Archive for the ‘Tech’ Category

Destiny 2I’m a late comer to the video game Destiny, starting just last year near shortly before the end of Year 2.  However, in that short time I have become a solid fan of the game, it’s mechanics, and its outstanding player community.  It has outstanding gunplay and movement, it is incredibly immersive with amazing visuals, and has a unique “more open” world that supports team play, solo play, running around making things go boom, and excellent player v. player options.  Also in something that at least seems unique, it has no swearing or graphic sex.  In short, the game was just plain fun.

While it has held up well over the last 3 years, it is getting a bit dated and due for a refresh.  Enter Destiny 2.  This new game updates not only the mechanics, but continues the story as humanity struggles for survival and finding its place amongst the stars.  This week, the developer – Bungie of Halo fame – has released the beta for the new game.  I was lucky enough to be given an early access code for the closed portion of the beta release.  My son and I both spent some time with our fingers on the controller giving Destiny 2 a workout.  What follows after the jump are the very first impressions after only a very short time playing.

Bear in my, there is no effort to avoid spoilers, so don’t click to continue if you don’t want to read details.

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Razer blueWhen it comes to keyboards, I am picky.  Very picky.  I learned to type on an IBM Selectric 2 in high school and that left me rather spoiled.  I also have had some wrist injuries, including some issues with repetitive strain.  When my old keyboard of nearly 8 years gave up the ghost, I decided to take a huge chance and go with the Razer BlackWidow Chroma.  After a week typing on it, I have been extremely pleased with the result.  This review is going to be a surprise to those that know me…  (more…)

More Apple News

Posted: July 7, 2015 in Tech
Tags: , , , , ,

Apple Watch sales bottoming out?  Well, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.  Market Watch is reporting:

Apple Watch May Not Be Ticking With Customers

I have yet to find a benefit of doubling the price of my phone for a piece of tech that will be obsolete in 6 months when the Apple Watch 2.0 comes out.

I’m still trying to figure out who the buyers for this are.  So far all I can come up with are the ridiculously rich, tech reviewers, patrons of the Church of Apple or “kids” who still have mom and dad paying their bills.

 

IPhone6_silver_frontfaceIf you use Apple’s Home Sharing do NOT upgrade to the latest iOS update (8.4).  Home sharing has been removed.  Your options now are to pay Apple for Match or pay for the family plan on the new Apple music service.  If you have the technical expertise and resources to set up something like a Plex server or move your library to OneDrive or GDrive, you can take those options, as well.

Fortunately for me, most of my music is ripped either lossless or at high nitrates from my extensive CD collection.  Even most of mp3’s come from private purchase and not iTunes.  Why in the world would I pay for Match?  It doesn’t give me anything I don’t already have.

Outside the home, I put what I want on my device at the time.  Most streaming is blocked at the office and why should I burn my data at work or in the car?  Beside, I’m rural enough that it’s not unusual to not have bandwidth available for effective streaming.

If you’re a kid that has mom and dad paying your bills, this might be good for you.  For many of the rest of us?  Not so much.

Apple has unveiled its new $9.99 per month streaming music service and a 24 hour online radio station called Beats One to take on Spotify and Tidal, Jay Z’s service.

Source: Apple unveils Music streaming service to take on Spotify and Tidal | Daily Mail Online

So we have what???

  • A music service that will have to compete with Spotify, Pandora and Apple’s own free iTunes radio, not to mention all the other online radio stations that are available like TuneIn, I <3 Radio and even YouTube.  All of which are free or have free options.  Oh, and also Amazon Prime’s rather impressive library, if you happen to have that service (which also includes free shipping and Prime Videos).
  • News sounds like Apple has finally decided Flipboard or Bing may be good ideas.
  • A pay service – Apple Pay – that hardly anybody is using here in the U.S.
  • Plus we get some OS updates that are finally *beginning* to catch up with Android and Windows 8.
  • About those billion Siri requests?  How many of those requests include the 2 or 3 times you ask something before giving up and typing it manually?  Or kids just asking silly questions to see what response is generated?

I hate to say this, because I love my iPhone 6, but I’m beginning to get some PalmOS deja vu.