My Gadget, Game & Gizmo Obsession

Gametrailers has a preview video (Part One, Part Two) of  Left4Dead 2’s “The Passing” DLC, which contained the following comment from Bret Faliszek, writer at Valve Software:

Not only do [sic] the Midnight Riders have a new song coming out in this game, in Rock Band, you’ll actually get to play the Midnight Riders, we’ve got some songs coming out there.

Who are the Midnight Riders?  They are a fictional band from the popular zombie co-op FPS series, Left 4 Dead.  In Left 4 Dead 2’s second chapter “Dark Carnival”, the heroes make their way through an abandoned amusement park to an empty concert amphitheater.   It seems that the Midnight Riders were due to perform a show minutes the zombie apocalypse began, but were instead helicoptered to safety.  The heroes try to summon the same helicopter by activating the stage’s sound system and fireworks show, which subsequently attracts every zombie for a hundred miles.  During this frenzied finale, two songs from the Midnight Riders are playing at full volume over the arena’s speaker system.

Valve has taken the promotion of this band to a viral level, publishing a blog for the band, and creating a YouTube channel.  Here are the tracks:

• Midnight Riders – “All I Want for Christmas (is to Kick Your Ass)”
• Midnight Riders – “Midnight Ride”
• Midnight Riders - “One Bad Man”

Mr. Faliszek did not say which tracks would be available for Rock Band 2, nor did he hint at a release date.  My best guess is that the songs will be the “New” yet-unreleased song from “The Passing” and the opening tracks to their record “High Heels and Brushed Steel“, and also that the songs will likely be released on the same day as the DLC for Left 4 Dead 2, sometime in late March 2010.

These will not be the first songs from other videogames to appear in Rock Band, as Jonathan Coulton’s “Still Alive” is from another Valve game called Portal.  When this rumor is confirmed by Harmonix I’ll post more information.

I’m just learning what Google Buzz is all about today.  I like to keep things short and simple here. Think of Gmail mixed with all the social aspects of Facebook and Twitter.  Photo sharing, status updates, posts/blogging, geolocation, etc.  All this in the simplistic Google interface.

Who doesn’t have a Gmail account? Just about no one.  Who doesn’t use Twitter and/or Facebook?  Just about no one.

Google Buzz is rolling out today to Gmail users.  The coolest part, is it’s not only rolling out for desktop users, but also smartphone users.  At first rollout, a bunch of dekstop (Windows, Mac, etc) users already have the Buzz features enabled, plus iPhone and Android users have access just by navigating to http://buzz.google.com from the browser. No word yet on BlackBerry or WebOS support.

Knowing that Gmail already has a huge install base, would you give Buzz a try? I know I will.

Sadly, it’s a short post this week.  Tuesday is almost upon us again, and that means more DLC for everyone’s favorite music game.  If you were waiting for the rest of the exclusive Country tracks from the 2009 “Country Track Pack” disc, then your wait is finally over.

• Kenny Chesney – “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy”
• Willie Nelson – “On the Road Again”
• Rascal Flatts – “Me and My Gang”
• Montgomery Gentry – “Gone”
• Trace Adkins – “Swing”
• Sara Evans – “Suds in the Bucket”

If you already own GH:WT then you have likely already played “On The Road Again”, which is arguably the most recognizable track this week.  Someone out there must be buying these tracks but it sure isn’t me.   Anyways these tracks are available tomorrow.

There are some interesting rumors circling about next week’s DLC.  It would appear that we are being treated to a new setlist from Rock Band alumni,  “The Who”!

Next Week’s Predictions: Master studio recordings of  “You Better, You Bet”,  “Love Reign O’er Me”,  “The Seeker”, “Magic Bus”.

From zdnet.com

To the gadget readers, I’m sorry for the lack of postings on gadgets. I’ve been slacking in this area for a while, as I generally have been using Twitter for quick thoughts.

Well, I have a reason to write up a post now. My history comes from Palm Treo’s, you know the original smartphone with both a real QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen. I love that setup. But, due to rules and regs at my employer, I was required to move over to BlackBerry. My first go round was with the Storm 9530 on Verizon. That’s the BlackBerry that was complete touchscreen with the clicky screen. It was supposed to be Verizon’s answer to the iPhone. Due to the click screen and software bugs (to keep this short), the device was a failure, in my hands-on opinion. My use of the Storm lasted a whopping 3 months. Then I moved to AT&T and got the Bold 9000. That was known as the Cadillac of BlackBerry’s, with a large keyboard, hi-res display, WiFi, GPS, and everything you’d expect in a top notch smartphone. Though, it didn’t have touchscreen.

Now, let me fast forward to sometime in late 2010 or 2011 (ooh, this is some Back To The Future kind of thing).

There have been FCC reportings of a new BlackBerry that has both a QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen, code named Magnum. Now, a video has surfaced of a working prototype. And, I have to say…I see my next BlackBerry. This device, or as the prototype shows, is exactly the same size and layout as the Bold 9000 (interesting that it’s not the same size and layout as the newer Bold 9700). Possibly, the Magnum prototype was built before the 9700, and we may eventually see a newer prototype that looks more like the 9700.  Though, I prefer the 9000 size and layout.

This new phone has a couple changes over the Bold 9000, like a micro-USB input, instead of the mini-USB. Plus there is no trackball or trackpad. That means all navigation takes place on-screen, like the Storm.

Other than those features, there is the obvious touchscreen, which looks to have the clicky screen of the Storm. Touch = good. Clicky = less than good, but better than nothing.

I’ll embed the video below. But, as far as things go, I’ve been using the Bold 9000 for just under 1 year, and I’d expect the Magnum to make it onto shelves by Christmas 2010 (or maybe Spring 2011). This will likely be my next phone soon after release.

Wow, we are already a week into 2010 and I have yet to post My Top Obsessions of 2009. Shame on me, and sorry for the delay. You may remember what my top 7 obsessions from 2008 were.

As we wind up 2010, let me recap on the obsessions that have kept me coming back to the blog. In looking over the past 12 months, I’ll highlight the top ten obsessions that have swallowed up all my free time this past year. I’ll also take a look at what obsessions might be cropping up for 2010.

Here are the obsessions in order of importance to me.

Picture the ball dropping, and countdown on…
10. Rock Band Network.
You may be wondering, why is this at #10 and not higher on the list.  For me, I looked at RBN as a way to get my old bands music (and possible new bands music) into Rock Band. It’s kind of a dream of mine. Then when I got into the RBN beta, I realized (1) I don’t have the free time to do this, (2) I don’t want to free up time to do this. So, RBN, as exciting as it seems to me…has been a pipe dream to me, and my exploration of the tools has been short lived. In 2010, I do expect to take advantage of the grabbing songs from the RBN store, and possibly getting back in the development ring…but, neither is happening yet.

9. New Site Name.
This isn’t exactly a highlight, but it is something that took up part of early 2009.I moved my web site to a new host, and changed the URL. It once was at http://blog.javadevelop.com, which was just a spinoff blog of another site. As this site was growing in popularity, I decided to rename it to http://www.MyGGGo.com, short for My Gadget, Game & Gizmo Obsession. It looks to have been a poor decision, since the site statistics showed my daily visitors went form about 300 to about 30. Ouch, that hurt!  Well, you live and you learn.  I’ve decided to stick with the new name and rebuild. Some of you have stuck around, and I greatly appreciate it. I hope to get the site (now going on its 4th year) back up in readership and commenters throughout 2010.

8. BlackBerry Bold.
It’s funny to see that last year, the BlackBerry Storm made it to my #3 spot, and truly should continue into 2009. Though, in the wee months of 2009 (Fabruary to be exact) the Storm was replaced by the BlackBerry Bold 9000. It wasn’t replaced because I didn’t like it. It was due to the fact that my company was willing to supply me with a BlackBerry and the Storm wasn’t on the “accepted devices” list. With that, I jumped from the Verizon ship onto AT&T and picked up the Bold. It’s really a great phone, though I wish it had a larger touchscreen. It’s got high-resolution, good call quality, and decent email (funny that BlackBerry does not have the best email client of all). It’s even a good media device, which has allowed me to continue my life of mobile convergence (cell phone, calendar, email, music player, GPS, and web all-in-one). The Bold remains my current device, and I am eyeing an upgrade to the Bold 9700 in the coming months. Although, this blog was founded on gadget obsessions,  formerly known as “My Treo Obsession”, I didn’t spend as much time on BlackBerry posts throughout the year.  An interesting statistic, my readership has suffered for that too.  Looks like I need to get back to my gadget roots here.

7. New Music Games
Why do I keep this so general? Well, there were a few music games I picked up this year, and each had something I loved. First, I have to say, I’m disappointed that no Rock Band 3 came out in 2009, but I’m sure it will be stellar when it does. Guitar Hero 5: This is possibly the best party music game of the year. With drop in/drop out play, it’s great for parties. Also, the ability to have 4 players on any instrument is great. Especially at my house right now, where if one person sings, everyone wants to sing; or if one person plays guitar, everyone wants to play guitar. Though the soundtrack didn’t grab me, and all my DLC is on Rock Band, so the game didn’t get much rotation. The Beatles Rock Band: This showed us what Rock Band 3 might be like, with 3 part harmonies. This game is beautiful, we all know enough about it. Guitar Hero Van Halen: This is my favorite music game to play this year. You say. “WHAT?!?!” I love classic Van Halen. Activision, screwed the pooch in it’s implementation of the story and the band, but the songs and charting are fantastic. What’s missing? The same thing as all GH games, DLC. Finally, Lego Rock Band: It’s so much fun to watch the cut scenes, and play Super Easy mode with the little kids. Plus, the import/export of your existing Rock Band library makes this a fun game.  Though, I would have rather seen Rock Band 3 over all of these, it was a decent year of flooded music games.

6. Slacker Radio.
The streaming music service available via web browser, stand alone desktop client, iPhone, BlackBerry, and some select Sony TV’s, has been a staple of mine since I learned of the service in late 2007. With the Slacker Radio application for BlackBerry release on February 2009, it truly became my de facto music source for the entire year.  I use it via my web browser at work. I use it in the car via my BlackBerry plugged into my stereo AUX jack, I use it at home via Berry or computer, and when I travel. I’ve made several custom stations including a Rock Band station that I update regularly with all the songs available for the game. 2010 definitely looks to be a year where Slacker continues to be part of my daily obsessions.

5. Rock Band DLC.
Rock Band 2 came in at #2 on my 2008 list, and I had anticipated that Rock Band 3 would have come out in 2009.  Well it didn’t but guess what did? Over 370 songs available for download into Rock Band. I didn’t play as much as I would have wanted (due to moving and life), but the abundance of weekly DLC from Harmonix has kept this game (Rock Band 2), although now getting a little long in the tooth, from passing away.

4. Drumming Stuff.
This is a continuation from 2008, where drumming made my top list.  This year I successfully built (though not yet completed) a custom electronic drum kit. It’s custom because, I purchased it piece mail via auctions on eBay. A stand here, a pad there, etc. I’ve also used an old “brain” or module (the Yamaha TMX) to connect the kit via MIDI to the Guitar Hero World Tour drum kit.  Now, all my video game drumming takes place on a professional electronic drum kit, instead of the cheap’ish plastic kits that are available for the game.  Due to moving for much of the year, I haven’t used the kit since May, but am in the processes of setting it back up in the new place.  In 2010, I plan to buy some more components to round out the complete pro kit, and write some posts (with photos) on how to build the DIY pro kit.

3. New Music.
Last year, GNR with the release of Chinese Democracy made my top list.  This year, I could put in a single album in the list, though I will span this to cover the few albums that got me a bit obsessed this year. At the top, is Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown. Sure, it got trashed by the GD purists, but I love it. It’s a great listen, easily digestible, well told story, and similar to their American Idiot album. Next is Dream Theater’s Black Clouds & Silver Linings album. I was hooked pre-release due to my resurgence of interest in the band, thanks to Panic Attack and Constant Motion in Rock Band. The new album is 6 songs, but more than 70 minutes. The songs are extremely long, you do the math.  I mostly appreciate the fact that the album was released with a 3-disc set, containing instrumentals and a bonus disc of covers. We also got 311’s Uplifter this year. It was more of a downer than an uplifting experience, as it was just bland.  But, I did obsess over it, so it makes the list.  Finally, Dave Matthews Band release of The GrooGrux King.  Good old DMB. Nothing exciting, just a good listen. The album came out shortly after the death of saxophonist LeRoi Moore.

2. Prototype.
This game (for PS3 and Xbox 360) got trashed by just about everyone. Worse, it’s near clone, inFamous (for PS3) made it into many pro game journalists top 10 of the year. For me, Prototype was the most played game (excluding rhythm games) for me in 2009. I bought it in July when Amazon had a one-day sale, for $40. It was during a time where I was “without home” and no place to setup my Rock Band lair, so needed something else to pass the gaming time. This game is a sandbox (New York City), much like GTA IV, where you are basically evil and trash anything and everything in your way.  There’s a ridiculous amount of multi button combos, which does take some getting used to. But for me, this 3rd person game has taken more than 40 hours of my year, and I still haven’t finished it or reached 50% of the achievements. It’s not without its issues. (1) There is no Xbox Live component. Which is ok for me, but now that I have played much of the story and some of my friends have picked up the game, we’d really like to play online together. (2) You can’t leave NYC. If you try to cross a bridge or swim away from the island, God sends in an immediate missile strike and you are killed. Towards the end of the game, there is a hint that you get get to a ship, but I haven’t made it yet. (2) There is no DLC. This is a real drag, since the game could really leverage a new downloadable map, possibly some new combos, or something. I would likely pick up DLC if it were ever released. I stand by my words that this is a fun game to play. Find it in the bargain bins and enjoy.

1. You, the readers, and authors.
Thanks for those readers who have stuck around during some transitions of 2009.  Thanks to some of my part-time (and near full-time) authors that write posts.  It’s been another fun year of obsessions, and more to come in 2010. I hope to grow the site in different ways this year. Not yet sure how, since It’s a kinda “fly by the seat of my pants” blog.  I’m happy to see some people taking advantage of the Store offerings we add to various posts (sponsored by Amazon and Google), and just glad to see that people enjoy reading and discussing the same things that I obsess about. Thank you!

With that, we’ve come to the end…

Happy New Year!

Please share your top obsessions in comments below.

I use a BlackBerry Bold 9000 on AT&T. This is a corporate device, and it’s connected to my companies BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), for over the air (OTA) syncing of email, calendar, contacts, and tasks.

A few months back, I opted to upgrade my Bold’s operating system to a leaked version of the BlackBerry OS.  After it was complete, my Bold started showing signs of syncing issues.

In a quick detail it goes like this:

• I delete an email from Outlook, and it does not automatically delete (aka Reconcile) from the Inbox on the Bold.
• I open an email in Outlook, and it does not automatically mark as opened on the Bold.

These things used to work, prior to upgrading the OS.  On the flip side, if I open or delete an email message on the Bold, it does reconcile within Outlook.  So, this is saying the there is some sort of syncing, but it’s not fully working both ways.

I’ve done many tests, including following RIM’s Knowledge Base suggestions of KB 10939.  I’ve gone as far as to wipe the device (aka remove all the data, applications, and OS; and reinstall an official OS and every app from scratch. I’ve even tried exploring deleting/undeleting messages in Outlook.  None of these options resolved the issue.

This morning, as I continued to troubleshoot, I stumbled on a tip that suggested I toggle Wireless Reconcile from on/off and then from off/on.  Interestingly, doing this process, cleaned up the Inbox on my Bold to match Outlook.

The steps to do this process are below (which I suspect are similar for any BlackBerry):

1. On the BlackBerry, open the email application.
2. In the menu, select Options > Email Reconciliation.
3. In Email Reconciliation, change Wireless Reconcile to Off, and then Save.
4. Return to Email Reconciliation, change Wireless Reconcile to On, and then Save.

The above steps forced my Inbox on the BlackBerry to match the Inbox on Outlook.

As a follow-up test, I created a new email message in Outlook and sent to myself. As expected, the message arrived in both my Outlook and BlackBerry Inbox. I opened the message within Outlook, but the message remained unopened in the BlackBerry Inbox. Grrr!

So, I’m able to to a one-time clean up by using the steps above, but I’m still not able to get the Reconcile feature to automatically update the BlackBerry Inbox.  My plight continues…

If you have any suggestions, please post below.

First off this is NOT a review of any kind. I am in no way responsible for anything stupid you may do as a result of the information below (i.e. get thrown out of a Verizon store for being an unruly nerd customer).

My girlfriend and her mother both purchased this phone on Saturday. Of course I went with them to make sure they did not get suckered into any extra services or accessories and because I also am very interested in buying it, but am not eligible for an upgrade yet.

The process was fairly smooth, but obviously something interesting happened or I would not be writing this to Shawn’s blog right? As usual, the sales rep synced their old contacts to their new Droid phones and then promptly asked for their email address and password. Obviously this raised my attention, and after a short ‘discussion’, I was informed that he (the sales rep) is ‘not allowed’ to let any Droid device leave the store without a synced email account on the phone due to “how the data plan works”. Clearly, he has no clue what is going on and management has told him to do something, so he does it.

If it was me purchasing the phone, he would have been dealing with a PITA engineer for a customer. Luckily my girlfriend and her mother don’t use their email for anything important, so they handed over their credentials and let the sales rep go out back and sync the devices. No issues have occurred as a result.

So when it comes time for me to purchase, I plan on:

1)Claim I don’t have an email account and see what happens…

OR

2)Create a dummy gmail account to sync with the phone, change it myself as I see fit after I leave the store.

OR

3)Change my email’s password to a temporary password, change it back when I leave the store

AND

4)Attempt to swindle the device out of the sales rep’s hands in order to configure the device myself (This is the best case, and what I will try first).

This was at my local Verizon store, mileage may vary elsewhere.

Take it for what you will…

-Steve

The browser based version of Slacker Radio has been updated, with some great features. I haven’t seen the release notes, but have noticed my own list of improvements:

• Improved Searching. More of just a UI update, that breaks out searching into bands and songs.
• Twitter integration. Allowing auto-tweets when you start a station, add a song as a favorite, ban a song, or ban an artist.
  • This is a very cool feature for me, the Twitter and Slacker nerd that I am.
• Sharing feature has updates (including the above mentioned Twitter integration). URL shortener for Tweeting or Facebooking, 2-click emailing stations, and a new Embed feature (see the embedded Rock Band station below).
  • Embed is pretty awesome, as this now allows you to embed a fully functional station within a web page, as I will regularly do now here at www.MyGGGo.com).

Small Embedded Slacker Player – with my custom Rock Band station.

Wicked Big Embedded Slacker Player – with my custom Rock Band station.

I’m not much of a Sidekick user/fan, but I am a security junky.  Looks like there was a major outage with T-Mobile’s Sidekicks this week, which resulted in lost data…and very unhappy customers.  Read the article from SANS with additional links.

A server failure appears to be responsible for a massive data loss affecting T-Mobile Sidekick customers. The outage occurred at Danger, a Microsoft subsidiary, which is the Sidekick data service provider. Users lost contacts, pictures, and saved email messages. While it is possible that some data could be restored from a backup system, most is likely gone forever. T-Mobile has suspended sales of Sidekicks for the time being. The company is offering customers a one-month credit to their accounts to compensate for the data loss. The data loss affects customers who conducted a hard reset – removing their phones’ batteries or pressing a reset button. The customers attempted the hard reset because of outages affecting the devices all last week.
-http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33278150/ns/technology_and_science-securi ty/
-http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9139261/T_Mobile_sidelines_Sid ekick_in_wa
ke_of_data_debacle?taxonomyId=1
-http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2009-10-12-sidekick-data _N.htm
-http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/smartphones/showArt icle.jhtml?
articleID=220600351
-http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2009/10/sidekick_users _see_their_
data.html
-http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/11/AR200 9101100109_
pf.html
-http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2009/10/12/tsr.tmobile.loses.da ta.cnn
Editor’s Note (Ullrich): So much for storing your data “in the cloud”. A local backup sounds like a great idea again. (Pescatore): Ah, the monthly reminder that consumer grade services do not live up to business class needs. (See definition of “extremely rare data loss” in the Apple item below.)]