Happy New Year Everyone! 2010 is now upon us and I want to encourage all of your to focus on your future and find something you are passionate about. Heathaplex Vision is still an infant, but expanding everyday. In the coming year Heathaplex Vision plans to start a video podcast with all kinds of tips, installation/how-to videos, guest appearances, and just good old fashion fun with the world of tech. In addition to airing Heathaplex Vision.TV, I plan to officially launch the Heathaplex Vision Website with more features to meet your needs. I am also very excited to setup the Heathaplex Vision Swag Hut with T-Shirts, Hats, etc… There’s nothing like showing your support with some good old fashioned Swag. Might even give some away to my faithful followers. These are just a few things I plan to add to Heathaplex Vision in the coming year.
Most importantly, I want to thank each and everyone one of you who have visited my site and shared it with friends. My mission is to provide you the best content I can based on my knowledge, research and your questions, insight and needs. My passion is simple: Sharing and Caring! I want you to learn something from my site and pass it along to your friends and family. There are so many cool devices and technologies out there that it is easy to get overwhelmed. Some products are good and some are not. What matters most is that you are happy and you are taking advantage of what the tech world has to offer.
Top 5 PREDICTIONS FOR 2010: I would like to start a tradition of giving you my tech predictions for each coming year. That way when they come true I can say, “I told you so!” Realistically though, I’ll probably be hearing from you, “You were way off, pal.” Either way….here are my predictions for what we will see in 2010:
1. 3-D Capable Television Sets: There are a few out there, but this will be the year when they really start hitting the market. It won’t explode like HDTV flat screens did in the beginning because the content will take time to build, but I think you’ll start to see some affordable sets in the coming year.
2. Wireless Audio/Video Streaming: Sony already has a television that streams signals from a standalone box to the television….no wires are plugged into the television. I think this will be huge in 2010 as people cry out for Home Theater systems that are free of the cable clutter.
3. Tablet Computing: This is the year Apple enters into the ring of tablets. The rumors are already flowing with a January 26th announcement date from Apple. Just like Apple redefined MP3 Players and Smartphones with the iPod and iPhone, they will showcase a “Tablet” that puts all the others to shame and revolutionizes the market. Don’t count out Microsoft though….they will also introduce a tablet of their own.
4. E-Book Readers: Newspapers and Magazines are already prepping for the e-book revolution. According to Amazon, Kindle eBook downloads far exceeded actually book purchases over the holidays. We will see a standardized ebook format and by the end of the year, you will see a color version of an e-book reader. This will signal the end of magazines as we know it.
5. Finally, Google Navigation (with Google Maps) will appear in American-made Automobiles! My guess is that GM will take advantage with Ford already knee-deep in Microsoft services. The New Audi A8 offers an option for Google Earth Navigation and it looks amazing!
These are my predicitons for 2010. Call me a liar or jump on the Heathaplex Vision bandwagon. Bottom line folks, I want the very best for each and everyone of you in the coming year. Do something amazing this year! Reconnect with old friends, re-invest some much needed personal time with your families and look for ways to improve yourself. If you find yourself down and out in 2010, follow this bit of wisdom, as my good friend Stephanie once passed along to me when the world seemed to be falling apart around me:
“The best thing for being sad is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of you veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then – to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting” – Spoken by Merlyn in “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White.
This is going to be an amazing decade…don’t let it pass you by like the last. Do great things and continue to enhance your lives and those around you. I wish you all the very best. Happy Holidays from Heathaplex Vision.
Call me crazy and bias, but I do own more than one Blu-Ray player. My most recent acquisition is easily the best, standalone player in this household. Even if you are new to the world of Blu-Ray and players, you gotta check out this beauty. The 
Crow’s Commentary: AVATAR reviewed…honestly!
SO…as I was exiting the multiplex, fresh off the first North Kansas City showing of Avatar in 3D, I received a text from this blog’s founder asking what I thought. My summary was simple- Deep space Titanic- Predictable. Over-the-top acting. And so visually stunning that everyone with $11 should go and see it. Now. If for no other reason than to say you did.
Oh you, James Cameron. Again you’ve won me over with ridiculously little substance but with enough explosive eye candy that I will keep coming back as long as you are tossing the sweet stuff into theaters. Three things stand out in Avatar- visuals, editing, and (cough) acting.
As previously mentioned, this film is as pleasing to the eye as any I’ve ever seen. Even taking into account the fact that my second grader can tell me scene for scene what will happen next, this film simply cannot be ignored. Pandora is the kind of freakily exotic/dangerous/beautiful land we all wish we had honeymooned in instead of Cabo and it lights up at night. On its own! The Na’vi are equally fantastic in their movement and realism. Long gone are the “dead eyes” of Polar Express era CG and in are the living, breathing, fighting blue tree-dwellers. Excellent stuff. The CG is so good it makes you wonder what methods Cameron used to berate the actors. Is it possible to yell at CG? Apparently it is.
In another nod to Cameron’s ability, Avatar flowed smoothly from Minute 1 to 160. There were no slow spots to bog down the storyline, despite the implicit environmentalist/anti-American imperialist subtext that almost ruined Star Wars Episode III. In typical fashion, Cameron gives the save-the-planet storyline just enough attention to maintain his Hollywood liberal street-cred but not too much to lose the audiences in Montgomery or Missoula. Even in the scene that is arguably the film’s apogee for tree-hugging social consciousness- Dr. Grace’s “Transfer” ritual- Cameron keeps it snappy with more ridiculous visuals and a nude Sigourney Weaver (who is still gettin’ it done, btw). Again Cameron’s perfectionist compulsions pay off for the viewer.
And lastly the acting. This one is difficult because most of the performances are so over the top. Stephen Lang is an excellent bad guy as Colonel Quaritch. He may overdo the redneck fanatical Marine bit but that is to be expected. Weaver is typically remarkable. I think where most of the actors earn high marks is in translation and degree of difficulty. What was it like to act with such an unprecedented level of CG/ human hybrid production? Was it hard to overcome? Whatever the case the end result will almost certainly mean superstardom for Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana.
Most reports from the first weekend show a strong opening for most any movie ever made but not quite the haul Hollywood had expected. Some point to the blizzards that have essentially snowed in America in the past 10 days. With the worst weather and Christmas past, my recommendation is to make Avatar part of your New Year’s celebration plans. Catch an early showing and be out by midnight in time to toast the new decade. In a way, that’s what Avatar is doing for the film industry.
Crow Snoozeability Scale – 0 Zs- wide awake and happy throughout.
Note: The Snoozeability Scale is meant to convey a film’s overall quality in terms of its ability to put this reviewer to sleep. In this case, 0 is the highest possible score with no sleeping whatsoever during the showing. 1 Z equals roughly a quarter of the film asleep, 2 Zs equals half of the film asleep and 3 Zs more than half of the film asleep.