I like to play the online slots quite often and the best thing is actually winning. As with most casino games, slots are a game of chance, but there are some strategies to improve your chances of winning.

Whichever online casino you choose, check out all of the games to see which one has the best pay-out rates and which ones offer the biggest prizes; these will give you the best chance of winning big.

Another way of increasing your chances is to play slot games with progressive jackpots. It is important to watch the game and see when others are winning big; playing the game at the right time when the jackpot is high is your best chance.

After winning a big jackpot it is tempting to play the same game again straight away, but be realistic and keep your winnings or play on a different game. Also watch for games that have just paid a big jackpot; these are not recommended as the chances of winning are less likely.

Above all have fun, and only bet money that you can afford to lose.

I’ll be playing on the slots tonight, so I’ll let you know if any of my tips pay off.

I plugged in my headphones when playing my Xbox 360 the other day and realised that the jack in my TV was making a really bad screeching noise. I tried everything to get it to work, but in the end I decided that I would need something else.

I searched online and found the Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS, a small audio box that connects straight to the console and produces 5.1/7.1 surround sound into standard headsets. I ordered it from Amazon and it arrived yesterday, here are my first impressions.

Connections

The Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS has various wires to connect it to your console and headphones which can be a bit daunting, but if you follow the manual and videos online it is easy to set up and I had it working in a matter of minutes. The box can become quite cluttered especially if you are using a USB powered headset and might not be ideal for people who sit across the room from their console, but I do not have this problem as I pretty much sit next to the console and TV.

Sound

I’ve been playing some Battlefield 3 and Fifa 12 with the DSS and have to say that the sound is very good. It takes a bit of getting used to, but when your ears tune to the sound you can hear people sneaking up on you and where shooting is coming from and the crowd noises of Fifa make it even more realistic.

One thing that I will mention is that when talking to people on Xbox Live they seem to be talking from behind you, it’s not a big deal but worth pointing out anyway.

I only have the  Turtle Beach Ear Force Stereo XLC Headset to compare the device, but I think a more expensive headset like the X12 might give an even better sound.

Conclusion

I really like the Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS, it gives a great sound and adds to the gaming experience especially in Battlefield 3, although I would probably get a decent set of headphones like the Turtle Beach X12’s first before upgrading to this.

Last year I did a cigar box guitar project with my son and I’ve been building them ever since for my family and friends. After building my latest cigar box guitar for a friend I decided to put a pickup in it, but I had no way of testing if it was working right or not.

I looked at small practice amps on the internet but they are anywhere from £30 to £100, so I looked at the homemade amp scene and came across the Noisy Cricket amp from Beavis Audio. This little amp can be battery operated and uses readily available electronics; it pumps out around ½ a watt of sound and can be plugged into a speaker cabinet for a bigger sound.

I got a list of parts of the Beavis Audio website and took a trip to my local Maplins and low and behold found everything on the list, even the LM386 chip! The only thing I didn’t buy was a soldering iron as they didn’t have any cheap models in.

I ordered a soldering iron kit off Amazon and it arrived today so I think I’ll build the amp this weekend. All in all, the parts (enough to make two amps) and the soldering iron cost me just over £25.

Hope I can remember how to solder (think I’ll be looking up videos on YouTube tonight).

I went round to my friend’s house the other night and he introduced me to his new toy, the Iolite Original Vaporizer. He had an older version as well, which I have used on many occasions but he broke that so got this new one.

The Iolite Original has been fully upgraded with a new ignition system making it more reliable and a better build quality which is evident when you pick it up. It works in the same way as the standard vaporizer and come with an array of accessories including some pipe cleaners and a handy little carry case to keep it safe.

The Iolite Original is still highly portable and runs on lighter gas instead of batteries, so can be taken almost anywhere; it is available now for around £159.99 and is a great little device.

All games have their own expressions and idiosyncrasies, and poker is no exception to this rule. One of the most popular terms in poker is a ‘busted flush.’

The ‘ straight flush’ in poker, refers to a hand that is made up of five cards that are of the same suit and also run in sequence – for example a Queen, Jack, 10, 9, and 8 of hearts. A ‘Royal Flush’ is where the sequence, again of the same suit, consists of the royal cards (King, Queen, and Jack) and the Ace and 10. The term ‘Flush’ applies to any five cards that are in the same suit but not necessarily in running sequence. So, a ‘Busted Flush’ is when a player only holds four cards that are in the same suit, and not the required five.
 
Some of the expressions used by those who play poker are bizarre. ‘Cowboys’ are a pair of Kings; a ‘Calling Station’ refers to a player who likes to make their voice heard when calling, but doesn’t offer their opponents much of a game.

I like to do a bit of gambling every now and again and joined a great online casino called Mansion Casino last night. You might have seen them before because they used to sponsor Spurs football kit a couple of seasons back.

Mansion Casino has a range of table games such as blackjack, craps and my personal favourite roulette, as well as numerous branded slot games such as X-men, Kong and Pink Panther. I haven’t tried out any of the slot games yet, but I have played a bit of roulette and blackjack, both of which have great animations and betting options.

Mansion Casino also has a great welcome bonus which doubles up your first deposit up to $300. I put $50 in to start with which gave me $100 to start gambling with straight away. After a couple of hours playing my balance is now around $150 which isn’t too bad.

The casino also offers $50 for every friend you recommend and I have a couple of friends that might be interested in that.

Mansion Casino is a great little website and you can either play instantly from the menu or download the free software.

I would definitely recommend this site to anyone who is thinking of joining an online casino.

I haven’t bought Modern Warfare 3 yet, but I did get the chance to play it for a couple of hours at a friend’s house the other day and thought I’d write a quick first impressions post.

Graphics and layout

Fans of Modern Warfare 2 will be right at home with this game as the layout is almost identical in Modern Warfare 3. The graphics are also very similar too and don’t really look that great when you compare it to Battlefield 3 or Rage; this is probably not surprising considering it’s built on the same game engine, but a little bit of evolution would have been nice.

Gameplay

The multiplayer gameplay is where the game really stands out, although not that different from previous games all of the favourite modes are there including capture the flag, domination and team death match. The maps take a bit of getting used to but after a couple of goes you soon find out where all of the strategic points are.

Having played Battlefield 3 for the past few weeks I found it hard to revert back to MW3’s controls, knifing mid-air as I tried to crouch and throwing grenades instead of knifing someone became frustrating but after an hour or so I got back into the rhythm.

I would class MW3 as more of a run and gun game and really does feel like an arcade game compared to BF3, but it’s still fun to play which is the main thing.

Killstreaks have been overhauled and I didn’t get a good chance to check it out so I can’t comment on if it is a good change or not.

Quick scoping is also back, but that was one of my gripes with MW2 and should of been omited in my opinion.

Conclusion

Modern Warfare 3 will no doubt keep Call of Duty fans happy for the next year, but it just doesn’t feel like a step up for me; it just feels like a new map pack for Modern Warfare 2. I don’t think I’ll be buying it, but I’ll gladly play it at a friend’s house.

After my wife saw me struggling with my old workmate in the garage at the weekend, I persuaded her to let me buy a new workbench to go with my new bandsaw. I went for the Draper Carpenter’s Workbench which cost just over £130 and features a drawer and two vices, which should be plenty for what I need.

I’ve been cutting a lot of wood this weekend with my bandsaw ready to start assembling next weekend and I hope I get the workbench before then as my 5 year old workmate just won’t cut it anymore (sorry for the pun).

The Draper workbench looks quite easy to put together and should give me the stability and room that I need to make my furniture and boxes.

I’ll post some pictures up once I get everything assembled and post some pictures of the stuff I made too.

I’m keen into woodworking from making furniture and jewellery boxes to basic musical instruments like cigar box guitars, and I’ve always struggled with my jigsaw so I bought a bandsaw. It got delivered this morning and I’ve spent most of the day setting it up.

I went for the Axminster AWHBS250N Bandsaw because it had decent reviews and it came with its own stand and 3 bandsaw blades for just £189. The base comes flat packed and takes a bit of time to assemble, but once that is done the bandsaw fits snuggly on top.

Setting up the bandsaw it quite time consuming, but as long as you follow the instructions and make sure that everything is level then its relatively straight forward.

I am just using the standard blade at the moment and it gives a pretty good cut which is way better than my jigsaw. I will test out the other blades when I have chance, but if you’re in the market for a compact bandsaw then I can fully recommend getting this one.

I can’t wait till the weekend so that I can have a proper go and make some more interesting stuff.