Tag: psp

PSP eBook Creator

On By Michel McDonaldIn eBook, PSPLeave a comment

I’ve finally figured out how to turn my PSP into an eBook reader. I’ve googled the term “PSP e-book reader” before with bad results. You know, those homebrew programs. Yeah, that’s a bad result. I refuse to brick up my PSP just so I can see if I can read an ebook on it.

In my google search I did find a message board where they talked about a PSP e-book reader so I checked out a couple of ideas, this is one of them.

“ PSP eBook Creator ” which is actually not a bad program. What you do is click File then open a “.txt” file, you can change it from portrait to landscape, change the background color or give it an image, change the text color, change the font, font size and make it bold or regular then create an output folder then build your e-book files. Once all the images are made all you need to do is upload the folder to your PSP Picture folder, turn it on and start reading.

What it does though is it creates an image for every page of the e-book . If this is a long e-book, this process will take a long time and the size of the entire book might be huge especially if you are running low on space. Not to mention that you won’t have a book cover image to look at since all the files were taken from a text file.

Since it only uses text files you will have to figure out a way to convert your e-book to text format with Calibre.

Here is a sample of what one of the pages will look like in text format as a .jpg file.

It’s not a bad image to look at although you will see some boxes here and there (as seen before Cover Photo Credit…). I read this book from beginning to end last night on my PSP just to see if it would hurt my eyes at all and even though it’s not that long of a book my eyes were ok for a while. But if it were a 400 page novel I’m sure that reading on a PSP would start to hurt your eyes after an hour unlike e-Ink.

If I were to make some changes to make it easier on the eyes I would probably put in a dark background image, make the text white, bold and bigger. For this test I made the font Comic Sans regular size 12. Default is regular (non bold), size 10 but I don’t know what the default font is.

You don’t have to worry about a bookmark since all you have to do is leave the image part of the PSP. Once you go back into it you will be right back on the last page (or image) you were on. That is unless you turned the PSP all the way off, then you would have to find where you were again.

If I were to give this a rating I would give it a 3 out of 5.

Hannah Montana PSP?

On By Michel McDonaldIn PSPLeave a comment

hannahpspI guess Sony has realized that there is a market for their PlayStation Portable for girls so they are coming out with a Hannah Montana PSP that is Lilac colored.

The Sony PSP Hannah Montana Lilac Bundle sells for $199.99 as most PSP bundles do and it comes with:

Limited Edition Hannah Montana Entertainment Pack Bundle includes limited edition “Lilac” PSP®-3000 system, Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show UMD® game, Hannah Montana UMD® video, 2GB Memory Stick® Pro Duo, and PSP® vinyl stickers! Design and star in the show in the new Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show video game. Travel to seven amazing locations around the world and customize your concerts. Design each performance including stage sets, song lists, and performers. Create a custom show in each city you visit and rock the stage for your fans!

This ships on 8/4/09 so to all the girls who ordered this your time is coming soon so just be patient a little longer.  You are lucky because you are getting the PSP 3 with 2GB of memory stick and stickers.  Not that I needed stickers but I am a little bitter that I only have 1GB memory stick heh.  I also have the PSP 2.  I’m happy with it though.

Although there is something that I didn’t notice as being listed and that’s the charger and battery.  I’m sure it comes with it because you can’t have a PSP without those but they just didn’t list them at the GameStop website.

The Next PSP

On By Michel McDonaldIn PSPLeave a comment

Sony ready to unveil it’s PSP Go at E3 tomorrow | Dvice

PSP Go Video Game, E3 09: Conference Footage 2

Ok so here we go, they have a new PSP out which is their 4th gen called PSP Go.  This PSP is smaller, same widescreen but it flips up so you can use the control buttons below the screen instead of on the sides of it.  It then closes so you can watch movies or TV shows or even use it as an mp3 player and not have any buttons pressed while it’s in your bag.

The PSP Go has a 16GB flash memory as well as a Memory Stick Micro slot which is a different name from the one that is currently in the PSP which is Memory Stick Duo so no you can’t use the one that you already use in your current PSP.  They took away the UMD slot so all those games that you bought you can’t use anymore.  You have to buy all your games via the PlayStation store online.

It also has Bluetooth Support.  I don’t know what that means for the PSP though.  When I think of Bluetooth I think of a cell phone earpiece.  What does Bluetooth mean for a PSP Go?

On the video (which is the 2nd link above) at the E3 the guy talks about how people like to buy the actual physical product.  There will be a new media manager for PC so I’m guessing that maybe you plug your PSP 2 or 3 into your computer via the USB and it probably converts the UMD into files that you then upload to your PSP Go.  But that is just what I think that means, I don’t know for sure.  Who knows, but he did mention something about being able to buy the UMD even though you can’t use it in this thing.

I don’t know about this one.  I like my PSP 2000.  I didn’t upgrade it to the PSP 3000 when that came out because the only upgrade it had was a mic on the front so you don’t need a headset to call people with Skype and it had a more matte finish on the screen so you don’t get glare from lights or the sun.  With a $250 price tag I’m still not convinced that I need to upgrade to the PSP Go.

I kinda prefer having a UMD and being able to put it in the UMD slot when I want to play a game which of course means searching for the game I want but that’s perfectly fine by me.  I don’t know if I want to fill my 16GB flash memory with games then have to use a memory stick to add more.  Call me old fashioned lol.

PSP-4000 Rumors

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PSPLeave a comment

I’ve been reading rumors of a new version of the PSP coming summer 2009.  It allegedly has a sliding screen and when you slide the screen it reveals the buttons for playing the games.  It has no UMD drive so all of your UMD games are now useless.  It basically will be download your games to memory sticks only.

I really don’t see how that’s going to make it better.  I mean, I’ve spent a lot of money on games, why should I lose all of them and possibly even be forced to buy them all over again to put on the memory stick to play on this thing?

And why sliding screen?  The only good I can see for that is watching movies or tv shows which I never even do.  I don’t have any movie UMD’s and I don’t buy movies/tv shows from the PlayStation store.  I just don’t see how a sliding screen is going to be any better than it is now.

No thanks.  I’m going to just stick with my PSP-2000.  I didn’t upgrade from the 2000 to the 3000 when that came out because the only changes that it had were the matte screen to make it easier to see in the sunlight and there are less finger prints and the mic hole which I don’t need since I already paid the $30 for the Skype headset.

If the 4000 version has no UMD slot then it’s useless to me.  No point in upgrading for me.

The thing I would like to see in future handheld gaming devices is perhaps a pair of sunglasses like my bicycle sunglasses that wrap around so you don’t see any sunlight at all but it has earplugs attached to the arms and it has a screen on the lenses then it has a wireless game pad that has all the PlayStation controls so I can play games and nobody will know what I’m playing or I can watch movies and nobody can see what it is.

ChessMaster Game for PSP

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PSPLeave a comment

I bought this game yesterday but only did the tutorial which was more of a lesson, telling you how each piece moves.  It was a lot to take in all at once.  Today I tried a practice game but I was stumped.  I didn’t really know what to do.  If you press the button with the square on it then it gives you a hint to show you where to go.  I kept losing so I started using the hints and I would’ve never even thought to do the moves that it was suggesting and after about 15 minutes I still lost lol.

Chess really is a game that you need a giant brain to play.  I don’t know how the people on Big Brother are able to wrap their brain around it because some of them aren’t very bright lol.  Apparently they are smarter than I am lol.  Unless they are just winging it to pass the time.  That’s my guess.

The whole reason I’ve been wanting to buy this game was so I could learn so I would have a reason to build that gothic chess set but I do realize that it would cost me at least $300 to build it.  It’s not really that worth it lol.  Oh well.

Edit: I calculated the cost of all the molds for making this gothic chess set.  It’s $199 just for the molds.  Then the chess pieces total to $57.42 and the pawns are $54.96.  Total for all of that is $311.38.  That doesn’t even include shipping and the expensive cement that you mix to pour into the molds, the glue and the paint.  I bet you are looking at probably over $400 to make the gothic chess set.  LOL Way too much money.  You have to be really dedicated to chess to want to make this.

2 New PSP Games

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PSPLeave a comment

Ok well earlier I said we were going to service the cooler then go to the mall to see Star Trek, then back to the mall to get games from Game Stop then probably eat.  Well, 2 out of 4 ain’t bad right?

We serviced the cooler and the tenants didn’t even bother to turn it on and left their a/c units running lol.

We went to the mall and it was packed tighter than my package in bicycle shorts.  We finally found a spot then went in and I come out with 2 used games.  Actually 1 was new but it was on special clearance for $9.99.  “Chess master The Art of Learning”  The other one is called “Dungeon Maker 2: The Hidden War”.

I’ve wanted the chess master game forever to learn how to play that stupid game since everyone who is 5 years old that can play better than me.  Anyway, so now this gives me the opportunity to learn and maybe teach chip then we can get a chess set to play with.

I actually want to make one.  I’ve wanted to make this since I first saw it.  Here is the link for it: The Gothic Chess Set. I think that would be so much fun to make and the chess pieces are going to be so awesome.  EXPENSIVE but awesome lol.

Future PSP Dream

On By Michel McDonaldIn Dreams, PSPLeave a comment

I had this dream that I was in a department store like Wal-Mart or whatever, I don’t remember where it was.  Sometimes in dreams you end up somewhere and you have no idea where.  And I was in the electronics department (yeah big surprise lol) and there was a PSP sitting on a box in front of the counter and it was turned on.

I picked it up and showed the sales lady that there was a PSP on the box and she said it’s a demo, go ahead and play with it.  I looked at it and it was odd.  The screen wasn’t as glossy as the PSP-2000, I’m guessing it was the same as the PSP-3000.  And the right side was missing completely.  The buttons were gone as well as the top right button.  It was obviously smoothed out so it wasn’t cut.  I cropped an image of a PSP to show how it looked.

pspbatman

Obviously the button on the bottom wasn’t cut in half in the dream, Actually there wasn’t any space between the bottom of the screen and the bottom of the PSP.  I don’t know what buttons were on the left side but there were buttons.  And it was all touch screen too.  Oh and I remember it was so light too.  I mean, my PSP is light but the PSP is my dream was so much lighter, it was like half the weight of the current PSP Slim.

I touched the screen and moved my finger and the screen changed, I mean it moved as if I was pressing the arrow buttons to move around.  I’m assuming the buttons on the left were the triangle, square, circle and x buttons.

It was really cool but then all of a sudden I was outside and there was a tiger in a tree trying to save her cub and there was a woman in a dress which was dark green then faded to light green and had these black lines on them.  All of a sudden the tigers fur changed and it looked just like the dress as if it were a chameleon.

Weird huh?

Kindle Blog

On By Michel McDonaldIn eBook, KindleLeave a comment

I was looking at Kindle the other day and as I was there I saw that you can read people’s blogs on the kindle.  I thought that you could just go to either their website or there was a think where you tell them who you subscribe to but apparently it’s not like that.

If you want to read a blog their blog site has to be registered through Kindle and you have to pay for it.  Well, I don’t want to charge people to read my ramblings.  Although the money would be nice but why charge people when they can read it for free here through my website either on the PC or through a mobile phone like the iPhone or iPod or even PSP.

If they make it so that I don’t have to charge people at all then I will add it to Kindle but I honestly don’t know anyone who even has a Kindle.  I would like to publish my blog though because I currently have 0 readers.  So frankly, nobody is going to read this.  Hell, I don’t even read my own blog.  I just blog it.  I do read it after I’ve posted it to see if there are any corrections needed or I go back.  Anyway lol I was rambling.  I would like to get it on Kindle but not as a pay blog.

My Last Kindle Obsessed Post… Maybe

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, KindleLeave a comment

Ok, 1 last thing about the Kindle.  I know I mentioned in my first Kindle post about how you can email your text files to your Kindle but as I read more about it I find out more stuff.

It’s not just text files.  It’s also pdf files so if you have a manual in pdf format then you will have it on your Kindle.  Sometimes if you buy like a DVD player or a printer or whatever, I’m pulling at straws here, you can go to that manufacturer’s website and download the manual in pdf format.  Well, who wants to sit and read the manual on the computer?  Especially if the hardware you need to read about is in the other room.  Say it’s your tv’s manual or your washer and dryer.  You can just download that and send it to your Kindle and it converts it to Kindle format so you can read it.

I’m not sure if the Kindle puts your e-books, e-magazines and e-newspapers in categories or not, I think it would be a good idea though because if you get e-newspapers you will want them to be stores in there in folders.  Like say you get the LA times and the NY times.  Well, you don’t want them to be in the same area as everything else like your books.  If you get the newspaper and magazines on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis then the list will be too long so if you want to search for the book you are reading you have to scroll through the list of stuff.

Ok getting back to what I was talking about with sending text and pdf files to your kindle.  You can also download free e-books and send them to your kindle.  Oh and I read you can send pictures too.  Now, I’m not too sure about pictures with black and white technology.  I think I would much rather enjoy my pictures in color so that would certainly be something I would want to have but somewhere down the line when it has color.  Right now I have all of my photo albums cropped to widescreen 3×5 for my PSP and the pictures are pretty small so when I go to show them off it’s still a good size to look at but you know, it’s still small.  But at least I can carry all of my pictures.  But you can’t see them in the sunlight on my PSP.

Oh that reminds me.  You can read your kindle out in the sunlight and it shows up just like a regular book thanks to e-ink.  The screen isn’t shiny either so there is no glare from the screen.  If you are using a cell phone or pda or something as an e-book you have to cover it with your hands to be able to see it outside in the sunlight.  Well, the Kindle with e-ink allows you to actually see what you are reading.  And since it doesn’t have a tv type of screen you can’t see it in the dark but the new Kindle 2 has lights around the page I think on both sides.  Or maybe that was another e-book, I don’t remember now, I’m getting them confused.  I did see a Kindle light that clips to the kindle but it was made for the Kindle 1.

Ok, I can’t make any promises that I won’t obsess any more about this.  I’ve pretty much touched on everything that I can think of but who knows, maybe tomorrow I might read about something that I didn’t know and obsess about that.  Maybe my obsession will have so much text that you will have to convert it all into pdf format and it will be so long that it will be your next e-book or e-novel.  Maybe I’ll shut up about it.  Who knows.

Worst Fears Realized

On By Michel McDonaldIn DreamsLeave a comment

I just woke up out of the worst dream a nerd could ever have in his ENTIRE life!  Have you ever had a dream where you worst fears have been realized?  I just did.

Darrin and I were traveling… somewhere which I still am not clear with.  I was leaving my Aunt Louise’s house in Texas and for some reason Darrin was with me.  So we were going to go on another trip but the only way to get to the airport was by city bus.  So we had all of our things on the bus with us, he pretty much just had clothes.  He’s not real into nerdy things like me.  I on the other hand had some clothes but for the most part all my electronics.

List: I had my laptop, psp, cell phone, video camera (dvd cam), bi-pap machine and my Dell DJ which doesn’t work right now lol.  I also had some books in my suitcase.  If I had a Kindle I would’ve been totally screwed but my bags would’ve been lighter lol.

The bus runs a red light and we get pulled over.  All the passengers are taken off the bus and put onto another bus for a few minutes.  Then the police come to the bus we were taken to and says we can get on our bus now.  The bus pretty much empties and I’m the last one off.  I get off the bus and look around and the bus I was originally on was nowhere to be seen.  It was totally gone… with ALL of my stuff.  Darrin was gone too.

I had to think… real hard… maybe Darrin will keep an eye on my stuff and when he gets to our destination he will bring it with him.  Although, I finally catch the next bus and get to our destination which for some odd reason is another bus but it’s a totally different kind of bus which I would so love to explain except that I can’t because it was so strange I literally have to draw you a picture to describe it.  And since I can’t draw let me just say it was strange.

I get on that bus and say please tell me you have all my stuff and Darrin says “what stuff?”  AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!  What do you mean what stuff?  OMG I cannot believe it.  So I pick up a cell phone which by the way makes no sense.  It wasn’t my cell phone but I look at it and it has “property of….” and it says a name that I can’t recall and I realize that the person who took all my things have already assimilated it all.  But how could I know that by looking at “a” cell phone?  Hey, it’s a dream sequence, what do you want?

We end up at someones house and Darrin is sleeping in a bed and I’m trying to use the phone to call my cell phone and my cousin Brandi is on the other line and she won’t get off the phone.  And so I keep picking up the phone and instead of a dial tone I can hear her talking and she tells me to get off the phone.

Ok, I realize that all these things can be replaced.  My cell phone is actually just a pre-paid cell phone.  I’ve had it since 2002 and pre-paid gives you a crappy amount of minutes.  I think for $25 I get 2.5 hours to talk.  I think that the newer pre-paid are different.

Anyway, I can always get a new everything else but come on, all my pictures are on the SD card in my camcorder, all my saved games are in the memory stick in my PSP and my simm card in my cell phone with all my phone numbers.  It’s a hassle to have to get it all back and it costs way more money than I have to spend.  It took me years to get all of those electronics and all by pure luck too.  Some were gifts and some were things that took me years to save up for.