Stay tuned...
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Friday, October 11, 2013
Surface: One Edition
Surface: One Edition
I created a concept yesterday, highlighting why the XPS 13 from Dell is so great (beautiful, light, powerhouse) and though why not create an Xbox. These two things seem far away now, but it could make sense if it is done right. This model is almost entirely based on the XPS 13 with optional HD Display. It would use Haswell chip sets and run Windows 8.1, plus an Xbox interface, in place of the average start screen. The desktop would remain, probably with a function on the keyboard instead of a fully-fledged button on the start screen. (make the windows button switch between start screen and desktop). Now, the touchpad would be a standard touchpad, but the Xbox One remote would be programmed to run wireless with the Surface One. Although the device is named Surface, it still has its own laptop bottom to keep it unified and to hold more internals. The CD ROM drive wouldn't be included in the Surface itself, but as an add on for older games not available online. You could order one with a CD ROM drive, but it will create additional thickness and make it larger. Since it uses Windows and 64-bit Architecture, along with Xbox cores, Steam would run fine on it.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Bit #1: Where did Mr. Potato Head come from?
| A "Bit" is a piece of history, coming to you from Fitzsimmons Weekly Bit #1: Where did Mr. Potato Head come from?  |
| Photo and links from mrpotatohead.net |
During the World War 2 era, George Lerner enjoyed success as a well known inventor and designer. Just before 1950, he designed and produced a first generation set of plastic face pieces. The push pin shaped noses, ears, eyes and mouth parts could be pushed into fruits or vegetables to transform the food into an endless array of magical anthropomorphic playmates.From MrPotatoHead.net
The toy wasn't an immediate hit however. There was still a World War 2 mentality to conserve resources. Toy companies didn't think that customers would accept the idea of wasting a piece of food as a child's toy. But after awhile, George finally sold the toy to a cereal company, who planned to use the pieces as a premium giveaway in cereal boxes.
Even with the toys looking to be doomed from the start, Hasbro picks up the line and builds a fully-fledged toy lineup with them. As strange as that lok
Here are a few examples... and if you'd like to check out my collectors site dedicated, look here
Update 5/5/2016: Links are completely broken. Website was closed in 2015.
Real Katie Carrot: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19606.htm
Real Oscar Orange: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19604.htm
Real Pete Pepper: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19603.htm
Real Mr. Potato Head: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19601.htm
Real Cooky Cucumber: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19605.htm
Real Jumper Potatoes: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19609.htm
Real Special Event Characters: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/196010.htm#donut
Real First Disney Products: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/196011.htm
Real Tooty Fruity Toys: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1960/19607.htm#replacement2
1970 Collection
Real Early 1971 Mr. Potato Head: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1970/19701.htm
Real Potato Pals (Birds, Bugs, etc.) : http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1970/19705.htm
Real Late 1972 Mr. Potato Head: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1970/19702.htm
Real Mr. Potato Head FIRST accessories Pack: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1970/19703.htm
Real SUPER Mr. Potato Head Combo Pack: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1970/19704.htm
Real Mr. potato Head Rider: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1970/19706.htm
1980 Collection
Real Bendy Arm Mr. Potato Head: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19801.htm
Real Super Mr. Potato Head V. 2: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19802.htm
Real First Mr. Potato Head Full Family Pack: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19803.htm
Real Potato Head Kids: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19805.htm
Real Authentic Mr. Potato Head Products of the 80's: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19806.htm
Real McDonald Sponsorship Products: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19807.htm
Real Potato Head Kids Puzzles: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19809.htm
Real My Little Pony PHK sponsorship: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/1980/19808.htm
Collection 1990
2000 Collection
Real Collector's Holiday Sheet: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/2000/20001.htm
Real Darth Tater: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/2000/200013.html
Real 2000's Products: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/2000/20002.htm
Real 2000's Collectibles: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/2000/20006.htm
Real Theme Park Updates: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/2000/20007.htm
Real Remakes of Originals: http://www.mrpotatohead.net/2000/20008.htm
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Round Announced
Late Tuesday, Samsung announced the Galaxy Round, a curved-smartphone that resembles the S4. The Galaxy Round has a 5.7-inch, 1080p screen with an HD Super AMOLED display. The device is 7.9mm thick, weighs 154g, and has a 2800mAh battery. Runs Android 4.3, 3GB of RAM, and a 2.3GHz quad-core processor, with an impressive 13 mega-pixel camera. It will be released in "Luxury Brown" in Korea, but doesn't seem to be set with an international release just yet. The price is around $1,000 and is a higher-end smartphone. We hope to see more of these curved displays from Samsung again soon, possibly on their S and Note models.
iPhone 5S Review
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| The iPhone 5S |
Now, let me start out with a background. I am a big Apple fan and don't own many other devices besides Windows-based computers. It could be iCloud, but this phone is good. Really good. With almost any review, I have good things and bad things. I am going to start with the bad things, just to get them off my chest and attempt to land on a good note. The touch-sensor is slow learning, and isn't fast at all in the setup. It almost took 5 minutes to set-up from the very beginning. When I saw it, it had a bit of an off-setting gray. It may because I am used to a jet black phone, but it made me feel a bit odd, like something wasn't quite right with the iPhone. If you can easily overlook these things and have plenty of patience, then it should be nice to see once it is out of the box. The OS is innovated and drastically different than iOS 6 and the previous editions, and very much changed graphically. It feels strange if you've used iOS before, but it settles in after a while. The phone is slick and easy to hold, light, and has the perfect pixel density and display size for me (but not for everyone). The camera is great, but not innovative, still holding up what I need in a camera. In 4 years, maybe Apple should've changed the camera, but it still has that sold-built feel to it (unlike the Nokia Lumia 1020). With everything taken into consideration, I give the iPhone 5S 9 out of 10.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Nest Protect, the Smoke Alarm You'll Love
Nest has released the Nest Protect, a product that works as a friendly smoke alarm. It detects what room you're in and can understand simply commands. Motion and easy access from mobile devices has taken a note from Nest's other products, or as of now, its thermostat. They both work on the same app and function almost identically with devices, but both offer helpful things for your home. Nest has been innovating this industry for quite a while and you can take a look back on what they've achieved so far in the company history, they seem to be doing well. As told by Tony Fadell, the company CEO, he describes the Nest community and why the products they deliver today do what they actually do, serve the home.It was never just about thermostats. At its core, Nest has always been about the home. We reinvent unloved home products to create simple, beautiful, thoughtful things. First we made an entirely different kind of thermostat, because saving energy should be easy. Now we’ve reinvented the smoke alarm, because safety is too important to be annoying.Tony Fadell, CEO of Nest
Nest Protect isn't on sale yet, but you can pre-order both the wired and battery-powered Nest Protect now from nest.com. The black Nest Protect is available exclusively from the Nest Store.Pre-order from Nest: https://store.nest.com/
Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch
Monday, October 7, 2013
Why isn't the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh still made?
As you probably are already thinking, what is the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh? It was an Apple built computer that doubled as a TV. (Yes, it was kind of the first Apple TV)
For 1997, this was amazing. So why was it discontinued? First, it was limited edition. It was only released for a limited time, and you are lucky to find one at all, none the less for a small price. Besides that, it was $7,499 USD. This was at its basjc, so it was almost like buying 6 Macbook Pros today. The thing that allowed to sell as well as it did (and I mean well, as in for its price) was its exclusive TV tuner. This gave it a selling point that matched many TV boxes at the time, to a limit. 800x600 did not prove to be a great resolution for a TV, but it worked in a pinch. To really put it into perspective, think about just pressing a button in your Mac, with a trackpad and keyboard duo, and all-in-one system, just to watch some news or a game on TV. That is 1997 or early 1998. Windows was just catching up to having monitors as well as that, none the less exclusive anniversary devices that featured trackpads or keyboards that were easy to use. The price wasn't good. I mean really, really bad. It was the Mac Pro of today, running how a dream computer would run, and seems better in most peoples head that what it was in reality.
The TAM featured a 250 MHz PowerPC 603e processor and 12.1" active matrix LCD powered by an ATI 3D Rage II video chipset with 2MB of VRAM capable of displaying up to 16bit color at 800x600 or 640x480 pixels. It had a vertically mounted 4x SCSI CD-ROM and an Apple floppy Superdrive, a 2GB ATA hard drive, a TV/FM tuner, an S-Video card, and a custom-made Bose sound system including two "Jewel" speakers and a subwoofer built into the externally located power supply "base unit".From Wikipedia
For 1997, this was amazing. So why was it discontinued? First, it was limited edition. It was only released for a limited time, and you are lucky to find one at all, none the less for a small price. Besides that, it was $7,499 USD. This was at its basjc, so it was almost like buying 6 Macbook Pros today. The thing that allowed to sell as well as it did (and I mean well, as in for its price) was its exclusive TV tuner. This gave it a selling point that matched many TV boxes at the time, to a limit. 800x600 did not prove to be a great resolution for a TV, but it worked in a pinch. To really put it into perspective, think about just pressing a button in your Mac, with a trackpad and keyboard duo, and all-in-one system, just to watch some news or a game on TV. That is 1997 or early 1998. Windows was just catching up to having monitors as well as that, none the less exclusive anniversary devices that featured trackpads or keyboards that were easy to use. The price wasn't good. I mean really, really bad. It was the Mac Pro of today, running how a dream computer would run, and seems better in most peoples head that what it was in reality.Analyst predicts iPhone 6 will sport a 4.8-inch display
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| The new Twitter still supports 3.5 inch displays, for now (Dribble) |
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Update: Freebies
Update: Freebies
Check out the new page on Fitzsimmons Weekly for weekly freebies and cool programs on the web for download.
Wii U? Part 2
Wii U? by Grant Fitzsimmons
From Wii U
Sales: As of 30 June 2013, Nintendo reports 3.61 million units have been shipped worldwide. During its first week of release in the United States, Nintendo sold its entire allotment of over 400,000 Wii U units and sold a total of 425,000 units for the month of November, according to the NPD Group. It also sold over 40,000 consoles in the UK in its first weekend. In Japan, over 600,000 Wii U units were sold during December 2012. According to the NPD Group, nearly 890,000 Nintendo Wii U units were sold in the United States after 41 days on the market. In the three months leading up to June 2013 it sold 160,000 units, which was down 51% from the three months prior.Wii U sales have not been near what Nintendo of America projected. This may mean a lot for the console's future. Game development has almost froze for the console, besides Nintendo's upcoming projects for the console with visualization and such. The question is when will the console wars end (as it has been slowing) and what would a Wii U 2 look like?
Steam Box Specs Revealed
The prototype units will ship with an Intel Core i7-4770, an Intel Core i5-4570, or an unidentified Core i3 CPU. As far as GPUs go, there will be a mix of Nvidia Titan, Nvidia GTX780, Nvidia GTX760, and Nvidia GTX660 models — all with 3GB of GDDR5. All units will ship with 16GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, hybrid 1TB/8GB SSHDs, and a 450w power supply. Impressively, all of this equipment is designed to fit inside a 12-inch x 12.4-inch x 2.9-inch case. Really sleek stuff.From Extremetech
So far, this spec sheet seems to make the Steam Box a great gaming computer, but the question keeps floating, how well will Steam OS be made? In Valve's history, they've attempted to create a point of switching to systems that run Ubuntu. Now, according to Valve, Windows games will be played by "streaming". The definition of that to the gaming communities is still unknown, and may involve emulation. Still, how these things will effect sales of the Steam box and its performance isn't yet known.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Why iPhone?
Why iPhone?
iPhone 5s not the C
I can't say that I like the 5C. It doesn't seem like the Apple when the iPhone 4 was announced. Even as they have covered recently that the 5C "isn't" a low end device, it still is marketed as if it was. The product isn't polished, and overall, iOS 7 isn't either. The phone is solid on the insides but Apple wouldn't have made this even a good year ago. The direction they are headed could confuse future buyers. The iPhone 6 or the 6C would be harder to market and the "C" could be lost in time. Removing the iPhone 5 from there lineup could be a good move, but why keep the iPhone 4S? Besides the lower manufacturing cost, they could still make the iPhone 5 take its place and immediately remove it from the lineup all together. $50 with a 2-year contract still would make it a nice market point, but may drive sales from the 5C. I would take the iPhone 5 over the iPhone 5C almost any day. The reason behind this is my drive to have a high-quality crafted phone.
Android.
I would gladly take an Android phone on the higher end (HTC One, S4, etc.) over the 4 and 4S iPhone editions. (Today I have an iPhone 4) This being because Android has many innovations and customization moves Apple hasn't chosen to take. Windows Phone is a nice option, too, but I haven't felt anything that would be beneficial for me to upgrade to the Windows service beside on a PC. With all this said, I would greatly prefer a Nexus 10 over an iPad. (maybe a Mini if it gets an A7 and a retina)
With all this said, leave your comments for what you think down below.
Google Updates Again
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Google has begun to roll out it's new homepage. Originally, the new logo was believed to be used only on small pieces of their products. While the homepage update has been in development for a long time, it is being slowly rolled out for anyone using new browsers. Updating...
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Target Unveils Brightspot, a new StraightTalk competitor
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| Credit to Engadget |
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Mighty No. 9 to be Released for Next-Gen Consoles
Mighty No. 9 by comcept USA, LLC
From the creator of Mega Man, this re-imagined concept will soon be coming to next-gen consoles such as the Xbox One and PS4. As of today, the campaign has raised $3,845,170 for the game. According to the kickstarter, it would only need $900,000 which proves that the campaign was successful among backers. This will be self-funded and not a part of the Mega Man series, but incidentally shows its roots well.
Google Doodle Celebrates Yosemite's 123rd Birthday
Also, check out:
http://abcnews.go.com - Google Celebrates Yosemite Even Though It's Closed
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