Ian's Blog - Technology, Guy Stuff and Random Info

The Dell Experience

2012-04-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

I found this while looking for a suitable Dell logo (below). It was so true that I
felt it needed to be posted. Drop Microsoft while you still can!

A few months back, my grandmother called me and said that she was having trouble with her computer. If I remember correctly it was an issue with the Internet and how pages weren't being displayed how they should. Of course the real problem was that her computer was purchased in 1999 and Windows 2000 just wasn't cutting it anymore. I could have thrown some more ram in it and tried for Windows XP but in the long run it would just be a bandaid.

So I did what I do best and researched online for the best deal on what she wanted, a laptop with a full keyboard, big screen and that had enough processing power to prevent the need to upgrade anytime soon. Unfortunately with laptops, you can't build them yourself, so for the most part you need to find a store to buy a complete unit, or at least a base to add components to.

After exploring several local and online stores, Dell had the best deal. I had some reservations about Dell before I even browsed their site, but after looking at hundreds of independent reviews and comparing stats, Dell had just what I wanted for the best price. If I had to pick apart the Dell experience, I would blame their customer service.It's Dell's reputation for overseas ESL phone support that hurts them. That being said, I called them once to ask a question before I bought the laptop and the guy I dealt with spoke better English than me.

So, based on the above experience, Dell is probably one of the first places I'll look when I need to buy a new computer. If your a big gamer you might want to check out Dell gaming laptops as they're built for high end graphics and are nice to look at as well. I'd be interested to here from you if you have had any recent issues with Dell's customer service.

IaN

Dexter Review

2012-04-01T03:00:00.000-07:00

I have to say that for the most part, TV programming has become total crap. I usually keep myself busy with movies or reruns of shows from back in the day. Their are only a select few TV shows that can keep me entertained these days.

One of those shows is Dexter. The series is about a blood spatter technician who works out of the Miami Metro police department. It's more that just another cop show as Dexter has a secret, he uses his cop connections to seek out the guilty, and slay them. That's right, he's a serial killer, and he's the good guy! The series has completed it's 6th season and I'm impatiently waiting for the 7th season, as the last episode left the biggest cliffhanger yet.

The great thing about Dexter is that their are a lot of complex characters that have been built up over the seasons. Dexter has a sister, who is a police officer that works with Dexter, and she has a special relationship with her brother that could almost be made into a show of it's own. These characters, along with some crude humor and a decent amount of blood and boob, make for a real TV treat.

I highly recommend you check out Dexter, especially if your a fan of shows like Criminal Minds or CSI. Don't screw around and start by watching season 6 as you need to start at the beginning. It took me almost 3 months to watch the first 6 seasons, but I'm so glad that I did. I can hardly wait until season 7, sometime in September/October 2012.

IaN

The Best Android Apps of 2012

2012-03-29T00:40:00.000-07:00

I've spent a lot of time going through the android application store (aka Google Play), searching, downloading, reviewing, and usually deleting new apps. Google Play has hundreds of thousands of apps, and is constantly growing in size. The problem is that most of the apps are garbage and not worth downloading. Obviously not everyone is going to like the same apps as the next person and not all phones and versions of Android are compatible with all apps. I'm going too tell you my favorite apps, in no particular order, and you can do whatever you want with the info.

I'll start by saying that I have a rooted Samsung Galaxy S i1900m. It's a Canadian model but it's the same hardware as the American and international models. I have flashed to DarkyRom running Android 3.36. It's not the newest version of Android but it runs most of the apps on Google Play.

Titanium Backup - Allows you to backup all of your applications to your phone or a cloud service. Great if you mess around with your phone a lot like me. Note that this app has extra functions if your phone is rooted.

Opera Mini - the stock Android Internet browser is smooth and fast but lacked the viewing functions that I like. This version of Opera doesn't do flash but makes up for it with pure speed.

Screen Filter - allows you to apply a special filter to your screen to dim the brightness beyond the stock setting. This is a lifesaver if you use your phone in a dark place and want to save your eyes.

Avast Anti-Theft - this app actually installs as a full mobile security suite but the firewall and scanners can be uninstalled to leave you with a great anti-theft app. Note that this app has extra functions if your phone is rooted.

Juice Defender - I purchased the extreme edition, which after making dozens of adjustments, has provided my phone with an average of 86% more battery life. Note that this app has extra functions if your phone is rooted.

GO Launcher EX - the GO suite of programs provides easy to use replacement apps for the stock launcher, messaging and calendar apps. All of the GO apps give extra functions and a ton of themes.

Baby Rattle with Child Lock - your stuck in traffic and your 12 month old is strapped in the rear seat, screaming bloody murder... Out comes Baby Rattle! This is the final answer in keeping your screamer at bay. Note that baby slober can be hazardous to your phone.

I use a lot of other apps but the above aren't as common. Maybe I'll make a list of my favorite Android games at some point. Do you use any great apps that I haven't mentioned?

IaN

La Casa Gelato Review

2012-03-27T00:19:00.000-07:00

We had family from out of town staying with us this week, so we tried to keep the days full of activities. We watched some movies, played games, went to the lake and best of all, ate all kinds of food. We had pizza, subs, hamburgers, wings and marvellous ice cream.

We stopped in at La Casa Gelato in Vancouver, BC and let me tell you something, they have a lot of ice cream! 218 flavors to be exact. Some of the unique ones were Guiness Beer, Curry and Maple Bacon. Leave it to us Canadians to have a bacon flavored ice cream.

the free "baby" cone

The best part of the place was the samples. I managed to sample the above flavors and a few others before deciding on what I actually wanted on my double scooped cone. The prices were probably the highest I'd ever seen ($6.50 for my double) but I got exactly what I wanted and it tasted great. They even gave my 12 month old a free baby cone. If your ever in the greater Vancouver area, I highly recommend you take your family into La Casa Gelato!

IaN

The Hunger Games Movie Review

2012-03-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

I bought my Hunger Games movie tickets almost two weeks before the opening date, and I'm glad I did as the theatre was sold out. We went to the new AVX theatre that has a wall to wall screen, 7.1 digital surround sound and reclining leather seats. Even if the movie had sucked, the theater experience was great!

I want to note that I read the whole book in a rush, the day before and day of the movie. I think it's important because I had a strong memory of the book and had no trouble picking out the differences between the two. I felt that the movie did a great job of keeping the story moving and the selected actors and actresses did a great job portraying the characters. the star of the movie, Jennifer Lawrence (played Mystique in X-Men: First Class) played the main character, Katniss and could not have been better. I was surprised to see Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, but he was very convincing throughout all of his scenes.

I think the biggest problem with the movie is that I had read the book first. The movie skipped over a lot of important content and actually changed events to keep the flow going. This isn't uncommon with movie adaptations but I would have rather had the movie extended 25-30 minutes to get more story. The books target audience was teenagers and young adults and the movie delivered to them as well. I would have liked to see the rated R version of the movie as it was short on scenes of struggle and given that it had a high body count, their was almost no blood.

Overall the movie was solid, very entertaining and I bet people are going to really like it. I wouldn't say the book was better but the movie was missing some important pages from the book.

In one word, the Hunger Games was: Exhilarating

IaN

Protect Your Cell Phone!

2012-03-19T00:50:00.000-07:00

It seems like I've talked a lot about cell phones lately. Androids, iPhone's, Samsung's and all that, but their is an avenue I haven't covered yet on any of my previous posts. No matter what phone you decide to buy, you need to protect your investment. A brand new super/smart cell phone can, and likely will cost you anywhere from $300-700. Just because you got it for $0 or $100 when you signed your 3-year contract, doesn't mean that it won't cost you big money to replace if you break it somehow. So, you buy a new super phone for $500, what can you do to protect it? You need to buy a screen protector and a good quality case.

I cannot stress enough how important a screen protector is. You can have the best case in the world, but if your screen is all scratched up, it won't matter how clean the back of the phone is. If you buy a dollar store screen protector it might protect your screen from everyday scratches and maybe the keys in your pocket. However, it will likely get peeled off within only days of use because it is ultra thin, flimsy and just didn't have enough stick for the long haul. Spend a few dollars (maybe $15 at a local electronics store, probably only $5 on eBay) and get a pack of 2-3, that are specifically designed for your phone. Be sure to CLEAN the screen before you put the film on. People say that they don't use screen protectors because "they bubble and don't stay on right". If the phone is super clean and scratch free, the film will apply and any bubbles will swipe away with ease.

As equally as important as the screen protector, is the phone case. Do not skimp out and buy your $500 phone a $2 case off eBay. I personally like to use a rule of thumb for pretty much any property I buy under $1000; be prepared to spend 10% of the items value on it's protection. So with a $10-15 screen protector, you should be looking at a $35-40 case. I'd like to note that this is the retail value, as if you can get a $40 case for $25 on eBay, that still counts as a $40 case. In my mind, the most popular, quality driven cell phone case brand right now is Otterbox. I hear that a lot, and I have people asking me "is that an Otty?". I always reply with, "It's an Otterbox." The company mascot isn't Otty the otter! no more Otty! Back on track though, Otterbox makes a decent quality case, in several variations for a good number of popular phones. Their are a ridiculous number of case manufacturers out there, and I don't have the time or energy to list off even the top 10. I will however recommend my runner up to Otterbox. Trident Cases has caught my attention as they seem to offer cases that are very similar in specification to their Otterbox counterpart, but with a curvy, almost more flashy design. Trident seems to offer the same number of variations and colours as Otterbox, and I believe that they would protect your phone just as well. The big difference between Trident and Otterbox is the price. You can go on eBay and find a Trident case for $25, when it's Otterbox competition (of comparable stats) will be $35. If the case works as well, and looks as good, but costs less... isn't that a good thing?

Long story short, buy a case and a screen protector for your expensive pocket computer. Those cheap silicone and TPU cases off Amazon and Ebay will cover your phone, maybe even make it look pretty, but when your phone hits the cement you'll wish you had a quality case.

IaN

Meguiars G110v2 Polisher

2012-03-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

Well, you probably know that I'm a vintage car nut. I went on a bit of a rant when I talked about vintage auto wrecking last year. I'm not going to talk specifically about vintage cars, but I will keep it focused on auto restoration. I want to talk about my new toy. I picked up a Meguiar's G110v2 dual action polisher.

For those of you not into paint correction and restoration, a dual action polisher is used in conjunction with a few other key ingredients, to remove swirls, scratches and other imperfections from paint. You can use it on pretty much any paint with a smooth surface. The Meguiar's G110v2 is designed to be used on vehicle paint. We recently traded in our 2010 Ford Escape for a 2008 Ford Expedition and even though the Expedition was well taken care of, it had a lot of swirl marks and light scratches in the paint. I recently took the polisher to it and after only an hour of work, the entire vehicle was like brand new. Their are a few heavier scratches that will require more attention, but for the most part it's in as good of condition as the Escape was before we traded it in. I'm very impressed!

I guess I have to mention that I actually enjoy cleaning my car. I've always enjoyed washing and waxing a dirty car in order to bring out it's best side. A good professional polisher can really allow you to take your car detailing to the next level. Take a look at the picture to the right for a sample of the before and after a good paint polish.

IaN

The Tester on PSN

2012-03-13T05:36:00.000-07:00

I think it's safe to say that anyone who has read my past posts and comments will know that I am not a big fan of television, especially reality TV. I'll quickly repeat, that reality TV is not reality at all! Shows like Big Brother, The Bachelor and survivor are crudely designed to take groups of people who are pre-screened and then re-screened to fit a specific target audience and then pitted against each other to make as much drama as possible. How this kind of preparation can be considered "reality" is far beyond my comprehension. It's poorly nicknamed to say the least.

Regardless of my thoughts on reality shows, I've developed an interest in the Playstation Network Series, The Tester. I actually watched Season 1 and 2 as they were released over the last couple years and have been watching Season 3 in the same fashion. Season 3 has been a little different than previous seasons as the judges have been quite strict and the contestants are more emotionally involved. More than anything, I've enjoyed the personalities of a few of the contestants.

I specifically like Skyler Harper ("Skyd1ddy") as he is very animated and no matter what he is talking about I'm highly entertained. The other top character for the show is Richard Lugo ("Ninjaomyx"). He doesn't really have the body for a physical contest but seems to come up with some of the most gangster lines, that I just can't help but laugh over. Too bad for him that I'm laughing at how ridiculous the words sound coming out of his mouth. Either way, these two guys have made the show worth watching.

The prize this season has been amped up as well. A limited edition Ford Focus, $5000, PS3 gear and a job working with Playstation is up for grabs and I know that I would out play most of the people on the show if I had the chance. I probably don't have the trophies, or some of the stat knowledge that they have, but I could rock the games and challenges they go through. I'm not sure how much a Playstation Tester makes an hour, but I think I'd take it no matter what.

IaN

My Samsung Galaxy S

2012-03-11T04:06:00.000-07:00

This is the first blog post I've written entirely on my phone. I thought it would be interesting to write about my phone, using my phone. Right off the bat some of you are probably thinking, why the hell would Ian write about his outdated phone? It's because I had planned to write about it almost a year ago but never got around to it. Now of course their is a very popular Galaxy S2 that is an upgrade to my phone in every way imaginable. So why don't I upgrade you ask? For one, I'm still in a contract and would need to pay full price for a new phone, and two, the Galaxy S3 is just around the corner and will likely be a significant improvement over the S2. Besides, my phone is still holding up very well, especially with some of the customization that I've done.

The Galaxy S is an Android phone that, according to Google, is not designed to handle the newest Android software (version 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich"). Obviously this news was a bit upsetting as with anything else I want the latest and greatest and my phone apparently can't handle it. So what does one do when your stuck with Android version 3.2 "Gingerbread"? Well it's not a bad version but it's not the newest and maybe isn't the best available anymore. What I decided to do was research the available Android versions for my phone. I quickly discovered that every phone has different software/firmware versions that are released in many different regions. I found out that the non-Canadian version of my phone, the international version had Android 3.4, 3.5 and a 3.6. So I checked out the differences and found that their were lots and it was safe to say that these other, newer versions were compatible and an upgrade for my phone. I managed to "flash" my phone with a program called Odin and get into 3.6. It was nice to see a new version of Android on my tired phone but in the long run it just wasn't what I was looking for.

Image credit: "Hanne" of the DarkyROM forum

During my research I found a whole new direction for software, "custom roms". A custom rom is like a home made operating system for your phone. It might be very similar to the stock Android rom that came with the phone, or be very different and have many performance enhancements that you didn't know were possible. Anyway, the custom rom that I stumbled upon was called DarkyRom and is built around already stable versions of android but with vast improvements. I'm not going to get into all of the differences between DarkyRom and Android Gingerbread but two obvious ones are the speed increase and the fact that it is "rooted". If your phone is rooted, you have the ability to access all of hidden and sensitive files burried in your phone. This ability actually lets you install apps that can do really neat things like control battery drainage better, remove advertisements, use overclocking and other "advanced" functions. The point of the matter is that DarkyRom really took my phone to the next level and I was happy about it.

My phones best Quadrant benchmark score

So for anyone here as a 1st time reader of my blog, you should know that I'm a performance nut. I like to tweak settings to get the absolute most out of my stuff. I was able to install some apps that really put the Galaxy S in a completely different league of phones. I've run several benchmarks and managed to get about twice the original battery life and get it about 35% faster. Also, because the phone is rooted, I was able to easily remove tons of "bloatware" like Samsung's app store and messenger app to name a couple. Being able to delete those, and many other apps freed up a ton of storage space that I can now use to store 5—10 more Angry Birds sequels.

Lastly, it's important to mention that a major reason that I experimented with my phone is that my phone was out of warranty. You must understand that their are risks involved with these operations, as it is possible that your phone might hiccup in the middle of an install and just never turn on again, it's not likley if you know what your doing, but it can happen. I'd be happy to help someone who wants to breath life into their good ol' Galaxy S. So please feel free to comment or email me.

Ian

D-Link Boxee Box Review

2012-03-09T07:36:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, I'm not really a big television fan. Don't get me wrong though, I do enjoy several specific shows but I would say that it's been several, in the course of my entire life. That being said, I'm a huge movie buff and have hundreds of movies and have easily seen thousands. With all my favourite shows and movies, the only thing that has really changed is the delivery method. It started with VHS and went to laserdisc then DVD and is now kind of bouncing between blu-ray and digital storage. I love my blu-ray collection for the supreme quality but I still enjoy the convience of a digital media collection. The trick to a digital collection is that if I spend time collecting, I also want it catalogued and displayed as nice as my blu-rays. The point is that the digital collection needs to have an interface that is not only functional, but nice to look at.

This is where the D-Link Boxee Box comes in. Right off that bat I will tell you that the name is kind of dumb. As dumb as it is though, if you look at the unit itself, it is shaped like a cube so it makes a bit of sense. The Boxee Box is a media server device that you connect to your TV and your internet (wired or wireless N) to give your TV access to nearly unlimited online content. You can use it to watch Youtube, Netflix, all major television networks and hundreds of other online content sources all through your TV. Their is even an add-on that allows you to watch HD TV networks for free through the Boxee Box. Some "apps" like Netflix may have subscriber fees ($8 a month) but for the most part, the Boxee Box itself has no fees but the unit purchase price.

The Boxee Box also has the ability to stream movies, pictures and music from any computer connected to your home network (via wire or wireless). That means that if you're like me and have hundreds of movies saved on a computer(s) and want to watch them on your big screen, you can. Not only that but you can do it in 1080p, with some of the latest surround sound audio codecs. I have personally been able to stream 1080p in surround sound from downstairs to upstairs via wireless N without any skips in the video. The Boxee Box's network connectivity is as solid as they come.

My favourite part of the device is the software. It is a rendition of the XBMC (Xbox Media Center) software that is designed for any level of user. Typically the XBMC software is crammed with features that not everyone would be interested in and can be a little bloated. The Boxee software is light weight and runs very well on the Boxee Box. It allows you to easily interact with online and local sources as well as view all collections in a very efficient and attractive way. The newest update to the software (version 1.5) has changed the interface drastically and really shown that the developers are working to make it the best media server in-a-box on the market.

The only real downside to the Boxee Box is the price. At a fairly high $189 (Canadian retail) you could buy two of some of the completion units. That being said, I owned one Boxee Box and decided to cheap out and get a $80 sub-par unit for my bedroom TV and after only 2 hours of playing with it, decided that the user interface was butt ugly, it was slow to operate and the controls were pure crap. Not to mention that I needed a device that could do wireless N, which the sub-par device could do, but almost everything was skipping! I wanted a device that I could count on for high quality steaming media. So I packed up the new junk device and bought myself a second Boxee Box. I hooked it up (using the included power and HDMI cable) and within minutes I was syncing it to my movie collection and relaxing in bed, wirelessly streaming 300 in 1080p. The bottom line is that sometimes you get what you pay for, and this is one of those times. If user interface, quality video playback and a solid network/internet experience is what you are after, don't settle for less than what the D-Link Boxee Box can give you.

I want to bring up something to prevent an onslaught of negative comments. If you read around you can find a lot of sites praising the Boxee Box, and others giving it horrible reviews. I've heard people say that the box freezes, the video quality is poor and it's buggy. I have two of them and they are on almost 24/7 and probably display 30+ hours of content a week. I do not get any freezes, the quality is outstanding and the only issue I've had is the occasional video not working on the main page, which is usually caused by it being removed from the source and not anything to do with the software at all. I'm sure their are tons of known bugs that I just haven't come across because I watch limited online content and mostly local media, but both of my Boxee Boxes work great and If I had a third HD TV I would buy another one right now!

IaN

Star Wars Sith Costume

2012-03-07T02:49:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I'm writing about Halloween 2011 in March of 2012. Oh well, the topic is just as relevant now, as it was then. A while back I did a quick video review of the Star Wars Anakin Ultimate Force FX lightsaber. I was so happy with my $30 toy that I decided to use it as a prop for Halloween. Now, I'm not a Star Wars nut but I would say I'm a fan just as much (maybe a little more) than the next guy, but I knew that if I was going to go as a Star Wars character, it would need to be Darth Vader, or Anakin Skywalker. It occured to me that I had a blue light saber and not a red one, so Darth Vader was out. I wasn't about to commit character fraud by interchanging critical movie props like that. So I decided on Anakin, but at the stage where he was more Sith than Jedi, "Evil Anakin" if you will.

The first step was to find a good Sith robe. I immediately turned to the internet as with all the Star Wars sites and the various costumes available, it should be easy. Wrong! it was absolutely the hardest thing to find in the world! Don't get me wrong, I could easily find a paper thin, transparent robe that came down to my knees but that's not what I wanted. I want a full length, high thickness, proper proportioned robe. Way too many sites trying to pass Harry Potter robes off as Sith or Jedi robes! Get a life Harry Potter, I'm a Sith Lord dammit! So after countless hours on Amazon, Ebay and tons of other hopeless ventures I gave up on the internet. I checked out several speciality halloween costume stores (including the dreaded Value Village) and came up with nothing but a grim reaper robe that was again, cheap and had no resemblance to what I wanted. Take a look at the picture up and to the right to see what I was going for.

During my search for the perfect robe I found a couple of websites that provided detailed instructions on how to make your own robe. Some of the sites were total crap and provided next to no guidance and others seemed to have instructions that only a seamstress would understand. I managed to take bits from here and their, and with a little luck, made a robe that fit me quite well. The key factors to a good Star Wars robe, Sith or Jedi, is proper overall length, sleeve width, sleeve length, and hood size. The sleeve openings are massive and the hood could probably hold at least 3 heads. Clearly their are actual sizing to get it down to actual movie replica standards but as picky as I am, I couldn't be bothered to make it that precise. Between buying the fabric, drawing the cut lines, cutting it out, pinning it together, sewing it and trying it on... the sizing was easily the hardest part. Overall though I remain impressed with my own work (hmm the wife may have helped.. a little).

For the most part, Anakin is a faily easy character as his other costume specifics are a tunic, undershirt, boots and a leather glove. I managed to find the exact Anakin glove (with the 3 buckles) on craigslist for $10 (mind blowing luck) and I had a pair of black boots that were somewhat similar to the leather lace up riding boots from the movie. I ended up making a blue tunic as well. I was going to make a full size tunic but decided that it was a lot of work and on top of everything, I would probably pass out with all the gear on. I made a partial tunic that kind of resembled an apron when done. I just slipped it over my head and tied the fabric belt behind my back. I then layered two pieces of the blue fabric and sewed them in place to make it look like it was a full piece, but the robe hid the fact that it had no back and didn't wrap around me. It looks like I have a black shirt on under it but I just sewed in a black piece of fabric up to the neck area so that it would appear layered. I actually had no shirt on (to keep the heat down). A regular leather belt (with the buckle at the rear) and a pair of black no-name jogging pants and my light saber finished it all off.

I won't pretend that this is Star Wars ultra fan approved, but I will say that it worked great for the small party that I went to and it held up well enough for round 2 at the next costume party. The picture up on the right is me in my costume, probably not the best picture, but you get the idea. Note that the light saber glow is not altered in any way, that is the natural glow you get on camera.

IaN

Thank You Readers!

2012-03-05T03:06:00.000-08:00

I was reading some of my archived posts the other day and having a chuckle over some of the dumb stuff I've spewed out over the years and noticed something huge! Upon reviewing the statistics portion of my site I noticed that I had over 31,500 unique visitors. That means that over 31k different people have come on to my site at one time or another. Maybe each person only read one post, and thought it was crap and left, but that's still a lot of random people reading my verbal diarrhea.

To some sites this is a landmark to mark on the calendar and others it is probably what they get in an hour, but for my little blog, with one causal writer, with no funding and a very specific target audience, it is fantastic. I'm also very happy that over 90% of my incoming readers are from Google searches. That means that people, maybe like yourself, are finding my posts as a direct result of it being relevant to your own search, probably indicating that I wrote about something that you were interested in. Also, my blog seems to have 15-20 high volume posts and not just 1-2 that have gotten a lot of publicity.

All in all it's great to see that my blog is getting consistent attention from all over the world. Thank you to everyone for supporting me by visting and reading my blog.

IaN

Battle: Android vs iPhone

2012-03-03T01:04:00.000-08:00

To really start this post off I need a Michael Buffer announcement "in this corner, weighing in at 140 grams, the iPhone 4s...". In reality though the real competition is iOS vs Android as I really want to compare platforms but I wanted to keep it as straight forward as possible. I'm really only hoping to scratch the surface of this topic as their are a lot of pros and cons of both and depending on who you talk to, it can go either way.

Let's start with Google's powerhouse, Android. Android has been picked up by a wide variety of phone and tablet manufactures as their operating system of choice. Android is very popular right now and has a ton of fantastic features. I won't lie when I say that I'm an Android fan. I love the customizability of Android and how if I want different colours, different icons, a different sms application, a new feature, I can simply download an application to make it happen. I've found that time and time again, their are several applications for Android that do the same thing as their Apple counterpart, but at a cheaper price or maybe even free of charge. The fact of the matter is that out of the box, Android allows you to customize a lot more of it's features and appearances. Android gives the user excellent tools for battery, processing and storage space monitoring. I'd also like to note that, being that Android is a Google OS, it works much better with Google functions, like email syncing and calender manipulation. If your not a Google services user then that need not apply. Android has a near endless number of widgets as well. Widgets let you customize the phones home page with applications or almost any content you want, providing you with exactly what you want within just a click or two.

Apple's iPhone has been around for many years now and has had a lot of time to perfect it's iOS masterpiece into what we have today with the iPhone 4s. iOS is a very stable, user friendly system that provides a smooth experience for phone calls, games, Facebooking and just about everything else. iOS has always had excellent social media integration that has attracted people of all ages. Two of iOS' almost exclusive features is the iMessage function that allows one iPhone to message the the other for free and it's legendary overall security. You can really feel confident that if your using an iPhone, you don't need to worry about searching for the best anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall app to prevent the haxzors from infecting your phone. I think one of the biggest aspects of the iPhone is that people truly feel that the user interface is smoother than that of the competition. I've had lots of friends tell me that when scrolling through menus, text message logs or webpages, that it just "feels" smoother. Don't get me wrong, iOS is super smooth, but I think it really comes down to user preference at this level.

I have to make sure that I mention the big money point, the hardware. iOS runs on it's own hardware, the iPhone (and other non-phone hardware). Android runs on just about every phone, from every manufacturer that will sign the dotted line. You can get Android on a cheap, no camera, no touch screen 7-11 phone for $60 with no contract, or you can go spend $600 on the latest and greatest super-duper phone. Android can be found on a phone that suits your 95 year old grandma or one that can keep up with your 15 year old daughter text messaging 12 friends at the same time. The great thing is that iPhone is (almost) always provided as solid, up to date hardware in a clean package that anyone (seriously!) could use. That being said, your poor Uncle Bob might not be able to afford the $500 iPhone, even with a 6 year contract. It's important to keep in mind that Android is not only successful because they have a great system, but because it is installed on a wide variety of phones, although some drastically better than others.

I hate to drag this topic through the mud even further but something I didn't bring up that needs to be mentioned is non-stock software. More advanced users (or those who wish to become more advanced) might be interested to dig deeper into their phones to get the absolute most out of their hardware. iPhones can be "jailbroken" while a good number of Android phones can be "flashed" or "rooted" to allow supreme customization. It's like installing a patch that allows you total access to all of the software files. I dare you to look into this further but beware that with great power, comes great responsibility, and this level of power can kill your brand new phone in an instant. Ohhh but the features and benefits can be worth the risks!

As a closing thought, you probably didn't learn a whole lot from this. What's important to determine is what kind of phone user you are, how much you have to spend and exactly how much time you have to tinker with buttons and settings. I can tell you one thing, I went Android and I'll never go back!

IaN

Black Friday Deals!

2011-11-15T12:52:00.000-08:00

As you may know, I'm writing from Canada and we do not have Black Friday or Cyber Monday here. However that doesn't mean that we don't take advantage of it. Tons of stores will have sale posters in the malls showing their support for Black Friday. I guess if they can cash in on the shopping associated with Black Friday they may as well.

I try not to bother too much with local mall sales as they may be decent, but not the best I can get. If I spend a little more time and drive over the border to the United States I can get wicked deals on the same items I'd buy here. The great thing about crossing the border is that sometimes you can find things that aren't carried locally and they may be better than what you wanted in the first place. Border hopping is probably is a must for any Canadian who wants deals before Christmas.

Now as any smart shopper knows, looking online is very important to finding the best deal. Even if you cross the border and find the item on sale for $20, you might find it online for $15 with $2 shipping. The issue with shopping online is that you have to know where to shop. I'm the kind of guy that likes to find a great online store, and stay loyal. On a recent post, Replace DLP TV Bulb or Buy a New TV? I recommended a great electronics company called Northstar AV. I was looking for a good deal on a DLP TV bulb and they were able to give me the lowest price, and an additional 5% off with a coupon code. I was so happy with them, I contacted the Sales Manager and made a deal to provide 5% off to all Ian's Blog readers. That code has since expired but we've decided to bring the deal back for Black Friday. So if you're looking for a great deal on projector and TV lamps between now and Cyber Monday you should click the banner below and use the special Northstar AV coupon code, brought to you by Ian's Blog

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to the deals this year. Don't forget to compare prices from one site to another and consider the cost of shipping and the delivery times.

IaN

Star Wars Ultimate FX Light Saber

2011-10-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

I posted about how I drool over the Force FX light sabers a few months back and now I've finally got one... kinda. The Force FX models have metal hilts (handles) and long blades but tend to sell for $99-$150 depending on the source and features. Now to me that isn't a ton of money, but it is when you are buying a movie souvenir. I just don't have that much in my budget for this type of thing.

However, if they offered a cheaper version I might be interested in it. Well it turns out that the Ultimate FX light saber, also made by Hasbro, goes for $30-$35 and is very similar to it's more expensive Force FX brother. The Ultimate FX light saber comes in a blue (Anakin) and red (Darth Vader). Both sabers are made of plastic but keep the detailing of the movie hilts. If you are a fan of the Force FX blades you'll be used to the 36" blade, but with the Ultimate FX blade at 23", you're going to notice the difference.

Even with a shorter blade and a plastic hilt, the light saber is very functional. It uses the same motion sound effect and lighting technology as the Force FX models. For me, this is exactly what I wanted. I plan to use my new light saber as a Halloween costume prop and I might even clash it against a few ninja swords or harry potter wands while I'm out there. The best thing about it is that if it breaks, it was only $30 at Costco so I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Don't get me wrong though, I still plan to get myself the red Darth Vader Force FX blade... some day.

Check out my quick video review of the blue Anakin Ultimate FX Light Saber below. It's not my best work but you get the point. In the store, I found that the blue blade was brighter and the LED gaps were less obvious than with the red one. Enjoy!

Shaw Gateway vs Telus Optik

2011-09-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

A recent comment from an anonymous blog reader brought up the topic of Telus Optik vs Shaw Gateway. One of my most read posts is my review of the Telus Optik service. Telus offers a solid television package with Personal Video Recorder (PVR) abilities and they do it for a decent price. Our other local home service provider, Shaw has been getting hammered by Telus since Optik was released, and continues to get hammered on a quarterly basis. However Shaw would not sit on the sidelines forever, they have been offering their new service, Shaw Gateway for several months and it wants to prove that Telus can be outdone. Outdone... but at what cost?

I'm going to start with the positives. Shaw Gateway has superior hardware. The PVR and remote HD boxes have HDMI ports that can output in 1080p resolution (best television quality to date) and the head unit carries a 500GB hard drive. These Shaw boxes are also 3D and DLNA ready meaning you won't be left behind when 3D television channels become more popular and you'll be able to integrate your local video, music and picture content from your home computer network. The DLNA feature is really nice (assuming it's implemented properly) as it could save you from getting a separate media server device. A big bonus with Shaw is that they do offer a higher end internet bandwidth. Telus Optik currently tops out at a constant 25mbps (approximately) while Shaw can get you well above 50mbps, if you are willing to pay for it. These internet speeds were once only to dream of, and now they are a constant reminder of how technology is rapidly advancing.

I think it's important to note that Shaw Gateway is also capable of the PVR Anywhere technology. Being able to pause live TV and resume your shows on any one of your other TV's is a great feature that both Optik and Gateway share. Also keep in mind that Shaw Gateway and Telus Optik are both capable of steaming up to 3 HD channels at the same time, and the ability to record more on the side. Keep in mind that both services will likely evolve and you may need software, hardware or even service updates to obtain the new features.

Telus really doesn't offer much (currently) over Shaw Gateway. Telus has a few small features like their Iphone and Android application to view the guide and record channels while not at home. As well Optik has Facebook integration that allows use of common Facebook features while still being able to watch TV. It is my understanding that the Telus hardware is not as advanced as the Gateway hardware but that being said, a lot of features could be added to Telus via software update that could allow it to match capabilities.

I find that Telus Optik is the solid choice for a great service at a fair price. Telus customer service has improved drastically over the last 2 years and is there to help you and keep you happy. Shaw is now the new kid on the block and is hoping to win back a lot of the lost Optik customers with their fancy Gateway service. Gateway is great but keep in mind that once you get the hardware and installation done, you need to be happy with the programming and it has always been my experience that Shaw loves to gouge people with content costs. You might get into Gateway for a good price but don't get wrangled into paying an extra $80 for another 5 HD channel packs that you didn't realize you wanted. I currently have Optik with about 80 HD channels and I will not pay more than $110 a month during my 3 year contract.

As always, be sure to call the companies and find out exactly what you can get for your dollar before you sign the dotted line. Also watch out as if you are an existing customer with either company, they will likely spit in your face when you ask for a mailed in promotion or deal. I would love to hear some experiences from current Gateway subscribers.

Ian

Can 6 = 8 For My Camaro?

2011-07-23T02:14:00.000-07:00

This has been the burning question for years now. Should I replace my Chevy Camaro's under powered inline 6 engine with a V8 full of horsepower and potential? Could I ever really be happy with just a 6 cylinder machine under the hood? Can the straight 6 be modified to give me what I want? Just when I have it all figured out and I decide to switch over, someone talks me out of it. However when I decide to stay with the 6, I talk to someone else and they tell me to drop it and get an 8. How does one decide? Lets setup a comparison between the two options and see what we come up with...

Right now I have a Chevy 250 cubic inch inline 6 engine in my 67 Camaro. The car is a factory inline 6 car, but not the one that's in there now, someone swapped it out at some point. So it's not numbers matching but the tags on the car show it should be holding 6 cylinders. With that in mind, the current engine works perfect. The only issue with it is that it's lacking in spunk compared to it's big brother, the V8. However, what if I spent $1500 on a performance cam shaft, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, carburetor and headers? Well sure, I'd be out $1500, but what would that give my tired i6? According to the guys at Clifford Performance, I could expect to see a minimum of 45% power and torque gains! Now don't get me wrong but if I were to increase the base horsepower from 155 to over 250 and the base torque from 235 to anywhere over 350... I would probably have a hard time wiping the grin off my face. Don't get me wrong though, it would be no built up V8, but that's not the main point as an important factor to me is originality. I don't know about the car shows you go to, but the ones out here are all V8's and nothing but. You're lucky if you can find a straight 6 in anything around here.

Lets take a step back then and say that I spend the same $1500 on a V8. I might be able to find a cheap, short block crate motor to start with, but the rest would need to be bought separately as I just wouldn't have enough. The other thought is that I could hunt down a good used engine and hope that it's from a donor vehicle that has a clean engine bay, as I will need almost the whole thing to convert my i6 to a V8. I think it's safe to say that to get a running V8 in my car, I'm spending at least $2500, and that isn't the 396 that I would be opting for, if I were to go that route. So my new 396 will probably provide 330+ horsepower and 400+ torque, and will likely put out a lot more if the price is right. So what is more cost effective, buying a V8 and adding performance or keeping the i6 and spending all of the money on its performance?

Clearly the V8 could stomp the straight 6 if a real build war were to fire up... but I have to be honest, the straight 6 can come pretty close to a decent V8, and for a lot less money. I love the sound and power of a V8, but is it possible to satisfy that craving for raw power with an inline 6, and even be a little unique at the same time? I've been leaning in one direction on this for quite a while but I was hoping to get your opinions before I spend all my money. What do you think?

IaN

Home Theater Solutions - Part 2

2011-07-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

Well I hope you didn't get too much of me blabbing about home theater junk because your going to get some more. My last post was focused on ways of getting the media files on your desktop or laptop onto your TV screen. I want to direct your attention to the control aspect of this type of setup. I don't know about you but with technology the way it is today, you get a remote control with just about everything. TV's, amplifiers, DVD players, Blu-ray players, cable boxes, PVR's, game consoles, car stereos, digital cameras, digital picture frames... hell, if it's digital, you can probably get a remote for it! The big question is, what do we do with all these remotes?

Well you might jump in and say "one of my devices came with a fancy universal remote that controls all of my devices". That might be the case but then I ask you, have you ever had to find one of the remotes, and a pair of AAA batteries for it, just so you could access some random function that the fancy universal remote couldn't do? Your darn rights you have, and I tell you what... for me, that is unacceptable! I absolutely can't stand that the single remote that I spent time programming, can't do everything I need it to. Especially if the desired function is something common like volume, channel, guide, video source or menu access. I need my remote to do it all, and I can tell you right now, if you add a computer or media device, your going to add one more remote to the table.

So now your telling me that your universal remote has a learning function? Ohh that's fancy! Except you probably still have trouble with it because the initial code didn't cover all of the desired functions so you sat there and forced it to learn 50 different commands from 3 different remotes and ran out of memory on the controller and didn't get all of the things you wanted in. On top of that you had to force the "audio source" command to the universals "video source" button because there was no actual "audio source" button on the remote. I will admit that I don't care too much about mislabeled functions as I am good at remembering how I set it all up, but once you hand it to your spouse... your gonna be answering the "what button do I push to make it..." for the rest of your life. Sure this universal remote will do for a while, but your eventually bound to pull out one of the factory remotes to access some crazy feature that you didn't know you needed.

We need to take this remote business to the next level. We need a universal remote that can replace every single function of all of our remotes and still have room to do a bunch of stuff that we didn't know we needed it to do! Where do I get such a remote you ask? You get it on the internet of course! Of course you could find one in a local store, but I would bet my right butt cheek that it will cost you way more locally, than through a web store. There are a bunch of high end universal remotes available right now and some of them are fairly cheap. To be honest though, I have only personally tried the Logitech Harmony series however Phillips and Acoustic Research also make a few comparable models. The Logitech Harmony remotes are programmed to match your exact hardware so that no functions are left out. Some of the higher end models feature color touch screens, tilt sensitive back-lighting, charging cradles and Bluetooth capability. Don't get me wrong though, you could get the cheap Harmony 300 for $25 but it would be easy to blow $250 on one of the better models. Keep in mind that with any of the Harmony's you really get a remote that will last forever as the online database of hardware is always growing and it's simple to use the software or website to program your remote... no more code punching!

My point from all this is that I urge you to spend a few bucks to get yourself a decent remote control. You will enjoy your $1000+ home theater system a lot more when your not using a $15 remote to control it. You can easily get a Bluetooth or infrared adaptor for your computer to make surfing your entire home theater, even your computer, possible with just one remote. I think that is a solution to a highly overlooked problem!

IaN

Home Theater Solutions - Part 1

2011-07-07T01:34:00.000-07:00

So you've got your big TV and your Blu-Ray player and you think your in the now? Guess again! Blu-Ray's are fantastic and are no where near being obsolete, as they are presented in 1080P, and 1080P is the high definition standard. The problem with Blu-Ray is that your working with physical discs. Sure, everyone likes to have a collection, but why not move your collection into the digital world. What if you could have all of your favorite movies in a single machine, like a big disc changer, and all you had to do was use your remote to pick the movie you wanted to watch, and it would just play. Better yet, what if your remote controlled a super fancy interface that showed trailers, cover art, plot summary's and links to online content for the movie you've selected. Wouldn't that be awesome? Well for those of you born yesterday, this technology is years old and has only been getting better and cheaper. Lets go over some of our current options (sorted from cheapest to most expensive) .

Western Digital Live - This is a great entry level option. It connects to your router and will allow you to stream all media content from all networked computers to your TV. It can do 1080P and it plays a wide variety of file formats. It is by far the cheapest device and offers a good bang for your buck. The only major downside to this unit is that its interface is simple with no eye candy. Unfortunately, the WD Live does not support the XBMC (X-Box Media Center) software at this time. If your just wanting to get your media files from your computer to your TV, for as cheap as possible, this is the answer.

Apple TV - This device is ridiculously small and being in it's 2nd generation, it comes with a high potential. It has a very flashy interface and can be loaded with the XBMC software. I'm a big fan of the XBMC software for home theater setups, so Apple TV is one of the cheapest solutions to get high definition content from your computer to your TV, with a big hit of style. The price of the unit is very fair for what your get, but what you get isn't perfect. The Apple TV box does not support 1080P as it is limited by hardware to output at a maximum of 720P, however it will upscale to 1080i. Luckily, it will downscale all 1080P content to 720P or 1080i, so you don't need to convert all of your media files to make it play. I don't know about you, but I have trouble paying for a device right now that doesn't support the maximum resolution of my television. Oh, and for those of you who say that the human eye can't tell the difference between 1080i and 1080P, if that makes you feel better about your TV. then keep it up.

D-Link's Boxee Box - Have you seen a picture of this unit yet? It's shaped like a cube standing on a tip. Very strange looking, somewhat intriguing but strange nonetheless. The Boxee Box uses it's own Boxee software, that is a remixed version of the XBMC. The great thing about the software is that it shares a lot of qualities, some improved, with the XBMC. The bad side of the software is that it is not as customizable as the XBMC. I can look past it though as I've read that the Boxee is always changing and improving and is really very good at what it does, which is stream full 1080P content from any computer on your network, to your TV. It is one of the more expensive dedicated set top boxes but it may just be the best one (for the price) out there. If you want a box that can play anything through a very fancy interface, this just might be your best bet. Not to mention that it's the only device shaped like a cube.

Home Theater PC (HTPC) - This is a small computer that is dedicated specifically to serve your media files to your television. The diffence between this and the ones above is that you can usually have them custom made or buy them with whatever software you want, that way you have more control on the functions and abilities of your device. You can have just a basic software installed, or you can run XBMC or even Windows Media Center. You can get a cheaper model that only does 720P, or you can pay big bucks and have it run multiple programs at once and still play your 1080P content. There are a lot of resources online on how to build a budget HTPC. If you look around at local computer stores you can sometimes get a good deal on Pre-made HTPCs. If you like to customize your system or tinker with computers, this may be the route for you.

Video Gaming Systems - This could be the most expensive route, but it does come with a lot of bonus features. Both the Xbox360 and PS3 are capable of steaming high definition media from a network computer to your television. Technically the PS3 is better at this than the Xbox360, but either way, if you already have one of these systems then you can save your money by setting it up to access your content via your network. A popular program for streaming to these system is the PS3 Media Server. Obviously these systems have other abilities such as the being great video game consoles and providing access to online content. If you already have one of these in your house, they can act as a good entry level device, but aren't exactly the most user friendly to get going. If you have content and don't want to be bothered with configuring programs or scrolling through forums, you may want to start at the top of this list.

That's all I'm going to cover in part 1. You've seen some of the options available to you. None of the above are cutting edge as they have all been available since at least late 2010. I currently use my middle floor PS3 to stream movies from a full size computer stored in my basement. Technically it works fine, but is lacking in presentation. I am leaning towards the Boxee Box but haven't made up my mind. Check back later for Part 2.

IaN

Make Your Own Arcade Machine!

2011-06-21T02:52:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up I spent a lot of time playing video games. I've personally owned all of the following gaming systems: Atari, Nintendo, Sega Game Gear, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Virtual Boy, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii and a Playstation 3. I think it's important to mention that I've had a Commodore 64 and probably about 10 other computers as well. I've always liked my consoles but some of the best gaming experiences have been on the computer. When I think back about the great memories I had with gaming, the new games almost never pop up, it's the vintage games that stand out. I'm talking about Lode Runner, Commander Keen, Mach3, Mechwarrior, Alone in the Dark, Myst, Wolfenstein 3D, Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Brothers, Sonic, Leisure Suit Larry, Double Dragon, Street Fighter 2, Doom, The Legend of Zelda, Bomberman, Rad Racer and Marvel Super Heroes. I could sit here and type hundreds of classic games from tons of systems, even ones that I didn't own, but I think you get the gist of it.

Do you have an itch to dust off your Super Nintendo and load up Donkey Kong Country yet? Well you should! You're probably a lot like me and you sold these old systems years ago to save space or make enough money to upgrade. If that is the case, what are your options? Well you'll find that the world of vintage gaming is very popular and comes with some twists. If you want to find and buy back your SNES you'll need to consider that a lot of people are collecting them now, and they know that the desirability is high, so be ready to spend some dollars. You could also use Google to search for system "emulator" software that allow your computer to act as your favorite game console. Once you've gotten the appropriate software, you'll need to locate some games, otherwise known as "roms". Keep in mind that this practice is considered legal, only if your preserving the true nature of the game and not distributing it (much like how downloading music in Canada is legal). The problem you can run into with this approach is that your stuck browsing shady websites that just love to give you viruses, and you need to use your keyboard or joystick to play. Obviously a lot of you may be able to use other resources, but try to follow my lead here.

A more unique, and possibly more rewarding method might be to look into re-creating the retro experience with a custom made, or homemade arcade machine. Tell me, who hasn't wanted their own arcade machine at one point or another. Imagine having your favorite 3 friends over to play a full run of Gauntlet Legends on your very own arcade machine. I'm salivating just thinking about it! I'd like to mention that this whole idea has been spawned off my cousins homemade arcade system. He managed to find a partially completed custom machine that required some software editing to get working. He's harnessed the Hyperspin arcade interface and a batch of emulators to create a full suite of almost every game, for every major console that was ever made. We are talking thousands of games, that all appear in a very fluent menu system. You just select the game console, and scroll through the games and press the start button and off you go. I'd be lieing if I said I hadn't thought of buying an arcade machine before, but I had never thought of combining the fun retro aspect of an arcade machine, with the delivery system of emulators and roms.

Now some of you might be thinking about building your own arcade machine. I recommend looking around on Google as you will find a wide variety of people selling them in all stages of completion. You can also find plans to make them and companies that will sell them fully assembled and ready to go. My cousin referred me to Northcoast Custom Arcades as a good supplier of plans, parts and pre-mades. Some of their machines are amazing, but come with a hefty price tag. Just make sure to look around online, learn about how the custom machines work so that you don't go head first into a project that will burn your bank account. If anyone builds, or has built a custom machine, feel free to email me pictures as I'd love to see your designs.

IaN

Linux Mint 11 Released

2011-06-13T02:57:00.000-07:00

For those of you who didn't already know, I'm a big Linux supporter. I've been running a Linux only PC for about 3 years and I continue to say that I will never go back to Windows. I've written several blog posts that outline the above info and this one will be no different.
Before I get to the big subject here I would like to bring something to the attention of the Windows users out there. I wrote a post comparing Linux Mint and Windows 7 in December 2009 and a similar post comparing Linux Mint 9 to Windows 7 in July 2010. Notice that Mint 9 was still brand new last July and now Mint 9 & 10 have been replaced by Mint 11. That's two fresh operating system versions, about a year apart! Sure Windows 7 has had a pile of security updates and various changes, but there have been no significant code improvements for interface, performance or ease of use. I would think that since you paid good money for your copy of Windows 7 (hah, you did pay for it didn't you?) that Microsoft would provide high quality updates, or perhaps they plan to give them to you when you purchase Windows 8?

Anyway, my favorite distribution, Linux Mint released version 11 to the public a couple of weeks ago. This is always big news for me as I am required (by my own pure curiosity) to upgrade so that I can try the new features. I mean, other than the hassle of possibly having to copy all of my personal data to a fresh operating system, why wouldn't I want to upgrade? After all, there is nothing better for your computer than a free operating system, especially when it comes with free updates and upgrades.
If your still wondering what this Linux mumbo jumbo is, and you've read this far, I congratulate you and suggest you read this post. Linux could be good for you if you're still running an older version of Windows like 98, ME, 2000, XP or Vista as when properly updated, Linux is very current and will ensure that you are "in the now." There is nothing wrong with switching to Linux from Windows 7, but that's a more difficult choice as you have already paid for it and it is still a very popular operating system. If you want to try out Linux Mint without ruining your current setup, you can always make yourself a Linux Mint Live CD or DVD and boot it right up without any installing at all. If you decide you hate it, you can replace windows, or have them run independently from each other (aka "dual booting"). For more information take a look at the official Linux Mint website. If you have any questions or aren't sure what version to get, feel free to email or comment below for a quick reply.

IaN

East Side Mario's Review

2011-06-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

We were out in White Rock, at the beach with the dogs and the kids and it was brought up that we should go to dinner. A friend that we were with suggested that we go to East Side Mario's because they had decent food, at decent prices and the atmosphere was suitable for children. There was some humming and hawing but East Side Mario's was eventually confirmed as the dining location for the evening. As always, I was happy to go out to dinner, especially because I had never been there before. So, after a stellar build up, here is my East Side Mario's review. Also note that if you select the "restaurants" category in the drop down to the right you can see all my other restaurant reviews.

I'd like to start by saying that I felt that East Side Mario's was very similar to The Olive Garden. Almost like the two restaurants could be related, but with different fathers or something. The Olive Garden was more sophisticated while East Side Mario's comes off as a spruced up Chucky Cheese or something. Don't get me wrong, I love Chucky Cheese! The first thing your going to notice when you get into East Side Mario's, assuming your at a normal dinner hour, is that you won't be seated right away. There is going to be a bit of a wait, but ours was only 20 minutes or so. It was just long enough to feed a baby or have a smoke break. I will not add or subtract points for this because it sucks that you have to wait, but it's not long enough for me to care.

The restaurant I went to in Langley was setup as one big massive room with all the tables situated around a central bar. The layout was fine, but because of the lack of walls and corners, the sound really carried and it was as if we were at a beer garden or something. You couldn't really tell what any of your neighbors were saying, but only because the sound from everyone else talking was interfering. Overall the atmosphere was exactly what my friend said, perfect for kids because they could laugh, yell or cry and nobody would really notice. We brought our 2 month old baby and she didn't bother anyone (not that she would anyway, shes way to cute for that). I think I'm going to leave points alone here too, kids or not, being loud can't be awarded or dinged.

So we get the menus and browse the food. Hallelujah! They have the Olive Garden special, unlimited bread and soup/salad with the purchase of an entree. You know what I love about unlimited bread sticks and soup/salad? The fact that it's unlimited of course! How could you not want unlimited of either or both of those? Having unlimited of something other than pop awards 1 point for limitless appetizers.

After selecting the above deal, you need to pick an entree. This is where I thought East Side Mario's did a great job. They really do have a great selection of entrees in several different categories. I know when I went to The Olive Garden I felt like I was really pushed into things that I didn't really want because there was a lot of stuff that I wouldn't like, or normally eat. However here I was able to narrow it down to 2-3 selections and then I almost had to struggle to pick which one I wanted. I decided on the Sausage & Pepper Penne which in the long run was a great choice. The sausage was pre-cut into cylindrical chunks (key element with sausage in case you don't know) and it was a little spicy, which is fantastic! They also had pizza and some kind of sandwich that I was very interested in. I award 1 point for having a great selection of common entrees and 1 point for serving up a decent sized entree.

The service was crap. Obviously this is something that can vary from visit to visit so there is no way for me to really complain but for the most part the service was very slow and it felt like we were being ignored. I gave the server a relativity small tip to justify the poor quality of service. The restaurant looked as if it could have been understaffed, but who knows, maybe she was still new. Either way, I've already corrected this with the low tip, theirs no need to tarnish their record even more by subtracting a point.

My review puts East Side Mario's at a whopping 3 points total. That makes them only one point less than The Olive Garden and Anton's. I would say that East Side Mario's is a great alternative to the Olive Garden or a place like Boston Pizza as it offers a wide variety of good sized food choices as well as reasonable prices and a child friendly atmosphe. I liked East Side Mario's and hope to go back again soon.

IaN

The Best Electronic Cigarette

2011-06-06T00:37:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are out of the loop, there are electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) now that actually duplicate the look, feel, texture and taste of a real cigarette. In fact these e-cigs actually take it to the next level with custom colors and flavors to make even the most picky smoker a fan. I will explain how they work as simply as I know how. Think of a normal cigarette, orange filter with a white paper tube. The white part of the e-cig is a colored LED, the battery and what is called an atomizer. The orange filter part is actually a cartridge that holds a little sponge soaked in a flavored juice (usually some form of tobacco brand flavoring). When you go to take a puff of an e-cig, you suck air through a tube in the cartridge out of the atomizer. The atomizer heats up and quickly evaporates some of the flavored juice in the cartridge. The juice vapor then goes in your mouth, just like normal cigarette smoke would. So assuming the juice in the cartridge has nicotine in it, you will satisfy your cravings to smoke a cancer filled cigarette and be completely healthy with the electronic version.

Now, I honestly can't tell you what the best electronic cigarette is. I will however tell you which one I like and why I like it. I'm also going to tell you where to get my pick of the litter. My favorite company is Vogue because they make a top quality product at very competitive prices. Just like anything else, especially electronics, I like to make sure that I have the leading edge products and I have to say that Vogue is on top of it. What the average daily smoker needs is a product that can actually replace the act of smoking. Not just with one session, but completely satisfy the daily motions of smoking. For example, what happens if you smoke 2 packs a day and kill the battery in your e-cig because you use it so much and maybe forgot to charge it the day before. Woops, now you're at the local 7-11 selling your soul for the sweet nectar you need. You need to be able to use your e-cigs day after day and not worry about charging, refilling, maintaining and all that other stuff that comes with most kits. You need a permanent solution.

Vogue 808PCC-Mini

I think you should know about the Vogue 808PCC Mini electronic cigarette kit. The kit comes with two batteries, 5 cartridges and a portable charging case that closely resembles a standard pack of cigarettes. The main feature of this kit is that you only need to charge the portable charging case every few days, rather than the actual cigarettes that go inside it. You just need to store your e-cigs inside the case, whether that be inside your purse, pocket or vehicle and the case will keep your cigarette batteries charged automatically. Not to mention that the e-cigs themselves are only about 65mm long, which if you have compared elsewhere is a bonus as a lot of other kits can be 90+ mm long, and that can really throw the weight of it off. I'd also like to mention that these, like most other e-cigs do glow red at the end and with a normal puff, you can see the vapor come out of your mouth as you exhale. It really is a realistic smoking experience. Best part of all is that the kit retails for only $89.00 (including tax) and shipping is only $10. All you need to do is order the kit and whatever flavor/brand e-juice you want and your set for weeks of smoking at far less than traditional tobacco cigarettes would cost you.

I have actually bought a bunch of these products from Vapour Solutions to distribute to my family. So far the results have been very positive and I'm hoping that after an expected adjustment period, my family will be able to quit smoking completely. At least with e-cigs they can save a ton of money and still get their health back in order. I would like to see everyone I know "vaping" instead of smoking!

IaN

PS3 Blu-Ray Drive Stopped Working!

2011-06-05T00:17:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't call myself a fanboy but I definitely love my Playstation 3. Just when things were working out in my world, the PS3 stopped reading discs. Not just blu-rays but DVDs and audio CDs too. The problem with this is that my warranty was up years ago as it's a 5 year old 60gb model. I would like to believe that the latest firmware update was what killed it but after investigating further I learned that wasn't the case.

Naturally I decided that being the nerdy tech guy that I am, the PS3 would need to be dismantled and inspected. So I found a wide variety of poorly made Youtube videos to research before I got started. The PS3 isn't really that complicated but there are a few cables and some small parts so you do need to be careful. After further inspection I determined that my blu-ray drive lens was toast and needed to be replaced. I checked eBay and other online stores only to find that the average low price was about $70, which isn't horrible but lets face it, I'm as cheap as they come. So I found a good price on craigslist, $50 for a completely reconditioned drive. I managed to get it, swap it out and what do you know, the new drive doesn't work worth a damn! Actually, the new drive did read audio CDs and DVDs but the blu-ray diode was dead so no blu-rays for me. Unfortunately I could care less about CDs and DVDs so the new lens was totally worthless. Another pain in the ass was that during all of the troubleshooting steps with the new drive I managed to pull on the drive to hard and break the clip off the main data cable that connects the drive to the motherboard. Even worse to that news is that the clip was on the motherboard side and not the drive. If I've totally lost you, this means that now I need to physically hold the ribbon cable to the PS3 so that it recognizes that the drive is connected. Overall, the entire situation as left me unimpressed.

Since then I've managed to get my $50 back from the guy on Craigslist and my PS3 is still only half assembled on the shelf. I only have a small amount of motivation to reassemble it, most of which comes from the "Welcome Back to Playstation Program" email I just got about getting a bunch of free stuff, even though I have almost everything they offer. I just need to get the cash together to get a new drive, and some crazy glue for the cable clip. Stay tuned as some day I will post an update about the solution.

IaN

What is an Aerobie?

2011-05-28T01:27:00.000-07:00

What do you like to do during the summer months? Usually most people like to get outdoors and get into the sun. When I'm not cycling, walking on the beach or working on my car you can usually catch me trying to be active in some way or another. One of my favorite outdoor games is frisbee. Frisbee has to be one of the most underrated games of all time. It requires very little effort to throw and you can play with only two people, or as many as you want. You know what's even better than a frisbee? An Aerobie Flying Ring!

I can still remember the first time I threw an Aerobie. I was about 10 years old and I threw the 10" ring all over the park of my elementary school. Those were good times! The Aerobie is especially designed to fly farther, faster and smoother than a regular flying disc. The Aerobie flying ring has broken several world records for throwing distance, and when you throw it you'll see why. My wife and I take a 13" model to the park down the street every once and a while and you should see the Aerobie take flight. We can usually stand over a half football field (length wise) apart and throw it back and forth without any serious running. It really is a fantastic toy that should not be overlooked this summer.

I really want to recommend that you grab the big 13" ring if you decide to get one. The 10" ring flys nice too but you won't be able to get it to go as far as the 13" one. Not to mention that the hole is bigger and that makes it easier to catch. These rings have a rubberized coating on the edges that allow you to catch it safely and comfortably. I also find that because it's thinner than a traditional frisbee, it's easier to throw in a straight line and it even cuts the wind better. I say leave the frisbee for the dogs and use an Aerobie from now on.

I actually bought the one we use now a few years back off Ebay. However I was searching online recently to buy one for a friend, and I saw that Amazon had the big 13" model for a ridiculously low price so I bought a few more. If you have never had one, or even thrown one before I highly recommend borrowing a friends or picking one up. I think they sell them at Toy's R' Us for about $20. Save yourself some money and buy one online.

Amazon.com Widgets

IaN