August, 2022 | Fire Boy and Water Girl Play

Lucille Wood
August 6, 2022
0 Comments

Game Console Repair – Fix Game Consoles For Profit

The gaming industry is worth approximately 20 billion dollars and is growing all the time with thousands of consoles being purchased every week throughout the world.

Unfortunately each console has its own specific problems and can break down with sometimes disastrous consequences, you will have to send your console to be repaired and it could take between 2 – 6 weeks to get it returned or to be told you need a new one you could also end up paying about $150 for the privilege of being told that your pride and joy cannot be repaired.

Why not try and repair it yourself? I am not suggesting you attack your Xbox with a pair of pliers but you can purchase a guide online with all the information to repair all common issues. You can get an online repair guide for about $30 and they cover all major consoles. You could fix the xbox red ring of death, or the PlayStation 3 blinking yellow light problem, so not only could you fix your own console within an hour you could also save yourself the best part of $100 to spend on more games for your beloved console.

Now imagine this, with the amount of consoles in the world today and the amount of broken consoles about why not use your new skills to repair pre-owned game consoles and sell them on for a generous profit. Pre-owned consoles that require fixing are readily available on eBay and other similar places you could buy them up cheap and fix them and sell them back on eBay. So what started as a hobby could turn into a business and you could get your share of the 20 billion dollars.…

Lucille Wood
projects
technology
August 4, 2022
0 Comments

The Four Truths of Technology Projects

As a long-time public sector Chief Information Officer I have always focused on building community-not just building bedrooms. Several years ago, we identified three goals. The first was to lay out a plan that would bring our city onto the playing field with the top “connected” cities in the nation. The second was to create increased competition among technology providers in our metropolitan edge community. And our third goal was to position homes in the city for a future of ultra high-speed Internet, futuristic digital and high definition television and entertainment and mobile communications.
The result included one of the most comprehensive municipal technology projects in the nation. Our projects addressed a broad range of community technologies including broadband, Wi-Fi, digital television and cellular wireless. By looking at the total community technology spectrum, we are not trying to get a point product (such as Wi-Fi) to meet all our citizens’ needs. We are looking for multifaceted solutions to meet a wider range of citizens’ needs.
Over the years we developed some leading edge technologies (for their time). We were one of the first cities in Arizona to convert to a total VOIP (Voice over IP) converged communications system, we embraced key technologies such as a internally developed electronic permitting system, and we developed a state of the art data center. We developed many citizen oriented services such as providing information about their address from multiple public data sources. And we provided an extensive look into our financial systems provided by public monies. Many of our initiatives were designed to fulfill our goal of providing citizens and our employees with advanced technology and communication in the medium of their choice.
In the middle of our innovation binge (now tempered with a struggling economy), I asked myself a few rhetorical questions: Why are leading-edge projects so hard to understand? What does it take for staff and other management see the light? Why does everyone (or so it seems) fight the project? As I looked back across my 25+ years in IT some of my more innovative initiatives-large and small, successful and failed-I identified some common patterns that I call “The Four Truths.”
Truth #1: Innovation is change
Change and innovation walk on the same path. Change and innovation threaten the status quo and upset the apple cart. The American public loves innovation, except when it surfaces in their own backyards. My own staff was uneasy with some of the projects and how it might change their roles. They were fearful that a project would be thrust at them on top of their already burdensome workload. As we rolled out some of the larger projects, we started to understand how our role would be one of oversight rather than hands-on in the trenches installation. Change management would continue to be an educational process, not just from the tactical and operational aspects, but also from the strategic value that such a project would bring to the City.
Truth#2: The road will be blocked
Every innovation effort includes a series of roadblocks that attempt to keep us from our stated goals. It is too easy to listen to the naysayer’s and critics. Successful project managers are those who forge a path over, around or through the roadblocks.
Truth #3: Innovation without implementation is merely a dream
Our quest for innovation has taught me that many visionaries have great dreams, but few can bring those dreams to fruition. Some of our projects were hard to implement, but perseverance and hard work by a team of brilliant technicians led to completion. Many of the projects had to bring diverse stakeholders together and I sometimes find that keeping a project in focus and on track is harder than actually doing the project.
Truth#4: Innovation without marketing is soon be forgotten
Marketing is not just about selling a product; it’s about selling a concept. It’s about convincing stakeholders that you can see their future and that the idea will satisfy their needs and enhances their lives. As CIOs we have all seen superior products fall by the wayside because marketing was weak or ineffective or because the competitor’s marketing was superior.
Marketing must be pursued throughout the entire innovation process. You must market the idea in order to bring it to the table. Once the idea is introduced, you market to the stakeholders and customers, and then to the press and the media. After roll-out, you must continue marketing to the customers to make sure the products or services deliver on your promises. Communication of the project vision has its ups and downs. Sometimes, our senior management team had to be convinced how their departments could be impacted by the project.
When it comes to innovation, there’s one foundational trait underlying all these truths-persistence. Bertrand Russell said “No great …

Lucille Wood
August 2, 2022
0 Comments

Fixing PS3 YLOD – Try These 5 Ideas

When your PlayStation 3 breaks down and display the yellow light of death it can be very frustrating. You may have been planning to play the latest release with your mates or wanting to settle in for a movie with your partner. Either way you can’t and it ticks you off. Never fear though you could have it working again in no time at all by just trying these five simple YLOD fixes.

1. Obviously you could send your machine back to Sony for repair. If it is under warranty they will fix it for free, however if it isn’t it can costing the region of $ 150 to fix. If you do decide to send it off then you can expect not to see your console for around six weeks. A majority of times the hard drive is wiped and you can lose all your game data, saves and other information.

If this doesn’t sound like a good option for you then carry on Reading as I have a few more tricks for you to try out.

2. Dis-connect the console from the mains power supply and check that all cables are securely in place. Also check the condition of the cables. Once checked over turn the console back on.

3. Check your console see if it is unusually hot anywhere, overheating is a major cause of the yellow light of death. Take a peek at the vents on the side of the console to see if it is blocked with dust or something else. If there is clean the vent with a dry clean cloth. Also check the surrounding area to see if there is enough room around your ps3 to allow for good air circulation, not to close to lots of other equipment which all produces heat.

4. If you have had no success by now then you should try removing the hard drive from the PlayStation 3. Don’t look so scared it is really a simple procedure. If you are not sure how to carry the procedure out then I suggest checking out the numerous tutorials online before you begin. Try this couple of times to solve the problem.

If you are still not enjoying a game of the latest call of duty at the moment it is probably something wrong with the motherboard. Stay with me though as I have one more suggestion for you.

5. Fix it yourself. Yes you read it right. It is possible to fix PlayStation problems including motherboard errors at home. While I don’t suggest taking a couple of screwdrivers to your console without knowing what you are doing you should take a look at a PlayStation 3 repair guide. There is a really good one written by Rob Sheffield, he has been fixing ps3s for over four years and uses the same methods that Sony use, so he knows what he is doing. The guide itself is really easy to follow and the use of videos only make the task of repairing your game console that much easier. Good luck with whatever method you decide to fix your PS3 YLOD.…