How to make Iced Coffee

Have you ever asked yourself (or perhaps someone close to you) "How do you make Iced Coffee?  Well if you would like to know the answer to this perplexing question, you needn't look any further then below.  

In these fast-moving-data-centric days we live in, it's tough to keep up with everything, and the time honored tradition of steeping ground coffee beans in a hot water is not lost on everyone.  But say you want to that hot beverage, cold.

What do you do?  

How do you do it?

Let me show you...

Step 1 - Pour Iced Coffee over ice and add Cream

Enjoy

MashButtons goes full wireless with Jabra’s Elite Sport

Jabra has recently provided me with their recent truly wireless earbuds, the Elite Sport, which isn’t just for listening to music cord free, but also provides heart rate monitoring and coaching while also being compatible with a number of fitness apps. Since these are completely wireless,  a clamshell charging case is included and in regards to charging, Jabra is boasting up to 13 and a half hours between charges. These ear buds integrate with Jabra’s Sport Life application, which allows for planning workouts, tests fitness levels, along with analyzing and recording fitness activity.

Out of the box and into my ears, these buds were easy to sync but uncomfortable, but after a few failed attempts to get the right fit with the various sized EarWings and EarGels, I was able to get them to stay in my ears comfortably. What I really liked about the Elite Sports was that when charging their case, Bluetooth would disconnect, then would automatically connect to my phone once the case opened. During use, I learned that one ear bud can be used should you want to be aware of your surroundings, but be aware that it must be the right side because once the right gets too far from the left side, the left side will shut off.

I was able to wear these comfortably through a workout, but got a little uncomfortable towards the end of a two hour flight. While there are buttons to control the volume, track, and heart rate, the buttons were very small and would have to firmly press the earbud into my ear to get the button to click. My only other complaint is probably just a personal preference but the sound quality, while crisp and clear with various music genres, was lacking in bass. I am not sure how the sound compares to apple’s wireless ear buds, but my comparison was with my Bose SoundSport that are similar in size but wired.

Being that the Elite Sport are completely wireless I was worried that they would fall out of my ear while active, but they fit snug and didn’t fall out, dry or sweaty. The amount of features are plentiful to help justify the heavy price and stand out among the handful of truly wireless earbuds and the sound quality stays clear at any volume and does well drowning out noise. These are best fit for active lifestyles with their ability to effectively stay in my ears, monitor workouts, provide coaching, and link to my Apple Watch so the phone wasn’t needed to be on me to listen to my playlist and track my activity. Jabra’s Elite Sport is available now for $249.99.

SteelSeries ups your PC gaming experience for just over 100 dollars

SteelSeries has provided us with a couple products from their lineup, which includes the Siberia 200, a headset for the PC and PS4, and the Rival 100, a mouse loaded with options that supports both PC and Mac. While I have not had any hands on experience with SteelSeries’ products, I was looking forward to seeing how they compare to the likes of Roccat or Razer, especially being a more affordable option. With headphones and mouse unboxed, drivers downloaded, and configured for specific games, it’s time to see how the hold up.

I will begin with the Rival 100, a wired optical gaming mouse with six programmable buttons and a user friendly. The setup was easy, I just downloaded SteelSeries Engine 3 and I was ready to setup individual profiles for my preferred game or application. There is a unique feature called GameSense which provides different illumination for in game actions, the downside was that only three games support this feature, none of which I play. This mouse has smooth movement and easy to locate buttons, my only complaint is with the weight, being lighter than I prefer, and the side grips really didn’t provide much if any grip, but the performance customization is where it really shined.

Next up is the Siberia 200 headset, which is based on their best selling Siberia V2 with updates. This headset on top of providing great sound quality and voice chat was very comfortable to wear for long periods of time. This comfort comes not only from the over the ear design, but the suspension headband that eliminates the pressure found wearing other headsets.  Another unique feature is the mic as it retracts and extends from the earcup for those times using just to listen to music. I mentioned the sound quality and it provided a great range of sound in explosions and motor noises in games and much easier to hear teammates at high volume during online play, which is my biggest issue with most of the headsets I have used on the PS4. Once again, like my complaint with the mouse is with the build quality and while they performed well, better than expected, they just didn’t provide a sturdy feel when handling.

I was pleasantly surprised with the time spent with my first SteelSeries products. The features and performance compare to those that are found in similar products at higher price points and come in a seven different color options. SteelSeries makes it easier to get more from the gaming experience after the large amounts of money spent building a gaming PC or PS4. Siberia 200 is the entry level to the Siberia lineup and is available for $69.99, while the Rival 100 is available for $39.99. Check them out and while you are at it, there are various options in each of the Siberia and Rival lineups. 

Mighty No. 9: A trying tale from crowd funding to download

Just about everyone that has been playing games since the golden years of Nintendo has encountered Mega Man and struggled to take down the dastardly Dr…this isn’t about that game, but this is about it’s creator’s quest to bring a predecessor to the current generation through a bumpy crowd funding campaign. The drama is behind us at this point and the game is here, so let’s focus on the what has been provided to the fans and backers along with the experience. Mighty No. 9 is a side scrolling action game in which you take on the role of Beck in the year 20XX as the ninth robot among a number others designed to compete in the Battle Coliseum; the twist is that Beck is the only one that isn’t infected by an unknown virus. Each of the robots have a unique power in which, surprise, you take over their power upon defeating. Instead of the familiar jump and shoot, a dash attack has been introduced in which bonus’ are rewarded based on timing and combos. Let’s see how Mighty No. 9 lives up to its predecessor and if that classic 2D action holds up.

Right out of the gate, my experience felt slightly nostalgic and then after being introduced to the cast of characters, I got those old warm and fuzzy feelings. With each of the bosses providing a new special ability upon defeat, making selection of the next stage being strategically chosen based off newly acquired skills to help with completion of the next stage. I personally felt that Mighty No. 9 was not quite as difficult as I was expecting, however there was some stages that provided the frustrating level of difficulty that would make me set down the controller and step away after many failed attempts. There was something that stood out to me, particularly like a sore thumb were the boss character designs, they did not seem to fit in or look finished in contrast to the bright and flashy level designs and enemies. Another throwback that took me back to the patch less good old days is the music and there is good reason for that as it is the same composers, including Manami Matsumae, who have worked with Keiji Inafune numerous times in the past. 

While Mighty No. 9, seems extremely linear, being a side scrolling game with 12 unique stages and boss battles, there are a number of various game modes included, which are unlocked throughout gameplay. Such modes include Challenge Mode that consists of various mini missions, Boss Rush Mode to race against your best times, harder difficulties, along with 2 Player Online Race Battles and Co-Op Challenge Modes. I enjoyed most of my experience with Mighty No. 9, even though there were some gripes here and there, particularly by the main character designs and the story that I found myself skipping through cut scenes stages in. While it’s roots are definitely visible in this title, I feel that it has enough going for it to stand on it’s own and bring in a new audience that is not familiar with the previous classics of Keiji Inajune. Mighty No. 9 is available now across just about every console for $29.99.