Geekywood

LapLink Giveaway! - Free Software and Laptops!

2008-05-15T08:22:45Z

The People at http://www.laplink.com/ are celebrating their 25th Anniversary today by giving away copies of Laplink, usually valued at $50 for free! Ontop of the software giveaway they are also giving away everything from Laptops to Games. Anyone who downloads the software is automatically entered!

Laplink is a great little tool designed to ease the the transfer to a new PC by making an exact copy of your computer and moving it across onto your new system, allowing you to keep your settings, files and more without the tedious re-installing required when normally doing this.

If you want to enter the 25th anniversary of Laplink, get a free copy of Laplink and even Win a Free Laptop take a look Here!

LapLink Giveaway! - Free Software and Laptops!

RIM Blackberry Bold 9000

2008-05-12T09:59:21Z

Despite the fairly humorous company name that has spawned countless jokes to do with fingering the device the latest offering from RIM in 2008 has been the Blackberry 9000, otherwise known as the Blackberry Bold.

The Blackberry Bold name was coined after people testing the device were surprised at how bold the colours were from the screen, spawning the name. None of the testers have yet claimed any Intellectualy property infringement over the source of the name yet but I will laugh when the inevitable court case comes about.

But back on Track!
The Blackberry 9000 Bold is infact a stunning device, its screen is sharp, crisp and of course bold. Its interface is a piece of cake to use and is both intuative and quick to navigate.

Looks wise the device not only has a stunning screen but a curvier more sttractive shape while still incorporating the QWERTY keyboard so familiar to blackberry users.

The great thing about this device is that it incorporates a hellova lot of gadgetry that previous versions have lacked. This includes (ontop of normal quad band GPRS) WiFi, GPS Positioning, HSDPA/UMTS, Bluetooth and a 2 Megapixel Camera.

Inside the Blackberry 9000 is a process that is twice the speed of its predecessors combined with 1gig of internal memory (And an Micro SD expansion card slot capable of handling upto 16GB if required)

The Blackbery Bold also hasa few other tricks up its sleeve, with a brand new web browser allowing for easy website navigation and a fantastic media player for any movies or mp3s you might want to listen to. The videos have stunning qality on the Blackberry 9000s crystal clear screen.
All in all this is a fantastic device at a relatively cheap $300-$400 price range. While I am not a blackberry user myself this is a serious upgrade over previous blackberry versions and should seriously be considered by any Blackberry users out there!

RIM Blackberry Bold 9000

DRM - The Good, The Bad, And The so Fcking Pain in the rse You Want to Burn Whoever Designed it.

2008-05-11T10:35:14Z

Digital Rights Management (DRM) has been a vein of contention for many years now. Apple for instance has recently bowed to public pressure and removed all DRM from its downloaded tracks. Sony recently reviewed it’s DRM policy after receiving a huge amount of negative publicity when it released a new audio CD DRM system that covertly installed itself on your computer, then opened it up for any hacker with half a brain.

But this post is not about CD DRM nor MP3 DRM. It is about PC Games and Their Digital Rights Management Systems and WHY they are wrong.

Yesterday for instance I felt aq little nostalgic and went to play Rise of Legends. I inserted the CD, pressed play and for my troubles was greeted with… nothing.

Three hours of browing support forums later I found that there was a fairly simple solution to my problem. I merely had to reinstall windows and refrain from using any anti-virus software. And the worst part is that the error I received was not caused by any part of the game itself, merely by its anti piracy measures.

And I am not the only person suffering, nor am is it the only game causing problems. A Huge amount of Microsoft and Electronic Arts (EA) have become so obsessed with combating piracy that they are causing serious problems for gamers, causing a huge amount of them to boycott The games made by these manufacturers (I too am boycotting them, especially when they announced that two of EAs latest games would require you to insert the DVD every ten days and do an online authorisation or your account would be disabled, the fact they have even considered this is enough to make me stop buying their products)

So why do computer game manufacturers use these methods?

They think they are combating piracy.

To any computer games manufacturer out there let me point out several things.

Firstly, Anti-Piracy measures, inconvenience and annoy your regular gamer, in fact your CUSTOMER who you should be trying to please.

Secondly, Despite all your claims anti piracy measures are cracked within days of game release, so those that you are trying to prevent are actually suffering from less inconvenience than your customers.

Thirdly, As much as you like to, including money spent on DRM (USually tens of millions) should not be counted in the lost profits due to piracy scenarios.

Let me sum it up for you guys, more people are being driven to piracy by your measures than are drawn to it. Hell the only way to get your games working sometimes is to download NO CD cracks, and once someone is introduced to this then downloading games is only a stones throw away.

Online Authorization for games is a mere inconvenience to gamers and easily circumnavigated by crackers. It was something first used wide scale by Microsoft and was touted as making Windows XP uncrackable. I think we all know how that turned out for them, Cracked before release i think the headlines stated. Genius.

So what is my point?

I think DRM and anti piracy measures should be removed.

They hurt the customer base.

They cause next to no problems for Software Pirates.

They cause huge amounts of game errors.

They give companies huge amounts of bad publicity.
Sorry for the ramble but I am ever so slightly annoyed because I still want to play Rise of Legends but still cant due to a windows re-install and getting all my old programs back likely to take around one week.

DRM - The Good, The Bad, And The so F*cking Pain in the *rse You Want to Burn Whoever Designed it.

The Amazon Kindle - Wireless Virtual Book.

2008-05-09T16:01:04Z

The Kindle, Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device has long been on my wishlist, though at $399 it is still a little pricey. The Kindle is basically a way of reading all your favorite books and newspapers on a ‘virtual paper’.

The Kindle works Via Wireles smobile technology, similar to your cell phone. Using this it can download books, daily newspapers or even surf the worlds top blogs.

The books are generally a third of their shelf price, making them a great deal, download almost instantaniously and around 200 books can be stored on the device.

Personally I love this gadget. The kindle is sleek stylish and has a sharp screen which really is soft on the eyes. Downloading books is a breeze as you browse the amazon store, and ontop of that the prices of most books I looked at were less than $5!

Unfortunately I will be heading back to the UK son so my Trial device will expire, to anyone in the US though you have to get one of these!

The Amazon Kindle - Wireless Virtual Book.

HTC Touch Diamond - The Real iPod Killer

2008-05-07T10:20:35Z

Despite my dislike of the Apple iPod when it was first released the iPod did have a fantastic interface and a sleek design. After Apple realised where the market was heading and moved into DRM free technology (The main reason I disliked the iPod) the iPod even began to appeal to me. Then the iPhone was released, another fantastic device.

Most devices plugged as iPod or iPhone killers tend to fail miserably, their interfaces are never as smooth or effective as they try to clone Apples design, they seem to have multiple failings and they fall behind in style.

Therefore it is a shame that when an Mp3 Phone that can finally beat the iPhone or iPod comes out it is at a time when I am finally considering buying an Apple Product.

The HTC Touch Diamond is a Beautiful Gadget. its interface is smooth and intuitive, and while it copies the iPods navigation system it seamlessly integrates the latest Mobile Phone specifics required by todays modern Gadget driven society.

The HTC Touch Diamond includes a 3.2 megapixel camera, 3G and a newly designed interface allowing for easier navigation and use.

While the phone itself will not be available until June many shoppers are keeping their eyes peeled for the distinctive backing similar to Nokia’s Prism Casing.

Its Touch screen display is surprisingly good, and seems to somehow become error free for even the more clumsy of people such as myself.

The inbuilt web browser renders webpages perfectly, allowing you to easily surf the internet from your phone, the Touch Diamonds touch screen is immensely useful here, especially with inbuilt Google Maps and Youtube applications!

I really liked this phone but alas it had one major flaw, it seems to attract grease like anything. You definately need to keep a cloth handy to keep the screen grease free!

Looks wise though its great, interface wise its brilliant and specs wise it is nigh on unbeatable!

If it wasn’t for the N96 I would e drooling over this phone!

HTC Touch Diamond - The Real iPod Killer

Nokia N96

2008-05-06T12:49:31Z

The Nokia N96 was first revealed to us at the 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Ever since I saw this phone i have to admit I wanted it, with its sleek looks, massive array of gadgets built in and its tech prowess that stands it head and shoulders above the competition.

Unfortunately Nokia have made the exact same mistake that they made with the N95. They have built a phone and then priced it ridiculously. For the same price as this ($802 Dollars or around 550 Euros, £400) you could get a couple of Xbox 360s, a playstion 3 or maybe just a brand new PC.

The phone itself is a stunning model, and some of the features make this one of 2008s tops gadgets. Integrated into this phone you have a digital receiver, 5 megapixel Camera, WiFi and even GPS with a maps system.

If that wasn’t enough it comes with a MASSIVE 16GB internal memory with expansion space for 16 more, pretty damn huge for a mobile.
All in all this phone is amazing for what it can do, it looks great and feelswell built in your hand, but does the price tag really justify it?

Nokia N96

9X Pull out all the stops for the 30 Screen Ergonomic Solution!

2008-05-03T18:28:10Z

9X are one of the worlds top leaders in monitor design solutions, this was all but apparent as I stared up at this gigantic, and aparently ergonomic Beast that sat in their lobby.

From this picture you cannot actually grasp the sheer size of this technological gargantuan godsend. I did not dare ask how much they charged for a 30 screen combined visual unit, and instead walked into the back of the store to see some of their other products (Whch can be viewed here).

After nearly half an hour of playing Call of Duty 4 on a 3 x 3 get up of 21 inch monitors I finally was persuaded to see the rest of the store, how you can shape the monitors around you and how you could embed them into your life.

It did not take long for me to realise that no matter how hard I tried none of these were going to sit too comfortably on my desk bought from the ever so classy Ikea.

But if ever you are feeling a bit flush with cash and want to have a wall made up of monitors I will most heartily recommend the X9 products, though the bastards have now left me feeling that my piddly 19 inch tft is no longer as great as I once thought!

9X Pull out all the stops for the 30 Screen Ergonomic Solution!

Apologies for the Down Time

2008-05-03T16:59:14Z

Servage (my Webhost) made a rare blunder today and reset my accounts PHP Safe mode settings on a couple of sites, this meant there was a period of downtime on this site!

Apologies to anyone who may have tried to access the site during that time, but at least we are back up and running now

Many Thanks

Oli

Apologies for the Down Time

Cut Price Gadgets at Think Geek!

2008-05-02T15:03:49Z

I was browsing ThinkGeek.com and noticed they have updated their clearance offers!

I dont know about you but I love gadgets of all shapes and sizes so this was like a dream come true for me! See Below for some of my favorite offers from ThinkGeek.com

First off I have to point out these Metallic Magnetic Acrobats, so much fun you would not believe! And at $6 each they are dirt cheap! Then we have the Abusive Stamps, also $6 and spot on perfect for any office! These include sayings such as

This is F**KING URGENT
I haven’t got time to read this CRAP
Staple this to your FACE
Confidential - read this and I’ll have to kill you
File under T for TRASH
Complete and Utter BULLSHIT

And comes with its own Angry Red Ink pad.

If you are feeling a bit more artistic think geek also has special offers on some top notch LCD photo frames,

The Gigantic 15 inch Photo Frame which can even read your usb memory sticks and has been cut to $219.99, $60 off its previous Price! If that’s a bit dear for you they also have 8″ and 10″for $99.99 and 139.99 respectively!

Theres a hellova a lot more on offer, but those are by far my favorites! Has anybody else seen some tech offers on the internet recently?

Send me any tips and I will post them so we all get some sweet deals on gadgets

Cut Price Gadgets at Think Geek!

The Neo Cube - More Fun Than a 1/2 Price Day in a Burlesque House

2008-05-02T09:55:49Z

The Neo Cube is not a single cube, but rather a cube made out of 216 powerful spherical magnets. It is the design of these magnets that make this gadget so incredibly flexible, as shown in the video. While this is not the kind of electronic gadget i normally cover I do think it ccarries that inherent geekyness that I love so much. As soon as I saw this in motion I knew I had to have one. So far it has taken up hours of my life, god only knows how it became addictive. The god news is that while I am using this device I am infact excercising both hemispheres of my brain. Yes this device stretches your mind creatively as wel as logically and uses both the right and left sides of my body. All this means is that the Neo cube is pretty much exercising every part of my mind!

You cantake a look at more Neo Cube videos and purchase your own at http://www.theneocube.com/

The Neo Cube - More Fun Than a 1/2 Price Day in a Burlesque House