I finally got myself an iPhone yesterday. In fact, I'm posting this using the iPhone!

This mouse was caught sleeping in the middle of our backyard today! Mice aren't that rare around here because we live near farms and such but they are normally very hard to spot. This guy was just sleeping which gave me the opportunity to take a few photos from close range. He did not like being chased but didn't seem to be all that scared after if coaxed him in a plastic pot. I soon set it free under some shrubs outside of the backyard.

Recently I've come across a webshop nearby (in Belgium) which has a great deal of manga, anime and figures for decent prices. So I did what was needed and ordered myself some manga. First a few volumes of Fullmetal Alchemist (I've seen a bit of the anime), Ghost in the Shell (which is well-known but I haven't read or seen it yet) and One Piece (very good indeed).

I must say I like Fullmetal Alchemist and One Piece best and not long after the first order I ordered some more volumes of One Piece and a Master Grade Gundam Mk.II kit which will go nicely with the other master grade kits I already have.

I'm reading the last volumes now and the Gundam kit is near completion so I'll probably order some more soon :D



For the fans ^^ the first opening song of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime

I just made a clean install off Ubuntu 8.04, a Debian bases Linux distribution. Until now I had both Windows XP and Ubuntu 7.04 installed on the computer but as I didn't use windows on this computer anymore I decided to completely dedicate the computer to Linux. I still have Windows running on my MacBook as I can't miss the possibility to test sites in Internet Explorer. And to be honest I'm still a bit Windows-dependent on several other fields like 3D and 2D graphics.

First thing I noticed with this install is the improvement of the installation process and further setting up the drivers and workspace. I remember the last time it was a pain getting the videocard driver to work properly. This time it noticed the NVidia card and suggested the right driver to use, very nice ;)

Ubuntu also has all the programs you need to get started. Here is a short list of the pre-installed programs you'll most likely use and their Microsoft counterparts:
- Firefox 3 beta 5, Internet browser (as you should know and use); Internet Explorer
- OpenOffice 2.4, Office applications, Microsoft Office
- Pidgin 2.4.1, Instant messaging, MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger

Ubuntu is really the Linux distribution for normal people, it's easy to setup and use. It takes a bit of getting used to if you're coming from a windows-only environment, but you'll quickly get the hang of the GUI. Speaking of the GUI, that has improved to and looks a tad cleaner now...

You can get Ubuntu right here...

As a lot of people I to got my hands on GTA IV this week. Great game, I just scratched the surface of things to do in Liberty City. Better than any of the previous GTAs they created a believable environment. Don't worry, the game is still overflowing with satire, but everything is a bit more realistic and detailed.

A few bugs and glitches have overshadowed the release of GTA IV. A lot of people on both the XBox360 and the Playstation 3 have encountered these problems. For the PS3 version of the game there have been some suggested fixes, there's a 12 step fix from TakeTwo but this requires you to reinstall the game and remove your save games so I won't recommend this. A fix that worked for me was just to sign out of the PSN prior to running the game. I have the 40Gb PS3 without the PS2 backwards compatibility, consoles with the backwards compatibility may crash due to the PS2 up scaler, turning that of might help.

TakeTwo is working on a patch, which will also address some framerate issues, but they gave no estimate about the release date of the patch. There are no known fixes for the XBox360 version at this time.

Update:
An patch was released for the PS3 version, results of this patch vary. I haven't encountered any crashes since the patch, but other people have reported that the patch didn't make a difference.

Also it seems that Sony doesn't get much bug reports from users, most people contact Rockstar Games or TakeTwo. To help locate the problem you can contact Sony's support and tell them where and when the problems occur...