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Keep your coffee in a Coffee Vault for freshness

NEWS – Coffee is expensive, so you want to make sure you get the most of the beans you buy.  There’s a lot of information about how you should store coffee until you brew it – keep it in the freezer, keep it in jars of various kinds, seal it in plastic bags, etc, etc.  The Coffee Vault folks offer a storage solution that is designed to protect coffee from flavor loss until you’re ready to use it.

There are two containers in this kit.  The bigger container can store 16 ounces of beans.  When you grind some of the coffee, store the grounds in the smaller container until you need it.  Each metal canister has a custom-sized scoop that stores right on the side of the canister.  The canisters are square, so they’ll fit together to save space on your counters.

Once coffee is roasted to release those flavorful sugars and essential oils in the beans, the environment starts robbing coffee of its flavor.  There are four factors that are the enemies of roasted coffee.

  • Light – Glass jars let light in, harming the flavor of your beans.
  • Air – Bags or non-airtight canisters let in flavor-diminishing air.
  • Moisture – Outside air lets moisture build up, weakening the flavor.
  • CO2 – Fresh beans release CO2, which must be vented.

Coffee Vault canisters block out light, air, and moisture.  Plus, the lids have patent-pending vents to release the carbon dioxide.  

The Coffee Vault Compact Coffee Canister Set is available at Amazon for $23.77.  Visit the Coffee Vault website and you can get a 60%-off coupon to use to purchase the canister set from Amazon.

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Keep your coffee in a Coffee Vault for freshness originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 1, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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GE WiFi Connected Appliances will now work directly with Google Assistant

NEWS – GE has announced that the will be the first appliance manufacturer to work directly with Google Assistant. That means that instead of saying, “Hey Google, ask Geneva Home to preheat the oven to 425 degrees,” you’ll now be able to say to your GE WiFi Connected appliance, “Hey Google, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.” Yes, you will now be able to bypass GE’s Geneva Home Action assistant altogether, saving time and awkwardness speaking lengthy commands.

GE offers a variety of WiFi Connected appliances that include ovens, microwaves, dishwashers, washers, dryers, refrigerators, and air conditioners. A software update will add the new Google Assistant capability.

You can shop GE WiFi Connected Appliances by visiting geappliances.com

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GE WiFi Connected Appliances will now work directly with Google Assistant originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 31, 2018 at 12:00 pm.

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SpotCam video AI service review

REVIEW – SpotCam, purveyors of Wi-Fi video camera solutions for indoors, outdoors, and doorbell applications is an industry leader for innovative design,  free 24-hour cloud video recording, and connectivity with IFTTT and Conrad Connect. The cloud platform now features optional SpotCam video AI services that actively detect specified events and provide instant notification of the occurrence on your mobile or email. Read on to see what I think!

What is it?

The SpotCam video AI service has six different subscription-based components that can be added to a user’s account in order to increase the automated surveillance capabilities of the camera.  The plans reviewed in this post include Missing Object Detection, Virtual Fence, Human Detection, and Vehicle Detection. There are also Pet Detection and Fall Detection components available that are not reviewed. All of these solutions are cloud-based. No change to the installed hardware is required to enable these features.

Design and features

Each of the video AI components is configured independently. The Video AI system is configured on the web by clicking on the green gear icon below the subscribed SpotCam preview image on the My SpotCam tab of the My Account menu.

The web browser must support javascript, but since all configuration is on a static image, flash is not required (as it is in order to view movies).

If configuring this using the mobile app, click the gear icon on the subscribed SpotCam preview image and scroll to the bottom of the screen.

Once you click the Video AI item the following menu appears

Each type of detection includes an AI parameter menu. The AI parameters include setting if the camera is mounted inside or outside, indicating if the camera is mounted horizontally, vertically, or slanted, and, in some cases, setting the minimum and maximum object size that can be interpreted.

When the Video AI registers a detection it lists it in the events tab and it places a marker on the timeline of the subscribed camera.

The image below is the “Human Detection” of me taking a picture of the camera for this post.

On the web, the AI markers sit above the audio and motion event markers on the video timeline.

The review is based on a SpotCam that I have mounted outside in my front yard. The camera is mounted upside-down below the front soffit of my roof and faces almost exactly due west. For several days of the review, the family was on vacation so the cars in the driveway didn’t move at all.

In addition to making a notification in the timeline of the subscribed camera video record, the Video AI can be configured to send an email with a link to an image that corresponds to the detected event. A green box indicates the area that triggered the event in the image.  You can see a green box surrounding me walking towards my car.

The image is unfortunately only a link to an image on a google server and not an attachment. The image expires as soon as the subscribed network video recording period expires.

The latency for the emails varied considerably. For example, The Human detection emails I received on one day (my son was having friends over so there was above average traffic) were received within minutes or hours later. Also, for what it is worth, I do not believe there is a way to Americanize the date format.

received at 9:13 AM (10 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "09:05:26 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 9:27 AM (10 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "09:07:08 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 9:31 AM (10 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "08:13:26 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 9:32 AM (10 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "09:14:17 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 10:18 AM (9 hours ago), "Human Detected” at "10:16:44 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 10:42 AM (9 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "10:03:56 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 11:02 AM (8 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "10:22:54 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 11:35 AM (8 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "11:32:10 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 12:40 PM (7 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "12:39:48 PM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 12:42 PM (7 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "12:32:03 PM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 12:47 PM (7 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "12:38:05 PM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 1:00 PM (6 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "12:59:39 PM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 2:36 PM (5 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "01:17:02 PM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 2:46 PM (5 hours ago), "Human Detected” at "09:59:18 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 3:32 PM (4 hours ago), "Human Detected” at "02:10:06 PM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 4:07 PM (3 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "08:59:03 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 4:07 PM (3 hours ago), “Human Detected” at "09:00:52 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 6:06 PM (1 hour ago), “Human Detected” at "08:37:51 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.
received at 6:37 PM (1 hour ago), “Human Detected” at "09:09:47 AM, 25/08/2018 ”.

Missing Object

The Missing Object component is designed to determine if objects within a specified region of the image change over time. Only one region can be configured for a missing object detection and the region must be a simple quadrilateral. (Actually, the program will allow drawing a “bowtie” shape but I did not test how this performs.) For this review, I selected the region of the driveway to test if the camera can correctly determine that the cars have moved. During the five vacation days, I received nine notifications that the cars have moved, all (thankfully) false positives. Most of the detections were based on the changing reflection of the sky on the chrome and windshield of the cars, or sunlight variations on the yard. One of the notifications, at 3 AM, was because a moth flew in front of the camera. Unfortunately, when I finally did move one of the cars at 8:14 am, no missing object event was triggered. The image below illustrates that the Video AI thought that the top of a tree and the bumper of the car had gone missing.

Virtual Fence

The virtual fence allows the user to draw a line separating two areas on the image and designate the AI to monitor and detect any objects that cross the line.  Only one fence can be created for the virtual fence detection. The AI can determine in which direction the travel across the virtual fence occurs; therefore, the virtual fence can provide notification of traffic in the forward, reverse, or both directions across the fence. When I enabled the virtual fence, I received 143 notifications within 9 days. Many of the notifications were for trees or bugs at night. Like the human detection example above, some detections came in very quickly while others took hours to appear in my email.






The system did correctly determine I was cutting the lawn and walking up the driveway late at night. The virtual fence does not have a parameter to limit the size of the detected image, so there doesn’t seem to be a way to lower the number of false-positives.

Human Detection

The purpose of the human detection component, as described by SpotCam, is to identify only those motion activities that are based on the presence of human beings. The AI parameter of this component includes a relative size selection for both height and width. It should be possible to detect people near or far in a scene based on their size and the perspective of the camera but I didn’t test this out. The Video AI did a good job of identifying people in the scenes; only one scene identified a tree as a person. As discussed before, the latency on receiving notifications varied considerably. The Human Detection component doesn’t have a mask to exclude detection within certain areas; if it did then some of the detections that occur high in the trees could be avoided.




Vehicle Detection

The purpose of the Vehicle Detection component, as described by SpotCam, is to notify the user when a vehicle is detected in the video image.  The AI parameter of this component includes a relative size selection for both height and width. It’s unclear if this parameter can be used to detect near and far vehicles based on perspective, or the relative size of the vehicle (say a Smart car versus a garbage truck.)  The Video AI did a good job of identifying vehicles in the scenes; only one scene identified a tree as a vehicle. As discussed before, the latency on receiving notifications varied considerably. Like the Human Detection component, the Vehicle detection doesn’t have a mask which will exclude detection from certain areas; if it did then some of the detections that occur high in the trees could be avoided. SpotCam warns that the accuracy of this detection might be affected by the headlights of the vehicle during night-time. To ensure proper identification the camera should be placed to avoid being aimed at headlights to improve the accuracy in the night. I did see one capture of path light illumination that was mistakenly interpreted as headlights.



What I like

  • Good highlighting of a video stream
  • green boxes identify the image that triggers AI

What needs to be improved

  • Images are links, not attachments.
  • would be beneficial to “train” the system to recognize “missing objects”
  • not more than one “missing object” area per camera
  • should have video masking on multiple Video AI components.
  • virtual fence size would help eliminate false-positives
  • the latency of email alerts is inconsistent

Final thoughts

The SpotCam Video AI service is groundbreaking in its scope but still has a few bugs to figure out. The number of false-positives is too large to reliably use as an email alert system. I can see that this product may become more robust as computing power, programming, and usage increases.

Price: $3.95/mo, $39/year for “missing object”; $9.95/mo, $99/year for “fall detection”; $5.95/mo, $59/year for other plans
Where to buy: SpotCam
Source: The sample for this review was provided by SpotCam.

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SpotCam video AI service review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 31, 2018 at 11:00 am.

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Can the Treblab X5 earbuds take a bite out of the Apple crowd?


NEWS – When Apple first introduced their AirPods, I was not at all intrigued by the design or the cost. Don’t get me wrong, I am a daily all-day user of the iPad and iPhone, but their earbuds were just not appealing to me. I do believe that it was a combination of their design, with the two small stick-like pieces that more resembled earrings, along with their white color that made them as conspicuous as possible. Since then, I have chatted with many folks that swear that they sound incredible and are worth disregarding any of the pesky preferences that I may have that may be stopping me from purchasing them.

For the past few months, I have opted to test and review other wireless earbuds in an ongoing search for the best earbuds for my personal taste, and I have continued to stay away from Apple’s product. This is why it is so strange when I came across the TREBLAB X5 earbuds and became strangely intrigued by this product. They follow a similar design to the AirPods which I initially so despised, but I seem to be more accepting because of the black color that looks more gadget-like to me. They are water resistant and are designed for use when exercising and even when competing in sports events. They claim to offer the latest in Bluetooth technology and include Beryllium speakers.

If you would like to purchase the TREBLAB X5 earbuds, you can head over to Amazon and pick them up for $79.97. There is currently a coupon that is available on the Treblab website that can be used on Amazon, and it will reduce the price to $47.97.

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Can the Treblab X5 earbuds take a bite out of the Apple crowd? originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 31, 2018 at 10:00 am.

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Conbrov 1080P USB charger hidden camera review

REVIEW – I’ve taken a liking to home security since some vehicles near my home were burglarized. I have several security cameras, but, since they look like cameras, if someone was to enter my home, they would like to be the first thing to be destroyed, taken, you get the idea.  I’ve toyed with the idea of having something more discrete and volunteered to have a look at Conbrov’s WiFi 1080P USB charger camera.

What is it?

Conbrov’s WiFi 1080P USB charger camera is a plug-in security camera. It looks like an oversized USB charger and equipped with a working 1 Amp USB port, an internal backup battery, and night vision.

Hardware Specs:

  • 1080P resolution, 160° viewing angle, 15fps
  • Internal 500mA battery1 Amp USB port
  • Selectable night vision modes
  • WiFi
  • Maximum SD card capacity of 64GB
  • JustMyCam app

What’s in the Box?

  • Camera
  • Instruction manual
  • Wall plug adapter
  • Conbrov VIP card
  • Amazon “warning” card (covert cameras with audio are illegal to sell on Amazon in the U.S.A)
  • Unicef $1 donation card for submitting a review

Design and Features:

First, let’s address the elephant in the room. I am not a pervert, deviant, voyeur or creep. I have no intention of using this camera for unscrupulous, immoral or illegal purposes. My sole intention is to use this camera to supplement my home security system in a common area of my home. It will never be placed in a location that would compromise the privacy or modesty of anyone living in or visiting my home.

The camera arrived in a strong, largely black box about 3-1/2 X 3-1/2 X 5 inches. The camera is protected by a cardboard “nest” and wrapped in a plastic bag. The camera itself measures 3-1/4 X 2 X 1-1/4 inches. The construction is largely plastic, with sliding doors to access the controls.

Controls are basic, on/off, SD card slot, reset, microphone on/off, and motion detect mode. There are two LEDs with status indicators, but they can’t be turned off. They are under the doors so they are not obvious, but some of the lighting from the LEDs illuminates the inside of the camera and is visible through the cooling vents.

According to the instructions:

I grabbed a 64 GB SD card to format as FAT32 only… Hmmm, really? Windows limits FAT32 to a maximum of 32 GB. There are third-party apps that can format FAT32 drives larger than 32 GB, but the manual specifically states to use Windows only to format the card. So….

I grabbed a 32 GB SD, format it as FAT32, and started through the installation process. I loaded the JustMyCam app on my phone, connected to my network and connected to the camera, all relatively painless.

The app is intuitive and connects to the camera quickly. It allows viewing a live video feed or access to the library of 10-minute videos that the camera records in a loop after the SD card has been filled.  There is even an internal 500mAbattery to keep it running if unplugged or the power goes out. Everything works as described.

Setup functions allow mirroring and flipping of the image, creation of a passcode to safeguard recorded videos, alarm scheduling for mothing detection and recording, SD card management, image management, and network setting.

Image quality is sharp, but with a distorted “fish-eye lens” appearance. More significantly, the image cannot be changed from portrait to landscape. Switching to “full screen” squishes the portrait image into a landscape format, making the image barely usable.

Night vision capabilities are quite good with plenty of illumination for the majority of rooms.

A portrait image just isn’t practical for home security, where a wider field of view is a necessity.  Because of this, I won’t be using this camera as I originally intended as a backup for my Canary camera system. Instead, I’ll probably use it in my garage to make sure I’ve closed the door.

What I like

  • Small size
  • Good image quality
  • SD storage

What needs to be improved?

  • Needs landscape image capability
  • Internal battery

Final thoughts:

Conbrov’s WiFi 1080P USB charger camera is a convenient way to add video to your home.  The app is basic but has plenty of useful functionality. Unfortunately, the inability of the camera to produce a landscape picture is a killer if your goal is to use it as a home security enhancement.

Price: $60.95
Where to buy: Amazon (30%off code： 30OFFNT20 expires 9/29/18)
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Conbrov.

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Conbrov 1080P USB charger hidden camera review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 31, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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