Adventures in (Wireless) Networking
March 13th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Not to bore you all with more talk about things I do to my computer, but I ditched that D-Link hunk of junk today and put an AirPort Extreme in its place. That raises the number of Apple products in my home up by one and it’s starting to really freak me out. Am I becoming one of those people? Am I going to suddenly start wearing turtlenecks and hanging out at Starbucks? Will I be the ass telling people about my screenplay every chance I get?
Hell, I even work in an all-Apple office now. Madness!
Jason Ocampo, you were right all along. There, I said it. If I didn’t use this PC for playing games, and if it wasn’t the only computer I own that is fully equipped with music-making stuff that I enjoy using (most of which could probably be replaced with Mac equivalents, if I really wanted to learn some new software), I wouldn’t need a PC at all.
It’s starting to feel like the summer I spent transitioning from using an Amiga to using a 486.
…
It’s sad to watch, but my poor lonely blog here has seen better days. Traffic is dwindling, though I’m not sure if that’s because I’m not posting here very often or because people have stopped checking it in favor of checking giantbomb.com instead. It’s probably a bit of both. Once my life stabilizes a bit and I’m not spending every waking hour thinking about the new site, I expect things around here will pick up a bit.
…
In music news, the new Goldie Lookin’ Chain album is out in UK stores next week. I’m pretty excited about that, already have a copy pre-ordered.
…
One more nice thing about switching network devices… the AirPort only has one fairly dim light on it. The D-Link was full of those PlayStation-style super-bright blue lights. If you’re throwing that in a closet, that’s no biggie. Mine sat right in the middle of my sightline from bed, making the room too bright, even when my eyes were closed. I felt like some kind of old man/crazy person, putting black tape over lights at 3AM while muttering curses under my breath. Now if I could just get those TiVo hard drive fans to quiet down… that’s my fault, though, the thing was plenty quiet until I threw a second hard drive in it. How else could I keep the entire run of Cheap Seats a couple of button presses away?
…
Oh, and it’s about two guys driving cross-country who catch wind of a plot by evil Germans to kidnap UK super-girl-group, Shampoo, and how they decide to take matters into their own hands to save the girls and stop the terrorists.
March 13th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Taping over bright lights… I have done that. Even unplugged stuff. Like my binary clock. The blue lights on that was awful. Even on the lowest setting I could use it to light the room at night. So my clock is kinda just sitting there now, useless…
I’m checking this place at least. I am also checking Giant Bomb (or do you prefer it written as GiantBomb, or giantbomb.com?)
Even though our taste in music seems to be very different, I am going to tell you to listen to The Mars Volta. I am obsessed with the band at the moment, and I got to try and drag someone else in.
March 13th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Good choice about the Airport Extreme. It’s a very nice little routeur that works quite well in my experience. In my case I need to decide what to do because the DS doesn’t support WPA encryption (WTH Nintendo?) so I’ll probably end up plugging in some cheap routeur to add a new WEP network in here.
March 13th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Yeah, my gateway has a whole bunch of bright green lights that light up my room in the dark. My computer’s power light is even worse.
March 13th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I tend to leave computer monitors on at night, but they aren’t like direct sight to me, just a blue glow in the corner. Blinking LED lights though, those are very annoying, a blue glow i can get used to, no screensavers mind you, save blank screen. But when these lights are having a rave party on the outside of my eyelids, enough of that.
BTW, yes Giantbomb is where i check more often, I still got the RSS feed set up for this and arrow pointing down for that Ryan fellow too.
March 13th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I too have been checking Giant Bomb more often, though I’m still coming here as well! Is Points! going to be a regular feature here still or will it migrate to Giant Bomb?
Cheap Seats sounds pretty awesome. I haven’t heard anything about Shampoo since they did that song for the soundtrack album for the first Power Rangers movie.
Yeah. I’m not very hip.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Oh, stop whining about your ‘dwindling traffic’. My blog is positively -barren-.
:-p
Recruiting Giantbombers takes work. I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m sure I’m not the only one spreading the word, planting gunpowder and red barrels in inconveniently populated places.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:15 am
I’m still checking out your blog! Don’t stop posting here!
Didn’t you say that you were going to put up another “Points Report”? or will that be on giantbomb?
BTW; I’ve been meaning to send you guys an email asking why did you guys decide to call the new website “Giant Bomb”? is there some awesome story behind why did you guys decide on that name? (Aside from the Homeland Security/CIA story; because I don’t think they’re falling for it… Unless you’re posting this blog from Guantanamo bay)
March 14th, 2008 at 12:18 am
I suppose the traffic dwindling issue is expected dude so don’t worry there. Just do what you feel you need to do!
March 14th, 2008 at 12:41 am
lol Dude you’re a GLC fan? Jesus I thought no-one outside Wales would hear of them, nevermind preorder their new album!
Edgy (DJ Mystikal) will be well chuffed when I tell him!
March 14th, 2008 at 12:52 am
I’m subscribed to both using an RSS reader so… I got all the bases covered.
March 14th, 2008 at 1:06 am
I still frequent here, but yeah, Giant Bomb is where I spend my time now.
March 14th, 2008 at 2:40 am
Glad you got the AirPort Extreme, I had suggested it in the blog you had about your previous router breaking. I’m glad you realize how great Apple is, because your voice actually means something on the internet.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:06 am
Crikey, I’d completely forgotten about Shampoo. Now I’m gonna be humming that “Uh Oh, We’re In Trouble” song all day.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:22 am
lol my laptop has the same bright blue lights of sleepless nights on it. i just throw a shirt over it and go back to bed.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:04 am
DUDE! Stole my script!
March 14th, 2008 at 4:10 am
You are right about mac’s - The only real reason to have a PC now is for gaming.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:29 am
Yes, I believe that the bomb you laid stole your traffic. Which is not to say it’s a bad thing. I’m sure advertisers will love the attention the new site gets, and that the proverbial “fat loots” will be coming your way shortly.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:54 am
Hey Jeff, do you count access to your RSS feed as traffic? I read you in my RSS newsreader. No idea if that access is tracked or not, not a domain I know anything about.
I love the concept of the Making of Giant Bomb videos. Hopefully you’ll continue to retain that theme for all the things you do. More videos like this and Points! (on an RSS feed so I can d/l the full-fat WMV files to view on my TV via MCE, please!) = good.
March 14th, 2008 at 6:17 am
You used Amiga? Dude now you’re tuly one of the greatest sirs EVER!
March 14th, 2008 at 6:57 am
I have you on an RSS feed, so, I visit the site to comment on new stuff. I don’t just randomly load your page though.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:14 am
The tech guy i know at campus has a apple extreme for all the macs and the free wi-fi. I think they suck connection drops every time when things get heavy load on it. the range was short too if you even moved 2 feet it would drop you like a bad habbit.
The d-link and netgear are much better in my experance.
March 14th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Most likely the drop in traffic corresponds to your recent announcement that you will mostly be posting your game-related updates to http://www.giantbomb.com instead of here. The first thing I did when I read that is update my RSS feeds to that address. Although I did retain this old RSS feed also for the time being, probably a lot of folks did not…
March 14th, 2008 at 9:17 am
I’m with you on the Apple thing. I’ve actually started transitioning to Apple products myself. Scary.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:22 am
We’re still with you buddy, just tend to check the gigantic explosive first!
March 14th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Your RSS feed was screwed up the last few days; the main reason I didn’t stop by the site more than once a day or so.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Shampoo? Goldie Looking Chain? Mr Gerstmann is the centre of obscure English pop acts. Actually saw Goldie Looking Chain live at the Wedgewood Rooms in portsmouth shortly before they were dropped from their label, good to see they are on the way back.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Just been going on giant bomb a bit more personaly, I’ve been thinking about getting a Mac myself for Sixth form work - the fact most games wont run might make me sit down and do some work for once …
March 14th, 2008 at 10:01 am
ill check this blog as long as it continues.. or untill u stop points
March 14th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Lovin’ the blog, hope you keep it up!
March 14th, 2008 at 10:19 am
You talked about how you didn’t know what you were going to do with this blog, and then you wonder about the dwindling traffic
Make up your mind, man!
I still come here just to see what’s going on, but I check Giant Bomb a lot more often now. Still, you might want to have a “personal blogs” section on Giant Bomb so people can link through, if you want to keep the traffic up here.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I have enjoyed following all of the goings on at GiantBomb, but I still like to check in here to see what’s going on. I’m all for anywhere I can find something interesting to read. Keep it up!
March 14th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Hey Jeff,
As long as you post on this blog, you’ll have me as a reader. Loving GiantBomb so far too. Keep up the awesome work!
March 14th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Yea, Mac has taken over my life as well. I find it easier to use(after a few days of fiddling around with a Macbook Pro.) And no… you will not start wearing turtlenecks and say toodledoo with a cup of starbucks coffee. Although it would be funny….
March 14th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Yea, Mac has taken over my life as well. I find it easier to use(after a few days of fiddling around with a Macbook Pro.) And no… you will not start wearing turtlenecks and say toodledoo with a cup of starbucks coffee. Although it would be funny….
March 14th, 2008 at 11:06 am
The reason i dont visit Giantbomb.com is that my browsers crash every time im trying to load the page. I dont know why, it never happens any other time. Only when trying to load giantbomb. I would visit every day, but haven’t even had an oportunity to check it out because it make my browsers crash.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Wait so you ditched the d-link you bought like, what a couple of weeks ago? Man good thing i didn’t buy that d-link…
March 14th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Wireless doesn’t like me…
for istance it took a whole hour to set up for my ps3 coz i didnt know any of the numbers/ codes and had to wait for someone to get home who had a wireless equipped laptop to see if i could get the encryption key from them when i had finished hooking their laptop up using the cd that came with the router.
and then just last night before a clan match in warhawk, the router decided to simply not work with my ps3 anymore and i had to find an ethernet cable before i was late for the match…
wireless doesnt like me…
March 14th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I do a daily check of a bunch of blogs and Giant Bomb, of course. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.
This blog is safe as fuck, you knows it!
March 14th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
My wife and I purchased a MacBook Pro in Feb 07 and by years end, I had pretty much stopped using the Windows PC. Don’t worry…I’ve pondered the question of “Am I becoming one of THOSE people now?” myself.
The only thing that use to keep me hanging onto my Win. PC was all my design software. Now that I’ve re-invested my Adobe software for OS X, as well as added Logic Studio and Final Cut Studio to the mix, I’m pretty much set. I’m actually more productive now than I was on the Windows machine.
My Windows/PC is six years old so I can’t do any current gaming on it anyways. I have tried Bootcamp before, and I was able to run Half-Life 2 and Call of Duty 4 very well on it.
March 14th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
“Guns don’t kill people Wappers do, Callin’ the Police Woo Woo Woo!”
Class….
March 14th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Glad to know you are still going to keep up the blog.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
If there’s any justice, your gamerscore will automatically double for name dropping Shampoo. I recall you mentioning a liking for the GLC a while back, but I had no idea your knowledge of UK music ran so deep - respect.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Jeff,
On the subject of music - have you ever heard of Grand Buffet? I just discovered them this week, and I you might enjoy their stuff. They cover such vital issues as the color of fruit punch, the ownership of swing sets, and the worship of Satan.
There are some free tracks on last.fm if you’re interested.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
What is the Airport Extreme?
March 14th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I’m thinking of picking uo an Airport Extreme myself. I’m in need of a router with lots of throughput capacity, and this one seems to be decent and stable.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
yep giantbomb is where it’s at right now, though I can’t convince my friends to go there; it’s a shame.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I cant wait for the new GLC album.
March 14th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Hahahahahaha. That show sound wonderful.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I still have this blog bookmarked but visit it less frequent due to GiantBomb.com, to be expected really. As long as you keep Points! & your thoughts on things in this blog I’ll keep it bookmarked.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
it’s been coming for months I got something to say
we’re breaking up and there’s no easy way
this situation i never anticipated
how was i supposed to know you was related?
she’s older, she’s fitter and her tits are bigger
and she makes me laugh it’s not all about the figure
i got this problem like a wart or a blister
truth is
I wanna fuck your sister
March 14th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
your mother’s got a penis.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
I would rather kill myself than abandon your blog!
SEMPER FI bitches
March 14th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
GLC? You knows it!
March 15th, 2008 at 5:21 am
I had absolutely no idea you were into GLC, haha.
March 15th, 2008 at 8:11 am
People -outside- of Wales know that GLC exists? Crazy.
March 15th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I am still here…
March 15th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I’d watch it!
March 15th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
glad to see that Jeff has seen the light! Great pickup with the Airport Extreme…I currently only use my PC for gaming as well…
March 15th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Cheap Seats rules, that is all.
March 15th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Sounds like a great screenplay. I’m sure Sony Pictures will be in touch shortly to option the rights. I can do the whole script-doctoring thing if you’re interested. Have your people call my people. Paul Walker is probably interested.
March 16th, 2008 at 6:55 am
If the Airport doesn’t work out for you I would try a Linksys. My one doesn’t seem too customisable but as I was pissed off about my last one breaking (damn USRobotics!) it was just nice to have a router I could throw in there and have it work.
March 16th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Nooooo
March 16th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I have just got my first mac too and am in a similar position to you Jeff. I hardly use my windows pc now.
Also, I got one of those d-link routers too, I really like it, it’s a lot more configurable than my old netgear and is making my wireless network coverage a lot better.
I’m glad you’re still going to keep this blog going a little while longer. I enjoy reading your articles. Giant Bomb will be awesome though.
March 16th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
terrorists!…are they army of two style suicide bombers cos if they are UH-OH THEY ARE IN TROUBLE!
March 16th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
the darth to the vader, flip over the crossfader
March 16th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Yep, I learned about the GLC from like BBC radio years ago and man , I totally did not know they got a new CD hitting TOMORROW!
March 16th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
With all of this stuff going on with Giant Bomb, are you going to keep doing Points! ?
March 16th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
I replaced my Linksys (piece of shit) with a U.S.Robotics wireless router/modem (and it’s actually pretty good, I’m satisfied, no crashing).
March 28th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Dude, stay away from the MAC, its a trap.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Still waiting for your review of the new GLC, clart. Also, did you get Adam Hussein’s recent solo album?