Holiday Gift Guide 2014: Have a SUPER Monday With These Heroic Gift Ideas…

Posted on December 1, 2014 by geelw

Like it or not, you just can’t get away from superhero-themed gifts anymore. Most of us creaky adults who grew up with a TV in the house can probably recall those holidays and other special occasions where we got our favorite caped or non-caped hero (or villain!) in a box as an action figure or printed on some sort of common object that was now even more special.
This has pretty much always been a successful business for companies jumping on the licensing bandwagon, but the sheer amount of retailers stocking these goods today is staggering. This of course is good for you as a consumer because loads of choice means plenty of retailers socking it out for your hard earned shekels. Anyway, here are another bunch of cool items to spend your loot on and sure, you can get me something if you feel like it!
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Holiday Gift Guide 2014: Impulse Power!

Posted on November 29, 2014 by geelw

Can you believe it’s that time of year AGAIN? Well, I’ll be running a few of these guides over the next month that cover a few things from tech to games to food and anything else I can think of that won’t get me arrested. Read on and enjoy your consuming of mass quantities!

While big-ticket items are big business for plenty of manufacturers and retailers, it’s the small stuff you don’t usually think about that’s equally important. At least to my eyes. Sure, stuff like batteries, extra controllers and other no-brainer items are what most people think about (or don’t think about) when gifting a tech-related item. But some of the best products you may not have thought about at all are out there and sell themselves once seen and taken for a spin. Here’s a list of stuff I saw this year that’s practically guaranteed to get you reaching for your wallet whether you’re in line at a retailer or online in the comfort of your own home. Or office, as I know a lot of you shop when you’re supposed to be working (naughty, naughty!)…

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Random Art: Monday’s Not as Manic, But a Bit Chuggy…

Posted on November 24, 2014 by geelw

Hmmm. Things are moving NOW with the internet up here, but for about an hour or two it was slow and annoying. I had to reset my computer to make sure things weren’t mucking up on this end (they weren’t), but now things are mostly okay. The crazy news of the day is NYC is supposed to be transforming 10,000 former pay phone locations into public wi-fi hubs, which is stupendous news. Well, if you live in the wealthier areas of the city and its outer boroughs, that is. According to the New York Daily News, some poor neighborhoods (which have MORE people in them, by the way) getting these extremely helpful solutions are getting kneecapped slower service on their kiosks, a bad thing if you consider access to information comes in handy for less educated people who need to be up on things. Granted, it’s up to those communities to put a foot down and demand the same service the hipsters get, but we’ll see what happens when these stations start rolling out.

Anyway, the ~~lady~~, er, tree sketch above came from my head while I was waiting for the service here to kick back in. “Ar my seams straight?” Yeah, they’re fine, ma’am. Okay, now that things are back to “normal”, I need to get back to work!

I’ve Got The Power (Back!)…

Posted on November 21, 2014 by geelw

Okay, as annoying as this week has been for attempts to get work done, it almost got a wee bit too out of hand. Last night, I plugged in the laptop to tinker with a few posts (I’d forgotten to charge it the day before) and as I’m walking out of the room to make some coffee… I hear a loud “POP!” sound and turn around to see a wisp of smoke rising from near the computer. Gaaaah! Fortunately it wasn’t my laptop that fried, but the power cord on the adapter deciding to ruin my evening. Won-der-ful. Given that I only had about 9 minutes of power left, I decided to call it a night and head out in the morning to a few places around here to look for a replacement cord, hoping it wasn’t the actual power supply that blew out. Of course, being the technical ghetto up here in the wilds, the chances of finding a replacement quickly were slim, but it turns out I didn’t need to spend a dime.

I’d almost forgotten I have a duffel bag full of power adapters, AV cables and other replacement gear in a closet here and after the surprise visit from a painter this morning, I dug out that bag from a closet and spent a bit of time hoping I had the correct cord. Thankfully, I found not only one that matched that Mickey Mouse configuration, it’s also longer. Okay, now I need to get out of here and get back to work. I’m way behind schedule and I hate not being able to get work done that I need to when I want to. Oh, and that painter? Nope, it wasn’t for the kitchen at all, but the wall in my room that wasn’t exactly plastered that well and yup, she ONLY painted the spots that were plastered and not the entire wall which would have made more sense. *Sigh* Well, the entire apartment needs to be done at some point, but still…

Okay, time to get some stuff done, as today’s going to be a bit hectic with a bunch of downloads and uploads and game updates needing to be done. Back in a bit…

Holiday Gift Guide 2014: A Few Fun Things From the UK…

Posted on November 15, 2014 by geelw

For me, there’s something really cool about a lot of products made in the UK that makes them quite desirable. No, it’s not got anything to do with my current Doctor Who fascination, folks. I think it’s the fact that you can look at them and right away see exactly what they’re used for. I call it a form and functionality sense of design and in the case of well-made gear, it’s always fun to look at items and have that “click” thing happen in your head and a smile appear on your face.

Bayan Soundbook GO

Bayan Soundbook

Bayan Soundbook X3

Meeting Bayan Audio’s Cameron Wilson and Taylor Whittamore at the #getgeeked show a few weeks back was one of the highlights of my trip downtown. As soon as I saw their Soundbook line of wireless speakers, I smiled because they nailed the form/functionality thing perfectly right down to the name. Each model (Soundbook, Soundbook GO and Soundbook X3) features a simple open to play design and all are portable and ready to get your favorite music just about wherever you want it.

While each unit sounded fine up close and personal, it was a bit tough to hear how they performed at range thanks to the cacophony of noise from attendees and other exhibits (including a few competing speakers blasting away nearby). Still, what I did hear made me grin because I could only imagine how they sounded in a quieter room or outdoors on a fine day where they could be played at the perfect volume…

While it wasn’t at the event, Bayan also makes the Streamport Universal, a nice and compact device that allows users to turn any audio system with a 3.5mm or RCA audio input into a wireless audio system. I’ll just let you consider the possibilities there for a minute…

My finding out about this little wonder while poking around the Bayan Audio site really made me want to give one a try at some point. But we’ll see what the review deities say in a bit, I suppose… Continue reading →

Almost Back on Track… Well, Almost…

Status

Well, the kitchen is still a mess and next week another room is getting a wall repaired, but at least I feel a but better thanks to the folks at Pepcom and CES Unveiled this week. I saw some fun stuff to wrote about and you know I’m needing to get some proper work when the most exciting things I’ve seen in a while were a VERY cool raincoat, a baking scale, some lovely plant-growing kits and a phone from a company most Americans probably haven’t heard about but need to check out for a really cool phone that won’t break their wallets (or itself by bending into improbable banana shapes). Back with some plugs later today.

MAN CRATES Wants to Check Your Horror Scenario Survival Skills. There Just May Be a Test Later…

Posted on October 27, 2014 by geelw

Photo: MAN CRATES

Okay, given that the world is both looking like and turning into a real-life horror movie, it’s best to be well prepared for all sorts of emergencies. Fortunately, we have the fine folks at MAN CRATES (which always needs to be spelled in BOLD caps when written and yelled out loud when said, by the way) to help out in a pinch.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m not very much prepared for any disaster because I tend to avoid them by curling up under a few blankets and not looking out the window until it’s SO quiet that I hear nothing but the butterflies flitting by and the morning dew drying on the leaves seven floors below. But that’s no longer an option in this age of potential panic situations popping up without so much as a moment’s notice.

MAN CRATES to the rescue? Oh, yes indeed… Continue reading →

Microsoft’s Temporary Xbox One Price Drop is a Tempting Tease…

Posted on October 27, 2014 by geelw

If you were holding off buying that Xbox One because of the price point (despite the recent price cut to $399), Microsoft is making things a lot more tempting. While ACTUAL sales figures for the console (and yes, all other consoles) is a bit tricky to track down, those in the know know that Sony’s PlayStation 4 has sold at least 10 million units worldwide (a solid start, but that also means a lot more millions still own and play games on the PS3, particularly in Japan where the PS3 still outsells the PS4). Both Sony and Microsoft have to deal with one core factor with their new-generation systems in the fact that both the PS4 and Xbox One absolutely require a broadband connection in order to function out of the box if players want to take advantage of any online features… Continue reading →

Sunday Gives Me Both Barrels, But I’ll Be Quite Alright…

Posted on October 26, 2014 by geelw

(Thanks, John Thomas!)

And how was/is YOUR Sunday? Mine is pretty lousy at the moment, but pretty much everything’s fixable with some time and a bit of money. My home PC decided to flip out and not want to boot up properly, my backup solution isn;t working (thank goodness for the laptop), the connection today is super-slow, I accidentally broke the paper holder on one of the printers here (nothing a little glue can’t fix, but it was a total “DUH!” moment when it happened), my Logitech G15 finally died, I can’t find the driver CD for my gaming mouse, some of the plants I was growing decided to keel over thanks to the temperature changes this past week and I still need to get to that pile of laundry I was supposed to do last week, but kept putting off because of so many games coming in and me needing to get to them. Yaaaaah. There are a few other things going on as well, but those are for me to know and you to not find out.

(Thanks, DreamWorksTV!)

Eh, small world problems, but all happening around the same time makes for a REALLY annoying day. Eh, here’s a little laugh for you while I get back to trying to actually be something resembling “productive” today. Back in a bit…

Velvetwire Powerslayer: It’s The Little Things You Don’t Think About That Make The Most Sense…

Posted on October 25, 2014 by geelw

Until some of us see how much of it we actually use on a daily basis, we’re all energy hogs to some extent. Yep, I’ve bet you’ve bought plenty of devices in the past or plan to that require recharging and you probably don’t even think about how much energy you’re actually consuming and wasting when you’re charging (or overcharging) that new tech toy. Like it or not, all that wasted juice adds up on the cost front not only in your (increasing) electric bills, but in an overall effect on the environment. Yeah, yeah, you normally don’t think about that at all because your new device is SO cool that you can’t wait to show it off until it’s deemed “obsolete by the manufacturer and you rush out to replace it a year or so (or less) later. But the folks at Velvetwire want you to think outside a few boxes and get real about your power consumption and recharging needs… Continue reading →