Google Chrome OS – Was I right or what?

Last year, when Google released Chrome I wrote this.

Some might say it was futurology, but I say it was the most logical step of evolution. The fact is, I think I was really close on Google’s plans for Chrome.

Life Saver – Upload iPhone Carrier Settings

If you want to upload modified or standard operator carrier settings to your iPhone, just type this in your terminal:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes carrier-testing -bool TRUE

This way you can upload the settings via iTunes without having to install the previous beta versions that allowed this by default.

Facebook Vanity URL’s Hysteria

Facebook

Much has been said since Facebook allowed the new “vanity URL’s” (or user url’s like I rather call it, since vanity urls is purely an american expression adopted from the vanity plates they have in their cars).

Most of the posts about this are from users bitching about the way Facebook roll out this feature, allowing the users to choose any alias to be used in http://www.facebook.com/whateveryouchoose regardless of their username, unlike Twitter that has http://www.twitter.com/username. Others rant about the fact that Facebook should have provided something like http://user.facebook.com, forgeting that Facebook has milions of users and something like that would have a termendous weight in their DNSs…

But, as always, there’s something good to learn. One of the posts I read about this subject (no link, sorry, can’t find it) mentioned a cool way to give your Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, [insert your favorite social network here] URL’s to other people, that is, if you have your own domain.

In my case, my domain is odrakir.com, so I created some subdomains redirecting to the social networks I use the most:

This way, I can give an url that’s easy to memorize and always mentions my “brand name”, cool enough to use on a visit card 🙂

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Resident Evil 5 Giveaway at 8-Bit Revolution

Just to give you a heads-up, if you live in Portugal, check 8-Bit Revolution for a Resident Evil 5 giveaway. We’re celebrating Capcom Week at 8BR so, stay tuned for more Capcom game reviews and giveaways!

8-Bit Revolution – New URL

Yup, we’re moving! From this moment on, you can find the 8-Bit Revolution at www.8bit-revolution.com 🙂 Please update your blog links, feeds and bookmarks!

Come and visit!

The Konami Code

A few months ago I wrote an article about the Konami code on 8-Bit Revolution which surprisingly is become an Internet trend / meme. If you don’t know what is the Konami Code, well, I’ll give you the light version.

The sequence of keys on the image above is the Konami Code, and is probably the most popular video game cheat code of all times. Most games from Konami have almost always a cheat or a small easter egg triggered by this code, but the most interesting is the number of publishers besides Konami that still today include this code in their games, as a “nod”, a small tribute to the Konami Code.

The Konami Code was created by Kazuhisa Hashimoto, the developer responsible for the port of Konami’s Gradius for the NES in 1986. After finding the game very difficult to play during the tests, he created a code that allowed the player to have all power-ups that would normally be acquired during the game. When the final version of Gradius was released on the market, the code was included by mistake.

The code would only become famous in Contra for the NES. The difficulty of Contra was too high but with this code the player could have 30 extra lives and playing the game became a possible mission.

Even today, all iterations Gradius react to the Konami Code, each in its own way. For example, Gradius III destroys the ship when you load the code.

Today, Konami Code is more than a simple “cheat code” is a cultural icon of a generation. A generation of retrogamers easily recognizes and identifies the code, many are proud to recite in the code by heart 😀

There are references to the Konami Code / Contra Code in music lyrics, t-shirts and even in some sites like Digg and Google Reader, and it’s becoming more and more used, to a point that Konami Code Sites was created to track all sites that use this code. So, don’t forget to enter the Konami Code when visiting a site, you’ll never know what might happen. I’ll even give you an extra tip: 8-Bit Revolution is Konami Code enabled since 2007 🙂

Reviving the Revolution

Today I finally spent some time “reviving” my videogames site – 8 Bit Revolution with some new articles and brand new logo. Let me know what you think!

Gotta Love Capcom

Happy 20th Anniversary Gameboy!

Nintendo GameBoy 20th Anniversary

20 years ago, in Japan, Nintendo released what it would be the world’s most famous portable console ever: the Gameboy.

Today any cell phone can do 1000000 times more a GB could do at the time, but I’m yet to find a cell phone that amuses me as much as the Gameboy did.

The original Gameboy was my first console and even today it’s my favorite portable system. Playing with the first Gameboy, 20th years ago (well, not 20 because it was only launched on Europe in the 1990) was an exciting experience. It was like playing in a portable NES, since Nintendo ported almost all the major successes of the NES to the GB. It had a screen the size of a sticker, gray and green, but playing Super Mario Land was huge. The sound was lousy compared with today’s standards, the screen was sometimes blury, but it had multiplayer games, a camera add on and a printer that printed the photos on stickers. It sold like hot cakes and the evolution of the system was what made Nintendo what it is today, and it saved the company when the home systems like the SNES and the Gamecube were selling poorly.

The Gameboy was replaced by the Nintendo DS, taking down the name that made the thrills of many gamers but even today it’s still remebered and recognized by the world. I hope one day Nintendo will release another Gameboy console, a new system that takes the DS to a next evolutionary step, a console that will be as innovative as the Gameboy was 20 years ago.

Happy Birthday Gameboy!

Check my Gameboy Set in Flickr.

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