Archive for the ‘ Reviews ’ Category

Goldfish

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Gee, there’s no good electronic jazz-fusion music around. Where can I find some?”

Since you probably have, I have good news! Hailing from the wonderful city of Cape Town, South Africa, comes the downtempo/nu jazz/other weird genre band Goldfish, composed of the duo Dom Peters on the double bass, keyboard, and groove box, and David Poole on the alto and tenor sax, samplers, and the occasional vocal part. You may recognize them from their song “Fort Knox”, which was featured in the Kia Soul commercial with the hamsters. (The first one, not the one with “The Choice is Yours” by Black Sheep)

Minor publicity aside, this band has seen very little attention here in the states, though quite popular in their home country from what I understand, as well as having a name in some European circles. For anyone who has listened to their stuff, they know this lack of acknowledgment is criminal. (Unless they’re hipsters, in which case we’ll have to agree to disagree)

They currently have three full-length albums out: 2006’s Caught in the Loop with such great tracks as “Egyptology” and “Highfalutin,” 2008’s Perceptions of Pacha, with “Hold Tight” and “Soundtracks and Comebacks,” and 2010’s Get Busy Living, which I have not listened to all that much yet. They are a fantastic groups whose name needs to be spread.

2010
10/13
CATEGORY
Awesomeness
Entertainment
Music
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‘Hoggy’ – A fab Retro Platformer

Playing a game as never really appealed to me before until recently. I have never really thought of my iPhone as a game machine even though many friends use there’s frequently for gaming and often say have you played…..

Every now and then an app comes along and gets you hook line & sinker and now love gaming on the iPhone. One game that has got me hooked is a game called Hoggy.
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2010
09/08
CATEGORY
Apple
Games
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Livescribe PULSE Smartpen Review

Pen, voice recorder, calculator. I’m surprised that this thing isn’t checking my spelling and grammar. It can record lectures while you take notes, letting you listen to key points ay a later date. There’s a nice 2.5mm headphone jack at the top, along with a 2 inch long OLED screen at the top. The Pulse requires a special notebook and ink cartridges. One notebook and two cartridges come with the pen, while extra notebooks (a four pack is available for $20 from Livescribe) and ink cartridges (a five-pack is $20) can be purchased. One other interesting feature “3D” recording. There are two microphones, one on each headphone, which can record in 3D. It’s a really neat effect if you ever actually needed to use it.

The notebook paper has tiny dot patterns that provide a “grid” for the pens IR camera to reference. An infrared receiver in the tip of the pen recognizes unique dot patterns on sections of each piece of paper while you’re writing/ recording, and this allows the pen to “jump” to the specific moment in which you were recording and play back the lecture segment that corresponds to your notes.

The IR/dotted-paper combination is also how you navigate the pen’s menus and settings. The notebooks have various tools printed on the inside cover. One is a printed calculator; tapping the buttons on the page makes the answer appear on the pen’s screen. The page also includes various menu options for the pen, such as the screen’s brightness controller, a left-handed/right-handedselector, and the microphone sensitivity controls.

Wrap up- 9/10

Why? I don’t like that whenever I lay the pen down, it rolls all over the place. It could also use a silicone grip or similar near the nib. The notebooks are also pretty expensive ($5 for 50 sheets), considering that you’ll probably be replacing them often.

For $128 dollars, I’d most definitely recommend this pen for back to school. Any student from high school to college could easily use this pen for studying or anything else they may need.

2010
08/24
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This my iPhone 4 review.

It’s 7:00. I get woken up by the Overture from Candice playing; reminding me to start my day. I grab my phone, and head into the kitchen. I check my email, relishing the fact that I have a full 5 bars of AT&T signal. There’s a message with pictures. I barely notice that the pictures are far sharper and clearer, and the text, completely readable; even when zoomed out. This my friends is the Iphone 4.

DESIGN

No other phone is as pleasing to my eyes as the iPhone 4. Sleeker than the 3GS, The phone is built more like a brick than the smooth sexy form of the previous model. Strangely, It looks far better. When you hold it, it feels solidly built. The two panes of hardened glass with a stainless steel band in between have a feel unrivaled by the 3GS.

HARDWARE

The first thing worth mentioning is Apple’s new A4 processor (the same one used in the iPad) has taken the reign away from the ARM cortex-A8-based processor. The processor also has a clock speed of somewhere around 1GHz. The iPhone 4 has a beefy 512 MB of RAM (up from 256 MB on the 3GS and iPad). To handle all your wire-free needs, the iPhone 4 is comes with an 802.11n WiFi radio, as well as a quad-band HSUPA chip and Bluetooth 2.1.

DISPLAY

Seriously, Apple outdid itself on this one. With it’s screen, dubbed the “Retina Display” has an eye melting 940×640 IPS screen. This display actually has 326 pixels per inch! The resolution is mind-blowingly insane. That’s all I can say,

CLOSING; 9.5/10

After having this phone for about a month, I’ve delved deep into the hardware, and into the user interface. This is an insanely wonderful phone. Why a 9.5? Ask At&t.

2010
08/20
CATEGORY
Apple
Awesomeness
Electronics
Phones
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