Articles by Michael Anderson

Random Cool Video: That Famous Skrillex Sample

Ever wonder where Skrillex pulled the ‘Yes, oh my gosh’ sample from his most popular song ‘Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites’? Well, even if you never cared (or knew who Skrillex was for that matter) it is still a pretty cool thing. The song is largely an instrumental (typical of electronica in general and dubstep in specific) with a couple of reversed lyric lines and a break between the ‘scary monsters’ and ‘nice sprites’ sections of the song marked by a ‘YES, OH MY GOSH’ exclamation. The girl responsible for the exclamation is Rachael Nedrow, better known as speedstackinggirl on…

Editorials, Game Diary

Mass Effect 3: All Origin, No Steam, Mum on ‘Origin Spyware’ Claims

Well, now I guess I will have to wait until Mass Effect 3 eventually lands on Steam or is a bargain title, because I am SURELY not buying it based on what I am reading on the Bioware ‘social’ forums. Here is a snip: 1) Will Origin be a requirement to play all versions of Mass Effect 3? (Digital and/or from a retail brick and mortar store) Yes, Origin is required for all PC editions of Mass Effect 3, physical or digital. 2) Is constant Origin connection required or is it a single one off authentication when the game is…

Game Diary, Gear Bits

The Most Pirated Video Games of 2011!

The #1 excuse/reason given for game publishers not putting out games for the PC is … piracy. People downloading and playing their games without paying. And there is no disputing that piracy is a HUGE issue for PC publishers, but the reason I call it an ‘excuse’ is that time and again we are seeing publishers who say that the PC is also a great place to make money DESPITE piracy. Anyway, TorrentFreak recently put out their list of the top games tracked on BitTorrent in 2011. Here are the most pirates games for PC, Wii and XBOX360: Top PC…

Music Diary, Reviews

Vinyl Re-Visions: The Who – Who Are You (Rock, 1978)

The Who – Who Are You OK, so I admit that I am cheating here – Who Are You is available on CD, and in fact I have owned it on CD for more than 25 years. But let me explain – I bought this album in 1979 after Keith Moon had died and I had seen ‘The Kids Are Alright’ for the second time in theaters. At the time The Who were really popular on rock radio, and actually there was a special cut of Who Are You for AM radio which asked ‘Who the heck are you’? But…

Game Diary, Reviews

Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World iPad Game Review

From the moment I started playing Kaptain Brawe I felt as though I was transported back in time to the days of the classic LucasArts adventures such as Sam & Max and Grim Fandango … but with excellent graphics and great touch controls! Let’s take a look! The Hype: Step into this whimsical point-and-click interstellar adventure and see what it takes to be a real Space Police officer! In this alternate reality, get ready to embark on a journey filled with quests, conspiracies and general chaos. You will have to step into the shoes of the brave Kaptain Brawe and…

News & Features

Random Cool Video: Siri Tried to Kill Me (NSFW-L)

We heard about the report that Siri was swearing at a 10 year old boy, but the folks at Smosh always take it to the next level … as they have with their latest video ‘Siri tried to kill me’. It only came out last week but has nearly 4 million views, and my kids just turned me on to it … stupid, but oh so funny. As with pretty much everything from Smosh!

Game Diary, Reviews

The Magician’s Handbook: Cursed Valley for iPad Review

Hidden object adventures continue to evolve on the iPad, with PC games being ported that are more complex, more interesting and have better stories. The latest one to try to capture iPad gamer’s interest is the Magician’s Handbook. Let’s see how it does! The Hype: Remove the evil curse in this captivating adventure by finding hidden objects in the dark and mysterious Cursed Valley! The fabled “Magician’s Handbook” has fallen into your hands. You are beckoned to a dark and desolate place whose true name has long been forgotten. Search beautiful, hand-painted backgrounds for cleverly- hidden enchanted objects. Use special…

News & Features

Put Down the Pinot – Turns Out the ‘Red Wine is Good for You’ Report Was Falsified!

I have been a red wine lover since … well, forever it seems. I have always known that moderation in all things is key, that too much of a good thing is never a good thing. I never assumed that any amount of alcohol was beneficial, so when the study came out a while ago about the possible benefits of moderate red wine consumption … well I was thrilled. Turns out the victory dances were premature, as the researcher behind the study has just been found guilty of “145 counts of fabrication and falsification of data”.

Game Diary, Reviews

Neverwinter Nights 2 for the Mac (App Store Version)

Neverwinter Nights 2 (NWN2) arrived late in 2006 on the PC, and the Mac version took about sixteen months longer to arrive on Mac OS X. In fact, the first expansion for the PC game arrived before the Mac port, but unlike the expansions for the original Neverwinter Nights there is not a simple way to get ‘Mask of the Betrayer’ (or ‘Storm of Zehir’ or the ‘Mysteries of Westgate’ adventure pack) running on your Mac. I had thoroughly enjoyed the PC version of NWN2 when it was released, declaring it the best RPG of 2006 over Oblivion and Gothic…

Gear Bits

Cool Infographic: The World of Mobile Phones

With CES this week, there is even more focus on the state of mobile technology than usual. So I enjoyed browsing this cool infographic from SoMobile.com. Here are a few details: Having gathered a number of statistics from around the world, our infographic also reveals that around 2.7 million SMS messages are sent in China every day, which is no doubt why 70 percent of Chinese mobile users – all 666,120,000 of them – admit they simply “couldn’t live” without their mobile. In Russia, it seems as if people can’t live without one or more handsets – with each person…

Events, Gear Bits, News & Features

FashionWare Fashion Show And Gear Diary Is There

Last night at CES featured the Fashionware Fashion Show which featured a showcase of wearable technologies including solar powered backpacks, sophisticated mobile phones and netbooks, and fashion powered by light or movement, climate changing gear, and more. Here is their description of the show: FashionWare captures the excitment of the new wearable and sensor-based technologies combined with style and sophistication. Our approach is to mix the traditional fashion show runway with education about how high tech is transforming fashion. Targeting fashion afficionados and technologists,some of the outfits are future-tense and some are available today. The outfits are accessorized by some…

Editorials

Should Google Be Limited In HOW They Evolve Search?

I have been thinking quite a bit about HOW to address all of the ‘stuff’ flying around about Google, Google +, ‘search your world’, Twitter, Facebook, and a partridge in a pear tree … because in some ways things seem very clear but in other ways not. So what I decided was to drop a couple of ideas and then open it up for everyone to discuss. First off, let us start with the baseline assumptions. First: Google has a monopoly in search. Second: Google’s search monopoly is a ‘natural’ monopoly. (more in a minute) Third: Google sees search as…

Events, News & Features

Pyramid Distribution Brings Us the iGoGo TV and Android-Based TV-Box

Today we heard about a cool new set-top box for your HDTV from Pyramid Distribution, called the iGoGo TV. The iGoGo is an Android-powered box that brings a robust ‘smart TV’ experience to your home. Because it is based on standard Android 2.3, it means you will be able to run tons of the same Android apps you already know and love. Featuring wired and wireless networking, support for 1920x1080p full HD, 4GB built-in memory expandable to 32GB by micro SD, support for USB hard drives for unlimited storage, and more. The iGoGo also includes a 2MP webcam with microphone,…

News & Features

Random Cool Video: “The Flight of the Bumblebee” at 600 BPM!

I remember seeing the YouTube video below last year when it was posted and noted as a ‘world record’. Apparently now it has been certified by Guiness as a world record, and the guitarist – John Taylor – has demonstrated his massive speed technique for Wired as part of an article. Thrashers, shredders, and heshers, lend me your tinnitus-damaged ears! The Great Question has been settled. The fastest guitar player alive is not Eddie Van Halen nor Yngwie Malmsteen nor that guy from Morbid Angel. Nope, it’s John Taylor, a 28-year-old music teacher in Westminster, Colorado, who last spring claimed…

Events, Gear Bits, News & Features

Adobe Debuts Photoshop Lightroom 4 Public Beta on Adobe Labs

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom provides a powerful set of tools with a singular focus: making our photos look amazing. In the past Adobe has opened up their ‘lab’ and allowed early access to in-development tools to a limited audience. Now Adobe is opening up their Lightroom 4 beta to EVERYONE! It is a great opportunity to get a peek at the upcoming version of one of the most powerful photo editors available. Here are some of the new features: Lightroom 4 beta is a major software update adding a broad range of new capabilities based on feedback provided by the photography…

News & Features

The Other Twinkie Drops: Hostess Files for Chapter 11

Growing up, Hostess was EVERYWHERE – Twinkies, Ho-Hos, Sno-Balls, Suzy-Qs, Fruit Pies and so on. Not to mention Wonder Bread, the enriched white bread that got good mileage out of touting nutrients added to notoriously deficient product. I even remember the advertisements in comics featuring Batman and the Archie gang. But then people realized that regardless of enrichment white bread was deficient, and moved more to whole grains. Also, the infamous ‘infinite shelf life’ tests for Twinkies didn’t help the company, and as more and more low-price competitors such as Little Debbie found favor in traditionally strong Hostess (and Drakes,…

Events, Game Diary

Embarrasment for Intel After Faking Ultrabook Gaming Demo

We’ve seen it all at CES – vapor-products, stuff we won’t see for months (if ever), dummy products as show-pieces, and more. Now Intel – with the demo for their ‘bet the farm on it’ Ultrabooks … got caught faking a demo when the VLC control panel showed up a few times as shown above. The executive on stage tried to play it off, but the credibility of the entire show was lost. Check out the video: Since the demo – more to the point since being CAUGHT – Intel has admitted that the demo was a video done for…

Events, News & Features

HP Introduces ENVY 14 Spectre With Glass Cover Design

There are some who have already declared this the ‘year of the Ultrabook’. So what is an Ultrabook? Think a Macbook Air … but by PC makers and running Windows. Basically it is a solid-performance ultraportable that eliminates internal optical disks and makes for a thin and light experience with mega-fast boot and wake times and battery life that challenges tablets. What most probably didn’t expect was that HP would walk into CES with a ‘premium Ultrabook’ with some stunning design features … and a price to go along with it! Here are some details from HP: Tough yet beautiful,…

Game Diary, Reviews

Tiny Token Empires iPad Game Review

I reviewed Tiny Token Empires on the Mac a couple of months ago, and found it a wonderful game that easily earned its $25 price tag. Now it has moved to the iPad and after a chance to play it through again, I can confirm that it is well worth the $9 price of admission. Let’s take a look! The Hype: Tiny Token Empires is an amazing mix-it’s a puzzle game, « Match 3 » game and turn-based strategy game. The player plays one of the five major ancient empires: Rome, Greece, Egypt, Persia, or Carthage. By developing cities and…

Events, News & Features

Portable Sound Labs CES Highlights

I recently reviewed the iMainGoXP by Portable Sound Labs, and found it to be an excellent solution for portable audio for my iPad and Kindle Fire. Now they are introducing a whole portable speaker line-up including some based on BlueTooth wireless communications! Here are some of what they are introducing at CES this week! PSL PipeLine: The device features a stellar base unit with two 2” subwoofers and two detachable speakers. For more sound “Drops” (separate PSL device) can be added, which can be synched to media device and carry sound throughout a home or provide killer surround sound. PSL…

Editorials

When THIS Happens We ALL Win

If you search around the internet based on the images in this post you will find loads of prognostication – Android fans calling it meaningless (despite foretelling the death of iOS with each percentage Android gains at the expense of RIM), iOS fans calling it the ‘Android plummet’ (in spite of arguing that short term shifts are meaningless), and so on. What I see – particularly when I look at the next image – is a market that is moving more rapidly than ever before. Smartphones accounted for over TWO THIRDS of all mobile phone sales in October and November…

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