x86

MCNETT FOLIO SLEEP SACKS, Polyblend Blue DOUBLE (80"x86")(2.5lbs)($37.95)
$37.95
Folio Sleep Sack & Sleeping Bag Liner: These fantastic sleep sacks and liners features: More interior room, Luxury details and comfortable, Breathable fabrics make Folio Sleep Sacks and Sleeping Bag Liners the perfect travel companion, Folio is easy to carry, Easy to clean and dry - Ideal for hotels, hostels, outdoor adventure and all types of travel - Lightweight rectangular design is wider and longer than traditional sleeping sacks, Folio gives the weary traveler room to stretch out and relax into a restful sleep, Thoughtful details provide extra comfort and peace of mind, Extra length on the top sheet to fold over scratchy blankets, Built-in pillow pocket, Removable corner ties on most styles designed to keep the sheet in place during sleep, Velcro opening on the side, Folio adds warmth, keeps bedding and sleeping bags clean and prolongs sleeping bag life - Folio packs away into a small stuff sack for the space-conscious traveler, Available in 100% Unbleached Cotton, Polyester (65%)/Cotton (35%)Blend, and 100% Silk - AUTHORIZED DEALER, FULL MANUFACTURER¡­S WARRANTY!!! Travel in style and comfort with our Folio Sleep Sacks & Sleeping Bag Liners. Afford to dive with unrealfind.com

Kenwood eXcelon KDC-X993 - Radio / CD / MP3 player / digital player - Full-DIN - in-dash - 50 Watts x 4
$369.99
Very impressed so far although am having a devil of a time with resolving the cell phone compatability issue. I suspect there are others like myself who simply thought if a radio is identified as Blue Tooth capable it would work with any blue tooth phone....WELL THAT'S A BIS MISTAKE TO DRAW THAT CONCLUSION.....BECAUSE THEY AREN'T. I've just found out the hard way...my phone isn't on Kenwoods list as compatable...after wrestling with the unit for 2 weeks, thinking I'd done something wrong program wise....NOPE, you have to go to Kenwood's web site to see if your phone is compatable. And if your current blue tooth phone isn't, then you have to buy another one to make this thing work. That is so wrong....there should be some kind of notification on Kenwoods...or Pioneers boxes that clearly states BUYER BEWARE....first confirm you phone will work before buying this thing.

I'm one very unhappy camper!!!

Taito Legends
$19.99
I love classic gaming. To me once Doom and Quake hit the scene then it seems as though a lot of originality ended. And while I think a lot of the latest 3D first-person games are quite pretty looking they all tend to look the same after a while.

I grew up on '80s consoles and arcade games. It's where I found collections, such as Taito Legends quite appealing. To be able to buy a compilation on disc was too good to be true! And while I'm sure I could've downloaded an arcade emulator and did some searching for these titles this was a good way of throwing some coin back to the producers of these compilations.

And once I found my system compromised with the SECDRV.SYS "driver" (on-disc time/date stamp for that file: Thursday, October 06, 2005, 10:09:41), the portion of Macrovision's SafeDisc copy protection employed by this title, I felt cheated. Here I was, not a pirate at all but someone who purchased a legitimate copy, winding up with an unwanted "driver" that made my system mysteriously reboot while in the middle of something important (remastering audio, editing video, etc.)

Is that the price for nostalgia nowadays? These are great games and it was that "protection" that I later traced back to that driver. Another unrelated compilation of other classic arcade games, protected by StarForce, was just as nasty.

It was with titles, such as this, I feel that the software industry has shot itself not just merely in the feet. It practically blew its entire lower torso off with a bazooka! The reason is simple: If legit retail games, such as this collection, can wreak such unforeseen havoc, I can see why people would rather download a clean copy from elsewhere. That's the ultimate irony! Has the industry realized that another reason why people acquire titles like this from other sources is due to this?

So I think the title deserves merit for a good idea. But, when burdened with malware, I cannot morally give it anything more than one star. On the bright side it really opened my eyes on how the software companies really treat legitimate buyers of their products. Folks, when people give you money for a product they don't expect anything shady going on.

So there this title sits on my shelf filled with my legit DVDs. I'd love to revisit it again for a taste of nostalgia. I just can't bring myself to use the product again and have some good clean fun. I'd love to state to the industry that, "Hey! I'm one of the good guys out there!" I still buy CDs simply because I do my own remastered lossless rips and buy DVDs because I value classic cinema.

I wish there was more about the games themselves but this major flaw is something that needed to be addressed. The games can sell on their own merits (the whole reason I bought this compilation in the first place). I love the games yet hate having to risk an unstable system just to enjoy them. And that infuriates me.

So I plan on double-checking my discs (I disabled AutoPlay) and revisiting Amazon to post my findings on the other compilations on my shelf accordingly.

32/64-Bit 80x86 Assembly Language Architecture
$49.95
This book is about as much fun to read as the "AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual Volume 3: General-Purpose and System Instructions" manual. I agree with many of the other reviewer's bad comments about this book:

* mainly full of charts and opcode tables that you can get for free from AMD and Intel
* not funny (NASM MASM TASM WASM and Batman... what's the difference again???)
* after chapter 1, he hasn't covered how to write an assembly language program, not even a simple one (chapter 1 is full of gibberish)
* after chapter 2, he hasn't covered how to write an assembly language program, not even a simple one (chapter 2 is full of C++)
* after all chapters, he STILL hasn't covered how to write an assembly language program, not even a simple one
* he's the type of author that wastes space talking about and trying to get you to buy his other books
* the book reads like a reference manual and assumes that you already know assembly and how to use MASM