(image courtesy Motherinchief) I mentioned in my post about Macmillan, Hachette and HarperCollins pushing new agency model pricing on Amazon that there are alternatives outside the Kindle store. Since these aren’t as easy as just “flip on your wireless and go”, I thought I would give a quick rundown on a few of these options, along with how you can have them on your Kindle (or ebook reader of your choice).
So you’ve bought an Android tablet, but it doesn’t come with the official marketplace. The manufacturer has a less than stellar collection of apps in a lackluster “app store”, and you’re looking enviously at your friends with their Android phones and their awesome app collections. Luckily for you, there’s more out there than just the official marketplace. As I mentioned when I talked about speeding up your Camangi with an alternate launcher, you can directly install an APK, or app file, right onto your device. You do not need an app store to act as a middleman.
We saw a lot of neat stuff at CES last month. One of the most interesting, at least to my mind, was a small hand-held scanner from PlanOn. At just about 9 inches long and a tiny bit thicker than an iPhone, the DocuPen X05 isn’t cheap… but it’s pretty impressive nonetheless. The company sent me a loaner unit, and I’ve been using it for the past week or so. Despite some frustrations when I initially tried to get it set up, I have been more than a bit “wowed” by this little gadget. Let’s take a look.
Speck has been covered extensively by Gear Diary, and with good reason – their products are well made, they protect the devices they are meant to hold, and they look great! While at CES I visited the Speck booth, and one of the many things that impressed me was that Speck makes a cover for my 17″ laptop — it seems like accessories for this size are rather rare. Fast forward to last week when I received a SeeThru Satin Hard Shell for my 17″ MacBook Pro, and my laptop has not been naked since. Dan just recently reviewed this…
A constant issue with notebook users is heat. There are many products to assist in heat protection. Some of these products are designed for protecting the user’s lap from heat and some for managing the temperature of the notebook. These coolers come in many shapes and sizes, with or without fans and a variety of material. Some are designed to be mobile while others are to be used on a desk and provide an improved typing angle. The folks at Titan Technology Limited recently released a notebook cooler that combines all of these options in one product and provided me…
Vampire power is the power your electronic devices use when they’re turned off. Example: You plug your digital camera into an electrical outlet to re-charge its battery. Once the battery is fully charged the camera keeps taking power from the wall and attempts to give it to the camera’s battery even though it doesn’t need it. iGo‘s new line of green power accessories seek to stop this wasted use of electricity. This is turn should save you money in the form of less power used and a smaller electric bill as a result. While at CES 2010 I met with…
With all of the headlines screaming recall, stuck pedals and brake failure, what is a driver supposed to do or think? First, don’t listen to the headlines or the top of the hour teasers as gospel, they are only there to hold your interest. Second, hit the good old internet, but take all commentary with a grain of salt. The flood of information, both good and bad, is sure to have many eyeballs straining, giving curious consumers headaches and more questions than answers. In my local news broadcast this morning the anchor was reading a story about Toyota thinking about…
The Google Nexus One is arguably one of the most successful Android devices to-date. Google was said to have worked closely with HTC in order to produce a device to really showcase what they thought should be a premier Android handset. I was always curious about the design and collaboration that went into creating this device. Turns out a series of videos will explain just that!
Are you tired of all the negative backlash from last week’s iPad announcement … or still tired from all of the hype leading up to the announcement? Probably some of both. Well, as Dan noted, Steve Jobs took an unwise swing at netbooks in his pitch, so naturally we now have a nice list from PC Magazine of things that make netbooks better than the iPad. Of course, since the iPad isn’t shipping, nor are the specs even final, such stuff is largely a useless exercise in … well, something. But it is still good fun to look at these…
There are not a lot of choices when it comes to maximum protection for your iPhone. One of Case-Mate‘s newest additions, the Turtle Case, seeks to join the select group. The two-part plastic and silicone construction of the Turtle case means you’ll “have the best armor available for the more delicate iPhone technology inside.” It features a super tight fit and two levels of shock and impact protection for your phone complete in a stylish design that’s sure to garner some attention. The case comes in four color varieties and is available directly from Case-Mate for $29.99 Click on through…
Mobile World Congress will be kicking off in about a week, and the new device frenzy has already started. One of the items shown will be the Inbrics M1, an Android-based mobile internet device (MID) with a “3 screen plus” media convergence platform”. We’ve been hearing about the M1 since late last year, and it also made a CES debut. Now what some have called “possibly the ultimate Android device” may be that much closer to actually being available for purchase. The M1 has everything you could want in an MID, including Wi-Fi 802.11, an AMOLED touch screen that slides…
The other day I was stuck in the midst of what had become a very heated debate regarding video game DRM (digital rights management), DLC (downloadable content), disks, downloads, rights, and piracy … and was amazed that in spite of strong opinions and polarized stances that the heated discussion stayed pretty respectful and stayed away from foul language, personal attacks, and other things that typify a ‘flame war’. It was in stark contrast to a discussion I briefly entered late last week that began as a discussion of the merits of the new GTA: Chinatown Wars for the iPhone compared…
My wife and I coach an Odyssey of the Mind team through our kids’ school. Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem solving program focused on teamwork and kid-only solutions of challenged they work on all through the school year. (I coached Destination Imagination back in Massachusetts for several years, and it is very similar). Our team this year has a problem they are solving, and their solution has led them to events that happened in 1985, and as such they have been looking at the popular culture ‘way back then’. We have plenty of music from the 80’s…
Every now and then you come across a product that promises to do things exceptionally well for a lower price than you would otherwise expect and… it actually exceeds your expectations. That’s the case with the Sleek cell phone booster for Wilson Electronics. We had a chance to meet with representatives from the company when we were in Las Vegas for CES and, thanks to them, I’ve been using a review unit of the Sleek for the past week or so. The unit is small, surprisingly inexpensive and it works phenomenally well. I live in a part of New Jersey…
The iPhone has been great for the aftermarket battery business. I don’t know any power-user who does not carry at least one additional method of charging the device. I’ve tried, and been impressed by many. Most recently PhoneSuit sent me one of their Primo Micro Batteries to try out. The last product from PhoneSuit that I had the chance to review was the Mili. It had a design similar to the original Mophie Juice Pack. I liked it a lot and got a good bit of use out of it before giving it to a friend. The Primo takes a…
Word games and puzzles have become my choice of time killers on the iPhone. Particularly games that involve finding or spelling words. For example, Word Scramble 2 is a solo game that is great fun and former Blue Plate Special review. Words With Friends has not only become a method of passing time, but an obsession. It began innocently. I played a few games with random opponents. Then I added my wife, a fellow coach, two of my players, a few more teachers, some friends, Dan, Judie…you get the idea. This game has become the new rage in our high…
Not long after Julie Strietelmeier and I reviewed their Kindle & Kindle2 covers, Oberon Design announced that they would be releasing a Kindle DX version. I found this news particularly welcome because shortly after we completed the review I purchased the DX. Of course, moving to a larger Kindle meant that the case I loved would definitely no longer work, and for the longest time, my DX went case-less, wearing only a Decal Girl skin. It was several months before I had the chance to review one of Oberon Design’s new DX covers, but when the opportunity came I was…
I reviewed Astraware Casino for Symbian a few months ago, and now it has been released for Android! At the time, this is what I thought of AW Casino: Overall, AW Casino is a great addition to any phone; it offers you a huge selection of games to pass the time, is great for learning the basics of casino games, and is generally very entertaining. If you have a Symbian S60 phone, it’s definitely worth trying. Does the Android version live up to it’s Symbian cousin? Read on for my review and find out!
A few weeks ago I posted a video of Pat Metheny announcing his Orchestrion project. The video – and all of the machinery – were quite cool, but what really matters is the final product. Well, Orchestrion was released on January 26th, and I’ve had the chance to give it several listenings and separate the coolness of the technical accomplishment from the actual musical results.
It took the Android world by storm a few weeks ago…a new style of Android Home Screen. Instead of several desktop style screens with widgets and icons, SlideScreen was only one screen, with sections for missed calls, emails, SMS, weather and time, Twitter, RSS and stocks. All useful stuff, and you could “slide” the weather/time block up or down to expand the information. Francis and I love our Android phones, and thought this had the potential to add a great deal of functionality to our phones, so we each gave it a try. Here was our experience.
If you have used a Camangi Webstation, you probably noticed one big issue: the default launcher is sloooooow. It’s also ugly as sin. Luckily, you are not stuck with it forever. Android supports multiple home replacement options, including my personal favorite, Home++. All you need to do is download the program file, or APK, and install it. Once it is installed, hit the home button and select Home++. If you like it, click the “set as default” option, and your homescreen will be set as Home++.