Barack Obama can even unite Bill and Steve

According to Gizmodo, both Bill Gates' father, William and Steve Jobs' wife Laurene have donated to the Obama campaign. I guess they too realize that he is the tech enthusiast's candidate.

An article was written last year at VentureBeat about Obama's ambitious technology plan, including his intention to name a technology czar or "Chief Technology Officer" for the country.

The of the most ambitious parts of his plan is his planned use of the internet to make government totally transparent and interactive, making sure that lawmakers broadcast their meetings over the web, and also requiring that they use blogs and wikis to communicate with voters. Finally a president who thinks of "the internets" as a valuable tool for all sectors of America, both public and private.

Eve Online - a story of espionage, treachery, and taking things way too seriously

EVE Online is a MMORPG set in space with a player driven economy, quests, corporations, manufacturing, trade, etc. The game's economy is indeed so complex that a PhD economist is employed to manage it.

A setting this intricate and interesting leads to some very intriguing events. This Shacknews article examines a covert war between two of the most powerful factions in the game, and it is one of the coolest accounts of any game that I have ever read.

Lifehacker's bittorrent tips

Bittorrent has become an indispensable way to transfer large files over the internet, from game demos and betas to the media files which cause the MPAA/RIAA so much grief. Lifehacker has posted a very informative article on how to get the most out of your bittorrent experience.

RezHD for 360 Arcade!!

Having never played the original Rez (known for its infamous vibro-accessory) for the Dreamcast, I am extremely excited to have the chance to play its updated (HD and 5.1 sound) version, RezHD on Xbox Live Arcade. Rez is the perfect candidate for such an update, as it relies on sight, hearing, and touch to immerse the player in the "experience" of playing the game, all of which are bolstered by the enhanced output available on the 360.

From the 1UP review:

Its designers' objective was to simulate synaesthesia -- which is essentially the union of senses and the stimulation of one sense by another (for example, hearing sound through seeing or imagining color through hearing). Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, who was affected by this phenomenon and related the act of painting to creating music, served as one of the key inspirations (which is why the game was originally known as K-Project before it was ultimately named Rez).

Rez is one of the most original games out there, you should definitely check it out!

Microsoft to make XP hard to find...

PCWorld has an article which highlights the problems one will have in the near future in obtaining a new copy of XP, which many people (including myself) have "downgraded" to, thanks to a horrible Vista experience. Hopefully Microsoft will come to its senses and sell XP indefinitely or at least until it's sales are low enough that no one will care.

Barack gains key endorsements

Barack Obama, a candidate whom many liken to Jack and Bobby Kennedy recently gained endorsements from both Caroline and Senator Ted Kennedy.

In a NYT op-ed entitled "A President Like My Father" Caroline outlines her compelling argument for an Obama presidency, and it is believed that Senator Kennedy will begin campaigning for Obama shortly. Time Magazine has an interesting piece on the importance of a Ted Kennedy endorsement, and the Huffington Post has alluded to a possible endorsement by Al Gore.

NSFE: The Return

Gizmodo has taken up the mantle of seeker of the horribly-and-ungodly-ugly websites of the 90s. The one that jumps out at me is Apple's (very) old site, how could Apple have designed something as ugly as this:

After a little researching, it becomes glaringly obvious - this must have been designed during Steve's hiatus from the company. Click the here for a whole lotta ugly...

What did we learn from '07: Geeks become mainstream

The year 2007 saw the introduction of two shows featuring protagonists who are truly geeks. It's as if Steve Urkel finally got his comeuppance.

Chuck (NBC) is a dramaedy about a Buy More Nerd Herd employee (analogous to Best Buy's Geek Squad) who inadvertently opens an email which beams all of the government's juiciest secrets into his brain. The show is split between his normal life as a lovable beta-male and his life as a top secret human supercomputer. The real fun of the show is in his struggle to keep his two lives separate. I think that this is one of the best new shows of the fall season (behind ABC's excellent Pushing Daisies), and I give it a strong 8.5/10.

The Big Bang Theory (CBS) is a sitcom focusing on the life of a twenty-something Caltech theoretical physicist (also very beta), his equally smart and neurotic group of friends, and the hot next door neighbor whom he secretly pines for. While this show isn't as original as Chuck, it does have its moments, so I give it a 7/10.


The entire catalog of aired Chuck episodes can be seen for free on Hulu, and a few full episodes of The Big Bang Theory are available through CBS.com.

NSFE (not safe for eyes)

Wow, I guess webmasters were not consitered essential hires for most major companies in the 90s. These sites look like GeoCities pages created by 9 year olds, not by multi-billion dollar corporations.

Congrats Barack!

(click photo for Barack's amazing victory speech)

Congratulations to Barack Obama for his big win in South Carolina, hopefully he can parlay this momentum into positive results during Super Tuesday.

Life is but a game...

In of my favorite articles that Wired magazine has published, Daniel Terdiman highlights the bizarre effects gaming can have on one's life, particularly when the line between fantasy and reality becomes blurred. He describes several instances in which gamers have trouble separating real life from their games.

After many years of gaming, I have had my share of bizarre experiences.

The most vivid of these occurred last year, when I was living on campus - in dorms that happened to be right across from the baseball team's practice area. I had a couple of hours to kill in between classes and decided to play a couple of rounds of America's Army, the super-realistic FPS designed by the Army themselves as a recruiting tool for young, impressionable youths.

Turning down the lights and donning my trusty headphones, I sat down, intent on killing some terrorist scum. Cut to several hours and many deaths later, I glanced at the clock and realized it was almost time for class. Hurrying out of the door into the blinding sunlight, I am startled by several loud, metallic bangs - one after another. Convinced that I am taking fire from a unknown location, I dove behind some cover and waited. Then it hit me - this is real life, those were aluminum bats hitting practice balls over in the batting cages, and I am an idiot. Glancing around to make sure that no one saw my masterful dive into the bushes, I hurried to class with my tail between my legs.

Other, less embarrassing stories include:

• Wondering if there is a redeemer on the top of Century Tower, because if campus was a map in Unreal Tournament 2004 that's obviously where they would have put it.
• Thinking that the people direct-connecting on their NEXTELs are really Combine soldiers from Half-Life 2.
• Looking down on the countryside from the window seat of a 727, thinking that I could have designed a much better city.
• Scoping out good skateboarding spots... and wondering how many points I could rack up if I skated them in Tony Hawk Pro Skater.
• Thinking that the church that I attend back home would make an awesome map in Counterstrike.
• When playing Doom III in the middle of the night, my brother comes into my room and yells "ITS ONLY A GAME, YOU DON'T HAVE TO SCREAM SO MUCH!"

Ok, maybe less embarrassing is not the correct choice of words.

MSNBC gains viewership, including myself

Having a routine is the key to getting up early, and I have found a TV news show thats perfect for having on in the background while getting ready for the day. Morning Joe on MSNBC replaced Imus in the Morning after it was canceled last April.

Hosts Willie Giest, Mikia Brzenzinski (daughter of foreign-policy expert Zbigniew Brzezinski) and former Florida congressman Joe Scarborough guide viewers through the day's news, with a heavy slant towards the political. The show attracts the big names and Washington insiders who offer information beyond the headlines.

Morning Joe has caused me to totally switch my cable news viewing habits, as now MSNBC is almost always on when I'm not watching a particular show on TV. I find their team of journalists and pundits to be heads and shoulders above the rest. Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Dan Abrams, political director Chuck Todd, and the always feisty Keith Oberman are a hard team to beat.

MSNBC has seen a 20% increase in its ratings year-to-date, a fact that CNN's Jonathan Klein sees as a major challenge to the number two cable news outlet behind FoxNews.

I thought this was a joke.... Hackers holding cities hostage!?!?

Upon seeing the headline to this MSNBC article, "Hackers demanding cash disrupting power" I thought I was reading a summary of the plot of the next James Bond movie, or a synopsis of Die Hard 4.

Could this be the best SW game since KOTOR?

GameVideos has a short video posted on LucasArts' new take on Star Wars action games, The Force Unleashed. The name is quite fitting, as it is the first game to really allow for control of a character with such immense power over the force (throwing entire squads of Stormtroopers across the room, throwing Tie Fighters around, massive force lightning attacks filling the entire screen - basically lots of throwing and electrocutions).

Main focus of the video is on the underlying tech that allows for all this action to happen, and happen in a realistic and believable manner, very interesting stuff!



This is one of the games that I will be watching very closely over the next few months.

First Post!

Welcome to a blog about the things I love; Consumer Electronics, Computers, Video Games, Movies, and TV. In short: Media, Entertainment, and Technology, or M.E.T.

This is a temporary design until I get all the bugs worked out.

It's time to explore the METa-verse!