Blog

The thoughts, opinions, happenings, and just plain ramblings of a seemingly boring person.

Geekery

New Mobile: Google/LG Nexus 5

Categories Geekery, Life, Technology

Nexus 5The two-year mark on my HTC Desire S was coming up, so over the past couple of months I have been looking for a new phone. My criteria was a mid-range (and mid-priced!) Android phone that I've normally gone for, and one that has 4G so it would be a noticeable upgrade.

The Desire S was a great phone, so in sticking with HTC, I had my eyes set on a HTC One Mini. It was around my price-point, and it wasn't as large as the top-tier phones like its bigger brother. I was about to pull the trigger and … Read more →

Windows 8.1 Thoughts

Categories Geekery, Rants, Technology

After being on Windows 8 since I built the new computer, I was quite eager to see how Windows 8.1 would improve upon the deficiencies that I have previously criticised.

As a whole, I think it is a bit of a mixed bag. There are some good improvements. For example, the implementation of a 'Start' button goes some way to easing the transition for Windows users, and provides a visual cue of functionality that was previously only an unmarked 'hover' corner. But really, it is only a square that does the same thing as the Start key on … Read more →

Battlefield 4 Beta

Categories Gaming, Geekery

BF4 skyscraper collapsingI don't often play beta versions of games. I mostly prefer to wait until the final product, rather than get used to an incomplete version of a game or get frustrated at bugs.

The one exception to that which I can think was Unreal Tournament 3 back in 2007, but I think that might have been a pre-release demo rather than an actual 'beta'.

However, after some prodding from Michael (who pointed out that it might be a decent test of the newly-built Executor), I installed the beta of Battlefield 4 and played it a bit over the … Read more →

Building the Executor

Categories Gaming, Geekery, Technology

I've taken advantage of the long weekend to put together my new computer, which I have named Executor (after the Super Star Destroyer of the same name :)). Photos are at the bottom of this post.

For this build, I concentrated on putting together a quiet computer, but one that is still capable in the gaming department. Everything is new, with the exception of the graphics card, which I have carried across from the last upgrade of Executor's predecessor.  The specs of Executor are:

  • Fractal Design Define R4 case (with window and another fan added to the front
… Read more →

Getting Ready for the Next Build

Categories Geekery, Technology

It's been the longest time between computer builds for me at the moment. I originally built The Cannon back in January 2010, so it is coming up to 4 years that it's been in service. It has definitely survived the test of time, although I have given it some substantial upgrades of the past year which has helped keep it going strong past the customary three-year expiry of computing products.

But alas, all good things must come to a replacement, so over the past few weeks I have specced out a new computer, and am eagerly awaiting for the … Read more →

My Rekindled Love of Lego

Categories Geekery, Lego

Me building the Lego SSDJust over two years ago, I saw this video of one the biggest and most terrifyingly awesome Lego sets: the Super Star Destroyer (10221). I remember being awed by it, as it awakened my childhood love of Lego combined with my continuing adult love of Star Wars.

I can't remember a specific point in my life when I stopped playing with Lego. Like every kid born from the 1970s on, my family had loose Lego that we would make neat things with.

Rather than just loose Lego, it was around the start of the 1990s that I can … Read more →

Getting Into Podcasts

Categories Geekery, Internet, Technology

Pocket CastsAfter starting a job in the city, and now for the first time having to travel to Brisbane's bastion of capitalism on public transport, I have had to find ways to fill in the time whilst being on the train.

Reading on the train is not an option for me; for some reason, when I read on transport (cars, trains, etc.), I develop headaches, so I usually limit my reading to checking a few emails or briefly catching up on news.  For the first few months of the commute, I have been listening to my music library on my phone, … Read more →

Experimenting with GNOME Shell Extensions

Categories Geekery, Technology, Work

After using Fedora 17 and 18 as my OS at work for the past few months, I've been getting to know the somewhat controversial GNOME Shell. Although recent googling has found that a lot gripes with GNOME Shell may be addressed in the recently released GNOME 3.8 (which will be included in the upcoming Fedora 19), I thought I might share a few things that I have done to make my desktop environment in GNOME 3.6 a little more usable without having to switch to other environments like Cinammon or Xfce.

Like with Chrome and Firefox as browsers, GNOME … Read more →

External HDD Encryption

Categories Geekery, Technology

EncryptionI've recently started work at a place in the city which now requires me to do the commute back and forth on public transport. Previously I've either worked from home or drove to work, so catching the train twice every working day is a little new to me.

The train being the den that it is, I have gotten a little paranoid about getting stuff stolen, and that has gotten me thinking about the external hard drive that I usually carry in my bag. The hard drive contains my frequent external backups that I do of all our important data, … Read more →

The End of Eras: LucasArts & MSN Messenger

Categories Gaming, Geekery, Internet

The announcements of the closure of two things, one a game development studio and the other an instant messaging application, have had me reminiscing on days gone by; namely, the mid-to-late 90s. Both closures are very understandable and not very surprising. It makes them a little easier to accept, but it's still hard not to feel a little sad.

LucasArts 1982-2013In my opinion, the bigger announcement of the two was that Disney, following their acquisition of all of Lucas-land, have decided to close down LucasArts as a game development studio. It's not unexpected, as the once mighty and innovative developer … Read more →