Let's Talk Tech
How do you make the excellent Momentum headphones better? Make them wireless! These beautiful headphones from Sennheiser rock a timeless design, with durable build quality, and cutting edge technology! Let’s take a look (and a listen)!
Shop the Momentum Wireless on Amazon.
More info on Sennheiser products.
I’ll admit it. I kinda miss hardware smartphone keyboards. Reviewing the Classic was an interesting homecoming. How well does Blackberry’s mid-ranger compare to the rest of the smartphone market? Let’s take a look!
Shop the Blackberry Classic on Amazon.
BB Classic Camera Review.
BB Classic Speaker Test.
Mobile gaming is often derided as “casual” gaming by console and PC gamers, but we’ve witnessed a turn in smartphone and tablet gaming, introducing sophisticated game mechanics and console quality graphics. In this age, it’s also far more likely that a kid’s first gaming experience likely won’t be on a dedicated gaming machine, but on a parent’s multipurpose phone or tablet.
In a move which further legitimizes this market, Google has announced they will be using ESRB ratings for the titles available on Google Play, to better help inform parents about what content they and their children are consuming. It’s not particularly difficult to find very mature content, and while there are age restrictions built into Google’s app store, it can sometimes take a bit of digging to find information on age appropriate material and game content. A zombie game, for instance, might feature cute cartoon walkers or rotting-flesh nightmare-inducing gore.
Using the same tags that console and PC games require is excellent for consistency, and should aid consumers in making purchasing decisions. You can read the ESRB’s full press announcement below.
Continue reading “Google Play to Use ESRB Ratings for Smartphone and Tablet Games”
This is the first Blackberry I’ve used in YEARS, and while I was a big fan of their messaging services, the smartphone arena has become very competitive with some fantastic camera options. Let’s see how Blackberry’s mid-range, throw-back designed Classic performs in our real-world video benchmarks!
You can now upload 360 degree video to Youtube! This will be amazing for Google Cardboard and VR headsets, but even viewing it on a phone or in a browser, it’s a really immersive way to interact with content!
Here’s a quick tour of my completely trashed office shot on the Kodak Pixpro SP360! Make sure to view this in Google Chrome or through the Android Youtube App, otherwise you’ll just see a regular wide angle video.
Shop the SP360 on Amazon.
Kodak SP360 Review.
More SP360 Video Samples.
Raw “square” video from the SP360.
We’re on the edge of a whole new generation of consumer produced immersive and interactive content. After playing with cameras like the Kodak PixPro SP360, which can shoot panorama video, we’ll soon be sharing immersive experiences that put people in the middle of a memory.
Activated on Youtube, when watching special panoramic videos through the chrome browser you’ll be able to “look around” a scene with side mounted controls. When viewed through the Android app, your phone’s accelerometer will allow you to tilt your phone screen around to see whats happening all around you.
This is a really exciting move, as it positions Youtube as an early resource for user generated 360 degree and virtual reality content. You can see an example video from MY OFFICE below.
Microsoft revealed more information on plans to move their personal digital assistant, named Cortana, to iOS and Android devices.
A competitor to Google Now and Apple’s Siri, Cortana is one of the most popular features found on Windows Phones, a voice search with a personality, capable of some fairly sophisticated actions when using casual speech commands. I’m a huge fan of person and location based reminders. Microsoft says we’ll see standalone Cortana apps for other phone platforms this Autumn.
“This kind of technology, which can read and understand email, will play a central role in the next roll out of Cortana, which we are working on now for the fall time frame,” said Eric Horvitz, managing director of Microsoft Research.
It’s a smart move which plays to Microsoft’s strengths in delivering services with as broad a reach as possible, converting consumers using competitor’s hardware into customers through software and apps. I’ll always be a fan of more competition, especially when you can go cross platform. Maybe someday I’ll even get that IBM Watson app I’ve been wanting…
We’ll learn more about Microsoft’s strategy later this year.
(via Reuters)
I really want to jump into a pages-long, old-man tirade about what video gaming was like when I was a kid. When the “bits” of a console were single digit. When playing a game meant punching in a cartridge and pressing the power button. Where instead of waiting for updates to download, the worst “tech support” we’d need to perform was blowing out some dust from the tray. But I digress…
Redditor Kadjar posted yesterday about an infuriating aspect of modern day gaming, the fact that we don’t own our games in quite the same way we used to with cartridges and discs. Instead we have an account, and our games are attached to that account. Kadjar’s Playstation Network account was compromised, and he woke up to $600 in fraudulent charges and the discovery that his PS4 was no longer attached to his account. Someone else had all his stuff and racked up some huge bills.
Worse, upon discovering the hijack, and contacting Sony, he got some bad news. Sony would only reverse $150 of the charges. If he used his credit card company’s ability to dispute the charges, Sony would ban his account and wipe out any and all record of any game attached to his account, even those not in dispute and purchased legally. Continue reading “PS4 User Account Hacked, Sony Refuses to Refund $600 in Fraudulent Charges”