The red one or the blue one?

Scott and I have been looking at getting Scott’s mum a computer for years and we’ve been trying to figure out which one to get her.

Do we get an iPad? It’s easy, but wouldn’t let her save her photos to an external device.

A Blackberry Playbook?  Nope!

We agreed to go with a Microsoft Surface.  Say what?  A Surface.  It’s perfect, I think, for what she needs.  It can connect to an external hard drive, it can download pictures from her camera, etc…

The Surface is, surprisingly, a very well built machine.  The user interface is simplistic, yet it feels very modern and next generation.  It works well.

Surface also uses XBox branding for it’s gaming and media, and it connects to the XBox Achievement system.  Sweet!  Microsoft has really thought out their ecosystem for Windows 8 and XBox integration.  Much like Apple’s integration with Apple TV, iTunes, and the i-Devices.

The oddest thing about Surface is how wide the display is – a 9:16 aspect ratio, so using the Surface vertically as you would an iPad feels weird.  It’s mean to be horizontal.

The touch keyboard is alright, it will be interesting to see how Scott’s mum likes the keyboard.  There is a more traditional keyboard available which feels good. The keyboard is useful for when you’re on a table, not for on the knee use – just use the onscreen keyboard if you’re wanting to use it on your lap or in your hand.

It’s somewhat zippy although apps can take a bit of time to load up.  Think of the machine as a slightly lighter Windows 8 (thought this version runs Windows RT) machine, not as an iPad.  Software updates will also take the same amount of time.

All in all, if you’re in the Windows or XBox ecosystem, Surface is not a bad alternative and I like it.

If you’re part of the Apple or Android ecosystem, there really isn’t a need for a Surface in your life.  Heck, even Microsoft has made the Smartglass apps available for iPhone, iPod, iPad and Android so you don’t need a Surface.  A very smart move, Microsoft – and the functionality looks the same.

Blackberry?  I’d say upgrading to Surface or an iPad is recommended.  My Playbook crashes way too much, but at the cheap prices you can get a Playbook today, it is an okay alternative, but not recommended.

Surprising as this may sound – I hope Surface is a success.

The Loot

Scott and I decided to invest in a Wii U.  I have to admit, I was mixed about getting it despite having pre-ordered soon after the pre-orders started.

Why the trepidation?  In short, will it live up to the hype and not be a significant waste of our money?  After all, the Wii which was the first of the current generation consoles was a bit of a waste of money given it’s poor resolution.  But the games were fun.

Of the other consoles of the same console generation:

• The Playstation 3 is what stands out for me.  I LOVE that system, the games and the trophy system.
• I despise the XBox – the fact you have to pay to play games online, and all the advertising.  It doesn’t add up.

At launch, the Wii U is showing pretty much everything that the Playstation 3 and XBox 360 can do and then some.  That’s to be expected given this is a next generation console, however from a company that has been somewhat behind the ball and playing catch up – High Definition, Surround Sound and a real online strategy being the most notable items.

What about the whole second screen phenomenon?  Nintendo and Microsoft seem the most ahead with the Wii U and Smartglass – both which I now have some degree of experience with.

Wii U’s ability to steam to the Gamepad is amazing – and with very little lag.  The display is relatively crisp with some of the colour differences between the TV and the Gamepad causing missed detail on the Gamepad, which I think is to be expected.

I’ve not had a chance to play a game with Smartglass, just controlling the dashboard and experimenting with the video apps.  It will be interesting to see how the gaming functionality is.

Playstation with Vita and PS3 integration?  Who knows where that is.

The resistive display on the Gamepad is LAME.  I’m calling is straight up and I’ve had misses in games as a result of it.  The screens on Vita, Surface, and iPad are considerably better.

All in all, the WiiU has a lot of potential to lead for the next stage of the gaming consoles.  It is going to be interesting to see what the XBox 720 and the Playstation Orbis are like and how much they kick up gaming to whatever the next level is which will probably be:

• Better move-enabled gaming – XBox has been the undeniable leader here with Kinect.  Playstation Move, though it had high potential, has been somewhat lame and felt like a secondary project.
• Second screen/augmented gaming.
• Better graphics cards.
• While it’s too early for 4000k display support, it wouldn’t surprise me if Sony added that level of support.
• Cloud gaming infrastructure.
• Hopefully, backwards compatibility with the previous generation.

The Wii U is the gaming console I’ve been waiting for.  High resolution graphics, a beautiful display…  I’m thumbs up on this one.

As for the Wii?  I might just send that to Scott’s Mum so she can practice her Wii Bowling. *GRIN*

I’m not afraid to admit that I am not only just 38 years old, but I am also a gamer.  Some of you are probably rolling your eyes thinking, “Oh grow up Iain!”

This is one area, in which, I refuse to grow up.

I think video games actually help to keep the brain sharp from problem solving, and also keeping my reflexes quick.

A few weeks ago, I finally found a video game that Scott might actually be interested in playing, and one I had been thinking about wanting for a long time – Skylander’s Spyro’s Adventure. I’m actually pretty overjoyed at this because I’ve wanted to share in the experience of gaming with Scott for several years now, and while a group of us got him playing Assassins Creed at Christmas last year, he never stuck with it.  I don’t blame him – it’s a difficult game and learning the controls for a first timer is not easy.  I needed something that he could sink his teeth into, even if it mean finding an easy game.  Skylanders was it – and he invested in getting himself a set of characters for each element so he could complete the game.  Wow!

For the record, Scott did not grow up with video games so his context is very different from mine, despite only 4 years difference between him and me.  And believe me, the ‘gaming divide’ of 4 years is pretty significant.

Consider those of us who grew up with the Atari 2600, Colecovision and Intellivision; and those who started with a Nintendo Entertainment System or Sega Master System; versus kids today whose first gaming system may be an XBox 360 or Playstation 3.  Even between different countries – Apple ][s versus, Commodore 64s, versus Sinclair ZX Spectrums, etc…

Despite the games collection I grew up with on my Commodore 64 or Amiga, I didn’t have much time for games per-se.  I’d play for a few minutes and turn off or switch games.  I played a lot of Bard’s Tale, Karateka, Maniac Mansion, Zac McKrakken and the Alien Mindbenders (First game I ever finished), Shadow of the Beast, Xenon 2, and Arkanoid to name a few that I did play on a regular basis.

I didn’t have time for game machines.  Yes, I admit, I had a holier than thou attitude saying they weren’t real computers and as such, a waste of time and money.

Secretly, I really wanted a Gameboy and I drooled over the NES Deluxe Set with ROB.

I often say my first game machine was actually a Sega Dreamcast.  Truth is, a Gameboy Colour that I bought in British Columbia was the first, purchased in the late 90s or early 2000s during Christmas.

The Dreamcast, I bought at a Best Buy – first time I went to one, for $49 at a Black Friday sale in Philly.  Thankfully with friends who had them and with how cheap the games were by then, I snapped up what I could.  I still have this unit and almost all the accessories, except for the fishing rod.

What really excelled me into being more of a hardcore, though still middle of the road, gamer was the PS3.  I LOVE the Playstation 3.  If it were not for Little Big Planet, I would not be the gamer that I am today.  That game sucked me in. It also showed me how beautiful video games had become.  I also love what Sony has done with the Playstation Plus membership, providing free games every month – and we’re not just talking lame independent games here – we’re talking Infamous, Little Big Planet 2, etc…  Definitely a value.

We’re both late bloomers into gaming, and I’m glad we did it, and I’m very glad I found something Scott can play.  Now he’s considering going back to try Assassins Creed, starting from the beginning, now that he’s comfortable with how the controllers work.

If I had to pick between watching TV and playing a game – I’d pick the latter.

My thoughts on Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure?  I think it’s misnamed.  Spyro really doesn’t have much to do with the storyline other than he’s one of the characters in the game.

The game itself is great.  A fairly simple and stright forward platforming game with shooting where you have to get to the end collecting treasures, soul gems, hats and other items, within a specific amount of time.  If you don’t – that’s okay, you still get what you need for the storyline at the end of the level.

For Spyro’s Adventure, you’re looking at, easily, $179 to play the complete game for which, if you want to collect every item and fully complete the hidden game levels that open up when you buy things like an adventure pack.  I have highballed that number, but it gives you the idea of what you’re getting into if your kids are asking.  This consists of:

• $69.99 for the game with three characters and the portal
• $49.99 for 5 more characters for the other elements.
• $60.00 for 3 adventure packs

Skylanders Giants, which is apropriately titled, is the second game with more robust graphics and sound..  This time we have game characters that now light up (Giants and Lightcore characters) – see the picture at the beginning of this article. A pretty cool idea.  And you can reuse the chacters you already have from the first game – which now speak, where in the first game they did not.

I suspect – you’re going to need each of the giants to complete this game.  We’ll see.

Thumbs up from my standpoint.  And I hope these will be the first two games in which Scott and I achieve Platinum trophies. WOOHOO!!

This past week Sam Silverman, aka Sam The Record Man passed away.

Given my previous blog entry, about shopping for music in Chicago, I was saddened by this. I was sad when the store was shut down and torn down.

What pleases me, though, is the fact the neon lights of Sam’s will run again once Ryerson University’s new building is erected.

Sam was quite the force in the Canadian music scene, long before there were Can Con (Canadian Content) laws on the books for the percentage of Canadian music that had to be played on airwaves.  He was HUGELY supportive of new artists.  For that, my hats of to Sam.

When I was younger, I LOVED hanging around Yonge St between the Eaton Center and northward to Bloor.  If I visited Toronto, I *had* to go check out the record shops.  I spent hours going to the HMV in the Eaton Center, which is where the Urban Eatery is now located, Sam’s, and the HMV at 333 Yonge St.

My favourite story about Sam’s, which is kind of a sad one is about me having gone to buy Madonna’s box set of The Immaculate Collection, called The Royal Box, and finding out about 5 minutes later – courtesy of CFNY in Toronto – that Pet Shop Boys were coming to town on their Performance Tour!  Sadly, I had spent the money I could have used to see Pet Shop Boys.

I wouldn’t get to see Pet Shop Boys live for about 13 years!

Sam’s was kind of a grungy place…  Artist names were hand-written on plastic cards… It worked in a city with places like Honest Ed’s.  The staff were great and were helpful, they liked music – though they weren’t all that helpful when I wanted to return “The Royal Box”, LOL!

But alas, here in 2012, with the digital download industry, etc… Sam’s is no longer here, HMV is now 2/3rds the size and a shadow of it’s formal self.

Believe me, digital downloads don’t have the value as holding a CD, Tape, DAT, Vinyl or 8-Track in your hands.  Besides, you can’t tell who actually worked on an album when you buy the digital download.  Isn’t that a tad bit disrespectful to all of the artists that work on an album?

I digress.  Thank you for the music, Sam!

So, I got a response back from Apple.

In short, if you pause a download while downloading a song from iTMS, iTunes thinks that is the breaking point in the song – where the song stops.  I certainly did that with a few tracks while downloading.

Seriously?  How dumb is that?  And when is this going to be fixed?

I opened the following support case with Apple – I’ve seen this happen too many times with iTunes Music Store downloads recently.

In short, while you’re playing music the music stops playing and proceeds to the next track, despite there being time left on the track.  The issue does not happen on my iPhone, iPad or Apple TVs.

Buyer beware – just in case…

I purchased Pet Shop Boys “Elysium” (Order MGZBZW1437) and “Winner” (Order MGZBTMXGJ9) – both have tracks that when played on iTunes on my Mac, it sometimes stops in the middle of the track and proceeds to the next track. On my iPhone and Apple TVs the content plays correctly.

Here are the tracks that do that:

– From Elysium – Leaving, The Early Stuff, Give it a go, Elysium Track by Track (with David Walliams)

– From Winner – The way through the woods (Long Version) –

To recreate either play the whole track through or you can even scan through the track. In the case of “The way through the woods (Long Version)”, it stops at where you think the end of the track is but there is a whole second part to the track. It stops at 4:03 with 1:39 still left in the track – which is the best part of the track.

I’m not sure if this is an iTunes Store encoding issue, or a problem with iTunes software itself. I’d appreciate the store looking into this.

Or does it….

From a competition we had at our work PTM . Yes, I’m the bride, and this is announcing  our new fake product – Wedding Order Management System – with responsive design to your every need for your wedding.

*GRIN*

Pictures from the first trip

Some pictures from my second trip: