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TV: Killers and Murderers

Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) Read More Aliens The latest Alien film, Alien: Romulus is very good. I’ve always liked the Alien franchise, I’m even one of the few people that liked Alien: Covenant (although I didn’t really like ....

Predator: Killer of Killers
hulu.com

There’s a new Predator animated film called Predator: Killer of Killers, which just aired on Hulu and Disney+ on Friday. The show was directed by Dan Trachtenberg, formerly of The Totally Rad Show. He’s previously directed 10 Cloverfield Lane and Prey (a Predator film).

What this new film is: three different Predator stories, taking place at three different time and region. The cool thing is you get to see Predators throughout the ages, they are three very different Predator designs.

The first is a good-old fashion Viking revenge story about a mother and her son, and their clan. They sailed across the ocean to kill another clan who murdered her father. I really like the first story, because I really thought the gigantic Predator was going to kill the mother… and so the son has to continue the violent cycle and take revenge against the Predator. It’s not what you think - the aging mother still has some fight left in her and it’s a fight of wits vs pure muscles.

This revenge story is short and sweet, and to the point. You get the entire full story of the grieving, revenge-driven mother in an action-packed 30 minutes, vs what it took the terrible Last of Us Season 2 to tell one third of a revenge story in seven hours!

The second story takes place in feudal Japan. There are two rival brothers, who are setting a 20-year-old score… and as they fight, a Predator was in their midst. The two swordsman has to work together to defeat the Predator. Although they killed the Predator, sadly, one of the brothers passed away due to the injuries he suffered from the fight. Pretty simple story, and the choreograph is very action-packed.

The last story is about a mechanic, from World War II. There’s a Predator ship in the middle of the battle, and he has to find a way to defeat the Predator. Again, really good stuff, you get the gist of what it was like to be a pilot back on those days.

All three Predators survivors, from different time periods, find themselves on the Predator homeworld. The Predator king tells the three of them that they have to fight to the death, and that the winner will have an opportunity to fight him. Of course, you guessed it, the three has to work together to fight the king. I love it… even though we all know ultimately that they can’t win.

It’s a good ending, and it ties together with Prey.

All this is getting me excited to see Trachtenberg’s forthcoming Predator: Badlands, set for theatrical release on November 7, 2025, by 20th Century Studios.

If you can’t wait until November, Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth is coming to FX and Hulu on August 12, 2025. The show stars Sydney Chandler and Timothy Olyphant (Justified).

I am looking forward to this new Aliens series, because I am a big fan of Hawley’s other shows, Fargo and Legion.

Murderbot (2025) Read More Infinity Pool No, it’s not a crossover of Infinity Gauntlet and Deadpool… this is a Sci-Fi/Horror film called Infinity Pool. This dark film follows novelist James Foster (played by Alexander Skarsgård) ....

Murderbot
tv.apple.com

The new Sci-Fi/Comedy Murderbot, starring Alexander Skarsgård as the Murderbot, is currently airing on Apple TV. This series is based on The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, published by Tor Books.

I know Skarsgård from True Blood, but recently I bought two of his films, The Northman and Infinity Pool (which I said was my Horror film of 2023).

Based on the comedy aspect of it, I didn’t think I would enjoy Murderbot, but I love it! I think this is a delightful little Sci-Fi show, that doesn’t really take itself too seriously. In many ways, the comedy and observation from Murderbot is a commentary on humanity itself.

The show is about an expedition group who had to bring with them a Security Unit, so they bought the cheapest refurbished Security Unit (or SecUnit for short) - which is our hero, the Murderbot.

Since the robot is sentient, all he wants is to be left alone so he can watch his space soap opera, The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. The clips we get of the soap opera is over-the-top, and it stars John Cho as the captain.

My only complaint about the show is that the episodes are very short. Nothing really happens in each episode, for example, Episode 3 nothing happens. Literally it’s the team getting on a bus and that’s it!

So far, only five episodes have aired, and the plot is slowly unfolding. That’s because each episode is only about 20 minutes long (if you take out the credits). I wish Apple would combine two episodes in one - or release it two at a time. Waiting seven days for 20 minutes of story is insanity, especially if the last episode ends on a cliffhanger. I suppose Murderbot feels the same way when he has to wait for another episode of Sanctuary Moon.

Anyway, what we do know after an hour and forty minutes is that someone is trying to kill everyone on the planet. They’re hacking the robots to murder the humans. Even though Murderbot has free will, he still chooses to try and save the humans… and that’s compelling stuff for a stupid Comedy/Sci-Fi show.

So far, from what I’ve seen, the show gets a recommendation from me.

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The Chinese Connection

Generated by GROK Read More Path of Exile 2 Earlier this year, in my review of Last Epoch, I wrote that Path of Exile 2 was going to launch in 2024. Well, the game has officially launched in beta on Friday, December 6, 2024. If you want to play the game … …

ELON MA
x.com

I think by now you’ve all heard that Elon Musk is a liar and cheater. Last year, Musk boasts that he’s ranked top 20 players worldwide on Diablo IV, and that was already suspicious. I personally didn’t believe it, but I didn’t really care or questioned it because, I had stopped playing the game (because it sucks).

Recently, Musk showed off that he’s at level 97 (ranked 13 worldwide) in hardcore mode on Path of Exile 2. How is that possible? Considering that very dedicated players have put in 10 hours a day to grind up to that level, and to see a guy who runs several companies … it’s just not possible. Just the time and effort, it doesn’t add up.

Turns out, Musk hired skilled Chinese players to level up his characters or that he just straight up bought those accounts. The POE2 community have built up a strong case against Musk (now known as Elon Ma).

Musk’s character is on a Hong Kong server

Musk’s account shows “Elon’s Maps” (this suggests other players are playing and not using that particular map)

Musk does not understand weapon levels

Musk does not understand the “four things” on a map

Musk does not understand how to use the magic flask

There are tons of other things, so just do a search. As someone put it, there were many indications that Musk had no idea what he was doing. You can draw the conclusion that he didn’t play the campaign or learned how all the mechanics works. To get to level 97, at that advanced level, it is insane that he does understand basic things.

Anyone who plays Path of Exile 2, like myself, can see right through the lie: that Elon Musk did not play and level up to 97. Famous YouTuber and Twitch streamer Asmongold challenged Musk, “If Elon Musk can prove that he played this account to 97, I will stream on X, starting the day that he proves it, for an entire year straight, every single stream.”

Shortly after, Musk unfollowed Asmongold and removed his blue checkmark and gaming tag. He then leaked Asmongold’s twitter message (which violated Twitter’s terms of service by the way) saying that Asmongold has editors. Of course he has editors, they’re his employees that manages and edits his YouTube accounts.

Later, Musk returned Asmongold’s checkmark, but no gaming tag.

I think what happened is that Musk wanted to impress the gaming communities out there, by showing off his high-level characters, but it backfired in his face when he chose Path of Exile 2. If he had chosen another game, like Mark Kart 8 and saying he’s ranked #15, no one would question it… just like no one questioned it when he claims to be high ranking in Diablo IV.

TikTok Read More TikTok Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Amelia Moore is currently on her iCRYONTOUR! Moore first appeared on the scene on TikTok. Her debut Teaching a Robot to Love EP came out in 2022, via Capitol Music … …

TikTok
tiktok.com

Ahead of the pending TikTok ban in the United States, many users are panicking and switching over to another Chinese-owned app Little Red Book (named after Mao’s Little Red Book). That app is even worst, in terms of censorship, as many Americans are finding out. According to Washington Post, Little Red Book censors various key words, including “546 nicknames for Chinese leader Xi Jinping”.

I think most Americans don’t realize how dangerous the Chinese Communist Party is. Every company in China is beholden to the CCP… and the parent company of TikTok is ByteDance, a Chinese company with heavy ties to the CCP. Just do a Google search and you’ll find numerous articles and photos of the CCP department working inside ByteDance.

Do you want the Chinese to own your data (even though they probably already have it)? My problem is I don’t want a country to run an app to promote pro-China stories. ByteDance’s other app TopBuzz was exposed for such things, thanks a story by BuzzFeed.

My biggest problem is that China bans so many apps, like Google, search engines, private emails, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, VPN, (anything that they can’t control) … but they have a problem that America is banning TikTok? Give me a break.

Marvel Snap

UPDATE: In compliance with the TikTok ban, Apple and Google have removed the app, as well as Marvel Snap. Turns out the parent company of Marvel Snap is ByteDance, who also owns publisher Nuverse (a subsidiary of ByteDance).

Other apps banned includes Lemon8 and CapCut − Video Editor, according to USA Today. Never heard of the other two.

P.S. Donald Trump vows to save TikTok, even though he tried to get rid of it in 2019.

Marvel Rivals Read More Marvel Comics Based on the Marvel Comics of the same title, Werewolf by Night is the latest horror film from Disney Plus. This might be the first of the new type of Marvel’s Horror titles, which will likely to include Blade … …

Marvel Rivals
marvelrivals.com

Someone asked me why I’m not playing Marvel Rivals, the hottest superhero team-based player vs player shooter, based on Marvel characters. First of all, I’m not an online gamer. I don’t enjoy playing against other players, and I’m not competitive and, to be perfectly honest, I’m not good at it.

The second thing is that gamers are saying that after a certain losing streak or at a certain level, to keep players engaged and keep playing, the server will put in A.I. bots in the game so you can easily kill them. They don’t say they’re bots, but I’ve seen the evidence, the game developer is lying to you when they say that all players are real.

The last thing, and the most damning thing, is that the game developer is NetEase, based out of China. Because they are a Chinese company, they brought over the CCP’s censorship to America. For example, you cannot say “Tiananmen Square” (an event that the Chinese government slaughtered a lot of unarmed students), “Free Tibet” (a country that China annexed and took over in the ‘50s and kicked out the Dalai Lama) or “Winnie the Pooh” (ironic that Disney is the owner of Marvel). You can’t even say “1989”, that’s how sensitive the CCP is. Can you believe that? That whole year needs to be censored.

I really think the US Defense Department should put NetEase on the same list that they placed Tencent games on.

I guess at the end of the day, I don’t want to support a game that censors Winnie the Pooh.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer
[email protected]

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It's Greek to Me

In celebration of the news that film director Christopher Nolan (the guy who directed Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises), will be set to adapt Homer’s The Odyssey, for Universal Studios… I have watch two recent swords & sandals films. The Odyssey will be out in 2026, according to Deadline.

The Return (2024) Read More The Returned The Returned, originally French title Les Revenants, was described as "The Walking Dead with Brains". This is clearly an inaccurate description, despite the clever zombie/brains analogy. The Returned is … Ulysses 31 It’s such a great concept. It’s about Ulysses in the 31st century. He offended the gods, and was banished to unknown space… and the entire series is Ulysses trying to find his way home from his long odyssey. …

The Return
tiff.net

Not related to the horror French show “The Returned” (or the English re-make), this 2024 film The Return is a retelling of Homer’s Odyssey. Rather, The Return is closer to Ulysses 31, which was based on Odysseus’ story (using the Latin spelling of “Ulysses”).

Anyway, the film is only adapt the last section of Odyssey, which finds our hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, finding his way home after the Trojan War. The island, since he left, is lawless, and a group of murderous men are all competing for his wife’s hand in marriage.

Maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but after watching the film, I read that Odysseus was missing for ten years, now it made sense why no one recognized the old king or that everyone assumed he died in the war. Still, to me, it seems silly that no one would recognize Odysseus, but I suppose in those days, they didn’t exactly have Facebook or photographs…

Anyway, this is an excellent film directed by Uberto Pasolini, starring Ralph Fiennes, as Odysseus, Juliette Binoche, as Penelope, and Charlie Plummer, as Telemachus.

What sets this film apart is the wardrobe. Everyone is in Greek togas, just so weird to see with a modern eye. Once the stage is set, you find Odysseus washed on shores. He’s taken in by a stranger, who tells the old man what is going on. He brings the old man to the castle, and Odysseus asking for food. Everyone treats him as a beggar, and their cruelty turns to beating him.

Once the soldiers looking to murder Odysseus’ son, Telemachus, the old man had to fight them to save his child.

To try and save her son’s life, Penelope was forced to make a decision on her suitor. She tells everyone that if they can string Odysseus’ old bow and shoot an arrow through 24 axe-heads, then she will marry that person. The suitors all tried and failed, until the old man steps out and, indeed, stroot straight through, winning her hand in marriage.

What is crazy is this ending. Odysseus just starts shooting and killing all the suitors in the room. It was pure bloodbath, as Telemachus stepped in to help with the slaughter.

Shortly after everything is settled, Telemachus insists on sailing away to find himself and his destiny.

The Return is a little different from the books. In the original story, Telemachus went sailing in search of his wandering father, and when he returned to Ithaca, he found that Odysseus had reached home before him. The two, father and son, then slew the suitors who had gathered around Penelope.

I do like the movie a little better, only because it focuses solely on Ody, rather than his son.

Gladiator II (2024) Read More Ridley Scott What made the film interesting, at least to me, is that the soundtrack is by Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard! So throughout the movie, you do hear that ethereal vocals, similar to her efforts on Ridley Scott's Gladiator. …

Gladiator II
gladiator.movie

Guys, I love, love, love the original Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000). I never wanted or needed a sequel. Why are we getting a second film, twenty-four years later?

Gladiator II has a brand-new cast of characters. I suppose bringing back Russell Crowe was impossible, given the long-time frame and, also, I think he died in the first film. Sorry, it’s been a long time since I saw the first film.

Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal as an exiled Prince of Rome. He’s taken prisoner after a war and becomes a slave-turned-gladiator. The rest plot sees various fights in the Colosseum … I can believe various animals like baboons and rhinos, but sharks in the arena defies all logic. I love Ridley Scott, man, but bringing in ocean water and sharks - that is the worst thing I’ve ever seen. It’s so dumb, that I threw my hands in the air and gave up on following the plot.

Anyway, I don’t want to give anything away, but this film does relate to Maximus from the first film… otherwise, this Gladiator II film should be its own thing.

The new film was made available to rent and stream on Christmas Eve (Dec 24), through your favorite video-on-demand platforms such as Prime Video, Apple TV and Vudu.

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Weekend Gamer Tech Bag

Weekend Gamer’s Travel Tech Read More ROG Ally Now enter the ROG Ally from Asus. The ROG Ally will address all the things that I wanted in my Steam Deck: Windows, faster chip, better screen, higher resolution, pleasing looks, and the ability to dock in their enhance graphics …

As I previously mentioned, I am temporarily living in Jacksonville for the next few months.

What’s in my Tech Go Bag?

Asus ROG Strix G15
I plan on writing and updating and photo editing… so I need a real computer. Sorry, some things the iPad can’t do. The ROG Strix G15 is basically my computer, but a mobile version. I bought the gaming laptop in Sep 2020, to replace my MicroSoft Surface Pro 7 (Nov 2019). I don’t really use the Surface Pro or the Laptop, especially if I have a much more powerful PC… but still, I’m glad I have it, especially when I am not at home. The laptop is terrible, it’s big and heavy and the battery only lasts like 30 minutes.

iPad Pro 12.9
I’ve had an iPad since the very first one. I’ve bought them every other year, whenever it gets larger. I haven’t felt the need to upgrade ever since I bought the iPad Pro 12.9 in 2018. As far as I’m concern, this iPad is the perfect tablet. It is a good size, it’s very thin and light, good battery life, and it does everything very quickly.

ROG Ally
I need a handheld gaming device. Since I gave my old Steam Deck to my brother (who is happily getting game achievements on my Steam account), it was down to either the ROG Ally or Legion Go. There’s no contest… the ROG Ally is superior, at least right now. While the larger Legion Go screen is nice, the native portrait display actually causes problems in some of my games (particularly Fallout New Vegas - which does not run on the Legion Go due to the screen). Also, I have all the games and software already installed on the ROG Ally (since I own it since April 2023)… plus I’m still dealing with overheating problems with the Legion Go, because the SSD I bought runs too hot.

ReMarkable Paper Pro
I read a lot of comic books, so I need to bring my ReMarkable Paper Pro. As I mentioned in my review, it is very as close to paper as you can get. I would never recommend this thing to anyone, just because it’s ungodly expensive for a very small need.

iPhone 15 Pro Max
I can’t really function without my iPhone 15, which I had since Oct 2023. I use Visible (since 2021), I get unlimited data. Sure, sometime the internet is slow, but I can’t complain for unlimited internet for $25. My Phone also serves as a hotspot, so my other devices can use the internet as well.

Straight Talk Home Internet
I’ve been paying for Straight Talk Home Internet since Oct 2022. Instead of pausing and re-activating my account, I just unplugged and re-plugged in the new location. Works like a charm. I recommend if you are in a mobile home or moves around a lot, this mobile internet service is the way to go.

I don’t have a desk, and so all my computer work (and gaming) is done on my ROG Strix 15 laptop and sitting on my air mattress. Eventually, I would like to get something like how IKEA set up on their showroom. That looks cool. I might try and get some sort of “docking” setup, so I can work off my ROG Ally by docking in with a full keyboard and mouse, with larger display, etc. I kind of need a desk first, though. It’s not a priority for me right now, all this stuff I have in Minneapolis, so eventually, those items might have to be disassembled and brought to Florida.

What I can tell you is that I rely on everything on my laptop. I’m watching movies, I’m writing, I’m playing games (currently Path of Exile 2), transcoding, researching… It’s funny when I was in Minnesota, most of my work was on my Legion desktop, so I ignored my laptop for years. Now that I’m using it, I am really enjoying it. It’s still big and heavy and my palm often accidentally tap the trackpad, but it performs well.

IKEA gaming setup

Yours,

Weekend Gamer
[email protected]

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Vizio 65" 4K Smart TV

Vizio 65" 4K Smart TV 65" 4K Smart TV Details With vivid 4K picture quality complemented by Dolby Vision HDR, 4K models offer versatility and value with streaming-centric features like WiFi 6 and instant access to built-in apps. WiFi 6 Dual-Band 4K UHD Resolution Auto Low Latency Mode & VRR Dolby Vision HDR/HDR10+ Bluetooth Compatible DTS Virtual:X QuickFit™ Compatible Read More Technology I think I have my heart set on the Alienware AW3423DW 34" 2K WQHD Curved OLED Gaming Monitor. It is an ultrawide curved 2K screen (3440 x 1440), and has support for NVIDIA G-Synch at 175Hz …

We recently upgraded to a new Vizio 65” 4K Smart TV, as part of leftovers from a Black Friday campaign from Walmart. I’m very happy with the display for the price (less than $400).

It’s not a V-Series or an M-Series, this is just the base 65” Smart TV. I know Vizio strips out certain features in those other television line to bring the cost down, but whatever they took out (such as Freesync), I don’t really mind if I’m saving money. If you really need those features, you’ll have to pay more.

I haven’t purchased a new television in a long time. The last time I got a TV was when 2K was all the rage, and I got a 40-inch no-name brand. Of course, I never watch TV, so it was somewhat of a useless purchase for me. To be perfectly honest, the so-called 2K resolution of the television didn’t look good to me. Images looks too bright, and the blacks were terrible, and the details weren’t there.

Size and Resolution
The first thing about the Vizio television is the big size: 65 inches! It’s much better than the old 40-inch TV. Despite the large size, like all LCD screens, it’s not as heavy as you might think. I believe the whole thing is about 40 pounds.

While the resolution (3840 x 2160) looks great with no signs of uneven brightness that you find on very cheap displays. Image quality looks very good, sitting at a couch about 3 feet away, but when you look at the image very close up, you can see jaggedness. That’s because the DPI (dot per inch) is only 68 DPI at the large dimension.

Currently, the highest resolution consumers can buy are UHD discs, which I have been very slow on converting, simply because I didn’t really have a 4K television. You can also stream in 4K, but that requires very fast internet. The WiFi6 helps, but for the best steaming options, you need to use Ethernet, which the TV does not include (that is on the more expensive models).

Smart TV
With this Vizio “Smart TV”, it comes with its own computer built inside the television, running its own SmartCast OS. SmartCast offers all the streaming services, such as Netflix, Vudu (now Fandango), Amazon Prime, Apple TV, I Heart Radio, and, most importantly, YouTube. This has it all, and it’s not a bad interface. It’s not slow or ugly. This is amazing, if you do not own a Roku, an Apple TV, an Amazon Firestick, or Google TV… and even if you do own them, like I do, you might not want to even hook them up because it’s easier to just use Vizio’s system.

Signing into each streaming service you subscribe to was very easy. When you launch the app, like the Apple TV, you’re given a QR Code. When you scan it using your phone’s camera, you’re immediately logged in. I was streaming all my Apple television shows in no time.

My only complaint is that it took a long time to update all the apps, even using the fastest WiFi6, it felt like the Vizio television took over 15 minutes to update, restart, update, restart, etc.

Audio
The two 10-watt speakers, certified as DTS Virtual X, sounds fine to me, but if you’re an audio enthusiast, you’ll want to add in your own soundbar or custom audio setup. I think Vizio knows their shortcomings on audio, so the TV is “QuickFit” compatible. The QuickFit are standards with soundbars, designed to integrate with your TV. Eventually, I would like to upgrade the television’s audio, so I will sure to be looking for the QuickFit feature. If you prefer to use headphones, the television does offer built-in Bluetooth connectivity.

Remote
The remote control doesn’t have a numpad, instead it works like a directional d-pad, with some dedicated buttons. Like the convenient “Free TV” button, which brings up Vizio’s free tv service (it looks like Pluto TV). I do not think you can bind or change the buttons on the remote, so if you don’t use Sling, too bad that button isn’t going to change.

Anyway, Vizio prefers you to use your voice to direct the TV, but I find that it’s not good at interpreting what I want. For example, I wanted to watch the film DREDD, but all it gave me were films called “Dread”, not fuzzy search misspellings. When I asked for “Judge Dredd”, it gave me only the Sylvester Stallone film (which I did not want), and nothing else. So, the best way to get what I want is to just to type in a search bar.

Typing on the remote is unbearable, so you need to use the Vizio app… which also sometime sucks, because it sometimes just disconnects from the TV.

Summary
For the price, for the 4k resolution, for the large 65-inch display, for everything that the television offers (free programming), I am actually very happy with the Vizio television.

P.S. For whatever reason, my iTunes can’t connect to the Vizio TV’s Airdrop. So, it seems the best way is to sneakernet (by putting the movies on a USB thumbstick and using Vizio’s USB player).

Yours,

Weekend Gamer
[email protected]

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TekTok: Garmin Instinct 2X Solar watch and Clicks Keyboard

Garmin Instinct 2X Solar Read More Apple I didn’t intend to get it, but after contemplating about the Black Friday prices for the new Apple Watch SE for about $200, I couldn’t pass it up. As you know, starting last year, Apple ....

Garmin Instinct 2X Solar
garmin.com

I’ve had an Apple Watch since 2021, as part of a Black Friday deal. And every year or so, I would upgrade to the new Apple Watch. At first, it’s kind of cool to have so much function on my wrist, particularly the heart rate sensor and the ability to see notifications and the weather on my watch.

Lately, I keep forgetting to charge my watch. When I get home from a long day at work, I just fall asleep and wake up the next morning with a dead watch.

Recently, I just about had it with the constant dead watch, because I would forget to charge my watch. So, I decided to get a new smart watch, one that would last more than a few days on a charge.

After some searching around, I’ve settled on the Garmin Instinct 2X Solar, the follow-up to the Instinct Solar that originally came out in 2020. This new 2023 doubles the battery life (40 days vs 20 days of the original), and comes with everything from the original watch, plus adding a few new features, such as a flashlight.

There are a few things I’m looking for in a smart watch: tracking my sleep and heart rate. Everything else, like that flashlight, is just icing on the cake. I know the Instinct watches offers GPS, working (running, biking, hiking, etc), but I don’t care or use those features. Still, I like how those options are available to me.

To access any activities or any action, you have to navigate through the watch’s tiny display via the five physical buttons: CTRL, MENU, ABC, GPS, or SET. I’ve quickly learned that ‘set’ also doubles as the back button. So, you if you need to go back one menu, you press the set button.

The Menu doubles as the up button, the ABC button doubles as the down button. It sounds complicated, but when you’re operating the watch, it should be intuitive and easy to understand. Still, some people find it hard to understand the menu system.

With smart watches, you do need the app to get it going. The Garmin Connect app works pretty well on the iPhone. Once it connects for the first time, the app will display the proper time and will now hand off notifications, such as text messages or alerts. It even gives you the weather (if it syncs correctly). I find that sometime it doesn’t display the weather so I have to force sync it with the app.

Let’s talk about Solar. When you think of Solar, you think it will charge the watch, but that’s not how it works. I do not believe the solar energy actually stores or charges the battery, instead, it just uses solar to power the watch and not use the watch’s battery. That means if the watch has enough sunlight, it will extend your battery to, say, six months without having to charge it. I thought I read that it’s “unlimited”, but I do not believe it as during night time, it does draw battery power.

Still, despite the drawback, this watch lasts much longer than any “smart watch”.

Overall, despite the expensive price, I think it’s worth it. The watch is very readable, it has all the stats I’m interested in (sleep tracking, heart rate), and I rarely have to charge the watch. It’s perfect for my needs.

Clicks Keyboard Read More iPhone I’m mostly interested in the telephoto lens in the new iPhone. According to Apple, the iPhone 15 Pro Max provides the longest optical zoom at the equivalent of 120mm. This is great for taking concert photos, or just take some “close up” photos in general. ....

Clicks Keyboard
clicks.tech

I honestly have nothing good to say about the Clicks Keyboard. I thought having physical keyboard buttons would be amazing, but in reality, my fingers are way too big for the tiny, tiny buttons and as a result I’m much slower at typing with the Clicks Keyboard.

That’s not all, the case makes my iPhone Pro Max into a giant monster. The Pro Max is already big, in my opinion, but putting on the case adds another two inches! Plus, the iPhone’s weight makes it top-heavy and holding it doesn’t feel right.

Using the keyboard without a backlight is impossible in the dark… which drains the battery. Using the case on a normal day drains my iPhone to 18% at the end of the day, when I’m used to about 30%.

On top of that, it’s not Mag Safe compatible so none of my magnet holder charger will work with the case on! It’s super annoying to take off the case just to charge it.

Finally, the $160 asking price is just too expensive. Ordering it directly from the company (it’s not available on Amazon) took a month for it to arrive (I thought it was lost in the mail at some point).

Again, I have nothing good to say about this Clicks Keyboard… well there is one good thing: the case is a head turner. A lot of people asked about it, “What phone is that?” and I have to break it to them that it’s not as cool as it looks.

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Color e-Ink

Color E-Ink Timeline 2016 ACeP announced 2017 2018 ACeP 2019 Kaleido announced 2020 2021 Kaleido Plus 2022 2023 Gallery 3 (ACeP) and Kaleido 3 eInk I am seriously thinking of getting that color e-ink reader: BOOX Tablet Note Air 3 C E Ink Tablet 10.3 ePaper 4G 64G Paper Tablet. I’m still doing the research, but this is starting to look like the color e-ink for me. ....

While black and white e-Ink have been around since 2007 under a variety of names (Vizplex, Pearl, Carta), color e-Ink technology is relatively new, as you can see from the Color eInk time line that I’ve compiled for you. Color eInk was only available for the consumer market in 2021, so it’s a very young technology.

As of this writing, there are two competing color e-Ink made for consumers: ACeP (under the Gallery 3 branding) and Kaleido, both were created by the E Ink Corporation.

Both have their pros and cons… while Gallery 3 appears to be the superior color visually with 32,000 colors, it is very slow to write and display on screen. I wish I had a device to test out ghosting problems or just how suffering slow it is… but if you want to view comic books and magazines in true-ish color, I feel the future has to be with Gallery 3 (right now).

Kaleido 3 is inferior to displaying color, but what it makes up is in speed. Rendering color images are much faster… however color images suffer from half resolution (150dpi) and black and white looks dark (because of the color filter layer).

Railroad Earth (23 March 2017)

I bought the Onyx’s BOOX Note Air 3 C, which uses the Kaleido 3 technology, and I’m not impressed by the muddy color. I even removed the preinstalled screen, but the display is still not very good. It’s also very reflective without the screen protector, as you can see from the photo I took.

What I am hoping for is that Apple or Amazon enter this color eInk market. Amazon has already been successful at black & white eInk with their Kindle eReaders, so they can bring in their know-how and create a usable color Kindle. They can even call it the Kolor Kindle.

Knowing Apple, they can probably invent their own version of color eInk (something that can display accurate true colors), and they can probably call it Apple Color Ink.

Where color eInk can really work are for comic book or magazine reader or large electronic photo frames. Just think having a photo frame that runs on double A batteries. If the batteries died, it won’t matter because the image will still stay on the display!

Or for Apple, they can incorporate it in their Apple Watches. Since eInk uses very little electricity, imagine having an Apple Watch that you don’t have to charge for a month! That would be pretty amazing.

I see so much potential in this display technology… but unfortunately, as far as I know, no major US companies are working on any consumer products.

While we wait for Gallery 3 devices to come out in the market (at a reasonable price), I am really contemplating on buying the Kindle Scribe, as it’s currently on sale. The scribe is not in color, but having it to read black & white comic books, such as manga, it’s very compelling.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

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vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

First Impressions of BOOX Note Air 3 C

BOOX Note Air 3 C Read More eInk I am seriously thinking of getting that color e-ink reader: BOOX Tablet Note Air 3 C E Ink Tablet 10.3 ePaper 4G 64G Paper Tablet. I’m still doing the research, but this is starting to look like the color e-ink for me. ....

I just bought the BOOX Note Air 3 C, the color eInk tablet for reading comics. The eReader arrived today, so I’m playing around with it and my first impression is that I made a terrible mistake.

This device runs Android 12, so you can download the Amazon’s Kindle App, so I had a massive comic book library (RIP Comixology) to read. Unfortunately, I quickly found out that the Kindle App is terrible on the Note Air 3. You see, Amazon built this app to run on regular computers with high refresh rate, and not take into consideration eInk displays. The result is that there are ghosting (images from the previous page still seen on the screen). No matter what I did in the settings, outside of manually full refresh the page every time, I just couldn’t get it to a reading state.

Coming from an iPad Pro 12.9, which is zippier, beautiful colorful screen, and no ghosting, it was a massive downgrade trying to read comics on the Kindle App on eInk.

On a brighter note, the built-in Onyx Reader that came with the tablet does not have the ghosting problem. Going forward, I have to use the native app to read, which is a bummer, because I cannot access my Kindle library through the Onyx Reader. I have to do some more research, but I think this is how it is going to be… unless Amazon fixes their app.

For now, I guess I’m still reading comics via Kindle on my iPad… and for the Note Air 3 C, that’ll be content that I get from Humble Bundle or other sources that doesn’t have DRM.

Also, I knew going in with Kaleido 3 technology, that I was only getting about 4,000 colors to work with… but I was still disappointed in seeing the muted, muddy colors of eInk (compared to the iPad’s millions of colors). There is another color eInk tech called Gallery 3 that offers 32,000 colors… but it’s too expensive and there isn’t enough screen available right now.

So yeah, early impression is I’m not impressed the limited colors and I think it is too slow (even though this is probably the fastest eInk tablet we are getting!) and the ghosting is a massive problem for me.

It’s still early hands on, perhaps it’ll get better as I explorer the settings and perhaps with future updates… but for now, if you’re looking to get a tablet for reading comics, I am going to just recommend getting an iPad. It is a much better comic book reading experience… plus you can do so much more, like YouTube and browsing the web, etc.

Anyway, the retail price for the Boox Note Air 3 C is $500, which may sound expensive… but if you compare it to another eInk reader, like the Kindle Scribe at $340 (Black and White only) or BigMe InkNote at $650 … you can see it’s priced accordingly. You can get a used iPad Pro 2020 version for about $600.

Update: I've figured it out, looking online for the solution. Here is what I need to do: under the e-Ink center, set the Kindle app to "Regal" and under film animation, set it to "300". I don't know why that removes the ghosting, but it does. The user interface for the Boox OS is not very good. As of this writing, the Kindle App is now usable.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

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vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Techtober

iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera Details From dramatic framing flexibility to next-generation portraits, see what you can do with our most powerful iPhone camera system. The 48MP Main camera is more advanced than ever, capturing super‑high‑resolution photos with a new level of detail and color. You’ll see the improvements in your portraits. And now you no longer have to switch to Portrait mode. If your subject is a person, dog, or cat, iPhone automatically captures depth information. So you can choose to instantly see your photo as a portrait, with an artful blur effect. Or later in the Photos app. For iPhone 15 Pro Max, we designed a 5x Telephoto camera with the longest optical zoom of any iPhone ever to fit in our compact Pro camera system. Now you can take sharper close‑ups from farther away — like a phenomenal photo of your friend or a goal in your kid’s soccer match. 5x optical zoom with the 120 mm lens. Read More iPhone So in November 2021, I purchased the iPhone 13, and have been very happy with both the device and my ability to connect multiple devices. Speaking of hotspot, there is a 5 mbps cap when you tether. That’s still faster than my old DSL ....

iPhone 15 Pro Max
apple.com

You know I love my iPod (before it was replaced by the cellphone) and my iPad (own the original iPad and currently loving the new 11 inch iPad Pro), but I was never an iPhone guy. However, all that changed when I switched phone service to Visible… and because there were no restrictions on the iPhone, I decided to switch to the iPhone 10.

It worked so well with the iPhone, that I bought the new iPhone 13 in November 2021. Then I bought the iPhone 14 Plus in October 2022.

In keeping with tradition, I’ve upgraded to the new iPhone 15 Pro Max recently. I think after that hefty price tag, I am going to stop upgrading until they come out with some amazing new features.

Here are the new things in the iPhone 15 Pro:

USB-C: Finally! Thanks to the UK, Apple caved in and now their iPhones uses the universal serial bus. Now I can use the same cable that charges my iPad with my iPhone. I’m all for this new change. Also 20x faster file transfers.

Titanium: Lighter, harder, looks great. This is the same alloy that they make spacecraft out of. Lightest iPhone Pro models ever. Titanium is here to stay.

A17 Pro: Apple’s fastest chip yet, they claimed it’s 40% faster than the competition. In tests, it beats the Google’s Pixel 8, and the new iPhone can play a console game, like Resident Evil 4.

Action Button: This replaces the silent switch. You can change this to a physical camera button, so you can use your phone as a traditional camera.

Dynamic Island: A gimmick that was introduced in last year’s model, but it’s been improved thanks to the upgrade cameras.

Upgraded Camera: The new periscope has a 5x optical zoom.

I’m mostly interested in the telephoto lens in the new iPhone. According to Apple, the iPhone 15 Pro Max provides the longest optical zoom at the equivalent of 120mm. This is great for taking concert photos, or just take some “close up” photos in general.

In my own test, taking photos at the back of the venue, I found that the new 120mm camera on the iPhone is pretty impressive (considering that it’s on a tiny pocketable device). I know there’s less details on the iPhone camera, but no cellphone can beat a real camera. Still, the iPhone photo is still very usable.

Apple claims it’s their best camera ever, and from what I’ve seen, I’m a believer.

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Sony A7IV

Read More Google 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. …

Nest Audio
google.com

I recently purchased the Google’s Nest Audio Speaker on clearance at Target. I didn’t have a need for the speaker, but seeing as it’s normally $100, I couldn’t pass it up for 50% off.

If you stream music and subscribed to audio services (such as Spotify or Google Music), I think this is a great speaker to have in your home. It sounds great, it fills the room. It’s a very capable speaker. It is just that I do not subscribe to any music services. I own all my music on CD that I ripped myself.

You can also use it as a Google Assistant, asking it all sorts of questions. If you have a Google Nest Hub or Lenovo’s Smart Display or Smart Frame … you do not need the Nest Speaker.

I’m currently using it as a Bluetooth Speaker (you need to enable this feature on your Google Home App), and it’s fine. There is a slight delay and audio sounds out of sync compared to the video… I’m sure there must be a way to fix the syncing issue.

I do somewhat regret buying it … because I don’t really have a use for the speaker. Perhaps I will evict it to the garage. Maybe if I need to stream music in the garage from my iPhone, it would fill the room.

When am I ever spending time in the garage for anything? I guess I can throw a party and move the Nest Audio to the party room. I do not know what to do with this speaker.

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vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Weekend Gamer Update: Memorial Day Weekend

Windows 11 Pro Product Description Instantly productive. Simpler, more intuitive UI and effortless navigation. New features like snap layouts help you manage multiple tasks with ease Smarter collaboration. Have effective online meetings. Share content and mute/unmute right from the taskbar (1). Stay focused with intelligent noise cancelling and background blur. (2) Reassuringly consistent. Have confidence that your applications will work. Familiar deployment and update tools. Accelerate adoption with expanded deployment policies. Powerful security. Safeguard data and access anywhere with hardware-based isolation, encryption, and malware protection built in. Read More MicroSoft That’s because I just bought the Microsoft Office Professional 2021 lifetime license for $30, after reading about it on C-Net. The article referenced Stack Social, which I’ve never heard of until today. …

It’s Memorial Day Weekend, which means I have this Monday off and it’s a long weekend for me. As usual with these holidays, there are a lot of sales and deals all across retailers. I’m planning on going to a few Half-Priced Books to take advantage of their 20% instore purchases. The problem with HPB is that their stocks are limited and are vastly different from store to store. You never know what you are going to see, day to day, store to store.

Best Buy is selling a lot of Bluray for under $10… but the cool thing is that the new Pixel 7a is being sold for $450, the first sale price since it was launched on May 10. That was fast! Even though it’s a $50 savings, it’s still not enough for me to want it. I’ve already committed to buying the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max, so I need to set aside roughly $1,200. I was never an iPhone guy, until I started using the $25 unlimited data/phone service from Visible. Now, it’s impossible for me to break away from the Apple ecosystem.

Anyway, over at Stack Social, I just purchased Windows 11 Pro for $40. This is the full product key, not an “upgrade” key, meaning you could use it on a freshly built computer. I just basically upgraded my Windows 11 Home on my current computer.

For most people, Home is just fine for everyone. There are some differences, such as local accounts and Hyper-V and some extra security options (as well as more faster updates), but for the most part, I personally didn’t need to upgrade to Pro… But the sale price was so good (it’s normally $199), that I couldn’t pass it up. As of this writing, I don’t have buyer’s remorse.

When Windows 11 first launched in late 2021, video gaming was a problem with stutter and lag… but it was related to driver issues for video cards. Now that it’s been out for a few years, there are no issues with gaming. Since I started using Windows 11 Home in Nov 2022, I have been impressed with its performance over Windows 10.

Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition

Speaking of games, Epic Games is offering Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition for free. You guys know I love Fallout, so naturally, I’m going to encourage you guys to get it for free. Of course, I already own this on various platform (GOG, Steam, Xbox, etc.), and you can usually find it on sale.

This is the Ultimate Edition, which means all the DLC are incorporated in this game, so there’s a ton of great content to go through.

Of all the Fallout games, New Vegas is one of my top three. A lot of fans did not like the game when it first came out, but over time, I believe they’ve turn around and would agree with me that it’s a great game. The game is 13 years old, and it could benefit from a remaster or remake of the game, in my opinion.

Also, ROG Ally Update: On the day that it was available to pre-order on May 11, 2023, I overreacted and immediately ordered it from Best Buy. It was at a location and a time (noon-ish) and at Best Buy, that I normally don’t buy from online, and at such a high amount, that the unusual activity alerted my bank to issue a stop on my bank card. I had to basically go to the bank and told them that I did purchase the ROG Ally. Unfortunately, the bank already put a stop on the payment. That’s fine, I suppose I’ll just have to go to the physical store on June 13th to see if I can just buy one at their store. It kind of sucks because my local Best Buy closed this year, so I need to travel to another city to visit a Best Buy now. You know, all this could have been prevented, if ROG Ally would just make it available at all retailers… meaning if I had purchased it from Amazon, my bank would’ve just allowed it.

I suppose it’s probably better this way. Now that I’ve seen early reviews, it’s not exactly “twice as fast” as they’ve been claiming. The truth is, it sounds like the ROG Ally is about the same as the Steam Deck… the only difference is that the ROG Ally runs Windows 11 out of the box. Basically, once I get the ROG, I’m calling it my ROG GOG because it’ll be my GOG and Battle Net machine. I just cannot wait to play Diablo IV on handheld.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

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vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com