Archive for July, 2008
As I went through high school, I had one favorite backpack. It was green and black and made by Jansport. It carried Trapper Keepers on some days and basketball on others. It withstood being overstuffed with an assortment of textbooks and held the secrets of the divine (aka banned paraphernalia). The backpack went everywhere with me, from the beach to D&D (and other paper RPGs) sleepovers.
Through the years, I’ve never found a bag that was a perfect fit as that backpack. Until one day, while I was basking in my acquisition of a Macbook Pro, I stumbled upon a blog article talking about a strangely named bag made by a company with an equally strange name. The company? Crumpler (looks like they redesigned!). The bag? The Considerable Embarrassment.
The only thing differentiating this bag from any other messenger bag is the Crumpler logo boldly displayed on the flap and zipper tabs. However, it fits better than other bags I’ve tried.
What I like about it:
- For some reason, it feels Mac-like
- Has enough pockets for my Urban Assault mode
- My 15 inch Macbook Pro fits just perfectly
What I don’t like about it:
- The fit can be a little too tight
- For some reason, I missed the velcro in the pictures I saw
Due to the negatives, I tried out a bbp bag. It certainly had a lot more room and I did appreciate the separation between the laptop compartment and the bag area however, I began using the Crumpler bag again and have reinforced my belief that it’s the best bag for me. So, to my pleasant surprise, I discovered that the Considerable Embarrassment is being sold at the online Apple Store (not sure if it’s in-store as well). Go Crumpler!
On a whim I purchased the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and must say, it’s pretty good. I never wanted to get it because I hate the art direction they went with it however, I wanted to play a game that took the Nintendo DS Lite’s capabilities, in terms of controls, to their full extent. Most games I have use either the stylus or the microphone and in a lot of cases only used them to a limited capacity. Not so with the Phantom Hourglass. You use the stylus exclusively in controlling your hero and solve some puzzles using the microphone, which is something that’s surprisingly enjoyable and makes up for the horrible graphics.
Good:
- Wonderful control scheme
- Able to jot notes on most maps
- Puzzles are fun to solve, especially ones involving boss battles
- The character animations are surprisingly fluid in contrast to the graphic textures
- Nothing’s more amusing than being ripped to shreds by enraged chickens
- It’s Legend of Zelda
Bad:
- I HATE the graphics (some people may like it, but it’s a direction I’m disappointed in seeing)
- While I love the control scheme, it’s a bit awkward to get the hero to tumble
I have left all reason behind and surrendered to the siren call. Do not fear for me as I have not fallen into a fatal trap, but sunk willingly into the embrace of my fate. I wear the adornments of the Chosen, not shackles of bondage for the enslaved. I fear not the crux of my journey for it is the blissful resolution that I seek.
This temptation is not sin, nor folly. It is all that I am and all that I desire. Pity me if you will, but I am not ashamed to choosing this path. You may think I am superfluous, yet I am content and see you as empty. I am whole.
I am complete.
Welcome to my techno-lust.
Square Enix is doing a great job in sucking money from me. The latest siphon? Final Fantasy IV remake for the Nintendo DS. While not the first remake of this classic, it seems to be running up for the best. Complete overhaul in both graphics and gameplay tell the story of redemption of a fallen knight in a new light.
Have you pre-ordered your copy? On the fence? Check out the official site and watch the trailers. 
Years ago, I had watched a Japanese Anime series called Bubblegum Crisis. Of course, being Sci-fi and a cartoon there were many fantastical gadgetry and neat technology. One such combo, that pertains to this entry, was a laptop one of the protagonists used. It was sleek looking and had a cool OS, but the nifty part? It was used as an alarm to wake the protagonist up. Now, there are many programs out there that could be similar, however how many of them could wake a computer from sleep and activate the alarm? That’s right, the laptop was in sleep mode and the alarm triggered and woke the laptop and blared its incessant buzzing. Ever since, I always kept an eye out for an application like that. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything for Windows, however my search ended when I got a Macbook Pro.
The first application I encountered was Aurora. It did the job fairly well but settled into the dust for a time. Recently I stumbled upon Awaken and I must say that its sleeker and sexier (not to mention cheaper than the current release of Aurora). While both hook into iTunes so you can play your music, use the Apple remote to snooze or turn off an alarm and both have a sleep setting to play your tunes and stop, putting the system into Sleep mode, after a defined amount of time, Awaken’s presentation is very well done and just looks better. Call me superficial but it’s one of the big reasons why I have a Macbook Pro and an iPhone. They look hot and work pretty darn good. One thing going for Aurora at the moment is its support of EyeTV, which Awaken doesn’t. I don’t use EyeTV so it’s not a problem for me, however for those that do, you might want to keep that in mind. Perhaps the cost of Aurora is worth it then?
I’ve been using Awaken for a week and half now and have been very satisfied. The full screen mode doesn’t emit too much light to be bothersome when using it at night during Sleep mode, but the text is large enough for me to see from my bed to check the time, either at night or when the alarm is blaring in the morning. Oh, and the developer is on Twitter so be sure to check out what he has to say about the new version of Awaken.
