Category Archives: Uncategorized

WMP 11 Looks Good

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Windows Media Player (“WMP”) 11 has made the rounds on the tech sites. I’ve taken a look at it and it looks good. I’m a Mac user and Microsoft has dropped WMP support with WMP 9 (which is terrible compared to 10 and 11). After seeing WMP 11 with its slick interface and organization of all kinds of files. If you haven’t seen the screenshots, WMP organizes pictures, CDs (I’m not sure about video organization) into stacks. You’ve got slideshows, music and video playlist management in a free piece of software.

I really want WMP 11 on Mac OS X. Hopefully, Mac OS X 10.6 – Leopard will have virtualization built in so I can run a Windows program on my Mac. I just haven’t found a true replacement for WMP since switching to OS X. iTunes is great for music management – it’s crap for video (it handles like 2 file formats) and iPhoto is a separate application. I would rather there was an all-in-one app for the Mac.

Video Lan Client (“VLC”) can handle everything great on any OS. But there just isn’t true playlist management like WMP. One of these days, I’m going to have to quit my complaining that VLC is not WMP by taking the open source VLC and giving it the functionality I miss. In the alternative, any one else can take my idea and feel free to implement full playlist management (maybe even smart playlist management like iTunes too while we’re at it).

Wii being endorsed by Microsoft AND Sony.

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I’ve been following some of the E3 coverage on cnet.com and other sites. I’ve read that Microsoft has endorsed the Nintendo Wii. Microsoft says instead of getting a PS3 for around $500 or $600 get an XBOX 360 and a Nintendo Wii for the same price. Sony doesn’t have the same argument, but they think people will buy two systems – their PS3 and the Nintendo Wii.

So we’ve got 3 companies pushing Nintendo: Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, themselves. Everybody says to get one. This is pretty interesting. I wonder if people who weren’t considering Wii are now thinking about getting one.

For a fuller story on this topic go to arstechnica.

Second Thoughts on the 360

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A couple of days ago, I tried out an XBOX 360 in a Best Buy. I played Fight Night and Madden. I’m pretty impressed by the quality of graphics of the 360. The shadows, the characters breathing, the facial expressions on the characters were far beyond my expectations. The controller was also quite good. Microsoft improved the controller by moving the black and white buttons and made them shoulder buttons.

I wonder if the game experience was better because I was playing against a friend of mine. Like I’ve written before, I’m not a fan of games that take hours and hours to complete. I like quick games like sports-based titles. After seeing what the 360 can do, I wonder if I’d more interested in longer games if rendered so well. Additionally, my brother has sent me some links that show WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2007 previews. It’s supposed to be available for the 360 and it would be fun on XBOX Live against my brother and others.

Plus, XBOX 360 is going to have Street Fighter 2 available in its arcade and on Live. It’ll be just like when I used to play the game in that convenience store. Play anyone. Sounds like fun to me.

The Decine of cnet.com

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A couple of years ago, when I wanted cutting edge news, I would go to cnet.com. Now, it’s lagging behind. It’s like a newspaper – it’s got good stories, but they cover yesterday’s news. Don’t get me wrong, I still like the site. They have great reviews and I think they’re moving away from standard news, instead focusing on video content. I wish they could refocus themselves on tech news again, but that may not happen with the rise of sites like digg.com.

Wii

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As you can see by my recent diggs, I’m into the Nintendo Wii. I think the name is fine, btw. It’s a game machine that people won’t be afraid of. Once I first saw the controller for this system, I thought it would be huge. I had the opportunity to pick up an XBOX 360, but I turned it down, because I thought that I wouldn’t play it enough. I’m going to save up some cash for the Wii.

It looks like it will have games that don’t take 20 hours to complete. When I put in a game, I want to play for about an hour or so. That’s why I normally play sports games. The games that take advantage of the uniqueness of the Wii remote will be quite fun.

So if anyone reading this works for Nintendo, feel free to send me a testing unit. It’d be nice.