I have been on various trips and many of them involve the airplane. I have heard of horror stories where people lose their baggage and either don’t get it until a lot later or never get it all. I remember watching the movie, Meet the Parents, and Ben Stiller loses his luggage for most of the trip. Well I too worry about that very same thing happening to me every time I go on a plane trip, those painful moments waiting to see whether your luggage is going to enter the conveyor belt. ReboundTag approached me to do a product placement and I graciously accepted because I wanted to see how it would work and if it would solve my problems. They sent me their featured product, the Microchip Bag Tag accompanied with a 3 year membership.

Now I haven’t been able to use it yet because I have yet to be on a plane trip just yet and so this is just an initial review. Now whatever the company may say, airport security in various airports across the world have a mind of their own and so when they see this tag, they may just snip it just like they did to one of our pieces of luggage because they didn’t recognize our lock. They also snipped the zippers which makes no sense but that’s airport security for you.

The basic overview of this product is you receive the tag, register it on their website and change the description of your luggage that it will be attached to and your travel itinerary and this can be updated on the go on their website. You can also choose to be anonymous which means that airlines or other people can only send you messages about where your luggage is.

Later I will update you on how this product fairs when I put it through its paces.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Midway Games has announced a release date for its new game, Wheelman, for the end of the coming month of March. Tigon Studios, a company founded by Vin Diesel, is working closely with Midway Games to produce this all-new video game for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3 and PC. Both these companies have assembled world class people as well as up-and-coming young talent to help produce this game.

“We’re designing Wheelman to play like a Hollywood blockbuster,” said Vin Diesel, Wheelman star and executive producer, Tigon Studios. “Playing this game will be just like taking control of the greatest car chases from feature films, except this time you’re in the driver’s seat.”

For the first time ever, a video game is set in Barcelona. The developer of this game has provided three reasons for this setting, primarily because it is such a beautiful city—complete with great geography, natural landmarks and breathtaking architecture, all of which have been integrated into the game. This makes for a great backdrop while you, the gamer, are creating carnage everywhere. It is also the perfect setting used to depict the real world as a basis for all the different personalities in the story (e.g., Romanian arms dealers, the Chulos street punk biker gang, and Spanish mafia). Last, but certainly not least, Barcelona is jam packed with sweeping highways and tunnels—great for high-speed pursuits, as well as narrow alleyways that are perfect for bikes and smaller vehicles.

Now, what is this video game about? In essence, the storyline is as follows: Vin Diesel is the main character playing an undercover CIA agent named Milo Burik. His job is to infiltrate the gangs of Barcelona to gather intel on a covert heist. He is an amazing driver, so he works as the “wheelman,” hence the name of the game. The cops come into play because he’s undercover, and since the local cops have no clue, he has to stay one step ahead of them.

The whole gameplay heavily reminds me of Burnout and GTA; Burnout because of its destructive theme, and GTA because of its real world focus and the third person on foot gameplay. Nevertheless, Wheelman has something to offer gamers that both these games don’t: each vehicle is finely tuned and thus the level of gameplay has gone up.

For example, each car in Wheelman has its own physics model for handling and damage, making it much more realistic and allowing the gamer to pull off better drifts, 360 spins, handbrake turns and other stunts. One of the huge features that I noticed was the Vehicle Melee System and being able to shoot at enemies while driving. The Vehicle Melee feature allows gamers to sideswipe pursuing enemies with a simple flick of the joystick. Wheelman’s devastating “slam-n-ram” manoeuvres can be carried out in all directions, just like how it would be in a Hollywood-style car chase.

It doesn’t just stop with those two features; you also have the option of being able to “Air Jack” a car. The days are over where you stop gameplay by getting out of a car and stealing a new one. In Wheelman, you can leap from one moving vehicle to another. On top of this, there is a feature called “Aimed Shot,” which enables gamers to slow down gameplay in order to achieve better accuracy while shooting targets, such as weak spots on cars. This feature works in conjunction with another called “Cyclone.” Gamers are allowed to perform the cyclone move; the cyclone move turns the vehicle 180 degrees and makes an Aimed Shot.

Now let’s get to the objective of this post: the cars and bikes. Wheelman is loaded with as many cars and classes as GTA. There are a multitude of vehicles, such as compact hatchbacks, German sedans, limousines, sport cars, vans, scooters, trucks, and sport bikes. However, let’s not forget about the weapons. Wheelman has all the standard weapons one would expect to see in such a game, including pistols, machine guns, sub-machine guns, grenade launchers, and assault rifles.

In terms of actual gameplay, Wheelman is jam-packed with action. It contains 105 side missions that are broken down into seven categories: Fugitive, Contracts, Street Showdown, Hot Potato, Taxi, Made to Order and Rampage. These side missions tie into the main story and help unlock key bonuses such as garages, weapon/ammo caches, tuning shops and taxi points. Each side mission shows up on the PDA map and sends you an email once it is unlocked.

Wheelman is such a versatile game and action packed that people from Hollywood are trying to develop a script for its movie adaptation. Everyone should keep in mind that it was the game that came first. Currently, the movie is considered as a completely separate entity, which confuses many people. Look out for this game at the end of March 2009, as well as the game-based-movie later on.

Watch the trailer here.

Popularity: 11% [?]

I just got my hands on a new portable video camcorder called the Flip Video Ultra Series, made by Pure Digital. First off, I’ve got to say that it’s got some slick packaging—even in the interior; it definitely hyped up my enthusiasm for this product. One thing that struck me as a huge plus to this camcorder was its compact design compared to the heavy, chunky one we have that lasts only 30 minutes with the LCD screen out. This one could fit in your back pocket and be thrown around, though I would not recommend the latter.

Design

Without a doubt, this compact camcorder is not up to Sony standards—not even close. Everything is basically plastic and even the buttons look cheap. The buttons are easy to press and are placed where it makes sense. It’s simple enough, though, and the colour scheme is ultra modern. It has a nice curved shape that fits the palm of your hands well. The exterior case is easily worn down and I can already see marks within the first week and I’ve barely touched it.

Package Contents

This compact camcorder is unique because you can always attach it to a computer with the included USB stick that is neatly attached to its side. It also does not require any software as the software is built-in to the camcorder. The one thing that wasn’t up to standards was the mechanism that released the USB stick. On my first try I was able to easily release it, but the problem came about when I tried to put it back in. Seems that I didn’t pull the latch down far enough so it just snapped back making it impossible to flip the USB back in. After further trial and error, I finally figured that I had to pull the latch down to the bottom where it would sit there until the USB stick was pushed and the latch would close shut. 

USB Stick

Another thing that struck me as interesting, was the  “Lock/Unlock” switch located at the bottom of the camcorder. At first I thought it would apply to all the buttons, which seemed logical. I tested it, and it turns out that it only applies to the battery case. Now this is another cool thing about the Flip Video Ultra Series, the battery case placement. It took me a good five minutes to figure out where the battery case was and I had to resort to looking at the instructions to figure out where it was. This is a perfect discrete place to put it and makes the design even better. 

Battery Case

Last, but definitely not least is the power button. With all the stupid things I’ve done with this camcorder, I feel even more stupid writing this, but hey, I’m an honest guy, so what the heck. To me, I think it would be common sense to put a symbol beside the power button to tell users that it is in-fact the power button. When I first pulled down on it, I figured it would do something else, but to my surprise, it turned it on. The great thing is that it takes no less than two seconds to turn on. 

Video Quality

This is where the good times stop in my mind. In all fairness, I would be totally surprised if this machine was built for quality videos. It comes nowhere near that even at close range. If you are more than 5 metres away from the point of interest, forget about shooting the video. This camcorder is made for close ups like birthday parties or stuff like that. Please, do not expect to get good family vacation videos out of this while you are visiting some gorgeous landmark in Europe. The screen is small, but it does its job: fair enough. It displays only the needed information such as the amount of time left and the status of the camcorder. At my company meeting for Junior Achievement, we put together some videos of us packaging our product, from  Xpress’d so if you’d like to take a look at the actual quality then be my guest. If you’d like to buy a customized white t-shirt then just leave a comment or head to the website above.

Find more videos like this on Xpress’d

Don’t expect to get great zoom either because it only has a 2x digital zoom, which is the worst of the two (digital and optical). Optical is by far the best, and even I can notice the difference when I switch from optical to digital zoom on my digital camera. 

The Flip Video Ultra Series provides you with up to 60 minutes of video on its built-in flash memory depending on which size you get. The 1GB holds 30 minutes while the 2GB holds 60 minutes. Both versions of the Flip Video Ultra Series store the video on MPEG-4 at 30 frames per second—perfect for easy transers to your iPod. Some camcorders have the option to switch to a lower quality but I’m glad this doesn’t because the quality is poor to begin with. At least Pure Digital has improved on its last models as the memory has doubled, but the amount of video recording time has stayed the same meaning they’ve actually made the video quality better. 

Overall

Without a doubt, I can say that this product is great for spur of the moment videos that you might not have the chance to capture because you left your true, hardcore camcorder at home. The video quality is not that great but it gets the job done. It’s keeping up with trends by allowing you to upload your videos directly to AOL Video, MySpace, and of course YouTube. They even provide you with a TV connector to watch your videos instantly on your TV (although I don’t see a reason). For $149 USD, it’s a little pricey, yet not expensive enough to make it undesirable. If you feel you have anything to share and any critisicm to this post, please feel free to comment and share your thoughts. 

Package

Popularity: 6% [?]

Blackberry’s first entrance into the touch screen phone market has made headlines all over the world. Competing directly with the iPhone and Google’s new phone, G1 by HTC, Blackberry can now officially say it has an all around phone capable of sending email and having multimedia capabilities. The Blackberry Storm is slightly smaller but a smidge thicker than the iPhone and it keeps the same rounded edges of the iPhone. It has a high quality resolution screen that is bright.

Blackberry Storm

One thing that is really cool about the phone is it has copy and paste features and can interpret html on the browser. There are two keyboards that pop up when you are using the phone for emails, texts and such. One is when the phone is vertical, you get a keyboard in the horizontal position that is Full QWERTY and the other one is in the vertical position when your phone is horizontal that is the true Blackberry keyboard with two letters per button.

It has the capabilities of a world phone, with GSM, HDSPA, 3G, and EDGE. Like the iPhone there will be a lot of add-ons like a docking station that turns the Storm into an alarm clock while charging the phone at the same time. The Storm is easy to use and intuitive but in my personal opinion I hate the fact of using a virtual keyboard and this phone has two of them. I like the feel and touch of a real keyboard. Verizon is going to release it around Thanksgiving in the U.S. and hopefully soon after that in Canada. It’s a great follow up to the Bold and shows Blackberry’s committment to challenging Apple and bringing more products to the consumer market. This signals the market shift for ordinary consumers getting Smartphones.

Popularity: 4% [?]

With Rogers bringing the iPhone to Canada on July 11th, the other service providers had to do something, and do something quick. So Bell presents to Canada, the Samsung Instinct. While it isn’t necessarily quick, as it debuts sometime on August 8th, the Samsung Instinct offers much of the same features that the iPhone does, representing a true iPhone killer in my mind. One key flaw that the Instinct has though is that it can’t be used as a tethered device where the phone is used to get wireless signals for a laptop. Another difference, although not that big in my mind is the fact it only supports up to 8GB of storage with it’s microSD card. With bigger and bigger mp3 devices out on the market, I can imagine this will be a selling point for the iPhone for many people.

Samsung Instinct

Potential customers will be enticed by the lower price point of the actual phone and plans. The phone will start at $149.95 with a 3-year contract but is available with 1,2 and no contract as well with the highest price point being $449.95. The plans are also cheaper than the iPhones’ starting as low as $40 a month and with more to offer, it’s obviously a much better deal. “The lowest price plan for the Instinct includes 100 minutes of local calls for $20; 1,000 minutes of voice calls from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. and weekends (Fridays from 9 p.m. to Mondays at 7 a.m.); an $8.95 monthly system access fee; 75 cents for 911 emergency calls, and the $10 unlimited Internet plan. The monthly total comes to $39.70 before taxes.”Globe and Mail.

The Instinct has a full-touch screen with haptic feedback, meaning it responds when keys are pressed, and connects to the EV-DO Rev A high-speed data network. It also supports Web browsing and Internet e-mail (including Hotmail and Gmail accounts), as well as attachments. Features such as the global positioning system as well as live and on-demand TV.

Update: Rogers has announced new lower data plans to combat the negative criticsm it has received for its pricing. It’s only a limited time offer from July 11 to the end of August and will be available to all 3G phone purchases in that time frame. Previously a 6GB data plan would have cost you $100 but now they are offering a $30 plan. It’s still no match for Bell’s offer of $10 for unlimited data but it’s a step in the right direction.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Sony has long been reputable for it’s camera’s which have been spun-off, to be included in their Sony Ericsson phones, one of which I’m a proud owner of. They take great pictures and are always on the cutting edge of technology. This camera is no exception to that rule, the W300 launched as one the only point-and-shoot camera’s with 13.6 megapixels, killing any rumours that the race for the most megapixels was dying.

Look

The camera is coated with ultra-high titanium with a high-end finish that will cover up and prevent most of the scratches and fingerprints you put its way. The camera comes in only one colour which is black so surprisingly, Sony hasn’t offered an array of colours that sometimes include pink.

Usability

For the older generation, Sony has taken into consideration that the baby boomers eyes are not as good as they used to be and can’t fully utilize the LCD screen, especially outside. My parents never use the LCD screen because they can’t see it, so they are forced to use the viewfinder. It makes it very easy for them to eliminate competition if they don’t have a viewfinder. The W300 is still in the running as it is accompanied with a viewfinder just over the 2.7” LCD screen.

The layout of the buttons and controls are always an important factor to consider when purchasing a camera. If you can’t get the right settings quick, the opportunity might have passed. The LCD screen takes a huge portion of the back of the camera so Sony was forced to place all the controls on the right and thus it may lack much freedom. So if you’ve got chubby fingers or maybe a little bit clumsy, this might not be good for you. The buttons seem to be squished together as their are a lot of them in a small compact area. The zoom is in the top right hand corner, and below that is a turn-table for the scene selection (which to be honest, isn’t used that much anyway), and at the bottom right is D-pad for menu movement and selection.

There are two buttons on the bottom for easy access to two things. The first is to review your pictures and videos taken which is much better than the timeline access where you have to push the button sideways to change from shooting mode, to slideshow mode, to video mode. The second button is to use the feature PHOTOMUSIC. It allows for a more creative slideshow letting you upload up to 8 tracks, each 5 minutes in length and play them alongside your photos.

Features

Along with PhotoMusic, Sony has included many intelligent features like SmileShutter, double anti-blur protection, in-camera retouching, and a wide array of scene modes. My favourite scene mode has to be the burst mode that can shoot 5 frames per second for those high action moments. The camera includes 13 scene modes, so you can really experiment with this camera. The SmileShutter is a useful feature as it allows you to give up control to the camera as to when it takes the picture. Obviously by the name you can tell, that when everybody you’ve selected has a smile on, the camera captures the picture. Now all we need is an eye shutter to work in combination with the SmileShutter technology so everybody is smiling and eyes open when the picture is taken. A friend of mine has a Sony camera with in-camera retouching capabilities much like this one does. It’s very handy to make simple adjustments to your photo like: cropping, red-eye removal, adding effects, and recolouring.

Conclusion

For the price of approx. $349, this camera is an absolute steal. It’s got 13.6 megapixels, Super HAD™ CCD imager and the precision-crafted Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® lens. It further enhances picture quality with the Bionz Imaging Processor. Enabling high image resolution and fast reflex, this state-of-the-art processor achieves crisp, clean images by improving noise reduction. On top of that you can view your digital photos directly from the LCD screen or plug your camera into a Full HD TV for an eye-opening experience. For a point and shoot camera, I would look no further than this camera.

Popularity: 4% [?]

On July 11th, American and Canadian consumers will be able to purchase the 3G versions of the Apple iPhone. Even people who bought the 2.5G iPhone on or after May 27 will be able to switch their phone with the 3G phone for no cost at all except their old, inferior iPhone. In the US, it will cost consumers there $199 for the 8GB version and $299 for the 16GB version and should be north of that, north of the border where I’ve been hearing $299 for the base version. Why should Canadians pay more for the phone though? We already pay more monthly with Rogers APRU (Average Revenue Per User) at $72 compared to AT&T’s current ARPU of just $49. With the new spectrum being auctioned off, it should lower prices but after the iPhone release, analysts are expecting an ARPU rise of $30 or more.

Back to the phone though. The Apple version of 3G technology will blow away the previous generation of that technology, EDGE, and even beat current 3G speeds with 36% faster pageloads than competitors like the Nokia N95. It will be open to 3rd party apps and the phone will be available internationally. Battery power wasn’t forgotten in the development of this version unlike the new Blackberry, which from rumours seems to lack a decent battery life. The 3G iPhone will have 300 hours of standby, 9 hours of 2G talk, 5 hours of 3G talk, 24 hours of audio, and 7 hours of video.

GPS is going to be standard, using A-GPS, which works in conjunction with regular satellite GPS data and cell towers for much faster location times. On top of that, they’ve thrown Wi-Fi into the mix to lock up your exact location. Apple isn’t fooling around here with so many solid features being rolled into one, at a cheaper and slightly smaller package. Although there isn’t a user interface change or exterior change, Apple still presents a good product to the market.

Popularity: 2% [?]

TiVo was recently brought to Canada to offer competition to the DVR and PVR’s that are being sold here. One key difference though is they don’t offer an HD box and they aren’t planning to. There’s about as much forward-thinking there as George Bush’s policy’s. The reason is because no Canadian cable company offers the CableCard that is used in the HD versions of TiVo. So bringing the HD version from the U.S. is out of the question.
TiVo has many advantages over the regular DVR’s offered by Bell, Rogers, and other cable providers including the ability to play your recorded content on your other multimedia devices such as PC, laptop, PSP, iPod, etc. You’ll need the optional Wireless network adapter like what the Xbox 360 has but for half the price (TiVo’s adapter costs $59.99). It comes at a cost though with a subscription fee needed to run the service but remember it’s an add-on to your cable service as it works with the feed from your cable, not replacing it. A DVR on the other hand replaces your regular cable set top box and combines both the recording and LiveTV functions making everything very easy to use.

If you have a non-HDTV or don’t subscribe to the HDTV channels because of the limited choices then this is a perfect add-on to your cable box. Don’t even think about downgrading though and instead opt for the HD DVR’s offered by your cable provider. If you are still skeptical about needing to record TV then take it from my grandparents. They are both around 80 years old and refused to buy it until we forced it upon them. Now they can’t thank us enough as it had made life easier on them because they don’t have to schedule time to watch their two favourite shows. The shows now work around them and that’s the whole beauty of these recording devices. It transforms your TV viewing experience and habits. You won’t believe how much control you now have over how you watch TV and if you don’t have something then you are truly missing out on something.

Popularity: 1% [?]