Thursday, September 18, 2008

OpenDisc replaces Software for Starving Students


I've tried downloading the ISO of Software for Starving Students a year ago and was very much delighted to see a compilation of freeware packaged in one disc though I never got to use it. It's a great help to beginners using the computer and aside from saving money from buying purchased software, this is a very nice medium of introducing apps which are less popular compared to their commercial counterpart but has everything a user needs.

The now defunct Software for Starving Students has now been replaced by OpenDisc. More info can be found at their site. I just took a quick peek at the site. The last update was about three to four months ago. Perhaps the open source community is having a difficulty supporting their initiated products since it is free and has no real actual source of income.

The list of programs available in OpenDisc can be found here. You can download them as a single disc - the compiled version called OpenDisc, or you can download them individually as an application by visiting their own sites.

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Monday, September 15, 2008

Canon Digital Rebel XTi - Canon 400D

Just posting a quick update regarding my purchase of a second hand dSLR, the Canon Digital Rebel XTi. I will be receiving the unit later together with the kit lens and also included is the bag. Wish me luck!
With fellow and even more experienced photographers from APerturista, they've recommended an el cheapo fast lens for me - the Canon 50mm f1.8 lens. Well, there's also this f1.4 lens available. However it is triple the cost and while I'm not really a pro, just a hobbyist photographer, I'll be preferring the cheapo lens.

So it leaves me with the last part of the "SLR project" which is the external flash. I kind of thought that this is a must have for me since I really want to learn more about low light photography and experience it at the same time.

I'll post my updates real soon once I get a hold of this!

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Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM Lens

Lens, lens, lens... as I move closer and closer to the world of SLR and Photography, I still find myself shocked at the lens prices even if I get to browse through their prices everyday.

Here is what I am targeting to buy:

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-135mm-USM-Lens-Cameras/dp/B000053HC5

Although it's nearly impossible to have this kind of lens for me, (well I still even can't imagine myself shooting with an SLR and an external flash) I think it is really a bang-per-buck recommended lens which is quite a semi-all-around lens especially for me who's long been way overdue dreaming of shooting in low light photography.

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Thursday, September 4, 2008

Spore Game Review at Gamespot

A few days to go before the official shipping of this so called first god-game, GameSpot has reviewed the 5-year-old game that Will Wright has long been waiting to release.

As casual as the game may sound, may play, may look and even be too mediocre for hardcore gamers, I'm frankly disappointed on how GameSpot lets itself run a business by being an iconic gaming review site by always and always giving biased bad ratings over these type of games. Anything not hyped with action, gore, blood and not called Grand Theft Auto will definitely produce such a low rating for them.

Going back to the game Spore itself, isn't it that GameSpot itself reported on how their writers got amazed on how this game may change the gaming industry itself on Will Wright's speech in the Game Developers Conference circa 2005?

Is this how the way hardcore gamers really see the value of this one of a kind game? Perhaps this low of a rating given to the Spore gets the biased and largely irrelevant comparison between Spore's rating and a Super Paper Mario in the Wii console rating?

Yes it may seem difficult to believe in your own rating of the game as a writer and be the representative of GameSpot letting other review sites know that they felt it was just a so-so game but quite easily, this is one of the best games even of the decade. Let's just see and wait on how the rating of other gaming review sites will be for this game. I'm sure players who bought it will really have a far better rating than GameSpot and hopefully will give justice to this game.

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Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Google Chrome now available for download

Another Google product is coming our way. They've got an image editing tool, instant messenger, map of the world and now let's us know how a browser should be done - the Google Chrome.



Recently, the Google Chrome had a 39-page comic strip detailing how the new browser is bound to take how we do our business in the internet seriously.

Once you've finished reading or perhaps skimming through the comic strip - well it's actually worth the read if you have the time to look at it, you'll find the installer up for grabs here.

I haven't gone to the detailed usage of the browser but all I can say is that this approach, considering it is open source, is definitely a huge step for browsers. It's light and quite easy to use. Apart from it, developers who may want to take a look at the code may be able to do so because it is open source.
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