Referbished XBox360...a calculated risk

After mourning the loss of my 60 gb Playstation 3 for almost a year now (stolen right out of my house). I saw this site on the Internet. Asking a mere $34.99 for a refurbished XBox360 Premium with a 1 year warranty. Seems like a steal of a deal, and I am "tempted" to put my coin down and give it a try.

After spending an absorbent amount for my Playstation 3 ($1,000). I have been without a console and have been weighing the pros and cons of the major contenders (the Wii, the XBox360 and yet another Playstation 3).

I see the pros and cons in all systems and here is my assessment on them. I will start with my first love.

Playstation 3
I advocated for this unit from the beginning, knowing hands down that it was superior to anything on the market. The ability to install Linux sold me right away and backwards compatibility for Playstation 2 games was just cinch that made me pinch every last penny I had to purchase one. The Cell CPU and the 1080p capability along with being an inexpensive Blueray player (which is the current winner in the format wars, I won the bet with myself) made me a happy elitist to own one.

Why I am not getting one this time around...
Aside from the price, which after purchasing it at its high of $800 when I first got my hands on it. This platform has some limitations that has made me reconsider acquiring another one. First, it has a piss poor selection of games which drives me nuts. Second, the eternal delay of Home (Playstation's version of second life) has irked me to no end but the killing blow was their reversal to include backwards compatibility to Playstation 2 games. But the nail in the coffin was that Sony made no attempt to include a SDK to create games on the device like Microsoft did. This has made me sit on the fence just waiting for Sony to stop being such prudes and to get with the program.


Wii
Now the Wii was one I was really interested in, its price point is perfect, the games are interactive and fun especially in parties and groups. I have heard only good things about the Wii

Why I am not getting one this time around...
Ok, for all of its fun points, I still do not think it has the selection of games I really hunger for. Still I need a SDK to write my own games on this and no attempt to date has been made to do so. Yes, I will pass, but to the credit of the Wii it is in my next round of console purchases even over the Playstation 3.

The winner?
XBox360

Why?
Listen, the game console stability and horse power sucks when compared to the Playstation 3 it certainly doesn't have the full availability of fun and interactive games that the Wii has. But, it does score over both of them in two very distinctive ways.

First, it has the selection I like and has many RPG type games to ensorcel me for hours.

Second, XNA, the capability (for a price) for the common people to build games on.

Now red ring of death and overheating issues aside as well as the numerous complaints in the forums about having to return defunct systems and waiting weeks on end for another system that lasts for only a few months before it has to be returned yet again. I will spend the coin on a refurbished system until Sony gets its act together and the Wii becomes more competitive with its selection.

Where to go?

Where to go?

It is hard now, our economy is diminishing, contracts are few and far between giving a feast or famine future and local prospects just don't recognize an entrepreneurial spirit.

I have been contracting as a web designer, since early 2000 and have been reassessing and shifting to freelance photography and even to shooting video trying to build my skills in a diversified manner that marks me as "indispensable" to future patrons. But the truth is, I am just a clone of all the other "hopefuls" that are doing the exact same thing.

The reality is, while knowledge of computers and enthusiasm for writing and creating videos are fun to do. They tend to leave one standing beside themselves.

While I have had dreams of working for Google and Apple, even to the extent of bettering my odds by actively promoting Google's technology with the gPhone and proudly attended the Apple's Developers Conference. Not a single offer has come to my table. Oh I get recruiters calling me to no end, promising me the moon and all the cheese it is made of but as the date progresses I am just another name and number for their little black book and I don't even know how many stars they give me.

So, I stick to my freelancer ways, insisting to contract out my professional services as opposed to delude myself into thinking that a job will really give me security, not that I believe that any corporation could truly provide anything more stable than I could.

True to my nature I find it hard to work for people than to work with them for a mutual business advantage. To be an employee seems to be a joke, not because I am adverse to working as a team or to work for a greater common goal of fiscal success, far from it. The frustrations of dealing with the politics of nepotism and playing favorites to under-qualified "buddies" of the manager is a constant theme of working a regular job, with regular people as opposed to an interesting gig that will allow for more dynamic possibilities.

All things being equal, I must confess hindsight being 20/20 I do not feel that my focus in freelancing endeavors are a waste of time or my resources. To be honest, I don't think I would of been introduced to the variety of opportunities (even if those opportunities did not land anything or go the direction I had hoped for). But that is just me.

So, would I ever consider conventional employment? Well, as strange as this may sound I do not see the distinction between a full time job or a contract that requires my full time attentions. The legal world seems to create a artificial circumstance for a full-time employee, a W2 employee seems to be more controlled and dummied down control of creativity and time (punch in the time clock, do work, clock out for lunch, eat lunch, clock back in for lunch, do more work, clock out).

As a contractor you have more control over this time to use it creatively and more efficiently and here in lies the problem as described to me by the CEO of Javaground:

I was interviewing with the CEO who explicitly told me that he would never consider incorporating me into his company as a contractor for the main reason that he could not have complete control over me. As an employee he could better have control over me and my loyalties would be more to his company and not my own consultancy.

I protested and told him that as a consultant, contractor he would have access to my entire professional network and as far as my loyalties to his company, Non Disclosure Agreements would legally prohibit me from playing the field and compromising secrets of his company. He still wanted me to be a regular employee, he still wanted that illusionary control over my time and loyalties. To my perception as a contractor/consultant the demand on my time and the loyalties to my new patron would be no different than being a regular full time employee.

My rational words fell on deaf ears, he didn't care, he wanted an employee and I wanted a business partner and I politely disengaged from further negotiations on the subject and consequently did not receive an offer to work for his company.

It would of been a cool company to work for, but in retrospect I am glad he never followed up with me. In my eyes if he was honestly that adamant over the semantics of my professional relation to him and his company then we probably would not of been able to work well with each other in the first place.

So, Where to go? Is probably not the right question to ask, more to the point should be the question Whom do I ally myself with?

Prius, our next car? biodiesel?

Next car a Prius, NHW20?

The next car I would purchase is a Hybrid hands down. I would like to remove myself from purchasing gasoline all together, I have targeted Biodiesel as viable alternative, eliminating pure gasoline, to use the renewable biodiesel but i do not find very many viable selections for these capabilities in the US. Toyota's Prius is a stop gap measure, that has enough interest in the subject matter to spawn well versed enthusiast

I do however see cutting edge alternatives in other countries, specifically Germany and Japan. I asked my brother a top end mechanic, about diesel bikes and he did not know of any so I decided to Google my way to finding out.

The technology is certainly out there, but not really here. Of course, as expected, the cutting edge is not available to the US bubble we are living in. But a man can dream and really get serious research done so when I do step foot on a dealership I will walk in with a loan and the exact specifications for the vehicle I want.

Gas in the US is still "relatively cheap" at $5 a gallon, yes I know there will be a few to take issue with this statement. But my research is on a global scale and I base this on UKs prices (somewhere around $8-9 euros a gallon, also bear in mind that the cost for a Euro cost more than one american dollar at the time of this writing).

I am leaning to the 3rd generation Toyota Prius as it is clocking at 60 MPG and if driven with fineness this could be bumped to an even higher number and if hacked to increase the battery capacity it may be even higher MPG. Of course, any tricking to the vehicle's internals may void the warranty so I will have to take great care to read and understand the specifications as to not botch any modifications I do.

Hybrid Motorcycles

In October 28, 2005, at the trade shows in Tokyo, Yamaha, has a bike known as the Gen-Ryu it holds a light weight, compact YZF-R6 600cc motor AND a electric motor. Looks impressive and very savvy.

Well its 2008 and still no word on its price or if it is even being sold in the US. I would like to eventually get a bike like the Gen-Ryu, but for now (and for practical reasons) I have my sights set on the Toyota Prius

Reporting Life

Hello again.

Well we are being called to a professional gig this week to take graduation pictures on the 11th, 12th and 18th for the classes of 2008. This should be fun.

I will try to post when I get time.

The Business of Scripts (movie and .php)

Well we just finished our calling card website.   I will be making some .php scripts while working on our movie scripts.   We have 3D Animation (blender) on both of our MacBook machines.   We have the tools and the talent, we are just looking to getting better tools, a 1080p camera and a 1080p monitor.

I am faced with whatever my camera can "see".   The magick is in the editing to be sure.   We are gathering our sound files into a Database (MySQL), and keeping them on a independent Harddrive.  Thats the technical stuff I will post more on the source as it is developed.

Tip of the Hat to Dr. Rudolph Bertagnoli

This is not really apart of my blog of Android, but I am very impressed with this doctor from Germany.    He is a spine surgeon I heard about.   He is so sophisticated and Uber that he has developed his own specialized surgical tools for his trade.

Now, to give my audience an idea of just how absolutely Uber this is (to me at least) I put him on the level of a Samurai that forges his own katana or a hacker that constructs his own specialized laptop or even a race-car driver who works on his cars engine.

I always had a dream of becoming a plastic surgeon and even attended UCSD for a few years (taking biochemistry and pharmaceutical courses).   But my consultancy was making more money than attending my classes and it was a choice between eating and providing shelter for myself or completing my college courses...guess my stomach won.

Anyway, Dr. Rudolph Bertagnoli, I admire your elite methods that defy convention and by creating your specialized tools to enhance your surgical skills beyond that of your typical "American" doctors.   Gives a special meaning to...a fine product of German Engineering.   You get a tip of the hat from me. 

Freelance Reporter for KZSW

Wow, first blogger now freelance reporter, I feel like I am Peter Parker (Spiderman).   I will be covering mostly Temecula area particularly the film festivals.   Since this is a technology blog, much of my reporting will be based around that theme.

I will be seeking to interview technology businesses, green energy businesses and of course game businesses.   In addition I would like to host a poker segment and commentary, discussing hand strategy, tells and where the best poker jack pots are locally.