Check out this tiny, portable gadget I got not too long ago. It is a very nice flip-style gadget. It is about the same size as the Sprint Mogul, though maybe a bit boxier. It is not a phone, though. Or a PDA. When we unfold it, we find…a flashlight?? Oh, trust me. You are going to want to click through the jump for the rest of this one.
For the last month or so both my wife, Elana, and I have both been using MacBook Pros almost exclusively. What amazing machines they are. As strong as their aluminum cases are, however, they are still delicate electronic devices that require gentle handling and a good case for transport. New notebooks… new search for the right bags. For the last couple of weeks we’ve both been using bags by Ice Red. Read on for our thoughts…
There are so many good reasons why you might be interested in getting a clip-on safety light; perhaps because you ride a bike at night, or you walk in darker areas, or simply because you need a way to look inside a big gear bag in a darkened room. The story goes that Tom Bihn spent three months searching for a light that would meet his expectations, and the result of that search was the Guardian Dual Function Light. Make no mistake about it, this is no cheap flasher that will break after a few uses; the Guardian Dual Function…
I tend to think of a “Freudian Slip” by its commonly known definition: “a verbal mistake that is thought to reveal an unconscious belief, thought, or emotion.” Tom Bihn has recycled the term by cleverly (and I daresay unforgettably) naming their horizontal and vertical organizing pocket panels “Freudian Slips.” Both styles are basically “an insert that gives you eleven extra pockets to provide total organization of your files and accessories,” and they are made to perfectly fit inside Tom Bihn’s Zephyr or Empire Builder briefcases, or ID, Ego, or Super Ego messenger bags. A nylon loop attached to the top…
Don’t let the name of Tom Bihn’s Yarn Stuff Sack throw you off. While it’s true that this Japanese-made Dyneema rip-stop fabric bag was created to work perfectly with their Swift knitting bag, this approximately 9.5″ wide x 8.25″ tall drawstring bag can also manage all sorts of loose gadget peripherals. Let’s take a look…
Lapstrap is a simple concept. Take a length of wide nylon “strap” (comfortably padded – with a nice inner rubber grippy surface), buckle the strap for form a big loop. Now sling the loop through your laptop and close it. What you have is a quick and easy way to carry your laptop without the hassle of opening and closing your laptop bag. What you don’t have is any of your laptop accessories like the charger or external drives. The makers of this device sent me one yesterday, and I’ve been trying it around the office. My initial impression: Great…
Today I received a device that could really be a make-or-break product for a company that has been stagnate for quite some time. The Palm Treo Pro really needs to be successful for Palm, as their current line-up leaves a lot to be desired. First off I’ll start with the packaging. Like the box the HTC Touch Diamond comes in, the Treo Pro packaging has a corner lopped off. Why? No idea. It is quite nicely presented though, with the device on display as soon as you take the top off. Included in the sales package is the Treo Pro,…
Just in time for fall comes this beautiful new bag from Mobile Edge, the Element Briefcase. With its moss green poly-suede exterior, chocolate faux leather trim, and white contrasting stitching, this bag is neutral enough to compliment any fall or winter outfit. But good looks are one thing; organization and laptop protection are just as important as presentation. Let’s take a look at how the Element measures up… The Element is meant to be carried as a briefcase; two 15″ rolled faux leather handles are on either side, and although a woman with thinner arms could carry it on her…
When I was in college, it seems like someone was always throwing a house party. For those of you who are not familiar, it is a pretty basic concept. You throw open the front door of your house, condo, apartment, dorm room, or wherever you live; set out some refreshments; crank the music and wait for the people to show up…and they will. It is kind of like The Field of Dreams. If you throw a party, they will come. The problem, back in those days of the early 1990’s was the sound system. Most of us had music centered…
It’s becoming more and more rare as the price of flash memory has come down, but it’s still possible to fill your flash cards when on vacation taking pictures. A lot of people, including myself, have taken to carrying a laptop with them on vacation. I am currently typing this on said laptop. But what if you fill your available cards and you’re not near your laptop? Then you’re out of luck. Enter the Digital Foci Photo Safe II.
In the first part of my review of the HTC Advantage X7510, I covered the physical hardware of this new device that resides somewhere between Handheld PCs and Ultra Mobile PCs. If you haven’t had a chance to read the first part of the review, you can do so here and then pick up this review afterward. In this part of the review I will be covering the software aspects of the device now that I have received the final shipping ROM from HTC. I will start by covering Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, the Operating System of the X7510 and…
There’s been a big push by Microsoft to get everyone to cross over to the 64bit version of Vista. Are you and your hardware ready for it? I’ve got a MacBook Pro. I purchased the notebook in December of 2006. It’s the low end unit, with a 2.16 GHz C2D processor, 4GB of RAM (yes, Leopard will see and use all 4GB of RAM, despite what you might think, or are told), and a 120GB hard drive. It’s not a bad unit; and has treated me well in the almost 20 months that I’ve been using it. The biggest problem…
This week’s Wednesday Walkaround takes a look at the hot little Evolution GSR from Mitsubishi, one of my favorite cars to drive. Here is my review: Some weeks it is difficult for me to determine just how well the latest automotive entry will be received by the general public. Other weeks I just count how many people stop by the house to see what is sitting in the driveway. The latter has been one of those weeks as I tested the newest Evolution rally racer from Mitsubishi. Built on the next-generation Lancer platform (of which we also drove the new…
I tote two different laptops between locations these days, switching them out (or sometimes bringing both) depending upon what my needs will be once I’ve arrived. For the most part, I’ve been content to slip my MacBook Air into a bag, a sleeve, or the Agent 18 shell that Dan recently forwarded to me, but I hadn’t yet found a similar slim and protective MacBook Pro shell. Bear in mind, the type of transport I usually do involves grabbing my laptop, throwing it into my Louis Vuitton Alto tote (along with a couple days’ worth of clothing), and then driving…
When I bought my MacBook Pro back in 2006, I was all over needing a case for it. I tried regular notebook cases, and those didn’t work for me. I tried a backpack case, and that seemed to work ok, but I couldn’t help but feel that my baby was still a bit on the naked side. When Judie offered me the opportunity to review the Spire Edge 15 Laptop sleeve, I jumped at the chance. The last thing I wanted was another ding on my MBP (see the last picture, after the break) Front of the Spire Edge 15…
I remember back in the day, the only tool that I knew of that actually had a defrag tool of any real value was Norton Utilities. In fact, I believe that Stacker, a drive compression tool that provided real time, data compression and decompression (effectively doubling the size of your drive…) of data on your drive ended up using an embedded version of Norton’s defrag utility. Point being, I loved that utility. It did everything that I needed it to do, including consolidating my directories, without having to boot to a command prompt; but alas, those days are long gone….
Wayne sent me this news story as an aside, and I have to admit that after reading it my first thought was how glad I was that I didn’t have any kids in Texas’ Harrold Independent School District. This isn’t exactly gadget news, and I’m not sure why it hit today as this policy change approval actually took place last October, but needless to say…I am flabbergasted and felt the need to share. Indulge me, please. Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect…
We’ve mentioned some of the bags that will comply with their “Checkthrough” regulations the past, and now the TSA has finally posted the official procedures for getting through their checkpoints without actually removing your laptop; of course all will hinge on consumers purchasing the proper type of bag… TSA screens laptops to see if the electronics have been tampered with. TSOs know what the inside of a computer should look like, and can recognize irregularities. This is why they need an unobstructed view as the item moves through the X-ray machine. Purchasing one of these bags will not guarantee that…
I travel. A lot. While I’m sure that some of you reading this travel more than I, by then end of 2008 I fully expect to have covered well over 75,000 airline miles this year. The fact that I’m writing this review from the comfort of my townhome is, well, rare? Most of the reviews that I write both for Gear Diary and Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! are written from hotel rooms… but I digress. You get the point. As you can imagine, with as much travel as I do, receipts – and more specifically receipt management – can be…
During the spring of 2007, when I was still a 700wx user and a Sprint customer, I was more excited by the rumors of a possible “Palm 800” than I was about any other upcoming Windows Mobile device. Some of the reasons for my anticipation included that the Palm Treo candybar with front keyboard has always been one of my favorite form factors; Palm seems to be the single most adept OEM at utilizing the WM OS without speed sacrifices; the 800w was supposed to be the first Treo with WiFi; it would have a better (2 megapixel, anyway) camera;…
I’m a terrible note taker. Half the time I’m focussed so intensely on what the other person is saying that I forget to take notes for brief periods of time. Later when I get back to the office I rack my brain trying to remember what was said. Here’s a solution to fill in the blanks on those notes you forgot to take. It’s a regular sized pen with a built in audio recorder(1GB or 2GB of memory) – plus it digitizes your notes for upload to your computer or the web. This is a PERFECT back to school item…