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.
(The site is very ……… red).
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).
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 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.
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.
There have been written a lot about Amazon Kindle
So let me give you my impression of the Kindle. I will also explain why it is impossible for me to get :-(
If any of you have had some experience with the Kindle then please leave a few comments about what you think about it and if it is worth getting.
Continue Reading »
Now you might think that I’m about to post about doing the dishes, and that I lost my mind. Answers to that is yes, no, yes… The real subject of this post is not about doing the dishes but how to get the most out of the time you spend doing the trivial tasks such as doing the dishes.
Yes, I have to admit it: I don’t mind doing the dishes. This does not mean that I love to do the dishes but I guess I’m one of the few on the planet that can actually enjoy it. Most people hate it and feel it is a waste of time (See below how to get saved).
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not collecting dishes for a whole week to just have a laugh doing them during the weekend. It’s a daily task for me and no I don’t have a dish washer, would ruin the fun. Continue Reading »
Daniel Klein is a proud owner of an iPhone which he bought 11 days ago. He is so happy about it that he blogged about it; see the post here, sorry but it is in German. Wonder when he will switch 100% to English.
Almost sounds as if he is in love with it; just hope his girlfriend understands :-) It might also just be the touching he likes:
Das Feeling, besonders das des Displays wenn man darüber streicht, ist einfach sensationell.
Interesting what he writes about the ‘unlimited’ deal with T-Mobile and the free hotspots from T-Mobile. Hope that we will have such options when it one day arrives here in Switzerland; I could easy imagine myself going more to Starbucks if I had free iPhone wifi access from there.
He is so far the only one I know who have an iPhone but some of my other friends got the iPod touch and they all are very happy about them. So here I am all alone without iPod and iPhone. Sure I could buy an unlocked iPhone in Germany for the insane price of €999 but that is beyond my budget.
So this leaves me with either waiting for years for the iPhone to arrive here in Switzerland or settle with an iPod touch. I was SO close last weekend to get the iPod touch as a local store had 10% discount. In last second I decided to wait a bit longer, need the money for Christmas. So I will be without iPod/iPhone for at least the rest of this year.
So until the time comes for me to get one I will just have to listen to Daniel talk about how great the iPhone is. I’m sure he will be blogging more about it in the future, so keep an eye on his blog. (I will try to convince him to write the next one in English).
