http://wewwl.com/index.php/site/index/ en caszpo@gmail.com Copyright 2010 2010-05-24T17:05:14+00:00 http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/everyone_likes_froyos_except_diabetics/ http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/everyone_likes_froyos_except_diabetics/#When:16:05:14Z   The announcement last week during Google I/O revealed the new Android OS (codenamed Froyo). Before then Android 2.1 was the most used version from the rest of the Android platforms. Elcair (Android’s name for 2.1 - staying with the dessert theme) gave us interactive backgrounds, five home screens, and expansions in voice recognition. Google’s Elcair reached multiple devices including the Motorola Droid, HTC Droid Eris, and the Nexus One.  So why am I excited about Froyo? Well first off, it uses Flash (10.1), it streams music from iTunes, it does easy wireless tethering, and it makes transferring apps from the desktop to your mobile phone automatic. A nice competitor to Apple’s iPhone OS to say the least. For those of you who are already excited you can put Froyo on your computer and also manually on your N1, for those who own one (I’m still bitter ya).   The most exciting thing about 2.2 is probably the possible turning point for curbing Android’s platform fragmentation, which has been an ugly trend, leaving users running four versions of Android. Google plans on fixing this by stopping some of Android’s standard apps and components from the platform’s core and making them available for download and updates through the Android Market. Meaning, when Google comes out with a new browser you don’t have to wait for HTC to roll it into a firmware update and then for your carrier to approve it.  Some individuals (bunch of whinnies) complain that Google has been moving too fast, coming out with a new platform one right after the other, and giving partners a hard time keeping up. Hopefully, with Froyo and then Gingerbread, we will be closer to maturity in Android’s core and therefore Google will give more of their attention to apps and features. Which will lower the amount of Google’s dessert treats each year. Who doesn’t like dessert though? Bunch of whinny diabetics.  Android, Google 2010-05-24T16:05:14+00:00 http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/fwd_why_your_loved_ones_hate_videogames/ http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/fwd_why_your_loved_ones_hate_videogames/#When:22:17:41Z Found this article on GameSpy and thought there were some funny quotes in it. The article is for sure rated R+ (NC17?) so, don't say I didn't warn you. Gamers disconnect what's on the screen from reality. We know we're not killing Spartan super soldiers because a) they don't exist yet and b) it's a videogame. That's very obvious to us. It's a videogame. In the same way you don't actually disappear from the universe when you're hit by a dodge ball, you know that you're not actually killing enemy soldiers in Call Of Duty. Yet that's how non-gamers see it. They're trained by movies, books, and real life to see the death of a person as a tragic event that will affect hundreds of people. But that's not how games work or how gamers think about games. You don't actually gentrify a neighborhood in Monopoly when you raise the rent with houses and hotels. And just because you play doesn't mean you would enjoy forcing actual poor families to leave their homes. Everyone knows this. When you play chess, you don't actually want to capture members of royalty. It's all a conceptual representation to help make sense of a frameset of rules. To be fair, we all look like this [picture of a kid with a blank face.] while playing videogames: Then again, we all look like this while watching movies: And don't forget that terrifying look on your face you get when you're reading: Everything that takes concentration looks like a waste of time. Non-gamers do the last two, so they know they aren't wastes of time. Your face goes blank because you're absorbing all that information on the page and Taylor Lautner's abs on screen. But videogames? Oh, boy. Look at those faces. Practically turning into zombies.   Go read the entire article, the end is real good. GameSpy, Video Games 2010-03-12T22:17:41+00:00 http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/750_words/ http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/750_words/#When:22:51:10Z 750words is basically an online site to journal on. I'm not one to journal normally but the cool stats page after everyday and cumulative stats over time make me like it. The purpose of the site isn't just to journal though. It is to get your mind flowing. Write whatever you want. Don't care about reorganizing it or anything. You can use Facebook, Google or Yahoo to log in. Don't worry, everything is kept private by default. So, nothing is shared unless you share it. I found this on Lifehacker. The data afterwards like I said before is my favorite part. All the graphs and charts are cool to read about pages of stuff you just wrote. If you click on my picture to the left you can go to a larger view of it. I'm not sure why my entry was rated PG-13. I went back and read it again but couldn't find anything like sexual content, violence and cursing like the rating says. Also way underneath which I didn't screenshot there is a word cloud which is also neat.. And as you write more stuff will come out. It is a visual form of thinking. Hopefully I will continue doing it and it will help get me around some thoughts I never explore and just forget. You also get points for doing certain things and keeping up with it. Go there and check out the site, read the Lifehacker post and read his FAQ. 750Words, Lifehacker 2010-03-06T22:51:10+00:00 http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/sex_sells_sex_tells/ http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/sex_sells_sex_tells/#When:18:50:20Z I read an article a few weeks or months back that talked about products and companies that use sex to sell their items when it has nothing to do with the product itself. Recently a commercial for a Visa card has caught my attention. The embeded code is diasbled so go here to watch it. Watching this commercial I was wondering what the heck it was going to be about. Turns out it was for Visa's Black Card. Some card where apparently like 1% of the population will qualify for. Which makes me wonder why they spent so much money on advertising for that 1%. I'm sure all the people watching Red vs. Blue that see this commercial, when I first saw it, will be in the bracket and be ready to sign up before anyone figures out why there are two bases in an empty canyon. Everything is black in the commercial and that's about all it has to do with the credit card. I guess it goes to show you that with the card you can buy all this stuff? Does it have no limit? Will it teach you to paint your toenails to look prettier? Will you become a goth? I don't know. Here is the article that I first read about sex telling more than you think about a product. Some excerpts below: you need to know Barrett’s First Law of Marketing: When your product is indistinguishable from the competition, add sex. And the inverse of Barrett’s First Law of Marketing: If sex is used to market a nonsexual product, that product is generic. Read the whole article. It isn't long.   Now how many of the superbowl ads were generic items that you can get elsewhere? Ironically Go Daddy is one of them. I chose them way back before TVs were invented after I reserched a lot of different webhosting sites. Now they fall into this category and that's where Wewwl is hosted :) What are some other ads that caught your attention?   2010-02-18T18:50:20+00:00 http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/yahoo_answers_fail_answers_of_the_day/ http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/yahoo_answers_fail_answers_of_the_day/#When:21:50:43Z I was looking at Yahoo Answers like any self-respecting me would do. I haven't been on there in a long time. Since then I have acquired an Xbox 360 in a game of chance. I thought I would wander over to the Xbox related questions and see who I could help. Here is a question with an answer that makes me proud to be an American. Is it better to use a xbox 360 wireless adapter or Ethernet cable for your xbox 360? i have been using ethernet cable but i have recently bought a new wireless router and my xbox always seems to have a red dot (MW2). With this router my laptop and iPod speeds have increased. So im justing wondering what I should do The answer to the above question was answered correctly in a few other posts but one answer really caught my eye. This expert must have perpetually enabled caps lock. Because with their level of genius, which you will witness in a moment, that can be the only explanation to the all caps answer.   YOU COULD HAVE THEM BOTH HOOKED UP, THATS WHAT I DO. BECAUSE I BOUGHT THE WIRELESS TO GO WIRELESS BUT I NEVER TOOK IT OFF. AND MY XBOX IS RIGHT NEXT TO MY ROUTER SO I HAVE IT WIRED TOO. AND WITH A WIRE YOU HAVE A BETTER CONNECTION THAN WIRELESS. AND A CABLE DOESNT CREATE LAG UNLESS THERE ARE A LOT OF TWISTED AND TURNS AND KINKS IN THE WIRE. You heard it right from J.P.'s keyboard. If your CAT5/6 isn't straight then you will experience lag. Well at least now I know who to blame it on when Jake and I get split up on opposite teams and he just happens to kill me in Halo 3. Yahoo Answers 2010-02-08T21:50:43+00:00 http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/getting_excited_for_android_and_nexus_1/ http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/getting_excited_for_android_and_nexus_1/#When:20:56:35Z After I was disappointed with the iPad due to extremely high expectations I began looking forward to my next phone. I wasn't sure what I wanted next. I would read a couple good things about one phone and a couple good ones about another, but I could never make a decision until a couple of days ago. I don't know why my epiphany was so late but I am glad I had it. So, I am sure the title has left no essence of surprise to the rest of this post. I'm ok with that. I do not wish to shroud this in mystery. I was really glad to see a phone coming out with some serious specs like the N1 has. 1Ghz Snapdragon, 512RAM, 5MP camera, and an expandable micro SD card slot. All while running Android. Obviously those aren't all the cool specs, just the ones I'm most excited about. Full specs here. One thing about going from the N95 to the E71 was how terrible the camera was on the E71. I hated it. The N95 had probably the best camera that I have used or seen used on a phone. It was 5MP and autofocus etc. It would take ~1MB pictures on average. I could take pictures of books and notes for class from classmates and study off of the phone, it was that clear. The E71 looks like I took a picture of a colored Etch-a-sketch. It's embarassing. Reading this comparison on CNET between the N1's camera and Iphone 3GS's was great because the 3GS doesn't take bad pictures at all, but the N1 will take them even better and quicker. With my E71 taking about 3 seconds or more to boot into the camera the 1 second boot time on the N1 will be a nice change. 1Ghz Snapdragon, yes please. So, my phone is as fast as Apple's new iPad and I can make calls from it? Sound's good to me. They just added multitouch to a few of their applications too. This video on Engadget makes it look pretty smooth and quick online. If that is the 3G speed then I am delighted. If that is WiFi then it still beats many computers I have to work on daily. All that stuff is great but until Saturday I had no hope of using this at it's best because I wasn't considering moving to T-Mobile or Verizon. Well on Saturday some FCC Filings were discovered. Another model will be released for more bands in Canada and the US? Sprint and AT&T will get to join in on the party? Good game Google. Last but not least is this story about The Weather Channel using a QR code to distribute their app on their program. I am glad to see people embracing this. After reading about the N900 and even playing with one at CES I don't think I would ever go that route even though it was good times. The E72 looks good on a specsheet but the OS being dated hurts my heart. That's why I think the only option is now to move on to new horizons. I think the first one leads to the N1. PS. Android Toys?! [Banana phone image via jyuyounglee.] Android, Apple, Google, iPhone, Nexus 1, Nokia 2010-02-03T20:56:35+00:00 http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/the_ban_hammer_striketh/ http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/the_ban_hammer_striketh/#When:05:48:34Z All of us have been a part of some sort of online community; whether it be facebook, a blog, or a full-fledged forum. What we're going to discuss now is something that has been an intergral part of these communities for millenia (yes, that long): being banned. I have been banned from forums a few times. There are various reasons people get banned, here are a couple: Telling Someone to Die Out of all of the times I've been banned, this is my favorite. I was in an argument with someone on the Star Wars Galaxies forums; one thing led to another and I told them to "die in a car fire". I know what you're thinking, "Seth a terrible person!" Trust me on this one, they totally deserved it.   Flaming, Spamming and Trolling (click for larger image) This ban was also from the Star Wars Galaxies forums. I spammed the forums a lot; posting completely irrelevant and useless information. This included, but was not limited to, me posting in a thread just to say "brb". I also was a big fan of saying "afk" and "ok". A lot of the community knew me by that, some found it funny, others hated it. The forums moderators obviously hated it.   Have you ever been banned from a forum? If so, did you deserve it or was it completely unfair? If you have a forum horror story, post it here! Forums 2010-01-23T05:48:34+00:00 http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/haiers_idea_wall/ http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/haiers_idea_wall/#When:18:06:25Z Walking into Haier's booth we found the idea wall which we have previously seen on Gizmodo the night before. They asked people to write down their ideas (I assumed of technology) for the future. Here are some of my favorite things that were there. I am not sure what Immersion TV is, but I thought I would put this up as a shout out to Jake Reed and his family. This idea comes from our very own Seth Bensusen, stolen by George Lucas years ago. I posted this one for all my Hello Kitty loving friends --not because I agree with it. For some reason there is always a lot of HK stuff at CES. I am still trying to figure out why she is so popular at all. I think I am more excited about seeing this because of the boomerang option and not the tazer. Need I say more? I'm sure there will easily be over 9000 successful episodes! I have yet to be convinced that this isn't a trap... CES2010 2010-01-14T18:06:25+00:00 http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/joke_of_the_day/ http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/joke_of_the_day/#When:07:30:04Z What do you call an uncircumcised Jedi? Foreskin-sitive -Squeek Jokes 2010-01-14T07:30:04+00:00 http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/exclusive_glow_in_the_dark_woot_monkeys/ http://wewwl.com/index.php?/site/exclusive_glow_in_the_dark_woot_monkeys/#When:00:15:37Z CES is a place for companies to announce new products that are in development, everyone knows this. However, what everyone doesn't know is that every so often information is unintentionally leaked and revealed to the masses. This, my dear friends, is one of those cases. Some of you may be wondering what the significance of this leak is. I am going to tell you, but I must first start from the beginning...   Friday, January 8, 2010 - CES Day Two I arrived expecting to see another slew of 3D TVs and embarrassing karaoke singers, I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was meandering through the South Hall, when out of nowhere; I could smell a faint scent of bacon. Seeing as how I chose to skip breakfast, I was ecstatic! As I followed my nose past countless numbers of booths, I started to grow weary with fatigue. I staggered through one of the many touch-screen-filled booths filled with middle aged people failing miserably at video games. Just as I was exiting said booth, I looked up and saw a giant screaming monkey. I mustered up all of my remaining energy and yelled, "Woot!" What happened next was all a blur. I woke up inside a conference room with a plate of bacon lying next to me. Where was I? How did I get here? To my left was a woman in a Woot shirt, I later found out that her name was Amy Harich. Although I had plenty of bacon on my plate, she was still frying more. It looked like there was at least 2 pounds left. After a few hours of bacon therapy, I was walking again. Amy said it was one of the quickest recoveries she had ever seen. Woot began to teach me their ways; I informed the ignorant passerbys about Woot, I talked to fans about their favorite Woot shirts, I was part of the family. When the crowds finally subsided, Jay Johnson, Scott Lydon and I spent some time shooting the breeze. Scott explained to me how he started working at Woot, we discussed past Woot deals, Jay would casually insert the most eloquent "that's what she said" ever heard. Time flew by; I walked around the booth a bit to stretch my legs. When I came back, Scott was talking with his fellow writer, Jason Toon. I wasn't sure what they were talking about, but I had a feeling it was something huge. I quickly found my brother amidst the crowded Woot booth. "I need your camera, I have a scoop!" I quickly exclaimed. Camera in hand, I ran back to Scott and Jason. They were holding a Woot monkey...but it was different from other ones...it was white. Jason held the monkey close to his cupped hand; it was glowing in the dark! I brought the viewfinder up to my eye to snap a quick picture, which was my first mistake. All hell broke loose. Jason tried to shove the camera out of the way, Scott quickly covered his face. The look of disapproval on Jay's face left me not only speechless, but unable to move. Everyone I had grown to know as family had turned their backs on me. Scott tried to take the camera from me, I quickly turned away. As I started to run, I turned back to the Woot booth; my old home. Through my teary eyes I could see blurry figures giving up pursuit on me. "You were my brother, Scott. I loved you!" I screamed towards the blurry figures. The last thing I heard before I left will be etched in my memory forever. My eyes were far too teary to see who was speaking, but I would recognize that voice anywhere. "I haaaate you!" shrieked Scott. Vision blurry, heart broken, I ran until I couldn't run anymore. Present Day I have not heard any more news on the new Woot monkey, nor have I spoken with any of the staff. If this turns out to be as true as I think it is, I am looking forward to someday owning this majestic monkey. Moreover, I am looking forward to mending the broken ties with Scott. I may have gotten a legitimate scoop at CES, but it came at a costly price: I lost a brother. CES2010, Woot 2010-01-12T00:15:37+00:00