Search Results for sony

iPad Game Review: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (GTA:CW from now on) has had an interesting history – it was originally released in arch 2009 for the Nintendo DS, got excellent reviews and was praised by older gamers who had complained that there were too few ‘mature’ DS games … yet it didn’t sell very well. For me,it remains one of the best games for the DS. Later that year it was ported to the Sony PSP, with better graphics and audio and reworked mini-games to deal with the lack of touch control. Once again great reviews … and once again lousy sales!…

Reviews

iPad Cases From Vintage Comic Books

Etsy is one of my favorite web sites. If you’re not familiar with the site it’s a place that brings people who make things together with the people who want to buy them. A few weeks ago while browsing it I came across the “store” Vintage Covers. They turn vintage comic books (40-50 years old) into cases for the iPad (and other devices as well.) Here’s how the store’s proprietor, Randy, describes it. For those who want to go high tech but still stay classic, I am making covers from vintage books, comics and magazines, for the iPad, Kindle, Kobo,…

News

Acme Made Unveils New Sleeves and Covers for Kindle, NOOK and iPad

Acme Made makes some gorgeous bags and device accessories and have now rolled out a new line of cases and covers for the Kindle, the NOOK, the iPad and more that all… provide users with highly protective and well-designed solutions for the growing audience of compact eReader and tablet users seeking fashion-forward protection. Here’s a quick rundown and the company’s description of each. The Hardback Folio- The Acme Made Hardback Folio offers a perfect blend of style and protection with a book-like protective cover and a removable, custom-molded silicone skin. The outer cover is crafted with classic book linen, providing…

eBooks, Editorials

Kindle Is Headed to Best Buy, the New eBook Battleground

Just the other day I was commenting on how I didn’t see the Kindle heading to Best Buy for a head to head against the nook, but clearly, I was wrong. According to MobileRead, Amazon and Best Buy have announced that the big yellow tag will be stocking Kindles for the holidays, so whether you’re shopping for a B&N fan or an Amazon acolyte you’re all set. Unless, of course, you’re Sony. Why is this such bad news for Sony? There are a few reasons. One, look at Sony’s prices compared to the nook and the Kindle. You can buy…

Game Diary, Reviews

PSP Game Review: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable (RPG, 2010)

One thing I love about the PSP and DS is that they allow me – a long-time PC/Mac laptop gamer who is not a fan of couch-based console gaming – to get a glimpse into the console gaming world on my own terms. By this I mean that since my tendency is towards gaming on the go, handheld systems like the PSP are very much in line with that. The Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series of RPGs are a classic Playstation franchise, making their second entry on the PSP. How does it work? Read on and find out! The Hype:…

Music Diary, Reviews

CD Retrospective: 40 Years Later, Miles Davis Bitches Brew STILL Polarizes Jazz Fans

In every medium, every genre, there are transitions from one period to the next, silent to ‘talkies’ to color films, baroque to classical to romantic in classical music, and so on. But seldom is there a singular musical even that forms such a clear demarcation in a genre as Miles Davis 1970 Bitches Brew does for Jazz music. As stated on the Miles-Beyond blog, everything in Jazz comes down to ‘before’ or ‘after’ Bitches Brew. It is interesting to look back and realize that in spite of being one of the clear stars of jazz from the 1940’s until his…

Reviews

Gear vs Gear- Zagg Z-Buds, Apple’s In-Ear headphones, and Etymotic HF2 headphones

Pictured from left to right; Apples white In Ear Headphones (IEH), red Zagg Z-Buds, and the blue Etymotic HF2 buds. I’ve owned a pair of Zagg Z-Buds for about 1.5 years now and they had been my earbud of choice until I won two new sets of buds from Gear Diary last winter. (Thanks so much, Gear Diary!) Now that I’ve had several months to use them all, I’m prepared to give you all a brief review of all 3; Zagg Z-Buds, Apple’s In-Ear headphones (IEH), and Etymotic HF2 headphones. All of these were tested for the first half of…

Editorials, Music Diary

Music Industry Says Sales Still Lousy, Still Blaming Piracy, Still Trying to Raise Prices and Force Album-Only Sales Model

There is a great Veggie Tales song The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, where they are supposed to be singing about ‘piratey stuff’ but Larry is singing about … nonsense. At the end they conclude ‘you just don’t get it’. And THAT is exactly what I was thinking when I read the news about the sorry state of album sales at NPR. Here is the video, just in case you don’t know the song: From the article: The month of August — like, basically, every month for the past 10 years — has not been kind to the music industry….

eBooks, News

Kobo Adds “Outside Book Loading” to Their iOS Apps

Kobo has an interesting new feature for iOS users; now you can add non-DRM’d ePUB and PDF files to the Kobo app on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. You can do the same thing through Stanza, so it’s not the feature set itself per se…it’s that Kobo is the first mainstream bookstore to support this feature! If you read your books on an ebook reader, you can load any supported files onto your device. Kobo Readers can load DRM-free ePUBs, as can Sony Readers, B&N Nooks, Jetbook lites, etc. But unless you’re going through Amazon’s Whispersync conversion it’s nearly…

eBooks, News

eBook Pricing Showdown!

(image courtesy Inkmesh) eBook pricing has been in a huge state of flux since the “agency model” went into effect this past spring. With many top titles pricing being set by the publisher it becomes a case of what store you prefer, and not necessarily what store offers the best price. However, there are still many publishers (Random House being the biggest) who don’t follow agency pricing, and the fine folks at Inkmesh did some number crunching to determine which store offers the best bang for your buck. Amazon was the winner, but by a lower margin than the pre-agency…

eBooks, Editorials

Geek Squad Tackles eBooks

Best Buy’s Geek Squad offers a whole litany of services, and now they’re offering to set up your ebook reader for $29.99. While some might balk at paying almost 20% more for an ebook reader+setup, I think this brilliant and could lead to more ebook marketshare. One of the big obstacles, as I have said before, is simply getting the average person comfortable with ebooks. Turning on a nook or a Kindle and downloading books over the air is relatively easy, but what about adding your own documents? Or if you have a device that supports Adobe DRM, sideloading books?…

Reviews

Review: Arctic Sound S11 Speakers And Arctic Power C1 Solar Charger

Arctic Sound calls it “the combination of this summer.” Basically, two ultra portable laptop speakers coupled with a solar power source make any summer trip in the sun complete with your favorite tunes. I absolutely love my MacBook Pro, but the speakers are far from useful in my eyes. This leaves me with a constant search for audio solutions. I have tried many combinations, some with good sound but no portability and others being portable with just ok sound. The S111 speakers are tiny making them easy to carry and the addition of the C1 Mobile makes them usable without…

eBooks, Editorials

Is the Paper Book Dead?

There’s been quite the firestorm of debate over the future of the printed word recently. With the new Kindles selling out and Apple selling iPads like crazy, everyone is tripping over each other predicting the end of the road for paper. But is it really time to say goodbye, or are predictions of paper book’s death greatly exaggerated? In my opinion, there are a few areas that need to hit a “tipping point” before ebooks truly overtake paper books in all areas. Price, audience, software, and content all need to come together. And it’s important to remember that ebooks fall…

Reviews

Home Tech Accessory Review- IDAPT i4 Charging Station

I have way too many devices that need to be charged on a regular basis. There’s my iPhone, my iPod touch, my LiveScribe Echo smartpen, an assortment of Bluetooth headsets, the Motorola headset I use for running and more. The result is a jumble of wall chargers and a tangle of cables that is annoying, collects dust and just looks terrible. That’s why I was excited to check out IDAPT’s latest Universal charger, the IDAPT i4. The i4 looks similar to the i3 but with one significant, and useful change, it now has a USB port on the side that…

Game Diary, Reviews

PSP Game Review: Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip!

It was with some surprise that I realized that while I was greatly enjoying what I consider the best PSP game since 2008, Persona 3 Portable, I had actually been spending more time playing Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip! What is it about this game that seems to refuse to let me stop playing? Read on and find out! The Hype: The ear-deafening cheers from the crowd have died down, as you bounce the ball in preparation of your serve for championship point. You toss the ball into the air and strike it with the sweet spot of the…

Editorials, Game Diary

Nintendo DS News: R4 ‘Piracy Enabling’ Carts Now Illegal In UK

I think by now I’ve made it known that I am frothingly anti-piracy, so the new ruling in the UK that bans the R4 Revolution and similar devices thrills me. The high court set a new precedent by adjusting that it is illegal for the R4 card to circumvent Nintendo’s security systems in order to play content on the DS. In the US this sort of thing isn’t necessarily illegal to sell, but since they are such piracy-centric devices even Amazon who used to be a big seller of the devices has stopped supplying them. Basically the R4 is an…

Game Diary, Reviews

PSP Mini Game Review: Mahjongg Artifacts Chapter 2

Not long ago I reviewed the recently released Mahjongg Artifacts, which was a sequel to one of the earliest PSP Minis, Mahjongg Artifacts Chapter 2. Recently Sony announced that more than 1 million PSP Minis had been downloaded worldwide … and guess what game was #8 on the ‘top ten most popular’ list? That’s right – Mahjongg Artifacts Chapter 2! So to celebrate that achievement the kind folks at G5 have provided us a review copy of their hit game. The Hype: Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 is one of the most popular mahjong games on PC now available on PSP…

Editorials

Droid X Gets the Lockdown: Does it Matter?

There’s been a bunch of stuff going around the web about the Droid X and the fact that it likely will not be able to run custom ROMS and may even be hard to root. I’ll try to describe, in layman’s terms, what this may mean to a prospective Droid X buyer. What is this root and custom rom thing? First, having root is like having the Administrator user password on a Windows machine or the root password on a Mac OS X machine or Linux machine. It essentially gives you the right to modify anything on the phone. You…

Reviews

Case-Mate DIY Case for iPhone 3G/3Gs Review: Create Your Own Mastercase

Custom cases are all the rage. Several companies have emerged over the last year allowing users to create their very own custom case by uploading their personal photos and images to a web-based program which the company then turns into a case; this allows the end-user to make a case that’s truly their own. Case-Mate‘s revolutionary “I Make My Case” program which launched at CES 2010 really set the standard for case image manipulation allowing users to take art work from the Case-Mate site and alter it to their liking, mixing and matching pieces to make each case one of…

eBooks, Editorials

State of the eBook: Fight!

For this week’s “State of the eBook” I thought we should look at potential winners and losers in the ebook world. With competition and price wars getting fiercer, there’s a few major battles shaping up that may change the competitive landscape. One is (at this point) a slam dunk, while the others are subject to many variables. Without further ado, here are the matchups! Borders vs B&N B&N vs Amazon Amazon vs B&N and Spring Design Spring Design vs B&N Amazon, B&N, Spring Design and Borders vs the iPad Borders vs B&N Let’s start with what I think is just…

eBooks, News

Falling eBook Reader Prices!

Think Amazon and Barnes and Noble are the only ones slashing prices? Well, it looks like a few players in the ebook market have caught up with the new paradigm, though it’s debatable what changes will actually help them. Here are a few of the big drops we’ve seen so far: Sony Readers: Pocket Edition: From $169 to $149 Touch Edition: From $199 to $169 Daily Edition: From $349 to $299 Pocketbook Series: Pocketbook 360: From $239 to $199 Pocketbook 301: From $279 to $219 Pocketbook 302: From $339 to $279 Just for comparison, again, here are the prices on…

« 1 … 21 22 23 24 25 … 28 »