Finally, I'm back on track.

It took a while but thank goodness I finally got out Episode #14 of the Digital Blast. Stop by the show/shownotes page, check it out and tell me what you think.

Enough already!

Modblog, my former blog service has been down for TWO WEEKS! I can't even tell you how much my disgust with Modblog is off the charts!

To be honest, I'm just waiting for it to come up just so I can port all of my posts over here to my site. I'm also hoping to bring a ton of Modblog people over to Blogspot so their voices can still be heard. SO many great blogs on that service that have been or soon will be lost. David Jaffe's game blog, BlueKakashi's movie blog, Carmdown, Wrestling with Jimmy and the list just goes on and on!

I just can't believe how much this sucks, down for two weeks and nothing from them?

There is no doubt, bigger is better!

Get your minds out of the gutter, this is a technology blog! I dived headfirst into the shopping time known as "Black Friday". The experience wasn't too bad but I did pick up a great new addition to the digital den. Toshiba's new 46" HD DLP TV. Now I'm here to tell you, if there's a way to fall in love with an electronic device (once again mind out of the gutter) I'm there. This TV is just huge and the picture quality is sharp. Believe it or not even the on board speakers are great. I couldn't wait to hook it up in the living room (waiting for a piece of furniture) so I took it right out of the box and just fired it up. I normally use my home theater system for sound but the on-board speakers sounded great.
Now for some features. Beyond all of the standard things like filters, screen modes, and analog and digital inputs (7 total) the TV has a few extra suprises. Rather than picture in picture (PIP)it has split screen where you see 2 full 20+ inch pictures of your inputs (i.e. cable and DVD). Its really a great way to watch. I thought PIP was the way to go but no more my friends.

Front panel inputs are analog and digital but there's also a media card reader so you can view pictures and movies from your digital camera's card right on the screen! Talk about convenient. We got to watch a slide show if our shots from Thanksgiving dinner in 46" goodness.

The true test though was throwing in a DVD and a video game of course! I has just picked up Star Wars ROTS and the picture was beautiful. The colors were vibrant, the sound (from the factory speakers did I mention) was great and action was sharp. I may never go to the movie theater again! Well, until I can put up my own IMAX I'll still have to go occasionally. One thing that did strike me? I also threw in the Incredibles and for the first time I noticed "elastigirls" reflection in the car window while she was driving the kids home from school. That's detail!

Next the mother of all video games, God of War. HOLY COW!! Kratos looked life sized! I can't believe I was excited to see the game on my old Sony 36" CRT TV, I was blown away. The clarity of the picture was unbelievable. Great color, detail and motion. I probably spent an hour hopping around the game just to see the different details. It really is amazing to see how much of the "gaming" experience you miss with a smaller TV.

Now was the TV cheap? No it was not. However it was on sale so I picked it up for almost a grand less than MRSP. So great deal, great TV, great weekend! Oh yeah, the food and family were fun too.

D

Happiest of Thanksgivings to all.

I hope this post finds you and your family enjoying the mainstays of Thanksgiving: food, family and fun. I cooked my traditional (or at least its my traditiion) deep fried turkey and as usual there is nothing left. That's why I always deep fry at least 2! There was enough food to feed a battlalion and I ate as much as I could.

I also want you to think about those that are fighting far away. Whether you support the efforts abroad or not, there are a lot of us who tonight will sleep in the desert far from family, alone but ever vigilant. I can tell you from experience that the holidays are the toughest times to spend stationed overseas. Keep them in your thoughts. I promise you that you are in theirs.

Eat, drink and be merry. Rarely do we get the chance to just sit down with family and eat like tomorrow is the Apocolypse or something! There's plenty of time to worry about work, school or whatever later so enjoy today.

And as we southerners like to say, Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!

D

Alright, back to business.

Okay, now that we've got this whole Modblog debacle behind us let's get focused back to what this blog/site is all about. That's right, say it with me kids "tech-no-logy".

Now I am a card carrying member of the PSP cult (I just got the card in the mail the other day and it is super cool). My issue with the PSP has been the ease of getting non-Sony stuff (i.e. games, UMD movies) onto it in a fashion that didn't resemble the decoding of the Rosetta Stone (look it up). Before it involved getting some third party software (i.e. PSPvideo9) that would let you reformat images, music or movies not only in the PSP format but in a format that was more likely to fit onto your memory stick. I normally give the parent company of the technologies I love a hard time because they fail to support their item to the best of their ability but color me wrong this time.







Thank you Sony. Thank you for giving me ONE application that does it all for me. For $19.99 (download) you get the one piece of software that does everything you need to get media onto your PSP.
- Two-paned view lets you see media on your PC and PSP system at the same time
- Automatic file format conversion PSP Media Manager does the work for you. It crushes video down to tcorrectret viewable size and format to view.
- CD extraction, transfer your CDs to your PSP system. Yes sir, or you can drop music from computermuter directly onto the PSP. What's nice is you can set the kps so you get more songs on your stick.
- Download and convert images. Like that big screen couldn't stand a shot of your good looking mug!
-Podcast and video blog support, download and encode feeds for PSP playback. You can download your favorite podcasts (ahem, the digital blast of course!) or video casts directly to your PSP. Take that iPod!

What's not to like? I gotta tell you this is the 1 piece of software you have to buy. What a shame this didn't come WITH the PSP!

D

Just my thought

Damn you Modblog (pumping fist in air)!

Okay, here's the deal. I used to have my blog over at Modblog. I really liked their service and it's what started this whole site/podcast/tech stuff I've been doing so I wanted to stay. But after waiting for OVER a week (the second time in 3 months by the way) for the site to come up I'm done. I mean what's the problem here? If they need funds to stay a float I can do that. I'd be happy to pay a few bucks a month or a year to help them out. I can't believe that they actually posted

"We are very, very sorry for the extended delay. Unfortunately, the person that is capable of repairing the problem was traveling over the weekend, and was unable to tend to the problem. We are now working as fast as possible to put ModBlog back online, and that should happen very soon."

What the hell? Is this being run in some guy's basement? Aren't there thousands of people, if not more, that are registered users not to mention the number of visitors to big name blogs like David Jaffe's? I love Modblog. I think the way its set up is great and I love the community feel but sweet mother of god, enough is enough.

D

The Eagle has landed

Well, no more waiting for Modblog to pull their head out of their butts. We're live with a new blog on MY site. Hehe, ain't technology cool?

And now for something completely different..

Now I know this is a tech and gadget blog but I think I’m going to throw in the “now for something completely different" to talk about something cool that has happened to me. Or at least I’ll try to until you guys tell me to stop.You guys don't know it but I'm a HUGE Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. Not huge like my home is covered in Buffy stuff or I'm stalking cast members or anything but let's just say of there was a Buffy World Championship of "Scene It" or trivia I'm your winner.So I was strolling through my local Barnes and Noble on this past Tuesday and saw that Amber Benson, who played Tara on Buffy, was going to be there at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday for a book signing to promote her and Chris Golden's new book "Ghosts of Albion - Accursed".

Now if you don't know. Ghost of Albion was an animated feature they did for BBC-i (the cool British web channel), that was so popular it was getting 100,000 downloads a week (you can check it out here). So popular that it has spawned this first in what will be a series of books, a role-playing game and there's talk of making it a movie! Now I was supposed to be away on business and would not be able to attend but figured there was no way in hell I was going to miss this. You never see anybody from the TV show on the east coast. They're always doing events in Cali or in the UK so this would probably be my only chance. There’s is quite a story about me actually getting to the signing that I won't go in now. Maybe later if someone asks but suffice to say it was hilarious in itself. So I do get there in time. My better half got there early since she figured I wouldn't make it and had made friends with who I find out are close friends of Amber. Kudo's eh? So I quick buy a book, and sit for the Q&A session. I had a couple of good questions lined up, because I wanted to be a cool guy and of course I really wanted to know, and then came the "meet and greet" and signing. So I get to meet Amber. Oh, here is where I should mention that I am the MOST SHY person on earth around famous people I’m a fan of. No really, it takes all I can do to muster up conversation. Media, politicians, sports figures, no sweat. But someone I’d truly like to meet and I’m a church mouse. So guess what? Amber is beautiful, charming, funny and has the best laugh on the planet. She was so cool and personable that I was won over right away. I recounted my getting there story (which she thought was hilarious!), chatted about Buffy, she signed some items and of course took some pictures (which I'll post later). To top it off she thought my better half was a hottie and had to take a photo with her too. How cool huh? Because it was short notice I really didn't have anything cool to have her sign. I bought a book and just happened to grab my copy of the PS2 Buffy game for her to sign but that was it. A woman behind me had a copy of the musical CD they did for the "Once More with Feeling" episode so I ran next door to buy a copy at Best Buy and then brought it back for her to sign. She said of course and signed it too. The signing was at 7:30 and we ended up leaving the B&N at like 11 p.m.! What an awesome experience! I got to meet an actor from my favorite show and she just couldn't have been nicer. I really have to give her co-author props too. Chris Golden an award winning author and local MA boy was so nice to answer my questions about being a writer. I have a novel bouncing around in the back of my head or at least I hope that's what that noise is! Just a great event with some really great people. You can find out more about Amber here and Chris here. Oh crap, what’s the book about? To quote the site “Even death could not stop Britain's greatest defenders. In 1838, William and Tamara Swift inherit a startling legacy from their dying grandfather, transforming them into the Protectors of Albion, mystical defenders of the soul of England. But the shocked, neophyte sorcerers also inherit unique allies in their battle against the dark forces. Fighting alongside them are the famous-even infamous-Ghosts of Albion: Lord Byron, Queen Bodicea, and Lord Admiral Nelson. When strange and hideous creatures appear in the slums of London, an unholy plague threatens to launch an epic battle that may rage all the way to Buckingham Palace . . . and beyond. Time is running out as William and Tamara must learn whether their friends will stand beside them, or seduce and betray them.” Cool huh? I just started reading it and can’t put it down. Sorry for the long post but that’s what I’ve been up to and thought I would share.

Why can't we be more Japanese?

Is Japan really the place where hot Asian girls are on every corner singing J-Pop tunes and families are out walking their robot babies? Unfortunately no. However, damn if the haven't garnered the market on cool electronic and devices to help with everyday life. Case in point: their "smart card".


We have those here in the states you say? Yes we do however the ones we use are set for a pre-defined operation like a phone card. In the land of the rising sun, they use their smart cards for EVERYTHING. They pay bills, buy clothes, train fare, purchase delicious snack treats from vending machines. You name it. Almost everything in Japan has either a card reader or an electro magnetic field that lets you swipe or wave your card to pay for goods.Are there problems? yes. Because this is an active device that has A LOT of personal info on it you can get "jacked". The Japanese have a protector (think lead vest to an x-ray) that blocks off transmission of the card unless you take it out and use it. And sure, the cases and the cards come in all the cute Asian loved themes: Hello Kitty, pop stars, cosplay characters.

It must be nice.

DAMN YOU Iwata-san!

Satoru Iwata is the president of Nintendo. Why am I angry at him?

I am a PSP fan boy but I thought just for kicks I'd pick up a Micro. This thing is awesome! Its 4x2x1 inches and weighs in at a paltry 3 ounces! That is true "stick in your pocket" gaming portability. Is that even a word? I used it so it is now.

The screen may look small but its the same resolution as the SP and its even brighter. So much in fact that Nintendo is now selling a newer SP with this new bright screen technology. Factor in that you can customize the Micro with faceplates, play over 700 GBA games, get almost 12 hours of battery life and its a hit. Now how the hell am I supposed to carry all these electronics? I only have so many pockets!