Dine in style with Enso Essential pure titanium cutlery

CROWDFUNDING NEWS – Single-use plastics are in the news a lot lately for their non-environmentally friendly status.  What is a responsible person that loves eating fast food or Asian take-out to do?  Hop on over to Kickstarter and take a look at the Enso Essential pure titanium cutlery set.

Titanium offers several benefits.  First, it is naturally antimicrobial – much more so that the typical stainless steel used for cutlery. Titanium is completely tasteless, non-corrosive and hypoallergenic.

The full set includes a fork, knife, tablespoon, teaspoon, plus chopsticks and a straw.  A single set plus a carrying case starts at $52.  Chopsticks alone are $12.

They also offer four-piece place settings in two, four or six counts for home use.  Since they reached some stretch goals already, they offer full sets in stealth black and gold along with the standard titanium color.  Six place settings in the custom colors (24 pieces total) with a custom bamboo case run $369.

For more information, visit their campaign on Kickstarter. Funding ends Tuesday, September 24, 2019, 11:59 PM EDT.  They have already blown past their $10,000 funding goal with $136,272 pledged as of this writing.  If they hit a $200,000 stretch goal, they plan to add a rose gold set. Shipments to backers are targeted for October 2019.

If you are looking for a travel cutlery set or are looking for a really contemporary set with all the benefits titanium brings to the table (yes, I just did that), Enso Essentials might just make the cut (and that).

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Dine in style with Enso Essential pure titanium cutlery originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 27, 2019 at 10:00 am.

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BlitzWolf BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds review

REVIEW – It’s not a state secret that I’ve reviewed quite a few Bluetooth earbuds over the past few years and although some have worked better for me than others, I am always on the hunt for the next pair that might more closely suit my needs.  The BlitzWolf BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds caught my attention because of their ergonomically-angled ear tips, small size, and full-featured charging case.  But how did they work out for me?  Let’s find out.  Gadget on!

What is it?

The BlitzWolf BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds are a pair of cord-free wireless earbuds that include their own charging/storage case.

What’s in the box?

  • BW-FYE7 earbuds
  • Small, Medium, and Large silicone ear tip pairs
  • Charging/storage case
  • Micro USB charging cable
  • Instruction manual

Hardware specs

  • Weight:
    • Single Earbud: 5g
    • Charging Case: 55g
    • Total Weight: 65g
  • Bluetooth:
    • Version:V5.0
    • Chip:AIROHA1526P
    • Supported Profiles:HSP/HFP/A2DP/AVRCP
    • Transmission Distance:33 feet (10m)
    • Frequency:2.402GHz-2.480GHz, Class 2
  • Charging
    • Current:500MA-1A
    • Charging Time:
      • Time in Charging the Earbuds——2H
      • Time in Charging the Battery Case——2H
  • Input Voltage:DC5.0V
  • Battery Capacity:
    • Earbud: 50mAh Polymer battery
    • Charging Box: 500 mAh Polymer battery
  • Battery Time:
    • Monaural Earbud with Full Electricity——3-4H
    • Consuming All the Electricity of the Charging Box——Up to 16H
    • Standby Time:120h
    • Call Time:3h
  • Materials:Polycarbonate + ABS
  • Dimensions:
    • Earbud: 26*13*30mm
    • Charging Box: 70*33*35.5mm
  • Water Resistance: IPX4
  • Operating Temperature:0℃ ~45℃

Design and features

My initial impressions of the BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds were twofold: the earbuds themselves were quite small, and the charging/storage case was solid, and both looked and felt very high quality.

Features and size

Another aspect of the BW-FYE7’s design that piqued my initial interest was that the earbud “posts” were oriented at an angle to the main body of the earbuds.  My suspicion was that this was a feature to help situate the earbuds in the user’s ear in a more anatomic position.

Above and below are some photos of the earbuds themselves from various angles.  Another thing I noticed about these earbuds was that they just looked very high-tech and high quality, with the brass/gold colored posts and charging contact points, transparent components, and so on all combining to give a very expensive look and feel for a very affordable ~$40.

The BW-FYE7 included three pairs of soft silicone ear tip sizes.  Each had a core of hard plastic that helped keep them attached to the earbud posts.  Because of my larger than average ear canals, I immediately selected the largest-sized ear tips.

The ear tips were easy to install; I simply gave them a little twist as I pressed them down onto the earbud posts and did a visual check to confirm that they were fully seated.

The BW-FYE7’s main body had an oblong, essentially oval shape.  At first, it seemed to be a strange design choice—-many other true wireless earbuds are not shaped like this.  However, their shape did turn out to be significant; more on this later.

The photos above and below give a sense of the size of the BW-FYE7 earbuds.  I found them to be quite small and lightweight, which I like.

Setup

The outside of each of the earbuds had a single button and a tiny LED.  The button on each earbud is used to perform various functions.  For starters, a 3-second long press on the buttons will turn the earbuds on, while a 4-second long press will turn them off.  Three short presses will get Siri’s attention for voice commands.  When a call is incoming, a short press will answer it, a long press will reject it, and another short press will end an answered call.  A short press of either the right or left button when listening to music or podcasts will pause, a second short press will resume.  The only audio control that I found to be a bit challenging to learn was going to the next song, which required a 1.5-second longish press on the right earbud (I kept either pausing the music or shutting the earbud off altogether until I got the hang of it).  Similarly, going to the previous song required a 1.5-second longish press on the left earbud.  Overall, however, the BW-FYE7’s controls were more straightforward, intuitive, and reliable than just about any other Bluetooth earbuds I’ve tried.

Pairing the BW-FYE7  earbuds for the first time was quite straightforward.  I simply pulled each of them from their charging case and they turned themselves on automatically.  By the time I had situated them in my ears, a voice prompt was already pleasantly informing me, “Pairing mode activated.”  I went into the Bluetooth settings on my iPhone XR, ensured it was “discoverable” and quickly both BW-FYE7 R and BW-FYE7 L popped into the list.  I selected each of them and both connected to my iPhone XR and the pleasant voice informed me thusly.  I should mention here that in the vast majority of situations, the earbuds automatically re-connected themselves to my iPhone XR whenever I removed them from the charging case.  However, on a few occasions, such as if I removed them from the case and my iPhone XR was not within range, I did have to manually re-pair them with my iPhone XR, but the manual stereo re-pairing process was quite easy as well: simply hold down the multi-function buttons for 3 seconds to enter pairing mode (the tiny LEDs turn blue as seen above) and they reconnected to my iPhone XR on their own, without me even having to select them from the Bluetooth devices list again.  I’ve never tried a pair of Bluetooth headphones that stayed connected so well and were so easy to re-connect if needed.

Charging Case

As mentioned at the outset of this review, my initial impression of the BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds’ charging/storage case was that it was solid and both looked and felt very high quality.

The oval-shaped BW-FYE7 earbuds each fit perfectly into oval-shaped slots in their charging case.  Also, they magnetically attached to the case, which helped not only secure them into the case but also helped properly orient them into their respective slots every single time—they just snapped right into position.  When the BW-FYE7 earbuds were placed in the charging case, the tiny LEDs on each of them illuminated red to indicate that they were being charged via the battery in the case.   I used the BW-FYE7 earbuds during multiple workout sessions lasting anywhere from 45 minutes to just shy of 2 hours, and as long as I kept placing them back in the storage case afterward, I never fully drained them.  However, I did experiment a bit to see how long it would take to drain them completely and it took just shy of 3 hours.  From fully drained, the earbuds took about 1.5 to 2 hours to fully charge.

The lid of the charging case was nearly opaque but was also sufficiently transparent that you could see the LEDs through the lid enabling you to determine if the BW-FYE7 earbuds were still charging.  I found this to be a handy feature indeed.

The rear of the charging case had two notable features.  The first was a small, oval-shaped button (more on this button below).  The other was the micro-USB port for the charging cable.

The charging case itself had four tiny LEDs on its front.  When connected to a computer or outlet via the micro-USB port on the rear, these LEDs blinked to indicate the level of charge that has been obtained.  Once disconnected from power, these LEDs were not normally illuminated, but pressing the small, oval-shaped button the back of the charging case (see above) illuminated the LEDs on the front briefly to indicate the charge level of the case’s battery.  I found this to be another very handy feature.  The charging case took about 1.5 to 2 hours to fully charge.

The charging case was a nice size, but my only critique of it was that it was a bit of an awkward shape—it didn’t feel very comfortable when slid into a pants pocket.  If it had been a little more rounded and contoured, it would have been better.  Still, I did like its styling, how solid it felt, and that it was loaded with useful features.

Fit

I’ve reviewed quite a few Bluetooth earbuds, both wired and wireless, and the BW-FYE7 earbuds did fit into my ears in a bit of a unique way.  They were fairly low profile and didn’t protrude much from my ears, and the combination of their angled posts plus their oblong, somewhat “hook” shape seemed to help keep them in my years better than any earbuds I’ve tried yet, either wired or wireless.

When placed in the ear with the angled posts oriented straight down the ear canal, their oblong shape sort of “rested” in the little notch toward the bottom of my ear, as seen in the image above.  This seemed to really help capture them and keep them in place, even when I was exercising.  The only time they even started to come loose was when I became excessively sweaty during some very intense workouts.  In fact, even when I wore them in the rain, they stayed put, and they also continued to function without issue through both sweating and rain, which demonstrated that their water-resistance was not exaggerated.

Audio Performance

Last, but certainly not least—how did they sound?  (They *are* audio devices, after all!)  I will preface my answer to this by first stating once again that I have reviewed many different Bluetooth earbuds, and to be honest, the audio quality of most of them was acceptable—not bad by any means, but just not great.  However, I was very pleasantly surprised by the BW-FYE7 earbuds, whose sound quality was actually noticeably good to my ears.  The highs were crisp and the lows were deep, even for a very small pair of Bluetooth earbuds.  I attributed this to both their dual 6mm dynamic drivers and their solid fit in my ear canals—while their silicone ear tips did not appear to be anything unique, the combination of their anatomically-oriented posts and the way their shape  “locked” into position in my ears helped really cut down on ambient noise, allowing me to hear more of whatever I may have had pumping through their tiny speakers.

What I like

  • Sound quality is excellent
  • Earbuds are small and lightweight AND they stayed in my ears during all but the most strenuous (and sweaty) exercising
  • Charging case is well-built, solid, and has several useful features
  • Good battery life for both the earbuds and charging case
  • Generally stayed pair to my iPhone and were easy to re-connect if necessary
  • Audio controls were intuitive and worked consistently

What I’d change

  • Charging case could be a bit more rounded and contoured to feel more comfortable when in a pants pocket

Final thoughts

If you’ve read the above, by now you probably have a good idea that I was quite impressed with the BlitzWolf BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds.  They really hit all of my requirements and included some features that I hadn’t expected or that worked even better than I did expect.  For a very affordable ~$40, the BlitzWolf BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds are worth a serious look if you are in the market for a set of Bluetooth true wireless earbuds.

Price: $39.99
Where to buy: Amazon (use code RJ7NAGP9 at checkout to save 25% – code expires 8/31/19)
Source: The sample of this product was provided by BlitzWolf.

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BlitzWolf BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 27, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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WaterField just created the perfect small EDC shoulder bag

NEWS – San Francisco based WaterField Designs has been churning out awesome stuff lately and their newest bag is a small shoulder pouch called the Marqui Crossbody Pouch. All I can say is that I.want.one.now. The Marqui is a small bag that is made of black ballistic nylon with your choice of 6 colors for the full-grain leather panel on the front.

The front of the bag has a zippered pouch for your phone and the back has an open-topped pocket that you can use to quickly stow papers, ticket stubs, receipts, etc.

The interior of the Marqui has WaterField’s iconic gold lining which makes it easy to see all your EDC gear that can be placed in the pouch’s main center section or in one of the two open-topped pockets inside the bag.

The Marqui comes with a shoulder strap that has an easy to use metal cam for tightening or loosening the strap and there are two small exterior loops on either side of the bag that you can use to hang small items with carabiners.

The Marqui Crossbody Pouch is available now for $79. Visit sfbags.com for all the details.

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WaterField just created the perfect small EDC shoulder bag originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 27, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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FCC Investigating Cell Phones Tested as Having Radiofrequency Radiation

This is something that perhaps we considered years ago when we first encountered the idea of having phones that traveled with us. Maybe these phones would have radiation. But many of us really haven’t paid too much attention to it since then. We enjoy the convenience of what cell phones give us, especially when using smartphones, such as iPhone and Androids. However, the Chicago Tribune tested what seems to be a random range of cell phones and found radiofrequency radiation at more than an acceptable amount. The FCC is now investigating on their own, after the newspaper’s testing. … Read more

Posted by / August 27, 2019 / Posted in News

How to Check the Weather on Your Windows 10 Desktop

The fastest way to check the weather is on Google search itself. With less than a flick of a finger, you receive an hour-by-hour summary of temperature, precipitation and humidity for any location worldwide. However, if you are using Windows 10, you might want to use one of these applications to check the weather on your desktop, as they provide more detailed information than Google. 1. Windows 10 Default Weather App The default Weather app on Windows 10 comes bundled with the operating system and is updated with each version. You can access it directly from the Start menu. Enter any location on the… Read more