W♥M

Lenovo Smart Frame coming soon

Read More Lenovo With Lenovo Smart Display, it’s pretty much free. If you want music, you can upload all your MP3s to Google Music and access them via the Smart Display. Of course, if you prefer, you can subscribe to Google Music, YouTube Music …

Shortly after being disappointed at the Google Nest Hub Max in last week (particularly the low resolution of the screen and inability to use Nest’s camera because I had a G Suite Account), I decided to see what their competitor, Lenovo was up to - and was very excited to see that they will be releasing the Lenovo Smart Frame!

I’ll explain why I’m so excited, but first let me do a quick round up of my ownership of digital photo frames. What I own so far:

Lenovo Smart Display 10”

Lenovo Smart Display 8” (I own two of these)

Google Nest Hub Max

Lenovo Smart Tab M10 (with Amazon Echo Show).

Amazon Echo Show (1st Generation)

Kodak EasyShare 7” Digital Photo Frame

I’m only using the Lenovo and Google displays at the moment. The ones I’m not using, I’ll further explain why they aren’t very good. The Kodak frame simply sucked - the display is terrible and it’s not internet connected. I bought it under clearance for $17, and still regret paying that much for this none-useful device. The Amazon devices, at first, I was excited. However, soon after using them, I realized every little thing I wanted, Amazon wanted me to pay money to use (including the ability to display my personal photos)… which I refuse to pay a reoccurring fee just to view my photos.

Why I am so excited about the Lenovo Smart Frame is that I’m really interested in a larger photo frame, and this 21” display would eclipse my 10” screens. It’s internet-connected and will work with my existing Google Photos, so I don’t have to do any work in setting up images for the frame. They also stressed that the display will automatically adjust the brightness and colors of your photos / art to match the ambient light in your room. This is the key, since you don’t want a bright display when you turn off the lights. My existing Lenovo smart displays already does this, and I think it’s wonderful (when you turn off the lights the screen is very dim).

There’s speakers and ability to use touchless controls - so I am thinking they might incorporate music or video control playback… which is interesting, but I’m not sure if I would be interested in those features (but obviously would still be nice if they included it out of the box). The other feature I would just like to see is the local temperature and clock, even though you don’t see them on the website. Maybe just include an option for that, for those that wants it.

The retail price for the Smart Frame will be $299, however, if you support or pre-order through IndieGoGo, you can get it for $150… which I think is a much fairer and more attractive price. They took down the date, but the pending date I saw was August 2020.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Google Nest Hub Max

Read More Lenovo With Lenovo Smart Display, it’s pretty much free. If you want music, you can upload all your MP3s to Google Music and access them via the Smart Display. Of course, if you prefer, you can subscribe to Google Music, YouTube Music …

When I first experimented with the “Smart Display” market, I started with Amazon Echo Show… mostly because it was first to market and the pricing was attractive with flash sales.

At first, it was great… but as I used it more and more, I started to see its limitation. I soon realized that Amazon just basically wanted me to pay for all of its services. For example, if I wanted to listen music, I would have to pay its Amazon Music subscription. If I wanted to display my photos (to use the Echo Show as a photo frame), I would have to pay for Amazon Drive (which comes with a Photo service). Want to watch movies? Amazon Prime, etc. It’s that classic razer blade strategy - get them in with a cheap product, but sell them reoccurring blades or services.

When the Lenovo Smart Display was announced, I quickly jumped ship. Switching over to Lenovo meant that we had to become a Google home, as everything is built around the Google Home Hub application. If you don’t mind giving Google your information, you can use many of their services - for free. That’s the attractive thing, it’s mostly free.

Using Google Music, I can stream all my music on the Smart Display. Using Google Photos, I can setup my display as a digital photo frame. It is awesome… and for the most part, they are all free services.

I love the Lenovo Smart Displays, I currently own three of them (one 10” and two 8”). I was eagerly looking forward to buying larger displays or a better redesign… but unfortunately the new redesigned is a smaller version: a 7” display.

As stores like Best Buy are phasing out the Lenovo Smart Displays in favor of Google Nest Hub (7”) and the Google Nest Hub Max (10”), I decided to get a Hub Max on sale. The Nest Hub is a re-branding from Google Home Hub.

The key differences (and improvements) in the Nest Hub 10” vs Lenovo Smart Display 10” is that the audio is a million times better thanks to its 3” subwoofer. The Nest Hub also features a better microphone to hear over distance and has an “ultrasound sensing” technology (to recognize the tiniest “hey google”).

If you have a Nest account, you can use the Nest Hub to spy, I mean view your room, as a security camera. Unfortunately, it does not work if you have a G Suite Account. You need a raw Gmail account… so this feature is useless to me.

There’s also face recognition, to display your personal calendar, but because I’m the only user in the household, this feature is somewhat useless to me.

Now, for the main reason why I am going to not recommend the Google Nest Hub Max: the screen is simply terrible. It is only 1280 x 800 pixels. You might think, oh that’s not so bad. But when you were going from an HD display from the Lenovo 10” at 1920 x 1200 pixels, you can clearly see the differences. The Lenovo displays are amazingly better, thanks to the high resolution, but also deeper blacks.

The final nail against Google is its price. The Nest Hub Max retails for $229, while you can get the Lenovo Smart Display 10” for around $149. Personally speaking, based on my own needs (since many of Nest’s features doesn’t work for me), I would just go with the cheaper (and better) Lenovo Smart Display 10”.

The Lenovo Smart Display does almost everything that the Google Nest Hub Max does, and despite a worst speaker system, I can live with that over a better screen.

P.S. I tried to use the Google Nest Hub Max as my main display on my desk for a few hours, but staring at that awful screen, I simply had to swap it back to my original Lenovo Smart Display.

Breakdown below:

Product:	Echo Show (New)	Lenovo Smart Display	Google Nest Hub Max
Price:	$229.99	$149 (10”)	$229
Release:	October 11, 2018	July 2018	September 2019
Size/Resolution:	10”/1280 x 800	10”/1920 x 1200	10”/1280 x 800
Speakers:	2 x 10W and Dolby processing for room-filling sound	2" 10W Full Range Speaker, 2 x Passive Tweeters	Stereo speaker system (2x 18mm 10W tweeters, 1x 75mm 30W woofer)
Camera:	5MP	5 MP Wide Angle	6.5-megapixel camera with 127-degree wide field of view
Processor:	Intel Atom x5-Z8350	Qualcomm® Home Hub Platform (Snapdragon™ 624, Octa-Core A53 1.8 GHz, 14 nm)	Amlogic T931 chip
Software:	Amazon Products (Amazon Music, Videos, Photos) ($) Hulu CNN NBC Spotify Ring	Google Products (Google Music, Videos, Photos) (free) Google Podcast Google Duo YouTube Chromecast HBO Now Spotify Pandora	Google Products (Google Music, Videos, Photos) (free) Nest Camera Google Podcast Google Duo YouTube Chromecast HBO Now Spotify Pandora

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Why I'm leaving Amazon for Best Buy

Read More Best Buy Check out the exclusive Best Buy Edition, which is a double-disc digipak with six extra tracks. The new tracks are: Scandinavia One of Our Own …

Look, we all know that Amazon has sucked lately, thanks to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, they’ve taken weeks, if not months, to deliver products that they deemed non-essential.

I am a Prime Member, by accident, and it used to be that I would get everything I ordered within two days, sometime next day! It was awesome, and I would order things from Amazon all the time. Then, it started taking things four, five, and now weeks later (this all started since December 2019 when they ended their contract with FedEx). I finally got an item that I ordered over a month ago, and it was the final straw. I’ve decided to shift all my electronic purchases to Best Buy.

With Best Buy, you can choose to have curb-side pickup (and I’ve done this to test it out) or you can get things shipped to you (usually for free). If you look over their My Best Buy Benefits section, at the free level, you can get free shipping if you spend over $35. I’m an Elite Plus member, meaning that I get free two-day shipping… which is above and beyond whatever Amazon is offering (at the moment).

In addition, I’ve also started buying directly from the manufacturer… the first time that I’ve started dabbing in this. Overall, it’s not bad buying direct. Sure, it can be more expensive or you’ll have to pay for shipping, but if it means I can get things sent to me in a timely manner, then I don’t mind.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Sci-Fi and Fantasy Television shows of 2019

Watchmen Read More Watchmen Anyway, I'll be taking it easy today, maybe re-read The Watchmen as I just saw the movie in theater over the weekend and was really impressed. As an old comic book fan (especially when it comes to the genius of Alan Moore), I loved it - …

Read more Television.

WATCHMEN
hbo.com/watchmen

HBO’s Watchmen Television show is possibly my favorite TV show of 2019.

The TV show expands on the influential Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons comic book… and it totally works. Instead of re-telling the story in a television format (like how the movie retold the graphic novel), what the show producers did was tell a different story – one set 30 years after the original event. And they honor the original work, by keep in the giant squid monster and going with that idea (in the movie, they changed the ending). It’s clear to me, based on all the homages that the writers all knew (and are fans) of the source material. It’s the love of those things that expands into their story.

One of the coolest thing they did in the show was give Hooded Justice an origin story. And you’ll never guess who and why he wears the hood! It’s unbelievable smart how they answered all the questions you may or may not have about the first “super hero”. In the comic book, they reference the original Minutemen, but you never really got much of a back story for any of those characters… so it’s very cool that the TV show explored Hooded Justice.

As a big fan of the graphic novel, I’m going to have to give it a big thumbs up. I love the comic book, and seeing that story taken to the next step, I love it. Unfortunately, I feel sometime that fans unfamiliar with the comic book (or have only seen the movie), might not fully enjoy all the little Easter “Eggs”, or somewhat complicated plot in the show. The show might be too clever for the average viewer.

I don’t think show creator, Damon Lindelof, should do a Season 2, there’s really no good reasons for them to continue this story.

Witcher Read More The Witcher I also picked up The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, at Walmart, which came with a lot of bonus items like a DVD and Soundtrack (all at the normal cost of a game product). They are on the right track, I definitely …

WITCHER
netflix.com

Critics absolutely hates Netflix’s The Witcher. The reason is that they don’t generally love the source material (a series of fantasy books) and they don’t play the video games. Since they don’t know the books or games, there’s a disconnect and they’re just lost and confused. One critic was so bored, he or she skipped a few episodes to get the plot moving. One critic just cringed at all the nudity.

Sure, there’s nudity, and actress Anya Chalotra (Yennefer) is very comfortable in her birthday suit, but who cares? I didn’t mind it and I think it’s true to the Witcher universe.

I think the biggest problem I have with the show is that I might know too much about the world of the Witcher (via the CD Projekt Red’s games) and was very disappointed to see that the actress (Anna Shaffer) that played Triss Merigold isn’t a redhead (as seen in the game).

I also have a certain vision of Ciri (from the game) that didn’t entirely matched with actress Freya Allan. I know not everyone is going look like the video game, but c’mon, Henry Cavill, is a straight match for the video game version of Geralt of Rivia, even down his “hmph” and talking to Roach, his horse.

I guess it just comes down to if the actress is good, it shouldn’t matter what they look like.

Anyway, the wide divide of critics vs fans is obvious to me - this genre television is meant for fans and clearly not directed to “professional” critics. If you look at Rotten Tomatoes, this divide is also seen in The Orville (fans love it, critics hated it) and Batwoman (fans hated it, critics loved it). As a fan of the game and television, I would have to think that the critics just don’t understand.

Expanse Season 4 Read More The Expanse Song of the Show: "Heroes" by David Bowie BONUS: The Walking Dead: Season 6 (part one), The Expanse. …

EXPANSE
amazon.com

Possibly the best Science Fiction television show on air right now is The Expanse (no, it’s not Star Trek: Discovery). As I previously mentioned, I love this show.

In the world of the Expanse, there are three major factions: Earth, Mars, and the Belters… and the show is so smart (or rather the books it was based on is so smart), that it looks the long-term effect of living without gravity, etc.

Originally, SyFy produced the show. It was probably too expensive for the network and probably wasn’t worth what they were paying for their audience. The show looks fantastic, and the stories are amazing.

Admittedly, the show does take a little patience. The first three season of the Expanse is actually just the “setup” to what the Expanse is really about! It’s so epic, that it took that long to get to the point. Unfortunately, right when they got to the new worlds - SyFy cancelled the series!

There was a massive campaign, put on by the fans, to get another network to continue the series. Through a random chance meeting with the cast, Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, he decided to just finance the fourth season!

The fourth season sees our favorite crew, James Holden and his crew (Naomi Nagata, Alex Kamal, and Amos Burton) investigating this new planet. There’s complications, of course, Belters vs the Earths (Royal Charter Energy), and Holden caught in the middle.

My biggest complaint about Season 4 is that it seemed like a really short story. They’re basically stuck on this planet and eventually in these ancient ruins (built by the original creators).

My other complaint is the storyline with Bobbie Draper on Mars. It just felt like it wasn’t going anywhere… I know eventually her path will lead back to Holden, but it’s not in Season 4.

I love seeing Detective Joe Miller back, and I love the new villain, head security Adolphus Murtry. Although, if you ask him, he doesn’t think he’s the bad guy, he’s only looking to protect his crew.

Anyway, give me more Expanse!

Mr Robot Season 4 Read More Mr Robot After resisting the television show Mr Robot on USA Network, I gave in and watched the first season. It was pretty good, it did remind me of plot from Fight Club... and despite figuring out the “twist” midway into the first season …

MR ROBOT
usanetwork.com

I love Mr Robot. After a long two-year break, I was ready to get back into Mr Robot on its final season.

Unfortunately, I have not been loving Season 4 at all. I feel like maybe they kept digging a hole in the story, especially since they setup one lone hacker, Elliot Alderson against the Dark Army (a cyber-terrorist organization of hardcore killers and assassins). There’s no contest… and the only reason why Elliot is alive is that BD Wong (aka Whiterose) is allowing him to live.

I understand it’s just a television show, but I’ve always thought the story and characters were grounded in reality and I can relate to the interesting hacks that Elliot was pulling off.

With Season 4, the story appears to take place in the course of a day or two days - leading up to Christmas. In those few days, you see that Elliot does sleep or eat all day! There was that getting lost in a park in the middle of nowhere, the big police chase, getting kidnapped, and then the big White Rose hack. I mean, take a break from getting hit by a car and falling down a bridge!!! It’s just hard to believe.

The show also feels very different, starting with the episode with Darlene and Dominique. That ending of will they or won’t they make it on the plane is just awful. It’s like some bad romantic comedy.

Then there’s this alternate dimension episode, which felt really out of place for Mr Robot! I couldn’t believe it, and it just didn’t make any sense.

The final two episodes will air tonight (December 22nd), and, as of this writing, I have not seen it yet… but I’m not exactly looking forward to finding out how it will end.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Microsoft Surface Pro 7

Microsoft® Surface Pro 7 Microsoft Surface Pro 7 - 12.3" Touch-Screen Release Date: October 2, 2019 Windows 10 Pro Laptop Mode / Studio Mode / Tablet Mode Instant On Dual far-field Studio Mics Front-facing 5.0 megapixel camera USB-C™ and USB-A ports Built-in Kickstand 10.5 hours Battery 10th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor 12.3” PixelSense™ Display 1.7 lb Ultra-light and Thin Read More Black Friday It's that time of the year again, Black Friday. Like last year, it's more like Black Thursday, as Kmart, Walmart and are opening their doors at 12am, 6pm, and 8pm, respectively. … …

With Black Friday looming over America, some stores, such as Best Buy, are already doing “Black Friday Prices Now” (since November 1st). This is a great promotional thing for these stores, as consumers (such as myself), are already spending their money at their stores, rather than waiting to spend it elsewhere. I think it’s smart, especially against online retailers like Amazon, who traditionally might have similar prices when Black Friday comes around.

For those outside of America, Black Friday is the name of the day after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the last Thursday of November, and for most Americans, they have Thursday and Friday off from work. That Friday, historically, most Americans would go shopping.

Of course, there’s always Cyber Monday (the Monday after Black Friday), and the recent Singles Day (November 11 - which is mainly a Chinese celebration) …

Anyway, when I saw that the new MicroSoft’s Surface Pro 7 (with keyboard cover) on sale for $600, I couldn’t pass it up. Currently their price is $700, but MicroSoft’s website is still showing $600.

Sure, it’s the entry model version, i3 with 8GB ram, but I can’t really complain because of the price. I would’ve liked to pay a little more to upgrade the chip, but those i5 models weren’t on sale.

I already have an iPad Pro 12.9, but despite buying a Logitech keyboard, it is definitely not a computer replacement. There are some things that the iPad does really well, which is reading and watching movies, but if you want to do video editing or PhotoShop editing… it’s severely limited.

The major thing that sets the The Surface Pro apart from Chromebooks or iPads, is that the Surface runs the full Windows 10 operating system. All the Windows software you own and use will run on this laptop/tablet! Of course, that doesn’t mean that some software, like the latest games, will run very well on the Surface Pro…. But it will run.

It’s so good to finally able to run Steam or GOG on the new Surface Pro without any issues. The only downside is that software made especially for iOS and Android won’t exactly work on Windows (that is the fault of the developer).

For example, popular comic book reading application ComiXology (an Amazon company), refuses to develop for the Windows’ platform. You can view your comics on their website, but it doesn’t offer offline viewing.

There is a workaround for this, software such as BlueStack is an Android emulator and you can run Android apps on Windows. Unfortunately, it’s not a great solution, and it’s a little slower (with lower resolution) on my Surface Pro than I would like.

If you have a Surface Pro 6, don’t bother to upgrade to the 7, as the only changes are the 10th generation Intel chip and new USB-C connection. Not a major upgrade, but the USB-C is pretty nice, as it will also charge your Surface if you don’t want to use the magnet Surface charger.

There are cheaper Windows alternative out in the world, but if you’re looking for the nice form factor of a tablet / laptop, and if you can afford it, the Surface Pro 7 is the latest and best of its class.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Amazon Music News: Metric and Big Data's "Risk" (Amazon Original Remix)

Metric - “Risk (Big Data Remix)” Read More Amazon Over the weekend, Amazon ran a promotional price drop for their Echo Show, selling for $149 instead of its normal retail price of $229, as part of the Super Bowl commercial. I thought it was such a good deal … Google With Lenovo Smart Display, it’s pretty much free. If you want music, you can upload all your MP3s to Google Music and access them via the Smart Display. Of course, if you prefer, you can subscribe to Google Music, YouTube Music … Metric I've seen Metric twice (four times if you count Emily Haines solo or Broken Social Scene), so you know I love this little Canadian band. Their Rock the Garden's set was very similar to their … Big Data New York's Big Data was up next. The band was previously in town at the Fine Line Music Café earlier in March 2015. This music project is lead by Alan Wilkis, who teamed up with a variety of artists for their 2.0 album …

There are some big news coming from major online retailer giant Amazon.

The first is that Google and Amazon have made up and play nice… so YouTube will once again be available on Amazon’s devices, such as The Echo and Fire Stick.

Second is that Amazon will start making their Amazon Music streaming service available to non-Prime users, but with advertisements, according to Engadget. This would make sense, considering that you can already stream Spotify (with ads) on Amazon’s speakers.

Of course, the free service will be limited, as Amazon still wants you to pay for their full Music service, with access to more than 50 million songs.

Also, speaking of Amazon Music, it was announced yesterday that Metric and Big Data (artist/producer Alan Wilkis) have teamed up to release an Amazon Original Remix of “Risk.” You can only listen (or purchase) only on Amazon Music.

You can catch Metric on their upcoming April/May Canadian tour:

April 17 - Victoria, BC - Save on Foods Memorial
April 18 - Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum
April 20 - Calgary, AB - Stampede Corral
April 21 - Edmonton, AB - Shaw Conference Centre
April 22 - Saskatoon, SK - SaskTel Centre
April 23 - Winnipeg, MB - Bell MTS Place
April 26 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena
April 27 - Ottawa, ON - TD Place Arena
April 28 - London, ON - Budweiser Gardens
May 2 - Halifax, NS - Halifax Scotiabank Centre
May 3 - Moncton, NB - Avenir Centre
May 5 - Montreal, QC - Mtelus

Personally speaking, the free Amazon Music is a little too late, as I’ve actually gone all-in with Google’s devices (such as the Lenovo’s Smart Display) as they offer the ability to upload music you own via Google Play. What is better about this, is that you may own a lot of music that is simply not available on any streaming platform - such as live recordings or bootlegs or obscure singles and B-Sides.

UPDATE: Not to be outdone by Amazon, Google also allowed a free version of their YouTube Music service available on their speakers and Smart Display. Go here for the instructions to turn on the feature.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

iBuyPower Fallout Gaming PC

iBUYPOWER Fallout Basic PC Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 6-Core 2.8 GHz (4.0 GHz Turbo) RAM: 8GB-2666mhz RAM DDR4 Hard Drive: 240GB SSD Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 2GB (VR Ready | Display Connectors: HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI) Software: Genuine Windows 10 Home 64-bit Connection: 802.11AC Wi-Fi, RJ-45 Network Ethernet 10/100/1000 Connectivity: 4 x USB 3.0 | 2 x USB 2.0 | Audio: 7.1 Channel Special Add-Ons: limited edition Fallout case | Liquid Cooled | 16 Color RGB Lighting Remote Controlled Case | Free iBUYPOWER Gaming Keyboard & RGB Gaming Mouse | No bloatware Enough space for more Fallout Bobble-heads! Read More Site Update I have been meaning to upgrade the graphics card in my computer for a long time now. The integrated Intel video card, for the most part, worked fine, but it won't exactly run graphically intensive games (shooters, big diablo-style …

Before I bought this iBuyPower Fallout PC, I had two “gaming” computers: one running an Nvidia 750Ti that I bought for $400 (plus $150 video card) in Dec 2013, and an AMD Radeon R9-based computer that I bought in Jun 2017 for $500. As you can tell, I’m a cheapskate gamer, and I’m not running the latest and greatest, but it works for me. In fact, both computers were running just fine and dandy and I really, really didn’t have the need to spend more money on yet another gaming computer.... but... this Fallout Computer just looks so cool!

I knew I wanted it, but I didn’t want to pay full retail price. Recently, they had a sale, and on the cheapest model, the “Basic”, had an $80 off discount. I also had a couple of $5 coupons off from Best Buy, so I decided to pull the trigger. Honestly, on reflection, I should have just bought it from Amazon has they would’ve shipped it to me in two days. With Best Buy, they had to build-to-order (which took a week) and then they shipped it (which took another week). Waiting two weeks for this computer just felt too long, but it’s not unheard of, since I bought an Alienware computer that took nearly a month to ship to me (I’ll never do that again).

Now that I have the computer as my daily driver, I had to retire the 2013 Nvidia Computer. Switching over to the new computer was a little harder to do than I thought, as I had to research all the bookmarks and re-enter in all my passwords and re-authorized everything on the new device. Plus, all the softwares that I need, I had to re-hunt them down and re-install. Trust me, it was a pain in the butt to get everything back and running to the way I had it originally set up.

So far, the Fallout Computer is pretty amazing. It’s whisper quiet, thanks to the liquid cooling and quiet RGB fans. The clear glass window lets you look at the internal and admire all the custom Fallout custom designs. The RBG lights were actually way cooler than I thought. I’ve never own a computer that had a lighting system, so I was pretty impressed with it. Despite what I might gripe about, I think $799 is a fair price for this computer: considering that you are getting an SSD Harddrive (these are expensive probably $200), the custom Fallout artwork case (probably worth $300), the Nvidia 1050 card (probably $240). Trust me, if you were to build from scratch, it’ll probably cost you about the same or more, but you don’t get the amazing Fallout design.

Now for some disappointment: no optical drive (CD/DVD/Bluray drive), no media card reader, poor design of the case blocks off thick HMDI cables, generic iBuyPower keyboard & mouse, bobblehead won’t fit on the mount, and oddly missing a screw (which points to poor quality inspection or lackthereof). They’re minor complaints, but I would’ve liked to have at least a card reader, since that is how I import photos and videos from my computer. Not a big deal, since I have several USB readers around the house. For the Bluray drive, I’ll just have to buy another one... it’s not a problem. The iBuyPower keyboard and mouse that comes with the computer is usable, but you should just provide your own mechanical keyboard or optical mouse.

I’ve also read that not all the motherboards are the same across the line. Mine is an ASRock B360M IB-R1, but someone else said the had an MSI Z370-A Pro (I’m assuming they get an upgrade if they pay more). With the bobblehead situation, it depends on the bobblehead’s base. Most of the recent bobbleheads, they have a bigger base, so it won’t fit correctly on the mount. You can just use tape or replace the bobbblehead with a smaller base one. Not everyone is going to have a spare bobblehead (like I do), so that’s going to be annoying to some fans. But again, you can just buy a different one or use tape.

Finally, it’s limited to 2,000. I think the 2k number applies to all the Fallout PC together, because unique number on my sticker does not say “Fallout Basic”. That’s my theory, I could be wrong. What that means is that once all 2,000 PCs are sold, iBuyPower (in association with Bethesda to market Fallout 76 online game) will not re-issue these beautiful computer case. So, if you’re a Fallout fan or just want a unique and cool computer, you should get it now that it’s currently on sale.

If you’re interested in purchasing one, please use our Amazon Affiliate link, no additional cost to you - but Amazon will give us a little money in return.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Nvidia Shield

NVIDIA Shield 2017 Read More The Mi Box That left me with my only choice: The Mi Box. If you aren't familiar with the Mi Box, it's a $69 Android TV box sold by Chinese company Xiaomi. When you get the Mi Box ... Roku I recently purchased the third generation Roku 2 at the end of July. I've been keeping an eye on the Roku for a long time, but have finally decided to get one based on the fact that they now support DLNA. ... Apple TV Apple TV is the only one that supports iTunes purchased movies and "Air Play", but if you don't live in the Apple Universe, a workaround is with UltraViolet (via Flixster or Vudu). You can read more about UltraViolet here. ...

It’s been about three years since I purchased The Mi Box and it was just time I needed to upgrade the device.

I know the trend right now are Micro PCs, but I don’t think it’s an elegant solution, since Windows 10’s fonts are tiny, sitting 10 feet away - and not to mention that you still have to use a mouse and keyboard to navigate.

Android TV (which includes Amazon’s limited version called Fire TV), Roku, and Apple TV, are basically the main three competitors in this streaming box market. I have own all three types and I love and hate them all. Many of you already have one of these boxes, and they’re fine for most of you. I just find that Roku and Apple are very limited in what you can actually do with their boxes.

I wanted the best of the best Android TV, and eventually just bought the Nvidia Shield when they had a sale. I was holding out for a new model of this device (since the internal hardware had not been changed since its launch in 2015), but I eventually gave in.

The new smaller 2017 version (with new redesigned controller) is the model I bought, and to be perfectly honest, it’s still a very good streaming box, thanks to the Tegra X1 chip (with 3GB of RAM). It’s fast enough to run any Android software and seems to handle 4k content better than most TV devices of its kind.

Overall, I’m still very happy with the Nvidia Shield and it’s the only device that I use regularly on my TV.

Pros:

The best, fastest, most updated Android TV on the market

4k/HDR/Dolby Atmos 7.1 support

Voice Control and Google Assistant

NVIDIA GeForce Now (currently FREE)

The only Android TV device that can officially run Amazon Prime Videos (Amazon and Google

Game controller is the best I’ve used on any streaming box

Ability to control Shield with Google Home Hub

Can run Dolphin Emulator (other devices on the market are not fast enough to run this software)

Official Google Play store apps, like Kodi, MAME4droid, Snes9x EX+

Supports Google Music and Amazon Music!

Ability to sideload any APK applications, such as Morpheus TV, StopAds, Adblocker

Shield exclusive games, like Doom 3, Tomb Raider, Half-Life 2

Cons:

The most expensive Android TV on the market

No Micro SD reader (found in the original 2015 model, but not in the latest model)

Small storage (only 16GB)

Short battery life on the game controller

Remote controller does not have volume control

Remote controller is flimsy

Remote controller’s batteries are not rechargeable

Needs a special base to stand the Shield upright

The Shield will unwantedly turn on (or off) the TV

I actually hated the remote controller that came with the Shield … so I’m using the game controller for everything and may be the reason why I’m complaining about the controller’s battery life. I find myself recharging it every other day, and it’s a little annoying.

The small storage and lack of SD card reader isn’t really a deal breaker, because you can address this with a rather large USB stick or USB Harddrive. For most people looking to just stream their content, 16GB will be fine for them.

As for the Shield turning on and off the TV, you can disable this “feature” under CEC power management, so it’s not a big deal.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Lenovo Smart Display

Lenovo Smart Display Read More Amazon Over the weekend, Amazon ran a promotional price drop for their Echo Show, selling for $149 instead of its normal retail price of $229, as part of the Super Bowl commercial. I thought it was such a good deal …

After living with the Amazon’s Echo Show for seven months, and realizing its limitation (the fact that Amazon wants to sell you every service that should be free - like displaying your photos or playing your music), it was time I moved away from Alexa and to Google Assistant via Lenovo Smart Display (10” version).

So, why would you buy one over the other? Despite being much cheaper to buy, you end up paying more if you decide to go the Amazon route. If you own an Echo Show, you might end up buying a subscription to Amazon Music ($8 a month), a subscription to Amazon Drive (for your photos at $11.99 a year), a subscription to Amazon Prime (for watching some videos at $99 or more a year). As you can see, it can add up.

With Lenovo Smart Display, it’s pretty much free. If you want music, you can upload all your MP3s to Google Music and access them via the Smart Display. Of course, if you prefer, you can subscribe to Google Music, YouTube Music, Pandora, Deezer, or Spotify. You can access your movies via YouTube (which is not available on Amazon). You can access all your photos via the free Google Photos service.

To me, it’s really hard to argue free over paying for subscriptions, however, I can understand why some users won’t mind paying for ease of use.

Setting up the Smart Display was really hard. You have to download Google Home and sign in using a Google account. If you have a custom G-Suite Account, it won’t work unless you tweak the privacy settings (they should all work except for Google Calendar). If you sign in using different Google accounts on Google Home, it won’t work.

To get Google’s Duo to work, you must associate the app with your phone number and sign in using the same account that you use for Google Home (again, multiple accounts may cause problems).

If you have problems, you can’t simply delete and re-add in the software - you basically have to factory reset and start over from the beginning. Don’t feel bad, but I had to factory reset the display three or four times, to get everything to work. It definitely didn’t feel like the product was ready for primetime. It’s understandable, as the Smart Display is the very first of its kind.

Once you get it up and running, it’s very similar to the Echo Show. Everything the Echo can do, the Smart Display can do a little better.

With a bigger, beautiful HD screen, a beautiful bamboo-back design, and audio, it blows away the Echo Show. Fear not, Amazon will be coming back with a second generation Echo Show that promises to better compete with the Smart Display.

Breakdown below:

Product:	Echo Show	Echo Show (New)	Lenovo Smart Display
Price:	$149.99	$225.99	$249 (10”)
Release:	June 28, 2017	October 11, 2018	July 2018
Size/Resolution:	7”/1024 x 600	10”/1280 x 800	10”/1920 x 1200
Speakers:	Dual 2” stereo speakers.	2 x 10W and Dolby processing for room-filling sound	2" 10W Full Range Speaker, 2 x Passive Tweeters
Camera:	5MP	5MP	5 MP Wide Angle
Processor:	Intel SR2KT Atom x5-Z8350 Processor (2M Cache, up to 1.92 GHz)	Intel Atom x5-Z8350	Qualcomm® Home Hub Platform (Snapdragon™ 624, Octa-Core A53 1.8 GHz, 14 nm)
Software:	Amazon Products (Amazon Music, Videos, Photos) ($) Hulu CNN NBC Spotify Ring	Amazon Products (Amazon Music, Videos, Photos) ($) Hulu CNN NBC Spotify Ring	Google Products (Google Music, Videos, Photos) (free) Google Podcast Google Duo YouTube Chromecast HBO Now Spotify Pandora

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Echo Show

Read More Amazon Amazon semi-recently announced their new Christmas/holiday music collection called Indie for the Holidays, available for purchase and free streaming using their Prime Music …

Over the weekend, Amazon ran a promotional price drop for their Echo Show, selling for $149 instead of its normal retail price of $229, as part of the Super Bowl commercial. I thought it was such a good deal, that I ended up buying two (one for myself and one as a gift).

The main reason I needed two was to utilize its ability to video call each device (or if you trust the other person, you can enable “drop in”). I don’t really think it’s all that intrusive, especially if you have your device in a kitchen or public area. By default, the drop in feature is disabled.

At first, I wasn’t quite sure what Echo Show was all about, but it took a while for me to really appreciate it. I’ve come to the conclusion that the Echo Show, at least in the way I’m using it, is more or less a clock with a digital picture frame and weather at a glance. Think of it as a really smart (and expensive) clock.

Here’s a daily scenario, in the morning, when you’re making coffee, you can ask Alexa to show your daily news flash. Depending on what “skills” or features you enable, it will show your daily commute (you must set up your work destination location), weather, and various recent news clippings.

Here’s another scenario, you can ask Alexa for a recipe… especially useful if you have it set up in the kitchen. If you have the Echo Show in the living, you can probably ask it for television listing. Or perhaps settle an argument by asking Alexa for the answer. If you’re bored, you can always ask it for a joke.

Like the other Amazon’s Echoes, the Echo Show it does have excellent speakers. At maximum, it’s loud, without sounding distorted, and has excellent bass. The microphones will pick up the “Alexa” wake word anywhere in the room, providing you say it loud enough and not mumble. I believe this was done by incorporating several microphones around the device, so that you can be in front or back and it will “hear” you.

Although I don’t have Alexa-enabled cameras or “smart lights”, I can easily see how the Echo Show can work with these devices. Amazon suggest you can use it as a baby monitoring viewer, or better yet, use it to see various smart security cameras. Very cool, if you think about it, it’s something I plan on looking into at a later time.

Now for some things I don’t like about the Echo Show. It’s ugly and it’s very heavy. I suppose that’s fine since you’re not going to be moving it around and you’re not look at its backside.

The 7-inch screen is too small to really enjoy watching a movie on it… unfortunately, there’s no output option to “cast” or HDMI-out to a larger screen. I would love the ability to hook up the Show to a bigger monitor.

The other thing is, to really unlock the Echo Show, you need the $100 annual Amazon Prime service. Prime will let you use their digital photos and gives you access to Prime Music and Television streaming. There is a workaround with the Prime Photos, you just need to get the Alexa on your phone and change the Echo Show’s background photos. Every time you change the photo, it will automatically add to your gallery.

If you already buy music from Amazon via CDs or Vinyls with its “Autorip” feature, you can stream those songs on your Echo. Alternatively, you can play your music using your cellphone's Bluetooth connection.

The other workaround is that if you’re already subscribed to Spotify and other music services, Amazon will let you stream those songs.

The same with movies, if you have UltraViolet digital copies in your locker, you can access your films on the Echo Show.

I think right now, the Echo Show is too expensive. Normally at $229, I wouldn’t even consider it or even recommend it… because you can buy an Xbox One with that much money! At the moment, the Echo Show is on sale for $179, which I still think it’s expensive at that price. But if you see the price dropping to $150 or less, I think you should consider getting one.

P.S. At the time of this writing, there is a dispute with YouTube, so its service is not available on the Amazon Echo Show. As far as I know, Google will be developing a similar device, so if you’re willing to wait, I’m almost certain the Google product will be a better choice.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic