Don’t Blame Technology

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Don’t Blame Technology

May 15, 2014 /
There has been a continual struggle over the last century, one that has caused an ever-increasing divide between proponents on each side. With the information age and the industrial age before it, a disparity was introduced where before there was none. Children are some of the most apt learners on the planet: they pick up the basics—and even some not-so-basics—of a language and culture from exposure alone. Technology is a part of that learning process, and it’s a given that each new generation will ...

Don’t Blame Technology

Launching Windows 8 Apps from the Desktop – Round 2

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Launching Windows 8 Apps from the Desktop – Round 2

May 07, 2014 /
A while back I wrote up a post showing how it is possible to launch Modern Windows 8 Apps using a URL which can be shortcutted and even pinned to the taskbar with a little extra work. That post has since been updated numerous times as readers have encountered shortcomings of the method or found ways to circumvent them, and at the end of the day Windows 8.1 Update 1 just built in the shortcut functionality, rendering all that work almost obsolete. Almost. While Update 1 introduced native shortcutting to the ...

Launching Windows 8 Apps from the Desktop – Round 2

Adapt an old IDE Hard Drive to SATA (Tutorial)

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Adapt an old IDE Hard Drive to SATA (Tutorial)

May 01, 2014 /
There are some things that every computer wizard just ought to have under his belt. A decent working knowIedge of IDE and SATA hard drives is one of them. While IDE is becoming increasingly rare, if you’ve ever owned an older PC or frequently do computer repair work for others chances are still good you’ll find one of these guys laying around sooner or later, and that being the case, chances are also good you’ll want to read the data off of them and perhaps even use one as your daily driver. The ...

Adapt an old IDE Hard Drive to SATA (Tutorial)

Why Windows 8.1’s Start Menu is a Bad Thing

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Why Windows 8.1’s Start Menu is a Bad Thing

April 25, 2014 /
What you’re looking at is not a mockup or some third-party application, it’s the real deal built right into Windows 8.1, suggested to hit the public come August 2014. It was first announced at Microsoft’s BUILD conference earlier this year to much applause, as you can see in the video below. Based on that first paragraph, the upcoming Windows 8.1 start menu might sound like a very good thing. People want it, Microsoft is giving it to them, everyone’s happy, right? Well, not everyone, but those few ...

Why Windows 8.1’s Start Menu is a Bad Thing

Steins;Gate Visual Novel Localization Hits March 31

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Steins;Gate Visual Novel Localization Hits March 31

March 26, 2014 /
It’s not every day fans of Japanese entertainment get a treat like this. Though the idea of animated, interactive books somewhat caught on in the west in the ’80s and ’90s, for the most part the visual novel trend that’s so popular in Japan never took off, stateside. As a result, only a handful of the terrific stories waiting to be ‘read’ have ever reached an English-speaking audience, at least in any official capacity. With time the internet has given rise to more and more translations made by ...

Steins;Gate Visual Novel Localization Hits March 31

Windows 8.1 Update 1 – 1 Step Forward, 1 Step Back

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Windows 8.1 Update 1 – 1 Step Forward, 1 Step Back

March 19, 2014 /
Well, it’s official: Microsoft has pushed out the door what is likely the last build for Windows 8.1 Update 1, set to hit the public on April 8 (whatever could have made them choose that day?). The name may imply that not much has changed—and truly that is the case on the system level—but Update 1 actually brings a fair amount of UI tweaks particularly targeted at keyboard and mouse users. Yes, Microsoft is still designing Windows 8 for you. But is Update 1 the patch that will finally let desktop ...

Windows 8.1 Update 1 – 1 Step Forward, 1 Step Back