28 Days to Christmas?

We warned you that Christmas was on its way and then somebody sent me a notification that we only had twenty-eight days left before Santa would be coming down our chimney.  Well, we've been fooling around with the holidays for a few years now and thought we'd let you know that nobody around here likes to remove the lights from a pre-lit tree!  Check out the GHC home blog to read more.

Georgianna Hardware Corporation

XBOX ONE

The XBOX ONE

Base msrp, $500 USD

Quick heads up for parents with kid/s under 17 check the ESRB here before you buy a game!

Here we are again and we are moving on to the XBOX ONE. This has the same Triple A titles offered on Sony's PlayStation4, Assassins Creed 4, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty Ghosts, Fifa 14, and many more. These games are sold separately at a price of $60 USD each and expansions to these Triple A games are available at addition cost.

There are six Day One exclusives for the XBOX ONE they are, Deadrising 3, Fighter Within, Forza Motorsport 5, Ryse: Son of Rome, Zoo Tycoon, and Zumba Fitness: World Party. XBOX Launch Window exclusives are Kinect Sports: Rivals, and Titanfall. There are the games available for Digital Download, the games available Day One are: Crimson Dragon, Loco Cycle, Killer Instinct, and Powerstar Golf. In the Launch window there is, Minecraft XBOX ONE edition, Peggle 2, and Project Spark. The “Launch Window” that Microsoft refers to is an undetermined length of time.

There will be more titles coming out within two to six months after the game developers have time to work with the new platforms more.

The XBOX ONE comes with the Kinect and one controller and to play online requires a XBOX Live Gold membership at $60 USD MSRP for twelve months.

If you would like to get a second controller it is $60 MSRP.

A cool feature that the XBOX ONE and the XBOX 360 have is SmartGlass that allows a Windows Phone, Windows 8, iOS, and Android devices to be used as a second screen.

The XBOX ONE will be able to stream to Twitch only if you have a Gold membership and the Upload Studio app lets you edit and share clips from the past five minutes of game-play footage that is automatically recorded by the console.

To sum this up it is about the same as the PlayStation 4. It has some good features like the SmartGlass and the Kinect which has voice activation.

The base cost of the consoles will come down in price six to twelve months after the launch. Games will be the same price across all of the platforms and the controllers will stay the same for a while. You will probably be able to find sales on them in a few months.

The final price of the XBox One Console, one game, a second controller, and the XBOX Live Gold 12 Month membership is $680 USD.

Something else to consider is that you can not upgrade either console to get more performance out of it. There is also a limit on the hard drive for the XBOX ONE but the PS4 can be changed out for a larger one.
[Of course, this is subject to change!]

In the next blog I will cover the PC and I will let you know the pros and cons of
 choosing to use it for gaming purposes.

Georgianna Hardware Corporation

PlayStation 4

As we approach the holidays in the next few weeks I would like to offer some ideas for people looking to get a game system for a loved one. This will be the first of three posts that will offer information about each unit. Please remember that although I have grown to prefer PC gaming I did start out using consoles and the information here is only provided to you to assist you in making your own decision.

Lets start with the PS4

*msrp is around $399 USD

Quick heads up for parents with kid/s under 17 check 
the ESRB here before you buy a game!

You can get Triple A titles like Assassins Creed 4, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty Ghosts, Fifa 14, and many more, this is the same for the XBOX ONE and PC. These games are sold separately at a price of $60 USD each and expansions to these Triple A games can be at addition cost.

There are two Day One exclusive titles so far on the PS4, Killzone Shadow Fall and KNACK.

There will also be digital launch titles such as WAR THUNDER, Planet side 2, WARFRAM, and Blacklight Retribution. These are digital downloads but not all games are available as a digital download. There are many games available for the Sony PS4, some as a hard copy disc and others as a digital download. As for game distribution, it's easiest to compare the release of games to the release of movies. The game manufacturer chooses what platforms the game will be available for. There is a bit of rivalry among manufactures but in the gaming world what matter is being able to play the game with your friends. If I don't have the same gaming console and game as my friend does, we will not be able to play the game together. The consoles are not compatible.

The PS4 will also let you live stream on Twitch and Ustream this will vary in the ability to do so on different internet speeds.

The PlayStation Camera is a motion sensing input device much like that of the XBOX 360 Kinect, the PlayStation Camera is sold separately the MSRP is $60 USD.

The PlayStation 4 will require PlayStation Plus membership in order to play online it is an additional $60 USD. With the membership you do get free games and discounts on games in the PlayStation Store, and PlayStation Plus works with PS3, PS4, and PS Vita.

The PS4 comes with one controller. Additional controllers can be purchased separately. Sadly, the controller from the PS3 will not work with the PS4.

Base price for the PS4, second controller, a single game, motion sensor, and a Plus yearly subscription comes to $630.00. In my experience I allow plus or minus ten percent to the purchase price.

There are a few more features that I did not discuss but they of course come at a cost.

To wrap it all up it is good for gaming and watching movies it can play blue-rays/dvds and will for many years until the next PlayStation comes out.

My next blog will cover the XBOX ONE.

When It Comes To Horses, Love Knows No Boundaries

Billie Mitchell has published a book which focuses on horses. Her journey takes us from Georgia where she volunteers at Iron Gait Percherons Draft Horse Rescue in Waleska, GA to New Mexico where she captures the beauty of wild horses. Billie explains to readers that she experienced a fear of horses and through her work assisting with the care of horses at the horse rescue she not only learned to manage her fear but has had the fortunate experience of learning how these beautiful animals have kind hearts and open minds.  The published photos capture the true essence of her love for the horses as well as the love the horses share with her.

Volunteering is not new to Billie Mitchell.  In the past she has volunteered with programs such as the Craft Emergency Relief Fund, the Olympics, the Special Olympics of Atlanta, and she also served as a teacher in Belize.  Her participation at Iron Gait Percherons Draft Horse Rescue includes rescuing and transporting horses, daily care of horses, and fundraising.

Love Knows No Boundaries is available through Blurb, one of our favorite self publishing companies. The author is generously donating all proceeds to Iron Gait Percherons Horse Rescue so they can continue their work of rescuing horses that are in need.   

Autism, Temple Grandin

Off topic again but I have been thinking about a TED video that I watched last night. My niece recommended a movie that she had watched for school entitled Temple Grandin, Thinking In Pictures My Life With Autism. This is an HBO movie and since my niece was so impressed I searched Google and found a link for a TED video. (I have shared the link below.)

So today I couldn't help but to think about folks that I have known that have a child in their life that has been diagnosed with autism. Maybe it was a friend's child, a niece or nephew, a grandchild or a neighbor's child but for some reason I have been involved in many conversations about autism and as memories kept coming back to me today I was glad that I had taken the twenty minutes to watch the TED video but I was still bothered because I know that there are many folks out there that have huge concern for the well being of a young loved one.

Autism is defined as a disorder of neural development. That's a big pill to swallow when you care about a young person. My involvement in home education probably allowed more time for conversations about autism as home education is a decent alternative to public education but all the conversations in the world won't cure a child of autism.

My teenage children laugh at me for having obsessive-compulsive disorder in which sufferers commonly have personality traits such as high attention to detail, avoidance of risk and a tendency to take time in making decisions. Yep, that's me and as I write this I catch myself smiling. For the first ten years of my children's lives I blamed it all on the cat by telling them that the cat found it to be annoying when the house was a mess.

Both diagnosable problems use the word disorder. There are plenty of other disorders too. Wikipedia has a whole list. I don't believe that my wanting a clean house and a happy cat was abnormal and I do not believe that children diagnosed with autism are abnormal.  I've always believed that autistic children were just wired differently. Temple Grandin showed us the proof in her TED lecture. 

Please take the time to watch the video.  You'll have a new perspective tomorrow.

Temple Grandin, The World Needs All Kinds of Minds

Made In America

I'm not so sure how it happened, but it did. For some reason when I visited with #FBLT on Twitter today I ran across clothing companies that are located in America. This is great news for production in the United States! The reshoring effort seems to be paying off and Made In The USA has meaning again.

One business that I ran across is http://www.bluerdenim.com/. Bluer is true premium denim that is Made in America. Their “Buy one, Give One” program offers the buyer an easy way to participate in the Bluer philanthropic program. Bluer also covers each denim product it sells with a one year warranty against damage or defects that result from normal wear.

I also learned about http://www.overunderclothing.com/. Over Under Clothing has premium quality, Made In The USA designs, offers custom sizing and care instructions, and actually prewashes each tee-shirt to assure a true fit. The giving back program at Over Under Clothing specifically focuses on at risk dogs and they personalize each purchase by donating to at risk dogs in your area.

These two companies exemplify the integrity and selflessness that Americans have. They are a true inspiration in helping others to achieve the American dream.  

www.georgiannahardwarecorporation.com

Jobs

I received a notification from Rich Products about the jobs that they have available.  Sadly, not all of the links came through on the notification so I searched for Rich Products to find easy access for you.  If you think you are not familiar with the company, think coffee creamer and you will be right on track.  Rich Products maintains operations in logistics, travel, restaurant, and more.

Rich Products welcomes you to explore their current openings through the Rich Careers page.  I suggest you browse the web site as there is specific information about applying and you'll learn a lot about the company.
If you're the type that prefers to cut to the chase, here's your link: Rich-products/all-jobs/united-states/.  Jobs are available in CA, CT, FL, GA, IL, NJ, NY, OH, SC, TN, TX, VA, and WA.

Feel free to visit our site, Georgianna Hardware Corporation if you want some free resume help.