Monday, December 17, 2001

StylusPlus for Christmas -- 6:27 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Back in June of 2000 (story), I purchased a Stylus+ pen for my Visor. It's a stylus, pen, and mechanical pencil all in one. My graffiti recognition increases dramatically when I use it, especially since my writing hand isn't what it used to be (story). I like it so much, I bought one for my brother-in-law last Christmas.

At any rate, Stylus plus.com has them on sale for $8.50 which is less than I paid for mine at Office Max a year and a half ago. It's a steal. to top it all off, they have free shipping through the end of the month. While you are at it, pick up some ink refills. I find that I use mine all the time and I burn through them like nobody's business.

I recently ordered some black ink refills, pencil lead, and replacement erasers. They arrived today. I was a little concerned because the stuff I ordered was in a little envelope placed inside a regular, non-padded, envelope. Everything made it here fine and they even threw in an extra ink refill for free. No affiliation, just a very satisfied customer.

RtCW Follow-Up -- 9:07 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I fiddled with a few of my settings in the Return to Castle Wolfenstein demo last night. I noticed that by default the geometry was set to "high". I moved it to "medium" and turned on lightmaps instead of the default vertex lighting. That made all the difference in the world. It still taxes my system something fierce, but it looks a lot better and it is playable.

The catacombs level is pretty freaky, although on my monitor it is almost impossibly dark. I realize it is supposed to be dark and foreboding, but it is almost impossible to see anything. I cranked up the video card's gamma to compensate. That washed things out a bit, but at least I could tell where I was going and what I was supposed to be doing.

The AI is certainly a lot better than most games I've played. The fact that you can use stealth to your advantage is a nice touch. Unfortunately, I think many reviewers are going through the game with guns a-blazin'. That's fine, but from what I've seen from the demo, you'd miss an awful lot. My $.02. $18.24 Canadian.

J.t.Qbe comments: I tried the demo again yesterday and the video annoyances (I have an ATI Xpert 128) seemed less annoying than before. It certainly is a nice looking game and the demo was pretty enjoyable. I noticed that Circuit City has it on sale for $35 or so this week. I don't think I'm going to buy it myself, though.

Sunday, December 16, 2001

A Lion Victory! -- 9:49 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

You die-hard Lions fans (both of you) naturally recognize the headline as the final words of the Detroit Lions' fight song. My beloved Lions got off the schneid today by beating the Minnesota Vikings at the Pontiac Silverdome. And there was much rejoicing. The only question is: what is Jay Leno going to do for material now? Not that I really care . . . I prefer Letterman.

J.t.Qbe comments: There is much rejoicing in Michigan too. Especially among those of us who have had to live in Minnesota for the last 6 years--the Lions haven't been able to beat anyone this season, but they beat the Vikings! I don't care for football, but this made me happy.

What's Next for Palm? -- 1:00 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

For some, it seems like PalmOS PDAs are doomed to be crushed by the monolith that is Microsoft and their PocketPCs. Jeff Kirvin thinks it doesn't have to be that way. Check out his article entitled Dance With The Girl That Brung Ya. In it he makes some compelling arguments on how PalmOS devices can survive, yes even thrive, without making a direct assault on Redmond. I've always felt this way, but he states things more clearly than I could.

J.t.Qbe comments: This article brings up some very good points. I hope that Palm does keep its focus as it moves ahead. Not everyone wants a full PC (with its cost and its Windows) in his pocket--if my Visor doesn't do what I need to do, I probably need to go sit at my PC anyway.

Past Two Days' News

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