Blast from the past: originally published January 9th 2004.

Soul Calibur was the reason I bought a Dreamcast system. An amazing weapons based fighting game with smooth true three dimensional movement and action. It was an amazing title for it’s time, and a follow up has finally been released for all three gaming platforms. My primary choice is the X-Box, for it’s two standout features: Dolby Digital surround sound and HD TV support, in this case 720p. Let’s run through the laundry list of features: thirteen returning characters plus all new, including one unique character …

Blast from the past: originally published June 18th 2003.
Traditionally I’ve played sports and fighting games on my console systems. The PC handled everything else with aplomb. Since the console market dominates I’m trying to dally in all the genres available. This led me to Microsoft’s Mech Assault. The latest in a long line of Mech Warrior titles, this is a third person shooter where you control a variety of Mechs in a variety of missions. In case you’re not familiar with the whole FASA universe, I’ll boil it down for you. It’s the future, and war …

Blast from the past: originally published July 26 2002.

I’m enamored by the idea of the PDA, or personal digital assistant. I bought a Palm IIIxe a few years ago and found it fit well for keeping my schedule, listing contacts and playing games. The batteries lasted two months and it was easy to use. Yet my life evolves around computers, so I move from my work PC to my home PC without the need for something in between. Of course there are those times when you’re in …

Blast from the past: originally published June 2001.

I just bought a Kodak DC4800 digital camera. This becomes the second device I have that uses CompactFlash cards; the other is my IBM z50 Windows CE handheld. CompactFlash is a small square memory card that is used in portable devices as a storage medium. It’s gained a huge market share and is the preferred method of storage on portable devices, such as digital cameras, PDAs, MP3 players, etc. As well the CompactFlash format has been used for NICs, modems and …

Blast from the past: originally published November 1 2002.

This spring I was in the process of upgrading my multimedia PC that’s connected to my television and receiver. It was using a standard keyboard and mouse perched on top of my record player (yes I still have one hooked up, for when I get around to ripping all my LPs to WMA). My new plans included gaming on my projection television, so new input devices were needed. Cordless mice and keyboards have been around for years, but …

Blast from the past: originally posted May 31 2001.

It’s tough to review optical drives, like CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs. Once you get past the model number, it’s pretty much a look at some benchmarks and a picture of the front, top, back and packaging of the drive. Factor in that almost every computer has a CD-ROM drive that does the basics, installing and running software from CD, and you’ve got the whole picture. What I’ll try and do here is present basic observations to go along with …

Blast from the past: originally posted December 21 2000.

We all have and use a keyboard. Almost all of us are using the model that came with our PC, whether it be from Dell, Compaq or a clone shop. It’s only when we start to shop around for extras or scour the accessories aisle at Costco that the various models and styles of keyboards come into view.

Recently I purchased a few clone PCs for my office, and they came with an OEM IBM keyboard. Checking online, I found …

Blast from the past: originally published April 5 2002.

After my rant on finding the right case size, I grabbed a few micro ATX cases to see what’s what. First up for review is the Enlight 7150.(editors note: product is now discontinued)
We had looked at the Enlight 7200 desktop case in the past, but this was the first foray into micro ATX. Basically it limits the motherboard size to 9.6” x 9.6” maximum, with four expansion slots and a specific layout for CPU and memory slots. Interestingly there is …

Blast from the past: originally published December 13th 2000.

When you think of getting yourself a new computer case, first thoughts go to a huge tower with twelve case fans or a sleek and sexy mini tower with that cool blue translucent cover.  Almost no one thinks of the desktop case: squat, square and oh so utilitarian.  Unfortunately they’re the workhorse of the office environment, as no one wants a mid tower under their desk at the office cubicle.
Recently I purchased a bunch of PCs …

Blast from the past: originally published June 17th 2003.

Next up is American Conquest from CDV. Not a big name in North America, but they’ve has a lot of European hits like Sudden Strike and Cossacks. American Conquest is a real time strategy game set in the Americas from the Spaniards arrival to American independence.
This is a big game, with 42 missions and 12 nations or tribes to play. It provides some innovation, albeit slight. It’s a traditional real time strategy: collect resources, build a base, pump out …

I’ve been looking after the back-end of Comic Book Daily, a website running on WordPress.  This is a comic book website so it’s very visual: one of the things people want is a lot of images.  For this we’re using jQuery Colorbox to make the images pop out of the site;  to work effectively and have the image fit without scrolling in the bulk of web browsers we resize the image to a maximum of 800 pixels.  Resizing also allows for fast loading and reduced space on our web hosting.
For …

Blast from the past: originally published June 17th 2003.

I’ve finally started playing some games on my X-Box. A guy at work was selling his X-Box with two controllers and some games for a song, so I couldn’t pass up the deal. Got it home and read the manual. Grabbed an HDTV adapter the next day and set it to take advantage of the various resolutions available, plus hooked an optical cable for Dolby Digital sound. My X-Box was ready for whatever I threw at it, which was nothing …

Blast from the past: originally published September 27th 2002.

The concept is so simple it makes you wonder why it wasn’t thought of before. Take flash memory and put it into a compact size, small enough to fit on a keychain. The entire unit is comprised of the cover and the DiskonKey memory module; a hard oblong plastic unit with a USB connector on one end. The picture says it all; simple, effective, easy.
Operation takes simplicity to another level. For Windows ME users forward to XP, plug the device into a …

Blast from the past: originally posted February 14th 2002.

Way back in 1991 I bought my first PC; a shiny Magnavox 386SX 20MHz. After a few months I began upgrading pieces of it, leading me to realize I needed a new system. I wanted to build it myself, so I did a ridiculous amount of research and decided on an AMD 386DX 40 MHz with 8 MB of RAM. My real concern was getting a good sized case to put everything in; I already had a 1x Sony …

Blast from the past: originally published December 6th 2002.

When you look back at the life of the computer, a few standouts have gone the distance. The floppy drive began as the only affordable way people could run programs and trade files, and has carried on in various shapes and sizes. Today all of us have a 3.5” floppy drive in our PCs, ready for those hard little diskettes. Who could imagine a computer without the off white mouse, two or three buttons and a rolling wheel underneath …

Blast from the past: originally published August 7th 2001, updated July 12th 2002.

It’s interesting what gets lost in the hectic pace of the computer industry. I have a lot of hardware floating around my office, and when I eventually get around to using something it’s a struggle to find drivers and technical information.
I built a system for one uncle a few years ago; standard fair Intel machine with an 810e motherboard and a Sound Blaster AWE64D PCI sound card. Everything OEM and in static bags; …

Blast from the past: originally published June 17th 2003.

Unreal II is the follow up to the huge first person shooter hit of many years ago from Epic. You run a small ship and get sent on mission killing bad guys. Cut scenes fill in the story, as do refits and mission briefings aboard your ship before each new level. Unreal II is a standard first person shooter: run around shooting things, getting new weapons and solving simple puzzles to advance. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
What’s …

Blast from the past: originally published long ago.

My only Playstation 2 game is Street Fighter EX3; Capcom was kind enough to send it in a timely manner to coincide with my PS2 purchase. I’m waiting on other titles, so stay tuned.
This is the latest in a long line of Street Fighter games, which is a two edged sword. On the plus you can start it up, choose Ryu or any of the classic characters, and pull of the special moves. On the downside there isn’t much …

I recently installed and reviewed MailStore Home, a great program for backing up your email.  I have three Gmail accounts that cover the different aspects of my life so I set all three up.
While I enjoy all of MailStore Home’s features I really wanted to automate the backup process so I wouldn’t have to manually run it every week.  Searching the internet and MailStore’s help and forums I didn’t see a solution but it’s actually right there in the program if you look hard enough.

Once accounts are set up go …

In the wake of the Gmail temporary loss of accounts a lot of tech sites are highlighting ways to back up your account.  I like the suggestion of Hotmail accessing your Gmail through POP but that’s another cloud solution to maintain.  Using Thunderbird and POP access is another good idea but you need to have it running to pick up your mail.

The best solution I’ve found is MailStore Home.  It will backup and restore your email from basically any email client native or online and it’s free for personal use.  …