W♥M

Weekend Gamer Update: Memorial Day Weekend

Windows 11 Pro Product Description Instantly productive. Simpler, more intuitive UI and effortless navigation. New features like snap layouts help you manage multiple tasks with ease Smarter collaboration. Have effective online meetings. Share content and mute/unmute right from the taskbar (1). Stay focused with intelligent noise cancelling and background blur. (2) Reassuringly consistent. Have confidence that your applications will work. Familiar deployment and update tools. Accelerate adoption with expanded deployment policies. Powerful security. Safeguard data and access anywhere with hardware-based isolation, encryption, and malware protection built in. Read More MicroSoft That’s because I just bought the Microsoft Office Professional 2021 lifetime license for $30, after reading about it on C-Net. The article referenced Stack Social, which I’ve never heard of until today. …

It’s Memorial Day Weekend, which means I have this Monday off and it’s a long weekend for me. As usual with these holidays, there are a lot of sales and deals all across retailers. I’m planning on going to a few Half-Priced Books to take advantage of their 20% instore purchases. The problem with HPB is that their stocks are limited and are vastly different from store to store. You never know what you are going to see, day to day, store to store.

Best Buy is selling a lot of Bluray for under $10… but the cool thing is that the new Pixel 7a is being sold for $450, the first sale price since it was launched on May 10. That was fast! Even though it’s a $50 savings, it’s still not enough for me to want it. I’ve already committed to buying the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max, so I need to set aside roughly $1,200. I was never an iPhone guy, until I started using the $25 unlimited data/phone service from Visible. Now, it’s impossible for me to break away from the Apple ecosystem.

Anyway, over at Stack Social, I just purchased Windows 11 Pro for $40. This is the full product key, not an “upgrade” key, meaning you could use it on a freshly built computer. I just basically upgraded my Windows 11 Home on my current computer.

For most people, Home is just fine for everyone. There are some differences, such as local accounts and Hyper-V and some extra security options (as well as more faster updates), but for the most part, I personally didn’t need to upgrade to Pro… But the sale price was so good (it’s normally $199), that I couldn’t pass it up. As of this writing, I don’t have buyer’s remorse.

When Windows 11 first launched in late 2021, video gaming was a problem with stutter and lag… but it was related to driver issues for video cards. Now that it’s been out for a few years, there are no issues with gaming. Since I started using Windows 11 Home in Nov 2022, I have been impressed with its performance over Windows 10.

Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition

Speaking of games, Epic Games is offering Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition for free. You guys know I love Fallout, so naturally, I’m going to encourage you guys to get it for free. Of course, I already own this on various platform (GOG, Steam, Xbox, etc.), and you can usually find it on sale.

This is the Ultimate Edition, which means all the DLC are incorporated in this game, so there’s a ton of great content to go through.

Of all the Fallout games, New Vegas is one of my top three. A lot of fans did not like the game when it first came out, but over time, I believe they’ve turn around and would agree with me that it’s a great game. The game is 13 years old, and it could benefit from a remaster or remake of the game, in my opinion.

Also, ROG Ally Update: On the day that it was available to pre-order on May 11, 2023, I overreacted and immediately ordered it from Best Buy. It was at a location and a time (noon-ish) and at Best Buy, that I normally don’t buy from online, and at such a high amount, that the unusual activity alerted my bank to issue a stop on my bank card. I had to basically go to the bank and told them that I did purchase the ROG Ally. Unfortunately, the bank already put a stop on the payment. That’s fine, I suppose I’ll just have to go to the physical store on June 13th to see if I can just buy one at their store. It kind of sucks because my local Best Buy closed this year, so I need to travel to another city to visit a Best Buy now. You know, all this could have been prevented, if ROG Ally would just make it available at all retailers… meaning if I had purchased it from Amazon, my bank would’ve just allowed it.

I suppose it’s probably better this way. Now that I’ve seen early reviews, it’s not exactly “twice as fast” as they’ve been claiming. The truth is, it sounds like the ROG Ally is about the same as the Steam Deck… the only difference is that the ROG Ally runs Windows 11 out of the box. Basically, once I get the ROG, I’m calling it my ROG GOG because it’ll be my GOG and Battle Net machine. I just cannot wait to play Diablo IV on handheld.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

Read more Weekend Gamer.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

ROG Ally vs Steam Deck

Description Play your way with the ROG Ally gaming handheld. Access any game that runs on Windows across all game platforms, including Steam, GOG, Xbox Game Pass, cloud gaming services, Android apps and more. Play anywhere, anytime, using handheld mode or by connecting the Ally to a TV and linking multiple controllers to play with friends. The Ally even transforms into a gaming PC by connecting to ROG XG mobile eGPU and dock - supporting mouse, keyboard, monitor, and more of your favorite peripherals. Equipped with an AMD Ryzen Z1 extreme processor, a smooth 7-inch 1080p 120Hz touchscreen with AMD FreeSync premium technology, and ROG intelligent cooling, the ROG Ally takes handheld gaming on to a whole different level. Read More ROG Ally Now enter the ROG Ally from Asus. The ROG Ally will address all the things that I wanted in my Steam Deck: Windows, faster chip, better screen, higher resolution, pleasing looks, and the ability to dock in their enhance graphics …

I pre-ordered the ROG Ally, the handheld PC gaming device from Asus, via Best Buy, which, as of this writing, is the only retailer selling this product. The Ally will arrive June 13th, 2023.

I’m excited, because I can easily run all my Windows-based games, such as Diablo IV on this handheld PC. The major problem with Steam Deck is that Steam OS is Linux-based system. Yes, I’m aware there are work-around, such you can install Windows on the Steam Deck … but I’m not doing it. Besides, the Steam Deck wasn’t designed as a Windows machine, there are some drivers and features that won’t work.

Anyway, even before I ordered the Steam Deck, I mentioned that I wanted a Windows-based device, but the expensive pricing (above $1,000) have kept me from pulling the trigger.

The ROG Ally is aggressively priced at $700, with a cheaper $600 model available at a later date. I’m glad I never purchased the OneXPlayer or Aya Neo handhelds.

Obviously, I don’t have the ROG Ally yet, but looking over the specs, almost everything is better than the Steam Deck, including faster processor, better screen (1080p at 120hz refresh rate), a faster UHS-II MicroSD card reader, faster-charging at 64W, slightly smaller, lighter, better cooling (two fans), free three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, fingerprint reader, Dolby Atmos with smart AMP, and, again it runs Windows 11.

Although I praise that with Windows I have access to more of my games, the bad side to Windows is that it wasn’t designed to be on a small 7 inch screen. Navigating Windows with joysticks probably isn’t fun either… however, I’m willing to put up with all that so I can use GOG or Battle Net.

I think for most people, the Steam Deck will be just fine for people (especially if they don’t like Windows), but I really feel the ROG Ally will fit most gamer’s needs.

Plus, importantly, with a direct competition, I hope Valve get off their butt and release a Steam Deck 2 or something. They don’t have to release it, maybe just make an announcement on what they are working on. Maybe not just Steam, but I would welcome even more computer makers get into this market. I would love to see an official MicroSoft handheld. They already make the MicroSoft Surface and the Xbox… why not make an exclusive Xbox Handheld? Heck, Sony should make a Vita 2!

Right now, I’m still playing in Steam Deck and putting in over 80 hours, at 30 minutes at a time during my lunch break, on Fallout 4. I love the ability to start up a quick game while I have a little time.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

Details from tomshardware.com:

Spec	Steam Deck	ROG Ally
CPU	Custom Zen 2 "Van Gogh," 4 cores, 8 threads, 2.4 - 3.5 GHz	AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme (Zen 4, 8 cores / 16 threads, up to 5.1 GHz, 4 nm)
GPU	8 RDNA 2 compute units, 1.0 - 1.6 GHz	RDNA 3, 4GB VRAM, 12 compute units at 2.7 GHz clock with Z1 Extreme, 4 compute units at 2.5 GHz with Z1
RAM	16GB LPDDR5	16GB LPDDR5-6400
Storage	512GB m.2 NVMe SSD	512GB NVMe PCIe 4 M.2 SSD
External Storage	SD card slot (UHS-I)	SD card slot (UHS-II)
Display	7-inch touchscreen, 1280 x 800 (16:10), 60 Hz, IPS, anti-glare etched glass	7-inch touchscreen, 1920 x 1080, 120 Hz, IPS touchscreen with Gorilla Glass Victus and Gorilla Glass DXC
Battery	40 WHr	40 WHr
Power	45 W	65 W
Operating System	SteamOS 3.0 (Linux)	Windows 11 Home
Weight	1.47 pounds / 669 grams	1.34 pounds / 608 grams
Price	$649	$699.99
Release Date	February 25, 2022	June 13, 2023

Read more Weekend Gamer and Technology

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Google I/O 2023

Read More Google a Google home, as everything is built around the Google Home Hub application. If you don’t mind giving Google your information, you can use many of their services - for free. That’s the attractive thing, it’s mostly free. …

Here’s all the products announced at Google’s I/O 2023.

Pixel Tablet
We’ve seen similar designs from Lenovo, but hopefully the upcoming Google Pixel Tablet will be a faster and better experience. Like that other design, the Tablet is a picture frame when you dock it to the magnetic charger and speaker. If you want to use it as a tablet, you just pick it off the stand… think of it as a tablet that is always charged.

I’m not entirely sure if I will use it on a daily basis, since I already love my iPad 12.9 for the big display and fast processor… the Pixel Tablet is kind of a step down.

Pixel 7A
At $500, the “A-Series” of Google’s phones are the affordable version of their Pixel phones. I’ve been unimpressed with their previous A phones. The phones are not fast or flashy, they’re basically a budget/cheap version of their regular phones… Having said all that, I think the 7A is the phone that I’m actually interested in. That’s because, for the first time, their A phones are going to include wireless charging. I have been all-in on wireless charging, it is hard for me to go back to the old way of charging my phone.

While I’m not in the market to replace my iPhone 14, I might pick up the 7A as my backup phone… mostly because for a limited time, Google is throwing in a free Pixel Buds A-Series if you buy the new 7A phone. I have a Pixel Bud Mint Color and I think it’s one of the best earbuds I own. I love that rubber nub that locks the buds in my ear.

I guess it all depends on if I can buy the Asus ROG Ally (the better and faster Steam Deck) or not. I have already devoted my budget of $800 to buy the new handheld gaming PC.

Pixel Fold
As soon as I saw the price for this upcoming Google’s folding phone, at $1,800, that’s a hard pass for me. As cool as it looks, there’s no way I’m spending that kind of cash on sometime that is unproven. I would love for the price to be sub $1,000... that is the magic number for me.

As a fan of technology, I’m always interested in seeing new products. My complaint about Google has a bad reputation about introducing something and then not supporting it. Plus, I hate to say it, but their products look boring.

Still, I love the fact that I can find any Google products in retail stores, such as my local Target or Walmart. Knowing me, I might just end up buying their Pixel Tablet on a whim, while standing in line at a Best Buy or something.

Read more Technology

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Sony 70-200mm GM F2.8 OSS

Read More Sony What I am eyeing, is the rather expensive Sony 70-200mm G-Master Lens. It retails for $2,500, but I have seen it as low as $2,000 during the Black Friday/Christmas sale. I know the price is way more expensive than the …

As I previously mentioned, I had my eye on the Tamron 50-400mm lens, since I wanted a nice long reach at 400mm… but unfortunately, due to the F6.3 (at 400mm), it’s not suitable for photographing concerts.

Then, the idea popped in my head to look at the Sony 70-200mm GM F2.8 OSS lens. This is the original lens that started Sony’s Gold Master (or G Master) lens line up in 2016. Sony has four types of lens: basic (not labeled), Zeiss (developed in cooperation with Carl Zeiss), G (Gold), and GM (Gold Master). G Master is the highest tier, basically the best of the best.

For most photographers, any lens, at any F-Stop should be fine in daytime. For people shooting night photography, you want a low F-Stop… so for a time, I just thought the G Master lens was just too expensive.

But as I looked into it, the low F2.8 started to look more attractive. Once Sony released a version 2 of the 70-200 in 2021, prices for the original version dropped from $2,500 to $2,000… making it slightly more affordable.

When you read into it, you find out that the lens can produce 30 frames a second, if you have a camera that can take advantage of it (no third party lens can do this per Sony’s restrictions). On top of that, with a 2x teleconverter, you can turn the Sony 200mm lens to a 400mm (but it will make the lens a F5.6). Finally, Sony’s Ring Drive Super Sonic wave motor, with Double linear motor, combined with Optical Stabilization (OSS), is one of the fastest autofocusing system on the market.

Basically, I’m just trying to convince myself that all these future-proof features are worth the $2,000 I paid for the lens. And guess what? After using it for concert photo shoot, it’s absolutely worth it!

I’m serious, every shot I looked at my view screen and I’m like Wow! That’s sharp! After a few more shots, I’m like all these photos are keepers!

The Sony G-Master lens, at low light, is on another level! I’ve been using the Tamron 28-200mm (F5.6 at the 200mm end), and while the lens performs fine in good light… it does produce grainy or soft images when you’re shooting in poor lighting conditions.

Now for the negative: the first generation of the 70-200mm F2.8 GM lens is heavy. It’s really heavy. Officially, Sony lists the lens as weighing 3.3lbs, but it feels like 5lbs (the version 2 solves the weight problem by bringing it down to 2.3lbs). Basically, you’ll need both your hands to shoot. You’re going to tire out after a long shooting session… so most people use a tripod or monopod. In fact, Sony knows this, and included a removable tripod foot for the lens (which doesn’t fit Arca mounts).

Size Matters: Sony 70-200mm vs Tamron 28-200mm

The lens is also very long at 8 inches (12 with the hood… it’s the size of a Subway sandwich). The reason for this is because of the internal zooming mechanics. Adding the lens hood, the GM lens is twice as long as my Tamron 28-200 when collapsed.

The size and weight of the 70-200 GM lens makes it unconventional to just bring to, like a birthday party, or just randomly doing impromptu street photography. This is a business lens, that requires planning and commitment.

Still, despite the monstrous size and weight, I think it’s a fair tradeoff for amazing image quality. You can always look at version 2, if the weight bothers you, but I don’t think it’s worth the extra $800.

Anyway, from my experience of shooting with the 70-200 GM lens, I think it’s a very, very good lens. I’m going to try and take it on a hike, when the weather is a little warmer.

P.S. I was surprised to see that the 70-200 GM lens came with its own padded carrying case (with shoulder strap). All the lens I’ve ever purchased never came with its own custom carrying case, so this is a very nice addition.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Visibile Update

Visible Mobile Unlimited everything, no hidden fees Get the unlimited data, messages and minutes you love without hidden fees raising your cost. 99% of the US population covered Visible is by Verizon, so all Visible’s benefits come with America’s most reliable 5G network. All the hotspot usage you can handle There are no data limits on your hotspot usage so feel free to stream wherever you are. 24/7 access to human assistance We don’t have stores, but we can still offer you access to our care team via chat, at any hour. Add a smartwatch for just $5/mo Bring your own Apple Watch, or buy one from us. Read More Visible I’ve been using internet-only telephone service called Visible for three months now… and I feel I’ve experienced all the pain and strain of using their service. The short story is that this is a very inexpensive mobile service . …

I’ve been on Visible since March 2021, and have zero complaints about the service. For the first year, I was still hesitant about switching over entirely (I still had my old phone as backup), but eventually Visible became my main phone.

In fact, when I was shopping for a permanent home internet solution, Visible temporarily became my home internet for a few months. I can tell you, it’s truly unlimited, I was burning about 500GB of data a month!

Anyway, now that we’re two years in Visible, they’re making some upgrades to their network. I’ve known the changes since September 2022. I’ll confess, I wasn’t looking forward to upgrading, because I knew that it meant a price increase, because they were removing the $15 discount called “Party Pay”.

On Valentine’s Day, Visible forced existing users to upgrade to one of their two services: their standard $30 line or a faster “plus” line for $45. I was happy to see that Visible did the right thing and kept my bill to my original $25 by giving existing members a “Value Member Discount.”

Switching and activating a new line, it was painless for me. I’m on an all e-Sim iPhone 14, so while it was creating a new 5G eSim EID number, I lost phone service for about 10 minutes.* I believe if you are on an older phone, Visible may have to mail you a physical SIM card insert and activate (this could take weeks to mail). Most modern phones, starting with iPhone XS (2018) and Google Pixel 4 (2019) have eSim support.

Visible Speed Test (14 Feb 2023)

I tested the 5G Visible Speed as soon as the new line was activated, and it shows about 90mbps download - however, I should point out that during congestion, Visible will slow your speed down. I’ve also read that watching Netflix and YouTube, Visible will slow your connection to SD video... but since I don’t stream videos on my phone so I basically don’t care. If you are going to be upset about SD video you can always pay $15 extra for their Plus service (which has “premium data”). I am not aware that Visible downgrade connection to Spotify or other music streaming services, so music should be fine through your phone.

Anyway, basically, all the limitations (like the 5mbps hotspot) on Visible’s old plan are present here. The only improvement is that, according to Visible, the new network is more reliable.

If you want to try out the service at $30 or $45, please use my referral code 3ng2nr, which basically pays for my phone bill for a month.

PS, there are some things you need to know: you need to know how to remove SIM cards or activating eSim, etc. If you don’t know what a SIM card is or how to get your EID number from your phone, I can’t recommend Visible to you. Visible has a bad reputation for terrible customer services - because it’s almost impossible to get help from them. You’re forced to use their app (it’s required), you’re forced to “chat” (no voice call), and there’s constantly a long wait list. But hey, if you can solve things yourself, Visible remains the best value in unlimited phone and internet. There is no other phone plan that compares to $30 for unlimited data/phone with no data cap.

* Note: I had to restart my phone and restart Visible’s app to get it to work a second time, so you might have to do the same thing if you are having trouble switching over to the new Visible phone line. Make sure you have the latest update and you’re required to be connected to WiFi when Visible is activating the new upgraded line.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

StackSocial

Read More VPN I've been testing out some free VPN (Virtual Private Network) services. You may have a need for a VPN for various reasons: privacy, ad-blocking/ad-tracking, removing restrictions, etc. …

Ever since I bought my first purchase on StackSocial in Jan 2023, I’ve been addicted to the discounted website.

Looking into StackSocial, it’s own by American company StackCommerce, founded by Josh Payne.

The website specializes in flash sale… So these great prices are only good for a set amount of time. They’ve been around since 2011, even though I’ve never heard of them until earlier this year.

I like deals, and wanted to pass along some things that caught my eye:

Microsoft Office Professional 2021 Lifetime License for $39.99. I bought it for $29.99, but even at $10 more, it’s still a great price. Note that MicroSoft will not support Office 2021, instead focusing on their subscription product Office 365 in 2023.

AdGuard Family Plan: Lifetime Subscription for $30. I was looking for an ad blocker on my iPad or iPhone, so I saw this one-time fee for AdGuard. Unfortunately, reading its fine print, this only applies to new users. So, instead, I signed up for AdLock’s Lifetime for $20… which, apparently “Lifetime” means 10 years to this company.

RealVPN: Lifetime Subscription for $30. There are actually a bunch of VPN Lifetime Sub, so just do a search for your favorite. I did not buy any Lifetime sub, because I was already paying for Atlas VPN… but after my subscription expires, I will likely look for a Lifetime deal. A few years ago, I did some research on free VPNs (which is why I went with Atlas) … and while the “price is right” (free), there are so many drawbacks for free VPN. If you don’t mind paying a one-time price for a “lifetime” subscription, why not? Again, “lifetime” has different meaning to companies, so be aware that when they say lifetime, they mean the life of the company.

Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership for $60. This includes a $30 digital CostCo gift card, which needs to be used all at once. I believe this only applies to new members. I didn’t look that closely, because I had a Sam’s Club membership for two years, and I found that I don’t shop often enough to warrant paying a yearly membership.

Apple iPad Pro 12.9" 32GB WiFi Space Gray for $499. I already have an iPad Pro 12.9”, and I paid around $900, so for $500, it’s a good price. Note that this item is refurbished (not new), and, looking at the images, it is the first generation iPad Pro from 2018 (which I own at one time).

BirdBike eBike for $899. It’s snowing in Minnesota, and I’m in Winter Hibernation mode, so I’m not buying this eBike anytime soon. But I love the fact that I can pedal, and when I come up to that hill, I can get assistance from the motor. The bike looks good and it does come with free shipping.

PDF Reader Pro Smart PDF Editor & Converter Tool for $39.99. You currently cannot buy any Adobe products without requiring a subscription fee. I don’t have a need to create/edit PDF files, so I’m not buying this… but if you need this software, this $40 price by PDF Technologies is a deal.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Bundle for $4.99. You get two Knights of the Old Republic game for $5, so you’re paying $2.50 for each game. You need Steam to redeem the games.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Lens Update and Winter Hibernation

Read More Sony I’m in the market for a new high end camera, so I was debating on buying the Sony A9 (used) and Sony A7 IV, as they were about the same price. For non-Sony camera enthusiasts, let me break down …

Happy New Year!

I wanted to buy the Tamron 50-400mm lens for the Sony E-Mount last Aug 2022. On paper, it looks like it was exactly the lens I needed. When I am shooting a concert, I prefer to shoot from the back of the room… and for that, you need a big reach - in this case, the Tamron would go up to 400mm.

When the lens came out in Sep 2022 and the reviews started coming in… it felt more and more like the lens would not be a good fit for my needs. In all the reviews I’ve read and watched, the consistent downfall to the lens is that it did not perform well indoors. For low light lens, you need to a low F-Stop, and for the Tamron 50-400mm, the F is 4.5-6.3. Since I needed the lens for concert photography, this was a deal breaker.

The other thing is the price. I originally thought it the Tamron would cost, at most, $800 (based on other similar lens in this category on other camera companies) … but when I read that the retail price is $1,300, it was a sticker shock. I’m sure the price is fair, based on Tamron’s stabilization system and USB-C updates and settings.

So where does that leave me? While I am pretty happy with the Tamron 28-200mm, I am still looking for a nice, fast lens.

What I am eyeing, is the rather expensive Sony 70-200mm G-Master Lens. It retails for $2,500, but I have seen it as low as $2,000 during the Black Friday/Christmas sale. I know the price is way more expensive than the Tamron, but what the Sony lens offers is the ability to use a teleconverter with the native Sony lens. Essentially you can double the distance, making the Sony lens a 140-400mm lens at the cost of losing some F-Stop.

Speaking of which, the F-Stop for the Sony lens is constant 2.8. This is why the lens is so expensive, you rarely see telephoto lens with this low of a number. It’s supposed to be the best of the best.

One final thing, the Sony G-Master lens has built-in stabilization in the lens. I’ve own and used older native Sony lens, and their stabilization is top in its class. My current Tamron 28-200mm doesn’t have stabilization, so I have to rely on the camera’s body stabilization. I can tell you that it’s not as good.

Since I’m still officially in hibernation, buying the lens is not a priority for now. So, hopefully, by April 2023, when I come out of hibernation, I can find the lens for $2k.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Microsoft Office Professional 2021 Lifetime License for $30

Office Professional 2021 includes: Microsoft Office Word Microsoft Office Excel Microsoft Office PowerPoint Microsoft Office Outlook Microsoft Office Teams Microsoft Office OneNote Microsoft Office Publisher Microsoft Office Access Read More MicroSoft Anyway, when I saw that the new MicroSoft’s Surface Pro 7 (with keyboard cover) on sale for $600, I couldn’t pass it up. Currently their price is $700, but MicroSoft’s website is still showing $600. …

Happy new year!

I’ve previously said that I hated the idea of “renting” software. When MicroSoft decided to go to a subscription-based model for their Office produced (called Office 365) in 2013, I gave up on MicroSoft Office. In the past, I have worked with other alternative software, such as LibreOffice, and, recently WPS Office (which I wrote about in Sep 2022).

So, all of that has changed as of today, January 1, 2023. I’m completely back on MicroSoft Office (in fact, this article is written on Word). That’s because I just bought the Microsoft Office Professional 2021 lifetime license for $30, after reading about it on C-Net. The article referenced Stack Social, which I’ve never heard of until today.

There are some restrictions: the license only grants one computer at a time and you have to pay the one-time payment using PayPal or Venmo. That’s actually not a choice, since PayPal owns Venmo. My PayPal account was burned a while back when hackers got access to it, so it’s permanently disabled for the time being. My only option was creating a Venmo account, and that went pleasantly easy. You need a phone and an app, and it seemed pretty secure. Just set your privacy to private, as by default, it’s set to public.

After payment went through, you’re given a code, which is tied to your MicroSoft Windows account. After installing Office, everything just worked. I now own Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and so many other Office productivity software. What a deal for $30.

I still stand behind WPS Office and will likely to use it on my laptop or my iPad, considering that my MicroSoft Office can only be used on my main computer. I can live with that, since most of my productivity will be done on my primary PC.

So far, I love being back in Office. It’s been a long time. I do miss it. No matter how amazing the copycat software are, nothing compares to the real thing.

If you have a business or a student, the life time ownership of Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for $30 is an amazing deal, I highly recommend you getting it right now. The sale ends on 1/8/2023. Even if you only want to use one of the products, it’s definitely worth it. If you decide to pass this up, you are going to kick yourself when you need Office in the future.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Weekend Gamer: Daymare 1998

Read More GOG As you know, I’m a huge GOG (Good Old Games) fan and was very excited about the news of GOG Galaxy 2.0 in June 2019. I have been using the GOG Galaxy …

My favorite gaming e-retailer, GOG, is giving away their sixth, and final, free game giveaway in the next few days: Daymare 1998. I’ve been a big fan of GOG, or previously known as Good Old Games, as they were the only company that sold their games DRM-Free, which means you can take your game anywhere, without restrictions. Unfortunately, big Triple A game companies, like Sony and Xbox will not allow their games to run without DRM… so, as a result, GOG was never a big hit with mainstream gamers.

Sure the free games like Worms Revolution Gold Edition and Broken Sword: Director's Cut, aren’t going to impress anyone… but they’re part of PC history and I’m happy to have them in my library.

PS, I have tried to run GOG on the Steam Deck using the Heroic launcher… but I can’t seem to get a game to run correctly on Steam OS (which is based on Linux). I wish GOG would make an effort to make an official launcher or something… I would love to run my GOG games on the Steam Deck.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

Read more Weekend Gamer.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

EmuDeck: Emulators on Steam Deck

Read More Steam There’s no more waiting… You can now buy Steam Deck, right now, without reservation. According to steampowered, it’s been more than a year since it was first announced, but due to numerous supply chain issues and …

Since upgrading my Steam Deck to include 1TB of internal storage, I’ve had more space to play around with.

I started dabbing into emulation to see how well it works… and no surprise, the Steam Deck can emulate almost everything! You can do this officially using RetroArch on the Steam storefront … for other emulation software, such as YuZu, you are going to have to manually install it using the desktop mode of Steam OS.

There are too many emulation software... so the best and easiest way to install all of them, you are going to want to use EmuDeck (via their website emudeck.com).

Follow the instructions on their website... but it’s pretty easy. Once you install it, find the ROM folder and add your ROMs. It might be hidden, so you’ll need to change your view.

Next, run Steam ROM Manager and click on “preview”. This will automatically download artwork and index your ROMs. Click on “save”.

Now, when you start your Steam Deck, you should be able to see all your ROM games in “Non-Steam Deck” folder. You can launch each game individually… or as I prefer, I use Emulation Station, which is an all-in-one launcher.

So far, I’m having a good time testing out old games to see how they run. Most will run, some might take some tweaking. I can’t see myself spending too much time on these old games… but I like the idea of carrying around all these games in your pocket!

I wish Nintendo would just make their old games available for purchase on Steam… as of this writing, this is the only way of getting these games on the Steam Deck. Before you rage, Nintendo doesn’t even make their old games on their Switch (which I also own) without paying a monthly fee. There’s no option of paying for a game.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

Read more Technology.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com