Topics

61

Unwashed Village / U.S. Govt to Stop AT&T and T-Mobile Merger, Woa

« on: August 31, 2011, 10:17:14 PM »

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-Moves-to-Block-ATT-Merger-nytimes-2904609364.html?x=0


"The complaint, which was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, said that T-Mobile "places important competitive pressure on its three larger rivals, particularly in terms of pricing, a critically important aspect of competition."

I didn't even hear about this. I'm glad they're watching our back, for once.

62

Unwashed Village / Maybe finally an alternative to cable TV

« on: July 16, 2011, 06:38:48 PM »

   I've been looking to free myself from the kung-fu grip of Satellite TV for a while and I finally may have found a decent alternative.

http://www.boxee.tv/

Boxee. Very nice Free Software, still in beta though. They even sell a separate box for $200 that comes preinstalled with the software, or you can download it for Free. It basically searches a bunch of sites with free (legal)  movies, TV shows and music (including on your hard drive)  and puts them in a very nice organized list. A lot of the movies are indie, and most of the TV shows you're not going to get acess to every episode, but for being free it's pretty awesome. The only bad thing is, no HULU support (yet..?)! The GUI is very nice, and its pretty snappy. You can even use your iphone as a remote with an app.
    I never really bothered with watching shows or movies on the net because of the amount of searching involved, but this is really easy and might just change my mind.

                On a second note: Why can't more TV shows be like South Park and put every episode including the movies streaming on their website for free!? (supported by a few ads). Especially older shows and cartoons that are never on standard cable. I hope we can get to that point someday.

Ed: I promise I dont usually sound like Vince Offer. I'm just pretty excited about this.

63

Unwashed Village / Google+

« on: July 11, 2011, 11:42:12 PM »

Apparently, theres a lot of noise about http://www.google.com/intl/en-US/+/demo/ <<< a new social networking site: Google+

To those of you who use social networking sites (or even those who dont), what do you think? It's still in beta-testing phase, but some people predict it could become HUGE super fast and PWN Facebook, just from namesake. (http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gross-google-will-get-100-million-users-2011-7)

 Personally, i've been slipping out of the scene. I deleted my Facebook recently when I realized that I totally don't care about what anybody else is doing.
     I think social networking sites as a whole are going to suffer a sharp decline in the next 2 or 3 years. Maybe not right away, but unexpectedly, I think a lot of people will just lose interest. Maybe some people will freak out and call it a "social internet bust" or something.

      I don't know about Google+. Even if it has more cool features and the trademark ease and simplicity of a Google product, I seriously doubt that it could convince hundreds of millions of people to switch.
       And Facebook has a different founding history. Essentially, one underdog College Geek (practically a household name) who never intended on creating a massive internet corporation with the worlds most powerful social networking site. Just a way to replicate the social college experience online.
       Google is different. The creator and owner isn't one college kid a lot of people could relate to, it's a faceless company-from-the-future here to own the internet, who pretends to be your best friend but sells your soul to advertisers, without you knowing. At least that's kind of how I see it.
    I hate to make this sound like a paranoid anti-Google rant. But over the last few months I've realized just how much property on the virtual-front they actually own. Google search/docs/maps/earth, Gmail, Chrome (and Chromebook), Sketchup, Youtube, Android, Picasa and others. I guess paranoia is the reason I switched from Chrome browser to Opera (which is underrated).

Anyway, what are your thoughts on Google+, the company in General, the inevitable life takeover by our Googillian overlords from the future etc?

(P.S. The Social Network is an amazing movie that I recommend to all of you. I really had low hopes for it, a "movie about facebook" sounded very stupid, but I was shocked at how good it was. And I think that pre-doubt is why a lot of my friends won't see it. One of my favorites Ever.)

64

Unwashed Village / World Travel

« on: February 25, 2011, 07:09:32 PM »

       So, in a couple of months i'm going to Japan, probably in the south Kyoto, to travel for a year or so without very much money at all. Never been outside of the U.S. Meaning that i'll have to do a lot of preparing etc. Kind of my rebellious trip while I take a break from school. I don't expect much, just to get a feel for what else is out there.

   A new topic. Where would you like to go anywhere in the world? Or what is your favorite memory of a place you've traveled before?

     Not having traveled much, my favorite traveling memory was going to visit family alone in New Hampishire (the US state) two summers ago. It was a hell of a trip, and the New England coast is quite different from the Midwest. The plane ride there was hell, I went surfing for the first time (in frigid water), Saw Paul Mcartney perform in Fenway park in Boston and partied with rockstars at a private party afterwards, and had fresh Maine lobster at a beachhouse at sunset.

What are your all favorite memories/dreams?

65

Unwashed Village / Online Piracy

« on: February 25, 2011, 06:54:25 PM »

Nothing new, but worth discussing. What are your thoughts on online Piracy? Is it wrong? Is it killing media, or an over feared problem?

     I think that PC game piracy might just kill big developers from the PC, but its been a while since I've played. Its stupidly easy, and most of the pirates have no shame. From what I hear, PC games have been coming out with anti-piracy software that makes them harder for legit users to play. That sucks, and I see these pirates as the biggest assholes around.

        Music: I'll pirate music to my hearts content, but only because i'm a poor college student. It's not all bad because it exposes artists, who can make money other than just through album sales. When I get a decent job, i'll probably buy my share of albums to support those that I like (Even though the record companies take most of it). If you're a music performer, don't get too pissed off that people are pirating your music. Yes, you should get paid for it, but music performance is not something you go in for the money. I'm surprised at how many people are releasing pay-what-you-want EPs.

           Movies: A lot of people do this, but I avoid it. Big budget films cost tons of money to produce, and I feel guilty getting it for free when they are extremely cheap thanks to redbox or netflix.

         Games: Again, I avoid this unless the games are hard to come by legitimately, or so old that the company wouldn't make money from them (roms). They cost too much to design. I don't feel bad pirating roms though, especially ones that I own physically. With the right hardware, I could legally put the image on my computer. How is this any different?

        So how do you all feel?

66

Unwashed Village / So, Has anyone tried Kinect?

« on: February 25, 2011, 06:20:49 PM »

Who's tried Xbox Kinect? Its been out for a few months now. I don't own one myself, but have played a few hours of Kinect sports. I was really impressed! The motion sensing technology isn't perfect of course, but it's damn good. I mean, it can tell when you blink!

I think the technology has a lot of potential. Much more impressive than the Wii. The thing really makes you use your full body, often making you break out in a sweat. Also, me being 6' (2m) tall, I hit the low hanging ceiling fan a couple of times when throwing the Javelin. Could create totally new games types. Too bad it had to come out as expensive equipment late in the Xbox life. If it had been a part of the system from the start, with full body motion sensing from the start, things would be a lot different.

I predict it will go the way of the Wii. For about 2 years games will come out, mostly party and mini-games, nothing too deep. And when the new Xbox is announced or comes out, be a lot of garbage while big developers move on to the new system.

    I think it's still awesome as hell though. And I imgaine that the Playstation 3 Move may have been a bit of a failure, since I havent heard anyone talk about it.

            So what are your thoughts Village?

67

Unwashed Village / Too many TV Ads

« on: January 06, 2011, 05:56:12 PM »

Just something thats really been bugging me. Years ago, I used to watch a lot of (American) TV. I don't watch nearly as much anymore but whenever I do, it seems like there are always way too many commercials. Its annoying when I turn on the TV and there are commercials on when I feel like the show should be on. We pay $60/month for cable, yet sometimes I feel like i'm paying to watch commercials.

Anyone else notice this or is it just me? I don't like Ads in general, but i'm sure stations have been pumping more ad time and shortening shows in the last 10 years. I'll probably look up the stats and see for myself.

68

Unwashed Village / Is there really a UV reference in FO2?

« on: October 16, 2009, 09:37:25 PM »

I found this http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Unwashed_Villagers and thought it was pretty interesting.

Is there really a "Special Encounter" tribute to the UV?

69

Unwashed Village / Movie Recommendations

« on: September 15, 2009, 04:31:25 AM »

So my roommate left me a huge tub full of hundreds of DVD movies. I haven't seen very many in general. Does anyone have any good recommendations?? 

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Unwashed Village / To get the Ball Rolling, What did you do over summer?/Doing Now?

« on: September 14, 2009, 09:32:39 PM »

    To start some shit up, I thought it was time for a fun new topic. Of course, we all have our own lives, but this place needs a little more excitement.

To Begin

   I don't remember my summer very well, honestly. It's all a Haze, but I remember something about; working at Dairy Queen 2 months before getting fired (I called in and got the "You're not on the schedule anymore, shes really sorry" excuse), getting over a girl, building lots of fires in my backyard, smoking more pot than is probably healthy, getting caught, and going on an awesome vacation, which you all are going to read about! 

   Living in a Midwest metropolis, I don't travel much. It's really been a dream of mine to travel the country and the world, to culturize myself more. Last march, a funeral reunited me with distant family I hadn't seen in ages. They told me great stories of life in the coasts, a land I longed to see but imagined it a fantasy. In particular I met 3 Aunts in their early 30 who really took an interest in me. When they invited me to come to a little town in New Hampshire, I scoffed at the idea. I had been there before when I was about 7 yrs, and had amazing memories, but to me it was an impossibility. My parents took what they said figuratively, they weren't going to send me anywhere. But I desperately wanted to 'Get Out' and go...

So I bought 250$ plane tickets, and left in early August for a little town called Rye, NH (Pop. 4000). I could only have imagined that some Unholy Deity did not want me going on this trip, because the outgoing flight could only be described as the "Flight From Hell".

The Flight

   I hadn't flown in over 10 years up to this point, and even with all of the horror stories about the airports, nothing could have prepared me for my Hellish journey. I was supposed to stop once and change planes, instead I had to stop twice and stay overnight in Detroit. Getting past security wasn't a problem, except that they confiscated my contact solution, and waiting for the plane was fine. The hard part was taking off. We had a 6 hour delay, staying in the plane while it was still at the hanger. First it was a mechanical error, then a computer error, then papers had to be filed (The problem was never weather related). When we arrived, I had missed my transition flight, so I was to take another flight to Detroit where I could switch to a 3rd flight to NH.
   The Third Flight was pretty fucked up. The same problem that happened earlier came back; we were stuck in the bay for six hours, but this time the Air Conditioner was broken. 6 Hours without A/C. I'm never flying Northwest again.
   So I get to Detroit at 11 O' Clock and stand in line for another hour to get a free hotel room pass because of my delay. The room was a nice King sweet.
I left Detroit the next morning and the next flight was, ironically, a bit early.

If you didn't feel like reading that shit up there I drew a fun map for you!

   The Trip was great, I went surfing, horse backing, cruised the beaches on a nice racing bike and generally did lots of fun shtuff I've never done before. The most exciting part was going to a Paul Mccartney Concert for free (One of my Aunts is a big Record Exec at Columbia Records in N.Y.) at Boston's Fenway Park, $200 tickets. The whole way there she kept talking about this new band she was working with called MGMT who was headlining for Paul. I'd never heard of them up to this point. The show was absolutely incredible, best concert I've been to. Afterwards we went to a private party at the Boston's House of Blues (I love the city, by the way!) where I met the members of MGMT, who I later learned are getting to be pretty big in music.
   The flight back was fine, thank God.
   Now I'm in college  in Kansas City, Mo, majoring in Architecture (Yes, it's as hard as you've heard). College is really an experience, and being here only a few weeks has already changed me.

V(Building I have most of my classes in)V



Best Story: Toga party I went to Saturday Night. It was fun for about and hour until the cops showed up and Tear-Gassed the house, and hundreds of (drunk) people crammed the hall of the house trying to squeeze their way out.
   Also, I've been using Linux Ubuntu, which is really awesome. It's not perfect, but for being free it rocks. Why don't more people use this?  :inquisitive:

   So my point is: What in the hell have you been up to?
(PS. If anyone is a fan of Fedoras, I just got a fancy one and may post a picture of my sexy mug up looking all mysterious  )

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Unwashed Village / For all You Dwarves Out There...

« on: November 11, 2008, 04:51:32 AM »

http://www.biggerbetterbeards.org/


 :hippy: