Archive for February, 2010

I found this hilarious and absolutely true! So I wanted to share it with you all. The below image is a nice diagram explaining the difference between pirating a movie and paying for it. Keep in mind along with all the hassle you have to deal with if you pay for it, you are also out $20, so the pirated version looks very tempting. Ya, if you pay for it you also get all the extras, a case, physical media and all that stuff, but how often do you actually use the extras? And I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t have the room to store yet another DVD case because I wanted to watch the movie a few times. Click the image to view in full size.

[Kevin Marks via Lifehacker]

The below video clips are game play footage covering an entire battle of Starcraft II. The narrators on this video sound as if they are sports announcers covering a hyped up football game. It’s a bit strange to hear this type of announcing for a video game, though it surprisingly is very effective. It certainly helped me understand what was going on in the game better.

Actually now that I think of it (and I could be wrong cause I do not watch sports) they did a better job than sports announcers as they concentrated on the game that is being played versus the people playing it, so that means no meaningless conversations. Don’t be surprised if they start talking so fast that all you start to hear is a high-pitch sound, because they do talk fast in this.

Anyways, back to the point, if you are wondering how Starcraft II will be played, this is an excellent way to find out. It’s just as if you were watching someone’s computer while they played the game. From the looks of it Starcraft II will be very similar to the original, except with some supped-up graphics and new units. Some may say this is bad, but I am glad it is essentially the same, it means that I will actually want to play it! Unlike Warcraft III where they added “heroes” that you must level up and whatnot, that got tiresome quickly. Or World of Warcraft where it switches game genre. (On a side note, I recently tried WoW, and wow, I thought there were better graphics in it? Graphics are about equal to the *browser based* game: RuneScape). View full article for the videos.

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It has been a long road; the Browser Ballot screen that Opera fought so hard for is becoming a reality. Technically, Opera did not want the browser ballet but instead wanted IE to not be included in the operating system (which I personally believe to be ridiculous).

In response to the EU gladly accepting Opera’s request, and then Microsoft bending to the EU, Microsoft suggested that that a ballot screen be implemented. Seemed like a good idea at first and Opera opted for it. However then Opera decides that this is not enough, the ballot screen should show the browsers in random order so that that IE would not show first. Like a good little dog, Microsoft agrees to this as well.

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Over at the Old School New School Podcast site is an interesting article about the HBO Go service. It specifically covers the new HBO service but can relate to any Cable or Satellite service that wishes to offer an online TV option to it’s current subscribers only.

There is just one small problem that I’ve run into with your HBO Go service. I’d have to be a cable HBO subscriber to access it.

But this HBO Go service has me scratching my head as to who this service is really for, because if you’re trying to gain back any previous subscribers that have dropped your service and moved to the internet for their video consumption, I don’t think they are going to take the bait.

Read the full article over at the OSNS site: An Open Letter to HBO

[OSNS]

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

Preorder the soon-to-be best PC game in history for the low price of $49.99! (Regular price is $59.99). Head over to Amazon now to preorder: Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

[Amazon via Gizmodo]

I can hardly keep my excitement in! Microsoft has announced their new and vastly improved mobile operating system called Windows Phone 7 Series (okay, the name is the only thing I am not excited for). This thing is so freaking sweet that I have completely forgotten my dreams of ditching the antiquated iPhone for an Android. Enough of my drooling now, here are some excerpts from a Lifehacker article that goes over this new mobile OS. Did I mention it’s freaking sweet?

The Interface

It’s different. The face of Windows Phone 7 is not a rectangular grid of thumbnail-sized glossy-looking icons, arranged in a pattern of 4×4 or so, like basically every other phone. No, instead, an oversized set of bright, superflat squares fill the screen. The pop of the primary colors and exaggerated flatness produces a kind of cutting-edge crispness that feels both incredibly modern and playful. Text is big, and beautiful. The result is a feat no phone has performed before: Making the iPhone’s interface feel staid.

Holy Crap! The Zune Phone!

Microsoft’s vision of Zune is finally clear with Windows Phone 7. It’s an app, just like iPod is on the iPhone, though the Zune Marketplace is integrated with it into the music + video hub, not separated into its own little application. It’s just like the Zune HD, so you can check out our review of that to see what it’s like. But you get third-party stuff like Pandora too built-in here. Oh, and worth mentioning, there will be an FM radio in every phone (more on that in a bit).

Xbox, on a phone

I’ll admit, I very nearly needed to change my pants when I saw the Xbox tile on the phone for the first time. Obviously, you’re not going to be playing Halo 3 on your smartphone (at least not this year), but yes, Xbox Live on a phone! It’s tied to your Live profile, and there are achievements and gamer points for the games you can play on your phone, which will be tied to games back on your Xbox 360.

There is so much more to this, I highly suggest you head to the article and read the full extent of it.

Lifehacker: Windows Phone 7 Series: Everything Is Different Now

Also check out their hands on video of Windows Phone 7 Series (WP7? WP7S? This name sucks..)

Gizmodo: Windows Phone 7 Series Hands-on Pics and Video

I have just discovered the new “Facebook Lite” feature. Basically, it is a stripped down version of the Facebook page. You can get to this version by going to http://lite.facebook.com. I will be reviewing this new version for you and if you are confused as to where everything went, I will point you in the right direction.

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Sorry, I am not referring to traffic here. No, instead it is speed boosts as in the Internet, as in fiber straight to your house! Google recently announced that they will be offering interested communities the chance to have a new fiber-based ISP service that is said to offer 1Gbps speeds (That is Gb, not Mb).

Now shortly after this announcement Seattle’s mayor, Mike McGinn, says that he will be accepting this offer to help realize his plan to get every residence and business connected to fiber. I would be slightly more interested in this if by “Seattle”, they meant the general area that Seattle is in (i.e. King County). Unfortunately for me that will most likely not be the case; though I now know that Seattle is a place I would like to live.

[City of Seattle via Engadget]

Here is a hilarious video of the Muppet, Beaker’s experience with uploading a video to YouTube. Classic!

[YouTube via Digg]

Here we have an interesting sample of Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox 360 add-on, Project Natal. The sampling was spotted on an episode of Smallville. Check out the post on Engadget to see a clip of the episode.

Seeing the character on the show flailing around like a maniac makes me not want to play Project Natal if it means that I will feel like I ran a marathon once I am done. That’s way worse than the Wii is!

Project Natal Makes a Smallville Cameo, Does Not Guarantee Ability To Fly

[via Engadget]