They design nice products for me to look at …have cool, clean stores, staffed with overly-happy tweens….and lately have been on a real hot streak with bringing us products with real innovation.

I was all ready to order up a few all-black ...]]> OK, so here’s the thing.  I like Apple.

They design nice products for me to look at …have cool, clean stores, staffed with overly-happy tweens….and lately have been on a real hot streak with bringing us products with real innovation.

I was all ready to order up a few all-black mock turtlenecks, and try growing some scruff so I could look more like Steve Jobs and the guy from the Apple/PC commercials.  But you know what happened?

The iPad announcement.

Yeah, I was really looking forward to this (as were countless others).  Ever since we bought our iPhone, secured a snazzy case, and filled up our phone with apps, we’ve been waiting for another reason to give Apple more of our money.  Recession?  Pffff…..my gadget budget is untouchable.

I sifted through article after article, rumor after rumor, of what the iPad announcement was going to entail.  I had a mental note that the big iPad announcement was  happening on Jan 27th, during MacWorld.  I set my Engadget bookmark to auto-refresh day-of so I would catch the latest announcements, live, as-they-happened…..then reality hit.

Steve Jobs walked on stage, waived his hands, and if you would have walked in my office at the time you would have caught me hunched over with a “WTF” expression of my face.

This is THE iPad?  Really?

I had to retread through my blogs, and make sure I didn’t miss anything.  But nope, that was it.

That’s when it hit me….THE iPad is nothing more than a oversized iPod Touch.  Not even an oversized iPhone!  An iPod Touch!  You know, the things that you see 10-year-olds carrying (with no camera or phone-call capabilities).

Innovation-wise…this announcement brought nothing.  What can I do with the iPad that I can’t already do with my iPhone?

You can view your webpages BIGGER!  And because its BIGGER its “MAGICAL!”  I couldn’t believe how many times Jobs threw around the word “MAGICAL.”  Has his head really gotten so bloated over all the accolades and praises for his hand in developing the iPod and iPhone, he now believes the stuff he makes is MAGIC?!

iPad sucks.

But you know what?  People are still going to buy it.  People are going to line up in drones and exclaim how “MAGICAL” it is, just because Steve Jobs told them so.

My mom, even called me up that day “Did you hear about that new iPad?  You can read books on it.  Are you going to get one?”

Ummm…Hell NO!  The hype is unreal.

Actually, if one thing about the iPad announcement pissed me off the most….it was Steve Jobs touting it as a legitimate e-Reader.

The damn thing has an LCD screen!  Before iPad, an “e-reader” was a term reserved to things that actually had some technological innovation in reading…..things like the Kindle, Sony e-Reader, and the Nook.  You know things with E-ink technology.  Displays that are less harsh on the eyes than LCD, and actually look like pen and ink.

The iPad doesn’t make the electronic reading experience any better than the LCD monitors we’ve been staring at everyday for the past 10 years. It’s not an e-reader.  But people are eating it up and the ignorance kills me.

What really irks me though, is that iPad had so much promise.  It could have been so much more.

Consumers really do want a device that slots between their desktop/laptop and phone.  So much so that most will naively believe that this IS the answer.

What Apple really should have done though, is developed an OS that fell in that same region.  More powerful than the iPhone, but more snappy  and resource-friendly than a desktop.

Instead Jobs just put together a rebranded ARM processor, powered by an iPhone OS in a 10″ LCD package and called it “magic”.  I call it lazy.

iPhone OS only goes so far.  And now-a-days, to be honest, it doesn’t even live up to the competitors.  You know the same competition Steve Jobs claimed the iPhone technology was 5 years or more ahead of.

Well, its 2010, not even 3 years after the famous 2007 iPhone announcement and your competition has not only matched you.  But surpassed you.

WebOS is better. Android OS is better. And Windows 7 Mobile is going to be better.

All of those OS can multitask, are more open, and can or will do Flash, in addition to everything else iPhone OS does.

And don’t downplay those two omissions.  Heck, even Steve Jobs himself couldn’t go 10 minutes in a prepared demo without stumbling across a blue block “missing flash” icon.  How often you think a casual user is going to stumble across that in a sitting of an hour or two.  Seems magical, alright.

It seems ever since Apple came up with the really great App Store concept, they’ve been getting lazy.  Just putting together hardware, and telling Developers to do all the work for them.

The only thing that is going to distinguish iPad from iPod Touch is Apps.  Plain and simple.  So much so that long term sales of an iPad are going to hinge on the developer’s innovation.  Not Apple’s.

Apple has an impressive amount of pre-orders for iPad to date, but they better have some tricks up their sleeve in iPhone OS 4.0

Because, if not, I know when my 2-year contract expires next year I’m going to be buying a device that doesn’t have a big apple logo on it.  And I don’t think I’ll be the only one.

The concept is pretty simple, and actually pretty smart for the retailers.  Everyday they have a ’boutique’ from a handful of designer labels that opens up at a specific time ...]]> Recently, I’ve gotten exposed to what seems to be the new trend in online shopping……Seemingly Exclusive, Invitation-only, Shopping Clubs.

The concept is pretty simple, and actually pretty smart for the retailers.  Everyday they have a ’boutique’ from a handful of designer labels that opens up at a specific time (usually 10am CST). The boutique is basically a collection of wares by a specific label (clothing, shoes, jewelry, home furnishings, etc) that are steeply discounted for a limited time, and in limited quantities.  Discounts are usually in the range of 50-70% off.  And by limited time, I mean like 1 or 2 days.  And limited quantities means most popular sizes, and/or styles sell out within 10 minutes.

If you find something you like, you quickly put it in the cart and hold the item for about 10 minutes.  This is particularly clever for the retailers, as the running clock ticks in the corner and basically forces you to make a buying decision quickly. I read an article (which is how I learned about these) that explained this idea solves a major problem online merchants have with customers leaving merchandise hanging around and being abandoned in their virtual shopping carts.

From what I’ve seen the original prices don’t really seem to be marked up (unlike Amazon at times), and the merchandise ranges from common brands to extremely high-end designers.  On their site, you can see all the designer that will be featured in a boutique that week.  So if you’re looking for something in particular, it probably is worth checking out.  However, like other sales sites (think slickdeals.net), you have to be careful and exercise restraint, or you can easily get caught up a whirlwind of great deals.  Spending money on things you don’t need, rather than saving money on the things you were planning to buy anyway.

Here’s some links to some of my favorites.  You can use my referral code to get the invite….

This was validated yesterday by our very own Eva (the cat).

After noticing that Eva wouldn’t quite get to all the food at the bottom of the bowl, Christy saw a product from Wetnoz (here in Pflugerville).  The so-called ‘anti-whisker stress” bowl ...]]> Myth Confirmed….regular feeding bowls give cats whisker stress.

This was validated yesterday by our very own Eva (the cat).

After noticing that Eva wouldn’t quite get to all the food at the bottom of the bowl, Christy saw a product from Wetnoz (here in Pflugerville).  The so-called ‘anti-whisker stress” bowl doesn’t have tall sides so that cat’s whiskers aren’t under duress as they eat their food.

We get this bowl in the mail yesterday, lay it out with some food and low and behold, Eva now eats ALL her food and licks the tray clean.

So seems like Eva heavily endorses this product, and if your cat needs less stress in her life maybe time to get her a tray too….

no whisker stress bowl

http://www.wetnoz.net/store/products.php?pid=3&detail=true

Christy and I are really loving this game right now. Tons of fun, the levels are crazy creative and each are filled with secrets and goodies which keep the replay-ability (is that ...]]> If you’ve hung around me enough, you know that that’s the highest compliment I can give.

Christy and I are really loving this game right now. Tons of fun, the levels are crazy creative and each are filled with secrets and goodies which keep the replay-ability (is that a word?) super-high. The level at which you can customize and interact with the worlds is incredible. Graphics are superb, and will make playing Wii seem so…how can I say this? Wiiiiiiik!

Soundtrack is also very good, and the songs will stick in your head all day.

Online features are great too. Christy and I played with Cabellon online for a couple hours last night and had lots of laughs.

I think we’re just scratching the surface of this game, but so far its everything I expected and lots more. Definitely recommend this for anybody.

Best PS3 game, hands down!

I’ll admit it. I like Karaoke games.

So as you can imagine I was anxiously awaiting for SingStar to arrive on PS3 since it was announced way back when. Delay after delay and about ...]]> The much-delayed Karaoke game finally hits the PS3, but is it worth the wait?

I’ll admit it. I like Karaoke games.

So as you can imagine I was anxiously awaiting for SingStar to arrive on PS3 since it was announced way back when. Delay after delay and about 5 months after it was released in the UK, SingStar hits the states and I can finally bring it home (US Release Date -05/20).

My first reaction after loading up the game disc was ‘This is pretty slick!” The interface is nice, organized, and just has a good flow and feel to it.

I choose single-player mode, and go to song selections and surprisingly the list is pretty small, and actually pretty weak. No biggie though, there are a couple favorites included and I should be able to download a lot more from the online store, right?

Not so much. The online store is less than impressive at the moment too. Sure, there’s 300+ songs but only a handful I’d consider buying and I think I have pretty generic taste when it comes to Karaoke. So I’m sure most users feel the same way when going to the online store, instead of being excited about all the songs you can buy and sing, you’re disappointed in what isn’t there….

JT? Nope
Gwen Stefani? Nope
More Weezer? Nope
Hmm, how about Red Hot Chili Peppers? or Nirvana? Nope and Nope

The store gets updated every other Friday (or at least is supposed to. But the updates have been really weak, and there hardly is any new content worth buying. This is the games weakest point, the content or lack thereof.

Sony needs to really take a cue from Rock Band…regular updates and good content.

OK, so what about the actual game? The Karaoke?

Well, the actual game is pretty good. As most of you already know, the music video to the song of your choice plays in the background as you try to match your voice/pitch to the words and visual cues.

It is more sensitive than other Karoake games I’ve played, and I really like the layout and presentation. But weren’t these videos supposed to be in HD? Wasn’t that one of the features Sony touted?

Well, to my surprise and probably yours there is not one HD music video included in the game or available in the SingStar store. Not ONE!

Dealbreaker? No. But yet another thing I expected the game to offer and it doesn’t.

However on the plus side are vocals reduction options such as ‘fade’ (the volume of recorded vocals lowers as you sing), ‘off’ (vocals digitally removed) and ‘on’ (vocals always on). The options work pretty good for the songs I tried and could come in handy based on your familiarity with the song (Need the vocals as a guide, or know the song by heart).

There’s also a lot of modes that could be fun for parties(Duet, Pass the Mic, Battle). But what if we’re not having a party. What if….. ‘gasp’ we are playing SingStar alone? Surely I can play online, right?

Wrong again, my friends . You can’t compete with anybody over the air, only watch their videos and post your own. So basically its YouTube:Karaoke Edition. Thanks.

So SingStar what are you giving me?
Good Graphics, Interface? Yes, indeed
Good Tracklist included? Not so much, I don’t think by anybody’s standards
Good Online Library? Negative. This online store pales in comparison to Rock Band.
Good Online Gameplay? No online gameplay. You can only watch and load vids/scores.
Good Regular gameplay? Yeah, it’s pretty darn good. But, we need more content.
Accessories? You can get the pack with 2 included mics. But don’t expect to be able to use your own bluetooth ones or those from Rock Band either.

A lot of the negatives of this game can be fixed if Sony steps up their game and starts releasing a lot more content. The updates we have gotten here in the US are basically useless.

I’d hate to say it but SingStar let me down, and until the content improves chances are it’ll let you down too.

INFO you may find useful….

List of US SingStar Songs available through Online Store…

http://www.singstargame.com/en-us/Browse-Songs-Home/SingStore/

US SingStar Tracklist (INCLUDED with game)
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
Beck – Loser
Blind Melon – No Rain
Blink 182 – All the Small Things
Britney Spears – Toxic
Coldplay – Clocks
Corinne Bailey Rae – Put your records on
Dave Matthews Band – Crash into Me
David Bowie – Let’s Dance
Faith No More – Epic
Franz Ferdinand – Do You Want To
Jane’s Addiction – Been Caught Stealing
New Found Glory – My Friends Over You
Ne-Yo – So Sick
Outkast – Hey Ya!
Pixies – Here Comes Your Man
R.E.M. – Losing My Religion
Radiohead – No Surprises
Ramones – I Wanna Be Sedated
Scissor Sisters – I Don’t Feel Like Dancin
The Automatic Automatic – Monster
The Cardigans – Love Fool
The Killers – Mr. Brightside
The Pussycat Dolls – Beep
The Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil
The Smashing Pumpkins – Today
U2 – Beautiful Day
Warrant – Cherry Pie
Weezer – Buddy Holly
Wolfmother – Love Train