Here it is, your chance the shape the only fully independent, professional media evaluation site!

See the Kickstarter Project here!

Community Charity Event

I know what it's like to lose everything. I'm rebuilding my own life with this site and if I can use it to help someone who needs me right now, I'm going to do it. Please, everyone visiting this week, GO HERE RIGHT NOW, and send some money. Come back for the reviews later, but right now, your help is needed. 

Go to the link above for all the details. 

Today, we welcome a visitor from our 75th country. 

This is an important enough milestone to call it a kind of anniversay. For a non venture funded, 100% ad-less tech site, this is a remarkable achievment. In only a year, we have reached almost half of the entire world. There is a LOT coming this year, massive expansion, more frequent content as I recover from surgery, new features, and more. 

Thank you all for making uryaen.com such a success, and to celebrate, here is the list of those 75 countries from which we welcome visitors:

Integrity Fail - HIS Tech

Today we're looking at a series of emails between a customer ( I should note that the customer is NOT me, and their identity will NOT be revealed, so don't ask ) and the customer relations of HIS Technology, a company who sold this customer a top end Radeon HD 5970 for a whopping $700, which is more than most people spend on their entire computer. When one buys a premium niche product, one expects premium service. Sadly, not only is this not the case, it is often the case that the service for said device is pawned off onto an incompetent third party. This is the tale of one of those times.

Read more: Integrity Fail: HIS Technology - RMA Fail

It's now 2012, and for many thoughts turn to the end of the world, and maybe even zombies. In the near future, I thought it would be fun to start a special section for Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness Evaluations as I possess the rare quality of being a tech "reviewer" with real world experience with survival situations, gear and weapons. I have spent many days in the wilderness, I can handle virtually any weapon, and I'd love ot add this feature to my regular rotations. For now, the big news of 2012 is clearly CES, and the absolutely ENDLESS coverage you will see on the main sites. 

But you will see virtually no CES coverage here. Maybe some commentary, but no coverage. I will not be attending CES. Why not? If you have followed along on this site, you will know that I am recovering from some really major spinal surgery, and my day to day recovery is VERY hard. This is kind of an update to that. 

I am still on a dozen or so controlled medications, and I work from a bed with my monitor on a table over the bed. Make no mistake, I am not up to traveling or any real work. I do this stuff slowly and deliberately. 

By next year, I might be up for going to Vegas, but not now. I apologize if this seems like I'm not doing my job, but I assure you I am working on a variety of content for the site. Sit tight because a LOT of new content is coming. 

Thank you all for your patience. The site has grown a lot, and will continue to do so well into the future. 

-Uryaen

Update Monday Night - That went pretty much as expected. Saved myself the time and money, as there was absolutely nothing of note happening at CES this year. Dozens upon dozens of variants of the same Ultrabooks, Android cellphones, pocket cameras, and 3D TVs. Nothing new. 

Back to analyzing the current batch of products in my lab. See you soon. 

UPDATE 10.11 - While all is not well, I am alive, but that is all I can tell you at the moment. More as it develops. 

Open letter to all uryaen.com visitors. 

This is Uryaen. I am sure you've been wondering why content has increasingly slowed to the point of stopping. I suppose that there is little point in hiding it further. I have been suffering from something called "Degenerative Disc Disease". This has so far been isolated mostly to the L5-S1 disc of my spine, although L4-L5 has begun to show signs of it as well. 

What this has meant is that for the last year, I have been increasing dosage of heavy duty pain medications, sedatives, anti-inflamatories, and muscle relaxers. The body can only take so much, so this hobby, as fun as it is, has come pretty much to a halt. 

I have seen four spine specialists, and I finally have insurance and an actual surgery date to stem the tide of the damage. While this is not in any way a "quick fix", nor is it a "cure" per se, I will be undergoing something called "Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion". This surgery will take place October 4th. I will not be able to post or update for at least a few days. Should everything go smoothly, I will be home recovering that week, and will try to update this site with at least an "I'm ok" post. 

Readers:

I do keep track of my analytics on a daily basis, and I know that there are a number of you who visit the site quite frequently. The Sandy Bridge vs. Gulftown article is especially trafficked lately. Keep it up, and I will be updating with a lot more content after I get better. 

Vendor Partners: 

Some of you have displayed awesome patience and professionalism, and I thank you for that. Those who have performed significantly less so, I'm not going to let their attitude and lack of professionalism get me down. My back is already doing a good enough job of that. 

Everyone:

Just hang in there a bit longer and thank you for the wishes on Facebook and email. I'm not going to sugar coat; the risks of this surgery are very high. If you have something to say to me, now is the perfect time. 

Hopefully, I'll see ya on the other side!

- Ury

Be sure to visit the new "uryaen.com photography" section here.

This section is devoted to uryaen.com photography. Here you will see individual product shots, still life, nature, and most importantly, adult human models. 

I'm available for photography assignments. When contacting me, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , and state the nature of your assignment, whether it's paid, TF*, or just for the heck of it. I'm usually going to be willing to do it. 

If you're a local model, looking for TF*, definitely contact me. I will provide several edited shots, and either a CD, or emailed .jpgs up to 3000px. 

- All models will be required to sign a release form, available via email before the shoot. 

- All rights to edited images remain my copyright, unless purchased, or licensed for commercial use. 

MUA's, costumers, hair stylists, props makers, film makers, and any others looking to collaborate, we can work something out to split the costs, etc. 

Photographers looking for a second shooter for an event, I'll Trade For equipment, or reasonable fee. 

Email me, I'm looking forward to working with you. 

It finally happened. uryaen.com has been upgraded SIGNIFICANTLY, and should now operate FAR faster and more reliably. Content updates will be easier, pages will no longer hang, and everything should still be working smoothly. 

This upgrade may LOOK the same, but it was actually a manual GROUND UP rebuild of the ENTIRE site, it's backend, and all articles. Soon, I will start updating the general look and feel, but I wanted to get everything working first, and keeping the same overall look and layout eases the transition. 

What's New:

SEO Improvements - Better exposure for reviews and news. 

CSS and PHP updates

Faster integration of content for faster posting of articles

More elegant News Publishing with less reliance on third party extensions

MUCH faster rendering engine, for faster page views

MUCH more reliable render engine. No more lost "hits"

and much more. 

If there are any issues, let me know. 

Coming Soon: 

New site updates, more content, including extensive hardware updates. Site was unreliable as it was, things will be smoother now. 

- Uryaen

The following is posted to my okcupid.com profile. I no longer use the profile itself, but I left it up because of the tests, and journal. I thought you guys would find it amusing as my first general "blog" commentary post.