Archive for the 'Geek it up!' Category

Songbird 1.0

Published on December 4, 2008 in Geek it up! and Music. 1 Comment

songbird-logo

I thought today that I would let you know about a new music management/player called Songbird. They have just released version 1.0 to the public and it is looking good. Songbird is open-source and works on all operating systems. Some of the cool features are:

  • Mashtape – discover flickr photos, YouTube vids, biographies, Google news and more for the currently playing artist.
  • Easy import from iTunes.
  • Customized Add-ons

A lot is planed for this player one of the features on the way that I love is watch folders so when new music goes into the folder it will be imported into Songbird. iPods are currently supported but not the phone or touch. This can only be a good thing as Apple have owned the media management for a long time now and I know a lot of people are looking for alternatives especially people on a pc. I will be having a play with Songbird over the next few weeks and will report back once I have been able to test it out.

Fable 2: First Impressions

Published on October 19, 2008 in Geek it up!, Reviews and Video Games. 5 Comments Tags: , .

fable2Due to a small error by a couple of retailers Fable 2 broke its street date and went on sale for about half a day before being taken back off the shelves. Apparently there are still some stores selling but it appears to be a bit hit and miss. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and pick up a copy on my lunch break and seeing that Fable 2 will be available for the masses later this week I thought I’d post a quick first impressions on this highly anticipated game.

Developed by Lionhead Studios exclusively for the XBOX 360 Fable 2 is a western RPG and apart from Oblivion a genre I haven’t really played much. As with most RPGs it is too easy to lose track of time and I’ve already clocked up around 10 hours of game play and I’m surprised to say that I am really enjoying it.

I initially called out Fable 2 as ‘The Sims for boys’ and I’m going to stick by that. Your ‘hero’ while embarking on an epic quest also deals with the mundane and can get a job, have a wife (or two), family and even redecorate one of the many properties you own. Balancing both the main story and managing your life in general can be rather frustrating but also very rewarding if you’re willing to put in the time.

The main story is captivating and from what I can see going to be very lengthy and open ended with the choices you make throughout the game altering the story and ending which could lead to good replay value. I won’t go into the story as I don’t want to spoil anything but it looks like a winner and if anything bad happens to my dog there will be hell to pay.

The graphics of Fable 2 look gorgeous (although the water could do with a little more work) and the fantasy/cartoon style fits and helps create enchanting atmosphere as does the soundtrack. Voice acting is variable and intriguing unlike Oblivion and the random comments made by the AI throughout Fable 2 is both interesting, random and humorous.

There is a lot to like in this game, the fighting mechanic is simple but effective and collecting experience to level up your character is done very well and has forced me to pay attention to the way I battle although you could hack and slash your way though if you wanted to.

I don’t want to draw too much to the negatives as it is a great game but the menu system is slow and sucks in general. Some kind of hot key (back button) access to items or quests would be helpful as clunking my way through the menus can be frustrating and disjoint the gameplay. The lack of a detailed map is annoying the hell out of me but there are maps of regions etc so maybe I just need to adjust to this. I have also found that interacting with objects and people doesn’t always seem to register with multiple attempts normally required. My last gripe is with AI getting in the way. For example walking through a busy town people don’t get out of your way and are near impossible to move forcing you to walk around them. I would love to see the way Assassins Creed handles this in Fable 2.

As I have only just scraped the surface of Fable 2 I look forward to seeing how it plays out and also how the online co-op plays as this could add yet another meaty layer to an already massive game.

Apple Store Sydney

Published on July 28, 2008 in Geek it up!. 4 Comments

Today I got a chance to check out the new Apple store in Sydney. It is an impresive store and designed like all apple products with style and class.

The store is very large with 3 levels it is all spaced out well and has a large amount of staff. All the products are set up and can be used including Internet access. The stores remind me a lot of borders book stores in the relaxed atmosphere where they allow you to test products and use the net.

All up if you are in sydney I recomend dropping in.

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WordPress Loves iPhone

Published on July 22, 2008 in Geek it up!. 2 Comments Tags: .

WordPress have just released an iPhone application which will allow many a blogger the opportunity to blog while on the go.
Carrying the standard feature set you would expect and need the app also allows you to manage multiple blogs and post images either from your gallery or iPhone camera!
In fact I’m posting this from my iPhone and I promise I will try not blog while drunk…

Get it via iTunes

iPhone – The price is…..

Published on July 3, 2008 in Geek it up!. 5 Comments Tags: , .

Optus today went out and announced the plans and cost of an iPhone. So how much will this hot new tech gadget cost?

Pre-Paid:

$729 for the 8GB model.

$849 for the 16GB model.

This is about how much everyone was thinking the iPhone would cost a long time back before the clever lads at Apple announced that it would be available at $199 world wide.

As we now all know the $199 cost was with the phone on a 24 month contract. The only way to get the phone uncontracted is pre-paid. If you do get the pre-paid version it can be unlocked from the Optus network for $80 allowing you to use it with another provider.

Post-Paid:

The contracted plans look very good with large amounts of data available with the plans. With the basic $19 plan you get 100mb of data included and will need to pay $21 a month for the handset over 24 months. This means that on the day the phone goes on sale you won’t need to hand any cash over as they will take this from you every month on your mobile bill. If you don’t want to pay anything for your iPhone the $79 plan is a good one as this comes with 700mb of included data and you get the phone for $0 over 24 months or for $2 a month you can get the 16GB phone on the same plan.

Overall the plans look ok and the best part is how much data you get included in the plans. Take the current plans as an example you get 5MB of data capped for $9.95 on top of the cost of your plan. These iPhone plans might even be good for people who already have a 2G iPhone due to the amount of data that is provided.

Now we will wait and see what the other providers come out with as Telstra have given the basics of their plans but not the full details and Voderphone have still not come out with any pricing.

All I can say is bring on July 11.

XBOX and DRM Transfers

Published on June 29, 2008 in Geek it up! and Video Games. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

If you’re one of the 16% percent of XBOX 360 owners who have had to replace their console due failure you would understand my frustration where all of the content (map packs, arcade titles) I had bought from the XBOX Live Marketplace became unplayable when not connected to the internet and signed into XBOX Live.

The reason for this is due to Microsoft’s crippling DRM (Digital Rights Management) and not taking into account that a significant amount of their users have had to replace (Microsoft call it upgrading) their console.

Now I can understand why DRM exists however the majority of companies either take DRM to ridiculous levels or don’t manage it properly, which is the case with Microsoft.

It’s taken a couple of years but now Microsoft has released an online tool to transfer the content licenses from one XBOX to another. It is a rather simple method and can be done online in a matter of minutes (make sure you are sitting next to your console) but the kicker is that you must re-download all of the content that was downloaded on the previous console. BUT you are not really downloading it again just re-downloading the license which is OK as you’re not going to use up lots of data but if you’re like myself I had to re-download 171 items one by fucking one.

That method both sucks and took up a large amount of my time. Why couldn’t the licenses be re-activated the next time I used that content? i.e. I start to play UNO and it contacts XBOX Live and sees that UNO is in fact licensed to my new console and it authorizes it and away I go.

No matter how frustrating this is it is good to see Microsoft address this issue and as you can only do this once every 12 months Microsoft appear to be rather confident that your new XBOX won’t be breaking anytime soon…

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/licensemigration/

365 Days

Published on June 16, 2008 in Ego and Geek it up!. 5 Comments Tags: , , , .

My 12″ PowerBook died (may you rest in peace ‘Pete’) so I promptly replaced him with ‘Black Betty’ my shiny matte new MacBook. I loved the size and style of ‘Pete’ but a brand spanking Intel processor a couple of GB’s of RAM and all the other treats that ‘Betty’ has to offer has made the mourning period rather brief.

As with all new Macs ‘Betty’ comes with an inbuilt iSight and I thought I should do something with it so following in the footsteps of Raj and many others I’ve decided to take one photo a day for the next 365 days.

Below is Day 1:

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Follow my progress at Flickr and subscribe to my RSS feed here!

iPhone Aus

Published on June 11, 2008 in Geek it up!. 5 Comments

I thought I would put in my thoughts on the upcoming iPhone launch in Aus and how much it might cost. In the old US of A they have said it will cost $199 and as we all know this is a lot less then the current version of the iPhone. How could they sell it for this much and still make money? The mobile providers who have the iPhone are subsidising the cost of the handset. This is commonplace in the mobile handset business as the way you make money is having people locked into a 24 month contact and using your network. Apple will not be making a loss as the Mobile providers will be paying apple more the US $199 for the handset.

So how can they (the mobile providers) subsidise the handset and make this money back if you break the contract? This is done by charging high disconnection fees that cover the cost of the handset so that the mobile provider does not loose money.

What will it cost downunder? I am going to say that it will be $250 on a 24 month contract and $400 pre-paid. For some getting the pre-paid version will be better especially those on really good old plans or on corporate plans however the catch is it will need to be with one of the 2 Australian providers Voderphone or Optus as the handset will be locked. So if you are with Optus currently and get an Optus pre-paid iPhone you can use your current SIM card and current plan with the iPhone. Unless I have it all wrong and it is not locked downunder but I don’t think that will happen.

WWDC Review

Published on June 10, 2008 in Events and Geek it up!. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

There are certain levels to being an Apple fan. This morning (extremely early this morning) I levelled up as for the first time I stayed up for my first ever live Apple Keynote.

The keynote in question was the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) and it kicked off at 3am Melbourne time. I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a live audio feed from someone in the audience so I could hear his Royal Steveness in the flesh, live and in full.

I’m typing this after 2 hours sleep and yes I did dream about the iPhone (*level up*) and yes the internet tubes will be clogged full of Apple and iPhone news but I thought seeing that I’ve already done the hard yards I might as well talk about it.

So in no particular order please find below the items from the Keynote that were of interest to myself:

OSX – Snow Leopard

Only briefly mentioned by Steve but the next version of OSX will be called Snow Leopard.

iPhone 2.0, SDK and 3rd Party Applications

While the new iPhone 3G stole most of the limelight there is great news for users of the original iPhone in the form of software update 2.0. Bringing with it a lot of functionality and enhancements such as better contact e-mail management, contact search, e-mail attachment support, push services from Microsoft Exchange and MobileMe (more on this below) and 3rd Party Applications. Support for Pages, Numbers, Keynote and also Microsoft Office will be supported so no more making half-assed notes in Notes! Your existing iPhone will feel brand new again when 2.0 lands in the near future.

While we knew 3rd Party Applications were coming to the iPhone and the SDK had been freely available for a while now it was great to see what developers have in the pipeline for the iPhone and also how apparantly simple it is to develop for the iPhone. Apple also addressed the issue/question of how do you have an application that is not actually running in the background still provide the function expected ie a MSN client or Twitter Application? Apple will provide a central push server to push alerts to your iPhone notifying you of any updates to your application. Very clever way of ensuring that applications don’t stay open in the background taking up valuable resources.

All of these 3rd Party Applications will also be distributed via the Apple Application Store making for a very easy way to install and manage applications for the iPhone.

MobileMe

Replacing Apple’s rather long in the tooth and expensive .Mac service MobileMe is a complete revamp with much needed added features to justify the $119.00 yearly subscription fee. At the core of MobileMe is again push technology where all of your e-mail, contacts, calendars even photos are synchonized in real time between your iPhone, Mac, PC and the web. This brings what would normally be an enterprise level feature to the masses and also cementing itself as a ‘must have’ addition to the iPhone. All of the existing features of .Mac are there like iDisk and iWeb with online storage increased to 20Gb making it very good value.

iPhone 3G

Everyone knew it was coming and well if Apple didn’t announce it there would be geeks rioting in the streets so it was with no great surprise that Steve took the wraps off the iPhone 3G.

Looking very much like the existing iPhone aside from some small cosmetic changes, flush headphone jack (thank lord), plastic black or white rear shell (one assumes this is to improve antenna reception) and a few millimeters added and removed here and there the iPhone is still the best looking handset on the market.

Sporting 3G which improves data speeds 2.8 times faster than EDGE and allowing both simultanious voice and data connections this was the feature that everyone had wanted from the original iPhone allowing the user to really take advantage of the iPhone’s full potential.

GPS has also been added to add yet another layer of functionallity to Google Maps and also for applications like geotagging photographs etc…

The kicker to all of this is that Apple have dropped the price of the iPhone 3G to US$199.00. Compare that to the US$599.00 launch price of the original iPhone just one year ago and you know Apple is aiming for world domination just like it did with the iPod.

The iPhone will be launched on July 11 and this includes Australia where I have already placed a deposit to secure one of these bad boys at launch.

Anyway I could go on forever but I am exhausted and need to go attach an IV of coffee to my arm so discuss away in the comments and check out apple.com.au for all the official details.

iPhone 3G

Published on June 10, 2008 in Events and Geek it up!. 0 Comments Tags: , , .