As soon as TimeWarner went to Blu-ray exclusively, I sold off all my HD-DVDs and the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player. Since then, I decided to get one of the fairly affordable $399 PS3s. I have to say, I’m loving the PS3. The only real downside to getting a PS3 historically has been it’s price. Now that the cheapest unit is now $399 (which is cheaper than an Xbox 360 w/ HD-DVD), I really don’t see why any gamer wouldn’t want one. The game selection isn’t currently as massive as Xbox 360, but it will be soon. And all the really great games (Call of Duty 4, Bourne Conspiracy, Grand Theft Auto 4, Ghostbusters) will be on XB360 and PS3. I loved my Xbox, but when given the choice, I’ll always opt for the PS3 version going forward. I haven’t done any online gaming yet, but from my understanding, playing PS3 games online is totally free — which is awesome. Anyway, I only have one PS3 game currently (Folklore), which I can’t wait to play. …But I’m mostly using the PS3 as a Blu-ray player. Many of my favorite movies are already on Blu-ray.

Note: This week, AOL Shopping launched user reviews, which are in addition to the reviews that come through our PriceGrabber feed. This review was one of my contributions to the launch.

I was a big comic geek as a kid, and I loved all the Marvel titles. My knowledge of the Marvel Universe was pretty broad, though I didn’t know every intricate detail of every character and sub-character. This game (Marvel Ultimate Alliance Gold Edition for XBox 360) not only allowed me to play many of the Marvel characters I loved, but the storyline introduced all the major (and not-so-major) villains and worlds from the Marvel Universe. It was such a thrill to actually participate in the storylines of characters I read so much of growing up. It’s a comic fan’s dream come true. Marvel has such a rich, uncomplicated history (unlike the DC Universe), so a linear walkthrough of the various Marvel storylines felt natural. As for the game itself, I used cheat codes to unlock all of the playable characters right off the bat. I know that’s cheating, but the joy I got from the game was playing the multitude of characters, not the thrill of unlocking them. I created teams of superheroes based on the comics I read in the 80’s. My favorite of these was the late 80’s version of the X-Men (circa Fall of the Mutants), dressed in the uniforms they had at that time. That was so cool. I only wish Freedom Force, the Hand, and the Brood were included in this game, so I could totally relive my most favorite comic stories from the past. The gameplay became repetitive, but the boss battles were each somewhat unique. Again, I used some cheats so I could breeze through the game play and simply watch the story unfold. Comics are all about story and art anyway. While the interactive nature of playing the game is cool, I didn’t think it was really necessary to enjoying the story. Anyway, I finished the game two nights ago, and was pleased with the overall story of Dr. Doom’s conquest of the world and how it was resolved. This was a great mixture of all the storylines and characters from the Marvel Universe. Highly recommend!.

Note: This week, AOL Shopping launched user reviews, which are in addition to the reviews that come through our PriceGrabber feed. This review was one of my contributions to the launch.

The new Apple TV allows users to rent/download standard and hi-def movies over the Internet and watch them on their widescreen televisions. No need for a computer. All you need is a free evening and a comfortable chair. Turn on the TV, browse through the Apple TV menu to find the movie you want to watch, and download it. You have 30 days to start watching the movie and 24 hours to finish the movie. Standard definition new releases cost $3.99 and older titles cost $2.99. HD versions of each cost a dollar more.

But that’s not all the Apple TV offers. You can also watch or listen to podcasts from your TV, watch YouTube videos, browse photos, or synch with your computer to enjoy all of your iTunes content (music, movies, television shows, etc.).

Apple TV basically brings all of the downloadable media content formerly restricted to your computer into your living room.

With the addition of downloadable movie rentals, Apple TV makes services like Blockbuster and Netflix obsolete.

Have an Apple TV? Let us know what you think by posting a comment here or by submitting a user review!

I can’t take credit for the title of this blog entry. I think I heard that line in a song many years back. But it totally fits.

Even after spending one day this week working from home, I feel like the past seven days has been incredibly grueling for me. In this time, I’ve done two interviews for Inside AOL (which is becoming less and less of a big deal, the more of them that I do), I’ve survived the scrutinization of the show from AOL’s legal department, I lost all my personal financial data at home and had to rebuild my accounts, I was hit with a surprise bill that pretty much paralyzed me financially for the next two weeks, I became less optimistic about the future of the DC Derby show (the next episode may be my last), I heard a lot of negative comments about AOL in the tech media (in relation to the Microsoft/Yahoo story), I’ve been a tad depressed about the whole Valentine’s Day thing, I haven’t seen any progress on the financial or fitness fronts at all, and I continue to be ineffective at relating to AOL Shopping’s customer demographic.

I feel like I’ve been trying so hard in every area of my life, and I’m not seeing any positive results anywhere. And I sometimes doubt why I bother.

I need to spend the next several days stepping back from everything and reevaluating where I should be placing my efforts. I can’t continue on the pace I’m on. I’m desperate for some good news in one of these areas and some illumination at the end of this darkened passage.

The GeekBrief meetup in Washington, DC happened two weeks ago (January 30), but I never mentioned it in my blog.

GeekBrief is one of the very first podcasts I subscribed to (after The Dave Ramsey Show and The Radio Factor with Bill O’Reilly). I thought the host, Cali Lewis, was one of the freshest, most positive personalities on the ‘net, and I enjoyed hearing her take on the world of technology. I became an even bigger fan of the show, when I found out she and husband/producer Neal were fans of Dave Ramsey. The fact that Cali responded to one of my blog posts about her show pretty much solidified my love and support for GeekBrief permanently.

Cali and Neal are very good about meeting and interacting with fans of their show. I don’t know of any other “silicon celebs” that are as open to their audience. I really don’t get the sense that they’re in the podcast biz to become famous. They don’t seem elitist or part of the “in crowd.” I suppose a lot of that has to do with the fact they’re based in Dallas, Texas, rather than Silicon Valley. Whatever the reason, I’m glad for it. Those two are good folks.

So, when I heard they were visiting Washington, DC and wanted to meetup with their fans in the area, I was psyched. I also found out my friend Ray (from the DC Podcaster Alliance) was a big fan of the show and was planning to be at the meetup, as well.

I took the subway into DC and arrived at Capital Q BBQ (beside the Verizon Center) on time. Cali & Neal were running late, so I decided to eat before they arrived. Though the pulled pork BBQ sandwich was delicious, it was also very messy. So I’m glad I got it out of the way before the guests arrived.

There were about 10-15 GeekBrief fans gathered in the tiny restaurant. We greeted the couple, when they arrived, then proceeded to break off into many smaller conversations around the two tables we procured. I spent most of the time talking to Neal, who I’ve only seen glimpses of on the show. I was most interested in how he produced the show and their philosophy behind their fan interaction (which I thought was one of their biggest assets). Cali seemed to draw the most interest from the other fans, so I didn’t really get to break in and talk with her much.

Towards the end, we took a bunch of pictures and said our goodbyes. One guy shot some video. And, when I got home, I found out Cali and Neal recorded some audio afterwards, giving their reaction to the meetup.

Anyway, Cali and Neal are two admirable and endearing individuals, and everyone should subscribe to and support their show, GeekBrief!