I am a little sad to say that the theme I am currently using for Atomac hasn’t been updated for the 2.7 features that I am most interested in. So in order to take advantage of the new threaded comments I am going to have to switch it up. I have also decided to do a clean WordPress install. My database has gotten rather messy from the millions of plugins I have tried over the year and a half of running this blog and figured now is a good time to tidy up. Not to worry though, all the articles and comments will be imported to the new WordPress install and I am fairly sure the only difference you all will notice is the new layout.

I’ll go ahead and thank you all now for your patience while I butcher Atomac and get things running properly again.

If you happen to notice our server has crashed and burned, you can get a hold of us via email, Twitter, or for those who know it, our cell number. Of course you can contact us for any other reason as well. We should be returning Sunday eveningish. Everyone have a nice rest of the week and weekend.

Today marked Microsoft’s long awaited Xbox Dashboard updated called “NXE: New Xbox Experience”. PolyVector and I happened to forget at about 2 AM this morning that the update was scheduled to hit Xbox Live at midnight (two hours prior). We were settling in to watch “Scarface” after returning from a trip to my sisters. When the Xbox fired up the update was ready to go and we had already started the DVD. So, our first experience wasn’t so grand. Instead of downloading the update, the Xbox 360 immediately froze. After a quick shutdown and startup the update fired up again and off we went into the NXE galaxy. I snapped a few pictures and thought I would go over my likes and dislikes and while I was at it go ahead and disclose our gamertags.

Besides the tiny update snag we hit, everything went pretty smoothly. I noticed right from the beginning that the new dashboard was extremely painful color wise for me. Luckily you can change the theme (very limited mind you) in your profile settings.

The overall new experience I would say zeros out from the previous dashboard. The new “welcome” area which is trying to be a bit like the PS3 is hard to navigate. Most of the text is covered up or faded making the ability to see where you want to go a bit difficult. The new mini dash that shows up in games or when you hit the XBOX button on your controller is rather nice. I like the simplicity in view and the tabs don’t make me sick anymore when scrolling through them. The colors are easier on the eyes and I can get to where I need to go quickly.

I would say Microsoft is heading in the right direction. I really like the avatars. In fact, i would even go so far as to say they pulled it off better than nintendo’s Miis. Though my images show PolyVector’s profile, I have to say mine avatar makes me look even more awkward than I already am. perhaps I will have to snag some shots later. Or I suppose you can just look up my gamertag: oO Skunkie Oo. You can find PolyVector under what else than: PolyVector.

Hope you enjoyed my little run down, I think this article is all about the pictures anyways. Happy gaming!

Our little chihuahua, Prancer is 15 years old and has canine epilepsy. While his seizures are far between they are have become more violent than the first ones we’ve encountered with a leg freezing up or in a semi contorted position. We’ve made a decision in order to further limit his chances of a seizure we are going to cook his meals instead of purchasing commercial dog food. We know the risks and benefits of cooking for a dog, and have a very excellent book, Canine Epilepsy: An Owner’s Guide to Living With and Without Seizures by Caroline D. Levin, that goes over all aspects of canine epilepsy and cooking for them.

I thought I would take a little time to go over our first meal we have prepared for Prancer. This might be a little different than what i usually write about here on Atomac, but I know there is at least one reader (MegaNice9, I am looking in your direction) that has taken on the the extra care needed for our little friends, the dog.

Since Prancer is an older dog we have decided to make easier digestible meals with lower protein than you would for a younger dog. You should always consult your vet regarding certain kinds of foods or allergies your dog might have. Please don’t blame me if you try out any of the recipes I write up and your doggie gets sick. While I will be extremely sad if he/she does, I am still in the experimenting phase of cooking for Prancer with PolyVector.

I hope your pup enjoys these simple meals if you do give them a try.

Turkey and Veg Surprise

PolyVector is the cook around the house, and all ingredients are added by eye.

Ingredients:

• Lean Ground Turkey
• Quick Oats
• Spinach
• Celery
• Carrots
• Tomato
• Sunflower Seeds
• Natural Peanut Butter (sugar free)
• Greek Yogurt

It is very important to research each ingredient since dogs have very different digestive systems than we do (eg. raw meat is okay, but raw potatoes isn’t).

Process:

For most dogs, it’s good to do at least 50% meat/eggs, 35% veggies, and no more than 15% grain. For dogs w/ kidney problems, the meat/protein should be reduced or eliminated (depending on the condition).

1. Cook turkey and a little oatmeal in a pan on medium heat
2. Put spinach, celery, carrots, and tomato with a little sunflower seeds, all-natural peanut butter, and greek yogurt in a chopper/food processor and blend
3. Mix it all together when the turkey has just finished cooking.

When we first got our Xbox 360 we were plagued with the infamous “Disc Scratching” problem. Our fix was to take apart the Xbox and install bumpers that should have been there in the first place. While our solution did solve our problem, it also happened to void the warranty. And I am sure the question is also popping up inside your head as to why we didn’t just send in our Xbox then to get the disc problem straightened out. Well as it happens Microsoft denied that this was an actual problem of the Xbox 360 hardware and that people were simply moving their Xbox around while the disc was turning inside the drive. I am taking this time to assure everyone this is not the case for us. Our 360 was setup and never moved. The actual problem with the disc scratching was that early 360s used cheap disc drives that didn’t have bumpers in place to counter the disc wobbling during rotation.

After we moved back to California and getting a month or so play out of our Xbox one day having the urge to kill some zombies ala Dead Rising, our Xbox 360 began to flash the dreaded red ring of death. Frantically looking for every solution possible without having to actually send the Xbox in since we have so blatantly voided the warranty we begin to take apart our Xbox following a tutorial for overheating GPUs on Ars Technica. Unfortunately this did not fix our problem (and yes, we even tried the towel trick) and our Xbox has laid dormant in the close with all our other consoles of antiquity ever since.

We finally broke down on the 5th and ran to our local Fry’s Electronics to pick up a new XBox 360. Previously we had a Pro bundle and an extra wireless controller, so when we saw the Xbox 360 Arcade available for $199 we went ahead and picked that up.

Here’s to our second Xbox 360, and may it last us longer than our first (which by the way, we only had for a year). Pardon me while I go battle the Horde in Gears of War 2.

Those of you that follow this blog more closely than the US election (that sounds extremely vain, but I know there are those of you out there who aren’t US residence), Barack Obama has been elected as the 44th President of the United States of America.

It has been an extremely emotional night. We have seen a great concession speech by Senator John McCain, which I commend him for his kind words and call to support Obama as many issues still need to be amended in the coming years.

We haven’t been very politically vocal during the 2008 campaigns, and for that I apologize. I am hoping the next four years here in America bring about real change and we can stop trying to police the world, but be apart of it once again.

Here’s to four years of President Barack Obama!

Today is the US 2008 Presidential Election, and if you haven’t gone out to vote make sure you make the time. Here in California the polls don’t close until 8:00 PM. If you are not registered don’t let that hold you back. You can register right at your local polling place. For absentee/mail in voters, if you didn’t mail off your ballots, all is not lost. You can hand in your ballot envelope at your local polling place as well.

I’m going to leave you with a single link that holds all the information you are going to need for today: Your Election Day Web Toolkit via ReadWriteWeb.

I certainly enjoy writing here on Atomac, even though my focus is some what scattered. That just might be the way it is for a little personal blog. Some of you might go through all the articles on here waiting for some news of development on RocketDock, or you like my little odd ball articles on various tech happenings. Whatever your reason for sticking it out here on Atomac I would like to let you know of a new venture of mine.

Officially today I am a contributor to Slime Culture TV. SCTV has transformed its topics over the year, but one thing has remained the same. It is primarily focused on off-beat comics that take advantage of society’s stigmas. One stigma that happens to be very important to me, and my now partner in crime MegaNice9, is being an atheist.

If you are interested in some hilarious comics at the very least, Slime Culture is for you. My part is rather small on the site, I will be providing some reviews and insights on the happenings in the atheist vs. religion battle field. We hope you enjoy!

5. Program Looping

I’ve finally busted into learning different kinds of loops. I am trying to master for, while, and do statements. Going through this section of the book has been extremely slow going since my math skills are embarrassingly more than rusty. It might come to me snagging some books to refresh my memory. This chapter didn’t seem to cover everything as the next chapter deals with making decisions (which is the actual title of chapter 6). I think to get a complete understanding and practical use of loops I need to get into if statements as well.

I was kind of bummed at this part of the book because it took me out of using classes and methods. I do feel like I have a decent understanding of creating and uses my own classes and methods, but I like to make sure I can bring each concept together. Hopefully the next chapter will bring me back to working in that mind set. Luckily I have saved my previous calculator app to go over in the event I feel like I am getting rusty.

Back in September I urged everyone to sign a petition to get an option to turn off the autoorrection on the Apple iPhone. I thought it would only be fair to talk about the outcome of that petition really quickly.

Turns out Apple has listened to us! And the next iPhone firmware update (2.2) will have the option to turn off the autocorrect that has caused so many of us to type the absolute wrong things to friends and family, and has even made blog posting a total nightmare.

So I wanted to say thanks to everyone who signed the petition and of course to Apple for actually adding in the option.