Ghost Hunt

Mitch's TV Rating: (M)

Mitch's Recommendation: 8/10 (Buy)

Ghost Hunt is a great anime, and the title pretty much sums up the series, a small group consisting of a Monk, a Shrine Maiden, a Spirit Medium, an Australian Priest, an Onmyoji, and 2 seemingly normal people, this small group travels around to places and basically Excorcises ghosts that haunt areas. Funnily enough what they are hunting rarely turns out to be a simple ghost yet in the end they always manage to succeed, a great deal thanks to Kazuya Shibuya and Mai Taniyama (the 2 seemingly normal people) Shibuya is the brains, and Mai seems to have visions that give her insight into whatever their case may be.

This anime is a horror, but only one of the story arcs is anywhere near what I would consider a horror, though the anime is still enjoyable by anyone and everyone, the (M) it gets is only for the one "horror arc" the others are all pretty kid friendly though I would suggest having a parent in the room, as little kids may find some things rather creepy.

Utawarerumono

Utawarerumono

Mitch's TV Rating: (M)

Mitch's Recommendation: 10/10 (Definite Buy)

Utawarerumono or rather "One Being Sung" (its Translation) was originally a H-Game, which means it was a game created for adults, as it contained some nudity, and possibly sex scenes, HOWEVER the anime has done away with the adult side of the story, and made it more family friendly, infact were it not for the violence I'd give this a TV rating of [PG].

The story starts following a man who has awoken from what was possibly a coma due to severe injuries, he wakes to find himself with no memories of his past, and his only worldly posession seems to be a bone mask that covers the upper half of his face, the mask also seems fused to his skull as it resista all attempts to remove it.

The story continues to epic proportions as Hakouro (the masked man) fights to uncover his identity while protecting those who have now become his family, to explain anymore would give too much of the plot away, however I highly recommend this anime as one of the best I have ever seen, the only downside to the entire anime is that alot of the fight scenes tend to just repeat old animations just with different backdrops. But dont let that deter you.

Anime Reviews

In my free time I tend to devote a large portion of it to watching anime, and since I have very little else to write about I have decided to start reviewing some of my more favorite series from the multitudes I watch.

Anyway first things first, some of you are probably scratching your head and asking "What is this 'Anime'" and to answer that question, it is a style of animation/cartoon that was developed by the Japanese, and almost if not all japanese cartoons are Anime. Of course there are some debates when it comes to this topic, as Americans have tried to take and adapt anime to their ways, I and alot of others do not see "American Anime" as anime.

Enough sidetracking, my Reviews will be layed out with an overview of the story, and my rating out of 10, and a rating I'd give it for TV (G, PG, M, R, X) because most of the anime has yet to be licensed here in Australia I am working mostly of fansubs until these Anime are released in Australia.

Google Reader

Google Reader is an online web based utility that handles RSS feeds similar to the way Flickr handles pictures, or Del.icio.us handles bookmarks, and that is that it groups them all in one place for greater ease of use for the user.  

Google Reader also allows the user to share his/her RSS feeds with friends, add tags, and group them so that each addition to the feed is separate  but under one heading, like a type of "categorisation" 

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are a utility that allow users to subscribe to sites on the internet that update regularly, so rather then checking sites for updates, the RSS feeds will inform you the moment an update as occurred which will save time for the user.

RSS feeds are not limited to sites, for example Itunes also use RSS feeds for a lot of podcasts and such that allow listeners to download podcasts at their leisure with ease as the Feed will produce a type of "shopping list" of downloads that have been uploaded to that feed.

Counters

Counters are handy little add-ons to web pages that allow the owner to view the traffic to and from his webpages, basic counters may only provide a numerical counter that shows how many hits the site has received.

The problem with the basic counters is they do not discern whether it is 10 people or 1 person that reloaded the page 10 times, while this may not bother the owners, it will detract from the overall accuracy.

The counter I installed on my blog only displays how many hits the page gets, but upon logging into my account on the providers site I am given a full report on how many unique pageloads occured and how many of them were returning visitors, aswell as a total amount for the day, I  am also able to view the amount of time they spent on my site.

FTP

FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a system that transfers data over a network, such as the internet, and as such is a highly valuable tool that has become part of our daily lives. After reading wikipedia I realized the system was simple yet very technical making it almost overwhelming to people new to the field, and thus creating a downfall in itself.  

There are benefits to the system however, 1 of which is the fact that the system does not discriminate against operating systems and can be used both by Macs and PCs. Another good point is it is usable over any type of network, making it very versatile

With every good there comes bad, and with FTP there  are several security flaws that pose fundamental threats to users, possible the biggest flaw is the fact that basic FTP transfers passwords and personal details in plain text, making it extremely easy for people to steal private information FTP does however counter this with protocol enhancements that are available, however not everyone maw no this.

Another downfall is that because FTP uses multiple connections to transfer data, it may confuse firewalls causing the system to be blocked by the firewall, or cease working altogether.

My view on FTP is that while it is a handy tool we can use, it must also be used with caution, as it is easy to have information stolen among other problems that may arise.