For the past 8 months or so, all of the Microsoft Office Security Updates that have come through the Windows Update system have failed to install on my home WinXP machine. I couldn't find any solution to the problem in the Microsoft Knowledge Base, so I've been checking the "don't ask me to install these updates again" button on Windows Update and forgetting about the security updates.
Now that the Office security issues are started to stack up, I decided to find the problem. Since the error messages from Windows Update are totally cryptic, I decided to use the Office Update system on the Microsoft Office web site. Even though it appears to use a different update system, the updates still failed to install. However, the web site helpfully listed about 10 possible reasons for failure, with the last reason in the list mentioning something about a missing registry key.
Sure enough, the Office Update web site links to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 884298, which describes a single registry key string that simply contains the path to the Office install CD location.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\
Delivery\SourceEngine\Downloads\
90000409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9\Sources\
90110409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9\PathMy system didn't have this key, which caused the Office updates to fail. After I added the key to my registry, the updates succeeded. As a matter of fact, I also (inadvertently) found out that if you add the key and then set the key value to a random path, the updates still work successfully.
I have no idea why the key was missing on my system, but you'd think with all of the sophistication of the Windows Update system, they could have just fixed this for me automatically, rather than punt with a error.
The PC game Sword of the Stars (aka SotS) is billed as a simplified space strategy game a la Master of Orion ![[WikiPedia]](http://www.mikeyp.com/css/external.gif)
, but it actually plays a lot more like an updated 3D version of Spaceward Ho!, or perhaps Ascendancy without the planet micro-management. This would be a promising game concept, except for a frustrating galaxy view and confusing battle mode.
Like most space strategy games, SotS is set in a galaxy where you begin with a starting planet, and expand outward by colonizing other planets, meeting and fighting other races, etc. The galaxy map is rendered in 3D, which looks very nice, but forces the camera to be locked to a selected planet. This means that there is no way to get a decent birds-eye view of your conquered territory or fleet locations. Worse, all planets look the same at a medium zoom level, making it very difficult to judge the distance between planets. Acendancy did this better eleven years ago, and I wonder if the SotS developers ever studied it. Fortunately, SotS includes a "spiral" galaxy type, which is a bit flatter than the others and easier to deal with.
The battle mode is supposed to offer a Real Time Strategy fleet battle, but the controls and ship responses are confusing enough that the only strategy seems to be an AI-controlled Weinberger Doctrine - which is my favorite wargame strategy anyway. But it is a shame they didn't evolve the intuitive 2D combat used in the excellent game Weird Worlds: A Return to Infinite Space.
I love to support indy developers, and this product was clearly put together by some skilled programmers. However, at $39, I paid way too much for this. When this drops to under $20, it might be a worthy "laptop game" for old Ascendancy or Spaceward Ho! fans. Just be sure to buy a downloadable version so you don't have to worry about the annoying disk-based copy protection. For me, I'll just keep playing Ascendancy in a DOSBox.
I love egrips. When I got my Treo [treotoiphone, treoinhawaii, treoweekone, treofirstimpressions], the first thing I did after applying the excellent Palm-brand screen protector was cover the thing with lots of generic egrips stickers. With the strategically placed non-slip stickers, I never once dropped the Treo. After a few months, some of the egrips wore off, and within days, the Treo up and squirted right out of my hand.
Now I'm using an egrips set specifically designed for the Treo's shape, and again, I haven't dropped it since. I love this stuff!
Today I'm off to find some egrips for my new iPod nano [nano2bass, nano2greviews], as well as my extremely slippery Canon SD700 camera.
I decided to buy an 8GB iPod nano [nano2bass, nano2greviews] to replace my aging (but perfectly scratch-free) 2nd-gen 10GB iPod. The original iPod had pretty good sound quality except with deeper bass, where the frequencies would quickly melt away the deeper the bass went. At least it was much better than the music player in the Treo [treotoiphone, treoinhawaii, treoweekone, treofirstimpressions], which seems to have no bass at all! This is not the case with the nano.
I listened to three songs that have the bass as an essential part of the melody:
Using my best earbuds and headphones, you can't hear the bass lines at all on the Treo. On the original iPod, you need to use the Bass Boost EQ function to hear the lines at a reasonable mix. On the nano, they are crystal clear, and get better with better headphones.
The included earbuds sound slightly dark, and are a tad weak with the bass, but have a more full sound than the buds included with the original iPod. And in my case, they seem to fit my ears better (i.e., they don't fall out). They immediately reveal the better sound on the nano.
Using my Etyomotic ER6i in-ear earphones, the bass in the nano sprung to life, along with more definition in the high end. It is amazing how much better the Etys sound compared to Apple's earbuds. High-end earbuds should be the first thing an iPod owner should buy. The sound quality with the Etymotic / nano combination sounded perfectly balanced, with the bass lines in the three songs carrying the tunes as intended.
But with the Sennheiser PX 100 open-air headphones, the nano simply bursts with bass, almost, but not quite, to the point of overweighting it. The only thing missing with this combo is the chest-thump you get from a proper full-range speaker system. I guess I should test that next!
Overall, the new 8GB iPod nano is superb. The PX 100 headphones will be my speakers for home listening, and the Etys will be used everywhere else. The Apple earbuds will be forgotten in a drawer somewhere.
Cooking Mama is a ridiculous game for the Nintendo DS. And I mean that in a very tasty way, as Cooking Mama is a quick appetizer of a game that is well worth the $19 price tag.
The game involves using the DS Stylus to whip up a variety of dishes, mostly Japanese-style. You start by preparing a basic bowl of rice, and progress on up from there, unlocking new and more complicated dishes as you go. The learning curve is a lot like Warioware , meaning there really isn't any learning curve. Just do what the recipe tells you, and soon, you'll be tapping the screen as you chop onions, or sliding the Stylus as you try to firmly, but not too firmly, crack open an egg. Each dish takes only a few minutes to create, so you can pick up and play a quick session easily.
The recipes seem pretty realistic. After playing this game, I'm pretty sure I can make Tonkatsu (yum!) in real-life. But also just like in real life, I stink at peeling potatoes in Cooking Mama.
