Dec2007 27

Check out this very cool art display, depicted a bunch of Darth Vader helmets, that have been "tricked out" / transformed into works of arts, in their own right.



{mosimage}



I think the old school motorcycle helmet-like one is my favourite.


May the art be with you.

Dec2007 26





The fifteenth episode of the GameGab Podcast is now up.


"This episode we review - Universe at War: Earth Assault. Your hosts for this podcast are Sikosis, Oddbod and Minkaman is back with working microphone in tow.



This podcast is a little longer than others as not only do we do a mini review of Crysis, but we also wrap up the year that was 2007 with our Best of series.







'GameGab'



Alternatively, try our PageFlakes site.

Dec2007 24

Wishing you all a very Happy and Safe Christmas.

We wish that all your dreams come true over the holiday season. We wish you more presents than bugs in your favourite software. We also wish you a Happy New Year.



Dec2007 11

Gone Phishin'

Posted In Official |

{mosimage}This morning I was woken up around 6am not by my boss, but GoDaddy. It seems that one of my domains, PBDB.net - Australia's Premier Paintball Database site, was being used in a phishing scam.



After rubbing the crust from my eyes and looking at the email GoDaddy had sent me, I determined that the phishers / hackers / script kiddies had used an exploit in Joomla, the content management system I'm using for PBDB. I was a version behind, because when I last tried to update it, Joomla suffered from the same problems as other CMS's suffer - poor upgradeability and hence was in version-limbo.



Anyway, back to this morning. Whilst GoDaddy were in my ear about shutting my site down permanently, I told them I had deleted the offending directory, which pleased them and GoDaddy then wished me to have a nice day. As if.



There are lessons to be learnt here. 1) Keep your software up to date OR 2) Get better software, which means I should spend more time working on Depot.

Dec2007 07

{mosimage}Updates to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare have been released. This patch addresses the issue reported by community member Uzi Kidding which now catches some files bypassing the pure client test.



In addition this update will set properties so that Anti-lag is always enabled upon map loads, an optimization for Sniper Rifle accuracy at certain distances (as well as ACOG scopes), as well a fix so text chat between rounds of multiplayer will no longer cut out at the end.


The 1.3 patch will also include all previous fixes from previous patches to v1.2.



You can download the patch here (AusGamers).

Dec2007 06



Dec2007 03

Here's a very clever music parody video using Billy Joel's "We didn't start the fire".







Dec2007 02

Free Rice

Posted In Official |

{mosimage}FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.



FreeRice has two goals:


  1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
  2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.



This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on their site.



So, make this a regular site you visit, as your donated rice helps. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you've helped to provide.

Dec2007 02

Internet icon Tay is back, this time with Mista Johnson in Cherry Chocolate Rain, a new ad for Dr Pepper's new Cherry Chocolate beverage.




Dec2007 01

{mosimage}"US start-up Bug Labs has designed several basic hardware modules that snap together like building blocks to perform whatever mobile function their owners can think of.



“There are so many great gadget ideas that haven't been thought of yet,” the founders note. “We want to unlock and inspire the discovery and creation of as many of these devices as possible.” Besides letting them add whatever they want, the snap-together components also let consumers leave out what they don't want, which is a far cry from many pre-packaged mobile phones and PDAs that come crammed with features their buyers have no use for.



How it works? Would-be product designers start with Bug Labs’ basic module—in essence, a Linux-based mobile computer. Then, they add other modules to give the basic device fresh capabilities. Want a camera that tags photos with a GPS-derived location and then uploads them to the web? All it takes is fitting the necessary components together.



The software to run the device is also modular, though customizing it may require some minor coding. Bug Labs aims to start selling both the basic module and the first four add-ons (GPS, digital camera/videocam, colour LCD touchscreen and an accelerometer/motion sensor) by the end of 2007. "



Click here for more.

Nov2007 21





The fourteenth episode of the GameGab Podcast is now up.


"This episode we review - Timeshift . Your hosts for this podcast are Oddbod, Sikosis and once again Mojo is back.



Unfortunately, Minkaman couldn’t make it and Eazy-P is sick, so strap on your quantum suits as we master time to become the ultimate weapon."



'GameGab'








Alternatively, try our PageFlakes site.

Nov2007 21

{mosimage}Updates to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare have been released.


This patch optimizes the Lean view offset issue, addressing the glitch reported by several community members and documented and sent in directly by community member GaretJax which is commonly referred to as the "Left / Vertical Lean" Glitch, in addition to preparing files for compatibility with the future release of the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Mod Tools.



This patch will update you to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to v1.2.



You can download the patch here (AusGamers).

Nov2007 18

{mosimage}"The dominoes continue to fall as a result of the current Writers Guild of America strike. Although some shows, such as The Office and 30 Rock, shut down almost immediately, other programs keep on trucking because they still have a few scripts in the tank.



The ripples of the Hollywood rift have reached far beyond Southern California. Previous reports about endangered Canadian productions have now been confirmed by the Canadian affiliate of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Among the shows presently shuttered are NBC's Bionic Woman and Sci-Fi's Battlestar Galactica, according to The Vancouver Sun."



Also, I've heard that Supernatural will stop filming in early December and Smallville will continue production through to January 23.

Nov2007 12

{mosimage}Today, I launched a new web site/tool that I've been working on sporatically over the last week and a bit. So, without further ado, I unveil the Chicklet Maker.



With this site, you can create chicklets (or 80 x 15 buttons) that are quite popular on many web sites. You should actually see a bunch of them in the sidebar of my site.


So, why not head on over and start making some for your site today.

Nov2007 11

{mosimage}On the weekend, I began what seemed like a weekend of updates, by first upgrading my 3 Ubuntu Linux based machines from 7.04 (Fiesty Fawn) to 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) and then I moved onto updated my 3 Macs from Tiger to Leopard.



Now that it's done, I'm starting to have fun with Leopard. Look out for my full review soon.

Nov2007 06

{mosimage}The US screenwriters' union has called a strike starting next Monday to demand a fair share in royalty payments from DVDs and new media sales. About 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America are being asked to cease work and set up picket lines.



"Television will see the most immediate impact of a strike, with late night programs hit first. Without writers on staff to create monologues, shows like CBS's The Late Show With David Letterman and Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart will likely go into repeats fairly quickly. Within a month or so, daytime soaps will probably follow suit.



Prime-time schedules would appear relatively unchanged for a couple of months, since a handful of episodes have already been prepared. But if the strike drags on the 2008 schedule will be heavy on reality shows (not covered by the current contracts) and reruns.



Emmy-winning writer, director and producer Ken Levine, whose TV credits include M*A*S*H, Cheers and Frasier, agrees. "It's like if you're a restaurant that's struggling, it's not a good idea to close on the weekends."



Click here or here for the full story.

Oct2007 29

Don't Cry(sis) For Me

Posted In |

{mosimage}So, apparently the super, spectacular game blockbuster also known as the DirectX 10 showcase game, Crysis is out off beta testing and ready for public testing in demo form.



Having been rejected from the beta testing for not having a rig up to specs, even though EA didn't take my SLI *kachink* setup into consideration, this game is already bitter for me. And it's just gotten worse ...



I downloaded the double-whopper-sized demo (1.8GB) from Ausgamers using their torrent facility, however, this is where it went wrong. This is now the third game I have tried to download from this service that has turned out to be fine when downloaded but on execution, a file within the installer or self-extracting EXE is corrupt.



The first time, I thought it was my system. The second time, I thought it was bizarre. Now, I know it's not my system and in the future, I'll be downloading from another mirror service until Ausgamers can get their act together.



Anyway, to add insult to injury, I've heard Crysis is tha goods, even on XP (DirectX 9.0c) machines.

Oct2007 23

With Apple's latest Mac OS X version Leopard being released on 26th October (27th for us Aussies), they have revved up the marketing machine with a guided tour.






Check it out and then wait with baited breathe for Leopard's release. Personally, I'll be waiting until the Family Pack (5 licensed copies for $249 AU -- beat that Microsoft) is available, which usually is about a week after it launches.

Oct2007 21





The thirteenth episode of the GameGab Podcast is now up.


"This episode we review - Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Your hosts for this podcast are Sikosis, Oddbod and special guest - Mojo (No, not the hoff :P)."



'GameGab'







NB: Please note Odeo are hopeless at updating their embedded player.



Please use the link to head on over to the GameGab site or alternatively, try the new PageFlakes page.

Oct2007 20

Defraggler

Posted In Microsoft |

{mosimage}From the folks who brought us CCleaner and Recuva, comes a new tool for your Windows IT arsenal - Defraggler.



This application differs from other defragmentation tools in that you can "defrag the files you want to, without having to process the whole drive."


And best of all, it's free to use at Home and in a Corporate environment.

Oct2007 14

{mosimage}For the past 5 weeks, I have been trying to record NFL games on Foxtel's IQ system with no success.



When recording, you have two options, 1) you can use "automatic", which so far I've never seen record an entire show or 2) record 10 minutes after. Unfortunately, that's the maximum you can make it and I have missed the ending of 10 games, which is everything I've recorded this season. I am not happy at all.



I tried to ring Foxtel about it, after waiting 5 minutes on hold, I finally got through and then was cut off. Phoning Foxtel is the only way to contact them, so here's hoping I don't have to ring them again this week, otherwise, I'll consider cutting Foxtel off completely.

Oct2007 11

{mosimage} After waiting 4 weeks on back order, my latest purchase has landed ... an 8GB Corsair Flash Voyager GT USB Drive.



This USB drive is shock proof, water resistant and 3 times quicker than standard USB drives. In fact, it's 50% quicker than a 8GB Transcend Hi-Speed drive, which I borrowed for testing purposes.



It also comes preloaded with TrueCrypt ... sweet (Gold Plated Dog!!!).



It looks cool and has a nice, clear blue LED when it's in use. Set phasers to stun and jump to warp factor 9 -- in other words, it's the goods.

Oct2007 11

{mosimage}

Oct2007 09

SeeqPod

Posted In |

{mosimage}There is a ton of music and videos out there on the web, in social networking sites and the like, but how do you find it ? With Seeqpod, of course.


Seeqpod enables you to search the web by artist, to find their music or similar tracks and create playlists or tag tracks.


So, why not head on over and start discovering some new music.

Oct2007 05

{mosimage}If Facebook is 98% open, Google wants to be 100%.



Yesterday a select group of fifteen or so industry luminaries attended a highly confidential meeting at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View to discuss the company’s upcoming plans to address the “Facebook issue.”



The meeting was so secret that all attendees had to sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements strictly forbidding them from discussing what was shown to them at the meeting. Notwithstanding that NDA, I’ve now spoken with three of the attendees off record to get an understanding of what Google is planning. Google’s goal - to fight Facebook by being even more open than the Facebook Platform.



Click here for more on this interesting story.

Oct2007 02





The twelfth episode of the GameGab Podcast is now up.


"This episode we review - Bioshock. Your hosts for this podcast are Oddbod, Sikosis and Minkaman.



Eazy-P is off studying, so it’s just us three again, as we wipe the sweat from our brows and get stuck into another interesting review."



'GameGab'







NB: Please note Odeo are hopeless at updating their embedded player.



Please use the link to head on over to the GameGab site or alternatively, try the new PageFlakes page.

Sep2007 30

{mosimage}"Responding to feedback from customers and third parties, Microsoft has extended the availability of Windows XP to both original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and retail channels through to June 30, 2008.



Originally slated to be pulled from retail shelves and OEMs on January 30, 2008—only a year after Windows Vista's debut—customers requested more time to prepare for the upgrade to Vista."



Click here for more information.

Sep2007 28

{mosimage}It's a question that's been asked of me by a number of people - my father, a mate (friend for you non-Australians), a number of co-workers and I've even been asking myself that question lately. Why so often ? Of course, I know the answer ... it's because of the iPhone.



That's the reason for the number of recent updates. No new features for us non-iPhone users. So, what good are these updates anyway, it's not like us Australians have access to iPhones. At least not until sometime in 2008. What's more alarming is that none of the Australian carriers have announced they'll carry it.



Now all I can see, is get ready for the next batch of updates. Why ? Because Apple released a slew of patches, along with the iPod Touch being launched today. And it'll have bugs or it'll get cracked and Apple will fix the issue by giving us the entire iTunes suite as a download everytime. This is what gets up my goat. Where is the nice Auto-Update and Auto-Installer ? It should just be like Software Update, an progress bar and when it's done, it's done.



Also, another moot point. They should take a leaf out of Firefox's book, on how to do updates. When Firefox is updated, you only have to download the parts that have been affected, making for a much smaller download - whereas, with iTunes, you get the whole enchilada.



Here endeth the rant ...

Sep2007 21

{mosimage}"Google has pushed out another under-the-radar product, this time a sharing service aptly named Google Shared Stuff. The new service offers a means to share links via a browser bookmarklet that you can drag into your toolbar.



The concept is the same as that behind del.icio.us, Ma.gnolia and the various other bookmark sharing sites. Visit a page, click the bookmarklet and a pop-up window allows you to share the link with others."



For more information, check out this Wired article. Google is just one step closer to taking over the web in terms of the web's finest offerings.

Sep2007 19

{mosimage}"An emboldened IBM challenged Microsoft's desktop application dominance with the introduction on Tuesday of IBM Lotus Symphony, a suite of free desktop applications.



Lotus Symphony is made up of three applications--word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs--which IBM already ships as part of Lotus 8. "



The offering is in beta and is available as a free download with "community support" from IBM's Web site. IBM is considering other support options, according to a company executive."



I see there is a Windows and Linux version, but sadly, no Mac OS X. It's a good start. Anyway, for the full lowdown, click here.

Sep2007 15





The eleventh episode of the GameGab Podcast is now up.


"This episode we review - Loki. Your hosts for this podcast are Minkaman, Sikosis and Oddbod.



Unfortunately, Eazy-P is absent studying at the moment. So, it's just us three and what a varied review it turned out to be."



'GameGab'







NB: Please note Odeo are hopeless at updating their embedded player.



Please use the link to head on over to the GameGab site or alternatively, try the new PageFlakes page.

Sep2007 12

{mosimage}"BRISBANE internet users will miss out on Australia's fastest consumers broadband service.



Telstra yesterday switched on the upgraded BigPond HFC cable network that will make download speeds of up to 30 megabits per second (Mbps) available to 1.85 million homes and businesses – but only in Sydney and Melbourne.



BigPond group managing director Justin Milne said there were no plans to give customers outside of the two capital cities access even though 950,000 customers use the network in Brisbane and Adelaide.



Telco analyst Paul Budde said Telstra had a history of only doing business in markets where it faced losing money."

Sep2007 12

Our Day at HUMBUG

Posted In Haiku |

Our Day at HUMBUG"On the 8th September, I attended a local Unix user group called HUMBUG, at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

This was their Annual General Meeting, which was very much an informal gathering of 34 unix users and with the Haiku presence we had, we definitely made an impression; certainly more people know about Haiku than yesterday, and that's gotta be a good thing.

Earlier that day when I was driving to the University, I got stuck behind this white hatchback, which had the license plate letters KDL. I thought, this was some sort of omen, however, I can announce there were no hiccups during the demos I gave."

For more of this article, head on over to the Haiku Official Site.

Sep2007 07

Here's a pretty funny video by Dan Meth, showing the history of everyone or thing that became famous on the net, set to a little ditty.

Sep2007 04

{mosimage}Get those silver ballers locked and loaded, cos the Hitman movie trailer is now available for consumption over at the Apple Trailers site.



The Hitman movie is directed by Xavier Gens and stars Tim Olyphant as Agent 47. When I first heard he was the star, I was a little dubious - originally Vin Diesel was the front-runner for the job, I also thought Jason Statham would have done a good job, however, after seeing this trailer, I don't think I've been disappointed.




Wire-action, Silver ballers and the Opera music ... oh yes, I'm really looking forward to this movie now.

Aug2007 25

ITM Productions is back with Part 1 of South Pacs 2007, which was held on the 4th/5th August. 19 teams battled it out at Samford Skirmish, which hosted Round 3 of the Super 7 Series aka South Pacs 2007, one of the longest running and most competitive paintball tournaments in Australia.



Update: Unfortunately, there really wasn't enough footage to justify making a 2nd part. Sorry.

Aug2007 23

Haiku Podcast"Happy 6th Birthday Haiku OS !!! It's that time once again, the Haiku Podcast - Episode #10.

I'm now back from travelling around the globe, we've got tons of news for you this month, as well as my impressions of FalterCon, the impromtu Haiku gathering that took place at Linux Picn*x, our BeBits choice app and what we'll be up to very shortly ..."

You can find us on iTunes, Feedburner or visit us at HaikuPodcast.com.

Aug2007 18

FalterCon 2007 took place on August 11, as part of the Linux 16th Anniversary Picnic held at the Sunnyvale Baylands Park in California, USA. For more information, check out http://www.myhaiku.org/faltercon/.




Camera: Michael Summers / Urias McCullough

Editor: Sikosis





Aug2007 12





The tenth episode of the GameGab Podcast is now up.


"This episode we review - The Transformers. Your hosts for this podcast are Sikosis, Oddbod and Eazy-P.



Unfortunately, Minkaman was regrettably detained and Melonfarmer has now stepped down from GameGab duties."



'GameGab'





Aug2007 09

{mosimage}After getting all excited watching the Steve Jobs keynote and trying to watch the iLife '08 guided tour (it dies after 30 seconds in, others I know have the same problem), I always had in the back of my mind, I wonder if my PowerPC based G5 will work.



Steve said it would work with all iMacs and so does that clown on the guided tour -- yet, after doing some research myself, this is NOT the case at all.



The specs for iMovie '08 are an iMac Intel or iMac G5 with a 1.9 Processor or better. G4 iMacs are out, as are G5's under that, which includes my 1.8Ghz machine. Oh well, so the new iLife won't be for me. I bought my iMac on 18th Feb 2005 -- 2 years, 5 months, 23 days ago.



Update: The processor restrictions only apply to iMovie - as I have 3 Macs, one being a new iMac Intel that the missus uses, she'll be upgrading to the new iLife for $99 AU, but for an extra $30 you can get the Family pack of iLife, so I might as well upgrade and see how it goes.



After all, my G5 is running Final Cut Express HD with no problems ... so why should iMovie be any different ? If it is, this just tells me the guy who re-wrote it from scratch was a poor coder.

Aug2007 04

Regatta Cam

Posted In |

{mosimage}When driving back from UQ with Mojo today after South Pacs, we were going past the Regatta Hotel and Mojo told me about these web cams they have available on their site.



We then thought what better way to help promote the hotel and show your passion for this Aussie icon than a Facebook app.



So, get your Facebook on here

Aug2007 04

South Pacs 2007Today was the first day of play at Samford Skirmish which hosts Round 3 of the Super 7 Series aka South Pacs 2007, one of the longest running and most competitive paintball tournaments in Australia.

Team numbers were lower this year with only 19 competing, down from 26 teams last year.
I didn't compete with Paint Savvy this year, as I'd been traveling, instead, I was there under the guise of ITM Productions and as Official PBDB Photographer, along with the aid of ace flickr-photographer, Mojodale.

Aug2007 01

{mosimage}Having spent the last couple of weeks focused on developing apps for Facebook, I've come to the conclusion -- it's not worth the hassle.



Not only do they have restrictive code, they use FBML (Facebook Markup Language) that won't allow certain HTML or any Javascript calls, however it's the way their system works, which is what I have a problem with.


Apps on Facebook aren't dynamic. Facebook caches your first call and won't change that, unless you give another call to refresh the content. When you do that, you can use what's called an "Infinite Session key", in order to refresh all the other users of your app.


As you can see, if I don't refresh the content, then user's will be left with profiles with old content. All my apps are ones that need to be refreshed daily, meaning I need to visit Facebook daily and need to click on each app to update. Personally, I think they've done that deliberately to drive up their pageviews / site traffic.


Another issue I have is, Facebook is rolling in cash, yet developers get no help from the company itself. Developers have to help each other with Discussion Boards and Wikis, that may or may not have the right information. I've heard of User-generated content, but User-generated support ? That's a new one on me.

Jul2007 29

{mosimage}Today I also wrote a Facebook app for Diesel Sweeties - the Comic Strip.




One of my fav online comic strips, I was hooked on the style the minute I saw it.



So, if you're on Facebook, get hooked too. Oh and crush all humans!

Jul2007 28

{mosimage}Today I wrote a Facebook app for Dilbert - the Comic Strip.




There was another app, but they started putting ads in people's profiles, so I decided to write my own, ad free on the profile of course.



So, if you're on Facebook, check it out.

Jul2007 25

GameGab on Facebook

Posted In |

{mosimage}Today I wrote a Facebook app for GameGab - yours and my favourite Gaming podcast.




Due to restrictions on Facebook, such as no javascript, we just list the latest episodes.



So, show you allegiance, if you're on Facebook, and add this app.

Jul2007 23

Haiku Build FactoryToday I wrote a Facebook app for the Haiku Build Factory - where you get your Haiku OS fix.

This app displays the latest Build image with links to the VMware image and the Official site.

Are you down with Haiku and on Facebook ? If so you must add this app now.

Jul2007 22

{mosimage}On the weekend, I wrote my first Facebook app called the Japanese Word of the Day.




Each day you will be presented with a new Japanese word, along with it's English translation and a couple of phrases where you might use the word.



So, if you're on Facebook, head on over and add this app to your profile.

Jul2007 19

{mosimage}Last week, I bought a XtremeMac Tuff Wrap for my iPod nano (2nd Gen) from NextByte. Originally, I was looking for something cheap for about $10 -- this was $30 and came with a decent clip -- or so I thought.


This morning was the first time I'd used the clip, I clipped it to my belt and then went to look at the screen ... the nano then just fell from my belt, the clip broke into 4 different pieces. A small piece of plastic that held the clip together had broken, rendering it useless.


Talk about weak plastic.

Jul2007 18

iPod nano Lock Up

Posted In Music |

{mosimage}This morning I was on the train and my iPod nano (2nd Gen) locked up when trying to play a podcast. Not being near a browser, there wasn't anything I could do, but here's what you need to do in order to reset it:-




  1. Toggle the "Hold" switch On, then Off again.
  2. Press and hold down the Menu and Center buttons for several seconds.
  3. The unit should reset to factory defaults.

Jul2007 15

{mosimage}I can sum this movie up in one word - silly. Michael Bay has taken it upon himself to single-handedly crush the life out of the Transformers that I know and love.



This movie is just wrong on so many levels. It comes across like another stupid American-Terrorist-Army movie, in which the US army treats both Autobots and Decepticons as invading aliens. At one point, I was like, ummm, isn't this meant to be a Transformers movie ? So, where are the Transformers and why aren't they center-stage ?



The best thing about this movie, is they used the voice talent of Peter Cullen, the original Optimus Prime voice from the 80's cartoons. Hugo Weaving, was just wasted as the voice of Megatron.



All and all, it's a big budget, slow and long (2hrs 24mins) CGI-fest, with a crappy story. Hasbro, you've sold out, but I'm sure you'll make a truck-load in the process.



Rating:
"star" 
"star"

Jul2007 08





The ninth episode of the GameGab Podcast is now up.


"This episode we review - Colin Mcrae: DiRT. Your hosts for this podcast are Sikosis and Oddbod."



'GameGab'





Jul2007 06

07.07.07

Posted In Official |

{mosimage}Today is the 7th of the 7th in 2007, a rather significant date and also when there are rock concerts happening on every continent around the globe, to try and bring awareness to climate change via Live Earth.



I'm down with the flu, so I'll be sleeping through much of it, though I hope to catch the Beastie Boys who will be in London.



Update 8/7: At 7:30am this morning, I got to see the Beastie Boys performing, tearing it up quite nicely.

Jul2007 01

""Today, Lisa and I went to the Festitalia 2007 event at the RNA Showgrounds.


After a rather long walk from the Brunswick St train station to the entrance, we were then greeted by lots of nice Italian food on offer. Ravioli, Lasagne, Cannoli, BBQ Octopus and Pancakes were just some of the great food we got to sample - my favourite being the BBQ'd squid. Yummm.



I took a couple of snaps, which can be found here.

Jun2007 28

{mosimage}Apple has released a Security Update for the Mac, containing an update for their WebKit.



For more information, click here

Jun2007 26

{mosimage}Lifehacker have an article today about a cool little app called ViStart.



"ViStart not only offers the Vista style eye-candy and transparency for XP, but also the highly regarded quick search function of Vista. ViStart was designed to be included in the Vista Transformation Pack, however you can grab a stand alone version if you would prefer not to install the entire pack."

Jun2007 24

Google"CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos takes a tour of Google's new solar-panel installation, now believed to be the largest for a company in North America. Kanellos toured the Mountain View, California US."
Google said they should have the installation paid off by 7.5 years with the panels lasting 40 years. How cool is that ... I definitely need to get on the solar bandwagon.

Jun2007 22

Folding@Home on a PS3

Posted In |

A mate of mine, mojodale, lent me his Playstation 3, so instead of playing games, I hooked it up to the net and installed the distributed computing project - Folding@Home. It's now happily crunching away taking 7-8 hours per work unit.


I was feeding the PS3 video signal through my iMac, so I thought I might as well capture some footage and make a little vid.




Jun2007 20

{mosimage}Apple have now released update 10.4.10 for PowerPC and Intel-based Macs running Tiger. The update includes general operating system fixes, as well as fixes for:


  • RAW camera support
  • Mounting and unmounting external USB devices
  • Support for 3rd party software applications
  • Security updates

Jun2007 18

{mosimage}Stan Schroeder from Mashable says "It’s time to toss the old tube to the dumpster." and has a guide on 33 Ways to Watch Free TV Online.


The big issue with IPTV is bandwidth, especially with us Australians who have plans which are capped once your bandwidth allowance has been reached. And being capped is no fun at all.

We can only hope that this might drive the ISPs to up their allowances.

Jun2007 12

{mosimage}Watch Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveil and demo Mac OS X Leopard features in his World Wide Developer Conference keynote address from San Francisco's Moscone West.


He also thanks Intel for their support, advised that EA are back with Mac versions of C&C 3 and BF2142, as well a simulation releases of their EA support titles coming to the Mac, John Carmack from ID showed off some new game for the Mac, with more news to come at E3.


Then came Leopard, as Steve showed off a couple of new features such as the New Finder and Quicklook, but the most stunning piece of news was Safari for Windows.

Jun2007 01

{mosimage}Feedburner, the RSS management and advertising service is now part of the Google family.

Mashable reports "It only made sense for Google to buy Feedburner, as it can be integrated with the Google analytics platform, and incorporated into its ads systems as well. Google’s definitely been on a buying spree lately, looking to further bulk up its advertising offerings.

But the best part about Feedburner being added to Google is the many ways in which it could be incorporated into its current offerings, and future growth."

May2007 25

Check out this filth game ...







Yes, I'm posting this from Tokyo, Japan from my newly acquired Sony VAIO VGN-UX71.

May2007 04

{mosimage}



What a disappointing movie !



Rating: "star"
"star"

May2007 04

{mosimage}An enjoyable movie, with some fun bits, but didn't live up to the fun and excitement that the first movie convenyed.



Rating: "star"
"star"
"star"

Apr2007 21

Hinched

Posted In Official |

"Married"Today I got married.


It was a rather surreal day, like every Saturday morning, I woke up the same time I normally do for work, so instead I did a little surfing and then tuned into the Fabio / Grooverider Show.



I then posted on my Jaiku, broke my high score on Desktop Tower Defence, the Mother-in-Law dropped around catered sandwiches (which we're awesome) and my Mum and Dad dropped in to take some pre-photos.


All in all, it was a good day. Rather relaxing, not too much stress, I just went with the flow and all was good. Personally, I'm more excited and anxious for our Honeymoon - Around in World in 40 Days.

Apr2007 20

{mosimage}RawSugar started as a social bookmarking site, which failed to gain traction, tried paying users, slipped further, fired their employees and sold their assets, got declared dead by the blogosphere and now miraculously start a fresh with an entirely new site.



According to Mashable, "RawSugar is back, baby, and the sequel has more action, more explosions and mindblowing special effects. Or perhaps not. The new version, launched on Thursday night, actually looks more like an off-the-shelf template than ever before. That 1990s stock photography isn’t winning anyone over, either.



The site, now seemingly owned by the book site Suggestica, is composed of user-organized content channels, ranked by popularity. I can only really find one good channel right now - Web 2.0 - and that page just feels kind of Digg-like."

Apr2007 20

{mosimage}Security Update 2007-004 is recommended for all users and improves the security of the following components:


  • AFP Client
  • AirPort
  • CarbonCore
  • diskdev_cmds
  • fetchmail
  • ftpd
  • gnutar
  • Help Viewer
  • HID Family
  • Installer
  • Kerberos
  • Libinfo
  • Login Window
  • network_cmds
  • SMB
  • System Configuration
  • URLMount
  • Video Conference
  • WebDAV


For detailed information on this update, please visit this website.

Apr2007 11

The Death of Palm ?

Posted In |

{mosimage}Palm announced today that a "new devices will run the Palm OS on a Linux platform which has been under development for several years.



The new platform will support existing Palm OS applications. Palm has sold off its PalmOS, but recently purchased a perpetual license for the Palm OS5 "Garnet" operating system."




Which makes me think, well why did they buy BeOS and shelf it, when they initially said that they were reworking the code for the PalmOS. I'm yet to see anything useful come from any Linux distro, even the embedded systems have their warts. Could this be the death of Palm ? Could this mean when Apple's iPhone drops in 2008, that it'll be the new PDA of choice.

Apr2007 11

{mosimage}"Eleven of Australia's second-tier telcos and Internet service providers have banded together to fight against what they describe as a "campaign of misinformation" by Telstra on the subject of telecommunications regulation.



AAPT/PowerTel, Austar, iiNet, Internode, Macquarie Telecom, Primus, Telarus, TransACT, Unwired and Westnet today launched their Tell The Truth Telstra or "T4" campaign in Canberra to "educate" legislators and the public about what they describe as "the facts behind the state of broadband and telecommunications regulation in Australia".

Apr2007 10

{mosimage}"China's growing band of young internet gamers will face virtual penalties if they stay online for more than three hours, under a new set of rules to combat cyber addiction published today.



Chinese authorities have voiced increasing concern in recent months about the number of teenagers who spend hours and sometimes days in internet cafes playing games."

Apr2007 09

Haiku Podcast"Back for 2007, it's the Haiku Podcast - Episode #09 - our one year anniversary episode.

We've got lots to catch up on this month, as well as we have an interview with Team Haiku's operators - Curtis Wanner and Urias McCullough."

You can find us on iTunes, Feedburner or visit us at HaikuPodcast.com.

Apr2007 08

Jaiku

Posted In Comic |

{mosimage}Jaiku (not to be confused with Haiku), is a web site that brings all sorts of different RSS feeds together onto the one page.


You can also do micro-blog-type posts and manage contacts looking at other Jaiku user's feeds.



Click here to check mine out.

Apr2007 06

"Back for April with Episode Two, we start things off with the teaser trailer of MySims, followed by our review of Spectrobes and topping it all off with the latest Puzzle Quest trailer."






Spectrobes Rating: "*" "*" "*" "*"

Apr2007 05

Launchy for the PC

Posted In |

I recently came across a cool little app for Windows called Launchy, an Open Source program similar to QuickSilver for OS X.



{mosimage}



For those unfamilar with QuickSilver, Launchy is activated with a simple key combination and then you are prompted to launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks. While it’s nowhere as comprehensive as QuickSilver, it is joy to have and no doubt long awaited for XP users.



These types of apps remind me of one I was developing in the early 90s called Gravity that had the same functionality, but was also part AI that you could interact with as well.

Apr2007 03

Bigpond, the joke ISP

Posted In |

{mosimage}Bigpond, the self-called Internet experts are a joke.



My fiance recently sent out 20-30 email invitation to our wedding using Google Mail and because of that, she has now had her email address blocked by Bigpond. After ringing them to find out what was the problem, the Telstra employee advised that our address has been blocked for sending spam (the invites). Their advice was that we talk to our ISP, even though, we had informed the guy we used GMail, so there is no ISP involved. This just goes to show that Bigpond employees don't have a clue what they're talking about.



There is a lesson to be learned here. Don't sign up with ISPs like Telstra Bigpond.



Updated 10/4: Telstra have confirmed that Google's mail servers were blacklisted by BigPond for being used to distribute spam and have hit back at Google saying that "Google had approached BigPond about the issue last Thursday but did not immediately take steps to address it."


Ah, so now Telstra are saying they knew about the issue, but still fobbed us off when we rang up about the problem. This is Telstra's typical support at work, their "talk to the hand" attitude.

Mar2007 21

{mosimage}"Security company Kaspersky claimed that Vista's User Account Control (UAC), the system of user privileges that can be used to restrict users' administrative rights, will be so annoying that users will disable it.



Natalya Kaspersky, the company's chief executive, said that without UAC, Vista will be less secure than Windows XP SP2. "There's a question mark if Vista security has improved, or has really dropped down," she said to our sister site ZDNet UK at the CeBIT show in Hanover last week."



Click here for the full story.

Mar2007 15

{mosimage}The 10.4.9 Update is recommended for PowerPC and Intel-based Mac computers currently running Mac OS X Tiger version 10.4.8 and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes or compatibility updates for the following applications and technologies:



  • RAW camera support
  • Handling of large or malformed images that could cause crashes
  • Image capture performance
  • Mouse scrolling and keyboard shortcuts
  • Font handling
  • Playback quality, and bookmarks in DVD Player
  • USB video conferencing cameras for use with iChat
  • Bluetooth devices
  • Browsing AFP servers
  • Apple USB Modem
  • Windows-created digital certificates
  • Open and Print dialogs in applications that use Rosetta on Intel-based Macs
  • Time zone and daylight saving for 2006 and 2007
  • Security updates

Mar2007 13

"The project is a film version of the Jagged Alliance series, which will be produced by largely unknown Hollywood-based multimedia entertainment company Union Entertainment.


The Jagged Alliance series tells the story of an elite group of mercenaries who undertake a variety of missions at the whim of the highest bidder. The film version will focus on such aspects as the cutthroat relationships between the characters, who must rely on but can never trust each other."



"Jagged



The Jagged Alliance series started in 1994 as a turn-based strategy DOS game, and has so far spawned five sequels. There is currently a Jagged Alliance 3D game for the PC being developed by MiST Land South and was due for release in "early 2006." This project failed to materialise, but it is still "under development," according to the release.


A Jagged Alliance 2 version for the DS has also been announced.



Click here for the full story.

Mar2007 12

"Back once again, with Episode 2 of The DS Show. This episode is dedicated to GDC 2007 - Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and other news."








Mar2007 11





The eighth episode of the GameGab Podcast is now up.


"This episode we review - Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Your hosts for this podcast are Eazy-P, Oddbod and Sikosis.



Join the star-studded cast of C&C 3 and the Gabbers in this devil of an episode."


'GameGab'





Mar2007 08

FoxTorrent

Posted In Comic |

{mosimage}"FoxTorrent is a Firefox extension that lets you click on a .torrent link and download right inside FireFox, without some bloated UI getting in the way. Not only that, FoxTorrent lets you stream video straight from the torrent – even DivX-encoded AVIs.



FoxTorrent autoconfigures for NATs and firewalls, is bandwidth friendly, downloads in the background (so it continues even if you close FireFox), and perhaps best of all – combines the power of both the BitTorrent and Red Swoosh networks for faster downloads than you’ve ever thought possible."



The beta site is here (username: beta, password: betatest2007) - Don’t get too excited, right now it’s pretty bare.

Mar2007 05

"Episode 1 of The DS Show is now available for consumption. It features trailers of Tankbeat, Pogo Island and Lost in Blue 2."





Mar2007 04

Over at one of my other sites, the one dedicated to the Nintendo DS platform, I've released the first of many video podcasts called The DS Show. It started due to the lack of dedicated Nintendo DS video podcasts, I thought I'd step up and bring what I have to the table.



Trailers, New Products and Game Reviews from the comfort of your lounge room. This is what we hope to achieve with this site.




So, to kick things off, here's our first episode of The DS Show - featuring a review of Hotel Dusk: Room 215.








Our Rating: "*" "*" "*" "*" "*"

Feb2007 28





The seventh episode of the GameGab Podcast is now up.


"This episode we review - Infernal. Your hosts for this podcast are Minkaman, Oddbod and Sikosis. Melon was having technical difficulties and Eazy-P was in the study abyss also nursing a dead mobo."


'GameGab'





Feb2007 26

{mosimage}On the 24th February, my fiancee and I travelled to Sydney, as the Orange County Choppers guys were coming downunder. Check out my photo gallery of the event.


What a day it was. Being from QLD, we were able to weather the very hot Sydney day as the humidity wasn't like anything we have up here. However, that didn't stop a few Sydney goers dropping from the heat. And would you believe, an event of this size, there was no St Johns Ambulance tent ? In fact, the organizers put on a rather disappointing event, logistics wise. There were only 2 places to get water / food and we had to cue up for over an hour to get something to drink. Add the 30+ minutes cue time to get in and the over an hour at the merchandising store, you'd think all we did all day was form cues.


Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the Teutuls, except from their balcony. We got to see Poole and the hard-working wire-god Vinnie. We still enjoyed ourselves, I was happy to see the Comanche Chopper, however, after being their since 12pm, we left around 6pm when it started to rain as we were advised that 104km winds were on their way.



Feb2007 24

{mosimage}ITWire write a rather scathing but true account of broadband in Australia thanks to Telstra.


The article goes on to say "BigPond is internet for dummies an no-one in their right mind would sign up with BigPond if they had an alternative. So why do people pay good money for this junk? Because they're stupid and they don't know any better.



If the government wants to fix broadband in this country, it should start by protecting people against ISPs selling such crap."

Feb2007 05

Superbowl XLI

Posted In Official |

{mosimage}Congratulations to the Indianapolis Colts who battled it out for the win against the Chicago Bears, in the pouring rain in Florida today.



According to Reuters, the "ads, which cost $85,000 per second during this year's game, fumbled overall as they failed to connect with viewers or just scared them, according to researchers who tracked people's brain activity."



You can go see for yourself here.

Feb2007 04





The sixth episode of the GameGab Podcast is now up.


"This episode we review - War Front: Turning Point. Your hosts for this podcast are Sikosis and Minkaman. Melon is off shooting stuff, Eazy-P drops in so to speak and Oddbod is currently off backpacking in India somewhere."


'GameGab'





Jan2007 30

{mosimage}"The time has come to bid farewell to one of the PC's more stalwart friends - the floppy disk.



Computing superstore PC World said it will no longer sell the storage devices, affectionately known as floppies, once existing stock runs out.



The first floppy disk was introduced in 1971 by IBM and heralded as a revolutionary device."



It's been long overdue, to be honest. Apple dropped the floppy in May 1998 and USB keys are the new portable media.

Jan2007 26

{mosimage}Despite the heat, I hope all my fellow Australians managed to have a great day today.



Just crackin' a coldie after a day of sweating and coding (no blood or tears, sorry).


It's certainly refreshing to hear that millions have been celebrating from backyard barbecues to thong-throwing competitions.

Jan2007 21

Solar House"This 3,000-square-foot New Jersey house is Michael Strizki's life's work. It is run completely independently of the local power grid, using solar panels and a hydrogen storage system.

The solar panels cover the 1,000-square-foot roof of a nearby building. In the summer, the panels generate 60 percent more electricity than the super-insulated house needs.

The project, called the Hopewell Project, cost about $500,000 US ($633,299 AU) to plan and build."

Jan2007 20

{mosimage}We're now on the map -- Google Maps, that is.



Yes, that's right, we've finally got our own domain name maps.google.com.au, ending the need of having to put "Australia" in every search.



Also, according to Slashdot, Google has added more satellite imagery for a lot of other countries such as Egypt, Iraq, mainland Europe and the UK.



Nice one Google.

Jan2007 19

Got them Packets ?

Posted In |

{mosimage}Check out this strangely addictive new app for Windows, OS X and *nix called Packet Garden. Watch your packets be visualized like never before, as plants and terrain on a spinning virtual world.



"None of this information is made public or shared in any way, instead it's used to grow a personal landscape, a kind of 'walk-in graph' uniquely shaped by the way you use the internet.


With each day of network activity a new world can be generated, each of which are stored as tiny files for you to browse, compare and visit as time goes by."

Jan2007 17

{mosimage}The Tom's Hardware article states that "Vista in many regards is XP with a facelift with enhancements and series of new tools."


"Various ills plague my testing as I was attempting to review a work in progress in many regards. The operating system might be ready to ship to software and hardware vendors but that does not mean all of the bugs have been worked out."


"It is clear from the comparative charts that AMD (formerly ATI) has a Vista driver that maintains the same performance level as that of its Windows XP counterpart. Microsoft stated that it would not be uncommon that graphics performance under Vista would come in 5%-10% behind that running on Windows XP."



And in conclusion "In its current state Vista is too unstable at least from a graphics perspective and cumbersome in a number of ways to be attractive to gamers and even professional consumers."

Jan2007 16

Best Workplace Ever

Posted In |





I know they say the grass is always greener on the other side, but *this* is a different story. Yes, I'm jealous ...

Jan2007 11

White Lines

Posted In |

In the words of Melle Mel ... "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrah!"





Another Classic.

Jan2007 09

{mosimage}This morning at around 3am local time, the Macworld Conference & Expo 2007 kicked off from San Francisco's Moscone West. Click here to watch Steve Jobs in action.



The long and short of it ...


  • The iPhone has finally landed.
  • Apple TV (previously known as the name-brand infringing iTV)
  • New Airport Express featuring the lacklustre 802.11n.

Jan2007 08

The Humpty Dance

Posted In |

"Alright! Stop whatcha doin', cos I'm about to ruin, the image and the style that ya used to."






Classic Hip Hop. Classic Digital Underground.

Jan2007 07

Nu Cool 2007

Posted In |

{mosimage}Hed Kandi are launching today (UK) their latest release, Nu Cool, for 2007. This is their second release for the year and if it's build on the last "Nu Cool" release, it's going to be one hell of an album.



Though alot of the HK CDs haven't been up to par, since they were bought out by Ministry of Sound, "Nu Cool" is one of their series that so far, is untainted.


Can't wait til it drops in Australia.

Jan2007 02

Indy IV in 2007

Posted In Video |

{mosimage}"George Lucas on Dec. 29 said that filming of the long-awaited fourth Indiana Jones movie will begin next year, the Associated Press reported.


Harrison Ford, who appeared in the three earlier films, is set to star again. Lucas said he and director Steven Spielberg recently finalized the script for the film."



Awesome stuff. Wonder how they'll handle it -- with a new young Indiana Jones (since River Phoenix is no longer with us). Sean Patrick Flannery was good in the Young Indiana Chronicles and he's the first person who springs to my mind, but only time will tell.



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