Skip to content

Category Archives: Reviews

Device, Software & Book Reviews

The Perfect Christmas – Holiday Music 2006

Bath & Body Works paired with the Make A Wish foundation to offer “The Perfect Christmas” Holiday Music 2006 2 CD set which contains Christmas songs from contemporary stars.
The two disk set includes Glisten and Glow, with the following tracks.
Glisten:
01-Santa_Baby.ogg
02-Someday_at_Christmas.ogg
03-God_Rest_Ye_Merry_Gentlemen.ogg
04-Up_On_The_Housetop.ogg 05-A_Marshmallow_World.ogg [...]

The freaks are winning – The Inner Swine Collection by Jeff Somers

What would happen if the Indian contract writers who churn out The Punisher were to read Neuromancer and try to duplicate it? The Avery Cates series of books by Jeff Somers:

The Electric Church (2007)
The Digital Plague (2008)
The Eternal Prison (2009)
The Terminal State (coming)

I had read the Digital Plague (I think it was a gift? [...]

Redbox Movie Recommendations

Within the last few months I have been making use of the two RedBox “automated retail systems” within the lobby of a nearby Wall-Mart. (And mostly being successful in resisting the urge to venture into Wall-Mart on each visit and get trapped behind a lady talking on her cell phone while trying to write a [...]

Ipod Touch (8GB) Review

An Apple iPod Touch review, with special attention paid to use with Linux and open formats:
Pros:

Very nice high resolution screen. (480×320 at 163dpi)
User interface is very slick and easy to use after a minimal learning period.
Built in WiFi (802.11b/g) with very good mobile browser (Safari).
Methods to hack (jailbreak) it and install 3rd party software are [...]

Best applications for a Jailbroken iPod Touch / iPhone

If your iPhone or iPod Touch is jailbroken, you can use the Installer.app to load and install many different applications. Below is the list of the applications that I found to be useful, fun or interesting: 

Organizing multiple pages of applications:Categories
Downloading/Watching YouTube movies: MxTube
Photos alternative: PhotoBoard
e-Book reader: Books 
Information Lookup: weDict , iMoon , iTrac
Networking: Stumbler, [...]

Unlocking my Cingular / AT&T phone

AT&T allows some customers to "unlock" their phones. This allows the use of a SIM card from a different provider (for example, VodaFone) while traveling. (It also allows you to use the phone with another GSM provider in the US after your AT&T contract is finished, which is one reason AT&T and other carriers lock [...]

Book Review: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier tells the story of W.P. Inman, a wounded civil war deserter who's only wish is to make it back to his home in Cold Mountain and his beloved Ada. Unfortunately for Inman, the civil war has blighted the South, and although he meets many compassionate citizens as he trudges west [...]

Book Review: The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason follows four  friends through their last year of college. The plot follows Paul as he attempts to unravel a centuries old mystery hidden in The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a book more rare than the Gutenberg Bible. Are the secrets it contains really worth killing over? But [...]

Book Review: Writ of Execution by Perri O’Shaughnessy

Writ of Execution by Perri O'Shaughnessy is a cross between a Grisham legal thriller and an Evanovich Stephanie Plum novel. Nina Reilly, attorney, gets naked on page 13, but due to a fast moving plot doesn't get any for the rest of the book (427 pages worth).  The book revolves around a 7 million dollar [...]

Book Review: Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire begins decades before Dorothy falls into the scene, with the birth of a strangely green baby girl who has unusually sharp teeth. We follow Elphaba as she grows up, attends university, and falls into the political turmoil behind the scenes [...]