G33K B33R Review

There isn't that much to say about G33K B33K. After all, it is just root beer. But maybe that's what is the big deal about it. It's probably the only energy drink that tastes nothing like your typical energy drink.


Taste
My bro once told me about the many different kinds of root beer. I never knew there was a difference having only started drinking root beer about a couple years ago. Anyway, he said there is your bitey rootbeer and your creamy rootbeer. For a comparison, Barq's has more of a bite to it, while A&W is creamy and smooth. I'll leave my root beer ramblings to people like this guy. G33K B33K is somewhere in the middle. It closer to A&W, but still has somewhat of a bite. There is a also somewhat of a licorice\birch beer\Amish root beer\Bawls flavor to it. Similarly to Bawls, its taste is difficult to describe. You just have to try it yourself, ; ). I should also mention that G33K B33R goes down the easiest because of its slightly smoother flavor.

Presentation
I know, I know... "Presentation" It's like I'm trying to be some baddass beverage reviewer who likes to slurp loudly to get a good taste. Well, simply put, G33K B33R looks as good as it tastes: damn good. It's a 10 oz brown glass with the infamous gripping bumps. If you have a problem with the packaging, you must be really screwed up. Because of my odd obsession with things in glass bottles, it gets a high rating in my book. The brown bottle makes it a tad less refreshing, but they don't have much options being it root beer.

Energy
As far as I know, G33K B33R has the same amount of caffeine (Guarana) as the equivalent Bawls bottle: 64 mg. Caffeine reacts with everyone differently (and some not at all) so "results may vary." For me, it kept me going strong until about 3 AM. I could have probably stayed up a bit longer, but had no need to. I felt the "energy boost" after about 3-4 sips I would say. This is all pretty general though.

Bottom Line
I definitely like Bawls: G33K B33R. However, if root beer is not your thang, neither will this be. It's a potent energy drink that doesn't taste like your typical Monster or Red Bull. I highly recommend it to root beer lovers, caffeine whores, or anyone who just feels the needs to "bounce with bawls."

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The G33K B33R is here!

Ah, yes. The case of Bawls is in. Alight... the moment we have all been waiting for:

Ooooh! A thinkgeek.com catalog. On the back is a $10 off coupon if you spend $50, $5 if you spend $25. Just thought you might want to know that...


The box underneath all those packing peanuts. The normally blue bawls logo is brown on the box.


Side view. Nice blue "G33K B33R." Type is still all brown.


Yes, there they are. All 24 of them.


A single bottle. Brown instead of the signature blue, but it still has the infamous gripping bumps.


Bawls in hand: cap off.


Blue bawls next to the G33K B33R for a comparison.

A review will come... I want to have a chilled one first.

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A Hardy Ubuntu

Ubuntu 8.04 was released on April 24th. I downloaded and installed it on my laptop. Seems to be more stable: flash, drivers, and 3D works right away. The only holdup I ran into was slow connection to ubuntu servers in order to download updates and programs from the repositories. This is because of many people downloading\updating the new version... Anyway, if you are also having this problem then I recommend you click:

• System>Administration>Software Sources
• Download from... then other.
• And Click on "Select Best Server"
• Wait, and then use the selected server.

It helped me out a bit...

Screenshots\review to come...

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G33k B33r!

Thanks ocmodshop.com for the picture.

There is some days in a nerd's life that changes their life forever. A new version of Linux may excite some or maybe even a release of their favorite PC game. But some days outshadow all of them. This very day happened on April 1st 2008(ironic eh?). On this day, my friends, a new flavor of Bawls came out: G33k B33r! It's basically rootbeer with caffeine (guarana). It apparently has a Bawls-like aftertaste... Although it came out on April 1st, I found out about it yesterday. I headed to the great thinkgeek.com and purchased a case. Yes, obsessed maybe, but this is what I live for!

I'll have more (of my) pictures and a review once I get my hands on these brown Bawls. O.o?

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Free PC Game o' the Week: Trackmania Nations: Forever

^ Video of a Pretty Sweet Track

The word "forever" always brings back many mixed memories. It starts with some slightly awkward names for Japanese videogames, and then fades into a certain baseball movie that happens to involve a very large dog and a kid with a very annoying voice. Yes, I know: What the hell were they on when they named it "TMN: Forever"
/Ends lame rant about name.

Anyway, despite the name of this game, there is no reason that you should not download it. Seriously. If you like racing games, even just a bit, its well worth the download. Now, the Trackmania Series isn't new. It's just that, recently, they started putting out free full versions of their games. I remember buying the original TM for $10 at KB Toys. Fun, just barely ran on my computer (I didn't have\know what a videocard was back then).

Ahh... now to the game. First, take everything that makes a realistic racing game well... realistic, and throw it out the window, save for the graphics. Next, throw in some jumps, tricks, loops, and slightly loopy physics where cars that can accelerate in the air and you have yourself Trackmania: Forever. I like to call it a "fantasy racer." It's like an arcade-esc racer. Probably the best way to describe it is a racing game with some puzzle elements and where, most of the time, the harder goal is just finishing the track, let alone achieving a fast time. If you fall off, you can respawn to the last check point by hitting enter, or to the beginning of the track by hitting delete. It's quite basic, but that is what makes it addicting and fun.

Not much more I can say about the game other than "Download it now!"

and...BTW, the "o' the week" is just making it sound cool.
I'll try for a game a week but don't know if that will definitely happen.

My Internet is Faster!

Woohoo! So, we combined some packages and such with Verizon and DirecTV. They said we could get faster Internet at a lower price. We were supposed to get 3 Mbps, but apparently the signal is not strong enough. Anyway, my Internet is now 1.5 Mbps. Which is about 2.5 times of what I had. I wasn't getting what I supposed to get (768 Kbps) to begin with, but now I'm getting a "true" 1.5 Mbps. It seems faster.

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Devils + Rangers = Uber-Intense Game

^ eh... a Devil's symbol can't hurt

Damn. 4-3.
That Devil's game was some intense hockey. If you have been looking at any of my tweets @ Twitter today, then you'll know that i'm an avid Devil's fan.

I think what the most interesting event was Avery's blocking of Brodeur. Now, screen's are acceptable, but this was just ridiculous. I really did not believe when I saw it. For those who did not see it, he literally stood it front of Brodeur blocking his face with his stick. Brodeur just moved his head the first couple of times, but then finally pushed him away with his glove. The captain of the Rangers came over to him and told him to stop. He didn't stop then, but finally stopped when the referee warned him. Apparently, he later told the referee that there was nothing in the rule book that he broke. Now if this is true, and I think it is, a rule is definitely going to have to be made for next year. I really don't understand. Avery is a good player and doesn't need to resort to these kind of tactics to win a game. The announcers summed it up quite well when they said how they knew he was an irritator but didn't know he was an innovator.

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Update: 4.15.08
I heard today that, because of this incident, they are going to add a rule that is "effective immediately."
Linky
It's not actually a "new rule" but an official stated that they will be going to calling it as minor for unsportsmenlike conduct. Ahh...I am glad that these shenanigans will not continue.

Them Sneaky Advanced Video Settings

Ahh... you've seen them around: ole "Filtering Mode" or maybe even "Vertical Sync." They are in the "Advanced" section of your favorite PC games, which makes you think that you're not cool enough or baddass enough to change them...am I right? Well, I'm finally going to de-mystify all of the settings and show if they are really worth the FPS drop.

All of the FPS tests were done with Counter Strike: Source inside Windows XP Home Edition. My computer has 2 GB of RAM, a 6600 Core 2 Duo, and a 7900 GT all on a Intel D975XBX motherboard running. The resolution is 1280x1024 with 2x MSAA Anti-aliasing on.

Anti-aliasing
Well, this one isn't very complicated, but has a lot to do with how well your games will look.
The difference between having it off and on is jagged edges. If it is on, your games will have a much smoother look to them. In case you were wondering, this is done by blending the colors of the object and background, instead of an abrupt change in color. This must be done because it is impossible to recreate a diagonal line using square pixels.

With-out: 175 FPS










With(4x MSAA): 114 FPS


(make sure you click on the images to see them in their full screen goodness)

As you can see, although the FPS drop, Anti-aliasing makes your game look a hell-u-va lot better. Depending on whether you're an FPS whore or a graphics whore, you might want to change that setting. You can also go with the happy medium of 2x MSAA, which is what I have my game set to.

Vertical Sync
Vertical Sync has to do with your monitor not being able to display the frames that it gets from your videocard fast enough. Say the game is running at 100 FPS and your monitor has a refresh rate of 60 Hz. Even though your videocard is producing 100 frames, your monitor can only output 60 of them a second. The extra frames build up, and this causes screen tearing. Screen tearing looks like two frames that were mashed together. It causes the picture to not line up evenly; part of your screen will have one frame, while the other will have the other frame.
It will look something like this:

Whether you want to have this setting off or on depends on both your video card, monitor, and your personal preference. If vertical sync is off, your FPS will go as high as it feels, but screen tearing can happen. If it is on, your FPS will be limited to the exact refresh rate of your monitor, perhaps cutting your FPS in half. In my case, the FPS of my game would be limited to 70, because the refresh rate of my monitor is 70 Hz.

Filtering Mode
Filtering mode is how high the resolution of textures stay as you move farther away from them. If filtering mode is set to its highest, then a texture that is far away will continue to look crisp and detailed. On the off setting, the texture will look less detailed and possibly, as i like to say, "pixelicious". As you can gather, setting Filtering Mode to a higher setting will definitely take a chunk of your FPS away. The question is: just how much?

Bilinear: 140 FPS

Anisotropic 16x: 118 FPS


After looking at the two pictures side by side, you can see the huge difference. The screenshot with 16x is much clearer from everything to the pothole in the road (which nearly disappears in the other shot) to the graffiti on the door. I would, again, recommend setting this to somewhere in between (such as 4x) to achieve a high FPS and decent graphic quality.
More\Pictures to come...

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Heh... a blog.

So... A blog? Yes, boys and girls, a blog. I have had a passionate hate for blogs for a very long time. However, after signing up for the web 2.0 apps such as pownce and twitter, blogs finally began to make some sense. I'm thinking that if this here blog thing gets popular then I might just have to buy an actual domain...heh. This blog is kind of a mashup of what I care about. There is going to be everything from computer how-to's, to technology rants, and even the occasional "love of caffeine" post.

Where should I begin? I figured a good starting point would be to tell a wee bit about myself.
My name is Kevin, and I happen to love computers, technology, linux, the Interweb, Google, tea, Samsung, ultimate, PC Games, tennis, and caffeine(ohh caffeine!). I happen to hate ipods...(yeah that's about it.)

Well, that's all for now kids...

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