Thursday, January 26, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Energy drink review 1
Monster
All in all, I give this energy drink a 10/10. It is super sweet, kind of like a mountain dew which makes it easy to go down. They also have some sweet re-sealable cans which is good if you use public transport. In terms of energy, it's a good hit, lasting about 2 hours and completely wearing off in about 3 to 4 hours.
Red Bull
The original energy drink. Always reminds me of vodka. It has that unique red bull only flavour, as unique as coke in soft drinks. I've tried the massive red bull can before and that was pretty awesome. I'd say about nearly 3 hours of concentration and wearing off just about 4 hours later. Also a 10/10.
Rockstar
I would rate this as good as monsters, though when you come to buy it, you feel like you're buying a cheap no brand name imitation TV. They are sweet as well and have some pretty awesome flavours - my favourite so far is guava, though I haven't tried them all. A solid 9/10. In terms of strength, it is a little less stronger than Monster, but a respectable kick.
V
V is kind of like what pepsi is to coke. The reason I see it this way is because V was the second energy drink that I saw come on to the market. It is very weak, with a 250ml cans lasting about 1 hour, wearing off completely in 2. I've never really adjusted as well to it's syrupy taste, kind of like how pepsi has that noticeable caramel syrupy taste. I suppose if you don't want to be fully charged it's a good option, but hey, what's the point if you don't want to be bouncing off the walls. A 5/10.
Mother
Mother has that herb aftertaste, like someone purposefully crushed up some dry leaf and put it in there... a bit like gin. Having said that, it does make it unique - you know you're drinking a mother. It is very much on par with rockstars and monsters in terms of strength. However, what I have fallen in love with is the little "big shot" can's. It is somewhere between drinking energy drink syrup and having an actual energy drink. It gives a very strong kick for an hour. I suppose it doesn't last as long as having a 500ml+ can of energy drinks but you will definitely notice a punch of concentration far stronger than any of the other brands or size drinks. In terms of strength, an 8/10 in the long term and an 11/10 in the first 30 to 60 mins. Overall, mother is a solid 9/10
Wicked
Way too sour to enjoy. You basically have to sip it. It has too much of that citrusy sour flavour. Comparable to a mother, but way more sour. The kick is rather sub par as well, maybe lasting about 1.5 hours. I checked the ingredients and it has similar amounts to other drinks, so I'm not sure why it didn't give a comparable kick. Maybe it had something to do with me drinking it slowly due to the taste. However, it is ridiculously cheap. I managed to buy a 6 pack for about $5 at Coles. Overall, use only if desperate... or low on cash. 6/10
Seize Power
Bought these from the Reject Shop in Perth. They come in 300ml cans, 50mls more than your generic energy drink size. So in a four pack, you nearly get an extra whole can. Each can cost me $1 so it was pretty good bang for buck. Flavour wise, it is a very generic energy drink taste, kind of bland with no over powering sour taste that some energy drinks have. It reminded me of an energy drink I used to buy from Red Dot. I forget the name, but they were sky blue cans with the slogan "go hard or go home" printed on them. The kick is also decent. I give it a solid 7/10
All in all, I give this energy drink a 10/10. It is super sweet, kind of like a mountain dew which makes it easy to go down. They also have some sweet re-sealable cans which is good if you use public transport. In terms of energy, it's a good hit, lasting about 2 hours and completely wearing off in about 3 to 4 hours.
Red Bull
The original energy drink. Always reminds me of vodka. It has that unique red bull only flavour, as unique as coke in soft drinks. I've tried the massive red bull can before and that was pretty awesome. I'd say about nearly 3 hours of concentration and wearing off just about 4 hours later. Also a 10/10.
Rockstar
I would rate this as good as monsters, though when you come to buy it, you feel like you're buying a cheap no brand name imitation TV. They are sweet as well and have some pretty awesome flavours - my favourite so far is guava, though I haven't tried them all. A solid 9/10. In terms of strength, it is a little less stronger than Monster, but a respectable kick.
V
V is kind of like what pepsi is to coke. The reason I see it this way is because V was the second energy drink that I saw come on to the market. It is very weak, with a 250ml cans lasting about 1 hour, wearing off completely in 2. I've never really adjusted as well to it's syrupy taste, kind of like how pepsi has that noticeable caramel syrupy taste. I suppose if you don't want to be fully charged it's a good option, but hey, what's the point if you don't want to be bouncing off the walls. A 5/10.
Mother
Mother has that herb aftertaste, like someone purposefully crushed up some dry leaf and put it in there... a bit like gin. Having said that, it does make it unique - you know you're drinking a mother. It is very much on par with rockstars and monsters in terms of strength. However, what I have fallen in love with is the little "big shot" can's. It is somewhere between drinking energy drink syrup and having an actual energy drink. It gives a very strong kick for an hour. I suppose it doesn't last as long as having a 500ml+ can of energy drinks but you will definitely notice a punch of concentration far stronger than any of the other brands or size drinks. In terms of strength, an 8/10 in the long term and an 11/10 in the first 30 to 60 mins. Overall, mother is a solid 9/10
Wicked
Way too sour to enjoy. You basically have to sip it. It has too much of that citrusy sour flavour. Comparable to a mother, but way more sour. The kick is rather sub par as well, maybe lasting about 1.5 hours. I checked the ingredients and it has similar amounts to other drinks, so I'm not sure why it didn't give a comparable kick. Maybe it had something to do with me drinking it slowly due to the taste. However, it is ridiculously cheap. I managed to buy a 6 pack for about $5 at Coles. Overall, use only if desperate... or low on cash. 6/10
Seize Power
Bought these from the Reject Shop in Perth. They come in 300ml cans, 50mls more than your generic energy drink size. So in a four pack, you nearly get an extra whole can. Each can cost me $1 so it was pretty good bang for buck. Flavour wise, it is a very generic energy drink taste, kind of bland with no over powering sour taste that some energy drinks have. It reminded me of an energy drink I used to buy from Red Dot. I forget the name, but they were sky blue cans with the slogan "go hard or go home" printed on them. The kick is also decent. I give it a solid 7/10
Friday, January 13, 2012
Battlefield 3
Having finally got battlefield working after downloading the correct driver, I have so far found my experience enjoyable. An FPS lover, my only other real experience with online FPS was playing FEAR multiplayer on the GameArena servers. Having been playing battlefield for 2 days, I can see I will surely be as addicted to battlefield as I will be to FEAR.
I have played about 1 hours worth of the campaign and found that to be challenging. From the reviews I've read though, gamers are unhappy that it is far too linear and scripted.
Happy gaming all!
I have played about 1 hours worth of the campaign and found that to be challenging. From the reviews I've read though, gamers are unhappy that it is far too linear and scripted.
Happy gaming all!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
The counting device
A counter is very clever virtual device used all over the internet. It's aim is to create virtual stature of an internet user, website or product based on a number or counter. It's important to note however, that in most cases, the virtual class or stature of a person, website or product is only perceived from the point of view of persons. A classic example, is someone with 100 Facebook friends vs someone with 200 Facebook friends is in no way an indicator of how social or popular they are in real life. It is only perceived that way by the user base online. Before I go through some examples, it is important to note that the counting device has a far greater impact on children than it does adults as children often adhere to the "more is better" principle.
MySpace
The counting devices were the friend count, top friends, comment count, video view count. In MySpace, these virtually had no limit.
Facebook
Facebook overcame the problem of unlimited friends by having a friend cap of 5000. Now, there was no real point in getting to 5000, because chances are about a couple of million other people probably had 5000 friends as well. Additionally, if you reached 5000 people and wanted to add someone you actually knew, then you'd have to go in and delete one of the randoms. However, they still employ counting devices such the number of likes and comment count.
Youtube
Well this one is pretty straight forward - view count.
Forums/Message Boards
Message boards can actually have a division of user classes. A typical example would be a user of class Administrator and user of class "User". However, the big counting device here is the post count. It is a counter of the amount of times you post or reply to something on the message board. This gave rise to terms such as "post whoring" and "trolling" the aim of which was to get your post count as high as possible with minimal regard to the actual topic being discussed. I believe message boards were one of the biggest influences on today's social media. The difference of course being that message boards are typically a strictly anonymous affair.
Peer to peer sharing
Your ratio is an indicator of how much you share. The higher this number, the better you look online. Total uploaded is another good counter
Runescape
The 200,000,000 xp cap. There are 26 skills, which means currently the total cap is 5,200,000,000 xp. The highest ranked player has 3,769,000,000 xp. That is, they have completed roughly 72%. Given the game was first released in 2004, it will take them about another 3 to 4 years to max out their xp and that's only if no other new skills are introduced. Why did I include this one? I played this once - how I've wasted my life :(
World of Warcraft
Item level, DPS etc etc.
In conclusion, if you want to subtly force users to subconsciously compete against each other, employing counting devices is essential. However, you do not necessarily have to employ this device to be successful, Angry Birds for example.
[Disclaimer: I'm talking shit]
MySpace
The counting devices were the friend count, top friends, comment count, video view count. In MySpace, these virtually had no limit.
Facebook overcame the problem of unlimited friends by having a friend cap of 5000. Now, there was no real point in getting to 5000, because chances are about a couple of million other people probably had 5000 friends as well. Additionally, if you reached 5000 people and wanted to add someone you actually knew, then you'd have to go in and delete one of the randoms. However, they still employ counting devices such the number of likes and comment count.
Youtube
Well this one is pretty straight forward - view count.
Forums/Message Boards
Message boards can actually have a division of user classes. A typical example would be a user of class Administrator and user of class "User". However, the big counting device here is the post count. It is a counter of the amount of times you post or reply to something on the message board. This gave rise to terms such as "post whoring" and "trolling" the aim of which was to get your post count as high as possible with minimal regard to the actual topic being discussed. I believe message boards were one of the biggest influences on today's social media. The difference of course being that message boards are typically a strictly anonymous affair.
Peer to peer sharing
Your ratio is an indicator of how much you share. The higher this number, the better you look online. Total uploaded is another good counter
Runescape
The 200,000,000 xp cap. There are 26 skills, which means currently the total cap is 5,200,000,000 xp. The highest ranked player has 3,769,000,000 xp. That is, they have completed roughly 72%. Given the game was first released in 2004, it will take them about another 3 to 4 years to max out their xp and that's only if no other new skills are introduced. Why did I include this one? I played this once - how I've wasted my life :(
World of Warcraft
Item level, DPS etc etc.
In conclusion, if you want to subtly force users to subconsciously compete against each other, employing counting devices is essential. However, you do not necessarily have to employ this device to be successful, Angry Birds for example.
[Disclaimer: I'm talking shit]
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