So Liberty Mutual is essentially calling out everyone, not really just bloggers (but bloggers are a huge means to their end), and trying to get people to "do the right thing".
This is drawing interesting parallels with what the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) wants bloggers to do. More on that in a second.
Liberty Mutual wants bloggers to be responsible and do the "right thing" but there is no legal obligation tied to it. People are going to say what they want, and I think that as long as they are true to themselves and speak in their blog the way they speak at home, they are blogging responsibly. If people don't like what they say, they'll go somewhere else. I do NOT think, however, that someone who is blogging and lying about who they are and how they think is being responsible. But that's the problem with the responsibility project: Freedom of Speech will enter it. Everyone has their own view of what is responsible and they will follow that.
Now then, what the FTC is doing DOES have legal obligations put into it. Bloggers are doing a lot of reviews and a lot of give-aways. With reviewing we have to look at it this way. Reviews are a sort of viral advertising. We put out an opinion on a product and then a bunch of people see it and go hmm, i like/dislike/don't care about this product. All this costs the company is the product itself. Now here is where bloggers are getting tripped up and freaking out.
The FTC doesn't care that we got something for free. They have stated this. What they DO want us to do, is report in the review that we received the product for free. This is called "truth in advertising" and it's a legal obligation for all advertisers. All that fine print at the bottom of any ad on tv you see is part of Truth in Advertising and they HAVE to put that info on there.
The FTC just wants bloggers to do the same. So why not do the fine print route? Put something in small text or have some sort of button linking to your fine print. Say something like, "Reviews here was based on a products that were received for free solely for the purposes of reviewing" and make it sound all legal-ese. Something! It really only makes sense.
So following the FTC might fall in line with Liberty Mutual's "Responsibility Project" but they are in no way tied together. But Truth in Advertising is definitely the right thing to do. Every other advertiser has to do it, bloggers should too really. Just don't force us too quickly or some people might stop blogging, and we don't need that.
What we do need, is truth in our reviews though. These companies have to understand that if we must follow the truth in advertising rules, we are going to review products HONESTLY. If we don't like the product, they are going to get some bad press. And at that point, tough shit. Any company needs to understand that they may or may not get bad press from any reviewer, not just a blog reviewer. But they should have the peace of mind that we will have our truth in advertising in place.
So why not put simple small text lines or a button linking to your policy as a reviewer at the end of our reviews? Something to let your readers know that you have standards, good ethics, and are a credible and honest reviewer? What's a couple of more seconds off your day?
It's worth it.
Websites of Interest:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,512457,00.html
http://www.walletblog.com/2009/07/ftc-to-regulate-blog-endorsements/
http://www.responsibilityproject.com/
My fiancee does this now. She has an Ethical Blogger badge linking to her agreement to be an ethical blogger and review policy at the bottom of every review post. She is at:
http://www.reviewsandgiveaways.com/
Continue to full post . . .
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The Vegetari-MAN Cookbook: Recipe 1
The Vegetari-MAN Cookbook.
Background: I am bloodtype A-, and A blood types are notorious for needing to be mostly vegetarian. I still ADORE and EAT and ENJOY slaughtered animal flesh, but in an effort to prevent the need for antacids and gastric trouble I am converting myself to vegetarianism at dinner and breakfast. It seems that I can have an ENORMOUS STEAK IN ONE BITE during lunch and be fine, but if I eat meat at dinner or breakfast, I typically end up paying for it (and so does everyone else in a 3 mile radius). However, I am going to up the MANLINESS of vegetarian dishes. My beard demands it, and it is the source of my power, so I am compelled to listen.
The Vegetari-MAN Cookbook: Recipe 1. Cucumber Volcano Sandwiches
What's more MANLY than jumping into an active volcano? NOTHING! However, REAL MEN KNOW NOT TO DIE, so I am going to teach you the next best thing. The only thing these sandwiches are going to kill are your TASTE BUDS through sheer AWESOMENESS.
"Oh look, it's tea time with the Queen!" That is NOT what these cucumber sandwiches are. These are cucumber sandwiches that are AWESOME and MANLY.
Key #1 to keep it MANLY: Do NOT cut off the crusts. Crust-less bread is for kids and women. NO MAN EATS BREAD WITHOUT CRUST.
Key #2 to keep it MANLY: Do NOT use more spice than you can handle. It is NOT manly to offer too many sacrifices to the porcelain gods. Only those without self-control would put themselves in that position.
Key #3 to keep it MANLY: Too many steps make it less MANLY. We are MEN and COOKS, not some little frou-frou chef that has to make a 35 ingredient sauce to put on eggs. LESS STEPS = MORE MANLY. Math never lies.
Recipe:
BREAD
GIANT CUCUMBERS (at least 1.5 inches in girth and/or more than 6 inches long for ease of preperation)
WHIPPED CREAM CHEESE
1 PACKET OF ITALIAN DRESSING MIX OR 1 PACKET OF RANCH DIP MIX
CAYENNE PEPPER
THE BIGGEST KNIFE YOU HAVE AND A CLEAVER WOULD BE BETTER
CUTTING BOARD OR COUNTER TOP
Steps:
1) Peel the GIANT CUCUMBER or don't, it's your choice. I hate the taste of wax, as should all MEN. WAX keeps you from OBLITERATING AND ABSORBING ENERGY FROM YOUR FOOD, so I don't really want that swishing around in my plumbing.
2) Cut the GIANT CUCUMBER in half lengthwise then make slices out of it. I choose to make my slices of GIANT CUCUMBER about half an inch thick. Make them as thick as you want or think they need to be, but if the sandwich doesn't fit in your mouth, it's not a compressible sandwich, so you're fucked. MEN ARE SMART, so keep it edible.
3) Let the GIANT CUCUMBER slices dry on a paper towel and then mix the ITALIAN DRESSING MIX into the WHIPPED CREAM CHEESE.
4) SLATHER both slices of the bread with the ITALIAN WHIPPED CREAM CHEESE for each sandwich.
5) Put as much CAYENNE PEPPER on both sides as you can handle. Remember not to destroy your plumbing.
6) SLAM the GIANT CUCUMBER slices onto the bread and SMASH the sandwich together. Fill the sandwich with the slices. SLAMMING the sandwich makes the cream cheese hold fast to the GIANT CUCUMBER slices.
7) CONSUME YOUR SANDWICH. MASTICATE IT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT THEN DIGEST.
These are the MANLIEST cucumber sandwiches in EXISTENCE. TRY THEM! Put HAM on the sandwiches if you are more of a meat eater. I'm going to do that for lunch one day.
Vegetari-MAN out! /FLEX
Continue to full post . . .
Background: I am bloodtype A-, and A blood types are notorious for needing to be mostly vegetarian. I still ADORE and EAT and ENJOY slaughtered animal flesh, but in an effort to prevent the need for antacids and gastric trouble I am converting myself to vegetarianism at dinner and breakfast. It seems that I can have an ENORMOUS STEAK IN ONE BITE during lunch and be fine, but if I eat meat at dinner or breakfast, I typically end up paying for it (and so does everyone else in a 3 mile radius). However, I am going to up the MANLINESS of vegetarian dishes. My beard demands it, and it is the source of my power, so I am compelled to listen.
The Vegetari-MAN Cookbook: Recipe 1. Cucumber Volcano Sandwiches
What's more MANLY than jumping into an active volcano? NOTHING! However, REAL MEN KNOW NOT TO DIE, so I am going to teach you the next best thing. The only thing these sandwiches are going to kill are your TASTE BUDS through sheer AWESOMENESS.
"Oh look, it's tea time with the Queen!" That is NOT what these cucumber sandwiches are. These are cucumber sandwiches that are AWESOME and MANLY.
Key #1 to keep it MANLY: Do NOT cut off the crusts. Crust-less bread is for kids and women. NO MAN EATS BREAD WITHOUT CRUST.
Key #2 to keep it MANLY: Do NOT use more spice than you can handle. It is NOT manly to offer too many sacrifices to the porcelain gods. Only those without self-control would put themselves in that position.
Key #3 to keep it MANLY: Too many steps make it less MANLY. We are MEN and COOKS, not some little frou-frou chef that has to make a 35 ingredient sauce to put on eggs. LESS STEPS = MORE MANLY. Math never lies.
Recipe:
BREAD
GIANT CUCUMBERS (at least 1.5 inches in girth and/or more than 6 inches long for ease of preperation)
WHIPPED CREAM CHEESE
1 PACKET OF ITALIAN DRESSING MIX OR 1 PACKET OF RANCH DIP MIX
CAYENNE PEPPER
THE BIGGEST KNIFE YOU HAVE AND A CLEAVER WOULD BE BETTER
CUTTING BOARD OR COUNTER TOP
Steps:
1) Peel the GIANT CUCUMBER or don't, it's your choice. I hate the taste of wax, as should all MEN. WAX keeps you from OBLITERATING AND ABSORBING ENERGY FROM YOUR FOOD, so I don't really want that swishing around in my plumbing.
2) Cut the GIANT CUCUMBER in half lengthwise then make slices out of it. I choose to make my slices of GIANT CUCUMBER about half an inch thick. Make them as thick as you want or think they need to be, but if the sandwich doesn't fit in your mouth, it's not a compressible sandwich, so you're fucked. MEN ARE SMART, so keep it edible.
3) Let the GIANT CUCUMBER slices dry on a paper towel and then mix the ITALIAN DRESSING MIX into the WHIPPED CREAM CHEESE.
4) SLATHER both slices of the bread with the ITALIAN WHIPPED CREAM CHEESE for each sandwich.
5) Put as much CAYENNE PEPPER on both sides as you can handle. Remember not to destroy your plumbing.
6) SLAM the GIANT CUCUMBER slices onto the bread and SMASH the sandwich together. Fill the sandwich with the slices. SLAMMING the sandwich makes the cream cheese hold fast to the GIANT CUCUMBER slices.
7) CONSUME YOUR SANDWICH. MASTICATE IT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT THEN DIGEST.
These are the MANLIEST cucumber sandwiches in EXISTENCE. TRY THEM! Put HAM on the sandwiches if you are more of a meat eater. I'm going to do that for lunch one day.
Vegetari-MAN out! /FLEX
Continue to full post . . .
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
My random journey that brought me to the Vocaloid Fields of Awesome
What the EFF is a Vocaloid you ask?
What's with the language? Jeez.
Anyway: A Vocaloid is essentially a singing synthesizer that was developed in Japan by the Yamaha corporation. Their new version, Vocaloid 2, can actually support voice samples, so you can have a synthesizer that sings with a certain eerie, chilling, soul-less perfection. Sort of like the singing A.I. in Macross Plus (EV, you'll know what I mean, so will any other anime dork).
Warning: This is a LONG post with lots of videos. You should watch them if you can handle it. If you do it will take quite some time.
I'll talk about Vocaloids in more detail in a minute. This is sort of a two part post. The first part is my ABSOLUTELY RANDOM journey that actually brought me to the Fields of Vocaloid-halla.
I was on You're The Man Now Dog dot com as I am often wont to do. I was wondering what the crap the song on THIS page was. (click on it. it's cool and addicting)
So I went to my old friend and mentor YouTube. Wait, YouTube isn't a dude. Damn.
Anyway, I looked up Loituma as that was the only word I had to follow and it turns out Loituma is a Finnish singing group and the song is "Eva's Polka". Everyone just calls the song Loituma though.
Here is the Incredibly Epic Official Video:
Remind you of anything?
Jim Carrey - What is Love - Original Version - For more amazing video clips, click here
And this led me to the techno version:
Which then led me to this little gem of randomness:
I'm a HUGE fan of leeks for some reason, so this piqued my interest (the facial expressions are crazy). The previous video led me to this insanity (thank you YouTube Japan):
At this point I HAD to figure out who this singer was and I noticed (2 videos up) in the comments that it was a Vocaloid named Hatsune Miku. So I went out and looked up what Vocaloid was and learned quite a bit.
I learned that the first truly voiced Vocaloid in the Vocaloid 2 system was Hatsune Miku. (Keep in mind that the Japanese are all about these new "idols" and the vocaloid community has drawn them up and created very intricate backstories for them all that I won't go into here. I'm just going to list the ones that have really impressed me.)
PLEASE keep in mind that these vocaloids are mostly singing in Japanese and in the J-pop style. I will warn when their voice is too sharp or anything. Also they are typically anime styled (except for the english speaking ones for some reason). I will be posting videos with English translations in subtitle when I am able to.
protip: Japanese names are typically last name first then given name.
Hatsune Miku is well voiced and sound quite a bit like a real 16 year old singer. (her avatar is supposedly 16)
Here's a song from her immense portfolio. Many people make many songs with each vocaloid and Miku is the first and most popular. Warning: sharp voice.
After they created Miku, they went on to create Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len who are a brother and sister duo. They were designed to compliment each other but Len, the brother, tends to compliment all female vocaloids. Also Rin and Len are a parody of Left and Right, which they are supposed to represent (as far as I understand).
Here is a song by Len, and it is one of my favorites. After it I will post the same song sung by a real person so you can compare/contrast. Len has a very robotic-sounding voice, but in this song they also applied some filters over top to make it old-radio crackly sounding.
Human version by Choucho who is a female Japanese singer. This was made after the original song above, so the song is credited to the vocaloid and writer who used it. (these things work out semi-strangely)
So Rin is Len's twin sister and has a fairly haunting voice, even though it can get a little sharp. Most people can't use her synth properly so it's hard to find a good song. This one really struck a chord with me for some reason. Of course the lyrics in English look a little weird, but it's a nice, dark song.
Now we come to two English speaking Vocaloids. Sweet Ann is up first. The vocals are very good if the artist can sync them up properly.
Also speaking English and with the same song is Megurine Luka (Scarborough Fair is a great song). Notice how the art styling on Ann and Luka is different from the Japanese speaking Vocaloids. Again it's hard to find properly synced vocals for her. The problem with Vocaloids is they are programmed syllable by syllable, so you can get some pretty choppy voices out of them if you don't know what you are doing.
Luka is actually a dual-voice Vocaloid. She does both Japanese and English. I will post a second song by her after Scarborough Fair. You might notice some differences in design from her English version to her Japanese version.
Next up is the most recent Vocaloid, as in, released in late June of '09. Her name is Megpoid (strange) and she probably is the most refined of ALL the Vocaloids. Her voice is smooth enough to sound nearly real and her Engrish is very good (not a typo, go to http://www.engrish.com some time.) Anyway, if Megpoid is any indication of where the Vocaloids are going quality-wise I think we're in for a shocker when we finally see the first A.I. singer ever.
Now for one of the couple of other male Vocaloids, I don't like the males much besides Len. This guy is named Gackpoid or Gakupo and he is apparently a samurai. His voice is very good (the samples were recorded from the Japanese singer Gackt, a big star over there) but still isn't quite as high quality as most of the female vocaloids and a tiny bit choppy.
So that's it for my main points about vocaloids. They're an incredibly interesting step in the right direction I think. You can get so much range and perfection out of a synthesized voice. Though they sound a little... soul-less. I don't believe they'll ever take over the music world, but they'll end up with a place in it.
Ok, now for some Vocaloid Randomness. Most of these are either game related or silly. You don't have to listen/watch these if you don't want to :P
Pengo Out!
BEGIN LOITUMA OVERLOAD PROGRAM:
START:
RUN>
Continue to full post . . .
What's with the language? Jeez.
Anyway: A Vocaloid is essentially a singing synthesizer that was developed in Japan by the Yamaha corporation. Their new version, Vocaloid 2, can actually support voice samples, so you can have a synthesizer that sings with a certain eerie, chilling, soul-less perfection. Sort of like the singing A.I. in Macross Plus (EV, you'll know what I mean, so will any other anime dork).
Warning: This is a LONG post with lots of videos. You should watch them if you can handle it. If you do it will take quite some time.
I'll talk about Vocaloids in more detail in a minute. This is sort of a two part post. The first part is my ABSOLUTELY RANDOM journey that actually brought me to the Fields of Vocaloid-halla.
I was on You're The Man Now Dog dot com as I am often wont to do. I was wondering what the crap the song on THIS page was. (click on it. it's cool and addicting)
So I went to my old friend and mentor YouTube. Wait, YouTube isn't a dude. Damn.
Anyway, I looked up Loituma as that was the only word I had to follow and it turns out Loituma is a Finnish singing group and the song is "Eva's Polka". Everyone just calls the song Loituma though.
Here is the Incredibly Epic Official Video:
Remind you of anything?
Jim Carrey - What is Love - Original Version - For more amazing video clips, click here
And this led me to the techno version:
Which then led me to this little gem of randomness:
I'm a HUGE fan of leeks for some reason, so this piqued my interest (the facial expressions are crazy). The previous video led me to this insanity (thank you YouTube Japan):
At this point I HAD to figure out who this singer was and I noticed (2 videos up) in the comments that it was a Vocaloid named Hatsune Miku. So I went out and looked up what Vocaloid was and learned quite a bit.
I learned that the first truly voiced Vocaloid in the Vocaloid 2 system was Hatsune Miku. (Keep in mind that the Japanese are all about these new "idols" and the vocaloid community has drawn them up and created very intricate backstories for them all that I won't go into here. I'm just going to list the ones that have really impressed me.)
PLEASE keep in mind that these vocaloids are mostly singing in Japanese and in the J-pop style. I will warn when their voice is too sharp or anything. Also they are typically anime styled (except for the english speaking ones for some reason). I will be posting videos with English translations in subtitle when I am able to.
protip: Japanese names are typically last name first then given name.
Hatsune Miku is well voiced and sound quite a bit like a real 16 year old singer. (her avatar is supposedly 16)
Here's a song from her immense portfolio. Many people make many songs with each vocaloid and Miku is the first and most popular. Warning: sharp voice.
After they created Miku, they went on to create Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len who are a brother and sister duo. They were designed to compliment each other but Len, the brother, tends to compliment all female vocaloids. Also Rin and Len are a parody of Left and Right, which they are supposed to represent (as far as I understand).
Here is a song by Len, and it is one of my favorites. After it I will post the same song sung by a real person so you can compare/contrast. Len has a very robotic-sounding voice, but in this song they also applied some filters over top to make it old-radio crackly sounding.
Human version by Choucho who is a female Japanese singer. This was made after the original song above, so the song is credited to the vocaloid and writer who used it. (these things work out semi-strangely)
So Rin is Len's twin sister and has a fairly haunting voice, even though it can get a little sharp. Most people can't use her synth properly so it's hard to find a good song. This one really struck a chord with me for some reason. Of course the lyrics in English look a little weird, but it's a nice, dark song.
Now we come to two English speaking Vocaloids. Sweet Ann is up first. The vocals are very good if the artist can sync them up properly.
Also speaking English and with the same song is Megurine Luka (Scarborough Fair is a great song). Notice how the art styling on Ann and Luka is different from the Japanese speaking Vocaloids. Again it's hard to find properly synced vocals for her. The problem with Vocaloids is they are programmed syllable by syllable, so you can get some pretty choppy voices out of them if you don't know what you are doing.
Luka is actually a dual-voice Vocaloid. She does both Japanese and English. I will post a second song by her after Scarborough Fair. You might notice some differences in design from her English version to her Japanese version.
Next up is the most recent Vocaloid, as in, released in late June of '09. Her name is Megpoid (strange) and she probably is the most refined of ALL the Vocaloids. Her voice is smooth enough to sound nearly real and her Engrish is very good (not a typo, go to http://www.engrish.com some time.) Anyway, if Megpoid is any indication of where the Vocaloids are going quality-wise I think we're in for a shocker when we finally see the first A.I. singer ever.
Now for one of the couple of other male Vocaloids, I don't like the males much besides Len. This guy is named Gackpoid or Gakupo and he is apparently a samurai. His voice is very good (the samples were recorded from the Japanese singer Gackt, a big star over there) but still isn't quite as high quality as most of the female vocaloids and a tiny bit choppy.
So that's it for my main points about vocaloids. They're an incredibly interesting step in the right direction I think. You can get so much range and perfection out of a synthesized voice. Though they sound a little... soul-less. I don't believe they'll ever take over the music world, but they'll end up with a place in it.
Ok, now for some Vocaloid Randomness. Most of these are either game related or silly. You don't have to listen/watch these if you don't want to :P
Pengo Out!
BEGIN LOITUMA OVERLOAD PROGRAM:
START:
RUN>
Continue to full post . . .
Thursday, July 9, 2009
It's A Blu World contest
Everyone should go check out the It's A Blu World contest happening at It's A Blu World. There are several packages to win, which are described in more detail at Game FreakZ. So I'm not going to re-hash that here, go read their post and their blog, it's awesome-sauce.
Just know that there are a lot of really awesome looking packages.
I'm looking to win the Gamer package.
One of the biggest problems with Arkansas is it's lack of variety in food-stuffs. I tried BluFrog (energy drink by this same company) when I went to Wichita, KS recently and I liked it a lot. Lo and behold: they don't sell it here. Go figure.
I'm somewhat of an energy-drink afficionado. Thanks to a recent digestive problem I have problems absorbing Vitamin B in most of it's forms, especially B-12. Energy drinks with their liquid Vit. B help out quite a bit. It's easy to digest it from a liquid for me, but not from food and certainly not from pills.
I'm getting better, but for every year you have a problem with your body you take between 1 and 3 months to heal (depending on who you ask). I'll still have this problem for a while based on that logic.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. Let's just say that I drink a ton of energy drinks and I know which ones are a great combination of energy, taste, and punch (to the chops), and which ones aren't. BluFrog is definitely a good one. Hopefully one day they'll let me do a full official review. :P
Go. Enter. Have fun. It's pretty simple.
I hope I beat out all you suckers though *wink wink*.
Hey Tina at Game FreakZ. I'm totally going to steal your images that you yourself may or may not have swiped. :)
Continue to full post . . .
Just know that there are a lot of really awesome looking packages.
I'm looking to win the Gamer package.
One of the biggest problems with Arkansas is it's lack of variety in food-stuffs. I tried BluFrog (energy drink by this same company) when I went to Wichita, KS recently and I liked it a lot. Lo and behold: they don't sell it here. Go figure.
I'm somewhat of an energy-drink afficionado. Thanks to a recent digestive problem I have problems absorbing Vitamin B in most of it's forms, especially B-12. Energy drinks with their liquid Vit. B help out quite a bit. It's easy to digest it from a liquid for me, but not from food and certainly not from pills.
I'm getting better, but for every year you have a problem with your body you take between 1 and 3 months to heal (depending on who you ask). I'll still have this problem for a while based on that logic.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. Let's just say that I drink a ton of energy drinks and I know which ones are a great combination of energy, taste, and punch (to the chops), and which ones aren't. BluFrog is definitely a good one. Hopefully one day they'll let me do a full official review. :P
Go. Enter. Have fun. It's pretty simple.
I hope I beat out all you suckers though *wink wink*.
Hey Tina at Game FreakZ. I'm totally going to steal your images that you yourself may or may not have swiped. :)
Continue to full post . . .
Info on comment replies
Just as an f.y.i. in case you see some replies of mine inside comment areas and that I don't reply to everyone and are curious.
I will try my best to email everyone that leaves a comment and their email address and at least say thank you if not something more substantial.
I will answer comments with questions that I feel are pertinent in the comment area, and if it's something I want to make a post about, I will do that instead :)
Just wanted to give you all a head's up, in case anyone was like, hey, why does he only answer x or y but not z?
Continue to full post . . .
I will try my best to email everyone that leaves a comment and their email address and at least say thank you if not something more substantial.
I will answer comments with questions that I feel are pertinent in the comment area, and if it's something I want to make a post about, I will do that instead :)
Just wanted to give you all a head's up, in case anyone was like, hey, why does he only answer x or y but not z?
Continue to full post . . .
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Hey anyone really who likes stuff from the 80's
Guess what I'm playing!!!
After I do a Let's Play of Prototype I will be doing one of this game. I'm still trying to get all my ducks in a row for doing my let's play series, now I really just need a good microphone/headset. After that: it's on like Donkey Kong.
You can watch in HD quality at youtube, which will be a feature of ALL of my videos.
Continue to full post . . .
After I do a Let's Play of Prototype I will be doing one of this game. I'm still trying to get all my ducks in a row for doing my let's play series, now I really just need a good microphone/headset. After that: it's on like Donkey Kong.
You can watch in HD quality at youtube, which will be a feature of ALL of my videos.
Continue to full post . . .
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Computer differences
I have been asked a question by Rocio, and I am going to answer it here so that maybe everyone can benefit from it.
I was asked whether I would choose a laptop from Dell, HP, or Apple:
I would NEVER choose Apple, and here is why. (keep in mind that I am in no way a PC fanboy, these are just facts I've run across in my tech support work over the years.)
Reason 1: The sad-face.
Apple computers are not troubleshoot-friendly. There is no tech outside of an Apple store that can take an apple that has an error and decode it. The most common error screen that comes up is the sad-face, or the sad-face-and-a-bomb. What the HELL do those mean? I've worked on a ton of Apples, and it can mean any one of dozens of problems. THIS MEANS: that you have to, have to, have to send your laptop or ipod or iphone OFF TO APPLE. this is bad because not only do they have access to your personal data (you are not allowed to open Apple products without voiding your warranty) but it takes WEEKS. When I worked at a major tech support company (think Nerd Crew, only said differently) we sent off 12-14 ipods per week to apple. some of them took 5 weeks to come back, and all they needed was a battery replacement. Not Acceptable.
Reason 2: Cost.
Apple computers are INCREDIBLY overpriced considering how low the specs are. Sure, MacOS is smooth and doesn't take long to load and can run a bunch of crap... So can Windows 7. Apple's nice operating system is no longer king of the roost. Vista was not a good operating system by any means, but 7 is poised to blow Apple's OS out of the water. Especially when you take into account the increased power and the sheer number of graphics cards you can get in a PC. On top of that, Apple computers can run very few games. As a gamer this is a huge detriment. You can also do anything that an Apple can do using a PC if you find the right programs.
In this point is the fact that everything Apple does, and I mean EVERYTHING, is proprietary. The ipod is a great point here. You used to be able to only use them with iTunes, which costs a buck per song. I am an avid supporter of Rhapsody, where you can have an unlimited number of songs to transfer to your portable mp3 player and you can switch them out all you want for only 15 bucks a month. I'd rather pay a 15 dollar monthly fee than a dollar per song. ipods can be hooked up to Rhapsody now too though, so that's less of a problem.
3. Elitism:
Apple computer users buy their machines because they're pretty. They also have a very elitist attitude of "my computer is better than yours" when it clearly isn't. This isn't a fight about who's comp is better though. Just because the computer is a nice white plastic with some clear resin around it, doesn't mean it's actually a better product. I prefer dark colors anyway. Also there are thousands of different looks you can achieve with a PC, especially a desktop. I'll take pictures of my desktop some time. Thing looks like a tank.
Now to move on to HP.
HP used to be only a printer company. What most people have forgotten is the fact that HP actually bought a bankrupt computer manufacturer called Compaq. They then promptly closed the BEST plants Compaq had (not saying much) and left open the crappy ones to start making HP computers. HP computers use low quality components just like Compaq used to. There's a reason Compaq went under. Don't let the quality of HP printers fool you into thinking their computers are good. They simply aren't.
So my choice would end up being Dell. I build my own computers, even laptops, but I do like Dell a lot for two reasons.
Dell uses market standard quality products. This is good and something few computer builders do (especially locally owned ones).
Dell has the best tech support I've ever seen.
I recently purchased a 27" Dell monitor and it had a problem. I called them and 3 days later there was a brand new 27" Dell monitor on my doorstep (it's widescreen of course).
Also their monitors are amazing. From their desktop monitors to their laptop monitors, they are kings of the LCD. My monitor, the Dell Ultrasharp WFP 2709 is brigher and clearer than the 30" Apple cinema display and my monitor only cost around 800 dollars, the cinema display, only 3 inches more screen space, can cost up to 3,000. I'd say that's a big discrepancy when you take into account the fact that Dell's 30" version of my monitor is only 1200.
So for me, someone who has done a lot of tech support and really knows what he's talking about, I would say avoid Apples unless you simply MUST have the sleek look, and go for a beautiful Dell. They come in lots of neat colors and patterns. The one I bought for my fiancee is a very pretty pink with a purple flower-stem pattern. I think it looks better than some plain white MacBook. Bleah.
Continue to full post . . .
I was asked whether I would choose a laptop from Dell, HP, or Apple:
I would NEVER choose Apple, and here is why. (keep in mind that I am in no way a PC fanboy, these are just facts I've run across in my tech support work over the years.)
Reason 1: The sad-face.
Apple computers are not troubleshoot-friendly. There is no tech outside of an Apple store that can take an apple that has an error and decode it. The most common error screen that comes up is the sad-face, or the sad-face-and-a-bomb. What the HELL do those mean? I've worked on a ton of Apples, and it can mean any one of dozens of problems. THIS MEANS: that you have to, have to, have to send your laptop or ipod or iphone OFF TO APPLE. this is bad because not only do they have access to your personal data (you are not allowed to open Apple products without voiding your warranty) but it takes WEEKS. When I worked at a major tech support company (think Nerd Crew, only said differently) we sent off 12-14 ipods per week to apple. some of them took 5 weeks to come back, and all they needed was a battery replacement. Not Acceptable.
Reason 2: Cost.
Apple computers are INCREDIBLY overpriced considering how low the specs are. Sure, MacOS is smooth and doesn't take long to load and can run a bunch of crap... So can Windows 7. Apple's nice operating system is no longer king of the roost. Vista was not a good operating system by any means, but 7 is poised to blow Apple's OS out of the water. Especially when you take into account the increased power and the sheer number of graphics cards you can get in a PC. On top of that, Apple computers can run very few games. As a gamer this is a huge detriment. You can also do anything that an Apple can do using a PC if you find the right programs.
In this point is the fact that everything Apple does, and I mean EVERYTHING, is proprietary. The ipod is a great point here. You used to be able to only use them with iTunes, which costs a buck per song. I am an avid supporter of Rhapsody, where you can have an unlimited number of songs to transfer to your portable mp3 player and you can switch them out all you want for only 15 bucks a month. I'd rather pay a 15 dollar monthly fee than a dollar per song. ipods can be hooked up to Rhapsody now too though, so that's less of a problem.
3. Elitism:
Apple computer users buy their machines because they're pretty. They also have a very elitist attitude of "my computer is better than yours" when it clearly isn't. This isn't a fight about who's comp is better though. Just because the computer is a nice white plastic with some clear resin around it, doesn't mean it's actually a better product. I prefer dark colors anyway. Also there are thousands of different looks you can achieve with a PC, especially a desktop. I'll take pictures of my desktop some time. Thing looks like a tank.
Now to move on to HP.
HP used to be only a printer company. What most people have forgotten is the fact that HP actually bought a bankrupt computer manufacturer called Compaq. They then promptly closed the BEST plants Compaq had (not saying much) and left open the crappy ones to start making HP computers. HP computers use low quality components just like Compaq used to. There's a reason Compaq went under. Don't let the quality of HP printers fool you into thinking their computers are good. They simply aren't.
So my choice would end up being Dell. I build my own computers, even laptops, but I do like Dell a lot for two reasons.
Dell uses market standard quality products. This is good and something few computer builders do (especially locally owned ones).
Dell has the best tech support I've ever seen.
I recently purchased a 27" Dell monitor and it had a problem. I called them and 3 days later there was a brand new 27" Dell monitor on my doorstep (it's widescreen of course).
Also their monitors are amazing. From their desktop monitors to their laptop monitors, they are kings of the LCD. My monitor, the Dell Ultrasharp WFP 2709 is brigher and clearer than the 30" Apple cinema display and my monitor only cost around 800 dollars, the cinema display, only 3 inches more screen space, can cost up to 3,000. I'd say that's a big discrepancy when you take into account the fact that Dell's 30" version of my monitor is only 1200.
So for me, someone who has done a lot of tech support and really knows what he's talking about, I would say avoid Apples unless you simply MUST have the sleek look, and go for a beautiful Dell. They come in lots of neat colors and patterns. The one I bought for my fiancee is a very pretty pink with a purple flower-stem pattern. I think it looks better than some plain white MacBook. Bleah.
Continue to full post . . .
M.W.W. Post Windows 7 Edition
So I am now running Windows 7 and I have to say I am VERY impressed.
I'm no big fan of Microsoft, but I think they're on the right track with this one.
The window at the bottom of the screen is the window that pops up when you hover over an "icon group" for lack of a better way to say it.
When you hover over an item in the icon group, all other windows on the screen turn totally transparent except for their borders, so you are able to determine the position of all your windows and decide if you want to bring up the one you are hovering on. It's a really simple idea but SO effective.
Full review on Windows 7 coming soon.
Large size picture is 1920 x 1200 (click on it).
Yes, that's a video of prototype. It's just there for "flavah".
Continue to full post . . .
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Testing
This is a test from the desktop gadget for blogger in windows 7.
This is also a test of Windows 7. it's fairly nice so far.
This is also a test of Windows 7. it's fairly nice so far.
Continue to full post . . .
Saturday, July 4, 2009
My love/hate relationship... with Prototype.
Prototype:
Prototype is a relatively poorly reviewed game. This is in large part due to it's dated graphics. However Prototype and I have a very unique relationship. I both love and hate it.
The game is half-ugly. The critics are fairly spot on about this. It looks like an XBox game. Not even XBox 360, just the first one. This is coupled with nigh-indestructible buildings. I say nigh because there are a few types of buildings that are destructible, but they are few and far between.
I have created a video of Prototype's gameplay. This is your only warning: This game is rated M due to gore and language. The gameplay is fairly gory. Besides that, the awesomeness might just melt your eyeballs.
Prototype is a power fantasy. You are all powerful when compared to normal people. you can take a missile or a tank shell to the face and keep on truckin. The thing is, there aren't any moral choices.
The main character is out for revenge, plain and simple. With no memory of his past beyond what he finds out through the game, he simply wants to destroy those responsible for his condition.
The thing about prototype is that the story and the voice acting are actually very good. The story kept me engaged all the way through the game, and the voice acting in most cases made the characters fairly believable.
Despite the dated graphics, the animations are as smooth as silk. Thanks to the graphics engine, though, even dated graphics push my video card pretty hard. I have a Radeon HD 4890 and it struggles to push 30 fps. This seems to be the case no matter what I do with my video settings. I have tried different resolutions besides my monitor's native 1920x1200 and I have tried playing with the shadow quality and texture qualities and nothing has really changed.
Despite the graphics and the repetitiveness of the missions in this open world (Think GTA3: Vice City) the game retains it's fun factor for me. This is due to the sheer power your character has.
I get some sort of primal enjoyment out of causing this level of mayhem.
So without giving you a boring rundown of what scores I gave every section of this game, I'll just skip to the overall.
I give this game 8.5 out of 10 invaders. A great game that keeps sucking me back in, if even just to kill a few military goons.
Continue to full post . . .
Prototype is a relatively poorly reviewed game. This is in large part due to it's dated graphics. However Prototype and I have a very unique relationship. I both love and hate it.
The game is half-ugly. The critics are fairly spot on about this. It looks like an XBox game. Not even XBox 360, just the first one. This is coupled with nigh-indestructible buildings. I say nigh because there are a few types of buildings that are destructible, but they are few and far between.
I have created a video of Prototype's gameplay. This is your only warning: This game is rated M due to gore and language. The gameplay is fairly gory. Besides that, the awesomeness might just melt your eyeballs.
Prototype is a power fantasy. You are all powerful when compared to normal people. you can take a missile or a tank shell to the face and keep on truckin. The thing is, there aren't any moral choices.
The main character is out for revenge, plain and simple. With no memory of his past beyond what he finds out through the game, he simply wants to destroy those responsible for his condition.
The thing about prototype is that the story and the voice acting are actually very good. The story kept me engaged all the way through the game, and the voice acting in most cases made the characters fairly believable.
Despite the dated graphics, the animations are as smooth as silk. Thanks to the graphics engine, though, even dated graphics push my video card pretty hard. I have a Radeon HD 4890 and it struggles to push 30 fps. This seems to be the case no matter what I do with my video settings. I have tried different resolutions besides my monitor's native 1920x1200 and I have tried playing with the shadow quality and texture qualities and nothing has really changed.
Despite the graphics and the repetitiveness of the missions in this open world (Think GTA3: Vice City) the game retains it's fun factor for me. This is due to the sheer power your character has.
I get some sort of primal enjoyment out of causing this level of mayhem.
So without giving you a boring rundown of what scores I gave every section of this game, I'll just skip to the overall.
I give this game 8.5 out of 10 invaders. A great game that keeps sucking me back in, if even just to kill a few military goons.
Continue to full post . . .
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
First M.W.W. post for me! FEATURING: Prototype
Caution: Full size is in epic 1920x1200 resolution. Bleeding eyes may follow usage. For my first M.W.W. post I wanted to post a picture of the game I will review in a couple of days. This game is Prototype. It's a next-gen sandbox game. It's ugly as sin compared to other next-gen games, but it's an absolutely awesome power-trip of a game and it kicks ass.
And those claws? Yes, they dismember.
And those claws? Yes, they dismember.
Continue to full post . . .
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