Category Archives: Reviews

A Look at the BlackBerry Z10

While I spoke on Bionic this week at great length about it, I wanted to share some photos and thoughts about the BlackBerry Z10 here, too. It’s important to note that I’ve never been a BlackBerry user. While I know of the company’s history and deep ties in the enterprise, I’ve approached this phone like [...]

The Pebble: Is the Time Right for a Smartwatch?

Just shy of a year ago, a Kickstarter project was launched that would take the nerd world by storm. In five weeks, the group raised $10,266,845, even though they needed only $100,000 to launch. The Pebble was born. A year later, I’m sitting at my dining room table, with the smartwatch next to my MacBook [...]

App Review: Check the Weather

I’m a huge weather nerd. In high school, I got certified via Skywarn. Some buddies and I almost got killed one night chasing a tornado an hour or so east of Memphis. That said, I’ve never been really happy with a weather app on my iPhone, until I came across the simply-named Check the Weather. [...]

Review: The Fitbit One

In my Nike+ Fuelband review, I wrote: Over the last few months, I’ve seemed to fallen out of love with the FuelBand. It’s a little too bulky for my taste, and it’s rather limited in what it captures, not to mention it doesn’t seem to be holding up well. I closed my review saying I [...]

The iPad mini: Good Things Come in Small Packages

It’s become a familiar cycle, these things. First, we see a single rumor, then photos of camera cables leak from China, then a Best Buy employee sends a screenshot to 9to5Mac with price points. Back housings and screens pop up, and before we know it, someone’s assembled a product that hasn’t been announced. Then, Apple [...]

Review: The Nike+ FuelBand

I’m in pretty decent shape. Like most nerds who spend all day in front of a computer, I could stand to lose a few pounds, but I try my best to stay active. Back in July, I ordered a Nike+ FuelBand. after reading several reviews online. I thought that if I could gamify being active, [...]

Review: The Kindle Paperwhite

A year ago, I reviewed the $79 Kindle. Here’s what I said: The $79 Kindle is very much a contender in the e-ink reader space. While it might not be as fancy as the new Kindle Touch or as large as the Kindle DX, its low price and high build-quality are a tough combination to [...]

Some quick thoughts on Apple’s new EarPods

I’m an over-the-ear kinda guy — my Sennheiser HD-280 PRO headphones are never far away. The older Apple earbuds simply don’t fit well in my ears, leaving me with a distaste for earbuds in general. When I do use earbuds, I use a pair of the original high-end Apple ones, with the smallest fitting. I might [...]

Mountain Lion: The Next Big Cat

Intro The new version of OS X from Apple — dubbed Mountain Lion — is now ready for download from the Mac App Store for $19.99. Lion, the OS it replaces, was in many ways a new chapter when it comes to OS X versions. Lion was the first version to be available as a [...]

On the Nexus 7: My Nerd Life Has Never Been More Confusing

Overview With rumors of a 7.85-inch iPad circulating, Google’s announcement of the Nexus 7 has perhaps suffered a little. That said, the Google-branded, Asus-built tablet has many nerds intrigued. Offering a stock Android experience on a $200 device, Google is trying to set the bar when it comes to smaller tablets. Have they done it? [...]

A Review and Walk-Through of ‘Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview’

Note: This post contains spoilers. Hence, the page break on the homepage of the site. — SH I just finished watching Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview. While (like Marco), I can’t shake the feeling that the whole thing is a money-grab, after watching it, I’m happy I dropped the $4 to rent the hour long [...]

Mini-Review: The Smart Alec

Ben Brooks has a Tom Bihn Smart Alec backpack, and after seeing it at Macworld, I ordered one myself this spring. It’s awesome. I have the “Vertical Brain Cell” insert for the 13-inch MacBook Pro, as that’s what I was carrying at the time I ordered the bag. My 13-inch Air and iPad fit in [...]

The Battle of the Styli

When showing off the original iPhone, Steve Jobs famously said, “If you see a stylus, they blew it.” We’re born with ten fingers, and Apple says that’s all we need to operate their Multi-Touch devices. That said, there are cases where a stylus is nice to have. For me, having a pen to use with [...]

Windows Phone 7: More Than Just a Stick in the Mud?

With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft is pretty much dead last when it comes to the smartphone wars. They are even behind RIM. While devices like the Lumia 900 are attractive and well-built, consumers haven’t fallen in love with Windows Phone 7. But why? I decided to try to answer that question by spending several weeks [...]

My Podcasting Rig [Updated]

In January, I wrote about my podcasting setup, built around the Blue Yeti USB microphone. I still have my Yeti (well, a replacement, after my original mic fell off the roof of my car and died), and still love it. But it’s now my at-home setup. My main rig has gotten a big upgrade.