All Things Phones Related, Well, Maybe Not...

Well, once again I've taken my sweet time with blogging shit. So for a quick update:
1. Cancel Any Gamespot subscriptions, or any money you are paying to CNet (if you don't know, just google "Jeff Gertsmann")
2. Don't buy anymore Eidos products (see 1.)
3. Buy Uncharted for PS3. Trust me. (This and Assassin's Creed are sucking my life away)
4. There is no point in buying a PS3 yet, unless you can help me with the wireless disconnection problems.
5. Buy an iPod 3G Nano (that means 3rd Generation), coz they're cool, but don't use Apple's iTunes software. Try Winamp, and if you don't like their iPod support, try the more fully featured mlipod plug-in. Remember, Think Different.
6. Do NOT buy an iPhone, unless you want to get ridiculed by people with a knowledge of technology (if you don't know now, you never will). Or buy and iPhone and don't be a dick. Also of note, if you already own an iPhone, please learn to hold it the right way up.

Umm... that's about it. I blame the revamped Digg and it's lack or interesting Tech stories.
Now to phone stuff:
My recent purchase of a T-Mobile Vario III / HTC Kaiser / HTC TyTn II / Tilt, may have been a bad idea as the new Windows Mobile 6.1 is coming out, with all new features:

Thanks to Engadget

Also, if you're having problems with hearing your phone ring, or feel it vibrate, or if you just feel like a dick wearing a bluetooth headset, then this may be for you. The vibrating bluetooth bracelet. Or just buy (*me* *cough*) one here... just kidding, I'll probably buy it now.

Anywayz, peace out homies, until we next meet.
As the Wu-Tang once said: "I bomb atomically, Socrates philosophies and hypotheses, can't describe how I be dropping these, mockeries. Lyrically perform arm robberies, flee with the lottery, possibly they spotted me, battle-scarred shogun, explosion when my pen hits, tremendous, ultra-violet shine blind forensics..."

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30 Usability Issues To Be Aware Of...

I couldn't be bothered to think of a title, so I just went with what the article is called.

So, it's about 30 usability issues to be aware of, so it's pretty good for web developers and interface designers in general, you know... just in case you don't know them already. It's pretty interesting, my quick glance of the first 4 paragraphs have led me to post it here, so it's gotta be good right?

Just in case you didn't click the link above, here's another one for you.
READ ME!!

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HTML Tables Suck, But....

You can spruce them up with this new fangled thing-a-ma-jiggy....
Ladies and gents, I introduce you to:
TABLECLOTH!!!

Yeah, it's kinda like a lightbox thingy (without the semi-opaque-pseudo-fade-png) but for tables. It basically highlights on mouseovers and clicks... So yeah, pretty simple. In fact all you have to do is add 2 lines of code to your page, and then functionality changes are done by changing variables in the javascript.

Still, if you're a web "developer" and you still use tables to layout a page... shame on you... you bastard... this link isn't for you.... go on... fuck off. That is unless you are displaying data in a table, like a stock report or an invoice, then we're cool.

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Nike SB and Slam City

Hey y'all..

It seems that I'm a bit of a sneaker snob now, probably a sign of the times (damn you Nike SB!!). This change has come about because of Nike finally breaking into the skateboarding scene after years of buying out and killing smaller companies. Their release of the much coveted Nike SB range, with old skool kicks, has led the resurgence of classic trends. Do I have to say Nike Dunks? With hip-hop firmly rooted in the push for the new old skool, what with throwback jerseys and Air Force Ones, Nike decided to re-release the classic Dunk on their SB range after much 'market research'. This has now become the staple of the Nike SB market, releasing limited edition Dunks on the SB range. Many 'sneakerheads' will snub the fact that the Nike tag now includes the "SB" marking, but they can't deny that the SB Dunks have the best colorways and limited editions, better than custom made Nikes, or IDs, or even the dreaded 'fake' factory versions. This has somehow made the SB a sign of being in the fashion elite and less about skateboarding. The fashion world is divided about SBs, some seeing it as an elite club that only those in the 'know' know about, while skaters hate Nike's newfound foothold in the industry, and sneakerheads hate to wear a Nike SB tag.
That said, Nike SBs are some of the hardest shoes to find on the street, not because of their "elite" fashion labelling, but because they were firmly rooted in skateboarding culture and therefore only available in skate stores. I'll tell you that trying to find P-Rod II's in California was the bane of my holiday, and about 3-4 days of disappointment (that is, until I found them). In Cali. of all places!! The home of skateboarding, and I couldn't find a pair of shoes!! Even Niketown don't stock Nike SBs!! It's with no surprise that the only store in London that "officially" sells Nike SBs (also one of only a few in the country and Europe!!), is Slam City Skates (well, also Cide sold them before they closed up shop). This has become a somewhat exclusive relationship, with Nike releasing the Slam City shoe, and Slam City being the first retailer in Europe to get the Nike Dunk Lucky Cats.

With that comes the first time in my knowledge that Nike SB will be at Niketown, for the first ever Slam City @ Niketown.

So for 3 weeks from today, there will be old, new, and limited edition Nike SB kicks and apparel stocked at Niketown DAILY! I guess they're expecting a lot of business. This is also coinciding with the first ever Nike SB skate video, "Nothing But The Truth". Needless to say that the Nike SB team are one of the best around, and this video has been highly anticipated for months. Also, a week today is the official European premiere of "Nothing But The Truth" at The Royal Festival Hall. So be sure to keep that in your diaries, and to visit Niketown in the coming weeks..

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J's MegaQ4PresentList [Updated]

Well, it seems that Q4 of any year is the "Maybe I'll get another loan/credit card" season, what with all the present buying that occurs, and the insane push my retailers and manufacturers to make a huge profit while still putting the consumer in larger debt. I, not one to be bothered by being known as "the guy who doesn't buy presents/buys shit presents", do not fall for this 3 month marketing ploy. But I know many of you are, so here's my lists of wants this season..

It's my birthday soon (15th October to be exact). Where upon I shall forthwith be the age of twenty-fucking-five, that coupled with Christmas should net me about 2 presents. So here's my rough list (which will be elaborated upon once I can be bothered), in no particular order (yet):

• Nabaztag/tag - I'll need a wireless router first
• 60GB PS3 (should be reduced to £349.99 on 10th October - no more XBox 360 Love)
• Jereme Rogers, Plan B, Love/Hate skateboard deck
• Or actually any of the new Plan B Samurai series
• NikeSB Rodriguez Collection
• Nike SB P-Rod II shoes in Grey/Blue or White/Black
• Any of the Limited Edition P-Rod clothing collection
• Casual winter coat
• Logitech Z-5500 Speakers
• iPod Nano (in green or blue)
• T-Mobile Vario III (you might know it as the HTC TyTn II)
• Adjustable musician's stool (playing my guitars standing up is getting annoying)
• CDs
• Fightstar - One Day Son, All This Will Be Yours
• Alter Bridge - Blackbird
• DVDs
• 300 - 2 Disc edition
• Transformers: The (Animated) Movie, 20th Anniversary, Ultimate 2 Disc Tin Edition actually, I already have that..
• I'm not saying that I want it, but if someone were to get me High School Musical (1 or 2), I'd feel obliged to keep it, seeing as it's a present and all..
• Books (even though I don't read much)
• The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie
• Money - to fund any of the above or for a Lappy.
• ...and for anyone feeling charitable, one of the following
• Honda CBR125R
• Honda NSR 125
• 2008 Yamaha YZF-R125
• 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250R

I think that's about it for now....
Don't forget it's my Birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years amongst other holidays, so I'll get at least 1 from my list right?

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Take That Halo 3, You Just Got P.W.N.D.

Yeah, so Halo sucks. Halo 2 was the same as Halo. Now, Halo 3 is..... exactly the same as Halos 1 and 2.
That said, I've never got round to playing Halo. I saw someone playing it once and thought (it looks like Tribes.... just not as good). Actually, that's probably a good review:

Halo 3. It's exactly like the last 2, both of which were poor re-hashes of Tribes.

What I wouldn't give to see that in a review.... well, this is almost as good:

I'm thinking today that my Sony vs Xbox meter is creeping over to the Sony side.....

Read from the original site
Thanks to Joystiq for the funniest video I've seen today.

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I Want One

Well, seeing as my birthday's coming up I'm gonna start a list of wants soon...
But before then... I just saw this on Digg and it looks freaking AWESOME!!!!

The LEGO Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon

Now how phucking cool is that shit!!!!! I wants one NOW!!!

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F@ck the iPhone - HTC FTW

Why is there so much hype about the iPhone??!?!?
It's just a phone that uses regular technology and puts it into a shiny apple casing!! The Nokia N95 is better when it comes to hardware features! I mean, who the hell uses EDGE in the UK?

Seeing as I need a new phone, it's time to start shopping around. Shame that there aren't any nice phones out, leaving me to seriously ponder about buying the iPhone... but £280 for a current generation phone isn't too appealing. I mean who buys hardware phones and then gets the contract separately? Isn't that the whole point of subsidising the cost of a phone with the contract? Imagine how much apple are making off you, especially if they are getting that reported 40% cut from O2 for 18 months...
I have played with an iPhone on my recent trip to the USA. It was in the apple store in Vegas, and I have to say, the interface is freakin' sweet. But then that's about it. There was a recent "study" on the usability of the iPhone, HTC Touch, and Nokia N95. Guess who won? The iPhone of course!! It's interface is cool and very usable. But note that the Touch uses a custom wrapper around the Windows Mobile framework (the TouchFlo), and N95 uses its S60 interface. I haven't read the specifics of the "experiment", but I remember it was something like doing common tasks or navigation... but I bet there wasn't a copy/cut and paste test...
The lack of hardware features seriously make it not worth the wait. The fact that they aren't supporting 3G yet (due to battery life according to the Jobs), is silly. In fact the EDGE technology (2.5 or 2.75 tech depending who you talk to) it uses, will actually disable the phone function when in use. I'm not too sure about the details, but I do know that when EDGE is transferring data, all incoming calls will be diverted to answer phone. Whether EDGE transfers data constantly is another issue. I haven't really been looking into the iPhone technology (or lack of it), but that joined with the proprietary hardware and software is really pushing me away from this G1 iPhone. There is also news that any third party apps or unlocking (from crappy O2) will void the warranty. I wonder how long it will take for apple to issue an update that will brick unlocked iPhones or those with third party apps?
Oh, and have you heard about the debacle that was music/mp3 ringtones? Apparently you can't make one yourself, you have to get iTunes to do if for you, then you have to pay to download it even if you've already paid for and downloaded the whole song!! This feature has subsequently been disabled in firmware and iTunes update. How come apple never tell you what's new in an update? Sneaky much?
Oh yeah, don't forget about the fee to replace the battery after about a year. It should only be £50.

But if you're interested here is Stephen Fry's views about his beloved iPhone.
Beware initial G1 buyers in the UK. Apple have pretty much confirmed the 3G enabled iPhone for 2008. So faster inter-webbing without call divert is around the corner, but don't be too confident that Steve will let you upgrade or cancel your contract that easily. At least by the time your contract is over you can get the G3 or G4 iPhone...

For those that aren't interested in the iPhone, there's been an announcement that there is an upcoming HTC press event in London on October 1st. Engadget are theorising that they may announce the Kii, Omni, Polaris, and the Juno.
But if you're impatient for an iPhone beater, take a look at the HTC Kaiser or, as it's otherwise known, the HTC TyTN II (that's supposed to read "Titan").
And if you're really impatient, buy one here. Like I'll probably do, once I have the funds...

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XBox 360 or PS3

Well, almost a year since I acquired a Nintendo Wii, it's coming close to that time when I upgrade my gaming to the "Next-Generation" but the choice is a tough one. Let's weight up the Pros and Cons (in my view) for each:

XBox 360
Pros

1. Cheaper Than PS3
   Currently the XBox comes in 3 flavours: Core (the stripped down crap), £179.99; Premium £279.99 (but £250 from Play.com); and the "Elite" edition £299.99 (which is basically £50 for an extra 100Gb on the hard drive... oh, and a black paint job)
2. Bigger Game Library
   This is only because it was launched into the market a year before the PS3. I was tempted to say "better games", but that is likely due to the bigger library as I'm sure there are some stinkers in there.
3. 360 Controller
   This is probably the best game controller I have ever used. Seemingly Microsoft learned their lesson after the original XBox controller, you know the one that required the hands of a colossus to use. I have one to use to play games on my PC (it is Microsoft after all). Sadly there are no more 'real' PC games that are any good, most being crappy ports of 360 games.
4. Better Game Performance
   According to most reviews, games on the XBox 360 usually perform better than its PS3 counter-part.
5. XBox Live/Live Arcade
   The online component of the XBox 360 is an unprecedented success, there ain't no two ways about it.
6. Gamer Achievements
   Pretty cool. You get points and badges for doing things in games, increasing replay-ability of a game, and of course bragging rights to all your friends on Live. But then there is the story of one gamer who amassed the largest amount of gamer points and then sold his account... to pay for a PS3!

Cons

1. RROD
   The infamous Red Ring of Death. This is basically a critical fault that causes the console to stop functioning. It is caused by the graphics card/chip becoming separated from its contacts on the motherboard. This overheating of the motherboard is due to poor cooling/airflow design by Microsoft, users putting the console somewhere where it will overheat, and a bad heat sink attachment choice. This is possibly the greatest issue with the XBox 360, so big in fact that all consoles now have a 3 year manufacturer's warranty (even those bought at launch nearly 2 years ago). The fix, namely the Falcon 65nm core, is hopefully out by Christmas, smaller transistors = small chips = less heat.
2. DVD Drive
   There's been a lot said about the different DVD drives bundled in the 360. Issues like it scratching discs, sometimes rendering them unreadable. The one I encountered after playing my cousin's 360 was the noise it made. Seriously, it sounds like a jet engine is taking off. It's so loud that actually interferes with playing games or watching movies, that is unless you have your amps set to 11.
3. Power Brick
   Once again, from my experience with my cousin's 360, the external brick is HUGE. It's probably the size of a forearm, that's how big it is. It has also known to get extremely hot, and even to burning down houses. Frankly, my PC and a 360 could heat my room for winter (maybe that should be a Pro?).
4. XBox Live
   No matter how fun it is to play with people around the world, you shouldn't have to pay for an online gaming service, hence my lack of playing World of Warcraft. Once I've bought a game for £30/$60, I don't want to keep paying for an online service right? Also, there's the pain of listening to pre-pubescent (and some post-pubescent) gamers screaming racist and derogatory crap that while you pwn them, or when they pwn you. Oh, and don't forget about those losers who are constantly complaining about cheaters just because they're no good at a game.
5. Lack of Next-Gen Optical Drive
   The 360 ships with a regular DVD drive, but no Next-Gen optical to truly make it a "Next-Gen" machine. There is the (reduced price) external HD-DVD attachment, but who really wants an external disc drive, especially when it costs £114.99?
6. Lacking Hardware?
   To continue the issue of only having a DVD drive, it seems that the 360 is lacking in the hardware department both in quality and the amount of "accessories" that are available. Where is the WiFi? It's part of an external module that is connected via USB. So adding wireless connectivity and a HD-DVD drive will add £114.99 + £59.99 = £174.98!!! Meaning that, comparatively, the 360 is (hardware-wise) the same price as a PS3
7. A New Version Next Month?
   One of my biggest qualms is with Microsoft's market/pricing strategy with the 360. There have been an alarming amount of SKUs for the 360. Seemingly, Microsoft, having skimped on the hardware in the 360, are continually "upgrading" the 360 every 6 months or so adding and replacing hardware but keeping the price point the same. The worst is the silent releases where a hardware update will not be announced to the general public, the current HDMI update and the upcoming Falcon upgrade. The thing is that all those people with launch consoles are now missing out on the HDMI output, which has been available on the PS3 since launch. There is also the recent "Elite" edition release, which keeps the 360 price point at £300, but it's only improvement is a 120Gb hard drive instead of the regular 20Gb. It was originally touted as the only 360 to have HDMI output, but then this was included in current Premium 360 only 2 months later, although the Elite comes with the official MS HDMI cable, meaning that Premium HDMI owners will need to buy it as another accessory.

I'm sure there's more stuff for the Pros and Cons of the 360, but I guess these are the main problems. Now for the PS3, I guess I'll try to make it comparative....

Playstation 3
Pros

1. No Major Manufacturer Faults?
   Well, I haven't heard of many issues with the PS3 compared to the 360. This is either because of the actual lack of major issues, or because there are few and far between show stoppers.
2. Next-Gen and Hardware
   Well, it comes equipped with a Blu-ray drive, giving its optical media a 5x boost over the 360's DVD and a 2-3x boost over HD-DVD. They also come equipped with WiFi and media card readers (except for the cheapest 20Gb version, but these aren't available in the UK).
3. Backwards Compatibility
   Being a PS2 owner, it would be nice to be able to play my old games on the PS3. Current reports are that 71% of European PS2 games are playable on the PS3 (about 1,700 out of 2,400). Also these games should be upscaled from their old school 480 to 720 or 1080!!
4. Exclusive Games?
   There has been talk in gaming circles that certain PS3 titles may make it onto the 360, purely because of the fact that the 360 has a greater install base, and the game companies need to make their money back somehow. But I'm hoping that the two games I'm waiting (Metal Gear Solid 4, and Final Fantasy XIII) for are at least exclusive to the PS3 for a while. Well, some Konami peeps have been saying that MGS4 may be ported, but it was made for PS3 and so will stay that way, meaning that a 360 port could well be the inferior version. I could have included this in the 360 Pros m, but I don't really feel that there are any games that I would be too fond of (Gears of War is PC bound and doesn't really interest me, and Dead Rising has it's own problems like a broken save function and no non-HD support).
5. Potential Longevity
   The PS3 has great potential in my view. It includes "Next-Gen" hardware that could possibly increase it's shelf life (compared to the 360 which will need to introduce new SKUs to keep up). The cell processor is possibly one of the most powerful chips on the market, all that's needed are developers willing to learn how to use it instead of complaining that the new architecture is harder than the 360.
6. Folding@Home and Linux
   Currently the PS3 allows users to install Linux distros. Which is nice for the open-source community. Also the PS3 has it's own Folding@Home client, which will max out the cell processor. PS3s have contributed the most teraflops to F@H when compared to all other systems. Funnily enough, someone are Microsoft said that they could implement F@H on the 360, but they were shot down by Stanford saying that the 360 isn't a powerful enough system.
7. It's Black
   What else is there to say?

Cons

1. Expensive
   Yes, it's bloody expensive compared to the vanilla 360s which are at my magic price point of £300. But when you take into account the cost of the hardware in comparison, both consoles are comparative. That said, there is a rumor that a new "entry level" SKU will be released for £300 in the UK, which will include a 20Gb hard drive. It's not as bad as comparing the US prices for a PS3, which is $600 compared to the $800+ that UK gamers pay.
2. Same Old Controller
   "If it ain't broke, don't try fix it" right? Well, Microsoft fixed it by releasing the best controller to date, and Sony? Well they were left behind with the same on controller design, but missing the rumble and throwing in some odd motion sensing controls. I was hoping to test out those boomerang shaped controller designs, but alas it was panned. At least now they've got the rumble back, but (according to Sony) we will not experience these until Q1-Q2 2008, and of course they won't be bundled with the consoles. But EVERYONE at Sony has been know to outright lie to everybody, so you never know... a £300 PS3 with rumble by Christmas?
3. Games!!!
   Or the lack of them. There aren't many games out for the PS3 at the moment, bringing the close of their first year from a crawl to a near stop. Heavenly Sword wasn't that awesone, and Lair was panned by everyone. There aren't even any games being hyped for the holiday season. For those games that are in the wild, there aren't really and that are outstanding, and most multi-platform games are just poor 360 ports with bad/worse framerates. I'm sure the PS3 version of EA's Skate is worse than the 360 version
4. Online Experience Lacking
   The online component of the PS3 is sorely lacking when compared to XBox Live and Live Arcade. And now the Playstation "Home" project has been pushed back until Mid 2008.

Hmmm... so which should I get? I'm looking at the PS3 but the XBox just seems to be more attractive right now. Maybe a few more months of waiting will help me make a decision. But then come Christmas, it may be down to a Falcon XBox or a £300 PS3....

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F*ck Halo 3!!

Yeah!!! Seriously fuck Halo 3!! And not because I lack ownership of a seXbox 360 or a PS3, but because they're releasing it at the same time as Cabela's Trophy Bucks!!! Well... maybe because Halo 3 is also one of those new fangled "Games for Windows", i.e., Vista and Dx10 only, although I'm sure there'll be an XP hack soon enough, just like the one for Shadowrun.
So here's a call to everyone to boycott Halo 3 and get Cabela's Trophy Bucks instead. Here's a video showing an re-enactment of the exact day that Bungie ruined everything:



Thanks to JoystiqM for the 411.

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Apple Are Unoriginal

Well, their marketing department seems to be lacking in the "original ideas" department...

Some of you may remember that Apple copyied a Postal Service video to advertise their new alliance with Intel. Hmmmm....an Apple + Intel = Appel??
Anyways, the peeps at Engadget have summarized Apple's 2006-2007 commercials and the bits that they bit.

All this from a company that encourages us to "Think Different", and whose user base is was mainly made up of creative professionals (now sadly made up of.......don't get me started....especially with that iPhone).

So read on for Engadget's "Apple's little problem with ripping off artists".

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J Wants A Laptop

So, I'm in the market for a lappy.....well, at least I think I am. Mainly because my main PC has everything I could want, it is was a highly spec'd machine. I guess it's either an upper mid-tier, or a low upper-tier computer nowadays (especially 'coz one of my DIMMs is now corrupt - don't ask).
Anyways, my PC is used for everything except development!! You'd think that I'd be using my PC for development, seeing its what I (should) do at work, right? Well I don't because there are many distractions from doing work/development in my room, namely:

• PC Games
• Movies (on my pc or DVD)
• Internet
• Facebook
• Wii
• PS2
• Nintendo DS
• Sony PSP
• TV shows (on my pc or TV)
• My electric guitar
• My acoustic guitar (they don'r make it anymore, maybe I'll find the model and update this list)
• My other electric guitar (except with covered humbuckers and trapezoid fret inlays)
• My guitar rig modeler
• My wah pedal

I think that's about it, so whenever I'm on my PC I always find something else to do....but anyways, back to my point.
See I need a lappy-top so that I can escape the confines of my room and the distractions lying within. So I could buy a laptop (or is it notebook these days?), and go to....the kitchen, or the front room, or even my rooftop balcony outside my window, and from there concentrate on the development.

But my predicament is this:
My lack of familiarity with laptops leads me to not know what to buy. Especially since I made my last PC, I want the parts in my laptop to be "above average", this is part is due to my snobbishness at the specifications and to brand loyalty. For example, I don't want to buy a Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 with a CPU speed of 1.83GHz because I know that it only has 2MiB of level 2 cache with the FSB of 667 MT/s with the multiplier set at x11. Whereas the next model up (also my starting processor of choice), the Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, has 4MiB of L2 cache and a FSB of 800MT/s with a x10 multiplier.
But, I will buy an AMD Turion 64 X2 processor over an Intel Core Duo (pre-Merom chips), as they are better value for money, they run cooler (I think, I read that somewhere, or they're more energy efficient), they have double the memory bandwidth of the Intels (10.7 Gbytes/s as opposed to 5.3 Gbytes/s), the AMDs are 64-bit (note the Core 2 Duos are 64-bit), and because I'm an AMD whore.
So I don't want a low/mid spec laptop, but I don't need a high spec laptop just for development or media, but then I also don't want to spend too much money...

Then I see THIS on my RSS feed, and now I'm kinda feeling those tablet PCs. It's even got a Wacom digitizer!! And it's not badly priced.....shame Gateway are only USA based....

So I'm at a loss as to what to buy....if anyone can offer some advice or recommendations, please feel free to suggest in the comments. I might post my minimum/optimum system requirements later.

Peace out.
J

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Homebrew Makes Wii More Fun!!

How could the Wii be more fun than it is already?

Well obviously, Nintendo have to do something that no other video game console manufacturer has ever done (actually Microsoft released the XNA Studio for development of XBox 360 games, but not much has come of this yet).......open up the platform to allow for homebrew apps!!

Apparently, Nintendo are releasing the WiiWare development platform. Not many deets have been released yet, except that you'll be able to sell your games to other people....
So keep your eyes open for the upcoming onslaught of Wii Homebrew, well, that is if people are actually interested in making their own games for the Wii....

Read more from Joystiq

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10 Programming Suggestions You Shouldn't Follow?!

Here's an interesting link I found on Digg today, its an article called the Top Ten of Programming Advice NOT to follow.

It's an interesting read but remember, it's only the author's opinion, not a paradigm for programming.

So enjoy.

Read on

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Rediscovering The Button Element

Well, I never knew the WC3 has a button element!!! Apparently it was created to be better than the submit type input. Meh, I use ASP anyways....

Read about it here Rediscovering the Button Element

Thanks to Digg for links

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Hey kids!! Let me introduce you to my friend Scratch....

So.....pretty ambiguous title huh?
Now, why would you be reading this? Because of the kids? Because of the word "Scratch"? Maybe because you're bored and will read anything I write? Who knows.....

Anyways if you haven't Googled it yet, Scratch is a new programming language!!! But wait!!! (that means you Zi). It's not for everyone, especially Professional Developers. It's actually designed for kids, as an entry level language designed to be much easier than many of those high level languages we were all taught/learned.
Apparently (read as: I haven't read it yet), Scratch takes a more GUI approach, with kids able to develop apps by "snapping" blocks together in Duplo type fashion (I would've said Lego, but Duplo is more appropriate, no?). It kinda separates the code from the kids as the code is all stored in 'blocks', therefore not really being programming but teaching them the theory of OOP and design. I'm also guessing it will help kids to develop logical thought processes and maybe even help them in general learning. So sounds good....

So if you have any kids, know of any, or have little nieces or nephews running around, it might be nice to introduce them to this.

Read what I couldn't be bothered to here: BBC Science & Technology Article

Check it out direct from MIT: http://scratch.mit.edu/

and dont' forget:


The children are our future.


Thanks to Digg for the linkage.

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Orgoo

So here's a new web app that might interest some of you. It's called Orgoo, and it supposedly integrates web mail and instant messaging into one web page. Think of using a mixture of Outlook and MSN Live Messenger, or GMail and GoogleTalk, or Yahoo....oh wait, who uses Yahoo?! I mean, come on, their Yahoo Mail Beta is utter shit...

Anyways it apparently supports most of the popular IM clients and web mail hosts, so should be good if you have many different accounts. Think of it as like Meebo, but with email.

Check it out: www.Orgoo.com (sadly the open BETA is full at the moment)

and here's an article about Orgoo (just so you can read about what you're missing).

Seacrest out!!!


Thanks to Digg for linkage.

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Ruby on Rails is.....funny

Well, I practically know nothing about Ruby on Rails apart from the fact that apparently, you can install it and have a website up in 15 minutes.....yeah right, and DotNetNuke is a free Open Source Framework ideal for creating Enterprise Web Applications....

To go with all your Open Source needs, you can create websites with Ruby on Rails (or RoR for those of us who speak geek). Just like the whole Microsoft, Windows, .Net, C#, CLR, Visual Studio...........framework, except it's all free!!

Well there's website called Rails Envy, run by two full-time Rails Programmers (yes, full-time. Open Source is a job too, ya know). In passing of their Rails knowledge, they decided to spoof those annoying "I'm a Mac" adverts. I was going to embed the vids, but I feel this site deserves the credit, peep the links below. Currently there are a total of 2 of 4 created, check 'em out below:

WARNING: You will only enjoy these if you're a geek.

Hi, I'm Ruby on Rails #1: RoR vs. Java

Hi, I'm Ruby on Rails #2: RoR vs. PHP

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Mario Paaaiinnnt is Awesome

Holy Crap!!

Upon reading my RSS feeds today I came across this post from joystiq.

Basically some guy has re-created some memorable video game themes using Mario Paint on his SNES. Now, I've never played Mario Paint (mainly because it's not a game as more of a creativity application), but I always thought that you only used it to paint pictures, hence the name Mario Paint. But it seems you can actually create simple musical pieces using the SNES hardware.

You can check out his youtube profile here, and his video submissions here.

And here's an example of his work, using the Tetris theme:


Thanks to joystiq for the linkage and TomBobBlender for the awesomeness. And Russell Peters for the laughs(see below).

For the paaainnint reference, see here:

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Possibly The Best Winamp Skin.....EVER!! [Updated]

Well, my last post was March 26th 2007.....long time huh? Sorry for being suck a lazy f**k recently. I've just been finding that the lack of news mixed with work, and my general lack of enthusiasm (translate to "yeah I'm a bit tubby so what! You wanna fight about it!"), and also the release of Final Fantasy XII has severely crippled my blogging.
But with the encouragement of Zi and my lovely girlfriend that I have decided to start blogging again....although I might have to start blogging at home...(I'm sorry FF, I love you really). Oh, and by encouragement I mean holding a gun to my head at dinner in Pizza Express while slightly drunk....

Ummm....this post is kinda long, if you wanna skip the "/rant" scroll down to the flashing gold text. If the text doesn't flash, then your browser is crap or IE (Microsoft Internet Explorer), that's an example of a synonym kids. Don't say I don't teach you nothin'....ingrates

Anyway, back to the matter at hand:
So, in my years of advocating the use of mp3 (although I wasn't there for the initial release of Winamp, I think I may have joined at around version 2.x or something, so let's just say a decade), I've not really strayed from using good ol' Winamp, as it had all the basic features I needed.
But then came the iPod and iTunes, which I felt obliged to use, as I got a 20Gb 3G iPod (the best design IMO, I hate that "click-wheel" thing, it's all about the Touch Wheel 4 Life). But the constant 'updates' of iTunes, led me to stray away back to Winamp. Especially because Apple kept deciding to add and remove features from iTunes (copy from to iPod to Hard Disk anyone?). The main reason for me not using iTunes, was it's inability to actually update my ID3 tags, instead choosing to store the data on a local XML file.....annoying. Plus they have that bloody "Sync your iPod to 1 computer ONLY" crap!!
Then I was all about Media Libraries (carried over from iTunes), so I started to use a combination of iTunes, Winamp, and Windows Media Player 11.
But then I got tired of having to use iTunes because I couldn't add or move songs from my home Library to my work library without using my iPod like an external hard drive. Although it's easy to download an extractor program or write one yourself (all the mp3's are stored in a series of hidden folders, and then you can rename then via the ID3 or the library.xml on the iPod), I didn't want to have to run multiple apps to do what should be a simple job. Plus it has that annoying CD Cover rolodex thing which would only work properly on Macs or PCs with good graphics cards. Then there was the whole issue about having to download a new version because is has "fixes", aka iTunes 7.1.1.01.13 fixes problems with this and that...
I initially like WMP11, but it eventually the Library started to annoy me, especially the search for album details online feature. It became a chore to use, and having to pick the correct album version that you wanted from a list of multiples was tiring. Then there was the whole problem with trying to change the tags after some had already been set, as it would always only find the details that you selected before. Also, being a Microsoft product, it didn't support the iPod as an attached porable media device. Eventually WMP became my choice app to play all those crappy proprietary Microsoft/Windows formats (asf, wmv, wma)...
So now I'm back to Winamp as a player and a library. With the addition of The Godfather or Tag&Rename, to do group tagging and renaming; and then Amazon, Wikipedia and Play to find tracklists. Oh, don't forget the 3rd party Winamp iPod plugin: ml_ipod for all your iPod needs (direct drag & drop from explorer without having to add to your library, copying to your hard disk, and now with better repair and format features). I use this as the inbuilt one (pmp_ipod) sucks, even though it has one of the original ml_ipod devs, it's still lacking features.

/end rant

Hahaha!!! I f*cking hate people that do that!!
or /sarcasm
or /joking
"I'm so cool and nerdy/geeky, this comment will be awesome!!!" (titters in excitement) *tappity* *tap* *tap* *tap* "OMG! I typed '/endrant', hehehe"

Losers...they can so suck a fuck! (bonus points for anyone who can name where that's from)
[NOTE: Points awarded from J's Megagig Wondertron are not redeemable for anything. You might be able to buy J a latté though.]

Finally here we are!!! THE BEST WINAMP SKIN EVER!!!!

Anaheim Player 01

It's a Haro from the Gundam anime, or was it Gundam Seed? I don't know, I've never watched any of the Gundam series'.
The best thing about it is when you put it in 'mini' mode the actual skin animates to the music!!
[NOTE: To put it in mini mode, click the circle in the middle of it's mouth. Between the forward and back buttons]
Apart from that, it's a very well made skin, and well thought out.
To get some sweet laughs, listen to Beat Box by Matisyahu, it's track 7 on the Live at Stubbs album. It's so funny firstly because he's crap at beat boxing, and secondly the Haro goes f*cken crazy at some points....enjoy

Here's another skin from the same guy: Quadelic.

I suggest everyone download Winamp and the Anaheim Player 01!!!! NOW!!!

Peace out.

Thanks to takanory for the awesome skin-age and to Nullsoft for Winamp

[Update]: Added a quick fix for skipping my rant. Couldn't be arsed to add an anchor and a link coz the post is shown on 2 different pages. Also added the Matisyahu stuff.

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HSBC Knows About Video Games

We've all seen those adverts fro HSBC which let us know that they know lots about different cultures (they are a global bank you know). That's why they have so many customers world wide you know.....coz they know about cultures and stuff...

Apparently they welcome different points of view.

Well, now it seems that they know a lot about video games. Check out their new commercial:


Awesome huh? I hope they show this on TV so I can watch it on a bigger screen....

Actually it kinda reminds me of this GAP Advert by Spike Jonze:


Anyways, something make me wonder whether Mr. Jack Thompson banks with HSBC....

P.S. Thanks to Joystiq for the linkage.

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Wii Mods

Also known as "hacks" to some people.

As the Wii is a relatively new console there aren't many 'cool' mods. Mainly LED mods...you know...
So here's a few mods. Be warned as these will void any warranties and also even though they may seem easy ("I just solder this LED her right?"), trust me, they can get pretty advanced and complicated quite quickly.

LED Nunchuk Mod
LED Nunchuk Mod - Digg page

wiimotemods.com

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Byahh!!

So the "I'm Rick James bitch" thing has gone a bit too far. Its pretty old hat right now.

But trawling through my Chappelle's Show episodes, I remembered the sketch about Howard Dean:


It's all about the BYahh!!!

Check out this mash-up of the Byahh!! and "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads:
Howard Dean's Crazy Train

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Ahh...good ol' Web design

So...I like doing web design.
Recently I've tried to use the new Microsoft Ajax framework. There are others, but it integrates into Visual Studio, so you know, ease of use an all.

But if you're looking for some free ajax stuff check out:
miniajax.com

There's a showroom of ajax stuff that you can download and use for yourself.

Also check out this article for 6 Tools for Web Design. It's pretty good....although written by a Mac fan.

Peace out....work to do

Thanks to Digg for the links.

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High Delivery - Awesome Flash Game

Well, its been a while since I've found a game like this....



At least there's something to post about now huh?



This game is just so.....not really a game. Basically there's a bottle attached to a balloon that rises up into the sky. As the bottle floats, flowers start falling from the sky. Your mouse cursor represents a fan of sorts and you use it to indirectly push the balloon and bottle towards the falling flowers, which then get attached to the top of the bottle. You finally reach the end of the game (a gate on a cloud - heaven??), and your score is displayed.



The thing about this game is that it looks 'different' to most games these days. The graphics are soft and pastel like pictures. The music is soothing and there is no real competition or objective, just catching flowers.



For some reason I felt like blogging about this game.....and I don't know why. It's one of those 'artsy' games like Shadow of the Colossus and Ico, both of which I enjoyed.

So if you're interested, peep the links...



Play High Delivery



Read more from Joystiq

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Happy Valentine's Day

...or Happy Singles Awareness Day to those of you who hate this particular Hallmark Holiday.

To help celebrate this wondrous occasion are some great links:
Hard Facts About Valentines Day
Sex Positions You'll Never Get to Try
Valentine's Day Cards You Wish You'd Bought

Look ma, no hands!!!

So a DS is just a portable console right?? I mean, you hold it in like two hands and you play right??...

Well....when it comes to games like Metroid Prime: Hunters and Mario Basketball, you also have to use the stylus. This therefore leaves you with one hand holding the DS and the other, using the pen-like device. But this can be a painful experience for people, especially if they don't have a bendy stylus that wraps around the thumb or one of those cool thumb pointers that came with the original DS.

But fear not!!! Some random company has created a gadget(?) for this niche...behold the video review...

Cool huh?? I guess it'll come in handy when I play some Cooking Mama later...

Thanks to joystiq for the link.
If you wanna buy this, please check out the joystiq link. Also coz there's a gray area on the Japanese import scene over here in the UK. Also sadly DS Cooking is a Japanese release only....I guess I'm stuck on regular paper cook books...

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ATI's New R600

It's been a while eh? It's not my fault that news has been pretty weak....

Anyways, in the next generation war for PC graphic supremacy ATI and NVIDIAare stepping up and also beefing up their new chips and cards.

In NVIDIA's corner is the brand new GeForce 8 Series of cards.

In ATI's corner is the brand new Radeon R600 card series.



Now let me tell you that both are equally h-a-r-d-c-o-r-e.......the brand new ATI R600 needs 240~270 Watts of power!!!!! We won't really know the impact that these cards will have until Vista, DX10, and DX10 games (Alan Wake, Crysis, etc.) are fully released into the wild.



The lovely people at engadget have found a photo of the OEM R600 XTX (its a big muthafucka!!), and its apparently 12.4 inches long!!!!



Click the pic to read more at engadget.

Click here to read more form VR-ZONE.

Thanks to engadget for letting me leech the pic...

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Wikipedia Can Be Unusual

So I'm slightly bored at work these days. But I've found an interesting list on Wikipedia, that lists the "most unusual wikipedia articles".

I still find it funny that there are wikipedia lists that list things about or contained in wikipedia itself. Maybe that's just me.

Enjoy

DIY 2G Shuffle Charger

Remember waaaaay back when I blogged about hacking together your own 2G iPod Shuffle dock?? Thursday November 09, 2006 to be exact.

Well here's a new hack to make your own 2G iPod Shuffle charger. You may be asking yourselves: "So what's the difference?". Well 1 connects your iPod to your computer, and the other just charges it. Ingenious right?

Hack it here

Also of note is that this is the first blog post to use the blogger labels. Its gonna be so fun going back and labeling all my 200+ posts.

Timbaland is an Unoriginal Dirty Thief

Most people enjoy the latest Timbalands beats, I for one have enjoyed listening to Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado's latest albums. If you couldn't guess, Timbaland produced tracks for both.
But now here's some controversy. Apparently the music to Nelly Furtado's "Do It" (featured on her most recent album "Loose") is a complete rip-off of an original composition created on Amiga and Commodore 64 chips/boards.
The worst thing is that Timbaland has not given the original artists their due credit. Tut tut.
Still this won't stop me listening to his beats.

Read the story here.

Check out the YTMND

7 Cool Things You Can Make With Paper

Well, I'm bored again (I hate Monday mornings).
I'm also a little disappionted that the Baltimore Ravens offense couldn't produce a win on Saturday against the Colts. Oh well, the defense did an awesome job by keeping the Colts out of the end zone, its just that the offense couldn't step up. There's always next season anyway.

So here's a little article on 7 'cool' things you can make with paper. Its pretty much your standard origami stuffm, but this comes with videos of course.

Check it out


Shout out to Digg for the link.

Sega vs. YTMND

So Sega Europe are being retarded. They have sent a letter to YTMND asking them to remove all Sega websites (Sonic to be precise), be removed.

They believe that they're customers are so retarded as to confuse the Sonic ytmnd's to as actual Sega press. Now there's been a Sega backlash from the YTMND community.

This all started from the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon, which included a helpful public service announcement for kids about what to do if you get touched by someone somewhere you don't want to be touched.

Check out my favourite response YTMND about this situation (NSFW):
http://ytmndsega.ytmnsfw.com/.

Also my favourite YTMND of the Sonic announcement, featuring everyone's favourite tourettes guy:
http://sonictourettesguy.ytmnd.com/


If you've never been to YTMND, check out its Wikipedia entry, or just visit its website to see what its about. Then you will realise how stoopid Sega are sounding.

Check out the story from Joystiq

Wii is Exercise

If you've played a Wii (especially Wii Sports), you'll know what I'm talking about. Somehow playing Wii sports makes people act like total retards (I wish I had that photo of George bowling in the office).
Most notably Tennis and Boxing will tire the f*ck out of you. That is why The British Osteopathic Association is suggesting that you warm up and warm down after a hard Wii session. Because even though its a video game, the movements are actually a form of exercise. So as with all exercise, you must warm up and warm down.

Read the story here

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Progess Calculator

(That is one long-winded title....)
Well, seeing as I have a Wii and also The Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess, this will be useful. Actually it will be useful to anyone with TLoZ:TW

Its basically a couple of questions that will reveal to you how far you have progressed in the game. Problem is you have to know stuff like how many hearts, heart pieces, golden bugs etc. that you have found.

Check it out: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Progess Calculator

Also try and guess how far I have progressed.....
Go on....
Guess...



6.371% (LOL I suck!!! Too much Madden 07)

Cool (but useless) Javascript

So, I'm not a big fan of javascript (mainly coz it takes me forever to do anything that isn't alert('test');).
Yeah, so what if I suck at javascript? There's probably someone out there who has written the exact function or .js file that you need. See here if you need scripts.

Anyways here's something cool to do with websites, then get bored after a couple of minutes then not do it ever again. Just follow these steps (I promise there is nothing malicious about this code):

1. Open a website that has some images.
2. Delete the address from the address bar.
3. Copy and paste this code into the address bar:

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.images; DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5; DIS.top=Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5}R++}setInterval('A()',5); void(0);

4. Press enter and enjoy.

Note: this works well on goolge image search, flickr, and amazon.

Thanks to digg for the heads up.

Also some guy on digg suggested to save the javascript as a bookmark (put the code in the address/location field). Then when you visit a webpage, load the bookmark to unleash the pain!!!!
Surely there's some security issue if you can just run js on a website from the address bar, kinda like SQL injection?

Stoopid Amounts of Hard Drive Storage

Well, I just bought me 2 320Gb SATA2 Western Digial hard drives. I couldn't be bothered to put them into a RAID as I'd lose 320Gbs of space.
But if I had these babies, I would have only needed 1 drive and not worry about RAID.

I won't spoil it by telling you how big these new HD's are but I'll tell you this, they are stoopidly massive!!!!

Fun with Chip & PIN Machines

So everyone is using Chip & PIN these day to pay for stuff (beats signing all those receipts). Well what if your bored at work and want to pass the time away?

Well, some clever spark has put Tetris on a Chip & PIN machine. YAY!!!!

But be warned that this is a Proof of Concept that people may be able to hack the consoles. Meaning that you could enter your card details and PIN into a 'hacked' machine. Credit Card theft is bound to rise if this is ever made public.......oops!

Time + Blueprints of the Eiffel Tower = ?

Say, remember that post about that guy who created a scale model of the U.S.S. Harry Truman in Lego?

Well someone just went one better (or worse) and made a scale replica of the Eiffel Tower with...........wait for it...........matchsticks!!!
There's even working lights!!!!

Waaay Too Much Time

Goats + Trees = ?

Well what the f**k do you think it equals??

Maybe it equals goats in trees.

These pic are weird as I could never imagine 1 goat in a tree let alone a bunch of them. Maybe there's like an annual goat Olympics and tree climbing is the only event, so they spend all year practicing to climb trees. Now that would be awesome.

Check 'em out here

Trebuchets Anyone?

A while ago, a couple of friends and I were discussing trebuchets. I don't remember how we got on the subject, but it was funny for a minute.

So look at what I found today....

How to make a Lego Trebuchet

could be fun for a couple of minutes. Maybe I'll make one and keep it on my desk....

seXbox 360 Mods

Ahhh, free online picture account thingys. Flickr is one of them. And someone on Flickr posted a wealth of pictures of Xbox 360 case mods.

Sadly he's only got the good ones. Not the "Worst Xbox 360 Halo 3 Mod Ever" (its backwards and on the bottom of the case BTW).

A History of Video Game Console in Pictures

Well finally, something fun to post (thank god for the Digg front page).

Here's a cool article that show the evolution of video game consoles, through pictures. It's not all chronologically accurate, and I'm sure they may have missed a few console, but still its pretty interesting considering the first console (the Magnavox Odyssey) was first commerically released in 1972. So there's 35 years of history!!!.

Read/View the Video Games Console Evolution.

GMail is Vulnerable

Well, the first official post of the New Year (2007, for those that missed it), and its not good news :(

Apparently there is a vulnerability in GMail that lets people view your contacts list. So when you log in to GMail, a javascript file is cached that allows malicious scripts to be run. So if your logged into your GMail account and browsing the web, a malicious script can be run that calls the 'google' function and can retrieve your contacts list.

So be careful when using your GMail folks. Hopefully this gets fixed soon.

Read more at Engadget and Tech Reads

Happy Holidays

So its been a while since my last post (December 14th to be precise). Its not my fault, I've been away from work for the past 2 weeks (that's where I read my RSS feeds and get stories to post), and also it is the Christmas season and everyone knows that news is always slow.

Strangely the people at Digg seem to find stories to post, no matter what time of year.

So, before the blog gets a kick start for the new year, here's a belated message from me....

Merry Christmas
and a
Happy New Year