Archived News starting from 02-08-2006 and earlier
BlogDuring my daily deal check on Sunday I ran across the
Hanns-G HN199D on sale for $189 after a $70 rebate. I promised myself I'd make my move when I found a 19" LCD with a 16ms response time or less that had both Analog and DVI inputs. Well this one fits the bill, with an impressive 8ms response time (perfect for fast-moving images like gaming). After reading a ton of probably pre-selected reviews on TigerDirect I was convinced it wasn't a piece of crap and ordered it. Fast forward to today: I have it hooked up via DVI at the native 1280x1024 resolution and must say it looks sharp (not as gumpy looking as it seems from the photos). A quick game of FarCry at the native resolution proved the 8ms response time wasn't just made up. No blockiness or ghosting whatsoever. As for brightness I had to crank it down to 40% since the default 100% was blinding. I also noticed the change in brightness as you move your head around and get different angles, but it's only apparent on bright white screens (like this webpage) and not enough to complain about. I haven't used the speakers yet, but I'm guessing they work sufficient enough for LAN gaming. Obviously the primary reason I bought this was to bring my required monitor lugging weight down from 75lb to 10lb, and open up more desk space, both requirements it meets nicely. Well? What are you waiting for? Get out there and consume!
Und nochmal tausend Meilen voran Über den Laufsteg Auf dem ein Stern entsteht Der über dem Meer aufgeht
Vorbei an toten Galaxien Lassen wir uns treiben Wo man die Zeit vergisst Wo alles kälter ist
So, komm und warte nicht Dies ist der Anfang Komm und warte nicht Dies ist der Anfang
Und nochmal tausend Meilen von hier Sind wir wie Götter So strahlend schön Ein Phänomen Kein Wunder, dass uns niemand mehr glaubt: Wir sind vollkommen Wir sind ein Kunstprodukt Von dir verlangt und aufgebauscht
So, komm und warte nicht Dies ist der Anfang Triff die Entscheidung Dies ist der Anfang Von deinem Ende Ich bin es nicht Ich bin es nicht
Und nochmal tausend Fragen von dir Die nichts bedeuten Ich kann dich nicht mehr hören Willst du dich selbst zerstören?
Dann komm und warte nicht Dies ist der Anfang Triff die Entscheidung Dies ist der Anfang Von deinem Ende Ich bin es nicht Ich bin es nicht
Vielleicht sind tausend Meilen zu weit Über den Laufsteg Auf dem nichts heilig ist Und man sich selbst vergisst
Denn nochmal tausend Jahre von hier Fällt die Entscheidung Und es wird weitergehen... weitergehen... weitergehen...
Contrary to what the weather station may be reporting lately, my house has not been surrounded by a wind-proof bubble. Saturday night I noticed the lack of wind readings and filled my trusty super soaker with hot water in an attempt to unfreeze my anemometer. 12 shots and 3 loads later my arm was hurting from the intense pumping action (normally not a problem) so I was forced to let winter keep it's victory. I had hoped it would unfreeze on it's own but this has not happened. If you have access to a fire engine with an articulating ladder or power hose stop by for a few.
I recently bought an *original* xbox off eBay (they're about $100 now) to act as a
media center extender. I'm not cool enough or rich enough to get a 360 so this is the next best thing. Since the xbox is just a specialized PC I decided to get myself a mod chip to open up possibilities such as making it a web server or ftp box via linux. The mod chip replaces the system BIOS with a more friendly and flashable one. Unfortunately after 3 hours of trying to align the chip properly I declared my attempt with the
spiderchip version a failure. It looks like later model xbox machines might have better luck with this chip, but the chip I got was either fried or I'm unable to perform basic electronic modifications. Oh well, it still makes a great media center extender. Now I can finally watch Knight Rider in my bedroom, where it was intended to be enjoyed.
With Morlocks #1 and #2 located in the Beta house, I decided to populate the now empty Alpha house basement with one as well. Enter Morlock #3, a fellow C#.net developer from my work. This brings my empire to a total of 3 renters and one car storage fee. Unfortunately I'm not as big of a jerk as a good slumlord should be, so the total income from my empire is less than you'd think. To compensate, I call them Morlocks and laugh to myself. Why all the renters? I'll do anything for money, and that's a fact.
Yes, the rumors are true, Alpha (my primary house) is
up for sale. I know this brings with it alot of questions so I'm holding a news conference in my head for your benefit.
Q: Oh my god! Where are you going! Who'll laugh at all my jokes?!?
A: Relax, I'm not going anywhere for a good 2 years unless a mentally deranged millionaire is willing to pay my outrageous asking price. Since Michael Jackson is bankrupt, this isn't looking likely.
Q: Well why'd you put it on the market now?
A: My Beta house has been on sale for 1.5 years now with no luck (thanks to
lower than average demand). I figure it might take me that long to sell my current one as well (at a decent profit) so I figured I'd start offering to the nutcases who might buy. More opportunity for one to find me. Plus if someone is insane enough to buy it for this price, I'll bank the profit and live in an apartment until I figure out what I want to do.
Q: So you might be moving, but probably not?
A: If I sell my house at this price I'll have a profit of $50,000. If someone offered you $50,000 on the street to move out of your house would you accept? Also, what is the likelyhood that someone would make this offer? Next question please.
Q: I have tech!
A: While not really a question, I'll respond by saying you will be a formidable opponent at the
next event.
Q: Myrn!
A: Also not a question, but yes, Myrn!
Q: What about the
Morlocks?
A: Beta (current Morlock house) will most likely never sell at anything close to a reasonable price, and very likely not before they move on to bigger and better things (Te-has). Look for another conference regarding just the Morlocks in the near future.
Q: Who's even reading this anyways?
A: Not many, but I'm burned out on my 10hrs/day project at work and needed a break.
Q: Seriously, pink 5 inch heels? Girltalk? WTF?
A: The shoes were purchased for me as a dare, the girltalk game was a joke aimed at some coworkers. I have not detected a change in my desire to be female (aside from the obvious benefits) but I'll keep you updated on that front as well. How did this get so off topic?
Q: Pants!
A: Yes.
While checking my
referrer logs I noticed a
popular referral link that was not
referral spam. PCWORLD did an
article on December 24th ranking the 50 greatest gadgets of the last 50 years and Snappy ranked #39. Originally sold for $400 you can now find them for under $10 on eBay and in my opinion they are still the best bang for the buck for video capturing. I've used mine to power my
GnomeCam for over 4 years now. Naturally my obsession with Snappy turned into a
popular support page that now
ranks first on Google. The editor most likely included my site in their review because of the ranking, but I prefer to believe it's the in-depth analysis and hard-hitting support options available on such a sophisticated web page. Now go
buy yourself a Snappy!
Every year I make a trip to Cobo hall for the
NAIAS and once in awhile I'm impressed with the show. Sadly this year
was not one of those years. Every company had great concept cars and alot of new models being introduced but none that reached out and touched me. I did notice more turbo / supercharged models coming out to help with fuel economy and maintain performance so maybe the open wounds of the 1980's and unreliable forced induction systems are finally healing. An addict of forced induction it was nice to see more factory options appearing. The SuperChief is misleading, at first appearing to be a huge gas hog but then revealing itself to run on various fuels (including gas, ethanol, and hydrogen) making the truck itself a gas hog but the the engine powering it very eco friendly. Now they just need to drop it into a passenger car for an eco-friendly hot rod. Despite the lack of excitement, we did manage to have a great time trying to get kicked out, hiding in trunks and jumping over guardrails. Unfortunately we were not around for the
naked woman that posed on the Dodge Challenger. Yeah you thought that linked to the photo didn't you. Well if you find it link it in my comments.
After
two LAN parties in a
row of first person shooter games,
Duane and Dan decided to organize some
real FPS games out at the ranch of Dan. A bunch of coworkers and I purchased
Airsoft rifles and some face protection and we were ready to shoot each others eyes out. For our first time ever it went quite well, and was definately a good excuse to drink beer.
Today was the
Jan Lan, a now yearly event for fellow computer gamers to gather in celebration of first person shooter computer games. This year was again highlighted by Unreal Tournament 2004 and FarCry but the eyeball killing action of Quake III was not as intense. This year was also a record in terms of people attending, with 7 on 7 at once (14 active players) for a total of 17 counting the early and late shifts. The larger number of people made game setup more difficult (which cut into game time) but the additional people resulted in a higher percentage of antics. A few people also brought airsoft guns for physical first person shooting when we got bored with virtual. An excellent LAN, looking forward to the one next weekend at
Ron's
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