If you’re looking for a great gift for the person always connected and always on the go, look no further than a Jockery Bar portable charging station for phones and tablets. The lightweight, easy to pack battery can hold three spare charges for the iPhone 5 (with the 5600mAH model) which can add an extra day or two of use while away from a wall or car charger.
Take a look at my unboxing and overview video below:
For $35, the Google Chromecast is a great Christmas gift. The Chromecast acts like a Roku player (or similar streaming media player) however it’s controlled by your smartphone or computer over WiFi. Once it’s set up you use apps on your phone or computer to stream content to your TV. However the Chromecast doesn’t pull data from your phone or device, it will connect to the content on it’s own and stream it from the source so you’re free to use your phone for whatever else once it starts streaming.
For example, you can launch the Netflix app on your phone and hit the Chromecast button to start up the Netflix app on the Chromecast. Once you select something to play it’ll begin loading on the Chromecast and you can close out the app on your phone. You can use the app on your phone to control the content by fast forwarding or pausing if you like.
Recently Google added a few more apps to make the Chromecast more versatile. Originally it could only stream from a handful of apps such as Netflix and Google Play. Now there are more options including HBO Go, Hulu Plus and Pandora (and several more that I’ve never used such as VEVO, RedBullTV and RealPlayer Cloud). The HBO Go and Pandora apps are my favorite additions. I’d like to see a Dish Anywhere app sometime in the future, but HBO will do for now.
You can view the video below for a look at the new apps and to see the Chromecast in action. For $35 it has a great, easy to use design and I love using it. Sure I have all of the same apps and more on my PS3, but the ease of controlling everything seamlessly through my phone is great. I can start something playing on Netflix while I search for something to watch on HBO and switch between the two in a matter of seconds. On the PS3 the time it takes to exit one app and enter another is painful.
Spotify has been one of my favorite music apps since it allows you to add specific songs or albums to playlists and play them at will, so long as you’re a subscriber for $10 a month. However, today Spotify has rolled out a new free service which allows you to play any album or playlist on shuffle for free. You can’t start with a specific song, but you can add specific songs to playlists and play it on shuffle. There will be ads of course, and Spotify occasionally throws in related songs that aren’t in your playlist to mix it up a bit, but it’s still a great service. I usually listen to albums on shuffle anyway, so it’s great to be able to do this without paying the monthly fee.
Thanks to the new free service today I discovered a new artist and album I’m really enjoying. I had never heard of Sevyn Streeter, but the album cover enticed me and I started listening. Her debut EP Call me Crazy came out last week and it’s certainly worth listening to. She has a sort of Katy Perry sound, if at times a little slower and more provocative. My favorite track is “Sex on the Ceiling”.
I was certain I was going to have a heart attack 4 times in the last two minutes of the game. There were 5 TD’s scored in the last 2:05 of the game! Just when I thought the Ravens were out of it Jacoby Jones ran back a 79 yard kick return for a TD, which was answered by a 79 Vikings passing TD… In the end Joe Flacco threw a TD pass with 4 seconds left on the clock and I could finally exhale.
The Ravens have a tough schedule ahead, I’m hoping they can finish off with another win or two to have a good chance at making the playoffs. In another close game the Patriots just went up 27-26 over the Browns with 31 seconds remaining. Today is an exciting day in the NFL, and the 49’ers – Seahawks game is sure to be another exhilarating game.
Friday marked the first decent snow here in the Boise area this winter, and it was well needed. The snowfall finally allowed Bogus Basin to partially open for the season. We’ll probably head up there once or twice over my Christmas break, so hopefully it gets a few more inches by then. Right now it has a base depth of 17″.
Over on the East Coast it’s snowing pretty heavily in Baltimore making for an interesting game between the Ravens and Vikings. Right now Baltimore leads 7-0 after a fumble recovery (that arguably should’ve been overturned, but we’ll take it) and some fancy footwork from Joe Flacco that allowed for a touchdown pass to Ed Dickson.
Right now Defiance is available on PS3 for $2.50 for PS+ subscribers, but I’m wondering if it’s even worth half the price of a Starbucks coffee. I mean if a game drops to $57.50 in its first year there must me something wrong. It has a score of 59 for PS3 via Metacritic which isn’t horrible, but I’ve heard many people say a lot of bad things about the game.
Would you recommend picking it up? I have $5 and change in PSN credit, and I’m debating whether to just drop it on Defiance or save it until something else comes along. What do you think I should do? I should note I’m not that into Sci-Fi and have no interest in the TV show.
You can find WiFi almost anywhere these days so I’ve never really felt the need to have a tethering plan to turn my iPhone 5 into a mobile hotspot. However, I figured since I was paying $30/month for the 3gb data plan an additional $20 to upgrade to 5gb and tethering seemed like a worthy upgrade. So far it’s working pretty well with an LTE connection. Browsing the web on my MacBook is quite quick and it’s easier to get things done on my Mac compared to my iPhone. Maybe it’s just the nerd in me that felt it was necessary to be able to create a mobile hotspot, however there have been many times where I’ve been somewhere without WiFi and I wished I could connect on a device other than my phone. It’ll also be nice to be able to provide web access for others. I never get close to 3gb on my iPhone, and I’m not often away from WiFi so I can’t imagine I’ll come close to the 5gb limit.
Do you have a tethering plan? Do you use it often enough for it to be worth it? Personally, I think all plans should include tethering, but I suppose the 5gb is better for occasional laptop use.
Warning, spoilers ahead!
Tonight was the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead (it returns in February :/) and it was one of the most thrilling episodes of the season. The Governor and his new recruits showed up at the prison fence heavily armed (and with a freaking tank!). A handful of people died, but I honestly expected it to be worse. It’s been awhile since I’ve read the comics, but I feel like the TV show has been taking it easy on people. Sure Hershel’s death was tragic, and baby Judith’s implied death was heart wrenching, but I kind of expected more main characters to die. I can’t quite remember who all dies at this point in the comics, but I thought I remembered the prison attack being worse than it was portrayed on the TV show. Maybe I’m wrong. Anyway, ultimately the Governor was killed once and for all (though maybe we’ll see zombie Governor? I suppose not, since he was presumably shot in the head). I wanted Rick to kill the governor, I feel like his death was a bit cheap. It’s going to be a long two months but I’m excited to see where the show goes next. Maybe I’ll catch up with the comic in the meantime.
The second episode of Getting On centered around an unruly patient who provided quite a few laughs. The shows comedic moments are great, however there’s a lot of dry dialogue between the laughs that tend to slow things down and cause my attention to start to drift. After the first two episodes I’m not sure if I’m going to keep following the show. Have you watched it? What do you think of the series so far?
I finished Beyond Two Souls earlier today and streamed most of the final part of the game on Twitch. I’m in the process of copying all of the videos over to YouTube but until then you can view the videos on my Twitch channel.
Here is the last hour of the game if you’re interested in viewing it:
http://www.twitch.tv/jdh5153/b/484334012
(there’s the Twitch stream on Youtube. I might eventually upload the actual capture file because it should be of better quality).
I enjoyed the conclusion of the game, but honestly the final third of the game is a little strange. It takes a strange turn, and at times it’s difficult to understand what any particular chapter has to do with any other (especially the chapter with the Native American family in the middle of the game). Anyway, I’m going to end up trading Beyond Two Souls in toward Gran Turismo 6.
Gumballs Plays Games 