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Florence is headed this way, and my thoughts have turned to emergency preparedness

NEWS – Here in North Carolina, we’ve experienced way too many hurricanes coming ashore over the years.  Florence seems to headed our way right now, and it’s time to think about laying in supplies in case we experience power outages and disturbances in other services.  The SolarPuff light would be a good light to have on hand in case of such emergencies, or it would be great to use for camping and other outdoor activities.

The SolarPuff is made of water-resistant and recyclable PET, so it’s suitable for indoor or outdoor use.  The small cube weighs 2.6 ounces and folds down to only 0.25″ thick, and it can be hung on a backpack with the solar panel exposed to charge the batteries.  Opened up, the SolarPuff can light up a 100 ft² room.  It has three modes: low, high, and flashing emergency light.  You can expect up to 12 hours of light from batteries that have had 12 hours of charging time.

It’s available in a soft-white version or a bright white version.  Each is $29.99 at Amazon.

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Florence is headed this way, and my thoughts have turned to emergency preparedness originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 10, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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Shinola Bookshelf Speakers review

REVIEW – You gotta hand it to Shinola. This hometown Detroit company has shaken up the watch industry with their genuine American-made timepieces. They’ve also developed a slew of other products, from bicycles to leather goods. But it’s Shinola’s new Bookshelf Speakers that have attracted attention since their entrance into the extremely competitive audio arena. To get the sound they wanted, Shinola joined with one of the most respected names in the professional audio market—Barefoot Sound. But can a partnership between a lifestyle brand and a pro audio company produce a consumer speaker you would want to listen to every day?

What is it?

The Shinola Bookshelf Speakers are a pair of self-powered (no amplifier needed) Bluetooth and USB compatible speakers made in partnership with Barefoot Sound. They come in either a black or natural wood cabinet. They’re built by Barefoot Sound in Portland, Oregon.

Specs

  • Enclosure: Hand finished oak composite cabinet
  • Power output: 100W RMS per channel (300 watts peak)
  • Inputs: 3.5mm Stereo Jack, RCA L/R, S/PDIF, USB Type-C, Bluetooth
  • Outputs: S/PDIF
  • Soft Dome Tweeter: 1 in.
  • Woofer: 6.5 in.
  • Impedance: 4ohms
  • Frequency Response: 48Hz – 22kHz
  • Amplifier: Class D
  • Dimensions: 8 in. x 9 in. x 12 in. 
  • Weight” 17.55 lbs (active); 16.35 lbs (passive)

What’s in the box

  • Two speakers
  • Power cable
  • Banana plug speaker cables
  • USB-C cable

Design and features

The Shinola Bookshelf Speakers are solid in both weight and build. The cabinet is made of an oak composite braced by medium-density fiberboard (MDF). This construction makes the speakers resistant to unwanted vibrations. The corners are rounded giving them a smooth, modern look. Magnetic speaker grills can be easily attached or left off—your choice. The heavy-duty “banana plug” cable and woven fabric covered power cord are a step up in quality one usually gets with speakers.  

Each speaker has a 6.5 in. woofer and a 1 in. soft-dome dual ring radiator tweeter. This unusual tweeter design helps reduce distortion and is the same tweeter used in Barefoot Audio’s own studio monitors costing thousands of dollars. The woofer was co-designed by Barefoot and Shinola. There’s a bass port at the rear of each speaker which adds to the impact of lower frequency notes and allows air-movement for the woofer to operate freely within the cabinet.

The speakers are powered by a 300 watt built-in amplifier—no receiver is needed. Music can be played from any source—from a turntable to a digital or analog computer connection to a smart device via Bluetooth. The rear panel on the left (powered) speaker has a variety of inputs and selections depending on what your music source is. Because of the button layout, input choices can be confusing at first and a bit annoying if you like to constantly switch from this to that source. 

My favored setup is a digital line from my iMac to the speakers. This way, I can rely on Shinola speaker’s internal digital audio converter (DAC) which is better than my iMac’s DAC. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the cleanest of digital paths. Some computers (like my iMac) have what is called an optical digital connection (S/PDIF) which uses a fiber-optic cable that’s compatible with standard 3.5mm audio jacks. In other words, I have digital coming out of the headphone port. However, the digital input on the Shinola speakers is not compatible with fiber optic cable. My workaround was a headphone amp (an extra expense) that unites the two incompatible digital methods. Confused? Me, too. I got it to work, but I shouldn’t have had to go to this kind of trouble for what should have been a simple connection. (Note that Apple has removed the headphone port/optical digital connection on newer iMacs—thanks a lot, Apple)

Because of the digital connection issue, I could have said forget it and just used Bluetooth, headphone port to AUX, standard RCA cable or USB. However, Bluetooth doesn’t sound quite as good as direct digital (but it does come close) and using the AUX route means that the iMac’s DAC is used for converting audio to analog—not an option if I wanted the speakers to sound the best they could. It became a good news/bad news issue. The bad news is that I had to figure out how to make it work. The good news is that Shinola has built in many ways to connect the Bookshelf Speakers to various sources—and I’ll take that over a limited selection any day.

There are two slightly annoying anomalies regarding the Shinola Bookshelf Speakers: When powered on, they emit a loud and low bass thump. I’m told that Shinola has fixed this, but it’s present on the speakers I have, so I point it out. Also, the speakers will go to sleep if quiet for a while and the only way to wake them is by pressing the small Source button on the rear panel. There is no remote or on/off button at the front of the speaker, so having to feel for the button at the rear of the speaker is not user friendly. Plus, the Source button is close to the Bluetooth Pairing button, making is easy to press the Pairing button by accident. 

Speaking of the Source button, it has to be pressed each time to switch among the five sources: AUX, S/PDIF (digital), Bluetooth, USB and RCA. Again, there is no remote, so you have to reach behind to select the source. Each choice has a matching indicator light, but the lights are also on the rear panel making it more difficult than it needs to be.

Bluetooth pairing with my iPhone was easy and straightforward. And boy, does Bluetooth from my overpriced Apple device sound good! After listening for some time, I can say that the Shinola Bookshelf Speakers offer the best sounding Bluetooth connection I’ve heard yet. In fact, Bluetooth coming from my iPhone sounds better than Bluetooth from my older iMac.

Many speakers may sound their best at either lower or louder volume, but the Shinola Bookshelf Speakers sound great at all volume levels. That unusual tweeter mentioned earlier produces all the necessary higher frequencies without being overly bright or harsh. There’s no need for a subwoofer with these speakers. Bass produced is deep and impactful, giving music a fuller, more rounded sound. 

The Bookshelf Speakers have a relaxed sound quality and reproduce music with ease. Here’s what this means: When you’re sitting in front of the speakers, close your eyes and try to let the music take you places. If a speaker can do that, then it has achieved its goal. That may seem like a weird comment, but it’s true. Music from some speakers will move me and (for whatever reason) music from other speakers is just sound. My music heard through the Shinola Bookshelf Speakers emotionally affects me in a very good way.

The human voice is always a good test of a speaker and when you combine many voices, it’s better. Do you hear a wall of vocals or can you pick out distinct voices among the crowd?  Alan Parson’s song, “Breakdown” ends with a choir contrasting the lead singer’s urgent wailing. The effect—especially at higher volume—is spine tingling. The Shinola Bookshelf Speakers are able to pinpoint individual voices among the many. The same can be said for “Bless the Lord, O My Soul” by the Chamber Choir Kiev. This Rachmaninov masterpiece will make your hairs stand up. Once again, Shinola’s speakers let you hear individuals from within the massive choir.

Johnny Cash released some of his most raw and uncompromising work shortly before he died. “The Man Comes Around” is delivered with the urgency of a country preacher backed by some excellent acoustic guitar and deep piano playing. The Shinola Bookshelf Speakers handle the low piano notes while also delivering higher frequencies from the guitar—all distinct but blended beautifully.

The sad Elton John classic, “Indian Sunset” from “Madman Across the Water” features elements of John singing alone, followed by a thunderous backing band fronted by violin and cello. The Shinola Bookshelf Speakers deliver all the power and pathos wrapped up together in this one song. The cellos go quite low but retain clarity with no hint of distortion.

What I like

Solidly built. The Shinola Bookshelf Speakers are that rare speaker that lets you get lost in your music. I could enjoy them all day.  

What needs to be improved

They’re priced out of reach of many people. The back panel buttons are not user-friendly. Creating a remote would be helpful. 

Final Thoughts

The Shinola Bookshelf Speakers are most definitely expensive. But if you have the means and are looking for a pair of self-powered, wireless speakers that can blend into any decor and will help your music take you places, don’t overlook them. 

Price: $1,500 US
Where to buy: www.shinola.com
Source: The review sample of this product was provided by Shinola. Visit www.shinola.com for more info.

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Shinola Bookshelf Speakers review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 10, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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LOFTEK 3D Printing Moon Lamp with Touch Control review

REVIEW – Last year, one of the Christmas gifts we gave our daughter was a 3D-printed moon lamp.  It was supposed to show the Moon’s surface features so that you could feel the textures of the mountains and the craters, but that lamp was disappointingly smooth.  When the Gadgeteer was offered the chance to review the LOFTEK version of a 3D-printed moon, I asked to be selected.  I had reviewed a cute little LOFTEK Outdoor/Indoor Rechargeable LED Light cube a few years back, and I was very pleased with it.  I knew the LOFTEK 3D Printing Moon Lamp with Touch Control would be far superior to the disappointing Christmas gift, and I was right!

Hardware specs

  • Material: PVC/PLA
  • Body color: White
  • Lighting Color: white and reddish yellow
  • Bulb: LED
  • Wattage: 1W
  • Voltage: DC 3.7V
  • Battey capacity: 300mAh
  • Charging time: 2-3 hours
  • Working Time: 10 hours or more (depends on brightness)
  • Power supply: USB DC 5V

What’s in the box?

  • Moon light
  • USB charging cable (an optional AC adapter is available as a separate purchase)
  • Wooden base
  • Instruction guide

Above, you see the wood stand as it arrives.  To assemble, you simply insert the pegs into the holes and push.

When assembled, the stand sort of looks like an Escher drawing, or maybe the chair conformation of a cyclohexane molecule.

LOFTEK offers the 3D moon lamp in both 6″ and 7″ diameters.  I received the 7″ model.

The lamp has a 300mAh lithium battery inside that can provide up to 10 hours of light, depending on the brightness you’re using.  In the top image for the review, you’ll see the moon lamp sitting on the stand, tilted so that a circular metal connector is seen on the bottom left.  This serves two purposes:  1) This is where you’ll plug in the USB charging cable when the lamp needs charging.  2) This metal piece also serves as the on/off switch, the color-selection switch, and the dimming switch.  Just touch the metal to adjust the lamp.

As you can see in both the top image and the image here, the surface of the LOFTEK lamp has bumps and depressions that you can both see and feel.  These bumps and depressions “perfectly reproduce the lunar surface with data from NASA” – at least as well as they can in a 7″ size.  It certainly looks like the images of the moon I compared the lamp to.

LOFTEK says the lamp is printed of safe, clean acrylic, with no toxic chemicals used.  It has an LED bulb, so it’s energy efficient.

The image just above shows the reddish mode.  This picture reminds me of the blood moon we recently experienced.  While you can see the red light in this image, it’s more dramatic in a dark room.

This image shows the white light mode.  I took it with no flash in a dark room.  You can see that the light produced by the LOFTEK moon isn’t enough to read by, but it is great as a nightlight or as an accent light.

This image also best shows the incredible detail on the surface of the 3D moon.  You can not only feel the surface features when you run your hands over the lamp, you can see it easily with your eyes.  LOFTEK did an incredible job printing this lamp.

The LOFTEK lamp is incredible, but I find myself wishing there was some way that you could hang this lamp from the ceiling and control it with a remote control.

I have included two very short videos to demonstrate the operation of the LOFTEK lamp and to try to show the surface textures, though I think the image above does a perfect job of that.

This video shows how to turn on, select color, and dim the light.  The first touch turns on the lamp with the reddish color.  Another turn selects the whiter color.  To dim, just touch and hold until the desired brightness level has been reached.  Another touch turns the lamp off.

In this video, I’m just showing you some of the surface features.

What I like

  • The LOFTEK 3D-printed moon has incredible surface details that are obvious to your eyes as well as to your touch
  • Color choices can give the lamp a normal white appearance or give it a “blood moon” appearance
  • Ability to dim the light makes it useful as a nightlight

What needs to be improved

  • Nothing needs improvement, but I would love the ability to hang this from the ceiling – which would necessitate using a remote for the adjustments

Final thoughts

The LOFTEK 3D Printing Moon Lamp with Touch Control is a wonderful accent light or night light.  The surface details are incredible.  If only you could hang it from the ceiling, it would feel like you had the Moon in your room!

Price: $34.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by LOFTEK

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LOFTEK 3D Printing Moon Lamp with Touch Control review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 9, 2018 at 3:43 pm.

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Wiivv custom fit sandals review

Flip flop type sandals are a mainstay here in south Texas.  It gets so hot here I swear even the most ventilated tennis shoes feel to0 hot.  Going barefoot, however, is just asking to get the bottoms of your feet cooked.   I, however, have several foot issues that can make wearing flip flops a painful prospect. When I was given the opportunity to test drive a pair of new custom fit Wiivv sandals I jumped at the opportunity to see if I could finally find the paradise my feet have been looking for.  Read on to see how they worked out for me.

What is it?

Wiivv custom fit sandals are flip flop type sandals that are custom built using images of your feet.  They are designed specifically for your feet and are supposed to hug and support them without compromising style.

What’s in the box?

In the pictures above you can see the shoes come in a pretty nice white box.  It is a narrow shoe box since it is only holding a pair of flip flop type sandals. When you take the lid off you are presented with the second picture.  The turquoise pamphlet describes some of the features of the sandals that I will get into later.  Under that top piece of cardboard, the sandals lie.

The Ordering Process

The ordering process for the sandals is pretty cool.  You go on to their website and pick out the men’s or women’s custom fit sandal.    From there you can pick out the strap color and the arch color.  The straps come in 3 colors: black, navy and plum.  You also have the choice of brown leather if you want something a touch more dressy.   You just need to decide how you are going to use the sandals.  If you plan using them in or near water do not order the leather.    The arch color choices are black, grey, teal or coral.  I chose black.     After your color choices are complete, you simply add to the cart and pay for your order.  When you place your order you have to give your email address.  This is very important because they will send a ‘magic’ link to your email account.  Note – if you placed the order straight through their mobile app you will not get a link as you will be right in place to start the measuring process.

If you did not place the order through the mobile app you need to download the Wiivv application to your phone.   It supports both Android and iPhone.  Then you simply check your email and click on the link on your phone.  It will take you into the app where you will start the measuring process.  Basically, you are taking 2 sets of pictures.  The top of your feet and the sides of your feet where your arches are.  The first photo below demonstrates how you take a picture of the top of your foot.  You simply get an 8 1/2 by 11-inch piece of paper and place it against the wall.  You then stand barefooted with your feet shoulder width apart.  Place one foot where the heel is on the very back edge of the paper against the wall.  You will take a picture of both of your feet.

The next step is to take a picture of the side of your foot where the arch resides.  You place the phone against the wall like the picture below shows.  They give you the outline of a foot so you can position your foot properly.  When it lines up the picture is taken automatically.  I found it worked a lot like taking the picture of a check to deposit in the bank.

Design and Features

The Wiivvs are really a nice looking pair of sandals when viewed from the top.  You can see the leather looks really nice and it is nice and soft against the skin. The footbed is also nice and soft and has grooves cut in to help your feet stay in contact with the sandal.

The next shot below is showing the side of the sandal where the arch support is.  I do have pretty high arches.  I find this is where the sandals start to look different from your normal flip-flop.  I do not think it looks bad, but I would think if you were to wear these to the beach it might be really easy to get some sand in them.  The other thing I noticed is that this arch support does tend to make a bit of noise when walking.  It has gotten better over time as they break in, but when I first wore them, I found them rather noisy.

In that picture above you can see how the toe strap attaches to the side of the sandal.  It can be popped off like in the pictures below and set further forward or back as needed.  I found this a very nice feature.  This allowed me to tighten the strap by a single notch which keeps my foot from sliding too far forward in the sandal.

Another nice feature is that you can also change out the strap completely.  So maybe you want the leather for around town, but also want one of the other colors to wear around the beach.  In the picture above to the right on the side where the arch support is you can see a small strip of metal.  This is a handy dandy tool used to remove the strap from its mounting point on the front of the shoe.  In the picture below you can see the tool outside the storage slot.  You would pick it up and insert it right where the toe strap is mounted and turn it counter clockwise to unlock the strap.

The next two images show the sandals on my feet.  I swear these things feel pretty awesome.  They are really molded to my feet and do feel wonderful.  You can see how my left foot does have an issue with toe lean which I will blame on that poor foot for having to compensate for a broken ankle on the right foot for almost 2 months.  On the second picture, you can see how the arch support is hugging my high arch very nicely.   When I compare these sandals to another brand of sandals that I will often wear after a long day of being on my feet.  I find that my old favorites have a lot more cushion but the Wiivvs have a lot more support.  I think if I were going to have to spend a full day in flip flops I would have to choose the Wiivvs for their full foot support but I would still go with my other cushy sandals for an evening sitting around the campfire after a long day’s hike.

What I like

These sandals simply hug your feet.  Even if they do get wet it would take a lot for my foot to slip out of the sandal to the side.  I know I have washed my car in other sandals and had my foot slip off to the side of the sandal when wet.  I love the adjustability of the strap and the fact that you can change them out for other colors.

What can be improved

The only minor complaint I have about the sandal itself is the amount of noise it makes when walking.  Hopefully, as time goes by they will get quieter.

Price: $129.00
Where to buy: Wiivv
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Wiivv.

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Wiivv custom fit sandals review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 9, 2018 at 10:00 am.

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The secret to a comfy travel pillow lies with a turtle

NEWS – Do you ever wake up with a stiff, sore neck if you doze off while commuting by planes, trains, or automobiles?  The Trtl Support Travel Pillow is designed to appear you have a soft, hypoallergenic polyester fleece scarf wrapped around your neck, but a “neck brace effect is created by the internal support system, designed to fit snugly between your face and shoulder, with strengthening ribs and a foam pad providing cushioned support in a neutral position.”

The Trtl pillow will keep your head and neck in a comfortable, supported position whenever you have to sleep upright.  It’s designed to fit in your travel bag, so you will have it whenever you need it.  The Trtl Support Travel Pillow is available in red, coral, black, or gray for $30.00 at Amazon.

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The secret to a comfy travel pillow lies with a turtle originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 9, 2018 at 9:02 am.

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