LG G Pad 8.3 Review and Giveaway

One of the best Android tablets on the market comes from an unlikely source – LG. LG once stood for “Lucky Goldstar” – an amalgam of two merged South Korean companies. LG made a name for itself with the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5, some of the best smartphones ever made. Fresh off their handset successes, rumors began circulating that Google tapped LG to manufacture the – potential vaporware – Nexus 8. The basis for the rumor lies in the sophistication and quality of the LG G Pad 8.3 tablet. It includes great build quality, specs and software, rivaling some of the best tablets in the market.

The competitors within the 8-inch tablet market include Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 8.0 and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4” priced at $279.99 and $369.99, respectively. Within the 8-inch market segment, the LG G Pad offers excellent, but not the best, specifications. The Galaxy Pro inhabits the high end while the Galaxy Note offers similar hardware. However, in terms of its components, the LG G Pad falls more into the same category as the much acclaimed Nexus 7, 2013 edition. But can LG’s device, at around $280, match competitors, or does its price short-circuit an otherwise spectacular device?

Initial Impressions

The LG G Pad offers sterling design, good specifications and at first glance, feels like a great device.

Unboxing the LG G Pad, I didn’t expect much. It came in a relatively mundane white box, as many of LG’s products do. Inside lay a charger, micro-USB cable, instruction manual and an attached screen protector. Indeed, nothing felt polished about the packaging or presentation of the LG G Pad. However, only a fool judges a book by its cover.

Build Your Own Awesome Personal 3D Avatar with Avatara

Do you use social networks and want to build your own awesome 3D avatar? Maybe you want to send someone a cute cuddly image of yourself (kind of)? Or maybe you have your own ideas of what you would do with an Avatar… Well look no further than Avatara which I discovered from the MakeUseOf directory . You can create 3d avatars out of pre-set up templates or create your own from scratch. To start, visit Avatara’s homepage . You will see this screen: Click Get Started to umm, get started! That will take you to this screen: You see that you can build your own Avatar using an uploaded head shot like the Obama one above (just an example, guys). Or roll with one of their awesome avatars. I chose to start with a blank avatar by clicking Start with a blank avatar at the bottom of the screen. That takes you to here: I clicked on the filter at the top and told it to filter out everything but male characters and then I saw this: I rolled with Buck and continued. You need to click Select...

Fun Tools to Translate Your Name into Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese calligraphy is an artistic writing style of the Japanese language. Its Chinese origins can be traced back to the twenty-eighth century BCE. Calligraphy found its way into Japanese culture in 600 CE and is known as the karayo tradition. For Westerners, calligraphy is forever fascinating. However, it takes years to learn how to properly draw the signs. Two basic principles must be known to understand Japanese writing: there are different writing styles and different alphabets. Kaisho for example, is a writing style most commonly used in print media. Tensho on the other hand is used in signatures. Other writing styles are Reisho, Gyosho and Sousho. The alphabets include Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Katakana is used for writing foreign words. It can also serve to highlight words, in analogy to capital letters as we know them from the Roman / Latin alphabet (Romaji in Japanese). Each Kanji character has a meaning of its own, while Hiragana or Katakana characters merely repres...

Boom, the startup that wants to build supersonic planes, just signed a massive deal with Virgin

Have you heard about Boom? Boom is a relatively new startup that’s aiming to build something pretty crazy. They’re not building an app… or a social network… or even some new gadget for the Kickstarter crowd. Boom wants to build planes. Really, really, really fast planes. Specifically, they’re trying to design and build a supersonic passenger plane that goes 2.2x the speed of sound. If all goes to plan, they’ll be able to shuttle people from New York to London in 3.5 hours, and SF to Tokyo in 4.5. Sound crazy? I wouldn’t disagree. It’s worth noting that the company is in the very early days for something as intensive, massive, and hugely expensive as designing and producing a passenger aircraft. They’re still working on their first prototype, and hope to fly it by late next year. But it’s also worth noting that the team behind the plane has some serious talent in its blood: the company’s 11 employees have collectively contributed to over 30 aircrafts — having worked on thin...

Kiran Upadhyay

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