Home 2018 June

The Loupedeck+ makes photo editing even better!


Some time ago, I wrote a news story on a device called Loupedeck that is designed to assist photographers with editing photos in Adobe LightRoom. It is a great device that has a keyboard type form factor and it has quickly become a mandatory part of my photo editing workflow. It has allowed me to easily and accurately edit photos, and to do so exponentially faster than doing so with a regular keyboard and mouse.

Just recently, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there is an upgraded version called Loupedeck+. While the layout has remained mostly the same, they have built it sturdier and with mechanical keys, and they have added the ability for more customization. In addition, in a great advancement, the new version now works with Skylum Aurora HDR. The manufacturer has also indicated that “The Loupedeck+ is also currently in beta integration with Capture One, with full functionality on the way later in the year. It is apparent to me, that Loupedeck+ has the potential to become an almost mandatory workflow tool for just about every photographer.

If you would like to purchase the Loupedeck+, you can pick one up from B&H Photo Video and Amazon for $229. I did read somewhere that they are even offering a $50 discount for the folks that already own the original Loupedeck.

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The Loupedeck+ makes photo editing even better! originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 25, 2018 at 12:30 pm.

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Tsumbay car vacuum cleaner review

Cleaning the inside of my car usually involves two choices, one, pay a couple dollars at the local car wash or, two, drag out my old Dirt Devil hand vac. The Dirt Devil usually wins out (because its free). However, because it requires a power outlet that means dragging out my 50-foot electrical cord. As you can imagine it’s not very convenient, so I jumped at the chance to review the Tsumbay car vacuum cleaner. Hoping it might make my life just a little bit easier.

What is it?

The Tsumbay car vacuum cleaner is a lightweight portable vacuum cleaner that’s designed to plug into your cars 12V outlet (or cigarette lighter).

Hardware specs

  • Suction: 5000PA
  • Voltage: DC 12V
  • Power: 120W
  • Power cord length: 14.8ft
  • Weight: 2.2lbs
  • Size: 16” x 4” x 4.5”

What’s in the box?

  • 1 x Vacuum
  • 1 x  17-inch EVA extended suction pipe
  • 1 x Vacuuming flat nose attachment
  • 1 x Brush attachment
  • 1 x Manual

Design and features

Constructed of a very lightweight plastic the car vac has a sleek design. I received the black version, but it’s also available in white.

The vacuums power switch and power indicator light are located at the top rear of the vacuum, near the handle.

The Tsumbay is a 2 in 1 vacuum meaning it’s both a dry and wet vac (more on that in the performance section).

Dirt cup and washable filter

The front of the vacuum doubles as the dirt cup. Emptying it is done by pressing the latch release button located just in front of the power indicator light. Pull out the small filter and dump out the contents.

A few taps on the ground does a good job of clearing debris from the filter.

The filter is washable, and Tsumbay recommends washing it after every use to maintain performance.

Note: The filter is small and gets clogged up quickly. For max performance, I recommend clearing it out multiple times while vacuuming.

Performance

After plugging the vac into my cars 12V outlet, I fired it up. 

The first thing I noticed was the sound or lack of it. It was surprisingly quiet especially compared to my Dirt Devil or one of those car wash vacuums. Tsumbay lists the vacs decibel level at 65db. For comparison that falls between an air conditioner and a dishwasher on the decibel scale.

I used the extension tube and crevice tool to vacuum the floor of my car. I was pleasantly surprised by the suction power. The vacuum did a good job of picking up small pebbles, grass, and dog hair.

Check out the short video and before/after pics below to see the results.

Another thing I liked was the length of the power cord. Measuring 15-feet It allowed me to reach every corner of my Chevy Cruze, including the trunk.

Picking up dog hair

I have a puggle named Zoey, I love her to death but, she sheds like it’s her job. And even though I use a cover on the front seat, her hair ends up everywhere, the back seat, driver’s seat, even the dash. I often refrain from taking her places because the cleanup afterward is such a pain. Her hair was one of the biggest reasons why I chose to review the car vac.

I used the brush attachment to vacuum her hair from the floor and seats. I was happy with the results. The brush did a great job of loosening the hair from the seats fabric and carpet allowing it to be sucked up.

Finally, a quick and easy way to clean up after a trip to the vet or dog park!

Wet Vac

As I mentioned the car vac also doubles as a wet vac, I tested this by pouring water onto one of the car mats and vacuuming it up. Once again the vacuum performed well. You can see the results in the video below.

One note, the vacuum is only meant to vacuum up small amounts of liquid. In my testing I found anything over 1/4 cup tends to spill back out of the dirt cup.

I also noticed that once the filter is saturated, the vacuum loses most of its suction. Remove the filter and allow it to dry before using it again.

What I like

  • Plugs into cars 12V outlet (cigarette lighter)
  • Lightweight
  • Low noise
  • 15-foot power cord
  • Good suction power
  • Wet vac ability

What needs improvement

  • Extension tube could be a little longer and more flexible.
  • No storage bag

Final thoughts

I love this little car vac. I like the convenience of being able to plug it directly into my car. No more dragging out my 50-foot extension cord, and it’s perfect for spot cleaning. It’s also nice to know that if I spill something, it can be used for that as well.

I used an old duffle bag to store the vacuum and accessories, and it now has a permanent home in the trunk of my car.

If you have kids, pets, or just like keeping the inside of your car clean the Tsumbay car vacuum is the perfect car cleaning accessory.

 Price: $28.99
Where to buy: Amazon

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Tsumbay.

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Tsumbay car vacuum cleaner review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 25, 2018 at 11:25 am.

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Light your room with an eco-friendly piece of art

If you purchase these E.P. Eco-Friendly LED light bulbs, you’ll need a lamp that doesn’t have a shade.  These bulbs are little works of art, and they are too pretty to be covered up.  They are all handmade from a resin to which some colorant is added to give the bulbs a look inspired by a Jackson Pollock painting.  The resin is break-resistant, making these bulbs safer than standard glass bulbs.

The E.P. Eco-Friendly bulbs are “green” in many ways:

  • Made from green, recyclable materials
  • LED bulb saves up to 60% more energy than regular lights
  • Won’t get hot even after hours of producing rich, radiant light, thus keeping the room cooler
  • Uses only 3W of power

They are good for the Earth, and they’re good for your wallet, too.  They are rated for 100,000+ hours, saving on replacement costs.  The screw bases are designed to fit standard E27～E26 sockets.  And they are backed with a 1-year warranty.

There are six styles of these bulbs, but each bulb will be unique.  The actual color and curves will vary because of the handmade nature of the bulbs.  The E.P. Eco-Friendly LED light bulbs are normally $24.95, but they are $19.95 at the time of writing.  Purchase at the Popular Science Shop.  You can find a larger variety of the E.P. bulbs, plus a variety of light fixtures designed for these bulbs, at the E.P. DesignLab website.

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Light your room with an eco-friendly piece of art originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 25, 2018 at 10:00 am.

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Abox 4 Android TV 4K Streaming Box review

These days, many people are looking to find alternatives to cable services and cable boxes. This is primarily so because of the continuously rising costs of cable TV and the way their “packages” provide less versatility. In response to the cable companies, numerous devices have “popped up” on the market and they claim to provide alternative options at a lower cost. Let’s take a look at one:

What is it?

The Abox 4 Android TV box is an Android OS based streaming device that provides a way to stream TV programming via various services, as well as the ability to stream from other sources on the same network.

What’s in the box


1 x Abox 4 Android TV Box
1 x AC Adapter
1 x HDMI Cable
1 x Remote Control
1 x Instruction Booklet
1 x Micro Fiber Cleaning Cloth

Design and features

Specifications

Operating system: Android 7.1.2
CPU: Quad Core Cortex A53 2.0GHz 64bit
GPU: Penta-Core Mali-450MP GPU at 750 MHz
ROM: 2 GB DDR3
RAM: 16GB EMMC FLASH
Bluetooth: V4.0
3D: Hardware 3D graphics acceleration
HDD file system FAT16 / FAT32 / NTFS
Supported subtitles: SRT / SMI / SUB / SSA / IDX + USB
High-definition video output: 4k * 2k
LAN: Ethernet: 10 / 100M, standard RJ-45
Wireless: Supports 802.11 a / b / g / n at 2.4 GHz
Supported Airplay / DLNA / Miracast & H.265
Supported decoder format: HDMPEG1 / 2/4, H.265,4K-HD, HD AVC / VC-1, RM / RMVB, XVID / DIVX3 / 4/5/6, REALVIDEO8 / 9/10
Supported media format: AVI / RM / RMVB / TS / VOB / MKV / MOV / ISO / WMV / ASF / FLV / DAT / MPG / MPEG
Supported music format: MP3 / WMA / AAC / WAV / OGG / AC3 / DDP / TrueHD / HD / FLAC / APE
Supported Photo Format: HD JPEG / BMP / GIF / PNG / TIFF
Supported subtitles: SRT / SMI / SUB / SSA / IDX + USB
Supported language: English / French / German / Spanish / Italian and more
Power supply: DC 5V 2A

The Abox 4 Android TV 4K Streaming Box is a streaming box that provides access to numerous streaming app including, Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, Amazon, and all apps in the Google Play Store. It also allows you to add almost any Android app via the standard .apk file. (Some Android apps added via their .apk files may not provide 100% compatibility). Once connected to your network, this device also acts as a single point of streaming for all of your shared media on your network including, pictures, movies, music, etc. The Abox is small and compact and has ports on 2 sides, a display on a 3rd side, and the brand name on top. On one side there are the following ports from left to right:
Audio out
Ethernet
AV port
HDMI
Audio out

On the 2nd side, there are 2 USB ports and one micro SD card port to add external storage devices

The remote control provides the standard functions of a media remote control, along with a microphone button that allows you speak commands, like “find the latest action movies” or just action movies”, or something more specific. There is also a button that toggles a “mouse” option on and off. With the mouse “on”, you can use the circular control to move the mouse. Other functions include volume, page up/down, power on/off, home, mute, return, etc.

On the front of the Abox, there is an LCD with a time display and the power on indicator along with the WiFi status symbol. On the top of the Abox is the brand name that lights up blue. The picture on the bottom right below shows the HDMI and power cables connected.




Operation

Once the Abox is plugged in, and the basic initial setup of language, time and network access are completed, the main screen is launched. On the main screen there is a preview of Google Play movies selection, a couple of rows showing some of the most/recently used apps, and the icons for the “settings” screen, the “Network setup” screen and the “app drawer”. The “settings” screen provides access to all settings as seen below. The “network” screen provides access to all of the network access related settings, and the “app drawer” screen shows all of the apps that you have downloaded and installed.
I have also included the screens that show the “on Demand” movie/series option, the File Explorer screen that allows you to access all of your shared network drives, and a screen that shows the tv guide from my cable TV app. Unfortunately, I could not get the remote to properly navigate the tv guide to make that app usable. While I think that I was doing everything correctly, I am not ruling out “lack of knowledge by user” 🙂
There is also a screen showing access to Spotify to listen to online streaming music.












Performance

I was able to watch movies from my USB drives and across my network via WiFi and wired ethernet with no issues, and they played flawlessly and in full HD. Installing apps from the Google Play store is very easy, and all of the apps that I tested worked well. The cable TV app that I referred to was one that I installed via an external website, and not from the Google Play Store apps offered from within the box. Once the Abox is on your network, you have the option of adding Android apps using a computer on the same network. It is important to note that I installed the cable tv app via a networked computer since it was not showing as an available app when I searched the Play Store from the Abox. This is likely why it is not fully compatible and functional.

I am not a gamer, so I cannot provide too much information on those types of apps. However, based on the overall performance of the Abox, I would suspect that they will work flawlessly as well. The Abox also offers the ability to connect a keyboard and mouse via Bluetooth, and they sell a combination keyboard via the Abox-tech website for $34.88.

What I like

I really like that the Abox provides access to all of my shared media on my home network and that even via WiFi it maintains a strong connection. I also like that I can add drives directly to it vis the built-i USB ports and that is with the apps from the Google Play Store, I can play all of my various types of files with ease.

What can be improved

My biggest issue with the Abox is the inability to navigate certain apps properly when using the remote. For example, I am used to watching my Cable TV programming using my Roku Streaming Box and the cable TV app. With the Roku remote, I can use the up/down functions of the remote to scroll through the TV guide. This function does not work with the Abox remote, and for me, that is a big deal.

Final thoughts

The Abox 4 Android TV 4K Streaming Box offers a lot of options and convenience for the price. The 2 USB jacks along with the card slot and network capabilities make it easy to integrate it into your network of devices. While I do find the Android OS and the remote response somewhat sluggish when compared to my IOS devices, I do enjoy using the Abox and for now, it has a permanent place among my media equipment.

Price: $79.99
Where to buy: Abox-tech website and Amazon.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Abox.

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Abox 4 Android TV 4K Streaming Box review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 25, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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This insulated bag doesn’t look like a lunchbox

Sometimes you need to carry along heat-sensitive items – like medicines, cosmetics, or even a snack for later.  You need to keep these items at a cool temperature, but there are times when you don’t want to look like you’re traveling with a lunchbox.  The Black Insulated Bag from Cool-It Caddy does the job of keeping things cool while looking more sophisticated.

The bag has a textured leather look, but it is made of polyurethane.  Coolant inside the bag’s structure replaces the need for those blue freezer packs.  You can keep the bag in the freezer so it’s ready when you need it.

The Cool-It Caddy insulated bag measures 8.5″ x 5.5″ x 3″, so it’s big enough to carry most anything you need.  It can keep contents cool for up to five hours.  If you are carrying medicine, you should monitor the temperature to be sure the meds aren’t getting too cold or too warm.  To ensure best performance, keep the bag out of direct sunlight, especially on really hot days.  The bag is water-resistant, so you won’t need to worry about soggy sandwiches from splashes while you’re lounging around the pool.

The Black Insulated Bag from Cool-It Caddy is $33.95 at The Grommet.

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This insulated bag doesn’t look like a lunchbox originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 25, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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