BlueBerry vs BlackBerry Phones

There is indeed a cellphone called BlueBerry. It's a china-made knock-off of the popular BlackBerry phones. When I first heard about it, I thought Taan was joking around, and she insisted that she was serious. It is a real phone. I search for it online, and found it.
It doesn't look too bad. It looks almost identical to a BlackBerry phone. Even the name and the logo is very similar. At a glance, one would think that it's a BlackBerry phone. Even though it's a knock-off, it still doesn't come cheap. The last I checked, it costs about $164.99. It has a high-definition camera at 640×480, soft keypad, bluetooth, 1G TF card, Dual SIM card functionality, GPRS data, "Snake" game!, and more.

I've read a lot of negative reviews about it. So it might be better to just go with the real BlackBerry phone. The BlueBerry might look like the BlackBerry, but it might not function and work as good as the BlackBerry.

Apple IPad

I found this funny photo all over Facebook in a lot of my friends' pages. I love it. It's basically... IPod Touch + Mushroom (from Super Mario Bros) = IPad. The IPad pretty much looks like a larger version of the IPod touch. I was very excited about it. On the day when Steve Jobs introduced the IPad not too long ago, I was online following it. I'm very tempted to get it when it comes out, but I'm not sure if I should. I'm considering waiting for a later release that would fix some issues that might arise from the first version. All I know is that it's very stylish and I could do a lot of things with it.
IPad Technical Specifications:

Height: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
Width: 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
Depth: 0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
Weight: 1.5 pounds (0.68 kg) Wi-Fi model; 1.6 pounds (0.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G mode

Display
9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology; 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi); Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating; Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Capacity: 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive
Processor: 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip

Battery and power
Built-in 25-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery ;Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music; Charging via power adapter or USB to computer system

Starting price: $499

Learn more at the Apple Store - IPad Site

3D Photography

At this year's Winter Olympics, a photographer was spotted sporting a 3D camera. This 3D camera was basically two SLRs rigged together to produce 3D photographs. I don't know how you do it and/or how it works, but it works.

The photographer who owns this camera is David Klutho, who wrote a book about 3D photography. He's also a photographer for Sports Illustrated, and I guess he's the main photographer for the Sports Illustrated 3D issues. His book is called In Your Face 3-D: The Best 3-D Book Ever!. I think it's worth checking out if you're interested in 3D photography.

I think that's the future of photography and film as well. There are more and more movies in 3D now than before. They always make me dizzy for the first few minutes, but I start enjoying it more once the headache subsides and my eyes adjust to the images.

Read more on the Original CNET article

Remote Controlled R2D2's Gender

We got a new toy last month. We've been eyeing this item for a long time, but never saw a need to buy it aside from being so enamored by it's cuteness. R2-D2 is one of our favorite characters in Star Wars. Yes, admittedly we are indeed Star Wars fans, but not quiet as avid as we wanted to. School, work, and other cares in life got in the way of becoming an uber Star Wars fan and expert. We do enjoy watching and re-watching all of the movies over and over again, and we enjoy "looking" and "dreaming" of collecting many Star Wars gadgets, memorabilia, etc. We are currently strapped for cash, so we are limited to merely looking and dreaming for now.

Once in a while we come across something we couldn't resist acquiring, and this remote controlled R2-D2 is one of those irresistible items. It's basically similar to a remote controlled car. R2-D2 moves back and forth, making sounds and spinning its head around just like in the movies. Our R2-D2 is smaller than the real one (the movie version), but that makes it so much cuter. Our R2-D2 looks so great displayed on our desk.

Writing this brought me to a question I have long pondered... Is R2D2's male or female? Was its gender ever established before in the movies, comics, etc? Do droids have gender? I initially assumed that R2-D2 is male because of the blue trims around its body - blue being a male color, but I'm doubting my assumptions now. R2-D2 makes girly sounds - high pitched sounds, and blue can also be a female color. Females can be expert mechanics and computer geniuses as well. R2-D2 is also very close to C-3PO, and they're often together. Doesn't that tell you anything? Not to mention how considerably cute and small it is compared to other droids... Regardless, R2-D2 is definitely well-loved by both men and women fans and non-fans alike.

Nintendo DSi XL

Nintendo (US) recently announced the upcoming US release of the newest model of the Nintendo DS game console. It's called the NDSi XL, which is much bigger than the DSi. The XL's screen is 93% larger and the touch pen in larger as well. Other than that, nothing else has been changed. The XL will launch on March 28, and the price is set at $189.99.

This model has been out for over a year in Japan and other parts of Asia, and it's called NDSi LL. I'm assuming the LL stands for larger screen and larger pen (?). There hasn't been much publicity about this. Perhaps because the NDSi hasn't been out in the US for too long, and the color options are very limited right now.

Is bigger necessarily better? I guess it depends on what you need/use it for. Nintendo said that they intended for the XL to be more of social gaming experience, where more people can watch you play games. The bigger screens can allow more people to be engaged in the game. The XL will be a cross between an individual handheld console and the standard gaming console. However, it is unclear whether the XL can support multiple players are once, and how that would work. So for now, the social gaming experience will be limited to watching someone play a game.