Bad tech habits and how to stop

Pocket-sized computers, worldwide communication, instant access to any factoid, and more cat videos than you can watch in a lifetime — no one predicted today's digital life even a few decades ago. Unfortunately, these marvels have turned far too many of us into generally impolite and downright rude individuals.

Let's start with ...

THE DINNER SINNER

These are the people who while eating with others shut out the rest of the world, including loved ones. You've seen them. Families sitting in restaurants, each with their respective screens illuminating expressionless faces. No one is talking. But there's a lot of texting, gaming and Facebook going on.

Instead, make the dinner table a gadget-free zone. It's easy when you make it a game. It's even better when there's money involved.

Ask each person to hold up his or her phone. Then, each person must place the phone in front of his or her place setting with one caveat. The phone has to be placed face down. The first person who picks up a phone during dinner pays the entire bill. It's amazing how much better the conversation is and who's willing to pay big money to see who sent a text message.

300: Rise of an Empire - Official Trailer 1 [HD]

COBRA GETS MORE FIREPOWER WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLES DESTRO SIXTH SCALE FIGURE

Sideshow Collectibles has announced that they will start taking pre-orders on their latest entry into the G.I. Joe sixth scale figure line, the Sideshow Collectibles Destro figure, starting on Thursday October 10th. The shrewd arms dealer walks the line between evil-doer and man of integrity and supplies and assists the COBRA terrorist organization in many of its missions in world domination. Laird Destro is outfitted in a hand-tailored costume, complete with vest and long jacket for warmth in the Scottish Highlands, and around his neck hangs the remarkable McCullen ruby medallion, a treasured family heirloom. He comes aptly equipped with an array of deadly, technologically advanced gear and accessories, including COBRA weapon blueprints and a satellite location tracking device.

Always prepared for dangerous situations, Destro keeps a chrome pistol harnessed at his side, and a laser pistol concealed behind a secret panel in his communications case. His arm gauntlets house both miniature wrist rockets and hand grenades, signature examples of his cutting edge technology that pack enough punch to knock out a combat helicopter. As a bonus to those who pre-order early, Sideshow is offering a Sideshow Exclusive edition which comes with an additional swap-out head for a more realistic interpretation of the man in the iron mask.

First impressions: Heeding the 'Battlecry' Brett Molina,

Want to know the most interesting part of a skirmish in Battlecry, the upcoming free-to-play video game for PCs from publisher Bethesda Softworks?

The end.

After each match, players receive bonuses for congratulating the winners. Icons pop up highlighting the top players, and opponents can zip over to salute them for their efforts.

It's a fascinating approach for an online multiplayer game, which anyone with a headset and public chat settings enabled will tell you is sometimes a hostile experience.

Of course, Battlecry is more than its post-match pleasantries. The 32-person action game set in a world where gunpowder is banned is highly entertaining, based on a demo hosted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Battlecry takes place at the dawn of the 20th century, where a massive war led to the global ban on gunpowder. The brief period of peace lead to a revolution in industrial manufacturing. As tensions started to simmer again, empires engaged in battle at specific Warzones, armed with high-tech weapons for close-quarter combat and ranged attacks.

Players choose between empires such as the Royal Marines and the Cossacks before picking one of five classes: Duelist, Enforcer, Tech Archer, Gadgeteer and Brawler. The first three were on display during Bethesda's E3 demo.

5 things we learned from Friday’s World Cup games By JESSE YOMTOV

Another day of World Cup action is behind us, and we’re more than halfway through the group stage. We take a look at what we learned on the ninth day of the 2014 World Cup.

1. France is the real deal

Four years after the meltdown in South Africa, Les Blues were a wild card coming into the tournament, missing their best player in Franck Ribery. Through two games, France has been the most impressive team in the World Cup. After beating Honduras 3-0, the French mauled a Switzerland team that FIFA has ranked No. 6 in the world. Also consider that France didn’t start Paul Pogba or Antoine Griezmann, two of their most talented players.

This team is ruthless and has the depth to adapt to anything it may face. If France tops the group and Argentina wins Group F, the French will have an extremely favorable matchup against Bosnia, Nigeria or Iran.

2. Costa Rica is winning CONCACAF the respect it deserves

The United States and Mexico have both been criticized through the years for not cruising through qualifying, but Costa Rica is showing the rest of the world that the confederation shouldn’t be an afterthought. Convincing wins over traditional powers Uruguay and Italy have the team in the knockout stage for the first time since 1990. Costa Rica’s run is reinforcing what United States and Mexico fans have known for decades.

3. England is officially out of contention

After two losses, the Three Lions needed Italy to beat Costa Rica to have any hope of advancing. That didn’t happen, meaning England is eliminated from the World Cup at the group stage for the first time since 1958. Despite the disappointing results, England’s young talent showed flashes of brilliance, giving the team hope for the future.

4. The FIFA World Ranking system needs an overhaul

We scoffed back in October and have beaten this to death since, but Switzerland was one of seven seeded teams. That bears repeating.

5. You better have two screens next week

Like Group A, no team from Group E has clinched a spot in the knockout stage. Come the final round of group games, there will likely be at least one more group where three teams are simultaneously playing for a spot. Get your TVs, laptops, tablets and smartphones ready.

SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLES SPIDER-MAN POLYSTONE STATUE

Sideshow Collectibles is now accepting pre-orders for their upcoming Sideshow Collectibles Spider-Man Polystone statue which is part of a trio of statue from the J. Scott Campbell Spider-Man Collection. Joining the already announced Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane statues, the Sideshow Collectibles Spider-Man statue stands approximately 19 inches high and has a SRP of $299.99. He is expected to ship around May 2014 and you can pre-order him now by clicking the banner below the images.

  

HOT TOYS AGENT PHIL COULSON REVIEW

Ever since Hot Toys announced that they were going to be producing a collectible figure of Agent Coulson as part of their Avengers line-up of figures, we’ve been counting the days for this figure’s release. We just received our figure and as such a review is in order for what is arguably one the Avengers fans favorite support character.

First appearing in Iron Man, then Iron Man II, followed by Thor and finally the Avengers, Agent Phil Coulson is ingeniously portrayed by actor Clark Greg which helped elevate this character’s status as one of the most beloved by fans. Not only is Coulson a bad-ass undercover agent who can take out two armed robbers with nothing more than a bag of flour and his incredible martial art skills, he is also tasked with putting our super heroes egos in check while performing his other duties as a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative. Agent Coulson makes a comeback this fall on Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD on ABC this fall.

The Hot Toys Agent Phil Coulson figure ships in the standard Hot Toys packaging. There is a slide off outer sleeve that has a photo of Agent Coulson on the front and some legalese and warning information on the back with the sides having nothing more than a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo. Upon removing the sleeve, you have the figure with all the accessories sitting neatly and securely inside a plastic container and all the parts further protected by a clear plastic hard cover allowing you to see the items inside without having to remove them from their packaging. Of course that’s not what we are here for, we want to take this baby out and see what it has to offer, so without further ado…..

SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLES DEADPOOL SIDESHOW EXCLUSIVE PREMIUM FORMAT FIGURE REVIEW

Today we take a look at the Exclusive version of the Sideshow Collectibles Deadpool Premium Format Figure which was announced last year and suffered a few production delays until its eventual arrival at my desk today. I’ll preface this review by mentioning that I have no attachment to this comic character and I only purchased this statue because my son is a huge Deadpool fan so this piece is for him but not before I get to review it!

Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool was introduced back in 1991 by artist Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza as a parody of DC Comics’ Deathstorke even going as far as playing off that character’s real name (Slade Wilson). The Deadpool alias was derived from the fifth Dirty Harry film “The Dead Pool”. The character’s personality has changed and evolved quite dramatically since his introduction as serious and grim professional assassin. Disease, medical experiments and events in his life molded his personality into what he is best known for today with his dark humor coupled with schizophrenic tendencies and unpredictability. Deadpool has been affiliated with different characters and organizations from the Marvel universe at different points throughout his existence from joining up with Cable to a brief stint with the X-Men, the character is all over the place which keeps fans entertained by his story arc and the comic crossovers.