Riding with the window down…

Yes, coming out this year is an immersive world that takes the Grand Theft Auto/Saints Row genre to the next level - APD: All Points Bulletin. Slated for release later this year, APB takes the bad-guy-shoot-em-up-free-roaming game setting and infuses it with ‘roids. No longer is it you against a world of computer-controlled mental midgets, it is you against other real players - and we are talking thousands of them.

From what Blake was telling me, it will also include good guys. You can play on the side of the law, but I don’t imagine that will be much different when it comes to gameplay. Blake also says there is talk about evening the playing field due to the fact that most gamers will automatically choose to be a bad guy. I can see the attraction to escaping your life completely and being bad, but it just never appealed to me. Going way back to the days of Dungeons and Dragons, I have been unable to feel comfortable playing on the side of evil - just a personal quirk of mine.

Morals in an imaginary world aside, this does look like a fun title. I can’t decide whether I am going to play it or not mainly because I know how much I like these free-roaming games. This means that I can lose countless hours in pursuit of imaginary success in this imaginary setting. I definitely look forward to checking it out.

No clue on the release date and even if it will be out for the Xbox, but I am sure my crack research team (Blake) will keep me up to speed.

This could be why my backpack is so heavy. I unloaded the thing on the conference table to see just what all was inside. This is WITHOUT the laptop, power cord, mouse etc. that are in the other room right now. We are talking magazines (4), clipboard, calculators (3), digital cameras (3), tripod, rechargeable batteries (8), charger, voice recorders (2), marketing flyers, extra hard drive, thumb drives (2), packs of gum (2), chapstick, pens (5), iPods (2), earbuds, power bars (3), broadband card, collapsible dog water bowl, business cards, contact lens solution, checkbook, Tai Chi DVD, and a half dozen different USB connectors. THIS is what it takes to be a New Media Titan

I weighed the thing this morning when it was fully loaded and it comes in at nearly 50 pounds. I just know one of the straps is going to break soon because I fling it over one shoulder and take it everywhere. I am going to try to eliminate some of the extraneous stuff and get down to a more appropriate weight.

Recently my video iPod started displaying a white line across the screen.  I have reset the thing, but nothing.

It’s distracting to watch Cali Lewis with this stripe across her face.  I want my non-striped Cali back!

So, have anyone else encountered this?  Any clues on what to do about it other than trying to get it swapped from Apple?

Pop quiz - what does it mean when you blinker starts making that little blinker noise twice as fast as normal? Interestingly enough, when mine started, I looked over an unnamed friend and said, “You know what that sound means!” He had no idea (which is why his identity is not revealed.)

I then figured I would take a quick test and called five other friends to see if it really was common knowledge. Turns out that 42.85% of the male friends I called did NOT know that a blinker going at double-time means that one of the bulbs is burned out.

Long story short, it was time to change the rear signal light on the Focus. Being the weirdo I am, I decided that some photo journalism was in order.

1 - The offender - left rear signal light. I headed over to Pep Boys and after the counter chick looked it up, I grabbed the bulb off the shelf.
2 - So far so good. Only one visible screw. Unscrew and tug - nothing… better look on the inside.
3 - Aha, a wingnut. There is a little cutout circle on the inside and when you reach up in there, you can unscrew the plastic nut with your fingers. Tug - nothing… hmmm?
4 - After tugging waaay to hard and fearing breakage, I searched the internet and found an article saying that the seal is pretty tough and that you should pry it with something while tugging. It was a lifesaver. After I found a non-scratching pry tool, it popped off.
5 - A simple twist pops out the bulb socket.
6 - Pull to remove the old one and slip in the new one. Put light back together.

Overall, it was pretty simple and the Gray Ghost is back on the road and back making legal turn indications.

It is just minutes before I head to Dallas with my nephew Blake for a special pre-release party. It’s not just any pre-release party - its for one of the most popular video game franchises of all time - Microsoft’s Halo. That’s right, while the rest of the world gets Halo 3 tomorrow, we will be fragging our way through the brand new environments, testing out all the awesome new weapons, and of course creating both audio and video content all along the way.

One of the very cool things we are doing is handing out thumbdrives with Podcast Ready’s myPodder software preinstalled. It is a very special Halo 3 edition of the software that is not only skinned with awesome H3 graphics but comes with some great podcasts already in the subscription list.

Blake and I have been watching H3 preview movies all night on the web and via XBox Live download and I am getting as pumped up as he has been for the past week. One of the coolest things I have seen so far is the Forge editing engine. While the developers are sure to have created some great maps… once you put an editor in the hands of the playing community - you get the truly amazing ones.

Want your own copy of the Halo 3 myPodder software? Download it here.

I’ve been planning to get a new computer for about a month now because my main one started doing freaky things, my video editing station just took a dump, and even my laptop is full of annoying quirks. The audio on my podcasts has taken a turn for the worse because I now record on my laptop rather than risk a full-scale meltdown using one of the other systems. The problem with using the laptop is that the mixing boards and good microphones don’t play nice with its crappy sound card.

So two nights ago was the final straw… I was determined to get something new and get back to making great audio… really that is the only reason for an upgrade - I am perfectly happy doing QuickBooks, Word, Excel, etc. on a computer with quirks… it just made recording good audio nearly impossible. With real-life advertisers interested in sponsoring a couple of my podcasts, it was a no-brainer that I do what I have to in order to fix the sound, right?

First, I figured I would go the way I normally do and build a ‘whitebox.’ I had done this on my last five or six PCs and it allowed me to get just the right video card, sound card, memory, chip, etc. The problem was that during the past couple years since I spec’ed out my last one - everything got incredibly confusing and I stopped keeping up… so did my “tech guy,” who I won’t name.

It took a long time, but I finally went against my assertion that I would never buy a name-brand bundled hunk of garbage from someone like Dell, Gateway, HP etc. I went and checked out branded systems and actually sorta liked the HP “media” PC. I know it installs crap software that I don’t want, I know it requires HP replacement/upgrades which are much higher than the OEM stuff I can get, but I didn’t have to figure out what works with what. The problem is that it only comes with Windows Vista… even in the midst of selling out, there are some things I WON’T do.

So what about going back to Apple? I mean, my first computer was an Apple. I have owned six or seven Apples in my life. Why not just make the jump back to the Cult of Jobs? The price, for one. I am not trying to do Rocket Science here… they don’t do anything more than a clone PC… so why do I have to pay an extra $1,000 for a similar machine? Plus all my software is PC-based… I would have to spend a fortune on new software. (Don’t forget I do video and audio editing professionally and those programs are not cheap.)

The bottom line is that I am no closer to solving my problem because I hesitated to pull the trigger on the HP the other night. Turns out, it may have been a good thing because I got some news the following morning that will make me totally re-think my choice again.

I got the new RAZR V3t in today and of course had to test everything out. I shot some video with it (and was quite impressed) and of course took some photos. This is a marked improvement over the old V300 I used to use.

Between the photo capability, the voice recorder, and the video recorder, I think I am going to be running the battery down quite often. I tested the MP3 player and while it is kinda cool, I think the storage capability is too limited for it to be considered a very useful player.

All in all though… I am happy with the new phone.

Close friends and family know that my phone has been doing strange things lately… things like hanging up in the middle of a call and hanging up right when I answer a call. We are not talking about dropped calls, we are talking about the phone itself hanging up. Because of the frustration, I decided it was time to get a new phone.

My first thought was to get some big whiz-bang phone with all the extras… that lasted for about ten seconds. I instead figured I would get something reasonable because I felt sure that the next big thing in phones (iPhone?) is just around the corner.

Normally, it would be a simple decision - just switch carriers and get a free phone or a greatly discounted high-end one. The problem is that nobody can touch my current plan… I get 3,000 anytime minutes for only $49 a month. I have been on this plan way back since my first phone looked something like a large black brick and can’t find anything better.

I went to the T-Mobile store to see what they had to offer. T-Mobile is the latest in a long line of phone companies to buy out my contract and other than my dislike for their cycling team, I really don’t have anything negative to say about them. Well, let me speed this story up a bit.

After checking many stores and getting many outrageous prices, I was beginning to hate T-Mobile so I called their offices. I told them that my loyalty predates T-Mobile’s arrival in the US market and that keeping me happy would be much less expensive than finding another customer anywhere near as loyal as me. They checked my records and sure enough, I predated everyone in their office (even the ones that came over in the various buyouts.) It was then that they shocked me… not only did they offer me the lower end RAZR model I was wanting, but they gave me the top-end V3t RAZR not at a discount, but absolutely free! They also threw in a bluetooth headset, a car charger, a belt clip, and a new SIM card in case that was the original cause of my hangup issues.

Moral - Loyalty does pay, but you have to get off your butt and remind them what you are worth.

And yeah… consider this a recommendation for T-Mobile’s customer service. And if you do decide to switch the T-Mobile email your full name to me and I will send you a referral card that you can take into the store for 15% off any accessory!

When I first heard about the iPhone, I thought “well, Apple has finally jumped the shark.” Not so fast. I finally watched the whole MacWorld iPhone introduction presentation and I want one. I actually think this might be their biggest product yet… that is IF they can get the price point affordable.

I am normally a big “o”pponent of all-in-one gadgets mainly because if it breaks, you end up losing all your devices. For that reason, I would never buy the first model as I am sure bugs will be found. I can however, see myself trading in my iPod, cell phone, etc. for one of these in the future. It is toot sweet!

I am at West Oaks Mall testing out the new Sony Vaio laptop. It isn’t a brand new one, but it was a good deal and its much lighter than the Toshiba I lugged around. For now, I am just testing the remoting blogging capabilities… in the future, I will see how it does as a remote podcasting station.

I think all I have managed to determine is that the wireless at West Oaks Mall is crappy. haha