Mod your XBOX in 10 minutes

Found this good site to mod an Xbox. The XBox is a powerful platform that can be used to store movies, pictures, music to stream to your television. You can set it up to connect to your home network file shares so it is a very cost-effective system. Thing is you need to mod it to unleash its full potential. Look here for the how-to. You can soft-mod it. No need for hardware modification.

Microsoft Battle Plans

Zune makes a big Splash

Zune sales plummet to 5th place in media player market share. I just needed an excuse to post this lovely picture. The Zune really is a brick at a time when the players are shrinking. I guess if its bigger its more substantive. Like Borris the Bullet-dodger said in Snatch,

"Heavy is good, heavy is reliable. If it doesn't work... you can always hit them with it."

11 Tips to boost your Metabolism

I definitely incorporated many of these tips albeit I gathered these over time from other sources. This guy's blog has a good summary of 11 tips that will help you boost your metabolism.

11 Tips

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Respect

"Prince Harry is to be sent to Iraq next year as a troop commander and is likely to patrol the hazardous border with Iran, defence sources have disclosed."

Harry is quoted as saying :

"There's no way I'm going to put myself through Sandhurst and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country,"

Full Article here.


Much respect to you Harry.

Dubai's interesting projects

This guys states "What in the monkey balls is going on over there?!" on his site. He has some interesting pictures of the projects under development in Dubai.

Wondering where your petro dollars go. Take a look.

Will my computer run that software?

I just used CNet's Vista-readiness webtool in conjunction with system requirements labs to analyze my laptop. My lil laptop that could can't handle Vista. As you can see in the image, lappy is a bit too "basic". This confirms my suspicion..not that my laptop is slow, but the next MS OS is even more bloated. My theory is that MS Vista will have Windows 3.1, Windows 95, 98, NT, XP all rolled up together with all their files existing in perfect disharmony. Afterall even with Windows XP you can fireup the original Windows Media Player.

System Requirement Labs has several other tests on their website for other software. Check if your computer can handle the latest game or software package here.

It's official: PS3 is a dud for Sony

I told you so.... ok well this isn't the most scientific, but it appears to be evidence.

Toyota Hybrid Concept Car - 0 to 60 in 4sec

Toyota says it is fantasizing about projecting a price tag of around $35,000 and a 0-60 mile-per-hour time of around 4 seconds.

Damn son.

Some more school

I'm going to start Construction classes in 2007. Why? Why not? I have a deep interest in architecture, construction, and generally redevelopment.

I know many people that have got commercial buildings built for them so this will be a good way to integrate and perhaps even at some point do some large projects. I am not qualified now, but that shouldn't stop me. I can take steps to move forward which is what I'm doing.

What will my role be in the future? I don't know, but I would like it to be in the construction/develpment space. It could be in the finance side, or the actual development. I will probably continue doing what I currently do for several years, but we'll see how it unfolds. My mid-range goal is to apply what I've learned to general contract my own home. It will be a good application of what I learn. I'm sure there'll be mistakes. Better those mistakes be in a small project like a home than a large project leveraged to the hilt with hard time constraints.

Its going to be an interesting 2007! I don't believe in resolutions. After all why wait till the next year to do stuff you want to do now?

Back from India

I'm back from India. I was gone a solid 3 weeks. Not enough time, but that's life.

I drove around today because I needed groceries. Unfortunately its Christmas eve and most stores are closed and I didn't particularly feel like grocery shopping at a convenience store as I need more than bread, milk, and Snickers though I could use some Mountain Dew about right now.

Some observations of contrast I made on my drive today:

• The air is so clean and buildings are not soot-ridden.
• Its quiet. With so many people India has alot of energy on the streets at any time of day.
• My trek seemed boring. The drive was probably the same time-wise, but seemed drab except for the radio blaring, which leads me to the next observation.
• We have more radio stations in the U.S. This is due to the readily available capital in the U.S. Businesses requiring capital are more sparse in India. Even the large industries are dominated by a few large conglomerates.
• When labor is cheap, service is great. In India I can go into a mom & pop store for a coke and the guy will go to the back to pull out a fresh cold coke and also ask me what else I like and make suggestions. I guess this is old-fashioned selling, but it is refreshing. Compare this to Wal-Mart or your typical grocer in the U.S. where you have to walk several blocks to find a human to ask for assistance. Normally they just refer you to walk 4 blocks to your left and the 50th shelf from the bottom.
• The Human element is stronger when the technology becomes more scarce. There is less emphasis on TV and technology in India. Refrigerators are places to store milk and less of a place to store leftovers or processed instance meals. Fresh is the word here. It seems so much more natural than the magic box we reach into filled with hydrogenated soybean products.