Iron Man 2 was one of the few, highly anticipated movies that we’ve seen in a while. With opening weekend officially behind us, raking in $134 million in the U.S., we thought we’d give you our thoughts on the new sequel, since the series is full of nerdgasmic awesomeness. See what both Craig and Tim have to say after the break.

Craig says:

The newest installment in the Iron Man series is really good, but not quite good enough to live up to the reputation of the original film. Let me explain.

I felt that there was too much comic relief. A teeny bit of it is fine and very welcomed, but too much just ruins the seriousness of the entire film. It almost felt like the movie was a comedy first and an action/adventure/thriller second.

I was really hoping Iron Man 2 would be simply amazing, so I am a little disappointed, but I would still recommend it to anyone who is thinking about watching it because it really was a good film and I still enjoyed it. If you are one who usually books it out the door as soon as the credits roll to beat the traffic, you’ll want to stick around for this one. Just sayin’.

Oh, and Scarlett Johansson was absolutely HOT!

Tim says:

After the bar was set impressively high by the first movie, I couldn’t help but wonder if the Iron Man movies would manage what Batman‘s reboot managed with a great first movie and an amazing second. Unfortunately, Iron Man 2 didn’t blow my mind. Granted, it was still a good movie, but the story and character development felt rushed to cram more fight-scenes into it. It’s beacuse of this that the development of a lot of new characters was cut short.

Iron Man 2‘s CGI is great, like the first movie although there were some points where it seemed a bit lacking, but was solid for the most part. Robert Downey Jr. is hilarious as ever in his role as Tony Stark, and the movie is capped off with a fantastic soundtrack that is sure to get your heart pumping.

Put simply, Iron Man 2 was a good movie with solid acting all around that sets itself up for another movie in the series. However, when it’s all said and done, you just might find yourself wanting to watch the first movie to fulfill your daily reccomended dose of awesomeness.

An anonymous reader asked on our Formspring.me page:

I’m not much of a PC guy, I like my Nintendo. But, I stumbled on to this nifty blog here and was like, “Neat”. Anyway, I appreciate the Bargain Bin and Retro Review, and you show a lot of Steam deals, but I wonder. What is the best online game service?

Overall, Steam is probably the favorite for a game sales and online gaming manager/client, but there’s also GoG.com, Impulse, GameTap, Direct2Drive, and OnLive (later on). For online gaming management, Blizzard’s Battle.net is a heavy contender also, but like I said, Steam is the preferred service for a majority of PC gamers.

Speaking of Steam, be sure to enter our giveaway where we’ll be giving one lucky commenter a Steam game worth up to $25. Details here.

Reader Billy writes,

“If you were to buy a new PC on a $1,000 budget, what would you get? I was thinking like an i3, 8GB of RAM, a 5850, and a 120GB HDD with a Lian-Li case. I’m not really sure because I don’t know much about computers and I thought it would be nice if you would help me out. I just moved here a few weeks ago and I’m still not familiar with the shops in the area, so I’ll probably be ordering from overclockers.co.uk. Oh, and my penis is stuck in glue, do you know of any anti-glue?”

View our answer to Billy after the break.

Well Billy, to answer your last question; the type of adhesive release you’ll need is quite dependent on the type of glue that you are currently bound to. We’re not sure exactly what your purpose was for putting your pride and joy near glue, and we obviously hope you’re just simply playing with us (pics or it didn’t happen).

And on to the main question, you’ve left us at a bit of a loss. You cite a UK website, but list your budget in dollars. As far as the PC build, Intel’s Core i3 and the Radeon HD 5850 seem like good choices, but you can save a little bit of cash by settling for 4GB of RAM instead of 8GB. Trust us, you don’t need 8GB unless you plan on taking over the world, in which case you’ll probably need a budget that’s larger than $1,000. It would also be smart to go for more HDD space, since you’d only have to pay a couple dollars more for twice the space. As for places to shop in the US, we personally use Newegg.com and we even configured a $1,000 build on Newegg for you to consider. View it here. Yeah, we went a little over and that doesn’t include shipping, but it has SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0, so it’s extremely future proof and if you can afford a $1,000 PC, we’re positive you can fork over a little more to ship the parts. If not, you can always go one step down with the video card and use the motherboard’s on-board sound instead of opting for the dedicated sound card.

If you’re having trouble deciding on what to get or have a technical issue of any sort, let us know here!

In accordance to our one year anniversary/birthday, we couldn’t help but to include at least one serious post on here. So, we thought it would be appropriate to have the editors of the Olive share their thoughts about the first year here and what it’s been like for them. Continue on after the break to read their testimonies.

Craig

Wow, what a year it’s been! It flew by fast, that’s for sure. I still remember the first days of Tech Olive like it was yesterday. It basically all started when Lucas Carter (who writes on here every once in a while) and I first met. He mentioned that he was the photographer for the university student newspaper. I instantly became interested in writing for the paper even though I had absolutely no previous experience. Once I got in, I immediately became hooked on writing. I decided that I could combine my tech knowledge with writing by starting my own tech blog. Tech Olive was born. Many people thought it wasn’t going to get very far, but I had goals and dreams that I wanted to fulfill with this site and I was going to do what it took. Those goals and dreams are not yet accomplished, but I’m several steps closer, thanks to the help of Tim and the rest of the staff for making Tech Olive what it is today.

Tim

In the beginning, Craig started Tech Olive without my aid, but I joined him a month later with my review of Far Cry 2. In the past, we had worked together on many projects, the most notably being a custom PC building service, which only lasted for about one PC’s worth of building. Later, we started a movie and video game review site. We pumped out several reviews before ending that. Craig focused on movie reviews and I, as expected, reviewed games. Both those projects were attempted many years before Tech Olive was born.

After I started writing for Tech Olive, I remember looking at games scheduled for the next year and think to myself, “I can’t wait to review that game on Tech Olive when it releases next year.” Immediately after that, a small feeling of fear and almost depression would come over me and I would think, “Then again, will Tech Olive really survive that long?” From our rocky history with projects, it was hard for me to expect much longevity out of this one. Sure, I liked reviewing games, but I wondered just how long it could last. Well, it seems the site has persevered, despite my negative outlook and I don’t see Tech Olive ceasing its quality broadcasts anytime soon.

Yes, that headline makes us sound very conceited and arrogant, but it’s our freakin’ one year anniversary/birthday and it’ll only happen once. Check back here throughout the day because we’ll be throwing up (gross, I know) some awesome posts related to this milestone occasion and we’ll also be announcing the giveaway winners as well! Also, please forgive the burger. Because the cake is a lie. We were forced to find the next best alternative.

So, to gear up for Q4 2009 and years to follow, we’ve decided to get more volunteer contributing writers on board. What we mean by “volunteer” is that you won’t be guaranteed any kind of pay, benefits or a staff position, but it’s a great way to gain writing experience and get your name out there, while having fun doing it! Chances are, if we like you, we’ll keep you on board and pay you.

Anyway, we currently have three positions that are currently open. Check out what they are and the requirements after the break.

PC Game Reviewer

As we mentioned, Q4 is coming up and it would be nice to have someone help out Tim with all the new PC games that will have to be reviewed. If you work out, we will most likely keep you on after the gaming rush of Q4. Here are the requirements:

- A strong passion for PC gaming and/or gaming in general.
- You will have to provide your own games.
- Preferably some writing experience or at least some good writing.
- Able to thoroughly dissect the game and cover every aspect during the review.
- Able to obtain new games in a timely manner.
- Hatred of anything Mac is a plus.
- Preferably experience with torrenting.

Tech News Writer

This position involves all aspects of technology other than gaming. You’ll be writing news about hardware, software, consumer electronics, gadgets, anything that has to deal with technology. Here are the requirements:

- A strong passion for technology and a good knowledge of it.
- Preferably some writing experience or at least some good writing.
- Must have access to all kinds of tech news. Access to inside info is a definite bonus.
- Must write regularly (3-4 articles a week on average).
- Must be open to all aspects of the technology world. This means we really don’t want any fanboys or haters.

Multiplayer Reviewer

As Tech Olive’s multiplayer reviewer, it will be your job to play and review the newest multiplayer and MMO (yes, including WoW) games. As it stands, we only review the single player aspect of games, so it would be your job to focus on the multiplayer side of things. The requirements are much the same as the Game Reviewer position.

- A strong passion for PC gaming and/or gaming in general.
- You will have to provide your own games.
- Preferably some writing experience or at least some good writing.
- Able to thoroughly dissect the game and cover every aspect during the review.
- Able to obtain new games in a timely manner.
- Preferably experience with torrenting.
- Questionable/confused sexual orientation is a plus.

The reviewer positions can also write news posts as well (as opposed to just writing reviews).

Send your application to techolive [at] techolive.com with the subject as “APPLICATION” and mention what position you’re applying for. Be sure to include a little about yourself and any experience you have with writing and/or tech and gaming. Also, please include a few samples of your writing. Without these things, we will not consider your application.

If you have any questions or want to pitch a position idea to us, please contact craig [at] techolive.com.

When surfing today’s internet, it is painfully common to come across giant flashing banners, or stumble across an untrustworthy/malicious website, or maybe you want more functionality? Knowing the time in another country so you can make that video conference call is crucial, unless you enjoy seeing your friends not fully dressed. Whatever it may be, with our suggested Firefox addons, your surfing experience will be much more enjoyable and functional!

• Adblock Plus
  -This addon is much like taking a sponge and soapy water to the internet, but sorry, no bikini girls here. Adblock Plus cleans webpages of the useless banners, ads, and those really annoying flashing “Win a million dollars for making M.J. MoonWalk!”. But, you can also add exceptions for specific sites, like Tech Olive. Hint, hint.
• Morning Coffee
  -The idea behind Morning Coffee is you press a single button and it will open up tabs of predetermined web pages on predetermined days.
• RickRadar*
  -This useful addon prevents you from being Rick Rolled. So, if you don’t want to spend hours trying to get the song out of your head, this is your friend. Never gonna giv–Crap.
• Tab Mix Plus*
  -Tab Mix Plus allows you to fully customize your tabs, from how many you can view at a time, to whether they scroll, and much more.
• WOT
  -Web of Trust is a large library of websites that users have rated as malicious or should not be visited. It warns you if you’re about to visit a bad website.
• Firebug
  -For web developers, the painstaking task of editing code and re-uploading takes valuable seconds, which could be better spent editing said code. Firebug lets you edit the HTML of any webpage and see it updated in real time.
• is.gd Creator
  -This addon places a button in your navbar. When pressed, it will automatically condense the current site’s URL and give you an is.gd URL. Perfect for Twitter and the like.
• Download Statusbar
  -For those users that prefer a clean and multi-purpose GUI, the Download Statusbar replaces Firefox’s default downloads window with a nice bar across the bottom of your browser, without the need of an extra window clogging up your task bar.
• FoxClocks
  -As you would imagine from the name, this little goody adds a set of clocks to Firefox. This is essential if, like us, you play online games against people all over the world and need to know the time in several different countries at once.
• WiseStamp
  -Basically, WiseStamp lets you create multiple signatures for your multiple email accounts. Great for business use!

(*= Not yet supported by Firefox 3.5)

Keep in mind, this is just a list of our most used/liked addons. There’s thousands more for you to discover, so don’t be afraid to experiment with new ones! And don’t forget to finish it all off with a brand new theme!

To be honest, we weren’t expecting a whole lot from the FPSFreek attachment, even after hearing such rave reviews of KontrolFreek’s products from others in the Tech Olive staff. However, after opening the packet and putting them on, it was like a whole other experience, one that had good points as well as bad.

Putting them onto the controller, we immediately felt a difference. We consider the 360 to have the best controller design, but one problem is several of the staff’s hands are large, in some cases, extremely so. The FPSFreek attachments made the controller fit ever so more snugly in the palm. It was an enjoyable change, to say the least, and gaming hadn’t even started yet! Their appearance didn’t detract from the controller at all either, and the rubber coating on top made sure our thumbs wouldn’t slip off in the heat of battle.

However, here is where the hardcore gamers and the casual gamers will become divided. Every other round of Halo, we would rotate controllers, one controller with the FPSFreek attachment and the other with the stock thumbsticks. The general opinion was that they did in fact increase accuracy, allowing everyone to hone in on some headshots and have better control overall. However,  one problem arose whenever the fighting became a close 10 foot 1-on-1, where a properly placed melee was the difference between a win and a defeat. With your thumb so much further in the air, the distance is greater traveled to the A, B, X and Y buttons, and we found that hitting the correct button didn’t always happen on time.

Us casual gamers probably won’t notice a difference, possibly even slightly less kills thanks to the FPSFreek, but Pros and hardcore gamers, with “BumperJumper” configurations who need that deadly accurate sniper shot will most likely find them as if putting an 11 on the game’s sensitivity scale. While it’s still not as precise or lightning-fast as the PC’s mouse, it is certainly a push in the right direction for console gamers that are looking  for a little improvement in their game. Unfortunately, one of the largest and unavoidable issues with the FPSFreek is the limitations the attachments comes with. Sure, it is the perfect attachment for FPS gaming, but if you want to change the game, you’ll find yourself removing and reinstalling the attachments quite often. While the design is simple enough and lets you remove or place them easily, it does bring some worries for the thumbsticks’ stock rubber coating, which could possibly become damaged from constant removal and placement of the FPSFreek.

The Good: The FPSFreek raised the players thumbs, making the controller fit more easily in your hand. With the extended height, you could more accurately position the control pads in just the right position.

The Bad: The height however, also pushed your thumbs further from other controls, which could present a timing problem. And, if you want to switch game genres, you’ll have to remove them.

Overall Score: 6

When we began testing, we didn’t expect to notice a difference with the SpeedFreek right away, but we did. During our first lap around the track with these attached to the controllers, the change was clearly noticeable and the change was good. Sure, the changes weren’t monumental, but being able to adjust the car’s steering much more precisely than if we had just been using the bare thumbsticks was sweet. The SpeedFreek attachments really improve response and precision, even within the first 5 minutes of using them. It does seem a bit needless that you get two attachments, one for each stick, because you generally only use one thumbstick for steering, but it’s nice to have the two, even if you only use one.

With a solid increase in performance at such a low price, it’s hard to believe that something so small and simple could have any issues in the mind of a gamer, but we managed to found a few things to complain about. First of all -and this is just a minor thought- KontrolFreek should develop these attachments in all the colors of the current Xbox 360 controllers, or the controller’s thumbstick colors, but in all honesty, white as the only color choice is better than a flamboyant or neon color like yellow or pink. The next issue is this: The attachments are designed (and work fantastically) for one genre. If you want to play anything other than a racing game, it is possible to do so with the SpeedFreek attachments, but you’ll want to take them off and this could get a bit tedious, having to switch/remove the attachments whenever you switch games.

We found the SpeedFreek attachments to not only to be more precise, but also much more comfortable. It was nice just having our thumb rest on the thumbsticks rather than putting some pressure on them, making your thumb uncomfortable. We found that using only the sidewalls of the SpeedFreek to turn made gameplay more enjoyable and relaxing.

The Good: In your first lap around the track with the SpeedFreek attached, you will notice a clear difference in your performance and ability to make small alterations to your driving line. Because it’s such a small attachment, the price is kept relatively low, thus making it an easy choice.

The Bad: We would have preferred that the plastic have a color choice matching the controller’s thumbsticks, or even the body of the controllers. When changing to a different genre game, you will need to be constantly removing and adding the attachments, making this quite a chore.

Overall: 7 Olives

As anyone who shops online for electronics will have experienced, it can be very hard to accurately estimate the size of something from the promo images or even by the dimensions given in the details, unless you’re willing to get a measuring device and try to picture the product as you measure the air. Here at Tech Olive, we run into this often. So to help remedy this situation for our readers, we have come up with the “Coke Can Comparison”.  What we will do is compare whatever product we are reviewing against a humble can of Coke, so that you can get a rough idea of the product’s actual size in relation to the can. It’s basically just a fun little thing we’ll do.

Why a can of Coke you may ask? The reason is simple. We wanted an item that was internationally the same size and also is an item that anyone on the planet has had in their hands at least once. And we chose a can of Coke in particular because “Beer Can Comparison” just doesn’t roll off the tongue as well. We like the alliteration. If you are still confused, here is an example of what to expect.