Vim is known as an incredibly powerful text editor but is equally well-known for its steep learning curve. If you frequently work on the command line, it’s worth learning at least some of the basic functionality. Unfortunately, if you don’t take the time to learn it, even something as simple as exiting Vim can be difficult. Normal keyboard shortcuts won’t help you here. Nothing you’ve learned in your entire computing life will help you, in fact. Vim is very much its own creature, and even to exit it, you’re going to have to learn how to do things the Vim way. Accidentally Launch Vim? Here’s… Read more
REVIEW – Recently, I have been seeing one company after another advertising sunshades with built-in Bluetooth audio and phone functions. The Mutrics Stylish Smart Sunglasses with Surround Sound is another addition to devices of this type.
What is it?
The Mutrics Stylish Smart Sunglasses with Surround Sound offers protection from the sun along with the ability to listen to music and to conduct phone calls in an attractive and stylish package. The frame is available in 4 colors and the lens in 5 color options.
What’s in the box
1 x Mutrics Stylish Smart Sunglasses with Surround Sound
1 x Proprietary Magnetic USB Charging Cable
1 x Instruction Paper
Design and features
The sunshades come with what feels like an imitation leather type case with the name branded on the magnetic open/close flap. The inside of the case is lined with a soft material to prevent any scratches.
The controls for the shades are on the arms of the shades. The right arm of the shades has the contact points for the magnetic charging USB cable. This is a proprietary connection. On the left arm, there are the function controls. Further down near the ends of the arms there is an enclosed speaker on each one.
Performance
(The following picture is the user guide exactly as printed and included with the product.) These glasses work very well as sunshades and feel very comfortable when worn. I can literally almost look directly into the sunlight with them. They are somewhat wide, so they may not be suitable for someone with a narrow face.
Charging the shades is very easy albeit via a proprietary cable, and the pairing process is also easy. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the good news ends there. While the shades do allow you to clearly hear the music, for me the experience is like listening to a transistor radio. The only thing related to surround-sound is that you get balanced sound for both ears. In addition, once you turn up the volume, folks around you can also clearly hear the music you are listening to. Last but not least, although I can hear phone conversations very clearly, the party on the other end of the test calls kept complaining of a persistent and distracting echo.
Also, the user guide is printed on a piece of paper that looks like someone cut it out of a scrapbook.
What I like
The shades lens are really great ion the sun and work perfectly as effective sunshades
The rubberized coating on the shades
What can be improved
The shades are all one rigid form with no ability to adjust the nose bridge or arms
When playing music, everyone around you can hear
The call quality for the other person on the line
The audio quality for music
Final thoughts
I have tried several types and brands of sunshades/glasses that incorporate music and phone capabilities. As technology progresses, my personal demand for a great experience from all of the features offered by a device has become a critical part of my perspective. While these shades from Mutrics work well as sunshades, for me, that is as far as they go. I am not sure if the general perception will be that for the price they are worth it even just as shades, but for my personal choice, I would pass on these.
Price: $69 Where to buy:Mutrics website Sample: The sample for this review was provided by Mutrics
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NEWS – Designed for recreational fishermen and family fishing, the Smart Connect fishing reel creates a new fishing experience for anglers. The reel uses Bluetooth to pair with your smartphone and the Smart Connect app. Using Bite Alert Technology, the reel sends an alert to your phone to play a tone, vibrate, light up, and/or send a message alert when it feels a bite.
You can monitor up to four Smart Connect reels at a time so you won’t miss another fish nibble while you’re grabbing a cold one from the cooler and you’ll have no more excuses about the one that got away. Priced at $119, you can find more info or buy one from Smartconnectoutdoor.com
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REVIEW – One of the joys of getting to review gadgets is being introduced to obscure brands. Sometimes, they really do surprise you — in a good way — like this little Qi Wireless Fast Charger Car Mount (which is the official product name I believe) from a heretofore unknown manufacturer, VicTsing.
What is it?
VicTsing’s Wireless Charger Car Mount is a phone holder with an embedded Qi-enabled wireless charging pad. It can be easily mounted to any flat surface or securely clipped to a vent.
What’s in the box?
wireless charging bracket
air vent clip
3M adhesive surface mount
user manual
USB-C cable and adapter
Also comes with some mild amounts of dust.
Hardware specs
Latest Qi Standard Tech
Material: ABS+PP mirror + silicone
Compatible with 7.5W and 5W
Input: 5V/2A 9V/1.67A
Compatible devices: iPhone Xs Max/Xs/XR/X/8P/8,Galaxy S9/S9 Plus/Note 8/9/S8+/S8/Note 5/S7 edge/S7 and other Qi enabled devices
Automatically adjusts to hold phones of size from 4.0”-6.0”
Charging distance: <= 8mm
Charging efficiency: >=82%
Product size: 11.3 x 6.8 x 4.5 mm
Color: Black
Design and features
VicTsing’s iteration of the simple car mounted charger looks very much like many other phone mounts you may have seen. It’s a basic side-arm mount with an adjustable support foot that the bottom of the phone rests on.
The red strips on the charging surface gently glow and turn blue when charging. You can see the white lens of the IR sensor as well.
However, one unique feature of this phone mount is the IR-activated arms that extend out when an object is placed near the sensor, and automatically “hugs” the phone to form a solid grip. It’s a cute feature that never fails to make me smile, seeing this small charging pad’s arms extend out and grab on to the edges of my phone like a warm embrace.
Initial setup is easy, but your mileage will definitely vary on where the mount itself can be positioned. My car, thanks to Japanese efficiency, has no flat surface to spare, so I had to opt for a vent-clip mount approach.
Might as well just turn that vent off.
I can’t say I’m a fan of having to block an entire vent, of which there are only four, effectively decreasing cabin air conditioning by 25%. I’m even less than a fan of the charging pad and USB cable covering up the stereo system buttons. The overall effect is ugly, as you can see.
I had tried mounting the charger a little to the left of the wide vent, but that resulted in activating the “hug” every time my hand veered too close to the sensor when my phone was undocked. After several times of hearing that sad little robotic embrace, I had to move the charger back to its original place over the stereo buttons.
I should mention that this isn’t a knock against this mount in particular. I’d have the same issue with any vent-clip design. It’s, unfortunately, the most universal approach to making a phone mount work with as many vehicles as possible.
However, the clip was quite secure. Once I got the 360º knob tightened and the clip positioned as deep as it would go into the vent, my phone didn’t go anywhere, even around sharp corners.
The functionality of the charger is great. It’s a standard 7.5W fast charger, so you can expect it to juice up your phone as quickly as one would expect, if your device supports it. I’d say it was a pretty consistent 4-5% per 10 minutes for my iPhone XR, but that would depend on the total capacity of your battery. No issues here.
It takes a little bit of practice to center your phone in the charger while placing it in the holder. Once your phone is about 3” away from the charger, the IR sensor triggers and the arms extend to their maximum width of about 6”. Then, after a 2-second delay, they close. That’s about the time you get to try to center the phone in the charger, place it flat against the charging pad, and make sure the bottom of your phone is nestled against the “foot” of the harness. Then the little arms hug that phone and sort of lock into place.
A profile shot of the phone resting in the grips.
If you’re a little bit too far to the right or left, it doesn’t create as good of a grip, so you sort of have to give your phone a little wiggle to get it into place. It might have to do with the silicone case that I have on my phone, it might be gripping the rubber on the foot a little too much to allow it to easily center. But I’ve gotten used to it, and you really only have to mount it once before you start driving.
To detach your phone, there are two silver capacitive buttons near the bottom of the charging pad. Simply brushing one of them with your finger is enough to trigger the arms to open again, and you can lift your phone out. You could try to lift it out without engaging the opening action, but you’d probably pull the entire charging pad and vent clip out before removing just your phone. That happened to me at least twice before I got the hang of the whole operation.
It’s a nice way of having access to a map if your car doesn’t already have GPS or CarPlay built into the console.
But once I figured out how to play nice with this little charger, I liked having my phone in a spot where I could fast-forward a podcast or check out a map without palming my phone.
I imagine anyone with a CarPlay system wouldn’t have much use for a charging mount, however, or anyone with a newer car that have Qi wireless charging pads in the console somewhere.
For $22 (yes, just 22 bones) you get a no-fuss phone mount, wireless charger, and friendly little hug-bot all in one. That’s pretty hard to beat.
What I like
IR sensor auto-opens to give your phone a little hug
Excellent value for the price
What needs to be “improved”
Blocks vent air flow
Potentially blocks other buttons due to cable
Final thoughts
I feel any of the negative thoughts I could have about this charger are more of an indictment of any vent clip or suction mounted holder, and aren’t specific to this particular device. This is a great little charger mount, especially for the very low asking price of $22.
Price: $21.99 Where to buy:WalMart.com Source: The sample of this product was provided by VicTsing.
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NEWS – It’s the final season of the Game of Thrones and OtterBox wants you to celebrate or drown your sorrows in style with their Game of Thrones Elevation Wine Tumbler Set. Available in black or white, these stainless steel, copper lined wine tumblers hold two standard wine pours (10 oz) and come with a press-in lid. You can grab a set of two for $40 exclusively at AT&T stores and from AT&T online.
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These glasses work very well as sunshades and feel very comfortable when worn. I can literally almost look directly into the sunlight with them. They are somewhat wide, so they may not be suitable for someone with a narrow face.
