Originally we were looking at cruises for our next vacation but now I am thinking more along the lines of driving across the country to see the Marine out at Twentynine Palms in March. We might camp although the wife doesn't particularly enjoy camping. I wouldn't mind picking up a used RV if I can find one cheap enough. I do still want to take the wife on a Caribbean cruise though it just may have to wait an extra year or two...
ICANN is going to be taking applications for the new domains starting in April and might include such domains as .ebay, .atl, .NYC for example. The suffixes look to be pretty expensive from what I have read about them.
I want something modern but not too ugly. Some of the stuff that I've looked at at the home improvement stores is just awful. I would really like something classy that is very functional as well.
Ah...the redneck riviera. Back in the '80s I really enjoyed going to PC Beach but it has grown out of control and is so developed with high-rise condos and hotels that it is nothing like it used to be. I can remember when the 'strip' really WAS a strip. It was a blast back then. Now there is no strip, at least not one you can walk down and enjoy hanging out with the locals. I think I would prefer Daytona Beach were it my choice. Since it's not they are going to the Panhandle. That's OK, I have to work this holiday weekend anyway and couldn't go even if I wanted to.
As I mentioned in another post somewhere else I picked up a new restaurant this past week. I spent a bit of time there getting to know some of the people. I've definitely got a job ahead of me cleaning it up. The good thing is that I have a good manager there who has really put a lot of hard work in and they are in a sales increase over last year. Now if my other two stores can keep up the same rhythm I will make some decent money.
We had to stop yesterday afternoon and look at equestrian clothing. One of the families that is going to Florida with my wife has a daughter that rides in shows. Her birthday is coming up and the wife wanted to see if she could find something decent for a gift. We didn't see anything that really stood out, maybe next time.
I was reading a story earlier on CNET which I will link to later. It was talking about the fact that Apple has sent a couple of demo units to CEOs in the cell phone industry that have slideout keyboards. That would just be too cool. Most of the iPhone nazis insist that you don't need a keyboard for an iPhone, the built-in touchscreen should be sufficient but I disagree. Right now I am using a Blackberry but a slider iPhone with a QWERTY keyboard would be great. If they do release one it won't be this year but I am a patient man and can wait to see what they bring out...
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I've been talking for months now about rebuilding my HTPC but before I do that I think I am going to have to rebuild MINE. Unfortunately it's been going slower and slower and slower, it hangs and the hard drives are extremely loud. You can always tell when a HD is going to give out soon when it's making that high-pitched whine.I came across the article Building a Quiet PC by Jeff Atwood recently and there are some pretty good tips in there. Even though I don't game much that doesn't mean I don't enjoy an occasional pleasant evening of F.E.A.R. or Half-Life 2 so whatever I build is going to have to be fairly high-powered as well as dual-boot from Linux to Vista to XP. Triple boot I guess I should have said.
Why Linux? I like it. I used to run Debian when I was doing nothing but web stuff back at the end of the 90's but the more I got into gaming and wanted to expand the more I realized that I needed to be running Windows. Heck, for that matter I wouldn't mind getting a MAC and the Parallels software (I think it's called) and checking that out. Needless to say whatever I start running will have to be powerful and versatile but it doesn't mean that it has to be LOUD.
Cross-Posted at MyHTPC.
PLYMOUTH, MI - June 17, 2008 - With the backing of industry powerhouse games and software developers and publishers, Stardock today announced the launch of its next-generation digital distribution platform, Impulse (www.impulsedriven.com). Impulse is a cohesive, integrated virtual platform for consumers and developers that is designed to simplify buying, supporting, and developing PC games and applications for Windows XP and Vista.
"Impulse is a platform first, a store second," said Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock Corp. "Our primary objective with Impulse is to address the issues users have with their Windows experience today. That includes being able to boot up a new PC, install Impulse, and then be able to press a button and have it install all of your software and games with one click."
To this end, Stardock has been working with major PC game publishers and software developers to bring as many titles onto Impulse over the next several months. For developers and publishers, Impulse supports localized currencies, custom pricing models for affiliates, exclusive store items on a per-partner basis, publisher controlled availability, and more. For consumers, Impulse is expected to have the largest selection of digitally-available software on the market within its first year of operation. Currently Impulse features more than 100 games and software applications.
Stardock is currently working with premier game and software companies including Epic Games, THQ, AVG, iolo, Gas Powered Games, Hothead Games, Ironclad Games, Meridian4 and many others.
"Impulse is, by far, the most advanced digital distribution platform we've seen, and we're extremely excited to take advantage of the features of Impulse Reactor," said Chris Taylor, CEO of Gas Powered Games. "It's easy to use, has awesome capabilities for developers, and it doesn't tie consumers to a single digital distribution platform."
Continued Wardell, "Impulse is designed to help consumers get the full use of their PC. For example, a user who has purchased multiple programs over the years is left hunting for CDs and registration numbers when setting up a new machine, and their data may be scattered across multiple USB drives and other computers. If the user has games, it can be needlessly complex to find and set up multiplayer games and keep up to date on drivers."
Impulse addresses these issues; once a user purchases a program, it is automatically associated with their Impulse account. Users can update or re-download a given program when they set up a new machine or as needed. In addition, Impulse allows users to associate programs with their Impulse accounts even if those programs weren't purchased through Impulse. For example, a user who purchases a game from their local retailer or a different digital distribution service would be able to associate their purchase with Impulse if the program's publisher takes advantage of the free option. Additionally, Impulse supports refunds for users who have technical issues with a game or application.
"Digital distribution empowers independent developers like Hothead and is exactly what the game industry needs today," said Vlad Ceraldi, president of Hothead Games. "Impulse will offer more choices to gamers and developers alike--we are truly excited about the games we will bring to Impulse, starting with our first game series, On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness."
Impulse will also provide a virtual platform called Impulse Reactor, a set of server-side features for developers that will work even if the user doesn't have the Impulse client installed. Impulse Reactor will include support for virtual drives for saved game data, multiplayer matchmaking, game rankings, NAT negotiation for multiplayer games, friends lists, and support forums.
Also unique to Impulse is its distribution model. Companies and individuals will be able to distribute their own branded version of Impulse starting in mid-August, and every time a user creates an account with an affiliated distributor, that distributor will receive a percentage of the gross revenue of any future purchases.
Amongst the first distributors of Impulse will be AMD, which will be distributing Impulse as part of their Ruby ROM content disk that accompanies their graphics cards as well as from the AMD Game! website.
Darren McPhee, senior marketing manager for gaming at AMD said, "We are excited about the potential of Impulse to help enhance the user experience of our customers. With the continuing advances in PC technology, we see Impulse as a terrific way to help bring these advances to our user base."
Impulse can be used by developers, publishers, and even retailers. "Digital distribution shouldn't be seen as a threat to our retail partners, rather as an opportunity," said Wardell.
By passing Microsoft's stringent testing procedures, Impulse has been Certified for Windows Vista. Applications that receive this recognition have been independently tested to assure the highest levels of compatibility, functionality and reliability and must meet both Microsoft's own security guidelines and the privacy standards set for by the Anti-Spyware coalition.
"Microsoft is pleased that Stardock has earned the Certified for Windows Vista software logo for their Impulse application," said Jeff Price, senior director in Windows Client Product Management at Microsoft Corp. "This highlights Stardock's commitment to providing its customers with higher quality applications that deliver a more secure, reliable and compatible experience with Windows Vista."
"We are excited to be working with Stardock on the launch of Impulse. We believe that through Impulse, the iolo brand, and System Mechanic in particular, will be introduced into a promising new market. Through Impulse, consumers will be able to benefit from having access to a variety of software applications, games and drivers through a single platform," said Tim Weinzirl, business development manager, iolo technology.
Stardock will be releasing Impulse in three phases. Today marks the initial launch of the Impulse client, with the immediate availability of titles from multiple PC game publishers and software developers. Phase two, scheduled for mid-August, will include Impulse Reactor and the beta of MyImpulse, a utility that will allow developers to automatically submit their games or software to Impulse under a streamlined, uniform royalty agreement for moderation. Phase three will be launched in early 2009 and will greatly automate the ability for developers to publish their games and software on Impulse as well as include virtual drive management tools.
To learn more about Impulse visit www.impulsedriven.com. Impulse is also included on the retail version of Stardock's new PC strategy game, The Political Machine 2008.
About Stardock
Stardock is one of the world's leading developers and publishers of PC games and desktop software. Its PC games include Sins of a Solar Empire, the highest rated and best selling PC strategy game of 2008 as well as the critically acclaimed Galactic Civilizations series. Its desktop software includes Object Desktop, WindowBlinds, and a host of other programs for customizing the Windows experience.
Nice watches aren't the only thing you will find at LA Police Gear though. They also carry a range of body armor, footwear, holsters an various other items that you might want to look at. Pretty cool stuff actually.
CBS is reporting that for the first time, Facebook got more visits in a month than MySpace did. That's pretty much a no-brainer and if you use the social networking sites you know why. I have accounts on both services and from what I understand Facebook is much more easy for developers to access and create applications for. I use several of them on Facebook to integrate with my blogs, for instance. MySpace is kludgy and haphazardly built from what I have been told.
There is also the aspect that Facebook is just more ascetically pleasing to the eye. Ever happened on a MySpace page that you can barely navigate, much less actually read? Seems to be most of them actually.
That's why I love the Internet. Anything I need that I cannot get locally at a decent price I can usually find online. I buy my shoes online and I get quite a bit of my business supplies and printing done online as well. VistaPrint offers great professional printing at a low price. Low enough that I can actually get extras for later. That's one of the other things about having a restaurant. Dirt and grease. Not matter what I hang up and whether it be on the wall, windows or bulletin boards, it gets nasty quick and I like to have extra replacements to hang up as needed.
Besides window signs Vista Print also offers checks and business cards, stamps and announcements and even car magnets. If you work at home or don't have a permanent office car magnets are a great advertising strategy. I also like magnets much more than bumber stickers for obvious reasons. What do you do with the stickers when you want to sell or tradein your car? Magnets are much easier and cleaner.
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I used to love camping when I was younger. I still like the idea of camping but I much prefer doing it from inside a hotel room now. One thing the wife and girls love to do is to go to Disney World but staying at their resorts and eating three meals a day inside the parks is quite cost prohibitive. We manage to go once every three years so far and even then it's tight. I think we spent upwards of $6500 this past trip and I am still feeling the pinch, probably will be for quite a while.One thing Disney does have is a campground at one of it's resorts, the Wilderness Resort, and it's about 10% of the cost of staying at one of the nicer ones. Heck, we could afford to go every year at that price, but the trick is getting the wife and kids to go for it.
There are some pretty cool new camping items that make roughing it much easier, as the video shows...
Image via Wikipedia
While we were in Florida last week the wife was afforded the opportunity to watch the Space Shuttle Launch. Not from right there of course but Disney is actually not too far from the Space Coast so you get a pretty good view as the shuttles take off.
During the flight crew members Michael Fossum (pictured to the right) and Ronald Garan Jr take a spacewalk in order to do some work on the ISS' new lab, Kibo.
The raw video from the Associated Press shows a portion of the space walk.
Image by twofivethreetwo via Flickr
The Wii Fit went on sale Wednesday and flew off the shelves promising to get you in shape!
So do you think it's worth it? I won't give up my gym membership...
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This looks pretty cool. I am much more of a fan of HTPC units but for someone who wants something simple this little black box that grabs movies and TV shows from Netflix from Roku really looks neat. I wouldn't mind playing with one for awhile simply because I do have a Netflix account and the wife and girls love to watch the movies on their PC as well as get them mailed to us.
As time goes by I will continue importing them into the site. Anyone interested in helping out let me know. I have no spare time for this unfortunately but if you are interested in working a bit on the site, or heck, even becoming an author here, let me know.
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