Reviews – 4N
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DJI Phantom 4 Quadcopter Review – Your Eyes On The World
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This is the summer of drones. DJI has its Phantom Series, Yuneec has Typhoon, and today GoPro released Karma. Earlier this summer I flew and reviewed the Yuneec Q500 Phantom drone – with mixed reactions. Over the past month, I’ve had the pleasure of flying the DJI Phantom 4 quadcopter drone – which is an…
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Shooting Lightfield Photos with the Lytro Illum
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Last November, I had the privilege of testing out the Lytro Illum Lightfield Camera while exploring Cuba. Here’s my quick review of the innovative camera. The Lytro Illum takes photos using a specially developed lens and sensor that essentially captures all focal lengths and multiple angles of a scene simultaneously, and lets the photographer recompose…
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Stay in Contact with the Thuraya SatSleeve Hotspot
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Staying in contact while traveling across the remote and inaccessible reaches of our globe is an issue I’ve (fortunately) been faced with quite often over the last few years. Between multiple Antarctic deployments, a myriad of open ocean sailing expeditions, and the usual stream of backcountry and alpine mountaineering adventures, sometimes it seems like I’m…
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VR In Your Pocket with the Homido Mini
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This year while attending CES 2016, Homido hooked me up with their super tiny Google Cardboard VR viewer, the Homido Mini. After a bunch of testing, my verdict is: this is the cardboard viewer to get. The Homido Mini is small – it’s a foldable plastic contraption, with two lenses on one side, and a…
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Remocam Smart Home Security Camera Review
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The Remocam Smart Home Security Camera bills itself as a super versatile, next generation home security camera. I tested it out at my home, in my office, and while on the go over the last few weeks. Here’s how the Remocam performed, and how it stacks up to the competition. What It Is The…
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UE Megaboom Review – The Best Boom
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Over the past few weeks, I’ve been listening to the current-generation of Ultimate Ears’ Bluetooth Speaker lineup; the UE Megaboom, UE Boom2, and UE Roll. This comes after owning the original UE Boom for about two years, and listening to is almost daily in my car, at home, in my office, and in parking lots…
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UE Roll Bluetooth Speaker Review – Great Sounding, Wobbly, Fun
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The UE Roll is Ultimate Ears smallest, and least expensive bluetooth wireless speaker. I had the opportunity to test it out for a few weeks around the house, in the office, and on the go. Here’s how it went, and what you should consider when buying it. What It Is The UE Roll is in the…
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Field Test Review: Squeeze Pod Toiletries Smell Amazing, Great For A Night Away From Home
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Travel is getting hipper and hipper, and toiletry companies are getting in on developing new packaging and products for those of us on the move. Squeeze Pod makes convenient single-serving toiletry pods aimed at the lightweight traveler. They sent me a few packets to try out on trip or two – here’s how it went.…
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Quick Actions on my Keychain with the Nonda iHere Bluetooth Fob
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Bluetooth Low Energy, or Bluetooth Smart, has been popping up in all sorts of new, micro sized gadgets lately, continuing to build out the “Internet of Things”. Because the new wireless specification enables devices to use extremely low power, all sorts of buttons, trackers, and sensors are now possible. Gadget and accessories maker Nonda recently…
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The Best Gear from the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2015
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Last week I attended the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market show, a giant collection gear manufacturers showing off their wares for the upcoming years. Although I didn’t get to talk to everyone at the show, I did stop by a bunch of booths to check out what they have coming up. Here are a few of…
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Nitecore MH20 Flashlight Review: A versatile, compact powerhouse
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The Nitecore MH20 Flashlight: An awesome little light. Here’s the deal: It’s a compact, bright rechargable flashlight designed to suit a variety of home and professional needs. From the manufacturer: The smallest, lightest 1x 18650 USB rechargeable flashlight, Max output of up to 1000 lumens, Integrated “Precision Digital Optics Technology” provides extreme reflector performance, Boasts…
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Cygolite Hotshot 2-Watt USB Rechargeable Taillight Review
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The Cygolite Hotshot 2-Watt USB Rechargeable Taillight – Bright and visible, with a few basic design and usage issues. Here’s the deal: It’s a red blinky tail light for your bike. From the manufacturer: Integrating Cygolite’s 20 years of tail light expertise, the HotShot 2W USB features a powerful 2 watt H.B. LED for max visibility,…
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Coin, The Electronic Credit Card Will Be Great, V2 Even Better
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Coin is going to be incredibly cool when it launches. An electronic credit card that stores all of your credit cards, and let’s you swipe any card just like normal. It’s not pushing the actual physics of credit transactions in a new direction, but rather giving consumers a tool to keep using existing card-swiping transaction…
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My New Favorite Shopping Site: The Wirecutter
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No researching, no clicking all over the web collecing opinions – just The Wirecutter. This is by far my favorite new tech review site, because it doesn’t give options. You want the best bluetooth speaker? Here you go. It’s this one, not any others. Job, done. The Wirecutter.
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Stay Versatile with Polychrome Lab’s Alpine Concept Jacket
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Cool jacket today – white on one side, black on the other. Wear it black side out to absorb sunlight and stay warm, wear it white side out to reflect heat and stay cool. Perfect for travel! alpine concept j | | polychromeLAB. Creator’s blog post about testing the jacket: POLYCHROME JKT DAY ONE From…
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Gear Review: AGloves Touchscreen Compatible Gloves Let Me iPhone while I Run
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This past summer, friend Jean Spencer hooked me up with a pair of awesome AGloves Touchscreen Compatible Gloves. It’s been a while since she gave them to me, and now that the weather has turned cold, I’ve gotten a great amount of use out of them. In short, my 1st generation AGloves are great. A…
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Review of the 2011 Apple Macbook Air i7 13″
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This week I got the new Apple Macbook Air 13″ with the 1.8ghz Intel Core i7 ULV Processor, and 256gb SSD. Here are some of my initial thoughts. Compared to my old Core i7 15″ Macbook pro, it rocks. The processor is still an i7, but the clock speed is slower, and it’s a new…
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The New Daypack: Deuter Pace 30
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It’s not often that I get a major new piece of outdoor gear. For the past 9 months, I’ve been on the hunt for a new day pack. Recently I have been using my Patagonia lightweight travel pack for daily “day pack” use, but for actual hiking, or carrying anything more than a single lightweight…
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Using The FastMac U-Socket Wall Outlet with USB Power Ports
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After months of waiting, I finally got my FastMac U-Socket – It’s an electrical outlet with an additional two USB power ports on it. Now, installed on my wall behind my night stand, I can both power up my iphone while I sleep, as well as keep my lamp and cable modem plugged in. Installation…
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Rechargable Batteries
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At my office, the most common form of Mouse/Keyboard combination at any given desk is Apple’s wireless Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. These use AA batteries, and there’s consistently a shortage of extras lying around. Recently I tried to take matters into my own hands and get people to use rechargeable batteries, but unfortunately the…
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Using the Canon SD780 IS Camera
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Recently, I wrote about the decision making process for selecting a new pocket camera. I finally decided on the Canon SD780 IS digital camera, and after a couple months of average use of the camera, I’ve gotten to know a bit of its strengths and weaknesses. I’ve owned Canon compact digital cameras ever since the…
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Optimus Maximus Lives!
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Great new Engadget video of Art Lebedev’s Optimus Maximus OLED Keyboard… It looks great, even though it’s still using beta software and firmware. I was going to say that I’d like to see this kind of keyboard on laptops (my Macbook Pro, for example).. but now I think that the self-lit OLED displays on each key would be a huge drain on…
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Macbook Air – Why it rocks
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Yes, I’ve heard all the nay-sayers out there, ripping on the new, glorious Macbook Air. You’re saying that it has no user replacable battery, no firewire, no optical drive, is too flimsy, yadda yadda. Yeah well, that’s not the purpose of the Macbook Air. You want to do intense mobile HD video editing? Ok, that’s…
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Protect your macbook from destruction? Sure!
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A colleague of mine recently got a shiny new white Macbook, and came to me for advice on how to protect it.. here’s what I told her: Ok, protecting your Macbook.. here are some cool products i know of to keep i t nice and shiny… First of all, if you want ultra minimal, but…