X-Box Live - I hadn't lived, until I died a thousand times

I just signed up for X-Box live - EB had a good deal where I could get a years subscription and headphones / mike for about AUD$65 so I took the plunge (hey my daughter was getting a Barbie Pegasis game so I wanted something for ME!).

Now I have been playing Halo2 late at night to unwind and I thought I was pretty good - so I was eager to get online and kick some butt!

Setup took about an hour - I had to register my X-Box Live account which took about 15minutes - then I put in Halo2 - it needed some updates which it did pretty automatically and rebooted. Now I signed in - oh but I didn't have the maps everyone is using so I got into the content download bit and got my maps.

Right - my trigger finger was itchy and my ear was already starting to hurt a bit from having the headphones on all that time.. man.. here it comes.. connecting..
I hear lame chatter of some kids in America.. lots of 'kiddie' swearing.. and that sort of 'u-huh-hhhu-hhu-hhuh' semi-laugh that Beavas & Butthead used to do. hmmm.. quality opponents this should be easy.

Well.. I don't know.. am I using the wrong gun here? I am getting slaughtered.. like embarrasingly so.. its first to 25 kills and I haven't killed anyone yet.. so I'm on zero.. and the game's nearly over!.

10 games later.. I've managed to make a few kills.. but I am really getting hammered.. what am I doing wrong? I step out for one second to grab a gun and I get a 1 shot kill to the head. I'm sick of seeing my guy get blown up! When do I get a turn?? Boooo..

I swear some of these kids sound about 5 years old.. I used to be good at this stuff! A natural! I used to teach kids at the arcade a thing or two about the fine art of Street Fighter II in my day.. now look at me! A newbie.. a babe in the woods.. are these guys in America on some super-fast drug or something that makes their reflexes and accuracy so damn perfect?

2am.. one more game... I think this time I'll work out what the secret is.

I beg my opponents.. why do I SUCK? .. no advice... more Butthead giggles.. hhuehh hhuh..
hmmm.

Time to go to bed.. I hang my head in shame .. tomorrow I hit the tip sheets.

Still.. I'm hooked.. online gaming is soooo different and so much more challenging ..

ps if anyone knows the secret of Halo 2 success.. please.. restore my dignity and let me know?!

The Game Boy micro will be available across Australia on November 3rd 2005

I've been drooling over the PSP, and the nintendo DS has its merits. But I just clapped my eyes on the new Nintendo GameBoy Micro at my local EB store and fell in love. It is just sooo cute and tiny and reminds me so much of my first game&watch when I was a kid.

The Micro is impossibly cute - a very nifty and solid bit of hardware - measuring a tiny 10cm wide, 5cm tall and 1.75cm deep this is truely portable. The screen is bright and crisp and feels solid. The unit I saw was still strapped to the EB guys neck but that didn't stop me grabbing it and walking round the store. The machine made strange choking noises while I played it and seemed to get heavier and heavier.. weird.

OK I've begged my wife and offered her some old x-box games she could trade in.. and I rekon I'll be getting one of these babies for Christmas woo hoo!

I left gave the Micro back to the storeman who seemed to be sleeping on the floor.. with his eys open.. weird.

mmmm... GameBoy Micro.. I love you.
Hey this is cool - make your own for about 20c! look here --> [JUMP]

Pixel Chix - my daughter will love this!

This is going on my daughter's Christmas list.

Pixel Chix are basically a revamp of Tamagotchi except instead of a virtual pet, Pixel Chix become your V.F.F. (thats Virtual Friend Forever - get with the program!).

The setup is a small plastic dolls house with a chunky B&W LCD overlay - at the bottom are seven buttons that you use to help your pal decide what to do.

She has her own attitude so if you ignore her too long she taps her feet, cobwebs grow and eventually she'll crack the shits and leave. Just like a real woman! If you tell her to go to bed during the daytime she'll think your nuts and go off to sulk. The idea of course is that you look after your pal, helping her make the right decisions expands her world so she accumulates foods, fashions and games. She'll play guitar, sing karaoke, adpot a pet or order some junk food.

Each house has a connector at the base so you can connect them up - once connected the pixel chix will walk next door and visit her friend.. neat-o !

Pixel Chix cost about AUD$60 - more here [JUMP]

A Jet Ski I can afford

okay not quite a Jet Ski but from a distance who could tell?
AUD$269 will get you the Ocean Scooter FX
It's a battery powered inflatable power ski for childeren (damn) aged five and up - the scooter can hit speeds of 4.7 km/hr with a 50kg rider and can support up to 75kg.. hey I qualify!

Made from high grade PVC it has double barrrelled inflation chambers.

The scooter has a power shutdown when the throttle is released and a protected propeller (you wouldn't want the propeller to get damaged on some kids head would you?)

Now call me cynical but isn't half the point of taking your kids to the beach is that they tire themselves out & go to bed early so mum and dad can have quality time?
So the deal is you have to get them to lug the 10kg bag down to the beach (far end) and get them to blow it up with a small foot pump or your just ripping yourself off.

Still - I've always wanted a jet ski and this one is in my price range.
Buy it here --> [JUMP]

TrackIR 3 Pro Head Tracker

How come I haven't heard of this?

It's already here in Australia and it sounds cool! - When I first saw this I thought VR had come back.. but this is a head tracking device. You stick that little gadget on top of your monitor and it tracks your head - so while playing a flight sim or FPS game for example you move your head to look around.. just like we do in real life.. outside the matrix.
It isn't too expensive either - about AUD$200 ! I wonder if all that head turning is good for you though.. sounds like ex-er-size .. and not in the right areas.. probably end up with gorilla neck.

Check out the link - video clip examples etc and you can pull your credit card out and buy it here too [JUMP]

If anyone's actually got one.. please tell me is it gooood?

Logitech Harmony 880 Universal Remote

OK as far as universal remotes go this looks pretty damn good with its little 4.8cm LCD colour screen. Cost is AU$399 and for that money I'd expect this thing to read my thoughts and turn on whatever I'm thinking about. Okay being realistic I would expect the colour screen to look better - and I definately would expect it to be a touch screen. But no .. noooo touch screen for you.

Some of the redeeming features include a motion sensor that turns the screen on when you pick it up, it has a charging cradle .. (great add another wall-wart) and a macro type function that lets you say have it turn on your stereo and switch it to the right AV channel then turn on your dvd player and play! hmm.. I like that.. I see myself setting this thing up with macros to make everything go berko. tee hee.
I'm going to save my pennies and bide my time until the thought-reading variety comes out.

More info here [JUMP]

Ipod Video in Australia - end of October

The iPod Video is coming to Australia in about 1 week.

I have always desired an iPod but couldn't justify buying one. Now that it plays video I'm drooling. And price isn't too scary at about AUD$600 60GB. (Have seen it cheaper online)

The screen resolution is 320x240 pixels (1/4 VGA) and 260,000 colours - this is a 3X4 format like your standard telly - (ie not widescreen)

The iPod Video decodes MPEG4 video at 30fps and has a video out.
There's been a number of personal video players come out over the last year or so, but I think everyone has been waiting to see what Apple would bring out. Now its on.. everyone will have one!

USB Cup Warmer

Back in the old days when USB first came out, you only had one or two usb ports to worry about filling, my latest PC has about 6 at the back and 2 at the front. I lay awake at night wondering what I'm going to plug into them.
Well my worries are over - this USB cup warmer looks the goods - and my espressos are always going cold on me so this could be quite handy.
I'll plug that in next to the usb foot massager.. yeah.
You can buy it online in Australia here [JUMP]

Australian iTunes Music Store to open

Apple is expected to announce the Australia iTunes Music Store on Tuesday.

The store is expected to provide basically the same offering as the US - AU$0.99 to AU$1.69 a song with about a million in the library.

Nintendo DS

I had to follow a post of the sony PSP with the Nintendo DS to be fair which launched back in Feb 05.
I've always had a soft spot for Nintendo - and when I saw Nintendogs playing on a DS at my local shopping centre I was impressed - not that I'd get into that game myself but my 3yr old daughter would love it!
The DS comes with two screens both 3 inch, semi-transparent reflective TFT colour LCD with 256 x 192 resolution - the bottom one being touch sensitive so in the Nintendogs game for example you knock on a door by tapping the screen - then pat the dogs rubbing the screen.
The DS also has wireless gameplay with IEEE 802.11 and Nintendo's proprietary format - range is 30 to 100 feet.
The DS seems to be aimed at a younger market to the PSP. I'd buy this for my daughter but not for myself.
The price of the DS is about AUD$200, but I've noticed is started dropping with the recent launch of the Sony PSP. Have seen it for $200 including game.

Sony PSP

There she is.. the Sony PSP, launched in Australia on September 1.

I recently got my hands on one of these for a whole 5 minutes and what can I say.. I want one. Santa are you listening? Write it down Santa "PSP -> Dylan - Good Boy Tick".

The PSP has a 4.3-inch 16:9 widescreen TFT LCD screen, which displays 16.77 million colours. The resolution is 480x272 which didn't sound that high res to me until I saw it.. its plenty crisp and the 3D graphics which are similar to PS2 look fantastic.
The PSP supports USB 2.0 for wired connections to the PlayStation 2 or PC and 802.11b wireless to connect to other PSPs and wireless devices.
Movies and games come on a little CD type format called UMD - you can also play music and video from a memory stick. Updates to the firmware can be downloaded and I understand the current version gives you a web browser. Now that is waaay cool.. I like the idea of that. I understand theres a home-brew community growing though the scope of what can be done is limited and it sounds like you can blow your warranty if you stuff around with it. I wish there were PDA functions then I could retire my failing Plam Tungsten T.
The PSP is selling for approx AUD $400 (not including game)
Check out the sony psp site here [JUMP]

Topfield TF5000PVRt

Okay - my first technology post!

This is the TF5000PVRt, my client (Topfield Australia) is responsible for this brilliant bit of kit.

This is a digital set-top box with two tuners and a 120gig hard drive.

The cool tricks are you can rewind live TV as it buffers the tv your watching to the hard drive (usually about an hours worth, you can probably change that). You can also record and watch later.. this is really cool, yes I know VCR's can do that but this is waaay better, A you dont have to find a blank tape (which usually takes 10 minutes of hunting around and checking what your going to overwrite) - you also have to wait for a tape to finish recording before you can rewind it and watch it - the PVR lets you rewind while you're recording. So we find we record everything because its so easy. With two tuners you can also record one channel and watch another - or even record both at the same time! (in fact if you want to get fancy you can record two and watch a third through your TV tuner but come on when is there ever three things worth watching on free to air TV in Australia?)

Having this machine has completely changed the way we watch TV in our house - I find when my favourite show starts I hit record and go and get some snacks etc and start watching 15mins into the show & rewind to the start - when the ads come up I just skip over them.. by the time the shows finished I've caught up to real-time (you cant fast forward into the future, i tried to get tomorrows lottery results but its not that clever, maybe the next version?!?).

My wife is generally un-impressed with my technology purchases, but she has fallen completely in love with this machine. Having two kids we're usually interrupted in the middle of a show (she's into Neighbours - which comes on when the kids are having dinner/bath/bed).

This is my first experience with a PVR & I know there are others on the market, including the 'foxtel' one everyone tells me about. The technology is brilliant - its like getting your first microwave oven, it changes your life. I do know this Topfield model has won a lot of awards and was ranked 5 stars by T3 mag (love that mag!) - and the interface is easy.
Another thing that's cool about the Toppy is there are a lot of applications that can be downloaded - they're easy to find on the net, called TAP's - that add extra functionality or tweaks to the system. The one I use and love adds a pie chart to show you how much hard drive space is left - but there are stack out there. They also regularly release firmware patches.

Ok so that's it! My first technology post.. more to come!

More info on the TF5000Pvrt after the jump [JUMP]

About this Blog

Hi, my name is Dylan Hamilton-Foster,
I'm a web developer working in Brisbane Australia. I've always been passionate about technology which probably sprang from being a total science fiction nut - I wanted to live in those futuristic worlds where robots roamed free, and everything had buttons and flashing lights.
When I got my first computer - an Apple II - I was hooked.
Well here we are in 2005 - not quite what I was promised as a kid, there's no flying cars - we dont have laser guns or rocket belts.. and nothing hovers.. oh mr gravity you arch enemy of all that is fun.
But we do have some cool things, flat screens - mobile phones - the internet - DVD and faster than light travel. What we don't have that yet? But I've seen Star Trek?? Isnt that real? Whaaaat?

OK so getting to the point - this blog will be for Technology that IS in Australia or is coming to Australia. I keep seeing gadgets that will never make it here on the net, we Aussies need our own technology blog. I'm particularly going to focus on COOOL or Quirky technology. If you have something worthy - let me know!

Stay Tuned!
Dylan