2012

LunaTik Touch Pen, the Evolution of the Stylus: Kickstart This!

The LunaTik Touch Pen is the second product from the team that brought us the very first Kickstarter project I backed- TikTok and LunaTik Multi-Touch Watch Kits for use with the iPod nano. That project was funded back in November of 2010 and was a home run for the company and for the “wear your iPod nano like a watch” market. Project Title: LunaTik Touch Pen: The Evolution of the Stylus Status: Funded Closing Date for Funding: Friday, February 10, 2012 URL of the Project: Find it here. From the Creatives: HELLO AGAIN!: Thank you for checking out our LunaTik…

Reviews

The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad 2 and the New iPad Review

I had a first generation iPad. It was an amazingly useful and functional device for me I loved the unit, but it wasn’t the thinnest. I rarely tried to carry my iPad with a keyboard, because once I put the iPad and a keyboard into my backpack I might was well have been carrying a laptop! When the iPad 2 came out, there were a number of keyboard “covers” that were also released. This system worked well for the iPad 2 since it was so much thinner than the first generation iPad. Still not much could be done for the…

Gear Bits

The Avengers Gear Summary

Marvel’s Avengers fans can find plenty of related gear including comics, figures, various apparel, phone cases, wall decals, LEGO sets, mech toys, music, masks, NERF bows, and games.

Reviews, Yum Log

OXO GoodGrips Handheld Mandoline is a Finger Saver

I love working in the kitchen, but I have to admit that I’m a total chicken when it comes to using a mandoline. Knives don’t frighten me, since I keep them really sharp with my whetstone and have pretty decent knife skills. But when I finally broke down and bought an expensive mandoline, I had heard so many horror stories of chefs cutting the ends of their fingers off while carelessly using these razor-like slicing and julienning machines, I made sure to get a really expensive one with all the safety options. And then I actually bought a kevlar glove…

Crowdfunding

Brydge + iPad: Kickstart This!

The Brydge is a Kickstarter Project that Judie came across. It is a keyboard, case, speaker in one that effectively turns the iPad into a laptop. The funding goal was $90,000 and they have thus far raised over $460,000 in pledges with 30 days to go. Here’s the rundown. Project Title: Brydge + iPad: Do more. Status: In Progress Closing Date for Funding: Monday Jun 4, 2012 URL of the Project: Find it here. From the Creatives: Is it just us, or does it feel like the options for iPad keyboards and accessories are excessive in quantity, yet lacking in…

Crowdfunding

‘Kickstart This’, a New Way to Get to Know Kickstarter Projects

Depending upon how you look at it, the last week has either been a great Kickstarter week for Judie and me, or it was a very bad one. I saw one project, and I was interested enough to back it. I emailed the link to Judie, and she backed it, too. The next day I got an email from her that had as its subject “I backed”; I looked, I backed, and… more money spent on Kickstarter. The next day I saw that a project I had previously backed, one that had been successfully funded, was suddenly closing down with…

Editorials, Game Diary

Apparently ‘Indie Bundles’ Are Now Big Enough That EA Feels the Need to Ruin Them!

Could you imagine seeing Walmart advertising themselves as a ‘mom & pop shop’? You would laugh yourself to tears – sort of how Barnes & Noble tried to play that they were a ‘local bookshop’ back in the 80s and 90s as they rapidly killed off the REAL local bookstore. Well … now the trend is coming to gaming. Over the last few years the ‘indie’ game has come to earn a very special place for gamers. Created by a very small company – often one or two people – these games satisfy a niche that is underserved by the…

Reviews

Marvel’s Avengers Film Review

Marvel’s Avengers hits the big screen hard with an amazing action epic filled with great action sequences, well-integrated special effects, and several memorable moments centering on Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye as they battle the evil Norse god Loki.

Editorials

Comparing Carrier Numbers to NPD May Call BS on Android Market Share Claims

The NPD attempts to track market share for smartphones (amongst other things). And given that manufacturers don’t really want to tell anyone exactly how many devices were sold (heck, Samsung now just talks in percentages!), I think they do an admirable job. They are joined by other groups such as comScore and IDC, and each publishes quarterly estimates of how everyone is doing in the smartphone market. For a while now I have stated my issues with Tablet market share numbers. First off, Samsung used inflated numbers for their Galaxy Tab … then they stopped reporting numbers at all. Other…

Reviews

CrazyOnDigital Rotating Stand iPad Case Review

When I finally joined the ranks of the iPad masses, the first thing I did was start researching cases. While I was peripherally aware of the general price points for cases, I was surprised at how expensive many of them were! I began to wonder if this was because demand drove up prices, or if you really do get what you paid for. When CrazyOnDigital offered me the chance to review their 360 Degree Folio Case, which retails for $49.99, but sells on Amazon for the jaw-dropping price of $15.99, I was excited to give it a shot! The case…

Music Diary

RIP Adam Yauch, the Beastie Boys MCA

Sad news today as we have just heard of the passing of the Beastie Boys MCA, Adam Yauch. He was 47 and had been battling cancer, which we learned about back in 2009. Here is more from USAToday: The music world is mourning again. Adam Yauch, known as Beastie Boys rapper MCA, has died. GlobalGrind.com, Russell Simmon’s website, reports that Yauch died after a long battle with cancer. He was 47. In 2009, Yauch announced he was being treated for a cancerous parotid gland and a lymph node. He has since undergone surgery and radiation therapy. Yauch is survived by…

Reviews

JustMobile AluCube Mini Review

There are some products that just make sense from the minute you see them. Within seconds you know what the product is all about and it is instantly clear why the product exists. This is not one of those products. No, the JustMobile AluCube Mini is one of those products that looks like nothing more than a money grab- a way to get a little more cash from people who like JustMobile’s design sense. In fact, you can almost imagine the design team sitting in a room saying “We need one more product this year… We need it to be…

Gear Bits

May the 4th Be With You as Donny & Marie Do Star Wars!

If you go back 35 years to the late 70’s, it seemed that everyone had a variety show – and one of the best things was that they were all live. I loved watching the Carol Burnett show, and one of the best parts was that Harvey Korman could never keep a straight face once Burnett and Tim Conway got going. Donny & Marie had an enormously popular variety show in the late 70’s based around their singing, dancing, charming personalities and wholesome images. They brought in a younger crowd than other shows and also provided an alternative to the…

eBooks

Barnes & Noble NOOK with Glowlight Breaks into Television

Now that it is May, and we are in the Mother’s Day/Father’s Day/Graduation season, Barnes and Noble is unleashing a huge ad campaign to promote the NOOK Simple Touch With Glowlight. They’ve put together a cute video that highlights the benefits of being able to read in bed with the lights off, but still have the benefits of an eInk device. The video is below, and B&N already has spots running in prime time. I know this because I sat down to read Barnes and Noble’s press release and clicked on the YouTube video roughly 2.5 seconds before the commercial…

Gear Bits, Travel

McSweeney’s Guide to Airline Passenger Profiling

You’ve heard about racial profiling, but how about pants profiling? Oh, you hadn’t heard of it? That’s okay, neither had I … until I found myself nodding and chuckling as I read the list of what to expect from other passengers on a flight — based on the type of pants they were wearing! Wool Suit Pants: Will board before you. Wool Hunting Pants: Will board after you. Pleated Dockers: Will loudly talk on cell phone about ROIs and vertical markets. Pajama Bottoms: Will be flying either to or from a city with a Señor Frog’s. Sweatpants with Dallas Mavericks Logo: Will clog one or…

Game Diary

Thief Deadly Shadows Lands on Good Old Games!

Just over two years ago I did a ‘Netbook Gamer’ review of Thief Deadly Shadows, the classic third entry in the stealth series. I highlighted one of the classic levels of gaming: The other is one of the most amazing areas I have ever played – Shalebridge Cradle. Once an orphanage, later also used as an insane asylum – while it still housed orphans – it is a dreadful place, and your character comments “If there’s a way to cram more misery into one building’s history, I can’t think of it.” The area is packed with spirits and other hostile…

Editorials, Vehicles & Gear

How I Fell for a Muscle Car

This is the story of how a sensible, middle-aged guy fell from sensible car grace. Have mercy on me. Let me be honest right up front here: I am most assuredly not a “muscle car” fan. I was a nerd/geek/dork in high school (in spite of doing two sports–do you think being in Drama and the Computer Club had something to do with it?), and the guys who had, or wanted to have, muscle cars were the kind of guys would give guys like me wedgies, stuff us in lockers, turn us upside in trash cans, and all that kind…

Game Diary, Reviews

Pickers HD for iPad Review

Maybe you’ve seen the shows. American Pickers, Storage Wars, Pawn Stars, Hardcore Pawn and so forth. Perhaps you’ve wondered if you cash in one the old saw “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” without the incessant “Y——-p!” bid chanting, sibling rivalry or, er, trash-talk of competitors. If so, you may want to take a gander at Mumbo Jumbo’s Pickers HD for iPad. The premise of the game is fairly simple: You are the proprietor of Rusted Gold, a store specializing in unusual or offbeat items. You must travel the US, or rather, twelve locations within the US, scout…

Editorials, Game Diary

Rock Band for iOS is Can… errm NOT Cancelled, Still Brings Up Critical Issue

I was just about finished writing up how sad indeed it was that a great game and one of the first semi-freemium business models (or at least with in-app add-ons) was coming to a close. EA, makers of Rock Band for iOS, had listed the game on their ‘end of support’ web site as going dark at the end of May. This naturally caused quite an uproar amongst gamers, even though most have moved onto the sequel, Rock Band Reloaded. But today there is word pretty much everywhere that EA is saying that the cancellation is ‘an error’. Here is…

Gear Bits

Want Fast Internet? Move to South Korea!

For nearly three decades I have worried about the connection speed to a remote network. Sure in the early days it was a 300baud modem hooked into a mainframe, but even then connectivity mattered. As the dial-up era matured we tried to squeeze every little bit of speed from those connections, and that effort continues into the DSL, Cable and LTE era. But ultimately all of these techniques are limited by infrastructure and bandwidth availability. For example, my local cable provider offers a speed boost solution at a monthly fee, but I already find that my overall speed can vary…

News & Features

Belgian ‘Responsible Young Drivers’ Puts Drivers Through ‘Mandatory’ Text-While-Driving Course

If you want to convince kids (or adults for that matter) that texting while driving is dangerous, what is the best way? You can read them statistics, show them gruesome videos or death-scene photos … but all of that is a bit dry and academic. Why not put them through tests and tell them that by a new rule they need to prove competency at texting while driving in order to get their license! That is what a group in Belgium called ‘Responsible Young Drivers’ did, videotaping the results of several drivers as they attempted to text while driving a…

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