Xbox 360 vs. PS3 – Power Usage
February 2, 2008
Ever wonder how much power your 360 & PS3 is drawing from your socket/wallet? Look no further because we got some fast stats for you, and they’re quite interesting.
At Idle
A console running at idle shouldn’t be drawing too much power from your socket. However, looking at the numbers below you may reconsider running either console 24/7. If you did, you would be looking at a couple hundred dollars per year, per console.
Xbox 360 – At Idle
152.78 Watts
PS3 – At Idle
181.32 Watts
For arguments sake, an average PC draws 130Watts at Idle.
At Standby
The Average draw during standby is more reasonable and really wouldn’t effect your electricity extortion bill too much.
Xbox 360 – Standby
2.8 Watts
PS3 – Standby
2.3 Watts
While playing games
Playing games brings the power usage levels up but it’s not too bad. While playing Call of Duty 4 the consoles grabbed slightly more (an average of 20W).
Xbox 360 – Playing Call Of Duty 4
173.83 Watts
PS3 – Playing Call Of Duty 4
201.07 Watts
Conclusion
Both consoles are power hungry and there’s not much we can do about that for now. Who knows if somewhere down the line the manufacturer will tweak some settings and improve overall power usage.
In the end it really comes down to if you care about our precious environment. If you do, think about getting a Wii, which probably uses a low amount of power considering it’s wimpy but innovative design.
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Mark Zuckerberg
December 21, 2007
Mark Zuckerberg
From Dickipedia – A Wiki of Dicks
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984) is an American computer programmer, college dropout, Internet entrepreneur and a dick.In 2004, he created the social networking website Facebook, becoming a celebrity to college students nationwide. Since that time, Zuckerberg has been on the fast track toward dickhood, culminating in his achieving full-fledged dick status in late 2007, though many argue that he has actually been a dick the entire time.
Youth
Mark Zuckerberg grew up in Westchester County, New York, with the most hilariously stereotypical name of anyone to have ever grown up there. He spent his formative years learning computers and cultivating a personal look known as “ugly Shia LaBeouf.”
In the grand dick tradition that has been passed on for hundreds of years, Zuckerberg attended both Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University, a combination which boasts a 97.5% total-dick graduation rate towards advanced degrees in “General Entitlement” as well as “Being an Asshole.”
Harvard
While at Harvard, Zuckerberg, hoping to boost his dick status, joined a fraternity. It is unclear whether the fact that it was a Jewish fraternity makes this decision more or less dickish. His first web project was called “Coursematch,” which allowed users to stalk other people in their classes. He soon combined his computer knowledge with his newfound frat lifestyle by founding “Facemash,” a Harvard version of the “Hot or Not” photograph rating website. (Outside observers have noted that a more appropriate name for such a Web site at Harvard University would have been simply: “Not.”)
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999 Reasons Why Facebook Is The Worst
December 20, 2007
Facebook is the worst but no matter how much I don’t like it, I can’t help but check it every day. I did a little survey at my break this morning and these were the most commonly cited reasons why Facebook is the worst:
9. It is the world’s most deadly Time Burglar
It is a scientifically proven fact that you can’t spend less than 3 hours at a time checking your wall, your superwall, your gifts, your free gifts, your superpokes, your Schrute Bucks, your graffiti area, and all this information for all your friends and even people you have never met. If I do a quick calculation here, that means that at every possible moment in time someone is creeping on your profile, 24/7. Um, ew.
9. Everyne knows all your business, all the time.
Even those little applications you add steal your personal info. It seems like you give up the right to that information when you make an account. To make it worst, those people you left in elementary school keep trying to reconnect. The ones you wanted to stay in touch with you still talk to, and the ones you were never friends with in the first place want to rekindle the friendship that never existed. It gets real creepy when someone asks you about something posted on your profile before you have even had a chance to see it yourself!
9. The fact that you hate it does nothing to help you delete your profile.
I must admit I have tried deleting my profile before, but I keep encountering this hardware problem whereby I can not press the mouse button on that particular screen. Is it the fact that I don’t want to lose contact with people, don’t want to be able to creep my friends, or just don’t want to have to call them that is preventing me from pressing DELETE?
I don’t know, but the one thing I do know is that Facebook is the worst. I know, I will post this on my profile and everyone will know how I feel!!
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Beautiful Katamari – Dreamcast Graphics Revisited
December 14, 2007
Technically, you can say the graphics are from BEFORE the turn of the century but even that wouldn’t be justifying how horrible they are…
I love the game. It is addictive and hilarious. You play the role of Prince, a little pill-headed dude who rolls around a Katamari collecting objects smaller than the Katamari itself – objects bigger will not stick. The idea is that you keep collecting ever increasingly huge objects from the environment in order to plug a hole in the fabric of space-time and save the universe. The total size of your Katamari can be seen in the corner of your screen so that you know how close you are to your goal. As you can see in the picture, this Katamari contains thumb tacks, bottle caps, pencils, and octagonal coins – amounting in a modest 6cm – 0mm size.
The Katamari series originally came out on all Sony platforms, but since it has come out on Xbox 360, development on PS3 has been abandoned. To be honest, aside from different “missions” and online play, I am not really sure what they improved from earlier versions. The polygon graphics look like they are from a 1980′s “futuristic” music video, with many objects simply being represented as cubes. Fortunately the entire game experience is completely trippy, and makes you just laugh off the ghetto graphics because you are too amazed at how weird the entire concept is.
It is simplistic and addictive – perfect for anyone looking to experiment with illicit substances without the chemicals. Check it out, there is a free demo download on Xbox Live. Just make sure you have a friend to guide you through this new and exciting experience.
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Virgin Mobile Canada – Some ups, some downs…
November 11, 2007
Before I get started on their service, I just wanted to say that I was quite excited to have an alternative cell phone provider. Roger’s, Bell & Telus each have their positives and negatives but Virgin is by far the most interesting company. Roger’s offers a great selection of cell phones that can appeal to any one. Bell offers a horrible phone selection but the best service in my opinion. Telus…well Telus is run by a bunch of hippies and anyone who knows me knows that I hate hippies.
On with the show
Virgin Mobile, a company that offers Canadians an alternative cell phone solution. Albeit an interesting one at that. Aimed at young adults and people like me (26) that don’t want to grow-up, ever. Their network is based on a partnership between Bell Mobility and Sir Richard Branson. This offers great coverage within Canada, but I wouldn’t purchase one of these phones if you plan on traveling.
The Phone – Samsung A300
The phone that I chose is the Samsung A300. A simple phone with (in today’s standards) a basic feature set. All the regular bells & whistles eg. Camera, browser, poly-phonic tones, blue-tooth, an interesting menu system with pigs, underwear, “sexy” lips and chainsaws. The battery is a horrendous display of what Lithium-Ion can in fact do. With average usage (5 – 10 calls/day @1-3mins each) I was recharging the battery every 24-48hrs. Turn on blue-tooth and there goes the neighborhood and your chance to make any phone calls.
The Samsung A300 is great for people that need a phone to be just that, a phone. The camera’s crap, the browser is sub-par and the screen is dull and boring. If you’re interested in functionality, go with something else. Just remember that if you are annoyed with recharging batteries everyday stay away from this phone.
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Seagate’s Free Agent Go Review – portable desktop to go!
June 27, 2007
Seagate FreeAgent Go
This is a portable storage device like no other! This is not just a hard drive, “plug and go-do what you will” solution, but rather a portable datacenter!
The Seagate Free Agent Go combines the best of portable storage, personal preferences, and portability. There are several models with 80Gb, 100Gb and 120 gigabytes of storage. There is also a home solution of 320Gb, 500Gb and 750Gb. The portable product line works on PC’s and MAC’s, however the bundled software called Free Agent Tools is only Windows compliant. Mac users can use the format utility to enjoy the storage space only.
For the musician, this is the answer. Try tracking your band and taking those tracks with you. USB memory sticks just don’t have enough space to be practical. You may even have been forced to dither, or reduce the sample rates, or worse, convert your data to less popular format.
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ipod recording with the Xtrememac!
June 20, 2007
XtremeMac Ipod Recorder
Finally, a portable recording solution that integrates into your everyday life without any extra gadgets or power supplies and cables! For the commuter, the public transit user, or the “quick…record it before I forget it” like me, the XtremeMac Ipod recorder is a welcomed innovation! Can you tell I love it? even before I’ve used it? Not at all obvious!
The recorder plugs into the bottom of the ipod (with video, and nano 2G)and seamlessly integrates with it. It has a built in speaker, as well as a standard 1/8” mini (3.5mm) stereo jack. Included is a flexible mini goose neck type microphone that can be detached from the unit. You may choose to use a line in signal from your computer sound card, or from any other low level input source. There is a line and mic input selector switch to handle the impedance and input levels. You may also purchase a lapel microphone, or use a different condenser microphone. I find it especially useful for recording a band, my lyrics or memo’s. The included mic can be easily propped up and ready to record anything.
The included microphone records in mono with two quality settings. The specs are here
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