My Blog

TEST

admin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:14:48 +0000

Howdy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gadget Deals of the Day [Dealzmodo]

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:14:12 +0000

Two Dealzmodo strategies for avoiding awkward holiday conversation with your relatives: 1. Distract them with Planet Earth on Blu-ray. 2. Learn to speak in a foreign tongue with great savings on iPhone language apps. Guten Tag, Aunt Belinda!

Top Deals:
• 8.9″ Dell Vosto A90 Netbook with Ubuntu Linux and 8GB SSD for $184 plus free shipping (normally $274).
• Planet Earth – The Complete BBC Series (Blu-ray) for $40.99.
• Kodak Gallery: 50 4″ x 6″ Prints for $0 (normally $7.50).
• Innovative Language Learning iPhone Apps.

Gaming:
• Microsoft XBOX 360 Elite 250GB Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition console for $359.99 with free shipping (normally $399.99 – use coupon code MSSTORE10%OFF).
• EA Sports Active (Wii) for $40 plus free shipping (normally $53).
• React Four-Controller Charge Station (Wii) for $19.99 (normally $30).
• Grand Theft Auto IV/GTA: Episodes of Liberty City Bundle (360) for $57.99 plus free shipping (normally $70).
• Mad Catz Racer Wheels and Pedals (PS3) for $19.99 (normally $30).
• The Sims 3 Collector’s Edition (PC) for $44.43 plus free shipping (normally $60).
• Ghostbusters Slimer Edition (Wii,360,PS3) for $29.75 plus free shipping (normally $69.99).
• NHL 10 (PS3, 360) for $45.43 plus free shipping (normally $58.99).

Hobomodo:
• Kodak Gallery: 50 4″ x 6″ Prints for $0 (normally $7.50).
• Get $3 Amazon MP3 Store Credit for $0 (use coupon code MP34FREE).
• Reusable Screen Protector for Sony PSP for $0 (normally $5 – use coupon code FREEPSPSP).
• 6 Month Subscription to Computer Power User Magazine for $0 (use this form and offer code:1735).
• 3 Year Subscription to Town & Country Magazine for $0 (use this form).
• Sample Millstone Coffee via Walmart for $0 (use this form).
• Sample of San Antonio Coffee Roasters Coffee for $0 (use this form).
• Audio Book download through Thanksgiving from Audible.com for $0 (use this form).
• Sampler Claus 7 Track Christmas Album (MP3) for $0 (download here).
• Tasty Way (iPhone/iPod Touch) for $0 (normally $.99).

If a deal looks too good to be true, investigate the store and see if it’s a good, reputable place to buy. Safe shopping!

[Thanks TechDealDigger, Dealzon, Logic Buy, GamerHotline, Cheap College Gamers, CheapStingyBargains and TechBargains.]

Why It’s Gotten Straight Stupid to Buy a Mac Pro [Rant]

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:09:57 +0000

Never before has it been so apparent that a power tower—pretty much the laziest design in the computer industry—is being sold by a design-centric company with neither design nor power.

And I’m not sure that the solution is just a refresh away.

The Mac Pro was once the only viable option for a OS X lover in need of serious horsepower for tasks like editing media. Now, with the new iMac? I think it’s straight up stupid to buy a Mac Pro.

The $2,500 Mac Pro, desperately in need of a refresh, gives you a 2.66GHz Quad-Core Xeon (essentially an i7), 3GB of RAM (triple channel, but seriously?), 640GB hard drive (again, seriously?) and a nominal graphics card. Spend $800 more and you’ll get a another processor and 3GB more RAM.

The $2200, 27-inch iMac obviously includes a screen, plus you get a 2.8GHz Quad-Core (i7), 1TB drive, 4GB of RAM and a nominal graphics card.

But beyond those clock speeds, the Mac Pro’s i7 processor is the more premium Bloomfield edition, while the iMac uses the Lynnfield. (More on those differences here.)

Still, the bottom line is that the iMac’s Lynnfield processor is newer, and it shows in performance.

Macworld benched the new iMacs against the latest Mac Pros. And, you know what? The i7 iMac more than held its own. It basically defeated the 4-core Mac Pro across the board.

And other than a few specific tasks in which the most expensive Mac Pro’s 8 cores proved beneficial (Handbrake, Cinebench, etc), the iMac outperformed the competition or kept things close enough not to be relevant, plus it straight-up won in the eyes of Speedmark 6.

Performance-wise, the base Mac Pro makes no sense at all. The 8-core Mac Pro offers a touch more power, sometimes, and other times (in many day to day tasks) even it is outgunned.

Of course, any Mac Pro still allows multiple internal hard drives, three PCI slots, more FireWire ports (four vs one) and more room for RAM expansion (32GB vs 16GB). But once again, even in the worlds of professional media creation, that’s a pretty questionable upsell, especially with external storage solutions and the fact that most high, high end media pros (like special effects artists) turn to dedicated render farms to do their heavy number crunching anyway.

With the new iMac, Apple has shrunk the Mac-Pro-needing niche even smaller. And I can’t tell anyone with a straight face that a handful of expandability is worth $300-$1100 with no monitor, no matter how deep their pockets are.

Apple needs to reexamine their pricing model. Even with an inevitable processor refresh (i9, anyone?), it’s time for a price drop and/or some free with purchase displays. Just because you’re a pro doesn’t mean you’re a sucker.

The Pop-Up Cardboard Office [Office]

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:02:42 +0000

We like cool pop-up books here. Awesome scale pop-up cardboard office? Yesplease. Designers Liddy Scheffknecht and Armin B. Wagner, I want your babies. Your cardboard babies. Sadly, the pop-up cardboard office doesn’t include a pretty sofa for siestas. [Likecool]

Star Wars USB Drives Hands On Gallery [Star Wars]

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:52:39 +0000

Tyme Machines‘ Star Wars sculpted USB drives might not have your favorite characters available yet, in its first series, but they do have Vader, Boba Fett, Yoda and a Storm Trooper, and they’re quite good.

The drives are available in 4, 8 and 16GB capacities for $30, $40 and $60, respectively. The head comes off and you plug the body into any USB port. The downside is that the bodies are decently sized, so if you have two USB ports adjacent to each other, you won’t be able to use the other one.

Click through the gallery to see our impressions. [Tyme Machines]

Here’s a lone Storm Trooper before he suffers a fate unimaginable for all but Storm Troopers. Decapitation.

With his head gone, his body is free to be plugged into any USB port.

Here’s the view from behind.

Boba Fett and Vader are still in mint condition.

The set includes Yoda, but we only have the evil characters.

All three with their heads off.

Vader, engaged.

What would it look like if they switched helmets? This.

The iPhone Already Has Multitasking, And It’s Awesome [Btw]

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:48:49 +0000

In 2009, iPhone multitasking is a bit like apps were in the early jailbreak days. That is to say painfully, clearly possible, but simply not allowed. These jailbreak apps show how it could—and should—be done.

What you’re seeing here is really the combination of two apps, standby jailbreak justifier and essential iPhone app Backgrounder, which lets your designate any app to run in the background, and new task switcher interface called Multifl0w. (There are other, more basic task switchers already, the most widespread being Kirikae) The new combo feels like magic: It’s a little bit Android, a lotta bit Pre, and more importantly, an obvious improvement, at least on the speedier 3GS.

Granted, anyone who’s used background knows that for the sake of your battery, you have to be careful how many apps you open, and how many you leave running. Honestly though? Every other smartphone manufacturer trusts their users to mind their own damn processes, which seems to work out pretty well. So, uh, when will we get this by default? OS 4.0? 5.0? Shut up, blogger?

You can give it a try now in jailbreak app manager Rock, and Cydia’s on its way. Sadly, it’s only free on a trial basis, after which it’ll cost your five dollars. Backgrounder and Kirikae, though? They’re still free, in all sense of the word. [MultiFl0w]

Best Buy’s Holiday Carolers Make Me Want to Puke!

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:58:25 +0000

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but already Best Buy seems to have won the “most annoying holiday ad of the season” award. Seriously, try to sit through one of these without squirming around uncomfortably and wanting to punch the screen.

BB Video Link

Hello world!

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:50:00 +0000

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!