Random Stuff: Band of the week

Lets see... I think I have about... no readers, but I still continue to publish posts at random times when I get bored. So let's start a Music Section. I'll start listing a band of the week, just to give me something to do in my spare time. This weeks winner is: Nirvana. Now I'm sure you've all heard of Nirvana (Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, various random people over the years) Unfortunately they disbanded (no pun intended... well maybe a bit) because... eh, look it up yourself on Wikipedia, the greatest online resource known to man. Anyway, here's to Nirvana, my band of the week.

Broadcom Wireless Cards: Revisited

I mentioned before that my broadcom wireless card was malfunctioning with Vista: well it looks like I finally fixed it for good. It had been coming on and disappearing, yes, disappearing completely, from my computer. But I finally found something that seemed to work. First, I used the Device Manager to disable the Afterburner thingy, then I set the AP something-or-other mode to 'broader compatibility' instead of 'higher performance.' Then I uninstalled the card and reinstalled it using the setup files I found here (which must be unpacked first, and then installed from the SwSetup folder where they automatically get extracted to.) I'm not sure whether the disabling or the re-install did the trick, or both, but it works every single time I come out of sleep mode. I have yet to test it on a restart :/
So if you have the same vista/broadcom problem as I did, or think you do, just comment or ask. If this works for you, let me know as well!

Update: I have the Broadcom Wireless 802.11 b/g even though this installer is for 802.11 i, but try it anyway, it worked for me!

Another Update: Nope, after a restart, this didn't work after all. But it might just work for you, if not, bicker about it to HP and hopefully they'll help. I may just have to do that.

Alpha/Omega

This is why the internet is a great thing... and the end of a lot of people's careers.

"Dayamati commented about 1 hour ago:

'It looks as though McCain gets most of his information from the American media. No wonder he's so bloody misinformed. Mind you, the current occupant of the White House seems to get most of his information from comic books read to him by Dick Cheney.'"

-on these videos: The Real McCain

Hulu

There's a new internet video service out: Hulu.
Hulu is great because you can watch full episodes of shows, legally. Granted, there aren't that many now, but I think this particular service will thrive. So check it out at Hulu.com

Family Guy > Episode 100 > Stewie Kills Lois

One of my favorites: Family Guy, Episode 100: Steiwe Kills Lois, courtesy of Hulu.com

Back now... damned HP.

It's been a while since my last post, but how many of you read this or know that, I don't know. Anyway, just wanted to say, my wireless card has been failing repeatedly. It's a broadcom in a Compaq Presario. My advice: since this problem is apparently very widespread in HP and Compaq laptops, get something worthwhile or get a card for the express slot.

Favorite Quotes > Random

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
- Albert Einstein

I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the manmade sound never equalled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig.
- Alfred Hitchcock

This paperback is very interesting, but I find it will never replace a hardcover book -- it makes a very poor doorstop.
- Alfred Hitchcock

Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination.
- Immanuel Kant

All authority is quite degrading.
- Oscar Wilde

When good Americans die they go to Paris. When bad Americans die they go to America.
- Oscar Wilde

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
- George Washington

The point is that you can't be too greedy.
-Donald Trump

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
- Socrates

Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.
- Socrates

Facts are stupid things.
- Ronald Reagan

Favorite Quotes > Churchill

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
- Sir Winston Churchill

Men occasionally stumble on the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.
- Sir Winston Churchill

I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
- Sir Winston Churchill

Favorite Quotes > Aristotle

Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.
- Aristotle

To perceive is to suffer.
- Aristotle

Liars when they speak the truth are not believed.
- Aristotle

We make war that we may live in peace.
- Aristotle

Evil draws men together.
- Aristotle

Favorite Quotes > Hitler

The greater the lie, the greater the chance that it will be believed.
- Adolf Hitler

How fortunate for leaders that men do not think.
- Adolf Hitler

The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.
- Adolf Hitler

Reviews > Apps > VistaGlazz

VistaGlazz is a very neat little program that patches the windows vista theme files to allow unsigned themes to be applied. These can e found all over, such as at WinCustomize, and are neat if you're bored with aero glass. VistaGlazz is available from C|Net's Download.com for free.

Yesterday was my birthday, and I decided to try out Digsby, an all-In-One IM client. What's great about it is that it incorporates everything- Email, Social Networks, IM, even sending SMS messages to phones. It's amazingly customizable, and even lets you make widgets to put in a blog post...like this!

Reviews > Gadgets > Sansa

I recently got a new Sansa, from Sandisk, and I have to say, it's a very viable competitor to the iPod. It has a physical click wheel, like the g1 iPods, but less imposing. That glows blue, and the screen is made of a fairly scratch resistant surface, with a liquid-metal back that is almost impossible to scratch, but shows fingerprints surprisingly strongly. Very good quality, with fm radio/voice recording, as well as support for playlists and expansion (microSD.) The v1's are hackable, but the v2's have yet to be opened for rockbox or h3mod. Available in 2, 4, 6, or 8 gig.

My Birthday/ Canon S5

So, my birthday is on Saturday, and my dad gave me my present a week early: a brand-new Canon S5. If you haven't seen these guys yet yet, they're pretty sweet. 8 megapixels, a rotaing viewscreen, a multitude of on-camera features, movie recording, and SD Cards for memory. Oh yeah. So I'm trying it out and loving it. It's a pretty top-of-the-line consumer camera, for half the price of 'proffesional' cameras that are only a couple mp more, which at this size almost doesnt matter, unless you're doing a movie poster. It's a great camera, guys- check it out.

Reviews > Movies > Into the Wild

Into the Wild is a movie about Christopher McCandless, a young guy whose family is upper class, well off; but he wants something else. He donates his 24k dollars of Harvard money from his savings, all of it, to Oxfam, and then leaves his life to travel cross country towards his dream of living for a while alone in Alaska. On his way, he meets some strange characters, and has some wild times. Once he reaches alaska, he finds an abandoned bus which he nicknames "the magic bus" and lives in it, using it as a home base. He hunts and fishes, sometimes unsuccessfully, but once he decides to return to civilization, he can't cross the river to get back, so he stays...but after 100 days, his food is dwindling, and he eats some poisonous plants by accident and slowly starts to die. His body is found, months afterwards, along with is diaries and the incredible story of his journey, and everything he endured.

Reviews > Music > Even Flow

'Even Flow', written in 1992, is a song by Pearl Jam, and was a single featured on their debut album, 'Ten.' It was also put on their Greatest Hits album, but as a different version, and the second one doesn't sound quite right...anyway, it's a great song, and is featured on the Guitar Hero 3 tracklist as well. It is available from the iTunes store, as well as some other places.

Faceoff: GIMP vs. Photoshop CS3

And now a post I actuallly wrote in the past week...

Well, both GIMP and PS have basically the same features, but what's the difference? Well, for one, GIMP is free, open-source, and (for me at least) much easier to navigate and use. Photoshop is sill a more professional tool, with more technical terms and menus than GIMP, not to mention that price tag. I recommend GIMP, simply because the layout is more basic, but with some comfortable familiarity for Photoshop users, such as layout. The menus are different to navigate, and are actually less relient on sub-menus and more on visual and obvious tools. What do you think? Go ahead and tell us!

A little tidying up...

In case anyone ever wonders why I have so many posts on April 9th and not other days, it's because I'm trying to port my favorite posts over from my Windows Live Space ( they're a nice idea, but don't work as well as they need to.) I have had trouble with the blogging, because it triples my posts and now it won't stop doing that. 3 comments saying 'nice work' on 3 posts each a page long...not working. So from now on...Google all the way.

Reviews > Apps > PortableApps

This review is none other than: PortableApps. PortabbleApps is essentially a free, open-source version of U3- 'smart usb drives.' It's very handy because it allows you to put a small program on your flash drive (usb stick) so that you can download the portable versions of apps and run them form any windows computer. it's nice because it leaves no files on the host system, just on your flash drive. You can also use it to try programs you don't necessarily want to have on your home pc, but be aware, you have to have the prtable version of the program, available at PortableApps via sourceforge.

Reviews > Apps > Firefox

So, for today's app review, I choose Firefox... even though I pretty much said everything in Firefox vs. IE, I want to revisit it. I know I've ranted and raved about it before, but I really want everyone to get it, so, here it is. It has extensions, add-ons, plug-ins, themes (skins), and so many more features. With nearly infinite possibilities, it's the best browser all-around. Firefox 2.0.0.13 is the current version, or you can get the Firefox 3 betas, the most recent of which (beta 5) is almost totally stable, but does not have support for all add-ons that Firefox 2 does (make sure you get the correct language version though- it comes in over 40 languages!) And did I mention the download manager? It's a built-in accelerator and with my crappy slow internet, I was getting 60 kbps on average. The look has been revised for Firefox 3, too, which is scheduled to launch sometime in June or July, I think. If you don't believe me, try it out for yourself, and you'll love it from the first.