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News
Extra Life Game Day
We’re preparing to be doing some fun gaming and other shenanigans this coming November 3rd for the kids. Come check out the team page and donate for an awesome cause. https://www.extra-life.org/team/42771
Windows 10 Emoji Shortcut
Have you thought while writing your thesis or an important letter to a dear friend, that perhaps there's something missing? Maybe an emoji that would brighten their day or to get your point across even better. A little known keyboard shortcut that helps you out if your computer is running the latest version of Windows 10 is by pressing the Windows logo key and the period key at the same time will bring up a emoji selection window.
Clearing The Rubble
Over the past weekend and most of this week, we've been working with our web site hosting platform in what was a large company wide outage. The combination of human error and several plans that failed to take effect, caused a large swath of destruction through the company. Support was very quick in finding the problem, keeping any more loss of data from happening and a welcomed transparency within a web hosting company proved that even the best laid plans can go awry. Currently as of last night, Sept. 25th, our site is back online and ready for you. I know there's a lot of things I still need to do in making The Collective Network much more streamlined and better but, I'm fully involved to make sure your experience here is top notch.
Fans Petition NCSoft to Save Wildstar
Fans of the game Wildstar are petitioning NCsoft to recant their decision in shutting down the servers for good. Players of MMO's are just like any others, in that they enjoy the world and game-play of their favorite games. Many have garnered life long friends through the game and others have met their partners, all through the shared world of MMO's. To these fans, Wildstar is something that is a part of their lives and to see it joining the ranks of cancelled or terminated games is something truly heartbreaking. For the devoted fans that have called Wildstar their home, they've started up a Change.org petition to get the people in charge over at NCsoft to change their minds. Unfortunately they have a very large uphill battle before them. Many years ago another NCsoft game was placed on the chopping block. City of Heroes was a mildly successful game the announcement of the studio and the game servers being shut down came as a shock to its fans. NCsoft didn't reverse course and the game was shut down. Who knows if NCsoft will find a solution that will give the fans of Wildstar some of what they enjoy out of the game through releasing a stripped down version of the game. Either way history is set to repeat itself in how NCsoft will react.
Star Wars Resistance Trailer
The new first trailer for Star Wars Resistance was released and things are looking absolutely stellar. The new series takes place before the events of Star Wars The Force Awakens. Premiering Sunday October 7th at 10:00 pm EDT on Disney NOW, Disney Channel and Disney VOD.
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Podcasts
Family In Focus
Joined by the lovely Suzy as we talk about how movie theaters have changes over the years and the role of a good camera means to you and your family. Music Credits: Intro For A Nonexisting Video Game by Captive Portal Utopia (instrumental) by YACHT
Safe And Secure Gaming
Up first we try to predict what will be release for Samsung, Google and Apple's new crop of devices for the end of year. Of course Samsung's Unpacked event takes place a week before this episode is released. We tackle the murky waters of keeping your little ones safe while playing online games. What you can do about it and how to avoid some of the pitfalls. Music Credits: Intro For A Nonexisting Video Game by Captive Portal Utopia (instrumental) by YACHT
All Your Intertubes Belong To Us
We try to not be so technical as we go on about internet security, sometimes we can't help ourselves though. Going over the various aspects of how today's society is more open in posting their intimate aspects of their lives for the whole to see. How can you try to minimise your exposure of your sensitive information and what you can do to help your kids in keeping most, if not all of their social interactions to a minimum. Music Credits: Intro For A Nonexisting Video Game by Captive Portal Utopia (instrumental) by YACHT
The Good Old Days Of Gaming
It's nice to think about all of the upcoming games with their flashy trailers and such but, lets go back and remember the roots of our childhood gaming. From the beginning of those blocky 8-bit days to the "newer" X-Box and PS2/3 consoles, we go through a great majority of the systems. Before all that though we talk about how there seems to be less and less story based single player games coming to market. Everyone is jumping in on the battle royal bandwagon. Music Credits: Intro For A Nonexisting Video Game by Captive Portal Utopia (instrumental) by YACHT
Tech Road Trip
What's it like for the next generation to go along with their parents and family on those long road trips? Back in our day we rolled around in the back of the family station wagon or stared out the window.
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Reviews
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Posts
Family In Focus
Joined by the lovely Suzy as we talk about how movie theaters have changes over the years and the role of a good camera means to you and your family. Music Credits: Intro For A Nonexisting Video Game by Captive Portal Utopia (instrumental) by YACHT
View full podcast
Windows 10 Emoji Shortcut
Have you thought while writing your thesis or an important letter to a dear friend, that perhaps there's something missing? Maybe an emoji that would brighten their day or to get your point across even better. A little known keyboard shortcut that helps you out if your computer is running the latest version of Windows 10 is by pressing the Windows logo key and the period key at the same time will bring up a emoji selection window.
View full news
Clearing The Rubble
Over the past weekend and most of this week, we've been working with our web site hosting platform in what was a large company wide outage. The combination of human error and several plans that failed to take effect, caused a large swath of destruction through the company. Support was very quick in finding the problem, keeping any more loss of data from happening and a welcomed transparency within a web hosting company proved that even the best laid plans can go awry. Currently as of last night, Sept. 25th, our site is back online and ready for you. I know there's a lot of things I still need to do in making The Collective Network much more streamlined and better but, I'm fully involved to make sure your experience here is top notch.
View full news
Fans Petition NCSoft to Save Wildstar
Fans of the game Wildstar are petitioning NCsoft to recant their decision in shutting down the servers for good. Players of MMO's are just like any others, in that they enjoy the world and game-play of their favorite games. Many have garnered life long friends through the game and others have met their partners, all through the shared world of MMO's. To these fans, Wildstar is something that is a part of their lives and to see it joining the ranks of cancelled or terminated games is something truly heartbreaking. For the devoted fans that have called Wildstar their home, they've started up a Change.org petition to get the people in charge over at NCsoft to change their minds. Unfortunately they have a very large uphill battle before them. Many years ago another NCsoft game was placed on the chopping block. City of Heroes was a mildly successful game the announcement of the studio and the game servers being shut down came as a shock to its fans. NCsoft didn't reverse course and the game was shut down. Who knows if NCsoft will find a solution that will give the fans of Wildstar some of what they enjoy out of the game through releasing a stripped down version of the game. Either way history is set to repeat itself in how NCsoft will react.
View full news
Dream Cast for a Overwatch Movie
With every character short that Blizzard has released so far is something that brings to light some character backstory. With the latest one focusing on Dva, I really have to ask what would your dream casting would be and for which character?
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Blog Entries
DIY Your Families Network Part 1
We've all been there one point or another. You've either moved into a new house or you've finally decided in cleaning up what the installer put in. Looking at how everything is handled these day, the number of boxes needed to communicate with the outside world has grown. A typical household will have a cable box for the main T.V. located conveniently where the family gathers to catch up on their programming. Sometimes this box will also house a DVR which stores many of your families TV shows. Now add in a gaming console like an XBOX, Playstation, Nintendo Switch or any other kind of console. Next is the main gateway to the internet, the modem. This box is usually put in a place out of the way as it doesn't see much use from us mere mortals. We normally tell the installer to just put it in a closet or behind the TV. Now normally this would be fine but in most cases the modem is connect to yet another box, the router. This device takes the connection from the modem and splits it to be used by everyone in your household either via a wireless connection and/or a direct cable connection. In some cases the modem and router live within the same box but tend to be installed in a place where you can easily get to it but, the device has the appearance of a post modern dystopian look to it. In this short series I'll be tackling the job of cleaning up, improving and expanding our families network to be easily up-gradable and future proof it. Be sure to keep an eye out for when I post up new updates along with pictures.
Episode 9: AR All The Things
This episode we get deep, I mean really deep. We take your reality and augment it right into your eyeballs. OK, maybe not really but we do talk about some of the awesome things about AR and VR so much so that we pretty much dedicated this episode to it. Quick CES rundown on a few items like Samsung's wall Micro LED TV dubbed "The Wall" https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01/samsungs-the-wall-tv-is-a-modular-146-inch-monster-that-uses-microled/ NVIDIA announcing a 60" gaming monitor for your extra large gaming needs. https://www.anandtech.com/show/12242/nvidia-announces-new-big-format-gaming-displays-65in-4k120-hdr-gsync-and-more AMD lowers their Ryzen CPU pricing just in time for their new APU line to arrive sometime this year. https://www.anandtech.com/show/12238/amd-updates-ryzen-sku-pricing-to-counter-intel Wanted to feel like you're right there in the thick of it then the Teslasuit is something you'll be getting. https://teslasuit.io/ https://www.blubrry.com/geek2_0/31342560/episode-9-ar-all-the-things/