Hello Dear Zaxy Fans!

It’s with sadness that I must tell you Jill will no longer be writing for Zaxy. She’s chosen to move on to other interests, and I wish her all the best. She will still be on twitter (@killajilla) if you’d like to keep tabs on her!

However, this means I have the opportunity to bring on some other girls to help represent Zaxy and bring you all kinds of bloggy and vloggy goodness. Keep an eye out for some special intros over the next couple weeks!

Thanks to all of you for the love and support you give us on a daily basis–I’m excited to be continuing Zaxy and thrilled to see the new writers join our team! We’ve got some great things planned for the future (just wait for our GIANT PAX party!), so stay tuned!

If you have a sec, leave a comment on your fave “Jill” moment and wish her well on her new endeavors!

If you’re tired of watching your favorite TV shows on your small screen computer or laptop, then boy does Google have a solution for you!

But wait, Google! I have a solution for everybody!



It’s simple:

I call it, ‘Get a large screen monitor that plugs into your computer!’

And, I already have all my favorite shows added to one place:

…so I don’t need anything else!

Seriously though. Is all this really necessary?

I found this short film today, and am loving the special effects. “The Raven” takes place in LA in the future, and it looks like their cops (and criminals) have advanced a bit.

I’m a big fan of futuristic/dystopic societies in film, and what kind of statement they’re making about our current society.
Snarkerati created a wonderful list of the top 50 dystopian films–it’s a great place to start if you’re new to the genre.

What’s your favorite dystopian film or story?

Tomorrow is the final long awaited release of Apple’s infamous iPad.

Is it the EPIC FAIL everyones been so chatty about, or is it really the start of a ‘new tech revolution?’ It is time to stop the jokes (..I know, I know, the Hitler one is pretty damn funny..) and really take a second to analyze,

‘Is iPad good for me?’

In a previous post, (as well as a video blog I posted up on our YouTube channel), I talked about my disappointment with Apple’s reveal of their new tablet. Now recently, I’ve began thinking about what I *really* want out of the tablet, as opposed to being a pessimist only thinking about all the things it doesn’t have..

..I think this pretty much sums up what everyone felt after the reveal. Yes, the iPad is basically a large iPod Touch. No, it does not have multitasking and I know, it doesn’t even have a camera! (Note: The iPad 2.0 will more than likely come with one.)

I realize that this kind of disappointment is justifiable being that some of these quirks possibly could have been resolved by Apple’s tech team, but let’s face it, Apple was just not aiming to create a miniature laptop!

I’ve been taking into consideration all the details that would be useful to me and all the things that I want out of a tablet.
First and foremost: I already have an iPod Touch. Trying to use it with the idea of it being a mini tablet is excruciatingly irritating. Just the fact of its size being so small is let alone a good enough reason to give up trying anything with it. I can barely read and respond to an email in 30 minutes, let alone accomplish any real sizable work while being away from my computer. Secondly, I want a virtual planner thats convenient, organized and will let me do my every days scheduling, planning and to do lists without having to spend an eternity typing out each little note. Using my iPod Touch for this is like that one lady trying to fit that pizza into her toaster on that Hot Pocket commercial, (*which I can’t find a video of, dang it!*), it just doesn’t make any damn sense! It takes an extremely long time, by the time I’m done typing my first note, I’ve forgotten the other 3 things I needed to buy at the grocery store.

Lastly, a HUUGE factor for me is applications and games. Games, games, *ohhh the games!* The games that will be developed for this thing will be incredible. Imagine games like World of Goo or even Machinarium and not to mention boardgames! Once developers get their trains a-chuggin, I know we’re in store for some sweet, savory goodness.

CONCLUSION: I say that if I can have a portable device thats roughly the size of my planner, thats great for surfing the internet, checking my email, reading my (few but cherished) favorite books, plays my favorite movies in good quality & on a nice-sized screen, is great tool for email, facebook & twitter AND lets me play some amazing games, I say I’m in.

Go ahead, give me your backlash but know that once the iPad 2.0 comes out, I’ll be far too entertained to care or listen to anything you have to say!

You may remember our post awhile back about the Nintendo DS with motion tracking:

Welp, now it has been officially announced that Nintendo will be releasing the Nintendo 3DS (a 3-D handheld console without the need for 3-D glasses) before the end of March 2011 and after June of 2010. Wow. REEEAL specific! Way to narrow it down there guys!

I can’t wait for it. It looks amazing!

[CNN]

Little Big Planet 2 has officially been confirmed by Sony! Also revealed to us is that the game will support PS3’s new motion tracking device ‘Move.’

Hmm.. sounds a bit unnecessary and slightly ‘Wii wannabe-ish’ to me. What do YOU think about “movin” with Little Big Planet 2?

[Tweakers.net] [Eurogamer]

Screw Project Natal, Playstation ‘Move’ and the stupid Wii-mote tracking systems, I WANT ONE OF THESE IN MY LIVING ROOM!

This over-sized beehive ball is called the ‘VirtuSphere.’ This kind of technology enables players to step out of reality and into a virtual 3-D gaming world. The VirtuSphere tracks you’re body’s movement using a wireless head-tracking camera visor worn over your eyes, as well as a light gun with peripherial tracking. The sphere enables users to actually walk as their character in the game and detects the players’ path of direction while playing.

Pretty neato! Maybe I can use this to start my training as a SECRET ASSASSIN!

[Joystiq]

LETS ALL GO TO DISNEYWORLD!

(Click on the picture to make it larger)

To promote Disney’s new movie ‘Tron Legacy,’ they have turned their Park monorails into Tron light cycles.

“The transformed trains will be visible on the Epcot monorail line as early as this month. And if you look close, you’ll notice that the design of the futuristic motorcycle-like vehicles from the upcoming film Tron: Legacy also includes walls of trailing colored light.” – Disney

Thanks to Jonathan and SciFiGeeks who are just as excited for this movie as we are!

You guys, I almost peed my pants when I saw the video of this thing flying. JET PACKS! SERIOUSLY! And only $90,000. I don’t need a house or car, I’ll live in the sky.

Take a look at the site here.

And it gets better: You can be a Test Pilot! If only I could get to New Zealand and have (what I assume will be) a large amount of money.

My only concern about this model: Where do I put my groceries after a quick flight to the store?

The curse of writing about technology is that eventually people will look back at what you wrote and laugh at what you thought was “cutting edge” and “futuristic”.

Lucky for us, the time to laugh is now. Popular Science has teamed with Google to put all of their archived magazines online. You can search by keyword on Popular Science’s website, or browse by month and year on Google Books.

The image above is from the month and year I was born (in the mid eighties). Apparently at this time you could get free Stetsons with chainsaws, and stylish-but-technologically-advanced wristwatches were big. Sweet.