Author: admin

How to tell how much power your Xbox 360 uses

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Update 2: The 135 watt plug may not be the “end all” form factor. It turns out that there was yet another revision of the Xbox 360 Slim! The original, Xbox 360 S, uses the pictured 135watt power supply. I believe the newer model appears to look identical to the 135 watt, but the Xbox 360 E uses a 120 watt power supply. More information is on Xbox.com. If you cannot tell if your console needs the 135 or the 120 watt power supply, count the USB ports on your console. The S/135 console has 5 USB ports. The E/120 has only 4. Microsoft has a list of other differences between the 360 S and the 360 E.

Update: I have added a reference image for the Xbox 360 Slim’s 135 watt power connector.

As the Xbox 360 console kept getting revised, Microsoft got better at lowering the power consumption necessary to power the console. But what is the easiest way to know if you had a console that consumed less power than one of the first generation models? How do I tell how much power my Xbox 360 uses? Easy: look at the power pins. The power usage of the Xbox 360 has steadily dropped as the hardware has been revised. I found the helpful graphic above in a Microsoft support article.

I wish American news outlets advertised like this

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If American news outlets advertised like this, I’d be far more interested in watching the news, rather than reading it from a hundred different sources and trying to decipher the truth. This video even makes TheGuardian seem like an actually balanced news organization. I don’t know how accurate that really is, but I have more hope for them than the biased coverages we get in the States! Still, no matter where you stand on how fairly the headlines are covered or how much you like one company or another, you have to admit when someone does something creative, and this commercial for TheGuardian is pretty impressive. Enjoy it.

Price Drop on Windows Phone 7 games

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A few weeks ago, what I thought was just a short term sale turned about to be a price drop for some of the ‘greatest hit’ Xbox Live games on Windows Phone 7. You can now get Angry Birds, Max and the Magic Marker, Toy Soldier, and severl other great games at their new reduced price: 99 cents!

A not-always-easy-to-find page was put up on Xbox.com celebrating the price drop. Head in to the Windows Phone Marketplace and find yourself some deals!

When did I get this old?

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Thursdays are the days you get to know me a little better – I never know what I’m going to write about… although it’s usually tech related, some times I still use this as a personal blog and reveal a little more of who I am. I write my articles on weekends and at night. If you think I’m up at 5 writing these so they’ll publish at 6 AM, you might just be off your rocker! If I’m up past midnight, then I get a bad night’s sleep, I’m cranky. I’m out of shape. I hate going out. I don’t like loud music (unless it’s my own). I’ve become my father, and I’m only 27!

My friends and I called my father Red when I grew up. The parallels between what was happening in That 70’s Show and my life weren’t just relatable moments, they were frighteningly accurate. So when we all got a little older, we called my old man Red. Which is who I feel like, already.

Surely that can’t be. I’m not married; have no kids; I don’t have a mortgage or a car payment; my only real debts are student loans; I have no family drama; no particularly scarring events from my childhood that really ruined me for life… so what’s my problem? Why am I so much more content with staying in and watching something on Netflix with my girlfriend, rather than hanging out with a group of people? Why couldn’t I care less what everybody else is in to?

Perhaps this is just a phase and I’m being a rebellious in my own way, since I wasn’t particularly rebellious as a teen. Maybe this is my rebellion. I am going against the norm by being so placid! Well, whatever it is, it needs to change. At least some of it. I’d like to get out of this funk. A night listening to an orchestra is a fine way to spend an evening, or around a fire with friends. Perhaps it’s time to get myself in to some form of better shape, too? Maybe I should take advantage of my health insurance and see a General Practitioner for the first time in several years… maybe I can involve the few loyal readers I have to somehow light a fire underneath me and start to turn things around. I’ll find a way to involve you all, yet.