This is, by far, the best explanation of the SOPA and PIPA bills that I have seen on the internet.  Watch and learn.

Today I am going to show you, with a video I made, how to install Doom 64 Absolution to your PC. No Rom or Emulator Required! Some settings may need to be adjusted depending on the stats of your machine.

The Doom series has been one of my all time favorite games.  As our technology in video games advances, older games of my generation have been weeded out; so I am going to show you guys how to install Doom 64 which was released in 1997. This game was the definition of fear in its day and would keep you on your toes. Fight your way through zombies, imps, and the barons of hell.  If you respect the FPS games of today, then come back to 1997 and play what the newer games are built off of.

What your downloading is an import that  a team of 8 individuals decided to bring back in 2003.  You can find more information about the game and its enhances by clicking here Doom 64 Absolution.

Download Link = Doom 64 Absolution

Follow the captions in the video to install.

Stay Tuned for the Next “How To” Next Week!

Geoff

At first it was a bootlegged version of The Dark Knight Rises trailer that hit the web and made its rounds, now the studio has given in and put out the HD version on Apple’s website and of course it made it to Youtube.  I can’t wait to see this in theaters and might just take opening day off to make it happen. Shoot some comments off and let us know what you thought of the trailer.

Amazon announced their newest gadgets for us today.  I’ll outline some of the bullet points below:

The Kindle Fire ($199)
- 7-inch IPS display, ultra-wide display, dual-core processor. 14.6 ounces
- Android
- Wispersync for movies, tv, and books
- Bookshelf UI
- Gorilla Glass display
- Amazon App Store
- Plenty of graphics power
- Amazon Silk Browser

Technical Details

Display 7″ multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors. Size (in inches) 7.5″ x 4.7″ x 0.45″ (190 mm x 120 mm x 11.4 mm). Weight 14.6 ounces (413 grams). System Requirements None, because it’s wireless and doesn’t require a computer. On-device Storage 8GB internal. That’s enough for 80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books. Cloud Storage Free cloud storage for all Amazon content Battery Life Up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with wireless off. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as web browsing and downloading content. Charge Time Fully charges in approximately 4 hours via included U.S. power adapter. Also supports charging from your computer via USB. Wi-Fi Connectivity Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or 802.1X standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks. USB Port USB 2.0 (micro-B connector) Audio 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, top-mounted stereo speakers. Content Formats Supported Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8. Documentation Quick Start Guide(included in box); Kindle User’s Guide (pre-installed on device) Warranty and Service 1-year limited warranty and service included. Optional 2-year Extended Warranty available for U.S. customers sold separately. Use of Kindle is subject to the Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use. Included in the Box Kindle Fire tablet, U.S. power adapter (supports 100-240V), and Quick Start Guide.

The Kindle Touch (WIFI $99 or 3G $150)

- IR touch screen (no extra plastic layer)
- Book X-ray (see a bar chart of where words appear in a book)
- Wispersync

The Kindle ($80)
- Buttons at the bottom (no keyboard)
- Less than 6 oz
- Ad-supported

Technical Details

Display Amazon’s 6″ diagonal most advanced E Ink multi-touch display, optimized with proprietary waveform and font technology, 600 x 800 pixel resolution at 167 ppi, 16-level grayscale. Size (in inches) 6.8″ x 4.7″ x 0.40″ (172 mm x 120 mm x 10.1 mm) Weight 7.5 ounces (213 grams) System Requirements None, because it’s wireless and doesn’t require a computer to download content. On-device Storage Up to 3,000 books or 4 GB internal (approximately 3 GB available for user content). Cloud Storage Free cloud storage for all Amazon content Battery Life A single charge lasts up to two months with wireless off based upon a half-hour of daily reading time. Keep wireless always on and it lasts for up to 6 weeks. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as shopping the Kindle Store, web browsing, and downloading content. Charge Time Fully charges in approximately 4 hours via the included USB 2.0 cable connected to a computer. U.S. power adapter sold separately. Wi-Fi Connectivity Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n (in b or g compatibility mode) standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not connect to WPA and WPA2 secured networks using 802.1X authentication methods; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks. USB Port USB 2.0 (micro-B connector) Audio 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, rear mounted speakers Content Formats Supported Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced(AA,AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion. Documentation Quick Start Guide (included in box); Kindle User’s Guide(pre-installed on device). Warranty and Service 1-year limited warranty and service included. Optional 2-year Extended Warranty available for U.S. customers sold separately. Use of Kindle is subject to the Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use. Included in the Box Kindle wireless e-reader, USB 2.0 cable Quick Start Guide.

www.amazon.com/kindlefire
www.amazon.com/kindletouch

These links don’t work right now unless you clear your cache, but go ahead and give it a try.

Photos are from Amazon.com

I, along with other Netflix subscribers, received an apology email from Netflix CEO Reed Hasting this morning.  What was he apologizing for?  He was apologizing for his company being a bit of a D-bag lately.  Here is the exact email that I received:

Dear Jesse,

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn’t make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So here is what we are doing and why.

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.

I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.

Respectfully yours,

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix

p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.

 

So in recap, Netflix will now only deal with streaming, Quickster will deal with DVDs and (hopefully) games, and Reed Hastings is sorry for not letting his customers know.  I understand the seperation of the streaming and DVD services into different services within Netflix, however, I think that spliting DVDs into a different team is a little much.  Oh well.

You want to make me happy Reed Hastings?  Don’t take away our ability to stream to 2 or more streaming devices at once.  Some of us like that feature.

Do you think this is a good move for Netflix, or are they just wasting time and energy?

Gamestop tends to catch flack from developers saying that they undermine the business of video games with used sales.  They catch flack from customers because of the low price they pay for almost new games (that they mark up sky high).  Now they’ll catch flack from me for STEALING things from brand new games.

The recent release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution had a little present inside for its first batch of customers; a coupon to play Deus Ex: Human Revolution on the up and coming online gaming service OnLive (the game costs $50 to play on the service).  After going to their local Gamestop stores to pickup their copy of the game, customers started to notice something odd; there was no coupon in the copies that Gamestop was selling.

Could this be a mess up?  I wish.  Gamestop employees were given instructions from higher up in the company to open the game boxes, remove and discard the coupon, and put the games back on the shelf as new merchandise.

After Gamespy acquired an email regarding the issue and made it public, Gamestop was sure to update their Facebook page with a “valid” reason for the trespass:

Regarding the Deus Ex OnLive Codes: GameStop’s policy is that we do not promote competitive services without a formal partnership.
Square Enix packed a competitor’s coupon within the PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution without our prior knowledge and we did pull these coupons.
While the new products may be opened, we fully guarantee the condition of the discs to be new. If you find this to not be the case, please contact the store where the game was purchased and they will further assist.

This is shady by any standards and if a customer would have bought the game and returned it without a coupon worth $50 Gamestop would laugh in their face and send them out the door.  If you want to work out a deal for special “no coupon” copies of the game that might make people mad, but at least they would know what they were buying.

Fox recently made the move to make online tv viewers who aren’t paying for their service (Hulu Free users) wait for 8 days after their shows air to watch them.  A few show already have this limit on them and while Fox is the first to do this widespread they definitely won’t be the last.  All the trouble that cable companies are in and someone goes and kick a hornet’s nest.

This story isn’t about Fox and their waiting period though, it’s about what happened after the 8 day wait was made a reality…

PIRACY.

Here are some stats from TorrentFreak.com:

During the first 5 days, the number of downloads from the U.S. for the latest episode of Hell’s Kitchen increased by 114% compared to the previous 3 episodes. For MasterChef the upturn was even higher with 189% more downloads from the U.S. For MasterChef; the extra high demand may in part have been facilitated by the fact that it was the season finale.

Well, one thing to take away is that you don’t get between The Food Network and its viewers.  I believe that some if not all of the content creators and providers out there (like cable companies) think that sites like Hulu and Netflix are the competition when really the competition is torrent sites and piracy.  Sites like Hulu and Netflix allow content creators a chance to make some money off of their content whereas if they put it behind a paywall people will just find other ways to get it for free.

(Keep in mind that this time restriction only affects free users of these services and paid users will find no change in their service.)

These guys gave us a whole show.

"That Superboy and Robin are awfully cute, which makes me confused." Brandon C. Williams

I’ve had my Google+ account for about a day now and I thought I would share my impressions with you.

First of all, I have to say thank you to my friend Tyler for sending me an invite to Google+.  I’ve used G+ on my Android phone and on the web via the mobile web app and the desktop web app.  While all of the routes of access let you use your G+ account very well the full desktop version is where I’ll focus.

Google+ is Google’s version of a few different services all rolled into one easy to use interface.  The easiest way to describe Google+ is a mesh of iCloud, Facebook, GroupMe, and TinyChat.  Let’s look at some features.

Circles - This is the big feature everyone is talking about.  When you add your friends into G+ you are asked to sort them by circles (friends, work buddies, pro contacts, etc.) Using circles you can share your content with a certain group of friends, a couple different groups of friends, or everyone.  Facebook does have groups but it’s nowhere near as clean or straight forward.

Sparks – These are basically RSS feeds that you can share with your circles.  Pretty straight forward and simple.  Google is making sharing everything the main feature in G+.

Huddle - This is the feature that I plan on using the most.  Huddle very closely resembles the social chat app GroupMe.  Using Huddle, you can add G+ users and normal cell phone users alike into a chat room and have a synchronized conversation with all of them at the same time.  GroupMe does this very well and I have used it quite a few times, but I’m very anxious to try Huddle the next time I need to use a service like that.

Hangout - Hangouts are group video chats for you and your circles.  Start a hangout and wait for your friends to come and hangout with you.  I have only had one hangout but that one worked very well.  You can also watch a youtube video together.  The best part about hangouts is that with a group of people online and in the hangout the person that is talking will be set as the focus and take up the largest screen.  The focus feature makes this very useful for video podcasts and other situations where interviews could happen.

Uploads from phone – If you get the Google+ app you can also set your phone to upload pictures and video automatically to G+ so that you can share them later.

What does all of this mean?  Google seems as if it’s going after Facebook in a big way with all of these new social features.  I think that if they get the users that Facebook has then they could muscle their way in pretty well, but you have to remember that a social network is only as good as the number of friends you have on it.

A simple manip of the 300 trailer to make it more family friendly, you’ll be screaming “This Is Cake Town! for weeks!

App Name: Google Music
Usage: Local and cloud music player
Price: Free

At Google I/O (read our coverage of the event here) Google debuted its new cloud music service “Google Music”.  While the cloud storage itself is invite only and in beta right now the app is available to everyone to who wants to download it.  The new Google Music app is a huge improvement over the original app that ships with Android so it’s really worth picking up.

If you want to try the Google Music beta you can go here to request an invite from Google.  If you have an invite that is when the app really starts to shine.  At the moment Google is allowing you to store your music (up to 20,000 tracks) and some free music that they will give you for trying the service and then you can play that music from any Android device with your Google account attached to it.  This allows you to store gigabytes of music without taking up any of your phones storage.  The app does cache your music as well so you can listen to tracks without an internet connection.

My only complaint about the new Google Music app is that when you install it the app doesn’t replace your current music app (I can only assume this will happen when the Google Music service is out of beta).  Go get an invite and try it out, but remember that the app is a large improvement even without the new cloud service.

Locked bootloaders suck.  For those of you who don’t know what a bootloader is or why it would be locked let me put it simply.  An Android device with a locked or signed bootloader makes rooting the device more difficult.  All of you who have read my articles know that I despise closed systems on mobile devices and a locked bootloader tries to lock things down without locking them down totally and that, as I previously mentioned, sucks.

Motorola is famous for implementing such tactics as lock/signed bootloaders and other things to keep custom ROMs off of their handsets and until recently HTC had been toying with the idea as well.

In a comment from HTC’s CEO Peter Chou he says, “There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we’ve listened. Today, I’m confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience.”

While devices like the Thunderbolt, Incredible S, Sensation and EVO 3D are either proven or have been said to have locked bootloaders we can only hope that this policy will flow down to older devices and open all of HTC’s handsets.  Good job HTC.  This is why I buy your handsets.

This an oldie, but goodie. The lines from this video have stayed with me for a very long time. “I DEMAND MORE TOYS”

Name: Netflix
Usage: Streaming movies and tv shows
Price: Free (monthly plan required)

IT’S HERE!!!

Netflix has finally come to Android devices.  While you can only run it if you own one of these phones: Samsung Nexus S, Evo 4G, Droid Incredible, T-Mobile G2 or Nexus One;  there are ways to make it run on other devices. The app itself is great and it works unbelievably well.

Netflix will allow you to manage your instant queue from inside the app as well as browse suggestions and genres.  I really can’t say how well the app works.  In the playback photos below you’ll notice that, just like all other netfilx apps, the quality depends on your bandwidth.  I ran the app on a 3G connection with Sprint and there was only about 10 seconds of buffering and the quality was fantastic (no if only my battery liked it as much as I did).

If you have one of the handsets that I listed above and have a Netflix account then get the app (don’t think, just do it).  If you have an Android device (the Nook Color works well) then follow the link in the first part of the review to “convince” your device to play nice with the app.

So we have all seen the Slap Chop commercial, but if you are like me then you think “this needs more dance grooves” Here is the dream!

You’ve read correctly. The Netflix official streaming app has arrived on the Android market and is ready to download for owners of these handsets: Samsung Nexus S, Evo 4G, Droid Incredible, T-Mobile G2 or Nexus One. The rest of you will have to wait just a bit longer.

Needless to say, come back to 8DAG this Saturday for Android App-aholics Anonymous because you know I can’t help but review this app.