teh TODDtastic webLog-a-majig

So, I just played a demo of the latest Need For Speed Undercover…. and it is seriously as bad as the last version of the game. It’s the same high speed, shinny roads, with the sun in your eyes crap that it seems Need for Speed is opting for now.

I will admit right now… that I’ve played every single need for speed from the beginning From back when 3D racing was brand new until now. And I might even say that it is a tie between Underground 2 and Porsche Unleashed for my favorites. I’ve been a fan of the entire series and beaten every single one.  At least until Pro Street. I played the Pro Street demo and it was so bad, that I did not even get the full game. And that was a huge disappointment to me. And now that Undercover is equally as bad, I’m really disappointed in EA.

I hope the next one is better so we can move on and just forget about these 2 bumps in the Need For Speed history.

So… consider this my official review on Need For Speed Undercover: It sucks… hardcore.

For those that want it… 4.7.0.83 has been leaked for the Storm.  People are reporting a lot of great improvements with this leaked update. Improvements to the camera speed and accelerometer is apparently even faster.

Personally, I will wait for an official release to install. Reading through the forums, I found that works at Verizon mention that there is supposed to be an official update released Tuesday night. So, it definitely isn’t much of a wait.

I will report on my experiences once the official release is out.

Update (12-27-08): Still no official release. But 4.7.0.85 has been leaked.

Upfront, let me say that I am pleased with my decision to get this phone. Also, let me say that after my initial reaction, I was quite critical of the phone overall. So since I recommend it in the end, I can honestly say that it is not nearly as bad as many reviews say.

It takes some getting used to, but once you are used to it, there is no major problem with it. Remember that a lot of reviewers only spend a few days with the phone and that a lot of users may have been turned off by it after seeing it in the store (like I was initially).

I will break this down into sections. If you’d like me to comment more in a particular section or add yet another section, please let me know.

Read the rest of this entry »

Back when the new Facebook came around… I wrote an entry saying why it sucked (see #3 and #7). I noticed they added a lot of white space which would eventually be filled with more ads.

Well… when the new Facebook came around… it had a total of 2 over in that white space I mentioned. Now there are 3. Not a big deal… but it does show a 50% growth. And it does show that I was right in calling that the added white space was for future ad space. They also added ads to the gray box on your Home screen. I thought they would add them under that gray box… but instead they added it in the box! Now that white space under that gray box is REALLY wasteful.

Beyond that…. I still find most things on that orignal list annoying. Applications mostly piss me off now…. NONE OF THEM WORK!

And I’ve seen hardly any effort by Facebook to improve these retarded design elements. It’s rather sad if you really examine their design. I absolutely think they can do a lot better.

Oh well.

I rebooted the server to make a kernel upgrade as well as some general maintenance. As always… let me know of any issues you notice.

In a 1930 New York Times article,[60] Einstein distinguished three styles which are usually intermixed in actual religion. The first is motivated by fear and poor understanding of causality, and hence invents supernatural beings. The second is social and moral, motivated by desire for love and support. Einstein noted that both have an anthropomorphic concept of God. The third style, which Einstein deemed most mature, is motivated by a deep sense of awe and mystery. He said, “The individual feels … the sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves in nature … and he wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole.” Einstein saw science as an antagonist of the first two styles of religion, but as a partner of the third style.

–Wikipedia article in Summary of this article.

Einstein was truly a genius. He hit that absolutely dead on.