Articles

Posts about a variety of topics which are not news and are not reviews.

Will 3D printing turn the average Joe into a digital luthier?

printed guitar

For years I dreamed about building my own guitar, which more recently turned into a dream to build my own ukulele. I even dabbled in the craft by putting together a mini electric guitar from a kit that I purchased from Stewart McDonald. Unfortunately it turned out to be a wall hanger and not a playable instrument. […]

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Putting you in the driver’s seat: the NAIAS Ford Blogger Experience

fordnaias 1

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) as part of the NAIAS Blogger Experience with Ford. Now, you may wonder what an auto show has to do with The Gadgeteer, but if you look at how much our electronics have been integrated into our vehicles, it doesn’t

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AMC movie theater calls “federal agents” to arrest a Google Glass user

google glass

A long time Gadgeteer reader contacted me today through Google Hangouts to tell me that he had a story that he thought I’d be interested in reading. He then forwarded me a long email with a story from a very good friend of his. It was such a surprising story that I asked if I

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The Year in Review – Favorite gadgets of The Gadgeteer team for 2013 part 5

2013 favegear

It’s now my turn to share my favorite gadgets of 2013. Looking back on all my reviews from this year, I thought it would be tough to choose just a few favorites, but when it comes right down to it, there are only a handful of products that I’m still using regularly since the reviews

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The Year in Review – Favorite gadgets of The Gadgeteer team for 2013 part 1

2013 favegear

Several weeks ago I asked everyone on the Gadgeteer team to write up a quick list of their favorite gadgets from 2013. I didn’t ask them to restrict their list of items to reviews they had posted, but to include any products that they have enjoyed using this past year. Almost everyone on the team

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Gift ideas – Four portable Bluetooth speakers

bluetooth speakers

For the music fan on your gift list, here are four portable Bluetooth speakers that I reviewed this year and think are worthy enough to consider. They are all small enough to stow in a gear bag or backpack (I’ll admit that one of them is borderline too big for that statement) so that you can

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Gift ideas – Eight styluses for digital artists and doodlers

styluses

If you have a digital sketcher, doodler, painter or artist on your Christmas list this year, here are eight gift ideas that will help them with their artwork. I’ve broken the list up into pressure sensitive styluses, paint brush style styluses and precision tip styluses. If you have a favorite stylus not mentioned, be sure

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Gift ideas – 6 headphones and earphones for music lovers

headphones

When Julie asked me to choose five headphones/earphones that would make great gift ideas, I knew this could get interesting. 2013 has been a great year for portable listening, and the holiday choices are better than ever. There are many choices to fit any budget, so there is no excuse this year for putting up

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Gift ideas – Five accessories for the iPad and iPhone user

five gift ideas ipad iphone a

Julie asked me to suggest some gift ideas for the iPhone and iPad users in your life.  I thought about how I have used my original iPad mini, the new iPad Air I owned for a short while, and the iPad mini with Retina display I replaced the Air with, and I came up with

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Gift ideas – 7 activity trackers to support your upcoming New Year’s resolutions

activity trackers

Thanksgiving and Black Friday are behind, but there is still plenty of time to get your holiday shopping completed and we’re here to offer some inspiration on  popular gadget categories like iPhone / iPad cases, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, wallets and styluses. First up, activity trackers. This has been a popular category for 2013. I know

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Why we switched from the iPad Air to the iPad mini with Retina display

ipad air to mini swap 1

Dave Rees recently told us about his experiences when he and Ryan Chapman bought Apple‘s new iPad Air on release day.  I also bought a new iPad Air on release day, and I had been happily using it as a replacement for my first-gen iPad mini.  Eventually both Dave and I replaced our new Airs

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Julie’s gadget diary – A week with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3

samsung galaxy note3 11

Back in March of this year, I test drove a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 for a couple weeks to see if a phablet was the right device for me. If you’re not hip to the latest gadget lingo, the term phablet refers to smartphones that approach tablet dimensions. I came away with mixed feelings from my

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