We’ve been going around in circles since getting our TV as to what kind of peripherals to get for it. Until now we’ve been using my laptop for Netflix (which is okay, except it doesn’t output in particularly high resolution) and debating whether to get an Apple TV and a BluRay player (and maybe a Wii or an XBOX someday), or a PS3.

The ease of having one media player and one input, along with the additional ability to play games (even though from what I can tell, PS Move can’t even begin to compete with XBOX Kinect) won out.

After a day, I’m pretty damn pleased with the features of this console. We’ve setup Netflix, watched a BluRay disc and messed around a bit with the PS Network and some of the network sharing features.

But I have yet to get into the games. And this, gentle reader, is where I ask for your help (*cough*especiallyyouKimli!*cough*).

I am intimidated!

Let me sum up my lifetime gaming experience for you:

Atari: Pong, something with spaceships and shooting
Playing on my uncle’s original Nintendo: Tetris, Mario, Frogger, Duck Hunt and some track & field game on the Power Pad
Playing on my friend’s Super Nintendo: Zelda of some flavour
486 computer: Duke Nukem, Castle Wolfenstein
Sega Genesis: Sonic the Hedgehog, Echo the dolphin
Anything this decade: Rockband, Wii Sports
Fin.

I have occasionally touched a modern videogame controller, and am hopeless when faced with the number of buttons and the sensitivity of the controls. I am lost when it comes to the complicated storylines and goals of most modern games. I have (so far) no desire (probably tied to my total lack of ability on modern gaming consoles) to play virtual sports or careen around in a virtual F1 car or skulk about killing virtual zombies or nazis.

So I am looking for suggestions on games that’ll be a kind and gentle (read: stupidly easy and forgiving) to someone who is, for all intents and purposes, new to gaming. We don’t have the PS Move at this point, and I’d like to avoid buying a 2nd controller at least until the post-Christmas cash-stores have been replenished a bit.

I have so far figured out on my own that Little Big Planet is probably a good place to start. But what else do I need to know? Where else should I be looking?

Until then, I’ll be over here on the couch, with my PS3 remote sadly serving the single-purpose of being a glorified NetFlix surfing/video playback device.

We canceled cable.

Which means we also got rid of the TiVos.

And what prompted this? We got a new TV.

Stay with me here – it eventually makes sense.

Our previous TV was old. A 100lb Tube monstrosity kinda old. It worked with the TiVo, but the TiVo didn’t work with digital cable. We were being harassed weekly by the cable company to get a digital box before the conversion to all-digital cable happened, but I was not about to embark on even more channels without a PVR, and with a perfectly good TiVo, I was DEFINITELY not going to pay $700 for the cable company’s sub-standard PVR.

And then the cable company’s internet service really started sucking.

And then Neil got a bonus from work.

And lo, the wheels of change were set in motion.

We bought a fancy new TV. We canceled the TiVo subscriptions. We canceled our cable+internet from the cable company, and went with a new internet provider. We bought a cheap HD Antenna and signed up for Netflix.

We are happy!

We followed the advice in this great HD OTA intro and tutorial for Vancouverites from John Bollwitt. We happen to have a balcony with direct line-of-sight to Mt. Seymour, the site of most of the local digital broadcast towers, and we’ve consistently gotten five channels in perfect, crystal-clear HD (CBC, CTV, CityTV, Global and Omni) with a sometimey 6th (KVOS). This should only improve as more networks make the switch to HD. And just those five channels listed cover 85% of the content we used to watch.

I also signed up for Netflix as soon as it came to Canada. It’s important to note that I am apparently an anomaly in TV and Movie-land. I watch fewer than 10 movies a year (that includes both theater visits and rentals). I can only really manage to follow 3 or 4 TV shows at once. And especially these days, a LOT of stuff is just plain on past my bedtime. This makes the content on Netflix PERFECT for me. There are tons of movies I’ve never seen. There are dozens of TV shows I haven’t yet watched (I’m currently starting Season 2 of MadMen. In network-land it just wrapped up season 4).

Currently available in the US, but not yet in Canada, one can even stream Netflix directly from the particular model of TV I have. I’ve got my fingers crossed that functionality will make it across the border soon. In the meantime, I just hook my laptop up to the TV and watch that way. It’s been great. We’ve also been contemplating acquiring a PS3, since it can play Blu-Ray discs and stream Netflix, though neither of us are much for its core purpose: video games.

It’s been four months since we cut cable, and so far I don’t miss it. I do miss having a PVR, but considering we watch so much less TV now overall, it feels much less of a hassle to wait for a commercial break to pee, or sit through commercials at all on the things we do watch live.

I NEVER thought I’d willingly live without cable, but with so many more options, it’s another bill I’m pretty happy to have kissed goodbye.

My work laptop, which had the most current incarnation of my iTunes library on it (and my iPhone backup data), gave up the ghost and refused to give me anything but a BSOD.

Right around that same time, my iPhone (which I’d recently jailbroken) started getting exceedingly cranky.

I was slowly in the process of restoring my data from both, when I was laid off, and suddenly lost access to the computer with my iTunes. Crap.

I also ended up having to restore my phone to factory defaults, which meant in one week I’d lost about 6 albums worth of recently purchased music and about 20 apps.

I was pretty much resigned to writing off the loss to my own poor planning and lack of backing up, but I started googling, just in case I found some miraculous way to restore my music & app libraries.

Turns out there is a miraculous way. It’s called “Ask Apple Nicely.”

I came across this blog post from way back in 2006, and whaddya know, the link to let Apple know you’re an idiot and beg for mercy still works.

So I did just that, and they re-set my purchase history to download.

And poof! it all came back! Onto my own personal computer, which is now backed up.

So let this be a lesson to ye!

Do not be as foolish as I was. Keep your iTunes library on a computer you are unlikely to suddenly find yourself without, and back that mofo up!

Though if you are insistent on following along my errant path, at least you can take some small comfort in knowing that a well-placed mea culpa is still likely to give you that second chance.

So, without further ado – The Oral B TRIUMPH with smart guide!

Yes, TRIUMPH necessitates the caps.

I’ve had electric toothbrushes before, and yes, they get your teeth cleaner than manual brushes (noticed by me, anecdotally, and my dentist professionally). But the reason to spring for the $150 TRIUMPH over any other electric brush ($30-50) is the sheer gadget factor.

First off, the stand for it (I prefer the term “dock”) looks like a flying saucer. The toothbrush has metallic touches, and it comes with a wireless digital display that indicates how long to brush (most Oral B electric brushes do now indicate when you’ve hit the 2 minute mark, but this one has a countdown timer!), when to move to the next quadrant of your mouth, four different modes (regular, sensitive, massage and whitening), and a warning indicator to show if you’re brushing too hard.

The other nice thing about the TRIUMPH is that apparently the higher price tag includes the cost of having some usability design people at the product. It comes with a really nice travel case, the charger can be used independently of the dock (and vice versa), and the charger is even a bit more streamlined than other models, with an integrated cord-wrapping velcro-thingie.

So, if you’re heading out for some last-minute shopping, and need a gift for someone dentally challenged, pick up any of the Oral B electronic toothbrush products. And if you’re looking for a special gift for the gadget hound in your life, go for the TRIUMPH! It’s a useful, quality present, with the bonus feature of being really, really cool.

It’s time for a new theme anyhow – perhaps one that I actually figure out how to build and/or install myself for a change!

**And done – with much thanks to the husband, who made this go much faster than it would’ve, were I left to my own devices.

Please let me know if you encounter any strangeness over the next few days!

Feel free to follow me here.

Heather (aka fubsy, aka nuttymuffin, aka “the hotness”) has put together a 2008 calendar of her beautiful photographs.

This is the same woman who captured me licking my new TiVo at BestBuy waaaaay back in 2005. That’s right – I pioneered the technology licking movement that won Tod Maffin his Wii.

But I digress – Nuttymuffin calendar. I got one, you should too.

Jen-licking-TiVo photo not included.

I’m bored.

I’m sitting in a conference centre (Javits) in a dirty, industrial part of town, supervising our trade show booth setup and catching up on some work. Thank god for free wifi.

But it hasn’t been all bad.

Even though I had to get up at sparrow’s fart to get to the airport for my 06:20 flight, I had a fantastic surprise when I got there. The co-worker I was flying with used his status points to upgrade us both to first class for the Vancouver-Chicago leg of the flight.

Or at least he thought he did. Turns out the upgrade didn’t go through for both of us, and I was the one who ended up in first class while he got priority boarding and a bulkhead seat (first class was full by the time we checked in). But I got the bigger seat, and breakfast! With real dishes! It was still airplane food, but I’m not complaining. (Thanks again, Rich!) Our bags also got priority tags, so they made our 40-minute connection at O’Hare.

All in all, yesterday was awesome. Our flights left on time and arrived early. The hotel is pretty and swanky (W Times Square) and with the tiny exception of the insane lineups to get up the Empire State building (which had very nice views once we were up there) everything went as smoothly as possible (including the glasses of scotch we downed in the evening).

Today – less smooth.

The booth is going up veeeeeery slowly (Thanks NY Union Labour!), a major piece of hardware is stuck in customs, the flying has caught up with me and my stomach is hateful, my computer (specifically outlook) keeps crashing.

It’s only 2:00pm here, and I feel like I’ve been up for hours. Oh wait – that’s because I have! After a fitful night of mostly not sleeping, I got up at 6:00am to go meet all the vendors, who’d decided they’d hedge their bets on the Union Electricians not finishing their part on time (which they actually did), and showed up an hour later than they’d scheduled last week. Thanks. I didn’t need that extra hour of sleep.

So now I wait, and watch. And hope that this day ends soon and tomorrow everything’s better.

None of the mobile phone providers here actually offer what I’d call “good” rates on voice or data packages in the range I’m using, so my decision to go with Rogers was made strictly from a CDMA vs. GSM standpoint. I also wanted a smartphone with windows mobile and wifi, and Rogers delivered the option that was within my budget: the HTC S621.

Thanks to the recent arrival number portability in Canada, I was also able to keep my number and just swap it over to the Rogers account. Easy peasy. It only took about 18 seconds for the swap to happen.

And this is where I say FEAR YE THE PORTING OF MOBILE NUMBERS!!!!

Check your cancellation agreements, double check your dates, and make DAMN SURE everything you do is on the up and up. If it’s not, you could find yourself on the receiving end of a hefty fine, like I almost was.

I told the Rogers salesguy (a store manager no-less) while I was purchasing that I wanted to port my number, and I was pretty sure I only had a couple days left on my telus mobility contract. He didn’t mention anything about possible conflicts. I figured it was no biggie. I didn’t actually realize until it was done that the porting thing was instant – I figured it would take a couple days, based on the experience I had transferring my land line from telus to Vonage.

Not so much.

I called telus about an hour later when I got home, and found out that the second my number ported, my telus contract was cancelled and I was automatically levied their termination fee of $100 or $20 for every month or portion remaining, whichever is MORE.

And how “early” was my early cancellation? 13 hours. I ported my number at 11:00am September 3rd. My contract expired September 4th.

But according to the first few folks at telus I spoke to, I cancelled early, that is that, and I owe them $100 plus tax.

But remember that bit at the beginning where I said I “almost” paid a hefty fine? I was unfailingly polite, used every ounce of customer-service-fu I possess and prayed to every deity I could think of. And the unthinkable happened.

TELUS MOBILITY, THAT UNCARING, UNCOUTH LEGACY INCUMBENT BEHEMOTH – THEY OF THE “NO INCENTIVES FOR BEING A CUSTOMER FOR SEVEN LONG YEARS DESPITE THE FACT THAT NEW CUSTOMERS GET A BUCKET OF GOLD AND A BLOWJOB WITH THEIR FREE PHONE” – THEY GAVE ME A GOODWILL DISCOUNT FOR THE VALUE OF THE CANCELLATION FEE!

I know, pick yourself up off the floor, and read it again just to be sure. They waived the fee. I didn’t believe it either, which is why I didn’t blog about it until the bill showed up in my mailbox stating as such. But it did, and I paid my $20-worth of pro-rated fees happily!

Anyhow, I have a new phone, it’s pretty skookum (although I still can’t figure out how to upload pictures to flickr with it – help anyone?), and I managed to find the three people in the telus organization who haven’t succumbed to the borg. I almost feel bad for signing my soul away to their competitor. Almost.