Computer & Network Upgrades

Being an IT savant, I enjoy enhancing and upgrading my computers and home network, which is exactly what I started doing this summer. My first upgrade was a Westinghouse 47 inch LCD HDTV which is being used as the monitor for my Media-PC, Xbox 360, Wii, and Playstation 3. Yes, I do have them all. Not only is it a great screen to game on, but it is also great for watching online and locally stored videos. My next major upgrade was a Cisco Wireless N router, which not only gave our network a wider wifi radius, but it also enhanced our networks transfer rates significantly. That is what I have done so far. Continue reading to find out about my upcoming projects!

Movie Review: Angels & Demons

There are a lot of great movies hitting theaters this summer and, before I saw it, Angels & Demons did not seem like it would be nearly as good as Star Trek and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I felt this way because it’s prequel, The Da Vinci Code, was a bit underwhelming, especially after all the hype it recieved before its release in 2006. I am actually happy to say that I was completely wrong in my preconceptions of what will possibly be this years most captivating film.

Click below to continue reading my review of Angels & Demons and to see its trailer!

Project: Major Server Upgrade

Well, it’s time for yet another upgrade to my home server. This time, however, my server is getting a major overhaul. Click the headline to see a list of everything I’ll being doing in order to complete this upgrade process:

I Graduated!

I can’t believe it, but I am now a university graduate! For those not in the know, I graduated from the University of Advancing Technology with a Bachelors of Science degree in Network Security.

Click this articles title to find out about my graduation ceremony, post-graduation celebrations, and to see my graduation pictures!

Movie Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a movie that comic book geeks around the world, including myself, have been waiting a long time to see. In my opinion, this movie does not disappoint since it has a great story and all the action one would expect from an X-Men film.What I like most about this movie is that it not only delves into Wolverines past, but it also introduces the audience to a whole team of new mutants such as Gambit, Deadpool, and Wraith. However, X-Men fans have found a number of inconsistencies with this film as it relates to the comic books its derived from. In my opinion, these inconsistencies don’t really take anything away from the movie as whole since it is filled with some great action sequences and tells a great story.

Click this articles title to see my verdict on this movie and to check out some of its secret endings!

I Was Mentioned in the Wall Street Journal!

A few weeks ago, after reading some of the articles I had been posting here regarding netbooks, Wall Street Journal reporter Justin Scheck contacted me. He wanted to know how I personally felt about netbooks and why I chose the Asus EEE PC 1000HE over the rest. What I have found is that netbooks represent a growing market for those who do not want to lug a huge fifteen inch laptop with them everywhere, especially if all they want to do is get on the Internet.

Click this articles title to read an excert from the WSJ article where I am mentioned.

What I’m Playing: Mirrors Edge (PS3)

If you are a fan of action or adventure games, you really should check out Mirror’s Edge since it is such a unique and amazing game. It’s uniqueness comes from its style of gameplay, in that the entire game is played in the first-person perspective. Being a fan of First-Person Shooters (FPS’s), I was already comfortable with this view. However, what I did not expect was the minimal use of guns in this game, and that by no means is a bad thing. In fact, the game encourages the player to disarm enemies, and not shoot them with their own weapons. Another interesting thing about this game is the lack of any type of heads-up display (HUD). The only thing that you see on the screen, other than the surrounding level and enemies, is a tiny reticle. No health meter, no maps, nothing because none of that is even needed in this game. When you get hurt your vision will get blurry. To get around the level, look for objects or items marked in red “runner vision.” When you run into an enemy, you can either avoid them or disarm them if you have good timing. The gameplay is also really fun since it is based on free-running and has you running, jumping, and climbing around huge cities.

Click this articles title to see the games trailer!

Server Upgrade: Drobo

The Drobo from Data Robotics really is an amazing solution for data storage. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that it may be the LAST solution you’ll EVER need for data storage. As you can see in the above video, the Drobo makes it incredibly easy to increase your hard disk capacity. When you run out of space on the Drobo, all you have to do is pop in a larger capacity hard drive and the unit takes care of the rest. Despite the $499 price point, I am really looking forward to getting one of this things for my server at home. I currently have a single terabyte drive connected to the server which I use to store and serve my media throughout my house. With hard disk prices as low as they are, the Drobo could prove to be a great investment, seeing as how it offers easy unlimited storage, with the keyword there being easy.

Click this articles title to see a demonstration of Drobo’s functionality by Geek Brief host Cali Lewis!

Movie Review: Dragonball Evolution

I just do not want to believe what I just saw. The Dragonball really was as bad as everyone says it is. The main reason for this is because Chow Yun Fat, the Executive Producer, decided to gear it towards the children’s demographic. The whole time I was watching the movie, I felt as though it would have been much better had I been 13 years old again. What’s even worse is that the movie did not seem to have any of the epicness the anime series had. The few fights scenes that were in the film were inappropriately short. In fact, the final battle between Goku and Piccolo ended kind of abruptly with Piccolo just falling over dead. Very disappointing.

Click this articles title to find out exactly how bad this movie really is.

Project: Server Reconfiguration + iTunes Server

I recently realized that I could make my home network more efficient by adding my one terabyte hard disk drive to my server. Currently, my server has an external 700GB hard disk drive that is being used to store various media files and server them throughout my house. That drive is actually two hard disks connected in a RAID 5 configuration. However, I have also have a one terabyte hard disk drive that I use externally on my desktop. By adding that to the dual-bay external enclosure I use on my server, I could gain a lot more storage space there.

Click this articles title to find out more about this project.