Borderlands GOTY DLC censorship

Today I received the Game of the Year Edition of one of my current favourite games called Borderlands. Because I do live in Germany and we have some stupid censorship laws here I had to import the uncut version of the game from good old Britain. After opening the box I saw what I already knew from blogs and forums about the game, that the whole DLC content is not included on one single disc, you still have to download the whole additional content.

After getting to the the proclaimed website where I could download the bunch of software I had to realize that I had to face censorship on the website as well. The patch 1.40 was the worldwide edition though, but by trying to download some international DLC content I got redirected everytime to the censored german version of the DLC. The solution for this problem was gladfully a kind of very easy. Just rename the file you want to download from

http://updates.gearboxsoftware.com/dlc/BorderlandsDLC1_Censored.zip

for DLC number one for example to

http://updates.gearboxsoftware.com/dlc/BorderlandsDLC1_Worldwide.zip

and you will get a fine uncensored version of the DLC. Hope it helps someone out there… and now go on and lift the secret of the vault and kick General Knoxx’ ass 😀

Motorola for the meantime

Since that very that I’ve first seen Bishop in “Aliens” I’ve got this affinity for androids and now that Android is a kind of established on the market I decided to get an android on my own. The attentive reader of this blog might have noticed it, that I’m playing with the thought, well, it’s no longer playing, it’s more a fixed decision, to buy me the HTC Desire HD as soon as it’s got released on the European market. As some you might also have noticed, the HTC Desire HD is going to be released somewhere around calendar week 44 or 45. That’s a looong period of waiting, but luckily have I been able to extend my cell phone contract and was able to grab the good old Motorola Backflip with Android 1.5.

I use two Sony Ericsson cell phone at the moment and both of them do have broken plugs so that charging is a pure game of hazard and transfering data becomes a desperate act. Especially the last check is something pretty weird because one of the phones is a walkman phone and I’m no longer able to listen to music on that one. Long story told short, the Motorola will become my second phone in the nearby future and is more the dedicated to remote administrative things than the HTC phone. I tried to find some applications for XBMC on the iPad but I failed. I’ve found some but I had to pay for them and I don’t want to bloody pay for an application on a toy like the iPad.

Pad technology

I am the owner of an iPad for nearly four weeks now and apart from the fact that I wasn’t amused of receiving an Apple product for work related matters I wasn’t expecting any big surprises from this useless kind of modern technology. Maybe it’s the thing that I’m getting too old and can’t afford the needed enthusiasm for this fruity piece or the iPad is simply useless as it is. Actually did I just find one single application (I don’t use the bloody short form right here) that could have been useful for me. It’s an electronic TV program guide BUT the same thing is integrated into my HD receiver so there’s no real, undisputed and ultra important need for this. Another thing is, that this application is broke for a while now so the iPad itself is 100% useless for me right now.

As you may know, I am a big supporter of the open source community and I am not very comfortable with buying software for special needs because I found out over the years that there’s no real argument for buying software when you can get for nearly every need a free open source product from the large software pool of the open source community. Maybe there are some products like a Photoshop that you cannot completely replace with a software like GIMP or Cinepaint for example but you can survive in todays culture without wasting money on software. Back to track, I don’t want to buy anything for a stupid gadget like the iPad and nearly everything that is useful for this tablet costs money which makes the iPad even more useless.

Finally, I cannot deny that the iPad itself is a fine piece of modern technology but it’s definately not the tornado in the water glass that brings the big revolution, as many Apple disciples affirm. Another thing that is bloody, bloody terrible is the heavy software rock called iTunes that comes with any portable Apple product? Why the hell do I need a software to gain access to my portable device? Is there any logical argument for this except total control of the innocent customer? The limited quantity of supported multimedia formats makes the whole thing even worth. Hellooo Apple, ever heard anything of MKV or AVI? Well, as you can see, the iPad is definately something for a stupid, mindless customer on the modern market who buys anything the commercials tell him. Strangely did I personally always compare the Apple disciples with the people listening to Himmler while announces the total war. Give it a try and compare this event with any speech of Steve Jobs, one can’t deny the similarities.

My heart’s desire

According to the fact that mobile internet got much cheaper the last few month it looks more and more attractive to me to take the next step and become an Android user. I’m researching on this topic for a while now and for a very long time the Motorola Milestone seemed to be a nice and welcome comrade to me but finally the whole cell phone offered a lot of disadvantages to me. I was looking for an Android with a separate keyboard because I don’t like typing on a screen though. Unfortunately did I have to notice that there’s no Android cell phone out there, that is not a business one, that would fit my needs. I have to mention that my last bigger step in mobility was to switch to a Sony Ericsson walkman cell phone (some W9xx whatever thingy…), so going Android comes by like a massive revolution.

Desire

One cell phone that gave me a real crush from the very first moment that I saw it was the HTC Desire HD. I was stuck for a while on the predecessor HTC Desire, but why wandering through the past when you can have the future right in your hands. The Desire HD is definately what I want, fast processor, brilliant display and a smart look. It’s build of one solid block of aluminum which makes it look pretty classy. Most importantly, the antenna is working under every condition. By now I can only find one sticking point – the price – the HTC is listed with a price around 600 Euros, but I think this is worth it.

Runner’s sickness

After a long period without sports caused by some rigid laziness and a week of simply being sick I finally made it back to the gym and some tough and rough training sessions. I say tough and rough because this is going to last till my long awaited vacation (hell, am I excited) and it will be four weeks, to be exact and offers no room for longer rests or pauses. It’s five times a week, two hours and a half of merciless training every morning. According to the fact that I haven’t been to gym for such a long time I will stick to these conditions only for these four weeks because more of this training plan could and will cause serious injuries to me and my body. Like I said, there’s no time for longer rests except the weekends. I try to watch my nutrition more carefully with a focus on protein rich food. Hopefully I’ll loose 4-5kg in these four weeks and my overall body condition improves.

I already found one big disadvantage of this training, because I got to know the runner’s diarrhea again. Fortunately does it not affect me too hard but my digestion is definately disturbed and is not functioning very well. I can’t deny that I have an overweight of around 10-15kg which is one cause for this digestion thingy. Another cause is a loss of blood in the digestive tract because, logically, the blood is needed elsewhere when I run for like 30 minutes. The regeneration phase takes about 10-16 hours after the training and everything is fine again. I’ve also did some research on this and it is said that this kind of runner’s sickness disappears after a while, mainly when the whole circulation got more comfortable with the “act of running” and can provide the correct amount of blood everywhere. Hopefully…

Why are his feet so high?

Sometimes life goes curious ways and punishes you that you feel the naked slap of life’s bare hand in your face without a doubt. I did some research on A/V receivers for nearly six month now and finally found one that suits my requirements perfectly well. Like I said, it took me nearly six month to find the one for me. Everything was planned in detail. The receiver was found and the speaker set as well but I missed one very important point, the god damn measurements of the receiver. Actually the whole thing should fit into the TV rack where everything is situated right now but who could have know that its feet are that high, that it can’t be placed within the rack. This truely makes me suffer and a kind of sad because this whole set was my birthday present and I am not able to use it right now. I’ve found this cool rack on the one and only true platform when it comes to modern interior – IKEA. Benno is a simple rack with a slight modern look, without these shiny silver things that you can find on so many other racks and it is made without any glass. Benno rules. Benno could fit my needs. Well, some day… till then I keep looking on my receiver and the closed box with the Teufel speaker set.