Brendan Young Blag » tech

My iPhone 3G S

Brendan — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:04:55 +0000

An iPhone was something I always figured I’d want but never go out and buy. With the release of the new iPhone 3G S the allure of the iPhone became too much and I caved on Sunday when I was in Red Deer for father’s day, three days after the release.

Apple has won this round and the future isn’t looking too good as I’m planning to save for a MacBook Pro.

I might as well accept that Apple is going to take lots of my money.

I did feel bad about leaving my KEYBO though. That phone was good to me and I have no complaints about it. I’m selling it and my 32 GB iPod Touch as well so if you’re interested let me know.

(totally wrote this post from my iPhone btw)

My Beef with the Amazon Kindle

Brendan — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:06:05 +0000

I like gadgets, and I have a lot of them. So when I heard about the Kindle 2 I was immediately interested. It looks very sleek and cool, and the only technical problem I have with it is that it has to flash the screen when you flip the page to “refresh” the E Ink. All in all, a pretty cool gadget. But I think I’d just miss books.

One of the things I like about reading is having books to show off on a shelf, like a trophy case of my literary adventures. There’s something rewarding about starting a book and watching the progress of the bookmark’s position as the hours/days/weeks go on. And let’s not forget about that “new book smell.”

Further, I did some searching on the Amazon Kindle Store and found that most of the last books I’ve purchased over the last few months are not available for Kindle download. I did see, however, that the newest books by the same authors were available, so I guess it’s just a matter of time before you can download books other than the ones Oprah tells you to. It would be really awesome if you could buy an actual book, like in a book store, and then get the Kindle version as well for a few bucks more, or something like that.

The good news is, if you have a Kindle right now you can purchase The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead, which you should do immediately. I already have a paperback version, but a digital copy would come in handy amidst a zombie apocalypse.

nvidia nForce 750i SLI FTL

Brendan — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:47:11 +0000

Thursday night, shortly after hitting lvl 47 in Forochel killing Tundra Bears and collecting Dwarf Picks, every USB device connected to my computer abruptly stopped working. I could only watch in horror as my Elf-Hunter’s dignity was stripped away as he was mauled to death by hungry bears, while helplessly auto-running into a stone wall. After angrily mashing the reset button my computer informed me that it could detect no keyboard. Pressing the CMOS reset button and using Mark’s ps2 keyboard to re-enable USB keyboard support in the BIOS had no effect. After cursing the stars for a while, I decided I should ask IT to have a look at it. With the BIOS flashed and the USB drivers uninstalled and reinstalled, the cause and solution had even escaped Paul’s mighty knowledge. No one knew how the story could ever have a happy ending.

Luckily some five months prior to this when the salesperson at Memory Express asked me if I wanted to purchase an Instant Product Replacement on my motherboard, I had that foresight to say “Yes, yes I would like to do that thing.” ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS get the extended warranty on expensive electronics. They have saved my ass (by which i mean my wallet) more than once.

This makes the 3rd version of this motherboard that I have had in my new PC since July. nForce 750i SLI FT“W”, eh nvidia?

Brightkite Spite

Brendan — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:53:31 +0000

The other day I found this really neat “location-based” social network called Brightkite. It lets you see what your friends are up to in real time via twitter-like posts and pictures, but also displays your current location at the time of the post. It works best with a GPS device like an iPhone, but they say it works on any phone. They have a free iPhone app that I tried out on my iPod touch which is pretty snazzy. Of course, I could only use it when I’m in wifi. Otherwise I can post via SMS or mobile email from my blackberry.

Or at least I’m SUPPOSED to be able to. When you sign up it asks for your phone number preceded by your country code (which I had a considerable amount of trouble finding on the internet), and then texts you a confirmation number that you type in at the site. This all worked just peachy, but I still find myself unable to send SMS commands to brightkite. I sent invites to a few friends and they didn’t have the same problem. I suspect that Telus has once again spewed copious amounts of FAIL all over my attempts at having fun.

That aside, I still think it’s a really cool social networking deal that people should definitely try out. It’s in beta so it’s invite only, but I have a bunch of invites so drop me a line if you want I should send one your way. You can also sign up for an invite at the site, but that takes about a day or so.

Here’s my “wall”, if you want to take a look: http://brightkite.com/people/Brenderous

Pretty Sweet Set-up.

Brendan — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:37:23 +0000

I have a pretty sweet set-up in my room for gaming. I have my PC, and on the same desk I have a TV. Plugged into that TV I have an 360 and a Wii.

The Set-up

Theoretically, I could be surviving the D.C. wastes in Fallout 3, dismembering zombies in Dead Space, and planting trees in Animal Crossing almost simultaneously. That could lead to problems though. Like trying to bring up V.A.T.S. in Dead Space to buy some time, and then getting devoured. Or trying to cut the limbs off my neighbors in Animal Crossing when they charge too much for furniture.

The real test would be trying to play Rock Band and anything else.