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Long Live (Update Required)

mero — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 07:39:09 +0000

I’m a PlayStation 3 owner, and for the most part, I have to say I’m happy with it. Admittedly, I use it for more things than games. It’s a great Blu-Ray player. Nadine and I use it heavily for Netflix. I can watch baseball on it with mlb.tv. There are some fun downloadable games for it on the PlayStation store. I was even able to stream Louis C.K.’s latest comedy show to it over the network from my Mac (as an aside, you really should buy this thing. It’s only $5, it has no DRM whatsoever, it’s hysterical, and you’re helping to support an artist bringing you new material cheaply and legally without making you jump through hoops. Everyone wins, except joke-stealing douche bags like Dane Cook who would never do this). It’s a pretty versatile media machine in my home at this point.

The thing with it, though, is that when it comes to playing games, you have to be invested. Let me explain. Nadine bought me Gran Tourismo 5 for Christmas. It’s good stuff. I like racing games, and the GT series has always been known for its realism and fun. So great. Tonight I decide that I want to try out the game. So I turn on the PS3, pop the disc in, and fire it up to find… a screen that says “Not so fast, you can’t use it until you update it.” sigh Plus, this update is huge. So it starts to download. An error comes up. Turns out my internet connection went down. Click OK on the error (or, in reality, hit the X key on the controller). Game comes up and says “oh hey, this would work a lot better if you install a bunch of data onto your system first”. Allow that, it takes almost 30 minutes. Grow old and feeble. Data install finishes. Game starts to launch and then says “oh hey, you know that update you started? We need to finish that.” Data starts downloading again. Looks like it’s almost done. Rejoice. Going to enjoy driving a virtual car on a virtual track. Update data installs. Get excited. hair starts blowing back in anticipation. Have world crushed when a 1GB plus update starts to download after. Lose desire to play game.

This isn’t the first game this has happened to for me, as I’m sure it’s not for others. The thing is that it’s frustrating. I admit that as big of a geek as I claim to be, I’m little more than a casual gamer. I got other things to do. I don’t even know if there’s a way for Sony to make this better in PlayStation 4 or what have you. Until then, I guess I’ll just stare at this download screen and go on with my real life.

Technorati Tags: geek, gran tourismo, playstation 3

Here’s To The Crazy Ones

mero — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:48:00 +0000

R.I.P. Steve, and thank you, for not being afraid to Think Different.

Technorati Tags: steve jobs, think different

Between a Rock and an iPlace

mero — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 01:42:40 +0000

After three long years of waiting, the age of iPhone on Verizon is upon us. This is great, but I’m stuck on something. It’s very likely that there will be a new iPhone this summer, but most of the scuttlebutt out there is that it won’t work with Verizon’s new 4G LTE network. I’m conflicted. I’ve wanted an iPhone for a while now, but I also want that 4G speed (I have a 4G data card for work and that network is fast). The buzz is that it won’t be on iPhone until 2012 at the earliest. This won’t surprise me. Apple isn’t afraid to launch a product on yesterday’s tech. No matter what’s in it, it will see huge sales.

There is also the fact that I’ve really come to like the Android ecosystem. It isn’t as refined or anything as the iOS ecosystem, but I have really come to appreciate the tight Google integration that exists in Android (pretty much put in your Google username and password and the phone does the rest). Google has come a long way to fake some of this on iOS (quite cleverly too, I might add), but it’s not all the way there. Apple wants you to stay firmly in the fruit realm, but who really wants MobileMe?

So, I’m a bit conflicted. Do I bite into my iPhone technolust this summer despite the shortcomings, or do I stay on Android for at least another year? I feel caught between a rock and an iPlace.

Technorati Tags: droid, iphone, verizon

Naturally

mero — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:11:27 +0000

Naturally, I go and buy a Kindle a couple of months ago because I’m impulsive like that, only to find out that they’ve now dropped the price on the thing to $299. Oh well, at least you all can take advantage of the better price for being the wise ones who waited.

Technorati Tags: impulsive, kindle

Posterity, Part II

mero — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:57:31 +0000

Here is a screenshot of the last public iteration of the old T6CD website before I took it offline. As you can see, a few of the main things that make D6 what it is got their start here, such as the “D6 Blue” (I wish I had enough clout to get that like copyrighted or something…). As you can see, I used a much different font in those days, though. Just thought you’d all like to see a small trip down memory lane with me.

Technorati Tags: geocities, memories, tc6d

Posterity

mero — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:36:51 +0000

I read today that Yahoo is finally pulling the plug on its GeoCities service. That’s a bit bittersweet. GeoCities hosted my web presence for a long time (1996 through late 2002) and I have fond memories of the place. There was a lot you could do for free. Honestly that experience was a lot different than this one. I also had the most understated design of all time and sometimes I think about bringing it back.

I might post a few screenshots of a few of the things I had on the old TC6D just for you all to see.

Technorati Tags: geocities, memories, yahoo

Missing the Strike Zone

mero — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:32:01 +0000

I rather like the concept of Major League Baseball’s mlb.tv. It lets you view baseball games on your computer. The service actually works pretty well and it’s neat to watch some games you won’t be able to see on regular TV, especially if you quietly follow an out of town team (like those lovable losers from the North Side). My only real complaint about the thing is that they insist on blacking out games that fall in your media market. That means I can’t watch Yankee games on the computer when I’m in the tri-state area. I more or less understand why this is (or at least I think I do… I imagine the owners and media folk don’t want to lose ad dollars by having people watch the games on anything other than the cable channels they worked out expensive deals for and that ad money) but it’s missing the point. Sometimes you’re just in a place where you can’t watch the game on TV but you could online. I’d love to be able to do this. If they’re worried about losing out on ad money, why not just show all the commercials and be done with it? Makes perfect sense to me. Then again, what do I know, I’m not a baseball team owner.

At least the rules aren’t as crazy and draconian as the NFL’s blackout rules (you can’t see your team’s game in the home market unless the game is sold out. What sort of nonsense is that?). Still, it’s time that baseball fully embraces this modern century and gives us the full online baseball experience.

Technorati Tags: baseball, blackout rules, mlb.tv

21st Century Technology

mero — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:52:28 +0000

I’ve updated the site to work better on mobile devices. It’s using the most excellent WordPress plugin called WordPress Mobile Edition by Alex King. The part that I like the best is that if you’re using a touch screen device such as an iPhone or BlackBerry Storm (like I have), it’s touch screen friendly. I like it!

Technorati Tags: blackberry storm, iphone, mobile, wordpress

Color Me ImPRESSed

mero — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:15:36 +0000

I’ve been running the newer version of D6 on WordPress since about version 2.2. Each version just keeps getting better, I have to say. I love how the latest version (2.7) has the ability to upgrade itself automatically. Just log in, press a button or two, and it does all the hard work for you, right within the Admin interface of the software. This is great stuff!

Technorati Tags: wordpress

Technology is Grand

mero — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:19:20 +0000

You think your camera takes detailed pictures? Check this out. This was taken by some really sophisticated camera equipment is 220 photos stitched together to make a picture that’s the equivalent of 1400 megapixels. You can really zoom in on it to see some neat stuff.

Technorati Tags: barack obama, inaguration, picture, technology