Understanding Your CPU Temperature and How to Cool It Down

We know about overheating during exercise and hot summer days, but how much do you know about computers overheating? Just like us, computers have parts that can get too hot and malfunction. Unfortunately, unlike us, a little bit of water won’t do the trick! Let’s explore how computers overheat, what causes it, and how to check how toasty your CPU is. Why Does CPU Temperature Matter? When computers do their job, the components used to perform said job heat up due to the stress put on them. A lot of components inside a computer can… Read more

How to Use Google Drive to Maximize Productivity

Google Drive is one of the most popular cloud-storage services out there. This cloud-storage service gives you 15GB of free storage with the option of buying additional space, as soon as you sign up for a Google account. With Google Drive, you can gain access to your file on any device you have added your Google account to. You can enjoy offline access to your files as well. How to Sign Up for Google Drive There are two ways you can get your Google Drive account. You can go to Google Drive and sign up… Read more

Keyport OmniFob, Ennercell wireless charger, Mokibo keyboard, and more – Notable crowdfunding campaigns

CROWDFUNDING NEWS – Here are four crowdfunding campaigns that caught my eye this week. Let me know if these products interest you too or if I missed a really good campaign that I should talk about.

OmniFob™ Smart Remote Fob – Home / Auto / Security / Locator

What is it?

The OmniFob is a small remote that becomes part of your EDC and can control a variety of smart home, car, and other devices.

Why do I like it?

I like the OmniFob because it can ultimately replace my car fob to lock/unlock and even start my car, along with opening my garage door, unlocking my front door, controlling my lights in the house, and more all with the click of a button. The OmniFob is made by our friends at Keyport, so I know that it will be a quality product that stands on its own or can be combined with other Keyport products like their Anywhere Tools modular EDC system.

Where can I find more info?

The OmniFob campaign ends on 8/16/19 they have just started working toward their funding goal of $50,000. You can pre-order an OmniFob starting at $78. After the OmniFob campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in February 2020. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.

Ennercell true wireless power bank

What is it?

Ennercell is a small portable 5000mAh power bank that charges your phone wirelessly.

Why do I like it?

I like the Ennercell because it’s completely wirefree. The power bank itself charges via a wireless (Qi) charger and it charges your phone by becoming a wireless charger itself. Another cool feature is that you can charge the Ennercell while also charging your phone. Just put the Ennercell on your wireless charging pad and then put your phone on top of the Ennercell to create a wireless charging sandwich!

Where can I find more info?

The Ennercell campaign ends on 7/31/19 they have more than met their funding goal of $7,679. You can pre-order an Ennercell starting at $29. After the Ennercell campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in September 2019. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.

HyperCube: Auto Backup Photos While You Charge

What is it?

HyperCube is a small adapter that connects between the USB charger and your phone and backs up your phone’s photos to a micro SD memory card or USB flash/hard drive while your phone is charging.

Why do I like it?

I like HyperCube because it’s a small automatic backup device that will let you keep another copy of all your images. Even though most of our images are backed up to the cloud, it’s always a good idea to keep an extra copy just in case. This product does it for you without any intervention.

Where can I find more info?

The HyperCube Kickstarter campaign ended on 7/16/19 they raised $295,098. You can still pre-order a HyperCube starting at $29. After the HyperCube campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in September 2019. Visit their Indiegogo Indemand page for all the details.

Mokibo: 2-in-1 Keyboard Embedded with Touchpad

What is it?

Mokibo is a portable Bluetooth keyboard for multiple devices.

Why do I like it?

I like the Mokibo keyboard because it has a built-in touchpad right over the keyboard’s keys. How’s that for a unique feature. And what’s really cool, is that the touchpad gestures work with iOS devices in addition to Android, macOS, and Windows.

Where can I find more info?

The Mokibo campaign ends on 8/10/19 they are still working toward their funding goal of $30,000. You can pre-order a Mokibo starting at $119. After the Mokibo campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in August 2019. Visit their Indiegogo page for all the details.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged:

Keyport OmniFob, Ennercell wireless charger, Mokibo keyboard, and more – Notable crowdfunding campaigns originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 17, 2019 at 1:02 pm.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

How to Install Snap Applications in Arch Linux

If you’re a longtime Linux user, you likely recall how difficult installing new applications could be. Unless it was included with the installer, you usually needed to go through the configure, make, make install process, usually hunting down missing dependencies along the way. Package managers like apt and yum made this much more manageable, but dependencies could still bite you. You may have heard of Snap, which claims to fix many of these problems. You might have also heard that it’s an Ubuntu-only thing, but fortunately, that’s not true. Related: 5 of the Best Games on Ubuntu Snap Store… Read more

VOAMOKO Mouse Pad with USB Hub review

REVIEW – Our family computer is a MacBook Pro that lives on the kitchen table but floats around the house wherever it’s needed.  It’s not a particularly powerful laptop, but we only use it for ordinary things, like banking online, writing documents, and checking Facebook.  In general, our setup works, but it does have a couple of drawbacks.  One, our table isn’t a great mousepad, and two, our MacBook doesn’t have enough ports.  The perfect solution to our problem would be a mousepad that doubles as a USB hub, and that’s exactly what VOAMOKO’s gadget is!

What is it?

The VOAMOKO Mouse Pad with USB Hub is exactly what its name says:  It’s a metallic mousepad with a built-in USB hub designed to work with laptops.

What’s in the box?

The only two things in the box are the mousepad and a 7-inch-long USB cable.  Atypically, there are no manuals, quick start guides, or any warranty information.

Hardware specs

The mousepad is made of an aluminum alloy.  It’s available in gold, rose gold, black, space gray, or silver. It’s 10.5 long x 8 inches wide and has 6 ports on the back:

  • 1 x RJ45
  • 3 x USB 3.0
  • 1 x SD
  • 1 x Micro SD

Design and features

I have the silver mousepad, and it matches the silver on our MacBook Pro pretty well.  The main part of the mousepad is a flat surface, like any mousepad, but the back part that houses the hub is a raised, triangular shape.  The connector to the host is indented on the left side.  It almost looks like something that Apple would have designed.

Installation and setup

Installation is super simple.  I connected the USB cable to the port on the left side of the mousepad to the USB port on the right side of the laptop.  Done.  No power supplies or drivers required.

Performance

The mousepad is a slick, metallic surface, which means it’s very fast and not very tactile.  Personally, I prefer this to the slower speed of a cloth mousepad, but if it’s too fast for you, you can adjust the tracking speed of your mouse, if it supports this feature.  The mousepad seems very rigid and sturdy to me, and I expect it will work very well for a long time.

The great thing about this design is that when I need to use the laptop somewhere else, I only need to disconnect two cables, the USB cable to the mousepad and the power cable.  Everything else can remain right where it is, ready for whenever I bring the computer back.

The ports on the back of the hub work great!  I connected an SD card from my Canon EOS 60D camera, a SanDisk USB drive with some files, the wireless dongle for my Logitech mouse, and my SanDisk SSD drive for Time Machine.  Everything just works without any fuss or drama, which is exactly what I want, and there’s plenty of space between each port.  It should be noted that the 3 USB ports implement the older, slower USB 3.0 specification, so the max throughput is only 5 Gbps.  If you consistently need to move lots of large files, you may find this to be too slow, but for normal, everyday usage, it’s probably just fine.  Amazon has an alternate version of this mousepad that connects to the host computer using USB-C, but as far as I can tell its ports are still USB 3.0, so you won’t see any difference in performance.

There are a couple of constraints that you should be aware of.  First, the port for connecting to the host computer is only available on the left side of the mousepad, which means that the mouse pad only works on the right side of your laptop.  Unfortunately, all of you “lefties” out there have been left out.  If you want to move the mousepad to the left side of your laptop, or if you don’t want your mousepad to be right next to your laptop, you’ll need to buy a longer USB cable.  Second, the cable is fairly rigid, which means that the mousepad is exactly 6 inches away from my laptop.  My personal preference would be to move it closer, but the cable won’t let me move it very far.  I wish that VOAMOKO had included a braided cable, which would provide the flexibility to adjust the mousepad’s location.

The bottom of the mousepad has a black, rubber surface attached to it, which provides good traction.  I never have problems with it slipping around while using it.

One final consideration is the price, which is currently $59.99 on Amazon.  You can buy an aluminum mousepad for less than $20, and you can buy a similar USB hub for less than $20.  That means you’re paying an extra $20 for the convenience of merging these into one product and decluttering your workspace.  I’m a fan of simplicity, so this seems like a good deal to me.

What I like

  • Solid construction
  • Nice aesthetics
  • Functional ports

What I’d change

  • A braided USB cable for connecting to the host computer

Final thoughts

I like this mousepad from VOAMOKO.  It does everything that I hoped it would do without any problems.  The functionality of the extra ports and the convenience of only having to plug in the one USB cable are good things.  If you’re in need of a mousepad and a hub, then I commend the VOAMOKO Mouse Pad with USB Hub to you.

Price:  $59.99
Where to buy:  Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by VOAMOKO.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: ,

VOAMOKO Mouse Pad with USB Hub review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 17, 2019 at 10:03 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.