October 2012

Bond 50 Review on Blu-ray

For 50 years, Ian Fleming’s James Bond character has emulated style, bravado, special skills, and, most of all, the best gadget gear in the world. The recently released Bond 50 home video collection (Blu-ray and DVD) offers all 22 Bond films* and one bonus disc in one package complete with over 130 hours of bonus features. *Special note – 1983’s Never Say Never Again and 1967’s Casino Royale are not included in this special set. You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Octopussy (1983), A View…


Desktop Chair for iPad and MacBook air Review

We’ve looked at numerous iPad stands but few have been as simple and natural as this Desktop Chair from Moku Woodware. The Desktop Chair promises to “turn your laptop into a desktop”. Made from natural basswood, the Desktop Chair looks neat on its own and works well, except when it doesn’t. Let’s take a look. From Moku Woodware: While we enjoy the mobility of laptop, some of us still use desktops to work efficiently and comfortably. Hand made with fine natural basswood, Desktop Chair simply holds your Apple laptop and turns it into a desktop machine with an external display,…


No CW for Cablevision Subscribers!

If a network goes off the air and no one notices, do the shows still go on? Apparently my cable company is in a fight with the CW, and we haven’t been receiving it since August! I only noticed because <sob> I can’t record the premier of The Vampire Diaries if they don’t come to an agreement by next week! What caused this dispute? Money, of course. Cablevision’s statement is very clear on this: BETHPAGE, N.Y., Aug. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Cablevision Systems Corp., (NYSE: CVC) today released the following statement related to the blackout of WPIX and other Tribune…


olloclip Review

The camera on the last two generations of iPhone is pretty amazing. The iPhone 4S upped the photographic game in a big way. And while the camera on the iPhone 5 doesn’t look that much better on paper, when you actually shoot with it, the improvements are clear. One of the best ways to get the most out of your iPhone camera is to use one of the many available after-market lens systems. We looked at one such system over the summer. (It comes from our newsletter underwriter USBFever and you can read the full post here.) Another, more compact,…


Magician’s Handbook II Blacklore HD Review

Type of app: Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure (HOPA) game Platform/where to buy: iPad (iPhone version here); available in the App Store Developer: BC Soft Games / G5 Entertainment Description: Two years have passed and your trip to the Cursed Valley is only a memory. The pages of the Magician’s Handbook remain blank and life has resumed to its natural course, until the day when a tiny fairy appears in your house pleading for help. The evil magician pirate, Blacklore, has captured all the magicians and fairies to use good magic for evil purposes. Search gorgeous, hand drawn locations, learn powerful…


If You Watch One Video Today, This Is It

I live in the public eye. That’s a choice I made when I entered the congregational rabbinate. As a result, people comment on pretty much every aspect about me. Sometimes they are kind; at other times they aren’t. And, thankfully, over the years, I have developed a fairly tough skin. And when that fails I have a few good friends who let me vent and put it behind me. Elana did not make this choice, but she too will often receive comments from people. Sometimes they are kind, and other times they may not be. Regardless, people will often comment…


Incipio Rolls Out Six New iPhone 5 Protective Case Designs

A fan of minimalist iPhone cases, Incipio’s feather is one of my go-to cases. Now the company has rolled out its initial line of iPhone 5 cases and, of course, the feather is leading the pack. As sAndy Fathollahi, Chief Executive Officer of Incipio notes, We have been working diligently to provide consumers with an array of iPhone 5 case solutions and couldn’t be happier to announce these new additions. We will continue to unveil new cases as our design and production teams are always pushing the envelope on innovation. The cases are available at Verizon, AT&T and many other…


Pelican ProGear Sport Backpacks Let You Carry, and Protect, Your Gear

If you need to protect your device from being crushing there is no better option than one of Pelican’s hard cases. Now the company is rolling out a line of backpacks that take the same approach to extreme-protection of all your devices. The Pelican ProGear Sport Backpacks are a collection of lightweight backpacks housing crushproof and watertight Pelican cases to safeguard your personal electronics including laptops, MacBook computers, netbooks, e-readers, tablets, keyboards and other accessories. The backpacks come in a range of colors and are constructed from ballistic nylon. The Elite models have “four adhesive, memory foam buffers, which secure the…


Fastpencil Joins The Local Library

Here’s a question: when’s the last time you went to your local library? Maybe you dropped by and saw they had a promotion about ebooks. Or you stop by once in a while for audiobooks. The last few years, it seems like libraries have been playing catch up as books, movies, and media in general have gone digital. However, a new partnership with Fastpencil and Auto-Graphics is bringing a whole new option to libraries: self-publishing resources and content! I had the chance to talk today with Steve Wilson of Fastpencil and Robert Brown of Auto-Graphics. Fastpencil is a huge self…


Week Number 1 of My iPad-Only Challenge!

Welcome to the first weekly report on my quest for the 99% computer! As noted my plan was to use my iPad for as much as I possibly could, and note whatever functions required me to use a ‘real’ computer. So let’s get to it! Setup Perhaps not surprisingly, there wasn’t much for me to do. I have had my iPad loaded up with email, web, productivity, statistics, music, games, utilities and so on … so there wasn’t much to do. And in fact, I decided NOT to do anything in specific – I really wanted to know how much…


Nitrodesk Launches TouchDown for iOS!

I had been using TouchDown to access my work email since the original Motorola Droid first launched until for security reasons they clamped down on all mobile email access. It provided me a virtual Outlook environment that enhanced my productivity and let me work without worrying about having access to a laptop for an extended time period. In fact, just about a year ago I featured TouchDown in a post called Apps I Can’t Live Without: Touchdown for Android During these last few years I have heard a constant question – when are you releasing an iOS version? Well ……


Magellan Kicks Off Hunting Season with New Products

One of my favorite times of the year officially started last weekend! The beginning of hunting season is always exciting and gives us outdoorsmen an excuse to spend too much time in nature. While the first weekend of bow hunting season was not fruitful for me due to the moon cycle, I did thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to spend some time out in the wild clearing my head and being one with nature. One thing that is important while hunting is safety and location. Not only do you need to find your way back to civilization, but you never want to lose…


Blockbuster Lives?

A few weeks ago as part of our “clean out the house” initiative, I came across an old school Netflix ad-3 DVDs at a time for $19.99 a month! Sadly, Sarah didn’t know I wanted to hang onto it as a memento of the days when Netflix WANTED you to rent DVDs, and it headed out to the curb on the last recycling day. However, the universe clearly sensed my disappointment, and sent me a Blockbuster flyer offering me DVD rentals by mail! After checking my phone to make sure it was still a 4S and not the Treo 650…


From Couch to Marathon in 6 Months, Losing 85 Pounds on the Way!

I have to confess that inside of myself, even as I notched 5Ks, 8Ks and a half-marathon, I still held the notion that I wouldn’t be a REAL runner until I completed a marathon. And having just completed my first marathon – the Wineglass Marathon in Corning, NY – and having done it better than expected … I am now a REAL runner. At the beginning of June, I wrote about what I termed the “Adult Vanquishing of Childhood Monsters” … as I ran my first (and second) 5K Road Race and totally banished my self-imposed thought of myself as…


Lowepro S&F Lens Exchange Case 100 AW, Video Review

I’m quite happy with the lens that came with my Canon T3i Kit. The EFS 18-55mm lens works great and really falls well into the “all-purpose” category. Still, there are times when a more powerful telephoto lens comes in handy. After all, I would never have been able to get this shot without it back in August… What this means is that, at times, I will want to have both the kit lens and the telephoto lens with me. For that I need a safe and convenient way to not only carry the extra lens but to also swap lenses…


JOBY 3-Way Camera Strap Review

I’m a big fan of JOBY’s products and have been since I reviewed their very first GorillaMobile Tripod. That review sample is still going strong, and in the years since the company has added numerous other products to their portfolio. One thing that did come as a bit of a surprise to me was their move into the camera strap market. They currently have three camera straps available, and each brings their same commitment to rethinking familiar products and adding flexibility and value to them in the process. In this video review, we take a look at their most unusual…


Grand Theft Auto III PlayStation Store Release Review

The classic 2001 PlayStation 2 video game Grand Theft Auto III (rated M) was recently released in the PlayStation Store and must be experienced by all mature gamers. Grand Theft Auto III – From the days of the PlayStation 2, this downloadable game allows you to play the classic original on compatible PlayStation game systems. Mob bosses need favors, crooked cops need help, the street gangs want you dead; so to compensate you’ll have to rob, steal, and kill in order to stay alive. Developed by DMA Design, GTA3 is the first installment of the series to utilize a fully…