Lifesperience

Lifesperience is now Raycommend, which can be found here:    Ray Commend   There is no easy way to say this.  Hyperkin's latest v2.2 firmware for the Retron 5 is a bug-filled mess which for many people (myself included) will ruin your Genesis experience.  As soon as I upgraded, my Genesis carts would no longer be detected by the system, and sometimes, even the other cartridge slots would stop detecting games. These were carts that worked perfectly fine on prior firmwares.  They also work on the original consoles (which I also own) flawlessly.  At this time, the Hyperkin website only links you to the v2.2 firmware  or strangely enough, the v2.0 beta 6 firmware . The only fix in my case, was to downgrade back to v2.1 which resolved my issues.  Game cartridges once again detected just fine.  For those of you out there wondering, downgrading is the easy part.  Finding the links for the prior firmware files was the painful par...

These days, it seems that any time an article mentions Windows Phone, the one topic that always inevitably comes up is the dreaded "app gap" issue. It's not without due cause, after all, anyone planning to spend any sum of money on not just a cell phone, but an ecosystem should definitely do some research first.  Therefore, reading about this "app gap" was a powerful motivator that pushed me to purchase a Windows phone device. I had developed a pure curiosity about the app ecosystem, and to be honest, while it's far from perfect, it is also not as bad as I have seen in the past, earlier attempts of the mobile operating system. This article is a list of most of the popular apps and services that are available on Windows phone either via official apps or third party apps.  Many popular services are covered, and surprisingly, many big name game developers are onboard.  Honestly, there is a lot more in terms of gaming than I thought there would be. The bi...

Android Apps integrate into the Modern Start screen. Those of you that follow my blog are aware that I recently purchased a Dell Venue Pro 8 ( reviewed here ) and am pretty happy with the performance and usability for the price.  In that review, I compared it to the Google Nexus 7 , another one of my favorite devices.  For those of you who are not that familiar with the various ecosystems, when it comes to touch apps, Microsoft is a distant third place behind Apple and Google.   While the Microsoft store has been slowly getting more apps geared towards touch devices, there are still many notable apps missing such as HBO GO, or Showtime Anytime, Temple Run, Instagram, etc.  Some times there are third party replacements, and some times there are not.  The good news is that you may not have to wait to use your favorite app on Windows 8.x.  There is a program by the name of Bluestacks  that will allow you to run Android apps in Windows as close t...

Lifesperience is now Raycommend, which can be found here:    Ray Commend   While the Wii was initially a very popular console for Nintendo, for most people, it has gone unused for years gathering dust.  More powerful consoles and devices have taken its place and even Nintendo themselves have practically abandoned it with many of their own channels going offline over the last year.  Chances are that by this point, your Wii is long out of its warranty period.  If you're willing to take about an hour of your time, you can turn your old Wii into a great emulation station and decent media center for the kids. The things that you will need to get the most out of your old Wii console are: An SD card (up to 32gb) An internet connection The first thing that you will need to do is softmod your console which will allow it to run unsigned software outside of Nintendo's ecosystem.  Yes!  One of the great things about the Wii (for our purpose...

Cookies. Yum! As a man who has recently lost over 50 pounds and has kept them off , I admit that I still like my occasional snacks.  One major reason that many diets fail is that people attempt to give up the things that they like to eat and replace them with things that they don't enjoy.  That technique is destined to fail.   You have to eat things that taste good to you, but that are still beneficial to your body.  It's no secret that if you tend to stick to whole foods with fewer ingredients, you will end up eating less calories and enjoy more nutrition.  Needless to say, who doesn't love cookies?  Now, what if those cookies were actually healthy? This one is so simple that if I can make it, then anyone can. Here are the ingredients: One ripe Banana One cup of instant Oatmeal (I like Trader Joe's Oatmeal complete ) 1 tablespoon of ground Cinnamon Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. You simply mash the banana in your favorite mixing bowl,...

Google Now package tracking card The holidays are a wonderful time but they can also be a very stressful time as you juggle the normal complexities of daily life as well as try to keep track of purchases and deliveries.  As a reminder, for the millions (in the USA at least) who shop from Amazon.com with a Gmail address listed, your packages will be automatically tracked for you in real time as soon as it reaches your inbox through the Google now service on your Android and iOS devices. Package tracking on the desktop Gmail Once you place your order via Amazon.com, you will find a "track package" option in your Gmail inbox.  The desktop client shows it directly in your inbox screen while in the mobile version you will have to view the actual email. Click on "Track package" and the magic begins! Once you have received your email, simply go into your Google Now on your device and you will see the a card pop up for your purchases.  Click on the ...

Picture credit:  noshon As a man of Puerto Rican descent,  one of my favorite traditions is all of the various cultural foods that tend to be prepared at holidays and events.   Pasteles , Pernil , Arroz con Gandules , and Coquito all being part of these traditions.   Whenever we host company or are guests elsewhere, rarely does anyone turn down the opportunity to have some of this famous and sweet drink that will fill you with holiday cheer.  With the recipe online (it's not easy to find at local stores outside of Puerto Rico) now anyone can have a taste of the islands even on the iciest of days.  Read on to learn how to prepare this tasty piece of tradition. List of required ingredients: 1 can of evaporated milk 1 can of condensed milk 1 can of coconut cream 1/2 cup (120 ml) of white rum 1/2 tablespoon (4 grams) of cinnamon 1/2 tablespoon (7 ml) of vanilla extract How to prepare: Gather all of the above ingredients. Combine all of ...

WiFi is great! Wifi is everywhere!  Except when it's not!  Even the best of WiFi routers have zones in your home or apartment that are just too much for them to handle.  It could be interference, it could be that the walls are too thick, a bad angle, other obstacles in the way, or just that your device simply doesn't have a sensitive antenna.  When all that you want to do is watch some Netflix or play some Call of Duty and your signal is low to nonexistent, it can be an extremely frustrating experience.  So what is the solution for this problem? Should you have to run ethernet cables through your home and damage your walls with staples and drilling?  The answer is no .  There is a solution called Ethernet over Powerline that is as easy as plug and play and can save you hours of manual labor running wires. What is Ethernet over Powerline? As per Wikipedia: Home networking (LAN) Power line communications can also be used in a home to interco...

As many people today are choosing to cut the cable cord due to rising programming costs and the ever growing advertising on premium channels, there are now more choices than ever for those who need their entertainment fix.  The current reigning champion in the alternate TV space is the Roku .  A small streaming box about the size of a deck of cards that streams multiple channels via your broadband connection.  Apple has a similar approach with its Apple TV .  These devices start at $49 for the Roku and $99 for the Apple TV and have the added feature of being able to stream media from your mobile devices in some cases. Enter Google with it's Chromecast : This is a $35 adapter which streams content directly from the internet to your TV by simply plugging a small HDMI dongle into it.  The one thing that needs to be made immediately apparent however is that the Chromecast does NOT stream directly from your phone to your TV.  What it does is pull content...

As a technology enthusiast I have spent a lot of time both using and reading reviews about Android tablets and their ecosystem.  If you have read the reviews on the popular techie sites, they have told you that Android has no tablet apps and that you are wasting your time.  As a technology lover who has owned android tablets I have put the claims to the test, and have found them to be complete rubbish. For example in the collage that I have created above there are 47 different Android tablet apps displayed.  Apps of all different types and categories that run on both my Nexus 7 2013 and my Asus Transformer Infinity.  This is not even close to all the available amount of tablet optimized apps. To elaborate on that point I did not take screenshots of games or native Google apps. There are also apps I don't normally use that I did not download for this article but that definitely have tablet apps; for example Expedia, Hipmunk, or Evernote. Also not included are a...