Finally, a reason to get an iPad! ShinyTweet and Tweetdeck on iPad both look  pretty slick. I may be a bit biased, being that I use Tweetdeck for PC and Mac, but I do think it looks like it uses the iPad screen more efficiently. Lets compare the two.

ShinyTweet:

Continue Reading…

Google have released a new video that has their brower, Chrome, squaring off against potatoes, sound and lightning.

There has been some criticism in the Twitisphere about the legitimacy of the clip. If you look closely, Google are clicking the forward button, not search, meaning these could be sites saved to the hard drive. Either way, I’m still impressed.

Continue Reading…

Rating:

For a few months I have ignored tweets about Foursquare. They were annoying, pointless and I couldn’t care less where anyone was at any particular time. That was the case right up until I downloaded the highly addictive app and started on a Foursquare frenzy.

The concept is incredibly simple, people “Check in” to all sorts of venues (parks, restaurants, stores etc.,) and tell Continue Reading…

Anyone who has done a quick search for apps in the iTunes store knows theres an app for everything. Myself, I only have a few apps on my phone as I only keep those that are truly useful or innovative. Sleep Cycle by Lexwarelabs.com falls in to both categories.

Taking advantage of the iPhones ultra-sensitive accelerometer, Sleep Cycle analyses your sleeping patters and plots them over the course of a night. The whole process is rather simple:Your iPhone is left next to your pillow and your levels of movement are recorded. The program comes with an alarm that gradually wakes you in the morning which is a great alternative to the stock iPhone alarms.

What you do with that information is really up to you, I assume it’s basically for entertainment, but I did find out that I don’t actually get any quality sleep in a night:

The app costs about a dollar but feels like its worth much more. If you have an iPhone, some spare change and a curiosity about your sleep habits, this ones for you.

I would like to think of this less as a game review and more of a public warning. This could be one of the worst games I have played in a very long time, and I play a lot of games.

I loved the first Red Faction, it had everything a game needed in 2001: Great graphics, somewhat interesting storyline and it was a first person shooter, it ticked all the boxes for me. Unfortunately I assumed that liking the first instalment meant I would automatically like the newest entry, Red Faction: Guerilla. All the reviews I looked at before buying said it was a great game, GTA style action and camera in a Mars setting with fully a fully destructible environment. Sounds perfect, except its horrible.

I will try to break down all the elements of this flop that make it extra terrible:

Plot: Pretty standard, the Red Faction is a group of miners rising up against the oppressive Earth Defence Force (EDF) to take back control of Mars. You play as Alec Mason, a man with a sledgehammer that can knock down solid steel buildings with a single swipe…

Gameplay: Horrid. The control system is over-complicated and clumsy, pretty much the exact opposite of intuitive. Your AI controlled allies seem like empty shells and don’t do much to add to the game. I have heard other reviewers call the missions repetitive, but this is huge understatement, you pretty much perform the same tasks over and over again with slight scenery changes. To be fair, I came nowhere near finishing this game and there may have been some variation later on, but playing any longer would have turned my brain to mush so I had to give it up.

Graphics/Look: Very average. We get it, the Mars landscape is bleak, but this game makes it downright boring. All the buildings look the same, enemies are indistinguishable from one another and it all blends in to a monotonous vanilla version of what the PS3 should be capable of.

After a few hours I ended up just smashing anything I could get my hands on and harassing the locals. In Grand Theft Auto this was always a fun way to take some time out of the main game, but with only a few different types of buildings to destroy, the fun wears off pretty quick. If you get the chance to play this game, don’t.

Ghost In The Shell is one of the most influential films of all time. Its themes and style gave birth to huge blockbusters like the matrix, fused traditional animation with CGI and brought anime to western culture, forever changing our cinema. Personally, this was one of my favourite anime titles growing up and like most fans I was slightly concerned when I heard phrases like “Update” and “Touch-up” being thrown around. I can honestly tell you, majority of the alterations were for the better.

For those who haven’t seen Ghost In The Shell, the film takes place in the year 2029 and follows “Section 9″; a cyber crime-fighting task force led by Motoko Kusanagi (The Major) as they track a killer called the “Puppet Master”. In the ultra-connected world of the future everyone’s brain is online all the time, meaning no one is safe from random hackings. Interestingly, Masamune Shirow (Comic) has written GITS so well that the plot can be enjoyed on many levels, giving the viewer a slightly different and fresh experience every time. For example, when I was younger this was a movie that was very violent, had great fight scenes and an amazing looking lead character. Revisiting the film now, all those things are still true but the deeper plot elements start to take on more importance. I won’t ruin the experience by saying too much, but I know I’ve seen something amazing when I am still thinking about it nearly a week later.

Now for the GITS 2.0 specific details. Some key scenes have been completely remade in CG which sounds like a great idea in principle but ended up being a bit jarring. This one point aside, some of the updates were spot on, like the addition of rain in some parts really helped build the atmosphere. The wireframe “Network” interfaces were updated from green to a glowing orange to match Innocence (Part 2) and of course the sound and video quality on Blu-ray was amazing!

I was quite happy to find an original version of GITS as well as a “Making of” in the bonus features. I watched both and really loved the nostalgic feel of the original and had some good laughs at the “Cutting edge” technology used way back in 94′/95′.

When it’s all said and done, Ghost In The Shell 2.0 is a great refresh for the series and polishes up some of the outdated visuals of the original, bringing the film in line with it’s second instalment. The scenes that have been completely redone in CG are jarring and tend to break the flow of the movie, but are well done when looked at as an independent element. Finally, is it worth picking up Ghost In The Shell 2.0 Blu-ray if you already have this on DVD? Absolutely! You’ve never seen GITS look or sound this good and its totally worth every cent.

If you are looking to update your collection with a copy of Ghost In The Shell 2.0 on Blu-ray, head over to Madman and order a copy.

Zombies are back! No need to board up the windows, (This time!) because its only an animated short, but with any luck we could see a feature length version of Haylar Garcia’s “A.D.” in the near future. Continue Reading…

** UPDATE: Although very durable, this camera takes HORRIBLE pictures. It sits in a drawer in my house, never to be used again. Consider yourself warned, this is no point and shoot. Takes no end of fiddling just to get an average picture. Needs HUGE amounts of light for shots to turn out and if the flash has to be used (Most of the time) the pictures are washed out and blue. Avoid this camera.

Rating:

As I mentioned in my review of the Flip Mino HD, consumer electronics are getting smaller all the time. The drawback to all this shrinkage seems to be a loss of durability which I personally experienced last new years when my Sony T2 met its demise in a pool of champagne and beer. Frustrated that a short alcohol bath could end my cameras life, I went in search of a replacement that could take some abuse but still produce quality pictures. The result of my search was the Olympus U tough-8000.

The U tough-8000 is the Chuck Norris of digital cameras! Waterproof up to 10 meters, drop resistant up to 2 meters, crush proof up to 100 kilograms (220 pounds), cold proof up to -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) and produces 12 megapixel photos. What does that mean for the user? You can fall 2 meters in to -10 degree seawater, get crushed by a 100 kilogram block of ice and still get a crystal clear picture. Perfect for… an international spy? For the rest of us, this is a camera could possibly last a lifetime.

The entire camera is encased in stainless steel which substantially adds to its durability but also was a major factor when I compared the unit to its direct competitor, the Panasonic DMC-FT1 – 12.1MP. When holding the two in person, the Olympus felt like the it was more solid and that definitely influenced my decision. I opted for the unit with the shiny black finish on the front which has turned out of be a fingerprint magnet, but I feel was a worth while trade-off for having something that looks a bit flashier than its all stainless steel counterpart.

The image quality is standard for a camera of its cost, size and style, but I do have a few criticisms. When using the flash up close images appear very washed out and white, without the flash images have a slight red/orange tint. These issues aren’t too huge of a problem and with some adjustments can be overcome. The HD video setting is not very clear, it’s completely outpaced by something like the Flip Mino in audio quality but produces a more stable image thanks to its dual image stabilizers. I didn’t find a use for the editing/picture managing software that came with the camera, but could be useful for someone that has yet to invest in a photo editing program. I haven’t had a chance to test the underwater capabilities in a real world situation, but couldnt resist testing the camera in a bucket of water:

The camera came out working fine and the pictures looked great, it definitely passed the water test with flying colors.

In summary, this camera is not just for those who live life on the edge, it works well enough to be a great everyday digital camera with the added bonus of being nearly indestructible. The extra weight of the shock resistant case could put some people off, but I personally don’t see it being detracting factor and the HD video is sub-par. Image quality is average but being able to take pictures in the rain more than makes up for it.

“Good things come in small packages”. People throw this saying around a lot, but I think it does a great job describing the Noteball. Having had the chance to use the Noteball for the last two days, I am ready to give my unbiased review of this notebook accessory.

Before getting my Noteball I did what any self-respecting tech lover would do: I scoured the internet for reviews, but what I found didn’t exactly answer all of my questions. From first look my main reservations were around stability when the Noteball was fully extended, the danger of the notebook slipping around the table, the comfort of typing at a new angle and the degree to which it would prevent my computer from overheating. The last point was probably the most important as my notebook has picked up some overheating issues in its old age. I can honestly say it passed with flying colors on all points.

With the Noteball fully extended my notebook had no wobble issues, it was stable and withstood even my most furious typing without a giving a single teeter. The colored rubber ball on the contact point of the Noteball held it in place but still allowed the notebook to swivel freely and lifting my notebook off the table cured my nagging heat issues, giving me better performance. Finally, the increased typing angle turned out to be more comfortable than I had suspected which really surprised me – all round great design!

I can definitely recommend the Noteball for anyone looking to improve notebook heating issues, ergonomics or simply just for an easy way to adjust their viewing height. The cost is quite low and there are a ton of colors to choose from. Visit the Noteball site to order online.

You might be asking yourself, “Why is he reviewing a 13 year old Playstation one game?”. Well, besides the fact that its arguably one of the best RPG’s ever made, Playstation have finally re-released FF7 to the PS3 store for download on both PS3 and PSP. 15 dollars and 1300 megabytes later I was reliving the game that dominated my childhood, at least in theory.

Nothing about the game has changed, Playstation have done a great job in that department. It seems over time my memories of FF7 had become slightly embellished, to say the least. The music was repetitive to the point that I played some sections muted and the characters looked like they’d been drawn by a 7 year old. The main character (Cloud) seems a bit cliché and the villains a bit over the top when judged by today’s standards.

All these aesthetic shortcomings weren’t enough to keep me from seeing the main reason why this game has withstood the test of time: An amazing story! Not only is it well told, but it possibly can never be written again. Imagine the protest that would ensue if a game put the player in control of a character that’s goal is to blow up public property to protect the long-term survivability of the Earth? Not only is there a strong anti-consumerism message throughout the game, but also a huge undercurrent of environmentalism that’s quite refreshing.

If this was a game you loved or you possibly missed it (Somehow) the first time around, definitely download it and give it another go. Totally worth the roughly 15 dollars to play, but make sure to bring some earplugs.