Reviews

Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2012 and More – a Music Diary Feature

It is finally time for my Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2012! The end of each year we get bombarded by ‘top 10’ lists for just about everything, but for me it is too soon. Personally, I like to be sure all releases are out, and take some time over the holidays to reflect and re-listen to stuff I loved — or thought I loved — or perhaps barely touched all year long. Last year this resulted in a late February ‘Baker’s Dozen’ best of list where I spent too much time on stuff NOT on the list and never…

Reviews

Speck CandyShell for iPad mini Review

Speck has had a tremendous amount of success with their CandyShell line of cases. While not a personal favorite, the company’s first release of a CandyShell for iPhone was an instant hit. As a result they have rolled out the style for many subsequent devices and have also expanded the line by adding different features to the same basic CandyShell design. For example, there are now CandyShell iPhone cases that let you flip the bottom third of the case free. This makes it easy to dock the phone for syncing and charging. Speck is now rolling out cases for the…

monCarbone iPhone 5 Peak Case in Luminous Silver

Reviews

MonCarbone Peak iPhone 5 Case Review

I went through a phase where I wanted my iPhone 5 to be as naked as possible. While I was going through that phase, I managed to drop my iPhone 5 and put a healthy dent in its top edge. You didn’t know that I was known for being a klutz and a butterfingers? Well, I am … famous for it, in fact. Thankfully my phone’s screen didn’t shatter, but what was I thinking?! Yeah, it was great that the front and back glass of my iPhone were covered by a Bodyguardz skin, but my corners were completely exposed ……

Reviews

Keep the Conversation Going Anywhere Anytime with the Voyager Legend UC

I reviewed the Plantronics Voyager Legend back in September. It was a fantastic upgrade to the Plantronics Voyager (a longtime favorite of both Elana and me) in most every way. It features 7 hours of talk time, 11 days of standby time, Bluetooth 3.0, wideband audio; A2DP streaming and much more. The available battery case, which both protects and charges the headset was a welcome accessory. My conclusion at the time? “It is, by far, the best Bluetooth headset I have reviewed. And the fact that it is under $100 is rather amazing to me.” You can read the full…

Game Diary, Reviews

Art Mogul HD for iPad Review

Type of app: Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure (HOPA) game Platform/where to buy: iPad (iPhone version here); available in the App Store Developer: Funzai! / G5 Entertainment Description: Art Mogul has loads of content, including: • 430 Pictures worth a thousand words • 21 Hidden object scenes • 7 Exciting cities to visit: San-Francisco, New York, London, Paris, Saint-Petersburg, Shanghai, and Tokyo • 40 Achievements to earn • 3 Art Museums to buy Major features: Art Mogul puts you in the role of an art collector seeking to maximize your collection and your profits, traveling the world visiting galleries; getting the…

Reviews

AKG K551 Over-the-Ear Headphone Review

Last summer I had the opportunity to review a pair of over-the-ear Bluetooth headphones from Harman Kardon. (Read the review.) I came away incredibly impressed by the sound, the build quality and the comfort. Judie read my review and was also impressed. She asked if she could try them out; I sent them to Texas, and they haven’t been seen since. 🙂 We were both impressed by just about every aspect of Harman Kardon’s Bluetooth (BT) over-ear stereo headphones. It turns out that Harmon Kardon is just one of the brands under which Harman offers headphones and other audio accessories….

Music Diary, News & Features, Reviews

Joe Lovano Us Five ‘Cross Culture’ Music Review

I have a huge library of jazz music stretching back nearly a century, and including representation from nearly every major (and most minor) figures of the art form. But like any other genre fan, there are artists I am ‘supposed’ to like that I have never connected with. I am also a rock music fan since my childhood, but never connected with much of the Rolling Stones (except for a few years in the late 60s) and Led Zepplin. In terms of recent jazz history, two leading instrumentalists are Joe Lovano and Brad Mehldau – and I have never really…

Reviews

Crock-Pot Recipe App Review

Type of app: Cookbook Platform/where to buy: iOS Developer: Publications International Description: More than 250 Crock Pot recipes plus free bonus recipes each month Price: $3.99 in the App Store Major features: The app lets you search for recipes, add favorites to your recipe box, create shopping lists and meal plans. It also has a voice activated step by step option, letting you call out “next” and “back” as you follow the recipe, keeping your dirty hands away from your iPad! There’s also a store that sells extra recipe packs if you want more variety than the base 250 recipes…

Game Diary, Reviews

Lost Souls The Enchanted Paintings for Mac Review

Imagine receiving a mysterious package with a pleasant painting inside that your child finds captivating. He asks to hang it in his room, but then the next day you awake to find you child gone. It is the nightmare for any parent, and it is the opening scene of the newly released Lost Souls: Enchanted Paintings HD from G5 Entertainment. The mother’s name is Bella, and she doesn’t just discover her child gone, but instead that he is now the image in the mysterious painting! So now Bella needs to enter the painting in order to get her son back….

Reviews

ZAGGkeys MINI 7 for the iPad mini Review

Judie: As is often the case, both of us ordered the new iPad mini the day it became available. Truth be told, neither of us expected that much from the device. Sure, we expected it would be nice to have the smaller and lighter iPad we had longed for, but we never expected what happened next. We didn’t just like the iPad mini, we both loved it — within short order it replaced our larger iPads. Dan: It took about a day before the iPad mini became my primary iPad. While I enjoy the 9.7″ iPad with retina display, it stays…

Reviews

Mapi Case Perga for the iPad mini Review

Since I got the iPad mini, I have been looking for an elegant way to carry and protect it. The first thing I did was put a Bodyguardz Armor protective film on the back and a screen protector on the screen. Still, as much as I love using the iPad mini in as thin and light a manner as possible, I am carrying the tablet everywhere, and I need a higher degree of protection than the films alone provide. Until recently I was using a Bodyguardz Sentinel case. It is a nice, simple folio case, and I have enjoyed having…

Outdoors, Reviews

Dorcy LED Headlamp Review

I’ll admit that the first time Kev slipped his headlamp on to go do something outside in the dark, I smirked. Why not just carry a flashlight? Why go out of your way to look like a coal miner or a caver? I’m being facetious, of course. I totally understood why he would want to be able to do things outside handsfree, but there’s no getting around the fact that wearing a headlamp makes you look a little silly. Only, you are the one getting the last laugh. If you have a headlamp on, it’s like you’ve grown an extra…

Reviews

Aranez Ascend Case for the iPad mini Review

We’ve reviewed a number of products from Aranez.com including some iPhone and iPad cases and, most recently, a case for the Samsung Galaxy S3. Many of the cases we have used from the company are crafted from kangaroo leather, which is soft, supple and both looks and feels great. This time out we are looking at the first iPad mini case from the company. A folio-style case, the Ascend is made from cow leather, but it is immediately recognizable as an Aranez product thanks to the clean lines, contrasting stitching and, of course, the Aranez name on the front cover’s…

Reviews

Mophie Outride Review

We take our iPhones absolutely everywhere. Mophie knows this, and they’ve made their name in offering extended batteries and battery cases. But now they are branching out and pushing more than just batteries. They know you want your iPhone to record the really amazing parts of life-the “Oh man, I wish you could see this”, the “Whoo hoo, that was fun!” and yes, the “Oh crap, I can’t believe I am doing this” adventures. So they created the Mophie Outride, a rugged case, app and mount system so you can record anything, anywhere. Preferably in a place where you would…

Reviews

Tom Bihn Brain Bag with Camera I-O and Accessories Review

If you are looking for a small, light backpack you can stop reading now. If, on the other hand, you are looking for a backpack that is large, flexible, comfortable to carry and tough enough to last and last keep reading. Tom Bihn’s Brain Bag is a pricey backpack that is large and flexible enough to serve as a weekender, as a camera backpack or as a laptop backpack. On second thought, the Tom Bihn backpack is large and flexible enough to serve all of those functions at the very same time. The company was kind enough to send over…

Reviews

8Gadget Pack Review – Bring Back Sidebar Gadgets to Windows 8

I know not everyone is enamored of the Windows Sidebar and Gadgets, but I use them all the time, on every computer I own. I like the CPU monitoring as well as Hard Disk monitoring, so that I can easily see at a glance if my computer is doing something in the background, or if it is really frozen and needs a restart. This is especially true on my Windows 8 Atom tablet, which is much slower at processing things that my i7 desktop and laptop! 8Gadget Pack is a free utility that you can install to bring back the…

Events, Reviews

Spigen SGP Coated Backpack Video Review

While visiting with Spigen SGP during CES 2013, their Coated Backpack caught my eye. We’ve reviewed — and been impressed by — cases and screen protectors from Spigen SGP, but we had not previously encountered any of their larger offerings. They were kind enough to hand me one of the backpacks on the spot, and I used it the next day while walking the CES floor. It served me well and left me impressed. The backpack is light and simple but holds a surprisingly large amount of gear. Designed to hold laptops, tablets, smartphones and a host of accessories to…

Reviews

DryCASE for Smartphones Lets Your Gear Go for a Swim

When we were in Aruba snorkeling, I was able to use a 4th generation iPod touch in a LifeProof case to shoot some under-water video. The experience made me an even stronger believer in the whole LifeProof approach to gear protection. There are, however, times you might want to waterproof your phone or media player, but not have it in a LifeProof case. That’s where one of the products from DryCASE can come in rather handy. Unlike the LifeProof approach which places your gadget in a specialized case, the DryCASE approach lets you use your device in a standard, non-waterproof case…

Reviews

OGIO Manhattan Messenger Bag Review

One of the great thing about mobile technology is that it is, well, mobile. Laptop, iPad, phone, eReader — they all go wherever we go. And more and more that includes shuttling your gear between home, the office, and everywhere in between. Where do you look when you want to be professional but still stylish? Ogio has a strong contender in their new Manhattan messenger bag! The Manhattan bag has what I would call a more feminine style. There are six decorative buttons along the front, very similar to the types of buttons on a nice suit. And the interior…

Game Diary, Reviews

Old Clockmaker’s Riddle HD for iPad Review

Type of app: Match-3 Puzzle Adventure game Platform/where to buy: iPad (iPhone version here); available in the App Store Developer: DAVA Inc. / G5 Entertainment Description: ? Over 50 amazing levels to play ? 25 adorable houses to save from ruin ? 25 challenging mini-games to master ? 12 powerful upgrades and five magic tools ? Two game modes: relaxed and timed ? Game Center Support ? iPhone 5 support Major features: I admit to expecting Old Clockmaker’s Riddle to be a standard story-based Hidden Object game. But after I started reading the description I was thrilled to see the…

Events, Reviews

Just Mobile AluPen Pro Review

As much as I have tried to go paperless, it’s been impossible for me to totally quit writing down shopping lists or jotting quick notes to myself or others. Whether I like it or not, I think I will always need to have a pen handy. Add to that my occasional need for a capacitive stylus — one that will work on the iPad or iPhone’s screen — and you’ll understand why the AluPen Pro caught my eye when I was visiting the Just Mobile booth at CES. Sculpted from aluminum, the perfectly weighted AluPen Pro features a high-quality, retractable…

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