Enter OffBeatGuides

OffBeatGuides.com is a newer website that is still currently in Beta status, but, assuming it transitions into “gold” status, is bound to be a great and relatively cheap travel resource (as low as $9.99 per guide, see below for more pricing details).

The main idea behind OBG is that there is a TON of free information floating around the net but the average person doesn’t want to spend the time hunting through various webpages printing page after page to bring with them. Instead, when a traveler inputs their travel information (to include locations, and dates), OBG scours various websites and arranges the findings into an easy to read, personalized travel guide.

Start Building Your Guide

This couldn’t be easier, which is just the way I like it. First, input your destination. As you type, OBG lists several destinations to choose from, and it’s likely that yours is on the list. If not, that could be an issue, but we will get to that later. Next, OBG will ask where you are traveling from. Supposedly OBG will customize the guide more to “you likings” based off of where you are from, but I’m not sure I buy that… yet. Enter the dates you are traveling, and OBG will create a list of events based around your travel dates. The last step is optional, entering the name or location of where you are staying (e.g. your hotel) so that OBG can pull customized Google Maps for your exact area.

That Wasn’t Too Hard, Was It?

After you are done inputing your information, OBG will take a moment to assemble your new guide and organize a preview. Within the preview you can view exactly what will be in your guide, and edit out the parts that you don’t want included, however this won’t reduce the price, only the size of the printed guide.

Within the guide you are going to find all the information you would expect to find in a travel guide, such as general information about the area, climate, customs and courtesies of the culture, where to eat, where to stay, what to do, how to get around, maps of the general area and neighborhoods (handy for first time visitors to a place like NYC, San Francisco or Seattle), Google Maps, and broken down information about nearby areas.

Obviously, not every guide is going to be a huge in-depth guide telling you everything you need to know about your chosen location. The OBG FAQ’s estimate that the travel guides will be an average of 100-150 pages. If the location you have entered doesn’t produce enough results to form a good size publication, OBG will inform you that they are sorry but they won’t sell you a piece of crap, and to check back at a later time. One example I tried of a guide for San Francisco ran 290 pages! Another for Seattle ran about 110, and Hong Kong was around 165. Smaller locations such as

Once you polish up the information that you need, it’s time to plunge in and purchase. For $9.95, a PDF version of the guide will be available for you to download. For $24.95, not only can you download the PDF version, but OBG will mail you a printed booklet sized version (there is also a $24.95 option for just the printed guide, but why not take the PDF version for free?)

Pros

OBG has some really strong selling points.
- With travel guides costing $30+, $9.95 is a bargain. Many travelers bring their laptops with them nowadays, so there could be little to no need for the printed version. Perhaps only printing one or two pages at a time along the way is more your style?
- The information is instant, and accessible anytime, anywhere. Perhaps you are in Venice and on a whim decide to travel to Slovenia instead of Hungary. You could hunt desperately for a bookstore that sells english printed guides (or be super adventurous and just go for it!), or you could log on, enter a few details, and have a travel guide in minutes!
- The information is up to date. With pages like Wikipedia and Wikitravel becoming more popular, and users constantly updating the information, you get the most current details available. You could purchase a travel guide that was printed 18 months before your trip, but then how would you know that the hostel you were headed to burned down 6 months ago?

Cons

With every new program, comes a few hitches.
- Yes, the information is free, but not everybody wants to spend the time organizing the information themselves. OBG also produces more information than Wikipedia and Wikitravel alone.
- Although $9.95 is a great price, $24.95 is about what you would pay at Borders for a travel guide.
- OBG gets their information from other social sites, and as we all know, they aren’t always the most accurate.

Parting Thoughts

Overall I think that OffBeatGuides.com has some great potential. Since it’s in Beta, there may be bugs here and there but I haven’t found any yet. Right now it is GREAT for some of the bigger cities, but you may be hard pressed to find a great guide on smaller cities. OBG may not be for everyone, especially the super penny pinchers, but for someone willing to spend $30+ for a printed guide may as well save themselves $20 and help out what is bound to be a great site.

When I started using Adobe Lightroom, I was rather confused at first about how to use all of the options. It took a while, but I finally figured it out. Some users have posted a few presets on various websites, but none of them seemed to satisfy what I was looking for. Until…

SeimEffects.com has a product called Power Workflow Presets for Lightroom, and it can take a lot of guesswork out of your workflow. There are approximately 60 presets included in the pack, everything from B/W Conversion, simple White Balance fixes, to some really strange effects. If you are looking for a way to simplify your Lightroom workflow, or sometimes want a simple “one click” fix for your photos, I encourage you to check this package out.

Perhaps someday I will write up a full review, so visit back every now and then. In the mean time, check out Seim Effects, and the Pro Photography Show, a podcast produced by Gavin Seim (obviously of Seim Effects).

http://www.seimeffects.com

http://www.prophotoshow.net

Over the last year and a half that the Wii has been available, we have seen all sorts of sports games. The Wii even comes with its own free versions of Bowling, Baseball, Tennis and even Boxing. Another game lets you play darts and another skee-ball. Well, now a developer has created something that I’m sure will sell at least a couple of copies… Beer Pong. If you are unfamiliar with Beer Pong, the short story is a player tries to throw a ping-pong ball into a plastic Dixie cup containing a couple ounces of beer. If you make it, the opponent drinks (visit BeerPong.com for details).

Of course, a game like this doesn’t come around without its fair share of controversy, since the Wii is hailed as a family machine. Whatever, if people don’t want their 10 year old kids playing it, don’t buy it for them. Pretty simple.

Pong Toss (as it is now titled, thanks to closed minded politicians) will be available for download on the Wii at the end of July from JV Games.

The Dark Knight- July 18th

If you have never seen a feature movie in an IMAX theater, you could probably bet that The Dark Knight would be a good show to start with. The first feature film I saw (and the only one I can remember seeing) was The Matrix: Revolutions and I remember being blown away. The clarity was amazing, and it was before stadium seating had become more mainstream (where your row of seats is much higher than the one in front of you, eliminating the chances of having a persons head right in your viewing area).

The price of an IMAX movie isn’t much more than a normal priced movie, at least here in the Seattle area. A normal (say, 6pm) movie is priced at $8.75, and an IMAX movie is $10.25. True, it’s no cheap date, but as long as you aren’t seeing ALL of the summers movies on IMAX, then its somewhat reasonable.

Check out Film School Rejects for a list of IMAX theaters near you, and then start booking now if you want to see it opening day (July 18th). Tickets here are already sold out for the “normal” times, but there are still tickets available for 3AM and 6AM (/end sarcasm).

It’s about time that these came out, i’ve been waiting. Now YOU can be just like Marty McFly in Back to the Future II, sporting a pair of futuristic, baby blue shoes. I hate Koby Bryant and think they could have found SOMEBODY else to promote them, but whatever, at least Gizmodo has a funny headline.

Now if only the hover boards would come out, I would be good to go.

I LOVE watching previews for movies, but when I see one I want to see I usually try to watch too many for that movie, in fear that it will ruin the movie when I actually get to seeing it.

But with The Dark Knight, I’m just too excited and can’t seem to get enough. So, click away to Trailer Addict and check out The Dark Knight Trailer #5. If it ruins the movie for you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

If you answered “Yes” to both of those, continue reading. If you answered yes to only one of those, then go buy the missing one, and then continue reading. If you answered “No” to both, well, sucks for you.

Connect360 is a System Preference Pane (PrefPane) that allows your XBox360 to connect to your mac to stream audio, video and images across your network. “Why would you want to do this” you might say? Well, for starters, if you have the original XBox 360 (i.e. non-elite) you can save valuable hard drive space. On an Elite’s 120GB HDD, its not as big of an issue. What is a pain in the butt however is ripping CD after CD after CD to your HDD. With Connect360 running, its virtually painless.

Using this tool and a couple others, I’m one step closer to eliminating my need for Comcast (well, for cable anyways - I obviously still need the internet). I have (some of) my movies stored on a external drive connected to my Macbook. I have Netflix for my Blu-Ray/DVD fix (I used to purchase several a month), and hopefully soon Netflix will start the rumored XBox360 move. For all the current TV shows, most of the major networks offer their shows over a streaming line (and lots more coming in HD), and if not there is usually a iTunes Music Store purchase available.

If you haven’t ever seen it, the BBC’s Top Gear is a show that is unrivaled. I call it ‘unrivaled’ because I’m not too sure it would have any competition, as i’ve never seen a show quite like it. Its Hot Rod Magazine meets MTV’s JackAss. The beginning usually starts out serious, perhaps a comparison of three new super cars, or an analysis of the different fuel efficiencies in different cars. Then things take a much wackier turn. It could be anything from turning a car into a space shuttle, jumping cars in reverse, or a Bugatti Veyron racing a fighter jet.

If you have never seen the show, I urge you to give it a chance. It really is well written/produced and is hilarious. The new season has just started, so it would be a great time to start.

However, there is a slight difference between the two. Washington’s law essentially bans all cellphone use to include calls, texting, email, photos, internet, using the speakerphone while still holding the device in your hand, whatever. Basically, if it requires you to hold your cellphone, its wrong. California’s law takes an interesting turn, and says that making calls without a handsfree device is wrong, but go ahead with all the other crap (after all, I don’t want some poor movie exec to not be able to text and drive). Don’t worry though, they do ban all cellphone use for drivers under 17, so little Susie won’t be running you down (well, not while texting anyways).

One last interesting note is that in WA they cannot pull you over just for talking on your cellphone, its a secondary offense only (i.e. if you are talking on your cell while speeding, your ticket is going to be a bit larger). In CA its a primary offense, so its probably best to invest $20 in a bluetooth headset.

Check out Wired’s article for more info.