iPhone Launch: Granny Sneaks in to return her iMac

I took a trip to see history in the making… well maybe not history, just overzealous consumers for an overzealous product. I walked around to see how long the line was. It wasn’t terribly bad but it pretty much had every lined up in a large circle around a fountain. There was a smaller second line for the AT&T store. I’d say about 150 people showed up in line. After a while I took the opportunity to take pictures of those waiting for the launch. We had mostly 20 year old men in line, but very few women. They waited in line for over 2 days just to catch it first. They were kicked out of the mall the night before and lined up outside until it opened again. As we were counting down the last 10 minutes before launch, I stood next to a chatty family.

Everyone was excited but also annoyed that this many people would wait in line just for a phone. We had lots of camera phones going off taking plenty of pictures. I also noted how everyone who walked by the Apple store took out their cellphone just to show some knee jerk sign that they didn’t need one. Teenage girls passed by the line annoyed and commented on how stupid it was. Some skaters near by yelled, "GET READY" just to startle the audience. It was just like an ABC drama filled with different people and their stories. An old lady, I’ll call her Pearly, was ready to return her iMac and waited patiently until the store opened. The parents of one of those in line sat down to take pictures of their son, almost as if they were proud to have a son with an iPhone. It pretty much got obssessive and people began to crowd around trying to catch the final 10 seconds of countdown. Finally the store itself is unveiled as they rip down black construction paper blocking the view from inside.

The doors open and everyone cheers as all the luckiest people in the world get their hands on the iPhone. They soon began pouring in, and we applaud when the first person on line exits. We applaud the 2nd, the 3rd, and the 4th. Then.. whats this? Granny Pearly somehow snuck into the store only to leave with the same iMac box in hand. She’s applauded out of the store as if she won an academy award. Most who got their hands on iPhones were pretty camera shy, I didn’t get really great pictures. But the ice cream lady was nice enough to give me a free coupon just for watching the line.

Granny Sneaks in to return her iMac

More Pics will be added As it Happens!

Use Aim In AOL Webmail

After a long wait, AOL finally took the wraps off its AIM Webmail product. Now Aim is integrated into the webmail site. Meaning you no longer need Aim Express anymore. Aim Express hardly ever works and has brought numerous amounts of complaints to this site as well as AOL’s message boards. So for all you people who say Aim Express doesn’t work, please try beta.webmail.aol.com instead.

How to use Aim in AOL’s Webmail

Sign in at!
beta.webmail.com

AIM looks pretty plain so far. There is support for tabbed IMs and buddyicons on the side. However, friendly names, changing icons, and viewing buddy info is missing in this release. I believe atleast buddy info should be there, its just going to be a link to a buddy info pageThey are expected to be added in the upcomming Beta Builds.

Whats wrong with Simcity Societies: Is it Simcity5 or Not?

Wow after a few weeks of reviews and previews we’ve come to the million dollar question. Is this the next Simcity5 or not? Well it appears we’ve come to the point where now half of us are saying its just a spinoff. The rest of us are convinced its the next game. The answer might be found in the title. Its not Simcity5: Societies, its just Simcity Societies. However interviews and news sites have stated it is the 5th iteration of Simcity. Dr. Statistics believes 80% of gamers are against Simcity Societies in its current form, 18% are in a wait and see mode, 2% are fans of Tilted Mill and will definitely buy.

Whats wrong with Simcity Societies so far!

What I think:
The major complaint is the art direction. The road system looks overly simplified, the buildings look too cuddly and compact, and everything fits pretty much in its square. We were pretty much expecting more realistic graphics and some crazy intersections but that doesn’t seem to be happening. The roads are far too square like. There aren’t any curves seen so far, and everything is grid like. Even Simcity4 had a slight curve with their streets, but Simcity Societies is just thick grids with sidewalks. One of the major eyesores for me is the constant flat texture on the ground. Only around the shore does the game breaks this monotony.

What the Fans think:
We’ve had comments ranging from "Simcity 4 looks better than this game" to "I like fresh games and I like to see a new direction take place." I think for the most part, fans do want an easier game but easier in the sense of not having to put power lines, not having to put tedious zones, and easier tools for streets. But this is where it stops. Everything else should be brought back from Simcity4 but with better graphics. xSpartan039x says, "This game is obviously an attempt by maxis [actually tilted mill] to draw in young consumers who cant handle the difficultly of sim city. Basically a nullified sim city where everything is easy, cool and doesnt require much brain-busting to make something".

Come to the Magical Land of Legos!

Whats Right with Simcity Societies!

What I think:
The game’s focus is different, and I think this was pretty much well thought out. What happens with Simcity Societies is that your more of the role of a dictator. How is this different from Simcity4? Well In Simcity4, your population directs your actions. You try to appease the population in balancing jobs, residents, and your money. If they can’t get to work, or if they are uneducated, or if they aren’t living long lives, they will move out or devolve. In Simcity Societies, the gameplay changed towards you forcing who will live in your city. By building certain types of buildings you can attract a certain society. Its more like Black & White, creating a society where your citizens are controlled with force, makes the city darker and stricter. Your citizens might be unhappy but you will see less crime and more money. However placing buildings for artistic and happier people changes your populace into a brighter colorful society.

What the Fans think:
Its hard to find a positive comment about this game. Most positive comments stems from Tilted Mill’s work in the past. "The only reason why I’m interested in Societies is Tilted Mill’s involment and the fact that it apears to be much more of an Impressions-style city builder than Maxis-type one," and eedoon says, "At first, I thought SCS concept is a little bit weird. But then again, I think it is good for anyone to try something new and therefore I am eager to give this new SC a try." But this comment pretty much summed up the rest of the situation,  "Will I buy it? Yeah, probably, if only in hopes the money will go to producing a REAL sequel" Well, there you have it, we aren’t satisfied until Simcity "5" comes out and until then we have Cities: Unlimited to look forward to. More on that later..

So is this Simcity5 or Not?

Well we do know that Simcity will continue if this game fails. Yep thats right! If this game doesn’t get good reviews and sales, Maxis will go back to basics and work on the next version of Simcity. You don’t need to kill yourselves or boycott this game. If this game is successful, Simcity Societies might be branched off in its own series while coexisting with Maxis creating Simcity 6.

Don’t ya Wish Your Simcity was HOT Like Me! Don’t ya!

How to Change the Screen Name Colors in Aim 6

If  you have Aim 7?
Click here to change screen name color!

Some people might not like the screen name colors in Aim 6, and may want it to be red and blue, or blue and green. Here’s a quick guide on how to change the colors of your screen name and to change the colors of other people’s screen name.

To change Your Screen Name colors in Aim 6

Navigate to the directory below. Depending on your Version of Aim. If you can’t find it, upgrade to the latest version of aim at aim.com

Please note that # represents your AIM version. You must manually locate this directory through Windows Explorer. Simply copying and pasting the path below will not work. The path below applies to any Aim 6 version, including Aim 6.8 and Aim 6.9.

C:\Program Files\AIM6\services\
imApp\ver6_#_#_#\content\im\default.css

• Open the default.css file in C:\windows\notepad.exe
• Scroll down to .localname
• Next You will have to Find an HTML Color Value to input.
• Visit Colors, and select a color.
• Notice the 6 digit code combination at the top.
• This Code is what you will type under local name.

.localName {

font:12px Arial;

color:#D73306;

}

• Highlight over the Color Code. In this example it is #D73306
• Type the Color Code from the Website that you chose.
• Put a ‘#’ before the code and make sure there is a ‘;’ after your code

.localName {

font:12px Arial;

color:#000000;

}

• Press File > Save

To Change the Screen Name Color of the person you IM.

In default.css find any .remote name

.remoteName0 {

font:12px Arial;

color:#0F0595;

}

• Change the color by inserting a color value just like you did above.

Other .remoteName deal with the color of screen names in chatrooms. You can change any of these screen name colors the same way you did before. These colors will be given to people at random so do not expect to see much changes unless you drastically changed them all.

Happy Birthday Sonic June 23, 2007

Sonic the Hedgehog’s Birthday was June 23.
 You can watch /b/tards celebrating Sonics birthday
on this Special Sonic Birthday Celebration Video.

Fake Myspace Spam Profiles and How to identify them

I’ve noticed a few Google searches here and there relate to myspace viruses and information about it. I still see that people still comment on fake profiles but aren’t sure if its real or not. So here’s a handy guide to figure out which ones are fake, you should look for all things below not just one particular category.

Look at their Details

Yes, you should look at it, if their sexual orientation, hometown, religion, and ethnicity is missing, they are likely to be a fake profile. View the example below:

Most of the time Status, and Zodiac Sign is shown, the rest are always missing. This is just a ploy to make themselves look more "bisexual" so they can attract a wider audience of people.

Blogs about Money or Cams

Usually they have one blog entry. They will talk about how they made so much easy money from a free website. "You’ll Laugh When I tell you how I make hundreds a week typing at home." HAHAHA! Yes! Go to their website where they’ll steal your identity! LOL! Watch out for these scammers and their quick money schemes.

Thanks for the ADD, but Who are you?

Often times a fellow falls victim to a sexy hot lady who really is just a computer program telling you to visit their website. Check the comments section, read through them and check for the following;

–Thanks for the Add
Check if the majority of comments are thanking them for the Adds. If you see these too often, they are fake profiles. You should also look for conversations, if you see a person talking about what they did yesterday and a flow of communication is going on, that means they might be legit profiles.

–Macy Cards, Gift Cards, Money Making, Ringtones..
If the majority of comments are about how they got cool gift cards from Macy’s or all these cool ringtones they get from such and such website, these profiles are usually victims of spams or spammers themselves. I mean after seeing so much spam on your myspace page, wouldn’t you delete them?

Spammer Catch Phrases

Poor Keri, she just recently had amnesia and she keeps giving out the wrong links.

Spammers Catch Phrases – DELETE THESE PEOPLE FROM YOUR PROFILE –

Oh my fault I must have gave you the wrong link then. The people I use make make money should be here(click here).  
(46,500 PROFILES SPAMMED)

Hey hun, How have you been doing? NAME told me to let you know about this if you need some extra cash.
(23,300 PROFILES SPAMMED)

I’m flippin’ out from all the free giftcards.
(153,000 PROFILES SPAMMED)

Wow I totally got my second free giftcard for Macys  today in the mail, I cant believe the store salesman  was telling the truth about this site!
(52,500 PROFILES SPAMMED)

See Who is Spying on your Myspace Page.
(Over 455,000 PROFILES SPAMMED)

These numbers are pretty large, maybe if we can catch all the phrases we can come up with an estimate on what percantage of myspace users have been phished.

Can you guess how many profiles this guy has?

The Shift towards Slim Keyboards

Ever since Windows Vista came out, I’ve been noticing a change in keyboard design. They have shifted towards smaller, more compact designs. I’ve found myself pretty much steering clear from those huge multimedia keyboards that dominated over Windows XP and 98 era. For some reason at that time, keyboard manufactures felt consumers loved those lavish big keyboards. Some of them take up a considerable amount of room for no reason at all. Remember the time when computer safety experts pushed those large ergonomic keyboards. These "Shamu" keyboards were split along the center providing you with the most awkward feeling. 

What is up with the Huge Multimedia Keyboards?

I mostly shyed away from these type of keyboards mostly because they don’t fit well within the space of my desktop. I never could quite understand why companies pushed for multimedia keyboards that took up too much space. They added extra functionality such as buttons for your favorite websites, volume control, and sleep mode, the button thats pressed at the most inconvenient times. They might be useful to lazier people, but I don’t have need for it. I’m perfectly fine with controlling the volume manually through a knob on my speaker.

Logitech whats up with these big keyboards? The larger than life wrist rest makes this so uncomfortable for me. Not only does the wrist pad get in the way, I have to push the multimedia buttons so far away from me. 

You see if Logitech could cut out the crap by taking the front silver peice off, I’d probably  buy this. Its already sleek and refined, just cut off the wrist pad and we’ll have a deal.

Not only is this keyboard a fashion crime, its also HUGE. Slim it down some please… 

How to Shop for A Slim Keyboard?

Its pretty easy to shop for one. All you have to do is look for the dimensions of the keyboard. Height x Width x Depth, are the 3 measurements used to figure out how it should fit on your desktop. When your buying keyboards online you can’t really predict how big it is without this. Most companies will tell you the dimensions up front. Logitech however seems to want to hide this information, may be they don’t want you to know. Stick to keyboards that are less than 9 in depth. You can pretty much see that keyboards without the wrist pad in the front have dimensions around 7 to 8 inches. Multimedia keyboards can go from 9 to 11 inches. Ergonomic keyboards always stay around 10 inches. Sometimes the dimensions are shown by Length x Width x Height, these websites list the width as the actual depth. 

My recommendations for Slim Keyboards:

HP Multimedia Keyboard: PERFECT & CHEAP! Its silver with black, and its small enough to not bother you with big wrist pads. The depth is excellent 7.5 inches

Saitek Eclipse II: It has a detachable wrist pad with 9 inches average depth, volume control functions too.

Razer Tarantula: 8.6 inches of width isn’t bad for a keyboard with a large wristpad. Plus you can press 10 keys at the same time.

MaCally USB Slim Keyboard: Mac, Very Slim, can even curve when standing up. 6.5 inches depth is just WOW.

Aim ScreenName Suspended on Aim 6.0?

Is AOL Going to Suspend Your Screen Name If Its Not Active?

If your on a Sidekick and your friends have told you that if you don’t send a certain message to 20 people your screen name would get suspended. Please click here!

What Does it Mean When Your Aim Account Is Suspended?

When your Aim Account is suspended, you will not be able to sign into AIM at all and will be blocked from receiving email. Unfortunately the chances of getting your account reinstated and turn back on is slim and for the most part, people never get it turned back on. Recently however, AOL has been sending out emails when your account gets suspended so that you are informed before attempting to sign on.

Can I Unsuspend My Account?

Unsuspending an account is very rare, and doesn’t happen very often, but its not impossible. Paid AOL screen names can restore service by calling AOL and someone will be able to inform you as to why your account was suspended.

Suggestions

One of my commenters, ikeism, gave a tip on how to reinstate your Aim account if it gets suspended for no reason. Aim accounts appear to get suspended for seemingly no reasons at all. Its suspected your account may be comprimised and used to send spam, although I believe someone with access is deliberately suspended accounts. ikeism suggested you call AOL at  (800) 827-3338 and choose the option that you want to sign up for a AOL. When you get connected to customer support, tell them that your willing to pay to get your account back on. They will look into why it got suspended and then reactivate you. They gave another number 888-758-0297 that you can call if your screen names were to get suspended again.

If you find other legit ways of unsuspending screen names please comment below.

Aim Express Problems and Issues

The most issues people have with AimExpress is the Popup Blocker message. Follow the workarounds in this post in order to fix this problem. After you have tried each and every workaround and it still doesn’t work please post a comment for additional assistance.

Below is a series of Workarounds for the following message:

You have successfully logged into Aim Express. However, we are unable to launch your Buddy List because you have Popup blocking enabled. Please disable the Popup blocker or add the *.aimexpress.aol.com and aimexpress.aol.com domain to the allowed white list.

Workaround #1

Start Internet Explorer

–Press ALT+T
–Click Internet Options
–Click Privacy
–Click Settings

Type the following addresses one by one

*.aim.com
*.aol.com
*.aimexpress.aol.com
*.aimexpress.aim.com
aimexpress.aol.com

–Set Popup Blocker to Medium and your done
–Close the Browser and Restart Internet Explorer

Workaround #2

Head to aimexpress.aol.com and hold CTRL the entire time until the buddy list Pops Up.

Workaround #3

Open Mozilla Firefox 2.0

–Press ALT+T
–Click Options
–Click Content
–Click on Exceptions to the right of Block Popups

Type and Allow the following addresses one by one:

*.aim.com
*.aol.com
*.aimexpress.aol.com
*.aimexpress.aim.com
aimexpress.aol.com

Workaround #4

Sign in at beta.webmail.aol.com OR meebo.com OR ebuddy.com OR meetro.com

I personally recommend meebo.com, if you sign up it will also log conversations.
beta.webmail.aol.com has AIM on the right sidebar.

If you have tried all 3 Workarounds and don’t want to use sites like Meebo.com to sign onto Aim, read the extra information below.

1. Do you have Anti-Virus installed?
Check your Anti-Virus firewall to see if its blocking popups or websites. Disable your Anti-Virus all together and test if Aim Express loads up. If it works, then your Anti-Virus is blocking the Aim Express website and you will have to consult your owner’s manual on how to allow popups for certain sites. This also include anti-spyware and other applications that are made to protect your computer from spyware.

2. Do you have toolbars installed?
You might have the Google Toolbar installed and it may be blocking popups. Please be sure to disable the popup blocker in Google Toolbar and try again. If you have other toolbars in IE, press ALT+V and Click Toolbars. Check and make sure that these toolbars have their popup blocker disabled or you can also uninstall the toolbar. Every major toolbar for Internet Explorer including AOL, Google, and Yahoo, have a popup blocker.

3. Do you have Javascript Disabled?
Sometimes Aim Express will popup successfully but Aim Express will not load the buddy list. If you have disabled scripts or your under a user account with the least amount of privileges, Aim Express will fail to load the javascript neccessary to launch it. Make sure you disable any script blocking programs and extensions in your browser and try again.

Thanks For Reading!
– Help Support this Site By Donating with Paypal! –

Simcity Fans comes to terms with Tilted Mill’s Direction, and New Screenshots

The drama rollercoaster of Simcity Societies ended today as Chris Beatrice of Tilted Mill clarified information regarding the game. Simcity Societies will infact be the same Simcity building game as all previous versions of simcity. It will also head to a new aspect of the game to give each city a personality. The game focuses on Six Social energies that influences the outcome of the buildings’ and neighborhoods’ overall mood. 1up also revealed some aspects of the game. All buildings are now ploppable (meaning you place all buildings down as you would do with a fire or police station). The game will also have rewards that unlock as you meet the goals in your city.

Overall with looking at the screens. The art direction is what pretty much upsets me at the moment. It looks too bubbly and unrealistic like RCT3. I’m still looking for that high gloss ultra realistic simcity. I’m going to have to look elsewhere.

Simcity Fans BackLash Against Tilted Mill and EA.

Tilted Mill Productions will be running the development of the newest game of Simcity5. Tilted Mill has stated that the game will not be a realistic simulation like previous Simcity versions before it. Tilted Mill understands that the new direction might anger some fans but they want them to atleast try it out. Some have said Tilted Mill has killed simcity.

The following are some User Reactions against Tilted Mill:

"The Community was waiting on a new and better SimCity5, where realism is nearly perfect. SimCity Societies isn’t that SimCity5 we where waiting for…"

"When you said that this SC is not a realistic urban simulation, then this city building game should not be called Simcity. The whole series of Simcity has been based around realistic building sims… you are turning the new Simcity into just another cartoonish simulator…that upsets alot of people"

"EA, knows **** when it comes to simcity. They want to water itdown and simplyfy it down as much as possible to make maximum sales, great from a greed point of view, utterly rubbish if developers want their game to be reknown "

"How can you try to convince us, loyal SimCity fans that a game, that isn’t an urban simulator will please us? It won’t. Stop fooling us, there’s no city simulation therefore the Simcity name on that game is an insult, and we don’t like being insulted"

"It appears that EA has taken the course that is all too often taken nowadays; they are appealing to a mass audience and killing their base, which, with any luck, will be suicide for them later to the point where they will have to let Will Wright develop it again. SimCity is, at its heart, a game with a goal to be as realistic as possible. What EA is doing is like removing rollercoaster design from RollerCoaster Tycoon…"

And I must admit I have to agree with them. I want to personally put all blame towards EA most of all. You took a game like SSX3 and created crap for kids with SSX Blur. We want our realism back. You might as well let Maxis continue directing this game and let Simcity Socities change its name to something else. More Updates Today

Its like Watching a "Cubix Robots for Everyone" Marathon.

The Next Simcity5! Simcity Societies

Simcity Societies will now be the fifth installment of the popular Simcity games. We last left off with Simcity 4 Rush Hour which focused on traffic, highways, and commute time management. Simcity Societies hints towards being that SimsVille hybrid I’ve been waiting for. Will it steer towards City Life and its focus on keeping poor and rich communities happy together? Or will it focus on Families and their immediate neighborhoods. 1up states EA will take this game and gear it for a much larger audience. This may deter the fans of the series if this game turns out to be too childish and easy. Any new information on Simcity Societies will be added to this blog and this post.

For Now we have a new screenshot, which doesn’t impress me.

Bumped.org Is now keeping track of any breaking devolopments of Simcity Societies.

Aim 6.9 Skin: BumpXPink

Introduction

Bumpxpink is a black and pink Aim 6 skin.
It is a part of the bumpxseries pack which includes four skin colors:

• Bumpxred
• Bumpxblue
• Bumpxgreen
• Bumpxpink

Each skin is included in the pack, you do not need to download them separately.

read more