August 2013

booq Viper Courier Laptop Bag Review- Slim, Stylish MacBook Protection

Booq describes their Viper courier as “somewhere in between a MacBook sleeve and a slim bag”. Yes, with this laptop bag you can’t carry much more than you would were you using a simple sleeve- and that’s the point. Slip in a laptop, a charging brick, a few key accessories and you are on your way. The booq Viper courier is a minimalist laptop case that is “purpose-built” to protect an Apple laptop. Available in both 13” and 15” models, the Viper courier is part of booq’s Fibre Collection. That means it has a unique look you won’t find elsewhere…

News

Hungry for Qooqi? The Cable Organization Solution

Bedtime. You check your email one last time, remove your glasses, grab your phone charger and discover the wire has once fallen to the floor… again. You just want to go to sleep, but instead, are blindly searching for the cable. Qooqi, a convenient cable organizer and holder is here to help. Back it on Kickstarter. Qooqi, pronounced “cookie”, is a small unibody aluminum disc designed to hold up to five cables, each 4mm thick, in one place. The metal disc is less than 2” in diameter and as thick as an iPhone 4/4S. The bottom sports nano pad technology…

Gear Bits

Pressy Takes Kickstarter By Storm- Coming Soon to Thousands of Android Devices

Pressy is the latest rockstar Kickstarter project. This simple button plugs into the headphone jack of your Android device and, thanks to a companion app, can be programmed to activate a variety of actions with a simple button press. With a goal of $40K, it is already over at $300,000 with 44 days to go! I backed. Check it out.

Gear Bits

Get a Daily Dose of Jazz Videos from the 20s and 30s!

I love JazzOnTheTube. It delivers a daily email with a classic or modern jazz video that is always worth watching. Recently JazzOnTheTube pointed viewers to 20sJazz and 30sJazz, sites dedicated to presenting videos from those eras. If you are a fan of jazz from the 20s and 30s check them out and subscribe to the daily email! Here from 20sJazz is an amazing early video from 1923 (!) featuring Nobel Sissle and Eubie Blake. I am not familiar with Sissle, but I do remember Blake well from the late 70s/ early 80s including Saturday Night Live and White House performances. And…

News

Baldur’s Gate 2: Enhanced Edition Gets a Release Date and Pre-orders Open!

After finally untangling the legal web around Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition, Overhaul Games is getting ready to launch the sequel on November 15th. Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition includes Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal, offering over 120 hours of some of the best gaming of all time. Pre-order now: $24.95 for Mac/PC, iPad and Android come later. Here are some of the enhanced features: Four New Party Members – Bundled with the PC and Mac versions and available as DLC for iPad and Android, four new characters can join you on your journey. At the behest of his…

Reviews

Cambridge Audio Minx Go Bluetooth Speaker Review

As sleek as it is simple, the Minx Go from Cambridge Audio doesn’t try too hard and, as a result, is hard to beat. A five speaker array delivers huge, clean sound. Priced at just $149, this Bluetooth speaker offers up to 18 hours of audio per charge and doubles as a mobile charger. Get it. The Minx Go is a small speaker that impressed me right out of the gate. It combines a simple design with huge sound that really surprised me. Measuring in at just 9.3″ x 4.8″ x 2.4″, the speaker weighs in at 2.4lbs. The three…

Game Diary

Bloodlust Shadowhunter – Demo and Gameplay for New Action-RPG!

Action-RPG games are fairly rare, and ones about vampires are rarer still. Aside from Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption from 2000 and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines from 2004, there is … not much. Enter Bloodlust: Shadowhunter, which has a new twist as you play a resurrected vampire hunter now a vampire – and must decide to embrace or destroy your destiny! The game hasn’t been released, but there is a playable demo with a tutorial and loads of resources to help you get through alive (or is it undead?). Check out the gameplay trailers below (more on their channel) and then…

Game Diary, News

Thoughts on the Nintendo 2DS and Wii U Price Cut

Yesterday Nintendo announced a couple of major developments meant to bolster their sagging console business. The first is a price drop on the Wii U system to $299 to compete with the upcoming Sony & Microsoft consoles. They also launched the 2DS, a non-3D system that will play all DS and 3DS games for just $129.99. Mike S did a great job running down the details of the announcements and also the game line-ups for Fall release for Wii U and 3DS systems. So what I wanted to do was run down some thoughts on the Wii U price cut…

Gear Bits

PhatWare’s WritePad for iOS Adds Google Drive Sync Functionality

WritePad, a note taking and handwriting recognition app for iPad and iPhone has just added Google Drive syncronization funcationality, allowing you to take hand-written notes on your iPhone or iPad and automatically sync them to Google Drive. This brings the number of cloud services that WritePad syncs with to 6! WritePad goes for $8.99 on iPad and $3.99 on iPhone. WritePad, using PhatWare’s handwriting recognition software, can understand the user’s handwriting in their own style and convert it to computer text. WritePad also syncs with other cloud services such as: Box, DropBox, Evernote, Google Drive, iCloud, and Skydrive. WritePad also…

News

Jabra 510 UC and the Plantronics Calisto 620 UC Speakerphones Go Head to Head

A few months ago we reviewed the Jabra 510 UC and the Plantronics Calisto 620 UC speakerphones. Both come from companies with years of mobile audio experience and do a great job of instantly transforming a laptop or smartphone into a conferencing device. Both have an MSRP of $149 and go for less on Amazon. Which is right for you? I am impressed with both of them and can honestly say either is a good choice for someone in the market for such a device. Still, they are two different devices and you need only one. So lets run down…

News

Save Money with Republic Wireless’ Motorola DEFY XT

This post brought to you by Republic Wireless. All opinions are 100% mine. A few months ago we, reviewed Republic Wireless’ Motorola DEFY XT Smartphone. At just $199, the phone is inexpensive. At just $19 a month — about 60 cents a for unlimited data, talk and text the service is amazingly cost-effective. It is an inexpensive way to get all the smartphone goodness you could want. Check it out. Here’s a little factoid that’s worth keeping in mind: the average American’s monthly cellphone bill is more than their grocery or health insurance expense. That’s. Just. Crazy. Republic Wireless decided to…

Gear Bits

Impact of Android Fragmentation: Vulnerability to Malware

An interesting report from the U.S. Homeland Security Department looks at the threat of mobile malware and other malicious threats, and breaks it down by operating system. Not surprisingly Android (especially 2.x and earlier versions) was most vulnerable, but the bigger concern was the slow adoption of more secure newer OS versions left many consumers at risk. Here are more findings about the major malware which has been identified by the bulletin: 1.SMS Trojan: sends messages to premium rated numbers owned by criminals leaving the user with heavy mobile charges. 2.Rootkits: logs the user’s locations, key strokes and passwords without…

Reviews

Genius Packer 22″ Carry-On Review- Not Just for Mensa Members

All carry-on luggage was not created equal. That’s the message Genius Pack wants you to get when looking at their Genius Packer 22” carry-on. This is a bag for the serious traveler who needs good organization and doesn’t have time for hunting around to find what is in the bag. Normally $298 is currently available for $198. Get it. At first glance the Genius Packer doesn’t look all that unusual. A black 22″ carry-on with wheels, the back looks like something you could pick up at pretty much any department store. The bag measures 22″ x 14″ x 9.5″ and…

Editorials

Connecting George Washington to MLK at a Synagogue in Newport

Reading a post at Medium reminded me how far we have to go on every level of race relations. The post was from a college student child of a black man and white woman visiting the historic Touro Synagogue in Newport when someone made an assumption based on the variety of skin colors and asked, “What organization are you with?”

Game Diary, Reviews

Brave Tribe is a Cute, Fun, and Engaging Strategy Farming SIM for iOS

Simulation games often sacrifice story and character for game mechanics, and those that do have a story are often too simplistic to be enjoyable for long. But as the games coming to iOS continue to mature, so do their stories and gameplay; and Brave Tribe is a great example of a casual game with fun story and gameplay.

Gear Bits

Revisiting the Awesome and Dangerous “Action Park”

If you are Facebook friends with anyone from northern New Jersey, you may have seen a recent link to a video about a place called “Action Park“. As a child of New Jersey who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, trust me: everything they say in the video is real. It really was that dangerously awesome. It has been well over 20 years since I last went to Action Park (I’m 32, so the last time I was there was probably when I was 11 or 12) but a few things stick out distinctly from the experience. One, I remember looking…

Gear Bits

New Cable Transfers Photos From iPhone 5 to iPad 1, 2, or 3 in a Flash

USB-Fever.com has just released a new cable to directly connect your iPhone 5 to your iPad 1, 2, or 3. The cable has a lightning connector on one side and a dock connector on the other. Once you plug in your iDevices, you can transfer your photos back and forth with ease. This cable retails for $12.99. If you want to physically transfer your photos from a lightning connector device to a 30 pin dock connector device, without using Photo Stream, this appears to be a very easy way to accomplish that. There are ways to email multiple photos, as…

Game Diary, News

Nintendo 2DS Announcement and Wii U Deluxe Set Price Drop

Big news from Nintendoland! On September 20 the Wii U Deluxe Set will be discounted to $299.99 and a limited edition Wii U bundle with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD will arrive along with several high-profile game releases and special offers. Then, on October 12, the Nintendo 2DS handheld console will arrive. Let the games begin. Yes, Nintendo clearly hopes to increase interest in their handheld Nintendo DS console and Wii U console with new offers, games, and special bundles. Let’s run them down! On October 12, Nintendo will debut the slate-styled Nintendo 2DS handheld console for a MSRP of $129.99,…

Editorials

The Tenacity of Cablevision Door to Door Salesmen

Door to door sales used to be a fairly common occurrence, but they are much rarer these days. So you'd think that a company using direct sales would make sure their salespeople were properly educated and respectful of people's space and time. You'd be wrong, if the company in question is Cablevision. How did I learn this? See, there's oblivious, and then there's Cablevision salesmen. Twice this month, they've rang our doorbell midday, setting off our (extremely large and loud) dog, which scares our 2-month old and triggers lots of screaming. None of this is a deterrent to the Cablevision…

Gear Bits

The Nourishmat Starts Your Gardening Adventure with Ease!

Do you lack a green thumb, but like fresh vegetables? Have only a small space in your yard but want a garden? If so, the good folks at Nourishmat have a special package for you! At $64.95 for the base model, the Nourishmat comes with a weed-barrier mat with plant templates for seeds and step-by-step instructions—perfect for beginners! It is ingeniously simple. Using the companion planting technique, the neat little package helps simplify gardening for busy folks or people with limited space. Everything from seeds (82 seedballs with 19 different garden plant types), garden mat staples to plant location and spacing is…

Reviews

V-MODA CoilPro for Crossfade M-100 Review

We reviewed the awesome V-MODA Crossfade M-100 headphones the other day. (Check it out here.) I was impressed and am looking forward to Judie’s “Second-Look” Review. We then reviewed the V-MODA BoomPro cable and microphone. (Read the review.) It is a terrific add-on. Now here’s the V-MODA CoilPro Extended cable. It too is worth considering. Get it. The CoilPro is exactly what you might think it is. This is a coiled cable accessory that gives you additional freedom of movement and more. It is worth noting that the Crossfade M-100 headphones already ship with two cables and a 1/4″ adapter but, unlike the…

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