Tech Blog

Today I review a "book." No, seriously. I know we all got into techy stuff so we wouldn't have to do anything as boring as look at "words" on bundles of "paper," so much so that you may just be wondering what a "buk" even is. Well, it is a medium, under which a message can be delivered. Or wait... is the medium the message itself? Read more...

The Splinter Cell series refined the stealth-action genre and took it to new heights with the sublime Splinter Cell, the perfect Double Agent, and the acclaimed Chaos Theory. Ubisoft has laboured long to bring us the next iteration of the series, allowing us to step into the shoes of Sam Fisher once again–this time in HD!

3D Dot Game Heroes is a game that, given the cruel nature of the universe, shouldn’t have been made. Thankfully, though, the folks at FROM software and Atlus Games shake their fist at the status quo, and have brought us yet another gem. Read more...

And it should stay that way. You're going to see a lot of lies in the media over the next few weeks, so click through here to get the facts. Read more...

I do frequently talk about the -- sadly Toronto-only, unless you're willing to make the potentially massive trip from potentially distant parts of Canada -- Hand Eye Society here at the Tech Blog, so you know whether to tune in our out by this point. However! If you're within spitting distance of the Unit Bar at 1198 Queen West (note: we're assuming you can spit tens of miles) this Thursday, May 27th there will be another social event. Read more...

Rogers announced today that it took its On Demand Online service out of beta and is officially launching it to all Canadians. The site will be open to both visitors and existing Rogers customers (Internet, wireless, TV or home phone), though the latter group will get more perks when it comes to available content. Read more...

Nero’s name has been synonymous with burning CDs and DVDs, but the company has developed software that goes well beyond just basic burning. Since optical media is on its way out, the reinvention of the Nero brand has already begun, and this year’s Multimedia Suite 10 is a good step in that direction. Read more...

After a 16-year long second-party relationship with Sony Computer Entertainment, the team behind the Ratchet & Clank series have announced their next big gaming franchise will be hitting the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. Insomniac Games has been producing games exclusively for the PlayStation family of consoles since their very first title, the first-person shooter Disruptor, hit the PSOne back in 1996. Read more...

Apple decided to phase the release of the iPad so that US merchants were able to sell the units (in the US) much earlier than merchants in ROW (Rest Of World) nations could, due to manufacturing process concerns. Which is cool, because Asian factories can only churn out so many iPads per day. And managing the release ensures that Apple can manage the PR and media blitz (hype) surrounding the ROW releases. Read more...

Red Dead Redemption hit the shelves last week, but it didn’t stay there long. As the latest release from Rockstar it joined the illustrious ranks of their top sellers as a day one hit, proving wrong all of the critics (well hello there, Michael Pachter) who said that a video game western just wouldn’t fly. I’m thrilled that gamers have given it a chance, because it’s absolutely worth every penny you’ll pay for it.

Traveling with a laptop is always a bit of a challenge, especially if your flight exceeds 3 hours or so. That’s why I was rather interested when I was offered the chance to check out the 15 inch HP Envy -- especially when I was allowed to take it on my recent vacation to Hawaii. Read more...

Okay, show of hands, how many people never bothered to set the clock on their VCR? No, I'm not talking about not knowing how, I'm talking about not caring enough to do it. I used to set the time on the VCR, until I realized that it didn't really matter. I didn't record things with it, much less record things that had some temporal requirement (recording x show at y time). Eventually, and I do remember this being exciting, someone came up with the idea of VCR+ codes. A series of numbers that when you used with VCR+ enabled VCRs, could be used to set the VCR to record a certain program at a certain time. Well, those days have drawn to a close. VCR+ codes are no longer being generated. Read more...

When was the last time you used IM? If you used something like MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, GTalk, Skype, etc even relatively recently, it seems that you're in the minority of Internet users. According to the BBC (via CrunchBase), only 5% of British Internet users' online time was spent using IM, compare that to 14% in 2007. Hmm. Some folks are drawing the conclusion that IM is falling by the wayside and on a slow slide to death. I think this is just a mite over the top. To me I think this is a sign of technology maturing. Read more...

Facebook privacy issues ruled the news last week, and this update reflects it. But, there were also a number of other interesting tidbits including a new functionality for Hotmail, GoogleTV, and some interesting news from Apple... Read more...