Category Archives: Technology

Hrm (to PS3 or not to PS3)

So, while my 360s out of action I’m considering a PS3.  I know I’ll get one eventually, and the $100 price drop on the superior 60GB model is kind of a good deal, especially when you consider the five free Blu-Ray DVDs.

I call it the superior model because they are getting rid of the PS2 emulator chip in future models.

Also interesting is the HD-DVD drive for the 360, since they also offer five free HD-DVDs.

Effectively, that’s $150 worth of free movies for each item.

What a horrible predicament.

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Device Ownership

Yesterday was a bad day if you were an electronic device owned by me.

Total casualties:

  1. Logitech PlayStation2 USB Headset
    This headset just will not be recognized, no matter which USB port I plug it into. Other headsets work fine. Thankfully, I had a spare, so impromptu City of Heroes / City of Villains session was only marginally interrupted.
  2. SanDisk Cruzer 512MB USB Key
    Recognized by my MBP, not recognized on various ports on my XP box. Thus, nearly useless.
  3. XBOX 360
    Started out by not booting. Not even the 360 logo would come up. Then booting, but crashing when loading levels in Overlord. Then booting, loading levels in Overlord, and crashing when saving games. Finally, the Red Rings of Death.

The 360 did boot one last time to the dashboard. This was followed by a frantic copying of Morgan’s user profile to the memory unit.

That was its final act.

I think the worst part about this whole thing is that I’m not angry. The 360 has been doing strange things for the six months I’ve owned it. Disc Unreadable Errors in the middle of gameplay and seemingly random freezes, have basically desensitized me to the final reality that my 360 is bricked.

All I have to say is, “Well played Peter Moore, well played.”

Now I have to decide what to do with my plastic brick. I could send it to MS, and wait possibly a few weeks to get it back. Or, I could just go down to Target and replace it immediately, considering I opted for an extended warranty with them for $30.

Neither of the two options is very appealing. My tale of woe begins.

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It really is that fast

I had the chance to play around with the much hyped iPhone.  “Surely,” thought I, “The user interface can’t be that snappy.”

Well, it is.  I was switching apps, zooming around the photos, starting up the calendar, sms, and mail apps, browsing the web and going back to the home screen just like they do in the videos.  We’ll see once they get loaded down with custom apps and widgets.  And of course, bandwidth will be different when you’re out in the field, but at least the UI is as fast as their videos portray it to be.

Protip:  to delete SMS messages, swipe your finger from left to right on the message you want to delete.  A delete button will show up for that message.  It makes you feel like you’re in the future.

Typing wasn’t as horrible as I thought it was going to be and I think it would get easier over time.  It’s an interesting experience tapping on glass rather than plastic.  I didn’t think it would feel different, but it is, since you use your finger instead of a stylus.  The only other time I’m using a finger for an interface is on a laptop touchpad, and even then, I’m using my thumb and not using it on the screen itself.

The screen looks fantastic, but of course I didn’t get to see it in the sunlight, so that little detail is still up in the air.

Coverflow is great for browsing your music and the two finger touch zoom is great when both browsing photos and the web.

Overall, I’m waiting for Rev. 2, but for right now, I feel like this would be a little expensive, coming off Wednesday’s acquisition of a 15″ MBP.

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Camera Time

Picked up a Fuji V10 from amazon the other day. It was a good dollar to megapixels ratio and a 1GB card was only twenty dollars, so that seemed like a win slash win situation.

Today is the field test so I’ll be taking pictures at the highest resolution every twenty minutes to see how it reacts in different situations. Plus, I’ve been meaning to document a day in pictures for a while now and I think 5.1 MP is a good way to do it.

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Wii!

You know, I’ve never swung a real golf club in my life. I hear that going to the range is a lot of fun and can be therapeutic. One day, maybe. But for now, I enjoy golf in video game form.

Sure, I dislike the concept of golf. “Golf,” according to Samuel Clemens, “is a good walk spoiled.”

Yet, I play golf video games. I guess it’s because they don’t have the land usage issues, country clubs, classism and cost of real golf. I’m guessing that if I did play real golf, though, I’d get just as angry as when I play the video game version and miss an “easy putt.”

This anger is intensified when playing Super Swing Golf on the Nintendo Wii. Maybe I’m angrier because I’m physically getting into the game. Taking a golf swing with the Wii remote is a much more visceral experience than pressing a button to time a swing on other consoles. I’m actually cursing when I don’t make a shot, which is different from my experience when playing Mario Golf on the Game Boy Advance.

My guess is that the extra realism just makes the double bogey harder to take.

That said, Super Swing Golf is an okay game. One that I’m glad I rented instead of purchased.

While entertaining, the game is too simplified for its own good. The cute, whimsical atmosphere of the courses are interesting, but I found myself just wanting a round of golf without stylized windmills and crazy water hazards. That and the game suffers from lengthy (for a console) loading times.

There are also strange interface issues, such as you have to use the pointer to get ready for a shot. It’s fine the first few times, but I found myself wanting to just play some golf, and press a button on the remote to address the ball, instead of aim at the television and click on a button.

While it is interesting that there is a story mode to beef up your character, it just isn’t enough to keep my interest.

Guess I’ll just have to wait for a Mario Golf or Tiger Woods option.