What I've been up to

As some of you might know, I'm currently stuck at home with tonsillitis. I've taken the time to overhaul a few things and make some plans to upgrade my home network.

As I mentioned in my last post I've finally figured out that damn problem with the mixed up " and @ keys which has made working on the Mac so much easier. I know it sounds like such a stupid thing but when you've spent 10 years with them that way, it's hard to break the habit!

I used to think Mac's were crap but I've come around to them now and I actually really like the OS but unfortunately there are some Windows only programs that I need to do my work. I was using Bootcamp for a while but it was such a nightmare having to reboot and switch between the both. I'm currently testing out VMware Fusion 3 which so far has been working wonders, I've used Virtual PC before so I knew the drill. The most important thing though is VMware supports 3D acceleration which I need for some of the applications I use for college work.

I installed Windows XP and got each of the programs working without any issues.

I'm currently planning out a home server for the house. I'd like to be able to stream content all over the house without having to leave my computer on, I'm currently leaning towards using Windows Home Server for the OS and using spare parts from old computers I've picked up over the years. From what I've read it will run well (as long as I don't plan on streaming HD content straight away) on the parts I've got. The major thing I need to invest in is storage space for backups and hosting my media.

Last but not least I've discovered two amazing things (one thanks to my cousin, the other thanks to Google) Groove Shark and Mozilla Prism.

Groove Shark is basically the YouTube equivalent for the internet radio industry. It runs much like Last.fm but instead of charging you to listen to the music, they let you listen for free but offer VIP services that gets rid of some annoying ads and offers you a bigger library. So far I haven't had any problems finding a song I like.

One thing I really hate is having to keep Firefox open for web applications so Prism is like a godsend to me. It lets you make a stand alone program out of web applications that can collapse to the taskbar. It means that if your browser crashes (as they do) the radio or game you are using isn't going to crash with it. I highly recommend checking it out.

So that's what I've been up to the last few days. Mass Effect 2 tomorrow and then STO next week. Those plus college is going to keep me very busy!

I love solving old problems!

Something that has always annoyed me about using the macbook is that the " and @ signs were always mixed up. Apparently Apple doesn't know what an Irish keyboard layout is. I spent hours looking for a solution to it, apparently one guy made some kind of hotfix for it but I couldn't get it working. I've also seen guides on setting up custom keystrokes to fix it but nothing really worked.

Today my friends I've finally found the solution. For some reason I decided to start looking around for a fix again today and funnily enough it was one of the first pages I checked.

I had to download an additional keyboard layout (from Microsoft) which switched them around properly.

I've also installed VMware so I can get back to work with my Java and HTML work.

Apple iPad Impressions

So it's finally been announced. We've known about it for month's but now the iPad is official and I've to be honest. It's a bit of a disappointment. First the Nexus 1, then the HP Tablet and now the iPad.

Software wise it met all my expectations. We knew it would run on some kind of hybrid iPhone OS and we weren't wrong. All those iPhone apps are still going to work without any issues, they're just going to look very small (apparently it will have a zoom function that will make the apps look bigger but will lose visual quality)

My biggest gripe is the physical design of it. That big black border around the screen makes it look horrible! I think 99% of the concepts different websites came up with had the screen extending to the absolute edge, similar to the iPhone and iPod touch. I guess the reason for that could be that they simply couldn't fit the hardware in to such a small place but that begs the question, why didn't they make the screen bigger then? It's supposed to be a 9.7" capacitive touch screen, an extra .3 inches could have made a huge difference aesthetically (to me at least)

I'm sure by the time the next iteration of it is released sometime next year they'll have redesigned it to be more streamlined as Apple do with all their products.

The most exciting thing that comes to mind now for the iPad is the development of iPad applications which I'm guessing will have an extremely, if not identical process to that of the iPhone via the App Store. Being a bit of a programmer myself this is where I think the iPad could potentially shine just like it's little brother.

I think I'll definitely be waiting till next year to pick up the revised version after all the initial bugs and problems have been kicked.

Welcome to 2010

Hey all. Happy New Year

I know I've been away for a while. As I've said a million times by now, college has had me busy and it hasn't changed so I haven't had the chance to update as much as I'd like to.

Modern Warfare 2 has started to get a bit old which I expected to happen, I've been playing the multiplayer for about 2 months now and it's been fun so I think its run the course.

Mass Effect 2 is coming out in a few weeks which I'm really looking forward to playing. "Santa" brought me a Sony eBook Reader for Christmas and the first book I got for it was the first Mass Effect Novel which is a prequel to the game and has been great so far. I plan on playing through the first Mass Effect again after finishing the book and then if I have time I'll pick up the second novel which is a sequel.

STO's beta is still in full force. Apparently the NDA has been lifted which means we can talk about it and I do plan on talking about the state of the game very soon. I've actually decided to take a break from testing because I don't want to ruin the game for myself at launch.

I ordered a new phone today called the HTC HD2 which should be here on Monday, I'll write up a first impressions on it when it comes.

So I hope everyone had a good Christmas and plan on having a great new year.