Lifesperience

As usual with this time of year, Google has been giving away or discounting music, movies, books, comics, and apps throughout the entire month. Of note, Kanye West's "Yeezus" album is free for as long as this promotion lasts.  The album can be downloaded here . Other notable giveaways are: Star Wars: Tiny Death Star Monopoly Bingo Avengers Alliance Asphalt 8: Airborne Ice Age Village Tetris Blitz Expedia Deal Grand St. Despicable Me True Blood (Pilot episode) Chronicle Cookbook:  Eating Well Made Delicious Elf In addition, Google Play Music also has many free tracks peppered throughout the Play store from artists such as Drake, Rihanna, Black Sabbath, and Bob Marley. These types of promotions are always time sensitive and come a few times a year so take advantage and get some great deals!

Say "Hello" to my Boom stick! Few shows can resurrect a long dead genre like "The Walking Dead" has done with Zombies.  The show based on Robert Kirkman's graphic novel of the same name is easily one of the most popular shows on cable TV.  As we all know, with popularity comes all types of merchandising.  This review is based on the game sold under the "TV Games" brand. Your weapon and console all-in-one. The first thing that you will notice when you open the box is the rather large plastic shotgun.  This twelve gauge pump shotgun is both your controller and console.  That's right, the game itself is built into the controller and plugs into your TV directly through the old fashioned composite yellow and white cables.  Sadly, there is no red audio cable so this game is most likely playing in Mono sound.  Forget about enjoying an HD resolution since this type of connection will get 480i resolution at best.  To it's credit, the game...

As an owner of the Roku 2 XS since last year, I've enjoyed the little box of streaming and have used it to most of its full potential.  From the Wii like motion controls to playing my own content via USB drive, the Roku is a jack of all trades (but a master of none) that deserves a place in almost any living room.   Is it worth the upgrade investment?  In a word, yes.  Read on for more detail. This year, Roku has released the 3 series which includes a new processor that is 5x faster than the 2 series along with an improved controller/remote that has a built in headphone jack. The diminutive system is slightly smaller than the Roku 2 XS with sleek rounded edges giving it a more modern look.  It's a little heavier than its predecessor but honestly this is a good thing.  The older Roku was so light that an HDMI cable could easily lift it up from a surface.  That is now no longer an issue. Ports included are Ethernet, Micro SD, HDMI, and USB...

Find My iPhone for iOS devices With one in five people in the world currently owning a smartphone , it has become a goldmine in recent year for thieves to make quick cash by stealing and reselling those android and iphones.  At this time of year with the hustle of the holiday shopping spree, it's very easy to fall prey to an opportunistic pickpocket or even to simply forget your device somewhere due to the many simultaneous thoughts juggling to your mind.  Luckily, both Apple and Google have both provided native solutions for the average user so that they can fight back against these scenarios. Android Device Manager for Android devices Both " Find my iPhone " and " Android device Manager " can be located in the App store and the Google Play store for free.   Both apps provide a way to locate your device on a map, lock your device, Ring your device even if the sound is off, and/or wipe your device from either running the app on another device, or th...

For those of you last minute shoppers who have been on the fence with the latest Nintendo systems, there are some pretty nice sales on them this week. With a pretty solid line up of upcoming games (Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Bayonetta, Watch Dogs, Monolith Softs "X", and Dragon Quest) the Wii U is finally a system worthy of consideration at the current deal prices. The 3DS has a solid line up from Street Fighter 4, to Metal Gear, to Kid Icarus, to Phoenix Wright, etc... there is something for just about everyone on this system. Of course, we don't know what type of deals we will see after the holidays just yet, however, if you need to pick something up before Xmas, then these are pretty good deals. Happy Shopping!!

These stills have all been captured with a Nexus 5 on HDR+ mode on android 4.4.2 with low lighting both outside and indoors.  They are completely unedited and there is no flash on HDR+ mode.  These are simply a reference point for those of you out there who are curious about the low light picture quality on this phone.  Feel free to discuss your tips and tricks for better picture quality in the comments.  As for my opinion, the stock camera is serviceable and while the red and yellow are a little too strong for my taste, it can easily be remedied in any photo editing program.  To view in full quality just right click on the picture and choose "Open link in new tab."  More snapshots taken with my Nexus 5 under different lighting conditions (updated 1/7/14)

In the late 80's and early 90's, the Neo-Geo arcade/home console was easily the most expensive console ever made.  The reason being that the games that were available for the home console were the identical games that one found at the arcade.  While $500+ games were definitely not affordable for the average family, SNK did have its market and the Neo-Geo outlived many other consoles.   During its run, many classic fighting and shoot-em-up series were introduced.  Many have been ported to the current consoles in collections but the great thing is that now these games are available on the go and are far more affordable than they ever were in the past. The Google play store and The iTunes Store are currently discounting a great selection of SNK Playmore games as listed below. The King of Fighters-i for iOS  for  99 cents Blazing Star for iOS  or  Android  for  99 cents The King of Fighters '97 for iOS  or  Android ...

Nintendo Remix If you are an old school gamer who has played the classics until your dpad ended up worn down then Nintendo may have the perfect holiday treat for you Wii U owners. The Nintendo eShop has released "Nintendo Remix" which takes classic levels from many of your favorite classics and adds a twist to them for a new challenge.  The one that caught my attention in particular was Link running through the Donkey Kong world instead of Mario.  Other games include Excitebike, Super Mario Bros, Ice Climber, Legend of Zelda, and the original Mario Bros. At $14.99 this collection may be a bit steep for some gamers and some of the games do seem like the ROM hacks that have been online for years.  With that said, there is no question about the legality of this collection and it's as easy as pick up and play on your TV.  Miiverse compatibility is also baked in with online components. While I am genuinely curious and this game, it does make me wonder i...

I remember back in the late 90's and early 2000's when manufacturers tried to push internet appliances to the masses that were clearly not ready for prime time.  They were slow, extremely limited, and expensive.  Compared to the computers of even those times, they just were not very compelling items to buy and so most of them vanished into obscurity. Enter Google's " Chrome OS" which is meant to someday be a full on operating system (according to Google) but for now is primed to be a low cost and entry level OS for basic internet needs. It has the same idea as those older internet appliances but just works a whole lot better.  The OS is basically a Chrome browser that is disguised as a desktop OS with your data and apps stored in the cloud.  This makes Chrome OS a light weight, snappy operating system that can be installed on a variety of low cost devices.  Google already has laptops and netbooks based on Chrome OS on the market and as of today their partne...

August DTA240 Cutting the cord is a trend that has gained momentum in the U.S. over the last year.  Cable companies have seen record numbers of customers cut the cord on many of their TV services due to the unreasonable price increases and contract politics of  pay TV.   At the moment, I am one of those subscribers and have recently gone the Internet only route with an Antenna, and a Roku. As someone who has had cable for over a decade, I have been used to my broadcast channels in HD.  Luckily, over the air broadcasts are now 1080i HD signals as well.   I had some "rabbit ear" style antennas and setting those up, I was able to receive most of the basic stations minus ABC and WPIX in New York City.  The stations that did come in were clear, much clearer than my cable signal most of the time due to there being less compression.   With that said, I do not like rabbit ears sticking out of my clean looking set up so I went on amazon and came acros...