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I am not what many would consider a “gamer” so the casual nature of the Wii system is a unique fit and fun alternative to many other consoles.  I have owned a few consoles in the past (NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Playstation, Playstation 2, GameCube, Nintendo DS, PSP) and find the Wii to be the first truly different experience with gaming.  Many of the games seem to be the standard Nintendo fare of Japanese, highly colored, cartoon styles.  Most are filled with the usual cast of characters from Nintendo games of old.  One fun feature is the integration of Mii characters (customizable avatars).  I won’t go into detail as to how the system works as it’s been out for a while and you’re likely already very familiar with it.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from game play as the only experience I’ve had was the commercials showing people overly animated in their movement.  I’ve found most controls do not require quite as flagrant an approach as advertised (a flick of the wrist works most of the time).  I can easily see how this would quickly bore many hardcore gamers quickly as it makes most of the games very simple and repetitive.  I enjoy simple games so the ability to be able to enjoy a quick bout of bowling or puzzle game is actually a plus in my book.  I rarely have time to get into a serious gaming session so the quick-play approach to many of the titles works best for me.  I found my 3 year old son has had a harder time getting used to the controls (compared to the GameCube) but that may have a lot to do with both the unique game play and the fact that he is short and often goes out of the view of the remote sensor.

One thing I was a little disappointed in was the vast amount of attachments and tools often needed to fully enjoy games.  The system itself is reasonable at $250 but you are then stuck needing to buy an extra remote, nun chucks, wheels, classic controllers, etc… to get the full experience.  This quickly adds up and can become just as expensive as other consoles, if not more so.  We were lucky enough to be given most of the accessories right away so we were not hit with this large bill out of the gate.

We only have a few games so far (Wii Play, Wii Sports, Mario Kart, and Mario Party) so I can’t comment on all that is offered for the Wii yet.  I was a little disappointed in Mario Party 8 as it looks dated and has lackluster game play compared to past Mario Party titles.  Mario Kart is an excellent game and I highly recommend picking it up.  The wheel steering is responsive and fun and the new levels are definitely an upgrade with new tricks systems and interesting layouts.

One of the great features to the Wii is the free online play with some titles.  It uses built in wifi so we were able to get it online and running within minutes.  Mario kart has excellent online game play and can be a blast with multiple players from all over the world.  There is also downloadable games available online from older consoles (NES, SNES, 64, Turbo Grafix, Sega) and Wii Ware titles built for the Wii motion controller.  We have played a couple virtual console games and find them just as fun as they were years ago.

My wife wants to some day get the Wii Fit to add to our system and I think it would be fun for the additional game options as well.  There are so many options out there for varying game play it’s hard to decide which way to purchase and what truly offers its worth.  Overall I have to say we love our new Wii and I look forward to years of play with our kids and family.  I’ll post reviews of games as we acquire them as well.

When I started shopping for a headset I was looking for three things:

1. Call clarity/noise reduction
2. Comfortable fit/styling
3. Easy and intuitive UI

The Jawbone is the industry leader when it comes to noise reduction and styling.  I leaned hard towards this headset because of the reputation but I started to realize the noise reduction was 90% of what the Jawbone had going for it.  I don’t work in construction or on Wall Street so noise reduction, while important, was not quite at DARPA approved needs.  The styling of the Jawbone is incredible as well but not important enough to sway me.

BlueAnt is known for a few high quality headsets (Z9, Z9i) and the V1 is no exception.  The V1 is styled very similar to the Z9 but with a pinstripe exterior.  I have to admit that at first glance I was not terribly impressed with the look of the V1.  Sound quality is very close to the Jawbone and with it’s custom ear canal buds you are sure to get a clear sound.  The button locations are simple and easy to use.  The headset includes multiple ear buds, optional foam bugs, chargers for home and car, a manual and quick guide.  When it comes to features though the V1 leaves all others in the dust.  BlueAnt has created a powerful tool with the V1 by making it fully voice controlled.  You can speak multiple built in commands to the headset to do everything from make calls to check battery levels.  Even upon first use I found a manual was not needed as speaking, “Teach me” activates an easy tutorial on using your headset.  You can always get a refresher on available commands by saying, “What can I say?”.  The built in commands, which include “Check battery”, “redial”, “call (home, office, speed dial, numbers)”, “call back”, “accept”, “ignore” and much more, are easy to use and easy to understand.  The true power of the V1 was found by speaking, “Phone commands”.  By speaking this command I can easily access my BlackBerry’s built in voice commands as well!  I can access my entire address book this way making the device truly hands free.  I don’t know if this option will work with all devices.

If you’re looking for a Bluetooth headset that offers a lot more than much of the competition I highly recommend checking out the BlueAnt V1.  It’s the “flying car” of headsets.

We were able to raise enough through donations of money and services to be able to obtain everything we need to fully launch the project!  It has been an amazing experience and I will forever be grateful to everyone involved.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I hope we can help so many with this project and you made it possible.

CoffeeDaze Design was founded as a way to provide graphic design, tech support, web integration and advertising for free to individuals, churches, schools and other organizations.  The project quickly grew into the local community (Salem, Oregon) and has been a bigger success than ever imagined.  Design services are often an expensive option for companies and groups.  With our economy in uncertain times it is a cost many can not afford or even consider.  By being able to provide design services to these local groups it can help them advertise and voice their needs to the public in a time when funding and outreach are needed most.  Eventually I would like to see this project grow into a larger entity by involving other designers, tech support specialists and advertisers so we may offer even more to groups.  I am dedicated to making this project continue and grow.

I am able to provide these services for free thanks to donations.  There is little upkeep costs since I am able to dedicate my work freely to the project full-time.  I am asking bloggers to help spread the word about the free design project so we can do greater things.  Generous donations have already come in the form of technology, software and support!  I still have the need for a mobile computer so I can work on location with groups and run the donated new software.  The goal for fundraising is $2000 to cover the cost of computer, travel and software.

If you would like to help this project please donate via the website at http://designoffering.com

All donations will be used to launch and maintain the design project.  If we can raise beyond our goal the remaining money will go towards hosting costs for clients.

Thank you to all who have supported the design project so far and with a little more help we can make this an amazing opportunity for so many!

Thank you,

Robert Losch

Design Offering

Over the past five years, 200,000 civilians have died due to violence, malnutrition, and disease in Darfur and an additional 2.2 million people have been displaced. We want to do something about it.

Fed up with watching humanitarian crises on the evening news and not doing anything to help, a group of bloggers (most notably, Leo Babauta of Zen Habits) have created and founded the non-profit Train for Humanity, which is an online humanitarian awareness and fundraising organization.

Over 150,000 new blogs are added to the internet every day. Train for Humanity’s mission is to utilize the web, social media, and blogging, in tandem with athletes in training, to support organizations that help prevent suffering and alleviate the pain of children, orphans, and refugees who have been displaced due to genocide or internal strife and war within their country.

Quite simply, they believe - getting fit + social media + blogging = social good

The three pilot project athlete-bloggers, Mark Hayward, Dan Clements, and Leo Babauta are hoping to raise awareness for the current crisis in Darfur and funds for the organization Darfur Peace and Development. All three are training for endurance events of varying distances ranging from a triathlon to a marathon.

They hope to show people that with a little creativity and innovation, anyone can assist and make a difference in the world. If you would like to learn more, have a look at the Train for Humanity website and please consider sponsoring one of them or spreading the word.

The contenders for this matchup were Viigo (beta), NewsGator Go and FreeRange.  I didn’t include a couple others because they hadn’t been updated in a while.  Google Reader is great as well but I prefer a “desktop” app over web based ones.  FreeRange actually makes the NewsGator Go app as well but has some minor differences.

Viigo (beta)

Viigo was hands down the best designed UI of any of the three readers.  They have paid special attention to making their product looked polished and recent.  Viigo goes well beyond just RSS as it also has the ability to tap into quite a few other services travel info, market news, local classifieds and much more.  I found these extras simply slowed down the experience for me as I was looking for a simple RSS reader and not all the extras.  I was also disappointed to find that the market services were geared towards market news and not direct stock quotes.  I couldn’t get Viigo to recognize FeedBurner feeds which was a major problem for me. If your looking for a smooth UI and a lot of extras, Viigo is likely where you want to go as they have done a great job making their app all-inclusive.

NewsGator Go

I use FeedDemon on my Vista machine on a daily basis.  It is the best reader I have ever used and I think it will always be one of my top choices in applications.  I had high hopes for NewsGator Go right away since I was so used to their other apps.  Sadly I had multiple problems with the app right out of the gate.  I found articles would download multiple times and when clicked I could only see a blank page.  A reader that doesn’t let you read the article is pointless.  I couldn’t find much help on the matter in their support forums either and quickly left it behind.  This could very likely be a problem with my device setup (8130 4.5.0.89 OS) and I recommend trying it on yours before passing them by.

FreeRange

FreeRange makes the NewsGator Go app so I had some reservations at first.  I was surprised to find out that it was very similar in look and function but worked perfectly on my device.  It is simple in UI and design but does quite a bit.  It has support for most feed types (including FeedBurner) and also supports some of the extras you find in Viigo (weather, market updates, news).  One edge FreeRange had over Viigo was speed.  I was happy to find I could search for feeds right from the app and it did so very quickly.  It updated my feeds correctly and loaded them even faster.  A great surprise was finding that you can specify stocks and have it give an updated quote feed.  While it doesn’t have all the options of Viigo, it does the basics quickly and with stability.

Conclusion:

Each reader can offer something slightly different to the user (well, if NewsGator Go works that is).  I personally wanted a simple reader without all the bells and whistles.  I found FreeRange to be the best choice for me as it was the fastest by far and supported a wide variety of feed types.  The UI is simplified and makes reading easy and fast.  I recommend trying each one out and seeing which is the best fit for you.  I’m sure there will be bigger and better things on the horizon (especially now that RIM has introduced push API).

For those not familiar with Brightkite (and Loopt), they provide location aware community services that let you interact with others, offer your current location and search for others within your area.  This service seems to be geared towards larger urban areas as I have yet to find more than 1 person in the entire Salem, OR area actually using the service.  The lack of participating members in my area may also be due to the fact that it is an invite only service so far and not known to many.

I for one am intrigued by these new location aware apps as a means to better connect with others in your area.  Brightkite allows members to set their privacy levels so you can choose who can see your information.  Integration with other services like Twitter make it a great choice as well to keep those around you up to date.  I plan on continuing to use Brightkite in hopes that others will start to pick up on it.  Salem is lacking a cohesive community (especially downtown) and sites like Brightkite could be a great tool in fixing that.

If you would like an invite (I have 3 I can give out) please leave a comment!  You can find me at http://brightkite.com/people/coffeedaze.  Please feel free to add me as a friend on there.  If you like in Salem, OR all the better!

BlackBerry Underground (bbunderground) is a web community where users can interact, share pictures, participate in contests, personalize their space and much much more.  Started by Andrew (@bbunderground on Twitter), it is quickly becoming the premier BB community site!

I highly recommend heading on over and checking out this fantastic community site.  Even if your not a BlackBerry user it is a great way to see just what makes those people so fanatic about their phones.