The Joker takes over the Gotham underworld
I first mentioned the Batman: Black and White Motion Comic a couple weeks back and went on bit about how much I’m in love with ol’ Bats and how we’re getting married and planning our lives together. Hmmm, actually I may …
Continue reading about Batman motion comic impresses, but is it worth your 99 cents?
Editor’s note: From now through the end of December, various Crave experts will be sharing their top five (mostly) tech-related wishes for the holiday season. See what we crave, and maybe you’ll get some ideas!
Eric's video game skills are MIA. And he wants them back.
1. iRobot Roomba. Yeah sure, these things have been around for years now, but I’m not the type of person who jumps all over new technology as soon as it’s available. For me, there needs to be a necessity. Case in point, my new DVR. I mean, look at my face in that pic. It’s the kind of face that causes you to think, “How could someone over the age of 20 and under the age of 60 be that excited about a DVR in 2008?” And yet, there I am. It wasn’t until I determined that a DVR was necessary for me to feel better about myself as a human that I got one.
Recently, my girlfriend and I got two black cats that shed. A lot. They also track tons of litter around the house. I’d prefer not to vacuum. I thought, “Do I have any young desperate relatives that I could pay 5 cents a week to come clean my house?” When that fell through, I thought, “Robots.”
2. A Men’s Health subscription that doesn’t suck. Not exactly tech related, but it needs to be said. I love reading this magazine. Sure, they recycle a lot of the stories and workouts from previous issues, but I can always find one or two things in each issue that are useful.
If you’ve ever had a subscription to Men’s Health, you know it does not come without strings attached. These strings assume the form of “free” books that they send you. Now, there is sometimes some new and useful information in them. That’s not the problem. The problem is that they send you these at their own discretion and usually accompanied by a letter telling you how excited you should be that you have access to this free book for the next 10 days. If you’re unsatisfied, send it back within the 10 days at no charge and you’re done. If you keep it beyond the trial, you’ll be charged.
This is a trap, plain and simple. They know most guys aren’t going to bother going through the trouble of sending this thing back. They’ll either keep it out of laziness (like me) or actually find a reason inside the book–probably a flimsy one–to justify keeping it. So yes, my Men’s Health subscription sucks because I am lazy.
3. Video card upgrade. OK, I currently own an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS.
While a year or so ago this would have been pushing the cutting edge, it’s now yesterday’s news, a card that drops as low as 10 frames per second at peak times in Dalaran in Wrath of the Lich King. That is unacceptable. I’m not even sure the last time I’ve seen anything near a steady 60 fps.
…
Continue reading about ‘Tis the season to Crave: Eric Franklin’s picks
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)After a little teasing, we finally have the full review of the Apple 24-inch LED Cinema Display.
The most disappointing thing about the display is that unless you own a MacBook with a Mini DisplayPort connection, you won’t be able to use it. That …
Continue reading about Chances are, you can’t use Apple’s new LED display yet
"Should I drive home or not? Luckily I have this useful tool that will make the decision for me."
(Credit: davidsteele.com)
So you’re at a party late one night. You really hadn’t planned on getting this drunk. Who knows, though, maybe you’re not as …
Continue reading about Cool party favor or life-saving tool? You be the judge
Wayne Cunningham is an evil, evil man who obviously takes pleasure in the suffering of others. Case in point: Midnight Club Los Angeles. A few weeks ago Wayne offered me a copy of the game on the Xbox 360.
I went down to Wayne’s lair office and asked for the game. When dealing with the devil there are always strings attached, and before I could leave his office he asked me to make sure I write something up on the game. Damn. OK, playing games is one thing, but the pressure to actually have to write something up on it afterward changes the experience. Now I actually have to play it sometime soon and pay attention.
Motorcycles?!! Wow, i haven't gotten that far yet.
(Credit: Rockstar Games)
This won’t be a review of the game. I haven’t spent nearly enough time with it for that. No, this will be more of an assessment of how seemingly pathetic my gaming skills have gotten since I began playing World of Warcraft.
I’ve always considered my myself a good gamer as far as skill goes. I was never at the level of the savants who come into an arcade and beat you silly while hardly looking at the screen. My skill was always at a level where I could beat most players that I encountered, no matter the game, and I finished most games (at normal difficulty) the same day I started playing them.
So imagine my surprise when Midnight Club Los Angeles proceeded to chew me up and spit me out in the first few hours of play. The game is a street racer. You basically drive around L.A., looking for computer-controlled opponents to race.
In those first few hours, I could not for the life of me win a single race. Not even the first race, which in games is usually a freebie designed to teach you the basic concept and make you feel better about yourself by making it very easy to win.
…
Originally posted at The Car Tech blog
Continue reading about From regret to redemption: My experience with ‘Midnight Club LA’
That little controller saves lives. Well maybe not lives per se, but at least money, which can equal lives. Yeah, that's it.
(Credit: Microsoft)
Hey kids. You know how your parents tell you you’re never going to learn anything if you keep playing video games? Well, they’…
Continue reading about Wits, tech, and a bit of luck locate stolen Xbox
I don't mind admitting that I cringe every time I look at this picture.
(Credit: CCTV)
When I first heard about this story, it was the picture on the right that caused my disappointment. But we’ll get to that later.
CCTV is reporting that a man in …
Continue reading about ‘Warcraft’-themed restaurant: Nerdy, but not nearly nerdy enough
Even though we don't actually talk about Nas, Dong does get all Illmatic as always.
Another short, but incredibly worldchangingly (look it up people) awesome episode in the can. First off, we have a very strange deja vu-ish intro that, if you’ve been listening closely to previous …
Originally posted at Inside CNET Labs Podcast
Continue reading about Inside CNET Labs 25: Of NAS and mapped networks
It's just the back, but oh, what a smooth back. Click on the above photo for more images of the display.
(Credit: Eric Franklin/CBS Interactive)
We got the Apple LED Cinema Display in Thursday, and well, it looks nice. No idea how it performs yet, as thanks …
Continue reading about Photos: Apple LED Cinema Display from all angles
Chumby, the future of gamin’? No, but a cool port.
(Credit: Bunnie Studios)
From the “unlikely, but not really unlikely” (especially given the open-source nature of the platform) section of geeky tech comes news that a developer at Chumby has fully ported Quake to the cuddly little system.
The developer …
Continue reading about Excessive cuteness, meet excessive violence (circa 1996)