Andy Jacobs

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

Updated Commodore 64 scratches your 80’s retro itch

commodore64x

Ah, the 80’s.  Neon fashions.  Big hair.  And the heady days of the personal computing explosion, including the venerable Commodore 64.  That’s 64 kilobytes of RAM, man.  I was my first computer and, I used it to create my first very basic BASIC programs.  If you’re a nostalgic fan, this may be your lucky day.  […]

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Timbuk2 Kickstand & Popup Cases for iPad/iPad 2

timbuk2 kickstand popup

New from Timbuk2 are the Kickstand and Popup Cases for the iPad and iPad 2.  Kickstand ($49.99, left in image) is a folio-style tri-fold that holds your iPad with corner brackets and converts to a 2-position horizontally-oriented stand.  Popup ($39.99, right in image) is a semi-rigid sleeve with a slot stand.  Both are nylon outer

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HipstaCase turns your iPhone into a camera

agent18 hipstamaticiphone4case

Hipstamatic, that addictive app that lets you “vintage-ize” photos taken with your iOS device, has joined forces with Agent 18 to create the HipstaCase 100.  Just slide in your iPhone 4 or iPod Touch 4th gen and your device will be protected while masquerading as a little black camera with an old-school style.  The HipstaCase

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Pantech Laser Mobile Phone Review

pantech laser10

The last several years have seen an explosion of mobile phones, more and more of which are able to access features and apps via wireless broadband.  Most of the attention has been on the big players with their “smartphones,” such as Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s BlackBerry and the many Google Android-based devices from various hardware makers. 

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STM Revolution Medium Laptop Backpack Review

stm revolutionbackpack 00

We Gadgeteers have a, shall we say…fondness.. for our gadgets, am I right?  Rhetorical question ’round these parts.  Some cling to a mere handy handful of essential EDC, others find a BSA-like array necessary for preparedness.  Some commute via public transportation through vast, sprawling urban metropoli for a day at the grind, others trek stoically

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Apple iPad 2 (and more) unveiled today

apple ipad2

Mere minutes ago, Apple unveiled its iPad 2 and quite a bit more at a media event, throwing the daylight of reality on speculation about the rumored new device’s features.  Steve Jobs, Apple CEO who has taken a leave of absence from the day-to-day operations, even emcee’d the event.  More detailed info is available via

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“C” is for Character Case for your iPhone, iPod, iPad

i.sound charactercasecookiemonsterelmo

I’ve been a fan of Sesame Street since childhood, and my favorite character has always been the Cookie Monster.  So when I stumbled upon these Cookie Monster and Elmo Character Cases from i.Sound, I had to share them.  Made from “food-grade silicone” (sorry, not made from cookies)  they are available for iPhone 3G/3GS and 4,

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A charge dock worthy of your iPhone’s elegance

calypsocrystal crystaldock

The iPhone.  Part sophisticated gadget, part work of industrial design art.  Yet we charge it by plugging in a cable and letting it sit on a desk.  Calypso Crystal thinks we can do better.  Their CrystalDocks are cast from lead crystal glass and hand-finished to visual and tactile perfection.  They allow full charge/sync via your

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Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough…

hasbro lightsaber

For a long, long time now, in households far and near, a battle has raged over whether young padawans would be allowed to play with their parents’ movie-realistic and super-expensive Force FX lightsaber replicas, or be relegated to the clunky, much cheaper toyish versions found at toy stores across the Outer Rim (and here on

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Fluent Stash helps organize your stuff in style

nau fluentstash

I’m a bit obsessed with organizing my stuff.  And also with looking good while doing it.  Calling it “organizational origami,” Nau‘s Fluent Stash is one way to pull off both. Its compact design unfolds to reveal three stash pockets (2 of which snap closed) and a zip-secured mesh pocket. When open, it can either be

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Resistor Earrings and other Geek Chic

digibling greenresistorearrings

Who says geeks can’t be fashionable?  Feast thine eyes upon such elegant items of technologically-inspired (and salvaged) accessorization as these earrings ($8) crafted from real green resistors by seller digiBling on DIY marketplace site Etsy.  You can also find other electronics components jewelry like a rainbow ribbon cable belt ($14), microchip cufflinks ($12) and more. 

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Retrofit your gloves for touchscreens with Digits

quirky digits

We love our capacitive touchscreens, but they are essentially useless while wearing gloves.  Most of the solutions out there involve gloves with some type of integrated conductive pads in the fingertips.  The social design site Quirky has a bit different flavor with their Digits product.  Made of conductive silicone, they have a metal pin on

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New Rickshaw Mini Commuter Messenger Bag

rickshaw minicommuter

With smaller computer-type gadgets all the rage, Rickshaw Bags has picked up the cart and run with it.  Their new Mini Commuter Messenger is sized for iPads, netbooks, and e-readers as well as your trusty Moleskine journal and all of your other gadgety essentials.  Packed with all of the features of Rickshaw’s full-size Commuter 2.0

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