After reading this article on Paul Thurrott’s Supersite I sat down and Vista-ised Firefox 3 Beta5. I thought it looked rather swish, but that then that Google was rather letting down the side. I quick install of Dark Blue for Google in stylish and tada! a nicer google. It’s not perfect as I had to add in some .co.uk additions and shopping.google.co.uk is a bit ropey.
P.s. added some Mirror’s Edge wallpaper.
Yes I caved in and bought a PS3. It is a nice piece of kit, but really what I have been bowled over by the most is Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction.
This is one of the most charming games I have played in a long time. It’s obviously American, but the kind of intelligent American that doesn’t nearly get the praise it should. Pixar does come to mind, as does the original Shrek movie. It’s all a bit tongue in cheek and all the better for it. Like a good meal its staples are platforming and shooting these are incredibly well done, neither punishing nor overtly easy. There are a few ways to tackle difficulty, one is to make things punishing and robotic, another is to make things a great big puzzle, R&C uses the latter. However any staple if over relied on will result in boredom. R&C solves this by spicing up the mix with mini-games, not the quick time awfulness of the competitors, but small juicy morsels involving the Six-Axis or Clank exclusively.
If this game carries on like this I would have put it in my Top 5 ever.
Hi Folks! Do you ever have a tech itch you can’t scratch?
I really feel like buying a new device, but there are so many shiny objects to choose.
I really fancy going HD, but I have yet to find a TV I would be happy with and I have no idea when Freesat is going to go live for HD broadcasts. I would ideally like some sort of nice all in one solution like a PS3+PlayTV that uses Freesat rather than Freeview. That way I would have HD games, HD TV and HD Video all in one solution. I’d probably get a nice surround sound setup, either a descreet Logitech system or a components system. I am no audiophile though so really all this multi hundred pound systems are a waste on me.
I have never owned a laptop, but the buses I commute on now offer power outlets and free wifi so a nice little EeePC would be a great addition to my bag. I’ve allways like the 12″ Apple G4s so something nice an portable would go down great.
My Mp3 Player died recently, it was a little trooper. Costing around £70 and 20GB in size it really spoiled me, so I am aghast at the tied in or size deficient players now available. What the hell has happened to the MP3 player market? I thought it was now uncool to be tied in to one system? I fancy one of the new Sony players, but the Bluetooth and noise canceling seem to have bumped the price up :/
HD seems to be building up steam, but I am still amazed how inconsistent the current setup is and how much potential flux there is in the market.
TVs, HD TVs aren’t actually that hard to get and becuase of the slimmer design more can be sold in retail stores per square foot versus say old school CRTs. This seems to have prematurly bumped out technology that is quite valid for technology that seems to have a low amount of content available for it.
Broadcast TV, there is still no HD Freeview available, SKY and Virgin sell HD as a premium option. This contrasts heavily with the TV equipment market that is almost all HD now. So upscaling seems to be the norm and not ideal.
DVDs, DVD is still the King, HD-DVD seems to be failing in the face of Blu-Ray, but the protracted war has ment that another HD content stream is a trickle where it should be a flood. Upcsaled DVDs look nice, but why not just view them on a good SD screen?
Game Consoles, finally somewhere with real HD content and a vibrant constant supply. With the PS3 and Xbox 360 you have two estabilished systems both with a decent selection of HD Games.
I have made a few minor tweaks to make the site more palatable to Safari / Mac users. They added a new font rendering style to Safari for Windows called Standard (for CRT). It is kind of like the Mac font rendering acting a wee bit more Windows like. Is this available in for Macs? or Safari on the Mac. Screen shot shows Opera on the left and Safari on the right.
For many years I have had a nagging feeling about Apple and it’s products. I generally like what they do and many of their laudable aims, but they have really started to grate with me in recent years. I’m not entirely sure why, they are not any worse than many of their rivals and often have vision beyond them.
Maybe it’s the religious fever that their products inspire? I love tech as much as the average geek, but I have a general mistrust of religion and religious behavior. Considered opinion I can accept, blind faith I can not. I find this a wee bit of a problem with Nintendo, but to be honest I don’t dislike them for it. So maybe it isn’t that.
It could be the smug marketing and often almost inhuman level of polished message. I often can’t see the Woz for the Jobs in Apple these days. The geeky wide eyed tech fun seems to be buried in Aluminum and Glass. I do generally appreciate Apple’s sense of design, I often feel it can be a bit over minimalised at times and stubborn in it’s conventions, but in general is so much slicker than the competition. So maybe it isn’t the slickness.
I think my main problem is the fact that Apple don’t want me. That is to say the enthusiast computer user, used to building and maintaining my own machines. I don’t expect them to fully cater for me, but I do feel left out in the cold with so many un-upgradable hermetically sealed computers. Apple have an end to end business approach and I do not expect them to jack that in, really all I want is a Mac non-Pro, I don’t need a Dual Zeon £2000 workstation just a fun little tower that could inspire me and the budding Woz’s of the world.
It seems like Vista has a bad rap these days. I really feel kinda sorry for Microsoft as they seem to be unable to do right. When they don’t have security, people whine about not having security. When they do, people whine about security features. When you only have XP, people whine that it’s old and is kinda tired. When they have XP and Vista, they whine on about how Microsoft shouldn’t have bothered as XP was good enough.
It works for me, but I had built my own PC from nothing but brand name parts. It wasn’t expensive at all. People these days buy sub-£300 PCs and complain about the quality. Well duh! you pay for what you get, I don’t see you driving a Lada or eating nothing but Tesco’s Value food. You want something that works well, pay for it, it doesn’t have to be expensive just be made to a good standard.
Only had it a couple of hours and it really does feel so much better than 8. I got a really cheap upgrade offer for $100 US inc Acdsee Pro which is so so, but getting a package as good as Canvas for that price is a steal. I know it’s troubled package much like a lot of the Ex-Metacreations software, but it doesn’t stop it feeling like a stonking package. Think the Adobe Creative Suite in a single program it’s scope is insane.
I’ll report back once I have some work done in it.
