Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

My New York Checklist

Hi all! Thanks for leaving comments while I’ve been in New York dealing with a sickness in the family. It’s been tough, but things are getting better. Also, I’m pretty sure that my knees have frozen off. It’s hard for me to deal with this kind of weather; not really sure how I grew up like this. A decade in California and a year in Thailand have definitely thinned out my blood.

Now for a random food rant! Here are some photos of some of the goodies I gobbled up with my brother, as well as a checklist of what we ate.

  • Pizza (three times) — It’s still mind boggling that 99.9 percent of the pizza places in California can’t come close to NY pizza.
  • Bagels (two times) — It’s not as bad as the pizza, but NY bagels make CA bagels look silly.
  • Dunkin’ Donutes (two times) — This is more of a nostalgia thing. I generally prefer mom-and-pop bakery donuts.
  • Black and White Cookie — Another thing that’s hard to find in California. It seems so simple, yet….
  • Hot-Open Turkey — I miss East Coast diners. The ones in CA are healthier, but the variety and portions aren’t the same.
  • Mozzarella Fries with Gravy — It’s almost like poutine, but without the curds. Another one of my diner favorites.
  • Hot Dog — Onions and sauerkraut, naturally.

My brother and I were planning to hit up White Castle, but didn’t get around to it. Sure, you can buy the frozen ones at the grocery, but it’s not the same. Also, the jalapeño cheeseburgers aren’t available frozen. I’ll regret not grabbing White Castle when I was so close to it, but pizza was clearly the most important foodstuff to get.

I’m actually writing this from JFK and have several hours before my flight. Regular posting will resume shortly. I missed you guys!

HP Envy 14 Spectre Hands-On Preview

HP nabbed a ton of attention at CES 2012 with its HP Envy 14 Spectre “Ultrabook”. One of several laptops competing with Apple’s MacBook Air, the Envy 14 Spectre stands out with its premium build. However, it also has a slightly higher-than-average price and weight for this product category. This $1,399 laptop packs a 14-inch screen in a package that’s 0.79-inches thick and weighs 3.9 pounds. As with most HP premium laptops, the Envy 14 Spectre boasts Beats audio. Here are the full specs:

  • Processor: Intel Core i5-2467m 1.6GHz
  • Screen: 14-inch Radiance display, 1,600 x 900 resolution
  • Memory: 4GB RAM
  • Storage: 128GB mSATA SSD
  • Thickness: 0.78-inches
  • Weight: 3.9 pounds
  • Dimensions: 12.87 inches x 8.7 inches x 0.79 inches
  • Ports: USB 2.0, USB 3.0, SD card reader, Mini DisplayPort, Ethernet
  • Keyboard: Chiclet, backlit with sensor to brighten when you approach
  • Wireless: 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, WiDi
  • Battery Life: 9 hours estimated

After opening the laptop and messing around with keyboard, I was impressed by its luxurious feel. The lid, screen, touchpad, and palm rest feature Corning Gorilla Glass for a premium feel and great durability. The keyboard felt very comfortable; while I’d need more time with the machine to say for sure, my initial impression is that it’s as good as the one on the MacBook Air 13 but with a stiffer feel (really a matter of preference). Clicking, dragging, and two-finger scrolling on the touchpad felt very smooth.

[nggallery id=87]

The lid of the Envy 14 Spectre is gorgeous…until you touch it. It is, by far, the biggest fingerprint magnet I’ve seen in years. Considering that it’s black glass, I shouldn’t have been surprised, yet I was still taken aback by the amount of smudges the lid picked up. If you’re the least bit affectionate with your electronics then you’ll be cleaning the Spectre every three minutes or so. The running joke among tech writers is that this is a security feature being tested by HP since the laptop picks up fingerprints easily. (Tech writers are generally not that funny.)

The Spectre’s screen is bright and beautiful, with broad viewing angles for sharing. The 1,600 x 900 resolution is unusually high for a 14-inch screen. Some people love the extra pixels and detail. Others, particularly those with bad eyes, might end up enlarging the text size to make things usable. Personally, I loved the display, despite my eyes sucking. The high res “Radiance” display adds to the premium look and feel of this notebook.

The HP Envy 14 Spectre stands out from the crowd with its liberal use of Gorilla Glass and beautiful screen. However, with other vendors aggressively pricing their Ultrabooks, will people be willing to pay a bit more for a laptop that’s a bit slicker and heavier? I’d love your take on this product. Please let me know if you’re interested in the HP Envy 14 Spectre and if you think it will be a top-selling Ultrabook.

Coffee Talk #442: CES 2012 Aftermath

CES 2012 has come and gone! What did you think of this year’s show? Any products or technology jump out at you? Taking an informal poll of my friends in attendance (mostly videogame journalists, a few tech writers), television technology was the most exciting thing at CES 2012. Between…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, wishing that Steve Nash gets traded to a playoff contender, Snooki starting a boxing promotion company, or celebrities Tebowing on the red carpet, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

CES 2012 has come and gone! What did you think of this year’s show? Any products or technology jump out at you? Taking an informal poll of my friends in attendance (mostly videogame journalists, a few tech writers), television technology was the most exciting thing at CES 2012. Between OLED TVs and 4K TVs, there were several televisions on display that had my peers drooling. These are models that most people won’t be able to afford this year or next, but are glimpses of television’s exciting future.

Personally, I was impressed by LG’s Blast Chiller. Found in select LG refrigerators, Blast Chiller can bring take a can of beer from room temperature to icy cold in about four minutes. I’m trying to get LG to send me a review unit…and several cases of Guiness so that I can thoroughly test Blast Chiller.

I was disappointed that Sony didn’t get more attention with the Vita. I suppose that most videogame writers have had Japanese units for several weeks already, but my tech writer friends didn’t really seem too interested in Sony’s next handheld. If anything, tech writers and mainstream journalists seemed fascinated by Razer’s Project Fiona. Being new and unusual definitely helped Project Fiona grab some headlines.

Here are the three products that came up the most in conversations with my peers:

  1. Razer Project Fiona — Razer’s gaming tablet is extremely powerful, but is it something people want?
  2. Samsung Galaxy Note — Is it a phone?!? Is it a tablet?!? What is it?!?
  3. HP Envy 14 Spectre — HP’s answer to the MacBook Air is beautiful and covered by Gorilla Glass.

Now it’s your turn! Please share any CES news, products, and technology that caught your interest.

NFL Playoff Fallout Monday!

Here’s some space to talk about last weekend’s NFL playoff games…and what exciting games they were! Being in NY for a Giants playoff win is always interesting. It’s never hard to find a NY bar full of rowdy and passionate sports fans. Good times. San Francisco, my other “home”, surprised loads of fans too. Did you predict that those two teams would be meeting in the conference championship?

Oh yeah, there were other playoff games too. Ha! Kindly share your thoughts on the games and predict the conference championships in the comments section.

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

I just got back from CES 2012 and I’m off to New York in a few hours. Since I won’t have access to my home consoles, my next few days of gaming will be on my iPad. Of course I’ll be playing lots of Civlization Revolution. I’m also excited to play Run Roo Run!, a new game from 5th Cell, the creators of the phenomenal Scribblenauts. I’ve only played a few minutes and I’m already charmed by this super-cute platformer. I’m actually looking forward to the plane ride to JFK just so I can play more!

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

Are You Interested in Razer’s Project Fiona?

Razer revealed “Project Fiona” at CES 2012 — a high-end gaming tablet featuring an Intel i7 processor and Windows 8. This isn’t your typical tablet; it doesn’t use an efficient mobile processor and doesn’t play relatively small apps. This is a powerful machine that plays gamepad-enable PC games out of the box. Check out my article on Project Fiona at Padvance if you have a chance. I’m super curious to hear if this product interests you. Please let me know!

[nggallery id=86]

The Worst Thing I’ve Seen at CES 2012

After several press conferences, preview events, and a full day of the expo, I’m pretty sure this is the worst thing I’ll see at CES 2012. You know Jay-Z’s song “99 Problems“? Some company took it upon itself to twist the lyrics to the song into a marketing message. I was talking to my friend from HP when I caught the sign from the corner of my eye. I said, “Does that sign really say that?!?” To which he replied, “No f**king way!” Looking at the sign makes me chuckle (from the utter lameness) and get a headache at the same time.

Samsung Galaxy Note Image Gallery and Preview Link

Here are the official press images of the Samsung Galaxy Note for AT&T. This “phablet” is a unique product that’s considerably larger than most phones and smaller than most tablets. A lot of people I bumped into at CES 2012 are talking about the Galaxy Note. Everyone thinks it’s a “cool” product, but most aren’t sure who it’s for and if it will sell in America. Please check out the images below, read my Padvance hands-on preview, and let me know what you think. Will people be drawn in by the Galaxy Note’s unusual form factor and use of a stylus? Predict the future!

[nggallery id=85]

Coffee Talk #441: What CES News Are You Looking Forward To?

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, hoping Snooki and Justin Bieber get into a fight at CES, catching up with old industry friends, or catching up with your old co-host, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’m in Las Vegas for CES 2012! Most of my time will be spent writing stories and filming video for Padvance, but I’m going to make some time to roam around and look for cool stuff. Are there any products you’re looking forward to? There’s going to be so much awesome tech at the show and I’d love to know what products interest you the most. Here are some of the things I expect to see.

  • Somewhat affordable OLED televisions
  • Quad-core Android tablets
  • Killer SSD drives at lower prices
  • Windows 8 products
  • Wearable tech
  • Tons of Ultrabooks (MacBook Air competitors)
  • Free Drinks

Give it some thought and please let me know if you want me to try and catch anything for you.

Your Reaction to Tim Tebow’s Touchdown to Demaryius Thomas

I caught a few of your reactions on Tim Tebow’s touchdown to Demaryius Thomas on Google+ Messenger last night. Now that you’ve had some time to think about it, I’d love to hear more of your thoughts. Initially, I thought it was a Twitter joke. Then I saw the replay. Wow. It was an amazing play, but what’s even more amazing is how much it added to Tebow being the most polarizing athlete in America today.

Sure, it’s only January but I’m certain that this will go down as one of the biggest “Holy sh*t!!!” moments in sports this year. Agree? Disagree? Give it a watch again (embedded below) and let me know (please)!