I came across DC Universe on my PS3 while looking around for some new stuff and it took forever to download and install (and update etc). You can also download and play this for free on Windows, not 100% sure if they are the same servers. The game is a 3rd person viewpoint and you get to choose Male or Female, Good or bad and various skill types to start the game with.

 The initial starting block

Once you have created a character, you go through a level that eases you into the game and you have to fight you way off a ship using your various powers. As you achieve various tasks, you get points to spend on your skill tree and this gives you some extra powers. Along the way you also get stuff in your inventory which pays to put on as it helps you kill the enemies quicker.

Quests 

You get tasked with various jobs and this in turn allows you to fight enemies of your own level, start to level up and get other items along the way. It felt different from say World of Warcraft type MMO as you can level up just by killing monsters, this seems to be quest based on getting to the next level.

Free to play

While the game is free, it does have the shop and you can buy extra stuff. One is a monthly fee and this can cost £8.99 (if you pay monthly) or £71.88 for a full year membership. This gives you DLC packs, more slots, bigger inventory and so forth. Another option is to buy as required, such as the lightning pack for $9.99. The last method is to add cash to your in-game account to buy thing from the shop in the game, such as better helmets and so forth.

Spiceworks is a free browser-based network management and administration program. It provides the user with a single dashboard from which he or she can inventory, monitor and troubleshoot the network.

When you first install it, Spiceworks scans your network. It checks Active Directory, does a NetBIOS scan and pings the addresses in your specified IP range. It took us a fair bit of fiddling with the firewall to get all the devices on our network inventoried, and even then our locally attached printer wasn’t found. This was a bit odd, given that it was attached to the PC Spiceworks was installed on.

Once it has its inventory, though, Spiceworks is refreshingly intelligent in the way it uses your information. For instance, wherever it can it will identify a client PC’s make and model. It will then automatically link that PC’s entry to the driver download page on its manufacturer’s website. It will also show you the machine’s spec, the programs that are installed on it, the amount of disk space free and so on.

While Windows update does a grand job or updating the core microsoft programs, unlike Linux, it does touch the other software. Enter Secunia Personal Software Inspector, this is a free program that not only scans your machine for updates, it fixes security issues as well. Head over to the website and give it a try, its free after all.

]]> http://www.liquidsilver.org/2011/12/secunia-personal-software-inspector/feed/ 0 http://www.liquidsilver.org/2011/08/statcounter-free-website-stats/ http://www.liquidsilver.org/2011/08/statcounter-free-website-stats/#comments Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:38:27 +0000 Mauldor http://www.liquidsilver.org/?p=3212

If you ever wondered how many people have visited your site, what they clicked on, searched for and so forth then one such solution is StatCounter which can place an invisible counter on your site and track what people are doing. The Service is free but you can buy extra space for logs and so forth if you need more detailed stats. Installation requires you have a piece of code on your website (normally the footer) or you can add a wordpress plugin which will do the job for you.

What does it provide?

 There is many stats to choose from such as how many visited the site, what they searched for, what they clicked etc. Once such stat is Browsers used and in this (very brief) example it shows Firefox as the leading brand.

Another such stat is the resolution of the screen that they are using, this could help you maybe cater the site for people with smaller screen estate (such as mobiles).

A further good bit of knowledge is what site people left to and in this case it also shows if they clicked the adverts for example. You can drill down into the information and see a whole range of stuff such as IP and so forth. Why would this be good? If someone was going wild clicking the adverts, you can block them for example.

Feel free to give it a try and as I said this is a free service anyhow, so nothing to really loose. There is many other services that do this and provided normally by your web host but this is as good as any I say.

Of all the companies that are out there, the one that I thought could get it right with a major operating system rollout would be apple. They stated that if you bought a computer from apple from the 25th June onwards, you are entitled to OSX Lion when it came out free of charge. The problem is, the servers that handle verifying if your are entitled to acode or not is having trouble matching serial numbers against inventory. When I headed to the page I entered my infomation in there only for it to tell me:

Sorry, we can’t find the serial number you provided. Please recheck your serial number and enter it again.

Apple Support – second to none

I Always assumed that apple support were great, I called them up and then went through the issue, tried it and explained to me that in fact the servers were overloaded and I was to try again either later on that day or in fact the next day. As this was the first time I had called and could beileve maybe that was the case, I ended the call but not before the guy was trying to sell me Apple care of course.

I searched around the web and spotted something, every time they have a major upgrade such as Leopard, Snow Leopard and iLife, people struggle to get verified on the apple site.  I left this until the next morning, surely this would be fixed by then right?

The day after the day before

I tried at 8am UK time, still the same, I called Apple support and got the same old story, servers are too busy. I took his name this time, he was called Kiren. He told me to try later, it should work by then – I hung up. I tried many times whilst at work and finally when I got home, I had one last go before calling Apple. No Surprise then that the page did not work and I called once again apple support, this took 10 minutes to get a person so they must be getting a lot of issues same as mine.

We went through the normal blurb and he tried to get his supervisor to maybe get an answer but he failed at that and asked if I wanted to wait for this guy or just leave it until one day it might work? The other suggestion he gave me was why do I not just go out and buy it if I wanted it that badly, after all it was only £22 or something.

I have a better idea on how to get Lion and no need for serial numbers – you failed Apple.

Pogoplug the Makers of the fluffy pink USB Sharing device have branched out to include a new product – one that runs on your Windows or Mac computer and allows you to share everything across the web – your own cloud as it were. They have two version, the free one which allows you to see all your files and if you pay the $29 Upgrade Fee – play all your music and video’s. Head over to PogoPlug Site and check it out.

You can probably pay people good money to produce a detailed drawing of your wireless coverage but there is a way to do this yourself using a free tool called Ekahau HeatMapper – this is better then having your tiny little wireless signal meter and randomly going around a building seeing how many bars you have. The software is not automatic and you have to do a lot of the work yourself, clicking as you walk around but the end result is very good.

How it all works

Once the program opens up – it asks you to supply a picture, probably the building layout but you can work with just a grid if you do not have one. On the left you have all the wireless points it finds and the main part shows you the drawing you supplied. You click your starting position, walk to the next place (the next room for example) and click on the map were this is and repeat as you walk all around the building. What you end of with is a picture that looks like a thermal graph which is now the complete coverage of your wireless in a much easier to understand drawing.

It is now the 8th May 2011 and although Sony have been making noises about offering a free Month of PSN+ service, a free game of some sort and other such good things, In the UK nothing has been heard and still no news of getting the service back. I have heard of people selling there PS3 and buying an XBOX360 and saying they will never buy a Sony product ever again and if you do not, then you must be a fan boy or something. I want to set the record straight from my own viewpoint of this whole PS3 debates.

What is PSN

This free service allows you to play on-line with others, send and receive messages (rather like email then) and voice and/or video chat with them if you have the right gear. In the world of PC’s – on-line games each have there own server and you end of with various names across the board. Sony by placing a central service means you may well have one name but once this middle man goes down – you are left high and dry.

The only game which I used On-line to be honest was LittleBigPlanet which allows others to jump in and help you complete the levels. I suck as First person Shooters on a console, so 99% of the time I am playing single player anyhow. As I have other means to chat to people instead of PSN, this feature never gets used and I have yet to speak to a single person on-line even though I have all the gear.

Are you Selling your PS3?

I bought the PS3 unit itself, this costs me £200 for the 160GIG unit. We then bought the Bluetooth microphone – £23, we add to this the Move Starter kit, another £40 and we have 11 games ranging from £10 to £20. This means I have easily spent Over £400 on that lot. If I were to sell this at some store, I would be lucky to get half of that – what sane person would chuck away half of there money just because the PSN part is currently off-line?

The PS3 still serves it purpose in that it plays games I enjoy playing, the games are cheap to come by and there is still a lot of life in the thing. I can browse the web (with flash) and I can play movies no problems.

Items I wish I had never bought

The Bluetooth headset I should only have bought once I got speaking to people, these days my online chat sessions are limited even on the PC never mind the PS3. I can use it with the PC though and it charges via a cradle so it was not 100% waste of my money and it was only £23. The other item I have not used much (due to lack of games) is the Move, I did get the camera (which I was going to buy anyhow) and it is fun but I could have lived without it.

While this review is technically a year late – the iPad is not a new device and most people have probably seen one, tried one or actually own there own. The purpose of this quick review is to give a viewpoint of someone who had no interest in anything Apple including the iPad and even stating that I could not see a reason to go out and buy one. As you may know from the previous post, I managed to enter a competition GFI were running over the Christmas season and was the lucky winner. As I only had device a few days, it maybe is not a fair review so far, but as I said, it is a first impression of this magical device apple like to call it – does it live up to the hype?

Out of the box

Inside the box when it arrived it came with the iPad itself, a White USB Apple lead which a plug adaptor that allows it to take various plug ends and in my case it came with a UK plug sliding in part. What apple do not supply is any form of cover (even if it was a cheap one), headphones or a cleaning cloth.

Upon switching on the device – it tells you to plug it into iTunes, now why would this be so? What if a person who bought this had no computer? They should really publish this right on the front of the box. The other thing you will need by the way is so form of payment card, this can be visa and such and there is no way to get around this I could see.

Setting up via iTunes

When you plug this into your computer, the first thing is Windows will go and find a driver, on Windows 7 this happens automatically. iTunes will now guide you through the process of setting up an account and it got to a page asking me for credit card information. Although I own a credit card, I do not like the idea that something is set up to automatically bill me if I buy something, I may do this by accident. I just read that it needs an account to get Apps and there seems no way to get around this.

Adding Applications

You have a choice of using iTunes to browse the App store to add applications or you can fire up the App Store direct from the iPad. I have noticed the iPhone Apps looks really blocky on the iPad and they normally stick ‘HD’ on the title to let you know it’s iPad. Coming from an Android background, while there is a need for paid applications there should be more ‘Free’ Applications. The one that sprung to mind was Skyfire and while this is 100% Free on the Android, it seems to be £2.99 for the iPad (and by chance is $2.99 stateside – they never heard of conversion rates?).

There is an App for that

I wanted to expand further on the applications side with everything that I need seeming to cost money. I wish to give a few examples to back up my moans though. TuneIn Radio is an application that lets you listen to internet radio stations, it also gets your locations and presents all the local radio for you quick listening pleasure. This is on the Android Market place and it is Free yet it seems here on the iPad and iPhone it wants to charge me 59p. Now you may say 59p is nothing and worth every penny and maybe I agree but the very same program with the same functionality costs money on the iOS devices? As it happens I would rather use my Android to listen to the radio as its a bit more portable than the ipad.

The device itself

How heavy is this thing? Well according to the apple web site – 0.68 kg (1.5 pounds). After sitting with it in my hands using it for a few hours solid, you start to feel the weight. While the speaker is small and on the bottom, it provides more than ample sound, there is always the headphone socket of course for any type of headphones.

I went out and bought a case, I needed something and the local PCWorld had Speedlink Gala iPad Wallet Case.

I need to add that this looked not too shabby in the shop but once I got home and inserted the iPad, it was not as good as I thought. While there is a hole on the bottom for the power supply lead, there is no way you can plug this in easily whilst the case is on. The Case (as per the picture) obscures the button and same around the sides for the volume and the on/off switch. I will probably buy a much better case later on to be honest – this will do for now though.

What is good about the device?

The Screen is very clear indeed, it will get messed up with smudges and finger marks but overall very clear and glossy. The Speed at which the device starts is good – this is down to the fact it is using a Mobile phone OS of course and essentially I still state it is a big iPod Touch. The Battery life is where it is at – claimed at 10 hours, this works longer then my mobile phone in fact. It is easy enough to find apps and very easy to use. The on-screen keyboard is very good, maybe not for typing a long story but general use it is fine.

The bad side (yes there is one).

I cannot believe how the apple fan boys sat there saying how amazing this thing was and forgot to mention some of the short comings but let me go through some of the points I think is worth mentioning.

Just about every single app that is of any use costs money, there is a lack of “try before you buy” type apps on a lot of the stuff I looked at. I wanted to connect my Bluetooth headsets yet the iPad seems to not find a single device when I activate Bluetooth and this includes 3 desktops, 2 laptops, various mobile phones and headsets. I was hoping to use a bluetooth headset along side skype – seems not.

I managed to find apps that made the screen turn black with no way that I found to kill the app. I tried holding the power button, the home button and combinations of the two – eventually the app stopped working and I could get back to the desktop – does apple not have a hard reset? Am I missing the pinhole that should be there? Not like I can remove the battery right?

I need to mention of course that Streaming sites (aka flash based) are of no use. I tried the Ustream and Justin.TV app and these are ot only for the iPhone but work very badly. My idea of sitting on the couch and watching a stream is not reality just yet.

Should you buy one?

I stated at the start that even when they first come out, I could not think of a use for such a device other than it was “Nice to have”. When I get in from work and after I have had something to eat – I can pop open the iPad, browse a few websites to catch up, run the Engadget program to see what is happening in the world of Tech, catch up on my YouTube Videos and finally look at Facebook. If I had powered up my computer, due to have 2 large screen (dual screen), I could have done all of this in my multi-tabbed browser of course in about the same time.

My advice is that this is a nice toy to have and own, yes you will use it to death in the first week but expect to soon put it to one side once the novelty wears off – much like it did with your smartphone. If this thing had Adove Flash & Air as well as a FREE VNC client – it might well be amazing.

Been a fan of Wallpapers, a kind person send called Marie Asselin sent me an email telling me of this fantastic product. Wallcast is a PC/Mac application that transforms your computer wallpaper into a dynamic collage of photos from you, your family, and your friends. It periodically updates your wallpaper with a mix of pictures uploaded online, with the Wallcast iPhone app or via email. My founding partner and I both have family members and friends scattered across the continent and overseas; we created Wallcast to facilitate the quick sharing of pictures on a support that’s seen everyday yet is often forgotten, the computer wallpaper.

What does it do?

Wallcast turns your desktop background into a personalized display of pictures from you, your family and your friends. Multiple times per day, your wallpaper will be refreshed to display a fresh collage of photos you like, stunningly presented on a beautiful background image of your choice.

Wallcast allows your family and friends to send photos to your wallpaper – and you can send the latest photos you snapped to theirs. All that without privacy concerns: all uploaded pictures remain private, and only people you invite can send you new ones.

Wallcast Screencast

You can check out more screenshots on flickr link provided.

How much and what does it run on?

It runs on both the Mac range of computer and Windows. You sign up on the WallCast Page and by all account for now the service is free. Give it a whirl and tell me what you think.