I know you’re all looking at me with raised eyebrows right now. Most of the time what I talk about on here is the latest technology, games, and gadgets. So you say to me “Why are you talking about critter control?” Because the last time I was attacked by ravenous rabbits, wolves, or bears in a game was in Stronghold 2 with a custom map I designed that had tons of wolves and bears in the middle to prevent the early rush. No live traps needed though because I set my archers on some high towers to pwn the poor critters.
In real life though I’m not so cruel… nor do I have a legion of archers at my command… or a castle with high towers. So when there’s a pest problem I must resort to more civilized approaches to taking care of it. I’ve never really been that into poisoning an animal who “invades” our home since we’ve really invaded their territory and they are merely trying to survive. I do like to trap and relocate animals if they continue causing a problem though. Which in the rural area we live is a common problem. Besides the woodpecker that likes to hammer holes in the side of our house we’ve had Opossum, Squirrel, Mice, and Raccoon troubles at our house.
I have seen so many ads lately for this new “Combat Arms” online that I just had to try it. Since it’s free I mean why not? I especially have seen a lot since I’ve been doing the flash games project for MTV it’s just strewn all over the internet when you’re on free online game sites. I was slightly confused at first what Combat Arms was since it said it was an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) but the clips all looked like a FPS (First Person Shooter) game. This combination only added to my curiosity, another reason for downloading the game. I figured that the “free” was a trial basis and after a certain period of time you’d be paying for your game play… which was fine by me, if it was good I’d end up buying it, if it was only moderately fun at the end of the trial I’d have had fun but not need to buy it, and if it really sucked I could just uninstall it. None of these options are necessary since Nexon the company that made and supports Combat Arms doesn’t charge anything for any of their games… ever.
I’ve gotten pretty addicted to the game as the MMO part comes in more of a career than anything. With every match you earn experience, and money. The more experience you have the better weapons you can buy (though most are available to you from the start a few are restricted). And of course the more money you have the better weapons you can get your hands on. You buy weapons armor, and other combat gear in number of days, unlike with Counter-Strike: Source where you buy equipment each round.
There is one thing that I do have a huge complaint about in Combat Arms.В And that is the hackers.В Yes every game has it’s exploiters, cheaters, and hackers.В Most of the time though it is bearable.В You either have games like America’s Army where there is an UBER strict anti-cheat program protecting it (I’ve even been accused of cheating and I suck compared to most people).В Or you have games where you can find good servers such as CS:S where I only really play on two or three different servers that have very loyal groups of people on them and will kick cheaters at the first sign of hacks.В With Combat Arms there is no VoteKick or VoteBan option… so cheaters have free reign.В The only way to report them is on their forums, and from what I’ve heard all they do is clear you stats, wipe you money and kills… so there really is no incentive for people to not cheat.
CyberDefender is one of the top players when it comes to virus protection for your computer. In all honesty besides the fact that you get the same protection that you would from places like Symantec for FREE you also get better protection much of the time. I’ve always referred to Symantec as a virus in itself. Any time I go to clean someones computer because of slowdowns they ALWAYS have several things in common 1) Symantec or Norton anti-virus installed 2) Internet Explorer as their primary browser. Both of which I would love to uninstall from peoples computer who don’t need it. Besides the point that many AV programs that you pay tons of money for allowing in large amounts of Virus, SpyWare, and AdWare they also make it extremely difficult to get those programs off once they are on!
Anyways, I’m not here to talk about how bad some paid virus protection programs are, but rather to tell you about a better option! CyberDefender gives you Free Virus Protection that won’t let you down in times of need, and did we mention it was free? With their upgraded service you get: Anti-SpyWare, Anti-Virus, Anti-Phishing, Anti-Spam, and an early detection network all for the low price of $29.99 If you read my post just a little while ago you’ll see that SpyWare, AdWare, and Virus are one of the biggest problems with a slow running computer. You can get basic Anti-Virus protection for FREE with CyberDefender. Plus with the security suite from CyberDefender you get everything previously mentioned plus a one time LIVE technical support call for ANY problem you might have with your computer. Also 2GB of online backup so you can store those precious memories (such as pictures or otherwise) and protect them from loss or damage should your computer be attacked by hackers or plagued with hardware failure.
So I just got my new Logitech Wave Keyboard in the mail today! Kinda sucks because I’ll be at Pirate Fest all weekend, but it’s still nice knowing that I have a brand new keyboard to destroy!В В Ok so maybe not intentionally destroy it but with how much I type every day they always die faster than they should.В Like my Logitech G15 that I’ve just retired.В Although I will very much so miss the on the fly macro keys the comfort of this keyboard is outstanding!В I’ve not been able to test it extensively but so far besides just the major comfort increase I’ve also noticed a 10 word per minute increase in my typing.В I used to average 75 words per minute, and now I’m quite easily hitting 85 sustainable.В Of course I can type faster than that but that also includes coming up with the things to say and everything associated with typing.
I have yet to test the keyboard out in game still… but will get that back to you soon.В I’ll be playing at least a couple rounds of CoH here shortly with Credal to test it out with that… even though keyboard use is limited in that game I do use a lot of shortcuts so we’ll see how it is for me getting used to the quick plant finger association of this board.В That is one thing that I’ve noticed does take me a little while to figure out.В I love the shape of the keyboard when I’m just typing, but when I have to remove my hands from the board and find the keys blindly it’s a little bit slower than with a usual keyboard, which I’m sure will be faster with time.В I also very much so dislike the smaller room between the alpha numerical keyset and the number pad.В It gives less room for the arrow keys, and the delete, home, end, page up, and page down keys… it’ll take some getting used to since I actually used to use the delete, arrow keys, home, and end keys very often.
Most people that I have talked with end up having their computer slow down and become sluggish after a few years of owning it. The longer they own their computers the more it slows down and takes longer to complete tasks that once were nearly instantaneous. This phenomenon comes from a number of places:
Drivers out of date
Driver corruption
Virus, SpyWare, and AdWare
Physical parts such as RAM, CPU, or Hard Drive failure or depletion
All of these situations can be avoided, or repaired of maintained properly. If you allow any one of these problems to pile up your computer will inevitably slow down. All of these problems will also affect one another. Such as a piece of AdWare may also infect a driver and when uninstalled, deleted, or quarantined it may corrupt that driver. When you have corrupted or out of date drivers the software or hardware they run will not function properly. Likewise a slow running computer because of hardware malfunction is more likely to catch Virus, SpyWare, or AdWare because your protection software such as AVG won’t be able to run fast enough to stop the intrusive software. What I do to keep my computer running in top top shape is:
Check for driver updates frequently
Reinstall drivers for programs or hardware that is malfunctioning
Run AVG’s free Virus scanning software, AdAware, and a few other MalWare protection programs
Clean the inside of my computer twice a month, and run multiple high powered fans
**disclaimer** I don’t actually own THIS case it is only a review from my perspective as a previous Lian-Li computer case owner. The ABS Canyon 695 review you are about to read is based solely on what I’ve seen in videos and pictures of both the Lian-Li PC-X2000 and the ABS Canyon 695**/disclaimer**
I have owned several Lian-Li cases over the years, currently have a modified PC-70 with four 120mm fans on the side and a BlackIce GTX480 atop.В Personally I would switch to this case if it weren’t smaller than the PC-70, don’t think I want to buy a new watercooling radiator.В This is a PC-X2000 and if you want to have the actual Lian-Li brand you can find them.В The only difference from the X2000 and this case is the logo so you can also buy all the add-ons and extras directly from Lian-Li.
This isn’t the ultimate case that Lian-Li has built.В They have gone about claiming it is, but really it’s not.В It has a great design, I love the side slots for cd/dvd drives.В The fact of the matter though is that this case is not as big as many other Lian-Li cases.В It only fits six hard drives, only two optical drive slots, and it’s short.В The length of this case is another thing that worries me and why I wouldn’t dare switch from my PC-70.В Most 1kw power supplies like my PC Power and cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW won’t fit in shorter cases like this.
In conclusion if you’re the type that doesn’t like modifying your cases and wants something quick and easy that will do more than just an adequate job this is the case for you.В If you plan on having an internal watercooling system, or want to do extensive modifications this is not the case for you.В If you want a quick hotswap bay for six hard drives this is your case.В If you want to run more than six hard drives, or non-standard hard drives such as the VelociRaptor from Western Digital, this is not the case for you.В If you like good cooling for your computer more so than just enough to get by, and maybe want to do some moderate overclocking this is your case.В If you are totally obsessed with cooling like myself using four Delta TFB1212GHE fans, quad 120mm fan radiator, and like to go to the extreme with your overclocking this may be your case with some slight modifications.
In my quest for Viacom to find the most addicting and well ultimately for them profitable Flash Games I’ve run across quiteВ a few interesting picks.В One of them being Castle Wars, a very simple card based battle game.В Of course being card based there is a lot of luck that comes into play, but it also very much so boils down to skill.В Interpreting your opponents next move, playing the right cards at the right time to achieve ultimate victory.
Castle Wars Ultimate Vicotry
This was a screenshot of a game that I played that admittedly was very lucky, but also played in a lot of skill in defeating the computer.В I started the game off with a Curse on hand, a Wizard card, and two conjure crystals cards.В After conjuring the first set I summoned my new wizard giving me three to play with.В I soon after got another wizard card and summoned him as well giving me four wizards, and also had before hand summoned a builder and a soldier so it was already three builders to his two, three soldiers to his two, and four wizards to his two before he had even done 10 damage to my fence. This is a pretty rare case, but because I got even more conjure crystal cards within the first 12 moves of the game I was able to curse him dropping his stats down to two builders, one soldier, and one wizard where as I had four builders, four soldiers, and five wizards.В Soon after getting the chance to curse him again.В The reason I have so much stuff in the end is because I wanted to kill him off rather than win by way of building my castle too tall.В I kept getting building supplies, and after two dragons, a banshee, and a curse from him I decided that it was finally time to just finish the game.
You can play Castle Wars at it’s home on XGenStudios.com
(I have the older 2005 model, and glad I do since the G keys is what makes this keyboard for me)
If you noticed my last post was about me getting a new keyboard… honestly the only thing that’s kept me from getting a new keyboard for so long is that I really love my Logitech G15. В Don’t get me wrong, I would LOVE and I do mean LOVE to have an ergonomic keyboard, however… that would mean giving up my favorite feature of all time: G keys. В The Logitech G15 has a feature that as a webpage designer is near and dear to my heart, instant recording macro keys! В All you have to do is push the “MR” key, the G key you want to assing the macro to, and type out your macro. В After you’re done you can repeat the macro as many times as you need. В I generally used these macros for website addresses that I was using in coding, or lines of code used often such as <strong> or anything else like that, that may be typed in a hundred times in a website. В It just saved time! В I’m giving up my macro keys now though… It’s a sad day for me because I really REALLY liked them. В However, the keyboard is dying, and I really should get a keyboard that is more comfortable to type on for long periods of time.
The Logitech G15 has lasted me a full 3 years, not terribly long, but a while for keyboards under the kind of stress that I put them under. В Besides the fact that I type an average of 81,000 keystrokes per day, they also travel to LAN Parties (as this G15 has seen the most travel of all my keyboards). В Bought in 2005 the day it released from NewEgg I’ve spent a lot of time getting used to this Logitech G15 keyboard… but it’s dying off. В The first sign I had of it dying was that the volume wheel at first would only sometimes work, going from not changing the volume at all to blaring it because I’d get frusterated and just sit and spin it trying to get it to change the volume. В Later the volume wheel stopped working all together. В After that the Esc key started acting erratic, mostly just not working from the many times jamming it five times in a row to skip past all the videos and loading screens of games, also being used for getting out of most games, online videos, etc. В The latest problem I’ve noticed with the keyboard is the LED’s that backlight the keyboard will now flicker going from dim to bright repeatedly until one day I’m sure they’ll quit working all together too.
I don’t really plan on finding that day when they quit working though. В I’ve got an order with the Logitech Wave Keyboard in the works. В Not to be untrue to my gaming roots, but a run with an ergonomic keyboard would be nice! В Maybe I can find a good mini-keyboard that just has macro keys to make me feel more at home when programing.
Ergonomic keyboards are nothing new, though Microsoft has had the market cornered for years (which I don’t know for sure, but I suspect has to do with patents).В One issue has never been solved with the older ergonomic keyboards though, granted they are better than straight keyboards, is the issue of finger length.
Wave Keyboard from Logitech
The Wave Keyboard from Logitech promises to fix that.В The wave is the first ergonomic keyboard to have lowered keys that are struck with the middle and ring fingers.В This design from the wave ergonomic keyboard helps to relieve stress that is presented with the forced straightening of your fingers.В Some of Microsofts ergonomic keyboards do this as well, however they tend to do so because of an extreme angle of the keys… I find this angle to be too drastic and puts stress in other areas.В I like a keyboard with a slight angle and never really thought about it, but there is still stress being put on your fingers when they’re forced to be flat which is why I like the design of the Logitech Wave Keyboard.
Logitech Wave Keyboard
I guess that is why I’ve always liked a little bit of both the extreme angled keyboards from Microsoft that help to relieve the flat finger stress, and the slight angled ergonomic keyboards from Microsoft that help the wrist pain.В I generally go for the light angle ergonomic keyboards, but now I no longer have to choose between the two I will have the best of both worlds.
This is great news for someone like myself who types about 100,000 keystrokes per day.В I’ve already killed off my Logitech G15 keyboard and it’s not even that old.В So it’s about time that it gets replaced, and this time not for gaming, but for comfort.В I would gladly get a DAS Keyboard, but even if the DAS does last longer I can get three Wave’s for the same price and be back at the same level of longitude as far as keyboard lasting time period.В I also don’t yet have the keyboard so I will tell you all how it goes… might make First Person Shooter gaming a little awkward, but we’ll see here soon enough.
I know there are quite a few Red Vs. Blue fans out there! I know I am. It’s one of those things that I don’t visit often because I only really like it when they have new videos, sort of like HomeStarRunner.com just something that I visit once a month or so. And when I’m really feeling zealous I go once a week just to see the new updates.
Anyways seriously though. Voting is serious business. And you should vote because you don’t want to be a Grif. Make sure your vote counts, make a difference and vote.
В Ok so maybe not intentionally destroy it but with how much I type every day they always die faster than they should.В Like my Logitech G15 that I’ve just retired.В Although I will very much so miss the on the fly macro keys the comfort of this keyboard is outstanding!В I’ve not been able to test it extensively but so far besides just the major comfort increase I’ve also noticed a 10 word per minute increase in my typing.В I used to average 75 words per minute, and now I’m quite easily hitting 85 sustainable.В Of course I can type faster than that but that also includes coming up with the things to say and everything associated with typing.
