2013

Waterfield SFBags Has Your Samsung GALAXY S4 Covered!

Whenever I get a new device I always jumped over to the Waterfield SF bag website to see what the company might have to protect it. Waterfield cases, pouches and bags are high-quality, well designed accessories that promise to protect your device for its life and beyond. I can honestly say that I have used/currently use a Waterfield product with every device I own. And while I don’t have a Samsung GALAXY S4 (yet…) I know many of you do and if you are looking for a stylish way to protect the new Samsung super phone you’ll want to check…

Gear Bits

TiVo’s Exclusively Terrible Offer

In 2006, I bought a TiVo Series 2. It was a great device, and it lasted me until mid-2011, when it finally stopped changing channels and went on strike. It retired to that great recycling center in the sky/the next town over, and we moved on to bigger and better electronics. TiVo however, sends me emails regularly offering us all sorts of deals to return. Today’s, though, is definitely the weirdest. Apparently TiVo blasted this offer to every former subscriber. They probably should have filtered it though, since as enticing as $6.99 a month TiVo service is, I am pretty…

Reviews

Head Over Heels for the Just Mobile HeadStand

Don’t let this happen to you… “Elana do you know where the Harman Karden NC headphones I’m reviewing are?” “Where did you last use them?” “If I knew that I wouldn’t be searching for them… Oh, got ’em!” “Where were they? Buried under the pile on your desk?” Yes, there is an advantage to keeping your headphones hung up and close by the way they are when you use the Just Mobile’s HeadStand. It prevents them from getting lost under a pile of papers. It keeps them safe and protected from someone who might sit on them after yo accidentally…

Reviews

New John Deere EZtrak Z235 Zero Turn Mower Takes the ‘Work’ out of Yardwork

In 1837, in a rural Illinois farming community, a humble displaced Vermont blacksmith fashioned a new type of plow from discarded materials, and John Deere Plow Works was born. The rest, as they say, is history – bathed in colorful “John Deere Green.” This year marks the 50th anniversary of the company’s residential product line. The company recently invited me to “test drive” one of its newest zero-turn mowers. Of course, I jumped at the chance, as I already am a John Deere customer. John Deere brings its legacy of plowshares and farm implements to your yard, thanks to a…

Gear Bits

HTC First Was Last and It’s Now Almost Free

A few weeks ago we got exclusive information that the HTC First was in big trouble. As we first reported, sales number for the first phone designed specifically for Facebook Home were close to nonexistent. Our inside information told us that the pre-order and first weekend sales numbers of the HTC First were less than 500 total units on the East Coast. In other words, the HTC First was all but dead on arrival. My conclusion at the time was that: I cannot begin to imagine what stock AT&T is currently holding of the device, but I have a pretty…

News & Features

Oregon Scientific Launches ATC Chameleon Dual Lens Action Camera

Remember that awesome review I wrote about the ATC Chameleon dual lens action camera? 🙂 Well, the ATC Chameleon dual lens action camera finally being launched at several major national retailers, including Target, Best Buy, and Costco. Now is your chance to grab this adaptable action camera that can capture two videos at one time. Whether you’re hitting the slopes (like I did), kayaking, mountain biking, or just fooling around with the family in the backyard, the ATC Chameleon is a great way to capture the action in your life. The two wide-angle lenses each capture video in a resolution of 1280…

Game Diary, News & Features

Disturbance in the Force as EA Gets License to Make Star Wars Games!

Taking top prize of a consumer poll two years in a row is something most companies would dream of … unless you are EA, and the poll is ‘Worst Company in America’. That’s right, EA made history by capturing the title an unprecedented two years in a row. How? Trashing beloved franchises, over-enthusiastic nickel-and-diming via DLC, and psychologist and analyst enhanced extortion through freemium games (yes, they actually have behavior-analyst teams designing games to get you to spend $100 over time on something you wouldn’t pay $5 for upfront!). So imagine the excitement of the gaming community when the most…

Editorials

Will Samsung Suffer Due to the ‘Lackluster’ S4?

Samsung recently started delivering their new flagship, the Galaxy S4. The GS4 is the follow-up to the Galaxy S3, which is the best-selling Android phone ever made, and one of big reasons Samsung is now the largest smartphone maker in the world. The GS3 was itself the sequel to the earlier best-selling Galaxy phones – but with the GS3 Samsung went from being a ‘leader’ to becoming the de facto Android flagship and market leader. Early critical and user reviews for the new S4 have been generally solid but not exactly glowing – and with more and more issues cropping…

News & Features

Magnet Stick-On Periscope Lense for iPhone and Camera Phones Surfaces

The good folks at USBFever work very hard to bring plenty of the most unusual peripherals and accessories for iPhones and other smartphones to the market. From the most simple and functional to the rather esoteric offbeat tech, USBFever has got you covered! Take camera lens add-ons for cell phones. Some of you might think, “What else is there, more zoom to the telescopic lenses?” No, you’d be wrong there. The latest to swim into view is in fact the curious Magnet Stick-On Periscope Lens for the iPhone and Camera Phones. Maybe you are tired of having to…

Game Diary, News & Features

Plants vs. Zombies 2 Comes for Your House Again in July!

It has been more than 3 years since I posted my review of the iPhone version of Plants vs. Zombies, and four years to the day since the original game launched (I did a review of the game elsewhere in May 2009) … and now we get word that the sequel to one of the hottest tower-defense games ever made is coming in July! There isn’t much info yet other than a Tweet saying “Yay! I can finally say it! PvZ 2: It’s About Time is coming in July! 🙂 #GetReady”. Also, there is a teaser trailer: There is also…

Game Diary, News & Features

The Sims 4 Game Release Date Announcement

Electronic Arts and Maxis today revealed that The Sims 4 is coming to the PC and Mac in 2014 … the specific date in 2014 is still unknown. EA held a special VIP briefing this morning where the world’s top Sims fans got to hear the new first from the creative team. This fan group will also get future access and alerts from the development team. No mention of console and/or handheld versions yet. The Sims 3 is definitely finishing with a bang this year with the new and well-time The Sims 3 Island Paradise expansion pack on June 25,…

Vehicles & Gear

2013 Subaru BRZ is a Driver’s New Best Friend

Car and Driver 10Best; Cars.com Best of 2103; Ward’s 10 Best Engines 2013; Kiplinger Personal Finance Class Winner – I don’t think Subaru anticipated just how well received the new BRZ sports car would be when co-developing it with partner Scion. Saying the 2013 BRZ from Subaru and its twin FR-S from Scion are big hits is an understatement. With the visit of the Subie recently I have tested models from both automakers, and true to the partnership they are nearly identical save from some very minor styling and suspension changes. While testing the FR-S on the track in both…

Reviews

Underwater Audio: Why is This Shuffle Different from All other Shuffles?

Here is a picture of two iPod shuffles. Yes, they are different colors but have the same shape, design, controls and capacity. If you look, touch or listen to these iPod shuffles, the ONLY difference you might notice is that the buttons on one are a tiny bit stiffer than the other. There’s no other difference. You would, however, only be willing to do this with one of those iPod shuffles… Put the wrong one in this ramekin of water, and you will be left with a tie clip (read: malfunctioning iPod shuffle) rather than an mp3 player. Put the…

Health and Fitness

R U A MILER? National Run a Mile Days – The Monday Mile

Today marks an important – though totally artificial – milestone: the day Roger Bannister first officially broke the 4 minute mile. It is important because it removed a mental obstacle – and it is artificial because it is an arbitrary round number. That mark remains a goal for all milers and a remarkable achievement for any runner. The American Running Association is using the anniversary to push fitness and running among young people with their ‘R U A MILER’ campaign. The American Running Association is hoping that by pushing the mile in schools they can get more kids involved with…

Reviews

HTC ONE: A Review from Two Continents

One of us is in the US while the other is in Australia; both of us have been using the HTC ONE for the last bit. With HTC pushing the phone this weekend through special sales promotions, we thought it would be a good time to share some of our thoughts. Dan: A couple of weeks ago, I wrote some of my first impressions of the HTC ONE Android Smartphone. My initial impressions have only continued to be positive, and I am more enamored with the device now than when I first gushed about it. At the time, I described…

Game Diary, Reviews

Dark Avenger for iOS Review

In the action-RPG genre, 1996’s Diablo is the one that brought mass-popularity, and therefore subsequent action-RPGs were called ‘Diablo clones’ for years regardless of what else they brought to the table. On smartphones and tablets, the Dungeon Hunter games have defined the standard for action-RPG gameplay but have angered gamers with agressively pushing in-app purchases. Now we have Dark Avenger, a new entry to the genre. How does it compare? Let’s take a look! Type of app: Action Role-Playing (aRPG or Action RPG) game Platform/where to buy: iPhone/iPad; available in the Mac App Store Developer: Gamevil Description: Dark Avenger has…

Gear Bits

B&N “Innovates” by Becoming Yet Another Tablet Company

News broke today that Barnes and Noble is opening up the NOOK hardware to Google, adding Google Play to their NOOK HD and HD+ devices. Is this a canny move to capitalize on tablet demand, or a desperate grab for any port in a storm? Does this actually matter to the average buyer? As our own Mike Anderson asked, “Is abandoning their own ecosystem a desperate move?” I think this is great news for the ten bloggers who really love the NOOK HD hardware. Except for a few Android users who can re-download their apps across their phone and NOOK, the…

Reviews

Travel HoodiePillow Hooded Travel Pillow Review

Welcome to part two of my two-part hooded pillow review humiliation. In Part One I came clean and related that, while still watching the good folks from HoodiePillow make their pitch on SharkTank, I ordered a hooded pillow case from them. The HoodiePillow is a quality pillowcase made from sweatshirt material. What makes this pillow case special is that, as the name indicates, it has a hoodie built right into it. And as if that wasn’t enough, the HoodiePillow also has drawstrings, a pocket for your phone or mp3 player and a cable pass-through so the headphones can run from…

Reviews

Just Mobile AluFrame for iPhone 5 Review

Leave it to our friends at Just Mobile to get the aluminum bumper frame for the iPhone 5 just right. Yes, Just Mobile AluFrame for the iPhone 5 is an aluminum bumper that makes all the right moves. It’s gorgeous and refined, protects the sides and edges of the iPhone admirably, and, perhaps best of all, I’m not seeing any signal degradation when I use it. That last point is particularly striking considering the fact that this aluminum frame doesn’t have any cuts or openings in it. (Many companies looking to create an aluminum frame without signal degradation resorted to…

Game Diary, Reviews

Neverwinter Enters Open Beta Testing – My Hands-On Impressions

The realms of Neverwinter and the Sword Coast are beloved by all fantasy RPG gamers, and they have been featured since the very earliest days of Dungeons & Dragons. Some of the most famous games set in this universe are Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, Icewind Dale 1 & 2, and Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2. Though its main campaign was criticized by some in 2002 as lacking depth and excitement compared to the Baldur’s Gates games, multiplayer and player-created content have kept Neverwinter Nights and its sequel popular for more than a decade. So when Cryptic Entertainment and Perfect…

Gear Bits

GE’s Incredibly Creepy Matrix-Themed TV Ad

Apparently, GE’s ad people are living in the late 1990’s. I can’t judge them for this since my musical tastes are clinging tenuously to the earlier part of the same decade. However, I do question what they were thinking with their latest ad touting their medical equipment business. And since GE apparently bought all the daytime airtime and has been playing the ad non-stop on news channels, I’ve seen it many, many times, to the point where I can follow along with the script. Which gets creepier every time I watch it. Seems like someone saw a few random scenes…

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