Reviews

Reviews October 26, 2010

ZaReason Terra HD Netbook Linux Netbook Review

It’s been a couple of years since I reviewed a laptop from ZaReason, the UltraLap SR. Now I’m reviewing something a bit smaller — the ZaReason Terra HD. ZaReason is a different type computer company; every single computer they sell runs Linux, and they only ship Linux (or no operating system at all) on all of their machines. They care about this to the point where they even include a screwdriver in the box of every machine they sell. That is because any system you buy is your system, and they feel that you have every right to look at what makes…

Reviews, Vehicles & Gear October 26, 2010

G Coupe or M Sedan, Infiniti’s Class of 37s Offer Driving Nirvana

Most of you have probably seen the Nissan commercial where a new father-to-be laments his ownership of a Z sports coupe after hearing the news his family is growing. He is suddenly struck with the brilliant idea to stretch the Z to a four-door sports car in the form of the Maxima. Flip this same scenario to an Infiniti family and that is exactly the case as we went from G37 coupe to M37 sport sedan recently. No, the rabbit did not die over here at our household but I was treated to the bookends of the 37 series of…

Reviews October 26, 2010

Gear Diary Deal or Dud #7: The Bacon Wave

Cooking bacon at home often presents challenges. If you cook it on top of the stove you’re left to deal with the large amount of grease that continually builds up in the pan while cooking. If you go the microwave route you’re dealing with paper towels and are limited by the amount you can cook at one time. The As Seen On TV Bacon Wave promises an easy and efficient way to cooking large quantities of bacon with simple clean up. The product claims to uniformly cook up to 14 slices at one time as well as lower both calories, cholesterol and fat. This…

Reviews October 26, 2010

Review: StarXscape Lite

Gaming is starting to come to the Android platform in earnest as representative of the amount of downloads of the recently released Angry Birds. Games are really starting to hit Android en-mass. Just before Angry Birds came out, MHill System let us know about an interesting game for Android called StarXscape. Your mission in StarXscape , if you choose to accept it, is to free the stars that are held captive by the evil Octramon. You along with your faithful sidekick Krudo will travel galaxy by galaxy freeing the stars held in octacages. What does that mean as far as game…

Reviews October 25, 2010

Daniusoft Video Converter Ultimate Harnesses the Power of Nvidia CUDA Windows Software Review

Image courtesy of Daniusoft With so many devices being able to replay video these days, converting and encoding is a skill that should be known. Most devices now include software to handle this task for you but sometimes it just doesn’t encode the way you want it to or simply cannot convert from the file type you have. Years ago when the copyright cracking* became an art form, people who wanted to make legal copies of purchased DVDs had to use software such as DVDShrink, DVD decryptrr, and DVD Fab. It used to be a grueling multi-step process which involved different…

Reviews October 25, 2010

iPad Case Review: iSkin Duo

There was a time when I was a HUGE fan of silicon skins for my devices. The excellent protection, wide array of color options and variety of designs were just some of the reasons I would, at times, choose a silicon case over a leather one. More recently however I have found myself choosing leather when I decide on which case to use. All this noted, iSkin’s new silicon iPad case offerings have me rather tempted with regard to opting for the brightly colored silicone. One of the designs they are now offering is the iSkin Duo for iPad. It…

Reviews October 25, 2010

HeyTell Review

Remember years ago when Nextel’s Direct Connect phones were all the rage? They aren’t used widely today, but back then the familiar beep of the walky-talky feature was something heard often. Thanks to a tip from a YouTube friend I’ve been using a new iOS application called “HeyTell” which mirrors the Nextel Direct Connect function. HeyTell turns your iOS device into a walky-talky. You record short (limited to 30-seconds) voice notes and they are transmitted to another user and played on his/her iOS device. The application utilizes push notifications to alert users when new messages have arrived so once you send the…

Reviews October 24, 2010

ADT PULSE Interactive Security System Review

When the new ADT PULSE system became available in my area I immediate jumped at the chance to have it installed in my home. PULSE not only allows for the ability to arm and disarm one’s home security system from anywhere in the world, it does much more. The new ADT PULSE system is all about home automation. It includes lighting, temperature control, video, and more. As a kid this sort of thing seemed like something that would exist in the far, far future, maybe not even in my lifetime. But it turns out that future isn’t far off at…

Music Diary, Reviews October 22, 2010

Music Diary Review: Pat Metheny Orchestrion Live!

Image courtesy Hans Speekenbrink via AllAboutJazz.com Last night I took my family to see Pat Metheny and his Orchestrion live at the Anderson Performing Arts center in Binghamton, NY. Early this year I noted the introduction to the technology here and reviewed the CD here. When the concert tour was first announced, I was unsurprised that the nearest spots would be about four hours away from me (one thing I really miss about the Boston area!) So when a follow-up set of dates was announced in May that would bring Metheny within an hour … I grabbed tickets right away…

How to Do It Yourself!, Reviews October 22, 2010

Quick Look- iMovie ’11 Movie Trailers… Fast, Easy, Fun

iLife ’11 has a neat new feature for making movie trailers. It is fun, easy to use and… well look for yourselves… From iMove’11 you select, “Create a New Project” and “Movie Trailer”. You pick your theme and then get to work… You change the text in the Outline to be whatever you like… Add clips from the imported movie event clips Then adjust either the text or the clips to better fit the storyboard. You can preview and, when happy, export your new movie trailer. Have you created a trailer using the new software? If you have… check back…

Reviews October 22, 2010

ListMonger for iPhone Review

I recently received an email from Paul at Inspiretis, an iPhone app developer. Having seen one of my reviews in which I confessed my obsession with list making, Paul offered to send me a review copy of his new iPhone app, ListMonger. I downloaded the app and I’ve been playing with it for about a month. To be frank, I really like ListMonger. It packs a bunch of features into a few basic, easy to use screens. Among the features are: Nested lists – and not just at one level. I only tried it for three levels (a list with…

Reviews October 21, 2010

Bumper Holster for iPhone 4 Review

iPhone protection is a bit of a double-edged sword for me. Everyone knows I’ve got a bit of an obsession with cases, but truth be told I like my iPhone best naked. Since I often carry my phone in my pants pocket keeping it as slim as possible is important. It is for this reason that I have been using a bumper style case in conjunction with a back skin more than any other combo. I had been looking for a better way to carry the phone (pants pockets just get to crowded with other stuff) when I came across…

Reviews, Vehicles & Gear October 20, 2010

2011 Mazda MX-5 Miata

A few years back, the good folks at Mazda chose to drop the Miata tagline on the most popular two-seat convertible sports car in the world, instead going only with the MX-5 designation. I guess this gave the cute little bugger more of a “macho” image as many consumers have thought of Miata as more a “chick’s” car. Masculinity intact, I thoroughly enjoyed my week in the Mazda MX-5 Miata, which I dubbed “Miazda” purely to enhance the confusion. In 2006, Mazda launched the third-generation of the fun little roadster and it did not share a single component with previous…

Reviews October 20, 2010

Trainyard for iPhone/Touch Review

We are all feeling the financial pinch! Blue Plate Special is a weekly review of bargain apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Nothing over $.99. Yes, I am a sucker for puzzle games on my IOS devices and love to find new games that fit the Blue Plate Special price. Trainyard is currently on sale for $.99 so jump on this one quickly. It is always interesting to see the many ways developers can create a puzzler. I have a soft spot in my heart as a train lover for this one. My dad loves to watch trains and…

Reviews October 19, 2010

Gear Gadget Review: The Flipside x2

Last night I went to pay for something. I pulled out my wallet and the woman behind the counter looked at it and said, “Now that’s a nifty gadget!” “Thanks,” I said, “I like everything about it but the color; I wish it were black.” “NOOO! she said, that’s my favorite color. I love it!” As I walked away I thought to myself, “Thanks for the first line of my review!” We reviewed the first iteration of the Flipside Wallet about a year ago. In fact, if you go to the Web site our conclusion that “This wallet is a…

Game Diary, Reviews October 19, 2010

PC Game Review: Mount & Blade: Warband

When I reviewed Mount & Blade at the end of 2008, I said “the target audience for Mount & Blade is rather small, but for that group of gamers it scratches an itch that has been around for years, and does so in a very satisfying way. The game provides hours of fun, and an experience that doesn’t get stale.” Fast forward 18 months to the stand-alone expansion Warband, and we find that everything has been improved yet the overall experience is diminished. How does THAT work? Read on and find out! The Hype: Mount & Blade: Warband is the…

Reviews October 18, 2010

OtterBox Impact Series iPhone 4 Case Review

No matter what level of protection you need for your iPhone 4 OtterBox has you covered. The company realizes that all iPhone users are different and use their phones in different environments. It’s because of this that they offer three different levels of protective cases for the iPhone 4. Their Defender series offers the maximum amount, followed by the Commuter which offers a mid-range level of protection followed by the case we’ll look at today, the Impact series. The Impact series case is a slim fitting, silicone based case that is meant to protect your device from life’s bumps, scratches…

Game Diary, Reviews October 16, 2010

PC/XBOX360/PS3 Game Review: Alpha Protocol

What the HECK took me so long to get my review of Alpha Protocol done? Didn’t I mention months ago having finished the game? Didn’t I later say I was going back and replaying again … and haven’t some months ensued since THAT as well? It is all true, and since then I have gone back again, looking to reduce the ‘two minds’ I have about so much of this game into a coherent review … you’ll have to read on to find out how I did! The Hype: The year is 2009. Worldwide political tensions are at a breaking…

Reviews October 16, 2010

All New Powermat Wireless Charging System for the iPhone 4 Review

Powermat was first to bring wireless charging to the iPhone. I was admittedly not a huge fan of their first generation design for the iPhone 3G/3Gs. The large back plate just didn’t look good. Dan had a chance to review the first generation system just about a year ago and came to a similar conclusion. The company is readying their iPhone 4 second generation release and I had a chance to preview it. Boy how things have changed. The new iPhone 4 Powermat is a world away from its predecessor. Small, sleek and thin, the new version is a site to see….

Game Diary, Reviews October 15, 2010

Nintendo DS Game Review: Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City

There are some who would have you believe that all of the games for the Nintendo DS are either casual puzzle games, shovelware (bad licensed games) or licensed products such as Pokemon (i.e good shovelware). Since I like neither or those game types and have played and reviewed more than a couple hundred DS games over the last five years, and have a library of over 100 DS games I love to play, it is safe to assume the platform has more to offer. From excellent adventures such as Hotel Dusk to grand strategy games like Advance Wars to the…

Reviews October 13, 2010

Flick Fishing for iPhone/Touch Review

I recently took my oldest son fishing with a buddy and his daughter. This was not his first time fishing, but it was definitely our most fruitful adventure. The kids were catching perch and bass as fast as we could get the bait wet and they were having a blast. Luckily, we hooked onto a couple of larger bass and Peyton had to learn to fight and real a fish that could really fight. Being the geek that I have made him, he asked if there was a fishing game on the iPhone on our way home. We decided to…

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