Tech Blog

Last Sunday at Canzine, Canada's largest 'zine fair, Toronto's own "video game collective" the Hand Eye Society were on hand with the Torontron, an arcade cabinet dedicated to showcasing local independent developers' games, produced as part of ToJam or the Artsy Game Incubator. The machine is intended to--hopefully--be used as a permanent installation at a Toronto bar or some other kind of public space, but I thought that as you already have a computer on hand, why not create your own? Read more...

The iPhone still doesn't have a radio in it, but there are numerous radio apps to get streaming on your device. CBC, NPR, official radio station ones, bulk streaming. Some are only in the US iTunes store blocking you out of a long list of stations, but I've found a brililant global radio streaming app that will also double as a clock radio. Read more...

Dragon Age: Origins is the latest release from Edmonton-based Bioware and Electronic Arts. With six branching storylines and a development period of almost five years DA: O has driven expectations to a fever pitch. How has it shaped up so far? Read more...

Nintendo's fashion-forward clothing boutique game Style Savvy just came out on November 2 for their DS handheld system and you know, I couldn't help but take a peak to find out what it was all about. The premise of the game reminds me of MTV's reality fashion show The City -- minus the boys and cleverly planted drama. Read more...

I have to say I'm surprised to be excited for Assassin's Creed II. The original was a gorgeous exercise in complete vapidity, with barely anything to do in a huge world that was simultaneously lifeless and full of life. And don't get me started on the meta-story! However I've seen Assassin's Creed II twice across its development--once at E3 and once at a Sony press event--and each time I see it it's stronger. Read more...

Last week Torchlight was released. Future Shop Techblogger Matthew Kumar wrote a great overview of the game. But there was a time, way back in the last century, when similar computer games were played without the benefit of 3D graphic cards, Dolby Surround Sound, or mice and gamepad macro programming applications. Strap yourself into the way-back machine 'cause we're going to look at the progenitors of Torchlight, Diablo, and any other hack 'n slash dungeon crawl, and we're going to use the iPhone / iPod Touch to do it. Read more...

In a previous post (on my personal blog) about preparing for your Windows 7 installation, I briefly discussed backups. Aside from the obvious reason of having a copy of your imortant stuff stored safely, backups have another benefit; they give you the confidence to work on your computer yourself -- not having to rely on your friend, office mate or the 14yr old neighbour. But making good backups, backups that are easy to use and restore can be a challenge. Especially the restore part -- without a good restore, the backup is worthless. And if making and restoring your backups isn't easy, odds are that you won't do it, even though you know you should. Which begs the question; how can I easily back up my system? Read more...

Apple's Mighty Mouse hit the streets in August 2005 (with the Bluetooth version about a year later) and was the first "buttonless" mouse, it also had the little gray scroll ball thingy and (hard to squeeze) side buttons. Apple took a lot of flack for the clickable trackball (it's infamously hard to clean) and I've never found the side squeeze buttons terribly useful (I find them uncomfortably hard to squeeze). When Apple made their big hardware announcements last month one of the most interesting new things was then new "Magic Mouse", which not only lacks buttons, but seems to lack any way to do much with it. Looks are very deceiving in this case because the Magic Mouse is a multitouch mouse like the iPhone, iPod Touch, and newer MacBook trackpads. Now that could be interesting, but is it? Read more...

My name is Buzz and I'm an internet addict. Now you could laugh at the notion as being a serious problem, but ask someone with a sex addiction what their life is like and you'll realize that addiction to anything is a serious issue. As we move through a more and more connected world, the ability to be online all the time is not only proving itself to be convenient, it's proving to be addictive. Read more...

Hands up who loves Diablo or Diablo II. Come on, don't be shy. Wherever you are (most likely sitting in front of a computer, though) raise your hand if you love Diablo. Well, if you haven't raised your hand (and it's not just because you're too shy) then honestly I'm surprised, and this isn't the article for you, because I'm going to discuss Torchlight, which is exactly the same kind of hypnotic drug that Diablo was. Read more...

This week there were no real concentrations of news sources, stuff was all over the place. The only common thread is that some stuff was just out there. Must be the calm before the holiday season starts in earnest. Read more...

So, I've previously mentioned a personal peccadillo for downloadable games. I've also previously noted that there doesn't seem to be much on the horizon for the Nintendo Wii to make it essential. And it was recently that I realized I've been completely missing out on WiiWare, Nintendo's download service for new Wii titles. Read more...

WordPress is the the leading blog engine right now. I've been using it for years and am pretty comfortable with setting it up on a webhost, but what if you want to play with it for a while and don't have a webhost or just want to keep your bloggy creations off the Internet? Simple, you download everything you need and run a complete server on your own machine. Have 30 mins? That's pretty much all you need, so let's get going. Read more...

In what I'd call the most unexpected announcement from the games industry for ages (well, ignoring the fact it was leaked a few days early...) Nintendo has announced that they're to release a new iteration of their DSi hardware (itself only out for barely a year!) with the DSi XL, a significantly larger (but functionally identical) Nintendo DSi that'll feature 4.2'' screens and has been developed to better suit older gamers who may be uncomfortable with the smaller screen of the DS/DSi. Read more...

Checking labels is a part of any grocery shopping experience. Fat, calories, carbs, we know where to look to find them. But do you do that same kind of label checking when you shop for electronics? Read more...