The tablet itself is wonderful, but six weeks after I got it, it had to go back to Acer because it stopped working completely. Most companies would just send me a new unit, but Acer insisted on repairing it, and made me pay for the shipping to send it back. When it got back from the shop, it worked fine and all was well (they had to replace the entire board inside), but now I was in possession of a refurbished product instead of the new one I paid for. Because it came pre-loaded with Ice Cream Sandwich, I had to reload Jelly Bean onto it - which was fine - except something didn't go right with the upgrade so I chatted online with Acer to see if there was something I could do to tweak the new install. They wanted me to ship it back to them AGAIN. I refused, saying it was ridiculous to ask me to continue to send this tablet back to them every few weeks.

Whatever went wrong with the Jelly Bean upgrade does not affect performance - I just get a little red error message when I turn it on. The tablet runs fine, despite this message, but I am truly disappointed with Acer's Customer Service. They are not interested in making the Customer happy. I asked for a replacement unit and they flatly denied me. I explained that when my Dell laptop had problems, Dell simply shipped me a brand new unit, no questions asked.

Acer said that's not how they do things.

I love my Iconia tablet - the quality of the video is second to none and I love the Dolby Mobile sound! A truly wonderful computer. I take it everywhere with me! I do understand that sometimes you get a dud that's going to have to go back, but this should not be my problem. Acer should have sent me a brand new, boxed replacement and they should have paid for the shipping. Their treatment of me and my situation really soured my sense of brand loyalty, and I will definitely consider getting a different brand of product my next time around.

Worst Customer service ever.

I don't care for the Seagate backup program that comes with it. During the backup process, it creates too many duplicate copies of the same files, thus clogging drive space that should be mine to use for storage OTHER than backup. I replaced the Seagate backup program with the old Memeo Instant Backup program from my GoFlex 1TB drive and all is well again. Memeo only backs up what has been altered since the last backup. One other small complaint: I wish it ran solely on USB instead of requiring an AC plug as well as the USB. All in all, however, I am pleased with it.

This book provides just what I need in a software companion: something I can hold in my hands. As I go through the program, it's important to have a study guide right in my lap. Flip a few pages and you have answers to your questions. Sure, that kind of thing might be available in bits and pieces online, but when you hold the book, your screen time (and space) is not divided between your work and the answers in a different window.

As to the content, it's detailed, well laid out, and easy to understand. Dragon Naturally Speaking is a great speech recognition program with a learning curve that will keep you busy for awhile; having this reference at your side during that process makes it a comfortable journey. There are hints and tips and shortcuts, and the content is right up to date with the latest version of the software, which makes it a valuable resource.

I'm glad I bought it. Well worth the money.

I received this album as a Christmas present, and it turns out to be an instant favourite. Truth be told - and this is truly to my discredit - I don't usually scope out recordings by female artists. Not because they aren't good, but because (based on my tastes) most of my fave lady singers went out with Dinah Shore, Margaret Whiting, and Vera Lynn. My music collection is stuffed to the gills with those ladies and others of their era, so I worry that their like does not easily surface in today's music.

But boy, oh boy, am I glad I got this new one. Taught me a big lesson about the evils of not looking harder for the sounds I like! They are actually out there...I mean, if I'm willing to admit I'm just getting too old and cranky, and maybe need to take off the blinders once in a while. Hmmm...

Kira Small is every bit as sassy and smart in her vocals as any of those monstrous talents from the golden days, and she brings to the party a modern, smoky soul that makes me want to start taking a look at her previous albums...like, right now!

The songs on this solid R&B album have everything I want. Mood, subtlety, soul, groove, infectious keyboard licks, and tremendous basslines. The entire album just makes me want to light up a cig and curl my lip in a sneer...and I don't even smoke!

The live recording is pleasantly simple - just Madame at the keyboard and husband Bryan Beller on the bass. Any more instruments would ruin this tender collaboration and take away from the one-on-one interaction they share with each other.

The tunes are chosen from Small's three studio albums - one is from Beller's solo album, "View". For this outing, all were performed at The Timucua White House in Orlando Florida.

Small and Beller chat with the audience between songs, and these little snippets are enjoyable to listen to - they really set the mood for this intimate venue.

The songs:

I Ain't Never: The opener starts with a funky bass and then fires up into a sassy tune, with a monstrous bass fill in the middle. Small's lively keyboard bounces along on the high side, with as much attitude as Beller's bass on the bottom. Impressive chemistry.

Make Up Your Mind: A smoky little number. I like the way Small controls the song with her vocals - the bass drops neatly into line, the footmen on her carriage. So exactly paced.

Miss You Bad Tonight: Based on Small's spoken intro, we learn this is a very personal song. I like that about this album - everything comes from different rooms of the heart. Her voice in the spoken intro quivers with such honesty that you know she's telling you a story of deep feeling. Beller's bass rumbles gently beside her: the purring lion to soothe her as she exposes her truths.

You Gonna Regret Losing Me: This one starts out with a Carole King "I Feel The Earth Move" sense to it, but takes enough bluesy turns to drift into more of a Motown feel. The whole thing sounds all right by me; very slick and stylish. Snake-smooth bass solo in the middle. Beller's on, that's for sure.

I Will Raise My Voice: Another one from the deepest part of Small's heart. Her spoken intro tells how - despite her gregarious exterior - she is often very shy when it comes to summoning the courage to speak. The song is about finding that voice, overcoming fears and stumbling blocks to allow the words to come out. Spiritual song, almost gospel. Finding her place.

Hootchie Mama: Small relinquishes her keyboard to Beller for this one, while she plays the tambourine. The tune is about road musicians and groupies...and the women who keep them at bay! It's a big finger-snappin', Aretha Franklin type warning to all the Hootchie Mamas out there! Stand back, girlfriend! She's a 24-7, 365 Ho Patrol. Mmm, hmmm.

Wanderin' Star: I like this one very much. A very old fashioned, jazzy tune with a crazy good walking bassline. Small fits this genre like a comfortable glove, and vice versa. If she made an entire album of this type of tuneage, I'd be there.

Shouldn't We Be In Love: What a gorgeous ballad! Torchy and so heartfelt. And there's Beller, the throaty, purring lion again, laying at her feet and generating a vibration of deep resonance to remind her of his support. Their teamwork on these songs is a lock of synchronised emotion.

Hurtin': A funky Rhythm & Blues toe-tapper. I hear a little Roger Hodgson in her keyboarding for this one - the clipped staccato taps on the keys. Maybe in the vein of "The Logical Song". And the bass drops in so deeply that you might have to dip under a low-slung limbo bar just to hear it! Ha!

Digging In The Dirt: A great cover of Peter Gabriel's song, done with a bass looper. So good. When I hear a looper pedal at work, I get a brand new shiver down my back about the power of the bass guitar. Small's sharp vocals and keyboard add the perfect upper register contrast. A tasty take on a pop tune. Less 90s, more grit, more soul. Yow.

Sugar Man: What else? It's a song about "cooking" (insert snicker here). Hey, if you can't stand the heat...

A raunchy R&B "come hither" number. Gal on the prowl. The bass knows what she's talking about and answers back in her language. If Small and Beller hadn't been together when they recorded this, they surely would have been when it was done.

Backwoods: Bryan Beller's electric version of the John Patitucci acoustic bass song (from the album "Sketchbook"). Very musical solo, rich and fully realised in depth and range. The electric bass at its finest, raw and true. Deep thunder, scorching twangs, and snappy pops. This is the one that (as mentioned before) appears on Beller's album, "View".

Ain't No Sunshine: You know this Bill Withers song, but Small and Beller take it where it's never been before. The bass nips at the heels of the vocals for control of the mood. Small works hard to keep that control, but because I'm a bassist, well, I might just have to side with Beller. Ah, why compete? The two of them together form a searing combo for this song, and one just wouldn't do without the other.

I Can't Stand The Rain: The closer is a tangy tune and once again I feel that lip's gonna start to curl into an attitude-rich sneer. In the "reminds me of" department, this one sort of brushes up against a Ray Charles kind of sound. Not bad, Lady. You're all over it! Incredible bass riffing in the middle.

There isn't a song on this entire album that could be considered a weak link. It's all A-List material, well played and sincere. From start to finish, Small's voice rules this album with rock steady tone and power. She's the lightning to Beller's thunder, and together they cook up a seriously delicious storm.

I went into this movie with kind of a jaded "hmmmm" attitude. I've seen Sacha Baron Cohen's three main characters, Borat, Brüno, and Ali G on his TV show, so I had an idea of what was coming. When Brüno came out, I never had a chance to go see it in the theatre, so my first viewing was on DVD. The "hmmmm" attitude was that little bit of squirming doubt about whether or not he could top Borat with this one...and even whether or not he HAD to.

As I started watching though, I quickly fell into the same kind of dropped jaw disbelief as I had throughout Borat. Am I really seeing this? Is he really doing that? It seemed new, even though it was the same.

The guy just takes it out and runs it out full bore all over again. It's irreverent, rude, stinging in its exposure of societal attitudes, and just downright funny. When you aren't laughing, you're captivated by shock, and that's what Cohen's movies are all about. I kept asking the others in the room with me, "I wonder what his wife thinks about him doing this kind of thing?"

The answer was so possible: "She probably just thinks of him as a big kid out playing with his friends."

To say it's funnier THAN or not as funny AS Borat doesn't work for me. Yes, it has the same basic structure and formula, but the differences are enough to make it incomparable. Two different characters, two different worlds, two different ratings.

Borat was funnier because it was first, and none of us had ever seen anything like it before. Brüno was funnier because it was easier to relate to - instead of some outrageous personality from a different culture, Brüno is a character we might actually encounter in our daily entertainment world. Some of us even know guys like this in our own circles.

Bottom line - I loved it. The Special Features are great. I've already watched it about four times since I got my DVD, and can still enjoy (and laugh at) new subtleties each time. The mirror he holds up to society can make a person cringe.

Give Brüno a go - it's more of the same, but so very different; if you have a funny bone in your body, you WILL laugh.

This product is so bad, words almost fail me.

1 - the containers leak during cooking...and YES, I did assemble them properly.

2 - the yolks settle in odd places during cooking, so don't expect to make a decent deviled egg. The yolk will not be nicely centred at the top of the egg; expect it to be more along the wall/side. This is due to the imbalanced floating posture of the cups.

3 - By the time you assemble each Eggie case, you could have boiled the eggs the old fashioned way.

4 - The commercial says it's a non-stick cup, and then tells you that it is mandatory to grease the inside of the cup before cooking. If I want grease in my eggs, I will fry them.

5 - Even when greased, the eggs do not just pop out as demonstrated. To get a decent, clean pop-out, you have to run a knife along the inside wall of each cup.

6 - Takes too long to clean the cups after use. You have to remove and clean under the rubber O-rings that seal the cups, or you'll be left with egg crust inside. I'm no doctor, but I'd say it's not good for you to include bits of rotting egg under the O-rings with each new batch of eggs you cook. And by the way, you pretty much have to scrub the screw-together threads with a toothbrush to get all of the residue. It actually took more than half an hour to clean the set of six. I wouldn't put them in the dishwasher - it might melt the soft O-rings or warp the cups. Ever put plastic utensils in the dishwasher?

All in all, this is one of the most misadvertised product I have ever bought. Obviously, I was out of my mind not to have read the reviews before buying.

Do yourselves a favour and walk right on by from this one. Nasty, nasty product. Peeling eggs may be an unpleasant task, but compared to the nonsense involved with these things, I'll take peeling any day.

As a fan of the original EO, I was naturally looking forward to this game, and brother, was I rewarded! Within my first few hours of gameplay, I was relaxing in the comfort of familiar creatures, intrigued by the new and more involved story line, thrilled by the diverse diving locations, and even terrified by dangerous animals that attack!

They have completely outdone themselves on this one. So much to see, so much to do! Quests and salvage missions, stark, new glacial landscapes, murky jungle river waters, and even sunken castles and ruins where you can get trapped if you're not careful!

There's a private reef you can design to your own tastes, an aquarium you must keep stocked with a varied and ever changing display of creatures to hold your visitors' interests - there's money to be earned so you can buy gear and supplies, and a wider selection of diving partners to help and guide you through your journeys.

I'd love to say more, but I have to get back - apparently, there's a skeleton to be found somewhere...

The Blue World awaits...dive in!

I grew up listening to Beatles music, so I was singing along with the game from day one! Don't need the words across the screen, just a mic in front of my face. And face rhymes with BASS, and therein lies my treat! I am crazy for bass guitar in this game, and I very much appreciate that Beatles Rockband allows you to view your bass scores right along with guitar scores. Other Rockband games (and Guitar Hero for that matter) tend to minimise the importance of the bass by neglecting to make your top scores available with a click between coloured buttons in the Quickplay mode.

Love the graphics. In fact, sometimes I find myself messing up in a song just because I get distracted by the gorgeous videos that play in the background. I love watching others play, so I can sit back awhile and enjoy the animations!

You get a lot with Beatles Rockband. The disc is full of earnable pictures and skill accomplishments, old film footage, the chance to post your scores online, and now that the downloadable content has begun, we can look forward to filling our libraries! Rubber Soul and Sgt Pepper will both be done up by and available by the end of the year. So far, you can only complete the Abbey Road collection - I understand each of the other two albums mentioned will be available on the 20th of November and then the 20th of December - in which order I am not sure.

The songs are divided into albums/venues/timelines, so you get the guys in different clothes and with different looks. It really adds to the immersion factor.

This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

They call the resort island "Wuhu." Say it out loud. Woo Hoo!! That's what this game is. Woo Hoo fun! The water sports make you feel like you're actually out in the drink. Water droplets even splash back against the "camera" during the events. The characters feel weighted and true when bobbing over the waves. The flyover makes your stomach drop, as if you're truly performing stunts in a plane. Love the 100 pin bowling. I was not expecting to get into Frisbee Golf, but it's very addictive! Go down the list of games. Everything about it is absolutely enjoyable, and there's something for everyone, every skill level.

Only a couple of gripes. One - some events are not available unless you have two players, and two controllers (each with a Motion Plus dongle), and Two - that Motion Plus dongle is not compatible with wireless nunchuks. There are little plastic foot-nodes on the bottom of the device that will not allow for the clipping on of a wireless nunchuk dongle. I suppose one could file the nodes down flat to make space for it, but then you're damaging the thing. If it stopped working, they'd surely say it was because you filed off the plastic nodes. The only saving grace is that the sports that use the nunchuk do not require such elaborate hand motions as to suffer with the old fashioned wired nunchuk.

I give this one a 9.5. An outstanding entry in the Wii catalogue library.

Each sport teaches you different ways to master your use of the controls, so it's a good way for newcomers to hone their skills with a wiimote. Archery and Curling are unique games, and Badminton turns out to be a pleasant distraction.

In a world of intense, deeply complicated crusade and battle games, it's sometimes nice to sit back and relax with something a bit lighter. You don't have to play for hours or learn a thousand rules and situations to enjoy yourself, and there's no violence - good family game.

All in all, a fun addition to your Wii game collection.