Launch of my new show on Ustream/Youtube

I'm starting a brand new show on Ustream.tv and Youtube.com which will be all about gaming and technology. Right now I'm just focusing on the gaming part. I am going to try doing some video game playthroughs starting with the Grand Theft Auto series because it is my personal favorite. I am currently planning to officially kick things off this Friday, Christmas day.

I consider myself to be a master of the GTA series, I know every detail about those games. If you're a fan of the series like I am you'll definitely want to check it out! I will be starting off with a playthrough of Grand Theft Auto III, I want to see how long it takes me to get through it and how well everything works then I'll go from there.

If you have any suggestions for the new show I would very much like to hear them, you can e-mail me at ShaneD3488@gmail.com

Motorola Droid Review

I purchased my Motorola Droid a couple weeks ago and it has not left my side since. I declare it to be one of the single greatest purchases I have ever made. I now have access to the world wide web right in my pocket all the time. It’s such a great feeling to know that I am always connected everywhere I go.


Let me start off by talking about the Droid’s web browser. This phone is great for people who don't like to wait! Websites are rendered extremely fast and I have never had to wait more than a few seconds for something to load. The internet really blazes along. The only fault is that Flash is not yet available on the Droid but it will be at the start of next year. The browser works either vertically or horizontally depending on how you are holding the phone. To zoom in on a page you just simply tap twice on the screen where you want to zoom.

A very important asset to the Droid is the voice-search technology powered by Google along with Google maps. Personally I hate having to type everything one key at a time on that tiny keyboard. The Droid eliminates this problem. You can easily tell the droid what you’re looking for and it will do a search for you. I have found the voice recognition to be extremely accurate and extremely easy to use. You can also use the voice functionality within Google Maps. Say you're driving somewhere, you glance down at the gas gauge and, oh no! Your're on empty!  Simply say “Map of gas stations”. It will then automatically show you all the closest gas stations for that area. What if you suddenly get a hankerin' for a big mac on the go? You could say “navigate to McDonald’s” then it would find the nearest location for you and can give you turn by turn voice directions all the way there. You can even see a satellite view of your route or a street view in case the plain old maps aren't enough for ya.

The 5.0 megapixel camera on the Droid is another asset that does not dissapoint. The images are high quality with very little, if any, blurring. You can also use the camera for various apps such as Google Goggles which allows you to take a photo of an item then it will do a Google search based on the item in the photo rather than based on text. This also works by taking a picture of businesses. Another app allows the camera to be used as a barcode scanner enabling you to find instant information on any product.

As far as apps go there are plenty of neat ones already available and the app library is growing at a rapid pace (there is already over 10,000). One of my favorites is the Ustream broadcaster which once again uses the camera to allow you to broadcast from any location that you desire. There is really an app for just about anything you can imagine. It certainly already has all the essential apps that you desire. The Droid is also great at multi-tasking, allowing you to run many apps at the same time without slowing down the phone’s performance.

As for the keyboard on the phone it comes with both an onscreen keyboard that can be used vertically or horizontally and a pull out keyboard. Personally I prefer the onscreen keyboard. With the pull out keyboard, I find myself making many more typos and hitting the wrong keys. The onscreen keyboard has bigger keys and is just easier to type with in my opinion. If I had to pick a flaw on the Droid I would say it would be the pull out keyboard. I think it could’ve been designed a little bit better. Especially for people who have large man fingers like myself.

The Android operating system as whole performs nearly flawlessly, everything is extremely smooth and so easy to use. I can’t stress enough how user-friendly Android is. I have yet to experience anything complicated about using this phone. Basically you just tell it what you want and your every wish is the Droid’s command. For this reason I believe the Droid to be the best PDA/smart phone on the market today. I don’t believe any other can really even begin to compete. I highly suggest you go out and get yourself one!

Avatar Review

Avatar was one of those rare movies where I went in with expectations high as could be. I had been hearing a lot of talk about how Avatar is the next Star Wars or possibly could even be better than Star Wars. Let me say first off that you shouldn’t try to compare one single movie to a 6 movie saga because there is no way you can match that in the given time. However in the 2 hours and 45 minutes it lasted, the movie was astonishing on many levels.

The story follows Jake Sully an ex-marine who had been paralyzed from the waist down in combat. His twin brother who had been trained to participate in the Avatar program was killed in combat. Since they were twins Jake was then selected for the program even though he had no prior training. The Avatars are artificially grown bodies of the Na’vi, a humanoid alien race living on the planet Pandora. The humans get into tubes and let their minds be transferred to their Avatar. When their Avatar sleeps, the human re-awakes. Jake’s mission is to infiltrate the tribe of Na’vi and gain their trust in an attempt to make them re-locate, as their home is sitting on top of a valuable metal that the humans want to harvest for money.

I don’t believe I have ever before seen such life-like CGI in a movie as there is in Avatar. Everything in the movie seems incredibly real, at times I found myself forgetting I was watching a computer animated world. Everything has so much detail and all of the people and native creatures are so unique.

One of my very favorite characters in the movie was Colonel Miles Quaritch played by Stephen Lang. He is always confident in everything that he does and never thinks twice about a decision. He is a super tough marine who won’t stop until things are going his way no matter what the odds are. He is just one of the most badass characters I’ve seen in a really long time.

As peaceful negotiations don’t work in the allotted time the Colonel issues the order to launch his “shock and awe” campaign. The movie really turns into a classic war between primitives and advanced technology. It was very reminiscent of Star Wars Episode VI when the Ewoks of Endor took on the mighty Sith Empire. However Avatar brings the war to a whole new scale as the entire planet fights back against the invaders as it tries to save itself from destruction.

Avatar mixes live action and CGI like never before, it makes the transition from one to the other seem nearly seamless. All of the Na’vi’s emotions are incredibly realistic and believable. Everything in the world reacts to the things around it. Night time on Pandora is one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen, as everything in the forest has a unique color and glow.

It’s really hard for me to describe just how amazing the animation in this movie is. You really have to see it for yourself. I do also highly recommend seeing it in IMAX 3D for the fullest experience. It really makes you feel like you’re right there on Pandora living the action as it unfolds.

Back to the question of if it’s better than Star Wars. I would have to say the animation is better in some respects than the Star Wars films yes. However on a story level it can’t really match up. And although Pandora has a good number of species shown in the movie, it’s still only one planet and can’t begin to match the Star Wars universe, although I definitely expect the Avatar universe to grow over time.

To wrap this up I have to say everyone really needs to see this movie. Do yourself a favor and don’t miss a spectacle in movie making.