2010

Browser Duo- iPad App Review

Reviews

Browser Duo- iPad App Review

It will come as no surprise that the more I use the iPad the more I like it. It is powerful, gorgeous, and just a lot of fun to use. I do see it replacing a notebook for much of my day-to-day needs. At the same time, however, a few imitations have emerged. Well, to be accurate, a number of limitations that I knew to expect have clearly shown themselves to be limitations that hopefully will change sometime in the near future. First and foremost on that list — the ability to run multiple applications at the same time. Not…

Who Says The iPad Cannot Be Used As A Phone?!?

News & Features

Who Says The iPad Cannot Be Used As A Phone?!?

A great deal has been made about the inability to use the iPad as a phone. The argument is, who wants to use something this big as a phone? Well to be honest, me. The fact of the matter is to be able to make a phone call using the iPad as a speakerphone would be a great thing so I decided that I would try it out. First I loaded the Skype application. It’s currently only available in the iPhone version but, as you know, iPhone applications work on the iPad. I tried it out and discovered that it…

SpiderOak Cloud Backup Review

Reviews

SpiderOak Cloud Backup Review

Backing your data up to the cloud and living out of the cloud is all the rage.  SpiderOak cloud backup has a lot of features that I have been looking for in an online backup solution. First, to get started with SpiderOak, you need to download the software for Windows, Mac or Linux and install it.  The version delivered for Ubuntu works on pretty much any version of Ubuntu.  You can install it with standard dpkg commands or double-click on it and us the graphical package manager, GDebi package installer.  Click on install, enter your system password and it installs….

The iPad Makes For A Busy UPS Saturday

News & Features

The iPad Makes For A Busy UPS Saturday

When I was with Elana yesterday expressing my exuberance over my anticipated arrival of the iPad, she suggested that I spend some time with the UPS driver since, according to all reports, there was an amazing amount of logistics involved in getting all the iPads out. I thought it was a good idea. So when my iPad finally arrived late this afternoon — okay actually it was early this afternoon but it felt like late this afternoon — I asked the UPS driver if he could spend a few minutes talking with me. He responded that he would be happy…

Pure Music Widget Review

Reviews

Pure Music Widget Review

The default music widget for Android is, well, not so great. It’s actually downright terrible. Luckily, there’s a far better alternative: Pure Music Widget. Like the Pure Calendar Widget, Pure Music offers a huge number of sizes, so you can cram music controls onto your screen no matter how much room you have (or don’t have). What’s really nice is that you also get album art, so you can admire your taste in music right on your homescreen. Most importantly, you also get rewind AND fast forward buttons, a woeful omission on the stock widget. Setup is a snap; there’s…

uGive iPhone App Makes Mobile Giving Easier

News & Features

uGive iPhone App Makes Mobile Giving Easier

Giving to a charity is something that has probably been on the minds of a lot of folks recently, whether due to natural disasters such as the earthquakes in Haiti, or the general state of the economy and the desire to help others who may be less fortunate.  MobileCause, whose staff consists of non-profit and mobile industry professionals, is on a mission to help make charitable giving easier and raise awareness for non-profit organizations.  They have just released a new iPhone app, uGive, that allows participating charities to use the iPhone as a means to solicit support.  By registering with MobileCause, charities…

Entrustet: Caring For Your Digital Assets When You're Gone

Editorials

Entrustet: Caring For Your Digital Assets When You’re Gone

Having a will is important.  A will is a device that lets you tell the world whom you want to get your assets. Die without one, and the state decides who gets what, without regard to your wishes or your heirs’ needs.  Wills generally cover your personal property, investments, cash and other assets.  But what happens to your digital assets when you die? I realize it’s not the most pleasant thought in the world, but if you’re like me then you probably have a ton of media and other information stored in the “cloud” at one or more online service…

Nox (2000, RPG): The Netbook Gamer

Game Diary, Reviews

Nox (2000, RPG): The Netbook Gamer

I really can’t even remember how I came across Nox at first, but I know it was in late 2004 when I bought the European release of Kult: Heretic Kingdoms. At the time I remarked that the games were similar – somewhat small in scope, but very successful in accomplishing what they try to do. Nox is an isometric action-RPG released in early 2000, which means that it was immediately labeled as a ‘Diablo Clone’. In many ways it fits that description – but it offers much more depth than any of the traditional action-RPG’s, making it more similar to…

Windows Phone 7 Series Is Now Simply Windows Phone 7

News & Features

Windows Phone 7 Series Is Now Simply Windows Phone 7

It’s not major news, but it is good news: Microsoft is simplifying their “Windows Phone 7 Series” to the less cumbersome “Windows Phone 7”.  An obvious explanation for the “Series” moniker is that it was meant to “indicate that there would be a range of phones providing choice of hardware and operator.” Microsoft must have realized that the name was a bit too cumbersome and in the interest of simplifying things, shortened it to Windows Phone 7. Good move, since that’s what we were calling it anyway! 😉 Tis the season for Series finales. We’ve got one too – dropping…

And The First iPad Case To Arrive For Review... The Speck PixelShield

Reviews

And The First iPad Case To Arrive For Review… The Speck PixelShield

I was wondering what iPad case would be first to arrive for review. That honor goes to… Speck’s PixelShield. Obviously I can’t actually “review” it since my iPad does not arrive until tomorrow night, but I can show you a few shots of the PixelShield which looks like a good way to carry your iPad and know that it is fairly well protected. The material feels nice. It is soft and a bit “smooshy” (a technical blogger term) in order to protect the iPad from impacts. The red is BRIGHT so this case in this color is definitely for someone…

The Power of HTML5 & WebGL: Quake II in a Web Browser!

Game Diary

The Power of HTML5 & WebGL: Quake II in a Web Browser!

There has been much discussion about HTML5 versus Flash recently, so it was very interesting to see this: Some engineers at Google have taken some of their ‘play time’ and tried to see how well a non-plug-in based video game would play in native HTML5 with WebGL support. They chose Quake II, the groundbreaking 1996 first-person shooter, which is now open source and already has a Java port. As noted on the Google Web Toolkit Blog: We started with the existing Jake2 Java port of the Quake II engine, then used the Google Web Toolkit (along with WebGL, WebSockets, and…

Agency Model Cometh; Be Prepared for Speedbumps

eBooks, Editorials

Agency Model Cometh; Be Prepared for Speedbumps

(underlying image courtesy Amazon) The agency model is slowly kicking in, and it’s causing some disruption across the ebook world. Unfortunately, there’s really no way to dodge it; if you want to buy ebooks, you are at the mercy of the publishers. Even worse, the retailers who sell ebooks are also in the same position, and in the span of less than three months, they have been attempting to completely overhaul their method of doing business. So what kind of changes should we be expecting? We already know that Kobo and Fictionwise have been forced to give up their incentive…

iPad Apps From Warelex That Are On The Way

News & Features

iPad Apps From Warelex That Are On The Way

App developer Warelex is making the move into iPad app and have a few nice looking ones in the pipeline.We don’t know pricing yet but will share it with you are soon as we hear. In the meantime let’s take a quick look at their first few offerings. Alice in Wonderland: Hidden Objects This app is- A must have for all Hidden Objects games genre fans! Alice in Wonderland: Hidden Objects is a fascinating game by the bestselling novel of Lewis Carroll that tells about Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. It’s a story about a girl who gets in a wonderful…

Review: World's Smallest USB 2.0 4-Port Hub

Reviews

Review: World’s Smallest USB 2.0 4-Port Hub

Have you ever actually looked at how many USB devices you own or use?  I recently had this realization while moving my desktop computer set up around.  My mid-2007 Mac Mini does not have near enough ports to connect all of my gear so I have a standard USB hub which is full and only leaves me with one hard to reach port for a drive or other item.  That also led me to realize that my MacBook Pro only has two ports.  Of course, this is not usually a problem except when you need to attach two items and…

First BIG iPad Surprise- Many Apps Universal- Translation- Rebuilt For iPad Free Update For Prior Owners

Editorials, News & Features

First BIG iPad Surprise- Many Apps Universal- Translation- Rebuilt For iPad Free Update For Prior Owners

I just got my first big surprise with regard to the iPad. The iPad App Store went live and I started shopping. I bought Pages and Keynote. I bought the Scrabble app. Then I saw something odd. In my iTunes account it suddenly showed a bunch of updates that weren’t there a few minutes before. I went to look and saw the following I checked a few more apps and saw the same thing. The app was updated for the iPad and was available for download. But it looked the same. Then I noticed the small Toggle button above the…

iPad Apps From Shape Services That Are On the Way

News & Features

iPad Apps From Shape Services That Are On the Way

We don’t mean to add to your high-tech frenzy but some of our favorite applications (and some new soon-to-be-favorites) are going to be coming to the iPad. We just got word of three that are coming from our friends at ShapeServices And they all look AWESOME! What applications are talking about? Let’s see now — IM+: All-in-One Messenger The Award winning instant messenger for iPhone/iPod Touch that lets you chat within MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, AIM, Jabber, ICQ, Facebook, MySpace, Skype and Twitter is coming to the iPad. STATUS- APPROVED!!! iDisplay Turns your iPad / iPhone into a convenient side…

Joby Gorillamobile for iPod touch Review

Reviews

Joby Gorillamobile for iPod touch Review

I have been a big fan of the Joby Gorillamobile since it was first released for the iPhone. I love the bendable flexible tripod that allows me to have my iPhone securely attached to just about any surface and then held there for pictures. One of the best uses for it is to set up the iPhone in a specific place using the tripod and then allow the iPhone to take a series of time-lapse pictures. It works beautifully and, because of the excellent design and build quality of the tripod, I feel secure that my iPhone isn’t going to…

Apple Should Have Used FedEx

News & Features

Apple Should Have Used FedEx

photo credit: hellabella To anyone who was holding out hope that there might be an Easter miracle regarding their iPad order in areas without Saturday UPS delivery … you can stop holding your breath now.  😉 To Our Valued Apple Customer: Thank you for your recent purchase of the magical and revolutionary Apple iPad. We would like to advise you Saturday delivery is not available in your area. Your order will be delivered on Monday April 5th. For up-to-date information on your order, please visit our Order Status website at http://www.apple.com/orderstatus. And again I’ll say that Apple should have used FedEx;…

SmallTalk Mini Bluetooth Headset Review

Reviews

SmallTalk Mini Bluetooth Headset Review

Bluetooth headsets, although very practical , still, in my opinion, haven’t received the widespread acceptance they deserve.  Perhaps it’s the fact that they’re just another battery that needs charging, perhaps people just forget them or perhaps it’s there size.  With many states introducing laws that require drivers to use some sort of hands free device when using their phone in their car it’s time people got behind owning and using a Bluetooth headset. If size is one of the issues that’s been keeping you from using one the SmallTalk Mini Bluetooth Headset from Mobile Fun is just what you’ve been…

Collapse! Chaos Free for iPhone/Touch

Game Diary, Reviews

Collapse! Chaos Free for iPhone/Touch

Just when I thought I had played or reviewed just about every puzzle collapse game, I found Collapse! Chaos Free.  The game was number two on the free app rankings this week so I gave it a try.  At first I was leery of another match the color blocks collapse game and did not expect anything we have not seen many times.  To my surprise, this is a fresh and fun version of an old favorite style of game.  Details after the break…