Amparose » Misc.

Are you wearing your iPad?

Philip Tyrer — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:58:30 +0000

I woke early. Naturally I had to check out the iNews before leaving and immediately went to the Apple store. The Australian version presented me with no change at all but the American had all its links leading to the iPad splash page which was a bit annoying. Watching the new iPad commercial was a humorous experience as each presented spoke like a dribbling idiot talking with excitment about their new safety pen and circle of paper. Except for the last guy, Bob Mansfield, he was less retarded and a bit more interesting. My favourite spastic lines were:

you can see all of the web as opposed to say a 24 inch desktop screen?
there’s no right or wrong way to hold it… ahhh derrrrrrrrrrrr *facepalm*

The price of the device itself is fantastic and the tech specs are not revolutionary because of this; it is a compromise that I’m happy with. It seems to look better than the Android offerings. The prices of ebooks however, seem to be about the same as buying the physical book which doesn’t inspire me much and the bookshelf thing is a bit silly, reminds me of Delicious Library’s equally silly digital bookshelf. I’ll be looking forward to using Stanza on the device as well as a comicbook reader.

It seems that people are still fussed about the app store being “locked down” and controlled. I’m a bit mixed about this as the idea makes sense that it is all quality controlled but you can argue about this as some apps on the iPhone make you wonder how they ever got cleared. Security is debatable whether an open system would be worse off but I like that I don’t have to be conscious of security when downloading new apps.

I was disappointed that iMail on the iPhone isn’t getting an iUpdate for read mail syncing with Mail.app. This is the single reason I don’t use Mail on the iPhone as not only does it not do this obvious thing but it also doesn’t even have a read all button to at least get rid of the stupid badge counter. The new calendar app looks really good but why, oh why is the UI for it a poo-stained colour? I better be able to change that.

I see iWork is still at 2009, meaning that although you can use the iPad version and “change the orientation in case you need to write upside down”, you still can’t have a landscape page in a portrait document. I still can’t fathom why this wasn’t a feature from day one and after enquiring about iWork 2009 in an Apple store when it was released, the guy just told me to go get Open Office. So I guess iWork 2010.5 or just 2011? At least the iPad may have a better file sharing set up.

The other disappointment about all this is there is nothing I can have right now. Another two months till the iPad (yay for RSS feeds to continue being iClogged). What will I do with my pent up technolust?

RC is not a hobby in Australia

Philip Tyrer — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 05:04:44 +0000

I recently read a nice analogy for Australia’s game classification board:

Australia’s R18+ debate is a lot like NASCAR: it has just been going round and round in circles without a whole lot happening. Every now and again there is a collision when a controversial game looses traction as it rounds the corner…Sometimes, like Left 4 Dead 2, it makes the finishing line a butchered wreck.

~ Pg 13, Game Informer #1

This sparked me to contemplate again the debacle of Left For Dead 2. Although I was able to acquire it uncensored, I still suffer the affects of the Refused Classification order as there seems to be less people on Australian servers and consequently less interest for games amongst my friends and gamer acquaintances. More often than not I see people playing the original L4D in it’s uncensored glory.

The next cause for my flailing arms was Aliens Versus Predator 3¹ which initially received the dreaded RC as well. But, rather than kneecapping their game like Valve, SEGA stood up with the following official statement:

We will not be releasing a sanitised or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices.

~ Game Industry Biz

After review, AVP3 had the “ban” lifted and I can’t help but wonder whether this marginally insulting official comment helped bring this about since the ratings thing seems to be politically infused. Of course it is most likely wishful thinking that the world works in a logical way but it was nice to see someone bite the hand of the lumbering giant and get favourable results back. Yet, a brave new world haunts the horizon.

Nothing to do with the incredibly awful films spawned from this awesome computer game franchise.

Amparose is go!

Philip Tyrer — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:50:30 +0000

I’m pleased to say that amparose.com has finally arrived as more than just a single page. The proverbial carpenter has outfitted himself with palatial surroundings.

Still a few things that need some work / fixing but it will all fall into place quickly so please pop back in and see what is happening.

[Edit: Jan 16, 2010]
I have decided on February 1st as the deadline for the “Official Launch” of this site. Hopefully I will have abundant content by then and be able to sit back in my wheely-chair, eat cheese with wine and fawn over it…