Atavistic Funk Exhibit

test

2006-08-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

test

I can SEE!! [Motoring update]

2006-07-24T15:35:00.000-07:00

Went for an eye test today at Specsavers in town around lunchtime, they said I didn't need an appointment as it's only a 3 minute thing. Went into the dark room, had to read a few letters and follow a pen around, signed off, paid my €15 fee and had my eye test report.

Valid for 30 days, plan on bringing it to the motor tax office as soon as I pass my Theory Test.

Getting there!

Motoring at last! [Well, getting there.]

2006-07-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

Vroom vroom and all that. Yeah, I decided it's about time to get on the roads of Ireland. I booked my Driver Theory test online yesterday and was given an appointment date of Tuesday 8th August 2006 @ 2.45pm. Have to be there 15 minutes before my appointment too. I don't plan on being in the centre any longer than say 15 minutes doing the test. Picked up one of the practice CD-Roms months ago and have been plugging away at it since.

Click photos to enlarge.

The car:

Opel Corsa City Hatchback
1999 (7 years old)
1litre engine
115,000 miles (avg. 16k a year)
Taxed and NCT'd until mid-2007
So far no faults that I can see (trusted seller, friend)
Drivers door replaced/resprayed due to small dents, looks great.
€2950 asking price.

Phoned Quinn-direct and was quoted €1861.44 on 3rd Party Fire and Theft insurance cover. Tried a few others, insure.ie quoted me a whopping €4400!!

Will be updating when I get my theory test results/car/provisional license. Can't wait.

- motorist-to-be.

P.S. Cheers to the lads over at boards.ie who helped me out: Anan1, gyppo, anthony4335, feylya.

The mask that is the internet..

2006-07-22T16:03:00.000-07:00

When we go online [be that in a chatroom, or online gaming service such as Xbox Live], should we be prepared for abuse? Everyone experiences it at some stage in their life online, it's almost unavoidable, but what are the boundaries and what can we do about it?

Does the internet give people a certain sense safety? A protective blanket where they can hide away and cause as much mischeif as possible, take pleasure in the effects of bothering others and walk away like it never happened? How do YOU feel on the internet? I don't give any illusions as to who I am, or where I live. But I also don't go around terrorising the easily offended online while masquerading as something like "noobkillerKKK_666". So that blanket idea doesn't apply to me really, maybe that's why I don't fully understand it.

For instance, while playing a simple [harmless] game of UNO on Xbox Live Arcade a short while ago, [I had lost my headset due to moving home] I ended up in a four player match with two other male players and one female. Normally, I don't hear anyone chatting while playing UNO, but this time they were all chatting - except me, due to lack of a headset. When one of the players finally took a break from [desperately] trying to chat up the female player, his attention turned to me - and so did the other guys'.

[look away now if you are sensitive to swearing]

Male gamer #1: "defunq, why you not talking?!"
Male gamer #1: "defunq you fucker"
Male gamer #2: "defunq is a paedophile!"
Male gamer #1: "fucking child molester"

I finished the game, swearing profusely at the screen - much to the disappointment [not to mention anger] of my girlfriend, who hates when I get stressed over a 'just a game' - and I immediately reported them and left negative player reviews. I sort of looked at it as my only method of revenge as I couldn't verbally attack them in return.

I actually felt good about it - maybe joining in with them isn't the right thing to do. When it comes down to it, I believe we should not go online/play online and expect to be verbally abused by ANYONE. We might do well to be aware of it, but not anticipate it. I always wonder who those people are, what backgrounds they have, where they live and why do they do what they do.

Another good example is Halo 2. Halo 2 is pretty bad for American teenagers who use the voice masking effect, all you get is the word 'fag' and it's many forms being thrown around.

I just plug out [the headset].

Maybe plugging out once in a while could help more than those who just don't want to listen to that crap.

Adsense ..nonsense? [pt.1]

2006-07-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

Held off on allowing Goooooogle ads on my site for a few days until I had time to think it over, but just decided to go ahead with it. I like counters. I like to see counters go up. I can't see any real money being made off of it for at least a year or two [will have to wait a little longer for those gold chains, sorry Mr. T.] - but start as we mean to go on, no?

Will be updating this "Adsense ..nonsense?" post with some statistics as time passes.

Anyone have any adsense experiences?

Sounds kinda dirty.

World War Wii? World War 360?

2006-07-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

Gave this site a mention in an earlier post but I felt that it deserved a little more attention, so I'm throwing up a post about it.

Self explanatary, currently Microsoft are holding 100% of 'next gen market share'. Isn't that something. =)

Will be interesting to see this site in a few short months, no?

Vodafone and Sky bring you Mobile Tele[vile]!

2006-07-20T00:53:00.000-07:00

Vodafone in a partnership with Sky recently launched it's 3G streaming based mobile TV service. The service promises full mobile TV comprising of 18 channels on the go wherever you are in 3G coverage for a subscription. €5 a week for the full package and there are lower priced options available.

Luckily for me, they offered existing customers a chance to trial the service until September, after that the user is charged weekly. I must admit, I do like the idea of mobile TV, I bought a Nokia 7710 hoping I might get a chance to check out the DVB-H functionality at some stage but the additional equipment wasn't available and trialling was finished.

The video downloads offered previously on Vodafone Live! were short clips of poor quality video and audio - usually priced at a premium. So I didn't have great expectations for an always on service streamed over the data network. It turns out I was right to hold my breath.

The service does not deliver [exactly, or even close to] what was promised. It does not offer full mobile TV on all 18 channels. Hell, it doesn't offer full TV on any more than 2 channels (Kerrang!, Sky News), instead offering a looping stream [maybe 20 minutes long] of the same programming all day. Approximately three of those 18 channels [Paramount comedy included] basically do not exist, I can never connect to them - haven't met anyone who can either. Sound quality is atrocious, picture quality is worse than the video downloads offered before and even in full 3G coverage, drop out and connection problems are rife.

My advice, avoid it until Nokia launch their DVB-H service.

P.S. : I used a Nokia 6630 to test the service.

Xtravision's Games Trading Relaunch - nice surprise.

2006-07-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Xtra-Vision recenty relaunched their games trading service in a bid to drive attention towards their preowned sector, which had been enduring lacklustre response since the initial introduction last year.

More advertising, better prices, in fact ' best prices are guaranteed '. What does it mean to the consumer? Well, basically if you find another retail outlet offering you more for your game, get us a written quotation and we will match it/better it.

Now onto the interesting part. As part of the relaunch, they created a separate dedicated section of each store to games trading. The idea was to line the shelves with preowned [cheaper] games, with orange stickers as to catch the eye. The thing was, due to Xtravisions lacklustre previous year of games trading - there wasn't enough games to fill the space. SO, the bigwigs in marketing decided to sell BRAND NEW games as preowned, in an effort to 'bulk up' the traded section.

So, next time you go to your local XV to get a traded game, you might end up walking away with a sealed copy. Goldeneye, Top Spin 2, Gaelic Games Football are just to name a few. I can only say so much. This is a good thing for gamers! More competition between Xv and Gamestop means we get more money for our games, and can get cheaper preowned stuff.

I rarely buy new Xbox 360 games, so this is a plus. \m/

Irish State's population now exceeds 4.2million.

2006-07-19T07:13:00.000-07:00

RTÉ.ie has posted a [brief] newspiece on the ever increasing population of Ireland. To anyone reading this overseas, 4.2million might not seem like much, but on our small island - it's a lot.

I am putting the majority of this increase down to immigrants [eastern european etc], which has produced an obscene influx in the volume of people entering and settling in the country.

Now, I don't mind new cultures and meeting new people, but what if our economy can't handle it? [it - being housing, welfare, medical care and work for immigrants] Shouldn't we sort out the thousands of homeless on our streets first? Or what about our crippled health service?

A lot of immigrants I know plan on making their money and eventually moving back to their own countries, putting a possible strain on the economy for the rest of us left behind.

The good times are long over for you, Celtic Tiger.

Update: And yes I do recall Irish people going all over the world looking for work, but I'm not harping back to the old days, I'm talking about today.

Would you buy a broken toaster? How about a broken console?

2006-07-19T06:14:00.000-07:00

No, this is not a reference to the PS3 Grill.. but it has to do with stubborn companies and what they are prepared to do to maintain their position in the market.

There have been rumours for some time now about the working state of Sony's Playstation 3 console, a few months back there were developer reports about how the console is seemingly 'broken'. Fast forward to today, DailyTech have posted an article titled: "IBM Says It's Lucky to Get 10% to 20% Yields on Cell Processor"

If whats said in this article is true [seems to be anyway] then this should hold very serious implications for Sony after the impending launch. Allow me to quote some of the important pieces of the article -

"IBM vice president of Semiconductor and Technology Services Tom Reeves says that his company is lucky if it can get 10% to 20% yields on the Cell processor."

"The Cell processor is so complex that IBM even accepts chips that have only four out of the eight cores working. Not all cores end up functional says Reeves. "

"According to Reeves, Sony will be using Cell processors whether they have all cores functional or not."

"Using electrical "fuses", IBM can "blow" out a core during wafer testing. When asked what would happen if a 7-core PlayStation 3 ends up losing another core during operation, Reeves stated that the user would simply send the unit back for replacement. Unfortunately, this only applies if the console is still under warranty -- if it isn't, the console is dead."

Scary stuff if you ask me. I just urge you people to rethink their Christmas console purchases, not as a Microsoft or Nintendo supporter, but as a consumer of sound mind! Make the right decision for yourself.

HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray: What it means to gamers.

2006-07-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

Gamers have been sort of 'sucked in' to this fast approaching next gen format war. As if we didn't have enough next gen wars on our hands already. Well it's time to bite the bullet and face up to the fact that we may have to make the decision eventually. Before continuing, may I refer you to a recent podcast by Xbox Live's Major Nelson (Larry Hyrb). That clocks in at around 1 hour and 20 minutes of audio, but you can cut most of it out and skip straight to the part about HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.

You may be a little put off by the slight Microsoft bias, but it is afterall, a Microsoft funded project. I wouldn't link it without it having some very valid points contained within.

In a nutshell:

Sony's Blu-Ray is the weaker format as it uses a 10 year old compression codec (MPEG-2), it requires more disc capacity (hence the 50GB proposed storage space on dual layer BDs) because of the old compression codec and the discs are extremely difficult to manufacture with high wastage rates and easily scratched surfaces.

HD-DVD however uses a Microsoft compression codec and is significantly better quality and uses a lot less storage space, hence it is ideal for HD-DVD discs which can hold up to 30GB currently.

Now, as a gamer, you have the choice of going with either one of the formats, both, or none. Sony is making Blu Ray mandatory in it's PS3 console, most likely in a bid to bolster market share in both it's 'champion product' and it's new disc format with one product, thus pushing the price of the console itself up.

Microsoft are leaving the HD-DVD drive as an optional addon for those of us who may or may not need this funcionality in our console. They have also gone on record to say that next gen disc storage limits will not have any effect on gaming, in a sharp contrast to Sony's aims.

Nintendo are not pushing any next gen disc format and are instead purely focusing on the gaming experience.

So it remains to be seen which format will triumph, but it could end up that both will be supported - and that is going to be messy. Who wants to explain to your grandparents why their DVD player is [pretty much] out of date, when they've finally caught on to the idea of 'videos on discs'?

Irish gamer demographic.

2006-07-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have any hard statistics or graphs for you, but I do have a link to a brand new Irish gaming website, catering for (you guessed it) gamers from all corners of the emerald isle.

Initiated by Noel Brady, who is credited with years of writing experience earning a few major publications over the years and has an extensive knowledge of computer games and all that wizardry.

Over there you will find the following juicy bits:

Games reviews
Gaming forums
Competitions
Weekly retail outlet price checks on new releases
Daily news updates
Exclusive interviews

Off to a very impressive start, here's hoping the guys actually keep up the site (i'm looking at you, xboxireland) as it has amazing potential.

Nintendo cracking up?

2006-07-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

A lot of talk about DS Lite consoles with flimsy hinges has emerged on the interweb over the last day or two, much to the utter disgust of Nintendo fanboys around the globe. After chasing up Nintendo for comments, Joystiq revealed that ''[Nintendo] are not aware of any problems with the hinge of the DS lite".

Well, what did we expect them to say, really? Honestly, I think it's nice to see Nintendo take a little flak once in a while. Xbox fans took more than their fair share circa the XB360's launch in 2005, with many sites [over]reporting overheating problems and other minor complaints. I'll refer to a comment I posted on that particular article:

"Y'know, Nintendo aren't immune to product defects ;)"

Bottom line, defects happen. No matter how much you worship said company.

last.fm

2006-07-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

Going to start with a few short, snappy and simple posts. (hey, should form an acronym out of that, who doesn't love their 'SSS's?) First up, I'm about to be the 1-zillionth blogger to blog Last.fm. It's incredibly simple to use and it makes for a more-than-decent social site, if thats your bag - you bebo'ers. It basically logs the music you listen to and displays it in well organised charts/graphs for the world to see.

Just install the plugin to your player of choice - be that Microsofts' Windows Media offering, Nullsofts' Winamp or Apples' iTunes.

Get listening and add me up.

New blog emerges.

2006-07-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

Dear world,

In an seemingly overcrowded world of personal blogs, the chances of my mind-bloggling offering having any amount of success are quite slim.

But, why create something that you don't think is going to succeed? A blog, for me, is also a work of art, as well as a sort of virtual-diary.

With that said, time to take this blog to the top!

Dan.