It's currently less than an hour away until the new year for 2011 as another year draws to a close. Of the 5 or 6 years I've done this blog I can finally end a year on a positive note with a reflection of exciting things to come and an unexpected end to a year with a comfortable relationship.
I always knew my feelings towards someone else after Jessica would be different, and I'm glad it is, and quite frankly for all the better reasons. By January I would be with a girlfriend for 3 amazing months, I think it's something I never thought I would entirely predict yet the last remaining months of the year have been amazing for that.
I can look onto next year knowing what I can achieve with the newfound love of my life. I met up with Jennifer last night and met her friends for the very first time and something I never expected that I would be dancing with her in a club! She was pretty amazing but I couldn't say much for myself, then again that's expected since I'm not used to it. I felt ok though which is what I expected for the next person I would have in my life. To me I always knew that I could be comfortable with dancing with my partner in my life. I also know that gradually I'll get a bit more comfortable and it will be a better experience.
As I was going back home on the bus I thought to myself whether I felt like I missed out on any of this had I gone to clubs or anything when I was younger. If truth be told I still feel the same way as I always have, it doesn't make much difference and clubs have never excited me much. The only added advantage now is with how I expected it to be when it comes to dancing with my amazing girlfriend. That's one of the many things I look forward to in the future.
As this year is closing for the final post of 2010 it has been an interesting year and yet a thankful year at the same time. I can look back knowing that I have at least achieved quite a few things and I think 2009 gave me a preview of what was to come and what I needed to do for myself.
Thoughts on 2011? I'll go a bit in-depth with that on a separate post but oddly at the moment I don't have much thoughts on it. Maybe because I know I've achieved one of the biggest things I've wanted in a later part of my life and I know now that I've got a new step and outlook to go through with someone by my side.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Superstars of 2010 - No TV?
I think it's fair to say that since the beginning of this year my take on TV has vastly changed.
I can't quite state exactly what caused it as I believe there are several factors. I remember overhearing someone at work a while back talking about the way they use their TV at home. They said they basically come back home in front of their large living room TV to use as their computer monitor to surf the web.
Now to me this isn't exactly anything new, I think the reason it made me think hard about it was because of the way things were at work in regards to me using the computer at home vs how I'm using one at work. I've explained previously that it felt like jumping from one desk to another. I also felt I was watching more internet related videos rather than regular TV. Then again during most of my duration of a computer set up at home I never consistently sat down enough to enjoy TV to begin with. So I guess really my proper TV watching died a long time ago without my realising.
I never had much interest in TV during January. I still remember when it was that moment. It was during the time I was off sick and we had to do this intense training for that damn RiO system which I wasn't happy about. During my sick time I was playing a lot of New Super Mario Bros Wii to pass the time. I never had no real reason to watch TV after finishing because it was shit daytime TV that I had no interest in. Plus I knew January was the typical graveyard month.
That simply lead to me not giving a damn as the months went by and it still holds true now. I very rarely watch a lot of shows when I know its showing and it really all depends on what it is. Plus also after the way this 50 inch TV makes my standard def Sky box look it simply puts me off.
By the beginning of next year it's becoming a lot more likely this will be gone and at least I can invest in a Freesat HD box instead.
I can't quite state exactly what caused it as I believe there are several factors. I remember overhearing someone at work a while back talking about the way they use their TV at home. They said they basically come back home in front of their large living room TV to use as their computer monitor to surf the web.
Now to me this isn't exactly anything new, I think the reason it made me think hard about it was because of the way things were at work in regards to me using the computer at home vs how I'm using one at work. I've explained previously that it felt like jumping from one desk to another. I also felt I was watching more internet related videos rather than regular TV. Then again during most of my duration of a computer set up at home I never consistently sat down enough to enjoy TV to begin with. So I guess really my proper TV watching died a long time ago without my realising.
I never had much interest in TV during January. I still remember when it was that moment. It was during the time I was off sick and we had to do this intense training for that damn RiO system which I wasn't happy about. During my sick time I was playing a lot of New Super Mario Bros Wii to pass the time. I never had no real reason to watch TV after finishing because it was shit daytime TV that I had no interest in. Plus I knew January was the typical graveyard month.
That simply lead to me not giving a damn as the months went by and it still holds true now. I very rarely watch a lot of shows when I know its showing and it really all depends on what it is. Plus also after the way this 50 inch TV makes my standard def Sky box look it simply puts me off.
By the beginning of next year it's becoming a lot more likely this will be gone and at least I can invest in a Freesat HD box instead.
Ok! So we're back in action after nearly a full week but I didn't feel like I totally missed my internet connection.
More than anything I've been curious as to whether this new modem fully justifies the connection I didn't feel I was getting with the old model from the former company. Stupidly I should had ran a speed test a while back but then again I didn't expect something like this to happen.
The only thing that feels major is that the speed feels a bit more constant this time round. The first thing I did was try out several speed tests of which all of them gave the same results thankfully. My general download speed came to just under 10MB which I think sounds about right for the 20MB service they give us since it's been established for a while now it's never the exact speed sadly. Even so that's still good to have something like that. Upload speed came to about 1MB which I think sounds about right also.
I don't feel like the speed is any faster or any different than before, it's mainly the constant speed it seems to had improved upon. I wondered whether the YouTube videos I often struggled with would reflect this. Some were a bit mixed while others flowed fine. I can't help but wonder whether YouTube has a hidden traffic flow for some users though depending on their popularity.
I'll see just how well this traffic 'flow' continues on however in general. Physically the modem is a VAST difference than my predecessor! It's half of the size of the old modem and lightweight from both the modem itself and of the power plug. The old modem had a heavy brick of a plug, I'm so pleased to rid of something like that. It's so small in fact that it sits on top of the router rather than the other way round like the other one did! It's atheistically pleasing to look at as well and it tells you exactly very clearly what each LED light represents.
Will this last for a long time? I think it will. Most likely to the point of when either Virgin Media swaps hands again after several years or the modem requires an upgrade for a new type of modem such as the 50MB ones.
I made a little comparison with how much has changed between the two:
I forgot to mention how there was a USB option that the original had which I'm pleased they dropped in the end as I think it confused a few people in not knowing which was more effective and how you didn't need both to work together (I had a friend from uni who's friends I helped did exactly that with theirs).
More than anything I've been curious as to whether this new modem fully justifies the connection I didn't feel I was getting with the old model from the former company. Stupidly I should had ran a speed test a while back but then again I didn't expect something like this to happen.
The only thing that feels major is that the speed feels a bit more constant this time round. The first thing I did was try out several speed tests of which all of them gave the same results thankfully. My general download speed came to just under 10MB which I think sounds about right for the 20MB service they give us since it's been established for a while now it's never the exact speed sadly. Even so that's still good to have something like that. Upload speed came to about 1MB which I think sounds about right also.
I don't feel like the speed is any faster or any different than before, it's mainly the constant speed it seems to had improved upon. I wondered whether the YouTube videos I often struggled with would reflect this. Some were a bit mixed while others flowed fine. I can't help but wonder whether YouTube has a hidden traffic flow for some users though depending on their popularity.
I'll see just how well this traffic 'flow' continues on however in general. Physically the modem is a VAST difference than my predecessor! It's half of the size of the old modem and lightweight from both the modem itself and of the power plug. The old modem had a heavy brick of a plug, I'm so pleased to rid of something like that. It's so small in fact that it sits on top of the router rather than the other way round like the other one did! It's atheistically pleasing to look at as well and it tells you exactly very clearly what each LED light represents.
Will this last for a long time? I think it will. Most likely to the point of when either Virgin Media swaps hands again after several years or the modem requires an upgrade for a new type of modem such as the 50MB ones.
I made a little comparison with how much has changed between the two:
I forgot to mention how there was a USB option that the original had which I'm pleased they dropped in the end as I think it confused a few people in not knowing which was more effective and how you didn't need both to work together (I had a friend from uni who's friends I helped did exactly that with theirs).
Monday, December 20, 2010
R.I.P. NTL Modem
I wondered when the inevitable would happen when I remember bigmouth used to talk about the problems with his modems packing up on him when our ISP was still NTL back then and now taken over a few years ago by Virgin Media.
It started around Friday morning and I noticed the modem lights weren't in their usual flickering stages. I didn't think much of it since I was going to work and I assumed the recent snow conditions caused some problems with that which I think they did in the past when it was on their end.
By Saturday there wasn't much difference and Jenny wasn't able to come over due to the conditions and she picked up a cold at the same time so I eventually checked with Virgin Media towards the afternoon because by this time I was limited to do anything else so I thought why not.
So turns out that they had no problems on their end and it was to do with my modem after all this long. Come to think about it I think I've had that modem for something like...8 years?! That might also explain why my speed hasn't been up to standards for a speed that was supposed to be decent for 20 megs. I know they're never exact to that speed but I hardly ever get speeds up to 1MB as it is. Although I often wondered whether that was varied from the sites I was downloading from and the limited speeds for sites such as Rapidshare et al.
Apparently they've ordered it to arrive today. I'm not counting on that what with the recent weather conditions causing slowdown on vehicles. I wouldn't be surprised I won't be having access until at least the new year. Well work, looks like I'll have to be relying on you for my crappy blog posts or the heavier 3G resources via my iPhone.
It started around Friday morning and I noticed the modem lights weren't in their usual flickering stages. I didn't think much of it since I was going to work and I assumed the recent snow conditions caused some problems with that which I think they did in the past when it was on their end.
By Saturday there wasn't much difference and Jenny wasn't able to come over due to the conditions and she picked up a cold at the same time so I eventually checked with Virgin Media towards the afternoon because by this time I was limited to do anything else so I thought why not.
So turns out that they had no problems on their end and it was to do with my modem after all this long. Come to think about it I think I've had that modem for something like...8 years?! That might also explain why my speed hasn't been up to standards for a speed that was supposed to be decent for 20 megs. I know they're never exact to that speed but I hardly ever get speeds up to 1MB as it is. Although I often wondered whether that was varied from the sites I was downloading from and the limited speeds for sites such as Rapidshare et al.
Apparently they've ordered it to arrive today. I'm not counting on that what with the recent weather conditions causing slowdown on vehicles. I wouldn't be surprised I won't be having access until at least the new year. Well work, looks like I'll have to be relying on you for my crappy blog posts or the heavier 3G resources via my iPhone.
A seedbox you say?
Just been browsing around with the usual crap at work when I read a comment on a forum about someone getting their stuff off a seedbox in Holland...a seedbox?
Good old Google found me the meaning behind it, it's essentially a torrent seeder/downloader style server. The idea is that you pay for a monthly fee for the torrents your sharing or trying to get which all comes usually via a 100MB connection or something similar which has a fast speed. So I guess really it's a server that's doing all of that for you rather than your own PC resources.
I must say I really like the idea of this, of all the times I wanted to carry on seeding files and I felt obligated to having it run all of the time which basically annoyed me. I might give this a go one day or maybe just try it for a month rather than a monthly basis unless I knew for sure what I wanted to get.
Good old Google found me the meaning behind it, it's essentially a torrent seeder/downloader style server. The idea is that you pay for a monthly fee for the torrents your sharing or trying to get which all comes usually via a 100MB connection or something similar which has a fast speed. So I guess really it's a server that's doing all of that for you rather than your own PC resources.
I must say I really like the idea of this, of all the times I wanted to carry on seeding files and I felt obligated to having it run all of the time which basically annoyed me. I might give this a go one day or maybe just try it for a month rather than a monthly basis unless I knew for sure what I wanted to get.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Allstars of 2010: The relationships
If last year was a taste of things to come for me to meet other people then this was the eventual year I had to go one step further and persist with it.
By the beginning of this year I had a lot of thoughts over what happened with Jessica towards the end of 2009 when she was no longer with the guy she was seeing for a few months. I felt we were getting close and I also felt settled at the fact that she was single again, especially when she felt no need to be seeing anyone else. Even by this time I still knew something could still happen with her meeting someone else though. It was my intention to visit Austin for a possible one last time to see what could happen next in order to settle my mind once and for all.
The obvious problem with me has always been the fact that this is the type of determination I've always wanted to have, I've always yearned for a chance with Jess no matter how long it's been. I felt this year I could finally have some sort of time with her since I knew she had no one else in her life and she was acknowledging me a tiny bit more. So by the time Austin came by we actually had a night out together which involved swimming at the hotel pool and it was as enjoyable as I knew it would be with her for most of that evening - there was even a nice making out session to boot!
Was it too little too late by this time? Sadly yes, as much as I enjoyed the night out with her I knew it would never change anything but it was a great way to end on a high note with things generally being good between us. By this time I knew I had to try again and meet someone once I was back in England. It just meant this time round I had to persist with the online dating a lot more than with the lack of attempts from previous years.
By now I knew what to expect, I knew to expect to meet someone who would possibly let me down by a month later like last year and I knew to expect the lack of communication from sending messages to girls. To me it just became common knowledge and I had to accept that in my head.
Eventually the months went by after Jessica and I knew my lifestyle had changed, my room evolved further and my general computer habits were different by this time. I was no longer tied to a desk and I could enjoy my computer usage in a much more relaxed and casual way.
Towards the end of the year after that first kiss with Jess it wasn't until several months later that I would be kissing more people from the luck I was having online with two additional people, the latter who would become my eventual girlfriend and new love of my life...
I suppose really a lot of it didn't happen until towards the second half of the year very much like it was last time. I can at least end this year and say in this review for once that I'm in a happy and hassle-free relationship. Well more importantly it's a PHYSICAL relationship with real-life circumstances. I'm able to be involved with other family members and generally knowing something good has come out of this.
Come New Years Eve I no longer have to think towards next year in 2011 and say to myself "Where is my next girlfriend coming from?" or have that sensation that next year is "just another year". I'm sure it will be for work but that's another thing entirely. For now I'm looking ahead for other reasons - and rightly so!
By the beginning of this year I had a lot of thoughts over what happened with Jessica towards the end of 2009 when she was no longer with the guy she was seeing for a few months. I felt we were getting close and I also felt settled at the fact that she was single again, especially when she felt no need to be seeing anyone else. Even by this time I still knew something could still happen with her meeting someone else though. It was my intention to visit Austin for a possible one last time to see what could happen next in order to settle my mind once and for all.
The obvious problem with me has always been the fact that this is the type of determination I've always wanted to have, I've always yearned for a chance with Jess no matter how long it's been. I felt this year I could finally have some sort of time with her since I knew she had no one else in her life and she was acknowledging me a tiny bit more. So by the time Austin came by we actually had a night out together which involved swimming at the hotel pool and it was as enjoyable as I knew it would be with her for most of that evening - there was even a nice making out session to boot!
Was it too little too late by this time? Sadly yes, as much as I enjoyed the night out with her I knew it would never change anything but it was a great way to end on a high note with things generally being good between us. By this time I knew I had to try again and meet someone once I was back in England. It just meant this time round I had to persist with the online dating a lot more than with the lack of attempts from previous years.
By now I knew what to expect, I knew to expect to meet someone who would possibly let me down by a month later like last year and I knew to expect the lack of communication from sending messages to girls. To me it just became common knowledge and I had to accept that in my head.
Eventually the months went by after Jessica and I knew my lifestyle had changed, my room evolved further and my general computer habits were different by this time. I was no longer tied to a desk and I could enjoy my computer usage in a much more relaxed and casual way.
Towards the end of the year after that first kiss with Jess it wasn't until several months later that I would be kissing more people from the luck I was having online with two additional people, the latter who would become my eventual girlfriend and new love of my life...
I suppose really a lot of it didn't happen until towards the second half of the year very much like it was last time. I can at least end this year and say in this review for once that I'm in a happy and hassle-free relationship. Well more importantly it's a PHYSICAL relationship with real-life circumstances. I'm able to be involved with other family members and generally knowing something good has come out of this.
Come New Years Eve I no longer have to think towards next year in 2011 and say to myself "Where is my next girlfriend coming from?" or have that sensation that next year is "just another year". I'm sure it will be for work but that's another thing entirely. For now I'm looking ahead for other reasons - and rightly so!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Allstars of 2010: Nintendo Wii
The poor old Wii...I can't help but feel that it's been a slow decline for the Wii this year. Sure it's had some great games this year with the eventual arrival of No More Heroes 2 and Mario Galaxy 2. Sadly those are the only ones I can recall being memorable games from this year that I've played within the same timespan. Even so, these are just sequels too - I mean with Galaxy 2 I knew it was a relative continuation of the first. I still loved it but that isn't saying much else.
NMH2 felt like there was something lacking compared to the first games story although it improved greatly in terms of the games 'hub' and the hassle-free problem of a Grand Theft Auto-style city which lacked any life in the first game. I've yet to play Metroid Other M which I'll get round to but I've only heard mixed reviews about it.
I think also ever since the arrival of the rival consoles alternatives with their 'moving' devices it seems to have overshadowed the Wii significantly and I can't help but wonder if the end of the year marks a downward spiral for the console.
Even as I type this I hardly play the Wii because I love the content that the PS3 has to offer. I keep wondering what is it about the PS3 that has kept me drawn in and made me enjoy it SO much better than with the PS2? I'm wondering whether the flexibility of it being hard drive based and superior online capabilities makes a difference? Okay I haven't played any of my friends online as yet but I still feel I'm a part of something and it's interesting to be able to compare trophies and something where I'm feeling a sense of achievement. I also like the easy access to the PSN Store - it literally makes me want to BUY downloadable versions of those games (had they not been more expensive than the physical copies!). And also being able to download unique titles. Or is it maybe because I'm still playing on a regular joypad? The more I think about that part, the more I wonder whether that is the case. When I play the PS3 I feel like I've gone back into proper gaming again yet on the Wii I did still play what I consider to be proper games. I just think there isn't as many.
How would I essentially replicate some of those actions on the Wii? Well I would have to choose the Wii Shopping Channel until it would connect online, so even by then nothing has grabbed my attention because I have to go there and check. On a PS3 I'm given the option of seeing new titles available which literally grab my attention and temptation to buy on the store. I like being able to try demo's too! I can't do such thing on the Wii as flexible as that. Even then there's no feeling of a good interface to give me a grander scale of a game I want. If I want to play someone online it's not as easy as seeing who is simply online. I may have to start up a certain game just to check, which even then requires unique Friend Codes for every game you want to play them with. It just feels limited now and the Homebrew scene seems to be on a quiet front too.
So I'm generally curious to see what the Wii has in store for 2011 because I sure hope as hell something amazing comes by to make us all blown away. It would be sad to see this time next year it's inevitable downfall though but I wouldn't be surprised to see it either. It's had a good 5 year run at least.
NMH2 felt like there was something lacking compared to the first games story although it improved greatly in terms of the games 'hub' and the hassle-free problem of a Grand Theft Auto-style city which lacked any life in the first game. I've yet to play Metroid Other M which I'll get round to but I've only heard mixed reviews about it.
I think also ever since the arrival of the rival consoles alternatives with their 'moving' devices it seems to have overshadowed the Wii significantly and I can't help but wonder if the end of the year marks a downward spiral for the console.
Even as I type this I hardly play the Wii because I love the content that the PS3 has to offer. I keep wondering what is it about the PS3 that has kept me drawn in and made me enjoy it SO much better than with the PS2? I'm wondering whether the flexibility of it being hard drive based and superior online capabilities makes a difference? Okay I haven't played any of my friends online as yet but I still feel I'm a part of something and it's interesting to be able to compare trophies and something where I'm feeling a sense of achievement. I also like the easy access to the PSN Store - it literally makes me want to BUY downloadable versions of those games (had they not been more expensive than the physical copies!). And also being able to download unique titles. Or is it maybe because I'm still playing on a regular joypad? The more I think about that part, the more I wonder whether that is the case. When I play the PS3 I feel like I've gone back into proper gaming again yet on the Wii I did still play what I consider to be proper games. I just think there isn't as many.
How would I essentially replicate some of those actions on the Wii? Well I would have to choose the Wii Shopping Channel until it would connect online, so even by then nothing has grabbed my attention because I have to go there and check. On a PS3 I'm given the option of seeing new titles available which literally grab my attention and temptation to buy on the store. I like being able to try demo's too! I can't do such thing on the Wii as flexible as that. Even then there's no feeling of a good interface to give me a grander scale of a game I want. If I want to play someone online it's not as easy as seeing who is simply online. I may have to start up a certain game just to check, which even then requires unique Friend Codes for every game you want to play them with. It just feels limited now and the Homebrew scene seems to be on a quiet front too.
So I'm generally curious to see what the Wii has in store for 2011 because I sure hope as hell something amazing comes by to make us all blown away. It would be sad to see this time next year it's inevitable downfall though but I wouldn't be surprised to see it either. It's had a good 5 year run at least.
Allstars of 2010 - The intro
I thought I would do something different again this time around for this year. Rather than making a long-winded post with sub categories I'll make individual posts based on my highlights instead. That way if there is something I remembered it'll be of it's own unique posts instead and I think most of them will be from when I suddenly remember what happened during the year.
So without further ado...
So without further ado...
Monday, December 06, 2010
The Times article
A day of celebration! The day finally arrived where me and my wonderful Jenny were in The Times newspaper, here's the scan:
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Very pleased with the article although people at work took it the wrong way as I dont think they realised about the name of the site so seeing the headline they assumed they insulted us, when they read further they realised though.
I was pleased that there wasn't any direct quotes from us, it was generally an overview about the site and in the case of me & Jen our little success story. It was always articles like this that drew me towards having faith with meeting someone online. In my case it happened on different occassions and now with a decent person in my life. I just never thought I would be giving my own success story like this. The article did sneakily joke about us with marriage which I do remember the journalist asking us but all in good gest, again something people at work took the wrong way almost according to their emails!
Speaking of which - or in terms of family at least, I also went over to hers for the first time yesterday and met the family which was pretty nice. All went well so I'll have to try and make it a regular visit from now on since she's done a lot of trips here and I wanted her to feel ready. I still like it when she comes over though ;).
Newsflash: Upon returning back home the PR girl from the dating site mentioned about the article and sorted out the business in order to get our money. Now this is where it gets interesting... she went on to say that BBC Radio Five Live were interested in doing a phone interview, that would also involve us getting an additional £100 for each of us. Ok that's fair do's since it's a phone interview - but where does it stop?
For me the paper interview was enough in order for a memento and the money an additional bonus, especially when we only found out today it was a £100 each! So yeah if we did do the phone interview it would be a nice total of £400. I just have a feeling it wouldn't end there though. Now that the site is a little more well known I can't help but wonder whether it would be only a matter of time when the commercials start appearing and wanting us to be the face of it. I didn't really want overexposure in all of this. I certainly didn't want to do it entirely for money either.
So in all honesty I can't see the phone interview happening unless there was specific things we were aware of or something to make the ordeal easy and relaxed for us. It's something we're going to have to think over...
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Very pleased with the article although people at work took it the wrong way as I dont think they realised about the name of the site so seeing the headline they assumed they insulted us, when they read further they realised though.
I was pleased that there wasn't any direct quotes from us, it was generally an overview about the site and in the case of me & Jen our little success story. It was always articles like this that drew me towards having faith with meeting someone online. In my case it happened on different occassions and now with a decent person in my life. I just never thought I would be giving my own success story like this. The article did sneakily joke about us with marriage which I do remember the journalist asking us but all in good gest, again something people at work took the wrong way almost according to their emails!
Speaking of which - or in terms of family at least, I also went over to hers for the first time yesterday and met the family which was pretty nice. All went well so I'll have to try and make it a regular visit from now on since she's done a lot of trips here and I wanted her to feel ready. I still like it when she comes over though ;).
Newsflash: Upon returning back home the PR girl from the dating site mentioned about the article and sorted out the business in order to get our money. Now this is where it gets interesting... she went on to say that BBC Radio Five Live were interested in doing a phone interview, that would also involve us getting an additional £100 for each of us. Ok that's fair do's since it's a phone interview - but where does it stop?
For me the paper interview was enough in order for a memento and the money an additional bonus, especially when we only found out today it was a £100 each! So yeah if we did do the phone interview it would be a nice total of £400. I just have a feeling it wouldn't end there though. Now that the site is a little more well known I can't help but wonder whether it would be only a matter of time when the commercials start appearing and wanting us to be the face of it. I didn't really want overexposure in all of this. I certainly didn't want to do it entirely for money either.
So in all honesty I can't see the phone interview happening unless there was specific things we were aware of or something to make the ordeal easy and relaxed for us. It's something we're going to have to think over...
Friday, December 03, 2010
I've been in a bit of an operating system frenzy recently. I wanted to finally try Windows 7 on the Dell machine just to get a different flavour for once. I think I ended up removing the recovery partition of the Dell and which stopped XP from booting up.
In situations like that I've always wanted to know whether there has been a way of finding data prior to wiping everything again. Currently I've found a way via Ubuntu with it's Live CD option which literally lets you use everything straight from the disc rather than a proper install which I really like. I know this feature isn't exactly new but it's only because I found an article about it while trying to find some way of getting back some files.
I've heard about Ubuntu often since having a Mac and that it's the current Linux successor. I must admit I do like the look of it, there's something quite appealing to when it starts up. I would like to use this as an alternative to something to run on the Lifebook laptop I've got just to save on resource. I'm curious as to how well that will run. Although the only downside is that it would lose it's tablet support. But at least that way if I half partition both sides I'm not at loss.
I've seen a netbook edition on their site and also a version known as Lubuntu which is supposed to be less resource hungry. If I can try both on there before a major install then I'll certainly be bought by the idea.
So yes open source has been the saviour for recovering my files - who would had funked it? Ubuntu is certainly going to be burnt to disc now and part of the recovery family...
In situations like that I've always wanted to know whether there has been a way of finding data prior to wiping everything again. Currently I've found a way via Ubuntu with it's Live CD option which literally lets you use everything straight from the disc rather than a proper install which I really like. I know this feature isn't exactly new but it's only because I found an article about it while trying to find some way of getting back some files.
I've heard about Ubuntu often since having a Mac and that it's the current Linux successor. I must admit I do like the look of it, there's something quite appealing to when it starts up. I would like to use this as an alternative to something to run on the Lifebook laptop I've got just to save on resource. I'm curious as to how well that will run. Although the only downside is that it would lose it's tablet support. But at least that way if I half partition both sides I'm not at loss.
I've seen a netbook edition on their site and also a version known as Lubuntu which is supposed to be less resource hungry. If I can try both on there before a major install then I'll certainly be bought by the idea.
So yes open source has been the saviour for recovering my files - who would had funked it? Ubuntu is certainly going to be burnt to disc now and part of the recovery family...
I eventually found a cheap copy of God of War Collection online. I was very tempted to go via the Playstation Store download which was about 18 gigs in total. The problem with that one is that buying the physical copy is WAY cheaper than it is on there. I seriously don't get that, why should a non-physical copy be less expensive? I thought we were in an age where nowadays it's better to direct download to reduce distribution costs.
I've been looking forward to playing these again as I did very much enjoy them on the PS2 as they were. Something seemed a bit different this time though. I mean the games aren't really all that old, and I wonder whether it's due to the HD upscaling that's slightly changed the view of how I remember it.
It's still very much impressive regardless. I suppose you tend to think of how other things look nowadays and take it for granted. It is still great as to how it was anyway, I think GOW2 did have a few improvements over the original if I recall.
I also ended up winning an Ebay bid for the Bayonetta Climax Edition. I'm not really too crazy on the game as to me it was only worth a rental during the weekend. Yet here I am now making a curious bid that I ended up winning. I guess I just love the style of the character, I showed Jenny some YouTube videos at the time which she loved and her first thought was over how good she would be for cosplay, and also one of the few characters to don glasses which I think is a nice touch as well. Sadly this edition doesn't come with the gun she has. It has the same other items such as the soundtrack and artwork book. I thought it was a nice touch to own, plus I wouldn't mind the action figure they released of her also. I actually thought I would just own that instead.
So then finally I rented Super Street Fighter 4 which I played earlier on. I should just establish to myself right now that beat em' up games are my absolute weakness, I'm so crap at them that there's no point in playing them. I've never really been into them and there haven't been many games that have left me playing them for a while only other than Soul Calibur 2 and Smash Bros (if that even counts!). I eventually gave up as button mashing hurts my thumbs too much, even if I was good I'm certain it would still have the same effect on me.
I've been looking forward to playing these again as I did very much enjoy them on the PS2 as they were. Something seemed a bit different this time though. I mean the games aren't really all that old, and I wonder whether it's due to the HD upscaling that's slightly changed the view of how I remember it.
It's still very much impressive regardless. I suppose you tend to think of how other things look nowadays and take it for granted. It is still great as to how it was anyway, I think GOW2 did have a few improvements over the original if I recall.
I also ended up winning an Ebay bid for the Bayonetta Climax Edition. I'm not really too crazy on the game as to me it was only worth a rental during the weekend. Yet here I am now making a curious bid that I ended up winning. I guess I just love the style of the character, I showed Jenny some YouTube videos at the time which she loved and her first thought was over how good she would be for cosplay, and also one of the few characters to don glasses which I think is a nice touch as well. Sadly this edition doesn't come with the gun she has. It has the same other items such as the soundtrack and artwork book. I thought it was a nice touch to own, plus I wouldn't mind the action figure they released of her also. I actually thought I would just own that instead.
So then finally I rented Super Street Fighter 4 which I played earlier on. I should just establish to myself right now that beat em' up games are my absolute weakness, I'm so crap at them that there's no point in playing them. I've never really been into them and there haven't been many games that have left me playing them for a while only other than Soul Calibur 2 and Smash Bros (if that even counts!). I eventually gave up as button mashing hurts my thumbs too much, even if I was good I'm certain it would still have the same effect on me.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Virtue away! Transistioning over with VMWare Fusion...
I'm in that weird part of the evening when I'm not ready for bed but not in the proper mood to sort other things out. There's something about this week where I wish it could be over and done with. Yet oddly enough there is nothing wrong about this week either. I think it's all mainly to do with the time of year and how it makes you feel, especially for the weather.
I decided to give VMWare Fusion a go this evening because there's something about VirtualBox that doesn't do it for me entirely. It's still great for virtual machines but I get the impression you have to find a few things the hard way and that's going to be a pain I can tell. The Unity feature in Fusion was exactly something I was looking for. I believe VB does this as well but for me it wasn't easy to tell and a lot of things about this particular client delivered exactly as I wanted. Granted I've never made a Bootcamp partition yet which I may do when I gradually buy the new Mac Mini model but I love the fact you can run a virtual machine off from there too. I've only ever read a long-winded method that was posted somewhere from last year which to me doesn't help. It should be simple and a part of what the client has to offer.
So like I said it's still great if you want to run something minor, other than that though I don't think it's as useful for specific tasks. The USB connection part disappointed me greatly as well, it should had been something that should work so well for a general virtual machine client yet VB never delivered.
For me also I wasn't sure what to make of the USB transfer. I still want to use programs like CopyTrans Manager because I've had no luck with any Mac iTunes alternatives like it unfortunately. I'm sure there is, I just haven't found a good source to point me in the right direction.
My major thing was to put that to the test with VMWare Fusion as I still need to put all of my songs back onto my iPhone, even though the irony now is that I hardly walk to work in order to listen to music anyway. Nevertheless they still need to be put back on.
So I gave this a go and I'm certain there are improvements. I never really saw slowdown, and multitasking with that and Mac applications didn't seem to ruin it. The only reason I'm not sure is because I keep thinking back to whether it was even any quicker on my old Dell machine? Chances are it's probably not. And either way I didn't find myself waiting all that long for the songs to pass over and to make the final sync. So I may just stick to this from now on for all of my general Windows shinaz.
I tried putting Windows 7 onto the Dell machine and I then deleted one of the unnecessary partitions to which it failed to boot my regular XP stuff so thats pretty much screwed. I don't think I can even be bothered considering I wanted to start moving away from that machine in general until it was just scrap. Maybe now it gives me a better incentive to do so. I'm pretty much in a full transition with the Mac now anyway. I'm only really using the PC if I'm wanting to make more than one DVD copy at the same time which again is no big deal. I feel confident enough to use Fusion for any DVD Shrink images or the such alike especially now it seems to show itself as a bit more reliable compared to VB.
I decided to give VMWare Fusion a go this evening because there's something about VirtualBox that doesn't do it for me entirely. It's still great for virtual machines but I get the impression you have to find a few things the hard way and that's going to be a pain I can tell. The Unity feature in Fusion was exactly something I was looking for. I believe VB does this as well but for me it wasn't easy to tell and a lot of things about this particular client delivered exactly as I wanted. Granted I've never made a Bootcamp partition yet which I may do when I gradually buy the new Mac Mini model but I love the fact you can run a virtual machine off from there too. I've only ever read a long-winded method that was posted somewhere from last year which to me doesn't help. It should be simple and a part of what the client has to offer.
So like I said it's still great if you want to run something minor, other than that though I don't think it's as useful for specific tasks. The USB connection part disappointed me greatly as well, it should had been something that should work so well for a general virtual machine client yet VB never delivered.
For me also I wasn't sure what to make of the USB transfer. I still want to use programs like CopyTrans Manager because I've had no luck with any Mac iTunes alternatives like it unfortunately. I'm sure there is, I just haven't found a good source to point me in the right direction.
My major thing was to put that to the test with VMWare Fusion as I still need to put all of my songs back onto my iPhone, even though the irony now is that I hardly walk to work in order to listen to music anyway. Nevertheless they still need to be put back on.
So I gave this a go and I'm certain there are improvements. I never really saw slowdown, and multitasking with that and Mac applications didn't seem to ruin it. The only reason I'm not sure is because I keep thinking back to whether it was even any quicker on my old Dell machine? Chances are it's probably not. And either way I didn't find myself waiting all that long for the songs to pass over and to make the final sync. So I may just stick to this from now on for all of my general Windows shinaz.
I tried putting Windows 7 onto the Dell machine and I then deleted one of the unnecessary partitions to which it failed to boot my regular XP stuff so thats pretty much screwed. I don't think I can even be bothered considering I wanted to start moving away from that machine in general until it was just scrap. Maybe now it gives me a better incentive to do so. I'm pretty much in a full transition with the Mac now anyway. I'm only really using the PC if I'm wanting to make more than one DVD copy at the same time which again is no big deal. I feel confident enough to use Fusion for any DVD Shrink images or the such alike especially now it seems to show itself as a bit more reliable compared to VB.
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