Archive for the ‘Tech’ Category

Connecting iPad to a wifi network

Friday, November 9th, 2012

(This post is for Dad, so he can refer to this on his vacation.)

Connecting your iPad to a new wifi network couldn’t be easier!

Start by going into ‘Settings’ and selecting ‘Wi-Fi’ on the left:

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On the right, under ‘Choose a network’, you’ll see a list of available networks:

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Connecting to a network is as simple as selecting it from the list. The one you have selected has the tick next to it (check mark, for Americans). Once you select one, it will take a few seconds before the Internet becomes available.

If there are many different networks in your list, ask your friend for the name of his.

Once you’ve selected a network, you may be prompted for a password if it is locked. This is not your Apple password; this is a password for the network. Ask whoever owns it if you need a password πŸ™‚

If you still have questions/problems, give me a call!

Return Of The Trophy Challenge!

Tuesday, October 30th, 2012

In the history of this blog, no two posts have generated as much controversy and commentary as the legendary ‘Trophy Challenge’ entries (*). You can review them here and here.

Two years have passed since that last post with nary an update! Dear readers, it pains me to say that the competition fizzled. My opponents, like craven dogs, simply gave up. They stopped logging on, they let their PS3’s die and didn’t buy a replacement, and worse of all they admitted defeat. The challenge was over…

Or was it…?

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Good readers, you’ll be overjoyed to learn that the challenge didn’t end, it merely moved! We collectively turned our backs on pS3 trophies as a measure of our merit, and instead wholeheartedly adopted Apple’s Game Center as our new flagship. Happily, I can report all such original contenders have once again rekindled their competitive streak, and unendingly seek to raise their Game Center achievement total above all others. (Of course some of them seemingly sought to hide their participation behind new usernames, but it was a work of trifling deduction to match them to their old PS3 ID’s)

In addition, a fresh face has entered the contest. This person – let’s call them ‘Bearbles’ – has sprinted from the starting line like a raging horse, and has truly and quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the hallowed halls of my Game Center friends list.

At last, the update we’ve all been waiting for: Here, my beloved followers, is the most recent standings, using the same user names as were used in the old challenge:

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The above chart shows total Game Center score. With great humility, I will direct your attention to my name, on the left.

And yet, what if we inspect average score based on the number of games played:

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I tip my hat to you Bearbles. You are a force to be reckoned with in the sport of Game Centering. If you can keep that average up and play the same number of games I have, your total score would verily dwarf mine.

I vow, loving readers, that I will update these standings periodically. And such updates will no doubt be necessary, for an even darker horse is waiting in the winds. A veritable Mycroftian in the world of competitive-achievement-score-accumulation, he is even now preparing to obtain his first iOS device and has no doubt already set his sights on unseating up to Foosrazzle, probably Bearbles and even – dare I say – the current undisputed King of Game Center Achievements – myself πŸ™‚

* – Boldfaced lie

NYCC Day Three

Saturday, October 13th, 2012

The cell signal’s a bit slow here at the hotel, so I didn’t go back to read last years comic con post. But I reckon if I did then Saturday would have included mention of the same thing we encountered today: the crowds!

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It was like half of the otaku in America was at NYCC today, and we were in the thick of it!

We started early by sitting in the front seats of a Moyoco Anno panel. She’s the creator of several manga series I’ve enjoyed, including Happy Mania and Flowers & Bees. She was reserved, amusing and very polite, as she discussed (via a translator) her career and influences.

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One particularly funny moment during the panel happened during the audience Q&A. Here’s a photo:

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He even tried to ask his question with the mask on!

We saw a great many other ‘celebrities’ today, including Tom ‘Draco Malfoy’ Felton, Burt Ward, Adam West, Blair Butler, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Booker T, Brutus Beefcake, the Bella Twins, Kelly Kelly, Joel Hodgson, Nicholas ‘Zander’ Brandon, Tera Patrick, Lou Ferrigno and this lovely girl:

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Sadly AW, I couldn’t get her autograph since the tickets had sold out in advance πŸ™

Conventions like this are about seeing creators and celebrities, about playing games or seeing movies in advance, about meeting other fans and seeing cosplayers, but also (and importantly), about buying stuff! And believe me when I say a large portion of the shows many halls are dedicated to vendors selling all manner of things. What sorts of stuff do we buy at NYCC?

Well, for starters, figurines:

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Clothing (such as bathrobes):

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Wigs (of any colour):

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Art (paintings, posters, prints):

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Curiosities (most of the ‘steampunk’ variety):

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Toys (including collectible ones):

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Stuffed animals (such as Monster Hunter themed):

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And model kits:

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Today’s vast crowds also included even more cosplayers, and sadly the human density made it tricky to get photos of most of them. But, as with the previous entries, three highlights from those I saw today:

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The last one was a tree person from last years Doctor Who Christmas special. The middle one gets points for originality with her ewok costume. And the girl on top? Well I’m not sure who she is dressed as, but she was tall!

Tomorrow is the last day. We’ve spent hundreds so far (including many Christmas gifts for the usual suspects), but there’s still cash burning a hole in my wallet! Will I cave and spend $100 on a Gundam kit?!? That would be crazy, wouldn’t it? πŸ™‚

NYCC Day One

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

We had an early start today, then hopped on a train for a mini-vacation in New York City. As we have the last several years, we’re going to the New York Comic Con!

Today is KLS’s birthday as well, so that makes this little trip even more special πŸ™‚

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The show runs Thursday through Saturday, and we’ve got 4-day passes. We got to the city a few hours before the doors opened which was fortuitous, since I had to visit the Australian consulate. With that out of the way, after stops at a few shops (I spent $70 on the new Monster Hunter Jsoanese art book at Kinokuniya!), we headed down to the convention center.

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For some reason I had assumed the lines would be small on this first half-day of the con, but as you can see that was hardly the case.

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As usual, sensory overload was what followed. Hundreds of exhibitors filling several halls across 3 levels of a gigantic convention center…

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Movies and books and comics and games and clothes, toys, cars, food and art. Free stuff everywhere, and even more (do much more!) for sale!

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And then, the cosplay:

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The major highlight of today was seeing the next Monster Hunter games so prominently featured at Capcom’s booth. I lined up to play the 3DS version and it was awesome. The WiiU version was also playable and has beautiful graphics. I can’t wait for these to be released.

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After about 3.5 hours we were ruined. Not only had it been a long day, but we were toting heavy bags full of purchases ($280 in total already!).

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We’ve only got to see maybe a half of the total show so far, and even then need to revisit the booths we skimmed today. But now it’s time for bed πŸ™‚

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iPhone Panoramas

Friday, September 21st, 2012

iOS6, the latest version of the iPhone and iPad operating system is out. Amongst other changes comes the ability for iPhones to take panoramic photos. Here’s one I just took:

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Click on it for a larger view. Not bad is it? Considering how easy the interface is to use, I’m very pleased with the implementation and the field of view. Note that the version uploaded here (not the preview above, the image you seen when clicked on) is actually one fourth the size of the original (which is 8000+ pixels wide and 6MB). I can’t upload the original file due to filesize limitations on the blog uploader.

Here’s a closeup showing the detail level:

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I rescaled the above (the actual picture you see when clicked on, not the preview) to double size. You can see it’s a bit pixelated to be sure, but still quite good considering how tiny a fraction of the original panorama this snippet is.

I’m planning on using my phone as my sole camera during my upcoming Australian trip. I was a bit hesitant because I always liked the panorama mode on my camera. While the new iOS version lacks some of the functionality (you can’t change direction or limit angle for instance), it seems to do a very good job.