Tag: technology

How ‘bout them apples

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I kind of want an iPad.  The new one.  The one called “The New iPad.”  Regardless of if it’s going to one day have an awkward transitional phase to something other than “The New,” when it’s technically no longer new.  In fact, it’s been around long enough to where I wouldn’t consider it very new anymore, already.

But no matter, I still kind of want one.  I’m very much aware of the fact that it’s very much a glorified and extremely expensive toy, but it doesn’t change the fact that I would still like one.  It’s not going to replace my netbook or my laptop as something I could actually brog substantially from, and I don’t even know a whole lot of function I would get out of it.  Maybe I’d play every single Angry Birds level again, pursuing three stars.  Supposedly Final Fantasy Tactics is re-released for iOS, which I’d probably get.  I guess it has substantially better life than my netbook could to watch movies on.  But not much else.  It’s a toy, I know.

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So you want to be a graphic designer 101

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Where’d you go to school?  Savannah?  Parsons?  Ringling?  The Art Institutes of Blank?  Awesome, that’s a great start.  I assume you have mastery of one or several Adobe programs?  Excellent, that’s good to know.

Well guess what?  None of that means absolutely shit when you’re in the REAL working world, because 90% of the jobs you’ll be doing on a regular basis in working America will involve you primarily working with Microsoft Office products!  The holy grail of computer software, that can do absolutely nothing everything for absolutely nobody everyone!!!!!!!

Adobe InDesign may have trounced Quark as the standard within the Creative class when it comes to layout and publishing, but in the Corporate class, InDesign isn’t even worthy enough to take the soiled tissues that the almighty POWERPOINT uses to wipe its ass, and drop it into the toilet for it.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s the sad and unfortunate truth.  PowerPoint is the crown jewel of software greatness, as it’s WAY “easier” than Flash at embedding/playing video files, and so MUCH more “efficient” when it comes to creating forms and performing layout tasks!!

Adobe Photoshop may be an efficient tool amongst you nerds for making your memes and cheezeburgers, editing pictures of cats and putting esoteric jokes on top of existing graphics, but when it comes to true graphic design excellence, look no further than MICROSOFT WORD as the gold standard when it comes to getting shit done.  It only takes a genius level intellect to realize that none of the functions are decipherable without the assistance of Google to look up how the most logical of ideas are executed.  Word does everything.  Photoshop can only crank out lame jokes, while Word CAN WRITE.  Not only can it write, it comes with a library of pre-existing CLIP ART which are fail-proof when it comes to accentuating points and messages.  And you can drag and drop graphics from the internet RIGHT INTO Word, without needing to concern yourself about copyrights and photographic rights!

It’s cute that you guys went to art school or have a wealth of experience when it comes to using “design pro-grams,” but let’s get real, you guys.  If you want to make it in the real world, you got to be able to use the almighty Microsoft products in order to get there.

Another successful Black Friday

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Too easy.  It’s like being pitched a grapefruit to hit.

Although, it was something that kept me laughing for the better part of the day.

I don’t know why I’m writing about Black Friday first, when I’ve got other things that I should be writing first, like my Nanowrimo story that I’m falling behind the pace with, or the baseball column I write every week, but here we stand.

I’ve been awake since 3:00 a.m., and I’ve probably spent around $600 over the last 24 hours.  Some of it is for gift purposes, some of it is for personal indulgence, and some for simply house or useful purposes.  But the good news is that the whole Black Friday experience, which naturally has a very high chance of disappointment, was once again fortuitous for me this year, as it was the last few years I’ve spent Thanksgiving at home, and not traveling.

I bought a new home theater system, since my previous one crapped out on me; note to all, it was a RCA unit, meaning all RCA products are now dead to me.  And the verdict is instantaneously an improvement, as the surround sound on this Panasonic unit is exquisite.  The rest of the stuff I spent money on were mostly clothing, housewares, and miscellaneous things needed around the house, but all in all, I feel good about this Black Friday, and felt an impulse to write about it.  It’s nice to be one not seeking a new television, video game console, computer, tablet or three-item Crock pot, because then the chances of landing what you really want seem slightly better.

Although I thought there would be more for me to write about, apparently there isn’t.  Either fatigue is fucking with my head, or really beyond the ironically humorous visual provided, there really wasn’t that much for me to have written about when I should be saving these words for Nanowrimo instead.

Wireless woes absolved, so now what?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Recently, I dropped a little over $200 in computer parts to turn my cougar machine into something a little better equipped to watch movies and television shows. I felt a good deal of accomplishment in sorting through the hardware, and swapping out the guts of the cougar machine for some faster and stronger components. Just when I thought everything was going to transition seamlessly, it turns out that my really old wireless card simply did not work with one, Windows 7, or two, any 64-bit systems to begin with.

Begrudgingly, I dropped a little bit more money on a new wireless card additionally, and now the cougar is up and running again, and ready for the next steps in becoming an efficiently functioning media box.  So far, I am pleased with the performance out of it, and in fact, it kind of sucks because now all of my older media files that were acquired in the ages when 380-480p were acceptable resolutions, look putrid on my new setup now. Regardless, this is a project that is complete in the meantime.

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Camera upgrade

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

This is the first official picture I took on a new camera I have recently acquired.  The dog has outlived all of my prior cameras, from the Olympus brick, the Olympus Stylus, and my Sony CyberShot which is actually still in use, for dirty, grunt work.  I thought about taking a step up and going into the world of DSLRs, but let’s be frank here; I’m not a pro, I don’t pretend to be a pro, and I’m more about candid, goofy photography, and for such needs, another, albeit better point-and-shoot is all I really need.  Hopefully my decision to stop bullshitting with inferior brands will pay off, and this Canon PowerShot will provide years of superior low-light shots and baseball photos to come.

A barrage of posts will be imminent, also.

The kind of weekend I won’t have for a while

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I stayed up late on Friday and Saturday nights, and slept in on both Saturday and Sunday mornings.  I got my new computer on Wednesday, and finally had the opportunity to wipe it clean and get it up and running.  This is the first new computer I’ve purchased literally, since like 1998.  As far as the rest of the weekend went, it was pretty much just that; messing around with computers, and watching baseball.

I actually feel quite accomplished on the computer front.  I had a general idea of what I wanted to accomplish with my brand new machine, as well as the older LEAURNING machine, and although altogether things didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped it would have, I think I managed to overcome and figure out all obstacles that got in the way, and in the end result, I seem to have accomplished everything I had set out to do.

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Is it really that difficult

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Three times out of four, whenever someone asks me to look at their computer, because there’s something that feels wrong, one of the first things I notice is that their virus protection is out of date, and/or there are critical Windows updates that have gone completely neglected, many of which involve important listed security updates.

Two times out of two, when it pertains to my parents, the neglect has gone way too long, and both machines are plagued with viruses, and/or rootkits that have run so rampant, that they’re pretty much doing their usual pain-in-the-ass job and preventing any scans from running, let alone detecting them.

At the rate things are going now, the game I want to go see tonight will be canceled by rain, the Braves will lose both games to the Mets, I’ll have a hellacious time trying to get back to Atlanta, and my new car will have a window smashed, doors keyed, be on blocks, and radio ripped out.