This is hilarious – these dudes make a rocket out of bacon! That’s right – a flying model rocket out of bacon (and sausage). Then they test it and see if it can fly! Do you think it works? Watch the video to find out…lol.
This is my Amazon Kindle 2 Review. This post was originally from September 2008 and when I first wrote this post the Kindle’s were about $400 retail from Amazon. It was even pricey when the Kindle 2 first came out in Jan 2009, but now you can get one for around $200. I’ve always like the Kindle, but the video review below shows exactly why and you get to see my Kindle 2 as well – it’s only about 6 minutes.
Original Review
Last year in 2007 I remember when the Amazon Kindle was launched, and I thought “that’s kinda cool”. But it’s yet “another device” that does something you can already do on your mobile phone AND computer AND laptop! So, my first impression (back then) was that it was “cool” but not completely necessary. Now, let’s talk about what makes it viable as a gadget and why it’s becoming more popular.
The Amazon Kindle is an “eReader”. It’s meant for you to take it with you and read things, from novels and books, to newspapers and blogs. Battery life is long and it only needs a charge about every other day, and the screen is what they call “ePaper”. It’s not like your cellphone, laptop, or monitor screen – it has no glare (and it’s not backlit). It’s easy to read in any light, just like a book or newspaper.
Kindle has an “EVDO” connection just like the high speed connections of cell phones. This means that it’s “wireless”. The Kindle is different than other eReaders because it can get new content, download new books, or get fresh newspaper or blog content from RSS feeds “on the go” wherever you are. Don’t be fooled – you have to buy the books, but the “e” version is much cheaper. A latest New York Times best seller might be $26.99, but on Kindle it’s probably $9.99. Newspaper subscriptions cost money too, but with Kindle you can download the first few chapters of a book or read two weeks for free on a newspaper subscription before you pay anything. At least you can test drive before you pay. Magazines are available too like Time and Forbes.
You can’t exactly surf the web with Kindle, but one feature that is available is the ability to look anything up on Wikipedia. The included of the New Oxford American Dictionary could be very handy as well. It also has an annotation feature and bookmarking – so you can keep notes or keep track of where you were. One of the more controversial features are the RSS feeds. You can subscribe to any one of hundreds of RSS feeds (which are freely available on the web) for about $2 per month. Many people feel these should be completely free, as they are on the web. What they fail to realize is that kindle has no wireless charges at all – once you buy the unit there are no monthly fees. Your subscription fees basically cover the EVDO wireless access charges.
I didn’t even mention that it has an SD memory card slot, and that you can email documents to your Kindle for review, like pictures, PDF files, and Word docs. Now – it’s a tool you can use to review documents for school or work.
Here’s an Amazon Kindle review from a tech evangelist that has used many other eBook readers before he got the Kindle, this was his first review 12 hours after he got it.
Another Kindle video review:
I think that the Kindle could be one of the few gadgets you could give as a gift to people that are so “geeky” if you know what I mean. It’s easy to use, and Amazon has done a good job of taking away all the technological barriers away. It doesn’t have to be charged that often, and it never has to be connected to a computer or anything to work – it’s completely independent. This could actually be a really cool gift for Mom or Dad, Grandma or Grandpa. If you’re an avid reader or on the go a lot – the Kindle may be for you. There’s two ways to get one, and they are of course “new or used” Amazon Kindle’s. There are some for sale on eBay – check out these auctions.
Amazon Kindle 2 with Leather Cover and Mighty Bright | US $255.17 (37 Bids) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 10:34:50 PST Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $6.50 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 10:57:26 PST Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $222.50 (3 Bids) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 11:07:15 PST Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $34.65 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 11:44:20 PST Buy It Now for only: US $38.50 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $200.00 (19 Bids) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 11:45:30 PST Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $7.50 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 11:51:36 PST Buy It Now for only: US $8.50 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $205.00 (30 Bids) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 13:00:50 PST Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $380.00 (22 Bids) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 13:10:31 PST Bid now | Add to watch list |
In addition, you can buy one new directly from Amazon itself here:
I just bought an Intel NAS Server for $135!!
I’ve waited for this day for a looong time. I literally just found this deal. What you’re looking at above in the pic is what I just bought on Buy.com, it’s a small computer in a box – a network storage server (NAS server). Literally, this is a mini computer with 512MB ram, a 1.6Ghz Celeron processor, and 250watt power supply. That’s not why I bought it though. This has 4 USB ports, a 100mbit Lan jack, and slots for both older ATA style drives, and newer Sata and eSata drives. Do you have any idea what this means?
I can plug this into my Wireless Linksys router in one of the 4 ports, and instantly every computer in my house can access this thing, my Ubuntu machines, Mac, PSP, Wii, PS3, our Xbox 360, even our Window XP, Vista, and Windows 7 machines (yes we have this much crap in our house). So, in this new Intel NAS Server I’m going to install my old 120GB ATA drive (from a machine that burned up), my new 750GB Hitatchi drive I just bought off woot.com, and then I’m going to plugin via USB my new 1.5 TB Seagate drive and 320GB myBook. Once I do this, every computer in the house will be able to access all these drives via the network!!!
Oh I forgot to mention the best part, this Intel NAS server only cost me $135 (and had FREE shipping)! Best find of the holiday season! Click here if you want one too.
Google just found another way to enter your life and make it that much more easy (and its free to boot!) Google voice is a (semi) new service offered by, you guessed, the giant that is Google. So when you start off you need an invite (You can request one from Google here http://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/. Once you’re in, by the way my invite took a few days; you need to decide if you want to keep your current number or if you want to have a new number.
The advantages of keep your current number do not need to be expressed, as most people have experienced the pain of getting an all new number, but if you get a new ‘Google number’ then you get several advantages that I personally took advantage of. First off you can set up call forwarding so that your Google number will ring to your cell, home or business phone number. Second you get FREE SMS (text) messaging, with all of them saved online (you can delete them if you so choose). Third you get several calling feature which either you pay extra for on your cell phone plan, or no not get at all. These features include blocking calls, record calls, conference calls and screening callers.
Now this may sound too good to be true, but I guarantee you it is NOT. All of your calls to anywhere in the United States are completely free. International calls will cost you but google does give you 10 cents free to make a international call. I can’t comment on the call quality of international calls as I don’t know many people out of the friendly confines of Michigan, but from the reviews I have read online the call quality is the same as it is from domestic calls, excellent.
Google rarely drops the ball and this is not one of those times. The call quality itself is enough to make you switch from your current VoIP provider, but add the fact that Google voice is nearly completely free and offers free text messaging make joining Google voice a literal no brain.
If you’re shopping for a “Dual Band Wireless Router”, I hope my review will help you. I decided that it was time for our family to break down and finally get a Wireless N router for the same of speed, but I had some questions to research first. Before putting out the bucks – I really wanted to make sure we got not only the most reliable product, but the fastest router we could find (our house is stacked from floor to rafters with wireless gadgets, lol!).
Can you get Dual Band Wireless N, both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz at the same time from one router? Is a dual band router twice as fast? Let’s find out!
Just about everyone who has multiple computers in their home have a wireless router. Most of those people bought theirs on a recommendation from [insert big box store here]. For most people these routers do their job and don’t give there “operator” any problems until it clunks out and you buy a new one. Well why not get educated on the new guy in the router game, IEEE 802.11n-2009, also known by its common name, “Wireless N”. The best way to take advantage of this technology are dual band routers as two is always better than one, right?
First off, if you go by CNET reviews (and I always do), no dual band wireless N router currently has above a 3 out of 5 rating, which if you’re not familiar with their system is only ‘good’. Okay, now that is out of the way, I rarely go with new technology or recommend it to others until it is completely fool-proof. I think that it just may be getting there now. Here are my recommendations of the best Dual-Band Wireless N routers.
Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station 802.11n ($175, although you could get it cheaper) – Don’t call me crazy until you have read all the features this little Apple that could offers. It has all the features of comparable features of routers of this type, but offer the ease that apple offers with all their products. If you run a mixed mac and pc network this router is perfect, if you however run all windows machines then you can find something a little cheaper with all the same features (it just may not be as fast). Believe it or not, you can use this Apple product as a router – even if you have no Apple computers in your house (it works just fine with Windows). This is a “true dual band” wireless N router, meaning it won’t make you choose between 2.5 and 5 GHz – you can actually use both. It will support printers and network storage, but it’s pick about USB external hard drives. It only supports 50 clients, which is more than enough for most households, just be forewarned there is a limit. Bottom line, I think most Windows users (advanced ones) will want more features).
| Apple Airport Extreme wireless router | |
 | USD 125.00 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2010-03-16 04:38:14 |
| Apple AirPort Extreme Wireless Router | |
 | USD 50.00 (7 Bids) End time: 2010-03-11 20:59:33 |
| Apple AirPort Extreme Wireless-N Router | |
 | USD 61.00 (3 Bids) End time: 2010-03-11 23:04:48 |
| Apple AirPort Extreme MB053LL/A WiFi g / n router | |
 | USD 30.00 (1 Bid) End time: 2010-03-12 05:20:05 |
Linksys WRT400N ($120-149.99 just look around) – In our home we have almost exclusively used Linksys routers since we got our first high speed internet connection many years ago. They have always been easy to use and maintain and have that weird little purple-blue look to them. Well the WRT400N sports a new design but works as well as you would a expect a Linksys should. This router has true dual band support, but no Gigabit or USB support. The 5 GHz speed is a bit lacking.
| Linksys Dual Band Wireless N Router WRT400N Simultaneou | |
 | USD 74.99 (87 Bids) | Buy It Now End time: 2010-03-16 23:43:47 |
| Linksys WRT400N Ultra RangePlus Router Dual-Band N | |
 | USD 49.00 (12 Bids) End time: 2010-03-11 20:13:33 |
| LINKSYS WRT400N Wireless N Dual Band Router L@@K! | |
 | USD 26.00 (10 Bids) End time: 2010-03-12 21:44:40 |
| Linksys WRT400N Router | |
 | USD 65.00 (1 Bid) End time: 2010-03-13 08:06:34 |
Linksys WRT610N ($160.99-199.99 again look around) – This one is the next model up from the previous Linksys. The routers only major complaint is that the warranty is too short. Sounds like a good problem to have, meaning at least the complaints were performance related. The router offers a single mode, mix mode and simultaneous mode for sending the signal out. It support both 2.5 GHz and 5.0 GHz at the same time. You can attach storage devices to it, and on this one the mixed-mode throughput could be better. Other than that, it may be the best of the bunch, especially if you have external storage you want to make wireless.
| Linksys Dual N Band Wireless Router - WRT610N 802.11n ! | |
 | USD 129.99 (217 Bids) | Buy It Now End time: 2010-03-16 15:25:22 |
| Linksys Simultaneous Dual-Band Router WRT610N | |
 | USD 109.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2010-03-12 06:41:36 |
| Linksys WRT610N Wireless Router w/ NSD and N Speeds | |
 | USD 99.00 (0 Bid) End time: 2010-03-12 16:11:00 |
| Linksys Dual-N Band Wireless Router WRT610N NEW NR | |
 | USD 147.50 (13 Bids) End time: 2010-03-12 20:03:15 |
I know most of these routers are more expensive than most routers you will find at Wal-Mart but as they say, you gotta pay for quality. One final note if your computer, laptop or wireless capable device is only wireless G compliant you have a few choices. First you could just stick with what you have as your new wireless N router does accept all incoming signals. Next you could buy wireless n adapters which are usb enabled, work as they should and are relatively expensive. The final choice is yours, the consumer.
Need a Blu-Ray player, but don’t want or need the gaming aspect of the Playstation 3? The Samsung BD-P3600 one of the highest rated non-PS3 Blu-Ray players on the market. The features on this player are a laundry list of what you will need to never leave your couch again. According to CNET (the holy grail of tech reviews) “The Samsung BD-P3600 is a huge leap ahead for standalone Blu-Ray players with blazing-fast operational speed, tons of features and excellent image quality.” Well let’s see if this player reaches its potential, or lags back like the rest of standalone players.
The player claims to boast a new innovative Video Quality Enhancement (QVE) feature that further improves the picture quality by adjusting brightness, flickering and other visual “noise”. While this sounds like an awesome feature it really only goes so far to improve video quality. This feature is clearly targeting videophiles but most videophiles have manually tweaked their settings anyways. This is not a mark down, but a heads up.
Besides the QVE this player really shines when you see all the options for viewing your media. First it has your Blu-Ray player, which benchmarks of the loading times met or came close to the industry leader, PS3. Next, it has a Netflix instant streaming player, which in term of performance works only slightly as well PS3’s Netflix player. It also has a Pandora player but it feels tacked on and load times are on the slow side. Finally, the player offers the ability to stream content from your pc. Once again the feature seems tacked on and is only there so Samsung can say “look what we did!”
I really wanted to like this player. It seems like for everything it does right, it does two things wrong. If you are in the market for a Blu-Ray player or you are looking to upgrade, get a ps3. Its really easy and it offers all the features of this player and much more, but it does it all much better.
Final Rating is a 6.5/10
As a Sprint subscriber the news of the HTC Hero Android Phone was like a wet dream. The first android phone to be offered on sprint could have been the biggest phone news of the year. The bad news, for me, was that I just recently locked myself into a brand new 2 year contract with the purchase of the Palm Pre in July. I want this phone for myself, but let’s see if good enough to ignore my brand new 2 year contract.
This phone is nearly identical to the T-Mobile MyTouch, which we reviewed earlier this year. That is not a bad thing as the T-Mobile MyTouch is one of the best look android phones on the market. The device its self is about half an inch thick and weighs about 4.5 ounces, which is also known as smaller than the iPhone! The phone, as previously mentioned, sports the Android OS and also includes HTC’s Sense user interface which helps you customize every aspect of the phone. Generally speaking we do not like phones that include special proprietary software but the Sense works so very well that we are willing to make an exception. The phone has a super responsive touch screen with multi-touch.
This phone simply just works and it works well. You have up to seven home screens and can create shortcuts for apps, folders, widgets and anything else your heart desires. The touch keyboard works surprisingly well with great accuracy and auto-correcting. There are a few surprising features that work very well including Flash Lite in the web browser. Speaking of the web browser, it works well. There are although there are some long loading times for flash, but unlike most phones it includes it nativity. The android market continues to improve and currently offers well over 10,000 apps to choose from! The 5.0 megapixel camera was just okay, the pictures had some blurring and was very hard to focus most of the time.
The phone is $180 with a contract, which if you’re on sprint and are coming up on a chance for a new phone, this may be the very best option available on the market. Despite the camera, the features this phone offer are fantastic and this phone is a great addition to new Smartphone’s that offer the Android OS. This is the first Android phone on Sprint and is one of the best phones available on the network.
Rating 9.5/10
Believe it or not, the keyboard and mouse are outdated. I mean, come one – I’m 40 years old and I’ve been using a keyboard and mouse since I think 1981. That’s 28 years, and only two things have improved. One – my mouse is now cordless. And two, it no longer has a ball or trackpad – now it has a little laser light for tracking.
The only improvement in all this time has been touchscreens, which are no better since basically it’s just a single finger at a time. I’ve been waiting for a lot of things a very long time – things that I’ll probably never see in this lifetime. Like flying cars, jet packs, and vacations on the damn moon (or a trip to mars).
We’ve all seen that idiot Tom Cruise in “Mission Impossible” where he puts his fingers in the air and grabs shit and moves it all around in some kind of crazy air/windows/keyboard mess. If that crap was real it’s would just be a carpal tunnel lawsuit waiting to happen. I’m going to show you the future, right friggin’ now. A future where windows is actually IMPROVED – where you use all 10 fingers and not a shitty one-finger mouse. I mean for god’s sake – who’s idea was it to just have one damn pointer on your desktop anyway?! Nobody ever thought to experiment with two mice so you could have one for each hand. A damn Xbox or Playstation controller has more features than a modern mouse.
Anyway – watch this video. If you aren’t amazed I’ll be shocked. Be prepared – it IS 6 minutes, but it’s worth your time, because it shows the future. The future with no mice and a flat surface that you use ALL 10 FINGERS on to interact with the computer. Now only would the paradigm of computing change for the first time in 30 years if this were to become reality, but imagine – just imagine how the future of gaming and entertainment could change on the PC as well!
Hack a Palm Pre Wifi hot spot router? Yes!
Remember back when the Palm Pre debuted at CES and one of the major announced features was the ability to tether via USB cable or Bluetooth? Well a few weeks before the Pre came out sprint quietly removed the feature from the website and no reason was given. Well as they say “if there is a will, there is a way” and the almighty Palm Pre community has given its rebuttal to sprints actions and boy is it a big one. So here is the most recent way to turn your palm pre into a “MiFi Hot Spot”.
First you have to make a decision that is going to affect your wallet. If you so choose (although it isn’t required to complete the hack) you can pay a ten dollar donation fee and get an automatic 2.0 installer to complete everything for you. If you’re tight on cash, (what has two thumbs and hates to spend money? This Guy.), then you can download the manual 1.5 version and do everything the old fashioned way. In this tutorial I will be doing the free version. Maybe sometime in the near future I will do the 2.0 installer, because it does come with some extra features ala WEP encryption and also cancels the screen from automatically shutting off and therefore ending your connection.
STEP 1
First, you will need to make sure you have Java 6 or higher installed and you will also need to have Virtual Box installed as well. I know it may seem like a waste now; it will come in handy in just a few minutes.
STEP 2
Next, you need to go register for the Palm Pre SDK at Palm.com. You will need to follow the link in the email they send you so make sure you give a valid email address. Follow the link and download the SDK for you operating system. This download contains the files need to hack your Palm Pre.
STEP 3
Once all three things are downloaded you will need to put your Palm Pre into developer mode. To do this you need to make sure all your cards are closed and begin typing ‘upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart’. You will see a pop-up that says “Developer Mode Enabler”, tap that and slide it from ‘off’ to ‘on’. A dialogue will ask you to reset your phone, say yes and go get yourself a snack because the Pre isn’t known for the quickest reboots.
STEP 4
Once your phone is reset you will need to download novaterm1.zip and unzip it to the C:\Program Files\Palm\SDK\bin. If you’re under a different operating system or you installed the SDK to somewhere else then find it and unzip it to that location. Now you need to connect the phone to your computer via usb cable and on your phone select just charge when it pops up.
STEP 5
Open up a command prompt and type
cd “\Program Files\Palm\SDK\bin”
Next you need to enter
novacom -t open tty://
Your command prompt will go to the root@castle. Okay to some this maybe intimidating but if you follow the directions carefully then everything should go just fine.
STEP 6
Now in your root@castle command prompt you need to enter
wget -qO- http://mytether.net/install.php | /bin/sh
This command will download and install the 1.5 MyTether software directly to your palm pre. Go to your apps and you will see a “My Tether” application has now appeared. Open the app and enable tethering my turning the button to on and use DHCP when the app asks you.
STEP 7
Now this is the easiest (and most fun) step of all: Enjoy the fruits of you labor! On your computer select “AoNet” as your wireless network. It should connect in mere seconds. If not reset your computer and phone. You can connect to multiple devices to your Palm Pre because you just hacked yourself a wireless “MiFi” router!
Please post any and all questions in the comments section and we will accommodate you as soon as possible. Also if you enjoyed this and want more palm pre articles, let us know in the comments section!
I’ve had a lot of inquiries recently about free iPhone apps, so I wrote this short little post about the top free ones I could find. Top free iPhone Apps
Number : eBay Mobile
Who doesn’t use eBay this days? I mean its a fast, and free way to shop for other people’s crap. Well I now you can do it from your iPhone anywhere, anytime. Now you have no excuse for losing an auction again!
Number : SaveBenjis
With the state of today’s economy everyone is a bargain shopper. With SaveBenjis you can now compare prices of any item where ever you are. Just enter the name of the product and this apps shoots back the prices of the big guys like Walmart, Best Buy, and Amazon, but it also shoots back small retailers as well!
Number : Mocha VNC Lite
Now this app is awesome. This free app allows you to control you PC from your iPhone! The setup is easy and it even allows you to control your mouse and keyboard. You might want to only using this one on your home network for security reasons.
Number: Pandora Radio
Its no secret that iPhone lacks an FM Tuner. Its also no secret that most people wish it did. No pandora isnt a radio replacement but it comes pretty damn close and for that reason alone this app had to make the list. The streaming is good over the cell network but this little guy proforms best on wifi.
Number: SportsTap
This is the best sports score app in the app store, hands down. It features up to the minute scores, box scores, transactions, big news, and features 15 different leagues to choice from ranging from baseball to NASCAR. It even using the GPS to show the scores for your hometown teams!
Number: Yelp
Yelp using your current GPS location or a specific city to show to find local businesses. It gives detailed business information like address, phone number, pricing level and user ratings and reviews. The app also allows you to make direct calls by tapping the number for the business!
Number: iProcrastinate Mobile
This task manager makes completing everything on time a breeze. Now if it only did the task for you! There is also a desktop version which syncs with the iPhone version to make sure your always on top of things!
Number: AIM
Never miss an Aol Instant Message again with AIM mobile. This app is just as feature rich as the its desktop counter part and even allows you to send sms messages! Why have a text message plan when this is free!
These aren’t all the free apps available, just a small few of my favorites. Use the comment section to post your favorites!
