Peppa Pig Tainted →

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A step beyond the simply pirated Peppa Pig videos mentioned previously are the knock-offs. These too seem to teem with violence. In the official Peppa Pig videos, Peppa does indeed go to the dentist, and the episode in which she does so seems to be popular — although, confusingly, what appears to be the real episode is only available on an unofficial channel. In the official timeline, Peppa is appropriately reassured by a kindly dentist. In the version above, she is basically tortured, before turning into a series of Iron Man robots and performing the Learn Colours dance. A search for “peppa pig dentist” returns the above video on the front page, and it only gets worse from here.

Disturbing Peppa Pig videos, which tend towards extreme violence and fear, with Peppa eating her father or drinking bleach, are, it turns out very widespread. They make up an entire YouTube subculture. Many are obviously parodies, or even satires of themselves, in the pretty common style of the internet’s outrageous, deliberately offensive kind. All the 4chan tropes are there, the trolls are out, we know this.

This is completely scary. Absolutely no more YouTube. Something is indeed wrong on the internet. Read the really long post. It's scary in all aspects.

iPhone X Camera Scores →

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With a Photo score of 101, the Apple iPhone X achieves the best results so far for still images, edging out the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, the previous joint leaders in the Photo ranking, by one point. Compared to its cousin iPhone 8 Plus, the X improves noticeably on Zoom performance, but also does better in terms of Exposure, Color, Texture, Noise and Artifacts. Other key strengths in still image mode include very good exposures and HDR images, accurate color rendering, good detail with low noise, as well as a natural-looking bokeh effect in Portrait mode.

So it's the best for stills at a 101 rating but conclusively, DxOMark rates it 1 point lower overall than Google's Pixel 2 / 2XL due to it's Video Performace. Once again, it's all subjective. As always, the best camera is the one you have on your person.

Apple iPhone X Display -- Second to None →

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The result: Apple has produced an impressive Smartphone display with excellent performance and accuracy, which we cover in extensive detail below. What makes the iPhone X the Best Smartphone Display is the impressive Precision Display Calibration Apple developed, which transforms the OLED hardware into a superbly accurate, high performance, and gorgeous display, with close to Text Book Perfect Calibration and Performance!!

Without Apple's expertise in developing and calibrating their display techologies, this screen could have easily been "just another OLED mobile display."

iPhone X A1985 vs. iPhone X A1901 →

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Specifically, the iPhone X A1865 uses the Qualcomm MDM9655 Snapdragon X16 LTE modem while the iPhone X A1901 has the Intel XMM 7480 modem. You can check out my previous article to understand more about differences among iPhone X models. Basically, the Qualcomm modem is more superior and I guess most people will prefer this option because it covers more cellular bands and the performance of Qualcomm’s chips has always been better than Intel’s.

Just like last year’s iPhone 7 / 7 Plus, the iPhone X sold as Verizon and Sprint models is the “better” iPhone with the faster chipset. It’s unfortunate that Apple throttled Qualcomm’s Gigabit LTE to match Intel’s slower version. As of now, Qualcomm is the only provider for Gigabit LTE.

I Should Have Fell In Line →

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Joanna Stern From the Wall Street Journal:

The first 48 hours with the iPhone X elicits a feeling similar to the one you get assembling mail-order furniture using a poorly drawn 45-step instruction manual. After a lot of fumbling and missteps, you wonder: Am I an idiot, or is thing’s maker out to crush my soul?

But then comes the moment when the much-hyped new iPhone feels so natural to use that when you go back to even the brand new iPhone 8, it’s like picking up an old BlackBerry.

Yup, Apple has a clear winner.

Obliterating the Competition

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Let's start with Geekbench 4, which measures overall performance. On the multicore portion of this test, the iPhone 8 hit 10,170. That's 54 percent faster than the score from Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 — currently the fastest Android phone.

The Android competition wasn't close. The Note 8 scored 6,564, and that's with an impressive 6GB of RAM paired with Qualcomm's fast Snapdragon 835 chip. How about the OnePlus 5 and its 8GB of RAM and Snapdragon 835? That handset got 6,542. With 4GB of RAM, the Galaxy S8 scored 6,295 with the same processor.

It’s not just the fastest phone available on the market, it obliterates everything else. Seriously, why Android?

And if you couldn’t even click the link to read further and investigate, here’s another excerpt.

If you're wondering how all this translates to real-world performance, we have more good news for iPhone 8 shoppers — and bad news for everyone else. To really put the A11 Bionic chip through its paces, we put the same 2-minute video, shot in 4K by a drone, on the iPhone 8, Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8+, and then added the same transitions and effects before exporting and saving the video.

The iPhone 8 finished this strenuous task in just 42 seconds, while the Note 8 took more than 3 minutes. The Galaxy S8+ took more than 4 minutes.

Friends don’t let friends buy slow technology and yes, both Apple’s iPhone 8/8 Plus and X all have the same processor. mic drop

The iPhone X Reviews and My Thoughts

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iPhone X envy is in full effect! I literally forgot to preorder the device last Thursday/Friday at midnight and truth be told, I reminded myself and the wife at 11:30pm but got caught up watching Grey's Anatomy with her. She loves the show and I indulge only with her. Next thing you know, it's 12:30am, I check twitter and the iOS Apple Store and it's listed at 4-6 weeks. I gave up that night but maybe, just maybe, you might find me in line this upcoming Friday.

Onto the reviews (if I get a unit, I will post a review just for you):

Matthew Panzarino for Techcrunch was lucky enough to be one of the few who got a test unit for a week and took his iPhone X to Disneyland.

It works so quickly and seamlessly that after a while, you forget it’s unlocking the device — you just raise and swipe. Every once in a while you’ll catch the Face ID animation as it unlocks. Most of the time, though, it just goes. This, coupled with the new “all swipe” interface, makes using the phone and apps feel smooth and interconnected.

And, more importantly, it enables a whole new set of use cases and behaviors that feel organic, natural and just plain cool.

This is one thing that I am most excited about. When I had my iPhone 5 for two years skipping TouchID in the iPhone 5S, I was envious because typing in a passcode every time sucked.

Nicole Nguyen from Buzzfeed also reiterated my thoughts:

For a normal human who isn’t aware of the 30,000 invisible dots being projected on their face or the 3D map of their head encrypted somewhere deep inside their phone, there’s nothing “futuristic” about these interactions. Using Face ID is what life without a passcode — life before we all became paranoid technofreaks — felt like.

We live in a post-passcode world and, in this world, your passcode is your face.

This everyone is the future and Apple is paving the way once again. Here's Lance Ulanoff from Mashable reiterating my point:

Apple’s iPhone X is the beginning of something new. Even if you don’t want an iPhone X, I encourage you to pay attention. Everything the iPhone X is serves as a roadmap for future iPhones.

The Fifth Generation Odyssey

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Yea, so about that three car seat issue, looks like the Fifth Generation Honda Odyssey might still be the clear winner vs. a Tesla Model X. Maybe it’s time to trade-in our current Fourth Gen!

Takeaways: 40 more HP and an overall better ride.

Current issues include the Rear Entertainment System (RES) as mentioned on the Odyclub Forums.

side note: a friend at our daughter’s school has a Tesla Model X and just also bought a new 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Limited. Why? Better rates, 0% and deals as always on an American car. I’d still go Honda but that’s just me.

Consumer Reports on Cars They Haven’t Even Driven →

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Consumer Reports released reliability scores on Thursday for a number of new cars, many of which they haven’t seen yet, like the new Kia Stinger. The organization gave the Stinger an “average” score, basing this in part on drivers’ experiences with current Kia models. CR gave the same score to the Tesla Model 3, which they have also not driven, prompting a lengthy, angry statement from the automaker, who has contended for some time now that CR has singled them out for bad coverage. CR has emphatically denied the charge.

Fake reviews and scores shouldn’t even be allowed. It’s ridiculous reporting and scoring. Consumer Reports really hurts their credibility with acts such as this. It’s like saying, based on the past models, the new iPhone 11 is great!

No City Name Chargers

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Giving L.A. a second NFL team is like giving Miami a second snowplow. Nobody asked for it, nobody wants it and nobody knows what to do with it. Spanos has said publicly that he hopes San Diegans still support their Chargers and will drive the 120 miles to L.A. You might as well ask your first wife to pay your second wife’s car payments. San Diego has too much self-respect to do that.

Yup, not more than 1 minute this year have I watched an NFL game. Just don’t give a poop. So SD Soccer City!!!

Ring Protect Launches Dramatically Undercutting Nest

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Now Ring is announcing its own product, called Ring Protect, and it’s deeply undercutting Nest on price. The base unit costs only $199 and includes a single door/window sensor and an motion detector. Additional door/window sensors will sell for $20, and additional motion sensors will sell for $30. That means you could outfit 10 windows and five rooms just for the price of getting started with Nest’s system.

This is a stellar deal which forces me to reanalyze my entire projected home security system. Nest is an amazing ecosystem but it is far too expensive compared to the alternatives.