Articles - The Gadgeteer

Things to think about before you buy a wireless HD antenna so you can “cut the cord”

ARTICLE – There seems to be a lot of interest lately in those little indoor, plastic-panel wireless HD antennas. People want to drop cable and find a cheaper way to watch TV programming. Those indoor, omni-directional antennas seem like just the answer, especially when some of them promise things like how you can still watch […]

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Julie’s gadget diary – I’m still MacBook-less

Last week I told you that my 12-inch MacBook had to be admitted into the hospital to get its keyboard fixed. It’s been at the MacExperience store in Bloomington, IN since Saturday. They told me that the turn around time would be 3-5 business days. With the July 4th holiday yesterday, I’ve been a little

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Julie’s gadget diary – My MacBook has to go to the hospital

By Julie Strietelmeier / June 29, 2018 / Articles / gadget diary, Macbook / 2 Comments

ARTICLE – Sadly, my 12-inch MacBook is sick and needs surgery. It’s suffering from a debilitating SKD (Stuck Key Disease). Yes, it’s one of the 1000’s, maybe millions of Apple MacBooks with the newer generation keyboards that are obviously flawed due to their thinner mechanisms that are susceptible to breakage. I’ve been dealing with a

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Julie’s gadget diary – 5 lessons I learned from my last vacation

By Julie Strietelmeier / June 22, 2018 / Articles / gadget diary, Travel Gear / 9 Comments

I recently returned from an epic vacation to California where Jeanne and I explored 3 different locations over the course of 7 days. As with most trips, I always struggle with the gear that I want to take with me. I am a minimalist at heart, so I like to pack the least amount

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My first experiences with the Nest Temperature Sensor

By Janet Cloninger / June 15, 2018 / Articles / Home Automation / 9 Comments

My condo is a rectangle, with the HVAC unit and thermostat at one end and the bedrooms at the opposite end of the condo on the long axis. The air flows out and has a straight path to the living and dining room areas, but it has a 90° turn to the hallway towards the

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5 Smart tech gadgets for apartment renters

By Kayla Matthews / June 13, 2018 / Articles / Home Automation / 1 Comment

Depending on the terms of your rental agreement and the flexibility — or lack thereof — displayed by your landlord, it may not be possible to install smart home items in your abode if they require making permanent alterations. Fortunately, there are still plenty of high-tech items that cater to your apartment-based lifestyle. 1. Belkin

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Mother’s Day 2018 gift guide

By Julie Strietelmeier / April 30, 2018 / Articles / gift ideas / Leave a Comment

There are only 13 shopping days until Mother’s day on May 13th. You haven’t forgotten dear ol’Mom have you? If you haven’t even begun shopping, I can imagine that knowing that the big day is so close is stressing you out. But there is still plenty of time and we have a few ideas to

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Julie’s gadget diary – Gmail will be updated soon and I’m worried

By Julie Strietelmeier / April 11, 2018 / Articles / gadget diary, Gmail, productivity / 16 Comments

I’ve been seeing a lot of headlines this afternoon about Google updating the web-based Gmail interface for the first time in years. I can’t remember any changes to Gmail since I switched to it as my only email client back in 2009. Software updates are usually something that I enjoy and look forward to, but

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Celebrating the life and humor of Stephen Hawking – see the Quantum Chess showdown with Paul Rudd

By Kathleen Chapman / March 29, 2018 / Articles / Entertainment, games / Leave a Comment

Stephen Hawking, a renowned theoretical physicist, and well-known author passed away on March 14, 2018. He may have been one of the more famous and brilliant scientists of our time, but isn’t it wonderful to know that he had a fabulous sense of humor? It makes him a bit more human to the rest of us. I

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Spring cleaning has never been so easy with this robot vacuum

By Kayla Matthews / March 28, 2018 / Articles / Vacuum / 5 Comments

The arrival of spring means it’s time to put the flannel sheets and heavy jackets away in favor of items made for warmer weather. It’s also a time which often inspires people to get in the spring cleaning mood. You can probably relate, but may not be looking forward to the task. That’s because

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Julie’s gadget diary – The Samsung Galaxy S9 is a great phone, so why don’t I love it?

By Julie Strietelmeier / March 16, 2018 / Articles, Featured Items / gadget diary, Samsung / 31 Comments

Verizon Wireless was kind enough to send me a shiny new Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone to test for a few days and it’s an all around awesome phone. From the look of the hardware to what’s under the hood, this is a phone that many Android fans would love to own, but for some reason, I

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Julie’s gadget diary – Update on my plan to ditch my notebooks

By Julie Strietelmeier / February 18, 2018 / Articles / gadget diary, productivity / 60 Comments

In my last gadget diary post from over a week ago, I announced that I was going to give up my paper notebooks in favor of a digital To-Do system to help me manage my tasks. After I published that post, quite a few of you gave me ideas for different apps to try (thanks!).

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Julie’s gadget diary – I’m ditching paper and going back to a digital To-Do system

By Julie Strietelmeier / February 8, 2018 / Articles / gadget diary, Notebooks, productivity / 65 Comments

I have been using a very simple Bullet Journal style of task management for the last 4 years. It has worked out well for me because I can keep a notebook open next to me all day so I am able to see a daily list of what I need to do and I get

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5 awesome gadgets for your kids that they won’t outgrow too quickly

By Mark Chop / February 6, 2018 / Articles / Kid Gadgets / 1 Comment

Children are rapidly growing up which implies they can get bored quickly with any toy or gadget. Because of that, it is an awesome plan to get them a toy which can keep them involved for a long time. If you plan to search for that sort of toy, search for something that will empower

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Gadgeteer team: Our mobile home screen setups

By Julie Strietelmeier / February 5, 2018 / Articles / gadgeteer / 3 Comments

I’m a naturally curious person. Or maybe a better word is nosy. I love reading articles where people describe how they work or show the gear that they use. I also enjoy seeing how people setup their computer home screens and their phone home screens. I thought it would be fun to share the Gadgeteer

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Julie’s gadget diary – I just ordered an Essential Phone

By Julie Strietelmeier / January 27, 2018 / Articles / Android, gadget diary, Smartphone / 20 Comments

I have been happily using a Pixel 2 XL smartphone that I bought back in October. At least I’ve been happy with it until recently when I started having issues with Bluetooth connectivity. At first, I thought the issue was with the gadgets that I was reviewing and not the phone itself. But when the

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Flixable is the best Netflix search tool around

By Jacob Haas / January 25, 2018 / Articles / Streaming / Leave a Comment

Netflix is great. There’s nothing like being able to binge your favorite series or call up a classic movie you haven’t seen in forever. But let’s face it, the search and discovery interface is a train wreck. The rows of recommendations and random categories are seldom useful, and if your kids or someone who doesn’t

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Life without Windows, transitioning to iOS only

By Larry Geisz / January 23, 2018 / Articles / iOS / 16 Comments

So, it finally happened. It’s not like I didn’t want to transition, but am I ready. What happened you may ask? My Windows computer crashed after a long hard fought life. To be honest, I was expecting it to happen, the signs were there, really. I woke up every day to a warning message saying

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Our obsession with gadgets lowers energy use and waste!

By Smythe Richbourg / January 12, 2018 / Articles / 1 Comment

According to Nathaniel Bullard and Adam Minter, writing in the CT Post, we are using fewer, lighter, more energy efficient, and easier to recycle gadgets. This trend has been going on all century but with all the fear-mongering and hand-wringing and news photos of boatloads of e-waste going to developing nations, the truth is much

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‘Heaven’s Gate’ podcast a personal journey through an alien cult

By Jacob Haas / January 12, 2018 / Articles / Podcast / 5 Comments

Heaven’s Gate is a well-produced and thought-provoking podcast that takes a deep look at the cult of the same name. Over 20 years ago, this group emerged from obscurity and captivated the world when 39 members took their own lives in a mass suicide. Host Glynn Washington offers insight through interviews with the departed’s loved

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