That didn’t stop us from using it however and we installed it in a Windows 7 box using just a regular OTA antennae. And even though we didn’t end up recording too much with it (what’s their to record on regular TV anyway), we were blown away about how cool Windows Media Center is when it has a tuner to play with.

If you’re a home theater buff like myself, you will really marvel at how sleek, elegant and functional Windows Media Center is… Especially if it’s your first TV Tuner/Media solution.

Return of the Cable
So fast forward a couple months and cable has once again returned to our house along with its huge bill for renting their cable boxes. And if have cable and don’t think it’s a racket – YOU IZ CRAZY. I mean, I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but a Verizon FIOS HD DVR is probably something like $13/mo and a regular box has to be about $7 so every month I’m spending $20 extra to “rent” their equipment which I absolutely need to watch their programming! Again, it’s a racket.

And because of this I started looking for CableCard tuners. I heard about them a while ago through the AVS Forum but now doing some serious research, I was amazed to find that as much as these were lauded over, basically only 1 really exists in the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner and you can’t find them anywhere except on eBay and then only if you’re lucky. I swear you can’t even buy them from ATI’s website! (And let’s not forget they usually sell for north of $200 too).

Enter the Ceton InfiniTV 4 Multi-Tuner CableCard
So if you haven’t heard, some company called Ceton has made a new card that looks like it’ll blow the ATI one out of the water. The Ceton InfiniTV 4 accepts one CableCard, allows you to view or record 4 channels at once, and view these programs all around your house! Do you realize how cool that is? So instead of me paying the $20 a month I am now, I can just do the Verizon FIOS CableCard rental of of a few bucks PLUS I can watch the programming on more TVs without having to pay any more to the man!

Now admittedly the card has a “high” price tag of $399 but I figure I’d make that up quick if I’m distributing the programming to 3 TVs like I’m going to. The only real problem now for me is that Ceton has delayed shipping the card (I think I heard because of a parts shortage) meaning that I’m going to have to hang in here with my high cable bill for a little while longer. But in any event I’m still way excited about it. Anything that helps me bring media into the house and reduce my monthly bill gets two thumbs up in my book.

Microsoft XNA is a set of tools with a managed runtime environment provided by Microsoft that facilitates computer game development and management.

Got it? You can use it to help you make games for Windows and on the 360. Now if you’ve always wanted to make games but never thought you could, this probably isn’t the thing for you. Because even if you have the desire -Without the technical skills to back it up, you’re really not going to be able to gain an understanding of anything from the videos since they build on the fundamentals programming.

And from an XNA standpoint, you get only the glimspsiest of glimpses into XNA and all it can do. For instance, as far as certain effects being built into the system, how to do music, etc etc… That’s just not covered by the Beginner’s Guide. But you know, they probably shouldn’t be because then the guide would’ve taken me 2 weeks to get through. (#):)

What I Made
So what I made was nothing to write home about, that’s for sure. But as far as it goes to get my feet wet in XNA game programming, I’m pretty happy with the Beginner’s Guide overall. It basically steps you through how to make a 2D shooting game where enemies scroll in from the right and you can rotate a turret to aim at them and fire. So while what I made was pretty basic, there are lots of “extra credit” videos linked from the site that show you how to do cooler things like particle generators and stuff. BUT, I haven’t touched those vidoes yet.

Will I Do More?
Really not sure. This was a really fun diversion this past weekend, but I seriously don’t know that I have any desire at the moment to make games. They take up a lot of time and by the time I really finalized something as an Indie developer, Microsoft would probably be launching their 720 or something. ha ha.

Before all this though, I had to of course install WordPress on the new domain. I remember the first time I did it how much of a pain in the neck it was. I had to update my mySQL version, permissions, and a whole bunch of other crap. This time, it was PAINLESS. It took me 5 minutes (maybe 6) to upload all the wordpress files, another minute to setup the database, and another minute to go through install.php. And before I knew it, I was presented with a message saying, “[All done! Thought there would be more steps? Sorry to disappoint!]“. Couldn’t be happier! The hardest part of yesterday was definitely deciding on a theme, but I had done some preliminary research on that front too so that was easier than I thought it would be too!

Engadget and GamaSutra are reporting that Nintendo will allow users to download WiiWare from the Shop Channel which will allow them to develop games for the Wii a la Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio Express. This is a pretty exciting thing, both for developers and consumers because obviously this unlocks the Wii to even more forms of content and likely – content that consumers would rarely (if ever) see otherwise.

Personally, I used to think that I wanted to be a video game designer/programmer, but nowadays, it just takes so much work, so many late hours, and so many people that I think I’m content just playing’em. However, I still remember the days when I was making games in DirectX and before that in the DOS environment hoping that I would somehow find enough money to buy a Net Yaroze. So who knows, maybe I’ll start trying to put something together for the Wii…I don’t have any ideas of what I could make thus far, or even if I’d be ABLE to put something together, but I’m still pretty excited about the possibilities.

I guess WiiWare is just another way to see how things are going these days, with companies opening up the doors to a community feeling, and trying to get innovation in their products. Of course, on the innovation front, Nintendo has always been there caring more about the products they put out than their bottom line in the US. I’m just happy that they have finally seen success in the States again, reminding the big guns that there’s always a reason to think outside the box.

Even if video game addiction isn’t a true addiction, it’s at least something that’s very worrisome. Don’t believe me? Just think about WoW, otherwise known as The World of Warcraft. This online game basically takes over people’s lives, leaving them hollow shells of their former selves. There are even websites up that chronicle the problems people face trying to tear themselves away from this game and their reasons for leaving. Sites such as the very humorous (to outsiders), WoW Detox.

Anyway, I once heard that you know you have an addiction when there are very bad consequences to your actions as a result of your behavior…Such as not showering, shunning your friends, and not showing up to work. I don’t know that there has ever come a time where I’ve been addicted to a game in this sense, but….Well…I don’t even know what to say. I love video games. But it seems to me if you can’t get away from them to enjoy life and you end up ruining your life because you can’t get away, you must have SOME kind of problem right?

So here’s a look at the e-mail:

I new that if I was getting an invite to this whole “Spock Thing”, it had to be something different than the usual search engine. My instincts didn’t fail me, and it turns out that the search engine is focused on people. That’s right, you can type in a name and get all kinds of juicy info on that person. To see what output you’ll get I searched for one of my favorite people. You guessed it : Steve Nash!

P.P.S. I wonder how hard it would be to claim-steal another’s identity on here?

Here’s what I think: From what I’ve gathered, I don’t think that most older people know how much money can be made with the Internet if you know what you’re doing. And I’m not just talking through Ads and Affiliate Marketing either. There are many opportunities to make good money by providing design, promotion and consulting services to anyone who needs them. I think there is a large portion of the population who just doesn’t get that the Internet is really it’s own industry and that money flows in and out of it just like any other. So that’s half of it.

I think the other half is that people have become so … BRAINWASHED through traditional schooling into thinking that the path to success starts with school and ends with a job. Now, I don’t necessarily disagree with that statement, but I think often it is believed and followed much too literally. As I’ve said before, I’m a big believer of Twain’s statement, “I’ve never let school interfere with my education”. In this world, a number of things can be credited for success. But I’ll say at least financially, education is pretty important. (And I’m not talking about being able to take the limits of f(x) as x approaches Infinity). Education is a vast and limitless thing, encompassing so many different facades of life, financial and otherwise. School is one way to attain education and expose oneself to different experiences. It’s also the way to attain a degree which many professionals use to judge someone as to whether or not they are qualified to hold a position in their company. Still with me? SCHOOLING leads to a DEGREE which should lead to a JOB which leads to MONEY. And that’s the only way A LOT of people see it.

I and many others see the whole thing as EDUCATION leads to a MASTERY which should lead to a PROFESSION which leads to MONEY. It’s basically the same thing as described above and I think it’s what school is supposed to do, impart you with knowledge, which it does and doesn’t, let’s be honest. But I think there’s one fundamental difference between the above and the below which is mindset. One who thinks of the cycle as SCHOOLING leading to a JOB see only that. They know that they will work for someone else, and they’re fine with it. They believe that a job is security and if they have a degree, they’ll have security for the rest of their life. So when people like myself say, “I don’t want to have a job I want to work for myself…” They basically believe that you want to be homeless or have the government take care of you.

I guess here’s the difference in the thinking…Those who believe that EDUCATION leads to a PROFESSION often can’t stand having someone else in charge of their life. They believe (myself included) that JOBs have no more security than not having a job since having a boss means you have someone who can’t take your job away from you anytime they want. Furthermore, they believe bosses dictate when you have to be at your job, and how much you will be paid.

*ahem* This rant has gone on way too long. Look, I’m not saying one is more right than the other, but please don’t look at me like I’m crazy if I say I want to work for myself. Okay friends and family? Sure it will take more work, and will be harder to start than handing in your résumé to an employer but I have to believe it’s worth it…and doable.

So yeah, this has got to be happening to more than just me right? Are there those of you out there who have experienced this and now lead a double life with your friends and family only telling them what they’re prepared to hear? Because it’s fast approaching that for me. I guess I’m just kinda at a place where it’s easier to not say anything and just say I work for a decent company with decent pay and good benefits. *shrugs*

(I’m sure I’ll edit this post later once I have some time to look it over and collect my thoughts a bit better).

So I just saw a commercial saying that starting soon, you will be able to buy a Dell computer at the huge retailer, Walmart. For some reason this really put me back in my seat and so I decided to dig a little bit to see what was up. I found an article at BetaNews talking about the deal and namely how it was Dell’s “first step” into global retail. It’s just funny how times have changed. I remember “back in the day” (like the mid 90s), it was all about who made your computer. Back then, Gateway was a huge player in the PC game and a good desktop would set you back well over a grand. Then Gateway fell off when Dell stormed onto the market (that’s at least how I remember it) and Dell surged ahead under the guise of tremendous customer service.

I guess at that time, computers were still relatively new in the consumer market and people were still plenty intimidated of them so the customer service tip was a good one. But now…well…Prices for everything computer are so cheap now. So much cheaper than back then. It seems that everyone now pretty much thinks a computer is a computer so the cheaper the price the better. And again, for the mainstream consumer market, I guess I can’t really fault them too much in this thinking. So I think that’s why Dell and Gateway and companies like them lost their edge. Why buy something online and have to worry about shipping and handling when you can go to a store TODAY and get something for cheaper that “does the same thing”?

Personally, I build all of my desktops (like so many of you) so I don’t have any particular affinity for Dell. But I think that the Walmart and Dell deal will be good for both. If Dell can get their $400ish computers into the stores, I think they’ll find a market. And even if their name isn’t what it once was, I think the idea of owning a $400 Dell computer will certainly attract an audience.

It was then I remembered about an ACTUALLY cool clock a friend of mine, Marieke did in school. Not only is it beautiful, but is has constellations in it too, and has a cool day to night graphic. SOOOO MUCH BETTER. You can check out a picture below, and check it out in action here.