Articles by Zek



Going “All-In” on Android

I decided to give up my iPad this week in favor of an LG G Pad X8.3 from Verizon. Ironically, what set everything in motion was my wife’s iPhone 5C taking a swan dive out of the car and into certain death at the hands of the pavement. Likely out of embarrassment that it was an iPhone 5C.


Kinsa Smart Thermometer Review

The only thing worse than a sick toddler is taking a sick toddler’s temperature. It’s easy if they’re sleeping, but once the sick kiddo is awake/grumpy, all bets are off. We’ve survived our first year of my son’s preschooling with the requisite colds, so when Kinsa offered to have us review the Smart Thermometer we were all over it! The Kinsa Smart Thermometer looks like a cross between a regular digital thermometer and a headphones cord. You plug the thermometer into a compatible iPhone or Android smartphone, and use the Kinsa app as the interface to see your child’s temperature….




Drop Everything and Watch this “Orange is the New Black”/”Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

If you have a Netflix subscription and haven’t watched “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Orange is the New Black”, please head off to binge both immediately. We’ll wait here. If you’re back, keep reading, because the tribute video of your dreams was released by Netflix yesterday, where the ladies of Litchfield celebrate the upcoming Kimmy Schmidt season 2 release with “Honey Jar” (a tribute to “Peeno Noir”)



Is Pebble’s Time Up?

The Verge reported on some ominous news from Pebble today; they’re apparently laying off 25% of their staff. Combine that with a competitive wearables market, and it doesn’t look great for Kickstarter’s biggest success story.


What Does $100 Mean to Your Grocery Budget?

How much do you think about your grocery budget? We think about ours a fair amount, since we hardly eat out anymore. But even for people who cook at home, what you buy and how much you spend varies wildly, as seen by this really interesting experiment conducted over at The Simple Dollar.


If You’re Not Using Amazon Music, You’re Missing Out!

Do you have Amazon Prime? If you do, you probably take advantage of Prime videos and certainly use the free shipping. But it seems like Prime Music tends to be the forgotten child of Amazon’s services, especially in the face of competitors like Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music. But Prime Music is free with Prime subscription, and it’s rapidly improving!


Weird Science Is on Hulu, and My Productivity Is Shot!

Do you remember the USA series Weird Science? It ran in the mid-90s and was based on the John Hughes film of the same name. I loved that show because it came on every Saturday night after the kids I babysat for went to bed. So when I found it on Hulu, I dropped everything to relive the 90s!




Peralta Abby iPhone Case Review: Grab Your Essentials and Go!

My wife Sarah usually carries her wallet, phone, and keys in the backpack we use as a diaper bag. Sometimes, though, she just needs to grab and go, and the enormous backpack is too much. When we were offered the chance to review the Peralta Abby iPhone Case, I asked Sarah to give it a whirl.




LifeBEAM Teams up with UnderArmour and JBL!

I tested the LifeBEAM hat last spring and was quite impressed with the accuracy of their heart rate monitor. They’re expanding their market beyond hats and helmets, putting their heart rate tech into wireless headphones powered by Under Armour and JBL!



Neverware’s CloudReady Makes an Old PC New Again!

We’ve been trying to get our “junk drawers” organized, and in the process we unearthed my old Toshiba NB205 netbook. I loved this netbook, and it was a faithful companion for two years. Time took a toll on performance, and it slipped into the pile of unused electronics. It has new life, though, thanks to Neverware’s CloudReady (ChromeOS) build!


What’s the Point of Those Sticky Card Holders for Your Phone?

In the last year or so, I’ve noticed smartphone/tablet adjacent accessories have become big giveaway items. Instead of a crappy free pen, you get a crappy free pen with a rubber capacitive stylus tip on one end. Yay? At least pens are useful…the sticky card holder I received today is just weird, ugly, and useless.