·:[ David and Claire’s Blog ]:·
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I have literally been waiting 10 years for this game to arrive! If it doesn’t live up to my expectations I will not consider that a flaw in the game, but a flaw in my myself- I must be too old!

Starcraft 2 is a real-time strategy game set in space. With the previous version I used to play against my buddies at Melbourne IT pretty much every day “after” work. This time I suppose I’ll play people over the internet instead of the LAN.

I have already pre-warned Claire of this game and it’s effects on pretty much all of my spare time for a while. I hope Rhys likes watching me play the game!

I have a long standing project that I have been trying to do for more than 3 years now. For some reason I finally got the resolve to iron out all the kinks and get it working. Announcing my very own internet radio station:
David’s Random Radio Station
It’s just a bunch of random songs, and I do mean random- there was no selection criteria. But it’s out there and streaming for anyone who wants to listen.

Want to know how to do it yourself? Here’s the most helpful link of the bunch:
http://www.linux-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/1336-linux-shoutcast-server/

If you’re not technically minded then just go to shoutcast instead.

I just finished Gears of War 2 tonight. I buy a fair share of video games, but it’s a rare one that I actually finish. This one made the grade. There’s just something cool about wielding a machine gun with a built-in chainsaw that takes kicking alien butt to a new level of goriness.

Saturday morning I lined up at the Sprint PCS store on Route 46 at 7:30 AM. I was 19th in line, but still plenty early enough to score a new Palm Pre! It’s pronounced “pree”. This phone is a Treo on steroids. In fact the only better thing about an iPhone is the bazillion apps out there for it. Palm plans to catch up in that area. This is the first truly multi-tasking phone, with a qwerty keyboard, and a really stylish look. But don’t take my word for it, check out these links:
- Palm Pre cuts the cheese - an important function!
- Exhaustive Pre Review
- The Pre: Palm’s Plot to Take on the iPhone

Today my new HP Mini Netbook (FM839UT) arrived. I’m writing this post on it right now. For those of us who still have good eyes this laptop is sweet, because the resolution is 1366 x 768. This basically means I can fit a lot more on my little screen than most netbooks. One thing that surprised me was the battery on the back, that props the notebook up, but also detracts from the slimness.

The first task I did is enable bluetooth and use PDANet. With this I am able to connect to the internet on my netbook via my cell phone. I have a Treo on the Sprint network and therefore have unlimited data connectivity. I have done this with other laptops using a cable between my cell phone and the laptop. One time I used it for hours on a roadtrip on I-80. Using bluetooth is way more elegant as there are no cables involved.

Next on my list is to get the HP tailored version of Ubuntu Linux running on either a USB thumb drive or via a partition of the internal hard drive.

Oh by the way, some of you may have noticed that your comments are no longer on the site. This was done accidentally by Claire when she was bulk editing the spam comments. She promises it won’t happen again!

It’s been too long since I’ve had a nice new toy to play with. (Since buying and frying multiple, cheap, Athlon XP CPU’s in an attempt to fix an old computer doesn’t count) Here’s the list of gadgets I’m eager to start playing with:

- Kindle 2.0 – I’ve been waiting for the new version for a while now. It’s basically a wireless (Sprint EVDO) book reader. So you keep a library of books in a nifty little unit that weighs much less than an ordinary book. You can also download the NY Times and various other sources on to the device whenever you feel like it since it’s wireless. I like the idea of keeping several books within easy access while commuting to work and avoiding the weight that would normally entail.

- Palm Pre – Hopefully the first real iPhone competitor. This is the long awaited update to the Palm lineup, with a completely new version of the Palm OS that (gasp) finally is truly multitasking. Supposedly right now the browser on this phone is already 4 times faster than the iPhone. It’s got a slide out Qwerty that I insist on in a phone, a large touch screen, and just plain looks cool. I also just realized that a lot of my planned gadgets are Sprint dependent, so I sure hope they stick around!

- Netbook PC – The laptop I have now has the typical Dell battery problems where it basically won’t charge the battery at all unless I put it on the docking station. Plugging the cable in the back does not charge the battery- and recently does not even power the laptop at all. Very frustrating, and apparently a motherboard problem. In my shamefully geeky approach to this problem I am thinking about getting two new computers. A cheap netbook PC that I will buy soon that could also accompany me anywhere needed, and fit on my lap on the bus- and a…

- Macbook Pro Laptop – It’s finally time to go Mac I think, and why not do it in style with a Macbook? I just need to do some research to make sure this is really what I want to get. I think a VMWare image of Vista will be necessary as well, in case I find some non-friendly Mac apps I need to run.

How much is all this going to cost me? I try not to think about it. I’m helping the economy right?

I have finally gotten around to moving the gallery I maintain over to my new Linux box. You know, the one with 5 hard drives and 2 TB of storage, and the dual AMD 64 bit CPU. Needless to say the site should run faster now. I have also resurrected the gallery random image. Enjoy!

P.S. for all zero users that used the forum in the last year, it’s toast now. But I am experimenting with a WIKI

Tetris and Pong combined. Why? Strange game:
http://www.nongnu.org/tong/

Evan truly is the second child. Not only does he get pretty much only hand-me-downs (with the exception of clothing), but he also is in far less photos than his sister. And many of the photos he is in also include Brynn. So what better way to fix this then buy Claire a new camera? There’s a Sony Style store in a mall near me and I was instantly intrigued by the DSC-T300. First of all this camera has a touch screen LCD on the back. So now instead of pointing the camera at what you want to focus on and moving it to get the right scene, you just point to the object on the touch screen and it automatically focuses on it. Now for those of you that are not familiar with the people recognition that the newer cameras have you will be impressed to know that this camera can tell the difference between adults and children (and inanimate objects) and you can choose which ones you want it to prioritize its focus on.
But here’s where I flipped- the T300 also has “smile recognition”. You can put it in a mode where only when you’re actually smiling does it take the photo. And it has this awesome meter that shows you the smile level you’re at while you’re pointing it at someone. Of course this had me instantly intrigued. How does it measure a smile? Is it the amount of teeth? Is it the crescent shape of your lips? Is it the twinkle in your eyes? I have tried all kinds of smiles, frowns, blank faces, etc. So far I’m still figuring it out….

My new baby has been around more than a month now, but only recently has it started behaving. I’ve been hiding out in my house slaving away on my first new computer in three years, and it just kept on giving me the dreaded BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) at seemingly random moments, but pretty much every 5-10 minutes. This isn’t the first time I’ve had this problem when building my own computer. Last time the problem turned out to be the motherboard. This time it was the CPU. I suppose that’s what I get for buying a brand new chip design right after it’s released. My AMD Phenom 9600 quad-core CPU is currently on it’s way to California where AMD will analyze it and hopefully send me back a new chip that behaves better. I don’t know if it’s just bad luck or an indication of the quality of these parts that every time I build a new computer at least one part is bad. Also, this time it took me a while to figure out what the problem was. First I thought it was the memory, so I bought some more, but still had the same problem. Then I decided it was the videocard and again I bought a new one and had the same problem. Then finally I bought a new CPU, an AMD Athlon X2 dual Core 6400+. At this point I realized I was halfway there to another computer, and decided to buy a new motherboard too. I popped in the new chip and presto! – I now have a fast, powerful, and most importantly rock solid, stable rig to play with. I’m halfway away from the components to build another rig now as well. It was time for a new Linux box anyway.
So I decided to give liquid cooling a try with this new computer. After all what is more geeky and cool then what is essentially a radiator in your computer? It’s anti-freeze circulating around, potentially ready to spurt everywhere at any moment (which btw is not as bad as it sounds since the liquid you use is non-conductive and would not destroy the computer). The AMD Phenom is also the first quad-core chip design where each it’s a true quad-core instead of just two dual-cores.
I’ll publish the detailed specs of my computer later!

I am a huge Battlestar Galactica fan. Something about it just sets off the total nerd in me. I watched pretty much all of the original series and agree with the magazines that the latest rendition is some of the best television out there. Razor(sp) was no exception.

I’ve been managing a web services group for a while now, and I still note this perception that web services are this mysterious SOA technology that is very complex and hard to use. The funny thing is that this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Sure the underlying framework my group uses is using several different cutting-edge software tools and APIs, but the consumer of the services themselves need know absolutely nothing about this. Web services embrace the whole black box mentality wholeheartedly, and it works well. As the client what do you care what happens in that box as long as you get what you’re looking for?

There is a reason that web services are supported in all kinds of tools like Crystal Reports, databases like Oracle, or providers like Google and Ebay- they’re incredibly easy to use. Just grab the WSDL file and away you go.

Also, ultimately the underlying communication mechanism is identical to surfing the web like you are doing right now. So right now you’re talking HTTP with a web server sending back and forth a variant of XML called HTML. Web services do exactly the same thing, talk HTTP sending back and forth XML. It’s simplicity, and use of tried and true underlying technology, is one of its greatest assets.

So the next time you hear someone call Web Services complex, consider this- it’s a as simple as surfing the web.

We have a very vertical house, and our wireless networks don’t seem to reach the whole gamut. If you’re on the ground floor or the basement the routers on the 3rd floor don’t have the best signal strength. Not a big deal unless I’m trying to stream video through my slingbox. So my solution is to use my power lines as yet another network. It took a while before the technology was fast enough to be useful, but now it’s finally there with speeds up to 36 Mbps with the Linksys PowerLine AV Ethernet Adapter Kit. Much more than most people would ever need. Streaming HD video for instance only requires 6 mpbs. So now I have a router on the first floor that connects via the power lines to my FIOS connection on the 3rd floor. Everything is humming along nicely now, and I can watch tv on my Treo flawlessy…

This weekend my mom was in town, and she had a meeting in the Rockefeller Center, that just happens to have just about the only place you’re guranteed to be able to get a Wii, the Nintendo World Store.
I’m pretty impressed with the device in general. It’s everything they say about the new controller interface- very intuitive, easy to use, and fun. It’s deceivingly simple too with how the controller works. For example I learned while playing the tennis game that it’s easy enough to hit the ball with the right timing. But turns out that with a subtle flick of your wrist you can put english on the ball or do other spin tricks. There are so many more degrees of movement possible when you are moving your whole arm, and adjusting angles of your hand and wrist.
I also agree with my mom’s comment that this gaming console may be setup to rope in a whole new demographic of potential video game players who never liked the “joystick” interface.

I have done a lot of work on this wordpress version of my site, and it’s come along nicely. This blogging tool is way more popular than Userland, and free as well. So there’s no turning back at this point. I have also added a random image from my gallery site on the bottom left. It’s a nice touch to the site, and makes it a lot more interesting.
Claire and I took Brynn out to dinner last night, and to lunch today. She has been wonderfully behaved at restaurants lately that we have a lot more confidence now to take her to them. It’s a shame about most stores though. She still usually goes ballistic at places like Bed, Bath, and Beyond or Costco. She either wants to run around, grabbing stuff off the shelves, or has tantrums when we don’t let her push the trolley around.

I am experimenting with wordpress. I am getting sick of UserLand and how it hasn’t changed in quite a while. You still can’t even delete comments. So I’m going to see if I can take a template and modify it to look similiar to my old site.

One thing I also want to try is getting the random image php from my gallery to show up on my website home page.