So, I’ve joined facebook…

Now what? It doesn’t seem to do much, yet it’s supposed to be the next big thing. I’m probably missing something blatantly obvious, but to me, it’s not the all-singing, all-dancing application it’s reported to be.

I have to admit, I’m quite disappointed in the lack of things going on. I think there’s a guide to getting the best out of facebook in a Web User magazine somewhere, so I’ll look that up, but first impressions aren’t good…

…Just read the (quite brief) ‘Get the most from Facebook’ and it just tells you how to create your profile, hardly getting the ‘best out of’ it really.

So, if anyone else happens to be on there and wants to add me to whatever it is on there, network/group/tribe/cult, feel free to do so, I’ll be checking on there whenever there’s nothing else to do…

Civilization goes Next-Gen

I meant to add this yesterday, but I forgot about it and started doing other stuff…

Sid Meier said,

Civilization Revolution is the game I’ve always wanted to make! We are excited to take advantage of the power of next generation consoles and the ingenuity of handhelds, to create a great and unique strategy game for newcomers to the series, as well as the millions of fans around the world who enjoy Civilization on the PC.

I must admit, I like this kind of game, kinda like The Settlers and stuff like that, I’m not a big fan of strategy games, but I am quite partial to what’s known as ‘God games’.

Some of the key features that will resonate with fans of strategy games and the Civilization franchise include 16 civilizations to master and lead to victory, an array of famous historical leaders to play as or compete against, and accessible maps and streamlined time scale for quicker games, intense combat, and constant action. In online multiplayer mode, players will compete for world conquest and glory among their peers as they battle in teams, head-to-head or epic free-for-all matches.

In addition, auto-matching, ranked games, leaderboards, achievements, downloadable extra content and integrated video and voice chat make the online play more versatile and fun than any previous version of Civilization and will allow players to see where they stand against the competition. Finally, the position of ruler of the world can be settled online.

Sounds good to me, the only thing I’m not that keen on with these kind of games on consoles is that they really need a mouse to play, not a pad. I think if the Xbox 360 (for example) had a mouse and keyboard, these kind of games would sell loads due to not everyone having a PC capable of running the latest Civ type games.

Anyway, Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution will be released in spring 2008 for ‘next generation consoles’ and handhelds, if you want more info, visit www.civilization.com.

Spice Girls: The Reunition

So, who cares that they’ve reunited for a 12 date world tour? It doesn’t particularly bother me as I wasn’t that interested in them the first time round, so how have they changed since then?!

(Going in order of the top image) Well, ‘Posh Spice’ (Victoria Beckham) actually looks worse, why doesn’t she just stop trying to be a ‘face’ for something? Nobody is interested love, give it up. Melanie C (Sporty Spice) is looking good, way better than the skanky scouse of the old days, in fact, she looked better in her first solo music vid, Going Down and she’s still recording on her own label.

Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) has been fairly busy, yet still looks a bit better than she did, seems to have ’stuff to do’, yet what that is, we don’t know. Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) is still quite cute and doesn’t seemed to have aged in the same way as the others and doesn’t seem to have been up to much except for a bit of TV and according to MSN, she’s reported to have the lead female role in Pink Panther 2.

That leaves Scary Spice (Melanie B) who (in that picture and in my opinion) doesn’t look as appealing as before. I’m a bit of a fan of big hair and the messy afro type look gave her more personality than the straight and dowdy look. Supposedly been busy with some TV and theatre, but more recently, proving that Eddie Murphy is the father of her kid. She also apparently calls Eddie ‘The Beverley Hills Cock’, I’m wondering if that’s a good thing or not, but I’m guessing she means cock as in, wanker, bastard, etc (in other words, not a nice person).

There you go then, first Take That, now the Spice Girls. I wonder if Boyzone will announce something soon….

PSP downgrader for v3.50 firmware

This downgrader is for v3.50 firmware, and includes a port of the Homebrew ENabler (HEN) for firmware 3.50. It will automatically detect all known PSP motherboard types, and do the appropriate steps to ensure a safe downgrade.

Before we get started, let’s have the obligatory warnings:

Any downgrader carries some risk of permanently damaging your PSP. We’ve done everything we can to remove as much danger as possible, but if you choose to use this downgrader, you are accepting all of the risk involved. Nobody else will be held responsible for any damage to your PSP, howsoever caused.

Recent Sony official firmwares (3.30 onwards) have included checks that block upgrade from previously-downgraded PSPs with TA-082 or later motherboards. If you use this downgrader on such a PSP, you will lock yourself out of official firmware updates – although you will still be able to use new OE firmwares when they are released. We intend to release a tool to allow a return to official firmwares in the future.

This software is provided free of charge, so that you can use legitimate homebrew on your PSP. You are explicitly prohibited from selling it, or using it to pirate commercial games or applications. If you want to play a commercial game, do the decent thing and support the developers by buying it. If you don’t, then YOU are contributing to the death of the PSP software industry.

To use this downgrader, you will need the following:

• A PSP, upgraded to the official Sony v3.50 firmware. You should also set your language settings to “English”.
• A legal Lumines UMD, either the EU (ULES00043) or US (ULUS10002) version. The original, Platinum, or Greatest Hits versions are all fine. Support for the Japanese version will come soon.
• Sufficient intelligence and english language skills to be able to carefully and throroughly read the instructions.
• It would also help if you’ve previously run the Illuminati Hello World, so that you’re familiar with how to run the Illuminati exploit.

For instructions on how to run the downgrader, see the Downgrader_HOWTO.txt file in the ZIP.

Future plans? Firstly, we intend to provide a solution for people who are stuck on firmware 3.10 or 3.11, unable to upgrade to 3.50 due to the new Sony checks. The exact format of that solution is still to be decided. We also intend to develop an eLoader for v3.50 HEN, so that those who do not want to downgrade will still be able to run some homebrew.

Download the Sony PSP 3.50 downgrader from here.

Source: n00bz who would like people that report this news to ‘preserve this alternative donation link‘ in the post and not to start a ‘new Digg’. If people choose to Digg this post, that’s up to them.

andrewpf1987, I have your Photobucket

Here I sit at 4:40am again due to me not feeling tired enough to go to bed (considering I slept for 12 hours Saturday night after not getting enough sleep the night before and then spending 6-7 hours outside sorting the garden out, it’s no surprise), so I thought I’d check my email accounts.

As usual, my Budweiser email was full of spam, I think I’m just going to close that account as I don’t think it’s used for anything anyway. On to Go.com where it was just another newsletter type thing which goes straight into the trash, then it’s Hotmail’s turn. On the first account, just some spam about finding a fuckbuddy or something, but then hello, what’s this in my hotmail.co.uk account? Oh look, another email from Photobucket… hold on, I don’t have or have ever had a Photobucket account.

So, I go to Photobucket and request the password for the account, this time I get it (I tried last time, but didn’t get the mail for some reason), it turns out to be someone called andrewpf1987 with a password that really isn’t safe. Now, he’s been a member since 04/06/2007 (not sure if that’s UK or US date) and uploaded one picture, so it doesn’t seem worth having the account, but alas, I’m posting this in some kind of effort that he or someone that knows him may see it and let him know.

I haven’t hacked into the account, I wouldn’t know the first thing about doing stuff like that, all I have done is requested the password. It’s happened a few times now and seriously people, I could do anything with the accounts my email has been registered with that could get you into serious trouble, the last one to use my email was some idiot called man_man6 on king.com. andrewpf1987, if you want your Photobucket to stay your own, please change the email address and your password to something a little less obvious.