Steve Jobs

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs has passed away today at the age of 56. Visit www.apple.com today to see Apple's tribute to its revolutionary CEO.

Here are some of Apple's inventions:

The original Macintosh, introduced on January 24, 1984. The start of Apple's success: the first commercially successful personal computer to use a graphical user interface.

The current generation iMac, what the Macintosh has evolved into, and possibly the world's most well-designed PC.

The original iPod, which had a mechanical click-wheel, and revolutionized the mp3 market.

The current-generation iPod Touch: what the original iPod evolved into over the course of many years. The iPod Touch is hundreds of times more powerful than the original $3000 Macintosh.

The Apple Newton, which didn't do so well, but was much ahead of its time, a revolutionary device that led to the development of many modern Apple devices.

The Apple iPad 2: the culmination of years of revolutionary products and a creation that is like nothing the tech world has had before.

While Steve has passed on, his ideas will live on as Apple.

_______________________
╔════╗ Remember Steve Jobs
║███║             (1955-2011)
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║   (o)  ║
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Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro Review

I have recently gotten an unlocked Xperia X10 Mini Pro and I decided to do a quick review on it.

Overview:
The emphasis of this phone is its tiny size. Despite its minuteness, it is still a very capable phone.This phone runs Android 2.1 and has 128 mb of RAM. It uses the same 600 mhz processor which is used in the HTC Aria and Legend. But, this phone has a QVGA display, rather than a HVGA display. While this sounds like it would be a bad thing, the lower resolution isn't very noticeable on a display that is only 2.55 inches large. The plus side is that the lower resolution gives higher performance from the processor. Other features include a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and an LED flash, as well as a 3.5 mm headset jack. This phone also has a qwerty keyboard with well-spaced keys.

Performance:
As I previously stated, the QVGA display works wonders for the performance of this tiny little phone. It scores over 500 in Quadrant, and gets around 40 fps in Neocore. This is almost as high as the HTC Desire, a high end phone with a 1ghz Snapdragon processor. With custom ROMs, you can achieve up to an 1100 score in Quadrant.

Features and Build Quality:
This phone is packed with all the standard smartphone features, including a qwerty keyboard, a capacitive touchscreen, and a high-quality 5 megapixel camera. The keyboard is very pleasant to use and it is easy to type without looking at.  Here is a sample image taken with this phone.

Verdict:
This phone is a great, affordable Android device. It's perfect for those who want a smartphone that is compact and quick. If you want a powerful and easy to use device, this is likely it. However, this is not much of a multimedia phone. It does a great job with music and the occasional Youtube video, but don't expect to be watching movies or tv shows on this device. If you don't care for a physical keyboard, you can go for the Xperia X10 Mini, which will save you some money and is a little thinner.

New iPods!!!

Apple announced three new iPods today!

The first of which is a new iPod touch. It has a gyro sensor, retina display, and two cameras. It also now has Apple's A4 processor.

Another updated iPod is the iPod Nano. It has a multi-touch touch screen, a clip, and is a lot smaller.

The iPod Shuffle has actually stepped back in time and gained physical buttons. But this time around, the Shuffle has voice-over. Only a 2gb version is available.

Mass Effect on PS3!

   It's official, Mass Effect 2 is coming to the PS3 in January 2011! I find this odd, because Mass Effect 3 is also set to be released next year, so maybe ME2 will be a PSN download? Microsoft has announced that ME1 will remain an Xbox exclusive.

Droid 2 Advertisement!!!

I found this ad for the Motorola Droid 2 in a Verizon advertising supplement, and I thought I'd share it.

Here are the pictures:

For the record, the ad is dated for August 8th, 2010.

Thinksound Rain Review: Wood sounds good!

I have just recently purchased a pair of earbuds called Thinksound Rain. The motive behind this product is getting great sound from an environmentally friendly set of earbuds. Did I mention that they're made of wood? I purchased the cherry-silver version shown above, but there is also a walnut-black version.
The picture above shows the Thinksound Rain earphones in walnut-black and the Thinksound TS01 earphones in cherry-silver. The Rain earphones are higher end and have 9 millimeter drivers, and the TS01s have more bass due to their 10 millimeter drivers. The Rains are better for music such as pop, light rock, jazz, etc., while the TS01s are for bass-heavy rock, Hip-hop, etc.
My take:
These earphones sound great, and anyone looking for amazing sound quality will be pleased. At first, the Rains sounded really bad, but I suspected it was the fault of my mp3s. Sure enough, when I listened to some OGG and FLAC files online, the earphones sounded amazing! I listened to some hip-hop, and I didn't notice any lack of bass. But, if you're one of those people who want's their teeth to rattle when listening to music, these are not for you. Since these earphones are made of wood, they look very classy and are lightweight. The silicone tips provide a decent amount of passive noise-cancellation, when you make sure to use the perfect size.
In the box:
The Rains come with a cotton pouch, a clip to attach the cord to your shirt, and four sets of differently sized silicone tips. Watch my unboxing video here. These are $100 on the Thinksound website, but sell for about $50 on Amazon.

The Verdict:
If you want a nice-sounding, affordable pair of earphones, definitely pick these up. Since these are made of wood, they have a rich sound and look really unique.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Review

The newest game in the Battlefield series is Bad Company 2. Despite Modern Warfare 2's supremacy, can BC2 put up a fight? Read on to find out.
Storyline:
The story of BC2 is nothing new: there's about to be World War III, and a small group of soldiers need to stop that from happening. But this is not why you would buy this game. Multiplayer is where it's at.
Gameplay:
As I mentioned, Campaign is nothing to be excited about, but Multiplayer is the bomb! Great maps, weapons, and a huge selection of vehicles. The HUD is good, and the health system is quite balanced.
Weapons and Vehicles:
Weapons are cool and there are different classes for each type of player:
Medic: a Light Machine Gun and a Defibrillator
Assault: an Assault Rifle and a barrel-mounted grenade launcher or shotgun
Engineer: a Sub Machine Gun and an RPG
Recon: a Sniper Rifle and C4
Vehicles are extremely varied. There's pretty much everything except jets or planes. There are a lot of vehicle scenes in campaign.
The Verdict:
This seems like the FPS of the year (if SOCOM 4 doesn't beat it out). If you think Modern Warfare 2 is all you need, you're wrong. Both games are completely different experiences, and both are a must buy.