Reviews

Review: Wet Circuits’ Water Resistant Power Strip

Wet Circuits Water Resistant Power StripWhen the folks at Wet Circuits contacted me about reviewing their water resistant power strips, I couldn’t refuse after seeing their demo videos – they were cute but powerful demonstrations. Their 4-outlet power strips can be practically submerged in water and still operate without electrocuting you in the process. Read on for the full review.

Review: AViiQ Portable Laptop Stand

AViiQ – Portable Laptop StandThis is one of those no-batteries-needed ‘gadgets’ for your battery-hungry gadget, your laptop. I loved the AViiQ Laptop Stand the minute I saw it in a photo. It is just so sleek-looking with its European design sensibility. Of course, the fact that it folds up into a 1/4-inch thick board is what put me over the top. I took the AViiQ for a test drive and here’s what I found.

sennheiser EZX 60 Bluetooth Headset

Review: Sennheiser EZX 60 Bluetooth Headset

sennheiser EZX 60 Bluetooth HeadsetToday, we’re reviewing Sennheiser’s Bluetooth headset, the EZX 60. The EZX 60 is a no-frills, lightweight, noise-cancelling Bluetooth 2.1 headset with long battery life.

The EZX 60 is a BT 2.1 +EDR set with compatibility with BT 1.1, 1.2 and 2.0, and the talk time is rated at up to 7.5 hours.

Introduction. Having been always impressed by Sennheiser’s audio quality in their headphones, I was eager to take their shot at Bluetooth headsets for a test drive. I was not disappointed. I’ll break it down by a few key areas.

Review: Dymo Printable Postage Sheets and Software

Endicia/Dymo has a new combination product for printing USPS postage from the comfort of your own home. Called Printable Postage, its 2 main components are a free piece of software for Windows/Mac and the Printable Postage sheets. You also need an Endicia/Dymo account where you can buy USPS postage for printing to the sheets.

Review: iTech SolarVoice 908 – Solar-Powered Bluetooth Headset

itech solarvoice 908 bluetooth headsetLast year, we reviewed the iTech SolarCharger 906 which we quite liked. Now we have a chance to test out another iTech’s solar-powered products – the SolarVoice 908.

Introduction
For starters, I was excited to try out a headset that could be solar powered. Living in Southern Cal, I envisioned having a headset that never ran out of juice, although on further reflection, I realize this may not be the case in many other areas with fewer days of sunshine. In those instances though, the provided USB charger would work as a great backup. However, as I tried charging the headset using solar power only, I realized the challenges of doing so – the headset will only charged if turned in certain specific orientations to the light, some of which require odd angles achieved by shifting the position of the over-the-ear plastic piece.

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen

Review: Livescribe Pulse Smartpen

Livescribe Pulse SmartpenOnce you start using a Livescribe Pulse Smartpen, you won’t want to go back to using traditional pen and paper. Yes, even pen and paper have received an e-age tech makeover.

So what does the Pulse Smartpen do? First, it records the audio it ‘hears’ either directly from the pen, or via the stereo microphones embedded in the headset if it’s connected to the pen.

Second, it maps that audio exactly to what was written on specially printed micro-dot paper. You can go back to your notes, press the tip of the pen at any point in the notes and the pen will start playing back the audio at exactly that point in time. This works amazingly well.

Review: Able Planet NC300 True Fidelity Noise-Canceling Headphones

Able Planet makes a variety of audio products mainly in the headphones and earphones category that employs some of their own technology. We reviewed one of their noise-canceling headphones, the True Fidelity NC300 with their LINX AUDIO technology. Here are the results of our testing.

Introduction
The NC300 are over-the-ear headphones with an adjustable and padded headband that uses powered noise-cancellation technology that runs on a single AA battery that inserts into one of the ear pieces. While we could give a completely ‘standalone’ review, audio being such a subjective topic, we decided instead to (in many categories of testing) compare it to our favorite noise-canceling headphones, the Audio Technica QuietPoint ATH-ANC7.

Review: 3 TSA-Approved Laptop Bags Compared – Belkin Flythru, Skooba Checkthrough Brief & Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer

If you’re a geek like us, you never travel without your laptop. While netbooks have become more popular for lightweight personal travel, most of us still have to lug full size notebooks for work. Given the travel situation in the post-9/11 world, we were extremely happy when we heard that TSA (the airport security folks) put out specifications for laptop bags to allow laptops to go through security without having to be removed from the bag. Sure, you could always travel with your laptop, but those of us who travel regularly know what a hassle the X-ray checkpoints can be.

Typically, with an ordinary laptop bag, security makes you remove a laptop and put it in a bin by itself, with nothing covering it. This means, on top of removing your shoes, emptying your pockets, taking off your watch, belt, cell phone, keys, yank out your zip lock bag with your gels and liquids, you also have to dig out your laptop.

Given that most laptop thefts take place in airports, and the majority of those take place in the exit of the X-ray line, being able to keep your laptop secure and hidden in your bag is a big deal and a time saver. If you travel through a major US airport such as Atlanta or Chicago, you know that even saving 20 seconds per person can add up to huge time savings and shortened lines when considering the thousands of people moving through the checkpoints in those airports.

It has been several years since TSA announced their guidelines for approved bags, and we felt it was time to see what the various bag manufacturers had come up with. We contacted a total of 7 manufacturers asking for their offerings, and three sent us review units: Belkin “Flythru”, Skooba “Checkthrough Brief”, and Tom Bihn “Checkpoint Flyer”. Let’s see if any of these TSA compliant laptop bags fit the bill.

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