Yesterday our Zoom cable modem crapped out at home and it was no April Fool’s joke. Last night we went to Best Buy and picked up a new modem and upgraded our router to the D-Link Xtreme N Gaming Router which promises to prioritize gaming traffic.

Replacing the cable modem was as easy as unplugging the old, plugging in the new Motorola modem and calling Comcast to register the modem. I spent more time on hold waiting for the Comcast customer service rep (10 minutes) than actually hooking up the hardware. Once Comcast registered the MAC ID on their end, internet quickly returned.

Comcast also pitched me on a free 90 day trial of 8Mbps down 2Mbps up connection. At the end of the 90 days it will cost $10/month more if we don’t cancel. I said sure, uncap that badboy. Thinking back to the dial-up modem days, internet speed is the new drug.

According to data at speedtest.net it looks like Comcast is the top dog for bandwidth in our area:

Next, I put in the CD that came with the D-Link DGL-4500 and followed the wizard. It helped me setup wireless security and configure the modem with no manual intervention. Five minutes later, I asked our sons to give the new connection a whirl. Had lag improved? They said they noticed an improvement.

This morning I quizzed them again and they said it was “better.” I probably won’t enough time to test the gaming until this coming weekend. It’s no rush, we have 89 more days.

The DGL-4500 comes with a Y! Desktop Widget for real time network monitoring as well as offers a bright blue readable digital display on the router which they call a “network activity display screen.” The Widget doesn’t show anything that isn’t already available from the web interface (by accessing 192.168.0.1) so not sure if it’s worth the additional CPU overhead.

We paid $179.99 + tax at Best Buy. After some extended use, I’ll either write a detailed review of our findings or share feedback in updates to this post.

Good stuff on the horizon for Blu-ray fans as some much needed web-interactive features will become available.

The downloadable content will range from bonus movie scenes and trailers to "interactive movie-based games."

"With Blu-ray established as the high-definition optical disc standard, more consumers are ready to jump in and take advantage of everything the format offers," said Scott A. Steinberg, vice president of product marketing, in a statement.

Interactive movie-based games? Like Dragon’s Lair? Or how about a version of the upcoming Indiana Jones where you control Indy through perilous situations? One wrong move and Indy’s toast. I’m just dreaming aloud here, so don’t get too excited.

While this might work with action movies, it won’t work well with romance flicks. Or maybe it would? Oh boy, I better stop the brain before I get into trouble.

Sure, football season is over and it’s time to welcome the baseball season, but here’s a neat soda marketing idea. Check out the Jones Soda Seahawks edition:

Jone Soda doesn’t stop there, you can get custom pictures on a bottle of soda — great gift idea — by visiting myjones.com. Now you can make your own Mariners Jones Soda edition with shots of your friends, family or you at Safeco field.

How are the Mariners going to do in 2008? With spring training starting to wrap up, I’m excited. They’ve added some good pitching this year, but I’m still a little worried about the offense. Prediction? They’ll win at least 90 games this year. Go Mariners!

Oh, and for those Jones fans who still have Seahawks fever, see this page.

I don’t worry too much about the Seattle Mariners players productivity in spring training but Ichiro, the hitting machine, is making the cactus league more interesting by putting up a goose egg after 21 at bats. Larry Stone made me chuckle this morning with his article about the no hit streak.

Ichiro hitless? It’s like Paris Hilton going dateless, Jon Stewart going quipless, Eliot Spitzer going escortless.

Zing! I’m sure I-chi-ro as fans lovingly refer to him in these parts will get his share of knocks down before the real baseball season starts in a couple weeks. From his quotes in the article neither he or manager Mclaren doesn’t seem worried about the situation.

As for Spitzer and escorts…
Did you see the pictures of ‘Kristin’? Good looking, yes, but worth $1,000 an hour and breaking the law? No thanks. If Spitzer had a hooker fetish why didn’t he fly to Nevada where prostitution (in some places) is legal? If you haven’t seen Spitzer’s press conference where he resigned his position as New York Governor, check it out below or via YouTube here.

Note the expression of his wife, who scores big points for standing by her man in troubled times. I couldn’t help wondering: did she know?

Do you have a problem with legal prostitution? I don’t. Yes, even for people who are married provided the spouse gives consent. This subject came up on a talk show awhile back and a guy called into say he traveled north to Canada to be with prostitutes at his wife’s urging. Apparently the act of having sex was too painful for her due to medical conditions and she made an agreement with her husband that made this acceptable. Permissive use. Yes, he always used protection, unlike Spitzer who apparently wanted to go bareback. Dumb.

What consenting adults choose to do in their personal lives and marriages as long as it is legal doesn’t bother me. I think the world would be a better place if we stopped trying to make moral decisions about other people’s personal lives. This goes for politicians too when they are in the right, but that doesn’t apply in Mr. Spitzer’s case. What he did was stupid and wrong. Even worse for his family if these escorts were without his wife’s consent and knowledge.

Update Friday 3/14/08 7:38am PST: Ichiro got his first hit yesterday and is now batting .040.

I’ve been psyched for Skype on the PSP with firmware v3.90 until I learned that it will only work with PSP-2000 systems and not the launch PSP (PSP-1000). Pay attention to the comments of numerous PSP-1000 owners in the comments who feel like they’re getting the shaft. Me? A little bummed, but more disappointed in the PSP cord wrap issue:

I bought the PSP on launch day and overall have enjoyed the games. I still believe it’s one of the best, if not the best, device available at the price for portable video. It’s too bad Sony pushed a proprietary format (UMD) instead of focusing on a downloadable video plan. There is still time for them to do this as the PS3 is becoming a media center hub. The fact that they don’t yet offer movie rentals through the Playstation Store is strange at best.

Sony is citing the reason for no Skype functionality on the PSP-1000 is because there isn’t enough RAM. This makes sense and it’s probably time for me to get a new PSP. But will I do it only for a slimmer, sleeker PSP and Skype functionality? Maybe. I’d like to see what the new PSP is like but I’m also wondering how long before the PSP-3000? Should I wait?

Any other PSP-1000 owners who have bought a new PSP? Does adding Skype and a thinner design make you likely to buy the newest PSP? Or are you in a holding pattern for a newer, better PSP. Man, is Sony ripping a page out of the Apple hardware playbook?

Smart marketing: in issue #80 of the official Xbox Magazine a disc contains three exclusive Rock Band songs.

Songs by Bang Camaro, Count Zero and Freezepop. We picked up issue #80 with disc at the local Safeway today ($9.99+tax), so if you hurry you might find it out there.

Wouldn’t be surprised if we see a bunch more exclusive Rock Band song deals. Bands should look to releasing their newest albums with a bonus exclusive Rock Band songs or codes for a redeemable new downloadable song inside Xbox Live.

We exchanged our broken Rock Band package at the local Best Buy today. Hoping this one makes it more than a month before breaking down. Rock Band still has major replay value, especially with the addition of new songs you can buy each week or find through deals like the magazine above.

Seen any other good Rock Band exclusive song deals? Share them below or trackback in from your blog with the info.

I captured some HD video of our sons completing the hardest and longest set of songs on Rock Band for the Xbox 360 on the expert difficulty setting.

The Endless Setlist which contains 58 songs took them 3+ hours to complete and out of a possible 290 stars (5 stars possible on each song) they had 275. A few songs they achieved gold star status on. Our youngest teen played bass and our middle teen played guitar.

Click To Play

Hmmcast #180 downloads
Windows .wmv (1480×1080 HD) PSP .mp4 (480×272) iPod .mp4 (640×480)

One of my favorite Sega Saturn games was NiGHTS. It came with a special controller with a tiny joystick that you used to make some circles with a flying character. As far as 3D games go, it was also one of the first 3D games that I really got into. There was a short-lived Christmas version of NiGHTS that I never played.

NiGHTS is a game I’ve been hoping Sega would update for some time for the Xbox 360 or PS3 who both have solid analog sticks which could control the game. But instead Sega chose to make ‘Nights Journey of Dreams’ exclusively (?) for the Wii and something where you have to make the movements with motion controls or use the separate nunchuck with Wiimote.

When I saw the game on the shelves I was curious how well the Wii controls would work out?

Motion controls aren’t responsive. Actions as simple as a loop require you to slowly move the Wii remote in a circle, which isn’t helpful when battling against a clock. You can add the nunchuk to control NiGHTS with a joystick, but it only helps slightly. I had to resort to using Wii’s Classic Controller to make the experience more palatable.

If you don’t want to read just one review and base your game buying decision (me neither), check out Joystiq’s NiGHTS roundup. The best score? 80 out of 100 by Games Radar. More complaints about controls in the Joystiq comment section as well as non-controls complaints about the game.

Despite the negative reviews, I’ll probably still pick this title up for the Wii — likely when it reaches bargain bin pricing — because I’m so fond of the original title and some (very few though) games that are broadly panned, I still enjoy. Not sure the latter will be the case here though. If it blows, oh well, won’t be the first or last game I buy that disappoints.

Wii Motion controlitis
This raises an excellent point about the Wii: motion control is great for physical exercise but doesn’t apply well to all types of games and holding two different controllers, the Wiimote in one hand and the nunchuck in the other is awkward for some games. I’d rather have both my hands focusing on a single controller. You?

I appreciate that Nintendo is trying to do something creative with the Wii controls but their revolutionary controller setup is not right for every game and could ruin some otherwise good programmed games. Why Sega didn’t figure this out in the game testing phase and offer NiGHTS for the Xbox 360 or PS3 is puzzling.

Actually, it’s not, Sega’s NiGHTS producer, Takashi Iizuka responded in a CBS News interview with the following:

Initially, when I thought about the game concept of “NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams,” I really didn’t consider what platform I wanted the game to run on. It wasn’t until I started the actual game design that I discovered that the Wii was the most appropriate platform because it had the right features to fit the game I was designing.

Maybe Takashi is right and the reviewers are wrong?

Since I haven’t actually played the game yet, the controls might not be as bad as reviewers are saying. If anybody reading has played NiGHTS Journey of Dreams on the Wii or has a comment on other games that you feel have been ruined by the Wii control scheme, let’s discuss in the comments section.

I like the Wii controls for games like Wii Sports bowling, tennis, boxing and golf. They work pretty good for Zelda Twilight Princess too and other some other titles. I didn’t care as much for the controller setup for Brunswick Bowling on the Wii. I wonder if the Gamecube controller would work for NiGHTS Journey? The Gamecube controller can be used to play Gamecube games on the Wii. Anybody reading try this with NiGHTS Journey?

Got an inside track to who’s going to win the Republican and/or Democrat caucus in New Hampshire today? At Predictify.com you can make a few pennies if you’re right, but hurry and get your votes in.

There is a star system based on user participation ranging from a bronze star at 100 points to a platinum star for 10,000 points. With roughly 30 minutes involvement at the site I’ve made 85 cents and have 62 community points. Being that the minimum payout is $20, talk to me in like, well, a long time to see if Predictify pays. The top earning person on the site has made $113.76 and 76 people have made over $20 as of this writing. In other words, this is not a moneymaking opportunity site.

Community points are received for activities at the site like:

- 10 points: submitting a premium question (this costs $1 per prediction)
- 5 points: referring a new user
- 5 points: submitting a free question (only 200 responses can be received)
- 3 points: send a friend invite that is accepted if you click the Predictify graphic above, that has my referrer code in it)
- 3 points: post a comment
- 1 point: submit a prediction.

It’s strange that the least amount of points is attributed to the most vital part of the site: the predictions. Yes, you need outcomes to predict, but are the questions worth five times the amount of the predictions themselves? I can understand submitting premium questions being more valuable because that’s one of the ways the site is being monetized, but I’d argue that the # of points for predictions, particularly predictions from those who have a higher percentage of predicting the outcome should receive more points.

Predictify does incent those who predict the outcomes more correctly by paying them a higher percentage of the premium questions. I’m at the Scholar level (50-74% accuracy) for Politics, which means if I answer a premium question correctly in this category I’ll receive 1.5 multiplier of the payout. The highest level one can achieve is Guru (90-99% accuracy) which receives 2.0 multiplier. Again, don’t get too excited about the money angle, because there is a small percentage (~5%) of premium questions available.

I didn’t see any banner or contextual ads at Predictify. It appears the only way the site is making money is from taking a cut of the premium questions but I’m guessing at least with the sports outcome questions they could turn around and be selling the Predictify outcomes on a sportsbetting site (outside the US where online gambling is legal, of course). They prevent others for using free questions in certain ways: “Predictify may not be used for securities replication, odds-making, betting, gambling, or wagering.”

The New York Times has a subdomain using Predictify for the NFL playoffs at nytimes.predictify.com.

Not sure the NY Times tie-in as I don’t see any API, but if/when they decide to release one (?) news of this will probably appear first at the official Predictify blog, which uses TypePad.

Summary and grade
There have been so many voting-type sites come and go over the years that the outlook for Predictify is not good. If the site keeps the current clean design and maintains enough interest, they’ll last longer than most. Definitely need a higher percentage of premium questions to help maintain interest and if an API isn’t available, they need one yesterday. Grade: C+

Congratulations to Kara for turning her $500 deposited in July 2007 into $544.93, a 8.99% return in our 2007 stock competition. She had better performance than me that ended 2007 with $522.78, a 4.36% return. Here is Kara’s competition portfolio:

Here is my competition portfolio:

We both traded 11 stocks during the time, with her still holding one (JOSB) and me holding two (ZL which is way down and NLY which is up). Since our balance is under $2,500 per the new Zecco rules any trades we make now will incur a $4 commission.

Hypothetical: if we had paid $4 Zecco commissions on each trade
To illustrate how much commissions can negatively impact a portfolio, paying $4 commissions on all our 2007 trades would have resulted in an overall loss for both portfolios. Since the commission applies to both buy and sell: I had 11 buys and 9 sells = 20 total trades. Kara had 11 buys and 10 sells = 21 trades.

Me: 20 trades x $4 = $80
K: 21 trades x $4 = $84
= $164 commissions divided into total of both portfolios: $1067.71 (15.36% commissions)

And instead of a balance of $1,067.71 we’d only have $903.70 and be sitting on two of three stocks that are currently in losing positions. Using that scenario it would have been better to put the $1,000 in a savings account than play the stock market. Although this is on a smaller money scale, it shows how difficult the stock market can be to make money. With the addition of the commission in 2008, it’s going to be even more challenging.

The 2007 prize
When asked what she wanted as a prize for beating me in the 2007 competition Kara replied, “take our kids shoe shopping.” Man, I got off easy. I was willing to buy her something for at least the difference between our portfolios. (Note: I still will).

Speaking of the kids, they don’t go back to school until tomorrow? Strange. Why aren’t they going back today? Is there an assumption this is an after New Year’s travel (or recuperation for those who partied) day?

2008 competition begins
We’re going to continue our competition into 2008 with the same setup. As for prizes, same deal: if she wins again, I’ll buy her something using the value of the difference in our portfolios or vice versa.

You are welcome to and encouraged to follow along with the trades we’re making on our Google Finance shared page. The quotes are delayed 20 minutes.

I also am sharing my competition trade activity through Zecco social (my wife currently is not), which provides third party verification that, yes, I am buying and selling the stocks listed on the Google Finance shared page. Zecco doesn’t actually show the dollar amounts or number of shares.

With my permission, they picked me as one of their featured investors (pictured above), thanks Zecco! You can add me as a friend, if you like, from my Zecco profile page.

While on the transparency front, as of this writing I also own the following stocks that are not part of our ongoing competition and are not traded through Zecco: AAPL, EXPE, GOOG, IACI, IGT, SHOR, VCLK and YHOO. For newer readers, I do disclose in each blog post where relevant when writing about these companies.

Free real time stock quotes
If you wanted to see a more real time view of either a real or fantasy stock portfolio you could use something like freerealtime.com.

I used Free Real Time with the Apple Web Clip function in Safari to make a dashboard widget and just have to hit the Apple key + R to refresh to see how the portfolio is doing during trade days. Since my main machine is Vista, I wonder if there’s a Vista gadget that does something similar? If you know of one please let me know in the comments.

Overall I’m satisfied with the results in 2007, especially with the instability of the market the last six months, but I’d like to see at least either my wife, I or both get over $1,000 by the end of 2008. If our portfolios combined a year from now could reach the $2,500 minimum, even better.

How did your portfolio(s) perform in 2007? No need to share dollars, but percentages would be nice. Happy, unhappy or satisfied?