Thoughts from the Neuromancer

Why Videogamers cheat so much?

2008-10-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

Something just made my neuro synaptics fire off a malestrom brain storm of lightning today with a mind bending dilema. Why is it that videogamers like to cheat to finish a video game than challenge their own true skill and talent with honestly finishing a game on their own merit? Why is that. Am I going to sit back and not say anything about it. Nah funk that..

I see an ever increasing amount of videogame magazines coming out now solely dedicated to providing cheat codes, and television shows like Cheat! on G4 that focus only on game cheating ... nah funk that.

whats goin on... you punk ass gamers don't think you got true skills left to fight honestly anymore. Is that game kicking your little weak puny behind where you gotta throw your wii controller at the TV screen or mouse at the monitor. Haha, sucka, the computer AI outfoxed you again. Weak-minded human, go get some cybernetic implants then come try again. or no better yet- just find a cheat code, turn yourself into God- then bend all the rules of the game, become invincible where you no longer have to dodge bullets like Neo in the matrix.

But be warned, you gain no strength, no grit, no satisfaction from cheating so stop it. Beat the game honestly, fair and square first, then go back and cheat until your hearts content to get a different level of satisfaction from the game. But don't opt to just cheat first -

Windows and MAC Users eat your heart out.

2008-09-18T17:11:00.000-07:00

I have been in love with the Mac OS X beautiful interface for some time now, with the dock-bar - which Windows had to steal, the beautiful way it manages it spaces. Even the VMWare fusion package brilliantly integrates windows applications right into the MAC OS X desktop.

But then the Linux community had to come out with the utlimate desktop theme killer, Compiz-fusion. Now the PC Desktop GUI world will never be the same. Take a look at this video of what Compiz can do on a Linux machine. I'm ready to jump ship and goto linux forever now.

Check out more about this amazing desktop feature at the compiz homepage:
http://www.compiz-fusion.org/

Remember - you must be running a linux box in order to use this X-windows theme.

The Neuromancer - Matrix Watch Page

2008-09-12T23:41:00.000-07:00

This page will serve as a living recording to document all of the signs that we are getting closer to the world that William Gibson prophesized in his 1983 cyber classic "The Neuromancer".

Sign 1: The Internet

Sign 2: Second Life

Sign 3: Neural Networks

Sign 4:

Why Firefox is the King of all browsers (and plug-ins you must have)!

2008-09-12T18:30:00.001-07:00

FireFox has finally won out as the preferred browser of choice proudly raising the heavyweight belt above its head with no competition even close to challenging it for the title. We will have to suspiciously watch Google and their new "chrome" kid on the block they just recently released though. Google after all is the Don King of the net and can definitely develop new talent quickly with the deep pockets they got.

I did download chrome and try it out, and its a nice clean browser with much potential, but right now its just a scrawny new kid in the tournament with not enough punch to knockout or beat the reigning champ FIREFOX.

I even brought a Macbookpro a few weeks ago, and immediately disabled safari from being the preeminent browser in favor of FireFox. Huh, what about who? We don't even need to mention that loser IE -ha pathetic.

So here are a few of the reasons why FireFox is the king right now- the plugins of course. If you don't already have and use these plugins then you need to step your game up and get em now. Otherwise you just got an average browser with no 'brutus the beefcake' brawn to utilize all of its potential. Again no other browser out there right now can touch the king with its powerful arsenal of uppercut plug-ins, and right-hook add-ons.

(NOTE: These plugins/add-ons are not numbered in order of favoritism, its just a random sequential list as they came to my mind.)

1. Fast Dial

Fast Dial replaces blank tabs with a panel of thumbnails of your favorite sites. Cool plug-in to start-up your browser with.

2. Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer

This plugin alone makes firefox the King- unanimously. First go over and create an account at www.foxmarks.com and then add this plugin to your FireFox browser and walla- you can sync your bookmarks with any machine that you have FireFox loaded on, and best of all- you can always access, add, and delete your bookmarks on the foxmarks website. Dam- this made my life, I can die a happy man now.

You can even sync your firefox foxmarks bookmarks with your iPhone using the -omarks app. Check out more about it at the link below:
http://lifehacker.com/5051271/o+marks-syncs-your-foxmarks-bookmarks-to-your-iphone

3. Torbutton

Torbutton provides a button to securely and easily enable or disable the browser's use of Tor. It is currently the only add-on that will safely manage your Tor browsing to prevent IP address leakage, cookie leakage, and general privacy attacks.

4. Morning Coffee

This extension allows you to set a group of Web sites that will open (each in its own tab) with the click of a button. This will save you from having to roam through your bookmarks (while drinking that first cup of wake-me-up in the morning) to view your favorite sites. And you don’t have to limit yourself to personal browsing, either. I also use this extension to open up all the Web-based admin tools for sites I administer. You can even set sites up to open only on certain days (or every day). So news junkies or overworked administrators rejoice: This extension will make your browsing life a little easier.

5. Colorful Tabs

If you’re like me, you generally have a LOT of tabs open in FireFox. Sometimes this isn’t a problem. But there are times when the tabs can get a bit overwhelming and need a bit of organization. To help with this, Colorful Tabs gives each open tab a different color, making it easier to distinguish between them. With this simple extension, you can color-code tabs either randomly or according to URL. You can also set tabs to fade. Another fun feature is that you can set a background image for tabs.

6. No Script

This is one of the best tools for making sure your browsing experience is secure. With NoScript, you can disable active content from any site you don’t trust. Unless you configure it to allow JavaScript, Java, and other executable scripting to run from a site, NoScript will completely block the script, keeping you browser safe from known and unknown exploits. And don’t think because you are using FireFox in Linux that you’re perfectly safe! Use this extension regardless of platform.

7. WebMail Notifier

This plug-in checks your webmail accounts and notifies the number of unread emails... Supports : gmail, yahoo, hotmail, daum, naver, empas, nate and more

8. Utopia FFSE White

A cool theme for FireFox with the FireFox cute mascot logo floating behind the menu bar. Nice, clean, keeps the menu buttons tight together allowing more space for other menu buttons such as Fastdial and the download viewer. They even have a customized version for the MacOSX too - can you say sweeeet boys and girls! Also check out his webpage for some other cool looking themes at:

http://www.theme-oasis.org/utopia_preview.php

9. TimeTracker

Do you spend too much time on aimlessly surfing the net? Have you ever been online so long you woke up with the computer screen blinking back at you (wake up Neo the matrix has got you...). Can't get things done because your sucked into the vast infinite web of pages? Keep track of how you have been surfing the web with TimeTracker.

10. iMacros for Firefox

Automate repeatable commands, password and form entries with this powerful plug-in.

11. Aero Fox

Aero style glassy buttons on a glossy background. Like Bruce Wayne said in Batman Returns when test driving the tumbler "... does it come in black?" Yes it does, and it works on the Mac too- woo-hoo!

12. A Contacts Manager

A FireFox extension which is used as a simple Contact manager that saves and edits contact information. They got some other interesting FireFox plug-ins on his site which can been seen at:
http://www.rjonna.com/ext/index.php

13. Dictionary Tooltip

Something I do very frequently is look up words on the net. Well how about just right-clicking on the word and selecting one of your favorite online dictionary/thesaurus websites to pop up the definition automatically. Genius - check out his website for a video demo of the add-on in action:
http://www.rjonna.com/ext/dictionarytip/index.php

14. Search Enginer Add-Ons

Hey lets not even forget all of the search engine add-ons that IE has not kept up with building.

15. PDF Download

One thing that absolutely drives me crazy is when Im clicking on a link which is an pdf file and it opens in the browser which sometimes takes all day. It is much preferable to download the pdf file in the background while I continue to surf and look at other pages. Often times you can't even find the option or feature in the browser's preferences to manage control of how you want to handle the pdf file links. Thus PDF Download to the rescue.

The WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION - FIREFOX !!!

So whats up with the title of this blog?

2008-09-12T18:13:00.001-07:00

Well to start with, if you dont already know - "Neuromancer" is the title of a book by William Gibson. William Gibson wrote the book in 1983, and coined the phrase "cyberspace" as well as referred to a futuristic complex network of computers in which humans could plug their minds into called the "matrix". And manipulating things in the shadow of this complex network as well as the human minds that were connected to it was an A.I. by the name of Wintermute that was trying to join and marry in unison another A.I. by the name of Neuromancer- crazy but interesting huh? Even if your not into Sci-Fi or Cyberpunk the book is well worth reading for its fantastic wordplay and fascinating story line. Just why was this A.I. doing all of this? And most importantly- we must ask the question can this actual happen in the sometime near future?
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So this blog also serves to discuss about things happening on and in the matrix or internet cyber world as we call it.