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I got a call from my local subaru dealer (Fairway Subaru, Greenville SC) from my lovely sales lady Jan Doss that the Subaru BRZ was at the dealer and if I wanted to come up and take a look at it and see what it was all about to get on out there because this is a "Demo/PR" car that the regional sales rep has been bringing around to various dealers.  If you want to know when it maybe in your area please contact your dealer.

Interior:

My initial thoughts seeing the car was it looks really nice, Subaru didn't skimp on the outside except for the vents in the fenders could be more real but not a huge deal.  When i got in the car i was amazed on just how well the seats fit.  I would actually love to own these seats for my current car(s) lol they kept you planted in the seats during hard cornering and were actually quite comfortable even for me being 6' 3.  I like the fact that the interior was all covered in leather with most of it in red stitching, the console reminds me of carbon fiber but it's just plastic but still you feel like you are sitting in a car that is well made.  The one thing that annoys me the most about newer cars is the plastic feeling for the money you pay, at least this car won't have that issue.

Radio & HVAC controls – I'm not a huge fan of the navagation option but I do however like the idea that you can remove the radio unlike they did to the 05-09 subaru legacy gt owners.  What i thought was actually cool was the heater controls and switches in the center console.  It reminds me of a cockpit control panel which I have seen in some of the newer chevy cars.  The interior doesn't look cheap although there is always room for improvement.  I would love to see the black trim offered in carbon fiber.  This car is also has the engine start button and i didn't hear him start the car he just reached down and pushed the button and we were off.

Exterior:

I absolutly love the looks of the outside of the car minus the fake side vents, if I were to get one I would want the HID lights, and some other options that the toyota FRS will not have.  Here is a quick few pictures of the outside:

Engine & Transmission:

The subaru brz has been equipped with the Subaru Boxer D-45 motor which puts out 200 horsepower from a 2.0 liter motor but does not come with a turbo charger option (for now) but during the ride along I never saw a need for a turbo charger of course it would be nice but this 2500 lb car had no problems during acceleration or passing.  It even stuck to the road in the corners & accelerating at the same time with no problem.  Something that I think would be a must is to have the 6-speed manual transmission, that is what this model had and maybe i'll write another review once i see one with a automatic.

One of the interesting things I noticed about the engine was due to it sitting so low in the engine bay they had to relocate the engine oil filter to the top of the motor, i personally wish subaru had done this long before now but we will tell in the long run how well this does.

Handling:  I thought the car did amazing though the curves and even when we punched it the car never broke loose or even hinted at tire squeal and trust me we pushed it.  The suspension did quite well but I would like to see some spt upgrades for this down the road.  Maybe next time we can get a look at it we'll try to put it on a lift and get some good pictures of the under body to show the suspension.

Bottom Line: Yes I would love to have one of these but the price point at the moment doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy considering you can get a WRX for about the same price that has a turbo charger.  I think something Subaru should consider for this model is to come out wtih a track ready version that includes Brembo brakes, and maybe some suspension tweaks because after all most of the people purchasing these will most likely be taking them to some form of track day.

Car Specs:

Oh yea if I were to ever own one of these this is the color it would have to be:

Car Specs: 
Engine:  1.8L Flat 4
Horsepower: 110 hp @ 5600
Torque: 110 ft-lbs. @ 4400 rpm
Weight: 2350 LBS
Driveline: Front Wheel Drive (converting to All Wheel Drive or Rear Wheel Drive)

Now compare this car to the Subaru BRZ:
Car Specs:
Engine: 2.0L Flat 4
Horsepower: 200 hp / 200 ft-lbs Torque
Weights: 2500 LBS (estimated)
Driveline: Rear Wheel Drive

My 1993 Subaru Impreza L:

Subaru BRZ:

Typically these screen protectors are made of plastic. However, folks at Spigen have an interesting solution. They've launched a screen protector made of tempered glass to protect iPhone's screen from damage and scratches.

The tempered glass screen protector is 0.4mm thick and apparently three times stronger than regular PET film. Spigen claims that sharp objects like knives and keys will not scratch their tempered glass screen protector. They have also shot a video to prove it.

The glass screen protector also comes with an oleophobic coating that prevents fingerprints just like iPhone's LCD screen.

Thinking of giving your computer better performance?  Have you upgraded the RAM in your computer but not seen much of a improvement? Well if you have a newer model computer that supports SATA connections you can jump on the SSD (Solid State Disk) bandwagon.  Some of the key benefits are:

Startup Speed – Boot times are dramtically decreased and applications load much faster. Example: I replaced the hard drive in my dell studio 1747 and my boot time went from 30+ seconds to 12 seconds)

No Moving Parts – Yup, you got that right no moving parts so if you won't have to worry about the death of a drive head killing your new hard drive.

Temperature – Since you don't have a drive that spin at 60+mph your system should run cooler.

Battery Life – This goes with Tempature, no moving parts, your system doesn't have to work as hard to process the same data.  Extending your battery live is a huge plus.

Practically indestructible – If you accidently drop your laptop it is very likely that you won't kill your drive, do that with a spinning hard drive when you have found that your drive has a head failure or even worse a drive that shatters.

Now the downside to a SSD, the Price.  At this time here are the SSD drives that I would use: 

1. Intel 510 Series 120 GB SATA Version 3 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive - Retails for 241.00 As of 1/27/2011

2. Intel 320 Series 120 GB SATA 3.0 Gb-s 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive - Retails for 187.00 As of 1/27/2011

3. OCZ Technology 120 GB Vertex 2 Series SATA II 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive (SSD) OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G - Retails for 134.99 As of 1/27/2011

There are several others out there that maybe better than these but at this time these are the ones I liked.  Keep in mind the ones listed are the 120GB versions, you can find a smaller drive cheaper but just remember to make sure it is enough for your needs.  You can find more drives by clicking on the store at the top of this blog or clicking here.

Have you ever accidently deleted a file off your computer and emptied the recycle bin just to go dohhh.  I am going to show you some great free tools that you can use to recover you files, I would call this your first line of recovery.  Don't carry it to some computer service for this, try it yourself!   I have listed the software in order of which I would try, so see what you think maybe it will save you some $$ on data recovery!

1st Program
               Recuva,  - pronounced "recover" is a freeware utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Windows Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses! Like all other Piriform products including CCleaner, Recuva is free for both commercial and personal use. More info here

2nd Program 
            UNDELETE 360 is one of the best programs to use for restoring accidentally or unintentionally deleted files from your computer, regardless of storage medium.  Built on a very fast and efficient algorithm, the program will browse, search, and recover files that have been deleted as a result of an accident, a virus, or software and computer failures.  Undelete 360 can recover files deleted from computer hard drives, USB/thumb drives and memory sticks, the memory cards used in cameras, smart phones, and other devices, pen drives, and more. The program supports both file recovery and folder recovery. Best of all, Undelete 360 is 100% freeware: No ads, no beg screens, no time or feature limits. It is completely free for you to use and enjoy.

3rd Program:
            TestDisk & PhotoRec 6.13 is a free data recovery utility. It was primarily designed to help recover lost data storage partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally erasing a partition table). TestDisk can be used to collect detailed information about a corrupted drive which can then be sent to a tech for further analysis.

TestDisk has features for both novices and experts. For those who know little or nothing about data recovery techniques, TestDisk can be used to collect detailed information about a non-booting drive which can then be sent to a tech for further analysis. Those more familiar with such procedures should find TestDisk a handy tool in performing onsite recovery.

PhotoRec is file data recovery software designed to recover lost files including video, documents and archives from Hard Disks and CDRom and lost pictures (thus, its 'Photo Recovery' name) from digital camera memory. PhotoRec ignores the filesystem and goes after the underlying data, so it will still work even if your media's file system has been severely damaged or re-formatted.

Tip #1 Watching movies on your ipad from a SD Card, Yes it is possible!

Most people don't know about this but you can watch movies from a SDCard on your iPad or iPad.  But to be able to do this you will need a few items besides a ipad:

• Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (MC531ZM/A)
• SanDisk 8 GB Class 4 SDHC Flash Memory Card SDSDB-8192-A11

Tip# 2 Taking Screenshots of your iPad screen:

http://noelflash.com/ipad-tip-how-to-take-a-screenshot.html

Tip# 3 – Using a USB Keyboard on your iPad

If you happen to have a Usb Keyboard laying around and the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (MC531ZM/A) you can connect it up and not have to fight the on screen keyboard

Tip# 4 – Hidden Virtual Keys

The iPad virtual keyboard has some hidden features that can be a major help as shortcuts to your typing. Here are just a few of the shortcuts you can do:

When entering an URL or Email address, press and hold the .com key and you can then choose to append .net, .org, .us, and .edu to the address
Press and hold any letter or symbol on the virtual keyboard and you will be presented with several new and helpful options.

Tip # 5 –  Avoiding application exits

If you should press the home button by accident while in a app you are forced to quit the app, a useful method for you to avoid this application exit is to just keep holding down on the home button without letting go, that tells the iPad you didn't mean to close it.

Tip# 6 – Closing applications running in the background

When you close a app on the ipad with the home button it usually stays running in the background this could eat up processing power and battery life, you can easily close out (kill) open apps by:

1. Double tapping the home button, this will bring up the multitasking bar.
2. Now press and hold on any one of the apps in the list until they start dancing around.
3. Now just tap the the red circle on the app and that will make it quit.

Tip# 7 Connect your iPad to your HD TV

You can connect your iPad 2 to your HD TV by using Apple Digital AV Adapter , or the plain old Apple VGA Adapter . The iPad 2 supports video mirroring, so your entire home screen will be displayed on the TV.

Tip# 8 Find my iPad

http://noelflash.com/ipad-tip-track-down-a-lost-or-stolen-ipadiphone.html

Do you have a ipad 2 and are looking for some protection for it, well i have the best protection for the money.  As many have heard Otterbox makes really nice cases for iPads, iPhones and they actually protect the device a lot better than some other solutions I have found.  When I purchased my new iPhone 4s the very first purchase was the otterbox for it and that thing has saved my phone many times.

Now for my review on the Otterbox ipad 2 case, The one I am reviewing is the Defender Series case which normally retails for about $80 but you can find it here cheaper.  The sale price at the moment is 50.00 which is $20.00 more than the ipad 2 smart cover that many people buy but keep in mind the smart cover only protects the screen when closed but if you drop it there is no protection.  This version of the defender case is 20 percent lighter than its predecessor for the original iPad 1.  Now this case isn't a slim case, its more on the bulkier side but that is because it offers multiple layers of protection and a clip-on screen cover that will turn into a stand that has two adjustable heights, one for typing and one for watching.

The only downside I have found with this case is they are a little difficult to put on but can be done in a few minutes, just have to make sure you get the snaps in place.

If you are looking for a slightly cheaper case for your ipad 2 you could look at the reflex series