Home 2018 April

Hit a home run with this baseball band for Apple Watch

While I’ve never been a fan of baseball, I’ve always been a fan of the white leather and red lacing look of a baseball.  Apparently, I’m not the only one who likes the color combination, because I’ve seen a lot of leather goods made with that combination.  There’s an Etsy shop, BaseballWatches, that offers a great Apple Watch band in the white/red combination.  But best of all, their Watch bands are made with the covering of a real baseball.

The straps are handmade, one at a time, by Baseball Time, LLC in Nashville, TN.  Although they aren’t endorsed by MLB, the bands are made from the cover of an actual Major League Baseball-stamped ball.  The back of the strap is lined with a high-quality leather for comfort.

The bands are available to fit the 38mm or 42mm Apple Watch.  Both sizes are $64.00 from BaseballWatches.

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Hit a home run with this baseball band for Apple Watch originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 3, 2018 at 11:00 am.

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Belkin Boost↑Up wireless charger review

The Belkin Boost↑Up Wireless Charger is designed to provide the most rapid Qi-compliant charging speeds currently available. The adapter supports 5W up to 15W charging modes and comes with a 5ft cord and dedicated power supply. Read on to see what I think!                                       .

What is it?

The Belkin Boost↑Up Wireless Charging station is an adapter that charges Qi-enabled devices. The ability to charge devices at a distance and charging devices without connecting power cables are the main benefit of Qi technology. The technology relies on inductive coupling between two coils and it works because at least one coil is in the charging base, another is in the target device and there isn’t a large amount of metal between the coils. The speed at which the charging takes place depends upon the power available to the adapter, circuitry in the adapter, circuitry in the receiving device, and the condition of the battery in the receiving device. The Belkin Boost↑Up has specialized circuitry which provides up to 15W or charing power and is consequently able to charge compatible devices faster than wireless chargers that provide less power.

What’s in the box?

Belkin Boost↑Up Wireless Charger
AC power supply
Instruction Card
FCC/IC declaration of conformity

Design and features

Specifications

Power: 15W/5W
Charging distance: 0-3mm
Product Dimensions 4.5 x 0.5 x 4.5 inches
Item Weight 4.6 ounces

Unboxing

The Belkin Boost↑Up wireless charger comes in a box with a built-in magnetically hinged door. Opening the door reveals the product through a plastic window.

The rear of the box differentiates the 15W available with this wireless charger compared with the 9W available from Samsung and the 5W available from Apple.

Plastic molded packaging protects the charging pad and the power adapter inside the box. Also included is a small card that explains, in Emoji, the steps required to set this device up.

Design of the Wireless Charger

The Belkin Boost↑Up wireless charger has a modern aesthetic that makes the unit stand out whether it is charging a device or not. The overall shape of the pad resembles a saucer which gives it the appearance of hovering from above.  The black matte synthetic rubber surface barely reflects any light and consequently provides substantial contrast to the silver-toned rim of the charger and embossed central ring. The central ring breaks up the surface into eye-pleasing proportions. Specifically, the outside diameter is close to 11.5 cm and the diameter of the inside circle is about 7.1 cm; the ratio is the golden ratio.  The central ring also illustrates the target for wireless charging.

The top has an LED indicator at the 3 o’clock position that indicates green for a good wireless signal and red for a misalignment or foreign object detection. However, there is a chance that the device placement can completely obscure the LED.  The LED doesn’t need to be in sight, but if there were more than one LED it would make it more likely that the LED was in view.

A non-slip pad completely covers the base of the charger in contact with the surface it is resting on. There is a chance that this base may transfer more heat to what it is resting on because of the large surface area of the foot, however, I have not seen this occur. The sides of the charger are made of a silver-toned plastic.

The AC adapter has a plastic shroud that fits perfectly into the notch at the 12 o’clock position in the picture above. This seems to be an unnecessary design element because this part of the charger is always out of view. At least it will be somewhat obvious what device the ac adapter belongs to.

The power supply is switching which means it will not draw that much power when not in use. It can supply up to 24W to the charger. If the charger operates at 62% efficiency (15W/24W) then this isn’t unreasonable for this technology.

Operation

The wireless charger is ready to use as soon as power is applied. When the unit is plugged into the power supply the LED illuminates briefly indicating that device is ready to use.

Placing the phone on the wireless charger immediately starts the charging process. Once the battery reaches 100% on the phone the charging LED remains on and trickle charges the iPhone. Once the iPhone battery is full the LED turns off indicating that the wireless charging pad is no longer functioning.

The LED turns red when a large piece of aluminum foil is placed between the phone and the wireless charger pad. I could not duplicate the off-center condition – either the phone charged or it didn’t.

Performance

In a test, the iPhone battery was charged from 10% to 60% in 70 minutes. This is faster than the charge rate for a device that I know only outputs 5W, hence the output of the Belkin is improved over the standard charger performance, even if it isn’t charging the full 15W available to QC compliant phones (like the Samsung)

When the iPhone is not in a case, it will still charge with 9.85 mm of Post-it notes between the phone and the wireless charger.

What I like

  • Fast charging rate

What needs to be improved

  • LED not always visible
  • Cost

Final thoughts

The Belkin Boost↑Up wireless charger is a fast wireless charger. However, it is probably the most expensive wireless charger available. If you aren’t willing to use a cable to achieve the fastest charge speed available then this is the wireless charger to get. If all you need is a charger to rest your phone on for a majority of the day then a slower rate charger will probably suit your needs.

Price: $69.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Belkin.

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Belkin Boost↑Up wireless charger review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 3, 2018 at 10:00 am.

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The Promote Systems Promote Control puts you in complete control of your DSLR camera


Every so often, I surf around the internet looking for that luxury photo/video accessory that I don’t really need but would be a luxury to buy. While this practice can be fun, it can sometimes reveal items that are so expensive that relative to my budget, the experience can only be described as having “champagne tastes and Pepsi pockets”.

Recently I stumbled across the reasonably priced Promote Systems Promote Control which is an advanced all-in-one remote control for DSLR cameras. This remote control claims to be highly customizable to user preferences, and to be a replacement and extension of manufacturer-specific remote controls. Its specifications include an advanced Time-Lapse mode with optional sequence start delay, the ability to perform a fully automatic, user-defined, delay for Mirror lock-up before every picture is taken, and it can automatically put the camera into Bulb mode when performing bracketed exposures longer than 30 seconds. There are also many more features which are too many to list here.

Firmware upgrades can be performed via its USB interface and a PC, and it is powered by two AA batteries or via its external AC jack. The Promote Control is stated to be compatible with digital cameras supporting PTP/MTP protocol for controlling DSLR functions via USB.

If you would like to learn more about the Promote Systems Promote Control, or if you are convinced that you are ready to pick one up, you can head over to B&H Photo Video to check it out. The base package costs a mere $329.

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The Promote Systems Promote Control puts you in complete control of your DSLR camera originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 3, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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Tame that nest of snakes in your laptop bag with the Side Winder

Chargers for MacBooks have permanently-attached cables that can be hard to roll up and control for neat transport.  The chargers used to have little flip-out wings that were designed to wind the thin cable around without stressing the attachment point, but those wings are missing from the chargers now.  Even when they were there, they didn’t really work well for the thick power cable, just the side with the MagSafe connector.  The folks at Fuse decided to do something to tame the nest of cable snakes with their Side Winder reel organizer for MacBook.

The Side Winder is a white plastic reel that holds the charger in the center.  Snap the Side Winder closed and reel up both cables into a neat package.  To use the charger, you pull on the ends of both cables to unwind them.  You can completely pull the cables out or just pull out the length you need to connect everything up.  When you’re ready to pack things away, Fuse says you can wind up your cables in under 5 seconds.  And the Side Winder protects your cables and prevents fraying.

The Side Winder is available in two sizes to fit either the MagSafe 1 or 2 charger or the USB-C charger.  It’s compatible with the 45W, 60W, 61W, 85W, and 87W chargers.  The normal price for the reel is $42.99, but it’s available now for $28.99 at Fuse.

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Tame that nest of snakes in your laptop bag with the Side Winder originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 3, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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Is this April Fools or real news?

Is this for real?

When JLab has a press release on April 1 for their Rewind Wireless Headphones, I have to wonder if it is for real or not. Nostalgic 80’s items are prevalent in many of today’s TV programs and Movies. Films like Ready Player One and Guardians of the Galaxy and TV programs like Stranger Things and The Americans use 80’s nostalgia to target viewers appetite of reliving fond childhood memories. The item certainly looks like it belongs in the 80’s, with the spring steel band and foam earpads. Would anyone want to use these in this day and age if there is a possibility people will think it is the authentic article from almost 40 years ago? Then again, maybe it would be interesting to be able to relive, in some sense, the good ole’ days of strapping headphones on and listening to hiss and warble.

Modern Day Specs

Even if they look old school, these headphones come with an impressive line-up of features. The features include 12 hour play time, custom EQ settings, two colors of foam ear pads, and built-in microphones. That’s right, these babies are Bluetooth, which means you’ll need an adapter to use them to listen to your mixtapes. They (supposedly) sell for $20.00 and come with a 1-year warranty and a 30-day money-back satisfaction guarantee.

Click here to find out more info from JLab.

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Is this April Fools or real news? originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 2, 2018 at 8:49 pm.

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