Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

The Title Screen

I'll be perfectly honest, before I got this game I had never even heard of it.  It was originally made for Xbox however, I played it on my PC and I am quite impressed how well this game ran and played on my computer.

To start out with for some reason the artwork in this game and the fact that it was a puzzle/ platform game really caught my attention when I was looking at information about it.  I enjoy games that are slightly different, from the regular blow up this shoot all the bad guy routine.  Although this game is defiantly not as difficult as say Portal 2 its difficulty would probably be on part with Portal.

This game starts out with your home planet being taken over by some shadow alien creatures who then go and block all the light coming from your sun.  So you as the alien dude that you are decide to go into your flying saucer and save they day.  As you progress through the game you gain abilities such as a gun, a laser, a saw, a anti-gravity gun and a claw to pick things up with.  Using these abilities you solve puzzles defeat bad guys and ultimately save the day.  While this game does not break any graphic standards the 2-D graphics were nice and very artistic.  also as the word Shadow, in the title suggests this game is slightly dark so I would not recommend it for children under about 6 or 7 as they might be frightened.

Although this games regular price is $15 which I don't think is worth it as you might get 5 or 6 hours of game play out of the single player campaign I would recommend it if you could get it for under $10 as it is very enjoyable and unlike other games the puzzles are engaging and it will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Screenshot from the Water zone, one of many areas in Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Windows 8 is it worth $40?

In Recent news It has been reported that Windows 8 upgrade will cost $39.99 going along with the last review does this make it worth the price?  The answer is it depends.  I still hold to the fact that Windows 7 is a much more functional operating system as of right now.  The fact that Windows 8 is basically 2 operating systems in one body, makes it challenging to use and will lead to frustration by those of us who teach others how to use computers and those of us who need to learn the new OS.  so my suggestion is unless you are a gamer, or need to use software that is proprietary through windows, go with one of Google's operating systems (Android or Chrome OS) or Keep your Windows 7 installation for a couple of years before upgrading.

Windows 8 Release Preview

the Start Screen

On a few occasions some of my co-workers have asked me if I plan to upgrade to windows 8.  I am sure they are not the only ones who find themselves asking this question as I myself have been reading the reviews and wondering if I am going to upgrade when the time comes around. In order to make a more informed decision I decided to download windows 8 Release preview and try it for myself.

SET UP

First off I want to mention that I did not wipe away windows 7 to load windows 8.  Having done things like that when I was younger I decided to do my test on a virtual Machine.  After some failed tries to load up windows on the virtual machine I finally had success.  My recommendation for anyone trying to follow in my footsteps here is to download the install file for windows 8 from Microsoft instead of the ISO.  For some reason the ISO did not seem to work properly.

WINDOWS 8

The first thing that appeared when I got windows 8 up and running and got through all the set-up questions was the start screen pictured above.  This start screen is a replacement to the start-up menu that windows has had since windows 95 and as far as I can see it is the major difference between windows 8 and windows 7.

My Google Calendar as it appears in windows 8

The start screen has some very nice features including live tiles for email, calendar, weather, music and games.  For the most part these tiles were compatible with my Google account and I was able to easily get my calendar and e-mail working in the live tiles.  I can easily see how these live tiles can add a new sense of convenience to Windows and also seem as if they would boost productivity.

Google Chrome in Windows 8

Although the live tiles are nice for the most part I did find the new start screen to be inconvenient.  First off I am not a major fan of Internet explorer, so I quickly went to download chrome.  Although Google Chrome is functional in Windows 8 it does not work directly in the new screen (at least not right now) this caused a major inconvenience as in order to use many other apps I had to keep opening and closing the start screen.  Despite this chrome worked fine and seemed to run quite smoothly.

Another minor annoyance to me was how you scroll through the start screen.  I will just face the fact right now that the start screen will probably work better on a tablet or phone than on a regular laptop without a touch screen.  Using a scroll bar on the bottom just seems like a blast from 1995 and I really just wanted to move my mouse to the corner and see the tiles move along with it.

Despite these minor annoyance I do have to say that even for a release preview running on a virtual PC on top of another operating system windows 8 seems to be very snappy, I ran it running 2GB of ram and it work great which is something I cannot always say about Windows 7. 

In looking at recommending upgrading to Windows 8 in the future, my answer is really up in the air to me Windows 8 seems as similar to windows 7 as Office 2010 is to Office 2007.  So in other words it just seems to have more annoying and inconvenient menus but there are basically no major differences between the two versions.

I would also say that it might be worth waiting 6 months to a year to get windows 8 as well.  In a long term perspective Windows 8 will probably have more apps that are usable from their start screen in the future, such as Google Chrome.  

To conclude I think that I would recommend windows 8 to anyone who is still using windows XP or Vista as it is a lot better. However, unless you are a student and can get the student discount on windows 8 I would recommend keeping windows 7 as there doesn't seem to be any major tactical advantage to upgrading as of now.

Gods and Generals

To date this is the fourth book by Jeff Shaara that I have read.  Before this book I read both of his Revolutionary War books and Gone for Soldiers which is about the American-Mexican war.

I realize that this is the first book of this type that he wrote however, I find that it has the same strengths and weaknesses of his other books.  In my opinion Jeff Shaara is an excellent writer when it comes to character development and political fiction however, he lacks quality when writing about battles and attacks which is unfortunate as much of this book revolves around the beginning battles of the Civil War.

His descriptions of Colonial Chamberlain, General Hancock, General Lee, and Jackson truly take the readers into the minds of leaders during the civil war.  At the same time it is hard to grasp the actuality's of war in 350 pages.

Despite the books weaknesses I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in Historical Fiction and the Civil War.

Chrome OS version 19

I have never really thought of Chrome OS as an actual competitor to Microsoft Windows or Mac OS until this current update. For those who don't keep up I have been using chrome OS from the very start and currently have a Samsung Series 5 Chromebook. Although there are many negative things about the chromebook (mainly dealing with processing speed) my overall experience has been very positive.

With the new release of the beta version for Chrome OS I noticed perhaps the most major change to the OS since it was released. Instead of having everything inside of a browser window the new version instead looks a little more like a traditional OS by adding a start bar, and an actual non-browser desktop.

Others can give you the technology overview of this new chrome OS, but the thing that really gets this reviewer is the fact that it works a little more like a traditional OS. While there doesn't seem to be any real purpose for the desktop now as everything is still run in a browser window perhaps in the future this new style will make the OS more competitive.

Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0

Lets just face the facts. Apple is overrated and for those of us who don't have smart phones but want the features that they offer there is some good news for you!

The Samsung Galaxy Player, which was released last October is the first good android alternative to the Ipod Touch. This being said it has many similarities and many differences to the touch. The first difference is that it runs android and is made by Samsung. This obvious differences gives a drastically different user experience to the Ipod.

at the same time there are many similarities to the Ipod touch, in that it has a front and rear facing camera, a touch screen and lots of cool android features.

After extensive testing on the Galaxy Player 4.0 for about six months this blog has come to the conclusion that if you are willing to deal with the ads that come along with android this is actually a really good alternative. The screen is bigger than the Ipod touches and with all the awesome features of android minus the monthly 3G or 4G bill how could you go wrong?

The CR-48

Well Good has officially sent out their beta computers for the new Google OS, as such we are giving you a first look at the CR-48 and the Chrome OS. to start out with lets talk about all the good stuff that is involved with the CR-48

first off is the amazing redesigned keyboard. yes it is still a qwerty keyboard but the hot keys are changed a lot to make it easier to use, I mean truly why didn't someone come out before with a keyboard so nice and easy to use.

another plus is the OS itself, imagine having an operating system that is a web browser, well now you can with Chrome OS! with its easy to use new layout you can now use Chrome OS and have the settings carry over to all your other computers with the chrome browser.

lastly we come to the Nicest thing of all. the OS starts up instantly, no more waiting for 5 minutes to just surf the web just open the notebook and it starts up instantly and you can be online in 30 seconds.

along with the good stuff the cr-48 isn't perfect, I have found two major flaws in the computer. the first and biggest is the touch pad. while there is nothing new about touch pads with no buttons. the cr-48 touch pad is very quirky and annoying I can't explain just how annoying it is, so you will just have to see for yourself.

the other weakness in the computer is the speed of flash. while it works excellent for watching full episodes of the original Star Trek it lags in a major way when playing many online games.

all in all for an unexpected package from Google the cr-48 is a wonderful and useful machine and when it goes retail I would recommend Chrome OS for all my friends on a netbook computer.