Vaeron Studios

Password Difficulty

2011-11-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

Through the years I, myself, have been a big pusher of tough password regulations. Always making users have a symbol, number, and letter in their password. Recent changes in technology, including the power of computers, have made these password easier for computers to guess. Why then do we continue to use these difficult to remember passwords? We do this because of an antiquated idea that if they are tough for a human to remember, they should be tough for a computer to guess. XKCD has come out with a great response to the question, "why isn't your password more difficult?"

Source: XKCD

The workings of a corporation...

2011-11-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

TheCuriousBrain.com brings us this great infographic! How true is it for your company? Leave some feedback and let us know.

Source: TheCuriousBrain

Wordpress Themes: Should I search for a free one?

2011-02-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

Siobhan Ambrose wrote an article back in January that I just read that was absolutely amazing. There are so many people out there who want to start building their own website and think, "Oh I'll use Wordpress. I'll just use the first theme I find." This can be a huge mistake for your site. She goes on to explain why. Definitely worth the read if you are a new aspiring developer, or just want to get your own blog going. It gives great insight into how people will try to maliciously ruin your site. Good luck and don't forget to link back to me if you like my content.

http://bit.ly/fU7IGl

Until next time, have a good one y'all!
V

Why I'm not buying the Motorola Xoom...at least right now.

2011-02-24T11:38:00.000-08:00

I spent a good hour this morning at my local Costco pondering over whether to purchase the new Motorola Xoom tablet. The concept is sound, the build quality is excellent, the price...well that's the issue. As you may have noticed based on several of my reviews, I currently own an Alienware M11x. This 11" notebook has more power than I need for most computing, it has great battery life, and can do so much more than many of its counterparts. The Motorola Xoom launched today (2/24/2011) and while it is a great step forward for Android, it also is making it take a step back. Most people I have talked to have compared it to the iPad. This isn't a fair comparison for several different reasons.

The iPad comes in a 16, a 32, and a 64 GB flavor, with your choice of whether to have wi-fi only or a 3g card installed, the Xoom has only one option, 32 GB with cell.

Motorola should have though about how it approached this situation. While you can pick up the Xoom for $799 USD without a contract, and you will receive a free upgrade to 4G in the coming months, it makes it difficult right now for those who do not want to get the 3G or even 4G service. I am in this group. Motorola should have released their wi-fi only model on the same day as their 3G model. This would have appealed to a much larger crowd, and I would have bought one today. As is, I will wait for the wi-fi only model to come out, then wait for the price to drop. I am normally a first round adopter, but if I have to wait for the model I want, I might as well wait till the price drops or more competition comes out. With the Toshiba tablet coming soon, as well as the HP tablet in works, competition is going to become more fierce as more pressure is put on tablets to reduce price.

In other words, Motorola, you messed up. You released a product too early. There are some bugs, like no Flash support yet, and no expandable memory yet. These should come out when the product is released, not in a couple months, you are just going to put people off of your brand. I love my Droid X, I loved my Droid, but I'm not necessarily loving the new Xoom.

Update on the Alienware m11x

2011-01-20T09:36:00.000-08:00

I just received my OS install disk in the mail today. I had an issue with getting BSOD's a lot lately, and finally to the point where even a full reinstall (using the recovery partition) did not fix the issue. They sent me a new disk so I can hopefully fix the MBR as well and hope that fixes the issue. If not, then back to the drawing board. At least I still have a month and a half under warranty.

New Site

2011-01-09T01:44:00.001-08:00

Alright y'all. I'm in the process of completely redesigning the Vaeron Studios webpage. Be prepared for greater functionality for customers than ever before, better communication, smoother usage, and better overall interface than ever before! This process will take some time, but any suggestions for features and usability you have will be greatly appreciated. I will post a quick overview of the design goals and functionality goals in my next post (sometime in the next day or two).

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Alienware M11x Initial Thoughts

2010-03-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

At 4:45 pm PST last night my Alienware M11x was delivered by Fed-Ex. I apologize that I was unable to do a live unboxing for it as I did not have the equipment nor the time to do so where I was and I had to use it at a meeting.

(pardon the cord mess) All of that aside, I have spent the last evening and morning testing it and putting it through its paces. I am in the process of running the battery down for the first time and I never thought I would actually sit here and wish the battery would die so I could charge it back up to take with me. To give you an idea what I've been doing to run the battery down. I did want to test the longevity with lots of things hooked up, so I set the power to battery saver, turned the brightness all the way down, but left Bluetooth, WiFi and fancy system lights on. I also plugged in 2 external hard drives, a flash drive, a secure digital card, an external monitor, a Logitech g15 keyboard, and a Razer DiamondBack 3G mouse. With all of that going, transferring files, streaming pandora, and writing code for a website, I have been here for over 4 hours waiting with about 30 minutes remaining. Just think how long it might have gone had I just had the laptop.

My initial impression from the feel is the weight gives it a sturdy feel, much like the Motorola Droid, which I also use heavily. The AlienSense software (facial recognition login) has been very reliable in my testing and has logged me, and only me into the system. I had a couple friends try to login in using the facial recognition, however it locked them out. I could see potential problem if you didn't want an identical twin getting in, but in that case I don't think you'd be using facial recognition anyway. The system on battery saver is still incredibly quick and responsive. Turning up the power and doing best performance and switching on the dedicated Nvidia GT335M gives a great boost and Portal looked great. I am going to head over to the game shop and pick up Modern Warfare 2, Bioshock 2, and maybe some other games, right after I go gank some noobs on World of Warcraft.

Keep checking back for more reviews and information!

Funny funny funny

2010-02-25T14:49:00.000-08:00

This has to be one of the funniest things I've ever read. I read it a few years back and completely forgot about until today. It is not related whatsoever to my reviews or tech info, however it is very nerdy and very funny! Enjoy!

Dear Tech Support:
Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and resources. In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, HuntingAndFishing 7.5, and Racing 3.6. I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the uninstall doesn't work on Wife 1.0. Please help!

Thanks ...Troubled User
-------
REPLY:

Dear Troubled User:
This is a very common problem. Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed. You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed not to allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony-Child Support. I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 installed and work on improving the configuration. I suggest installing the background application YesDear 99.0 to alleviate software augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE because ultimately you will have to do this before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as CleanAndSweep 3.0, CookIt 1.5 and DoBills 4.2. However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program NagNag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0, but beware because sometimes these applications can be expensive.

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install SecretaryWithShortSkirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.

WARNING!!! Attempting to install NewGirlFriend 8.8 along with Wife 1.0 will crash the system.

(see Wife 1.0 manual, Apologize, High Maintenance & Secretary with Short Skirt)

Updates

2010-02-24T11:35:00.000-08:00

Hey all!

I have added hopefully an interesting way for you to view my video blogs. I am now utilizing uStream's Android App that allows me to stream live from my Motorola Droid. I can be found by following the above link. I will post the schedule of my live shows at a later date, but check it out and let me know what you think after watching a live broadcast. If it doesn't work well enough, I'll find another way, or if you just don't like live broadcasts at all, just let me know (don't worry you won't hurt my feelings).

Android App Review: SlideScreen by LarvaLabs

2010-02-23T10:22:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone! I'm going to do a quick review of SlideScreen by LarvaLabs. I have been trying to find an easy to use interface for my Motorola Droid. While waiting for the Android 2.1 update to be released I was browsing through the marketplace when I stumbled across SlideScreen. I figured I'd give it a whirl.

This replaces the standard Android interface with a very easy to use interface. It prides itself in showing what you need to know, not focusing on apps. It will show anything from your schedule, to twitter updates, to facebook, the weather, email, phone calls, and text messages. This makes it far easier to get the info that I need, granted it also makes my purchase of Beautiful Widgets by LevelUp kind of pointless, however I do not regret that purchase in the least. But I digress. SlideScreen comes in two variations. The first is the free version, which is ad supported at the bottom (telling me to buy the full version), and the full version (cost: $6.99) which removes the ads. So far that is the only difference I can tell, granted it does free up a slot at the bottom of the screen to allow more information.

Here you can see the app menu that is available by pressing the menu key on your Android phone. The top eight apps that you see are user defined favorites, and the bottom portion is where your apps show up just as they would in the standard app launcher.

So far after just a bit of use, this home screen replacement appears to work very well! I am however going to wait to purchase the full version for a bit to see what I think of the 2.1 update (if it is ever rolled out).

New Smartbook Runs Android

2010-02-13T00:02:00.000-08:00

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) announced Friday that it will be releasing a new smartbook under it's Compaq branding. This new smartbook will be running a flavor of the Android OS and will also incorporate a 10.1 resistive touch screen. This little computer will be running the same processor that can be found in Google's (GOOG) Nexus One.

Compaq AirLife 100

Some of the known specs on this are:

Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
10.1" Touch screen
802.11 b/g & 3G
16 GB Solid State drive
1024x600 resolution
12 hours battery life / 10 days standby

I look forward to finding out more about this, including pricing. This looks to be a strong contender to help fight off the advances of the Apple iPad.

(image credit: cnet)

Moto DROID 2.1 Update Imminent: More Information

2010-02-12T17:04:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week I reported that Motorola had come out with an announcement that they will begin pushing the updated Android 2.1 software out to customers this week. Apparently, however, that was a mistake made by Motorola, and it will not be out this week. I do however have high hopes that it will be out sometime soon. As soon as I have more information I will update. Keep following and I will get you news as soon as I can.

Moto Droid 2.1 Update Imminent

2010-02-08T15:31:00.000-08:00

Motorola announced about an hour ago that it will begin the rollout of Android 2.1 onto Motorola DROID devices later this week. This is much faster than I had anticipated.

"Hi all-- we know you are frustrated with the lack of details regarding Android software upgrades and we sincerely apologize for not being able to share info sooner. We're happy to relay the 2.1 upgrade to DROID will start to roll out this week, and we will have more information to share on other device upgrades later this week as well. Thanks for your patience and continued support." - Motorola (via Facebook)

This is great news for myself and many other DROID users as it should enable multi-touch on more than just the maps application (which just received multi-touch with its most recent update), as well as some other goodies, including the new news and weather widgets. No other details have been released, however the rumors have stated that it will not have the nifty animated wallpapers, 3D app launcher, nor will it have the grid view. If this turns out to be true, it will be a major let down.

Alienware M11x Announced

2010-02-04T22:38:00.000-08:00

As of this morning I had the distinct pleasure to have pre-ordered my new Alienware M11x

As Configured -

Cosmic Black case
Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64-bit
Intel® Core™2 Duo SU7300 1.3 GHz (3 MB Cache)
4 GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066 MHz
11.6" WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED
1 GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M
500 GB SATA II 7200 RPM Hard Drive
Custom Nameplate
Internal HD Surround Sound (5.1 Channels)
1.3 MP Web Cam
802.11 b/g/n Wireless Card
Bluetooth Module (2.1+ EDR)
HDMI, VGA, DisplayPort, 3 USB, 1 Firewire, Media Card Reader
Battery Life (advertised, 8 cell battery): Over 6.5 hours
Weight: under 4.5 lbs
Alienware Lighting (Utilizing AlienFX)

The incredible thing about the fact that this is an 11.6" netbook is that it has dedicated graphics that pushes the performance to never before seen levels on a laptop of this size. I am really looking forward to giving this a proper review, so look forward to it in about a month after I receive my unit and have a chance to really work it. I will also be posting an unboxing video so check back for that as well. Until then, keep checking back for other reviews and news!

Apple iPad Launched

2010-01-27T10:49:00.000-08:00

Today in San Francisco Apple launched it's brand new product, the iPad. This device is meant to bridge the gap between the iPhone and the MacBook. It has a 9.7 inch capacitive touch screen and will run off of the iPhone OS allowing users to access any application in the App Store. Apple has also launched the SDK that adds support for the iPad. More information can be found by following http://live.gizmodo.com

Some tech specs:

9.7" capacitive touch screen
10 hr battery life (video)
1GHz Apple processor
16 - 64GB flash memory

UPDATE:

So far more details have emerged. Apple had released it onto their website and given us pricing information.

	16GB	32GB	64GB
WiFi	$499	$599	$699
WiFi + 3G	$629	$729	$829

My initial thought on this is a bit appalled at the fact that Apple would release a product into a market that simply does not exist, at least not how they are presenting it. I would have preferred to see more features like those found on items like the HP Mini 311 with the nVidia ION graphics, full Operating System (unlike the iPad's iPhone OS), ability to multitask. While the HP Mini 311 does not have multitouch capabilities, it does in fact have everything else users are looking for when they are looking for a small netbook/tablet size devices.
This includes:

Multitasking
Flash video streaming
Webcam
Easy to use keyboard, etc.

The other thing that I find very interesting, at least in my mind, is that this is basically an iPod Touch on steroids. I mean really, look at the storage size on the device, the capabilities. It is very reminiscent of the iPod Touch, with the option for 3G data download. That's the other thing, for $120 you get the 3G antenna, however it also will cost you $30/month to utilize this system. Okay so you got the iPad w/3G for an ebook reader/video player. Congratulations, you've just purchased an overpriced Kindle (and still have to pay for the data service to transfer the book) that can play video, but wait, my favorite phone on the market, Motorola Droid, plays video in a better format (ie 16:9 aspect ratio) while the iPad plays in 4:3. So much for those widescreen videos.

The Silent Election of Leadership

2010-01-13T15:38:00.000-08:00

The Silent Election of Leadership

By: Angelo Lyall

How do you lead?

Many organizations struggle with leadership, often puzzling over why their management techniques don’t seem to induce contribution and collaboration from their associates. The practice of management is separate and distinct from that of leadership, and so both practices require unique approaches and perspectives. While the practice of management can create some visually identifiable order, and has merit for the purposes of supervision and performance monitoring, it lacks the genuine finesse and interpersonal skills required by a leader. To drive contribution and collaboration, a leader must earn their associates’ trust, and be silently elected as an influential force.

As noted, a leader is not always the manager. The title of manager doesn't imply the privilege of being the leader, so if a manager wishes to also lead those he supervises, he must exemplify that which can be trusted. Trust is an emotional commodity. Like money, trust is exchanged between people based upon the emotions that those involved in situations feel toward all other individuals involved in the same situations. The trust of your associates take root when they recognize that that you handle situations fairly and care about those involved, taking the time to respect and understand both perspectives of a conflict and the people that promote them. A person gives their trust based on an emotional and intuitive approval or disapproval of how they and those around them are treated. There are five fundamental steps to follow in any situation as a leader.

1. Respect. Do not be biased, but do not be detached from the situation. A leader is attached to both sides of a conflict, and all perspectives of a topic equally. A leader is attached because he or she genuinely cares. To be detached and objective may solve immediate issues but does not gain the trust of those involved and will not result in your election as a leader.

2. Listen. Because he or she cares about both sides, the leader genuinely listens to all perspectives and ideas, asks appropriate questions, and does not force their own ideas unwillingly onto others.

3. Understand. By listening and asking questions, the leader attempts to appreciate all perspectives and to gain clear understanding of each case.

4. Sympathize. With clear understanding of all perspectives, the leader takes a moment to reflect on and to communicate what she understands each party’s feelings to be regarding the situation. This step shows all parties that the leader is attached to the situation, but not biased. If the people involved in a situation feel that the person mediating has taken the time to respect them, listen to them, really understand their feelings, and sympathizes with their concerns, trust is given to the mediator to handle the situation in a way that will not hurt or offend the individuals involved.

5. Collaborate. With this trust, the leader doesn't take it upon herself to solve a problem and decide what perspective or idea is the correct one; instead the leader uses her understanding of all perspectives and shares her understanding with all parties involved, providing comparisons and contrasts, allowing for all parties to collaboratively solve problems or make decisions.

This approach must be used consistently, as trust is given in small increments, and a leader is only elected as the result of a positive trend, not a single situation. With the trust of his or her peers, and having been silently elected as leader, a person in this position has begun to, and can continue to, promote collaboration within an organization. This leads to increased contribution, since lack of contribution is often a result of either resentment or distrust. When associates do not feel vulnerable or unneeded, they become part of a powerful, forward-moving force that drives a business to improve and succeed.

As is the case with money, trust can be thought of as currency, not only because it is earned and exchanged, but because it can be saved and spent. Once a person has been silently elected as a leader, he can accumulate the trust of those who have elected him. When a sufficient amount of trust has accumulated in the leader’s account, the leader has the ability to make a split-second decision and have his followers act without hesitation, even if they are unclear about the decision, its motives, or the outcome. When a leader makes a quick decision and calls his or her associates to follow in a decision without time for questions or explanation, the leader is spending trust. This type of action cannot be done routinely, or the trust will diminish. Without trust, or with a trend of abusing trust, a leader will be silently demoted. Management may be practiced without trust, however leadership cannot.

To be a leader, one must gain influence among her associates. Influence is not the same as authority or control. Somebody that has control over people has it because of position or title. Indeed, a person with control may have the ability to make others do what they wish, however without having earned trust or being silently elected, those who are made to follow a decision will resent the person in control, and will be reluctant to collaborate or contribute to any extent beyond what is obligated by contract or otherwise. People do not choose who has control or authority over them, but they do choose and allow the person to influence them.
In essence, only a leader can inspire willing contribution from associates. This applies to parenting, supervision, or any other management role. A leader makes a decision only after having gone through the five fundamental steps in any scenario; a leader makes a decision because he or she has been silently elected to do so by peers; a leader’s decision reflects the best interests of those involved in a situation, not to serve as a personal agenda.

One must earn influence among those around him in order to create enthusiasm in others to participate as a team and drive a business forward. The fact that a leader influences her associates is only because she was first recognized as someone who could be trusted and then silently elected as an influential force. These qualities have shown themselves separate and distinct from management. A manager may not always be a leader, but a leader has the trust and influence required to manage if given the proper management training. It is wise for any organization to promote the five fundamental steps of leadership when working through any situation.

Found at http://www.qualitydigest.com/print/9870

If Architects Had to Work Like Web Designers

2009-12-31T12:22:00.000-08:00

I keep reading this and every time I do, I realize more and more how accurate the descriptions are for web designers. It is one of the most frustrating things out there! I hope you enjoy

By: Unknown
January 10, 2002

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdown for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one.

Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don’t have nearly enough insulation in them).

As you design, also keep in mind that I want to keep yearly maintenance costs as low as possible. This should mean the incorporation of extra-cost features like aluminum, vinyl, or composite siding. (If you choose not to specify aluminum, be prepared to explain your decision in detail.)

Please take care that modern design practices and the latest materials are used in construction of the house, as I want it to be a showplace for the most up-to-date ideas and methods. Be alerted, however, that kitchen should be designed to accommodate, among other things, my 1952 Gibson refrigerator.

To insure that you are building the correct house for our entire family, make certain that you contact each of our children, and also our in-laws. My mother-in-law will have very strong feelings about how the house should be designed, since she visits us at least once a year.

Make sure that you weigh all of these options carefully and come to the right decision. I, however, retain the right to overrule any choices that you make.

Please don’t bother me with small details right now. Your job is to develop the overall plans for the house: Get the big picture. At this time, for example, it is not appropriate to be choosing the color of the carpet. However, keep in mind that my wife likes blue.

Also, do not worry at this time about acquiring the resources to build the house itself. Your first priority is to develop detailed plans and specifications. Once I approve these plans, however, I would expect the house to be under roof within 48 hours.

While you are designing this house specifically for me, keep in mind that sooner or later I will have to sell it to someone else. It therefore should have appeal to a wide variety of potential buyers.

Please make sure before you finalize the plans that there is a consensus of the population in my area that they like the features this house has. I advise you to run up and look at my neighbor’s house that he constructed last year. We like it a great deal. It has many features that we would also like in our new home, particularly the 75-foot swimming pool. With careful engineering, I believe that you can design this into our new house without impacting the final cost.

Please prepare a complete set of blueprints. It is not necessary at this time to do the real design, since they will be used only for construction bids. Be advised, however, that you will be held accountable for any increase of construction costs as a result of later design changes.

You must be thrilled to be working on as an interesting project as this! To be able to use the latest techniques and materials and to be given such freedom in your designs is something that can’t happen very often.

Contact me as soon as possible with your complete ideas and plans.

PS: My wife has just told me that she disagrees with many of the instructions I’ve given you in this letter. As architect, it is your responsibility to resolve these differences. I have tried in the past and have been unable to accomplish this. If you can’t handle this responsibility, I will have to find another architect.

PPS: Perhaps what I need is not a house at all, but a travel trailer. Please advise me as soon as possible if this is the case.

Zagg Invisibleshield

2008-11-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, the InvisibleShield by Zagg is a poly urethane film that is placed over either the entire device or just on the screen to protect from scratches. Now you may be thinking this is just another screen protector, but before you think that, go look at their website, and read through the rest of this review. We purchased 2 full body coverages last weekend, one for my iPod Touch, and one for my wife's iPod Nano. I walk around all day with my iPod in my pocket with my keys, and have noticed something. There are no scratches on the face or the back of the new InvisibleShield. I have dropped keys on it, with no scratches. This is one tough protection. We are a little disappointed with the installation that was performed but not only does their product have a lifetime warranty, the place we got it installed at offers a 14 day guarantee on their installation, so I believe we are going back to the store tomorrow to get this fixed. Other than that, we have been very happy with our purchase.

Apple iPod Nano (3rd Generation)

2008-11-01T08:43:00.001-07:00

So my wife spent a couple weeks with the shuffle, and decided that she wanted to upgrade to an iPod with a screen. We purchased her an iPod Nano 3rd Generation (also in pink) in the 8GB model. So far it would appear that she is quite enjoying being able to watch her favorite TV shows on her iPod. The touch wheel is simple to use, the screen is big enough, for her, and the battery life is awesome. Personally, the screen is a bit small for me, but it works great for her.

iPod Touch 8GB (2G)

2008-10-12T08:43:00.000-07:00

Upon using the new iPod Touch for the first time, I noticed a huge room for expansion. The layout of the main screen is straight forward and easy to use, the touchscreen, while it does not have haptic feedback like my LG Dare, is very responsive and accurate. I plugged my iPod in to my computer in, I already have iTunes 8 installed, and low and behold, the iPod Touch installer started and in just a few quick steps later I was up and running and installing applications from the iTunes app store. The screen on it is the best screen I have seen on a device and the clarity of movies is simply phenominal. The Touch has a full HTML browser running Safari, the only thing I wish it had is Flash support. If it had that, this would be almost a complete replacement for my laptop. Oh and did I mention this post is being made from the iPod?

Panasonic DMP-BD30K 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

2008-10-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

One unfortunate thing about this review is that I haven't been able to fully test the Blu-ray capabilities of this player. We currently just have a normal television, without Hi Definition. We do, however, plan to take advantage very soon by adding a Panasonic 42PZ80U 42" Plasma 1080p television to our home theater. We are looking forward to the Viera capabilities. So far this player has been great. It has very fast boot up (for a Blu-ray player), and outputs clear video, as well as being very friendly in setup. I will update this when we have done more with the Hi-Def portion. For now, you will just have to deal with a simple review only using it as a DVD player.

Apple iPod Shuffle (2nd Generation)

2008-10-01T17:50:00.001-07:00

We recently picked up a 2nd Generation iPod Shuffle. This is the first iPod I have used, and we are currently waiting on delivery of an iPod Touch (2nd Generation). One of the major enticements for my wife to go with the Shuffle is its small footprint. While it is not the largest in terms of memory, its 1 GB size is more than enough for my wife's music collection. The controls are intuitive and the features are more than adequate. Of course, she got it in pink. I will update if there are any negative aspects that we run into, but as of now there have not been any issues.

LG VX9700 "Dare"

2008-09-30T23:23:00.000-07:00

I have had the Dare for just over a month and a half now, and I have to say, it is by far the best "dumb" phone I have ever used. To start with the touchscreen on this phone is responsive, and accurate. The only issue I run into is a few problems when browsing the internet, and not being able to click small links. Supposedly that has been fixed in the new firmware update. I will have to wait on the update, as they have not gotten the FOTA (Firmware Over the Air) up and running. This is quite frustrating as this was one of the main reasons I purchased this phone.

One of the other great features is the full HTML browser. It has been a great asset when trying to find that hidden restaurant, or finding that obscure address when I am away from home. My wife and I have found ourselves referring to that in order to find our way.

The photos that come from the 3.2 Megapixel camera are quite stunning, and the battery life is phenomenal. For anyone looking for the smartest "dumb" phone imaginable, this is it.

Until next time,
Dustin