A trip inside the heart and mind.
Posts tagged column
Bang On: The New 007 sucks
Jun 9th
The James Bond movie franchise is one of the longest running in history. It’s held a very similar, yet successful, formula for over twenty films. The rights holders, regardless of the success they’ve had, though, decided to change the direction of the famed spy saga a bit with the casting of the current Bond, Daniel Craig. He’s supposed to be more like the character from the books and the movies, themselves, are supposed to be more realistic. There’s only one problem: The new Bond movies suck.
Limitations of such a small site
May 28th
I’m a guy who loves to voice his opinion about everything. That’s really not a secret. Surprisingly enough, though, not only do I enjoy doing it, but people seem to be entertained by what I have to say. Whether it be people at work or visitors to Neowin, people always seem to react to my opinions because I like to dress them up and put on a show. That’s what this site is supposed to be about. A whole place dedicated to my opinions and thoughts and emotions. The problem is that nobody really knows this place exists.
This is all stemming from recent discussions about Neowin and my last Bang On column which was posted exclusively on this site for the first time. It made sense, after leaving Neowin, to keep going with my more popular work and try to draw more visitors to my neck of the woods. It didn’t really work out as I had hoped and there was only an insignificant bump in numbers for a day or two. It was really disheartening.
I’m at a crossroads with all of this. The more I think about it, the more I feel as though it’s impossible to mix my interests and thoughts on technology and my personal life on one site. Most people don’t want to read my poems or journals and the few people who do are probably not interested in any techno babble. I can try to cram it all together and keep failing or I can figure out a better solution. Unfortunately, besides creating a second site and draining myself creatively, I have nothing.
For the few of you who do visit: Any ideas? I want to make it work and I want to include more tech talk here, but how do I mix the two worlds without alienating either one? I was considering, for starters, creating a “Tech Talk” category. Good?
Bang On: Those Apple and Microsoft ads are annoying
May 14th
It’s a battle that’s been waged in the public arena for years now: Apple vs Microsoft. Now, it’s advertised as “Mac vs. PC”, but Macs are PCs so that nonsense should stop. Either way, though, Apple has been the top dog for a while, forcing Microsoft to back into a corner like a geek with a pocket full of money in the lunchroom of his elementary school. After taking a beating for years, Microsoft finally decided it had enough and launched its own campaign, first flaunting the uniqueness of PC owners and then moving on to how there’s a different PC for every individual out there as opposed to the more “one size fits all” approach that Apple takes. Apple claims that their competition will give you nothing but crashing, viruses, frustration and cancer while Microsoft claims that Macs are ridiculously overpriced, limited in variation, and slightly douchey (I can say that here).
Another goodbye to Neowin
May 7th
It’s never an easy decision and the first go round didn’t actually last all that long, but I’ve decided to leave Neowin, again.
There’s really not much to say about it, to be honest. I haven’t been writing any news, as I’ve mentioned before, and my recent health issues have really sapped away any motivation I would normally have to write. When I do get the urge to write, I want it to be on this site, even if it is for free and won’t get many views. I want to see what I can do here as far as mixing my person life with my general viewpoints and see if I can attract more visitors. I’m already considering posting a “Bang On” column here, once I actually find something to rant about.
Thanks to Mike, by the way. He and I used to clash a lot, but we’ve since overcome that and he dealt with a lot of heat for supporting my usually controversial columns.
Bang On: It’s easy to hate the Xbox 360
Mar 24th
This is all thanks to yesterday:
My first Xbox 360 unit was only three months old when it decided to take its own life. On a glorious day, when I was off from work, I decided to play some MLB 2k7. Maybe my Xbox knew how bad the game was and decided to give me a hand; I couldn’t tell you. Whatever it was, though, the console decided to stop reading any and all media. Neither games nor movies would work anymore. Back to the store I went and home came a replacement.
Xbox number two didn’t fare much better. In fact, it decided that not only should I not play Project Gotham Racing 3, but I also should not get my disc back. The DVD drive simply lost all power. I have no idea how this happened, but there I was, with a screw driver, prying open the tray to get my darn disc back. Another trip to the store was in order and I was already feeling the pain and anguish of knowing I was going to be stuck in this relationship, continually coming back for more abuse.
Read: Full Article
Bang On: I love Windows Mobile
Feb 24th
Hopefully this one won’t incite so much anger lol
…If the iPhone “just works”, then a standard Windows Mobile installation just makes you want to put your head through a wall. Maybe it’s not that horrible, but its close enough to make anyone realize, pretty quickly, that work is needed. If you put in that work to tweak the experience, though, what you’ll get is what I love: A mobile phone that works with me instead of forcing me to change my ways.
One of the most critiqued areas of Windows Mobile is the user interface. It usually requires too many clicks. Even worse, for touch screen devices, most of the OS isn’t very finger friendly, requiring either a stylus to reach those tiny touch points or a knife to stab yourself in the chest and end your misery. The great thing about Windows Mobile’s interface, though, is that it’s not like the iPhone’s or Android’s…
Read: Full Article
Bang On: We all need Apple
Feb 17th
Here’s my latest “Bang On” column on Neowin:
Before Windows and OS X started going head to head on a more mainstream level, Microsoft was perfectly fine with releasing a product that not only looked terrible, but was as secure as a paper bag left in the rain tethered to a pair of scissors. Granted, some bad publicity from some high profile viruses nudged Microsoft along, it was Apple and their marketing that really forced Microsoft’s hand, especially with Windows 7. For the first time, Microsoft can’t just develop an operating system for the corporate world and give it to the public with a few consumer friendly add-ons. The entire OS is being designed to be more consumer friendly and more secure than ever before. Why? Because Apple has made it very clear to the public that its operating system is as user friendly and safe as a golden retriever puppy in a room full of pillows. Some Apple zealots would probably argue that OS X is even cuter than that puppy in that pillowy room, but they’re just crazy.
Read: Full Article
Bang On: Vista killed the skinning star
Feb 10th
This week’s column isn’t going to incite nearly as much anger as last week’s. I was just reminiscing about the earlier days of Neowin and this is what resulted from it.
Windows XP was ugly. There was no way around that fact. The default Luna interface looked as though it was drawn by a crayon on a crumpled up napkin. Nothing about it was clean or polished. It was bad enough that, after a while, Microsoft released the Royale visual style to spruce up the appearance of their star operating system. However, before Royale, there was a large community dedicated to changing the appearance of XP. A few select members of that community were celebrities, in their own right, and had a large portion of the geek community captivated by their works of art.
Many artists, such as Neowin’s own Kol, Bant, and , jumped onto the scene, shortly after XP was released, and started to create beautiful new visual styles for it. You didn’t even have to pay for them, though some of the pieces were surely worth a lot more than the free price tag attached to them. All you had to do was download a small program, let it patch your uxtheme.dll system file (regardless what some companies would have you believe, it’s perfectly safe), and install any visual style of your choosing. It seemed as though every week a new theme was coming out as these artists consistently pushed the threshold in an attempt to cover the face of that ugly baby known as XP.
Read: Full Article
Bang On: Firefox, you’re kind of ugly
Feb 3rd
Latest in my weekly column:
…Firefox is the plain Jane girl. She’s not much to look at, especially when standing next to the other two, but she makes up for her lack of physical beauty with a nice amount of intelligence and the ability to adapt and grow with you. Of course, in public, you may deny that you even know her or, before going out, encourage her to throw on a few pounds of make-up to cover up your shame.
Before you beat me with sticks for insulting your favorite browser or collect as an angry mob and storm my apartment with torches because I’m being sexist, you have to understand that I like Firefox. I wouldn’t use it if I didn’t like it. I’m just not blind enough to lie to myself and say it looks good, at all. Sure, the Mac version is nice enough looking, but the Vista version is just horrendously ugly….
Read: Full Article
Bang On: AOL is attempting suicide
Jan 27th
Column for the week has just been post:
For my generation, AOL was the Internet as we all signed on for the first time. Even if you didn’t use their dialup service, you absolutely had to download AOL Instant Messenger , so you could stay in contact with all of your friends. Let’s face it: Cell phones were still way too expensive, so instant messages were the text messages of that time. It was almost a social faux pa to be in high school without a screen name. And, while you were there typing away and entering chat rooms your parents probably wouldn’t want you in, you had to have some music playing. In came Winamp and, once AOL bought them out, it was an all AOL, all the time experience. So, what the heck is AOL doing now?
Read: Full article