When the first Sims 3 expansion pack hit our desks, we figured it might be worth a look–y’know, maybe if our sock drawer had other plans that night. Good thing duty called–it turns out World Adventures is worth more than a look. In fact, we think any self-respecting Sims 3 fan should purchase it immediately.
Since The Sims 3 rebooted the franchise, its developers can now revisit previous expansion packs for their inspiration. And here, as it was in The Sims: Vacation (okay, okay, and The Sims 2: Bon Voyage), the idea is to take your sims abroad to three exotic locations. That’s where the similarity ends, though, because World Adventures is a much more ambitious expansion, offering not just a selection of extra bits and pieces to play around with, but a welcome break from the core gameplay.
The game isn’t buggy. But Egypt’s tombs sure are!
This expansion pack offers three global locations for your sims to explore: France, China, and Egypt. When you first travel to a location, your movements are initially limited by your low visa rating, but the more you globe trot, the more expansive and exciting your adventure will become. Upon arriving at a destination, you should visit the market to meet the locals and get a taste of the culture. However, this game is really about adventuring, and so it won’t be long before you make like Indiana Jones and go off treasure hunting–or, more accurately, tomb raiding.
Plenty of tombs and catacombs lay beneath all three of the locations, and you’ll have a great time exploring them, solving their puzzles, and locating treasure. Your progress will be hampered by pesky mummies who want to curse you, but you can tempt them with a mummy snack, offer them coins, or, later in the game, even take control of them and summon them to your home.
Above ground, your sims can integrate with their new surroundings and learn diverse new skills such as photography, nectar making, and martial arts, gradually increasing their knowledge base and expertise while upgrading their equipment as
they progress.
Sims traditionalists will be very pleased to discover that, alongside all the newfangled adventuring, plenty of regular expansion-pack fare is stuffed into World Adventures. The enhanced building options let you add basements and additional floors to your residence. It’s fun to display the wealth of collectibles you acquire during your travels, and exotic fruits and vegetables can even be introduced to your garden.
Curvy iPod speaker also makes desks more stylish
The Zeppelin Mini from Bowers & Wilkins is certainly a sight to behold. This elliptical iPod speaker dock slickly incorporates a pair of three-inch drivers with a swiveling dock connector that allows you to rotate your device 90 degrees, which makes it easy to take advantage of Cover Flow navigation. It’s beautiful and well designed, and though the sound performs equally well, the bass on this $400 dock is a bit underwhelming.
While its larger sibling is intended to fill rooms with music (Apr/08, 4 out of 5 stars), the more compact Zeppelin Mini is better suited to your desktop. At 12.6 inches wide by 4 inches deep, it’ll fit nicely next to your Mac, and it can also serve as both a syncing cradle for your iPod or iPhone (when connected via an optional USB cable) and an external speaker for your computer’s audio. There’s even an audio input on the back that’s handy for using the Mini to pipe out audio from other external sources.
Bowers & Wilkins includes a small seven-button remote that controls playback, adjusts volume, and switches input between the dock connector and the auxiliary input. Disappointingly, it doesn’t let you navigate menus or playlists, which is an odd oversight. When it’s not in use, the rounded remote sits snugly on the Zeppelin Mini’s concave top. That’s a good thing–the main unit only features Power and Volume Up and Down buttons, so if you lose the remote, you’re out of luck (which is also a good argument for keeping a spare battery on hand).
To our ears, the Zeppelin Mini sounds great for its size. It gets plenty loud (especially since most people will probably use it on a desk near their workstation), and the tone is even and clear. Zeppelin Mini avoids the common problem that many small speakers have in overemphasizing the treble, although after extended testing, we still wish the Mini’s bass was a bit stronger, especially given its relatively high price and ported design. We were also bummed that spending four bills on a Zeppelin Mini doesn’t get you a printed manual or a USB cable for connecting with your Mac.
The eMac comes packed with features and attributes that could easily make the dean’s list. Come to think of it, you might say it is the dean’s list made manifest. It’s true that the eMac’s design aesthetics are distinctly Apple-like. But the inspiration for the eMac came from you. For example, you asked for a [...]
Just about all of us have been there at one point or another, we get a gift card to a store that is across town or one we don’t shop at much, so we let it linger there in our desks, wallets, or purses. Then when we finally get around to using it, turns out our gift card had an expiration date!
Skype tried pulling that same little trick on their SkypeOut users, only things didn’t go so well for the company.
It seems that those who had opened up a SkypeOut account, which allows users to make calls to landlines and cells unaffiliated with the service, but who had not used that money for 180 days or more, found it missing. Apparently, Skype had decided just to keep the monies. Apparently, lawyers for Skype realized that such an action might just run afoul of various recently passed state laws providing "gift certificate" protections to consumers.
In fact, the matter was settled out of court, though it seems unlikely the VOiP carrier would have settled if they had any anticipation of winning. The class action suit filed by Holly Barker and Brian Carness was settled on January 12th of this year. Users who bought SkypeOut credits prior to December 31, 2009 who wish to cash in can complete an internet claim form or can still retain their right to sue.
Of course, the company denies any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, which comes out to the tidy sum of $4.00 for each user so caught up in the practice. This ruling, however, only applies to Skype users in the United States. Users in other countries may wish to seek clarification regarding their own unused credits.
Look, times are tough. I know this. People are out of work, the people still working are facing budget cuts, furloughs, and salary reductions. It seems like everyone, everywhere is struggling to get by on less.
So why am I asking you for money? At a time like this, donating money?
Yes.
See, it won’t always be this way. We’re survivors, we bounce back. Economies are cyclical, and that cycle will go ’round — that’s what cycles do. But children, children are linear. Today’s public school children won’t be able to turn back the clock and relive their school years in a more properous time. They’re kids now. They’re sitting at their desks as we speak.
So we should help them. And the best way to do that, I believe, is to help out their teachers, those dedicated public school teachers who are determined to give them the very best educational experience possible, even in the face of budget cuts, bigger class sizes, outdated supplies, not enough books and chalk and paper to go around.
And if you think about it, the teachers who submit projects to DonorsChoose.org have got to be some of the best teachers in the country, right? They’re going the extra mile, coming up with creative and fun ideas to keep those squimy little kids engaged in learning. They’re seeking out creative ways to fund those ideas, because they’re not going to take "Sorry, it’s not in the budget" for an answer. They care too much to be hearin’ that.
So I’m asking you, in this ridiculous economy, to try to spare a few bucks for the kiddos. Please, pretty please. You won’t regret it.
If your kid’s teacher has a project on DonorsChoose.org, or you’re a teacher with a project up there, or you saw a project from your hometown or just something that speaks to you, email me the link (susie at maclife dot com) and I’ll add it to our Giving Page.
And oh yes, prizes!
Aside from a tax deduction, an extra spring in your step, and much thanks and appreciation, you just might win a sweet prize. Last week, Clement Ho won a Snow Leopard Family Pack. Congrats!
This week, everyone who donates at least $1 to a project on our Giving Page, and forwards me their email receipt (susie at maclife dot com) will be entered to win the iHome iP71 Syncing/Charging iPod/iPhone Computer Speakers, which retail for $129.99. I reviewed them in the October issue of Mac|Life and really enjoyed having them on my desk. You can keep your iPod charged, sync it up with your Mac, and rock out to some great tunes all at once. They’re especially tasty for watching movies. Big thanks to iHome for generously donating the prize.
The deadline for forwarding me your emails is 11:59pm PDT this Saturday, October 10. Official rules are here. Any questions, just email me! Thank you in advance, and gooooooo school.
The iHome iP71 — will it look as rad on your desk as it did on mine? Donate, win, and you’ll find out.
