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Doctor, Doctor, Is This Love I’m Feeling?

No, it’s just my lungs trying to escape my body, same as usual for this week.

Being sick sucks. Especially when you no longer get sick leave, so you just have to keep working…

Speaking of working, here’s some reviews at CNET.com.au. Enjoy. I’m going back to the hacking and wheezing, if you’ll excuse me…

Samsung PL50: “We were struck by how this was, to put it gently, a big fat lie…”

Engin oneHub ST790: “Engin’s oneHub benefits from simplicity, but also suffers from it in comparison to other all-in-one router/VoIP solutions…”

Belkin N+ Wireless Storage Router: “Belkin’s approach to routers has, in the recent past, been less focused on things that look like routers, and more on objects that wouldn’t look all that out of place on the set of Star Trek — or at least on the set of a cheap fan-produced Star Trek homage, anyway…”

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One is a genius, the other’s insane…

I’ll leave it to the reader to work out which of Pinky and the Brain I consider myself to be. And, for that matter, who the other half of that equation is.

My plans to take over the world took a rather solid setback this week, however, with a big old helping of family ilness to contend with. Very tiresome, and very 2008 to boot. Things seem to be back on track now, however.

And in order to meet my “must plug some work each and every blog post” quota, there’s two of my print edition PC Authority games reviews up on the web now.

Empire: Total War: “Empire: Total War is a game that’ll appeal to history nerds and fans of previous Total War titles.”

Warhammer 40,000 Dawn Of War II: “You might expect Dawn Of War II to follow in traditional sequel style, offering a real time strategy experience with more Orks than you can throw a Bolter at.”

Ah, what the heck. Let’s meet the educational content quota of this web site as well. Take your pick from either elementary shape theory, or neurology:

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You didn’t write, you didn’t telephone, you didn’t call, you left me on my own…

Man, I’d kill for a CD copy of Fuzzbox’s Big Bang, even though it will make me feel rather old.

Damn. I just had to go and look up when it came out. Twenty years ago. Now I do feel old, even though one of the staff at Master Five’s preschool commented this morning that I couldn’t be in my thirties yet…

While I consider the ongoing effects of senility, amuse yourself with my latest writing efforts. Yesterday there was another Mac Blog at PC Authority:

Mac Authority: Where does all the space on the iPhone go? “Wondering what’s taking up all the space on your iPhone? Alex Kidman discovers that his iPhone’s mysterious black hole labelled “other” has eaten up 4.3GB of space…”
And today, yet another Nettop review for CNET.com.au:

MSI Wind Top AE1900: “MSI’s marketing material notes this as, and we quote, “The Most Complete I/O Ports”. We’re not quite seeing that, somehow.”

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God gave Rock & Roll to you…

I’m not sure I’m entirely happy with that lyric, KISS. First of all you’re stating that God gave Rock and Roll to me, but in the same breath, you’re then giving it away to everyone, apparently.

Did you ever think that I might not have wanted to share? Rock & Roll shall be all mine!

Well, as long as Elvis doesn’t come back to claim it. But how likely is that?

All this isn’t to say that I can’t be a sharing individual. Like my words*, which are rather abundant in the June 2009 issue of Australian Netguide. How abundant, I hear you ask?

Well, if you were to open a random, non-advertisment page anywhere between pages 22 and 48… then I wrote it.

That includes a guide to Home Media Devices — including reviews of TiVo, WD TV, WD MyBook World Edition 1T, SiliconDust HD HomeRun, Apple TV — and a  guide to connecting up Windows Media Centre to your TV via Xbox 360, with pictures that reveal a startling amount about my musical tastes. Regular readers of this blog are probably already startled enough, but anyway. There’s also standalone reviews of the Apple Mac Mini, Asus Eee Top, Razer Arctosa Keyboard, Microsoft Sidewinder X8 Mouse, DualSIM Mobile Phone, StopMotion Pro Home Edition, Altec Lansing Orbit-M iMT237, Telstra 21Mbps USB Dongle, iPod Shuffle and Norton 360 3.0. But I’m not done yet! Skip forward sixteen pages, and you’ll find my reviews of DCS: Black Shark, Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X, Halo Wars and House Of The Dead: Overkill.

Phew. I wonder if it’s too late to rename the title to Australian AlexGuide?

*Smooth segues are free today at alexkidman.com! Remember to tip your waiter.

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Numb me, drill me, floss me, bill me…

I wish I still had the teeth I had when I was a youngster. Those teeth? Never required a filling, and could go long stretches without any dental intervention at all.

The teeth I’ve got now? Drilled, filled and only partially numbed along the way. My face feels rather… unusual as a result. One half is in pain, and the other half feels like it’s been hit by a sock wrapped around a brick that’s been dipped in rancid whiskey.

I’m going to go lie down now for a good long while. You can stay here if you must, or you can check out my latest CNET.com.au offering, live today:

BenQ nScreen i91: “BenQ’s nettop looks affordable on the surface, but you’re still paying a premium for a low-powered desktop machine.”

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You bring me down, you shout around, you don’t believe that I’m alone….

Well, to quote a certain 80s pop starlet, I think I’m alone now. Although that lyric is from a different type of Queen entirely…

Working. Yet again. So much work to do.For those who wanted more personal blogging… umm… the washing machine is dead. Are you happy now?

If not, amuse yourselves with these reviews, live now at CNET.com.au:

TiVo Home Networking: “It’s tough to move past the sticker shock of the cost of TiVo’s home networking solution, but it is a simple solution for those wanting more portable TV out of their PVR.”

Western Digital My DVR Expander: “Western Digital’s TiVo expanding drive works as advertised, but is only recommended for non-networked homes.”

Which inevitably leads to…

TiVo expansion options: “One of the first things we noticed when the Australian version of TiVo finally launched last year was that the hard drive within the unit was, even for a PVR, pretty small. What solutions are there for expandng the size of the storage on offer?”

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The rebirth of RADDADEM

Now there’s a reference that three people, at best, will get. I expect at least one of them to fall out of their chair, possibly laughing.

Yep, I’m writing a column on manners. Wow. I must be getting old.

(and yep; a personal blog entry. Miracles, it seems, will never cease. I’ll pop a page break in here, because some people won’t care…)

Continue reading “The rebirth of RADDADEM”

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Only women bleed…

Another patently false lyric. You just have to know where to stab…

(insert dark laughter here…)

Yeah, OK, I’m not quite that grim. I’ve just been listening to too much Alice Cooper today. Well, too much of a single Alice Cooper album anyway. This was meant to be part of my “listen to lots of new music” gambit, but instead I spent the day listening to an album I got hooked on when I lived in a heavily junkie-infested household back when I was an innocent wee eighteen year old.

Shut up! I was innocent.. once. Or maybe twice.

Anyway, I don’t think it’s influenced my writing today. Well, not much. Let’s see, shall we?

First of all, some news at APCMag.com:

MyNetfone launches Naked ADSL2+: “MyNetFone’s naked ADSL2+ packs surprisingly good value — $39 a month for 5GB peak usage. You could pay that much to Telstra just in line rental.”pcujune09

Then there’s the June issue of Australian PC User Magazine, in which I’m featured pretty heavily. In TestBench, you’ll find my review of the Telstra Turbo 21 Modem. In Cool & New, my reviews of the Nokia E63, Microsoft Sidewinder X8 Gaming Mouse and DualSIM Slider, and in Games, a review of WWE Legends Of Wrestlemania, with a fabulous screenshot of “Dancing” Jim Neidhart. Well, OK, only one other person reading this blog knows why he’s “dancing” Jim Neidhart, but anyway… it’s on store shelves now. Go forth and purchase, people, otherwise I won’t be able to afford to subsidise the golfing-heavy lifestyles of certain 70’s-era Shock Rockers!


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I’ve seen the future and it will be…

Wow. An on-topic song lyric (and one of the better tracks off a remarkably poor Prince album. Then again, the numbers of those are starting to stack up…)

In any case, the lyric suits today’s — well, yesterday’s, but I got busy entertaining hordes of screaming seven year olds yesterday, and couldn’t blog it up properly — topic quite well.

Mac Authority: The Next iPhone Will Be… “The iPhone 4G will suddenly sprout wings and fly around the house, dropping freshly peeled grapes into your lap while Aerosmith’s “Love In An Elevator” plays…”

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So she ran to the arms of America…

I don’t really want to think about when that album came out right now. For a start, I really should be working to make up for this afternoon’s Nanna nap. Mm.. Nanna nap.

Back to work, you fool!

Who said that? Anyway, it’s back to work for me. You can keep yourselves busy with a review of mine, live now at CNET.com.au:

Kogan Agora Pro: “The Agora brings the concept of a low-cost netbook firmly back on the agenda, but its woeful wireless performance seriously detracts from its value proposition.”