Apple updated their MacBook Pro’s last month with super fast Sandy Bridge stuff. They also got the new Thunderbolt I/O technology which is brand new so there’s basically nothing out there you can connect to it yet, but I’m sure it will come soon – I’m just not sure what we need that much speed for just yet, at least not us normal people. Anyway, new MacBook Pro’s also got AMD graphics, so bye bye to Nvidia in those new MacBook Pro’s.

Would I want one? Of course! Will I pay for it? Uhm, no, not right now. I got a pretty good MacBook Pro with i7 processor from last year which is great – and it was insanely expensive since I needed it with 8GB of memory – so replacing it is definitely not in my plans for this latest MacBook Pro upgrade cycle.

Even though the performance gains with the new Sandy Bridge MacBook Pro’s are amazing compared to the “old” 2010 models:

I could definitely use some more power when editing RAW files in Aperture 3. Even with my Aperture 3 performance/speed fix, it still shows spinning beach ball quite often while it works.

Just FYI, a new Sandy Bridge 15″ MacBook Pro i7 with 8GB of memory will cost $2,400, plus tax I guess. I don’t know how much tax is in the US but let’s just say 8% which I think is what it is in New York, more or less, right? So that’s almost $2,600. If I were to buy the same machine, locally, it would cost me $3,360 including tax though. Quite a difference. I would maybe have thought about it if it was $2,600 like in the US.

So I’m waiting for the next MacBook Pro upgrade, hopefully around this time next year. Maybe it will even come in a different/new design?

What I’m hoping the next upgrade will see, compared to what it has today:

• No optical drive: Who uses this anyway?! I would rather have a smaller laptop – and/or a bigger battery. I’m perfectly fine with having a Firewire connected optical drive for those five times a year I might find it useful to use one of those old discs. And don’t even get me started on blu-ray…
• SSD instead of spinning hard drives: SSD’s are fast, quiet, use less power (I think?) and more durable than a 7200rpm spinning disc. I wouldn’t want one with less than 512GB though.
• Re-design: I love the current design, but maybe they could change it a little bit? Just to make it stand out as “new”, especially if it comes without optical drive and with SSD or something.
• Even better battery: Would be possible if that useless optical drive is removed.
• Thinner: Would (maybe) also be possible with the optical drive gone. But I’m not unhappy with the current size, so if it were to be the same as now, I’d still buy it.

That’s basically why I won’t be selling my current MacBook Pro in order to raise money for a new Sandy Bridge version. But, if I were to win the lottery…
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A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication. The word usurped webcast in common vernacular, the word podcast is made famous from iPod due to rising popularity and the innovation of web feeds.

Learn more about podcasts at Wikipedia.

So I wanted to introduce you to my top 5 favorite photography related podcasts, a combination of audio and video. Here they are, in no particular order (as they’re all equally great in each of their own fields):

D-Town TV

I think I first discovered D-Town TV half-way through season 2, which was great, cause that meant there were a bunch of previous episodes that I could download and watch, rather than having to wait a full week until the next release.

D-Town TV’s first four seasons were hosted by Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski, photographers, authors and Photoshop gurus. Initially the show was for Nikon shooters only, but as of 2nd or 3rd season (can’t really remember) it moved to be DSLR in general, so everybody’s welcome! Now, with the launch of fifth season, Scott and Matt is giving-up their roles as hosts to Larry Becker and RC Concepcion. More about that below under Larry’s Cheap Shots.

D-Town TV continues to be a weekly video podcast show with photography tips & tricks for all DSLR shooters.

Check it out at kelbytv.com/dtowntv

Photofocus

Photofocus is an audio podcast which airs on the 5th, 15th and 25th of each month – no matter whatever Holiday it must be, Scott Bourne (the host) is there to record the show and release it to us, right on schedule. There’s over 60 episodes out already, so there’s a huge archive ready for you to listen to. In each show, Scott has a guest host join him and they’re taking questions from listeners (via e-mail) and answers them. It’s pretty cool and basic, so everybody will be able to pick up at least a few tips & tricks in each episode.

I especially enjoy the episodes where Scott Kelby is the guest host. Scott & Scott together is hilarious!

Besides the podcast, Photofocus.com is also updated daily with new blog posts!

Scott Bourne also has an Aperture 3 course on CreativeLive which I recommend for Aperture 3 novices out there.

Check it out at photofocus.com

This Week in Photo (TWiP)

TWiP is a weekly audio podcast hosted by Frederick Van Johnson. Unlike Photofocus, TWiP has multiple guest hosts on each show and they discuss photography related news but also takes a few listener questions during the show. At the end of the show, each of the hosts has a “pick of the week” where they get to share/recommend a cool gadget, piece of software etc. with the rest of us.

Check it out at thisweekinphoto.com

The Art of Photography

Ted Forbes is the host of this video podcast which also covers film from time to time as well as really old cameras! The film segments of The Art of Photography is not my favorites as I don’t shoot film, but he does talk about digital sometimes as well. But what I really like about The Art of Photography is how he also looks at the works of other photographers and explains the photos and what he likes about them. I find that The Art of Photography is the show I enjoy most when I’m in a “creative mood” as it’s more about art and vision, than technique.

Check it out at aop.thepublicbroadcast.com

Larry’s Cheap Shots

Photography is just an insanely expensive hobby to have, especially if you have that “gadget bug” in you. So why not make the most of whatever money you have left after buying yet another lens or camera bag that just came out?

Larry’s Cheap Shots is a blog by Larry Becker who also used to be a regular guest host on D-Town TV with his Cheap Shots segments, but is now one of the two main hosts as of D-Town Season 5. Which is kinda funny, cause the previous D-Town hosts (Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowsky) used to joke around with how popular the Cheap Shots segment was and eventually they (D-Town) would be a guest segment on Cheap Shots. Instead, they ended up giving the D-Town show to Larry, since Scott and Matt is about to launch a new live Photography & Photoshop show called The Grid.

Anyway, back to Larry’s Cheap Shots. Larry’s blog is all about getting more from your money, instead of buying expensive equipment, Larry offers some DIY options and cheaper alternatives and tips on how to achieve more or less the same as the more expensive options.

Check it out at larryscheapshots.com

What’s your favorite podcasts?

That wraps up my top 5 favorite photography podcasts. Now I’d love to hear which podcasts you enjoy? They don’t have to be photography related, anything interesting is worth mentioning, so leave a comment below and I’ll be happy to check them out – maybe there’s something interesting for me as well…

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This post sponsored by Animoto – supercharge your photo slideshows!
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Anywho, what’s a tech blog without a top 10 list of some of the greatest gadgets that most of us would love to see under the Christmas tree? Except for just a tiny problem of course: Price! The price tag on many of these gadgets might be a quite a hurdle for most of us. But then again, it’s Christmas and you’ll never know what Santa might bring…

Maybe you’ve already read my 2009 version of the “Top 10 Gadgets I want for Christmas – and maybe you would to?“-list? Whether or not, I’d just like to revisit some of the items from that list real quick. First there’s the Apple Magic Mouse. I didn’t get it for Christmas but I bought it later on – and had it for about a few hours, it sucked!

Then there’s the Sennheiser HD800 headset which, back then, had a price tag of $1,400. I’d never pay that much for headphones! Instead, I ended up with the Bose QuietComfort 15 acoustic noise cancelling headphones which I really like – and you can read my Bose QuietComfort 15 review right here.

Finally there’s the Canon EOS 7D DSLR camera body. Not long after I made that list, and before Christmas in fact, I wound up purchasing my very first DSLR camera. It was a Nikon D5000 – and not a Canon (thank god, I almost feel like saying… just kidding, I don’t mind Canon DSLR’s)…

Let’s get on with the 2010 list. Cheapest items first…

Magic Trackpad from Apple ($69)

Last year I had the Magic Mouse from Apple on this spot. This year, it’s the Magic Trackpad. As mentioned earlier, I found the Magic Mouse to be terrible. I don’t think the Magic Trackpad is a great product for those who will use it all day long when working in front of the computer, but I think it would be cool for a media center computer or similar, or a kitchen computer. A place where it’s not in use several hours a day.

Kata DR-467i Camera Bag ($85)

Newbie photographers need a good camera bag to protect their new gear. Photographers who are really into their hobby (or profession) will go through a ton of camera bags, always looking to find the perfect camera bag (which doesn’t exist, I might as well tell you, there’s no single bag perfect for everything!). The Kata DR-467i camera bag is recommended by many photographers and Kata is good quality too.

Western Digital My Passport Essential 1TB ($129)

Small 2.5″ external drives are more expensive than the bigger 3.5″ drives, but they often don’t require an extra power supply to be attached, like the bigger ones do, plus the 2.5″ drives are easy to carry around with you in the bag – for whenever you need it. One awesome feature of this WD My Passport Essential SE 1TB USB external drive is the built-in hardware encryption. You need not to worry if you lose your drive, your files are safe as it requires a password to unlock the drive and access your files. I use this drive as my backup drive and it’s great (so I don’t really want this for Christmas, but I feel it deserves to be on this list).

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS & Watch ($137)

A watch with a built-in GPS receiver and heart rate monitor. I love it – so cool. I probably wouldn’t need it for its intended purpose, such as running or maybe just hiking. But Garmin Forerunner 305 is able to calculate how many calories you burn throughout the day – which I’d like to know and I’m sure it would be easier (and more fun) to burn more calories throughout the day when you have a cool GPS watch to help you…

Eye-Fi Pro X2 8GB Class 6 SD Memory Card ($140)

Do you also hate having to either plug in the USB cable in your camera – or take the SD card out and insert it in your card reader – each time you need to download your pictures? Well, I do. That’s why I’d love to have a wireless Eye-Fi SD card that simply transfers all the photos directly to my computer, using my wireless network. This Eye-Fi Pro X2 8GB card even supports RAW files (also read: RAW vs JPEG). As of November 12th, this memory card comes with 1 year Flickr Pro membership when you buy at Amazon (US only).

iPod Nano 8GB 6th generation ($144)

This new iPod Nano 6th generation is cool, so cool! I love the little touch screen which is probably not at all that useful for much else than navigating music and such, but that’s okay. You can even wear it as a watch if you can find a proper wrist band to put it on. Not sure what I’d do with it if I had one, since I already have an iPhone 4, still, I think this new iPod Nano is cool!

Sony HX5V Digital Camera ($292)

This little Sony compact digital camera is so awesome. You can read my Sony HX5V review if you like, or just take my word for how great this camera is great. This tiny little plastic box holds a 10.2 megapixel sensor, 3″ LCD, 10x zoom, HD video, built-in HDR, GPS geotagging, etc. I highly recommend the Sony HX5V. An alternative is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 (TZ10 in Europe) at $259 which has many of the same features.

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 lens for DSLR ($799)

Ideally, I’d want the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, but at $2159, I’m gonna pass for now – that’s just too much money, though I’m sure it’s “great glass”, as they say. A much cheaper alternative, and often recommended, is the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG HSM II Macro lens. Another alternative, also cheap, is Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8. It’s my understanding that the Tamron has better optics, but a slower and more noisy autofocus, as well as the general build quality of the Tamron is poorer than Sigma. FroKnowsPhoto.com explains why you might want a f/2.8 lens instead of those f/5.6′s you can find a lot cheaper and smaller.

Nikon D7000 DSLR Camera Body ($1199)

With that sweet Sigma 70-200/2.8 lens above, you’ll need a camera body – and what else to get than the brand new Nikon D7000? It’s so popular that you might not even be able to get a hold of one before Christmas, it seems to be sold out a lot of places already, so let’s hope Nikon will be able to supply more, sooner rather than later. Nikon D7000 has a magnesium alloy body, really great ISO sensitivy, 6fps, 3″ LCD, HD video recording and a ton of other great features – it’s mouth watering!

MacBook Air ($1199)

The new 11.6″ MacBook Air from Apple is a stunning little netbook. In fact, I don’t even think you can call it a netbook – it’s too powerful for that plus it has a full-size QWERTY keyboard as well. It’s more like a little laptop notebook. I wouldn’t buy one myself as I don’t have the need for one, it’s too much money for a gadget – but I wouldn’t mind getting it for Christmas… like that’s ever gonna happen

That’s it! Now, what do YOU want for Christmas?

Now it’s your turn - leave a comment below and let the world (and Santa Claus) know what your gadget wishes for this year’s Christmas might be – it doesn’t have to be something from the list above.

Oh, and I don’t mind jokes about my name being somewhat related to “Santa Claus”… I use it myself whenever I have to spell/say my name to someone in a country where my name is not so well-known, it always results in a smile
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Like most other guys in their early 20’s, I also became fascinated with this card game, known as Texas Hold’Em. I started to read up on the rules and learn to play the game first using free play/fun money sites so it didn’t cost me anything. Then I bought books and joined a few online forums to learn more and improve my game. I spent a lot of time studying!

As time went by, I became a decent poker player. I never really made a killing, except for a few 1st places in some online tournaments, but I didn’t loose a lot of money either. Unfortunately I was very bad at keeping track of my wins and losses so  I can only guess that my losses were limited and when taking into consideration how many hours I spent playing poker – and enjoyed it – it was probably better spending some money on playing poker than wasting them by going to the cinema once a week or whatever. (TIP: Keep track of your wins and losses, you’ll thank me later!).

Back then, around 2005 or so, I had a long train commute to work every day. What better way to spend that time other than reading poker books? Well, play poker, of course! Luckily there was one site which offered a downloadable java client for some mobile phones and even offered real money play against other real players. Awesome!

Unfortunately, also back then, the screen on my Sony Ericsson phone was rather small and the wireless data network not very good. The whole mobile online poker experience became a “because I can”-thing rather than an enjoyable and entertaining thing as you know from a desktop computer. Don’t even bother playing an online poker tournament because you could so easily be disconnected from the mobile network and miss that important hand that could win you the tournament…

Now it’s 2010 and we have mobile phones with huge touch screens and data networks that offers several Mbit download connections. We also have stupid governments who keep insisting that online poker is all about luck, not skill, and then they ban online poker in their countries. That’s why  poker players in the United States has had very few sites to play poker on for the past years, because their government doesn’t want people to play online poker (when in reality it’s probably because they don’t want to send the money out of the country to overseas companies, which is why that law was nicely tucked away inside a counter terrorist act, I guess).

The bottom line is, now we have the technology to play online poker where ever we are – for those of us who would like that opportunity – but very few providers. There are, however, ways to play browser based poker but the experience is just not as great as if it was with a dedicated mobile app. Also, the major poker sites doesn’t, as far as I know, offer any browser based versions of their software that would run on a device that doesn’t fully support flash or java. You could play at lesser-known poker sites but you would probably be very limited in table selection due to very few players being online plus you would have to consider how safe the site really is, now that you’ll have real money in your account with them.

Another obstacle is Apple. I doubt we’ll see a real money poker app in their App Store anytime soon – maybe if/when the US government decides to allow online poker again, then maybe, just maybe, Apple will allow these gambling apps. I think, if that time ever comes, there will be restrictions and licensing issues to consider as well. Likely the poker sites will have to be licensed in the US and have special permits to offer online poker within the United States.

Right now, I’m afraid online poker on the iPhone is several years out into the future – if it will ever happen.
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At first I stepped outside on the patio but when it started to rain I moved back inside. It’s usually a bad idea to be outside during a thunderstorm but if it’s raining where you are, then you’re too close – so I stepped inside and had to shoot my pictures through a window which of course wasn’t perfect.

For tips on how to shoot lightning, I recommend this article: How to Photograph Lightning.

Basically what I did last night (before reading the article above) was to shoot in manual mode with my Nikon D5000 and Nikkor 18-200mm lens at around 4-10 second shutter speeds and then experiment with the aperture to get the exposure right. It’s impossible to capture a lightning strike if you shoot when you see it – you have to shoot before it occurs and the only way to do that is to shoot a lot of frames and get lucky in that a lightning will strike where your viewfinder is pointing.

I got a lucky a few times, three, in fact. As you can see from the pictures below. Also the two first pictures shows just how much a lightning can brighten up everything – it was kinda cool.

The weather guys here in Malta says there’s a 20% chance of thunderstorms in the next 24 hours – and 40% chance on Wednesday, so I’m hoping to get another chance soon, cause I’m not satisfied with these pictures…

Nice, calm and dark during night...

Until some lightning occurs and brightens the whole thing up!

Vertical lightning

Interesting horizontal lightning

Small lightning in the horizon

• Nikon: New cameras & lenses in 2010
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On my recent vacation in the United States, I suddenly found myself in a Bose outlet store in Leesburg Premium Outlet. An outlet center filled with boring clothing shops, if you ask me But the Bose shop instantly caught my attention. Initially I just wanted to look at their products and see if I could find an airline adapter for my headset so I could use them on the airplane ride back home to Europe.

So what happens… I enter the Bose shop and within seconds a salesman is over me and I tell him that I’m just browsing for now but just a few seconds later I find myself in their brand new home entertainment cinema room, about to get a demonstration of Bose Lifestyle V35 home entertainment surround system. The demonstration was awesome and the Lifestyle V35 set was even more awesome, especially considering how small the wireless speakers were. I wish I could have brought it with me home, but it was over $3000 – yikes!!

Having never really owned a Bose product I was somewhat intrigued now and went on to try a few of their headphones and quickly fell in love with Bose QuietComfort 15. The name speaks for itself, they quiet your surroundings by using Acoustic Noise Cancelling technology and they’re comfortable to wear.

Unfortunately I’m not an audiophile so I can’t really tell if a pair of headphones play music worth $50 or $300 but to me they sounded very good and I loved the noise cancelling technology. I ended up buying a pair for just $250, without knowing what the retail price would be back in Europe but I was sure they were much more expensive (in fact, they’re almost $400 over here).

Bought them and used them on the plane home – they were awesome! Being using them at home every other day too because it’s still so hot where I live that air-condition has to run few times throughout the day and I can’t even hear the A/C while wearing Bose QuietComfort 15 and listening to music on Spotify or iTunes 10, so I’m really enjoying my music, compared to having my speakers compete with a loud and noisy air-condition.

Bose QC15 does have a somewhat thin cord attached to them, I would have liked it to be just a tad thicker for the purpose of living up to the rest of the good quality in the product.

If you buy a pair on Amazon US you can get them for $299 but if you’re lucky you can find a factory renewed set in a Bose outlet store for $250 as well. I can recommend them.

My rating of Bose QuietComfort 15 is 4 out of 5 apples:

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Times Square, New York

Click here to read the first part of this two-part series post: Back from vacation – and a big thanks to the guest posters!

Yep, so I was on vacation. Basically it was a road trip on the east coast in the United States. Spent a few days in New York City, then drove up to Niagara Falls and back down to Washington DC while passing through Amish territory in Pennsylvania.

This is the hotels I was staying on (and whether or not I would recommend them) – I unfortunately cannot comment on “value for money” for any of the hotels, as I purchased a complete trip that included hotel vouchers.

New York: DoubleTree Hotel – Chelsea (recommended!)

Slow elevators and only two of them. Breakfast buffet was like $20 but it was okay. Internet expensive, $10/day per device. Rooms also quite small. Overall it was a nice and clean hotel and located on Manhattan, it was within walking distance of Times Square, Apple Store on 5th Avenue, subway etc. If visiting New York, I can recommend a tour in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York – you even get to see the gold vault. It’s free, you just have to book in advance.

Ithaca: Country Inn & Suites (recommended!)

Not really a hotel as such, but room was big and had two flat screen TV’s. Breakfast was included in price but it was a rather limited breakfast buffet. Free complimentary wireless Internet and laundry service available for self-service.

Niagara Falls: DoubleTree Resort Lodge & Spa (recommended!)

Very nice hotel! I seem to remember there was a charge for overnight parking, but not too expensive. I also seem to recall that Internet was free but I’m not 100% sure. It had a somewhat nice view over some of the falls though you couldn’t see the big ones. Rooms was nice and the elevators on this DoubleTree hotel were much faster than those in New York.

Niagara Falls fireworks as seen from DoubleTree Resort & Spa (Fallsview)

Corning: Ramada Painted Post (NOT recommended!)

Internet and parking was free but that’s about the only good thing to say about this hotel. The hotel only had laundry/dry cleaning service on weekdays (which is fair enough) but the laundry machine that guests could use, didn’t work. The room was old and smelled funny, the hallways also smelled funny. The restaurant/bar was creepy and seemed to be a hangout for locals. As for breakfast buffet, I skipped it. The room was very dark and there didn’t even seem to be a buffet out – or it was very limited (and hidden). No waiter in sight, either. I read somewhere that they recently updated/added new rooms, so it’s possible that you could actually get a nice room in this place, but I’d probably try to find another hotel.

Lancaster: Lancaster Arts Hotel (recommended!)

Awesome hotel with free wireless Internet and free in-door parking. It highlights art so it has paintings both on the hallway walls and in the rooms. A rather creative place and a different styled hotel room, seemed more like a loft – but in a good way. Breakfast buffet was free, but rather limited. Surely enough to suit most people but I did miss bacon and scrambled eggs (because I don’t usually eat that but I like it as part of breakfast buffet on hotels)…

Washington DC: Omni Shoreham Hotel (highly recommended!)

Last hotel on the trip so I decided to step it up a notch and go for something really nice – and Omni didn’t let me down, what a fantastic hotel and oh my, how expensive it was (my own fault – I’m a sucker for ordering room service after having been out walking all day). Internet was $10/day but if you sign up for their “Select Guest”-program (free) you will get free complimentary Internet for all your devices. Unfortunately the wireless antenna next to my room was really bad, so I had like five phone calls to the Internet help line for them to reboot it every now and then so I could get back online. Breakfast buffet was little over $20 but they had it all – well worth it. Oh, and they had a little Starbucks located in the lobby, too. Downside to this hotel was the valet parking, $28/day and only one free in/out service per day. Plus you might have to tip the valet a few bucks as well.

Entrance and some of the lobby, Omni Shoreham

That’s it for my short hotel reviews. So, in case you ended up at this article by googling for some of the hotels above, I hope you could use my opinion. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions or contact me directly – I’ll be happy to assist.
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About a week before I left, I published an article letting people know that TechPatio is open for guest posts (and still is, so please get in touch if you’re interested).

Thanks to the following guest articles and guest posters, I was able to keep TechPatio running while I was away and not having to worry about writing articles in my vacation (more on the vacation in the next post):

• AT&T Leak Shows Concern for Their Internal Security Processes by Daniel Cawrey who’s a technology blogger, writing about topics such as network management software.
• Tips For Digital Photography by Digital Camera Reviews where you can also learn more about digital camera trouble shooting.
• 9 Best Android Apps for Writers by James Adams who’s a writer and analyst for a print cartridge online store.
• 10 Best Apple iPad Travel Apps by Elisha who’s a writer for a website focused on frequent flyer cards.
• BlackBerry API Gears Up For Mobile Shopping by Neil who’s head of marketing for UK’s leading symbol barcode scanner.
• 10 Money Saving Android Apps by Mark Brown who’s a writer for an Austrlian website where consumers can compare balance transfer credit cards offers.
• How to Resize Your Photos Easily on Windows by Keith who runs a Vancouver computer repair blog.
• CommentLuv – A Link Builders Dream Or The Latest Waste of Time? by Neil (again) who’s also a handheld barcode scanner specialist.

A big thanks goes out to all the guest posters above and of course also a thank you to previous guest posters (and upcoming!). Click here to view all guests posts currently published on TechPatio.

Want to read the second and final part of my vacation-update? Click here: Back from vacation – some hotel reviews!
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Yeah that’s what I thought. But I had this one friend who just couldn’t stop talking about it. So I found a few of the first episodes and I was hooked immediately. I went straight to Amazon to purchase the DVDs for the first season ($17 at Amazon US – click here). Even before I finished first season, I had also ordered season 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. I just began watching season 6 so I’m almost through the entire show – just need to wait for season 7 to be out on DVD. I hate watching TV shows that only airs one episode per week – if I find a show I like, I’d rather wait till at least one season is out so I can purchase the complete season and watch multiple episodes after one another.

Entourage is like Sex and the City – except it’s better and it’s clearly written with a male audience in mind, not females like Sex and the City. That’s just what I think

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Entourage:

Entourage is an American comedy-drama  television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004. The series was created and is largely written by Doug Ellin and chronicles the rise of Vincent Chase, a young A-list movie star, and his childhood friends from Queens, New York City, as they navigate the unfamiliar terrain of Hollywood, California.

Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson serve as the show’s co-executive producers, and the show’s premise is loosely based on Wahlberg’s experiences as an up-and-coming film star. The series deals with themes of male friendship and wild life in Hollywood. In accordance with this, numerous celebrities have guest-starred on the show.

Executive producer Mark Wahlberg confirmed that after the seventh season, six more episodes will air in 2011 concluding the series, which will then be followed by a film adaptation.

I would love to show a few “best momens of <insert character name here>”-videos, but there’s no point. If you haven’t seen the show yet, you probably wouldn’t find them funny.

I suggest you give it a shot, chances are you’ll like it. Entourage has an IMDb score of 9.2 out of 10 – that’s really, really good!

You can click here to purchase the Entourage DVD’s on Amazon US.
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For my iPhone 4, I ordered the “full body” shield, front and back. They also have a “maximum coverage” package which will “save your signal” on iPhone 4 by installing the shield on the sides of iPhone 4 – right on the antenna steel band. It works by protecting the antenna from the touch of your skin and thus will maintain a better signal – if you’re currently having antenna issues. If you don’t, you’ll probably not experience any difference with the invisible shield on the sides. Watch the video below for more info on invisible shield on the sides of iPhone 4.

As for installation, it’s much easier on iPhone 4 than on the curved iPhone 3GS. I did, however, manage to mess up the back of my shield. I think during the process where I used the squeegee to push excess moisture and bubbles out, I managed to move the shield just enough to get over the edge on one side. I didn’t even notice it. But a few hours later after picking the iPhone up from my pocket, the back shield was about to come of. I took it completely off and sprayed the application solution on it again for a reinstallation. I can’t say for sure how well it sticks second time, but I hope it’ll work. If not, a new shield doesn’t cost that much – compared to the value, I think, it adds.

I’ve always been reluctant to add an invisible shield to the front of my iPhone. With iPhone 4, it’s the first time I’ve done it. I can’t say for sure, yet, if I want to keep it on or not, but so far it does seem to be a lot more resistant to finger prints – which is good. The touch screen is not quite as smooth – and slippery – as if without the shield, so that’s something you might have to get used to. I’ve heard that it does get better with time, but of course never as smooth as if you’re touching only the glass. The touch screen seems to be just as sensitive to my touch as if no shield was on it – no change there, at all.

Full body coverage is $24.99. You can buy them individually as well, front and back is $14.99 each and “4FIX Band/Antenna Coverage” is $9.99.

Zagg also offers invisible shield for many other devices.

PS: No, I was not paid by Zagg to write this I’m genuinely satisfied with my invisible shield and wanted to recommend it to all my fellow gadget owners out there!

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