HumanTargets

You're the man now dog.

2011-09-01T19:54:00.002-05:00

http://iwanttogetaway.ytmnd.com/

Why is my SSD shrinking?

2011-07-16T13:41:00.003-05:00

A simple answer to why SSDs lose capacity based on my admittedly limited knowledge of how they operate:

Basically what it often amounts to is that blocks of memory on the SSD are reaching their write limit and are being removed from use.

On a traditional spinning disk, when bad sectors are found they are marked as bad and reserve sectors at the end of the drive are used to replace them.

SSD's don't spin and as far as I know aren't shipped with blocks reserved. SSDs also have write limits, meaning each block can only be written to so many times before it "dies" and can no longer be used. When that limit is reached that block is removed from use and thus the drive shrinks.

This happens MUCH MUCH faster on MLC based SSDs than on the better and more pricey SLC based ones.

If your SSD is shrinking fast you may want to look for and eliminate things that are making large numbers of writes all the time, things like using a Journaling Filesystem, programs making constant writes to log files, heavy use of Swap/Virtual memory.

How to read Marvel DCU digital comics unlimited on iPad.

2011-07-07T00:16:00.002-05:00

Thanks to the Puffin Browser, which is essentially the same thing as the subscription-based iSwifter- only without the subscription, there is now an easy way to access Marvel DCU on iPad.

Puffin Browser is available for 99 cents on the app store and works great with Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.

It can be a bit sluggish at times but I found that overall it was quite tolerable. I used it to read the Civil War series last night and I'm heading for World War Hulk tonight.

Puffin Browser is an excellent alternative to iSwifter.

If you found this useful, Please leave a comment!

There was a problem loading title details, try again? Netflix fail.

2011-07-04T00:32:00.001-05:00

So, Netflix has finally gotten all the Star Trek series (sans DS9) up for streaming online, but they messed up both Voyager and Enterprise as many/all people cannot stream either of those to iOS devices.

They're working fine on PC and Mac, but when an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch user tries to stream either of those two series they receive the message "There was a problem loading title details, try again?" and the stream never starts.

No word on whether Netflix is even aware of the problem.

If anyone has any further info or ideas, please post in the comments.

Windows Update not working on XP after Virus Removal?

2011-07-02T09:50:00.001-05:00

"security center could not change your automatic update settings" got you down?
lockergnome.com forum user 1ComputerGuru has posted simple instructions for re-registering the required DLLs which has worked for many users of Windows XP.

Goto the Run window and try this procedure....

!!Be sure to click OK or hit ENTER after each one!!

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
net.exe stop wuauserv

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s wuapi.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s wups.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s wuaueng.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s wuaueng1.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s wucltui.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s wuweb.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s jscript.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s atl.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s softpub.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s msxml3.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
net.exe start wuauserv

Now, reboot and try the Windows Update site again.
Good Luck

Protip: you call also paste these one at a time into a command prompt rather than clicking start/run over and over.

From http://help.lockergnome.com/general/Update-Stall--ftopict32327.html#entry251358

Order&Chaos Online, the first true MMORPG for iPhone and iPad

2011-04-30T10:31:00.000-05:00

Order&Chaos Online is a great new game and there's a great new message board for it here!

http://oandc.proboards.com/

The top 10 best simple iPhone games of all time.

2011-03-19T10:43:00.024-05:00

iOS has tons of great games available, but many of them are too complicated to get into for adult gamers without a lot of time to learn complex control schemes; and while simple games are easy to find, many of them lack the depth to keep your interest for long.

Here we'll distill just the absolute best iOS (iPhone and iPad) games that are both simple to play yet deep enough to stay fun for a long time.

Each game will be rated 1 to 10 for: Ease and Depth. (ex. 1/9 would be a game that's pretty hard to learn to play, but has a lot to keep your interest once you do learn it.) The order of the list is based not only on these two criteria, but also on the overall quality and fun.

Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 are particularly great for the non-gamer/very casual gamer.

We'll start the list at number one and work our way down, since the top pick is bound to come as no surprise.

1 Angry Birds (10/7) Not a real shocker that Angry Birds takes top billing. It's become something of a pop culture phenomenon with everyone from toddlers to businessmen to their dear old grannies spending hours at it.

The premise is simple, you slingshot the aforementioned irate avians at building block structures occupied by green piggies. The goal being to collapse the buildings in such a way that they "pop" the balloon-like piggies as they fall.

The control scheme is dead-simple and intuitive and the depth of play comes from the seemingly endless arrangements of blocks and piggies- making each level fresh and interesting.

2 Plants vs Zombies (8/9) This was almost our number one game, but while it's still quite simple to learn it's an order of magnitude less simple than Angry Birds.

Cute cartoony Zombies slowly shamble across your yard, trying to get into your house. Your only defense are rows of plants you can place in their way.

The controls are simple, you tap little "sunshine pellets" that pop onto your screen and once you have enough of them you can spend them to create plants that do everything from shoot peas at the approaching undead hordes, to blow them up, to freeze them to slow their advance.

The wide variety of plants and zombies with different functions gives this game great depth, but also makes it a bit more complex. Definitely not too complex for your average facebook gamer though.

3 Mirror's Edge (7/8) Based on the under-appreciated console/PC title this graphically gorgeous parkour-inspired sidescroller has you leaping across skyscraper rooftops, running on walls, whizzing down ziplines and sliding under obstacles on your way to liberation in a dystopian megacity.

Swipe left or right to run in that direction, swipe up or down to jump or slide and you've now got 90% of the controls mastered. The built-in tutorial covers the rest (enjoyably) as you play. More demanding on the reflexes than most games on this list, but not terribly. You can play comfortably with one finger.

In a nutshell you get some really fun, fast paced gameplay in a great looking game without burdensome and complex controls.

4 Infinity Blade (6/9) In some ways this game is a lot like Nintendo's "Punch-Out" titles but with swords and castles instead of boxing gloves and the squared circle.

Not only is this game fun, it has absolutely the most stunningly beautiful graphics of any iOS game, and possibly any handheld game for any platform ever. It's really in a league of it's own in this regard.

Gameplay-wise, you follow a forked track through through the enemy castle, meeting enemies and finding treasures along them way. A swipe in any direction swings your sword likewise, a tap on the left or right arrows causes you to dodge in that direction, or pressing the shield icon performs a block. The controls really are quite simple but they lose ease points because a) they do require quick reactions and b) there is an (rather fun) inventory system to be managed.

5 Galcon (9/7) Imagine the board game RISK, stripped down to it's bare essentials, moving at action game pace, in space; that's Galcon.

Games frequently last only a minute or two, but you'll want to play over and over. And if you do manage to get bored with the basic setup, there are tons of varations to keep things fresh.

6 Peggle (8/7) Like pachinko from "The Price is Right" or early pinball games before the introduction of flippers, you fire your ball from the top of the board down thru a series of pins or blocks, trying to hit the most valuable ones as it falls and landing in the highest scoring hole at the bottom. Another "fun for anyone" type of game.

7 Canabalt (9/6) Like the baby brother to Mirror's Edge, you leap from rooftop to rooftop avoiding obstaces and deadly falls. But this time it's much simpler, your guy just keeps running in the same direction, the only thing you do it tell him when to jump by simply tapping on the screen (or tap and hold to jump higher/longer). The further you make it the better your score. Die once and you're back at the very beginning (which is fine for this game).

The 8-bit inspired graphics are simple but attractive and the one-touch controls are easy and fun.

8 Dungeon Solitaire (7/6) A solitaire variant on the popular card-battle genre, you have two columns of five slots each which you fill with cards as you draw one each turn. If you draw a monster card it goes in the monster column, if you draw a hero card it goes in the hero column. The goal is to fill up the hero column before the monster column despite their being more monsters than heroes and the heroes generally being weaker.

Power-up/down cards and treasure cards add a bit to both the complexity and depth; but there and no time limits so you can ponder moves at your liesure.

9 Solomons Boneyard (6/7) An arcadey dual-stick shooter with nice graphics and a basic but rewarding 'level-up/buy new powers' system. Your goal is to use your wizardly powers to stay alive as long as possible in the boneyard while increasing hordes of ghouls come at you from every angle. If you're willing to trade some simplicity for more depth, it's big brother Solomon's Keep is even better.

10 Street Fighter 4 (4/8) This was a tough one, as it's definitely the most demanding as far as control complexity. If you've ever played a Street Fighter or similar 1v1 fighting game you know they require some fast, and precise, fingers. But somehow Capcom has managed to simplify things enough to make the controls really comfortable on the touchscreen without losing the essence of what this game is: a remarkably true port of the console/arcade fighting game.

If you've never played games like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, you may want to skip this one, but if you have enjoyed a fighting game on any system, you'll probably love it.

We covet your Comments and StumbleUpon Thumbs Up, and anonymous comments ARE allowed, so why not let us know what you think?

Everex Stepnote NC1500 Drivers

2010-12-18T12:52:00.001-05:00

I had a really hard time finding these, so I thought I'd link them here.

http://www.fic.com.tw/everex//us/support/nc1500/nc1500.php

How to protect your computer from spyware/virus. - Using all free software :)

2010-02-13T11:44:00.008-05:00

This is how I set up most of the computers that come into my shop and they virtually never get infected again when they stick with this setup. I think I've had two in the last four years and they both had some very risky usage habits and a hard time following instructions.=p

1) Use a safer web browser!! Internet Explorer is the biggest security problem on the average computer.

Download Firefox from http://www.mozilla.com/ install it, once it's running goto tools->addons->get addons, then search for AdBlock Plus and install it (choose easylist and the subscribe button when they appear), then search for and install WOT (Web of Trsut) -they are addons that install into Firefox, not seperate programs.

If you don't like Firefox, other good browsers are Opera from http://www.opera.com/ and google's Chrome browser. They're all much safer than Internet Explorer.

2) Next, get a real antivirus! This just in: Norton and McAfee suck, they slow down your computer and provide woefully poor protection. CA, Trend and most of the big names just plain suck. The consistently best is Kaspersky antivirus- but it has no free version. The only one that has comparable detection rates to Kaspersky is...

Avira Antivir http://www.free-av.com/ and it DOES have a free version. Download it first, then uninstall whatever useless one you currently pay too much for and install Avira. (If you are using McAfee or Norton I strongly encourage you to use their respective removal tools to remove them rather than trusting their included uninstallers, google Norton Removal Tool or McAfee Removal Tool (mcpr.exe) as needed. AFTER your old antivirus is uninstalled and you've rebooted, THEN install Avira.

If for some reason Avira isnt to your liking, AVAST! is another good one with a free version. Available here: http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download

3) Immunize! Download, install and update both Spyware Blaster (from Javacool Software) and SpyBot Search&Destroy. (When installing SpyBot, UNCHECK all the options except the ones for creating desktop and start menu shortcuts.) Once installed and fully updated you need to apply the immunization, in Spybot click on Immunize on the left side (by the shield icon) then Immunize on the top (by the plus icon). In Spyware Blaster click on pretection status on the left then click on the underlined text that says "enable all protection."

--At this point you have a machine that's considerably safer than a fully updated Norton 360/Internet Explorer and nothing running all the time to slow you down like the big brand names do except Avira which is very lightweight and has incredible detection.

4) AntiSpyware is next and there are some forks in the road...

a) Download and install the free version of MalwareBytes AntiMalware from http://malwarebytes.org/ . We'll use the free version to do occasional complete system scans just to make sure you're still clean.

b) Realtime antispyware- 2 choices here, the free one and the better one.

First is Threatfire (www.threatfire.com) it's purely a preventative and cannot remove infections that are already there (in it's free version) but it's pretty decent at preventing them. The drawbacks being a little bit of slowdown on your system and the fact that it may ask you whether you want to allow things you're not sure if you should or not. However its far less naggy than most other and way better protection. Threatfire is ok if you really dont want to spend any money but it's a little buggy and occasionally will cause weirdness on some people's machines to the point they just have to uninstall it.

The second, much better choice, is the paid version of MalwareBytes AntiMalware. If you don't mind paying $25 dollars for the full version, it adds an awesome preventative guard that, in combination with Avira or Avast gives you an extremely tough layer of defense. BTW there's no annual renewal fee for the full version, just the single $25 payment and it's yours for life, including all future updates. This is really a much better choice than Threatfire because it's way less likely to cause trouble and it just does a better job in general. Still Threatfire is the best totally free alternative. If you do go with the paid version of MalwareBytes, make sure you activate it but hitting the "Start Protection". Once it's working you'll see a red icon with an "M" on it down in your system tray.

Finally there's SandboxIE, this free program creates a new shortcut on your desktop called "sandboxed web browser" when you double click that it launches your normal web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, whatever) inside "the sandbox" sort of a quarantine zone. Basically what this does is prevent infected webpages you might visit from using browser based attacks to infect you computer. One tip here: if the Sandbox ever asks you if you want to recover files out of the sandbox, just click close.

After all this it's gonna be pretty hard to get infected :)

Bonus tips!

-If your computer is too slow, download Startuplite from Malwarebytes.org just run it then click continue and reboot. For some people this will massively speed up their computer, for others it may have little effect, but it's quick, free, safe and worth a try. (Helps a lot for those who down know what msconfig is :)

-It's not unusual for people, once they've switched to actually effective antivirus like these, to start getting alerts about infections that their old AV missed. If that happens to you I'd recommend running a full scan with MalwareBytes, and when it finishes click "show results" and then "remove selected". You can also scan with Avira and Spybot for good second opinions on anything MalwareBytes may have missed.

Hope you find it helpful!

-Jim

Disclaimer: If you mess something up it's not my fault.

Motorola SYn0717A Bluetooth Drivers

2009-03-09T23:43:00.000-05:00

Check it out, I found the fully functioning SYn0717A drivers on driverguide.

These are the drivers that will let you use phone headsets in games and stuff like Steam not the nearly useless ones windows installs automatically. (They enable all kinds of functionality not just headset audio).

Use the guide on the skype forums to do the setup
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=10822

And here's the drivers (if this link goes down you can get it from driverguide but man that site embrangles.

http://rapidshare.de/files/45976260/SYn0717A.zip.html

Live status code 8007274c

2009-03-08T21:26:00.001-05:00

Xbox Live status code 8007274c

Xbox 360 error 8007274c

I had this problem and I really couldn't find any useful info about it on the web.

For me it turned out to be that the 360 had the wrong number entered in for the DNS server.

Here's how I fixed it in the hopes it will help someone else.

In Windows XP click start>run then type CMD and hit ENTER (To get the RUN dialog in Vista hold the windows key and press R).

In the terminal that appears type ipconfig /all and write down the number given for Default Gateway.

On the 360 set that number manually as your primary (under configure network) DNS and then restart the 360 and see if it works.

Post a comment if it helps! :)

MAC vs PC The final showdown.

2009-02-19T22:07:00.012-05:00

Boy those new Macbooks sure are tempting aren't they? So sleek and stylish with that all aluminum body.

But the price, Ouch! $1300 dollars for the cheapest one.

Let's see what that can get you on the PC side:

First for $499 we set up home base with a nice desktop PC, the Dell Inspiron 518.

Here are it's stats:
PROCESSORIntel® Pentium Conroe Dual Core Processor E5300 (2MB L2 Cache, 2.6GHz, 800 FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEMGenuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Service Pack 1
OFFICE SOFTWAREMicrosoft Works 9.0
WARRANTY & SERVICE1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
MONITORDell S1709W 17" Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
MEMORY2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz (4 DIMM)
HARD DRIVE320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
OPTICAL DRIVE16X DVD+/-RW Drive
VIDEO CARDIntel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
SOUNDIntegrated 7.1 Channel Audio
KEYBOARD & MOUSEDell Entry Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse

Second, we add a full sized Laptop, the
Dell Vostro A860 15.6 Laptop $439 Shipped Dell Small Business has Dell Vostro A860 15.6 Laptop from $419 + $20 shipping. Free 3-5 Day Shipping when priced $499 or more.
- 5.4lbs, 15.6" 1366x768; Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 1.6GHz; 2GB, 160GB
- DVD burner; 802.11b/g; 3-in-1 Reader, 1394 Firewire, 6-cell battery
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, Vista Home Basic, 1yr warranty

And Third, for times you dont want to lug around the laptop we add in the
MSI Netbook for $309.99 Shipped.
1.60GHz 10in 160GB HDD 1GB PC2-5300 (DDR2-667) 802.11b/g

All three combined ? $1247... or you can have just the aluminum Macbook for $1299.

Matt Parkman Hamster

2009-01-29T14:20:00.002-05:00

Left 4 Dead

2008-11-17T21:31:00.004-05:00

Left 4 Dead is an upcoming multiplayer co-operative survival horror first-person shooter game by Valve Corporation. The game has been built using Valve's Source engine and will be available on Steam and the Xbox 360.

Left 4 Dead puts four human playable or AI controlled survivors of an apocalyptic pandemic against hordes of aggressive "Infected" zombies in a cinematic backdrop in which the players "star" as each character in a fictional movie. The Survivors' goal is to help each other make it through various scenarios to safety. The Infected are controlled by an AI that dynamically balances difficulty and mood depending on the players' progress and situation. In an alternate game mode, human players can control up to four different monsters with special abilities and cooperate to stop the Survivor players.

The expected release date for Left 4 Dead is November 18, 2008 in the United States and November 21, 2008 in Europe to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the release of Half-Life. A five-minute trailer was released on Halloween. A public demo was released on November 6 for pre-purchasers and was released for the general public on November 11 for both systems. The demo contains the first two out of five maps of the "No Mercy" campaign and is playable in both single player and multi-player. Left 4 Dead went gold on November 13, 2008.

Source - Wikipedia

CheapCheapCheap.com Deals, Exclusive Sales, Great Prices, and Freebies

2008-07-26T17:11:00.000-05:00

CheapCheapCheap.com Deals, Exclusive Sales, Great Prices, and Freebies: "Welcome to
CheapCheapCheap.com!

We are an organization of money saving specialists! We find the best deals, coupons, and freebies to share with everybody
. Join us in our forum discussions!"

Check them out, tons of the best bargains from everywhere. Just users sharing the best deals from around the web and rl.

Meebo

2007-06-15T14:42:00.000-05:00

Meebo is an excellent, browser-integrated service, that provides access to AIM, MSN, YIM, ICQ, Google Talk and more. The service is all browser based, and, if you register account at meebo.com you'll be able to have multiple instant messenger accounts logged in at once. The reason why this is so particularly great is because, you'll be able to have several instant messengers running, being compatibly able to speak to people of nearly every instant messenger service. Not to mention, the ability to have all those messengers running with such a low memory usage! You must individually register an account at each service you want to use. Then, create an account at meebo.com, and add your account name and password to your meebo account to simply have access to all of them at once.

Happy instant messaging!

Download-able Falling Sand Game

2007-06-09T07:03:00.000-05:00

Many people have most likely tried out the ingenious Falling Sand Game. The game features special types of pixelated sands. This sand sprouts from the top at differing amounts, depending on what the user sets it to. The user can also turn the sand off, along with many other options. In this particular version of the Falling Sand Game, you have a set of special sands that have different abilities. C4, Nitro, Gunpowder, ect. They all explode on contact with fire, producing different, explosive results.

Found here is a download-able version of the Falling Sand Game. It has other exquisite features that the other versions may not have.

(Warning: The files hosted on this site are not necessarily safe. Download at your own risk.)
http://www.piettes.com/fallingsandgame/download.html

Bring Back the Ninjas!

2007-06-01T18:27:00.001-05:00

After some interesting, ninja-related experiences, I decided to create a site, devoted to get people to dress up like ninjas and flaunt themselves in a humorous way. Check out the site if you want to get involved.

If the site really kicks off, I'll purchase a domain, such as http://www.bringbacktheninjas.info/

Be sure to check out the site, and show your support.

The site will soon exhibit features such as content submission, Get Involved, and other pages that help fans get started on their path of the ninja, submit extras for the page, among other things. The site will be completed very soon, and updated often. Be sure to check back, and give me some feedback.

Puzzle Quest DS vs PSP - Which is Better?

2007-05-28T21:50:00.000-05:00

Puzzle Quest is a game that took us all by surprise. If you haven't heard, it's a unique super-addictive RPG game where all the battles take place on a puzzle grid similar to the hit puzzler "Bejeweled". It's very cool leveling up your character and gaining new powers which you can use against your opponents on the puzzle field. For a sample of the gameplay, check out the free PC demo version. No, really CHECK IT OUT! (download page).

The question now though is, which version is better, Nintendo DS or Sony PSP? Kotaku has an excellent comparison which lays out a lot of the differences between the two. However I disagree with their conclusion that the PSP version is the better choice so I went with the DS version. Here's why:

The PSP version has a bug that causes your companions' special abilities to totally not work at all. Thus it's as if you had no companions at all. An entire major feature of the game that doesn't work on the PSP version!

However in all fairness let's take a quick look at the pro's and con's of both:

PSP: Far better graphics DS: Far longer Battery Life
PSP: Better Sound DS: Better control and easier to cast spells
PSP: Companions broken DS: Dual screen

To me, the longer battery life, touch screen controls, and easier portability of the DS were major factors in a game like this where graphics don't matter as much. And when I heard about the PSP's companion bug, the deal was sealed.

Photo Filtre

2007-05-28T14:23:00.000-05:00

Photo Filtre is a free imaging program, created by Antonia Da Cruz. The program is available in a variety of languages. The site is available in English and French.

The program is an excellent alternative to Photoshop, particularly because it is available at no cost. The program features many artistic filters and textures, to add exceptional effects to images. Modifications are even available to add extra, special effects.

Files can be saved in a variety of file extensions. The program includes a "Photomasque" filter, which allows you to add transparent textures over the entire image, or parts of it, such as, around the edge.

Tutorials are available. The program is available for free download on the main web-page.

Garry's Mod 10

2007-05-28T13:53:00.000-05:00

Developed by Face Punch Studios, and fairly recently released, this game is becoming more and more popular. This is a modification based on the Source Engine, and requires both Half Life 2 and Steam, with a valid Steam Account. This is the first of the Garry's Mods that require you to purchase it. The game costs $9.99, and is available for direct download through Steam, after purchase.

The game is mainly based around construction of various contraptions. Creativity is key, as the player has full control. Contraptions such as catapults, cranes, and so many other ideas can be put into work. Cars, flying couches, spinning merry-go-rounds of doom are all fairly easy projects. Modifications provide new features, weapons and game-play modes for even more fun, such as the Nuke weapon in this video.

With the camera tool, you can quickly take screen-shots, which will be quickly saved onto your hard-drive. Players arrange these photographs, adding text, effects and other additions to make comic books, such as Floor Twenty Four.

Other popular game-modes include role-playing, where players act as citizens, and even Civil Protection, and pretend to lead lives in a light-hearted version of the Half Life 2 world. A Zombie Survival mode also exists on some servers that host it.

Garry's Mod features it's own scripting language, LUA, which makes alternate game-modes, modified guns, and other excellent editions to Garry's Mod possible.

Overall, this is an excellent game. It's a steal at only ten dollars, with all the extra feature it's provides, opposed to the previous version, Garry's Mod 9, which is available for free. The many varieties of game-play will be sure to provide nearly any player with a fun, suitable mode of play.

Gmail

2007-05-24T13:02:00.000-05:00

Gmail, an email service operated and hosted by Google is now available for free.

For several years, Gmail was only available through invitations from other members. It was considered by many as the "elite" email service, for those who believed they were computer experts or veterans.

It is unfortunate that those people can no longer take such pride in their email service. For those who need a new email service, or have been striving to acquire a Gmail account for however long, this will be exciting.

Gmail's most famous features include it's 2,600 megabytes, and counting, of virtual space, it's superior spam-blocking technology, vast amount of language-translated versions, and high amount of browser compatibility.

To sign up for Gmail, click here.

100$ Laptops

2007-05-24T10:03:00.000-05:00

"Most of the nearly two–billion children in the developing world are inadequately educated, or receive no education at all. One in three does not complete the fifth grade."

"Our answer to that challenge is the XO laptop, a children's machine designed for “learning learning."

The main web page for this amazing project is rather cryptic, but gives you a reasonable idea of what is going on.

The plan is essentially to bring a specially designed, super-cheap laptop to children around the world. The laptop is specifically designed for poor children, in remote locations, and is made to be durable. The XO laptops will be powered by a crank on the right-hand side, with which the children will keep it running, even in areas of the world where electricity is limited or non-existant.

The laptops will be connected to a special network, or mesh, which will reportedly provide the children an extensive learning network.

The project is still in progress, and more information can be found on their official site.

Spore

2007-05-22T16:22:00.000-05:00

Anyone who has seen a video of Will Wright's Spore, or has even read a preview of it, will recognize the impact this imaginative game will have on the gaming community, and individual players. The depth to which this upcoming video game goes is exciting, to say the least.

The creator, Will Wright, is an amazing designer, and is largely responsible for popular games such as the Sims, and a variety of other epic simulation games. The work of dozens of individual designers with the lead of Will Wright will surely be the force behind this game receiving the glory that it, and so many fans, intend it to have.

The game itself begins the player with a single, microscopic organism in a pool full of other organisms. You must eat to survive, going for the ones which are smaller than you, and dodging the larger ones, until you're large enough to eat them.

The game takes you from microorganism to civilization-runner, and everywhere in between. Representatives claim the game should be hitting shelves somewhere in 2008. For more information, go to http://www.spore.com/ or use the Google Search Bar at the bottom of this page to search for Spore-related pages.

Bite Fight!

2007-05-22T16:07:00.000-05:00

Bite Fight is an interesting browser game, where you play as a vampire or werewolf. You can buy weapons, armor, potions and such, for hunting werewolves, and humans. Human hunting is simply free money and experience, based on your skills and other variables, and can only go on for two hours a day, while werewolf (or vampire hunting, if you play as a werewolf,) is hunting for actual players of the opposite race.

Personally, I recommend playing as a vampire, as most players also do, and it will be easier to remain un-hunted by players that are stronger than you. Donating is available to upgrade your account to Premium, unlocking a variety of useful features, that will strengthen your character and increase the enjoyment. You may also donate to purchase magical stones, which can be used to buy extra-powerful items.

Start by clicking here.

(Note: If you want to play as a werewolf, click here. )

Free TV and Movies On Your Computer?

2007-05-22T12:30:00.000-05:00

Lately, I've enjoyed some very interesting shows. Often, it's hard to remember to catch your favorite series in time, before you look at the clock, cursing your memory. However, the remedy I've found, is several excellent sites that feature a large list of movies and/or TV shows.

http://www.tv-links.co.uk/ is one of these sites. It features a large list of television shows, with a relatively low amount of dead links.

http://quicksilverscreen.com/ is excellent for both movies and television shows. Search for a particular movie, or browse the easily-accessible categories.

Sites like http://www.veoh.com/ often host some of the videos, and can present you some shows or movies, if you know how exactly what to type to get the appropriate search results.

On the note of TV shows, Heroes has been keeping my attention for a while. I saw episode twenty, and was immediately interested in the indulging series. I went on the computer to watch all the previous episodes, using the sites I mentioned above, and the official site's excellent video system. The first season has just ended, and should be restarting around next fall, but don't let that disappoint you. The site has all the previous videos, and hours of extra content, such as interviews, profiles, a graphic novel and more. Be sure to check it out, and you'll be a fan sooner than you know!

The Stumblers second-best friend

2007-05-22T09:59:00.001-05:00

Stumbleupon and Yoono, two great tastes that taste great together.

Yoono compliments stumbleupon greatly, it does lots of neat things, like suggesting pages similar to the one you're on, directing you to random pages that may be of interest to you (based on what you've bookmarked.) synchronizing your bookmarks between browsers/machines, and now with it's new Buzz it! feature it's making it easier to share your treasures.

BTW this post is being made from the new Buzz It! Feature of Yoono, so I no longer need to use blogger's interface to post, way cool!

And a tip: use stumbleupon's toolbar options to make it appear in the same toolbar as yoono it cuts back on the clutter.

A greeting to me

2007-05-20T07:03:00.000-05:00

I decided to make a blog, with the upcoming creation of Floor Twenty Four, my Half Life 2 / Garry's Mod comic, based in a City 17 Citadel Office floor. Instead of creating a new blog, however, I will aid the glorious original HumanTarget with his blog, and make things a tad bit more interest, eh?

It'd do you good to view the Floor Twenty Four site, and laugh, and cry, with the moments in my comic. Mind you, it's still at work!

http://www.freewebs.com/floortwentyfour/

Google Blogger Web Comments

2007-05-19T00:43:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it's frustrating dealing with a big company like google. Like trying to get a simple problem fixed can be a major research project. Webcomments for Firefox is rejecting my login info for no discernable reason and it's like, good luck finding the fix :/

Corporate protectionism?

2007-02-02T09:44:00.000-05:00

New game sales distribution, just one of the ways that the giant corporations are sticking it to the little guys and protecting eachother at everyone elses expense.Somebody with the guts to talk about the elephant in the room.

DS vs PSP

2007-01-10T00:11:00.000-05:00

DS vs PSP

Trying to decide whether to get a DS or PSP?

I have both and I prefer the DS by FAR.

The PSP is fragile, you'll be afraid to take it anywhere, especially considering how expensive it is. If you play with the cord plugged in to save batteries, the place it plugs into wears out and then it will switch off and on randomly.

The DS is built with Nintendo's time-proven quality standards and unlike Sony their stuff doesn't wear out and quit working for a LOOONG time. Overheating PS1's, Disc-Read Error PS2's meanwhile my old SNES still works great.

The PSP batteries don't last long at all- The DS has five times longer battery life. Because the DS reads game data from flash cards while the PSP has to spin a disc and power a laser to read it. We're talking like 3-4 hours versus like 12-16.

The PSP has LOOONG load times on most of its games - Seriously I'm talking several minutes of loading screens just to get into a game. Then if you die or move between areas. Literally 6 minutes to load a match in wrestling. Some games aren't near as bad but overall they almost all load super annoyingly slow.

The games on the DS imo are by far more unique, fun and suited to a portable system. And shockingly I have found the online play better on the DS. Unique fun experiences you cant have anywhere else, whereas the best online games for the PSP are the exact same sort of things you can play on any console or PC. Which for the most part you can still get on the DS in another form.

The controls on the PSP are RETARDED. You'll be praying the server you join has auto-aiming turned on so you don't have to use triangle, square, x and o buttons to aim up down left and right. Cause the PSP only has one analog stick and its on the left at the very bottom of the system you WILL get hand cramps playing for more than 30 mins just trying to use it. And its very small and your thumb constantly slips off it. The four way pad is almost as bad, it's EXTRA SLIPPERY and really flat and not near as responsive as it should be.

The DS stylus lets you mimic the precision of a mouse for your aiming and looking around. But most games allow you to use the pad and buttons for everything if you really want to.

Where the PSP does shine is it larger storage capacity, this allows the game designers to make larger games and store more data for textures and such, resulting in often much more realistic looking graphics. The graphics chip in the PSP seems to be more powerful as well. It's a very pretty system for sure. But just not near as fun.

The Chat Shack Network - Yugioh Spirit Caller Meeting Hall

2007-01-08T23:45:00.000-05:00

Chat room to meet people to duel and exchange friend codes for Yugioh Spirit Caller on the Nintendo DS

Wired News: Fun With Nintendo's Mii Channel

2006-11-25T21:44:00.000-05:00

Too bad you can only make crude little SD style bighead cutesy characters :/

The Lenovo Tapes

2006-09-25T15:56:00.000-05:00

Tales of the hard-to-believe :/Cute how he sets it up all seriously, but if this guy actually believes what he's saying then someone needs to tell him that his friend gave him so advertisment clips.

Neat Icons

2006-05-21T12:46:00.000-05:00

Some neat free icons and art.
http://www.christart.com/aimicons/

Save the Internet :

2006-05-08T23:42:00.000-05:00

I guess an open Internet was too good to last.

LinuxHardware.org | July '05: Battle of the High-End CPUs

2006-04-29T21:50:00.000-05:00

Handy if you're deciding what to build your next PC with.

The Tragedy of the RProxy

2006-04-27T20:06:00.000-05:00

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

stumbling out of egypt

2006-04-21T22:02:00.000-05:00

Wow, is this an anti-war christian?

Google's deceptive do-gooder claims turn dangerous | The Register

2006-04-20T15:20:00.000-05:00

Google's deceptive do-gooder claims turn dangerous

Our Gamertag

2006-04-19T22:17:00.000-05:00

Put your gamertag here too.
Neat.

Best Website EVAR?

2006-04-13T23:23:00.000-05:00

I've never seen a more interesting, informative and useful site.

Big cat...

2006-04-13T23:13:00.000-05:00

This can't possibly be real... can it?

Game Trading Zone - Home Page

2006-04-11T20:21:00.000-05:00

Finally a place to get rid of all those old games we've quit playing, without getting ripped off! So far I've made two trades and had no problems whatsoever.

Google Desktop Plug-in: Avvenu Remote Access

2006-04-11T19:31:00.000-05:00

Anyone use this and want to leave a review?

The ORIGINAL HumanTarget?

2006-04-11T14:58:00.000-05:00

Ya, just to prevent further confusion I really AM the original HumanTarget (caps on the H and T) on the net. I have evidence of using the name as early as 1996, so if you call yourself HumanTarget and don't go back at least that far, please think up a new nick... or just append the word "wannabe" to your current one. ;-p