So let’s get on with the first review, the Modiano 4 Color Poker set. This is a four color deck. These decks are more popular overseas than they are here in the U.S. but are starting to catch on here so don’t be surprised to run across a deck in the near future. Spades are still black and hearts are still red but the clubs in this deck are green and the diamonds are blue. I purchased these cards (a red and blue deck) online for approximately $10 USD and they are manufactured in Italy. After shuffling and dealing a couple of hands I noticed they are a little thicker than the other plastic cards that I have. They also have a very nice texture to them. While plastic, they have a paper feel to them which I attribute to the texture more than anything else. Here is the back of the blue deck…

The back of the blue deck, Modiano 4 Color Poker Deck

This is actually the second deck of this set of cards. There was a problem with one of the cards in the first set. When I contacted Modiano they happily replaced the deck with a new set. I was very pleased with their customer service. I should point out that the back design was different in the replacement set than the one I originally purchased so I can’t be sure what the backs will look like should you purchase your own deck. Overall I am very pleased with this set of cards. I have several plastic decks and this one is first on my list. (Copag, Dal Negro, Gemaco being some of the other manufacturers. I will review these decks in later posts.)

The colors in the face cards are better than other decks I own. The Copag Fall edition comes to mind. I didn’t care too much for the abundance of green ink they used on the face cards of that deck. The colors are more balanced on the Modiano deck in my opinion. Take a look here at the Queen of Clubs.

The Queen of Clubs

The blue on the diamond cards is a little lighter than I would have personally chosen but still looks good. Here is the jack of diamonds.

The Jack of Diamonds

The red used for the heart suit is more or less the standard and the color most have come to expect. I am including the picture below more or less to give you another look at the face cards for this deck. The ace of hearts also bears the company’s name as well as the place where they are manufactured. Trieste, Italy. I’m not sure what the significance of the stag logo but it appears on every set of Modiano cards that I own so I am assuming it’s a company logo.

The Ace of Hearts

So, to sum up this short but hopefully helpful review of the Modiano 4 Color deck, this is a set of cards that I am very pleased to have purchased and have no reservations on recommending it to others. I like the thickness of the cards, the texture and the classic feel of the paper deck I get when using them. If you don’t already own deck of plastic cards then this is definitely the one to start with and an excellent first purchase. If anyone has any questions about this deck or plastic cards in general, please feel free to post a comment to this post and I will be happy to answer your questions if I can.

One last parting image and one I intend to leave the reader with in every deck review I do, the ace of spades from the deck. The ace of spades is the signature card for any deck of cards produced the world over.

The Ace of Spades

I hope you enjoyed this review and remember to post any questions you might have in the comment section below. Cheers!

Posting this link to explain to people why I detest the Red Cross and their business practices. Have you noticed how, if you are a blood donor, that they call you constantly with the zeal of a deranged telemarketer? You think they do this because for some holy, altruistic drive to help people?

You are delusional. They are doing it to make money. That’s their drive, to fill their pockets.

I could go on and on about this topic but I think you should do the research yourself. Spend 5 minutes with Google and see if you don’t come to despise them as I do.

To get you started I will list a few links for you to peruse at your leisure.

Bad Blood

Billion Dollar Greed

If you are like me and can’t stand YouTube annotations because most people use them way too much you can turn them off by following the instructions in the image above. You can turn them back on using the menu on the YouTube player but this will allow you to watch YouTube videos with the annotations turned off by default.

This setting will only work while you are logged in. You will have to do this all over again the next time you log in. Annoying, yes? Send them a letter letting them know what a monumentally stupid decision it was to make users do this each time they log in.

YouTube, LLC
901 Cherry Ave.
San Bruno, CA 94066
USA
Phone: +1 650-253-0000
Fax: +1 650-253-0001

Came across this annoying little quirk this evening while working in Photoshop. I was constantly rotating the canvas of my image accidentally using the trackpad on my MacBook Pro. Now, I love the multi-touch track pad but in this instance it was getting a little out of hand. If you have run across this your self, click the image above or the link below to download a plugin that will disable this feature while using Photoshop.

Adobe – Photoshop : For Macintosh : Adobe Photoshop CS4 Disable Canvas Rotation Via Trackpad plug-in

YouTube – Batman: Arkham Asylum Joker Trailer

Google Voice Invites are difficult to get. But US Military Personnel can get priority Google Voice invites thanks to a new initiative by Google to help them communicate with family and friends.

The most important requirement is that you need a .mil email address, which is proof of being in the US military. Secondly it is necessary to be in the US and have a US phone to sign up for Google Voice. Request an invite at the special military page and Google promises to send you a Google voice invite in 1-2 days. For rest of us, there is the usual Google invite request page.

Google Voice gives you a unique single phone number for all your phones, voicemail becomes as easy as email, and many calling features are free. This video will give you a better idea of how useful your Google number is.

It’s time for me to play with my balls – my cannon balls, that is. I was playing Cannonballz the game. There’s no need to register or log in, but you can connect it to your Facebook account! It will snap your picture and upload it right to your Facebook page, so everyone can see how well – or badly – you did!

Cannonballz is the first ever Augmented Reality game using ZugMo Motion Capture Technology, Flash and Facebook to make both you and your friends the stars of the game. Think fast and move faster as you dodge pirate cannonballs while saving your Facebook friends to become a legend on the leaderboard. No proprietary plug-ins to play! All you need is the latest version of Flash and a webcam and you’re good to go!

The idea is to move around to avoid getting whapped in the head with a cannon ball! It’s actually pretty fun, and not as easy as you would think. It’s augmented reality. It’s like I’m IN the game. It’s based on motion, so you might want to get your butt out of your chair for once!

You’ll have hours of fun playing this game, trust me. I could totally forget to work, and just spend all night dodging the balls.

(Via Chris Pirillo.)

Got a little bored waiting for a phone call today and whipped up some Super Mario Brothers ringtones for my iPhone using GarageBand. Thought I would post them online in case any one else was a SMB fan and had and iPhone. There are ringtones from SMB 1 through 3 as well as one for the New Super Mario Brothers in the archive. Just import them into iTunes and they will be listed under Ringtones. All, except the New Super Mario Brothers Theme, are 28 seconds in length and fade out over the last five seconds of the loop. The New Super Mario Brothers ringtone is 39 seconds. It was a late addition to the pack.

Enjoy!

Click the image below to download.

http://homepage.mac.com/robgrant/comiclife/

If you don’t know anything about the breed the video above will give you a good look at the dog (mine will be the same “Red and White” color that you see in the video) and some of it’s characteristics. Although I am sure the die hard Basenji owner will say the video falls short of really letting someone know what this interesting breed is all about, think of the video as more of an introduction to the breed instead of a de facto statement about this amazing dog.

All I know is I am getting really excited and Sunday can not come soon enough as far as I am concerned.