Archive for February, 2008
Desktop Blog Editors
Feb 17th
There once was a time of chaos, when darkness reigned and mist covered the vision of Herbert Lui’s glasses. He was forced to constantly be connected to the Internet in order to have a chance to write on his blog to communicate with his faithful readers. Friends, such a time is now over. Herbert Lui has discovered the joys of Windows Live Writer.
To be perfectly honest, these desktop blog-editors have been around for a long time. Desktop blog-editors have many pro’s – you don’t need a wireless connection to write text on your blog (it gets published once you establish a connection to the Internet), plus you can save a local copy of the text to your hard drive for backup purposes. One very popular one for both Mac and Windows would be Ecto, which is recommended by many including the Problogger Darren Rowse. However, I’m definitely aware of how programs look much better on Mac than on Windows when available for both, and upon reading comparisons of Ecto and Windows Live Writer, I decided to go with the latter. It is a decision I do not regret.
On a recent trip to Connecticut, I was fortunate enough to be staying in a hotel with Internet (also with my relatives that had wi-fi, a recent upgrade that they made which I was very grateful for). However, on one isolated occasion, I lost connection with the Internet for some unknown reason and my post was only half-complete when it last auto-saved. You could say I was pretty darn mad, because it was a waste of my time and energy. With a desktop blog-editor (such as Windows Live Writer), you need not worry about this.
Windows Live Writer is great! Although I’m not always the biggest Microsoft advocate, I have to say that Windows Live Writer is a great piece of software. It fits in with the Windows Live theme very well, and its taken into consideration many essential functions that I felt would’ve been easy to forget. It does all this while making it very easy to navigate, and as a first-time user I’ve already successfully written a post (and saved a local draft).
If you’re a hardcore blogger, I suggest you download a desktop blog-editor. I realize that there are more elite ones that you could pay for, but why pay the premium before knowing what you get with a free version? Try out Ecto or Windows Live Messenger (personally recommended by the great Herbert Lui) and I’m sure you won’t regret it. I even figured out how to post an image.
Extra, Extra: The Format War is Over!
Feb 17th
Breaking news just now, the Format War is (almost) over. Toshiba has allegedly backed out on its own creation, HD-DVD, leaving Sony and the Blu-Ray format the last man standing, triumphant even through the thick and the thin. What’s the matter? Why did Toshiba exit the battlefield? And how did Sony plan such a strategy, to ensure its victory? Just a few points to consider:
- Even though Toshiba might have won the war, Sony’s Blu-Ray discs would still have been used for Playstation 3 games – giving it some insurance.
- Speaking of the Playstation 3, it sure is one hell of a gaming console, but doubled as a Blu-ray player – meaning not only was it a great bang for a buck, it also enabled hardcore gamers to experience the Blu-ray definition on the side.
- Toshiba’s gaming counterpart, Microsoft, really did not take much of a role into pushing HD-DVD out there, whereas Sony did relatively well in promoting their own format.
- The initial disappointment with the Playstation 3 resulted in a stalemate in the format wars. However, as the popularity of the Playstation 3 grew, the popularity of Blu-ray grew right along with it.
- The Blu-ray disc looked much stronger on paper – and even though that doesn’t exactly ensure a victory, it sure gives it the edge when comparing storage capacities and bandwidth.
Source: http://digital-lifestyles.info/copy_images/blu-ray-japan-sales-lg.jpg
It’s safe to say that you can go out and purchase a Blu-ray player or a PS3 now. If you ask me, what really pushed Toshiba over the edge would either be Warner Bros. abandoning it, Wal-Mart abandoning it, or NetFlix abandoning it (er, it’s not very likely, but NetFlix does have some influence right?). Or Best Buy abandoning it. Either way, we all saw the walls crumble in recent news.
Rock Out – Aerosmith Style
Feb 15th
Alright, so the latest sensation sweeping the nation would definitely be known as Guitar Hero (let’s not forget Rockband, but they’re in the same pond). Revolutionaries and somewhat pioneers in making the musical games mainstream (Dance Dance Revolution anyone?), they’ve made three amazing games and now are going for a fourth – however, this time they’re focusing on a single band. Not just any band, mind you – it’s Aerosmith.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m….1256_RTRUKOP_0_PICTURE0
It couldn’t have been a better choice (Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Bon Jovi, and the Eagles come to mind, but I believe Aerosmith is a bit more widely-accepted/mainstream/well-known?), but I still think its a risktaker here. For one thing, customization’s already down the tube – you’re playing as Aerosmith (members Steven Tyler or Joe Perry come to mind) and nobody else. Another thing would be its lack of variety – sure, there’s a few other songs of bands that opened with Aerosmith, but then it’s all out Aerosmith. Not a bad thing necessarily mind you, it’s just a bit too concentrated for me. This basically isolates everyone except for Aerosmith fans, and I’m thinking it’s a very risky move. However, so was the original Guitar Hero – I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this turns out.
I’m somewhat of an Aerosmith fan, but I can’t say that this game will be as successful as the other Guitar Heros. This one is taking a huge risk, and although I do enjoy risks, I’m not sure that this one’s going to pay off.
VIEWER’S REQUESTED UPDATE: The game will be focused on the life of Aerosmith, from high school to Superbowl, and it will feature my personal Aerosmith favourites: Jaded, Mama Kin, Walk This Way, and Sweet Emotion. Yep, I got the greatest hits CD. Haha.
Consider CutEdge Upgraded
Feb 14th
Hello again, readers!
Due to some recent maintenance problems, I’ve decided to upgrade to WordPress 2.3.3. As you may have noticed, like a few readers pointed out, the category sections did not work throughout the site. Also, the WordPress 2.3 tagging system was pretty high-profile and well-accepted, so I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, since the upgrade was very recent, I still haven’t gotten the chance to explore the tagging system, which I hope to do in the near future.
Hopefully you’re not too disappointed with the lack of an article today (besides this one, I mean). Feel free to watch the video on Mixing Two or More Tracks into One – hey, I thought it was interesting, although I was pretty nervous while making it.
Keep sticking around!
From,
Herbert
Halo 3 Firsthand: Wow
Feb 13th
Well, today I finally got my first taste of Halo 3. I went to a friend‘s house, as I don’t have an Xbox 360 – and he just had Halo 3 delivered to him a couple of days ago. So as you could imagine, when he stuck the disc into the socket, I was pretty darn excited. One thing I did notice – it wasn’t exactly a socket, but a normal CD-drive. I thought next-gen systems outgrew that stuff, but it’s refreshing to still see it there (I never got used to the socket on the Wii, really).
Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/30/Arbiter_crop.png
So, we played a bit of multi-player, but as you can imagine 2-person Slayer isn’t really that much fun. We then decided to play some Campaign mode – and wow, it was definitely something else. For some odd reason, I always get motion-sickness when I play Halo – well, not exactly motion-sickness, but I definitely have to take breaks in between long periods of playing, which is a problem I don’t get when playing games such as Counterstrike or Half Life 2. Could be the big TV, could be Halo. Anyway, he was Master Chief, and – wow, I was the Arbiter. I loved the addition of the Arbiter and still do, but I miss the energy swords (hammers just aren’t the same).
We finally destroyed the darn anti-air cannon when I called it quits. Initially we thought we already beat the game (apparently it’s a really short game), but upon seeing the huge ship crash we decided otherwise and I was definitely ready to hurl a bucketful. Still, tons of fun and an entertaining experience.
A Rude Letter
Feb 12th
Dear Yahoo! Corp,
The past couple of weeks have been tough, I have to say. Who would’ve thought that things would’ve turned out like this? With you going downhill, I offer to drive a stake down and bring you back up to the top – and what do you do? You go and spurn my advances of $44.6 billion – something that doesn’t happen to me very often. And I don’t like it.
Sure, you could’ve left the meeting with the gigantic Google or the ever-so-handsome Apple, but ya didn’t. I can’t figure you out – you turn all three of us down, and now you claim to be strong enough to return even though you’ve been doing that for as long as I can remember. But I won’t stand for it – if they’re not going to have you, I’m going to take you whether you like it or not.
So now I’m going to have to seize you by my own force and use your shareholders to get to you – and you can’t do jack but watch. Know this – we really could’ve had something special and gotten along, but you had to do things the hard way. I wish you well, and hope you don’t feel too threatened by this – even though you have every right to. I’m not violating you, just liberating you from the clutches of failure.
Your buddy,
Microsoft
P.S. I’m still giving you a chance to accept my proposal, but not for long. Have fun!
Author’s Comment: Thanks to Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger for introducing this concept to me.
Spore Gets Official Release Date
Feb 12th
Anticipated for as long as I can imagine, Will Wright’s Spore finally gets a release date. Initially it was announced to be released in Q1 2008, but now it’s been pushed back to September 7th, 2008. Not exactly the greatest release date, but it’s one day after my birthday! 
Source: http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/7220_sporedate.jpg
Why not the greatest release date? The only reason that this blogger can think of so far is a major one – the horde of students returning to school means that parents certainly won’t be happy to see their son or daughter excitedly playing the game instead of doing their homework. I know that if I was a parent, I’d definitely want my child to be focusing on school as it’s definitely a lot more important than a game – rather, I’d confiscate the game and then probably “try it out” myself, haha.
Source: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51htC0b3uKL._SS400_.jpg
Either way, it’s finally announced. Let’s hope it doesn’t pull a Windows Vista (SP1 too) and delay, because I’d be pretty darn mad if that happened. Pretty darn mad.
Microsoft is Danger-ous
Feb 11th
Although the arguably biggest news of the year so far would have been Microsoft bidding for Yahoo!, Microsoft has still been actively busy searching for new partners. And one of recent acquisition would be Danger Inc. – which I have never heard of till today – maker of the famous T-Mobile Sidekick, which are rare up here in Canada (possibly due to the lack of T-Mobile). Nonetheless, let’s take a look at what this could mean.
Source: http://www.tech2.com/media/images/img_3922_windows-mobile-6.jpg
With the evolving popularity of Windows Mobile 6, the possible entrance of Microsoft into the mobile world seems to be most appealing to me. Perhaps Apple’s success with the iPhone led to Microsoft conceiving their own ideas of the mobile phone industry, and along with the operating system that they’ve already created, they’re actually half way to making the Windows version of the iPhone.
Could they be thinking of a new Zune function? The Microsoft Zune has never been that commercially-successful – nor has it actually reached international status. It claims to be revolutionary in sharing – which many have rebuked as very limited, but with the growing rejection of DRM, could Microsoft finally be free to create a true sharing device? Could that be where Danger Inc. comes in (lots of prior experience in creating a mobile device which involves quite a bit of sharing I’d think)?
Source: http://www.slashphone.com/uploads/6486/GW411H307.jpg
One thing Dailytech suspects is a Sidekick with Windows Mobile running on it, and although that might’ve been considered an insignificant ending statement, I think it still holds some truth to an extent. I sure hope that the Sidekick gets redesigned – it’s never really been the prettiest design, nor has it sold as much as the iPhone. If Microsoft wants in, they better make an entrance worthy of it.
Although it’s very possible that this acquisition could be a sign of the times to come, I’m not sure Microsoft will make such an impact with it alone – perhaps they will entire the mobile phone market or add some Zune functionality, but either way they’ll certainly seem a lot more dangerous to Apple’s lead. Well, not that much more dangerous, I guess, but I wanted to use the word.
Mix Multiple Tracks into One Track
Feb 9th
There’s a little bug in the whole idea of having two flash items in a single WordPress post, and so Revver and Imeem refresh a couple of seconds after they’re loaded. My apologies for such an inconvenience, but hopefully you enjoy the video nonetheless.
And that’s about it. I realize that I sound very nervous and there are quite a few “and”s and “um”s, and the quality isn’t that great, but this was my first video and I hope you still learn something from it. Feel free to comment or critique.
Yahoo! Digs Trenches for Long Haul
Feb 8th
Breaking news – well, sorta. Yahoo! corp. is going to fight the Microsoft takeover. I have to admit, such a move really took guts – Yahoo’s risking the support of their stock shareholders in order to stand up to the big guys, and I’m going to say it’s a noble move. But is it smart?
Not exactly, as Yahoo! now lands itself in a pretty precarious position. Without Microsoft, Yahoo! is going to have to find an alternate method of financial support, as it’s been losing funds for a while now – and this task alone won’t be easy (who else will be willing to offer tens of billions of dollars? …Apple…? *wink*). Plus, what I’ve been saying the whole time was that two losers really don’t make a winner – and now, with Yahoo! taking serious consideration (well, more serious than before hopefully) into how they’re going to survive, it looks like they’re going to have to step up their game.
With this short chapter in the saga closed, we can only wait and see what Yahoo! does next. But this definitely is turning very, very interesting. Of course, Microsoft still has a chance, it just has to increase its bidding amount – which would be difficult, but it’s still very feasible. Not to mention the nagging of shareholders should be able to change Yahoo!’s attitude.
Source: http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/98213/98213.html