Tag: wi fi

PSP Back In Action

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PSPLeave a comment

psp-star-wars-battlefront.jpg.jpeg

Being disabled and not being able to work has it’s disadvantages, and it’s boring, so when you are bored, you watch TV, read a book and/or play video games.

I bought my PSP back in 2007 and had such a fun time. I compared it to my Nintendo Game Boy and I always wonder how I was ever able to see the Game Boy screen since the PSP screen was so huge.

Why did I ever stop playing my PSP when I have not finished playing 99% of my games? They were either too difficult, or I got bored and moved on to another game. I do believe I managed to complete one game all the way to the end credits. The Lego games were so fun and some were easier than others, yet I still have not finished them all. Some of them are just about finished, but I never finished them 100%.

I wanted to get a PS Vita because that talks with my PS4 and I already have PS Vita games in my library from games that I got for free with my PlayStation Plus membership. But the problem with me buying a new PS Vita is that I haven’t earned it and I still have a perfectly good PSP that I stopped playing, and I have loads of games I never finished.

Yesterday I brought my PSP to the gym with me so I could see if there were any system updates, and there were. I had to bring it with me to the gym because I haven’t been able to get online with it ever since we got our Bright House Wi-Fi box. The security is not compatible with my PSP, so I guess I figured it was too out of date for my Wi-Fi. Last night I Tweeted Bright House and they actually fixed it, so now I can get in the PlayStation store again and do updates and even use Skype, not that I ever would since it’s audio only.

I have 2 Star Wars Battlefront games for my PSP, and I’m anticipating the new Star Wars Battlefront game for my PS4, so I figured I would play the PSP version while I wait. Yeah, I remember why I stopped playing now. The little analog stick on the PSP is so difficult to play games with because it sticks. You will be trying to run to the right, and you end up running to the left. Or you won’t even be touching the analog stick, and your character is running in all directions, and you can’t do anything about it. I also have a bad habit of pressing the power button while I’m playing and it shuts the PSP off. Also, the battery doesn’t keep its charge. It says it’s a 5 1/2 hour battery, but I might get 2 hours, if that. I could buy a battery on Amazon that doubles the power.

So, yeah, I will be playing with my PSP here and there now that I can connect to the Wi-Fi again, but I still would like to buy a PS Vita to be able to play all those free games I’ve gotten this year with my PS+ membership. Also, the Vita has the 2 analog sticks like the PS4 game controller that I am now used to playing with. I don’t want to buy a used one because I’ve had bad luck with used electronics, but I will have to wait until I’ve saved some money in my Amazon account. Until then… I want to try to finish all of my PSP games.

Our Roku Boxes Arrived Today… They’re Going Back Tomorrow

On By Michel McDonaldIn Products I Like, Roku, Tech, TV1 Comment

It was on Christmas Eve, more than a week ago when we were told by Darrin’s family members that we should cancel our cable to get an Xbox to watch Hulu and Netflix instead. I researched my options and found Roku. I researched to find out if it was worth it and when I thought it would be, I rushed Darrin into making the decision to buy some Roku boxes, 1 for each TV in the house so that we would get a $10 discount per box.

I waited on pins and needles all weekend until they finally arrived this afternoon with the regular mail and was like a kid opening up his Christmas presents.

I opened one of the Roku boxes and connected it to the living room TV because I wanted the living room to be the first room that was connected with the Roku so Darrin would have it to watch when he got home. Problem… it wouldn’t connect to our network.

I brought it into the bedroom so that I could at least connect it with the network cable because I figured that maybe it needed to be connected with the wire first, then I could get it connected wirelessly. I get it connected and updated and all seemed fine but when I tried to get it to connect with the wi-fi, it just wouldn’t work.

So I got on the Roku website on the laptop and go to the help page to chat with a technician who can help me figure it out. We’re chatting for maybe 1 hour and 45 minutes and I lose the connection to the internet which means I lose the chat with “Sam”. I reconnected the laptop to the Verizon 3G network because I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t get disconnected again. I had to wait 20 minutes to talk to another person, I told them I was talking to Sam but he was already with someone else so that person tried helping me.

Another 45 minutes later and I finally figured it out, got it online then went into the living room and hooked the other one up to the tv and it connected without much trouble at all. I say thanks and goodbye to the person I was chatting with and I think I had a good 30 minutes to play with it when all of a sudden my internet goes out.

The problem is, “Sam” had me change my network name, the channel it was connected with,change it from WPA2 to WEP, change the password and everything. Now, nothing will connect. I spend the next 2 hours by myself trying to get it all back online.

This just isn’t working out so I unplugged both Roku boxes, roll up the AC wires, tie them up with the twist ties and put everything back in their boxes and spend another hour trying to get the network to work again and it did. I tried going back to my original settings but it just didn’t want to connect.

How I got the Roku boxes connected is with the mac address. I had to force the network to only accept the devices with their mac address. I’ve never had to do that before. I have connected my PSP, Nook, Chips computer and the CR-48 Laptop to the network and have never once had an issue with the mac address so why would I ever think that the Roku boxes would need me to do that?

So the Roku boxes go back tomorrow. We have to call the phone number and tell them that it just didn’t work out for us and we’re returning them. They give us a 30 day money back guarantee minus the shipping charges.

You know, I got to thinking, I can’t live without live TV. We need to be able to see the news or weather alerts that scroll on the top of the screen. It’s just not for us, we like it the way it is, no need to change it. Someone wise said to me on Twitter today “*whistles the old familiar tune* Why fix what ain’t done broke…..*snorts*”. It’s so true. And our system of watching TV on cable wasn’t broken, switching to the Roku only, now that’s broken.

I looked at Hulu plus and they only had maybe 10% of the shows that I watch. I installed PlayOn.tv and it ran so slow on the Roku because my processor wasn’t fast enough. It would’ve been ok for me if that worked but it didn’t.

I am not saying the Roku is a bad product but it just doesn’t work for me. It most certainly doesn’t work with my network but getting rid of cable and going with internet tv is just not what I want now. I still can’t afford $110 cable but we’re going to look into thinning out some of our services to make things easier on me.

I am not going to keep Hulu Plus after my 30 day trial is over nor am I keeping Netflix because I just can’t afford to have this additional expense on top of my cable. I will continue to use regular free Hulu if I miss a show but Hulu can’t replace cable for me.

Who knows, maybe one day I might get an Xbox or a PS3 or even a Blu-ray that will connect to Hulu and/or Netflix. If that day comes then it will be a nice addition but not replacement.

Nook Update Coming Soon

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Nook, Products I LikeLeave a comment

I just got this email from Barnes & Noble with some great news about my Nook. Nook 1.5 will be available later next month via wi-fi download or through my computer. I’d personally rather update it with my wi-fi connection rather than having to plug it in to do it but that’s me.

I’m thrilled by everything they will have available because I’m kind of unhappy with certain things.

Ok let’s go down the list shall we? I’m actually ok with the speed of the page turns, they could be a little bit faster but I’m fine with it. It’s actually not that slow but you know, faster is a great idea and I welcome that.

Improved search, I think that means when you type a word it searches that word faster. When I read the Colorado Kid, well, when I finished it rather, I did look up the word Haven and it couldn’t find it but it didn’t take that long to tell me that. I wish that when I’m in the bible I could type in the book, chapter and passage instead of having to scroll through all the chapter numbers until I finally get to the number I want. It would be so much faster if I went to church lol.

Customized library B&N organization. I think that is referring to the B&N library not the My Documents library. That really bites because I have more books that I have from other websites than books that I’ve purchased from Barnes and Noble. I think that they might be saying that all my newspapers will be in “newspapers” and same with magazines and books like you see in the Nook for PC software.

What I want is to have folders in the My Documents folder showing the author’s name or the book series. Then I can go in and find the books easier. This way I can have all of the Xanth books in 1 folder so I don’t have to keep turning the page to find the book that I want to read. Right now I’m deleting books that I’ve already read then adding the next book so I don’t get lost in a sea of titles trying to find the book I want to read.

Password protection doesn’t bother me because nobody uses my Nook. Although I would hope that what that means is when I want to buy a book I would have to enter a password. I would hate it if someone got a hold of my Nook then started buying books left and right and put me in the poor house, well, I’m there, the even poorer house. Actually, I think the even poorer house would be the alley behind Winchell’s.

Sync my last page to other devices, that actually doesn’t sound bad if I had other devices. I guess it would be cool if it were sync’d to the Nook for PC because today I could’ve used that option. I was reading and a letter was shown in the book that I could barely read even with the bifocal part of my glasses. I would’ve loaded the Nook for PC program but I didn’t want to have to find the page. Also that program takes forever to load.

I can’t wait for a few of those much-needed upgrades which I have to wait for a MONTH to get. Why couldn’t they tell me when it happens instead of making me stew for a month? Damn them!

My Nook Battery

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, NookLeave a comment

Before I go on a rant, I would just like to say that I love my Nook. I’ve had nothing but fun with it since I got it on Friday night. Yes, I have had some irritations but the more I play with it the more I understand it and love it.

With that said, I just want to say how I am questioning their “10-day battery life” statement. I’ve only had it since Friday night which is when I first charged it. The next day the battery had started going down so I plugged it in again so I am really counting from that moment which would be Saturday afternoon when it was at full capacity which for some odd reason was only 97% when the light went off and it stopped charging.

So that would be 3 days that I have been playing with it when it went from 97% battery life down to 24%. It’s supposed to be 10 days, not 3.

Note that they said 10 days IF the wi-fi is turned off. The Kindle wi-fi has a 30 day battery with wi-fi turned off and it only uses the battery when you turn the page right? So I think that this is 10 days because every time you have to look up a word it turns the LCD screen on which uses battery so that’s why instead of 30 days it’s only 10 days.

How much time do they estimate per day that you should use the Nook to give you 10 days of battery power? 1 hour per day? 2 hours?

Maybe I’m using it more than they would have estimated that a person would use it and that’s why it’s sucking so much energy from the battery.

I think what’s happening is that every time I don’t understand a word I look it up which turns the LCD on. And before I start reading I usually go into the daily to see what they have in there. I pick up my Nook several times per day and look at stuff in the Nook store. So maybe I am over using it.

I mean it doesn’t really bother me that much that it’s only been 3 days and I’ve already used 75% of the battery because I can certainly plug it in every few days. It’s the principle that they say “10 days” without a charge that gets me because I’m seriously wondering just how long they expect a person would be using this thing.

Look, I’m a reader, I love to read… a lot. I’m gonna be using this thing for hours at a time, maybe 4-6 hours per day. It’s gonna get its use whether I’m reading a book, magazine or newspaper or just browsing the Nook store. So I guess if I over use it like that I’m gonna have to expect to charge it every few days.

I guess I’ll just have to deal with it lol.

Shopping for an eBook Reader

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Gadgets, Kindle, Nook, Products I Like, TechLeave a comment

Someone I follow on tweeted this link today. Engadget’s back to school guide: E-readers. Naturally I had to look because I too want to buy an e-book reader. I have wanted one ever since they first came out but never could afford one because they were in the $400 – $600 range (around 2006).

In November 2009 I started blogging for pay (via PayPerPost and Blogsvertise) with the intention of saving money for buying an e-book reader, Kindle or Nook. Preferably a Nook because of the color screen at the bottom but it didn’t really make any difference. They were both around $265 or so back then.

I had a lot of trouble saving the money for one because my monthly income is so low that when I run out of grocery money I ended up taking the blogging money from PayPal to buy food. Since I have a PayPal debit card it makes it so much easier to spend the money.

9 months has gone by since I made the commitment to save the money and I still don’t have an e-book reader. However, the thing that I wanted the most out of an e-book reader was a lower price to justify my purchase.

eBook readers such as the Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook and Sony Reader have all gone dramatically down in price, down to a price that I can finally afford.

Unfortunately, they still don’t fit my needs. What I want is an e-book reader that will accept a lot of formats like .lit, .prc, .pdf, .mobi and .epub. What I want is for an e-book reader that would allow me to read those formats and still be able to use their dictionary. I don’t know if they all let you to use the dictionary with just a .pdf file which is what makes my decision so difficult.

Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6″ Display, Graphite – Latest Generation:

Pros: The new Amazon Kindle is stylish. I love the graphite color. I like the keypad on the bottom, it’s small enough that I’m ok with it considering I would probably be typing on it occasionally when searching for keywords, making notes and searching for books in the Kindle store. They have games on it, which I don’t really care about, I just want it to read but it is good to know. The price dropped down to $139 and has free 2-day free shipping which is awesome. The battery works for a full month without charging with the wi-fi turned off which is great.

Cons: It does allow me to view my .pdf books but that’s it and I can’t use the dictionary for definitions which is a big negative for me. I mean sure I can’t do that with a paper book but this is electronic and I want that ability. Also, it does not have an SD card for adding more books.

NOOK Wi-Fi, eReader, eBook Reader – Barnes & Noble:

Pros: The B&N Nook is also very stylish with its cool color touchscreen at the bottom which also has a keyboard. The screen goes black while you are reading to keep you from being distracted. It does allow me to add a .pdf, .epub and .pdb file and has a MicroSD slot. The cool thing about the Nook is that you can lend books to your friends and if I had any that had a Nook then we could lend each other books. If you are in the B&N store you can browse through a book for free for 1 hour per day. The price dropped down to $149 and although it’s $10 more than Amazon it is still a good price.

Cons: The Nooks battery is only 10 days unlike the Kindle which is 30 days. The color touchscreen on the bottom is too slow for impatient people like me. Although as I said it allows .pdf, .epub and .pdb files it doesn’t allow the others. All my ebooks are in all the other formats I mentioned above.

Sony Digital Reader Pocket Edition – Dark Blue:

The price of this is different at the Sony site as opposed to the Amazon site. Amazon charges $136.99 with free shipping but according to the Sony site it’s $149.99. I would buy it from Amazon.

Pros: Although it is a little bit stylish in the dark blue color, it isn’t as stylish as the Kindle or Nook. The Sony Pocket Edition does allow multiple formats such as .pdf, .epub, MS Word, BBeB Book (?) and other text file formats. It doesn’t say the others. The ebook store Sony uses is the Reader store which I assume is from Sony, check out books from public libraries and access over one million free public domain titles from Google Books, sharing sites and other online stores and publishers websites.

I don’t know if that means I can access the Rainbow eBooks website or not, I hope it does because that is what I want.

Cons: One of the things I don’t like about this is that it doesn’t have a keyboard for typing and I don’t know how you type anything when looking up a book to buy.

I don’t know if this should go in pro or con, it’s charge only lasts 2 weeks but I mean seriously, I can charge it every 2 weeks.

This is a tough and huge decision, one that I can think about until the first week of September when I will finally have the money saved up to buy one. I’m leaning more toward the Sony reader though but I would like it if people would leave a comment telling me what they think of each of these readers to give me more to think about. Keeping in mind that I buy a lot of books from Rainbow eBooks and ebooks.com.

Skype Phone Number

On By Michel McDonaldIn PSPLeave a comment

Well, I’m sorry to say that I will not have a phone number for Skype. I refuse to pay $24 a year to have a phone number when I wont have it turned on enough to need a phone number for it. And that was with a $30 discount. And I’m not even sure if that discount was for the first year or not. I’m not going to have Skype running or even have the PSP running constantly so it’s just not worth it.

If I want to use it to call someone it will only be because either Darrin is on the phone and wont let me use it or if were not even home and I am too cheap to use the cell phone and we are near a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Which reminds me, I am gonna need to find out how to use the AT&T WiFi hotspots with my PSP. I know it works with my laptop but I can’t get it to work with my PSP. T-Mobile has Wi-Fi hotspots too but since I get AT&T hotspots free because of my DSL why pay more when I will probably only use it once a year you know? I’ve yet to even use it as it is.

Skype for PSP

On By Michel McDonaldIn PSPLeave a comment

Well, today we went to Game Stop at the mall and bought the “PSP Slim Skype Headset Kit” for $32.16 (after taxes) and made a call to my friend Sue. Darrin talked to her for nearly 45 min but then I was able to talk to her for a while until Big Brother after dark started.

The quality of the phone call was really amazing. I’m able to walk around the house, even go outside, just as long as I stay inside my wi-fi zone. With my regular telephone I get a lot of static because the cordless phone in my room is too far away from the main base in the living room so it’s nice to not have any static. So, I’m going to use my PSP from now on to make phone calls. I usually can’t get on the phone because Darrin is always on the phone hehe.