When you buy a new iPhone, the box includes a set of earbuds that Apple calls EarPods. There are far worse sounding earbuds out there, but the EarPods aren’t exactly flawless when it comes to audio quality. Unfortunately, if you have a new iPhone, you can’t exactly plug in any old set of headphones, since the headphone jack is gone. You can use Bluetooth headphones, but what if you’re looking to plug in your favorite set of wired headphones? Related: How to Use Your Own Headphones for In-Flight Entertainment No Headphone Jack? No Problem If you just want to plug in any old pair of… Read more
As much fun as you’re having on your gaming system, sometimes it’s just time for a change. You may be upgrading your system or just looking for something a little different, or maybe you’re even brand new to gaming. Regardless of your situation, if you enjoy playing Battlefield, the Xbox One S 1 TB Console – Battlefield V Bundle would make a smart choice. You can buy it now for 25% off. This bundle ships with the Xbox One S console; full-game downloads of “Battlefield V Deluxe Edition,” “Battlefield: 1943,” and “Battlefield 1 Revolution;” a one-month Xbox Game Pass trial that includes access to… Read more
NEWS – Pocketbands are a solution to not having any place to put a key, cash, or other small items when you’re out and about. Especially handy for runners, bikers, or just about anyone, Pocketbands are adjustable wrist bands with hidden storage that are made of silicon and are available in a variety of colors.
Pocketbands are priced at $12.95. You can find more info at pocketbands.com and Amazon.
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For approximately two years, Debian remains relatively unchanged. Program versions and features remain the same for this duration. Security fixes get backported. Sometimes, exceptions are made for rare situations where a package might need new features. For example, a driver may get upgraded to add support for more hardware. But it rarely happens. Keeping things constant has its advantages. It makes the operating system dependable. You almost never encounter bugs. Things almost never break after updating packages. No new features also means no unexpected surprises/behavior. But every two years (approximately) a new Debian version is released. And it often brings significant improvements and new features… Read more
REVIEW – I’ve reviewed a few dash cams in the past, but this time I tried out the myGEKOgear OwlScout dual dash cam. I’ve reviewed a few dash cams from this company, but none with dual built-in cameras. Let’s see how this one performs.
What is it?
The myGEKOgear OwlScout dual dash cam is a dual camera dash cam designed to record video of both the inside and outside of your vehicle simultaneously.
What’s in the box?
OwlScount Camera
Suction cup mount
Car charger plug and cord
Micro-USB Cable
16GB Micro-SD card
Quick Start Manual
Hardware specs
Recording Resolution: 1080P + 1080P 30FPS Imaging Sensor: Sony Exmor, Infrared Night Vision Display Size: 2.7″ LCD View Angle (F.O.V.): 145°+145° (F+V) Max. Capacity of microSD card: 16GB microSD included Batteries Included: 170mAh Li-ion battery embedded Automatic Incident Detection (G-Sensor): Yes Loop-Cycle Recording: Yes Built-in Wi-Fi: Yes Integrated Microphone: Yes File Format: .mp4 Dimensions: (H x W x D) 3” x 3.7” x 1.3”
Design and features
The myGEKOgear OwlScout dual dash cam is a suction cup mounted dash cam that features a large 2.7″ LCD screen and both front facing and rear facing cameras. At the heart of each camera is a Sony Exmor imaging sensor that provides great video in both day and night conditions. The rear facing camera features infrared illumination. Both cameras feature a 145 degree field of view. Each camera’s video is saved to separate files on the memory card.
When recording video the rear facing video is displayed in the upper left quarter of the screen, allowing for easy positioning of the camera without having to press any buttons.
Screen capture from smartphone app
The micro-USB power cord is a welcome feature that allows you to use the provided car charger plug, or your own cable as you desire. A 170mAh embedded battery provides enough power to save video files when the camera is powered off via the ignition, or during a power loss in the event of a crash. In the event of a crash, the G-Sensor will detect the impact and automatically save the video so that it is not overwritten.
The OwlScout comes with a 16GB micro-sd card and features the ability to loop-record. Loop recording will save the video in 3, 5, or 10-minute clips, overwriting the oldest clips when the card is full.
I found the integrated microphone to be surprisingly good. The audio in my sample footage (below) is directly from the camera. I think the microphone should work great for capturing all conversations in the vehicle.
The camera has three modes: Video (dash cam), Photo, and Album. Photo mode takes up to 12MP images, and the Album mode is to view and playback photos and videos.
The OwlScout also has built-in Wi-Fi for connecting to the camera via an iPhone or Android smartphone. I found the app to be a bit limited, but sufficient to view and transfer videos or view live video. I did find though that the settings in the app would not correspond to settings that were already set in the camera, and the camera would revert some settings after the app was used. For example, I had the recording loop set for 3 minutes, and after going into the app and then disconnecting, the camera then showed a 10-minute loop interval.
There is a parking monitor feature that can be turned on which will start recording when an impact on the vehicle is detected.
I do like how the videos that are either automatically saved by the G-Sensor or by manually pressing the lock button are saved to a separate folder on the SD card, as well as accessible from the “Emergency” tab of the album view in the app.
The GPS logging feature mentioned on the website feature list was nowhere to be found in the camera or the app despite there being a GPS icon on the screen.
I did find that the playback operation was a bit confusing as to which button did what, such as play, fast forward, etc. I also found that after switching from video to photo to the album (playback) and then back to video, the dash cam video did not automatically start recording until I clicked the OK button. I lost quite a bit of video because of that. I think it should always revert to recording after a certain period of time when you are in video mode.
Here’s some sample video from the OwlScout camera, along with a few comments as I was driving. The video is unprocessed except that I overlayed one video on the other and spliced the 3-minute clips together. Other than that no video or audio editing was done.
What I like
Simple to use menus
Easy to see buttons
Great microphone
Wi-Fi connection with a smartphone
Dual Cameras
Range of motion for mount
Micro USB connection
Well named file names in the following format: yyyy_mmdd_hhmmss_001A
What needs to be improved
Price – a little high for the feature set
Confusing playback controls
GPS logging feature missing from app
Final thoughts
Overall the I really liked the video display and its size, and the video quality from this camera was pretty good. The audio captured was fantastic. I think the price might be a little high for the feature set, as some cameras have more features, but may not have video as good as this one.
Price: $199.99 Where to buy: myGEKOgear Source: The sample of this product was provided by myGEKOgear.
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