Ecto Dump

iPad App Review: Adobe Ideas

2010-05-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

Adobe Ideas is great for just that: ideas. The app is a fairly simple drawing/writing application, so let me get down to the basics.

Attempting to digitally ink a drawing I had done on paper.

You have a small set of tools that are in the tool bar on the right side of the screen. It has a pen tool, an eraser, a scrolling tool, and an undo tool. The pen tool has a series of options, including size options to change the size of the lines you draw, an opacity option to change the visibility of the lines, and a color option, which lets you select the color of your choice.

A quick sketch of Egon Spengler, from Ghostbusters

Color wise, you have your pretty typical color selector. What's interesting about it is the color scheme option. When you select "colors", a bar of 5 different colors appears in the tool bar. You can't choose your own colors to put into the tool box, but you have to choose a photo from your library on your iPad, and then Adobe Ideas picks out 5 colors from the picture and makes a color scheme from that. Why you can't make your own, I don't know, but it is a bit annoying when you try to color something and you keep having to go back and forth and try and match the color your chose earlier.

Overall, this is a really fun app that is perfect for when you need something immediately to jot down an idea or draw something to show someone. It's nowhere near as robust as Sketchbook Pro, but then again, this is a free app. This app never claims to be anything more than it is, so there's not too much to complain about. This app has gotten a lot of use out of me, even with Sketchbook Pro filling up all of my drawing needs, because there are times when I just need to draw something to show someone and I don't want to fiddle with a lot of options. That, and it's free, so might as well download it.

Video Unboxing Of The Incase Book Jacket For iPad

2010-05-21T13:17:00.001-07:00

Just a quick little video unboxing of the Incase Book Jacket folio-type case for the Apple iPad. Enjoy.

Night Cap: iPad And iPad App Reviews Are Being Written This. Very. Second.

2010-05-11T22:20:00.000-07:00

   I know I haven't been updating much lately, but my second semester is finishing up, and it's been a lot of work. But anyways! I've spent a little over a week with my iPad, and I've spent a lot of time with plenty of apps. Now that I've used them for more than 3 seconds (unlike other reviews out there...), I feel I'm now ready to review them.
   Some of the app reviews that are coming up include Adobe Ideas, Pages, Marvel Comics, Comixology, IDW Comics, iVerse, Yahoo! Entertainment, Netflix, ABC Player, Ebay, Sketchbook Pro and others as I download more. These aren't all of my apps I have, but the ones I feel are worthy of review.

   I'll also be doing a full-fledged video review of the iPad. While it has been over a month since other reviews have gone online, I feel I have some pretty important points to make that haven't been covered in any of the other reviews I've read or seen.

   I've also purchased a Pogo Sketch stylus for my iPad to use for drawing, and the Pogo will also get a review. Like I said, classes are in their final stretch and I'm really trying to get through them, so bare with me!

Oh, and I've been reading more Scott Pilgrim, and I can't stop thinking about how much I love it. You should definitely check those books out if you haven't yet.

Night everyone.

I Finally Bought Myself An iPad

2010-05-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

So I made the jump and picked up an iPad for myself today.

That means you can be expecting a lot more posts, including and iPad review (a little late, but I feel like I have some important things to say about it), and some iPad app reviews regularly. This also means there will be some more videos on the Ecto Dump YouTube channel. I'm not going to bother linking to it until I upload a few more videos, or at least until I upload my iPad video review. That's all for now. I'm gonna get back to playing with it more. For review purposes, of course.

The New iPhone Revealed... After It Was Left In A Bar.

2010-04-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

Looks like someone made a boo-boo.
An Apple Engineer left this prototype for the new iPhone at a bar, and Gizmodo got a hold of it. The device was apparently disguised in an iPhone 3GS-like case, but that case was removed to reveal something that was very far fro mthe iPhone 3GS. It's a Giz exclusive, so I'll let them tell the main story, but here are all of the juicy details about the phone itself:

- It has a front facing camera (FINALLY)
- It now has flash for the camera
-A Bigger Camera lens
-A micro-sim card, just like the iPad
-A very glossy back, possibly made out of glass
- A higher resolution screen
-A (possible) noise-cancelation microphone near the earphone jack (like the Nexus One)
-They're 99.99% sure it's real

There is a lot of compelling evidence, but I'll let them take care of that:

Apple's New iPhone.

How Apple Lost The New iPhone.

Android And I: Shovelware Indeed

2010-04-19T17:12:00.000-07:00

   Let me be perfectly clear: Those 3 apps I made? Not useful. At all.
   As I've mentioned before, I have been developing Android applications. It's not easy. I purchased a lovely Android development book (Hello, Android 2nd edition) to help me along with that. I won't bother posting a link to it's Amazon page as it's currently out of print and a 3rd edition is on the way which covers 2.0 and 2.1.

   So, my apps: The first one is the most useless and the most expensive. It's called "I've Got Money" and it costs $100. What does it do? It displays a picture of a pile of money. Yes, completely useless. So why? First off, it's definitely not the most expensive (or useless) App on the Android Market. Far from it. There is currently an app on the Android market called "I'm Richer" That displays a picture of a blue diamond and costs $200. The sad thing? People have downloaded and kept it. This whole thing started when the iPhone's App store was incredibly young. Someone had created an app called "I'm Rich". It cost a whopping $10,000. One person downloaded it. After that, it was removed from the app market. My app is more of an experiment. I want to see who is willing to pay for such an app. If someone downloads it, I will keep upping the price until people stop buying it. So far, one person has downloaded the app. They refunded it (I'm guessing it's the angry commenter in a previous "night cap" post), but still: one person was willing to download something for $100. Once someone actually keeps the app without refunding it, I will up the price. Others have been running similar experiments.

   Another app is called the "Iron Man Arc Reactor". It's a picture of Iron Man's Arc Reactor and chest piece. It costs $.99 and so far, 10 people have downloaded it. Only one person has kept it. Again, an experiment to see who's willing to pay to keep something that does nothing. I'm also willing to see how many people are willing to get their money back, even for just $.99. I will be updating it and trying something different and I'll keep you posted.

   My last app, called "Paper Weight Plus" is the most interesting so far. It's a picture of a paper weight and it costs $.99. If you can't guess what it does.... I can't help you here. So far, two downloads. One person has kept it for longer than 24 hours. That means one of two things. Either they thought the idea was so funny, they decided to keep it out of novelty or they didn't feel it necessary to get their $.99. There is a possible third reason: they do not know that you can get a refund for apps you don't want within 24 hours of downloads.

   Apparently the whole refund thing is a big problem with developers. Not because they can't swindle schmucks out of their money with useless shovelware, but because root users can download a paid app, back it up to their micro-sd card, refund it, then just reinstall it from their micro-sd card.

   I would also like to make something ese perfectly clear: I am constantly working on making useful, fun apps. They are proving very hard, but they are coming. I also have a couple ideas for some extremely useful, extremely cool iPad apps, but that will be much, much farther down the road.

   Until then, enjoy the uselessness :)

Android And I: My First Apps

2010-04-15T23:13:00.000-07:00

   Looks like I've done it: I have officially published 2 Android apps to the Android Market.

   I originally had much bigger, better plans for the apps, but alas, I need money. Fast. So whatever I can pump out at the moment is what's going out. I'm not necessarily proud of these apps, as they're only shovelware (ie CRAP), but I think of them as an experiment: what are people really willing to pay for? One of them is a little reminiscent of the "I'm Rich" iPhone app that came out a couple years ago, but not as expensive. I'm in the middle of publishing one more, so let's see how that one does. I'm thinking that might be the one that will make some mulah, if any.

   I am not in the business of producing shovelware, though. These are just temporary apps until I can actually develop the apps I want. I won't tell you what they'll be, but here's a couple hints: Scott Pilgrim, Kick-Ass, and Iron Man 2. Hopefully I can get those out in a timely manner.

   This is just another step in the process of my mobile development "career", and I will be documenting it more like I have here.

   I'll post more when I progress more. Bye!

UPDATED: The Quest

2010-04-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: I now own an iPad, so this post is old news.

I'm embarking on a journey that I have decided to include all of you on.
-My goal: a 64 GB iPad with a bluetooth Apple heyboard, Apple portfolio case, and iPad dock.

-The cost: $850+tax.

-The obstacle: I have no job.

-My solution: Android Apps.

-My deadline: July 9th, when I leave for a vacation to Hawaii where this iPad would be ideal to use on the plane trip.

I plan on developing a couple Android Apps to save up the money. Why should you care? I want to see how one person with absolutely no knowledge of Java or anything can make money from Android app development. There have been some success stories before, but I thought it could be fun to document a (potentially) new success story.

Let's see how this goes.... I will update you all tomorrow with where I currently am in my Android development and what tools I'm using. I will probably do a little video blog about it, too, so keep watch for that.

Stay tuned...

Night Cap

2010-04-07T22:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted anything in almost a week, I've been busy. I've finally started with Android development so I can pad my income a little. It's a little tedious, but not too bad. I'll do a post or two tomorrow. I'm considering just doing one big post a day that compiles all of the gadget/game/movie news to save time and I might lean more towards original pieces like my last post about the iPad.

Night everyone.

Legitimize This: The iPad, And Why You Might Actually Want One.

2010-04-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

   January 27th was the day of the "Meh" heard around the world. That was the day the iPad was announced. Was it well received? Nope. How's it holding up now? Pretty great, actually. So why should you care? Because, it really might be worth your money.

   I'll be completely honest: When the iPad was announced, I couldn't care less. Besides, I already had an iPod Touch and a MacBook Pro, so why would I need one? Did I do my research? Nope. It actually wasn't up until this week when I was helping my girlfriend look for a new laptop that I started to research it. She wanted something that was small and portable, so any laptop bigger than 13" was out of the question. Problem is, you can't really get any usability out of a netbook, especially with one running Windows, because let's be honest: you'll need to be running an anti-virus program, and that would practically destroy any usability you would get out of that thing. The only decent laptops we could find were much too expensive, so I turned to the only thing I could think of that was relatively cheap, small, and wouldn't need to run an anti-virus: the Apple iPad.

   So I went to Apple's website and watched all of their loverly guided tours, and I must say: I was impressed. In fact, more than impressed; I was blown away. Sure, a good majority of the videos were just lame PR lines, but the actual facts were impressive, and I had to eat my own words. Why? Because at that point in time, I officially wanted an iPad. Let me break down all of the reasons why:

Watching Videos: Like On A Laptop, But Comfortable. And Prettier.

You can watch videos on it. Groundbreaking, I know, but what makes it different, or more importantly, worthwhile, is the interface and what you can watch. The interface looks extremely intuitive and very fluid. That, and it's in HD, which means that it'll look much, much better than on a netbook. Sure, you can buy videos from iTunes, but Apple has decided to lower their guard a little by officially allowing Netflix to release an App that allows you to stream your Netflix instant queue to your iPad. Apple previously blocked Google Voice from the App Store, and they took a lot of heat for it. Since then, they've been trying to prove to everyone that they aren't as close-minded as they seem, even allowing Voice-Over IP apps like Vonage into the App Store. You can also stream ABC's shows through an ABC iPad App, and even Hulu is reportedly making an iPad App, but with a subscription service. Not to mention sites are currently making the move to HTML5 over Adobe Flash to accommodate future iPad users. Sure, you can just watch your movies on your tv. Or on your iPhone, because who's going to want to carry their iPad around with them everywhere? Well, no one will, but they will take it where it matters, like on an airplane, to a hotel, or on a family vacation, and at that point it's a much better experience than holding your iPhone 8 inches from your face. Well, what if you have a laptop with a great screen? Why can't you just bring that with you? Unless you have a MacBook Air (and who does?), the iPad will take up a lot less space. That, and maybe you're one of those people that doesn't exactly want a desktop with a monitor, but you want something that'll trick you into thinking you do, so you buy one of those ginormous gaming laptops. Sure, you've got a great, big screen, but is that's not going to fit onto your lap or fold-away tray table easily or comfortably. With the iPad, you just hold it. You need to do something else, or put a drink on that tray table? Done. Just go back to holding your iPad while your snackedge rests comfortably on that tiny table.

ABC's iPad App will let you stream all those episodes of Lost you didn't understand.

Your Music On A 10" Screen: It's Your Music, But Bigger.

Nothing really, here. You can listen to your music while you browse the web. The iTunes music store looks much better on the iPad than on an iPhone or iPod Touch. It looks a lot like the computer-based version, so this doesn't really have any benefits over listening to music while you browse on a laptop, so move along. Chances are you weren't going to buy an iPad for the sole music of listening to your jams, anyways.

Browsing The Internet: Still Better Than Your iPhone.

The same argument for "bigger than your iPhone, smaller and more comfortable than your laptop while on a trip/somewhere else" applies. I'll be going to San Diego Comic-Con this summer (hooty-hoo), so I'll need to update you guys from the floor. Is it going to be practical to abandon where I am to find a nice little spot over by the bathrooms, pop a squat, and start typing away? Nope. It'd be much easier to just whip out an iPad and pump out a post from exactly where I am. The e-mail application is also much more robust than the iPhone version. In fact, it looks better than any website. That, and an iPad weighs a lot less than my MacBook Pro. That's going to be pretty annoying to lug around.

Reading And The iBooks Store: Because You Might Want To Avoid That Creepy Guy At Borders.

Sure, the kindle has an e-ink screen, so it's more suitable for reading. Walt Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal doesn't seem to think so. He apparently loves his kindle, but loves reading on the iPad more. Let's be honest with ourselves: reading a colorful cookbook or one of those cool "art of" books is not going to be fun on a Kindle or Nook. Then again, let's assume you might not like ebook readers in general. Let's say you love your home library and you love building it up. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Well, there's nothing that iPad can really do for you then. It has a nice little virtual library, but that won't take the place of those nice leatherbounds if you don't want it to. Let's say you want an ebook reader. That's great! The only thing holding you back is knowing which device will have the biggest and best selection. Obviously, the Amazon Kindle currently has the biggest library, but let's not forget: this is an Apple product, so you know full well this is going to be backed by every major publisher you can think of. That, and what other ebook reader can do everything the iPad can? exactly. Also, you won't have to drive to Borders or Barnes and Noble. If you like the bookstore experience, then go to the bookstore and read your iPad there. The Nook actually wins in this regard since you can take your nook to any Barnes and Noble and read any ebook in it's entirety for free. You can get previews on the iPad, but nothing like that. Oh, and magazines and newspapers will be pretty impressive and accessible on it, so there's that, too. Whether those are still relevant because of the internet, who knows.

Comic Books: This Is Exactly What They Need.

I love comic books. Love. Them. Y: The Last Man, Watchmen, Scott Pilgrim, The Walking Dead, I love them. There's one big problem though: If my comic book store's out of an issue, I either wait a few months and spend $20 on the trade paperback, or hope and pray that the publisher does a second printing. That's happened to me way too many times. The iPad would get rid of all of those problems. If I want a comic book, I just click on it. Done. Sure, I like going to my local comic book store, but only because my local store is awesome and has tons of toys and collectibles. What if your store's not as awesome? Then it's just a boring waste of gas and they're probably not going to order enough issues anyways. Marvel just launched their own iPad app, with a beautiful interface that puts about 100 titles from their expansive catalogue at your fingertips. That, and the screen is big and beautiful, which is perfect for all those vibrant colors. Even if it's something like The Walking Dead or Scott Pilgrim that's black and white, still great.

Marvel's iPad App

Gaming And Apps: They'll Be Awesome. And Pretty.

The iPad can use the iPhone's apps, so you're already got about 150,000 apps to choose from. The iPad already has a lot of Apps that were just released on iTunes, and they're looking great. Besides things like the Netflix app, there's some pretty impressive drawing and productivity apps. Some of the apps that make the iPad worthwhile are the iWork apps. If you don't know, iWork is Apple's version of Microsoft Office, and it's great. And cheaper. I have iWork on my MacBook Pro, and I would never go back to Microsoft Office. Apple's made some pretty impressive iPad versions of Pages (word), Keynote (Power Point), and Numbers (Excel). They run about $10 each, and if you get an Apple Bluetooth keyboard or their keyboard dock, you can get some pretty serious work done. You could use the on screen keyboard, but who knows how long that'll be comfortable for. Right now, the iPhone has some pretty great games. From Plants vs. Zombies, Street Fighter 4, to N.O.V.A., and Rock Band, they're pretty good. The iPad can only expand on that with iPad specific games like Geometry Wars, Plants vs. Zombies HD, and board game games like Scrabble and Monopoly. Scrabble even lets you use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a letter-piece holder, and you can flick your letters to your iPad's screen. That's pretty nifty, if you ask me.

Who do I think the iPad is really for? I say it's for people that want a Mac, but don't want to pay all that much for it. It really is the Mac (or OS X) experience, but in a smaller package. I've given you my reasons why the iPad will be worth my time and why it might be yours, so now it's up to you: Go to an Apple Store or Best Buy and go play with one to make your mind up yourself.

Night Cap: I Hate Code....

2010-04-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

   This week I've started developing Android Apps. Not easy.

   I'm trying to make few simple apps to help with my income, but I know nothing about Java or programming, so this is becoming really frustrating. Anyone have any tips?

   I haven't posted anything in the past couple of days, but there hasn't really been much to post about. There has been a lot of news about the iPad, but I don't have nearly enough time to write about it, so I'll just be compiling a list of all the links that I can find.

   And I do realize the contest I am conducting sounds shady seeing as I don't have a reputation on YouTube at all, but I could see that coming. I do plan on buying an iPad eventually, though, but that might take a little while, so a review might be irrelevant by then. I will be doing App reviews though. I didn't get a chance to do any of my promised toy reviews or anything this week, and I appoligize. Well, it's not like there's anyone to apologize to.

UPDATED: iPad Review Contest!

2010-03-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

   UPDATED: Here's the deal: I need an iPad to review. You want an iPad. Obviously, it's contest time.
   I would love to do an iPad unboxing/review/comparisons, but I don't have the cash money to buy an iPad to review. That's where you come in: Donations. I need donations from you guys to help me purchase an iPad to review. This review, it'd be thorough. I'd get my hands dirty. I'd answer all of your iPad questions.

   That's not all, though. These donations would be coming out of the kindness of your heart, so I would need to give back. How? With an iPad, that's how. If I can raise enough money for an iPad, I will buy an iPad, review it, and then give it away! How will I choose who gets it, though? Easy: Give back to the person that gave the most. I will give the iPad away to the person that makes the biggest donation. All you have to do is take a video of you (or pictures put together into a video) making the donation, clearly showing that you donated however much money and use that to make a video reply to this video, and I will message that person directly through YouTube to let them know they have won an iPad.

   So let's recap: I need $587 (tax included) for an iPad to review, and if I can get that much money in donations, the most generous donator will win that iPad once my review is complete.

   I will be updating everyone via YouTube every couple of days to let you guys know how the donations are coming, so click this link to subscribe to my videos to see how it goes. When I have the money to purchase the iPad, I will tell everyone who donated the most, so that person knows that they are getting it for sure, and that there is physical proof. Oh, and that way they'll be living in agony while I conduct my review. The deadline for this contest is next friday, the 9th, but if I can't generate enough donations by then, I will extend it and the review/giveaway will be for a WiFi + 3G iPad. Oh, and I might throw in a little something extra for the winner.

And yes, I will be extremely careful with it while the review takes place.

Good luck, everyone, and start donating!

Yet another new Toy Story 3 Character: Chunk

2010-03-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

The Pixar Blog Has an exclusive look at one of Toy Story 3's 14 new characters, Chunk.

Here's the official description of Chunk:

"Chunk will rock your world! This gargantuan creature sports protective shoulder spikes, while his ferocious fists are ready to smash whatever enemy gets in his way. Chunk’s oversized limbs are fully poseable, making him ready for hours of imaginative fun. As an added bonus, the press of a hidden head spike will spin Chunk's facial expression from friendly to fierce! No batteries necessary."

And here's the usual 360 degree look:

Slash Film also has a list of the other so far confirmed Toy Story 3 characters.

UPDATED: 2.1 For Droid Coming Today?

2010-03-30T10:19:00.000-07:00

   Phandroid got a hold of a pretty interesting internal Verizon document:
   UPDATE: Android 2.1 has officially started rolling out for the Motorola Droid.

   It states that the Droid will FINALLY be getting it's much anticipated upgrade to Android 2.1. This is still a rumor, though, so it could all be fake and Droid users could still be waiting for a long time. Even if it isn't a rumor, Droid users have gotten closer to the update before. MUCH closer.

Browse Through The Apple App Store In Facebook

2010-03-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is kind of interesting: Virtue has created a Facebook widget that allows you to browse through the App Store.
It even has a nice little discussion area so you can discuss apps and whatnot. Well... Maybe not whatnot, save that for another forum.

Sources:

Gizmodo

Night Cap: It's That Time Of The Month...

2010-03-30T00:25:00.000-07:00

The iPad releases on April 8th, which means plenty of iPad news this week. Oh, and apparently it's also iPhone rumor season, so expect a ton of those posts this week.
I finally figured out why my posts were cutting off in Safari, so that's a big relief. I'll be doing some toy reviews tomorrow, and some original pieces are still to come. There will be at least one tomorrow, so look out for that. That's pretty much it for now. Just keep reading and spread the word about this blog. Oh, and click the ads. It helps the blog!

Night everyone.

LittleBigPlanet Turns Incredible

2010-03-30T00:19:00.000-07:00

   Looks like there's another reason why I miss my PS3: LittleBigPlanet will be getting costumes and levels based on Disney Pixar's The Incredibles.
   The level and costume packs hit on April 8th for $4.99 and $5.99 respectively, and the costume pack will feature Mr. Incredible, Mrs. Incredible, Violet, Dash, Jack-Jack, Edna Mode, Frozone, and Syndrome.

   This is possibly the closest we will ever get to a decent Incredibles video game. For those of you who don't know, LittleBigPlanet is an extremely customizable platformer that features tons of costumes based on licensed properties, including Street Fighter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Watchmen, Ghostbusters, MEtal gEar Solid 4, and many others.

   I used to own both LittleBigPlanet and a Playstation 3, but that went south when an official update killed my out-of-warranty PS3's Blu-Ray Disc drive, rendering it useless for movie and game use. Maybe I'll buy a Playstation 3 again once Playstation Move comes out later this year.

Second Trailer For Knight And Day

2010-03-30T00:04:00.000-07:00

   IMDB has the second trailer for the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz action-comedy Knight And Day.

   Personally, I think this movie looks extremely fun. I loved Cruise in Tropic Thunder, so it'll be great to see him doing comedy again. I'm not a big fan of Diaz, though, but the action looks good enough for me to overlook that.

Knight And Day comes out June 25th.

Could Verizon FINALLY Get The iPhone This Summer? Specs Included.

2010-03-29T23:40:00.000-07:00

   The Wall Street Journal is reporting that their will be two new versions of the iPhone this summer: a GSM one for AT&T and a CDMA one for Verizon Wireless. Daring Fireball has some pretty interesting specs listed for the next iPhone.

   Some of those specs include a 960x640 double-resolution display that will rival the iPad's, an Apple A4 chip, a second front-facing camera, and multitasking in the iPhone 4.0 update. The A4 chip wasn't really a big surprise seeing as it's featured in the iPad, but the multitasking and front-facing camera are more than expected, since fans have been clamoring for those features for years.

   If the front-facing camera is true, maybe Chat Roulette will move to HTML5 so you can chat with some penises while your're waiting in the doctor's office.

Oh, and the picture at the top of the post isn't leaked, it's just a fan mock-up.

Green Day: Rock Band Will Feature All Of Dookie and American Idiot

2010-03-29T23:24:00.000-07:00

Retailer Play.com has posted something pretty interesting on their website: Green Day: Rock Band will feature the band's two best-sellers, Dookie and American Idiot, in their entirety. Something else interesting to note is that the information clearly states that if you have the current 6 song Green Day DLC pack, that will complete 21st Century Breakdown on the game disc. If you don't have any of those 6 songs, you can purchase the "Plus" edition of the game, it includes the previously released songs from 21st Century Breakdown, making that 3 full albums come game-time on June 8th. With those two albums, and 12 songs from 21st Century Breakdown (18 if you include the 6 DLC songs), that confirms 39 of the games 47 songs (53 if you count the DLC). We already know that Hitchin' A Ride and Brain Stew/Jaded are in the game, so that now makes 41 of the games 47 tracks. So what could those missing 6 songs be?

UPDATED: Word Cut Offs

2010-03-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

So I might have figured out why my words are being cut off on the right side, but the only solution I can think of isn't working right now. Hopefully it'll be fixed by tonight. I'm also not sure why some of my ads disappeared, but I'm looking into it.

UPDATE: It looks like this problem only persists in Safari, which is what I'm using.

Best Buy Will Carry iPads At Launch, But Plan On Getting There Early

2010-03-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

Best Buy will carry iPads when they launch on April 3rd, but unless you get there extra early, don't plan on snagging on since they'll only have about 15 per store. There will be exactly five of each model (16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB). If that's not going to work for you, Apple stores will be opening up at 9:30 am that morning so you can get your new i Book reading device as early as possible.

Sources:

Gizmodo.

Night Cap: Party Over Here

2010-03-29T00:33:00.000-07:00

Normally I'd be sad the weekend's over. Luckily for me, I've still got a week of spring break left.

I just posted my review for How To Train Your Dragon. I just watched Hot Tub Time Machine today, so expect a review for that sometime tomorrow. I know I promised my reviews for Toy Story 1 & 2 on Blu-Ray, but I bumped those back a couple days because I felt the How To Train Your Dragon review was more relevant. I'm not sure why the formatting's so wierd and why the text's getting cut off, but I'll be looking into it. Expect some original pieces and some toy reviews this week, including a video review or two.

Night everybody.

How To Train Your Dragon Review: You're Doing It Right.

2010-03-29T00:23:00.000-07:00

Dreamworks Animation hasn't had the best reputation, or the best animated movies. In fact, they've scraped by with
only a few notable entries, including Shrek, Shrek 2, and Kung Fu Panda. It looks like you can add How To Train your Dragon to that list. In fact, put it at the top.

How To Train Your Dragon didn't do anything new, really. It was the tested-and-true story line of "boy is different, people don't understand, people eventually understand." It was, however, executed perfectly. Everything just fit. I'll get started with the casting, first. This film, like every other Dreamworks Animation film, is riddled with celebrity voices. However, unlike every other Dreamworks Animation film, they don't shove the names down your throat in every poster and trailer. In fact, I had no idea how many celebrities were in it until it actually started. The main protagonist Hiccup is played by Jay Barachel (Tropic Thunder, She's Out Of My League), while Hiccup's father Stoic is voiced by Gerard Butler (300, Law Abiding Citizen). Other cast members include America Ferarra (Ugly Betty) who plays Hiccup's love interest Astrid, Jonah Hill (Superbad, Get Him To The Greek), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad, Kick-Ass), Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live, MacGruber), and comedian Craig Ferguson. This is one of those very few times where Dreamwork's casting has been perfect. Well, except for Jonah Hill, but everything else works so well you almost forget he's there. Barachel's comedic timing was perfect and his chemistry with both Astrid and his pet dragon Toothless felt extremely genuine.

That's something else I want to talk about: the dragons. They didn't speak, or dance, or make dated pop culture references. They were just animals. Fierce, adorable animals. In fact, they were a lot like cats, with a little bit of puppy thrown in. They were easy to get attached to, and by the end of the movie, you genuinely cared for these mystical creatures.

This movie feels a lot like Avatar, except Dragons succeeded everywhere Avatar failed. Unlike Avatar, I cared for these characters. I didn't question any completely illogical motives. I didn't laugh at any lines unintentionally, and most importantly, I didn't have to check my brain at the door to enjoy it. With Avatar, there were so many cringe-worthy moments I could barely stand it. In Dragons, none of the dialogue falls flat. None of it feels forced. In fact, if it weren't for the sheer visual spectacle that Avatar was, it would've tanked. Hard. Luckily for Avatar, it had the best 3D around and nothing could even come close to topping it, right? Wrong. How To Train Your Dragon has the most breathtaking 3D to date. It doesn't feature any gimmicks that last year's Monsters Vs. Aliens was very guilty of. It manages to completely immerses you in the world of vikings and dragons. The flying scenes in Dragons easily surpassed anything that Avatar could dish out. In Avatar, you just felt like a spectator watching something fly through the air. In Dragons, you feel like you're flying with Hiccup and Toothless. You see rocky mountains, trees, and clouds whizzing past you as Toothless soared through the air. In fact, take those flying scenes, throw in some fans and some scents and it could be a theme park attraction.

How To Train Your Dragon has succeeded where every Pixar movie has succeeded: it told a heartwarming tale wwhile appealing to every age group. The ending of the movie also featured something very brave for an animated movie. As brave as what Pixar did with Up last year? No, but still very brave. It truly deserves to be remembered as one of animation's greatest, up there with Toy Story 2, Beauty and the Beast, WALL-E, Up, Nightmare Before Christmas, Aladin, and many others. More importantly, you should see this movie very soon. Come friday, Louise Leterrier's Clash of the Titans will be hogging up 3D screens and based on what others have said, it's a waste of 3D space since Warner completely butchered it's 3D conversion. How To Train Your Dragon ushers in the year for animated films and, much like last year, Pixar will once again have some competition come Oscar time.

Night Cap: Loop, Twist, Turn, Hurl

2010-03-27T00:35:00.000-07:00

Long, interesting day. Left for Knott's Berry Farm three hours later than expected, but still went. I got to ride a lot of the rides, but maybe riding three different spinning rides in a row wasn't such a good idea. My stomach recovered, though, after a little break. Ate a lot of junk, rode a lot of rides, did a lot of catching up with some friends, so it was pretty good day, and pretty slow news day. Not much interesting to report, and there's not going to be a lot of news over the weekend, but I'll report what I can. My reviews for Toy Story 1 & 2 on Blu-Ray Disc should be done any day now, as well as my impressions of streaming Netflix on the Wii. I'm pretty tuckered out, so I'm gonna play me some Pokemon SoulSilver, then I'm headed off to bed.

Night everyone, and remember, please support the blog by clicking the ads in the right side bar and at the bottom of the page. By doing so, you help the blog out a lot, so thank you.