Happy New Year!

It's already 1:27 AM here so I'm already in 2009! Happy New Year to all of my readers. I hope you had a great year and you'll have an even better, healthier, funnier 2009. I hope you got some good new year's resolutions!

How to use fireworks

Just two days left till New Years Eve. We're all gonna use a lot of fireworks right? So this is just a simple guide on how to use it properly.

Keep watching

When you have lit something and you throw it into something, don't forget to watch it closely. Within one meter if possible. You need to be sure it's gonna explode.

Illegal stuff

Be sure to get your hands on some illegal stuff. It's always cool to have that shit. But don't forget to apply the previous rule. It's gotta be worth the money.

Police

Throw some firecrackers under a cop car, with the cops still in it. When they get out out you can do two things. Either run away or tell them it happened accidentally.

Old people

Scare old people with firecrackers or whatever. It's always funny to hear them yelling at you for what you did.

Accelerants

Use spirit or something like that in combination with fireworks. Or buy some methanol. You'll get nice colors with those.

I hope these tips will help you like they helped me last year. I still have seven fingers, an eye, 6 toes and one ear. You should do better though!

WiFi here, there and everywhere!

From now on you will always know if you have WiFi near you. Just take a look at your shirt and you will find out.

This shirt can track 802.11 b and g networks. It works on 4 AAA batteries though. It'll show you the strength of the WiFi network which is the nearest to you.

Nice gadget for you to get some chicks... At least if there is a strong WiFi signal.

World of Warcraft is a waste of time

Recently WoW reached the 11.5 million player mark. It's really surprising how a game like WoW can get so much players. It has it's good points but it's not worth playing.

Graphics

People say WoW has nice GFX. At least better than other RPG's. Switch to consoles I would say. It's way better. And there is a bigger variety of games.

Subscription

What I also don't understand is why you have to pay 15 dollars a month. The PS3 has free online gaming and the Xbox 360 costs 5 euros or 3 dollars a month. And it's not even limited to just one game. You can play hundreds of games for that small amount.

Storyline

The last thing I hate about WoW is that it has no storyline. You just go out there and kill some monsters. Good creatures kill evil creatures. That's it. There also isn't a singleplayer mode which you can play if you don't want MP or don't have internet.

If you have WoW, throw it out the window. If you don't, don't even look at it when you're about to buy a game.

Matrix 4?

Is Neo dead? Is Agent Smith really destroyed? Did the peace between Zion and the machines last long? Who were the people who destroyed the matrix the first five times? So many questions that weren't answered in the three movies. That should be reason for a forth Matrix movie.

Writers usually keep their stories open so they can make another movie in the series. And they definitely have the money to make another one. At least if they haven't bought houses and cars worth 1.2 billion.

Since there are so many questions unanswered, the Wachowski brothers should make another one. There are definitely people who want to see another one. Actually a lot of people. I just hope we won't have to wait long until the next one!

How to pull the perfect prank

So you've come up with a master plan to prank someone. But will it really work? Have you truly thought of every possible scenario? I bet you don't. Read this guide and pull the perfect prank om someone.

I previously wrote an article on how to get a million views on Youtube. This is also one of the possible ways. The steps you have to follow to pull the prefect prank on someone are:

• The person you pull the prank on
• The place you pull the prank on
• The time you pull the prank on
• How you will pull the prank on the person
  

Who?

Carefully think of the perfect candidate. The best motive is usually revenge. Just looking for ways to create fun will do too... Choosing a friend or family member usually works good.

Where?

This also depends on your motive. If you want to embarrass someone, do it in public or when there are a lot of people around. If you're just doing it for fun, you can do it privately.

When?

This depends on the prank you want to pull. Some will work better during the night, some during the day. Just use common sense and you'll find out.

How?

If you're doing this alone, set the prank up way before he/she arrives at 'the location'. Then find a place to hide and watch. Or if you know when the person is coming, set the prank up and come back five minutes before he/she arrives.

So this was your simple guide on pulling the perfect prank on ANYONE! Good luck and don't forget to film it.

The best movie of 2008

After some thinking and comparing movies to each other I found the best movie of 2008. It's actually a tribute too. Rest in peace Heath Ledger! You're right, it's The Dark Knight.

Release

When I heard about it, I really wasn't really impressed. I thought: "Great, yet another Batman movie...". Then I heard everyone talk about it. Even when it was becoming 'old' and even Quantum of Solace came out everyone was talking about it.

That day finally came...
One day I was sitting at home and had no movie to watch. I finally decided to watch it. The more I saw of the movie, the more it impressed me. It was very different from the other Batman movies. Well except the main parts such as Batman and the Joker...

The Joker

Especially Ledger's performance as The Joker. Not only because he's not with us anymore, but just the way he played it. It was brilliant! He mesmerized me every time he was playing his mind games. In my opinion Ledger deserves an Academy Award for Best Actor.

This movie truly is the best of 2008 and I think many people will agree on this with me. The special effects were not overdone, the acting was awesome and it wasn't a standard copy of one of the previous Batman movies.

Christmas forever...

Ever wanted to capture those moments at Christmas, when you got that special gift, forever? Or did you get this beautiful digital camera as a gift? You can truly capture those moments forever.

The Canon Ixus 980 IS is one of the best digital cameras availibe. It's to celebrate that Canon has sold over a 100 million cameras. There are only 2000 of them so you otta be quick!

The red colored camera has 14.7 (!) Megapixels, which is a huge amount. It has the newest processor, the DIGIC 4-processor. That detects your face and movements and optimizes the camera. You'll never get a blurry shot when you see thoses one in a million moments!

Smashed guitar costs $ 100,000

Broken stuff can certainly cost a lot of money. The punkrocker Sluggo auctioned a smashed guitar for $ 100,000! Well it should be noted that it was Kurt Cobain's guitar. But still, it was broken...

Kurt Cobain, a former member of Nirvana who died in 1994, traded his broken guitar for a new guitar with Sluggo. The guitar could be seen in an exposition in London for a while, before it got auctioned.

Kurt Cobain had written on this specific guitar. It is being kept together as one piece with tape. An anonymous bidder bought it for the huge amount of 100,000 dollars.

This is another lesson boys (and girls)! Even broken stuff is worth something.

How to: Get a million views at Youtube

Ever wondered why you didn't get so many views on Youtube? Try these tips and you'll definetly get some.

Before you read this: I don't hold any responsibilities for what YOUR actions may cause to you or those around you. Even if you did it because of my article.

To get a lot of views you have to make a video that is different. There are a lot of ways to do that. This is just a short list of the many, many 'techniques'.


Do something dangerous

Do backyard wrestling. For example: Have your friend lay down on a weak wooden table and jump on top of him from the roof or your a window. Or try to piledrive your friend from your roof (see bottom of this post). It's fake right? So you won't injure yourself or something like that.

Destroy something

Blowing up things works best. Get some firecrackers (which should be easy to get nowadays) and blow your brother's computer up. Or 'accidentally' run into a mountain of neatly sorted cans with vegetables (in a supermarket).


Wal-Mart jokes

If you have a porn DVD or a tape with words that get censured on TV, take them to your local Wal-Mart. go to the electronics department and put your DVD/CD/tape into a DVD player or a stereo and play it.

These were just three simple tricks on get a million views on youtube. There are a LOT of more ways and maybe I'll post a couple of other ones in the future.

Here are some videos:

Wal-Mart Prank:



Piledriver from the roof




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PlayStation going 3D?

It turns out that Sony has plans for 3D games. The PlayStation 3 seems to be the only console that could be compatible with 3D with just a BIOS update.

The president of Meant to be Seen, a company that works with 3D stuff, says to have heard of Sony's plans to use stereoscopic 3D for their games and blu-ray movies. According to him, Blitz Game Studios, a company that developed a 3D engine, told Meant to be Seen about this.

How is it gonna happen?

To make 3D-gaming possible on the PS3, just a simple BIOS upgrade should work. This is only possible for the PlayStation. At least that's what the president of Meant to be Seen says:

“The best part is console support will only need a bios upgrade to work. We are told that the ability to add this capability via bios may be unique to Sony PS3 versus the other console solutions.” - Neal Schneider, president of Meant to be Seen.

The Playstation has always been the console of my choice. I really hope Sony pulls this off! 3D Killzone 2 FTW!

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Alien Attack!

"If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the earth survives" - Klaatu

You probably already heard this quote. It's from the movie The Day The Earth Stood Still. Klaatu is from another planet to save the Earth from us the humans.

Story

The movie is about intelligent life from another solar system. Their sun was dying and they had to 'evolve'. They have been watching the humans for a long time. In their opinion the humans are going to destroy the earth just like they 'destroy' each other.

When they send Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) to the earth in some kind of sphere, we think it's going to hit the earth and destroy it. They start a huge military operation in order to protect us. Eventually when Klaatu is in the laboratory they ask him questions and stuff. The Secretary even tries to drug him.

Helen Benson is a scientist which sympathises with him and helps him throughout the movie. She even tries to help him escape.

When the Feds try to interrogate him, Klaatu escapes. He is going to complete his mission and save the earth from us, the humans. Will we be able to stop him? Watch the movie and you'll find out.


Should I watch it?

If you don't like sci-fi, don't. Same goes for die hard action fans. This isn't a movie that is crammed with a lot of action and stuff. It's a sci-fi movie with some action and some drama too. There is NO ROMANCE at all! That's really the best thing imo. That would have completely messed up the movie.

The action includes stuff like telekinesis and mind control. Klaatu can just flip a car by 'thinking' real hard and make a gesture with his hands. He can make you say anything he wants to know. Klaatu is not really a hero and he also doesn't fit the description of a villain. Which makes him an antihero.

If you're just looking for a nice movie to watch, I would say: YES. Watch the movie. Or even better take your mom, dad, brothers, sisters with you. Because most people should like it.

iPhone vs. Blackberry Storm

Are you about to buy an iPhone? Is the iPhone really what you're looking for? Compare it to the Blackberry Storm to see which one is better for you.

A couple of days ago I wrote an article about gadgets, which included the Blackberry Storm. It's a very cool device, but let's compare it to the iPhone.

	iPhone	Blackberry Storm
Price	From $ 199 AT&T plan: from $ 39.99	From $ 199 Verizon plan: from $ 39.99
Size (inches)	4.5 x 2.4 x 0.48	4.43 x 2.45 x 0.55
Weight	4.7 oz / 133 g	5.5 oz / 155 g
Capacity	8 GB / 16 GB	1 GB onboard 128 MB Flash Memory Micro-SD (varies)
Display (pixels)	480 x 320 Touchscreen	480 x 360 Touchscreen
Camera	2.0 Megapixels, Video Recoding	3.2 Megapixels, Video Recording
Standby time	Up to 300 hours	Up to 360 hours
WiFi	Yes	No
Maps (GPS)	Google Maps (Yes)	Blackberry Maps (Yes)
SMS/MMS	Both	Both
Supported Media	Video: - H.264 - MPEG-4 - MOV Audio: - AAC - MP3 - MPEG-4 (.m4a) - AIFF - WAV	Video: - H.263 - H.264 - MPEG-4 - WMV Audio: - AAC(+) - eAAC+ - MP3 - MPEG-4 (.m4a) - WMA
Other	- Integrated microphone - Built-in Speaker - Comes in two colors (black/white) - Accelerometer	- Integrated microphone - Built-in Speaker

Capacity

There are a couple of differences between them. The first one is the capacity. The iPhone starts at 4 GB and the Blackberry at 1.125 GB. You can expand it with a Micro-SD card, but you'll have to buy one extra. Nowadays, Micro-SD cards have a capacity of up to 8 GB (approx. $ 80).

Camera

The Blackberry Storm has a way better camera. If you want to make a lot of pictures and print them, the Blackberry will definitely have a better result. If you just want to make pictures of friends making weird faces, an iPhone will do. They both have the ability to make videos.

WiFi

For some people this would be the reason not to buy the Blackberry Storm. In my opinion, it's not a big deal. The only places you're probably able to use WiFi is your home or when you're at a friend's house. You probably won't use WiFi then, since most of you have a computer.

A lot of public places claim to have WiFi, but most of the time you'll have to pay to get it.

Personally I would recommend the Blackberry Storm. The iPhone isn't so special anymore. Almost everyone has it. If you show up with a Storm, it will be new to people. They will be curious and maybe some chick will approach you. (if you're lucky).

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What does a teen want for Christmas?

A lot of people don't know what to give a teen for Christmas. To be honest, it is really hard to satisfy teens, just ask my mom about it. It really varies from person to person. But there still are some things that probably work for most people.

DVDs

Yes you read it right, it's plural. There's nothing to just one DVD. You have to buy more than one! Most stores which sell DVDs have sales like 5 for $ 10 or something like that. Be sure to check what type of movies your son/daughter/brother/sister likes and which ones he/she already has.

Boys tend to like action movies and girls romance/drama, but be sure to double check.




High Tech

MP3 players, stereos, mobile phones, etc. always work good. If you're looking for something cheap try the iPod Nano or the iPod Shuffle. You can also cut a deal. For example, if your teen wants an iPhone, share the costs like 50/50. (Monthly costs not included...)

You can also buy accessories for their mobile phones or iPods/iPhones. But is has to look nice!








Games

If the teen in question is a boy, than games are definitely going to work. You should try First Person Shooters or sports games (NFL, NHL, NBA, FIFA, etc). That's one way to get rid of all the agression in your house.

If you a Wii in your house, I would recommend Wii Sports or Wii Fit. Especially if you think your teen isn't active enough.

Extra tip: If your teen doesn't have GTA IV (see picture) yet, buy it!







Money

Last but certainly not least: Money. If you want to give $ 50 to your teen, don't just give a 50 dollar bill. Give him/her a lot of bills. That way it looks like it's a lot of money, instead of just being one piece of paper. Trust me it will work!









Note for the teens who are reading: Get your parents to read this! (At least, if you want a nice gift)

Music Is Good For Your Heart

Scientists from Maryland have proven that listening to music is god for your heart. Listening your favorite music for at least 30 minutes a day helps you relax. It also reduces the chance at a heart attack.

When we listen to our favorite music, our veins become larger in diameter. That is god for your blood circulation. But wait! Not all kinds of music are good. Rap en Heavy Metal have a negative effect!

So the next time your teacher asks you to put your iPod away, ask him if he wants you to get a heart attack.

We need laws for robots!

At least that's what Noel Sharkey says. Sharkey is a professor of Robot Technology at the university of Sheffield and also known from the BBC show Robot Wars.

Sharkey fears that in the future robots will be the only source of contact children and elderly people have. He gave the example of the My Spoon robot, which is used to feed elderly people.

He predicts that in the future more and more robots will be used to 'take care' of children while their parents are gone. Tests have shown that kids like the robots more than toys.

Due to this Sharkey wants governments to discuss the ethical aspects of this issue. Otherwise the companies will decide about it.

In the last 20 years, robots became 80 % cheaper. The expectation is that the amount of robots used in households will be twice the current amount (5.5 million)

Games - Diablo III

Most of you guys have probably heard of Diablo I and II. I am a big fan of the games. If realistic graphics is what you're looking for Diablo I or II wasn't the game for you. The gameplay was awesome though. Just click on your enemies to kill them. It's really something you can't get enough of.

Graphics

Diablo III has WAY better graphics. I have seen the previews of the game and it really is amazing. You can check the preview out at the end of the post.

Gameplay

Diablo III has the good ole Click 'n Slash gameplay. As always there are a lot of evil creatures with one big ugly monster at the end.
If you are someone who gets mad a lot, than buy Diablo. It doesn't matter which one, but buy it. Click till you drop baby!

Characters

At the site there are three characters which you can see. But there are two characters which are not there. It's not known which ones they are yet.


Barbarian
The Barbarian is the fighting type. Choose him if you like to get physical, if you know what I mean

Wizard
I would advise boys to take her. She is one helluva woman! She could cast a spell on you before you can blink. So if you like to use magic choose her.

Witch Doctor
This dude creeps me out. But this guy's ability is quite cool though. He can summon the dead creatures and use it against his enemies. Cool!

If you haven't played the first two yet, I would recommend you to do. If you're not very interested in the story then it doesn't matter. But in some missions you will probably require some knowledge about the stoy.

Previews

Trailer



Gameplay part 1



Gameplay part 2



You can see much much more on their site: http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3

How To: Cheat at a Test

Sometimes you have a really busy day or you're really really tired. You either forget about your test or you don't want to study. Well here's your guide to get a good grade without learning.

• If you have a test that requires a calculator, try to use your iPhone or iPod Touch as your calculator. There is an application named Discover availibe in the App Store for free. You can transfer and view documents, powerpoints, pictures and more on your iPhone/iPod. So you can make pictures of pages of a book and put them on you iPhone.
• Usually the books have summaries of points to remember. Copy them at 25-35 % and make a little mini-book. Put it into your pen case. When you need it, pretend to look for something while turning to the page you need.
• If you think your teacher is ehm...inattentive during tests, you should try this one. Get a good place where your lap isn't visible to the teacher. Put the book on your lap an turn pages when needed. (One time when I was doing this the teacher walked behind me and my book fell on the floor, but she didn't notice it....XD)
• If the test is a multiple choice test, look for a friend who has learned. Then decide a 'code'. Like tapping once is A, twice is B ,three times is C, etc. Use a pencil with an eraser on the back for this if you don't want to make much noise.
• Last but not least, call in sick. I have done this unnoticed for about three months now..... At my school they accept letters via e-mail. Just fake a letter, or an email, and you'll be stunned by the dumbness level.

I hope these tips work for you (they did for me...) and don't forget to subscribe to my feed!

Movies - Out of the Box

We're all concentrating on which movies are coming out, but we forget about the older movies. In my opinion there are a lot of good movies in the summer but in the rest of the year the quality goes down a LOT. One example is Quantum of Solace. It had very high expectations but the movie wasn't worth watching. Hopefully Daniel Craig's newest movie, Defiance (preview), will be better.

As I said in my Preview about Seven Pounds, I am a big fan of Will Smith. I was checking my old DVDs yesterday and I saw I Am Legend. I decided t watch it again and it was great. I always enjoy watching Will Smith and it wasn't different this time.

I looked it up on Google again and I found out that there is going to be a second movie in the series. The name of the second movie is Am I Legend? and Will Smith will be playing in the movie. If you guys have nothing to do at home and don't have any new movies that you like, just check your old DVDs. Maybe you'll find a movie that you want to to watch again.

If you like my articles, don't forget to subscribe and comment!

Gadget - A Computer That Wants You To Touch It...

The Shuttle Barebone D10 is a must have. It has a built in 7" touch screen which can be used as a primary or a secondary monitor. It's small enough to carry in your backpack or something like that. It would go really well with the LapDome mentioned in the previous post about gadgets.

The D10 has a Intel Core 2 Duo processor and it supports up to 4 GB RAM. More detailed specifications can be found on the website of shuttle.

If you have a reasonable job (which is hard to find if you're a teen). You should be able to buy one within a month. Or you could just ask one for Christmas. But one way or the other, your friends are going to be jealous.

Price: $ 410 (€ 296)

More info: http://eu.shuttle.com/

Humor - Funny Youtube Videos

Everybody knows what Youtube is, right? Hundreds of videos are posted daily. Most of them are just useless. Some people post their views on something, others posts some bloopers on CNN or whatever, etc. I mostly watch video's rather than uploading, but I have uploaded some videos (my Youtube account).

So I decided to make a list of some funny videos:

• These dudes decided to make a tape with, euh... vulgar words and play it in a Wal-Mart.

• Chad, Matt and Rob are geniusses! I have seen the video dozens of times but it's still funny. Chad and Matt 'pull a prank' on their friend Rob, who hates aliens.

• This is another group of students who decided to make videos for youtube. They 'sneak up' on their friend but something goes horribly wrong...

• This is a video from the same three guys. No words for it....

This was it for today. Don't forget to comment!

Games - Killzone 2

Guess what my favorite FPS was until now? What? KILLZONE! It was an awesome game! It was the best FPS on all platforms, beating Halo 1 and 2! And guess what? It was made by my fellow 'Amsterdammers'. Guerilla is based in Amsterdam, a 10 minute walk from my house.

Now they're almost done with Killzone 2 which is going to be the best game since the PS 3 and the Xbox 360 came out. Guerilla has learned from the critics on Killzone.

Gameplay

First of all the Artificial Intelligence is improved. Your enemies will be smarter! So it will definetly be more challenging. So the "run 'n gun" method will definetly not work.

In Killzone you eventually had four playable characters. In the new game you will only have one: Tomas Sevchenko. But you will have a team of four people, who will help you if you get in trouble. Your teammates will also cover you like in Gears of War or Uncharted.

Multiplayer

There is a VERY advanced multiplayer system in Killzone 2. There is a ranking system, so when you start a game you can select which ranks can compete. And then you have the different game modes. Also you spawn next to your teammates and not at some random location where nobody is.

Trailer

Movies - Preview: Defiance

Will the next movie of the new James Bond be better. Quantum of Solace was one of the worst Bond movie in ages. Let's hope Daniel Craig does it better this time

Defiance is coming out on January 2 in US theaters. This is yet another WW II movie. Three Jewish brothers from the Bielski family are escaping from Poland, which was then occupied by the Nazis. They decide to join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village to protect themselves and the people around them.


Trailers:






And Don't forget to comment!

Games - Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia is about to come out. But what is the game about?

The Prince and Elika will fight against Ahriman, the god of evil. He escaped from a prison and is spreading corruption over the country.

The Prince has a new 'assistant' as you just read. She won't come in your way, but she will help you if you're stuck or in trouble. Ubisoft really worked on the Artificial Intelligence. Not only Elika is smart, but also your enemies will be smater. So don't repeat a combo over and over again.

The story of the game is as usual in all the Prince of Persia games. You will definetly enjoy this one

Trailer



And don't forget to comment!

Movies - Seven Pounds

I am a big fan of Will Smith so I have to watch every movie that comes out with Will Smith in it. Seven Pounds comes out this week and I immediately looked for it and watched it (*cough* not in the cinema though...*cough*). I try to keep my reviews short so even if you don't have much time you can just get to know something about the movie.

Once again he played his role very good. It was even better than in Pursuit of Happiness and I Am Legend. The rest of the cast wasn't really great. The script also wasn't that good. But overall the story is reasonable. It's like all standard drama stories are. So if you're not very much into regular dramas I wouldn't recommend this movie. But if you like Will Smith you will definetly enjoy his acting.



And don't forget to comment!

Gadgets

Well I do read a lot of magazines and so I also read about gadgets. I'll show some of the nice spiffy gadgets here.

LapDome:

This is a nice bag for your laptop. It looks nice and you can take some accesoires with you. But wait! There's more to it. You can convert it into a mini-tent! The mini-tent blocks the (sun)light, so you can see the screen clearly. Handy isn't it?

Price: $ 80,-

More info: www.lapdome.com

Blackberry Storm

The iPhone finally has a worthy competitor: The Blackberry Storm. It has a nice touchscreen and there also is a virtual qwerty-keyboard. It also has GPS combined with Blackberry's own map software. The built in camera has 3.2 Megapixels and there is a LED-light. An internetbrowser is installed as well.

Price: from $ 39.99 per month

More info: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/blackberrystorm/

BoomCooler

Now you can carry around cooled beer and a big stereo! This BoomCooler has a Sony Xplod CDX-GT320 carradio, 1100 Watt subwoofer and 4 speakers which have capacity of 250 Watt.

Price: $ 899,-

More info: http://www.boomcooler.com

The First Blog

Hello everyone,

This is the first post on this blog. I am Zaheer Khan. I am a student myself and I wanted to make a blog for other students. My goal is to provide information about what I think is interesting for students. There will be a lot of posts about gadgets, reviews and previews of movies and games, and much more.

If you like it please share it with your friends!

Zaheer Khan