Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Droid 2.1 Push

If you're the type of Droid owner who can't wait for updates, the folks at Droid Life have posted a step-by-step guide to updating your Droid to 2.1. It looks short and sweet, but already a number of users have run into "issues."

Personally, I don't like waiting, but the last thing I want to do is brick my phone, so unless you're the adventurous type (with a few hours to burn), it might not be a bad idea to wait an extra day or two when (hopefully) the masses will receive over-the-air updates.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

3D Bundle

The 3D push was in full effect here at dealnews yesterday. We listed this Samsung 3D bundle, which included a Samsung 55" 240Hz 1080p Widescreen 3D-Ready LED-backlit LCD HD Television, model no. UN55C8000, Samsung 3D Blu-ray Disc Player, model no. BD-C6900, and Samsung 3D Starter Kit, model no. SSG-P2100T. All for ::drumroll:: $3,208.

In the grand scheme of things, that is crazy expensive, especially since you can get a 55" LCD TV for a lot less, but if you're dying for some 3D action, that's actually a very good price.

The price on 3D TVs has been falling very steadily. All this makes me wonder if they'll reach the price of current LED-backlit LCD TVs. If they do, I'd probably be tempted to by the newer (3D) model. Just for the sake of having the newer model. But I'm getting way ahead of myself. I doubt we'll see those kind of discounts on 3D TVs. Right?

Monday, March 22, 2010

Weekend Picks #8: Wine Edition

When it comes to wines, I'm the type that likes to find great bottles at discount prices. To date, this Chilean carmenere is my favorite budget wine. I usually get it for around $10, and yet it tastes great.

This weekend I decided to go completely budget. I got two bottles of "2-Buck-Chuck" from Trader Joe's. I got the Charles Shaw shiraz and the Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon. (Btw, the so-called 2-Buck-Chuck costs $3 in NYC. Not $2. Inflation I guess.) Anyways, I tried the shiraz Friday night. I drank it with a completely open mind, but unfortunately, I didn't like it. I wouldn't say it's the worst thing I've ever had, but it was just barely tolerable. It smelled cheap (it smelled like an old bar) and it tasted, well, cheap. Granted, this is a $3 bottle of wine, I wasn't expecting to be wowed, but I was hoping it'd at least make for a good party wine. (It doesn't. Unless you never want to have friends over again.)

Saturday night I went back to the shiraz (I had more than half the bottle left.) By then, it had gone from tolerable to plain awful. It smelled and tasted like skunk. Seriously, it smelled rancid. I took one sip and I was done. It tasted like a mix of grapefruit juice and cranberry. I poured it out. I haven't tried the Cabernet yet, but to be honest I'm not looking forward to it. Hopefully it'll taste better than the shiraz.

So, my personal review: stay away from Charles Shaw shiraz. You can find better "budget wines" (such as the carmenere I mentioned) for just a few dollars more. Hopefully, I'll be able to find a Charles Shaw that I can recommend. Stay tuned!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Deal of the Day

We never see deals on the Roku HD Player, but today we saw the Roku HD Player and the Roku HD-XR Player bundled with a $20 Amazon Video On Demand Card for the price of each player alone, $99.99 and $129.99 respectively. (Both are HD, the difference is the HD-XR has a USB port and 802.11n in place of 802.11g.)

I've written about the Roku players here and here in the past. I also gave it the dealnews best pick award when comparing it to a few other streamers. So I have nothing, but praise for this box. I highly recommend it. Sure, you can stream Netflix from pretty much anywhere nowadays, but Roku offers a more than just Netflix.

Check out the deal details here.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Weekend Picks #7

My picks for the weekend...

Ikiru
So I mentioned last week how I've been falling asleep every time I start watching Ikiru. Well, it happened again this wkd. 15 minutes in and I was out. Fortunately, I woke up, rewinded it, forced myself to stay up, and made it through the entire movie. Now the bad news is, I should've remained asleep. I didn't like it at all. Without giving away spoilers, here's the gist of the story. It takes place in post WWII Japan. A man who has worked the past 30 years of his life in City Hall finds out one day he has cancer. This makes him realize what a waste his past 30 years have been. He's been living the life of a robot. Goes to work, pushes papers, goes home. So he wants to do something meaningful before he passes on. I totally get that. That plot is what made me want to watch this movie. (That and the fact that it has a near perfect rating on Amazon out of 120 reviews.) But it just didn't live up to the hype. A movie with a somewhat similar plot (life/death/old age) is Cherry Blossoms, which I absolutely loved and highly recommend.

Throughout Ikiru, I just didn't care for the main character. He annoyed me, especially since he mumbles so much. I'll give the movie another try in a few months, but this initial viewing turned me off. In Japanese w/ subtitles. Streamable on Netflix.

Vengo
I'm not sure I "got" this movie. It's about two families in Spain who hate each other. But the majority of the movie (which is pretty short) is about one family and their daily routine. They wake up, plan dinner, go to a restaurant, feast on paella, sangria, and wine, and listen to a live flamenco performance. Repeat that for one hour and you have the movie. That said, the flamenco performances are great. (They're about 5 minutes long.) So if you love flamenco, this is a must-see. Just don't think of it as a "movie." It's just a long "flamenco" performance w/ some actors thrown in.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Game On

I used to be an awesome gamer. Ever since I got my first 8-bit Nintendo I was the type of kid that would spend days glued in front of his NES. (Which later became a SNES, N64, Xbox, then Xbox 360.) But after Halo 2, I kinda stopped playing. And then a few years ago I played a few rounds of Call of Duty 4 against some fellow dealnewsers (and some readers) and I got destroyed. Badly. Head shots, sniper shots, close up shots — I played as if I had never picked up an Xbox controller in my life.

That said, I've been wanting to get back into gaming, but haven't really been keeping track of the gaming scene. Last time I turned on my Xbox, I had to update the dashboard and create a profile. Not for nothing, but that garbage annoys me. I miss the days of my old, black Xbox where I'd pop a disc in and immediately start playing. I'm not fan of this "create your avatar" BS on today's consoles. Just let me play my game!

However, as I mentioned in this week's podcast I am psyched about Valve/Steam's new announcement that they will support Macs. New games on a Mac?! Years ago that was unheard of! But now it's coming and you can bet I'll be checking it out. My ultimate dream is that Bungie re-releases Marathon for the Mac. I will play that 24/7. (It's my favorite all-time game ever!) And in my opinion, the best FPS game ever too.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Incoming Tablets

I'm not a fan of tablets. I think they're stupid and pointless (particularly because they don't serve a purpose like say a laptop, smartphone, or even a netbook does.) That said, I'm a little shocked by the fact that I really like Dell's forthcoming tablet, the Streak.

To be honest, I really didn't give it much attention when the "leaks" first started. But after reading Engadget's and Cnet's recent posts, I'm intrigued. Design-wise, it looks great. Some might argue 5" is too small, but this could easily replace my current 15" coffee table laptop, which I only use for Twitter and Gmail anyways. And if it's cheap enough (which I'm hoping it will be), I might even feel comfortable throwing this in my backpack and carrying it with me around town.

Dell said there'd be larger sizes, but I think 5" might do the trick. I'm a Mac person, so it's a little odd I'd prefer the Dell over the iPad, but to be honest, Apple (the company) is starting to annoy me. I like their products, but their smugness is starting to show and the fact that they're trying to sell a giant iPod touch as a "magical" device is annoying me. So as long as Dell doesn't screw up the pricing, I think I'm gonna buy this sucker.

Should be an interesting spring for tablets. Especially since we also have that HP tablet to talk about.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

3D Deals on the Horizon?

I am 100% absolutely against 3D TVs. That said, here's some interesting news.

Last month we posted our first 3D TV deal on dealnews. (I drafted a small chart demonstrating how expensive they were when compared to other LCD TVs.) Well, recently we posted another deal on the same 55" Samsung 3D TV. And guess what? The price dropped by $485, roughly 16%. Granted, the TV is still crazy expensive (about $2,485 w/ shipping), but that's a pretty damn big price drop. Especially since this TV was just announced at CES less than 3 months ago. And it's not even out yet!

I'm still anti-3D, but I think there's gonna be an interesting "3D TV price war" between Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony in the next coming weeks. How low will they drop? I have no clue. But show me a 55" Samsung 3D TV for $1,750 (which is the price we listed last month for a 55" LED-backlit Samsung) and we'll talk.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Weekend Picks #6

My weekend picks....

Bolivia
By now it's probably obvious that I'm a huge foreign movie fan. That wasn't always the case, but lately Hollywood has just turned me off. That said, this Argentine film is amazing. It's not a heavy "action" film, but boy is it tense. To better understand the movie, it helps to know a bit about South American culture. You see, Argentineans are generally stereotyped as being elitists and racist. With that in mind, this movie is about a dark-skinned Bolivian immigrant who finds work as a cook in a diner outside Buenos Aires. The majority of the movie takes place inside this diner. You see the same cast of characters come in and out and you learn how many of them are unemployed or struggling to make ends meet (this movies takes place after the collapse of Argentina's economy). And that's where the tension starts. It slowly builds from the very first scene to the end. To be honest, this would make a great play 'cause within those 70 minutes you learn so much about each character. An easy comparison is Do The Right Thing, except Bolivia (in my opinion) is tighter and goes straight to the subject matter without wasting time. Again, this isn't a fast-paced action movie. But pretty brilliant if you stick with it. Definitely recommended. In Spanish w/ subtitles.
Streamable on Netflix.

Ikiru
For the third straight weekend I tried watching this movie and fell asleep 10 minutes in. I really want to see it (it has amazing reviews), but I usually start it late and next thing you know I'm asleep. Hopefully this coming weekend I'll finally watch it.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Health bar taste-off

I'm a bit of a health nut. I don't eat fast food, I rarely eat meat (seafood being the exception), and I workout regularly. That said, there are some times when you're running late and you need a quick snack. That's where health bars come in.

I've tried lots of them. Luna. Clif. EAS. Balance. My favorite to date are these Gnu bars that I discovered at Whole Foods. They're pricey, just a little under $2/bar, so I don't buy them often. But they're currently 25% off via the Gnu website (Expires 3/15/10). That's the best price I could find for them. I personally like the Espresso flavored bars as well as the Chocolate ones, but my favorite are the Raisin. As for the other bars, here's a quick review of the ones I've tried. (Some are protein bars, some are "health" bars, I'm reviewing based on taste.)

Clif: Very moist, but none of them taste like what they're supposed to. Instead they all taste like soil.
Balance: Stiff texture, little to no taste.
Luna: I found the insides of these bars to be a little too grainy and the outside layer overly sweet.
Gnu: Like eating chewy granola. Not all of the flavors work, but I like the Raisin a lot. Easily my favorite.
Met-Rx: I actually like these as a post-workout snack, but I find them to be very dry. Definitely need water to wash them down.
EAS Myoplex: These have been hit or severely miss. The Chocolate Chunk bar is way too fudgey. You could spend hours chewing on it. Not to mention high in calories. The Strawberry is good and tastes like strawberry Quik in bar form.

Winner: Gnu

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Weekend Picks #5


Here's what I was doing before I got sick this weekend.

Sangre de Mi Sangre
I hate movies that are cliche or overly optimistic (pretty much every movie out of Hollywood). That said, this movie bothered me a little. It was great (the story, the acting, etc.), but it might have been a little too gritty. Not Fight Club gritty, just "life is messed up" gritty. Without giving away any spoilers, it's a movie about a 20-something year old kid who illegally crosses the U.S./Mexican border to find his dad, who lives in Brooklyn. In Spanish w/ subtitles.

Trestle on Tenth
I had a birthday dinner at Trestle on Tenth over the weekend. It's a Swiss restaurant located off New York's West Side Highway. I had eaten there when the restaurant first opened and fortunately had the same positive experience again this weekend. The menu is heavy on meats and cheeses and you'll find unconventional entrees like calves' liver and duck neck, so it's probably not the best pick for a vegetarian. (They do have a limited seafood menu, I had the monkfish w/ calamari, which was good, but nothing out of this world). Unfortunately, their wine list is a slap in the face, with many prices in the $60 range. Skip the wine and get beer. They have a very international beer list — this coming from someone who hates beer. Overall, great, cozy, friendly restaurant if you're up for trying a new cuisine.