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Showing posts from June, 2010

Slim XBox 360

Wow, am I ever impressed with Microsoft this year. They have re-designed the XBox 360 to be slimmer, quieter and packed with built in features not previously included in older models. But l will admit and I hope Microsoft will admit as well that they pretty much copied the PlayStation 3 (PS3) in terms of included features. The new XBox 360 now includes wireless adaptor, a bigger hard drive that i looks to be internal and removable…however, I don’t think you can stick a SATA laptop hard drive like with the PS3. Hell, the new XBox is even BLACK just like the PS3! These changes are exciting and should rack up more console sales. I think for the first time, I can say ‘PS3 beware’. Another new add-on to the XBox is Kinect. Due to Kinect, I am re-considering selling my XBox 360 console. However, I’m not going to cover Kinect right now, we’ll save that for a future post.

Over-The-Air (OTA) Where I Live

My location outside of Toronto for OTA broadcasts. A lot of people who are reading my articles on over-the-air (ota) broadcasts in and around the Toronto region are probably inquiring where I live. Just check out the map for the red circle, it’s the general area where I live and receive ota broadcasts from Toronto and Buffalo. From my location, I’m using a 4-bay Channel Master antenna, but recommend readers to go with an 8-bay. If you’re north of my location you MUST get an 8-bay antenna. 8-bay antennas are suited for fringe areas which is 75km away from the television broadcast source. Once again let me stress that the higher the better, if you don’t have a chimney, look for a tri-pod mount that will sit right at the peak of your roof.

Over-The-Air (OTA) Toronto

Today, another antenna was erected. An ‘antenna’ you ask? The very same antenna that entertained us before cable television (tv). Why is there a shift BACK to over the air transmissions? Because it’s free, it’s the same crap you PAY FOR when subscribing to BASIC cable, the signal is now DIGITAL which allows the transmission of high definition (HD) surround sound broadcasts, and it’s FREE!! I read an article recently, and in the United States, 1 in 8 cable subscribers are erecting an antenna and canceling their cable service. I don’t know what the stats are for Toronto, but myself, my dad, my brother-in-law and 4 of my friends have re-discovered high quality television for FREE! Now let me remind you that you will not get specialty channels (FoodTV, TSN) just local programming from Toronto and Buffalo (Grand Island, New York). But there’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with local programming! ALL THE PRIME TIME entertainment you’re used to on cable is available over-the-air!! Let me repeat th

Photography: Free RAW Workflow Applications

The following is a list for FREE RAW Workflow Applications for you digital photographers out there. There are several types of applications for Windows, MAC and Linux. I hope you find some of the useful! UFRaw http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/ O/S: Windows, Mac & Linux The Unidentified Flying Raw (UFRaw) is a utility to read and manipulate raw images from digital cameras. It can be used on its own or as a Gimp plug-in. It reads raw images using Dave Coffin’s raw z conversionutility – DCRaw . UFRaw supports color management workflow based on Little CMS , allowing the user to apply ICC color profiles. For Nikon users UFRaw has the advantage that it can read the camera’s tone curves. Even if you don’t own a Nikon, you can still apply a Nikon curve to your images. Dcraw http://www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/ O/S: Windows, Mac & Linux Dcraw mission: Write and maintain an ANSI C program that decodes any raw image from any digital camera on any computer running any operating system. Th