Guess what came in the mail yesterday?  An Amazon Kindle courtesy of Salado Press (I’m currently working on a project that involves converting their books over to a digital format for all major e-Reading devices).  Only $79.00 for an ad supported model or $109 ad-free version.  The advertisements show as a screen saver and do not interrupt reading.  This 6” E Ink Display reader with built in Wi-Fi is simply impressive!  Weighing less than 6 ounces and beautifully designed for functionality, this little unit is incredible.  Let’s look at it more in detail….

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The Oregon Trail used to be one of my favorite games when I was in grade school.  I got to play it on the Apple ][.  Seeing this game in the App store led me heading out to the wild west to build a town starting with only a shanty house.  The game is quite fun and majorly addicting.  I’ve been playing for about a week now and I’m up to level 36.  Continue reading to find out what makes this game so good as well as some things on the darker side.  Oregon Trail – It’s time to go west!

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Have you ever tried using your iPhone or iPod Touch with longer fingernails?  It’s difficult isn’t it?  What about those days when your fingers are frozen and the capacitive touchscreen doesn’t register your touch and the end result is getting locked out of your phone due to failed SIM card unlock attempts.  I got locked out of my phone once and the irony is that once the SIM card is locked out, I can’t make any calls whatsoever to even get my phone reactivated unless I use I different phone to call AT&T.   Much of my problems could have been averted if I had the Ten One Design Pogo Stylus – an aluminum body with a spongy tip which works on the touchscreen.   The tip is soft and requires a good deal of pressure to use with some types of screen protectors.  In my case, I found that at times, I had to press so hard that the metallic portion of the stick came in contact with the screen.  This seems to be a catch 22 as the screen protector is supposed to protect the screen, yet, by using the stylus I am at risk of putting the screen protector to the test.  This is not exactly a situation I like to be in.

My primary use for the stylus is for better signature capture when processing payments through Square.  Try signing your name nicely using your finger – it is very difficult if not impossible (at least for me).  I can however sign a legible signature when I use the Pogo Stylus.

The Pogo Stylus also comes with a clip so you can attach the stylus to the side.  This is very useful in not losing the tiny little aluminum stick.  Granted there are times when the clip can get in the way of some apps that demand to be in a certain rotation.

The Pogo Stylus comes in several different colors and is quite inexpensive for the control that you get with your device.  Personally though, I am not a big fan of it due to the potential of scratching up my screen protected screen although I have seen it function superbly in a non-screen protected environment.  Seeking an additional opinion, I turned over my review sample to another iPod Touch user, Evelyn Wong, which has this to say about the stylus:

This stylus works okay but it is soft so some effort in pressing is needed.  This stylus does not have a rubber tip but rather a spongy one, so it glides across the screen easily.  Depending on how hard you press, the spongy tip does get flat.

Well, there you have it folks, the Ten One Pogo Stylus, a helpful tool that works ok.  It gets the job done and is perfect for those upcoming cold days that will soon be upon us as well as for signature captures.

Vital Statistics:

Product: Pogo Stylus for iPhone 3G / 3GS and iPod Touch 3G
Manufacturer: Ten One Design
Available Colors: Black, Gun Metal, Hot Pink, Silver
Available From: Micro Center, Amazon.com, Ten One Design
Retail Price: $14.95 USD

Not all flash drives are created the same.  Sure, you may get capacity….but what about speed?  In our latest benchmarks in the JAMM labs we looked at Micro Center’s 8GB (Green) flash drives.  The results?  The newest models are an actual setback compared to the proceeding model.  Let’s look at 3 generations of Micro Center flash drives from oldest to newest:

Read and Write 312.0k
Read 22.7M
Write 320.0k

Read and Write 6.4M 
Read 16.2M
Write 10.6M

Read and Write 3.5M
Read 14.9M
Write 5.5M

As you can see, there was a major performance differences between all 3 generations.  The oldest had the fastest read speeds but the slowest write speeds.  The 2nd generation had the fastest write speeds.  As such, get you hands on the 2nd generation while they last!  Newer doesn’t mean better – and supplies are limited before the mid generation gets phased out.  Tests were conducted using HD Speed.

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day!  With the weather cooling off, it’s a better time than ever to go outdoors for some sunshine.  While you are enjoying the outdoors, how about grabbing some snapshots to record the good times?  Enter the new DXG-018 3D digital camera.  Yes, I did say 3D.  How in the world can something be 3D you may ask?  Simple, it has 2 lenses.  I remember the 3D View Master photo reels back when I was in grade school.  Surprisingly, 3D used to be a bigger buzz word – and then it just quietly slipped away…until recently.  Today, you’ll find 3D movies (without the need for blue and red filters), 3D TV, and now we finally have affordable 3D consumer point and shoot cameras!  DXG provided us with the DXG-018 camera.  This lightweight point and shoot camera is small and easy to use.  But how well does it perform?  Read on past the jump and find out!

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