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Good News: SNL Didn’t Suck Last Week

By on Sep 22, 2012 in Blog Posts | 0 comments

Finally, after years of being subjected to the awful that is Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live has put forth a decent episode. There wasn’t a single weak sketch, and Seth MacFarlane was solid throughout, despite throwing in a few too many Family Guy voices.It’s about damned time, too. I really hope they are able to maintain this level of quality throughout the season. I know that I tend to beat up on SNL and especially Kristen Wiig, but I honestly think that her departure is the best thing that could have happened. The entire cast now gets more screen time and they are able to shine.Jay Pharoah is about a thousand times better at playing Barack Obama than Fred Armisen was. He gracefully handed over the role to Pharoah in the cold opening and the country finally got to see a proper Obama.I’m finally looking forward to SNL again.

New Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Drivers Begin to Support Windows 8

By on Sep 17, 2012 in Blog Posts, Software | 0 comments

I love my Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook. It’s the best notebook I’ve ever had. Windows 7 never felt quite right on it, so as soon as the full version of Windows 8 was available I slapped it on there. The installation went pretty smoothly. Dell still hasn’t released official Windows 8 drivers for the ultrabook, but Microsoft supports most of the hardware natively; except for the Cypress touchpad.The touchpad drivers for the XPS 13 have always been problematic, even in Windows 7. Various updates have fixed and later broken functionality. The issues center around gestures and scrolling, which just aren’t reliable.Well I’m happy to report that Dell has released a new version of the Cypress Touchpad drivers (2.5.0.52, A03) which not only resolve those issues, but install normally in Windows 8. They also released a new BIOS revision (A07) which specially states...

How to fix audio issues and crashes on a Gigabyte motherboard

By on Aug 20, 2012 in Blog Posts, Hardware, Software | 3 comments

I’ve had problems with my Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5 motherboard every since I built my custom system a year ago. It wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t use it – so I didn’t have to take drastic steps – it was just annoying and would crash once every few days.The blue screen errors were generic and generally pointed towards faulty memory. Since the memory was brand new, that seemed unlikely. I tested each stick thoroughly with Memtest86+ and found no issues. I tried different RAM slot combinations to no avail. I tested different combinations of RAM timings and clock speeds without any luck. Even Auto settings didn’t work.After weeks of useless back and forth with Gigabyte technical support, they mentioned that the memory controller is integrated into the CPU and perhaps that could be the cause of the issue. This didn’t feel right to me,...

Symantec’s Atrocious Support of a Terrible Product: Backup Exec 2012

By on Jul 13, 2012 in Blog Posts, Software | 19 comments

Update: For those looking for a replacement, I’ve reviewed two options here.   For years, the name Symantec has been synonymous with two areas; anti-virus software and enterprise backup systems. In 1990, Symantec purchased Norton and with it still holds the title as best-selling anti-virus software in the world, although it has long since lost its claim as the best product on the market. Though Symantec has lost its footing on the security side of its business, they have been able to cling on in the enterprise backup scene; at least for the time being. Their Backup Exec (BE) products (purchased from VERITAS in 2005) remain popular with small to medium sized businesses, but the recent decision by Symantec to require maintenance agreements and completely redesign the program have left many customers without a reason to remain loyal. Less than a year ago I could purchase a...

Diablo 3 Account Hacked – Blizzard Blames Me

By on May 28, 2012 in Blog Posts, Games | 0 comments

I’ve been a huge fan of the Diablo series since the first installment and was happily installing my copy of Diablo III the day after launch. Because I had my copy shipped and started playing the day after the official launch I didn’t face the login nightmares that many others did. I was able to play right away and spent about 30 hours engrossed in the D3 universe over the next week.On the 24th I logged in to find that all of the items in my stash were gone, along with my gold. I didn’t notice it at the time, but I also had a new friend in my Social panel. I thought that there must have been some kind of glitch with an update that Blizzard applied. No problem; I’d just open a ticket and they could restore my lost items. So I opened a support ticket and waited.A day went by and I didn’t hear anything from Blizzard. I logged into my account again and...

Why You Shouldn’t Buy Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

By on Apr 16, 2012 in Blog Posts, Games | 3 comments

Ever since I was a kid and I watched my first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I’ve always dreamed of a strategy game with large scale space combat. I got excited in 1999 when I heard about Alpha Centauri, but Civilization in space wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted hundreds – nay, thousands of ships going head to head. Intergalactic warfare, baby. That’s what I wanted.So the years went by and games came and went but nothing really came close to my vision and hopes were dashed again and again. Then in 2008 Sins of a Solar Empire came out of no where and after I decided to ignore the worst computer game name ever I found myself intrigued by the hype. RTS? Check. Space? Check. Thousands of ships? Check! Online multiplayer? Yes! I was happily on board and looking forward to finally having my dreams fulfilled.Alas, disappointment soon reared...