Search Results for ebay

Enervee Takes Comparison Shopping to a New, Energy Conscious Level

There are a million ways to shop by price online. You can sort lowest to highest, seek sale items, look for free shipping, and head to sites like eBay to try to get a better deal. There’s also plenty of places that will tell you how eco-friendly a device is, or will be over its lifetime. Enervee is looking to combine those metrics into one website that gives you a price, features, and environmental impact breakdown on major household appliances, so you can see what the true price of an item will be over its lifetime and whether you need…

Reviews

HTC ONE: A Review from Two Continents

One of us is in the US while the other is in Australia; both of us have been using the HTC ONE for the last bit. With HTC pushing the phone this weekend through special sales promotions, we thought it would be a good time to share some of our thoughts. Dan: A couple of weeks ago, I wrote some of my first impressions of the HTC ONE Android Smartphone. My initial impressions have only continued to be positive, and I am more enamored with the device now than when I first gushed about it. At the time, I described…

Editorials, Health and Fitness

5 Ways to Honor the Boston Marathon Tragedy Victims – A Monday Mile Special Edition

As someone who was born and spent more than forty years in the Boston area, my heart is heavy today. Although I am glad that the numbers didn’t continue climbing through the night in terms of those hurt, I am still having trouble wrapping my head around the horrific events that occurred at yesterday’s Boston Marathon. As I went for my run this morning, my mind was constantly thinking about the situation, and I posted that on my Facebook page. Since then, I have also been thinking about how we can best deal with the feeling of loss that every runner…

Reviews

Nillkin Hard Case for Google Nexus 4 Review

Bulky cases on already large phones is a problem for me, and the Nillkin Hard Case line looks to be a good option. Having recently switched from my iPhone 5 to a Nexus 4, the main thing I have been getting used to is the extra size. Having 4.7 inches of screen to play with for browsing and videos is wonderful, but less so when attempting to type one-handed. It’s relatively easy with a naked Nexus 4, but when out working I always want that bit of extra protection. The Nillkin Hard Case is very no frills, and arrived in…

How to Do It Yourself!

The Aftermarket Smart Home – a Gear Diary Journey

While we were attending CES 2013, friends in the congregation emailed me and said, “Dan, as you know we are building a new home. We know you are at CES and would appreciate it if you would keep an eye out for any home automation that looks cool. We really want to build some “smarts” into the house.” I did keep my eyes out for new smart home technology, and when I met with them last week I had something to share with them. My recommendation was that they not wire anything into their smart home, and that they should only…

Events

Elon Musk Keynote Address at SXSW Interactive

As South by Southwest Interactive (henceforth: SXSWi) approached I found myself a bit overwhelmed by all the choices of talks, panels, hangouts, meetups, and God only knows what else. As an Austin resident, I didn’t feel the need to over-indulge on Sixth Street’s entertainment venues — I can do it any time — so I tried to concentrate on talks and events that I though I would find interesting, and you all would find interesting. I got a clunker or two, but in the main I did okay. Even with the overwhelming choices available, there was one person who I was…

Reviews

Zagg LEATHERskin for the Apple iPad Mini

I ordered a Zagg LEATHERskin for iPad mini last week. (It looked interesting and Zagg was offering a good deal on some headphones with any order I made that day. And… yes… we will be giving the headphones I got away in the near future!) If I look at the way Judie, Mike and I each protect our iPad minis I see three very different approaches. Judie doesn’t mind adding some weight and bulk to her iPad mini so long at the case she uses screams quality. That’s why she is happily using the Orbino miniPadova she purchased a few…

Reviews

Speck CandyShell for Samsung GALAXY Note 2 Provides Tasty Protection

So you’ve entered the land of phablets and bought yourself a Samsung GALAXY Note 2. You love carrying one device that serves as both (a freakin’ huge) smartphone and a (tiny tiny) tablet and you take it everywhere you go. That’s great but a device getting that much use and abuse needs t be protected. Fortunately Speck has you and your Note 2 covered with their Speck CandyShell for Samsung GALAXY Note 2. It is a great way to add color while keeping your Note 2 safe and secure. The Speck CandyShell for Samsung GALAXY Note 2 comes in two…

News

Quirky Ham Radio Gadgets from Yesteryear: The Wouff Hong and the Rettysnitch

Well, the Wouff-Hong is not so much a gadget, but it has been a part of Ham Radio lore since 1930’s. What is a Wouff Hong? According to 1930 edition of The Radio Amateur’s Handbook: The Wouff-Hong is amateur radio’s most sacred symbol and stands for the enforcement of law and order in amateur operation. The story goes that T.O.M. ( The Old Man) wrote stories in the American Radio Relay League’s magazine, QST, titled Rotten Radio. It excoriated bad operating practices using caustic humor and satire. It was in one of these stories that the Wouff-Hong was born. It wasn’t…

Game Diary, News

Former Atari CEO to Save U.S. Operations from Bankruptcy?

In the world of games there are always winners and losers … recently Atari’s U.S. operations lost the financial game to use one of their lives to win the possibly win the survival game later. After some nice anniversary celebrations last year for the 2600 and Pong, Atari made their Chapter 11 announcement on January 20, 2013. The reason? Separate from their French parent holding company Atari S.A. (formerly Infogrames). In 2010, Atari leveraged their popular game franchises to shift its work from retail game titles to digital games for Android and iOS and Android. The method worked as they saw…

Gear Bits, News

Sites That Make Pr0n ‘Safe for Work’ or Accessible for the Blind

One of the worst kept secrets of the internet age is that with all of the money flying around, plenty is being spent on online pornography. Time did a deconstruction of the notion that porn ‘has larger revenues than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix combined’, noting: While $2.8 billion is nothing to sneeze at, porn is hardly the golden goose many assume it to be. CNBC suggested in a recent report that the porn industry “stands at a precipice as it heads into 2012,” with “revenue from films … shrinking, due to piracy and an abundance of…

Events, Reviews

Just Mobile Gum Max Backup Battery Review

In the first post of this two-part series, we looked at the Just Mobile Gum Plus backup battery. (Read the review, here.) It provides 5200 mAh of battery life and lets you charge your iPhone a number of times. The Gum Plus is small and light enough for you to easily throw the battery into your gadget bag and carry it all the time. But what if you REALLY need extra battery life? What if you have an iPhone and an iPad you need to keep charged? What if you can’t be sure you’ll be near an outlet at all…

News

Apple’s Profit Compared to Everyone Else’s Profits

Everyone familiar with the tech world knows that Apple is insanely profitable … but have you ever wondered just HOW profitable? The folks at Statista took on the challenge and made a chart of Apple profits compared to other companies. But if you have looked at similar graphs in the past, you know that Apple is SO MUCH more profitable that there is a lack of perspective! So instead the graph stacks up groups of other companies and compares their cumulative profits to Apple. It is pretty amazing to look at the graph: Apple is more profitable than the combination…

Gear Bits

The ’90s Live on … in My Attic

We have been cleaning out our attic, and found this piece of “once-cutting edge technology”. Yes, Sarah’s ruggedized CD player was her prized possession in the ’90’s…and while it was no doubt super-cool at the time, it’s amazing that we once carried these around happily. Even old school cassette players were less cumbersome! The next time a phone, or a rugged case, feels too big…just remember how big an old school portable CD player used to be…that will make your Otterbox Defender look downright svelte in comparison! We found some other cool stuff in our attic, including a Sega Genesis…

Reviews

Carved Skins Are One of the First Accessories I’ll Want for the New iPhone 5

Apple’s big announcement (or announcements) don’t happen until later today, but I already know one of the accessories I’ll be ordering for my iPhone 5. It comes from Carved, a small company that has completely and totally won me over. First let me give you a bit of a background on how I got to Carved in the first place. I don’t recall where I first saw the company’s name, but I did, and then I checked out their website; I liked what I saw. The company makes back plates and front plates for various devices out of real wood….

Editorials, Travel

Traveling Light with the Sena Florence Portfolio; I Reviewed It, and I Still Use It

I had a few meetings the other day, and as I was heading out for them, I was struck by how little I was actually bringing with me. I was further struck by the fact that despite how little I was bringing with me for the day, I STILL had everything I needed. Yes, everything I needed for my meetings was held in my Timbuk2 X-small Quickie for Tablets 2011, and I had tons of room left over. (The 2012 version is here.) In fact, there was almost nothing actually IN the bag. So what did I bring with me?…

Reviews

Blurex Google Nexus 7 Folio Case Review

Image courtesy of Amazon Android devices are usually pretty slow to adopt cases and accessories compared to the mind numbing amount available for Apple devices. If you picked up a shiny new Nexus 7 tablet, and are on the hunt for quality case without breaking the bank, then the Blurex Folio Slim might be the answer. There was nothing available for immediate purchase when the tablet came out, so I picked up a standard pleather folio case off of Amazon for a about $6 to my door. While this case has served me well the poor fit has been pretty…

Music Diary, News, Reviews

If You Want to Get ‘Real’, Get SampleTank! My Hands-On Review

When I did my hands-on quickie review of the iRig MIDI hardware and software, my iPad was sitting on top of one of the classic powerhouse synthesizers of the 90s, the Kurzweil K2000R. Aside from the powerful synthesis capabilities in the VAST engine, the system also featured a tremendous sample-playback capability. It cost thousands of dollars 20 years ago, and will still set you back at least a few hundred dollars on eBay now. Now there is software on my iPad that can replicate the vast majority of that experience for a fraction of what I paid for the Analog…

Events, Reviews, Vehicles & Gear

GoFurther with Ford Trend Conference 2012, My Experience

Last week I had the opportunity to be among 250 guests brought to Dearborn, Michigan by Ford; we spent 2 1/2 days seeing what they’re up to, learning a bit about their philosophy and, of course, checking out some of their latest vehicles. Usually, when attending such a junket, you’d expect to find one or two really good nuggets, a few sessions that were quite good, and a few duds. You’d also expect to have a few logistical glitches along the way. Having now had a bit of time to digest everything that we saw and did over those days,…

eBooks

Will The Nexus 7 Tablet Impact the Kindle Fire and NOOK Tablet?

When Google announced the Nexus tablet, I was surprised to see they didn’t seem to be aiming for the iPad. With a $199 starting price and a 7 inch form factor, Google is clearly taking aim at the devices that have defined the Android tablet market thus far; e-reading based tablets like the Kindle Fire and the NOOK Tablet both run off Android, but use their own proprietary app and content stores, and Google wants a piece of that pie! So I posed this question to the other Gear Diary editors: Carly: How much will the Nexus tablet pull…

Editorials

Mophie and Customer Service “Done Right”

I had a bad purchase experience recently that came to a conclusion this week. I purchased a Mophie Juice Pack Plus from a vendor on Amazon. I noticed that the build quality wasn’t quite as nicely done as other Mophie units I had, but I figured it was just a manufacturing variation or maybe it was just that this was a different model than the others I had. I didn’t think all that much about it. After a few weeks, the USB connector started to act up. I couldn’t get the cable to stay in and charge. Very annoying. Finally, it…

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