Christmas disappointment

I wonder how many kids are going to be disappointed this Christmas. I've seen this ad on the TV and when I stopped into Big Lots, it was very prominently displayed.

I'm sure there are pleny of stupid ass parents that only see that GH3 is <$50 and buy it......

Coolest thing ever!

JollyRodger posted this link on site chat yesterday and I've been showing it to everyone I know.

Someone synchonized their outside christmas lights to the Trans Siberian Orchestra song Chistmas Eve in Sarajevo.

While watching it I kept thinking "Wow!  How are they able to do this?".  It really is worth a watch and remember to make sure your speakers are on.

For those who can't get the COD5 beta

For those who can't get the COD5 beta, I've created a video that shows the Create a Class function.  Take a look at the available weapons and perks!

Roomba

I love my Roomba!

For those that don't know, a Roomba is a robotic vacuum. It's about 15" in diameter and 2" in height. It is programmed to vacuum up your rooms according to a random pattern. It bounces off, as well as follows walls and furniture, it is low enough to go under your couch (when was the last time you vacuumed there?) and when the battery runs low (about 2 hours), it finds its charging station and docks itself.

Whenever I run it I find myself watching (yes, I lead a boring life!). Tonight, while I was playing John Woo's Stranglehold (a way cool game that never got the buzz it should have gotten), I fired it up. The Roomba was to clean the front room and, connected by a 3 ' hallway, the den (where I was). I noticed a small piece of popcorn on the rug about 3 feet from me and as the Roomba was doing it's thing, I realized that the popcorn was still there. An hour passed and the Roomba had spent a while going back and forth but it still hadn't gotten the popcorn. At least 4 times it came within 2" of it but missed it everytime.

Being a computer programmer, I felt smug as I thought their algorithm needed a bit of work . I even called in Colin, my son, who loves the idea that we have an actual robot, to point out that it had missed the popcorn a few times. We had a good laugh and I pointed out that while the Roomba was great, it cannot replace a human quite yet. With that, Colin went to bed.

Less than 15 minutes later the Roomba proved me a liar and finally wandered over to get that popcorn. Being the geek Dad that I am, I went and woke Colin up to tell him....

Now I just need a dust robot, dish robot and sex robot. backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace .FUCK, it doesn't delete!

Oh shit, what's up with this damn editor....just ignore that last bit....okay?

Posted by VenomRudman @ 1:59 am EDT | Permalink | 6 Comments

TV Bug

No, not a software problem with my TV but an actual bug!

I've got a DLP TV and somehow a bug has gotten inside and is now projected onto my screen!

Yesterday I noticed an irregular black spot on the screen about an inch long. Of course the first thing I thought that someone banged into the screen and damaged it. I was giving my son the stink eye and then the spot moved! And then it flew around and landed in another section of the screen. It's been doing that all day. Lightly tapping on the screen does nothing so that makes me suspect that it is not in the screen section itself but the projection engine or lamp. I really don't want to take the TV apart, I'm sure to do more damage than good.

Anyone have this happen to them? Any suggestions? I guess I will wait it out and hope this bug dies and doesn't damage anything.....

Posted by VenomRudman @ 2:50 am EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments