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January
IGF
The Independent Games Festival (IGF) has announced this year's finalists. Damn, I guess I have to wait until next year. Again.
I looked through the list of Web/Downloadable games and I'd like to try Star Chamber - it looks like something I could spend a little time on. Wik has the best eye candy based on the screenshots, but I'm guessing side-scroller. Still, I'll give it a try. While I'm on it, let me be the next (because I know I'm not the first) to compare the lead character to golum in appearance. I'll say Detective Brand has the most compelling marketing. Hopefully that corresponds to their product. I'll try a few of these out and report back here for anyone interested.
I have to say the IGF and the Students IGF always has at least one jewel at GDC. Something unique, unusual or imaginative.
Just buy one already
HP has a great site for customizing their laptop computers. I say this as a user, but also from a marketing perspective. I find myself more drawn to play with the options since the site makes things easy for me. They lay out their models on one page where I can quickly compare major features and open a new tab to browse the models I'm interested in. From that next tab I can easily customize the computer. The site continuosly calculates the total price and keeps that in the window no matter where I scroll. For each optional feature, the choices have the cost of the upgrade shown. Each time I choose an option for a feature, the other choices have their prices updated immediately.
The trouble with Sony VAIO
The real trouble with a Sony Vaio is that it's just too damn expensive for me. Even the models that boast "starting at $1149" have only two preconfigured options around $1500 and $3000. They are beautiful and the brand has been around for a while, so I have to see what I can do to configure it on their site.
Trying to give Toshiba a fair shake
The Toshiba Satellite is a pretty popular notebook. I've always thought it was something to do with price. I've never really liked the look of them but I should be more objective - I know that the plastic of the clam shell doesn't have anything to do with the silicon inside. Since I'm looking, I owe it to myself to surf on over to their site and see what's up. Since I've noticed that some of the features that are important to me are optional on a lot of mobile computers, I have to lowball my starting price. I hope to end up well under $1400USD. I'd be more comfortable around $1200. So it looks like the candidates here are the Satellite A70, M30X and M35X, and the Tecra A2 and A3. These all start around $1000USD and I know I'll want a faster hard drive, more RAM or some removable media drive that they charge a little more for. That'll push the price up but not beyond my comfort zone.
Computer Shopping in Toronto
While I was in Toronto for the public Joel on Software lunch, I couldn't help but scope out a couple of notebooks. Most of the stores that I frequent (around College and Bathurst) carried a few refurbished ones. The big problem with this is that you see something (like, for example a Compaq Presario R3000 - on my shortlist) and it has a sticker on it that says, if you're lucky, what the CPU clock speed is and that it has a 90 day warranty. How do I make a buying decision based on this information? Oh, that and the fact that it's $1250CDN. When you configure a laptop online, there are options that swing the price by around $500 (I know I'm mixing US and Canadian currency, but these numbers are not guaranteed to be anything except round). Of course I could talk to the sales person and would if I thought it was a good deal, but it's too vague to even know if it might be a good deal.
Notebook computer shopping
Step 2: Research
After deciding that it's impossible to get the notebook computer you want - yes, my old mobile computer was a laptop, my new one will be a notebook. Notebook sounds so much more chic, I think, but I always reserved it as the term for the portable computer that was the next step up from mine. Maybe that says something deep about my psychology, but the next one will definitely be a notebook computer since my old one got way too hot to keep on my lap.
Do people still call them ‘laptop’ computers?
It's time to upgrade my laptop. Maybe upgrade is too gentle, it sounds like I've been using a laptop and it's got shortcomings. It's time to get a laptop. The one I have is so old it doesn't count as even owning a laptop anymore. It's a Compaq Presario 1255, circa 1999. If the battery worked (at all, even for a minute), then I might consider it something that I could use to make my office mobile. But a 333MHz Windows 98 computer doesn't stand to do much for me today but build muscle as I lug it from place to place.
World Wide Wet
I've been watching some web cams around Los Angeles for the past few days. After hearing about the heavy rains and mudslides, I decided to have a look at some sites I'd gone to when I was planning my last trip to E3. I've been a few times and I loved staying in Marina Del Ray. It's not far from Santa Monica or Venice Beach. Here are some web cams I've been watching
- Bay Cam - Live webcam from Pacific Palisades
- Beach Cam - Live webcam from Venice, California
- Pier Cam - Live From Santa Monica Bay, California
- L.A. Avenue.com - Live Views of Los Angeles /Southern California
The last one is actually in a car driving around LA. The prior three are hosted by The Westland Network.
Still looks beautiful from what I can see. Maybe a little more wet, but still beautiful. Yesterday I didn't see any of the usual street performers or vendors on Venice beach, today it looks like they're setting up again.
It seems like the rain is coming down everywhere. Even here in Windsor in January the rain is pouring tonight. Last night I wish I'd taken a picture of the steam rising off the snow. Utterly bizarre. The fog was thick all day but I didn't realize it was sublimating from the snow until I went out in the evening.
The Bad Kind of Sick Day
The worst thing about having the flu is that even though you stay home from work, you can't do anything enjoyable with your time. I spent too long looking at my server logs and I've seen more websites than I can count. The problem is I can't go anywhere because I don't want to spread my gooby germs to anyone and if I so much as stand up and walk around the house I get nauseous. So here I remain, moving nothing but my eyes.