BioPops are the sea monkeys of the 21st century

Back in the 70’s when I was a young Gadgeteer in training, I remember seeing ads for Sea-Monkeys in the back of comic books that I used to read. I was fascinated by the pictures which showed them as a human-like underwater family that would live and play in a fishbowl. I saved my allowance and ordered my own Sea-Monkey kit and waited for what seemed like years for it to arrive. 

I was so excited when I received it, but my hopes were dashed when days later, the human-like family that I expected turned out to be more like tiny furry tadpoles. That was my first lesson in false advertising and I don’t think I ever truly recovered from the disappointment. 😉

Maybe a BioPop can cure that age old scar… What’s a BioPop? It’s a small aquarium with bioluminescent marine algae called dinoflagellates (dinos for short) that glow when they are shaken gently.

The algae are grown in California and live on 8-14 hours of sunlight a day, water, and nutrients from the enriched seawater inside the small aquarium. You also have to feed them once a week with a special food to increase their lifespan.

During the day the algae look clear, but at night when the aquarium is agitated, they will glow to create a mesmerizing light.

BioPops are available in a plastic dinosaur shaped aquarium or in glass spheres. They are priced at $59.95. You can read more about them at BioPop.com  and you can order from The Grommet and Amazon.

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BioPops are the sea monkeys of the 21st century originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 25, 2017 at 4:07 pm.

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Forget about stand alone selfie sticks, this one is built into your iPhone 7 case

If you hoped that the selfie stick fad was over, I’m sorry to break the news to you that it’s not. Selfie sticks are here to stay and now you don’t have to carry one in your pocket or gear bag to be one of the “cool” kids. Ditch the stand alone sticks because the Stikbox puts a folding selfie stick and a Bluetooth shutter control inside your iPhone 7 case.

That’s right, this iPhone 7 case has a built in aluminum selfie stick that unfolds to a length of 20 inches so you can snap the perfect picture of yourself or a small group of friends.

The stick folded stick can also be used as a kickstand for your phone the case itself will protect against everyday abuse and drops.

The Stikbox selfie-stick case is available in three colors and is sized to fit the iPhone 7. Sorry, but the iPhone 7 Plus isn’t getting in love. You can buy one for $39.99 from stikbox.com

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Forget about stand alone selfie sticks, this one is built into your iPhone 7 case originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 25, 2017 at 1:10 pm.

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Utopia brings audio and concrete together with the Titan wireless speaker

When you hear the word concrete the last thing that probably comes to mind is a Bluetooth speaker. But with Utopia’s Titan concrete speaker that’s precisely what you get. Designed by Utopia Audio founder Gedeon Ory, the speaker boasts clean lines and subtle accents. 

Titan is a 60Watt Bluetooth speaker with a really sleek industrial, but modern style. Utopia uses a special concrete, which is a 10 times stronger material than an average cement based concrete. It provides an outstanding low resonance enclosure to ensure zero sound distortion. The concrete is mixed with different pigments, minerals and sometimes marble and basalt. This process gives the surface of each speaker its own unique texture and grain. Each one is made by hand in Budapest, Hungary, one by one, ensuring that no two Titans ever look alike.

Titan can be used wirelessly using Bluetooth aptX, or you can plug into the device with a 3.5 mm jack. The speaker features two 75 mm full range drivers and a rear bass-reflex port. There’s no mention of how much the speaker weighs, but its size is approximately 12” W x 6” H x 6.5” D. A nice minimalistic design that is perfect for the home or office.

According to Utopia’s Facebook page, the official Indiegogo launch is August 4th. No pricing is available yet, however, if you want a chance to buy the speaker at 50% off head over to Utopia’s website and sign up for their newsletter. To learn more about the Utopia team and their products head over to their site or Facebook page.

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Utopia brings audio and concrete together with the Titan wireless speaker originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 25, 2017 at 7:00 am.

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Deal: Groupon saves money on movies from Redbox

I love watching movies at home, but I recently switched internet providers and as a result, I have to be careful how much data I use. That means that I can’t binge stream movies from Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon anymore. Yes, it’s sad by true… So it looks like I’ll be dusting off my DVD player if I want to watch movies that are newer than the ones that come on HBO (is it me, or does HBO suck when it comes to showing new movies?). This deal from Redbox comes at the perfect time for me and anyone else that would like to save a few bucks renting movies.

I’ve never used Redbox before, but I see their red box kiosks all over the place, from outside gas stations, to inside the lobby of Walmart. You can rent a movie for $1.50 per night ($2/night for Blueray discs). They also offer video games as well.

Today’s deal offers is up to 40% off Redbox eGift cards from Groupon and includes:

$10 Redbox eGift Card for $6.50.
$20 Redbox eGift Card for $12.

eGift Cards can be used to make reservations at Redbox.com (online only) to rent DVD and Blu-ray movies and can be used to cover multiple nights of a rental. Note that the eGift cards are for movies only and can’t be used to rent game rentals or streaming.

Head over to Groupon for more info.

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Deal: Groupon saves money on movies from Redbox originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 24, 2017 at 4:26 pm.

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ClimateCase will keep your phone cool or warm, you choose

Whether or not you believe in global warming, you have to agree that this is one of the warmest years so far for this planet. It was in the upper 90’s here in Southern Indiana yesterday. Ugh. I stayed indoors in the air conditioning and so did my phone. But for people that have to be outside in the extreme heat or cold, how do you keep your phone from overheating or freezing?

The ClimateCase is a potential solution. It’s a universal smartphone case that is made of impact resistant Neoprene and has multi-layers to protect against extreme heat and cold.

The idea is that you keep the case in the refrigerator when you plan to use it to protect against heat and you place it in the microwave for a few seconds when you want to prepare it to project your device from the cold.

When it comes time to use the ClimateCase, you just insert the device, seal the top and you’re ready to go. Check out this video which shows how it’s used.

The ClimateCase is available in several colors and has an sells through the ClimateCase site for $34.95 and through Amazon.

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ClimateCase will keep your phone cool or warm, you choose originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 23, 2017 at 3:21 pm.

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