rich.carey

http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/landing/translateforanimals/

“Making the world’s information universally accessible is a key goal for Google. Language is one of our biggest challenges so we have targeted our efforts on removing language barriers between the species. We are excited to introduce Translate for Animals, an Android application which we hope will allow us to better understand our animal friends. We’ve always been a pet-friendly company at Google, and we hope that Translate for Animals encourages greater interaction and understanding between animal and human.”

This revolutionary technology will allow you to communicate with your pets and bridge the gap of cross-breed-communication.

…Happy April 1st

Rich (Admin) Gaming google, internet

This week saw the announcement of the “Apple iPad” which – as the name suggests, a virtual pad… made by Apple. I don’t know how they run things at  1, Infinite Loop, CA, but I can guarantee that working in Apple’s creative departments must be the easiest job in the world.  Upon deciding that their company should make a ‘netbook killing’ hand-held computer they basically copied a photo of an iPhone into photoshop and resized the picture – shazam! new product.

I don’t even know where to start ripping on this product so I will start with the “pretty” stuff. Pretty is not a word you would combine with this product, infact if you see the pictures below you will see that upon on their upscaling of the iPhone they clumsily forgot to reduce the size of the bezel which surrounds the 9inch screen! – at least i HOPE they forgot and aren’t actually just stupid.  Next on the firing line is the system itself, it will be running the iPhone OS and will support GSM/3G/Wifi (supposedly, but we all know how it took the iPhone 2 versions) This above information sounds ok but aside from the iPad only accepting microSIMs, the device has pretty much NO connectivity. Lets say you use one of these to do some work on, your colleague hands you a USB stick to add some last minute slides into the presentation.. oh wait….. yes thats right, there is no USB ports, or even a decent digital output (I.e: HDMI) . Apple will supply a kit of adapters for the embrassment which is the iPad so you can actually use the device -at an added cost (because making the leads white and putting a logo on them adds @ least 400% to the value :/)

The interface:   oh my…… The horrible looks I could just about cope with if the product promised to make my life amazing but as it stands the product – as formentioned, still runs the iPhone OS which means it is a closed application system, has no multitasking built into it and touch screen keyboards (which is ok untill you need to type a long document!)   O.k, O.k, so maybe the internet will make up for it?!.. er, no. The device does not have flash on it (like the early iPhone?)

Finally the apple fanboys have been trolling websites stating that this isn’t infact a netbook killer but a multimedia device for things such as e-books,  videos and such – all of which i believe a netbook can do? Don’t get me wrong I love it when people announce new products but this is an epic fail on Apples behalf.  No connectivity, a nazi-styled application store, a 4:3 screen (making it useless for movies unless you like 1990’s TV shows!), No camera’s for conferencing, Not even a SMS application.

I appreciate that this isn’t a netbook, a phone, a pc and its a “niche” in the market, but this niche is quite honestly…. made of donkey wang.

I could rage on for ever about this product but I will let you decide with some “pretty” pictures and specs:

CPU: 1 GHz ,  Storage: 16-64gb ,  Max display: 1024*768

Camera: none , Conenctivity: WiFi, Bluetooth and 3g (at over $100 extra).

weight: 0.73kg, OS:  iPhone OS 3.2

Price:  $429-899

EDIT:  Sorry, it appears you can get a camera, and a keyboard dock. IF you like to  pay through the nose for overpriced peripherals.

Rich (Admin) Gaming

I was rather happy today when i found a trailer on youtube of the new GTA expansion due out in October. However my happiness turned to anger when I scrolled to the comments section to see (like every other game trailer comments) pages and pages of fanboy rants.

We will start by setting one thing straight here… NIETHER console is better ! I have friends on both side of this ongoing fanboy war and even though both of them make valid points, the truth is that neither console has something that places it higher on the winners podium.

Lets break down some of the “strengths”:

PS3:

• Bluray                            – Who really buys bluray dvd’s at double cost? seriously?
• Faster processor        – They both use a 3.2Ghz
• Better GFX                     – Still on par with 360 even though there’s more power
• Free online play          – There is a major downside to this : support.

360:

• More DLC                      – Pricey on top of Gold subscription but unique DLC’s give the 360 an advantage
• Better community    – Purely due to MS shipping their bundles with headsets. Ok, full of annoying pre-teens with squeaky voices, but fun nonetheless
• Cheaper

General arguments: (typically: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=5718573068&topic=6922)

• Controller:  Each fanboy says that their controller is better, personally I can switch between both consoles without a problem. If you find the buttons layout “hard” to use then you are clearly stupid…and imo PS3: Easier for racing games  , 360:  Action/FPS.
• Problems: Both consoles have their problems. Admittedly the PS3 doesn’t get red ring of death, this is mainly due to the PS3 not having a ring of lights….(stupid fanboy) However, the PS3 has jsut as many problems (My friends one overheated twice)
• XBox’s “gold” service: Ok, so 360 players have to pay the £40 a year! So what! The ps3 is AT LEAST that much more in the store… so how are 360 players the ones being ripped off?  Also i’d like to point out that live is much better supported and the money paid goes towards upkeeping of servers and towards updates etc to provide better gameplay (Fact, after much consumer testing i have less lag on the 360). When your sat playing your latest title on a lagged up server please do NOT complain about it… you get what you pay for.
• Graphics: it annoys me when people take sides on this one. On paper the PS3 wins hands down but there’s hardly any difference in general gameplay. PS3 DOES WIN on the cutscene front though… MGS4 is a good example of this.
• Selection of games:
  • Neither console can win here, the 360only has more games as its been out longer.Both consoles have games that are loyal to that particular manufacturer and many loyal fanbases behind said games.
  • PS3 Fanboys get:     “MGS4,  Gran Turismo, Killzone, little big planet”
  • Xbox Fanboys get:  “Halo 3,   Forza 3,  Gears 2, “
  • Achievements/Trophies : Xbox 360 wins this, you can’t even challenge that decision!
  • Final thought:  Xbox has better value for games as a majority are cross-platform anyway and the DLC you get from XBL wins hands down. Originality in games… that goes to PS3 owners.
• Cost
  • The elite has recently come to around £200 ish which still undercuts the PS3 but you get what you pay for. The 360 is purely a gamers console whereas the PS allows users to use it as an (average quality) media centre. Ok, so you could kill two birds with one stone and use your PS3 as a Media centre, games console and (with a little help from linux dual boot) your OS. The question is…. we all have PC’s / DVD players already, who needs all the extras!
  • Side note:  As my friend just reminded me, 360’s can access media centre – which is a pain, but worth it)
• Random/Misc
  • Avatars: PS3 wins this with its addition of PS3 home. (useless but cool nethertheless)

As we all know the whole topic of console gaming provokes the lamest members of our game obsessed  society to flame each other for months on end, arguing about each individual feature that makes their overpriced plastic box “the best thing since sliced bread”….. at the end of the day:

P.C    >  Consoles

…so stop your bitching

note: this would be a lot longer, but I didn’t want to stray from the basic point of this rant , which is to express my opinion on the console “war” (Also, i lost interest… but thats besides the point!)

Rich (Admin) Gaming, Reviews, Software, hardware microsoft, ps3, sony, xbox

So, this weeks rant is about the infamous Twitter and how i don’t understand what it does.

For those of you who have been living under a rock without an Internet connection, Twitter is a social networking website similar to that of Facebook or Myspace but lacking functionality. Launched in 2006 as a “micro-blogging” website for mobile devices it has many-a-famous face on their including actors such as Ashton Kutcher (most followed celeb.) and earlier this year it was even rumoured that the Queen was a user (later dismissed).

The thing is, who REALLY uses Twiter? If we take a step back and analyse Facebook or Myspace’s features you can see that they serve as useful websites for social interaction with the Photo albums, Games, Walls and Status updates (Plus chat facilities). Twitter is basically a massive pile of donkey-balls which operates like a giant “status update database”  where users post uninteresting items of news like:

I would like to point out that this is only partially made up, the actual transcripts are a lot more frequent and 10x duller! What annoys me the most about Twitter is that you don’t comment on an article, you simply update your page with a comment referencing the fore-mentioned article:

10:05am @bbcnews <pointless comment>

Quite hypocritically if you look on the right hand pane it is clear that i have a Twitter account, allthough my reasoning was to reserve my username should twitter ever become useful.  It’s not that I hate Twitter, its just that I (and i know i’m not the only one) is getting fed up of the media using Twitter as a valid resource for news and also every man and his dog microblogging about every interaction said user has.

Finally i did get a chuckle out of Mr D. Camerons statement on the radio the other week “Too many twits, make a twat”

Note:  I have actually found a small use for twitter, which is to let items ‘Tweet’ (Like the man who’s house tweeted) who’s account is private anyway, taking the “social” out of  ”social networking”

Note2:

Click for bigger picture

Rich (Admin) General, News, Reviews, Websites google, review, Twitter

Break time, a time to kick back and relax with my cuppa’ and read today’s latest happenings on Times Online and Digg.  As i sit here sipping my tea-flavoured water from the machine it appears that the Internet is buzzing with talk of the Sony PSP3000 predecessor – the PSP ‘Go’. However despite its weird control layout, the dropping of the failed UMD slot and bluetooth connectivity the only comments i keep reading are “It’s good but it can’t make calls”.

Last time i checked. the Nintendo DS could not make phone calls either, and why? Because these systems are designed as games devices and NOT phones, and at  the risk of offending people, iPhone fan-boys can’t seem to realise this.

Lets for a moment presume that the PSP is “an iPhone contender” , Does the iPhone have fully 3D games which cost millions to develop?  NO. Does the iPhone have a controller layout that doesn’t involve mashing your thumbs against a flat screen in hope your hitting the right buttons? NO.  So why, why can’t they add this in? -Answer: because it’s a phone not a gaming system!!! On a side note, the main argument so far is that it doesn’t have a touch screen, the DS has got that niche in the gaming market, we don’t need another! (and TBH touchscreen games aren’t all that good)

To be perfectly honest, it annoys me enough when i get a phone call when I’m playing the 360 never mind it interrupting and minimizing my game! Overall i think its important to realise we don’t need nor want a multifunctional device , I’d sooner carry a Portable gaming system and phone separately so i don’t have to settle for mediocre quality products.

On a lighter note (and to make this post somewhat useful)  the PSP offers expandable memory still (additional to the 16GB  internal)  and has ditched UMD for downloadable games and is nearly 45% lighter than the 3000  The reasoning behind downloadable games is to lure game-dev’s back as the majority gave up after the ammount of piracy involving the PSP.

Rich (Admin) Gaming, News, hardware apple, iphone, psp, sony

Ever found yourself saying “Oh, i wish Nazi zombies was harder…”, No? Me either. This week saw the release of Map pack 2 for COD:WaW boasting 4 new maps for multiplayer which includes the new N.Z map “Shi No Numa” (Swamp of death) This new addition has the players spawning together (like the original) in the centre of the map (see below) and from here there are 4 huts which house the much loved perk machines and the usual selection of weapons. Their are 4 new features which make this map pack worth downloading including the ability to take the battle outside of the buildings and into the swamps – beware though,  zombies spawn from the swamp and movement is slow. As the angry undead sprint at you for their meaty feast you often find yourself being forced into corners, in fact its a mighty shame that their isn’t any kind of transport – a zip-line perhaps? Oh wait! There is! This works as a bridge between the main building and the doctors quarters but requires you to open up the two area’s AND activate the zip-line (putting you back around 4k points).

Shi No Numa Map (Click)

So, pretty amazing huh? Well it doesn’t end there. There are 2 more points that i feel i should bring to your attention,  the hell hounds for a start – Yes, actual hounds… from hell. These pesky creatures will appear between round 4 and 7 and will rip you to shreds unless you have a decent weapon – perhaps the newly added Wunderwaffe DG-2 which sends an electrifying blast of electric to really ’spark’ up some fun.

Mans best friend? I think not (Click)

So in conclusion this 800 ms points pack will provide countless hours of dying fun It also has extra achievements for Nazi zombies including not dying for 15 rounds and a few hundred kills.

Oh, and the other maps aren’t bad either with a Sub-pen, A factory and another jap-map.

overall : 9 / 10

Note:  Allthough there are glitches, many of them have been patched. Glitching is for people who suck at cod

Rich (Admin) Gaming, Reviews, Software COD, download, Gaming, glitch, nazi zombie, review, xbox

This blog hasn’t really been used in recent months due to Uni Work, however i am still alive and currently have 3 weeks till i start as an IP at IBM Hursley.

More importantly in the world of gaming it has been E3 in the last week or so and it has been unveiled that Sky television will be integrated into NXE along with social networking sites Facebook, Twitter and Last.Fm.  Although the service (Sky) wont be broadcast in HD (initially ) this is a giant step forward towards the ‘Everything in one box’ dream. The 360’s Sky player is rumoured to be similar to their current online ‘Sky Player’ and will be accessible on a Subscription or Pay-Per-View basis (Like Netflix? – never really used it!) Best still, it doesnt matter if your a customer or not!

Sky player in action at E3

The price for this has not been announced as of yet but it rumoured to be similar to the current pricing of renting video’s off the market place – how true this is i don’t know.
However this does come with some rather sad news, an exec at EA games has stated that they have pretty much maxed out the 360 now and its now time to unlock the PS3’s potential.  We’ve been told not to worry though due to Microsoft bringing out motion sensitive perhipials for the 360 in the near future! A note to all fan-boys: Sony might end up with better graphics, but the Xbox will remain better for online gaming – fact.

On a side note, i got my new car the other day! An Audi a3, all i need now is money for the extortionately priced cable from halfords for my CD player!

Rich (Admin) Gaming, News, Software, hardware

Miss your n64? Wish you could play Goldeneye without getting Steam and playing some multiplayer mock-up? Well…, you can!

Tools required: PC running windows, Xbox 360 Wired control, Project64, G.E Rom (takes less than 5mins to setup!)

Download the n64 emulator from http://www.pj64-emu.com/downloads/ and install. After this is complete a quick search on coolrom will return the ‘rom’ you need (replica of the game) From here you will want to extract the zip file and load it into project64 (file >open). If you have a wired xbox control just plug it in and it should install automatically (you can also use any input device)

I personally belive i have found the perfect contoller setup:

 Rx is the right Analogue and Ry is the left analogue, – & + refer to up and down. (think of it in maths-graph terms?)

I did reverse A and B though as i kept ending up switching weapons accidently =(

Also you can use the pov0-4 (the control d-pad) to move but why would you when you have two really sensitive joyticks. Happy hunting for that golden gun!

Taking this idea further, hook up your HDTV as a main monitor with the VGA cable (HD is pointless:P) and add upto 4 input devices (only one keyboard ideally!) and have yourself some retro-group-fun.

Note: i know this isn’t a new idea and couldn’t care less if your a 1337 h4×0r who’s been doing this for years, this article is aimed at helping everyone enjoy modern technology!

Rich (Admin) Gaming, Software download, free music, Gaming, Goldeneye, HD, N64, Nintendo, Roms, Steam

Joongel (www.joongel.com) is a meta-search-engine which allows you to search multiple resources within a particular category. At first the engine can seem a little cluttered and you will need the Flash plugin to use it, however you will quickly adapt and will never want to go back to plain and simple ‘one site at a time’ searching!

For example, i shall be moving to Eastleigh (If all goes well with a house viewing) when I start IBM so naturally i wanted to research the area! Google (quick stat: used by 65% of people) was my first choice and returned map information, a wiki and a couple of Eastleigh based shops. Using Joongel under a general search i managed to return the same results from Google, videos about the area, blog posts and Flikr results – just a small selection of its features!

You can specify what you want the engine to search for, for example if your looking for a torrent you simply specify ‘Torrent’ as a type – You can even specify ‘Cooking’ as a major category (No more dodgy results when you Google ‘ how to achieve the perfect roast’ “)

In conclusion: Time saving tool for those who are doing specific searches. Cons: Not as fast as Google to return results.

Note: allthough not being online long the site has had nearly a hundred unique visits which isn’t bad considering there’s nothing on here overly interesting! (and if tyou are one of the few returning visitors the site says i have, feel free to sign up for updates!)

Rich (Admin) Reviews, Websites flash, google, search, stats, website

Spotify (previously an invite only site) has now opened its doors to the rest of the Internet! Spotify allows users to search and (hopefully) finds music from its vast library and then allows the playing of music through the downloadable program. Unfortunately you can’t download the tracks and it is ad-supported (one VERY short ad every several tracks) but you don’t notice it really!  Besides you can create and save playlists of music like you can with youtube. (and can retrieve said lists from any location) So no, no ‘free’ music in a way, you do have to be online and running the spotify program, quite simply its youtube without videos! ( = no copyright problems, no crap videos, no dodgy quality and best of all, no commenting!!)

Link: http://www.spotify.com  > free user.

Quick Edit: Note: You can also hook it upto your last.fm account happy scrobbling.

Rich (Admin) Music, Software download, free music, itunes, last.fm, mp3, spotify