Xbox360 Applications

The newest update to the Xbox dashboard brought us a new look and many new features but the best feature (in my opinion) was the applications. At the time there was very little to work with but now and within the future there will be much more to use yet is it really worth the time? This post will become the center to talk about and review Xbox 360 applications as they are released, asked about, and used.

     YouTube
We all love to watch videos on YouTube whether we be looking for the newest hit song, movies, or some weird video about an arrow to the knee. Watching YouTube has become a big hit for devices and can be done on anything ranging from a cellphone to laptop and now even the Xbox360. I can see why Microsoft would want to have this feature because it keeps people on the device longer and makes it more appealing to everyone. The experience kind of reminds me of Netflix but a larger selection of cat related videos. You will be able to log into your account and view subscriptions and playlists as well as search the entire collection of videos the site has to offer. The setup is basic but ideally that's all one needs on a gaming console turned media center. Overall I do enjoy having a one stop shop for all my entertaining needs and watching/listening to PartyRock Anthem on a 52'' screen and surround sound system isn't to bad either.

    IHeartRadio
Many of you probably already have this app on your smartphone and now its available on your gaming system too. IHeartRadio allows the user to listen in on radio stations from across the US using an internet connection rather than an FM radio. The xbox version of this application is nice and has a lovely interface to it but if you plan on using the system for anything other than a radio then your out of luck. If you try to do anything else like play a game or look at photos your music will instantly stop which in my opinion is a bit of a downfall. I know we can already play music in games if its on the system itself so I can't imagine it being to difficult to allow multitasking with IHeartRadio. Should this come in a future update it would add a ton of value to the applications being used. Either way it is still a fine way to get clear radio onto a home audio system as long as you aren't trying to play some BattleField or Skyrim.

As always I welcome you all to leave comments down below about any of the applications currently on the system or ones you want to see out. I will continue to update this post with more applications as I have time to mess around with them. As always have a great day.

The New Nintendo Experience

Earlier today I completed testing out the new update to the Nintendo 3DS system. The new software brought quite a few new changes to the device, most notable being the 3D video recording. From what I have experienced so far this update is a pretty good thing and ended up keeping me with the device a bit longer than I planned.

A bunch of new features were added to the Mii Plaza including new puzzles and a sequel to the most popular (in my opinion) FindMii game. With these additions you will be able to collect new 3D pictures and hats just by walking around and being more social. Since buying the 3DS the MiiPlaza has used up the most of my time and so having something new to do is a welcome addition for me personally.

Next up on my hit list of features is the Nintendo Zone. This little media add on will let anyone using a sponsored Wifi hotspot view content otherwise hidden to the general user. So far there are already 5 locations within 30 minutes of my home, most noteworthy being a Starbucks, McDonalds, and BestBuy. I haven't gotten a huge chance to try this out but it looks promising for entertainment centered use.

The true thing I wanted to talk about and the one most people are excited about is the 3D video recording ability. Now any owner of a 3DS device can, within a few taps, record up to 10 minutes of 3rd-dimensional goodness. What is really nice about this is that, despite the quality, the general public can now cheaply make use of technology once so expensive only the top 1% could make use of it. It will be interesting to see how people make use of the technology and I only hope there isn't a certain surge of people recording objects flying at their faces.

I wanted to leave you with a question today as I do many other days. What do you find most useful in the new Nintendo update? Leave your creative wonderful and amazing comments down below and as always, have a great day!?

New Xbox Live

Alright so earlier today the new Xbox Live update was rolled out to 360 owners nationwide and now that I've had some time to test it out its time to do a review. Right from the start its apparent this is a completely new Xbox experience. Everything looks beautiful to be honest. The new metro UI style is really doing something for the system and the clean cut tiles give just the right amount of information. I have a blank black background which in my opinion fits really well with the overall color scheme but that's just me.

First things first, the new home screens. There are currently eight tabs on the welcome screen which will be Bing, Home, Social, video, Games, Music, Apps, and Settings. The Bing tab should be self explanatory as it will allow you to perform search actions on content located within the Xbox setup. Your new home tab will give you the option to play whatever disc you have inserted, access to quickplay any downloaded games, top news of the day, top video, and an advertisement.

Next up on our list of tabs is the Social feature which is nice simple and basic only showing who is online and giving options for Friends, Social Apps and to sign in or out. Video, Game, and Music tabs should be easy to figure out and as of now are truly that simple. On each tab there is a advertisement and top slideshow for the topic at hand and that's it. The overall theme here is definitely simplicity and that is spot on with what i'm seeing.

Apps have been a big hit lately with pretty much every type of device and now the Xbox is no different. There is a dedicated apps tab now on the homescreen and within the near future you will be able to download things such as Youtube and Iheartradio. I assume more are on the way but its nice to see a console platform going the way of smartphones. Honestly my first thought on this whole upgrade was that the Xbox is becoming a smart TV like Apple and Google tv setups.

The only other real thing I wanted to talk about today was Cloud storage and that's just because Microsoft finally got up their butts and has started offering users 512MB of storage for game saves. This will be helpful for people who travel a lot or have multiple consoles as they may now migrate to any other location and have everything ready for them.

So overall I definitely am enjoying what has been done to the system and can't wait to test out these applications. What do you think? leave your amazingly awesome comments down below and as always, have a great day!?

Explosive Printers are Explosive

Hackers have discovered a slight flaw in the way printers operate that could lead to some pretty horrific yet awesome events. As it turns out, its not that hard to make an inkjet printer explode using some crafty wit and a corrupted document file. To understand why this happens we must look into how a printer operates. When the printer gets a request it receives the file and checks for a firmware update. Once everything checks out the file is printed. Using a corrupted document file however, a slightly modified firmware version is sent to the printer which then causes some small changes and an explosion.

HP has made a claim that it is looking into the situation and that this will not effect more recent devices however the hackers have sought to compete against this claim. Either way it's scary that this could ever happen. I don't even wanna think of the mess should some hacker decide to start blowing up printers in an office building. Just imagine that every printer with internet access via computer or direct network is potentially a bomb waiting to happen. Scary thought if I do say so myself.

What do you think about this whole issue? Does it scare you? Leave your interesting and creative responses down below and be sure to tune in next time for whatever we end up discussing. Also as always, have a nice day.!?\

Update: Experts are unsure if this affects Epson ink cartridges, Lexmark ink cartridges and Canon ink cartridges or just HP ink cartridges. For more information check out the following page; http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/a/bb/Ink-Toner/N=2+1289016/

Rooting the Droid RAZR

Alright so the Droid RAZR is out. That phone we've been told will be the most amazing Droid yet. While the specs look great and so does the phone, what's the point if you can't control it? And so enters our friend Mr. SuperUser and its wonderful root access. Rooting an Android device will give you complete access to the device system and allow the user complete control. This can be a dangerous task and will void your warranty so do proceed with caution. There is currently no SBF for the RAZR which means you will be unable to restore the phone should you mess up.

Alright so on to the rooting process. Download this file HERE then make sure your device has USB debugging enabled (in the settings, application settings) Next just plug in your device to a windows computer, make the connection charge only and run the .bat file. There you have it, you, the proud owner of a new Droid Razr from Motorola should be happily rooted and destroying all the bloatware on your phone. Enjoy my friends and if you have any issues or whatever please leave a comment down below. As always, have a great day.

I ask for your help

I don't know how many people read this blog or how many see it and say never again. I don't know what to expect every time I post an article. One thing is certain and that is I enjoy writing this blog. The problem is that I don't have a lot of free time anymore. Between school, work, and studying Unix my time is completely eaten. (BTW if you know any good Unix learning tools/sites let me know) I call out to anyone who reads this and enjoys technology to help me. Help me keep this blog going and racking in viewers. Help me keep the knowledge flowing.

If you would like to help write articles please leave your information down below in the comments or contact me at condemnedinstruments@gmail.com. Just writing articles isn't everything of course, you can also help by finding topics for me to write about and spreading the word. Following the blog also helps of course as we get higher ranked in search results. I want to write informing and awesome articles for all of you but I need help and so I call out to you all. So what do you say? And of course many other things can help to so if you think you can be awesome and helpful feel free to step up, no harm in trying right?

iPodTouch: Review and Assessment

I have had a few days now to play around with a 4th generation iPod Touch (the one with cameras) running on the latest version of iOS and quite honestly, my resulting opinions are rather astonishing compared to public opinion. From what I hear, most people think of Apple as a great company with which their products are always top quality and work perfectly and are wonderful. I found none of this at all.

HARDWARE:
     I don't see why people say Apple hardware is the best. This may just be user opinion but from my time with the device, trying to press keys was very awkward with how they placed them. Every time I would hit a volume key the thing would pop out of my hand from having to push so hard on the angled side. The cameras are absolutely dreadful and I honestly think I get better quality from my DS. There is no flash for the camera either so a lot of pictures just suck flat out. This is just going over aesthetics, later on I will get into the internals and how underpowered they are. The screen was very nice and I do give credit for this. Very crisp images even despite having to use a Zagg protector thanks to the lack of Gorilla Glass or some other protective screen coating. I really wish the company would stop with their aluminum backs though as they get scratched up so quickly and attract finger smudges like crazy. It just takes away from the appeal of a slick device.

HARDWARE OVERALL:
     Alright so you have heard me rant and here's my final opinion. Button placement is horrible on this device and if you aren't holding it in your right hand, pressing the buttons (especially volume keys) can lead to nasty results. Whoever decided to angle the buttons with the back was stupid as all this does is press the device up and out of your hand. The screen scratches way to easily along with the back so without a protector or case you can expect the lifespan to decrease drastically. Good points? Not many but the screen is definitely nice and I do love the stiff click when you press a button.



SOFTWARE:
    Apple and their iOS5 is oh so very revolutionary with its notification center (exactly like Android's) and Multitasking (like Android's) and other features like Wireless sync (like Androids and copied from a developer without any credit) but how does it run? Crappy. On the 4th generation touch there is just so much lag that the device is useless. The user has to constantly free up space and end running apps just to use something else. I get way better use out of my Android devices which never really slow down unless I run some seriously heavy apps in the background. With this iPod even opening up the music app slows everything down. This truly baffles me though as my friend with a 3rd gen gets reliably fast use. I feel the problem is in the 256MB of RAM Apple so generously included. This isn't nearly enough memory to do simple tasks especially when you include such a great processor.

SOFTWARE OVERALL:
    I like notification center and I like multitasking if only because it makes me feel more at home to my Android devices but the problem here is that they don't work even half as good as the competition. The hardware was built to be bad and so the software is running horribly. I won't even get into how confusing and stupid some of the services are.

OVERALL:
    Overall, Apple has lost a customer because this is just one of the worst devices I have ever tried. My original Droid wasn't as laggy as this and that thing lagged some sort of bad. Never again Apple, never again.

SOLUTION: If the company would take some time to work out issues I wouldn't have to write this article. iOS5 is not ready yet they push it to everyone and the hardware is so far behind the times it can't run the most simple tasks. If they would just add a decent amount of RAM we might get somewhere.