Apple G4 Fishtank - That’s About It
Filed under: Apple, Other — Malcolm Owen @ 11:38 pm
Quick Post:
Dude, that Apple G4 Fishtank rocks. I want one. And some fish too.
(I said it was a quick one)
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Sony’s PS3 Continues Downward Spiral In UK: Hardware Changes
Filed under: Gaming — Malcolm Owen @ 10:07 pm
For a while now, I’ve been angry at the utter contempt that the console companies have for the United Kingdom. Many years have passed, and without fail, the price difference between the US and the UK continues to be painfully wide. However, the PS3 is taking the biscuit. We all knew that the UK would be ripped off compared to the US’ prices, but it gets worse than just cost on it’s own.
You see, you could easily justify the cost of the PlayStation 3 if Sony add more stuff to the package, making it more attractive. If they did that, people would be more excited for it’s launch.
However. Sony has, in it’s wise and perfectly well rounded beliefs, have decided to make the PS3 work with fewer PS2 games upon release. They’re changing some emulation chip or something more technical, like using different paint. This in itself makes the PS3 less attractive than it already is (That’s 2 month’s rent for me!), but it will mean all of those poor souls whom thought it would be a good idea to replace their aging PS2 with the “new hotness” will be against the idea, and finally jump ship to a competitor.
A tip to parents that want to get their little cherubs a great gaming system: I hear the Colecovision is fantastic…
[Via RewiredMind and the BBC]
Monday, February 26, 2007
The Ups and Downs of Electrical Closing Down Sales
Filed under: Apple, Other, Tech — Malcolm Owen @ 9:41 pm
My sister, Charlotte, has a new credit card with an obscenely large credit limit. The computer she’s borrowing from a family member has also unceremoniously died, with a dead hard drive. So it was no surprise she was suddenly in the market for a new laptop.
I talked to her about the possibilities of buying cheaply online from a few retailers, the fact that there’s free replacements for expensive software, and the possibility of crossing over to the Mac side. She didn’t want to wait for a delivered laptop, so we headed into a retail park.
More specifically the Currys.Digital in Swansea for a “Closing Down Sale” they had going at the moment.
No, a large UK chain of stores is not closing down. In this case they’re just crossing the road to a bigger establishment. And that’s a brilliant excuse to hold a sale.
Although you might think a closing down sale is fantastic, there are many downsides, some less obvious than others.
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The Verbarius Clock Tells Time. Vaguely.
Filed under: Tech — Malcolm Owen @ 9:31 pm
You remember those novelty clocks you could give people whom were vague about time? The ones with only an hour hand, and time locations such as “Five-ish” on the outside edge? The ones that the recipient of the gift finds insulting and refuses to invite you to their wedding? Thinking of it right now? Forget about it.
Those crazy guys behind that really cool keyboard that can change it’s keys (that I’m still waiting to get. Maybe by Christmas…) are at it again, but now with a vague clock. And by that, I m referring to a vague clock that doesn’t use hands: It uses words. And sentences if need be.
The Verbarius Clock is a multi-lingual timekeeping device that communicates through words and sentences. And by communicates, I mean tells you the time. It also randomizes the phrasing each time, so it can say Four Fifty Three as well as Seven Minutes to Five. It also looks kick ass, with the words seemingly blending into the clock with hardly any clue as to how it actually does this.
It’s a cool clock. I probably won’t be able to say that again in my lifetime, but it really is.
Daily WTF Becomes Worse Than Failure. (Name Change, Not Quality Slippage)
Filed under: Internet — Malcolm Owen @ 6:07 am
One of the better places to go on the internet, the Daily WTF, has decided to change it’s name to Worse Than Failure, as in a polite version of WTF could possibly stand for. This isn’t huge news, but it’s worth pointing it out to the many people out there in browser-land to update your bookmarks to reflect the change.
As for those of you that aren’t familiar with the Daily WTF before it’s cosmetic, name and slight content changes (They’re thinking about adding some programming contests), here’s some of the awesome mistakes that you’ve missed out on reading already.
Cut Paste Destroy
Practice Makes Perfect
O Draconian Devil! Oh, Lame Professor!
A Fleet of Temps
Interview By Proxy
Saturday, February 24, 2007
New Podcast - Video Game Guys
Filed under: Gaming, Internet — Malcolm Owen @ 1:02 am
After months of wondering how to do it and sitting around doing nothing about the site, we’ve finally done a podcast.
Justin “Miketwo” Lee (Gametactics.com) and I, Malcolm “Maiko” Owen (GT and Blatantly Random. The site you’re looking at), have created the Video Game Guys Podcast. It’s a 30 minute meandering through the week’s stories on Gametactics.com, and random musings about gaming today. Yes, it is as disorganised as it sounds.
Although you might want to get the RSS feed for it, or to add the show to your iTunes, you might be wondering how the editing went for this first episode…
Firstly, we used 3 Skype accounts in a bad way. One for Miketwo in Canada, one for me to speak on, and one for my Macbook with Garageband to record it all. Not elegant, but it did the job. The mic volumes were a bit off, but we can sort that out for next time.
I did do something stupid though. I got to the end of the show, stopped recording, and went to wipe the last 5 seconds because it wasn’t needed. Accidentally wiped the entire show. I did manage to bring it back (I have visions of Justin flying to the UK to harm me if I failed), added some spare music we have, reconfigured the website it was to be hosted on so it actually worked, and that’s about it.
Maybe next week we will be a bit more prepared…
Listen to this week’s first episode HERE!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Joost Beta Tokens - A Digg Project
Filed under: Internet, Video — Malcolm Owen @ 10:38 pm
Joost - Internet TV that looks good. See it in action in this episode of dl.tv
Digg - Social Bookmarking Community that Rocks
Someone on Digg has come up with the fantastic idea of making a thread for the sole point of getting everyone tokens for the Joost beta. I’ve already posted a request on there, but judging by the sheer numbers of people on it, it’s doubtful I will get a beta token, but here’s hoping…
(By the way, if any of you have any tokens available, feel free to send one my way. You know. Just in case the Digg method doesn’t work.)
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
IronDrive - Practically Indestructible USB Flash Drive
Filed under: Tech — Malcolm Owen @ 11:06 pm
You’re a soldier in the middle of the battlefield, writing your next blog entry (it could happen). Suddenly, you are warned about potential nuclear fallout nearby, and there’s not enough time to get to the top secret military underground bunker. You need to keep your important data (read as “Artistic Photography”) safe at all costs, and your laptop doesn’t happen to have protection from what is about to hit it.
The IronDrive is a “Military Grade” USB drive that can handle stupidly high and stupidly low temperatures, shock, water damage, “caustic agents” (read as “Acid from the enemy’s torture chamber”) and, oddly, “Nuclear Effects”. Like fallout.
I wouldn’t expect the drive to withstand a direct hit from a nuke since that would be silly, but if you want to keep your files safe from various means of destruction, it will probably do the job.
One small problem - If you’re carrying it, the nuclear effects will probably kill you (or worse, render you incapable of propagating the species), so you won’t have much need for this unless you can make a suit out of the same materials. This means only the most urgent documents for the survival of human kind need to be saved to this drive.
Although some would say that the 487 photo archive of “Mandy” in chronological order would be essential…
[ Via Everything USB via SlashGear via USB Gadgets]
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Put Your Xbox 360 Controller On Your PC
Filed under: Gaming, Tech — Malcolm Owen @ 11:00 pm
I’ve been jealous of you console types for quite a while. It’s not that you have better games than we PC games have (FPS games are MEANT for the keyboard and mouse, damnit!), not the standardisation of hardware (at least with the PC if the game looks bad and you want to improve it, it’s feasible by changing part of the machine. Try doing that with your Xbox 360!), but the controllers.
Console joypads lead the way of other gaming interfaces. Containing the basic control systems you need to be able to do most tasks in gaming and bundled with the systems from the days of launch, they are designed to be as multi-genre as possible. A finely engineered conduit that translates your physical movements into virtual commands.
PC controllers have been quite, how we say, disappointing for the last few years, and it’s rare to ever see a controller that will work with both a console and a PC with little or no hassle. Microsoft, in their wisdom, decided that their Xbox 360 controllers should be compatible with both the X360 console and your standard Windows machine, instantly making one of the best PC joypads in a long time.
Here’s how to get it going…
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Domino’s Pizza Web Delivery, Because Pizza Hut Doesn’t.
Filed under: Internet — Malcolm Owen @ 10:33 pm
Imagine, if you will. You’re hungry. You need food. You can’t be bothered to go to your fully stocked kitchen full of the best fast food available. You’re too lazy to operate the microwave after pulling something out of the freezer. Delivery Pizza is the answer. However, what if your family is hogging the phone line, stopping your order from taking place?
Well, you have Online Pizza Ordering Systems, like the ones at Domino’s in the UK. Granted, it’s not so, dare I say, “Fun” or “Groovy” as the US site, but it does the job well enough for me. Credit card payments, remembering usual orders, and even an e-mail from “The Kitchen” when it is on it’s way. Damn useful to be able to pay by, especially since I don’t usually have enough change about my person for the Cash On Delivery approach..
What about it’s main competitor, Pizza hut? Well, in the UK they’re still giving you phone-only ordering, but registering on their website gets you “Free Garlic Bread”, which is so underwhelming to me. Then again, they do have some amusements to occupy my time. whilst waiting for Domino’s to arrive.
But wait, what’s this? Pizza Hut US actually HAS online ordering? And the UK doesn’t? What gives?
My phobia of pizza orders over the phone forces me to avoid Pizza hut right now, but if the UK site ever gets web-based delivery, I would change in an instant. I prefer the Pizza Hut food, but until they sort themselves out, I’m going for Domino’s convenience.
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