Everybody Staze...

Nobody leavz...

You are here: Home / Archives for Reviews

DGT Cube game timer

By

This is a pretty simple review. This timer is a six sided game timer, where you can set total time, time per move, time per move with saved time, etc. I got it mainly for things like Monopoly, Scrabble and Settlers. I’m largely to blame here, as I take a very long time to make game moves if I don’t have something forcing me to move. The timer works simply enough, as you set the time for all players, then simply start. To finish your move, and move onto the next person, you just rotate the cube to the next color. Simple simple simple. I’m actually thinking about buying the Pyramid version for 4 player games, but the cube works for that as well. The only thing it doesn’t really do is some of the more advanced chess timing schemes, but it’s time-per-turn plus saved can basically be used to do what amounts to delay time.

Anyway, it’s great. Simple to use, easy to read, and it makes people get a move on. =)

[xrr rating=4.75/5]

Logitech Harmony 650

By

I’ve known about the Logitech Harmony remotes for years, but always held off getting one due to price, and overall concern about functionality. But two weeks ago, I saw Costco had the Harmony 650 on sale for $56, and figured I might as well give it a try. And to cut to the chase, I can’t believe I waited so long.

A decent universal remote often costs $40-50, and programming it consists of either looking through the manual and finding the codes for each device you have, or worse, training the universal remote certain commands by pointing your OEM remote at it, and having the universal “learn”. Extremely tedious. And while the Logitech setup process is a bit awkward, it’s lightyears ahead of other options. For the 650, you install some software, and then plugin the remote via USB, and go through a website wizard to program the remote. This consists of setting up each device you have by make and model. The 650 limits you to 5 devices, which is fine since I only have 3 for this setup (TV, Cable Box, and Apple TV). After this is done, you set up tasks, like “Watch TV”. The wizard asks things like “which device changes channels” and “which device controls volume”, etc. Basically, you’re setting up Macros. When you’re all done it uploads that info to the remote (as well as updates the firmware if there’s an update), and you’re ready.

On the remote, you say “Watch TV” and it then turns on the TV, and cable box, and you get volume on the TV, channels on the box, and it all just works. The only thing I had to do was manually assign the day forward/back buttons for going through the Guide on the Cable Box, since they previously were hard to get to soft buttons on the screen. And the only issue other than that is a limitation of IR, in that the remote has no clue if the TV/Cable Box, is on or off. So if you forget, and turn your TV off manually, you can get in this state where the remote thinks everything’s cool, but the TV is off, and the cable box is on. This is easily fixed through the remote’s screen, and toggling the power on whichever device is the “off” one.

For less than $60, to get a remote that just works, and I don’t have to switch between things, it’s great! If I ever upgrade, I’ll go to an RF based one, but for now, IR works fine by me.
[xrr rating=4.75/5]

Captain America – The First Avenger

By

What has seemingly been another summer of comic book movies has lead up to Captain America. As a kid, the idea of this character always seemed kind of cheesy. I mean, really? “Captain America”?! Is there “Commodore Soviet”? “Duke England”? But, both my wife and I were happy to see them address this a bit in the movie (he is used to sell war bonds early in the movie, and even wears the campy outfit).

So after Thor, X-Men First Class, and Green Lantern (which I haven’t seen, but hear is pretty bad), we have rounded out the Marvel universe until The Avengers next year. What I can say about the ones I have seen (the Marvel ones), is that I’d probably rank them as:

  1. Captain America
  2. Thor
  3. X-Men First Class

Now, let me put that in perspective. All 3 were very good. Previously I put Thor just below Iron Man in terms of enjoyability. Iron Man is my favorite Marvel universe movie. So, that said, Captain America now inserts itself between Thor and Iron Man. So all 3 of the above all exist within a single point from 1-10.

If you haven’t seen Captain America, you should. It’s good. I wouldn’t bother with 3D, but then, I never would.

[xrr Rating=4.5/5]