Weber 10020... because you still cant beat charcoal!

Though this is a portable grill, it is terrific for at home use if you're single, or have a small balcony apartment. It takes very little space, and is easy to maneuver when cleaning time comes.
I've used this gem for years. My apartments, on the whole, mandated the simplicity and efficiency offered up by the Smokey Joe.

A great feature is the rounded top. This enables better smoking, as air and smoke circulates more fluidly.

The downsides:
The legs aren't as sturdy as they could be. Given time, a bit of bumping around and general abuse, and the screwed on legs might turn askew. If you notice this while the grill is hot, you've a problem. The solution is to keep them tight during non-use.

The air intake at the bottom gets clogged with ashes. A key to good charcoal grilling is the manipulation of air flow. The intake might be open, but stopped up. If you are diligent to clean the ahes, you'll be OK.

Because the grill is so close to the ground, you need to be careful. Unlike most of Weber's grill, this one os also apt to getting kicked over, run into by dogs, cars and children.

I fully recommend Weber's Smokey Joe. Now, I'm hungry. Time to stir the coals and pop on a few brats.

PrePaid Legal...

I had to use this again to deal with a credit matter that I had thought done away with several times now. The provider law firm was so easy to speak with, they really helped me calm down and deal with this.

http://www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/eridlon

You owe it to yourself and your family to have this kind of help and protection.

Shakespeare One-Piece Heavy Action Ugly Stik Tiger Lite Casting Rod, 7-Feet

After a very high recommendation from a friend, I bought this rod for another friend. He likes to kayak fish and had been wanting to catch Halibut. He had been out several times and had not much luck catching a Halibut or anything else really. The very first day he used this pole he caught a 3 1/2 ft Halibut and the 2nd time he used it he caught another one too. This rod rocks. He says it holds up great in a fish fight but gives great sensitivity on the bottom too. So double thumbs up.

Optoma HD20 High Definition 1080p DLP Home Theater Projector

This was an upgrade for me from a 720p, DLP projector (Mitsubishi HD1000u). Initial impressions are very positive, based on about 10 hours of viewing & tweaking. Very quiet, and plenty bright running in low power mode. The high resolution (1920 X 1080) approaches that for a typical 2k digital cinema, so my 145" diagonal screen, viewed from about 15 feet distance, provides a very pleasing movie experience. That said, the increase in resolution from 720p is an incremental step, so it is not the be all and end all of image quality in projectors. More specifically the source material you feed it is what really brings out the quality. Many HD feed materials (from cable or satellite) don't ever approach the inherent resolution of the projector, so at this point only blu-ray source material will really give the utmost in high resolution detail (and not even all disks, depending on the original mastering, etc.). Black levels are similar to my previous DLP projector, so if you are obsessed with having pitch black star fields, you should opt for a pricier DLP or LCD projector, which may more closely approach jet black in those situations. I don't worry too much about this aspect, reminding myself that even film projectors don't provide jet black when the screen goes blank, so the HD20 actually matches the real cinema experience more closely (how's that for rationalizing why a cheaper projector is better!) . At this price level (<$1000) it is hard to imagine a bigger bang for the buck in terms of image quality. Finally, I highly recommend you check out www.avsforum.com , where there is an extensive discussion thread about this and competing projectors.

SentrySafe G1459E 14-Gun safe

I researched gun safes to death. I was looking for something simple where I could store my rifle, pistol, and compound bow with some room for expansion. My primary objective was to keep the little children from having access to firearms but I also wanted a digital (electronic) lock so I could get to them quickly. This safe is just what I wanted. It is also tall enough that I can add another shelf with some wood and fasteners and still have plenty of clearance. I found this safe for a few dollars cheaper at a big chain discount store, but the fine print on their shipping arrangements required that I have a dock for unloading or it would be extra to get it off the truck for "curbside" delivery. So I decided to go with Amazon.com and their shipper ABF not only delivered it into my entry-way but delivered it early because I was going to be out of town on the planned delivery date. I am so glad I went with Amazon.com, the quality customer service was well worth the few extra dollars!

Nokia E7-00 unlocked

First, I want to say, this is my first Symbian OS phone and it has it's issues. The UI is not as intuitive as an iPhone for example. There were several times I had to read the Help guide in order to figure out how to do some relatively easy things (like adding a non-predefined shortcut to an App onto the home screen). There are fewer apps available for Symbian and there's no SD memory slot. However, once you get used to navigating the Symbian OS's settings screens and get the 3 home screens setup the way you want, this phone cannot be beat. It is relatively quick, the switching between 3G and WiFi is flawless, the calls sound great, the video quality is the best I've ever seen on a phone (try uploading a digital copy of a blu-ray movie) and the keyboard is a joy to type on. Battery life is better than most and the 16 gig memory is sufficient. The Exchange integration is excellent and the OVI maps are awesome (The Trip Advisor integration is a nice touch too). It feels solid and looks great. After using various Android phones and an iPhone 4, I have to say this phone has them beat by far. Yes, there are some things that Android phones or iPhones do better, but overall, feature for feature, this phone is simply the best smartphone on the market at this time. If you want a phone just to play games on, buy an iPhone. If you want a phone that's more than a toy, buy the Nokia E7.

Go cast iron for life :-)

I own three pieces of cast iron cookware, and this item is one of them... and among my favorite cooking implements, period. In fact, I use this skillet most of all, and it doesn't even have a place in a cabinet! I keep it on the stove permanently, for that is how often I use it.

Beware that cast iron is not a quickie-cooking component (it takes time for the iron to heat, and it takes experience to gauge the iron's "perfect temperature" for sensitive dishes), but for dishes requiring steady, even heat and for cooks who require durable cookware with easy clean-up, cast iron CANNOT be beat!

This skillet is going to last forever. Its care is easy: I scrub it with hot water only, and dry it with an old rag and apply a thin layer of vegetable oil while the iron is still hot... a year and a half later, it's still rust-free and delivering the reliable service I have come to expect and admire. No scratches interfere with its performance, as is the case with my allegedly-long-lasting Wearever nonstick cookware set (what a waste of money THAT was!). Heck, I even use my cast-iron skillet for CREPES, and that's saying something! Despite the pan's weight, it's an immeasurably better nonstick crepe-cooker than teflon. In fact, I use my cast iron cookware for everything from french fries to spaghetti sauce to eggs and bacon to french toast! It's a dependable griddle, skillet, grill, and pot, and it goes right from the stovetop and into the oven for maximum versatility.

I am an avid home-chef, and I can say without exception that my cast-iron cookware is the best kitchen investment I've ever made.

Apple TV MC572LL/A

I own a Boxee, Roku and now Apple TV. It is hands down the best video streamer box on the market today. As expected from Apple, the menu system alone is worth every penny of paying a little more from Apple. The Netflix on my blueray, Roku and Boxee is pure crap. I was ready to turn off my Netflix until I tried the AppleTV box. Apple must have gotten special treatment from Netflix... but who cares. The menu is clean easy to use and responsive.

Additional features in the box like Youtube, podcasting and other stuff all follow the same format.

The remote control is a joy to use. the Roku remote tears my thumb off from too much use. My bluray player remote has blind bumps on it that make your thumb bleed from too much pressing. (Boxee has a decent remote control.)

Streaming from the iphone and ipad is simple. The box automatic recognizes the devices thru airplay.


A major flaw of the box is the Apple Movie rental portion of the box. I have purchased 3 movies from them. All took soooo long to buffer and stream. Dont even think about rewinding inside a movie, your stream will break and then you are in for another 20 min delay. I will never order a movie from Apple again until that is fixed.

TomTom XXL 540M 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

Everything is easy and enjoyable with it. This is my fourth TomTom. I keep buying them and give them away after using for a while. I have the big one so that I can see it without my glasses. I leave it on even driving locally as I can see when I am goin to arrive and speed limits/alerts. Never had the need for any kind of technical support, so I cant comment on that. I dont have the traffic update feature but a couple times when I ran into bad traffic, I just pushed alternate route and it sent me around it saving a great deal of time. Also I use it on my motorcycle. When I'm not using it, it's just rattling around in my saddle bag. Surprisingly, it takes the abuse. The screen has never got scratched or scuffed. The GPS that is an optional accessory for my bike is like $900. Whats up with that? Whatever extra it does, I don't need. The price for this particular model is unbelievably inexpensive. Like $100. Cant go wrong.

Onkyo TX-NR609 7.2 Channel Network THX Certified A/V Receiver

So far, I am really enjoying my TX-NR609. I upgraded from an old Technics 5.1 receiver that was over 10 years old and didn't have any of the new video formats for switching. The on screen display (OSD) is great - I really enjoy it for streaming audio and for USB connections such as our iPods. Though the OSD wasn't working originally when I got the system for USB and had to do a factory reset (thanks to Onkyo support for walking me through and helping with my problem). I only have my HDMI sources hooked into it so far and have not played..err..tested the video upconversion. The standby HDMI passthrough works most of the time with my DirecTV DVR. I have had motion video and no audio or audio and a static image on my screen. I did a firmware update (side note - it would be nice to know how to find current firmware loaded to know if there is an update) and it has helped some, but will have that problem every once in a while. My "fix" is to scroll through the format types of the DVR and that will re-sync the HDMI. Now onto the audio. Currently I am only using two Technics SB-LX90 tower speakers - 3 way with 15" woofers - and no other speakers (the receiver was the first part of my audio system remodel). The quality and clarity of the sound is as good or better than what I was used to with my old receiver. Though, I have noticed that I don't have as much thumping bass with the Onkyo as I did with the Technics - with 15s I used to shake the house and not need a separate sub, but no shaky-shaky now. Bass and Treble adjustments were a little hard to find especially compared to what I was used to with having a knob on the front panel. All in all, I'm happy with the Onkyo so far. Once I get a full surround system, I'll update my review on total sound quality.

Yamaha NS-SP1800BL 5.1-Channel Home Theater Speaker Package

You will not belive your ears. For the price you cannot get better sound. ou will need to spend 5 times or more to match, let alone beat the sound qualty. Sub is powered and all the speakers look great. They will look great on stands or on end tables like I have them. They are 6 ohms which means they need more power than 8 ohms speakers to get same result. I have them with yamaha 463 receiver and they sound great. I'am very happy.

DeLonghi EC155 Espresso Maker

I love espresso, and this little baby makes a great cup. Here are a few points that might be useful for you to know:

Good points:
*It doesn't take up too much room on the counter and looks nice with it's silver metal accents.
*The water reservoir is a good size, you can make about 8-10 shots before you need to refill it, which is very easy to do, and there is a clear section behind the basket which shows the water level.
*Fast heat-up time (only about a minute), good frothing wand, no wait time between frothing and brewing (though you do have to wait a little between brewing and frothing).

Be warned:
*Frothing wand is only 3 1/4 inches from the counter top. Not a big deal, I just went and bought a frothing cup that is about that height.
*Distance from grounds basket to tray is only 2 1/2 inches, I usually use a small espresso cup.
*Built-in tamper sucks, buy a good metal one.
*You don't end up with a nice dry puck, the grounds basket is a watery soup after your espresso is made, so I dump it down the disposal.
*You will end up drinking more espresso than you mean to, it's that good!

Seriously, I chose this machine after a lot of online researching, and decided on this one based on its outstanding reviews and great price. What led me to it were the reviews of another DeLonghi, the EC140B, which is an older and less attractive model, but had reviews from people who had owned theirs for 6 and 10 years! I'm hoping that this one will have the same longevity.

TETON Sports Explorer 4000 Internal Frame Backpack

This is my initial review on the bag. I will add a followup review after a 3 day backpacking trip next weekend.

Pros: (Quite a few, generally happy with initial inspection)
Lots of adjustments
A decent number of pockets and options for storage(example would be a mesh velcro pocket on the face of the bag good for maps, energy bars, etc.)
Straps seem to be of decent overall quality, and there is what looks like a sleeping bag/sleeping pad strap near the bottom of the bag. There is also two straps on the very top of the bag that seem like they could be used to strap something down. Nice to have the option to securely strap some gear to the outside of the bag.
2 Mesh water bottle pockets on either side, couldn't tell by the product description or pictures but they are there! Phew.
Bright Yellow Rain Cover is located in a nifty pocket at the very bottom of the bag, nice feature.
A few loops on the outside for strapping things down.
Holds up to a 3 liter bladder with an exit whole and clips to keep in reach.
Seems to be of Durable build and quality. Field tests soon.

Cons: (Only one real con for me, two cons if you are taller)
Sleeping bag compartment is SMALL, well actually its initially more of an issue with it's opening. I have a decently small winter bag that I can't fit in when its in it's stuff sack, at all. If I take the bag out of the stuff sack and stuff it into the compartment, it just BARELY fits, nice to know that it could though. For me, I will most likely use the straps on the outside of the bag to hold my sleeping bag, I have hooked it up and it seems to work pretty well(Almost like it was made to hold a sleeping bag). 4000ci is not that much room for a winter backpacking trip so having my sleeping bag on the outside will create a decent amount of space for say my clothes, sleeping pad, and cooking gear in the sleeping bag compartment. If you are someone who must have a sleeping bag compartment, this will work for summer camping but a winter sleeping bag will be very tough to fit in, the one and only con for me but big enough to deter some people. If you are someone who doesn't mind sticking the sleeping bag on the outside where it would work out just fine in the bag's straps, then this con is not that much of an issue.
Not for TALL people. This bag seems to fit me ok but I am not a very big guy. I'm about 5'9 - 5'10 and it is a close fit. I think it will work just perfectly for me but if you are above 6 ft or anything, beware(then again I am pretty new to backpacking and this is MY first pack).

Overall:
In the end, I bought this smaller bag over the cheaper and larger cuscus bags because of the many reviews those had with cheap build quality. They get a lot of space with their big bag but have a lot of issues with bag quality. I sacrificed some space for quality and extra features. I am a little disappointed by the small backpack compartment but if I have my pack on the outside, this bag should work quite perfectly. I'd say for summer camping this bag is Perfect and for winter camping, if you can stick your sleeping bag on the outside, this bag is near-perfect. I will do an update in about a week after I give this bag a good hard test.

Syma S107/S107G R/C Helicopter

The Syma S107 is so easy to control that on my first flight I had it tour my whole apartment, zooming in and out of closets and never touching an obstacle until I deliberately landed it. If you've never flown a good RC heli before, you might need to practice a bit. It might be your second or third flight before you get that good.

The S107 is *really* that easy to control.

I'm sure that many of you have played with Air Hogs and other micro helis and you long for a little heli that just plain flies where you want it to fly and stays up in the air. I'm here to tell you that such perfection is within your grasp.

Before I got my S107, I already owned two Syma S105s and I never get tired of flying them. They look almost identical to the S107 and the remote is identical, but they take a little bit of skill to fly with precision and I've made little tweaks here and there to get better control.

The S107 takes almost no skill to fly. They gyro makes it laughably easy to control. Just use it indoors, get it about 4 feet off the ground so that ground-effects don't mess with it, fly it a decent distance from air conditioning vents and the thing moves like it's hanging from a string on a stick.

That perfection is, perhaps, its one big flaw.

The thing is, I think the S105 is a bit more fun to play with. The S105 needs careful trimming at the beginning of each flight. The S105 tends to make broad turns, but pulls out sharply, risking blade-strikes, unexpected changes in direction and the occasional crash. It's incredibly easy to fly the S105, but even so every time that I fly one I grow more skillful with it.

The S107 just plain works. It goes where I point it.

I made one little change to my S107, taping a paperclip to the front to help it move forward more easily. That's the sum of all modifications that I made to mine. I can't find anything else to tweak. That's awesome. It's amazing. It's a fun thing to play with and the feeling of exhilaration endures even after many flights.

I heartily recommend this heli.

Le Pan TC 970 9.7-Inch Multi-Touch LCD Google Android Tablet PC

Who needs a tablet computer? That is what I've been saying to my Apple Fanboy friends since the iPad came out. Honestly, if it weren't for the Vine program, I would not have gotten a tablet.

My first impression, out of the box is, I'm impressed. It seems to act just like my Android phone. It is very responsive for a 1GHz cpu.

The instructions that come with it are non-existent, a card with where the buttons are. Their support page gives a URL error. Their FAQs has no entries except for the specs.

Cons:
* The sound is very tinny. It is not very good, especially compared to my friend's iPad.
* No rear facing camera. So this is only good for chat. Can't really take pictures or use a scanner app. A little disappointing.
* The auto-brightness doesn't work very well for me. I think it makes the display too dark under all lighting conditions.
* It cannot play trailers from apple.com/trailers.
* The system tutorial in Settings->About Tablet doesn't work. It just returns to the previous screen.
* Android 2.2 is not designed for tablets. Google said this.
* The wireless can use 802.11n but only the 2.4GHz band and not the less cluttered 5GHz band.
* My biggest complaint is that both the on/off and the volume buttons are very hard to use. They are too small or too recessed.

Pros:
* The display is very nice and a good size.
* Price, though I think they could have sprung for more than a 4gb card. Even my phone came with 8bg card.
* Battery life seems real good. I've been using it for over 3 hours over two days and it is at 56%.
* The Android system is a plus. I hope it can be upgraded to 3.0+
* It comes with the Kindle app installed and ebooks look real nice. I do still like my Kindle better since it is so much lighter.
* Touch screen is very sensitive. I find if I press too hard, it doesn't work. But of course that kind of sensitivity can be bad too, because I press things I don't mean to all the time.

Some other notes: I tried Firefox mobile on it. It doesn't feel like Firefox and the password manager doesn't allow for a master password and that made me nervous. Also flash did not work with Firefox, so I removed it. I do not like the generic Browser on Android. So I will be looking for a new one.

I installed the "Hackers Keyboard" from the app store and really like that. No more hunting around for special keys, they are all there.

I played some games that required interaction of the touch screen and the motion detections system. Both worked very well.

You might think from all my cons that I don't like this tablet, but that is incorrect. Most of the cons are nits. If you are looking for a device that you can sit on the couch with, browse the web and check email, this is it. It would be nice if the speakers sounded better (I'm looking for an equalizer app) and if the buttons were easier to use, but this is a very nice device for $350.

Sony Bloggie Touch (MHS-TS20/B) - 8 GB, 4 Hours NEWEST MODEL

I've had this camera for about a week now and have been loving it ever since. I've used another "flip" camcorder and the Bloggie Touch puts it to shame.

Pros:
1. Love the quick on and record. Great for spontaneous videos of the little one.
2. The touch screen interface makes it both useful and fun to use the big screen.
3. The still pictures come out brilliant, when the lighting and focus is good.
4. The battery charges up super fast and stays with you for a whole day of shooting.
5. The image stabilization is good. You can take decent video while walking around and panning too. Note that it is not optical, but electronic SteadyShot stabilization.
6. The lens is very good quality and the pictures are crisp.
7. Really like the "snap picture while recording" feature. I find myself using that feature the most. The video doesn't stall while the picture (full 12M resolution) is being taken and since the focus and exposure are usually locked well while you're in the middle of the video, the pictures come out great.

Cons:
1. In low lighting, there is quite a bit of graininess and using the digital zoom makes it much worse.
2. While the lens is good quality, the auto-focus mechanism is really very slow. If you move around the camera too much before focus has locked on, the auto-focus will almost never lock.
3. What I really miss with this camera is a flash. Even a tiny one would help with low light pictures.
4. Minor annoyance: to preview a picture right after you take it, you have to go through at least two clicks. Sony could have designed it so that it always goes to the last picture taken by default, instead of the thumbnail list of all pictures/video on the device.

I decided to purchase this camera over a still camera that can do video because:
1. This one is dead simple. One button to turn on, one to take video and one to take stills. This makes it both easy and quick to use.
2. This one can do 1080p video and 720p at 60fps.
3. Its under $200 and is smaller than your phone.
4. Its got internal flash and USB connector - no more SD cards or cables. 8GB is enough to get you through the day before you can come back to your laptop to dump the pictures.

I decided to purchase this camera over other ones in the same category because:
1. Its got a big display and the touch screen is fun to use.
2. Its got a better lens system than the others.
3. Its got (some) image stabilization.

Emotion Glide Kayak

I've been paddling inflatables for a quarter century. Every one of them has gotten a puncture, often leading to me taking an unexpected swim. It was time to move on to a hard shell.

My friends have thousand-dollar 16-foot kayaks that never leave the garage. I wanted a boat that I could easily throw into the water. At 38 pounds, I can carry this kayak short distances with one hand. With a length of 9'10", I can fit it inside my minivan so I don't have to mess with a roof rack. And since it's under ten feet, I don't need to buy an Oregon launch permit.

I have a fragile back and require good back support and adjustable foot pegs. This kayak has them.

The boat handles better than I expected. I can paddle in a straight line as fast as in the longer boats. It's a little more work to make a turn in still water, but I got used to that pretty quickly.

Bottom line: I'm buying a second Emotion Glide kayak so my daughter and I can paddle together.

Diamondback Recoil Full Suspension Mountain Bike (2011 Model, 26-Inch Wheels)

This is the first real bike that I have ever owned, so I don't know about the higher echelons of bike riding, but this bike is great. Breaks are fantastic, shocks work really well, its not too heavy, the tires are meaty, the frame is strong, and the gears shift smoothly. The first thing I did when I got this bike was put it together, which was real easy, and then tune it up just the way I like it, and then take it for a test run in the hills up behind my house, and I must say this bike can tare it up, weather I was pushing it up a steep rocky hill, or flying down a steep rocky hill this thing performed like a champ. It rides smooth, fast, and most important it is just plain fun. Like I said before I don't know a lot about high end bikes, so maybe someone with more knowledge might have a different opinion than I do, but for my first semi expensive bike I could not be happier.

DEWALT DCD760KL 18-Volt 1/2-Inch Cordless Compact Lithium-Ion Drill/Driver Kit

We go through a lot of cordless drills and had a lot of problems with the nicad batteries on the Milwaukee 18v drills and with the gearboxes of the Makitas (partly from operator misuse) and with the lithium-ion we decided to give the DeWalt drills a try. Very happy we did as they have a lot of power and 3-speed gearboxes. The hammer action is good enough for a 3/8" hole and the torque is good enough for even a 6" hole saw if it is one of the new kinds with the deep slots (Big Hawg and Blue Boar TCT).

Chuck is hard to untighten at first but it holds better than any other chuck I have used. The battery is the largest of any of our drills and also weighs more but gives a lot of power and lasts and lasts. Charge time is good and with the long life of the batteries I get through the day with only the original battery and seldom need to use the spare.

Side handle can be tightened in any position like the Bosch and Makita drills which I like but deWalt does not include a depth rod like Makita or a way to attach one later.

Buy this drill if you want the most powerful 18 volt drill around. Also has 2-year battery warranty.

HTC Thunderbolt 4g

As a previous iPhone 4 user, I would say I was apple brainwashed (or is it "applewashed"?) and thought the iPhone was the only smartphone worth considering. Well, the iPhone truly is a great phone, but a combination of AT&T's miserable service - including 5-10 dropped calls a day on average and terrible reception otherwise - the iPhone was often rendered a $700 smart paperweight unless WiFi was accessible. So why not get an iPhone 4 with Verizon you say? Well, after hearing about Verizon's new LTE network and the new HTC Thunderbolt I decided to take the plunge into Android for a change of pace.

I will not talk much about Android itself, well, because this isn't a review of Android. However, I will say that I really like HTC's Sense overlay and the level of customization that is possible. HTC's platform and the Android GUI's feature set is impressive compared to the iPhone's cut and dry. I love the widgets and having instant access to a bunch of useful information on the home screen.

So about the phone. The phone is substantially bigger if you are used to the iPhone. The size alone might rule this phone out for some people. It works out well for me since I have bigger hands and felt myself squinting at the iPhone screen. Reading and viewing text is made a very pleasurable experience on the Thunderbolt given the screen size. In terms of data speed, the phone is blisteringly fast when on Verizon's 4G. The speed of the GUI is smooth, albeit not as smooth as the iPhone 4. For example, when scrolling amongst apps, it's just not as fluid. It's not a deal breaker by any stretch and perhaps they might tweak this a bit in future OS revisions.

In terms of style, where the iPhone 4 is svelte, the Thunderbolt seems "all business". The case itself is robust and hefty but the material is actually a bit slippery - a good reason to opt for a rubberized cover of some sort. Nonetheless, it does feel good in the hand and quality made. I'd say the touch responsiveness with the capacitive screen is near equal to the iPhone's.

The camera is a downgrade from the iPhone 4 but is still passable. For me this really wasn't a big deal since I have this incredible invention called a digital camera for high quality photos.

The stock battery life is not as good as the iPhone, but it's also not bad at all for average use in my experience. Unless you are simultaneously streaming your HD soap opera over 4G, syncing 30 apps, playing Angry Birds, and listening to music through your bluetooth headphones, you'll probably find that the battery life is satisfactory. That being said, the iPhone 4 vs. HTC TBolt battery comparison is not truly apples to apples one (no pun intended) because the screen is so much larger on the HTC and it's running 4G. But guess what: you can actually replace the battery yourself without sacrificing your phone to Apple, and furthermore, you can replace the battery with an extended one if you need it. What luxury.

So there you have it. Coming from the iPhone 4 I feel like I made a great upgrade, and I am no longer having my blood sucked by AT&T. While both phones are without a doubt superb, my preference is for the HTC. Faster and better things will surely come down the pipe like they always do, but this is a great phone for the here and now.

Kindle 3g

All New, High Contrast E Ink Pearl Screen: Our graphite Kindle DX display uses the latest generation E Ink Pearl technology with 50% better contrast for the clearest text and sharpest images

Beautiful Large Display: The 9.7" diagonal E Ink screen is ideal for a broad range of reading material, including graphic-rich books, PDFs, newspapers, magazines, and blogs

Read in Sunlight with No Glare: Unlike backlit computer or LCD screens, Kindle DX's display looks and reads like real paper, with no glare. Read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room

Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines

Books In Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered wirelessly in less than 60 seconds; no PC required

Free 3G Wireless: No monthly payments, no annual contracts. Download books anywhere, anytime

Long Battery Life: Read for up to 1 week on a single charge with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for two to three weeks.

Carry Your Library: Holds up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents

Buy Once, Read Everywhere: Kindle books can be read on all your devices. Our Whispersync technology saves and synchronizes your Kindle library and last page read across your Kindle(s), PC, iPhone, Mac, iPad, Android device, and BlackBerry device

Share Meaningful Passages: Share your passion for reading with friends and family by posting meaningful passages to Twitter and Facebook directly from your Kindle

Global Coverage: Enjoy wireless coverage at home or abroad in over 100 countries. See details. Check wireless coverage map.

Built-In PDF Reader: Carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go. Now with Zoom capability to easily view small print and detailed tables or graphics

Auto-Rotating Screen: Display auto-rotates from portrait to landscape as you turn the device so you can view full-width maps, graphs, tables, and Web pages

Read-to-Me: With the text-to-speech feature, Kindle DX can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book's rights holder made the feature unavailable

Large Selection: Over 950,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including 107 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs. For non-U.S. customers, content availability and pricing will vary. Check your country.

Out-of-Copyright, Pre-1923 Books: Over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are available to read on Kindle, including titles such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, and Treasure Island. Learn more

Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases from $9.99.

Free Book Samples: Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy

Playstation network got you down? why not go xbox?

Xbox has the most reliable gaming servers out there... period. I have been an xbox user for years now, though the birth of my daughter has turned it into a netflix box more than anything lately. I am sure however that I will soon enough get back to my games and with Kinect for xbox the young one will be gaming sooner than I would have thought possible previously too :-)

Today I talk about WoW

I used to suck, seriously, it took me years before i ever stuck with one character long enough to get to top level, now i have 3 at 85( and those were from scratch in the last month) I got there by getting coaching, and here is where i got it.

Click Here!