I created a ma.gnolia account which is a new social bookmark manager to one up with del.icio.us. The experience is a little nicer on the surface, but it doesn’t really seem to add anything to the del.icio.us formula.
I want
- in-line editing of bookmarks so when I am viewing my list of bookmarks I can edit things like title and tags quickly and keep jamming through them all
- proper page titles so I can use my browser’s history. Every page is titled “Ma.gnolia Social Bookmarking: Search and Find Web Sites & Build Community Online” which does not help me when I am looking through my history or have multiple tabs open
- better searching and sorting of tags so I can search for all bookmarks tagged with “pug” and “play” and see just those bookmarks tagged with those two tags. Or more options like the ability to sort a list of bookmarks by tag, by date, by popularity etc.
- discussions in groups, I am not sure what the point of ma.gnolia’s groups feature when I can’t discuss any of the bookmarks added. I suppose it is nice that the links are edited so in theory you will only see the very best of the bookmarks out there
- speed, Del.icio.us is really really fast, ma.gnolia should be too. Its text!
I like
- that it backs up every bookmark I add so when that tutorial I bookmarked a year ago is taken offline I will still have a copy of it.
- the design, it’s very easy on the eyes, every piece of content is spaced perfectly and the colors are calming.
- the tagging system and that I can tag my bookmarks with more than one word.
Check out ma.gnolia and decide for yourself, and while your at it give me some advice on what LCD TV to buy.
Monica and I drove to Washington DC this weekend to see She Wants Revenge at the Black Cat. Their live show didn’t dissapoint. The singer had great stage presence and seemed to act out each song while singing or playing guitar. I can’t say the same for the guitar and bass players as they both seemed a little bored. The show was well worth the five hour drive and $100 hotel room to see. They will be in Pittsburgh in April I think.
Before the show we spent a few hours at the National Zoo which was pretty fun, the pandas were really cool and seemed more active than your average sad zoo bear. Not bad for free, but I still love the Pittsburgh Zoo and Busch Gardens Tampa.
Qdoba Vs. Chipoltle
I had my first Chipotle burrito this weekend as well. The comparison to Qdoba has to be made since the two restaraunts are the same concept. Fresh Big Burrito Action. So, how was it? Pretty good. Was it as good as Qdoba? In my opinion, no. I prefer Qdoba’s rice, beans and sour cream to Chipotle’s. But would eat either any day of the week.
IGN XBOX 360 has an article which talks about the upcoming Ghost Recon Advanced War Fighter. The game’s designers seem to have put a lot of thought into the game, and what would make it a next gen title. They address one of my main complaints about a lot of games recently, and thats loading screens. They have taken out the loading screens and the concept of levels and thrown it away in favor of a more immersive experience. Each mission is linked together by a helicoptor moving you and your squadmates to a new locale, and a new mission. You are never pulled from the game experience to load a new level! Something I wish Call of Duty 2 would have done better.
According to this post Microsoft now expects you to pay for a new Windows license everytime your motherboard is upgraded. I really don’t get it. Its like they want you to break the law. If I pay for a windows license, and only run it on one PC, whats the big deal?
Between this, all the bs with the High Def DVDs, HDCP and music DRM…I am getting fed up.
Since finding my Xbox 360 I have been playing a lot of games. Never before (since the RTCW incident) have I been so into gaming, I blame achievements and gamerscore for that. But is the system truely next gen? I am going to review some of the games that I have been playing and compare them to the current gen games.
Project Gotham Racing
Let me preface this review by saying that I have never before been so into a racing game, other than Mario Kart that is. Since buying Project Gotham Racing 2 to hold me over until I bought a 360 I have been truely hooked. That said the jump between the two versions, outside of graphic presentation, is not that big.
What’s next gen about it?
- Graphics and presentation
- In dash view renders each car’s interior for a really immersive experience
- Even better Live! integration
- Gotham TV
- Achievements
What’s not so next gen?
- No force feedback steering wheel
- Load times are terrible and really take away from the entire experience. You even have to wait for the menu to load after finishing a race.
- No significance to leveling up. I would like to see a training mode that is required for online play, something where you qualify for each level of racing by learning how to drive properly.
- Create a course tracks are hard to race, the turns are marked with faded back markers that are difficult to see. Why are these courses not uploadable and ratable on Live?
Besides the graphics there is nothing in the game that they couldn’t or haven’t already done on the Xbox.
PGR3 is a really great game and I can not wait to see what they can do with the next version when they have more time to develop it for the 360 hardware.
According to Gamespot Half-Life 2 will be released in a series of Episodes from now on, presumably in the same fashion as the soon to be released Sin Episodes.
I am really excited about this, it will mean more great gaming, more often. The Source engine is able to be updated with new features all the time, so the experience will always be fresh.
My only hope is they manage to keep the cost of the episodes at a reasonable level, $20 for 10 hours of gameplay is probably the price point I would be willing to keep paying.
Update – Seems as though if you want to watch next gen DVDs on your PC you will have to purchase it from a large manufacturer due to a $15,000 license fee. Read more.
Seriously though, as if we weren’t already treated with enough contempt, we have to deal with one more thing in the move to HD. HDCP is yet another way to control how and where we watch content we purchase legally.
The fact that I won’t be able to watch my HD-DVD or Blu Ray disk on my PC without a new video card and maybe monitor really bugs me. Its not like I need it because playing back the video is very hardware intensive, its just so the movie studios can control it.
HD Beat has a better explanation
