreen, everything else just like the U100
U115 - (another not-yet shipped model) "hyrid storage" part Solid State Drive / part Hard Drive
U120 - (pre-orders and possibly shipping now) Exactly like the U100, except there's a 3G card (or card slot) - it's two-toned, and it cost at least $100 more and/or it is missing features (no BlueTooth, no WiFi N, 3-Cell battery instead of a 6-Cell, etc.)

I got a U100. I don't do the data-plan thing on my cell phone, and I don't want to spend more for a less powerful computer. (Which is why I think the MacBook Air is a horrible computer.) If the touchscreen model was available, I might have ordered that, since I plan on adding a touch screen anyway, but it isn't out yet, so here I am.

Now, within the U100 galaxy of products, there is a wide range of model numbers and features. But it basically comes down to 4 things.

120GB HDD vs. 160GB HDD
WiFi G vs. WiFi N
3-Cell Battery vs. 6-Cell Battery
0.3MP Webcam vs. 1.3MP Webcam

Obviously, the later of the options is better in my list. And, in my searching, it was usually all from the first list, or all from the second list. The uber-good deal I got was from the all second list option. So I am happy.

There are other options, mostly what color you want (white, black, pink, or other), what kind of keyboard you want, (US, international, other), etc. The only real complaint I have about the model I chose was that I didn't realize at the time that it was an international (French and English) keyboard. So watch out for that. I'm not sure, but I believe it the model number ends in US, you are looking at an all-English US keyboard, if it ends in CA (like mine did - CA for Canada, I'm guessing) then you really need to make sure if it is English only or French-Canadian like mine.

That said, it's really not *that* different from any other keyboard I've ever used. It just has 2 or 3 extra keys which make touch-typing a little iffy for shifts and returns, and there are tons of extra letter on the keys themselves that are like for alt-typing. That doesn't bother me at all, since they are in a different place than the standard letters, and I rarely look at what is printed on the key anyway.

Of course, this being a netbook and not a notebook, there is no optical drive. So installing any operating system or store-bought software is difficult, unless you buy an external DVD drive. These are not expensive. If you don't need a burner (which, with 3 USB ports and a card reader, I don't know why you would, unless you don't have any other computers), you can easily find a DVD/CD-ROM external for under $50.

I haven't decided if I'm going to go the easy route or try any number of tricks to install operating systems via USB drive or SD card. I'm leaning (heavily) toward just buying the DVD drive, since I'm sure I'll use it again later.

Just a side note, for anyone wondering what happened to my Asus Eee PC 701 4GB Surf - I traded it for an iPod Touch 8GB First Generation, with a $15 iTunes Card, a Griffin iTrip FM broadcaster / car charger, and $50 cash. I might blog about my iPod later. But I will say the step up from the granddaddy of all netbooks - the Eee PC 701 - to the powerful MSI Wind U100 is a huge one.

I went from:

4GB to 160GB
900Mhz (overclocked) to 1.6Ghz
WiFi B to WiFi N
No webcam to 1.3MP webcam
No BlueTooth to Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
Having to hack Windows onto to having it pre-installed
A tiny, cramped 7" keyboard to a nice sized 10" one
From having to keep my 8GB SD card in the slot at all times for needed applications to being able to use the card slot like a card slot is supposed to be used - for swapping data from one device to another.

I'm not saying the Asus was a bad computer, or unusable, or anything like that. It served me well. It's just the MSI Wind will serve me better. The Asus Eee PC 701 (with a webcam) was available at my local Best Buy for only $199. That, to me, is a very reasonable price for an ultra-portable laptop. And, at that price, I would recommend it if you don't have a notebook yet.

Here are the promised detailed specs on my particular MSI Wind netbook model:

MSI (MicroStar International) Wind (or Windbook) Netbook Model: U100-422CA
1.6Ghz Intel Atom Processor N270
533MHz FSB / 512MB Cache
Intel 945GSE+ICH7-M Chipset
160GB 2.5" 5400RPM Serial ATA HDD
1GB PC2-5300 (DDR2-667) RAM - (Supports up to 2GB)
10" 1024 x 600 WSVGA LED Backlit Display
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (GMA950)
802.11b/g/n WiFi
BlueTooth 2.0 + EDR
1.3MP Webcam
Built-in mic
4-in-1 Card Reader - SD, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro
3 USB 2.0 ports
Fast Ethernet Lan 10/100
VGA out (15-pin, D-Sub)
Microphone in (Line in)
Headphone port
Built-in stereo speakers
"Genuine" Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition - Service Pack 3
International keyboard
6-Cell Battery (5.5 hour battery life)
Closed dimensions - 10.23" (width) x 7.08" (length) x 0.748"~1.24" (thickness)
2.6 lbs (with the battery)

My netbook plans - 4 OSes, touchscreen, BT, WiFi-N, and less than $500

2009-01-12T20:44:00.003-06:00

Check out the Mac OS X Netbook Compatibility Chart for the best options for installing OSx86 aka Hackintosh on a non-Apple netbook, (of course, there is no non-non-Apple netbook... let's see 3 negatives... the last two cancel out... yeah, that's right). According to the chart, the two netbooks that are most compatible are the MSI Wind U100 and the Dell Mini 9. Since the MSI Wind has more storage, costs less, and doesn't have a compatibility exception (the Dell Mini 9 doesn't sleep in some models), and since MSI has officially released drivers for the WiFi under OS X - I suggest the MSI Wind.

In fact, that's what I plan on ordering as soon as I get my next check. My plan is to get the 160 GB model with the 6-cell battery, do a triple boot of OS X, Windows XP Pro, and Linux. Then on top of OS X, install SheepShaver to run Mac OS 9. Four powerful operating systems on a system that costs less than $400 and weighs less than 2.7 pounds - that ain't bad.

I also plan on, eventually, adding a touchscreen kit - (which comes with drivers for all the operating systems - except OS 9, I imagine) - so make that a ultraportable tablet with four operating systems for under $500.

Oh, and did I mention it comes with Bluetooth, WiFi N, a built-in webcam, and card reader... Not too shabby.

Why I hate TV these days

2009-01-02T00:09:00.002-06:00

When over 30% of the hour is commercials, and 25% of the screen is ads - it's time to switch to Hulu.com, DVD sets, Bit Torrent, or something else.

(BTW, all copyrights to whoever owns them, the background image is by Alex Ross. cws.tv is not a real site - it is Chad W Smith as a TV network. And, of course, "The League" and "Gotham Streets" aren't real TV shows - but I'd watch them if they were.)

Gas Shopping Revisited

2008-12-15T15:13:00.000-06:00

A few months ago, I wrote about the irony of people trying to save a few pennies per gallon when gas prices were in the $4 range. In that post, I linked to a chart I made showing why it was more cost-effective to drive to that more distant and less expensive gas station when prices overall were lower. Well, we're there now, with the average price of gas closer to $1.50 than $4.00.

So, shop around for gas. You'll save money now. Although you're probably so ecstatic that it doesn't cost you as much to fill your tank as it does to pay your rent that you don't care about the extra 10¢ a gallon you could save by going out of your way. Just thought I'd remind you now that the world has decided to confuse the heck out of everyone by giving us what we wanted.

Horrible Gift ideas for the Geek in your life

2008-12-09T17:17:00.021-06:00

Yes, the holidays are in full swing, and it might even seem like it is too late to be sharing a gift-giving guide, but this was a request, and one that needed to be addressed, so here goes. I give you Chad W. Smith's guide to what *NOT* to buy the geek in your life. (And don't worry, if you screwed up and bought something on this list - you can always take it back, or just learn for next time.)

Techies, geeks, gizmo-mongers, nerds, computerphiles, lovers-of-all-that-is-metal-and-shiny... Whatever you call us, we're everywhere these days. More than 50% of American adults admit to playing video games on a regular basis. The vast majority of people in the US have a cell phone. And over half of US homes have been connected to the Internet since 2001. So, chances are you either are, or love, a geek. Sometimes, it is hard for a non-geek to know what to get a geek as a gift. I'd like to help as much as I can.

First thing you need to know, geeks are people, just like everyone else. Your loved one might fawn over the latest touchscreen-wireless-HD-ultraportable-megapixel'ed wonder whenever he or she hears about it, but that doesn't mean that is his or her only passion. If you are not tech-knowledgable, you might want to consider what pursuits you and your loved one share - and try getting a gift in that genre. Just don't pull a Homer Simpson and buy them something that's really for you.

However, if you truly wish to buy a techie gift for your techie - here are some rules of things *NOT* to buy.

A magazine subscription. First off, I don't know of a time that a magazine subscription ever was a good gift idea. Maybe when I was a little kid and my mom signed me up for Nintendo Power Magazine... But that wasn't a Christmas present. It just came with the NES (which was a Christmas present, BTW).
But more than that, geeks get their information off a little thing called the Internet. Information is free there, it's up-to-the-second (not up to the 2 weeks before this month started) and it's interactive. Printed magazines have nothing to offer today's cyber-surfing denizen. I don't care if it is Wired Magazine or PC World or how geeky you think the magazine is, chances are your beloved web junkie has 4 or 5 of their RSS feeds on their Google Reader anyway.
A CD. "What? Are you mad? Why not a CD? Geeks have CD players in their computers, don't they?" Well, actually, it's an optical drive, and it does a lot more than play CDs - and if your geek is into the UMPC, netbook, or MacBook Air scene, then, no, actually, they don't have a CD anything on their computer. But I digress.
The reason this shiny metal disc is a bad idea is because there is a far better option - an iTunes gift card. The iTunes git card lets your technosaavy receiptant pick their own music. This means no "But I thought you loved Abba!" moments around the tree.
It also lets them pick the exact songs their want. If you've ever bought a CD/Cassette Tape/LP - you know that there are usually 2 - 4 songs that you really like on the album, the rest is crap. The iTunes card also lets the gifted geek feel like they are cool, since they are buying something from Apple™.
A Mobile Phone. Again, I hear the gasps of disbelief already. Surely any gadget guru would love a brand new cell phone! If fact, it is true that many gizmo grabbers would like a new phone - but not from you.
First off, if you are reading this list to actually gain insight, you would probably pick the wrong phone. Don't feel bad, it's easy to pick the wrong phone, and hard to pick the right one. Do they want the Blackberry Bold or the Blackberry Storm? Do they like all touchscreen, or do they need a QWERTY? What's a QWERTY?
Secondly, even if you bought the perfect phone (the correct answer is an unlocked jailbroken iPhone 3G 16GB, btw) unless you plan on paying the monthly payments, you might as well wrap up 2 years worth of too-high connection bills under the tree for them. Nothing like the joy of receiving expensive contractual obligations for Christmas!
Anything knock-off. It's spelled iPod Touch - not iTouch, not iFone, not Ipod. And there is no such thing as a "Google Phone" although there is a G1 whose operating system is from Google, but you're not going to buy a cell phone anyway, remember?
And it's a Wii - not a Vii. And it was never on sale at Ace Hardware for under $30.
There are even safety warnings against some knock-offs.
Keep in mind, though, there is a difference between a "generic" and a "knock-off" - not every non-Apple media player is a knock-off iPod. Although, if you can get the name brand version, that's the best way to go.
Older technology. 4 or 5 years ago, hauling a 8 pound laptop around all day was par for the course - a 12 pounder wasn't unheard of. These days, laptops can weigh under 2 pounds, but 5 pounds is closer to average when you are talking about a full sized lappy. Do not buy a 15.4" laptop with low-end specs and expect your mobile media mogul to be overjoyed.
Portable TV. If you live in the United States, hopefully by now you've been made aware of the Federally mandated "Switch to Digital" that will take place on February 17, 2009 (which is about 70 days 2 hours away from the time of this writing). This will render any and all portable TVs will be useless in less than two month after Christmas. Not to mention the fact that the idea of a "Pocket TV" is so old my grandfather had one when I was a kid.
An Encyclopedia set. Ever heard of the "Internet"? Yeah, it replaced the Encyclopedia about 15 years ago. Specifically a site called Wikipedia. A set of books that will be gathering dust and obsolesence on a shelf - or 5 - somwhere is a huge waste of money. Now, if you could put Wikipedia on your nerdish friend's cell phone, that would be a gift. (Of course, it will have to be upgraded often as well....)
Landline phone. Mobile phones and VOIP are replacing landline phones in even non-geeky homes. (My own mother who still uses Windows 98, has a cell phone and no landline - and has been that way for years.) I don't care how cool the waterproof Dect6.0 Digital, multi-handseted, personalized-ringtone-playing, speakerphone with caller-id, digital answering system, integrated GOOG-411, room monitor, and interchangable faceplates seems - or actually is. The fact of the matter is, if your communications sensei still has terrestiral based service, they will plug up their new fangled do-dad and never touch it again.
A Printer. Talk about buying someone a bill. Much like the cell phone is the cheap part of the mobile phone contract, the printer is the cheap part of far-too-expensive relationship the owner will have with the ink makers... I mean printer makers. Plus, if the lovable computer lover probably already has one (or twelve).
A T-shirt that you think is geeky. Aren't they cute? "There are 10 types of people when it comes to binary - those who get it and those who don't." "I void warranties." "No, I will not fix your computer!" "There's no place like 120.0.0.1" "meh" "w00t!" Yeah, they are funny. They are very cool. But if you don't get the joke - don't buy the shirt. You might end up insulting your techy t-shirt toter by accident.
A How-to Tech book. Part of the reason that would be a bad gift is the same reason that an encyclopedia is a bad gift - most of the information is freely available online.
But there's also the ~~possibility, probability~~ .... near certainity that you won't buy the right thing. If your geeky giftee works in the field of geekdom, then you probably don't have a clue what they do all day. So, even assuming you bought a book in their field of interest, you will either buy them something so elementary that they will be offended, or so advanced that they won't be able to use it for years, or something completely off base that it won't matter.
However, the worst reason that this is a horrible gift is because it's like buying a housewife a vacuum-cleaner, or a hammer for a carpenter. Not only is it something they probably already have - it's like buying them work. Don't buy them work.
If you are absolutely certain they would want a how-to book, like if they are in school or trying to earn a certification, then buy them a gift card to Amazon, and let them get what they need.
A video game that they didn't ask for by name. If you don't game yourself, don't buy a game you think they'll like. There's no easy way to know which game to get. Don't ask the people in the electronics department of your local discount or big box store (PLEASE don't ask them! EVER!), and video game covers don't help. If they didn't ask for the game by name - again, I suggest a gift card. And make sure the name is exact. Gears of War and God of War are both great games - but they don't work on the same system. And Chronicles of Narnia is very different from Chronicles of Riddick.
Any tech that you think is an awesome deal. There is probably a reason that the mp3 player is only $10 at Big Lots, or that laptop is on ebay for only $49 Buy It Now! or that the 5MP Digital Camera is so cheap. (Just an FYI - a Digital Camera with no Optical Zoom is a bad camera.)
Anything piratable. This includes PC games, DS games, DVDs, CDs, computer applications, operating systems, ebooks, or anything else that is digital. Because if they want it, then your torrent-riding ninja will already have it.

I hope that helps makes the holiday a bit better for both you, and the geek you love. Have yourselves a Merry Digital Christmas with some Happy New Gear!

iPhone your site

2008-11-08T21:33:00.000-06:00

iPhone-ize your site instantly.

intersquash demo from jon on Vimeo.

Something to Consider when you go to the polls

2008-11-02T10:15:00.002-06:00

Make sure you watch the whole thing. This man served his country and made significant sacrifices to promote freedom and peace throughout the world. He deserves 2 minutes of your time.

Nintendo Announces DSi

2008-10-02T14:31:00.001-05:00

Breaking News "Third Platform." Complimenting the DS?

read more | digg story

If you can play Guitar Hero - you can play the GUITAR!

2008-09-24T11:57:00.001-05:00

Attention Guitar Hero and Rock Band fans - Gamers To Players (G2P) now lets you transfer all the skills you've learned from the game to the real guitar, without all the hassle and difficulty of traditional guitar lessons. G2P speaks the language of gamers, and makes the transition from Easy to Expert fast and easy.

read more | digg story

The Next generation of Nokia MID Internet Tablets (N810+)

2008-09-17T10:45:00.001-05:00

Nokia, makers of the N-Series Internet Tablets, are committed to the MID platform and the Maemo operating system. The next gen will have cellular connectivity over HSPA, higher speed Ti OMAP3 CPUs, high definition cameras and photo sharing. They started with the N770, then the N800, the N810, and the N810 WiMax Edition. Here's to the N900!

read more | digg story

Dell Goes Mini

2008-09-04T17:38:00.002-05:00

The long rumored Dell netbook - officially titled the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is finally available - and it's a pretty good system.

It's one of the few netbooks that offer built-in BlueTooth. And it has more options that most other netbooks, too. I like that it is a customizable set up rather than a ton of different "models" that are just a bigger flash drive or no camera, etc. It makes it a lot easier to get exactly the features that are right for you.

If you want a 16GB hard drive and 512MB of RAM with no camera and BlueTooth running Linux- you can get it. Want a 4GB model with a 1.3MP camera, 1GB of RAM, no BT, you can get that too. All these options and you don't have to know the secret code to get the features you want - no model number guessing games. The only thing you can't get is a 4 GB model with Windows. As someone with a 4GB Eee PC with Windows XP installed - I can tell you it's a very tight fit.

Anyway - it's a good system. But there are a lot of good netbooks out there these days. The Acer Aspire One, the MSI Wind, the Eee PC, the Nohrtec Gecko, the 2Go PC... Check out UMPCPortal.com - or this chart from liliputing.com if you really want to keep up with these things.

There are a few things that I personally look for in a netbook - first, a 8.9 - 10 inch 1024 x 600 (or higher resolution) screen. The old 7" 800 x 480 just is too small, and are usually surronded by wasted space covered by bezel or speakers or a web-cam. The smaller screen doesn't make the system any smaller (usually). My Eee PC is the 7" model, and I do not recommend it.

Then stuff like at least 900 Mhz - hopefully over 1Ghz in the CPU. At least upgradable to 1GB of RAM, (hopefully 2GB). I don't care if the manufacturer offers it or not, as long as I can add the needed RAM myself, I'm happy.

Wireless - it's sad that I have to list that - but there are a number of netbooks out there with no portable way to connect to the net! No Wifi, no BT, nothing. More than one USB port... I'm looking at you MacBook Air!

An SD card slot - the more card readers, the better - but at least one SDHC reading slot - SDIO is nice, too. A battery that works for at leat 3 hours with full brightness and WiFi. Video out, standard 2.5 headphone jack, mic jack, and ethernet 10/100. And at least 4GB of onboard storage. The more, the better, but at least 4GB to start with.

And it needs to have all of that for under $400. Now, if I add features like a 3MP camera, BlueTooth, dozens of GB of storage, etc. that price might go up - but I should be able to get all that stuff I listed as "needed" for the magic $399 or lower price.

It might sound like I'm spoiled - and I admit that I am. But it's a very competitive market - and there are plenty of systems that offer all that I asked for - including the low price.

Basically, I think if you pick any of those - you got yourself a darn good system at a darn good price. Or, if you are really cheap (like me) check out the $98 netbook - just don't expect everything I just talked about.

$98 Netbook with WiFi, SDHC, Firefox, and more

2008-09-04T17:32:00.001-05:00

The HiVision NB0700 is a computer with a 7 inch, 800 x 480 pixel display, WiFi support, and a price tag as low as $98. 400MHz MIPS CPU, 1GB of solid state memory and 64MB or 128MB of RAM. It’s designed to run a custom version of Linux or Windows CE and has an SDHC card reader and 3 USB ports. It should be available next month. It runs some basic office and internet applications including AbiWord, chat, and Firefox.

If this comes to the US - I'm buying 5. These would make awesome Christmas presents! Imagine them at the checkout counter of Walmart - Impulse Buy Laptops! At $97.86 (Walmart always prices thing with weird cents) I could see people loading their carts. Nevermind that the CPU is slow. If it runs Firefox, who cares?

I already have an Asus Eee PC (701 4GB Surf to be specific - with 2GB of RAM and Windows XP) - but for $98? How can you pass that up?

Originally posted as a comment by Chad78 on Liliputing

Google Chrome: Explained Via Webcomic

2008-09-02T14:20:00.001-05:00

Google has released a new open source browser called "Google Chrome". This comic book explains what Google Chrome is, how it works, why they made it that way, and why they made it in the first place.

read more | digg story

I told you I was running!

2008-08-28T23:07:00.002-05:00

What is the best free email account? - Google's Gmail

2008-08-24T21:55:00.001-05:00

Although it may take a week or two to get used to gmail, over the many years to come, it will literally save you weeks of your time. I highly recommend to switch to Gmail and below I give 10 reasons why

read more | digg story

12 dollar PC based on NES

2008-08-07T04:39:00.001-05:00

The $12 PC project just got a little more interesting -- contrary to what the Boston Herald reported yesterday, the project is actually based around an off-license NES clone from China called the Victor, not the Apple II. The machine is entirely contained within a keyboard and accepts NES cartridges as well as Famicom software.

read more | digg story

Apple Cloner Psystar is placing its trust in antitrust

2008-08-04T21:07:00.001-05:00

Lawyers for Mac clone maker Psystar have confirmed they have hired the A-Team in order to battle Apple. "A" as in antitrust. Psystar wants to shift the focus away from copyright & trademark violations to EULAs, and antitrust concerns. They have little choice, since the copyright and trademark violations appear to be so clear-cut.

read more | digg story

Upgrade your Eee PC with an addon chip

2008-07-29T23:29:00.001-05:00

Memory maker Buffalo is working on 32GB and 64GB SSD chips that can plug right into the PCI-E slot on the Eee's motherboard (which is easily accessible under a panel on the laptop's bottom).

read more | digg story

Hack your AppleTV with a GUI-based USB plug-in

2008-07-29T17:00:00.001-05:00

Apple Core have released an updated version of their Apple TV hack, dubbed aTV Flash. The unofficial update addresses many of the Apple TV's shortcomings including underwhelming format support, turning it into the device it should have been from the start.

read more | digg story

Why I won't be buying a new iPhone.

2008-06-24T13:53:00.001-05:00

Because, I know you guys were all wondering. ;)

The 2-year contract. I've never had a 2-year contract in my life. For anything. My college was semester to semester. Heck, my marriage didn't last a year. Being locked into a $30 data plan + whatever the calling plan is - per month - for the next 24 months. You realize that is over $700 - *just for the data plan!* - and that's not counting the $199 for the phone itself. In the end, it will cost more than $1000 for the iPhone. To put that in perspective - I pay $10 a month for my phone now. The data plan alone - (keep in mind, there's a voice plan to be added here too) - would cost me almost $500 more over the next two years. And, right now, I can cancel at any time with no ETF.
There are better phones. That's right, you heard me. There are *BETTER* phones. The key word being "PHONE". The iPhone is this weird jack-of-all-trades / master-of-none device. It's not a very good phone. I don't want a slippery phone. I don't want a smudgable phone. I don't want a phone that I can't blind-dial. I don't want a phone that I can't swap the battery out of. I don't want a phone I can't swap the SIM out of. I don't want a $200 phone that can't voice dial. Then there's the lack of MMS, the lack of external storage, the lack of copy and paste for crying out loud... It's not a very good phone.
There are better pocketable internet devices. The Nokia Internet Tablets kick the iPhone's ass when it comes to pocketable Internet. Let me prove it in one word. FLASH. Yeah. Real desktop Flash - on a device that has a much higher resolution screen, with a physical keyboard. I owned an N800 for almost a year, and it rarely was far away from me. And that model didn't have a keyboard. But it did have a 800 x 480 screen, a real AJAX/Flash capable browser, (there was never a site I couldn't use/view on my N800 - and I use Google Docs, Blogger, and YouTube a lot). Tons of open source software (that didn't have to be approved by Steve Jobs, or anyone else - other than ME, to work on MY device). It did USB in and out - BlueTooth, FM radio, a much faster processor, 2 SD slots... The newer models have all that, plus GPS, plus a physical keyboard. And the new Pandora (the reason I don't have my N800 anymore) will be even more powerful processor, game controls, and the convenient no-in-pocket-accidental dialing clam-shell design.
There are better media players. The iPod Touch comes to mind. It doesn't have a monthly fee. But there are also things like the N8x0 series I was talking about. Or the Archos PMPs. Something with removeable (read:unlimited/upgradable) storage. Something with a bigger screen. Something that can play anything. But, seriously, if you just want the iPhone for it's media potential - get the iPod Touch. You'll pay more upfront (now) - but that's all you'll pay. Plus, it's thinner, and you can get more storage. Plus, you can afford to buy a descent phone to go with it.
There are better smartphones. Ok - you want an all-in-one. You don't want a phone and an internet device. Get a BlackJack II. Get a BlackBerry. Get an EnV. Get something that will work as a modem. (I really can't believe the 3G iPhone still won't let you BlueTooth pair with another device for Wireless Internet. I should be able to pair the iPhone up with my MacBook and go online.) Get something that will copy & paste - (that is insane - that's GUI 101 - that's features the most basic computers back in the 1980s had). Get something that can open Office documents and PDFs! Get something with a physical keyboard.
There are better media phones. This might be harder to prove. but that's just because I'm not a big media phone guy. But to me, external storage is a given. To me, video recording is a given. To me, a decent camera is a given. To me, MMS is a given.
There are better GPS devices. Like say, um, any dedicated GPS device. And many GPS enabled phones. Voice recognition is pretty key here. Being big enough to see while mounted in a car is too.

There it is. Seven reason I won't be buying an iPhone. To sum all those up - I don't have to have every little thing crammed into one device. I could have gone on - there are better digital cameras - there are better camera phones - there are better tablet devices - etc. But the main thing is - the iPhone tries to be everything but doesn't do anything very well. If I wanted to get the coolest phone - if I could only have one electronic device for the rest of my life - I might pick the iPhone. It's good if you don't have anything else with you. But I'd have more with me. I plan on getting a Pandora and keeping my camera phone, and I'll be good to go. I also have my MacBook, DS Lite, Eee PC, and PSP Slim if I ever need more power or more games.

That said - if anyone wants to give me their unlocked jailbroken iPhone, or an iPod Touch - I'll be happy to take it off your hands. Everything is better when its free. :)

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Half a Million minutes

2008-06-12T15:19:00.002-05:00

Sometime in the next 30 hours or so, I will pass a milestone. Sometime today or tomorrow will mark 500,000 minutes from the time I said "I do".

I do - promise to have to hold
I do - pledge to forsake all others and keep myself only to her
I do - vow to love, honor, and cherish....

I will - stay through better or worse
I will - remain for richer or poorer
I will - stand by her in sickness and in health...

"til death do us part....

Pretty sweet, huh? The only problem is, for more than 175,000 of those 1/2 a million minutes, she's been gone. No phone number. No forwarding address. No word. No contact whatsoever.

And, when she left, she was pregnant.

I left my hometown for her - I left my friends, my apartment, my bed, my car, my church, my life. I moved halfway across the country - literally hundreds of miles from anyone I ever met - for the woman I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with. It didn't last 7 months.

We're still married - legally. But it's hard to say you're married when you haven't seen your "wife" in over 4 months - and you don't even know where she is.

In another couple of weeks - those 500,000 minutes will become a full year. And in another 2 months - my marriage will be more time separated than together...

I don't know why I'm writing this. I just had to get it out somehow. I haven't spoken much about my personal life on this blog. (With at least one notable exception - one that got me phone calls from my boss, no less.) I'm hoping that this post goes by a lot more unnoticed. I just needed to vent.

Thanks.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Gas Price Irony

2008-06-10T11:27:00.003-05:00

One of life's little ironies. The higher gas prices go, the more likely people are to go out of their way to save a few pennies per gallon. Now, this might not seem ironic at first, but think about it - the higher the base price of gasoline, the *LESS* important ten cents is.

I've made a chart that demonstrates all of this, but I'll try to explain it as well. Some people will get the chart better, some will get the words. So, I'll do both.

Back in 2000, when gas was $1.50 a gallon on average, (this is for my fellow Americans, btw, I don't know what other countries' gas prices or gas buying habits are), it made sense to do a little driving to save 10¢. Because, that 10¢ reprented 1/15 of a gallon - and on a 15 gallon tank of gas - that's an extra gallon of gas for the same price of a fill up. I'll come back to this example in a minute.

Today, the average price of gas is hovering close to $4.00 a gallon. So a savings of 10¢ is only 1/40 of a gallon - or (on that same 15 gallon tank) - an extra 15/40 or 0.375 gallons per fill up.

Now, lets put that in a little perpective, back at $1.50 a gallon, driving 5 miles out of your way (and thus driving 5 miles back - for a total of 10 extra miles) might have made sense. If your car gets 20 mpg, then that extra gallon you got (see two paragraphs ago) paid for the extra drive - and still gives you 10 more miles of driving.

Today, at the $4.00 mark, with a 15 gallon tank, you'd have to drive less than 3.75 miles out of your way (7.5 mile round trip) to even break even. (You get 15/40 gallons extra - or 20*15/40 miles, which is 7.5 miles.)

Let me put it this way, the amount of "Free gas" you got by shopping around back at $1.50 is a whole lot more than the amount of "Free gas" you get now.

I do understand that "Every little bit helps" - but not when you are actually using *more gas* than you are getting by shopping around. In every way, you are actually paying *more* for gas, if you drive farther than you save.

Now, if the cheaper gas is across the street, and you have more than fumes in your tank, of course it's cheaper to drive over there, (unless there is a huge line and you leave your car idling while you wait).

Also, a key feature that neither the chart nor my examples take into consideration is the value of your time. Back at $1.50 it might have cost less money to drive 5 miles out of your way and 5 miles back - but, in the city that 10 mile round trip could take you 20 minutes or more. Which, at minimum wage is almost two bucks right there. And, your "free gallon" was only worth $1.50... So, you lose money that way, and that's without adding back in the cost of gas for driving that far - once you do that, you've lost more than $2.25 - or more than 1.5 gallons - by trying to "save money".

I said all this to say - stop wasting time, wasting money, wasting gas, and polluting more - by stressing and planning and freaking out about trying to save a few pennies a gallon. It's just not worth it. If you really want to save money - take a bus, walk, ride a bike, or stay home.

Goodbye N800 - Hello Eee PC

2008-05-15T10:28:00.001-05:00

You can't have it all. Which sucks. But sometimes you can have a little bit at a time.

Thanks to a random comment on an Engadget article - I am now trading "straight up" my Nokia N-Series Internet Tablet for a Modified Asus 4GB Eee PC 701 Model. The Mods include BlueTooth, 2 GB of RAM, and an overclocked CPU. Also it has Windows XP & MS Office, (although, I'm not sure that I will keep the OS - I know OS X has been ported to the Eee PC). And an external 20GB HD, and a wireless mouse.

What I'm giving up is my N800, the sleeve and case I have for it, a BT fold out keyboard (with its own case), and an adapter that lets it serve as a USB host. Also all the software needed to run it, and to accept a WiiMote as input.

Is it an even trade? I dunno. But we both seem pretty excited about it. And as long as we are both happy - that's what matter, right?

I am really gonna miss my N800. But - let me tell you why I was willing to let it go. I plan on getting a Pandora as soon as it comes out - and the Pandora would have obsoleted my N800.

What's a Pandora? I'm glad you asked. Here's an un-official "press release" from the Pandora forums.

The latest handheld gaming/computing device is nearing completion. The spiritual successor to the GP2X, the Pandora is already capable of running Playstation 1 games at full speed and has the potential for more advanced console emulation in the future. The Pandora is a fully open computing platform which will run a custom Linux OS on TI's latest ARM SoC, the OMAP3530. Beta hardware is already being tested by well known handheld scene developers.

ARM® Cortex™-A8 600Mhz+ CPU running Linux
430-MHz TMS320C64x+™ DSP Core
PowerVR SGX OpenGL 2.0 ES compliant 3D hardware
800x480 4.3" 16.7 million colours touchscreen LCD
WiFi 802.11b/g & High Speed USB Host
Dual SDHC card slots & SVideo TV output
Dual Analog and Digital gaming controls
43 button QWERTY and numeric keypad
Approx. 10+ Hours battery life

For more information, visit the official web site http://openpandora.org or the Pandora Wiki at http://pandorawiki.org

Here's what I call it - it's a UMPC with a focus on gaming. It is more powerful than even the N810 WiMax Edition - except without the BT or GPS. It's the same architecture as the N8X0 series - so porting the open source version of Maemo (Tablet OS2008) shouldn't be a problem - and devs are already working on it. (both BT and GPS could easily be added via USB.)

So, anyway, with the Pandora coming out in a couple of months - and this Eee PC deal on the table - and the N800 potentially loosing a lot of cash value with the impending release of the N810 WiMax Edition - I jumped at the opportunity.

I know the guy I'm trading with has read my blog (that's how he knew I had a N800 in the first place). So, I hope he doesn't get upset with the trade after reading this. :) Bare in mind, Korey, the Pandora will cost about $330 - so it's not like you could have gotten the Pandora for your Eee PC. Like I said in the beginning. I'm not sure that this is a fair trade.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The next DS Revision could be smaller than the GameBoy Micro

2008-05-11T01:47:00.001-05:00

Check out the pics and the video - groundbreaking design! Yeah, I know - it's a fake. But it's cool!

read more | digg story

Here's a video of my Pandora GUI

2008-05-04T22:53:00.002-05:00

Hi all - here's my "Tango" GUI "in action" so-to-speak. It's just a slideshow on my N800 and my PSP. But it kind of gives a feel (i hope!) to what it would look like on a handheld UMPC and a gaming device. Enjoy!

My Suggested GUI for the Pandora Gaming UMPC

2008-05-04T00:43:00.009-05:00

With thanks to everyone who has helped me with advice on the GUI, Joppa, Sinbad, Chip, Rokdcasbah, and everyone else - as well as to the Tango library for their icons (which are free to anyone). Here is my concept of a GUI for the Pandora. Brief explanation to follow - but in-depth discussion was started here.

The home screen - user controlled widgets
Click for big.

The Slider Mode of the Emu tab
Click For big.

The Grid Mode of the Emu tab
Click for big.

The "Alt+Tab" Shot / Active App Picker
Click for big.

TABS, (from left to right):
Home (described below), Applications (OpenOffice.org, AbiWord, TuxPaint, PDF Viewer, ComicBook Reader, ImageViewer, Calculator, Calendar, etc.), Web (Firefox, Email Client, Chat, SIPPhone, Feed Reader, Contacts list), Media (Mplayer, VLC, Internet Radio, Podcasts, Voice Recorder), Emus, Pandora (Native Games - Native apps that don't fit anywhere else), Prefrences (Wallpaper, network settings, power save, control panel type stuff).

CONTROLS:
Shoulder buttons recycle among the tabs, which are on the bottom for easy tapping. All icons are tappable (touchscreen) or selectable through the D-pad and main face button (X, A, rhombus, whatever it is). Right and left on the D-pad scroll through icons on the Slider view, or among the icons in Gird mode. The extreme right and left center of the screen, when tapped, will move to the next screen in Grid, and the next icon in Slider. Analog stick scrolls through icons as well. Main button selects. Secondary button gives info about the selected icon. A keyboard shortcut can switch among selecting the icons in the main window - the fixed icons across the top (Options, WiFi, Volume, Battery, Help) - and the tabs. The Options menu is where users select from Slider, Grid, or List.

HOME TAB:
(Similar to the Home of the Nokia Maemo-powered N-Series Internet tablets, Apples Dashboard, iGoogle.com, etc.)
Widgets are user controlled. Using the touchscreen, they can resize and move the widgets on the screen. Widgets are selected and deselected using the options menu. Widgets could include News Feeds, Weather, Internet Radio, Media player, Search box, mini-games, (tictactoe, Sudoku, etc.), maps, contacts, chat, email, etc..
The boxes become solid when selected. (The Search box is selected in the picture.) This draws focus to the selected item. The Pandora Logo seen the bottom right would, if you click on it, take you to the Pandora homepage (assuming you are online) - http://www.openpandora.org/
The Search box has a drop down menu, just like the Firefox search box, hence the little down arrow. The current icon - the Pandora icon - searches your Pandora - the onboard storage, as well as any flash cards or USB drives that are attached, (assuming theyve been indexed). It would just be a name search - not a content search. So think Windows Search box from 98 - not Mac OS X Safari, or Google Desktop. You could select Google, Yahoo, Live, ThePirateBay, whatever search engines you install. But again, those only work while online - so it defaults to Pandora search, (maybe you can pick the default search).
The Weather automatically updates whenever you are online. I forgot to add the Currently info, but you get the idea. You type in the zip code (for US - postal code, city & country, etc - for other countries), and it tells you the weather.
The News Reader can be set to whatever RSS/Atom/Podcast feeds you want - again, automatically updates when online.

SLIDER MODE:
(Similar to the PSP firmware menu, and Apples CoverFlow)
On Slider, three icons are seen at a time, the selected icon is in the center. It is in full color, completely solid (100% opacity), drop shadowed, glowing, and larger than the other icons. Two other icons are visible on either side. They are 75% the size of the selected icon - the fade to greyscale as they approach the sides of the screen, and they are 75% opacity - no shadow or glow. *Note - the screenshot is representative of the last game played, or of a favorite game for that emulator. You're scrolling through emulators (systems) not individual roms (games). A couple dozen at most - not thousands. Perhaps screenshots should be replaced by shots of the systems, as pictured in the Grid mode shot.

GRID MODE:
(Similar to the traditional desktop of most user oriented operating systems)
A grid of icons that are spaced into two rows of 4 icons each, the name of the file underneath. Collected into pages that can be scrolled through by tapping the extreme sides of the center of the screen.

BTW - these are just mock-ups. so the icons used, like for the different systems, are not finished products. This is all just my suggestions (altered, of course, by people's feedback) in a visual form. I know the resolution / coloring sucks on some of the stuff. It's just a mock-up. If I were actually making the GUI things would be much better looking.

I want to add a mock-up of the List view, and maybe the options screen. Again, thanks to everyone for their comments, critiques, and suggestions!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Pandora Demo - the Linux Based Handheld Gaming System / UMPC

2008-04-30T11:01:00.001-05:00

This is the spiritual successor to the GP2X / GP32, with a little Eee PC thrown in. It is designed as an ultra portable open source computer with gaming controls, a QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, & 800x480 4.3" touchscreen. It's very small, around about the size of a DS. It can easily fit in your pocket. For more info visit: http://www.openpadora.org

read more | digg story

N800 + Hard Work and about $35 = New Gaming system?

2008-04-28T15:32:00.001-05:00

Ok - so here’s the idea. Turn the Nokia N-Series N800 Internet Tablet into a handheld gaming device.

Yeah, I know, there are already games for it. Emulators, too. But touch screen without other controls sucks for all but a very select few games.

Take a USB game controller - slice and dice it until you can fit the N800 inside it like a cradle - (like the grips + battery for the PSP Lite) and build in a spare battery for it.

You would need a N800 (obviously) - games / emus / etc. - a program called USB Control which turns the N800 into a USB Host as well as a hard drive - a USB gender changer - a USB game controller - and a emergency charger. (You would stick the emergency charger inside one of the hollow grips, and you’d have to remove the kick-stand for the N800.)

Oh, and you’d have to code a driver for the USB controller, since the N800 doesn’t know what to do with it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

All 120 Crayon Names, Color Codes and Fun Facts

2008-04-23T23:20:00.001-05:00

For the last 100 years or so kids have been exploring and creating worlds of color with Crayons. For a lot of us, our life long love affairs with color began with these wax sticks and a blank sheet of paper. Here we go down crayon color memory lane with all 120 color names and hex codes, fun facts and photos.

read more | digg story

Build your own Portable NES

2008-04-08T20:30:00.001-05:00

Yeah, anyone can buy a mod chip for your DS to play illegal NES ROMs on the go - but how many people have built their own portable NES that actually plays NES cartridges? Now you can be one of them.

read more | digg story

The Classmate 2 is here - and it's better than the Eee PC

2008-04-03T22:54:00.001-05:00

Check out the latest version of Intel's Classmate PC. Improvements include a Webcam, improved keyboard, more responsive trackpad, better processor, a 9 inch screen version, and, oh yeah, it's going to be available to the public on Amazon.com under the name 2go PC, or the Netbook.

read more | digg story

Quiz: Moore's Law Revisted

2008-03-27T15:33:00.000-05:00

View this quiz on Quibblo
More quizzes on Quibblo

How seriously should we take Moore's Law?

2008-03-27T14:56:00.003-05:00

I'm going to need some feedback on this one.

My neighbor's computer died. She's borrowing one of my old ones for the time being. She's on a fixed income and it will be a little while before she can buy a new one.

I'm the most tech savvy person she knows, so she was talking to me about what she should get. A little bit of back ground, she's retired, in her sixties, and uses her computer mostly for email, financial stuff, and some cheap mind-challenging puzzle games.

So - I told her, you can get a brand new desktop for $300 or less - actually $200 if you got with a gPC or similar. (And I explained what a gPC was.) She then followed up with a "Yeah, but I think I'd rather save up a little while longer and get what I really want."

I don't have a problem with that line of thinking - except I don't think she knows what she wants. I mean, the old clunker she's borrowing can do everything she wants to do, it may be a little slow in doing it, but it works. A new computer - even the cheapest on the market - would do it all and be faster than the 3 year old PC she had that died.

Here's my thinking. I'm not worried about how long she borrows my old PC. It's not like I was using it. If she wants to save up $600 or $700 and get a powerful desktop - that's her business. I just think you could save up your $600 - spend $300 of it now, and get a very useful machine - and set the other $300 in a cookie jar, wait a year, and get a more powerful computer for that $300 then than you could with your $600 now.

Questions:

Am I being too generous to Moore's Law? Would next year's $300 desktop be more powerful than this year's $600 one?
Keep in mind her basic uses of the PC - no hard core gaming - no terabytes of pirated movies to store - no video editing or 3D rendering taking place - no galaxies to map .... What could you get for $600 that you can get for $400?
Should I suggest her get a $600 laptop instead of a $600 desktop? She does travel to see family pretty often. (Read - several times a year.)

Write what you want

2008-03-27T01:40:00.002-05:00

The Internet is a very cool thing for numerous reasons, but one of the main ones that has taken over in the last few years is the idea of putting content creation into the hands of ... well, everybody! Blogger, YouTube, Wikipedia, craigslist, myspace, digg... All of them have one thing in common, if the users don't create content - there is no site. We, the people of the World Wide Web, we are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams. The Snosberries taste like snosberries.

One of the problems is, though, all the content created by the Internet (as in, the Us of the Internet) mostly stays on the Internet. You can't go to Barns and Noble and pick up a copy of Wikipedia. You can buy the YouTube DVD. You can have Blogger delivered to your front door (unless your front door is WiFi enabled!). Online content is online, and only online.

But what if your artistic abilities need to be shared with those unforunate souls who are neither wired nor wireless. The great unplugged masses that have yet to discover the Wild Wild Web. Well, do not fear. There is help. And it's online.

There are places on the web that let you Self Publish the Great American Novel - or the pretty good Mexican cook book - or the not-that-bad French screenplay - or the so-so Canadian self help guide. Whatever your fingers can type. And some places, like Author House, do more than let you publish whatever falls out of your head - they also have experts who can offer advice, critiques, and encouragement in your labor of love that is writing. Check it out!

Apple's fixes show it is a good open-source citizen

2008-03-21T21:58:00.003-05:00

Over half the software security fixes this month are actually in or part of open source software (OSS) packages... Whether or not it's just a necessary thing to do in order to keep OS X secure, there are some significant benefits to Apple's use of open source and Mac OS X being built on BSD.

read more | digg story

Publisher Posts Mac Books on The Pirate Bay

2008-03-21T21:58:00.001-05:00

No Starch Press and Wired’s news editor Leander Kahney have released free copies of “The Cult of Mac” and “The Cult of iPod” on the Pirate Bay. Publishing music, movies and books on BitTorrent seems to be becoming a trend, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

read more | digg story

The Housing Market Slump

2008-03-19T01:05:00.002-05:00

I have friends who moved into town last Summer. Since then they've been paying two Mortgages, one here in St Louis, and one in Chicago, where they are from. Their old house has been on the market this whole time, and no buyers. No one even close to becoming a buyer. Finally, after about 7 or 8 months - they started renting the place out. It seems that it sucks for home sellers across the country. The Fed even had to bail out one major lender, and now there are problems of cooked books and all kinds of stuff going on for even the biggest mortgage firms in the country. And, from what I've seen, the Fed just lowered interest rates again. It's the ultimate buyer's market, but nobody's buying. What's up with that?

Apple snags 14 percent of US PC retail sales in February!!!

2008-03-19T01:02:00.003-05:00

Growth in Apple's personal computer business continued to outpace the industry average last month, with Macs accounting for a 14 percent unit share and 25 percent dollar share of all US-based PC retail sales, according to market research firm NPD.

read more | digg story

Six-core Intel processors coming this year

2008-03-19T01:02:00.001-05:00

Intel will move to a processor design that utilizes scalable cores, from two all the way to eight using another new microarchitecture, and it will phase out the front-side bus as a component of its architecture. The six-core Dunnington server CPU platform using Penryn architecture, with 16 Mb of L3 cache, goes into production as soon as this summer

read more | digg story

Just when you thought it was safe to go to Vegas

2008-03-18T23:27:00.002-05:00

Las Vegas, home of such wonderful events such as Def Con, the Star Trek Experience, the recreation of most of the world's most incredible monuments, 8 out of 10 of Britney Spears' marriages, and National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation, the least bad of the recent National Lampoon movies. However, just as Sin City was becoming a safe and lovable place to take the kids, terrifying news has hit the interwebs. It seems that they will soon be selling Cher tickets at Ceasar's Palace.

Following what Wikipedia reports as her 4 year long series of "Farewell Tours" - (which resulted in several lawsuits from people who bought tickets to early shows at outrageous prices, being told that this would be the last chance they had to see Cher in concert, only to have her return to town a few years later on the same never-ending "Farewell Tour". In fact, it kept going on so long that they renamed it the "Never say goodbye" tour - since Cher refused to leave. (It's amazing what you can learn on Wikipedia.)

Well, it seems that those same ticket buyers might have more reasons to sue, since Cher is going to be performing well into her golden years in Las Vegas, Nevada. She's 61, and the contract, according to Wikipedia, last into the next 3 years.

Now, why would a straight, married 30 year old man be writing about Cher? Well - because this post is brought to you by the people promoting the show, of course. Looks like I won't be going to Vegas any time soon. Not that I really planned on it anyway.

Shrink Calls "Net Addiction" a Real Illness

2008-03-18T13:27:00.001-05:00

A psychiatrist says that, for some of us, online fixation can be serious a problem--a compulsive-impulsive disorder whose sufferers endure gadget cravings, broadband-deprivation withdrawal, increasing tolerance for spending large amounts of time online, & no apparent embarrassment when they wake up in the morning with a keyboard imprint on our face

read more | digg story

I just got a whole lot stronger!

2008-03-13T22:42:00.004-05:00

Well, at least part of me did. I was recently selected to receive a test sample of Naked Naturals natural shampoo and conditioner. They promise that this shampoo is "clinically proven to make your hair up to 7x stronger". Well, I have no way of clinically measuring the exact strength of my hair, but I have noticed it feels a lot better.

I recently turned 30, and my hairline has already started slowly retreating from the threat of my eyes. Now, this shampoo doesn't make any claims about curing baldness or regrowing hair - but if it can help strengthen the hair I have, it might help it stick around awhile. Again - that's just my thinking - not any kind of claim from the company.

naked naturals is also about being natural - as the name would imply. Speaking of the name - the website is nakednaturals.com - but I promise you, it's safe for work. Nothing risqué, (although they do offer you the chance to "Shop Naked"). The Naked refers to them leaving out any harsh extra chemicals that some other shampoos and conditioners put in. Stuff like DEA or TEA or Lauryl / Laureth Sulfates. Things like that can be bad for your hair - and bad for the environment. So Naked Naturals leaves them out.

I'm no fashion expert - nor am I a doctor - but this stuff seems to work for me. Worth checking out, especially if you have damaged, color treated, or easily-broken hair.

My "BitStrip"

2008-03-13T10:34:00.002-05:00

Get the Nokia N-Series N810 - now almost $100 less!

2008-03-11T17:50:00.001-05:00

The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, the latest model in the lineup, is now $90 cheaper than its original launch price. Nokia took a big bite out of the suggested retail price which brings the gadget down to $389.99.

read more | digg story

No more Anonymous comments on the web - if KY has its way

2008-03-10T21:10:00.001-05:00

Following a suicide that has been linked to cyber-bulling, a Kentucky State legislator is promoting a bill that would force all websites to require the real name, mailing address, and email of every person that submits any content to their site, including comments.

read more | digg story

Video Game "Sin Tax" Defeated - no Cheat Codes required

2008-03-05T10:59:00.001-06:00

The proposed New Mexico video game tax was defeated and is no longer a threat! This is an important victory for the video game community. The New Mexico House Business and Industry Committee rejected the bill on a 9-0 vote. Many New Mexico legislators had never heard a constituent defend video games.

read more | digg story

Nintendo shoe lets you play Mario on the run

2008-03-05T10:49:00.001-06:00

We're not exactly sure how someone managed to stuff an NES inside a tennis shoe, but it's got to be one of the coolest hacks to this retro gaming system that we've seen. Let's just hope that there's no toe jam on your Metroid cartridge.

read more | digg story

New MacBook Pro More Powerful, Has Multitouch Trackpad

2008-02-26T20:06:00.001-06:00

New versions of the MacBook Pro have been released today. They come loaded with up to 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn processors, and the MacBook Air's trackpad which allows for multi-touch gestures. The low-end MacBook has also been upgraded. Full specs and prices after the jump.

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Google funds Photoshop-on-Linux work

2008-02-26T18:47:00.001-06:00

Google is funding work to ensure the Windows version of Adobe Systems' Photoshop and other Creative Suite software can run on Linux computers.

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The Scandal Behind the "Scandal of Scientology"

2008-02-11T20:37:00.002-06:00

"You may not believe this, but you can write something that some group doesn’t approve of and then have a quarter of your life almost ruined. I know because it happened to me." - Author of an anti-Scientology blog.

read more | digg story

MAKE: Blog: Real world Mario

2008-02-07T10:57:00.001-06:00

In Soviet Russia - Mario Moves YOU! And he does in this new interactive art exhibit as well. Instead of the background moving and Mario staying in the center of the screen - now the screen and Mario move in this mechanical video game based on Super Mario Bros. World 1-1. The "Player" has to walk along with Mario, the controller, and the screen.

read more | digg story

My Chat Room

2008-02-04T21:51:00.000-06:00

Make this submission the highest dugg ever ..

2008-01-30T13:47:00.001-06:00

... please vote for this submission for a test and fun. Lets chceck how much diggs we can gather. I pointed out to a website of International Committee of the Red Cross so its not spam site, and hopefully it will help pepole that w8ting for Red Cross. Thank you.

This is to prove something to digg. Not exactly sure what, but the guy who dugg it is cool. So please vote! Ya digg?

read more | digg story

Another Anonymous update! Now teamed with former enemies

2008-01-25T22:20:00.000-06:00

Anonymous is serious about taking down the Cult.. I mean "Church" of Scientology. Check out this video released by one of Anonymous's (Former?) enemies!

Anonymous strikes again

2008-01-25T19:47:00.000-06:00

By now, I'm sure most of you have heard of the all-out campaign of the elite hacker group known only as "Anonymous" and their campaign against Scientology. Many of you have watch their ominious and chilling video pronouncing judgment against this cult. However, Scientology is not their first target, and now, it does not appear to be their last. Watch their latest video.

Chad W Smith's Home online

iSad

Two Video Weekend

In brightest day....

"JOLT!" by: Phil Cooke - Shocking Revelations, or Buzz-kill?

"Max On Life: Answers and Inspiration for Today's Questions" By: Max Lucado

Augen Genbook 108 10.2" Android Netbook Hands On

Augen 108 Specs

Apps

Initial thoughts

"Pujols: More Than the Game" by: Scott Lamb, Tim Ellsworth - Review

New TV means new wires

MacBook Pro 15.4" (Mid 2010) 2.4 Ghz Unboxing - Chadwsmith.com

New iPod Touch - thoughts on FM Requirement - Chad W Smith LIVE from Gat...

Hollywood - please become original

Battlefield Bad Company 2

New stuff

If this were the real Hitler, I'd be scared right now

So many hopes and dreams... dashed on the craggy rocks of the announced Apple iPad

What I would change about Pages ‘09

LIVE Online Brütal Legend EVENT!!!

Brutal Legend Contest - One Week Left

GI Joe Rise of Cobra the Game and Movie Review

King of Fighters XII: My Review

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Game

King of Fighters XII - KOF 12 is out today

Official Google Blog: Google Apps is out of beta (yes, really)

Sacred 2 Hands on review

Why I *still* won't be getting an iPhone

More gaming news! KOF12 site live - Fan Art contest

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is Here

Announcing the netXbook

King of Fighters XII

Let me make you an OS X netbook!

New Sacred 2 Video

What do the Japanese have against natural hair?

Happy April Fool's

I sick of Mac - Give me Vista.

ABCFamily SUCKS!

GrandCentral is dead. Long Live Google Voice!

iCan spell Mac related brand names. Why can't you?

If only I had 80 hours of solid free time....

My Web 2.0 Fake Album Cover

Crap: As Seen On TV

R U Ready 2 Rumble???

"Netbook" naming nonesense news

'Nother Netbook Note - Neofelis Nano

Fishing for a C&D

Netbook Upgrade Update

Triple Boot Netbook Status Update: My MSI Wind has arrived!

My netbook plans - 4 OSes, touchscreen, BT, WiFi-N, and less than $500

Why I hate TV these days

Gas Shopping Revisited

Horrible Gift ideas for the Geek in your life

iPhone your site

Something to Consider when you go to the polls

Nintendo Announces DSi

If you can play Guitar Hero - you can play the GUITAR!

The Next generation of Nokia MID Internet Tablets (N810+)

Dell Goes Mini

$98 Netbook with WiFi, SDHC, Firefox, and more

Google Chrome: Explained Via Webcomic

I told you I was running!

What is the best free email account? - Google's Gmail

12 dollar PC based on NES

Apple Cloner Psystar is placing its trust in antitrust

Upgrade your Eee PC with an addon chip

Hack your AppleTV with a GUI-based USB plug-in

Why I won't be buying a new iPhone.

Half a Million minutes

Gas Price Irony

Goodbye N800 - Hello Eee PC

The next DS Revision could be smaller than the GameBoy Micro

Here's a video of my Pandora GUI

My Suggested GUI for the Pandora Gaming UMPC

Pandora Demo - the Linux Based Handheld Gaming System / UMPC

N800 + Hard Work and about $35 = New Gaming system?

All 120 Crayon Names, Color Codes and Fun Facts

Build your own Portable NES

The Classmate 2 is here - and it's better than the Eee PC

Augen 10⁸ Specs

Why I still won't be getting an iPhone