“The King of Queens” has been one of my favorite sitcoms for a number of years, and I was sad to see it end last year (though nine seasons should be make for a long re-run stretch). This show had an all star cast, featuring the beautiful and witty Leah Remini (Carrie Heffernan), the always hilarious Kevin James (Doug Heffernan), and the timeless and talented Jerry Stiller (Arthur- Carrie‘s father). Even from the earliest episodes, the writing for this show was very entertaining, and often riotous. It’s not surprising that “The King of Queens” was nominated for an Emmy award, and in my opinion deserved the trophy more than once.

“The King of Queens” has always come across as more appealing to the young adult and young urban couples. One interesting aspect of this show is that it never featured a lot of children, but instead the lightheartedness and playfulness that every sitcom needs is displayed by Carrie‘s aging father, Arthur. It would have been great to have seen a little Doug or a little Carrie, but for some reason this sitcom never took that direction.

“The King of Queens” is a reflection of daily life for many urban couples, who work regular jobs, live in regular houses, and deal with the regular struggles of married life, including taking care of an aging parent. Of course the Heffernan’s are just fictional, yet somehow laughing at this couple and the crazy situations they would often wind up in somehow makes it a bit easier to laugh at ourselves. Furthermore, knowing that our own regular lives, albeit monotonous at times, is something to be appreciated. Just as the show’s theme song states “Baby all my life I will be driving home to you” (by Bobby Vera), this show reminds us what is really important at the end of the day- family and friends. “The King of Queens” is always a bright spot in my day, and one of my top choices for comedy relief.

What have we got to say about one of the newest fun gadgets in town, the Apple iPhone 3G? We enumerate the pros and cons…

In terms of physical appearance, the new iPhone 3G is nearly identical to its first model. Significantly, the biggest change in its look is found at the bottom part, which is now completely covered in high-grade, scratch resistant plastic, as opposed to the 2G’s aluminum and plastic combination. This is actually an improvement, as it contributes to a better GPS reception, which, incidentally, is what the 3G is all about. This smartphone’s GPS functionality is not problematic, compared to other fun gadgets where you’d have to struggle with getting a signal. Reception for the 3G is expectedly much clearer. Before its release the iPhone 3G was promised to have improved sound quality and it does deliver. Only slightly taller and thicker than the 2G, the back side of the 3G is slightly curved, too. This makes handling of it a little easier.

The screen of the 3G is a bit warmer, almost yellowish, than its predecessor. And it isn’t exactly a plus factor for someone with a less-improved vision. The interface loading time is noticeably slower compared to the 2G, especially when browsing the contact apps. Although both these observations are nothing that firmware upgrade should fix.

The usual features are, of course, still there and very much handy, user-friendly and stylish. Gaming capabilities mimic a Wii-like control and some of its choiced applications are pretty cool. The iPhone 3G is both and MP3 and MP4 player with a 2mp camera that most users would love having. Its supreme web browsing function and compatibility with third-party software makes it one of the ultimate must-have fun gadgets for 2008.

Now for the critical part — the battery life. Unfortunately, the iPhone 3G isn’t quite a fun gadget when it comes to this aspect. While twiddling with the 3G over the weekend, it unbelievably only lasted a little over four hours after continuous talking, texting, web surfing, a little internet surfing and one movie. Using the 3G under normal circumstances should ease battery life to about six, eight hours or so, but one can’t help but pay close attention to it all the time. Hopefully, the phone doesn’t die while outdoors and without the convenience of a dock charger. Because it’s still a new release, Apple should have something in store to correct this inconvenience soon.

Are you thinking of buying a portable device to play both your music and video collection? If you are, then be advised — you will find that there are a variety of choices out there. They can range from simple players to complicated ones.  They carry different prices, too, which make the choices even harder.  But admittedly, the most popular and most coveted of gadgets in this type is the iPod Touch. Anyone looking to buy a digital media player would always inquire about this one first.

What are the pluses and minuses of an iPod touch? How different is it from a regular iPod?

The iPod Touch is Apple’s first widescreen display device. Most satisfied users would describe it as almost like an iPhone, stripped and diminished of its features and cosmetics. It’s not as expensive, too.

The iPod Touch’s interface is very user-friendly, even beginners will never have a hard time figuring out how everything works.  Most of the time, it only takes one tap.  File transferring from PC to the gadget is also very simple and seamless — it’s your basic drag and drop.

The gadget includes several updated applications and most everyone will agree that this is the iPod Touch’s strongest suit. With access to iTunes, your media library remains up to date with the best collections of music, TV Shows, movies, audio books or games.  The catch though is, Apple does not allow for any other software installation for this device. So others may see this as a limitation rather than a plus.

Although this is priced higher than other gadgets, the iPod Touch’s capability and capacity may well worth be the money you spend for.  The biggest concern is actually its battery life, which doesn’t seem to favor longer usage like many of Apple’s gadgets. It also has a very costly battery replacement program. If you’re thinking of getting this, you have to factor in this added cost.

The MacBook Air makes history by becoming the first thinnest laptop released in the market. But it isn’t exactly the first lightest portable computer. However, weight, size and form are important facets to someone looking to carry around a gadget like this; which is why when Apple announced the features of the MacBook Air, a lot of people were no doubt impressed by its beautiful make-up.

The problem with thin and light laptops or ultra portables like this, though, is that certain features may have to be sacrificed such as durability, screen and keyboard size, performance and battery life. How does the MacBook Air gauge when it comes to this?

In many ways, the MacBook Air is basically just a thinner MacBook. Both have identical screens and not a lot of its features have been altered for its thinnest, more stunning cousin.  Basically no thicker than about .76 inch with solid aluminum casing, the 13.3” notebook just weighs less than three pounds.  Despite its thinness, this one is actually of durable construction and should survive a lot of abuse from daily usage.

With its 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7500 processor, its performance is reasonable and adequate.  But then, the MacBook Air is the slowest computer in the current Mac lineup.  You can opt to increase this for a faster processor but it will set you back $3100. Apparently, this is the sacrifice Apple has made in order to bring this ultra-thin device to its consumers.  

The 80GB hard drive provides good storage space, when you’re travelling but it isn’t good enough to store your collection of music, TV shows and movies from iTunes. 

The 13.3” glossy screen offers sharp colors and contrast; it even comes with a very helpful backlight. Compared to some laptops of virtually the same size, there is no graininess to this laptop. But then again this isn’t also ideal for HD video viewing.

Its keyboard pad provide excellent cushion and this area has always been perfected by Apple. There are some missing dedicated keys for the MacBook air, though, but the backlit feature is a nice touch.

Audio to this ultra thin device is actually bearable but if you’re not a fan of monospeakers then you will not find this satisfactory. The audio output, on the other hand, delivers no static and listening to sounds via a headphone or an earphone is more enjoyable.

MacBook Air carries a 37-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery, sealed into its body. It’s supposed to provide “5 hours of wireless productivity” as Apple says, but that isn’t quite accurate.

In conclusion, the MacBook air is definitely very impressive in design and features but the innovation has severely limited its capability. It’s a sexy, stunning gadget alright, but it’s not the most powerful one around.

Antec has come out with there USB-Powered Notebook Cooler for consumers with laptops that run warmer than they should and it will provide the proper ventilation for your computers parts.  Notebooks are usually poorly designed for the proper airflow and heat is the cause for a lot of laptop malfunctions and instability problems.  The Antec Cooler has several features listed below.

1- Simple connection through a USB port on your notebook.

2- Extremely low power consumption with no need for batteries or a power adapter.

3- Ball Bearing fans for reliability that are very quiet operating at a noise volume of 26db.

4- Your choice of color standard black/silver or pearl.

5- Antec provides a 3 year warranty on this product.

This item is extremely easy to use and can accomodate any style and size PC or MAC laptop computer.  Place your notebook on top of the Antec Coolor and plug it in to a USB port with the pass-through connector that is included so you will not lose one of your valuable USB ports.  The two ball-bearing fans will spin up and provide your precious laptop with ample cool air.

Priced between $12.99-$19.99 this simple device can help you increase the longevity of your notebook computer while reducing the heat buildup that causes system crashes and hardware failure.  For such a small investment this product is well worth it and does what it was designed to do by cooling your notebook computer and the electronic parts inside.

Many people just aren’t aware of the damage that heat can cause electronic components and I would highly recommend this device to protect your expensive notebook computer investment.

Amazon Kindle, the wireless eBook reading device has taken the conventional method of book reading to a whole new level.  The Kindle was released late in 2007 and to the amazement of everyone was completely sold out soon thereafter.  Debuting at a price point of $399, Amazon just couldn’t make enough of them.  I will describe the pros and cons of the device and let you decide if it suits your needs.

POSITIVES
1- Wireless connectivity with automatic delivery of newspapers and blogs from around the world.
2- Instant download of more than 140,000 books.
3- Small, light weight form factor that easy to carry around.
4- Email documents and images to the device.
5- Integrated memory that stores approximately 200 books.
6- Rechargeable battery that is user replaceable and lasts on average for a week.
7- Free book samples that you can download and read the first chapter before deciding to buy it.
8- Built-in keyboard for notes, email and searching.

NEGATIVES
1- Wireless Internet connection limited to the United States.
2- Books, newspapers and even blogs cost money.  Most of the books run between $5-$10, which is a savings compared to buying a paperback or hard cover.
3- No back light for the screen.  You must have ample light just as if you were reading a regular book.
4- Awkward design results in various buttons being pressed while reading.
5- Price! Extremely expensive for a device that has a grayscale display.

The Amazon Kindle would be best suited for people that read a lot and want a quick and effective way to store and download a vast array of reading materials, with no need for a computer.  Travelers would also be likely to enjoy the product if they wanted to fork out the dough.  Amazon has recently dropped the price of the Kindle to $359 since it was released.

Weighing in on all the advantages and disadvantages makes me wonder how long this technology will last.  I think it is too soon to decide if the Amazon Kindle and other eBook readers will survive.  For this device to become mainstream, the price must plummet to about $100 and then I still don’t know if this would become a product every household will have or even want.  With the explosion of the Internet, the iPhone and Ultra Mobile PC’s, I would predict this device is headed for extinction.  Only time and demand will tell.