


Some objections leveled against the film included calling it "wafer-thin psychodrama" and complaining that the action was lost in a sea of "plot talk". There is nothing wrong with this picture.(Credit: Warner Bros.)Pacific RimPacific Rim copped a lot of flak from some critics and viewers. Possibly the worst is the battery _ failure rate is, anecdotally at least, quite high, with my current Up being my third.But for all that, the Up remains a very valued part of my exercise planning and an often depressing reminder that I really need to get more sleep.

weights, running, cycling etc.) and the app has great social functionality _ share steps and sleep time with others to get encouraging comments (assuming you got the right 'team mates').It's not perfect, of course _ the food diary isn't overly well optimised for Australia, for example. Actually, there's quite a lot it can do: it's able to monitor your specific workouts (e.g. The Up then senses when you're at your most shallow sleep in that time frame and wakes you up by vibrating.It also works a great short sleep alarm _ only starting to time your nap when you fall asleep. On the back of this, it's also a great 'silent' alarm _ you specify a time you'd like to wake up and give the Up a window of time (for example, ten minutes) before that. It's also a sleep tracker, using your movement during sleep to work out how much deep sleep you're getting compared to light sleep and even calculate any time you've spent awake. Instead, I'm just going to stop writing about it now and try and get that last Legendary Ship _ it's what Kenway would want.(Credit: Jawbone)Jawbone UpI spent a lot of time with a few different fitness trackers over this (and last) year, but it's the Jawbone Up wristband that I think has had the biggest impact on my fitness regime.For one, there's a lot to be said about the simplicity of something that just sits on your wrist _ it's certainly a lot harder to lose than anything designed to clip on one's belt.The Up tracks your steps constantly, but that's probably the least interesting thing it does. If we did Game of the Year awards, this would be it for me. It's telling, to me, that I'm still playing it _ well after I've needed to do any more writing on it. Black Flag was not just a great return to the series, but just a great game on its own _ packed with side-quests and collectibles, a plot that didn't need spreadsheets to follow and characters you could really enjoy playing and meeting. Sadly Assassin's Creed 3 happened, a game I personally found interminably boring and buggy. It's possible, but I'm not entirely buying it.I've been a big fan of the Assassin's Creed series, especially all three of the AC2 games. These describe the tendency people have to remember the first and last things in any group.I bring this up, because there's an argument to be made that Black Flag is here only because of how late it arrived in the year, that perhaps Tomb Raider or Far Cry 3 or Bioshock Infinite could be here instead. Such pirate.(Credit: Ubisoft)Assassin's Creed IV: Black FlagIn cognitive psychology you might hear people talk about the primacy effect and the recency effect. So here are the five 'things' I feel had the biggest impact on my 2013.Much gun. But nigh-impossible or not, it's happening. Id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body" data-component="trackCWV"> Distill an entire year of products, technologies and experiences into just five 'best ofs'? Almost impossible, you might think.
