XBOX 360 - Money Saving Tips - Get HD Without an HDTV - Use your laptop wireless instead of spending $100 on Microsoft's Wireless Adapter

You want a next gen console, but you don't have one of those fancy flat screen HD TV's yet. You've just spent $300-$500 on the console/games and you just don't have the money to even think about spending another $500 - $1200 on an HD Flatscreen TV. So what do you do? I found myself in this position last month - I have a flatscreen HD TV but the only catch is that it's only about 15 inches and it's very small and in the kitchen. Not a good place for gaming. I certainly wasn't going to go out and drop 100's more for a total of over $1000+ just to play some darned xbox games...I have 3 standard def TV's and two computer monitors.. so I thought for a moment... and then it hit me! a VGA Cable!


Use a Microsoft VGA Cable to get HD Picture on an old CRT Monitor


We've had HD Screens in our home for a long time.. years even... we just didn't refer to it as 'HD' but infact your computer monitor is an HD picture. You've heard of 720p and 1080i, these numbers refer to the amount of horizontal scanlines creating the picture on screen. Our old standard def TV's can only do 420 but our computer monitors have always been capable of 720, 1080 and beyond. Think of setting your background desktop to 1280x768 - the second number '768' is the horizontal scanline count - it's infact greater than 720! but for industry standards and production it's locked at 720 and 1080 for less confusion on TV equipment.



Doing some research you will find that there is no great difference between VGA and HDMI cables - a lot of people think HDMI is better since it's a newer term - but VGA is equally capable of delivering an HD picture, infact some people prefer it depending on their TV - different TV's will have different results - what looks better for one person may not for another.



I'm now able to play xbox 360 in HD on my 22" computer monitor for only $49.99 (the cost of the VGA Cable). HD Picture for 50 bucks instead of 100's.. pretty good!

WHAT! Microsoft wants another $100 just for that dinky USB Wireless Adapter?! Forget it! Learn how to use your laptop's wireless or nearby computer to get online with the 360 for FREE!

This is rather simple - the xbox 360 comes with an Ethernet cable (mine did, if your's didn't just get one for 15 or 20 dollars.. or less depending on the length you need).

It works like this - you just plug the Ethernet cable into the back of the xbox and the other end into either your Laptop's Ethernet port or your Computer's Ethernet port (if you can get the system close enough to your computer). Chances are there it's not going to work without doing anything but give it a shot - Goto the network settings of your xbox set it all for automatic and click test - if it works just leave it - but it probably won't so read on.

There are two ways to share the internet connection:

1. Simply sharing the connection

2. Bridging connections

Lets start with the easiest first: Sharing Internet

With your xbox turned on and connected to your laptop's or computers Ethernet port goto your Network Settings in control panel.

1.Start>Control Panel>Network Connections

2.Right click your Wireless connection and goto 'Properties' then the 'Advanced' tab.

3. Under 'Internet Connection Sharing' make sure it is checked - and the box below is checked also.

4. Now on the xbox goto the network test screen and do an Xbox live test, NOT a 'connect to computer' test.

Important: Make sure you right click and setup Internet connection sharing on your WIRELESS connection DO NOT click 'internet sharing' for the Ethernet Connection because it was 'nothing to share'.

If this doesn't work proceed to Method 2...

Method 2: Bridging Connections

1.Start>Control Panel>Network Connections

2. Hold down the CTRL key (so you can select to things at once) select your Wireless connection and now select the Ethernet connection it will appear as 'Local Area Connection' or something like that - it may differ. Select both of these by holding CTRL and left click each. When both are highlighted right click on one of them and hit the 'Bridge Connection'.

3. It will think for a moment then you should see a new icon show up with a little 'bridge' picture. This is the new bridged connection which is essentially sharing your wireless with the Ethernet port.

4.Now on the xbox goto the network test screen and do an Xbox live test, NOT a 'connect to computer' test.

Losing My Pokemon Virginity

After the recent purchase of a Nintendo DS I decided after waiting and resisting for 14 years I would finally jump on the bandwagon and try a pokemon game to see what all the fuss was about. I mean after all Pokémon is the second most successful and lucrative video game-based media franchise in the world, behind only Nintendo's own mario series, it wouldn't be right as a video game fan not to partake in this historical experience.

I have faint memories of pokemon's first materialization into our world. It was 1996 and I was in the sixth grade. The pokemon characters were extraordinarily cute with names like 'jigglypuff' , 'squirtle' , and of course everyones favourite 'pikachu'. I grew fond of the cute drawings popping up all over from every form of media even our local newspaper. I loved drawing at the time and would often sketch the pokemon and collect the little action figures. A lot of my classmates were obsessed with the gameboy videogame and the soon following television show. I did not own a gameboy at the time so I was pretty much shut off from experiencing the ever popular game - and from what I gathered from the television show I found it all pretty childish. I would try to watch the show and enjoy it as my friends did, but I just found it so juvenile and thought it was suited more for kindergarten to first graders. I couldn't understand why any of my classmates were captivated by this colorful barely animated 2 frame per second television show, I assumed the videogame couldn't possibly be much better so I just sort of avoided it. I was a die hard sailor moon fan from grade 3 onwards - but I just couldn't latch onto the new pokemon anime sensation at this older age as I once did with the moon princess.

So 14 years later I decide to try gamespot.com's #1 ranked Nintendo DS game - POKEMON: PLATINUM! With rave reviews from fans and multiple gaming websites I couldn't go wrong. I fired up the game with HUGE expectations from it's tremendously positive 14 yr reputation. I'm a huge rpg fan and have played many over the years, I felt ready for this and thought I knew what to expect.

As the game fired up through the first few segments and I was finally able to move my character around my jaw dropped! My first impressions of the game were pretty awful... I found it really slow ... I mean literally slow! my character was walking at a glacier pace I was almost ready to turn the thing off! Luckily I soon received the 'running shoes' and the character was now moving normally like in most rpg's, so I thought ok, here we go, lets play!

I was about to enter my first fight! this happens whenever you walk in 'tall grass'.. excitedly I entered the tall grass. Suddenly the screen flashed and shook! The music turned into tense upbeat battle music! this was it my first battle!! all of a sudden 'Bidoof' appeared to fight me.I had high hopes. I was surprised... it seemed so simplistic.. there weren't even battle animations like in all the previous rpg games I'd played. The enemy was just a static image.. like someone pasted in a .gif image. When I attacked a little flash or fire appeared over their .gif static image. I thought.... wow ...it's 2009 and this is all they can come up with? this sucks! I was used to games 10 years older than this one with awesome battle sequences and characters that moved and jumped around - with super move cut scenes, this just seemed so static, simplistic, and boring.

I wasn't having high hopes for the game so far... the game I created myself last year using RPG maker featured more robust battle animations and environments. How could this game be so popular? The pokemon could only have four moves at a time.. all I did was choose 'fight' 'run' or 'item' or try to catch it. It was so simplistic... and simple.But there-in laid the magic, the fact that it was so.. so... 'simplistic and simple'.

I kept playing. After a few battles I leveled up. A few more battles later I leveled up again and was learning new moves. I was now trying to catch each new pokemon I encountered. I leveled up again, and again. The leveling seemed so fast and rewarding! I would be walking around the play field and next thing I knew a trainer would rush at me and challenge me to a duel. There were things constantly happening to me - new cutscenes - new pokemon - more leveling up - more power moves - more more more!! I just couldn't put the game down!! I was at it now for 4 hours. This simple and by today's standards 'crummy' looking game had me hooked! I caught the pokemon addiction! and finally I saw/experienced what all the fun was about.

The game is very simplistic, but it's very fast paced - you can't even walk through certain areas without scripted sequences happening. You can't get lost either or waste time since there's only one path to each new destination.

It's set up in a way that many events are happening within a short time - whereas other rpg games can drag on and make you go all the way to one location for something and then backtrack or get lost. The pokemon games give you a sense of achievement very rapidly and repeatedly.

It seems very simple on the surface but as you progress the battle system becomes more intricate. Emphasis on 'type' of pokemon: fire,water, dark, electric, grass, etc. starts to come into play. Each different type of pokemon has advantages or extreme disadvantages against other types. As well you can only learn 4 moves at once - for every new move you want to learn you have to delete an old one (usually permanently). This all combines into an increasingly challenging battle system. Even after you beat the game it continues onto a bonus area with even more crazy challenges to compete in. On top of all this you can capture and raise more pokemon to then take online and battle against others over a wifi connection. The game could literally go on forever if you wanted it to! Luckily I escaped, beating it after 28 hours of game play. I took a look at the bonus areas but I just couldn't really devote anymore time to it.

The game is simplistic but it's put together in a really smart accessible way for anyone to play whether your a child or adult there is something here for you. I had a great time with it after I got over the initial bad first impression. I would start the game up and could just not put it down!

Internet Security so good it doesn't let anybody in! The problem with "CAPTCHA"

We've all seen these annoying picture code security checks when trying to register or login at various websites. They are called CAPTCHA's or ""Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart." Their purpose is to in fact prove that the website being accessed or account being created is indeed being created by a human being and not a bot program registering phony accounts. The idea is that the characters are skewed and in 'picture' format that would be too complex for a simple botting program to recognize and only a human can decipher the mangled picture codes.

Here is one from facebook, this one isn't so bad because it's readable. It's still a little confusing... 'Meghalaya'? what the hell is Meghalaya and what the hell is a Wistar?? Sometimes when they are legible you still doubt yourself because the words just seem incorrect and non literate.

Seems like a good idea... That is until you come across Captcha's that look like this:

I mean really.... really now.......... WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?? Good luck trying to decipher all 9 characters correctly within 3 tries.

1: N or W or H or M

2: W or M or ???

3: 8 or R or B or P

4: 0 or O or Q or B or e

5: 1 or 7 or Z

6: U or V or O or D or Q

7: K or k

8: U or V or y

9: P or R or ???

I've never had problems with Captcha's until recently.. actually when trying to create this account on blogger.com. The captcha's were so obscure and unreadable that I entered the wrong one 3 times and you only get 3 chances! I had to wait 24 hours before I could try again. This is a problem.

Nintendo DS - I'm Impressed! Surprisingly good tool for learning.

For the past while I've been taking Japanese classes and studying the language. I eventually plan to move to Japan permanently for 1 year or more. One of the trickiest parts can be just memorizing the 3 alphabet systems, and the thousands of Kanji symbols. I discovered that there were TONS literally 20 or more Japanese learning titles on the DS.. so I thought I'd try some and to my surprise these really are great!

Since the DS features a writing pen Stylus you get great writing practice. Learning new vocabulary and the writings for it on the DS has been SO enjoyable.. so much easier than staring at a textbook, and it sticks with you! The DS really is proving to be an in-dispensable learning tool - it's even been implemented now in the elementary school systems in Japan for learning the characters, and I can see why. Having the immediate interactive feedback, physically writing with your hand/pen, sound, and visual all at once is really incredible. It's like having a textbook that has come to life. The fun little games and drills greatly help with memorization. It's so much more fun and interactive than making your own flashcards. It even tracks your progress over time and can quiz you more so on things your struggling with until your up to par. I think this really is the future of learning ... maybe not the DS itself, but it is a pioneer. I believe one day interactive handheld platforms like the DS will be in every class room.

Windows 7 - Will you jump on board?

Windows 7 is soon to be released - with the final builds already leaked and making their rounds online. So how does everyone feel about Windows 7? Will people actually upgrade this time? or will it go the way of 'Vista'.. being released.. and.. well.. nobody wants it.

I'm very excited for Windows 7 as it's quite an improvement over the resource intensive lag-fest that was 'Vista'. I was most pleased that Windows 7 will feature an 'XP mode' that will emulate and supposedly run most all windows xp programs (Vista could not do this, scaring many xp users that none of their programs would work).

I was planning to jump to Windows 7 right away.. but yet again I find myself hesitant. Let me explain why: When I bought my new computer almost 2 years ago now, it was really great! Had dual-core processors at 2.8GHz and 2GB ram (now 3GB). It was powerful and fast.. I was very excited to get it home from futureshop, preloaded with the 'new' Windows Vista.. I fired up my new powerful machine and was a little disappointed. I found myself buzzing around the pretty interface of Vista opening applications, browsing, doing this and that, and I found it lagging a bit... just slightly, but it was still noticeable and should not have been happening on a brand new PC. I immediately got out my Windows XP cd and DOWNGRADED my brand new pc back to Windows XP. I was very glad I did this because a powerful computer running Windows XP is really great! It's lightning fast, zero lag times, I can have photoshop open, Internet, msn, playstation emulator running, music player, adobe premier, other little games. Tons of things going on with switching between apps - and no lag or hangtime seconds.

CNET UK recently did some benchmark timing tests on the new Windows 7 Read Here. "Windows 7 feels faster than Windows XP and Vista, but it turns out that's not always the case -- sometimes, it's the slowest of the three operating systems." They found Windows 7 to be faster than Windows Vista performance wise, but still not as fast as Windows XP! Which brings me back to my decision.. will I upgrade to Windows 7 right away? Well.. probably not. I'd rather have my quick speed and compatibility, every program I use is Win XP compatible, even all my little downloaded tool things I use like converters for different file formats and my games. Windows 7 offers the 'XP mode' that would try to run my Windows XP applications through an emulator... but compatibility is not guaranteed, and performance through an emulator is reduced since it's emulation.. it's not the real platform. So I get to the thought process of: 'Well.. I should just keep my Windows XP. Everything I have runs perfectly in XP and it's the fastest.. why bother getting something slower and trying to run everything through an emulator just because the interface looks a bit flashier'.

I won't be upgrading right away - but I will when I buy my next new PC - the hardware by that time should have reached a point where it's fast enough to run Windows 7 with zero lag - similar to my current XP setup. Also the issue of security: a brand new operating system is vulnerable to all sorts of malicious software. XP still has years worth of anti virus companies like symantec and norton patching all the little in's and outs so you don't have to worry about any major threats.

What I've been playing recently...

Lately I've been playing two free games for the PC. The first is the newly released 'NeoTokyo Source' - (Which is an addon for half-life 2, you must own hl2 to download this free expansion). You play online in teams trying to 'capture the ghost' or 'team deathmatch'. The production value is really great for a free expansion and the maps are amazingly detailed replica's of tokyo's cityscape.

The second is the free to play Atlantica Online which is one of those 'massively multiplayer games' but you don't have to pay monthly and there are no fees. There are only fee's if you wish to buy extras like special costumes for your characters or other bonus stuff that really has no effect on gameplay. I usually hate these kind of games... and think things like World of Warcraft are just ridiculous, but this one is different because it's 'turn based' so it plays kind of like final fantasy on the console systems, you have your main character and a party of other characters you control and play online with 100's of thousands of other players. I believe it's the only turn based massively multiplayer game in existence right now.

Free Textbooks for school?

I'm not sure how new of a discovery this is to most of you, or if it's even that 'new'. But I was surprised when I found most of the University textbooks I had spent $100's on... probably in the $1000's of dollars on... for free online as downloadable .pdf files through various bit torrents.

I'm not sure what the policy is at print centers, I know they print .pdf files. You could potentially print out a 200 pg textbook in black and white for 10$ or less! Or just print off the few pages you may need at home if you need a hardcopy. I myself like a hard copy of the text in my hands as opposed to reading it off a screen, but if you can handle just reading off a screen then thats $0 you have to pay.

If your starting a new school year and have a giant book purchase list, check first online to see if any are downloadable. Keep in mind bit torrents are legal, but it's probably not legal to download any copyrighted materials(using bit torrents) unless the text is offered on the publishers official website as a free download.

First Screenshots of Microsoft's FREE new Anti Virus package 'Microsoft Security Essentials'

www.lifehacker.com has some interesting new screenshots of the new 'MSE' Microsoft Security Essentials. It will be Microsoft's first full fledged entry into the Anti-Virus competition pool. It will be completely free.. and since made by Microsoft, will work seamlessly with Windows, able to fully dive into all the nooks and crannies of the coding. It will be interesting to see how paid programs like Norton anti-virus will be able to compete in the long term. See the full article and screenshots HERE on lifehacker.

Macbook Vs. PC - $1399 Vs. $799 - Why is the Macbook twice the price (and not even as powerful) ?

Mac Vs. PC The age old debate..., so why pay $600 more for the Mac product?

Quick Answer:
Most Mac enthusiasts will tell you it’s because the Mac OS X is a lot smoother, faster, easier to work with, and looks ‘prettier’. But not to worry Mac users, you can bring your beloved Mac OS X to any PC computer or laptop, so this argument isn’t logical anymore. When Mac started using intel x86 processors (the same ones PC’s use) a couple years back the software became transferable. You can find many guides online showing you how to install OS X on a PC or even Windows on a Mac. As well you can install both at once and ‘dual boot’ selecting which operating system you feel like using upon startup.

Comparison:
Lets take a look at two comparable currently for sale laptops at http://www.futureshop.ca/ , one Mac and one PC.
-HP Pavilion 15.4" Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz $799.99 (Chose this one because the base processors are the same speed.) Link here.
-Apple MacBook 13.3" Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz $1399.99 (Surprisingly this is one of Apples CHEAPEST entrants – I didn’t bother finding a 15” display comparable because they were $2000 and upwards, never be fooled into paying that outrageous price for a laptop.) Link here.

-MacBook
-Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz
-Memory: 2 GB RAM
-Hard drive: 160 GB
-Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M*

-HP Pavilion Laptop
-Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz
-Memory: 4 GB RAM
-Hard drive: 250 GB
-Graphics: Intel GMA 4500MHD*

*Both of these graphics chips aren’t great. Both are integrated chips which share/steal memory from the main system memory, they do not have their own onboard dedicated memory sources. Performance from any integrated graphics chips of this kind will be mediocre – not great for games or intense 3d applications. That being said the PC Laptop has twice the Ram at 4 GB as opposed to the Macs 2 GB to share from, therefore performance may appear slightly better, but probably not by much.

So why is the Macbook almost twice the price with less powerful hardware specs?
As you can see from the comparison the PC Laptop trounces the Macbook at almost ½ the cost and twice the memory and hard drive capacity. Your paying for the Mac brand name, and the look of the hardware pretty much. The smooth white curved casing and shiny white keyboard. It does look very sleek. But you really have to ask yourself is that smart? Is it really worth paying 600$ more for something that’s not as powerful but has slightly shinier smoother outer casing?
Now being able to use the Mac OS X on a PC, there is no reason a consumer needs to pay $100’s more just for the same hardware and outer casings.

But wait! Don’t ‘professionals’ in the ‘industry’ and Graphic Design mostly use Macs?:
No. You will find that it’s pretty equal if you research this debate on Google. This stereotype is in fact mostly due to Apples marketing campaigns – showing advertisements and commercials of people using the Mac’s for ‘creative’ purposes, appealing to more ‘artsy’ types. The industry standard software in graphic design is Adobe Photoshop which is available on both Mac and PC. In fact the newest version of Photoshop (CS4) is NOT available on the Mac OS in 64-bit (only 32-bit) so it won’t be able to utilize as much ram as the PC’s 64-bit version. The 64-bit version would be more useful in a professional setting for working with massive files and billboard type displays.

The issue of Mac’s incompatibility:
The other huge drawback of the Max OS X is compatibility. Let’s face it… the majority of games and software aren’t made for the Mac. It was only within the past few years people finally got their MSN working seamlessly on a Mac without having to use strange work arounds and 3rd party utilities. Infact they even sell a program called ‘Parallels’ to allow you to run windows applications on the Mac! So let’s get this straight… you buy the Mac for twice the price of a PC, then you spend more money buying software that will allow you to emulate PC software on your Mac so it sort of performs like a PC??… Wait a second – why didn’t I just buy the PC!?

Final Thoughts ?
Bottom line is your not paying for better hardware – your paying for ‘cool’. The ‘cool’ you’ve been tricked into through marketing campaigns. So you have to ask yourself is it worth all the extra money or am I a victim of a very clever marketing and social schemes?

When you break it down – here you are in the store. Both machines are equal with the pc specs slightly better. Do you choose the $799 or the $1399 price point? A lot of you will probably answer the Mac for $1399 but you really have to ask yourself why? What has got you so hooked that you’ll shell out $600 more for the Mac (keeping in mind you can put the Max OS X on the PC laptop)? What logic goes through your brain to justify the extra $600 besides the smooth white casing?

So let’s hear it Mac users! I know there’s a lot of you out there. Feel free to debate this issue and leave comments. Convince me why I should buy the Mac!

Browser Battles - Google Chrome 2.0 performs best so far it seems

Take a look at some interesting tests they performed on all the new web browsers at LifeHacker here. They tested out the speed of all the browsers with such tests as: initial bootup (how long it took), managing with 8 tabs open, and memory usage etc. Surprisingly Google Chrome 2.0 seemed to come out on top!

• I personally have all of these browsers and have tested them out. I use Opera the most with Firefox coming in at a close second because I find it performs better on sites like facebook and also the American Eagle & Gap websites were only loading on firefox and IE (although I believe they fixed this with the latest Opera release). I find Opera is just a lot smoother and faster with multiple tabs going at once and I enjoy their download manager. Sometimes in Firefox with lots of tabs open I find it kind of 'lags' and 'hangs' while scrolling or trying to do things, and it really should not when I have 3GB ram and an intel core duo processor, it just shouldn't eat away at THAT much memory (you really can forget trying to put firefox on an older sytem). I'm not sure why I haven't used Chrome that much, it is really fast and smooth, I guess I just get used to having all my bookmarks and things saved in Opera. I will try to start using Chrome more now in the future.