Overdrive Pro 3G/4G Wireless Hotspot by Sprint

This is a device review for the Overdrive Pro 3G/4G Wireless Hotspot by Sprint. 

Working on the road can be frivolous unless you have a good connection to the World Wide Web.  There’s only so much you can do from your smart phone.  The Overdrive Pro is very ideal for this type of situation.  I tend to travel quite a bit for conferences and this is little powerful device is perfect for me.  Living in NYC I get a strong 4G signal anywhere I go excluding the subway and my apartment.  The subway is obvious but my apartment’s lack of good signal is due to faulty construction.  Anywhere else, the park, coffee shops, work, and etc.  I have had no problems.  I’ve read a lot of other reviews of this device so I’d like to go through some of pros and cons. 

A lot of people complain about the battery life and I would concur it’s not the best in this department.  From a full charge I get about 4 hours before it needs to be plugged in.  Granted the Overdrive is tiny in size and therefore the battery itself is also tiny in size, making it difficult to have long battery life in such a compact package. 

Battery Life 7.5 out of 10 

I used it non-stop so I always had it plugged in.  Another concern I heard was a problem overheating.  From my experience the device did get a little hot but for all intents and purposes it never affected the connection stability.  In fact I never had any problems finding and keeping a strong signal.  I think connection stability is a more important factor than battery life for this type of device. 

Connection Stability 9.9 out of 10

Usability of the Overdrive Pro couldn’t be easier.  You simply turn it on and wait till it connects.  Then read the password displayed on the front and plug it in to your network settings on your computer, iPad, Smart-phone and etc. Shazzam your surfing the web at high 4G speeds.  Watch videos and whatever else you want; like it’s a wired broadband connection. 

User Experience Design 10 out of 10

Speed is also very important when you are dealing with the wireless hotspots.  Many people use the Internet for many different things.  I for one use the Internet for the full spectrum so I’d like to be through. For web surfing and watching movies on Netflix there were absolutely no problems.  The only problem occurred with online gaming and only occurred in my apartment building with the faulty construction.  To test it elsewhere I ran it through the rigors and had a buddy of mine test it on his PlayStation.   His conclusion was it worked more than a decent amount with online gaming; however his FiOS connection was still faster than the 4G wireless Hotspot.  In conclusion although 4G is wicked fast, online gaming still requires more speed for optimal playtime. 

Speed 8.7 out of 10

The Price tag of Overdrive Pro is extremely reasonable and the value you get from Sprint’s 4G network is awesome.  The base price of the Overdrive Pro is $349, but if you sign a 2 year contract and send in for the mail-in-rebates; your effective cost for the device is only $50.  Service is also only around $50/month depending on which data plan you sign up for.  In my opinion this is an incredible deal. 

Price Tag: 10 out of 10 

Overall Value 9.22 out of 10   

Image by Global X via Flickr

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PS3 7.1 Surround Sound Wireless Stereo Headset

This is a review of my Sony PS3 wireless headset for playing multiplayer online Zombies.

Trying to hear what’s going on is incredibly important in any FPS game situation.  Sony did an amazing job with the 7.1 surround sound.  Everything is crisp and clear sounding.  I’ve been hearing new sounds that I didn’t even know were there because of these headphones.  It goes to show that Sony didn’t cut any corners releasing these awesome headphones to their dedicated players. 

Sound Quality: 10 out of 10

All of the controls are intuitively placed on the headset.  The controls are conveniently placed on the left.  Another smart feature Sony included is the ability to have control of more players (friends), Voice or more music Sound or 50/50 voice and sound half way between at the bumper. This Voice/Sound control is placed at front left and the master volume control is placed just opposite it back left.  The headset is equipped with a retractable mic streamlined for easy storage and usability.

User Experience Design: 9.5 out of 10

Battery life is always a concern when playing long hours of online games.  The headset gets a solid five and half hours of game play before it needs to be recharged.  It’s also nice that you can have it plugged in for charging and still be able to use it at the same time.

Battery Life: 8.5 out of 10

Connection stability, I noticed, can play a role in these types of devices.  While playing the headset cuts out and then re-establishes connection.  It doesn’t happen very often but can be annoying when there is a lot of conversation happening and you miss something.

Connection Stability: 8.0 out of 10

Price tag on a pair of headphones like this is in the range of $70-$130.  The PS3 headset is $99 which is a suitable price for what you get.  Anything you buy that has the Sony logo on it is going to be a little more expensive than everything else. What you pay up front you get in long lasting quality.  Sony could have tried to make these headphones a bit cheaper but a hundred bucks isn’t going to make you broke. 

Price Tag: 8.5 out of 10    

Overall 8.9 out of 10

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Zombies Rezurrection

Growing up my friends gave me the nickname “Kid Vid” because I played a lot of video games. Now that I’m older nothing has changed, I still love to play video games.

Everyone loves zombies and tomorrow is the release of one of the hottest zombie video games ever, Call of Duty: Black Ops – Zombies: Rezurrection DLC for PS3 September 22nd 2011. This is the last installment of Black Ops DLC until the release of Modern Warfare 3. My hope is that Treyarch will release an ALL Zombies version of the Call of Duty series, but one can only hope @Sony @Playstation @Treyarch @JD_2020

So let’s get to the review. Those of you who already have Rezurrection for Xbox 360 this will be old news but for us PS3 fans listen up. If you had purchased the Black Ops Hardened or Prestige editions you will get Rezurrection DLC for free which includes the 4 re-mastered original maps the 5th most anticipated zombie map, The Moon. I myself can’t wait to try them all; Nacht der Untoten, Verruckt, Shi No Numa, and Der Riese. For all intensive purposes I’ll only be talking about the Moon. First off wow we get to play on the moon, awesome! All your favorite guns will be there including the brand new Wave Gun and the Quantum Entanglement Device or simply QED. There will also be a brand new Perk which is probably my favorite “Mule Kick” which gives you the ability to carry three weapons. There are two new devices that are extremely useful, the “Hacker Device” and the “Space Suit”. I think you can figure out what the space suit is used for but the Hacker device can be a little trickier. Here is what I found so far:

1. Hack Drops to turn them into MAX Ammo
2. Hack the Pack-A-Punch to get cash back plus barricade yourself for a breather
3. Hack a door to open it (takes a very long time)
4. Hack windows to repair immediately and get 100 bucks 
5. Hack Perk machine to refund your money
6. Hack other players to give them some cash “All for One and One for All”
7. Hack wall gun to reverse ammo thus pack-a-punch ammo is 600 instead of 4500
8. Hack the Mystery Box to roll again then Hack it again to give gun away
9. Hack Device will also be crucial to completing the Easter Eggs

The Easter Eggs for this map will be one for the record books and worth to do every time you play. First and foremost you only need to accomplish it once for ALL 4 or 3 or 2 players to get all Perks permanently. Even if you die completely you will re-spawn the next round fully Perked up. Check out the following links Easter Egg tutorial and trailer.
 
There has been a lot of talk that there will be no more Zombies and I can tell you that this is a bunch of rubbish. Seeing how incredibly popular the game is Treyarch won’t let us down and there will be plenty more to come. So if you’re a Call of Duty: Black Ops – Zombie fan get online tomorrow and join me for some zombie killing action @Jay777420.

Finally check this out, the Call of Duty: Black Ops DLC list that spells F.E.A.R.

• F – First Strike
• E – Escalation
• A – Annihilation
• R – Rezurrection

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The Gow School

Tucked away in the small town of South Wales, NY sits The Gow School - a college preparatory high school for dyslexic boys. This boarding school was where I received my high school education and learned a whole lot more about life. Following is a succinct account of life at Gow. 

I shared a cramped 8 ft by 10 ft space with a roommate in the Templeton dormitory (pictured at the top) - my home away from home - during three years of stay at Gow.  A typical day at Gow began with a 6:00 am wake up command by the dorm master. After dressing up - donned in sport coats and ties - we proceeded to breakfast at 7:00 am sharp. Tardiness to breakfast resulted in extra days of waiting tables much like the duties of a floor restaurant job - fetching the meal from the kitchen, serving it and then clearing and cleaning the table. Next stop was “house jobs” as we all had to do our part to keep the campus clean.  A bell sounded the start of the regular school day not unlike any other high school except for the fact that I never had a class size with more than 5 students. This made for an intimate class setting quintessential for students with learning differences.  After classes ended for the day, we were able to return to our dormitories for about an hour before athletics began. Everyone was expected to participate in a sport or activity like ultimate Frisbee or whatever was being played any given day. After athletics, once again we were able to return to our dormitories for about two hours until dinner. In sport coats and ties, we had our family style dinner with our teachers and their families. After dinner we proceeded to two-and-half hours of supervised study at a hall. Honor roll students were exempt from after dinner study at the hall and were permitted to study in their dormitories. Following after dinner study, we enjoyed a few hours of recreation time in the dormitories before lights out at 11:00 pm.  This was the routine six days a week although on Saturday after classes we were allowed to board a bus to the mall or sit in the gymnasium. We had Sunday morning services but the rest the day was more relaxed ending with mandatory evening study in the study hall pictured to the right. 

            My favorite classes were Art, Journalism and Physics.  Bill Parsons, a prestigious artist for national geographic, was our primary art instructor and Mrs. Baust was our secondary teacher. Mr. Parsons taught form and grounded techniques whereas Mrs. Baust let us explore more freedom of creativity with sculptures, music videos and clay-mation.  Overall The Gow School has an exceptional art program and I still get compliments on my work. Journalism was a very unique class and taught by one of my most favorite teachers, Mr. Wright.  He pushed us to be more responsible. He gave me the keys to his office and loaned his personal camera to be the school’s official photographer. Mr. Wright also took the time to coach me in every aspect of photography from lining up snapshots to developing the pictures in the dark room.  Physics was my favorite subject at Gow in view of the hands on experience it offered. Physics laboratory and demonstration spurred my interest to choose mechanical engineering as my undergraduate curriculum. This hands on experience has also come in handy in explaining the physical universe to others. Looking back on my time at Gow, I can now truly appreciate that the Gow experience has stood me in good stead both in personal and professional life. 

There was a rich diversity of culture at Gow with students from all over the world. My interaction with the students taught me to have a greater respect and tolerance for people from different cultures and backgrounds. I cherish to this day the friendships I formed at Gow. The following picture shows my roommates at Gow. From left to right they are Ian Burt from -Toronto, Canada (senior year), Soren Messner-Zidell from Anchorage, Alaska (junior year), Kim Steppie from Brussels, Belgium (sophomore year) and Me Jason Bhatti from Buffalo, NY. At the time this picture was taken, I did not realize that all the pictured individuals would end up my roommates.    

High school can be tough for anyone particularly for those with learning disabilities. Most schools just aren’t equipped to address the individual needs of students with learning differences and as such many such students fall behind or end up dropping out. These students also get mistaken for being lazy when all they need is to be taught a certain way with small classes in an organized structured environment. The students that have attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), and oppositional defiance disorder (ODD) have difficulties with reading and language – which are all forms of dyslexia - can benefit greatly from the modus operandi of Gow. Particularly effective is Gow's method of addressing language difficulties by the technique called Reconstructive Language or simply RL. Being a student with ADD and language difficulties, I can attest that my reading and writing difficulties were greatly resolved by RL to the point that I felt no different from students with no language difficulties in other schools. I knew I was not numbskull or lazy but people treated me that way in middle school not knowing I had learning difficulties. 

Having had the opportunity to learn more about my condition and how to address the language difficulties with RL at Gow I have accomplished more than I ever thought possible. I still read a bit slow but I am not afraid now. This blog is proof that I can clearly convey my thoughts on paper and demonstrate it in a concise manner.  Through my volunteering I have noticed that people taking English as second language greatly benefit from the Gow's RL deck. I am always eager to help them having an understanding of the difficulties of the English language.

As far as pharmacology is concerned I used to take Ritalin to combat my ADD but this is not a perfect solution and can have many harmful side effects. I would suggest taking a look at a natural supplement from Shaklee called “Mental Acuity Plus.”  It is a completely natural product and has no side effects. It has helped tremendously with my ADD. My mother suggested that I try it out as an alternative to Ritalin and I have to say it has been a great substitute. They say “Moms Know Best” and in this instance it certainly appears to be the case.    

Overall my high school days at Gow were beneficial, productive and memorable. I would recommend that if you have children that are having the kinds of problems described above in school, take a look at Gow and find out what they can offer you for your children. If tuition at Gow is not in your budget, do not give up as there are ways around it in the form of grants and other help. Even if you do not want to send your children there, I urge you to try and understand their problems so you can provide a better solution to address their needs.

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Clyde, Spiky, Oji-san, and the Three Evil Step Sisters

Taking a minute away from tech and social media I would like to tell you about my plants and how I think everyone would benefit from having them in their lives. I may be a little crazy for naming my plants but it makes for an interesting story.

Five years ago, a good friend of mine gave me a small twisted bamboo plant. I was a bit hesitant to accept it at first but since it really only needs water to survive I thought I would give it a go. Today, my five year old Bamboo plant named Oji-san is still alive and kicking. There have been times when I forgot to water it for weeks or the time the sun dried it out completely.  But low and behold this Bamboo plant did not give up and I learned no matter how bad things get I cannot give up either.  I thought that if Oji-san can survive on less water, I can learn to survive on less resources too. This past January, I was faced with a very difficult economic hardship and like Oji-san I had to adapt to my new environment and learn to stay within the boundaries imposed by my hardship. Eight months later, I can tell you thanks to the lesson taught by my bamboo plant, Oji-san, I am stronger and smarter having survived the hardship. I look to the future with unbounded optimism and I know I will be ready for whatever comes my way. 

Recently, I decided to give Oji-san some company and so through Facebook I stumbled upon some very unique looking plants called “airplants” which are much like my bamboo plant in that they only need water to survive. I named my airplants - Clyde, Spiky and The Three Evil Step Sisters. Let me tell you why I named them. The Three Evil Step Sisters are all the same species but only once in their lifetime do they bloom beautiful flowers. Clyde looks like a perfect kaleidoscope when you look at it directly top down and Spiky, well, it is very spiky.

Another point I would like to make is that even though they are just plants they are alive.  They stay alive only with my help and that makes me the most important person in their lives.  It has made me more responsible and more of a caring person. I love my plants! They have even given me something to write about. I know you are at least a little bit curious so just check out Airplants.com. They have a large assortment of different species, they are inexpensive and require little care.  Enjoy them and don’t be embarrassed when you start naming them yourself. 

Monday Night Computer Skills Volunteer Experience

Image via Wikipedia

I am a volunteer teaching senior citizens computer skills. Yesterday I had the pleasure of introducing them to the world of social media. It was an extremely gratifying experience as it enabled me to focus on how I saw Web 2.0 and how I used it to keep myself abreast of the latest worldwide and industry news. I cut "The Time Warner Cable Cord" a year and half ago. Using only the internet for Movies, Shows, and News can be challenging but services like @netflix @instant_netflix @hulu @YouTube @SouthPark @ScienceChannel and @cnnbrk helped. I still look to the day when all the shows I want to watch are video streamed from my EVO, HD TV, PS3, etc.  For Social Media industry news the ones to follow are @equalman @jowyang @GuyKawasaki @NealSchaffer @adamhirsch @jeffpulver and @mashable

 

In college I tutored technical Physics while studying for my engineering science degree. I very much enjoyed seeing how I could actually help people much older than I am and seeing how it inspired them to do better.  This experience was very similar to my present experience except that now I am teaching people about social media and how to take advantage of it.  Overall my experience has been a rewarding one and it has inspired me to start blogging again.  I will continue to give these social media lectures in my community. So stay tuned. Finally, check out my Introduction to Social Media presentation on http://slidesha.re/omQO8z

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OMMA Social Conference

I attended the OMMA Social Conference and got educated by of one of the biggest and most influential brands in the world, PepsiCo.  PepsiCo’s presentation by Bonin Bough, Director of Social Media and Digital, was the best, in my opinion.  I love the entire premise of what the “Refresh” campaign stands for: the chance to make the right choice.   This re-education of how businesses must act and react to customers is revolutionary.  A people-driven economy with an open social graph enables real engagement for the brands we have an affinity for. For instance I love SONY, Sprint, Burton, Pepsi, Ben Sherman and Zoo York and would welcome the opportunity to get closer to them to get better deals, give my feedback, and feel like I’m a part of their world.

There was also a ton of conversations around Paid vs. Earned Media.  I don’t have much experience around paid media, but I love the idea that I can create my own earned media.  Earned media, or free media, is favorable publicity gained through promotional efforts other than advertising.   We all have the tools to make an amazing brand, as Gary Vaynerchuk shows us in Crush It. Traditional marketing like billboards and magazine ads don’t cut in a conversational social world, they just broadcast their message instead of engaging us in it.  Consumers are so accustomed to their old school marketing techniques they have adapted and learned to ignore it.  This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” - Albert Einstein.  As we are continually presented with new technologies, new ways of thinking, and new ways, socially, to do business we must embrace it in order to move forward. 

Lastly, I wanted to highlight the “Whuffie Factor,” or internet currency.  There are many new ways in which incentives are being used for Social Advertising.  Users should be able to decide who they want advertising to them. For example, users will be able to get more “seeds” for Farmville by watching a video advertisement of their choosing.  This example, in essence, is targeted marketing with social in its DNA. Whuffie will present more socially driven opportunities for advertisers in the future - if they put both their users and their user’s ability to choose first in the equation. 

Overall, it was a great conference and I would attend more like it to keep on learning.