With the rising cost of gas people are starting to look for alternatives. Now this ridable three-wheeled cooler may not be a realistic option for your morning commutes, but it could get you around a tailgate party.
The cooler has a top speed of 14 mph and uses a 500-watt electric motor to do the job. It holds about 24 cans and 8 lbs of ice, so it’s big enough for a case of your favorite brew. If you had to park far away from your buddies tailgate, don’t worry about it, this thing can travel 15 miles on one charge.
One of the most interesting features of the cooler is the cup holder located between the knees of the driver. I wonder if there are any laws about driving a cooler under the influence. Another bonus is the cooler can open while driving. That means if you’re on a long 15-mile ride (which will take you an hour), you will have easy access to road beers.
Send me an email if you find any interesting bacon or beer related products.
This is a tasty little video showing the evolution of cellphones, starting in 1985 and ending in 2007. Before watching, you might want to mute the sound. Especially if you are watching this in a public place. If you don’t, the people around you may think you’re watching an adult film from 1987.
[via boing boing]
The Grand Theft Auto games for the PS2 killed a lot of my free time in the past. Now with GTA IV out this week for the PS3 I am wishing I had money to spend and time to waste. But maybe it’s for the best that I can’t get this game, since I know it would suck the life right out of me. Or if you believe all the negative hype about it, it might turn me into some kind of murdering maniac.
Anyway, there are so many new features and toys in this game it would be a chore to list them all. The one that I am most excited about are the new multiplayer modes. Some of the new modes are death matches, turf wars, cops n’ crooks, and carjacking. So now instead of wasting time alone, you can waste time playing with other humans. Unlike the other GTA games this one should not get old after a while because of the multiplayer modes. Rockstar deserves a pat on the back for that one.
When I get my “last ditch effort to stimulate the economy” check in the mail I will have to make a hard choice. Pay bills or buy a Playstation 3. Maybe I could save the money and just wait until one of my friends gets the game. Then just make up reasons to stop off at their house every few days to get my fix.
If you played this game let me know if it’s worth getting a PS3 for.
The sun is shining and the warm breeze feels fantastic, it must be spring! Since the dark and cold winter months are gone, bright colors are starting to catch my eye again. While reading a few of my favorite blogs I spotted two posts that made my color seeking eyes jump for joy.
The first post was entitled “Eneplug: Colorful 3-pack of USB chargers ships in May”. It’s about this colorful and highly useful adapter to charge your USB devices. This would be great for people that have rechargeable devices that need to be plugged in to your computer’s USB port to charge. I am sure things like this have been out for a while but I don’t think they were ever hot pink.
The second post I found was called, “HOWTO make a non-timekeeping wristwatch bauble”. It talks about these hipsters that think it’s cool to spray paint old watches “hot” colors. I don’t know if I like this idea or not. I hate to wear things on my arm and this would be extra annoying since it servers no real purpose. I should spray paint an old laptop (screen and all) I have lying around and pretend to use it at a coffee shop. Now that would make a statement.
These were just a few “bright” posts I wanted to share. Feel free to share your own in the comments.
So after I got my Macbook I starting looking for programs to fill it up with. The first one I downloaded was Adium, which I explained in a previous post was better than iChat. The next program I started looking for was a good image editor. I wanted something cheaper than Photoshop but could still handle everything I need.
The first thing I found was Gimp. I found it to be powerful but the complicated user interface made that power too hard to handle. Soon after getting that off my Macbook I found my dream photo editing tool called, Pixelmator.
Pixelmator is sexy, user friendly, and can handle everything I throw at it. I would compare it to Photoshop Elements. The price is just right too, only 59 bucks to unlock all the power of the program. If you go to their site and check out the screenshots you will notice it’s interface is a lot like Photoshop’s. If you’re familiar with Adobe products you should be ok and the learning curve will be low. Thankfully there are some differences with the interface, so I don’t think Adobe will try to shut down or take over (like they did with Macromedia) this competitor.
If you are in the market for an inexpensive photo editing tool and don’t need all the fancy filters and effects Photoshop comes with, then you should give Pixelmator a try. You can download a demo on their website.
Almost every electronic manufacturer in Asia is coming up with an iPod Touch or iPhone knockoff. I thought it would be a fun idea to create a list of the top 5 knock-offs. I like how the knockoffs tried so hard to copy Apple’s products but left out most of the features that make the real things so great.
01 - Portronics 2GB Touch – Wow, a FM tuner and built in speaker! Why didn’t Apple think to install a built in speaker? Oh wait maybe because little speakers sound like crap.
02 - Optimus Touch – This one tries to make up for it’s short comings by adding a big shiny red button on the front. Everyone loves big red buttons, right?
03 - Geeks.com Touch knockoff – This knockoff looks a lot like the Optimus Touch but I can’t tell if it’s the same one or not. If this is a different one it seems knockoff maker’s knockoff other knockoffs. (Say that five times fast.)
04 - Allfine MP4 Player – The images the manufactures use are sometimes hilarious and this one is no exception. Just look at the little hand touching the giant screen.
05 - DaXian X999 – This fake sports two cameras, one in the front and one and the back. That way you can take a picture of yourself while you take picture of your friend. It also runs on a pirated copy of Windows Mobile so if you have no morals and like to steal, this might be the knockoff for you.
I know there are many more knockoffs, but these were the ones that I found most amusing. If you know of any others I should check out let me know via comments.
Ever since I started this blog I have been kicking around that idea of getting a camcorder. You know, to video tape my adventures with bacon. What stopped me in the past was price and size. I knew that if the camcorder was big I would never take in anywhere. So I have been waiting for a cheap small camcorder for a while.
A few months ago a friend of mind showed me his new Flip Video Camera. The flip is a small tapeless camcorder that you can plug directly in to your computer to edit the videos. I know that last sentence sounds confusing, but trust me when I say this little thing is amazing and it’s also fewer than 200 bucks. My wait for a small cheap camcorder was now over!
Before I buy anything I read as many reviews as I can about it, so Goggled “Flip Ultra Video Reviews”. After reading a few I came to the realization that this is indeed is a pretty decent product. But I still wasn’t stratified. You can never trust reviews because they could be writen by the companies that made the product. There had to be a better way to get real people views on the Flip.
Then I had an epiphany ( and yes I was eating bacon), check YouTube for video reviews. It’s a no brainer. I will see people’s reviews of it and also get to see the quality of the video it captures. I would have to say that most of the reviews are more entertaining and scary than informative. It always surprises me what people will upload for the world to see. But for the most part it helped me get a better idea if what the Flip could do.
In the end I decided that getting the Flip would be a good idea. I know there are some cons with it but the pros for me out way them. Once I buy one and use it for awhile, look for my own video review of it on YouTube.
Lastly, if you’re looking to buy something remember to check out YouTube. That way you get information about what real people think about the product and you will also be entertained.
You can buy the Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 60-Minutes (White)
from Amazon for $150.
Today at Macworld Steve Jobs unveiled a few new treats for us. I am going to list the announcements I feel were important and give you my thoughts on them. Sadly, the iBacon was not mentioned, maybe next year.
Time Capsule (New Product) – It’s just an external hard drive with Wi-Fi. Don’t get me wrong this is a neat idea, but I think I will just stick with my cheaper USB Hard Drive.
Apple TV (Update) – Finally you don’t need to get up off the couch to buy a new movie on iTunes. The new Apple TV also has more storage. I am still not sure if this will help make this a product something people would actually want. I know I’m still not getting one.
iTunes Movie Rentals (Update) – You can now pay 3.99 to watch a new release or 2.99 for an old one. This is a nice idea and I bet Netflix is flinching a little.
Macbook Air (New Product) – This was the big announcement? It might just be me but I am not impressed with a thin laptop. One thing I do like about it though is that the track pad uses multi-touch. If you’ve used an iPod Touch you know what I am talking about.
There was also a new update to the iPhone and Touch. The only bad news is Apple is going to charge for new software for iPod Touch. I don’t know if I like that, but I bet this is something that will not last long. With them so easy to be hacked I can’t see people buying software for them.
Let me know your thoughts on the Macworld Keynote.
The tech blog Crunch Gear, which I read every day, has been posting a lot about the upcoming MacWorld Expo. If you are not sure what that is, it’s an annual trade show for Macintosh developers, vendors and fans. It’s also the time when our pal Steve shows off the hot new toys and upgrades Apple is going to put out this year. Last year the big news was the iPhone, so I can’t wait to see what this year’s hot news is.
Here is a list of early coverage and rumors about the event from CrunchGear:
Apple’s ‘08 Keynote leaked? Highly doubtful but check it out - January 14, 2008
MacWorld 2008: Anticipation - January 14, 2008
MacBook’s new name is Air? - January 11, 2008
Macworld 2008: ‘There’s something in the air’ - January 11, 2008
Sources at Intel tell us about Macworld - January 10, 2008
Rumor: Macs to ship with Blu-ray support - January 3, 2008
Watch out Apple, Creative just dropped a bomb - December 3, 2007
After reading about all the rumors, I think I will start my own. Tomorrow Steve Jobs is going to announce the iBacon, a device that cooks bacon in your pocket. It will also play music, video, and act as an AED (Automated External Defibrillator). We will have to wait for tomorrow to see which rumors are true.
Since I am a new Mac user I couldn’t believe that all you had to do was drag an Application to the trash to uninstall it. For the most part this is true. But there are some applications that have preference files and stuff that don’t always go out with the trash. They stay behind, hidden away in the maze of systems folders. After doing a search I found two reviews about applications that find and delete the extra files for you.
This first article I found was “Showdown: AppZapper vs. AppDelete” by David Aviv. I have tried both of these programs. I do agree with David that AppZapper is better but I can’t see myself paying for something like this. From what I can tell AppDelete does just as good of a job and it’s free. So paying for AppZapper just doesn’t sit right with me.
I also found an article about an even better deletion tool, AppTrap. Steve Halford recently wrote a nice article about it called, “AppTrap - The Feature Apple Forgot”. After reading this I was excited to give this a try. Having to launch AppDelete every time I delete an app is a pain. This would eliminate that and it’s free!
So if you’re like me and are new to Macs, you have two good articles to read in your search for perfect app deletion. I know that they helped me in my decision. If you know of another app that does the same thing let me know and I will check it out.
