The main reasons were basically that I refused to pay Roger’s rip-off data fees. (well, IMO, all the “unlimited” plans offered by all the companies are pretty disgusting… Butvthat is another post…). Also, I couldn’t avid the fact that apparently, you cannot turn off the “wireless” without also turning off the wi-fi… WTF? So you really have no choice but to hope you mever roam without first remembering to disable the wireless, and then it’s basically just a glorified touch anyway. That is a big mistake in my opinion.

I also have wireless at home an hopefully soon at work as well…

Now, after a week of playing, we, working with this little gadget, I have to say I’m pretty impressed. Yes, it has crashed a couple of times, but they were on 3rd party apps. Also the keyboard though not ad awesome ad the blackberry, is fantastic I can write much faster with this than with my old Dell Axim (especially with the handy auto correct feature…).

The responsiveness can sometimes be quite sluggish of it thinks it is busy. And once or twice it has stalled on me a for a few seconds.

The app sellection is quite food considering that the store and SDK has only been available for a few weeks. A BIG missing is a proper PDF reader, and no, emailing yourself a PDF does not count!

Shame on apple for not having one already!

I now get why people get zoo bloody attached to tjiet crack berries. My girlfriend has accused me of being too attached to this thing already. Imagine if I did get the iPhone instead… I would always be connected…

One thing I am wishing this touch had, was the GPS. I was hoping using google maps and cashing the last route would cut it, but sadly, it does mor really get the job done well.

Also a big missing is bluetooth! Now, you know apple is just being petty here. They don’t want us using the touch as a voip phone…

Anyway, again, overall I’m pleased. Who knows maybe there telly is a hidden bluetooth chip on this thing, and apple is just waiting to offer it as the 3.0 upgrade, of as an extra fee for $25… Ok, come on, you know that is exactly apple’s style, and that we would prolly all whine and complain, then pay the man.

(though I origonally posted this via my Touch, I posted to my old WP.com blog… oops…)

Share on Facebook

Here’s an update on our pregnancy/baby status:  The baby and mom are  healthy, we are at just about 29 weeks, so there’s not much time left to go (about 3 months).  We’ve gone for our first ultrasound (about 6-7 weeks ago) and the doctors and technician were very happy. 

We tried to go to UC Baby to get some 3d/4D (3D + time) photos & video, but the baby was being very uncooperative.  We will be going back again next Thursday to try again.  They said they will try 2-3 times before they give up (We’d only end up paying a sitting fee).  We got the baby’s heartbeat on a bear, but we really want the pictures to show it when it gets older. 

We do NOT want to know the baby’s sex.  We will be happy with either.  we have names picked out for both. though my sister stole our girls name, we may use it anyway.  people may find that strange, but I don’t really care, its a name we both love and we can actually agree on.

We are pretty set when it comes to clothes, and we have a basinet, but we still have to buy a crib & change table (and start stocking up on diapers, and other essentials).  We will probably get the crib this month, we just have to find one we like.

We are also hunting for a good used car, preferably of foreign make (I am a bit against domestics), so If you know anyone with a year 2000+ car for sale at a reasonable price (read: sub 10k), let me know.

We’ve been taking pre-natal classes, which for Rhonda is a complete waste of time (She’s been a nanny for 12 years and was a doula for 2).  I also find them a bit of a bore, they only go over what you’ve already read in books.  I was hoping they would get more into the "what-ifs", etc.  Or go over local resources, where to get things, etc.  That’s the stuff I don’t know.

At the first class however, we got a predictions quiz, and I finally got Rhonda to fill her’s out.  So here’s our answers, we’ll see how close we were when the baby is born:

* Rhonda pointed out that almost all baby’s are born with blue eyes that change colours with a short period of time.

Neither of us saw the other’s answers.  I just saw hers now as I was typing them in.  My answers were hidden from her as well.  Its pretty cool that we both answered so similarly, the only thing we’ve really discussed in the names.  Neither of us really has a good gut feeling on the sex, so we both just guessed.

It’ll be neat after the baby is born to see how close/far we were from reality.

Anyway, I gotta get back to work.

Share on Facebook

Some industry people were wondering if the gamble would pay off.  Apparently, it has.  It is rumored that Radiohead sold somewhere around 1.2 million albums in the first day alone, speculation is that they probably made $10 million in the single day.  The best part? Its all theirs, no cut for labels, no cut for stores.

Soon after Radiohead’s announcement, Trent Renzor of Nine Inch Nails fame followed suit.  He’s going to offer his next album online in digital form.  This comes not long after his giving permission to fans to steal his music.  He is/was annoyed that the labels & stores are ripping off his fans by charging more for his albums than for most anyone else’s knowing his fans will pay it.

I have no doubt that if he does indeed go the digital route, that he too will reap the rewards of going label free (apparently he has already dropped his label).  I wonder how many others will deem to follow suite?  How many other smaller bands may band together to offer their music on "private" labels, amounting to hosted sites that take care of the distribution and payment processes.

My buddy John asked a good question:  "What will this mean for the Record Stores?"

Well, frankly.  Times are changing.  Music Store chains are feeling the pinch.  Those who see what is coming and adapt will survive in at least a fashion.

Personally, I see these stores turning into more of a media boutique, offering their patrons access to media lounges and offering terminals that allow users to brows music, listen to new artists or artists similar to what they have on their devices, the terminals would scan an attached media player, see what that user likes and suggest similar artist or even highlight local artists & shows/events.  The user could then download new songs (paying for them, unless they are promotional or paid for my the user watching a brief ad or two).  These stores could also offer traditional media (CDs, DVDs, Records, etc) as well as specialized or collector box sets, (similar to Radiohead’s offering on their site).

Stores that adapt in this or similar ways will survive, those that don’t will frankly perish as many have already. 

Locally, our Sam’s closed down last year blaming Music Piracy (which I believe was a bullshit accusation).  There has been news of others shutting down or down sizing as well.

I don’t believe it will happen overnight, but it will happen in the next few years.  People don’t want to buy CDs anymore, especially since they only use the cd as a method of getting the music on their MP3 player.  many more are buying their music from online stores such as iTunes or Amazon. 

This leads to another beautiful change, one that both Radiohead & NIN are embracing: DRM free media.  Those in know are realizing that DRM only slows pirates down, it doesn’t stop them.  DRM only annoys your paying user.  You have no right to tell me that the music I PAID FOR can’t be played on my MP3 player, and my home computer/media center.  I should be able to listen to it where ever and whenever I want. 

The recent changes we are seeing in the online marketplace shows that end users want DRM free music and are willing to pay for it.  Apple recently (today I believe) reduced their DRM tracks in price to be equal to DRM music.  Amazon I think has been DRM free from the go, and others as well.  Give me a choice & I’ll get DRM free or crack the DRM with tools like fairPlay4WM.

Share on Facebook

Features:

• Cell Phone (obviously)
• MP3 Player (mp3, aac, aac+, wma, etc…)
• Video Player (mp4)
• PDA (Organizer, date book, contacts, etc)
• Trainer (pedometer, running assistant, graphs, etc)
• Games (java based)
• Bright, "hi-res" screen (240×320)
• Misc features (shake to change, matrix-style keypad, calculator, Bluetooth, email, sms, mms, etc, etc, etc…)
• USB/Bluetooth Synchronization!!!
• Expandable memory (M2 - Memory Stick Micro)

It’s small, light and stylish.  It slides open (instead of flippingopeN0 I like that because it is harder to accidentally sit on it when it is open and snap it in half.  as well, with the large screen, the hidden keyboard keeps it small.

The battery seems to be pretty good, I used it a lot the other day (listening to music, playing with apps, putting in phonebook entries, etc) and the battery barely noticed it.  According to reviews on the web, you can expect about 4-6 hours of actual use (not standby) before a charge.  The official site says 9hr talk & 370hr standby.  But those number are always optimistic to an extreme.  As long as I don’t have to charge it every night when I’m not using it…

The MP3 player is great.  As good as or better than my Samsung in audio quality.  The controls aren’t as good, but then again this isn’t a dedicated music player.  It has a programmable EQ, and come with 4 presets, including "Mega Bass ", which really pumps the bass up (I don’t use it…).  It also features stereo widening and visualizations, playlist compatibility, etc.  It is actually more functional than my Samsung yp-t9, in that it supports aac and aac+ as well as wma and mp3.  It does not support ogg to my knowledge, but only Linux geeks use that anyway.

The video player is fine, but I never used the video player on my yp-t9, but that was mostly due to having to use Samsung’s proprietary format.  The w580i uses standard mp4 (apparently, h264 is a little sluggish, hopefully it will be fixed in an update).  Speaking of updates, the phone can update its firmware over USB from the web.

Overall, I’ve been using it about a week now, and I’ve been pretty happy with it.  The default earphones that come with it are great, they are the in ear type and come with 3 different ear-size inserts.  The only irritating thing is that the connection to the phone is a proprietary connection (surprise) but the cord has a standard earphone jack on it, it just converts any pair of earphones to a hands-free headset.

Share on Facebook

ahh.. yeah.

Share on Facebook

Some people don’t understand how a grown man can look so forwards to a game.  Well, if you don’t get it, you don’t get it. 

At least I didn’t skip work for the Halo 3 launch

PS: There’s a wicked deal at dell.ca’s Small Business site for "Viva Pinata" and "Perfect Dark", they are $4 each, with free shipping.. together, they cast $9.12 (tax in)… I also threw in a play & charge kit…

PS: in case the creepy Japanese pillow wasn’t ban enough.. here’s more Japanese creepiness from Kotaku: How Haruhi Was Wrapped In Porn Plastic (NSFW - well, sort-of).

Share on Facebook

So my first impressions I’ll keep short… The game is fun, goofy, a bit too cartoon-ish, but fun.  The storyline is average, a little weak in places, but again fun.  I’m thinking the art director for Dragon Warrior 8 worked on this game extensively, there are blatant rip offs of characters (models) and textures, etc.  I’ll put more about that in my full review, coming soon.

I’ve already made a number of notes and an outline.  So it shouldn’t take too much effort to write it up when I’m done.

Okay.. now on to the creep Japanese pillows:

I kid you not… This is a "child sized" pillow, sporting a character from the game "Doki Doki Majo Shinpan!", who besides the well developed breasts, looks a little too child like for my comfort. 

The game the character is from, is creepy in itself.. your objective is "…to locate a witch that has snuck into [your] school. In order to find the witch [you] must search the suspects’ bodies for a "witch mark". The preferred method is by using touch…".

To be fair, this is likely not representative of all or even a majority of the Japanese public’s tastes, but it is still creepy.  Read the comments in the Kotaku article to get even more creeped out.

Kotaku.com article: Child-Sized Doki Doki Pillow

PS: I forgot to "publish" this yesterday… oops…

Update: According to the Wikipedia Article on Blue Dragon: "The game features art from Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball and visual, character and monster designer and illustrator of Dragon Quest." 

So I was right, except I know some of the character art is used in both games.  If my PS2 wasn’t fried, I’d take a couple of screen caps to prove it.

Share on Facebook

The 10 Best Animated Movies for (Traumatizing) Kids

I’ve never seen half of these movies.. including "Transformers: The Movie".. I know, I know.. what kind of geek am I? 

Personally, I don’t think I’d let my kid watch most of these, but mostly cause they look like they suck.

In other news, there’s been another school shooting in the states.  I’m waiting for Jack Thompson to appear and blame video games.

And in case you were wondering if the world has gone to hell yet: "YouTube Britney Spears fan to get own show"

The end is nigh, and I don’t even believe in God.

Share on Facebook

Anyway, so yeah!  Rhonda and I are expecting our first on or about March 29th!!! 

Truthfully, I thought I’d be terrified, but I’m not.  Not even a little.  I am anxious about the delivery, but that’s still about 6 months away. 

We are going to turn our office (Den) into the baby’s room in January/February and move the office into the guest room.

People have already started giving us stuff, and Rhonda had purchased a stroller months ago in anticipation.

We keep wondering if it’ll be a boy or a girl (we don’t care which it is as long as it is healthy).  We have names picked out for either.  It took us a long time to choose names, omg that was a trial

FYI: this was a planned pregnancy, we started trying in march and it took in may, which isn’t bad at all eh?  Yeah, my boys can swim

So far Rhonda hasn’t been doing too bad.  For about a month she was really noxious, and now she’s a bit irritable and can cry at the drop of a pin.  But I’m trying to be as supportive as possible.  I still have a bit to do in that department.  I’m irritable when I’m normal, so trying to be the non-irritable one is a bit of a switch.  Usually it’s Rhonda who is the happy-go-lucky one and me who’s all cranky and stuff ;)  She is tired a lot, and can sleep any time, anywhere.  That just means i get more time to play video games.  I’ll have to get it out of my system, cause for the first while, I’ll prolly have little to no time to play them when the baby comes.  Oh well, it’ll be worth it.  Everyone keeps telling me that I won’t care because I’ll have a baby to keep me amused.

Anyway, I just thought I’d share our happy news with everyone.  I’ll keep you all up to date on the progress as time goes on.

Yay for us!!!

PS: I thought the above image was cute.  I was trying to find an image that would go with the post…

Share on Facebook

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

A short tutorial on how to talk the sacred language:

Share on Facebook