Code Crew is For the Children

Jamal O’garro has a sharp haircut. He’s hamming it up with the group, and he’s in his element. I’ve come in a little late and am a little frazzled because I had to go through a security check point because apparently, the UN is an international airport. As I make my way to a free seat, no one is annoyed or cares for that matter. It’s a pretty open forum and I immediately feel at home.

Code Crew is a group of individuals from diverse backgrounds all learning to code together. Jamal and Felicia O’garro founded Code Crew when they themselves decided to switch careers and learn to code. Felica tells me that they were hit hard by the recession of 2008 and they struggled for a while to make ends meet. They thought about going back to school to acquire their masters degrees but it was a pricey move and one with no guarantees. “Learning to Code was free” Felica mentions, and there were no barriers to entry. They learned to code together, studying from sun up to sun down at the library and watching tutorials on YouTube. Now they’ve both got jobs as engineers. They started Code Crew officially in 2013 though they were hosting meetings the year before. It was initially a means of getting together with other folks who wanted to learn how to code. They first met up at coffee shops, but pretty soon their Meetup Group grew and they needed a larger space. Now, they’ve been invited to speak at the UN for NYC Code Camp an open source conference held at the UN Headquarters here in NY. They’ve also been to the White House because of their commitment to making sure everyone has access to education around coding. They’ve made sure that all of their classes are affordable and in many cases even free so anyone can come and learn if they want to.

During the class at the UN, I was pretty lost, but I don’t have the keene sense of dread that I did in my computer science classes at University. It’s all good – no one is judging me. I have no assignments, and everyone who is there wants to be there. I can ask questions if I want and I don’t feel like anyone will judge me if my question is elementary. A fun, affordable, reputable coding class? I’ll definitely be back.

Growing Herb the Lazy Way

If you’re like me and you’re a guy who would actually like to do some home gardening, but are entirely too lazy for such an enterprise – don’t despair! Click and Grow is a new startup with some pretty decent funding that aims to change all that. It’s actually pretty simple. It’s much like a chia pet from the 90’s but actually useful. Just add water,plug the incubator in and there you have it!

It’s going to be sold at just under $300.00 which seems a bit pricey for me. However, if you are going to make heavy use out of this thing, I can imagine it paying for itself in about a year or two. Where things get confusing is the type of dirt that’s used. It’s “proprietary nanotech Smart Soil growth medium”. Now, I’m kinda partial to straight-up dirt so I do have my eyebrow raised on this one. I still feel like the stuff is natural enough not to have to be too skeptical, but I would like to know what was in this fancy dirt.

That aside, they’ve been invited to be apart of the Y Combinator program which is notoriously hard to get into so kudos to CEO Mattias Lepp and team for such an innovative product. I wish them the best. And yes – I did ask about it’s ability to grow weed and they haven’t provided an answer just yet. (Disclaimer: I do not promote, nor do I condone the recreational use of weed) If you’re interested – the full press release is below:

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Check out the Newly Released Tracks for Guitar Hero

It’s #tracklisttuesday and Activision and FreeStyleGames has just announced an updated list of songs for the upcoming Guitar Hero Game. It’s been a long time coming, but fans of the franchise really have something to be excited about as the track list looks pretty epic. Check out the newest songs:
OneRepublic – “Counting Stars”
Paramore – “Now”
The Mowgli’s – “San Francisco”
Cypress Hill (ft. Tom Morello) – “Rise Up”
Asking Alexandria – “The Final Episode”
The Vines – “Metal Zone”
Wolf Alice – “Moaning Lisa Smile”
Disturbed – “Down With the Sickness”
TV On The Radio – “Lazerray”
Foster the People – “Coming of Age”

Below, you’ll find a list of the tracks that have already been confirmed. The game is scheduled to be on all major consoles including PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Wii U. If you pre-order on any of these, you will get a free month of Pandora Premium. The game is scheduled to be released October 20th.

Bruno Mars – “The Lazy Song”
Green Day – “American Idiot”
Jet – “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”
Iggy Pop – “Lust for Life”
Carrie Underwood – “Before He Cheats”
White Zombie – “Thunder Kiss ‘65”
The Strokes – “Under Cover of Darkness”
Korn – “Freak on a Leash”
Bob Dylan – “Thunder on the Mountain”
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Higher Ground”
Courtney Barnett – “Pedestrian at Best”
Rage Against the Machine – “Bulls on Parade”
Kongos – “Come with Me Now”
Dum Dum Girls – “Rimbaud Eyes”
Calvin Harris – “Feel So Close”
ZZ Top – “I Gotsta Get Paid”
Band of Skulls – “Asleep at the Wheel”
The Avett Brothers – “Another is Waiting”
American Authors – “Best Day of My Life”
Jake Bugg – “What Doesn’t Kill You”
Biffy Clyro – “Sounds Like Balloons”
Queen – “Tie Your Mother Down”
Alice In Chains – “Stone”
Bullet For My Valentine – “Temper Temper”
Deap Vally – “Lies”
Wolfmother – “Sundial”
Weezer – “Buddy Holly”
Angus & Julia Stone – “A Heartbreak”
Catfish and the Bottlemen – “Kathleen”
Neon Trees – “Everybody Talks”
New Politics – “Harlem”
Halestorm – “Love Bites (So Do I)”
Tenacious D – “Tribute”
Beartooth – “I Have A Problem”
Pearl Jam – “Mind Your Manners”
Rise Against – “Tragedy + Time”
Soundgarden – “Been Away Too Long”
Anthrax – “Got The Time”
Architects – “Gravedigger”
Chevelle – “The Clincher”
A Day To Remember – “Right Back At It Again”
Royal Blood – “Little Monster”
Marilyn Manson – “Disposable Teens”
Killswitch Engage – “In Due Time”
Marmozets – “Move Shake Hide”
Of Mice & Men – “Bones Exposed”
Deftones – “Diamond Eyes”
Vista Chino – “Sweet Remain”
Bring Me the Horizon – “Shadow Moses”
Mastodon – “High Road”
Trivium – “Strife”
The Black Keys – “Gold On The Ceiling”
Blitz Kids – “Sometimes”
Ed Sheeran – “Sing”
Fall Out Boy – “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)”
Gary Clark, Jr. – “Don’t Owe You A Thang”
Green Day – “Nuclear Family”
The Killers – “When You Were Young”
The Lumineers – “Ho Hey”
My Chemical Romance – “Na Na Na”
Pierce The Veil (ft. Kellin Quinn) – “King For A Day”
The Rolling Stones – “Paint It Black”
Skrillex – “Bangarang”
The War On Drugs – “Under The Pressure”
Black Veil Brides – “In The End”
Rage Against the Machine – “Guerrilla Radio”
Judas Priest – “Breaking The Law”
Pantera – “Cowboys From Hell”
Sleigh Bells – “Bitter Rivals”
System of A Down – “Chop Suey!”
Alter Bridge – “Cry Of Achilles”
Alt-J – “Left Hand Free”
Broken Bells – “Leave It Alone”
The Pretty Reckless – “Going To Hell”

The Robot War of Your Dreams!

So, I was checking out one of the coolest mech robots in the world that you can currently purchase and own called the Kuratas and realized that the American company MegaBots Inc. has just challenged them to a duel! I immediately recognized them from last years comic con as they were raising money via kickstarter. Having seen the MegaBot Robot myself up close and personal, it looked really cool. However, honestly, I really do like the Kuratas better. It seems to have a bit more style and functionality. Watch the owner and CEO of Kuratas Kogoro Kurata talk massive amounts of smack in the video below. Either way, when both creators suit up, it will be a must-see for all robot heads!

Source[the verge]

HTC M9 Review

 

We got a chance to take the HTC One M9 out for a spin for several months. Does HTC still have the touch or does the phone come up short.  Take a look below to find out.

 

 

Likes:

  • Gorgeous Screen – HTC has put a lot into making this phone and it’s quite evident with the build quality of the HTC One M9. The first thing you’ll notice is the very capable 5.0 inch, Full HD 1080p display. It is Gorilla Glass so it’s super tough as well. The colors are very vibrant and it was a welcome step up from my Nexus 5. When playing games, the display really shines making games like World of Tanks or any other high def game look awesome.
  • Speakers – HTC hit a home run with their dual front facing speakers earlier on and haven’t fixed what wasn’t broken. This is easily one of my favorite features of the phone. I do consume quite a bit of media on my cellphone in general so this is a big deal for me. . What I love most about it is that my hands don’t get in the way of the speaker as much. Usually, when the speaker is at the bottom when I hold my device in landscape mode one of my hands is muffling sound from the speaker. This doesn’t happen nearly as often with the front facing speakers on the M9. They’ve also got what they’re calling “HTC Boom Sound” which I initially thought was going to be gimmicky. It’s not. It does make a difference. I’ve even caught myself looking around because I thought someone else was in my apartment because of a sound that came from one of the speakers. They are very crisp and loud enough for personal use. If you are using it for outdoors or for an impromptu dance party you’ll still want some external bluetooth speakers. The HTC One M9 does have the ability to stream to multiple bluetooth speakers and control setup of each one individually but I don’t ever use that as I don’t have that many speakers – but some may. While I’m here, I might as well mention that there is also included an expansion microsD card slot which theoretically can support up to 2TB of additional storage. This will come in handy for taking media with you wherever you want.
  • Luxurious Feel – I loved the way the phone felt in my had as soon as I picked it up. Compared to many of the Nexus earlier Nexus devices, this phone has a lot more heft to it. It feels solid and you definitely don’t want to drop it on your toes as it will hurt. Seriously. The polish really does make you feel like you have something very expensive in your hands and I really like that. I have the Gold on Gold option which is a lot more shiny than my usual tastes but it is something that is immediately noticeable in a room once you pull it out. I’ve already gotten more than a few “What phone is that” inquiries. I’ll also take some time to mention here how tough the phone is. As you probably already guessed, I’ve dropped this phone a few times and it doesn’t have any noticeable damage. No scratches on the back and the screen has held up to the punishment of city living. I haven’t gotten a case for it yet, but it’s doing pretty well naked. It’s been in the pocket with keys and change and it’s totally fine. Full marks in my book for durability which is what I’d expect from a phone that is this well made.
  • Camera Features – I liked the rear facing 20MP camera as it took well balanced photos but I wasn’t wowed out of my seat with image quality but it does record video in 4K – not that I have a 4K display to view it on yet. I did like the fact that it has a sapphire crystal lense cover, but it might have been over kill as I’ve never had a scratch on any of my lense covers on previous phones. That said, I’m happy to have it as it makes me feel elite! I was actually more impressed though, with the front facing camera and some of the camera features. The front facing camera took really good selfie shots in low light and without a flash. I was super impressed and this phone is now my official selfie phone. The front facing camera didn’t have a megapixel count that I could glean, but it is what HTC is calling “Ultra Pixel” whatever that means. Long story short, it’s just a way of saying that the pixels in their images are are bigger than normal sized pixels so you get more bang for your buck where pixels are concerned. Not as many pixels, but the pixels you do have are ummm… Ultra!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I did like some of the features that came standard with the phone like a slow-mo cam and saving camera settings as selectable icons.
    • slow mo – with a nice camera you can have lots of fun in social media using this functionality. Comes in handy on vacation, night out with the guys, or dilly-dallying around at home or work. It works well and I like having this extra option when taking videos.
    • Saving camera settings – I’ve already saved slow-mo as a separate setting so that I don’t have to fiddle with the settings in camera every single time if I want to use it. This saves so much time and headache especially when you have to think fast. I can just maneuver to that setup and oila! This works for other settings such as ISO and Exposure settings. It’s already come in super handy.

 

Dislikes:

  • Runs Hot – This is something that hasn’t traditionally bothered me before in any other device, but I found it concerning on this one. It can get really, REALLY hot when doing something graphically intensive like playing a particularly long video or playing a graphic heavy game for more than 20 minutes. I really can’t imagine down in a place like Florida or the Caribbean on a hot day playing a quick game outside. I mean you could, but at your own risk. It gets so hot that I honestly worry about the phone’s innards at times. It’s hot enough to bring discomfort to the hand. I’ve left a game on for a little while and come back and have been significantly worried that I may have caused long term damage to the screen or chipset because of how hot the phone was.
  • Volume buttons – I really don’t like the placement of the volume buttons right above the power button on the right side. I do like the power button where it is on the right side as I find it very handy when turning off the screen or waking the phone with just one hand, but I often struggle to adjust volume with one hand because the device is so tall. When watching a video in the dark I also accidentally turn off the device when trying to turn the volume down which happens a little more often than I would like and is actually pretty annoying. I end up feeling up the device to make sure I have the right buttons ahead of time which take a little time but is a little more accurate. In the future, I’d really like to see HTC move the volume buttons back to the left side and the single power button on the right.
  • Interface – Back in the day, was the bomb and did a much better job than many of the major stock OSs in terms of cleanness and simplicity. Honestly, I think Android, and Microsoft for that matter, have cleaned up their act significantly and so Sense isn’t as needed as it once was. I find myself drawn back to the stock Android experience. I do like a few of the Sense features like the “Boom Sound” or the Camera features like Bokeh, Slow-Mo and Photobooth but that’s really it. I don’t use anything else and I actually got another launcher just because I didn’t really like stock designs. Granted, you can actually take a picture and have Sense take colors from the picture you took and integrate them into the interface which is impressive, but I’m not really a photo-as-a-background sort of guy. Others may find Sense just fine, but it didn’t work well for me.

Overall – This is pretty solid phone. It will turn heads because it’s quite stylish and well made. It is quite capable as well with it’s 3GB of DDR4 RAM, 20MP Front Facing Camera with Dual LED Flash, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 64 bit processor. It’s no slouch when compared to other flagship phones and it’s speakers set it apart as a go-to device for media consumption. I wasn’t as impressed with the Sense Android skin as I once was but I think this has more to do with Android stepping up their game than it does with HTC slipping on their software development. I was really concerned about the heat issue which I hope gets better with further iterations but I’d have no problems recommending this device to anyone who asked.

Finally – A Chance To Play Batgirl

If you’re like me, then while playing the Batman Arkham series, you’ve been asking yourself the question “Why can’t I be Batgirl”. Well, your wish has been answered.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment have both announced today that they will release Batman:Arkham Knight’s first story driven add-on “Batman™: Arkham Asylum,Batgirl: A Matter of Family”  which will feature Batgirl before the events of Arkham Asylum. I’m stoked for this addition because Batgirl is awesome, and I was always curious to see how the game makers would handle her fighting technique and moves. You will be able to do combo takedowns with Robin as well as solve new puzzles and find more secrets.

You can purchase the content for 6.99 on Playstation Network or XBox Live on the 21st. Folks who bought the Arkham Knight Season Pass will be able to purchase the add-on as early as the 14th. No news on when it’s available for the PC Version.

Check out the trailer below:

 

 

The Official Trailer for the New Rocky Spin-off is Here!

The official trailer for the new Roxy spin-off is here and honestly, it’s not too bad. Actually, it’s pretty good and had me exclaiming and shadow boxing in the mirror at several different moments.

The movie stars Sylvester Stallone and Michael B. Jordan. Jordan plays Apollo Creeds son, and it looks like the boy gets advice from his Dad’s Nemesis – Rocky Balboa. He also looks like he’s working through abandonment issues as he’s obviously had to grow up without his father since Ivan Drago killed him in Rocky IV, arguably the best Rocky film in the franchise.

The movie is directed by Ryan Coogler, the director behind Fruitvale Station – the story about the Oscar Grant shooting in 2009. Interestingly, the main character in both films is played by Jordan.

I have my fingers crossed, but looking at this video, it looks like the movie might just be worth watching. I’m also glad Sylvester isn’t getting back in the ring on this one, though I will still pay money to see him as Rambo one more time.

[source: Entertainment Weekly]

Batman: Arkham Knight Available Today

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been waiting for this game to come out since it was first released.

This game continues as the latest installment to the Arkham series and seems to be the grittiest one of them all. Why you ask? Well Batman is killing errr -non lethally shooting them with a Bat-Tank. Easily my favorite addition to the Arkahm world, the new Batmobile looks sooo sick. Besides the Bat-Jet, this is the vehicle I most wanted to drive in since Rocksteady has been creating these Arkham games and now we have that chance.

As usual, we’ll get to play as some of our favorite heroes, and the ever popular scarecrow is back with his hallucinogens. However, this is apparently the last Arkham installment and the new TV Spot mentions something about “this is how the Batman dies.” I doubt he actually dies at the end as I’ll be pretty upset, but it does peak my interest about this particular story. see below for some new gameplay screens.


You can read full Press Release below:

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Games I Can’t Wait to Play from E3 2015

Here’s a list of all the games I can’t wait to get my hands on from this year’s E3. This is by no means a comprehensive list but it’s a list of the games I’m most excited about. Tak a look at the videos below and comment on what peaks your interest or what your top list is.

 

  1. Star Wars Battle Front
  2. Batman: Arkham knight
  3. MGS5: The Phantom Pain
  4. For Honour
  5. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
  6. Fallout 4
  7. Street Fighter 5
  8. The Division
  9. Mass Effect: Andromeda
  10. Need for Speed
  11. Final Fantasy 7 – Remake
  12. Shenmue
  13. Hitman
  14. The Last Guardian
  15. COD: Black Ops III
  16. Assassins Creed
  17. Mirrors Edge
  18. No Man’s Sky
  19. Rise of the Tomb Raider
  20. Rainbow 6: Seige
  21. Star Fox Zero
  22. Fifa 2016 – because of the women
  23. Doom

 

Take a look at this video lineup

 





















NBA Live Names Russel Westbrook as 2016 Cover Athlete

 

I used to hate on Russel Westbrook, but I’m actually happy that he’s the cover athlete for NBA Live. He’s worked hard this season, and he deserves some accolades and endorsements. He goes hard every night which is something that won me over, as well as his miserable interesting taste in fashion. Everybody’s a critic right?
The only sucky thing about being on the cover of NBA Live is that it’s not NBA 2K. Live has fallen to the number two spot in terms of must have NBA games and Live is playing catch up. Honestly, I haven’t played an NBA Live game since PS1 / PS2 days. You can check their announcement trailer below. Their E3 demo was interesting but I’m in a wait-and-see stance.