Stargate: Atlantis returns to the SciFi channel tonight. I must say that when the show first started up I wasn’t a big fan. Matter of fact, I expected it to fail by the 2nd season. Thankfully, it didn’t and now it’s back for it’s 5th season.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few days, you’ve probably heard that Apple has released iTunes 7.7 bringing with it the much anticipated App Store as well as the 2.0 software update for the iPhone and iPod touch. This also happs to be the day that the iPhone 3G is released. Pretty big day for Apple.
I’m in the process of updating my phone right now. It’s take about 20 minutes so far, and looks like it has another 20 or so to go. It did warn that it’d take a while. Word of warning, some people are experiencing issue with the update turning their precious iPhone into an iBrick because they couldn’t connect to the App Store (down due to traffic). I was able to browse the App Store, so I figured things should be safe now… we’ll see.
Aside from all the new games and applications, my favorite thing with this update is the ability to sync Google Contacts from GMail to iTunes. This is one of the things I’ve hated not being able to do since pretty much all of my email travels through GMail.
Here’s a roundup of iPhone related news for the past few days…
- How the iPhone App Store Will Kill iPhone Web Apps
- Battle of the iPhone Apps: MySpace vs Facebook
- iPhone App Store Is Live. So, What’s On The Menu?
- The Native iPhone 3G Apps We’ll See This Week (and Some We Won’t)
- Before the App Store “Opens”, it has already made Apple $55,000
- WordPress and TypePad Spawn Mobile Blogging
- That Didn’t Take Long…iPhone 2.0 OS Unlocked
- iPhone App Store: The Early List of Top Downloads
- iPhone Application Overview And Demo Videos
Enjoy the links!
Burn Notice season two starts up tonight on USA Network. I can’t wait!
Yesterday a new Trillian Astra build was released. This time around it’s mainly just a piss load of bug fixes, though they did muck with the ICQ / AIM plugin. Now if you use either of these services, you’ll need to enable the OSCAR plugin.
The wife and I just finished watching Whisper, which was aired on one of the Turner networks over the weekend. If I remember correctly, it was a direct to DVD film. I’d first heard about it a while back on a Lost fan site (probably Doc Arzt’s or The Tail Section) as it stars Josh Holloway (aka Sawyer).
A mysterious person hires 4 people to kidnap and ransom a kid from what appears to be a wealthy family. As you probably expect, the kid is not your normal 8 year old. Strange sounds in the middle of nowhere, and then people start dying.
By the end, you’ll have a couple of decent plot twists, and enough of the “jump out at you” type horror. Overall, I really enjoyed this film. It’s not the best movie you’ll see this year, but it was a good horror flick. It reminded me a lot of The Omen, so if you’re into movies like that (I am!) then you’ll probably enjoy this one as well.
A trailer for the move (which is now available on DVD) can be seen at the movie’s official website, whispermovie.com.
Do you use Google’s GMail service? I do, and love it. However a few weeks ago a “dot” appeared in the top left corner of the page. I didn’t think much about it at the time, as it looked like they were trying to make it look like a folded corner. As the days went on, I started to find the 10×10 pixel spot annoying. I constantly find my focus shifting to it.
On the 4th, someone posted a picture of the problematic pixels to Flickr, which in turn made it to Digg. Apparently there are many other people who find the spot annoying, and have their own theory as to what it is. Something to track page load speeds, tracking your activity, or as I though just a failed styling attempt. A number of people have also posted to Google Groups about it.
Even TechCrunch via TechCrunchIT is trying to figure out what this is. They’re even offering a free Tee-shirt (whoopie) to whoever comes up with the best, most entertaining, or most accurate theory.
Dear Blizzard Entertainment,
It’s been well over a year since I ventured around in Azeroth. It was sometime not long after The Burning Crusade was released that my wife and I closed our WoW accounts. In fact, I don’t think I completed more than a dozen quest in the Outlands. That said, I’m willing to come back and give it another try, for a price.
I am willing to reactivate both of my WoW accounts, provided you send me a beta invite for WoW: Wrath of the Lich King. It’s that simple.
But, we both know I’ll not be getting a beta invite. And therefore, my accounts shall remain forever frozen. To be honest, it’s probably for the best. It took me far to long to kick the addiction the first time.
Kindest Regards,
d3bruts1d
Ever since Diablo III was announced, I’ve been in the mood for some hack ‘n slash RPG. To quench my thirst, I decided to load up Titan Quest… besides, I never did get around to finishing the game.
And here I’ve set, I’ve spent more time here lately playing a computer game than I have in a long time. I’ve managed to complete the original game, and I’m now working my way along the Immortal Throne expansion areas. Why I never finished this game years ago, I have no idea.
I was feeling pretty good about myself for a while. I had completed about 95% of the original game with only 6 deaths. Not bad considering I was playing a caster (Diviner). Then came the last 5%… this was absolutely brutal. Especially once I got to Mt. Olympus. I must have died 6 times alone on the short walk to the final boss… compared to that, the final boss was easy.
What to do after this? Should I load up Diablo II and run around the gothic randomly generated dungeons, play Titan Quest on the newly unlocked increased difficulty setting, or is there another option? Do you have a suggestion for another game to pass the time until the Lord of Darkness returns to the PC?
I posted a while back about SocialVibe, and thought with it being the 4th of July (at least for another hour or so) that it’d be appropriate to post about it again. 
Basically SocialVibe is a services that brings many different companies together (Apple Computer, Coca-Cola, Sprint, Nike, and UFC to name a few) in order to raise money for your favorite charity. For example, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network is the charity I’m helping raise money for. That’s just one, there are many others that you can select like WWF, Invisible Children, OLPC, and Do Something.
It’s simple to participate. Create an account, select what your cause is, select who you want to sponsor you, and then place the SocialVibe “ad” on your blog or social network profile. Each time the SocialVibe ad is viewed, you help raise money for your cause. And if that wasn’t enough, some sponsors even offer perks where you can earn or win rewards for your participation.
You know me, I wouldn’t be asking you to do something like this if I didn’t believe it was for a good cause.
I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a wonderful Independence Day. As you celebrate this July 4th, take time to think about the men and women serving our country oversees so that others can enjoy the same freedoms we often take for granted.
I’m sure many people will spend today with alcohol and fireworks. While both things can be a lot of fun, they don’t mix well together. Have fun, stay safe, and God bless!
