Welcome to Dooba Reviews

Android 1.6 Donut Rollout and Features

Author Thomas | 01.10.2009 | Category Electronics, Software

Android, the operating system that powers the G1, MyTouch 3G, and other smart phones is now rolling out.  Although the update is in the beginning stages, the roll out seems to be better managed compared to the Cupcake update (delays, delays, and more delays).

This update dubbed 1.6 and inspiring owners of the Android phones to go out and purchase donuts in celebration has a lot going for it, and really helps mature the OS, and especially the Marketplace (App Store) interface.

Although tagged as a “minor” update, there are some pretty awesome features that have been added to the phone.

• Updates to the quick search box
• Camera updates
• The Android Marketplace gets a great face lift
• Virtual Private Network ability
• Indicator for battery usage
• Text-to-speech engine that will blow your mind

More highlights from the Android Dev Page.

T-mobile announcement page.

Google Wave to be Released

Author Thomas | 29.09.2009 | Category Software, Web

Google Wave is set for release tomorrow to 100,000 lucky testers.

Like 100,000 Golden Tickets awaiting to be sent to the lucky winners who will find in their email inboxes tomorrow an invitation to the revolutionary new service/product.

Google Wave will combine in-a-sense, email, instant messaging, blogging, sharing, etc.  Email will work much more like a conversation.

A ten minute demo of wave from the developer tool:

From the Developer Conference (the long video):

Hopefully, we’ll all get one of the Golden Ticket invites to start testing, exploring, and enjoying Google Wave.

Aviary…Awesome

Author Thomas | 08.07.2009 | Category Freebies, Web

I stumbled upon some hilarious images at Worth1000.com today, and saw an interesting add for the first online vector editing program. Hmm…I’ve had need for some vector image creation, and I thus got my first look at Aviary. Aviary, in a word is AWESOME. Basically, Aviary offers a suite online tools for image editing and graphics creation.

Below are some of the FREE products they offer. The tools are built with Flash, so it had no trouble running in my Google Chrome browser. With the talk about the New Google Chrome Operating System, Aviary is more relevant than ever.

Phoenix

Phoenix is Aviary’s image editor. Bye bye Photoshop! Again, simply awesome that it’s being offered for free, and the pro version is a very small yearly subscription. I’m pretty cheap, but the yearly subscription price looks very good if you want to use it commercially.

Peacock

Peacock can be used to create backgrounds, effects, etc. It’s pretty amazing and even more amazing that it takes place within the browser.

Raven

Raven is the Vector editing program. Simply awesome.

Do these tools replace Adobe’s suite of tools that cost thousands of dollars? Perhaps not right now, but that’s the thing about disruptive technologies; Aviary may very well replace the need for the user that doesn’t need all of the features of the Adobe suite.

So, go Aviary! Sign up if you have the chance for a free account and test it out. If you really like it, sign up for the paid account. I’m sure they’d appreciate it, and that would help the community to keep going.

EA Active Nintendo Wii Game Review

Author Thomas | 04.06.2009 | Category Video Games

EA Sports Active is a lot of fun to play.  We awaited the game with anticipation with a lot of other people, and we’re not disappointed.  Of course there are a few things we wish were different, which are noted below, but overall, EA Active is a fantastic game to help you get in shape and tone your muscles.

Game Basics - The game comes with a resistance band (minimal assembly required just FYI), a leg holster for the nunchuck and the game.   The Nunchuck is placed in the leg wrap and it lets the game know how well you’re running, squatting, etc. You a provided a personal training who unlike the Wii Fit, is a real person you can see with video and will give you great feedback telling you to pick up the pace if you fall behind.  The game is also compatible with the Wii Balance Board.

Below are a few video demos of the EA Sports Active for the Nintendo Wii.

Obviously, if you want games to play with the Wii balance board, you need the board. The board comes with the Wii Fit game which has Aerobics, Yoga, Balance Games, and Strength Training.

Active Video Game Highlights:

Personal Trainer – The game offers you a personal training.  Video of a real person demonstrates how to perform each exercise.  Your trainer will tell you if you’re doing things right or if you need to adjust.  He or she will also offer encouragement to help keep you going.

Exercises – The great thing about the game are all the different exercises that can be combined into a workout.  The resistance band is great for increasing the difficulty of the exercises.  You can fold over the band to shorten it and make the workout more difficult.  The tennis challenge is one of my favorites.

Workouts – The game provides a 30 day challenge with varying exercises each day.  The game will alternate exercises that target different areas of your body.  If you’re not up for a certain exercise in your workout, you can de-select and skip the exercise.

Varying Difficulty - At each workout, you can choose the level of difficulty.  Your selection is made for all exercises in the workout, and is great if you’re not feeling up to a big workout, but would still like to get up and going a bit.

Tracking Progress – The game will track your progress over time as well as the calories burned through each workout.

Two Player with Friends - You can play the game side by side with someone.  Make sure to have an extra nunchuck on hand.  You can also purchase an extra resistance band and leg wrap separately on Amazon: EA Sports Active Multiplayer Pack

Improvement Points:

The game does have a few limitations that are unfortunate, but don’t affect the overall play.

Character Choice – It’d be nice if there were more variety when designing your on screen persona.

Music Choice – The music is not bad, but it’s not great.  It would be cool if you choose music from the SD card.

Love the game, and we’ve been using it every day since we got it.

EA Sports Active is available at Amazon.com.

This is the droid, the Android, you’re looking for: Android 1.5 Cupcake Released

Author Thomas | 23.05.2009 | Category Software

Does anyone remember a certain android watching a tea kettle steam/boil and commenting to his friend that he’s just myth-busted the idea that if you watch the kettle, it takes longer to whistle? His friend suggested that he turn off his internal clock, and at the whistle, he gave a quizzical look to the kettle.

Any takers? Well if not, search for the episode. Needless to say there have been many humans watching their Android and waiting for the update to 1.5.

Has watching and checking the phone every minute made the the weeks/months go by more slowly. Well, that’s all in the past for some, and soon to be for everyone (until donut comes out).

Android 1.5 aka “Cupcake” is finally out. The roll-out has started, and the T-mobile user forum has the manual link you can use if you choose to manually update your phone (does not require that you root your phone).

I got as far as putting the update.zip on my SD card, and then…I decided I would wait for the Over the Air (OTA) update to be pushed to my phone.  For the following reasons:

1. Visiting the link in Google Chrome provided a hefty security warning dealing with the certificate and URL destination
2. I didn’t want to go until the next update wondering if I just created a security problem on my phone (due to reason #1)
3. In conversation yesterday, referring to credit, I mentioned that things are more expensive to those who can’t wait (I didn’t want that statement to haunt me if I bricked or otherwise compromised the security of my phone just because I couldn’t wait ’til Monday…let’s hope I get it then).
4. Waiting provides an excellent lesson in patience for me.  If you’ve ever read Zen in the Martial Arts (a really good, short book bytheway), you’ll know it’s kind of “kung-fu-ie-and-all” (Kung Fu Panda) to master the anticipation and enjoy fully the excitement, when it is time.

Well, we’ve all felt it’s about time, but a little Zen practice will only help.  So yes, update.zip is sitting on my desktop now, but it is not on my phone, and I will wait for the OTA to upgrade.

For those who have received the update, here’s from the official Android.com page about some of the new features:

Update: 5/29/2009

I received cupcake this morning through the Over The Air (OTA) delivery at 1AM!

The link to the T-mobile Android Forums below provides a great list of the new features in Android 1.5:

http://forums.t-mobile.com/tmbl/board/message?board.id=Android_MR&thread.id=3

New Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs for Android and iPhone

Author Thomas | 07.04.2009 | Category Software

Of course there are applications that you can use on your mobile phone to check your Gmail, but why enter all those settings, when you can point your mobile web browser to gmail.com and get the whole kit-n-kaboodle.

The new version of Gmail for mobile devices is much improved. It works on Android, iPhone, and probably other mobile devices. The difference in this version is that Google Gears is employed to help make checking email much faster and offer the ability to perform tasks even when off line.

The new web app offers quick links at the top for Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and “more.”

Gmail in this new version lets you see conversations more easily and allows for bulk edits. The follow bar is interesting when you open a conversation to read.

Google Docs looks great in the new version. The display icons add a lot to the design.

An improvement that could be made (on Android) is to make the links that you click behave more like buttons rather than hyperlinks that receive the standard link box around them when activated or highlighted.

Below is a demo of the new features.

Cardio Games for the Wii and Wii Balance Board

Author Thomas | 26.03.2009 | Category Software

We were very excited to get a Wii and Wii Balance board last year, but have been waiting for more cardio exercise games to come out for the Wii.  We’ve logged quite a few hours on the Wii Fit but are looking forward to some variety in the Balance Board Compatible Games.

Fortunately, there are now some pretty exciting games coming out soon that we’ve highlighted below.

Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout is a good game on the economical side of things.  If you’ve been using the Wii Fit, this game looks to be an enhancement of the same concept.  The game is compatible with the Wii Blanace board which is a big plus.  We’ve been waiting for some good exercise games to compliment the Wii Fit game.

EA Sports Active looks to be a very promising game.  Not yet released as of this writing, but you can catch a glimpse with the video demo.

What looks neat about this game is that you have more than just the Wii Remote and Nunchuck to toss into your television.  Seriously though, the game comes with an elastic stretch band and a leg wrap.  The Nunchuck is placed in the leg wrap and it lets the game know how well you’re running, squatting, etc.  Pretty neat idea.  The game is listed higher than the Gold’s Gym game, but with all the options and accessories, it looks to be quite good.

Below is the video demo of the EA Sports Active for the Nintendo Wii.  The Tennis exercises look pretty cool.

Obviously, if you want games to play with the Wii balance board, you need the board.  The board comes with the Wii Fit game which has Aerobics, Yoga, Balance Games, and Strength Training.  The game tracks how often you come back to use it and will give you praise if you come back often, and will also give that little nudge of guilt if you haven’t exercised in a while.  The Yoga exercises are pretty good.  We’re looking forward to more Yoga titles coming to the Wii and Wii Balance Board.

And of course, if you don’t own the Wii, you’ll need to get one.  We had a “fun” time trying to find a Wii to purchase last year.  We tried lots of different stores, tried meeting people in parking lots, etc. The best way, and the way we got the Wii, was by putting our cell phone number into the Wii listing page on Amazon.  Amazon.com then sent us a text message when the Wii was in stock.  Bingo!  We got the Wii!

Great Applications for the G1 Android Phone

Author Thomas | 23.03.2009 | Category Software

There are some pretty cool applications for the G1.

ShopSavvy

• An incredible application.  It’s so fun to scan items in the store and find them cheaper somewhere else or on Amazon.com.
• If you want to see prices more quickly, turn off the location finder in the application.  That way the app doesn’t have to find out where you are and get local prices.

Power Manager

• Great for saving battery power.  I highly recommend it.  Another great benefit of the Power Manager is that you can easily toggle the Wi-fi, GPS, Cell Location, etc.
• The application has different settings that will take effect on your phone based on the battery level.  You can have it automatically turn off the Wi-Fi, etc.

Opera Mini

• This web browser is great for the G1.
• Pages are downloaded much faster because the images on the page aren’t displayed at full quality.  On the smaller screen however, they look just fine.

MyTracks

• Just ran this morning using MyTracks.  It’s pretty cool, but it took it a second to get a GPS lock on my location.
• The application tracks your position based on GPS and will store the route that you ran on Google Maps (you’ll need to be out in the open for the GPS to get a good lock).

Brain Genius Deluxe

• This application/game is a fun little way to beef up your memory skills.

SkyMap

• This application is great.  Go outside at night, point your phone towards the heavens and the application will show the constellations in the sky based on your location/time of year.
• The constellations are mapped out with names.
• This would have been handy when I was working on that constellation merit badge when I was 12!

Here’s a video demo of SkyMap that we found on YouTube.  The video is a little blurry, but you get the idea:

I’ve downloaded and tried a number of different applications, but ended up not using them very much and removing a number of other apps that always ran in the background but I never used.  How to find out what applications are running in the background, use the System Monitor application – very handy.

All these apps can be found by accessing the Market icon from your android phone.

Flameless – Wickless Scented Wax Candles

Author Thomas | 17.03.2009 | Category Home & Garden

The world is all a-rage with Scentsy Candles because they’re wickless, have a unique design and are somewhat safer than regular candle warmers or wicked candles. There are however a number of alternatives if you’re set on getting a candle that actually looks like a candle but isn’t as dangerous as a candle warmer.

Wickless LED candles can provide the perfect candlelight atmosphere without the danger and smoke of wick burning candles.  We purchased a 3 pack of candles that are LED powered and are quite impressed.

The candles make a great addition to the home decor and are great for dinners, parties, etc. A few more things we like are that the candles:

• Flicker like real candles
• Will last for hundreds of hours on 2 AA batteries
• Do not heat up
• Have a Vanilla Scent (it’s not strong, but there, and probably better than nothing)
• The LED light is hidden within the wax about half way down into the candle
• Make a great flashlight at night if you need to go and check on the kids without turning on the lights
• Are portable

Because the candles are so portable and safe, they take you back a couple hundred years when candlelight was the “light bulb” and flashlight of the day.  We’ve found ourselves turning on the candle at night and taking it down the stairs to check on something at night rather than flipping all the lights on and going blind.  The candles are fun to use and the kids like them at times instead of a night light.  There are a variety of candles such as these; the three-pack is nice for the cost savings. The wickless candles are available here with free shipping.

ShelfReliance CanSolidator Pantry Review

Author Thomas | 02.03.2009 | Category Home & Garden

CanSolidator Pantry Dimensions: Height: 11″ Width: 20″ Depth: 16.5″ Capacity: 40 Cans

The ShelfReliance CanSolidator Pantry is a great way to store food cans.  But who would want to store food cans?  Katrina, Hugo, Tornadoes, Earthquakes, Downsizing…ring any bells?  Storing food is a smart idea in preparation for difficult times.  It’s also just a good idea to have some food on hand for those crazy cooking moods you might get in.  You many just need something that comes in a can.

The CanSolidator can help you stay stocked with food because it makes it easy to see where you’re running low.  We recently purchased a CanSolidator and were amazed when we went to fill it just how low we were on a certain food type.  It was hard to see previously because our cans were stacked one on top of the other.  We purchased the CanSolidator Pantry, but will probably upgrade to the Pantry Plus soon because our shelves are wide and can fit more.

The product is a Food Rotation System or FRS for short.  Using First in First out or FIFO, cans are placed in the CanSolidator at the top level and then rotate down to the bottom level.  You remove cans from the bottom, thus using the oldest cans first.

A few thoughts and observations when we pulled it out of the box:

• Assembly is required.  It’s not a big deal, but you have to put the pieces together to fit the width of cans you want to put in there.
• Holds three full-sized cans and one medium can.  We weren’t able to fit 4 large soup cans in there, but we could fit 3 large cans and one medium cream of mushroom soup can.
• Deep than expected.  The CanSolidator was deeper than we expected, but the “Pantry” fit in our Pantry just fine.  We also measured for the CanSolidator Cupboard and it would fit in our cupboards.  It looks like they were built to standard sizes.
• Holds only 4 types of cans.  The Pantry model holds 40 cans but only 4 different types of cans (10 of each).  So, after we set it up, we thought, “Hmmm.  We need another one.”
• Better in earthquakes and other natural disasters.  We noticed as we were moving our cans around prior to putting them in the CanSolidator, that our cans on the shelf can be knocked off very easily.  Once we put them in the CanSolidator, it was hard to get them to just fall out.  This is an advantage because if you think of any natural disasters that might shake your house a little bit, your stacked cans would fall over, break, or otherwise be compromised.  The big problem is that it’s in the natural disasters when you might need your cans the most!  Shaking the CanSolidator, we saw that the cans weren’t going to go anywhere.  The very top cans if filled up to the edge might fall, but not very much more than that.
• Space utilization.  It seems that we could fit more cans on our shelf if they were simply stacked instead of in the CanSolidator, but we like the CanSolidator because it helps us to better manage food cans, it looks so much better on the shelf than a bunch of stacked cans, and it’s cool.
• Stackable.  The CanSolidator is stackable.  In fact, the Pantry can be split into two separate units.
• Expandable.  The rotation system can be exapanded with more peices or hooked together with additional Cansolidators.
• Helps to monitor food storage levels.  We really like that we can see at a quick glance if we’re running low on food storage items.
• Helps rotate through food stock.  The CanSolidator helps us use the oldest cans first.  If you think about it, stacking cans usually hides the oldest cans in the back and bottom of the pile.

Video Demo from LLG & Company of the CanSolidator Pantry

Overall, we really like the CanSolidator Pantry, and will be getting more soon.