This quirky shaped mug looks normal when empty but when filled gives the appearance of an upside down beer bottle. This might just be the perfect quirky party gift. Yes, it’s surely a bit pricy for a single glass but considering that it’s hand-blown and precisely crafted and, according to their web site – unexpectedly classy. What’s next – brown paper bag mug shaped mug? Hopside Down Beer Glass – $19.99
With all of the hullabaloo over the Amazon Kindle 2‘s recent release, one might think that there were no other eBook readers on the market; not so! Those who eschew DRM protection and who can do without the convenience of an online content store (I’m thinking of Amazon‘s and Sony‘s, specifically) should pay particular attention to the Ectaco jetBook, a reading device capable of handling .txt, .pdf, .fb2, .jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp, and MP3 file formats. According to the literature I picked up at CES, the EPUB format is expected in Q1 2009*.
One thing I like to do when cleaning house is listen to podcasts or music. I don’t have much of a stereo system in my home, and I wouldn’t want to make to have the whole household suffer from me listening to the latest from one of my many Linux podcasts. So most of the time I have earbuds or headphones on while working around the house. Sometimes, it’s just not convenient to wear the headphones, so I need a small speaker. With that in mind, when I saw the Neek Speaker I couldn’t help but wonder if it would…
Just like nearly every business on earth, we’re constantly on the lookout for ways to save money during this economic depression. Recently I’ve been reading about a new device called Ooma. It carries no monthly fee (though you do pay extra for features such as second line, conferencing, enhanced voicemail and screening). In my office I use Vonage unlimited VOIP (voice over IP) to make unlimited outgoing calls for $65 per month. Voice over IP is a technology that allows for making regular voice calls via your landline phone using an Internet connection. Last week I installed Ooma so I…
Quite honestly when I started reviewing this T-Mobile BlackBerry 8220 a month ago there were a few people who laughed at the phone. They’d heard the build quality was so-so and told me the first time I jostled the phone it’d disintegrate in my hand. I’d read a few online remarks downplaying the overall screen quality. Imagine my surprise when I completely fell in love with this affordable BlackBerry.
Applications that allow you to transfer files from your Mac or PC to your iPhone or iPod Touch and back again aren’t unusual these days. There are many currently available, and a number are quite good. File Magic comes a little bit late to the game, but it’s clear that the folks at SplashData took their time to think through how to best manage this task; they have come up with one of, if not the best, solutions.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I listen to a lot of podcasts and music. I also do the majority of my listening while wearing headphones. That means that I’ll go through at least 1-2 pairs of headphones per year – sometimes more, as I usually wear them when riding to work in the mornings and evenings on the bus on my daily commute. So when Altec Lansing introduced their new cloth covered headphones, my ears were in for a treat. By cloth covered, what I mean is the headphone cables are all covered in a cloth weave, What this…
Thinking about buying a BlackBerry Storm? My sister Lynn recently traded in her BlackBerry Pearl for a Storm. I asked if she’d give her un-filtered feedback for those of our readers who might be in a similar situation: Well, after much deliberation, I decided to give the Storm a try. I have had the Pearl for almost a year and the keyboard was driving me crazy. Although I was getting used to it, I was envious of how quickly my kids could text and be onto their 3rd message before I’m done with my 1st. Don’t get me wrong—I liked…
About six months ago I bought the best phone that I have ever owned: a Nokia E71. Obviously this is a personal thing, since the E71 wouldn’t suit everyone’s needs or tastes, but for me it just fitted into every situation I put my phone in. It is the perfect messaging device, with it’s QWERTY thumboard that has excellent feel and feedback, it has outstanding battery life thanks to it’s enormous 1500mAh battery, it is as thin as possible without being uncomfortable to use, it has an bright, rich display, that while low on dimensions and resolution, looks absolutely great…
[Ed. note – This is a joint review between Mitchell Oke and myself. My comments will be in black, and Mitchell’s will be in blue italics. Before reading this, you might want to first read Mitchell’s article “HTC Touch HD = Stands for Hot Damn!!” and my “HTC Touch HD Walk-Around and First Impressions” and “A Quick Tease: the HTC Touch HD and Nokia N85″] It seems like it’s been ages since there was a Windows Mobile phone with a nearly 4″ screen. The last one I can remember was my much loved HTC Universal, and that was back in…early…
One thing that I saw come out of CES was this cool little Z10 projector from Nextar; it literally fits in the palm of your hand. This little projector is capable of 640×480 and is based on LCOS technology. LCOS, or Liquid Crystal on Silicon, is the technology being used in most micro projectors and the small modules being made to add to new cellphones. This allows you to have a very small and pocketable projector.
Like a lot of guys – I have this habit of keeping stuff in my refrigerator just a little too long. Jennifer and I have this fun game that we like to play called “guess the expiration date”. She randomly pulls stuff our of my refrigerator. Asks – do you know when this expired? To which I typically respond something guy-ish like – you mean milk goes bad? So as you could imagine my refrigerator often has an interesting odor that lingers. When I spotted the FreshFridge for $17 on Amazon I just had to give it a try.
There have been two activities that have become the norm across the world of technology blogging in the last couple of years: unboxing, and loading Mac OS X onto netbooks. As a person who is lucky enough to have the opportunity to play with lots of phones, notebooks and other “unboxable” items, I’ve done the former a fair bit, and as an owner of a MacBook Pro for the past few years, I can understand peoples need to load OS X onto any device with an x86 processor. Another trend that’s come up in the last month or so is…
There are many reasons to like the Nokia N85, but the one thing that has blown my hair back and made me truly appreciate this talented little device is something I had never before seen in a mobile phone…an FM transmitter*. And not just any weak wannabe transmitter, I’m talking about one that is just as strong – and allows the music to sound just as rich – as the dedicated transmitter on my Sirius box does.
Traverse, the name chosen for General Motor’s latest new people mover, refers to the verb and not the city in upstate Michigan where many of these vehicles will undoubtedly be headed each summer.
On a whim I ordered this Febreze Odor Removal Appliance from Amazon for $22. My kitchen always has this “interesting” assortment of (burnt) smells and I was hopeful that the Febreze would do more than pump out a scent to mask odors.
I’m one of those people who can’t make a straight cut for anything. These laser guided scissors are affordable (only $15) and guarantee that you’ll at least have a straight line to follow. Useful for cutting all types of things where you may not want to use a ruler and make a mark to draw your own line. The blade is about 3.5″ long and the laser runs on 2 included LR44 batteries. Perfect gift for the professional gift wrapper who has everything! Laser Guided Scissors
Hawking has been around a while, and while most laptops have built in WiFi, they may not have Draft N or 802.11N. You may also have a desktop without WiFi that you want a Internet connection on without using Ethernet; this may fit the bill.
A few days ago I ranted about my belief that take home School Science Projects should be banned. I’m not altogether against them – it’s just that as a parent of two 9 year olds my experience is that most projects are a test of the parent’s ability to teach their kids how to do a project as opposed to the kids understanding anything at all about what they’re doing. Little did I know there’s actually a company that creates science project kids that help parents understand the science fair process. You might refer to this kit as parent’s “science…