Reviews

iPad Accessory Review: AUTUM Turncoat Case

Our friends over at AUTUM are back with yet another awesome product. Just to refresh your memory: we first met the company when they announced release of the Strait Jacket sleeve for the iPad. That was followed by Straight Jackets for the 11 and 13″ MacBook Air. We were quite taken with the design, fit and finish of each; Judie and I continue to enjoy using ours on a regular basis. Then the company announced the limited production run of the Heretic sofa. This was the point at which we knew that we liked this company, their aesthetics and their…

Reviews

My iPhone’s New Buddy: Apple Shell Holster Combo from WirelessGround.com

I received my first holster-style cellphone holder/case this morning courtesy WirelessGround.com. Up to this point I had always just slipped my iPhones into my pocket to tote around be it at work, home or play. My phone was always in some type of candy shell or case to minimize scratches and whatnot but was never on my belt. After just 15 minutes with the WirelessGround Apple Shell Holster Combo I am hooked. The rubberized hard case and swivel holster design offer protection while still keeping my iPhone easy to access. The two-piece unit allows for the phone to slide in…

Game Diary, Reviews

Bulletstorm Limited Edition PlayStation 3 Game Review

Fast, furious action and fantastic kill moves the futuristic Bulletstorm to the front of the shooter game pack.

Reviews, Vehicles & Gear

2011 Chevrolet Camaro SS: Headbangers’ Paradise

A little over a year ago I had written how impressed I was with the new Chevy Camaro RS and its new V-6 with a six-speed manual gearbox. Fast forward and GM sends a V-8-laden SS model of almost the exact same color scheme and, well, perhaps my expectations were a bit too high for their “beast.” For me, the new Camaro still wins out were I only judging styling. Slip behind the wheel and my concerns quickly repeat those of my auto press brethren: Limited sightlines, funky steering wheel and a mismatched dash panel. First though, let’s explore the…

Reviews

Android Device Review: The HTC Verizon ThunderBolt

It’s becoming a problem for me that HTC keeps releasing some of their higher-end phones on Sprint and Verizon; see, I am an AT&T customer. One of my old excuses for why I wouldn’t switch to Verizon was that they were CDMA and therefore didn’t use a SIM card. Not using SIM cards (which are easily swappable into other phones) is a huge problem for people who like to use more than one phone, or in other words, people like me. That’s why the ThunderBolt, a phone that I have thoroughly enjoyed testing, became a bit of a conundrum. It…

Reviews

Genius Scan for IOS

I recently needed to send a copy of some history key words to a friend for his class. I was not near a computer and did not have a copy on my phone or in drop box. I tried taking a picture of the document, which got the point across, but was not exactly a great way to send the copy. I use Evernote all of the time for similar purposes but it is still just a photo of the document. With this all in mind I began searching for an app that may improve the process. Genius Scan had…

Reviews

Review: Aluratek Cinepal HD Personal Media Player

Something has changed with my use of all of my devices. Due to memory issues, I have gone back to using dedicated devices. I listen to music on an iPod rather than my iPhone and have been looking for a better way to show off my photos and videos than the iPad. It is funny how I have gone full circle with the devices back to a day where I kept many things separate. The Cinepal HD Personal Media Player is a product that could solve some of my issue of photos and video. Let’s take a look. The Cinepal…

Music Diary, Reviews

Music Diary Reviews: Rdio and MOG are Viable Spotify Alernatives … NOW

I have spoken about just how great I found Spotify during a trial period, but while we wait for the inevitable launch in the US, I have checked out two alternatives: Rdio and MOG. And while I’ll likely share more details as I dig deeper in the coming weeks, let me just say that with a few caveats these excellent services have me saying ‘Spotify Who?’ Common Ground Rdio and MOG, similar to Spotify, are cloud-based music streaming services. Each offers a subscription-based approach that allows you unlimited music streaming for a monthly fee. Each also has a tiered approach…

Reviews

Review: SuperTooth Disco Bluetooth A2DP Stereo Speaker

I love my music and have something playing pretty much all the time unless I am speaking to someone. For quite a while that meant having some sort of speaker dock in the various room where I spend time. Lately though it has increasingly meant setting up various room so that AirPlay is available. (Yes, I finally understand the power and utility of the AirPort Express!) That does not, however mean there isn’t a place for some of the growing number of Bluetooth enabled speakers on the market. Sure, Bluetooth doesn’t offer the same level of audio quality as streaming…

Reviews

iPad Accessory Review: Element Case Joule Chroma iPad Stand

When the Element Case Vapor Pro Limited Edition that Judie reviewed last month showed up at my house so that I could take a closer look I was immediately impressed. Element Case’s products have always been premium deals, but with the Vapor Pro it was clear they had truly upped the ante: and that was before even opening the box!! Yes, the packaging alone screamed “I am a quality product; I’m not inexpensive, but boy am I worth it!” Yes, the packaging Element Case used evokes the same kind of experience that one finds when opening something new from Apple….

Reviews

FitPac NEO Review

There are very few times that an accessory can be polarizing and generate major debate, yet the FitPac NEO generated quite the discussion when I showed it to some friends. Reactions ranged from “Why would you use this?” to “Oh, I could totally see this being helpful for x, y, z”. You’ll have to read a bit further to see what Sarah had to say about it, but first let’s look at what the FitPac NEO is and why it may be a bit of an acquired taste. The company describes themselves and their products as: FitPac Lifestyle Accessories, a…

Game Diary, Reviews

Gear Games Review: Desktop Dungeons

What are you doing for lunch? How about playing a great dungeon crawl game (aka a ‘rogue-like’)? That is exactly what Desktop Dungeons promises … but can the free game deliver? The Hype: Fight your way through a fantasy dungeon in 10 minutes or less Classic roguelike play re-imagined as a single-screen puzzle game Unlock loads of classes, races and challenge dungeons for awesome replayability Online leaderboard allows you to compare yourself against other players Deep, challenging, randomly-generated gameplay The Reality: When you first start Desktop Dungeons, you are presented with the simple screen below. You can choose your race,…

Reviews

Review: BlueAnt S3 Compact BlueTooth Speakerphone

One of the more interesting Bluetooth accessory manufacturers that I’ve encountered over the last year is BlueAnt. I wasn’t all that familiar with the company until the fall, but they have been making some impressive moves with regard to product design and innovation, and I’ve been quite impressed with their offerings. Currently their portfolio includes car speakerphones, the S3 and S4, with the S3 being the lower end of the two. Lower end does not, however, mean “not awesome”, since both speakerphones have impressed me quite a bit. Today we are going to look at the S3 and then follow-up…

Reviews, Vehicles & Gear

2011 Volkswagen Grand Caravan … or is it the Chrysler Routan?

Oops! … I did it again. I played with your heart. Got lost in the game. As the Brittany Spears song lyrics above suggest, someone “did it again.” Volkswagen. Once again they raise my ire as they deliver a minivan model “imported from Detroit” … literally. I am speaking of the Routan/Grand Caravan. When they first launched Routan a few years back I expressed in words that my opinion of the brand slapping their badge on someone else’s work was not winning any accolades from me. To be fair, this is a very good minivan and ALL the credit goes…

Reviews

The Swingline Stack-and-Shred Cross Cut Shredder Review

This is my husband’s and my pile of things that needed to be shredded; it started in a drawer, was moved to a shelf, and eventually ended up in a bag under our bed. What’s in it? Everything from those “convenience” checks that credit card companies seem to think we can’t live without, to credit card applications that simply need a signature and mail-back to be approved, to health insurance settlement statements, to all those bit of paper that have numbers, names, addresses and other information that get scribbled down when we are trying to be efficient. Why were we…

Game Diary, Reviews

iAssociate 2 Review

When iAssociate came out on the IOS, I played through it and enjoyed the game. Some of my students recently asked if I was playing iAssociate2. I had not been playing and decided to download the free application. The next thing I know, I am trying to figure out word associations literally every spare moment I have. In fact, the game has become somewhat of an infatuation with the students. It is not rare to be sitting in class or walking down the hall and hearing “What is a 7 letter word that goes with crazy, insane and mad?” I…

Reviews

Retrospective Review: Revisting WebOS and the Palm Pixi Plus

With the upcoming HP WebOS tablet and Pre 3 smartphone featuring great-looking features such as touch-sync, it is interesting to take another back at WebOS as it exists today. Recently I came upon a nearly free deal for a no-contract 8GB Palm Pixi Plus which I was easily able to activate on Verizon to test. I used the Pixi as my sole phone for two weeks, enough to develop some things I loved about the phone and WebOS … and some things I didn’t like so much! The Hype: The thinnest Palm mobile phone yet, the Palm Pixi Plus for…

Game Diary, Reviews

PC Game Review: Magicka

Humor is something we see way too little of in games – it seems every new release is dark and gritty and full of epic seriousness. Not so with Magicka, a game that looks like a classic RPG but plays more like an action-adventure – and takes nothing seriously from start to end! But does it end up like the great TellTale adventure games, or the unfortunate Bard’s Tale remake? Let’s take a look and find out! The Hype: Magicka is a satirical action-adventure game set in a rich fantasy world based on Norse mythology. The player assumes the role…

Reviews

iPad App Review: Swapsies

I am slowly warming up to having my two boys, ages 3 and 6 use my iPad. It is not that they cannot understand how it works, but that I see all of the things they tear up and choose for my gear not to be one of those items. The iPad has proven to be a wonderful tool for children with the number of learning apps and games. I recently had the opportunity to review Swapsies using my sons as my trusty sidekick reviewers. Let’s see what they thought. Swapsies is a matching game app for kids three years…

Reviews

Ecamm Printopia for Mac Brings AirPrint Capability to iOS Users with Older Printers

When Apple announced AirPrint for iOS devices, I could almost see Steve Jobs’ point about the “post-PC era”. Being able to print from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch (newer devices with iOS 4.2 or later) wirelessly sounded great. Indeed, Google’s Cloud Print functionality for their Chrome browsers works in a similar fashion. But then I found out how limited the supported list of printers was. Heck, even those of us with Apple Airport Extreme wireless routers that have attached printers could not use AirPrint: AirPrint only works with a network connection to an AirPrint-capable printer. A printer connected to…

Reviews

Review: Tekkeon TekCharge MP1860A Dual Port Power Pack

Of all the commercials that Apple has run the one that ticked me off the most involved the iPhone 4 and its battery life. Yes, Apple ran an ad telling us how amazing the battery life of the iPhone 4 is and, while it is BETTER than other phones there really is no smartphone I have used that I would say has “great” battery life. That is the reason I still need to carry an external battery with me wherever I go. There are many out there but the one I am currently carrying comes from Tekkeon and I am…

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