Junkball on 'Star Trek Borg'

 

[VIDEO] The Junkball YouTube channel talks about all things Trek. In this most recent video is a review of the interactive 1990s game Star Trek Borg, although I wish there was an episode or a movie with this title.

This game came out in 1996 and these days there are no such thing as CD-Roms. You have to download everything and possibly have to pay a monthly fee to continue using it. The 1990s were so simple!

In 1996, there were two Star Trek series that were airing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek:Voyager. Also in the holiday season of '96 was perhaps the best installment of features that star the crew of The Next Generation Star Trek: First Contact which actually featured the Borg.

I'd have to play the game in order to really give it a review though someone who is technically gifted gave it an update. Surely it was never intended to be played on today's high definition screens. It's cool to see one familiar character in Q played by John De Lancie and in a much younger iteration than we we would see him in the 2020s during Star Trek Picard.

Using the first iPad in 2020

[VIDEO] I can't believe it's 2020 and I probably said that about 2010. Ten years ago the first iPad was released and it was quite a boxy device. Perhaps one day I will show you the first iPad I bought which was actually the iPad 2 which isn't as boxy and the form factor I do miss these days.

It's amazing to see how the tech has evolved from the iPad to the iPhone for example and I've been thinking about showing you my favorite and first iPhone of all time. Interestingly for the iPhone I see there could be a return to the form factor that I do like from the various designs.

Either way I never owned the first iPad but it was a nifty device. As a consumer my first question ought to be what can I do with it? I know what I do with my iPad now which is basically surf the internet, check my social media, and my emails. Sometimes take photographs and video and more often use it for streaming.

To see this review brings back some memories of playing with this device at the Apple store on Michigan Avenue. However little did I know that I'd be playing with other devices in addition to an iPad from Apple Inc.

As an aside I wrote this about available tablet devices such as the iPad 2 back in 2011.

The first ever webcam

[VIDEO] I often enjoy the videos of one 8-bit guy on YouTube. He likes to show us the technology of computers and how they evolved from the time they became available to the general public.

This recent look at a 20 year old webcam underscores how this technology has evolved. It was funny how he described using this device as almost similar to say a 19th century daguerreotype. You have to sit still for such a long exposure and for that reason no one smiled for a picture back in the day.

It was from this webcam that now we seem to use such cameras to monitor our homes for example.

57 nerdy things about the original 6 "Star Trek" movies

From the first Star Trek movie in 1979 to the last film featuring the cast from the original series in 1991 we see a list of trivia from those original series films.

I found this bullet point to be the funniest one. It involved a certain computer seen in 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - yes the one with the whales...

31. Hello computer?!? The Apple Mac wasn't supposed to be in the factory, and the original Commodore Amiga model was originally supposed to be in its place. Commodore Business Machines refused to send a sample machine for filming and simply told the film crew that they had to buy one. Apple just sent a machine and a member of staff to help out.

Commodore also stated it didn't want to be associated with Star Trek. Facepalm...

Excuse me what's a Commodore?

BTW, here's the scene in question Scotty is trying to use a 1980s Apple Macintosh machine but speaking through its mouse. Well it was an hilarious scene and even better while Scotty may not know how to use a mouse he typed the hell out of that keyboard! [VIDEO]

Not bad for a guy who seemed to have started off only with two index fingers at first!

Adventures in getting connected online...

I like to state that I've been fooling around with the internet for many years in the pre-Facebook - Twitter - Instagram - Myspace years. The internet of the late 1990s was so low-tech I often wondered if my teenaged-self head would explode with what the internet offers day.

Most people years ago connected via dial-up and only recently did my home get connected with DSL broadband. Dial-up was cheap broadband wasn't and thankfully DSL prices went down - even if introductory - to the point where I felt comfortable going for it.

All the same that doesn't mean things don't happen to the point where you'd have to call for help. I'm learning that even DSL is headed towards being obsolete. Since my DSL service is through AT&T now I'm learning about U-verse which is supposed to be fast internet as opposed to DSL although Uverse is DSL of some sort.

Anyway it's a bit of a hassle to even get tech support via AT&T because if you have a problem with service as I have then they might decide well that's an opportunity to upgrade. The only thing is all you want is the possibility of a restoration of service. In that instance even getting a new modem seems out of the question as I had been told.

So regardless after seeing how difficult it can be to get through the AT&T sales pitch and finally get some internet service restored and was told finally that we should just get another DSL modem for now. It took time to get service back and while I'm confident in my ability to do things on my own I was forced to call AT&T to get my new modem up and running.

I'm really glad I did and after almost three days offline I'm back on the web. All I needed was to use the correct password to get back to where I wanted to be. That means more activity on the PC and away from my various mobile devices.

CNet: What we don't know about the iPad mini...

Well at this point I know that there will be a smaller version of the iPad coming at some point in the near future it's been rumored for a long time. It would be a cool thing carry around and probably easier if you're carrying it in a bag.

With my iPad my fantasy was to bring it with me while out and about. This contraption might make that much easier. Still I find myself wondering what's the point of a smaller iPad? Could this thing instead be an early version of the iPad 4?

I'm fan of the form function of the iPad 2 and 3. I can put it away in a bag just as easily while out and about. Surely it would make for the perfect travel companion as well. If you have wifi you can surf the internet on it much easier than using the iPhone. Of course one doesn't need an iPod if you have a nice hard drive size iPad with you as well.

Anyway for a different reason I won't be falling all over the "iPad mini". It's just not worth it for me at this point. Especially if there is a larger iPad (that is the one I currently own) being sold along with the mini. There has to be a purpose to it.

When it is finally unveiled, I hope to learn more about it's purpose.