Tech Jawa - www.techjawa.com

Gunnar Optiks claims to have developed technology that reduces fatigue on the eyes during long hours in front of a computer screen, gaming, ect. I must say, they do not disappoint. The pair I recently purchased are the MLG Phantom’s. They use what Gunnar calls i-AMP technology which reduces glare, makes the important colors pop, and tones down the violent ones which cause headache, eye fatigue, and overall pain. As a very avid competitive gamer, I found these a pretty necessary purchase. I found myself using them in game and out of game. As a full time Graphic Designer, wearing the Gunnar’s helps me focus for extended periods of times without having to constantly look from the screen to let my eyes readjust and rest.

At first, I really debated and wondered how well something of this nature could work. I will say I was most certainly surprised when they worked as expected. I will honestly say I thought it to be one large gimmick to up sales and rake in a fortune. This is not the case in the slightest.

In terms of gaming will they increase your performance? Well I will say this, if you suck, you’re still going to suck. What the Gunnar’s will allow you to do is suck no worse than you already do over an extended period of time in front of the screen. After a period of time with the joysticks pushed forward and the triggers down, your eyes will not be able to react to situations quite as fast due to the simple idea of fatigue. No one really understands it, no one really understood how to correct it until Gunnar released this fabulous line of products. When your eyes get tired, your game gets worse. You miss that clutch snipe or that blur on your screen was an opponent you couldn’t call out to a teammate because you simply thought your 2nd bag of Pizza Rolls was having an adverse effect on your skills.

You will have to get used to the glasses before you begin to notice a difference, things will seem a bit weird and your eyes will have to focus through a new lens. Though it is well worth the $80 dollars I paid. I highly recommend and suggest the Gunnar Optiks even if you just want to reduce fatigue on your eyes in front of the computer.

You can find the full line of glasses and more information at Gunnar Optiks

Stay tuned next week for my review of KontrolFreek’s FPS sticks.

A few of you may know that I am pursuing a career in Secondary Education-History.  As I have been assigned multiple field placements (Harper Woods High, Madison High and Algonquin Middle School) I have noticed that if students aren’t engaged in the lesson, they are prone to falling asleep (how many of us actually kept our eyes open during history while we were in school?).  So as a new teacher entering the field, I think that a great way to really make history relevant to the students is through TECHNOLOGY.  What a concept, right?

Here are a few links that I thought would be great to place into my lessons.  Let me know what you think.

http://www.mrnussbaum.com/amflash2.htm

http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/

http://www.civilwarinteractive.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/world_war2/

Believe it or not many of the people in my education courses don’t want to integrate technology in their classroom.  For instance, I brought up the idea of creating a classroom blog, where I would post homework on a daily basis.  Students would be welcome to post questions on the blog, and parents could have easy access to what their students were doing in class.  Half of the people in my class thought it was a horrible idea, because the students would “probably type in ‘text’ talk” and that such a blog would promote poor writing skills.  Yet shouldn’t students be exposed to blogging?  Wouldn’t that be a great tool to have after graduation?

I understand that everything has it’s pro’s and con’s, but I really think that our youth needs as much exposure to technology in order to compete globally.

Well this is exactly what we were trying to get donations for. I’ve sold some personal property as well, and was able to front some of the cash to purchase the card itself. It should be here, in all it’s glory, on Friday this week, or Monday next week!

We still need donations, so please feel free to keep them coming (go to the “Live” page to find the donate button). We still need more hardware and cabling that is just too expensive for our staff members right now.

Once all is said and done, the setup should follow this flowchat exactly. (Click for a larger view)

Once we continue collecting donations, we should be able to purchase the other remaining components and start streaming our HD consoles and even capturing some moments in HD for posting on sites like YouTube.

I will be sure to photo/video document the unboxing and installation of the Intensity Pro card, and let you all know how it works.

There has been some doubt about it working on my X58 architecture board, but some forum goers have said it shouldn’t be an issue. Blackmagic’s official take on it is “not supported” but the retailer I purchased from allows a 30 day grace period for money-back returns. If this setup doesn’t work, there are other (slightly more expensive) solutions we will strive for. I’m fairly certain this should go off without a hitch  though.