Subscribe RSS

Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

« Older Entries

Windows 8 Developer Preview: First Thoughts

February 6th, 2012 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | No Comments | Filed in Offline, Reviews

As the Windows 8 beta draws close, I took some time yesterday and downloaded the 64 bit Windows 8 Developer Preview from Microsoft.  As far as a developer preview, the operating system seemed relatively stable and boot time was if anything, faster than Windows 7.  I also really like the new Bootloader to select OSes (it has mouse support, and is full resolution).

Now onto the OS itself.  Keep in mind that I was trying the OS on a computer without a touch screen or a multitouch trackpad When you first log onto the OS, the new lock screen with the time and date with the nice image background is very tasteful.  The problem is, if you’re a new user, where will you click to login?  To get to the login screen you have to Double Click on the lock screen which does a little sort of a multitouch animation that makes it look like you pulled the login screen up by dragging the lock screen away.  It is really clumsy when you are using it on a computer without a touch screen, but it would probably look good if you had one.  I think Microsoft needs to have a setting when installing the OS that lets you tell the OS whether you have a touch screen or not, so that the OS can optimize the experience to either desktop or tablet use.

Right now, the compromise is not great for either party.  This is something that I am really concerned about.  They have done away with the powerful start menu and replaced it with a touch screen interface, the new Metro that you have probably heard about, and possibly used (it is featured in Windows Phone 7 right now).

Dialogue boxes have been replaced by little notification bars that pop up from the bottom (sort of how like internet explorer now has notification bars rather than dialogue boxes too).

Overall, I am not really fond of the new UI, but I am interested to see what changes in the upcoming Beta.

Share

iPad Review

May 7th, 2010 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | No Comments | Filed in Reviews, Tech

Here’s an interview I did with my brother, Austin at the Apple Store.  We headed down to the states to check out the new iPad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P58ngsPbSpQ

Share

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

App Review: Mover Open for Jailbroken iPhone and iPod Touch

March 6th, 2010 by Severin Kempf | 1 Comment | Filed in Apps, Reviews

The Mover Open app allows you to have a virtual table, that you can slide notes, business cards or pictures over. Just by flicking it toward the other device.

It’s not quite as simple as the Bump app where you hold your iPhone in your hand and bump fists with someone else, and your contact information is swapped. But it works better when you don’t have 3G or a wi-fi network.

Mover open allow you to pass files or text between each other on both wi-fi or Bluetooth. Making it useable almost anywhere.  I give it a solid 7.5 out of ten, a great app to have but not something you will most likely use every day.

It will likely come in handy just when you’d think you wouldn’t need it!  That’s how life is.

http://modmyi.com/cydia/package.php?id=10939

Sev

Share

Tags: , , , , ,

Griffin iClear – Polycarbonate iPod Touch Case

December 3rd, 2009 by Calvert Kennedy | No Comments | Filed in Reviews
Griffin iClear Case

Griffin iClear Case

The Griffin iClear is a great looking, easy to assemble, good protective cover.  It is a clear case, as you probably guessed by the name of the product.  There are two pieces to the hard shell that you put together.

It’s comfortable, thick, protective and pocketable.  In the box there’s a screen dust protector, a wiping cloth, and the case itself.

The case, though a tiny bit bulky, protects everything fully except for the screen (it comes with a dust protector for your screen though).  The case isn’t huge though, so the iPod Touch is still very pocketable, and the case makes your iPod look a bit better in my opinion.

The case isn’t going to come off if you drop it, and it is quite protective (for everything but the screen, as we said).   The case fits snug, leaving no room for the iPod to rattle around, which is one of our favorite features about this case.  Even when the iPod Touch falls screen side down, the raised plastic on the sides  should hit the floor first and protect the screen from harm.

Don’t worry about headphones and chargers being plugged in (unless your jack is super abnormal or has some kind of tumor lol), the case is functionable with all apple brand headphones and chargers and works with the third party ones I tried (Skullcandy, and one pair of Bose).

Downsides:

The case is kind of tricky to take off, because you need a small coin with you to take it off. To take off the case you just simply slide a dime down the space between the two halves of the case, and use it as a lever.

Another few downsides are that the volume control on the side of the itouch is locked away making it unusable when the case is on, and the sleep button is hard to get to, but still useable.

Overall:

The Griffin iClear hard case is a decent case for a very low cost at $6.00 at any local Tiger Direct in Canada, making it a pretty good deal compared to some of the rediculous pricings for other cases.

It’s an amazing case for it’s price point, but it’s drawbacks make it a tad bit annoying sometimes.

A solid 4/5 rating.

Share

Tags: , , , ,

Sansa Fuze – The Real Comparison

October 30th, 2009 by Craig McBrine | 2 Comments | Filed in Reviews

          iPods seem to be all the rage these days, encapsulating its buyers into a dreamland of a sophistication and self-importance that is solely based on the fact that you are carrying around an expensive Apple product, and anyone who does not own one or dislikes them, is an outcast and should be treated as such. In fact, from 2002 to 2007 Apple sold 100 million iPods. Of course the popularity of the iPod is still increasing, luring people in with the only program it works with, iTunes. I have asked my friends why the decided to get an iPod and they said, “Because of iTunes. iTunes is such a good program with billions of songs and movies and tons of stuff!”

          In reality, iPods are very expensive, and iTunes uses major DRM restrictions on everything purchased there so you can only use the songs you buy from them on your iPod and nothing else!  iTunes is really the iPod’s true weakness – the iPod will not sync to any other program and iTunes is really horrible software.  If you want to share a song with a friend, it won’t let you!  Although many think it is illegal, is quite common and really shouldn’t be considered illegal as many people also used to share songs on cassette tapes back in the 80′s. Are they worth all of this extra cash? Is there an alternative?

          There are many companies that have tried competing with the iPod, but I think that SanDisk takes the cake. The SanDisk Sansa Fuze is an amazing mp3 player, at a fraction of the price that most iPod Nanos cost. The Sansa Fuze could even be comparable to the iPod Classic. The Fuze has a 1.9 inch viewing screen, it plays videos, music, shows pictures, and it has FM Radio and a Voice Recorder directly built into it! Apple is just barely coming out with iPods that have built in radio.

          The Fuze also comes with an expandable microSD card slot! That means you could get an 8gb microSD card, and the 8gb Fuze, and have 16gb in storage space. iPods do not have the option to expand its storage space. Also, the Fuze is not tied down to one program. It works with Windows Media Player, Rhapsody, WinAmp and works with pretty much any program you want! It even plays formats that iPods cannot play like .mp3, .wav, and .wma.

          The 4gb Fuze is only $50-$60, and to get an 8gb microSD card is only another $10, and to get an 8gb iPod Nano it is $150. The iPod is more than twice as expensive as the Fuze.

          In conclusion, the iPod and the Fuze both have the same features, but the Fuze has just a little bit more, at a fraction of the price. Its sleek look and feel can be compared over the look and feel of the iPods. If you are looking for flexibility, and portability and a low price, take a look at what the Sansa Fuze has to offer. You no longer need to be caught in the web of Apple.

Check out www.amazon.com for these great prices, and free shipping!

Share

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Grooveshark: Stream Any Song

July 17th, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | No Comments | Filed in Music, Online, Reviews

Grooveshark is a cool new music streaming service that has ‘millions of songs’ available for streaming.  You can search for music, view songs you recently listened to

It is powered by its users, as in, all the music comes from its users.  The users install Grooveshark’s upload tool, which then indexes the users’ music collection and then uploads it to Grooveshark, where it is available for streaming from any computer.

Just search for the song you’re looking for, and then play.  You can even queue things into your current playlist, and then save your playlists for future playback.

Try it out now!

Share

Tags: , , , , ,

Download Adobe Master Collection and other trials from adobe

April 22nd, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | 2 Comments | Filed in Apps, How Tos, Non-Tech, Older Posts, Online, Reviews, Tech

There is no real link to download this on Adobe’s website, yet a link to the full trials which are hosted on Adobe’s servers has been leaked!  You will need an adobe account to do this, just create one, login, and then use these links.

Usually, the Master Collection trials are not posted on the website, yet we have the ‘secret links’!

Try it out.  Contact me at  if you’d like a key for the full version.

Master Collection

Binary
Zipped (7z)

Design Premium

Binary
Zipped (7z)

Web Premium

Binary
Zipped (7z)

Photoshop CS4

Binary
Zipped (7z)

Illustrator CS4

Binary
Zipped (7z)

InDesign CS4

Binary
Zipped (7z)

InCopy CS4

Binary
Zipped (7z)

Fireworks CS4

Binary
Zipped (7z)

After Effects CS4

Binary
Zipped (7z)

Premiere Pro CS4

Binary
Zipped (7z)

Dreamweaver CS4

Binary
Zipped (7z)

After Effects Additional Content

Binary
Zipped (7z)

Premiere Additional Content

Binary

Zipped (7z)

Photoshop Extended Content

Binary
Zipped (7z)

Enjoy the links! Feel free to comment with links and keys, etc.

Share

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Book Review

December 7th, 2008 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | No Comments | Filed in Non-Tech, Offline, Reviews

Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This book is quite an interesting read, yet still disappointingly short. It could have been developed into a very satisfying novel, because the story idea is quite captivating.

The story is humorous because it’s completely different and unusual compared to real life, because people don’t age backwards.  When Mr. Button went into the hospital and was asking people about his baby, it was funny because everyone he asked about his child had a terrified look on their faces, and each next person he talked to made him more and more anxious about his baby.  What was funnier, when he eventually got to see his baby, it turned out to be an old man.

Another thing I found funny was the fact that Roger Button was so in denial of the fact that his ‘child’ was not a baby, even to the point of asking a store clerk whether “the paint would come off the pink duck if the baby put it in his mouth”.

What was also ironic about Benjamin marrying a younger woman was that in actuality they were both the same age yet it looked like he was 50.

What was also funny was how the story showed how short people’s memories are – it’s ironic because, at first people were sad for the girl being married to a man of 50.  But as Benjamin’s age “decreased”, people were then sad for him being married to a woman of 50 (although in actuality they were the same age)!  They couldn’t even remember that a while ago, they were saying the exact opposite thing!

Also, as Benjamin got “younger” he didn’t like his wife Hildegard anymore because she got older, and as she got older Benjamin didn’t find her beautiful anymore.  Benjamin married Hildegard for her good looks, and Hildegard married Benjamin for his stability, and what happened was that Hildegard lost her good looks and Benjamin lost his stability, so their relationship didn’t work anymore.  Basically, as he got younger, she got older.

Read the book online here (just to let you know, there’s a few typos).

Share

Tags: , , , , , ,

Western Digital My Book Review

November 18th, 2008 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | 2 Comments | Filed in Offline, Reviews, Tech
Front View

Front View of Drive

The My Book is Western Digital’s flagship harddrive for desktop use.

It looks like a book, hence the name. It is a nice little drive, and the “morse code holes” as advertised on the website, do a good job of keeping the thing cool.

If you have a recent OS, like Windows XP or Vista, the drivers will install automatically (same goes for Mac OS X and Linux – just plug the thing in and it’s detected).

Inside the package there is a power brick, the drive, and 1 USB cable and 1 FireWire Cable.

Performance Specifications
Serial Transfer Rate
eSATA
Serial Bus Transfer Rate (eSATA) 3 Gb/s (Max)
FireWire 400
Serial Bus Transfer Rate (1394a) 400 Mbits/s (Max)
USB 2.0
Serial Bus Transfer Rate (USB 2.0) 480 Mbits/s (Max)
Physical Specifications
Capacity 500 GB
Interface Triple Interface
Physical Dimensions
English
Height 6.5 Inches (Max)
Length 5.4 Inches (Max)
Width 2.1 Inches
Weight 2.5 Pounds
Metric
Height 166 mm (Max)
Length 137 mm (Max)
Width 54 mm
Weight 1.15 kg
Environmental Specifications
Temperature (English)
Operating 41° F to 95° F
Non-operating -4° F to 149° F
Temperature (Metric)
Operating 5° C to 35° C
Non-operating -20° C to 65° C
Electrical Specifications
Current Requirements
Power Dissipation
AC Input Voltage 100-240 VAC
AC Input Frequency 47-63

One thing I found was that the USB and FireWire cables were a bit short if you have your drive on the ground. You might need to buy longer ones. Also, the drive is a bit heavy.

It is a good drive and will not crash on you, it is also so simple to use and the “amount of space left” meters are excellent! Just plug it into the wall and you’re set to go.

It’s a sturdy drive and I recommend it. The pricing is right too! It’s only around 100-150 dollars at Costco in Canada (the prices are changing all the time).

Share

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Palm TX Review

November 11th, 2008 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | 5 Comments | Filed in Offline, Reviews
TX image
Palm TX

System Specs

Processor: 312MHz ARM-based Processor
Operating System: Palm OS software version Garnet v5.4.9
Memory: Total 128 MB (100MB accessible to user)
Display: TFT color display with backlight, 320 x 480, 65,000 colors
Audio: Speaker and standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack
Interface: USB (for HotSync operation), Infrared, Bluetooth 1.1, Wi-Fi 802.11b
Dimensions and Weight: 4.76 x 3.08 x 0.61in, 5 oz. (including stylus and SD card)
Power: 108-32VAC, 60Hz, 100mA (US and Canada only AC Adapter)
Battery: 1250mHa Lithium-ion polymer rechargeable battery (internal – non user removable)
Expansion: SD card slot (Secure Digital), supports MMC and SD cards.

Review

The latest Handheld from Palm is very similar in design to the T5, except for it has a nice sleek blue look instead of the old silver chassis color. Other than that, it is the same, shape and weight.

The device is nice and sturdy, and would probably be pretty tough to break by accident. The case looks like metal, but it is probably just plastic. One problem about this device is that lots of people have trouble with the power button. There is a program you can download here that can reassign your powerbutton to say, the home button, because the main thing that people find with the power button (and that I found too) is that it is very unresponsive and you have to push twice or sometimes just hold it down for a long time.

One of the things you will love about this device is the bright screen. It is perfect for watching movies and videos. What’s also nice is that fingerprints don’t really show up too much on this screen.

The memory is not volatile – meaning everything will not be erased if you run out of juice.

One thing you will be disappointed about with the TX is the fact that the built-in video player cannot play most formats of video you get. What you can do to fix this is to download a very good freeware player called TCPMP and install it onto your palm. When you get it – you don’t have to sync videos (or even music) onto your palm anymore – just put your SD card loaded up with all sorts of DivX or Xvid( yes TCPMP does support these codecs) into your palm, fire up TCPMP, select some files, and then hit play and you’re all set.

There are quite a few games available for Palm OS – including many PC favorites like bookworm. Check out Astraware for lots of games. Also, if you like old games, check out LJP – a multisystem emulator that can emulate NES, SNES, GEN, GB/GBC and more! To use the more recent consoles like SNES and Genesis you may need to overclock with warpSpeed, and free up more memory with UDMH.

Hope you enjoyed my review!

Share

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

« Older Entries