by Matt | Mar 19, 2005 | Games
Last night Lauren, Robin, Humara, Chrisy, myself and a few random other people went out to Dave & Busters for Robin’s birthday. My groomsman probably remember D&B as the place we went out to for our bachelor party. For those unfamiliar, Dave and Busters is a big arcade, bar and resturant. You can eat, play pool, drink, play arcade games, etc. Anyway, being the complete geek I am, when I was asked to play BattleMech with 6 other people I jumped right in. I don’t know if anyone’s played that game before but it’s basically a big simulator sized version of Mechwarrior for the PC. Only, at an arcade, you get to sit in little pod with a joystick and throttle and speakers thumping in your chair.
Well, it was ugly. I neglected to tell any of the people I played against that I happen to play video games on occasion. I think my final score was 20 kills, 4 deaths and about 12,000 points. I think 2nd place had about 3 kills. They got schooled. I almost felt bad as I ran over a few of them. They all picked the “cool looking” mechs with the fancy designs and lasers and shit. I picked the heaviest mf’er with missle racks AND lasers. It probably didn’t help that the kid they had running it recommended the “smaller, faster mechs” for people who hadn’t played before. That was nice of him. TCC was representing at D&B last night.
Of course, after a night like that, where else can you go but IHOP. We got home around 3am and crashed. Hearing my alarm this morning did not feel good, neither did my “omg, I’ve been to IHOP” stomach ache. Oh well, it was fun.
by Matt | Mar 16, 2005 | Culture
My boss let me know today that we’ll be upgrading phones as a company. Everyone will be getting a shiny new toy but because I’ve “been working my butt off” as he put it, I get a super nifty phone… the Motorola A630.
The feature list is huge. Bluetooth, 1.5mpx camera, full data plan, qwerty keyboard in a clam-shell design AND it’s smaller and lighter than my current phone. I’ve wanted one of those SideKicks for quite some time and this is a blend of a SideKick and an actual useable phone. The main drawback with the SideKick was that it was the size of the average guys wallet (about 3×4 and 2″ thick). This Motorola is tiny. It’s solid feeling though, so it doesn’t feel cheap.
We’re still ironing out the plan details, but by sometime next week you should start to see my first few phone pictures ๐
Update: I found a feature list on a cell phone review site. All T-mobile will mention on their website is how cool it is and then they mention the keyboard about 12 times. When you clicked on “specs” you get things like “cool full color camera”. That, ladies and gentlemen, is not a “spec” by any stretch of the imagination. So, I had to find some…
Highlights
* Innovative Fold-in-half Form With Hidden QWERTY Keyboard
* Bluetooth Wireless Technology
* High-Speed GPRS Data Downloads
* Downloadable Java Applications
* Integrated VGA Camera With 4x Digital Zoom
* Large Vivid Color Display In Landscape
* Excellent Battery Life Over 4 Hours
Specifications
* Digital Camera – 4x Zoom, Self-Timer, VGA
* Bluetooth Wireless Technology – Yes
* Two-handed Gaming Experience – Yes
* Wireless Multi-player Gaming – Yes
* Video Capture – Up To 1 Minute Long
* QWERTY Keyboard – Yes
* Data Capable / Use This Phone As A Modem – Yes
* PC Synchronization – Yes
* Mobile Web Browsing – WAP 2.0
* Multimedia Messaging – EMS 5.0 and MMS
* Text Messaging (SMS) – 2-Way
* Email Client – SMTP, POP3, IMAP4
* Instant Messaging – AOL Instant Messenger Built-In
* Polyphonic Ringtones – Yes, 24 Chords
* Ringer Profiles – Yes
* MP3 Ringtones – Yes
* Picture Caller ID – Yes, And Picture Phonebook
* Multiple Languages – 4 Supported
* Games – Downloadable Titles
* Customizable Graphics – Yes
* Customizable Themes – Yes
* Customizable Animated Wallpapers – Yes
* Internal Color Display – 220×176 Pixel TFT, 65,000 Colors
* External Display – 96×48 Pixel, W/ Blue Backlight
* Speakerphone – Automatic Full-Duplex
* Hands-Free Dialing – 20 Entries
* To-Do List – Yes
* Voice Memo – Yes
* Alarm – Yes
* Calculator – Yes
* Currency Converter – Yes
* Calendar – Yes
* Vibrate – Yes
* Phonebook Capacity – 1000 Entries
* Multiple Numbers Per Name – 6 Entries Per Contact
* Battery Type – LiIon 820 mAh
* Talk Time – Up To 260 Minutes
* Standby Time – Up To 200 Hours (8.33 Days)
* Application Platform – Java MIDP 2.0
* High-Speed Data – GPRS
* Network Compatibility – GSM 900, 1800, 1900
* Predictive Text Entry – iTAP
* Built-In Memory – 5MB, Flash Shared Memory
* SyncML Supported – Yes
* Dimensions – 1.91รขโฌย x 3.74 in x 0.93 in
* Weight – 4.34 oz
* Device Supports Voice Plans – Yes
by Matt | Mar 14, 2005 | Culture
I hate it when it’s the little things. Apparently I’m an idiot. I formatted the inline_captions tags incorrectly and that’s why they weren’t appearing. That’s fixed and so is the italics in IE issue. I have no idea how I did that, nor do I care. So, those links to the right… enjoy them.
Bang your monkey.
by Matt | Mar 14, 2005 | Music
Random 10 – Use your favorite media player, select your entire music collection (if possible), randomize or shuffle the list and then tell us which are the first 10 random songs it picks out. Music, even random music, tells a lot about a person.
1. Syntax – Bliss (Felix Da Housecat Dub)
2. Dropkick Murphys – In the Streets of Boston (live)
3. Underworld – Rez/Cowgirl
4. Green Day – St Jimmy
5. MXPX – Middlename (live)
6. Miles Davis – Boplicity
7. Elvis Presley – I really don’t want to know
8. Reel Big Fish – Ban the Tube Top
9. Alkaline Trio – You’re Dead
10. Frank Sinatra – All of me
What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
38.7G. It was close to 50 but I had to make some room.
The last CD you bought was:
Nat King Cole – The World Of Nat King Cole
Write down five songs you listen to a lot or mean a lot to you:
1. Dropkick Murphys – Amazing Grace
2. Stevie Ray Vaughn – Texas Flodd
3. Less Than Jake – Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sell Outs
4. Paul Van Dyk – We Are Alive
5. Frank Sinatra – They Can’t Take That Away From Me
Matt out.
by Matt | Mar 14, 2005 | Culture
My new DVD burner arrived the other day and now it’s sucessfully installed in it’s new home. I opted for the NEC 3520-A. It’s a 16x DL burner and got highmarks from both AnandTech and Toms Hardware. It was also half the price of the Plextor I wanted. I realize the Plextor is the Porche of optical drives, but $150 for a DVD burner when all the others are $50-60. Come on guys, that’s not right.
Regardless, it’s a sweet drive. I’ve already test burnt a half dozen things. I had 8x disks that burnt a full 4.7G in about 6 minutes. The 4x disks I had averages about 12-14 minutes. That’s not shabby. It’s also extemely quite. I didn’t realize it was burning the first time until the light started blinking.
I’ve also installed the old drive in my 2nd machine. It’s hard drive will be formatted shortly and I’ll probably install my old TV tuner card in it and turn it into a media PC. I might even install Media Center Edition on it if I get bored. It’ll fit nicely into my entertainment center. I already have a wireless mouse and the appropriate AV cables to hook everything up. All I need is to find my video breakout box with the svideo inputs. It’s somewhere in the closet. After that it would just be a matter of getting the video drivers to display correctly on the TV. It could be cool.
In non-computer news, we’re going to another Aeros hockey game tonight. I’m not sure who they’re playing, not that it matters anyway. The game starts around 7:00.
I’ve also got the links at the top of the page fixed and should be linked to content shortly. Also, “Recent Links” is installed and you can see it in action over to the right side of the page beneith the archives and links. It’s a updatable list of links I find as I’m browsing around. I’m working on adding text descriptions to each link so it’ll be a little easier to figure out what they are. If you’re look at them in IE, the font is apparently larger and italic. I have no idea why. In Firefox it’s the same font as the links above it and its the same size. Not that it looks bad in IE, it just doesn’t look as it should. Not that I care how things look in IE, but it’s text for heaven’s sake, you’d figure it could at least get that right. Stupid IE.
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