geekitarian

GetGo has a new sandwich.  It's called the Something Cheesesteak or whatever.  I don't know. Here's a picture. I went to my local GetGo gas station and ordered a sandwich from a computer, like normal human beings do in 2017. It's offered in 14", 7", and 3.5" varieties.  I was glad to see the 3.5" option.  Because I was afraid.  Afraid of the sandwich.  Afraid of what this experiment might force me to become. After ordering I brought it home and unwrapped it and... it actually doesn't look *that* far off from the marketing pictures for once.  Weird. Here's the cross-section: It smells pretty good and doesn't look too bad.  OK, I'm ready to eat this, let's jump in. First bite impressions: It's kind of like a too chewy meatball sub.  It's not entirely unpleasant and it's a familiar set of flavors.  The steak they put on this sandwich isn't a thinly chopped high grade meat; it's more like a rou...

I've been using an Xperia Ultra (Play Edition) for a few months and I have to say - other than the fact that it's about the size of a dinner plate, it's a pretty great phone (interesting to note - you could actually use it as a dinner plate and then wash it, since it's waterproof).  Sure, everybody makes fun of it for its giant size pretty much all the time, but hell - I like the attention and I'll take any attention I can get.  I spend a LOT more time browsing the web or reading & writing email than I do talking, and the large form factor is really effective for that.  The battery life is great, performance is good, and the screen is large enough to do just about anything you need. The Xperia Ultra has lots of upsides: Nice, big screen. Long battery life - I can get 2 days, easy. Great processor / memory. It's super thin. That being said, my 3 biggest complaints about the Xperia Ultra: No stereo speakers. My kids have one of these and i...

I've been teaching at a local university for 2 years now.  Over that time I've received 3 student feedback surveys containing 92 responses.  These are some of my favorites. All of these are 100% authentic. What were the instructor's major strengths? He was enthusiastic and really self-confident. Very used-car-salesman. >>> I've actually never sold used cars, though at one point I sold sandwiches.  Defense against the dark arts, potions, history of magic >>>  This is actually accurate, though we don't usually get to it by the end of the semester. What were the instructor's major weaknesses? At times, a little distracted. >>>  Probably true.  This is a common one.  Years of watching MTV as a kid has killed my ability to pay attention to any one thing for longer than 6.4 seconds. Uses a Mac. Has extreme distaste of PHP, no PhD >>>  This one really isn't fair - everybody hates...

So about a year ago I decided that I'd had enough of driving a normal car and wanted to try something out that seriously limited my ability to drive far away, look cool, or haul anything ever. I used to drive a Jaguar X-Type and I loved pretty much everything about it (even looking like an old man) except for the nearly $300 I was paying to fuel it every month.  Turns out that 19 miles per gallon is expensive.  So, I decided to check out the Nissan Leaf because I'm a bit of a geek and a bit of an early adopter.   I was watching electric vehicles for a while and it seemed to be the first "practical" one - it had enough range to get you where you're going but wasn't prohibitively expensive. I really wanted a Tesla but... Not pictured: 2nd Mortgage $69,900 is a lot of money, even with a $7500 tax credit.  They're awesome, but a Leaf with all of the options is just a touch more than HALF of the price of the base Tesla Model S.  So while a Tesla mig...

I've been wanting to check out this Smartwatch trend that everyone (read: some tech bloggers, and Samsung... oh, and those tens of thousands of people on Kickstarter ) has been talking about.  I was in Best Buy the other day and I picked up a Fitbit Force ($129.99) and a Pebble ($149.99) with the intent of keeping whichever one seemed to be more useful / practical. Pebble Smartwatch Fitbit Force I decided to open and try the Force first.  Full disclosure: I've had a Fitbit Flex for a few months and I really love the Fitbit system.  They do a great job of tracking and visualizing data without going overboard or making the system too complicated.  Overall I think the Fitbit apps and devices are simple and easy to use - the Flex just sits in a wristband (or your pocket) and tracks your movement throughout the day, and tracks your sleep at night.  It's mostly passive.  I've found the information they provide is a great way to sense when I've been...

Question from my Facebook page : I want to get a camera for the kid for his Birthday. Cost is not much of an issue (largely because I intend on borrowing it a lot!), but let's target a max of $350. He's going to be 8 years old. So, I like the idea of a 'tough' camera as we are always at the beach and in the water etc. I have also seen one or two cameras saying they are 'fast' because of their f2.0 setting. I really see little to be gained from things like GPS, wifi and other gimmickry on a camera. I just want a camera that takes good shots, easy to use and offers a certain level of robustness and waterproofness (sic!).  If you're looking for something that will basically be indestructible but still take some decent pictures at a decent price, I'd recommend one from the Olympus Tough series . They're not really my first choice for a compact camera, but they really can stand up to a beating (and many of them are fully waterproof). The Olympus...

I used to have an iPhone (actually, the original, the 3G, the 3GS, and the iPhone 4), and while I loved it (them), it was getting increasingly hard to use it for long periods of time.  It's not that it's a bad device - it's just that it's so... small. On top of that, at one point I was carrying around a tablet, a phone, and a computer.  If I wanted to use data on the tablet, I was turning on WiFi on the tablet, then I was enabling WiFi tethering on the phone, which was wearing down its battery, so I'd have to plug it into the computer, which wore down that battery, so I had to disconnect everything again as soon as I was done.  It seemed maybe a *tad* excessive, so I wanted to simplify.  Unfortunately, nothing really seemed to do the trick.  All of the phone screens last year were either big and low resolution (like the popular but ultimately inferior Galaxy S2) or small and high resolution (like the iPhone 4). Then the Galaxy Note came along, and everyt...

The iPad was announced this week and people seem to be underwhelmed.  Some superfans, loyal Apple customers, and of course Apple evangelists are excited, like this guy: A small group of fans are saying that this is going to be the biggest thing to geek out since Apple announced the Newton, which was obviously a huge hit. Apple's explanation of this device is very grand.  "The best way to experience the web, email, photos, and video.  Hands down."  Not only does it surf the web, view your photos, AND connect to YouTube, but it practically connects directly to your brain stem and detects everything that was ever fun in your life and presents it on a nice 9.7" screen.  Videos of dogs surfing galore! I love my iPhone.  It's probably the most practical and useful pice of consumer technology I've ever owned - I probably use it more often than my computer, TV, or any other overly expensive gadget I have lying around.  Unfortunately, I ...