blog@labowicz.com

ZN5 is Public :)

2008-06-24T01:13:00-00:00

The phone I was working on in Denmark has (finally) been announced! I feel happy...

Simpson's Hit and Run

2008-05-31T04:54:00-00:00

I decided to start playing my gamecube again since I don't have any PS3 games yet (I'm waiting until the current year of grad school is over before I get a new game). As I looked through my old collection of games, I noticed that Simpsons Hit and Run was sitting in the middle of the pile. I realized I had never beat it, so I put it in my console and started playing it from my last save point. I played the game for over an hour, and made some progress (almost finished level 6!)

When I went to save it again, I noticed that my last save was from 2004... how time flies... have 4 years really passed since I last played this game??

Interesting NPR Show on Credit Crisis

2008-05-18T03:59:00-00:00

NPR's "This American Life" did a fantastic show about the origins of the recent sub prime and global credit crises. I thought they did a good job breaking down the problem so that a finance novice (like myself) could understand the issues.

The show is available as a free mp3 on their site.

Awesome BSG Quote

2008-04-24T14:55:00-00:00

Here's a quote that has been sticking in my mind from the 2nd episode of the last season of Battlestar Galactica:

I'm tired of losing, I'm tired of turning away from the things that I want to believe in... and I believe you when you say that you'll die before you stop trying... and I won't lose you again... - Adama

Great dialogue like this is just one of the many reasons I love this show!!

Moto gets good press for once

2008-04-02T18:22:00-00:00

It's good to see Motorola getting some positive press on our products (for a change)

the Z9 is the hot new slider that will be coming to AT&T. The design is very, very sleek and despite looking like it might be "just another fashion phone," it’s got the goodies to make it much more. Integrated GPS, CrystalTalk ambient noise reducer, preloaded Opera 8 and microSDHC support are just the tip of the iceberg. This puppy is definitely worth checking out if you’re in the market for a new un-smartphone from AT&T.

I've used the z9 for a bit and was quite impressed with the software (esp the camera and messaging apps) and hardware (slider is nice and big buttons are useful for texting). Whoever says that Moto's UI isn't up to par hasn't used our latest phones...

Zero Punctuation Rocks

2008-04-02T18:17:00-00:00

I've been spending too much time watching through the back catalog of Zero Punctuation. For the uninitiated, its a video blog with hilariously honest reviews of some of the most popular games out there. I especially enjoy the crude, but effective animations, coupled with the Australian reviewer's whitty remarks :)

Brett Favre Retires!

2008-04-02T18:17:00-00:00

As much as I despised all the losses that Favre inflicted on the Bears over the years, I have to give him credit for his talent and accomplishments. That said, I'm really looking forward to seeing the Bears play Green Bay next year :)

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Woz disses iPhone's lack of 3G

2008-04-02T18:17:00-00:00

On iPhone: He said he still used the iPhone and praised its internet capabilities but he also carried a Motorola Razr for taking calls and browsing the web.

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Rocky 4 Soundtrack

2008-02-12T03:33:00-00:00

Rocky 4 Soundtrack
Originally uploaded by antbrierley.

Best. movie. ever!

My New Setup

2008-02-12T03:33:00-00:00

During the past several years, I have been Windows-free at home, but there have been situations where it would have been convenient to have an install available (for running TurboTax, Syncing MTP Devices/Zune, MS Office, accessing weird IE-only websites, etc). Over the past year, I've been playing with virtual machines on Linux and have been impressed with the experience. After trying out several flavors of Linux, and even a Windows 98 install, I finally decided that I should have a semi-modern version of Windows available to help address the previously mentioned inconveninces.

To start things off, I bought a copy of Windows XP (at a nice discount) to use in a virtual machine on my home computer, which is running Debian Linux. To run the virtual machine, I decided to use the free vmware player application because it is cross platform, free to download and performs very well. Installing the vmware player was straight forward, but involved some compilation due to the fact that I'm running a 64 bit version of Linux. However, building the vmware image was super easy thanks to this website

Once the image was created, I ran it with the vmware player and inserted my Windows XP install CD. The install went as expected and before I knew it, I was staring at the default blue/green playschool theme that comes with Windows XP. The networking worked out of the box (NAT mode), so I proceeded to "map" my network attached storage as a drive on the computer in order to share files effectively.

So far, I've been very happy with the performance. I can barely tell that I'm running it on top of an installation of Linux, even when I have it running at full screen. Best of all, I can access Windows apps on the same computer as all my favorite Linux apps!