New from Fox Chapel Publishing: Fun with Fidget Spinners: 50 Super Cool Tricks and Activities by Australian technology blogger David King. Instead of fidgeting, you can read about fidgeting. This 80-page book full-color paperback book features instructions for a variety of fun tricks that you can do with the latest toy craze – fidget spinners no matter if you’re a newbie or you are already a master of fidgetology.
Spinners can learn how to master tricks such as spinning on a hat or stacking spinners on top of each other to create mesmerizing whirling towers of color! Spinners can also track their progress and tricks with a handy workbook. Plus, the book provides backstory into the health benefits of spinning.
Fun with Fidget Spinners: 50 Super Cool Tricks and Activities will be available on June 30th from Fox Chapel Publishing but you can pre-ordered a copy of the book now for $5.50 on Amazon.
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Here’s a list of everything we that posted on The Gadgeteeer in the last seven days. Click through and browse the list to make sure you didn’t miss something important.
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We’ve reviewed a variety of drones over the years, from the high-end Chroma 4K drone to the teeny tiny Axis Vidius drone. But this is the Eachine E55 is the first folding pocket drone that we’ve had the opportunity to review. And after my experience with this one, it might be the last… Let’s take a look.
What is it?
The Eachine E55 is a folding pocket drone that can be controlled with an iOS or Android device or the included handheld remote control.
What’s in the box?
Eachine E55 drone
Remote control with phone bracket
Extra propellers
Screwdriver
USB charging stick
USB charging cable
Drone battery
User manual
Design and features
This drone doesn’t even look like a drone at first glance. I’m not sure what it looks like. Maybe a small backup battery, or something like that.
The Eachine E55 is made of plastic with a power button on the top.
On the bottom, you will find the battery compartment.
A thin fragile feeling door opens to allow access to the battery.
That battery has to be removed and charged using the included USB charging stick. Charging this way is inconvenient and the inconvenience gets worse when you find out that it takes about 40 minutes to fully charge the battery. That wouldn’t be a deal breaker if a charge allowed you a long fight time, but unfortunately, you will only get 6-8 minutes of flying time per charge.
Notice the glowing LED on the USB charging stick and notice that the stick isn’t plugged into anything… That LED is supposed to be a charging status LED. I found that the LED would sometimes turn off when I plugged the stick (and battery) into a USB power adapter. And sometimes it remained on – forever so that I never could tell when the battery was finished charging.
At only 2.56 x 2.56 x 0.98 inches, it is very pocket-friendly compared the majority of other drones on the market. But the real magic happens when you unfold the four legs (arms?) to reveal the propellers.
Nifty huh?
Let’s fly!
You can fly the Eachine E55 drone using your smartphone or the included handheld controller. I loaded the app and tried to pair my Nexus 6P with the drone but had no luck. So I decided to try the handheld controller because the instructions claimed that it had a one button take off and one button landing feature.
The controller looks and feels like an inexpensive video game controller. It has two thumb-style joysticks with a D-pad below each one.
The controller also comes with an attachment that will let you attach your smartphone to the controller. Since I was unable to pair the drone with my phone, I didn’t test using both together. I actually didn’t get much time at all to test the Eachine E55 as you will see in the video below.
See it in action (sorta)
As you can tell from the video, I didn’t have much luck or time flying the E55 drone before it flew off into my woods to be lost forever. It’s so small that I couldn’t find it.
Final thoughts
The instructions that come with the drone fail to provide the most important info on how to fly the drone. You have to turn on the drone, turn on the handheld controller. Press the left throttle up, press the left throttle down, and then press the take off button. Sounds easy right? It is IF you know that you’re supposed to do that. As you can tell from my video, I kept trying to fly just using the take off button. And after minutes of trying that, I started pressing combinations of buttons until the drone finally lifted into the air. To say it was frustrating is an understatement.
It’s a shame that I never got a chance to really get used to flying this little drone or to test the camera and other features.
The Eachine E55 could be fun but I can’t say one way or another. I will say that having to remove the battery from the drone to charge it is annoying and not knowing when the battery is fully charged is also annoying. You also have to supply your own batteries (3 AAAs) for the handheld remote control.
When it’s all said and done, the Eachine E55 Mini WiFi FPV Foldable Pocket Drone annoyed me and for that reason, I can’t recommend buying one.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Eachine. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.
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If you and your dog are tired of playing fetch with soggy and disgusting tennis balls, consider the 100+ foot ring launcher from Hurrik9. Co-invented by an actual rocket scientist, the HirriK9 is a fetch toy on steroids.
The HurriK9 is a cross between a crossbow and a slingshot. Just load the ring, pull back and launch.
This toy is great for any size dog. The circular shape is very aerodynamic, so your dog will get a great workout as he runs to fetch the ring.
You’re probably wondering about the durability of the HurriK9 rings once your dog gets ahold of them.
The rings are made of durable Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA) Foam, the same material used in Crocs Shoes. This type of foam is incredibly durable and has self healing properties that allows the ring to fly over and over again despite the toy being carried in the dogs mouth. You will actually see some teeth puncture marks in the foam, but you will be amazed at how it heals and keeps its shape, and continues to fly.
If you’re still worried about durability, there are tougher spandex rings available. Each starter pack comes with 3 rings. The standard starter pack is priced at $36 and the starter pack with the tougher rings is $44.
For more info visit hurrik9.com and if you don’t want to spend that much for this dog toy, there is a very similar version selling on Amazon for less than $20. You probably get what you pay for though…
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If you own an iPhone and an Apple Watch, you may find this beautiful aluminum dock station to be something you’re not sure how you’ve lived without. I used to charge my phone by my bed, then charge my Apple Watch near my computer and I didn’t really have a system as to when I’d connect them. With the Archeer 2, I never have to part with my beloveds and somehow my life feels more organized and complete. There was some simple set up involved, that I detailed with pics. Let take a look.
Above is the bottom of the charging station and you can see that there are 4 screws that need to be taken out. There is a lightning cable already installed in the station which you will see in detail in the pic below. There is nothing you need to do with that half of the device. It’s ready for you to plug into a USB port or outlet and connect your iPhone, right from the get go. What we will be doing is installing the standard Apple Watch charger (not included) into the charging station.
After the four screws are removed, there are an additional two screws that need to be removed to free the bracket that holds the watch. In the pic above you can see the lightning cable threaded through the device, and the two screws to the right of those are the ones to take out.
Now that all the screws are removed, slide the long metal piece out of the bracket and pop the round head of the standard Apple Watch charger that came with your watch into the bracket.
Make sure that the cord is tucked nicely inside the groove in the bracket and slide the metal cover back on.
Now all that’s left is to slide the bracket back into the charging station and reaffix it to the base with the two screws that were removed. Then put the back cover on with the four screws that were taken out in the first step and you are ready to charge. Note: a small screw driver came with the device, but I was unable to unscrew two of the screws with it because it was very thin and I could not get a good grip on it, so I just used my own.
I have a case that I normally have on my phone that would not allow me to charge it while it was on, so I need to remove it when charging. It seems to work for me though because I do it just once a day and it’s right on my desk so when it’s done charging I can put the case back on for the rest of the day. However, if I had the Utomic Edge case I would have the perfect setup as only the corners of the phone are covered. Ahhh….a girl can dream…
Now all that’s left is to find two USB ports (a dual USB wall plug would work great) or wall adapters to plug the two cords into and you can let the charging begin!
I found a great place in the corner of my desk to use as a new home for the charging station and my two favorite mobile devices. I can sit and work all day and even use the phone while it’s on the charger. I think the station looks great on my desk and would look good on my night stand too if I decide to move it into my bedroom.
All in all, I think this is a great charging station. It does the job and looks good doing it! The only downside is that I have to remove the case that I use in order to charge my iPhone, and if this was my only watch charger, I would have to disassemble the unit to remove the charger or take the whole thing with me when I travel.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Archeer. Visit their site for more information or find them on Amazon.
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