Goodbye George Monday, 23 June, 2008
Posted by M in Milestone.add a comment
The world has lost another comedian. George Carlin, the king of counter-culture comedy left us for that great Comedy Club in the sky on Sunday from heart failure. He was 71. He will be missed. May God bless his soul.
News spotted on Variety
The Priest Returns Monday, 23 June, 2008
Posted by M in Music.Tags: Judas Priest, Nostradamus
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Judas Priest is back with brand new album, Nostradamus. Musically, it takes a side step from what Judas Priest fans would expect. Orchestrations, keyboards and choirs literally raised my eyebrows. Somewhat of a departure from the usual metal albums that the band used to churn out.
Rolling in with 2 CDs, 23 songs and more than 100 minutes it is a love hate relationship. On one hand, you could say that concept albums can either be a hit or a miss. Good example, KISS’ The Elder and Iron Maiden’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. What truly defines the album is Rob Halford’s vocals and incredibly stunning crotch grinding guitar work from Glenn Tipton and KK Downing.
Nostradamus is a love hate relationship. Musically, it is still Judas Priest, on the concept of the album….. well, let’s just say it’s really up you as an individual. I enjoyed it but if not for the packaging and the “extras” I wouldn’t call it an exceptional album.
However if curiousity gets the better of you, you can sample the tracks here on Epic Record’s Judas Priest’s site here
Sony’s New 8.1mp Shooter Wednesday, 18 June, 2008
Posted by M in Tech.Tags: C905, Cell Phone, Mobile, Sony Ericsson
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If you are considering getting a camera phone some time soon, you just might want to wait a little longer. Sony has just announced the C905 8.1 megapixel drool-worthy slider slated for release in the last quarter of this year.
We looking at :-
- Xenon Flash
- Face Detection
- Image Stabilization
- Auto-Rotate
- 2.4“ scratch resistant QVGA Display
- a GPS
- A2DP stereo Bluetooth
- TV out
- Wi-fi with DLNA support and
- 2 Gbs of memory via Memory Stick Micro.
Now let’s just hope it’s affordable.
Breaking news taken from Engadget Mobile by Thomas Ricker
Gears of War Movie Adaptation Tuesday, 17 June, 2008
Posted by M in Cinema.Tags: Gears of War Movie, Len Wiseman
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From CrunchGear:
Len Wiseman has just been confirmed as director for the video game movie adaptation. For the uninitiated, Wiseman is the man (no pun intended) who had a big hand in StarGate, Godzilla, Independence Day and Live Free of Die Hard to mention a few. Looking at what the man has done, I am pretty sure he is going to do his magic on the Gears of War movie which will most likely be amongst my list of awesome movies. Chris Morgan is head writer. Looks like a late 2009 or early 2010 release date.
I am already counting the days…. Sweet!
An Interesting Read Tuesday, 17 June, 2008
Posted by M in Books.add a comment
I should think so. In fact I think the human race has always been confused. I am currently reading The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors by John Gribbin and it is a highly entertaining if not informative book. I am still halfway into the book but after reading this I must say that the human race has a knack of misinterpretation, being completely biased, stubborn to the point of idiocy at times and most often extremely confused. However it gives one an insight into the elucidation, expositions and exegesis of the great minds of the past. A very compelling read I might add. The book also serves as a reference tool as each scientist’s story can be read and appreciated individually.
Little Girl Totally Kills A Car! Monday, 16 June, 2008
Posted by M in Web.add a comment
Do you really want your little daughter to do this?
I Want The BluEye Monday, 16 June, 2008
Posted by M in Tech.Tags: Bluetooth, BluEye, Cell Phone, iPod Touch, Mobile
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Now this is a cool and useful gadget to have. I don’t know how many times I’ve missed a phone call or a text message when I’m plugged into my iPod.
The folks at Gear4 came up with this nifty device called the BluEye and I have to admit that it is totally cool. I hope I can get my hands on one if I can find it in the country otherwise I’ll have to mail order it which I am not too enthusiastic about.
Check this out. Some very cool features:-
- make and receive calls from your iPod
- caller number ID display on your iPod screen
- automatically pause and resume music for incoming calls
- use it with your own headphones or earpiece
- no batteries required
- firmware upgradable
and they even throw in an FM Radio for good measure. The damage? About £50. Ouch. But it is definitely worth every penny. The compatibility’s not too shoddy either. Covering most iPod models including the Touch, Classic and the new Nanos. 3rd Gen iPod owners may want to check out the compatibility first before jumping on the bandwagon
Dang this thing is HOT!
All Night Long Wednesday, 11 June, 2008
Posted by M in Mac.Tags: dropouts, Leopard, OS 10.5.3, wi-fi
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What a night. I was expecting a long night but not this long. At least I did get some good out of it. My OS 10.5.3 wireless connection woes are finally over! I solved my dropout problem but it came with a heavy price.
I had to pull an all nighter and didn’t get into bed till 4 this morning. I had to wipe out my entire hard disk completely. All 250 Gb of it, re-install the base system, reconnect to the Internet then do 2 systematic updates and 4 restarts before I could even begin tweaking the settings let alone the application installation. This was the only way I could get the corrupted system files out without resorting to checking the hundreds of files individually. Looks like my 1Tb of backup data didn’t do me much good in this case. I couldn’t risk another system corruption. So much for backing up my data religiously every night.
With all that said and done, I decided to re-install all my applications and it was pure murder. I use a lot of big applications and the installation process was just way long. Then I had to reset all my preferences, re-pair all my gadgets, link 100Gb of music files from one of my back-up drives back to iTunes, transfer all my work files back to my main hard drive, tweak the UI and then sync both my iPods and both my Symbian 60 devices with iSync, update my Address Book and republishing and updating iCal on Apache and using webDAVs. Then there’s the laborious task of restoring and erasing my iPods and re-syncing everything all over again. 15,000 plus songs, 20 movies and about 50 podcasts via USB 2.0. You do the math.
I am just so glad it’s finally done.
So….. bottom line is, if you are having MAJOR problems with your wi-fi signal dropping constantly with OS 10.5.2 and continues even after your have updated to 10.5.3. Wipe out your hard drive completely, do a clean install and re-install everything back like as if it’s the first time you’ve just unboxed your new computer. But do this only as a last resort after trying everything else. It solved my problem completely.
Blogging on iPod Touch Wednesday, 11 June, 2008
Posted by M in Mac.Tags: iPod Touch, MacJournal, Notes, PhoneView
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Ok, so blogging with an iPod Touch isn’t exactly a sterling experience like I thought it would be but it’ll have to do for now. After all it is the most portable device with the most intuitive virtual keypad that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Ok, I’m not plugging anything here and neither company is paying me to write about their products but their software met my needs.
I found a great piece of software by Ecamm Network called PhoneView that does a great job exporting notes from an iPhone or iPod Touch amongst other features. In short it allows you to access your device very much like what Finder does to a Mac… almost. Now, I just blog on the go, and when I’m at my desk, I just transfer my text out and post it via MacJournal. It simply works and for $19.95, it’s worth every penny. PhoneView that is, MacJournal was bought separately.
Until a company releases a better text editor, Notes will have to suffice for now even though it is less than basic for casual writing.
Raising Sand Tuesday, 10 June, 2008
Posted by M in Music.Tags: Alison Krauss, Raising Sand, Robert Plant
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I just got hold of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ album, Raising Sand. Not having read any reviews prior to my getting this album I was a bit apprehensive until I pushed play. The album is incredible. Robert Plant once again proves that only the mighty will stand the sands of time and reaffirmed his Rock God status.
However, if you are expecting Heavy Metal, steer clear. This is a vocal album of American classics both vintage and contemporary. Very Blues influenced, bare bones and very haunting yet subtle and filled with life. There were parts of tracks which I found familiar and yet can’t put my finger on and yet sounding refreshing and external at the same time. Alison Krauss’ vocals is short of mesmerizing and leaves a deep impression as opposed to Plant’s sometimes vocal wailings.
Released in 2007, you should be able to find it in good CD shops. Be forewarned though. Buy it only if you truly and deeply appreciate this genre of music. Not recommended for teeny boppers.
