Amazon Echo: A very quick review, thoughts

I'm an early adopter of tech and in turn have been interested and purchasing various home automation related devices.  I currently have Philips Hue bulbs throughout the man-cave and also a few Wemo devices and of course am an Amazon Prime member.

I pre-ordered and bought my Amazon Echo in the first wave of invites/orders.  From the get go I was going into my purchase with my early adopter expectations put in place (ie over priced while under delivering but are mandatory for the product sect to grow).  The initial features included only weather updates, news updates, limited music streaming from pandora and iheartradio and basic knowledge retrieval (ie what is 2 plus 2, how many ounces in a pound, etc).  No contact or calendar integrations or home automation controlling either.

Apple OS X Yosemite and Changing Airdrop save location via Automator

So I've been a Mac desktop user now for about 4 years and at times love my Mac and at times hate my Mac.  At work I am a very heavy Windows user and power user. I do desktop administrator at my place of work and know how to customize/tweak the Windows OS to an extreme level.

Lately I've moved over to using an iPhone6 Plus as my main daily driver phone and am trying to use the native cross-functionality of iOS and OS X Yosemite.  A nice feature that I hadn't used up until getting my iPhone 6 was Airdrop.  However now that I see the power and convenience in using it, I have ran into a few annoyances.  The main one being the inability to set the default save location for files that are AirDropped to your Mac.   By default, these files will save to your System Drive > Users > Downloads folder.  There are no ways to change this folder in the OS like you can in Safari.

Long Term: 1.5 years with my first MINI Cooper S Coupe

I apologize for not finishing my previous one year review of my custom 2013 MINI Cooper S Coupe.  However after going on a quick drive to the coffee shop this Sunday afternoon, I realized it has been almost one and half years since I first received delivery of my 2013 Coupe (R58).  Let's recap that first year and half and all the fun I've had with and in my MINI Cooper S Coupe Bonnie.

 

 

2013 MINI Cooper S Coupe One Year Review: A year of smiles (Part 1 of 2)

Most of you know me as a tech/computer geek.  I've seen a lot and done a lot of hacking/modding/building in my last 15 years.  However most would not know deep down inside, I'm a car junkie too.  Since my early ages, I've lusted over supercars such as the good ole Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari F40 (OMG!!!!), Lamborghini Diablo, Corvette ZR1 and McLarens. I loved watching the Dukes of Hazzard and Knight Rider.  I'm now 34 years old and have come to the realization that I probably won't own a supercar.  That's okay, I've accepted it as an adult.  Ok, sorry for the long winded intro to the intro, but keep reading for my long term, one year review and recap on the 2013 MINI Cooper S Coupe.

Me and Google Glass: Part 2 of 2

Previously in part 1 of 2, I briefly described my initial experience with Google Glass.  Today's post will bring out the critic in this geek and go over some of the realistic shortcomings of Glass and future challenges and my overall opinion Glass.  There won't be any pretty pictures in this one but just this geek's opinions.  Content is king, right?  :)

Me and Google Glass - Part 1 of 2

Yes, I am a Google Glass Explorer.  No, I am not a Glasshole.  I was invited into the Explorer program in the second wave of invites that Google sent out back on November 26, 2013.  Prior to being invited, I had been been lusting over wearable pc/technology and more specifically Glass type of HUD overlays.  I plan to recap my last few months of using Glass and thoughts on it.

Geek Delights: Google Glass in the house

Google just recently unleashed it's second wave of Explorer beta invites for Glass out into the wild and this lucky geek finally got the gold ticket, minus the $1500 to be 'invited'.  Let's take a quick look at my new geek toy.

PS4: It's here!

Well, my pre-ordered PS4 came in on Friday! So far am loving the updated UI and also the ability to share games!  Here's some quick pics of my PS4 and a shared video of my NFS Rivals session. :)

Car thoughts: transmissions and the harcores

I admit it; deep down inside of this computer geek is a motor head.  I love cars and have since I was a kid.  I learned to drive around age 11 since I lived on a farm.  It was an old green 1977 Chevy pickup truck with a 4speed manual and  a very bad clutch.  So basically I started driving on a manual transmission and also drove tractors and other utility type vehicles which of course were all manual transmissions.

Fast forward to today and oddly enough the car I own is not a manual transmission but a 'lowly' automatic transmission.  BLASPHEMY cries abound from all of the 'hardcore' mini cooper motorers; however I disagree.   Let's take a look at why I think the auto vs manual transmission argument is a totally different ballgame as of the last 2 years.

Back to Android... Sony Xperia Z1 and Smartwatch 2 (imported)

After going nearly a full year without a phone upgrade (did a temp upgrade to the Galaxy S4 but then returned it), I have been itching to get back into the Android world again.  Lately I've been using my iPhone 4S running iOS 7 and have been getting a bit bored with it.  However yesterday my new imported Xperia Z1 and Sony Smartwatch 2 arrived from the UK and after using it for a day I already have some notes and comparisons to other smartwatches I've used.

My GoPro-ish Mini Cooper Coupe video :)

Just a fun and quick video I made of my 2013 Mini Cooper S Coupe using GoPro's Studio application and templates.  Pretty fun and easy!

Bonnie - My 2013 Mini Cooper S Coupe and post 4K miles recap

Back in February 2013, I decided to start looking for a new car.  My 2006 Civic Si was fully paid off and still worth nearly $10-13K.  She was a great and fun car but I wanted to up the torque game and was looking to get a car that was heavy in technology and features (auto lights, wipers, adaptive headlights, bt connectivity, usb media player/iphone connectivity).  After looking after some crossover suv type vehicles and some hot hatches/coupes (VW GTI, BRZ, BMW i3), I then saw the Mini Cooper Coupe.  I'm not much of a hatchback design fan but more of a 2door coupe look.  Thus begins my Mini Cooper journey.  Keep reading for the full post and videos.

LeapMotion, Chromecast and Gaming Thoughts (podcast)

This weeks podcast will focus on Leap Motion's new input device, Google's release of Chromecast and of course the usual gaming industry thoughts along w/some of my personal thoughts on wearable pc technology.

I've included my Youtube demo video of the Leapmotion controller in action using BetterTouchTool for some gestures on my mac mini under my podcast (embedded below)

Post E3, XBOXOne-Eighty, PS4, iOS 7, ReadySet (Podcast)

Today's podcast will chat about Microsoft's post E3 reversal of policy on DRM and checkins, the PS4 and how it can win this console war and some random mobile babble regarding iOS7 and Android and finally props to Fenix Intl and their ReadySet Solar Charging Kit.

Enjoy!

Gaming: the eve of change? pre-e3 2013 thoughts (podcast)

Tomorrow begins gaming's biggest event of the year, the E3 2013 expo. This year marks the begining of the next gen again. In 2006 it was the overly priced PS3 vs the XBOX 360 vs the blue ocean killer Wii; this time it seems to be more of a 2 console race even more. However the next gen of gaming may have large implications to us gamers as consumers and our rights on our games.

Today's podcast is a longtime gamers thoughts on the next gen systems and also a warning to the console makers and publishers.

Bottom line: there is no you without us.

PS. Btw, this is my first ever podcast type post so I apologize if its a bit awkward.