New Years Eving it

Venue: Avnish Pattni’s, Kenton
The plans: To give a new meaning to the phrase: “I think I’m feeling it guys” (getting wasted beyond all recollection)
Time: 1800 hours….TBC
Additional Info: Free house, cheap booze…no caps, no hoods, no trainers (j/k). Cameras are a must to capture the mayhem and I have been informed that it is alright to stay the night.

Oh yeah…if anyone has a Brita filter, bring that along so we can try out the “Hacking…Vodka” article on this site!

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Review...Panasonic HT-870

The other day I woke up and had the feeling my room was missing something. Looking around, I realized I definitely need a new TV, Hi-Fi and Bed! The TV I presumed I would get from Kent Freeads and the bed from Ikea….which only left the stereo.

I came to the conclusion that getting a decent sounding system would set me back in the region of £300-£500 easily…a little steep for something that only plays CDs (ne pas mp3!). So, I thought I’d get a DVD Home Cinema System!

I bought the Panasonic HT-870 from my local Comet store for £300. The key selling point was the active subwoofer and a total of 1000w (RMS) output…twice as much as the Sony DAV-C450 sitting downstairs!

The unit itself is very heavy…nearly 50kg in total, which made it a pain getting up the stairs. Setting up the system wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. The instructions in my opinion were incorrect in the order in which to setup the different devices (speaker, sub, etc). To make matters worse, it was mandatory to feed 10m of speaker cabling through the stands provided…that sucked! Anyway, about 5 hours later, everything was setup in place.

Styling:
For the price tag, this system looks like it’s worth a hell of a lot more then it really is. In fact the Panasonic HT-1500 looks exactly the same and is £800 (the difference being the HDD recorder). The so called “Big Boy” speakers add a touch of class to the room!

Sound:
This is probably the most important part of any system…does it sound as good as it looks? The answer is yes….and no! Being 1000w, I was expecting it to blow a hole through my wall, but in all honesty it is only the addition of the active sub which makes it comparably different from the Sony system. The very deep bass the system produces is clean and heavy without distortion even at high levels. However, it doesn’t feel omni-directional, which all subs should be.
The speakers are exceptionally good. From what I can make out, each speaker contains 3 individual 2 inch speakers as well as a tweeter and a port for airflow. They produce excellent mid-range and treble frequencies as well as being incredibly responsive when watching a multi-channel film.

Image:
I won’t talk about the image quality produced by the DVD player too much as I think we’re now at a stage where all DVD players produce very sharp, clear images.

Functionality:
This is where the system really shines; the player can play almost everything you can throw at it! Alongside the usual formats, it also supports MP3s, WMAs, JPEGs, DVD Audio, DVD-RAM and a couple of others which I was unfamiliar with (HDCD and HighMat). Having tried it with various different media, I couldn’t spot a fault with it.

Overall:
This system packs a punch from a price which is peanuts in comparison to other home theatres in a box. I highly recommend it to everyone who is thinking of getting such a system…or even those who want a Hi-Fi. A solid two thumbs up!

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Always use a rubber dude!

Everyone knows the serious security threats the internet brings. Whether it's having your credit card details phished or the MPAA/RIAA scanning your system for music you have “acquired”, it is incredibly important to make sure your system is secure/anonymous to the rest of world. Below are my tips to ensure you make it as hard as possible for unwanted guests to intrude your privacy.

Step 1: That version of windows is “soooo last week”

There are a variety of ways you can install windows updates…the easiest being to turn on Automatic Updates in Control Panel. Microsoft sucks when it comes to security, so make sure you have installed all the patches/updates and keep checking for new ones regularly.

Step 2: Get a Firewall

If you’re very paranoid like me, then get a hardware firewall router as well as a software firewall (like Norton). Even if you have windows firewall enabled, I recommend you “obtain” a 3^rd party application…I hear ZoneAlarm is a good alternative to Norton.

Step 3: Fire it up with FireFox

FireFox is faster, smarter and more secure then Internet Explorer will ever be. It’s free and only 4.7Mb…just GET IT!

Step 4: Cover your tracks

SwitchProxy is a FireFox extension that allows you to ‘switch’ between anonymous ‘proxy’ servers at a chosen interval. Anonymous proxy servers allow you to mask your true IP address giving you an added layer on anonymity. Use the proxy list here to load hundreds of anonymous proxy servers into SwitchProxy.

Step 5: Not Even Norton can protect you

Seen this t-shirt?? Well it is true to some extent. Firewalls will block any attempt to gain access your system, but they will not block bad IP ranges when downloading from P2P applications such as bit torrent or eMule/Donkey. This is where ProtoWall comes in use.
Installation is a bit tricky, but instructions can be found here (you need to register to the forum) and after installation, you will need this .
I cannot stress enough that you WILL need this application if you are planning to download anything from P2P networks. Even whilst writing this, I have had numerous “bad packets” being sent from Sony software research corp in Japan via bit torrent!!

Well…those five tips should keep you secure and anonymous for a while, but the key thing is to continually update everything. The last thing you want is a $2,000 fine for downloading a nursery rhyme

I’m planning to write an article in the next couple of days which will go through my own personal favorite file sharing methods, so stay tuned!

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Can you Kick it?!

Heres a game to kill time with called KickUps. You try to click the soccer ball and everytime you do it goes back up in the air, hint if you use double click button it counts twice.

I'll be updating the site with more interesting stuff soon...i promise!!

Kickups

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Sing it for you!

Came accross this ingeneous website today which sings out the words you type in!! Amazing technology...but needs a bit more work done on it to smooth out the wrinkles between speeching the words


Sing it sister

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Tim, Tim, nice but...Remotely Dim!

Today, with the help of my ol' man...a remote control dimmer switch was fitted in my bedroom. This allows me to switch on/off , raise/lower the light levels in my room with the aid of any remote.

Programming the switch to accept a specifc remote code from a particular remote was a doddle. All that needed to be done was to tap the sensor 6 times and press the remote button you wanted to use.

This is an invaluable asset to a lazy sod like myself who can't be bothered to get up to turn the light off...just like YOU!

Get one here:
Dim dim

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Hacking...Vodka?!

We've all been there...at the booze section of the supermarket getting ready for a night of drunkenness, when someone complains that the vodka being purchased is too expensive!

Well below is a great article on how to turn el cheapo Vodka in to Ketel One (must be a very smooth American variety). Roll on the Tesco value stuff....

Brita Vodka

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Post...errr...One

Well folks, this being the first post I thought I'd explain the purpose of this blog. As you can guess from the title (This is my Strife!) my blog will focus on the day to day boring things I do. The target audience for this blog....friends and fans of the nicks!

I'm using Blogspot at the moment because it's quick and easy...maybe in the future when my HTML skills improve i'll move to another server.

I'll be posting as frequently as I can and I welcome all your comments, so stay tuned....!