well, i've been lurking in the shadows of many forum boards and blogs.. studying the possible prey.. costs, speed, games, fun-factor, supply, history...
we all know what is about to happen around Nov 17th and Nov 19th. the next-gen/new-gen console wars will officially be on.. Microsoft is a good year ahead of everyone, but yet whose numbers are really not that amazing. Hardware defects and lack of first-rate games (more like ports than anything) and limited supplies plagued the x360. But Microsoft got the picture; replacing defective x360s and now the influx of some great looking games. Almost seems like the first year of x360 is more of a 'practice' lap before the real console wars started. Now with the upcoming PS3 and Wii release, some first rate games are gracing the x360.
The PS3 is Sony's big guns. However, i'm a bit warry of Sony since my PSP purchase on launch and its history. Sony's PSP is a hardware killer. It has a beautiful display, modern design, and a cpu that is equivalent to a PS2 (333mhz). Also, does anyone remember the Neogeo or 3DO?
Nintendo relied on the DS and its touchscreen and 'fun factor'. The DS was honestly inferior (hardware spec-wise) to the PSP. Nintendo wanted to change the way we play, making the DS a dual display unit with a touchscreen on the bottom. Combined with a great library of games and ability to play GBA games, the DS was ready.
And what did we learn, that the DS is outselling the PSP even though its an inferior console. I got myself a nice Onyx DS Lite and have really enjoyed playing it on my commute to work. Starfox rules!
So what i see happening is that Nintendo is gonna have a great thanksgiving and xmas profits. Wii's will be hard to get the first month but not nearly as hard as a getting a PS3. Nintendo's approach again is for fun not super realistic graphics. To me, i agree that Nintendo is the only real next-gen console. x360 and PS3 are just the same old thing w/better graphics and sound. Sure you do in turn get a Blu-Ray player w/the highend PS3 (sorry budget PS3'ers, 20GB version lacks HDMI and ability to play bluray movies). But i always argue w/my pals that if i wanted good graphics, i'd go out and drop $500 and get a kick ass video card for my pc. I know not as many good games but you get my point.
The PS3 isn't going to just lay on its back and fade away. PS3's will all sell out. Getting one might actually cost you your left nut and first born. The graphics are amazing, sound will be topnotch. So the PS3 will also sell very well.
It all really comes down to which of the 2 newbies can shell out the most consoles to consumers on launch. Sony has cut their numbers a few times now and its looking a bit bleak at their estimated 500,000 units for North America (however, Europe got totally overlooked and will get it in 2007). Also, Sony loses quite a bit of money with each PS3 it sells, again hoping to make their money through the software side. Anyone remember the xbox? It did pretty good but was a bit like the PS3; superior hardware, manufacturer takes loss on each unit, a slim initial offering of games.
Nintendo on the other hand will be making money from the get-go. They also plan on having a good 1 million units available on launch. So Nintendo already would seem to have the edge just by release/launch numbers and profit/loss factor.
No matter what, we gamers, are really winning in the end. competition = innovation. i believe in the Wii. But i probably will get a PS3 after the prices drops $150. x360 gets no love from me. I was pretty disappointed w/it from day one. Madden 06 was a total joke.
The Wii and Nintendo are aiming at a totally different market (i know, you've heard this on EVERY post/blog/editorial). How many nongamers are there? But who knows, maybe the Wii will end up just to be a gimmick; falling by the side of the virtual boy and robbie.
I'm pretty excited to see what happens!
wow, i probably could right a term paper on the next-gen console wars i'll now get off my soap box.. :P
Monday, October 30, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
picasa and web albums, nice!
For the longest time, i could never find a decent photo organizing application. Most of them were memory hogs and had limited options and web integration.
Google's Picasa changes all of this. I've been using Picasa since they released it and must say each update that google adds is always a bonus! the most recent feature add-on is the integration of web albums into picasa. So if you have a gmail account (who doesn't! if you need one, i can send you a referal) and use picasa you can instantly upload pictures from Picasa to your Picasa web album.
Also, there is the nice collage options, slideshow, basic photo editing/red-eye removal, and blogger integration.
In my opinion, Picasa is so far the best photo organizer i've used and the best part again is that its FREE! so go try out Picasa, head over here. http://picasa.google.com/
Google's Picasa changes all of this. I've been using Picasa since they released it and must say each update that google adds is always a bonus! the most recent feature add-on is the integration of web albums into picasa. So if you have a gmail account (who doesn't! if you need one, i can send you a referal) and use picasa you can instantly upload pictures from Picasa to your Picasa web album.
Also, there is the nice collage options, slideshow, basic photo editing/red-eye removal, and blogger integration.
In my opinion, Picasa is so far the best photo organizer i've used and the best part again is that its FREE! so go try out Picasa, head over here. http://picasa.google.com/
joining the team, new blog...
well, this is my first tech-recipes blog post... again, thank you guys over at tech-recipes! they had previously (around 2004) given me my own sub domain, seamonkey420.tech-recipes.com; that sub domain has pretty much taken off. i had about 120,000 unique visitors last year and well on pace to hit the 200,000 mark this year! However, the sub domain will be changing and the info will be consolidated w/the main tech-recipes page. So, i'm very happy to be on board w/tech-recipes again! heck, i still wear my t-shirt everywhere!!
This week has been an exciting week for me. I was able to fix my Sony Ericsson K800i phone i sold without sending it back to Sony Ericsson (which would have taken about a month to get back since i would have had to send it to the UK service center) via Wotanserver. It did require me to buy a credit but the fix itself was free. So, with that extra credit laying around i thought i'd be a bit ballsy and decided i wanted to try my hypothesis that the Z710i and W710i were basically identical phones w/different marketing strategies/targets and cost. About 6 minutes later, wotanserver finished the flashing to a W710i, rebooted my phone and voila! My Z710i is now a W710i! Flash menus look great! Walkman media player is a major upgrade from the Z710i's normal media player (again my main reason for flashing was to get flash menus and the Walkman player). However, the pedometer and fitness apps did not work since the Z710i must not have that hardware inside of it. Also, you get Track ID w/the W710i firmware; i have not gotten that to work yet though.
So kids, if you got a Sony Ericsson Z710i and want the Walkman features/flash menus of the W710i, go over to wotanserver.com and get a credit and flash that baby! Plus, you'll save yourself quite a few bucks doing this too. I would assume that you prob could flash a W710i to a Z710i too, but to me that would be self-defeating and a downgrade to the phone (no flash menus, downgraded medai player, missing features).
This week has been an exciting week for me. I was able to fix my Sony Ericsson K800i phone i sold without sending it back to Sony Ericsson (which would have taken about a month to get back since i would have had to send it to the UK service center) via Wotanserver. It did require me to buy a credit but the fix itself was free. So, with that extra credit laying around i thought i'd be a bit ballsy and decided i wanted to try my hypothesis that the Z710i and W710i were basically identical phones w/different marketing strategies/targets and cost. About 6 minutes later, wotanserver finished the flashing to a W710i, rebooted my phone and voila! My Z710i is now a W710i! Flash menus look great! Walkman media player is a major upgrade from the Z710i's normal media player (again my main reason for flashing was to get flash menus and the Walkman player). However, the pedometer and fitness apps did not work since the Z710i must not have that hardware inside of it. Also, you get Track ID w/the W710i firmware; i have not gotten that to work yet though.
So kids, if you got a Sony Ericsson Z710i and want the Walkman features/flash menus of the W710i, go over to wotanserver.com and get a credit and flash that baby! Plus, you'll save yourself quite a few bucks doing this too. I would assume that you prob could flash a W710i to a Z710i too, but to me that would be self-defeating and a downgrade to the phone (no flash menus, downgraded medai player, missing features).
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
jackpot! discovery science channel!
man, i had no idea that there was a Discovery Channel Science one..! been leaving it on while i mess around on my pc and love it! hehe.. me and space, my love... ahh..
anywho.. speaking of cable tv.. well, comcast has taken over my area's timewarner service... so we'll see if things get a bit cheaper or not.. but after using my HD DVR (scientific atlanta 8300HD) got a few gripes:
-missing a 30 second skip forward function, miss that from MCE.
-crappy guide. no searching whatsoever; categories are bad and gui itself is pretty fugly..
-quality of recordings are good
-output options are great, any type of output you need, it has.. hdmi, component, s-video, rca, composite, digital optical sound out..
just wish more channels were in HD.. and also when compared to my parents DirectTV; satellite's picture quality is superior.. especially with non HD channels... hmm.. oh well, can't do satellite anyways..
the next gen wars are really starting to heat up in the console realm.. rumors are everywhere.. should be fun to see what happens.. i personally believe Sony's gonna drop the ball and not be anywhere close to the expected 400k units on launch... but we'll see.. i think nintendo will do very well.. the timing is pretty smart w/thanksgiving weekend the following.. i have not pre-ordered a wii, i plan on going into target and getting me one.. but we'll see if nintendo meets their promised units too..
well, off to bed.. gotta go into work tomorrow..
anywho.. speaking of cable tv.. well, comcast has taken over my area's timewarner service... so we'll see if things get a bit cheaper or not.. but after using my HD DVR (scientific atlanta 8300HD) got a few gripes:
-missing a 30 second skip forward function, miss that from MCE.
-crappy guide. no searching whatsoever; categories are bad and gui itself is pretty fugly..
-quality of recordings are good
-output options are great, any type of output you need, it has.. hdmi, component, s-video, rca, composite, digital optical sound out..
just wish more channels were in HD.. and also when compared to my parents DirectTV; satellite's picture quality is superior.. especially with non HD channels... hmm.. oh well, can't do satellite anyways..
the next gen wars are really starting to heat up in the console realm.. rumors are everywhere.. should be fun to see what happens.. i personally believe Sony's gonna drop the ball and not be anywhere close to the expected 400k units on launch... but we'll see.. i think nintendo will do very well.. the timing is pretty smart w/thanksgiving weekend the following.. i have not pre-ordered a wii, i plan on going into target and getting me one.. but we'll see if nintendo meets their promised units too..
well, off to bed.. gotta go into work tomorrow..
k800i fixing, site updates
well.. after thinking i had sold my K800i FINALLY to a person, found out when he got it, it would not turn on and the irda would just blink at him.. so had him send back and did some major research.. seems that many K800i users have had this problem.. and the problem seems to be pointed to a bad EROM..
most people get this fixed by sending back to SE and then after a few weeks getting it back..however, i found out on http://howardforum.com that you can fix it just by using the wotanserver client.. it will update the EROM when you connect your phone (hold 2 and 5 vs the C button)..
so, after getting phone back, updated EROM via wotanserver and now working fine! might end up trading this phone for a W810i since i've found a person who was interested...
also updated my site w/this info on the K800i incase other people where having problems finding a fix for it (took me a while to track down the thread at hofo )
well, back to getting healthier, damn you flu/cold!!!!
aiy.. might do a full/complete rehaul of my site soon.. we shall see!!
most people get this fixed by sending back to SE and then after a few weeks getting it back..however, i found out on http://howardforum.com that you can fix it just by using the wotanserver client.. it will update the EROM when you connect your phone (hold 2 and 5 vs the C button)..
so, after getting phone back, updated EROM via wotanserver and now working fine! might end up trading this phone for a W810i since i've found a person who was interested...
also updated my site w/this info on the K800i incase other people where having problems finding a fix for it (took me a while to track down the thread at hofo )
well, back to getting healthier, damn you flu/cold!!!!
aiy.. might do a full/complete rehaul of my site soon.. we shall see!!
Friday, September 29, 2006
screw you mce!! i'm going hd dvr..
well.. lately been having some freakish weird things going on w/my pc and more importantly w/MCE2005.. lately its been missing recordings and having errors w/my ati hdtv tuner.. so i've missed the premiere of heroes and a few other good ones.. arggh!!! also missed The Office (good thing i got that tivo series 1 out in the living room as my backup, no service but works as a nice digital vcr.. hehe.. )
anywho.. a few of my pals at work just all got hd tvs (a plasma for one, crt projector for cheap for another, and a dlp for the third) and they finally all got HD service.. and man, they are so stoked about HD.. nothing compares.. and after having a tiny taste of hd w/my pc.. i gave in... add onto that the probs w/mce2005 and me wanting to just go back to XP Prof made me call up timewarner (soon to be comcast) and order up HD service along w/DVR.. heck, even upgraded to digital and hd (i was on just plain old analog up till now.. got a raise at work so that goes to my monthly hd..)... got a promo for the first 3 mos so it only bumped my bill $10... but then it goes to more like $26 more a month.. by then, it will be past xmas and i can decide if i want to go back to just analog or what not (which i seriously doubt.. )..
who knows, maybe w/my xmas bonus, i'll get me a HD Tv.. hehe.. would go nicely w/my upcoming wii and possible ps3 (if i don't sell one, given i can even get a preorder.. ).. we'll see..
but gonna get my box tomorrow and hook er up to my dell 24".. plus, now i finally can use those component inputs on my monitor and have pip w/pc and tv..
oh yea.. :)
figured out the ds homebrew thing.. got er down like gravy.. geek out...
anywho.. a few of my pals at work just all got hd tvs (a plasma for one, crt projector for cheap for another, and a dlp for the third) and they finally all got HD service.. and man, they are so stoked about HD.. nothing compares.. and after having a tiny taste of hd w/my pc.. i gave in... add onto that the probs w/mce2005 and me wanting to just go back to XP Prof made me call up timewarner (soon to be comcast) and order up HD service along w/DVR.. heck, even upgraded to digital and hd (i was on just plain old analog up till now.. got a raise at work so that goes to my monthly hd..)... got a promo for the first 3 mos so it only bumped my bill $10... but then it goes to more like $26 more a month.. by then, it will be past xmas and i can decide if i want to go back to just analog or what not (which i seriously doubt.. )..
who knows, maybe w/my xmas bonus, i'll get me a HD Tv.. hehe.. would go nicely w/my upcoming wii and possible ps3 (if i don't sell one, given i can even get a preorder.. ).. we'll see..
but gonna get my box tomorrow and hook er up to my dell 24".. plus, now i finally can use those component inputs on my monitor and have pip w/pc and tv..
oh yea.. :)
figured out the ds homebrew thing.. got er down like gravy.. geek out...
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
DS lite hacking.. flashing.. and other obscene gestures :D
well.. finally got my superpass key and supercard minisd for my ds lite in! hehe..
been reading up on it for a while now and realized i was overanalyzing how it works! very easy.. just run my homebrew through the nds homebrew patcher and voila! DS Lite ready!..
first thing i did was to flash my DS Lite's firmware using Flashme.. that way i don't need to carry my SuperPass Key around to use it.. plan to keep my phoenix wright in the slot to have w/me or brain age..
flashing went well. .prob the easiest firmware flash of any device i've done.. xbox mod chips being the hardest (back before cromwell.. good ole winLPC.. ).. took only a few minutes, 15 seconds to actually flash it..
found a few public domain roms and ran them through the supercard app and loaded up on my 1gb miniSD card.. popped er in and loaded fine... foudn out the supercard miniSD has built in emulators for NES, GB, and SMS.. so i threw a few NES roms on and played fine..
so far i'm pretty happy w/my investment.. also can now add the DS Lite to my ever growing list of hacked/modded devices.. hehe.. i guess you could say i have a dream handheld gaming setup w/my PSP on v1.50 firmware and my DS Lite w/SuperCard.. hehe..
anywho.. off to bed for me.. not so sure if my guide for the DS lite will be as indepth as i originally thought.. might be just a here's what the SuperCard is and how the UI looks.. (two things that took me a bit to figure out and actually having the supercard to see)..
and finally.. just some quick website stats.. i love stats.. hehe..
hoping to hit over 200,000 unique visitors this year.. or the goal.. :)
| Month | Unique visitors | Number of visits | Pages | Hits |
| Jan 2006 | 20828 | 26827 | 58286 | 953976 |
| Feb 2006 | 5096 | 6141 | 12879 | 204980 |
| Mar 2006 | 21661 | 27730 | 56571 | 906263 |
| Apr 2006 | 19822 | 25131 | 49171 | 798773 |
| May 2006 | 17851 | 22791 | 45262 | 735558 |
| Jun 2006 | 18848 | 23576 | 45702 | 715706 |
| Jul 2006 | 20548 | 25847 | 48776 | 726152 |
| Aug 2006 | 19181 | 24269 | 45956 | 733371 |
| Sep 2006 | 15238 | 18492 | 34519 | 554977 |
| Oct 2006 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 2006 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dec 2006 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 159073 | 200804 | 397122 | 6329756 |
Sunday, September 24, 2006
old projects, reminiscing..
well.. had a busy weekend of helping a friend backup and reload her Macbook... ah yes, nothing like some fun w/macs.. eh? hehe..
backup of her music took FOREVER!! but in return we swapped music so it was worth it.. i'm a total fan of new music.. might be having a fun ipod party soon... basically have all my pals w/ipods come over and have them dump their libraries on a pc w/a nice 300gb hd.. figure that way we can have a centralized location for our music in case anyone's hd or ipod dies.. hehe.. we'll see if we do it or not.. might be more work than its worth...
was bored and hopped on the web and headed over to an older hangout of mine, http://skdr.net . used to hang here when i was doing Sidekick related stuff.. still miss using Hipster.. man, nobody has yet to come up w/a program quite like that!! data aggregating and parsing w/major customization and creation!! i wrote about 60+ modules for it.. guess it just fell off the scope of things.. :(
man, converting m4a to mp3 seems to take forever!! atleast there's a good app that lets you do batch jobs and also replace teh orginal files! good ole ImTOO Audio Encoder seems to work great.. i have yet to hit any purchased songs so i assume those would fail unless i run it through hymn...
stilll waiting for my DS homebrew stuff to come... once it does, i should be able to get a quickie newbie guide to homebrew.. also decided to sell my whole scsi setup since i needed the dang pci slot for a new audio card and figured s-ata is fast enough for what i need.. so hopefully sell that on ebay and then get a nice 300 or maybe even 400gb drive.. hehe..
just saw Fearless at the theater and must say one of the better movies i've seen in some time.... not bad Jet Li! i'm always a fan of his movies, good action and a decent plot...
backup of her music took FOREVER!! but in return we swapped music so it was worth it.. i'm a total fan of new music.. might be having a fun ipod party soon... basically have all my pals w/ipods come over and have them dump their libraries on a pc w/a nice 300gb hd.. figure that way we can have a centralized location for our music in case anyone's hd or ipod dies.. hehe.. we'll see if we do it or not.. might be more work than its worth...
was bored and hopped on the web and headed over to an older hangout of mine, http://skdr.net . used to hang here when i was doing Sidekick related stuff.. still miss using Hipster.. man, nobody has yet to come up w/a program quite like that!! data aggregating and parsing w/major customization and creation!! i wrote about 60+ modules for it.. guess it just fell off the scope of things.. :(
man, converting m4a to mp3 seems to take forever!! atleast there's a good app that lets you do batch jobs and also replace teh orginal files! good ole ImTOO Audio Encoder seems to work great.. i have yet to hit any purchased songs so i assume those would fail unless i run it through hymn...
stilll waiting for my DS homebrew stuff to come... once it does, i should be able to get a quickie newbie guide to homebrew.. also decided to sell my whole scsi setup since i needed the dang pci slot for a new audio card and figured s-ata is fast enough for what i need.. so hopefully sell that on ebay and then get a nice 300 or maybe even 400gb drive.. hehe..
just saw Fearless at the theater and must say one of the better movies i've seen in some time.... not bad Jet Li! i'm always a fan of his movies, good action and a decent plot...
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
random tech notes, blurbs...
well.. me and my damn toys! haha...
anywho, pretty pumped to get my SuperCard SD and SuperPasskey for my DS Lite... always a fan of hacking/modding my toys... think i finally got a good grasp on how homebrew works and all... i also plan on updating the firmware on the DS Lite via FlashMe so i don't need the SuperPasskey to run homebrew..
was having a few nasty probs w/my system earlier in the week.. good ole BSOD and IRQ_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL errors.. finally uninstalled my HDTV Tuner card, and voila! system finally booted alll the way to the desktop..
decided to reinstall the HDTV card; seems fine. also decided to see if maybe the power management option i set in my BIOS was part of the problem or not so changed a few options there.. guess, i'll see if it fixed it or not....
gonna be selling my Tmobile MDA phone since i really don't use it much at all and that way i don't have to have the $20 a month data plan, can go back to the $7 unlimited tzones.... so that will save me over $156 a year (if i don't get another PDA phone soon..)...
got a pretty busy weekend already planned.. helping a friend redo her Macbook Pro.. or maybe its an older one.. anywho, has OS X Jaguar on it and she really wants to get OS X Tiger going and we also plan on setting up a much better partition setup too.. only downfall is that i will need to transfer all of the files to my pc via my network..
umm.. prob end up having a few peeps over sat night too... nothing like some Drinking Jenga.. :)
well, hopefully i start to get my new DS Lite accessories:
-Crystal Clear Case
-Sony Fontopia headphones (really only bought them for the 1meter ext cord it comes with, i own 2 pair of Fontopia headphones but they were for the W800i and W810i phones so did not come w/that ext cord)
-12 DS cases
-and of course my homebrew kit
anywho, pretty pumped to get my SuperCard SD and SuperPasskey for my DS Lite... always a fan of hacking/modding my toys... think i finally got a good grasp on how homebrew works and all... i also plan on updating the firmware on the DS Lite via FlashMe so i don't need the SuperPasskey to run homebrew..
was having a few nasty probs w/my system earlier in the week.. good ole BSOD and IRQ_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL errors.. finally uninstalled my HDTV Tuner card, and voila! system finally booted alll the way to the desktop..
decided to reinstall the HDTV card; seems fine. also decided to see if maybe the power management option i set in my BIOS was part of the problem or not so changed a few options there.. guess, i'll see if it fixed it or not....
gonna be selling my Tmobile MDA phone since i really don't use it much at all and that way i don't have to have the $20 a month data plan, can go back to the $7 unlimited tzones.... so that will save me over $156 a year (if i don't get another PDA phone soon..)...
got a pretty busy weekend already planned.. helping a friend redo her Macbook Pro.. or maybe its an older one.. anywho, has OS X Jaguar on it and she really wants to get OS X Tiger going and we also plan on setting up a much better partition setup too.. only downfall is that i will need to transfer all of the files to my pc via my network..
umm.. prob end up having a few peeps over sat night too... nothing like some Drinking Jenga.. :)
well, hopefully i start to get my new DS Lite accessories:
-Crystal Clear Case
-Sony Fontopia headphones (really only bought them for the 1meter ext cord it comes with, i own 2 pair of Fontopia headphones but they were for the W800i and W810i phones so did not come w/that ext cord)
-12 DS cases
-and of course my homebrew kit
Monday, September 18, 2006
DS Lite homebrew, my first time..
well.. went out and did a side job of setting up a home theater system for a co-worker and got some extra cash for it.. so i went out and splurged on a few DS games (Big Brain and Mario Kart DS) and decided to check my paypal account and what do you know! all of my money from the whole non-shipped phone was back in my account!
sweet!! guess my bank must have pressured paypal or the user got money in is account.. anywho.. w/that extra cash, figured i'd get myself a nice batch of DS lite addons and also started looking into the homebrew scene..
after finally figuring out a combo of what i needed to get homebrew to work, bought a SuperCard Mini-SD and Superkey combo for my ds.. didn't want the latest cuz it uses Micro SD memory vs mini sd that i have... (the SuperCard Lite = micro sd, remember that!)
so once i get that all figured out, i'll add a section to the site on homebrew.. got a bit lazy recently sorry for no updates..
sweet!! guess my bank must have pressured paypal or the user got money in is account.. anywho.. w/that extra cash, figured i'd get myself a nice batch of DS lite addons and also started looking into the homebrew scene..
after finally figuring out a combo of what i needed to get homebrew to work, bought a SuperCard Mini-SD and Superkey combo for my ds.. didn't want the latest cuz it uses Micro SD memory vs mini sd that i have... (the SuperCard Lite = micro sd, remember that!)
so once i get that all figured out, i'll add a section to the site on homebrew.. got a bit lazy recently sorry for no updates..
Sunday, September 17, 2006
allegiences lost, back to the big N again.. ds-styled
 well... i've been VERY closely following almost anything thats related to Nintendo's latest console, the Wii (pronounced we )... and have been pretty dissatisfied w/my Sony PSP and Sony in general (in the gaming realm that is, still a phone/camera fanboy.. hehe..) so i said the heck w/them and put the PSP on the dock and went out to gamestop and got a shiny new Onyx DS Lite (gotta match w/all my other toys!)....
at gamestop at the Mall of America (live like 10minutes from it.. ), was talking w/the store manager as i was buying it and ended up not getting Brain Age (used copy was not in), and got the New Super Mario and Phoenix Wright..
the latter game i had never heard of but the manager gave it HUGE raves and also mentioned that they got only 2 copies of it since its been released and had one left on reserve (guess a worker there put it on reserve a month ago but never bought it).. so we'll see how that is.. i figure its a fitting game for me since its a lawyer/trial/courtroom based one.. 2 of my pals are going to law school next year so hell, gotta have something to talk about eh? hehe..
also put down $5 to pre-order Children of Mana.. :) so pumped for a new mana game!!! i still play secret of mana and secret of mana 2 on my psp using an snes emulator.. realized that i am going to be using my DS Lite for actual real games and my PSP for emulation/homebrew and also the occasional 'backup'.. hehe.. i've tried every PSP game so far and have yet to really be psyched or addicted to.. however, Children of Mana might do that and Final Fantasy 3 (original 3, not the USA FF3 we got.. that was actually FF5 i believe..)..
so far, i love the look the DS Lite. very smooth! hopefully we do see a black Wii, cuz i white would just offset my whole decor/color scheme.. hehe.. oh well.. i guess ying and yang (wii/ds)...
off to the new mario!! looks pretty fun.. :)
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
random hd and mce 2005 tips, more nintendo thoughts..
well.. i've come across a few random tips/tricks to solving mce2005 and hdtv problems..
my latest encounter came this last week.. for some reason i was getting a nice full green bar signal on 6 hd channels but each of them would fade in and out... i tried to resetup my antenna and relocate, still got full bars and the in and out tv.. :(
finally, decided i'd do a defrag since i do a lot of recording.. whoa, super fragged! did the defrag, hdtv shows are smooth as butter! decided i might try the mce2005 option "Optimization" to basically defrag each day at 4am.. so we'll see if i have probs w/it like i did in vista beta 2 (fixed in the latest RC1)..
also, if you run a widescreen lcd like me, use the zoom feature to stretch those non widescreen format media to full screen.. mce does a pretty good job of keeping aspect ratio w/the zoom..
but ya gotta love that football in hd! can't wait to hook up my wii to my lcd.. figure i'll use components (if they offer that on the wii, might have to check) on my lcd and just s-video in the living room (small enough to just unplug and move and replug.. and its mainly wireless, grab the bar..)
might be getting an onyx ds lite tomorrow. we'll see.. almost might wait till the big anouncement on friday by the 3 press events setup.. plus, children of mana doesn't come out till nov.. hmm.. gonna have some major gaming coming up here soon!
peace
my latest encounter came this last week.. for some reason i was getting a nice full green bar signal on 6 hd channels but each of them would fade in and out... i tried to resetup my antenna and relocate, still got full bars and the in and out tv.. :(
finally, decided i'd do a defrag since i do a lot of recording.. whoa, super fragged! did the defrag, hdtv shows are smooth as butter! decided i might try the mce2005 option "Optimization" to basically defrag each day at 4am.. so we'll see if i have probs w/it like i did in vista beta 2 (fixed in the latest RC1)..
also, if you run a widescreen lcd like me, use the zoom feature to stretch those non widescreen format media to full screen.. mce does a pretty good job of keeping aspect ratio w/the zoom..
but ya gotta love that football in hd! can't wait to hook up my wii to my lcd.. figure i'll use components (if they offer that on the wii, might have to check) on my lcd and just s-video in the living room (small enough to just unplug and move and replug.. and its mainly wireless, grab the bar..)
might be getting an onyx ds lite tomorrow. we'll see.. almost might wait till the big anouncement on friday by the 3 press events setup.. plus, children of mana doesn't come out till nov.. hmm.. gonna have some major gaming coming up here soon!
peace
Monday, September 11, 2006
going back old skool, win98se...
well.. for some reason or the other, i end up getting some pretty cool, ie worthless, gadgets.. at the time of their initial release, they were super cool but by the time i get them, they are considered almost antiques..
my latest old skool toy is one of the very first Ultra Portable laptops, its a sony vaio pgc-505g... got good ole Win98SE on it at the moment.. but might try to go the ubuntu (i think thats how its spelled) linux route since its a pretty slim processor (200mhz) and only has 32mb of ram.. hehe.. a healthy 2gb hd..
its good to work in IT at a place that has money to spend.. :) they like to buy cool things and usually resell old items to employees.. hoping to get a nice Dell X300 for like $100 when we upgrade.. plus, since i work w/em all day, i can fix them w/o a problem.. mobo swap on a x300 down to < 15mins (if i don't get any calls)...
been hanging out over at SE-NSE since i got another Sony Ericsson phone and their a good bunch of people, mainly europeans.. however on a side note, i did get taken for my money on a phone over there but that was due to my stupid error in judgement; i did get over 1/2 my money back from my bank.. my advice is to stick w/ebay and be sure to ALWAYS pay w/a credit card (most always carry fraud protection)...
oh yea! here's a few of my phones at work.. (treo 600,650,700p, moto q, bb 7130e, plus a the 700w and tons of crackberries..)
i really wish i could get into some sort of beta testing job for phones.. ya know? i know i'm a head of my carrier in regards to technology.. i am ready for TRUE cellular highspeed UMTS not this crappy ass EDGE (ie 2 1/2G not even 3G).. oh well, i guess i wait...
aiy.. back to my antique ultra portable...
:P
btw, i love my K00i's photoblogging feature.. so nice and easy!!!
my latest old skool toy is one of the very first Ultra Portable laptops, its a sony vaio pgc-505g... got good ole Win98SE on it at the moment.. but might try to go the ubuntu (i think thats how its spelled) linux route since its a pretty slim processor (200mhz) and only has 32mb of ram.. hehe.. a healthy 2gb hd..
its good to work in IT at a place that has money to spend.. :) they like to buy cool things and usually resell old items to employees.. hoping to get a nice Dell X300 for like $100 when we upgrade.. plus, since i work w/em all day, i can fix them w/o a problem.. mobo swap on a x300 down to < 15mins (if i don't get any calls)...
been hanging out over at SE-NSE since i got another Sony Ericsson phone and their a good bunch of people, mainly europeans.. however on a side note, i did get taken for my money on a phone over there but that was due to my stupid error in judgement; i did get over 1/2 my money back from my bank.. my advice is to stick w/ebay and be sure to ALWAYS pay w/a credit card (most always carry fraud protection)...
oh yea! here's a few of my phones at work.. (treo 600,650,700p, moto q, bb 7130e, plus a the 700w and tons of crackberries..)
i really wish i could get into some sort of beta testing job for phones.. ya know? i know i'm a head of my carrier in regards to technology.. i am ready for TRUE cellular highspeed UMTS not this crappy ass EDGE (ie 2 1/2G not even 3G).. oh well, i guess i wait...
aiy.. back to my antique ultra portable...
:P
btw, i love my K00i's photoblogging feature.. so nice and easy!!!
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
my experiences w/scsi and new system upgrades
well... finally got my system back up to where it was prior to my case, powersupply, and harddrive upgrades.. just put in a new 550watt psu, it has the cables you connect to the psu itself so no more wire mess or ones you don't need!! what a godsend! got an Ultra Uluminus case, needed a mid-tower case badly these days since its pretty hard to cram all of my components into my prev htpc case.. plus, i think a few of the random bsod i was getting was related to only having a 300watt psu that was running: 3 s-ata hds, x2 athlon cpu, 2 tv tuners, pci-e vid card, and my vfd display...
this upgrade also marked my first personal venture into using a SCSI harddrive.... the hardest part of this upgrade was finding the proper scsi controller card since i had a scsi drive i got from a pal laying around (a seagate cheetah 10k rpm 140gb one.. ).. the hd supported ultra320 scsi but had a 80pin connector vs most ultra320 controller cards use a 68 pin connector.. had to go online, found a good 80 to 68pin adapter w/LVD.. made sure my controller i got was the same type, yup!.. only paid $90 for the adaptec scsi controller on ebay, normally is like $270.. guy threw in a cable too w/a terminator!! joy!!
so after getting all of the pieces, i had to fiure out how to use the drive.. initially i was going to setup my OS on the scsi drive but had quite a few probs getting my system to boot to the scsi card.. kept getting error in xp saying it was not a proper bootable drive.. so i decided to install os on one of my s-ata drives, and will use the scsi as a ripping drive and also for my vista installation...
noticed that after my rebuild, i decided to try getting my ATI HDTV wonder going differently than i had in the past.. basically just used a different installation order for the drivers..
did the following and so far have seen the best MCE2005 perf and HDTV OTA perf yet..
-installed MCE2005
-installed AMD X2 Athlon Drivers for XP
-installed AMD X2 Optimizer utility
-installed .NET 1.0 and 2.0 frameworks
-updated to SP1 for each
-updated to the MCE2005 Rollup package 2
-installed my ATI vid card drivers and motherboard drivesr (have an ati based mobo too, used the MCE2005 drivers on ati)
-installed PowerDVD 6.0 (need to MCE2005, WinDVD caused probs; seems the first Software mpeg/dvd program will be your default in MCE2005!!)
-installed Avermedia TV Tuner drivers (my analog tv tuner drivers)
-then finally installed ATI HDTV Wonder drivers from ati's site (latest)
ran my MCE2005 setup, got 1 more OTA HD channel to come in and ran super smoothly!
also, after setting up my tuners/guide, i put my backed up Schedule Recordings files from my prev system in place.. rebooted, no need to redo my whole recording schedule!! gotta love that..
btw the location where your mce schedule is at is here: c:\documents and settings\your user id\application data\microsoft\ehome\recording handy to know!
rebooted again, installed WinDVD 7.0 plat (love the upmixing video plugin, TrimensionDNM) and turned on Trimension; threw in Sahara and played beautfiully!! not stuttering or lips out of sync.. looks like i'll have to Ghost my current setup so i can restore to this point from now on..
anywho.. on to some mobile/site related info.. once Sony Ericsson releases a firmware update to my K800i; i will plan on creating a new page for my K800i/K790a w/themes, Bluetooth HID profiles, and other tips/hacks.. so far loving the phone minus a few times it freezes, stutters when multi-tasking.. the camera spoils one, esp when your forced to use a crappy vga or 1mp one on a crappy US phone.. heh..
this upgrade also marked my first personal venture into using a SCSI harddrive.... the hardest part of this upgrade was finding the proper scsi controller card since i had a scsi drive i got from a pal laying around (a seagate cheetah 10k rpm 140gb one.. ).. the hd supported ultra320 scsi but had a 80pin connector vs most ultra320 controller cards use a 68 pin connector.. had to go online, found a good 80 to 68pin adapter w/LVD.. made sure my controller i got was the same type, yup!.. only paid $90 for the adaptec scsi controller on ebay, normally is like $270.. guy threw in a cable too w/a terminator!! joy!!
so after getting all of the pieces, i had to fiure out how to use the drive.. initially i was going to setup my OS on the scsi drive but had quite a few probs getting my system to boot to the scsi card.. kept getting error in xp saying it was not a proper bootable drive.. so i decided to install os on one of my s-ata drives, and will use the scsi as a ripping drive and also for my vista installation...
noticed that after my rebuild, i decided to try getting my ATI HDTV wonder going differently than i had in the past.. basically just used a different installation order for the drivers..
did the following and so far have seen the best MCE2005 perf and HDTV OTA perf yet..
-installed MCE2005
-installed AMD X2 Athlon Drivers for XP
-installed AMD X2 Optimizer utility
-installed .NET 1.0 and 2.0 frameworks
-updated to SP1 for each
-updated to the MCE2005 Rollup package 2
-installed my ATI vid card drivers and motherboard drivesr (have an ati based mobo too, used the MCE2005 drivers on ati)
-installed PowerDVD 6.0 (need to MCE2005, WinDVD caused probs; seems the first Software mpeg/dvd program will be your default in MCE2005!!)
-installed Avermedia TV Tuner drivers (my analog tv tuner drivers)
-then finally installed ATI HDTV Wonder drivers from ati's site (latest)
ran my MCE2005 setup, got 1 more OTA HD channel to come in and ran super smoothly!
also, after setting up my tuners/guide, i put my backed up Schedule Recordings files from my prev system in place.. rebooted, no need to redo my whole recording schedule!! gotta love that..
btw the location where your mce schedule is at is here: c:\documents and settings\your user id\application data\microsoft\ehome\recording handy to know!
rebooted again, installed WinDVD 7.0 plat (love the upmixing video plugin, TrimensionDNM) and turned on Trimension; threw in Sahara and played beautfiully!! not stuttering or lips out of sync.. looks like i'll have to Ghost my current setup so i can restore to this point from now on..
anywho.. on to some mobile/site related info.. once Sony Ericsson releases a firmware update to my K800i; i will plan on creating a new page for my K800i/K790a w/themes, Bluetooth HID profiles, and other tips/hacks.. so far loving the phone minus a few times it freezes, stutters when multi-tasking.. the camera spoils one, esp when your forced to use a crappy vga or 1mp one on a crappy US phone.. heh..
Saturday, September 02, 2006
nintendo thoughts...
well.... been following the wii console for quite some time now.. basically got interested w/it once they changed its name from the Revolution to Wii...
quite a controversy for some fanboys.. most did not like the change at all, saying it was gimmicky and dumb and whatnot.. but Nintendo made a great decision in the long run, at least in my opinion.. remember, it is pronounced like "we" or "weee!"... hehe.. its catchy and reinforces their new market plan/target; that we all are the market.. not just hardcore gamers or fanboys...
shocking as it may sound, i will not be getting a PS3 initially or for the first year.. i'm going to wait til they get to the 2nd/3rd gen of that console before buying.. if i'm gonna spend $600 for a console, it better not die on my in the first 4 months due to manufactoring hiccups/bugs/flaws.. i remember the ps2 and laser probs or power supply/overheating issues..
but with that in mind, i will be geting a Wii on release day, whenever that is!.. so check out the site.. i'm planning on adding a Wii section soon... i figure, the virtual console is begging to be hacked.. plus, i'm gonna go and see if work will pay for me to learn C++ and Visual Basic.. hell, if i can learn to code, that might be what i need to be able to release my own hacks soon.. :)
aiy.... peace out..
oh yea, got bored.. if anyone ever wanted to know what a geeks desk looks like, here's mine..
quite a controversy for some fanboys.. most did not like the change at all, saying it was gimmicky and dumb and whatnot.. but Nintendo made a great decision in the long run, at least in my opinion.. remember, it is pronounced like "we" or "weee!"... hehe.. its catchy and reinforces their new market plan/target; that we all are the market.. not just hardcore gamers or fanboys...
shocking as it may sound, i will not be getting a PS3 initially or for the first year.. i'm going to wait til they get to the 2nd/3rd gen of that console before buying.. if i'm gonna spend $600 for a console, it better not die on my in the first 4 months due to manufactoring hiccups/bugs/flaws.. i remember the ps2 and laser probs or power supply/overheating issues..
but with that in mind, i will be geting a Wii on release day, whenever that is!.. so check out the site.. i'm planning on adding a Wii section soon... i figure, the virtual console is begging to be hacked.. plus, i'm gonna go and see if work will pay for me to learn C++ and Visual Basic.. hell, if i can learn to code, that might be what i need to be able to release my own hacks soon.. :)
aiy.... peace out..
oh yea, got bored.. if anyone ever wanted to know what a geeks desk looks like, here's mine..
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