Top Tech Gifts for a Teenager

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:55:55 -0500

Top Gifts for a Teenager
By Alex Lamoureux

December is always a busy month at stores because of the Christmas rush. Every parent wants to get their family the perfect gifts!

The top teenager gifts for this year include Ipods, and video games. One of the most anticipated games for the Xbox 360 this year is Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, you can pick it up at various stores for around $60. Another popular gift is the Apple Ipad 2, which is going to cost you anywhere from $400 to $1200.

But if your unable to spend that much this year, the Apple Ipod touch is very similar to the Ipad and is basically a smaller version that costs much less. Manny other new video games have came out such as Madden NFL 12, and the new Assassin's Creed which are both popular and will cost around $60.

For any parents who have a teenage girls you might want to consider getting them the new Justin Bieber CD, which you can pick up for around $15. Most websites can provide you with information on new hot toys coming out this year. So make sure to get your teenager the right gift!

The Kindle Fire

Mon, 7 Nov 2011 07:59:43 -0500

The Kindle Sets Fire
By Patrick Hamilton
The Kindle Fire is set to release within the next two weeks, and as the date approaches, many are wondering whether it will smolder the same way that Apple’s iPad 2 has over the past year. Fire has to have fuel, and although the media is giving this product gasoline, it has not been proven against the Goliath of the market yet.
The most obvious feature in Amazon’s corner is its price point- a full three-hundred dollars cheaper than the most basic Jobs tablet. The Fire come into the market with only one model priced at $199, while Apple’s iPad 2 goes up to as much as $829 depending on memory and 3-G capabilities. The one option offered by Amazon limits the options that a user has, but that could be a good thing. Focusing on one perfect product and not on six models with various features could help the end result for the online store that sells the kitchen sink along with anything else a person could possibly need.
This price point might be the only upside to the Kindle Fire. A non-expandable 8GB memory, minuscule compared to the rival tablets, could be the eventual downfall for the Amazon tablet. Eight gigabytes might seem like loads of room, but with the size of apps and videos, this memory will be used up very quickly. The iPad 2 and other tablets either larger memory or an expandable memory via a SD card slot. The Fire has also adopted a modified version of Android’s Honeycomb processing system, allowing for cloud storage of all Amazon-bought media.
Applications also do not help the Kindle Fire’s cause. Under the modified processor, Amazon decided to take out the Android market completely to substitute their Amazon Market in its place. This might not seem like a problem at the surface- Amazon is know for its beautiful original apps- but the sheer quantity of Apple’s and Android’s app stores more than makes up for a few outstanding applications found on Amazon. The Fire’s app store will have 10,000 apps compared to the 200,000 applications found in the Android Market and 500,000 in the Apple App Store, with 150,000 specifically for the iPad. This shortcoming might spell the downfall of the Amazon Kindle Fire, simply due to the vast difference in options available on other devices.
The effect that Amazon’s product will have on the tablet industry is yet to be determined. Judgement Day will be November 15th, but under the current circumstances of the economy, Amazon might be on to something with the Kindle Fire. Although just at a glance the problems vastly outweigh the price, and this fire has a great chance of being smothered out to just smoke by the competition.

Sony Hacked Again

Mon, 6 Jun 2011 09:54:50 -0400

The major company Sony has had another cyber attack from hackers this week. This time the hacker group that calls themselves LulzSecurity has hacked into SonyPictures.com. The group has stolen tremendous amounts of personal data, and also report stealing music codes, and music coupons from Sony. Anybody that is registered to this site could possibly have had their info stolen or released. LulzSecurity reported that they did not do this to show they could hack Sony, but to show how simple it was and how unprotected personal information on the site really was.
Sony is still recovering from the Playstation Network being hacked in late April, where millions of passwords and personal information was also stolen. They have already spent about $170 million on recovering from the PSN attack, and now they have a million more people with stolen account information and could possibly be paying more insurance costs for the most recent hack. This is going to be a huge problem for Sony, they are going to lose a lot of money and many people will not trust using their products if they feel that they are at risk of a hack attack.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Video Game Review

Mon, 6 Jun 2011 09:50:24 -0400

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Video Game Review
By Steven Zailskas
Classic arcade graphics, 8-bit music, and basic RPG game play excel in the video game Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Based on the Scott Pilgrim comic book series, this game does an excellent job portraying the entire series in a style that fit the story’s nature. It basically shows how the world may seem if it was more like a video game, such as money taking the place of defeated enemies, and a bar that depletes when you use the bathroom. A lot of people worked on this game, some of which include legendary game design artists and equally important 8-bit musicians to create an amazing game exactly from the comics. Players will also notice other video games being referenced during play through, such as a guitar hero reference when the player must have a bass battle, and a Donkey Kong reference since one of the bosses has the same fighting style as the final Donkey Kong boss.
The story fits the entire comic series, so fans will get a kick out of this game. For those who do not know the story, it basically deals with the main character Scott Pilgrim trying to date this girl Ramona. The only problem is that all seven of her ex boyfriends are evil and created an alliance to destroy anyone who tries to date Ramona (a common reaction amongst breakups). So players will travel through seven worlds to defeat the boyfriends who are obviously the bosses at the end of the level. There are a few side missions that can be accomplished, like defeating some other characters from the comic series such as Mr.Chau or Nega-Scott.
Game play is amazing since it plays close to retro arcade style. There are two attack buttons, a jump button, a super hit button, and a button that summons Scott’s friend, Knives Chau. Moves can be improved with easy to learn combinations from leveling up the character overtime. There can be up to four players, with Scott, Ramona, and Scott’s band mates Stephen and Kim. If completing the game at the end with all four characters, the player can unlock Nega-Scott as a playable character. One of my friends has also showed me that extra games can be unlocked by going online and finding cheat codes. While some hate cheating, there really is no other way to find these minigames which are actually very enjoyable. Players can fight off zombie, play dodge ball, and even fight every boss in the story at a quick progression.
While the story, the characters, and game play are amazing, there are minor problems that should be fixed with the game. The camera can be stressful at times since some enemies will not appear on screen. When all the enemies on the screen are defeated, the player is able to move on, but since some characters take a while to be brave and fight, this can be very tedious. Another small problem is the reviving, since some would get a kick out of this, it can be pretty annoying to do sometimes. If on multiplayer one person is about to die, teammates can try to revive the player by constantly pressing a button to bring them back to life. If the person fails however, and the player who died has no more lives, the can turn into an angel of death. Literally, they can steal another person’s life to come back from the dead, which brings down the team.
Overall, this game deserves a 9/10, for a perfect comeback from the retro era. Game play and story fit how the Scott Pilgrim comic series should be portrayed, accompanied by excellent 8-bit music that fits every situation. Cheat codes can be used to further one’s game play without actually cheating. The only problems would be enemies on the camera, and possibly the fact of stealing one’s life, but that is skeptical. For those looking for an excellent arcade or multiplayer game, look no further, it may be one of the best in the market.