Nintendo Wii Update - Official Patch Notes - Sept 1 2009

Nintendo has been busy today... besides the announcement to give the Internet Channel away for free, Nintendo has also updated the Wii today.

• The Internet Channel has been updated to work with Flash 8.

Not as exciting as the free Internet Channel, but it works!

Information about Nintendo Wii updates are available here.

Wii Internet Channel is now Free!

From the Official Nintendo Wii Internet Channel Site...

The Internet Channel is available to download from the Wii Shop Channel today, for 0 Wii Points™. So, if you missed the free launch event in 2006, and didn't pay the 500 points, you can now pick it up for free!

For those who spent the 500 points... don't fret!

Important Announcement

If you have previously used 500 Wii Points to download the Internet Channel, at the end of October we will be offering you the opportunity to download, at no cost, one NES game of your choice (valued at 500 Wii Points) from the Virtual Console catalog. Details of this download offer will be provided via the Wii Message Board and on Nintendo.com soon.

Free Wii surfing for all!

Source Code of Several Atari 7800 Games Released!

Atari Museum has released the code of a few Atari 7800 video games. They also included the tools, and other information to compile the source code.

The source code for these games are available:

• Robotron 2084
• Asteroids
• Xevious
• Dig Dug
• Centipede
• Joust
• Ms. Pac Man
• Commando
• Crossbow
• Food Fight
• Galaga
• Hat Trick
• Sphinx/Nile Flyer/Desert Falcon

More information is available here.

World of Warcraft Trick Jumping - Un'goro Crater to Sholazar Basin

So, I put this video together...

It shows you how to Trick Jump from Marshall's Refuge in Un'Goro Crater to The Sholazar Basin Portal...

You will need a fast mount to be able to do this.

Music: Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield Main Theme
Music Composed By: Bill Brown

This is a pretty easy trick, enjoy....

Video is available here.

HD Version is available here.

World of Warcraft Engineers.. and Northrend Skiing

So, I just added a post to the suggestion forums...

This was the content.

Northrend has a ton of snow, and great mountains waiting to be tamed by.....

Skiers!


So, how about we let Engineers make Ski's and Ski Poles.

These would be usable only on snow or ice surfaces. Maybe restricted to Ice Crown, Storm Peaks, Grizzly Hills, and Sholazar Basin, and Northern Howling Fjord.

1 schematics would be available to both Gnomish and Goblin Engineers...

Gnomish Engineers
-----------------------


If Engineer uses launch may be higher...

( 4 x Froststeel Tube, 4 x Borean Leather, 2 x Walnut Stock, 2 x Handful of Cobalt Bolts)

Goblin Engineers
--------------------


If Engineer, speed is slightly faster....

( 2 x Volatile Blasting Trigger, 1 Handful of Cobalt Bolts, 2 x Overcharged Capacitor, 4 x Cobalt Bars)

These would be sell, and give engineers another way to generate gold.

Morgh (Deathwing) - Grand Master Engineer in Training.

If you think this a great idea, lets get some posts going!

The post is available here.

Rubik's TouchCube

This is a great upgrade to the original Rubik's Cube.



The Rubik's TouchCube, it's sides are touchscreen's that are touch sensitive, so all you need to do is swipe and it moves the panels.

If you made a mistake, you can make it to go back or undo a few moves. It also has the ability to help you if you are stumped. You can also re-scramble the cube by hitting a button. It can teach you how to play, or solve itself while you watch!

The Rubik's TouchCube will hit shelves this fall for $149.99. A lot more expensive then the original Rubik's Cube, but it does have a lot more functionality!

It was featured on Discovery Channel's Daily Planet on April 14th 2009. Video is available here.

You can see a video on the official site here.

Earth Hour - Saturday March 28, 2009 - 8:30pm

FireTech is a supporter of new technology, and technology does use a lot of electricity. So, let's try to help out and shut down your lights for 1 hour on this Saturday. I will be helping out and shutting down my lights and unnecessary electronics for the hour.




Earth Hour 2009 - Sign up for Earth Hour!

Gaming Themes for iGoogle

Google has added a fair amount of gaming themes for iGoogle.

From Google....

Introducing gaming themes for iGoogle

Now you can get themes from your favorite games like Super Mario, Street Fighter, and Spore on your personalized Google homepage. Then add your choice of news, email, weather, and more for a page that's as useful as it is fun.

More information and themes available here.

Nintendo Wii Update - Official Patch Notes - March 25 2009

Sorry for the lag in posts, RL was catching up and keeping me busy.
I've got a ton of posts to keep going for at least the rest of the year ;)

So let the posting begin!

Our good friends at Nintendo have updated to Wii. Menu 4.0 was released today! The biggest upgrade, the Wii can use SDHC Cards now!!

Wii Menu 4.0 includes the following:

• The Wii console can now use SDHC (SD High Capacity) Cards with a maximum of 32GB of storage.
• The SD Card Menu, which allows you to launch titles directly from an SD or SDHC Card, is added to the Wii menu (more info).
• The Wii Shop Channel will now allow you to download titles directly to an SD or SDHC Card.
• The Wii console's Data Management menu has been enhanced to make it easier to copy and move stored items on an SD Card or the Wii console's system memory.
• The Wii User Agreement, which includes the Wii Privacy Policy, has been updated. Because the updated agreement applies to you and your use of the Wii Network Service, you should view the updated version by clicking on the Wii icon located on the lower-left portion of the Wii Channel menu, selecting Wii Settings, accessing the Internet setting, and selecting User Agreements.
• There are other behind-the-scenes enhancements to the Wii console system menu included with Wii Menu 4.0

Information about Nintendo Wii updates are available here.

World of Warcraft - Character Re-Customization

Hmm.. interesting. My wife was entering her game card into the account management when she came across a new feature!!!!

Character Re-Customization

This is what she found....

Welcome to the Character Re-Customization page. This service lets you customize your character's appearance, and includes an optional name change. Please note that each customization costs $15.00 USD per character customized. If you plan on changing the character's name during the customization, please familiarize yourself with the World of Warcraft Naming Policy.

According to the Blizzard FAQ...

Character Re-Customization is a paid service that lets you change an existing character's gender, face, skin color, and other cosmetic features determined by his or her race and gender combination. When you perform a Character Re-Customization, you may also change the character's hair color and hair style (similar to the in-game barbershop) and select a new name, if desired.

So, it looks like the feature that was only a rumor during beta, has actually become official.

You can check out the new feature here.

Linux GPS Software

After a two week trip out to the east coast, I had time to try out some linux gps software on my EeePC. I used a Dell Branded GlobalSat BT-309 linked to my EeePC via Bluetooth.

Core System Software

GPSD - A GPS Service Daemon - this software was the core GPS monitor and was used by all of the other software that I tested. You need to have this installed and working. Witht GPSD running you can hook in multiple applications and let them all share the same GPS unit. The Linux man pages, gspd(1), let you get access to all the information from your GPS Receiver via Telnet.

GPS Applications

List of GPS Software is available here.

I tried out and tested NavIT and GPSDrive and GPSD-Clients.

NavIT was the easiest to use and setup. It hooks into GPSD cleanly. And, you can import maps from OpenStreetMap (OSM) without any issues.
I used NavIT regularly when I was driving around trying to find places.

GPSDrive is nice for watching satellite information and tracking your speed. Setting up the maps is not as easy as NavIT. The interface is also a bit tricky on the smaller laptop screen.

GPSD-Clients is a a set of tools for testing GPSD and making sure the GPS receiver is working. It shows the same information as GPSDrive, but in a simplier interface. The tools include XGPS (GUI) and CGPS (Command Line).