Gadzooki

The Wonders of Dual Displays

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Oh yeah the wonders of Dual Display can be wonderful and it definitely increases productivity. The very nice thing about the technology today is that video cards have the ability to run multiple monitors using one computer, or a laptop. Now it’s either you choose to “mirror” your display or use another setting to “extend” your monitor to allow the cursor freely move from the primary display to the second if it was all one surface. You can move Applications , icons, and all other neat things onto the secondary monitor and start taking advantage of the increased desktop real estate. With this setup, you computer becomes more convenient and fun to use. Making you more productive and happy, if you know what I mean.

Personally, I love all the space I see it gives me freedom because I’m not cramped looking at my laptop with a 15 inch display, now for my Dual Display setup on my Laptop and 21 inch flat screen monitor I put my Browser and some of my word processing software on the bigger screen, then put my IM, Email Client, Media Player on the Laptop screen so I get double the fun and double the workload done. And the most important part of Dual Displays is Playing Games on one screen and doing work on the other, that actually boosts my morale on blogging. I can work and play all day and not be hassled by blaming myself that I played all day and didn’t get any work done. Because I have Windows Vista on my laptop, I never had any problem with graphic cards and stuff, since Windows Vista would need an awesome criteria of specs for it to be able to run properly. So 3d gaming is a go!, Dual Displays… Better! Imagine 8 hours of work, while you’re working on the other screen you look on your other screen and you’re running Civilization and you’re currently controlling and amassing your empire. So Dual Displays is the way to go and the only thing left is to add more screens. How about Quadruple Displays? anyone?

Bungie Leaving Microsoft

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There’s been rumors flying around, that Bungie makers of the Game Halo, is leaving Microsoft and is going to set out, to stake a claim in the gaming world to become independent company. An issued press release from Microsoft states that Bungie is about to to “embark on a path to become an independent company.”

Bungie, a company owned by Microsoft has been making loads of money and with the recent success of Halo 3, in my opinion they’re well-equipped to be independent, Good for us gamers, we should expect the same kind of commitment and focus on the Xbox Platform and as well as opening up to other gaming platforms too. As Harold Ryan, studio head for Bungie said, “This exciting evolution of our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally in our mission to create world-class games,”. “We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft platforms; we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios; and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through Halo and beyond.”

If my memory serves me correct Bungie still has several projects up their sleeves such as Halo Wars, the Peter Jackson project, new Halo 3 downloadable content, and maybe Halo 3 for PC.

Now let see what happens, and hope for the best, and may there lot’s more Halo games to follow.

Remembering MacGyver the Uber-Geek

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MacGyver
Ahh Yes…MacGyver the uber geek…the idol of engineers, the basis of geeks, cool but techie, resourceful in a very, Renaissance man -like manner and fashion, he uses his knowledge of science, technology and outdoorsmanship to resolve what are often life or death crises. With nothing but a Swiss Army Knife and a roll of duct tape commonly known, to some degree, as “MacGyver-tape”. Since the MacGyver is the basis of everything tech-related I had to post it here too.

MacGyver according to Wikipedia
Angus MacGyver is a highly intelligent, optimistic action hero who prefers non-violent conflict resolution wherever possible. He refuses to carry or use a gun due to a childhood accident with a revolver that resulted in the death of a friend.

“Really, I never knew his name was Angus?” Watching MacGyver as a kid, all I can remember that he always introduced himself as MacGyver, “My name is MacGyver”, his friends never called him by his first name, always MacGyver, and that sticked in my mind.

Macgyver according to the Dilbert Principle
MacGyver is in the list of Sexually Irresistable Men in technical professions. MacGyver is part and basis of geek life, Engineers much like Dilbert tend to idolize and be like MacGyver…

–And as Pete (Dana Elcar) would say “His name is MacGyver. He can fix anything. He could fix a computer with a hairpin and a piece of duct tape.”

Impact of MacGyver in Culture

This coined the words :

MacGyverisms — thinking like, being like … who else MacGyver…

to do MacGyver — to do something that MacGyver would do when a situation calls upon you to do the impossible. Fixing something by adapting locally-available parts…

a MacGyver — a person who is knowledgeable or skilled at a technical subject…

Now if ever you are in a situation where the world is against you, remain calm, think positively, think geek, think uber-geek, think like MacGyver and always remember the words… WWMD? or What Would Macgyver do?…

Wanna watch the Intro to start reminiscing.. CLICK HERE

A Total Lunar Eclipse : August 28, 2007

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With news of the recent total lunar eclipse, interest in this heavenly phenomenon has spaked anew. Here are the eclipses that had occurred earlier this year and will happen in during the remainder of 2007. Two central solar and two lunar eclipses occur in 2007 as follows:

The eclipse today is a total lunar eclipse so watch out for it, because it would be visible to the naked eye.

The total lunar eclipse of August 28 2007 will be visible over the Americas, the Pacific, eastern Asia, and Australasia.

The penumbral eclipse — the least exciting, and hardest to see part — will begin at 07:52:11 UT and end at 13:22:29 UT. It will be visible from the Americas when it begins around Moonset, the Pacific, and eastern Asia and Australasia as it ends at around Moonrise.

The partial eclipse will begin at 08:50:57 UT and end just over 3½ hours later at 12:23:50 UT, and will be visible from a slightly smaller area. The total eclipse lasts for 1½ hours; it begins at 09:52:00 UT and ends at 11:22:45 UT, with the moment of greatest eclipse at 10:37:22 UT. It is visible over Australasia, far eastern Asia, including Japan, the Pacific, most of North America (apart from the north-east), and western South America.

In the Pacific coast of the US, the total eclipse begins at 02:52:00 PDT and ends at 04:22:45 PDT, with the moment of greatest eclipse at 03:37:22 PDT.

The total eclipse should be a spectacular sight; the Moon will be well within the Earth’s shadow, the umbral magnitude being 1.481, and should be deeply coloured by the Earth’s atmosphere. Don’t miss it!

A lunar eclipse takes place when the Earth is between the sun and the moon so that the Earth’s shadow falls on the moon. As for the QuickStop I’m really waiting for this spectacular event of nature’s wonder. I hope it’s not cloudy tonight!

A 12 Year old OS : Windows 95

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Microsoft Windows 95 is celebrating it’s 12th year anniversary since it was launched August 24 1995. The 32-bit successor of famous OSes Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups and MS-DOS. Windows 95 started it all. I remember an advertisement on a PC magazine — “DOS is Dead” — a Windows 95 Ad. Two months after the official launch, that Windows 95 had sold millions of copies. A year later, it boasted sales of 40 million units. Although Microsoftno longer supports Windows 95 there are still some that uses Windows 95. after it still has a DOS operating system to back it up, which is very stable OS.

“Windows 95 has been much anticipated and much has been written about it. But fundamentally, it is about unlocking more of the potential of computing,” Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman said in a statement about the launch. “We are moving into the next era of computing, which includes broader communications via email and the online world, dazzling multimedia and games, and richer educational software.”

“During the last decade, Windows 95 and Office 95 transformed the way people work,” Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive said during the simultaneous business launch of Exchange 2007, Office 2007 and Vista in November last year.

I am a day late but heck… Happy Birthday Windows 95.

Being the ‘IT Guy’

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Unfortunately, for a while now, I’ve been the ‘IT Guy’. By that I mean I have had an interest in computers for a long time. It began way back when I was just about eight years old I think – when I owned my first computer, the Spectrum 128k. Here in England it was never as popular with as the C64 but it had some great games for it. That’s what drew me in. That and seeing the results of a flashing screen after copying a full page of code from a magazine!

This techno-lust continued in the form of a GameBoy, a SNES and finally my first proper PC – a 486. I loved my 486, not least because I grew to understand DOS, but I also had my first play on DOOM. Magnificent stuff. From here I got Internet access and finally a new PC. Broadband soon followed as well as HTML, digital cameras, modding and hardware experimentation.

This brings me to modern day. I’m on to my second laptop, third printer and I have a few IT qualifications. I also run a couple of websites and contribute to others. All in all, I’d say I’m pretty tech savvy. This has resulted in my reputation. The eponymous ‘IT Guy’.

The fact is this has meant I get bothered with all manner of queries, questions and sometimes faced with bizarre assumptions. Some obvious questions are ‘can you fix my computer?‘ – the answer sometimes being yes, sometimes being no, but when someone can’t even tell you exactly what is wrong – ‘the screen isn’t working’ this can be difficult. People tend to think that you’re somehow hardwired to understand the machine intimately just because you can connect a printer to a computer.

Other queries I’ve had can be more complicated. These include the eponymous ‘which Internet Service Provider should I use?’ – this being a big issue in the UK at the moment with all manner of offerings, some expensive, some free, some even throwing in a free laptop. I’m actually going through the process of assisting my folks choose which ISP to contract with.

I’ve also worked in an IT support role that has provided some challenges, some difficult moments but also some interesting posers of the following:

1) What is the Internet?
2) When I click, some words come up (they were right clicking)?
3) Now that I have my website, where is it?
4) How do I get the disc into the hard drive?
5) My computer has gone off. What can I do about it?

As you can see, some of the questions are a little ‘out there’. I didn’t mind too much, just because not everyone has had the chances to get used to technology as I have. On the other hand, sometimes people make strange leaps of logic. The idea that I know about everything of everything with IT is pretty strange itself.

Being interested in technology has brought some fantastic benefits to my life. I have my websites, the pleasure of writing for Gadzooki and being able to do many things for myself that I otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to do. I enjoy helping people, but I sometimes think that they would be better off helping themselves as they could learn more. However, if you’re fearful of breaking your computer it’s probably better that you leave it to the experts!

We Live in a World of Cons

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Conventions and conferences, that is. (If you thought of the seedier “con”, that’s not wrong, too.) For simplicity’s sake, let’s lump in trade fairs, exhibits, and symposia to our little word for the day.

Browsing through today’s dailies reveals a lot of cons being held all over the sprawling conurbation I call home, Metro Manila. For sure, there are many more being planned and held in wealthier cities in wealthier countries, as I write these words.

These cons run the gamut of conceivable interests, hobbies, and disciplines. In one international computer science magazine alone, I found around 40 computing-related events to be held around the world in the next three months. Just last month, the FCRC 2007 in San Diego, California served as the mother lode for almost 20 separate conferences – cons within a con.

And that is just for one field. Year after year, in this little, Third World corner of the world where I live in, cavernous malls (the Philippines has 3 of the world’s largest 10), five-star hotels, and expo grounds are flocked by millions of not-so-rich yet not-so-poor people attending book cons, toy cons, gardening cons, computer cons, food cons, comic cons, sporting arms cons, SME cons, gaming cons, name-it cons.

It is such a vibrant scene where millions upon millions of pesos change hands, leading me to conjecture that if it weren’t for a glaring and yawning gap between those above and below the poverty line, the Philippines would be a Second World nation.

 

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For me, today’s breadth and depth of cons in any country demonstrate:

1) A decent, if not great, spending power on the part of the consumers (better if there are lots of them, e.g. 11-million strong Metro Manila);

2) A decent, if not great, confidence on the part of companies, businessmen, and the cons’ sponsors;

3) An effective communications infrastructure – newspapers, magazines, TV, radio country-centric websites/forums/e-groups – with a good subscriber base. This spurs consumer participation and, consequently, helps sustain the success and commercial viability of the cons.

4) The advancement of a society as it moves from general interests to more focused ones – a computer scientist now has the luxury and resources to specialize in multi-agent systems, a green thumb specializes in cacti and succulents, a video gamer specializes in MMORPGs. Best of all, the market is wide enough accommodate both the general cons and the specialized cons.

I haven’t attended a wide variety of cons (I’ve gone to mostly tech and arts events), but I do feel blessed that I live in this “con world”. I know that if and when I delve into a new hobby or interest, chances are there’s a con already waiting for me…as long as the hobby’s not too obscure, of course. (But even then, there are esoteric cons!)

 

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What does this “world of cons” offer me?

I view cons as a venue for education. It’s a good place to pick up both the basic and advanced facets of a field; to learn the types of people, organizations, and products tied to it; to familiarize one’s self with the unique terminologies and idiosyncrasies of the hobby; to broaden one’s view of – this will sound cliché – the world.

I view cons as a venue for human networking. Which is quite a daft conclusion, as cons are meant to make one person interact with another person. (Or at least, make one company/product/institution represented by a person interact with another person.) It’s one of the best places to build your list of contacts, clients, employers, partners, and even rivals.

Last but not the list, I view cons as a venue for shopping therapy. Cons often boast of discounted or hard-to-find products. These events present a great (if not the best) array of related products, from the mainstream to the arcane, all in one roof. Cons also present the best way to empty your wallet (and assure yourself of an empty stomach), just to get that wondrous feeling of, “W00t! I bought something cool for myself!”

Speaking of shopping therapy, I’ve got to save some cash, and save it soon – the 28th Manila International Book Fair is just a month away!

MADtv Parody: Apple iRack

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The issue of the Iraq war and how things over there have become uglier and uglier for American troops, the current Bush Administration and the over-all image of the United States worldwide have been the subject of much discussions from traditional media, the blogosphere, the punditocracy and the public at large.

However, all this talk has been confined to the real of mainstream media and news. The techies and geeks of the ‘Web 2.0 world’ seemed to have been on the sidelines and have not contributed much to the discussions.

Probably because there are still that do not understand the over-all picture. It’s not because they’re totally apolitical, maybe the subject has been less appealing to the geek and techie world because of the language being used. So for the benefit of the many techies out there, here’s what’s going on in Iraq and how the Bush administration has been fumbling with it.

A parody by MAD TV that pokes an eye of both the Bush Administration and Apple.

Wasn’t the “iRan” a bombshell?

End of a Roleplaying Era

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Geekery comes in many forms. Computers. Cars. Gadgets. Video games. Movies. Comics. And of course, roleplaying. And when you talk about roleplaying, the word “D&D” — short for Dungeons & Dragons — is an automatic mention.

dragon.jpegCount me as a roleplaying geek, a D&D freak. Because I live in a country not agog over roleplaying games (RPGs) and 8-sided dices, I greatly treasure the objects that enable me to connect with this geekery of mine, objects regularly flown all the way from the U.S. to my land of seven thousand islands (no kidding).

I’m talking about magazines; more specifically, the Dragon and Dungeon duo, two of the most venerable and valuable D&D/fantasy RPG journals out there. Dragon was first published in 1976, while its partner (my favorite of the two, and always out of stock in the few shops that sell D&D stuff here) was born a decade later.

Sadly, 2007 will be the last year for both publications. Last April, gaming giant Wizards of the Coast announced that Paizo (erstwhile holder of the magazines’ publishing rights) will cease to publish the pair. Reason: WotC deems the Internet to be the medium that would broaden the reach of their content.

dungeon.jpegSure, I see the sense in their reasoning. After all, I am an active denizen of the Net, and I very much understand the power of this medium. Heck, it will probably be even easier for me now to get my monthly dose of fantasy RPG, because one mouse click travels infinitely faster than the plane which carries D&D goodies from the States to Asia.

However, I’ve never been one to like e-books. Printed paper still does the trick for me, and that’s the same with magazines. To actually hold, caress, and — yes, smell! — the fresh-off-the-press paper is an experience I relish. Not to mention that there’s nothing magical about collecting virtual magazine issues in your hard disk.

It goes without saying that Dragon and Dungeon‘s imminent decease is quite a tragic chapter in my life as a geek. Looks like my mag backlogs will be a thing of the past.

wotc.pngNow, in times of grief, what does one do? Receive shopping therapy. So I dusted off my rarely-used credit cards and ordered ten back issues that are sure to get out of print, soon. (With a limited edition dragon miniature thrown in, to get my pricey shipping’s worth.)

If you’re a fellow RPG and D&D fan with a couple of missing gems from your Dragon and Dungeon chest, you might want to check out Paizo’s back issue list before the stocks go poof.

I’m still holding out hope that WotC changes heart even in the next year or so, and decides to renew the life of both print mags. But because business decisions seem to be stubborn ones (or are they?), it looks like my hope is as forlorn as the Forlorn Hope!

P.S. Check out this engaging discussion at the Dragon messageboards regarding the magazines’ demise, fans’ reactions, and of course, WotC’s motives.