Word. introduces their new Beach Vibes collection

Pocket notebook company Word. has just announced a new limited series of their notebooks called the Beach Vibes collection. This collection includes three different notebook that will be available in packages of three. There’s the Surf, Palm, and Beach cover styles. Once these three styles sell out, they’ll be gone forever. Each 3.5 x 5.5in sized Word. notebook is made in the USA and features 48 lined pages with a stapled spine. You can order a pack of 3 Beach Vibes notebooks for $9.99 from http://ift.tt/12geNXQ.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged: Notebooks

Word. introduces their new Beach Vibes collection originally appeared on on June 30, 2017 at 12:44 pm.

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Word. introduces their new Beach Vibes collection

Koogeek SK1Smart Socket review

I’m in the process of slowly automating my home, so when the opportunity to review the Koogeek SK1 Smart Socket, I jumped at the opportunity. I anticipated turning light on and off from afar, and dimming them to suit a particular mood… I get ahead of myself. 

The Koogeek socket arrived in a sturdy box, nestled in a form-fitting plastic tray and a tiny 3” X 3” instruction card. The socket itself is very basic, about 3 inches in diameter, a standard bulb socket on one end, and the flange that goes into the lamp’s socket on the other. There is a single pushbutton on the socket to perform all of its functions, including turning the lamp on and off without using the app.

Screwing the lamp into a lamp socket revealed the first hurdle in my plan to electronically dominate my home: With the Koogeek socket installed, the bulb is raised about 1.5 inches from the existing socket. I found that in the lamp I had chosen for use, the bulb was raised enough to contact the loop that holds the lampshade. I found a slightly smaller profile bulb that fit, but it’s still tight. On lamps that have more space above the bulb, this would not be an issue.

I downloaded their app, created a user account and went through the pairing process. It was refreshingly simple. Screw in the bulb, screw the socket into the lamp, turn the lamp on and hold the solitary pushbutton until it flashes. Open the app, click the “+”, and type in the number of the device conveniently located on the socket and that form-fitting plastic tray it arrived in. Nice touch. I can imagine if this device were placed in a difficult to reach location, it might be tedious to get the number from the socket itself.

Voila! I’m in business. The whole process taking no more than a minute. The app reliably turned the bulb on and off from any location in my home. I moved on to creating scenes – essentially macros for automating multiple Koogeek device actions into a single button. For example, I used the “Good Night” scene to turn the light off. If I possessed additional Koogeek products, it would have been simple to string my desired instructions into a Scene and execute with a touch of a button.

I searched everywhere in the app for a method to dim the lamp only to find, there is none. Nope, my dreams of dimming the lights before movie time were gone. Bummer. Also non-existent was the ability to put the socket on a timer – The app page is blank. Another bummer. What they do have is a nifty “details” page showing the lamps power consumption and historical usage.

Koogeek’s app is compatible with Apple’s ”Home” app, inviting me to further integration fun. After going through the process of adding the socket to the app, I found the functionality to be virtually identical – on, off, and scenes. That’s it. The device is touted to have Alexa connectivity, but this is limited to Koogeek’s P2 socket at this time.

Next, I attempted to control the socket when disconnected from my home network (on a 4G cellular network), only to find Koogeek requires integration through Apple TV, which unfortunately I do not own, so I was not able to test remote functionality.

I found the Koogeek SK1 socket useful, but only for the most basic functions and only while in my home. The socket is sturdy and reliable but lacks many of the functions of its competitors such as dimming, timers and the ability to control away from the home network. I’m hopeful that as Koogeek’s products evolve, more functionality will be added.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Koogeek. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

 

Product Information

Price:	$39.99
Manufacturer:	Koogeek
Retailer:	Amazon
Pros:	Simple setup Reliable performance
Cons:	Lacks dimming Lacks scheduling Lacks control away from home network No Alexa connectivity

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Home Automation, Lighting

Koogeek SK1Smart Socket review originally appeared on on June 30, 2017 at 9:00 am.

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Koogeek SK1Smart Socket review

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) explained: AMBER alerts and what the heck is a Severe Alert vs. an Extreme Alert and how do I turn them off?!?

Here’s the scenario: I’m at home in the middle of the night sleeping, dreaming of eating doughnuts without guilt when suddenly I’m jolted out of my blissful reverie by my phone’s blaring emergency broadcast alert. I fumble around frantically to find my phone to determine the type of impending doom that’s about to befall me and mine only to find that it’s a flash flood warning which is not a threat to me where I live. Uuuugh! Sometimes this happens when I’m in a meeting or in a class or watching a recital and I’ve diligently silenced my phone except for the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) that get through in mortifying fashion. Most of my alerts have been flash flood warnings, so how do I turn those off?

In all seriousness, these alerts were implemented to warn us of highly dangerous situations and I’m thankful that they exist. They save lives. But before I get into how to alter the emergency alert settings I want to explain a little about the alerts.

About Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)

Who issues emergency alerts: They are issued by government alerting authorities like the National Weather Service (NWS), Department of Homeland Security, and state and local public safety agencies according to Weather warnings to go!, a publication issued by the National Weather Service (NWS).

How are the alerts sent?: “Federal, state, local and tribal public safety agencies must apply to FEMA to become alert-originating authorities. Once the alert-originators are authorized, FEMA authenticates the sender and the alert. FEMA transmits the WEA to the more than 100 participating wireless providers who may have customers in that designated alerting area. Only those customers in that target area receive the alert.” (from ctia.org – the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association – an international nonprofit organization that represents all sectors of wireless communications).

They are not text messages: Some of these alerts might look like text messages but they are not and are thus not affected by network congestion that may affect mobile voice or text messaging services. According to ctia.org, the emergency alerts will be no more than 90 characters, contain the type of alert it is and the time, who is affected and what action to take and the agency issuing the alert.

Types of alerts/examples of alerts: There are only three types of alerts that you will receive according to the Federal Communications Commission FCC:

1. Alerts issued by the President
2. Alerts involving imminent threats to safety or life
3. AMBER alerts (named after “9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnaped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, TX, and then brutally murdered” according to amberalert.gov; also stands for America’s Missing: Broadcasting Emergency Response)

So, in addition to severe weather and AMBER alerts, you may receive evacuation orders, terrorist threat alerts, chemical spill alerts, etc. according to the FCC.

Wireless carrier/device limitations: It is important to know that some phones may not be WEA compatible. If that is the case for you, you may still receive alerts via mobile apps. Also, your wireless carrier must participate in the WEA program for you to receive the alerts; however, more than 100 mobile carriers, including all of the largest carriers, participate in the WEA program according to ctia.org.

Alerts are location dependent: Alerts are issued according to your current location. Thus, if you are traveling, you will receive alerts according to the location you are visiting. In other words, if you are using a cell tower in the alert zone, you will receive that alert according to the FCC. Since the alerts are dependent on the cell tower you are currently using, you and a friend can be in the same location but if you are using different cell towers, you may not receive the same alerts (FCC).

Altering your alert settings

Can the alerts be turned off?: Depending on your wireless carrier and type of phone that you use, you can turn off some of these alerts but you CANNOT block alerts issued by the President. And, since these alerts are so important, they will ignore your Do Not Disturb settings. For my own purposes, I’m focusing on altering the settings of the weather alerts that I receive. Since I spend most of my time at home as a homeschool teacher where flash floods are not a threat, I do not want to receive those unnecessary warnings. So I dug into my phone’s settings to investigate how to turn this alert off.

Location of alert settings on phones: Where in the world are the WEA (or Emergency broadcasts) settings? It’s fairly straightforward to find those settings on an iPhone. They are located in Settings > Notifications > (scroll to the bottom) Government Alerts. Under Government Alerts there are only two settings to turn on or off: AMBER Alerts and Emergency Alerts.

However, if you use an Android phone, it turns out the alert settings could be anywhere (well almost anywhere it seems), depending on the phone (the following list of steps is based on the Android phones I have at home and steps I have googled for some other phones):

• Android 7: Phone Settings > Sound > Emergency broadcasts
• Android 5 and 6: Phone Settings > More > Emergency broadcasts
• Older Android versions: Phone Settings > More > Wireless & Networks > Cell Broadcast settings  (from phonetipz.com)
• Samsung Galaxy S7: Phone Settings > Privacy and Emergency > Emergency Alerts > More button > Settings (from tomsguide.com)
• HTC One M9 and LG G6: Emergency Alerts app > Menu icon (vertical ellipsis) > Settings (from tomsguide.com)

You can also alter the alert settings via your messaging app on your Android 7.0 phone:

• Messenger > Menu icon (vertical ellipsis) > Settings > Advanced > Wireless Alerts > Menu icon (vertical ellipsis) > Settings

Android emergency alert settings: These are broken down into more detail than iPhone users have access to. The above screenshots show the various alerts and alert settings that you can disable or enable on your Android phone. They are:

1. Show extreme threats
2. Show severe threats
3. Show AMBER alerts

You also have the option to enable the following: display notifications, select the duration of the alert sound, set an alert reminder, vibrate on alert, speak alert messages, display test broadcasts for the Earthquake Tsunami Warning System (ETWS), display test broadcasts for Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS – this is an older name for what is now known as Wireless Emergency Alerts), and show an opt-out dialog after displaying the first CMAS alert (other than Presidential Alert).

By default, all of my alerts were enabled. You might be saying to yourself just as I did, “I want to receive tornado alerts but not flash flood alerts. So, is a flash flood a severe threat or an extreme threat? And what exactly is the difference between the two?” *scratching head*

It turns out that severe threats and extreme threats include the following (the table above and the following information come from the NWS):

Severe threats (see the table above for warning details):

• storm surge warnings
• flash flood warnings
• dust storm warnings

Extreme threats (see the table above for warning details):

• tsunami warnings
• tornado warnings
• severe wind warnings
• hurricane warnings
• typhoon warnings

Now, knowing the difference between Severe threats and Extreme threats, I unselected the Show severe threats so that I could avoid getting flash flood warnings. So, there you have it. All about Wireless Emergency Alerts. Whew! That was a lot of work just to figure out how to turn off Flash Flood warnings!

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: weather

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) explained: AMBER alerts and what the heck is a Severe Alert vs. an Extreme Alert and how do I turn them off?!? originally appeared on on June 30, 2017 at 8:00 am.

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Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) explained: AMBER alerts and what the heck is a Severe Alert vs. an Extreme Alert and how do I turn them off?!?

Flares Pro earphones produce sound quality that feels live

It takes a lot of confidence to name an earphone a “Pro” model. That simple three-letter word sets up all kinds of expectations. Flare doesn’t make many products—one model of consumer speakers, ear plugs for noise protection, a line of pro speakers and now the Flares Pro wireless earphones. As Flare states, “New wireless earphones that produce sound quality so high every recording feels live.” One look at the box and it’s clearly apparent that Flare is serious.

The Flares Pro earphones are made of aerospace grade 5 titanium which makes them both light and strong. They are also open-backed—a rarity in earphones. The shells contain speakers are 5.5 mm beryllium connected by removable oxygen-free reinforced cables. Flare utilizes what they call Dual Jet technology—a complicated process that uses opposing pressure to achieve a balance in all frequencies thereby reducing distortion.

The Flares Pro earphones connect through a small DAC which can play hi-res music files up to 16BIT 48/96kHz. Battery life is rated at 10 hours from a 2 hour charge. aptX 4.1 Bluetooth has a range of 50 ft. Both the DAC and earphones are designed to work together in perfect balance. “In order to move forward we have gone back to the very beginning to understand how sound interacts on a molecular level” says Flare’s inventor Davies Roberts.

The large selection of included ear tips is divided for audiophile, everyday and universal listening with each having its advantages and disadvantages, which Flare plainly explains.

The Flares Pro earphones sell for $454.00 US. Visit Flare Audio for more information.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged: Bluetooth headphones

Flares Pro earphones produce sound quality that feels live originally appeared on on June 30, 2017 at 7:00 am.

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Flares Pro earphones produce sound quality that feels live

Ghost Studio’s Android Wear watch faces are incredible

Wow. That’s the only word that popped into my head when I clicked a link in an email to the Ghost Studio website. I wasn’t expecting much because I get so many emails asking to look at apps, products, etc, that end up being disappointing when I take the time to check them out. That wasn’t the case when I visited the Ghost Studio site and saw their Android Wear and Samsung Galaxy S3/S2 smart watch faces.

My name is Lazar Ilic and I’m a designer and co-owner of Ghost Studio. I think you might be interested in checking us out. We develop realistic watch faces for Android Wear and Samsung Gear S3/S2 smart watches, and we are trying to bring the look of luxurious mechanical watches to their smart counterparts thus making smart watches appear more stylish and luxurious and be perceived more as fashion accessories than just tech gadgets. We are led by the motto “Tech meets fashion” and we believe that our apps contribute to reducing the gap between high-end analog watches and smart watches in terms of visual experience.

At the moment, I counted 11 watch faces in their store. Each one is available for Android Wear watches and Samsung Galaxy Gear S2/S3 watches for $1.50 each.

The faces feature animated second hands and different color schemes. There are even feminine styles.

Ghost Studio even has a YouTube channel where you can see the watch faces in action like the video above.

If you’re an Android Wear or Galaxy Gear fan, you’ll want to check out ghostfaces.net. I bet you’ll say wow too.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged: Smartwatch

Ghost Studio’s Android Wear watch faces are incredible originally appeared on on June 29, 2017 at 5:23 pm.

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Ghost Studio’s Android Wear watch faces are incredible

Android 7.0 tips part 2: Open Chrome in two separate windows using split-screen and enable Night Mode

Last month I wrote an article entitled Android 7.0 tips: Notifications and power notification controls which seemed to interest some of you, so this month I thought that I would share some additional Android 7.0 tips. Did you know that you can open two Chrome windows using the split-screen feature? And did you know that Nougat has a hidden Night Mode feature that you can enable without rooting your phone?

Before I detail the steps on how to open two Chrome windows using split-screen, I will cover how to use the split-screen feature with two different apps.

Split-screen for two different apps

First, you will need to open an app that works with the split-screen feature (not all apps do; you will not be able to enter split-screen mode if the app does not work with it). Next, long press on the Recent Apps button which is the square soft key located at the bottom of your phone. After doing so, you will notice that the square soft key becomes two stacked horizontal rectangles and the app will be placed in the upper portion of your phone’s screen. At that time, if you have other apps that are open, you may scroll through the Recent Apps area in the lower part of the screen and tap on the one you want to fill the lower half of your screen. If you do not have any other apps open, you can tap on your phone’s Home button and then select an app to open. If the second app you launch does not work with split-screen, you may have to start over with the split-screen process. You can adjust the size of the two windows by long pressing and dragging up or down on the small dash located within the center of the bar that separates the apps.

If you would like to switch the app in the lower window to another app, use a short single tap on the Recent Apps button then either select another app from the Recent Apps area or tap on the Home button of your phone to open another app. To exit split-screen mode, you’ll need to long press on the Recent Apps button again. That’s it.

Open two Chrome windows using split-screen

To open two Chrome windows in split-screen, you need to open your Chrome app then open two tabs in Chrome that you are interested in as shown in the left screenshot above (the square containing the number 2 located at the top of the Chrome app to the right of the web address indicates the number of tabs you have open). Make sure that the tab that you want to move to the LOWER part of your phone’s screen is the active window (the tab that you are viewing), then long press on the Recent Apps button.

Next, you will need to tap on the vertical ellipsis (or More Options) icon located in the upper-right corner of the Chrome app to access the Chrome app menu as shown in the left screenshot above. Now you’ll need to tap on “Move to other window” after which, the Chrome tab that you are viewing will be moved to the lower part of the split-screen, leaving the other tab to fill the upper part of your phone’s screen. When you want to exit the split-screen mode, you’ll need to long press on the Recent Apps button again.

Enabling Night Mode

The next tip I have for you is enabling Night Mode. Night Mode is a blue-canceling mode for your phone to help reduce interference with your sleep patterns. I learned how to activate this feature thanks to android.gadgethacks.com and found that this feature is somewhat twitchy to use, but it is possible to get it to work.

Even though this feature did not visibly make it to the final version of Android 7.0, the code is apparently still there and can be accessed (without root) by downloading the app called Night Mode Enabler by Mike Evans.

NOTE: Before being able to use the Night Mode Enabler app you must first enable the System UI Tuner. If you haven’t already done this, please visit the Android 7.0 tips: Notifications and power notification controls article that I wrote last month (the steps to enable it are located in the middle of the article). HTC phones users and others that cannot enable AND access the System UI Tuner from your phone’s settings will not be able to enable Night Mode. Remember, all of the System UI Tuner settings are experimental and may not work.

When you open the Night Mode Enabler app, you’ll need to tap on the Enable Night Mode button as shown in the right screenshot above.

Just after tapping on the button, you will be brought to the Night Mode settings located in the System UI Tuner. The Night Mode settings consist of turning the mode on, turning it on automatically, adjusting the tint and adjusting the brightness.

When you fully expand your phone’s Quick Settings (by pulling down on the Notification Shade twice) you will then notice that the Night Mode toggle was added to your list (it was added automatically for me). If it was not, you can tap on the Edit button located in the lower right corner of the Quick Settings area then, from the list of additional toggles, long press on the Night Mode toggle and drag it to your desired location in Quick Settings (you can reorder any of your toggles using this process). If you have trouble adding it, according to android.gadgethacks.com, you can “reset your Quick Settings toggles, then add the Night Mode switch again. To do that, just head to the ‘Edit’ menu in Quick Settings, then tap the three-dot menu button in the top-right corner and choose ‘Reset.'” Now you can manually toggle Night Mode on or off if you wish. When this feature is active, the screen on your phone takes on an orange hue which I could not capture with screenshots.

NOTE: the ONLY way to access and alter these Night Mode settings is by long pressing on the Night Mode toggle in your phone’s Quick Settings or by launching the Night Mode Enabler app – you WILL NOT see it by going into the System UI Tuner settings directly.

It was my experience that leaving the Night Mode settings in their default positions allowed me to manually turn Night Mode on or off from my phone’s Quick Settings. Turning off the Adjust Tint setting seemed to prevent my phone’s screen color from changing, so I left this in the “On” position. I have not tested turning on Night Mode automatically, I’ve only used the manual toggle in Quick Settings. I realize that there are night mode apps available that perform this function well, but this method is free (no ads to deal with) and I do like having a Night Mode toggle available in my phone’s Quick Settings.

I hope you find these features useful and fun to use like I did!

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Android

Android 7.0 tips part 2: Open Chrome in two separate windows using split-screen and enable Night Mode originally appeared on on June 29, 2017 at 1:12 pm.

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Android 7.0 tips part 2: Open Chrome in two separate windows using split-screen and enable Night Mode

Mychanic Pod Light Review

“Oh cool” was my son’s reaction when he saw this… thing.  What is this thing?  It’s called the Pod Light from Mychanic, a unique take on the work light that goes almost anywhere.

 

• Sphere is 3.5” in diameter
• Base is 2.25” in diameter
• Sphere + Base is 4.5” tall
• 250 lumens
• Weight: .6 lbs
• Includes 3 AA Duracell(R) batteries
• Durable ABS housing
• Patent pending

The first thing I noticed:  Batteries included!  It also meant it wasn’t USB rechargeable, something I’ve been looking for in lights recently.

Let’s take a look at that base.  It’s magnetized on both the concave side (to hold the pod) and the flat side, for mounting on a metallic work surface.

Feeding time!  The Pod Light takes three AA batteries.

There’s a single diamond-shaped button on the top of the softball-sized light.  You get a low (6 surround LEDs) and a high (all LEDs) setting.  There’s no setting for just the central LED.

Here’s the Pod Light, mounted on a metal part under my hood.

How long does the Pod Light stay lit? To try this, I installed a set of regular rechargeable Eneloop AA batteries and let it sit on the brightest setting.  After a few hours, the LED intensity dropped.  I’d say the listed 7 hours is pretty accurate.

By the next morning, it was more like a dim night light. The Pod Light kept putting out a faint glow of light (not very useful) for nearly 36 hours before going completely dark. I’m not sure how alkaline AA batteries would fare, but the discharge curve is probably a little different.

Mychanic states that “you won’t be able to put it down” and I think they’re right.  The sphere shape just feels fun, and I ended up going around the house to see where I could stick the magnetic base (appliances, shelves, car door).  I still wish the Pod Light was USB rechargeable, but at least they were good enough to include AA batteries.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Mychanic. Please visit their site for more info.

 

Product Information

Price:	$19.99
Manufacturer:	Mychanic
Requirements:	3 AA batteries (included)
Pros:	Two brightness modes. Base sticks to any magnetic surface
Cons:	USB rechargeable would have been nice.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: LED Light

Mychanic Pod Light Review originally appeared on on June 29, 2017 at 9:00 am.

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Mychanic Pod Light Review

24 Hours with Bixby

Unless you have been under a rock, you already know about Samsung’s entry into the Smart Assistant category with the odd name Bixby.  If you have been under a rock, welcome back and we’ll wait while you catch up.

Bixby launched on the new Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus phones back in April, but it was incomplete.  At launch, it only supported a small set of functions (no voice) that made it look a lot like Google Now.  Months later, Samsung is finally preparing to launch voice capabilities for Bixby.  I have been lucky enough to get early access and as I am not under an NDA, I get to tell you about my experience with Samsung’s Smart Assistant.  Is it a worthy competitor to Siri, Cortana and Google Assistant?  Read on to find out…

Samsung is sending odd messages about how Bixby fits into the Smart Assistant landscape.  They pointedly avoid any sort of comparison to any of the other assistants like the Google Assistant or Siri.  Instead, the messaging is around how personal and local to you Bixby is.  It is an intelligent interface to your device, although from a function perspective it is difficult to see how that interface differs from the competition.

Both the S8 and the Plus come with a dedicated Bixby button on the left side of the phone.  That’s important to know later when I get into how to use Bixby, but for now, it just serves to bolster the message that Bixby is part of the phone’s interface.  Installation was pretty simple – an over the air update delivered the necessary modules, and after a quick restart of my S8 Plus, I was ready to train Bixby.

Yes, train.  While both Cortana and Google Assistant offered to improve voice recognition through training, neither actually required me to read phrases into my device like Samsung did.  And the interface for training was particularly laggy – during the training, the phrase to speak would take a minute or more to appear on the screen.  I was not prevented, however, from pressing the Bixby button nor did anything I say to the phone actually get used UNTIL the phrase appeared on the screen.  Instead, I was greeted with an error message telling me the phrase was not understood – and the error message showed before the phrase to read.

Once trained, Bixby sits (mostly) in the background waiting for you to give him something to do.  Bixby is supposed to respond to a trigger phrase (in this case, “Hi, Bixby”), which implies an always-listening connection on your phone.  I have yet to be able to get Bixby to respond to the trigger phrase except for the first time I say it post-reboot of the phone.  After I have used the trigger phrase, Bixby apparently stops listening until the phone restarts.  This is beta software, I guess, but it seems like a big miss.

The only consistent way I can get Bixby to respond is to press the dedicated button.  A quick press of the button launches Bixby Home, which should remind you of a pastel version of Google Now.  Context cards appear on the screen that tells you about the weather, your calendar, and alarms, some “trending stories” categories that take you to a Google news search and Samsung Themes (in case you obsessively want to change the look of your phone).  There are other links to apps like Samsung Health and reminders, but only if the app lives on your phone and you connected it with Bixby via setup.

This chart is the optimistic use case for Bixby.  Home is the Google Now-equivalent page.  Vision is connected to the Samsung Camera app and is supposed to allow you to snap a picture of something and get a translation, identification or other data.  So far, I get about 1 hit with data out of every 5 attempts.  Often the data is wrong – I snapped a picture of a “wet floor” sign at my local Starbucks and instead of a translation of “piso mojado” I was shown a Google search for the phrase “slippery when wet” – granted, it is in the same ballpark, but since the Spanish phrase was all that was visible in the picture, it seems like an odd way to answer what should have been a simple translation.

Reminders are just that – location and time aware reminders to do something.  When you are able to get the reminder into Bixby, they work exactly the same as Google’s reminders (and Cortana’s and Siri’s, I would guess).  Getting the reminder in is challenging, though, because…

Voice is the interface portion of Bixby and primarily how you are supposed to interact.  You can tell Bixby to remind you to pick up milk when you get to Metropolitan Market or to remind you to buy tickets for Chris Isaak tomorrow at 9 AM.  You can tell Bixby, but if there is any noise in the room or anything going on with your phone, Bixby will almost always get it wrong.  Asking Bixby to remind me to get milk while walking towards the store netted me a Google search for the etymology of the word “ilk”.  In fact, about half the time I got something entirely different than the reminder I was hoping for.

Pressing and holding the Bixby button allows you to launch a command or set a reminder without the trigger phrase, which is a very good thing since I could never get the trigger to work consistently.  You can use commands like “Open Messages” and the Messages (SMS) app will open.  For apps that have deep-linking (at the moment, only a handful of Samsung apps like Health and Messages), you can add an operation to the command – like “Open Messages and Send a Text to Beth”.  For the apps which Samsung has deep-linking setup, this works quite nicely.  However, Bixby has recognition problems here, too.  I use Pulse for SMS messaging, and if I use the command “Open Pulse” inexplicably Bixby launches Samsung Health – while I get the “pulse” reference, it would appear Bixby has trouble parsing the syntax of commands and just executes whatever it thinks it is near-matched.

Other than reminders and VERY light phone commands, Voice leaves a lot to be desired.  And even those leave something to be desired.

I would love to tell you of a better experience, but it is truly early days for Bixby.  Samsung must have realized that the assistant is something less than half-baked because not long after the beta was launched Samsung announced the general availability would be delayed until there are more resources (read: apps) available.  Probably a good thing, too, because it gives them more time to perfect something the other guys have right already: voice recognition with consistent results.  It was 24 hours of frustrating near misses, reminders to check my alarms (which I routinely dismissed only to have them reappear a couple of hours later), inability to set reminders for the things I needed, and other quirky results that made me think of Apple’s Newton handwriting fiasco many years ago.  If you want a laugh, go look that last one up.

So for now, back to the Google Assistant where I know it will remind me to get milk.

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Samsung

24 Hours with Bixby originally appeared on on June 29, 2017 at 7:59 am.

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24 Hours with Bixby

A celiac’s new best friend: the Nima portable gluten sensor

For people with celiac disease, an autoimmune condition for which there is no cure, eating gluten-free isn’t just a way of life. It is life, considering a mere 20 ppm of gluten is all it takes to trip an immune response. Enter Nima, a portable gluten sensor that tests food for the presence of gluten exceeding the threshold of safety for celiacs.

The unit, which retails for $279 ($229 at the time of this posting), comes with three test vials, a micro-USB recharging cable and a carrying pouch, which fits in a purse or pocket. The unit measures 3.5 inches wide and 3.1 inches high and has bluetooth connectivity so it can synch to your smartphone. Users can contribute their test results to the Nima community using a free Nima app, which also provides a list of Nima-tested restaurants.

To test for the presence of gluten, users put a sample of food – liquid or solid – into a vial and insert the vial into the device. In three minutes, a wheat icon and a “gluten detected” warning will warn users if their food is not safe to consume; a smile icon gives diners the go-ahead.

Nima works using a combination of chemistry and sensors, and the vials are not reusable. Subscriptions are available for $59.95 per month for 12 capsules or $61.95 for 12 vials every other month. Those who eat restaurant or processed food often can opt for the $116.94, 24-capsule plan per month. Some foods – soy sauce, pure vinegar, beer, or alcohol – cannot be tested, leaving diners to make educated judgment calls before consumption.

Visit nimasensor.com for more information.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged: Food, Health and fitness

A celiac’s new best friend: the Nima portable gluten sensor originally appeared on on June 29, 2017 at 6:47 am.

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A celiac’s new best friend: the Nima portable gluten sensor

ShedRain e-Motion motorized compact umbrella review

Do you carry a compact umbrella with you for rainy days? I have one in my drawer at my day job and one in the glove compartment of my car just so I have all my bases covered. The overall design of compact umbrellas hasn’t changed much over the years unless you include the button on the handle that automatically extends the canopy over your head when you press it. Yes, that’s a very handy feature, there hasn’t been a button to automatically close the umbrella until now. Let’s go singing in the rain with the ShedRain e-Motion motorized compact umbrella.

What is it?

The ShedRain e-Motion motorized compact umbrella is a 14″ long umbrella that fully opens and closes with the press of a button.

What’s in the box?

ShedRain e-Motion motorized compact umbrella
Protective sleeve
AC adapter
Instructions

Design and features

At first glance, the ShedRain e-Motion motorized compact umbrella looks like an ordinary black umbrella that you probably already own.

The umbrella is 14″ long when closed and features an 8-panel design that is made of a black polka dotted polyester material that has a rain repellent Teflon coating, sturdy fiberglass ribs, and a steel shaft.

The e-Motion has a comfortable rubberized handle with a wrist strap. But when you look a little closer you’ll notice two arrow buttons and a battery status LED below them.

The ShedRain is powered by a built-in rechargeable battery that can last for months on a charge which is done using the included AC adapter. The adapter plugs into a socket on the bottom of the umbrella handle and a small rubber cover protects the socket when it’s not being used.

Charging the umbrella is as easy as plugging the cable into the umbrella, plugging the adapter into a wall outlet, and then waiting for the LED on the AC adapter to turn from red to green.

There’s also a status LED on the umbrella handle, which turns red when the battery needs to be recharged. I’ve yet to see it light up because one charge provides enough power for up to 150 openings and closings.

How does it work?

It really couldn’t be any easier. You unwrap the velcro strap around the closed umbrella and press and hold the up arrow on the handle. That’s it. To close you press and hold the down button. Like I said, easy.

See it in action

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZEvKsuNsjU

As you can see from the video, using the ShedRain is easy and it’s fun too. I love it!

Final thoughts

Most standard umbrellas offer a one-button open of the umbrella, but they still have to manually push the folded canopy down the handle. I bet some of you thinking that people are lazy if they can’t even close an umbrella without needing a button or a motor to do it. But think about it for a minute. Closing an umbrella is awkward when your other hand is holding something, you have dexterity problems or you only have one arm in the first place.

The only criticism of the ShedRain that I can think of is that it uses a proprietary AC adapter. I wish it used a microUSB or USB Type-C connector instead so I could charge it at the office, in my car, etc. As is, you have to to make sure not to lose the AC adapter that ships with the umbrella.

Note: I’m not sure what happens if the battery in the umbrella is completely dead. Will it open? I have sent that question to ShedRain and will update the review as soon as I get an answer.

The ShedRain e-Motion motorized compact umbrella makes using an umbrella fast and easy by completely opening and closing it with the simple hold of a button. Now I look forward to rainy days!

Source: The sample for this review was provided by ShedRain. Please visit their site for more info.

 

Product Information

Price:	$99.00
Manufacturer:	ShedRain
Pros:	Very easy to use Opens and closes with the press of a button Compact Rechargeable
Cons:	Uses a proprietary charger

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Outdoor Gear, weather

ShedRain e-Motion motorized compact umbrella review originally appeared on on June 28, 2017 at 4:56 pm.

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ShedRain e-Motion motorized compact umbrella review

PITAKA modular wallet, Touch wireless earbuds, FODI device stand, and more – Notable crowdfunding campaigns

Today I have a selection of five Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects for you to read about. Click through to see my list of this week’s notable crowdfunding campaigns.

PITAKA – Redefine Carbon Fiber Wallet

What is it?
The PITAKA is a modular, magnetic RFID-Blocking wallet made of lightweight carbon fiber.

Why do I like it?
I reviewed the original PITAKA wallet earlier this year and found it to be an interesting design for a minimalist wallet. My main negative feedback was that credit cards with magnetic strips could not be used in the wallet for fear of the magnets damaging them. This new version of the PITAKA wallet solves that problem by adding an anti-degaussing module that can hold up to 3 cards. There are also other new layers that can hold keys, coins and more.

Where can I find more info?
With 31 days left in the campaign, The PITAKA campaign has already reached their funding goal of $15,000. You can pre-order a PITAKA wallet starting at $69. After the PITAKA campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in October 2017. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.

EverSleep – Wake Up Refreshed 5-In-1 Sleep Tracker

What is it?
EverSleep is a sleep tracking device.

Why do I like it?
I like EverSleep because it doesn’t just track the different sleep levels like light, REM, and deep, but it also tracks your heart rate, blood oxygen levels, movement and your respiratory function. It looks like a more comprehensive sleep tracker than the ones we see on the market today that are built into our wearable fitness trackers. The EverSleep’s main function is tracking sleep, so it focuses all its effort on that task.

Where can I find more info?
With 17 days left in the campaign, The EverSleep campaign has already reached their funding goal of $40,000. You can pre-order an EverSleep tracker starting at $169. After the EverSleep campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in October 2017. Visit their Indiegogo page for all the details.

FODI – The flat multi-purpose origami stand

What is it?
The FODI is a thin Origami stand that folds into different sizes to support phones, tablets, laptops more.

Why do I like it?
I like the FODI because it’s thin, easy to store, and can be used with a variety of devices instead of just phones or tablets. It’s made of a thin polypropylene fibre but is strong enough to hold up to 44 lbs.

Where can I find more info?
With 39 days left in the campaign, The FODI campaign has already reached their funding goal of $7,607. You can pre-order a FODI starting at $14. After the FODI campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in October 2017. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.

Touch – Affordable, Ultra Small, Wireless Earbuds

What is it?
Touch wireless Bluetooth earbuds are that are very small and store in their own recharging case that easily fits in your pocket.

Why do I like it?
I like the Touch wireless earbuds because they look almost identical to the Rowkin earbuds that I reviewed last year. I loved the size and fit of those earbuds, but they had a lot of problems with connectivity. Touch earbuds are the next generation of that design. I asked the people behind the Touch campaign how their earbuds different from the Rowkin buds and this is what they had to say:

the differences between the Rowkin Bit. Touch is the second generation product where we’ve replaced the single multi-function button with a touch sensor. Now you don’t have to fiddle around to make sure you are pressing the button all the way. In addition, now the earbuds feature a brand new chipset and redesigned RF module with Bluetooth 5.0.

In your review, you mentioned the minor disconnects when you move around. With Bluetooth 5.0, the range is increased 4X and the new chipset has double the processing power for better DSP (better audio).

Otherwise, the same size and bullet styling is nearly identical with a slight angle where the ear-tip attaches for better fit!

I’m anxious to give them a try!

Where can I find more info?
With 16 days left in the campaign, The Touch campaign has already reached their funding goal of $10,000. You can pre-order a pair of Touch earbuds starting at $89. After the Touch campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in November 2017. Visit their Indiegogo page for all the details.

eWheels: Turn Any Pushcart to an Electric Remote Golf Caddie

What is it?
eWheels turns any pushcart to a remote-controlled motorized electric golf caddie.

Why do I like it?
I don’t play golf, but I just think that eWheels is a cool idea that could be applied to other uses like a motorized garden cart. We spent last weekend moving rocks using a pull cart and it was a lot of work. Turning our existing cart into a rechargeable motorized cart that we can remote control sounds great! Although I can’t find any info on how much weight the eWheels can handle.

Where can I find more info?
With 8 days left in the campaign, The eWheels campaign has already reached their funding goal of $50,000. You can pre-order an eWheels starting at $429. After the eWheels campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in November 2017. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged: Crowdfunded

PITAKA modular wallet, Touch wireless earbuds, FODI device stand, and more – Notable crowdfunding campaigns originally appeared on on June 28, 2017 at 9:35 am.

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PITAKA modular wallet, Touch wireless earbuds, FODI device stand, and more – Notable crowdfunding campaigns

Koogeek BP2 blood pressure monitor review

I don’t take my blood pressure on a regular basis, but maybe I should.  I have EMT training so I own a manual sphygmomanometer (“blood pressure cuff”) as well as a tabletop automatic and a portable. The Koogeek BP2, however, looked so small and sleek, I knew I had to give it a try.

The BP2 comes with a microUSB charging cable and documents.

• Length (Fold): 150mm
• Width (Fold): 75mm
• Thickness (Fold): 85mm
• Weight: Approx. 300g
• Cuff Size: Approx. 220-360mm
• Battery: 400mAh lithium charged via MicroUSB. Good for at least 50 times of continuous usage on one charge.

The top of the BP2 consists of (left-right) a microUSB charging port, reset button (recessed), LED and power button.

The BP2 reminds me of an iPod Mini.

Here’s a close-up of the cuff.  Check your upper arm circumference before ordering.

The BP2 also includes wireless connectivity to your Android or iOS device. I started to install the App, and came across this:

Why do I have to give them my email and password just to start cuff inflation and take a reading?  The app logs your blood pressure measurements, but I don’t see why you can’t just write it down yourself.  I guess I’m old fashioned that way, and I don’t feel like sharing my health information in this manner.

In the instructions, I found this note about not using your cell phone near the BP2.  I’m not sure someone proofread this. Why have a companion app, then?

Even more troubling was this note in part 4, “After the measurement”.  Why would the BP2 upload your readings to the server if you don’t launch the app?

Fortunately, for the paranoid-minded like me, you can operate the BP2 without the app.  Simply power it up, and press the power button a second time to begin cuff inflation.

As you can see in the video, the BP2 display shows systolic (the “upper” number) and diastolic (the “lower” number) plus heart rate.

But is it any good?  I was a little concerned when I saw my readings.  They were high for me.  So over the course of an hour, I took my blood pressure at rest using different methods.

Koogeek BP2:  125/74

Hyundai upper-arm portable:  118/75

Omron desktop: 114/77

Manual cuff with stethoscope: 115/80

On average I noticed the Koogeek BP2 measured about 10 mmHg higher than what I think is normal for me.  That’s not reassuring. It could be an individual error. I also noticed the screen went blank after giving a reading in about 10 seconds. If you don’t use the app, I would note the reading or write it down quickly.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Koogeek. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order one.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Health and fitness

Koogeek BP2 blood pressure monitor review originally appeared on on June 28, 2017 at 8:30 am.

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Koogeek BP2 blood pressure monitor review