Innovations: Adventures in Hipblogging

White Sony PSP and PSP Firmware 2.0! Probably the ...

White Sony PSP and PSP Firmware 2.0!
Probably the single biggest piece of news in the "PSPosphere" today is Sony's announcement that firmware 2.0 would be available on July 27th, with long awaited features and a web browser!
1up: PSP's Future,
PSPworld: Sony unveils white PSP, web browser,
PSP411: Sony Japan announces update 2.00

Courtesy of PSP411, comes the news:

Sony Japan announced today, July 21, that the firmware update 2.00 will be available on July 27.

Included:
• Internet browser
• Performance boost
• A-B repeat mode added
• 4:3 ratio added to picture mode function.
• Audio change performance (?).
• MP4 (AVC) is added to the file type that can be played.
• Changes to being able to play ATRAC3+ music files made with "SonicStage" version 3.2.
• MP4 (AAC) with WAVE files now supported.
• Wallpaper added.
• Sending and receiving of pictures added.
• TIFF, GIF, PNG and BMP file types are now viewable.
• Korean language added.
• Themes added.
• Internet browser starting restrictions and network security settings.

And, in other news, my NYKO Theater Experience for the Sony PSP shipped today. While I may have it as early as tomorrow, it'll likely be Monday or Tuesday when I get it, post pictures, and a review.

Between the new Theater Experience and firmware 2.0 update with browser, themes, and wallpapers... today's been a good news day for my Sony PSP!

One Busy Week, One Busy Weekend... I've been up si...

One Busy Week, One Busy Weekend...
I've been up since 5am this morning. I was at work by 6:30am. I left work at 5pm and got home just before 6 due to bumper-to-bumper traffic on 28-north. I woke up my laptop and set it on my desk... not ten minutes later, Vicky called to tell me she's leaving work, could I make dinner, and that an aunt had died.

Another day... the hits just keep on coming.

Servers, Applications, Databases, Message Queues, Clustering... Procedures.

The past month has been a crash course in enterprise Linux, LDAP, MediaWiki, MySQL, JBoss, Subversion, and CVS. I haven't read Washington Post or Penny Arcade in weeks. I haven't had time for news or television in almost two months. My work and my home projects have dominated my time.

I've learned alot in the past month. I've been working about 50-60 hours a week, not charging that many but only because I feel it makes up for the weeks I'm underworked. Subversion with WebDAV, a highly-customized MediaWiki with MySQL, optimizing SUSE Linux 9.2 Enterprise, and keeping a crippled CVS running until Subversion can replace it has been dominating my time. Writing build scripts with Cruise Control, Maven and integrating it into Wiki/WebSVN was another 10 hours today.

The end of the day was a bit disheartening... I hope it's ok to talk about a little office tech here, I don't divulge anything but the basic concepts. Likewise, I won't talk about co-workers or procedures... like our office tech, it's a work-in-progress (we're all learning, but a co-worker's minute of criticism is easier than twenty minutes of understanding).

Jump, Aim, Shoot, Dodge, Run... Adrenaline

Coded Arms is a fantastic game. By far, it's the definitive First Person Shooter (FPS) for the Sony PSP. Switch to "Control Type C" so that it plays like a PC: left joystick to look around, right WASD (u/d/l/r) to move. It's the control type for lefties, but it's also the control type for anyone who's ever played Halo, Doom, or Unreal on the PC.

In order to play Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition for over ten hours, I had to play in my "spare time" between a 50-hour week, weekend errands, and 3-5 hours of sleep a night. Less sleep so I could play Coded Arms for seven hours, still work 60 hours, and do errands.

Next Up...
If you're a close friend or family, you know what Vicky and I are trying to do. The first phase was without success. The second phase isn't covered by Aetna.

Just trying is going to cost $30,000... upfront, cash-please. It's coming out of our home equity, but Wells Fargo informed us they're a mortgage company, not a bank. So our Line-of-Credit will be going to PNC Bank, and our equity is being adjusted to nearly $150K. But that'll be this week... so between the stress of trying, the daunting tasks ahead, and refinancing, it's no wonder Vicky's stressed-and-depressed.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Yesterday, Vi...

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Yesterday, Vicky, her brother, their nieces, and I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Regal Cinemas in Sterling, VA.

While Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971, starring Gene Wilder) is a classic, I have to say that Vicky and I enjoyed Tim Burton's retelling over the 1971 original. John August, who also wrote Big Fish, approaches both the story and characters with much more depth than the original with Mel Stuart. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has the incredible visuals, use of flashbacks and story, and warm characters similar to what audiences enjoyed with Big Fish.

Vicky and I would recommend this to others who enjoyed Big Fish or people who'd like to see a better retelling than the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Whatever assumptions people make on the weird previews or Johnny Depp's character, they're in for a pleasant surprise. It all makes sense and gets explained during the movie.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory gets 9 out of 10 stars from Vicky & I. It should certainly get an Oscar nod or three for Best Visuals, Best Actor (Freddy Highmore), and Best Supporting Actor (David Kelly).

A 7-MegaPixel (MP) phone? Courtesy of Akihabara Ne...

A 7-MegaPixel (MP) phone?
Courtesy of Akihabara News comes the Samsung SCH-V770 phone with 7MP digital camera. While I'm currently enamored with the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-M1 5.1MP camera, having a 7MP camera+phone looks like the ultimate in camera/phone convergence.

If you're an American looking for the latest in Asian high-tech toys and gadgetry, I highly recommend:
Akihabara News (News from Tokyo's electronics district)
Dynamism (Japanese technology importer into English)
..and for any gamer: Lik-Sang (Console Games, Systems, Accessories direct from Hong Kong)

...

...no, we weren't geekin' ALL weekend (sometimes we slept)
Friday night, Vicky wore a very sharp red dress and I dressed in a grey suit. We went to the 75th birthday for Mamang Asinero at the Waterford in Fairfax, VA. We had a great time, and Mamang was truly surprised with the party, presentation, and dance that the Asinero children and families put together.

On Saturday, Vicky and I slept in, then went over to her parents' house to see Mom. We watched Wowowee and hung out with Lola and Tita Boy. Johnny was taking care of Mom this Saturday, so he played Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition on my Sony PSP while I worked on my Apple PowerBook and watched TV.

On Sunday, Johnny bought Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition after seeing it on mine. He came over to our house with Mom. Vicky and Mom watched TFC on the home theatre while Johnny and I played for over 5 hours in multiplayer. Having a good Vietnamese restaurant within walking distance, we took a break to get four orders of grilled pork with egg, rice, and spring rolls for the family.

On Monday, Vicky and I slept in again. We had dim sum for brunch at Lucky Three in Tysons Corner, VA. We then spent the afternoon at home. I was catching up on some work and getting ready for a presentation on Wednesday. Vicky did several loads of laundry. After a light dinner, we rested together in front of the TV.

...so, yeah, we had a fun three-day weekend!

After 5 Hours of Multiplayer in Midnight Club 3: D...

After 5 Hours of Multiplayer in Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition...
My brother-in-law, Johnny, picked up Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition after playing it for 20 minutes on mine. On Sunday, we played multiplayer in MC3: DUB for over five hours while Vicky and Mom watched TFC in our home theatre.

While we played Capture the Flag, Ordered Race, Track Race, and Tag in multiplayer, our favorite has to be Capture the Flag hands-down. We alternated between Split and BaseWar in San Diego, Atlanta, and Detroit...

...Johnny's driving a Volkswagen Jetta while I'm driving a tuned Dodge SRT4. As you can see from the stats, I've now played 7 hours and 58 minutes in MC3:DUB. I've driven 326 miles, and 260 of those have been in my Dodge SRT4.

I can sell the Dodge SRT4 and buy something better, but I'm still pretty happy with it. I can dust an Eclipse off-the-line, I've got it fairly well tuned, and I like my rims, color, and vinyls. I'm sure by this week's end, I'll have upgraded to a sport bike or hummer to go with it.

I agree with reviews that say the load times in Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition border on ridiculous. I often have time to refill my glass, have a short conversation, or take a bathroom break between races. During multiplayer, it isn't too noticeable since I end up "shooting the shit" anyways. During career, the 70-second load times can be a bit tedious. The gameplay, graphics, and soundtrack still reward you for the wait... you just have to wait.

Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition is now my favorite game on the PSP, followed by Ridge Racer, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee, Lumines and Mercury as my "must carry". My three UMD movies are Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and Spider-Man 2.

I'm looking forward to getting Coded Arms this week as well as Appleseed as a UMD movie. Next week, I hope to *finally* get my NYKO Theatre Experience for PSP that I pre-ordered back in April.

Final Fantasy: Advent Children, Daxter, and Advent Shadow are all movies/games I'm looking forward to later this year.

Have a happy Fourth of July! ...I am. Vicky, Johnny, Mom, and I have been eating well, watching movies, and gaming!

At First Blush... Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, or...

At First Blush... Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, or "10 Gallons in a 5-Gallon Hat"

Rockstar San Diego outdid themselves with Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition. Just like the full-blown console version, you have complete street maps of San Diego, Atlanta, and Detroit to cruise through or race through. There is an incredible number of cars, trucks, and bikes to choose from, tune, and customize to your heart's content. The gameplay, graphics, and soundtrack is everything we've come to expect from Rockstar on the PlayStation2.

Last night I raced through the streets of San Diego in a suped up Dodge SRT4 (red, of course!). Running head-to-head with the GTO in traffic, I was forced to crash through a window and drive through a store before taking the street again. How cool is that! I had my Sony MDR-EX71 earbuds in and had Sean Paul thumping while I finally dusted the GTO and came in 2nd.

As Nix at IGN reports in his Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition Review:

Why am I talking tech here in this review before saying one word specifically about Midnight Club 3, the highly-anticipated PSP version of Rockstar's renown racing series? Because more than any game on the system so far, this game pushes and pulls at the system, bending it over and twisting it around to try to perfectly recreate the deep-as-a-thong-string gameplay of the console blazer by Rockstar San Diego (formerly Angel Studios). There may be a handful of other games we've seen in previews that are more technologically advanced game on PSP (though this certainly has plenty of aspects to boast about.) And as far as using the PSP to its max, this is not the penultimate example of how much power this system offers game makers (if anything, I'm sure Rockstar will be back to kick this game's ass.) But as far as ambition and total package, it's only got maybe one or two other handheld games in its league.

Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition is a game shoehorned into the PSP, ten gallons of game crammed into a five gallon bucket. And surprisingly, it almost all fits ... honestly, it should have all fit. If it weren't for some first-gen technical issues and a few really disappointing missed opportunities to tailor this into a PSP game, it would have been right up their with THUG 2 Remix in terms of offering the most bang for the buck you can get on a portable.

If you can get past the 70 seconds! load time between every race and every menu, you'll be well-rewarded with a few minutes of gameplay. Rockstar managed to shoehorn a huge console game into a little portable, and the game rewards you, but the loading punishes you. Rather than periodically hitting the UMD during play, they load the entire map, all the skins, and all the music! into memory before the race begins... Again, as Nix pointed out:

If you're thinking that it's all of that heavy data streaming needed to create this vast, console-quality racing world that's holding the game up, think again. The game's world is entirely stored in memory. You can turn off the music and pop the disc out, and the game will play. Figure that out, and you'll fly into a rage every time that minute-long load pops up every time you start a new race -- it's already all there! Sure, the game has to load the map points, but is that a minute of loading? Of course, the game has to load the car models of your opponents, but then why does the second and third race against the exact same opponents take exactly as long? Traffic patterns have to be reset, maybe some custom track details have to be put in for specific events (such as cop car placement or intersection timing), but it's a free-roaming game -- how much pre-planned mapping needs to be loaded when I'm making my own path to the finish line?

Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition is an incredible game. I'm sure it'll see many hours on PSP. The only question is, how many of those hours will be spent staring at a spinning wheel, two travelling yellow lines, and the word "Loading"?

Retiring the Sony PSP soft case... I'm still waiti...

Retiring the Sony PSP soft case...
I'm still waiting for the NYKO Theatre Experience that I pre-ordered back in April. NYKO has since changed the case from anodized aluminum to a matte black and rubberized the edges & connectors. While I was looking forward to the aluminum case to match my PowerBook, I have to say the matte black looks pretty sharp and a better match to the style of the Sony PSP.

My most recent conversation ended in "shipping June 20th from our distributor." Seeing the retail supply dates, it's more likely to ship July 10th now. Since my PSP is in dire need of a hard case while I wait, I picked up a Logitech Playgear from EBgames on the way home today...

...And, yes, that is Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition sitting beside it...

While Dead to Rights was calling to me as well, I really wanted to see MC3: DUB and how it stacks up to the graphics and gameplay (drifting!) of Ridge Racer. I only played it for ten minutes, but I'm already hooked! I can tell I'll be playing it pretty heavily until Coded Arms ships next week.

Now if you don't mind, my PSP is just begging to be played... 'later!

Bouts of Insomnia... For over a week now, my sleep...

Bouts of Insomnia...
For over a week now, my sleep patterns have been getting extremely erratic. Sometimes I'll nap for an hour or two during the day, resulting in me only sleeping for 3 or 4 hours that night. Other times I'm awake all day, go to bed, lie awake for hours, fall asleep for a few hours, and still wake up wide-awake between 3:30 and 5 in the morning... this morning was the latter.

My yearly checkup/physical is next month. If it doesn't go away, I might ask for lunestra when I have my appointment. My nights of insomnia are becoming at least once or twice a month, and now starting to last for over a week.

Anyhoo... today I'm looking forward to working more with MediaWiki, Apache Excalibur, and automated Subversion reporting. I'm hoping that my lack of sleep doesn't interfere with my work today. I might be good buddies with Red Bull or Monster to carry me through the day. Most of my work is internal, so I can't show off much, but I'm looking forward to working on an external/client-facing version soon.

Anf finally, I also wanted to say... Happy Birthday, Pat! I hope you have a great birthday!

A little rain... I drove to work yesterday with th...

A little rain...
I drove to work yesterday with the sides off on the Jeep. An hour later, the winds picked up and it was sprinkling, so I put the side panels back on. By noon, it was sunny again. After I drove home, a few thunderstorms rolled through. It was only enough to wet the grass and leave droplets on the patio table, so I still watered the garden last night. ...Summers in Virginia seem to be short on rain and long on sun.

There really hasn't been too much of note to write about. My office has been keeping me fairly busy. My life at home has been no less busy. I've been amused with the traffic to this website. The two most popular pages right now are "Where is Ken?" and "Pairing the Bluetrek G2 to the PowerBook". The former was the result of a couple days of playing with a Bluetooth GPS and Python. The latter felt like a wasted Saturday.

Anyhoo... I'm still here. I hope you are too. Feel free to e-mail me.

"All Your Credit Are Belong To Us." AYB aside, mor...

"All Your Credit Are Belong To Us."
AYB aside, more than 40 million credit card numbers were hacked according a Washington Post article on Saturday. According to MasterCard, 68,000 customers are at high risk.

I'm hoping that CardSystems Solutions Inc. of Tucson, AZ, is put through the wringer on this one. MasterCard has begun notifying the issuing banks, but it is up to those banks to notify their customers. It looks like I'll need to keep a close watch on my accounts...

...

In other news, the Taste of the Town at the Reston Town Center on Saturday was a real treat. Vicky's sister and nieces went with us at noon. While all the booths were good, we especially enjoyed Obi Sushi. A co-worker and I are planning to go there again for lunch today to try their buffet.

As expected, our evening at the Wolf Trap to see Al Jarreau and Cassandra Wilson was a great time. We parked in the furthest parking lot at 7pm, walked in, and had box seats in the center (2nd floor) over the orchestra. Cassandra Wilson's cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Time after Time" was better than the original, and watching Al Jarreau perform was incredible!

Yesterday was just as a nice. Pagasa came over at 1:30, and we enjoyed a backyard cookout. We had teriyaki chicken kabobs, grilled shrimp, grilled asparagus, and corn. Vicky and Pagasa talked for hours, enjoying the mild summer day, and then we moved indoors to watch Hitch on our home theatre.

The weekend was over as quickly as it had begun... we had a great time together this weekend.