I'm on a 3gs, and am considering WP7 phone. Any recommendations?

From what I've seen, the best ones coming out are the Samsung Focus S (based on the Galaxy S II), the HTC Titan (a huge display... if you like that sort of thing), and the Nokia "SeaRay".

Personally I can't wait for the Nokia. It looks amazing - even better than the iPhone.

Well, I finally went ahead and gave this game a (serious) second chance. Forced my way through Bonehoard.

And oh boy was it worth it. This *is* an awesome game. There are several levels that I hated - like the level where you searched for that Cathedral, and that level where you go to the Lost City to get that talisman. Those levels sucked.

But the others... are awesome. The level where two assassins botches the assassination and you tail them to Ramirez's mansion. The one where you infiltrate not one, but two thief guild hideouts. The one at the opera house was awesome, too. Oh man, and that mage towers level!

I even liked a part of the last level - I hate when games have respawning enemies, but this is the exception. The concept of monsters parading along the walkway towards a portal while you sneak off the side is neat. I wish they stretched this part a bit more, and have more monsters streaming along. I know there's technical limitations, this being a 12-year-old game after all. The parts after the walkways, however, does kind of suck.

But the awesome levels made it worth playing. A must-play, IMO.

Yep, the Thief Gold. Comes in CD packaging, includes all CDs and documentation. Hell, that Eidos demo disc? Included!

This is a must-play. That is all.

Oh, and Aliens vs. Predator (Gold Edition), too.

GONE.

Multitasking is sorta a biggie.

Also, third-party apps can now take full advantage of the home screen blocks... used to be only Microsoft apps can take full advantage of them. No more.

I have a feeling this is going to be a 'meh' update.

I've had an iPhone since the very first one came out back in 2007. But now I'm thinking of switching to WP7 - that Nokia phone looks sweet.

Though I'm anticipating whatever new iPhone is coming this fall, to see what Apple has up their sleeve, I'm increasingly anticipating WP7 Mango. It looks great, and the Nokia "Sea Ray" looks fantastic. I might very well switch, after 4 years with the iPhone.

I got a rather nice Shoreline brand one. Leather binding and neoprene cover.

$5 plus actual shipping.

Also, talking about the 3500 calorie day, I was flipping through the Calorie King book (highly recommended for anyone concerned about carb counts, such as a diabetic, or an anti-carbite).  Looking at the restaurant section, it's pretty easy to see how someone could eat 3500 calories in a day.  There are single dishes that range up to 2500 calories by themselves (a pasta dish at Cheesecake Factory, the Cajun Jambalaya Pasta), and desserts that range even higher (I found one piece of cake that sat at 340 grams of carbs).  Add in appetizers, side dishes, drinks, and dessert, and you could conceivably hit 3500 in one meal.

Yeah, well, being served all that, and actually eating it are two wholly different things.

[Breakfast at home]

Here's a 3500+ calorie day of eating I just threw together on Daily Plate that I don't think is too hard to imagine an average American consuming:

Breakfast at home
Coffee with cream & sugar - 120 calories
Bagel - 370
cream cheese - 180
Extra cup of coffee when you get to work - 120

Lunch
Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese - 530
Medium fries - 380
Medium coke - 210
Coke refill - 210

Dinner
Three slices of a large pepperoni pizza - 1080 calories
Bottle of beer with dinner - 160
Another beer afterward - 160

Totals:
Breakfast - 810 calories
Lunch - 1330 calories
Dinner - 1400 calories

Grand Total: 3540 calories

Hahaha you make it sound so easy. So easy I think my body would actually take that for a day or two.

I concede my point, however - that does sound like the quintessential American diet.

Which is scary, really, if you think about it...

Actually, I'm 39.  So my # of calories to stay where I'm at is 2900 or so.  My goal is 2500, but really should be about 2000 a day.  It's going to be a pain, I know.  Right now I'm waiting for payday so I can afford to stock up on meats, cheeses, veggies and fruit (as while I have canned veggies and some frozen meat, I don't have much fresh).

Then...it begins.

So, tea with honey.  Still bad for me, right?  (And I can't stand artificial sweeteners, including Splenda/stevia.

IMO, no. Bad for your teeth and a variety of other things, but honey is a naturally-occurring food, not man-made like Splenda et al. It's better to eat real sugar than any of that crap, even though sugar does have more calories.

Re: responses to my post: maybe my post was dickish, but all of it was true, and I was genuinely puzzled at how anyone could consume 3,500 calories like it's nothing.

Someone gave McD's hamburgers as an example. A Big Mac is also 750 calories. If I eat that three times a day, it's 2,200 calories. Add in a large mountain dew (yes, one - I can't imagine drinking more than one in a given day), that's like, 2,500. And I'd like like absolute shit. I wouldn't be surprised if I will end up on the toilet dumping all of that calories out my ass, so it wouldn't even be 2,500 calories, either.

That 1,000 calorie appetizer at restaurants? Usually I share appetizers, so it's actually 300 or so calories. If I eat the whole thing myself, that'd be the main meal. And I'd likely be too full for the *next* meal too - which knocks at least 500 calories off my daily intake.

How I (and often failed to) reached the magical 3,000 when I tried (and failed miserably) to gain weight: 700-calorie breakfast, 300-calorie snack, 600-calorie lunch, 300-calorie snack, 500-calorie dinner, 300 calorie snack. That's 2,700 calories. If I timed it right and had the last 300 calories about 2-3 hours before bed, I knew I'd made it: one last 300-calorie snack before bed. Most of the time, I didn't make it.

And that's a *lot* of food, man.

I quit because 1) I feel heavy/bloated and tired all the time, and 2) because I got tired of having to think about food all the time (example, I'd be playing an engrossing game, then BAM "shit it's been 3 hours already, I gotta prepare something to eat, else I won't be able to fit all this into the day." It's like that medicine the doctor gives you for something and tells you to "take it every 4 hours." It's annoying like hell,) and finally, 3) I realized I'm draining the bank by buying all that food. Food is fucking expensive those days. I'd rather spend that on fun stuff - tech and games, yea?

[at all]

Putting in your height and weight, guessing 30 for your age, the Daily Plate's estimate is that you need to consume 3481 calorie a day to maintain your weight.

Jesus H. Christ, I can't imagine eating nearly 3,500 calories everyday - even worse, casually!

And later you mentioned that he should *try* to drop it down to 3,000! My God people, what the fuck are you all eating?

I tried to up my calorie intake to 3,000 a day to gain weight. It was HARD. I had to *think* about food CONSTANTLY - eat, eat, eat. I had to bring food around with me to eat. I had to prepare food in advance so I can eat non-stop.

And I felt *horrible*. Bloated, lethargic and my digestive system craps out much more often than I'm comfortable with (not that I'm comfortable at all when it does crap out).

I'm most comfortable at about 1,500 calories a day. I can push it to 2,000 calories a day without feeling any worse. Anything over 2,500 and I feel like crap.

And I ain't on the paleo diet then, either. I eat McD's on occasion, and eat junk food in the front of the TV like anyone else. So I honestly don't know what you guys are stuffing yourselves with.

Hey guys, I'd like to delete my account. Is there a way to do this, and how?

Thanks.

Which means no peanuts or cashews.

Yep.

And for the record, Paleo and atkins are not the same thing. Paleo advocates no grains of any sort, along with no dairy. The reasons for this aren't directly related to calories or body weight, but that's really a separate discussion that I wouldn't want to derail this one with.

Correction: (AFAIK), dairy *are* allowed on the paleo diet, as long as you are not lactose-intolerant. Along with sugar and the ilk, the amounts has to be controlled, however.

The bad guys in the Paleo diet are grains and legumes.

Nope. Genuine paleo calls for no dairy. Eating dairy is the most common 'cheat' for paleo eaters however, because it doesn't have the same drastic effect on them that grains do after not eating them for a while. Even then, most hard-core paleo people will cheat with cream in their coffee, the idea being that cream is mostly fat and contains very little of the proteins that are in dairy that are considered 'bad'.

If they drink coffee, they're not on the paleo diet.

Coffee are made from coffee beans, which are legumes.

I did some Googling, and you're right; some paleo diet interpretations eliminate dairy, while some others accept limited amounts of dairy.

They all, however, say that grains and legumes are out. So if you eat legumes... sorry.

And for the record, Paleo and atkins are not the same thing. Paleo advocates no grains of any sort, along with no dairy. The reasons for this aren't directly related to calories or body weight, but that's really a separate discussion that I wouldn't want to derail this one with.

Correction: (AFAIK), dairy *are* allowed on the paleo diet, as long as you are not lactose-intolerant. Along with sugar and the ilk, the amounts has to be controlled, however.

The bad guys in the Paleo diet are grains and legumes.

First of all, I'm going to address the Raven question. My oldest son Logan was diagnosed with Asthma, and he is obese. His mother used the Asthma arguement to stall overnight visits and claimed I was uninformed. I took classes and courses on this, including a seminar being run by the Health Sciences Centre here in Winnipeg, which (according to them) were forerunners in Asthma research.

There has been a link made to Lipitor, a drug used to control high cholesterol. It inhibits a protein produced during the breakdown of triglycerides (IIRC). They found that in Asthma patients who were taking it that the triggers causing restriction, mucus production and inflammation were impeded by the drug. They are/were going to try to isolate that element and produce yet another drug. This is all within the realm of the body's balance of energy (to which insulin is the primary control mechanism).

Gary references Asthma in his book, and while I don't have links ATM, the argument has to do with observed exposure to high-carb diets in cultures that historically consume little carbs vs. the ones that do. If you aren't being snide and are actually interested, I would suggest reading Good Calories, Bad Calories.

This post seems to be addressed to me, since I'm the only raven around here (other than Chaosraven, but he didn't post in this thread), but I'm not sure what question you're answering?

Your facts are questionable at best - to spout out common knowledge is to continue going down the same path without questioning it.

FACT: Exercise is good for the body.
FACT: We have a system capable of managing energy levels.
FACT: All growth is controlled by hormones
FACT: Ask any pubescent child - the mind has a hard time overriding hormones.
FACT: Exercise is not a major contributor to weight loss.
FACT: Diets fail because they require cognitive control to maintain. Some can do it, most cannot.
 

Here's something to think about:

If you hold back 500 calories a day from a child (who is eating 1500), will it reduce their rate of growth by 1/3?
Can you, using your mind alone, think yourself thin?
What to you define as starvation?
Why do people gain some, in some cases more, weight back?
What purpose is hunger, if you cannot trust its indicators?
Do you believe in evolution?

None of the above contradicts what I said.

And when I talked about "big/fat and thin/lean", I was clearly talking about fully-grown adults. Big as in muscular (body builder and so forth). It's impossible to get big if you don't consume enough building blocks (protein), and it's impossible to exercise in the first place if you don't consume enough energy (carbs, and long-term, fats). I saw this first-hand when I overslept and stupidly rushed to exercise without eating anything - I passed out, literally.

What does the mind have to do with the facts I listed above? There are a million variations and nuances to the physiology of muscle building and fat loss (and vice-versa), which affects how much you gain/lose, but that doesn't change the fact that the very fundamental fact of it all is energy consumed and energy spent.

That leads to why people gain back weight so quickly after an incorrect dieting attempt (aka starvation). It's purely survival - the body goes into starvation mode, and attempts to store as much as it can when food is available, in the event that there's another episode of scarcity.

It's not that hunger can't be trusted. It's that hunger is designed around how we evolved for millions of years. Hunger is not designed for the modern diet. Case in point: you get full quicker with a salad than with a few cookies, even though the cookies are many times more calorie-dense than salad.

Once you eat as your body was designed to, you will find that hunger will become a much more accurate indicator of your body's needs.

Again, none of this contradicts with what I said. Actually, with that post I took your side - the argument that you don't *need* to exercise to lose weight, which is true.

As I've said, you can lose weight without exercise. I even agree that diet is much more important to weight loss than exercise. You're just missing out on a huge health factor if you don't exercise. And, in my opinion, there's not much point being skinny if you're not also fit.

I disagree - it's *usually* much better to be skinny and unfit than to be fat and unfit.

Yep, this sucks balls. Hopefully other "premium" channels will make deals with Netflix and leave Starz feeling left out and force them to come crawling back. 

Though this won't affect me at all for the time being - I'm going to lose streaming in a couple of weeks when my billing cycle is up - I'm sticking with DVD-only (much more movies available + more reliable captions/subtitles)

The arguing here is weird.

Fact: weight loss = consuming less calories than you use.
Fact: sitting on your ass and consuming 1,000 calories a day, but consuming 700 = weight loss.
Fact: exercising and consuming 3,000 calories a day, but consuming 2,700 = weight loss.

It's all the same.

However...

Fact: consume more than what you use without exercising: you become a fatass.
Fact: consume more than what you use while exercising like hell: you get big.

Fact: consume less than what you use while sitting on your ass: you become a skinny weak-ass bastard.
Fact: consume less than what you use while exercising: you become lean and ripped.

Fact: diet and exercise achieve different aims.
Fact: diet and exercise are deeply interwined with each other.

Simple.

Ideal result: you consume what you use, stay at a healthy weight, and exercise to stay fit.

Further details worth arguing about: diets and exercise programs. Not the above.



Personal note: I wholly support the paleo diet, and second the experiences above. How I feel before and while on the diet is like day and night.

All gone.

Airplane!

Laugh or I'll Shoot Collection (Airplane! Don't Call Me Shirley Edition, Top Secret! and Naked Gun)

Probably just another gay Raiden "experience."

*the usage of "gay" in this post is to humorously emulate today's youth, nothing more

On the other hand, it is by retaining control over the LIVE experience that Microsoft continues to bring a superior online experience..

They keep saying the best way to keep in-the-know re: availability is to sign up here;

http://www.hp.com/united-states/webos/us/en/tablet/touchpad-availability.html?jumpid=ex_r11694_go_touchpad-availability

And you'll get an email when it's back in stock.

If I or anyone here gets to some, we'll grab 3 or so and share it here.

They're going for more than that on eBay so even if we all ended up overbuying, we can sell the remaining on eBay.

You're SOL as are most of us who waited.

There's a possibility HP.com might sell them online again if they have any inventory over, but you can bet if you aren't online and ready to jump on it the second you see it go up it'll be too late.
Maybe we can partner up in teams of 2 or 3.. if I'm on and see it come up again, I'll order 2 or 3 (for myself and 2 other GT'ers) while they are up, then you just pay me back + shipping costs. (And vice versa.)
Anyone interested?

I'm in, too.

One final price drop before I haul it off to eBay...

Added No One Lives Forever! In the box, too!

Price dropped to $700.

Been toying with the idea of getting a PS3, but realized today that there are really only two PS3 exclusives (Uncharted & God of War) that really interest me.  Not sure I can justify $250 + the games to play just a couple new titles.

Same (but add Metal Gear Solid 4).

[tscott]

Because I'm an asshole: tscott

I'm tempted, but is that video hardware any good for gaming?  Do you think that I will be able to play Diablo 3 when it is released?

The Intel HD 3000 is the new integrated graphics in the Sandy Bridge chipset. It's performance is roughly equivalent (but slightly inferior) to the Nvidia 320M. The i5 CPU does make a huge difference for any games that rely on CPU performance (the 320M only shows up on Core 2 Duo notebooks). I am confident that it will be able to handle Diablo III - Blizzard has never made their games overly demanding.

But it *is* integrated graphics; it's performance won't hold a candle to a discrete GPU.

Here's a section on the Intel HD 3000 in Anandtech's review of the Sandy Bridge chipset: Mobile Sandy Bridge Gaming Performance (Anandtech)

To prove that this is real (and not a fragment of my imagination), here's a couple of pictures. As I said, it's new in box, never opened.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19598442/box.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19598442/specs.jpg

I have a HP Pavilion dv6-6150us (silver) laptop for sale. It's brand new in box, never opened, warranty intact.

SOLD

HP Pavilion dv6-6150us on HP's online store

Complete specs:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-2410M w/ Turbo Boost Technology @ 2.3 Ghz
RAM: 6 GB DDR3
HD: 750 GB SATA (5400 rpm)
Optical Drive: SuperMulti DVD Burner
GPU: Intel HD 3000 (up to 1.65 GB)
Sandy Bridge chipset
USB 3.0, USB 2,0, HDMI, VGA

Various features:
Digital Media Card Reader for Secure Digital and Multimedia cards
HP TrueVision HD Webcam with integrated digital microphone
Touchpad supporting Multi-Touch gestures with LED border accent light and On/Off button
Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN
802.11 b/g/n WLAN with WiDi
Kensington® MicroSaver lock slot

Warranty: 1 year, carry in, parts and labour

I'll take Final Fantasy XII and Silent Hill 2.

PM me with PayPal address.

Er, just saw the address right there in the post. Please PM me to confirm that those two games are available. Thanks!

IE9.

There's your problem.

And yet, I've had more problems with Firefox and Chrome than I have with IE9.  I tried both for extended periods and have always been driven back.

You're using your computer wrong.

Chrome FTW.

Back to the topic at hand... I have GT's RSS feed as my gaming news source. Probably not the most comprehensive news out there, but I'm happy with it unless someone else points me to something better.

VLC Player - Plays tons of video formats

In that vein, Perian is also a must - a plugin for QuickTime that pretty much plays every format out there except for WMV.

Add Flip4Mac, and you can play basically anything in QuickTime.

it says it is compatible with iPad. Why wait?

Compatible ≠ Universal.

I don't want to play FFT on the iPad all blown up and blurry.

The more pictures I see here, the more afraid I get.

I'm praying the movie doesn't devolve into gadget-itis for the toy $$$.

I think I'm going to stop coming here and just trust Nolan to do it right.

Gratch, are you on an iphone 4?

Yes

There's your problem. I'm running it on an iPhone 5 and it's perfectly smooth.

I'm holding out for the ten dollar IPad version of FFT.

This.

Though I'm betting it'll be a looong wait.

Congrats - I just updated my old Macbook Pro for one of the new 13" MBA's as well.

Here's some of the Apps that I use a lot

Twitter client
Reeder for Google Reader (seconding GuidoTKP's recommendation)
Adium for Instant messaging
Skitch for capturing/sharing screenshots
MacVim for most of my software development
Xcode for programming ios
OmniGraffle for creating diagrams
Spotify / iTunes for Music
Toast for moving videos to/from my Tivo
Handbrake for "backing up" DVD's
ScreenFlow for capturing screencasts

I also order a lot of stuff online so I use the "Delivery Status" dashboard widget to keep track of all my packages
I don't play a lot of games on my Mac - but I've been contemplating re-activating an old World of Warcraft account once I start traveling again.

Those are some of the best software written for OS X.

Listen to this man.

Sounds like they are just trying to fly below the radar and make money off illegally stream shows before the networks find out about it.

Exactly. JetFlicks sounds like a "fly by night" operation. I have a feeling they won't be around for much longer.

Routh was fine as Superman, the movie however was a poorly written travesty.  It played Lex Luthor (supposedly one of the smartest men on the planet) as a megalomaniac (ok) idiot (not ok).    I'm not sure why they can't seem to put together a decent movie. Marvel has figured out the formula for blockbuster supers movies, DC has figured out the formula for fantastic supers animated movies.

Yes, as I said, you have to watch it as what it really is - a sequel to Superman II. In other words, Superman Returns is Superman III.

In Superman: the Movie and Superman II, Lex Luthor, supposedly the greatest criminal mind in the world, is a megalomaniac, and an idiot. His plots are just as ridiculous back then (sink California just so he could make his property in Nevada into beachfront properties?).

And for what was supposed to be one of the greatest superhero movies, Superman: the Movie has one of the worst resolutions ever. Remember how Superman flew around the Earth so fast that he reversed the Earth's revolution direction, and thus causing time itself to go backwards? How fucking ridiculous is that?

So I think Superman Returns was ill-received because people 1) didn't watch it for what it is (a sequel to Superman II), and 2) forgot how equally (and even more) ridiculous the original Donner movies were.