sunspot42's Profile

Looks nothing like Android or the Crayola-ized Windows Phone, with its ugly tiles in loud colors on an inky black background (a hideous style choice shared by Android).

I'm surprised it's not more Dieter Rams-esque. I thought it would be a total Braun-conversion given Ive's fetish for their design, but it looks as though he only went halfway between the look of iOS 6 and Ramsworld with his iOS 7.

Maybe iOS 8 will complete the transformation.

Anyhow, the functionality is much improved and it definitely looks much better. Fall can't come soon enough.

More fail from Microsoft. They've sunk well north of $30 billion now into their Entertainment division - most of that into the three models of XBoxes - and after years of losing money or just breaking even they're finally making a billion a year or so off of this massive money pit.

They would have been better off taking $30 billion worth of one dollar bills and burning them to generate electricity.

This latest thing has overpriced, intrusive cash sink written all over it. My guess is even the hardcore gamer crowd will end up avoiding it - and Microsoft's grubby, greedy hands - like the plague. No used games = no sale for probably half of all gamers.

Vinyl sounds like crap.

That having been said, I hate to see records chewed up by Crosley's junk. Spend a few bucks extra and buy a real turntable, not this cheap plastic record chewing toy.

Hipsters always find stupid ways to blow good money. Here's another.

I've been using CFLs for over a decade now - mostly cheap ones from IKEA at that - and I've never had any of the problems others report with color temperature or short lifespans. Last week I just replaced the first CFL to die since I moved to this apartment 4 years(!) ago.

I'm also not the least bit worried about the trace amount of mercury modern CFL's contain. It's elemental mercury, which is much less dangerous than the organic mercury that comes from burning coal, and which contaminates so much seafood these days. So long as you don't snort one if it breaks, you'll be fine. And they burn so much less power, even if you broke every one you used, you'd still be pumping less mercury into the environment than if you used incandescents.

That having been said, the LED bulbs are very promising, although what I'm really looking forward to are entirely new lighting fixtures that don't even rely on the traditional "lamp" form-factor, which LEDs are going to make possible.

I looked into getting one of these, but couldn't really afford to give up any counter space. So I got an 18" portable model instead. Takes up a bit of space in the kitchen, but it gives you another work surface, too. It's a Danby. Does an incredible job washing dishes, considering the price, though the standard cycle does take F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

Doesn't use much power though, and it uses very little water. Like, not even half a sink's worth for an entire pots-n-pans cycle. Amazing. Far more water-efficient than I am when I wash the dishes by hand.

The before was brown, battered and boring. The after is simply spectacular. Wonderful job!

For all those who have their panties in a wad because someone painted over a couple of square inches of wood, please do us all a favor: disconnect from the Internet and go move into a barn. You and we will all be much happier.

Yeah, the first digital computer game - a tic tac toe game - was developed in 1952!

Spacewar - probably the first game modern players would recognize as a traditional arcade videogame - dates to 1962. Of course, in those days it took an enormous DEC PDP-1 to play such a game.

There were analog based videogames as well.

I like it, but after sitting in one I'd be worried about stepping outside and getting chased by a weather balloon...

No way on earth are these things worth $400. You can get better for $120, like Audio-Technica ATH-M50's. They aren't ridiculously bass-heavy either, although I think they're capable of deeper and certainly more accurate bass.

The Beats earbuds are even worse, if you can believe it. Avoid them like the plague.