Mark Rosengarten

Microsoft Surface Power Cover finally…uh…surfaces!

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Fans of Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet, your wait is over!  Boost that Haswell goodness’ battery life a further 70% with the Surface Power Cover.  This keyboard boasts touch-typable keys that folds back out of the way when you want to use your Surface Pro as a tablet, disabling the keys or can be closed up

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The quest for a better Segway?

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When the Segway was first announced in 2001, inventor Dean Kamen declared that it would change the way people move around in urban environments.  While its incredibly high price tag made it unapproachable for most people, a new Indiegogo campaign, URB-E seeks to be the next urban transport king.  Available in the 3-wheel Commuter model or

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Fujifilm X-E2 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 18-55mm Lens review

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I love a good bowl of cereal.  It gives me the opportunity to put my favorite beverage, milk, into it.  I also love my digital photography.  I’ve been shooting with a Canon 5D Mark III full-frame camera for the last year and a half and I have to tell you, it’s a beauty.  Takes shots

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The Tamron SP 150-600mm might be the Great White Whale of lenses

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Sigh.  There’s a bird out on that branch.  Boy, is it pretty.  Too bad all I’ve got here is a 70-200mm lens!  I’m gonna have to crop the heck out of this shot to get anything out of it.  SNAP!  Sigh. Sigh no longer, fellow photographers!  The preliminary reviews are in and the still-up-for-preorder Tamron

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CamRanger Wireless Transmitter gives you control over Canon and Nikon dSLR Cameras

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I own a Canon 5D Mark III dSLR full-frame camera and I adore it beyond measure but it does not have a built-in intervalometer for taking time-lapse shots.  Enter the CamRanger!  This little battery-powered gadget creates an Ad-Hoc WiFi network that connects your camera to your Android or iOS device through a free app.  Not

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Maxpedition Operator Tactical Attache (#0605)

I have been in the market for a new briefcase after my venerable piece of junk brief bit the dust a few months ago. Enter the Maxpedition Tactical Attache! It is designed to conceal a gun in a large pocket, but as I do not own a gun (outside a long unused Tippman paintball gun), I cannot comment on this feature.

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OQO Model 02 Ultra Personal Computer

In October of 1993, I bought what was then my ideal computer. It fit in my pocket, had a full QWERTY keyboard with dedicated numeric keypad, had lots of built-in apps, ran all my DOS programs with ease, had a gorgeous monochrome LCD screen and ran for 20 hours on two AA batteries. It was the HP 200LX. For years I used this machine for PIM storage, keeping grades for my students, writing a diary and keeping my important text documents on hand for easy reference. I moved to a new Windows-based grading program a year and a half ago, but I had used my 200LX for all that time. It still sits in my gadget cabinet, one gadget that will never see the light of Ebay.

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Maxpedition Proteus Versipack

I have eyed this bag with great interest for the last year or so, and I got one to review from Maxpedition. It is a durable bag with ENORMOUS zippers and not a stitch of Velcro in the whole bag. It can be carried in two ways… by the carry handle on the top or with a waist belt that tucks into a pocket in the back of the bag. The waist belt is difficult to adjust (or maybe because the material is still very stiff from newness), but it’s two inches wide and reasonably comfortable. There is no padding anywhere to be found, and the material is a very stiff, thick-weave ballistic nylon which appears indestructible. I would not put electronics into this bag without putting it into a padded case first. This bag seems best suited for gear to be used in the field… first aid kit, flashlights, multi-tool, or it could make a good pack for someone looking for a toolkit belt-pack. I would not use it for my travel gadget bag due to the lack of padding, but as a geocaching or hiking bag, it would serve quite nicely, as long as you are not carrying too much with you.

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Victorinox Travel Companion 2-Way Carry Horizontal Tote

Ah… bags. Yes, it’s an addiction. Got a million of them in the attic, many gathering dust. I buy them, use them, find something better and then move on. My requirements for a gadget bag are simple: lots of pockets and/or compartments, have rough dimensions of 10-12 inches long, 7-8 inches tall and 4-6 inches deep. The CityWalker and Europa Field bags are both excellent examples of the kind of bag I love. I use the Europa to tote my Fujitsu P1510D laptop to work every day, but for my travels this year I decided on a new bag. A beautiful, black and compartmentalized bag from Victorinox called the Travel Companion Horizontal Tote.

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Ellington Leather Europa Field Bag

Women seem to be able to wear men’s clothing without catching any flak about it, but men…just try on that blouse and see what happens. Ouch. This is true as well of bags…women can walk around with a briefcase, and kiss other women, and nothing could be seen as further from normal. Let a man walk around with a women’s purse, though…and we won’t even continue the parallel metaphor, and you could wind up being beaten up and left to die on the pavement.

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