September 2010

iPhone 4 Protection Quick Look- SGP Steinheil EX Ultra Series

There are a variety of methods for protecting your iPhone 4 and minimizing the issue of “death grip”. For the first months with my current iPhone I used a Clear-Coat film on the front, back and sides. Like other similar products, Clear-Coat is a semi-permanent film that goes on wet and then, when dried all but disappears. It is still what I am using to protect my iPad’s screen. All of the semi-permanent films have one big downside for me, they feel the tiniest bit tacky when sliding your finger across the screen. It isn’t bad but it is something…


StarWars.com Hosting Online ‘Clone Wars’ Marathon!

As they are preparing for Season 3 of the ‘Clone Wars’ animated series, StarWars.com is hosting what they are describing as an ‘Online Season 2 Marathon’. Here is their description: As we head into our final long weekend of the summer at StarWars.com, we invite you to spend some time with the Zillo Beast and his friends. StarWars.com is winding down the summer with a marathon of five episodes from the second season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These cinematic spectacles offer widescreen, epic action worthy of a summer blockbuster: except in small screen, 22-minute format. So while you’re…


iPhone 3GS and 4 Accessory Review: Xtand from JustMobile

Do I really need the Xtand so my iPhone looks like a micro-iMac? Nope. Now that I have been using the Xtand from JustMobile for a few weeks to I see a purpose for it? You bet! Would I recommend it to others? Indeed I would. Let me explain why… From IntoMobile: The iconic iPhone stand: Just Mobile Xtand™ is the elegant way to show off your iPhone 4 and 3GS. Crafted from high-grade aluminium, the Xtand desktop stand allows you to effortlessly switch between landscape mode and portrait mode for video viewing or caressing your album artwork with Cover?ow….


LaCie’s MosKeyto Has a Tiny Memory

It’s cute, it’s tiny … it’s the LaCie MosKeyto, one of the most compact USB flash drives I’ve ever seen!  Available in 4, 8 and 16GB (the one capacity which isn’t showing on the site quite yet), the MosKeyto is an inexpensive backup flash drive that you can stick in a laptop’s USB port and forget about. I like that they stuck the keyring on the side with the memory, not the side which serves as a cap. 😉 The stealthy MosKeyto becomes nearly invisible when plugged into your computer, and can even travel with the computer in a protective…


Kensington Pocket Battery for Smartphones Review

Smartphones are all the rage these days.  Everyone uses them as more then just a plain old phone.  We browse the web, stream media, play our music, check our e-mail, take pictures, check social networks and oh, yeah, use it as a phone.  Battery technology in these phones have not really progressed to the point where you can make it the whole day.  Especially if you are using it as something other then just a plain phone.  If you are away from an outlet at anytime, well, you will likely run out of juice at any time unless you have…


First Drive: 2011 Scion tC

The freshman class of the Scion tC proved to be quite successful for the “garage band” division of Toyota. In fact, since its launch as a 2005 model, the little coupe has accounted for more than a third of Scions sales despite having the shortest production run (when combining xA and xD units). This is the best selling model in its showroom so for the model makeover one thing is painfully clear – don’t screw it up. Stick to your roots, stick to what brung ya’ here and stick it to the competition. And that is what Scion is doing….


Yearbooks Go High Tech with Jostens Personal Yearbook Pages™

It was only a matter of time before school yearbooks went digital. Well, that time is now. Jostens, a leading provider of world-renowned yearbook products, programs and services is introducing what they are calling Personal Yearbook Pages™. Through a new application students can now create a more inclusive yearbook by “giving every student the ability to create personalized pages that will appear exclusively in the student’s copy of the yearbook. Personal Yearbook Pages’ online user experience lets students design four unique pages with their own photos, artwork and text. What’s more, student’s can invite friends to collaborate on the design…


Random Nonsense: Happy 90210 Day!

Before being recreated into a mediocre retread of every late-teen-angst show since the original, and which barely managed to get a third season based on some very anemic reviews and ratings, 90210 was a powerhouse guilty pleasure show on the FOX Network back in the early 90’s created by Darren Star. Now today is September 2nd, 2010, or 09/02/10 … or simply 90210. All of you from the rest of the world who think of your dates in order of ascending magnitude (i.e. day, month, year) just move along – you had your celebration back in February! Here is the…


The Annual Beloit College Mindset List Once Again Makes Parents Feel Old

I still have a few years until my kids will be entering college and am acutely aware of the realities of what life was like for them growing up, but each year when I see the Beloit College Mindset list it is a reminder of how much life has changed since I entered college myself oh so many years ago! This is the 12th official list, going back to the class of 2002 list made in 1998! Here are a few samples of things from the list that made me stop in my tracks: 1. Few in the class know…


OtterBox Commuter iPhone 4 Case Review

OtterBox is probably best known for their highly protective case, the Defender.  The Defender packs as much shock and impact defense for your iPhone 4 as any case on the market.  However, all that protection doesn’t come without a price.  The Defender can at times be bulky and because of this OtterBox realizes it’s not for everyone.  It’s for this reason that, starting with the iPhone 3G/3Gs, the company began offering a slimmed down version of the Defender.  The Commuter Series case offers the same level of quality that its big brother, the Defender, does, in a sleeker package. The…


Sony Keeps Showing PSP Go Users They Hate Us!

I know what you’re thinking … blah, blah, blah, keeping beating the ‘I hate Sony’ drum, yeah, sure, whatever. In fact I’ve gotten more than one comment that says almost exactly as much. But hear me out … If you look at the history of the Sony PSP, there are several games that stand out – Dissidia: Final Fantasy, God of War: Chains of Olympus, the first two Grand Theft Auto games, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Jeanne d’Arc, Resistance: Retribution, Patapon, Loco Roco … and not much else. In 2010 we’ve had some solid releases such as Persona 3…


Alarm Clock Pro For iPhone/Touch Review

It is truly amazing how dependent I have become to my iPhone.  There seem to be an endless number of tools no longer needed because of the abilities of this little device and the number keeps growing.  When I first started using an iPhone, I decided to set an alarm for the morning and abandon my old alarm clock.  In fact, the alarm clock I used was a gift from my younger brother when I went off to college back when I was 18 years old.  The clock was nothing fancy, but it always worked and I had used it…


PC/XBOX360/PS3 Game Review: Dragon Age: Origins Golems of Amgarrak DLC

Last month I reviewed the Leliana’s Song DLC and the month before that I reviewed the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC, with each one representing very different types of gaming experiences within the context of the Dragon Age universe: one was combat driven and narrow, and the other was a character study that got us behind the scenes with one of the main characters from the main game. I also noted that a high-level combat-centric module Golems of Amgarrak was arriving. Now that I have completed playing through the newest DLC (and with only a week before the final DLC release) I…


Cami Secret Is Your Safeguard Against Woody Allen!

Even as a man I sometimes find myself uncomfortable and embarrassed in business situations when men who should know better show their respect for their highly educated and proficient female colleagues much as Woody Allen is showing his respect for Scarlett Johansson. Hopefully we are long past the point where someone would actually suggest that by wearing a low cut shirt a woman is ‘asking for’ untoward glances … yet somehow I doubt it. Whether it is to avoid wandering eyes or to simply feel more professional and covered up while still wearing a favorite shirt you would otherwise not…