Episode #22 Can I take a breath now? Talking fast is no fun!

Welcome to Everything blah this is Episode #22 My name is Nick,
Today I have several web based stories I want to share with you so lets get started.
First story up for the day, How to set up a fully automated media center. The great bloggers over at lifehacker have a great story about how to setup/maintain a fully automated media center,  they break it down in steps and their are seven steps (view lifehackamc.jpg) 
they are using the new XBMC program to run it.  And I have to tell you, I put one together this today and had it finished in under two hours play movies to the TV so this is very simple and quick once you start the process. I caution you, follow their directions to the T.  Really?  why the letter T ?
( http://lifehacker.com/5475649/set-up-a-fully-automated-media-center )

Anyways, next story of the day is from CNN-money.com talking about the new “rules” for credit card holders and companies.  This article was a great break down of what is going on with the new laws past.  I really suggest reading it over if you have credit cards or lines of credit anywhere.  ( http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/17/news/companies/credit_card_rules/ )

alright on to more laws/judgements being pasted, from CNET News, Judge tells school district to “shut down webcam use/peekage”  yes that is right the schools were peeking into their students and employees lifes during and after school by remoting the computers using build in software. the article has links to more articles explaining how and “why”
( http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10459220-71.html )

Now for a small break I will be back with the last of the news.

Hey everyone, I wanted to take a moment here and metion one of our sponsors, Godaddy.com  you can use the codes blah8 for 10% off your order, blah9 for $5 off $30 or more order blah10 for .com’s at $7.49 a piece and blah20H1 for 20% off your hosting plans.  Get your piece of the interwebs with Go Daddy.com

And to round up the holy crap news, Microsoft announces Government cloud…yes that is right the government’s new OS will be cloud based and house in Microsoft data centers… course at this point it is just a “offer” and has not been accepted by the government I am not holding my breath for that one.  the Cloud will be called “BPOS- business productivity online suite” say that ten times fast and you will get skynet…read the article if you want more info.  ( http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/cloud-saas/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=223100600 )

And sad news came out today from youtube,  yes that is right.  They removed the original “rickroll” they have been battling this plague for many years and finally axed it, now there are many copys like it but not the orginal….but wait what is this?  Breaking news folks we just learned from our sources over at cnet news that it is back and can been seen by millions of unsuspecting link clickers…that is right sent it to your mom or dad heck even your grandparents!  ( http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10458847-36.html )

I am done! Gang I hope you all have a great week and I will catch you back here next week with a round table discussion you will not want to miss.

So we went and picked up the movie 9 this week and watched it.

What a awesome movie at first I was very reserved about it due to Tim Burton’s name being involved but found it pleasant and enjoyable to watch. This as I stated in the audiocast it is a very dark movie there are no bunnies crossing the street giving out free hugs here.

Listen to the audiocast and let us know what you think, email us at nick@everythingblah.com or twitter us @nickblah and also give us a call 512-961-6353

-Nick

 

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Today I talked about the game “The Sabotuer” from EA and Pandemic studios.
hope you enjoy the audiocast.
Send me a email nick@everythingblah.com or tweet me @nickblah with your next game suggestions.

I got a review copy of Borderlands and am starting to play that over the next few days.

Merry Christmas everyone
-Nick

 

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So we picked up Funny People and watched it, I have to say right off the bat it was a great movie plot all the way through and Sandler will make you like him, and even though Seth plays that akward guy role he pulls it off as well and by the end you are happy that they made it through it.

The movie was 153 minutes (we watched the unrated version) and due to the language and nudity in the film would not let anyone under the age of 17 to watch it, there are times during the movie where they make fun of some of the stand up comics for make “fart jokes” all the time so one set of George(Adam Sandler) and Ira’s(Seth Rogen) jokes are nothing but filth. But this makes the movie funny and keeps the storyline going, there was one side plot that played out pretty quickly where George and his Ex girlfriend Laura (played by Leslie Mann) reconnect after several years and she has a family of her own. That storyline like I said before played out very quickly and was at some points akward to watch but it got hammered out before the end of the show.  The soundtracks used for the movie made the movie more enjoyable. There was no special effects so I have to say N/A on that one.

Over all the movie was good, I wanted to go see it in the theater but was not able to at the time, but I will recommend at least a rent if not a buy.

-Nick

Hey everyone,

I know this is a very wild topic to touch on but Since the 11th was my birthday I thought I would share with you some tips and tricks on having a awesome birthday.  First off if you have family around you, go out to lunch or dinner with them. I do this every year!  but prior to your birthday, setup a paypal account and then email all your friends and family, do not use a form letter that is just tacky but send a heart felt letter explaining what you are looking to buy with the money and tell them that you will follow up with pictures or even a video.

The point of this article was not to try to get the most money it is about having a good day, and remember pay it forward never leave your friends and family hanging on their special day! Until next time have a great week!

-Nick

This is it, the Documentary on Michael Jackson dress rehearsals for what would have been his “upcoming tour”.

The facts first, the movie is 121 minutes long, audio was encoded to Dolby Digital and was subtitled in a huge amount of languages for release around the world.

So lets break down the film, the entire film is footage for the final dress rehersals and sound checks.
We are seeing what would have been seen if we were at the concert and in song order.  And through out the movie you get small interviews from everyone from the dancers to musicians.

I am a fan of MJ’s music no matter what you thought of him as a person the music was great and inspiring. The biggest reason they made the footage of these rehearsals has never really been explained but it was shot very professional.

Each song is shown in a couple of shots, and also shows who they get ready for each act/set change.  Also they show the making of small films that were suppose to be in the beginning of several songs.

I really didn’t think I would but I enjoyed parts of this movie, not the entire movie but some of it.  The soundtrack was mostly digital mastered playbacks not what you hear on the movie but re-released from other albums.

I suggest this as a rental for sure.

-Nick

Well it has been a while since you saw the video of me unboxing. Here are my final thoughts on it as a phone.

First, let me say this phone went way beyond what I expected. As I stated before I owned the N95 and used it for a long time. Now I know what you are going to say…they are not the same type phone, well in a way they are they are in the N Series and use the same based platformed OS. I really loved using Ovi it is the installer and maintainer of the software, and worked well on my Windows 7 system. I also tried the installer/software on XP SP3 and Vista SP2, no issues installing or synch’ing the phone.
Some of the Features that stand out to me is the Camera, the wireless, and flip out keyboard layout.
The Camera first up was better than the iPhone and also better than the N95 here a couple of pictures showing you a bit of the differences between the N97 and the iPhone camera, click on the picture to see the full version.(N97 Picture on Left, iPhone picture on Right)
                 

As you can tell these are not “professional” pictures but they show you the idea of what you get.
Now the wireless I was very impressed that it held a signal to my wireless router well over what I would figure would be its limit. And it did not drain the battery down like the N95 used to.

and last but not least the flip out full QWERTY keyboard, man what a change from the number keyboard from the N95. here is a picture of the N97 lighted up and keyboard exposed. Sorry for the lighting issues but at this point the screen goes into landscape mode and texting using this is far more easier than any phone I have ever used or tested.  At each type of a key or touching the screen you get a small vibration from the phone that makes it feel like you are truely touching a key on the screen and lets you know you have touched it.

On the last set of pictures here is the phone without it turned on and a chance to see the screen as it starts up for the first time.

My Final thoughts on the phone: Well the phone was amazing to get my hands on and I would love to thank WOM Nokia for letting me try it out. Now the phone itself had a couple of quirks and at this point not a huge amount of “apps” are out for it.  But the Battery life was 2X that of the N95 so for that I give a + to Nokia.

If you need a good stable business phone and do not care for all the flashy apps, this is the phone for you.

please feel free to leave us a comment below or contact us via Google voice and leave us a message for us to play on the next show, (512)961-6353. Thanks again for everything and I will be talking to you all soon.

-Nick

Well today we here at the Everything Blah Casa got our review unit from the fine folks over at WOM Nokia and as you will see in the video this is just the unboxing throughout the next week I will be putting this awesome phone through the test! And here is the video!

So I got my hands on a copy of Batman Arkham Asylum for the xbox 360 over the weekend, started to play it on Saturday night around 10:30, at 2:15AM I looked up at the clock and went “Really?!?” Time flew by and I only got 9% completed including achivements and the Riddles. So lets get into the nuts and bolts of the game.
I am going to break the game down into four areas, Graphics, Sound, and Playabilty/Fun Factor

Graphics: I have to say from the very minute you start the game this is a very “dark” game, it really goes hand in hand with the look and feel of the current Batman movies out. I am very impressed with the Seamlessness when you transition from playable content and the cut in movies back to playable content. There are games out there where you get to a cut scene and you keep tapping the A button to make it go faster, this was not the case, I highly recomment you turn Subtitles on when you first start the game due to the surround sound of the game there are time you can hear Joker talk but it is very faint.
Back to the graphics, this was not sloppy-put together graphics I was impressed with the detail all the way down to the bullet indents and the tear in Batman’s suit.

Sound: Like I had stated before the sounds arounf Arkham are very dark and really the sounds can be gory. But the dialoge between all the characters is orginal and really helps the story line along, the only down turn for the overall sound was the fact that it was very real. For example you are sitting on a roof top and straight in front of you is the sound system for Arkham, if you turn your back to it, it is very muffled, thus why I said to turn on your subtitles unless you have a awesome 7.1 surround sound system.

Playablity/Fun Factor:
This game is very fun to play, and will test your mind more than your thumbs for sure. It pulls you in at the very begining and does not let go. I played the first three hours not knowing that I had invested three hours. That to me is a good thing!
The controls were very easy to understand, to me it was like playing Halo or COD4, as far as the layout of the controls. Yes this game is nothing like those to but the control layout was. The interactivity between you and your enviroment around you was right on the money, put that with the graphics and sounds you will be pulled into the game. Very few times did I get a glitch or get hung on something, this is a pretty straight forward “ride on rails” type game but like I said the immersion will keep you in the game.

Overall: I loved this game due to the fact that it was entertaining and made me think instead of just sitting there pressing the A button all night. I was very impressed with the way each part of the game was tied together. I highly recommend you purchase this game, but if not completely sure it is a renter for sure!!

I give Batman Arkham Asylum 6 out of 7 blisters.

Good morning everyone,
on Monday Night at about 11:30pm @MisterHinjinx and his wife @CFC78 welcomed their newest edition to their family Jace.
Here is a picture of them together.

Congrats Again!

we are on a roll, we think it is in the water. Next up is @gromit1025 with him and his wife, after that is @andyburnfield and his wife and last but not least @pheenx and his wife are having a kiddo so many more to come.

Hope everyone has a great day!
-Nick