Update: Thanks to Henrik for noticing that the title of the blog entry was ‘….2007′ and not ‘…2008′ as it should be.. Shame on me.
I was never much into New Year resolutions, often they sounded as bad excuses for delaying something you already could get started with, such as “In 2008 I’m going to stop smoking” (This was just an example, I never ever smoked). Why wait until 2008, when you can start NOW. Anyway, I want to setup some goals for myself in 2008 and why not share them with you. This also puts some pressure on me.
Sure many of these can be taken as New Year resolutions as nothing stops me moving forward with the goals NOW. I do believe it is important to have goals for the future, as long as they are realistic, so if I say ‘Goal for 2008 is to get into space’ then I will probably have to disappoint myself (So I will wait with that till 2009).
I have often been wondering why monitors are like they are; why don’t they make square monitors.
Let’s have a look at previous/current monitors and why I think that wide screen monitors often are no good.
There does exist monitors with other resolutions than the below mentioned once, specially if you look at the notebooks, but the once below are the most common desktop monitor. Continue Reading »
Oh no, don’t turn the computer off now, do read this first.
Lot’s of people don’t turn their computers off when they are finished with them; either at home or at their work place. This is just something I don’t understand.
I’m pretty sure they turn their TV, Radio and lights off (in most cases), so why do they leave their PC on? Continue Reading »
If you are a blogger then head over to The Thinking Blog’s latest giveaway
In this giveaway they have a pretty cool prize, and no, it is not a free WordPress theme or some free advertisement. No, this time the prize is nothing less that a rugged & water resistant laptop from Ruff PC, the Laptop they are giving away is the RuffBook Tech, which actually got some pretty nice specs.
This is a perfect Laptop if you like to blog away from home; take it with you anywhere you go. Even to the beach or when you go mountain climbing. Oh, guess it is also very good if you got small kids, spilling milk and water on it would not matter (beyond the mess). It might even work if they took it out to play with it in the dirt.
So what do you have to do to win it? Simple, you just do what I just did :-) All you have to do is just to blog about it. Hmm, so by suggesting this to the readers of this blog I actually reduce the chance of me winning. Oh, what the hell. If you do win it and you got to the giveaway from this blog then it would be great if you mention it on your blog, I would also be happy to write about it (including picture). Good luck to us all.
One of my friends (whom I also work with) lives in Australia and I hear him from time to time use the expression “Down under”, such as “That’s all from down under” and I have also used it myself as “How goes down under?”
As most people know; ‘down under’ refers to Australia (and New Zealand) but why? I mean, down under could also be South America or South Africa but nope, that is just not the case. The Wikipedia does have an explanation (See here):
It locates Australia as “The land Down Under” because unlike Africa and South America, that continent lies totally within the southern hemisphere and typically world maps and globes show Antarctica at the ‘bottom’, with north appearing to be “up” and south appearing to be “down”.
What about the other way around. Since we have defined that north is equal to up and south is equal to down. Then why don’t the Australians used ‘up over’ such as “Any news from up over?”
Yes, I know, it does sound a bit silly, but why not? Is there any expression that is used like ‘Down under’ to refer to us? Oh, do people in Japan say ‘down under’ also for Australia.
I really wonder why I think about these things, but it just hit me today. So if anyone out there knows more about this up/down under/over then drop some comments.
My good friend Paul Conway finally got his web site live today; I have been following the creation of it over the last few weeks and got to admit that the final result is pretty good.
Background on Paul is that he is a freelance graphics artist; specialized in game art/graphics but this does not mean it is all he can do. I have seen logos, CD/vinyl covers, concept art, emoticons and even corporate ID material (business cards) from him. You better check with him directly for a full list ;-)
I had a chance to work directly with Paul when he was at Nephin and got to say that he is one of the few graphics artist that are easy to work with (from a programmers viewpoint). Guess a lot of graphics artist will be getting on my case after this. Never mind that, I can take it.
His site DoomCube.com (nice name) only got some of his portfolio online at the moment; this is the 2D section but there will be more added later; 3D art, illustrations, design… So do check back from time to time.
Hope there will come a time again where we get a chance to work together on a project.
In mid October I saw the trailer/teaser for the upcoming game Wet (Sierra Entertainment, Artificial Mind); what made this trailer stand out compared to other game trailers was not that it features a good looking woman or that it was a violent trailer. Nope, seen that too often now, what made it stand out for me was the music and the way it was all put together (good choreography).
The Music
While talking to a friend of mine who also works in the games business and I mentioned the trailer and that it would be great if they released a sound track; as I really liked the music and wanted to have it. I got an almost instant reply from him:
Johnny Cash: God’s Gonna Cut You Down
This surprised me; that he knew that one as I don’t know any music from Johnny Cash; just know him from TV and Radio. Anyway, 10 min later and a few checks on iTunes and I had my first Johnny Cash track (well, 3 of them).
I have since heard it many times and it is currently the track in iTunes I have listened too most. I got into a habit of starting each day or when I return the PC with listing to this track.
Does beauty matter?
Does it improve the game in anyway that the hero is a beautiful lady? I would say it does not but then again, it does not degrade the quality.
Do people get connected to the character of such games? Do they feel related to the character or do they feel associated with it? If so, then it would make more sense if the hero was a guy, as most gamers are guys.
Watch it
Check the trailer and maybe you will have it the same way; would also like to hear what people think about the trailer and the combination of: Beautiful woman, violent killing, great music and having a bath.
If you like the style of the trailer then do also visit the web site for the game: WetTheGame.com
I guess that everybody would like to get the best price when they buy an iPod touch; often you don’t find any special offers as Apple controls the prices. Sure we had a case recently with a newly opened store here in Switzerland where they were offering a 10% discount on all items in their shops, including iPod. I was very close to ordering one but decided to wait a bit. The discount of 10% is not something to laugh at, but something else a friend of mine just had to laugh about yesterday was Amazon.com and their VERY special price for Apple 16 GB iPod touch
Let the picture tell the story:
A total saving of $0.01; made me feel like buying one extra iPod just to take advantage of the discount… NOT :-)
So here we are; December already started so time to prepare for Christmas. Sure most retail stores had Christmas in their stores for awhile but the online world is also in Christmas mood. One of them is Overstock.com with their All I want for Christmas Giveaway
I suggest all readers of this blog from the US to head over to their website right away and get lucky. The contest does not require any purchase; all you need to enter the contest is to give name, email, address (Guess you do want to receive the prize in case you win). You then invite up to 5 friends to the contest (If you win, then they also win).
The prize is not set in stone but instead a gift card worth $1,000.00 is given each day to the lucky winner (and the winners 5 friends). They also got a grand price of $5,000.00 for one lucky person.
Overstock.com got tons and tons of interesting items for sale (keep in mind: you don’t have top buy anything, unless of course you win). Jewelry, watches, electronic, furniture… So selecting the winning price is not easy.
I had a look to see what I would choose in case I won and I ended up with something I have been considering for a long time; nothing less that a Toshiba 37″ LCD screen. Guess this would be great for gaming. Ah, I would feel good if I won that; would even leave money for a few books.
In this 
