This game might look a bit dated but it's a billion times better than Duke Nukem Forever.
i.e. it's playable, and a bit fun.
Download now @ gog.com
Thursday, December 13
Duke Nukem 3D free on GOG.com
Free for 48 hours. Mac and PC. Hail to the king, baby.
This game might look a bit dated but it's a billion times better than Duke Nukem Forever.
i.e. it's playable, and a bit fun.
Download now @ gog.com
This game might look a bit dated but it's a billion times better than Duke Nukem Forever.
i.e. it's playable, and a bit fun.
Download now @ gog.com
Friday, November 16
Played BLOPS 2 yet?
I've just had a read of this rather over the top excessively positive review @ ign:
Nice title. Except, to be honest, it really is the shooter you expected. Almost exactly...
The campaign narrative jumps between various characters’ perspectives and also in time
A bit like last time.
The story successfully casts Menendez in a light where I’m still not sure how I feel about him. At times I wanted him dead
A bit like last time (the protagonist is always a bit of a dick really. I liked the guy with the 'tache though)
Ok I'm being negative. Actually, BLOPS (or as I like to affectionately call it, PLOPS) 2 does bring some interesting new stuff to the table. It has pseudo choice making sections, where pressing A or B (so to speak, not literally) will affect your path through the game a bit. That might make it more fun to play through the single player campaign a few more times than you normally would (i.e. once).
Customising your loadout before a mission is nice too. Although actually I predict this will take away variety for many people as they'll simply use their favourite gun all the time (wasn't it annoying when you started one mission with a tricked out m4, and the next with a crappy mp5?)
Shooting is as fun and precise as ever, and alongside the abundance of gigantic explosions, vehicle missions and intense firefights, it feels like the closest thing most of us will ever get to starring in an action film. In that sense, Black Ops II is the classic Call of Duty formula at its best, with an important, defining difference: The emphasis on drone warfare, the exotic-but-grounded weaponry and the attention to detail in the believably high-tech signage and architecture makes Blacks Op II feel strikingly plausible even when it strays into non-historical settings.
The multiplayer is, as ever and of course, a blast. There's some new ideas there (Hardpoint) and some of the weird ones from MW3 (Kill Confirmed). The new "Nuketown 2025" mission has been hyped a lot. I started off hating Nuketown in BLOPS 1 but I grew to love it, and it seems to be the most famous map now. So a lot is expected of the future version and actually it seems to deliver.
The weirdest addition is screencasting - you can broadcast your game or save clips to youtube. I guess we can look forward to hundreds of thousands of new "OMGOMGOMG LOL GRENADE AT SPAWN" videos for the next few months. They call it "codcasting", by the way. You know, like "podcasting". Do you see? Ugh.
The "Zombies" mode has been talked about a lot. I really don't understand why zombies are such a big deal right now, some people actually seem to be preparing for some kind of real life zombie holocaust. If that's you, BLOPS 2 now provides you with some excellent training missions for that fateful day. Actually it's really fun, and quite a lot better than the (already quite fun) zombie missions in BLOPS 1.
All in all it's a great game. You didn't expect it to be a total dud, that was never going to happen. If you like Call of Duty you will like BLOPS 2, it's COD at its biggest brashest and, dare I say, at its best.
If you hate COD, you'll hate this too. But you're probably far too busy asking your facebook friends to be your neighbour in SimCity Social to even notice it's been released.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii U (like anyone has one of those) and PC.
The best prices are, as always, at amazon:
All in all it's a great game. You didn't expect it to be a total dud, that was never going to happen. If you like Call of Duty you will like BLOPS 2, it's COD at its biggest brashest and, dare I say, at its best.
If you hate COD, you'll hate this too. But you're probably far too busy asking your facebook friends to be your neighbour in SimCity Social to even notice it's been released.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii U (like anyone has one of those) and PC.
The best prices are, as always, at amazon:
People with more money than sense might want to check out the "hardened editions" on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II game
- Collectible steelbook
- Limited edition challenge coins
- Nuketown Zombies and Nuketown 2025 bonus in-game content
- Access to the Double XP Weekend, from November 16-18
- Exclusive PlayStation 3 system multiplayer theme and zombies theme
- Official soundtrack by Jack Wall with theme by Trent Reznor
- Exclusive weapon camo and player card backgrounds
Friday, November 2
MOCA is shit
What's MOCA? Other than a pile of useless overpriced bollocks? Nothing really.
Here is a video at the BBC's website. Unfortunately I can't embed it so you'll have to go and watch it then come back. Please, remember not to believe that you are looking at something in anyway clever or revolutionary or even good.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9765106.stm
MOCA requires your existing broadband connection, so you still need the box on the wall (or the phone socket) and probably a modem/router/switch box (cable modem, adsl modem, whatever). These things usually have built in WIFI, which means you can share your internet connection out to your laptops, computers, smartphones, internet enabled fridge, all that great stuff. Often they also have 1 or 4 ethernet ports. We'll get back to that later.
The trouble with WIFI, says MOCA, is that it's weak. Maybe if your router is in the concrete lead lined basement, you won't be able to get a full strength signal in your attic. This is a valid concern. So MOCA says you should buy their $200 boxes to stick into new holes in your beautifully plastered walls. Behind these holes you need to hook your MOCA devices into the COAX cables that weave their way through every room in the house. MOCA will then piggy back a network onto these cables. In every room you will then have an ethernet socket, so you can plug in your computer device.
The main problem here is this: what the hell home has a network of COAX running to a faceplate in every single room? And even then, once the MOCA is installed, it gives a WIRED connection to that room. There's no wireless built in. So you'd need another wireless router in every room if you really wanted to expand your wireless network. They say this is a feature they will add soon, I say their product might be a tiny bit useful if it already had it built in but without it it's absolutely useless. Last time I checked, iPhones and Galaxy Tabs didn't have an ethernet port.
You DO have a network of cables in your house. They bring electricity to your rooms and I'll take a safe bet that you have a power outlet/socket in every room (except perhaps the crapper). There are little boxes available in your favourite techy stores, at your favourite online retailers, that use your network of power cabling and piggy back network 'signals' onto those. Much better. Plus they cost about $30 instead.
If you want pure wireless, just buy wireless repeaters and extend the network from your main wireless router.
If you want a totally secure, robust, fast network, go out and buy a reel of CAT6 cable and a load of ethernet/RJ45 faceplates. Wire your house with proper network cable. It will be super cheap and super fast and will give you a potential Gigabit network speed (fast wireless is generally more like 100 Megabit, if you're very lucky).
Basically, MOCA is entirely pointless and useless. Please don't buy one by accident.
Here is a good product for ethernet-over-mains, to give you an instant wired network.
Here's a smart little compact wireless repeater. Plug it in at relevant locations to extend your wireless signal and boost the power in rooms where it might be a bit weak.
Whatever you do, don't get a MOCA box.
Official MOCA website is here.
Here is a video at the BBC's website. Unfortunately I can't embed it so you'll have to go and watch it then come back. Please, remember not to believe that you are looking at something in anyway clever or revolutionary or even good.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9765106.stm
MOCA requires your existing broadband connection, so you still need the box on the wall (or the phone socket) and probably a modem/router/switch box (cable modem, adsl modem, whatever). These things usually have built in WIFI, which means you can share your internet connection out to your laptops, computers, smartphones, internet enabled fridge, all that great stuff. Often they also have 1 or 4 ethernet ports. We'll get back to that later.
The trouble with WIFI, says MOCA, is that it's weak. Maybe if your router is in the concrete lead lined basement, you won't be able to get a full strength signal in your attic. This is a valid concern. So MOCA says you should buy their $200 boxes to stick into new holes in your beautifully plastered walls. Behind these holes you need to hook your MOCA devices into the COAX cables that weave their way through every room in the house. MOCA will then piggy back a network onto these cables. In every room you will then have an ethernet socket, so you can plug in your computer device.
The main problem here is this: what the hell home has a network of COAX running to a faceplate in every single room? And even then, once the MOCA is installed, it gives a WIRED connection to that room. There's no wireless built in. So you'd need another wireless router in every room if you really wanted to expand your wireless network. They say this is a feature they will add soon, I say their product might be a tiny bit useful if it already had it built in but without it it's absolutely useless. Last time I checked, iPhones and Galaxy Tabs didn't have an ethernet port.
You DO have a network of cables in your house. They bring electricity to your rooms and I'll take a safe bet that you have a power outlet/socket in every room (except perhaps the crapper). There are little boxes available in your favourite techy stores, at your favourite online retailers, that use your network of power cabling and piggy back network 'signals' onto those. Much better. Plus they cost about $30 instead.
If you want pure wireless, just buy wireless repeaters and extend the network from your main wireless router.
If you want a totally secure, robust, fast network, go out and buy a reel of CAT6 cable and a load of ethernet/RJ45 faceplates. Wire your house with proper network cable. It will be super cheap and super fast and will give you a potential Gigabit network speed (fast wireless is generally more like 100 Megabit, if you're very lucky).
Basically, MOCA is entirely pointless and useless. Please don't buy one by accident.
Here is a good product for ethernet-over-mains, to give you an instant wired network.
 |
| 2 pack. £30. 500 Megabit. Not bad at all. Add as many as you need (not limited to 2). |
Here's a smart little compact wireless repeater. Plug it in at relevant locations to extend your wireless signal and boost the power in rooms where it might be a bit weak.
 |
| Single item. Very compact, straight into the wall. £36. Again, add as many as you need. More powerful ones available. |
Whatever you do, don't get a MOCA box.
Official MOCA website is here.
Wednesday, August 29
Adobe Illustrator, PDF, letters, thick or fat
One of many Illustrator related woes I have come across, but this one actually has a real solution.
Sometimes when you output to PDF, some letters seem to become hugely fatter than the rest.
The capital "I" (eye) and lower case "l" (el) are worst affected, as is the lower case "ı" from the Turkish alphabet. As far as I can work out, it's because Adobe Acrobat Reader (and even Acrobat Pro) thinks these characters are actually little borders. It (usually) only happens if you have converted these fonts to shapes (i.e. "create outlines" in Illustrator).
Crap solution:
In Acrobat there is a preference called "enhance thin lines". God knows why it exists. This little feature seems to be what adds weight to the characters in question. Now, you can go into preferences and turn this off, and it should alleviate the problem.
But if you send the PDF to someone else, more likely than not they will still have it turned on. When they see the crappy looking letters they will probably assume you are an incompetent typesetter / artist. Thanks, Adobe.
The first thing you could try is not "outlining" your text - leaving it rendered as a font, rather than shapes, means Adobe's stupid little preference shouldn't mess about with it. You will need to embed your font if you do this. Of course you might not want your text as text (to stop it being changed so easily perhaps), or you might need to edit the text (I recently had to delete a bunch of dots from "i" characters because the font didn't contain the "ı"). There is a way!
Excellent solution:
In case you don't quite get it, here's a little visual guide:
I hope this helps anyone who has been tearing their hair out, as I was.
Not our usual type of reading material, but there we go...
PS conversely (and somewhat perversely?) if you are using CorelDRAW! rather than Illustrator, almost the exact opposite can occur. If you export to PDF with fonts intact, you may witness this issue. If however you "convert to curves" before exporting, all should be well. Odd, eh?
Clever person @ google groups
Sometimes when you output to PDF, some letters seem to become hugely fatter than the rest.
The capital "I" (eye) and lower case "l" (el) are worst affected, as is the lower case "ı" from the Turkish alphabet. As far as I can work out, it's because Adobe Acrobat Reader (and even Acrobat Pro) thinks these characters are actually little borders. It (usually) only happens if you have converted these fonts to shapes (i.e. "create outlines" in Illustrator).
Crap solution:
In Acrobat there is a preference called "enhance thin lines". God knows why it exists. This little feature seems to be what adds weight to the characters in question. Now, you can go into preferences and turn this off, and it should alleviate the problem.
But if you send the PDF to someone else, more likely than not they will still have it turned on. When they see the crappy looking letters they will probably assume you are an incompetent typesetter / artist. Thanks, Adobe.
The first thing you could try is not "outlining" your text - leaving it rendered as a font, rather than shapes, means Adobe's stupid little preference shouldn't mess about with it. You will need to embed your font if you do this. Of course you might not want your text as text (to stop it being changed so easily perhaps), or you might need to edit the text (I recently had to delete a bunch of dots from "i" characters because the font didn't contain the "ı"). There is a way!
Excellent solution:
If you have Illustrator, the solution would be to add a point to the vertical strokes of all the lowercase "i" & "l". It's a pain & can be time consuming but it works.It sure does! The genius who found this solution didn't leave a name, but we salute you!
Hope this helps.
In case you don't quite get it, here's a little visual guide:
I hope this helps anyone who has been tearing their hair out, as I was.
Not our usual type of reading material, but there we go...
PS conversely (and somewhat perversely?) if you are using CorelDRAW! rather than Illustrator, almost the exact opposite can occur. If you export to PDF with fonts intact, you may witness this issue. If however you "convert to curves" before exporting, all should be well. Odd, eh?
Clever person @ google groups
Monday, August 27
Windows 8 in "not horrible" shocker?
This article on switching to Windows 8, from the perspective of a non-touch user who loves to get around with the keyboard, is a really great little read. It's also chock full of useful tips (mainly handy keyboard shortcuts to help you get around). Well worth your time.
Maybe I'm too relaxed but after a few days and some hotkeys I've found Windows 8 to be Windows 7+1. Works fine, no crashes, lots of improvements. I spend most of my desktop time in Windows apps, all of which work. I keep News apps or Video apps in full screen on other monitors and I do move the Start Screen around but generally the whole thing has been a non-issue.
Who moved my cheese? @ hanselman.com
Thursday, June 7
Humble Indie Bundle 5 is best ever
The Humble Indie Bundle "V" was already awesome, and now they've added even more games to it!
We've added three games to Humble Indie Bundle V! If you've already purchased the bundle, then Braid, Super Meat Boy, and Lone Survivor are already on your download page! If you haven't bought Humble Indie Bundle V yet, set your price higher than the average to get these excellent games in addition to Psychonauts, LIMBO, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, and Bastion!
We've added three games to Humble Indie Bundle V! If you've already purchased the bundle, then Braid, Super Meat Boy, and Lone Survivor are already on your download page! If you haven't bought Humble Indie Bundle V yet, set your price higher than the average to get these excellent games in addition to Psychonauts, LIMBO, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, and Bastion!
This is a seriously great selection of games. And there is no price - you pay what you want for them. You can even pay $0.01 if you really want, but that's not really in the spirit of things.
Braid and LIMBO are worth over $10 each, and I mean WORTH that. Those are two seriously great games.
Oh PS when you buy the pack you get a code to add them all to Steam, which is how I operate with these packs. My Steam library is brimming with excellent Indie games :D
Saturday, March 31
SEGA downsizing. NOOOOOOOOO.
Sega is expecting a loss of £54m (¥7.1bn) as it restructures its US and European operations.
Parent company Sega Sammy Holdings has today said it will carry out a ‘structural reform’ of Sega’s consumer business. It said it will ‘streamline’ its US and European video game operations and “create a smaller company positioned for sustained profitability”.
As part of the changes, Sega will reduce the number of games it produces and cut the development of several titles, while focusing more on digital content.
cvuk.com
Wednesday, February 1
New Humble Bundle, now with androidiness!
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Four awesome games for your Android device. Jump start your mobile game collection with Anomaly: Warzone Earth, Osmos, and EDGE. If you pay more than the average price, you also get the indie classicWorld of Goo!
Playing at your desktop? No problem. Buying the Humble Bundle for Android also gets you Mac, Windows, and Linux versions of the games.
Soundtracks included. When you buy the bundle, you'll also get the soundtracks to all the games!
Pay what you want. If you bought these games separately, it would cost around $60, but we are letting you set the price!
The games work great on Mac, Windows, Linux, and Android.
It's back! World of Goo is worth the money on it's on, playing it on your phone is like Christmas came early.
Saturday, January 28
Mac Classic back to life! iPad has a house.
Well, as much as I am kinda against people slashing these things to pieces, this is a lot better than a fishtank!
It's awesome how neatly the screen fits. Almost as if it was the plan all along. I know Apple are forward thinkers, but not this much.
I implore everyone to do this. It makes my Mac Classic more valuable.
http://bit.ly/ipad-classic
Weebly website maker 1 month free
Weebly is a pretty bad-ass tool for making a website. It has a drag and drop interface, you just drop boxes of 'text' or 'image' or 'video' onto the page like building blocks. The output is actually quite pretty html (shockingly) and it's pretty SEO friendly too, particularly the file structure. Basically it's great to the point that I can't be bothered with fiddling around in notepad++ anymore.
More to the point, you can have a month free (and me too) if you sign up through tbtgta (yes that's us, to be this good takes ages... I'd like to pretend it's an homage to TMWRNJ but it's not).
Click to sign up. Making sites is totally free, you can even point your owned domains at it via a records (easy to do), the only 'con' is the little 'made with weebly' tag at the bottom. If you upgrade to a paid subscription you can lose that, and it's only $70 for 2 years with 10 (count 'em) sites included so it's a pretty good deal.
Check it out. 2 million people use it, they can't all be idiots. Ok they can, but they're not. Because it's good.
weebly : stupidly easy site maker
For nice tips once you've signed up, try http://weeblyforums.com/
[edit]
HEY READ THIS:
weebly discount voucher, 33% hosting discount!
Patience really pays of with these guys. If you open a free account and create your site (really, do try it, it's super super easy and pretty fun), after about a week you are very likely to receive a 33% off voucher for upgrading to 'pro' (host 10 sites, no 'weebly' link on the pages, custom video player, other nice stuff). I just bought 2 years of hosting (for 10 sites, remember, no size or traffic limits) for just over £30 (about 50 bucks). That's a great deal even without the awesome page builder tools.
More to the point, you can have a month free (and me too) if you sign up through tbtgta (yes that's us, to be this good takes ages... I'd like to pretend it's an homage to TMWRNJ but it's not).
Click to sign up. Making sites is totally free, you can even point your owned domains at it via a records (easy to do), the only 'con' is the little 'made with weebly' tag at the bottom. If you upgrade to a paid subscription you can lose that, and it's only $70 for 2 years with 10 (count 'em) sites included so it's a pretty good deal.
Check it out. 2 million people use it, they can't all be idiots. Ok they can, but they're not. Because it's good.
weebly : stupidly easy site maker
For nice tips once you've signed up, try http://weeblyforums.com/
[edit]
HEY READ THIS:
weebly discount voucher, 33% hosting discount!
Patience really pays of with these guys. If you open a free account and create your site (really, do try it, it's super super easy and pretty fun), after about a week you are very likely to receive a 33% off voucher for upgrading to 'pro' (host 10 sites, no 'weebly' link on the pages, custom video player, other nice stuff). I just bought 2 years of hosting (for 10 sites, remember, no size or traffic limits) for just over £30 (about 50 bucks). That's a great deal even without the awesome page builder tools.
Wednesday, January 25
'neXtBox' (see what I did there?) 6 times as powerful
“More power!” You can imagine Steve Ballmer yelling it through Microsoft’s halls but that’s exactly what is happening with the Xbox 720, according to reports from IGN.
The next Xbox — rumored to be the “Xbox 720″ — will ship to retailers in late October or early November 2013 and have six times the processing power of its predecessor, the Xbox 360, sources close to the project toldIGN.
The next console will use the AMD 6000 series, which should run similar to the Radeon HD 6670. That all sounds a bit jargon-y but essentially it’s a super-fast processor that supports DirectX11, multi-display output, 3D and 1080p HD. Production of the GPU should start by the end of this year.
All that anticipated extra power on the fabled Xbox 720 isn’t just about graphic fidelity. It allows games to have more detailed environments, longer draw distances (think open world games such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim), better enemy artificial intelligence, faster multiplayer experiences and the ability to cram more stuff on the screen.
The next Xbox — rumored to be the “Xbox 720″ — will ship to retailers in late October or early November 2013 and have six times the processing power of its predecessor, the Xbox 360, sources close to the project toldIGN.
The next console will use the AMD 6000 series, which should run similar to the Radeon HD 6670. That all sounds a bit jargon-y but essentially it’s a super-fast processor that supports DirectX11, multi-display output, 3D and 1080p HD. Production of the GPU should start by the end of this year.
All that anticipated extra power on the fabled Xbox 720 isn’t just about graphic fidelity. It allows games to have more detailed environments, longer draw distances (think open world games such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim), better enemy artificial intelligence, faster multiplayer experiences and the ability to cram more stuff on the screen.
Please forgive me for sending you to Mashable. I know how shit and whiney and Apple-horny they are, but occasionally there's something of interest over there.
Saturday, January 21
Kodak trying to sue itself out of bankruptcy
Eastman Kodak is suing Samsung over claims its patents have been infringed. The US camera and printer maker said the complaint relates to five of its digital imaging technologies. It is the latest in a series of patent lawsuits filed by the firm since the start of the year.
Kodak said on Wednesday that it was seeking bankruptcy protection. That followed an announcement in July that it was looking to sell or license about 1,100 digital imaging patents. Kodak has also filed lawsuits against Apple and HTC involving the same five patents. In addition it is suing Fujifilm over a separate, but overlapping, set of claimed infringements. Kodak alleged that the Japanese company had made use of its technologies including the "quick review of last captured image" and "user selectable image record size".
What I can gather from all this is that the best way to make money these days is to go back in time and make a really loose patent application for, say 'a portable box from which video and audio eminate', then come back to the present and just watch the money roll in through your solicitor's office.
Also Kodak is going out of business because they never managed to make a single half decent digital camera, and all their products since 35mm film have sucked. As far as I can tell, companies that make stuff that sucks go out of business. It's a crazy world out there.
bbc.co.uk/news
Kodak said on Wednesday that it was seeking bankruptcy protection. That followed an announcement in July that it was looking to sell or license about 1,100 digital imaging patents. Kodak has also filed lawsuits against Apple and HTC involving the same five patents. In addition it is suing Fujifilm over a separate, but overlapping, set of claimed infringements. Kodak alleged that the Japanese company had made use of its technologies including the "quick review of last captured image" and "user selectable image record size".
What I can gather from all this is that the best way to make money these days is to go back in time and make a really loose patent application for, say 'a portable box from which video and audio eminate', then come back to the present and just watch the money roll in through your solicitor's office.
Also Kodak is going out of business because they never managed to make a single half decent digital camera, and all their products since 35mm film have sucked. As far as I can tell, companies that make stuff that sucks go out of business. It's a crazy world out there.
bbc.co.uk/news
Friday, January 20
Best Xbox Live Gold price
Ok I seem to remember I posted about amazon being cheap for xbox live membership. Well mine came up and this place is cheaper:
http://electronicfirst.com/cheap-xbox-live-codes/12-2-xbox-live-gold-mw3-avatar-download-code/
Obviously I'm only posting about it because it came through and is entirely trustworthy. If you don't trust me (WHAT!), simply google them. I got the 'MW3' one, which gets me some kind of avatar thing (...). There's also a GOW3 version which gives you a special gun or something. I dunno, I'm only in it for the 14 months of gold. Enjoy, folks.
Sunday, January 15
'Free' phone dock from two bulldog clips
This is pretty nifty
The endlessly versatile binder clip is one of our favorite tools for MacGyver-like inventions, and reader David writes in one of his favorite creations: a 5-second smartphone dock.
The endlessly versatile binder clip is one of our favorite tools for MacGyver-like inventions, and reader David writes in one of his favorite creations: a 5-second smartphone dock.
Create an iTunes account without entering a credit / debit card
I just had to open an iTunes account to use the App Store on an iPhone I inherited. I didn't want to enter my credit card just to open an account I don't plan to buy things from. The Apple website has these cunning tips to open an account without adding payment details, which is nice of them! I've copied them here:
Click iTunes Store (on the left side of the iTunes window) and pick your country by clicking the appropriate country flag located in the bottom-right corner of the main iTunes Store page.
Navigate to the App Store by clicking on App Store from the top navigation bar.
Important: Before proceeding to the next step, you must download and install a free app. To find a free app, navigate to the Top Charts column on the right hand side of the App Store window. Scroll down until you can see the list of Free Apps. Select any app by clicking on it, then click Free App underneath the app icon.
In the pop-up window, click Create New Account.
You are directed to the "Welcome to the iTunes Store" screen. Click Continue.
You'll need to read and agree to the iTunes Store Terms & Conditions. Make sure you check the box next to where it says "I have read and agree to the iTunes Terms and Conditions."
Click Continue.
Enter your email address, create your password, continue to create and answer your security question, then enter your birthday. Click Continue.
Select None as the payment option.
Continue to fill out the required name and address fields.
You'll then see a screen that says 'Verify your Account'. Click Done and then check your email for a verification email from iTunes Store.
Open the email and click the link enclosed in the email to activate your account.
Once you click on the link, iTunes should then prompt you to sign in with your account name and password.
You'll then see the below "Congratulations" screen. Click Done to be taken to the App Store home page.
Wednesday, January 11
Xbox live cheaper at amazon than on the xbox...
Odd.
£30 on amazon, http://amzn.to/weNSdf
Yes it's my renewal day... shopped around and amazon is the best combination of cheap and trustworthy.
There are a few 14 months for £32/33 but the websites look too shady for my liking *shifty eyes*
TIP: Log into xbox.com and TURN OFF auto-renew, otherwise they'll just charge you whatever they chose to charge at the time your subscription comes up for renewal. Bastards.
£30 on amazon, http://amzn.to/weNSdf
Yes it's my renewal day... shopped around and amazon is the best combination of cheap and trustworthy.
There are a few 14 months for £32/33 but the websites look too shady for my liking *shifty eyes*
TIP: Log into xbox.com and TURN OFF auto-renew, otherwise they'll just charge you whatever they chose to charge at the time your subscription comes up for renewal. Bastards.
Tuesday, January 10
Great BBC documentary about Steve Jobs
As a British ex-pat (kinda) I regularly get recommendations to watch things that don't appear on my tele. This was one and, luckily, it's available here:
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/steve-jobs-billion-dollar-hippy/
It's on youtube but it seems to have lasted quite well so hopefully it will remain. Very interesting, especially to see that whilst he may have been a very impressive man he wasn't the angel many claim he was. He was even mean to our beloved (hmm..) Mr Gates!
Anyway, a good documentary and well worth a watch. Of course I hope he is resting in peace.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/steve-jobs-billion-dollar-hippy/
It's on youtube but it seems to have lasted quite well so hopefully it will remain. Very interesting, especially to see that whilst he may have been a very impressive man he wasn't the angel many claim he was. He was even mean to our beloved (hmm..) Mr Gates!
Anyway, a good documentary and well worth a watch. Of course I hope he is resting in peace.
Thursday, January 5
Xbox live hacking going on? EA/FIFA to blame?
On December 20, my Xbox Live account was hacked. The breach was sophisticated, more so than Microsoft wants to acknowledge, but at the heart of it is EA's popular sports franchise FIFA. This breach isn't a new, hip hack that is sweeping the net, it has been happening for quite some time. My Xbox Live account housed over 3,000 MS Points and in one fell swoop, my balance was wiped clean.
Utilizing FIFA 12, players can purchase and trade digital cards with other Live members. Though this feature is also available in games like Madden NFL 12, the worldwide popularity of FIFA 12 has made it a breeding ground for criminal scum. Players get into Xbox Live accounts, purchase card packs, trade them to other accounts, and later sell the content for real money. Xbox Live breaches are not new, but the FIFA 12 hack is putting everyone on Xbox Live at risk in a new way.Many of us will have a credit/debit card associated with our live accounts. This raises quite an issue if people are out hitting live/hotmail accounts hard trying to break into them. Unfortunately, Microsoft have decided that if we have used our card to purchase Xbox Live (i.e. it is 'associated' with our membership), we are not allowed to remove the payment details from our accounts.
However, you can CHANGE the details. You can even change them to something wrong. So if you want to remove your credit card details, simply edit it and put in a completely made up number and expiry. Of course, when it's renewal time you will need to correct it again. Might give a bit of piece of mind though, that if you are hacked they can only steal the mspoints you already have (in my case, 80... moneybags me eh?)
shacknews.com
shacknews.com
Wednesday, January 4
Find the best wireless channel for your network
Got myself a new 'n' router as a late Christmas present / new year sales treat, and decided I should try to get the best reception around the house possible. There are many other wireless networks in range, since I live in a small apartment block right next to another small apartment block.
Net Stumbler was the old preferred program but it's starting to creak with age now. inSSIDer is a nicer looking and feeling program with just as much usefulness.
I only wish I had checked before, and I would have put special attention to buying a 'dual mode' router that could operate in the 5GHz spectrum. No-one else seems to be using it at all, which would have been great (although the range is lower when using 5GHz).
Anyway, channel 11 seems a favourite around here. So I switched to channel 1.
If I said the difference was in any way noticeable I would be lying. But it can't be a bad thing, can it?
inSSIDer - worth a download if only to give credit to the clever name.
Net Stumbler was the old preferred program but it's starting to creak with age now. inSSIDer is a nicer looking and feeling program with just as much usefulness.
Anyway, channel 11 seems a favourite around here. So I switched to channel 1.
If I said the difference was in any way noticeable I would be lying. But it can't be a bad thing, can it?
inSSIDer - worth a download if only to give credit to the clever name.
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