There are controllers, and then there are controllers. Today, most of us just use whatever comes with the console, and nothing else. Microsoft or Sony did a tremendous job with their gamepads, but it has taken 3rd parties too long to match or better that quality. They just haven’t been as good. That finally changes in a big way.

The MLG Pro Circuit box is expertly crafted

Mad Catz decided to best the millions of man-hours and research put into the 360 and Dualshock controllers by aiming for the high-end consumer and not the everyman gamer. I’ve gotta say, the MLG Pro Circuit Controller fits that bill.

Available for both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, the MLG Pro Circuit Controller shares the 360 gamepad’s shape, but what sets it apart is one feature: interchangeable parts. Faceplates are secondary. The d-Pad, analog sticks, faceplate, wrist holds, even the cable are all detachable, replaceable, and customisable. It may seem useless, but consider you’re a PS3 gamer who likes the concave 360 analog sticks. It’s an easy switch: twist the convex ones out, put the concave ones in, and done. The snap-on system isn’t as easy to open as they should be, more akin to opening a bottle of pills with that child-safety lock. Both the 360 and PS3 models are identical (save for the Xbox/PS button).

In the box is the controller, a set of analog sticks in both PS3 and 360 style, d-Pads for both, a 9′ braided cable that screws onto the controller, two weights (35g each), and a carrying case for all of the above. It isn’t wireless because it’s a pro-gamer controller. Wired controllers are faster, more reliable, are also the only ones allowed in tournaments.

I’ve been using the Pro Circuit for the past week and it’s a real pleasure to use, not just because it’s a good controller, but because of the interchangeable parts. I played through the Metal Gear Solid HD collection on the 360, but clearly the game was designed for the PS2′s Dualshock. For that game, I switched the d-Pad to the PS3′s and put it on the top left, put a 360 analog stick on the bottom left, and kept a PS3 analog stick on the right. For me, this setup was the most effective. Fast paced 360 shooters, like Modern Warfare 3, are easier for me with the PS3 right stick and 360 left stick.

In a sense, it’s like having both consoles wrapped into one. The only sad news is that because of licensing, there’s no way to get one controller that would work with both consoles.

But the Pro Circuit isn’t perfect. The face buttons are a bit mushy, especially so out of the box. They’re better after being broken in, but the style of the buttons may not appeal to all players, including pro gamers. The buttons have a lot of give, compared to the mouse-like buttons of the Razer Onza controller.

The Pro Circuit with both back panels, with and without weights

It’s also expensive. For $100, the Pro Circuit is an investment, one that may prove to save money. Like I wrote in my hands-on preview, I have a stack of working but worn out Xbox 360 controllers, four with completely worn out indents on the analog sticks. A set of analog sticks will be available for purchase for $15 each, which will make the controller worthwhile for the long-term. It just depends on your gaming habits. I just feel that Mad Catz is a little late to the controller game. If the Pro Circuit came out at least a year ago, it would have a much better chance to succeed and prosper. With today’s rumors of a new Xbox and Playstation within the coming year, even if the current controllers work with new consoles it limits just how well a new controller can do today.

Mad Catz will also put out additional parts for the Pro Circuit, including different style faceplates, different length cables, and potentially even different style joysticks. The MLG Pro Circuit Controller is a very solid gamepad, one with an exceptional switch system for analog sticks and d-Pads. I think that the Pro Circuit can be better over time, as more faceplate, palm rests, joysticks and d-Pads become available, though right now it’s still a great controller.

Editor’s Rating:

3.5 out of 5 stars

Very Good

Bottom Line: The MLG Pro Circuit Controller is a great gamepad that thanks to interchangeable parts is highly customizable, more than any controller before it.

Pros:

• Comfortable gamepad
• Interchangeable parts are a brilliant direction for a gamepad
• A good long-term controller investment

Finding a TV with many of the features we want, or may want for years to come, is hard. They’re available, but expensive. The LG 47LW5600 comes with all of the latest bells and whistles, including 3D, built-in apps and wireless connectivity, all for a decent price of $1,100. But at this price point, for a 47″ TV, does the quality suffer? Read on to find out.

Picture and Sound Quality

The 47LW5600 provides a sharp, clear image, and has good contrast, even at extreme angles. There is minimal blur that is sometimes found on lower quality televisions. Overall, the contrast was better than expected but blacks were not as deep as I’d have liked. See the image below.

The 47LW5600 features local dimming, which enables and disables the backlight for certain segments of the display to provide a darker black. A common issue with local dimming is the potential for light bleed between different segments of the screen, and the 47LW5600 has that exact problem. It isn’t obvious in most cases, but it is very noticeable when the image is very dark, such as the above image.

I tested a variety of different movies and television shows, including Blu-ray discs, DVDs, digital content streamed from my computer to my Apple TV and over-the-air television shows. When I watched Jurassic Park on Blu-ray, it looked excellent. The color was accurate and the sound was rich and full. The speakers produced loud, clear audio with little distortion.

Settings

One of my biggest complaints about modern televisions is that they come with all sorts of bells and whistles turned on. Usually they make a product stand out, but in the case of most televisions, it’s marketing and, unfortunately, doesn’t actually improve video quality whatsoever.

The LG 47LW5600 has a default set for TruMotion, which is LG’s proprietary image smoothing technology, which was very popular at last year’s CES and, I believe, makes the picture too fluid. There is no reason for this feature to be enabled by default, and I don’t doubt for a second that potential customers will find the picture quality weird and uncomfortable. Adjusting the setting itself was a chore because the menu system is very poor and cumbersome. It took me, a fairly technical person, a few minutes of patient searching to find and disable TruMotion.

Connectivity & LG Apps

As expected at this price range, the 47LW5600 has a ton of inputs. It has 4 HDMI inputs, a VGA input, a pair of USB ports, a coaxial input, a component input and a composite input. It also has an ethernet port if you don’t have a wireless network to connect to (although a wireless adapter is included with the television). However, wireless will prove much better for most people who don’t need cables stretching across their media centers.

The television also offers a decent selection of apps, including some rudimentary games and a quite a few video and music streaming apps, including Netflix and Hulu Plus. Once up and running, both were easy to use and responded quickly to commands issued via the remote control. The picture quality of Hulu Plus content is as good as broadcast television, but the content on Netflix is hit and miss. Video through Netflix was always good enough, but their video compression has seen better days, especially on this set.

3D

I invited a friend over and we tested out the 3D by watching a Blu-ray copy of Piranha 3D (side note: There are two versions of the Blu-ray, a 2D and 3D version. We watched the 3D version). 3D quality was good, with a good amount of depth and minimal pop-out. It was almost on par with seeing the movie in the theater. My friend concurred with my assessment, saying that it was much better than she was expecting and that she would definitely watch more movies in 3D on the television.

This is partially because LG uses passive 3D glasses, which are similar to the glasses worn in movie theaters, as opposed to active shutter glasses which are bulkier and must be charged. The only real problem with watching 3D is that the picture quality changes drastically if you move. The picture isn’t static based on your location, so if you move right or left the image will do the same. This also means that everyone watching sees a slightly different image, which is not good for picture accuracy.

Conclusion

While the black levels aren’t as good as I’d like, watching picture quality was very good for such an inexpensive display. The few available apps are good enough to start, and 3D is very watchable. However, TV prices have been dropping in the last few months and while the 47LW5600 is at a great price point for its size, the overall quality of the TV is just good. It doesn’t have any stand-out features, but you will certainly get a decent TV experience out of this LG. After, of course, adjusting the settings to your liking.

Editors’s Rating:

3.5 out of 5 stars

Good

The Bottom Line: A solid TV with good color quality but less than average black and white contrast. 3D picture quality is good but the 3D itself is wobbly. Settings are a mess. Enough ports for a full media center and a number of worthwhile apps freely available.

The Good:

• Good color reproduction
• Large assortment of input options
• Decent selection of apps

The Bad:

• Black levels could be better
• Comes with too many features turned on

Edited by James Pikover

This week I got a chance to play with the Toshiba Thrive. And the first thing I noticed about this Android Tablet is its rather robust in its design and a tad hefty. Also, with its 10.1” wide-screen touchscreen, with a resolution of 1280 x 800, it’s easy to see how Toshiba had movie watching in mind. But the sad fact is, that’s pretty much all I’d really use the Thrive for, that and maybe some Facebook or Twitter. And even then, there’s an utter lack of frustration in the experience that really isn’t Toshiba’s fault … it’s Android’s.

First off, before we get into that, let’s break down it’s specs.

Hardware

Dimension wise, the Toshiba Thrive is a bit thick at .62 inches, and could stand to go on a diet with a weight of 1.6 lbs. The tablet is 10.75” x 6.97” x 0.6, and has a ribbed, rubberized, non slip backing which makes the user feel like it’ll stay in hand without worry. The Thrive has a wide screen a dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 chip and 1GB of RAM – pretty mainstream in the Android Tablet market. That makes it great for video gaming and watching a movie on it’s 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 screen. But sadly, the speakers that come with the Thrive are woefully terrible – very tiny and distorted – almost like a cheap AM radio. And the volume buttons are backwards?! Very strange. So if you’re going to do anything that requires listening to audio, the best bet is to use a pair of headphones.

Other features include a full-size HDMI for connecting to your HDTV, but you can also take advantage of the latest fun feature in the mobile world – mirroring, where the video image can be wirelessly streamed to a compatible HDTV. The Thrive also comes with either 8 GB, 16 GB, or 32 GB and it has the usual SD card slots for increasing your on board storage. There’s also the usual USB plug. Navigation buttons are all virtual through the Android 3.1 Honeycomb OS, giving the screen a tad more real estate.

The Thrive also uses dual cameras – one a typically cheap 2mp for video chat and then a 5 MP rear facing camera, which frankly I don’t consider a big deal because if I’m out and about taking pictures, I’m doing it with my smart phone. Using a tablet for taking photos is just, plain ungainly.

The Thrive comes with a removable 2030 mAh battery which claims a battery life of 11 hours.

Performance

OK, now that we’ve gotten the physical description out of the way, let’s turn it on. The power button on the upper right is really nothing to write home about. It works. It’s not super responsive, meaning you have to push down solid and hold for a second, but what else is new? And ironically, turning off is faster. But do I really have to confirm I want to turn it off? I guess it’s prudent, but come on. I turned it off, didn’t I? Don’t ask again.

Boot time to the screen is about average – as it has to run through a tedious flash animation while it loads the Android OS. Then you have move the lock to get to the main screen. There, you get the basic Android experience.

Now some like Android, and that’s fine. But I really don’t care for it. It’s the “PC” to the iOS’s Mac. Clunky and not ready for prime time. You have to go into settings and then manage applications just to force close or uninstall an App and that’s just plain tedious. Booting into apps like Facebook, Twitter and the Browser is fairly fast though, but I had several crashes with other apps. But that may be the fault of the apps themselves. Downloading, even on a broadband WiFi connection took longer than I would have liked. In fact, when watching trailers at Quicktime Trailers, I often had to wake the tablet up. And there were several trailers I just plain gave up on. Watching YouTube, I sometimes had stutter. On the iPad, by contrast, they would pop right up and start playing with great audio and no jitter. The Thrive handles Flash pretty well, don’t get me wrong, but cheap mono audio and streaming live video left me with a lackluster, “artifacty” experience.

The screen is crisp if you’re watching video indoors and away from a strong light source. Otherwise the glare from the screen can be off putting unless you angle it slightly. But even at extreme angles you can watch the screen, making sharing a video doable.

But where the Thrive really shines is in game play.  We played the demo of Need for Speed and the game was extremely responsive and fun to play (too bad I stink at driving games). Playing Angry Birds was a ton of fun with decent graphics, but the sounds simply doesn’t cut it unless I use headphones.

Skype worked via WiFi, and that’s where you’re reliant because the Thrive has no 3G connection, so you have to Skype where you’re WiFi connection is.

And as for battery life? Suffice it to say that like all PR Specifications that promise long battery life, the promise more hype than reality. I found the Thrive, with regular use, didn’t last the day, making it necessary to plug in at least once. And while we’re talking about plugging in, what’s up with the laptop size AC Adapter? Most tablets come with a tiny USB/AC plug, but Toshiba went old school and that means lugging around a hefty AC. FAIL.

At the end of the day, the Toshiba Thrive proves once again why the iPad enjoys a 24-1 sales ratio over all Android tablets. Although well put together, with a very wide screen cinematic design, it’s simply average in performance, making the name “Thrive” somewhat a misnomer.   If you’re an Android geek, this may be a tablet for you.

Editor’s Rating:

3 out of 5 stars

Good

The Bottom Line:  If you’re all about all around execution, then, at prices starting at $499, it should perform far better than it does.  But like I said, it isn’t really it’s fault.

Pros:

• Wide screen high resolution touchscreen
• Great for game play with Tegra 2 processor
• Rubberized, non slip backing

Cons:

• Horrible, mono speakers on board
• Android 3.01 OS not ready for Tablets
• A bit heavy to hold

12►

In my reviews for various audio equipment, one of the things I always look for is whether or not myself or any user for that matter can tune the overall sound of the equipment to their liking. Being able to adjust the way a device sounds on the fly is really key to getting the most out of any equipment on a song-to-song basis. So when I found out about MEElectronics’ SP51P headphones with the ability to tune the sound using a set of small gears that screw into the back of the earphones, I was excited to see a clever solution to this problem approached in small, portable headphones.

First of all, the basic sound of these earphones is very clear for the price. A bit more full than your standard generic earphones, they don’t quite make the full leap up from entry- to mid-level in terms of audio quality. Any time a cymbal is hit, I find myself wincing slightly from the way the sound sort of rings in my ear, and while lowering the volume clears this problem up, it leaves me listening to my music at a level lower than I am accustomed to. It’s a trade-off I’m not exactly thrilled to make, but then I figure that’s where the performance tuning of this product comes into play.

The MEElectronics SP51P earphones come with a set of 6 small, color-coded gears that screw into the back of the earphones. The silver gears represent neutral bass, the metallic colored ones offer enhanced bass, and the black ones provide extreme bass. When I went to go increase the bass to see just what these headphones could do, I was disappointed to find that mine had shipped with the black gears already inserted. Certainly the bass on this level is a bit stronger than most cheaper earphones, but going downward brought the bass to nearly inaudible levels. Certainly, not everybody likes booming bass, but to take it out of the equation completely is kind of silly.

The earphones’ cord is fairly long, surrounded by a clear flexible plastic that should keep it from getting nicked or scraped up. The downside being that if a break in the wire were to occur, I imagine it would be very difficult to get in there and start trying to tape the wire up. In addition to the different tuning gears, the SP51P’s also come with a few differently shaped covers for the earphones themselves, and these fit in the case just as easily as all of the other items, making them nicely customizable as they might be passed around to listen to different things for different people.

For the list price, I expected a more rich sound from the MEElectronics SP51P, instead getting something only sligtly above the most commonly available, $20-range earphones. Because the design of them is so wide as well, I have a harder time keeping them in and keeping noise out compared to more compact and round designs.

MEElectronics’ SP51P earphones approach a common problem for smaller headphones in a fairly clever way, opting for something that can be done about the actual hardware itself rather than a traditional tuner used to adjust the levels. The concept of these earphones is fantastic, and I hope that MEElectronics continues to pursue this idea, preferrably with some more power in a higher-end model, but these don’t really justify the jump in price from a standard pair to this more specialized set. If you want something a little fancy and unusual without spending $75 on earphones, you can get away with enjoying these, but I found their main selling point of tuning the sound to be an overall disappointment.

Editor’s Rating

2.5 out of 5 stars

Fair

Bottom Line: The MEElectronics SP51P earphones address are trying to pioneer a very worthwhile idea: headphones with adjustable levels, but by really failing to deliver on that main promise, they leave a bad taste in the listener’s mouth. Correcting the problem would be as simple as marketing these as bass-reducing headphones for people who don’t like the buzzes and thumps, but as it stands the extreme bass option is anything but.

Pros:

• The SP51P model includes a microphone which can be utilized with most smart phones and several other devices to switch between listening to music and making a phone call or other recording
• Three different sets of tuning gears that screw into the earphones allow listeners to adjust the bass levels to their liking
• Comes packed with a sturdy, zippered case that houses the earphones and the adjustment pegs which can fit into virtually any pocket comfortably

Cons:

• The different tuning levels only affect the output strength of the bass, so that other aspects of the sound can not be adjusted
• The highest bass level feels fairly standard at best, with the lower levels becoming virtually bass-free and take away from the listening experience
• The tuning gears are incredibly small and round, which makes changing the settings on the road in a car, bus, or even an airplane an extremely bad idea.

The MEElectronics SP51P Sound Preference In-Ear Headphones are available at Amazon for $42.15.

4 out of 5 stars

Originally designed and engineered to work with an Apple iPhone 3Gs , the Tiffen Steadicam Smoothee has filled the need for stabilizing video shot with mobile smartphones and pocket cameras. The Smoothee’s design is based on the same Steadicam technology used regularly in Hollywood and with handheld video cameras stabilizers like the Steadicam Merlin.

Selling for about $180, the Smoothee helps smartphone and pocket camcorder users improve their results by smoothing out any camera shake where movement takes place while capturing the moment. The Smoothee can be used with the Apple iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (and now, iPhone 4S), the iPod Touch, and the Flip Mino pocket video cameras. Tiffen has also hinted at additional model compatibility planned which will make it advantageous for users of such cameras like the GoPro HD and Android users who would like to have a mobile stabilizer to help smooth out their video clips.

But while Tiffen claims that the Smoothee can be used right out of the box with great results , it requires some set up which may cause new users to feel frustrated with the learning curve. Here’s a few thoughts we have on the Smoothee and how well it works…

Setup

Tiffen says the Smoothee can easily be used to get perfect results “right out of the box and on the go.” But the Smoothee must be balanced and leveled once an iPhone or Flip camera is installed. Thankfully, that’s what the trim knobs on the side and back are for.  They perform this function well and there isn’t a shifting of weights to accomplish this balancing act. And every time you switch out cameras for a different model, you will have to re-trim the device.

Practice Technique

Additionally, the Smoothee does need some practice to refine the technique needed to control it and to prevent the camera from drifting on the gimble.   There are at least 3 different ways that you can control the Smoothee – one handed, one handed with the gimble resting between finger and thumb, and two handed.  Your mileage may vary as to which will work best, but once you have your technique down, with practice the drift is sure to be a thing of the past. It’s a very good idea to read the manual completely, watch some of the online videos, and then go out and do plenty of practicing before taking the Smoothee on vacation or for a family gathering.

Additional thoughts

A few thoughts on the custom Smoothee cradles …. it’s obvious that iPhones don’t come with a tripod mount natively, requiring some sort of cradle option to mount it on the Smoothee.  And the Smoothee’s cradle works really well. But the custom cradle for the Mino and other compact cameras (which sell for about $25 a piece) strike me as simply an attempt to make users buy more accessories. Cameras that already have a tripod mount could easily benefit from a universal, quick release mount, which is the accepted standard on tripods everywhere. And since today’s point and shoot cameras are rivaling camcorders with quality 1080p video, Tiffen is shortchanging customers by not having a point and shoot option.  That’s too bad.

The Steadicam Smoothee is a great mobile device, but it isn’t foldable, making it a challenge to pack when traveling. The ergonomic gimble handle can be stowed into travel position, but that doesn’t make the Smoothee any smaller in the suitcase.  And users hoping to push the envelope, and opt for a camcorder or DSLR, will need to spend a bit more and invest in the Steadicam Merlin as the Smoothee simply isn’t designed or balanced for anything outside the mobile arena.

Even with its quirks the Steadicam Smoothee can help video fans take better video by removing any camera shake when trying to capture a moment on the go. And with patient practice, it’s likely that even by pulling it out of the case, a user will be able to get a balanced, steady image, with a quick turn of a knob. But if you’re expecting to get instant results out of the box, you may be in for a frustrating beginning.

Pros:

• robust design
• balancing trim knobs
• works as advertised

Cons:

• Proprietary cradles, no universal camera mount
• learning curve
• a bit pricey ($189)

Final rating:  Even though it has some drawbacks, they aren’t deal breakers by any means, so we give the Smoothee a rating of 4/5 stars.

You can buy the Steadicam Smoothee at Amazon for $179.95.

5 out of 5 stars

Halfbrick Studios is the iOS developer that brought us Fruit Ninja, which has helped cement the studio as one of the premier iOS developers, alongside the likes of Rovio (Angry Birds), PopCap (Plants vs. Zombies, Bejeweled), and EA (too many titles to list). So when they make a new game for the platform, we should all be at the ready. And dagnabit, their latest is a flustercut of an amazing game.

Jetpack Joyride is so simple it’s just dumb. Playing as Barry Steakfries, players traverse an ever-changing maze of incoming missiles, ensnaring electrical fields, and scurrying scientists because he’s has too much of being an office grunt. The video trailer/introduction below explains it with the precision of a Pixar mini.

This developer hasn’t only discovered how powerful touch is (which they clearly did with Fruit Ninja), Halfbrick has made the simplest possible game without making it boring. All players have to do is tap on the screen with one finger to control Barry’s elevation, going up or down, and the game does the rest. As a one-button game, Jetpack Joyride exceeds perfection because it’s built to last.

Let’s look at the gameplay a bit first. Barry uses a chaingun jetpack to propel himself into the air, all the while “escaping” from a never-ending research lab that is bent on stopping him. Electrical traps are set in place to stop him, missiles fly at him, lasers pop out of nowhere to cut him down, and Barry has zero defense against any of these. Instead, he uses his speed to go over or under the overwhelming onslaught, going faster and faster all the while. That said, Barry does have some help. He can collect coins, which can later be used in the store to purchase (mostly useless) vehicle upgrades, different jetpacks, clothes, and in-game bonuses. There are six vehicles in-game, which start slow and accelerate quickly while acting as a one-hit shield for Barry. If he gets hit in-vehicle, he’s safe, but that vehicle, be it the Mr. Cuddles dragon, Gravity Suit or Bad As Hog motorcycle, blows to smithereens.

Alone, this game would be fun for possibly 20 minutes, at most an hour. But it’s all the extra bits that make Jetpack Joyride a work of art. At the end of each round, players can spend collected tokens on a slot machine where they can win money, more tokens, a second chance to continue where they left off, a bomb to ricochet Barry’s corpse just a tad further to help set a high score, or a bonus for the next round like a head start or double coin value. Or, if players don’t want to use the slot machine, they can cash in their tokens for $50 each.

Then there’s the missions. There are always three missions available to complete in-game to rank up. The ranks have no inherent value, but at each new ranking players earn more money for getting there, along with a new title. Missions range from the standard “collect so many coins” to the odd jetpack against the roof for 400m or high-five 25 scientists in one game. These missions give each round more meaning and make them far more fun than just trying to get a high score, even if some of those missions are inherently dangerous and will almost guarantee death, but even then it’s worth it. Completing the missions becomes a drug in itself, far more addictive than the longer-form and more tedious high-score objective.

The final piece to the puzzle, depending on how interested you are in collecting everything, is the ridiculously overpriced store. Everything in the store, from clothes to jetpacks, is priced so highly that even after two complete game playthroughs (meaning I completed all the missions, achieved the highest rank, and did it again twice), I have enough money only to buy six of the seven available jetpacks, and a pair of nerd glasses with nothing else to spare. It’s a completionists wet dream/nightmare, because the game is in itself so addicting that it actually feels natural to want to get the money to buy everything, even though players are lucky to get $500 in one round.

What’s particularly ironic about the whole situation (of virtual items, that is) is Halfbrick’s simple payment solution. Gamers who must have the money without putting time into the game can simply buy money, from $20,000 to $1,000,000. It’ll only set them back $13 in real, hard cash, which will buy everything in the store. In fact, the $250,000 coin set ($5 in real money) would do that too. But Halfbrick also offers a counterfeit machine, where for just $1 they can double all in-game coin collections. I never buy in-game DLC like this, because it is in a sense cheating, but this is the first time where I was so tempted that I had the only reason I didn’t was because the in-app purchase confirmation came up and reminded me that I was paying real money for fake money.

Since starting Jetpack Joyride, all of my friends have purchased it and now we all compete for high scores and high rankings. It’s replaced, in my circle of compatriots, Doodle Jump as the time-waster of choice. And whenever I start playing, I have to be careful because one round always turns into at least ten. I’ve lost hours to this game. It’s dangerously good.

4 out of 5 stars

Finding a great compact camera is nearly impossible thanks to the overwhelming variety and our incessant need for a very personalized, specific device. It must be at the right price, the right weight, the right level of sophistication, the right speed, etc. Did Sony figure it out with the Cybershot DSC-TX9?

The Cybershot DSC-TX9 (TX9 from here on out) is a tiny 12.2 megapixel camera with 4x optical zoom, a crisp Carl-Zeiss lens, support for both SD and Sony’s Pro-Duo memory cards, and a 3” LCD touchscreen display. It has a uniform build design, a tight metal frame, and a slide-down lens cover which turns the camera on and off. The TX9 can record 720p video in stereo sound, and includes a several picture modes for many situations, and the whole thing is built to work for beginners and professional photographers.

Let’s take a look at the camera’s design.

Build Quality

If you walk into any camera store today, most feel too light and very plastic. They lack sturdiness, that weight we associate with strength. The TX9 is very different. It’s a brilliantly built and designed camera – strong and sturdy for any environment; simple to use for first-time photographers or hardened professionals; and convenient for everyone.

The slide-down cover is great for quick shots. There is no better way to take an instant snapshot of a moment than just sliding down the cover and shooting away. The TX9 takes pictures within 2.5 seconds of sliding the cover in good lighting, and 4 seconds for poor lighting. That’s fast compared to most smartphones and point and shoot cameras, which get the shot in 5-10 seconds. That speed is also under any condition, compared to faster-rated point and shoot cameras, because of how easy it is to activate the camera. Just slide the cover down and shoot. In my testing, I never once missed a shot because I couldn’t activate the camera fast enough.

With a small camera like the TX9, dropping and breaking it is often the greatest fear. That’s why the surrounding metal frame is excellent protection, and should be a requirement for all cameras. We at Gadget Review don’t officially do drop tests on products (testing the product’s build strength by dropping it on various surfaces to see what the breaking point is), but during testing accidents happen. I dropped the TX9 a few times, and the frame always took the brunt of the fall. Besides for one slight paint scratch, it’s still in excellent condition. The metal frame and front metal slider protects the camera excellently.

The TX9 has several main buttons, including the shutter control, a power button, a play media button to view stored pictures and videos, and a picture/camcorder button, which switches stills and video. A corner zoom switch feels odd at first, users will quickly adjust to the placement of the switch. It isn’t well suited for portrait shots.

What’s excellent about the TX9’s size is that it doesn’t change when using zoom. Most point and shoot cameras have lenses which literally come out of the camera, but the TX9’s lens focuses entirely inside the camera, without the lens popping out of the frame. That way the lens is nearly impossible to damage when shooting.

The underbelly of the TX9 houses the SD or Pro Duo media card and battery through a flimsy plastic flap. Beside it is a docking station port and tripod mount. The TX9 does not connect directly and requires a docking station. That docking station is included with the camera, though unfortunately there is no way to connect the TX9 to a PC without the dock, which is very inconvenient. Users can either rely on memory card readers or carry the dock around with them on trips.

Camera Functions and Quality

Sony’s TX9 comes with eight shooting modes: Intelligent Auto Adjustment, an auto mode with facial recognition and controls exposure; Superior Auto Adjustment, which automatically sharpens pictures by reducing blur and noise; iSweep Panorama creates a panorama shot through a composite of five shots by panning the camera from left to right; Program mode uses automatic exposure settings with adjustable white balance and ISO settings; Defocus Background (self-explanatory); Scene Selection offers specific shooting modes based on the environment in the picture. Finally, a 3D shooting mode takes 2D shots and uses the built-in software to make them 3D.

Of these eight modes, only photography aficionados will use more than two modes regularly. Both Intelligent Auto Adjustment and Superior Auto Adjustment modes are powerful, but there isn’t a noticeable difference between the two for most people. The panorama shot requires a supremely steady hand or tripod to not have wavy images. Defocus Background is a neat idea, but often the background is already out of focus, and defocusing backgrounds can be done with many picture editing applications. Scene selection is good for prepared shooting. 3D shooting, however, is almost completely useless because not only can those images not be viewed in 3D properly (the TX9 screen does not support 3D), most computer monitors don’t support 3D either.

Picture quality is excellent. In steady hands pictures are DSLR quality. Colors are accurate and pop, and in strong lighting there is rarely motion blur or inaccuracies. See the pictures below.

Even at full resolution, the TX9 is very clear and crisp. Zooming in beyond the 12MP range will of course pixelate the image, but details aren’t lost except at extremes. All of the pictures seen here have no edited except for cropping (click to see full-size image).

For night shooting, picture quality plummeted because of the slow 3.5-4.6 lens. See below for some good non-flash shots.

Quality of pictures at night is still tremendous, though motion blur is easier to produce. Flash will often eliminate motion blur, but exchange it for washed out colors and too-bright faces and objects.

Video is likewise very good, both during the day and night. The TX9 supports up to 1080p video, and as a camcorder it really is excellent. The stereo microphones accurately record to the right and left channels, and the picture quality is what we except from mid-range standalone video cameras. For anyone who likes shooting video as much as stills, the TX9 is a great option, so long as users don’t mind recording in Sony’s proprietary .MTS format. Don’t worry, YouTube supports .MTS file uploads.

Conclusion

As an everyday camera, the TX9 is pretty great in nearly every way. The sleek design is equally comfortable in the hand and the pocket. The simple button scheme is perfect for any user, and the resistive touchscreen is accurate and tactile. Picture quality is excellent, though low-light shooting lags due to a slow lens. Solid as a rock and twice as powerful, the TX9 is a great, long-lasting point and shoot camera for stills and video. The wide array of shooting modes alone will make it relevant for years to come.

5 out of 5 stars

Lugging around a giant camera is not exactly how I envisioned becoming a photographer. For the best pictures, you need an SLR, but they’re big, bulky, and a hassle to carry. For the past two years, as I’ve picked up photography as a hobby, that’s the one sticking point, the one reason I’d leave my camera at home instead of carrying it everywhere.

I don’t have to anymore.

The Capture Camera Clip System – CCCS for short – is a buckle with a tripod-like 3/8th” connector that snaps a camera safely and securely to a belt or bag strap so you don’t have to carry it by hand or strap. After using it for a month, it’s changed the way I take pictures.

When I went to Hawaii last year, I rarely used the D7000. Between running through the hotel resort doing various water-based activities and going out on the town, carrying a big camera to capture those favorite moments, frankly, sucked. There are a number of strap-based solutions, vests, and bags that promise to fix that exact problem, but they’re all large or in some way strenuous to the user.

The CCCS does just that, using only two pieces, the buckle and connector. Attaching the buckle to straps or belts is simple and painless, and it can be adjusted to hang on so tightly that it won’t move. A giant red button acts as the camera release, which slides lets users slide the connector out. To put it back in place, just slide the camera in and the red button will click shut. The point is this: when you’re ready, unclip and shoot.

This system works magnificently because of the sturdy and minimalist design. Trusting expensive equipment in something this small was tough. After very strenuous use (I couldn’t ply my D7000 off the mount with all my strength), the CCCS stands up as strong enough to hold a DSLR on a strap without breaking. All that strength comes from that red button, which is tremendous. I haven’t once had difficulty removing or clicking a camera into place.

The CCCS stays hooked to a strap or belt so strongly that it’s practically impossible to remove it by force

The overall design is so well thought out that the bottom of the clip includes a 3/8th” pin so the camera can be connected to a tripod without removing the clip. Two screws tighten and loosen the clip to hold onto belts and straps, and are hand-adjustable. The red button is easy to press and find, and because of the adjustable height of the clip the CCCS will fit on almost any belt or strap.

If you own a DSLR, or even a large point and shoot or small camcorder that you hate carrying by hand or with a bag, the Capture Camera Clip System is the best camera accessory to own. It’s fast, a snap to use, and a photographer’s new best friend. I never leave home without it. There are only two things I would change: the extra locking screw (which only damages the camera attachment), and the name. Capture Camera Clip System is a terrible name, I demand this Kickstarter project find a better one. Try PhoClip.

The Capture Camera Clip System is available for purchase via Kickstarter for various prices.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Ordinary laptops no longer apply to the general public. Apple has made that clear by eliminating the Macbook line and promoting the Macbook Air to take its place. Thin and light is what’s in. To Apple, the future of mobile computing for the everyday consumer is portability, functionality, and style. That means no moving parts, no hassle, and the power to soldier through any everyday task.

It’s a brave new world, and the world’s largest tech company is showing us the way.

Apple’s latest Macbook Air has two significant upgrades over last year’s models. First is the upgraded processors. The new Air comes with Sandy Bridge CPUs from Intel, some of the fastest to date. Even with low clock speeds of 1.6-1.8GHz depending on the model (see grid below), these chips are incredibly quick as you’ll see below in the benchmark section. The second change is moving away from Nvidia and AMD to Intel’s integrated graphics with the widely used Intel HD 3000. This is the same GPU found on the newer 13″ Macbook Pros, which is not a big step forward for graphics processing.

A few additional upgrades to this year’s model include a Thunderbolt port (Thunderbolt is a relatively new data transfer cable which is supported by Apple for several devices, including the latest Cinema Displays) that doubles as a mini-display port; a fully backlit keyboard; and Bluetooth 4.0.

The operating system has also received an update, labeled OS X Lion, though this review will focus specifically on the hardware except when applicable. I’ll have a full review of Lion in the following week.

This review is broken down into five main sections: Design, Display, Battery, Daily Use, and Benchmarks. The Macbook Air tested is the 13.3″ 1.8GHz model with 4GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.

Design

The shape and build of the Macbook Air hasn’t changed from last year’s model, which was already stunningly thin and light. The new 13” model is 3 pounds, and at its thinnest point .7” thick. The Air is not frail and is exceptionally balanced and very comfortable to hold one-handed open or otherwise. Like all other non-iPhone and iPod Apple products, the Air has some sharp edges to be wary of.

It’s unclear why Apple removed the backlight from the keyboard in last year’s Air lineup, and its return is most welcome. Typing on the keyboard is a charm, and using the backlight is extremely helpful in low-light environments. The F5 and F6 function keys now control backlight brightness levels, which can be visible in broad daylight. The trackpad’s edges do not illuminate, which is fine considering how big the trackpad is. There is also an ambient light sensor that will automatically adjust the brightness level of the backlight.

For the past few years the Macbook Air has received flack for the lack of ports, and the new model is no exception. The only change over last year’s model is the additional Thunderbolt port. At this point, I feel the two USB ports should have been upgraded to 3.0, which is roughly 9x faster and also available today on many machines. Instead, Apple opted for Thunderbolt. This is disappointing because high-speed data transfer is not available for the Air except through Thunderbolt, which only works with a few devices like Apple’s Cinema Displays. Completely disregarding USB 3.0 in exchange for an essentially non-existent data transfer platform is ludicrous.

The 11″ Air atop the 13″. They are nearly identical in terms of overall thickness and size.

Audio quality is superb, especially considering that the speakers are nowhere to be seen. It’s only at 100% volume that some sounds – and even then rarely – become muttled and inaudible. Watching a film like Inception, with deep bass and a wide array of audio tones, is a surprisingly enjoyable experience. The sound is remarkable, and in conjunction with an amazing display (see below), watching movies and TV on the Air is heavenly.

As a laptop, the Macbook Air looks and feels as fresh as ever. The design is makes it incredibly versatile: from travel to serious productivity, on the couch or at a desk, or even walking around, the Air is comfortable in most any situation. Passing on USB 3.0, or perhaps exchanging the current USB 2.0 for USB/eSata ports is the step that would have pushed the Air to near-perfection. I expect the reason for this is Thunderbolt, which we will be seeing much more of in the coming months.

Display

Part of the reason I have had so much trouble finding a good laptop is because most have poor displays. It’s the easiest part of a laptop to skimp on, and most users don’t know color accuracy if they had a comparison chart stapled to their forehead.

The display is, quite frankly, one of the best I’ve ever tested on a laptop. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Apple’s displays have always been highly rated and revered by everyday users and professionals alike. To test the display, I used the freely available Lagom.nl LCD-Test.

Color contrast is spot on, excellent compared to high end standalone displays. White levels are also very high, and the screen brightness is high enough to be visible outdoors, even in daylight. Black levels are very good, though the five darkest levels of black are completely invisible on a pure black background. Most users won’t notice this difference in black levels.

The screen is sharp, though at certain frequencies the display flickers and makes a whirring sound, which in my experience is uncommon. I’m surprised Cupertino has such a problem at all. Most users won’t ever run into this problem, but it’s alarming nonetheless. The display has slight ghosting, as is expected with non-gaming displays. Response time is a bit slow, and once again not a significant issue.

For users who rely on solid displays on the road – for photography, video, color accuracy, or just to work outside by the pool, the Air does not disappoint. There isn’t a better mobile display.

Battery

I haven’t completed the full battery tests, but based on the time I have had so far with the 13” Air I can safely say that each charge will get at least six and a half hours per charge with light internet browsing and productivity. Standby time is also strong, losing only 1-2% per 8 hours. Recharge time is also extremely fast, charging from 0-70% in an hour and ten minutes.

I’ll have a full list of battery benchmarks shortly.

Daily Use

With the Macbook Air I installed Windows 7 Ultimate (for benchmarking purposes, see below) and used both operating systems to test the laptop. What’s interesting about the Air isn’t how well it runs OS X Lion, but how well it runs Windows 7. After some initial difficulty with installing Apple hardware drivers for Win7 – without an Ethernet port or DVD-drive, installation must be done using a USB drive, and the Apple device drivers must be installed on a separate drive – I was very surprised by how well Win7 performed on the Air. Applications run smoothly, operations are quick, and unlike new computers from PC manufacturers, there is no bloatware. All of the great functions of Apple’s hardware, from the function keys to the trackpad, work excellently in Windows 7. As you’ll see in some of the benchmarks below, some things even run better in Windows than they do in OS X.

Boot time isn’t great. OS X Lion has an average boot time of 32 seconds, and a very fast shutdown of 3.3 seconds. Windows 7 Ultimate is even worse, a snail-slow boot time of 54 seconds, and a shutdown of 7.6 seconds. However, like the prior Macbook Air and all recent Macbooks, the Air has an instant standby which reactivates immediately. Windows 7 will automatically go into standby mode as well, though power drain is significantly higher when in Windows than in OS X.

Side by side, the Air is thinner than the original iPad and 7″ Samsung Galaxy Tab

The webcam – a 640×426 video camera – provides good quality video for video chat. It also takes suitable images for PC use. The microphone on the left side is high sensitive and accurate, but it’s poorly placed and far too easy to accidentally cover. 3.5mm headsets, such as the one included with iPhones, can also be used for both stereo sound and a microphone, though the included is perfect for video conferencing.

Wi-Fi connectivity is very strong, capable of reaching through several walls and over 50 feet using a strong connection. The a/b/g/n card has download speeds of up to 2.5Mbps, and upload speeds of up to 1.4Mbps. Considering the Air has no ethernet port, fast down and up streams are required, and the Air does not disappoint.

Watching videos, streaming content, and even playing the occasional game on the Air is a treat. The combination of a great display, excellent audio and the I’ll do what I want where I want attitude make consuming any media fun.

Mind the Macbook Pro’s decal

One personal problem I’ve faced for years with Apple computers is the caps lock. And after installing Win7, I confirmed my suspicions. I type in an odd way, not by using the shift key to capitalize, instead quickly triggering the caps lock twice, sandwiching the desired capital letter between two keypresses. Typing like this feels more natural to me than holding down a shift key until I’m done capitalizing letters. Every Apple machine I’ve used in the past has been too slow in this way, too slow to register the caps lock press until two or three keystrokes later. Windows doesn’t have that problem, nor has any specific keyboard or computer except Apple. And after using Boot Camp to install Windows 7 on this Macbook Air, I determined that the hardware is not at fault. OS X is. The new Macbook Air is the fastest keyboard yet, but it still is not fast enough.

At every turn I’ve become more and more impressed with the Macbook Air. It does everything a laptop should do, and all quickly and efficiently. OS X is fast, and more importantly so is Windows. Fast download and upload speeds, a solid webcam and a strong microphone are just toppings on a delicious cake. Microphone placement could be better and OS X needs to speed up caps lock. Besides these two things, I’ve never used a better laptop in my life.

Benchmarks

The following benchmarks were performed on the tested 13″ 1.8GHz Macbook Air. Benchmarks performed by others are listed. Also, because the Macbook Air is one of the first major reviews of a computer we’ve written here at Gadget Review of some time, I’ll go into more detail explaining what the numbers represent and using benchmark data from other sources and scrutinized to ensure the proper scoring. Sources include Anandtech, Hot Hardware, PCMag, LaptopMag, and Engadget.

Geekbench tests general computing capabilities, and is restricted to what the CPU can muster.

On OS X Lion, Geekbench scored a moderately high 6287 in its native 64-bit mode, a multi-threaded test. According to results posted on Geekbench’s results page and Engadget, the 1.8GHz model is vastly superior to the 1.7GHz i5 by nearly 1000 points, is 2.5x as fast as last year’s Macbook Air, and scores slightly higher than last year’s 15″ Macbook Pro, which has a much higher clock speed.

Yet in Windows 7, 64-bit tests consistently outperformed the exact same test in OS X.

Next, because I installed Windows 7 after using the Geekbench Mac test, I checked how Windows rates the Macbook Air. Here are the numbers:

7.9 is the highest possible score, and the total score is the lowest score, which in this case was 5.8. Windows found the processor and hard disk (in this case, an SSD) exceptionally quick, which comes as no surprise. Memory’s low score of 5.9 likely stems from only 4GB of RAM at only 1333MHz. Faster DDR3 RAM and room for significantly more memory are the likely reason for this score. The Graphics and Gaming Graphics scores are hindered by the integrated Intel HD 3000.

Cinebench tests CPU  performance by processing an image with a single CPU and then multiple cores.

The new Macbook Air clearly trounces every other machine except for HP’s EliteBook 8460p, which sports a 2.5GHz i5 dual core CPU, an AMD 6470M, and 4GB of RAM. The only reason it should have outmatched the Air is because of the faster CPU clock, which can turbo to 3.2GHz. The CPU multiplier (not shown, which signifies how multiple cores are processing data in conjunction with one another) averaged just under 2x, meaning the i7 processor is extremely efficient.

Because PCMark Vantage is a one-size-fits-all benchmark, I was able to take results from other sites for comparison to the Macbook Air. At first glance, it would appear that the Air destroys the competition, though this is due to poor scoring averaging. On the individual benchmarks the Air scored poorly on three of the seven tests. In the hard drive test however, it scored a whopping 25,276 points, which likely brought the score from what would be an average of ~7000 to 10806.

Comparatively speaking, the PCMark 7 scores are significantly high. Like Vantage, PCMark 7 scores on multiple traits, though none of the scores were significantly lower than the averaged total. Computation and Creativity tests scored very highly nonetheless. What’s especially surprising is the difference in scores between the 1.7GHz and tested 1.8GHz Macbook Airs. They test so differently – there’s such a gap between the 1.7GHz i5 and 1.8GHz i7 – that upgrading to the more advance chip, even at a price hike, is worth it.

Conclusion

It looks just as grand as it did a year ago. It’s just as comfortable, just as easy to use, and just as convenient to hold, carry, throw in a bag and whip out over and over again. I’m shocked that a laptop can be so pleasant. It’s powerful, both for the size and weight and for a computer using integrated graphics. This new Macbook Air is an amazing replacement for the now discontinued Macbook line.

The few downsides – no USB 3.0, Apple’s once-again sharp edges, occasional crashing in OS X Lion and barely any reason for power users to upgrade to the newer OS – are snags, and in the case of USB 3.0 help deny future-proofing the computer unless Thunderbolt is very successful. Even then, it seems like the perfect ultraportable. Light, fast, sleek and slim with an excellent display, fantastic audio, a great keyboard that is once again backlit…the new Macbook Air is an incredible machine.

And based on the benchmarks, I recommend putting down the extra money for the 1.8GHz model. The speed boost is huge, over 10% faster than the 1.7GHz model. That bump in speed alone makes the upgrade worthwhile, even if it means putting down another $100. On the 11″ model, upgrading to the 1.8GHz i7 costs an additional $350 (including an upgrade to 4GB of RAM and 128GB of disk space), which is a big stretch for someone on a tight budget.

For the whole of 2011 I’ve searched for a great laptop, a suitable purchase that makes economic and realistic sense. What a terrible journey, filled with disappointment. Too big, too small, too slow, too ugly…it’s so easy to make a less-than stellar machine. With the Macbook Air, I’ve finally found one worth carrying day in and day out, one that’s fast enough to handle my heavy photography and videography, as well as my meager productivity for hours on end. The Air may not have the muscle of Macbook Pros, but for an everyday laptop, the Air is king.

2.5 out of 5 stars

Personal tragedies are the stories that touch us the most, because of how closely they relate to us physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Often these tales are tragic not because of events that take place, but because they shed light on a larger downfall. Such is the case of Alice: Madness Returns, not for developer Spicy Horse, but for designer American McGee.

Nearly eleven years prior the famed id Games designer, famous for his level design on games like Doom 2 and Quake, set off on his own and built a wondrous game based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and was made famous by pithy developers solemnly annoyed at the title (American McGee’s Alice) and by the widespread acclaim at the wonderfully dark portrayal of what most of us only know as a Disney film.

While McGee may have learned to tone down his egotism in this latest installment (though he failed to do so with American McGee’s Grimm), this sequel seems to take no note of the last 11 years of videogame development and improvement, instead relying on the simplest and most rudimentary foundations of gaming principles. Combat focuses so much on button mashing that there are achievements for performing certain mind-numbing combinations. Puzzle solving focuses on what four year olds are expected to solve after a few minutes of struggle. Finding hidden items is a matter of platforming, timing, and pressing one button to show the way. Vastly different from each other and with variations on their traits, the current concoction is repetitive, to the point of madness. How fitting.

Color is a big part of Alice: Madness Returns, and it’s refreshing to see the full color spectrum

That’s not to say Alice: Madness Returns is a bad game, far from it. The level design is expectantly brilliant, as McGee shows his audacious imagination through highly-stylized and colorful levels, fitting the fiction of Wonderland all while maintaining a dark, eerie focus so expected from a world bent on killing the reasonable, frail, albeit plain Alice. Even the liveliness of the characters, from dialog rarely heard except on old British television to the psychotic yet stunningly accurate depictions of these characters makes it so easy for players to dive into the world and bathe in it gloriously.

What’s clear is that this bath is not meant to be enjoyed continuously. Story-driven sections of the game – not partaking in story, simply platforming from one area to the next or fighting off savage black-ooze demons or the like – are fun, exciting, and above all else entertaining. The rest clogs the drains and faucet, and is more of a burden to get through than to experience and enjoy. This occurs and reoccurs…and continues on and on, for two main reasons.

The Asian-themed level, among many a thing, really has no place in the Lewis-Carroll remake

First, the game insinuates that players are idiots. Madness Returns is built section upon section, where players go almost from room to room, where each little box has its own objective. One may be to fight monsters, another to traverse up or down to the next box, and still others to find hidden treasures or teeth (which act as currency for weapon upgrades). There is some crossover, but only in the slightest sense. Enemies may be on a higher ledge, but rarely will attack until Alice is on the same geometry as the AI. This simple design must have inspired Spicy Horse to make sure players don’t get confused, because at each junction between boxes there is some hint. Sometimes the camera pans to show what path has been opened, or where the new enemies are coming from. Other times a pop-up appears to show what weapons do, how to use them in various situations, or how to use them in collaboration with one another. There is no room for self-exploration…as if the rabbit and McGee both whisper in the player’s ear “don’t dawdle Alice.”

Dawdling, however, is a big catch for players. Exploration in the giant, looming world is a treat, but the game rarely treats it like one. Bottles and “memories”, among other collectables, flood the five massive levels but provide minimal benefit to players whatsoever. There are no rewards except for achievements for finding these items, and there are so many that it prolongs gameplay so tremendously that it becomes tiresome. Story-driven games with so much platforming and item-driven gameplay wash the story out…and frankly, finding and attaining all these items is an absolute bore.

This may be how you feel after playing Madness Returns after a few hours

Frightfully who would want to neglect these items? Each new path opens up another new area to explore, but there is no limit to it. Spicy Horse gives, gives and gives, but never holds back, never baits players to follow a certain course. Were Madness Returns a sandbox game, that would be fine. Instead, I feel drained from 2-3 hour long chapters (with no proper checkpoints, or even save notifications), successively dull hopscotch through Wonderland, and tedious combat using up to four weapons, but more likely just one or two.

The utter simplicity in gameplay design shows the complete immaturity of the development team, not because they don’t know what they’re doing – far from it, they do what they do quite well – but because their strategies for gameplay stem from the 90’s era of gameplay. Combat is one-dimensional, to the point where Alice has no aerial attacks, nor can she do anything besides one main combination per weapon. Platforming is just the same: see a path, follow a path. There is no thinking required, no puzzle an infant couldn’t solve, no real soul to getting from the beginning to the end of the game.

That’s why, no matter how entertaining the language and characters and level design may be, Alice: Madness Returns feels like a true successor to the original American McGee’s Alice…except that it is 10 years too late. Like Duke Nukem Forever, this title missed a generation and should not have come back so empty-handed. Likewise, it’s time for designer American McGee to rid himself of the silly notion that level design and strong characters are all that’s needed to make a great game. Otherwise, he’ll never leave Wonderland and join us in the real world…where then something truly great can happen.

4.5 out of 5 stars

The tale of Infamous was an interesting one. Cole McGrath wakes up with electrical powers, has to make some pretty harsh choices, and ultimately saves a city by killing his future self, which somehow managed to time travel only to wreak havoc on his own past. Yep. Now Infamous 2 comes around wagging its tale begging us to play, and I’m glad I did.

Infamous 2 is a 3^rd person action “shooter”, if you will. It’s a shooter because the majority of combat revolves around playing Zeus, the lightning juggler, though Cole has plenty of other bright and shiny powers. Following a good/evil narrative, players can decide whether to act charitably or selfish, which developer Sucker Punch Studios defines as kind-to-the-point-of-stupidity or being a practical guy, but a jerk. How you behave has minimal influence on the world…in-game characters will either cheer you on or run in fear, and main characters have similar reactions, though choices made in either direction will have different dialog and different reactions to the events unfolding.

Meet the new Cole McGrath…Dammit, why do I keep wanting to say Phelps?

This time, McGrath is saving the city…oh, just a different one. Unoriginal, but it works. All the parkour returns in its clumsy super-powered fashion, and players can take a breath of fresh air knowing they won’t spend 50% of their time scaling buildings. Climbing is faster, and more powers have been added which improve on the need to get in the air. It doesn’t help though that Cole is no longer the only super-powered human, and that everyone else can fly. Thanks for rubbing it in our faces Sucker Punch.

As expected, the world looks brilliant, and it’s no longer about the “urban jungle”. The fictional city of New Marias – a blatant representation of New Orleans, all the way down to a character Nix with a Cajun accent, and plenty of swamp areas and water to avoid. As a sidenote, Cole can’t touch water because it hurts him…how does he drink? How do rainy days interfere with his life? How can this man not make an electrical umbrella, and for that matter, turn himself into a bolt of electricity and just fly? But I digress, the PS3 exclusive looks great and runs very well, though an initial, brief installation is required, which is surprising because Infamous didn’t require an install.

Instead of Cole fighting, well, himself, the game begins with him evacuating Empire City (aka New York) from “The Beast”, a giant monster of ridiculous power. In this battle things seem to go well until it becomes clear that this boss is indestructible. Fleeing the city to New Marias, Cole and NSA pal Agent Kuo, along with the backstabbing sidekick Zeke search out a number of blast cores to make Cole more powerful. Phew, that was a mouthful. The convoluted plot is actually very well represented, far better than is generally expected from a videogame. Nearly every character is a true product of their lives, and fans of the original game will within minutes forget about Cole’s complete makeover from nasal bike-boy to thoughtful hero-type. Zeke’s constant search for redemption is heartwarming, and the tension between him and Cole is constant. Kuo has her life turned inside out when she is forced to becoming a Conduit – someone with powers – and in her struggle ends up losing grip on reality. Meanwhile the residents of New Marias are often the dumb AI inhabitants we all expect, but once activated for missions can be exceptional. Even the bad guys have reasonable motives, deranged as they may be. Expecting a game like Infamous 2 to have a proper story would be expecting too much, and Sucker Punch kicked those expectations to the curb and really delivered. I only wish there were more characters to help flesh out the fiction even more, because frankly there are so many places it could have gone. The handful of actual characters, however, is so limited that the game is stuck to whatever we can learn from those eight.

Traversing the giant city, a chore/adventure of its own, is the 2^nd part of this trifecta game. The final piece is combat, which is hardly electrifying. Cole has his standard set of lighting bolts, deflections, and hovering abilities. The newer attacks aren’t magnificent in any sense, and they’re certainly worth playing with and investigating. Enemies continue to get more powerful and the standard attacks just stop doing damage, forcing players to adapt. The environment is rarely a component to combat, which is a shame considering how vast it is. All surrounding buildings are good for to steal electricity from. To really get the most out of combat requires ingenuity. Pick up a car, throw it at a group of gun-wielding maniacs, then throw electric grenades at it until it explodes. Unfortunately there’s no incentive for inventive combat, because Cole is so weak that leaving yourself open for attack long enough to do that will likely leave nothing but Swiss cheese.

As Infamous 2 progresses, Cole will earn experience points which can then be used to purchase new powers. Primary and secondary missions, as well as general kindhearted behavior/jackassery will earn XP, though many of the better abilities require playing through quite a few secondary missions. These often range from boring to “well, at least it isn’t another waiting screen in Duke Nukem Forever”. Interestingly, the “multiplayer” aspect of Infamous 2 is mission creation, where players can make secondary missions for anyone to play. Some of the user created missions are amazingly fun and creative, which makes you wonder why all of the in-game missions are identical and oh-so-dull. Why is every hospital and medical clinic in need of the exact same thing?

What makes Infamous 2 great is that it’s a strong game with only a few relative flaws that has excellent fiction. Combine that with strong combat and platforming, and the chance to play for a very long time by playing user-created missions and making your own missions in the enormous city and beyond, and Infamous 2 is a definite keeper.

3 out of 5 stars

Owning an expensive gadget without some sort of protective case could be considered blasphemous to some.  Granted I normally go unsheathed when it comes to my iPhone 4, but when I got my iPad I wanted some level of protection for my new fangled gadget of awesomeness.  As I sought out a case that would suite my needs, I generally tended to favor the cases that had the most features.  The TuffWrap from Xtreme Mac is not one of those cases.

Bare bones in its entirety, the TuffWrap is a basic as all hell sleeve that provides a smooth grip with some level of shock absorption.  The review version I received was a stark ivory white color and looked quite attractive.  It features some recessed grooves for extra grip around the sides but I really didn’t notice either way.  The whole case feels much more slippery than the aesthetic would indicate, and adds a tad bit more weight to your iPad.

All the ports lined up nice and flush and the skin was easy to remove and put on.  All the edges of the case are angled down towards the iPad giving the TuffWrap a firm hold on the tablet.  Obviously there isn’t much else to talk about here.  There’s no way to balance the iPad in Portrait or Landscape mode so you’re on your own for that.  The overall fit of the case is a little bit sloppy in that the sides (in portrait mode) stretch too easily depending on how you grab it.  Additionally, it’s really hard to toggle the Mute/Side Switch button as that groove could have been wider to allow at least a thumbnail into the space.

Thankfully you can find it online for just over $10, so it may be worth your while to check it out.  In conclusion, the Xtreme Mac TuffWrap is an decent sleeve if you’re in need of a no frills cover for your iPad.

But it here for $12!

4.5 out of 5 stars

Gazing upon my workspace, I can only imagine the grief my 6th grade summer school English teacher would feel. Disorganized, unorderly…madness, in a sense. She might even be too taken aback to notice two keyboards connected simultaneously to my computer, instead focusing on clutters of yellow papers and very little visible wood for such a large wooden desk.

But there is some order in that madness. You know, in the way that we all know where to walk when the floor is just too unclean, or how the too-full refrigerator is still so easy to navigate so long as no one but you touches anything. We just know where things go, until someone else needs something. No, the interesting part of the above image is the second keyboard. The Razer Blackwidow.

I wrote a fine review of the Blackwidow but didn’t publish it. I blame divine intervention, so that I may write this instead. Perhaps it’s because I needed Pandora to publicly debut comedy channels, where I heard a magnificient line about being wary of the word love. The comedian – who’s name I dare not remember – claimed saying “I love you” all the time loses it’s meaning. Considering the strength and power of the word, it’s a fair statement to make. Likewise, I’m hesitant to say that I love the Blackwidow.

This arachnid is phenominal. It’s better than any mechanical keyboard I’ve tested, including the Das Keyboard Model S and Matias Tactile Pro. The keys are the best I’ve ever typed on, without reservation. The absolute power of typing, of the written word, is brought to life with this keyboard and not stained with overbearing sound – the TACK TACK TACK of hail in your head normally reserved for mechanical keyboards – nor is it tarnished with poor design, maligned keys or cut corners. There is so much to love that, as a matter of fact, I’m having trouble saying that I don’t love the Blackwidow.

Furthermore, this model is not even the more expensive “Ultimate” model, just the standard, non-macro, no-backlighting, no-extra-jacks standard fare. Even without these bells and whistles, I haven’t had this much fun and true enjoyment from typing since the Das Keyboard. But as great as it is, I’ve still got my older, familiar Sidewinder X6 plugged in, and insanely for just two functions: the quick media keys and the volume knob.

I can say that without a doubt I love the volume knob. I’m not the only one who would rather change the stereo volume while driving with a knob rather than a button, right? That tactile feedback, the turning motion…it’s really primal, but more importantly it’s an easy tool to navigate. I can easily press the wrong button…but it’s much harder to turn a knob the wrong way accidentally.

Incidentally, I have several available options to adjust volume. That volume knob, my Razer Mako speakers directly, the media controls on the Blackwidow…but that knob is just so easy, so deliciously tactile. It doesn’t do the Blackwidow justice that the media keys are shared with the function keys, and that the FN key itself is lodged between the right alt and Windows key.

That is to say that I’m a picky bastard. Because even though I loved the X6 when it came out (and it still is a wonderful keyboard), the typing experience on the Blackwidow is kickass. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that I love it.

The Razer Blackwidow is available for purchase from Amazon for $73.12. The Razer Blackwidow Ultimate is also available from Amazon, for $155.99.

5 out of 5 stars

It’s been a long, long time. Three and a half years after the cult classic forever changed the internet and bred many a meme, Valve Software returns after two years of zombie bashing with science! Literally throwing players into a mix of physics tests, momentum challenges and cooperative head-smashing, the acclaimed developer has finally delivered Portal 2. And it is grand.

As in the original players take on the avatar Chell, a tenacious woman who we know nothing about and whom we can only see by using the portal gun to look at ourselves. GLaDOS returns, as noted in the various trailers, and one new character is introduced, Wheatley. The three – well, two since Chell never speaks, which is comically visualized when Wheatley asks Chell a question, wherein gamers jump the answer – converse with one another using trickery, sarcasm, sadism and the occasional philosophical quip that keeps players on their toes. There is nary a line worth missing, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve reloaded parts of the game because I missed a single line of dialog.

This is to be expected, considering Valve’s prior titles, including and especially Portal. Those unfamiliar with the original will feel behind the curve, especially in puzzle-solving, though it’s more akin to not being in on a joke than not hearing the joke at all. Life goes on almost the same without having played Portal, but the experience of Portal 2 is richer with that background, especially when playing the cooperative campaign.

In a somewhat painful twist of irony, Portal 2 suffers because of its prequel. Portal was simplicity at its finest, a treasure trove of puzzles and imagination that so elegantly enabled players to live, to really breathe the entire experience in. Valve clearly suffered to recreate that same feeling while still building a new game. Having spent much time in Portal, even years back, I was able to pick up the portal gun and solve half of the game’s new puzzles in the single-player campaign with minimal effort. The use of momentum, acceleration, buttons and cubes, lasers and avoiding bullet-filled apologetic turrets…it just isn’t new, and considering past experience, not very demanding. Some of the newer additions, like light bridges, aerial faith plates, and excursion tunnels are interesting twists, but they don’t have the same “huzzah!”, and lack the learning curve that took so much time and effort to get to, of the original. Many players can already think with portals.

Once past the halfway mark, a serious shift in plot and gameplay occurs. Instead of GLaDOS’ voice insultingly commenting on how Chell is fat, adopted, has no friends or is fat, Cave Johnson – brilliantly voiced by J.K. Simmons – takes over the narrative with manly charm through a selection of pre-recorded tapes for test subjects. This second half introduces several new ideas for portal puzzles, all revolving around three gels: repulsion, propulsion, and one unnamed gel. They allow players to jump and bounce incredible heights, run at dashing speeds, and place portals on most any surface, respectively. Combining these with the old and newer elements can quickly turn a previously ripe mind into duck soup.

Following up such an incredible tale must have been overwhelming, because in many ways Portal supersedes its successor. Wheatley’s character is comical in a childish way, and at times his antics fall on slapstick instead of intelligence (which there is an interesting reason behind). GLaDOS’ role is minimized, but even her constant jabs lack the bite they once had. Cave Johnson is an exceptional narrator, and if you’ve watched any of the trailers, know that those aren’t the best he has to offer. The overall plot is simple and straightforward, and the bag of tricks has thinned out over the years. It isn’t until the curtains close where a jaw-dropping event occurs, one so clever that it will blow your mind.

Cooperative play is an absolute joy/nightmare. Like Left 4 Dead, Valve’s cooperative games require absolute collaboration, not the façade we see in the Call of Duty’s and Halo’s of today. As two machines – curiously named Atlas and…P-body – players solve puzzles together using two portal guns, meaning double the portals. Not only must players work entirely in tandem, they must communicate clearly, and often quickly. That means you had better find someone good to play with, someone at your level, or one of you will be doing all the work and collecting all of the frustration.

There are a few immediate benefits to the cooperative campaign over the humanized solo missions. First, GLaDOS is fully in-charge (and yes, the plot in the single-player campaign does work with the cooperative one sensibly), and she doesn’t hesitate to lash out at foolish robots with her witty repartee. Second, as robots, Atlas and Peabody can be rebuilt at any time. Taking a wrong step off a cliff or into a laser has no real punishment; in a few seconds a new body is there for the taking. This is especially great because of the long load-times between levels, which on the Xbox 360 is tragic. Finally, because communication is so important, three main functions have been added specifically for cooperative play: a navigation pointer, a 3-second countdown timer, and a selection of fun, quirky animations, including a friendly wave, an unfriendly head slap, and six others. This makes it possible to play the game without actually speaking directly to your partner, though in my experience not being on the same television set can be incredibly frustrating.

Both campaigns take about eight hours to complete, and I recommend playing the solo campaign first, which acts as an excellent segue into the cooperative missions, especially if you have limited or no experience with the original Portal. Furthermore, because of the dual-player nature of the cooperative campaign, those missions are more difficult and will require more processing power to complete from both players. And as a puzzler, Portal 2 isn’t something anyone can complete in one sitting. Some puzzles need a fresh set of eyes.

Throw in Valve’s signature “developer diaries”, a built-in tool which allows players to listen to different members of the development team explain why they built a level a certain way, or give a behind the scenes look at the game, and players can double their playtime instantly. Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 owners can rejoice because Portal 2 is excellent, though in my heart of hearts I know that the PC version is the one to own, if not for the hope of Gary’s Mod 2, then just for free future content, faster load times, and the option to play with a keyboard and mouse. And on home consoles, Portal 2 is truly a game to behold, even if we don’t get another “the cake is a lie” line.

2.5 out of 5 stars

Everyone’s got to start somewhere. When getting new products, especially for the first time, most of us fail to do the proper research, and with good reason: we don’t have enough of a background to understand the product or service we’re researching. So it’s best to stick with bigger brands with safety options, like long warranty’s and the chance to return it for next to any reason. That’s partly why Costco is so popular.

With TVs though, trusting big brand names like Samsung or Sony often comes with a steep price. Television sets can range from overpriced to what were you thinking in no time. There is no better way to make your wife into a zealous rage than by attempting to explain how a 42” TV could possibly cost $2,000, when you’re supposed to be saving up with a baby on the way. I mean, really. Think of the children!

Perhaps with the Sceptre E420BV-F120 42” LED-HDTV, picking a big brand name isn’t the best bet.

The E420BV-F120 42” LED-HDTV – or F120 for short, because who in the hell came up with such an atrocious name – is a 42” 1080p LED backlit display. It’s not the fanciest, nor is it the biggest set you can find, but it has plenty of inputs. Because the one thing you don’t want to be left without is the proper input options for whatever you use around the media center.

The F120 has one of everything – cable/antenna, component, composite, S-video, VGA + audio, and even a USB, all on top of 5 HDMI inputs. This means you can hook up up-to 11 video sources into this TV at once, which is fabulous. It was for me during my testing, in which I had all of the following connected simultaneously: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Apple TV, Logitech Revue, an OnLive microconsole, a desktop computer, a capture card, and occasionally my laptop. Every bit of hardware I had spewed across my media center had its place.

Add on top of that a standard Auxiliary, RCA and SPDIF audio outputs, and any stereo headsets you have can keep that pleasure watching on the down low, so you don’t wake up the baby. Unfortunately the SPDIF is coaxial, which will send an analog surround signal to some surround speakers systems. A digital fiber cable would have been an infinitely better option. Lacking a digital audio-out is a real shame, especially with the tinny soundbar, which barely kept me on the edge of my seat when watching The Dark Knight or Inception, or playing Crysis 2. Even with my sophisticated sound system being forced to have dozens of wires just for audio, especially when HDMI is so prevalent, is beyond a nuisance.

Of course, if sound and video quality are the most important thing for you when it comes to a new television set, then the F120 may not be for you. Audio quality is lacking and, as mentioned, there’s no fiber out. Video quality is decent, but not great. After calibrating (and yes, you’d better take some time to calibrate this set before having a housewarming for the new TV), you’ll immediately notice light bleed from the backlight, pixilation in DVD playback and most upscaled video, and otherwise blue blacks. SD quality video isn’t a big deal if you have an HD cable box and generally stream in HD, but if you still haven’t made the move then this set is definitely not for you. For 720p and 1080p video, images are clear and sharp, though colors are dim and the dark blacks are uncomfortable.

A note on light bleed. Light bleed, as you can see in the image above, is when the backlight shines through the edges of the screen. This makes images too bright, which is especially harmful to darker images on the screen. Picture a film with plenty of low-light scenes, and imagine them brightened around the corners because of the TV. The F120 does exactly that, and as you can see in the light bleed pattern above, this is more than an annoyance. It’s a severe headache. It is hard to see the backlight bleeding through on brighter video and games, and the more color used also tends to help (black and white video suffers, for example), so if you play a lot of video games, the light bleed isn’t going to be a big deal. For movie and TV viewers, it is more prevalent, but once again depends on the content.

But let’s take a step back and get back to the baby. You’d really better be careful with the F120. Even with the circular base the TV doesn’t sit in place very well, especially with all of those cables you have plugged in on the bottom or left side of the TV. It wobbles back and forth, and I wasn’t too comfortable with how easy the display is to move. Wall mounted, the F120 is fine…otherwise, be wary of junior doing this.

As a new TV, especially a first TV for a high-tech house with plenty of HD devices, the Sceptre E420BV-F120 42” LED-HDTV is a good set to have. It’s got enough ports for almost anything, excluding outputting digital surround audio. For HD content, video quality is decent and certainly good enough for a starter TV or as a step-up from an SD set. But if you’re looking to replace your current HDTV, still watch a lot of SD content, don’t necessarily want to wall mount (and have a safety issue) and want a good soundbar, then the F120 is one TV you should pass on. However, I have no doubt new buyers will be happy with the F120 even with its light bleed and average video quality because of its simplicity, many available ports, ease of use, and low price.

The Sceptre E420BV-F120 42” LED HDTV is available for purchase from Amazon for $699.99.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Pros:

• Solid build & very comfortable
• Heart Rate Monitor is exceptional
• Depth of analysis is staggering

Cons:

• Overly difficult interface
• Buttons press to easily
• Can get pricey

If you’re the type of training athlete that obsesses over statistics and the finest of details, than the Suunto t3d is for you.  Capable of compiling all of your training minutia and interacting with several Suunto peripherals, the t3d is quite the comprehensive beast.  While the t3d might be best suited for cardio related activities, I found it to be a bit troublesome when wearing gloves or engaging in any sort of wrist movement because the buttons were easily pressed when I didn’t want them to.

Build, Feel, & Aesthetic:

The watch is relatively lightweight and comforts the contours of my girl wrist with ease.  I wore the t3d across a variety sporting activities and never felt like its presence was a nuisance.  Beyond the overly sensitive buttons, the face of the watch was ultra resilient when it came to smashing into things and I never felt like I had to “watch” out for it.  As far as looks goes, the t3d gives the impression of a high end sports watch without the need for any undue flair or peacocking.  The band is comprised of your familiar sports resin, and the clasp works really well with fastening the strap and removing the watch with a quickness.  To be noted, battery removal is also very simple thanks for the hatch like mini manhole cover that easily unscrews with the help of a nickel.

Modes & Use:

While the t3d has a bevy of modes to help you reach your training targets, by far the most impressive aspect was the real time heart monitoring.  The t3d syncs directly to the accompanied HRM belt and the results are swift and quite pleasing.  The band fits directly around your solarplexis and can be adjusted to fit your measurements accordingly.  I tested the real time accuracy during football sessions on the beach and playing basketball at the park.  The response time was great and it really helped let me know how hard I was working.

Unless your are a real athlete that demands a absurd amount of training data, you may find the t3 to be a bit daunting.  The average person that exercises regularly won’t even need all that the t3 offers.  Add on the companion website MovesCount and you’ll be blown away by how much detail is involved in nearly every aspect of a real athlete’s training regimen (see pic).

My biggest gripe with the t3 is the navigation interface.  It’s just not all that intuitive and somewhat cumbersome.  You really have to learn it to make it work for you.  I’ve tried learning it and I still got confused and couldn’t get to where I needed to go when I needed to get there. Some people may be OK with the trial and error like schematic but I just got annoyed.

Conclusion:

While this watch may be a tad over indulgent for the average exerciser, the t3d is the most comprehensive training watch I have ever seen.  If you’re looking for a watch to really dive into, I’d easily suggest the t3d.  If you are looking for a more clearly defined sports watch without the maze of menus I’d look elsewhere.  The MovesCount companion website is quite detailed and implements the whole community and social media aspect to your training, which really adds to the completeness of the package and should certainly not be overlooked.  Depending on how many peripherals you want to add into the mix, the price could get up there.  The MoveStick wireless data transfer stick is alone around  $70!  Add in the price of the t3d and you’re looking at around $200.  But what’s really the price of physical perfection?

Buy the Suunto t3d here for $114!

4.5 out of 5 stars

Pros:

• Excellent build design and fit for any selection of camera equipment
• Protects bag contents magnificently
• Shoulder strap is easily adjustable and can be upgraded with add-ons
• High customization with camera equipment placement

Cons:

• No top strap for easy grabbing one-handed
• Camera bag zipper makes it very difficult to quickly pull out a camera for a shot
• Extra pockets not very roomy

Good camera bags are hard to find, especially if you’re an on-the-go photographer who has plenty of expensive equipment and needs to be able to lug it around efficiently and safely. That means if it can’t be too heavy or too light; it can’t be too big or too small; it has to be just right. And, if you’re a burling photographer who must snap and send photos ASAP, that bag needs space for camera equipment, a laptop, cables, and more.

Thus, the Timbuk2 Snoop Camera Messenger.

Timbuk2 – a company based in San Francisco that specializes in messenger bags for bike riders, style aficionados, and anyone using the latest tech gear – made the Snoop Camera Messenger with a simple goal in mind: give photographers what they need most. That is room for multiple bodies, a handful of lenses, room to secure a laptop, and all in a lightweight case with strong protection.

The Snoop has two ways of closing the front flap, velcro and buckle straps

Let’s start with the camera portion. I tested the medium Snoop, which has enough space for, well, just about any assortment of camera equipment. It can fit two camera bodies with four lenses at once, or one body with a large flash attachment and 4-5 lenses, or one body and six lenses. The Snoop has a bag inside the messenger bag which holds the camera equipment for easy storage (as seen in the picture below) with removable walls to match your assortment of equipment. Or you can remove it entirely and fill the three-gallon space with anything. It worked well for carrying a load of books to the local library.

This second bag fits snug as a bug in the Snoop, but it’s not easy to put in or take out. That’s because it’s nearly 1:1 with the larger bag so there is minimal space between the two, which helps protect expensive equipment within. Less room to move around, less shake. Remember, the Snoop has to work for bike riders, so every bit is designed with hard movements in mind. I’ve found the bag-in-a-bag design brilliant in all but one regard: the zipper system is not suited for speed. With a camera fully secured and zipped up, it’s next to impossible to rip out any camera before missing a shot, mostly because the zippers are so loose and hard to open quickly.

Even without a camera in the bag, there is still plenty of unused space to fill

However, when considering protection or versatility with thousands of dollars in question (and possibly livelihoods), protection supersedes everything. There are effectively three layers of protection that the Snoop offers: a weather-proof outer layer, the zippered middle layer, and tightly cushioned inner layer. After three weeks of heavy walking, occasional biking, some bag throwing and plenty of car riding, I’m completely satisfied with the level of protection by the Snoop. None of my equipment – camera or otherwise – has been harmed in my testing. And when I say throwing, I mean literally.

What’s equally important to protection is comfort. Once again, the Snoop is made for bikers, so it has to remain comfortable in the worst conditions. While I’m not a biker, I did ride around briefly to try it out for myself as well as walked all around Santa Monica, Downtown LA and other areas. Comfort really is the most important thing when you’re carrying anywhere from 15-25 pounds of equipment. I stuffed my test Snoop with my Nikon D7000, two zoom lenses (18-105mm, 55-200mm), two primes (50mm 1.8, 30mm 1.4), an extension tube, a 3lb laptop, 3-ring binder, some pens and cables, and at least one variable item. Sometimes I carried my iPad along as well with the SD-Card adapter, or the Samsung Galaxy Tablet, or even the Nikon P100 as a pseudo second body. With all that equipment, I could walk for a mile and not have any aches. I did switch sides because one shoulder got tired, but that’s all.

The front “Napoleon” style pockets are too thin…good for cellphones and credit cards, but little else

This is accomplished through a simple strap system that makes it easy for wearers to literally snap on and off. The Snoop’s strap is made to fit perfectly, and doesn’t require users to always find that sweet spot. As someone who’s walked around a few expos and shows, hitting milestones in dozens of miles daily, all while taking the bag on and off for meetings or switching shoulders, finding the best position to wear the bag consistently is not impossible. It is, however, insane. Timbuk2’s solution is ingenious: keep the sweet spot with a lock mechanism that snaps open whenever you want. One simple buckle solves everything.

Let’s get back to stuffing the bag. It’s almost like a Thanksgiving turkey…there’s really no end to what you can fit in it. I put all my camera equipment, laptop, paperwork and folders, two tablets, a second camera, and still I had space. But more importantly, I felt comfortable that my dearest and most precious cargo was secure. I’ve spent years trying to find something this good.

It’s not all rainbows and unicorns though. As an LA resident, my life and work often revolves around my car, so I don’t sling a bag across my shoulder as much as I throw it into my trunk or passenger seat. Doing so is surprisingly difficult, especially if you pack heavy. Because there’s no top strap on the Snoop, there’s no easy way to hold onto the bag except when wearing it. The camera bag-in-a-bag has a strap, why doesn’t the entire Snoop? One lousy strap could make a world of difference.

The Snoop Camera Messenger can be a very fat bag when packed fully. The gold add-on is the Beer Candy bottle opener that was given to press at CES earlier this year. More strap accessories are available directly from Timbuk2

The “Napoleon” style pockets are also convenient, but too flat. If packing plenty of equipment like me, those front pockets will be crushed so much that only the thinnest objects will fit without causing a ruckus. I hefted the Snoop around with the Smartfish Whirl Mini in that front pocket, and it stuck out more than Waldo in the arctic tundra.  These are clearly intended to hold wallets, phones, perhaps small cameras and other thin things, but no larger pockets are available on the bag.

When discussing camera bags, the one we need is reliable as Lassie. The Snoop Camera Messenger is tough as nails and provides excellent security for all of your equipment. It’s customizable, giving users options like how to seal the bag (Velcro straps or buckles) to storing camera equipment or something else entirely. The Snoop isn’t quick for pictures, nor is it easy to handle when not strapped to your back. However, there is no bag that offers the security, reliability and peace-of-mind like the Snoop Camera Messenger, while also looking so damn good.

The Timbuk2 Snoop Camera Messenger is available for purchase from Amazon for $108-140.

4 out of 5 stars

Pros:

• Excellent audio quality with soft, accurate sound
• Lightweight design is safe, very comfortable
• Blue on silver color scheme a visual stunner

Cons:

• Minimal noise cancellation, not good in noisy surroundings
• Rubber cabling is, for PC users, outdated

I already pointed out they were blue headphones, didn’t I? Well, it’s not such a big deal, but the blue is pretty cool regardless. But I won’t talk about how blue they are, but how good of a set the Steelseries Siberia V2 headset is. Sound good? Read on.

The Siberia V2 is a USB/3.5mm stereo headset, and I tested out the 3.5mm model, which is ultimately better for most computer users. That way there’s no headache with drivers and, if you’re using a soundcard or your motherboard handles audio well, then you don’t put it to waste. However, the USB model does provide virtual audio surround, but as I spoke with Steelseries in the past, they aren’t focused on surround sound. A discussion for another article.

Feel

Besides looking sleek as hell, especially with the blue paint job (which, as mentioned in our first look, was special for the Grammy’s), the Siberia V2 is very smartly built with a light, almost bare-bones frame and giant cans to sit over the ears. They’re round, which seems better suited for cartoon characters than real people, but these are so big the shape doesn’t matter. The V2’s sit comfortably over the ear, have good airflow, and don’t overhead.

They also don’t get uncomfortable easily, due to the miniscule frame and the steadying headband. The ear cans are connected by a wire-thin frame, literally two rubber-covered wires metal wires that are pliable. Below it is a headband that rests on the head, supporting the set and taking some of the pinch off of your ears, one of the few problems the Siberia Neckband has. That headband is very adjustable and is very comfortable to wear.

One downside: with good airflow often comes poor noise cancellation. The Siberia V2 falls short in this one area. With loud surroundings, the V2’s can’t compare with more expensive, or occasionally less expensive sets that are bulkier but keep noise pollution out.

Build

The first thing any user will notice is the 6’ extension cable attached to the 3’ auxiliary cable directly connected to the headset. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, since Steelseries has recently started attacking the console market, and with so many PC users demanding longer cables because of how many devices they have plugged into their rigs.

What is a tad disappointing is the rubber cabling. Most companies have shifted over to braided cloth cables, because they don’t tangle as easily and are almost impossible to rip. Or they just go wireless completely, like with the Logitech F540. And this isn’t just for headsets, but across the board: mice, keyboards, headsets, and in some cases even speakers. Having rubber cables is out of style, and even if the silver rubber matches the blue set nicely, it doesn’t match the gamer’s lifestyle today.

On that cable is a small control panel for volume and mute control. The control is too far down and too hard to reach, though I rarely needed to use it. Maybe it’s the old man in me coming out, but if I don’t want to say something out loud, I don’t say it. And if I need to change the volume, I change it on my computer. Still, other sets use some system to keep the control in reach instantly, whereas the V2 does not.

The one thing I really like about the build design is that I have no problem throwing this headset around. Sure, the microphone boom is retractable, and the cans are huge, but I’m a practical guy. If I need to jump out of my chair and get the front door, the last thing I need to do is look around where to gently, gingerly put my headset. With my Logitech G930s, I just wear them out the door (and hope I’m not going to stay long). With the Siberia V2, I have no problem tossing them on the ground on my way out.

Before you banish me to your own personal hell for such heresy, consider this: the Siberia V2 is so light that even if I threw them hard, straight at my carpeted floor, they wouldn’t break or get any damage. That peace of mind is something you can’t get with a big wireless set like the G930, or even with other wired sets.

Sound Quality

Like most of the Steelseries audio line, I’m happy with the quality of audio on the V2. This Siberia model has some fluctuation in the mid-range, and the very low-range sounds just lack in power, which is expected from an unpowered set such as the Siberia V2. That said, audio is soft, and pleasant to listen to at higher volume levels, which is practically a requirement with poor noise cancellation.

I played several games, movies and a ton of music with the Siberia V2 and haven’t been let down once. It fared well in providing accurate sounds. All across the board I was generally impressed with the audio quality, though once again that quality is only as good as your ambient noise. If you live in a noisy house, you may not get to appreciate the fine audio.

Conclusion

Should you feel jealous about not having this Siberia V2? Abso-fraggin-lutely. There aren’t many of these around. I take it back. You can get a V2, but not necessarily the awesomely just-before-the-sky-turns-black blue set. Not unless you went to the Grammy’s, know someone who did (and who is willing to give them up), or know someone at Steelseries who’s equally willing to part with them.

But don’t feel bad. The quality is identical across all Siberia V2 models, which means even if you can’t find this rare breed, there are plenty of others in the sea to catch. And it is a great catch. Strong audio, a smart, lightweight design that stays comfortable for hours, and fashionable too. A great buy if your house is quiet.

The Steelseries Siberia V2 Headset is available from Amazon starting at $74.99.

4.5 out of 5 stars

I love two types of products: simple products that can be used in a million ways, and complex products that are easy to use. As Einstein put it, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” That’s why the Joby Gorillamobile for iPod Touch is such a great device. It’s as simple as it can get, and has a billion uses.

The Gorillamobile is made specifically for the iPod Touch, but isn’t limited to it. Using an elegant switch-in and out system and four adapters that fit onto the top of the tripus (that’s octo – eight – pus), even though Joby sells it specifically for the iPod Touch (2^nd and 3^rd generation), the Gorillamobile works just as well with compact and sub-compact cameras, webcams, and just about any small and light gadgets you may own. Just remember that only two adhesive adapters are included, so if you plan on using the Gorillamobile for products without a 1/4^th tripod screw, buy extra adhesive panels.

Specifically with the iPod Touch, the Gorillamobile is great, so long as it is a 2^nd or 3^rd generation iPod. The 4^th gen, reviewed a few months back, does fit, but not well. That is to say the 4^th gen iPod will stay put and fits comfortably in the case, but is prone to falling out if held upside down. The case is also a solid piece with no openings for the newer iPod’s camera, so it can’t be used for video. Also, because the 4^th Gen iPod’s power/standby has been moved to the right (from the left, where it is on all older models), users with 4^th Gen iPods will need to take the iPod out to turn it off.

Secondary devices, like cameras and webcams, work very well also with the Gorillamobile. I used the recently reviewed Sony Cybershot TX9 and Nikon S1100pj, and both fit fine on the Gorillamobile. The TX9 doesn’t weigh down the Gorillamobile, but the bulkier Nikon compact is on the cusp of being too heavy at 6.4oz. While the Gorillamobile does not have a listed maximum weight, I’d guess anywhere from 160-200 grams. 180 grams is 6.4oz. That means it will support the weight of most sub-compact cameras and webcams, but larger/heavier devices may not fit well. Taller electronics can also be a problem. The further they extend away from the base, the less weight they need to bend the legs.

As with most Joby products, the Gorillamobile uses the multi-joint legs which can be contorted into any desired shape for wrapping around poles, tree branches, or any way you can think of. The Gorillamobile is small with 6” long legs, so it won’t wrap around a flat surface well because the ball connectors are too small and light. Still, this is meant for an iPod Touch and similarly sized devices, meaning you can wrap the Gorillamobile around a door handle or even your hand, or rest it comfortably atop a display.

The lock switch is a nice touch. It keeps the attachable adapters in place in case the release is accidentally pressed. It may seem moot, but if the Gorillamobile isn’t securely fastened or slips for any reason, it’s better for the attached device that they do not separate. The shape and design of the Gorillamobile makes it resilient to falls. I plugged a webcam onto the Gorillamobile and poorly placed it between my two monitors and it fell, but with the lock enabled, it fell as one piece, not two. My webcam could have been damaged without that lock.

For $25, the Gorillamobile is an easy buy. It’s the kind of product that’s just convenient to have around the house, even if you don’t plan on using it regularly. Hell, just the other day I was shooting and couldn’t keep my camera in place, and used the Gorillamobile to keep it steady. Within ten seconds I got the shot I needed. The only downside is that there is no 4^th gen iPod Touch model, so if you want to use the newer iPod’s camera with the Gorillamobile, it’ll require some DIY work to cut out a hole for the camera. My thoughts on it are simple: if you get a Gorillamobile, you will be pleased.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Once I had a great idea for a game. Stick a bunch of indestructible foul-mouthed ex-soldiers on a barren wasteland littered with broken glass, insane and heavily armed prisoners, and giant mutated monsters. A target is painted on your back at all times, but thanks to an unrepentant wit, a hide thick as nails, and a big boot to kick up anything’s ass, the whole ordeal is a gas.

Then I forgot about it five minutes later and never thought of it again. Until Bulletstorm, that is.

From the minds with a fetish for thick arms and tough girls who love cargo pants, Epic Games brings us Bulletstorm, exactly the tale mentioned above exaggerated a thousand times over. It’s immaturity in videogames at its finest…what I thought would be the coolest videogame ever when I was 15. In writing this review, I feel old like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino. Get off my lawn, or I’ll blast your brains out kid. Feelin’ lucky?

The frustrating section involving a remote-controlled dinosaur is brilliant. Carnage all around.

Starring a cast of ape-men who swear more than they talk, players will have trouble immersing themselves in the world of Bulletstorm. The cursing and banter is funny for all of thirty seconds, then gets old. Protagonist Grayson Hunt is so tough that we need to hear about it every few minutes, lest we forget. Every soldier is so tough that we need to be constantly reminded that they have balls of steel, that their pants are always too tight, and that they can down a bottle of anything and still kill everything in sight. Real old, real fast.

Assuming you are that 15 year old, have fun. This is the sort of game parents dread, not because of the gore or violence (it really isn’t that bad…relatively speaking). No, the characters curse like sailors, with mouths so filthy a soap-Listerine-rubbing alcohol mouthwash can’t fix. When your kid comes home saying “Mommy, what does (your four-letter word of choice) mean?”, it’s already too late. Thankfully lewdness is strictly verbal…and, well, gory and blood-filled. But the latter isn’t so bad (relatively speaking).

Adolescent potty-humor aside, the main function of Bulletstorm is not only about killing everything, but making it look good. Hardcore gamers may or may not enjoy the game for that exact reason: if you are interested in accuracy, eliminating oponents and moving on to win the game, Bulletstorm is not for you. But if you enjoy tea-bagging, acting like an ass online, and really have no sentiment for actual combat and would rather humiliate friends and strangers alike, then Bulletstorm sounds right for your candy ass.

The minimalist skillshot. String together more deaths with excellent timing and earn 20x more points

Developer People Can Fly achieves this in two ways: first, everyone is a bullet sponge. Take 50 bullets and hey, look, a scratch (well-placed shots can of course do serious damage, including one-hit kills). But forget about hits and focus on actual killing. Why just shoot bullets when there are more painful ways to torment enemies? Why not cut them in half, blow them up, fire exploding cannon balls, rip them to shreds with .50 caliber rounds, or worse? Better yet, get a group of uglies together and share the pain – be economical about it. No need to waste precious ammo when fireworks only require one bullet.

Every kill earns points, but each also has the opportunity to earn more points for specialty kills. Each weapon has a truckload. Kicking an enemy and filling their rump full of lead has a bonus, as well as a very pleasant visual of their corpse violently defecating. Shoot a chained mine around an enemy’s head and then wait for it to explode has two bonuses, for the headshot and the torturous waiting. Shoot a man in the crotch, watch him suffer and then end his misery for yet another award. Bulletstorm isn’t a shooter; it’s a robust embarrassment machine. It runs on the imagination of 13 year olds boys who worship Quentin Tarantino.

Whether or not that’s fun is entirely subjective, as mentioned earlier. It depends on how you enjoy first person shooters. Don’t expect to sit back and relax with a beer after a hard day at work playing Bulletstorm though. It’s demanding. The game practically requires your eyes stay glued to the TV so players don’t miss a thing. Levels have too many traps and pitfalls – built in or placed by opponents – to cheerily skip through. It requires a fully-active – and creative – brain to win.

Everything is trying to kill you, including the local flora. That doesn’t mean they can’t still be fun

Bulletstorm is certainly fun with friends, especially as a sort of “OH NO HE DIDN’T” game where every kill sparks a laugh, a bitch-slap, and a good time for all. But playing competitively effectively decimates the game’s premise of not taking any of it seriously. To play well, Bulletstorm requires a more serious, more attentive focus than most ‘standard’ shooters. Oh the irony.

As a single-player game, unless your favorite word is fart, poop or an expletive far worse, Bulletstorm is beyond over the top. Combat against AI is fun at first and challenging enough to remain enjoyable, but it isn’t satisfying. Sure, whip an enemy into his buddy’s rocket and watch the explosion wipe out five guys, and it’s a blast. But those are moments of enjoyment, not a signature of a fun game. Bulletstorm requires a lot of work from players to remain enjoyable. It isn’t simply fun. The fun is determined by how fun you make it, and how much you enjoy the violence.

For some, that’s certainly more than enough. I have no doubts we’ll be seeing plenty of incredible skillshots on YouTube in the coming weeks and months. But if you’re unsure, this is a rent first, buy later kind of game. It’s polarizing without a doubt – this is no Call of Duty. Some will be appalled while others will hail for joy at the gushing blood and putrid vernacular. Those who like Bulletstorm will love it, and those that don’t…

Amazon currently sells it for $26.48.