Breaking Windows

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Three months after comedian Jon Stewart attacked its format and sparred with co-host Tucker Carlson, "Crossfire" has become a casualty of the evolving CNN.

Sure, it wasn't Jon Stewart's fault, he just sped up the decision process a little. Too bad the "dick" of Crossfire, Tucker Carlson is also out. I always liked the bowtie.

It's pretty much official. This has been the biggest year for video games EVER. Not surprisingly, most of the big software has hit in the past few months. Even still, we at Breaking Windows are going to make sense of the software that's hit over the entire year. No, we haven't played every console game this year (though if someone would like to send us a set, that would be nice), but out of what we've played, these are the dozen titles that stick out from the pack.

Matt and I have each come up with our top 6 titles in this, Breaking Windows first annual "Best Of" 2004.

While chatting with Neil yesterday, he pointed me to this Creative Commies T-Shirt web page. I just had to buy a shirt, its PayPal'able to boot. Not only are they cool, but they’re a bargain too - $5 ($6 if you need 2XL or 3XL), plus $5 for shipping anywhere in the world.

If you’ve been reading BoingBoing lately, you’ll know what it’s about, but basically Bill Gates, in an interview with CNet News.com (great Apple quotes in this interview, btw), described people who are against intellectual property and over-strict copyright legislation as ‘communists’ (Dan Gillmor has some good analysis of this). So, naturally, there are various desktop wallpapers and buttons for us ‘creative commies’, and now, t-shirts.

I don't think calling ourselves "commies" is a good thing for the open source movement, but you gotta admit that it is a good play on the Creative Commons name. I do love the copyleft logo, and now have that as my desktop wallpaper.

Thanks to Neil for sharing this bit of geekery.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration paid a prominent commentator to promote the No Child Left Behind schools law to fellow blacks and to give the education secretary media time, records show.

A company run by Armstrong Williams, the syndicated commentator, was paid $240,000 by the Education Department. The goal was to deliver positive messages about Bush's education overhaul, using Williams' broad reach with minorities.

Yea, No Child Left Behind, I have always liked that one. [/sarcasm]

w.bloggar is my favorite XML-RPC posting app on Windows. Version 4 adds advanced Movable Type options that have been sorely missing, adds support for more blogging tools, and simply cleans up a lot of ugly things behind the scenes. Most noticeable are the following two:

ADDED....: Support to the advanced MovableType options: Extended Entry, Excerpt, Keywords, Multiple Categories, TrackBack and more;

CHANGED..: All Accounts and Settings are no longer stored on Windows Registry, now it's saved on a xml file;

The new blog account setup wizard is really nice. I had no trouble setting this up for my Breaking Windows blog. I did however run into an HTTP error 411 that I emailed the developer about. I got this error when trying to setup my Blogcritics account. If I find out more on this issue, I will be sure to post about it.

Clicky clicky.

Irvine, Calif.-based MCE Technologies LLC on Wednesday announced it is shipping the 8X SuperDrive, a replacement for the optical drive in Apple Computer Inc.'s PowerBook G4 laptop. The new drive is capable of burning dual-layer DVD discs, capable of storing up to 8.5GB of information. The same drive also fits in Apple's Power Mac G4 Cube.

If the price of Dual Layer DVD-R's come down, I might get this drive. Thanks to my Dad for the link.

I'm going to do something a little bit different with this op-ed piece. Since the ICCR is a group of completely uniformed individuals who feel it is the responsibility of major corporations to do a parents work, I'm going to play a game with them. I'm going to spot them 5 "credibility" points. Then, if I find something that they say is either ridiculous or untrue, they lose a point. If they say something that has merit, they gain a point. Simple? Good.

In a matter of time, it would hardly be surprising to see Electronic Arts next move on the game industry: A fully fledged game console. The evidence is staggering. Look at this list of companies they have bought (and attempted to buy) over the past few months:

Criterion
NFL
DICE
Studio 33
Part of Ubi Soft

Now, think about how scary this is. EA gets themselves some of the top developers/games. EA creates a new game console. EA keeps all of their major franchises on their own console. Instant winner in the console wars.

Don't think so? Think about a game system that plays Madden exclusively. On that title alone, the console will sell because the masses seem to have some sort of obsession with the title. Add in the fact that it's the only pro football game in town, and you have an instant success. If they can a make a competitive game console, get a profit, and have a slew of recognizable games (regardless of quality) made exclusive for it, which of the three console makers will be next to go?

On a side note, how much money can this company possibly have to throw around? The NFL deal alone would be enough to break most publishers, but now they tossed out an offer to the NBA? Never mind the Lord of the Rings and James Bond. Could this be a company soon to be bigger than Microsoft?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Newt Gingrich is taking steps toward a potential presidential bid in 2008 with a book criticizing President Bush's policies on Iraq and a tour of early campaign states.

The former House speaker who led Republicans to power a decade ago said he soon will visit Iowa and New Hampshire to promote his book, try to influence public policy and keep his political options alive.

I know it is a little late, but better late then never. I have had much fun the last few weeks not using my computer much over my holiday break. I know, I know, this does not sound possible. But it is true, for three weeks, well more actually, I did not use my computer every minute of every day. I also did not give support to other people's computers. It was amazing, and a well needed break.

Call it my New Year's gift to you. I have 10 invites to give away. If you want one email me at kenneth.edwards at gmail dot com.

If you own a Saturn, chances are you either own or plan to own "Guardian Heroes" or "Radiant Silvergun." If you own a Genesis, "Gunstar Heroes" probably tops that list. One thing brings these titles together: Treasure. "Astro Boy" is the latest title from the hardcore gamers dream developer and their solid style brings to life the popular anime character in one of the best games this system will ever see.

For everything it did right, the Neo Geo Pocket never really got a proper "Metal Slug" game. While the two entries on the 8-bit portable were more than satisfying, the hardware limitations really hindered the feel the series was known for. Now, thanks to somewhat powerful GBA hardware, "Metal Slug" finally goes portable with very few sacrifices.

Just see how close you can get at no loss in detail! Tons of stuff to find too!

It's great to see a movie make no compromise in staying true to the comic book it's based on. "The Punisher" is unrelenting when it has a chance to be violent, something other adaptations have failed to do. That means little when you see the final product.

Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) has made his final bust and is planning his retirement. When things go awry during a party, his family is murdered and he is thrust into a battle with Howard Saint (John Travolta), a Tampa underworld king. Seeking vengeance, Castle begins to dismantle Saint's group one by one until his revenge is complete.

There has been a number of surprising portable golf games over the years. Tiger Woods has been EA's poster boy since they nabbed exclusive PGA Tour rights in 1999 and the on-the-go versions have been seriously hit or miss. The DS version is an obvious rush job, one that suffers from a number of nagging problems. It still manages to be highly enjoyable, but it does scream "wait until next year."

Revenge is one of those movie vehicles that can take a movie down easy street with little provocation. Simply kill off someone's family member and everything is fair game. That's sort of "Man on Fire" in a nutshell, but don't write it off yet. You'll be missing out on two fantastic performances and some truly shocking violence.

We have a Gogglewhack. We have "The One."

It is somthing I have recently discovered. It is a game you can play using the google search engine.

If you enter any two random words into google, providing that both words appear on the dictionary.com website, (the word refference site that google uses) and google returns with only 1 result then you have a google whack! I found one on your site.

The words "jamborees dodecahedron" returned one result on Breaking Windows I then found your email on the site so thought I would let you know in case it was of any interest. (I have heard that it is rude to whack behind someones back so I thought I would tell you).

Maybe I should put my email on every post I make too?

Dan Kelly sent this to me. Thanks Dan. This is a powerful video (Flash) that has some rather high production values of the video, CG, and the song. It is very well done, but I warn it is very graphic, and sad.

The following is supposedly an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound"that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A"

Now I doubt this is real, but it sure as hell is funny! Both my brother Max and friend Jake sent this to me, so it must be getting good circulation. Thanks for the forwards guys.

The Sticky Paper Mario.

Having already secured the exclusive rights to the NFL, Electronic Arts has today partnered with the much less popular Arena Football League (AFL) to exclusively produce an AFL video game in time for the start of the 2006 AFL season.

This goes under both the SOB! and WTF categories simultaneously. I mean, huh? The Arena Football League is not exactly scrapping with rabid fans here. Sure NBC has signed the AFL, but who is going to watch? Sure, EA has signed the AFL, but who will buy?

Is this real (wmp)? If it is I feel sorry for that guys bumper. But I feel a setup. The camera zoomed in right when it happened. There are also enough guys there to push the car forward. Also, why was this being taped in the first place? It can't be real.

Thanks to Matt for the link.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (Nasdaq:TTWO - news) on Monday said it plans to launch a new version of its hit "Grand Theft Auto" video game franchise for Sony Corp (news - web sites)'s (6758.T) PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld device, which is expected to debut in the U.S. in March.

I am sold. I already liked the PSP lineup, Its launch lineup already blows away what the Nintendo DS linup was at its launch (and has out today). Why did they release the Nintendo DS last year again? Would someone remind me? To be out first? With no software?

Thanks to Matt for the link.

Apple today launched its new IT Pro Web site, which provides a wide variety of information and resources for IT professionals. Subject areas include profiles of companies using Macs, feature articles, Government resources, Education information, a High-Performance Computing section, and more.

If you have a Staples close, get there soon! They have a deal on a 100 pack of HP CD-R (52x) for $14.95, and a even better deal on Sony 8x 50 pack DVD-/+R for $19.95. You can get a 25 pack of Tenon 8x DVD-/+R for $14.95, but heck, get double that for a mere $5 more!

These deals are good January 9 - 15, 2005.

Thanks to Stephanie for the heads up on the deals.

I do not know which is funnier, this or this!

Source: Gizmodo

LOS ANGELES, CA, January 11, 2005 - G4, the only 24/7 television network dedicated to video games, screeches into 2005 with announcements of a new name, look and feel as well as two new series, "Formula D" and "Girls Gone Wired." Charles Hirschhorn, Founder and CEO of the network, announced the channel's official name as G4 - video game television - earlier today at the Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour. The name change and new network look and feel will take effect on February 15, 2005.

By now we know what the hell happened. A moment of silence, please, for the best geek Cable TV station that was dismantled in a matter of months.

These WristRugs fit great on my PowerBook. They cost $9.95, and are PayPal-able. Dad has some red ones on his PowerBook and they really do feel great. I bought the blue ones. I got them within a week of ordering them, and they are great, they are soft.

Are they worth $10? It is better then feeling the cold, and sometimes hot metal under your palm and wrists. I highly recommend them.

Guest submission by Rob Griffiths (Webmaster of Mac OS X Hints, and author of Mac OS X Power Hound). He sent me a rough draft of this last night, and it is too funny, and too true! Feel free to copy, as long as author attribution and site link remain intact. Posted with permission by the author.

Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking about Mac OS X (one of my favorite subjects) at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco (thanks to everyone who came to my sessions!). Since I live in Portland, Oregon, I had to pack for a plane trip to the 'big city.' That's when the fun began...

Traveling has become a much more complex endeavor than it used to be. A decade ago, packing for a three-day business trip would require nothing more than insuring that you had sufficient clothes in your bag, the required personal care items, and perhaps your address book and maybe even a calculator. But that was about it.

Packing today, especially if you're giving a presentation, is a whole different ballgame...

Do you want to know what it's like to be a gadget writer on the day of MacWorld? Watch this 5MB Quicktime and you'll have a bit of an idea.

Thanks to Rob for this hilarious link. I guess it is an iPod world after all!

The NFL fines Randy Moss a cool $10,000 for his "mooning" incident, but only fined Eric Barton a mere $7,500 for the forearm to the head of Drew Brees.

Tell me, which one of those acts is worse for the welfare of the NFL players? A forearm to the head could have been a very serious injury. Bodily injury should receive a fine far above an end zone dance.

$10,000 is not a lot to these players, its not a drop in the bucket, as Moss said, he will pay in "Straight cash, homey." So take a guess at what a fine of $7,500 feels like to Barton.

Do you know why all these NFL players do their crazy end zone dances? Take a guess. The guys operating the cameras (the Networks, the "Media") are shooting it. The NFL is more then a sport, it is entertainment, and these end zone dances are the entertainment. Sometimes they go too far, but sometimes they are just plain funny. Moss's mooning was just plain funny.

These people would stop doing it if the Networks would stop taping them. But that is not gonna happen anytime soon. That would not sell ratings.

Do you think CBS really cared about Janet's boob? Its all a ratings game.

MAJORITY OF USERS don't care about a graphics card because this majority uses only 2D operations, or should I say they need it just to draw and show picture on displays...

Believe it or not, your Windows performance will depend on the quality of graphics card you have. A faster card might draw something faster than a slower mainstream or entry level card, meaning that even some Office software might perform better if you have a faster 3D card.

Read it and weep fellas. All you Windows users who have laughed at us Mac users with our slow screen redraw in OS X, just you wait until Longhorn.

This mainly happened to OS X when Apple introduced Quartz Extreme. (Screen redraw has always been a problem in OS X, Quartz Extreme fixed that in 10.2.x) Any Mac that did not have 32 MB of GPU was left in the dark, so to speak. Quartz Extreme offloads the compositing of the GUI to the GPU, and frees up the CPU from those mundane calculations. I was miffed when my 500 Mhz PowerBook could not handle Quartz Extreme, it only has a 16 MB GPU.

This same thing is going to happen with Longhorn hits shelves in 2006, or whenever it is released. Your low end or mid-ranged GPU's are not gonna cut the mustard. And the GPU you have in your year old PC surely is not gonna be the best for this new Windows Graphic Foundation calculations.

Interestingly enough Apple is doing the same thing again with Tiger, with the introduction of Core Image.

For computers without a programmable GPU, Core Image dynamically optimizes for the CPU, automatically tuning for Velocity Engine and multiple processors as appropriate.

Thanks to Rob Griffiths for sending me the Inquirer link.

I have 4 invites to give away. If you want one email me at kenneth.edwards at gmail dot com.

I sure hope the National Gambling Association doesn't get their panties in a bunch about ESPN showing the seedy underbelly of cheats in the poker world. We shall see.

I would have much rather sat down to season 2 of Playmakers last night, but Tilt will have to do.

I enjoyed the premiere. As predicted it has great production values. The cameos were great, Norman Chad adds that bit of fake realism too. I will admit that this first episode was a little hard to follow. I ended up watching it twice. The second time I watched it was the time I figured everything out that was happening. But this was no doubt the pilot, and they had something to prove.

All in all I think this will be a great series, putting ESPN that much closer to becoming the MTV of the sports world.

If you want a comprehensive review, there is a good SI article. Now the really funny thing here is that I googled a Tilt review after I wrote this, Scouts Honor (our views are similar).

A Web site that disclosed Apple's top-secret plans to bring out a $499 mini computer and a new bare-bones iPod -- prompting a lawsuit from the company -- turns out to be the brainchild of a 19-year-old Harvard University student.

"Nick dePlume" is out of the bag now! He should have an easy time finding legal representation at Harvard of all places.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A top FBI official said Thursday the bureau may have to scrap a computer program that so far has cost $170 million and was intended to be an important tool in fighting terrorism.

Bureau officials told a news briefing that they expect to find that after four years in development their much-touted Virtual Case File system does not work. But they said a suitable replacement is commercially available.

You just know this 3rd party software is gonna come in costing somewhere in the range of $170 million.

Holy cow I feel like crap. I am not sick, I don't have a fever or anything, but my stomach hurts like hell. The hurtin' is coming is spasms too. I was gonna go to the Auto Show in Detroit with my friend Mike yesterday, and I really needed to drive up to Toledo to get work done for the Toledo City Paper this weekend too. So much for a nice long MLK weekend. Hopefully I will feel good enough to work Monday up at TCP.

Right now I hurt too much to sleep. I'm watching "Junction Boys" and thanks to Mike he brought me some stuff for my upset stomach. After all, what are friends for. I don't know if the meds are working, as its still coming in spasms. I swear it has taken me at least a half hr. to write this.

I feel much better now. Before I went to bed I threw up, that was joyous. Took some more Pepto and called it a night. I feel much better today. I think I got some food poisoning. It sure put me out of commission and made me feel like crap.

The news is the second blow to current license-holder Sega (and its Visual Concepts development studio). It recently lost the right to publish sports games using the NFL license when EA scooped that license up. Now, it loses the right to the ESPN brand as well.

So will Madden be out of the picture now? I found this as well:

What that will mean for EA's long-standing Madden franchise remains unknown. Madden is under contract with the game publisher through this year, but has not signed beyond that. EA said negotiations are continuing.

I especially like the quote at the end:

"I think there's plenty of room for competition," said Probst. "At the end of the day its who can build the highest quality products. There's plenty of room for other third party companies - and console first-party companies - to do that. Just because EA Sports and ESPN are partnering I don't think people are going to run for the hills and not compete with us."

I for one hope that Madden goes by-by. I cannot stand him or his wonderful color on ABC or in the game. He just spews out the most obvious information, all the time, in his annoying-as-hell voice. "If Randy Moss had caught that ball, he would have had a first down" is something that comes out of John Madden's mouth on Monday Night Football, it is even worse in the game.

Since EA now has the ESPN namesake and the talent, I hope they put Dan Stevens and Peter o' Keefe into the next EA game.

I also hope they throw out the play calling UI from Madden 2005. I found a copy of Madden 2005 in the bargain bin and I picked it up, what the heck. Of course it still cost me $10 more then the far superior NFL 2k5. I have not played Madden since the Genesis. I am not impressed with Madden 2005 one bit.

Hopefully the ESPN brand will help with the user interface. We can only hope.

Blockbuster video is rolling out the ads, proudly proclaiming their lack of late fees. It's a lie, a blatant use of false advertising and marketing gimmicks to revive their struggling business. They have single handedly made this once simple, easy to understand industry confusing, ridiculous, and misleading.