Style considerations aside, owning a dedicated wristwatch is harder to justify when the smartphone in your pocket provides the same information and then some.
So now we have companies like WIMM, whose Android-powered WIMM One …
Reviews
Lytro’s Light-Field Camera: Photography, Reimagined
In the world of technology, there are three kinds of change. There’s the subtle, never-ending process of refinement we call evolution. There’s revolution, which is like evolution in fast-forward mode. And then, every once in a …
Samsung Galaxy Note Review: Living with a Gigantic Smartphone
Thanks to an over-the-top Super Bowl ad, millions of people have heard of Samsung’s Galaxy Note smartphone — but for the wrong reason.
Although the Galaxy Note’s stylus was the focus of the commercial, the real …
Here Treasure, Treasure: Uncharted Golden Abyss Review
Uncharted: Golden Abyss is Uncharted on a 5-inch screen, and that’s the worst I can say about it, despite the fact that it’s the first one not made by series creator Naughty Dog (in their stead, Sony’s SCE Bend Studio). It’s not …
HP TouchSmart 320 Review: Great Value for an All-in-One, Touchscreen Is a Nice Extra
Touchscreen computers have it tough. While tablet and phones leverage touchscreen technology really well, standard computer operating systems just haven’t been built with a touch-first focus. That’ll change a bit with Windows 8, …
Toshiba Portege Z835 Ultrabook Review
If Intel has its way, most laptops will eventually be Ultrabooks, which if you strip away the marketing jargon simply refers to slim and light machines with long battery life and enough processing power to watch Netflix and play …
Apple iPhone 4S Review: It’s the iPhone 4, Only More So
“Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.” That was Steve Jobs talking in 2007, as he was about to introduce the first iPhone. He was right about it being a landmark. But he was also correct that it was a once-in-a-while event. Most products—including Apple ones—are merely evolutionary and …
Cruel Story, Bro: ‘Gears of War 3’ Review
Gears of War 3 represents the kind of game that’s become deeply embattled as bite-sized smartphone gaming and freemium models shift the economics and expectations around the video game medium. It’s big and loud and costly to make. It runs on only one game platform and appeals mostly to a meat-and-potatoes fanbase that doesn’t appear to …
Addictive Blooms: ‘Fractal’ Review
Like any watershed work of art, 1984’s Tetris sired lots of offspring, some more bastardly than others. And it’s been fascinating to see the way the falling block puzzle genre has transformed that since the Russian-born game made the Game Boy a must-have device. Time limits, RPG elements, multiple colors and a plethora of shapes have …
Taking You Higher: ‘Jetpack Joyride’ Review
When I first saw Jetpack Joyride a few weeks back, it was still being called Machine Gun Jetpack. It was after my demo of Fruit Ninja Kinect–also made by Australian dev studio Halfbrick–that I saw a quick run-through of the still-brewing iOS game. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it in the months that have passed.
The …
God Said Knock You Out: ‘El Shaddai’ Review
In 2011, the Rapture was supposed to come. It didn’t. Instead, we get a video game based on the Bible. Well, sort of.
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron takes its inspiration from the Book of Enoch, an apocryphal text authored centuries before the birth of Christ. Even though it isn’t considered canonical in most Judeo-Christian …
Excellence from the Machine: ‘Deus Ex: Human Revolution’ Review
Deus Ex amounts to a sacred text for video game enthusiasts. The 2000 release designed by Warren Spector and Harvey Smith changed the way that people thought about playing through a video game story.
Playing as UN anti-terrorist agent JC Denton, you uncovered a vast and centuries-old conspiracy that threatened the geopolitical …