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First Experiences With Minecraft

Minecraft has grown to become a very popular sandbox construction game with over 4 million downloads. It has been around for a couple years now, but the full game was not officially released until November 18, 2011. A couple days ago, I decided to take the plunge and buy it. So what have my first few days with Minecraft been like?

Just starting out spawning at night.

Well my first time playing the game was actually with three of my friends. As soon as I finished downloading the game, I sent my bud Preston a text and got into a server with him and some others. Minecraft is a surprisingly large game with tons of possibilities. I feel that it almost would have been overwhelming if I didn’t first play with some friends. As I played the game, with their guidance, I pretty quickly got the hang of it.

Home Sweet Minecraft Home

The first steps in Minecraft involve, well, mining. As you break down pieces of the environment (commonly referred to as “blocks”), you get items to use in various ways. Early on you will be crafting these items into important tools, and more. Almost everything can be broken down in some way and turned into something else. For more info on early building and crafting help take a look at minecraftwiki.net. The more I played, the more I wondered: “What is the point of Minecraft?”

 I then realized something important. There is no absolute point to Minecraft. There is no boss to kill, no princess to save, no final objective to accomplish. The point of it all is to just play. You get to test your creative limits with the tools presented before you. As you pick up more of the game, ideas will pop into your head of things to try, like buildings to create. It almost can be compared to playing with Legos. This style of sandbox, open-ended game may not be for everyone, but it definitely has some appeal.

 I can only encourage everyone out there to give the game a shot. Maybe head over to minecraft.net and play the classic version before you spend any money on the game. (Side note, the full game has absolutely no DRM when purchased. Being an avid hater of DRM, I love that.) If you already play the game, or buy it and want to have some fun in a server, leave a comment.

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ASUS K53E Laptop Review

After I recently enrolled in college classes, I quickly found that I needed a laptop to survive. So I did something I rarely do, especially with technology. I gathered what money I could, and went to the store only knowing what type of technology I wanted to buy, as opposed to having the specific brand and item already researched and selected. My search landed me at a local Bestbuy, I walked over the laptop section and found my new notebook: The ASUS K53E.

ASUS K53E

The K53E is a budget priced, user friendly laptop. So to start let’s go over the basic specs. It includes a 15.6” screen at a resolution of 1366 x 768. In addition, is has a VGA webcam, an HDMI port, 4 usb ports and the standard audio ports. Inside it has an Intel core i3 processor @ 2.3 GHz, 4 Gbs of RAM and includes the 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium. Not exactly mind blowing specs but definitely enough to work with.

In general I use my ASUS K53E for regular everyday applications like word processing, internet browsing, and basic multimedia. I have had no problems with the laptop so far. It has handled my school assignments well. For one class I have to run a virtual copy of Microsoft Office, while the virtual program itself is frustrating, it has ran very well. I have been able to run multiple different programs at once without any hiccups. The battery usually lasts me about 5 hours of normal use, and that is without changing any settings to get the most life out of it. I have been able to get everything I hoped for in this laptop.

On the hardware side, it has been great as well. The trackpad is easy to use and responsive. Typing on the keyboard is comfortable and efficient. I haven’t used the webcam much yet, but it has been decent. Pictures and video from it are not the best looking but definitely good enough. The speakers are actually pretty good, for built a built in set. However, I am picky with audio so I usually have the laptop hooked up to my sound system in my room.

I was actually worried a little, I hate purchasing technology without first researching it. However, this laptop has been wonderful. It is definitely low end, but that is expected at a price of $450. For a last minute, budget priced, no time to search around purchase I am very satisfied. Hopefully you aren’t expecting a review score, grade or number though. That won’t be happening.

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CES 2012 The Start of A Great Year!

Toys and Geek CES 2012

Hello again friends! This year at CES, the Consumer Electronics Show has unveiled some very impressive hardware.  So far we have seen Ultrabooks, TV’s, Cameras, and Phones.

Samsung really stole the show this year by releasing a ton of amazing products. Ill go more in depth with some of the products that I think are going to make a splash in the industry this year.

Starting off!

Samsung Galaxy Note and Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD

Both coming soon to AT&T, the Note has a 5.3″ screen and is the world’s first HD Super AMOLEDdisplay of that size, with a whopping 1200 x 800 pixel resolution. The android powered device also features the S Pen, a pressure- and speed sensitive stylus suitable for drawing as well as writing. It is also supposed to be coming with LTE Support.

The Skyrocket HD is featuring a 4.65″ HD Super AMOLED display with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor under the hood, Skyrocket HD is also built on the androidoperating system and boasts a super-slim, 9.27mm profile. Some super sweet hardware if i say so myself!

Samsung Series 5 Ultrabooks

The Series 5 notebooks come with 13- or 14-inch displays, with price tags starting at $899. Like the Series 9s, these babies both include Intel Core i5 processors and 4GB of RAM, but they come with traditional 500GB hard-disk drives as standard, not solid-state drives.

Each Series 5 notebook offers eight hours of battery life in between charges, in addition to integrated graphics and a 1366 x 768 resolution matte display. Though neither offers an SSD as standard, they do feature 16GB of express cache for faster boot times and snappier processes. If you choose to, you can have a 128GB SSD fitted into the 13-inch machine before Samsungsends it out, but it’ll bump the price up from $899 to $1,099.

You may be surprised to find that the 14-inch model also boasts an optical drive — making it one of the first certified Ultrabooks on the marketthat’s compatible with your CD’s and DVD’s — and a VGA output. There’s also plenty of other connectivity options: Both machines offer SD card slots (the 14-inch model has a larger reader), Ethernet, HDMI, one USB3.0 socket, and two USB 2.0 sockets. That’s a lot more than you’ll get on most Ultrabooks.

Prices start at a rather pleasing $899 for the 13-inch machine, increasing to $949 for the 14-inch model. Both will be available starting January 30.

As well we also saw the redesigned Series 9 Laptops.

The Korean company has unveiled 13- and 15-inch models at CES in Las Vegas today, priced at $1,499 and $1,599 respectively. Both machines pack Intel Core i5 processors, 4GB of RAM, and solid-state drives as standard.

The new 13-inch model weighs in at 2.5 pounds, which is slightly less that its 2.8-pound predecessor, but isn’t labeled an “Ultrabook.” Instead, Samsung is choosing the market the device as a premium laptop. Though it’s hard not to compare the device with Apple’s Macbook Air, which, let’s face it, is what manufacturers are currently trying to compete with.

For me, the Series 9 does an outstanding job at competing. That solid aluminum unibody is beautiful, and it packs some pretty impressive specifications. Both models feature Intel’s Core i5 processors, 4GB of RAM, 128GB solid-state drives, and backlit keyboards; while the battery will provide up to six hours of use between charges. Both machines are lacking an optical drive, though they do feature SD card slots.

Samsung TV’s

Its latest flagship television set is the ES8000 LED TV. The ES8000 offers a dual-core processor that provides true multitasking and seamless switching between Smart TV applications, allowing you to surf the web while you download or use other applications in the background. For example, you can switch to the NFL app to check the latest score, halfway through a movie you’re watching in Netflix. When you switch back, the movie will resume right where you left off.

All these features are packed into a beautiful set that has hardly any bezel, and a fancy swooping stand that really is a stunner. It has a built-in webcam that allows you to interact with the set using your voice and Kinect-like motion controls with a new featurecalled Smart Interaction.

Not to mention the sweet 55 inch Super OLED TV!

Samsung promises its new TV will eliminate the need for a color filter with RGB sub-pixels, making for unparalleled picture-esque richness and eye-popping brightness. The new technology will all but do away with motion blur in action packed sequences as well (yay for sports!), the company said. The sub-pixels will also allow greater viewer visibility for fine details in the darkest of scenes.

In addition, the TV will feature Samsung’s “Smart Interation” technology through built in mics and an integrated webcam to allow for facial recognition and voice control. On the inside, the TV comes equipped with a dual-core processor that will certainly give it the chops to run the company’s over 1,400 Smart TV apps. Of course, Samsung’s unnamed TV with come with 3D, too.

There is so much more to talk about for CES, but this rounds up what Samsung has to offer to start off the year. Be sure to keep reading for much more on CES and all things Toys and Geek! See you later my friends!

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