| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Sep | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Pages
Categories
- Baseball (1)
- Beer (6)
- Books (2)
- Brain (1)
- Brewing (11)
- Environment (1)
- Gaming (1)
- local (3)
- Media (6)
- Misc (16)
- Music (1)
- Photography (4)
- Poems (5)
- Reading (2)
- Technology (47)
- Uncategorized (6)
- Warnings (1)
Gaming, yeah, I like that too
Posted on March 26th, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Technology, Gaming.
One of the things that I enjoy but haven’t written about is gaming. When I was a kid my family had an early TO computer that used audio tape for storage. We had a few games for that Q-bert was one, and there was some moon thing too I think. A few of my friends had Atari too and that was all pretty cool.
I got the original Nintendo in 1986 or 87 (whatever year Zelda came out) and played it religiously for many years. I started playing computer games in the early 90s and did that for a long time too.
In 2003 though, things began to change. I was given an Xbox as part of a project at work. It was a real hardship, but I had to play for a few hours every day and write a report on my impressions. That experience - combined with the ongoing headache of upgrading my PC - led me to play more and more on the console and less and less on the PC.
This past December the Xbox finally gave up the ghost and it was replaced with an Xbox 360. I’m not the only gamer in the house anymore and so share the system with my kids. I still love it as much as ever and really enjoy playing with them, as well as with other people online.
This past Saturday night I had a rare and wonderful online experience. I was looking for a coop game of Rainbow Six Vegas and fell in with three people that felt really comfortable to play with. I’m 40 and am too old to take any of this very seriously but I don’t suck either. The group I was playing with were doing well and having fun. It was good and refreshing and a reminder of just how good a good game can be.
Technorati Tags: gaming, Nintendo, Zelda, TI, Q-bert, Xbox, Xbox 360
Perhaps the worst headset in the world
Posted on March 6th, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Technology, Warnings.
Like more than 100 across the country, my local CompUSA is shutting down. I needed a new bluetooth headset so on Saturday I stopped in to kick the store while it is down.
I bought this one:
and boy was that a mistake. I’m not sure whose ear this is designed to fit but it sure ain’t mine. It just hangs off my head looking stupid. The only way I can get it to really hold tight is to have the mic pointing more or less at my eye.
Unfortunately, because the store is closing, it can’t be returned.
If you see one of these headsets nearby and feel even the slightest inclination to purchase it - RUN!
C’mon, sell me what’s next already
Posted on February 2nd, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Technology, Media.
In 1998 we got broadband. At the time it was through MediaOne/RoadRunner and it was pretty awesome. It had just arrived in our town (Natick) and was way faster than anything we’d had before (56k).
A couple of years later MediaOne morphed into AT&T. Soon, all of our communication migrated to them - our cell phones, cable, broadband, land line - the works; and it was all good.
A few years after that and AT&T sold to Comcast. For some reason I could never get behind them. Maybe it was their attitude toward multiple systems on the network or maybe it was the slow degradation of performance over time but by 2004 or so we decided to move on.
We went with DishNetworks for TV and Verizon for land line and DSL. That was all cool. Then Verizon offers FIOS in Natick. It was only $5 more that DSL but way faster so how could we say no? That’s been awesome. Then a few weeks ago Verizon began to offer FIOS TV so we signed up for that too.
FIOS TV was installed yesterday. The installer was a couple of hours late - and wasn’t real familiar with what he was doing (he admitted that this was the first TV only he’d done) - but by the time he left we were up and running. (I had a few hours of work to do after he left to get things running the way I wanted but such is life.)
The difference between this and Dish is pretty dramatic. The picture is much better and gone will be the days of no TV due to bad weather. I also like the fact that we can share recordings with multiple set-top boxes - and that it is less than we were paying for Dish.
When I called Dish to cancel they tried to keep me - $10 off for the next several months, someone to come out and tune the dishes, etc. No dice. I was pissed to find out that we owned the dishes and that it we wanted them to come down it would cost $100. I was also surprised to find out that we owned the tuners. When I asked why we’d been paying a monthly fee for each tuner I was told that there was only a charge for the first two tuners - but that the DVR didn’t count and had a separate fee. I don’t know, it sounded pretty crappy to me.
So in the past ten years we’ve gone from dial-up to cable modem to DSL to fiber; and from cable to satellite to fiber. Pretty much every time we’ve changed the product and performance has improved and the price has gone down. I like that combination a lot and can’t wait to see what they want to sell me next.
Technorati Tags: FIOS, FIOS TV, Verizon, Dish Networks, Satellite, cable, Comcast, broadband, DSL, TV
Never one to leave well enough alone
Posted on January 23rd, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Technology, Photography.
So a few weeks ago I got a Canon Digital Rebel on Craig’s List. It’s a few years old but it’s new to me and I’ve been having lots of fun with it. But as soon as I see the word “firmware” I start wondering what might be out there; and sure enough, there are a couple of after-market firmware updates out there. I updated the firmware last night and the camera has all kinds of new capabilities.
Of course I haven’t even managed to figure out the native features of the thing so all I’ve really done is increased my learning curve; but such is life.
Technorati Tags: Canon, Digital Rebel, 300D, firmware, Craig’s List
My Mac
Posted on January 10th, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Technology.
My MacBook Pro has been acting up for a while and it’s really starting to bother me. Back in November or December is shut down unexpectedly. I called Apple and they told me to update the firmware. I did and things went well for a week. Then it happened again. It started right up and for a month there weren’t any problems.
Then earlier this week it happened again. And again and again and again. Next Flock stopped working. Now I feel like I am living on borrowed time. I am going to have to send it back to Apple for repair I guess. Thankfully, the turn around it usually pretty quick and still have my old iBook around as a back up; but I’m not really happy.
Technorati Tags: MacBook Pro, problem, shut off
powered by performancing firefox
What is eBay thinking???
Posted on December 6th, 2006 by GregPC.
Categories: Technology, Misc.
I make no bones about the fact that I was an idiot and was duped into buying an Xbox 360 wholesale list when I thought I was buying the actual device. I’ve written the whole sorry tale in another post and have been happy to tell anyone (including the media) how foolish I was and how poorly I was treated by eBay/PayPal.
eBay recognized that “showbidding” had taken place and told me that the seller was no longer allowed on eBay. Imagine my surprise today then, when a reporter emailed me the seller’s active profile. What is eBay thinking?
I’ve sent the details to eBay’s PR team and am waiting for them to explain. It should be interesting.
Technorati Tags: eBay, scam, wholesale list, showbidding, PayPal
iPod battery replacement
Posted on December 4th, 2006 by GregPC.
Categories: Technology.
I have a 15GB 3G iPod that I’ve had for a few years now. A while ago my battery crapped out and I started getting less and less time until I was only able to use it when it was plugged in (which kind of defeated the purpose). My unit was covered by the recent class action suit and I followed all the steps to get a replacement. I got my brother (who bought it for me as a gift) to give me a copy of his credit card receipt, I filled out the various forms and affidavits, mailed everything in and then I waited.
I waited for a long time - months and months and months and months. Every now and then I’d check online to see how things were progressing with a potential settlement and I kept on waiting. Finally, details of the settlement were released and I was psyched - I’d be getting something from Apple!
Well, my happiness was premature. I got a letter stating that my receipt didn’t specifically state that the listed Apple purchase, was, in fact an iPod. The letter asked that I provide more corroboration or sign another affidavit. I needed to find the receipt again and figured I’d get around it some time. Months passed and I did nothing. I started to think about replacing my iPod with a Shuffle and even tried to buy one (with out any luck).
I started to wonder how hard/how expensive it would be to replace my battery. As it turned out it was cheap, easy and fast. I bought a battery on laptopsforless ($23 with shipping), opened the iPod and swapped batteries in less than ten minutes and the device is none the worse for wear.
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod, battery, replacement
Phone Sex
Posted on December 1st, 2006 by GregPC.
Categories: Technology.
Yesterday CNN.com ran a story, “Modern romance: Get texted when love is near.” I don’t know, there’s something a little creepy about this one to me - especially the GPS-enabled services.
Online dating is so last year. Now, if you’re thinking romance, look to your mobile phone. Match-making companies are creating new services that allow people to post their dating profile online and then automatically receive a text message on a GPS-enabled phone when a match is nearby, say, at a coffee shop around the corner.
Modern romance: Get texted when love is near - CNN.com
The story is about love and romance but lets be honest, what might one get with service like this? A serious relationship? Unlikely. A casual relationship? Possibly. Casual sex? definitely.
- He: Hi, I tagged yor profile on9, Im rght rownd d corner & 1DrD f I c%d tag U.
- She: suR, swNdz gr8, Im jst finishing a cup of Cofy, whr do U wnt 2 MEt?
- He: How bout d mens r%m whr U R, I cn b ther n 3 mins.
- She: Perfect, knock 3 tImz & Ill unlock d dor.
Ah yes, modern romance indeed.
Technorati Tags: CNN, Phone, GPS, dating, SMS, text message, casual sex, match-making
Throwback technology rocks - Part 2
Posted on November 30th, 2006 by GregPC.
Categories: Technology.
For several months at least I’ve been reading the coverage about the Antikythera Mechanism - a 2,000 year old machine supposed to have been used to calculate astronomical events.
The delicate workings at the heart of a 2,000-year-old analogue computer have been revealed by scientists. The Antikythera Mechanism, discovered more than 100 years ago in a Roman shipwreck, was used by ancient Greeks to display astronomical cycles.
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Ancient Moon ‘computer’ revisited
The BBC has been covering it regularly and every time they do I wonder what happened to this technology? Why did it vanish? Were there other examples? Where could it have lead? Were there other similar technologies from other ancient cultures that were developed only to turn into a dead end?
Today, technologies disappear when they become obsolete - either because a better technology has arrived or because the need they met no longer exists or is no longer important to a culture. What might this ancient device have been replaced by? Or was it a prototype developed by a lone inventor who went down with the ship on which it was discovered? The scientists studying it believe that isn’t the case, but how can we explain or understand the fact that no other examples have been discovered?
No earlier geared mechanism of any sort has ever been found. Nothing close to its technological sophistication appears again for well over a millennium, when astronomical clocks appear in medieval Europe. It stands as a strange exception, stripped of context, of ancestry, of descendants.
In search of lost time : Article : Nature
Unless and until other examples turn up - or classical descriptions of it are discovered - everything about this device will be open for conjecture. It’s a pretty cool story though and a very cool testament to ingenuity.
Technorati Tags: Antikythera Mechanism, technology, ancient, BBC, Nature
Is Michael Kinsley joking?
Posted on November 28th, 2006 by GregPC.
Categories: Technology, Media.
In a column entitled, “Like I Care,” Michael Kinsley vents on the “ego” aspect of the Web, social networking and blogging. Does he not own a mirror? Or perhaps he thinks that sharing thoughts and opinions should somehow be limited to an anointed few rather than to the many. In either case, his column (which manages to use the word “solipsism” twice) is a sad attempt to belittle the shared thoughts, ideas, feelings and opinions of the millions of people participating in shared media.
The first person I knew who had a Web site of his own was a fellow Washington journalist. This was when many journalists were still just getting into e-mail, but the URL for this Web site quickly circulated around town and around the world. Why? Well, we were all impressed by the technological savvy. But we were absolutely astounded by the solipsism. What on earth had gotten into Joe (not his real name)? This was a modest, soft-spoken and self-effacing fellow, yet his Web site portrayed him as an egotistical monster.
Michael Kinsley - Like I Care - washingtonpost.com
Mr. Kinsley makes his living off of his ego, why is he troubled by those who, like him, wish to reach out and touch the world?
Technorati Tags: Michael Kinsley, ego, social networking