Axe pics...

Finally got around to taking some pictures of my new guitar. Check them out below! Click on them to see them full size.

Guitar Hero II - It goes to eleven

How much fun can you have playing a video game without killing anything? Amazingly, quite a lot.

Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360 is the latest installment of the popular Guitar Hero franchise. For around $90 you get the game and a plastic Gibson Explorer guitar. Start the game and start jamming! GH2 is a rythym/timing game where notes fly at you and when they cross a certain point, you play them on the guitar. Miss enough notes and you fail the song.

The magic of GH2 is in the music and presentation. The HD video is great, and the music is even better. You get to play such classics as "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath, "Carry on Wayward Son" by Kansas, and "YYZ" by Rush. Freakin' sweet!

In easy mode, you only use 3 of the 5 fret buttons on the guitar, and few, if any, chords (holding down 2 or more buttons at once). In medium mode, you use 4 buttons, and more chords. I haven't gotten past medium mode, so I'm not sure how hard or expert mode fares, but I'm sure it's not simple!

Since I play real guitar, I wondered if this game would feel, well, cheesy. To my pleasant surprise, I actually felt like I was jamming with a band on stage. It's that cool. The whammy bar on the guitar also helps up the coolness factor.

Well, enough of my yappin'. Time to jam.

Paul Reed Smith Sound on a Squier Budget

This beautiful piece of musical art is a Paul Reed Smith SE Custom guitar. It is the first line of PRS guitars which are manufactured (not hand made). PRS is known for it's amazing quality hand made guitars, with beautiful tone, great sustain, amazing looks, and one of a kind fat sound. How does the manufactured SE line stack up?

Well, I'll know soon, since I just ordered this baby. I've played one at Guitar Center, and I must say the sound and feel of this instrument is great. Especially when you look at the price tag. A traditional PRS can run in the thousands of dollars...a bit too rich for my wallet. The SE Custom line goes for around $550. I happened to find a good deal online for $499 shipped. Can't beat that!

I've been reading many reviews on this guitar, and the general consensus is that you are getting a better-than Les Paul guitar for quite a lot less. Ok, yeah, it's not a traditional PRS...but this is as close as you can come without taking out a loan.

So what's the difference besides price? Well, PRS's can usually split their humbucker pickups into separate single coils...the SE cannot...at least without some modifications :-) Also, as I've mentioned before, the SE is manufactured on an assembly line, and therefore isn't quite as unique sounding (or looking) as a traditional PRS. But from what I've read, PRS personally inspects each and every SE that comes out of the factory to make sure it stands up to the quality PRS is known for.

I'll report more when I get a chance to play this puppy!

I can see clearly now...

These days, you say "Comcast" and many people cringe. I hear horror stories about bad service, bad hardware, etc. Well, I've been a Comcast customer for years, and some of these stories ring true. We once downgraded from digital cable to regular cable because the cable box was so unresponsive that our Tivo had trouble getting it to change channels.

On the other hand, I switched from SBC DSL service to Comcast Cable Internet and couldn't be happier. The speed increase is phenomenal, and the service has been very reliable.

So it was with mixed emotions that I looked at the Comcast High Definition offerings. I've actually waited quite a while before making this move because the HD box is the same Motorola series we used to have that was problematic. Also, I have heard about the rumours that Comcast would be offering the Motorola boxes with the Tivo software, known for it's amazingly simple user interface. The current software on the Motorola boxes is known to be a bit more complex and harder to use.

But we've had a 42" plasma widescreen hanging on our wall for over a year now, and we've only been watching standard definition video on it...truely a crime. Honestly, I was getting tired of waiting for the Tivo/Comcast deal to come through, and I wasn't about to spend $900 on a Series 3 HD Tivo (less now, but still expensive).

What it all comes down to is that after a discussion with some co-workers of mine who have the HD Comcast service and DVR, I came to the realization that renting this box from Comcast will provide me with better TV than I have now, and waiting isn't doing me any good.

So I called Comcast and asked what I needed to do. Basically, for an extra $20-ish more a month than what I was paying already, I could have a dual tuner, high definition digital video recorder, and tons more channels to watch, as well as On Demand access. The DVR still uses the Comcast user interface (though Comcast tells me the Tivo one is a few months away), and it can record two shows at a time. It holds roughly 15-20 hours of HD content, or 60-80 hours of standard definition video.

Suddenly, our TV is brand new. We can see the blades of grass on a baseball field. We can order many free on demand shows, including some Discovery documentaries that we enjoy. So far, I'm very happy. And it was not at all painful.

Tepito: Crime Fighting the Silicon Valley Way

Engadget reports on an interesting way to bring crime down in the little Mexican town of Tepito, apparently known for it's high crime rate. The new mayor of Tepito, apparently a forward thinker, decided to hand out PC's and Xboxes in exchange for weaponry.

Let me repeat: They are handing out PC's and Xboxes...In exchange for weaponry...PC's...And Xboxes...For weapons.

Ok, so the idea is to cut down the violence by getting rid of high caliber street weapons such as machine guns (worth one $700 PC) and hand guns (worth an old Xbox...NOT the 360). The lucky gangsta's who receive the loot will hopefully stay inside and play games or go online (do they have Internet in Tepito?), instead of shooting people on the streets.

Now I see a lot of room for abuse of this system. I mean, I would certainly turn in my gun to get a PC, go online and find an old gun on eBay, and get another PC. Do this enough times and I could start my own "Dell" in Tepito...I'd name it "Del", and the marketing practically writes itself: "Del - Las Computadoras de Tepito, Ahora sin balas" (which translates to "Del - Computers from Tepito, now without bullets")

Ok, so it might still need some work. But this entire concept really sounds like it will start an entire new form of currency.

"One taco, a side of guacamole, and beans. That will be a .38 and 10 bullets please."

"You got change for a .45?"

I gotta run...need to plan my next trip down to Mexico.

Fro Patro! Support your favorite American Idol!

Support your favorite American Idol (if that Idol happens to be Chris Sligh)

Fro Patro
by
ecaggiani

Get this custom shirt at Zazzle

Muy buena Vista!

I recently upgraded my Dell laptop to Windows Vista Ultimate and have been running it for the past 11 days. I have used the betas and release candidates in the past but always in a dual boot configuration. This time, I took the plunge and decided to make Vista my primary operating system.

After backing up my files to my home network, I put in the DVD and let Microsoft take over. The install was smooth and painless, and in within the hour I was up and running. I had to install a few updates, and that was it. A brand spanking new OS on my old Inspiron 8600.

Now, my laptop is a few years old, but when I got it, it was pretty sweet. I have now upgraded it to 2GB RAM, but the rest is the same...a Pentium M 1700Mhz, 60 GB 7200 RPM hard drive, and ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 with 128MB RAM. Not too shabby, but definitely not a power gaming machine. Vista rates my laptop a 3.5 on the Windows Experience Index, a scale from 1 to 5.9, where the lowest number your PC gets in any of the five categories (Processor, RAM, Graphics, Gaming Graphics, and Primary Hard Disk) becomes your overall score. In other words, it's not an average. It's a "long pole", or "bottleneck" rating. In any case, I think a 3.5 is not too bad for a laptop. It allows me to run all the bells and whistles, including the Aero UI.

I was concerned about ATI drivers that supported OpenGL properly, since none have been seen with any of the betas or release candidates, and I need to be able to run Second Life, an OpenGL application. I decided to take the leap anyway, since I could still login to SL with my desktop machine if I couldn't get it to work in Vista.

The good news is that ATI had upgraded drivers, and OpenGL support was part of the update, but the bad news is that they still caused SL to crash on startup. After searching a bit, I found VistaSL, a homebrew version of the SL client that had removed some of the offending OpenGL calls to get it to run in Vista. Works like a charm! Granted, this is a temporary solution, and updated ATI drivers and a proper SL client from Linden Labs would be best.

In any case, in the 11 days I've been running Vista, I've managed to do a few things:

• Get a working version of Second Life
• Install Virtual PC 2007
• Get Windows XP SP2 to run in a virtual machine
• Get Linux (Ubuntu v6.10) to run in a virtual machine
• Install a sidebar gadget called Vista Hot Corners that provides Exposé-like window shuffling
• Install Outlook, Photoshop, Firefox, VNC, SnagIt, Trillian, Notepad++, and TweakVI
• Burn a DVD (with Windows DVD Maker) of short video clips I had laying around, complete with animated menus and scene selections.

And so far, it's been a treat! Being able to run Windows XP is great since I can still have access to IE6 if I need to test any web pages. Also, it's fun to play with Ubuntu as well. Windows DVD Maker was drop dead simple, and the result was very professional looking.

It seems to me that everything is running just as well or better as with XP (with the exception of Second Life, which seems a bit choppier, but that may be the result of ATI's bad OpenGL support mixed with an unoptimized SL client).

All I have to say so far is that Vista is a definite step up from XP, but could benefit from better driver support from ATI. Hopefully that will come in time.

Bottom line: Muy buena Vista!

Back to Google

Well, I've given yourminis.com a decent shot (see my previous post). But I am switching back to Google's personalized start page, mostly due to performance issues.

Yourminis looks way better and has some great features, but it just seems to run a tad on the slow side. Believe me, when you use a page several times a day, just a few milliseconds of delay to find what you want becomes annoying.

I'll keep my eye on them, since they are still very new and could actually optimize their platform for better performance. But until then, I'll stick with the lean, mean, HTML machine.

And to my friend Roy, I agree with your comments. Flash is a great platform and any company basing their product on Flash could be an innovation leader, if they know how to balance power, performance, and usability.

YourMinis...a flashy, widgety start page

I recently discovered YourMinis, a Flash-based start page/RSS feed reader/widget platform. My first impression is favorable, but time will tell if it deserves a space as my browser's home page.



What I like:

• Easy RSS feed addition


• OPML file import/export


• Interesting widgets built in (calendar, Gmail, clock, to-do list, Digg feed, calculator, notes, bookmarks, full browser, search, video, etc.)


• Beautiful default look


• Drag & Drop windows, lock 'em down, change opacity, colors, etc.


• Publish your "minis" or your whole tab of minis.


• Social feel. Very Web 2.0.


• Multiple tabs


• Inline web browser makes loading a news story convenient


• The ability to load any image as my tab's background

My questions:

• Is Flash going to be too heavy for my browser's start page?


• Are more interesting widgets coming?


• Do we need another widget platform? Can't we all just get along?


• Will we be able to further customize the look of our minis, or the basic mini windows?

So far, I really like what I see. It feels more polished to me than Netvibes or Pageflakes. They apparently have over 800,000 users so far, which is not bad, but still lags behind their competitors. But I still question the use of Flash...it's a great tool, but there are many people who would prefer to stick to standard HTML for a much lighter weight start page. We'll see!

Why I hate Apple

For those of you who know me, you've undoubtedly heard me say bad things about Apple computers, and probably think of me as a PC fanboy, or simply an Apple bigot. Let me explain my reasons, and say some things you may find surprising.

First, I started hating Apple way back when they were a small, proprietary hardware shop with an OS that was very closed to tweakers. Back then, it made sense to dislike them because anyone savvy with computers knew that an open hardware architecture meant you could do lots more, and the Mac of the day was anything but open, not to mention how much more money the hardware cost. PC's were cheap, modifiable, expandable. No brainer for me.

Apple floundered for a while to the point where I was getting ready to celebrate their demise. But then they had a turnaround (in part due to the success of the iPod), Steve Jobs rejoined, the fanatics rejoiced, and Apple actually did something I never thought possible: they switched their OS from a proprietary system to a UNIX based system which is much more open, mature, and expandable. Apple added their lipstick and made it pretty. Contrary to what you may think, I have always appreciated Apple's design skills. Their stuff always "looked" good.

My opinion of Apple, at this point, raised significantly and I now actually respect them for this decision. So why do I still dislike them in general?

First, the company is "elitist". What do I mean by that? Well, their attitude is basically "Our shit don't stink". That by itself is not a big deal, since they are a company and are entitled to profess their greatness. But they do take it to extremes, with Steve Jobs acting as the savior, prolonging and hyping product releases until people salivate and their heads explode. And those commercials, although funny, position Apple as the "cool" computer, and PC's as "nerds".

Ok, so the company is a little bit snobby, and I *could* look the other way, but what really grinds my gears are the elitist Apple "fanboys". Yes, that term gets tossed around a lot these days, but a fanboy is a good term for the most die hard of Apple worshippers. Now, I have lots of friends who use Macs, and are NOT fanboys. They simply use it because it's the best tool for them. Fanboys are the ones who look down on PC users and let them know it. They are the ones who "ooooh" and "ahhhh" when Jobs pulls a Shuffle out of his pocket. They are the ones who abbreviate Microsoft as M$. They are the ones who blindly buy anything and everything Apple just because it is made by Apple. They are, quite frankly, akin to religious zealots who can never have their faith thwarted. Honestly, these people give a decent platform a bad name...at least to me.

For example, I went to an Apple store to look for a case for my iPod (yes, I have an iPod and I DO like it), and the person behind the counter was a total fanboy snob. I simply asked if they had any other cases other than what was on the wall, and he gave me a look that said "omg, I can't believe how big an idiot you are, Mr. Uncool geek", and actually said to me, in a mildly condescending tone, "If it's not on the wall we don't have it", and then just walked away, all bothered. I felt like saying "get a real job", but held back.

For those that will inevitably tell me that Macs are just better than PC's because "they just work" or "they are virus free", well, you can all just eat me. Yes, I agree the Mac arguably has a better user interface. Yes, it does work well and it IS a solid machine. And YES, it has less viruses (because it has a lower market share and is therefore less of a target). But, NO it is NOT the platform of choice for anyone who considers themseleves gamers. And NO, it is not cheaper than comparably equipped PC's, although it has made strides in that direction. And NO, they are not perfect. Neither are PC's. Far from it.

But I will always be a PC guy as long as Windows remains the market leader. Compatibility with the rest of the world is useful. And yes, I know that the Mac can output Word files, write Excel spreadsheets, read email as good as any PC. But where do you go if you need any sort of tech support? It's a bit harder to find that geek friend who can help you with your computer if what you have is a Mac. Sure, the numbers are growing, but let's face it. Right now, the industry standard platform for most businesses (as well as the gaming industry) is Windows on a PC.

My bottom line here is that I respect the quality of Apple products, but severely dislike the environment in which the company thrives...faith and fanaticism from a crowd of sheep who think the company can do no wrong. Again, not everyone who uses a Mac falls into that category...but enough do to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

With that, I leave you with one of my Zazzle creations:

Crapple by ecaggiani
Create Customized T-Shirts with zazzle

Bauer Power

It's been a while since I posted something. I've been too busy playing on my Xbox 360 (thanks, honey!)

So for all you 24 fans, here's a little something I whipped up.

Bauer Power
by
ecaggiani

Get this custom t-shirt at Zazzle

Pecks On Postage!

Best wife EVER!

So I have to say that I have the best wife in the world. Why? Is it because she is beautiful? Is it because she loves me unconditionally? No. It's because SHE GOT ME AN XBOX 360 for my birthday!

She asked me at one point what I wanted, and I said I wanted an Xbox, but she said, and I quote, "I'm NOT gonna get you ANOTHER way to play video games!"

Well at that point, I thought the only way I'd ever get one is to buy it myself and risk a few days of rolling eyes and "whatever" glances.

But she surprised me. She decided that it's MY birthday and I should get what I want :-)

Now if THAT doesn't make her the best wife ever, I don't know what does!

Back from Belize!

My wife and I enjoyed a 10 day stay in Central America in the beautiful country of Belize.

The map on the left shows where we visited, which includes a couple of very cool Mayan ruins, and an amazing resort in the middle of the rain forest.

Click the map to see full size.

AJAX driven password management

How many username/password combinations do you need to remember? Does having so many make you re-use the same password over and over? If you're like me, you have dozens of website logins to remember, and only a few different names and passwords for them.

Obviously, this is insecure. If someone were to get a hold of your common password, they could theoretically login to all your accounts that use it.

In comes Passlet, a web based, AJAX driven, client-side encrypting password manager.

The theory behind this is that all encryption is done in your local browser, and the Passlet server never sees your passwords in unencrypted form. Of course, you will have to make sure that the browser you are using is on a trusted computer.

Passlet does provide disclaimers that no one should use the site to store sensitive financial information, and that they are not responsible for any loss or damage resulting from the use of their service.

It's a good idea, but its security has yet to be really proven. It is in beta, and until more is done to verify the strength of their security, it should only be relegated to store the most mundane information (like other beta web sites you are testing, for example).

Zazzle now has over 250 t-shirt styles and colors!

Zazzle just added over 150 new t-shirt styles and colors, bringing the total number of t-shirt options to over 250!

There's no better time to customize your own Zazzle shirt!

My guitar on a tie :-)

Check out the tie I designed on Zazzle. It's a picture of my guitar :-)

Guitars
by
ecaggiani

Get this custom at Zazzle

Online file conversions...free with Zamzar

Convert files from one format to another for free. Zamzar offers a web based service that supports file type conversions for hundreds of different file types, up to 100MB in size.

This is cool since you don't have to download conversion software, and it works on all platforms since it is web based.

Bush does the Google

So we went from almost electing the inventor of the Internet, to electing someone who doesn't even use email. In a CNBC interview with Maria Bartiromo (as quoted in this article by the Washington Wire), George W. Bush was asked about his use of technology. That's like asking a 4 year old about his driving habits.


"One of the things I've used on the Google is to pull up maps."

Oh my. And when asked about his email habits, his answer (after translating from moron to English) is basically stating that he does not use email at all because he does not want a written record of what he says in emails. He's afraid of the media getting a hold of his email and having a field day. Heck, it's easier to deny something that is not written down.

Frankly, I'm embarrassed as an American to have "W" leading us. If he's supposed to represent Americans, then the world must think we're all a bunch of good ol' boys ready to drop a "nuke-u-lar" bomb and yell "yeee-hah!"

You know, democracy is great and all, but you have to question a system that allows someone like "W" to be elected. The electoral college seems to be the only college that our president has exceled in.

I propose to remove the electoral college system altogether and replace it with the "Let's-Make-Sure-We-Never-Elect-An-Idiot-Again" system. It will consist of secure voting of qualified candidates who know how to pronounce "nuclear" and know how to work a computer mouse. This, of course, will mean that we will never again have a president from Texas.

Welcome, IE7

With tabs, increased security, and better standards support, Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7 makes its debut. Yes, I am aware it was released on Wednesday, the 18th, but I've only just now had the time to write about it :-)

I've been using the betas and release candidate versions for a while, and I quite like it. It took a little getting used to the location of the home button, but I'm there now.

My favorite trick is CTRL-Q. If you have multiple tabs open to various web sites, hitting CTRL-Q shows real time thumbnails (see below)

Click to enlarge

Some sites display very minor visual glitches, but I suspect that may have to do with sites that have made CSS hacks for IE6 that they don't need anymore for IE7.

So far, all sites have been fully functional, better behaved, and faster with IE7. A huge step forward!

Is it better than Firefox? Honestly, I can't say yet. It seems to render pages a lot like Firefox...at least a lot closer than IE6 ever did. Hopefully the days of CSS compromises and workarounds are nearing an end. Of course, we'll still have to support IE6 for some time to come, but with it being released through Windows Update, and Vista coming early next year, I believe IE7 will become the new dominant web browser in a matter of months.