July 2010

Case-Mate Venture Case/Stand for iPad – Review

The other day we brought word that Case-Mate was rolling out a new case/stand for the iPad. The $89.99 case looks to combine real protection, style and function. The case was just announced last Friday but is already shipping. We now have one in hand so let’s take a look… From Case-Mate: Introducing the Venture case, where form meets function. The beautiful Venture case comes with stand built into it. Simply unsnap the cover and it folds back under itself to create a stand that will prop your iPad up. So you no longer have to awkwardly try to hold…

Reviews

RadTech I-Sight Review: Let There Be Light

If you have significant other and you sleep in the same bed chances are it’s happened to you at least once. It’s nearing bedtime but one of you just isn’t ready to go to sleep yet. Do you like to read in bed? A lot of us do, it’s probably where I do most of my reading. But does your partner get frustrated when your bedtime reading because it means leaving lights on so you can see? Enter the RadTech I-Sight. When I do early morning running in the winter/fall it’s sometimes still dark outside. What do I do to…

News

State of the ‘Obese-itude’: CalorieLab Releases the 2009 State-by-State Obesity Map

While the numbers displayed are staggering, that map only tells part of the story: – It is only about adults. – It displays obesity, not % overweight. CalorieLab has been tracking obesity in states for several years, and has been tweaking their methods over time, now depending on a three-year rolling average to smooth out spikes and look at long-term issues. Somewhat disturbing is that they have had to change their scales (pun intended) because the obesity trends just keep getting worse: because of the overall increase in obesity, CalorieLab this year again shifted the color coding used in its…

Editorials

Apple Picking iPhone Reception Issues- A Gear Chat

Dan: The drama surrounding iPhone 4 reception issues moved up a few notches yesterday when Consumer Reports announced that they were reversing position and announced that they could not recommend the iPhone 4 due to a design flaw in their external antenna. Bear in mind that they seem to love every other aspect of the phone and give it a score of 76 out of 100 with the next highest ranked phones, the iPhone 3GS and the HTC Sprint Evo each getting a 74, but the particular antenna issue is, for them, a deal breaker. As the day went on,…

Reviews

Daniusoft Media Converter Ultimate Converter and Ripper Review

In case I haven’t bored you enough by mentioning it, I do a lot of travel. Three-four times per month, I fly between my family in Austin, and my job in Sunnyvale in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’m not complaining–at least I’ve got a job!–but it does leave me with a lot of time on my own waiting. Waiting for planes to board, planes to get where they’re going, trains to arrive, trains to get where they’re going, etc. And so I spend a lot of time watching movies and TV shows on my iPhone and laptop. Which is…

How to Do It Yourself!

Photography in the iPhone world, part II

Images are recorded every moment of every day from a multitude (plethora, if you will) of recording devices ranging from cellphones to traffic cameras to the Hubble telescope spacecraft. Photography, in form or another, is all around us. Given the basic definition of the process, photography can be accomplished with any device made for the purpose of recording images – moving or still. Video cameras are basically just still cameras with very, very fast motor drives and longer record times. Most cinematic features are shot at 24 fps or frames per second. That is 24 images each second, repeated until…

News

Something New Coming from Evernote Tomorrow… You’ll Know What It is When We Do…

I love Evernote. I live in Evernote. Evernote is killing me… Evernote has been teasing about something new coming for some time. They have blog posts up about it, are running a contest about it, and have reached out directly about it. But try as I might (and I HAVE TRIED) I can’t get a clue about what they are about to unveil. The only thing I do know is that it must be something pretty major. How do I know that? Simple… I’ve been following the company and using Evernote since the current iteration of the service was in…

Reviews

The Speck PixelSkin for iPhone 4 Review

There’s no question the iPhone 4 needs a case most of the time. The glass is more delicate than we were initially led to believe, and then there is the antenna issue that continues to dominate online tech chatting. Thankfully a host of cases for the newest iPhone have been rolling out. One of the latest is a new version of an old favorite, Speck’s PixelSkin. Let’s take a look. From Speck: The tactile pixel texture and perfect amount of “squish” is what makes this rubberized iPhone 4 case so grippy in-hand and famously protective. There are rubberized touch-thru button…

Reviews

iAngle Review: Won’t Stand for Serving Just One Purpose

In the ever-expanding world of “i” accessories, there are plenty of single purpose items. Versed General seems to have said “pshaw!” to that and are offering up their iAngle for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It’s a stand! It’s an earbud accessory! It comes in black or white and it’s $9.99! One side of the iAngle works as an earbud wrapper, but turn it over and it will act as a stand, holding your iDevice at a good viewing angle. Versed General was nice enough to send us a black iAngle for review. I have to say, it’s just as…

News

iLuv iMM190 App Station Dock for iPhone Review

From iLuv- With its stylish oval design and alarm clock functionality, the iLuv App Station Alarm Clock Stereo Speaker Dock for iPhone 3G and 3GS or iPod is the ideal desktop sound system. The speaker dock stands horizontally or vertically, thus accommodating your device’s touch-screen view. The App Station’s key feature is its sophisticated alarm clock functionality with the iLuv App Clock for iPhone–available from the Apple iTunes Store. With the excellent speaker chambers, the App Station is powerful enough to deliver rich dynamic sound, while it charges your iPhone or iPod as you listen. The App Station shows great…

News

Uh Oh… There’s Trouble In the Apple Orchard- Consumer Reports “Can’t Recommend the iPhone 4 “

The summer’s not the only thing turning up the heat on Apple right now as Consumer Reports states, “we can’t recommend the iPhone 4”. Talk about reversing positions… When the iPhone 4 first came out CR took a look and determined that “There’s no reason, at least yet, to forgo buying an iPhone 4 over its reception concerns.” Phew… sigh of relief. Not so fast however… After being able to replicate reception issues out in the real world CR has changed their tune. Actually it is a complete reversal as today CR emailed us and said– Consumer Reports engineers have…

eBooks, Editorials

State of the eBook: Fight!

For this week’s “State of the eBook” I thought we should look at potential winners and losers in the ebook world. With competition and price wars getting fiercer, there’s a few major battles shaping up that may change the competitive landscape. One is (at this point) a slam dunk, while the others are subject to many variables. Without further ado, here are the matchups! Borders vs B&N B&N vs Amazon Amazon vs B&N and Spring Design Spring Design vs B&N Amazon, B&N, Spring Design and Borders vs the iPad Borders vs B&N Let’s start with what I think is just…

Reviews

Review: iLuv iMM178 Vibe Plus- Dual Alarm Clock w/Bed Speaker Shaker for iPhone

iPhone/iPod speaker docks are multiplying around my home and at the office. And for good reason. Since I’m not an audiophile the music that is pumped out of a relatively inexpensive speaker dock is usually just fine for me. But while a simple speaker dock is fine for my office (I use a bluetooth system that I love… more on that another time) in my bedroom I want something that also includes an alarm clock. The other day I took a look at one that offers good sound. It costs $150, sounds good but isn’t compatible with iPhone due to…

News

Case-Mate Launches New Venture Case/Stand for iPad

Case-Mate is just releasing their newest case for the Apple iPad. Well to be more accurate, they are releasing their newest case AND their newest stand for the iPad and it is a single product, the Venture. Understanding that iPad users are clamoring for a good case that also converts into a stand the company has produced the Venture to “…answer the demand for a better iPad stand”. The case is crafted out of a black polyurethane material with green accent piping. The iPad slips easily into the case which can then be used to protect the device and make…

Editorials

Breaking the TV Habit

My fiancée and I watch a fair amount of television. It’s not the ONLY thing we do, but we tend to leave it on a great deal in the background during the evenings. In the summer, there’s not much we really follow, but somehow the TV still ends up on around 7:30, 8pm and stays on until around 10. So we’ve decided to go cold turkey. Just for one week, to see if we’re more productive if we’re not being distracted by reality TV and bad sitcoms. It also means we’re going to force ourselves avoid crashing out on our…

News

Substrata’s Wooden iPad Boxes are Closer to Reality

Substrata Creative Studios, the Portland Oregon based makers of fine wooden cabinets, countertops, furniture and cutting boards have been creating distinctive iPod touch and iPhone 3G/3GS cases for some time, but they have now upped their game with the introduction of the Substrata iPad Box (Hinged Lid). Each of these custom cases are made to order, with a shipping wait time of 2 – 3 weeks. These cases feature: • an integrated wood hinge with contrasting inlays • a micro suede lining of lid and base • wooden latches (with magnetic stops in the ‘open’ and ‘closed’ positions) • functions…

Reviews

NOX Audio Specialist Headphones Works For Gamers and Office Workers

I found almost the perfect headset for both gamers and office workers. What am I talking about? The NOX Audio Specialist headphones that’s what! Let’s go over the basics. First, the NOX Audio headphones comes in a great case that has some structure to it. This is great for those who just want to protect their headphones while they are in their backpack. Opening the case reveals the headphones themselves. They fold so they can fit in the case and the cable itself is detachable and can be secured in the case. The cable looks like a microusb on one…

News

Fring + iPhone 3GS + Mirror??? = Two-Way Video Chat

Yes it is a bit buggy, but Fring’s iPhone app does let you make video calls over 3G, and that’s something you just can’t do with FaceTime. No, the quality isn’t nearly as good, but it DOES WORK! How do I know? Because Larry and I just video chatted, and there isn’t a stitch of WiFi where he is at the beach. After making a video call iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 over 3G we decided to see what would happen if he installed Fring on the 3GS. He did… and it worked. There was just one problem… because the…

Editorials

Adventures in Customer Service FAIL … Jott Edition

A few months ago I canceled my subscription to Jott. Between Reqall’s powerful voice-to-text memory system and Dragon Dictation I found that I wasn’t using it all that much. After a time however, I found that I missed being able to Jott new appointments to my Google Calendar and new tasks to Toodledo so I signed back up. This time I opted for the plan that lets you record just 15 seconds. It is much cheaper and would work fine since I only planned to use Jott for quick tasks and appointments only. But there was a problem… Jott stopped…

Editorials, Game Diary

nVidia Optimus – Not Ready for (Gaming) Prime Time

It was supposed to be a great day … I had written first impressions about the original Alienware m11x and about how I was ordering the new one as soon as it became available. And while I was away on vacation my order shipped and arrived, so it was waiting for me upon my return. I was thrilled and couldn’t wait to get busy with it. After all, I loved so much about the original Alienware m11x (now called R1), including: – Near-netbook portability. – Better than netbook battery life (on integrated graphics) – True gaming laptop performance. – Better…

News

Would You Eat a Canned Sandwich? How About Investing Your Retirement in Them?

How would you feel if you and a group of other investors had contributed a total of $145 million into what you thought were real estate investments, only to later find out that instead a huge portion of that money had been put into the development of “Candwiches” and other equally odd and questionable products? That’s exactly what happened to a group of investors in Utah after Travis L. Wright offered them returns of up to 24% on real estate investments. Obviously promised returns that high should have been their first clue that something was fishy, but evidently Utah investors are known to be näive…

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