If you are an avid recorder of videos, whether it is for family occasions, business meetings or any other very important occasion then you know the importance of getting the sound right.

How often do you find the audio on your video recording  just isn’t up to scratch. And with so many people putting their videos onto YouTube these days, crystal clear audio is more important than ever.

Well with the Zoom Q3 Handy Video Recorder you have the assurance the audio is of the highest standard.

But not only does the Zoom Q3 give you fantastic video and audio, you also have your cutting room right there in the camcorder so that you can use the on board editing softwear to edit your movies before uploading them to Youtube.

In fact sharing your videos on YouTube is just so easy, you simply plug your Q3 into your computer, launch the onboard HandyShare software and select the videos you want to upload.

How cool is that!

Here are just some of the technical details:

• Built-in stereo condenser microphones with X/Y configuration for true stereo imaging
• Get up to 1 hour of video with bundled 2GB SD card
• Accepts up to a 32GB SDHC card for 16 hours of video
• Video resolution of 640 x 480 at 30 frames/sec (MPEG-4 SP)
• Includes on-board editing software, YouTube uploader software, Apple Quicktime, TV cable, softcase, windscreen, 2GB SD card, two AA Batteries

I mean to say, up to 16 hours of video, thats a lot of movies of the grandkids, or the pets.

So What’s in the Box:

• The Zoom Q3 Handy Video Recorder
• Windscreen
• Carry Pouch
• 2GB SD Card
• AV cable
• Two AA Batteries.

So what are you waiting for, the Zoom Q3 is the answer to all your video recording prayers.

Animal Crossing: City Folk

You Won’t Want to Miss This

Well here it is, one of my favorite Wii games Animal Crossing: City Folk.

Why is this game so special? Well firstly its addictive – of course that goes without saying, and it is suitable for all the family.

We each brough the bundle  that comes complete with the Official Wii Speak Microphone which can also be brought seperately.

So once you create your character you set off to take up residence in a new town. You get to choose the name of your town. When you arrive you have nowhere to live and no job – sounds a bit like real life really.

Well before long you go to work for the local grocer who also sets you up in a house that you have to work to pay for.

Once you have completed the first tasks you are on your own and this is where the real fun starts. You get to meet the locals in you town and they give you bits of advice and sometimes gifts. The local characters all have different personalities and you can also watch them interact with each other. Sometimes the argue and then storm off in different directions with black clouds puffing out of their heads signifying their displeasure. Some are sweet and obliging and some are just plain grumpy.

To make extra money you run errands for them, or go fishing, collect shells, shake the trees and sell the fruit that falls to the ground, catch bugs, butterflies and beetles, all of which can be sold.  You can also dig up fossils to donate to the museum.

This game keeps you fully entertained because the fish and insects change with the seasons, which are in real time. As winter approaches the game changes and snow falls, meaning you can build  snowmen.

You can have up to three other friends live in your city as well. I find this really handy when Ce’Nedra, my grandaughter comes to play. She can play with her character without having any effect on the goals attained by my character.

You can get on a bus and visit the city where you meet more characters, can have your fortune told, go to a show, buy clothing and furniture, and have your shoes shone and go to the auction house to buy or sell goods.

But the biggest plus with Animal Crossing: City Folk is that with the new Wii Speak Accessory you can talk to you online friends while you are playing.  Paula and I find that the microphone is very sensitive and its very clear.  We not only chat about the game of course but use the time to talk about other things  – saves a phone call.

Once you have visited another town you often find that some of your characters will move to the other town and vise versa.  When you talk to them they will say things like  ” I just moved here from (name of other town) do you know Paula ( or whoever your friend is).

There are no levels to reach you simply play the game for as long as you like and do whatever activities you enjoy.

Often there are things to do on special occasions, again it is up to you if you want to participate.  Recently there was a fishing competition and there was a prize for getting the biggest fish. With Halloween coming up it will be time to play trick or treat.

Because I have been away for a while, my town will have lots of weeds growing that I will have to pull out to get the town looking pristine again.

The game has all the familiar characters from the Gamecube and DS editions such as Tom Nook, the grocer; Blathers, the museum curator, K.K.Slider the musician who will give you a piece of music to play in your cd player, he can be heard on Saturday nights in the coffee lounge and of course Mr Resetti who tells you off when you don’t save the game properly.

Many of the other characters that you will have seen in the older versions of the game can now be found in permanent shops in the city.

Now because Paula and I are in the same country, we experience the same weather and seasons in our game, but if you have a friend in another country you can visit them and experience the seasons, weather and holidays that are specific to in their country. Isn’t that just way too cool.

So now you can see why Paula, Cedie and  I love Animal Crossing: City Folk and recommend it to anyone who wants a family friendly, totally interactive and enjoyable gaming experience.

I can’t believe it!  I went looking for posts about the Wii and found that although I have talked about my PS3  and XBox 360, I haven’t talked about the Wii.  How absurd, I mean to say, one of my favorite games is played on the Wii – Animal Crossing: City Folk.

Paula and I brought the Wii quite some time ago when we upgraded from the GameCube Console ( although I haven’t yet manage to part with my gamecube). The main reason being that we love playing Animal Crossing and more so now than ever, because we can visit each others town through our wifi networks.

So we don’t even have to be in the same room, or across the hall as we were in Bangkok, to play this as an interactive game.

Believe me if you are looking for a gaming platform that the whole family can enjoy then you can’t go past the Wii and you if you aren’t into shoot em ups then you really want to try Animal Crossing.

But Firstly the Wii gaming platform:

Here is a compact unit that has 512 MB of internal flash memory, two USB 2.0 ports and a slot for SD memory expansion.

The processing chip was developed with IBM and the graphics chipset is from ATI.  Unlike the other gaming systems that have a tray to hold the discs, the Wii has a single, self loading media slot that lets you play both  the 12-centimeter optical discs that have been designed for use in the new system as well as any of your favorite Nintendo GameCube discs.

I was playing my gamecube Animal Crossing game until the new one with all the added interactive functionality was released.

There is no clunky controller to manage. Even the littlies can hold onto the Wii Remote Controller which is about the size of a tv remote control. Now this remote has the most amazing functionality.  There are acellerometers within the controller that measure your movement in all directions and speeds.  So when you are playing tennis the remote becomes your raquet,  when playing games like Zelda – it becomes your sword and in a first person shooting game it serves as your firearm that you point to shoot the enemy. 

 There is also an additional accessory, the Nunchuck which gives you additional trigger buttons.  Up to four controllers can be linked at the one time and the Wii makes use of standard Bluetooth wireless technology.

The contoller comes with a comfortable non slip sleeve.

 What’s in the Box:

• Nintendo Wii Game Console
• one (1) Wii Remote controller with Wii Remote Jacket
• one (1) Nunchuk controller
• Wii Sports
• sensor bar
• power cord
• standard composite cable
• stand

And the beauty of having Wii Sports included is that you have hours of fun right from the time of opening the box.

Electric cars are becoming more and more popular with the increase in fuel prices. This is not a cheap gift but a very practical one.

The 120-M.P.H. Electric Car is a pretty cool little car. It can accelerate from 0 to 60mph in 4 seconds. Its more like a motorcycle than a car as the passenger sits behind the driver.

The electric car has a top speed of 120mph so you can certainly travel at a respectable speed.

Being priced at over $100,000 means that this isn’t in everyone’s budget but fun if you can afford it.

And then there is there the Electric One-Person Car. This little beauty is a highway-legal, three-wheeled, single passenger vehicle which gives you all the functionality of an electric car  while also giving you the  maneuverability and  of a motorcycle.

You will get  30 miles per charge. The electric one person car gives off zero emissions and it uses less than half the energy of the most efficient hybrid vehicles.

It takes around 6 hours to give the battery a full charge and your battery will last 2-4 years.

This makes the perfect shopping trolly as there is plenty of storage space for the groceries.

It’s almost impossible to remember shooting a roll of film and then taking it in to be developed and printed. Digital cameras have really changed our life. Heck it’s almost impossible to find a cell phone that doesn’t have a camera built into it.

If you’re serious about digital photography though then you need mega pixels, as many as you can afford.

The Pentax K20D Digital SLR Camera with Shake Reduction and DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL II Lens is a great choice for serious photography hobbyists.  It can record a 14.6 mega pixel image which means that you get amazing detail that you can blow up to almost any sized print.

Since the Pentax is a single lens reflex, (SLR) you can swap out different lens into the camera body. If you’re used to shooting with a traditional film SLR then moving to a digital will be almost completely intuitive. You can still see the same shutter speed and f-stop formulas.

This camera has a great shake reduction feature which really comes in handy when you’re trying to shoot something with a long lens or in low light. You can virtually eliminate any blurring.

Once you’ve captured the shot you can review it just by looking at the large 2.7” view screen.

One of the great things about this camera is that it uses SD/SDHC cards for memory. This means you can fit hundreds of full sized high quality images onto a tiny little chip. The cards are so small you can carry plenty of spares and never have to worry about running out of recording media.

What We Like:

• The dust alert system is a really great innovative tool. The camera tells you when it’s getting dirty and just where you need to clean.

• If you’re shooting action shots then this camera can handle up to 3 images per second.

• Price of course is always a consideration. You get a lot of power and features at a good hobbyist price.

BUY NOW and capture all those amazing family and holiday snapshots with the ability to delete any photos that aren’t quite you are looking for.

It can be difficult finding the right present for a man.

By shopping online, however, you will find a huge range of gifts for men of all ages without having to traipse around from shop to shop trying to find something suitable..

The first thing to do is to consider you man’s personality and make a list of his likes and dislikes and work from there. Once you start looking for gifts on the internet, you will be amazed at how the ideas will start to flow.

There are some great traditional and contemporary gift ideas for men which will suit all tastes. Traditional gifts include ties, socks, bathrobes, cologne,  Sunglasses and even cigars. These are old favorites however, and you may like to consider something more adventurous.

Many men love electronic gadgets and the internet is full of gadgets. Handy cams, a  Blackberry Curve 8310, stereos, DVD’s and any other electronic device might suit.

Then there’s the handyman dad. What man doesn’t like tools? Socket sets and spanners are ideal for the DIY man.

Look for sports bags and equipment for the sportsman. And of course for the men that love music and theater look out for their favorite types of CD’s and DVD’s, or  why not buy tickets to a show they may have mentioned.