Gear Bits

If You Can Smell Peanut Butter, You May Not Have Alzheimer’s Disease

If everything in life were only so simple! A new release from the University of Florida says that in those with Alzheimer’s, the ability to smell from “the left nostril is significantly more impaired than the right.” So cover your nostrils and breathe deep from an open jar of peanut butter, a “pure odorant”. How did you do?


Protect and Serve (Up) Your iPhone 5/5S with X-Doria’s Defence 720º Case

If you want serious protection for your iPhone 5/5S but don’t want to spend a fortune you are in luck. X-Doria’s new Defence 720º for iPhone 5/5S offers a full-screen, protective front shield and rear armor for extra grippy and bump protection. The two-piece construction snaps together for all-over protection from scratches, bumps and other hazards. Just $34.99. Get it.


Nest Protect Will Be a Beautiful Smoke & CO2 Detector

A Beautiful Smoke & CO2 Detector?! That’s certainly not a phrase that I ever thought I would find myself writing! I have a first generation Nest Thermostat — which I love. Based on how well it has performed in my house, I anticipate nothing but good from the Nest Protect, available soon in black or white, wired or wireless for $129.


Gold Plated HTC One is Rare, Costly, and Pretty Ugly

If you thought the gold iPhone was a bit much, then you might want to avert your eyes from the 18K shine coming off of the £2,750 Gold HTC One that is one of only five. This is the most exclusive and expensive HTC ever, and chances are you won’t ever see one in person. Good thing? See more here.


Just When You Least Expect It … Liquor Store Edition

Have you seen this video yet? I just did, and it’s a good reminder that freaky, unexpected, and potentially scary things can happen without warning. It takes a minute to get to the meat, but once you are there, you may have to watch it again. Have you ever seen anything like this? Stay vigilant, my friends. 😉 via LiveLeak


The Rebirth of Vinyl Continues with an Estimated 30% Growth for 2013

  While I have always been an advocate of ‘owning’ music (as opposed to stealing or streaming), I have stuck with the latest tech trends: through the years I have had 45’s, 8-tracks, LPs, cassettes, CDs and MP3s. Each has strengths and weaknesses, but I am still bemused about the recent vinyl resurgence – which continues with estimates of 30% 2013 increase! Of course it is important to remember that the top-selling vinyl album of 2012 was Blunderbuss by Jack White – and that sold 34,000 copies (yes, 34 THOUSAND) … and the second top-selling album was Abbey Road by…


Whopper of the Week – Google’s Schmidt Says ‘Android More Secure Than iOS’

  This week at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt was asked a question about Android security. Rather than answer directly, he said “Not secure? It’s more secure than the iPhone.” Perhaps unsurprisingly this drew laughter from the crowd – but he was being laughed AT, not WITH. Because it comes after a report showed >1 million Android apps had malware. The report from F-Secure showed that in 2012 Android accounted for 79% of malware and malicious attacks, up from 66% in 2011. While there is certainly some impact of the platform market share, the actual numbers are way out…


TACTACAM Bow Stabilizer Brings HD Video To Your Bow

With bow hunting season in full swing, many hunters like to share their hunts as well as review shot placements. I try to use a regular video camera on my hunts, but that is not always easy when sitting in a tripod or tree. TACTACAM has brought HD video to the bow stabilizer turning the bow into the camera for $229.00. The TACTACAM attaches to any compound bow not only as a camera, but also as stabilizer. Basically, the HD camera becomes part of the hunt rather than a difficult extra piece of equipment needing to be concealed. The camera…


Introducing Capo 3 For Mac Featuring Automatic Chord And Beat Detection

While I do possess the ability to learn some songs by ear, it is always much better if I can at least have the chords available then match the style of the song. An interesting Mac application called Capo 3 was just announced that makes this process much easier. For $29.99 Capo 3 will detect chords and beats from iTunes music making learning them quicker. The new software not only detects the chords being played, but will also show how to play them in chord boxes. Consider it like making a real time tableture of any song in your music…



Brinell GmbH Introduces Stylish, Speedy SSDs in Seven Styles

A new, stylish external storage solution from Brinell GmbH recently surfaced, revealing seven beautiful SSD form factor styles to choose from. Sporting USB 3.0 specs, the Brinell external SSDs offer zippy read/write speeds in UAS Turbo mode of 420/330 MB/s respectively, with prices starting from about $216 for the 120GB version to $768 USD for 500GB capacity. High-end performance meets high-end materials, with Brinell’s SSD external drives featuring components such as Makassar ebony, Nappa leather, carbon fiber, or stainless steel in various stylings. The externals are lightweight too, weighing in at around 4.2 ounces.  Plus, in addition to their zippy,…


When Bloggers Do Battle

During a recent Kia event for the rollout of the new Kia Soul, Judie donned a sumo wrestler’s costume and went to battle. Fighting in blue and under the moniker “Don’t Mess With Texas”, she squared off against her friend Helena, in red and a.k.a. “I’ll Beat You in a New York Minute”. Who was victorious? Check out this video and see for yourself.


The Voice of Siri Revealed

In 2005 Susan Bennett went to Apple to record some audio of her saying some words that iOS users know really well.  Yes Susan Bennett is the voice of Siri. Susan did not know that she was recording Siri’s voice at the time and imagine her amazement when her friends asked her if it was her. In the story, we also find out that she was also the voice of an ATM called “Tillie” and she’s also done voices for Delta Airlines as well. What other voices do you hear that she may have done?



Never Lose your Sole-Mate Again with Sock Snappers

We’ve all been there, one of your socks, probably from your favorite pair, goes missing.  The sock monster strikes again!  Sock Snappers is funding on Kickstarter now to help keep your sock pairs together while washing and drying. These ingenious little snaps clip onto your socks and allow the socks to snap together so they won’t be separated. The plastic snaps clip onto your socks, and they remain there without any special tools and are made of soft plastic material so you won’t even feel them while wearing your socks.  Before you put them in the laundry basket, snap the…


TremorFX Home Theater Seating by RedSeat Entertainment Brings the Sound to Your Seat

RedSeat Entertainment recently introduced its new TremorFX Home Theater seats, which are perfect for any home theater setup. These seats vibrate and pulsate to correspond to the movie’s soundtrack. TremorFX seats use audio processors and wireless transmitters to bring the sound from your receiver straight to your seat. An available HDMI-Out jack on your receiver is all that’s needed. The TremorFX seats can even be used for gaming as long as the video game is run through your receiver.  I’m a huge movie buff and these chairs look incredibly comfortable and would absolutely enhance my enjoyment of my movies. Now,…


The Wonder Woman Short That Puts Hollywood to Shame

Despite the success of Lynda Carter in the 70s TV show, there has never been a Wonder Woman movie or another TV show. There was a failed attempt a couple of years ago, and the rumored Justice League movie became a ‘Man of Steel’ sequel. Now Rainfall Films gives a short look at Wonder Woman with great costumes and atmosphere.



TiVo Is the Hidden Linux of the Week

The internet and Linux were both relatively new things in 1999 for much of the world outside of academia. It was at that time that a new device came out that has since been eclipsed by other services. What am I talking about? What many consider the first DVR, the humble TiVo. And yes, TiVo runs Linux. TiVo was originally started by Jim Barton and Mike Ramsay, via the original company which was named Teleworld. Teleworld was then renamed TiVo Inc at a later date.  The first TiVo was demonstrated at the 1999 Consumer Electronics show and then released in…


Still Looking to Pre-Order an Xbox One or PS4? NowInStock.net May Help

Every time a new generation of gaming consoles is released, there tends to be great buzz and excitement as fans start pre-ordering their devices.  As is the case almost every time, retailers start selling out of the first shipment of consoles very quickly.  If you’re still looking to pre-order, check out NowInStock.net which can alert you when pre-orders become available. I, like many consumers, was on the hunt for an Xbox One pre-order.  If you navigate to NowInStock.net’s Xbox One page, it lists all available packages, bundles, etc. and lets you know where you can order them.  You’re also able to…


Give My Yad a Hand – Technology Meets Tradition

That great source of Jewish knowledge Wikipedia describes a yad (literally “hand”) as “a Jewish ritual pointer, popularly known as a Torah pointer, used by the reader to follow the text during the Torah reading from the parchment Torah scrolls. Yads can be made from silver, wood or any material. Mine, however, is something Moses could never have imagined. Since the Hebrew of the Torah has no vowels or punctuation, the yad allows the reader to track from line to line more easily. In addition, the yad prevents the reader from touching the parchment while reading. This is important since…