One More Tourist

It’s true, I’m a complete gadget whore! When Nokia released the N-Gage I bought it on opening day, I’ve had all kinds of iPods / PDA’s / and crazy little things. Anyway I’ve had quite a break from my gadget addiction after my girlfriend reminded me that I was buying a lot of useless crap! Seeing that I’ve been so good I’m going to be getting myself a Nokia n800 Internet Tablet.

The n800 was released around the start of the year and really seems to be something special. Nokia are mostly known for making mobile phones but last year they released the n770 Internet Tablet which gave people the ultimate mobile browsing experience. The n880 has taken the basic principles of the n770 and just added a whole bunch of great upgrades making the n800 a really great mobile internet device. Here’s a list of just some of the n800 features:

Access the web on a portable internet tablet
High-resolution widescreen display
Opera 8 web browser
Supports Flash 7

Internet communications
Internet calling with integrated web camera
Instant messaging
E-mail client

Full-screen, touch keyboard
Access to internet media at home and on-the-go
High quality stereo speakers
Media player
UPnP
Expandable mass memory

High-resolution (800×480 pixels) touch screen with up to 65,536 colors
RAM 128
Two internal memory card slots, compatible with SD, MicroSD, MiniSD, MMC, and RS-MMC. Compatible with cards up to 2GB. Configurable up to 4GB.
Flash 256MB, 128 MiniSD with extender included in sales package

As you can see its a pretty feature filled device. It should arrive on Thursday so expect some pictures and probably a video or two!

Well I have finally gotten around to checking out Dungeons and Dragons: Stormreach Module 4 and so far it’s damn awesome. The module adds quite a few things which improve the game even more. Here’s a quick list:

Combat the Stormreaver’s Dragons, Stone and Cloud Giants, Orcs, and more in 12 new adventures.

Advance your character up to Level 14.

Explore two new landscape adventures Gianthold (high-level), and the Cerulean Hills (low-level).

These are just some of the main features that were included in Module 4, if you want to read the test check out the release notes.

I’ve had a wander through the Cerulean Hills and you really can see how the DDO teams have picked up improvements made to their graphical engine in Lord of the Rings Online. The area is vast and looks utterly amazing. I’m pretty lucky and run the game at 1900×1200 with all options maxed an it is by far the prettiest game around. Apparently Everquest 2 touts that their graphics engine is so vast and future proof that no current graphics cards can run it at the highest of resolutions. In my mind it’s just a cop-out. If other games can look amazing and run well at high resolutions without the latest technology games like EQ2 should as well! (/end rant)

I really hope I get to play a whole stack more of DDO: Module 4 over the next week or so, I’ll then be able to give a more in-depth review!

Cheers and Beers!

A few weeks ago after talking to my good friend, I decided to take the plunge and upgrade my system to Windows Vista Ultimate. Now, price is not an issue for me because I get all versions of Vista in my MSDN subscription so Ultimate was really the only choice. My system specs are moderate these days:

P4 3.2Ghz
1Gb RAM
256 GeForce 6600 GT Video Card

With these specs I have no problems running Vista with all the eye candy enabled, I could do with another Gig of RAM just to get everything running as smooth as Windows XP. I’ll break this down into things I like and things I dislike.

What I Like

I’ve neglected this blog for way to long!

I’ve decided that I’m going to try and post at least once every day if not more. I’ve been reading quite a few blogs recently and it looks like this could be a great way to network and share information.

For those who don’t know I run my own network of websites that cover Gaming, Travel and Music! Here’s a list of my websites:

Gaming
The DS Gamers
The Wii Gamers
The Xbox Gamers
Metroid Corruption

Travel
The Backpacker Forums
Wander the World

Music
What is the Riff?

These are the websites I’ve launched so far; as most people who develop websites I have a whole heap sitting on my virtual desk which need to be finished. I’ve created all the technology that run behind the scenes and it’s something I’m very proud of.

I’m just about to receive my first $100 from Google. It’s taken quite a while for me to accumulate but each month my site’s are earning more and more. This is all a big learning process but I know that with the right amount of effort and luck I’ll attain the goals I am after.

Anyone know much about AGLOCOâ„¢? Apparently its much like All Advantage ie: you make money from surfin the web and having their toolbar in IE. It hasnt kicked off yet but you can sign up and start refering people to the site.

Check it out

Oh the great memories!

2006 was quite the crazy freaking year, I don’t think I could have imagined all the twists and turns I took. I sang in the new year with some great friends and of course my amazingly hot girlfriend! I think this year is going to easily be the biggest and best yet.

It’s about the time people state their goals for the coming year. I have a few myself which is a first, I’ve never been one to harp on new years resolutions but this year is different, there are some defined goals I want to achieve.

2007 Goals

1. Move into my own home! This is already in progress JC and I are actually looking at a few places this weekend.

2. Earn $100 a week from my websites by the end of the year. If I can do this then I have the perfect passive income.

3. Become 100% more active and get back into playing sports. After I had my appendix out I was unable to play sport for nearly a year, (complications) now that I am feeling better I want to go to the gym 3 times a week and also jog 3 times a week.

4. Put some money away for the future. I am notoriously bad at saving money, but now since I have an amazing full time job and am earning good money I really should be putting some away for the future.

5. Relax more and try to live life to the fullest. This may seem a little lame but a few years ago I was the most relaxed and chilled person in the world, this all changed when life got a little crazy. This year I endevour to get back to being the relaxed Matt I once was.

So I sit here now reflecting on 2006 and thinking about the massive possibilities 2007 will bring; I look forward to all the challenges a new year can bring.

Flashpacking is a new Backpacking trend which is sweeping across the globe. With more people that ever attending University and the dirt cheap prices of tech gadgets some say that the time of the thrifty backpacker with nothing more than a few pairs of shorts and shirts is over. Say hello to the Flashpacker, the business class backpacker!

Flashpackers are usually older than your average just out of school backpacker, they have decent jobs and money to burn. That said they are still going to feel comfortable roughing it when required.

In Europe and especially since the Olympics in Germany hostels and hotels that cater specifically for Flashpackers have stared to pop up. To cater to Flashpackers these places usually offer things like wireless access points in the hostels, very comfortable beds, pools, spas, bars and a host of other amazing things the average backpacker could just not afford.

The best analogy that I can give is a backpacker will take the 48 hour bus ride a Flashpacker will just pony up for the plane ride.

Personally I enjoy being as far away from any kind of tech when I’m backpacking and thats something that will never change!

This is my first ever mobile blog post. I’m waiting at Luna Cinemas for all my friends, tonight is their film presentation night so we get to see their amazing short films on the big screen.

The train trip from the city was as packed as usual, damn the price of petrol and the ever growing population of Perth.

Anyway time to go, movies to see!

Currently at work we are using a lot of AJAX components, most components are very expensive and as we have found out are lacking in some crucial area. Today I had a look at Microsoft Atlas Framework, basically its Microsoft’s implementation of AJAX for .Net. Looking through a few videos and tutorials posted over at http://atlas.asp.net I found them to be really hard to follow… Maybe its just me but sometimes I think its nice to see some basic examples of how to use the framework rather than obscure ones.

To combat this I will be posting up my own Atlas tutorials as I progress through learning about the framework. I will be sure to cover whatever I learn in the most easy to understand way possible. Maybe this site will become a good repository for people wanting to learn about the Atlas Framework!