Zune » DKMcCUE

I may be an asshole, but BMW drivers have me beat!
Once again I have had a series of run-ins with a BMW Owner who once again thinks they can do whatever the hell they want because they own a BMW. A few weeks ago, I had a BMW owner come racing down my street at top speed, pull up in front of my truck with [...]
Got a new toy for school!
My first two weeks of school have proven to be a bit on the frustrating side. There are not enough public computers on campus for everyone to use, and I realized that I would need to have a computer of my own, but had to wait until the financial money came in to get one. [...]
Kindle 2, iPad 0
I woke up first thing this morning to take a drive to Erie, PA. I was going in search of notebooks for my Livescribe pen (if you don’t have one, you NEED one!) I had looked online for them, and they were out of stock on the Number 1 3-subject notebooks, which is the one [...]
Goodbye, Facebook!
So, it is now official… I am no longer a Facebook user. Facebook and Zynga will just have to go on without my participation in their “spam ‘em and scam ‘em” plot to take over the world. But I have to tell you, the account deletion process is one that makes me think that Facebook [...]
Back to the Homework Grind!
Classes begin again in just 13 days, and to be honest, I am a little apprehensive about it. This semester I will be taking some rather advanced classes in Math and Economics, and I honestly didn’t quite understand the lower classes I have already taken. I am also taking my first ever foreign language class. [...]

Third times a charm, as they say...

Games, Microsoft, Vista, Windows, X-Box, Zune Comments Off

Jun 142010

The interwebs are all a-twitter over what happened at E3 today: Microsoft introduced a new X-Box 360.

And with this introduction (pictures of which can be seen at Engadget) what I have always thought of Microsoft seems to have become true: It takes them 3 tries to get it right.

Let’s look at some examples, shall we?

Windows: Windows didn’t come into it’s own until Windows 3. Before that time, the Windows program was horrible! But when Windows 3 (technically 3.1) came out, Windows became the powerhouse that it is now. Windows would repeat that same process with XP, Vista and 7. XP was okay, but not 100%. Vista came along and looked better, but wasn’t that great. 7 is perfect in almost every way.

Zune: When the 30GB Zune came out (almost 4 years ago now!), the only thing it had going for it over an iPod was the FM radio. I like the radio as an emergency news back-up. Then came the second generation Zunes. They looked better, and operated better, but it still wasn’t 100%. Then came the Zune HD’s. Spot on perfect!

Now the X-Box: The first system was large, ugly, and prone to breaking. The 360 looked better, operated a bit better once the Red Ring Of Death issue was taken care of (although there are still some cases of it happening), but it still wasn’t 100%. Now this new X-Box 360: Looks absolutely perfect!

I might even have to go buy one!

It is almost as if Microsoft has a red-herring script that they follow for everything:

Get the product out there, no matter what it looks like or how it works.
Redesign the product to make it look a little better.
Come out with the TRUE product they wanted to create the first time around, that everyone will love.

Somehow, Microsoft manages to make this work.

Could you see Apple coming out with a chunky, clunky videogame system as their first product? HELL NO! Of course, if Apple were to come out with a gaming system, it would look absolutely amazing, but run like shit and only be able to play games approved personally by Steve Jobs. You would be lucky to be able to get Tetris for it!

But there seems to be a little bit of method to Microsoft’s madness. By introducing the item that may not be quite what everyone wants, the name is out there and people start to talk about it. They may not buy it, but they know it. Then, when they come out with the second generation, and increase the features, those who bought the original think the new model is the best thing since sliced bread and there is even more talk about it. Then, when it is time to roll out the third iteration, Microsoft wows everyone and everyone is talking about it.

You really have to admire the way they do things sometimes.

i just realized...

Misc, School, Writing, Zune Comments Off

Dec 302009

That I never really wished anyone a Merry Christmas on the website. I did it on the other sites, but didn’t do it on my own personal site! How rude of me!

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and got everything they wanted.

I got a couple things for Christmas that I wasn’t expecting: A Zune HD and a LiveScribe Pulse.

First, the Zune HD. This thing is truly awesome! It’s 32 gigabytes, with the most amazing screen I have ever seen on a portable media player. The videos I put onto it to test it out were from the ’80s and not the best quality, but this thing makes them look amazing! Even though the screen is kind of small, I can see everything very clearly. And the music, of course, sounds completely great through the premium headphones I got with my last Zune. (The regular headphones are good, but the premiums sound about 100 times better.)

I have downloaded all of the apps for it that were available. There aren’t that many right now, as Microsoft hasn’t opened the platform up to outside developers yet, but those that are available work seemlessly with the unit. And unlike Apple, all the apps for the Zune are FREE.

Also unlike the Apple, when I hook this unit up to my HD television, it will actuallly play HD versions of the videos!

Now, on to the LiveScribe Pulse.

Chances are you haven’t heard of it before, or if you have you probably thought it was way too much money to spend for a pen!

But it is so much more than just a pen!

I have been playing around with it for the past few days and am truly awestruck over what this pen does!

First, it has a built-in voice recorder, so it will record whatever is being said around you. This is something that would come in handy during school to record the classes. But a simple digital voice-recorder would be fine for that. What makes the LiveScribe better than just a regular voice recorder?

Well, the LiveScribe also has a computer built into it. The reason for this is that the LiveScribe not only records sound, but when used with the specially designed paper, it also records everything you write and draw, and then matches what was written to what audio was recorded!

This works in the best way!

Let’s say I am sitting in class taking notes on the theory of relativity. I am recordiing the class as I am taking the naotes. When he starts to speak, I write down “relativity” on my notepad, and then wait for a few minutes and write the word “Einstein” onto the pad. When I go back later and review my notes, I place the tip of the pen to the word “relativity” and the pen starts to play back what was being said at that time. If I then move directly to “Einstein” it will skip those few minutes of recorded sound and go straight to what was being said as I wrote “Einstein.”

I admit, I talked to myself for over 40 minutes the other day, writing as I did so on the special pad and then went back and the pen played back what I was saying at the time I wrote the notes. It was just too cool!

And the best part: It took up very little space on the 4 gigabytes chip in the pen!

Once I am done with those notes, I can then download all of the notes and the audio to my computer using the LiveScribe Desktop software and remove them from the pen to free up more space. And the software works the same way as the pen, so if I need to review notes again later on the computer, all I have to do is click on a word with my mouse and it will play the associated audio.

While I LOVE my Zune HD, and think it is possibly the best yet in the Zune line-up, I am even more impressed and pleased with the LiveScribe Pulse. This is going to make my note-taking and studying that much more easy for me!

Now I’m Drooling!!!

Zune Comments Off

May 272009

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,NVidia,Zune HD

Zune HD Is Now Official!!

And I WANT IT!

While there is no mention in the article or the press release about what the size of the new Zune HD will be, the specs that were released are enough to make me want to be the first in line to get one!

First is the HD Radio – While many people may feel that the FM radio in the current Zune is useless, I have found it to be quite useful as it has managed to pick up stations that my truck could not get on the regular stereo. So the fact that the new Zune will have HD Radio will open up even more radio stations to me, especially in NYC where there are (according to the stations I listen to there) many more stations for me to be able to listen to.

Next is HD Video – The fact that the device will play HD video on my HD television (with a separate adapter) as well as on the device means that I can now put HD content onto my Zune and watch it pretty much anywhere!

Then there is the touch screen – While I was never thrilled with the idea of a touch screen on any device (iPod Touch and iPhone come to mind) I think I can live with it on this new Zune because it is an OLED display, so it should use less battery power than my current Zune’s. My problem with touch screens are that they get so dirty and greasy so quickly that it’s rather disgusting!

Finally, there is a web browser! I will be able to search the web on my new Zune, something I can’t do now (though I can search the Zune Marketplace with the built-in WiFi). I am sure the browser will be some sort of scaled down version of Internet Explorer (which is a big minus), but I think I will be able to live with that.

It is expected that Microsoft will reveal more details during E3 next month, and I can wait for more details to emerge. I am hoping that the rumor claiming the Zune HD uses the NVidia Tegra processor is correct, as I have seen videos of that chip in action and think it is amazing in what it can do.

Check out the link above to see pics of what it the most beautiful Zune ever created.