If you read my article of Life as a Gadgeteer reviewer, you’ll know that review gadgets that get used frequently after reviewing are far and few between. It’s no secret that I loved the X-Mini Capsule II, KAI, and Max II (see related posts), and in fact these still get heaps of use and have gone way beyond [...]
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Portable speakers
This entry is part 12 of 13 in the series
Tagged as:
EDC
If like me your Android devices are rooted and running alternate ROMs then you’ll be sick of downloading 200+MB files everytime an update comes out. If you’re running Cyanogen 10.1 nightlies then you’ll be downloaded these files, well, every night. CyanDelta Updater is an app that does incremental downloads of your CM 10.1 nightly downloading only [...]
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Android app,
Android smartphone,
Android tablet
I wrote an article on MightyText back in November; it’s a plugin that allows you to send and receive SMS texts from your Android phone via your browser. I can honestly say that I use MightyText almost everyday. Well it just got better. While previously I had to have a separate MightyText tab open, GText is a plug-in that allows [...]
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Android smartphone,
SMS
I’m going to make a strange admission here for a gadgeteer: I’m not really a power user on my phone or my tablet. Though I use my devices for all sorts of things, though I love to play with alternate ROMs and want my devices to be fast and responsive, in the end I’m a [...]
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Android app,
Android smartphone,
Android tablet
Sometimes you really don’t want to be tethered by wire to your phone or MP3 player, and these days Bluetooth speakers and headphones are commonplace. Satechi was good enough to send us a pair of the BT Lite Headphones to review. Now I’m used to being “Wired for Sound”, and I figured surely being wireless has [...]
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Bluetooth Gear,
Headphones and earbuds,
speakerphone
When you need to travel with a clean shirt or suit – whether it be by bike, walking or airplane – the big problem is keeping your clothes neat and pressed. Whether I’ve folded them into a carry bag or put them into a traditional suit bag, my first job when I get to my [...]
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Bag,
Travel gear
As a followup to Janet’s article about restricting in-app purchases on an iPad, here’s the guide to doing it on Android. Like Janet, I’ve heard so many of my less technology-bent friends complain that they handed their Android device to say their nieces and nephews to play games and keep them busy, and lo and [...]
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Android,
Android app
Let’s face it we live in a disposable age, phones have a desirable life span of less than 2 years, printer ink costs more than a new printer, things break within the first couple of years, and we just go and replace them. A true Gadgeteer covets the latest and greatest, but in the “old [...]
Tagged as:
Gear
Julie mentioned this app in her article on using NFC tags and promised a followup review. Well at the moment it’s on sale on the Google Play Store for $1.99. That’s 69% off it’s normal price of $6.49. I’ve played with Tasker and it’s a fantastic and powerful program allowing you to automate and manipulate all sorts [...]
Tagged as:
Android,
Android app
Got the latest Gmail client for your Android 4.1.x (Jellybean) device yet? The new version allows you to choose if you want to archive or reply to a new email directly from your notification bar without having to open the client. Handy for short emails but not quite so good for longer ones I’ve been [...]
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Android app,
Gmail
Amazon has just released a new firmware 5.3.4 for their Kindle Paperwhite. Like the previous firmware upgrade, there’s actually no change log attached advising any details You can wait to wirelessly receive the upgrade or manually download and install it right now.
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Amazon,
Kindle
Whether it’s put there by your Telco or your device manufacturer, bloatware is a pain. Utilities that you’ll never use are taking up valuable storage space and system resources. If your device is rooted, you can manually remove a lot of this app-by-app. But every time you get an update for the ROM, you’ll have [...]
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Android app,
App spotlight
I felt it was time for a quick followup on my original Joyetech e-cigarette review. I’ve now been almost six months cigarette-free, that’s approximately 4500 cigarettes I haven’t smoked! So no 4000+ nasty chemicals, a huge saving in money, my taste has returned, I’m feeling way healthier and my clothes (and I) don’t stink ! [...]
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e-cigarette,
Health,
Smoking
If you’re like me, your Android devices don’t stay stock for very long. Sometimes my devices are rooted and have alternate ROMs on them before I’ve even fired it up for the first time. Siyah Kernel is an alternative kernel for the Samsung Galaxy S3 (and S2) that allows you to adjust things like CPU speed, under- [...]
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Android app,
App spotlight
I’m not a big Facebook user, but these days it’s a bit of a necessary evil. In my opinion, the official Facebook app for Android is nothing short of atrocious. It appears just to be a different interface to the mobile web site. Friendcaster is an alternative client that makes using Facebook just that little [...]
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Android app,
App spotlight
POV cameras are great, but one of the weak spots tends to be the mounting hardware. The Video Head Camera Helmet is perfect for sports like bike riding, skate board and similar, where this sort of helmet is appropriate. The built-in camera has a positional camera lens, and controls are built into the side of the [...]
Tagged as:
Helmet accessory,
pov camera
Carrying cash and worried about pickpockets? Need to smuggle that micro-fiche past those foreign border guards? (oops micro-fiche… am I showing my age?) The Smuggler’s Belt from Barrett Alley may be your friend. It’s made of 10 oz (4 mm) US vegetable-tanned cowhide, 1.25″ (3 cm) wide and hand-cut and sewn in Texas and has an individually [...]
Tagged as:
belt,
Clothing
I often use my phone one-handed; however, with larger screens like like the 4.8″ screen on my Samsung Galaxy S3, my thumbs are just not long enough to be able to reach some Jelly Bean navigation keys on the other side of screen. . LMT Launcher is an alternative navigator which solves this issue, amongst [...]
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Android app,
App spotlight
There are so many video players for Android out there, but my favorite player is Dice Player. Besides playing every format I’ve thrown at it, Dice Player has a number of handy features, including the ability to adjust the audio sync speed, boost your audio up to 400%, and the ability to adjust the video [...]
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Android app,
Android media player,
App spotlight
