The Gadgets Page

There were many hot and summery days in Billings, Montana that Stacey and I played Monopoly. We played to the bitter end and the two of us learned how to master the game. The two of us played the “Money in the Pot” version of the game and Free Parking meant a huge paycheck if we were lucky enough to land on it.

For the last few years, I have become disgusted with the Monopoly over-saturation. At first, I enjoyed the different versions of Monopoly that had been licensed. I was excited about the Salt Lake City version of the game until I realized that it was just a huge advertisement for local businesses instead of an homage to my hometown. My breaking point was when I saw the SpongeBob Squarepants version of the game.

Going in a completely DIFFERENT direction, however, is Mega-Monopoly.

Phil E. Orbanes, the creator of Mega-Monopoly, describes what he did to enhance the game:

• Winning Moves Games – About Monopoly®:The Mega Edition by Phil E. Orbanes

He talked about adding boards together, but he wanted something better:

Making the game play richer proved easy — a bigger board with 12 more spaces, including 8 new properties (one added to each existing group). Skyscrapers — to add a third level of buildings, plus Depots to improve the Railroads. $1000 bills–to help pay for the new properties and buildings. So far so good. But how to make the game play faster, to everyone’s satisfaction?

The Speed Die isn’t a new feature. It was a primary addition to the Monopoly: Speed Die Edition:

The Speed Die includes three normal sides, featuring 1, 2, or 3 pips. Rolling one of these merely enhances your regular move. But two of its other sides feature an image of Mr. Monopoly. Roll one and you not only make a normal move, you get a bonus move to the next unowned property, which you may buy. However, after no properties remain in the bank, Mr. Monopoly requires you to move ahead to the next rent owed. Ouch!

While using the Speed Die, you can earn Bus Tickets:

If you roll the Bus (on the final side of the die), you earn a Bus Ticket. You can use this on a future turn in lieu of rolling the three dice. Do so, you move ahead to any space on the same side of the game board. You can horde Bus Tickets if you like, but there is a risk, because a few of them have the message “All Tickets Expire Except This One.” This means all tickets owned by players are surrendered to the bank. And once a Bus Ticket is in the bank, it is out of play (there are 16 in all).

With the addition of these features that speed up the game, you should be able to finish a round of Monopoly in 60 to 80 minutes.

Hasbro has been tweaking Monopoly for years, trying to make another hit. Many of these tweaks, like the Monopoly: Speed Die Edition, are no longer available, so if Mega-Monopoly sounds interesting to you, you should buy it now before Hasbro pulls the plug.

• Monopoly: The Mega Edition at Amazon.com

Via: CraziestGadgets.com » Mega Monopoly with Skyscrapers

I remember liking this breakdancing car commercial for the Citroen:

It seems that Chevy noticed it and realized how irritating something like that could actually be:

They finish the commercial with the phrase:

Chevy Aveo: Get Real

The Chevy Aveo is actually a VERY reasonable car. It’s priced just over $10K and it gets 32-34 mpg. All that without being a hybrid. It’s pretty small, but if you’re commuting to work, it’s better than a Smart Car as far as comfort and cargo space are concerned.

Another added plus. The Chevy Aveo NEVER transforms into a breakdancing queen.

Via: AdFreak: Chevy pokes fun at the Citroën dancing car

I HATE store cards. You know, those bar code cards that EVERY store makes you keep in your wallet to in order to get discounts? I have a veritable BRICK of them in my purse.

‘t Is Goud had a good idea.

• ‘t Is Goud – WalletCards on my iPhone

He scanned his cards using a scanner and put the photos on his iPhone. The screen on the iPhone is good enough that a scanner can read the bar code from the scanned card. A good way to slim down your brick of cards in your wallet is to carry scans of the cards in your iPhone.

I tried this and they look pretty good:

Now, all I have to do is test this theory. I’m sure I can use my iPhone scanned card at the self-checkout in the grocery store, but will Costco let me into the store with just the scan of my card? Will the library scan my phone instead of my actual card? Sure, it could lighten my load, but I think I’ll carry my brick of cards with me until I know which stores will accept my iPhone proxy and which won’t.

Via: Scanning wallet cards into the iPhone – The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

When you go into an Internet Cafe in the new Grand Theft Auto IV game, you can find an advertisement for a company called iFruit.

Special kudos to dunutmaz for uploading these to Flickr:

Here is the iPhone parody:

Via: Flickr Find: Grand Theft Auto hides Apple and iPhone parody – The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

I don’t know why I never saw these commercials. As a kid, I LOVED M.A.S.H. and I loved computers. Of course, I was more of an Atari fan back then, but I would have loved to see my old friends together in these commercials.

IBM hired the entire cast of M.A.S.H. to promote their new computer, the PS/2. Here are the commercials:

I didn’t see a PS/2 until I got to high school. Our junior high was equipped with Ataris. I don’t know when they got an upgrade, but it was well after we left. By the time I got to use the IBM PS/2, it was very much like junior high. We were stacked three to four kids per computer. We learned to write letters on the computer using a new program called WordPerfect. There was no WYSIWYG back then. We had to put in codes before and after the words if we wanted something in italic or bold and we didn’t get to see how it looked until it came out of the printer.

In retrospect, I’m grateful for my experience with old word processors like WordPerfect because HTML seems so natural to me because of them. I don’t have very many memories of the IBM PS/2 because our school had so few of them that I didn’t get much time to use them. The idea of having a computer in my home was so far out of my reach back then that I still thrill at the idea that I have my very own computer. It’s all mine and I don’t have to share it with anyone else.

Via: The cast of M.A.S.H goes corporate – VIDEOS – TV Squad

In 2006, Disney released a video game for their movie Cars. I wrote it off as another stupid movie-based video game. There have been so many movie-based video games that have disappointed me: every Harry Potter game, all the Lord of the Rings games, even the Constantine video game. In fact, I have NEVER enjoyed a video game based on a movie, so it was filed away as worthless in my mind.

This morning while surfing YouTube, this video showed up:

Just like me filming while I play Animal Crossing, someone had filmed the cut scene from Cars. Not just one person, but there are lots of people uploading their performance on this particular sequence. Here’s one that shows their race:

Here’s a video of someone driving a race backwards!

REFanshadow said:

This is a video where I show my driving skills in reverse xD use Wingo that responds very well when it comes to be in reverse.

If you love a video game enough to film yourself playing it, then it just might be a game worth looking at. I’ve ordered the Nintendo Wii version at Amazon.com and I’ll tell you if it’s worth playing or not as soon as we take it for a test drive.

One thing about space age products is that some of them worked really well. Take the Hoover Constellation Vacuum, for example. The atomic age design pumped the air out of the vacuum at the bottom so that the vacuum floated on air around your house. Here is a diagram of the airflow of the current Hoover Constellation.

The Hoover Constellation was introduced in 1952. Here is a commercial from the 1960’s:

It was still floating in the 1970’s:

In fact, it’s still floating now. They discontinued the Hoover Constellation, but have recently brought it back and you can own a brand new one today:

• Hoover S3341 Constellation Bagged Canister Vacuum Cleaner at Amazon.com

Unlike the bagless monstrosities that have been the vacuum fad for the last decade, the Hoover Constellation still uses bags, so they are MUCH easier to empty (no more scraping dog hair out of the canister). Space age design wasn’t ALL kitschy and superficial. Sometimes it created products that have been able to stand the test of time.

Via: Retro Futurism: It Sucks! It Flies! It Cleans Your Floors! (circa 1960)

I just noticed that my iLive Boombox is REALLY cheap right now at Amazon and it reminded me that I never wrote a review for it. I have owned this boombox for over a year now. I bought it to work with my 1st generation Nano:

I moved on to my 2nd generation Nano:

I have also used it with Mike’s 80GB iPod Video, a 160GB iPod (pictured here).

It works with my iPhone, even though it flashes the “not compatible” warning. You can just choose “no” and use it just like you normally would.

It is a VERY versatile little guy!

If you want to carry it around on your shoulder, bothering people on the bus with it, you’ll need a ton of batteries: eight C batteries, to be exact.

But if you usually use it at your desk or by your bed, then you can just keep the battery compartment empty. When you take it with you on a trip, you can conveniently pack the electrical cord in the battery compartment.

I have used this boombox for over a year now and I’m very happy with it. I thought I was getting it for a great deal back then, but now it’s amazingly cheap at Amazon:

• iLive iPod Docking System/Boombox in Black at Amazon.com

For years, I searched for the perfect little ghetto blaster to use with my iPod. I found some speakers that sounded good, but were inconvenient to use:

• Gadgets Page » Review: X-Mini Capsule Speaker

• Gadgets Page » Review: Logitech mm28 Portable Speakers

I found a compact and easy to use set, but the speakers were less than perfect and it only worked with my first generation iPod Nano:

• Gadgets Page » Xtreme Mac Microblast: The iPod Ghetto Blaster For REAL People

I lamented about the problem:

• Gadgets Page » IPod Boomboxes: They Don’t Freakin’ Get It

When I finally found a boombox that sounded good, was inexpensive AND was easy to use, I was so happy that I used it for a year and totally forgot to write a review about it. So, if you are looking for a good ghetto blaster, you can’t do better than the iLive.

If you have ever wanted to create your own poster, you can do it yourself with this website:

• Block Posters – Create large wall posters from any image for free!

All you need to do is upload your favorite photo, tell them how big you want it and download the PDF to print on your printer.

Via: ikea hacker: hey, hey it’s headboard day

I remember playing Drum Mania in the Luxor arcade many years before Guitar Hero ever stepped on the stage. Konami STARTED the music game revolution and Guitar Hero made it popular. Konami is back with its own band game called Rock Revolution.

• Konami staging Rock Revolution this fall – Xbox 360 News at GameSpot

Now, nearly 10 years after the first Guitar Freaks game hit the market, Konami is getting back into the instrument-game act. Two years after it trademarked “Guitar Revolution,” the publisher of Karaoke Revolution and Dance Dance Revolution will release Rock Revolution on DS, Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

Rock Band was easily my favorite party game of the year, but the thought of Konami entering the ring makes me ecstatic. Instead of classic rock and obscure heavy metal, I’m sure Konami will focus on more pop songs. Things my mom would like to sing along with. It will be more accessible to ALL my friends and family instead of just my rocker friends.

We tried to get my mom to play along on Rock Band and Guitar Hero. I have to say that there is nothing more satisfying than see your mom play guitar to “Shout at the Devil,” but she was only humoring us and didn’t really enjoy the game. If they had allowed her to play an imaginary guitar to the tune of a ABBA song, instead, she probably would have loved the game.

Considering how mainstream Konami’s Karaoke Revolution has been, I’m VERY excited about the news of Rock Revolution.

Of course, all of this is on the heels of the news that Guitar Hero is releasing a new version of their game called Guitar Hero 4, which includes drums and a microphone as well. Given the choice, I think I’ll stick with Rock Band or try out the new Rock Revolution. Guitar Hero 3 was THAT big of a disappointment.