Veteran software developer / sysadmin and holds a PhD in Computer Science. Avid computer enthusiast (geek) who has been dabbling with technology ever since his Dad brought home an 8086 computer.
Videogames
I’ve just finished Valkyrie Profile a couple of days ago, so I might still be biased. I’m also very angry with the game. Or rather, I’m angry at the ending of the game. The game involves you playing Valkyrie, training the newly departed to be warriors for
Videogames
If you are unfamiliar with the world of musical videogames, let me first offer this description. Rock Band is a video game available on several consoles (PS3. PS2 and Xbox 360 for now) that allow a group of player (up to 4) to play the role of a rock band.
Market
Lets start off this article by the disclaimer that I, in no way, support the idea of Casinos. They are designed to suck the money out of the pockets of addicted individuals with deluded dreams. That being said, they are also designed to entertain, which is why I don’t
Programming
I’m a Computer Scientist by training. My specialty is solving problems. Most of the time, solving that problem involves programming. Thus the importance of having the propers tools to solve problems. I’ll admit that I’m a fan of Java. Although I understand the power and flexibility of
Gadget & Toys
Cover Photo by Amr Taha [https://unsplash.com/@amr_taha?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText] on Unsplash [https://unsplash.com/s/photos/red-toy?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText] Kotaku is having a contest, Use Red and Win Heavenly Sword [http://kotaku.com/
Gadget & Toys
As I’ve mentioned numerous times, I like to collects some Transformers. This is why I was so exited when I learned that Montreal was going to host a small toy convention [http://site.toysonfire.com/montreal_toy_con/montrealtoycon.html] this June. I decided to go. First of, the
Videogames
Last month, after playing a lot of Guildwars, I was in the mood for something different. So I fired up my copy of Unreal Tournament 2004 [http://store.steampowered.com/app/13230/] and played a whole lot of Onslaught online. I was surprise to see that there are still a
Market
Although I never though I would buy a next gen console this early. However, EBGames Canada [http://www.ebgames.ca] had an offer I could hardly refuse. If you traded in 10 games (worth at least 8$ in their system), you could buy a Playstation 3 (60 gig) for 400$
Videogames
When I played Ragnarok Online, I was surprised by the quality of the online community. After playing Diablo II (which has its fair share of idiots), it’s understandable to be disoriented by a community where people help each other, and with very little swearing. Given that Ragnarok Online requires
Videogames
When GuildWars was introduced, it broke the traditional MMO mold by offering a massively multi player experience without any subscriptions. ArenaNet, the developers behind the Guildwars phenomena, announced that they would release a new expansion to the game every 6 months, starting a year after the initial release of the
Computer
When I decided I was going back to school, I knew I needed a new laptop. My 14″ IBook was horribly underpowered. In addition, I couldn’t use my laptop on several projects because the software I was using simply did not exist on MacOs X. Choosing a new laptop
Gadget & Toys
Cover Photo by Markus Spiske [https://unsplash.com/@markusspiske?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText] on Unsplash [https://unsplash.com/s/photos/red-toy?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText] When I was growing up, I liked to watch the after-school cartoons, such as G.
Computer
I have rather large collection of home videos encoded in Xvid format. VHS being an unreliable media, I digitally converted my home video librarie to this popular computer format. About a year ago, I started looking around for a solution that would allow me to view my Xvid videos on
Videogames
On an academic level, I’ve always been impressed by Second Life. It’s a massively multiplayer completely devoid of goals. Players create the content of the game and sell it to other players. Second Life has it’s on economy and players can exchange game currency for real money
Legal / Scam
Anime series on DVD are expensive. In fact, they are often very expensive. Getting the 10 DVDs for Gundam Wing costed me over 300 CAD. The box set has a suggested etail price of 200 USD. That’s a lot of money for 49 episodes of Gundam, especially when you
Programming
The idea came to me after looking at an article on Slashdot [http://developers.slashdot.org/story/05/12/12/122243/a-programmers-bookshelf]. The author of the article discussed a simple page [http://www.simtec.co.uk/appnotes/AN0017/] he found on the Internet, discussing his list of top books for