Home 2018

Keep it together with the Leather Charging Cable Tool Roll

Cables and earbuds and batteries, oh my! I struggle to organize my tech gear especially if I have to travel. But with the Leather Charging Cable Tool Roll by Go Forth Goods, you can organizer these things easily. It combines two things that I love: organization and leather!! This leather roll is made with 6 oz. full grain leather (2.4 mm thick) and has five pockets: one larger pocket that measures 5″ x 7″ for laptop or larger cables and four smaller pockets that measure 3″ x 3″ for storing smaller cables or items like a portable backup battery, earbuds, cell phone chargers, etc.

After you’ve stored all that you desire, you roll it up and keep it closed with a 3/4″ leather strap and a solid brass stud. It measures 3″ high x 7″ wide x 3″ deep when rolled up and 7″ high x 20″ wide x 0.25″ deep when unrolled. And it has a lifetime warranty! The Leather Charging Cable Tool Roll is available in Mocha, Saddle, and Black colors from Go Forth Goods for $75.

Convert your old cassette tapes to MP3 files with this Walkman-sized device

This audio cassette to MP3 converter from Hammacher Schlemmer makes converting your old analog tapes to digital files almost as easy as pressing “play”.  The Best Audio Cassette to MP3 Converter guides you through the conversion with step-by-step instructions appearing on the screen of a connected PC or Mac running the included software.  Users say the Best converter “produced the clearest digital recordings from analog tapes, without the feedback or static that garbled the sound of MP3 files created by lesser devices”.

You can also use the Best as a playback device by connecting it to some speakers or headphones.  At only 3.5″ H x 4.5″ W x 1.25″ D, it’s even small enough to use as a portable device.  It’s powered by two AA batteries, or you can connect it to a USB power source with the included cable.  The Best Audio Cassette to MP3 Converter is $49.95 at Hammacher Schlemmer.

Trayvax Summit Notebook wallet review

I carried a Trayvax Summit minimalist wallet as my everyday wallet for about a year and still consider it one of my favorites. Now Trayvax has added the ability for the Summit wallet to hold important EDC essentials – a pen and a small notepad. Let’s take a look.

What is it?

The Trayvax Summit Notebook wallet is a Summit wallet with a leather wrap that enables it to hold a small notebook and a small Fisher Bullet Space Pen all in one small bundle.

Design and features

The Summit Notebook wallet has a black steel frame with a chestnut colored oiled Latigo leather exterior which is attached to the steel frame by an olive colored webbed strap.

There’s a rectangular cutout on the top of the wallet which is used to slide the cards out with your thumb.

The back of the wallet is plain. I like the color of the leather, but to be perfectly honest, I don’t care for the slick look and feel of this type of leather. I don’t think it looks as rugged as the leather that Trayvax uses on some of their other wallets like their Ascent wallet which I recently reviewed. There’s nothing wrong with the Latigo leather, I just don’t like it as well as the other unoiled leather that Trayvax uses.

The wallet opens like a book to reveal the black steel frame Summit wallet and the Trayvax branded Rite in the Rain 2o page all-weather 3.25″ x 2.125″ notebook.

The steel frame is exactly like the original Trayvax Summit wallet. It can hold several credit cards and there’s a built-in cash holder that can hold 3-4 folded dollars, receipts, or even a house key.

The spine of the wallet holds a Trayvax branded Fisher Bullet Space pen.

The pen slot is a little snug when you first get the new wallet, so sometimes when I would try to pull out the pen by the cap, the cap would come off with the pen still stuck in the slot.

But after several days of use, the slot stretches to allow the pen to be removed more easily.

This wallet can hold 1-8 cards. The addition of the leather cover adds noticeable bulk to the Summit wallet, which detracts from the Summit wallet’s original minimalist design. But, the nice thing is that you can remove the leather cover for those times when you prefer the wallet to be skinnier.

Positives

  • Made in the USA
  • Quality materials
  • Includes a notebook and a Fisher Bullet Space Pen

Negatives

  • A little bulky

Final thoughts

Trayvax has a great track record for creating rugged wallets with quality materials. The Summit Notebook wallet is a nice update to the original Summit wallet for EDC fans that want to have a way to carry a pen and a small notepad with them in one convenient bundle while also carrying credit cards and cash.

Price: $65.99
Where to buy: Trayvax
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Trayvax.

Everyone has a fun new part-time job with HQ Trivia

HQ Trivia is a new app available for iPhones and Androids that has the population going berserk.

It’s a live game show, where the winners of the 12 question trivia match split actual money! Currently, the usual amount up for division is $2,500, but it has been as high as $18,000! Depending on the difficulty level of the questions, people have individually won from $1 to $6,000. The creators of the game say that they hope to increase the prize winnings to $1,000,000 someday.

HQ Trivia is a trusted game; the winnings are given to the victorious via Paypal.

Doesn’t this sound AWESOME? That’s probably because this product comes from the brilliant creators of … wait for it … Vine! Remember those silly seven second loops? Yes, HQ Trivia was created by those guys!

The live game airs at 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays and only once at 9 p.m. on weekends. Usually, about 1 million people sign on and participate in the fun. Download the app and start your fun new part-time job, now!

Nellie’s WOW mop will help you power through cleaning

This cleaning tool isn’t a robot, but the WOW mop from Nellie’s is a rechargeable, powered mop.  A powerful motor oscillates two pad holders on the bottom of the mop up to a thousand times a minute to make short work of dry or wet mopping your floors.  It’s safe for hardwood, tile, and ceramic and other floors.

The rechargeable mop has a built-in 2000 mAh, 35 W lithium battery that keeps you cleaning for about 55 minutes between charges.  (Recharge time is 3-5 hours.)  The long grip handle helps save your back, and two LEDs on the front help illuminate the area to be cleaned – especially helpful under furniture.  And speaking of under furniture, the handle is attached to the powered mop with a joint that pivots to all angles so the mop fits under most every piece of furniture.

The WOW mop comes with a set each of dry cleaning and wet cleaning cloths; the cloths are machine washable and can be reused up to 100 times.  A 200ml reservoir holds cleaning solution for wet mopping.   Of course, Nellie’s recommends you use their Floor Care cleaning solutions with the WOW mop.  And just like Nellie’s laundry products, their plant-based floor cleaners are environmentally-friendly.

The WOW mop (with cleaning cloths) is $189.00; a mop bundle adds two bottles of Nellie’s Floor Care cleaning solution and other products and is $229.00, and replacement pads and additional cleaning solution is available from Nellie’s website.