Articles – Page 19

5 awesome gadgets for your kids that they won’t outgrow too quickly

Children are rapidly growing up which implies they can get bored quickly with any toy or gadget. Because of that, it is an awesome plan to get them a toy which can keep them involved for a long time. If you plan to search for that sort of toy, search for something that will empower their little brains. I have discovered a bunch of toys that will occupy them and I am certain your loved ones will love:

Jimu DIY Robot Buzzbot & Muttbot Robotics Kit

I wanted to find the perfect present for future mechanical architects and I have found it. It is a DIY robot. I am almost certain you and your son will play with it with for hours. When you a building a robot you will be proud to see that the robot can walk, move its hands and even hops. You can download the directions on your mobile phone to make the robot. When you make sense of the procedure feel free to make something without directions. Creativity is the key! You can find this kit for $137.27 on Amazon.

Cognitoys Dino

The innovation has made some amazing progress since we were children and I trust that we should exploit it. I am not discussing computer games, I am discussing toys which can educate our children and this delightful green dinosaur is one of them. It is a toy for kids 5-9 years and it can make talk with your kid, answer questions and make jokes. It is an incredible device to enhance social interaction and it is completely safe for your child. You can find it for $39.99 on Amazon.

Code-a-Pillar

Code-a-Pillar is a toy like Jimu DIY Robots, however for more youthful children. It is a caterpillar you can program to influence it to go where you need it to go. All aspects of the caterpillar have one request on it; turn right, stop, turn left… When you want the caterpillar to go right, you need to fix that piece of the caterpillar on the head et cetera. The caterpillar is additionally an instructive toy and it practices critical thinking and sensible intuition which are imperative for your child’s advancement. This kit is $30.85 on Amazon.

R2-D2 App-Enabled Droid

R2-D2 is the best droid in the Galaxy and it should have its own toy. The droid will make you speechless because it resembles the real R2D2 in so many details! Bonus feature: You will hear the most famous R2-D2 beep sound. You can download the application for the droid on your mobile phone so you don’t need to have the joystick to control the droid. You can find one for $115.99 on Amazon.

Classic Foosball Match

The Classic Foosball Match is an awesome combination of virtual and real foosball for all children. The device is really a small foosball table for iPad with legs, bars and scoring system. It looks and acts like the genuine foosball table. But, to make it work you need to have an iPad because you use the iPad as the playing field. Basically, you are turning the poles on the foosball table and they are turning in the application. I am absolutely certain your grandkids will be impressed with this application/gadget and they will play it for hours. This iPad accessory is only $8 on Amazon right now!

Gadgeteer team: Our mobile home screen setups

I’m a naturally curious person. Or maybe a better word is nosy. I love reading articles where people describe how they work or show the gear that they use. I also enjoy seeing how people setup their computer home screens and their phone home screens. I thought it would be fun to share the Gadgeteer team’s phone home screens with all of you out here. So without further ado, here we go!

Julie Strietelmeier

Yeah, I know my Pixel 2 XL home screen setup right now isn’t very exciting. I could tell you that I’m in between setups, but in all honesty, I’m no longer interested in having a ton of widgets cluttering my screen. I’m only using two widgets right now. Pure Calender at the top which shows 14 days worth of events and appointments, and then the LIFX widget (next to the Gmail icon), which toggles the LIFX smart bulb in my bedroom. The LIFX icon is black when the light is off, so you can’t see it because it’s blending into my dark background. The rest of the apps are pretty basic, but they are the apps and shortcuts that I use the most.

My 2nd home screen is used for the next set of apps that I use on a regular basis. I try to keep them organized in rows so I can quickly find them. FYI: I don’t like folders…

Howard Sneider

Well this is awkward..

Leslie Hosmer

As you can see I do utilize folders and I categorize things that I use together to make them easier to find. I have all my banking, weather, navigation, photography, lights, social media, and Gadgeteer apps grouped together so that I can use them easily. I always keep my current reviews on the first page also and right now the only one I’m reviewing with an app is the PIN Genie Smartlock which is in the lower right. I have the Wing app that is front and center because this is my cell phone provider and I use the app to pay the bill and see how much data I’ve used. The Nest and Canary apps are upfront because those are my home security apps so I can see what’s going on at home when I’m not there. Everything else seems to be pretty basic… please don’t judge me for having 2,473 unread emails!

Kathleen Chapman

I love Android because I can customize my phone which is currently a Nexus 6 running Android 7.0 (but I will be upgrading my phone in the next few months to a Pixel 2 XL). The “Speed Racer” wallpaper was drawn and colored in by hand on paper (it was then scanned in) by one of my teenage kids who loves art and wants to work for Pixar one day.

I use the paid version of Nova Launcher to set up my dock icons, resize the grid on each of my screens, and resize my icons in the app drawer among many other things. This is my favorite launcher because of your ability to customize just about everything.

I also use the Transparent Clock & Weather app. I love the widget for this app because it tells me the time, date, and weather information at a glance just the way I like it. It allows me to customize the look of the weather icons, the color of the text, and the widget transparency. There are other sizes of widgets which provide you with more detailed information, but I like to keep it succinct. I placed this widget at the top of my home screen.

I use the Business Calendar Pro app as well. I like the widgets for this calendar because I can customize the calendar views (month view, agenda, etc.), the colors of the font of my events and locations, the transparency of the widget, etc. And if I enter the location of the event in the calendar, the widget allows me to tap on the map icon next to the location information within the widget to immediately launch Google Maps so I can quickly get going.

Curiosity is one of my favorite apps to read. There are all kinds of interesting articles in it and thus I set up a Curiosity widget on my home screen to view the 5 highlighted articles of the day.

I also love to use the Folder Organizer Lite app. This app allows me to create folders of all kinds using my own titles, but unlike other folders, you do not have to tap on them to open them just to see all the apps within it. It allows you to create folder widgets of different sizes so that you can resize the folder to view all the apps within it and immediately tap on any app to launch it. It also allows you to choose a color theme or even create your own. The apps you see on my default home screen are actually inside a folder that I named “Common”. This folder uses the “Empty” theme which hides the title and outline of the folder to give this screen a cleaner look.

I love the way I have my phone set up and Android allows me that freedom!

Dave Rees

Smartphone: iPhone X (256 in space gray)

I’m shooting for the most boring/bland home screen award. When I upgraded to the iPhone X I changed my background to all black to match the infamous notch. Organizationally I find iOS lacking when compared to Android. But, like many I make do.

Smythe Richbourg

You’ll note that only three apps are not contained within folders on my homescreen: Messages, Phone, and eMail. For most of my day-to-day life, these apps play a huge part. During the course of the day, I may need to check into schedule/to-do type apps, so the Time folder is there. When I wake up and go to bed, I turn on various apps in the Health folder for weight, blood pressure, and exercise. The Social folder just below that holds the contacts app, plus social network apps (Instagram, Echofon for Twitter, Yelp, Slack, Micro.blog and others.) The two folders that may confuse readers is Media and Music. Media is anything coming into my environment from another source: Spotify, iTunes, OverCast (podcasts), Kindle, Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, etc. The music folder contains apps that I use to play/create music, or at least to play around with music. Garage Band, Bebot, Music Clips, iMovie and the like. The bottom right folder in the Dock is called Utilities. It contains Settings, My Password manager, my Watch app, PCalc (best calculator ever!) and keyboards, plug-ins, and other stuff. It’s like 7 pages deep. Avalara is the company I work for, and we use two apps to manage time and payroll, so I need those near at hand to check my schedule and to clock in and out.

Education is anything reference, reading, etc. Dictionary, iBooks, IMDb, MacTracker, Sky Guide, Duolingo. The other folder in the dock is Browsers – Safari, Chrome, Scanbot, RedLaser, and one in testing called Hound, which is kind of a Siri enhancement.

The background picture changes frequently. Currently, it’s Jack snoozing on the sofa. Don’t you want to just scratch his little ears???

Janet Cloninger

I don’t use my iPhone 7 Plus the same way I use my iPad Pro 12.9, so I buy the least amount of memory I can, and I keep a bare bones set of apps on there. I tend to keep all my apps organized by type in folders. The dock at the bottom is where I keep my most used apps: phone, message app, settings, and the folder has my browser, contacts, calendar, mail, and the files app. The other folders are pretty self-explanatory. The Entertainment folder has my ebook readers and my Regal Cinemas app. Home has my Hue app for my lights in my home and Nest app for my thermostat and smoke detectors. Travel has maps, the AAA app, the Automatic Pro app for my daughter’s car, and the BMW app that’s supposed to talk to my car. Utilities is a catch-all, with weather apps, calculator, hair cut app, and the clock, among others. The other folders are pretty obvious.

Andy Chen

My home screen on an iPhone X. The “home bar” is populated with what I consider communications apps (phone, email, messaging).

The most common apps are arranged mostly on the right side so I can open them with my right thumb. That includes Gmail, Safari, Facebook and Deliveries.

Bill Henderson

Mine is boring…

Michael Strange

The home screen on my iPhone X really has no rhyme or reason. I’m constantly adding and subtracting apps. The main Dock is reserved for my most used apps but beyond that, it’s kind of a free for all.

I find that I use Control Center a lot. It gives me easy access to things like Home Kit to control my Philips Hue lights, my 4K Apple TV remote and the camera app which I use quite often.

I also like to change my Wallpaper a lot based on my mood. Currently, it’s “The Empire Strikes Back” which is my favorite Star Wars film and because the weather here lately makes me feel like I’m living on the planet Hoth.

Dave Moore

Here’s mine. It’s boring, but functional. It’s an old-school iPhone 6. I keep this chugging along because I need to keep my Dexcom continuous glucose monitor alive without worry of the battery konking out. I have a brick of a battery pack to keep it alive, a Zerolemon 5400mAh that has worked very well that I’m reluctant to part with. As a plus, I like the 1/8” audio jack and use it frequently. The layout is as such because I don’t like digging through multiple pages to find what I’m looking for.

Jacob Haas

Ever since upgrading to my iPhone 7+, I have one-tap access to a whopping 28 apps on my home screen. I like to keep my “time wasting” apps (games, social media, Reddit, Instagram) in folders on my second page. This screen gives me everything that I’d need at a glance to maximize health, tasks, finance and photos. It generally stays in this configuration, but sometimes I’ll swap out an app if I haven’t used it for a while or if I find something more useful.

Ryan Pagel

I use a lot of groups on the home screen of my iPhone X. I like to keep everything I use on any regular basis on one screen and have grouped my apps into standard categories like Business, Reference, Food and Drink, Social Media, etc. I have been using this setup for many generations of the iPhone so finding my apps is easy despite the cluttered appearance of the screen. It makes sense to my engineering brain.

Steve Holt

I probably swap out 2 or 3 icons on a regular basis, but most of the items stay the same. I use a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+, and I love how Samsung allows you to keep 5 icons across the bottom no matter which screen you are on. So my most used items are there… phone calls, messages, email, Google voice search, and apps.

I also love that Android allows me to have direct shortcuts to things like text messaging a specific person and calling a specific person, and websites. So I always have 2 shortcuts on my homepage for my wife to text and call her, since I do that alot! And I have shortcuts to websites I use on a daily basis. I have a black background because I don’t want an image behind everything mucking up what I am looking at. Finally, I use a Weather.com widget across the top so when I wake up in the morning I can see what the weather is like.

Elizabeth Rodriguez

I’m using the iPhone 7 Plus, and keep my first home screen with the most frequently used apps. Some are in folders since I use multiples of one type. Apps that aren’t within a folder are because I use them much more than the rest. The second screen has even less frequently used apps. I like to use emoji in my folder names

I change up my background wallpaper every now and again, usually with something that takes advantage of the perspective or live photo features.

Sorry it’s not very exciting.

Ryan Chapman

I keep the home screen on my iPhone X clean and tidy so I may see my cat better when I open my phone. My main categories are on the first page here while categories that I use less frequently are just a swipe to the right. Outlook is my one odd ball, since I use it for work. I use Spotify instead of the Apple Music app, since all the music I need is there. Funny enough, I rarely use the phone to actually talk to people, but it would feel wrong to remove the phone icon from my bottom dock. This is a phone after all! Out of all the visible icons, I use Reddit, Facebook, Spotify, email, and the messaging apps the most.

Larry Geisz

My home screen on my iPhone is a mish-mosh of apps that I use frequently. I use my news and Dropbox mostly but my updates and messages are a close second. I have placed a lot of the Apple apps in their own folder, especially the ones I do not use often.

Bob Patterson

I’m not a smartphone power user, but I like my organization. Honestly, I wish the iPhone (mine is the 6s) had a way to add more apps to the docking bar. Since it can’t, I keep an assortment of my most used icons on the home screen in addition to my docked apps.

As far as the rest, I try to keep my most-used apps in general groups based on common function. I don’t get too fancy here, and I tend to tweak the layout regularly. Once you get past the home screen, I have to confess that things get a bit… messy.

I also do illustration, which I post online. My latest piece is always my background screen, because it motivates me to critique my own work and look for ways to improve my techniques for future drawings!

Andy Jacobs

Behold the home screen on my trusty iPhone 6 Plus! I set my home screen up with my most-used apps and categories of apps: if you see an icon to an app, I use this daily or almost daily; if you see a folder, I might use these daily or a few times per week. I am almost constantly rotating icons from the home screen to either folders or to other pages—-still trying to find my “perfect” home screen setup, but I have a feeling it that it will continue to evolve constantly, which is fine with me!

Dave Ferreira

I am using a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 on T-Mobile running Android 7.1. I want my home screen to give me a quick picture of my day (the Chronus calendar widget), let me know what I should wear (again, the Chronus weather widget). I also have direct dial widgets to important people, a shortcut for the Chrome browser, and a stationary dock at the bottom with phone, messaging, Outlook (because you can’t escape work) and Gmail (because you can’t escape Android). All of this runs on top of the Nova launcher.

Joe Porletto

I’m using a Google Pixel running Android 8.1.0 on Google’s Project Fi network. I’m a minimalist when it comes to my tech, so solid black wallpaper and all apps on one screen grouped according to function in folders easily accessible from the homescreen. Android 8.1.0 provides a date and weather update on the screen as well as a Google Search Bar and I’ve always been partial to military time.

Rob Tillotson

Most of the interesting stuff like entertainment and home control is on other pages, but this is my core set of apps that I use often throughout the day. I still don’t know what to put in the fifth dock slot, because until now I always used a launcher that only had four.

Raul Sanchez

The screen shot with the red flame background-
That wall paper is actually a Live Wallpaper. It takes little battery power so there is little battery drain. My main apps on the Home screen are my Gmail, the Next SMS for text messaging, time and weather, Google Search, and of course my phone button. I like to use CM Browser because it’s pretty snappy and I have a few other CM apps and have always had good experiences with them. Plus I have to make sure I have my Camera easily accessible. I changed the standard Camera and Phone icons to the ones on there now.
This is on a LG V20.

The screenshot with the electric light tunnel-
That is also a Live Wallpaper. I like Live Wallpapers if you couldn’t tell. This one I can change frame rate and quality so it doesn’t use a lot of resources and battery as well.
I keep my Gmail, Next SMS, CM Browser, Google Search, time and date handy in the Home screen. I keep my Easy Release app on the home screen so I have it handy when I need the model/talent releases. Time is money you know…
I also keep my most used apps on the Second screen on the side of the phone.
This is the Samsung Note Edge.

Julie’s gadget diary – I just ordered an Essential Phone

I have been happily using a Pixel 2 XL smartphone that I bought back in October. At least I’ve been happy with it until recently when I started having issues with Bluetooth connectivity. At first, I thought the issue was with the gadgets that I was reviewing and not the phone itself. But when the third product failed to connect via Bluetooth to the Pixel, but worked fine with my Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, I started digging and found some forums where other Pixel 2 XL owners were talking about having Bluetooth problems.

Having issues with Bluetooth makes it tough to review gadgets that require that type of connectivity so I’ve already been thinking about my next phone. I thought I would probably pick up the new Samsung S9 or S9+ when it comes out next month. But then fellow Gadgeteer Dave Rees texted me this morning to tell me that the Essential Phone was on sale on Amazon for around $400. $434.99 to be precise.

The Essential Phone hasn’t been on my radar after hearing the complaints about the camera. A great camera is the most important feature that I look at when buying a new phone. I rely on the camera more than I do the telephony features.

Just a couple weeks ago Gadgeteer supreme wizard and man behind the server Rob Tillotson bought himself an Essential and sung its praises to me until he accidentally dropped and shattered the screen. He said he loved it. So in my usual buy now and regret later fashion, I put the phone in my cart and bought it with the snap-on 360 camera. I figure if I hate it, I can return it. Good ole Jeff B won’t care will he?

The Essential Phone is due to arrive on Monday. Anyone interested in me doing a review? I asked Rob if he’d be interested in doing a dual review with me after he gets his replacement phone and he said sure, so we might get a two-person perspective.

Flixable is the best Netflix search tool around

Netflix is great. There’s nothing like being able to binge your favorite series or call up a classic movie you haven’t seen in forever. But let’s face it, the search and discovery interface is a train wreck. The rows of recommendations and random categories are seldom useful, and if your kids or someone who doesn’t share your tastes has used your profile, forget it.

Flixable is a Netflix search engine offering a complete searchable and browsable list of every available show and movie. It can be filtered by genre, year and IMDB rating, and also has Popular, Netflix Originals and Leaving Soon pages. It’s perfect for finding hidden gems that would likely never show up in the lists within the app itself.

Check it out at Flixable.com and find something new to watch!

Life without Windows, transitioning to iOS only

So, it finally happened. It’s not like I didn’t want to transition, but am I ready. What happened you may ask? My Windows computer crashed after a long hard fought life. To be honest, I was expecting it to happen, the signs were there, really. I woke up every day to a warning message saying my system was destined for imminent disk failure, I was just hoping that I would have a little more time. As a result, I’ve had to push forward with my plans to transition to an all iOS setup.

I have been prepping myself for this transition ever since I purchased my first iPad, but iOS and the iPads themselves just could not handle all that I wanted to do on them. You may ask yourself what has changed besides my loss of a Windows computer. Two things mainly.

First the hardware, Apple has released the iPad Pro (I have the 10.5-inch second-generation version). Having a device that can handle the workload of a laptop or desktop system is important. I will admit that my iPad can never fully replace the functionality of a desktop or laptop, but it should be close enough to allow me to function without one.

The second reason is the operating system – iOS 11. Apple has continually improved the iOS software to the point that I feel that I can live without a desktop or laptop.

I am not kidding myself, I know this transition will not be without its trials and tribulations, just trying to figure how to set up my desk to best utilize my new set up is a challenge. Before, when I would work at my desk I would basically have two screens. I had an HP Elite L2201x monitor that was hooked to my Windows machine, a keyboard, and mouse. I also had my iPad, my Apple Magic Keyboard and my iPhone with its Qi charging stand. As far as accessories I have BYBLIGHT and my iClever multi-port USB charger. I did most of my writing on my iPad and used my desktop for reference. I have been a two monitor user for many years now and don’t think I could function well without that kind of setup.

My first inclination was to try to replicate a setup similar to my old one using my iPad Pro and my iPhone 6. I have the Apple Lightning Digital AV Adapter and figured I could use that to run my iPad or iPhone into my HP monitor. In theory, I could do this by buying an adapter that would allow me to run my HDMI cable into the monitors DP (Display Port) port. In reality, this was a no go. My thinking was to use my iPhone similar to my desktop, basically for reference and minor research. Mind you I could go out and buy a bunch of peripherals to make things work, but to be honest I may be a little on the cheap side so I would like to try to use what I have on hand.

I had to move to plan B. This plan consists of me using my original iPad 2 and my iPad Pro. The good thing about this solution is that I have my iPad 2 and it works. The bad thing with the iPad 2 is that it is obsolete and is no longer supported. For now, this will work as I really only use the iPad 2 to browse the internet and to look up reference info while I write. Some alternatives that may exist that I am not ready to explore yet are a newer iPad, a Monitor that accepts HDMI input, or a different tablet device I may have access to. For now, I am not prepared to try any of these alternative solutions, so plan B it is.

Plan C, yes I know I said it would have to wait, but while writing this article I had the good fortune to be the recipient of a 2016 iPad. To be honest, I was happy to receive it, my old iPad 2 was a dog, it would work but it was slow. So, now that my base setup was determined and setup it is time to try to function in this matter.

Switching to this new methodology means I will have to look at software and accessories that will help my set up feel more like a real work environment. The first item that I think I will need is a second Bluetooth keyboard. My main keyboard for my iPad has been my Apple Magic Keyboard, and while I love it, it is pricey and to be honest, lacks a little pizazz. I think I found what I was looking for in an Arteck HB030B keyboard (more on this at a later date) the keyboard is backlit rechargeable and priced at $19.99 from Amazon (it has a high user rating). The next item I decided I need is something for power management. I settled on the iClever multi-port USB charger that I had reviewed in the past. The iClever has 6 USB ports, more than enough to charge my iPads and the accessories I use. As far as other accessories, I will be using a BYBLIGHT as my lighting source (it has various brightness and temperature levels), A Cooler Master stand for my iPad (my iPad lives on my desk), The Apple Smart Cover on my iPad Pro (I carry this one around with me), a set of Supertooth Disco Twin Bluetooth speakers (for true stereo sound), and a Thecus NAS server for backup and storage. I have reviewed most of these items and they are linked if you are interested in reading about them.

Software for this transition may be a different animal for me. For the basics, I am happy to use the Apple suite of products (Number, Pages, and Keynote), but for other things such as video and photo editing, I am still looking for the one. For photo editing, I am using a program called Filterstorm Neue. Knowing that we are trying to standardize some things here at The Gadgeteer I am not sure this program will meet my needs (it may also be a little too sophisticated for my rudimentary skill level). The program lets me crop, resize and touch up photos but I am not sure I am getting full use out of it so I am always open to suggestions. Other useful software apps I have so far, are Grammarly, Google Chrome, and Dropbox.

So, what’s my bottom line here? Seeing as I am just getting started on this journey I cannot say for sure. I do not see myself going back to a desktop or laptop so I am basically in the “damn the torpedos full speed ahead mode”. I do like my setup and I seem to be functioning well with it so we shall see. I am always looking for suggestions and feedback so if you have any drop me a note in the comments section.