April 2007
Monthly Archive
Apple and Technology April 25th, 2007 by HMTKSteve
Why I hate my iPod
It recently occurred to me that I despise and hate my 30 GB video iPod. I’ve had this thing for a little over a year now and it has never lived up to its potential. Between crashing and syncing problems I have just had enough! I’m now ready for something new.
Before I acquired my iPod I used a very poor MP3 player called the iRock. It only held 128MB of music and did not have any sort of stop/resume feature. It worked well enough for music but not for podcasting. If I listened 30 minutes into a 1 hour podcast and then turned it off it would not resume 30 minutes in, this did not work.
When I moved on to listening to podcasts during my morning and afternoon drive times I brought my laptop in my car and plugged it in through the tape deck. This worked but… It was a laptop! I didn’t want to lug that thing around with me all day (or leave it in my car) just for a little bit of podcast listening during drive time.
The iPod worked out great, at first. It allowed me resume listening to a long show right where I left off. It also had the ability to be used as an external storage device. Considering my laptop only has a 20GB drive in it the 30GB drive on the iPod was like having a back-up drive. Unfortunately, I soon encountered problems.
Because my laptop’s drive was not big enough to store all of the MP3 files I ripped from CDs I had to turn off the sync feature of the iPod. After copying songs over I would delete the ripped files from my computer. This worked well until the first time my iPod’s indexing file got corrupted. When that happened I had no choice but to reformat the iPod, losing all of my songs in the process. No, I never did rip them all again.
Later on I tried to update the iPod’s firmware but, in order to do that it wipes the entire iPod clean! That may work well if you copies of everything on your computer but I did not.
The real pain with the firmware updates is that they were forced on me.
I like to watch a particular anime video podcast and it has always worked on the iPod. Several months ago my iPod refused to let me transfer the files. It gave me some lame “your software is too old to view this file” message even though the producer of the content was using the same exact software to make the videos. So I upgraded… and more hell broke loose!
Suddenly play lists were gone and syncing only worked sometimes. Some files would sync and others would not. No amount of cajoling would allow me to move the files over except one method. That method involved dragging and dropping from outside of iTunes and after moving the file it would only appear in the recent area for a few days. It would not appear under music/podcasting/anything… This was a very annoying problem.
Eventually I wiped the whole thing clean and started fresh, this time I set it to auto-sync everything! This has worked well enough but, the other night I needed more hard drive space so I started deleting some of the MP3 songs on my laptop. I did not delete them via iTunes though, just the files themselves.
When I plugged in my iPod this morning to get my podcasts transferred over it erased all of my MP3 songs from my iPod before I could tell it to do otherwise! Why is that? It is like that because there is no way to tell iTunes how to interact with your iPod unless it is plugged in! Once it is plugged in it does its own thing until it feels like letting you do what you want to do. In the blink of an eye iTunes wiped my 10GB music collection…
I thought deleting the files but leaving them in the iTunes index would be OK, I guessed wrong. Some of those files I even paid money for via iTunes… they are all gone now. The only reason I still use the iPod is because I like to watch my iPod video podcasts on my TV with an A/V cable. You know what? It’s not worth it anymore. I have lost too much time fiddling with this horrible music player. I want something new. I want something that does not suck.
Can anyone direct me to a new portable media player that does not suck like the iPod does? Please?
PS: I tried using RockBox on the iPod at one time but it goes into charging mode if I plug in the charger while in the car.
Perhaps I should enter John Chow's contest for a Zune? John Chow is the guy who helps you make money on the internet with a wide variety of articles on blogging.
Poetry April 24th, 2007 by HMTKSteve
Steve’s bad poetry corner: Acid Man
A long long time ago, back when I was in high school, I began writing bad poetry. Today (and in the coming weeks) I will be sharing this bad poetry with all of you.
This one is the first one I ever wrote. I wrote while serving "in-school suspension". Unlike a regular suspension this form of punnishment had to be served while in school! I think I got this because I was tardy to many times... Yep, me the straight A student who routinely scored 100's on his report cards and ruined the "grading on a curve" system for all of the other kids was habitualy tardy at school.
Well, here it is:
Acid Man
Here I sit, with strange thoughts
thinking of who I am not.
I see strange things through inverted eyes,
they leave me almost hypnotized.
And still I wander,
I wander on,
never knowing quite what's going on
Yeah, I know the grammer and punctuation are probably terrible but I'm working from memory here as I'm not certain where the original of this piece currently resides. I know my book is somewhere in my attic...
Oh yes, I was inspired to share this bad poetry with you after Ms. Q brought this up on her blog with her Let's get poetic meme post.
Games and Wii April 21st, 2007 by HMTKSteve
Wii Review: Rayman: Raving Rabbids
Rayman: Raving Rabbids is one of the first games I purchased for my Wii. The game uses the nunchuk attachment so I had to buy a second one of them as well.
In Rayman: Raving Rabbids you take on the role of Rayman. Rayman as an interesting character who has no arms. Instead his hands simply float in the air. It's kind of weird to look at but it works.
At any rate, the storyline of the game has Rayman being captured by a group of Raving Rabbids who force him to perform various mini-games to earn cool bonus items and, eventually, his freedom.
Poor Rayman, he has to sit in his cell all by himself until the jailer rabbid comes for him.
When the jailer comes for Rayman he is lead into a large stadium with five exits. Four of those exits lead to mini-games and the fifth leads to the end game for the level. Once you have completed three out of four mini-games you can take on the end game. However, you only get bonus items if you beat all four mini-games on the level.
The mini-games are the game. This game is all about the mini-games and there is a wide variety of them.
Rabbids have there own version of cow tossing
One of the first mini-games you will encounter is the dreaded Cow Toss event. In this mini-game you will be using the Wii-Remote as a chain that you will swing around your head. Once you gain enough momentum the cow at the other end of the chain will be flying around and around. Once you let go of the chain the cow will sail through the air. Get enough distance on ol' Bessy and you can win this one easy. If you don't aim properly you may throw the cow into a rabbid instead!
There is a small rocket ship indicator on the screen for this mini-game that lets you know how much power you have built up. If the rocket's engine begins to flare then you are full power and ready to throw!
Plungers are a deadly weapon
One of the end games is the extremely fun "first person shooter" mode where you shoot plungers at the Rabbids. These games get progressively harder as you advance through story mode. You gain bonus points for making trick shots and there are some special items you can use during the game to help you win.
Check out my hawg!
Another game that pops up as an end-game is the very challenging Hawg Race series of games. these games are very unforgiving and hard. You get three turbo boosts and those hawgs do not turn on a dime, or on most corners for that matter!
There are over 70 mini-games for you to battle through and, once you complete the story mode, you can play them all in multi-player mode!
Rabbids like to dance. This is them dancing in multi-player mode!
Many of the multi-player games allow for all players to be active at the same time. Not all of them do this but most do. This makes it great fun as the games are relatively short and you can see how well you do against your friends right away!
The plunger shooting games also have a wide variety of options from team play to competitive play.
I greatly enjoy this game and my daughter and her friends do too.
If you are a fan of the mini-game format then I highly suggest you get this game for your Wii. It is a ton of fun and the story mode is not overly hard to beat. There are a few very difficult games mixed in but, for the most part the games are more fun than frustrating.
To play four player you will need four Wii-Remotes and four nunchuks. With the current shortage of Wii-Remotes it may not be that easy to get a four player game going but, once the supply catches up to demand it will.
Internet and Technology April 20th, 2007 by HMTKSteve
L33t Haxxors
I've been watching these mini-movies since they started last month. Now that the are up to episode three I feel it is time to share them with all of you!
Check it out. It's funny in a nerdy/cheesy sort of way!
Games and Wii April 19th, 2007 by HMTKSteve
More good news from Nintendo
Do you know what the top two best selling video game consoles in America are? It's not the Xbox360 or the PS3 (or the PS2 for hat matter!) Nope, it is the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS!
Despite widespread shortages for both systems, more than half a million buyers snapped up the portable Nintendo DS™, and the Wii™ was once again the top-selling new home video game console! Wii remains the fastest-selling new console in more than a decade, based on NPD sell-through information over the first five months of availability. So far this year, Nintendo has sold more video game systems than all other manufacturers combined. - source NPD Group.
"The message delivered by both Wii and Nintendo DS is the same one," says Reggie Fils-Aime, president, Nintendo of America. "Innovation is compelling both current gamers and new gamers to experience a new way to play. Nintendo is bringing gaming back to the masses."
With the first quarter of 2007 now over the Wii has sold over 1 million units in America and the DS stands just shy of 1.25 million units. Wait a minute, a portable game console that came out several years ago is number one??? Not only that but a new console that all of the big players in the video game world were telling us was old tech with gimmicky controllers is number two?
I see a dawning of a new age in the video game world. A world were fun games win out over shoot-em up games. A world where the whole family can sit down together and play video games as a family, not some world where a lonely kid sits in his room with a headset on playing FPS games with a bunch of other lonely kids the world over.
Nintendo may have changed their consoles name from Revolution to Wii but all I can say is that Wii are seeing a Revolution going on right now!
Games and Wii April 19th, 2007 by HMTKSteve
Cooking Mama Cook Off Wii vs. DS
Do you like to cook? Do you like to play video games? Do you want to mix your cooking with your video games? If so, you may be in the target market for the Cooking Mama games!
When Cooking Mama for Nintendo DS came out last year we bought it. I'll be honest and tell you right now that we bought the game because it was a new game for the Nintendo DS and it was on sale for less than $20! I was in the process of trading in some old Game Cube and Game Boy games to buy new games (let's not get into the trade-in debate here) and after getting a store credit in the $60 range we looked for new games.
Due to the low price of Cooking Mama it ended up on our buy list and it's a good thing it did. Cooking Mama for DS is a very solid game.
Cooking Mama for the DS is a good game that puts the capabilities of the DS to good use. It is not your basic GBA port where they stick a stylus in to muck things up. Let me give you the quick breakdown on the game's game play features:
- Create 76 different, real world dishes from fried eggs to cabbage meat rolls! By mastering the first 15 recipes you can unlock 61 increasingly complex bonus recipes to expand your skills in the kitchen.
- The stylus is your master kitchen tool! Use it in more than 200 mini-games to chop, slice, pan fry, knead, grate, mash, tenderize, mix, peel, carve, roll and more. Once your dish is ready, you can even use the stylus to prepare the final layout of your meal.
- Cool food down by blowing into the Nintendo DS microphone
- Combine recipes to create more advanced dishes
- Share recipes with up to 4 other people or transfer a saved game to a friend via the DS wireless link
- Earn bronze, silver and gold medals based on the quality of your cooking
- Practice mode lets you fine tune your cooking skills without being judge
source - Majesco Entertainment
Cooking Mama for DS is an excellent game. You might be wondering how they could improve on this with the release of the Wii version.
Right away I was leery of purchasing the Cooking Mama game for the Wii. At $49.99 it is 150% more expensive than the Ds version. The DS version is very good so, what would make me want to move up to the Wii version at such a high price?
- The Wii Remote is your ultimate cooking utensil, putting you in total control of the cooking action as you chop, grate, slice, stir, roll and much more! Hold and point it in many different ways depending on the task (i.e. upright to mash potatoes, lengthwise to fry in a pan, etc.) to get the real sensation of cooking in a kitchen!
- All-new Cooking Challenge Mode lets you and a friend go head-to-head in the ultimate multi-player cook off to determine who can cook the fastest with the fewest mistakes
- Use 300 foods to create 55 real world dishes from 10 different nations: Japan, America, France, India, Mexico, England, China, Spain, Germany and Italy. You can even make desserts like cream puffs and pudding too! From hot dogs to pan fried crab to bouillabaisse, Cook Off challenges you to make it all!
- Play against 10 unique computer controlled international characters to earn unique items for your kitchen
- Real-time cooking effects make you feel like you're actually cooking. Adjust your timing and make decisions about your next course of action based on what you see on screen (i.e. if food is starting to look burned, quickly remove it from the burner, etc.).
- Earn bronze, silver, and gold medals from Mama based on the quality of your cooking.
- Practice mode allows you to fine tune your cooking skills without being judged.
- Recipes progress from simple to complex, from small to large dishes, so do your best to meet Mama's expectations as you unlock new dishes.
source - Majesco Entertainment
Both games are all about cooking and mini-games. Because each game involves following a recipe to completion each game is nothing more than a series of mini-games. For example:
Cooking Mama DS: Pizza consists of 8 mini-games
- Add the ingredients - Add the ingredients into the bowl as shown on the upper screen.
- Knead - Follow the line to knead until the meter becomes full.
- Roll out the dough - Move the roller pin up/down and left/right to flatten out the dough staying within the frame.
- Cut - Slice the tomato by cutting up and down with your knife.
- Cut - Slice the pepperoni by cutting up and down with your knife.
- Spread pizza sauce - Spread pizza sauce and when done touch (Finish).
- Add toppings freely - Add whichever toppings you like. when done, touch (Finish).
- Set the timer - Set the baking time for the pie.
Cooking Mama Wii: Custard consists 6 of mini-games
- Crack an egg - Swing the Wii Remote in order to tap eggs on the bowl. when it cracks press th A Button to put the egg in the bowl.
- Add ingredients - Use the clues to add the correct items to the bowl. Point at the item and pick it up with the B Button. Follow the on screen instructions to add the items.
- Stir - Point the Wii Remote down and move it around quickly to stir. If you stir to hard it will spill.
- Put into a mold - Twist the Wii Remote right to left. Pour carefully to make sure it does not overflow.
- Bake in the oven - Twist the Wii Remote while holding the A Button to adjust the oven. Watch the meter carefully. When it reaches the red part, switch it off.
- Remove carefully - Shake the Wii Remote diagonally to the left and try to remove the item carefully from the container. Shake too hard and it will break, so be careful.
The original DS game does not have multi-player support though it does have a demo mode other people can download from you. The Wii version allows for two player "Cook offs", hence the name of the game! You can also compete against the computer players.
When looking at these two titles I could not help wondering if the higher price tag on the Wii title is truly worth it... After giving it some thought I have to say no. The Wii game should be selling for $39.99 tops. If it were selling for $29.99 I think people would avoid it feeling it was somehow not a worthy Wii game. $39.99 says (to me) This is a good Wii game for your collection but even we realize it is not a Zelda or Mario type of game.
The two-player cook off mode in the Wii game is a lot of fun. It is fun in part because you are both working on the same recipe (top/bottom split screen) in real time. You can see how far along the other player is and you can see what tricks they are using to complete the mini game faster.
The computer players are interesting in the Wii game and they are of varying nationalities. After you compete against them they reward you with gifts for your kitchen. In one of the non-game modes you can look around your kitchen and see all of the interesting items you have accumulated.
Also, as in the original DS game, once you complete a recipe more recipes become available to you.
When it comes to controls I do prefer the DS version. Using the stylus for everything is simple and straightforward. There are no clumsy tricks to master. In the Wii game... Well, if you have played Wii Sports: Golf then you are aware of how unforgiving the motion sensors in the Wii Remote can be!
The Wii version does gain high marks for using a small circular window in the lower right of the screen to show you how to use the Wii Remote during the game. I have found this very helpful as some instructions are not exactly intuitive! Without the little demo screen in the corner it would have taken me longer to master some of the more simple tasks.
Aside from the inclusion of the multi-player game mode there is nothing really new in the Wii version of the game. However, if you are a fan of mini-games, cooking or quick two-player video games than the Wii version may just be worth your money. Do wait a month or two before you buy it, you may find stores knocking it down to $39.99! I was able to pick up my copy of Super Swing Golf for a mere $29.99 because one store was running a sale!
Family and Parenting Advice April 19th, 2007 by Amazing Gaze
PTO Dilema
My experience with PTO has been quite a unique one. What started out as a journey of leadership has turned into one of exploration . Not only have I learned about what PTO is and is not, but I’ve also learned about myself and others. I’ve evaluated my self worth and examined the roles of leadership. I’ve explored the dynamics of an organization and put into practice the principals set forth by Parent Leadership Training Institute. In doing so, I’ve learned that an organization that I’ve always had so much respect for is not all that I expected. In fact, I’ve actually become a bit disappointed with my PTO experience.
I started out with all the drive and energy an involved parent could have. Not only did I go to my first meeting with that enthusiasm, but I volunteered for an officer position and got one. I became co- Vice president.
This was no ordinary PTO though. This was a start up PTO at a new exciting school- The Western Academy of International Studies magnet School in Danbury, CT. Even the name had expectations derived from it!
The doors just opened up with this school after ten years in development. All eyes were on us. PTO was wanted. There was supposed to be two Co-presidents and one vice president; but five minutes before the meeting the new to be President asked my other co vice president if she minded being vice president with me. She wasn’t a happy camper about this but accepted. This would carry over throughout her term.
If you ask me, personally I feel we never really needed two vice presidents. We should have had two co-presidents from the start. My co-vice president is very good with computers and served a purpose right away. I on the other hand have tried to salvage a role for myself from day one; its really never been defined. I just try to volunteer for as much as possible and sign my name to everything. I sort of feel that’s my position.
Don’t get me wrong I’m assigned to chair specific fund raisers like yankee candle and programs like natures classroom but it still never seems like enough. Yet everything is time consuming and work. Because its not a position like treasurer or secretary which is constantly measured by what you do it never gets reinforced or even noticed. So its all pretty unfullfilling.
To make it even harder, communication between the boards suck. We rarely talk to one another by phone. Almost all communication is via email and even that is scarce at times. I’ve become a scavenger for information to find out what’s going on all the time and keep up, because sometimes for whatever reason I don’t always get all the emails.
Our meetings are almost three hours long! We are trying to work on cutting them down to two hours . Obviously much two long. We follow a strict agenda and don’t have much room for miscellaneous business . I think that’s a problem. I think we need more room for open forum and parents to have a voice. Then I think our meetings will go by faster because they won’t get out of hand. People will know they will have a specific time period to speak and be heard. They will know their voice matters and we care. I think that’s what parents most want from meetings.
I joined PTO to enact change and became an officer to have a say in that change. Though I agree parent involvement brings about change and enrichment programs and so forth are positive change, which PTO is responsible for - I don’t think its enough. I feel PTO still focuses on fund raising and event coordination more. At least, that’s what I have noticed so far.
Don’t get me wrong. As in my other article, we have done a lot for AIS in a short period of time; from programs like yoga, to book swaps and fairs to teacher appreciation and earth day celebration.
We’ve participated, contributed, volunteered , organized etc.. nothing bad can be said about that. All of that is positive and encourages parent involvement within the school. Even our fund raising has brought in funds which have been put back into the school. I won’t discount those efforts. Its surely better than nothing.
Looking at the entire picture and going through it I’m not sure it matters for me, or makes a difference if I’m an officer or just a parent volunteer in making a difference. Where it does matter is to my kids. Being an officer definitely takes time away from my own children. Whether its setup or clean up. Late meetings or alternative ones. There’s always something else that has to get done that members don’t account for. The board always has to take up the slack. Whether its extra time at home on the computer or time away from home, the kids pay a price.
My kids at least, just want time me with them. They want me at the functions with them. As a board member, or even a PTO member your there not just for your kid but also for others. This is a reality I have been awakened to. If you want to be for your own, you should just be a volunteer. As a volunteer you can be selective with what you choose to do. Your not obligated to do anything. As a board member I FEEL obligated to do almost everything especially in my position undefined as it is. Also I don’t feel like I have a close nit support network with my other board members which I think you should have.
All of this makes me re-evaluate PTO and my given position of Vice President. Maybe I’m better off being just a parent volunteer? What do you think?
-- Amazing Gaze
Games and Wii April 16th, 2007 by HMTKSteve
What happened to Mike Tyson?
Nintendo has just re-launched the old NES game "Mike Tyson's" Punch Out via the virtual console... Well, sort of...
The game is now called "Punch-Out!!� Featuring Mr. Dream"
What happened to Iron Mike Tyson?
I have some old memories of this game clouded by the fog of nostalgia.
I remember the day I first beat Glass Joe and King Hippo. I remember the first day I took Little Mac all the way up to Mike Tyson himself, only to be knocked out in record time!
There was one kid in my neighborhood who had every NES game as soon as it was released. He had awesome powers of game playing magic at his disposal. When I was just finding the fifth dungeon in Zelda he was already done beating the second quest. When I was just discovering the location of the minus world in Super Mario Brothers he had already figured out all of the inifinite life tricks and had beaten the game without getting killed once! He was the kind of kid you didn't play games that only switched players when you lost a life with.
He was the one who taught me how to beat Iron Mike in this game...
Well, it turns out that Mr. Dream fights exactly as Iron Mike did, he just has a different face. Nintendo had to replace Iron Mike for a very simple reason and it's not because of the trouble he got into with the law! Nope, Mike Tyson's contract with Nintendo expired a long time ago. After Iron Mike lost his title to James "Buster" Douglas Nintendo felt no need to sign him up again.
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