I’ve now attended 80% of my classes (the 5th and last being the game project one on Thursday), and while I may not love all of them, I think I’ll be able to manage for the next 100+ days. Only 1 of my classes has a comprehensive final test, and only 2 of them have the last test actually scheduled on the exam day, so the 111 days that my countdown timer says is very likely incorrect. I’ll get around to updating it once I actually figure out what my last day of school is.
Recently, I’ve always addressed the title of my post in the first paragraph; obviously, that isn’t the case today. However, that’s what this paragraph is for: It has arrived. Yes, the iPhone has finally arrived, and in concept I will say it looks absolutely awesome. The space (4 and 8 GB) leaves a little to be desired (and no expansion card slot), but it is a widescreen, touchscreen iPod. This really was the video iPod I was waiting for just with phone functionality added on. I’m not going to stop looking at the other players out there, but this is also a serious contender for me. I will admit, however, that the price compared to other players keeps it well out of my impulse buy range: $499 for the 4 GB version and $599 for the 8 GB version. Looking at the price as a phone + iPod nano it’s really not that bad ($299 for a smartphone (price of the Blackjack and other smartphones) + $199 for a 4 GB nano or $249 (+$50) for an 8 GB nano), but when I can get a 60 GB Zen Vision W for $360 off Amazon, I have to wonder if its really worth it.
Personal - Dallas
CES has shown some very interesting things that, given I can convince my parents to pay for some of them, are potential purchases for me later on this year. While I’d love to be proven wrong, I’ve already mentally thought out having to get a Vista PC from someone like Dell. With the DCT (Digital Cable Tuners) shown being external though, maybe there’s still a glimmer of hope that I could make my own (although I’d probably only do so if I couldn’t get one for sub-$1000). There’s also a future product called Windows Home Server that appears to act a lot like what I’ve set up Linux to do on one of our old desktops, so that’s another potential purchase if it can delivers on what it promises (automatic backup/sharing).
Quite a few new video-playing portable media players were shown, casting a greater haze onto what I want my 3G iPod replacement to be. Macworld is tomorrow, so barring the “true” video iPod, I’ll probably start looking at something to purchase before too long, but with a new laptop coming this summer, I guess I really need to think about just how useful one would end up being to me. I only ever use my iPod on long trips, and in our car or on a plane I could have my laptop handy, so maybe this is a niche in my life that’s so small, I don’t really need a device to fill it.
Personal - Dallas
Tomorrow marks the start of school for me again, so I’ll be leaving my house about 9:45 to be sure I get out there in time and have everything I need for my first class at 10:30. School starting tomorrow also indicates that I didn’t get done nearly what I wanted to over the break with FF Tactics and FFX still unbeaten, and none of my three language goals accomplished. Well, I can’t really say that any of that comes as a shock.
So, with the exception of spring break, I’ll only have 112 days until the next time I’m free! Yes, 112 days, as in under 4 months. I guess its the same for the fall also, but it just seems shorter in the spring (maybe because of 3+ months off being the light at the end of the tunnel ;) ).
Personal - Dallas
CES starts tomorrow, and Vista-related Media Center PC stuff is bound to be present in a big way. I know that I’ve covered this before, but here again is my list of what I require in a solution:
- Cablecard/Dual tuners: While these might seem separate, they really go together quite intricately. Currently, I would need to use a cable box to do the channel switching, so that limits me to a single tuner (unless we got another cable box from Time Warner). The Cablecard removes that requirement, so that then opens up the possibility to have a dual tuner setup. In order of my preference, it would be a single dual tuner Cablecard and then two single tuner Cablecards.
- Live TV streaming: Part of this whole thing is a way to get TV down in my dad’s study, so a Media Center Extender hooked up either to his existing monitor or a second (smaller) dedicated one would be my first choice here. This part is actually currently possible with XP, but I’d have to be using a set top box to control the channels and that goes back to the single tuner limitation. Barring that, there is Sony’s LocationFree technology, but I’ve read quite a few mixed reports on its quality and effectiveness.
- PVR + Editing functionality: I not only want to be able to record shows, but edit out the commercials also. Then, transferring them to a PMP would be nice, but not an absolute requirement (assuming the DRM isn’t too horrendous to strip).
I’m happy to play the DRM game as long as everything I want to do is possible. If it’s not, then I guess I’ll either have to make some concessions or just keep looking around for what is possible to do.
Personal - Dallas
I played FF Tactics some today, but I didn’t manage to do anything in it except lose a battle (although through no fault of my own, the computer-controlled target I was supposed to protect got himself killed). I did, however, make progress in FFXI which will hopefully cause my interest in that game to be resparked, at least temporarily until the WoW expansion comes out later this month.
Personal - Dallas
Had I just finished Ocarina of Time, I could tie the title into a witty remark about the game, but Twilight Princess doesn’t really focus on that. With the days counting down for me to go back to school, I’m running out of time in which to accomplish more stuff. I didn’t play any games at all today, but that was in part because I was gone for a good 6 hours. I’ve also been watching some of the Disney Channel shows I “obtained” over the past few days, so that also means no game playing time was available.
I’m not ready for school to start back up, but I am prepared for it. I got most of my books today while I was out doing stuff, so there’s really not much left for me to do before Monday.
Personal - Dallas
No, I didn’t forget to post last night; I was out at UTD and didn’t get home until 1:00 this morning (so therefore couldn’t post). That ended my posting streak at 20, and it will be interesting to see how long it takes me to get close to breaking it.
I beat Twilight Princess today, and overall it was a really good game. Playing it, Wind Waker, and Okami all extremely close to each other makes me see a bunch of parallels between each of the games, and especially the parts of Okami I liked that I thought were weak in TP and vice versa. With this diversion out of the way, it’s time to get back to FF Tactics and FFX.
Personal - Dallas
I was planning on this post saying that on the first day of 2007, I beat Twilight Princess. In reality, that’s not the case, as I didn’t even start playing TP until about 7:00 tonight. From about 11:00 to 6:00 I was watching Disney Channel the whole time with a short break for lunch (dinner occurred after 6:00). When I finally did get around to TP, I made some good progress and brought up my total play time to over 21 hours. None of the other Zeldas measure play time so I can’t really definitively say if this game is taking me longer or not, but I’d wager that it is since I’m not using a guide (and therefore have spent a little, but still considerable when added up, time wandering around) and this game was widely talked about as being one of the longest Zelda games to date. I’ll probably be able to finish it tomorrow, but only if there’s nothing good on DC to watch. ;)
Personal - Dallas