 Posts from other blogs and news-sources are in smash's shared links. (check-it)--- Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Underground Web-Browser released for the PSP v1.5.Permalink: 7/27/2005 05:17:00 PMIf you don't feel like upgrading to 2.0 and losing the executable functionality for home-brew games (from the memory stick), a web browser has surfaced that's fully compatible with software version 1.5. (not 1.5.1 or 1.5.2... just 1.5) Anyway, the bad news is that it's in Chinese... so it'll take you a second to figure out. The good news is that you can still type in regular, English characters by pressing the "Select" button to change the character-set on the entry screens. Pretty damn cool, comes bundled with a simple portal. You can move around with the arrow keys. Pressing Triangle seems to bring up the menu... which options are Back, Forward, and Home. (I think) Since it's asian form-factor (at least on my console since it's the Japanese edition), the functionality of 'O' and 'X' are swapped. Again, press 'Select' to change from Chinese character entry to the English Alphabet and Numbers, then press the left GREEN button at the top twice to continue to the URL. (it's the "OK" button, the other is cancel) View the README.TXT file for install instructions. Download: pspbrw.rar --- Monday, July 25, 2005
Microsoft "Virtual Earth" sucks.Permalink: 7/25/2005 01:08:00 PMAside from poor functionality, black-and-white arial photography, and bad design, Microsoft's new "Virtual Earth" (we'll call it MSN Maps) is pretty bad. Most, if not all, of the maps are out-of-date, and the site is slow and buggy. The worst feature is definitely when you zoom-in on the Maps, it stretches them out in your browser a few times before loading the next level in... which is all blurry. Why would they add a feature like that!? Anyway, the maps are WAY old. I've highlighted the fact (in yellow) that MSN still thinks the Twin Towers are standing in lower Manhattan. Lame.  So basically, there's no reason to use this service because Google Maps already offers better features and an overall cleaner experience. Plus, since they kicked off "Hybrid" mode a few days ago (even before this MSN Maps service was available), you can now see road maps clearly placed over satellite imagery. Anyway, don't use MSN Maps. Use Google maps instead: -- http://maps.google.com/ UPDATE: Another article of interest, the fact that Apple's HQ is completely missing from MSN Maps. Hah, coincidence? We'll never know: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/25/msn_earth_deletes_aple/ UPDATE #2: I guess some of the newer maps ARE in color. Good to know. "Family Guy" Movie leaked TWO MONTHS early!Permalink: 7/25/2005 01:04:00 PMNot really much else to say... lol. 
Link --- Sunday, July 24, 2005
Half-Life 2 on Sale at CompUSA for $20Permalink: 7/24/2005 05:22:00 PMInstant-Savings, too. None of this Mail-in Rebate fiddle-faddle. :P I just went over and picked up a copy. (It's an in-store only deal.)  The biggest problem I ran into was that I didn't have a PC to play it on. SO, I started scrapping some parts together and eventually came up with an AMD Duron 1.2GHZ system (with a Thermalake fan... I should over-clock it) with like 390MB of RAM and a TNT2 Graphics card. Bleh... the TNT2 would definitely be a problem. My brother's old PC had a ATI Radeon 9000 in it, but his room was locked, so I had to put a ladder up to the window, climb in, and swap it with my TNT2. Ta-da, mission accomplished. We'll see if the game'll actually run at 1280x1024 with such crumby hardware. (I doubt it.) --- Saturday, July 23, 2005
About this XBOX 360 Leak Non-sensePermalink: 7/23/2005 04:55:00 PMGuys, this is a definite marketing ploy. First off, chances are of that kid having a digital camera that clear, yet nothing in his house, is pretty slim. (And that quality's way too good to be a cellphone camera that kid would have.) However, that aside, how the HELL was he taking pictures of himself?? The chances are of him setting the camera like that with a timer or a tripod... uhh... pretty slim. I doubt his dad helped him take the pictures. Am I missing something? UPDATE: I was missing something... in-that his friend took the pictures, apparently. This whole thing is barely plausible, but most companies, including Microsoft, would never let something like that out of the building in reality. I don't really buy their story... there're barely any situations they can't re-create in a lab. Link --- Friday, July 22, 2005
mobile17 no longer for sale on eBay.Permalink: 7/22/2005 06:36:00 PMI had a sudden change of heart. Best CD for Driving.Permalink: 7/22/2005 02:58:00 AMBilly Corgan's new mix (formally of Smashing Pumpkins, Zwan, both good) is pretty sick. It's good just to blast in the background while bombing around in a VW Golf GTI... or anything else ridiculously sporty. My favorite songs: 2. Mina Loy (M.O.H.) 3. The CameraEye 4. Tolovesomebody (the CD's hit) 6. DIA -- The album's more of an experience, but even just these songs are great for driving around. To pick-up the whole album... ++ Amazon ($13.99), or iTunes ($11.99). In addition, I recommend the song "Liki Cat". It's a few months old, but not bad for those slow, cloudy days. Enjoy. 
Ooops.Permalink: 7/22/2005 02:55:00 AMI guess we'll be seeing a new episode of systm soon. Kevin Rose: the beep of your IM just jacked a take in our shoot :P Link --- Monday, July 18, 2005
--- Saturday, July 16, 2005
A Big Announcement.Permalink: 7/16/2005 12:26:00 PMFor my 200th's blog post, I wanted to say that there are big changes around the corner. In that, I've decided to sell mobile17 -- my website for free ringtones and graphics. Why? I'm dying to move onto other projects, and I need the up-front money to get going on all of them.. digg this story | view story I know this may come as a shock to some, but hopefully the transaction to the new owner will be smooth and things will be more or less the same. It won't bear the same ol' smash feeling of things, though. Wish me luck. UPDATE: I pulled the auction a while ago. Link I am still somewhat in the position to sell the site, but definitely not on eBay. Link --- Thursday, July 14, 2005
MacWorld Boston is/was awfulPermalink: 7/14/2005 08:55:00 PMSince I live nearby, I decided to check out this year's MacWorld Boston. A lot of people said it was better that last year... but I totally disagree. Bottom-line: It sucked. I left not 5 minutes after I got there. (Lucky thing I had free admission, since if I'd paid for that I would have punched myself in the face.) Instead, I went and jammed on the drums at my friend's house. Was awesome. --- Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Fujitsu's 'Flexible' LCD ScreenPermalink: 7/13/2005 12:30:00 PMYou always hear about Korean/Japanese tech companies developing new forms of LCD screens... but I've yet to be impressed, until now! Fujitsu's new screen, shown below, is actually being curved while perfectly displaying an image. Now THAT's cool. Plus, it apparently uses no power at all. 
Link --- Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Mac OS X Updates, New CellphonePermalink: 7/12/2005 08:57:00 PMApple must have heard my pleas, as they've released both an iSync update and Mac OS X update. I haven't been this happy about OS X since 10.2.4 came out. ;) So basically 10.4.2, the new update for Tiger that was released today, fixes a bunch of Dashboard slowness. Even though the widgets still take a while to load properly... at least it's not lagging the entire machine. Not bad, but not perfect. There were some other fixes as well, but I didn't pay any attention to those and can't remember what they are. ---- In addition, the iSync update introduced official compatibility with my new cellphone, the Sony Ericsson K750i. It's only available in Europe and Asia at the moment, but I just picked one up off eBay.  This phone is fabulous. On eBay, it cost about $400 and does the following: - It has a full featured phone, of course. - a 2 megapixel Cybershot-style slider camera on the back (with flash) (it records video and takes pictures) - a Memory Stick DUO slot (64MB chip included, stores around 120 pictures) - full blown MP3 player and FM RADIO - Bluetooth, Infrared, E-Mail, Text/Picture/Video Messaging, all that. - Video player. - 3D Games. (comes with a combat flight simulator and tennis, both in full 3D) There are a lot of cool Easter Eggs with the phone too, such as the tool to use the camera's flash as an LED Flashlight. It can also print photos you've taken wirelessly via Bluetooth to compatible HP printers. Cool stuff. I took some pictures with the camera. Some of them came out pretty poorly actually (for best results use a real camera) but they're not bad. A lot of them were only okay since it was a dark day and I had the flash off. There are a lot of settings you can tweak on the camera portion, and I didn't really mess with any of these so whatever. -- http://flickr.com/photos/smash/tags/k750i/ Here's a quick video I took of my dog (without sound) playing tug-of-war with a toy: -- MOV00002.mp4 Here's the demo video that came with the phone... very nice. -- K750iDemoTour.mp4 Both of these videos play fine on the phone. The speaker on the phone is very loud, as well, but has an easily controllable volume via the toggle on the side. This same switch is also used for digitally zooming the camera for photos. Anyway, I highly recommend this phone to everybody. In some areas with older GSM towers, you might get worse reception than with some other phones since this is the European model, but I've honestly had zero problems. Don't worry, it's awesome. :) --- Monday, July 11, 2005
Free SkypeOut MinutesPermalink: 7/11/2005 06:07:00 PMDon't forget to claim your 10 free SkypeOut minutes! As much as I don't like Sharman Networks, you can't argue with free. All you have to do is login to the linked page TODAY (the 11th of July, 2005) and click the claim gift button at the top of the page. Link FeedBurner installed.Permalink: 7/11/2005 02:00:00 PMI added FeedBurner links for RSS/XML here on my blog since they offer such a great service. Since I just set this up, there are ZERO readers via FB. Let's try to move the reading from my other, older feeds, to this... :) Link Oprah on Google MapsPermalink: 7/11/2005 01:12:00 AMIf you haven't seen this yet................ it's a maze.... lol. 
Link --- Sunday, July 10, 2005
The "Search Dog"Permalink: 7/10/2005 05:44:00 PMThis is honestly the most pointless feature of Windows XP. It was cool for like five minutes.  Why is this stupid? Because when you're trying to find something, chances are you're in a rush and don't have time to just browse for it. The "Search Dog" takes forever to load and uses up valuable system resources. Stupid M$. --- Saturday, July 09, 2005
Spotlight on Grand Theft Auto 2's Music (GTA2)Permalink: 7/09/2005 10:44:00 PMGrand Theft Auto 2 for the original Playstation was one of my favorite games. Of course, it's now available for FREE download (GTA2) from Rockstar Classics (totally legal), which adds to the awesomeness of the game. The PC version was the best one, especially because you could play at night time as well. Anyway, back then, the game was a lot more silly. On the Playstation, the 'O' button on the controller was dedicated to burping and farting while walking around. (This was removed for GTA3.) However, the overall feel of the game was a lot better, and GTA3 was my overall favorite due to its similarities to its predecessor. (Cool Fact: GTA3 was the last of the series, so far, to feature both a residential, commercial, and industrial area as before.) The radio stations in GTA2 were a complete joke. There were goofy commericals for drugs and whacko DJs. One of the stations, I believe, is for a religious fanatics. One of the songs, by "Reverend Rooney and the Rocksta Choir" goes: "Je-sus my saaaaviour!! My faaavorite flaaavor!" ...LOL. :D Then he goes on to talk about Angel Dust while people are cheering in the background... haha. Since the game's available for free download now, I think I can offer this song off the game's soundtrack for free, as well. Enjoy. God Bless All The Universe.mp3 (4.1MB) --- Friday, July 08, 2005
Amazon's 10th Birthday Celebration!Permalink: 7/08/2005 08:08:00 AMThis is so cool. In celebration of its 10th anniversary, Amazon is having some lucky customers' orders delivered by celebrities! Link Phreak with your CellphonePermalink: 7/08/2005 07:05:00 AMNow that most mobile phones can play full-audio ringtones, you can 'redbox' payphones a bit more casually. (if you find a payphone that it is still compatible with, of course) In rural areas, which might have a lot of older payphones but no cellphone towers or coverage, this could come-in-handy! I put together this nice ringtone with two quarter-deposit tones spaced evenly. It actually sounds like a nice, polite ring! "But smash, why would you need a payphone if you have a cellphone?" -- You never know. Either way... obviously you want a redbox ringtone. It's the phone company's fault if the coin deposit tones match the frequencies of the blips on your ringtone! :) Throw this MP3 tone on yo' phone: redbox.mp3 Enjoy. Mockingbirds are 'mocking' cellphone ringtones.Permalink: 7/08/2005 04:13:00 AMIf birds are mocking your tone, that means it sucks and you need a new phone. :) Then you can use mobile17... hehe. "Arizona mockingbirds are picking up and repeating some cell phone ring tones, said Bob Witzeman, conservation chairman for the Maricopa Audubon Society. You can thank the avian species' ability to mimic, combined with their exposure to phone-infested public places, he said." I doubt they'd mock my tone... a guy starts like yelling like 4 seconds into it, haha. Link --- Thursday, July 07, 2005
"London Bomb Blasts" Flickr PoolPermalink: 7/07/2005 02:13:00 PMUsers are actively collecting photos of and discussing the situation surrounding this tragic event. Link --- Wednesday, July 06, 2005
"World of Warcraft Unfinished Area"Permalink: 7/06/2005 05:18:00 PMI'm not a fan of RPGs per-say, but I thought this was pretty cool. This chic's dial-up crapped out while playing World of Warcraft (WoW) and when she went back on, the game had glitched her character into an inaccessable area! (Blizzard is still developing it, and they built a wall around it for that.) "The area I was in was an area that is inaccessible from the outside world. Blizzard actually built a wall in-game that blocks all travellers from going to this area. After looking at my map, I was PAST this wall! So I decided to look around and I saw some very weird things such as an extremely tall, skinny wall, and places where textures would just suddenly change. Check out the pictures! If you wanna contact me in-game, I'm on the Terenas server with the character name Ayoshen." Pretty cool. Check out the pictures on the linked page. 
Link --- Tuesday, July 05, 2005
How to play the iTunes 500-millionth Song Competition without actually Buying anythingPermalink: 7/05/2005 11:46:00 AMfrom Apple's fine-print: http://www.apple.com/itunes/500million/ 1. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. 3. How To Enter. You will automatically be entered into the Promotion by: 1) downloading a song from iTunes (any free downloads will be deemed an ineligible entry); or 2) a free alternative means of sending an e-mail to Apple at itunes500@apple.com via the iTunes "Tell a Friend" feature (a song download or Tell a Friend e-mail will be deemed an "Entry(ies)"). The "Tell a Friend" feature can be easily accessed at iTunes by selecting a song, and clicking the "Tell a Friend" link that is displayed for that song. One Entry will be automatically submitted for each song downloaded or Tell a Friend e-mail sent. The Promotion begins following the downloading of the 480,000,000th iTunes song, and ends with the downloading of the 500 millionth Entry ("End Date"). Only Entries submitted in this time period will be accepted. Ta-da. So basically, here's what you do to enter the content as many times you want: 1. Go into the iTunes Music Store. 2. Click on any Album or Song or whatever. 3. Click on 'Tell a Friend' at the top. 4. Send the message to 'itunes500@apple.com'. (just leave a blank message) 5. And you're all set. :) When you're done, be sure to digg this story. :P --- Monday, July 04, 2005
Idiot eBay Bargain-HuntersPermalink: 7/04/2005 03:52:00 PMRight now, I'm selling my MOTOROLA RAZR V3 (and also a stick of laptop RAM) on eBay. It's tricked out with a video-camera software upgrade, MINT condition, and all the other usual cellphone fiddle-faddle. So the problem is that I started the auctions on Friday and set a three-day length... and then realized on Sunday that they'd be ending on the 4th when everyone was on vacation. D'oh! However, this didn't stop a few eBayers who thought they were getting a good deal from e-mailing me and asking to buy the item early for the starting price. I started the auction at $199, but then extended it to like Thursday of this week and set the price to $1... so people can just bid to what it's worth. Fair, and a good deal for me. Now let's break this down. I got several e-mails saying everything from "I'll offer you $220 total if you end the auction now" to "if I pay you $200 will you end the auciton early for me?" -- This completely goes against my pricing intention, yet these brain-dead people thought they were getting a bargain! Well, wouldn't that be a great deal. :) New Motorola RAZR V3 GSM (Unlocked) -- $599 (it cost me $499) The fact that it's used: -$300; The fact that it's been upgraded: +$75; The fact that it's in mint condition: +$50; Therefore, I expect the phone to sell for at least: $350; I mean, were those offers a joke? I'm so insulted. :P Today, when the auction was about to end, I was getting e-mails from these bargain hunters saying "where'd the item go?" when they were presented with the $1 Thursday deal. Hah... they probably crapped their pants. :) Anyway, that's it for now. Link a 'The Broken' surprise!Permalink: 7/04/2005 03:43:00 AMThe Broken sez... "Smoking the ganj' is totally l337." :) (not a Photoshop... haha.) 
--- Friday, July 01, 2005
"Complete Engine Overhaul Service"Permalink: 7/01/2005 11:51:00 PMThis video changed my life. :) Link The Guide to Laughing Online (How-To Dictionary)Permalink: 7/01/2005 11:12:00 PMWhen some people laugh online, they don't actually know what they're saying. Silly them... let me clarify the terminology. :) haha = A casual laugh. ha ha = A "Nelson" style laugh from the Simpsons, usually at someone else's expense. Hear sample. hah = Something you don't really think is that funny, but you're laughing more-or-less to be polite and to merit the honor of the other person trying so hard to be funny. heh = This goes by the same terms as 'hah', but what you're laughing at usually wasn't supposed to be funny. For example: "I'm such an idiot." -- "heh." hehe = Generally, the other person has said something cute or crafty that's either made you feel horny or malicious. :) If this is not the appropriate response, then a slap in the face may be necessary! lol = Giving this response means you just heard something that was actually 'laughable'-funny, and you actually laughed on the other end... rather than just smiled and/or made a witty come-back. Congratulations to the person you're chatting with. LOL or lolol = Think of this as lol, squared. Chances are you will remember laughing about this in a few days/weeks/months/years since it was funnier than a lot of the other stuff that's happened. rofl, lmao, or rotflmao = These used to be a creative way of laughing other than the typical 'lol', but generally the only people that use these are complete losers. (Yes, I mean you Nate.) Typically, these LOSERS use these in place of 'heh' or 'hehe', and sometimes 'haha'. That's all I can think of right now. I'll add more stuff later if I forgot any. PSP Games to run from a Memory Stick Hack only Half Finished...Permalink: 7/01/2005 04:36:00 AMNOTE: This is pure hypothesis backed with casual research. If you like it, digg this story, but I haven't spend enough time playing with the PSP's software and data. I was checking out the recent hack for Lumines that lets you run the game from a PSP memory stick... but people were complaining that there was no sound. The reason for this is simple. One of the files you change the path of to the memory stick is what basically functions as the index of all of the game's files. Here's an excerpt of '/PSP_GAME/USRDIR/mgp.ufl' from a copy of Hot Shots Golf -- "/PSP_GAME/SYSDIR/BOOT.BIN", "D:\UMD_HSGP_000_000000\PSP_GAME\SYSDIR\BOOT.BIN", 1968, 3721520, 1 "/PSP_GAME/USRDIR/movie/mv00.pmf", "D:\UMD_HSGP_000_000000\PSP_GAME\USRDIR\movie\mv00.pmf", 4064, 6111232, 'UMD_HSGP_000_000000' -- This corresponds to UMD disc's unique ID... so loading it from the MS isn't going to work. I've removed my ID and replaced it with zeros since I didn't want anyone else to know it. ;) Who knows why it's using a 'FAT' style directory system all-of-a-sudden (in terms of the 'D:\'), but replacing it with various other drive letters from E to G didn't work... as with 'fatms'. As you can see, there are direct relationships in this file for this particular game to the game's UMD Disc path. That's why, if you load from the Memory Stick with the UMD Game Disc in, it works fine; but without it, games other than Lumines fail. For some reason, Lumines seems to function otherwise. I'm not sure if it's possible, at this point, to modify this file to function from the Memory Card instead, unfortunately. I've tried some combinations without luck. Let me know if there are any results... this file can be casually edited with Notepad (on Windows) and TextEdit (on the Mac). (or 'vi' on *nix, of course) |
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