Have fun channeling your inner Darth Vader the next time you’re cooking in the kitchen or at the backyard grill with these officially licensed Star Wars kitchen accessories.
Start a pair of Darth Vader oven mitts that are made of heat-resistant silicone that will protect your hands from temperatures up to 445 degrees F.
The gloves provide an anti-slip grip and they are embossed with the Empire insignia.
You can buy a Star Wars Darth Vader Oven Glove Set for $19.95 from Amazon.
Another must have kitchen tool for the ultimate Sith Lord BBQ enthusiast are the Star Wars Lightsaber BBQ Tongs.
These tongs will let you flip burgers like an evil galactic chef. They are 22 inches long, have a heatproof handle, a plastic cover, and run on 2 AA batteries. Batteries for a pair of BBQ tongs you ask quizzically? Ummmm, yeah, Darth Vaders lightsaber BBQ tongs would be mega lame if they didn’t have the iconic lightsaber sound effects!
You can pinch a pair (see what I did there?) Star Wars Lightsaber BBQ Tongs for $23.99 from Amazon.
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If you’re a seeker of new and innovative accessories to control your smart home, read on fellow venturer! The PureSwitch smart plug, made by PureGear, is a gem of a find and integrates with Apple Homekit to allow you to operate your appliances and doohickeys from wherever you are. Let’s check it out.
The Device
There is one outlet on the plug and one USB charge port. This will be pretty convenient to plug in my bluetooth earbuds and free up a USB port on my computer. You can see in the pic on the right below that there is a little circular button that is flush with the edge of the outlet that you really wouldn’t know was there unless you searched for it. That is the manual on/off toggle switch if for some reason you want to power it on or off without unplugging the particular appliance that is plugged into it.
Setup
I decided that I would use this device to control the fan located in my daughter’s room, so I simply plugged the outlet into the wall, and plugged the fan into it. The image below depicts the plug being on, but not connected to the wireless network. After the outlet is paired, the wireless indicator turned green.
One thing to note is that this smart plug is only compatible with devices running iOS 8.1 or later and you must have your Wi-Fi enabled on the device (by saying device I’m referring to iPhone, iPad or iPod touch).
Next up is heading over to the App store on your device and downloading the free PureSwitch app. Once I downloaded it, I opened it and it asked me to add a “home”. If you already have a home set up in Homekit you will see it listed and you simply add this accessory to whatever room you’d like. If this your first accessory using the Apple Homekit, then you will need to set up your home.
The App
There are all sorts of things you can do with HomeKit and I’ll try and limit this review to the PureSwitch Smart Plug and not make this a tutorial for using HomeKit. The app walks you through step by step how to add the accessory by adding a room and then it will ask you to add an accessory to the room. The room I added the smart plug to is called “Em” which is my daughter’s name. When I tapped “new accessory” it began to browse for new accessories. PureSwitch popped up and the app instructed me to hold the viewfinder up to the six-digit code located on the plug.
The below pic is what it looks like when pairing. You can also type in these numbers manually if the light is too low or it’s at an angle that’s hard to get to.
The pic above instructs you to make sure you keep the plug connected to power and stay near it so your device can connect. Now the plug is paired to my network and the fun can begin! You can choose to turn on “Include in Favorites” if you’d like to be able to access the outlet quickly in the Home app that controls your other Homekit accessories.
This screen in the app shows the outlet detail, what home and room it is located in, and you can switch the outlet on and off from here as well.
My favorite way to turn the fan off and on is to use Siri on my Apple Watch. I instructed Siri to “Turn on my fan” and this is her response. Siri always makes me smile.
Another fun thing to do is to make scenes. If you make a scene, you can add a timer to it so that it will turn off or on at whatever time you specify. I set scenes called “Good Morning” and “Good Night.” You can see the menu along the bottom of the screen where you can choose to add a scene, set zones and make rules for the scenes.
So now I have the fan all set to turn on at 11PM and to turn off at 8:30AM every day. I don’t have to do or say anything now that this is set up and it just turns on and off like I intended. I can still override these setting by either going into the app and turning it on or off, or asking Siri to do it for me. After the scene is set up, and you’re using it in your Home app with Homekit, you can simply say the name of the scene, like “Good Night” to Siri and she will do whatever is detailed in that scene. The below pic is the Home app, not the PureSwitch app, which shows my favorite scene and favorite accessory.
Summing it up
All in all, this is a great little plug. There are so many things that you can do with this smart plug because of its integration with Apple’s HomeKit. You certainly don’t need to use Apple HomeKit if you don’t want to, but if you do and you have the Apple TV (3rd Gen running Apple TV software 7.0 or later) then you can control your appliances even when you are not home. You can even set scenes so that they will turn on when you get home or when you leave home which really has me thinking I need to get and Apple TV! I liked how easy the plug was to set up and how useful the app was in helping to set up the scenes and set a timer. Having the added USB port is a nice little extra too. I thought the price was a bit high for this product as there are others on the market that are cheaper, but I haven’t reviewed all of them either to know if they work as well.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by PureGear, please visit their site for more information and Amazon to order.
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Today I have three Kickstarter and three Indiegogo projects for you to check out. I want one of each, especially one in particular. Can you guess which one? Click through to see this week’s list of notable crowdfunding campaigns.
Superscreen – Supercharge your phone with a 10.1” HD display
What is it? Superscreen is a $99 10.1″ tablet that duplicates what’s on your Android or iPhone’s display with virtually no latency, no wires, WiFi, and no carrier contracts.
Why do I like it? You might think why do I need ANOTHER tablet? Well, the Superscreen isn’t really a tablet at all. It’s like an extension or mirror of your phone. You don’t install apps on the Superscreen. All your apps are on your phone, but you can interact with any app that is on your phone through the larger Superscreen. Anything and everything you can do on your phone, you can do on the Superscreen.
Is it sinking in yet why you would want this? Basically, it’s a tablet that you never have to update because it just mirrors your phone. You won’t have to deal with updating operating systems or apps or buying a new tablet every year or two.
The only question I still have about this product is if you can make and receive calls through the Superscreen. When I find out, I’ll make an update.
Where can I find more info? With 29 days left in their campaign, The Superscreen campaign has already wildly surpassed their funding goal of $50,000. You can pre-order a Superscreen starting at $99. After the Superscreen campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in December 2017. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.
UrbanX | Convert Any Bike to an Electric Bike in 60 Seconds
What is it? The UrbanX is a plug and play front wheel for your bicycle that turns the bike into an electric bike that can travel 30 miles on a charge at a top speed of 20mph.
Why do I like it? I like the UrbanX because it turns existing bicycles into electric bicycles without a lot of work. You just replace the front wheel and you’re done. It will be available in six sizes that are compatible with 99% of the bicycles on the market.
You can enjoy three different modes. Full electric, pedal assist, and traditional bike mode. You can also switch back to your original wheel. It can also interface with an app on your phone to track your trips.
Where can I find more info? With 33 days left in their campaign, The UrbanX campaign has already passed their funding goal of $50,000. You can pre-order a UrbanX starting at $299. After the UrbanX campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in July 2017. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.
Heatbuff | No more cold hands – The future of gaming and workstations
What is it? The Heatbuff is an infrared heater for your hands.
Why do I like it? I like the Heatbuff because even though I’m not a gamer, my hands are cold all the time. I have an infrared heater at home for our basement living room, so I already know that these types of heaters work great. I could use a Heatbuff heater at my day job to keep my hands warm while I’m helping people with their software application issues.
Where can I find more info? With 16 days left in their campaign, The Heatbuff campaign has already passed their funding goal of $10,849. You can pre-order a Heatbuff starting at $64. After the Heatbuff campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in December 2017. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.
Gladius Ultra HD 4K Underwater Drone
What is it? The Gladius is an underwater drone that can go down to a depth of 100 meters (328ft) and capture video with its 1080P 4K camera.
Why do I like it? I think the Gladius is cool because it’s like a drone but instead of flying in the sky, it’s for underwater exploration. It uses a WiFi buoy that floats on top of the water and provides the Gladius with a 500-meter range. The drone can travel up to 2m/s and can last up to 3 per charge.
The only problem that I see is that the Gladius is tethered to the WiFi buoy with a 100 foot cord. Knowing my luck, I’d get the tether cord wrapped around a shark or something.
Where can I find more info? With a month left in their campaign, The Gladius campaign is almost halfway to reaching their funding goal of $30,000. You can pre-order a Gladius starting at $599. After the Gladius campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in June 2017. Visit their Indiegogo page for all the details.
Populele – The Smart Musical Gift for Everyone
What is it? The Populele is a Bluetooth ukulele made of Maple with good quality Aquila strings that pairs with a mobile app on your phone or tablet and uses 72 built-in LEDs that help you learn to play music without needing song books.
Why do I like it? I like the Populele because it looks like a fun new way for ukulele noobies to learn to play without getting too frustrated. The LEDs for each fret light up to show you exactly which strings and frets you need to press to make a chord. This can be easier than trying to mimic another player or figure out diagrams in books and sheet music.
Where can I find more info? With 22 days left in their campaign, the Populele campaign has already reached their funding goal of $25,000. You can pre-order a Populele starting at $149. After the Populele campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in July 2017. Visit their Indiegogo page for all the details.
Nimuno Loops – The Toy Block Tape
What is it? Nimuno Loops is reusable, cuttable, and flexible tape that is compatible with LEGO and Mega Blox bricks.
Why do I like it? I like the Nimuno Loops because LEGO! I am a LEGO geek, so anything that will let me stick my LEGO creations to a wall gets a thumbs up from me.
Where can I find more info? With 21 days left in their campaign, the Nimuno Loops campaign has crushed their funding goal of $8,000 by over 1.3 million dollars! You can pre-order a roll Nimuno Loops tape starting at $13 for a 6.5ft long roll of tape. After the Nimuno Loops campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in August 2017. Visit their Indiegogo page for all the details.
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If you’ve been thinking about making a switch to Verizon’s network but keep dragging your feet, their latest deal might be enough to make you pull the trigger. Especially if you want a brand new phone too. For a limited time, customers can switch to Verizon and get the latest Android phones like the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, Moto Z Droid and Z Droid Force, Samsung S7 and S7 edge, the LG V20, or the HTC 10 for as low as $15 per month with a device payment plan and a trade-in of an eligible phone.
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If you’ve ever used a binder clip as a pseudo-minimalist wallet, then you’ll want to check out this review of the Edwin Wallet from Hive Design. It’s like a binder clip on steroids and it just might become your new favorite wallet. Let’s take a look.
What is it?
The Edwin Wallet is a wallet based off a common binder clip.
The edwin wallet is the namesake of Mr. Edwin Baltzley, an avid writer, inventor, and father of Louis Baltzley, the inventor of the binder clip. In 1910 Louis created the binder clip as a more efficient way for his father to secure his manuscripts without damaging them. Fast forward a century and we’re still using the same basic mechanism of his original design.
Design and features
The “wallet” above on the left is a regular binder clip and the one on the right is the Edwin Wallet. Both are made of steel and feature a clamp that can hold several cards. But from there, the Edwin Wallet veers off into real wallet territory.
The Edwin Wallet is available in six colors including the shoal bay (aqua blue) shown above. The Edwin Wallet is also available in two styles. A Classic style not shown and the Plus style shown here. The difference between the two versions is that the back plate on the Plus has five hex wrenches, a flat head screwdriver, and a Phillips head screwdriver. The Plus version also has a bottle cap lifter on the edge, while the Classic version is just a solid plate without any built-in tools.
On the back of the Edwin is a quick draw slot for your most used card and a cash stem that is used to hold your paper money.
Like a binder clip, the Edwin Wallet has a spring loaded clamp that can hold from one card up to 10 cards.
Add the quick draw card slot on the back and you can carry a maximum of 11 standard sized plastic credit cards in this wallet.
The clip opens the jaws of the clamp so you can feed it credit cards. It works pretty well, but it’s not quite as easy to open the clamp as it is with a regular binder clip because there’s only one set of clip arms to squeeze instead of two.
One thing that I noticed is that the clip’s arms rub against the edges of the clamp which causes the paint to peel off the edges of the clamp. Click the image above for a closer view.
Here’s the Edwin fully loaded with 10 cards in the clamp and 1 card in the quick draw slot. Although the wallet can hold this many cards, I don’t recommend going full capacity because it makes the quick draw slot tight and not so quick to draw.
I think the sweet spot for the wallet is six cards in the clamp and one card in the quick draw slot for a total of seven cards.
If you’re careful, you can fan the cards to find the one you want without removing them from the clamp.
The main feature that sets the Edwin Wallet apart from an ordinary binder clip is the cash stem on the back. I’ve never liked money clips and the cash stem is a genius alternative to one. To use it, you just slide the bills under the stem and fold them in half.
Then you wrap the bills around the side of the wallet.
And finally, tuck the edges under the clip where they are held in place. The cash stem can hold one bill up to a max of about seven bills.
I like the Edwin Wallet quite a bit because it’s credit card sized. I just wish the clamp didn’t stick up on the edge like it does. If it was flatter, this would be my new favorite.
Final thoughts
I think the Edwin wallet is a cool minimalist wallet because it’s easy to use and well made if you don’t count the paint peeling issue with the clip.
If you’re already a fan of DIY binder clip wallets, the Hive Design Edwin Wallet is a big step up in functionality when you factor in the cash stem, quick draw card slot, and the built-in tools of the Plus version.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Hive Design. Please visit their site for more info and check prices on Amazon.
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