iOS 6 – Worth The Upgrade?

Apple released iOS 6 September 19th for iPod Touch 4th Gen, iPhone 3GS (and up), as well as iPad 2/iPad 3, with some fantastic new features.

But is it worth the upgrade?

Let’s go through a short list of some of the biggest changes to iOS in version 6.

• Do Not Disturb & Call Response Messages (Send text reply to calls you can’t take)
• VIP E-mail Box (E-mail from people you list as VIPs goes into a special e-mail box)
• Inserting Pictures/Video Into E-mail
• Turn-by-Turn Directions with new Apple Maps App
• Facebook Integration into all areas of iOS
• Siri Improvements (Scores, Movie Times, Resturant Reservations)
• General Speed Improvements/Optimizations – Much quicker browsing/e-mail responses
• Easy Panorama Mode – Take 270 degree panoramas by turning your phone 
• Shared Photo Streams 
• PassBook Electronic Gift Cards/Membership Cards/Tickets
• Over 200 improvements in total.

So is it worth the upgrade? I’ve only been playing with the official release for a few days – and some features I’m completely in love with, but that’s not to say it’s all sunshine and roses.

In Love With:

New Maps & Turn by Turn Navigation

The All-New Features of Android ICS 4.0.4

Android users get anxious and excited whenever a newer firmware calls itself to attention,  and ICS 4.0.4 version is no exception, either. Before you wait it out and finally install this version, here are some of the features you can make the most of. If you have already installed, make sure you know what you are holding in your hands.

Happy app-ing!

End of Watch Movie Review

The LAPD has long been saddled with a reputation for corruption and brutality. Whether deserved or not, this image, combined with the hard-bitten war-on-the-streets feeling that Hollywood typically highlights in its men and women in blue, makes for a virtually limitless supply of great stories. With such a goldmine at its disposal, that makes it all the more disappointing when a movie like "End of Watch" fails to find an interesting or new angle and instead flails around disjointedly, feeling more like a public service message than a well-developed story.

Trouble with the Curve Movie Review

We get it: Clint Eastwood is old. Oh so old. This seems to be the main message of "Trouble with the Curve," which has him doing little besides grumping around and snarling at anyone who is foolish enough to cross his path. It's like he's channeling his "Gran Torino" persona, minus any of the humor or heart.

House at the End of the Street Movie Review

Having Elizabeth Shue and Jennifer Lawrence play a mother and daughter is an inspired bit of casting. Aside from being strong actresses in their own right, they both also possess a quality that makes you intrinsically root for them to overcome whatever a movie throws at them. So much so that in "House at the End of the Street" - a convoluted psychological thriller that unravels as it should be tightening - you find yourself hoping it'll be a better movie despite the obvious warning signs. Even in light of typical tropes that these characters would never do (opening doors in the dead of night, walking down dark staircases), you still hope for the best.

Arbitrage Movie Review

It's hard to say exactly what happened to Richard Gere's career. Since storming onto the Hollywood scene with back-to-back classics "American Gigolo" and "An Officer and a Gentleman" he has put together a solid resume of well-performing films, wisely sharing the screen with the likes of Bruce Willis, Sean Connery, Edward Norton, and Julia Roberts (twice!). Sure, he may have gone to the chick-flick well a few too many times (witness airplane staple "Nights in Rodanthe"), but he always manages to intersperse more interesting, if not always commercially successful, choices such as "Primal Fear" and "The Mothman Prophesies". He's never been a particularly versatile actor, but what he did he did well. There really aren't any terrible professional missteps in his past (the persistent hamster rumor notwithstanding) and no total bombs that suggest that he's unmarketable. It's just that somewhere along the way (pretty much right after "Chicago", actually) people just stopped caring. And so, his sum total of work since 2010 is last year's pointless "The Double" and this year's significantly better "Arbitrage".

The Words Movie Review

In "The Words," a man realizes he will never be a successful writer, so he does the next best thing: steals someone else's brilliant novel and puts his own name on the cover. Fame, fortune and a nagging sense of guilt follow.

The man in question is Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper). He lives in New York City but has no money -- he can't seem to get his books published -- and his wife (Zoe Saldana) loves him but not their empty checking account. "I have to pay my dues," he says. "No, I have to pay your dues," corrects his father, upon writing him yet another check.

It's an epic fail all around, until he stumbles upon a misplaced post-war manuscript, written with all the eloquence and honesty missing from his own work. It's not his book, but he is desperate, so he passes it off as his own and it gets published with the hack title "The Window Tears." Then an old man (Jeremy Irons) turns up and claims he wrote this personal story and hasn't been able to find it all these years. Surprise!

Bachelorette Movie Review

Female friendships can be...well, let's just say they can be complicated. For years, Hollywood has perpetuated the stereotype that women's relationships revolve around shoes and hatred/competition for men. Recent films like Kristin Wiig's "Bridesmaids" have given more insight into how women truly operate. And yes, women can be true friends who are kind to one another, gross each other out, and make each other laugh. We can also be horribly miserable, self-loathing, hot messes who can desperately need and secretly resent their friends at the same time. Enter "Bachelorette." 

Based on the play by Leslye Headland, "Bachelorette" centers around former high school friends who reunite for the wedding of one of their own. Dubbed "The Bitch Faces" in school, the four friends have drifted apart in recent years. Only Becky (Rebel Wilson) and Regan (Kirsten Dunst) see each other with any kind of regularity. When Becky announces her engagement, queen bee Regan is appalled that Becky -- whom they all called "pig face" behind her back -- would marry first. On the surface, she gracefully accepts the role of Maid of Honor, while internally seething.