I love nothing more than a good on-line game on the Xbox, but I’ve always found the available headsets inadequate in one way or another.
Lets start with the wired one, issued with the system. The overhead fitting is great and comfortable, but wired?? I don’t think so. So as with many of you I purchased the official wireless headset. Good charge, decent mic, but damn the over ear rubber torture ring was a killer. I’ll admit my ears are fairly big and after 30 mins or so the pain was unbearable.
My solution – fuse the two together and this is what I came up with:
What do you need:
Xbox Wireless Headset
Xbox Wired Headset (you probably got one with your xbox)
Sharp utility knife
Strong glue (I used loctite)
I started by removing the rubber ear hook from the wireless headset. They just pull off easily enough, exposing two little nubs that the rubber latches on to. These are held on by tiny little security screws. I managed to undo them with the smallest flat head I had, although I wrecked the head once I’d finished.
Now we take the knife to the wired headset and cut off the speaker and mic part. This can be roughly cut to start with, finishing with as level a cut you can make at the red line shown in this image:
This gives you a nice flat surface that can then be easily glued to the top side of the wireless headset as seen in the main picture. You may end up with a slight overlap which can be trimmed off once the glue has dried.
That’s it. A nice, comfortable, wireless headset for your Xbox 360. Enjoy!
Inspired by this post from John O’Nolan (@johnonolan) I wanted to have my say on how I think FreeAgent has revolutionised the one-man/small business accounting world. Bare in mind this is just my experience with in the UK.
In my opinion accounting still seems to be locked in the 50’s. Having only started my own company Tizma Ltd back in December of 2007 I’ve already seen my share of lunacy and mysticism.
This post is not focusing on the issues, but rather the positives and this is where FreeAgent came in for me. As I’m sure with most of their users I was recommended it by a freelancing colleague.
Well, I think it took me just a few hours that evening to decide I had to have it. So, I signed up there and then, only needing a few details from my accountants and the odd upload of previous transactions to put me bang up to date. They even give kick-backs for recommending users. The more you recommend the cheaper your subscription is…. Genius!
Accounting has gone from a dreadful chore to a simple task and as my confidence over the various aspects grows the more I’m taking back from my accountants. Its liberating.
The icing on the cake
Now, the best for last. FreeAgent also has a full blown API, I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. Admittedly they are a ruby shop and me being a .NET dude it took a little bit of twiddling the bits until I figured it out, but wow is it powerful.
As a one man business selling software direct over the web I strived for automation in the sales/fullfillment process. Since the launch of our first product CSV Easy I’ve had PayPal fully integrated using their IPN system. This allows immediate authorisation and license key generation to take place, arriving in the form of a nice “thank you” email to the customer in minutes. No involvement from me.
The missing piece has always been my accounts. So with the FreeAgent API I’ve created an extension to my fullfillment process that now adds the new contact and invoice automatically. Next time I login to FreeAgent there it is. Awesome!
Conclusion
If you’re a freelancer or a small business FreeAgent is a perfect fit. Thanks guys for an excellent application and service.
Wow, has it really been over four months since the last post. Well, life just loves to get in the way. Working hard on my business Tizma and preparing for fatherhood takes a lot of my time.
Anyhow, in the last week or so I’ve finally got stuck back into this project and hope to be more dedicated and regular with it. I’ve progressed far enough along now to start showing the game in action. So enjoy this early game-play video:
So, what’s going on? Tiles are randomly arriving from all edges of the screen. They will slide past each other and collide, stopping were they oppose one another.
You control the spinning target, this video shows the red one which is attached to player one. The left thumb-stick moves the target about and the right-thumb stick places directors.
Directors influence the direction a tile is moving. Pushing the relevant direction on the right thumb-stick places an arrow as seen in the demo. As the tile passes over the director is shifts to that direction. Eventually there will also be a stopper to make a tile completely stop.
This simple mechanic allows a hole host of tricks and techniques to build, bunch and move tiles around. The idea will be to break open areas of the screen to release trapped creatures by building up multiple tiles of the same type.
The intention is to allow four player co-op play. You can see another green target present, hooked up to player two.
Still experimental at this stage and I will endevour to be more prolific with these updates / diaries.
Comments are always welcome, and keep an eye on twitter for little tit-bits.
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