1TO10REVIEWS

My Review: 2

Diane Rehm is the radio-program host of the “The Diane Rehm Show.” She hosts her program on WAMU through the American University in Washington D.C. The show is nationally syndicated on National Public Radio (NPR.)

I love NPR. But Diane Rehm is driving me frigging crazy. Everyone just gushes on and on about how wonderful she is: she’s articulate, educated, well-spoken, interesting, insightful, etc., etc. and blah blah blah.

The truth is she is maddeningly annoying because she talks…so…god…damned…slowly. It’s making me crazy. I frequently listen to NPR on Sirius Satellite radio, and they play her show constantly. 3 times a day I find her on the air.

Now, I know that she has a speech disorder. She has Spasmodic Dysphonia, a disease of the larynx which causes involuntary spasms of the muscles in the throat and larynx. This cannot be treated with speech therapy or vocal training. The most effective way to treat it is with Botox injections directly to the throat. And that sucks. The disorder caused her to take a break from broadcasting. My assumption is that she speaks so slowly as means of coping with her disorder.

That’s all well and good; I applaud her efforts and sympathize with her plight. I am very sorry for her and for other S.D. sufferers. I know full well that I sound like an insensitive prick. A real asshole. But the fact remains that she is driving me crazy. I can’t stand the sound of her slow, warbling chaotic voice. IT DRIVES ME NUTS.

So I give her stupid voice on her stupid program a stupid rating of 2. I don’t care how articulate or intelligent or sensitive she is. She is a radio personality, and that line of work depends on a solid, commanding mellifluous voice. Diane Rehm does not qualify.

My Review: 5

I think Guitar Hero, the series of games from Red Octane, kicks motha-flippin’ ass. I love to rock out, it’s simple and fun. So I am not going to review Guitar Hero in general; everyone already knows that it rules.

Instead I am going to review, specifically, GH3 for the PC.

I don’t own a gaming console. I know, it’s crazy, my bad. For a techno-weenie geek-boy to not own a gaming console is like a Kansas City holy-roller only owning one bible. Not normal.

Nevertheless, I don’t own a gaming console. I’ve played GH2 on the Xbox 360 with friends, and played GH3 on the Wii. I had a lot of fun, but I didn’t want to sink $400-$700 into owning a console so that I could play one game. However, I did recently build my own PC. My buddy Jeff helped me put together a custom computer. This was my first time building my own machine. I bought all the components, installed everything, the works. Jeff helped. Here are the major stats:

• NZXT Apollo mid-tower computer case
• Antec Tru-Power Trio TP3-550W power supply
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz processor
• Asus P5E-VM DO motherboard
• Corsair XMS2 240-pin DDR2 memory (4 x 1 GB)
• 2, Asus 18x lightscribe DVD-RW burners
• Nvidia GeForce 8400 Graphics card w/ 512 MB dedicated video memory
• 2, 7200 rpm Seagate 500GB hard drives in a RAID 1 (hardware RAID)

Being as I have a brand-new bad-ass mother-jammer (three hyphenated double-words in a row, yes!) I figured maybe I should search for whether there is a PC version of Guitar Hero 3. Wouldn’t that be cool? Maybe it’s nicer to rock out in front of your television, but I do have a 22″ widescreen LCD monitor, so that’s not too bad. Since I already built the computer anyway, this seemed like a cheaper and more reasonable alternative.

So, 1 or 2 Google search results later, lo and behold there is a version of GH3 for the PC.

Aspyr, a gaming company, contracted with Red Octane to port a version of GH3 for the Mac and the PC. Sweet. Better yet, on my routine visit to Costco the next day they are selling the PC version. Right there at Costco. Life is good again.

So, now I have a sweet machine and the video game I’ve been drooling over. How does it all stack up? Not that great.

It’s not terrible, but I have some deep concerns. For one thing, it stutters a little bit. When you are playing a musical game that depends on your being able to follow the rhythm of the song, stuttering present a pretty big issue.

The minimum system requirements for the graphics card list a “Video Card: 3D Hardware Accelerator Card Required – 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 128 MB Video Memory.” They recommend 256 MB video card. Mine is a 512 MB card, and it still stutters. The only way I could find to mitigate the stutter was to lower the graphics resolution in the game options to the minimum setting. This did not wipe out all the stuttering, but it did help enough so that the game is playable. Yay.

Now Guitar Hero is not really a graphics intensive game, and truthfully I don’t really notice the difference all that much. However, I think it is totally lame that it was necessary to lower the resolution to the minimum. My new computer meets or exceeds all the other system requirements in addition to the graphics card. That tells me that the problem is probably not my system. I think it much more likely that Aspyr did not make a very good port.

It is also possible that Red Octane did not do as good of a job with GH3 as they did with GH 1 and 2. Harmonix (who is now making Rock Band, a Guitar Hero competitor) did all the coding for GH 1 and 2. Red Octane contracted with a different company to code GH3 - that’s part of the reason that it looks significantly different from previous versions.  The new company coded it up pretty fast, and perhaps they didn’t do as good of a job.  I have seen stutters on GH3 even on the Wii, though not as bad as what I experienced with the PC.

Another bone I have to pick is the controller.  The guitars for all other versions of Guitar Hero 3 are wireless.  Not so for the PC version.  In fact, the guitar for PC is actually the Xbox 360 guitar for Guitar Hero 2, right down to the little Xbox logo.  That is pretty lame.  I can (sort of) understand using a wired guitar on the first version, probably simplified a few things.  But at least give me my own guitar, and not one that has Xbox symbols on it.

Apparently Aspyr has released a patch for the game, patch #1.1, and it is supposed to resolve certain issues. I am going to download it and try it out, but I am not overly optimistic.  I supposed any port is likely to work less perfectly than the original.  And it honestly  isn’t that bad.  It’s just not great either.  Not the experience I was hoping for anyway.  So, because it is mediocre, it gets a solid 5 out of 10.

My Review: 7

(Disclaimer: I work for a company in this industry, and we have a peripheral interest in this device.  My opinions of the device are my own and do not reflect those of my company or ASUS.)

I just got a black, 4GB, ASUS EeePC. I have some un-boxing and first run pictures scattered throughout the post, for your viewing pleasure.

For those not in the know, the EeePC is an ultra-miniature laptop that is supposed to have an ultra-miniature price. The original estimate for the 4GB model was supposed to be $200.00, but this beauty came with a $350 price tag in the end.

However, I still think it’s well worth it, for a variety of reasons:

• compactness - there is a 7″ screen, and only 2.5 lbs to lug around
• integrated wifi - you can connect anywhere and have a full computing experience
• integrated webcam - great for Skype calls with video chat (more on this later)
• solid state hard drive - there is no traditional hard drive, so the thing runs cooler and uses less energy
• runs a Linux OS (Xandros) - though you can get a version with Windows XP (Vista won’t fly this low)

It is possible to install a variety of different Operating Systems on this machine (Linux, OSX, Windows, someone even created an optimized flavor of Ubuntu). At the moment I am leaving the Xandros version of Linux on there.

The OS is set up with a tabbed desktop which offers a combination of different applications. Some of them are traditional Linux apps (like Open Office for document creation and Skype for VOIP calls). Other “applications” are really just hyper-links to bookmarked websites. For instance, there is an iGoogle icon which, when clicked, will launch Firefox (the default web browser) and bring you to iGoogle, Google’s widgetized personal desktop. This model is semi Web-driven and similar in some respects to Everex’s gOS. Interesting.

The specs are available on a variety of different websites, including Asus’s. Here is a snapshot:

• Dimensions: 225 × 165 × 21~35 mm (8.9 × 6.5 × 0.9~1.4 in)
• Display: 7 in (17.8 cm) 800×480 TFT LCD with LED backlight
• Graphics: Integrated Intel GMA 900 graphics processor (Shared Memory Architecture), additional VGA port (up to 1600×1280 pixels)^[14]
• Storage: 4 GB Solid state drive (SSD) flash
• Memory: 512 MB DDR2-667 (upgradeable to 2 GB)
• Communication: 10/100 Mbit Ethernet, 802.11b/g wireless LAN mini PCI-E card (Atheros-based)
• Audio: Realtek ALC6628 Hi-Definition Audio 5.1 CODEC; built-in stereo speaker; built-in microphone
• Chipset: Intel 910GML series
• Expansion: two PCI Express Mini Card connectors (one internally, occupied by wireless network card, another empty, accessible from opening on back of unit)
• 0.3 megapixel camera, integrated in computer lid; up to 640×480, up to 30
• Connectors:
  • 3 USB 2.0 ports
  • MMC/SD (HC) card reader
  • Ethernet port, Modem port (non-functional, empty)
  • Microphone input
  • Headphone jack
  • AC power jack
  • VGA out
  • Kensington lock slot

As a compare and contrast I set the EeePC up next to my “Desktop Replacement,” a 17″ HP PAvillion

I have had a couple of small issues so far. The Linux version of Skype that came pre-installed does not support video chat, which is an issue, especially when there’s a web-cam built into the lid. What a waste. Fortunately, Skype has a beta version for Linux that supports video. One problem though: after I installed and ran the beta version of Skype, it didn’t recognize the webcam. I did a little research on the inter-web and found a forum post on www.eeeuser.com that addressed the issue. Unfortunately the solution was a little too technical for me, so I went to my dude Ricky and asked for help. He had to do some command-line magic, and was able to make the webcam work on Skype. (BTW, if you want to open the command line window on EeePC version of Xandros, hit Ctrl+Alt+T - that will open it up for you.)

So, now I can use the video chat on Skype. This was the first time I have ever installed a Linux application, and it’s a littleb bit different than Windows or OS X; I’ll briefly describe the process:

Download the Beta version for Linux from the Skype download page - I chose the Xandros version. Save it to your computer, don’t run it out of the download. After the download is complete, go to the”Work” tab and open the File Manager. Click on the My Documents folder and you should see a file called: “skype-debian_2.0.0.27-1_i386.deb” Right click on that file and choose “Install DEB File…” That’s it. Then you need to figure out how to do the camera part. Follow the above link for those instructions.

So now, after all of that, I am good to go right? Wrong. I opened the web browser, navigated to Facebook, and noticed a friend whose birthday is today. I tried to leave them a video message (now that my camera works) and, sadly, “no camera found.” Sighhh.

Another quick search brought me here. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a ready solution yet. It looks as though Flash player for Linux won’t support the native webcam, but I’m no authority so I can’t say for sure. I will say this though. A big part of the utility for a device like this is in staying connected remotely. The webcam is a huge piece of the value for me. Skype is a big deal, and that is now solved. The Facebook problem sucks though. It’s fun to leave videos for your friends. I just want it to work, and it doesn’t.

The keyboard, as you might expect, is tiny and difficult to type with, especially if you have meaty fingers (like myself.) I am reduced more or less to a “hunt and peck” style of typing, but I think I will get used to it quickly. I don’t plan on writing any novels on this machine. (I am using my macbook to write this post. Clearly I have too many gadgets.) Speaking of the keyboard though, it does feel a little flimsy. The keys feel cheap (and they were) and the keyboard dips a little in the middle wen you type. May pose a problem down the line, especially with heavy usage.

Watching a movie on it actually works amazingly well; the screen looks great. The default player plays .AVI files without a hitch. The volume though, even when using headphones, is way too low. On an airplane, with good headphones, I could hardly hear the dialogue, and that was with the player volume and the system volume both maxed out. Weird.

The computing power is not overwhelming, it is a small machine with a relatively weak processor and a small(ish) amount of memory. I got the 4GB model, which, with operating system using up 2+ GB of that space, does not have a lot storage. So I got a 16GB SD card which gives me a ton more storage space. However, sometimes when I am playing music on the card, and I click on something else (like the browser or the file manager) the music stops and stutters. I might upgrade to more RAM at some point which I suspect will improve the problem. But overall, given the general specs and the purpose of the device, I feel like it works pretty well.

I’d like to see an improvement in the “out-of-the-box” experience. I think the webcam should “just work.” But in terms of layout, features, size, and general usability I think it does what it is supposed to do. And the light weight and size kicks ass. So, all in all I think it’s a good device. I give it a 7.

My Review: 3

I like PayPal, generally speaking. They make Ebay payments simple and straightforward, and it’s convenient in a number of different web-related payment circumstances. But I had an issue today.

I bought an item that I found on Ebay. The seller made a mistake when they were listing though, and because of that mistake I could not use the Buy It Now feature - it was unable to process. So I wrote to the seller and told them what was wrong. They told me to just send them the PayPal payment and they would end the auction immediately. I’m not a moron, so I did call and email with the guy several times before I was comfortable to do so. I also reviewed their seller history, and it was impeccable. So I went for it. You got to have faith sometimes.

Everything went through without a hitch. He received the payment, ended the auction, and promised to ship the item the following day. One problem though. Paypal thought it was suspicious, and chose to freeze the funds and limit my account access.

Those measures are in place for my security, and I appreciate it. But I think I should have gotten a phone call. Someone, a person (human being) should have reached out to me and tried to help. Instead I received an email, which immediately makes me think it’s a phishing scheme. Secondly, I have to jump through several account-related hoops, including changing my password. That’s some bullshit, right there. I don’t want to change my password.

I finally called them, and spoke with Nicki. She was very nice, and very helpful. But she was insistent about the password. She went and spoke with a supervisor, after I insisted on it, and discovered that while I did indeed need to change my password, I would be able to later on (in an hour or so) change it back. Well that sounds all right, I guess.

I appreciate her helping me solve the issue. I think Nicki did a great job. But there are two pieces of feedback I have for PayPal based on this experience.

1. Call your customer to alert them, don’t make them change all of their personal information when they have been appropriately using your service. I appreciate the security, but there is an obvious flaw if I can’t use the service without shutting down my account.

2. Make sure employees and FAQ’s list little facts like the one that says “you DO have to change your password, but you may change it BACK if you so choose.”

I like PayPal, and this experience isn’t making me quit on them. But this whole account limitation system sucks, and I give it a resounding 3.

My Review: 2

I think Nancy Pelosi is a moron and a communist.

OK, that’s an overstatement, but I do think this bill is not the solution to the problem of illegal downloading and copyright infringement. Our friend Jeremy at LiveDigitally wrote an excellent post on this topic - you can find it here. While I don’t agree blindly with everything Jeremy has to say, I do agree with the gist of his argument.

Clearly lots of people are downloading music illegally.  Sending them to jail and / or fining them thousands of dollars to protect wealthy people whose rights are being “infringed” upon is not a good solution.  However, “80 million illegal downloaders can’t be wrong” is not a good enough reason (for me) as to why the law should be changed to make illegal downloading legal and free.

I think that the punishment needs to fit the crime. I do agree with him that large business, huge conglomerates, and fabulously wealthy musicians are not suffering egregiously from illegal downloading and copyright infringement. The only people I occassionally worry about are the starving, independant artists; I don’t want them to lose their meager royalties. But I would argue that they get at least as much benefit as loss from the downloading and trading of their proprietary work. All that distribution is probably a good thing.

I think sites like Amie Street which use a market driven structure to sell music legally, and at a very god price, make the most sense.  These benefit newer independant artists, and benefit the consumer.

Solutions aside, the people who create and own property have a right to see that property protected.  This bill does not protect their rights.  It punishes people without acknowledging the reality of the situation.  That reality being: technology is not going to go backwards, and publishers need to find a way to work with it, not use congress as a blunt instrument to beat up the people who pay their salaries.

In any case, I say write to your congressperson to oppose this bill.

And take a crap on Pelosi’s lawn next time you’re in San Francisco. Just don’t get caught.

The PRO IP Bill gets a 2.

My Review: 6

I recently spent my honeymoon in New Zealand, and a good portion of our time there was spent in and around Queenstown, a city on the south side of the South Island. If you find yourself in Queenstown, New Zealand, it is worth stopping in at the Fergburger.

Fergburger has immense (read: large) hamburgers. They make burgers from beef, lamb, deer, swine, fish, chicken, and many combinations of the aforementioned creatures. Their patties are about 8 inches across, and served on huge buns with lots of trimmings. I had a “Little Lamby” and a “Fergburger w/cheese” over the course of my time in Queenstown. Here is a short excerpt from the menu:

The atmosphere is frantic and fun, especially if you are into teens and twenty-somethings who insist on asserting their uniqueness. They are located on Shotover Street indowntown Queenstown, and their hours run from around 8:00 AM all the way to 5:00 AM, so they are great for a late night, post-binge drinking snack. They’re also good for a breakfast burger, if you can accept some serious indigestion for the rest of your day.

The patties are wide, but they are a little thin. I never worked up the guts to try the “Big Al” (The Big Al $15.50: Al delivers a double serving of prime New Zealand beef (1/2lb), lashings of bacon, a whole lotta cheese, 2 eggs, beetroot, lettuce, tomato, red onion, relish & a big wad of aioli) but the standard patties were impressively wide but sadly thin. And the fries were mediocre at best. And, my biggest gripe, was the sauce. Kiwis do not routinely use American Ketchup (Catsup, Heniz 51, the red stuff) and instead prefer a sweet and tangy, almost barbecuse sauce-like condiment. I do not care for it.

But, never-the-less (I am into hyphenated words today - weird) Fergburger is worth the trip. The staff move so fast it’s dizzying, the energy is fun, and they sell good beer. (I like the local Monteith’s Celtic.) The food is hot, good, and expensive ($15.00 for a burger!) But hey, you’re on vacation. I give Ferg a 6.

PS

They made it onto Wikipedia - that’s worth something.

PPS

Someone else’s half-eaten Fergburger. Gross.

My Review: 9

Do you like the movie the Good, the Bad and the Ugly?  Do you remember the Ugly?  The sharp shooting, weak-willed thief Tuco.  Do you know who played the role of Tuco?  Eli Herschel Wallach, that’s who.

Eli Wallach is  a Jewish actor, born in Brooklyn New York, whose most famous role is that of a Mexican thief opposite Clint Eastwood in (arguably) the most famous spaghetti western of all time.  The music, the stark scenery, and the complex characters made this one of Sergio Leone’s greatest achievements of all time.  Wallach also played a Mexican as the villain in another incredible western movie, the Magnificent Seven.

I grew up watching westerns with my Dad, and I love the genre dearly.  I think Clint Eastwood is the man.  But I have always had an enduring affection for this Brooklyn Jew who so convincingly played a mexican murderer and thief.  Tuco wasn’t evil in the the Good The Bad and The Ugly; he was ugly.  He was small minded and selfish, callous and focused only on his own short term, short sighted needs.   And Wallach was brilliant in the role.

Eli Wallach deserves a nine plus, and I am glad to see a member of the tribe with such range and versatility.  Hooray.