March 2010

Larry G. returns to Review the Tucker & Bloom East to West

Tucker and Bloom has been in the business of making bags for over thirty years. Their products focus on organizing your gear while maintaining a clean and stylized design. Their design philosophy comes straight to the point. “Tucker and Bloom designs aim to organize people with a need to look professional while providing an alternative to the norm.” When Judie described the bag she was sending me for review as the “hairy bag”, I was nothing if not curious at seeing it up close and in person. The East to West Messenger Bag is a classic bike style messenger bag…

Reviews, Vehicles & Gear

2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster

For some strange reason (dumb luck I suppose), my time behind the wheel of the new 370Z from Nissan has been met with frustrating limitations. When first released in coupe form last year, I found myself only getting to spend an afternoon with the vehicle and most of that during rush hour. More recently, Nissan sent me the roadster version of their little sports car, and this occurred during the freak snowstorm around Valentine’s Day. Needless to say it was stuck in my driveway for several days, and I only got to drop the top once (OK, twice, but the…

Editorials

Adventures in Internet Radio!

Driving to Maine from New Jersey is a looooong drive. Even breaking it up with a stop in Boston for a few days, we quickly ran through an audiobook and couldn’t find a decent radio station on the drive. Luckily, I had my Droid handy, and we gave Pandora and Slacker a spin. Slacker…I want to like it, I really do. But on the free version, it doesn’t seem to hold onto a music stream well. It gets four or five songs in and then seems to be stuck, requiring the app to be exited and restarted. It’s a huge…

Reviews

Review: Arctic Sound E352 Earphones

Arctic Cooling has recently entered the noise isolating earphone market. I reviewed the Arctic Sound E361 earphones which proved to be a great solution that I carry daily in my away game bag. The E352 earphones match the E361 in build and quality and add a touch of style with an attractive wooden chassis. The E352 do not include a microphone, so these will have to be used for audio only, no iPhone for me. Click through the break to see how the Arctic Sound E352 earphones stack up.

Reviews

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 – Review

A number of years ago I wanted to begin moving toward having a “paperless” life. I was tired of being swamped by piles of paper. It was getting out of control. The first step in my trying to unclutter my life (it is still “in process”) was to purchase a high-speed scanner. I did a good deal of research and eventually ended up with one of Fujitsu’s products, a ScanSnap scanner. It blew me away. It had the ability to handle up to 40-50 pages at a time. It did two-sided scans. It scanned fast, Created high quality scans and…

Game Diary, Reviews

Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001, FPS): The Netbook Gamer

Every now and then we come across something that brings us back to the origins of our love for a hobby. For me and computer games, my first real love was Castle Wolfenstein for the Apple ][ in 1981. I have related that story more than once now, since I have reviewed the iPhone version of Wolf 3D, the iPhone game Wolfenstein RPG, and last fall’s franchise reboot Wolfenstein for PC, X360 and PS3. In between all of that, Activision released Return to Castle Wolfenstein in late 2001. In this episode of The Netbook Gamer I see how the game…

eBooks, News

What Does It Mean That We All Assumed Apple Pulled Stanza?

On Wednesday morning, if you searched on the iTunes App Store for Lexcycle, the makers of the top-rated Stanza ebook reader, you would see ‘no matches found’. I was alerted to this on the MacRumors forums, and did my own quick check and confirmed that Stanza was no longer available. While the news didn’t spin out of control as has happened in the past, it certainly raised a red flag – why is the best ebook reader, owned by Amazon, suddenly unavailable on the iTunes App Store?

News

Never Miss a Minute of the Game to Open a Brew!

It is March Madness, the game is coming to a close and yet another of your bracket picks is about to fall. You do not want to miss the last second shot from the latest 14th seed Cinderella story. If you are like me, there will now be three or four bracket pools that will need to be paid up soon. As a tear goes into your beer, you notice one last sip. This is no time to be hunting that bottle opener! Another brew needs to be opened quickly to serve as a celebration for a miracle that keeps…

News

Enjoy a Sand-Free Campsite With the CGear Multimat

Anyone who has ever tried to camp where there is sand knows that it is nearly impossible to not track those demonic little grains into your tent or worse — into your sleeping bag. It’s just as bad at the beach, when you are trying to tan without wearing half the beach on your lower legs. CGear has a solution which they say will eliminate the problem – their Multimat. “The CGear Multimat was originally designed as a deployable helimat to eliminate dirt, dust and debris from being kicked up by the helicopters rotors when landing. The product was so…

eBooks, Editorials

Alex Reader’s Price Yo Yos Up and Down and Up Again

The Alex Reader was announced for pre-order this week, and I reached out to their public relations representative for an explanation of their pricing. If you recall, back in January at CES the following announcement was made (it is also worth noting this is the most recent press release on their site, where you can read the whole thing). An excerpt: “Our agreement with Spring Design represents another step in our digital strategy, which continues to focus on offering book lovers—including our more than 35 million Borders Rewards loyalty program members—high quality content on the device of their choosing,” said…

News

AmexEx Gift Cards- The Gift With Strings Attached…

I have never been a big fan of prepaid gift cards such as the ones you can get from American Express or Visa but after my experience a few days ago I hate them. Seriously, I think they are complete scam and should be avoided at all cost. Here’s what happened.

Reviews

StarHunt for iPhone OS Review

I play a lot of hunt and find type games on my iPhone 3Gs. Many of them look and run the same. You use the pinch and zoom function of the iPhone OS to move around the screen searching for a items in a list. While this can be incredibly fun it can be difficult to find the sometimes tiny items amongst the various screens. StarHunt takes the point and click adventure genre to a whole different level with stunning 3-D graphics, quick rendering and over 1,000 detailed still frame images. You task is to explore a house which contains…

News

HTC Answers Apple: “We will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation”

photo credit: recompose I know I wasn’t the only person who watched in bemused disbelief when news came out early this month that Apple was suing HTC, arguably one of the world’s most innovative smartphone hardware manufacturers, for infringing upon 20 of their patents. Almost immediately, Engadget had a list of every claim where Apple was crying foul, and they were kind enough to translate the jargon-filled legal lingo so that those of us without law degrees could understand that Apple was suing over items ranging from HTC’s use of “List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A…

Game Diary, Reviews

Finger Physics Free for iPhone/Touch App Review

The number of puzzle games in the App Store is staggering. I have played or reviewed a fair amount of them myself. Many of the games are very similar with their own different twist. Once in a while we run across a puzzle game that is unique. Finger Physics Free is one such game. Find out what it is after the break.

Reviews

JAVOedge Cherry Blossom and Cork Nook Cases Review

Now that the Nook has been around for a little while, some really great cases have started coming out to protect it in style. When I saw the new lines of cases coming out from JAVOedge, I was immediately intrigued and couldn’t wait to get my hands on them! Judie’s recent review of the new Croc cases for Kindle 2 only made me more eager to review the Nook cases. JAVOedge was kind enough to send me two cases from their Cherry Blossom Collection to review and keep for my Nook–the Flip Style Case in Twilight Purple, and the Book…

News

Just Another iPad Blog Helps You Make the Case to Buy an iPad

Are you trying to justify that iPad purchase? Trying to convince your spouse that an iPad is an absolutely, positively, must-have tool that will enable you to be far, far more efficient, inventive, and creative than said spouse has ever imagined you capable of being? Or are you just looking for something to occupy your thoughts and help while away the long, long, seemingly never-ending, (and did I mention long?) days until that iPad arrives on your doorstep? If any (or all) of the above is true, you should head your way over to Just Another iPad Blog and check…

News

Learn a Little Irish for Free!

As a fan of language learning, I just discovered something very cool. Through today, iPhone and iPod Touch users can download Byki’s Irish language app from the App Store for free! Normally, most of the Byki apps are $7.99, so this is an excellent way to see how Byki approaches vocabulary and phrase learning while putting on a little Irish! I have the Byki apps for a few different languages on my iPhone and computer. The Byki language apps are really good at helping you learn vocabulary and phrases from a wide variety of languages and now, for St….

Reviews

The Amazing Miniot iWood Cobra iPhone Case

When Larry posted about the Case-Mate Mohogany Wood Case, I was smitten — there’s no other way to put it. I loved the look of the rich red wood on the iPhone, and I was thrilled when he sent it to me after the review was complete. I used the heck out of that case, even though it added quite a bit of bulk to my iPhone, and even though it had a flaw which turned out to be fatal. It wasn’t evident from the beginning that the lack of a cutout might be a problem, but because the bottom…

Reviews

StatusNote for Android Review

I usually need several types of productivity and reminder applications. Tasks need either alarms or some sort of agenda view or I won’t remember them, but they need to have a date. Floating tasks tend to be forgotten and languish on my lists for days or weeks. To combat this, I’ve usually relied on the old “email it to myself” trick. I also leave myself voice mails and even use old-fashioned sticky notes. It looks like I may have found a high-tech solution to my issues; is it more effective than my various low-tech strategies? Read on to find out!

Game Diary, Reviews

Star Wars Dark Forces (1995, FPS): The Netbook Gamer

I now come to the conclusion of my reviews of the Jedi Knight series (see my Netbook Gamer reviews of the original Star Wars Jedi Knight, the Mysteries of the Sith expansion, and the Jedi Knight II and Jedi Academy sequels) with the game that started it all – 1995’s Star Wars Dark Forces.

Editorials, Game Diary

The Video Game ‘DLC Double-Dip’ Debate Rages on with New Bioshock 2 DLC!

One thing that came along for the ride with the introduction of the XBOX360 is late 2005 was the ability to add post-release ‘downloadable content’, or DLC. DLC was different from the ‘expansion packs’ PC gamers were familiar with as it was smaller and more focused, and able to be delivered much more quickly and at a lower price. The system is attractive to publishers since it allows fast turn-around on the product as well as higher profits, but through the reuse of existing assets; it is attractive to gamers because it allows for frequent and inexpensive updates to favorite…

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