Summertime … and the living is easy. That lyric probably applies to Porgy and Bess more than it applies to all of us, with our internships, jobs, résumé builders, and whatnot. However, it really wouldn’t be summer if you had no time to relax. If you’re like me, relaxation means a gadget in one hand and a piña colada in another, relaxing somewhere in the shade where you can actually see your screen as opposed to just your reflected face. Summertime can be a bit of a doldrum when it comes to technology, though, so today’s column is one of advice: Timmy Taylor’s Top Ten Tech Things That should Transpire in summertime, or TTTTTTTsTis for short.
First, and I know I’ve said this before, but one of the most fun things to tackle as a summer project is building your own PC. If you want to elevate yourself above the level of the aging seventh generation of consoles and can’t wait until the PS4 and Xbox 720 in the winter, go on Newegg.com, and have yourself a blast with the $800 or $900 you’ve saved during the semester. Another hot thing to do in the hot months: get a cool new phone. If you’ve got the money and the contract freedom, smartphones have never been better, with the Galaxy S4 and HTC One vying for the title of “Best Phone Ever.” Don’t forget that the Galaxy Note III will be coming later in August or September (most likely), and the fabled Motorola X-Phone won’t be too far behind.
If you’re on a tighter budget and just want something to play, unfortunately the new releases aren’t going to help you out much during this time of the year. Crysis 3 and Bioshock Infinite are yesterday’s news, and despite being a very good game, Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon disappoints by not offering Circle Pad Pro support for the 3DS. Your best bet: watch a stream of this year’s Electronic Entertainment Exposition (E3), the industry conference galore, where the announcements for new games are sure to get your gaming buds salivating. We can definitely expect to hear more of the PS4 and Xbox 720 (maybe even hands-on gameplay?), as well as Nintendo’s next anticipated titles and hopefully the fruition of Final Fantasy XIII Versus, which may or may not be rebranded as Final Fantasy XV.
Speaking of conferences and conventions, many of those occur during the summer too. Besides E3, which you can’t get into without a press pass, the San Diego Comic Con and Anime Expo both occur in July in this part of the world and are some of the best in their class. If you’ve never thought about dressing up in costume and parading your geek around on full display … consider it. Conventions are a special kind of crazy where it actually feels more out of place not to wear a costume than it does to doll yourself up. Plus, you never know what like-minded people you’ll meet, fight, and take full memory cards’ worth of pictures with along the way.
For those of you feeling more experimental this summer, you might be inclined to look into a few rising technologies that will most likely debut over the course of the next few months. The open-source OUYA android game console and the VR headset Oculus Rift are both worthy candidates for a developer’s interests. Also, the fabled Google Glass project is in beta testing, but good luck getting your hands on one of those.
Alternatively, if you’re just not feeling the tech vibe this summer, chill out, relax, retreat to your private island with no cell service, and count me out of your plans. I’ll see the rest of you in cyberspace and wish you a very happy summer. Now, if you’ll excuse me … I have to meet with my ninjas about acquiring a Google Glass.