When Compact Discs (as well as DVDs, etc.) are reduced to Frisbees:

It occurs to me that in the past decade, the standard "medium" has become digital download. From rental services that stream movies (such as Netflix and Crackle) to online stores such as the Nintendo eShop, Steam and well, Google Play could fit into both of these categories. 

A day or two ago, I was looking for a couple of discs that contained two separate DOS games that I loved and remembered from my childhood. after what felt like an hour or two of "tearing my room apart" (metaphorically speaking, that is) I was finally able to determine that I had forgotten to pack them away with all of my hardware re-installation discs. 

So that leaves me thinking for a minute. I ask myself a couple of questions: Do I ask Emily to look for them when she goes back to Ohio next month? Do I try to describe them to Mom to see if she can find them and mail them? Or do I look for the games on Google and bookmark the resulting websites to download them to my new computer later on?

Well, naturally, I ended up choosing "Door Number Three." After careful searching (one doesn't want to find a website full of malware) I was able to find the two pieces of software I had been searching for. I was able to find the first one, "Epic Pinball" on a website I had used previously called "MyAbandonware," which happens to be the same place where I found another game from my 6th Grade year of school called "Super Solvers' Spellbound." I had also found Jazz Jackrabbit here as well, but it was only the demo, and quite frankly, I can extract that from DOSGames.com.

Finding the full version of Jazz Jackrabbit was a different story. After the secondary Google Search mentioned above, I managed to stumble upon a website called "FreeGameEmpire.com" and not only was the version they had not a demo, they also had the CD version that contained all of the "Episodes" (yes that type of game existed WELL before half-life!) for download from their website. 

The third game that I hadn't thought of at the time, but has occurred to me now is Rayman. I am not as worried about finding it on the internet because it has been remade at least twice for portable systems, so if I want it bad enough, I will most likely download it from the Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo 3DS. 

To Xfinity....AND BEYOND!!!!

In case anyone didn't catch it, I did make a play on a Toy Story reference. Now that I have that out of my system, I can get to the task at hand. Since moving to Colorado and settling in, I have only found two pockets of the state that have Time Warner as their cable provider. It also just so happens that I do not live in either of them, so our cable provider is Comcast.

Emily initially subscribed to them because of the affordability and the fact that we only really needed internet at the time. When our modem came in the mail, both of them put me up to the task of setting it up, which I was perfectly okay with. 

The initial setup seemed simple: look at the instructions that came with the box, and follow them to a tee. I was able to do just that, however, at first, the box wouldn't cooperate. Matt and I figured that it meant that the modem we were sent was faulty, so we went to Best Buy to buy a new one. They only had one brand, and it was way overpriced, so next we tried either Staples or Office Depot since it was right next door.  At any rate, the one we tried didn't have any modems at all, and we were about to try the other one when I instantaneously piped up and insisted that we try Walmart instead. Well, we headed there next after I convinced Matt, and when we got there, I headed straight for the Home Entertainment department.  

Once we get to the right department, I start hovering in and eventually find the wireless routers. Fortunately for me, the Cable and DSL modems are also in the same area, and we settle on a Motorola Surfboard model (which is apparently co-owned by Arris now -- I had to come to this conclusion). We also grab a Belkin N150 wireless router to go with it -- they're cheap and only last a year, but why not, and since we are at Walmart anyway, we grab some essentials and head for the self-checkout.

Once we get our items scanned and paid for, we head back to the apartment, and I start back at square one. I then start to follow the instructions for the Motorola modem, since we are going to set that up first, and of course, no progress is made whatsoever. Emily then proceeds to call customer support and, being the persistent type that she is, "bear-claws" her way through Comcast's customer service phone tree.  After a few hangups and some "choice words" we eventually get a service visit for the next day and all is right with the world.

Flash forward 24 hours: so on the day of the visit, the technician comes out and looks around to see what we've tried so far and also what he is dealing with. The guy is super nice and considerate and after looking around, discovers that not all of our outlets are wired for Cable. Well this wouldn't have occurred to the average person--or even me, and we have a nice little chat about internet standards. The irony is that before the visit, we were not able to use the internet directly, however, we were able to use a special service known as "Xfinity Wi-Fi" which is like a "hotspot" that a customer's modem puts out for when a mobile device is outside of the home. After some time passes, he is eventually able to get our internet up and running to where we can use the internet through our regular SSID (or network name).

In short, would I subscribe if I were on my own? I would give it a solid "maybe."

Front of Xfinity box. The only difference between ours and 

this one is the manufacturer.

Rear of Xfinity Box.

Homebrew no more

I have recently discovered that it is no longer possible to initiate the Homebrew Channel on the Wii U. Despite my best attempt and precise instruction following for the Indiana Pwns exploit, which I had read was possible due to the SD card bypass, it was not meant to be. I copied the file to the system memory from Wii mode on the Wii U and otherwise followed the directions precisely. I also tried a different exploit that was supposed to be compatible with Wii U and Wii Mini, however, there was still no such luck. I will keep an eye on the Wii Brew and Wii U Brew Wiki pages from time to time to see if this changes, but for now, I am not holding my breath. If anyone has any ideas, leave me a message in the comments.

My attempt at the Indiana Pwns exploit. When the character is selected, a homebrew installer is supposed to launch.

Childhood Restored -- Part Three: The Super Nintendo controller

A few months back, I found and purchased a second USB video game controller to replace the broken generic Xbox one that I bought from Walmart a few years prior. I had already purchased a Microsoft-branded controller for that console (but for the intention of computer usage). I had seen pictures of it and I was intrigued towards purchasing one, however, being the indecisive consumer that I am, I held off for a few months after I initially found it. 

Well, one day, Mom decided she had to order some stuff from Amazon anyway, and asked me if I wanted anything while she was ordering, as she always does. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to ask about the controller, so I went ahead and pulled up the webpage that I had bookmarked and she went ahead and added the item to her checkout list. I also managed to pay her for it when the opportunity arose, and after a couple of days, it arrived in the mail (I love how fast items ship to Ohio!). 

The iBuffalo USB SNES controller

So Mom and I open the box it shipped in, and she pulls her items out, and I pull out the box the controller comes in. I then proceed to grab scissors (because all shipping boxes are taped shut) and I open the controller's box, and the moment of truth arrives: I plug the controller into either my desktop or laptop (I eventually did both) and it works PERFECTLY! I then fire up the Super Nintendo emulator and configure the controller to the emulator itself, and all is right with the world. I have since taken the controller (as well as the Microsoft-branded Xbox 360 controller with me to Colorado, and both of them work without any hiccups (although the SNES controller feels more comfortable).

A side-by-side comparison of the same controller and Xbox 360 controller.

In other news, Emily bought an electrically-propelled tornado....

Okay, in actuality what happened is she bought a bag-less vacuum, but my explanation grabs one's attention. Now, normally this should not seem like something that is a big deal (or at least big enough to be worth writing about), however, I grew up in a home where the closest thing we had to this concept was a 16-gallon "Shop-Vac" that didn't even have a see-through container, and technically, it had a cover for the filter that could almost be considered a vacuum bag.

At any rate, this thing is impressive. Not only can it work on any surface, but it is definitely less noisy than the average vacuum, and it also doesn't have that funky odor that a traditional bag vacuum can leave behind. The brand is known as "Shark" and when Emily brought it home, I recognized the brand name right away because they used to be advertised all the time on television as being a "Sears Exclusive TV Offer" product, which is why when Emily explained that she found the vacuum at Costco, I was quite surprised.

Now, noise is a different story. It seems like it puts out the same volume level of noise as a traditional vacuum, however, the noise clarity is unusually clearer. I realize that it seems odd to notice something like that, however, this fact remains.

Now, yes, that means due to the size of the holding bin, it does need to be emptied after a few uses, but the best trade-off would be the lack of a musty smell that traditional vacuums give one's house after someone uses it. 

Now, you might ask why I would call it an "electrically propelled tornado" and this is because the first time I saw it being used, I paid close attention to the collection bin, and I could see all of the collected dirt and debris spinning around in the canister at a very high speed, but it was all contained within the collection bin itself. If there's any readers that can come up with a better descriptive term than that, let me know in the comments. 

In short, I've become converted to this type of vacuum and would completely surprise myself if I ever went back to using a traditional bag-based vacuum. The Shark is pretty awesome.

The Shark vacuum while propped up along with its "hose" extension. 

New Respect for the Selfie

Ever since it became a trend, I had always bashed the concept of the "selfie" because it seemed like a stupid idea. There were a few preconceived notions behind this assumption. Because I used the cameras inside the Nintendo DSi for years, I assumed that I had been taking "selfies" since "before they were cool." However, it was not until after my move to Colorado that I got to take a real "selfie" and get a new appreciation for it.

Now, I have posted duplicates of the same image because I wanted to show how I took it vs. how it properly looked when rotated. The common factor I have noticed with taking pictures on the Nintendo DSi and 3DS is that in order to get the "selfie" shot that everyone has no issues with on their smart phone, not only does one have to be in the perfect lighting (Nintendo's cameras don't include a flash feature), but one also has to have the handheld rotated at a right angle.

There's another fact that I'd like to point out regarding my pictures. It honestly wasn't much help that the weather was very bright and sunny. In a nutshell, this means that while it was perfect picture-taking conditions, having the sun right in your eyes while trying to get a good shot tends to make for some interesting pictures, as demonstrated by a couple of examples -- shown below:

Windows Vista: The day Microsoft stopped trusting its users

I've often had a love-hate relationship with Microsoft. This is partly due to my resistance to change. I remember the first Windows PC I ever used at home was an Intel-based 486 Packard Bell with Windows For Workgroups 3.11. From Windows' inception until Windows XP, Microsoft had always had DOS as a backup in case things with a home user's computer went awry. It was also a nice way to play some of the best computer games known to man, such as Jazz Jackrabbit and Day of the Tentacle.

Funny enough, I initially thought that the first version of Windows NT I had ever used was Windows XP. As of this writing, however, I have come to realize that I actually had some exposure to Windows NT 4 back when the Dayton Library used it on their computers. However, in that circumstance, I didn't get to interact much with the inner-workings of the computers themselves, so I just thought that it was Windows 95. All in all, Windows NT had not been a bad beast thus far, although it was different. And then came Windows Vista..........

Windows Vista Desktop via a screenshot from my Toshiba Laptop.

When I first saw it, I wasn't sure what the big deal was. I mean, I had heard about how restrictive it was, but to be quite honest, it had not "blipped" on my technological radar. In fact, it wasn't until I started using Windows 7 all the time for school that I realized how bad Windows Vista really was. I mean, I had heard about the restrictions (most notably, the one known as "User Account Control") which, by the way, appears in Windows Vista as well, but I just never gave it any thought.

Windows User Account Control Prompt.

The other useless feature (or maybe they're two features) is (are) the Sidebar and its Gadgets. Just like the "Channel Bar" from Internet Explorer 4.0, this feature was in theory, a good idea, however, upon further discovery from usage, it's honestly pointless, as are its gadgets, but at least in Windows 7, a user can place the gadget anywhere they want on the desktop. 

The Windows 7 Desktop (for comparison only). Notice how the gadgets are not shadowed by a toolbar.

At any rate, if you're going to upgrade off of Windows XP (not that I recommend it), go with Windows 7 (or newer if you desire). I can't speak for Windows 8, but I hear if one adds a modification or two, they can get a desktop that is similar to the one shown above. Sounds like a winner for someone that can't get a touch screen.