So we people here in Pittsburgh got hammered with snow. In one day we got over 21 inches of snow. My power went out from 9am Saturday until 2:30am Sunday.. No Power of course equals no heat, no fun at all. I’m thinking I need to buy a generator, not to power the house, but at least to power the furnace for such occasions…

And the best part about all of this is that someone stole my snow shovel…. and no one has any for sale.. I’ve spent hours digging my way out with a little flat shovel… grrrrr.. I hate people sometimes..

I’ve got a ton of cool stuff though for review with more on the way..

The Epson MovieMate 60 Projector is just awesome… I love it, too bad it has to go back.. darn…

I’m trying to find more writers and reviewers for all of the sites, I think I found a couple, but we’ll see..

I need techie articles more than anything, even little ones would be fine, like tips and tricks or even top ten lists..

Wanna write? hit me up at the Contact me…

oh and I ruined my hat… I washed it, now it’s this flat scrunchy looking thing… it didn’t say NOT to wash it, and I mean it’s a hat, you’ll wash it eventually. For that matter I wash anything new before I wear it, who knows where it’s been or who else may have been wearing it right?

Got my first review up on Wii Digest on January 2nd.. also added more box shots to the gallery as well, with more coming.. and I’ve got more games to review there and i may have a couple people to write over there as well..

The review is Ju-on The Grudge Haunted House Simulator

http://wiidigest.com/2010/01/02/review-ju-on-the-grudge-haunted-house-simulator/

I thought it was going to be a good game, but the controls are just terrible..

Stuff from TestFreaks:

Review of Verizon Wireless DROID Eris

Verizon Wireless Gateway LT 2016u Netbook

The Biggest Loser Nintendo Wii

World of Zoo Nintendo Wii

Cars Race-O-Rama Nintendo Wii

Kingston HyperX DDR3 4gig Memory Kit 1600Mhz KHX1600C8D3K2/4GX 1.65V

booq Taipan Shadow XS Slim Laptop Messenger Bag

Verizon HP Mini 311-1037NR Netbook

Epson WorkForce 1100 Wide-format Printer

Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU Cooler

There’s others on TestFreaks as well, but those are mine..

Here’s a few from DragonSteelmods as well, mine and Toms..

Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler

GlideTV Navigator Review

Xclio Nighthawk PC Case Review

and here’s some from iGadgetLife:

NetSecure SmartSwipe Review

Thermaltake T3000 Fanless Notebook Cooler

Thermaltake Massive23 CS Notebook Cooler

Be.ez LA robe Netbook 10.2 Sleeve Review

and here’s two from MobilityDigest:

Advent ADV800XM 4" Touchscreen Portable GPS Navigation System

TomTom One XL-S 4.3" Touchscreen Portable Bluetooth GPS Navigation System Reviewed

and one from Xbox360Dgiest also:

Review: Xbox 360 Starter Pack

Yeah.. I’m rather busy..

I did also post some stuff over at Bona Fide Reviews as well, but the site is under maintenance right now so I can’t link to it just this minute..

a nice plain one, it’s dark blue, almost black really..it’s a very well made hat really.

It’s the one that Jax wears in Sons of Anarchy… no writing expect for the back that says ‘Reaper Crew’

With my Mom and Grandma dying this year I just don’t feel festive at all, it just won’t be the same. usually at Thanksgiving we all went to my Grandmas for dinner and here an my Mom cooked, this year I spent it at home. I do have other family nearby, but I don’t speak to them since the funerals, let’s just say that they did something unforgiveable to me and my brother concerning my Mom and Grandma, and leave it at that…

and of course Christmas won’t be the same as well, no gifts from Grandma for my kids, no cookies, no sweets, none of that made by Grandma for them… and well I won’t have my Mom or Grandma this year..

…but with me being basically the only one working really it’s hard to pay the bills.

Every bill I have is late, and it’s not because I’m buying things I don’t need, it’s because I don’t make enough money to cover them so Christmas isn’t going to be very nice for my kids, and I feel really bad I can’t get them the things they want… They’re too young to understand about money really.. they’re young so they expect Santa Claus to take care of them really, but Santa is broke this year apparently…

So I’m pretty much very depressed, I can’t sleep and honestly I don’t feel like doing anything at all, and I just can’t wait until the holidays are over with… I hate them more now than ever…  there supposed to be this wonderful time of the year, but that’s for people that have money apparently, and have their families still around..

Anyway, I found my local super market Giant Eagle now carries good Iced Tea, and it’s HFCS free!

They carry several flavors, but I only tried the regular tea and the southern style, I like the southern style the best. I love it actually, I’ve given up Coca-Cola in favor of this tea…

and to end this here’s some links to the latest reviews and articles from me:

SpongeBob Truth or Square for Nintendo Wii

MusicSkins Custom Netbook Skin

Epson WorkForce 610 All-in-One Printer Review

Verbatim 500GB InSight USB Portable Hard Drive with "Always On" Display

SSD vs HDD on a Netbook – OCZ Neutrino

Thrustmaster T-Fitness Pro Pack NW for Nintendo Wii

TomTom One XL-S 4.3" Touchscreen Portable Bluetooth GPS Navigation System Reviewed

NZXT GAMMA Classic Series PC Case

i-Tech SIMDrive

TrickleStar PC TrickleSaver and PC TrickleSwitch

Oh well… till next time… and I hope your holidays are better than mine…

WinX just came out with a new product and are giving it away for free until the 15th of December!! Go Grab it!

WinX HD Video Converter is a professional video converter specially designed for HD video conversion. The friendly interface can assist you to effortlessly convert HD videos mutually with no loss of image & sound quality, like MTS, M2TS, TS, HD MP4, MKV, HD WMV, and HD MOV, etc. Besides, it also lets you convert between HD videos and regular AVI, MP4, MOV, WMV, etc.

To get the full version for free, please download the program and register with the following Information.

Reg Name: HDgiveaway
Reg Code: WINXHVC-5230-1898-1278

http://www.winxdvd.com/giveaway/

every night at bed time I go into his room and rub his back for a few minutes and we usually talk about his day, or sometimes we also do rhyming words or maybe opposites. Tonight though we were taking about his day, and me and him went to the grocery store and bought some food. One of the things I bought for myself was Hummus and Pita Bread, well he remembered and said he’d like some of my pita bread, and I said sure he could have a piece tomorrow. I then told him to remind me and  I’ll put it on the grocery list for next time so he can have his very own bag of pita bread for himself. He said “I know you will daddy because you’re a good daddy”, that would have been cool there, but he went on actually about it. He told me it’s because I buy him good things to eat, and other things he wants, but he said it’s also because I pay the bills and take care of him..

I don’t know.. just felt like sharing that..

When my cat Hokey feels the need for yet another nap, it doesn’t matter what’s going on, he’s going to lie down wherever he feels like. I also have the brother of Hokey as well who’s name is Pokey, get it? Hokey-Pokey !

The other day I was taking picture of a Noctua CPU Cooler for review, I use the couch for smaller items, the light comes in from out side and makes for decent pictures, but Hokey likes to sleep on the couch, he didn’t care what I was doing, he said it was time for a nap.

The first involves game reviews, specifically children’s games.

I get a lot of games for kids for review, especially those for the Wii and some for Xbox360, when you review a kids game you cannot review it from an adult perspective, it just won’t work, and it’s not correct.

I’ve got kids so I’ll play and game and then let them play it as well. I want to play to the game for the review of course, but I want my kids to play it so I can know what they think of it.

Being a reviewer I look around at other reviews, I’m curious to see what they have to say, and I’ve noticed a trend in kids games that show pretty much all of them getting a low rating. I also noticed that these reviewers are not viewing them from a child’s point of view, nor are they even letting kids play them. They are reviewing these games like they would an adult game, how can you judge, let’s say Call of Duty and something like Marvel Super Hero Squad on the same level? You can’t do it. They’re two totally different things. I also have to ask how can you even review a child’s game if a child doesn’t get to play it? I can bet most of the reviewers don’t have children to even see if the kids like it.

There’s a problem with the rating system or review process of review sites. I just reviewed Marvel Super Hero Squad for Nintendo Wii over on TestFreaks, and I gave it an 8 out of 10. I think it’s well worth that rating because my kids enjoyed the game, they found it fun and enjoyable. Now I looked at other reviews and see the same games gets like a 5 rating, and even lower, but reading the review you’ll find they didn’t let kids play the game, nor did they get a child’s view of the game. This is bad PR for these companies like THQ that put out the game,consumers rely on reviews of products, but how can you review a product like a child’s games without factoring in everything?  Sure it’s not a game for adults, I accept that fact and I even mention it in the review, but from a child’s standpoint it’s a good game, it’s made for kids and they’ll have fun playing it.

These companies send their games out and haven’t they noticed that the trend is low ratings for kids games? I don’t understand it, something is broken and needs fixed..

Rant # 2 involves YouTube and their DMCA dispute system.

I wanted to review Guitar Hero Van Halen, I took the time to play it, finish it and get lots of videos of the game play. I uploaded them to YouTube and Warner Music flagged them as a copyright violation because it contains their music so the video is there but no sound. This was about two months ago, I disputed the claim since I and most others would consider it Fair Use. Guess what? They never responded to the claim, surprise, surprise right? So they left me with the only choice of deleting the videos since they’ve got now sound!!! Look around on YouTube though, you’ll find many other GH: Van Halen videos, but for whatever reason they’re not flagged, they have audio, but mine got picked to be censored.

If you’re gong to have a system like this where copyright violations can be reported then it has to work efficiently, from what I see it’s broken and needs fixed. You can’t just flag things at will and then not respond back to the dispute. It’s a two part process where both parties have to comply wit the rules, but they don’t apparently. it’s totally one-sided from what I can see, they flag the video and then never respond to the dispute, they get what they want and the little guy gets screwed over. Just because I’m the little guy and they’re this mega corporation they think they can just stomp on our rights. This is a problem, and I don’t foresee it ever getting fixed or changing.

So, today, about two months later I deleted the videos rather than have them there with no sound, they’re useless to me now, I can’t do the review with those videos to show the game play of the game.

I guess I’ll just use screenshots for the review. I do have one video left that didn’t violate their copyright apparently, but it’s just of the menus and such, so I guess I can use that.

Link: http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/review/tyme-machines-star-wars-sculpted-4gb-usb-drives/

Two Giveaways at TestFreaks: Shattered Horizon http://bit.ly/154Hce and Speck Products for Mac and iPhone http://bit.ly/2Oxcjn

My Latest Reviews from TestFreaks:

GlideTV Navigator

Lego Rock Band Xbox360

Speck TwoZip HDD Case

Shattered Horizon

SpongeBob Truth or Square Xbox360

Speck Products TuckPack Sleeve

BUBBLE BOBBLE Neo!

Drawn To Life : The Next Chapter Nintendo Wii

RunCore 64GB Pro IV 70mm PCI-e SATA Solid State Drive SSD

Vantec NexStar Universal Storage Adapter

Our latest stuff from DragonSteelMods:

NZXT Guardian 921 PC Case

Thermaltake BlacX Duet HDD Docking Station

QNAP TS-419P Turbo NAS

Arctic Cooling F Pro PWM & TC Case Fans

EFO Wireless Handheld Keyboard and Touch Pad

Stuff from iGadgetLife:

Bluetrek Bizz Bluetooth Headset

Verbatim Easy Riser Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse with Nano Receiver

From Bona Fide Reviews:

Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit – Solar Edition

NZXT LEXA S Crafted Series PC Chassis

TrickleStar TV TrickleSaver