I purchased a Logitech Harmony One remote about 5 months ago, and I am finally ready to give my review of it. The retail on this bad boy is $249.00. Amazon currently has the Harmony One for $179.99. I really wanted to give myself plenty of time with the remote before I reviewed it so I can give a thorough and accurate review.

Design

The design of the Harmony One is amazing. It is designed to fit very comfortably in the palm of you hand. Along with great ergonomics, but also has a rubber back for easy gripping. Another great design aspect of the Harmony One is a motion sensor inside so when you pick it up it lights up, but if you have it sitting on a table, the lights shutoff to conserve battery. I find this very useful when channel surfing late at night with the lights off. The button design is good. After just a few short days I found myself very easily finding the buttons with out having to look at the remote. One issue I have with the design, is the hard plastic buttons that make a very minor click noise when pushed. I have always been a fan of the Tivo controller with rubber buttons, but this is more a personal preference then a design flaw.

Set Up

Logitech is known for excelling in the area of setup, and it is no different with the Harmony One. Setup is done completely on your Mac or PC via USB. The setup software is nothing more then a browser for a web app. You have to login to a website via the software to setup the remote. From there it is pretty easy to understand. You just choose your devices, and then the software takes you through a very easy to follow line of steps to setup the different activities. Overall I found the process very easy to follow. I had my whole entertainment system setup with in a few minutes. The remote also allows you to setup some favorite buttons for your favorite channels. Also, with the online based setup, you never lose your settings if you have to reinstall the software, or switch from PC to Mac like I did.

The setup was very easy, but I did find myself having a few minor issues with it. Over the few months I have had the controller, I had to go back and do some customization of the buttons which turned out not to be as easy as the initial setup. Some of the custom setup options are hard to figure out.

Final Word

The Harmony One works with almost any device that has a IR receiver. There has been a lot of talk about how it doesn’t work with the PS3 due to the lack of Bluetooth support. I solved this problem by purchasing the Nyko Playstation 3 Remote which comes with a IR receiver that plugs into the USB port on the PS3. Other than that, I have been very impressed at the wide range of devices this remote supports, I have everything from my TV, Tivo, Surround Sound, PS3 to my Macbook Pro and Nikon D40 associated with this remote.

Yes, the remote is on the expensive side, but I have to say it is well worth it. I have gone from 9 remotes on my end table to just 1. I was very skeptical I might have buyer remorse because I paid so much for this remote, but I am very happy with it. If you have the money I say go for it.

Price: $249.99
Amazon Special: Harmony One $179.99
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Official Site: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/devices/3898&cl=us,en

So of you might have heard from my tweets, or my status updates on various sites, that I recently bought a Macbook Pro. Below is a list of the specs in the model I purchased:

• 15.4 inch Matte Screen
• 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 2GB Memory
• 200GB Hard Drive
• Double-layer SuperDrive
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB

I purchased it from the Apple Store at Lenox Mall in Atlanta, Georgia. I originally went into the store expecting to buy a 2.5GHz/250GB/Glossy model, but the lady in the store talked some sense into me! I decided to go for the smaller processor because of the $400.00 difference, I just didn’t see it being justified, and also I was coming for a 1.8GHz windows machine, so I figured 2.4GHz was plenty of an upgrade. I also changed my mind on the Glossy/Matte because of the need for real colors in my designs and photography. I am very surprised at how well I like the Matte, because my old laptop was Glossy.

Read more »

A couple of weeks ago, I dropped the ball and entered the world of DSLR photography. My weapon of choice, the Nikon D40, a reasonably priced professional grade camera. I did not want to post a review right when I got it, so I opted to use the crap out of it for a few weeks then review it. Below is my unboxing video which I posted to my YouTube account, but never posted on the site:

I have had the camera for 13 days and I have taken over 1200 pictures. Let me first offer this disclaimer, I am a BEGINNER when it comes to photography. I am not offering photography advice just yet. This is a review of the camera!

I shopped around pretty good looking at Nikon and Canon models. I choose the Nikon D40 for 2 main reasons:

1. I could not find a bad review about this product. I read probably close to 100 reviews and all of them were positive. Professionals and amateurs all said it is an amazing camera.
2. The second reason was price! This camera was about $100 to $200 cheaper then any other DSLR camera on the market.

Apple just officially launched its Back to School promotion. 2008’s promotion is bigger than ever. This year’s promotion also includes the new Macbook Air. The official statement on Apple.com reads:

If you’re a student, faculty, or staff member and you buy a Mac before September 15, you can get a free iPod touch or iPod nano. After all, isn’t college about seizing every opportunity?

The qualifying mac computers are:

Macbook | Macbook Air | Macbook Pro | iMac

When you purchase any of the above mac’s, either from instore or online, with a student discount, you will be given the option to receive a FREE iPod Nano (8gig) or a FREE iPod Touch (8gig.) As they have done in the past, if you would rather the larger model iPod Tocuh, you can apply a credit of $299.00 to the 16gig or 32gig models.

This is Apples largest and most genorious back to school promotion ever. I personally will be jumping on the band waggon this summer when I purchase my new Macbook Pro. I am currently waiting to see what develops at WWDC next week.

Would you be willing to pay a one time charge of $99.99 to view over 10,000 movies and TV Shows at anytime instantly? Well thanks to a partnership between Roku and Netflix, the entire Netflix “instant view” collection is now available to stream directly to your TV.

The Roku box is just a little bigger than 5 cd cases staked on top of each other. While netflix only offers stereo audio and SD support, the box is equipped with HDMI, Optical Audio, and component video. Netflix has confirmed that it will upgrade the unit via a software upgrade in the near future to support HD and multi channel surround audio. They have not specified the exact specs of the upgrade, but they confirmed it is on the way, and current units will be fully upgradable!

Earlier today,  Sitepoint announced the giveaway of a well-written book by Corrie Haffly, titled “The Photoshop Anthology.”  All that’s needed is an e-mail address.  After about 10 minutes I was e-mailed a download link which is accessible for up to 30 days.  The book is in PDF format, and available in two resolutions.  Sizes are 64MB for the high-res and 23MB for the low-res, in case bandwidth is an issue (does that even matter these days?)

The download is sponsored by Sitepoint’s affiliate, 99designs.

If you’d like to take advantage of the offer, click on the image below to pay a visit.  It wouldn’t help to browse the site for a few Photoshop tips, either.

I am sure everyone who is reading this has heard about the soon to come 3G upgrade to the very popular Apple iPhone. Many are expecting it to premier with the full 2.0 software and the ability to use 3rd party apps with out the need to hack the phone. Currently if you look at Apple.com you will see that the iPhone is unavailable for purchase:

Many are speculating that this is just the result of Apple being sold out of the branded AT&T versions. While this could be, you will also find that the U.K. Apple store is also out of stock. When iPhone’s leave the factory they are carrier specific. What are the chances that Apple would run out of 4 different carrier specific models at the same time?

Most of you iPhone users who also happen to participate in Brightkite (review here) likely heard the news that the iPhone version of Brightkite is now available.

Currently, the app is in it’s alpha stages, missing a few features such as friendship management, but for the most part all other features attached to Brightkite main page are available via the mobile version.  So when you get a chance, pick up that iPhone and surf over to http://i.brightkite.com and check it out.  Once you’ve done that, make sure to post your thoughts and any bugs on their support page.

Source from: Brightkite’s Blog

In the most recent “The Dark Knight” trailer released you see a red liquid get spilled on the ground and then later the above image flashes up for a few seconds. After this was discovered hidden in the trailer many believe that Two Face will make an appearance in the second installment of Chris Nolans Batman films. Later in teh film you see the below image where you can see a light burn line on the edge of his face.

Below is a image that I am not post a thumbnail to. It is rumored to be the concept are for the Two Face makeup. Be warned, this image is getting removed from site left and right by request of Warner Brothers, which makes it seem like it is infact the true concept art of Two Face in the up coming “Dark Knight” film.

LINK TO IMAGE (**SPOILER ALERT**)

What are ya’lls thoughts on this image? Real or Not? Do you like it? It personally scares the crap out of me.

UPDATE: Well, Warner Brothers got to me, and requested I take it down. I hope you all got to see it while it was still up. I guess it is safe to say that Warner has confirmed this is the image of Two Face. Below I have attached the email that they sent me:

VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

RE: Unauthorized Use of Warner Bros.’ Property

Dear Chris,

Tobeageek.com is offering 1 image from THE DARK KNIGHT, consisting of the Two Face character. I have a good faith belief that such content is not authorized by Warner Bros., its agent, or the law and therefore infringes Warner Bros.’ rights. I have attached a photo of the infringing image.

Image to be removed is located at:

http://www.tobeageek.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/dentburn.jpg

I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Please confirm that you have taken the appropriate action at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter and please advise should you have any questions or require any additional information.

Thank you,

/mb

(name removed)

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

4000 Warner Boulevard

Bridge Building 156 South, #5109

Burbank, California 91522

Phone: (removed)

Fax: (removed)

(email removed)

There once was a time when you had to wait a good 20 minutes to watch a good video on the net. Well times have changed and online viral videos have become huge! I have been collecting great viral videos from all over the net for a few weeks now. Here are some of my favorites. I know some of these are trying to be real but they are actually fake, please don’t whine about it in the comments section.

Some of these videos are for mature audiences. While they are all clean visually, some of them are based on sexual explicit topics and use foul language. I have identified which ones are mature with the letters NSFW (Not Suitable For Work)

The Babysitter: (NSFW)

Flagpole Sitta Lip Sink:

Facebook Reality:

There are more after the jump. I hope you are enjoying them so far!