Category
tech
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tech
Kindled
I’ve been trying to find a way to catch up on some reading I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I’m a comics nuts, primarily, and that’s my primary source of literature besides my internet blogs, I’m afraid to say.
I ordered the Kindle almost a month ago and recently got a notice saying it’s coming in the mail sometime late this week-to-early next week. Though it’s pretty expensive, I figure it could be worth it in the long run. I’ve already tracked down various sites that offer up public domain ebooks for free (such as manybooks.net) and I’ve always wanted to read many of the classics I didn’t get a chance to as a kid.
So yeah, this is my attempt to become a little more literate. Wish me luck
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games, tech
Yeah, yeah
We’ve all heard it before. More ammo for all you guys who like to make fun of WOW fans
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art, design, tech, toys
More Toys
Eyerolls from various friends aside, I've just finished putting up the other detolf shelf I purchased at Ikea and displayed all the toys I've accumulated over the years, including my Takara Japanese import reissues Transformers.
Takara, the original manufacturer in Japan, decided a couple years back to reissue a bunch of the more popular Transformers with the same materials and set ups they had back in the day. So they're all die-cast metal and very handsomely created.
I've always loved the Transformer toys growing up, but I couldn't ever really afford many of them (I think I had one little one), as they were SO expensive. And getting the originals these days is insanely expensive (they're major collectors items now), so I've been purchasing these imports. They're on the pricey side as well, and I probably ruined all collector value for them by pulling them out of their boxes, but who cares. They look fucking cool in my cabinets:
Both cabinets in the spare room.
2nd shelf with some of my faves, Optimus Prime, Megatron, and others
3rd shelf down, with various smaller figures
Bottom shelf, with the big one actually consisting of 5 smaller Transformers that connect to make one huge one.Of course, here are some of the newer additions in the other cabinet:
I found this cool, urban vinyl bomb figure at A.Okay Official by Chicago Comics. It's a rad shop, and they have all kinds of great imaginative figures there
Marvel Zombies figures! GRRRR!!! -
tech
Windows Media Center
Lately, I’ve been toying with my contraptions and figured out how to play videos on my XBOX 360 using windows media center and transcode360 (a little app that converts divx/xvid files into a format that WMC can read and stream to my xbox to play).
Honestly, it’s pretty sweet. I just watched last week’s episode of Heroes (downloaded off USENET since somehow it’s missing in my tivo currently) and ran pretty damn well.
And there’s something to be said for being able to play “Academy Men - Cold Steel” porn right on your xbox360
And don’t get me started on tivotogo. They finally activated it for HD Tivo and it’s just awesome being able to watch TV on one of my computer monitors while I game on the other.
Apparently it also allows you to save to ipod or psp to play elsewhere as well. That roxxors! -
tech
Super Hearing
Friday night i went out with , his partner Mike, and to see Annie Lennox….
It was an amazing show…I was really emotional throughout it, and one of the reasons was this was the first concert I’d ever been to where I could actually HEAR the clarity in the music. Ever.
You see, my previous digital hearing aids were designed for…well, older folks who are more interested in being able to communicate. Few of them, I’m assuming, are audiophiles who really enjoy going to concerts and listening to music. The previous hearing aids tended to distort (badly) whenever there was any loud music present. This happened to the extent that I just had to take the hearing aids out. This wouldn’t be a bad thing if my hearing loss was equally bad across the board, but unfortunately, I have a loss in the mid-ranges of sound. This means that the thumpy bass and the high sounds overpower the vocals and so I generally stopped enjoying going to shows so much.
Previously, I’d been in the habit of going to a few shows at every year since I’ve been in college. Before the digital aids, my analogs seem to handle things okay, though not with the type of clarity that I could now hear. And the fact that these hearing aids do not compress the sound allows me to hear the music in crisp detail. On top of that, I have my own volume control that can adjust both hearing aids equally so that I can enjoy the sound without it being too loud.
I got a little teary-eyed when I realized just how good these hearing aids are. So, even though I paid a fortune for them, they were worth every single penny.
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tech, tv
Television
I had another issue with Comcast today…they decided I didn’t want Showtime anymore and removed it from my package. Retards…
Anyway, it got me to thinking…why, exactly, do I have Showtime or HBO anymore? I used to have HBO because of all the great programming: Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Sex and the City, some of the Real Sex programming, and now…nothing? There’s not one show that appeals to me on HBO right now.
As for Showtime, the only reason I’m keeping that one around is because of my very favorite show on TV, Dexter. And even that I can just download off the intarwebs. I think tomorrow I’m going to probably cancel all my “premium content” channels…for that matter, I think I’m gonna call DirecTV tomorrow and give Comcrap the boot. I’ve never had so many bad experiences from a service before. Probably time to unleash myself under their oppressive, hate-their-customers, attitude.
So all this got me thinking as to what shows I’m enjoying this season. Well, as just posted about Bionic Woman, I tried to watch the first episode and it was just painful. Chuck seemed pretty ridiculously stupid too. The only new show this season I’m truly enjoying is Reaper. All the other new programs just seem pretty crappy.
So what am I watching this year?
- Dexter
- Heroes
- LOST
- Reaper
- Drawn Together
- South Park (which is, actually, on notice…they seem to hate everyone that had public attention, and go to great pains to slam them as hard as they can…see, Bono as a great pile of shit)
- Family Guy
- Simpsons
- Ugly Betty
- Project Runway (soon!)
Other than that, I can’t say I’m too interested in anything else on the boob tube these days. Which I guess is a good thing, seeing as how I watch more TV these days than I ever did pre-Tivo.
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tech
Another nerd equation
Hearing impaired Gadget Freak + BLUETOOTH hearing aids = ME WANT. NOW.
I had an audiology appointment this morning, and the doc pulled out a set of BLUETOOTH enabled hearing aids. Yes, they can be synced up with any bluetooth device (cellphone, bluetooth ipod adapter, etc…). They come with a mic that you can wear around your neck (kinda like an ipod looking thing) so you can actually talk to the people who call in. Also, the hearing aids tone down EVERYTHING in the surrounding environment so i can hear what the person on the phone is saying.
Oh God, I want these…but the main catch is they’re $7,000. Jesus, if I wasn’t buying a home right now I wouldn’t even care about the expense…but unfortunately, I am, so I guess I’m just going to have to wait.
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tech
A Confession
I’m a gadget whore. All my friends know this…they roll their eyes when I tell them I’m eyeballing some new toy that lights up with cool buttons and slick LCD screens. I guess it’s a good thing I work in the business I’m in, as it can almost justify my need to acquire these toys. Anyway, for my birthday, i got myself a couple presents.
First up, my new ipod Nano. This thing is fuckin cool. I bought it as a motivator to get my ass back in the gym, and it seems to be working. Regardless of the fact that I ALREADY OWN an ipod, I wanted something smaller and more compact for working out. The problem with the 3rd gen 30gb ipod I already own is that the damn thing is so big, I can fit a TON of music in there and I spend a ridiculous amount of time scrolling through it to find JUST THE RIGHT tune. With the Nano, I’m limited to just 4gb, which requires me to edit the music I listen to at the gym. It also requires me to update it to the latest music, something I didn’t do with the original Ipod. With my “gym tunes” playlist (which comes in at around 2gb) and a couple other albums (some mashup stuff, some dance stuff, a couple hard rock albums), I’m ready to roll.
Incidentally, I got the black one with the 4gb hard drive. Love. It.
My next birthday purchase was a universal remote that would work on all my home theater equipment. Enter the Logitech Harmony 880 remote control. I was getting really tired of hunting around for a different remote every time I wanted to, you know, turn on the TV. This new toy was a little pricey, but omfg, does it work. It connects to Logitech’s website to download the latest ID info for each component and I can customize just about everything on the screen. I now have a remote that I can press ONE BUTTON and it will automatically set everything up (tv, receiver, inputs, etc…) to play a game or watch a dvd. I find this thing WELL worth the bling.
adam schwenk
my personal site for all things geek, and, therefore, cool.
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