21
Just watched 21 with Romyar. Good stuff- a must see for all Pyslent
members.
Handwritten post
they everyone, I’m board & thought
I’d put up a post written by
hand. I’m enjoying my
new laptop in tablet mode ”
I feel tike Its a big Clie
with the stylus 4 +75 rotating screen.
![handwritten note [320x320].jpg](http://www.pyslent.com/wp-content/oldstuff/handwritten note [320x320].jpg)
Hermosa Beach
One of my rejected entries for DMU March Madness, after some minor Photoshopping and with Kelvin’s suggested crop.
This Week’s This Week in Tech
If you guys have 90 minutes to kill, this week’s TWiT (episode 137 in mp3 form) features a lot of stories of interest to the Pyslent community. Of course, you have to be willing to stomach John C Dvorak, but this week’s other guest was Jason Calacanis, former head of Weblogs, Inc, who owned Engadget back in the day, and current CEO of Mahalo. Of particular interest was some fun vignettes about the inner workings at Engadget, a mention of Jake’s gambling website, and this week’s Audible book recommendation (hint: our first and only Book Club book).
Link to the iTunes subscription.
Pick your favorite
Just shoot me
Updated to add another version. There’s one thing I like more about it than the original.
Hey guys, I need to pick my best photograph from last weekend’s photowalk for a friendly competition, and I can’t decide which one I like best. So take a look at this photoset and let me know which you think are the best. Thanks all.
Lego Star Wars: Awesome!
I first heard about the Lego Star Wars video game when Kelvin commented about it being available for XBox. Only a few years behind the curve in video game adoption, I played the new version (Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy) for a little while at the Apple Store (in the kids’ section) the other day, and it’s awesome! I ended up throwing down my $40 and taking another jump into video games. Joanie just rolled her eyes.
There are two game play modes: “Story” that takes you through the movies (staying very tight onto the storyline), and “Free Play” that lets you take any character through any part of the movie. For example, I’ve played the first 2 of the 6 chapters of “A New Hope” (Episode 4, Star Wars, whatever you want to call it) — the first, “Secret Plans,” allows you to play Princess Leia and Captain Antilles as their ship is captured by the Imperial Star Destroyer. In the course of playing, you meet R2D2 and C-3PO, battle stormtroopers, and the like — up until R2 and C-3PO get into the escape pod and go to Tattooine, ending the chapter. The next chapter starts with the droids meeting Luke, and goes through meeting up with Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The best thing about the game — if you’re into Star Wars (and most people reading this can quote the entire movie, I’m sure), you’ll love the funny take on the story. The tie-in to Lego makes for some really funny scenes — like when Leia is giving the secret plans to R2, and the Lego piece containing the plans won’t fit into R2’s solid head — she opens his head up like a trash can and throws it in! Also, while on the Death Star, you can see Darth Vader using the Force to strangle his subordinates — and their Lego heads pop off! Pretty funny.
Game play itself is pretty fun — there are puzzles to solve and some fun fights (keeping in mind that this is predominantly a game for kids). You can use the Force to move objects (if you’re Obi-Wan, anyway), and using a lightsaber to deflect blaster shots back at the shooter is pretty fun. Later in the game, of course, there will be lots of flying and Death Star destroying. The AV Club sums it up pretty well.
So, next time you’re bored at the mall, head to the kids’ section of the Apple Store and check it out. If you’re on a Mac, the game company has a playable, downloadable chapter of the game that you try out for free. If you’re on a Wii or XBox360, check out Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, which also includes online team play.
There’s also a Lego Indy game on the way…
Picture: The Jedi Mind Trick scene — click for larger image.
New Antenna
In keeping with the general Pyslent theme of avoiding cable and direcTV pricing, we just spent $250 to have this eyesore installed on our chimney (I thought Jake would appreciate this particular style of photography):
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Yeah, it’s a bit ugly from the backyard, but that’s a small price to pay for this kind of reception:
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Teac R2
After about an hour with this thing, I can recommend that anybody needing a versatile portable radio should think about this one.
I had been looking for a set of computer speakers for our kitchen, to hook up to our Airport Express to be used as satellite speakers for our digital music collection. We had an old set of computer speakers in there, which pretty much sucked, as well as a clock radio, since in the morning we often like to listen to NPR in the kitchen. Well, today, I found the Teac R2, a clock radio with an aux input, for $29 at Microcenter (it’s currently $40 at Amazon). The quick review:
- It sounds good. Better than any computer speakers I heard that didn’t have a subwoofer, anyway. I’m not trying to suggest that it’s suitable for audiophiles, but it’s certainly a good kitchen or portable radio.
- It has a built-in rechargable battery. Since our kitchen is right next to the porch, it means we can open the kitchen windows, move the radio there (or out to the porch), and continue to listen without having to find a plug.
- It has an aux input jack. This was key for why I wanted it, but it’s nice even if you don’t have an Airport. It even comes with an aux (3.5mm to 3.5mm) cable, which can be used to plug in your iPod. And with the rechargable battery, you now have a portable iPod speaker that doesn’t sound that bad.
- It has a radio, which is a nice bonus for the speaker-only solution I had been looking for. It also has a jack to connect an external FM antenna, and a wire FM antenna is included (we didn’t need it).
So, it’s a great deal, if you need/want this sort of thing. According to Amazon, its list price is $170, which would be a complete rip-off, but you can’t beat $30. We may pick up another one for the bedroom (it also has two alarms, which we’ve been discussing).
2nd place in Lance’s March Madness!
Wow, I wish te contest ended now! Of course, with my 3 entries, I also hold 289th place out of the 297 entries. I think I’ve been top 5 after round 1 3 of the past 4 years. Could this be the year for Jake? Snapshot after round 1:
The current leaderboard:
Hanging out with Uncle Mike
Hey guys, you should visit me more often! Lucas