Long Time, No Blog!

Wow, it has been a really long time since I have logged into Blogger! I do miss my blue binary background though as well as writing this blog. The move to the Verry Technical (verrytechnical.com) domain and personal hosting has been a success, however. I have learned a great deal about Linux, hosting, mySQL, and managing both a CMS and phpBB forum in the two years that the website has been running.

I logged into Blogger to figure out how to ad Google Analytics for my aunt (who is starting a blog of her own), but I see that basic analytics are now built into the Blogger dashboard--very neat! The new post editor and dashboard is really useful, and it is nice to see all of the new updates that have been added since I've been gone.

Please stop by the Thread About Absolutely Nothing over at my new site when you have time to keep the Procrastination Domination spirit alive! I just wanted to write a short post to let all of my readers known that I'm still alive and writing. You can now find my writing on my personal site (linked above) as well as PC Perspective and Ziff Davis' ExtremeTech website. I hope you have an amazing 2013!

-Tim Verry (see the linked Google+ page for links to my writing)

Verry Technical Is Born!

Well, I promised you that I was working on something big...  and today I am here to deliver!

I have been hard at work on my new technology centered web site:  www.timverry.com.

If you have enjoyed reading this blog, I encourage you to take a look at my new website and consider following my posts there as my postings here are likely to be sporadic at best.

Thanks for your time, and happy holidays everyone! :D

Steam Recommendations

As I was browsing around the Steam store for Christmas gift ideas, I noticed that the Store tab now has a new recommendations section.  As far as first impressions go, it was not that accurate, for me; however I'm sure that their algorithms will improve over time.

Steam also lists the games that your Steam friends play most and any personal recommendations they have made.

Speaking of personal recommendations, you are able to recommend games from your Steam games list that can either be open or a recommendation to a certain friend.

What are your thoughts on this feature?  Do you think the recommendations are accurate?

PHP and Such

So I promised a non-digital lego related game, and I'm here to deliver.  I haven't had much time to post anything new due to school, work, and attempting to code a website.  I say attempt as I haven't done this since the Writers Hall website, which needless to say, was a while ago and I'm a bit rusty.  Like a 50 year old nail next to both an oxygen tank and a nuclear reactor.

I've been reading a great article by Enrique Ramirez which has been helping immensely.  Especially with all the CSS stuff that i had a tough time getting straight when it was fresh in my mind! :P  You can find the article here, and I encourage you to give it a read if you're at all interested in HTML 5.

Hold LMB.  Walk.  Click RMB, move and click RMB again.  Rinse and Repeat....  O wait, wrong strategy!

The strategy I want to utilize here is to write a blog update, not finish my city in the sky in Minecraft!  Ooops!

Needless to say, I have been playing a lot of Minecraft.  I thought BrickBreaker was addicting, but this... this is a whole new world of addiction.  Hardly an excuse for the lack of updates, I realize; however, it's the best excuse I've got :p

In tech related news, I will soon have my own domain.  More updates soon, I promise.  I can't promise; however, that they won't be Minecraft related! :p

Minecraft!

It is now 11:48pm as I am writing this blog post.  After a rather long day at work, finally getting home, and now relaxing I decided I wanted to jump into a game of Minecraft!

Interestingly, I was greeted with this page:

Basically, it states that the developers server has gotten so bogged down with requests that he's had to disable portions of the website!  I suppose I'll just have to wait to register so that I can save all my crazy buildings :p.

For now, the developer has announced a steam-esque "free weekend" for the normally paid for version of the game.  If you haven't already, now would be a great time to check it out!  Just head on over to the website.

As always, happy gaming!

Comcastic!

So I am (finally) switching my ISP.  And I'm going with Comcast, not ATT. The funny thing is that ATT keeps sending me flyers advertising that High Speed Internet is available in my area; however, my address is still not available to sign up for High Speed Internet on their website. Needless to say, I’m a bit jaded at that.

Now that I’m back in school (taking classes on campus and online), and attempting to publish more media to the web, I am in need of a faster internet connection.  Also, since I am sharing this connection with someone who watches entirely too much bachelor-themed shows than I can keep track of online, it helps to have more bandwidth available.

Monday morning Comcast came to install the internet.  Naturally, they were late :p.  However, Comcast offered me a $20 credit to my first bill.  As they showed up about 10 minutes after the latest scheduled time, it was more than sufficient a gesture.  Since I own my modem, and had used it before it was, I’m told, considered a re-connect to their network.  It was mentioned to my girlfriend that they don’t get credit for reconnects so they weren’t too happy about that.  Not that it’s my fault, I did tell them I owned my modem when I signed up.  Anyway, I have my desktop computer and my router in a corner of the living room by the balcony entrance.  There is a coax jack in that same corner; however, Comcast no longer uses those lines as they are ran through the outer wall, and they stopped using them last year.  Instead, the coax jack is across the room from the computer along the opposite wall.  So, for now, I have a white coaxial cable running across my living room.  At some point I’m going to get a longer cable and run it along the baseboard.  Until then, I have a nice reminder that I have a much faster connection to the internet.  :)

How much faster is it though?

Lets compare:

Unlocking my Blackberry

I finally found a new home for my old Blackberry Bold 9000.  I originally stopped using it as I was running out of memory for music and videos and the trackball stopped working.  Well in the sense that i could scroll every direction but up, anyway :p.  After reading forum posts and talking to my friend i tried cleaning the trackball unsuccessfully.

Apparently, however; it was just my bad luck combined with my once trusty blackberry giving me a good excuse to upgrade as when i got the phone out of its box and charged it up the trackball worked perfectly.

I was a bit jaded at that.  It would be my luck that the trackball works as im selling the phone.

But that quickly subsided as my friend was in need of a phone upgrade (their old phones batter was nearly shot and their charging cable was frayed), so i was happy that the trackball was working for them.

Since she is a T-Mobile customer we hit a small snag in that my blackberry was locked to ATT's network, so i would need to unlock it in order for it to work on T-Mobiles network.

What Is Your Classic Gaming Moment?

It's taking awhile to upload the video, unfortunately.  So, in the meantime, I'd like to share a classic gaming moment with you.

More after the break.

Singularity Micro Review

Lately I’ve been trying to come up with an interesting way to review games.  I believe that I’ve finally found a way that not only gets straight to the point, but also fits with the vibe and spirit of Procrastination Domination.
After all, this is a website with procrastinate in the title.  You as readers, and me as the writer of this review would much rather be playing video games than doing research; therefore, these micro reviews along with longer game play examples should be able to satisfy your research needs quickly so that you can get right back to procrastinating by playing said video games!
Enjoy, and as always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them in the comments section below!
The game has a very Timeshift like feel, but in a good way (I liked Timeshift, for what it's worth).  The story could have been more developed; however, it was done well enough to get me to play the game and finish it so it serves its intended purpose well.  The scripted corridor shooting brings some nostalgia of Doom 3, ect.  And with the TMD and deadlock you are unstoppable at Normal difficulty (read:  You become a total badass with little challenge from the opponents, but the game is still fun).  I only tested and reviewed the game based on the single player aspect.
My Recommendation is for PS3 to rent and maybe buy and for PC to buy now as it's worth $40.

Procrastination Domination Podcast?

I’m interested in starting a podcast for Procrastination Domination.

It will be a weekly affair with podcasts published every Friday, if not sooner.

Each weekly episode will run approximately 30 minutes, with every other week’s episode running an additional 30 minutes, which will allow for guests and answering reader questions.

More information will be available soon.

Episode 000 – Hi, This Is a Test.

Alien Dominion: Gameplay

As promised, here is a short video showing off the gameplay in Black Fire Game's Alien Dominion: The Acronian Encounter.

An HD version is also available by clicking on the video.  Enjoy :)

Think you can out-gun me? Head over to their website, download the demo, and give it your best shot!

Ubisoft's "DRM" translates to Damn the Retail Market

Well, I tried once again to play a game I paid good money for, hoping against hope that Ubisoft would have patched the problems away; however, that was not the case.

I paid $50 pre-ordering Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction off of Amazon months ago, and yet I still have not been able to get through the first level.

To add insult to injury, this time, after a few months break, I can't even get the game to start!

My system exceeds every one of their recommended specifications, and this is an almost brand new installation of Windows, yet the game still refuses to work.

It really is sad that I paid good money for essentially a shiny plastic case with a small Frisbee inside. Ubisoft should be ashamed of themselves for releasing this, and quite frankly, if I was Tom Clancy I would be totally pissed off that my name is associated with this unplayable game.

I can only hope that it will be fully cracked. Heck, I don't even care about the multiplayer! I'd even settle for just being able to play through the single player campaign! Is that simply to much to ask of Ubisoft after giving them my money?

So yep, back to the shelf for Conviction :(.

On a positive note, Alien Swarm is pretty awesome for a free game :).

New Layout

Either you like to use a text only web browser or you have been living under a rock, but lately Procrastination Domination has switched to a new layout. I felt it was time for a change, and that the site is a bit more intuitive. Further, the text is easier to read, and as this site is mostly about typed words (though video content may be coming soon ;) ), having those words be easily readable is rather important!

How do you feel about the changes? Do you have any suggestions? Let us know in the comments section below!

There’s Good News, and Bad News

Being as the good news usually comes first, lets give the bad news a chance to be frontrunner.

So, the bad news is that apparently AT&T still does not want my money.  That, or they are too busy worshipping the iPhone to do anything about their online ordering system.

I’m tempted to just go to Comcast and face the wrath of the girlfriend after the fact, but I’m unsure which is worse at the moment (no fast internet or having the girlfriend mad that I went to her sworn enemy for internet haha :p.

But that’s an internal debate for another time.  You want to hear the good news, right?

Last night I beat Alien Dominion:  The Acronian Encounter, by the skin of my teeth I might say.  Needless to say, it’s challenging but well worth the effort as the ending was awesome!  I can’t wait for the continuation of the story :D.

Steam's Awesome Summer Sale!

The past few days have been filled with staring at counting down clocks and watching download progress bars. And while this may sound rather tedious; it is in fact well worth the anticipation and tension as i have gotten some amazing deals on games! You have to love Steam sales, as there is always some games one cannot simply pass up! Best of all, the sales arent over yet! :)

What games have caught your eye during the sale? Do you now have an even larger backlog of games yet to be played (including all those titles from the christmas sale? :) ) Let us know in the comments!

AT&T Doesn’t Want My Money.

I recently moved into a new apartment with my girlfriend.  Needless to say, I have been quiet busy working and trying to get used to living with someone who isn’t family.  I have gotten almost everything in order, but the internet remains an issue.

For the past two weeks I have been attempting to order AT&T’s dry loop DSL elite service; however, every day I’ve tried to order online I’m presented with an error message stating that due to technical difficulties I will not be able to order online.

Exhibit A:

The only other ISP available here is Comcast, and my girlfriend seems to have some sort of blood feud with them.  Also, I simply can’t stomach the $100 “activation fee” that Comcast refuses to waive when I already have a modem that I own and all their technician has to do is connect one wire downstairs lol.

If I was AT&T, I would probably (hint, hint) be fixing whatever server database issue that is causing me not to be able to order, after all $45 a month is nothing to sneeze at when the cost of providing that service isn’t anywhere close to being as high as $45 a month.

Just sayin’…

In the meantime, I’ll continue to use a combination of the prepaid WISP Xanadoo and the grandfathered unlimited data plan on my cell phone (see AT&T, you could be charging me /twice/ for internet!  Get your database programmers some coffee and tell them to get to work!) for when the WISP connection drops.

That’s all for this post.  I apologize if my personal rant is less than professional; however, what better venue to complain to AT&T about fixing online ordering than a blog titled “Procrastination Domination”?

And on a more positive note:  At least now you all know that I’m still alive thanks to this post .

 

Is it just happening to me, or is there ordering service down for you as well?  (My google-fu seems to be failing me on this one.)  Any opinions on their DSL Elite service from users in the Midwest?  Leave a Comment and let me know .

Stuck In the Metro

As you may have noticed, I haven’t posted recently.  I completely blame Metro 2033 for my absence. 

The game took me around 10 hours to finish, with the Library level taking up a good chunk of that time, until I decided to just run for it :p.  Alternatively, don’t let go of the Helsing until after the library level, even if that shotgun with bayonet sounds cooler.

More to come, stay tuned :)

Metro 2033 DVD Install Issue

Not to get unduly personal in this post; however, I must say that I’m lucky to have a girlfriend who is able to put up with my geeky-ness.  I say that because, after her interview at WallyWorld (Walmart for those not in the know :p  Or is it not just a regional name?), and I happened to spot Metro 2033 for $43 (before tax)… and then proceeded to buy said game, she just laughed and showed as much interest as it is possible for a non-gamer girl to show.

Anyways, it’s now 2 days later, and i finally get to crack open the game.  I put the disc in the drive and hit Install.  It first installed steam since I hadn’t gotten around to re-installing it after upgrading my computer and reinstalling windows.  I then logged into my steam account (I was luckily able to remember my password even though I haven’t had to enter it in about a year) and entered the product code…

 

And then waited for the game to download whatever small update would be needed.  However, looking at the download screen, I noticed that Steam was downloading all ~7 GB of the game from the internet while my DVD just sat in the drive.

 

Looking around the internet for a solution, I noticed I wasn’t the only one having this problem.  If this happens to you, I encourage you to read this forum post by Cerebelum.  I followed the quick 4 steps, and Steam was then happily installing from the DVD :).

Steam updating after installing from the DVD, much quicker than downloading all ~7 GB!

Happy gaming :)

Dominating Procrastination: They Don’t Make SD Card Readers Like They Used To!

This is not to say that there aren’t good SD card readers these days, just that I doubt they would stand up to the kind of abuse I run them through.  In fact, I’m quite unsure how the particular reader I have now has lasted as long as it has!

Take a look at the poor thing!

Not only has it lost it’s casing (about 2 years ago?), but now the USB connector is bent:

And yet, somehow, it still works (The photos of the reader in this post where transferred onto my computer using it)! 

Although I most likely should buy another reader, since this one still works and I don’t use it all that often, I think I’ll stay in the spirit of Procrastination Domination and wait a bit longer :p :).

What about you?  Do you have old tech that you still use, or do you upgrade regardless if the old tech is still serviceable (no complaints here as I am rather partial to shiny things (inside joke) :) ?  Speaking of upgrading, when this thing does finally die, what USB SD card reader would you guys recommend?  :D