Passenger Lands Plane After Pilot Dies

Doug White, who is 56 years-old has logged close to 150 hours on a single-engine Cessna 172. However, his flight with his wife and two daughters turned into a life threatening situation when the pilot, Joe Cabuk, has died while in the middle of flying a King Air. With the help of air traffic controllers, Doug was able to successfully land the King Air at Fort Myers, Florida.

Via Yahoo! News: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/passenger_lands_plane

Philip Stein Watch Initial Review

Here’s a photo that closely resembles the watch I have, my camera took crappy photos of it so I couldn’t use my actual watch.

This is my second Swiss Made watch that I own, a Philip Stein watch. I decided to go with this watch instead of a Breitling or a Longines was because of a watch buying PowerPoint that the cruise setup with some experts that are “well known” in the field that they did and recommended stores that the ship would insure purchases from those stores. This watch uses a Multiple Frequency Technology (MFT) chips that succeeds the Teslar Chip. Things that you can expect from the watch are as follows:

• Deeper, more restful night sleep.
• More calm and less tension in normally stressful situations.
• Improved concentration and ability to focus at work.
• Increased levels of energy.
• An over-all improvement in well-being.

I’ve only have the watch since April 4th, and what I can say about my Philip Stein watch is that it so far works as advertised. I now wake up more restful, note that I sleep close to six hours on school nights (from midnight till quarter to six in the morning). I do feel more concentrated and focused when I am at school, but I did dosed off when my teacher kept lecturing on about the Cold War. Compared to my sleeping in class in the past, I was able to recover quickly from the spacing out. On the cruise ship, I noticed that I was full of energy than I was before when I first stepped on the ship. When I notice more perks about this watch I will report about it on a future post.

Note that I am no Oprah Winfrey fan and I haven’t seen her on television since Barack Obama won the presidential election. The whole she crying on some random stranger’s shoulder was also the other time I have seen her on television. A good warning to anyone interested in Philip Stein watches, DO NOT BUY A REPLICA!!! Buying a replica will defeat the purpose of having the Multiple Frequency chips and will not benefit you in anyway. Buy from an authorized dealer and if they are discounting it more than 15%, then It maybe a knockoff. That is because Philip Stein is a new watch brand and is selling well, since Oprah advertises it on her show.

My first Swiss Made watch was an Omega Seamaster Professional Chronometer. Yes, like a James Bond fan, I liked Pierce Brosnan as Bond. I grew up with him as Bond as a kid and I loved it, till this date my favorite Bond game is Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64.

I love this watch! It's being serviced right now so I don't have the watch on me right now.

I'm Back

Apologies for the lack of posts for the past six days, I was away on a Spring Break cruise. It was a four day, five night trip to Key West, Florida to Cozumel, Mexico that departed from Miami on a Carnival cruise ship. I came back before noon but I am still in cruise ship mode, so I will resume posts tomorrow.

Preview of tomorrow’s post will be an initial review and impressions of a Philip Stein watch that I purchased in Cozumel.

Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 - Over a Million Downloads

Treyarch’s Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 has been downloaded over a million times on the Playstation Network and Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The new map pack has been out since March 19, and in its first weekend was able to reach the million download. Map Pack 1 contains three multiplayer maps: Nightfire, Knee Deep, and Station as well as a Nazi Zombies map, Verruckt. This shows that Treyarch was able to produce a game that people enjoy.

“I’m proud that the team at Treyarch delivered an experience that so many people are enjoying,” said Mark Lamia, Studio Head for Treyarch. “We’re excited that the success of Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 will continue to drive the popularity of the game’s Nazi Zombie mode, competitive multiplayer and chart-breaking success online.”

“The success of Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 speaks to Treyarch and Activision’s ability to provide fans with quality content during a time when people want to get the most out of their Call of Duty experience,” said Maria Stipp, Activision’s Executive Vice President and General Manager of Owned Properties.

Map Pack 1 is out now and goes for 800 Microsoft Points and retails for $9.99 on the Playstation Network Store.

Via Gamers Digest:

http://www.gamersdigest.net/2642/codwaw-dlc-over-1-million-downloads/

Infinity Ward Dropping Call of Duty?

Goodbye Call of Duty, you may or may not be missed.

Infinity Ward, the developers of Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and now Modern Warfare 2 are going to most likely drop the all favorite title, “Call of Duty” of their latest FPS (first person shooter). On the game's site: http://modernwarfare2.infinityward.com/, it shows a teaser trailer and what’s noticeably absent is the “Call of Duty” in the new title. Their reason behind the name change is still unknown; however, a simple assumption is that the modern warfare has taken on a life of its own. Despite the name change, we can only hope that Infinity Ward will still try to continue an aging franchise or push a new franchise through the gates. If Modern Warfare was to continue the Call of Duty franchise, it would have been the 6th installation the series. Modern Warfare 2 will be released on November 10, 2009.

LG Phone with Transparent Keypad

The LG-GD900 was introduced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, initially as a concept. Now the LG-GD900 will be showcased at CTIA 09 with a revised UI (User Interface) and will allow everyone attending CTIA to play with the phone. The star feature of the slider phone is the transparent keypad that is concealed by sliding the screen down, and revealed by sliding the screen up. At the moment there are no technical specifications on the GD900, more specs and information will probably be available by the time CTIA 09 rolls around.

Via Engadget and Akihabara News:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/lgs-gd900-with-multi-touch-transparent-keypad-gets-s-class-u/

http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news_details.php?id=17854

Eight Killed in Nursing Home Shooting

In Carthage, North Carolina, 45-year-old Robert Stewart went into a nursing home and killed eight people. He didn’t work at the nursing home but shot and killed seven patients and a nurse. He will be charged with eight counts of first degree murder and one count of assault on a police officer. Witnesses saw him armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and other weapons; fortunately Officer Justin Garner was able to confront him and prevented the carnage from getting anymore out of hand than it already was.

Article via CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/29/nursing.home.shooting/index.html

130 Year-Old Women

A woman from Kazakhstan claims to be 130 years-old. She has lived through Lenin and Stalin and is currently celebrating her 130th birthday. However, she cannot enter the Guinness Book of World Records because of the lack to a birth certificate, which didn’t exist back in 1879. The video below will give you the fully story of her and how she is living now (Via Yahoo!).

Guerilla Games is Cracking Down on Cheating on Killzone 2 Mulitplayer

They are on the lookout for cheaters on Killzone 2 multiplayer.

Beware cheaters on Killzone 2; Guerilla Games is cracking down on cheaters. On their Twitter they announced that gamers that cheat are at risk of losing their PSN ID.

@TheXFrame Glitchers risk losing their PSN ID altogether. We've been quite lenient so far but that's going to change.

So to the gamers that cheat on Killzone 2 or to any other online game on Playstation Network, you’ve been warned. You may end up losing your PSN ID one day and possibly losing your hard earned Trophies.

From Twitter: http://twitter.com/KillzoneDotCom/status/1376274956

The World's Cheapest Car

No it's not the Smart Fortwo that is the cheapest car, but one of the smallest.

Tata Motors of India has released the world’s smallest car, the Nano. The Nano retails for a 100,000 rupees or 2,000 US dollars. The car is only 10 feet long and has a top speed of 65 miles per hour. The Nano has a two-cylinder engine and four-speed manual transmission but no air conditioning, electric windows or power steering, although those options should be available in the deluxe trims.

You can read more from Yahoo!: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090323/ts_afp/indiacompanyautotata_20090323144905

Scammer Scams Apple out of 9,000 iPod Shuffles

Nicholas Arthur Woodhams a 23 year old man from Kalamazoo, Michigan, was able to correctly guess out 9,000 valid iPod Shuffle serial numbers; he also got Apple to ship him the Shuffles using a Prepaid Visa and UPS store mailbox (while not sending anything to Apple). Once he got the Shuffles from Apple, he would then sell them for less money than the MSRP. Now prosecutors have just brought federal charges to Woodhams for fraud and money laundering, his scam lasted from March 2006 to October 2007.

Story via Macworld: http://www.macworld.com/article/139522/23yearold_michigan_man_busted_for_ipod_fraud.html

Why Everyone Still Plays Pokémon

The world of Pokémon has evolved from its beginnings in Japan. I remember watching Pokémon on Cartoon Network with Ash from Pallet Town who gets a Pikachu as his first Pokémon. Now Pokémon the anime is in its 12th season in Japan; spawning various manga, movies, merchandise, and the ever popular videogames (Pokémon Snap or Stadium ring any bells on the N64?). On Sunday, Pokémon Platinum is released in the US on the Nintendo DS; easily selling like hotcakes (just went to my local Best Buy and found scarce amounts of Platinum lying around).

What brings them gamers of all ages coming back to Pokémon is the games simplicity. Junichi Masuda says that the game is approachable by anyone, he goes on to say:

Junichi Masuda, a member of the Pokémon design team since the first title (as well as a board director of Game Freak) who's held duties ranging from scenario director to music composer, obviously knows the game very well. When asked what he thought the major reason that people still eagerly await the release of each new title, his immediate response was its simplicity. "Pokémon games don't focus just on hardcore players; they're accessible, approachable by everyone. Anyone can pick up and play the game without feeling overwhelmed. When you focus too much attention on just the hardcore, things get complicated." And, obviously, with its cute graphics, Saturday morning cartoon tie-ins, and watered-down narrative, the game is skewed toward a younger audience. But it remains almost as popular among adults, and the reasons for that come down to strong game design.

While the game does have the same elements at in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl; it brings the sense that it's a sequel and it has some updated features. By the way, I will be getting Pokémon Platinum by the end of the week, so I can pack my DS with me on my Spring Break trip.

Read more from the source article here: http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3173364

Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or Nintendo Wii?

Still playing a last generation console (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube)? If you are still unsure of what next generation console to get, there is an article on About.com that answers that question. They give five reasons why the console they picked is the best console to buy. A brief snippet of the article below:

Deciding between the PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and Xbox 360 can be a daunting task. While all three systems are vastly superior to the last generation of videogame consoles, they are also far more different from each other than ever before.

Please note that this article has actual facts, but is opinionated to favor a certain console.

If you want to know which console they picked go to this site: http://playstation.about.com/od/ps3/a/5ReasonsPS3.htm

Xbox 360 E74 Errors on the Rise

In a recent Joystiq survey, they found that a staggering amount of Xbox 360 owners are having the E74 Error after updating to the New Xbox Experience. Nice its release in November of last year, the number of E74 Errors have risen in a brief four months. Note that their survey is based on their readers and possibly don’t encompass all the Xbox 360 owners that are affected by it or unaffected by it. For those who may not know Error E74, this is a statement of the error from Microsoft:

"E74 is a general hardware error on Xbox 360 indicated by a single red flashing light in the Xbox Ring of Light and an error message visible on the television. This error is unrelated to the three flashing red lights error and there is not a single root cause. We encourage anyone who receives this error to contact Xbox Customer support through www.xbox.com/support or 1-800-4-MY-XBOX. The majority of customers who own Xbox 360 consoles continue to have a terrific experience from their first day, and continue to, day in and day out."

You can read more of this though Joystiq’s article:
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/19/joystiq-survey-xbox-360-e74-errors-on-the-rise-since-nxe/

My First Post: The First Step into Blogging

Not a lot was planned when I spontaneously decided to start a blog; however, I am posting my very first blog post and plan on continuing to blog. My skills range from doing school work to repairing automobiles. I am new to blogging so go easy on me, it will take some time but I will get the hang of it. Things are still what I rather call a beta phase, and I am striving to revise and polish this blog into something special.

If you need an introduction, a brief description is located at “About Me” on the blog. The things that I will hopefully blog about are as follows:

· Technology Trends

· Anime

· Videogames

· National News in the United States

· Miscellaneous stuff

Technology posts will range from announcements, future trends, reviews and impressions of new products. Anime posts will expand from news, thoughts, impressions, reviews, of shows and related merchandise pertaining to the anime. The same above applies to videogames and I will forward news reports for my readers (fellow bloggers). Miscellaneous stuff will range from DIYs (Do It Yourself) tutorials to the most random thing imaginable.

This blog will most likely share aspects that I think is interesting and want to tell the people. I guess you will learn a bit more about me as I continue to blog as time moves forward. This is as much as I will put in my first post and am looking forward to posting my second post very soon.

This calls a toast to blogging.