Meanwhile..

Months have passed and things have been settled. I now have a handy little N810 to use as I please and it will be very useful for when I put together my headless server and stick it in my closet. Already tested out some VNC and SSH stuff on it so it will be all ready to go when I get the server built.

In other news, I now write a weekly little article over on A Match Made In Halo called Tech Tuesday. It is exactly what it sounds like, me typing up some stuff about tech I've discovered while flipping through a news feed. I try to go for some of the most obscure things I can and end the note on something funny, so far that is with a video about some ad for a product or DIY project a techie soldered together.

I will be looking for others to join in and help write Tech Tuesday in the future. As of right now TT is just a quick little update on some happenings in the tech world, but if I can get things together enough I hope to cobble together something similar to a podcast or may even pull away from Tech Tuesday and work with some of the other writers to do a podcast section over another topic. PsychoVandal mentioned something about trying to do some sort of audio based update. Should be interesting, and at the moment we are very open to suggestions...or at least I am for certain.

On a techie note, I purchased an Alfa AWUS036H just to toy around with. How could I not buy a 500mW USB wifi card? Should be fun to see just how many of my neighbor's networks I can pick up from my bedroom and front porch with the stock antenna. Having this second card will let me finally get around to testing out and customizing some Airbase-NG scripts I have been wanting to try, but my WUSB54GC crapped out on me awhile back. Need to check if the card is bad or if it is just a driver issue.

I gotta say, I caved and picked up an iPod Touch just so I could jailbreak the thing. Updated to 3.0 firmware and used the jailbreak on it, have been enjoying Cydia and the apps it offers ever since. Installous has been handy too, along with being able to SSH into the device using my Ubuntu laptop.

Quest Taken, Google Issues

Short post today, I think. First off, I have picked out a gadget I am going to steadily pool money towards. I want to buy a Nokia N810 because that would significantly assist me in my future goal of integrating a server into my car. At least it would provide a device capable of easily controlling it from a wireless connection. They aren't cheap, but I should be able to grab one in a few months or so since most of my funds get spent on bills that I can't push back in the slightest. Yay economy right?

I noticed earlier I was having issues reaching Google, at first I thought it was something to do with my internet. I was wrong in that assumption. Turns out it was an OpenDNS issue. Not sure exactly what was going wrong, but Google was unreachable for several hours for some people it seems. I switched to my ISP default DNS servers and Google loaded right up with not issues. As of now, the OpenDNS problems seem to be fixed so OpenDNS users no longer need to pull hair out in frustration.

~Update~
Seems OpenDNS had issues with their Chicago server in the form of a bug, they've reported it has been fixed now and are currently looking into a few other things. Here is a link to the update sent directly to me: OpenDNS' Response

To The Lands Of Bash Scripting And Back To The Shores Of Lordaeron

For those who don't know, Warcraft reference.

I've had an eventful last week or so. Stumbled across some bash scripting tutorials and that spurred me to rewrite my old installer script that I use to recover my software and any minor tweaks after a re-install of Ubuntu. I test some experimental stuff so occasionally I end up nuking the install. Or I just feel like redoing it and seing if I can figure out a better process of going about a set of optimizations that work better or even more seamlessly.

Two days after my bump into the tutorials on the Net, I had what could be considered an alpha release of Shade_Install. That is the name my script will go by for future reference. The original design was focused (and hard coded) for various things specific to my computer so I never needed any user interaction beyond the type in root password deal. The alpha branches away from that, it implements a menu system and has a few different options. The one I have been using on it at least once or twice a week is the option to install the latest Aircrack-ng suite from the svn source code. Granted the script has to download the full svn source each time thanks to the use of a temporary directory, but that is a very small price to pay to avoid unnecessary clutter. Besides, I have a second script that is just the Aircrack-ng updating portion if I really only feel like doing that.

Now to explain why I mention Lordaeron. I just finished playing the Human campaign on Warcraft III about thirty minutes before this post. Thanks to my manager, I now have three legit cd key sets for Reign of Chaos and Frozen Throne to use on my laptop and any other computer on my network. I smell a LAN party if a friend drops by anytime soon. I had forgotten the game could be that much fun, although I am the equivilient of a noob on it due to my long absence. Ah well, there will be time to relearn all the strategies but for now I will just make my way through the Undead campaign before any serious poking about in VS human matches.

As an after thought, no I never received that old desktop PC so it looks like my old one is going to get repurposed. Possibly today if I can find a working hard drive to slap a Linux server install onto.

Another Year

Once again, this day has rolled around. Another year older, but feel the same as ever. Well at least I am one year closer to drinking myself into a stupor a few nights a month. Nah, I doubt I will do that honestly.

Enough of that, seems I will be receiving some old computer hardware later tonight when I go into my graveyard shift. Hey, free is free even if it is outdated tech. I know I can salvage the monitor for my old desktop and maybe turn the tower of this new PC into a Linux server to stick in my closet with a wifi card. Well, I don't have an extra wifi card laying around so I will just run a cable through my room for now until a better solution presents itself. The real question is...what will I use the server for?

I already have a SSH tunneling system that is set up on my router, so that is out of the question. Hmm...well for lack of a better purpose: Folding at Home. Desktop (A.K.A. Borgcollective, don't ask) already runs the client as a service so why not add another to my small little farm.

I know, a better web server for my personal needs would be very useful, maybe even toss a Ventrilo setup on it just for laughs. Well, I suppose all this depends on how old the hardware is but I know I will at least get a FaH client running on it. The rest is yet to be determined.

Still Around, Busy With The Duties Of TBB

Yea, I am still around. I just have been heavily working on TBB or thebattlebegins for anyone that doesn't know. It's been fun so far and the site is gradually changing. I look forward to seeing my work on the front page :P but I am patient enough to stick around until that day. Things will get interesting, and soon. About all I can say with that one. I highly recommend you go check the site out if you enjoy hanging out with other Gamers, I'll be on there too either posting a new article or hanging out in the Battle Center chat.

Don't think the internet has seen the last of me yet, I'll be popping back here from time to time to use this as my comments outside of my articles on TBB sort of thing. I get to post whatever I want here. Should be interesting in the weeks ahead. As I say at the end of all my articles for TBB: Game on, my fellow Gamers.

Adventures of Jack Malick, Part 3

So my good friend, Jack, seems to be up to something. He has yet to explain it to me in detail...or even a rough draft of his idea. I know he is planning something because he has that mischievous glint in his eyes and he tends to do that grinning thing when I ask him what's up. So Jackie-boy is planning something, and I am unsure what it entails....scary thought.

From what I have pried from Jack's idea is it involves computers so likely I'll be called on to help with part of it. That is going to be interesting. I do hope Jackie-boy gets his idea into motion soon, I am fairly bored without a job so I have tons of free time on my hands anymore.

So, time to use the magic power of time lapse :P it has been several hours since I originally started writing this and I have spoken with Malick again. He's filled me in on his plan. He wants to target someone who uses their wireless network and start sniffing out passwords and logins on the network then the rest of the plan will be laid out once he has that information. I made a few suggestions from an old book of tricks I have...specifically signing those accounts up on several websites and ordering a ton of free crap to their house. Condoms, bibles, Mormon missionaries....you know, the stuff that really pisses people off. This would be a good time to make a few suggestions on who he targets...I believe there are a few people I wouldn't mind pissing off for awhile.

So Malick is up to his old tricks again, I had worried my friend was going to walk the straight and narrow. That would be terribly boring if you ask me. I do hope Jack finds his first target soon...I can't wait to see the results.

Inspiration for this poe...Err...Video Game

So we all get inspiration from many sources, and those of you reading are probably expecting me to have a funny story or odd little tidbit. Maybe later people, I gotta rest too you know :P but Hideo Kojima has listed off fifteen movies that has influenced the Metal Gear series. Surprisingly enough, Escape from New York isn't on the list, but here are the ones that are:

• The Guns of Navarone
• The Great Escape
• Goldfinger
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Planet of the Apes (original work)
• The Deer Hunter
• Dawn of the Dead
• Full Metal Jacket
• Predator
• Die Hard
• Heat
• Black Hawk Down
• Children of Men
• Bourne Series
• 007 Casino Royale

All of this proves to show that Kojima really loves his movies and the fact that each one of his MG games has enough cut scenes in them to make up two to four movies....well you get the idea. The man loves to spin a tale. If you can read Japanese, hit up the link and have a look for yourself otherwise you can just enjoy the pictures of the movies and Kojima himself.

In traditional fashion of my blog, I usually have a funny story or interesting little tidbit to add. This time around I think I will save that for another post. If you are on Halo and know me, drop by on my game. Good chance I will be trying to capture some good screenshots for a forum signature.

Anticipation Building....Road to Recon

Halo 3 has long since been one of my top games since it's release over a year ago. I have fought hard along the marines, ODST's, and Elites to drive back the Brutes and bring Truth down. The campaign still brings me back occasionally and as such, I had decided that it was time to round up the last few achievements so I could get the Katana for my Hyabusa armor. Yes, I know it has taken me forever but I stopped achievement hunting on this game months back. In one day I sat down and nailed the last three achievements that had eluded my grasp, and it felt satisfying slapping that asthetic sword on my Spartan's back. That was until I remembered.

I had nearly let it slip my mind, there was still one armor variant I had not received and my mission may have been complete for the Katana...but now I had to set out on a mission to get Recon.

Knowing I am not skilled enough or lucky enough to pull off some bizarre glitch in a matchmaking game that has never been seen before, I turned my sights towards the Vidmaster achievements. I needed to get them before the Mythic map pack to was released with the final Vidmaster. Seven on Seven was simple since I had six EXP in Lone Wolves already, I just waited till the seventh of this month and won one game to score the achievement. Three days later I was invited into a party to do a run for the Annual achievement....fourty-three minutes and thirty-seven seconds later I had that one in the bag as well.

Finally there was Lightswitch, a quick check of all my EXP so far indicated that Social Slayer had the most and would be the quickest to get to Lieutenant. That took me two days with sporadic playing and the final one was tucked secure into my little gamerscore vault. Now the waiting game starts...

Halo Wars will be my hope to get Brainpan I believe. March 3rd with the Limited Collectors edition and I can score a download to the Mythic maps then work on finding those skulls hidden in the levels. I know Bungie won't make those skulls easy to find. The search is hopefully going to test our knowledge of various in game tricks to get to the skulls. I sincerely hope that is the case because it will make the Road to Recon all the sweeter.

XBL, Sparta, and a Tool

News in from the front lines, or at least from the dev team behind XBL. As long as Live has been around there has been one thing that has been constant, you have a limit on the number of friends allowed on your buddy list. Currently that limit is set to one hundred but word has it that will soon change. Greenberg reported this change himself at the Consumer Electronics Show. No official word on exactly when the change will take place or how big of a jump the limit is being bumped up to.

Seems that Braid developers are not too happy with Microsoft. The dev team wanted to release a dashboard theme for free to everyone. Apparently Microsoft didn't want to do that and has slapped a two hundred and fifty Microsoft Point price tag on the theme. Braid developers say that if we choose to buy the theme...we can rest assured it is one of the few that doesn't have any sort of advertisement.

Time to settle down and pull one of my closest little friends for a nice...wait, you thought I was going somewhere else with that didn't you? I was talking about my PSP, what the hell were you thinking I was talking about? Bad jokes aside...I wrote that I would update as news trickled down from the PSP homebrew developers when news of the Gripshift Sparta exploit saw some of its first homebrew on the PSP-3000. That time is now, Gamers. With this new development, PSP-3000 owners who have a copy of Gripshift are now allowed to do the next logical thing after running a Hello World app. You are now ready to run...get ready for it!

You can now run Pong using the Sparta exploit. No, I am not joking. This is just step one for homebrew on this new model so be patient....meanwhile enjoy a nice game of Pong while you wait.

One more morsel of PSP homebrew news for you to nibble on. PSP Tool has been updated to version 0.8. Don't know what PSP Tool is? Well it has to be one of the most convenient packages dreamed up. If that doesn't do it for you, read this directly from the PDF documentation:

“PSP Tool is a multi-purpose application designed for the PlayStation Portable console to perform various general management functions with the console. One of the main benefits of this software which is not available in most other homebrew applications is the ability to extract the IPL from the Memory Stick, this is useful if the IPL is not obtainable through a file and you wish to make a full backup of your Magic Memory Stick. An example of when this is beneficial is extracting the Datel Action Replay PSP IPL which comes pre-injected with the Memory Stick included with the product. This application allows the user to extract that IPL and use it with another Memory Stick or for backup in case the Memory Stick becomes corrupt. ”

And what can it do you ask? Well, my dear reader...have a look at the feature list:

• Backup and Restore the IdStorage of the PSP

• Check the IPL injected on the Memory Stick or a file located on the Memory Stick

• Check, Backup, Restore and change the battery EEPROM

• Connect various devices through a USB cable

• Create a checksum of the IPL injected on the Memory Stick or an IPL located on the Memory Stick

• Create a variety of different Magic Memory Sticks

• Erase the entire IPL space of the Memory Stick

• Extract the IPL injected on the Memory Stick to a file

• Format the Memory Stick

• Inject a variety of included IPLs or an IPL from a file to the Memory Stick

So that is PSP Tool, a useful update but for now I will stick with my tried and true method. I do plan on testing this software out personally at a later date. If it works better then I'm sold.

That's about all the news I have for you at the moment, keep your reflexes quick and your eyes sharp. Game on.

K Syndrome

Ok, let's get this out of the way first off: this only faintly relates to Gaming in the fact that you may run into people who suffer from K Syndrome or one of its close variations in your adventures in Cyberspace.

K Syndrome is the term I coined on TBB for a good reason. What is it you may ask? Well my dear readers, have a seat...and get yourself (and me) an Irish Coffee so we can walk the planes of experience. It all started on Friday, January 9th. A user known as iKase joined the site. He was welcomed like any other user and he behaved like any newcomer thus far. At least that is how it began.

Turns out iKase had this habbit of continually spewing crap out into the main Battle Center at his opponent that continually got him warned by the admin staff. I witnessed quite a bit of this personally. Things progressed and iKase was negative repped, suspected of cheating in a game of Madden, and he had this deal where he would call out TBB|James in Battle Chat for riding his back. James was trying to keep the BC clear of unnecessary trash talk (and in this case excessive).

Things just continually progressed, and it was the night of January 11th that I was talking to TBB|Victor and decided to coin the phrase Kase Syndrome or K Syndrome for short. It is a term to be used to describe anyone who is just plain stupid or just appears to be stupid, people who decide to try to boss the admins around on their own site, or any number of things that can be considered just plain dumb.

Now, while I was writing my explanation out for K Syndrome...one of the most unlikely of things happened. I was forced to add an amendment to K Syndrome...effectively making it an umbrella term for many other things to come. This amendment will be called Dice Complex.

Dice Complex is where you take what skills you have, no matter how basic they could be, and try your absolute hardest to elevate yourself to near mythical standing in order to get a job. This just happened to TBB and I sat through the entire thing alternating between cringing, shaking my head, and laughing my ass off at how much this guy started to portray himself as an idiot. He insisted on becoming a dev for the site's user interface because he could take the site and make it "smarter" which as the minutes droned forward he was doing the exact opposite to himself. Dice Complex also entails that the subject makes the assumption or at least appears to be making the assumption that the person he is speaking to knows zippo about whatever skills he has elevated to the fake mythical level. A side effect of Dice Complex is anyone listening to the subject speak may actually feel their intelligence hurt when they try to make sense of the subject's topic of choice. Also a minor side effect for the subject is a complete unprofessional attitude despite wanting to get a job.

Fable II Patch Looming in the Distance

Word on the net has it that Lionhead's game is getting a patch released before the Knothole Island DLC, in fact next time you boot up your copy you will see that familar pop up notifying you that you need to update. Apparently a number of gamers have run into glitches in parts of the game's quest that renders their character stuck or unable to complete the quest. In fact, I remember not being able to complete the first TOBY quest because the item apparently never spawned in the game world. When I get my copy of the game back from my friend I plan on thoroughly testing the patch and seeing if it fixes my troubles. Although minor and I was still able to complete the game, it is a bit annoying not being able to finish a side quest just for completion purposes.

I'll keep you guys updated on anymore developments for this game, particularly when Knothole Island is released to the public. Keep on doing your thing, Gamers.

Game on.

Adventures of Jack Malick, Part 2

So my buddy, Jack, has that radio I told you about. Well turns out he figured out how to overide the Taco Bell drive-thru finally but the only downside...he doesn't know the frequency to listen in to the customer's so any pranks would only be half as hilarious. Some digging on the net showed us that the possible listen in frequency for Taco Bell are out of his radio's receiving capabilities. Seems like he should have just waited and saved up some money to by the next model, the Yaesu VX-7R which can receive a ton more frequencies than the VX-5R he bought.

Jack was slightly disheartened by this turn of events, but in usual Malick fashion...he found something else to cheer himself up with. This time a blatant Federal offense in the fact he's been whispering "tacos" at the local police department randomly for the last hour or so. For those who haven't caught on, it is extremely extremely illegal to broadcast on a police frequency or any other emergency frequency listed. I feel sorry for the fire department since "they seem really bored, and fires only happen here and there in this area so why not?"

I doubt Jackie-boy is ever going to change. He's found something he is good at, causing mayhem and mischief. Granted it isn't the best thing in the world to do....according to society that is...but when have I ever decided that society has been right about every single little part of life? Have fun Jack and I will see you around some time.

Tales from the Crypt

I thought the title was appropriate considering I will be briefly (probably not) discussing my PSP. This old lug has been around with me since a year after its release. Good times. Now my PSP found little use for many many months after my initial receipt because I never bought many games. That all changed when I stumbled across the modding community and found out that Lumines could downgrade my PSP and let me install Dark_Alex's custom firmware. Needless to say I have been a loyal user of his firmware ever since.

Things started out simple and I only toyed with things that wouldn't screw up anything in fear of turning my little pal into a brick. When the Jigkick battery and Magic memorystick were released to the general public that fear went out the window. Thank you Team Pandora and Dark_Alex.

I have used my PSP for many purposes on and off over the last few months. Anything from getting on MSN to streaming Youtube videos. Now what I realize is that this little thing is a great tool for a good prank. At least from what my friend Jack Malick has told me. He described a few scenarios and I have to agree with him.

One such scenario involved using Ahmen's shell replacement IRShell and using the infrared capabilities of the PSP-1000 to mess with people in department stores near the tv's. Not a bad idea all in all. May have to pull something like this on my old job. I am sure Malick would be more than willing to help out with.

I don't know if Sony realizes the potential some homebrew software and games have. I have played some interesting games and I've already mentioned some of the capabilities of the software out there for anyone with a modded PSP. I keep a memory stick in my PSP case that has all my homebrew apps and the few games I like to stop for a bit to play. Homebrew honestly has been the one thing that keeps me picking my PSP up here and there. probably will be since good PSP games in my book are hard to come by. Last good PSP game I played was Crisis Core, but I will save my full opinion on my adventures with that game for another time. Yes, I know. Cheap way of ensuring a future post. Gotta have something to do right?

With the release of the PSP-3000, a claim was made that it would be nearly impossible to hack. My first thoughts, someones just raised the red flag of a challenge. So far the only progress made is being able to run unsigned code on the user level portion of the kernel. This is just the beginning and I am sure Dark_Alex is out there working on this obstacle lain down by the Sony development team. Good luck to the homebrew developers out there, I'll be looking for some of those killer apps to give me a reason to use my PSP more than I do now.

The Battle Begins

Now I didn't find this website on my own, one of the founders ran across me on Twitter and followed me so I got curious. Turns out this site is a hub for competitive gaming and is fairly unknown since it is brand new. I am liking the way it looks so far because it will give me a whole new reason to play Halo here and there again. Playing to piss people off does need to be changed up occasionally you know.

I am a member of the site and already one of the staff of it has added me to their friends list, and he seems like a nice guy. I have yet to enter in a battle but I get the feeling that I will by the end of the day. Winners of a battle get spoils of victory too, usually in the form of Battle Points which can be redeemed for prizes. You can purchase credits (one dollar = one credit) so you can play matches for real money.

The site is very easy to navigate and I may just remain a member for some time to come. Might use it to pick up a few prizes that have caught my eye, need a new copy of Starcraft after all :P


The Battle Begins

Halo Wars

I think I will just throw out my little posting guidelines since I keep getting good little tidbits of news. This time around I received an update on Halo Wars. I have been looking forward to an RTS Halo themed game for some time so the release of this game has been very anticipated in my book. Joystiq posted an update that on Feb. 5th there will be a demo released on XBL for everyone to download. Thanks for the update Joystiq.

Halo Wars Demo Coming to XBL

Top Ten Suicide Countdown - Halo 3 Montage

Now, normally I would not put up so many posts in one day but I think this deserves a slot. Curiousity got the better of me and I popped on by Bungie.net to see if any news had sprung up. No major updates from them and just as I was ready to close the tab, I glanced down and saw a post with a Youtube video. I had time so I clicked on the url and let it load up. At first it was mildly amusing, but really the last three shown (numbers three, two, and one) really just made me laugh. Number one is truely the biggest Halo fail to have ever happened. Watch it for yourself.

Top Ten Halo 3 Suicides

Adventures of Jack Malick

Jack Malick is the name that will be given to a local techie in my area that loves to raise mayhem just so he can get a cheap laugh. Jack has himself a Yaesu VX-5R, thing is...he doesn't have a ham operator's license so he shouldn't jump on a local repeater and start chatting it up with the others. Instead his expensive toy is currently being used to play very very annoying music to the Wal-Mart managers in the next town over. Yes, he discovered the frequency they operate on and has been messing with them every single time he is within a few blocks of that store. I have to admit I did get a laugh after he played Banana Phone by Raffi for them. Apparently that song is "excruciating" when piped directly into your ear courtesy of an ear bud.

I am waiting for the day he contacts me to tell me he has the frequency of the drive thru headsets for my old job at McDonald's. Now that will be one time I believe I will join Jack Malick in his mischievous fun.

Fable II Awarded the...Wait...What?

It has just come to my attention that Fable II, exclusive to the Xbox 360, was awarded the 'animal-friendly videogame' award by none other than PETA. I'll link you to the article here in a moment, thank you Twitter updates to my phone and PlayTM, but first I want to quote one little line I thought was hilarious from their update: "In other news: Peter Molyneux has chained himself to a railing outside Burger King in Guildford High Street..." ~Luke Guttridge

Just read the article, I got a good laugh out of it despite the shortness and I can see why PETA supports it. You should take a look for yourselves rather than relying on my word for it.

Vegetarians Back Fable II - Play.TM

New Year, Same Focus

So this site never really took off like I had hoped but that is the way things work. New year has rolled around and nearly everything has stayed the same for me. Single? Check. Still working on computers? Check. Have a job at some crappy place? Negative.

Oh yes, that is the one thing that did change. Work places are pricks about this time of the year it seems and they get rid of their holiday staff as quickly as they can for the smallest reason possible. So currently unemployed and searching for a way to make some dough so I can keep on gaming and testing out cool computer stuff. Support me by clicking the ads if you wish or if you want to get your PSP unbricked/downgraded contact me. It is a free service I offer but donations of hardware or cash are welcome. You just pay shipping both ways.