Posts
There might be a lot of people that have heard of facebook, not know quite what it is and what it is about. Facebook.com is a social networking site where you can keep in touch with family and friends, upload pictures from your cell phone, or play hundreds of different games, all for free.
Some of the ones that I've played include Mafia Wars, Farm Town, Texas Hold-em and Bejeweled. Many of these games require you to invite your friends to play in order to gives you bonuses such as a bigger mob to fight with you, bigger armies to fight by your side, neighbors to help tend your fields, or in the case of Bejeweled, the amount of points your team (group of friends) earns gives you chances to earn prizes such as a laptop. In Texas Hold-em, your friends can give you daily gives of coins to help you on your way after you inevitably lose all of your coins after going all-in on a hand.
The list of games is huge, but the number of quality games is limited. I really enjoy the premade games that have been brought into facebook such as Bejeweled Blitz, Scramble - a hidden word challenge game. It's just a one-minute diversion, well depending on how many times you attempt to beat your friends score and then brag about it. I've found most people to be friendly and help you out when you need it.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wii Active Personal Trainer from EA Games
Well I bought this for the Wii this past week. The first day I didn't get through many of the exercises and my knees absolutely killed me. It took me a few days to recover. I bombed on the squats with sharp pains and a grinding in my knees.
Attempt number 2 was today. I worked out for 14m 55s, burned 85.8 calories and did all 15 exercises. I have a good sweat. So here is my initial review while on my goal towards my 30 day challenge.
The exercises are fairly difficult, but in a good way. The most challenging thing though is technical. While running I found the strap for the nunchuck sliding off of my thigh, and also occasionally the nunchuck itself would escape it's precocious pouch on my front thigh and flail wantonly through the air in slow motion before whipping itself back at my head trying to decapitate me. Luckily for me though, I have a strong grasp on the obvious and just stopped for a second and reattached it before it happened again. The problem being the cord being loose gets caught on the wiimote while pumping your arms hard. I may have to go buy the wireless attachment for the nunchuck...or perhaps i'm trying too hard :) I'll have to run to the store for refreshments later ...
The other technical difficulty is the constant pulling out and insertion of the nunchuck in the pouch in between exercises. Ok, so this shouldn't be such a big deal right? Well it isn't unless you forget which way the nunchuck actually goes into the pouch. While doing the inline skating, I found that when i squatted to gain speed, nothing happened, so I had to pull the nunchuck out and turn it around. It's very particular about that.
There is the bicep curl, arm lift and back row which all affect your shoulders and upper back. My shoulders, neck and back are still weak after an accident on the interstate a few years back which forced me into temporary retirement from my taekwondo activities (I reinjured my neck and shoulders enough times attempting to do minimal exercises for the year following my accident that I had to stop all upper body workout altogether with the exception of my clubswinging.) These, while hard are manageable on the easy level I started out on. There is plenty of time inbetween motions for these.
The squats could not defeat me this time, I was on a mission! Without pain in my knees today I totally annihilated my trainer. Ok, so I didn't go ALL the way over to the sides on the lunges, that was tough on my knees so they were more like squats as well. The biggest thing I ran into on these is that the first time through on easy, you have to keep waiting for the next move or it thinks you are retarded and aren't doing the movements.
Attempt number 2 was today. I worked out for 14m 55s, burned 85.8 calories and did all 15 exercises. I have a good sweat. So here is my initial review while on my goal towards my 30 day challenge.
The exercises are fairly difficult, but in a good way. The most challenging thing though is technical. While running I found the strap for the nunchuck sliding off of my thigh, and also occasionally the nunchuck itself would escape it's precocious pouch on my front thigh and flail wantonly through the air in slow motion before whipping itself back at my head trying to decapitate me. Luckily for me though, I have a strong grasp on the obvious and just stopped for a second and reattached it before it happened again. The problem being the cord being loose gets caught on the wiimote while pumping your arms hard. I may have to go buy the wireless attachment for the nunchuck...or perhaps i'm trying too hard :) I'll have to run to the store for refreshments later ...
The other technical difficulty is the constant pulling out and insertion of the nunchuck in the pouch in between exercises. Ok, so this shouldn't be such a big deal right? Well it isn't unless you forget which way the nunchuck actually goes into the pouch. While doing the inline skating, I found that when i squatted to gain speed, nothing happened, so I had to pull the nunchuck out and turn it around. It's very particular about that.
There is the bicep curl, arm lift and back row which all affect your shoulders and upper back. My shoulders, neck and back are still weak after an accident on the interstate a few years back which forced me into temporary retirement from my taekwondo activities (I reinjured my neck and shoulders enough times attempting to do minimal exercises for the year following my accident that I had to stop all upper body workout altogether with the exception of my clubswinging.) These, while hard are manageable on the easy level I started out on. There is plenty of time inbetween motions for these.
The squats could not defeat me this time, I was on a mission! Without pain in my knees today I totally annihilated my trainer. Ok, so I didn't go ALL the way over to the sides on the lunges, that was tough on my knees so they were more like squats as well. The biggest thing I ran into on these is that the first time through on easy, you have to keep waiting for the next move or it thinks you are retarded and aren't doing the movements.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Nintendo DSi
So my 12yr old son's Nintendo DS was getting pretty worn and my 5yr old didn't have one yet and we were getting married so we thought we could buy the boys the new DSi for a wedding present, something to keep them occupied during the goings on and keep them from getting into trouble. Well it kind of worked...mostly :)
Anyways, we brought them home from the store and I went to work on them. It's pretty simple to use out of the box, but the first thing my son mentioned was that it doesn't have the old Gameboy Advanced port on the back. Not a huge deal, he'll just have to trade those in. Let me tell you though, if you get just one game for the DS, get Mario Kart. My 5yr old has a BLAST with it and they can play it together without owning 2 copies using system link.
So after they were done playing them for the day, I sat down at my computer, logged on to my Nintendo.com account and registered them online. First of all, let me say that one of the draws of these new fangled devices was that fact that you could download games online. I set up the wireless on the devices to match my router, which was actually quite simple. I have a DIR-655 that allows setting up devices using WPS - wireless protected setup. You activate it on the router and on the device, and it sets everything up for you. It's quite slick. After no time at all I was online with Nintendo. I was VERY disappointed by the lack of games available for download. The highlight apparently was the free internet browser, much like the one advertised for their Wii which was only free for a limited time. So the offer was, purchase a new Nintendo DSi™ system and access the Nintendo DSi shop by October 5, 2009 to receive 1000 points to spend online at the shop....on a grand total of 6 games. Although, they are supposed to come out with some new ones. My 12 yr old will like Brain Age: Sudoku.
Another complaint of mine about Nintendo is their support or general lack of it for existing wireless technologies. They are constantly way behind the times for wireless security. WEP was outdated when the DS came out originally, replaced by WPA and WPA2 for home wireless security protocols. Since WEP transmitts your key in plain text anyone with a wireless sniffer can access your wireless network without bothering with decryption. Now the DSi finally offers support for WPA and setup using WPS, but not as default, you have to use the advanced setup. The initial options still assume you are using WEP. In fact Nintendo's games that allow connection over Nintendo WiFi only allow WEP keys. So while now I can connect our DSi's to my wireless WPA protected network, I cannot connect their DSi Mario Kart to my Wii Mario Kart game if I chose to. Get with the technology Nintendo! Now that we can download stuff from the internet over wireless, how about downloading patches to our games to allow higher levels of wireless encryption?
Anyways, we brought them home from the store and I went to work on them. It's pretty simple to use out of the box, but the first thing my son mentioned was that it doesn't have the old Gameboy Advanced port on the back. Not a huge deal, he'll just have to trade those in. Let me tell you though, if you get just one game for the DS, get Mario Kart. My 5yr old has a BLAST with it and they can play it together without owning 2 copies using system link.
So after they were done playing them for the day, I sat down at my computer, logged on to my Nintendo.com account and registered them online. First of all, let me say that one of the draws of these new fangled devices was that fact that you could download games online. I set up the wireless on the devices to match my router, which was actually quite simple. I have a DIR-655 that allows setting up devices using WPS - wireless protected setup. You activate it on the router and on the device, and it sets everything up for you. It's quite slick. After no time at all I was online with Nintendo. I was VERY disappointed by the lack of games available for download. The highlight apparently was the free internet browser, much like the one advertised for their Wii which was only free for a limited time. So the offer was, purchase a new Nintendo DSi™ system and access the Nintendo DSi shop by October 5, 2009 to receive 1000 points to spend online at the shop....on a grand total of 6 games. Although, they are supposed to come out with some new ones. My 12 yr old will like Brain Age: Sudoku.
Another complaint of mine about Nintendo is their support or general lack of it for existing wireless technologies. They are constantly way behind the times for wireless security. WEP was outdated when the DS came out originally, replaced by WPA and WPA2 for home wireless security protocols. Since WEP transmitts your key in plain text anyone with a wireless sniffer can access your wireless network without bothering with decryption. Now the DSi finally offers support for WPA and setup using WPS, but not as default, you have to use the advanced setup. The initial options still assume you are using WEP. In fact Nintendo's games that allow connection over Nintendo WiFi only allow WEP keys. So while now I can connect our DSi's to my wireless WPA protected network, I cannot connect their DSi Mario Kart to my Wii Mario Kart game if I chose to. Get with the technology Nintendo! Now that we can download stuff from the internet over wireless, how about downloading patches to our games to allow higher levels of wireless encryption?
Buying and Setting up a Home Theater System
Have you ever wanted surround sound for your video games, movies, music? Have you wanted that big screen TV in high def 1080p, 7.1 digital surround sound? Here is the setup that I used, and I did it for about $2,000 with my tax refund. Thanks uncle Sam!
Ordering the Parts
I ordered the Onkyo surround sound, projector, VisionMount ceiling mount and component/dvi cable from ProjectorPeople.com. I got a package deal which took about $80 off of the price of the Onkyo system. Total cost from them with tax and shipping, $1,809. I decided to go with the ceiling mount projector due to cost, and to save space. I actually build my own screen from some cheap lumber and $8 in fabric. But it could be used on any clean white wall. It gives me an 80" diagonal screen in 16:9.
I ordered the Remote Control and DVD/VCR player from Newegg.com - I've actually had it for a while and they don't sell it anymore but it is one heck of a remote. I had it learn all the codes from my projector remote, DVD remote, and Home Theater remote.
The DVD/VCR player I got because of the upscaling to 1080p and to take my VCR out of the build, not to mention it's cheap for an upscaling DVD player and it will also play my CDs.
7.1 Surround Sound - Onkyo HT-S5200B ($479)
Projector - Panasonic PT-AX200U Projector, ceiling mount ($949)
3yr warranty w/lamp replacement ($125)
Projector ceiling mount - Sanus VisionMount ($79)
Video Cables - Dual Component/HDMI 25' cable ($107)
Shipping - $70
Belkin 3' HDMI cable ($27)
Audio Cables - Dynex 6' Optical Digital Audio Cable ($28)
DVD/VCR - SAMSUNG DVD-V9800 Upscaling 1080p DVD Player & VCR Combo ($100)
Remote Control - Home Theater Master MX-500Learning remote with backlight ($79)
Here are some pictures of my setup.
Setting Up the Projector
The projector was picked due to it's ability to shift my image up to 30 degrees. With the projector ceiling mount though, I was able to aim the projector at the center of my screen and adjust the keystone to square out the image. The mounting brackets easily release the projector as it screws on to tighten. However it is a pain to remount as I had to work above my head without easily seeing what i was doing. I had to have my wife hold the ladder as I tried to put it up and twist it on and tighten the 3 locking screws.
I set it's aspect to 16:9, keystone to -18, installation type to front/ceiling and I decided to let it run in economode (eco-mode under lamp power) which increases the life time of the bulb, and is still plenty bright for my living room.
I ran the dual HDMI/Component video cable along with an extension cord up to the projector along the wall and across the ceiling. They are plugged into the component out and HDMI out from the Onkyo system and component in and HDMI 1 of the projector.
Setting Up the DVD Player
I ran the HDMI and Optical audio cable from the DVD player to the HDMI DVD in and the DVD coaxial in on the Onkyo. For the settings I had to manually set the TV aspect to Wide under display setup. Since I have my Onkyo up at the front of the room, I needed only short cables for all of the devices on top of my game cabinet.
Setting Up the Home Theater System
Ok, this was by far one of the most time-consuming aspects of the setup. I had to run the wire for the speakers along the corner of the ceiling and the wall and then down to the receiver in the front of the room. Some of the supplied wires weren't long enough so I had to purchase longer wire and run it instead. For the length of wire included they must think most people set this up in their bedrooms! For the time being I just used some clear scotch tape to hold them up. Then I attached the wire to the speakers and mounted them. two in the back, two on the sides and 3 up front. The front speakers were easy as they were at floor level, or close enough the center speaker sits right on top of my game cabinet. The more challenging of the speakers were on the right side of the room (stage left) where I had to take the wire past the front doorway. I had a metal piece which covers the side of my carpet where it meets the linoleum and i ran the wire under that and reattached it. Attaching the wires to the back was simple enough. Just unscrew the fasteners, insert the wire - make sure you know which is the positive and negative, and retighten the fastening screw. Then I attached the subwoofer from the corner of the room, it has a special plugin.
The Moment of Truth
Then came time to test the system. After about 4 hours of running wire, mounting the projector and a few breaks, I turned on the system and heard nothing out of the side speakers. So, I reluctantly opened up the manual and found out that extra little microphone that came with it needed to be plugged in to start up the installation for the surround sound. After sending the kid out of the house for a few minutes and making sure all was quiet ( I shut off my computer too), I went about positioning the microphone in the 3 spots so the system could do it's sound checks. Then I turned on the tuner for the radio and it was amazing! I tried out a DVD which also worked very well. My son and I watched Monster House for our home theater debut.
How Many Remotes?!
Ok, I have a pet peave about needing more than one remote control in the living room. I don't want to have to search for which of the 5 remote controls I need in order to do something. So with my MX-500 I put it into learning mode by pressing the MAIN+ENT buttons for 3 seconds, pressing P-PRO and select the device to program then all I had to do was in turn select the button to program on my universal remote and with the other remote facing (IR sensor) press the same button on the it. It was very painless and worked perfectly. The only thing that I changed was for all of my devices, I programmed the volume button for the volume on my home theater system remote so I could control volume no matter what device I currently had selected. The backlight on the remote is very handy and make changing things in the dark easy without ruining everyones eyes during a movie.
Ordering the Parts
I ordered the Onkyo surround sound, projector, VisionMount ceiling mount and component/dvi cable from ProjectorPeople.com. I got a package deal which took about $80 off of the price of the Onkyo system. Total cost from them with tax and shipping, $1,809. I decided to go with the ceiling mount projector due to cost, and to save space. I actually build my own screen from some cheap lumber and $8 in fabric. But it could be used on any clean white wall. It gives me an 80" diagonal screen in 16:9.
I ordered the Remote Control and DVD/VCR player from Newegg.com - I've actually had it for a while and they don't sell it anymore but it is one heck of a remote. I had it learn all the codes from my projector remote, DVD remote, and Home Theater remote.
The DVD/VCR player I got because of the upscaling to 1080p and to take my VCR out of the build, not to mention it's cheap for an upscaling DVD player and it will also play my CDs.
7.1 Surround Sound - Onkyo HT-S5200B ($479)
Projector - Panasonic PT-AX200U Projector, ceiling mount ($949)
3yr warranty w/lamp replacement ($125)
Projector ceiling mount - Sanus VisionMount ($79)
Video Cables - Dual Component/HDMI 25' cable ($107)
Shipping - $70
Belkin 3' HDMI cable ($27)
Audio Cables - Dynex 6' Optical Digital Audio Cable ($28)
DVD/VCR - SAMSUNG DVD-V9800 Upscaling 1080p DVD Player & VCR Combo ($100)
Remote Control - Home Theater Master MX-500Learning remote with backlight ($79)
Here are some pictures of my setup.
Setting Up the Projector
The projector was picked due to it's ability to shift my image up to 30 degrees. With the projector ceiling mount though, I was able to aim the projector at the center of my screen and adjust the keystone to square out the image. The mounting brackets easily release the projector as it screws on to tighten. However it is a pain to remount as I had to work above my head without easily seeing what i was doing. I had to have my wife hold the ladder as I tried to put it up and twist it on and tighten the 3 locking screws.
I set it's aspect to 16:9, keystone to -18, installation type to front/ceiling and I decided to let it run in economode (eco-mode under lamp power) which increases the life time of the bulb, and is still plenty bright for my living room.
I ran the dual HDMI/Component video cable along with an extension cord up to the projector along the wall and across the ceiling. They are plugged into the component out and HDMI out from the Onkyo system and component in and HDMI 1 of the projector.
Setting Up the DVD Player
I ran the HDMI and Optical audio cable from the DVD player to the HDMI DVD in and the DVD coaxial in on the Onkyo. For the settings I had to manually set the TV aspect to Wide under display setup. Since I have my Onkyo up at the front of the room, I needed only short cables for all of the devices on top of my game cabinet.
Setting Up the Home Theater System
Ok, this was by far one of the most time-consuming aspects of the setup. I had to run the wire for the speakers along the corner of the ceiling and the wall and then down to the receiver in the front of the room. Some of the supplied wires weren't long enough so I had to purchase longer wire and run it instead. For the length of wire included they must think most people set this up in their bedrooms! For the time being I just used some clear scotch tape to hold them up. Then I attached the wire to the speakers and mounted them. two in the back, two on the sides and 3 up front. The front speakers were easy as they were at floor level, or close enough the center speaker sits right on top of my game cabinet. The more challenging of the speakers were on the right side of the room (stage left) where I had to take the wire past the front doorway. I had a metal piece which covers the side of my carpet where it meets the linoleum and i ran the wire under that and reattached it. Attaching the wires to the back was simple enough. Just unscrew the fasteners, insert the wire - make sure you know which is the positive and negative, and retighten the fastening screw. Then I attached the subwoofer from the corner of the room, it has a special plugin.
The Moment of Truth
Then came time to test the system. After about 4 hours of running wire, mounting the projector and a few breaks, I turned on the system and heard nothing out of the side speakers. So, I reluctantly opened up the manual and found out that extra little microphone that came with it needed to be plugged in to start up the installation for the surround sound. After sending the kid out of the house for a few minutes and making sure all was quiet ( I shut off my computer too), I went about positioning the microphone in the 3 spots so the system could do it's sound checks. Then I turned on the tuner for the radio and it was amazing! I tried out a DVD which also worked very well. My son and I watched Monster House for our home theater debut.
How Many Remotes?!
Ok, I have a pet peave about needing more than one remote control in the living room. I don't want to have to search for which of the 5 remote controls I need in order to do something. So with my MX-500 I put it into learning mode by pressing the MAIN+ENT buttons for 3 seconds, pressing P-PRO and select the device to program then all I had to do was in turn select the button to program on my universal remote and with the other remote facing (IR sensor) press the same button on the it. It was very painless and worked perfectly. The only thing that I changed was for all of my devices, I programmed the volume button for the volume on my home theater system remote so I could control volume no matter what device I currently had selected. The backlight on the remote is very handy and make changing things in the dark easy without ruining everyones eyes during a movie.
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