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The Best Android Browser

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

I was using the default browser for quite some time, but decided to try out Dolphin HD since it seemed rather popular. Currently, I have to say with out a doubt, dolphin runs better than any other browser I’ve tried on my HTC Droid Incredible. I’ve tried Opera Mini (doesn’t work right in some situations), xScope and SkyFire. I will say that if you just want speed and don’t care about having full featured web pages that function correctly, you’re better off with Opera Mini.

I updated mobile flash and was able to watch flash videos without them lagging too badly. There’s still some lag, but the videos are watchable so long as you’re not moving too much while the video is playing. I tried out some local news sites in their desktop form and almost had no issues at all loading up the full featured version.

Another thing I noticed, when I was connected to 1X (which goes to only about 100kbit or less) instead of 3G, the default browser would just hang on the page and not load anything. Dolphin continued to load the page even while connected via 1X.

Another thing I like about Dolphin is the tab feature. You can actually pull off a few tabs on the Incredible. The gesture feature is kinda nice, but I don’t usually use it. Maybe I will in the future if I get used to it, but it’s an interesting toy for now.

In short, it seems like the best browser out right now, way better than default.

Mobile browsers & internet still have a ways to go, but I’m pretty impressed with how things are going. Seems like everything is getting developed out pretty rapidly. Soon it’ll be on par with having a laptop in the palm of your hand.

I remember when I was a kid, I wanted a laptop.. Well back then they cost $2k+ and had at most an 800MHz processor. With Moore’s law we’ll be rocking a 2 or even 3 GHz phone in no time. Add in 4G to the mix and bam. Get ready for awesomeness.

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Bose QC15 Headphones Review

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Are these headphones really worth the $300 price tag they carry? That’s the question on most people’s mind. That’s a decent chunk of change!

I’ll start off with audio quality, I’m no audiophile by any means, but I have had some experience with higher end headphones. I’d rate the quality as “good”.  They’re  way above the terrible headphones you get with an iPod. If you have no previous experience with higher end headphones they might be the best you’ve ever heard.

The noise canceling is where these headphones really shine, and that’s what they were designed for. When I first got them I put them on while at home, and it did get rid of the fan noise from my computer, but that’s about all I noticed. Then I took them with me on a trip to Florida. On the car ride to the airport I wore them, and it drowned out most of the noise from the car. More impressive. Once I boarded the plane and it took off, I put these headphones on and was shocked. People talking? Gone. Engine noise? Gone. Babies crying? Gone. All I could hear was my music if the music was turned up to 25% volume on my iPod. That’s amazing. When I turned off the music completely I was able to make out some people talking etc, but not much. I turned them off a few times and was instantly greeted with reality, and it was LOUD.

So in conclusion, I’d definitely pick these up if you fly a lot or ride the bus a lot. Noise canceling is superb and totally worth the money. If you want just high quality sound though, you’re better off looking elsewhere. Personally, I’m never getting on a plane again without my QC15′s. Greatest experience ever on a plane.

You can buy them here: Bose® QuietComfort® 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones

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Make Your Own Soda/Seltzer Cheap

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Ever want to get out of paying $1 per bottle of carbonated water? Well you can, and as it turns out, it’s pretty easy. I just purchased a kit off eBay that had a 20oz paintball CO2 tank, a regulator, and the correct soda cap. It was pretty cheap as well, around $130 shipped. The paintball CO2 tank can be filled at many places for around $5, it lasts for about 40 – 60 2 liter bottles, depending on how carbonated you make them.

Generally, if I drink 1 2 liter per day it’ll last a month and a half. I make them very carbonated though, about what you’d get from the store. One note is I push the PSI higher than you probably should, 50PSI, I found that if I put it lower it wouldn’t get carbonated quickly enough for my liking. However, this will vary depending on how cold the water is that you’re trying to carbonate.

How To:

1. Fill 2 liter bottle with water, leave some space at the top.

2. Carbonator attachment on bottle has a pin on top, push it down and squeeze the bottle to remove excess air.

3. Attach hose to carbonator by pulling up on the attachment and pushing down.

4. Screw down pin on co2 tank until you feel it pushing down on the tank’s pin.

5. Adjust PSI on regulator until it’s at 30 – 35PSI (Or higher, depending on how cold the water is in the bottle, 50PSI works best but not recommended by most.)

6. Release Co2 via the red lever on the side.

7. Shake bottle for 60 seconds or so.

8. Turn off the co2, unscrew the valve, remove attachment from carbonator.

9. Remove carbonator from bottle and enjoy freshly carbonated water.

Soda requires different steps, I haven’t done it so I don’t know. This process might seem complicated, but it’s really easy after you’ve done it a few times, and it saves a bundle of $ very quickly if you drink a lot of it. Personally, I drink it on and off but when I’m in the mood I drink 1 – 2 bottles in a day.

So there you go.. Quick, easy & cheap carbonated water. Forgive me if I’m using incorrect terms to describe the components :) Kit can be found at KegConnection.

Informational purposes only, I take no responsibility for personal injury. If you utilize any information provided in this site, you do so at your own risk and you specifically waive any right to make any claim against the author and publisher of this Website and materials as the result of the use of such information.

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ATI EyeFinity Review – Different Monitors Sizes and Resolutions

Monday, May 24th, 2010

I picked up another monitor for productivity reasons – but I already had a 1680X1050 (22″) & 1920X1200 (24″) screen. I’ve picked up different monitors over the years and never bought them as sets. The 3rd monitor is e-IPS 1920×1080 (23″) – because I knew I wanted to start moving to IPS technology. The other 2 are obviously TN panels.

While doing all this, EyeFinity was not the priority. The priority was more screen space to work with. However, since I had the whole setup basically, why not mess with EyeFinity?

I had to set all of them at 1680X1050 since that’s the lowest resolution out of the bunch. That gives me 5040X1050 – which looks horrible out of games. I was pretty much expecting everything to be horrible since like I said, all 3 are different monitors, and the LG screen has these horridly big bezels. So, by far not the best setup for something like EyeFinity.

After getting in game however, everything looks good. I’m shocked. The bezels don’t bother me -  I’m shocked. I was able to get the other 2 to line up with my 24″  – I’m shocked. My games are more immersive and I’m enjoying myself a lot – yet again pure shock.

So what does all this tell me? You don’t have to have the perfect setup to get EyeFinity enjoyable or working right. I’ve looked and I’ve looked – but I have yet to find anyone running EyeFinity with different monitors and resolutions like me. I am thinking about switching the 22″ and 24″ screen out for 2 more 23″ IPS Dell panels, but that is far into the future. At that point, I’ll have something to compare against and see if it’s really that much better than my current setup.

Lots and lots of people think EyeFinity is just a gimmick – well I really have to disagree there. After going EyeFinity – I don’t want to go back. I don’t think you can say anything until you’ve experienced it first hand for more than a few days. As you can see, I was very skeptical of the technology and thought it would completely suck. I was wrong.

Sure, it’s a somewhat costly setup, but if you need the monitors for productivity anyway, you can’t go wrong. Let me tell you, 2 monitors is 100x better than 1 and 3 seems like the sweet spot for me.  Sure, spaces are cool, but if you need to see a bunch of things at once you can’t do that with spaces. (also remember that one panel must be DisplayPort or you need an active display port adapter for the 3rd monitor)

Conclusion

After having this setup for awhile – I can safely say that EyeFinity is awesome. Game play is just so much more immersive – and fun. It’s really really hard to form an opinion without experiencing it first hand which is going to be a drawback for this technology to spread. Also, yes I know that Matrox has had this technology for quite awhile – but you have to buy a $300 device on top of the $300 video card which makes it even less accessible to the mainstream audience. So ATI has done something magical – introducing videocards capable of driving 3 displays (FINALLY) and combining 3 monitors into 1 display – all wrapped into a highly powerful graphics card. I won’t be switching to nVidia unless they implement similar technology.

Picture taken before all monitors were lined up correctly..

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