tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54635467349433620442024-03-12T23:22:31.517-04:00All stuff NerdyNerdy topics found here.Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.comBlogger137125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-9496695719998446632015-05-26T14:48:00.003-04:002015-05-26T14:55:22.721-04:00And we're back!Sorry about that <i>long</i> break, AllStuffNerdy is back and will resume posting on a daily basis starting June 1st, 2015.<br />
<br />
Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:<br />
Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a><br />
Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a><br />
Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a><br />
If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:<br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky
apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve
shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our
store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a> Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-12430115437734588572014-10-02T20:33:00.000-04:002014-10-02T20:51:19.178-04:00Windows 10 - Codename "Disappointment"Just last Tuesday, Microsoft had a press-only meeting where they showed off the desktop version of the coming Windows. Strangely, they called it Windows 10. What about Windows 9? The speaker said that the changes they were introducing were so revolutionary, they felt the need to reset the counter (kind of like Apple with OS X). When they said that I started to panic. Last time someone from Microsoft said that on stage, we got hit with Windows 8. And that didn't have a happy ending no matter how you put it. From what I saw at the confrence, the concept of "the same Windows everywhere" seemed promising. If Microsoft executes this correctly desktops, laptops, tablets, Xbox Ones, and Windows Phones will all be running the same Windows platform to create a universal app API (so now can we play Xbox games on PC?)<br />
<br />
Now just yesterday they released a Technical Preview of Windows 10. If Microsoft had codenamed one of their operating systems "Disappointment", it would be this. I encountered my first disappointment during install. It absolutely refused to upgrade on my main desktop from Windows 8.1 Industry Pro. I did, however, manage to get it working on my laptop as an upgrade from Windows 8.1 Industry Pro. After setting it all up like a new PC, I was presented with the desktop. I clicked Start. I messed around with the Task View (more on that later). And that was it. Really Microsoft? When you say your next operating system is going to be revolutionary, I better be absolutely blown away. The Start menu was condensed to look like the Windows 7 start menu but with live tiles. Task view allows you to have multiple desktops so that you can quickly switch between screens of programs. The only other differences were modern (formerly metro) apps are now windowed and you can do a universal search from the Start menu or the task bar. On a more positive note, I did notice a HUGE performance increase. In Windows 8.1 and 10, the OS automatically runs maintenance tasks while your computer is inactive. In Windows 8.1, it would have a tendancy to take about 5 or so minutes to stop doing maintenance when I started using my computer. During this time, apps would crash, my mouse would freeze, and even the Start screen was sluggish to load. Now in Windows 10, maintenance stops immediately when I move the mouse. And even without that issue, I saw apps opening and running faster. Unfortunately, a lot of apps seemed to freeze or crash once I started using Task View. I don't blame Microsoft for this as this is a new feature and developers will need some time to help modify their app accordingly.<br />
<br />
I am going to say I am completely disappointed. I may have been expecting too much, but that's Microsoft's fault. If you really wanted to blow me away, here's what I want:<br />
<ul>
<li>Cortana (Personal Assistant, similar to Siri on iOS)</li>
<li>Let me control my computer with the Kinect (make use of those big metro tiles) </li>
<li>Pull down notification center (like on WP 8.1)</li>
<li>Better multi-monitor support (Windows 8.1 doesn't play very nicely with multiple monitors)</li>
<li>Trackpad gestures</li>
<li>Add hotkey for Task View (unless I'm missing something)</li>
<li>Swipe keyboard for touch enabled devices</li>
<li>Syncronizing of WiFi passwords across platforms</li>
<li>Call and Text notification forwarding (similar to the feature in OS X Yosmite where you can answer a call on your iMac)</li>
<li>Performance increase (use less memory)</li>
<li>Make OneDrive sync EVERYTHING in my home directory (not just the OneDrive folder)</li>
<li>Swap out Miracast support for a more common standard (UPnP? DNLA?) </li>
<li>Allow streaming from Xbox to PC</li>
<li>Make use of Windows Azure to make more settings available to be synced across all my devices</li>
<li>App sharing for families (similar to Family Sharing in the Steam game client)</li>
<li>Battery saver app (disable cores, lower screen brightness, spin down hard drive, I don't care. Just give me my 8 hours of battery life back. 4 hours is unacceptable)</li>
<li>Bring back the WEI (Windows experience index)</li>
<li>When I download an app, if I own multiple devices logged in under the same account, let me choose to also have the app automatically download on any devices I select.</li>
<li>Let me scale live tile app tiles 4x the large size so I can actually read what the live data says</li>
<li>If I double click on a live tile (or something else), open the app straight to whatever it was showing in the live tile data. For example, if the twitter app shows an update from someone, I should be able to open the twitter app and immediately see that post. I understand that this is more of an app developer thing, but Microsoft should really add it to their modern app API </li>
</ul>
Windows 10 was a disappointment. I will say that I am looking forward to the universal app idea. However, last time Microsoft tried this, they left it up to the app developers to integrate their code into one package. With Windows 10, apps should automatically scale accordingly to the screen size. Overall I have high expectations for when the entire Windows 10 package is released sometime in April of 2015. But until then, I will be sticking with a more stable Windows 8.1.<br />
<br />
So let us know in the comments, what do you want to see in Windows 10? Did you download the Technical Preview? What did you think? Leave your response in the comments below.<br />
<br />
Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:<br />
Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a><br />
Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a><br />
Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a><br />
If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:<br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky
apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve
shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our
store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a> Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-46663562650836278912014-08-05T15:04:00.001-04:002014-08-05T15:04:17.704-04:00New Windows Phone 8.1 Update - texting and folders<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbIn7rz-OoW0hqQh6mAkVosqoaq4WLfMgL_mzibn4GanwjKQQUIIGQkR_ijYr3M-2Yb1En-436bmiFMjOthGb8pVnrfaNBER2TQE-yM7ZgR6GxyJ5BTv7IUtQdVS-XbxIM7pZ1IrVaFAs/s1600/updating.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbIn7rz-OoW0hqQh6mAkVosqoaq4WLfMgL_mzibn4GanwjKQQUIIGQkR_ijYr3M-2Yb1En-436bmiFMjOthGb8pVnrfaNBER2TQE-yM7ZgR6GxyJ5BTv7IUtQdVS-XbxIM7pZ1IrVaFAs/s1600/updating.png" height="252" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The update screen for Windows Phone 8.1</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Today, Microsoft released a preview version of it's mobile operating system Windows Phone 8.1. There wasn't any massive GUI overhaul or major bug patches, but it's an update almost every Windows Phone user has been waiting for.<br />
<br />
If you have never heard of Windows Phone before, let me be the first to say you are missing out. For an in-depth review and comparison against Android and iOS, read this first -> <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/06/tech-wars-mobile-os-edition.html" target="_blank">http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/06/tech-wars-mobile-os-edition.html</a>. <br />
<br />
Here's what's inside the update:<br />
<br />
<br />
App folders:<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL9wABQG7CL_0aD1rS-yG7IkE33uDNYnjG21wS7rEB4bduES0EUX5nEr7kcLl1ybw3qjeMHzO130rf5wFK49XdKNlKzexMy4CVkVpOAOuv5LYovVx5QzXy8K8BSxIU_lrzsAH59xshErU/s1600/foldersclosed.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL9wABQG7CL_0aD1rS-yG7IkE33uDNYnjG21wS7rEB4bduES0EUX5nEr7kcLl1ybw3qjeMHzO130rf5wFK49XdKNlKzexMy4CVkVpOAOuv5LYovVx5QzXy8K8BSxIU_lrzsAH59xshErU/s1600/foldersclosed.png" height="129" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHAAtksae3bpIJXIV6aTLeEZVHsOY-gR7-wRVzXqHs24s2S0975kOUARt49UEPZwea9iAiwayQYNIE860vhCGPttnkdTgqillAr8LhZwQHpuYWmUhX8Cc0PoIH711sNBz4wRXmWNsSSqY/s1600/foldersopen.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHAAtksae3bpIJXIV6aTLeEZVHsOY-gR7-wRVzXqHs24s2S0975kOUARt49UEPZwea9iAiwayQYNIE860vhCGPttnkdTgqillAr8LhZwQHpuYWmUhX8Cc0PoIH711sNBz4wRXmWNsSSqY/s1600/foldersopen.png" height="238" width="320" /></a>This is something almost every Windows Phone user has been asking for. Microsoft did a similar thing in Windows 8.1 with "App groups", but no one cared because they were all complaining about the metro interface as a whole. As you can see from the screenshots below, It's a nice addition that will help reduce clutter on your home screen. It works the same way as on iOS, just drag an app tile on top of another and it becomes a folder. And you can resize the folder just like with app tiles. the supported sizes are small, medium, and wide.<br />
<br />
Multi-message forwarding:<br />
I'm not quite sure if this is something I would ask for in a phone operating system, but I have come across a few experiences where this would be handy. For example, I was once asked to forward about 36 pictures in a text to someone else. Unfortunately, because of the high quality of my camera and the size limit of MMS messages, I could only send about 4 images in one message. So I ended up sending 10 messages (9 with the pictures, one to confirm they had received it. The whole process took about 5 minutes. Later that day, someone else asked me to do the same thing, so there goes another 5 minutes. With this update, all you have to do is select all the messages within a thread you would like to send, and hit forward. Dead simple.<br />
<br />
App corner:<br />
Basically, it's the same thing as kid's corner. There are few differences though. The first being you have to either launch it through settings, or pin it to your start. The other thing is it's not as restrictive as kid's corner. Internet and search options are available. You can turn any combination of them on and off. Microsoft says it's for "when other people use your phone". Right...like I would ever trust someone else to do whatever they want on my phone.<br />
<br />
Other stuff:<br />
I'm sure Microsoft fixed some bugs here, some memory leaks there, and lowered it's resource use. But on my Windows Phone, I noticed no difference. Props to the developers though, it's still a great mobile phone operating system.Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-22731430011868180722014-07-18T10:47:00.004-04:002014-07-23T15:04:24.927-04:00iCarryAlls iPad Cases<div class="MsoNormal">
On April 3<sup>rd</sup> 2010, Apple released one of the most
revolutionary pieces of technology of our time, the iPad. This device would
forever change businesses, schools, and everyday individuals. Unfortunately,
the iPad had a small issue, it was prone to breaking from drops and bumps. This
was solved with the massive amounts of cases and covers that hit the market
shortly after its release. A company named iCarryAlls has taken the concept of
an iPad case to the next level with its line of innovative leather cases.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://icarryalls.com/assets/images/ipad_padfolio_with_keyboard_dav_5955p.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://icarryalls.com/assets/images/ipad_padfolio_with_keyboard_dav_5955p.jpg" height="274" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">iPad Zippered Leather Padfolio With Bluetooth Keyboard<br />
and Angle Viewing - Part number 312</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Their line of next generation iPad cases have a slot for
your iPad with a kickstand along with several pockets and space for a notepad.
Right now they offer cases that fit the iPad Air and the iPad 1/2/3/4
generations. They also have a separate line of cases that fit the iPad Mini. Some
of the higher-end ones even have space for a Bluetooth keyboard (included with
the case). For the notepad space, the cases support Legal, A4, Letter, and
Paper Pad. They also allow you to pick from a variety of colors. If you’re
left-handed, no problem. They offer an option for that too. And for added
personalization, they allow you to engrave your name or your business name on
the front of the case. And the best part about all of it is it’s much more
affordable than other business-oriented iPad cases out there. Most of them sell
for just under $150 (USD). If you still can’t find what you want, they offer a
service where you can submit a custom design and they will make it for you. All
you have to do is fill out a description of the design, upload a photo or two
(optional), and send it off and they will get in contact with you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you don’t own an iPad, no need to worry, they also have a
great selection of cases for the Microsoft Surface and a wide range of Android
tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy and the Nexus. They also have cases that are
designed for the Kindle Fire. If you don’t own a tablet at all, they also have
laptop cases for MacBooks, ChromeBooks, and a range of Lenovo laptops.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you want to purchase a case from iCarryAlls, you can check
out their website at <a href="http://www.icarryalls.com/">http://www.icarryalls.com/</a>.
Or you can check out their products at Amazon along with customer reviews from
customers at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_review-rank?keywords=xiaozhi&qid=1405474427&rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A541966%2Ck%3Axiaozhi%2Cp_89%3AXIAOZHI&sort=review-rank">http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_review-rank?keywords=xiaozhi&qid=1405474427&rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A541966%2Ck%3Axiaozhi%2Cp_89%3AXIAOZHI&sort=review-rank</a>. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
So let us know in the comments, do you own an iPad? Will you be buying an iCarryAlls iPad case? Let us know in the comments below.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a></div>
Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-6376082441718558562014-06-20T13:00:00.000-04:002014-06-20T13:00:02.228-04:00Club Internet - Making the World Wide Web a bit widerSince the dawn of the human race, humans have always been trying to find faster and more efficient ways to do things. We now live in the age of the internet where we can order pizza with just a few clicks, send a message to a friend knowing they received it the second you sent it, or even work from home with the power of the internet. Most tech savvy countries such as the US and most of Europe have steady internet connections but still, lots of people (particularly the elderly) don’t use the internet at all. Also, surprisingly people even below poverty line in 3rd world countries can afford mobile internet (EDGE or GPRS at least) and initiatives like Google’s Project Loon and Facebook’s Internet.org are planning to make internet available to everyone everywhere. But the question is, how to teach these people to use the internet? Club Internet aims to answer that by creating a simple app that teaches people of any language in any country how to use the internet. The app is loaded with tutorials that teach people using hands-on teaching techniques so that the concepts stick. It teaches users how to use lots of popular websites such as Facebook, Wikipedia, Skype, Yahoo, and of course Google. The tutorials are written for people who have never used the internet before. It offers tutorials in small bits so people don’t get bored with it. This company aims to help connect the 4.3 billion unconnected people to the internet and become avid users. Right now the company is a small start-up relying on angel investors and contracts from larger tech companies. They are also looking at making deals with OEMs to get this kind of app pre-installed (which would be quite useful). Now while this will help at connecting people in third-world countries, it can also be used to help teach people here in the US and Europe. Imagine someone in a retirement home getting this app. They learn how to use Skype and can chat with their children/grandchildren who live too far away to visit. This app has lots of potential and there are lots of plans to expand it in the near future. The company has 3 founders, Hassan Baig (Duke Alumni and ex-KPMG), Sophia Pervez (ex-IBM) and Fahad Rao (ex- Convo). You can check out their beta website at <a href="http://www.clubinternet.co/">http://www.clubinternet.co/</a>.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-20927516219005850752014-06-19T13:00:00.000-04:002014-06-19T15:35:05.828-04:00Tech Wars-Mobile OS Edition<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixd4gXf_wfzp_TZ03YZOeQgsiDEG-mUxRD57TW_yrRdbIXmuJAQ_CeSM7fjyqdcSS4hR0I76q5jZ6kOLJty1PFkdc35hh-YHXAsH5bJ2Zu6ULz_jW2vq1VmIY2P9IfwF5SFutJkkWmYoo/s1600/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixd4gXf_wfzp_TZ03YZOeQgsiDEG-mUxRD57TW_yrRdbIXmuJAQ_CeSM7fjyqdcSS4hR0I76q5jZ6kOLJty1PFkdc35hh-YHXAsH5bJ2Zu6ULz_jW2vq1VmIY2P9IfwF5SFutJkkWmYoo/s1600/Untitled.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copyright 2014 Joshua Zenn. All logos within are property of their respective owner(s)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
iOS vs Android. Their makers seem locked in an infinite battle. And now Microsoft has (re)entered the mobile arena with Windows Phone 8.1. It's time to put these mobile operating systems to the test. Now before we begin we have to explain that we are only using CONSUMER editions of the operating systems. That means that WP 8.1 Developer and iOS 8 are excluded.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table border="2" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th></th>
<th>iOS 7.1</th>
<th>Android 4.4</th>
<th>Windows Phone 8.1</th>
<th>Winner</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>First released</th>
<th>June 29, 2007</th>
<th>October 2003</th>
<th>2004</th>
<th>Android 4.4</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Fanbase</th>
<th>410 million (2012</th>
<th>900 million (2013)</th>
<th>Unknown (less than 5% of market share)</th>
<th>Android 4.4</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Apps in app store</th>
<th>more than 1 million</th>
<th>950,000</th>
<th>120,000</th>
<th>iOS 7.1</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Kernel/code roots</th>
<th>Darwin/Unix</th>
<th>Linux</th>
<th>Windows Kernel</th>
<th>NA</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Device support</th>
<th>Apple branded hardware</th>
<th>Most ARM based phones with at least 512 MB RAM</th>
<th>Microsoft branded hardware (mostly Nokia and Samsung at the moment)</th>
<th>Android 4.4</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Screen sharing support</th>
<th>Airplay</th>
<th>Chromecast</th>
<th>USB or Miracast</th>
<th>WP 8.1</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Voice Assistant</th>
<th>Siri</th>
<th>Google Now</th>
<th>Cortana</th>
<th>WP 8.1</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Developer program</th>
<th>$200 USD a year plus you must own a Mac</th>
<th>one-time $25 USD fee plus any computer that will run Java</th>
<th>$90 yearly fee plus any PC running Visual Studio 2013</th>
<th>Android 4.4</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Enterprise device management</th>
<th>Yes, certificates</th>
<th>Unknown</th>
<th>Yes, Microsoft Exchange</th>
<th>Tie, iOS and WP</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Emulators</th>
<th>Yes, only on Macs with the Developer Program</th>
<th>Yes, with devkit. And boot a fully functional version with the x86 project</th>
<th>Yes, included with devkit</th>
<th>Android 4.4</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Developer previews</th>
<th>Yes, requires full DevCenter subscription</th>
<th>Yes, but only on supported devices</th>
<th>Yes, using app with free AppStudio account</th>
<th>WP 8.1</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Built-in browser</th>
<th>Safari</th>
<th>Chrome</th>
<th>Internet Explorer</th>
<th>Three way tie, category eliminated</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Unlock methods</th>
<th>Jailbreak</th>
<th>Root</th>
<th>None</th>
<th>iOS 7.1</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>"silent" mode</th>
<th>Do Not Disturb</th>
<th>Unknown</th>
<th>Quiet Hours</th>
<th>WP 8.1</th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
<table border="2" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Winners</th>
<th>Average user</th>
<th>Developer</th>
<th>Buisness user</th>
<th>Overall Winner</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th></th>
<th>Windows Phone 8.1</th>
<th>Android 4.4</th>
<th>Windows Phone 8.1</th>
<th>Tie, Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4</th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
So for this episode of Tech Wars, we divided up the results a little bit differently. Now can break down each section to show how we selected a winner.<br />
<br />
Average user:<br />
Windows Phone just barely won this catagory with it's amazing "Quiet Hours" mode that supports geofencing, calender events, and manual triggers. It also has the most flexible screen-sharing function and it has one of the best voice assistants. We chose Cortana as the best voice assistant because Cortana can intelligently display more information than Siri and Cortana is also very expandable through the Windows Phone API.<br />
<br />
Developer:<br />
Android took this catagory by storm by having an extremely cheap developer program and a universal devkit that works on just about any computer that is capable of running and compiling Java. It also has a decent emulator and there is an unofficial port to the x86 (32-bit) PC platform.<br />
<br />
Business user:<br />
As discussed above, Quiet Hours is an amazing feature of Windows Phone 8.1. And a "silent mode" is a must for any business professional. Windows Phone also has Cortana and offers the best support with enterprise profiles by integrating with your business's already-existing Microsoft Exchange services. And it also offers a nice screen-sharing feature so you can give presentations using the included Microsoft Office app.<br />
<br />
Overall Winner:<br />
Windows Phone 8.1 is great and all, but Android has an iron grip in the market share holding 900 million device registrations. Plus Android has lots of apps already in it's app store. But Windows Phone 8.1 is feature rich in almost every other category. So this Tech Wars ends in a tie.<br />
<br />
So let us know in the comments, do you agree with our pick? Would you have picked something else? Do you think we left out a worthy competitor? Let us know in the comments. And stay tuned every Tuesday and Thursday for more Tech Wars.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
<br />
Sources:<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_iOS">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_iOS</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Phone">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Phone</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-71336165242867365512014-06-18T13:00:00.000-04:002014-06-18T13:00:03.839-04:00Google All Access - Overview<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXCbwV1Z8JME8RE0loMTngMDVDEI7ymfBNv4TRRDUtp84KoPaE1g4r3TOw2NWPeehifCLM5DPPqUhoQDmpd0G6Li_2TFe2k_L7zTuQqPyDjAJsphyphenhyphenMtq1L3dov9GBrzi_b0GpjElmmeE/s1600/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXCbwV1Z8JME8RE0loMTngMDVDEI7ymfBNv4TRRDUtp84KoPaE1g4r3TOw2NWPeehifCLM5DPPqUhoQDmpd0G6Li_2TFe2k_L7zTuQqPyDjAJsphyphenhyphenMtq1L3dov9GBrzi_b0GpjElmmeE/s1600/Untitled.jpg" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://play.google.com/">http://play.google.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Hello blog readers! This service was brought to our attention in the comments of one of our Tech Wars articles. All of the writers here at AllStuffNerdy were quite suprised. None of us had ever heard of this service. So now it's our hope that you will go out and try out Google All Access too.<br />
<br />
Google All Access was launched around 2013 by none other than Google as part of its massive Google Play store. It's a subscription based service running at $9.99 after a 30 day free trial. The library includes a large selection of songs including the more obscure bands on the market. As for right now, it only works on Android and in-browser. Supposedly there is an iOS app being created but no other sources have confirmed this. Google All Access streams high quality audio at 320 Kb/s. However Google All Access will by default select the quality based on your internet connection. So you will have to manually set it if you want to lock in the quality. In our experience, we loved it. At least during the free trial. Compared to Grooveshark (the winner of our last Tech Wars), the only reason I would still use Grooveshark is because it's free.<br />
<br />
So let us know in the comments, are you going to try out Google All Access? Or are you going to stick with another service? let us know in the comments. And remember you get a free 30 day trial if you sign up here: <a href="https://play.google.com/about/music/allaccess/#/">https://play.google.com/about/music/allaccess/#/</a><br />
<br />
Sources:<br />
<a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/google_play_music_all_access_vs_spotify_2014">http://www.maximumpc.com/google_play_music_all_access_vs_spotify_2014</a><br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-83411126502858821832014-06-17T13:00:00.000-04:002014-06-17T13:00:02.880-04:00Tech Wars - Blogger vs Wordpress<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBPJq3oXoDL2gNuLvsiyYcYGPd3FX-q728ZyMIBSNI2bVTMZMj1t4X0MqUaOwZaWx90FeFuKkEKXjgRujgJE3yD57kg4kzkzm5kM01y31pyH0bMsnWfs-WcdsoD4-XnFTw0Riry-xWZ0/s1600/BvWP.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBPJq3oXoDL2gNuLvsiyYcYGPd3FX-q728ZyMIBSNI2bVTMZMj1t4X0MqUaOwZaWx90FeFuKkEKXjgRujgJE3yD57kg4kzkzm5kM01y31pyH0bMsnWfs-WcdsoD4-XnFTw0Riry-xWZ0/s1600/BvWP.png" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copyright 2014 Joshua Zenn. All trademarks in the image<br />
are property of their respective owners.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Welcome to Tech Wars! Every Tuesday and Thursday we take two or more tech services/products and put them side-by-side to see which one prevails. Follow us on Twitter (@allstuffnerdy) to get updates when a new Tech War comes out. To see more Tech Wars articles, click the "Tech Wars" link at the top of the page.</insert><br />
<insert content="" here=""><br /></insert>
<insert content="" here="">Blogging has revolutionized the information sharing age. Now anyone with experience as a writer has a chance to be heard. No need to mess with nasty code or deal with domain registration and server upkeep. But many people seem stuck on which platform to use. We narrowed down the playing field to the top two in the industry. Let's begin by stacking up the stats.</insert><br />
<insert content="" here=""><br /></insert>
<insert content="" here=""><br /></insert>
<insert content="" here=""><br /></insert>
<br />
<table border="2" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th></th>
<th>Blogger</th>
<th>Wordpress</th>
<th>Winner</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Price</th>
<th>Free</th>
<th>Free (requires external host)</th>
<th>Blogger</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Created</th>
<th>1999</th>
<th>2003</th>
<th>Blogger</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Owned by</th>
<th>Google</th>
<th>Wordpress</th>
<th>Not scored</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Websites that use it</th>
<th>Unknown</th>
<th>60 million</th>
<th>Wordpress</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Main programming language</th>
<th>AJAX, HTML5, CSS3</th>
<th>PHP</th>
<th>not scored</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Main features</th>
<th>Dead simple design and customization</th>
<th>Expandable through plugins</th>
<th>Wordpress</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Limitations</th>
<th>Must be hosted on blogger server with a *.blogspot.com domain. Limited customization.</th>
<th>Must have own hosting service. Difficult setup for newbies.</th>
<th>Tie</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Allows posting media (pictures, video,...)</th>
<th>Yes</th>
<th>Yes</th>
<th>Tie</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Search engine friendly</th>
<th>Yes (duh, it's run by Google)</th>
<th>Yes</th>
<th>Blogger</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Allows editing source code</th>
<th>Yes (it's well hidden in the template settings)</th>
<th>Yes, once you learn the file structure</th>
<th>Wordpress</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Allows use of custom domains</th>
<th>Yes</th>
<th>Yes</th>
<th>Tie</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Hosting</th>
<th>Google servers only (as of 2010)</th>
<th>any hosting service or free hosting on wordpress.org (with limited functionality)</th>
<th>Wordpress</th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<insert content="" here=""><br /></insert>
Conclusion: Wordpress is the winner.<br />
Despite being somewhat difficult to set up, it is the most feature rich and has the largest website share. We didn't have any data showing the share Blogger had on the internet, but we did have sources that indicated that Wordpress was the #1 most used blogging platform. The only thing Wordpress is missing is it's not search friendly. Blogger sites all use the *.blogspot.com URL template. Therefore, according to Google, blogspot.com gets one Alexia score in the search engine. and since the blogspot.com "website" has so many backlinks and content (not to mention it's run by Google), it does get a higher ranking in Google and other search engines compared to its Wordpress counterpart. So with that, Wordpress dominates the Blogshere, making it a winner for today's Tech Wars.<br />
<insert content="" here=""><br /></insert>
So let us know in the comments, do you agree with our pick? Would you have picked something else? Do you think we left out a worthy competitor? Let us know in the comments. And stay tuned every Tuesday and Thursday for more Tech Wars.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-37361313000244425622014-06-16T13:00:00.000-04:002014-06-16T13:00:03.128-04:00Top alternatives to PowerPointPowerPoints are overused. Schools force their students to use it when presenting any kind of material. And then those habits transfer over into the workforce. PowerPoints used to show how serious the presenter was by putting forth the effort to create an awesome looking visual to go along with his/her presentation. Now we live in a time where even children in elementary school can assemble a PowerPoint with little to no effort. And the other issue is PowerPoints are very lacking in visual effects. You might as well just write on a whiteboard. Here are our picks for a better presentation platform:<br />
<br />
1. Prezi<br />
Despite being cloud based, making all of your presentations public, and giving you limited cloud storage, Prezi is our top pick. Prezi allows editing slides just like you would edit a normal PowerPoint. But it includes powerful visual effects that can capture your audience's attention. It also includes the ability to embed videos, pictures, and sound. And it also supports multi-user editing in real time. It also has a feature similar to PowerPoint where you can share a link and others can watch your presentation on their devices in real time as well. You can check it out at <a href="http://prezi.com/">prezi.com</a><br />
<br />
2. Powtoon<br />
If you are a fan of putting animations and lots of graphics on your presentations, Powtoon is for you. Powtoon includes a bunch of animations of cartoon-like characters that can make for a fun and attention-grabbing presentation. You can check it out at <a href="http://powtoon.com/">powtoon.com</a><br />
<br />
3. Apple Slides<br />
In all seriousness, we just ran out of ideas. But if you want to change things up for once, take a swing at Apple Slides. users with a free Apple ID can access it online from <a href="http://icloud.com/">iCloud.com</a>. If you own an Apple mobile device (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch...) you can also access your presentations from the cloud (assuming you own the $15 USD app). You can check it out at <a href="http://icloud.com/">icloud.com</a><br />
<br />
4. Google Docs<br />
Besides being almost the exact same thing as PowerPoint and Apple Slides, it does support cloud saves along with real-time collaboration. you can check it out at <a href="http://drive.google.com/">drive.google.com</a><br />
<br />
So what presentation software are you going to use for your next big presentation? Let us know in the comments below.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-7433047971606218362014-06-15T13:00:00.000-04:002014-06-15T13:00:01.164-04:00Top Five Things To Do With Remote Control SoftwareWe all have our reasons to remote control our computers. Here's our top five list:<br />
<div>
1. Remote IT support.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It happens. Someone calls you asking you to "fix the Windows" again. And trying to tell an inexperienced person how to open the Control Panel over the phone can be really difficult. Remote control software can get everything done in about 30 seconds.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2. Emergency file access</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You're at work about to give a big presentation. Then the whole NAS network goes down. Great, there goes your PowerPoint file. But then you remember you had a copy on your computer at home. All you have to is fire up a portable version of your remote control software, connect to your computer, open up a web browser, and just email it to yourself. Problem solved.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
3. Web filter bypass</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is an easy one. If you need to access a blocked website (we all have our reasons), just remote control your computer. Then open up a web browser on the client and you have unrestricted web access (and unmonitored in most situations). If you do this a lot, I recommend taking a look at <a href="http://bitflush.com/">bitflush.com</a>. For more information about BitFlush, read here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/02/bitflush-do-everything-online-securely.html">http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/02/bitflush-do-everything-online-securely.html</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
4. Multitasking</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For this one you will need more than two computers. If you have a bunch of older single core computers (like me), then just fire up RC software on all of them. Then on one computer you can alt-tab between the connections to all of the computers. Giving you a "multi core" computer.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
5. Pranks</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We've probably all done this at some point in one way or another. Of course you can stick a wireless mouse adapter in the back of a co-workers computer and make a run for it. But RC software makes it easy to do it from a safe distance.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So let us know in the comments, what is the funniest prank you have ever pulled involving a computer? Drop your response in the comments below.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a></div>
Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-5398698485014048862014-06-15T00:10:00.000-04:002014-06-15T11:17:29.773-04:00Game Corner - TitanFall - Review - Guest Blogger There's not much to say about this game that hasn't already been said, good or bad. This game, for starters, is my all time favorite shooter. I'ts fresh take on the re-used Call Of Duty and Battlefield concepts is what makes it stand out from all the others in a way. The gameplay style is a breath of fresh air, with fast paced gameplay as well as unique concepts of it's own. It's lack of content is not a good sight, but it makes up for it with the overall experience you have while playing.<br />
I think one of the best parts is the overall customization possibilities, which is added to drastically by the titans. Everything is balanced by a basic system of strengths and weaknesses such as range, fire speed, aim speed and so on. All of the weapon, skill, and titan combinations can be countered by something else, which helps to lessen the problem of campers which is prominent in most other shooters. What also helps bring this problem down is the map setups, which give people a lot of vantage points, all while keeping them from being too inaccessible to other players.<br />
The only problem with this game that I hope will be fixed in the future is the matchmaking, which sometimes matches you in a team with very low experienced players, or puts the other team in the same situation, which can make the game very frustrating to the newer and older players alike. The players are matched at random, with no regard to skill level. Other than this problem, the game is completely worth buying for any fan of shooters, or people who just want something fresh. It's incredibly addicting, fast paced, and overall a great buy.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305516187663652163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-14332357730939578052014-06-14T13:00:00.000-04:002014-06-14T13:00:00.033-04:00CPUID CPU-Z - System Stat Checker<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg43Af-bYuX3NIxrM_q6o79qDvOy5ZXUcufMlZhkilRFRNBMTimo10-jaLOPCQMVrIDAIFJLNbccvLWNy8UmQiQkOBdx_r90lsu4Aq_dNJP3AXMLzq45A6V8_FakZscQiyeP0kaDwjI35w/s1600/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg43Af-bYuX3NIxrM_q6o79qDvOy5ZXUcufMlZhkilRFRNBMTimo10-jaLOPCQMVrIDAIFJLNbccvLWNy8UmQiQkOBdx_r90lsu4Aq_dNJP3AXMLzq45A6V8_FakZscQiyeP0kaDwjI35w/s1600/Untitled.jpg" height="314" width="320" /></a>Have you ever needed to check how much memory you have? Or how about seeing if your PC meets the minimum system requirements of a new game? But the thought of opening up your computer sends chills down your spine. Or possibly you don't have enough time. CPU-Z is here to help. CPU-Z is a tool designed to show all of your system information at a glance. It can show CPU clock speed, CPU family, power usage, APCI functions, DMI connections, and a whole lot more. And the best part is it offers an easy way to export everything as a HTML or TXT file. And the export function is easy for non-techy users to find. So now you can pull someones stats remotely when they call again about the "Windows not working". You can download the installer here: <a href="http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.69-setup-en.exe" target="_blank">http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.69-setup-en.exe</a>. And you can download a portable version that can run from a flash drive (requires that PortableApps is already installed on the flash drive). Get it here: <a href="http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/cpu-z-portable" target="_blank">http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/cpu-z-portable</a>.<br />
<br />
So leave a comment below, what is the most difficult situation you have ever been in with someone else's computer? Drop your response in the comments below.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-89230325773169792752014-06-13T13:02:00.000-04:002014-06-14T12:08:26.079-04:00Game Corner - ORION: Dino Horde - Review and WalkthroughHello blog readers. A fairly recent game has come around to my game library and I think it's worth a mention here on AllStuffNerdy. The game is ORION: Dino Horde.<br />
<br />
The game is developed by Spiral and is built on the Unreal Game Engine. Now before we proceed, we need to discuss game engines. Most big-name games (with the exception of Call of Duty), are built completely by scratch in code. However, when most games are starting out, they like to start with game engines. These "code frameworks" allow the game designer to build a decent game without worrying about getting swarmed with millions of lines of code. Now game engines do come with a major drawback. They tend to perform poorly on older hardware. The reason is game engines have lots of code libraries which can be used by the game designer to design their game, which takes up a lot of memory. This is why we are giving ORION a bit of a handicap in this review. And also because it's a relatively new(er) game.<br />
<br />
Now on with the review. The game has no story in it. period. The game offers both solo and online multiplayer. You can set the multiplayer server to be Steam friends only, or public for the world to join. At the moment, multiplayer servers are limited to 5 active players (the rest are given the spectator role). Upon entering, you will be given the option of choosing between 3 different classes. There's the assault class, the support class, and the recon class. All of them have access to different powerups and weapons (more on that later). Once you choose your class, you will spawn either inside a building or just outside a building depending on the map. For the Survival and Conquest modes, you cannot do anything until you activate a generator located about 500-1000 ft away from your spawn. All buildings will be disabled until one player goes to activate it. The player who activates it will receive 100 credits. Once the generator is activated, players will have 60 seconds to buy new weapons and powerups. After the 60 seconds have expired, a horde of dinosaurs will appear and attempt to attack the generator to bring it offline. If the generator is offline for more that 5 minutes, all players lose the round. Players will have to use their weapons and powerups to defend the generator. If a player loses their shield and their health, they will enter a state where they move very slowly and can only use their pistol type weapon to fight. This is similar to when your player is "bleeding out" in Call of Duty. To be restored back to normal, you must either kill a certain number of dinosaurs (which is determined by the difficulty setting), cause a certain amount of damage to a larger dinosaur, or being revived by another player. Any player can revive a fallen teammate by holding a button for a few seconds. This does, however, make both players vulnerable to attacks from nearby dinosaurs. Players of the Support class can instantly revive players using their support powerup.<br />
<br />
Overall, this is a really fun game. The concept is really good and the game has potential. As one reviewer on Steam put it: "You can fight a T-Rex in a mech. That's all you need to know." However, I do have a few complaints. First off, the music is off. It sounds like it belongs in a calmer game like Zelda, not an action packed game like this. My other complaint is that it doesn't run nicely with older hardware. I have a 6 year old gaming PC that has been upgraded with a more modern graphics card (AMD Radeon 7750), and this game lags a lot. It just might be my single core computer not being able to handle it, but most other games run just fine (HAWKEN, JC2, NFS: Hot Pursuit...). I think this is the first game I have ever played where I had to turn down all the settings down to minimum to get decent performance. But as I said before, we are giving this game a handicap since it does rely on a pre-built game engine.<br />
<br />
The Conclusion:<br />
******* 7 stars out of 5.<br />
The game has a nice concept with a lot of replayability. Granted it can lag sometimes and it has room for improvement in its soundtrack, but it's easy to look past that once you start playing it. You can get it for yourself through the Steam client (<a href="http://steampowered.com/">steampowered.com</a>).<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-231652200966809022014-06-13T13:01:00.000-04:002014-06-13T13:01:00.063-04:00Game Corner - ORION: Dino Horde - OverviewThis post is a game review on the game Orion: Dino Horde.<br />
<br />
As far as this game goes, it is a great game. I would give it a 3.5 review. It has a lag you wouldn't believe, but you would have to lower all of the graphics settings so it runs perfect. This game supports keyboard and mouse, and the X-Box 360 Gamepad. I recommend playing online multiplayer because it gets boring on solo.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-65148423494743218182014-06-12T11:43:00.000-04:002014-06-12T11:43:43.438-04:00Tech Wars - Important announcement!Welcome to Tech Wars! Every Tuesday and Thursday we take two or more tech services/products and put them side-by-side to see which one prevails. Follow us on Twitter (@allstuffnerdy) to get updates when a new Tech War comes out. To see more Tech Wars articles, click the "Tech Wars" link at the top of the page.<br />
<br />
Hello blog readers. Unfortunately there is no Tech Wars article for today. The first reason being that the items we were going to review have not arrived yet, so we can't do a comparison without any real-world experience with the device/service. The second reason being we are a little stumped on ideas. If you have a great idea for our next Tech Wars article, just drop a comment below.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-36667001822764919272014-06-10T12:39:00.000-04:002014-06-12T20:14:14.753-04:00Tech Wars - PC Gaming PlatformsWelcome to Tech Wars! Every Tuesday and Thursday we take two or more tech services/products and put them side-by-side to see which one prevails. Follow us on Twitter (@allstuffnerdy) to get updates when a new Tech War comes out. To see more Tech Wars articles, click the "Tech Wars" link at the top of the page.<br />
<br />
PC gaming has been evolving at a rapid pace. Many years ago, most people didn't play games on their computer. That's what consoles were for. But now with the turbocharged power of desktop hardware, the majority of gamers prefer PC's for gaming. We can now put multitasking power into the hands of the average consumer. I know people who stream music, video chat, play games, and record their screen all at the same time with minimum lag. So we now have the need to put that multitasking power to use. That's where PC gaming platforms come in.<br />
<br />
In the past few years, many game client platforms have come through, but two stand out. Valve's Steam service, and EA's Origin service.<br />
<br />
To kick this Tech Wars off, let's put the two side by side and see how they stack up:
<br />
<table border="2" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th></th>
<th>Valve's Steam</th>
<th>EA's Origin</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Membership cost</th>
<th>FREE</th>
<th>FREE</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Created</th>
<th>2002</th>
<th>2005 - Renamed to Origin in 2011</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>In-game overlay</th>
<th>Yes</th>
<th>Yes</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Social network (friends, disscussion boards...)</th>
<th>Yes</th>
<th>Yes</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>online game streaming (Ex: twitch.tv)</th>
<th>No</th>
<th>Yes</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>game streaming (Ex: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/06/valves-releases-in-home-streaming.html">read here</a>)</th>
<th>Yes</th>
<th>No</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Game store</th>
<th>Yes</th>
<th>Yes</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Allow running external games</th>
<th>Yes</th>
<th>Yes</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Fanbase</th>
<th>75 million</th>
<th>9.3 million</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Games on store</th>
<th>3,000</th>
<th>Unknown (less than 500)</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Cloud support (for saves and game data)</th>
<th>Yes</th>
<th>Yes</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>RAM usage</th>
<th>28,000 Kb</th>
<th>159,000 Kb</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Flagship games</th>
<th>Valve branded games</th>
<th>EA branded games</th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
After stacking these up, it's time to see which one dominates. But first, it's worthy mentioning the types of sales that go on in the two game platform stores. EA sells many expensive games (avg $50 USD). It does, however, offer occasional discounts and On the House deals (<a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/06/free-games-from-ea-origin-on-house-deals.html">see here</a>). Valve on the other hand offers a wide range of prices on their products, and often has deep sales (ranging from 25% to 90% off the original price). Now with that out of the way, we can go through it and come to a conclusion. So obviously both are free to use. And Steam is a much more experienced player in this field considering it was created back in 2002 for the purpose of distributing updates for it's then popular game Counter-Strike. Origin is much more recent in the respect that it wasn't a gaming platform until 2011. Before that, it was just a download manager and digital game store. Both have an In-game overlay that you can access by pressing a pre-defined key combination to access. From there both platforms support their own social network (chat, friend activity, forums...). Origin has a surprising feature where it can stream your game online to services like twitch.tv. Valve however allows streaming to other devices on your network in a different way. Basically Valve has made it so you can stream any game that you have set to launch through Steam to any device on your network that is running Steam. The client also supports sending key presses back so essentially you are remote controlling your computer. If you want to read more about this, <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/06/valves-releases-in-home-streaming.html">read here</a>. Both platforms support buying games online from their custom store as well as importing existing games by searching your computer for their executable (.exe). And Steam has the largest pool of active users while Origin is seriously far behind. And not to mention that Origin is lacking in a selection of games. And both Steam and Origin use a considerable amount of RAM, Origin seems a little greedy in this category. And of course both platforms are heavy supporters of their own games. Valve's flagship line includes Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, Garry's Mod, Portal, Half-Life, and more. EA's top games include Titan fall, Battlefield, Crysis, Sim-city, The Sims, and a few others.<br />
<br />
The conclusion:<br />
My conclusion would have to be Steam. Despite not supporting in-game streaming to the internet, it beats Origin in all the other categories. It has the largest store and fan base, it uses much less memory when running in the background, and it's the oldest which means it has the most experience. Plus Steam releases lots of updates so there are always new features being released. And that's a winner in our book.<br />
<br />
So let us know in the comments, do you agree with our pick? Would you have picked something else? Do you think we left out a worthy competitor? Let us know in the comments. And stay tuned every Tuesday and Thursday for more Tech Wars.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-87710450031863668912014-06-07T13:30:00.001-04:002014-06-07T13:30:47.933-04:00Gooveshark is offlineTo those of you who landed here from a search for why Grooveshark, or in relation to my previous Tech Wars article about Grooveshark. The popular music streaming service is facing downtime. The company has offered no comment on what went wrong, but has simply said they will be performing maintenance for a few days. However, according to a few pages that flashed on my screen before it attempted to load Grooveshark, It appears the site is trying to block itself from a DDoS attack. Several pages with the CloudFlare logo showed some text about a DDoS filter (I didn't have time to read it all). Anyways this information is not official. I have no data proving that Grooveshark got hacked or anything. This is just merely an explanation of why Grooveshark is down.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-59982322692696381572014-06-06T13:23:00.000-04:002014-06-06T14:20:55.471-04:00New SpreadShirt ShopHey blog readers! we now have our very own <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html" target="_blank">SpreadShirt shop</a>. We have Hoodies, T-shirts, and long-sleeve shirts Mens, Womens, and Kids sizes. We even offer coffee mugs and customized iPhone and Samsung Galaxy cases. At the moment we have a limited selection, but it is growing by the minute, so be sure to check back often. And follow us on Twitter (@allstuffnerdy) for updates when we release new products. And remember that every purchase supports the site.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.spreadshirt.com/spreadshirt-guarantee-C3570" onclick="window.open(this.href,'','height=500,width=640,scrollbars=yes'); return false;" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="spreadshirt guarantee" src="http://cache.spreadshirt.com/Public/Media/us/yourspread/marketing/trustedspread/trustbox_120_en.png" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQn2_6frHHgMv5wb7yzLbwGPsYkfrK4TFDK5b5OQjJlptZ52wRHkU5h49j8c12jdtbenX2GlnAPd5YqsQ5kAFkvhlx3aMORumz9Kl8nWTkQni5Aj-KHcZRKQqzRBlKsHrgjlwXw9FAEXY/s1600/ADBANNER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQn2_6frHHgMv5wb7yzLbwGPsYkfrK4TFDK5b5OQjJlptZ52wRHkU5h49j8c12jdtbenX2GlnAPd5YqsQ5kAFkvhlx3aMORumz9Kl8nWTkQni5Aj-KHcZRKQqzRBlKsHrgjlwXw9FAEXY/s1600/ADBANNER.jpg" height="48" width="400" /></a></div>
<insert content="" here=""><br /></insert>
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-59473274738416006642014-06-05T20:27:00.000-04:002014-06-06T13:58:07.191-04:00Amazon's new smartphone is a mystery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
For the past few days, the internet has been ablaze with remarks about Amazon's rumored smartphone they plan to release near the end of July. A teaser ad has been floating around the Amazon web store asking users if they want to be invited to a device unveiling on June 18th in Seatle Washington. Interestingly enough, it seems to be pretty close to Apple's WWDC conference. Amazon must be trying to compete directly with iOS 8 and the iPhone 6 (and whatever else Apple intends to release). So far the specifications have been well hidden by Amazon, but it has leaked that the new smartphone will have glasses-free 3D support. Judging by the leaked information, it seems very similar to the 3D display type on the Nintendo 3DS. Follow our Twitter feed (@allstuffnerdy) and we'll keep you updated when Amazon unveils their new device on June 18th.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-11165568970846490462014-06-05T20:12:00.000-04:002014-06-06T13:58:18.768-04:00Nokia Lumia 630 released in UK, soon to hit USWindows phones have gone unnoticed for a long time. But recently they have been capturing the media's attention with the Windows Phone 8.1 release and Microsoft acquiring Nokia. So now the world is watching Nokia to see what they are going to do next. They decided to widen their target audience by introducing a budget price smartphone. They released the Nokia Lumia 630 at the low price of around $120 USD ($89 euros). This seems to be in direct response to the Moto E and the new Samsung Galaxy 5. Not to mention the looming prospect of the iPhone 6. The Nokia Lumia 630 will have a Snapdragon 400 processor clocked in at 1.2 GHz (very similar to the processor in the iPhone 5C). It will contain 512 MB of RAM and will be the first phone ever to come pre-installed with Windows Phone 8.1. It will have 8 GB of built-in flash memory but will sport a MicroSD card to add more storage. It is also rumoured that the Brazil version will support dual-SIM cards (to decrease offline time for people who's jobs depend on them picking up the phone when it rings). The 630 went live in the UK on May 29th and is supposedly coming soon to the US. So let us know in the comments, what major phone release are you looking forward to? Or are you happy with your current phone? Let us know in the comments below.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-88802139232281600932014-06-05T19:40:00.005-04:002014-06-12T11:43:12.304-04:00Tech Wars - Music Streaming Services<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.w8themes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Musical-Wallpapers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.w8themes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Musical-Wallpapers.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtesy of <a href="http://w8themes.com/">w8themes.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Welcome to Tech Wars! Every Tuesday and Thursday we take two or more tech services/products and put them side-by-side to see which one prevails. Follow us on Twitter (@allstuffnerdy) to get updates when a new Tech War comes out. To see more Tech Wars articles, click the "Tech Wars" link at the top of the page.<br />
<br />
We all like streaming music. Music keeps us productive when we are working. But we can be quite opinionated on which one we think is the best, so we stacked up three of the top streaming music services to find out which one comes out on top.<br />
<br />
Today we have the following up for comparison:<br />
<table border="2" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th></th>
<th>Pandora</th>
<th>Grooveshark</th>
<th>Spotify</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Created</th>
<td>January 2000</td>
<td>2007</td>
<td>2006</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Total users</th>
<td>25 million</td>
<td>20 million</td>
<td>40 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Services</th>
<td>Free and Paid</td>
<td>Free and Paid</td>
<td>Free and Paid</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Access with free service</th>
<td>Unlimited listening with limited skips and occasional audio and visual ads</td>
<td>Unlimited listening with visual ads</td>
<td>Limited selection of music with limit of 10 hours of listening a month with audio and visual ads</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Features of paid service</th>
<td>No ads and unlimited skips</td>
<td>No ads and features such as crossfade and access to the desktop app along with offline playback</td>
<td>Unlimited ad-free listening with mobile and desktop app access and offline playback</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Cost of paid service</th>
<td>$4.99/month</td>
<td>$9/month</td>
<td>$9.99/month</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Music selection method</th>
<td>Radio</td>
<td>Radio and manual</td>
<td>Radio and manual(only for Premium)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Song catalog size</th>
<td>800,000+ (2011)</td>
<td>15 million</td>
<td>20 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Platforms</th>
<td>Web and most mobile devices</td>
<td>Web, PC, Mac, and Android (other mobile users can use online HTML5 interface)</td>
<td>Web, PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
All stacked up, let's compare them. Starting at the top we see that both Grooveshark and Spotify are relatively new players in the game. Pandora and Grooveshark hover around the 20 millions mark while Spotify is up there at 40 million. Grooveshark places almost no restrictions on free users. Pandora limits the skipping ability (which also applies to paid accounts, but with more skips allowed). And Spotify has the harshest of all with severe restrictions on free users with only 10 hours of allotted listening time. For both Pandora and Spotify they both lift their restrictions on paid users while Grooveshark adds features for it's premium members. Pandora has the cheapest paid plan with $4.99 a month while the other two sit around the $9 mark. Pandora is the only streaming service on this list to not offer on demand listening while the others make it their main feature. While Pandora seems a little bit behind in song catalog size, Spotify takes the lead with 20 million songs and with Grooveshark just around 5 million behind. And while Pandora supports the majority of devices, Grooveshark supports pretty much all modern devices with it's Flash-based website and HTML5 site for mobile users.<br />
<br />
The results:<br />
After looking through the results, the best one would have to be Grooveshark. With almost no restrictions on free users (and no audio ads), combined with universal device support, it has to be AllStuffNerdy's top choice of music streaming client.<br />
<br />
So let us know in the comments, do you agree with our pick? Would you have picked something else? Do you think we left out a worthy competitor? Let us know in the comments. And stay tuned every Tuesday and Thursday for more Tech Wars.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-81470638261049904832014-06-04T21:02:00.000-04:002014-06-06T13:58:46.347-04:00Free games from EA - Origin on the house deals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/erikkain/files/2012/11/OriginsEA_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/erikkain/files/2012/11/OriginsEA_logo.png" height="123" width="320" /></a></div>
By now most of us know what Valve's Steam service is. It's a gaming platform that provides a game store, mods and customization sharing platform, along with a social network complete with screenshot and screen capture sharing. Valve has refused to release actual data, but it is rumored that Valve owns the majority of the gaming market on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux combined. Although small and unheard of, Origin is the largest competitor to Steam. Steam owns the market with an all-in-one package of a social network and game store. Plus they have insane deals going on all the time. They even have their own in-home streaming service (<a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/06/valves-releases-in-home-streaming.html" target="_blank">read more here</a>). EA saw this as a major challenge. They needed to get attention back to Origin. But how do you beat insane deals that sometimes can shave 90% of the original price? Give away games for free. Yes, EA is giving games away for free. And it's not sweepstakes or links to piratebay. They are giving away free EA branded games to anyone who wants them. EA announced On The House Deals back in may and has been giving away 1 free game ever since. They only do one title at time. Recently some major ones include Dead Space and Plants vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition. You have to act fast though, EA says on their website: "...On the House specials can appear and disappear at any time". EA says on the website "... [EA's on the house deals are] a fantastic way to see what Origin is all about." So obviously this is a big promotion to move people away from Steam. In my experience, I just download Origin to claim and download the game, then I add it to steam as a non-Steam game. That way people can see what I'm playing, but I can still take advantage of EA's on the house deals. You can bookmark <a href="https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/free-games/on-the-house">https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/free-games/on-the-house</a> or just check our Twitter feed (see below) to get updated when a new game comes out.<br />
<br />
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-62427214434305824812014-06-04T16:59:00.001-04:002014-06-06T13:58:55.103-04:00Nvidia shield - OverviewEver wish you could play your graphic-intensive games on the go? Mobile technology is achieving higher clock speeds at a rapid pace, but it is nowhere near as fast as desktop computing hardware. Not to mention that they lack the room to allow for proper cooling. Nvidia has found a potential solution. They created the Nvidia Shield.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://shield.nvidia.com/images/gallery/shield-front-open-bloodsword.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://shield.nvidia.com/images/gallery/shield-front-open-bloodsword.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
For those not familiar with the company, Nvidia is a large graphics card manufacturer that owns about 62% (<a href="http://www.tekrevue.com/nvidia-takes-62-of-discrete-gpu-market-share-in-q2-2013/" target="_blank">tekrevue</a>) of the GPU market. Not to mention that Nvidia has created some of the fastest GPUs ever made. So they already have a large base of gamers to test with. They took note of how lots of people use their mobile devices for games (usually not hardcore 3D gaming, but gaming in general). So they created a device that could play top-of-the-line games with bottom-line hardware. The whole system relies on the user owning a computer that has a supported Nvidia GPU (most Nvidia GPUs made in the last two years should be fine). Then using the Shield, they can pick any game from their library. The game will launch on their computer and the computer will stream the screen to the Shield. The Shield will also send back key presses to the computer to interact with the game. Essentially, it's just a fancy way to remote-control your computer playing a video game. The Shield supports sending 60 FPS @ 1080p over either Wi-Fi or Ethernet (Ethernet is faster). Recently Nvidia has announced that it will be supporting streaming over the internet, so you are no longer tethered to your home network. The Nvidia Shield itself runs Android on a 1.9 GHz quad core ARM processor called the Tegra (which is also manufactured by Nvidia). It has 2 GB of RAM and a 1280x720 IPS Retina display. The Retina part of it means that it has more pixels per inch than the human eye can tell apart, so the images look more realistic. It was released at $299 USD but has since dropped down to $199 USD. Overall it seems like a reasonable device, but the price tag of the Shield and a compatible Nvidia GPU is overkill. But if you like to play your games almost every waking moment of your life, it may be worth considering. Recently a lot of competitors have released their own version of Nvidia's streaming service (<a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/06/valves-releases-in-home-streaming.html" target="_blank">read my article on the Steam streaming service here</a>).<br />
<br />
3 reasons you should get it:<br />
1)You can stream your games to play on the go.<br />
2) You will soon be able to stream your games from anywhere in the world.<br />
3)It runs android, so it can function like a normal Android tablet (without calling or SMS)<br />
<br />
3 reasons you should not get it:<br />
1)It carries a heavy price tag<br />
2)It requires a fast computer and internet connection to function properly<br />
3)Most people don't have a use for this. They like their giant screen that they play games on.<br />
<br />
So ahead and leave a comment below, what would you use the Nvidia Shield for?<br />
<br />
Sources:<br />
<a href="http://www.tekrevue.com/nvidia-takes-62-of-discrete-gpu-market-share-in-q2-2013/">http://www.tekrevue.com/nvidia-takes-62-of-discrete-gpu-market-share-in-q2-2013/</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Shield">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Shield</a><br />
<br />
Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:<br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-21953735295947695652014-06-04T14:02:00.000-04:002014-06-06T13:59:08.422-04:00Game Corner - Surgeon Simulator 2013 - Review/Gameplay tipsThis advertising slot is open! To have a paragraph here featuring your company (doesn't have to be tech related), go to http://www.fiverr.com/armmaster17/mention-your-company-in-a-blog-post.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Surgeon_Simulator_2013_Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Surgeon_Simulator_2013_Logo.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>What's a game that combines hours of fun with gruesome depictions of medical operations? Surgeon Simulator 2013. Originally created as part of a programming contest, the game was then expanded into a full-featured game to be released on Valve's Steam game distribution store. In the game you play as Nigel, a supposed surgeon tasked with undertaking many difficult and strange operations. To begin you start with a basic heart transplant. The game is controlled with the keyboard and mouse. The mouse moves Nigel's hand, while the AWER and Space keys control his individual fingers. If you want to use two hands in the game, you are going to need to pick up a <a href="http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-controllers/razer-hydra-portal-2-bundle/" target="_blank">Razer Hydra</a>. So back to the game, you use the difficult and awkward controls to move his hand around to pick up various tools. In the upper right-hand corner you can watch the blood level of the patient. You lose when the patient loses all of their blood. The patient loses blood when certain tools come in contact with the flesh of the patient. The game never mentions it until later (I had to look online to find it), but there are a set of syringes in the game that are used to control the blood flow of the patient. One of the syringes stops blood flow. However, if you accidentally stab yourself with that syringe, your vision becomes warped and it becomes difficult to perform the other operation. Hitting yourself with the other syringe will undo the effect. But beware not to mix up the syringes as the second one can make the bleeding worse. When run when the Steam service is in online mode, various achievements can be obtained by doing several difficult or gruesome tasks. As you move up in levels, the operations become more difficult and you change locations. Different types of surgeries include heart transplant, kidney transplant, and brain transplant. Locations include surgery room, ambulance, and space (which tends to be the most difficult location).<br />
<br />
Bottom line:<br />
Besides being quite frusturating and having limited replay value, it is definately full of easter eggs and random physics that can create hours of fun.<br />
<br />
My rating: ***** 5 stars out of 5<br />
<br />
If you want to get it yourself, you can grab it from the Steam client (<a href="http://steampowered.com/">steampowered.com</a>) for $9.99. But if you keep an eye on it you may catch it on sale!<br />
<a href="steam://friends/add/76561198098234206" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" src="http://steamsignature.com/AddFriend.png" title="" /></a><a href="http://steamsignature.com/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><img alt="" br="" src="http://steamsignature.com/status/english/76561198098234206.png" title="" /><br />
<br />
<br />
Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:<br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a>Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463546734943362044.post-39793915118593585442014-06-04T09:58:00.000-04:002014-06-06T13:59:35.017-04:00Valve releases in-home streaming service from beta<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1534/15343359/2414516-5066029534-Steam.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1534/15343359/2414516-5066029534-Steam.png" height="146" width="200" /></a></div>
For those who have not used <a href="http://www.steampowered.com/" target="_blank">Steam</a> before, <a href="http://www.steampowered.com/" target="_blank">Steam</a> is a game distribution network created by Valve. It includes a game and DLC store along with a social network and content sharing platform (mods, screenshots and videos). Recently a few weeks ago Valve brought its streaming service out from beta and released it to the public. This seems to be a direct response to the streaming of the <a href="http://www.engadget.com/products/nvidia/shield/" target="_blank">Nvidia Shield</a> with select Nvidia graphics cards. In terms of what it can do, it's basically a way to remote control your computer playing a video game. Normal remote control clients like <a href="http://www.teamviewer.com/" target="_blank">Teamviewer</a> are not built for video games. Most of them do not support full-screen programs like DirectX and OpenGL. And they are not built to transmit the screen images fast enough in order to reduce lag in a game. That's where the Steam streaming service comes in. It allows streaming of almost any video game (even ones not bought on Steam) in 720p or 1080p (select devices) to any client running <a href="http://www.steampowered.com/" target="_blank">Steam</a>. Right now you can only stream from Windows computers, but the client can be Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (including <a href="http://www.techradar.com/us/news/gaming/consoles/valve-steam-box-release-date-news-and-features-1127072" target="_blank">SteamBoxes</a> running <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/12/everything-you-need-to-know-to-install-steamos-on-your-very-own-computer/" target="_blank">SteamOS</a>). And the service is optimized to run on slower computers. I performed a test using the following computers:<br />
<br />
Host (the computer running the game)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>2.6 GHz single-core AMD Athlon CPU</li>
<li>2 GB RAM</li>
<li>AMD 7750 GPU</li>
<li>Windows 7 64-bit</li>
</ul>
<div>
Client (the one playing the game)</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>1.7 GHz dual-core Intel Atom CPU</li>
<li>1 GB RAM</li>
<li>Integrated Intel Media Accelerator GPU</li>
<li>Windows 8.1 64-bit</li>
</ul>
<div>
Both computers were running nothing but the <a href="http://www.steampowered.com/" target="_blank">Steam</a> service. I started with something simple. I fired up Just Cause 2 and began to play on my laptop (the client). Normally I can't run Just Cause 2 on my laptop (the game refuses to run on integrated graphics), but it worked out pretty well. Just running around in an empty desert I had about 29 FPS on a 720p quality stream over my home Wi-Fi network. During a couple of frantic fire-fights, the framerate dropped down to 20 FPS, but then it shot back up to 45 FPS when it downgraded the quality to 480p. The controls remained very responsive, it seemed like they had programmed it so that controls were always a higher priority. I then wanted to test it in a more intensive environment, so I launched <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/05/game-corner-super-hexagon-review.html" target="_blank">Super Hexagon</a>. For those of you who have never played <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/05/game-corner-super-hexagon-review.html" target="_blank">Super Hexagon</a> before, it's a game that requires total concentration. It's a game built on reaction time and how quick you can process information on a screen. While playing, it stayed locked in at 30 FPS at 720p. But there was a slight noticeable lag in the controls. The game moves at such a fast pace, you will notice every millisecond of lag in the controls.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In all, this seems like a very promising feature. While it only works under your own network, Valve may follow in their competitor's footsteps and add streaming over the internet. And in my tests, I pushed two, 6 year old computers to their limits by encoding and decoding 720p video in real time, and I was surprised by the results. For the record, my laptop has never been able to play any game (including <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/05/game-corner-super-hexagon-review.html" target="_blank">Super Hexagon</a>) at above 10 FPS. This service really breathed new life into my laptop. If you want to check it out, head over to <a href="http://steampowered.com/">steampowered.com</a> to download <a href="http://www.steampowered.com/" target="_blank">Steam</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<insert content="" here="">Hey blog readers! If you want to follow our meaningless updates, check out our pages here:</insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Facebook: <a href="http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld">http://on.fb.me/U9s2Ld</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Twitter: Follow us <a href="http://twitter.com/allstuffnerdy" target="_blank">@allstuffnerdy</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot">https://www.google.com/+AllstuffnerdyBlogspot</a></insert><br />
<insert content="" here="">If you have a business you would like us to mention at the beginning of a post, check out our gigs on Fiverr:</insert><br />
Joshua: <a href="http://fiverr.com/armmaster17">http://fiverr.com/armmaster17</a><br />
Brandon: <a href="http://fiverr.com/maltzy">http://fiverr.com/maltzy</a><br />
Spreadshirt: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a><br />
Check out our SpreadShirt shop for our awesome selection of geeky apparel. We offer Mens, Womens, and kid sizes of T-shirts, Long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies in addition to coffee mugs and more. Check out our store here: <a href="http://allstuffnerdy.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">http://allstuffnerdy.spreadshirt.com</a></div>
Joshua Zennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599028366880762216noreply@blogger.com0