Atheism Interview with Joseph Teixeira

For a project for my Online Writing class, I interview Joey Teixeira, a Sophmore at CSU, about his experience as somewhat of an Atheist Advocate.

Click the play button to listen.


Atheism Interview With Joseph Teixeira by shawksly

How to: Install Gingerbread CyanogenMod 7 on your Droid X

This video, which I made, can be viewed separately, but offers an alternative to the guide below.

I recently stumbled upon a build of CyanogenMod 7 for the Droid X which is on a separate development process. What it has, that an official build of the mod does not, is a newer kernel. Gingerbread instead of Froyo. Hooray!

Keep reading after the break.

Testers needed: Xbox Live dashboard preview

The new Xbox Live dashboard, courtesy of Joystiq.

The new Xbox Live dashboard is highly anticipated by some. It promises to add control-it-with-your-body functionality with complete Kinect support. That, and it looks a lot prettier.

Joystiq reports that this new dashboard is ready to be viewed by ... well, not all, but some. Microsoft has launched the Xbox Live Public Preview Program, via Major Nelson's blog. To sign up you need to fill out a survey that will ask you how often you play, who your ISP is, etc. This is so that they can get a fair swatch of people from each play style, connection and so forth. They'll gather feedback and make the experience more enjoyable for everyone.

The sign up can be found on the aforementioned blog of Major Nelson.

Photoshop to remove blur from images

"Enhance image" is a phrase spouted by countless workstation sidekicks in countless movies and TV shows, CSI probably being the worst offender. Anyone who's messed with Adobe's Photoshop knows that it's just not possible to create details that aren't in the image to begin with. However, at some undefined point in the future, a version of Photoshop will ship that can take a blurry image and make it crisp.

The above video, via Gizmodo, shows a technical demonstration of this miracle, along with a quick witted Rainn Wilson (of the U.S. version of The Office fame) to poke fun. You can't quite make out the details, but you can see the basic difference between the images before and after they've been de-blurred. You can also hear the crowd cheering and gasping in amazement. That's enough for me.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra legitimizes game music by recording an album of it

Image courtesy of Game Informer.

On November 8th, the London Philharmonic Orchestra will release an album titled The Greatest Video Game Music. This proves, as Game Informer points out, that this orchestra "likes to make money."

If I may, lol.

Anyway, it's full of hits and good music, regardless. The tracks range from Zelda to Final Fantasy, from Mario to Bioshock, from Fallout 3 to Oblivion. Tetris will of course be there, alongside Halo, again, as always. The odd man out is clearly Angry Birds. I personally don't know that song because I turn off the sound whenever I play that game. And finally, World of Warcraft holds a spot on the roster, sure to get them another 100,000 purchases.

In all fairness, the tracks are predominantly good. I let my cynicism get the best of me. To see for yourself, head on over to Game Informer. They've got the full tracklist on which your hungry eyes can feast.

Steve Jobs four year plan.

Steve Jobs presenting an iPhone in 2010, courtesy of Gaming Bus.

Gizmodo thinks that Steve Jobs left a four year plan for Apple. Well, at least they don't think it's the craziest idea they've ever heard. Who would. Steve cared about that company a lot. He always said that you should love what you do, and that he did. Having to quit, and knowing that he's going to bite it, I would imagine that the first thing he did as chairman, sans the CEO title, was start working on a plan.

Gizmodo argues that he had always been good at looking toward the future. They quote Tim Cook, the new CEO, reminding people how Apple has bought screens and other computer parts ahead of time to "secure supply for the company." During the same even Cook let loose that Apple was dropping a large sum on a secret something that won't show up for a long while.

Suffice to say, Apple knows what they're doing, and a four year plan is likely, notwithstanding the fact that there's no solid proof to show for it.

Sony's new PlayStation commercial brings games to life

So I was sitting there at the laundromat, doing my laundry along with some various homework on my laptop, when this brilliant commercial came up on the television screen. I recommend clicking this link and letting it take you to YouTube, where you can watch it in a higher resolution on Sony's YouTube channel. It's awesome.

The video starts out with a troop of World War II soldiers (Battlefield, maybe?) creeping through the forest until they reaching an opening with an inconspicuous, but rather large house. They walk in, talk to the mysterious lady at the desk and drop their money into a tray, which happens to also hold various other objects used as currency in various Sony games. Immediately after, they set their weapons on a rack filled with other game specific weapons. This was when I first started asking what was going on.

Into the bar, you see Nathan Drake (from the Uncharted series), talking to Lightning (from Final Fantasy XIII). Cole (from Infamous) is talking about someone who helped him become good. Meanwhile, the camera switches and you can see old Solid Snake (of Metal Gear Solid 4 fame) who eventually stands up and talks, almost successfully duplicating the famously grainy and deep voice of his videogame counterpart. Sweet Tooth (from Twisted Metal) can be seen playing chess with Sackboy (from LittleBigPlanet), while Chel sneaks out of a Portal, barely visible in the background.

A Greek goddess, maybe Athena, starts praising this same person who helped them all, while Kratos (from the God of War series) stands near. During this time, the Hellghast (from Killzone), a creepy Little Sister (from Bioshock) and Ghost (from recent Call of Duty Games) stand around, along with Issac Clarke (from Dead Space 2) in full armor.

Ezio (from Assassin's Creed II) begins to show his adoration until all the characters start chanting the name "Michael! Michael!" Ans the bartender raises a picture of Michael, who holds a game controller.

After all ... these games, I suppose, would be nothing at all without the people who play them. Watch it!

Netflix drops Quixter as quickly as it's announced

The Qwikster and Netflix logos, courtesy of GameDynamo.

According to Engadget, Netflix is backpedaling. Your DVD and streaming functions and queues will remain on the same website: good, old Netflix.com.

Netflix tried to drop its DVD-by-mail service off into it's own company called Qwikster a couple weeks ago. I'm definitely in the camp that believes they were/are trying to drop it while it's hot ... er ... so to speak.

I'm not alone in thinking that they're trying to get rid of the DVD service altogether, in the long run. It costs them more money than streaming with Netflix Instant Watch, which is what Netflix was to become, solely. The money they eventually save by making the DVD service more low-key could be spent on acquiring more content for their streaming library. And, let's face it, Instant streaming is replacing the DVD, slowly but surely.

Mass Effect 3 to get the multiplayer that no one asked for

Mass Effect 3 screenshot, courtesy of the game's official website.

Update: 1UP updated their article with information with a tweet from one of the higher-ups at Bioware, who conveyed that the multiplayer will be cooperative instead of competitive. That makes me happy.

Mass Effect games are deep and immersive role playing games where the player takes on the role of Commander Shepard, the head of a starship, which he and his team of well developed characters use to save the world. The plot is rich, and the characters full of grit and compassion.

1UP.com is reporting that Bioware, the game's developer, will be adding a multiplayer component. But why would this game of all games need multiplayer? Shouldn't they be spending those resources working on the singleplayer campaign? All I want to do is finish the story and find out what happens to Shepard and his squad ... like a good book. I want to finish this game like I wanted to read the last Harry Potter novel.

However, it's important to remember that it is Bioware that we're dealing with here. They're generally hard pressed to make a bad decision. So I guess I'll be waiting with not-quite-bated breath.

CyanogenMod 7.1 is here!

The CyanogenMod Logo, courtesy of My Gadget News.

And with it comes support for a plethora of Android phones.

CyanogenMod is easily the most popular modification you can make to your android phone. It adds innumerable features and capabilities to your phone. You can, for example, up the amount of decibels your phone can put out through it's speaker. It does require root access, which basically gives you (or applications, or mods like Cyanogen) permission to mess with some of the phone's files and processes that are usually locked to keep the phone stupid-proof. Rooting your phone can be a breeze though, nowadays.

A list of the phones newly supported can be found via this article on CyanogenMod's website, and instructions for installing the mod and a full list of phones supported can be found on CyanogenMod's devices page.

Batman: Arkham City has some sweet alternate costumes

Some of the alternate costumes, courtesy of IGN.

Batman: Arkham City is swiftly approaching its release date on the 18th of October. These skins might make playing through the heavily anticipated title just a little more fun, or possibly nostalgic. I grew up with Batman Beyond, the cartoon, and always drooled over the futuristic art style.

Speaking of which, from the left, Batman Beyond is the first pictured, far more muscular than the Spider-man physique of his cartoon predecessor, but nonetheless awesome. The Dark Knight Returns follows, from the comic books, featuring an absolutely ripped Batman. Earth One Batman is next, again from the comics, followed by 1970's Batman so you can imagine yourself as Adam West's over the top portrayal of batman, even in a gritty Arkham City, which quite opposes the neon color palette of the former. The Animated Series Batman is next, making the biggest visual change, choosing smooth angles over in-your-face brawn. And of course, the Batman depicted furthest to the right is the typical game model that will be used by default.

How can you get your hands on these? Well, bad news, you have to live in the UK. They do look really, really cool though. If you are in fact fortunate enough to hail from across the pond, you can find all the information you might want at Batman Arkham City's UK website.

So, Steve Jobs has passed...

A screen capture of Apple's current homepage

I didn't actually think I'd care too much. But I find myself strangely, I don't know... taken aback might be the correct phrase? It was surprising when he stepped down, as we've seen what happens when he's not running Apple. Remember those orange or red or blue, translucent apple computers from around 10 years ago? That was Steve returning to his post because Apple was failing against Windows -- Jobs brought the design back, in both software and hardware. He made that company.

I never bought any Apple products beyond an iPod, which I eventually replaced, leaving me now as one of the few, and not-so-proud Microsoft Zune owners. But somehow, his influence, what he has done for the world, is inescapable. He has left even me in a strange place.

Sadly though, it seems he knew it was coming. He dropped his CEO title just over a month ago. In a letter quoted on Wired, he had this to say:

"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately that day has come."

Wired also collected various quotes from people including President Obama, Mark Zuckerberg, Roger Ebert, Steve Ballmer and many, many more. Bill Gates also chimed in though. Here's what he had to say:

"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely."

For what it's worth, best wishes to Steve's family and friends. He will be missed, even by non-Mac users.