"Gadget" Greg Gazin Demystifies Tech & Life in a useful, fun & practical way!
Every Mother is unique and sometimes finding the right gadget or gift can often be a challenge. So here’s a small selection of last minute Mother’s Day gift ideas from HP, Epson, nonda, CTA Digital and Stojo that might just put a huge smile on her face on her special day.
Read about all the gadget gift ideas for Mom at Canoe Tech Blog.
Have you ever had an opportunity to do a pitch or presentation at a business but it took longer to get all set up than to do the presentation? Maybe it was the wrong cable, the Wi-Fi too slow or locked down or your laptop wouldn’t boot up and oh well, so much for first impressions. Enter WeKast, a pocket-sized plug and “cast” solution. It’s designed to eliminate all the fuss and complexities and help you get to what you need to do – make that presentation. You don’t even need a computer; you can present wirelessly, right from your smartphone or tablet.
Plug and Cast
How WeKast works is really slick. It has a female VGA connector on one end and a female HDMI connector on the other. (HDMI M/M extender included in case you need it). You simply plug one end into your projector or TV and WeKast then acts a mini Wi-Fi router that wirelessly connects to a compatible iOS or Android. Using the WeKast companion, grab a presentation that you can easily pull from your DropBox or Google Drive and it’s quickly pre-loaded onto the WeKast device. The app then allows you to run your slides automatically or manually control with a swipe. There’s even a place to tap to see your slide notes. Read full Post at Canoe Tech Blog.
If you think 3D printers are cool, then how about a pen that allows you to draws objects in 3D that’s truly cool? It’s called CreoPop from a Singapore-based company of the same name originally funded through Indiegogo. The pen uses specially designed ink made from photopolymers that flows freely from the pen and solidifies when exposed to LED diodes.
Cool in More Ways
Now when I say cool, I mean it in multiple senses of the word. Yes, it is cool – very funky; imagine you can draw almost in thin air. It’s also cool because of the types of inks it uses (more later) and again cool, since the ink that flows from the pen is more or less cool to the touch. Read more…at CanoeTech Blog.
Protecting your data from prying eyes is more important than ever before. Still, we often forget to lock our computers when we walk away or purposely don’t bother because it’s too much of a pain to retype in a password every time you move to and fro. For this, Untethered Labs created Gatekeeper, a key fob sized wireless “lock and key” for your computer that automatically locks your computer when you walk away from it and unlocks it when you return.
It’s a pocket Bluetooth 4.0 enabled system that consists of a small rectangular coin-cell battery-operated key fob, a USB dongle and a companion app. The company’s latest model, Gatekeeper 2.0, which we’re reviewing here today, is updated and redesigned; At 45 mm x 25 mm x 6 mm and weighing 10 grams, it’s lighter and 20% thinner and with better range detection. The new sleeker fob has a rubberized matte finish, so it won’t slip from your hands with a built-in loop to secure it on a safety keychain attachment or lanyard – both included. The USB lock or dongle is half the size and now has a metal shield. The Android and iOS apps have been updated as well as the software for Windows and Mac although the Mac version is still in beta. Read Full Review at G4TV Canada.
And something I wish I had on my last adventure is the Matador Droplet Wet Bag. It’s a 100% polyester waterproof ultra compact wet bag that measures 27 cm x 23 cm and has a 3 L capacity. It’s not designed to be submersible, but it is ideal for keeping things like damp swimsuits separated from your precious computer gear. It can also be used the other way around as a place to store some of your gadgets and things that you don’t want getting wet when it’s raining or water nearby. Read more…at Canoe Tech Blog.
As spring is just around the corner it’s time to once again think about high-tech personal transportation. Earlier this month, we looked at a funky e-skateboard called Storm, but what if you prefer skates to a skateboard? If that’s the case then you might just drool over the RocketSkates by Acton. You may not achieve speeds like The Flash, but you will be able to get up to 7 mph for up to 5 miles on the RocketSkates R5 or up to 12 mph for 10 miles on the R10 model. So why walk when you can skate?
Read more…at CanoeTech Blog.
While we’re seeing more wireless earbuds and headphones hit the market, one company, UK-based RHA (Reid Heath Audio) has taken a different direction. Rather than cutting the cord, it’s upping the ante focusing on high definition sound and noise reduction and introducing the RHA T20i DualCoil In-Ear Headphone with interchangeable tuning filters.
Their latest iteration brings along a few of RHA’s signature features, but its latest offering is more than a step up from the T10i and the MA-750i earbuds, the latter we looked at previously here at Canoe Tech Blog.
Starting with the buds themselves, first of all they look pretty cool. They feature injection moulded stainless-steel housings, like the 750i but rather than shaped like a traditional earplug, they resemble in-ear monitors or dare I say, metal hearing aids and give a more natural fit to the contours of the ear.
Read more…Full Review at Canoe Tech Blog.
Griffin went back to the drawing board, re-designing their multi-device USB charging system and unveiling a newer sleeker model, the PowerDock Pro. It can still charge up to five devices at once and brings along some additional practical and enhanced features.
The Griffin PowerDock Pro is the successor to the PowerDock 5 we looked at here at CanoeTech Blog back in 2013. It still allows for charging up the five devices at once, but while the original was optimized for iOS, this one will play nice with both iOS and Android devices simultaneously. Read more…at Canoe Tech Blog.
Dubbed as Project Nursery’s top secret project with their partner VOXX International, the Project Nursery Baby Monitor was finally birthed at CES 2016 after having been worked on, no pun intended, over the past nine months.
The Project Nursery offering is a little different from your typical baby monitor or webcam. Their flagship piece of the line consists of three parts; a Parent Unit complete with five-inch high definition display, a mini-monitor with a 1.5″ LCD display and a separate camera unit.
The system, which features a luxurious high-end design finish is both a wireless and Wi-Fi-free monitor which the company says, offers an uncomplicated hand-off to a caregiver. Read more…at Canoe Tech Blog.
When you hear Ventie, the first thing that comes to mind is a mega cup of Starbucks coffee. But this Ventie has a slightly different spelling and has nothing to do with the caffeine fix; what it can do is make your smartphone hands-free by giving you the option to easily mount it to the air vent in your car.
The Ventie Mount by Satechi is a clever little accessory. It has a spring-loaded head designed to grip any smartphone that measures between two and three and one-half inches wide. It could also be rotated to accommodate a number of GPS models or even your smartphone if you prefer to orient it in landscape mode.
In fact, the grip head is mounted using a ball-and-socket joint and swivel arm system giving you some decent flexibility in positioning the mount to give you the optimal viewing angle from your driver’s seat. Read more…at Canoe Tech Blog.
Also available via AMAZON
