all ninja - geek hang out

A few little site updates

As you may have noticed if you a regular here at All Ninja, there have been one or two slight changes to the blog.

First off there are 2 more ad spots to the right and also some ads positioned there too, these should be relevant to the content you are reading so will hopefully provide you will some useful links.

You might also notice that the last blog post (before this one) has some title that look like they are blog headings. This is because the guy who created me this theme forgot to stlye the h3 tags to I had to use h2 - which just so happen to be the styles used for the blog post titles. I’m currently working on this so expect to see those titles reverting to heading 3’s sooner or later.

There are likey to be a few more little additions and deletions until I get this place just the way I want it. Then I’ll probably change everything, cos thats just what I do.

Happy reading!

Tagged: Uncategorized //

Game Time

Its not all that often I get to play video games but something has happened recently and its revived my addiction to hook up the PC, Wii or Xbox 360 and load up a game. Here’s what I’m currently playing:

On the Wii

I’ve really revived my love for Mario games. I played the first one on the NES and not long after became addicted. To date the one I’ve played most is a toss up between the original Mario Kart and Mario 3. Two classics that I never thought would be matched. Mario Galaxy however has a chance. Its a fantastic game and I have no idea how far I am into the game or how far is left. The thing is I don’t really care, as long as I can keep playing and figuring out the little puzzles this game can go on for ever for me.

On the Xbox 360

It had to be. Again I’ve been a long time fan and had both GTA 1 & 2 for the PC. I loved the 3rd and then sort of lost interest with San Andreas, but this one was back with a bang. I’ve amassed over 20 hours of game play on this one a lone and after just checking out the mission list find myself towards the end of the 2nd chapter. Plenty of game play left in this one, I mean I haven’t even had the urge to stock up on bullets and go cop hunting yet!

On the PC

Playing games on the PC had kind of lost its thing for me. As I mentioned above I was lucky enough for me or one of my brothers to have most of the game consoles that came out ever since the NES. I used to love PC Gaming but the whole install, wait to load, no joypad, or no great joypads lead me more to console gaming. But now, now I can appreciate it again. This was after an introduction to Counter Strike Source. A guy I met online persuaded me to get the game and head online for a game, well that was it I’m hooked. All I need now is to ramp up the speed of my PC, well that my excuse for getting killed all the time.

What games are you playing?

Tagged: Geek Fun, Geek TV , games, PC, wii, xbox 360 //

More mayhem at the buy more!

On 30 September, Chuck is back and this time its series 2.0.

If you haven’t seen chuck before this might help - Chuck is an American TV show based around a regular computer geek who works in the “buy more” as a tech support guy for the Nerd Herd (the shows version of the Geek Squad). Chuck ends up receiving an encrypted email from an old College buddy who later became a secret agent. Chuck’s brain is now loaded with the CIA’s most valuable secrets, he will occasionally see someone or something that will trigger his brain to retrieve that information. The CIA send over two agents to keep an eye on Chuck who ends up helping out on missions.

The show is fun, easy to watch and quite addictive, its certainly one of favourite shows, even if it is just to see his geeky mate Morgan.

Any other Chuck fans out there?

Tagged: Geek TV , chuck, Geek TV //

Do you Open Source?

I really like the idea behind open source, mainly the fact that it aims to create a better product and of course the fact that it is free. However I find myself reverting back to the paid solution for one reason and one reason only, Help!!

I have tried and would love to stick it out with GIMP but find it oh so easy to just revert back to photoshop and type in my problem at Google and read a solution. Its not that simple with GIMP. Another major help factor was when I tried to install Ubuntu, looks great, would love to use it but currently I run 2 machines on Vista and another on XP due to the lack on very basic help on getting my internet to work wirelessly.

One hope for my open source venture is Open Office, it looks like a fantastic alternative to Microsoft’s Office and I occasionally use it. It would probably be a totally different story if I had to pay for the software myself as I think that Office costs way too much when there are products like Open Office and Google Doc’s out there. Photoshop I’m split on but would definitely give GIMP another go before shelling out for another photoshop license.

Do you open source? Which products do you use? Or which would you like help with?

Tagged: Geek Tech , GIMP, open office, open source //

Lego-miz-me

So we did the “make me a Mii” using a replica of the Nintendo Wii’s Mii Channel, so now its time for the make a Lego me. Rather than me, I thought I’ll try my creative hand and create a lego ninja for the site, what do you think?

The image was created using the Lego BuyMe-Mizer, not only can you have lots of fun here but you can also decide to buy the figure you have created for $5 plus shipping. Not a bad deal at all.

Right I’m off to look for some more ways to make mascots for the site.

Tagged: Geek Fun , lego me, lego ninja //

Visitor Tracking - The Next Step

A couple of days a go I posted about Google Analytics not picking up visitors to this site. I had a look around the web and found a few useful bits of information but nothing that could help me solve my problem.

I have decided to try an alternative solution to analytics and have installed the wordpress plugin stats. It is currently up and running so I am hoping that I will see a different set of stats from the two programs. That or this blog might not be around long at all (only joking).

Anyway, if this tool does pick up visitors it looks like it will go down as an unknown analytics problem, if not I need to do more work. I’ll keep anyone reading updated.

Tagged: Site Stuff , google analytics, tracking visitors //

Widget recommendations

As I mentioned in my last post I started a thread over at the bloggeries forum and asked people to visit the site and leave feedback. The main comment I received was that there was a lack of widgets or content in the right side bar.

So does anyone have and cool widget/gadget or content suggestions. The cooler and geekier the suggestion the better.

Tagged: Uncategorized //

Geeky but not geeky enough!

The general image of geeks I have is that they wouldn’t get stumped with a simple computer problem. Now I often get called a geek or computer whizz, depending on the generation of the person in question. I would even class myself as a geek but now I’m starting to question that.

The computer problem:

I have recently installed the Google Analytics javascript code on all of my sites to help me track traffic and any SEO effort made, (to see if it is worthwhile). The things is on this site alone the program doesn’t seem to be picking up the visits that come here. I know people are visiting as I come here and I even posted on the bloggeries forum and people have replied saying that they have visited the site, (and in most cases liked the site - had to sneak that in).

So if you feel like you can help me solve this problem, please reply below. Anyone who helps me sort this will get a free ad spot on the blog for at least 3 months (probably longer).

So lets call this a competition.

Tagged: Geek Fun , competition, contest, of sorts! //

Create a Mii without a Wii

For anyone who hasn’t been a part of the Wii revolution a Mii is an editable representation of yourself - ok that sounds too much. Its a little you, that acts as an avatar on your Wii games and also appears in some games like Mario Kart Wii. What do these Mii’s look like well, here’s mine:

So if you don’t have a Wii, how can you create a Mii?

Well to make mine I headed over to MyWiiNews, who have an online version of the Wii’s Mii Creator. Its a fun tool to play with and you can create some very obscure characters. I haven’t found a save function yet so have just had to use the old fashioned print screen and paste into photoshop, where if you like you can fine tune your Mii to get them looking very you!

Here’s one of my favourites yet, the resemblance is uncanny!

Or check out Pacman and ghost Mii:

See what you can create.

Tagged: Geek Fun , Geek Fun, mii, wii //

Glucose tracking the geek way!

I’m sure that are many reasons that people have to track their glucose levels. For me it is down to diabetes, so here is my ideal solution for tracking my blood glucose level.

Glucoboy - is a highly advanced blood monitoring system that does the exact same job as my current blood glucose monitor, but with a difference. The glucoboy links up with either the Nintendo Gameboy Advance or the Nintendo DS (Lite) to turn good sugar results into game points. The glucoboy has two games and an inbuilt arcade that reward the user for good control.

Prick, Bleed, Play!!

Tagged: Geek Health , games and health //