Home 2018

Adaptalux shines the light at the end of the tunnel


Those of you that have been following my News Stories for a while should now be well aware of my love for Macro Photography. Macro Photography allows me to be innovative and expressive with “obvious” objects that are readily identifiable, as well as objects that I can shoot from my own creative perspective. If photographed correctly, some objects leave the assumption of what they are to the imagination of the viewer.

One great tool for adding interest and creativity to macro photography is light. Playing around with lighting and having the flexibility to do so, can accomplish great results. However, one of the challenges is getting lighting options with enough effective versatility and portability, since macro photography can be shot anywhere and under some difficult logistical circumstances.

Enter Adaptalux!! Adaptalux is a macro photography and videography light and light studio that allows you to use flexible lights to create the lighting effect according to your imagination. The manufacturer refers to it as an “adaptable miniature lighting studio that allows for an infinite amount of lighting environments to be created, in an effortless and adaptable way all under one product”. “Adaptalux has been designed to make macro photography, macro videography and product photography lighting easy and accessible to photographers of all ability. The only limit is your imagination”.

The Adaptalux seems like an amazing product and I can’t wait to get my hands on one to review and to add to my macro photography kit.

If you would like to purchase the light studio, head over to the Adaptalux website and pick one up. There are several kits available, with the starter pack costing just $260.29.

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Adaptalux shines the light at the end of the tunnel originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 21, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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iLife A8 robotic vacuum cleaner review

Everyone likes a clean house, but most people I know don’t enjoy doing the work to keep their house clean and tidy. With keeping the laundry clean and put up, the dishes cleaned and put up, the furniture dusted, and the floors vacuumed, there’s no time to binge watch your favorite TV shows! So let’s remove at least one of those chores and have a robot do all the work for us. The iLife A8 robotic vacuum keeps your floors clean while you sit on the couch thinking about how nice it would be to have robots to do your laundry and your dishes. But until that day comes, let’s check out the iLife A8.

What is it?

The iLife A8 is a robotic vacuum that you can set to manually clean your floors by using a handheld remote, or you can configure the vac to clean automatically at a certain time every day.

What’s in the box?

  • iLife A8 robotic vacuum
  • Charging base and AC adapter
  • Remote control (2 AAA batteries not included)
  • 2 extra side brushes
  • Extra main brush
  • Cleaning tool
  • Filter

Design and features

The iLife A8 is smaller than the Botvac vacuums that I use and it’s completely round with built-in bumpers on the front and back.

There’s a slide out dirt bin on the back edge and a visual navigation sensor and control button towards the front edge.

The A8 maneuvers with two main wheels on the sides and a smaller wheel up front.

On the bottom of the vac, you can find the replaceable main brush and 2 side brushes.

The dirt bin is easy to access by sliding it out of the vac.

A door on top of the bin provides access to the filter.

The main power button and what I believe is a direct power jack is located on the edge of the iLife A8.

The first thing you want to do before using the robot vacuum to clean is to charge the battery. You do this by plugging in the charging home base and placing the iLife against the charging contacts.

When the iLife’s main power switch is in the on position and the vacuum is placed on the home base, the vacuum will begin charging and will alert you to this action with a female voice. The voice will also tell you when charging is complete and when cleaning is about to begin.

To begin a cleaning session, you can either press the button on top of the iLife, or you can press the point cleaning button on the remote (the button below the clock button). You can also click the border cleaning button (lower right) to have the iLife clean along walls.

I used the iLife A8 to clean my carpeted basement which is vacuumed 3 times a week with a Neato Botvac Connected robot vac. I decided to make a time lapse of the iLife’s cleaning session, which you can see below.

The vac does a good job of covering all of the room in back and forth passes. The whole room including my office which you can’t see took about 35 minutes to clean. I was impressed by the speed and how quiet the A8 is compared to my Botvacs. But the most important question is how well did it clean?

The carpet had not been vacuumed for 2 days prior to testing the iLife. This is the dirt that it picked up. FYI: we have a long haired cat.

The next thing I tried was running the Botvac right after the iLife had finished cleaning to see if it would pick up any dirt that the A8 had missed.

As you can see the Botvac did pick up some additional grunge…

I also tested the iLife on a hardwood surface by putting some salt (above on the left) and some cat litter (above on the right), on the floor in my office.

I had to run the A8 several times to pick up all the grit from this test, so I wasn’t overly impressed with how well it did on a hardwood surface. That is until I discovered that the remote control has a button to turn on max suction. Why that’s not a default is a mystery to me, but once I enabled that setting, the iLife A8 did a much better job picking up dirt from different types of flooring.

What I like

  • Easy to use
  • Easy dirt bin clean up
  • Relatively quiet

What needs to be improved

  • Basic scheduling only allows you to set it to clean the same time each day
  • Remote batteries not included
  • Max suction setting is not enabled by default

Final thoughts

I like the iLife A8 robotic vacuum cleaner because it’s simple to use. You don’t have to mess around with apps or pairing it with your phone in order to use it. Just plug it in and press the button the remote or on the vac itself to start cleaning. But its simplicity also means that it’s almost too basic. You can set special schedules so that it will just clean Monday and Friday. You can only set the schedule for it to clean the same time every day. The voice prompts are also a little too much in my opinion. I don’t need to know when it’s done charging and I don’t need it to tell me when it will start cleaning.

All in all, the iLife A8 is a decent vacuum and is not too expensive. This is a new model which will be available on Amazon in a couple of weeks, but you can find several other iLife robot vacuum models that are currently on Amazon. I’ll update this review with a link to the A8 when it becomes available.

Price: $167.20 – $249.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by iLife.

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iLife A8 robotic vacuum cleaner review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 20, 2018 at 11:00 am.

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Say Hello to the new video doorbell from Nest

We are still working on smartening up our house, and we decided we wanted to finally get a video doorbell.  We had actually ordered a Ring doorbell, but I’m going to return that.  We decided we’d stick with the Nest system once we realized their video doorbell was available for purchase, because we already have the Nest learning thermostat, a Nest camera, and a couple of the Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.  The Nest Hello doorbell will fit right in with our current system and will minimize the number of subscription services we’ll need to pay for.

Features of the Nest Hello, as shown on the Nest website:

  • 24/7 streaming and continuous video recording
  • 4:3 HD video designed to show people head to toe
  • HD video and night vision
  • HDR video shows sharp details even in bright and dark areas
  • 160° field of view
  • HD Talk and Listen reduces ambient noise for clear communication with visitors
  • Person, motion, and sound alerts to detect visitors
  • Can recognize family and friends and send a special alert
  • Prerecorded quick responses

The Nest doorbell requires a wired doorbell connection and chime, and it requires a 16-24VAC, 10VA doorbell transformer.  It connects to your home WiFi to upload a continuous feed to the extra-cost Cloud subscription service.  It works with the Nest app to give you alerts when it detects people, motion, or sounds.  You can use the app to customize notifications, and you can set up areas of interest, which will help us stop the camera from alerting us to people waiting at the elevator bank, for example.

It has a built-in microphone and speaker so you can talk to visitors.  There’s also some prerecorded responses you can use if you are alerted to someone while you’re in a meeting at work, for example.

Nest Hello is available now for $229.00.  We bought ours at the local Best Buy, or you can order Hello directly from Nest for the same price.

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Say Hello to the new video doorbell from Nest originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 20, 2018 at 10:00 am.

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The Shure Super 55 Deluxe Vocal Microphone is super in every way!


Early last year, I got a great opportunity to work with a few “underground” musicians, and one in particular was so original and had such a great bluesy sound, that I decided to film a music presentation with her and a bass player. When I considered the visual effect that I wanted along with the audio quality, I decided to use the opportunity to purchase a specific Shure microphone to accomplish my vision.

The Shure Super 55 is a Super-cardioid Polar Pattern microphone with an absolutely amazing sound. The clarity and the warmth that seems to come from a unique place within this microphone, is undeniable. I also believe that its vintage styling helps the experience by setting the mood and expectations. The microphone comes in black and chrome, and for my film shoot I chose the chrome for that really vintage effect. It has a built-in shock-mounted cartridge that makes sure that its operation is free of any unwanted noise from handling or any other vibration. It is also built like a tank to withstand heavy use.

If you are in the market for a microphone that is smooth and has a pleasing effect on any performance, head over to Amazon or Adorama and pick one up for the great price of $249.00

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The Shure Super 55 Deluxe Vocal Microphone is super in every way! originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 20, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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There’s nothing kinky about the Bernini Pro Series garden hose

Are you tired of those traditional, green rubber-pipe garden hoses that get kinked up so badly water won’t pass through or spring so many leaks your yard looks like a water feature?  Replace that old hose with a Bernini Pro Series hose and you won’t have to deal with kinks again.

The Bernini hose is made of Spiroshield 304 stainless steel for toughness while keeping it lightweight.  The metal stops kinks and keeps its shape when the hose is pulled around corners.  Billet aluminum couplings with rubber comfort grips makes for tight connections to the faucet.  The included billet-aluminum spray nozzle adjusts from a steady stream to a gentle spray, or you can replace it with your own spray nozzle.  The hose is corrosion- and UV-resistant, and it even stays cooler in the sun than most hoses.

The Bernini Pro Series hose is the Today’s Special Value at QVC through 12:00 AM PST tonight.  Learn more and order at the limited-time price of $34.98 at QVC.

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There’s nothing kinky about the Bernini Pro Series garden hose originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 20, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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