Facebook Frak-Up
At times I have felt like the last person on Earth who does not have a Facebook account. Not long ago I learned that both of my parents have their own Facebook profiles, and my wife recently signed up for one at the request of a friend. Seems like everybody is keeping up with all of their acquaintances this way. Until recently, I assumed Facebook and MySpace were mostly useless sites wherein self-aggrandizing people would write about how ghetto they were and post gratuitous photos of their sexual conquests. However, since essentially everyone I know is on Facebook, and have recently been inviting me to look at photos that I can’t even see without signing up, I decided today to give it a try. If nothing else, I might even reconnect with old friends or colleagues whom I hadn’t talked to in a while.
I gotta tell you, though, I’ve just spent the last 90 minutes getting royally screwed by Facebook’s incompetently programmed administrative system, and if this is any indication of how well the rest of the Facebook service has been coded, then I fear I may be in for a world of shit.
To begin the process, my wife sent me an email invitation to Facebook so that I could just click a link, sign up and become one of her friends right away. I’d asked her to send me that invitation to my Gmail account, just in case Facebook decided to start spamming me there. For my actual Facebook profile, though, I created a new Facebook-only email address on my domain name for security reasons (and so that I could compartmentalize my Facebook communications). This decision, unfortunately, appeared to create a rip in the fabric of the space-time continuum.
When I clicked on the link in the email invitation that my wife sent me, Facebook detected that I was using Gmail and offered to automatically use my Gmail account as my Facebook email. I didn’t want that, though, so I clicked the “Use another email address” link that was provided. I went through the Facebook signup process, using the custom domain email address that I’d created, and all seemed to be well. The final step of the process asked me to upload a profile picture, which I did, and finally I arrived at my account’s home screen.
Facebook wanted me to confirm my email address next. At the top of the screen was a ribbon indicating that a confirmation email had been dispatched to me. Sure enough, I received it. But when I clicked the confirmation link in that email, I was taken to a Facebook page that said “An error has occurred.” Ohhhhhhh-kay…so I can’t confirm my account, then? WTF?
Pictorial: The Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Kit
Since there seems to be a dearth of conclusive information (and a lot of repetitive questions) about the Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Kit, I thought I’d document the process of using mine in case anybody is wondering how the thing works. I’m using it to transfer the contents of my 60 GB hard drive to the 250 GB hard drive that came with my new Final Fantasy XIII special edition Xbox 360.
First and foremost, some basic Q and A.
Q: Where do I get the Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Kit?
A: If you’re in the U.S. or Canada, you can order it from the Microsoft Online Store. It also comes packaged in the new standalone 250 GB Xbox 360 hard drive that’s going on sale this week.
Q: Can I use the Transfer Kit on a drive whose contents were transferred once before?
A: Yeah. The stuff that’s currently on my 60 GB drive was originally on my launch-day 20 GB drive. A few months ago I had the transfer performed at a local game shop that had a Transfer Kit available for use. Today I used my own Transfer Kit to migrate the same stuff onto a new 250 GB drive. The central limiting factor is that the target drive must be the same size, or larger, than your source drive. For instance, you can transfer from a 120 GB to a 250 GB, or a 120 GB to another 120 GB, but you can’t go from a 120 GB to a 60 GB (even if you have less than 60 GB worth of stuff on your source drive).
Q: Can the Transfer Kit be used more than once? I hear it self-destructs after you use it!
A: It’s possible that the original revision of the Transfer Kit — the one that only worked on 20 GB source drives and 120 GB target drives — self-destructed after one use. I’ve heard some stories to that effect, though I don’t know for certain. I do know, however, that the newer model Transfer Kits can be used multiple times. The fact that a local game store offers the use of their lone in-house kit for customer transfers should be evidence enough. Take note, however, that the contents of your source drive will be erased after the transfer is complete, so no more than one “copy” of your source drive’s contents may ever exist at a time.
Q: How long does the transfer take?
A: It depends on how much stuff you have on your hard drive. I had about 25 GB worth of stuff on mine, and it took about an hour and forty minutes to complete the transfer.
Q: How do I know which revision of the Transfer Kit I have?
There are two revisions of the Transfer Kit hardware. The original has part number X812003-001 on the cable’s large end and only supports transfers from 20 GB hard drives to 120 GB hard drives. The second revision, which is also the most recent as of this writing, bears part number X815251-002 and supports all Xbox hard drive sizes up through and including the 250 GB. For more details, including part numbers for the included software CD, check out this forum post on CheapAssGamer.com.
If You’re Gonna Buy an Xbox, Buy an Xbox
So after my 2006-era Xbox 360 suffered terminal RRoD on Friday night — you may have read about it — I decided to pool together my remaining Gamestop store credit and some cash from a recent side job in order to replace it. In my blog post on the subject, I went into the usual insane amounts of detail (at four in the morning, no less) about the various Xbox packages that were available and debated with myself over which one to get. Eventually, I decided that the $299 Elite was the sweet spot.
On Saturday, however, I decided that the $399 Final Fantasy XIII Special Edition Elite was the sweeter spot. This was mostly decided for me by a quick call to the local Gamestop, when I learned that they not only had just one FFXIII console left, but also the limited edition faceplate to go with it. The faceplate, which was originally intended to be for preorder customers only and is not for resale, essentially solved my biggest gripe with the special edition unit: that it didn’t look special.
Naturally, then, I went down to the store and got it. As a bonus, the store’s best employee was working the register that day. Not only is he not a douchebag and knows exactly what he’s talking about, but he doesn’t try to screw you out of promotions or take forever to ring up a trade-in, as some of the store’s other workers have done. I hadn’t seen him for a while so I wasn’t sure he was still working there. Normally I don’t bother with those Gamestop surveys they always give you on your receipt, but I filled this one out as soon as I got home, because that guy rocks.
Anyway, I unpacked the Xbox and laid it all out, making sure all of the components were in order. The Special Edition bundle came with two wireless controllers, plus a new headset (in black, like the Elite…which was interesting because everything else was white). This made it easy for me to simply retire all of my old equipment — console, power supply, and both controllers — by packing them up in the box my new stuff came in, then tucking it into the closet. I’m pretty absurdly detail-oriented with this kind of crap, so don’t act surprised.
Three Rings to Screw Them All: Another Xbox Dies
Crap. My 360 died. Part Deux.
A long time ago in a not-so faraway land, my launch day Xbox 360 console bit the dust, killed by GPU failure. Tonight, the refurbished console that Microsoft sent me as a warranty replacement for that original unit also bit the dust, also killed by GPU failure. It was a new design, sporting a new chipset, a quieter DVD drive and, most importantly, an enormous heatsink inside. And it failed anyway.
Ironically, I turned on my Xbox tonight because my friend Forster suggested some online gaming. He was undoubtedly in the gaming mood, having just received his warranty replacement Xbox from Microsoft this week after his original console suffered the exact same problem as mine. So we decided to try some co-op in Borderlands, a pretty cool hybrid shooter/RPG that I just got my hands on last weekend.
On our first game, we got about three minutes in before my Xbox locked up hard. Forster was in the midst of telling me something over the chat headset when both he and the game sounds completely cut out. Most unnervingly, I could immediately hear my console’s cooling fans spin down, as if the system had been returned to the dashboard, but it was completely unresponsive and required that I press the power button on the console faceplate to turn it off.
Upon booting it back up, I once again fired up Borderlands and was about to start the game when it abruptly crashed again, this time displaying a solid screen of black and white vertical pinstripes. First tangible sign of GPU failure, CHECK!
Forster and I tried three more times to start a co-op game, and each time I encountered a hard lock a couple minutes in. I was starting to get a little pissed off, so I suggested we try another game — Forza Motorsport 3 — to see if the problem would manifest there, or if it was just something goofy with Borderlands.
So we started up Forza, got into a 5-lap competitive race, and proceeded to finish without any hiccups whatsoever. Hmm.
SHO-CO-REVIEW 10: Shishousetsu
Shishousetsu Album Cover
Shishousetsu, released August 26, 1998, was Shoko Suzuki’s first album under her record contract with Warner Music Japan, with whom she signed after leaving Epic/Sony Records in 1997. Like her previous two albums there is an appreciable rock and roll influence; however, this is balanced with orchestrated pop, ballads and even a country number, making for a fairly diverse album (and more-or-less setting the pattern for many of Shoko’s future releases, which all tend to have a fair bit of diversity to them).
Once again, both Hiroaki Sugawara and Takeshi Namura are along for the ride (the latter even leaving his A&R position with Epic/Sony in order to take a similar job with Warner), but not in the same fashion as on the previous two albums (where the trio recorded and performed as a band). The three of them — with Shoko on drums, Sugawara on guitar and Namura on bass — appear together on only one track, “Atashi no Basho de.” Otherwise, Sugawara is a driving force on the record, playing guitar, bass, keyboards, arranging strings and programming.
However, despite his considerable input on the record, this would prove to be Hiroaki Sugawara’s last apperance on a Shoko Suzuki album. His influence on Shoko’s musical development is pretty significant, as arguably without Sugawara, Shoko’s music wouldn’t have made the turn from pop balladry to a more rock sound. The reasons why this was his last work with Shoko are beyond me, but Shoko’s next album would see her return to her original producer (Yoshiyuki Sahashi), and after that she started self-producing, which she still does to this day.
This record is probably more notable to a casual fan because of its main guest star: rock legend Tamio Okuda. Okuda co-wrote and appears on two tracks, “Tashikamete Ite yo” (the album’s single) and “Akai Mi ga Hajiketeta” (the single’s B-side). Takeshi Namura plays bass on both of these tracks, his only other appearances on the album. Yuta Saito, who worked with Okuda on many things — including almost all of Puffy’s albums up to that point — is also on hand, playing keyboards on the two Okuda songs. Additionally, Shoko and Tamio Okuda’s paths would cross again the next year, when both of them wrote songs for and appeared on Puffy’s Fever*Fever album.
In addition to Tamio Okuda’s appearance, Shishousetsu received another boost when “Tashikamete Ite yo” was chosen to be the theme song to the televised drama Koori tsuku Natsu, which aired on YTV from July to September of 1998. The double exposure of the song — Tamio Okuda’s apperance and its theme song status — likely helped it to become Shoko’s highest charting single ever as an artist, which was probably welcome news for her new record label (and perhaps Shoko herself, after her most recent singles had failed to chart).
TiVo’s Big Announcement Is…WebTV?
Last month, TiVo teased us with an upcoming announcement, saying that their inventing the DVR was just the opening act, or some such puffery. This week they finally revealed the meat and potatoes: it’s the all-new TiVo Premiere, otherwise known to us old hats as the Series4.
The big news about this box, to me, is the fact that the long-familiar TiVo user interface has been completely redesigned using Flash, of all things. It now runs in full HD resolution, unlike the existing UI which is 480p only. It also adds a “picture in picture” view of the channel you’re watching in the upper right corner like most cable company DVRs, an oft-requested feature. But the central point of the TiVo Premiere’s release, if you believe all of the TiVo marketing speak, seems to be the fact that it’s a “single box solution” for all of your video needs, including streaming video from Netflix and Amazon as well as web video from YouTube and what-have-you.
Personally, I found this announcement strange, because my TiVo HD already does all of those things. I’ve long been able to watch Amazon video on demand, although I never do because of the cost. I’ve long been able to watch YouTube, although I never do because, trust me, most YouTube videos look like total shit when they’re blown up to 1920×1080 on a 57-inch screen. I’ve even been able to stream Netflix Instant Queue titles to my TiVo, although I never do because the interface is poor and the performance is far inferior to the streaming on either my Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 (the latter of which is currently my Netflix streaming device of choice).
So it was hard to see the TiVo Premiere’s apparent raison d’être as anything but a new skin on a feature set that’s already been there for months or even years. If I were to get really derogatory, it’s almost like the TiVo Premiere is the next generation of Microsoft’s WebTV — a set-top device designed to as an alternative to a computer that allowed people to browse the web on their TVs, albeit at standard-def resolutions (a miserable experience) and without the features of most PC-based web browsers.
Now, realistically, TiVo is known for their great UIs, and from what I can see of the new UI in action, the Premiere UI looks to be no exception. Still, as a current two-TiVo owner and lifetime subscriber, I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed — my current TiVo seems to be at least as capable as the Premiere when it comes to being a “single-box solution” for getting content on your TV. And, as one commenter on Engadget remarked, how can the TiVo Premiere be a “single-box solution” if it doesn’t play Blu-ray discs and DVDs?
SHO-CO-REVIEW 9: Candy Apple Red
Candy Apple Red Album Cover
Candy Apple Red, Shoko Suzuki’s final album recorded for Epic/Sony Records, was released on March 1, 1997. In hindsight, Shoko leaving her record company seemed to be a foregone conclusion — the record company wasn’t happy with Snapshots, and Shoko presumably wasn’t happy with how they handled her career after Hourglass. So after recording this record, she jumped ship and signed with Warner Music Japan in late 1997 (though she didn’t leave the Sony fold completely, as her artist management company was Sony Music Artists, with whom she would remain signed until 2003).
Despite whatever hard feelings toward her record company were there on Shoko’s part (if any), she didn’t let it affect the quality of her music — Candy Apple Red is spectacular from start to finish. It continues in the rock-based vein of Snapshots, except it’s even harder-edged. The band is once again the Snapshots lineup of Shoko, Hiroaki Sugawara and Takeshi Namura (no longer referred to as “Snapshots,” though), augmented by the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra horns, several female vocalists (some of whom even share lead vocal duties with Shoko), and a few others. Though the record was also produced by the “Snapshots” trio, Sugawara alone is responsible for the arrangments this time out.
Intriguingly, Shoko (in the liner notes of the Life,/Music&Love DVD) wrote that, at this time, two albums that deeply affected her — musically and lyrically — were Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On and Bob Marley’s Live! Musically, Candy Apple Red bears little resemblance to either of those albums; it’s definitely more of a straight-forward guitar rock album. The few times it does step into R&B/funk territory, it’s more of a upbeat R&B/funk (as opposed to Marvin’s slow-jam-style funk and R&B), while there is no appreciable reggae influence to be found anywhere. Of the album’s songs, Shoko is solely responsible for five tracks on the album, while Hiroaki Sugawara gets co-composer credit on about half the album. “Gogo no Sakamichi de” and “Angel” have lyrics by Keiichi Sokabe and Megumi Ogura, respectively, and Natsumi Tadano co-wrote the lyrics of both “Shelter” and “Sangatsu no Sei.”
The album’s title came about due to Shoko’s then-recently acquired Fender Jaguar guitar — its color is named Candy Apple Red. The guitar was featured in the promo photos and album art for Candy Apple Red (the album) and “Angel” (the album’s single). That guitar, along with a Fender Statocaster she acquired later (I believe), has remained Shoko’s electric guitar of choice to this day (it’s also featured heavily in the cover art and promotional photos for 2008′s Sweet Serenity).
In addition to recording this album, the 1996/97 period was busiest for Shoko as a songwriter up to that point. Nothing she composed in this period matched the success of “Yasashii Ame,” but it was during this time she began a lengthy association with Puffy, which would see Shoko’s songs present on several major hit albums. Shoko’s “Watashi no Nozomi” appeared on Yumi Yoshimura’s half of Puffy’s solosolo album (featuring a solo disc by each member of Puffy), which hit #2 in the summer of 1997 (several years later, Shoko would record and release her own version of “Watashi no Nozomi” on her Love, painful love record). Aside from that, Shoko’s work was recorded by artists such as Emi Wakui, Akito Hayase, Mutsumi Inoue, Hikaru Nishida and Seiko Ishii.
