Jeremy and Josh

Jeremy

Both Josh and I would be perfectly content with a little something to warm us up on those cold winter evenings but we all like to have gifts to unwrap along with our tipple.

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At just over $31 million, Star Citizen/Squadron 42 is the most successfully Kickstarted game and worth getting involved in.  Either you get two new games, one offline and one persistent online or you get to participate in a huge internet fight if Roberts Space Industries fail to deliver.  For a mere $30 you can get both games with several options to pay more for a better starting ship and extra resources.

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The IFIXIT Pro Tech Toolkit will allow you to tear apart just about any electronic gadget you own to allow for upgrades, repairs or just playing around.  It contains 54 bits including Torx, tweezers, spudgers, a suction cup and even an anti-static wristband.

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Nothing motivates some to start a project like creating something useful, be you a child or an adult.  Adafruit is a great source for kits like the Raspberry Pi and Arduino based kits but simply picking up the base kit leaves you with so many project choices you can get a little overwhelmed and discouraged.  The Onion Pi kit was the topic of an article in the latest edition of MAKE Magazine and is a selection of hardware with a specific end product which will teach you about the Raspberry Pi, WiFi and Tor and at the end you will have a device which allows you to browse the web anonymously through the Tor onion routing service.  Not only is this a great introduction to this type of project, it is also a way to protect your privacy during a time when that is a very big topic of concern.

Josh

It is that time of year again!  I like gifts, so feel free to send me any of my picks!  Bourbon works too!

Dell U2913WM Monitor

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I like my widescreen gaming, but Eyefinity and Surround can get a little complicated. Two monitor Eyefinity/Surround is also a bit annoying when we consider that the bezel will be right in the middle. This monitor (and its ilk) takes the best of both worlds it seems. It is a 2560×1080 resolution which can be handled by a single card and without the potential issues of Eyefinity scaling with multiple cards. The IPS panel is sharp looking as well.

Toshiba 512 GB SSD

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Who doesn’t want a large SSD in their machine? This number gives some nice space and speed benefits at a price that is a lot more palatable than other SSDs that size. For gamers who play a lot of titles with long loading times, putting those applications on a SSD will really cut out the annoying wait times.

MSI GTX780 Gaming

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Can't skimp on the vid card!  MSI makes a pretty solid video card, and their cooling solutions are second to none. The Gaming series is a step down from the Lightning/Hawk products, but it does not cost as much as those other options as well. The board designs are reference, but the cooling is anything but. Pricing is very competitive with full reference designs. While the R9 290 is as fast and is cheaper, the cooling issues with those cards still give me pause. With the GTX 780, consistent performance is pretty much guaranteed.

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