Posted on Nov 18, 2009 - 3:50pm by John P. in Gadgets, Photography, Reviews, Videos - No Replys
I purchased the BENRO TRAB069 Travel Angel TRAB a couple of months ago, and all in all I highly recommend the little tripod.
This Travel Angel tripod features individual leg angle adjustments, anti-rotation leg design, a reversible center column with spring loaded weight hook, anti dust and moisture rubber leg lock grips, and reversible 1/4″-20 to 3/8″ mounting threads. It has 5 leg sections and a maximum height of 54.3″ with a normal height of 47.8″ with the legs fully extended.
However, what makes it so special is that the folded height is a tiny 13.1″ while still maintaining a load capacity of 13.2 pounds! This makes it one of the most compact travel tripods around, while still being professional grade. Oh, and at just over $210, it competes with the Gitzo GT1541T Series 1 6X 4S G-Lock Traveler which is much bigger and costs $535!
Read the rest of this entry »
|
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
Posted on Nov 09, 2009 - 12:37am by John P. in Gadgets, Photography, Reviews, Videos - 6 Replies
I’ve got some really great photography gear, but I’ve decided that my hand-held shooting, even with a shoulder-pod and an image stabilized lens, is disappointing. I just can’t get the razor sharp images I want.
At the same time, I rarely have time to set up a tripod, even if I’m carrying my tiny little 2.5 pound Benro Travel Angel. So, I’m adding a Monopod setup to my photography arsenal. And the monopod setup I’ve chosen was recommended by professional photographer Yuri Arcurs (the world’s top selling stock photographer). The video that convinced me is below.
The main reason I am going with the Manfrotto 685B Neotec Monopod he recommends is because it’s the only one with a quick extension system. Watch and learn…
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Sep 29, 2009 - 4:16pm by John P. in Reviews, Travel - 6 Replies
Unbelievable as it may seem, the Luxor in Las Vegas offers high-speed internet access – but there’s a catch! In order to get it, you need to stretch a wire all the way across the room, and it won’t even reach the desk for you to actually work at it.
The cost for this little act of fire-hazard creation? $15 per day. FML.
|
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
Posted on Sep 08, 2009 - 10:00am by John P. in Health & Fitness, Reviews, Thoughts - 16 Replies
For years we’ve all seen the Viagra ads. They are on TV, in newspapers and magazines, at sporting events, heck I think they even advertise on the inside of lollipop wrappers to get the kids hooked at an early age. Hmmm. Viagra lollipops anyone? They’ve done such a great job at associating their brand with sex that it makes you wonder how anyone actually has sex without Viagra?
In addition to providing injunctive assistance to men who might actually have some sort of a problem (which may be a good thing, but maybe not too), the boys behind Viagra are clearly, clearly, clearly targeting a much younger and healthier audience in the hopes of getting them to use Viagra for purely recreational purposes. There is ZERO doubt in my mind about this.
Now, I’ve long wondered what the heck is supposed to be so magical about “the little blue pill”? I mean, does it make you last longer? Does it make you bigger? Does it turn you into a raging sexual animal? And while we’re at it, does Red Bull actually give you wings? The problem is, everyone has these questions, but no one with experience is willing to talk about it. Unfortunately, this leaves us with only one side of the story, Pfizer’s commercial messaging!
Well, I decided I was going to get the answers! So I got some Viagra, and here’s what happened.
Read the rest of this entry »
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
|
|
|
| Re-Tweet | Reply | View Tweet |
Posted on Jul 01, 2009 - 9:00am by John P. in Computing, Gadgets, Reviews - 10 Replies
Ok, I’m about to go on and on about how much I love the Brother MFC-9840CDW Color Laser Multifunction Center with Wireless Interface and Duplex, but before this turns into a giant love fest, let’s start with the bad news. Software installation is a bit of a nightmare.
I installed the printer to work on three different Windows machines and one MacBook laptop. The MacBook installation went best, but not without issues. However, the Windows installations were all three a nightmare.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 29, 2009 - 11:13am by John P. in Gadgets, Reviews, Videos - No Replys
So, I got a Casio High-Speed Exilim EX-FC100 camera which is capable of up to 1,000 frames per second of video capture for a specific project that I’m working on which you guys will see pretty soon… But in the meantime I took a couple of sample videos just testing it out so far.
The bottom line on this camera is that if you shoot video for just about any reason, you should pick one of these up so that you can add high-speed captures to your bag of tricks. It’s cheap and easy and the results are worth it. The normal stills from the camera are also good (not great) and the features are adequate for a highly portable point and shoot camera.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 02, 2009 - 1:06am by John P. in Computing, Gadgets, Reviews - 2 Replies
I recently purchased the Thermaltake BlacX eSATA Hard Drive USB Docking Station from Amazon so that I could use an external hard drive for backups and /or disk recovery needs.
This particular device is capable of either USB connectivity or eSATA, meaning that it can be hooked to your PC at the same speed as an internal drive, making for radically increased performance!
Well, all I have to say is that the BlaX docking station works like a charm, and its good looking too! So if you are in need of a USB hard drive docking station, i highly recommend that you go pick one up. Amazon’s currently got them for $29.99 after rebate, so you’re not going to do any better than that. Enjoy!
Posted on Apr 22, 2009 - 1:30am by John P. in Computing, Reviews - 7 Replies
I kicked off a trend at work after I got my iPhone, so I’m putting this handy little guide together for all the new iPhone owners out there so that you don’t have to go downloading every crappy free app to try. I already did that!
So, here is my list of top apps in a wide range of categories. I’ll keep it updated as I add or delete things.
And if anyone has suggestions for other really great free apps, let me know and I’ll give them a try. Leave the name, description, and link to the app in the comments. (To get the link to an app, look it up in iTunes, then right click on the Apps icon on the top left.)
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Apr 06, 2009 - 1:30am by John P. in Computing, Reviews - 9 Replies
I just signed up for a new Beta service called Yoics today. (I wonder how that is pronounced by the way?) It’s a very interesting Remote Desktop sharing service, and it works with PCs and, most importantly, Macs. The underlying technology appears to be VNC, which I appreciate because it is a mature technology. But it seems they’ve managed to make it extremely simple to use.
Yoics allows you to share not only your remote machine’s desktop, but also the drives in your machine and even devices like Webcams!

That’s right, you could set up Webcams all over your house, and use Yoics as a remote security monitoring system. But wait! There’s more! If you happen to have a Drobo file storage unit and the accompanying DroboShare network adapter, you can also directly connect to it via Yoics.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Feb 25, 2009 - 1:35am by John P. in Movies, Reviews, Videos - 3 Replies
The other day at the AMC Best Movie Showcase, the final movie of the night was Frost/Nixon. I had actually thought about leaving the theatre and skipping this movie, but was glad that I made the decision to stick it out and watch.
Frost/Nixon is “A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.” This is the most famous of all of the Nixon interviews and ultimately the one that really sank him. Primarily due to the fact that Nixon answered one of Frost’s question:
When the President does it, that means it is not illegal.
I thought the movie was fantastic. It could have been extremely boring and dry, but they managed to essentially show how difficult it was for this particular interview to actually happen, and how close it was of a disaster to Frost and his team. Essentially, the entire filming was saved during the final interview with Nixon.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Feb 21, 2009 - 10:41pm by John P. in Movies, Reviews, Videos - 10 Replies
Ok, after sitting through Slumdog Millionaire during the AMC Best Movie Showcase I can honestly say that I think it was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. This movie has a fantastic plot, excellent acting, action, romance… in short, it’s an instant classic.
I’m not the only one who thinks this. According to IMDB, this movie has an 8.7 out of 10 with 66,922 votes. That currently ranks this move as #34 in the Top 250.
Now, considering that this is the only one of the 5 movies that is really uplifting and inspiring, I’m going to say that it’s most likely going to be my pick for Best Picture. Frankly, I think everyone should see this movie!
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Feb 21, 2009 - 7:55pm by John P. in Movies, Reviews, Videos - No Replys
Movie day continues at the AMC Best Movie Showcase! We just finished watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Unlike The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Unlike Milk, this movie is going to take some processing before I can actually tell you what it was about. But one thing I can say is that it was a fantastic movie and appropriate for just about everyone (though I’d keep the young kids away for some adult themes).
The story centers around a man who was born with a strange affliction, possibly related to some sort of supernatural intervention, but never really explained. This affliction caused him to be born and essentially grow into an old man’s body, from which point he continues to get younger and younger.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a love story that weaves together the lives of several different characters in a way seemingly designed to show us there is a time and a place for everything, while simultaneously reminding us that it’s never too late to be the person you were born to be.
Read the rest of this entry »