Pop Goes the Music Diary: Original Cindy Ain’t Down With That

OK, so my family has been on a Dark Angel kick lately, plowing through the entire series on DVD (which I grabbed on Goozex). One of the best things is the endless stream of quips from ‘Original Cindy’ (OC). She always seems to have a comment to match the situation, such as when Normal gets involved with a transgender woman who discovers she is a lesbian … “Original Cindy is just too straight to hook up with a science-fiction girlfriend.” Anyway, this weekend we watched some of the Billboard ‘Awards’ show, which largely tossed out popularity prizes and reminded us…

Gear Bits, News

Random Cool Video: Classic Sesame Street

I consider my family fortunate – I grew up watching Sesame Street when it was brand new, and my kids got to experience it as well during a time when both classic and new material was presented side-by-side, and there were plenty of videos, computer games, and music CD’s to enjoy! Last week my wife was shuffling on her iPod and ‘What do I do when I’m alone’ came on, a hold-over favorite from when the kids were little (I still have Rainbow Connection on my iPod!). Then this weekend a post at Buzzfeed looked at a bunch of classic…

Reviews

Photography Gear Review: USBfever HDMI Adapters and Retractable Audio 3.5mm Jack AUX Auxiliary Cable

My pile of field production equipment is ever-growing. I am a “one-man-band” of sorts so I am constantly looking for gear and “doo-dads” to make production work easier. Recently I picked up a great set of headphones (which I will feature in a separate post), and I learned the Swann RC helicopter won’t lift my HDHero POV camera — so no aerial shots for right now. When I first began updating all of my camera gear, I remember receiving a note from USBFever.com announcing some HDMI to mini HDMI adapters and cables. I also remember saying to myself “What the…

Music Diary, Reviews

ATunes Open Source Media Player Review

The trend toward strangely-capitalized programs is really annoying. The mediaplayer aTunes is trying to follow the iTunes naming model somewhat slavishly, so we’re stuck with that I suppose. Of course, that means sentences starting with the name of the program are either capitalized wrong or the word is capitalized wrong. Such choices! Installation was smooth and trouble-free, with a language selection dialog less impressive than Songbird, but sure to cover most use cases (darn, no Korean!). It also allows you to optionally install the source code for this GPL-licensed open source program, the only one in the set to do…

News

Random Cool Video: What Would You Do

‘What Would You Do’ is one of those ‘if we happen upon it’ shows my family will watch occasionally on Friday. The show sets up actors playing roles on hidden cameras in public places. Some of the ones we have seen are different teens (boy/girl, black/white) attempting to take a bike chained to a pole, hateful speech lobbed at an overweight girl, a spouse (again, male & female) trying to instigate a tryst in a bar on their anniversary while the other spouse is in the restroom. The goal is to see how normal bystanders will behave when confronted with…

Editorials

Android Owners: Screenshots or Movies … Pick One

I have been reviewing games since … well, since before the advent of smartphones anyway. And yet I have always managed to be able to come up with screenshots from my chosen device -Newton, Psion, Palm, Windows Mobile, iOS … but not Android. For some mind-numbing reason Android lacks a built-in screenshot utility. No problem for many – just ‘root’ the device and install one of the many screenshot utilities on the Android Market. Heck, that almost makes it seem like it is sanctioned officially!. But it isn’t – and that is one reason I have not rooted my Android…

Gear Bits, News

Random Cool Video: Watch Family Guy ‘Its a Trap’ for FREE!

Over the last several years Family Guy has taken on the original Star Wars trilogy, with Blue Harvest and Something, Something Dark Side. Last December they released the final entry ‘It’s A Trap’ on DVD and Blu-Ray, and on May 22nd the show aired as the finale for the 9th season of Family Guy. The episode is once again a humorous retelling of Return of the Jedi using series characters in place of the original actors, but keeping the personalities of the Family Guy characters largely intact. General opinion seems to be that this is the weakest of the three…

Music Diary, Reviews

Clementine Open Source Media Player Review

Clementine is a very clean-looking media player, inspired by the venerable Amarok player from Linux, and even using the Qt platform so it works in several flavors of Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. The installation is quick and simple, with no options presented to the user besides folder for the program. Unlike most media players, Clementine does not prompt the user for a music folder during the installation process. My 4000+ track test library was read and available in just over two minutes, although the program remained responsive during that time so I could do other things while waiting….

News

Skooba Design Adds Tenba Photo Bags to Portfolio

In response to many customer requests, Laptop bag manufacturer Skooba Design has partnered with the well-known Tenba brand to add photo/video carrying cases to Skooba’s product offering. Skooba will act as a reseller for the 35 year-old photo brand, which is a division of a separate company. The Skooba website is set up with quick links to match your lifestyle needs. One of four tabs – photographer, fashionista, road warrior and tech lover – will take you to a page with bags suited to fit your exact needs. I love this new offering of the Tenba bag lineup. I still…

Reviews

Portable Speaker Review: The Bomb from iFrogz

I cannot tell a lie. I love speaker solutions. With music being totally mobile and always available in my pocket, I love having many ways to listen to my audio content. Some options are quite expensive and include bluetooth connections and high-end audio, but sometimes I just need something inexpensive, easy to carry and convenient. iFrogz has introduced a speaker system that fits this category and they call it, “the Bomb”. I have been able to spend a little time with the Bomb so let’s take a look and see how it sounds. The Bomb is a reasonably priced speaker…

Music Diary, Reviews

Songbird Open Source Media Player Review

Although you’d barely know it from the mainstream media, there are other portable audio players besides the iPod and there are other media management programs besides iTunes. There are some great freeware and commercial alternatives to iTunes. This series will focus on three of the most full-featured open-source media programs available for Windows. All of them are also available for Mac OS X, and all but Songbird are available for several flavors of Linux besides. Let’s start with the most prominent, Songbird. Songbird started out in 2006 as a multi-platform program based on Mozilla’s XUL framework. After four years of…

Gear Bits

Amtrak says, “Browse While You Ride, but No App Store for You!”

I’m on the Acela train from New Jersey to Washington DC, where I will be attending a conference for the next few days. The train is super comfortable, fairly quiet and it even has WiFi. The WiFi connection has been solid and, while not exactly speedy, it is more than fast enough. It certainly is impressive when you take onto account that I’m flying down the NorthEast Corridor, and have better connectivity that Judie does right now AT HER HOME!! I did find one thing a bit surprising though; I was able to do everything I wanted, until I went…

Editorials

The HTC Flyer: Mobile Computing Then and Now

The HTC Flyer has arrived. It is the latest device from HTC and their jump into the tablet market. This isn’t their first major move into the mobile computing world though. No, back when the UMPC was the big deal HTC brought out an innovative device that had the potential to take the world by storm. It didn’t but a quick look at the two of them together makes it clear: the Flyer is pretty much a direct descendant of… Oh just watch the video.

Reviews

McTiVio Streams Your Computer to Your TV Wirelessly

Over the past few months we have had the opportunity to look at a number of devices that are designed to stream content from your computer to you HDTV. One of them left me rather cold. A second worked fairly well but still didn’t rise to the level of wowing me. So when I was offered a chance to check out the McTiVia streaming system my interest was piqued. After all, the McTiVia did win Best of Show at this year’s Macworld. From the Company: McTiVia is the first device that can show all content of your Mac® as well…

Reviews

iPad App Review: TallyTots

I have reviewed several apps for the iPad that have been both fun and educational for young kids. The iPad is actually a wonderful tool for educating students or children of all ages. The interface is intuitive and the younger generations seem to magically know how to navigate the device without any instruction. When I think back to the excitement I had for using TRS 80 and Apple IIe computers, I can only imagine how exciting using an iPad would have been. As you have seen in various posts and reviews, my two young boys have inherited their dad’s love…

Gear Bits

Teva Sandals Saves a Penguin!

I fully recognize that this story is basically a giant ad for Teva. However, it’s too adorable not to share. In a nutshell, Lucky the Penguin had a foot deformity that would have led to sores and infections, so Teva made a special penguin-shoe just for him. But really, the video is what this story is all about…you can’t watch the baby penguin waddle/limp wearing his stylish Tevas without letting out an involuntary “awwwwwww”. Check out the video for the full story, and then let us know in the comments if you want a pet penguin now as bad as…

Game Diary, Reviews

Mac Game Review: Let’s Golf 2

Gameloft has a certain reputation in the handheld gaming world … oh, let’s be blunt: they make blatant clones of successful games! Halo becomes N.O.V.A, Final Fantasy XIII becomes Eternal Legacy, StarCraft 2 becomes Starfront: Collision, and on and on … so the obvious question is – what game does Let’s Golf 2 clone? And more importantly – is it any good? The Hype: Looking for a faster, more colorful and fun golf experience? Then this newest edition of the popular Let’s Golf series is just the thing you need for the most exciting golf adventure you’ll ever find! –…

Gear Bits

Your Car Is Naked without a Carstache

Sure, your car visits the car wash often, and you’ve carefully kept the paint looking fresh, maybe spruced it up with wax or an air freshener. But your car is not truly complete without a key accessory: the CARSTACHE! Yes, it’s exactly what you think it is. From the company: QUESTION: Will having a Carstache® change your life? ANSWER: YES, it will make it better. We made the Carstache® purely because we think it’s funny and it makes people smile. No other reason. When people see a Carstache® on the streets they laugh, wave, thumbs-up, fist pump, gun flex, wink…

Gear Bits, News

Random Cool Stuff: Build a Urinal from Old SNES Cartridges!

Being a ‘Green’ family means looking to repurpose things rather than dispose of them … but I have to admit that I never thought about THIS! A urinal made from old Super Nintendo cartridges! According to Pricecharting.com: Building a video game urinal takes about eight hours of labor and costs roughly $200-250 (not counting the video games). If you too want a custom, hand-made video game urinal follow these steps below: The site goes on to detail the materials needed and provides the step-by-step instructions including images such as this: Interesting idea for the video game loving man looking to…

Reviews, Vehicles & Gear

2011 Cadillac Escalade ESV a Real ‘Stunner’

Prepare to be shocked. Sticker-shocked that is. Are you sitting down? I am about to give you the window sticker price of the new 2011 Cadillac Escalade ESV I recently tested. Set your faces to stunned … 88 – and I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout no Benjamins either. 88 grand, 88 large, ochenta y ocho mil, 88 Grover Clevelands. The big Jag we just had wasn’t that much, and it gave massages. Yes, Cadillac’s biggest SUV is sporting quite the pricetag these days, although in its defense this was the Platinum edition. With the launch of Escalade over a decade ago…

« 1 … 570 571 572 573 574 … 752 »