Reviews

Review: TVClean LCD/Screen roller cleaner

1 Comment / Audio/Video, Home Theater, Gizmo of the Day, Reviews / By /

tvcleanIf you have a big-screen LCD or Plasma TV and/or computer monitors, then eventually you will need to clean them. However, you can’t just use a household glass cleaner and/or an abrasive cleaning cloth or paper towel. Although your cloth may seem smooth, it’s not, at least not to a TV screen. Using those can lead to micro-scratches that will lead to a hazy screen.

Now sprays and microfiber cloths do exist that are safe for LCD screens, but it does take time to use those – spray and wipe and polish again. The TVClean makes this process at least twice as fast by using a roller. However, it’s not just a single lint-styled roller. It is a 2-part roller, with an adhesive roller and a (blue) transfer roller that picks up the particles and transfers it to the adhesive roll. Technologically, the blue roller is similar to what LCD manufacturers use to clean those screens before they box it up for sale.

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Review: iTech SolarCharger 906 – portable solar charger

3 Comments / Audio/Video, Home Theater, Cameras and Photo, Phones, Portable, Reviews / By /

There are numerous portable battery backup solutions out there that come in various sizes, shapes and function. iTech makes one that falls into the ‘green’ category. How? By being rechargeable via solar energy. The SolarCharger 906 is a compact iPhone-sized (approx 4″ x 2.5″ x 0.6″) solar panel that holds 1,260mAh of power.

You can either charge up the 906 via a USB cable but of course, its star power (pardon the pun) is to be recharged via the sun’s rays. The 906 comes with a clear plastic cradle that is very securely connected and suction cups that you can use to attach it to your car’s windscreen. There’s also a car-kit.

The SolarCharger 906 has 4 blue LED lights on it that shows the degree to which it is charged up. Unfortunately, it takes over 20 hours to get fully charged up via sunlight, but iTech claims that it can keep a full charge for up to a year. So far, we’ve found that it does keep a charge for a week.

It also comes with 10 different power adapter tips including ones for LG, Nokia, Nintendo, Samsung, and Sony phones, Sony PSP and a few different USB tips (supports iPhone, iPods, Motorola and Blackberrys).

You can simultaneously charge a device while the 906 is charging via sunlight. Theoretically, you can keep the 906 running indefinitely if it gets enough sunshine.

We really liked iTech’s SolarCharger 906, but have to say that it is ideal for those folks that have their cars outside for a significant amount of time daily and use their portable devices enough to warrant an emergency backup. People that don’t fit this description may not get their money’s worth from the SolarCharger, although the 1 time you absolutely need your phone recharged, you may think just that!

Review: TrickleStar’s PC TrickleSaver and PC TrickleSwitch power conservation gadgets

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Computers, Recommended, Reviews / By /

TrickleStar is a tech company that makes a line of products geared to save you money with your energy usage. We reviewed 2 of their products that go hand in hand. The main product is the PC TrickleSaver. It basically works by monitoring your computer (via USB cable) to see if it’s on. If it’s not, then it kills the power to any devices you have plugged into the TrickleSaver. You can look at the TrickleSaver as a different take on similar power conservation products like the Smart Strip.

If you have numerous devices about your office and/or main computer that you never think about shutting down when not in use, then the TrickleSaver can save you some money, by automatically cutting the power to them. However, before you rush out and buy one, you should consider whether or not this makes sense for you.

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Review: Stargate 15th anniversary Blu-ray DVD

Books, Music and Movies, Recommended, Reviews / By /

It seems like the original Stargate movie was released more than 15 years, what with the 3 TV series, books and additional merchandising that have come since. However, it has been 15 years and to celebrate and commemorate it, Lionsgate has released a special Blu-ray version of the movie that includes over 4 additional hours of features. We had a chance to review the DVD recently.

Apart from the original theatrical release, the DVD also includes an extended director’s cut that adds just under 10 minutes of additional footage. Top fans will appreciate this cut. What was more important to me was that the movies were remastered in 1080p Hi-Def widescreen with 7.1 DTS audio. The picture was stunning.

Other features (or in some cases, named ‘featurettes’) included an interactive game, a gag reel, an audio commentary version of the movie narrated by the director/producer/writers Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, and 5 short pieces that like the “Making of Stargate” documentary and “Is there a Stargate?” which explored whether aliens have visited Earth.

I wouldn’t buy the DVD for the interactive game which I found to be way too slow, didn’t show the correct answers, and with very long gap between questions that you can’t skip past.

I also found the gag reel to be too esoteric for my taste and forgettable.

However, I very much liked the additional ‘featurettes’:

  • “Is There a Stargate” – although misnamed, this piece asked the question whether aliens have ever visited Earth. They could have gone the traditional route of debunking it, but instead decided on the more fun, interesting point of view, providing some of the evidence gathered by writer Erich von Daniken.
  • “Deciphering the Gate: Casting & Concepts”, “Opening the Gate: The Making of the Movie”, “Passing Through the Gate: The Legacy”, “The Making-of Stargate” – I really liked these featurettes. They were informative, gives fans insights into the history of the movie without running on too long.

Although I personally didn’t think the extended cut really added that much more to the movie, hardcore fans will probably appreciate it. All in all, for a reasonable price (under $20), you can now add the Stargate movie to your collection in all its remastered glory.

(Disclaimer: Gizmos for Geeks received a complimentary review copy of this product.)

Review of Virgin America’s in-flight WiFi service

Gizmo of the Day, Miscellaneous, Networking & Internet, Reviews / By /

I finally got a chance to test out Virgin America’s in-flight WiFi service for myself on a Boston to Los Angeles flight and found that it performed quite well. Download speed (which is what most folks care about) was well over 1Mbps in all of my various speed tests; in some cases, I got as much as 2.5Mbps. However, those folks looking to do some more serious work that involved uploads should be cautioned – I barely got 300kbps and those uploads tests stuttered in more than a few cases.

Virgin America uses Aircell’s GoGo service and while I find that $12.95 for a cross-country flight is a bit pricey (especially on top of the $20 they charged me for my 1 piece of luggage), business users shouldn’t blink for this chance to be more productive. I was also pleased that the staff announced prior to take-off that WiFi coverage could be spotty as we crossed Canada briefly, so we were duly warned.

If you’re on a VA flight, and you need to get on those addictive Interwebs, then you should be pleased with this service.

Review: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Gaming & Toys, Reviews / By /

The Geeks have been playing the new “G.I. JOE The Rise of Cobra” video game, and here are our impressions.

First off, we should state that we were big fans of the 1980’s incarnation of the toys and cartoons, and, while the movie this game is based on has gotten mixed reviews from both the the professional reviewers and fans, we found it generally entertaining. When we were offered the chance to review the game that tied in with the movie, we said sure! Anything to continue the story and help us re-live some of our boyhood fantasies.
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Review: postersPrinting.com – Photo to Poster service

Cameras and Photo, Networking & Internet, Reviews / By /

We recently encountered a new service called PostersPrinting which will take your digital photo and turn it into a quality poster which you can then frame or perhaps use for presentations. We took this service out for a test run and were very pleased with the results. Read on for the review.
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Review: Laptop Lifts – legs for your notebook/laptop

2 Comments / Computers, Miscellaneous, Reviews / By /

If you are one of the ever-growing number of laptop users, you will have noticed that you continually need to take your laptop off your lap to let your legs cool down or place something like a book or magazine underneath it. Well, laptops are not about to get any cooler, or be made with any kind of heat buffer, because that would just spoil the thin and light sexiness that so many of them sport now.

So what to do? Well there have been numerous ‘lap cooler’ type products for years now, but nothing that really becomes a permanent addition to your laptop (my current fav so far has been the simple Lapworks Laptop Desk). Enter Laptop Lifts, a product that falls into the “why didn’t I think of that?” category.
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Review: GoodSync – Backup and Sync Tool

Computers, Gizmo of the Day, Recommended, Reviews, Software / By /

Almost 3 years ago, Gizmos for Geeks reviewed GoodSync with the intent of using it to backup important data from a user’s desktop computer to USB thumb drives. Fast forward to today where hard drives have grown tremendously in size and so has data storage and you have an even tougher backup issue. For those of us who also perform a lot of work out of our own homes, backing up data is crucial and backing it up to offsite locations is just as important. I’ve personally decided to test using Amazon’s S3 service to backup my computer’s data and GoodSync has been recently updated to include S3 support. We put the latest version of GoodSync through its paces and in particular, focused on its S3 support.

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Review: Dirt Devil KWIK Computer Mini-Vac

Computers, Gizmo of the Day, Miscellaneous, Reviews / By /

As a frequent reader of our blog, you will already know that Dirt Devil added a new item to their product line last year aimed at computer users – the KWIK Mini-Vac. Dirt Devil was kind enough to send us a sample to test out and here is our review.

In a nutshell, love it. First of all, this does not look like the traditional mini-vacuum cleaner. This is sexy. When the KWIK is plugged into its charging base, it forms a cyclindrical arch that is a metallic silver.

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