Michael Anderson | Gear Diary

EA Brings the Grim Hammer of Reality to the PopCap Merger

Earlier we got a message from frequent commented DBMurray regarding a message he received about what is happening to customer data as part of the EA/Popcap merger I wrote about here. As we were conversing, I got the same message which is shown at top. Although the message says ‘good news’, neither DBMurray nor I find the news all that great. Why? Well, as my earlier article indicated, PopCap is a pretty cool company with great games. EA is a terrible company with a tendency to treat customers poorly, lock people out of their games for vague and inconsistent reasons,…

Editorials

And the TOADY for ‘Worst Toy of 2011’ Goes To … The Vinci ‘Tablet for Babies’

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) is an organization whose purpose involves understanding and limiting the impact of commercial culture on children. Here is their mission statement: CCFC’s mission is to reclaim childhood from corporate marketers. A marketing-driven media culture sells children on behaviors and values driven by the need to promote profit rather than the public good. The commercialization of childhood is the link between many of the most serious problems facing children, and society, today. Childhood obesity, eating disorders, youth violence, sexualization, family stress, underage alcohol and tobacco use, rampant materialism, and the erosion of children’s creative…

Editorials, Game Diary

Why Does Sony Make it So Hard for Me to Say Nice Things? Memory Card Edition

You might not think so from my posts, but I am really cheering for Sony with the Playstation Vita. I canceled my pre-order of the system, but that was more about the fact that there were no bonus offers … and Amazon tends to be great with those so I figured I would just wait until the new year to see. The system looks great hardware wise, seems to offer tons of gameplay possibilities, and ultimately I think that more gaming options means better competition means better games for all of us! But this weekend I have discovered yet another…

News & Features

The Evolution of Riot Gear

When I was growing up, the echoes of the 60’s and early 70’s protests along with the brutal police response lingered heavily along with the post-Vietnam era … and as more civil protests and cooperative ways to try to change things, so too did the police response – and the outfits they wore. I was flipping through an old copy of a local paper that covered the school walkout in 1981 at the announcement of the impact of the Proposition 2.5 cutbacks on the school. The headline said 200 walked out and there were 5 arrests. The images showed a…

Game Diary, Reviews

First Impressions of Infinity Blade 2 from the Gear Diary Team

While my personal preference of games released this week is the port of 2004’s ‘The Bard’s Tale’, there is no doubt that the big release of the week is Infinity Blade 2. Doug has been beside himself waiting for the game to arrive, Dan started the ball rolling with his thoughts on the graphics, and me being me I grabbed it immediately upon release. So what do we think after a short time playing? Read on and see!

Editorials, Game Diary

Would YOU Pay $30 a Year for TETRIS?

Doug wrote about the new ‘reimaginged’ Tetris app, which includes the following: · The fan-favorite Marathon Mode. · A brand new level-based Galaxy Mode, where players can use game-changing power ups to dig down and shatter their scores. · Innovative Marathon One Touch Mode, a simple and easy-to-use control scheme for Marathon mode that is specially designed for touch screen gameplay. · New gameplay challenges delivered via the never-before-seen Tetris Log system. · Tetris Rank functionality that tracks players’ lifetime “lines cleared” to assign an overall rank. · Ability to subscribe to the T-Club, the only Tetris fan club to…

Reviews

The GammaTech Durabook S15C2 Rugged Laptop Review

Have you ever knocked a laptop off the arm of a couch on to a carpeted floor and lost everything since your last backup? Or spilled just a tiny bit of water on the keyboard and were met with ‘that smell’ that told you the motherboard was cooked? If these are real concerns for you, then you need to check out the GammaTech Durabook S15C2 Rugged Laptop. The Durabook is meant to handle just about everything you can throw at it and live to boot up another day. The kind folks at GammaTech sent me one to review – let’s…

Music Diary, News & Features

Random Cool Video: Bobby McFerrin and the Power of the Pentatonic Scale!

Although this video is a couple of years old, it is amazing in its power and simple truth – we have a certain musical instinct in us that is easily called forth. At a forum in the 2009 World Science Festival, McFerrin took center stage to show how by simply suggesting a phrase and an intervallic leap, the inherent musicality in all of us takes over and we find the correct note. He moves one step physically, we move one step musically, and so on. It is amazing to watch. Here is the description of McFerrin from the event: What…

Gear Bits

Random Cool Video: Mike Tyson Singing ‘The Girl from Ipanema’

Yes … THIS Mike Tyson: At this point … I really have no idea what to say anymore. Source: Digital Music News

Reviews

Kingston DataTraveler 109 with urDrive Review

When it comes to USB drives I tend to be fairly utilitarian – I want something fast, portable, durable, and reliable. The top brand drives all offer that stuff, so what makes you choose one $20 8GB drive over another? Kingston is hoping that their urDrive software embedded in the DataTraveler 109 will offer users a differentiating factor that will be a deciding factor for a purchase. Let’s take a quick look! The Hype: Kingston’s DataTraveler® 109 is a fashionable USB Flash drive available in seven colors that make it fun to connect and share photos, music, videos and more…

Editorials, Game Diary

Gamer Banned for Using ‘Inappropriate Language’ in Forum Tamer Than What Is in the Actual Game!

Early this year I wrote about two separate incidents of gamers being banned from playing games based on comments made in separately housed gaming forums – the first was about someone banned for upsetting a forum moderator by asking “Have you (Bioware) sold your souls to the EA devil?”. At the time EA claimed it was an ‘error’: “Unfortunately, there was an error in the system that accidentally suspended a user’s entire account,” he told Ars. “Immediately upon learning of the glitch, EA took steps to restore the user’s macro account and apologized for the inconvenience.” My speculation that the…

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Music Diary Notes: Elvis Costello Says ‘Don’t Buy My Record’

Given how accustomed we have become to pop music stars going anywhere and doing anything to practically beg us to buy their stuff, this announcement from ElvisCostello.com is certainly surprising. Here is the initial post from Elvis: “Let’s make things sparkling clear” We at www.elviscostello.com find ourselves unable to recommend “The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook” as the price appears to be either a misprint or a satire.All our attempts to have this number revised have been fruitless so we are taking the following unusual step. If you want… His site followed up with a more elaborate explanation: If…

eBooks, News & Features

Amazon Releases First Kindle Fire Firmware Update

It has been two weeks since the Kindle Fire stormed on to the market, with loads of pre-orders fueling an extremely successful Holiday period for the product. I am still finishing up my review, and Dan has already sent his back … and last night Amazon released the first firmware update for the Fire. Here are the details from Amazon: We have a new, free software update available for Kindle Fire. This software upgrade provides improvements to the operation of your Kindle Fire. If you are not sure what software version you’re running, tap the Quick Settings icon, tap “More,”…

Editorials

A Reminder That Our Only Freedoms Are the Ones We Fight For

I doubt that anyone would seriously debate that we have lost significant freedoms in this country over the last decade, though it is generally presented with a caveat that what has changed was needed for enhanced security. Sometimes this is true, other times it is for the appearance of greater security, and other times it is simply an authoritarian power grab. Which is why this story is so awesome! Last week I heard about the high school girl had gone to a ‘Youth in Government’ program event and had tweeted: Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him…

Game Diary, Reviews

The World of Goo for iPad Game Review

> There are times when a simple description does little to convey the joy contained in a great game. For World of Goo, my one-line description ‘solve puzzles by building stuff by stringing together bunches of goo balls’ doesn’t begin to explain why you will be losing sleep playing ‘just one more level’. I am not sure that my description or conclusion will completely describe just how much fun this game is, but hopefully my full description will entire you enough to buy one of the best games available for the iPad. The Hype: Beautiful and surprising, the millions of…

News & Features

It’s Time – A Celebration of the Natural Cycles of Adult Life

As adults we see so many different good and bad things in our lives; some we would change and others we wouldn’t change even if we could. As we grow we have friends and family who experience joys and tragedies and are reminded that life is just too short and can end in a moment without warning. This Thanksgiving I had my brother in my house – not his family, just him … because after nearly 25 years of marriage he is facing divorce. Which comes on the heels of my sister whose divorce finalized the day before her 20th…

Gear Bits

Droid 4 Revealed – Like a Moto Razr with a Slide-Out QWERTY Keyboard

When it comes to mobile devices I tend to be fairly platform agnostic, owning Android phones, iPod Touches (well, iPods since the original one in 2001), and both iPads and Android Tablets. But there is one place where I have clear bias (well, aside from gaming performance), and that is my preference for physical keyboards. Listing the smartphones I have used over the last few years, there is the original Droid, Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, HTC Touch Pro 2, HTC 7 Pro, and Droid Pro. What do all of those phones have in common? A physical keyboard. I even stuck…

News & Features

The Latest Cool Steve Jobs Video – NeXT Computer ‘Entrepreneurs’ Feature

For most people, Steve Jobs is the iconic black-turtleneck & jeans wearing icon who led Apple from near bankruptcy to become the most valuable public company in the world before he passed away recently. But there are more and more historical views of him popping up all over the place – and this is one of the coolest I have seen. It is from a PBS series called ‘Entrepreneurs’, with an episode from late 1986 looking at NeXT Computer when it was merely 11 computers and a long road ahead before shipping their first computer. It is great to see…

Gear Bits

Microsoft’s Claims of TellMe Being ‘Basically the Same as Siri’ Put to the Test

Sometimes there is no better way to demonstrate that what a company is saying is pure rubbish than by putting it to a simple test. Apple’s Siri was released to simultaneous cheers and yawns – cheers from those who use it and yawns from Microsoft and Google (and their fanboys) saying that they already have the same technology. This week Microsoft made a big deal about how they already had a ‘Siri-like’ technology and all Apple had going for it was ‘good marketing’. This is very similar to what Google has said, and is the sort of thing that plays…

Gear Bits

Malls Will Test Cell Phone Shopper-Tracking Starting on Black Friday

You are wandering around the mall on Friday, heading from the Gap to FYE to Macy’s to Hickory Farms to Best Buy, not necessarily thinking about anything but getting as many great deals to justify braving the crowds as possible. But thanks to FootPath Technology, your cell phone will be pinging in with its location, and the mall will be able to mine data about traffic patterns, which stores got the most visitors, correlations between stores and more! Sound a bit invasive? Well, if you are in one of the malls testing this out, your only option is to turn…

News & Features

Killing webOS Cost HP HOW MUCH?!? Also, HP Nabs #2 Tablet Spot for 2011!

Two interesting pieces of contrasting TouchPad news: one about failure and the other success. From AllThingsD, we get a snip from the recent HP earnings report specific to Palm, webOS and the impact of folding up that business on their results. Here is their quote from the earnings report: Non-GAAP earnings and operating profit information excludes after-tax costs of $3.3 billion, or $1.56 per diluted share, related to the wind down of HP’s webOS device business, impairment of goodwill and purchased intangible assets, amortization of purchased intangible assets, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.

Articles by Michael Anderson