Last Minute Gift Shopper?

Hi there,

Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to do any more testscapades recently, due to all the stress that the Holiday Season has brought me. But I thought I'd give you guys a great tip, if you're a last minute gift shopper just like myself!

Gifts.com has an excellent section of, that's right, last minute gifts for Christmas!

This is great for all of the people that you forgot you even had to buy something for - uncle Bob, aunt Rita and all the rest of them - 'cause I know you all have 'em!

Testing the Swan SpyCam

For a while now, I've been concerned with the safety of my home. I live in an area with crime problems, and I do own a fair amount of expensive electronics. I'm always a little anxious to leave the house other than for work, and leaving it for a week or two is seriously painful. Some might say I'm overly paranoid, but I've contemplated the idea of installing video surveillance for quite some time. Though it has always seemed as if it was too big a project for me, so I've just procrastinated investigating it thoroughly.

But then, along came the Swann SpyCam!



It's tiny - you'll need a 4 mm hole and you're good to go - and the image quality is surprisingly good, even in badly lit rooms. Though the noise increases dramatically when the lighting gets dim, it's still perfectly acceptable and could be really helpful for a police investigation! (Okay, yeah. I might be a little paranoid)

I got mine last week, and it took me less than 30 minutes to get it up and running with good results.

I feel a lot safer now! If you're thinking about installing video surveillance in your home, or your business, then at ~$60, the tiny and easily hide-able SpyCam delivers every cent's worth and more! :)

Top 3 U.S. Poker Rooms - Table Pro's & Con's

I couldn't decide whether I should try poker room software in general, or narrow it down a little bit, as I was pondering what my next Testscapade post would discuss.

But then, I decided on comparing the software of the three biggest poker rooms allowing U.S. players today; PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Ultimate Bet Poker. And since countless reviews by affiliate websites have already been carried out (try a Google query on your room of choice and the word review, and I assure you, you will find what you're looking for), I thought I'd take the short road and give you some pros and cons for each of these gigantic rooms.

I'm talking specifically about the tables, and not the lobbies, since these are often customized by most players to show the exact games you're looking for either way.

You might not want to decide at what venue you should play only by looking at their software, but if you wish to compare the biggest rooms and find out what could possibly irritate you, I hope this is helpful!

Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt's software is independently developed by TiltWare. It's very fast and hosts a variety of avatars you can choose from.

Pros
+ The menu's are very easy to understand and take up minimum space
+ You can choose between two table views: classic and racetrack
+ The pot size is displayed right below chip stack under the community cards

Cons
- You can't have an avatar of your own, but have to choose between a few
- Most of the available background pictures are way too cluttered

Ultimate Bet Poker
Ultimate Bet's software is, in essence, the same as that of their sister operation Absolute Poker, only the skin differs.

Pros
+ Their new interface is really slick and uses a color scheme that's easy on the eyes

Cons
- The menu feels cluttered by the Bad Beat Jackpot indicator and the Blackjack button
- The time bank indicators are ugly
- The card deck is, also, ugly

PokerStars
PokerStars' software is, just like Full Tilt's, independently developed.

Pros
+ The sounds used are, in my humble opinion, the best around
+ It's simple, yet elegant
+ It offers a great variety of table themes, downloadable directly from the lobby menu

Cons
- It displays pot size right at the top of the window, where you don't naturally look for it

I won't actually say which one I like the best overall, but rather I'll leave the verdict up to you. I hope this was helpful in some way, although I realize it is a very specific comparison.

Have any tips on bettering this post and extend it? Let me know!