Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Spring break

Been gone for a while, mainly due to the fact that it's spring break! And also because I haven't been able to get access to the internet for a while. Two great things happened though while I have been on break:

1.) I got Super Smash Brothers Brawl.
2.) I got Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

I've been playing for a long time, though I have to say, it is great, yes, but there seems to be a lack of some things.

Take for instance, the Wii internet brawl matches. I don't like the fact that it nearly takes 5 to 10 minutes to even play the thing, or that when I am playing, there is so much lag that playing isn't even fun. I thought about the lag though, and I draw two conclusions. One is that my wii's wifi is haywire (I've had serious problems with it in the past) or two, by playing in the basement, while the router is on the first floor, that might be cause for some lag. Then again, while playing with some friends, they too have the same lag.

Another thing that is lacking in Super Smash Brothers Brawl also has to do with the internet playability. Playing the Nintendo DS, one game that impressed me with the friend code idea was Metroid Prime: Hunters. One of the things that I miss from that is the ability to add friend codes on the go. The game broke it down in two different ways. You could add people by getting their friend codes and putting it in, which you could then communicate with them walkie-talkie like before matches. Or when you have finished a match with a bunch of random strangers, you could add people by clicking "add as rival". You wouldn't be able to communicate with them, but at least you could verse them again if they were a worthy enough adversary.

Those are my only two complaints, of course, they might be fixed (I don't know about the second one though, how do you fix something like that?) but I still think that it is a great game nonetheless.

If you want to verse me (Sheik is my best) go ahead and add me:
0559-6573-0767
and post your friend code as a comment.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Photoshop

Recently installed wine-doors on my computer. People have are losing the excuses not to switch to linux!!!

Monday, March 03, 2008

Brainstorm

Ubuntu Brainstorm Update

Four amazing days have passed since the launch of brainstorm.ubuntu.com, and all we can say is Whoah! A couple of numbers:

  • 10,000 registered users
  • 2700 ideas (in comparison, Dell Ideastorm has 9000 ideas)

And the numbers keep growing! We had not expected such a success.

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/1365

I've been contributing to brainstorm since it came out about 3 to 4 days ago. I think that it is a GREAT idea, and that Ubuntu should keep it running for every new release. Great ideas have already been implemented and will be included with the final Hardy Heron release like:

idea #80: Clean up Preferences and Administration.



First of all: What is the difference between Preferences and Administration? For example: why do I see 'Encryption and Keyrings' in Preferences and 'Keyring Manager' in Administration? What is the difference between 'Default Printer' and 'Printing'? Why do I have to disable the Tracker under Sessions and not under Search and Indexing? And why are these menu's so large? I have 24 items in Preferences (they don't even fit on my screen!) and 18 items in Administration. To put all this stuff in a popup menu is bad interface design imho. Besides, the number of option should be much smaller. A few suggestions:

- Merge 'Screensaver', 'Screen Resolution' and 'Screens and Graphics'.
- Merge 'Network', 'Network Proxy' and 'Network Tools'.
- Merge 'Update Manager, Synaptic Package Manager, Software Sources'.
- Merge 'Encryption and Keyrings', 'Authorizations', 'Keyring Manager'.


Below are all settings I can visit via the System menu. This is just way too much.


-- Preferences --
Universal Access
About Me
Appearance
Bluetooth
Default Printer
Encryption and Keyrings
Keyboard
Keyboard Shortcuts
Main Menu
Mouse
Network Proxy
PalmOS Devices (I don't have one)
Power Management
Preferred Applications
Remote Desktop
Removable Drives and Media
SCIM Input Method Setup (What is this?)
Screen Resolution
Screensaver
Search and Index (Why can't I disable the tracker here?)
Sessions
Sound
System Settings
Windows

-- Administration --
Authorizations (for what?)
Hardware Drivers
Keyring Manager (for what?)
Language Support
Login Window
Network
Network Tools
Printing
Screens and Graphics
Services
Shared Folders
Software Sources
Synaptic Package Manager (imagine a new user: wtf is Synaptic?)
System Log
System Monitor
Time and Date
Update Manager
Users and Groups

And of course, I have submitted ideas as well. Here is one that I think definitely needs some looking at.

idea #2386: Replace Xsane with Gnome Scan



Honestly, opening up Xsane is a little daunting! The first time I opened it up I had no idea what was going on! I didn't know what to choose, or what window not to click, it really was something almost terrifying. I downloaded Gnome Scan from the Add/Remove right afterwards and was greeted with a nice, simple interface, where all I had to do was click scan! It was nice, and I think that Ubuntu should replace Xsane with Gnome scan because it will show a professional / easy interface to deal with. Xsane is advanced and scary to new users, making it unattractive.

What's also cool is that you can have your own button to support your idea.



Come on Ubuntu users! Join the party! Come and submit your idea as to what will make Ubuntu better for you and everyone else!

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Twitter

Ever since yesterday, Twitter has been acting a little...strange. SLOW strange. Right now even, I'm waiting for twitter to load, and it has been almost eight minutes. Twitbin, the Firefox extension (http://www.twitbin.com/) doesn't load either. Maybe it's bandwidth? Who knows. Oh. Now it loads. But for those of you who don't know what twitter is
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service, instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific.
- WikiPedia

Basically
, it's a status/mini blog/what ever the hell you are doing updater. I love it, because I don't have to write more than a paragraph in order to get what I'm thinking out! It's pretty cool, and really useful!

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Ubuntu 8.04

I've been extremely excited about the new Ubuntu coming out in April. Hardy Heron, and I think I should five it a test run. I downloaded Hardy Heron Alpha 5 disc from Ubuntu's website and burned it to CD. First thing I notice after burning: Wubi installer (http://tinyurl.com/2odtpg) Looks like Ubuntu is catering to Window's users. Fortunately, I already run Ubuntu, so I have no need for Wubi. I reseted the computer and was greeted with a language selector. I chose English, then took a glance down the list of choices I had. Looks like they combined the alternative install choice with the live CD! Perfect for people like me who want to just go ahead and install without having to wait for the live CD to boot! Well, since I am just testing it out, I boot the live CD option. I wait a bit, and there is the new desktop. I have to say, the new background looks really slick!

I poke around a bit and find that Rhythmbox (my favorite music player) has gotten the Jamendo plugin to work! Really great because now I can download and listen to free music with Magnatune and Jamendo. I take a look at Firefox 3 Beta, and was simply amazed. It was beautiful! There was a lot of other changes too, such as the deskbar applet now has the option to stick to the panel, instead of coming in a full window (an old pet peeve of mine) and Tomboy has changed a bit too, they added a unfiled note section, which I don't understand because I don't know how that would be applicable. Alas, my bliss ended when I tried to open up F-Spot to see if anything changed, but on an old computer like this, it simply crashed. Though my first impressions of Hardy Heron is simply amazing! They are really stepping up to being the best choice for new linux users out there. Now with the new Wubi installer, I have no fear of giving an Ubuntu disc out to people, because they can try it out just like any piece of software and uninstall if they don't like it. No more having to show them how to partition, and no more scary thoughts of what they could do if they messed up! Good work Ubuntu! You guys are the best!