Today I’ll talk about one of my favorite genres of games!  I’m sure if you’ve spent enough time looking for free games on the web you’ve run into a few of these games.  I mean, being free is one of the hallmarks of the genre.  But mainly I’ll be trying to speak to the people who maybe haven’t run into these kinds of games.

So what general info is there?  Overall, they involve creating a character, which then marches down into a deep, dark dungeon to recover some legendary artifact.  It’s a classic form of role-playing game, and most of the basics of the game are simple to learn (especially if you play as a melee class like a fighter).  Most commands are done via keyboard shortcuts – which can be a little intimidating to learn, but really most of them aren’t used very regularly.  So if it’s so simple, what’s the appeal?  Well, in most games you have a set of characters that move through a world.  In this game though, the game world is procedurally generated – that is, the dungeon is different every time you play.  The challenge then is less learning about the characters themselves, and more about learning a system.  It’s very challenging – there are almost an infinite number of ways for your player to die.  All of these are designed to inform the player, so that if you learn from your mistakes your character might last a little longer next time.  This learning from game to game combined with a new dungeon every time you play creates a very interesting game experience.

Another system in place to make it even more interesting is the class and race system.  The combination of the two of these determines your character’s initial strengths, weaknesses, and idiosyncrasies.  In many of these games there are so many different combinations that there are a huge number of strategies – several different ones associated with each combination.  There are also a huge number of items in the game – some which will help you immensely, and others which harm you or even swiftly kill you.  And even the harmful items often can be used in a beneficial way!

So now I’ll recommend my two favorite rougelikes – Dungeon Crawl and Nethack.  Nethack is great for beginners – a simple interface, several race and class options, and a great intro to the genre.  Dungeon Crawl is more complex, with a huge number of racial and class options.  It can be intimidating to new players, but overall will give a more fulfilling experience.  Be sure to look for tiled versions of these games, since the native interface can be very confusing (it consists of text characters representing various classes of items).  But if you really want the retro feel, go for the classic, non- tiled versions!

Today at approximately 8:30 PM people across the nation shut off their power.  According to what I’ve heard, there have even been a few cities that have followed in this movement too, shutting off unnecessary civil electrical devices (although what this is exactly, I’m not 100% sure).   And please forgive me for a hurried writing style – I’m shutting off lights as I write, and pretty soon the only power left in my apartment will be my portable laptops.
So why should you participate in this?  Well, one hour once a year really doesn’t make that much of a difference, in my opinion.  I think the larger message is that we should try to shut off electronics we aren’t using.  The concept of a dripping faucet applies strongly – it seems small, but over time there is actually a massive waste.  And considering how much of our nation’s power relies on non-refundable energy sources like oil and coal, we can’t afford to waste.
So today instead of talking about what to do with your portable laptop, I’ll talk about what to do without it once the power is out, in celebration of earth hour!  Imagine if all the power went out everywhere for just a short time, and power consumption went to zero.  Those of you in cities would be able to go out and see the stars for example.  I men, light pollution is in my opinion the biggest difference we could notice.
Every day we look up and see nothing but ambient light from street light, billboards and buildings.  It drowns out the natural ambient light from the moon and the stars.  So I urge you, turn off your unnecessary electronics and especially lights.  It will help conserve energy and might even reduce light pollution.  If that movement grows, who knows what the limit might be.  In all hopes, one day we might be able to see constellations from Times Square – the sky is the limit (no pun intended).  So stop reading this, shut off your computers, and stare at the sky for a little tonight.  It’s the best thing to do without your portable laptop!

I have to say, this one’s a departure from most of the laptops you’ll find on the market.  This is a factor that will be very apparent as soon as you see it.  It is rugged.  It’s designed for in-the-field use, especially police or military.  It even has a built-in carrying handle!  Coming with a 13 inch touchscreen and an Intel Core Duo Processor, it’s effectively an average laptop when you consider “laptop” features.

Where this really excels is its “extra” features, which add hugely to its versatility and portability.  First off, it has a solid metal chassis.  It also has rubber bumpers on the corners, and rubber or metal covers to all of the external ports.  This laptop looks like it’s impervious to everything short of a tactical missile strike.  The design is fairly simple black and grey, but I imagine if you’re buying this you’re not doing it for style.  It’s very well designed – every inch is designed to resist water and impact damage.  You can also freely swap the hard disc and battery without using a screwdriver, adding versatility in the field.  The carrying handle is on the side of the palmrest – and it’s just as solidly built as the rest of the laptop.  When it’s not a handle it even functions as an extension to the palmrest!  This computer looks like instead of worrying about it breaking, you should be worrying about breaking stuff around you – it’s that solid!

The screen is fantastic too – a nice size, and offered in two basic levels of brightness (the lower one should be all you need in most circumstances).  A little quality is lost because it’s a touch screen, but I imagine not enough for most people to notice.  What’s great too is that it contains both a passive and active digitizer.  This means that it comes with a stylus you can use, or you can just use your fingertips.  For the keyboard you have to press a little strongly – the keyboard is designed to withstand wear and tear just like the rest.  The coolest feature though is located right next to the touchpad.  It has a built in fingerprint reader, which has its own cover.  So this fingerprint reader is protected not only by the top half of the laptop, but by an extra cover.  It’s probably about impossible to destroy!  The battery life is also quite good – on lower settings up around 8 hours, and about 4 hours in sunlight mode.

Another cool feature is the cooling system.  Most laptops use fans for cooling.  This laptop, however, makes use of all of the metal used in its construction – the laptop functions as its own heat sink, which means it will never get loud or hot (unless you’re at a rock concert or on the sun).  The speed is more than sufficient for most day-today activities.  There’s only a few hang-ups – first, it’s extremely heavy at 8 lbs.  Also, its speakers are designed for water resistance, so they aren’t the most impressive you’ll find.  Overall though, this is a laptop with great portability which I think many of you will find a good use for.  If you’re in a field where u need to use a computer outside, this is definitely an option to consider.

With a nice 16-inch screen, great power and storage and HDMI output, this notebook from Lenovo is set to be a primary multimedia machine.  For this kind of screen size it manages to run fairly light at about approximately 5.8 pounds.  Its build is sturdily for this weight, and even manages to have a rugged feel to it despite it’s construction (it even uses carbon fiber – space age!).  The exterior is black and the exterior white, which gives it a very nice feel.  One interesting feature is also that the CD drive is not on the side as in most laptops – It’s on the front.  I imagine this will appeal to many of you, but I can see it being a bit of a problem when traveling when space is tight.

Another feature you will quickly notice when you open this laptop is the keyboard and touchpad.  In most cases, as laptop screen size increases, keyboard size increases too.  In this case though Lenovo’s engineers shrunk the keyboard in favor of palmrests and a larger touchpad.  It also has a touch sensitive bar above the keyboard with several cool features like facial recognition!

As for ports, you can tell that this is where sacrifices were made for speed.  There are no ports in the back.  On the right there is a 6 in 1 card reader, USB, headphone (and mic), eSATA, Expresscard(34), and Ethernet ports in addition to a lock slot.  In the front you can find the on/off switch and the aforementioned optical drive.  The left side holds the HDMI, VGA, power, and USB ports.  This means there is a total of only 2 USB ports – which can be a problem.  In addition, there are no Firewire ports.  This is definitely a strong candidate for a USB expansion or Firewire add-on.  The speakers are pretty good, and don’t have much distortion unless you crank them up all the way.  Unfortunately as with most laptops the bass is a little lacking.

Overall this computer runs quickly, but it’s graphics card isn’t as good as some comparable models.  It’s ideal for day to day functions like web browsing, email, word processing, or watching movies.  It’s not really a gaming machine though.  With ordinary use the laptop battery runs for about 3 hours, which makes it good for home or class use.  If you’re travelling for an extended period however this might not be quite enough time.  The computer does heat up somewhat, but remains cooler than most other laptops I’ve used.  And so long as you aren’t stressing the computer too much (like with gaming) the noise from the fan isn’t bad.  It can become loud from time to time which could be a problem in a classroom setting, but if you’re taking notes it’s unlikely that it would get that loud.

Overall, this is a solid, classy looking laptop which is a great media machine.  It’s a little large for classroom use and the battery life is OK, plus it’s a little lacking in the gaming department.  This leads me to classify it as a semi-portable media center.  Check it out for yourself!

I imagine many of you are actually intimidated by this.  Not use iTunes?  How is that possible!  It’s very simple actually, and has several benefits.  The most notable of these is that you free your iPod from being tethered to one library at a time.  The software I’m recommending also is installed onto your iPod, which adds to its sheer portability.

The first step in this process is configuring your iPod to operate as a hard disc.  Unfortunately, this first step does require iTunes, but is thankfully simple. The steps are:

1)      Connect your iPod

2)      Click “Options” in the lower right corner of iTunes to open the preference window

3)      Click “Enable Disc Use”

There you go!  You’re ready to begin.  First, go to http://floola.com/ and get Floola.  It’s free and cross platform, plus it allows a plethora of features.  Not only can it sync both audio and video, it can be used for almost all the same functions as iTunes.  This means it can manage artwork, deal with duplicate songs, manage your music, and can be used as a music player on your computer.  It even has native support for Last.fm and, as I mentioned, runs off your iPod itself making it completely portable!  All you have to do is download the proper version for your OS, then drag and drop the folder onto your iPod.  And with that same drag and drop action you can not only put music on your iPod from any computer, you can take it from your iPod to your computer just as easily!

Now get out and set your iPod free!

Due to a few experiences with my computer today, I decided to talk about audio software.  I can’t think of anyone who can go without music – and the few people that do seem to still use the same kinds of programs albeit for different purposes.  If you aren’t listening to the most recent pop album, you might be listening to podcasts or language lessons.  And given the recent popularity of the iPod and its myriad various incarnations, the audio player you’re probably using is iTunes.

Using iTunes isn’t a bad thing, but I wouldn’t call it good either.  If you aren’t super tech saavy, it’s probably the best option – it syncs right away with iPods, it’s overall a solid player, and it has more than a few helpful features.  The biggest problem though is that, in my opinion, since so many people are forced to use iTunes, it has gradually become an increasingly inferior product.  It’s not horrible yet, but it’s showing signs.  With each update it seems crashes become more common, and every now and then I have some sort of critical problem (like the one which caused this post).  The biggest problems are threefold – increasing slowness, Genius, and Quicktime.  The first goes almost without saying (and I bring part of it upon myself by having a massive library of songs).  As for Genius, I still fail to understand how it adds to the iTunes experience, especially considering how I virtually never buy music from the iTunes store.  Quicktime isn’t so bad, but it’s annoying that it’s required for iTunes to work right.  Again remember though, this is the best option in my opinion.  It’s a straight-up requirement if you want to use an iPhone, so keep that in mind.

A second option is Mozilla Songbird.  As with all Mozilla products, the customizability is fantastic.  Unfortunately it’s still very much in development – it runs slow and has lots of errors still.  I think if you are around “intermediate level” this is a good option for you.  It also has an integrated web browser, which might appeal to you.  I personally still enjoy using Firefox though, so for me this isn’t really a feature which holds any weight.

There are plenty of other options like Windows Media Player and Realplayer, but to my knowledge none of these support iPods.  In this case sometimes programs can be used to add support, but a preferred option may be to manually manage your iTunes.  Playlists are a little challenging, but for the iPod shuffle the operation is simple enough.  I’ll follow up with a post about manually managing your iPod – it’s a good idea to know how to do this in case you suddenly start having synchronization problems.

Well, I hope I gave you some useful information.  I know most of you are dedicated to one particular player or another, so if you want to discuss the various merits of players I failed to mention or if I didn’t give your favorite player enough credit, please enlighten me!

Today I’m going to go over a few great e-mail tools for your laptop.  Today I’ll talk about the two tools I use, in hopes of helping you with your email needs.  Both of these are all great tools which I have personally used – Admittedly though, I like some more than others.  Some I use more than others – but all of them I’ve had good experiences with and would recommend to others.

1)      Mozilla Thunderbird – this is by far my favorite email client.  Out of the box, Thunderbird is basically a run-of -the-mill email client.  In fact natively it doesn’t even have a built in calendar.  However, as with Firefox, the real strength of this program comes from the ability to install add-ons.  There is, for example, an add-on which adds calendar support to Thunderbird.  Another add-on lets you sync your Google Calendar to your Thunderbird calendar, or vice-versa.  My only complaint is that there is no option to minimize to the system tray.  This however can also be amended, by a little tool called Thunderbird Tray.  Installing this gives you a few new options such as a delayed start when the computer is started.

2)      Microsoft Outlook is my second choice, partially because it comes bundled with so many PCs you buy.  It’s just as easy to use as any other email client right out of the box.  It also comes with a built-in calendar, which is of course extremely useful.  It, unfortunately, lacks the customizability of some other email programs.  For example, you have to install Google Calendar Sync to be able to sync your Outlook calendar.  Other than that it’s pretty run of the mill.

If you have several email accounts like I do, the easiest thing to do is not to pick one email account, but instead use several.  With the add-ons I mentioned above you can even sync a calendar between all your email accounts, something which is actually a lot more useful than it sounds.

On another note, several people have suggested using Eudora, but in my experience it’s a little bit more complicated to use than the two I mentioned above.  In closing, I should give you my personal recommendation, which you should be able to guess by now – Thunderbird!  Its shortcomings are easily mended with add-ons.  Sure, it’s a little extra work, but it’s a better product in the long run in my opinion.  Outlook just doesn’t have the customizability offered by Thunderbird, which means it just isn’t up to snuff.  So stop using webmail and switch over to Thunderbird!  It’s a switch I guarantee you’ll enjoy!

You can’t just work on your portable laptop!  You have to have some fun from time to time.  What I’m talking about today is a fantastic game that all of you can play for free: Kingdom of Loathing!  Don’t let the name fool you – loathing was just a random word the creators shoved in since they couldn’t think of a name when they first created it.

So why should you want to play this game?  Well, one great reason is how much the development team listens to the players.  The game’s creator actually regularly posts on the forums, asking for the player’s opinions on game play mechanics and updates.  A regular player’s opinion actually holds a decent amount of weight, especially if they can win others over to their side.  Unlike most games the development team isn’t looking for ways to hook people into the game – they are instead looking for how to make the game more enjoyable to all the player base.  With regular updates both large and small, they certainly succeed at it.

The main reason I play is how quirky the game is.  It’s basically a RPG, but one unlike any I imagine you’ve played before.  Classes are very strange, like the pastamancer, disco bandit, and turtle tamer.  There are a huge number of areas, ranging from the orcish frat house to the penultimate fantasy airship.  Every area you can visit is filled with a huge amount of character.  Some are interesting.  Some are funny.  Some are downright hilarious.  What’s more is that almost everything is a reference.  A large part is pop culture references, but to really understand all of them you have to be quite knowledgeable.

Another reason why many people keep coming back to this game is the depth of the game play.  On many levels, it’s simple – just point and click.  Combat consists of attacking, using a skill, using an item, or running away.  Where it gets complicated is in the number of skills and items.  There are a huge number of both, and more are always being added.  Skills help you in combat, heal you, and some even let you make food and drink.  Food and drink is vital, since it lets you extend the limited amount of time you can play per day.  And once you beat the “final boss” you have the option of starting over at level 1 while retaining one skill you have learned.

I really think that anyone who likes games can find something to love in KOL.  No matter your play style, it’s a fantastically fun game anyone can enjoy.  The only thing that is lacking is graphics – the entire game consists of black and white stick figures.  But I think you’ll find that instead of detracting from the game experience, it adds to the charisma and charm of the game.  Try it out for yourself at http:www.kingdomofloathing.com!

So you’re typing away at your portable laptop – and you’re about to finish that report you’ve been working on for the past few months.  The deadline’s just a few hours away.  You save, and all seems to be well.  Just as you’re starting to pack up, you notice your computer freezing up.  Then what everyone dreads happens – the Blue Screen of Death.  When you try to reboot though, you find your hard disc makes strange sounds, and you’re unable to reboot.  Unfortunately at this point there’s nothing to be done – you can’t fix this kind of problem yourself.  You can take it in to an establishment like geek squad, but recovering the disc is expensive and not guaranteed to work.  I know many of you have been in this situation – I have.  My computer crashed right before exams and I lost all the notes I had taken for an entire year.  So what can you do to avoid this?

Back It Up!

There are many options for backing up your files.  My recommendation is a multifaceted approach.  If you have several systems in place that means that if any of them fail you have the others to rely on.  So what are these systems?

First, files you know you will need soon should be sent to yourself via email.  I know this is low tech, but if you keep your email sorted it is a good way to make sure you don’t lose anything in the event of a sudden crash.  It can also speed up recovery for these files, since you can access the files even from a friend’s computer, without extra software.  But of course the size of the file is a limiting factor – really only files like pictures or Microsoft Office files are feasible.

The next step is an external hard disc.  This is a fantastic option for backing up your music or video collection.  Cost can be a little prohibitive, but every year larger discs are being sold for cheaper.  If you’re willing to put in some effort, you can also learn how to connect multiple discs in a RAID array – but if you’re reading articles like this that may be a little out of your reach, skill-wise.  This is my favorite option due to how much space a hard disc gives you – having a terabyte drive can multiply your space by a factor of five or even ten.  Check almost any store that sells electronics and I’m sure you’ll find several great options.

One new option I’ve been since my last crash is a service called MozyHome.  First off, you get a gig of online storage free.  What you do is download a small program which periodically connects to the MozyHome servers.  You get to pick what files are backed up and how often.  Restoring your files is very easy too – I think anyone at any level of technical skills can figure out how to do it.  And it has a cool referral system – every person who you refer gets 256 megabytes of free space.  So if you’re proactive with referrals you can get all of the space you need and more without paying a cent.  What’s especially good is that with the default settings it will save your email and browser settings, something you might forget to back up.  It’s a great option for the price!

So those are the steps I use to backup.  Check them out yourself!

This handy little laptop is my current most-used laptop. I’ve had lots of good experiences with it, but of course it has its share of problems. Shall we get to analysis?

Portability: Very good. Weighing in at 4 pounds it’s not perfect, but it’s certainly light enough to get around. Of course it could be lighter – the battery especially adds a lot of weight. Overall at this level it’s a good multipurpose laptop, which is easy to use and easily movable. I’d especially recommend it for students for the note-taking option.

Versatility: Having a touch screen, this computer is truly fantastic. It comes with a disc drive and its basic specs are top of the line. I’ve yet to run into any program that it can’t run. It of course has the usual – disc drive, Ethernet, USB, etc. Standard stuff. The built-in Mic and camera are also fantastic to have.

Durability: Not so good. I had the hard disc fail earlier this year, which as you know is devastating. I lost everything I had been working on for six months. Also, given that the screen swivels, it’s certainly an easy place to break. It’s certainly a little flimsy, but those are the only real problems I’ve had.

Usability: Well, the touch screen certainly counts for a lot here – it has functionality for both finger and pen, maximizing it’s use. However, there’s a button which has one single function – open a program called Quickplay. What’s strange is sometimes this is the only way to boot the computer. It also come bundled with a ton of bloatware, which has to be uninstalled.

Miscellaneous: The major point I haven’t covered is HP customer service. Really, this is a mixed bag. I’ve had some fantastic experiences with the tech support division. They really know what they are doing, and kudos to them for that. The Customer Service division however I found to be somewhat lacking overall. To resolve my issue, I ended up having to work my way towards talking with a manager.

Overall, I enjoy this laptop. It’s certainly adequately portable, and comes with a lot of functionality. Of course to fully take advantage there’s some software you definitely need. I’d recommend Microsoft Office for most people who can afford it. If it’s a little much, you can always go for OpenOffice – it’s the best substitute for Office I’ve found so far. If you do go this route, you should consider purchasing Microsoft OneNote. It’s notebook software which fully takes advantage of the touchscreen functionality. I also have to recommend switching Internet Explorer for Firefox, and installing iTunes. I don’t want to go into too much detail for the basic software package, but I just want to emphasize OneNote. If you’re a student, it’s probably the best software you can find for organizing your notes.