I’ve long been a fan of JOBY’s various flexible tripod offerings. Their GorillaPods are a mainstay in my gear bag. Now JOBY has announced their new JOBY GPod Mini Magnetic and JOBY MPod Mini Stand. The GPod works with cameras. The MPod works with smartphones. Each weighs less than two ounces. Shipping soon you can learn more here.
The ContourRoam2 action camera is a great way to catch life on the go. (We reviewed it here.)The small video camera is waterproof, tough, and it takes good video. Add in a few key accessories like a headband, universal mount, and a waterproof case, and it does even more. The ContourRoam2 action camera impressed me when I reviewed it at the beginning of the summer. The small camera is simple to use, and it will shoot video at a number of settings. Full HD » 1080p (1920 x 1080) @ 30/25fps Tall HD » 960p (1280 x 960) @ 30/25fps…
I absolutely love my HTC One. Unfortunately, it is not the most popular Android phone (even if I think it should be), so my case options have been limited to bulky, plastic, and ugly … until now. I recently received DRACOdesign’s gorgeous $79.99 ONE Aluminum Bumper, and it is now somewhat permanently attached to my phone. Here’s why … I’ve reviewed plenty of aluminum bumper cases over the years, but the majority of them were for various iPhone incarnations, and quite a few of those cases interfered with the iPhone’s antenna causing reception issues. Even so, I really like the…
One of my favorite set of posts on Lifehacker is the “Featured Workspace” posts. Your workspace is important. It’s where things get done. Each and every workspace is different because we are all different. My workspace utilizes a 50 year-old desk and a mix of tech from old to new. Read on for more on how I have set this up. The desk is one I picked up many years ago on Freecycle. Freecycle is a Yahoo group in our area that people list stuff for free. This desk’s previous home was a local church here in the Columbus area,…
Popcap and EA Games have teamed up to bring you the greatly anticipated follow-up to the original Plants vs. Zombies. The premise of the Plants vs. Zombies series is that you’re a homeowner who is trying to defend his house against a horde of the undead. Your weapon? Plants. Good Luck! Plants vs. Zombies 2 is out now for free on the App Store. After a lengthy beta testing period and a soft launch in New Zealand, Plants vs. Zombies 2 is finally available to all of us Americans. This time, instead of only defending your own home from the…
When I was a wee preschooler, my morning TV schedule ran from Sesame Street to Mr. Rogers, and then to Julia Child’s cooking show, The French Chef, which helped plant the seed that influenced my interest in cooking. Why do I mention this bit of minutiae? Well, it so happens that today is famed chef Julia Child’s 101st birthday, and to celebrate, Random House Digital, Inc. slashed the price of their iOS app Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Selected Recipes from $4.99 to $1.99 from August 15 through August 18! Based on Child’s acclaimed book Mastering the Art of…
eBay’s new My Gadgets website lets you quickly gather all your gadgets in one place and then see just how much it is actually worth. Better still, with My Gadgets selling the items you no longer use is easier than ever! All of this is possible Thanks to eBay’s extensive database of electronics and a well-designed web portal. Click here. Last night Judie posted about eBay’s new My Gadgets portal. As she was sharing the news, I was in Manhattan for the eBay My Gadgets Announcement Party. While there, I had a chance to talk a bit about Judie and…
If you have been keeping up with Dan’s and my eBay posts and the massive contest connected to the products we’ve reviewed, then you know that eBay has been in the process of launching their now-live site, My Gadgets, where users can “easily catalog their tech collections and see the current value of each of their tech items.” My Gadgets helps users organize and save all of their gadgets and tech items in a single location; the idea is to make it easy for users to “view the individual and collective values” of their items, “based on eBay’s unique data on current sales…
Petzila is rolling out the PetziConnect, a webcam and treat dispenser designed to let you interact with your pet, even when you’re not home. Hey, it beats dogTV! My dog routinely outsmarts us. He figured out long ago that he gets treats for two reasons: someone’s at the door, and we don’t want him to eat them, or we’re leaving, and we want him to go lay down on his bed and be a good boy. Bribing him when guests are over is easy since we can keep an eye on him, but the problem with the treats+leaving combo is…
If you are an outdoor photographer, you may find times when you need a clean, dry place to lay out your gear. MindShift Gear’s new Contact Sheet lets you do just that. Pull out the lightweight tarp and you have a place to work anywhere you go. It is $39.99, and it is available here. MindShift Gear, a new company founded by the creators of Think Tank Photo and conservation photographer Daniel Beltrá, are ready to make a splash in the photographic accessory market. Their first accessory product (they also have two photographic backpacks available — more on them soon) is…
If you are an avid user of Documents to Go you probably already knew about some of DataViz, Inc.’s product offerings in the software office arena. One aspect that is critical to office integrity is security, and DataViz has recently stepped up to the plate with their new Passwords Plus cross-platform password security software. Starting at $9.99, Passwords Plus works to keep passwords, PINs and related sensitive information secure from prying eyes and keep that data synched between devices. No more struggling to remember passwords or hunt through filing cabinets for password lists! It should be no secret that…
Dan loves his small wireless speakers, but the Polk Audio LSi25 Speakers may bring him back to component stereo systems. The speakers are pricey, and they require the addition of an independent amplifier, but in return they offer huge, impressive sound. Dan took a look for eBay as part of their huge My Gadgets Giveaway. As Dan points out in his post over on the eBay Influencer’s Blog, while you can get good sound from a small speaker, big, teeth-rattling, bone-shaking sound won’t come from something that can sit on a bookshelf. For that kind of sound, you’ll want something…
In an ever-crowded headphone market, MUNITIO is looking to make its mark with the PRO40 headphones. At about $350 these headphones,which include a Bass Enhancing Chamber for powerful bass without distortion, aren’t cheap. They do, however, look to offer great sound and a quality build. You can order yours on the product page. We got a look at Munitio’s upcoming PRO40 Headphones last January at CES 2013 and were impressed with how great they looked. We weren’t able to give them a listen at the time, but the use of 40mm titanium-coated dynamic drivers and Munitio’s tuning of the headphones promised to deliver…
Amidio Inc. has just introduced a super realistic sounding guitar application for the iPad. No need to carry a full-sized instrument and case when on the go when you can make your iPad sound like the real thing. The $2.99 app is modeled after a 1979 Martin & Co. dreadnaught guitar complete with realistic resonance and string noise. I certainly do not own a 1979 Martin steel string acoustic guitar, but would love to. Amidio’s Pearl Guitar app is a carefully tuned replica of the classic guitar stuffed into an iPad. The sound is actually quite stunning complete with string noise,…
I saw there was an update to Instagram for Android so I went to go apply it, as I usually would. However, upon download completion, it says “Package File Invalid”. So I tried to remove it and reinstall the app — the same issue occurred. I completely removed all Google Play Updates and cleared caches, and still … nothing. I tried it on my tablet, and had the same issue. Because I’m having this issue on two devices, it’s obviously something else. I checked the Play Store’s web interface, and sure enough, there are multiple reviews with the same issue for…
Back in 2011 I was thrilled to review the latest release from Tony Levin, a trio set called ‘Levin Torn White’. I was impressed with every aspect of the recording, saying: aside from trying to assign genre labels, the most fitting label is ‘collaboration’. This recording is about three great musicians working together to share a vision of music with each other and with their audience. To that end they have constructed a cohesive set of statements borne out of rhythm and harmony and a passion atmosphere that is instantly communicative yet reveals more with each listen. This is a…
I’ve seen and used a variety of different stands for my iPhone and iPad, but none have caught my attention the way the new HiRise for iPhone 5/iPad mini from Twelve South has. This brushed metal stand has the kind of refined lines that will compliment your iOS device while also adding to its utility. The HiRise is designed to work with Apple Lightning Cable, but it is a BYOC (Bring Your Own Cable) accessory. And, thanks to its thoughtful design, the HiRise works with iPhone and iPad when they are naked AND when they are in most current cases. The…
B&O PLAY by Bang & Olufsen just introduced the Nordic Sky edition of its BeoPlay A9. It is the perfect meeting point between art, furniture, and High Fidelity. Designed to be standalone furniture, or art that is hung on the wall, the BeoPlay A9 is also an amazingly powerful piece of audio equipment. The speaker packs impressive technology into a sleek, one of a kind, design. The BeoPlay A9 has a total of five speakers and has an output of 480 watts thanks to a digital Class D amplifier with separate amps for each of the five speakers. At the center…
I just wrote about the announcement show on the BBC for the 12th Doctor, which was ‘must see TV’ for my younger son. But unlike when my wife and I sit down to watch TV, where we set our phones on the end tables or coffee table; for him the first thing my son does is grab his phone and open up Twitter. Once there, he gets involved with pre-show chatter, right into the announcement itself, and then post-show follow-up. According to a new Nielson study reported at TheNextWeb, this is exactly the sort of situation where ‘Twitter Chatter’ helps…
Aside from the major jazz releases I try to cover, I also collect other new music and try to do ‘overview’ reviews of several albums when possible. I had one in progress, and the ‘highlight’ release for the set was DreamWeaver from George Duke. The album was released three weeks ago on July 16th, and it is one of the best recordings of the year, as well as one of my favorites from Duke. Dreamweaver mixes mainstream jazz, funk, pop and fusion elements in a very tender and intimate way, and showcases Duke’s vocal, compositional and most of all his…
Once again, I have cool news about Larian Studios, the creators of one of my all-time favorite games — Divine Divinity. In early April I talked about the Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter, and a couple of weeks later noted the addition of a tier that also gave you a digital copy of Larian’s RTS (real-time strategy) game Divinity Dragon Commander. Well, today is the release date for Divinity Dragon Commander, and Larian Studios has published a launch trailer. Rather than some bland cinematic, this trailer actually shows you the purpose of different elements of the game, how you play and…