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I love my iPod, really I don’t think there is a day that goes by where it is not being utilized for music indulgence or a quick email check.  Even to keep my sanity, I will pull out the device to play a game to squelch the boredom.  So I really am attached to the sucker.

My iPod is a Touch, pretty sweet, and it sort of held me back from buying an iPhone and selling my soul to AT&T (which is a bad idea in NEPA…we have lots of valley and rolling hills that we tend to call mountains…and in those areas you are lucky if you get any service at all.)  I have a habit of buying the newest iPod when it comes out, not the case this time however.  I have had a 1st generation 2gb nano, then I got the 3rd generation square 8gb nano, and then the 4th generation 16gb nano.  I had decided that I did not want to buy an iPhone when it came out…ok I did but like I said, AT&T around here…the iPhone is no reason to switch networks.

So imagine my depression when Apple came out with the newest nano, with a camera and FM/AM transmitter which I will confess I would totally use.  And my Touch that has no camera, but there are some awesome radio apps I can use, as long as I am connected to wifi.  Along with the new nano having a camera, of course it will do video.  The prices have been dropping also.  You can get a new 16gb nano for less than $200 which is a pretty sweet deal actually seeing as how hey used to be over $200 for the 8gb.

Now if only they would do a new iPod Touch with a camera also (hey Apple, you could totally put in an FM/AM transmitter, I won’t be upset), they now have 32gb and 64gb which will probably be next on my list unless Verizon happens to get the iPhone and release a 64gb iPhone…no suggestions or anything.  Heck, even the iPod shuffle is insanely cheap, a 4gb for less than $100.  They basically look like a hot flash drive…just no USB stick.

So this last part is to Apple, Steve Jobs, whoever can make it happen.  Please make an iPod Touch with a camera (the radio honestly isn’t the kicker), I kind of feel left out without a camera/iPod/computer, just an iPod/computer…I really get annoyed when I have to walk around holding an actual camera and managing the flash and dealing with having the wrong SD card and only being able to take 1 picture.  I just want to have a phone/radio/computer/ipod/gaming system in my hands…

gmFunkd Review, gadgets, technology Apple, AT&T, iphone, ipod, mp3 player, nano, shuffle, touch, Verizon

There are tons of rumors running the mill lately about the tablet that Apple would be releasing. At first, I honestly thought it would be a bad idea but the more I thought about it, I personally wouldn’t mind having one. The idea that Apple would be making a tablet has been circulating for more than 5 years, which makes me think that if this many rumors are coming out about it releasing, it’s a pretty good chance that we will see this tablet within 2009.
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gmFunkd Blog, Laptops, Review, Uncategorized, gadgets, technology Apple, Laptop, Macbook, Tablet, Touch OS, Touch Screen

Facebook Apps – if you are like me than you have no idea how you got into even playing with these apps… I normally only use Facebook for keeping in touch with college friends. However, I see these as a new way to stagger through my work day.  Some of these apps are meant to just take your mind off of what you were currently doing and waste a little bit of time.  Others are so addictive that you just find yourself now checking your Facebook for updates with these apps and freak out because your co-worker or some friend you haven’t seen in 3 years just beat your Chain Rxn score by 32 million…and you need to sit in an imaginary bubble for just 10 minutes while you try and beat this gloriously high score…I’ve been there already.

1) Farm Town and Farmville (they are both basically the same): Pretty self explanatory, you plant seeds and trees and watch them grow. Then you harvest and sell them for money. The more you plant and harvest, the more experience you receive and then higher your level will be. You can also get animals and fences, buildings, the list goes on. You can also send plants and animals to your friends for their farms. The only down side I have yet to see is you either check your farm too late and have to delete the withered left overs or wait 3 days for your corn/wheat to grow, some plants take 4 hours and some take 3 days.

2) Chain Rxn: This is a super-massive addictive game, no lie. The object of the game is to click anywhere on the screen to start a chain reaction of balls as they bump into the other balls that have explodedfrom the initial ball. The longer the chain goes, the higher the score for each ball that bumps into another exploded ball. I have nothing bad to say about this except that it is the new crack, it’s that addictive.

3) Mafia Wars: I cannot really review this only because I have never played it, though I am going to review it now because it was the first app that made me cringe at using any other app. I used to have about 40+ new updates about my friends’ Mafia and always got invites to join the crew. I am sure that within the next few months, I will probably give up and join. I am a lemming…

4) Bejeweled Blitz: Come on, my generation and even those who may be a little bit older certainly remember the game Bejeweled. I would play that game like it was then end of the world, if I even turned my head away, the Earth would face certain horrifying death. Yeah, I know, I had issues. Either way, Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook is basically Bejeweled 2 with a 1 minute time frame, thats pretty much it. I adamantly tried to burst all of your bubbles there to save you the annoyance, because that is what happened to me.

Hopefully, this little tidbit of highly important information will either have you interested in playing with some of these Facebook apps (there are a TON more out there.)  If you do happen to get into most of the apps I mentioned…send me something for my farm…please…

gmFunkd Blog, Review, Web, gaming Blog, Facebook Apps, games, Reviews, social networking, technology

Microsoft Office 2010

By now, most of us have heard bits and pieces about what Microsoft is planning to do with their next iteration of Office, 2010, including extending the ribbon interface to Outlook and any other program that were without and the collaboration enhancements allowing multiple users to not only edit a document together, but even display PowerPoint presentations in a remote web browse.

However, some interesting news came out earlier about a completely new method of access and use of (most of) the software suite – nearly full featured online versions accessible on any of the major web browsers.  This isn’t a particularly revolutionary move, which is not uncommon when it comes to Microsoft, with Google Docs being so well developed for the past few years, but there is the potential for Microsoft to make a major splash with this release… and did I mention it will be free?

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MG_Chris Software, Web, Windows, technology collaboration, excel, Google, google docs, microsoft, Microsoft Office 2010, Office, one note, online, powerpoint, Web, word

I am going to say this first, I am not the most technically advanced person in the world.  Especially when it comes to my Macbook.  I have had this laptop for nearly 3 years now and I am just learning most of the shortcuts and how to use it to its fullest.  I really wanted to learn more and putting the newest Windows OS on my life line was a huge step.  The only reason I really wanted it on the laptop was because I wanted to play PC games and use Office.  This was my biggest and scariest experiment to date, installing Windows 7 on it.  I did face a couple of potholes on the way, Boot Camp Assistant was not my friend, but that was my own fault, too many files to partition. I had to burn two dvds because the first one did not work.  But when it was time for the macbook to preform, I was not let down.  This is why I love my 3 year old macbook.

First off, follow the system requirements it gives you, I only have 1 gb of ram and to date that has been plenty.  I have an 80 gb hard drive but I also have a 320gb external.  As long as you have more than 10 gb of space on your laptop and don’t plan on adding tons more to it, you should be all set.  If you cringed at the idea of having less than 3 gb of space left on your laptop, external is the way to go.

That being said, follow my lead.  Go to the Windows 7 download site, download your copy and make sure to write your serial down.  Then burn the iso to a dvd, its easier with the Mac then a windows machine.  After you have that done, I suggest trying out a free trial of VMWare Fusion.  It was a toss up between Boot Camp and VMWare, but when Boot Camp Assistant decided that it could not partition my hard drive, VMWare was the way to go.  I got the trial of VMWare Fusion and then inserted my Windows 7 cd and about an hour later, I was running Windows and Mac, smooth like butter.  I put the image on my laptop hard drive at first but then I moved it over to my external.  Once I opened the image on my external, it just asked if I had moved or copied it, select moved and it makes the changes.

It was a pretty interesting experience, but with VMWare Fusion, it is MUCH better than dual boot.  You can also use Parallels, which I have used before, but Fusion was much easier to use.

gmFunkd Laptops, Netbooks, Software, Windows, gadgets, technology Leopard OS, Macbook, Virutal Machine, VMWare Fusion, Windows 7

Google has just announced on their blog that they are currently developing their next phase of internet domination by moving into the PC operating system market.  Chrome OS, which Google claims will be shipping on devices in 2010 will be an open-source light-weight operating system designed for users who spend more and more of their computing life on the web.  For some time now, Google has been making a push to take the workload of computing off of the machine and into the cloud by launching services such as Google Docs, Apps and Mail.  With their announcement of a new light-weight OS, it seems that they are furthering their push to get users to become more cloud centric.

“Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web.”

It would seem that Google’s intentions are pretty clearly spelled out.  They want to put out an OS that users can boot into quickly and reach out to the internet/web/cloud near instantly to get done whatever work they need.  Personally, I am excited at the prospect of a new challenger in the old OS ring, especially a new one that isn’t set firmly into habits based around a pre-webcentric world and feel that coming from Google, it may actually have a chance.

MG_Chris Laptops, Netbooks, Software, Web, technology chrome, Google, internet, operating system, os, Web, Windows

tonytom Blog, MuchGeek, technology New York, Private, public, sex

For those of us who missed the first round (or weren’t awesome enough to get a Grand Central account way back when), Google is providing another opportunity.  It would seem that Google is expanding the userbase they are using to test Voice by allowing users to opt in to receive an invitation.  To throw your hat in the ring, head to https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/ and fill in your name and e-mail then go sit by your inbox and feverishly F5 until you see an invite show up.. as we will all be doing.

Hopefully we’ll have an invite, if we do – expect an in depth feature run down to follow shortly.

MG_Chris Web, gadgets, technology Google, google voice, internet, phone, voice, voicemail, voip

ATTENTION WEB SURFER: WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!?!

Is basically the message I was greeted with after restoring a Firefox session following a version update for a few of my saved tabs on sites I visit regularly.  It seems that with its most recent version, Firefox has teamed up with Google in an effort to protect presumably unscrupulous users from accidentally stumbling upon sites that they seem to think will maliciously install software on your system (or, at least, try to).  Seeing a few of my tabs load with a “NO” icon instead of what I would normally expect was quite a shock as these sites it had flagged are not any that I’ve ever considered particularly malicious.  (I’ve been accessing them with no issues for some time now, though my continued use of Adblock Plus and No Script may be the reason for my lack of suspicious activity).

My initial thought was that a random addon would be the cause of this alert, but upon clicking the “Why was this site blocked?” button, I was surprised to see the real answer

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MG_Chris Laptops, Netbooks, Software, Web, Windows, technology alert, Firefox, Google, internet, malicious, malware, security, Web, website

A rumor that has been floating around for probably more than a year, but has started to gain more hype, is the possibility that Apple may come out with a new iPhone with Verizon.

Stop right there.  If any of you felt your heart race after hearing of the rumor or just reading this now for the first time, welcome friends!  In an age where we want everything at the touch of a finger, the iPhone is a very handy gadget.  Most smartphones are for that matter.  (Of course the iPhone apps are one of the reasons that Apple had no real competitor other than Blackberry.)

The iPhone, even in some of our generation’s dimmest times, was still increasing sales.  With the App Store, the iPhone can be transformed into anything you want it to be really.  Being someone who is fairly attached to her laptop, I will sometimes drag it out just to check on some news or tweet or play a game.  This isn’t a pain at all, but thinking about just doing it on the iPhone, I begrudge other people’s iPhone joy.  It seems to be the perfect mini-laptop when taking a laptop out just isn’t as practical as it used to be.  In a world where netbooks are selling like mad and laptops are selling much more than desktops, the iPhone fits in well.

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gmFunkd entertainment, gadgets, gaming, technology 3G, AT&T, iphone, phones, smartphone, Verizon