PNY 128GB flash drive

May 20th, 2013 — 4:53pm written by Ram Uppugunduri

The PNY 128GB flash drive is on sale at Best Buy. It was listed at $149.99, but right now it is sold for $59.99. I think it is pretty good complimentary backup storage to Microsoft Surfaces.

1 comment - Latest comments by:
  • Doug Simmons: How the eff do they cram 1,099,511,627,776 bits into one of those things? Science, crazy shit.

1 comment » | 140, Windows Tablets

FIFA 14 To Be Revealed At Xbox Event Tomorrow

May 20th, 2013 — 3:11pm written by Ramon Trotman

Fifa 14 To Be Revealed At Xbox Event Tomorrow

We’ve seen this before, with the launch of the Xbox 360, EA pointed out one platform was a bit more advance to them, which is ultimately where they went as the go to platform to develop. And yes, that was the xbox 360, this time around, it looks like the trend continues as EA outs this teaser for the new FIFA 14.

But, its not only EA who seemingly choose their platform of choice, the new Call Of Duty Ghost is to be revealed tomorrow at the event as well. Why the exclusives for cross platform games? Interesting stuff, one thing is for sure, tomorrow will be a huge day for Xbox fans! Stay tuned!

Fifa 14 To Be Revealed At Xbox Event Tomorrow 2

1 comment - Latest comments by:
  • Doug Simmons: Man you really love video games.. And sneakers..

1 comment » | Gaming

Sony Teases New PS4 Design

May 20th, 2013 — 11:45am written by Ramon Trotman

Sony Teases New PS4 Design

After Sony’s big announcement, some walked away a bit down because they didn’t show what the actual console would look like. Not that I care, but it would have been nice to see what design queues Sony came up with.

Now, just a day before Microsoft’s big reveal, son outs a teaser video to hopefully keep you from slipping too far into Xbox’s web. Check out the short video below.

3 comments - Latest comments by:
  • ramon: im sure GTA will stir up the pot again, the problem is, people piss up a storm about gta and ...
  • ramon: Nintendo is in deep trouble! they released what is equivalent to an iphone 4S... right when people wanted an ipone ...

3 comments » | Gaming

TTL Ep. 43: Google IO 2013, WOW!

May 20th, 2013 — 11:29am written by Ramon Trotman

43

On episode 43 of That’s The Lifestyle, we cover Google’s sprawling 4 hour keynote. Specifically some of the more exciting topics, Google really went all out this year! Not to mention, some of the announced features were available same day.

8 comments - Latest comments by:
  • Sean D.: Well at this point the only company doing what you're saying is Microsoft. You can get their apps on all ...
  • Doug Simmons: Regarding my wanting to brag about Google and their phone-related achievements, the goal post for me in that regard is ...

8 comments » | Android

Beware: Gmail Send Money fine print is VERY tl;dr (so is this article..)

May 20th, 2013 — 10:59am written by Doug Simmons

sexy-chick-playing-the-bagpipes-and-some-old-dude_smallUnless you’re a dirty hippie living off the grid, growing ‘shrooms and playing the bagpipes all day (which you also resourcefully use to rip bingers when you’re out of Zigzags), you’ve heard about how you can now attach money to Gmail to send cash to anyone with an email address, 100% free for both you and the recipient if you use your bank account or a 2.9% take from Google if you use plastic (though still free for the recipient, who can use any email service he or she wants). You may have even thought how that’s a pretty sweet deal and wondered if the Paypal crew has upped their Valium dose in light of this hot competition.

My guess is they probably have upped their dose a few millies (at least those who favor Valium over, say, nitrazepam which as you know is the primo stuff), however, while Google has a lovely font on their sales pitch page, they reduce its size by a good (and by good I mean Evil) 25% to link you to the TOS with a mouseover popup that tells you “So you just had to look for fine print, didn’t you, dee-bag… well fine, knock your socks off, hope your schedule’s wide open, better crush up some Ritalin, and if you don’t like these terms then go live off the grid and smoke bagpipe bongs,” a link only second in obscurity to their privacy page (not kidding). Watch, I’m blowing the lid of this whole damn thing (or just skip down to the bullet points).

And that’s for just the elegant FAQ page, not the extremely tl;dr TOS page which you have to sign in with a Google account just to read – lolwut? Well screw that, not only is that messed up, semi-secret conditions of a major product launch, half of our readers don’t admit to having Google accounts so I’m making a local copy here for you guys, PDF link. Sue my ass Google, information wants to be free (or just 2.9% extra if you use plastic)! That was a joke Google, no need to sue my ass, just put a cease and desist in the comments.

Warning, it’s long as hell and there’s a zero percent chance you’ll actually read it (a 32% chance you’ve even made it this far through my article). But in Google’s defense it is least 25% shorter than Paypal’s TOS; however one could argue that Paypal is concealing less information or is being less cryptic or offers more serves; regardless, that that should not be interpreted necessarily as Paypal having more “fine print” in the figurative sense per se. It’s doubtful that either service would want to make things any less appealing to you than the various laws out there force them to. Google probably used Paypal’s as a reference when writing their own. If you do actually read Google’s TOS (I just read the FAQ), let me know if there’s anything in there prohibiting people like me from bootlegging their TOS. Also, it’s not just one document, their TOS refers to more TOS documents, like this sucker.

I will at least leave you with sample takeaways from their FAQ and a few from their TOS. In short, yes this looks like a huge threat to Paypal and no I cannot think of any reason why I would continue using Paypal in light of Google’s new service (other than a lack of money, not to mention bad credit, to send people anything). But, for starters, here you go, les bullet points:

  • United States only.
  • Both senders and recipients must go through the motions of signing up for a Google Wallet account.
  • That process includes, as is mandated by some law, confirming your identity somehow (Google suggests possibly by providing your social or something along those lines, Paypal does it by making you confirm a micro-deposit in your bank account I think).
  • While sending money directly from your bank account is free, it, unlike using plastic or your Google Wallet balance which again costs 2.9% but no additional transaction fee like Paypal, “could take up to several days.” I do not know if you can charge up your Google Wallet balance for free with your bank account and how long that takes.
  • Transferring money from your Google Wallet to your bank account, once you’ve hooked that up, a “few” days.
  • Daily transfer limit of $10K (to make you feel stupid, Google subsequently notes that there is a 5-day cap of $50K), so you’re SOL, high rollers. Gotta send at least $0.30 per transaction, so that means I’m getting a raise, right Smith?
  • Perhaps worst of all, you have to use that new, weird Gmail compose “experience” they rolled out a few months ago – you know, the thing you mom called you hysterically to ask you help her turn off.
  • Google, in typical “beta mode” fashion, notes they may change everything whenever they want because they feel like it.
  • Google Wallet users are not insured by the FDIC or any other governmental agency and you will not collect interest (surprise).
  • If your bank or other third parties involved decide to tack on charges, that’s on you, not Google.
  • It’s on you if you screw up and send the wrong guy money, or you never get your shroom seeds, no refunds in this system through Google, that’s your problem.
  • If you think there’s an error that Google made, you had better tell them within 60 days and they give them selves and additional ninety days to figure things out and resolve disputes, plus an extra three days to tell you about it. What, cut them some slack, they’re busy with the robot cars.

At the tail end of all of this plus the million things I didn’t list, Google notes in all caps that whatever they may have left out of these terms, they disavow themselves of liability not legally imposed onto them, or something like that. It’s complicated, I’m obviously not a lawyer, just making a point that it’s not as simple as their cute video suggests but do feel that this looks like an awesome service that will contribute to consumers, I like almost anything that helps make money change hands and I also really like the idea of competition between Google and Paypal. And no, I do not know where you can score either ‘shroom seeds, bagpipe bongs or nitrazepam (protip, Tor).

Doug Simmons

3 comments - Latest comments by:
  • Doug Simmons: Hah you don't think I know that brah? You got trolled son! I went to Skidmore College, UVM was our ...
  • Matt Anderson: Shrooms dont grow from seeds. They come from spores. Ha! That may have been counter-intuitive to concealing my personal habits.

3 comments » | Editorials

Ruggedized Samsung Galaxy S4

May 20th, 2013 — 10:58am written by Ramon Trotman

Ruggedized Samsung Galaxy S4

Rumors of this Ruggedized Samsung Galaxy S4 have been flying around for sometime now, and here we have a leaked image. If nothing at all, I’d say it looks better than the normal version of the new Android king. How about that, the hard working man gets a good looking device for once!

No comments just yet

Reply » | Android

Mini Review: Targus Slim Stylus

May 19th, 2013 — 5:37pm written by Jim Szymanski

IMG_1691

Having used Palm Pilots and Pocket PCs for nearly a decade, you can call me a styli junkie. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t miss them. But when I see one I become a bit curious. I tried a capacitive stylus a couple years ago and found it to be very unresponsive. Figured it was time to give it another shot.

The Targus Slim Stylus is a tiny thing, measuring 4.375” long and about 0.25” across, not including the handy pocket clip (to store in your geeky pocket protector). Being a capacitive stylus, the target area is not as precise as a resistive stylus or one of those Wacom digitizer thingies. As a result, its use is somewhat limited, but I knew that before laying down my cash.

IMG_1689IMG_1690Targus-Closeup

 

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Reply » | Cool stuff, Reviews, Windows Phone, Windows Tablets

59% of market share stats are bullcrap

May 19th, 2013 — 3:45pm written by Doug Simmons

bullcrap.jpgDon’t you hate it when those all those pesky fanboys rub your nose in some stupid pie chart that’s obviously a bunch of bullcrap? According to this article from the Google OS blog, that pie chart probably is both stupid and packed with crap. Read up on that expose so that you can call these fanboys out with authority!

1 comment - Latest comments by:
  • herg62123: The remaining 41% are lies......lol

1 comment » | 140

Chrome minus Google equals Chromium (sort of)

May 19th, 2013 — 2:57pm written by Doug Simmons

chromium16We all know Chrome is the best, the fastest and the most popular browser in the world, that’s not news, however I am sensitive to the fact that many of you here, while you may love Chrome, do not want to get scroogled and spied upon; and were it not for all that scroogling, you’d use Chrome in a heartbeat. Well let me tell you quickly about Chromium because this may make your day: It’s the open-source counterpart to Chrome. Think of Chrome as Google wrapped around Chromium. Chromium’s logo is not colorful, it does not report crashes or other usage information to anyone, it does not include proprietary plugins and codecs by default (no built-in PDF and Flash, though supports Vorbis, Theora, WebM, AAC and MP3, plus NPAPI plugin support), no Google branding, no auto GoogleUpdate system and  its caching and profile is stored separately from any Chrome installation you might have.

There is no RLZ user tracking (phoning home): Chromium does not tell Google, or anyone, when install and on what, your preferences, logs of usage and crash details. There is no omnibox prediction autocomplete AJAX stream to Google of what you type and there is no URL discovery. Google has no greater ability to scroogle you if you were to use Chromium instead of Firefox or IE. As it is open-source, its code is in plain view to a large audience of developers making it highly unlikely Google could slip something in there to expose you to scroogling and get away with it for a brief period without heavy repercussions. As nothing under such public scrutiny exists for IE, you may use Chromium as your refuge from being both scroolged and banged (I just came up with that!).

Google holds it under the relatively permissive BSD license, making it possible for developers of dozens of Linux and UNIX derivatives to maintain community builds, compiled and in their repositories, and there are browsers available that are based on Chromium but with modifications that might appeal to you, also all open-source. You may access nightly binaries on Windows, OS X and Linux. Additionally, other official ports include Android and Chrome OS, as well as Chromium OS (I’ll save that one for another post). I’m a Chrome man myself but if Chromium appeals to you, you may grab it here if you’re a regular nerd or over here if you’re a hardcore nerd.

Doug Simmons

No comments just yet

Reply » | Android, Google Code

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. HTC One Comparison Videos

May 19th, 2013 — 12:33pm written by Ramon Trotman

Samsung_Galaxy_S4_vs_HTC_One

Samsung and HTC are locked in a battle for Android supremacy like we’ve never seen before. The Galaxy S4 over flowing with features, while the HTC One gives a premium experience that is hard to ignore. We put the two against each other in a three part comparison. Check out the videos below.

 

 

2 comments - Latest comments by:
  • JRDemaskus: I watched, that was a waste of time. Thanks
  • JRDemaskus: Sorry, no time now to watch videos. Would you just type it Please. Thanks

2 comments » | Android

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