A Must Buy Game: Spore

I’ve been waiting for this moment. Okay, the moment isn’t here yet, but it’s very close! Spore is going to be released soon and is available for pre-ordering. Or you can wait to purchase it when it’s available on September 7, 2008. I really wouldn’t wait if I was you. Pre-order now before there’s a long wait! There will even be a Nintendo DS version someday!

If you haven’t heard of Spore, Spore allows you to create an entire universe and everything in it. Creatures you have created will interact with each other. Their lives are in your hands.

I can’t describe it any better than Justine Ezarik:

It feels like a cross between interaction of The Sims, object creation in Second Life and a bit of World of Warcraft on the side.

I actually first learned through one of her twitters that Spore Creator is available, also as a trial. I quickly went to download the huge file and installed it. I had so much fun creating a creature. I even had fun with him, in a kind of cruel way. Watch the video below to see what I mean. Explanation of what’s happening in the video below the video.

First, I named my creature Twotoe. I couldn’t think of anything very creative and since he has two toes on both feet, he became Twotoe! Meet Twotoe:

Link to video if you can’t view it above: Twotoe

In the video: Twotoe notices a creature, shows some affection, notices another creature and seems to look a little disappointed with that one. He sees another one and shows some affection towards that one. The one he didn’t show affection to walks off looking sad. Then, the cruel joke I play on Twotoe begins (not intentionally). I make all three little creatures disappear. And he looks around wondering what just happened and then cries out.

If you have any videos of your Spore creatures, please share in the comments!

Win One of Two MacBook Airs or $100

Bloggers are probably one of the most generous people. Sure they usually have a reason (like bringing more traffic) but it’s great for the visitors! We all really do like contests, don’t we?

Even though it would be great to win $100, a MacBook Air would be even better! I would love to have a new laptop to replace the one that I have that overheats (has melted the bottom of the laptop) and probably cause a fire (I hope not).

Anyway, there are several ways to get entries in this contest over at Bloggin-Ads. I recommend getting as many entries as possible if you really would like a chance at getting a MacBook Air. I will be very surprised, but very happy if I actually win a MacBook Air. Not because it’s a MacBook Air, but because of what it’s worth. That’s an expensive prize! And very much wanted.

There will be 12 winners. 10 winners will each receive $100 and 2 winners will each receive a MacBook Air.

Contest ends June 13, so get your entries in now! Good luck!

Data Recovery and Restoration

Most of us have been there. Hard drive fails in some way and you can’t access your files. If you’re like me, you store files for clients on an external hard drive. If you’re lucky, you have a friend who knows what (s)he is doing and can help. Otherwise you have to spend a fortune on hoping that you will get your files back.

Years ago, I was told that there was no way of getting the files off the hard drive, so I accepted it and just started over. I didn’t have much anyway, but that’s not the point. If I had some extremely important files on there, I would want to pay someone expecting my files to be returned to me.

In case this ever happens to me again, I bookmarked Flashback Data. Even though I backup files from my hard drive to DVDs, there could be a gap of time since the last backup. If something happened to my hard drive, I’d lose files.

Flashback Data has a room that is a Class 10 for recovering damaged disks. You can read more about what Class 10 means. Looks like they really care about their business and customers. They claim to have the most advanced technology in Data Recovery. I would say they can recover data from just about any operating system, or at least most.

Flashback Data even offers a “No Risk Data Recovery”. This means if they don’t recover your data, they refund your evaluation fee. That’s a nice deal! More reason for them to try even harder to recover your data!

Of course, there is no guarantee that they can recover your files for you, but if they are that important to you, Flashback Data may be worth a try. And, if you have a hard drive emergency, just contact them and they will get you started!

Have any of you used Flashback Data for data recovery? If so, let me know how it went.

Sponsored by Flashback Data

My New Computer

I know I’ve been slacking with new posts, but I’ve been getting used to my new computer and setting it up how I like. I’ve also had more work to keep me busy.

My new computer has an AMD Athlon 64 x2 2.6GHz Dual-Core Processor with 2GB of RAM. It is also running Windows Vista Home Premium. Please do not leave comments about how bad Vista is, because I’m actually having a wonderful experience unlike some. I also didn’t have a choice of Vista or XP. I probably would have chosen XP, but am glad that I didn’t have a choice now that I’ve given Vista a chance.

There were a couple annoyances and they were easily disabled. One was the Welcome Center. Who really needs that to start every time Windows loads? The other was the User Account Control asking permission for every little thing.

The only thing Vista is missing for me is VPN access. I know the feature is there, but I can’t use it because my work’s VPN requires MS-CHAPv1, which Microsoft decided to remove that, without giving you an option. This means you need to spend money to upgrade the VPN server.

You might be wondering how I connect to work’s VPN if I’m using Vista. I am running VMWare with XP installed in it. I only need to use my work’s application with the VPN. Sure, it’s an extra step to connect and do work, but I’m used to it now.

Please do not comment about how I could just run XP on the computer instead. I like some of the features in Vista that XP is just missing, but also, that would mean I’d have to go and actually search for all the drivers. I do not have separate discs for any of the hardware, just one Gateway Windows Vista disc with everything in it.

There is only one thing I had to search for drivers for that a simple Google search found right away. That was the ZDWLan for my WIFIMax dongle because it needed drivers to work correctly on Vista. Unfortunately, I can’t find the link again to put it up for anyone who might need it.

Mitch over at Mitchelaneous has written about things he likes and doesn’t like about Vista.  I’m glad to see someone not just pointing out the bad things and then going back to XP just because of a few bad things. If I had done that with Linux, I would have never figured problems out. In fact, if most people did that, Linux probably wouldn’t be what it is today.

If you like Vista, please feel free to leave a comment about what you like.

Personalized USB Thumb Drives

With Christmas just around the corner, it might be hard to think of what to give. If anyone reading this knows me, I would love a new thumb drive. I had one that a co-worker had broke on accident. It would work every so often, but just this year, it finally quit working.

Personalized Flash Drives are durable, Hi-Speed USB drives. You can choose from 14 colors and even add free custom laser engraving, along with security software. That sounds like a great deal! And, these little drives are affordable as well.

The free personalization lets you choose from 32 themes to have engraved on the front and add your own text on the back.

I think I might order a few and throw some pictures of my two sons on them and send them to family members. Then they could throw any other pictures that I send of them on it.

Sponsored by Pexagon Tech