October 17, 2005
Ultimate Spider-Man
Last weekend, both intentionally and unintentionally, I ended up playing a lot of PS2. I had borrowed Ultimate Spider-Man from my 12 year-old nephew (future blog post light goes off in head) because he and his family would be on vacation for a few days and I knew he wouldn't be playing it.
After only a few hours of play I had beaten the main storyline of the game. It wasn't all that difficult and there was only about eight or ten "boss" battles. But what I thought was so well done in this game was the comic book aspect of it. Apparently, the goal of the writers and designers was to immerse the player into a 3D comic book world. From the awesome web-slinging to Midtown High in Queens, New York they definitely achieved their goal. Honestly, I don't think I've ever had as much fun in a video game as I do when I'm swinging through Manhattan.
Check out the trailer and you'll understand what I mean.
Another thing I find interesting is its close relationship to a game like Grand Theft Auto. Sure, GTA is rated M for Mature and of course Ultimate Spider-Man is rated T for Teen, but it seems as though the designers took a page from GTA and made the gameplay the same in that you can roam the city completely free. Like GTA, it also has many "side missions" where the player can get lost doing things as simple as swinging around town stopping capers and helping hurt citizens and even get into some races with Human Torch of Fantastic Four fame.
September 13, 2005
Question For You
Should I take my Canon Powershot S330 (point & shoot) or my brand new Canon Digital EOS Rebel XT (SLR) with me to New York? The debate is small camera/lower quality pictures vs. large camera/higher quality pictures.
January 26, 2005
100%
April 22, 2004
Sendo X
When this comes out, I think I'm going to have to get one. It looks awesome! Here's the rundown on the features:
- » Camera-phone with flash, "red-eye" reduction, 4x digital zoom, self-timer and photo editor.
- » 30-Minute Integrated Camcorder
- » MP3 Player
- » PC Synchronization - Email, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, etc.
- » POP3 email compatible
- » Multi-mode web browsing - HTML 4.01, WAP 2.0, XHTML MP, SSL, etc.
- » Document viewers - Word, Excel, PDF, Powerpoint, Zip, etc.
- » Built-in Bluetooth, Infrared, & USB.
- » Built-in modem and fax.
- » 64MB of flash memory with a memory expansion slot.
- » Voice Recognition by Voice Signal Technologies, the developers of the best voice recog software on the planet.
- » This is where it gets cool. The Now! Screen - customizable user desktop and themes. With no other phone I've seen can you customize your icons and interface.
I may even have to switch providers if my current one doesn't offer this phone.
February 13, 2004
PHP mail()
One of the main reasons I have not been posting everyday recently is because I was asked, or rather told, to make a web interface connected to a database on the backend for our employees to evaluate a new student information system being put in. This, of course, would require the use of PHP and fairly extensive use of it based on the parameters required by the project. I'm only in chapter 3 in my book, so I knew I was going to need to put in some hard time and long hours. The difficulty of the project was expounded because this was our first test on our new server. We had never even had the chance to test MySQL and make sure it was working, we had only run some minor scripts to test PHP.
After several days, I got it working like a charm. In fact, I even received a few compliments from some of the higher-ups telling me I did a good job on it and they were happy.
With my back still warm from all the patting, I sat back down in my chair anxious to work on a mail script. I wanted to write one that would function for all contact forms on our website. I knew what features I wanted from it. I knew what options I needed. All that I lacked was the knowledge (and probably a little confidence). After about 20 minutes, I felt I had it ready. I checked all the documentation and found a few minor configuration options that needed to be handled on the server, and tested it out.
The first test brought a Server Error. My server administrator couldn't work on it until yesterday. So, I had to wait almost a week. When he did get time to work on it, he found a small tweak that needed to be made. But then it worked like a charm. Now I can say I wrote a mail script that functioned from the very beginning. Sure, I changed a couple of things to add some functionality, but all in all it worked from the start.
This was probably a very boring post, but programming can be one of those things that either drives you absolutely nuts or makes you giddy as a school girl. Right now I might as well be wearing a plaid skirt. I should probably stop skipping down the hall of my office, huh?
P.S. The title of this post is the name of the function that is used for submitting mail in PHP.
February 09, 2004
FireFox
Mozilla has renamed their new version of Firebird to FireFox. This also marks the beginning of a grass-roots campaign to spread the word about FireFox and "Take Back the Web." If you're still using Internet Explorer please download it and see the web the way it was meant to be seen.
I've added a button to the right also to help with this campaign.
January 14, 2004
Geek Riddles and Jokes
If you don't get these jokes, then you aren't a geek, which is not a good thing.
I.E "SELECT * FROM readers WHERE clue > 0"
- There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
- There's no place like 127.0.0.1
- Shakespeare: "/(bb|[^b]{2})/"
- How many people can read hex if only you and dead hex readers can read hex?
If you don't understand any of these, highlight just below this line and drag down.
- 1. "10" is 2 in binary. Technically, it should look like: "00000010".
- 2. 127.0.0.1 is the Home IP address.
- 3. Hamlet to be specific it says: "To be or not to be"
- 4. Answer: 57006 (explanation below)
- Fun With HEXADECIMAL
D = 13 -- 16^3=4096 -- 13 *4096 = 53248
E = 14 -- 16^2=256 -- 14*256 = 3548
A = 10 -- 16^1=16 -- 10*16 = 160
D = 13 -- 16^0=1 -- 13*1 = 1
53248+3548+160+1+1(you)=57006
December 04, 2003
What Its Like To Be A Web Designer
I really appreciate this from Zeldman.
As a web designer, nothing is more frustrating than having some secretary or CEO asking for you to fill up their screen with "stuff." They don't know what. They just feel it needs something more than it has.
November 19, 2003
My First WiFi Post
I'm blogging wirelessly right now from the Downtown Library. Let me tell you, this is pretty sweet! I walked in, found a spot at an open table with a view of downtown, popped out my iPod, started up my new PowerBook G4, and it instantly detected the presence of the wireless network. Props to XMission for donating the broadband.
The only problem I see is that I may become addicted to this. No wires, the latest technology, top of the line hardware.
I'm such a geek, but at least I'm happy. So happy, in fact, that I almost think I've died and gone to Geek Heaven.
November 19, 2003
The New Lady In My Life i.e. My New Computer
I've been waiting for this day since October 31. You see, I mail-ordered my new girlfriend. And boy, oh boy, is she hot!
But today is a grand day, for my new girlfriend has arrived.
I've decided to call her my girlfriend for a couple of reasons. First, the way things have been going the last few months, I don't think I have any other prospects. Second, don't expect to see me without her. For she is my love and thus, I must take her wherever I go.
Do you remember how men and boys alike, would name their cars or their baseball bats or their guns. Well, I figure since this is the 21st century I should name my laptop.
Here's where you come in; I need help with said name. I've had some bad luck with names that have a "Long E" in them. So I know what to stay away from. I'd hate to come home one night and find my new lady in flagrante delicto with some other schmoe.
I'm open to any and all suggestions, so if you wouldn't mind. Please leave me a comment with any ideas you may have. It could be your own name, one of your favorite girlfriends' names, a funny name, any really pretty names that you'd like to name your future daughter, wives, heck, I'll even taken ex-wives (just keep it clean!).
Also, she and I are registered at Neiman-Marcus, The Sharper Image, and, of course, Target. Don't worry, no gift is too small.
November 18, 2003
So Many Distractions . . .
Tonight I'm going to buy my Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Special Edition 5-disc gift set with polystyrene Gollum figurine! I'm excited! Can you tell?
Also, I'll be seeing Maroon 5 in concert tonight.
I bought my wifi router over the weekend.
My PowerBook will be in my hot, little hands within a few short hours.
So . . much . . going . . on.
So . . . many . . . cool . . . things.
Can't . . . con . . . . cen . . . . . traaaaaa . . . . . . . .
November 14, 2003
Great News From Taiwan
I received a much welcomed email from Apple today informing me that my new PowerBook G4 is on its way direct from the factory in Taiwan.
It does strike me as rather strange that its coming directly from Taiwan to my doorstep. I, of course, would be happy to see it come from anywhere, for that matter.
November 11, 2003
Patience Sucks
Please don't read any further unless you want to hear a spoiled brat complaining.
<rant>
I hate waiting. I ordered my Apple Powerbook on October 31. I was told when I ordered it that it wouldn't ship for 10-15 business days. That's November 21 at the latest. Yeah, yeah. I have heard of Apple underpromising and overdelivering for years.
But now when I go to the Apple website and check my order status, it says it won't ship until November 25. Aaaaaaarrrrrrrggghhhhhh!!! I HATE WAITING!!!!
The reason for my lack of patience? My home computer that I built a couple of years ago is having problems with its motherboard. Basicly, it will start sometimes, but not everytime, and especially not when I need to use it. For instance, I tried using it on Sunday night to check Ebay for a wireless router that I had been watching. Did I end up buying the router? No. I didn't. The reason? Because my computer wouldn't even start!
I'm at the end of my rope. I have several freelance jobs that I'd love to be working on, but my machine won't boot.
Come on, Steve. Get your act together!
</rant>
October 27, 2003
Master of My Domain
I have purchased and routed http://www.agonotheta.com to this blog. So if you have bookmarked this site, please delete it and "re-bookmark" it. This can be easily done by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the letter D. Thanks for visiting. By the way, this is my 20th post! I told you I could do it mom!
October 23, 2003
Fuming with Geekiness
My temper has been tested as of late. I know, I know. "Neil you're getting upset about your computer! How big a geek are you?" Well, let me tell you.
Usually waking up late in the morning, the first thing I do is check my always-on, internet-connected, self-built computer for any emails that I received during my slumber, both work-related and personal. After the email has been read, responded to, and what not, I sync up my 30 Gig iPod, disconnect it from its dock and begin getting dressed. While I am very proud of my couture, I do not customarily lay out my clothes, take polaroids (as Carson from Queer Eye advises), or even spend 2 seconds picking out my ensemble for the day. I'm in the car blazing down the street to be on time.
Once I arrive at work, I get my coffee that I didn't have time to make at home, let alone drink, and sit down at my double-monitor, Wacom Intuos2 9"x12" Tablet enabled 2.4 Ghz Dell to begin a hard-working day of web design. I typically have my email application always running, along with three different web-browsers (my favorite of which has several tabs with different web pages in each), Adobe Photoshop, and Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004, and Windows Explorer. This totals seven open running applications on my desktop at any one time during the day.
Once I leave work and arrive home, I typically get something to drink, plop myself down in front of my computer once again catching up on blogs that I didn't have a chance to get to during the day, which could include my own. After doing something hopefully fun at night, I usually check email one more time before plugging in my iPod to recharge its drained 8-hour battery.
Yes, I am a geek. In fact, here it is almost 11:30 in the evening and I'm glued to my PC writing about my geekitude, if that word even exists.
At long last, why am I fuming? Well, I wouldn't be posting at this hour had my "self-built" computer not frozen up when I got home and decided not to restart. To make a long story short and skip the boring extremely geeky explanation, it has a problem.
So, what am I going to do about it? Will I replace the part? Hell no. I've had it with PC's. I'll use one at work because I have to. But at home, I don't. I sound like one of those Apple tv ads don't I? Well, its true. I should be one.
I'm going to buy, as soon as I can, a 15" Powerbook G4 from Apple!
October 16, 2003
Hell Has Frozen Over in Boston and Cali
"Hell Froze Over." This was the headline today on the apple website after Steve Jobs released iTunes for Windows. Touted as the "best Windows App ever" it will replace MusicMatch as the default jukebox application for my iPod.
Also, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees will meet head-to-head in Game 7 of the ALCS tonight. Publicized as the "Game of the Century" this could be the chance for the BoSox to shed the Curse of the Bambino.
Since the Cubbies lost last night, this is the last chance for those of us looking for gradification through one of the "Cursed" teams.
No Doubt, Bill Gates is pissed. My hope is the Bambino will join him after the game tonight.