oldnews

. 10/15/00 . Nvidia has released new reference drivers for their entire line of cards. The new Detonator 3's provide even more performance benefits and bug fixes so get them while they're hot!

Although I've had it downloaded for quite some time, I finally got around to installing Windows Media Player 7. I did not install the Adaptec CDR plugin as I've heard it causes problems with other cd burning software. WMP7 is cool, but not as cool as MS would like you to think. If you don't have Winamp it's prob worth downloading.

This updates dvd review is of Tron. While lacking the extras of the now extremely rare laser disc set, namely, the commentary track, two unused (and unfinished) scenes, and the unreleased music track, the dvd is of exceptional clarity and sound. Tron is a unique film. The first film to use computer generated effects, it was ahead of it's time in many ways. It's the story of a computer programmer who gets pulled into the system and most of the film takes place in 'cyberspace', although at this time the net was yet to be fully realized. If you haven't seen the film, you really should see it. A true classic in my book. And...if you really want something special... ;-) I've found a webpage that has the actual commentary track from the laser disc available for download as mp3 files! And...the deleted scenes as avi's (although at low quality). The same site also has the entire soundtrack as mp3's including the unreleased track on the laser disc! Why Disney didn't include these on the dvd is unknown, but at least you can get them at this site and have a full special edition of Tron. ;-)

A couple of patches are out for Steel Panthers: World At War that bring the game up to version 4.2. Definitely get the patches because they fix some bugs and update most of the Orders of Battle.

Microsoft has released another compatibility update for Windows 2000. Check WindowsUpdate for the download.

Stay wired...

. 10/07/00 . Greetings Programs! ;-)

Qualcomm has released Eudora 5.0. Nothing major, but a few cool new features so it's worth downloading if you're a Eudora user.

A new version of ICQ is out this week also. Be aware that this version is not compatible with ICQPlus. However, you still might want to check it out.

This Is Spinal Tap has been re-issued on dvd. Criterion put it out a few years ago but the disc quickly went out of print. This new edition is absolutely excellent! I won't spoil it, but the menus alone are worth the price of the dvd. ;-) If you haven't seen it, Spinal Tap is a rockumentary about the fictional band of the same name and is most definitely one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. This edition includes more than an hour of deleted scenes and additional footage. A must have dvd. Get it.

Picked up a new game also. Wizards and Warriors. It's a classic style RPG in the same style as Wizardry and Might & Magic. Not surprising since it was designed by the creator of Wizardry 5, 6, and 7, three of the greatest RPG's ever. Not to say that it's old technology. The rendering system and gameplay are fully up to date. So far I'm really enjoying the game. If you like RPG's, you'll like this one.

For those of you who haven't seen Babylon 5, now's your chance! The Sci-Fi Channel is currently showing B5 every weeknight at 7pm ET, and...in widescreen! Very cool stuff. In surround stereo too. So get your vcr ready and start watching. Nothing else compares to it.

. 09/17/00 . Do you like wargames? If so, you'll want to check out Steel Panthers: World At War. Version 4.0 was out this weekend. It's a complete update of the Steel Panthers series from a few years ago and best of all, it's absolutely free for the download. This is one of the best wargames I've ever played. Tons of scenarios and campaigns, it's an incredible source of information for anyone interested in the war. The AI is excellent, providing a good opponent. Two thumbs up for SpWAW. A must have for wargamers. The only drawback is the size of the download, 345 megs.

I've been doing some retro-gaming lately playing Doom2 and some megawads put out for it. It's still a lot of fun. Believe it or not, it's one of the few pieces of software that has constantly been on my hard drive since it's release. Almost 7 years ago now. I still get the same thrill out of playing it. Three of the best megawads are Thud, and Memento Mori 1 and 2. I use ZDoom under Windows 2000. The Doomworld site has all the latest news, files and links so check it out too. Besides, you might as well get in the mood for Id's new Doom 3. ;-)

Had a chance to check out the Men In Black Limited Edition dvd set this week. Excellent movie based on the comic book starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Picture and sound are both excellent. The extras on the second dvd are pretty cool including a 'be your own director' kind of thing. I like it. ;-)

If you're a programmer you'll want to check out Code Project. There are lots of great tips and tutorials for programming, especially with Visual C++. Also, I've found a killer add-in for VC++ called WndTabs. It basically adds a tab based interface to Visual Studio. Cool stuff to be sure. It's free for the download.

. 09/09/00 . Have I got a game for you! Well, it's just a tech demo to test hardware compatibility, but even so it's one kick ass game. Serious Sam is from Croteam, who are based...you guessed it...in Croatia. They've put together a FPS that has one killer 3d engine, and has awesome gameplay to boot! This game is non-stop action! The weapons are the usual expected ones, and the monsters are very, very unique. ;-) It's worth the download just to check out some of the monsters. ;-) The Headless Screaming Kamikazi Boys are especially noteworthy. It's set to be published in the US by Gathering of Developers. This will be a must have when it's out. The download is 45 megs but you won't be sorry.

Another killer game demo is Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. Using the Quake3 engine, Raven has created what is probably only the second Star Trek game that is worth buying (the first was Star Fleet Command). The demo is 110 megs, but you can also get it on the current cover cd of PC Gamer. If you like running around in a Borg Cube, this is for you. ;-) Self determination is irrelevant. Resistance is futile. You must comply. ;-)

Stay wired...

. 08/31/00 . Got my Terminator 2 Ultimate dvd a few days ago. All I can say is...WOW! Talk about a special edition! The picture is awesome and the sound mix is incredible. Over six hours of extras are included. So far I've only skimmed them but the whole edition is just amazing. The packaging is cool too. Mine came in a limited edition metal slipcase. The slipcase is only going to be included in this first batch of dvd's, so if you want one you'd better grab it fast. This film is still one of my favorites. Hard to believe it opened all the way back on July 3rd, 1991. Some of the scenes cut back in to make the special edition really enhance the movie. The hidden third cut of the movie (just pick title 3 to get to it), ends with the alternate 'future coda' ending that was removed after test audiences gave it the thumbs down. All in all this is one of the very best dvd's in my collection. Get it now. You'll be sorry if you don't. Awesome.

There is no fate but what we make...

. 08/27/00 . There have been a few security bulletins from MS out this week so it's probably a good idea to visit WindowsUpdate if you haven't been there in a while.

Want to visit a site that is sure to have something to offend everyone? ;-) Go check out Portal Of Evil. I'm sure you'll find it...interesting. lol

Remember the '6 degrees of seperation' rule? Well here is a cool site that traces the links between tv/movie stars. Take a look. Fun stuff.

Picked up the Blue Velvet dvd this week. Possibly David Lynch's best film, it's one of the most unique movies I've seen. The basic storyline is about a clean cut college kid who gets involved with some unsavory characters. In typical Lynchian fashion, nothing in this movie is exactly what it seems. Dennis Hopper and Isabella Rosselini put in outstanding performances. Not to be missed. As a side note, David Lynch's entire Twin Peaks saga will be released on dvd sometime later this year. About time! ;-)

In other dvd news, if you're a Terminator fan, T2: Ultimate Edition is going to street on Tuesday. It looks to be packed to the brim with extras, and includes, not just two, but three versions of the film! Cool stuff. You can pre-order it from Amazon for a whopping 40% off.

I'll be back... ;-)

. 08/21/00 . A great new driver version from NVidia is out at their website. It supports all NVidia based cards and has some definite performance improvements on Geforce, and Geforce 2 chipsets. Go get it now.

The Seal of Nehara Quake 1 mod has been released. I've played through some of it and it's pretty cool. Worth the download for Q1 fans looking for a little nostalgia. I can still remember my first frag. Those were the days... LOL

Picked up FAKK2 over the weekend. Very cool game. Sort of a cross between Tomb Raider and Quake3. Not surprising since it was built with the Q3 engine. The graphics are simply stunning, and the gameplay is great. Plenty of Wow Factor^TM here. One more thing...Lara Croft has nothing on the women in FAKK2. ,-)

This is one unique website. Everything2.com. Just go there...look around...and see what you can find. Really...go delve into it's contents. After you've sifted that through your brain awhile...go and check out this urban legend and it's site.

. 08/16/00 . Well, I finally finished watching the Seal of Nehara Quake movie. It's definitely worth the download. At almost 4 hours long, it's truly epic. ;-) It's well done and worth watching if you're a Quake fan. Anyone that has been into the '3d scene' since Q1 will want to see this.

I also finished playing through Kiss: Psycho Circus. One cool game if you ask me. Straight no frills action with weird monsters and unique level design make this one a hit. Get it. Play it. Like it. ;-)

A couple weeks ago one of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride, was released on dvd. The movie is great if you haven't seen it, and great if you have. ;-) The digital transfer and color are both excellent as is the sound. The only thing lacking are extras, which are pretty standard on dvd's these days. The only extra here is the theatrical trailer. I love the movie, but I think it's a little lame not including the extras. In other dvd news, the Planet of the Apes box set was released this week. This set is just killer if you're a fan, and includes the 2 hour documentary produced just before Roddy McDowell's death. Great stuff for sure.

If you use MS Visual Studio, Service Pack 4 is out and will update all the components with a pretty huge amount of bug fixes. At 130 megs it's a fairly large download...lol...but if you're a programmer it's a must have. Borland's C++ Builder has it's definite advantages, but there is no substitute for the power and versatility of Microsoft's programming toolset.

Voodoolights has been updated. It's probably the most kickass screensaver out there and if you don't have it, you should go get it now.

Stay Wired...

. 08/05/00 . Sometimes, you find a site on the web that is just a classic. This link is just such a site. It's hilarious, so take a look.

I've been playing with VmWare. It's a virtual machine software that lets you run other operating systems without any danger to your host OS. You don't need to re-format or re-partition or anything. I've installed Linux-Mandrake 7.1 under it just to play with. Pretty cool stuff. Great for learning a new OS or development. One cool thing you can do with VmWare is have Linux running in a window, networked to your host pc. ;-)

If you use MS Office, you might want to check the Office Update site. It works just like Windows Update. The Office Service Pack 1 has been out a while but if you're security conscious, you need it installed to apply most of the security patches for Office 2k.

A new beta version of Eudora email is out. Not many new features. But if you're a big Eudora fan, you should check it out.

Discovered something interesting on the Quake 1 front. There is a new Q1 movie out. It's called the Seal of Nehara and it's...rather large. 500 megs unzipped, 95 megs as a zipped download! I am going to get this overnight and I'll give you a review after I've watched it.

ttfn ;-)

. 07/30/00 . Microsoft has just released Service Pack 1 for Win2k. I've downloaded and installed it and everything went off without a hitch. It seems that ZoneAlarm is incompatible with SP1, though, so if you are using it, uninstall it before you install SP1. The download is 83 megs. ;-) Worth it if you want to be up to date though. I still haven't had one crash/blue screen/lock with Win2k. Very, very cool. If you do install SP1, read the instructions carefully. I do suggest exiting all programs before installation (you should even turn off your system tray stuff if you can), to make sure all files can be updated correctly.

I wouldn't have ZoneAlarm on my computer anyways...it's spyware. Any program that sends data back to the company without warning you is not a good thing.

In gaming news, Pain Keep for Quake 3 is getting close to a release. Rocket Arena 3 is very cool, but Pain Keep is going to be THE mod to have for Q3. Team Evolve are working on a real winner here. If you still play Q1, you should go grab the original Pain Keep (13.2megs) for that. Definitely a real blast to play.

. 07/27/00 . Conspiracy theorists unite! hehe Here's a good web page for everyone to go and read. Disinformation. You might also want to check out this excellent and long article on Echelon. Most informative. I highly suggest you go read it.

On the driver front, Creative Labs has released new Windows 2000 drivers for their Nvidia based cards. These are a must have upgrade! Better framerates and they fixed the only graphics glitches I was having. ;-) Also, grab the Liveware 3 drivers for your OS if you haven't done so. They make a big difference in sound quality.

Icq is now ad-ware. You all knew it was coming sooner or later. At least the ads are only in a few of the dialogs. They also only are in ICQ 2000. Previous versions are not subject to the ads. However, you should still use the newest version of icq due to security issues.

Short movie review time. I watched Cube the other day. It's a sci-fi flim with a difference. Very cool if you are into films that make you think. This is for sci-fi purists out there. You can pick it up on dvd very cheap at Best Buy, or get it from Amazon. A great little movie.

...shhhhhh...The X-Files is a documentary.... ;-)

. 07/23/00 . Got a couple of new games to tell you about today. The first is Kiss: Psycho Circus. It's based on the Todd McFarland comic, which in turn was loosely based on the rock group Kiss. Built with the Lithtech 1.5 engine, the 3d graphics are more than adequte. It's more of an 'old style' shooter with lots of cool monsters and lots of cool weapons. ;-) I mean...LOTS of monsters. It's a game with a great atmosphere and so far I've really enjoyed it.

Another great game is Deus Ex. This one is based on the Unreal engine and the game definitely takes the engine to it's limits. There are some pretty amazing visuals in the opening in-game cinematic. This is more of a thinking 3d shooter with some rpg elements added in. There are definite goals in each level and the game itself is very immersive. Worth buying.

Both have run fine on Windows 2000. Speaking of Win2k, Service Pack 1 should be released sometime this Monday the 24th. So you might want to keep checking this page. That link isn't active yet, but it will be when SP1 is released. ;-)

A new Particle Fire screensaver is out. Go get it. It's only 170k and one of the better screensavers for sure. You can download both versions from the above link.

Another version of Netscape is out if you use that. Seems to me that they are taking their time about releasing 5.0.

Rocket Arena 3, for Quake3 has just been released. It's a cool addon. You can check it out here.

Looking for a boot disk image? This site pretty much has anything you could want. ;-)

Laterz.

. 07/19/00 . The new Media Player 7 is out at WindowsUpdate. I'm downloading it as I type this. It has quite a few new features and even supports cd burning so you might want to check it out. Be aware that some people are reporting some pretty huge incompatibilities with WMP7, so be wary. ;-) Another download at the update site is IE 5.5. I've installed it, but truthfully, it looks about the same as 5.01. ;-) It seems ever so slightly faster than 5.01 but that's about the only difference I've noticed. While you're there, make sure you get all the critical updates for your version of windows.

I've been playing with a very cool graphics program called Vue De'sprit. It is similar to Bryce if you've ever used that to generate terrain graphics. Cool stuff. A new version of ICQPlus is out at that site too, so go grab it.

Found a couple of cool Windows 2000 related sites out there you might want to take a look at:

All of those have some good info and links so if you are thinking of getting into Win2k or already have, get surfing! Be sure to check out the Microsoft newsgroups also.

The more I use Windows 2000, the more impressed I am. I have literally not had a single crash, BSOD, or slowdown of any kind. Nothing. My Win98 was pretty solid, but there would still be the occasional explorer crash or something. Win2k is rock solid. I'm very pleased with it. And Logitech has released new drivers that work with my webcam, so now if HP would just hurry up a little... ;-)

I have a very positive review of Norton Internet Security 2000 also. I've been using it for about a month, and I couldn't do without it now. It works perfectly. You'd be surprised at how many random scans you get hit with. It definitely gives me a more secure feeling. ;-) The ad blocking on web sites works great too. So far I haven't had problems viewing any site with it turned on.

If you ever need to copy an entire hard drive to another one, then I highly recommend Drive Copy3 from Powerquest. I've used this myself to upgrade to a bigger drive, and it works perfectly. The Win2k boot manager was even intact on the new drive. An excellent utility.

Couple of quick dvd reviews. First off is Blade Runner. This is the director's cut and it's an excellent film starring Harrison Ford. From director Ridley Scott (Alien and Legend amongst others) it's full of some stunning imagery. Also I picked up the Jaws dvd. Very cool with the new Dolby 5.1 soundtrack. The deleted scenes and outtakes are worth it. ;-)

End of Line.

. 07/09/00 . Fair amount of news this update so start readin'!

Diablo 2. Yeah it's out. So what? I'll probably get flamed, but this game sucks! Nothing has changed from the first one! And not only that, the highest resolution you can run at is a puny 640x480! What were they thinking? DUH! They get a Lamer^TM reward for that one. To be fair, if you liked the first game, you'll prob like this one. More monsters and items. But the low rez graphics, while good, are still...low rez. The one good thing about a mass market game like this, is that it generates lots of revenue for the company so they can produce more hardcore gamer titles.

Want to clean up your Windows? Check out this page on Tweak3D. They've posted some great info on cleaning your registry and system directories and generally speeding up your system. A great resource.

I found a killer place for new Quake 3 maps. It's the Reliquary, hosted on PlanetQuake. Very cool. There are some awesome DM maps there.

Also, a note about video drivers, if you have an NVidia based card, you should most definitely update to the newest 5.32 Detonator drivers. They offer up a significant increase in performance so it's worth the download.

I've been testing the newest version of Getright, a download manager, and it seems pretty cool. It has all the usual features...resume lost downloads etc. Doesn't seem to take as much resources as GoZilla so you might want to check it out.

There is a new update to VoodooLights! That is one of the coolest screensavers around if you haven't seen it. I highly recommend it. The new version adds a couple of new savers to the program. All are very cool. Go get it now.

Saw a weird story link on /. about a company that is saving snapshots of the entire internet for posterity! The story is on CNN here. Worth reading.

I took the plunge and installed Windows 2000 a few days ago. I'm running it in a dual boot configuration with Win98SE. So far I really like it. My Win98 is pretty stable, but the Win2k seems rock solid. I let it run 3 days straight as a test and so far no problems or slowdowns. It does seem faster than Win98. Also, the differences are mostly 'under the hood' so to speak. If you've used 98, you'll be able to easily use Win2k. There are a lot of really cool little enhancements that I like. Copy To buttons, a tray clock that pulses when it changes, transparency in menus and windows (very cool), and things like that. The only problems I've had at all are getting drivers for my scanners and webcam. The companies (Logitech and HP) haven't released Win2k drivers for my products which is why I am dual booting. ;-) Just be careful if you dual boot. Make sure you install Win2k to a different drive than your Win98 is on. Otherwise you WILL be sorry. ;-) And as long as you are careful, quite a few apps can be installed to the same directories in both Win98 and Win2k so you aren't wasting hard drive space with 2 copies of everthing. I even have Office 2k working like that. ;-) I'm giving Win2k two thumbs up. ;-)

. 07/03/00 . Happy Independance Day! If you light any fireworks this weekend, be careful. ;-)

Had to buy a new computer for the office, so I picked up a little extra (on the company ;-) ) to keep for myself. Now I'm up to a P3-650 and 256 megs of ram. Combined with the new Nvidia 5.30 drivers for my GeForce, I'm getting some truly incredible game performance. I'm over 4500 3d marks. The ram has really helped out because I like to do a lot of multi-tasking. ;-)

A very cool utility is Neotrace from Neoworx. It's a visual IP tracer. Cool stuff. You can actually see the path on a map of the world and get whois info on each node including the end point.

In the new software department, there is a patch for Netobjects Fusion to version 5.01. You can find that here. Also, the newest version of Eudora emailer is out, 4.3.2. You can find that here. I've also got it on good authority that Internet Explorer 5.5 will be released within a week so be on the lookout for that.

Ok...I just watched the Halo 10 minute movie. All I can say is...wow. In fact there is so much 'wow' factor there I watched it 3 times. Doom is still the number one game I'm looking forward to, but Halo is now number two. You've got to see it. The new technology is just utterly killer. It's on the August PC Gamer cover disk. Or you can download it from Bungie but it's a 160 meg download.

I've instituted a new section on the page here. Down the left side is an area for my current hardware/software set-up and links to most of the items involved. Check it out. ;-) There is also a current snapshot of my desktop so you can see what themes/skins I'm running.

. 06/11/00 . Just a quick update to let everyone know that the message board is finally, after all this time, fully operational again. I haven't had time to get the graphics/color schemes to where I want them, but the board itself is 100% up and running. Go check it out and leave some messages. I think you'll find some new features if you poke around long enough. ;-) All old members should still be registered on the board. If you have forgotten your password simply try to post a message and find the link that says "fogot password" and mail it to yourself. If you have any problems, let me know.

. 06/10/00 . Well, once again, the government proves it can't leave a good thing alone. Microsoft has been ordered to break up their company. I'm quite sure there will be appeals, but this is still ridiculous. The govt is really out of touch on this. The current polls say that over 75% of the US is on MS side in this case! That's a better approval rating than any president for the last 30 years! In any case, if MS is "hurting the consumer" why such a high approval rating? It's crazy. Honestly, I think MS will come out on top again because I'm fairly sure they will win the appeal. 3 out of the 4 legal experts I've seen on tv basically said it was a no-brainer they'd win because the judge hadn't ruled on what the law really said. Of course anything can happen. Just have to wait and see.

With all the new viruses (yes that's the correct plural...with computers it's viruses and with organisms it's virii) going around, I've been pretty interested in computer security and privacy lately. I've decided to test out some firewall and intrusion detection software. So far, I really like Norton Internet Security 2000. This is a great group of tools and not only includes web browsing privacy, parental blocking tools, ad blocking tools, and a great firewall, but also Norton Anti-Virus thrown in for good measure. After installation, the default configuration was enough to make my computer appear 'stealthed' (eg A malicious hacker wouldn't even think I was online.). Very cool, and you can easily view all the statistics of data flowing into and out of your computer. The Anti-Virus software is also excellent, and includes a very nice feature of being able to scan email as you download it. Another great piece of related software is BlackIce Defender. This is an intrusion detection program and it will alert you and try to track down the source of any unwanted connections. Easy to set up and use.

If you're interested in this subject, I HIGHLY recommend reading this website and checking out the links there to get more informed. This is going to become more and more of an issue as people start to get always-on high-speed net connections. You should also go here and test your computer just to see what can happen to you. You might be surprised by the results.

Just remember...you're not paranoid if they really are out to get you... LOL ;-)

. 06/04/00 . New software for today:

ICQ 2000A Build 3143. Supposedly if you are having connection trouble this build fixes that. Don't forget to get the message archive plugin. It's a seperate download.
Windowblinds 1.3 is out with bug fixes and a few new features.
NextStart 2.12 has been released, also with bugfixes/new features.
NetCaptor 6.02 is out. It's a great tool if you have a lot of browser windows open as it runs them in a tabbed interface. Go check it out if you haven't seen it.

I picked up the new Conan The Barbarian Collector's dvd. This digital transfer is MUCH better than the previous dvd release and is very clear with great color. The sound is excellent although only Dolby 2.0. Included are some deleted scenes...not much but one in particular is worth watching, and a very nice documentary on the making of Conan. I should also note that this is not the theatrical release. 10 minutes of extra footage has been added to the film. Most of it is near the end, and while it doesn't change the storyline, it is definitely...different. If you're a Conan fan this is not to be missed.

Another very cool dvd is The Abyss Special Edition. Received it as a gift for my birthday last weekend, and it is just filled to the brim with extras. There are two versions of the film included. The original theatrical release, and James Cameron's expanded director's cut. In addition to that is just an immense amount of information about the film. All the storyboards are included along with lots of concept art, a documentary, some dvdrom games, the entire screenplay, and some sfx sequences. The real gem of this 2 dvd set is the director's cut. The 28 minutes of extra footage really changes the meaning of the film while making it a better film overall. I wasn't a huge fan of the original, but the new version is worth watching. As for the transfer and sound, both are near perfect. Get it. You won't regret it.

_eol_

. 06/01/00 . Just as my last update told about one of the darkest days in gaming history, this update comes upon the heels of possibly the most earthshaking announcement ever. Id Software will do DooM 3!!! Yep...it's official, right from John C's mouth, well, plan file anyways. ;-) This is simply incredible!!! There is no news today except about this announcement. The gaming community is cheering as one entity for Id and for Doom! Most of us grew up on Doom. It was THE game. No game has ever equaled the feeling of that first time I played Doom. It was the most visceral, gut-wrenching, and frighteningly evil experience ever. In my opinion Doom built the online gaming community. It layed the groundwork for the incredible network of fan, news, and editing sites on the internet. It's the father of all games, and believe it or not, Doom has been on my hard drive since the day it was out. It's that cool. And now...the evil is back. ;-) I can't wait.

And not to blow my own horn...hehe...but didn't I post news a few months ago this was going to happen? ;-)

Now...go play some Doom!

. 05/26/00 . May 24th will forever be remembered by computer gamers as one of the darkest days in electronic gaming history. Looking Glass Studios, creators of Thief 1 and 2, the System Shock games and the Ultima Underworld games to name but a few, closed it's doors. These guys made some of the best games ever. It's a damn shame that they were forced to close down, and the reason why is even worse. The reason? One name: John Romero. That's right, the Ion Storm/Daikatana John Romero. Both LGS and Ion Storm are in business with Eidos Interactive...you know...the Tomb Raider people. Well, it turns out that Eidos has been trying to help LGS, but they couldn't because over 26 million dollars were sucked into the black hole of Daikatana. If Daikatana was the Next Big Thing, then maybe this wouldn't piss me off so much, but instead, it's just about the biggest piece of shit ever to contaminate a compact disc. I tried to play it, but after 5 levels of crap I couldn't see why it ever got released. It's not just me that feels this way either. On two of the news sites, there were so many messages about this that their messageboards were down for a while.

Ya know...years ago, when Quake was first released, the Id guys and a few others used to play on Id's server. I got to play against them a few times before Quake caught on and the servers got too busy. Almost all of those guys kicked my ass most of the time. But...John Romero...he rode the lightning for me. I'm getting a lot of satisfaction out of that now. ;-)

. 05/07/00 . Anybody get affected by the LoveBUG virus? No. Good. I thought not. That's because you know better than to run attachments from an unknown email right? ;-) And remember, AVP is the very best anti-virus software out. Get it. Use it.

I just upgraded to the newest version of Winzip 8.0. Doesn't look like a lot has changed, but at the very least I'm sure it's got a few bugs fixed. If you are running an older version you might want to go and dl the new one.

Found a very cool screensaver, and it doesn't even require a 3d video card. ;-) It's called Galaxies 3.0. Some very nice visuals and a fairly small download.

Now this is one strange site. It's the SodaConstructor. A little hard to explain, but it's a very addictive online toy. Just go there and play with the damn thing ok? ;-)

Datebook4 has been released for the Palm Pilot. I've been using Datebook3 constantly since I've had the palm, and version 4 is an excellent upgrade. Highly recommended. Definitely one of those apps you can't be without if you own a Palm.

Laterz.

. 05/01/00 . Whoa! Sorry about the lack of updates. Been a busy month. Time for some updates!

ICQ 2000A is out as a general download. You can find it here at the official icq site. It uses more resources than 99B, but still it's a cool upgrade. Just make sure you also download the Message Archive plug-in if you want to keep your message history.

Picked up Thief 2: The Metal Age a while back This game is awesome. Just absolutely killer. Thief was great, but this is a step up from that so if you liked Thief, you'll love Thief 2. This is definitely a game to play in the dark. ;-) All the levels are very realistic and very large. Do yourself and a favor and go pick it up today. Also, you should go and get the patch for it. The patch is 33megs, but it adds some new areas in a few levels and fixes a few bugs. Also adds in some treasure and more conversations.

Nextstart 2.1 is out! Go get it now. I use it all the time and it's a great way to customize your desktop and gain useability at the same time. It also fixed the only real bug I had which was the system tray losing the leftmost icon sometimes. I'd say it's a must have upgrade.

In other upgrade news, a new version of Windowblinds is out. Version 1.2 fixes some bugs and is more stable than ever. Don't forget to go and check out Skinz.org also. New skins are being posted every day.

Found a very cool site for my Palm VII called Shadowpack. It is a fully customizeable information source. You can configure news, entertainment info, weather, sports, etc and get it all wirelessly. It has replaced quite a few of my other palm.net apps and I'm actually saving space by using it.

Soldier of Fortune hit the shelves also. There are two versions out, a Full Violence version and a watered down version for the kiddies. I've been playing the full violence version and it is definitely violent! You can target different locations (including the groin! lol) and get corresponding reactions from wounded and killed enemies. It's fun as long as you can handle the violence, so go check it out.

Picked myself up a webcam. It's the Logitech Quickcam Pro. Pretty cool little toy. Comes with a microphone also so you can do video conferencing. If I have it on you can click here for an auto-updating web page. ;-)

I've been reading (yeah I do other things besides sit in front of my monitor ;-) ) a great book series by Brian Lumley. It's the Necroscope series. So far there are 11 books (12 next month) and I've managed to find time to read the first 5. They are excellent. A real mix of horror/sci-fi/adventure all rolled into one. I'd highly recommend these to anyone. Check out the synopsis/reviews on Amazon.com.

The Lord of the Rings teaser movie is up on the official site. It's a pretty huge download so expect to be waiting a while. Definitely worth seeing if you're a LOTR fan. Some killer visuals. Gollum.

Thinking about changing the look of the site, so be on the look out... ;-)

. end transmission .

. 03/07/00 . Got some major NVidia news for all of you today. This Friday Bill Gates will finally reveal the XBox gaming console and NVidia will be the official chipset for the video component! If you haven't heard, XBox is a console system based on PC components. Basically a computer dedicated for games only. The prelim specs I've heard kill the PSX2. This has dealt another major blow to 3dfx, who just recently failed to demo 32bit color on their newest Voodoo5 chipset. In unrelated NVidia news, there are some leaked beta Detonator drivers at ReactorCritical that support S3's texture compression technology!!! Amazing stuff.

If you've been waiting on Diablo II, then this is for you: Blizzard is going to release a limited collectors edition of the game when it ships. Signed by the developers and with a cool DVD movie, this is a must have for any real Diablo fan.

Got myself a Palm VII. It's very cool. The wireless internet stuff is pretty amazing. Being able to send/receive email anywhere is definitely useful. But I also use it for a lot of other things too, to-do lists, appointments, memos. I even have a book on it at the moment (Lucifer's Hammer). Honestly, I'm using it quite a bit more than I thought I would, and it's quickly becoming indispensible. It didn't take much to learn the handwriting recognition characters...it's very close to how you would print on paper. Overall I'm extremely pleased with it. A++. Some of the WinCE devices have more flash, but I think this is the way to go.

I've also been playing with an HP Photosmart S20 film scanner. I would have to say this thing is pretty darn amazing. It will scan prints, slides, and negatives. I really only bought it to scan slides, and so far, I love it. It will scan at up to 2400dpi, more than enough for an 8 1/2 x 11 print. The quality of the scans are excellent without any tweaking, and will a little adjustment from the software, are awesome. Now the max dpi for prints is 300, but that's why you have that $50 flatbed right? ;-) All in all a great film scanner if you're looking for one. Highly recommended.

Soapbox time: What is up with these census tv commercials? Have you seen them? As far as I can tell, they are simply threats to take away tax money from your community! The message is basically "if you don't fill this out, federal funding might not be allocated correctly". In other words...we'll take your money away unless you fill out the census! And do you realize that the cenus takers that go from door to door get paid between $11-$18 an hour? That's pretty good money if you ask me. And for what...being a door to door salesman? Crap. The government already has all this info anyway. You have a bank account, credit card, mailing address, social security number...how much more do they need to track you? Every time you use one of those things, you leave a trail. Yeah...paranoid...or not? LOL ;-) Just playing the devil's advocate and trying to get you to think. So..THINK DAMMIT. ;-)

_End Of Line_

. 02/20/00 . The Winston Cup season is officially open today. The Daytona 500 is about to be run, and the truck and Busch series ran Friday and Saturday respectively. One of the most horrific racing accidents ever happened in the truck series. Jeff Bodine (no way am I calling him Geoffrey...what's up with that anyways?) got flipped up into the fence. The truck disintegrated in a fiery explosion of parts and debris. Luckily his worst injury is a broken wrist. If only street cars were that safe. A few fans also had slight injuries but none were severe.

. 02/12/00 . I'm sure you probably heard about the immense denial of service attacks against, Ebay, Yahoo, Cnn, etc. Technically it's pretty easy to do believe it or not. The sizes of these attacks though, require quite a bit of planning and coordination. They were tagging Yahoo with over a gigabyte a second! That's one huge distributed attack! I don't think this is some 'l33t hax0r' that gets his jollies off by bombing people off of irc or using a tear drop on an unpatched windows machine. I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be the first real case of cyber-terrorism. It probably won't be the last either. And here's something to think about...they took down the largest site on the entire internet. That means they can take down anybody.

After playing the Sims some more all I can say is...very cool and very addictive. I sure need to get my sims cooking skills up though because there are a lot of fires in the kitchen. hahaha Here's a link to some addon's you can download for the game. ;-)

Here's a page where you can download a lot of very cool 3d demos. Most of these require a 3d accelerator card with OpenGL or DirectX support but that shouldn't be a problem for anyone these days. Some of these demos really show off some cool eyecandy so go download a few and see for yourself.

It's finally Nascar time again. ;-) This weekend the But Shootout will be held at Daytona and I'm sure it will be exciting.

. 02/06/00 . Ok. I found another cool game to be addicted to. It's The Sims. Let me tell ya, you'll be playing this for hours on end. The premise of the game is that you can create your own virtual people and 'families', build them houses, get them jobs, and watch them interact with some guidance from you. There is so much you can do with this game it's amazing. Almost every object in the game can be used by your 'Sims' and interacted with. Have one of them turn on the radio and if you keep watch pretty soon they might be dancing to the music. Or have a hot tub party and watch what happens. ;-) This is most definitely a game you should take a look at. I'm going to predict this will be a true classic.

A new dvd set I ordered from Reel.com showed up this week. It's Urotsukidoji: Perfect Collection. It's Japanese anime (animation), and it's a pretty amazing film if you are an Anime fan. This is most definitely NOT for minors or adults offended by sexual situations. Filled with mega-destruction and ultra-violent images this defined a new Anime sub-genre when it was released a few years ago. This is the complete uncut and uncensored version so if you do watch it, be forewarned that there are some shocking scenes. However, this is a real treat for anime fans looking for something...a little different. Here are some screenies...and no...no hentai images. LOL One. Two. Three. Four.

A new build of Icq is out. Not sure what has changed but everybody uses it so go get it.

And the obigatory weird link... I always knew this was true. ;-)

Stay wired.

. 01/30/00 . I hate being sick. Frickin' horrible cold the last few days. Ah well...more time to sit in front of the computer. lol Of course I suppose I'll have the Superbowl on too. I mean...you can't miss all the commercials. After all, sometimes they're the best part! ;-)

Final Fantasy VIII is finally in stores. I am a big fan of all the FF games and while I haven't yet had a chance to pick this one up I'm sure it will be just as good as the previous entries in the series.

There is a newer version of ICQPlus out also. Incorporates the usual bug fixes etc. If you like customizing your windows desktop and use Icq, this is one cool thing to have. As a side note, for all of you looking for the Windowblinds Aqua/Mac OSX skins, they are all available here. ;-) Get 'em before Apple sends out the MIB's.

While we're talking about customization, here's a link to a screenie(jpg/390k) of my current desktop.

We had a birthday yesterday too! Duke Nukem 3D is 4 years old on the 29th. Seems like yesterday that I was playing Duke and amazed by the graphics and 3d engine. Sure have come a long way since then. Duke Nukem Forever should be out by the summer. I'm sure we'll be seeing...and hearing from Duke much more by then. Hail to the king baby!

On the EQ front, after the current round of patches, the servers are running better than ever even at high peak times. I'll be updating Venrakar's Journal in a day or so.

. 01/22/00 . The sky is red with the light of the setting sun. The crickets are beginning to chirp, and in the distance the sound of wolves howling floats up the valley. A winding path leads on through the foothills. Braving the growing darkness you step onto the path. Soon it begins to rain, the darkness illuminated at staccato intervals by falling lightning. Suddenly from out of the darkness a Gnoll attacks you! Fighting for your life in the storm you manage to beat the foul beast. Gasping from your fight you sit to regain your composure...

Part of a story? Nope. It's a description of a few minutes of Everquest, the massively multiplayer role playing game. Everquest is a magnificent experience. At any given time 20-40,000 people are playing on the EQ servers. When you log on to EQ, you play a character in a fantasy world. And when I say world, I mean it. Norrath is quite literally, HUGE. You can be any of a number of fantasy races and classes: Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Human, Troll, Fighter, Enchanter, Necromancer, Paladin, Bard, Monk, and a great many more races/classes. After you create your character, it's time to adventure in your new environment. Words can't do justice to the feel of EQ. It's very immersive. One of those games where you look up at the clock and realize you've only been playing for 10 hours at a time. ;-) You feel like you're in the game, and that's always the sign of great gameplay. Here are a few links to get you started:

Everlore
EQ Atlas
Official EQ Site

Check it out. EQ is like Pringles...once you start...you just...can't...stop. ;-) I'm also going to start some sort of EQ journal I think so go read it and see what you think.

. 01/13/00 . Everybody survive Y2K? Good because it's time for a rant...

[RANT MODE ON]

Ok it's official...Rothrin is pissed. Rothrin is pissed off BIG TIME. Why you ask? Because of the government vs. Microsoft stupidity. It has gone way too frickin' far. Way too far. Today Bill Gates stepped down as CEO. And here I thought the world was gonna end on Y2K. Guess I was wrong because it ended today, it's just that today is the beginning of the end. Bill is going to stay on as Chief Software Architect or some such weird job title, but what the hell is going on? We need to ask some fundamental questions here. The govt is saying MS hurt consumers, so, let's find them. I mean, bring on the witnesses here. Where are they? I'll tell ya where they are...nowhere. There aren't any. MS got to be a big company by having the very best products on the market. Pure and simple. The govt said MS used unfair business practices. OK...well, ALL the practices they sited have been changed without question from MS and yet this fiasco still goes on. Now let's ask ourselves how this started. Hmmm...remember? It was A O L and Netscape whining thier sissy asses off to a govt committee. They are hurting us, they said. MS is keeping us small and we can't expand. Well, my God, Aol just bought Time Warner. Yeah, that's right, Aol is sure a puny little company being hurt by MS aren't they? And don't forget that Netscape and Aol are part of the same company also. ;-) So do you see the trend here? This isn't about MS being a monopoly, it's about power and control. The govt is scared of MS and not exactly friends with them. Bill never paid anyone off or took a senator on a vacation or any of the horrible stuff you have to do these days. Well think about this: the day after the news leaks that the govt wants to break up MS, AOL buys Time Warner. The day after that, Bill resigns. AOL are the good guys in the govt's eyes. They let all the cops search email on their servers and basically act like Big Brother from 1984. Yeah, it's not Monica Lewinsky under Clinton's desk in the Whitehouse, it's AOL.

And hey, while I'm running off at the mouth there's another issue I'd like to bring up. Apple. What a bunch of anal-retentive losers! You probably haven't heard about this one although it's starting to get into the media. There is some software I use, Windowblinds, that lets you change the look of Windows. It's very cool. Well, someone made a skin for it that resembles Apples new GUI called Aqua (OS X). Skins are just some graphics that change how your scrollbars, buttons, menus, etc, look. Well, Apple loses their marbles and starts threatening anybody who distributes this with legal action. They don't even have a case because NONE of their logo's or proprietary material was used, and the skins don't look exactly like Aqua, just derived from it. Well do you know why Apple is doing this? It's because their computers SUCK. They are the biggest pieces of crap you've ever seen. The only thing they have, is FASHION. Yeah that's right, they are selling a LOOK and not a FUNCTION. IMac? Uh, where's the floppy? Can you say...DUH. Gimme a break. Losers.

[RANT MODE OFF]

Have a nice day! ;-)

. 12/24/99 . MERRY CHRISTMAS! Wishing you all a safe and fun Xmas!

Speaking of Xmas, I got myself a very cool present, the Creative Labs Annihilator Pro video card. This thing ROCKS! It was like going from software rendering to 3d for the first time. It's that good. Check out these screenies from the DMZG demo page. I'm running that demo at 1280x960 and it's not even taxing the card. I got a fair sized increase in speed for Quake3 and Unreal Tournament also. Definitely worth it. If you decide to get a GeForce based card, make sure you get one with DDR memory like the Annihilator Pro. It makes a big difference in speed. You have to see it in action to believe it. ;-)

Ok...on to Q3. Quake 3 Arena. All I can say is...WOW! What a game! It is simply the best thing out today. Don't get the wrong idea about Unreal Tournament. That is still an awesome game too. Q3 though, is the king. The Q3 engine is much more advanced than UT and it shows. There are some amazing effects in a few of the levels. The pulsating 'Giger' tubes were very cool. The level design and texturing are also second to none. The first time through a couple of the levels I got fragged because I was admiring the scenery. ;-) There are a great many player models to choose from. The game is a huge amount of fun. Very fast too. If you've ever played Doom deathmatch, you know what I mean by fast. ;-) All the weapons are powerful and balanced. This is a game that's not to be missed. I'm giving Q3 a 9.5.

In a Q3 side note, the level creation tools and docs can be found at QEradiant.com. If you download these, make sure you compile the museum level and run it. VERY cool stuff.

It's that time of year again...time for my personal Top Ten Games of 1999. No particular order, but I will pick a game of the year. ;-)

Simcity 3000: I love the Simcity games. This one has a ton of improvements and new features over the previous two. In addition you can download a building creator from Maxis to create your own custom buildings. Very cool. You'll play it for hours.

Need for Speed: High Stakes: Awesome speed and excellent graphics make for some killer excitement on a wide variety of tracks. Pure speed driving fun at it's best.

Sid Meijer's Alpha Centauri: At long last Sid has come up with a game worthy of being the taking over the Civilization crown. Another game that will eat up hours of your time.

Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings: Better than the original, this is one great game. More units, more options, more graphics, more everything. If you like empire building and conquering the world, rush out and get this one.

Midtown Madness: Want to drive through the streets of Chicago at 100mph and crash into everything? This is for you! Much more fun that you could imagine. I had a blast with this game and still do.

Descent 3: The first two games in the series were classics, and this one is no different. With level design at an all time high for Descent, you'll get some real action from this game. There is just something too cool about flying through tunnels blowing up robots. ;-)

System Shock 2: You are IN the game when you play this. Very immersive and very impressive, this sci-fi adventure thriller is a great addition to any gamers collection. Don't miss this one.

Unreal Tournament: A fast, action packed 3d shooter with great visuals and tons of fun. If you like deathmatching you won't want to be without UT on your hard drive. Epic has really outdone themselves with this game. Both it and Q3 are more than worthy of purchase. Get them both. ;-)

Quake 3 Arena: The current penultimate deathmatch experience, Q3 is full bore, head on, in your face action. There is nothing better than this. From weapons to bot AI this game kicks ass. ID is once again the king.

GAME OF THE YEAR: Thief Gold: Last year, Thief tied with Half Life for Game of the Year, this time around, it shares the spot with no one and deservingly so. There is simply no better gaming experience this year. Perfect in execution, this game pulls you into the monitor until you are living in the world of Thief. Don't pass this one up. It's a true classic.

There you have it. As always, these are just my own personal opinions, so don't get bent out of shape if your favorite isn't listed. Next update I'll have my best games of all time list I hope. ;-)

_eol_

. 12/03/99 . It's the Christmas season. Has everyone got all their shopping done yet? lol

I've been playing a lot of Thief Gold. The original was tied for best game of the year last year with Half Life on my personal top ten list. Looks like TG is going to make my top ten list this year too. This game is simply amazing. One of the most engrossing games I've ever played. You feel like you're there. You owe it to yourself to try this if you haven't yet. It's worth it.

Speaking of my top ten games of the year...I should have the list ready for my next web update so be on the lookout. I'm also working on my personal top ten games of all time list. If I get that done it'll be up next time too.

My current interest is in customizing my Windows desktop. Skinz.Org is THE site to find wallpapers and skins for anything you want. Since my last update I've started running NextSTART, and it's pretty cool. It's a Taskbar/Startmenu/Systray replacement that works very well. I'm using it in conjuction with WindowBlinds for a killer desktop look. Once I'm satisfied completely I'll post a screenie for all of you. If you'd like to make your own skins for WindowBlinds, a great utility for just that is out called BuilderBlinds. A new version (.54) is out today.

Unreal Tournament's been out a week now so I thought I'd give you my impressions of the game. It's cool. It's fun. It's killer. Is it a Quake3 killer? Not sure yet. Quake 3 is finally arriving in stores today so we'll know in a couple days. I'll do a full review of Q3 next update. As for UT...it's worth every penny. It plays fast and furious. The graphics are gorgeous. The weapons are awesome, and the bot ai is not so good at lower levels, but turn them up to godlike and see how you do. hehehe A couple of levels I don't like, most notably the sailing ship level. Good idea...poor execution. Most of the levels are fantastic though, with a good layout and balanced play. All in all, this game is going to make my top ten list. ;-)

How deep does the rabbit hole go? ,-)

hack mode n. 1. What one is in when hacking, of course. 2. More specifically, a Zen-like state of total focus on The Problem that may be achieved when one is hacking (this is why every good hacker is part mystic). Ability to enter such concentration at will correlates strongly with wizardliness; it is one of the most important skills learned during larval stage. Sometimes amplified as `deep hack mode'.

Being yanked out of hack mode (see priority interrupt) may be experienced as a physical shock, and the sensation of being in hack mode is more than a little habituating. The intensity of this experience is probably by itself sufficient explanation for the existence of hackers, and explains why many resist being promoted out of positions where they can code. See also cyberspace (sense 2).

Some aspects of hacker etiquette will appear quite odd to an observer unaware of the high value placed on hack mode. For example, if someone appears at your door, it is perfectly okay to hold up a hand (without turning one's eyes away from the screen) to avoid being interrupted. One may read, type, and interact with the computer for quite some time before further acknowledging the other's presence (of course, he or she is reciprocally free to leave without a word). The understanding is that you might be in hack mode with a lot of delicate state (sense 2) in your head, and you dare not swap that context out until you have reached a good point to pause.

. 11/21/99 .How would you like to customize your Windows GUI? There is a very cool program out that does just that called Windowblinds. It's easy to install and use and so far I've only encounted one minor bug (with win32pad, a freeware notepad replacement). There are a few skins available for download on the Windowblinds site, but I really recommend going to Skinz.Org and searching for them. This is a great site with skins for pretty much every program out there.

ICQ works fine with Windowblinds, but if you'd like to customize your Icq look/feel even more, you should go and check out ICQPlus. There are some amazing skins for it on Skinz.Org also.

Since we're on a customize windows streak, go and check out NeoPlanet if you haven't yet. It's a skinnable wrapper for Internet Explorer. Very nice.

Have you been to the WindowsUpdate site lately? If not...go NOW! ;-) There are some new security updates on there you should get including the bubble.boy virus update. There are also some cool new updates to Media Player and a few other toys. Microsoft doesn't check any of your personal info anymore either so don't worry about going there.

Need a new screensaver? Go check out Gravity. It's OpenGL and pretty darn cool. At only about 42k zipped, what do you have to lose? Another killer screensaver is Particle Fire. Make sure you try out both of those.

On the gaming front, I've been playing Thief Gold. It's still one of my favorite games of all time. There are 3 new missions included and most of the old missions have been tweaked and the bugs fixed. If you've never played it, you owe it to yourself to try it out. Thief 2 is just around the corner also, with the demo currently slated for January.

ttfn

neophilia /nee`oh-fil'-ee-*/ n. The trait of being excited and pleased by novelty. Common among most hackers, SF fans, and members of several other connected leading-edge subcultures, including the pro-technology `Whole Earth' wing of the ecology movement, space activists, many members of Mensa, and the Discordian/neo-pagan underground. All these groups overlap heavily and (where evidence is available) seem to share characteristic hacker tropisms for science fiction, music, and oriental food. The opposite tendency is `neophobia'.

. 11/07/99 .

One, two, Freddy's coming for you
Three, four, better lock the door
Five, six, grab your crucifix
Seven, eight, better stay up late
Nine, ten, never sleep again...

In 1984 that eerie, twisted nursery rhyme brought to life a new horror legend: Freddy Krueger, villian/anti-hero of the Nightmare on Elm Street films. About a month ago, New Line Cinema released a collectors box set of all 7 Nightmare films on dvd plus an 8th Nightmare Encyclopedia disk. These are truly some of the great modern horror films. Well...number two is not quite so good even though it does have some great visuals, but the rest are excellent. I've always been fans of the Nightmare series and when I got a chance, I picked up the box set to check it out. It's a little pricey, but well worth it considering you get 8 dvds and lots of extras, including two sets of 3d glasses for the 3d sequence at the end of Freddy's Dead. All the movies are in anamorphic widescreen and the transfers are excellent. It seems lately all the studios are making sure that they have good transfers since most every newer dvd I've seen has been very high quality. The colors are great, and the sound is too. Wait until you hear the boiler room scenes. ;-) Very cool. If you are a horror fan this set is a must have. Especially since this is the only way you can get the 2nd through the 7th movies on dvd. Only the first one is available seperately. Two thumbs up. ;-)

I also picked up Saving Private Ryan on dvd. It's a limited edition, but only in the 'Disney' sense. In other words, it will be available for 6 months or so and then will be out of circulation for a few years. If you haven't seen this movie, you are missing one of the most amazing films ever created. Be warned though that this film is very graphic during the war scenes. In fact, I think it is probably the most realistic war movie I have ever seen. That is, in part, why it is worth watching, for a true depiction of war. The dvd version is just as good as seeing it in the theatre. It's an anamorphic widescreen transfer also. The only other dvd transfer I have seen that is this good is The Matrix. The dolby 5.1 will have you dodging bullets in your seat. There is also a pretty good documentary on the making of the film. Go get it! This is definitely something that shouldn't be missed. You won't be sorry.

In the last bit of dvd news for this update...I've installed the newest Cinemaster engine (2.0.36), and that seems to be a worthwhile improvement over the old 1.0.35 engine. You can find it at DvdUtils.

Found a pretty weird web site the other day. Portal Of Evil. You might find some of the content funny. Not for the easily offended. ;-) Also, if you haven't visited the GoreGallery in a while, there are tons of new pics and 'attractions'. lol

If you are into alternative shell replacements for windows Explorer, you should check out GeoShell. It looks like a nice piece of software and even supports LiteStep plugins.

Guess I should comment about the Microsoft court rulings. Well...first there was Ruby Ridge...then Waco...now...Microsoft. Need I say more? ;-)

Stay wired.

leapfrog attack n. Use of userid and password information obtained illicitly from one host (e.g., downloading a file of account IDs and passwords, tapping TELNET, etc.) to compromise another host. Also, the act of TELNETting through one or more hosts in order to confuse a trace (a standard cracker procedure).

. 10/17/99 . I've been really getting into dvd's lately so I thought I'd post a couple dvd reviews and give you some info on my software experiences.

I'm using the Cinemaster player and engine version 1.0.32.xxxx. Here's a good site where you can find Cinemaster versions as well as a great variety of other dvd software. I did try the newest version player/engine (1.0.35.xxxx), but the picture quality was noticeably degraded so I went back to the 1.0.32. So, be forewarned. ;-) As for my current quality, it's excellent. I use The Matrix lobby shootout scene as a test and it's extremely clear on my current setup: P3-450, Tnt2 Ultra, Creative 5x DVD. Playback and sound are also excellent. You don't realize the quality of dvd over vhs until you own one. Zoran DVD ships with the Diamond Tnt2, but that player has poor picture quality and playback. I uninstalled it. ;-)

Now for a couple of dvd mini-reviews...

Army of Darkness Limited Edition: This is a real treat for Sam Raimi/Bruce Campbell fans. Only 30,000 will be produced and if you can get your hands on one, you won't be disappointed. It's a two disc set. On the first disc is the US theatrical release in both widescreen and full frame versions, along with a nice 'behind the scenes' short narrated by Bruce. The real star of the package is the second disc. On it you'll find the widescreen director's cut of Army with 15 extra minutes of footage, an audio commentary by Bruce/Sam, 4 previously unseen deleted scenes, and some director's storyboard shots. The transfers on both discs are great with very few film artifacts to be seen. Without giving away anything, the director's cut is a darker film than the theatrical release, and well worth the price of this set. All in all, a great package for any horror fan.

Labyrinth: I've always liked this movie and finally it comes to dvd, a format that can really show off the amazing sets of this film. It's a fairy tale/fantasy film starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly, with Jim Henson's puppet creations filling out the cast. Presented in widescreen 2.35:1 format, it's a visual feast for the eyes, while the dolby soundtrack is excellent. Also included is a great documentary on the making of the film. This is a great addition to any collection, and a great film for any member of your family.

wumpus /wuhm'p*s/ n. The central monster (and, in many versions, the name) of a famous family of very early computer games called "Hunt The Wumpus", dating back at least to 1972 (several years before ADVENT) on the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System. The wumpus lived somewhere in a cave with the topology of an dodecahedron's edge/vertex graph (later versions supported other topologies, including an icosahedron and Möbius strip). The player started somewhere at random in the cave with five `crooked arrows'; these could be shot through up to three connected rooms, and would kill the wumpus on a hit (later versions introduced the wounded wumpus, which got very angry). Unfortunately for players, the movement necessary to map the maze was made hazardous not merely by the wumpus (which would eat you if you stepped on him) but also by bottomless pits and colonies of super bats that would pick you up and drop you at a random location (later versions added `anaerobic termites' that ate arrows, bat migrations, and earthquakes that randomly changed pit locations).

This game appears to have been the first to use a non-random graph-structured map (as opposed to a rectangular grid like the even older Star Trek games). In this respect, as in the dungeon-like setting and its terse, amusing messages, it prefigured ADVENT and Zork and was directly ancestral to the latter (Zork acknowledged this heritage by including a super-bat colony). A C emulation of the original Basic game is available at the Retrocomputing Museum, http://www.ccil.org/retro.

. 10/03/99 . Have you downloaded the Unreal Tournament Demo yet? If you haven't, you are missing the best 3d deathmatching yet released. It's a blast to play. I especially like InstaGib games. That's where if you get hit, you're fragged. ;-) Very cool to say the least. The engine is a much improved and expanded Unreal engine, and runs much faster than any previous version. It is the first game that I know of that requires Direct X 7.0, so download (6.2 megs) it if you don't have that. You can grab UTDemo here (55 megs).

Found a nice little utility the other day called DragStrip. It's a shortcut bar that you can customize to your hearts content. You can put buttons to Url's, files, folders, applications, docurments and even dial-up shortcuts. So far, I like it. ;-) Go check it out.

Jaise has been updating her webpage almost every day so I suggest you check it out. It's definitely a different experience. ;-)

wizard n. 1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or hardware works (that is, who groks it); esp. someone who can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency. Someone is a hacker if he or she has general hacking ability, but is a wizard with respect to something only if he or she has specific detailed knowledge of that thing. A good hacker could become a wizard for something given the time to study it. 2. A person who is permitted to do things forbidden to ordinary people; one who has wheel privileges on a system. 3. A Unix expert, esp. a Unix systems programmer. This usage is well enough established that `Unix Wizard' is a recognized job title at some corporations and to most headhunters.

. 09/26/99 . A pretty cool new game is out. It's called Re-Volt. You drive radio controlled cars around some pretty amazing courses. It's a lot of fun for adults and kids alike. The cars act just like the real thing, from the sounds, to the way they spin and roll. It's pretty addictive so if you get a chance, try it.

A new version of Cdrwin is out at the Goldenhawk website. This is the best cd copy software out. I use WinOnCd to burn data disks, but for copying cds, nothing can beat Cdrwin.

Picked up an Optiquest V95 19" monitor. Now that I have it, I wish I'd upgraded a long time ago. ;-) It's a huge difference over my old 15". The color is excellent, and the image is crystal clear even at max resolution (1600x1200). I haven't had to adjust the conrols either. Everything was perfect right out of the box. The extra screen real estate really makes a difference too. If you're thinking of upgrading, do it. You won't regret it. The Optiquest V95 is excellent.

I've been testing a new email client called Calypso. So far I like it a lot. It has all the usual filtering options and full customization. It's got a nice layout too.

Finally picked up The Matrix on DVD. It's an incredible movie. Action packed with amazing visuals, a thought provoking story, and even some martial arts. ;-) It's a must see film if you haven't seen it yet. Definitely one of my favorites.

wirewater n. Syn. 'programming fluid'. This melds the mainstream slang adjective `wired' (stimulated, up, hyperactive) with `firewater'; however, it refers to caffeinacious rather than alcoholic beverages. Coffee, cola, or any caffeinacious stimulant. Many hackers consider these essential for those all-night hacking runs

.08/31/99 . Well, the ComputerFest was fairly interesting. There were some fairly good buys, especially on software and computer related books, but the hardware prices weren't quite as good as my favorite local store(5'Oclock Computers), and it just so happens they were having a sale the same day. ;-) I picked up a Mitsumi 4x Cd writer and a Creative 5x Dvd drive (just the drive since my V7700 Tnt2 plays dvds). The Mitsumi is great. I burned a full 80 minute cd in 19 minutes and I was able to stay online while I was burning. ;-) Cool. The dvd is pretty impressive. The quality is amazing. Much better than vhs. There were no stutters in the video either. It was just like watching a tv.

New software department: I use Agent as my newsreader software and Forte has just released 1.6. It's mostly a bug fix release but there are a couple of enhancements. Mirabilis has also released a new build of ICQ. Here's a direct download link. If you have an Abit BX6rev2 motherboard, here is a direct link to the just released bios update (MW). In the Ftp area, BulletProof 1.14 is out on the Bullet site.

NVidia has released the specs for their GEforce256 chipset, the next generation of 3d. Here are the official specs:

15M triangles/sec - sustained DMA, transform/clip/light, setup, rasterize and render rate.
4 Pixels per clock (4 pixel pipelines)
480M pixels/sec fill rate - 32 texture samples per clock, full speed 8-tap anisotropic filtering.
256 bit rendering engine
8 hardware lights
350 MHz RAMDAC
Most feature complete for DX7 and OGL - Tranform & Lighting, Cube environment mapping, projective textures, and texture compression.
Will utilize 4x AGP performance with Fast Writes , which enables the CPU to send data directly to the GPU (1 GB/sec transfer rate), increasing overall performance and freeing the system memory bus for other functions.
Independent hue, saturation and brightness controls in hardware
Dedicated DMA video
Full frame rate DVD to 1080i resolution
Full precision subpixel accuracy to 1/16 pixel

That is impressive. If the specs hold up, that will be the fastest card out by far. It is supposed to ship next month, which would put it on the shelf by the end of November. If you're looking for a card, you might want to wait a month or so.

Saw some killer screenies for FAKK2 over at Blue's. Screenie 1. Screenie 2. FAKK2 is a game based on the new sequel to the Heavy Metal movie and uses the Quake3 engine.

I'm also hearing more confirmations that Xatrix (the guys that made Kingpin) are indeed going to create Return to Castle Wolfenstein using the Q3 engine. The word that goes along with this is that Id will then make Doom 2000 as their next in house project after Quake 3 ships.

line eater, the n. obs. [Usenet] 1. A bug in some now-obsolete versions of the netnews software that used to eat up to BUFSIZ bytes of the article text. The bug was triggered by having the text of the article start with a space or tab. This bug was quickly personified as a mythical creature called the `line eater', and postings often included a dummy line of `line eater food'. Ironically, line eater `food' not beginning with a space or tab wasn't actually eaten, since the bug was avoided; but if there was a space or tab before it, then the line eater would eat the food and the beginning of the text it was supposed to be protecting. The practice of `sacrificing to the line eater' continued for some time after the bug had been nailed to the wall, and is still humorously referred to. The bug itself was still occasionally reported to be lurking in some mail-to-netnews gateways as late as 1991. 2. See ~NSA Line Eater.

. 08/26/99 . At long last the Messageboard is up and running at full strength. A big thanks goes out to Jason at Siscom for helping out. As you might have noticed from the links above, I've also got a Guestbook script running now. ;-) So, go sign it. ;-)

The Computerfest is this weekend. Billed as the "largest show of it's kind", it's a must attend event for any computer enthusiast in the area (Dayton, Ohio). It's definitely a good way to spend all your money. ;-)

If you are looking for a new 3d video card, there are a huge amount of benchmarks from Ga-Source. Go check out the 3d Card Roundup. From personal experience and all the reviews/benchmarks I've seen, it looks like the top two cards are the Tnt2 Ultra based cards, and the Matrox G400 Max. Both are real winners.

Check out the MaximumPC website. It's loaded with all sorts of hardware info. I've also subscribed to their excellent magazine. It's only 12 bucks a year for the no cd version, and that's a steal.

chad /chad/ n. 1. [common] The perforated edge strips on printer paper, after they have been separated from the printed portion. Also called ~selvage, ~perf, and ~ripoff. 2. obs. The confetti-like paper bits punched out of cards or paper tape; this has also been called `chaff', `computer confetti', and `keypunch droppings'. It's reported that this was very old Army slang, and it may now be mainstream; it has been reported seen (1993) in directions for a card-based voting machine in California.

Historical note: One correspondent believes `chad' (sense 2) derives from the Chadless keypunch (named for its inventor), which cut little u-shaped tabs in the card to make a hole when the tab folded back, rather than punching out a circle/rectangle; it was clear that if the Chadless keypunch didn't make them, then the stuff that other keypunches made had to be `chad'. There is a legend that the word was originally acronymic, standing for "Card Hole Aggregate Debris", but this has all the earmarks of a ~backronym.