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Matthew

Personal

Happy New Year! 2013 – Day 364

2013

Well, its my 364th day on “The Island”, and for those who have never read my blog, or even know who I am, it means I have spent 364 days living outside my native Ontario, on Montreal Island Quebec. That’s right 1 day short of a year. On January 2nd, 2012, I left my brothers apartment in Cornwall Ontario and made the huge leap to move myself to a whole new city and province. The very odd thing is, is how this all came about…

It all started about 2 years ago, I was working for Davis + Henderson (Formerly Resolve) as an Real Time Analyst when half the team got lynched during the take over.…

Fun Technology

The Best and the Worst new games on Facebook

Over the last little while it seems the games on Facebook games are getting more high tech, and by that I mean 3D Shooters, MMORPGs and Strategies. It’s almost like having an installed game right through your browser. Having peaked my interest, I figured I would make a quick post about it.

1. Offensive Combat

Monday I came across my top pick, a game called Offensive Combat, a 3D Shooter game (Also in the F2P or Free to Play Genre where if you want upgrades you can buy coin for real money) which I have to say is the most enjoyable Facebook game I have ever played.…

Personal Technology

Ghost in the machines

Finally having a job in my field is not without its challenges. I came across a situation I cannot explain, let alone understand. Mid morning yesterday one of my colleagues informed me that the 2 computer systems at the circulation desk had, for what ever reason, dropped off the internet. As we had work being done in the area the night before my first thought was that they got disconnected, but on second thought that could not be a solution; for one, it’s too easy, and second, the systems still had access to the PDC (Primary Domain Controller) which allows the users to log in.…

Personal

Holidays are near, I want an 84-in TV….

Its rare that I have sit at the Volunteer desk at work, and when I do, I like to browse the web, something I don’t get do very often, well besides the obvious Facebook and email browsing. During my frolic through the interweb I came across Engadget’s Holiday Gift Guide which lists 3 levels of gifts, the On the Cheap, which they feature Apple TV, which allows you to stream content from your apple devices directly to your TV, along with the ability to connect to Twitter, Facebook, Netflix and more. On the Mid scale they feature the updated PS3, which would be a nice addition to my own home as its a nice BluRay player and would allow me to play some nice games with my buddy in Ontario (One Province Over).…

Personal

Google now taking walk throughs of Historic Buildings and Businesses

Google Maps is a huge resource these days for those looking for directions. In the last few years they have traveled the streets giving you the ability to “Be there” visually instead of just looking ta map. Recently Google has taken on a new challenge, bring you into local businesses and Historical Buildings.

One of the buildings Google has taken on is the Atwater Library and Computer Centre where you can now find a pic of Yours Truly (see picture below).

Some other cool places they have been in are Kappo Nagi in Kyoto, Japan, Chataigner Yves in Paris, France, and even Restaurant Chez Queux here in Montreal, QC.…

Technology

Dropbox vs Google Drive

As many people know I am an avid supporter of Google, be it their Gmail, Chrome, Android, or any other Google product, I have always had good experiences with everything that comes out. The newest (to me) is Google Drive.

Google Drive is an especially good find as I have been an active user of Dropbox, which is the same sort of thing. The problem with Dropbox, or rather my limit, was that it was reached quite quickly. Dropbox by default for a free account gives you only 2GB, I have been able to get it up to 3.1 by referring friends and following them on Twitter, etc.…

Personal

From Ubuntu to PearOS

I have been meaning to look for an alternative to Ubuntu since they changed the GUI from Gnome to Unity Desktop. The unity Desktop is so lacking in functionality I just hated it. For the last 2 versions of Ubuntu that I have used (11 and 12 and its subs) it has been bugging me, so I started searching and found a french derivative of Ubuntu called PearOS.

PearOS runs a modified version of the Gnome Desktop, which makes it look even more like a Mac (for those not too familiar with the desktop GUIs, there were 2 major ones back in the day: Gnome which was an Apple knock off, and KDE which was a Windows knock off, I always preferred the Gnome interface).…

Technology

Modding PC nastalgia

Most people know I am a fan of the old; by this I mean I like old tech. My father while he was alive and working at Nortel back in the day had a phone that had a monochrome monitor (no not the vista phone, much much older) and a pop out keyboard which could dial in to things like free net and allow you to check your emails. The sad part is in an attempt to bring it home, the old tech died and would not boot after the short 20 minute trip from my dad’s office.

Ever since then I have been interested in old tech, so when when I came across this post on my favourite gadget blog, I had to repost it as this person is my hero when it comes to making old things work like new.…

Technology

3D printers becoming more and more affordable

I just read an article on one of my favourite gadget sites (link will follow) and I cannot believe at the progress 3D printing is making. This particular model offers an 8x8x8 3D printable area which is 512 cubic inches. The prices are coming along to, at $799 its still a bit pricy for your every day retailer, but not really unaffordable. The sad part is that they are only taking pre-orders and it looks like the possibilities of huge delays taking up to 10 weeks to be shipped.

Original Post: Engadget…

Personal

First day of work is almost over.

Normally I would not have time to post from work, however one of the Computer Center’s (of which I am the manager of) volunteers called out today so I need to be at the help desk away from my office. Got a lot of work done today and hope to make an impact while I am here. I have met most of the staff (of which there is very few) and I think I will fit in wonderfully.

At first I was really overwhelmed, I mean a 5 hours crash course can only prep you for so much, but I have been assured by the others that I am not expected to remember everything I was told.…