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So finally after waiting a few weeks of being STV for a $400 gift card (super gift certificate) instead of the Xbox 360, today I finally received the $400 super gift certificate in my email. I can now move ahead from freepay and not have to worry waiting forever to have received the xbox 360 through them.

Appearantly they had a meeting today as well and said they will be sending out limited numbers of xbox 360s each week too, finally! Though I am happy with the $400 gift card which I redeemed for 4 $100 gift cards through best buy and will just buy either another xbox 360 through them or something else. I am still undecided as to what to buy. It is good news for everyone else though that has been waiting forever and did not jump in on the gift card or whatever other reason.

24 star Kiefer Sutherland has signed a deal to stay with the Fox show for three more years, through May 2009, reports Variety.As part of the pact, Sutherland will establish a production company on the 20th Century Fox lot to produce series programming for both broadcast and cable networks.

As part of the pact, Sutherland will establish a production company on the 20th Century Fox lot to produce series programming for both broadcast and cable networks.The deal makes Sutherland one of the highest-paid drama actors on television.Sutherland, currently co-executive producer on 24, will be bumped up to executive producer for the upcoming sixth and seven seasons of the show. He shares that title with creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, as well as Howard Gordon and Evan Katz.

He shares that title with creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, as well as Howard Gordon and Evan Katz.Finally, while the deal with Fox is for TV only, Sutherland said he and the show’s producers continue to believe in the idea of bringing the 24 franchise to the big screen. The earliest the movie would begin shooting, however, is late spring 2007, Sutherland said.

Quality control is the chief reason a 24 feature couldn’t shoot during the upcoming hiatus, Sutherland added.

“It was really Joel and Bob and Howard realizing that if we were going to squeeze it in during the break, we would have been rushing it,” he said. “If we were going to do it, we would do it next summer. It’s still a big ‘if.’ We would not go forward unless we thought we could do it right.”

The film likely would depart from the series by condensing an entire day into about two hours, rather than unfolding in real time.

Sutherland isn’t shooting a feature this hiatus in anticipation of working on a 24 film next summer.

Apple Becomes Windows PC Platform, Launches Boot Camp

It doesn’t get much more clever. You’ve flogged consumers an expensive Intel PC, with OS X, and then let them pay for the privilege of running Windows XP on it. Welcome to 21st century Apple, and say hello to their latest software offering called Boot Camp.

“Apple has no desire or plan to sell or support Windows, but many customers have expressed their interest to run Windows on Apple’s superior hardware now that we use Intel processors,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “ We think Boot Camp makes the Mac even more appealing to Windows users considering making the switch.”

Despite the sickening smugness, Schiller is right. Apple’s boxes amazingly seem to run Windows rather fast, making it a very attractive choice for end users. The software makes Microsoft, and frankly, its OEM PC partners, look decidedly dated – as their product page attests. ” Macs use an ultra-modern industry standard technology called EFI to handle booting. Sadly, Windows XP, and even the upcoming Vista, are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS. But with Boot Camp, the Mac can operate smoothly in both centuries.”

Boot Camp will simplify what has hitherto been a rather difficult and risky process of installing Windows, by creating a partition and creating a driver disk to make sure everything works. Previous efforts had been community driven, and involved raising a significant prize fund eventually won by two coders. But it’s not just about making life easier for these users. It’s about making the switch decision a lot easier. With Vista delayed, the much hyped Apple re-birth as more than just an iPod maker seems clear and solid.

Boot Camp will be fully available in the next version of OS X, code named ‘Leopard’, but a beta is available online now. It requires 10GB of free space on your hard drive, and a copy of Windows XP with SP2. Note that Apple makes it very clear it does not support users who install Windows XP on their Intel Macs. Just encourages it, and enjoys it.

Download: Boot Camp
View: Boot Camp FAQ

The 10.4.6 Update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following applications and technologies:

– login and authentication in a variety of network environments
– file access and byte range locking with AFP file sharing
– network access when using proxy server automatic configuration files
– connecting to Cisco VPN servers using IP/Sec
– using Bluetooth wireless devices
– searching iWork ’06 and Microsoft Office documents with Spotlight
– saving Word documents automatically when using a network home directory
– creating Automator workflows for iPhoto 6
– synchronizing contacts and calendars to .Mac and mobile phones
– mounting and unmounting iDisk volumes
– compatibility with third party applications and devices
– previous standalone security updates

You can get this Mac update via “Software Update…” or go to the Apple site. The update is 65.8 MB.

Since last Wednesday night I have been playing Oblivion as much as I possibly can. This game is addicting and fantastic. I have never been into RPG type games but this game, is simply amazing and I just can not put it done. I no longer even play G.R.A.W. or have any interests in it because of this game. Though I know I will go back eventually and finish beating G.R.A.W. on Hard for the gamerpoints and maybe play with some friends here and there, especially when new maps come out for the game which is expected soon if I recall hearing correctly, either way, they always release new things for previous Ghost Recon games, so no doubt they won’t sometime soon.

Also, the other day I ended up putting in Call of Duty 2 and updated it. The new update is good, no problems at all. Experience no game lag (not network lag) and it was fantastic but very different since I have not played it in forever and having gone from COD2 console to COD2 PC was really hard to get used to even just for 30 minutes because on console you can only play with 8 people including yourself, and on PC, it is what? 32? 64? somewhere around there or less and much more fun and not looking for people forever.

Anyways, I have midterms this week in school. My database essentials class is a pain and the midterm project for that is going to be a headache. My networking class I should have no problem in and I’m not too worried about it.

Back to Oblivion, I am taking it slow, I am around 45 hours into the game and at Level 4 (as I said, taking it slow) I don’t want to move up levels and end up missing something I could of had (trainning, upgrades, etc). I just finished every mission in the Dark Brotherhood tonight, I recommend doing the Dark Brotherhood missions, I thought they were pretty cool and you get and to wear an awesome suit.

Other than that, I’ve been good. I tried the demo of Blazing Angels and thought it was pretty cool. Not a game I’d buy though but definiately rent off of GameFly. I just received The Outfit from GameFly this past Saturday and have yet to even play it because of Oblivion though I will someday soon.