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!