Electronic Gadgets and Gear

I've decided to switch sites. I'm leaving this old one up, without a redirect, so it can serve as an archive. Here's some of the sitewide changes I'm making (some of this gets into the technical aspects, so if you're not into that, skip straight to the new site).

There will be a totally new theme, and less clutter. I think it's an interesting theme, and it's time to change.
There will be more control over my blog and the posts. The spam has gotten out of control here, and it's difficult to control on Nucleus. I'm switching to Wordpress, which has more than enough plugins to help me control spam. Wordpress will also allow me to have more control within the post. Notice how there are no buttons here that make the list nice and orderly? There would be if this post was done in Wordpress.
The life category is going bye-bye for now. I may resurrect it in the future, but it's the most difficult to come up with topics.
There will be subdomains. Instead of the absolutely ridiculous toastthetrends.com/blogs/electronics... it will be Electronics.ToastTheTrends.Com Much easier to type in.

I've been in the dark ages with a cell phone for a long time now. See, I hate contracts, and I'll do whatever I can to avoid them. But that usually means that I have a cheap, crappy cell phone that is like carrying a brick, and leaks so much radiation into my skull that I'm certain to have a brain tumor by the time I'm forty. Besides, I really don't use a cell phone all that much. I just don't see the need for my to get locked into a 2 year contract for a cool phone I'll rarely use.

I recently signed on with Kajeet, and I love it. It's a cell phone service that's meant primarily for kids, but I consider myself a kid at heart, so I think it counts. Anyway, the phone I chose was an LG Rumor. I love it. The bottom of it slides out, and has a full QWERTY keyboard. I'm able to use a Google Maps feature, and that's already come in handy. It's on the Sprint network, so there's a pretty good range there. The hardest part has been to get my favorite mp3s as ringtones, but there's some walkthrough's available out there.

I'm telling everyone I know about this one, because it's so cool. World of Goo is the best game ever made. Bold claim, I know. But I stand by it. Building off the old Lemmings type game where you get something from point A to point B while avoiding pitfalls, this game builds on it in ways you could never imagine. It throws in a lot of physics (no, you don't have to be a science whiz to play), some cool music, and Tim Burton-esque graphics that will absolutely amaze you. If you're not convinced, go to their site, download the demo, and I bet you'll decide to come back here to buy it before you even finish the first level.

At $20, this is an very inexpensive game, and it works with PC and Mac, or is available on WiiWare.

This is my favorite GPS. I like the street view that resembles the actual street. I think it's just a bit easier to understand, and it makes for a really nice looking display.

Yesterday, I went to Best Buy, and their Christmas sale started early. They are offering Wii Consoles for about $250. Now, while I was there, I heard one of the workers say to a man in the store that Nintendo controls the price, so they are not going to go any lower. That doesn't surprise me. But I will be very surprised if almost every store out there doesn't match this price before Christmas. And personally, I like shopping better online anyway. It's easier, and because there's no lines, you don't end up hating Christmas.

Beginning next week and running through Christmas Eve, I will be presenting a gift idea each day. These will give you some ideas on what to get various family members. I will try and make sure I've got something for everyone, and you'll have such a wide range of choices that it will be difficult to decide.

Okay, I found a really cool gadget that I think you guys will love as much as I do. The
xshot
lets you take photos of yourself easily. If you're anything like me, you always seem to want to grab a photo of yourself with someone else, but there's nobody to hold the camera. After all, you want them in the pic too! Well, this is like an extension arm for a camera. Put it on there, and you've got an additional reach. Plus, it's not hard to angle the camera in such a way so that this doesn't show up in any of the pics. Naturally, that would kind of ruin the effect.

And don't worry- it's very lightweight, so you can hold it out extended away from yourself without worrying about losing your grip on that expensive digital camera of yours. Cool, huh?

I'll admit it- I'm next to clueless about the Nintendo GameCube System. I mean, Playstation 3, Wii, and XBox get all the attention. That being said, I have to believe that's for a reason. Wii has the family niche, XBox gets the hardcore gamers, and Playstation 3 does a good job of bridging the gap. But where does Nintendo's Gamecube fit in? I'm not saying it's a horrible system. I don't know enough about it to make that claim. Just that it's really hard to live up to the other choices out there right now, and that maybe, although the others cost a bit more, they might be worth it.

Okay, okay. So the PlayStation Portable (PSP) Value Pack probably shouldn't count as a console. I mean, it's not even close. But I'm counting it anyway.

The PlayStation Portable (PSP) Value Pack is a portable gaming system, along the lines of the old portable Nintendo handhelds that everyone used to have. Except that it's so much cooler! It's got wireless internet, video and digital music playback, and data storage. In short, it does pretty much everything that people want a wireless handheld device to do.

I'll admit it- I don't know a huge amount about the Xbox Core Console USM. But from what I do know, if you're a serious gamer, you need this system. And the DVD playback ability makes it just that much better.

That being said, if you're not into war, horror, or sports games, I'm not sure this is the best system for you. There are better ones for that.

The PlayStation 3 is, like its name implies, the third incarnation of the Playstation series. I'll be honest-I've always been partial to the Playstation. The first one was kind of like the Apple is to the PC. It was an alternative to the Nintendo. The second one was just a world-class system. Man, I had so much fun playing different games on there, and there was a huge selection to choose from. And now, with the third-awesome!

A Wii
is one of the hottest game consoles out there. It's interesting, because it seems to be geared more towards families and younger kids, rather than going for the teen gamer group. This is such a unique marketing decision, although I have no idea if it was intentional. By targeting that, they are getting a lot of people who like playing games, but who aren't quite in that 14-25 year old male gamer group, that is so obsessed with the horror or war genres. Very creative decision, and one that I think definitely makes them stand apart.

No, really. Go. I'll wait. ;)

This camera belt looks like an ordinary belt. It's not. It holds a tiny pinhole camera, which allows you to take photos. Interesting idea for spies, but I've got a question. What I want to know is how useful it is. Are you going to take crotch shots of everyone? If you get in a concert wearing this, you certainly won't have photos of the band. You'll have shots of some guy's ass.

Interesting idea, lousy follow-through.

I'm trying out some software right now called Dragon naturally speaking 10. I received the software and wanted to give it a try. I'm still getting used to being able to write my blog posts with it, so please bear with me.

I'm using a noise canceling microphone, which is nice, because my kids are out of school today, I've got a fountain going in the background, and there's a lot of street noise. Dragon NaturallySpeaking has no trouble distinguishing between my voice and those noises.

I she can see from the screenshot undertaking, it's got a bit of a lack, and every now and then it makes a mistake, but all in all, not bad. You can go for yourself and keep it.

You can also take the Dragon NaturallySpeaking typing test. I did, and it told me that 41 accuracy of. I could increase my speed Ypres formation ..

If you've been seeing how well the voice recognition software works, give it a try, easier to handle your blogs in the long run. Especially when you have as many as I do.
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Now here's what I really said-

I'm trying out some software right now called Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10. I received this software and wanted to give it a try. I'm still getting used to being able to write my blog posts with it, so please bear with me.

I'm using a noise canceling microphone, which is nice, because my kids
are out of school today, I've got a fountain going in the background, and there's a lot of street noise. Dragon Naturally Speaking has no trouble distinguishing between my voice and those noises.

As you can see from the screenshot I'm taking, it's got a bit of a lag, and every now and then it makes a mistake, but all in all, not bad. You can go for yourself and read the New York Times Review of it.

You can also Take the Dragon NaturallySpeaking typing test! I did, and it told me that at 41 words a minute with a 65% accuracy, I could increase my speed by 373%. Wow!

If you've always been interested in seeing how well a voice recognition software works, give it a try. Though it takes some training, it makes it easier to handle your blogs in the long run. Especially when you have as many as I do.

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Now, like I said, there's a few mistakes in there. I strongly suspect that the more I use it, the more it will learn my voice, and make fewer mistakes. So far, I'm not sure what I think. It's got a fairly steep learning curve, but just the idea of being able to go through my posts at nearly 150 words a minute is intriguing. Part of what's so daunting about updating my blogs is that it takes such a long time to type everything out. And when you figure that I've got 15+ sites that I update, that's excruciating trying to get to each one every day. Especially at 41 words a minute.

I suppose the long and short of it is that I'll continue to play with it, and I expect to see the accuracy increase. I know I've got a strange little accent, and I can see how it would be confusing to a computer that can't pick up what I'm saying from the context.