Old KMA Site (2005-06)
 

The wait is over, as Grand Theft Auto 4 for the PC was released December 2, 2008. In only a matter of days there has been a large number of gamers that have experienced many bugs, including poor frame rates, short draw distances, crashes, and missing textures; even on powerful gaming machines. Excitement over new multiplayer features exclusive to the PC, turned to disappointment with connection issues and the forced start of the "Rockstar Social Club" everytime you load windows... The included SecuROM copy protection has also been known to cause problems for some users, to the point where a class-action lawsuit has been filed for it's use in previous PC titles such as "Spore".
 
Many have scoffed at Rockstar's responses to the high volume of bugs, passing many of the problems off on graphics driver issues, or even suggesting:
 
"Most users using current PC hardware as of December 2008 are advised to use medium graphics settings. Higher settings are provided for future generations of PCs with higher specifications than are currently widely available."_{Rockstar's tech support}
 
Potential buyers may want to take a wait and see approach with GTA4, as it's true value as a console-to-pc port will be determined by how well Rockstar is willing to patch the game.

What are RSS Feeds?
Many websites have links labeled "XML" or "RSS" or "Atom". All this means is that you can find out about updates to that site, without having to visit it in your web browser. This feature is referred to as "syndication" or "aggregation" . Sometimes it's just called subscribing. And these days, instead of one of these words, lots of sites will use a little orange button. The standard one looks like this: It's also common to see buttons that say "RSS" or "XML", which looks like this:

All these links and buttons simply means this: The site you're viewing has a feed available.

Choosing the right Feed Reader
There are many different options when it comes to subscribing to feeds. A "Feed Reader" is required for using Web Feeds. This tool works like an e-mail program, but no e-mail address is needed. The user subscribes to a web feed, and then will receive updated content, every time updating occurs. Feed Readers may be online (similar to webmail) or offline. Feed readers are used in personalized home page services like iGoogle or My Yahoo or My MSN to put content such as news, weather and stock quotes appear on the user’s personal page. Content from other sites can also be added to that personalized page, again using feeds.

Browser Based Feed Readers
Modern browsers have some functionality as feed readers, with Opera probably having the best features at the time of this writing. However, most lack alot the functionality available in other types of feed readers. We'd advise you skip using your browser as a feed reader, at least until the technology improves.

Software Based Feed Readers
Well I have to admit I have yet to try any of the software based feed readers. I'm sure there are alot of them. From a "gamers" perspective, I don't want any program that is going to automatically download anything and effect my internet connection. For this reason I've stayed away from these type of readers.

Web-Based Based Feed Readers
Probably the easiest and most dynamic way to read all of your RSS feeds is to setup an online reader page. Many sites offer "custom home pages" and let you include the content you are interested in. These would be our TOP PICK and are profiled below...

Mobile Feed Readers
Recently a number of mobile readers have arrived to the market. Some newer cell phones and other mobile devices are including RSS reader technology. So, if you have the right device, you can even stay updated on the KMA site on the go...

Here's our Choices for best web-based Feed Readers

Protopage ( LINK )
Probably our favorite of all the web-based feed readers. Many features including public and private "tabs" - and even pages that your friends can edit. All sorts of built in modules and the ability to display just about any feed that you can find. Here's our protopage for just a small example of what you can do:

http://www.protopage.com/kma-clan


Google Reader ( LINK )
Easy to use, and you can also "blog" or syndicate any news stories you like with a couple of clicks. Even your blog has it's own feed, so users can subscribe to your "blog". If you have an existing google account for services such as gmail, no extra registration(s) are required. Here's our shared page for an example of what you get:

http://www.google.com/reader/shared/09837831312260605727


Pageflakes ( LINK )
Easy to setup and register. Probably the best collection of default content, but not able to make your page public. You can share the page via email, and your friends will receive a copy of the page, and they can customize it to their needs. Here's our shared page for an example of what you get:

http://www.pageflakes.com/RO.aspx?pfp=hIylaqZrN0m9qBO916G2RQ


Netvibes ( LINK )
Probably the easiest setup and editing, and the feed reader itself has nice features. No sharing features at the time of this writing, but still everything you might need from a straight-up feed reader.


Blogarithm ( LINK )
Mostly geared toward tracking blogs and RSS feeds, does offer a cool tool to "republish" all your feeds, called a "Blogroll" to add to your blog or webpage. EXAMPLE ( LINK )
http://www.kma-clan.com/blog-roll.html

Other popular web-based Feed Readers

My Yahoo ( LINK )
Well registration was easy enough, but found the interface to be a little slow in IE. Visited the next day and cookies had already forgotten me. You dont really get a publicly share-able page either, can share only by email or IM, which is basically just a way to try and get your friends to sign up too. I suppose if you use yahoo services already it might be ok.... but otherwise not one of our favorites.


My AOL ( LINK )
Visited the next day and cookies had forgotten me, very similar to yahoo, with no publicly share-able page, you can share only by email or IM, which is basically just a way to try and get your friends to sign up too. I suppose if you use AOL services already it might be ok.... but otherwise don't bother.


My MSN ( LINK )
If you already have other msn services such as messenger you can use your same login. But that's about the only reason to use this service. Maybe others have had a better experience, but I found the MSN site to be very similar to their browser, incapable of processing the current version of many feeds. I'm sure MSN and Internet Explorer will catch up someday, but for now, use another service.

KMA FEEDS
Well here's links to FEED PREVIEWS of our RSS FEEDS, and example of what they will look like when viewed with a proper feed viewer. There are multiple options for subscribing to our feeds on our:
FEEDS PAGE
http://www.kma-clan.com/feeds.html


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_{SOURCES - Six Apart - Wikipedia}

_{Jay Mohr FOXSports.com}

This past year my wife and I were dosed at a restaurant. By "dosed" I mean we were drugged. It was a Mexican restaurant that I won't name — but it rhymes with Tel Jurrito. Judging by the way the parking lot of the restaurant was breathing; we both guessed that it was LSD. We both initially panicked. We went home for safety. My wife had a tough time riding it out.

I played Madden and it saved my life.
Neither my wife nor I do drugs. Neither one of us knew what an acid trip was like, but on that afternoon in the San Fernando Valley, we found out in a hurry. It started shortly after we paid our bill and tipped 20 percent (always!). We both started to sweat and get nervous. My wife kept asking me if I thought it was hot in the restaurant, I told her yes and then started wondering, "How does she know that it's hot in the restaurant?!"

I excused myself and went to the bathroom. Forty minutes later my wife stuck her head in the men's room and asked me if I was okay. Considering I was just sitting on the toilet, fully clothed, taking my pulse over and over again, I quickly surmised that I was not okay.
 
We decided to go to the store on the way home and get something to drink. My wife grabbed a few bottles of Coke Zero and I grabbed a two-liter bottle of Sunkist. I held it toward the heavens and exclaimed, "Look how ORANGE this is!" Mrs. Mohr said, "I don't like it, it's hurting my eyes!" When I yelled back, "I want to swim in it!" we froze, looked each other in the eye and realized we needed to get home as quickly as possible.

Not being able to tell the difference between taillights and red lights, I stopped for them both. Three hours into what was normally a 10-minute trip, we pulled into our driveway. My bride decided to crawl into bed and try and read a book.

I broke out the Madden '07.

I have always heard people who have done a lot of LSD say that you have to "ride the snake" and "don't let the snake ride you." I rode the snake all the way to The Meadowlands where I was the Jets playing at home against the Chiefs. It was a beautiful day for football. I was tripping my face off and the temperature was 52 degrees.

As Mike Nugent launched the opening kickoff towards Dante Hall, my wife shouted from the bedroom, "Honey, how do you feel?" My answer was, "GREAT!" And I was. The Chiefs wore red and white and the Jets wore white and green. Shaun Ellis wore number 92 and Kerry Rhodes wore number 25. Just like in real life.

A half hour later, I heard from the bedroom, "I am still kind of freaking out!" Not me. I was fine. Four hours into my first acid trip and I had found a safe place ... the Jets' huddle. Everything in this virtual world was just as I desperately needed it.

Chad Pennington wore No. 10 and Laveranues Coles caught anything that was near him. All the plays in the playbook were the same as when I wasn't tripping and all the players were just how I remembered them. Adrian Jones was useless for pass blocking. Tight ends worked wonderfully for me in the red zone. And the Chiefs couldn't stop the run against a Pop Warner team.
 
Pennington still had a weak arm and after he threw an interception I slammed my head set down on the ground and began screaming at the assistant coaches around me. As I started to ask Chad what the hell he was thinking, my wife hollered from the other room, 'Honey who are you yelling at?' I didn't really have an answer for her ... I meekly replied, "my coaches" and stared down at my fingers. Then I had a revelation! When you play Madden, your fingers are your coaches! Wow, was I HIGH!

For the love of God, please go out and buy your Madden '08 Tuesday. It might save your life. You never know when you might get slipped a mickey and find yourself listening to the Black Crowes, white knuckling a 55-yard field goal attempt as the walls of your house melt around you. I am going to get my Madden tomorrow and I'm suddenly craving enchiladas.

EA SPORTS, "Madden. Ride the snake."

Best of lucky, Jay Mohr

_{Courtesy Popular Science - www.popsci.com}
22" iZ3D is an advanced video monitor capable of displaying impressive into-screen and out-of-screen 3D images with passive polarized glasses. iZ3D is designed to replace standard two-dimensional monitors while maintaining commercial image quality and display brightness. iZ3D supports long-time viewing without causing fatigue or eyestrain. This advanced technology takes three dimensional applications already on today's market; such as PC games, 3D entertainment and professional stereo applications, and it allows users to experience their favorite 3D animation in a way they never could with a standard two-dimensional ("2D") monitor.

Approx. $1300 USD from www.iz3d.com

_{Courtesy Popular Science - www.popsci.com}

How it Works: The display converts the video signal [A] into electricity that it uses to stimulate a slice of lithium niobate crystal [B], which produces sound waves [C] in response to the current. These waves diffract lasers [D] through the crystal, turning them into hundreds of slices of light. That light travels through two mirrors [E] that project it at various angles onto a screen, where the slices stack up on either side of the display to create a 3d hologram.

 

Just to let the KMA nation know, Intenet Explorer 7 is out and now offers all those features that made users switch to Mozilla Firefox. RSS feeds, Tabbed Browsing, Improved Security, and more... Plus all those little things that didnt quite work with Firefox seem to work in IE7. Go ahead and download, all future KMA "How-To's" will be given for IE7 only, so if you are using another browser you are on your own...

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