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Pentax K-x a fun camera.

January 7, 2012 - Posted in Reviews - Permalink

Pentax K-x DSLR not the most popular choice of camera since most people buy ether the Nikon or Canon. You can say I am somewhat a loyal fan of Pentax since I learned with Pentax K1000 and used variety Pentax SLR’s in the past. I have compact digital cameras but when I want to take real nice pictures that required different lenses I would use my Pentax SLR. As film gets expensive and you cannot really make mistake or you lose an exposure it seemed that getting a DLSR was a logical choice.

But being on a budget I had to wait for DSLR pricing to go down and wanted to stick with Pentax so the lenses from my old camera could be used. Finally 4 months ago I got great deal on uses Pentax K-x that was hardly used. It was fairly easy camera to learn especially using the lenses designed for the Pentax K-x, Now the manual lenses was different story thank goodness if you do a bad shot you can just delete it instead of waisting a roll of film. I am thinking of creating another video on using manual lenses with this camera.

This is a Great Entry to Mid level DSLR camera. For a beginner it can be a point to shoot camera but I recommend taking the time to learn the camera to excel yourself on taking pictures. It is a noisy camera when you focus and can be heavy do to the 4 AA batteries. The bad part is that you will not find Pentax in a majority of the stores most likely you have to go online to order lenses and the only place I have found where you can rent lenses and other accessories is Borrowlenses.com.

Overall my experience with the Pentax K-x has been a great one and fun camera to learn.

Make your Own Cardboard Plane with DynamAero

January 7, 2012 - Posted in Projects, Shows - Permalink

One project I have been working with my son off and on is building a hame made remote control cardboard plane. We came across DynamAero channel on Youtube. A great resource on this topic. He show you how to build and then he flies them. Check his Channel out!
http://www.youtube.com/DynamAero

Hip Hop Violinist: Lindsay Stirling

January 7, 2012 - Posted in Shows - Permalink

After watching her videos you want to learn how to play the violin. She brings the violin to new level for the younger generation. Now my daughter might consider playing the violin. Lindsay brings her classical training and hip hop to her videos. You know when she good when you buy music on iTunes like I did. My daughter is thinking of using one of Lindsay’s pieces for her figure skating routine. Check her channel on Youtube.
http://youtube.com/lindsaystomp

2011-New Year

December 28, 2010 - Posted in Announcements - Permalink

As 2010 ends and 2011 is about to begin, We decided to change the look little bit and focus on the Stormancast sites. StormanCast.TV will be A direct link to our Youtube channel and try to keep the weekly shows going this year will be little bit more variety. StormanCast.com is main portal for accessing our other sites and quick blogs/ announcements. Stormancast.net will be the more in depth blog site.

I want to say thank you to our subcribers and followers for staying with us for the past couple years and years to come.

Happy New Year!

Sincerely,
Norman

Different type of show in 2011 for StormanCast.TV

January 2, 2011 - Posted in Shows - Permalink

Year 2011, I decided to make my show to be more variety. Incorporate family, work with other Youtube channels and local community into the show. A goals is keeping a weekly show going and quick mobile shows using my phone. I thank the viewers for keeping me going.

My Take on 2011 CES

January 5, 2011 - Posted in News - Permalink

All I can say is internet, internet, and internet gadgets. This last year we have a lot more tablets, variety of e readers and other devices based around the internet. My prediction the we will see a lot more portable internet tablets, internet tv, advancement in the Ford Sync on the automotive side. Apps increased apps for Android devices.

Check this blog out by Mike Melanson from ReadWriteWeb ” 3 Things We Expect to See at CES 2011“

Starting “Ask Norm” Series

January 9, 2011 - Posted in Ask Norm Shows - Permalink

Since I work with users in local offices in IT I get a lot of questions from co-workers, family, friends and email from online viewers/blogs. I decided to do what other YouTube personalities were doing a Q & A show once in while. This will become a regular series hopefully I will have two “Ask Norm” show a month.

Think before buying a Android Tablet!

January 22, 2011 - Posted in Shows - Permalink

Android Tablets are like PC with Windows. What I mean is like HP vs Dell workstation which performs better with Windows. Android tablets are no different, Its like looking for the right laptop for your needs.

The last 3 weeks I have spent time playing with different Android tablets in different stores driving sales people crazy. From WiFi to 3G versions of different Android tablets. It crucial that the touch screen has to work smoothly or the device is useless. There is many low cost Android tablets (Mostly off brands) available online and in some electronic store, But be ready to be disappointed this is going of what I have tested in stores and the reviews I read.

It seems that most of the WiFi version tablet reviews seem to not get good review do to either touch screen issues, performance or version of Android that installed on the device. The 3g versions of the Android Tablet such as the Samsung Galaxy and the Dell Streak tend to get the better reviews (Thinking it due to the devices having the newer Android platform) .

If you are considering Android Tablet take your time to test device and read the customer reviews.

Goodbye Cable TV

April 2, 2011 - Posted in Projects, Shows - Permalink

After looking at our cable bill for the last couple of months we realized it was going up again. Me and my wife sat down and really thought about what we actually watched on tv this is what we figured out we only watch 6 channels that are mostly older episode of shows and movies. Really the only live show we watch as a family is American Idol. The other show I like to watch is Hawaii Five-O(The new one) that I end up watching on my computer. So it came down to why are we spending so much for cable tv.

Last month after I researched all TV streamline devices. I decided to purchase a Basic ROKU device, subscribed to Netflix and Hulu Plus. We spent 2 weeks getting familiar with it and made the family use just the ROKU for 1 week and not watch cable TV. The results; with the exception of missing American Idol this can work for us.

Project Alternative TV began in our household:
Phase 1: Eliminate Cable TV and Use ROKU – Done
Phase 2: Set up over the Air Antenna for TV’s( Check out TVFool.com)

Note: This is not for everyone. If you like watching live shows and sports as of right now its not fully available via internet stream.

Recommended min. internet stream: 6 Mbps download speed.
Stream TV Devices:
ROKU: http://roku.com
Apple iTV: http://www.apple.com/appletv
Boxee: http://www.boxee.tv

Bushnell BackTrack GPS D-Tour put to the Test!

September 6, 2011 - Posted in Reviews, Shows - Permalink

Bushnell was kind enough to send me there BackTrack GPS D-tour this last week to review.

Pros:
16-20 hour battery life and no special batteries just uses 3 AA batteries.
Easy to use
Decent weather construction(Can handle splashes and dust)
Pretty accurate
Logs data
Tells you the temperature and altitude.
Software application works on Mac OS or Windows OS, very easy to use and accurate.

Cons:
Software application only relies on google maps. Not saying this is bad thing the maps are current, but what if your an area that does not have internet access.

Overall I was very impressed with the BackTrack D-Tour. Rating from 1 to 10, I give it 9.5
BackTrack website: http://backtrackgps.com

My LG Thrill 4G experience

November 13, 2011 - Posted in Reviews - Permalink

Last month since I had a choice to upgrade my phone with AT&T. At the time I had an iPhone 3gs and been wanting switch to android based phone. Since budget was an issue with me I looked at the $99 smart phones ignoring the windows based phones. After 2 hours testing all the phones it was between the Samsung Infuse, HTC Inspire and LG Thrill 4G. LG Thrill 4G seemed to be best out of the 3 on responsiveness, screen and loudness.

The phone was loud I actually had to turn it down when driving(a first). As for a phone this phone was loud in every way, Speaker was loud but sometimes not clear, Blue tooth was loud and clear. Performance of this phone seemed to be quick on most apps. There was delay switching to the camera. The screen on this phone was beautiful. This phone was fast pulling websites and downloads. The 3D mode tended to be more clear than the 2d mode. The main flaw was the battery life and the self phone reboots. After killing all apps it still required a charge by mid afternoon if I was lucky. After putting a case on the Thrill 4g the phone felt like flat paper weight.

After a week and half of the LG Thrill 4G I was no longer thrilled with the phone. Even bought an extended battery with little improvement. After 28 days It was time to say goodbye to the LG Thrill 4G.

The video below was made a 7 days before I returned the phone

Samson Meteor Mic vs Samson Go Mic

December 10, 2011 - Posted in Reviews - Permalink

I picked up a Samson Go Mic for my parents. They needed a better mic for when we Skype. I was able to get refurbished one on ebay for $15. So it was good time to do a comparison to my Samson Meteor Mic.

Meteor Mic:
Pros: Built Solid, Stand built on Mic, built in stand mount, Quality recording, Volume control for headset, Headset plugin, no Software needed, Mute Button, comes with soft case.
Cons: Heavy, Wish there was a mic volume control, Little bulky

Go Mic:
Pros: Has its own quality stand/clip, built in stand mount, compact, Quality recording, headphone output, selectable cardioid or omni polar patterns, come with a nice case.
Cons: Plastic, no volume control

Personal opinion: I felt the meteor mic was a little louder and the go mic provided better quality when came to recording.