CROWDFUNDING NEWS – We sure do like our pens here on the Gadgeteer. Just do a quick search on “pen review” and you’ll see a bunch of them. But guess what? I don’t think we’ve ever reviewed a pen that hovers like the Hoverpen.
What is it?
The Hoverpen is a pen that… well… hovers! Well, that’s not exactly true. It doesn’t hang in mid-air as much as it stands on its tip without falling over. Here, watch the campaign video to see what I mean.
The Hoverpen is a pen that is made of aluminum or titanium with a steel cap and comes with a special stand that keeps the pen from falling over. It’s like magic if magnets are magic, which I think we can agree that they are.
Why do I like it?
What’s not to like? It’s a pen. We like pens. It’s a magic pen that doesn’t fall over. We like magic. Is there really any downside here?
Seriously though, they sent me a pre-production Hoverpen to try out and by itself, it’s a nice enough pen. It’s made of lightweight titanium and it has a steel cap. But then when you add the zinc alloy magnetic base and it really kicks my interest up a notch.
Placing and removing the pen from the magnetic base takes a little practice, mainly the placing part. Removing it is easy. But placing it back in/on the base requires a little finesse as the base wants to push the end of the pen towards one of the magnetic posts. You have to fight the pull of the magnets to poke the pen right into the center. Use the Force Luke!
Once the pen is freestanding/hovering in the base, you can wobble it back and forth and you can also spin it in place like a fidget toy while it defies gravity.
Things to consider before pledging
The magnetic cap can not post on the back of the Hoverpen which means it’s a prime candidate for loss unless you “stick” the cap to the magnetic base.
The Hoverpen also uses Cross brand refill cartridges which is something to consider if that isn’t your favorite type of refill.
Where can I find more info?
The Hoverpen campaign ends on 5/26/19 they are working towards their funding goal of $5,000. You can pre-order a Hoverpen starting at $59. After the Hoverpen campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in October 2019. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.
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NEWS –April showers bring May flowers … plus, a whole lot of dirty pawprints.
Thanks to my Lefant robot vacuum, my floors are cleaner than ever. But with a muddy yard and white floors, I’m constantly battling puppy prints. Sure, I keep a towel by the back door and wipe off Maya’s little feet. But that never seems to do a good enough job.
Enter the Dexas Mudbuster.
This little cuplike device with silicone bristles claims to quickly, easily and effectively clean up your canine friend. With more than 1,200 reviews and a 4.5 out of 5 star rating, customers seem pretty pleased with the results.
My pup hates getting her nails clipped, and really doesn’t like anyone touching her paws, yet the Mudbuster claims to be very gentle. The instructions say to just add a little water, insert the muddy paw, twist and you’re done, just dab them dry.
The Mudbuster comes in three sizes, depending on your pooch’s paw size. It retails for $14.99 (small), $18.30 (medium) and $21.89 (large) on Amazon.
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REVIEW – One of the drawbacks to laptops is connecting external devices and monitors. The Plugable USB-C mini docking station aims to make that easier by adding a little bit of just about everything.
What is it?
The Plugable USB-C mini docking station is a small USB-C docking station that includes a USB hub with 4 USB-A 3.0 ports, HDMI output, a gigabit ethernet port, and 3.5mm TRRS Headphone/Mic Combo Jack along with a USB-C port with charging functionality.
What’s in the box?
USB-C Docking station
100W (20V, 5A) power supply
1m USB-C to USB-C cable
VESA mounting bracket
Quick Start Guide
Hardware specs
HDMI 1.4 output for mirroring or extending your desktop to an external monitor. Supports 4K@30Hz, 2560×1440@60Hz & 1920×1080/1080P@60Hz
USB-C port with 85W Power Delivery functionality to charge compatible host computers (not all USB-C computers are able to charge through their USB-C port
Gigabit Ethernet port – The UD-CAM has a dedicated Realtek RTL8153 Ethernet controller
3.5mm TRRS Headphone/Mic Combo Jack
Four total USB (Type-A) ports; One USB 3.0 port on the front and three USB 3.0 ports on the rear
Design and features
There’s an idiom that says “The more things change, the more they stay the same”. It seems like everything is going wireless nowadays, but even though wireless is everywhere, there are some things that just work better wired. External drives, monitors, and various hardware often works better wired.
Portable devices such as laptops and tablets seem to have fewer and fewer ports, but we still seem to have the same or more devices to plug into them.
The Plugable USB-C mini docking station addresses this problem with a small, yet powerful, hub.
Not only does the Plugable USB-C mini docking station add USB ports for your device, but it also adds functionality to devices. Most notably is the ability to add an HDMI 1.4 output that supports 4K resolution – all through one USB-C connection from your device.
The mini docking station also adds a gigabit ethernet port. In all my experience, a wired network connection always seems to have better stability and speed.
To use the Plugable mini docking station, you will need to have a supported USB-C system like the 2015 and later 12″ MacBook Retina with USB-C, late 2016/2017 MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 3, Dell XPS, Precision, and Latitude systems with Thunderbolt 3, and the Microsoft Surface Book 2. See Plugable’s compatibility chart on the product page. https://plugable.com/products/ud-cam/
The Plugable mini docking station can also provide all of these features while simultaneously providing up to 85W of power to charge your system via the USB-C connection, so even though you’re adding a cable to connect the dock, you might be able to remove the original charging cable – depending on your device.
I set up the Plugable USB-C mini docking station with a Microsoft Surface Book 2. Windows automatically recognized it and installed the appropriate USB hub drivers. There wasn’t anything to manually install, it was just plug and play!
The first thing I did was check that it was charging from the docking station. Next was the one thing that really excited me about this device, it’s 4K HDMI connection. So I connected it to my 40″ AOC 4K monitor and I was up and running without a hitch. It performed just as well as my desktop machine for the tasks I performed such as 4K videos, photo editing, and a little bit of CAD design for 3D printing. I was quite happy with it. It is limited to 4K@30Hz, which may be a hindrance if you’re a gamer, but for normal computer tasks, it will work just fine.
I did not test it with any Apple devices as all of my Mac computers are older devices. I also did not test the VESA mount because all of my monitors are currently using their mounts on their stands, however, I’ve been using and abusing VESA mounts for over 20 years, so I can say that the included mount should work just fine.
Although the Surface Book 2 power connector is connected in this photo, it’s technically not required when using the Plugable USB dock.
The Plugable USB-C mini docking station also features a VESA mount so that it can be attached to the back of a monitor that has the standard 100mm VESA mounting holes. This allows you to place it out of sight unless you need to plug and unplug devices regularly, then you might just opt to use the mounting bracket to mount the docking station under the edge of your desk. It really is a nice little feature that could save a lot of time over making your own bracket. Theoretically, one mounted out of sight you would still only have one cable running to your computer (laptop).
The device also has four rubber feet on the bottom. It may not sound like much of a feature, but if you’ve ever had a hub that didn’t you would know that the cables can make the device turn. These little rubber feet help it stay in place.
The Plugable USB dock driving a 4K monitor via HDMI, playing a 4K Youtube video full screen.
What I like
The VESA mount is a nice touch
The 4K video output is splendid
The rubber feet are nice
What needs to be improved
I could not think of anything that could be improved.
Final thoughts
The Plugable USB-C mini docking station is a great device that provides a lot of functionality in a small package. The additional ports provide functionality, usability, and speed increases (wired ethernet vs wireless).
Price: $129.00 Where to buy: Plugable and Amazon Source: The sample of this product was provided by Plugable.
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NEWS – Ever wanted to take a detailed, beautiful photograph and scale it down to a 1-bit black and white 244 x 144 pixel low-resolution image? Me neither. But someone did and created Etch-A-Snap.
Etch-A-Snap is controlled by a Raspberry Pi processor. It takes a regular image and then downscales it to one-bit black and white. The processor then converts the image into plotter control commands that are fed to gears used to drive the knobs on a small Etch-A-Sketch. Images are definitely low-resolution, but the tech behind it all is pretty cool. All this takes time – 15 minutes up to an hour – to get results. Still, as the inventor says, it’s faster than film!
Here is a video showing how it works.
It isn’t for sale and is just a concept project for the moment. For more information and additional sample image videos, visit the Etch-A-Snap project page here.
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When it was first exposed to the public, ransomware was a deadly new attack vector that threatened to lock your PC away for good unless you paid the demanded sum. Over time, however, the security companies have adapted to the new wave of attacks and supplied the public with ways to get around it. For example, the world was once rocked by the threat that was WannaCry. It brought down businesses and hospitals as the malware spread around the world. After a while, however, security companies unraveled its code and discovered it was actually pretty poorly programmed. Someone infected with WannaCry could talk to a… Read more
