GeekSugar

Website of the Day: Trip Kick

GeekSugar — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:00:29 -0700

Anyone not living under a rock these days usually goes to websites for hotels to stay in, but sometimes it's not enough to know that your hotel has a certain amount of stars before you go - don't you want to know about your room?

Trip Kick is the site that will tell you what rooms or floors to avoid for noise, traffic, or smoking, and will advise you which rooms are what you want, like corners with more space, so you can maximize your stay anywhere.

Trust me, you don't want to spend hundreds in a fancy hotel just to be on the ground floor facing some bodega's neon lights.

Tech Travel Tips to Remember Before You Leave the House

GeekSugar — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:40:45 -0700

Summer, Summer, summertime . . . time to kick back and unwind. At a new destination, hopefully. If you're one of the many embarking on a Summer trip, then I have a few travel tips for you. I've already covered the light, flight-friendly gadgets, and international travel gadget essentials, and now it's time to get to the all-important tips of things to do at home before you even take off.

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EA Sports Active 30 Day Challenge Update

GeekSugar — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:00:13 -0700

My 30 Day EA Sports Active challenge continues, and for those of you who left comments and feedback about your own experience with the challenge, I must say, I am already feeling many of the same things!

In the beginning, I was really skeptical that this game could actually get me sweating and burn calories, but as each workout ups the calorie-burning level, you are guaranteed to be sweating within the first 10 minutes. And although this game isn't full of a ton of cardio (there are some running exercises which incorporate knee-ups and kick-ups), you'd be surprised how many calories you burn while working your muscle groups (those jumps in the inline skating exercise kill!). EA Sports Active really increases your strength and helps you build muscle - something I failed to include in my previous trips to the gym.

To keep reading about my experience this past week, just read more.

This week was all about learning. Learning that I need to invest in a different resistance band for the exercises (the one provided is too weak for me so I don't get much resistance); learning to go with the pace of the instructor or else the Wiimote becomes unresponsive; and learning to breeze through instructional videos to shorten workout times. Have you learned any other tips or tricks?

Be sure to see how the Green Pixels crew are doing in the challenge as well!

Geeks We Love: Doug Aamoth of CrunchGear

GeekSugar — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:06:23 -0800

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, we're kicking off our third annual Geeks We Love interview series to showcase some of the most talented and loved tech writers in the industry. And who better to get things under way, than the charming Doug Aamoth, who spends most of his days reviewing high-tech gadget goods for CrunchGear? I had the pleasure of meeting Doug at the HTC Touch Diamond Event in London last year, and found him to be very much the way he comes across in his work - passionate and knowledgeable about technology, and a really great guy with an addictive sense of humor. By the end of this interview, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about - enjoy!

GS: Considering you're the king of product reviews, what types of gadgets are you most excited to take for a test drive?

DA: I'll review just about anything, but I really like to take a look at stuff that has some sort of technological slant to it instead of being a full-fledged technology product. Basically, if I think it's something that would be interesting to other geeks, I'll review it. We get some pretty good response from stuff like the Penguin Home Soda Machine and a little four dollar keychain breathalyzer that also has a built-in stopwatch and flashlight. Of course, right? Every breathalyzer should have a stopwatch just in case you want to have an emergency footrace outside the bar before you figure out if you're okay to drive home.

As far as "real" technology products go, I'm really enjoying this netbook craze right now. I think it'll get much better, too, once Intel sees some more competition from AMD, NVIDIA, and VIA. Other than that, I also really like reviewing things that make people's lives easier. The simpler the better. Oh, and energy drinks. I love taste-testing energy drinks.

To learn more about Doug, including his "ah-ha" moment and his thoughts on technology and dating, read more

GS: What's the most outrageous and hilarious gadget that's arrived on your doorstep?

DA: I think that one of the best reviews I've done was for a product that never showed up. I spent a few days waiting for the new Flip Mino to arrive, at first thinking it would be here on a Tuesday morning, then being told Wednesday instead, then getting a press release envelope but no camera on Thursday, and finally having it show up Friday morning after all our competitors had gotten theirs on Wednesday. It wasn't really that big of a deal but I thought it'd be funny to chronicle the event as though it were an episode of The Office.

Aside from that, the most outrageous review would definitely be for a product called FyreTV, which is a set-top box that streams, um, "non-traditional" video. It's weird because it's basically a review just like any other. We rarely look at the media content for set-top boxes, but more at the actual hardware and how well it handles streaming. So for the FyreTV review it was like, "Here's the box, here are the connections, here's the remote, it streams stuff really quickly, and the video quality is pretty good. Oh, whoops, sorry I had to blur everything out and block the camera with my hand at certain points but you get the idea."

GS: Describe one of the most memorable moments of your career thus far. . .

DA: I had an "a-ha" moment about six months into my career when I was at this Acer conference in Spain. It was my first real work trip and I postponed my own bachelor party to go to it. I remember getting into this big conference hall with a bunch of other reporters, and sitting down at this long table with my laptop and my voice recorder waiting for the presentation to begin. I looked around and thought to myself, "This is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. I love this stuff." I've had over 30 jobs in my lifetime (I get kind of restless) but I finally felt pretty calm for the first time.

In retrospect, I wouldn't have moved my bachelor party for a work trip but at the time I didn't know how often an opportunity like that Acer conference would come around. Turns out, it was a lot. It was still a great experience, though. Singing White Wedding at CES this year was pretty cool, too.

Also, any time I meet someone that I used to read before I started blogging is always really cool. Every person I meet always looks at me weird when I tell them I'm a big fan of theirs or that they're like a hero to me. I used to read tech blogs and magazines and think "Man, that would be the best job." Now that I'm actually doing it, I still haven't forgotten that feeling. I consider myself to be really fortunate.

GS: How geeky is your significant other? Who makes the final decision when it comes to gadgets for the home?

DA: My wife is probably about a three out of ten on the geekiness scale. She's not into tech stuff whatsoever, but she'll think some of the things I tell her about and some of the products I show her are cool. So she's definitely not against technology and she's pretty savvy with the stuff she uses on a daily basis. She does NOT like all the boxes we have around the house, but I can't blame her for that. It gets pretty out of hand sometimes.

I handle all the IT administration and technical support in the Aamoth household. Interestingly enough, I've been terrible about picking a good cell phone for my wife. I got her the LG Chocolate a few years ago and she didn't like it. Then I recommended the Samsung Glyde and between the non-responsive touchscreen and the poor reception, it's really been a terrible device as far as our relationship goes. One of these days, though, I'm going to pick out a good phone for her. It's just tough being in the doghouse for two whole years while we wait for her contract to come up for renewal!

GS: In the new movie He's Just Not That Into You, Drew Barrymore's character has the following to say about technology and dating:

"I had this guy leave me a voice mail at work, and so I called him at home, and he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It's exhausting."

What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you think technology makes dating more complicated?

DA: Sure, I can see technology complicating things for people who don't embrace it. As someone who's into all this stuff, though, the thought of having seven different technologies that don't synchronize with one another is mortifying to me. I have a single Grand Central phone number that forwards to any other phones I might currently be using and my various e-mail addresses all funnel into a single Gmail account.

It's funny, though, because people will be like, "Give me your cell phone number, I can never get a hold of you at your work number," and I'll try to explain that my work, home, and cell phone numbers all forward to the same place. So they'll leave a voicemail on what they think is my home number saying that they'll try me on my cell, which leads to them leaving the same message in the same voicemail system two minutes later. Same thing with email: the same message three times to three different email accounts.

I think just starting to date someone would be really weird nowadays with Facebook and Twitter and everything. Do you friend this person right away or what? Is there a rule as to how many dates you go on before you can friend someone? And it'd be super weird if you were dating someone for a little bit and then they told you they were getting too busy with work or whatever, and then all of a sudden you see their status change on their profile and you see photos of them with someone else and all that. My buddy told me he watched his little brother's relationship with his girlfriend fall apart over Facebook, which seems totally surreal to me. That's what happens now, though, I guess. Everyone has access to everyone else's private lives with all the social networking stuff.

I'm really apprehensive to admit this but a former girlfriend and I actually broke up over AIM once. And we'd been seeing each other for a long time - like a couple years. We'd been living together in Seattle and I'd moved home to Minneapolis and I think we were both kind of ready to move on, so the mutuality of it made everything easier. I don't think most breakups would work that well over AIM but if you're both pretty much on the same page and it's going to be a relatively clean breakup because you both want the same thing, then it actually kinda works. Weird, huh?

GS: Now for the lightning round!
Mac or PC? DA: PC
iPhone or BlackBerry? DA: I love my T-Mobile G1 but I'd take a BlackBerry. I need a real, physical keyboard.
MySpace or Facebook? DA: Facebook (as the lesser of two evils).
iPod or Zune? DA: I really like my iPod Touch.
The Hills or Gossip Girl? DA: I've never seen Gossip Girl, but The Hills is absolutely, positively, 100 percent the bane of my existence. My wife has to watch it in our bedroom with the door closed or when I'm not around because the way the brats on that show talk is like fingernails on a chalkboard for me. So Gossip Girl.
Steve Jobs or Bill Gates? DA: Bill Gates. His acting in the Seinfeld Microsoft commercials was mesmerizing.
Picasa or Flickr? DA: Picasa. Great example of a desktop app working harmoniously "in the cloud."
Texting or Emailing? DA: Email. I like the cost better.
WiFi or Wired? DA: I'll borrow from a golf saying here and say WiFi for show, Wired for dough.
Pac Man or Space Invaders? DA: Pac Man, preferably Ms. Pac Man.
Star Wars or Star Trek? DA: Star Wars
Laptop or Desktop? DA: Ouch. That's like Sophie's Choice. I have both and could never part with either of them.
The Bachelor or the Bachelorette? DA: ABC should cut out the fluff and have them marry each other. I mean, they're both looking for the same thing, right? Set them up together and spare us all from having to sit through it.
Coffee or Tea? DA: Monster Low Carb energy drink. Coffee will do in a pinch, though.

Do Your Grandparents Game?

GeekSugar — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:05:44 -0700

It goes without saying in my house that my grandpa loves the Wii. He's really taken to bowling and can even kick my high score to the curb on a regular basis. But I didn't know he was such a gaming fanatic! On a recent trip through Target (I'm there like, every day. You thought I was kidding?), he jumped at the chance to play a demo of Too Human. Who knew he was such a tactical fighter?!

Am I alone in having a game-savvy senior in the family? Do your grandparents game?

Space Chimps Review: It's Fun Monkeying Around!

GeekSugar — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:05:23 -0700

Remember the days of Super Mario where running, jumping, and spitting fireballs was the ultimate in fun? Space Chimps brings a bit of that nostalgia back, with this easy, breezy game based on the movie of the same name, but doesn't quite make it to Mario levels of awesome.

It's obvious that this title was aimed at the kiddie gamers with its endless life stock and simple controls, but I have to give Space Chimps credit - it is kinda fun. If you want to play a game that's easy on the mind (and not to bad to look at either). SC comes on a number of consoles including the Nintendo DS, which makes this a perfect game to shove in your kids' hands on car trips.

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What do I like least about Space Chimps? And what to learn more about the game? Just read more.

You will play as both Ham (voiced by Andy Samberg) and Luna, two of the main characters in the animated film, who have been stranded on an alien planet and are enlisted by locals to help save their world from the evil Zartog. Using your superior jumping and swinging skills, Ham will battle it out with robust melee moves, while Luna flies with wings, defends herself, and shoots targets with goo from a sidekick alien that's been strapped to her arm. (On a side note, why can't Luna take down enemies with butt-kicking moves, too, instead of flying around on butterfly wings? Just asking.)

Although this platformer looks nice and is good for some easy fun, you can complete this game in about four hours. And unfortunately, its replay value isn't very high. It will take some time to collect objects that refill your health meter, complete the puzzles, and overcome foes, but all in all it's a game that you might want to rent, or possibly buy for one of your younger nieces/nephews to take a crack at. I know dropping the cash for the $30 - $50 price tag seems a bit high for such a short-lived game, but the kids will love it.

Space Chimps is out now on the PS2, XBox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS. Pick it up online.

Did You File Online?

GeekSugar — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:30:14 -0700

With the dreaded tax day over and done with, you can now breathe a sigh of relief knowing that your return is signed, sealed, and waiting to be delivered. Now all you have to do is kick back and wait for that sweet return to arrive so you can take that trip, buy that gadget, or invest (which is a very savvy thing to do, indeed!).

Since it's so simple these days, I filed my taxes online instead of dragging my butt down to a tax professional and letting them figure it out for me. And just to prove that more Americans are doing the same, this year, 38 million people filed their taxes online in the first few months of the year, up five percent from 2007! So if you've already spent your return, or if you just barely got your taxes in by midnight last night, were you one of the millions that filed online?

Source

Tech News Roundup

GeekSugar — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:17:05 -0800

Born Rich reports that Honda Motors debuts new Asimo for 2007. The humanoid robot can now run at 6 kph, kick a ball and climb up and down the stairs without even tripping once. More than I can say for myself.
Ambermac shares her top five favorite Apple iPhone headlines. "iPhone Drops, Everyone starts cussin'" takes the cake for me.
Chip Chick is still at CES and discovered Pero the Play Entertaining Robot. Cutest robot I've ever seen.
Engadget shows off the PSP's new champagne gold color. It kinda matches my new dress.
Gadget Candy says you can look stylish, even whilst fighting off a maniac with Swarovski-encrusted pepper spray. That's bling bling at its craziest if you ask me.
Gizmodo gets its hands on the iPhone and wonders why it isn't white. I've been wondering the same thing.
Shiny Shiny shows off a sparkling do it yourself crystal rocks Swarovski crystal iPhone nano case. Who doesn't want their nano to be even more shiny?