Rent-A-Ninja Blog

New Car!

2006-07-06T08:01:00.000-07:00

I've been saving for quite a while now, and I finally got myself a new car to replace my aging 1989 Pontiac Tempest. Thanks to Ford's family pricing I got myself a brand new 2006 Mustang for less than it would cost me to get a 2006 Civic EX. Being the ninja that I am, I just had to get it in black.

Edit: More pictures can be seen here.

Hurray for Miraculous Comebacks!

2006-04-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

Another semester is over, and I can't believe how well I recovered in my math course. This course is known as the "death course" for computing science students. People were telling me that I put-off this course too long and that I should have taken it earlier. Midterm 1 came and went and I got 45%. I was beginning to think they were right.

For midterm 2 I refocused and changed-up my studying strategy. The results surprised me - I ended up with 88% on midterm 2. I stuck to the same strategy for the final. I don't know what my final exam grade was, but my overall grade is an A-. Not bad for someone who was failing after midterm 1.

MPAA can't even convince Hollywood of analog protection scheme

2006-02-28T18:02:00.000-08:00

The MPAA has a hard time selling the analog protection scheme to Hollywood. "This is a room full of people whose living depends on this working. You're getting pushback to the point of hostility. If you can't sell this to us, how are you going to sell it to the target 16-45 demographic?"

read more | digg story

Apple Presentation Comments

2006-02-28T15:20:00.000-08:00

Apple had a presentation today where they promised to unveil some "fun new products." The vague description and lack of hints as to what would be presented had the internet buzzing with speculation over the past week. Now that it has all come and gone I can't help but feel somewhat underwhelmed. Here's what was released:

Updated Mac Mini
The Mac Mini is now available with an Intel Core processor. The baseline model gets you a 1.5 Ghz Core Solo and the more expensive model has a 1.67 Ghz Core Duo. While I like the fact that it's available with a Core Duo, the Intel Integrated GMA950 graphics chipset is very disappointing.

However, the unveiling of the updated Mac Mini could give us some insight into what the specs of the Intel iBook will be. Traditionally the Mac Mini and iBook share a lot of common components. A Core Duo iBook would be very nice.

iPod HiFi speakers
It's a large rectangle with lots of speakers in it, an iPod dock, and that's pretty much it. Oh, and it costs $350 US. No thanks!

Leather cases for iPod Nano and iPod 5G
$100 US and it does not give you access to the screen or controls while the iPod is in the case. About $15-$30 will get you a leather case from another manufacturer, and you'll be able to use the iPod while its in the case.

More info:
New Intel Mac Mini [MacRumors.com]
iPod Hi-Fi Introduced (Plus Leather iPod Cases) [MacRumors.com]

What if Microsoft Redesigned the iPod Packaging?

2006-02-27T08:56:00.000-08:00

Someone posted a very well-done, and funny video showing what the iPod packaging might look like if Microsoft designed it. You can view it here.

Behold, Microsoft iPod Pro 2005 XP Professional Edition with Subscription!

Update:
The original link appears to be down. You can watch it on Google Video here.

Origami video: the real deal?

2006-02-25T18:08:00.000-08:00

Kevin 2.0 » Blog Archive » Origami video: the real deal?

Look at the instructions in the link above to view the video for Origami. It's difficult to tell if it's a small tablet PC or a large PDA.

2006-02-20T19:43:00.000-08:00

Back to good ol' Ubuntu...

Top ten reasons Geeks make good fathers

2006-02-19T06:33:00.000-08:00

This is avery well-written (and very true) list of reasons that geeks make good fathers.

read more | digg story

New DVDs already sparking copy-protection confusion | CNET News.com

2006-02-18T21:54:00.000-08:00

New DVDs already sparking copy-protection confusion | CNET News.com

By what I've gathered about these next-generation DVD formats, I'll need to do the following to play them at full resolution:

To watch on TV:
- Buy a new TV, ensuring that it has all the proper inputs and outputs. Low-end HD TV's may not meet this criteria.
- Buy a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player that costs more than my laptop did. Oh, and I'll only be able to play 1 of the 2 formats.

To watch on a PC:
- Buy new monitor. None of the current ones are compatible.
- Buy new video card. Again, none of the current ones are compatible.
- Buy new operating system since only Windows Vista will be supported. Linux gets no love. I am assuming that Mac OS X will be supported eventually.

Personally, I'm not looking forward to the next generation of DVD formats. I already had enough problems getting the current generation to work the way I wanted. Besides, I don't even watch very many movies as it is. A ninja has better things to spend his money on, such as diamond-tipped shurikens and every new iPod that comes out.

RIAA Says Ripping CDs to Your iPod is NOT Fair Use

2006-02-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

The RIAA argues in a DMCA rule-making filing that copying for personal use (to an iPod) is not fair-use.

Good luck with that, RIAA. I don't own a CD player. Many of my friends don't own CD players either. However, we all own an iPod or other MP3 player, and also enjoy listening to music on our computers. It sounds like the RIAA could benefit from a ninja visit.

read more | digg story

Don't listen to your iPod on a bike, but buy an iBikeMount?

2006-02-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

Check out this link. In the second paragraph it says,

Following the death of an Australian woman, police in the country have warned that cyclists should never listen to an iPod while riding. “If you’re a cyclist and you want to stay alive, I wouldn’t wear an iPod under any circumstances,” Assistant Commissioner (Traffic) Noel Ashby said.

Isn't it just a little ironic that the previous story, directly below, is for a bike mount for the iPod Nano? I guess iLounge isn't taking any sides on this issue.

Which OS is Easiest to Learn?

2006-02-14T10:19:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I had a small debate with some fellow ninjas and computing science students regarding operating systems. It all started whene I said that I would buy an Intel Mac if dual booting to Windows worked.

I explained to them the advantages of doing non-administrative tasks as a non-privileged user. By the end of the debate I managed to convince some of them that if you are teaching a typical desktop user to browse the web, check email, and do some word processing, then all three OS' (Windows, Linux, and Mac OS) are equally easy to learn.

Having used Linux and Mac OS more than the typical person, I wondered if my point of view was biased. I asked my sister what she thought. She isn't nearly as technical or interested in computers as myself, but she is a heavy user of Windows and has used Linux and Mac OS on occasion. I asked her which she felt was easiest for a new user to learn. Her answer surprised me: "They're about the same."

What does everyone else think?

Google Talk - now with people actually online

2006-02-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Google is adding a new chat feature to Gmail, which is essentially a web-based version of Google Talk. While using Gmail people will (supposedly) optionally show up as being online. Any chatting done through this interface can also be searched in Gmail.

I'm interested in seeing how many people actually start using this. I have many friends who use Gmail but none of them use Google Talk.

read more | digg story

Update (Feb 14):
I've had this feature for almost a week now and I must say it is very slick. It is fast, efficient, and has not interfered with any of my regular Gmail usage. Having all my conversations archived in one place, regardless of which computer I used, is one of the most useful features I've ever seen in any IM application.

New Job in May...

2006-02-04T01:25:00.000-08:00

I just accepted a co-op job offer for a position that starts in May. This time I will be doing QA instead of technical support. What makes this position interesting is that it seems to be mostly Mac-based.

Theoretical Rent-A-Ninja Pack

2006-01-21T16:52:00.000-08:00

Google Pack is a package of free software that Google feels is essential. Lifehacker.com has also posted their own Lifehacker Pack. While this isn't a comprehensive list of all my favorite free applications, these are the ones I use on a near-daily basis.

OpenOffice.org
This one was a total "gimme". I first gave this a try over a year ago I was too lazy to try to find a bootleg copy of Microsoft Office. Now I actually have a legit copy of Microsoft Office installed but I still find myself using OpenOffice.org more. Why is that, you ask? It handles more formats, does a decent job of exporting your documents to PDF, and my "basic" version of Microsoft Office did not include Powerpoint.

Mozilla Firefox
I shouldn't have to explain this one anymore. NEXT!

Avast Antivirus
This antivirus software is very easy to configure, fast and easy automatic updates, and not intrusive. Oh, and licenses are 100% free for home users.

CCleaner
Sometimes referred to as "Crap Cleaner"-- it does quite a nice job of cleaning up unnecessary files that installers and uninstallers leave behind. It can also go through your registry and remove most invalid entries. After running this for the first time I freed up approximately 400 MB's and reduced my Windows startup time dramatically.

The Gimp
It's like Adobe Photoshop, but free and open source. For the casual Photoshopper it has pretty much everything you'll ever need.

TextPad
This is currently my text editor of choice while working in Windows. You can open several large text files in a single window and it will keep on going. Try doing that with Notepad!

TaskSwitchXP
An alt-tab replacement for Windows XP that behaves a lot like Mac OS X's Expose. It only takes up around 600 KB of RAM on my computer. Once you try this there's no going back.

VLC
This media player plays everything that the big guys choke on. It even lets you play DVD movies from outside your region, and helps you get around Macrovision protection so you can output to older TV's.

iTunes
This is the software that finally got me to organize my music collection, and made it very easy to do so. I can no longer imagine organizing music without a quicksearch feature or smartlists.

Google Earth
OMG I CAN SEE MY HOUSE!!!!!111eleven

Picasa
I often refer to this as the "iTunes of Photos". Currently I am using it to keep track of my collection of wallpapers. I'm sure that if I had a digital camera I'd use it even more.

Rainlendar
Displays your calendar and Outlook events on your desktop, while taking fewer resources than Konfabulator would while doing the same thing.

FileZilla
Free, open source FTP client that is really easy to use.

Is there anything you feel is missing from this list? Leave a comment!

Feds want Google search records

2006-01-20T22:21:00.000-08:00

From Digg:
The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order Google Inc. to turn over a broad range of material from its closely guarded databases...Nicole Wong, an associate general counsel for Google, said the company will fight the government's effort ``vigorously.''

My two cents:
MSN, Yahoo, et al, have all given their search information to the US Department of Justice. Google has not. Which search engine will you use from now on?

read more | digg story

DIGG: Blu-Ray Output Will be Downconverted By Hollywood

2006-01-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

Looks like hollywood does not want us to buy movies anymore. Both next-gen DVD formats will have a flag that will force them to downsample to around the same resolution as standard DVD's if they are not played through an HDMI input. But wait, there's more:

- HDMI cables are expensive.

- Most current HD TV's do NOT have HDMI. If you want to watch these formats in their full resolutions you're going to have to buy ANOTHER HD TV.

I already stopped buying CD's because of copy protection-- it looks like they don't want me to buy movies either.

read more | digg story

DRM - a student/consumer point of view

2006-01-12T14:03:00.000-08:00

Rather than go on a long-winded rant about ideals against Digital Rights Management (DRM), I will simply post some of my experiences with it.

DVD Movies
I am a computing science student in university living on my parents' basement. As such, I have an old hand-me-down TV and no DVD player. The TV is from the late 70's and has no composite inputs and no S-video.

When I purchased my first laptop with a CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive I figured I could use that to watch my small collection of DVD movies. To make sure others could watch with me in the basement I purchased a cheap S-video cable to hook up to the back of my VCR. Due to some sort of DRM called Macrovision it was thinking that I was using the VCR to try to record the DVD, and thus the image from my laptop was scrambled when sent to the TV. The image only gets scrambled while playing DVD's. As a result, I tried plan B.

I decided to try the DVD playback on the Playstation 2. Again, because my TV has no composite inputs I was forced to hook up the Playstation 2 to the VCR. Again, the copy protection thought that I was trying to record the DVD onto a VHS tape (who would do this?) and scrambled the image.

The only way I could finally get DVD's to play on this DVD was to use VLC on my laptop. VLC uses a different DVD playback library than other media players and may actually be illegal under the DMCA. The same applies for playing any DVD movies in Linux. Lucky for me, I am in Canada and the DMCA does not apply here.

Music CD's
I no longer own a CD player. The first and only CD player I owned was an old Sony Discman which broke several years ago. My preferred ways to listen to music are through my laptop (which I sometimes connect to a stereo) and on my iPod Nano. All of my friends listen to music the same way.

On Christmas Eve I needed to do some last-minute Christmas shopping for a couple of family members. I walked into the music section and found several CD's I knew my family members would enjoy. However, after looking on the back they all said that the content is copy protected and may not work with iPods. Instead of buying 5 or 6 CD's this holiday season I didn't buy any.

I have purchased some music off of the iTunes Music Store since it seems to be the only way to legally acquire new music that is guaranteed to play on iPods and not Rootkit your computer. The downside here is that there is no way to play these purchased songs in Linux.

Conclusion
Using legally acquired multimedia can be a pain in the ass.

Is Google Losing It?

2006-01-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

Over the past few months I can't help but feel that Google is losing the momentum it had several months ago. Allow me to elaborate:

1. Google Talk - Leading up to its release there were tons of rumours about some sort of Google IM client and interest was high. When it was finally posted for download almost everyone was underwhelmed. Although many people I know have it installed, nobody ever uses it.

2. Google Pack - This collection of applications does make it easier to get essential applications for fresh Windows installs. However, a lot of the applications included are definitely not the best in their class and can be extremely intrusive. Some examples are Real Player and the trial version of Norton Antivirus.

3. Google Video - While I am very excited about being able to download these files in iPod Video formats, the regular Google Video format and Google Video Player are horrible. Do we really need another media format with its own DRM? Everyday consumers are already confused as it is.

Judging from blog entries and online magazine articles, I am not the only one with these opinions. High profile sites such as The Register and PC Magazine have also posted similar opinions.

With the exception of Google Earth and Picasa, all of Google's applications have really lacked the polish and features expected from a multi-billion dollar company. Google really should stay focused on where they dominate-- search and web-based applications.

iPod Nano!

2005-09-17T08:52:00.000-07:00

Traditionally, the MP3 player has been split into two distinct markets: flash-based and hard-drive based players. While flash-based ones gave you a higher price-per-megabyte, they had no moving parts, but lacked some of the features of the hard drive players. Now Apple has decided to blur the distinction between these two markets with the iPod Nano.

My iPod Nano arrived early yesterday and I am totally blown away by it. It has all the features that my iPod Mini had, plus most of the features of the iPod Photo, and is flash-based. I can't believe that I was actually considering an iPod Shuffle as a second player!

People who dislike iPods due to their lack of FM radio and recording abilities will still complain about the Nano. Regardless, the Nano is easily the most feature-packed flash MP3 player out there. I love it!

So I tried Fedora Core 4...

2005-07-02T22:19:00.000-07:00

I tried Fedora Core 4 shortly after it was released (which was not very long ago). It seems like a nice distro, but the multimedia support is horrid! With Ubuntu I was able to get my multimedia working 100% after a few minutes with the excellent Ubuntu Guide. With Fedora, I literally spent hours trying to find the right RPM repositories with the multimedia codecs I needed. Even after all that effort the video playback just simply wasn't as smooth as in Ubuntu.

Bottom line: for the average desktop user I would have to recommend Ubuntu 5.04 over Fedora Core 4.

Twisted by the dark side, StoneWolf has become...

2005-05-21T23:56:00.000-07:00

I just picked up one of those Force FX Lightsabers made by Master Replicas. As you can see, I chose the Darth Vader model. It definitely has to be the coolest lightsaber toy ever created. This is the lightsaber every Star Wars fan has been wishing for since they were a kid. Now if only I could find myself a Jedi to duel with...

Before I even took it out of the box this thing was getting all sorts of attention. People of all ages were asking me all sorts of questions about it. And when I say "people of all ages," I mean it! Kids, parents, and even grandparents were asking about it. I guess I was fortunate to get the last one!

Now I just need a replica Ghostbusters Proton Pack and I'm set.

What to do with an old computer?

2005-05-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

I have an old computer which has not seen much use in the past year-and-a-half. I want to get some kind of value out of it, but not sure how. The specs are as follows:

Pentium III 800Mhz Coppermine
384 MB RAM
30 GB HD
GeForce 2 GTS 32 MB

Other than that the hardware is very typical. It has a couple of generic network cards, a 56k modem, and a very old 24x CD-ROM drive. The monitor on it is not functioning properly (Acer, go figure). I haven't been using this computer because my Thinkpad T42 out-performs it in every way.

Anyone have any suggestions for what to do with it? I do NOT want people outside the network to be able to access it, so a web or FTP server is out of the question.

One idea I have been kicking around is to have it as a Linux-only box. However, I don't think that will be terribly useful because I already have a WinXP Pro/Ubuntu Linux dual boot on my laptop. Another idea would be to just have it as a Windows printer/file server for everyone on my network to use. Then again, I can't see much value coming out of that.

The computer may be "obsolete" depending on your perception of how fast a computer needs to be, but I know this machine is far from useless. I am open to any creative suggestions anyone out there may have!

New Job (Co-Op Term)

2005-05-14T20:41:00.000-07:00

Rather than go to school during my summer semester, I decided to do an 8 month co-operative education term. What that means is that I learn in a real workplace and get paid for it. It sounds like a pretty good arrangement to me! Some of the stuff has been kind of interesting so far, but it has been a little slow thus far. I am sure the pace will quicken later, though.

I won't go into any specifics about where exactly I am working. What I will say is that the people have been nice, and we get free refreshments! Plus there is another co-op student learning the same things I am. Since her and I are going through all the same stuff we help each other out and keep each other company during any downtime. So far, so good!

New Lappy!

2005-05-07T09:03:00.000-07:00

To replace that stupid Acer that doesn't work anymore, I got myself a new IBM Thinkpad T42! Thanks to Prolepsis for the hookup!

Pentium M 1.8
1gb RAM
15" SXGA+ screen (1400x1050)
ATI 9600 64mb
60GB 7200rpm drive
DVD-RW
802.11b/g
Windows XP Pro
Office 2k3 Basic
10/100/1000 ethernet
Fingerprint reader
3 year warranty

Very nice machine. To be honest, it's probably more power than I need right now. But I got a good deal, and it has a 3 year warranty. Plus Ubuntu linux works very well with it "out of the box"!

Never Buy Acer

2005-04-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

Many, many years ago, my dad, the bargain hunter, found a sale on some shiny new 15" Acer monitors. After around three years both stopped functioning properly. One of them would suddenly turn all blue, while the other would lose its picture altogether. I should have learned my lesson from that. If I had I wouldn't be making this blog entry today.

Approximately last January I went on the market for a laptop. My criteria were quite strict. It had to have a Pentium M (aka Centrino) CPU, 512 MB of RAM, at least 30 GB of hard drive space, and a Radeon 9000 or higher video chipset with dedicated memory. On Ebay I found a fantastic deal on an Acer Travelmate 800 which met (and exceeded) some of my criteria. Six-to-eight weeks later it arrived and I couldn't have been happier. It was an excellent laptop in all respects. Key word: was.

Today the nice SXGA+ LCD screen decided to pack it in. Now, after just over a year of ownership, I find myself needing to use a bulky, old, CRT monitor in order to use my modestly small laptop. Conveniently, the laptop is no longer under warranty.

It is still a fine machine to use as a desktop replacement for now. But unfortunately, I just can't picture myself carrying a CRT monitor with me into lectures to take notes. I think it is safe to say that I will NEVER, e-e-eeever buy another Acer product again.

Gran Turismo 4

2005-04-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

After only about a month and a half with Gran Turismo 3 (and already getting 75%), I began to crave more variety. I ended up breaking down and buying Gran Turismo 4 only hours after my last exam of the semester was over.

Gran Turismo 4 has almost everything from Gran Turismo 3, plus a whole bunch of extra goodies. Plus the cars just seem to feel more realistic when driving them. Crashes seem to have more impact to them (but still no damage model, sadly). The two games might be from the same series, but they play very differently. Gran Turismo 4's driving model makes Gran Turismo 3 seem like Ridge Racer.

Another Linux Post

2005-04-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

When Mepis 3.3 was released I was ecstatic. I was waiting for that version to be released so I could use it as my Linux distribution of choice on my Acer Travelmate 800 laptop. It was just too bad the Intel Pro Wireless 2100 drivers included with it were apparently compiled for a different version. As a result the bootup would halt every time it tried to initialize my wireless connection. I went back to the 2004.06 version and all was well, but I could not help but loose faith in the SimplyMepis QA process.

Those who follow Linux will have heard of Ubuntu. Previously I gave Ubuntu 4.10 a bad review, but to be fair I probably did not give it a fair chance. Ubuntu 5.04 "Hoary Hedgehog" was released earlier this month so I decided to give it another try.

First impressions are important, and Ubuntu 5.04 gave me a pleasant initial surprise. It is, so far, the only Linux distribution I have tried that has been able to initialize and connect my wireless on initial boot up. In all other distributions the wireless would not connect during boot up and would need to be re-activated manually once in the desktop environment.

While Ubuntu does not give a complete multimedia experience "out-of-the-box" like Mepis does, I found that once the proper packages are installed the video and audio playback surpasses Mepis in every respect. The audio quality is much clearer, the video is smoother, and it even plays videos that would not display under Mepis. I was confused by this because these two distributions are supposed to be using similar Debian repositories to get these packages.

I am starting to wish that I had given Ubunto 4.10 a bit more of a chance back then. I think that one of the reasons I came down so hard on it initially was because I was expecting a KDE-like experience and was unprepared for some of GNOME's interface differences. I also expected apt-get to work properly from the command prompt right away and was unaware that I would have to edit a text file before that would work.

I hereby retract my previous Ubuntu rant and give "Hoary Hedgehog" two thumbs up.

Gran Turismo

2005-03-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while and it's all because of Gran Turismo 3. I know the 4th one is out, but I wanted to get the 3rd one first just in case I didn't like it. I have a couple of gripes about the game, however. First, the computer AI is very dumb. They often like to pit right before the final lap. Also, the game does not put enough power restrictions on your car when entering races. When going in you have no idea if you're being overpowered or if you're just going to smoke everyone else. When you start getting race cars the game loses a lot of its challenge. I prefer the early parts of the game where the emphasis is more on actual driving than horsepower.

Linux Laptop Mode!

2005-02-27T18:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsamwel/laptop_mode/tools/index.html

Using the instructions here I was able to easily squeeze some more battery life out of my laptop while running in Linux. If this keeps up I won't have a reason to use Windows anymore, hah!

SimplyMEPIS Day 3

2005-02-27T12:37:00.000-08:00

A few days ago the Linux distro I had been most anticipating, SimplyMEPIS 3.3, was released. I downloaded the ISO, checked the md5sum, and immediately burned the CD. The LiveCD bootup went well, with a few minor error messages here and there. But I was not discouraged. Once the LiveCD finished booting I tried to activate my wireless. This caused the Mepis System Center to freeze. I tried again and got the same result. Hoping that once it was installed it would work, I formatted my Linux partitions and let it go. This time things went worse-- on startup it was getting page faults when loading the IPW2100 driver. This never happened in SimplyMEPIS 2004.06.

This is when I decided that I would rather have a stable Linux installation than a "bleeding edge" one with the latest packages. SimplyMEPIS 2004.06 (contrary to what the name suggests, came out in mid-December) installed like a dream and everything worked "out of the box," so to speak. I did an "apt-get update" followed by an "apt-get upgrade" and all was still good. Tuxrucer using 3D acceleration worked without installing additional drivers. GLQuake worked as well.

Since I am running MEPIS on a Centrino laptop I needed to enable CPU speedstepping (i.e. slowing the CPU down when the speed isn't necessary) to save some battery life. After a quick search on the mepislovers.org forums I was ready to go, effectively doubling my expected battery life in Linux. Unfortunately the battery still does not last as long as it does in Windows. Currently I'm getting between 3-3.5 hours in Windows XP Pro and 2 hours in Linux while doing everyday operations such as instant messaging, web browsing, word processing, etc, with my wireless networking enabled.

Using KDE System Guard I've been keeping an eye on the memory usage of Linux and have been comparing it to the numbers in XP's task manager. XP's task manager usually reports about 250 mb of swap being used while just having instant messaging and a web browser (Gaim and Mozilla Firefox) running. Linux reports no swap being used and only about 256 mb of physical memory occupied with the same applications. Wow! And I was worried that my 256 mb swap partition would be too small. Linux seems a bit quicker for this "everyday use" as well.

In the past few days (this being day 3) I have been spending the bulk of my computing time within Linux and I am loving it.

Intec dance mats suck

2005-02-23T22:51:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons we got a PS2 was to play Dance Dance Revolution. So, on the same day we got the PS2, we bought an Intec dance mat and DDR Extreme; all was good. Soon afterwards we even bought a second mat. Woohoo! Then things went sour...

The first dance mat suddenly stopped working. Not just a single sensor, but the whole thing stopped working altogether. We took it back to EB and exchanged it for another (which will be referred to as the third mat).

A few days later the second mat began to act up. The "up button" sensor wouldn't always work. This was remedied by putting some cardboard under the said sensor.

One day, out of nowhere (again) the third dance mat stopped working. We went to take it back to EB, but they were out. They assured us that we will get one as soon as they come in. To add insult to injury the second mat decided to quit as well.

Data:
PS2 purchased December 26
Three dead Intec dance mats
Three dance mats in less than two months

Conclusion:
Intec = teh suck

Ubuntu Linux Thoughts

2005-02-23T21:39:00.000-08:00

In my never ending quest to find new ways to procrastinate, I decided to give Ubuntu Linux a try. Initially I tried the "Warty" LiveCD version and was disappointed right away by the lack of support for my laptop's wireless. Afterwards I decided to give the stable 4.10 "Warty Warthog" installable release a try.

Initial impressions: Very nice, clean interface. User-friendly menu system. Stable. Good selection of packages.

After playing with this distro for a couple of hours it has become painfully obvious - it just isn't for me. I am not looking for a new primary OS since I still need to run Windows applications to do some school programming assignments. My plan is to have relatively small partitions for my Linux installation while still having the bulk of my documents and media files on my FAT32 partitions so they can be accessed from both OS'. Every distro I have ever used has automatically mounted my FAT32 drives, until Ubuntu. I had to manually edit the /etc/fstab file and create mount points before I could even mount these partitions.

Another feature I am used to being able to use is to copy my fonts over from Windows. Let's face it, Linux fonts are rather lacking. So I copied and pasted all my truetype fonts from my Windows/Fonts "folder" into Ubuntu's font directory. Apparently the files transferred, but they weren't showing up in the file manager, nor were they showing up in OpenOffice. After some Googling I found out that I was supposed to manually edit a text file for the fonts and add an entry for each one. Thanks, but no thanks.

I am not saying that Ubuntu is a bad OS. It seems perfect for someone who is looking for a user-friendly, memory-efficient and secure primary operating system. For transitional Windows/Linux experimenters like myself, however, I'd have to say that Mepis is what the doctor ordered.

More Linux

2005-02-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

After the annoying issues I had with Mandrake 10.1 I became bitter enough to uninstall it from my desktop PC (PIII 800 with 384 MB of RAM). I then promptly replaced it with Mepis Linux, which has been an absolute breeze to use. The Mepis LiveCD even runs nicely on my laptop, detecting all my hardware properly. I would install it on my laptop as well, but I am waiting for the new version which is due any day now. I think I will also try Ubunto's LiveCD in the meantime.

EverQuest II - /pizza

2005-02-20T13:32:00.000-08:00

Ever get hungry during a long session of gaming, but were too lazy to get up and make yourself something to eat? Sony and Pizza Hut bring you: EverQuest II - /pizza.

Order pizza while you play, yay. Now your lazy MMORPG-playing ass only needs to get up to use the toilet, or answer the door when the delivery man comes. Now THAT's progress!

Naruto CAW's

2005-02-19T01:42:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been playing around with the create-a-wrestler (CAW) function in Smackdown vs RAW for PS2. In the picture above are five characters from Naruto: (left to right) Kakashi, Naruto, Rock Lee, Kabuto, and Orochimaru.

Go Firefox!

2005-02-17T07:28:00.000-08:00

This image says it all:

Whoo!
If you haven't already done so, Get Firefox-- the best web browser on the planet.

All entries on this blog were posted using Firefox under either Windows XP Pro or Linux.

Naruto Licensed

2005-02-17T00:57:00.000-08:00

It is kind of a bittersweet thing when your favorite anime series gets licensed by a North American distributor. On the plus side, more people will be able to enjoy the series, and you will get a chance to own it on DVD. On the other hand, the dubbers tend to take liberties on the translation and rename characters-- not to mention the fact that most websites will no longer post torrent files for licensed series'.

Naruto has been officially licensed. For me this is more of a bad than good thing because:

A) Naruto is the only anime I've really been able to "get into".
B) Cartoon Network isn't available in my area.
C) I have watched every episode to date, and would have to wait approximately 4-5 seasons to wait for the North American release to catch up to where I left-off.

I guess I could always try getting into another series. I am open to suggestions! Leave them in the comments below!

Knoppix Revisited

2005-02-15T22:17:00.000-08:00

Mandrake appears to have developed an annoying little quirk where KDE applications (including Konsole) will not launch upon initial login. Logging out and logging in again is a workaround for this, but is extremely annoying.

On the other hand, Knoppix is running perfectly right now. The display is now working properly in 1400x1050 (thanks to some so-called "Cheat Codes") and wireless works. Now I'm thinking of trying Debian, which is the distro that Knoppix is based off of.

EDIT:
I tried Knoppix's "experimental" Linux 2.6 kernel and it won't pickup my Lexar Jumpdrive! It's a shame because that's where I store my persistent /home directory and settings. I have two options: keep using the stable 2.4 kernel (and lose my advanced power-saving controls), or use 2.6 and move my /home onto one of my hard drive partitions. I think I will stick with 2.4 for now since I don't know if 2.6 has additional issues.

Mandrake Linux 10.1

2005-02-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

I decided to finally do what I had planned to do a year ago: set up a dual WinXP/Linux dual boot on my Acer Travelmate 800 laptop. I had put it off up until now because of the lack of Intel Pro Wireless 2100 (aka the Centrino wireless) support. When I saw Mandrake 10.1 now had "full support" for Centrino I just had to try it.

Now I'm wondering if false advertising can be charged for something I got for free. Apparently "full support" in the Mandrake world means, "It will detect your wireless, it will identify your wireless, but will not let you set up connections." Perfect! So I ended up having to do what I COULD have done with any non-Centrino supporting distribution: install third-party drivers.

Oh, but the fun didn't end there. After the drivers were installed properly and a connection was established I thought everything was okie-dokie. WRONG! For some reason the wireless connection will not initialize properly at boot-up, so I have to go in as root and reconfigure the connection EVERY TIME I BOOT UP LINUX. Bravo!

To its credit, Mandrake seemed to detect and properly configure everything else on my Acer Travelmate 800. Even the ATI display worked nicely right away even at 1400x1050 resolution.

Before trying Mandrake 10.1 I tried the latest version of Knoppix, which is a Linux distribution that runs off of a bootable CD. I found it was a lot less painful to set up than Mandrake. Wireless worked right away, as promised. The frustrating thing was that my display would not work at anything higher than 1024x768! You would think with all thise open-source stuff these programmers would be collaborating to get things working consistently across distributions. Now it looks like I have to choose a distro based on which of the two I value most: proper display or wireless, which is pretty sad since my hardware for both is extremely common.

I'm not giving up on Linux completely, however. When I get the time I will probably fiddle around with it some more. But right now, at least in my view, it is not ready for prime time. Until the next time I get desperately bored, I'll see you in Windows XP Pro.

EDIT (1:02 PM):
I think I am going to give Knoppix another try. I found some tweaks that MIGHT get the display to work properly. Wish me luck!

Gmail Invite, anyone?

2005-02-12T00:45:00.000-08:00

Gmail has exploded with invites recently. I currently have 50 to give out. Want one? Just email me and it's yours.

For the uninformed, Gmail is Google's free email service. 1 GB mailbox, quickly and effectively search through your emails without ever deleting anything, yadda yadda yadda. I have been using it as my primary personal address for a while now and I am loving it.

Quote of the Day

2005-02-10T15:08:00.000-08:00

"Ah, lamentably no. My gastronomic rapacity knows no satieties."
- Homer Simpson, when Marge asks if the subliminal weight-loss tape is working.

This quote has been stuck in my head for the past 15 hours or so, and I have no idea why.

Low carb cereal tastes like...

2005-02-09T23:59:00.000-08:00

... nothing. Seriously. This cereal tastes like nothing.

In an effort to keep my ninja reflexes at their peek (for faster button pressing and double-clicking) I tried Kellogg's Special K Carb-Fit cereal. Although people on the Lowcarber.org forums seem to like it, I don't care for it much myself. Give me a big ol' bowl of Cheerios or even Frosted Flakes instead any day. I don't need to be a carb-counter.

Enterprise Cancelled

2005-02-09T23:21:00.000-08:00

I know this is old news but felt I should say something.

It figures that UPN would cancel the only show I watch on their network-- Star Trek: Enterprise. If they were going to cancel this show they really should have done it during either the first or second season, where the majority of the episodes were pointless. I thoroughly enjoyed the third season, and the fourth season has been even better. Unlike previous seasons, the fourth has been tying up loose ends and integrating it self rather well with Star Trek canon (at least from my view, but more zealous Trekkies may disagree). I know I'm going to keep watching until the final episode on May 13.

With Enterprises', as well as UPN's, ratings being lower than expectations I guess something had to give. There are also rumours that certain actor(s) on the show were not happy with their character(s), and the show overall. It looks like the Star Trek franchise's future is quite grim-- with the disappointing box office from the last movie, Nemesis, and now this.

Click here for the official announcement.

Happy (Lunar) New Year!

2005-02-08T23:41:00.000-08:00

Year of the cock!

Not a natural writer

2005-01-30T01:52:00.000-08:00

I admit that I have not done a very good job of making regular entries in my Blogs. Usually being the quiet person in the room, I don't feel the need to express myself as often as most people do. But tonight, while I should be sleeping, I feel I need to at least post SOMETHING. If there's any reason for it, it's practice.

This semester at Simon Fraser University is going to be a bit different for me. For the first time I'm taking more than one course at a time where a decent amount of writing needs to be done. Being a computing science major I'm not used to typing up large quantities of wordage all at one time. As a result I find myself staring at a blank OpenOffice text document struggling to find the words to express my response to a given assignment. Whether its relating the film Koyaanisqatsi to some other works, or writing my views on autonomy, the opinion is there yet I keep drawing blanks.

Now this problem also manifests itself while applying for co-operative education job positions. No matter how much advice I get or how many guides I read, I have a very difficult time finding the write words to "sell myself" to a potential employer. The cover letters are especially difficult for me.

Until next time: practice makes perfect (I hope).

Happy New Year!

2005-01-01T13:50:00.000-08:00

Obligatory "Happy New Year" blog entry. The end.

Finally caught up with the gaming world...

2004-12-28T09:48:00.000-08:00

So we finally caught up with the rest of the world and purchased a Playstation 2. We got the new thinner one and I just can't get over how tiny it is. It isn't much larger than a DVD case. Now I just need to buy a memory card and I'm good to go for hours and hours of throwing my life away :)

The fox is in Microsoft's henhouse (and salivating) | CNET News.com

2004-12-19T17:36:00.000-08:00

The fox is in Microsoft's henhouse (and salivating) | CNET News.com. This story was originally run by the New York Times.

I've been using Mozilla Firefox as my primary browser since it was renamed from its previous moniker, Firebird. My dad has also recently converted and has nothing but good things to say about Firefox, and he usually has little patience with such things. The future of web browsing is here.

A week until...

2004-12-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe there's only one week left until the big day. That's right, next Saturday is Decemberween!

"I Just Want To Be Friends."

2004-12-17T23:03:00.000-08:00

"I Just Want To Be Friends." I'd bet about 101% of the guys out there can relate to at least one of the stories on this website. I'm sure we've all heard, "I don't want to risk our friendship," or, "You're like a brother to me," etc etc. These girls try to make us feel better by saying these things, but it ultimately just adds to our humiliation.

Thinking of making a game...

2004-12-17T17:38:00.000-08:00

With my extra spare time this holidays I am thinking doing something productive. I've learned some graphics programming, so I figured why not make a game? It's most likely going to be 2D, and rather simple. Leave some suggestions in the comments box :)

Freedom until 2005!

2004-12-15T01:25:00.000-08:00

Welp, finals are all done and I don't have school again until January 10, 2005. Now I just need to figure out what to do in the mean time. I'm sure I'll come up with something.

I've been playing Capcom's old 19xx arcade game. It's fast, simple, and fun. Plus I don't feel like spending more money on another game for myself. If I bought everything I wanted what would people get me for Christmas?

I purchased my first cell phone just a few weeks ago. I decided to go with Fido's unlimited incoming calls package. So far its been working great, other than the fact that the reception is sub-par inside my basement. The signal is strong anywhere else I go, however. The phone I went with was the Siemens C65. It's cheap and has a camera.