HTC Touch HD Walk-Around and First Impressions
I’ve had a few days to become acquainted with the HTC Touch HD, so this seemed like as good a time as any to take a walk-around the device and talk about some of its features.
Articles by Judie Lipsett Stanford
Segway iBOT Wheelchair Spotted in the Wild!
One of the cooler things that we’ve spotted while here in Vegas was Michael Kaplan and his Segway iBOT. I’ve seen plenty of “regular” Segways, but until yesterday had never seen the wheelchair version – other than in blog posts. After talking to Michael for just a bit, I was impressed by how positively the Segway iBOT has affected his life. How so? On top of being able to climb stairs with ease, he can also raise the seat to the height he was before – 5’8″ and look people in the eye…something I regularly take for granted from my…
The HP Mini 1140NR Vivienne Tam Edition Is Here!
This smoking hot little red laptop showed up today, and I figured I ought to share some photos before I got prints from my eager fingers all over it. Have a look at the HP Mini (1140NR) Vivienne Tam edition; possibly the most fashionable netbook ever…
The Altec Lansing moondance GLOW Review
Like many of you, my days are structured around a general time by which I try to be in bed and a specific time at which I prefer to awaken. In order to get up in a timely manner, I have to use an alarm. I haven’t ever really given much thought to whether my bedside alarm clock could fulfill functions other than simply making sure that I was jolted out of bed when I needed to be, but the new Altec Lansing moondance GLOW has caused me to realize that there might be more to a bedside device that…
The Altec Lansing inMotion MAX Portable Speaker for iPhone and iPod Review
I’ve covered iPod stereo docks in the past, but this is one of the first I’ve seen that claims to combine a clear and powerful speaker system with a rechargeable battery for true portability. I went into this review with a bit of skepticism; I guess I just wasn’t expecting much from a battery driven speaker system. It would be up to the Altec Lansing inMotion MAX Portable Speaker for iPhone and iPod to either impress me or prove that my skepticism was warranted; read on to see what happened… Wander around the house, and take your music with you….
SCOTTEVEST Signature System Review
Last night, my friend Joel emailed to say that he thought I would be a perfect candidate for an upcoming geek/techie makeover edition of the Maury Show; I didn’t know whether to laugh or be insulted since he mentioned that I might get a new wardrobe out of the experience. I don’t think that I need a makeover (does anyone ever think that?), but I do know what the perfect wardrobe option should be for any stylish geek or techie – especially now that cold weather is fast approaching. Fellow geeks and techies, I present to you the new SCOTTEVEST…
The Ford Rouge Factory Tour: Featuring the 2009 F-150
Last week I had the opportunity to not only take the all new 2009 F-150 for several grueling test drives, I also got to see its creation from the frame up. Grinding Gears editor David Goodspeed and I met with other journalists at the Ford Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Michigan. Our day started at the Henry Ford Rouge Factory Tour…
The Jabra JX20 PURA Titanium Edition Bluetooth Headset Review
You know how there can be certain products that you see people using all of the time, or that maybe you’ve even used yourself for a while, but you just don’t really “get” them? Well, that’s been my relationship with Bluetooth headsets, or “ear roaches” as Kerry calls them. Sure, I have used and reviewed many of the best models available, and some of them worked so well, fit so comfortably, filtered out background noise so wondrously, or looked so tiny that I thought I might have actually found one I could live with. But in the end, I have…
The Sprint HTC Touch Diamond Review
You might remember that when I attended the Seattle Mobius in May, I was given the European version of the HTC Touch Diamond, which for network reasons I opted to have sent to Mitchell in Australia. The Diamond version he received and reviewed was at first glance nearly identical to the Sprint version I’ll be covering today, with the exception of their back sides. During his testing period, Mitchell found that he liked the small size of the device, the multitude of radios packed in that small package (HSDPA, WiFi, BT, GPS and FM), the sharpness of the 2.8″ VGA…
Proof that I am Not a Member of Vertu’s Target Audiance
I got my Vertu Constellation in a round about way, and while I have greatly enjoyed owning it there has never been a day when I thought for even a moment that I was in the same financial bracket as the typical Vertu owner. Today I got proof positive of that fact in the form of a repair bill; more on that in a moment… I had noticed soon after getting my nearly new Constellation that the leather on its battery cover was rubbed and might one day start to peel back. This is certainly not uncommon with the model,…
The Tom Bihn Ristretto Messenger Bag Review
One of the many conveniences I’ve encountered while owning a MacBook Air has been the ability to slip the ultra-slim laptop into almost any bag for a quick carry solution; this includes larger laptops bags as well as some of my roomier purses. There are times however, when I’ve wished that I had a bag made to specifically transport the Air: something slim, streamlined, but still large enough to carry any peripherals and doo-dads I might need. Tom Bihn has released just such a bag; similar in style to their Cafe line, the Ristretto Messenger Bag is built with different…
The 2009 GM Collection Event at Texas Motor Speedway
This week I had the opportunity to spend a day at the Texas Motor Speedway test driving 2009 GM Collection. There were so many gorgeous and impressive vehicles present, I would be hard pressed to say which was my favorite; but of course I had one…
Reviewed: Tom Bihn Organizer Pouches
It never fails that when I pack my gear, there are always small items which will sift to the bottom of my bag’s cavernous pockets. This doesn’t even take into account all of the times when I have needed a particular something, and no matter how neatly I thought I had it packed, I couldn’t find it when it was time. Well, no more. Tom Bihn makes a variety of Organizer Pouches, and I think that it would be safe to assume that there is something for everyone. Let’s take a look… Cordura Organizer Pouches
The WowWee Alive Lion Cub Review
When I was a child, I absolutely loved stuffed animals; I had such a massive collection residing on my bed that they threatened to push me off should I stretch out or roll over in the middle of the night. One of my fondest wishes at that time was that some of my favorite stuffed animals could be more life-like and animated. Granted, this was in the 70s, and the closest things we had to robotic toys back then were those obnoxious stuffed dogs that came with a wired battery pack so that they could walk a few steps, bark,…
Pas Deux: The Vertu Ascent Ti Experience
[Note from Judie: This is Drew’s follow-up to his original letter about his first week with the Vertu Ascent Ti. If you haven’t already read that, then you might want to check it out.] I had an opportunity to take a bit of a deeper dive with the Ascent Ti this weekend and tried out some of these other features: 1. Fortress (the over the air backup utility) 2. The camera 3. The music player 4. Software upgrade process One of the big selling features is the ability to back up your personal information to the Fortress, a military shelter…
Mommy Toolbox’s Carabean Review
Every mom carries around a basic toolbox, whether it be stowed in her diaper bag or purse. The child’s age will dictate what gear must be carried, whether it’s bottles, binkies and rattles, or tissues, snack money and aspirin. The cleverly named company, Mommy Toolbox, has created a line of products meant to make mom’s (and dad’s) lives easier; their first product is the Carabean, a lead-free rubbery paint coated aluminum clip that can function as a much needed third or fourth hand. Packaged in pairs, I was sent a set in black licorice; they are also available in buttercup…
Restoring and Beautifying Photos the Photofiddle Way
One of my favorite hobbies is working on my family’s genealogy; because it was also my uncle’s and grandmother’s hobby before me, I have access to a treasure trove of photographs, historical documents, family charts and other paraphernalia that they and others had collected. What’s not in my personal files is kept at the Angelo State University library in their canvas wrapped on stretchers, where it is easily shared with me and any other interested familial historians. I guess because I have always had such a relatively easy time collecting and accessing some of (what I consider to be) the…
MOO Business Cards: MOO MiniCards Grow Up
Remember when MOO MiniCards hit the scene in late 2006? Everyone on the internet thought they were the cutest thing since…I don’t know what, and many of us ordered sets to keep, trade, or even use as business cards. The deal was that you could access your Flickr account and use up to 100 different photos to decorate the back of each custom card, although another option was that you could also go with just a single favorite photo or multiples of different photos. The front could hold traditional business card information, although you certainly didn’t have to be so…
The Tom Bihn Guardian Dual Function Light Review
There are so many good reasons why you might be interested in getting a clip-on safety light; perhaps because you ride a bike at night, or you walk in darker areas, or simply because you need a way to look inside a big gear bag in a darkened room. The story goes that Tom Bihn spent three months searching for a light that would meet his expectations, and the result of that search was the Guardian Dual Function Light. Make no mistake about it, this is no cheap flasher that will break after a few uses; the Guardian Dual Function…
The Tom Bihn Horizontal Freudian Slip Review
I tend to think of a “Freudian Slip” by its commonly known definition: “a verbal mistake that is thought to reveal an unconscious belief, thought, or emotion.” Tom Bihn has recycled the term by cleverly (and I daresay unforgettably) naming their horizontal and vertical organizing pocket panels “Freudian Slips.” Both styles are basically “an insert that gives you eleven extra pockets to provide total organization of your files and accessories,” and they are made to perfectly fit inside Tom Bihn’s Zephyr or Empire Builder briefcases, or ID, Ego, or Super Ego messenger bags. A nylon loop attached to the top…
The Tom Bihn Yarn Stuff Sack Review
Don’t let the name of Tom Bihn’s Yarn Stuff Sack throw you off. While it’s true that this Japanese-made Dyneema rip-stop fabric bag was created to work perfectly with their Swift knitting bag, this approximately 9.5″ wide x 8.25″ tall drawstring bag can also manage all sorts of loose gadget peripherals. Let’s take a look…