Andy Jacobs

Catholic, husband, father, engineer. Purdue Boilermaker. Dad of pugs. Collector of Star Wars. Practicioner of fitness. Drinker of beers.

littleBits Starter Kit, Extended Kit, and Holiday Kit review [Updated]

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Science and engineering are cool, right?  That’s a matter of opinion, but there is an increasing need in our country for students to study the STEM subjects–Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.  And with more information showing a link between technological innovation and creativity, why not foster both in your kids at the same time?  Describing […]

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StickyGram Instagram Photo Magnets review

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Instagram has become quite a phenomenon in the past few years, with millions of photos being posted to it every day.  Its users range from from serious, professional photographers with expensive and complicated DSLR cameras to casual, out-and-about snappers with smartphones always at the ready.  Although acquired by Facebook in 2012, Instagram has thus far remained

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IonAudio iPics 2 Go iPhone Photo Scanner review

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The world has moved into the digital age, but what about those leftovers from the analog era?  Photos in family albums or boxes full of vacation slides?  The iPics 2 Go iPhone photo scanner from ION Audio offers a potential solution.  It uses an iPhone 4/4S camera as a scanner, converting your photographs, negatives, or

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Tired of wimpy magnets? Try Strong Like Bull Magnets

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stronglikebullmagnets

Face it.  The force of magnetism is simply amazing, and magnets are useful and fun.  We use them to hold up everything from grocery lists to our kids’ artwork.  But many magnets are just plain wimpy—either they are poorly constructed and fall apart or the force of their magnetic field is too weak to be

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Smackelibang skinny swede minimalist wallet review

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The idea of minimalism it not new, but its popularity has grown in recent years into an entire life philosophy for some.  One personal item that seems to find its way into many discussions on minimalism is the ubiquitous wallet.  Slim or “skinny” wallets are all the rage these days, with frustrated gents attempting to

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ReadyCap Camera Lens Cap Holder review

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After many years as an über-amateur photographer, this past spring I finally took the plunge into the SLR world, upgrading my trusty point-and-shoot to a Nikon D5100.  I quite like this camera, and I haven’t even scratched the surface of its features, much less really learned anything about stuff like composition and lighting all that. 

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Manhattan Stealth Touch Mouse Review

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Despite all of the gesture-based user interface systems that have become popular in the past few years (think Wii, XBox Kinect, and of course smartphone touchscreens), the mouse is still the go-to workhorse of input devices for desktops and laptops.  But nearly all mouse devices have basically the same functionality, and many share near-identical styling.

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Mojo Tremble: MacGyver’s Keychain?

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mojotreble keychainwithcardreader

Multi-function gadgets are all the rage these days, especially ones that are small and portable.  Though many of us carry our iPhone and Android smartphones everywhere, we may not care to lug a charging cable.  The Mojo Tremble Keychain with Card Reader from iBattz aims to help.  In a small form factor, it provides a

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Spiff Up Your Starship: Star Wars Family Decals

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starwarsfamilymembercarstickers

By now most of us have seen the little stickers on the backs of minivans.  They uusally depict a series of cartoony figures of dad, mom, kids and sometimes pets in descending height order.  Sure, they’re cute and all, but maybe a bit ho-hum.  How about showing off your Star Wars fanboy/fangirl-ness with a set

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The Spoke Pencil: Not Just for Bicyclists

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kickstarter spokemechanicalpencil

There have been several successfully-funded pen projects over the past several months on Kickstarter, the popular crowd-scourcing site.  But the lack of pencil projects led mechanical deisgn engineer Brian Conti to take a slightly different tack with the Spoke Mechanical Pencil project, one of the first of its kind on Kickstarter.  Machined in the U.S.A.

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Trident Case Kraken AMS for iPhone 4/4S Review

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Smartphones.  Useful, expensive, and indispensible.  An entire secondary market has arisen to provide smartphone accessories, the most prolific being protection devices.  Cases, skins, covers – there seem to be almost as many of them as there are users of smartphones, and they serve purposes ranging from fashion to actual hard-core protection.  The Trident Kraken AMS Case falls into

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iPhone Cases That Might Pull Your Arms Out Of Their Sockets…

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Star Wars iPhone Cases

…Wookiees are known to do that, you know.  And so might the coolness of these Star Wars iPhone cases from PowerA.  Officially licensed, four of these six new cases have been designed in the likeness of some of the most iconic charactes in pop culture history: Darth Vader, C-3PO, R2-D2 and Chewbacca.  Molded-in, realistic details provide rich texture

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uCube Speakers Have Apple-like Styling (and Price)

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ultralink ucubespeakers

Going for a consistent look for your Apple setup? With a small footprint, aluminum body and matching detachable stands, the uCube speakers from UltraLink have a style that looks like they should have been included in the box with an iMac or MacBook. Plug ‘n’ Play USB powered, they claim to utilize a “smart” Digital

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Cubby Offers Unlimited Sync Between Your Computers, 5GB of Cloud Storage and More

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Cloud-based file syncing services like Dropbox and Box.net have really taken off in the past few years.  One of the newest on the scene is Cubby.  Download the app to computers and mobile devices, make any folder a “cubby” and share unlimited data between your own computers, or use the My Cubby cloud folder with

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Simple, Elegant HAND Stylus is Loaded with Subtle Features

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HANDstylus

With all the touchscreen devices being introduced, it seems like every day a new stylus appears.  Well, here’s another.  The HAND Stylus is a new Kickstarter project that boasts the “world’s smallest tip, a mere 4mm in diameter, plus a host of other features that set it apart from all other styluses.”  With the knurled

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