We recently took a vacation and after some debate decided it was safer to bring our own carseat rather than rent one of dubious quality along with our car. You can buy special carts to transport car seats, but a friend of ours filled us in on a much cheaper and more versatile tip: a hand truck!
I have reviewed several cars for Gear Diary, and they’re usually my favorite reviews to do. Cars are probably the biggest purchase most people make, besides a house, and they are technological tools as much as they are transportation methods. The Mitsubishi Outlander Sport excels in one of these areas and fails miserably in the other!
Jawbone is quite busy these days. In addition to finally launching the UP3 Fitness Tracker that’s been delayed for months, they decided to get ahead of themselves and release two more trackers at the same time: a fairly simple UP2 device, and a high-end UP4 that tracks your fitness AND acts as a mobile payment device!
When we first moved into our house, we debated signing up with an alarm company. Ultimately we decided against it after looking at how much a contract would cost, but I’ve been following the smartphone-based alarm systems closely. We’ve been testing the SkylinkNet Alarm System starter kit; so how does it fit our needs and protect our home?
My coworker is in the process of planning her wedding. Recently she went to message someone on Facebook about it, and she thought it would be cute to include a Facebook sticker/emoji for weddings. To her surprise, Facebook Messenger had removed the boy/girl pairing, and instead added some very odd same-sex and inter-animal choices instead.
Netflix just made your day a lot better with a new “Orange is the New Black” trailer. All your favorites are there, and after the darkness of season 2 this looks like a return to the mix of humor and drama in Season 1. Also, no Larry, so hooray for small miracles!
I adore my Pebble Smartwatch. When I take it off for a few hours to charge my wrist feels lonely! It’s quickly become an integral part of my daily life, and a big part of that is how I use it to keep myself accountable to fitness goals. It’s not perfect, but what it does do, it does quite well!
Microsoft is a lot like the Little Engine That Could. Like the Little Engine, it keeps scaling big mountains that no one expected it to climb. Maybe this analogy doesn’t make any sense, but what does make sense is the new Surface 3, a full Windows machine in tablet form. RT is dead, but the Surface lives on!
Have you been in an Apple Retail Store recently? I was just in one yesterday, and the experience made me seriously question whether adding “fashion advice” to the list of specialties Apple Stores offer is a good idea. It also made me wonder if Apple’s customer service advantage is starting to fade, as it was a less than great experience.
I will never forget The X-Files. When I was a kid, I used to live for Friday nights so I could watch The X-Files while my parents were out. I’m still terrified of sewers after the Chernobyl worm man episode. So my geeky heart is all aflutter with news of SIX NEW EPISODES!
We love our BOB jogging stroller. It’s great for running as well as everyday strolling, especially if you find yourself on rough roads or if we want to walk along rail trails. It can be a little weird to get used to pushing a stroller and running, and KidRunner has an expensive but intriguing solution: pull your kid instead!
One of the new features of Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel, in addition to a color screen, is what Pebble calls “Smartstraps“. Basically, the new Time/Time Steel watches will have connectors near the straps that will allow the straps to add new hardware options like GPS or heart-rate monitors to the watch, making Pebble Time extremely upgradeable and modular.
My wife, Sarah, recently decided to get a fitness tracker. She’s been going to the gym more, and heading out walking, and wanted a way to view her activity on a daily basis. I showed her various fitness tracker options, ranging from Misfit to Jawbone to Fitbit, and she specifically chose a Fitbit Flex, almost purely on the Fitbit name.
I posted recently about my quest for a new fitness tracker, and I found one that (so far) I love. It’s only been 24 hours but it seems to check off all my boxes…and it wasn’t any of the ones on my initial list! It isn’t even that new, but my new Pebble is exactly what I was looking for!
Late last year, Apple gave Fitbit the boot from Apple retail stores. There was a lot of speculation as to why Fitbit was kicked out, but most people assumed it was due to Fitbit pulling out of Apple’s Healthkit initiative. Competitors (and Healthkit partners) like Jawbone, Mio and Nike remained in the stores. Until this week, when everyone was booted!
Back when I worked in retail, I didn’t have a lot of downtime. When I did have a rare day off or afternoon free, I spent it reading, and I devoured a big chunk of Terry Pratchett’s “Discworld” series during a particularly stressful time. Terry Pratchett passed away today; it’s a sad day for literature and fantasy in particular.
My son loves (LOVES) the book “Goodnight iPad“. I’ve read it so many times I have it memorized, so I usually “read” it to him once it is lights-out. Half the time he’s asleep before I finish. Last night I realized some of the book’s technology references are already outdated, and it’s only four years old!
I tested the fitness tracker waters with the Pivotal Living 1 and stuck with it despite the bugs. Unfortunately, I forgot it wasn’t waterproof, and a dip in the pool brought on the death of the PL1. It’s time to replace it, and I’ve narrowed my choices down to the Fitbit Charge HR, Withings Activité Pop, or Garmin Vivosmart.
We were in Costco a few weeks ago, and the quinoa they were carrying was a different brand than we’ve bought in the past. We set out to find out if the new quinoa was safe for our son’s allergies, and we learned two things: Amazon and Costco are very nice, and no one can track down “Nature’s Intent, LLC“.
There are many bags that offer charging and backup batteries for your gadgets; unfortunately, most of these scream “tech bag”, and aren’t terribly pretty. Worse, they’re not the kind of thing you can carry into the office or a meeting, especially if you want to look professional. Leoht Tech Handbags has a Kickstarter with a potential solution!
If I had to break down my online presence by companies, I’d say I’m split between Microsoft and Google. Microsoft Onedrive is my main backup, and OneNote is just awesome, while Google handles my email, calendar and contacts. My jump from Windows Phone to Android was easy, but as Clinton Fitch points out, it’s because of Microsoft and not Google.