May 2010

I Have A Confession: I’m Addicted to Sporcle

I first heard about Sporcle on the Howard Stern show. Howard was joking that his crew spends most of their time, time when they should all be working, playing on the site. What’s Sporcle? Sporcle is a trivia based web site and not only is it super addicting, it’s super fun. Well of course it is right? I mean what’s addicting that’s not fun … at least in the beginning? The site features a ton of short user and site created “quizzes” where you have to name as many of the correct answers as you can in the given time…

Reviews

Review: iLuv 9.7″ Neoprene Sleeve for iPad

Last week, I joined the ranks of new iPad owners. Yes, I’m a little late to the game, but you do what you have to! The device is all it is made out to be; it is a beautiful piece of gear. The first thing that crossed my mind when I pulled it out of the box was how to protect this beauty. I was not completely interested in a large case to carry the iPad by itself. Since I have a gear backpack, I thought it would be best if I just had some sort of sleeve to hold…

Reviews

Review: Sound Mac-hine for iPhone

Sure, using an iPhone or Blackberry for work is great, but you need to have some fun too. And, let’s face it, deep down we’re all little kids who love laughing over a good sound effect or fart joke. Enter an app like Sound Mac-Hine. It’s essentially an app full of sound effects, ranging from various Howard Stern show regulars to oldies but goodies like “Beetlejuice” and “The Three Stooges”. Personally, my favorite was “The Three Stooges”, though I think my fiancée and dog were less impressed when I played the same effect 15 times. Of course, there’s more to…

eBooks, Editorials

The Two Audiences for eBooks

It occurred to me after reading this editorial at Teleread that there are really two audiences for ebooks. There are the people who just want to read a book. They’re happy picking up their reader or iPad, opening a book, and just reading. Maybe they want some minor options like font sizes, but talk to them about specific fonts, background colors, backlight adjustments, dictionary lookups, etc., and they’re going to glaze over. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a measure of what the audience wants or is taking advantage of in their device or software. Then there’s the type…

News

WB Offers DVD for Blu-Ray Movie Trades for as Low as $4.95 Per Movie!

Have you made the switch to Blu-Ray movies at home? If so you probably still have a load of DVDs lying around. Sure they still look great upscaled on your Blu-Ray player … but not as good as a true HD Blu-Ray movie. Well, if you were thinking about upgrading your library but the high cost was holding you back, WB has a new option for you to consider: DVD2Blu! This program currently features >90 movies from the WB catalog, and has you send in the disc only and then get back a brand new Blu-Ray copy of the same…

Reviews

ABBYY Business Card Reader- iPhone App Review

I’ve tried a number of different business card scanning apps that let you take a picture of a business card with your iPhone camera and automatically pull information from it in order to create a new contact. It is a great idea but I have thus far been a bit disappointed in the accuracy of them. After all, it is not a time-saver if you take a picture, scan it and then have to manually edit almost all the information fields. When I say that ABBYY, one of the leaders is optical character recognition was entering into the ring I…

Editorials

Tech Bloggers Prove Obama Right Within Hours

Image from XARKAGANDA Did you hear? President Obama is threatening to regulate the tech industry in the name of ‘protecting democracy’! President Obama is putting technology on his ‘axis of evil’ list! President Obama is calling all new technology ‘dangerous diversions’! President Obama has declared war on technology! President Obama is warning of ‘iPad Perils’! Actually … none of that stuff is true – but I bet you have read something similar today in a hype-titled post at some tech blog coupled with some out-of-context portion of a speech given by the President to the graduating class of Hampton University….

News

Rumor: Apple to Make Mobile Me Free?

As is true for many Mac users, I remember not-so-fondly back in 2002 when the nifty and free iTools became the very similar but not-even-close-to-free .Mac … and then later got renamed to Mobile Me. While many users find the tools useful and therefore subscribe, there is nearly constant discussion about the pricing model and comparisons about the services offered compared to free or inexpensive alternatives. Many folks hope that Apple will price the service more competitively, or perhaps even make it free. According to MacDailyNews, that day might be approaching: We have received a tip that we cannot confirm,…

How to Do It Yourself!

Ditch the Everything Bar on Google’s Search Page

If you’re a heavy Google user such as myself, then you probably noticed the new mandatory “Everything” bar now located on the left side of your Google search page. Some may not care but me being a daily Netbook user, I need all the screen space I can get. A friend emailed an article from TweakGuides on how to get rid of this new annoyance. I thought I would pass along the information in case anyone else finds this new Everything bar as useless as I do. With a desktop machine or native widescreen it’s not as much an issue…

News

Aligata iPad Cases- Nice Leather, No Logo

Last night I posted a piece entitled A Tale of Three iPad Cases. It addressed my great experience with Owl Studios and Sena Cases and my less than great interactions with a third company. This morning I received an email from Tom at Aligata iPad cases. Tom told me about his all leather cases that are made from “… genuine bovine leather, natural grain. Very classy and durable as hell.” They look good and are currently on sale for $59.90 at http://aligata.com/ Tom went on to explain his pre-order policy. Turns out he too charges in full for his cases…

Editorials

A Tale of Three iPad Case Pre-Orders- The Good, The Good and the Ugly.

One of the interesting things that happens when you are an early adopter of some key new technology is that you not only get early looks at the device and some accessories, but you also get a chance to see how various businesses work with customers or… don’t, as the case may be. I recently had a chance to see how three different companies handled the pre-order process for their new iPad cases. Two impressed. One did not. Two I am eager to do business with. One I have no interest in dealing with ever again. Here is a look…

Game Diary, Reviews

50 PC RPGs That Defined a Decade

As we enter a new decade in 2010, it is worth taking a look back at the last decade and what has been happening in the PC role playing game genre (and no, we won’t debate whether or not 2010 actually starts the new decade). Certainly the 2000’s have been a decade of change for PC gaming in general, as the decade started with the PC as the only real place for shooters and large open-area games, went through a perceived crisis in the middle of the decade based on a large impact from piracy and DRM and the advent…

Reviews

The Newer Technology NuGuard Leather Hard Shell for iPad Review

One of the first things I did after getting my iPad was purchase a screen protector, but it wasn’t long after that before I started thinking about whether I might need a case or not. On the one hand, a case would mean better corner and screen protection in the event of a fall; on the other hand, it would also mean extra weight and bulk added to my otherwise almost perfectly sized device. I liked the idea of a protective layer between the back of my iPad and any surface that I might lay it upon, which is why…

Editorials

Follow Me and My iPhone On Our C25K Journey

My running career hasn’t been a long one. I started running back in the summer of 2007 as part of an effort shed a few pounds. After a few runs I was hooked and made a promise to myself. I was 37 at the time, and I pledged that I’d run the NYC Marathon the year I turned 40; at the time I planned to make it my first marathon. Anyone who knows me knows that when I start something I go all all in. I know only one speed. So it didn’t come a surprise to my friends or…

Reviews

ZAGG InvisibleSHIELD for iPad Review

When getting a new device, I always like to protect it from scratches, both front and back. Screens have become a lot more durable on high-priced devices, but even so, I get nervous. Further, some of these devices have high-gloss screens that can be hard to read because they are highly reflective and show fingerprints and smudges easily. ZAGG has been in the business of protecting mobile devices for several years now and have released a new version of their well-known InvisibleSHIELD for the iPad. The InvisibleSHIELD is available in two versions: front (screen) protection only and all-body protection. ZAGG…

News

iSkin’s CERULEAN Line of Bluetooth Accessories Perfect For Use With Apple’s iPad

The iPad makes you want to use Bluetooth more than ever. The reason is simple. Like the iPhone and the iPod touch it is great for carrying a lot of music, podcasts or audiobooks on the go. Like the iPhone and the iPod touch its capacity is amazing. Unlike the iPhone and iPod touch, however, you can’t easily stick the device in a speaker dock or plug in headphones and put it in your pocket. Because of its size Bluetooth MAKES SENSE with the iPad in ways it never did before. Imagine this. You walk into your office, tap the…

News

Need Something Small for Amazon Super Saver Shipping? Try This!

Have you ever been shopping at Amazon.com, have exactly what you need, but then realize that it you could only find something for $4 you would get free shipping? I know I have … and typically end up over-spending as a result! But now with FillerItem.com all you need to do is figure out how much you need to add to make free shipping, enter that amount into the search box, and you will get a rather massive list of possible items. For example, I was looking at the excellent Picross 3D, which is $19.96, meaning I needed $5.04 in…

News

850 Meter Beaver Dam 20 Years in the Making!

When most of us think of a beaver dam, the image above comes to mind. But CBC News brings us the story of what is reportedly the world’s biggest beaver dam – 850 meters long (~2800 feet!). Check out the satellite image from Google Earth: Image courtesy of FreshBrainz Apparently the massive dam was first found in 2007, but has gotten even larger than before, and the ease with which it is found on Google Earth is stunning. Researchers estimate that the dam has been under construction for 20 years! “[Beavers] are one of the few species that really leave…

News

Patrick Jordan Leads Daughter Down the Slippery Slope…

Parents today… as if it wasn’t bad enough that my sister was letting my niece and nephew get iPod touches next week for their 9th birthdays (yes, I got a few emails telling me that 9 is too young) Patrick Jordan from Just Another iPhone Blog and Just Another iPad Blog is leading his 7-year-old daughter down the path toward iDelinquency. As he explains it in his post My 7 Year Old Jailbreaker’s Demand: I Want Folders! My 7 year old daughter has been asking me for months when we could jailbreak her iPod Touch. I did not want to…

eBooks, News

Take Wikipedia with You Offline

My mother is a high school history teacher, and if you breathe the word Wikipedia to her she will give you an earful about students and plagiarizing. And about how peer-edited history articles are rife with errors. So if she got an eyeful of this service I think her head would explode. Yes, now you can save yourself the trouble of cutting and pasting into word, printing out your paper, and finding a nice plastic sheet for a report you’ve lifted from Wikipedia. Instead, for the starting price of $8.90, AND they’ll ship within two days! Tongue in cheek jokes…

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