Archive for July, 2007
Linux Coverage on Ars Technica
Posted by: Mark Hogben in Computing on July 28th, 2007
For a long time, my favourite tech site, Ars Technica, has been rightly criticized for covering Microsoft and Apple in great depth (as to which of these they are accused of focusing on… well, that seems to vary month to month
, but not covering Open Source or Linux to any great extent.
In fact, the Nobel Intent (Science journal) has had far more regular updates – and though I love this section, it can hardly be said it is the most read journal on Ars.
But things seem to be changing.
The “Open Ended” journal (not sure about the name myself) has of late begun to generate more regular articles, and has just recently finally started to get news in first (or very near first) on some subjects.
I like Ars Technica because the quality of writing is in general much better than similar sites – particularly the often-informative, but incredibly sarcastic and juvenile Inquirer – marginally less so the Register.
Articles usually reserve judgement (aside from actual reviews of course) on the subject they are discussing – certainly more so than the mainstream press.
So – worth a look for Linux fans at last? Well… maybe. But it’s certainly getting there.
And now, I buy Civilization IV… for the Mac
Posted by: Mark Hogben in Gaming on July 7th, 2007
Cheaper on the PC, possibly even less buggy.
So why, especially given my past posting on the “death” of OS X, would I buy this game on the Mac?
I have a shiny, relatively new, PC that plays all games I could ever dream of (I just acquired Outrun 2006 on it, because they don’t provide an Xbox 360 version, damn them!!! I even bought a *cabled* 360 controller – i.e. PC compatible – just to play things like this… oh, and Geometry Wars
The truth is, that if companies actually went to the trouble of releasing a Mac version of games at the same time as the Windows counterparts, I would never – yep, never – have bought a PC at all. Not even for work.
As I was deciding which version of Civ IV to get (after months of procrastination, I might add), I was as surprised as anyone that I decided to pay *more* – for the Mac version.
This implies that there should surely be huge market for anything better than the damn Windows platform, and the lumbering monster that is Vista. Oh yes, Vista… I know a bit about this. Not only do I have it here at home, but I am in actual fact – and I was told this by my “masters” – the bone fid?
Site has a new design
Posted by: Simon Wood in Computing on July 3rd, 2007
I have now uploaded my new site design. The site was starting to look dated so I have redesigned it. It now not only looks better but should be easier to navigate. I have not added any new features yet, but the new design should make it easier for me to add new features to the site in the future, so keep you eyes peeled. The big changes are variable width site based on browser size, and images appear in a lightbox now instead of a new page.
Please leave comments and feedback on the new site design as I would love to hear what people think!
Photos taken with my new digital camera
Posted by: Simon Wood in Photos on July 1st, 2007
Over the years I have been pleased with the results I have got from my old digital camera, but recently I felt it is time to upgrade and get something better. After dropping some hints to Mum and Dad I got a nice new digital camera for my Birthday. As my new camera, a Fuji FinePix S9600, has lots more buttons that my old camera I though I better take it out for a play. Below is an example of the first few pictures I have managed to capture. I am sure I will be posting a lot more photos up here soon.







