The Last Microsoft Keynote at CES

The upcoming CES event is sadly going to be the last CES conference that will feature a Microsoft keynote. Microsoft has reported that it will be more of a wrap up of the year rather than a full keynote. Even though the 32 inch Intel core i7 32" Exo desk made by Viewsonic is having debut there. Also their is a section for newbie companies to showcase their finest equipment. Maybe Fusion Garage will bring the Grid10 and Grid4 phone. Also the small possibility that the Windows store will be showcased their still stands along with a video bloggers dream. I suggest checking out phone dog, Engadget, Goodereader, Minipcpro, and Netbook news because I know they are sending out someone to check out the latest equipment. The death of CES will be disappointing to many who wanted to make the pilgrimage to this almost holy site in the world of tech. We can be sure Android will be wanting to puff out their chest with ICS (Ice Cream Sandwhich) the latest update to the now popular mobile phone OS. Microsoft will also try to save the Windows Phone project. Being in the small portion due to Apple and Android downing it greatly. Everyone I talk to always says they think about getting one but will not because they heard bad news even though the average rating on amazon.com is 4.5 stars. Anyway the death of an old giant Symbian has occurred with the last phone the Nokia N9. So in my last words to Microsoft keynotes is farewell!!

Skypad Alpha 2 Out!!

Hello to all good Christmas shoppers. Today I just want to make a quick short announcement saying that the Skytex Skypad Alpha 2 is available to buy from their website today for an extremely low price of $219! You may only have 5 more days until Christmas is here but I guarantee it will arrive just in time I guarantee it. Also you will not want to miss out on getting the capacative screen, hdmi out, Android 2.3 (upgradable to 4.0 in the near future), and the 1Mobile market featuring over 200,000 apps! That is over 75% of all the apps in the Android Market and they are all free!! I greatly encourage y'all to get this brand new beautiful device!

Exo PC 2.0

We have all seen the effects of Windows 8 will have on the world when in the first 24 hours it received 500,000 downloads. Now it is the people at Exo PC's turn to show off their latest UI upgrade. The Exo 2.0 update includes many new features and a major overhaul of the entire bubble like UI we have come to love. First some minor things like volume controls, wifi and bluetooth settings, screen brightness, and a more modern feel created by The Skin Factory. The big changes are the inclusion of some brand new paid apps, some mainstream apps like evernote and angry birds have found their way into the brand new UI. Also the new look has some old features like the ever present bubbles, but also includes a beautiful flow and eco system. This will become to me the standard UI for all in ones, laptop convertibles, and slates. I can't wait to see it and test it out!!.

Top 5 Christmas Gadgets by Zeke!

 

I am not a big Christmas shopper myself, but know a good tech buy when I see one. I am going to talk all of my Christmas shoppers into buying some of the top technology advanced at the best prices.

5. Skytex Skytab S Series

I have talked about this great slate time and time again. I have to admit I have not  seen very many videos on this elusive product. Only 1 review from Overstock.com which praised this as a better alternative to the Ipad 2. I have also praised this excellent “budget slate” time and time again. Running Windows 7 Home Premium and packing 320 GB on a hard drive with three external usb ports this is one of the best slates out their for a great Black Friday sale price of $499 on their website! Here is the link Skytab S Series $499 

4. Sony NSX-32GT1

A new player in the television market is the smart tv. First we had the 1080pd hd television was a big deal, after that was the plasma television which faded out, soon later we have now 3D TV's which are well pretty good for the price, and today we have the internet ready TV. This specific device is currently only $400 on Amazon which is an excellent buy.

3. Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W530

     Today in this day and age you have to upgrade from the old film cameras to a digital camera. You might think “Well they are so expensive it is not worth it!” That is totally not true. First think of how much you spend to get that camera, film processed, and pick up. Second digital cameras are sold from $80! This camera is a true gem. At a low price of $80 with 14.1 megapixel picture digital still camera this is a great buy for casual picture taking and making family videos to have for a lifetime. With 4x zoom and 14.1 megapixel pictures you always will have perfect pictures all the time.

2. HTC Trophy

     One of the most popular operating systems is Windows. From Window netbooks to slates they have finally entered the smartphone game. With Windows 7.5 Mango the HTC Trophy is the best smartphone out on the market. With a perfect 5 star rating out of 43 reviews on Amazon and being one of the first phones with Xbox Live this is the destroyer phone. The Windows mobile OS Mango is a beast at multitasking. With the mobile versions of Excel, Word, and PowerPoint how could you go wrong? At first when I saw the two bad reviews on this phone I almost did not put this at the 2 slot. I realized when these reviews were made Windows Mango was not made. Now with a whole lot of bug fixes and such this Windows Phone is ready to go. The Windows App Marketplace is now packing over 40,000 apps! With some really good mainstream apps and some other really good Xbox Live exclusives Iphone 4S stand back! My only complaint is the camera situation. There is only a rear camera and it is by all means no good. Also this phone was one of the first Windows phone sadly. Still though I highly recommend it! Available for a penny on the Amazon Wireless store with a 2 year contract.

 

      1.   The 3D DS

      A big player in the mobile gaming market is Nintendo. To me all of the former tries at a successful DS were big failures! Even with the DS I they still did not include a video camera. The old DS systems did not give off a good gaming feel. Now when I played around with the demo version of Star fox. It feels like Nintendo is finally getting the point of a real gaming console. So far what I have seen in stores are dirt cheap. My friend got his for $145 at Walmart last week. The one reason I chose this as my number 1 choice is the ability to make 3D pictures, the better gaming quality, the 3D app store, and the great graphics. I hope to make a video and full review soon.

     

 

 

Skytab S Series $499! Black Friday

One of my favorite Windows Slate's just got cheaper! The Skytab S Series was just reduced to $499 on their website for Black Friday. This is cheaper than an Ipad 2 or the first generation. I know this is a great deal in the market of tablets/slates for most people because in this economy we hold tight to our purses. This deal is exclusively available on their website though. This company has been in the shadows for a while now. With the emerging of Android and Window slates they have been making affordable good products. They have made their signature product the Skypad Alpha which is an Android mini tablet. They have a small 4.8 inch media player the Skytex Primer. They also have an e book reader and soon to come a touch reader. This slate is just another budget slate most other big bloggers say. I disagree to the fullest. Why does every good product that is offered lower than a bigger slate like the Samsung 7 a budget slate? This device is to me a better build, and better features than all the others. Here is the link to go get it!            Skytab S Series 9.7'' on sale link

Windows 8 Future of Mobile Computing!

  Recently Microsoft has revealed their newest app based creation: Windows 8. Currently the developer preview is open to the public in two options with or without developer tools. This operating system is available to anyone via a free download. Just make sure you have a spare disk or flash drive to download it to because it comes in .iso form. Okay now you have downloaded Windows 8 now how to use it? First of all there are some distinct differences from Windows 7. One is their is no more classical Start menu it is a field of apps and shortcuts. Another thing is the whole Metro user interface which is built around the Start menu. A clean simple interface with some beautifully written apps such as, a simple piano with recording functions, a neat flash card maker for students, an up to date  weather application which is known to use a lot of energy, and a customizable stocks application. Internet Explorer has been redesigned to make dun da dun IE 10! A touch friendly browser that is much quicker and is also another part of the Metro UI. Windows 8 is a complete revamping of Windows 7 with their Metro UI which as said by Microsoft "flows with the OS." Included in the final build will be the Windows Store where you buy all of your apps from. Also as a well appeasement for some they have added a classic desktop view with IE9. Now that we know what Windows 8 is what devices can we see this new OS on? One thing for sure is the Windows Phone. With the rising popularity of the Iphone and Android mobile phones Windows is going to have to make it's move fast. Another thing which is confirmed by Samsung is on mobile slates. A slate is similiar to a tablet but is powered by a desktop OS such as Windows. Samsung has recently confirmed it will be making a Windows 8 slate and we can be sure all of the others will jump on the bandwagon. Another obvious is desktops and laptops. Even though this is a touch friendly OS it is still possible to use the operating system on a desktop. Hopefully they will make computer screens with touch input. Already the Dell Inspiron Duo is a touch friendly laptop. Even still it will be hard to sell against rising competition from Android, Apple, Linux, and Blackberry. Well That is all I have to say goodbye!

              Oh and before I forget here is the Video of Windows 8!

                                                   
    Thanks for Reading!

Stop Motion Animation at work

Today I am going to look at the lesser known ways to animate in animate objects Stop Motion. I am actively involved in Stop motion and have made some videos for different demonstrations. Most people who are active in animation usually use computer animation for better quality. I still prefer stop motion for its simplicity and ease to use. I have some sample videos to show you of some cool little tests.

1. The flying man hanging by string
A secret agent kicking in a door using a rope from a Lego agent set with a helicopter. I like this one because it looks very smooth in my perspective and the vid went very well.

2. Blood And the sword!
I have made another small short with a pirate vs a soldier. the soldier wins and  kills the pirate drawing blood. Only bad thing was the blood was not a good red but more pinkish.

3. Walking and Shooting Test
  I did for my last test the pirate man walking two steps and shooting a gun. This video has some flaws such as no white background and my hand appearing. My next walking and shooting test will feature a Russian guard with a machine gun and walking the full distance.

That is all I have for tips I will be featuring the return of an old mini movie (2:30 long) called The Shovel is Mightier than the Sword. That is a great movie. Thanks for reading, Voley

Asus Eee Slate

This is one of those let me look at this again tablets. Even at the high end price of $1,109.00 it should not have been able to make it. It still persevered, and according to Amazon it has received a strong average of 4 star reviews. I have personally spent many hours researching and gathering details for this extraordinary product. This is a one of a kind product featuring the Asus Vibe app market not forgetting the Windows Live market. First my favorite part here are some specs:
Specifications
Display
12.1" LED Backlit WXGA Screen Capacitive and Electromagnetic Panel (1280 x 800) with AFFS
Processor
Intel® Core™ i5-470UM
Memory
4GB DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM, expandable up to 4GB (1 slot total, 1 slot occupied by a 4GB module)
Storage
64GB SSD
Operating System
Windows®7 Professional (64 bit)
Wireless
802.11b/g/n; BT3.0
Camera
2.0 Megapixel (front)
Interface
1 x Digitizer pen; 2 x USB 2.0 port; 1x 2-in-1 Audio Jack (Head Phone /Mic-in);1 x mini HDMI port;1 x Card Reader: MMC/ SD(SDHC/SDXC);1 x DC-IN
Battery Life
Battery life: 4.5 hrs; Play 1080p video: 2.4 hours /34 Whr polymer battery
Size/ Weight
12.28" x 8.16" x .67" ; 2.56lbs
Accessory
1 x User Manual; 1 x Warranty Card; 1 x support DVD; 1 x Folio (with support function) 1 x Power Adaptor; 1 x Bluetooth Keyboard ; 1 x Cleaning Cloth; 5 x Refill Nips; 1 x Nip Remover; 2 x AAA Battery for KB
Security
Trusted Platform Module, Computrace®LoJack® (service sold separately)
        Now here is my personal review the main meat about the Asus Eee Slate
The Eee Slate was made for Productivity. With the modern b/g/n Wireless system and a quality efficient lithium polymer battery with 4.5 hours of use. First complaint is the 2.56 lb. of weight. To me that is pretty heavy for a tablet pc and can really hurt your hands. Second the storage only 64 gigabytes on a Solid State Drive is pretty low. I have to admit this does not have as many good features as the Skytab I reviewed earlier. One thing is it has the Asus Vibe Market. I have not heard much about it, but that it is an entertainment store exclusively for Asus products. Another thing I saw was of course the price tag. When I saw this product was for over a grand and was from a virtually unknown company it can’t sell. Sadly I was mistaken. Take the similarly priced Samsung slate. Samsung is known all over the world and is the leading maker of smartphones. Taken that most customers will post reviews I compared the number of them. The Samsung Slate 64 gigabyte Windows 7 Home Premium had a mere 3 reviews. Compared to the Eee Slate packing 166 reviews. Weird isn’t it? For my last thoughts on this intriguing product I say it is pretty good for entertainment and productivity, but that price tag would have most kids stealing piggy banks. Thanks for reading, Zeke

Exo PC User Interface Layer for Windows

This is the new generation of mobile computing. No it is not one device, but a layer for one to get apps and use them on your Windows 7 slate an option all of the other expensive slates do not have. It has an app market close in number to the freeware lovers.com market with 1,278 to date. Updated weekly this market will expand to over 2,500 apps coming straight at you! With some pretty impressive apps like the exo radio, exo TV, a bald eagles nest, camera app, some books and magazines, flash chess, putt putt, painting Jackson Pollock style, Fruit Ninja and Clash and Slash, over 40,000 recipes with air, and plenty more to keep you always busy. Currently this is still a work in progress with some of their premier apps such as the Exo Business app. In this review I will look at the Good, the bad, and the ugly. First for the good!

The Exo PC UI was made for people of course not robots. It is made uniquely for the Windows 7 touch slates that comply with it’s standards. The Exo UI for me had one appeal its apps. When I look at Samsung’s Slate I felt bad that they did not have the Exo layer. The Exo store is filled with 1,278 apps such as their exo TV with genres like Sports, Children, Education, Cinema, and local, exo radio with a wide variety of stations, the exo browser an uncomplicated touch ready browser just waiting for you, the exo player their new 1080p high definition video and music files player, a whole collection of games, a good group of productivity, and plenty made for kids and education. Another thing that is useful is their easy to use Apple like keyboard. I know some people on YouTube have said it did not work and they were right. There newest bug fix has fixed this problem. Another benefit is say you go to the Intel App up Market you can get angry Birds and make a shortcut to use when in the UI. Also the UI is loaded with all types of fun things to do which makes it very useful.

The bad I can think of very few things. So far I have only heard people specific problems. Depending on who you are, and what you would want to use this for I would suggest putting in some more research into it. Go on their website, check out their forum, see what others have to say. i can only say I personally think this is going into the right direction by far. So my last words are GO EXO!

An Ereader with a purpose

Skytex has made a wonderful creation a joy to use the Primer 7”. A color e-reader with a built in microphone, ability to expand to 16 GB of storage, and an excellent price of $80. Is their some downsides well yes sure, but of course the first generation Kindle does not have a touch screen or a camera, but this device is packing some punch. The main operating system is a minimal using the Linux OS. It can support video and music playback and also read Adobe DRM protected books. Much better than some of the competition out their like the first generation Kindle. Another thing is this device has is a FM radio, and microphone for taking notes and stuff. I am going to take this and an extremely similar device called the EB101P Digital Text Reader by Ematic, and let them butt heads. These devices have nearly identical beings such as an FM player and microphone. The body is same and so is the keyboard. One difference is the company. When i spoke to Skytex they were so nice, they spoke in English, and helped me right away, for the Ematic customer service customers on Amazon have raved on how bad they were and could only get an automated response. Also on the flipside it is hard not to be able to get books straight from my device, but it would be worth it for the price of 80. I mean that is rock bottom cheap! I have to say I like the looks of this product, and love the company.

Skypad Review

I have reviewed my Skytex Skypad Alpha 7”. I have made and edited a 9 minute video for you to see the Skypad Alpha.

Step up to the Plate, Dell!

Before the rise of Android and the popularity of Apple, Dell ranked supreme in the computer world. I myself am typing this post on a Dell Inspiron laptop. Dell has always been the top computer maker and was seemingly on the right track. With the age of new computing the “mobile way” laptops shrank in width and desktops had screens thinner than a USB flash drive. I bought my Inspiron in 2009 when Vista had came out and was starting to make a name for itself. To me I knew a lot about using a computer, but nothing about hardware. I was about 9 and all I knew was I was getting a laptop. My dad took me to Best Buy and I saw whole shelves of laptops. At the time Dell had a large corporation and all of the current competition was barely getting started. I bought the Inspiron 1545 for about $545. I took it home bouncing with joy not being able to wait to use Windows Vista for the first time. When I got it I had around 3 hours of light to medium work (stop motion animation). Now after all this time it is down to a mere 23 minutes of light work (just looking at pictures). Dell products have been declining in quality now because of larger demand. Now Windows 7 have come to the tablet pc world and they jumped on the opportunity. The Duo the new Inspiron is a netbook and tablet combined into one device has gotten many rotten reviews. Mostly because of the weight and uselessness of touch screen. Once Dell produced the fastest pc’s around blowing the competition to dust. Now the only thing I give them credit for is their Alien ware gaming laptops. Dell made a feeble attempt to look good by making skins for your laptop to have a new color. Dell, If you want to be a serious company, and actually try to make products to beat out the Ipad then get back to the drawing boards, hire and fire, and start working! 

Skytab S-series Windows 7 tablet PC with EXO UI

Skytab S-series Windows 7 tablet PC with EXO UI

Skytab Unleashed!!

Hello Internet World,
        Today I will be giving you a full look at the Skytex Skytab S Series. In this specs report I will shed some light on a virtually unknown product. The Skytab is a very interesting slate computer system. Featuring the Exo PC UI layer it has some cool features unlike all of the other slates. Also the greatest perk is it’s low price tag at 599 for Windows 7 Home Premium (add $70 for Windows 7 Professional.) In order to show you how efficient this product is I will give a walkthrough of Windows 7 and Exo PC. Please post any comments you have and I will answer them as soon as possible.

In this paragraph I would like to talk about some of the productivity features that Windows 7 and Exo PC has to offer. First off Windows 7 has Microsoft Office 2010 pre installed. For Exo PC it contains over 2,500 apps (more apps come weekly) in the Exo store included. With productivity in mind other than the Windows applications there are not much other than the books, geography map, calculator, pretty cool web links, business apps, forms, checklists, feeds, Exo factory Pro, and some other ones not listed on their website. For more faster typing you can get an USB keyboard or a Bluetooth keyboard. New apps are to come out even as I type. Another great thing is it will be upgradable to Windows 8 when it comes out. Another thing that gives an advantage over other tablets is it has 3 regular USB ports so I could charge my Android tablet with this tablet or even add data to my tablet without using my computer! That makes my schoolwork a billion times easier. Here are some pictures to give you a better understanding of this elusive product.

Gaming when you want and how you want it on the go. The Exo PC store is made for gaming. With 4 points of touch recognition you can play some really cool slash games like Fruit Ninja, and Clash and Slay Worlds Away where you defend Earth from a UFO invasion. Cool mind games like flash chess that can go against the CPU or a friend. Or for that action side of you how about some race car driving? A duck shooting tournament? Or maneuvering a spaceship through an  asteroid field? Win a million dollars in high stakes poker? Pit Plants vs. Zombies? Let’s get our game on with some great sports apps like soccer, putt putt, and others. Not only is their the games on the Exo UI, but their is so many popular gaming options for download such as Angry Birds, Kuma Games the most popular MMOG for War, animals, and so forth, Counter Strike, and any other pc game available on a cd. It may not have a DVD viewer you can simply hook it up with a USB cord and transfer the data. Or just compile it on a sd card or USB flash drive. That gives this a device a serious advantage over a Ipad or Android tablet who are unable to run any Windows applications unless through an Ios or Android OS application. I have hunted down some pictures of some serious gaming on this tablet.

 

 

 

For the wrap on this product I will finish off my specs report with well some specs no duh. I also have found some really cool videos and pictures I thought y’all might like, but first the boring part the specs here they are straight from Skytex.

Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows 7 Professional (option)
CPU
Intel® AtomTM N550 1.5GHz Dual-Core

DISPLAY
9.7" (diagonal) LED-backlit touchscreen
1024x768 resolution (132ppi)
Capacitive touch with 4-points of touch recognition
WIRELESS AND CONNECTIVITY
Wireless 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
3G (option) HSPA/UMTS 850/1900/2100,
GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900

RAM
2GB DDR3 667MHz
STORAGE
320GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
GRAPHICS
Intel GMA3150
CAMERA
1.3MP webcam

INS AND OUTS

SIM card slot (option)
2 x IW Speakers
Built-in Microphone
DC Input
SAS key(ctrl+alt+del)

2 x USB 2.0 |
3.5mm headphone jack |
HDMI out |
microSD slot |
Dock |

SOFTWARE
EXO User Interface
Microsoft® Office Starter*

For the fun part and the end of my post the pics and vids. Please everyone enjoy! Goodbye and Peace to y’all!

 

 

  

Skypad Unboxing

I recently unboxed the Skypad Alpha from Skytex. In this little tablet was a whole lot of good surprises. I have a youtube video that I made of this unboxing. All in all my unboxing went good overall. I will be making a review of the Skypad soon. Thanks for reading my peeps. Zeke

Skypad vs. Ipad!

Today I am doing the battle of the tabs the Skytex Skypad Alpha vs. the Apple Ipad first generation. Both Purchased from Amazon for lowest price. I will start off by giving out pros vs pros and cons vs cons. We will have 5 different categories. Whoever wins the most wins! Here we go!!!
                                                                      First battle Video Chat
 The Ipad can nothing. vs. Skypad Alpha using Fringe and skype 2.1 no video just sound
  Ipad has no video chat capabilities which gives the Skypad the advantage. The Skypad has one front facing webcam and is okay with video chat.

                                                           Second battle E-reading!
  The Ipad can pinch to zoom and turns pages at good speed realistically. The skypad cant pinch to zoom but has a text enlarger margin enlarger and comes with preloaded aldiko app with 1 book. It also can change orientation and brightness to darkness screen quick. I am forced for a tie so the score is 2-1.
                                    Third battle Internet browsing
The Ipad is very quick with its safari browser. No certificate issues and is overall quick. The skypad has no security certificate issues and has an excellent browser. You can download this awesome browser for both called dolphin browser mini has tabs so it feels more like a computer. They are both quick but the unfair advantage for the ipad is if u get 3g. Both are great with wi-fi reception. Now it is 3-2.
                                      Fourth battle Multimedia!
The Ipad of course has i-tunes the best music app ever and excellent graphics. It works with flash very well and hd videos run great. The Android OS sadly does not have really good music apps other than Pandora and Spotify but it works with sound very good. Its apps run great but some people say the resistive screen is a problem. Its graphics are great and the accelerometer really helps. It runs hd just as good and works well with youtube. The app market is getjar and has 75,000 apps or u can use freewarelovers.com. The apple app market may have more but android has some that u cant find on the apple market. The Itunes market with 500,000 apps has imovie Garageband and all of the other favorites. I give this on to the Ipad. The score is 4-3.
                                       Fifth battle overall body
The Ipad is ten inches which makes it hard to play games with the accelerometer but its screen is less resistive. The screen picks up pretty good but it is heavier than the opponent. The other thing is it has volume control on the body not on the screen. The Skypad is seven inches and eight ounces. it can fit in your back pocket and has a much faster accelerometer. The volume control is on screen which can be a slight problem, but it still wins being lighter and android system has its perks. I give the score 5-4.
                                  Summary!
 Both of these tablets are good tablets but the Ipad first generation beats the Skypad in a close finish. I still highly recommend the Skypad for its ruggedness. Thanks for reading! Update: The Ipad 2 is coming to a battle of wits vs. the Exo PC!