It’s time for some more gaming laptop reviews. It’s been 6 months since the last set of reviews and I must say I am impressed with the options available right now. 6 months ago in January, it was hard to come up with a list of good deals. This was in part because of the holiday season ending and a lack of new mobile graphics cards being released around that time. Luckily, ATI has released some great new cards that have created better competition with Nvidia’s aging recycled releases.

The baseline price starts off at $850 $680 for the budget recommendations below. I always strive to come up with a sub $800 recommendation, but if the performance can’t match the price, I simply can’t justify the review. The top end price is $1400, but is a definite extreme gaming notebook in a class of its own.

Disclaimer: The State of Affairs received no direct compensation for writing this article and is in no way directly affiliated with Gateway, Toshiba, ASUS, MSI or Newegg.com.

Technorati Tags: best gaming, gaming, laptop, notebook, gaming notebook, 2010, best 2010, best laptop 2010, best gaming notebook 2010, laptop computer, laptop for gaming, gaming notebook review, laptop for under, under 1000, affordable gaming notebook, notebook for price, cheap gaming laptop

The science of sleep is a fascinating subject that obviously, we can all relate too. Why do we wake up feeling exhausted sometimes and completely rested other times, regardless of how long we sleep? Do we transition from each sleep cycle seamlessly or do we waver from different “levels” of sleep during the night? These are the questions that I had and they are what lead me too this amazingly cool and scientifically fascinating device called the WakeMate.

What The WakeMate Is And What It Isn’t

In the most basic sense, the WakeMate is a alarm clock, but more precisely, it’s a alarm clock that learns your sleep patterns and intelligently chooses when to wake you. While you sleep, the WakeMate monitors you movement through a sensor that attaches to wrist. This method is known as actigraphy and has been used by doctors and scientist for many years in the study of analyzing sleep.

Here are the basic steps in using the WakeMate

1. Slide the WakeMate around your wrist (like a wrist band)
2. Set the WakeMake alarm clock application on your smart phone
3. Sleep!

The WakeMate will then analyze you sleep pattern and will wake you at the optimal time during your 20 minute “wake up time” window. The fact is we don’t fall asleep and stay asleep at the same depth during the entire night, in fact there are many points during the night when we are sort of half-asleep. What the WakeMate does is trigger your alarm during one of those half-awake moments, thereby saving you from being woken during the deepest parts of your 20 minute wake up window.

Very cool indeed.

I don’t personally own one, so I can not speak from a user standpoint, but the science behind the process of using a actigraph is very sound. Traditionally you would go to a doctor who would then provide you with a actigraph unit to take home. After gathering some data at home, you would take the unit back to the doctor who would then analyze the data and give you more insight into your sleep patters. That same data can now be complied at home, without needing a doctors assistance.

Now, the WakeMate does not provide the same amount of information that a polysomnogram would. Polysomnography monitors many parts of the body while you sleep such as your brain waves, rapid eye movement, and heart rhythm. It’s a very involved and complex test that is usually used for patients with specific sleep disorders. A actigraph is a much more realistic means of monitoring our sleep cycle and circadian rhythm’s personally, yet effectively.

The WakeMate is only available for pre-order right now, but it should be shipping by September later this year according to their website. If you’re looking to get a better nights sleep and have something really interesting to talk about at work, check out the WakeMate website for more info.

Technorati Tags: wakemate, analyze sleep, analyze sleep patterns, analyze sleep cycles, actigraphy, how-to, sleep test, sleep research, sleep stages, sleep cycles, sleep solutions, sleeping better, restful sleep

Disclaimer: The State of Affairs received no direct compensation for writing this article and is in no way directly affiliated with the creators of the WakeMate, we simply thought it was a cool idea. Also, we are not doctors and don’t pretend to be, so if you feel you have a serious sleep condition, consult your physician.

See also: Best Gaming Laptop for the Money (June 2010)

At last, there are finally some good recommendations for gaming laptops in 2010. I have attempted to come up with a list of gaming laptops for over two months now, but with the holiday prices bouncing around faster than an electron in a super collider, I just couldn’t recommend any solid deals.

Now that the market has finally calmed down, there are some pretty great laptops in the reasonable price range of $750 to $1000 dollars. I attempted to find a recommendation below $750 dollars, but the gaming performance of the laptops in that price range simply can’t compare to the laptops below, even for a casual gamer. If you are looking for a laptop over the $1000 price range, I would recommend pricing out a custom laptop through a company similar too Alienware.

The first two recommendations are great budget laptops that are each powered by a ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 1GB card. The third is powered by a very fast NVIDIA GTX 260M 1gb card.

Disclaimer: The State of Affairs received no direct compensation for writing this articles and is in no way directly affiliated with Gateway, HP, ASUS or Newegg.com.

Technorati Tags: best gaming, gaming, laptop, notebook, gaming notebook, 2010, best 2010, best laptop 2010, best gaming notebook 2010, laptop computer, laptop for gaming, gaming notebook review, laptop for under, under 1000, affordable gaming notebook, notebook for price, cheap gaming laptop

The new Google Nexus One is all the buzz on the web. As of now the Nexus One is available for $529 unlocked or $179 with T-Mobile USA service plan (NEW customers only). One hitch now on the T-Mobile US plan is the fact that, you can not get your T-Mobile phone upgrade price on the Google Nexus One if you are on a family plan.

Many T-Mobile users are already digging up the scoop on this one though. According to many discussions around the web, the trick to getting the discounted price on the Nexus One is to pull your number from your family plan and move it to an individual plan.

This is where everyone one has said what? “It’s $10 month for the extra line on my family plan, if I move to an individual plan that is $50 a month more!”. Correct, but the trick is apparently after 120 days, you can move your individual line back to your family plan. I say apparently as T-Mobile customer service is giving different customers, different answers on this one.

Basically, you have three choices now:

• One, buy the phone for $529 for your family plan
• Two, move to a individual plan and pay around $380 ($179 for the discounted phone price + $200 extra for 4 months at the individual plan price)
• Three, stick with the phone you got and wait for a better option on the price of the phone and the service plan restrictions.

I do recommend calling T-Mobile directly and confirming the above options before ordering. Try and get them to “leak” the truth about when you can switch your particular line back to your family plan. Also the new line will need to be placed under a different name as the $179 price is for new customers only.

I won’t be buying a Google Nexus One as of now, but I may soon, as I’m a Verizon Wireless customer. According to Matt Cutts, this spring the Nexus One will be coming to Verizon Wireless.

Did you get a Google Nexus One? If you did, leave a review below, if you didn’t, leave a comment about why you aren’t buying one!

**********************

Update I:
After looking at some prices for other unlocked smart phones online, it looks like the $529 regular price is on the upper end, but is still well within the reasonable price range.

Technorati Tags: google nexus one, nexus one, google nexus, nexus one tmobile, nexus one t-mobile, google tmobile, tmobile family nexus one, tmobile family plan nexus, family plan nexus one, family plan google nexus, nexus one price, individual nexus one, nexus one 120 days, google nexus discount, nexus discount

If you noticed the small gray or white print in your newest Verizon smartphone ad you are probably wondering just what is an Email Feature” and why is it required? We all love features for our phones after all.

Voice Plan Email Feature, a.k.a your Data Plan!

The required email feature for your new smartphone is simply a required data plan. Since these new smartphones need much more bandwidth then earlier phones, you will have to pay extra for a data plan. The data plan comes it at $30 dollars for most of us (family and individual plans) and $40 for the suits (business plans).

It would be wise to ask your Verizon representative if the phone you are thinking of purchasing this year requires a data plan addon. If your buying online, be sure to read the full print and call Verizon if you are unsure about the charges.

Phones that Require the “Email Feature”

When redefining a word or subject, it proves helpful to include the old definition to refer too. Renaming something akin to a “data plan” to an email feature” should be addressed with caution, to not cause confusion.

Here is a list of phones that require the email feature. If you know of more phones feel free to leave a comment below with the details.

• Motorola Droid
• HTC Droid Eris
• Blackberry Storm2
• BlackBerry Curve

Update 1: The $30 dollar data plan\email feature is per device. If your on an individual plan, no big deal, but if you are on a family plan with 3 people or more this is a huge difference. If you have a family plan with 3 lines for $120 a month and want to switch to Motorola Droids for all 3 lines, it will be an additional $90 added to you plan. For 3 Motorola Droids with Verizon that is over $200 a month. Wow…

Technorati Tags: email feature, verizon email feature, required email feature, data plan, verizon data plan, droid email feature, droid data plan, verizon, voice plan, blackberry data plan, blackberry email feature

We’re nearing the end of 2009 and just beginning the holiday season. Finding the best deal for a home or office laptop can be a bit more confusing this time of year with all of the sales and deals floating around, but I did the scouring and was able to come up with 4 great holiday laptop deals that would make a great present for anyone this holiday season.

The main concerns when choosing a home or office laptop is the processor speed, the amount of ram, and the amount of hard disk space. All of these laptops satisfy those needs and range in price from under $500 to just under $1500.

These types of deals tend to sell out fast, especially during the holiday season. If they do sell out, I highly recommend you use them as a benchmark comparison in regards to price and performance while making your holiday buying decision.

Update: Attempting to keep up with Holiday prices for Laptops is quite exhaustive. The price’s noted here may change.

Disclaimer: The State of Affairs received no direct compensation for writing this articles and is in no way directly affiliated with HP, Toshiba, Acer, Amazon.com, or Newegg.com.

Technorati Tags: best home laptop, best office laptop, home laptop, office laptop, under 1000, home laptop under, office laptop under, home laptop computer, best home notebook, home notebook, budget home laptop, budget home notebook, holiday laptop deals, best home use laptop, home use laptop, home office laptop, best home laptop 2009

I have been looking at inexpensive camcorders or video cameras for quite some time now. My brothers new baby boy is about to turn one and he needs a decent video camera to capture all of those moments that wont come again. For example, the first walk outside without a stroller or the first hike up a mountain… ok it may be a bit early to conquer a mountain, but a walk outside sounds reasonable.

The problem is up until recently, there has been no real quality camcorders available on the market for under $500 dollars or so. Digital still cameras can be picked up for $100 and will take great 10MP pictures that look stunning and amazing. Digital video cameras are a different story, at least they were, until now.

Introducing the Kodak Zi8 Small HD 1080p Pocket Video Camera

I literally just read every review on the web showcasing the Kodak Zi8 and have found nothing but positive comments and experiences. Here is a short list of what I think makes the Kodak Zi8 stand out against the other under $200 camcorders on the market.

1. True HD 1080p, a lot of cameras are still limited to the acceptable, but not great, 720p resolution.
2. Small pocket hand-held design, while still maintaining a great feature set.
3. Excellent image stabilization (and it actually works!) This eliminates the majority of blur seen in other similar cameras.
4. This one really surprised me, a external microphone input. Everyone knows built in microphones are very sub-par, so if you really want to get serious and capture every detail of the moment, you have the option and power to do so.
5. Uses SD or SDHC cards for storage. Cheap, convenient, and simple.
6. Last, but not least, the video quality is great. I won’t lie and say it’s as good as a $1500 camcorder, but with a price tag of only $180, the quality is far better then similarly priced video cameras.

Recently Cali Lewis, of geekbrief.tv, reviewed the Kodak Zi8 and paired it against two competitor cameras that are in a completely different league. To my surprise though, the Kodak Zi8 was not blasted out of the water and didn’t look like a simple kids toy in comparison. This is a must watch video if you want to see how this camcorder performs in low light as well as under professional studio lights.

What do ya think? Worth $180? I have looked at all of the other cameras in the same price range and can say without a doubt this one takes the cake. The biggest downfall to inexpensive video cameras is the fact that they don’t perform well under low-light conditions. Yeah, I wouldn’t say the Kodak Zi8 is fantastic in low-light conditions, but no camera under $1000 truly is, so unless were willing to shell out the big cash, it’s just something we will have to work around.

Great camera, great features, great price. I’m sold.
Read more about the Kodak Zi8 at Kodak.com

Do you have a Kodak Zi8? How has your experience been in terms of features and quality?

Technorati Tags: cheap video camera, cheap camcorder, cheap hd video camera, best cheap camcorder, cheap small video camera, cheap small camcorder, cheap hd video camera, inexpensive video camera, best inexpensive camcorder, cheap digital camcorder, cheap camcorder 2009, kodak zi8

See also: Best Gaming Laptop for the Money (June 2010)

We are a little over half way through 2009 and I thought it was about time to update everyone on what is the best gaming laptop for the money now. It has been 6 months since I last covered this topic and indeed some of the best performing cards have changed, but the prices have especially changed.

On average you are probably paying about $200 dollars less then what you would have paid 6 months ago for a comparable gaming laptop. Is $200 dollars worth a 6 month wait? I’m not sure it would be for me, but we are all working off different budgets. It’s worth keeping that fact in mind though.

Once again I have selected 4 laptops that should satisfy all of your gaming needs while still keeping cost in mind. Why pay more for the same thing right?

Disclaimer: The State of Affairs received no direct compensation for writing this articles and is in no way directly affiliated with Gateway, Toshiba, Msi, ASUS or Newegg.com.

Technorati Tags: best gaming, gaming, laptop, notebook, gaming notebook, 2009, best 2009, best laptop 2009, best gaming notebook 2009, laptop computer, best gaming laptop 2007, 2008, laptop for gaming, gaming notebook review, laptop for under, under 1000, affordable gaming notebook, notebook for price, cheap gaming laptop

Traditionally desktops have been leading the way in gaming performance, but now there are many different mobile versions of video cards. Hands down the fastest card is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M.

Power consumption is always a concern when using a laptops so Nvidia released the NVIDIA® HybridPower™ options with the GTX 280m. HybridPower switches to a integrated low-power GPU to conserve the battery life.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M Benchmarks

1. 3DMark 06 – 11767
2. Far Cry 2 SXGA very high – 40FPS
3. Call of Juarez high XGA 4xAA – 33FPS
4. Crysis XGA high – 44FPS

Not too bad for a laptop! The system used in the test was the following.

• Clevo M980NU 18.4“ barebone (pre-production sample)
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M with 1024 GDDR 3
• Intel Core 2 Duo X9100 3.1 GHz CPU
• 2 Gigs DDR3
• 320 GB 5400 U/min HDD
• Vista 64 Bit

Technorati Tags: fastest laptop video card, fastest laptop gpu, laptop gpu, laptop video card, GeForce GTX 280M, laptop video cards, laptop graphics card, best laptop, laptop video card review

We are just about halfway through 2009 and laptops\notebooks are still gaining popularity over the traditional desktop computer. The main reason laptops are becoming more popular than desktops is the fact that laptops are continuing to grow in power while still providing the portability we all have grown to love.

Deciding on what laptop\notebook is right for you can be a very daunting task. I did some research to weed out the best cost vs. performance laptop you will need. The first laptop is recommended for the home or office user that doesn’t intend to play games on their new machine. The second is a great laptop for gaming, yet is still reasonably priced under $1000 dollars.

Disclaimer: The State of Affairs received no direct compensation for writing this articles and is in no way directly affiliated with Lenovo, Msi, or Newegg.com.

Technorati Tags: best laptop under 00, best home laptop, best notebook under 00, laptop under 1000, notebook under 1000, best gaming laptop under 1000, gaming notebook under 1000, laptop computer, laptop under 2009, laptop 2009, notebook review, laptop review, best laptop under 600, laptop under 800, laptop for under 500, best laptops