Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

I’ve been using the same Logitech wireless keyboard for a good 6 or 7 years now. While I’m sure it would easily last a few more years, I decided to replace it because I’m convinced there’s a complete self-sustaining biosphere lurking beneath the keys. So for the past few weeks I’ve been checking out keyboards here and there, but I kept coming back to the latest version from Apple, seen here at my local Apple Store. Now I’m a Windows guy, and intend to use the keyboard under XP and Vista, but I’ll gladly admit that Apple have become masters of product design. They’re pretty good at marketing too, but have a bad habit of letting their campaigns run a lot longer than they should.

Not surprisingly, the people at the Apple Store were as useless when it came to answering my questions as any other retail employee, but thankfully the keyboard works nearly flawlessly under XP. I’ll have to make a few registry changes to get my printscreen button back, but other than that I’m really liking the new keyboard. It’s exactly like typing on a laptop, which I know some people don’t like, but I have no problem with it. The position of the CTRL and ALT keys are swapped compared to my old Logitech keyboard, but I’m sure the muscle memory in my hands will soon adjust. In fact the only real complaint I have was when I tried to plug my Wacom into one of the keyboard’s USB ports and found that it didn’t supply enough power for the tablet to work properly. Unfortunate, but far from a deal breaker.

By Andrew Liszewski

While it’s nice to see nearly every store in my city with GTA IV displays, April 29th is still just too far away. I know it’s already the 17th, but that last stretch always seems to drag on forever. I’ve been a fan of the GTA series way back to the original ‘overhead view’ versions but I have to admit I was a little worried when they announced the series was switching to a fully 3D environment. (Not to mention the PS2 exclusivity.) But things seem to have worked out for the best.

And while the series has become the poster child for adult gaming and the debate over video game violence, I really only play it for its ’sandbox’ virtues. In fact I haven’t even come close to actually ‘completing’ any of the recent GTA games. I’m more than content just to drive around getting in car chases, or enjoying the occasional helicopter flight with the inevitable crash at the end. But the addition of multiplayer has tempted me to get back on XBox Live. That is, if the 29th ever actually gets here.

By David Ponce

This may seem terribly off topic, but there’s a bit of a link to the OhGizmo! ethos here. Hear me out. Part of the reason I started the site was that new things have always fascinated me. Sure, most of the new things I’ve always been interested in were gadgets; innovation (in gadgets and tech) quickly became a focus for the site as a result. But this fascination with new stuff is still a part of me. And sometimes, it backfires, as can be seen above.

See, this is why, when sitting comfortably at a new sushi joint in town, I decided to order the most obscure sounding thing on the menu, something I’d never had: “Fried salmon head with some sort of spice combo I can’t remember”. Sounded nice. Sure. Except that in my head, for a moment, a salmon fish was the size of a goldfish, and the head I was expecting to get was no larger than maybe a thumb. Good one. This is what showed up a few minutes later. This.

But I ate it. Sure. I picked at it. But eventually ate it. Fun stuff.

I’d love to hear your culinary horror stories.

By Andrew Liszewski

Given the ridiculously nice weather I decided to go for a walk yesterday, and as is usually the case, I ended up at my local comic book store. Much to my surprise, in their display case of ’stuff that’s so expensive you’re not allowed to touch’ I discovered this handsomely displayed set of Kryptonite. Now I was always under the impression you needed some crazy, Luther-esque plan in order to obtain a usable amount of Superman’s achilles heel, but it seems my own dreams of taking down the man of steel might actually come true.

Unfortunately, after doing a little research online it turns out this is actually a replica of a set of Kryptonite found in the Justice League’s trophy room. So not only is it a fake, but it’s also based on an item that only exists in a comic book. Sigh… Anyways it looks like the BigBadToyStore also carries it for $204.99.

By Andrew Liszewski

I guess my XEL-1 review unit from Sony must’ve gotten lost in the mail, but thankfully I was able to get some one-on-one time with the OLED TV at my local Sony store. Not surprisingly the display looks amazing, and is exactly what you’d expect with a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. And even though it only has a native resolution of 960×540 pixels, you don’t really notice it since the display is just 11 inches in size. But am I tempted to take one home? Absolutely not.

As far as I’m concerned the XEL-1 is nothing more than a tech demo/marketing exercise. Sure, it’s cool that Sony was the first company to get an actual OLED TV to the market, but who’s going to pay $2,499.99 for a display that can’t even do 720P? Even the XEL-1’s design seems engineered to promote the technology first and foremost. By keeping all of the controls and connections in the base of the unit, it allowed them to make the actual OLED display remarkably thin. And it works, as that seems to be the biggest feature most people noticed as they walked past. But while OLED technology is definitely a viable contender when it comes to who will rule the flat screen market in the future, it’s probably a good idea to wait a few more years before making the investment.

By Andrew Liszewski

While perusing the wares at my local mall-o-plex, I stumbled across this awesome 1:18 scale remote control DeLorean from Back To The Future II. It’s made by a company called ‘Maxi Car’ and the box is chock full of Engrish mistakes, so you just know your $49.99 investment will last for years and years. “Have a blast with it. Ton of fun!”

Besides a pistol grip remote, the car has full 6-way movements, working spring loaded shocks and front and rear suspension. It comes in one of 5 different frequencies so you can race your friends, but something tells me it falls far short of the required 88 miles-an-hour required to see some serious stuff. I’ve noticed quite a bit of BTTF merchandise these days, and I realized that when the film came out, it was never really marketed to kids. So the opportunity to sell tons of toys and movie tie-ins was lost. But now that those kids are my age, and have pockets full of disposable income, they’re clearly making up for it.

By David Ponce

So, we received tons of entries for our Thinkgeek giveaway, but sadly, not everyone can win. This mobile post names our particular winner.

And because we love you, we’ll be having a lot more of these, so stay tuned.

Oh, and Happy Easter now.

By David Ponce

So there I was, in the middle of St-Patrick’s celebrations, thinking of you people. And how it’s been ages since we’ve given anything away. And how it would be cool to maybe toss out a $50 gift certificate from ThinkGeek. Just for the heck of it. Maybe make St-Patrick happy or something.

Whatever the case, if y’all want to be entered to win, just listen to the below voice post, and email the “secret words” to OGCONTESTS at the big ole gmail dot com. And please don’t be giving the answer away in the comments.

By David Ponce

We’re not quite there yet, but this year’s shaping up to be the most snowy on record. Sure, some Canadian readers live in sunny Vancouver and you might be tired of hearing me harp on this. But up here in the East Coast, the picture ain’t so pretty. The snow IS the news.

Any of you have horror stories like this? Pictures? Send them to ogcontests at the gmail dot com and I’ll post them up.