2014 Begins

We are now officially in 2014 in Mauritius and the deafning blast of firecracks in Port-louis is slowly coming to a halt !

All the best for 2014 everybody and long prosperity to the country ....and its inhabitants ;) !

Xbox One buying from Mauritius

The XBox one has been out since more than a month now but been officially released only in a few countries such as USA , UK , Canada and Australia.For the rest of us we know that there is not going to be any official release at all in Mauritius ( and many other developing countries )

So how to get an Xbox One ? There are thankfully a couple of options :

1. Option 1 - you can buy it from abroad and bring it in your suit case. However be careful it is a bit heavy , so might need to take it off its packaging but be careful with the kinect 2.0.

2. Option 2 - there are some resellers that are selling the consoles such as OneOnOne in Port-Louis and CTZone in Bagatelle but the prices at time of writing of the article are still relatively high and it doesn't appear that they have a lot in stock as well.However you do get a warranty with these resellers for CTZone is a one year warranty.

3. Option 3 - you can buy an XBox One online , and this is what I did . I bought the Xbox One from ebay and i bought it from the US and it got shipped in no time with UPS (3 days)

However buying online has some constraints:

1. You need to be certain that the seller has excellent ratings else he might  be pulling up a scam to take your money .. Note ebay does however have a service to resolve these disputes

2. If you are buying from US be careful as the AC Adapter supports only 110v , mine literarily went up in smoke , thankfully the console itself was unharmed. On a side note you will not get OEM Microsoft AC Adaptors at the moment with the XBox One as they are not sold separately so if you end up in my situation you will need to get a 3rd party replacement Adaptor. So best get an XBox One coming from Uk as it supports 240v which is the Mauritian standard as well.

3. Take time to choose you console and compare prices/games offered in the bundles don't go into a compulsive buying spree.

4. Of course try to do your transactions via Paypal ( works in Mauritius )

The graphics of the XBox One are really awesome you can see that just by looking at the texture of games such as Battlefield 4 or Killer Instinct however there are few titles at the moment on the store and installation takes a very long time .

Found one tip in regards to the long installation time on the XBox one . If you game appears to spend hours on 0% installation it is highly likely that it is first downloading patches before starting the installation. Note that the current connection bandwidth in Mauritius does not help a lot either.

So if you have the game disk :

1. Remove any disks from your tray

2. Disconnect from wireless network or take out your wired connection

3. Turn off your console

4. Turn it back on

5. Put in your game disk

You should see the installation going faster , however do note that the minute you are connected again you will be probably be asked to download updates but these would be much bearable.

Hope this helps you out will be posting on my experience as I spend more time on the XBox One !

Bejisa - Threatens our New Year Holidays !

Just been back from the supermarket its full of people pushing their loaded carts of  wine , beer , BBQ material and firecrackers but I wonder whether Mauritians will be able to be able to appreciate their BBQ or even their firecrackers tonight , I sincerely hope they do !

We currently have a cyclone warning class 1 on the island due to tropical cyclone Bejisa ..( I know its a weird name ) which is approaching the island . Now I just personally hope this is a mild cyclone which will lose in intensity in the next couple of hours as there will be a lot of people partying , drinking and driving at late hours from night clubs , parties or visiting family .

When lightning up your firecrackers or your BBQ make sure that you are shielded from strong winds which may deviate your coal for example into flammable material that may start a fire and cause harm to your property or that of others.

Make sure also to charge your batteries or top up your mobile data account , given that we have 2 days of holidays and risk of a cyclone you might end up turning your thumbs in the event of  an electrical blackout.

Nevertheless hope things work out fine in the next couple of  hours and hope every one has a very good New year party!

 

Happy new year 2014

I have decided to ressurect the Dodo for 2014 after 7 years of extinction . I have been very active on other medium but the time has come for the Dodo to jump back up on its feet :) , this time we are going to go a bit more technie with also gadgets in perspective !

Wishing everyone in the process a Happy New Year and all my wishes for 2014 !