Review: Digital Foci 8″ Portable Digital Photo Album PBK-080
It has been a while since I reviewed a product form Digital Foci. I liked the Photosafe II and I decided, when offered, to check out their new product, the 8 inch Digital Photo Book.
March 2010
The UrbanTrim Squidarella Color Changing Umbrella Review
Although I live in Eldorado, which sits only a few counties away from the ever-creeping-towards-us edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, we have been enjoying the El Niño effect this year, which means a wetter spring than usual. In celebration of our recent (and hopefully continuing) monsoons, I’ve been sporting one of the most unique umbrellas ever seen in Texas or anywhere — the UrbanTrim Squidarella Color Changing Umbrella.
PDF Reader from Kdan Mobile Software for iPhone and iPod Touch
This past week I did a review of Documents to Go Premium. I really like that product – it does a wonderful job of working with MS Office documents. But a lot but my main use of it is as a PDF reader – really a secondary function of that program. So when I saw a new stand-alone PDF reader program for only 99 cents I decided I had to take a look so I bought a copy and started playing. So how did it do? Let’s take a look!
Good-bye Case-Mate Hug Wireless Charging System for the iPhone; We Hardly Knew You!
I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April 1st when Dan forwarded a message from Case-Mate’s PR to me… Happy Friday! I know that you covered the case-mate Hug for the iPhone so I wanted to give you some news on its availability to consumers. Case-mate is proud to deliver innovative, self-expressive products to the marketplace every day. We strive to make each and every product fit into our overall strategy and vision. The case-mate Hug for the Apple iPhone 3G and Apple iPhone 3GS is a product we launched with success – sales and product…
Mobile Edge Women’s Netbook Bag Review
The tough part of trying to look professional is finding the right bag. It’s especially difficult if you are a woman; do you carry a purse AND a briefcase? If you choose briefcase, do you grab a bag small enough to double as a purse, or do you keep a small bag in your desk for lunchtime errands? Personally, I hate purses, small bags, etc. My pants came with pockets for a reason! Sadly, they don’t make cargo pants for women’s suits. That’s where bags like the Mobile Edge Netbook Bag come in…
The Documents to Go Premium 3.1 for iPhone Review
The last few weeks have been interesting. We saw the release of a lot of new products during CES earlier this year. One of those products was the version 3.x of Documents to Go Premium from DataVis. Now, quickly on the heels of that, they have release version 3.1 which adds even more improvements including Google Docs support! On a personal note – my own life has been a crazy roller coaster with my day job sending me all over the place and then getting seriously ill, all of it ramping up to this past week where I had to rush…
Rad Blaster Review: Don’t Always Believe the Hype
As bloggers we’re all guilty of it. We see some really cool gadget over the internet, or we’re sent a random press release on what’s described as the next, greatest widget to hit since the invention of the cell phone. Usually we spot some fancy press release picture along with it which only serves to further peak our interest. So what do we do? We post about it. Sometimes we even offer our opinion on how “cool” the thing looks. Or the fact that we’d love to have one. But guess what? We’ve never even held it once, never tested…
Ford SYNC Technology Hits Milestone
photo courtesy of Ford The Ford SYNC voice-controlled communications and infotainment system made headlines this week with the 2-millionth installation. While all new Ford/Lincoln/Mercury vehicles I have been testing over the past couple of years include this feature I must admit I rarely, if ever, use it. For one, I don’t talk on the phone while driving if at all possible. Secondly, I am not in most of these vehicles long enough to take full advantage of all of the features available with SYNC. And as I have discovered this week, while testing the cool new Harley-Davidson F-150 pickup, SYNC…
Where Is the Dedicated eBook Reader Market Headed?
(photo courtesy Engadget) Kobo today announced they will be selling a lower-end, dedicated ebook reader for $149 at Indigo in Canada and Borders in the USA. The unit itself is pretty basic; you transfer your books via USB, and it has some nice UI flourishes, but that’s about it. All day various websites have crowed that this is the start of the slide to a magic $99 ebook reader, and I agree. The bigger question, though, is what market does a cheap ebook reader serve? Kids: This is a fairly easy one; you wouldn’t necessarily expect a child to take…
Will High News and Magazine Pricing Hurt iPad Adoption?
Everyone and their cousin is reporting that a subscription to theWallStreet Journal on the iPad will run around $18. Ouch. While it is certainly cheaper than the current “dead tree” , is much more than people are usually used to paying for digital content. Think about it this way, if you get the 3G iPad and a subscription to the WSJ, you’ve just added about $50 to your monthly nut. That’s not peanuts. Moreover Engadget is reporting that when prices are announced for iPad content, “magazines to be at or near newsstand prices”. All this raises a few thoughts/questions for…
Dear AT&T, I’m Going To Purchase One of Your New Microcells, but Let’s Not Act As If You’re Doing Me Any Favors, Okay?
AT&T’s Microcell. You get great reception. AT&T gets to double dip. As you may have read elsewhere on the web AT&T is rolling out Microcells that will solve many of the reception issues people have at home. That is, assuming they already have a highspeed Internet connection. You see, the Microcell will allow you to connect to your high-speed Internet service and then have your iPhone or any other AT&T cell phone jump on the data connection from your cable company and route calls through it. This will, in turn, improve your cell reception because you won’t be using AT&T’s…
Consumerist Counters the NCAA with its own ‘Worst Company In America’ Bracket
Image courtesy of Consumerist The Consumerist website regularly tracks misdeeds by various companies and also our rights as consumers … oh, and some crazy stuff going on in the retail world! Starting back in 2008, they started awarding the ‘Golden Poo Award’, for the crappiest company in the nation! The first year it went to Bank of America, last year to AIG, and now they are getting underway with the bracket voting for the finalists! First up – Walmart vs. Sears/KMart. Who do you think is worst? I’m not sure what else to say but … get to Consumerist and…
NeatDesk Review
From The Neat Company….. “The NeatDesk is a high-speed desktop scanner and digital filing system that will quickly turn all the paper on your desk into organized, digital files. More than just a great scanner, NeatDesk also includes patented NeatWorks software to identify and extract key information from your paper files, then automatically organizes it in the easy to use database.” I’ve tried a bunch of systems to manage my receipts, business cards and paper but I just can’t seem to find one that works the way I want it to. Previously I was using Evernote to manage my business cards but that meant…
Cops and Robbers for iPhone/Touch App Review
This week’s Blue Plate is time sensitive, so read quickly and get to downloading. Most of the games featured in the weekly column have been puzzle type games. Cops and Robbers is going to break this streak with a 3D scroller that is sure to provide an entertaining diversion. The game is usually $2.99 but is free for the time being, so if this one looks interesting you better jump on it; I think you will not be disappointed. Details after the break…
Amazon Is 1-2; Exclusive Deal with Another Author, but Rebuffed by a Publisher
(underlying image courtesy Pittsburgh Peas) Amazon is still pounding out exclusive deals with various authors (the better to thumb their nose at Apple, presumably). This time it is with science fiction author F. Paul Wilson, who is apparently well-known for The LaNague Federation Series. If you aren’t familiar with the series (I wasn’t), the author describes it as: “Galactic Empires are a joke. At least I’ve always thought so. So when I started writing science fiction I looked for something different. I wanted to set my stories against a single consistent coherent background–my own Future History. I based the socioeconomic…
The Approval of Readdle’s Scanner Pro 2.0 Raises Questions…
Scanner Pro is a powerful iPhone app that “transforms the device into portable scanner”. Just updated to version 2.0, the app adds GoogleDocs integration, camera stabilization, automatic edge detection and passcode protection. It costs $6.99 in the App Store but is a free update to existing users. With Scanner Pro 2.0 comes in handy when a hard copy document should be scanned and there is no scanner nearby. It lets people scan multipage documents, email them and even upload to Dropbox, Evernote, MobileMe iDisk or any other WebDAV enabled server. The application incorporates special algorithms to enhance image quality and…
The Wilson Electronics MobilePro Wireless Cellular/PCS Dual-Band 800/1900 MHz Amplifier Review
Many of you know that I live in the country, several miles outside of the thriving metropolis of Eldorado, Texas — population much less than 2000. We have fairly decent EDGE wireless coverage here, but there are areas where the signal typically dips to one bar — and it seems like many of those places are either on the highway between San Angelo and Eldorado or in various spots on the ranch where we typically drive. I took care of our low signal issues at home when I installed the Wi-Ex zBoost, but signal strength in our vehicles has continued…
Final Fantasy iPhone Game Review
What does it say when Final Fantasy VII is released on the PSN Store as a downloadable game for the PSP & PS3 for $9.99 and everyone rejoices, yet when the original Final Fantasy comes along for the iPhone for $8.99 and there is a general sense of being over-charged? Perhaps it is the reality that all business models aren’t created equal. I will talk about the business model in a bit, but for now … let’s explore the iPhone release of the original Final Fantasy!
Two Reasons I Hate the Slacker / Pandora / etc Internet Radio Apps
As if by amazing serendipity, I had just started writing this when I read Carly Z’s “Adventures in Internet Radio” talking about traveling with Pandora and Slacker. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of reasons to love these apps! Loads of music, tons of choices, affinity selection with ‘learning’ system that allows you to help the apps do their job better. In fact, since before Christmas not a week has gone by that we haven’t used either Slacker or Pandora on either my Droid or iPod Touch to play music for the whole family, and when my younger son…
Amazon, the iPad, and Why iBooks Might Not Be So Great
Amazon has been proudly showing off their iPad app today and made it clear they’re looking to develop for tablets as a category. Since there’s really only one category of Apple tablet-esque devices, it’s safe to assume devices like the HP Slate, and possibly, hopefully, Android tablets, will also be blessed with a big-screen and finger friendly version of the Kindle. Compare this to the iBooks app, which, if it has any portability at all, will most likely only move between the iPhone and the iPad, and possible on Macs. If you had to tie your data up in a…
The Hillcrest Loop Pointer Review: a Mouse for Your TV
It never failed that when someone would visit while I was testing the Hillcrest Loop pointer, they would invariably pick it up and wear it like it was an over-sized bangle — because at first glance, that is exactly what it resembles. But the Loop is much more than just a piece of giant plastic jewelry. The Loop pointer actually got its start as an “iconic concept product to showcase Hillcrest Lab’s Freespace technology and HoME system solutions.” People who saw it liked it, and they wanted one; so Hillcrest, whose primary focus remains “licensing interactive media systems software for…