Go On. Entertain me.

Strange, really...

2009-01-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

I've been receiving steady hits every day from this site, although I haven't posted anything new here. I'm assuming that this is mostly from search engine crawlers, but I'm still curious to see who is still following this blog.

If you ARE in fact following, and are a human being (not a spider or web crawler), I'd love it if you would do one of two things;

Go to my new website, http://www.technoheads.org and subscribe there, either via email or via RSS.
Send me an email. If you have been following for this long, I'm truely grateful and would like to express my first-hand gratitude.

Heh. Now that all that is said and done, I hope everyone's had a happy new year, and a great holliday. Thanks everyone!

Cheers,

Salem

Looks like I'm moving...

2008-10-07T12:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a REALLY long time since my last post, and I feel pretty bad for that. However, I have been doing a considerable amount of work rigging up a NEW site, technoheads.org. I'd REALLY appreciate it if anyone who still reads my blog would take a peek over there and check out what I've been doing. To start myself off, I'm going to end up posting a few reruns (sorry!), but I'll try to keep it updated with new content. I added a nice forum and chat to compliment the blog. Biggest thing, though is that users can now contribute to the blog! If you have an idea for something that should be front-and-center, just make an account and submit an article. it's really simple.

Once again, thanks in advance for following, and I hope to see you on Technoheads.org!

Magnets?

2008-04-12T14:54:00.001-07:00

Recently I received an iPod Touch case and really liked it. It was a leather portfolio case; to be precise, it was Griffin's Elan Convertible. It was creative, well-fit, and came with a screen protector and a nice cloth. However, after about a week of using it, my iPod would regularly crash or close out of whatever I was doing and return to the main menu. Although there is no way to prove this, I think it may be caused by the fact that the case has magnets in it. You may be thinking, "You immature narcissist, magnets don't do anything to solid-state drives, such as the one the iPod Touch sports." However, there are more components to an iPod touch than flash memory. Its possible that one of these components were affected by the case's mgnets. Secondly, I'm not the only person who's experienced these problems; just look at the MacRumor's forum dedicated solely to the topic. There have been many counts of similar errors, and several were from the exact same case as mine.

So, I wrote an email to Griffin's customer support, telling them my problem and pointing them to the forum. They responded (in a remarkably short time... well done Griffin) that I was not the first person to bring them this issue. They said that since they could not replicate the issue at their facilities, they assume that it is an issue with specific iPod Touches. Other responses say that some cases may have had stronger magnets than others.

My response from Griffin is as follows:

We have also heard the reports of this happening, but have never been able to reproduce the issue with any of the cases customers have sent us. The conclusion seems to be that problem will only occur with specific iPod Touch's. Because this happens with your iPod Touch, a replacement Elan Convertible would probably encounter the same issue. Your case does have a one year warranty, however, and if you would like, we would be more than happy to exchange your case for any iPod Touch case we make.

My iPod has crashed less after taking it out of the case, but it still crashes from time to time. I think I'm going to see if I can get in contact with someone from Apple to see what they say about this... And if worse comes to worst, I may be in for a new iPod Touch (thank God its still under warranty).

RadioTracker

2008-04-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

I have been wowed. I just made a rather hefty music library comprised of new artists who fit my tastes, and all for free. A simple program called "RadioTracker" recorded my interests, favorite artists, and favorite songs and, using internet radio stations, downloaded music that fit my tastes. In addition, it was recently awarded one of MaximumPC's Softy Awards for being so amazing. You can have RadioTracker look for specific songs to download, or you can have it search for general artists or genres. Its great, easy, and best yet, legal. You can get all this music for free (after purchasing RadioTracker for $40). For those who don't like spending money, it also has a nice demo that you can check out. Don't take my word for it, try it out yourself at radiotracker.com.

Now, I get to rant. I made the mistake of setting the music type to "Alternative" and then accidentally leaving it on overnight. I'm a big fan of alternative music, don't get me wrong, but some of the more... violent songs aren't my thing (i.e. deathmetal). So, upon waking up the next day, I checked my computer and found that I had about 45 MB of disk space left and that I had just smashed 14 gigs of music (a good 8 of which were deathmetal) on my laptop. So, although this software is great, BE CAREFUL with it. Another thing that gets annoying is the fact that you will sometimes get station identification audio at the end of a song. I was abruptly jerked out of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song by some guy screaming about his radio station. Just be careful of that.

Back!

2008-03-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

Well, its been almost an entire month since my last post, and I really feel bad about this. The end-of-quarter assignments at school have left me working too much and I've had almost no time to blog. That being said, I'm going to post an update of everything that's happened since I've been gone.

Instant Action
Instant Action is finally out of public beta, so you can sign up yourself from here on out without need for a key or an invite. They also released a 3rd person 2D space shooter called "Zap," which I must say is an intensely addictive game. Lastly, they have started a private beta of their 3D Fps which, in my oppinion, looks absolutely awesome. To get in, you must invite more friends than anyone else in Instant Action (which will probably lead to mass-spamming) and will end by the end of this month. So, if you want to play, ask me and I'll send you an invitation.

Music
Panic! at the Disco's latest album, "Pretty Odd" was released on Tuesday, much to the delight of their thousands of fans (usually of the feminine persuasion). Although I don't have the album yet, I'm planning on buying it or at least listening to clips of it and doing a quick review of it at some time.
Death Cab for Cutie is also planning on releasing their latest album, "Narrow Stairs," on May 13. Although this is a long time to wait, I'll just have to wait it out. As soon as its released, though, you can bet on a review.

Gaming
Team Fortress 2 now has a new map: Badlands. The map is a port of a map of the same time from the original Team Fortress, but with a more western look and feel that has become so common in Team Fortress 2 maps. They are also in the process of creating another map, called Goldrush, which will introduce a whole new mode of gameplay in which a team must get their minecart to the other side of the map before the enemy does the same. Lastly, the rumor of new weapons for each of the classes, as well as new much-needed goals and achievements have kept a lot of Orange Box gamers on their toes. I personally can't wait.

iPod Touch.
An update wouldn't be an update without a quick overview of all the new iPod Touch news, would it? The SDK is officially released, but only to big corporations (such as Adobe, who will hopefully work on a flash plugin for MobileSafari). The 1.1.4 firmware has been released and jailbroken (already), and according to rumor, the 1.2.0 firmware, scheduled to come out this summer with the App Store, has already been jailbroken.

Last but not Least,
Harvard's student database has been hacked, and the hacker was quick to post the entire database available for Bittorrent Downloads. Oops.

Blog Updates...

2008-02-29T18:44:00.000-08:00

Today, I applied for a .biz.ly account.

If I'm successful, I will have a new domain: bichiliad.biz.ly. This will also allow me to have several sub-domains, such as forum.bichiliad.biz.ly and videos.bichiliad.biz.ly. I hope that I'm approved... it will make this whole blog management easier for me and for all readers out there... I'll make sure to write a post if I'm approved.

Secondly, I started a guestbook for my blog... if you read it, please sign it and leave a comment... I'd appreciate it immensely. The link below will take you to my guestbook:
http://www.ultraguest.com/view/1204337505
Drop in and let me know what you think, what you like or dislike, or even what your favorite color is.

Chekwolf: Its finally back!

2008-02-27T12:47:00.000-08:00

Checkwolf is a crimefighting organization, a group of talented vigilantes who have come together to battle corruption in their own way.

About 2 years ago, I got hooked on an audiobook podcast called "Checkwolf," depicting a modern-day rogue crime fighting group. I was very attentive and followed the series almost religiously. So, of course, when month after month went by without an update, it was pretty upsetting. So, being the curious person I am, I wrote the author, Remy Gibson, an email asking him what was up. He told me that he wanted to re-record all the episodes in a higher quality format. So, recently, he emailed me back and told me that he had successfully put his audiobook on podiobooks.com under a creative commons license. So, once more, I can look forward to listening to the intrepid adventures of my favorite fictional crime-fighting league.
Check out the Checkwolf Website
or go to the Checkwolf Podiobooks page.

Thanks, Remy!

Instant Action Beta!

2008-02-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

I was recently accepted into the Instant Action beta and I must say, it's quite amazing. It is a website that, with the help of a group of programmers, has made four up-and-running 3D games that play directly in your browser. Right now, the only four games are simple puzzle games or 3rd person vehicle shooters such as "Marble Blast" or "Think Tanks," both of which have been released and have been played for a year or so prior to the website's release. The website also has a cool "Party" feature, letting you play with a group of people. You can even change party games on the fly and chat with friends in-game.

Right now, the only way to play is to sign up for the Beta or be invited by someone in the Private Beta. However, being a member of the private beta, I can invite people.

If you send me an email, I will be more than happy to send you an invite, although I'm not sure how many I can send.

Lol?

2008-02-25T13:19:00.000-08:00

No, I prefer "Haha"

Personally, I try to stray away from using terms such as "lol,""imho," and "w00t" because I think it makes it look like I have a typing deficiency or am missing several fingers and refuse to type that many words. I had a very interesting conversation with a close friend of mine that I thought was rather insightful... take a look.

me: lol
ugh... i try to stop myself from doing that
"lol"

my friend: it's hard
you'd think the new gen of computer geeks would have come up with something better

me: rofl, ^^, and :D have become more popular :D

my friend: rofl?

me: rolling on floor laughing
that one took a while for me :D

my friend: oh my god...really?

me: really

my friend: and ^^?

me: as in ^.^
like a smiley face

my friend: i feel old

me: whats funny is that this gen of computer nerds has split in 2: the ones that like to talk think and the ones that brutally play computer games
while "^.^" would be acceptable in a chat room,
it wouldn't fly in a videogame chat box
same with w00t, but the other way around

my friend: shudder

me: its scary, if you think about it

my friend: i don't like it

me: me neither
i enjoy words

my friend: i spell out every word in text messages, too

me: amen
unless I'm getting near my 160 character limit

my friend: ha - right

me: and it took me a full 3 years to learn that w00t meant "We owned the other team" because it is never used in that context.

my friend: wait - that's what it stands for?

me: exactly

my friend: oh my

me: "haha. halo 8 is coming out this week"
"w00t"

my friend: maybe i shouldn't go down this rabbit hole

me: haha
trust me, words are way better.

my friend: uh… rofl?

Google + Phone = Amazing

2008-02-23T20:12:00.000-08:00

Great news... you can send me voicemails or comments with your phone. Just click the "Call Me" button and enter your phone number and name. I used a new feature from Google called "GrandCentral." It assigned me a new number (which I'm not about to post), and then showed me a huge amount of features I had access to. I can record incoming calls, view my call inbox online, and a whole myriad of other things. So please, give me a call. I can't promise I'll pick up, but you can always leave me a voice message. Right now, GrandCentral is in private beta, but if you leave me a message, I'd be happy to send you an invite (unless, of course, I run out).

In addition, on the right hand side of my blog, there is a link to a new page I mentioned a few days ago: As part of a few updates I'm making to my blog, I made an external site to manage all of my external... stuff. I started with a page with the soul purpose of displaying my Youtube videos. A permanent link to it is http://trichiliad.googlepages.com/youtubevideos.

Enjoy.

Thank You, Internet.

2008-02-23T16:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the internet (and the diligent watch of a few friends), I found a whole bunch of web apps (and some downloadable programs) that make media, socializing, and a whole bunch of other things a lot easier. Check them out, and give me some feedback.

DoubleTwist
This is really easy; DoubleTwist lets you oranize all your media, sync it to your phone, PSP, or other mobile device, and even share it with your friends. What I like about it is that it integrates rather nicely into Facebook. Its also really simple to set up: it downloads in seconds, installs quickly, and works seamlessly.

SkyDrive Windows Live's latest feature, SkyDrive is an online storage/backup system. You can save up to 5 gigs of information, with a 50 mb filesize limit. You can also organize them into folders, choose to make some open to the public or private, and keep track of others whose SkyDrive you've accessed recently. Because its a Live feature, it works well with Live Spaces, Photos, and Friends. And best yet, its free.

OpenID Tired of making a new account for every website you want to access? With OpenID, you can easily sign in to almost any website with one account. There's an ever-growing list of websites that support OpenID, including Blogger, Attachr, and a whole list of OpenID Software, mainly for web developers.

Lifestrea.ms
Ever wonder about an easy way of keeping in touch with your world? With a new "breed" of internet tools called "Open Aggrigators," staying in touch with whats new in both the digital and real world becomes excruciatingly easy. But, instead of stopping there, it also involves you in the world: you can appear to different audiences, socialize, keep in touch with friends, or whatever else you'd like to do. You can choose who see's what as well... for instance, you can appear to one group as a professional programmer who makes a living designing inventive software. On the other hand, you can appear to a completely different group of people from a more social standpoint, such as a 20-something bachelor who enjoys walks on the beach. Right now, Lifestrea.ms is in beta, and you have to request it via email if you'd like it. They have a public demo page that you can visit here. Check it out... I hope I get accepted into the beta.

Web Updates

2008-02-22T12:45:00.000-08:00

I am currently in the process of registering my blog with a website called http://www.freedomains.co.nr. They provide free "domains" for websites, so (hopefully) you will soon be able to access my blog at www.bichiliad.co.nr.

In addition, I want to create a website for all the content I want to remain stationary: for example, I want a page that has a player, hosting all my youtube videos. Since I can't really (easily) put this in my blog, it will be a lot easier to make a new website. Since someone already took bichiliad.googlepages.com (grr... I tried to make my title as unique as possible), I will be hosting all my extraneous pages under trichiliad.googlepages.com. Not to worry though: any page you will ever want to see on that site will have a link on my blog.

Hopefully, all this new updating will be smooth sailing, and I really hope its not as confusing once you see it.

Thoughts on the "Protect America Act"

2008-02-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

No more wire tapping? Although the concept of wiretapping is a bit unnerving, at least it's "working." But without it? Wireless and cyber terrorism has become more and more dangerous over the past few years, and an inability to intercept potential threats is akin to not giving Britney Spears random drug tests: Who knows what could happen without them?

The Protect America Act expired on Febuary 16th.

New Youtube Video!

2008-02-17T17:24:00.000-08:00

Finally, after a lot of talk, and not much to show for it, I finally shoved my latest video into one of Youtube's thousands of servers and, after waiting for a bit, got a result: my 2ND (well, it's technically my 3rd, but my 1st didn't really count) Youtube video ever.

The video is about setting up a system of software that will allow you to access all the music on one of your computers anywhere else (from any computer, iPhone, or iPod Touch that has internet) in the world. I really like using it: I'm no longer confined to a 16 gig memory limit :)

If you want to get embedded code for it, or if you want to watch it on youtube.com, you could just click here to view my video in all its youtube-ness. Check it out: I'll be watching my view count!

From Algebra to Art: Creating Mathmatical Masterpieces.

2008-02-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

Mathematicians often rhapsodize about the austere elegance of a well-wrought proof. But math also has a simpler sort of beauty that is perhaps easier to appreciate: It can be used to create objects that are just plain pretty—and fascinating to boot.

While not everyone enjoys math, I think one would be a little bit more strained to find someone who would not enjoy the images created from it. Dynamic systems, or a simple rule used to describe how a point moves across a plane, can be used to create beautiful works of art such as the one seen at right, called "coral star". Michael Field, a mathematics professor at the University of Houston has developed a very simple, yet unique way to create art:

Field uses an equation that takes any point on a piece of paper and moves it to a different spot. Field repeats this process over and over again—around 5 billion times—and keeps track of how often each pixel-sized spot in the plane gets landed on. The more often a pixel gets hit, the deeper the shade Field colors it.

To view more of his art, as well as the art of several other "mathematical artists," click on the picture and read the full article. There are works from Robert Bosch, Robert Fathauer, and Andrew Pike, who use very different methods to create their art.

Why?

2008-02-17T15:05:00.001-08:00

"KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber blew himself up in a large crowd gathered at a dog-fighting event just outside this city in southern Afghanistan, killing about 80 people and wounding more than 90 others in the country’s worst single bombing since 2001."

Hasn't there been enough violence already?

Sorry... things like this get to me.

The Foo Fighters at the Grammy's

2008-02-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

As I talked about a few weeks ago, there was a competition to find a talented musician that would play with the Foo Fighters live at the Grammy Awards. Well, their concert was uploaded to Youtube on the 10th, and has since received over 17000 hits per day. During the concert, they announced the winner, who performed with the Foo Fighters in their song, "The Pretender." I was a little upset, though, that you could not hear the violinist who won, Ann Marie Calhoun, very well. Overall, however, it was a great performance. You can see the top 3 finalists, the 15 semifinalists, and all other little bits of information that you may have wondered about the competition. Congratulations to all the finalists and to Ann Marie.

Out of the Frying Pan...

2008-02-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

"Echostorm writes with word that Windows Vista SP1, which began rolling out via Automatic Update, has left some users' machines unbootable ."

*sigh* I was hoping for an easy fix that would make Vista a little bit more manageable... Apparently, numerous reports of computers looping between the "Configuring Updates" screen, the "shutting down" screen, and upon restarting your computer, the "Configuring Updates" screen again. This would get exceedingly frustrating especially since, so far, there has been no word from Microsoft on a fix for the bug. Apparently, there were hints of this problem in the service pack's beta, but it seems as though nothing has been done to fix the problem.

On a brighter note, as Microsoft hasn't released the updates to the general public, there may still be a fix before it gets sent to users like you via "Windows Update". The service pack waves a handful of updates at users, including faster copying times, full support for the latest 802.11 n wireless adapters, and faster update times. For a full list of updates, check their changelog. It makes one wonder if these differences will be noticeable, helpful, or enough to make Vista likable. For my sake, I hope they update their compatibility with nVidia graphics cards, because the ones right now make me want to cry.

2008-02-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

"An end to Hollywood’s long and bitter writers’ strike appears all but assured, as the governing boards of the unions representing 12,000 movie and television writers on Sunday unanimously approved a tentative three-year deal with production companies."

As I sat today in a large comfy chair by a fire (its really cold today) I couldn't help wonder about what exactly is going on with the writer's strike. And, lo and behold, as I looked up at the TV, NBC was doing a special on it. Apparently, both sides of the argument were unsatisfied with the proposed 3 year contract, but, as several people quoted, that's what makes it such a good contract. Many writers as well as producers do not want to see the Grammy Awards pass by uneventfully: that would be very bad. In the end, I really hope that the strike comes to a close: I will be really upset if they start cutting back on LOST.

On another off-hand note, my latest vid is going a bit slowly... i have had preoccupations recently that have... stunted its production. However, as soon as I get the end credits finished, I just have to slap on some music and call it a day. I hope...

Digsby!

2008-02-08T13:10:00.001-08:00

"IM, Email, and Social Networks in one easy to use application."

A friend of mine commented that she kept 18 AIM screen names alone (what a ridiculous idea). I, on the other hand, have 2, comprising of a single AIM account and another Gmail account. What would be great, though, would be a program that managed all of your contacts and email accounts. I have been toying with Pidgin for a while, and although I like it, it has a way of being annoying (like flashing every time you get an email). However, recently, I found a program (through a friend, who may in fact soon be a guest contributer to this blog) that allows you to manage your email, instant messaging, and social network accounts from one window. Its called Digsby, and it promises to be a huge step forward on the simplicity scale. Unlike previous instant messengers, it allows you to customize its appearance greatly by giving you various style options. It incorporates your Facebook or Myspace account and gives you news updates or new messages. It is also less intrusive: when you get a new message, it pops up as a mini chat box in the corner of your screen, where you can reply directly to a chat before going back to whatever it is you were doing. I really like it, and I can't wait until the public beta is released so I can see how popular it becomes. It is currently in private beta, but if you would like to try it out, ArsTechnica is offering 5,000 free registration keys. It is on a first-come first-serve basis, so I'd hurry up and click here to read their review of Digsby and get your own activation key.

Pangaea Day

2008-02-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

"Pangea Day taps the power of film to strengthen tolerance and compassion while uniting millions of people to build a better future."

I love the fact that recently, more than ever, there have been efforts to make the world come together a little bit more, such as the Davos Question I talked about a few days ago. In "Pangea Day," which is held around the world live on March 10th (see their website for more details), videos from around the world will be displayed. Their idea around this is simply "if you could share one video with everyone in the world, what would it be?"

There are high hopes that this video will ease racial tension around the world as well as help to draw people farther away closer together. The videos will be shown around the world, either at special "Pangea Day" screenings, at public theaters and parks, or at private, invitation-only screenings.

Videos can still be submitted. As they put it:

"We're looking for films that will make us laugh, cry, and gasp. They can be fiction, non-fiction, real-life, animation, or your own unique mixture. But they should hold our attention for every second. And above all, they should tell a story that someone else on the other side of the world will be able to relate to."

I personally can't wait to see all the amazing videos that will stream in and be shown on the 10th. If you read this and post a video, leave a comment and let me know. They also have a trailer which I think is pretty amazing. Check it out on youtube.

Happy pangea day.

People like this skip math in highschool.

2008-02-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

Wow. I got this video in an email recently and was amazed at the amazing and complicated mathematic equations that this man could compute in his head. He was able to square 3 digit numbers before a pane of people armed with calculators could finish typing the numbers in. But what makes this presentation unique is that he uses words in place of numbers to help him keep his thoughts together. If he gets to a large number, he simply replaces it with a word. I find it funny how people like him work like computers. Or maybe computers work like people like him...

Worth chartering a space shuttle for...

2008-02-01T15:11:00.000-08:00

"If you’re out there in deep space, you’ll want to be tuning in at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Feb. 4 (plus however long it takes electromagnetic radiation to reach you from Earth doing the 186,000-miles-a-second speed limit)."

To start off, I'd like to say "Happy Birthday, NASA." Now, on with the story... also regarding NASA's birthday. Being the 50th anniversary of NASA's first shuttle launch, NASA will be using their huge system of antennas to beam the song "Across the Universe" by the Beatles into deep space. The beam, heading in the general direction of the North Star, or Polaris, is also being used to commemorate the antenna system it's being sent from: The Deep Space Network was created 45 years ago. It is also the 2nd outgoing signal sent from Earth, the first being sent in 1974. And as the NYT says, "No reply, at least so far."

It makes one wonder if there is, in fact, life out there. Many say that the universe, being what it is, should have some sort of life out there. Others, namely scientists, don't think so: they have found countless planet, few of which have even the slightest chance of hosting some sort of life. Even more say that the universe isn't the infinite realm of nothingness that we've imagined it: apparently, it is doughnut-shaped. Regardless, we may find that in a few hundred thousand years, we get a response. Until then, we shall wait.

And my next Youtube video is almost finished... media fans and iPod fans alike will enjoy this one.

Well said.

2008-01-30T17:06:00.000-08:00

Very well put. Now, how do we do that?

The Davos Question, and information about it, can be seen here.

The general gist of it: If you had an idea on how to make the world a better place, and it could be viewed by some of the world's greatest thinkers, what would you say? The World Economic Forum invites these thinkers to talk about how the world could potentially be a better place, among other topics.

And of course, the results came flying in like lottery tickets. There were 121 videos posted on the channel "TheDavosQuestion" on youtube, and thousands more that weren't. Click here to see the channel "TheDavosQuestion."

It is also interesting to note the responses to some of the videos. While some critiqued the videos or praised them, others gave their own ideas. Users like higreentj commented that expanded communication through mediums such as widespread (or even national) wireless hotspots, could help the world, and its people, communicate easier. Another personal favorite of mine was a post from nigelhenry0. He says that sharing information of all sorts with everyone through all means, regardless of what the information is.

"Knowledge is power, [so] lets empower ourselves as global citizens by sharing the little bit we know."

I loved his response, as well as all the responses I read (except the racially ignorant ones that said that a white male supremacy would make the world a better place, to which I refuse to post links).

The videos have already been received, but look at Davos Conversation and WEForum to see the videos, their responses, and the results of the Word Economic Forum.

Sweeney's waiting...

2008-01-28T18:36:00.001-08:00

"You'll be twisted, manipulated and repulsed, but always entertained. You might also find yourself uttering "God, That's Good."

At the request of my friends, I decided to finally buy a ticket and see the infamous "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," who's title's length rivals that of "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" directed by Tim Burton and starring (who else?) Johnny Depp. By this point, Johnny Depp's appearance in any of Tim Burton's movies is a forehead-slapping "duh," but he really did manage to surprise me by not just singing, but singing well. I was thoroughly impressed, seeing as he's never sang on screen before (and of course, his blistering billions of teenage girls now think he's dreamier then ever). There was also an appearance by Sacha Baron Cohen, a.k.a. Borat, who played a novice barber impersonating an Italian. Of course, he had a total movie time of about 5 minutes, as all minor characters are killed eventually in this movie. Which reminds me, I'd like to say a little about the movie's gore. If "Bambi" was a 1 and "The Passion of the Christ" were a 10, this movie would rank a solid 11, right up there with "Saw." The whole motion behind the story is that a barber, wrongly accused of some terrible crime, is sent away only to find that he has nothing to return to and wants revenge, so he goes on a throat-slitting spree. I lost count about halfway through the movie, but by then I'd already gotten to something obscene like 20 or something... What makes the movie even creepier is that sometimes you actually feel glad that this guy is killing some of these people. The movie goes pretty in-depth with background information, providing a nice hit list for "Mr. Todd" to slaughter. What makes it worse is that all these dead people are chopped, ground, and baked into pies, which people eat. Ew. I would not recommend this movie for people who hate blood or cannibalisms, especially that of the accidental sort. However, the plot was beautiful and the setting was very dark (even in this nice scene where everything is sunny and Sweeney is enjoying a nice picnic), but in a good way, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Burton. All in all, the amount of gore in the movie detracted somewhat from the overall experience.

Just a note, the soundtrack is beautiful.

Another note, the official DevTeam 1.1.3 jailbreak was released sometime over the past couple of days.

It was only a matter of time...

2008-01-26T10:25:00.000-08:00

"Using this method you can update your 1.1.1/1.1.2 jailbroken iPod Touch to a 1.1.3 Jailbroken iPod Touch WITHOUT USING IBRICKR, with NO GLITCHES and ALL THE NEW APPLE APPLICATIONS AND FEATURES ENABLED."

Well, it took a full 3 days since the release of the iPod Touch's 1.1.3 firmware jailbreak, and already someone found out how to add all of apple's $20 apps and features. This has certantly been a busy week for the iPod Touch user. I must caution you, the method linked to above is by no means legal and by no means 100% safe, but if you have purchased the apps and want to have a jailbroken iPod Touch at the same time, this method certainly works. Personally, I'm getting tired of devoting so much blogspace to the iPod touch, so I hope this is the end of it...

Google and Youtube are now my heros.

2008-01-25T18:58:00.000-08:00

Not to appear as though I have raging mood swings, but now to praise Google for telling me exactly where in the world people are visiting my blog from. The picture on the left is a link to their online analytical applications. Here's how things stack up so far:

41 hits from Pennsylvania (my state)
24 hits from West Virginia
4 hits from New York
1 hit from Maryland, Delaware, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, New Mexico, California, and Oregon.

I also find it funny to note that I have 2 hits from Canada, so I'm hoping that my blog is finally blossoming. In addition, my "iPod VNC Viewer video has had 12 hits so far today, and the "Hillbilly Power Windows" has a total of 32 hits in about 2 days... I think this calls for a
Rule of Sociology!
In my oppinion, the best way to get noticed in the world is to post a Youtube video with your name on it.

If you would like to see any of my youtube videos, just go to youtube and search "Bichiliad," or visit my youtube page at http://youtube.com/user/Pulse120.
Now that that's off my chest, I'd like to work on another video... I do pride myself in my knowledge on computers. Maybe something on listening to your entire music library anywhere for free...

Youtube first, then Apple after.

2008-01-25T17:07:00.000-08:00

Very happy was I to complete this video, and even happier was I to find that I had no less than 6 views in the last 10 minutes... although they might be mine (hopefully not). Regardless, the video above is an exact copy of the one I made and uploaded to youtube... but I've been asking (read: begging) for an excuse to use Blogger.com's video upload tool. So, all ye good readers, please tell me what you think by posting a comment on this article, whether it be anonymous or not. Thank you all for watching, reading, and listening to everything I do. Now , onto bigger and better things...

So today in one of my classes, I decided to spend my time drafting up a new blog post, as I had some free time given to me while the rest of the class checked their papers... what a slacker I am. Regardless, after putting my pencil down, it read something like this:

"In regards to the never-ending Mac vs. PC argument, I am beginning to think... rather, I have been thinking for some time now that Mac has been violently beating itself to a bloody pulp with its latest hardware and software displays at its fancy "MacWorld" press release. The Macbook Air (I have been ranting a bit too much about it recently, haven't I?) was introduced and, within the week, became a complete waste of time the instant Toshiba announced its nearly-as-thin, faster, cheaper laptop with a replaceable battery. As for software, the announcement that iPhone apps would now be available on the iPod touch meant absolutely null, seeing as though 93.8% of everyone has (or can have) the same software for the great price of free thanks to jailbreak (which was released for 1.1.3 yesterday).

gasp

Anyways, on with my rant. What apple needs to keep them from eventually committing economic suicide at some point is to get some sort of peons, henchmen, or something similar. All apple currently has to speak of (as of now) is your typical chain of vendors, ranging from BestBuy to CompUSA. Then again, these chain stores all work for the "Crime Bosses" of technology, namely HP, Dell, Toshiba, Acer, Asus, CyberPowerPC, Gateway (sorry, Gateway no longer exists... its part of Acer), Alienware, Voodoo, eMachines, Compaq (owned by HP), and a whole myriad of other 3rd party "I- just -left -college -and -can -build -PCs -I -should -start -a -business" vendors. This makes it hard to find a place that sells Macs as violently as their own Apple stores (which apparently hire people, such as local actors, to come into their stores and gawk at their products). This lack of hardware designers leaves Apple in the dark, forcing them to think for themselves. This usually turns out nasty results, such as the eyesore "Macbook Air" (oh fine, it's not an eyesore. It does make for a very sexy laptop, but thats about it. And I promise to stop talking about it now). Regardless, if you had a huge amount of companies making hardware for your OS, you would be making far more money over a longer period of time. And besides, the average "what's a computer?" user doesn't care how simple "Mac OSX TIGER!" is if they end up paying an arm and a leg to get a computer that runs it."

Although Mac isn't bad, it has made some very bad marketing choices. And yes, so has Microsoft, but not as recently as Apple. So today, it was their turn to feel the full force of my billy club of cynicism. Some of you may ask, "Salem, you ignorant cud, who are you to judge Apple for their design choices? They probably made a lot of sense at the time." Well, I'm a consumer. Its my job.

Redneck Power Windows

2008-01-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share a funny clip with you, but not because its funny. It is also my very first youtube video ever. Expect more to come: I'm working on a video to show you how to remotely access your desktop using your iPod Touch or iPhone.

Is HD-DVD soon to be gone for good?

2008-01-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

"Over six thousand HD DVD supporters have signed an online petition urging Warner Home Entertainment to reconsider its decision to abandon the HD DVD format."

"I'm giving a very politically incorrect answer. I think the battle is over. I think Blu-ray has won."

This has me rather upset: last Christmas... no, I take that back. The Christmas before last Christmas, we were lucky enough to receive an HD-DVD player from an amazing cousin of ours. With the player came an offer to send us 6 free HD-DVD's with our order, which we took them up on (The DVD's came in about 4 months. But they were free, so i'm happy.) And now, I get an article that tells me that Warner, the company that started the whole HD "War" between the current two HD media disks: HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Even Joseph Taylor, Executive Vice President of Panasonic's North American branch, made a very politically incorrect comment:

"I'm giving a very politically incorrect answer. I think the battle is over. I think Blu-ray has won."

Then again, Panasonic is the premiere Blu-Ray producer and developer, producing the first 100gb Blu-Ray Disk, which comprised of 4 25 gig layers (Panasonic was later smashed by Hitachi which created a 100gb disk without the need to buy a new Blu-Ray Player). But that's besides the point. The fact that they are removing the HD-DVD off the market makes me mad: HD-DVD started the whole "Hmm, maybe I can fit more data by tripple layering my disks" idea and has some really great features. Personally, I have nothing against Blu-Ray, and I think that it has a cool name, but for this brawl, I sided with HD-DVD (mainly because I'm scared of buying a Blu-Ray player... and my laptop reads HD-DVD's). So, I urge you to participate in an online petition called "Save HD-DVD!" There are quite a few people in the petition that have made personal promises to never buy from Warner again if they do in fact take the HD-DVD off the market. And yes, to be politically incorrect, I'll add a link to the counter-petition, "Let HD-DVD Die!" I wonder if these big-wig companies pay any attention to these petitions, or better yet, these blogs...

Apple's latest

2008-01-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

"With the introduction of the MacBook Air , Mac users now have a three-pound laptop to call their own."

I've been feeling rather deprived recently, seeing as though I've been forcing good reviews of various CD's down the throats of my few but steadfast readers. So, I thought a bit of change is in order, and I have been brooding over the complete lack of thought (or the presence of LSD) that went into the designing of the new Macbook Air, announced at a press release by Steve Jobs himeslf (interesting to note, after this speech, Apple's stock suffered its largest keynote loss since 1998). Apple's only claim to fame with their new "thin-as-your-pencil" design is that the Air is thin: .76 inches at its largest, to be exact. However, this still doesn't beat any records: it was bested by a 1997 laptop (whoa, apple) called the Mitsubishi Pedion. In addition to this, Apple apparently threw out almost everything seen in a common laptop with, by their standards, questionable usefulness. So, it appears as though they've thrown out the optical drive as well as everything but one USB port. AND the laptop has no docking features, making it another one of Apple's famous one-trick ponies. The only good thing I've seen in this, if you could call it good, is that it has a decent, 35 watt-hour battery. However, the (quite clearly high) designers thought it would be easier to prevent users from replacing their laptop's batteries. So, like with their iPods and their iPhones, they made it impossible to get to the laptop's battery. Its not even for those Apple media junkies that have popped up over the last decade or so: the computer has 1 speaker to speak of (pardon the pun). So, with a full-featured laptop, containing 80 gigs of hard-drive space, 2 gigs of ram, one speaker, and a dual core processor, comes to $3,000. WHAT? Apple's pricetag, as always, leaves something to be desired. I'm not trying to rant again'st Apple, I'm just ranting against their new laptop thing (I mean, it can't call itself a laptop withouth a cd drive... *sigh*). At least it doesn't look as bad as the Powerbook Duo, which committed bloody suicide after struggling to push the same frontier as the Air.

In the same press release that brought the announcement of the Macbook Air came the announcements that several programs, originally iPhone only, would be released for the iPod Touch at an inconvenience of only $20. Although I hate to say it, many people already jailbroke their iPod Touches and have been running most these programs rather happily anyways, so releasing these addons serves no real purpose but to let people feel happy for paying Apple for legit Apple stuff.

(ranting is now over.)

Just a quick blog update, over to the right of the screen (this direction ===>>) I added a box that shows my twitter feed... read it if you get bored, because its where I post stuff when I get bored.

Oh, and my appologies for the huge picture at the top of this post... it was the best one I could find, so cut me some slack, ok?

CD Review: Wincing the Night Away

2008-01-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

For a few weeks now I've promised that I'd review the Shins album I've been listening to (called Wincing the Night Away, as I hope you've gathered from this post's title) and I must say its an amazing album. Really, I had a great time listening to this album... and I don't know what it is, but this album seems to have depth, something that a lot of modern artists lack. The CD takes you places (although it seems to talk a lot about the ocean, including songs like 'sea legs' and 'girl sailor') and the singer's voice is enticing, so its fun to listen to this album (unlike artists like Amon Tobin, which can be compared to taking medicine: its good for you, but its not always easy). The music itself is light and airy... almost like what the Beatles would sound like in this day and age. I highly recommend this album to people who liked Death Cab for Cutie, or just like alternative music. It is very easy to like, as it is very unique.

Oh, I got a haircut. Not sure if I like it yet, but its nice. In addition, Cute with Chris has rather grown on me... I've found myself flipping through his videos.

One last thing: Last.fm isn't letting me embed audioclips anymore, so if you want to hear them you'll have to go to www.last.fm yourself. My two favorites have to be 'Split Needles' and 'Sea Legs'.

The Foo Fighters want YOU!

2008-01-18T19:36:00.000-08:00

"Be one of the top 20 that plays with the Foo Fighters onstage at the Grammys February 10th in Los Angeles"

It seems as though the Grammy-nominated band "Foo Fighters" is in need of an orchestra to accompany them for their Grammy performance of "The Pretender" (which has a pretty interesting music video, might I add). As soon as I heard about this I thought I should post it: after all, the deadline is the 20th. There are already tons of people who have uploaded videos of themselves playing cello (my favorite), trumpet, violin, and a whole myriad of other instruments. So please, if you think this would be cool, upload a video of yourself playing this song, if just for the constructive (or destructive) criticism. Oh, and post a link to your vid via a comment.

Chris recites T-Pain

2008-01-18T15:09:00.000-08:00

Gorillaz have a new album: D-Sides

2008-01-05T19:19:00.000-08:00

"The long wait for a new Gorillaz release is over: D-Sides is officially out now! The 2-disc set of rarities, unreleased tracks and remixes is full of amazing goodies..."

Gorillaz – 68 State
Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc (Stanton Warriors Remix)
Gorillaz – We Are Happy Landfill

Although its name is entirely unoriginal (one of their previous albums was titled "G-Sides"), the album's content is anything but. Gorillaz, specializing in a neat crossbreed of alternative, dance, and punk. It has been interesting following their success over the years: they are now listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful animated band ever (although, as far as I know, they are the only animated band that is actually largely known), giving them some pretty sweet music videos. This new addition to an ever-growing library of Gorillaz music has thrown in not one, but two CD's. One is comprised of original music, and another is crammed full of remixes of their previous album, Demon Days. They also casually sneak in some recycled music in their "original cd" (the song "People" sounds strangely like the song "Dare" from Demon Days." Some of my favorites right now is their new acoustic-only "68-State," their "Feel Good Inc [Stanton Warrior's Remix]," and "We Are Happy Landfill" (click the links for Youtube vids containing the full songs). Yes, the names are awkward, but it reflects their different music (which, if you are adventurous, is worth a taste). In that sense, their music is very different, almost to the point of pain, so to speak. I wouldn't recommend it to people who aren't used to different music... try some more casual alternative music like "Death Cab for Cutie" or "The Shins" (who's new album, "Wincing the Night Away" I will be taking a look at). I am still chewing my way through their rather large installment of music, which is keeping me pretty happy for now. Personally, I still like "Demon Days" for their more natural music, but D-Sides is definitely helping broaden my musical palate.

JibJabbing

2008-01-03T15:31:00.000-08:00

In 2007 | Funny Jokes at JibJab

After seeing all of the great politically incorrect videos on Jibjab.com, I couldn't not post any of their pitch-black humor. Although its not something I'd show to little kids, its great to check out if you get bored or have a lot of time to kill. And besides, it helps all those poor people out there who forget to watch/read the news because their heads are grafted to their computer monitors. Speaking of killing time, I've been killing time and having a great time doing it by listening to a variety of new music I've received over the holidays, from "Wincing the Night Away" by the Shins, "D-Sides" by the Gorillaz, and "Reset EP" by Mutemath... you all can expect lengthy reviews soon. For now, here's some Last.fm clips to wet your appeties.
Mute Math – Typical (Album Version)
The Shins – Sleeping Lessons
The Shins – Black Wave
Gorillaz – 68 State

P.S. Lifehacker has posted a nice "top 20 iPod Touch apps," one of which is a nice Mobile Scrobbling program that lets you "scrobble" as well as listen to your favorite Last.fm radio stations... there's a whole bunch of other amazing apps for you if you're interested.

Jailbreaking the iPod Touch

2008-01-02T13:34:00.001-08:00

It's a snap to enable third party applications on your iPhone or iPod Touch running the 1.1.1 firmware
Ahh... had a nice long break the past week or so, and it feels good to be blogging again. Now then: for Christmas, I received the highly-anticipated and well-publicized iPod Touch and was amazed with Apple's ability to make such a simple, yet successful one trick pony. Thats right: although its great to have a portable device that serves as a diluted laptop, it comes nowhere near the usefulness of, say, an ultra-portable computer. In my opinion, Apple has taken a large step backwards by taking out its ever-popular "disk mode" feature and not including any games (I had become quite fond of playing Parachute). On a plus, it includes a decent web browser that allows you to play media online with its built in Quicktime plugin. Although this does get annoying (downloading any sort of file becomes somewhat impossible) it also has its pros: There are a wide assortment of online apps for the iPod Touch and iPhone alike. Lastly, Apple seems rather impressed with itself for including a native Youtube application, letting all those Youtube-inhaling addicts out there watch their vids whenever they are inside a nice, unsecure Wifi hotspot, which are becoming more and more available these days. All this said, the iPod Touch is pretty handy (it also plays your music and video rather nicely, and as Apple has loved showing everyone, it has Coverflow on it as well), but it does leave something to be desired. So, I did what a huge majority of iPod Touch owners did and "Jailbroke" mine a day or two after receiving it.

Jailbreaking is not as evil as it sounds: on the contrary, it is quite benign and easy to install. It is a simple and small TIFF exploit that is used to install iPhone applications onto your iPod Touch (For all you interested in seeing its code, check it out here, kindly dug up by my good friend Alex). Its only requirement is that you are running its 1.1.1 firmware. To check, simply hit "settings" or "preferences" on your iPod's screen and then tap "general." After that, jut hit "about" to display all of your iPod's technical specs. If your iPod reads something like "1.1.1 (xxxxx)" across from "Version" then you're set. HOWEVER, don't attempt to jailbreak your iPod if you're using 1.1.2 or have somehow found a copy of 1.1.3 which has only been rumored about. Sadly, as of now, there has not been a way to "jailbreak" these editions, but keep reading if you want to find out how to downgrade your iPod to version 1.1.1. Now then, installing the exploit is incredibly simple: you don't even need a computer to do any of this (unlike the notorious iPod linux that so many installed on their older iPods). Simply go to jailbreakme.com on your iPod's internet browser (yes, it's called Safari, and yes, you should know that) and scroll down to "Install AppSnapp." Thats it. Thats all you have to do. It may take a few minutes, but Safari should close out and you should see installation progress on your iPod's screen. After the installation, you should notice a new icon on your desktop that reads "installer." This is the first application you receive after installing the exploit and it is the "holy graile" of 3rd party applications. Simply start it up, and it will spew out a huge list of applications for you to install on your iPod (neatly organised, of course). Installing an app is simple: click the app and then hit "install" in the upper right hand corner of the screen. It will ask for a confirmation, show you a "downloading" and "installing" bar, and then take you back to the Installer home page. Its that simple. After closing installer, you will be prompted to unlock your iPod and, if you have one, enter a password. And thats it. Thats how easy it is to get 3rd party apps. If you want recommendations, check this site out for their list of the top 10 third party iPod touch apps.

Downgrading your iPod is rather simple... even jailbreakme.com is willing to tell you how (along with innumerable other websites). To do this, you must restore your iPod, though, so make sure you have all your music in a safe spot. First things first: download 1.1.1 from apple's website. Then hook up your iPod to your computer, go to the iPod screen on iTunes, hold down shift (or option on a mac) and hit Restore. A window will pop up and ask you for a file from which to restore your iPod: simply go to the 1.1.1 file you downloaded before and click ok. Its that easy... your iPod will then be installed with the 1.1.1 firmware and your iPod is free to jailbreak. Now, as with anything and everything, this may not work 100% of the time, so don't get .frustrated if it doesn't work. Just try it again and everything should be smooth sailing.

Curing Cancer? I don't think so.

2007-12-24T21:13:00.000-08:00

Ahh, first post on Christmas day... I hear someone moving downstairs but I'm not going to look into it. It might be Santa.

I love this: A 1.2-Megaton Anti-Cancer Missile was unveiled recently and has been proven effective in destroying 100% of all cancer cells within a 35 mile radius. It has been tested vigorously and is guaranteed to completely and effectively wipe out cancer cells. Oh, and almost forgot to mention this little tidbit: "The only side-effects is that it also incinerates all life within a 35 mile radius." This actually caught my attention because, like so many other Americans recently, I flocked to the movie theaters recently to see a screening of "I am Legend," a movie about a dystopian future where a cancer "cure" created by bioengineering a virus mutated and became some sort of evil vampire/zombie creating virus that infects 99% of humans and turns a good bit of them into "nightwalkers," nightmarish things that hate sunlight and have some sort of mindset to kill anything they see that happens to move and isn't another one of them. *gasp* Sorry for the long sentence, but I just had to make the point that this movie isn't really anything new, its just the old being looked at from a different perspective (in this case, Will Smith's). The movie gets interesting when you find out that Will Smith, or should I say, "Robert Neville," is somehow a Colonel in the army and some sort of bioengineer at the same time. Of course, he does have his trusty dog Sam to keep him company in the otherwise desolate New York City where the only semblance of life are manikins which Robert enjoys talking to. The movie wasn't terrible, however: Set design was amazing (they somehow managed to clear out large sections of Manhattan and fill them with cars), and you actually become attached to the dog. It also is jacked up on suspense, terror, and zombie vampires, if you're into that sort of thing. Regardless, its worth seeing if you have spare time (you better be done with Christmas shopping by now). And no I'm not telling you the ending.

Holiday!

2007-12-24T09:26:00.000-08:00

On behalf of myself, I'd like to wish everyone reading a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a great holiday season (if I missed your holiday). May your holiday season be filled with joy, happiness, and good food. So, eat up, sleep well, and take a load off... you deserve it.

Oh, I'll be cutting back on the posts until after New Years Day... I need my rest too.

Is "is" dead?

2007-12-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

Facebook has now removed the “Is” part from the status messages.

Finally, Facebook has removed its annoying "is" from the status area in Facebook profiles. So instead of confining yourself to statuses like "Salem is not liking the rain right now" you can freely express your hatred towards unfrozen precipitation by saying "Salem hates rain." Nice job, Facebook. I commend you for this one step in the right direction. Now to change my profile...

2007-12-23T07:49:00.000-08:00

" Flock - the browser for people who like to be connected. Get ready to meet your new favorite browser!"

Today I thought I'd introduce readers to the wonderful world of Flock, the self-proclaimed "social web browser." It seems as though the developers took Firefox, added on integration for popular sights such as Facebook and Youtube, and gave it a new name. The browser itself is great, featuring a nice RSS feed manager, blog post creator, user account management, and a lot more. It also tries to make browsing easier by including an "internet clipboard," which lets you copy more than one thing to your computer at a time. However, viewing the things on your clipboard becomes limited to a few thumbnails that can only be enlarged by reopening whatever it is you copied in its original location on its website. This gets frustrating. Your home page consists of a list of favorite websites, updates to your RSS feeds, and even your favorite media from flickr or youtube. The browser has a "media bar" that lets you browse through media from various media-hosting sights without leaving the current page.
The browser includes a large variety of search engines, with the ability to add more from various sites. Personally, I added a youtube, facebook, and blogger search engine. However, unlike firefox, typing a topic in the address box will not pull up the most relevant page (which I miss). Instead, it will search the topic in a yahoo search and display the results. I personally hate yahoo and think google is every way better than it, so this became rather irksome rather quickly.
Although they copy a lot from firefox and are likely to get sued for some reason or another, its not a bad browser. Not great, but worth trying out. Who knows... maybe one of you yahoo disciples out there will nominate the developers for some "software of the year"award.

With Friends Like These, Who Needs War?

2007-12-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

It's been more than 60 years since the end of World War II, and this month a group of U.S. war veterans who served in the Pacific -- men now in their 80s -- took part in a historic battle with their Japanese counterpoints, in the shadow of Pearl Harbor.

When you look at it, most people fighting each other in the various would probably really like each other had they not been given guns and told to kill each other. Recently, World War II veterans that fought in Pearl Harbor, both Japanese and Americans, met in Pearl Harbor to view memorials, cemeteries, and to play softball. Although language barriers were a slight problem, everyone seemed to enjoy each other's company. None of them seemed to feel any anger towards each other; on the contrary, they seemed to agree that they found newfound friends in their old enemies. If people would do that more often, why would people want to fight? In my opinion, I think that wars are started because of lack of intercultural understanding and social collaboration, rather than political bargaining and government alliances.

Myspace Murder

2007-12-21T15:29:00.000-08:00

The tragic story that began with a sick joke on the Internet is coming to a close as a Riverhead, New York, jury deliberates the fate of 53-year-old John White, on trial for killing a friend of his son.

There is no such thing as going unheard in today's society... a perfect (if not upsetting) example is this case, in which a boy, Aaron White, was threatened by another student, Daniel Cicciaro, after a friend of Aaron's sent a joke regarding rape to one of Daniel's friends through Myspace. Do not expect anything to be taken lightly online... simple text can never fully convey emotion like actual conversation can. In this case, it proved to be fatal: Daniel Cicciaro was killed by Aaron White's father (John White) after Daniel had threatened Aaron. The internet can be a scary place... lets try to cut back on our Myspace fatalities.

"Sorry, gents..."

2007-12-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

Sorry everyone, no posts today... although I have two favors to ask anyone who's reading:
Number 1: I need a new title for this blog... the current one isn't as great as I'd like it to be.
and...
Number 2: If any readers could pass on information about this blog to friends, that would be great... my trafic rank isn't as high as I'd like it to be...
Thanks to all the readers.

Because it's great

2007-12-18T19:30:00.000-08:00

I think it's illegal to not share stuff like this.

Online and Anonymous

2007-12-18T19:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks in large part to the internet there are now tons ways to get hacked, infected, spammed, tagged, traced, keyed, and scammed on the internet. Luckily, there are also a bunch of ways to make internet a lot nicer. For free. No kidding.

Anonymizers
Your IP address is gold: its like your computer's social security number. So, you use things like proxies to do all the work for you: you simply send what you want to do to the proxy, it does it for you, and it relays all the information back to you without ever letting a website catch your IP adress. But you have to be careful: some proxies are set up by hackers and will extort personal information rather than protect it. To be safe, use Proxify. It has a great reputation and is perfect for people who are new to this sort of thing. If you know your IP address, set up a proxy and go to www.whatismyipaddress.com to make sure your proxy is working: if it doesn't display your IP address, then you're set. The only "side affect" is that websites may take a little longer to load. But if you're going to a questionable site, using a proxy is definitely worth it.

Email
There's nothing more annoying than finding a website that looks great and might be a little bit fishy and then have it ask for your email before you find out if the site is legit or not... Luckily there are ways to get around this. 2Prong is a nice site that automatically creates a new email account whenever you visit it and, given that you don't delete your browsing cookies, it will show any and all emails sent to the email address given to your new fake email. You can revisit an email account by going to http://2prong.com/[your fake email]. Its actually really simple and effective.
Another great site is Spambox, which creates a random email address and forwards any emails that it receives to your real email address. However, it comes in handy because if you start receiving spam, you can simply cancel your spambox account and kiss the spam goodbye. In addition, it also features a "timed delete" feature that lets you specify how long you would like your spambox account to remain active. This makes staying anonymous really simple.

Tor
Another great way to stay anonymous is through a simple program called (or formerly called) Torpark. It has since been renamed to xB Browser and now looks different but it's still the same program. Instead of sending requests directly to web pages, it instead channels them to a remote server which sends the requests through a random port. Then the information is sent to your computer, completely anonymous. The company that programmed xB Browser, called XeroBank, also offers a ton of other programs, most of which you have to pay a fee for. However, xB Browser works great, and will keep you safe.

Better than Radio? Slacker.com

2007-12-17T18:31:00.000-08:00

"What do you get when you take the ex-CEOs of Musicmatch, Rio, and iRiver America and lock them in a room with a stack of data about the digital-music landscape?"

In the world of online radio (sights such as last.fm and Pandora are good examples) Slacker has really made a name for itself. Unlike Pandora, in which you create online playlists or "stations" based off of favorite artists or songs, you can simply browse through lists of playlists, create your own, or select a genre and view available songs. They also have lists like "Today's Top Hits" and "Slacker Spotlight" that showcase specific music, letting you stay in tune to whats new. Of course, you can create your own station, but you can also choose to make it more specific than Pandora's radio by selecting specific artists to include. Slacker also has a neat player download that plays MP3's, M3U's, and WMA formats and still provides all the functionality of the online player. Best yet: they have a portable device that updates with new music every time you walk into a wifi hotspot. That is amazing. It comes in 3 sizes: 15, 25, and 40 station capacities. My only complaint: I can't embed Slacker stations into this blog. Oh well, I'll live. Slacker, keep it up.

Another thing I like about New Jersey

2007-12-17T16:56:00.000-08:00

"Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law a measure repealing New Jersey’s death penalty on Monday, making the state the first in a generation to abolish capital punishment."

Back Story With The Times’s Jeremy W. Peters

Well, its about time. The death penalty was finally repealed in New Jersey, which had been practiced since 1982, 6 years after the Supreme Court allowed the killing of prisoners legal. It took a little under 2 weeks for this bill to be signed by Gov. Jon S. Corzine. After reading my last post on this bill's progress, I hope you can tell that I am quite happy. I think I'm beginning to like New Jersey. According to the New York Times, the bill progressed at a rapid pace, moving to replace "state-endorsed killing" with life in prison with no chance of parole. While America has made steps towards reducing the death penalty, this is the first time it's been completely removed since it was declared constitutional. I really hated the idea that the government was essentially killing people to teach them not to kill... Hopefully the progress in New Jersey will help the rest of the country to follow suit.

Is Google the new Big Brother?

2007-12-16T18:24:00.000-08:00

In a report Sunday, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said 47 percent of U.S. adult Internet users have looked for information about themselves through Google or another search engine.

Apparently more and more people are unexpectedly finding themselves turning up on popular search engines because of newspaper quotes, self-published websites (or blogs for that matter... i feel like such a hypocrite) or online communities. People should periodically do this because otherwise you have no idea what there is about you. Of course, there is a good chance that somewhere in the world there is another person with your exact same name, but there still is that chance that there is important information about you. There are websites out there with the sole purpose of collecting and sharing information on people, some of which can be malevolent (you have but to type "find social security numbers" in Google to come across a few bad ones). Just do yourself a favor and find out what's out there on the web with your name on it. In some ways this is a good thing: apparently more and more companies are hiring people with a strong online persona (according to the article on Yahoo), which may be a reason why people under the age of 50 were found more likely to actually search their names. Another interesting bit of information: contrary to popular belief, teens are more likely to limit public access of their Myspace or Facebook accounts than adults.
Final thoughts: let internet grow. Just don't forget to grow with it.

(P.S. Google is still a great search engine so don't let this stop you from using it.)

Game Review: Soldat

2007-12-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

"Soldat is a unique side-view multiplayer action game. It takes the best from games like Liero, Worms, Quake and Counter-Strike and gives you fast action gameplay with tons of blood and flesh. Soldiers fight against each other on 2D battle arenas using a deadly military arsenal. This is what multiplayer was invented for."

There was a time when the definition of a "really good game" was a game that took years in the making, cost a decent bit of money, and was advertised until its final release was more of a national holiday *cough cough*. Now, however, you can find amazing, clever, and free (or pretty damn cheap) games that are highly praised by the people who have played them, few as they may be. Soldat is one of these games. Soldat (french for "Soldier") is an online, 2D multiplayer 3rd person shooter. Now we all know thats like saying "I took the most idiotic idea of a game and decided to market it," but before you stop reading altogether, I thought it would make you all feel better if an actual company rated this game. That being said, let me continue.

The game starts up and has you select an account (you can make more than 1 by paying $10 to "register the game"). Once thats done, you simply join a server or make your own (and yes you can also change game options too). The game looks like a cross-breed between Super Mario Brothers and Team Fortress 2. But the real beauty of the game is the fact that it gives you things you wouldn't expect in a 2D side-scroller shooter: jet-boots, flamethrowers, and invisibility are a few. There are the typical modes of gameplay: CTF, Deathmatch, and Team Deathmatch, but they also added a few new ones like Infiltration, in which one team has to successfully infiltrate an enemy's base and steal their flag (like a one-sided CTF). The game is rather violent: there are times in which I've seen my character's head fly around the map as I waited to respawn. It seems as though the whole 12-year-old "I like watching bloody stumps of flesh" mentality really shoved the game along. Also, my character will, on occasion, fly through the bottom of the map (and subsequentially die) as a result of an explosion, which gets aggravating. However, the addicting gameplay and almost limitless available maps (they hav a nice mapmaker) make up for the problems. Its worth getting. Seriously, go do it. Unless you're busy.

Oh and I don't personally like the game's trailer... I just put it there so everyone could at least see some gameplay.

With Regards to Vista

2007-12-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

Regarding Vista...

Just as a warning: I wrote this to be my first in-depth review of anything this big. I'm not here to bash the daylights out of Vista, just to point out where it can become annoying. Its not a bad operating system, it could just use some work. Or a nice big update.

I bought my laptop this over 6 months ago
and was rather pleased to say that it had Vista pre-installed (as
opposed to "Vista Ready!" or "Free Upgrade to Vista!"). So, I took it
home, booted it, went back to the store, reminded the geniuses at Best
Buy that computers were typically packaged with power cords, and
returned home.

Upon booting it, everything was like a breath
of fresh air covered in some sort of shiny gloss. Everything looked
great and visually, it impressed me. Then I installed my stuff onto it
(Firefox, Pidgin, and an assortment of games) and THAT is when I
noticed Vista's "advanced security features" which basically boil down
to asking if it can do pretty much everything from running a program to
changing your wallpaper. I finally got mad enough to shut off the
"Advanced Security Features" and continued to install my old programs.
Contrary to popular belief, old programs DO in fact work on Vista:
however, the computer will occasionally block the program from
accessing important files and asks you to "run it as an Administrator."
Then, because you see it on all the Vista adds, I tried the whole
"Aero" thing that lets you do cool stuff like flip through windows in
3D. Its great, but rather useless especially on slow computers that
enjoy taking their time flipping through each and every window.

Another new feature to Vista were its ReadyBoost technology, which
allows you to plug in a flash drive and use it to boost the amount of
system resources your computer has available. This became an immediate
waste of hard drive space as most of the cheap flash drives the average
person buys "don't meet the minimum requirements needed to run it as a
ReadyBoost Drive," namely speed. While I'm ranting, I might as well add
that Vista will try to "scan for errors" whenever you plug in a
portable storage device like an iPod or a flashdrive. Being the naive
idiot that I am, I immediately plugged in my flash drive and had it
"scanned and fixed," at which point I was told that my flash drive had
no problems. And then it told me that it would not work with my
computer and that I had to buy a new one. *sigh*

An annoyance that became increasingly... well,
annoying was the fact that every network you ever connect to is saved
under the "Connect to a network" screen. For instance, say you have a
laptop and walk into a Starbucks. You immediately get an icon on the
taskbar of your computer saying "Networks have been found" and you
click it to select a network. So then, a window pops up showing you a
huge myriad of networks, some which you happened to connect to as you
parked in front of a Barnes and Noble in the middle of nowhere, and
Windows leaves it to you to sort through the networks and pick the one
you want to connect to. This tends to get annoying.

The last feature that was supposed to "enhance my user
experience" was the Bitlocker Drive Encryption, which apparently is
used to encrypt your ENTIRE HARD DRIVE. Everyone was just fine
encrypting important files and letting everything else be, but
Microsoft had to go the extra mile and make a program to encrypt everything.
After encrypting, i noticed a large drop in speed (which really hurts
since Vista is slower than XP in the first place) because everything
had to be decrypted before I could use it. The only reason I can see
someone using this is if they work for a monstrously important business (say, oh... the CIA) or tend to connect to remote networks from their
laptop. However, seeing as laptops are generally slower than PC's,
sacrificing performance for security might not be admirable.

Overall, Vista isn't bad. Not great, but not as terrible as, say,
Hitler. It looks great, organizes your files easily, and includes a DVD
maker (finally) as well as a better Microsoft Paint (that can actually save .jpg pictures) and a screenshot-taking program called the Microsoft Snipping Tool. Though I can't
compliment every aspect of it (as all things are bound to have
problems) I can say that it does its job, and it looks rather pretty.

Cat Alarm Clock

2007-12-13T16:42:00.000-08:00

Is your cat like this?

sigh and the word of the year is...

2007-12-13T14:40:00.000-08:00

One of these words is not like the others:

Top to bottom, those were Merriam-Webster’s words of the year from 2003 to 2007.

As society progresses, so does its language. This is quite apparent from Merriam-Webster's word of the year: w00t. Evolved from the modern gaming community's phrase "we owned the other team," w00t is used to express joy or pleasure, particularly after a victory or completion of a difficult task. Sadly, Merriam-Webster Online didn't have an entry for their word of the year which left me feeling a bit angry. So, I instead linked the picture (over there ==>) to its Wictionary page. *sigh* Yes its on Urban Dictionary. So for all you die-hard nerds out there who think that the Earth may finally be on the verge of a cultural breakthrough, congratulations. For everyone else, I can't wait to see next year's.

Oh, almost forgot... last year's runner up was google.

Zero Punctuation

2007-12-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

This week on Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee gaily shreds Guitar Hero III.

Zero Punctuation, written by Ben Croshaw, aka "Yahtzee," is one of the most hilarious game reviewers I've had the pleasure of listening to. Ever. He is to the point, has a cool hat, and never lets anything pass without a large helping of destructive criticism (with the exception of Portal, reviewed in The Orange Box). Accompanied by a still-frame video, he has tortured a good dozen games to the point of submission, including The Orange Box, Bioshock, and of course, Halo 3. He also creates rather addicting adventure games (I posted about his "Art of Theft" yesterday) and works for the Escapist magazine. He started out reviewing games on youtube and running his own website (full of comics, articles, and his blog) but apparently was spotted by the Escapist and hired to do editorials. He also has his own website, lives in Australia, and enjoys making fun of people. Watch his reviews... its worth it.

CD: Amon Tobin

2007-12-11T19:25:00.000-08:00

"Much better than I expected. No where near as jazzy as his older albums, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. One of the year's best releases so far!"

"Not Tobin's most accessible album but a real grower. Beautiful stuff."

Amon Tobin – Always
Amon Tobin – The Killer's Vanilla
Amon Tobin – Foley Room
Amon Tobin – At the End of the Day

Recently I started listening to "Foley Room" by Amon Tobin and I must say... its definitely something new. At first it seems almost hard to listen to, but if you sit with it and play it from the beginning to the end you hear things that really open up your ears to new sounds. His music is like a mix between electronica and grindcore... like techno and tabasco sauce. At the End of the Day is by far my favorite... it has a great underlying string melody with a great beat... its nice walking music. I included embedded samples of my favorite tracks... last.fm provided me with the html and the reviews (its worth checking that site out).
The album is great: its something new, its a work of art, and although its a bit hard to get into, it'll be on my iPod for a LONG while. (buy it from iTunes here)
8/10

No death in NJ: Almost there

2007-12-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

"The New Jersey Senate voted Monday to make the state the first in the country to repeal the death penalty since 1976, when the United States Supreme Court set guidelines for the nation’s current system of capital punishment."

It would seam as though the "Capital/Corporal Punishment" debate is making some headway here in the states... they finally are thinking about dropping the whole "I'm killing you to teach you not to kill people" method of punishment for one that doesn't involve... well, killing people. I say, if they did something that bad, they can die in their own good time in jail if that is deemed the only alternative. New Jersey senator Raymond J. Lesniak, sponsor of the bill, presented it to the New Jersey senate yesterday, where it received the bare minimum number of votes (21 to 16) to pass. 3 senators apparently did not vote. Personally, I'm crossing my fingers.

art of theft: addicting download

2007-12-10T16:57:00.000-08:00

"The Escapist is pleased to present The Art of Theft, the latest game from Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw."

There is something highly addicting in 2D action/adventure games infused with wit, skill, and a really cool umbrella. The newest game by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, editor for The Escapist and creator of the amazing "Zero Punctuation" reviews, features Trilby, a professional thief, who must sneak, rob, and electrocute his way through a whole myriad of levels in an ultimate attempt to steal from rich people, and along the way, escape from "The Company." The game play is rather simple: sneak around and steal various objects, hide from guards and cameras in the shadows, and return back to your entry point. You achieve extra skills by triggering fewer alarms, zapping fewer guards, and earning more money per heist. The plot line is great too and keeps you wanting to play the levels (no, i'm not going to tell you what the plot line is. go download the game yourself.) My only complaint about the game, because I can be a stupid git about these games, is that choosing upgrades becomes annoying. Some upgrades make certain levels monstrously easy, while others aren't even used for a good bit of time. This isn't a bad thing, just a little annoyance. However, this barely detracts from the game play at all, so if you like, you can forget I even said that. For being a damn good game, I'm giving it a
9/10

free music the legal way

2007-12-10T16:22:00.000-08:00

"Over 1,000,000 songs and videos to play on your computer and mp3 player"

there is finally a way (for all you who didn't already know) to get free legal music downloaded to your computer or mp3 player. spiralfrog allows its users to download as many songs as they want for free, paying for them with advertisements. they have a decent collection of both videos and audio, so almost any song you can think of is represented on their site. however, all their songs are downloaded and saved as encrypted .wma's, which simply means that they do not work on iPods. Also, they completely leave out any "download entire album now" feature, meaning that if you want to download an album, you have to sit there and click through a few pages and make sure everything is working before you can leave. This site has the makings of the next youtube-grade craze, but with these bugs (I happen to own an iPod) I can only fairly give it a
6/10

in rainbows

2007-12-09T08:12:00.000-08:00

"The download area that is 'In Rainbows' will be shutting its doors on the 10th December 2007."

Radiohead's "in rainbows," which was released a while ago, is closing up its online download center tomorrow after making huge profits from its "name your own price" system. its an amazing album in my oppinion, and is worth getting now before it's taken down. they're still planning on selling their disk boxes on w.a.s.t.e. until all are sold. sadly, no plans have been made to produce any more copies.

for the time being, anyone who wishes to buy the cd from a store need only wait a few weeks: december 31st 2007 marks its release in traditional outlets.
I'm going to start rating things I review in my blog. After sitting down, closing my eyes, and playing the CD on my laptop (for better sound quality, of course), I have to say but this: their music is new, different, and really amazing. They don't stick to the classic "she dumped me i'm going to write a song about it" garbage and instead start the CD off with a piece done entirely in a 5/4 beat. While their vocalist may be hard to understand at times, the CD tries something new, not only in the way it sounds, but by the way it's sold.
Congrats, Radiohead: its my first review ever and you've hit up at a smooth
9/10

internet

2007-12-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

"A cyber attack reported last week by one of the federal government’s nuclear weapons laboratories may have originated in China, according to a memorandum."

the internet is the new bullet in today's society, seeing as every year more and more cyber attacks occur and how cyber-terrorism seems more like a joke now, but if an attack such as the one mentioned today would manage to invade a nuclear weapons laboratory, one can only wonder what would happen.

Startling

2007-12-08T19:01:00.001-08:00

bar none XKCD is one of the best web comics there is. albeit a bit nerdy, it makes sense and has people thinking
"wow. thats so true"
(click on the picture to see the full comic)

check out a random comic

Hello world

2007-12-08T18:22:00.000-08:00

my first blog post... rather exhilarating. this blog is dedicated entirely to little things that don't really get noticed by the general public or by the uninterested... things like XKCD or Spiralfrog that could make each day a little bit more fun. So read often... I'll keep you posted.