Author: admin

I want to tell you a little about the XBox Media Center (affectionately known as XBMC).

As you all know, I am slow on the video game bandwagon and finally bought a mod chip and modded my XBox. Matt and Duncan (and others) have already done so years ago and know the knowledge which I only now know..

Have you ever heard of Media Centers? They allow you to view your digital media via your TV in one central location. I won’t go on about the theory of media centers as you will now read what my actual XBMC can do.

Music – I can read music off of a CD, or on a network drive (aka, my computer upstairs and Mike’s computer downstairs). I can have a listing of all the freakin’ music I have in the world, as long as it’s on someone’s computer. I can also go into my iTunes database (how convenient since I already have one set up for use with my iPod!) and access all my files and playlists. For the non-tech savvy, do you know that you can use iTunes to organize all your music on your computer and you don’t need an iPod? You also don’t need to pay for it, it’s free. Try it out today!

I can also go to streaming Internet radio stations for some cool music. I want some Lounge music? BOOM. Done. Jazz? Done. 500 radio stations to browse through. Take that Satellite Radio!

Programs – Heck, I haven’t really played around with this, but the coolest part of this is that you can a) Copy XBox games (alright, it’s illegal. Big deal.) and b) Play emulators. Emulators basically mimic the functionality of the old video game systems you’ve grown to love. Right now, I’ve installed a Nintendo Emulator and loaded up ‘The Legend of Zelda’ last night. That’s right people, I’m not talking about the super-duper Wind Maker version on Gamecube…I’m talking about the original! With a bullet.

Eventually I will download emulators for other vid systems such as Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64. Maybe a Turbo Grafx 16 console while I’m at it.

Videos – My fave option on the whole thing. I download vids a lot. I download TV shows a lot. I don’t really mind watching it on my piddly 17-inch computer screen, but dang it would be cool if I could just watch it on my TV screen downstairs.

Voila! My wish has come true. I just go search for the video files via the network (which are stored on my physical computer upstairs) and they play them! They can even play them in 5.1 surround if someone has encoded the video that way (like the Smallville eps on the Net). And it plays EVERY format possible. We all know there are a slew of formats out there and you need a different player for each…not with the XBMC. Somewhere in the code, they’ve handled all of that gobbledegook…it just opens and plays the vid. Oh my…I am in heaven. I can now watch my eps of Lost that I downloaded.

Pictures: Who needs photo album these days? I just go into the folder I want to view photos in, and hit slideshow. I can even shuffle the pictures. I can even have my music playing in behind them while we watch. This was especially effective while showing Eric last night while popping up some wedding photos along with some acoustic Lifehouse. Tugs on the heart strings I tell ya! Everyone can see the screen – no more just sitting around a little photo album!

Other features:
Weather! Hey, wanna know what the weather is for the next five days? There’s a linkup to the Weather Network right on the Main Menu.
Movie Trailers – Same deal! I can view all the new movie trailers (from the Apple Quicktime website – THE source for new movie trailers) all from my main menu of the XBMC and on my TV.

I have just begun to play around with the XBMC – but it’s the best time (a lot because of the soldering instructions – let’s say 10 hours in total) and money – ($80 for the chip, and $60 for a wireless network card) that I’ve put into a project. I suppose you have to include an XBox in that price also, but it was a gift. Thanks Mom and Dad!

I encourage you to come see what the XBMC is all about and perhaps build one yourself!

I apologize to my tech savvy friends reading this…I always try and make my blog entries non-tech savvy for the others reading it.

Hey hey hey! Here’s another installment of “Ryan is itching to buy something”.

I feel the need to buy things every once in awhile. It is a curse I tell you.

Anyhow, this is the story about how I’m slowly getting hooked on Mac Computers.

I haven’t had much experience with Apple products. It was always “Don’t buy those overpriced pieces of hardware!” and I didn’t.

Then came the iPod. Huh…a neat toy that will be obsolete in 5 years. ;-P

But then I started to hear more and more about what Mac computers can do. For example…being from the musician’s walk of life, I have heard about GarageBand, an easy to use song creation tool that comes with the Mac. Even Nine Inch Nails released a few of their songs in GarageBand format so you can remix the songs with their own individual tracks! That is wild. Alas, I could not play around with it due to no Mac in my possession. But not a real big deal, right?

In the past year, my needs for a computer have changed…I am beginning to burn more and more DVDs and I wish to make them more and more slick looking. Nice menus, good chapter transitions…I am even thinking of turning it into a business one day. Coupled with the ‘I can transfer your old videocassettes onto a DVD”, I could make a few extra bucks.

So I’ve tried to do the ‘create your own DVD’ thing…it’s worked somewhat. A lot of different software to use to get what I want, but never reallly what I want.

Then I read up on the Mac computers and how they are the be-all end-all of video editing and whatnot. I’ve always known this – you always see musicians or film producers with a Mac. Heck, did you know that Napolean Dynamite was edited using Macs? That’s wild.

I mentioned getting a Mac to Benoit when he was thinking of getting a new computer and he dismissed the idea almost immediately but after a few weeks, he had purchased one on a whim and is loving it.

Last night Vero let me play around with her PowerBook (aka Mac Laptop) from work and I was really impressed with it. It’s slick. It’s smooth. And it has some very cool software. Garageband was really fun to play around with and I didn’t even have to read a manual (like Cubase. Gak.)

So…I always told myself my next computer will be a laptop. I don’t think I will buy the power-user Mac laptop (as it’s over $2000), but they will be releasing a new version of the iBook soon enough…in the next few months.

So faithful readers – my quandry (quandary?) is this. I can’t really justify buying this at this moment in my life.

So what does one do when they can’t afford something? Sell something they own!

Give me some ideas of what I can sell off to make this purchase. I was thinking my comic books, but really, that is a long procedure and I don’t think I would make much profit off of them. I was also thinking old computer parts…but alas, I really don’t think old computers are really profitable (unless I find someone who doesn’t know a thing about computers and bail it on them.)

iplaying: Hello Old Friend – Eric Clapton – Crossroads

Taken from Ferda, who took it from Jen who stole it from Jill. Chances are she stole it from someone else also considering our generation has no original ideas, only ideas stolen from the Internet which we sometimes try and pass as our own. But, the good people who are Ferda and Jen have at least referenced their findings. 😉

Four Jobs You’ve Had In Your Life
1. Wal-Mart Greeter
2. Forestry Herbicide Sprayer
3. Burier of bodies at the town graveyard
4. Paper boy!

Four Places You Have Lived
1. Sudbury
2. Cobalt…SCRATCH THIS! Dad reminded me of the coolest spot to live…Abitibi Canyon. Population 30? Maybe 100. Did they even have grocery stores there? I cannot remember. I was 3.
3. Kapuskasing
4. Ottawa

Four Music Artists You Can’t Hear Too Often
1. The Smashing Pumpkins
2. Mogwai
3. The Arcade Fire
4. Mike

Four Favorite Books
1. The Thrawn Trilogy
2. Lord of the Rings Trilogy (including the Hobbit and the Silmarillion)
3. Dune Series
4. The Karate Dojo

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over
1. Legends of the Fall
2. Dazed and Confused
3. FUBAR
4. Napolean Dynamite

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch (currently)
1. Lost
2. Prison Break
3. Alias
4. Smallville

Four Places You Have Been On Vacation
1. Europe
2. Gaspe
3. Florida
4. Boston

Four Websites You Visit Daily
1. www.chartattack.com
2. www.gizmodo.com
3. www.redflagdeals.com
4. www.comingsoon.net

Four Of Your Favorite Foods
1. Steak
2. Grilled Cheese
3. Any kind of sandwich with some mustard and meat inside
4. Lemon Pie

Four Hobbies
1. Listening to Music
2. Playing guitar
3. Going to school. Heck, it takes up most of my time so it must be considered a hobby!
4. Going to the Heart & Crown

Q: Why did Sheryl Crow leave Lance Armstrong?

A: She found someone that owned a car.

Ha!

On a random other note, go to Futureshop.ca here and there are select Buy 1, get 1 free TV Series.

update: As per Ferda’s comment in this posting, I want to draw your attention to my previous posting about TV series on DVD here. Here I outline alternatives to purchasing TV shows on DVD.