Old News is Old: Google Voice + Gizmo5
So I was looking in to ways to keep in touch in case I get accepted to JET and had be pretty much betting on using Skype. Now I find out Google Voice had acquired the internet service people were using as an intermediary to connect their Google Voice number with Skype. Basically Gizmo5 can forward any calls they receive to Skype and they link with Google Voice. Now in the near future we can pretty much bet there won't be a second step, just drop your Skype account in to Google Voice.
What does this mean? Provided I can get Wifi access, I'll have the equivalent of a free cell phone. That doesn't really mean much if you're in rural Japan but anytime I'm home or maybe in the city areas, I should be good to go. Definitely something I'm going to test out if when I get my hands on an N900.
Oh yeah, Merry Christmas blouses. I hope everyone got a pair of Space Jam Jordans. I know I didn't...
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=04885c9d-e89b-8c9f-9e72-5b20d896ad57)
If I’m Lucky, The End is Near…
- Image via Wikipedia
So I took my last final of the semester on Friday. With any luck, it'll be my last final forever. I don't think I find out what grades are for quite some time. They do graduating senior grades early but I'm not sure how early. Regardless, I should now have time for that blank projects page and regular posts on this blog. Interestingly enough, I have no idea what I want to post about.
I saw Avatar in IMAX 3D, so maybe we'll talk about that. Also, the AutoCast (tentatively titled BlackGear) team is in town. Provided the recent snow clears up, we'll talked about getting together for a live broadcast. I guess in there are a lot of things to discuss.
While you're waiting for me to post again, hit up one of my friends' blogs on the sidebar. I don't know why I'm plugging them in a post, I don't get anything for it. If you're in to Japanese living/culture/stuff: I just started reading "The Hopeless Romantic" thanks to Danny Choo. Hopefully you won't realize how horrible my blog is after seeing all these others and never come back. I really need to plan these posts out because obviously my stream-of-consciousness rantings don't lead anywhere positive when it's late and I have nothing to say.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=bc72f894-958e-46fa-a68b-0dfa8085c905)
Who runs these lyric sites?
I know I haven't been posting regularly, bite me.
Now this is what's running around most of the web for This Boy's Fire by Jennifer Lopez (I have the Ultimate Santana collection -- don't judge):
That's why I fly [Incomprehensible]
Sky fly high, "suavecito" (okay so this is actually incomprehensible)
Or that deuce deuce chrome el Camino
Hope the world is really ready for some fly Latinos
We the chief like Babe Ruth and The Great Bambino
We the truth like Babe Ruth and The Great BambinoNow we didn't really come here to burn nobody
All I wanna do is drink and dance with shawty
There's a legend in the house, here to rock the party
You can toss, drink, blaze and like there's no tamariOops, I'm in my Maria with Carlos Santana
Oops, I mean manyana with Carlos Satana
Oops, It's Ronnie Ray all day with J hot as sauna
We in the building and we feelin' like a 100 degrees
I got a fly chicanita and she's stuntin' with me, so right here
Granted, rap can be really hard at times but really? This bad? C'mon people. The sad thing is, this song is over three years old and the lyric sites are still like this.
What was that? You wanted a real post? This was a real post; don't you see the pic of Jennifer Lopez? I finish school in less than a month then I really won't have any excuses left.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=d7a92039-3f81-400e-beee-b56b76606564)
SEGA’s new Sonic: I really want to have faith…
Sega is trying to make another come back. This time, they're annoucing a 2D HD reintroduction of Sonic. This of course, sends a spetacular tingle up my spine but then I quickly yank myself down to reality. When was the last time they actually pulled off a good Sonic title? Haven't they done enough damage? I feel that they came so close with Sonic Unleashed but they proved that they can't resist the urge to throw in a nice pile of crap with everything good they make. If you play the Sonic Unleashed demo it doesn't feel too bad. It's fast and fun like Sonic Adventure -- play the game and you get smacked with the awful Were-hedgehog garbage. Who came up with that? Have they been properly shot? Hopefully, you buried their body next to the person who gave Shadow guns.
What about the other Sega franchises, why don't we give those another go before we start ripping Sonic to shreds again? I think we're due for another Shinobi game. What happened to finishing up Shemue? A proper Phantasy Star Online title? I want to say lets bring on another Panzer Dragoon but no, lets not. Panzer Dragoon Orta was brilliant -- please don't go screwing that up.
Forget suggesting that Sega actually sit down and bring to the table quality new IP. I doubt they could really at this point. When it seems like they're kept afloat by a bevy of collection releases on every system possible and hitting whatever popular platform they can -- I don't think they have more than two ounces of creativity left. Or if they do, they're keeping everyone locked away in a closet. It's a shame quality fighting games aren't popular. Virtua Fighter is always a solid bet -- it's just when you suck at that game, you know you suck and it takes actual skill to get anywhere decent. The tried and true button mashing tactics that save you in Street Fighter and Guilty Gear don't help much in Virtua Fighter.
Why am I filling the air with such negativity. Let us let 2010 speak for itself and see if Sega still employs a few designers and not just a bunch of marketing executives and representatives.
For the record, I only care to write so much because I actually care if they get it right. I really like Sega and the IPs they created. Even growing up with a Super Nintendo, I was a huge fan of my first Genesis titles: Sonic 2 and Columns. A lot of my better gaming experiences happened on a SEGA system: NBA Jam, Madden 94, Sonic (duh), Comix Zone, X-Men, Virtua Fighter, Street Figher Alpha, Shenmue, and many more. I just really want to see Sega make something right other than Virtua Tennis.
Source: Sega making 'all new' 2D, hi-def Sonic game for 2010
Getting Paid to Be a Billboard: iwearyourshirt.com
I know I'm super-late on this one. I just found out. Apparently, this guy rents out his warddrobe to advertise for businesses. We all know it's a great idea. Frankly, I think someone needs to scale this up and get people in all the major cities doing this. Run the (very) rough numbers:
- 365 days in a year at a price ranging from $1-365
- He has sold 360ish days
My Horrible Assumptions
- He nets an average of $140/day
- He has to cut out about 25% to Uncle Sam
- He shelled out around $5,000 in site development and advertising
- Let's go ahead and take another $5,000 in legal fees
Some horrible math then gives us about $30,000 in "free" income. It's free because all he had to do was wear a bloody shirt and a great many independent professions can spend that time hanging out in public places sneaking a few hours to code, write, draw, etc.
I'm not trying to stomp on his idea or anything. Jason has clearly put a lot of work in to this advertising medium. I really like it, I'm just pointing out how nice of a sidejob this is. It's not a little bit of extra cash, it's a full extra entry-level salary.
I need to find me a gig like this. If he's running days for 2010, I might have to jump on that...
EDIT: He changed the logo for 2010 so the image broke. I permanently fixed it, the new image is now on my server.
SNK drops the ball on KOFXII, no one suprised…
First up, I haven't actually played KOFXII yet. I've been itching to but I'm sorry, I'm too poor. I've just got through reading the Engadget review and I must say, I'm throughly disappointed. I'd say check it out but here are the highlights:
- Missing Characters: King, Yuri, Geese Howard...
- Online Play Lag
- Nothing really new
Okay, lets address this one-by-one shall we? No King?! It's the only character I can actually play well and they get nix her. There's also no Vanessa, one of the newer characters I wanted to learn. I love that they cut down the roster, I just don't approve of the final selection so much.
I was worried about online play not using GGPO, seems that my worries were well founded.
The fact that nothing has really changed in KOFXII is a blessing and a curse. I feel that KOFXI brought a little too much and I didn't really like it. KOFXII was supposed to drop back to '94 roots IIRC but the idea that they reeled back too hard and it's not really fun bothers me.
Hopefully, I'll get a hands on sometime soon and I can give my real impressions but there's no way I'm dropping cash without some serious time with the game.
UPDATE: Looking at the review on ArsTechnica isn't too promising either but it restores some faith that the actual offline gameplay is solid despite missing some favorites. A solid sit-down still to come.
Fitness Blog – Lap #002
It's been a minute since my last fitness update. That's probably because I haven't been running. I played tennis twice since my last post but the last time I ran was yesterday evening. I weighed in and found I'm back over 200 pounds so I know I have catching up to do. The bright side is, I'm still able to complete my 2 mile circuit and yesterday it took me 25 minutes. That ends up being a pretty horrid 12m 30s mile but seeing as I can't spend all my energy on a single mile I'm pretty sure I could take out a mile in 7 minutes. That's still not very good but it's better than 12m 30s. Right now, I'm scaling back to just running the two miles as often as possible. I want to throw in some other workouts later to try to build and tone muscle but for now, I think it can wait.
Side Note: Despite my running (barely jogging at this speed), going up stairs still kick the crap out of me.
Terms That Need to Die #2
Current Trend: Having a PC as opposed to a Mac.
personal computer: a small digital computer based on a microprocessor and designed to be used by one person at a time - Princeton WordNet
No, I'm not saying you should get a Mac instead of a PC. I'm saying a Mac is PC and a Windows-based machine is a PC. They're both PCs and marketing divisions need to stop destroying jargon for their own selfish desires.
Windows != PC
There was an age where we could distinctly divide Apple machines from the rest of the world. That time ended with the death of the PowerPC architecture. Everyone is running on x86, OSX and Vista are interchangable.
On the side, I really don't like how this completely obscures Linux from the whole PC collective. Commercially backed Linux distros like Ubuntu and Red Hat are not to mindlessly ignored or grouped with Windows.
"Hi, we're actually both PCs..."
I Like Fast Cars: Noky and the Hyundai Genesis Adrenaline Tour
This is their rice'd up Genesis coupe they had on display.
I threw up a tweet a few days ago about Hyundai's Genesis coupe. My friend Jan had registered for the Hyundai Genesis Adrenaline Tour and was kind enough to bring me along as his guest.
Oh snap, the big move!
As you may have noticed - my blog is no longer "n4AEGIS." I've decided to move to a seperate top-level domain and my own hosting. Cool? Yes. However, seeing as this is still just another blog why drop all this money? Well, I decided I needed a platform to publish the projects I'm working on and I'd probably need a paid host for that. Yes, there are goodies coming - I only ask that you wait a bit longer.
I also now have a work environment for other forms of web-based development not limited to other websites and web-enabled applications. I don't have some grand roadmap laid out but I'm sure I'll have some neat stuff in the works soon enough. It's about time, right? With graduation on the horizon, I decided it's pretty much now or sometime far in the future when I have far less potential for greatness.
So expect more posts and even more non-blog content. I should probably get a resume on here or something...
