[Tech Review] Apple iPad2

Until recently, I have never owned an Apple product outside of an 80GB iPod. I just wanted to lead off with that statement because, as many of you are likely fully aware, there are three types of people in this world: Those who absolutely LOVE Apple and every single product they pump out, those who opt to instead hate the company with a fiery passion for no discernible reason whatsoever, and those who quite simply don’t give a shit.

Myself? I quite simply don’t give a shit.

As I said, I own a regular old thumb-wheel iPod. The kind they had before all that touch-screen jazz and WiFi garbage. Just a simple, easy-to-use, well-built music player. It is an amazing product, and is far superior to the new iPod touches in nearly every manner as far as I’m concerned.

With the exception of that one gadget, I’ve never held even the slightest interest in anything Apple has made, including the iPad.

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[Tech Review] Nintendo 3DS

After months and months and months of painful waiting, the biggest day of the month of March of the year of 2011 finally arrived. I sat with baited breath, eating up every bit of information regarding Nintendo’s 3DS handheld gaming console I could get my chubby little sausage fingers wrapped around. I read tons of articles, watched hours of video, and stared at countless photographs, dreaming of the day I would finally get my hands on the one thing I wanted more than just about anything else, and I finally have it.

You’ll have to excuse this review for being so late, as I secured my 3DS on its North American launch date but am just now rolling around to doing a write up on it. However, that’s not because I haven’t been using it enough to write a proper review. In fact, it is the exact opposite.

Since purchasing the system, I’ve not let it travel more than 20 feet away from my body. If it hasn’t been in my hands, it has been in my pocket. If not there, then in my bicycle trunk. If not there, then sitting safely on its charging dock. I’ve seriously invested more hours into the 3DS than I have school, work, eating or blinking for the past few weeks.

The funny thing? I’m struggling to write this review because I desperately want to play with it some more.

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[Tech Review] HTC Evo 4G (Sprint)

A while back, I splurged at upgraded my mobile phone from a Blackberry 8330 t0 the HTC Hero from Sprint thinking it would be the phone that easily lasted me two years. You see, I have a very short attention span when it comes to technology, especially cell phones, and the BlackBerry operating system simply wasn’t doing it for me anymore. I wanted something more “modern,” so I got what was arguably at that time the best Android smartphone on the market; the HTC Hero.

As time went on, I had more and more problems with it. OS locking up, phone crashing, lackluster performance, slow application launching, running out of memory frequently and the list goes on. I loved the Android platform, and I loved the user interface HTC had built. It’s just that the phone couldn’t handle it, it was too weak.

So I decided to splurge yet again, and get the phone that I really want to last me for the next two years; the HTC Evo, which has been my cell phone wet dream for a long time. But now that I finally have it in my hands, is it everything I had hoped for?

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[Unfairly Ridiculed Alternative Lifestyles Review] Sleeping in a Sleeping Bag

Overview:

For much of my life I have slept in a sleeping bag. Not simply on the rare occasions in which I would actually go camping, but on regular nights when I would sleep indoors. This was never something I did just for the sake of being weird as has been suggested, but because I genuinely believed it to be the most comfortable way to sleep. Believing in this school of thought firmly, I always assumed I would be able to convert my friends, or at the very least, not have them snicker at and mock me for how I chose to live my life.

Of course, I failed to take into consideration that most of the people I would consider to be “good” friends unfortunately are people who seemed to live so far up their own assholes it’s borderline stunning that oxygen was able to reach their lungs. It was enough to make me give up on spreading the word forever.

Well detractors be damned. After trying to abandon the bag for a short period of time, I’ve finally returned to my preferred way of life, and it’s my hope I can not only convince people this will help you achieve the best night’s sleep of your life, but also train them how to properly deal with the walking undead who take their inability to rest out on those of us who are just trying to live an honest life. Continue reading

[Android App Review] Jewels

Platform: Android Smartphones (Reviewed on HTC Hero)
Developer: MH Games
Price: Free
Genre: Match-Three Puzzle

Jewels is, as I’m sure you’ve guessed if you have a functioning brain, a derivative of the phenomenally popular Bejeweled. Of course, match-three puzzle games have become more common than AIDS in Africa (was that in bad taste?) since the original Bejeweled launched in 2000, and for good reason. It’s simple, it’s addictive, and it’s fun.

Why am I reviewing a free Bejeweled rip off? Because Android users can’t currently get the real thing on their mobile phones, and everyone loves match-three puzzle games. There are countless variations of the genre on the app store, so I want to make sure you readers are able to find the best one. It’s not like I’m saving your money so much as I’m saving your time since this is a completely free app, but surely that’s good enough right? And I’m also really bored.

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[Automobile Review] 1994 Nissan Sentra Limited Edition


Overview:

They say you never forget your first car. Of course, if you end up totaling said car by rolling it in a ditch just 26 days after acquiring your license, forever proving that the D- pass system is a foolish one to implement in Driver’s Ed, it doesn’t leave much time for it to make an impression. When this happens, it’s the second car that becomes memorable.

And I can say with great confidence that car no. 2 (and boy, was it ever), my grey 1994 Nissan Sentra “Limited Edition” was a memory for the ages.

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[Tech Review] iPhone 4

It’s finally here!  Following a few mental debates about whether or not to stick with Apple I decided to go with an iPhone 4 as my new choice in mobile devices, and I am not disappointed at all! After having the iPhone 3G for two years I was definitely ready for an upgrade. To say the least, the iPhone 3G has its flaws and, minor though they are, I was really starting to get sick of them. The iPhone 4 improves on almost every aspect and I’m going to share a few of these new features.

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[Tech Review] Razer Naga MMOG Laser Gaming Mouse

Review:

The Razer Naga is marketed as the “ultimate MMOG Laser Gaming Mouse.” It is designed to shift the player from the keyboard to the mouse. How does it plan to do this? By having a 12-button grid on the side of the mouse in addition to the other 5 more traditional buttons.

When I first got my mouse, I admit, I was a bit intimidated. I’m used to having a mouse with 5 buttons, as opposed to this one with a dwarfing 17. You have your every day three buttons (left, right and middle mouse) to start with. Then you get a couple more that are typical with gaming mice, such as the forward and back buttons. Then you get an entire 12-button grid designed to replace either the number pad or the number row. On the bottom of the mouse, there is a switch to toggle between the two. In addition to this, you can also reprogram each key to be pointed to whichever key/key combination you want through the Razer Naga Configurator. Continue reading

[Tech Review] iPad

So currently there is a ton of hype on this magical and revolutionary piece of hardware called the iPad. Before its advent though it was criticized almost as much as Sarah Palin. However, when it was finally released people got to play with its revolutionary  functions that have all been done before but simplified.

Review:

The iPad is definitely an innovative machine that is taking user experience for common tasks and glorifying them into something that looks much more on the futuristic side of things such as the internet, music usage and a home entertainment controller. However older devices such as a laptop can do everything the iPad can do save all the apps but an iPad cannot do everything that a computer can. Lets break down the machine altogether. Continue reading