Kalamaf Drackonsbane » gadgets

Cordless Alarm Clock

kalamaf — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:40:36 +0000

We are always looking out for high tech stuff – just like the wife looking for best diet pill all the time - so when we saw this recommended at Apartment Therapy – of course – the wife also had to take a look at it. She is like the kind who wants to look cool without being too technical – but you know where I’m coming from right. And at the price of $24.99 – you can really go wrong at Quirky. As I’ve said before it’s cordless – so it’s safe even in a baby’s room – and it wakes you up by lighting up the LED light in it and sound. And what’s good about cordless alarm clock? when the kid needs to get ready for school, she can bring it in – and time herself – and you don’t need to go shouting at her first thing in the morning and hurt her feelings – like the wife said – i’m so getting it!

Stand For Your iPad

kalamaf — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 21:33:49 +0000

Designed not only for the savvy you but also as an outdoor décor don’t you think? This Joule work stand for the iPad is not only stable but has a solid base but made so simple with clean and elegant design. Easier to use and it sure makes your iPad stands out when you need to use it in the kitchen or even outdoors when you are enjoying the sun and having a sandwich. No worries about it tipping over your iPad because the base is solid aluminum – use it on your desk top or kitchen counter or anywhere flat. Great present because you can even have it engraved. Unfortunately, it is a wee bit expensive for my liking – at $129 !! But I’m sure it would sell out soon because only limited quantity i heard.

Zombie Farm

kalamaf — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:52:33 +0000

My first foray into gaming on an iPod Touch has been Zombie Farm, a free game from the app store that looks a lot like FarmVille on Facebook. Except, ya know, you grow zombies instead of veggies. Oh wait, you also grow veggies as a way to earn money to grow more zombies. Zombies make up your army and are used for invading various places like neighbouring farms. Since zombies don’t sit around wondering about the best weight loss supplements (all they care about is brains) you can spend your time managing your resources and making sure you have enough trees and tents and things.

Cell coverage still sucks outside of town

kalamaf — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:24:38 +0000

Well you’d think that after 7 years they’d have done something to improve cell phone reception when you get more than a couple miles outside of town, but nope. I had to go out on a service call the other day and sure enough, no signal when I got out there. I got a new phone recently and didn’t bother to add a cell phone signal booster to it ’cause I figured it wouldn’t be a problem these days. Guess I was wrong! Oh well, I’m not out of range often enough to really worry about it anyway.

TV Finally Arrived

kalamaf — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:05:44 +0000

So my new TV finally arrived a few days ago but you must know by now how upset I am that I’ve waited for more than 1.5 months for it. I ordered it on Boxing Day and had to spend hours hunting it down with Future Shop and when they finally made the arrangements they gave me the wrong dates and didn’t respond to my email to try and confirm it. They didn’t set it up like they promised, charged my credit card before shipping it and never responded to my emails or calls. I had to keep calling them for more info. I won’t be buying any electronics from Future Shop anymore, my money is going to Best Buy from now on. Yes I know they own Future Shop but I hear much better things about their service compared to FS.

New Surround System

kalamaf — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:42:36 +0000

To go along with my new TV (some day, if it ever shows up, damn you Futureshop!) I had a chance to pick up a Bravia 5.1 system. 850 watts, smaller speakers than my current setup but damn did it sound nice. And it’ll take up less room, especially the sub which is about half the size of my current one and doesn’t need to be plugged into the wall for power. If the wife keeps rolling her eyes everytime I rearrange the living room she’s gonna need some serious wrinkle serum for her forehead! The only downside with this type of surround system is that it only has a single optical input, but since the TV has several inputs and most of my stuff will be connected by HDMI it’ll be ok. The TV will take whatever sound I plug into it and send it all out through it’s single optical output, so all in all I think this new setup will be perfect. It also comes with an auto-calibration mic that will configure itself for optimum sound, can’t wait to try that out.

Blizzard Authenticator

kalamaf — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:06:30 +0000

A few weeks ago I had written about my WOW account getting hacked again. So enough was enough, even the wife was pissed that I had to spend so much time trying to retrieve my account. I had to prove that it belongs to me by waiting on the phone with Blizzard to talk to them and even fax them my driver’s license to prove my identity. So she insisted I get the Blizzard Authenticator so that I don’t have to go through this ever again. It’s only around $18 (shipping/foreign exchange included). No, you don’t have to get this authenticator or pay for it like getting your industrial supplies, in fact it was a very simple process.. and I had it via courier within 5 days.

So how does this authenticator protect you from being hacked again? The Blizzard Authenticator is a small device you can attach to your keychain that provides a second layer of security to protect you from keyloggers and other morons who want to get into your account. Once you associate the Blizzard Authenticator with your account you’ll have to login to the game using 2 passwords. Your regular one, and one provided by the authenticator when you push the button on it.

As you can see from the picture, there is a barcode with a serial number on the back. This in technical terms is the encryption seed. When you buy the authenticator, you enter this serial number into your account. When you press the button on the front of the authenticator it takes your serial number and applies a secret Blizzard algorithm (likely fractals) to it that is relational to the current time and date. The result is a six-digit code that displays on the front of the unit. Since hackers don’t know the algorithm (or your serial number for that matter) the chances of them getting into your account are practically zero.

Listen To ESPN On iPhone

kalamaf — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:14:35 +0000

Wanna listen to sports like ESPN while you are traveling home from work in an hour’s long ride on the train..?? I would need appetite suppressant to keep me from munching on junks. But now you can keep yourself occupied because ESPN has launched a new application for the iPhone, ESPN Radio, which is now available on the App Store. As the name implies, the application will give you access to audio streams of ESPN content including popular shows, station streams, play-by-play broadcasts, podcasts and SportsCenter updates which are uploaded every 20 minutes.

Extreme Gamers

kalamaf — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:41:40 +0000

Everytime I read about Japanese gamers.. and how some would die in front of their computer or gaming system, it never failed to leave me flabbergasted. How do one get to this extreme and ignore their health and even their life. Someone that I came to know online was on disability insurance played all day and all night. Good thing he had Allsup who has a 98% success rate for those who complete the SSDI process with them. I heard that Allsup is a leading nationwide provider of financial and healthcare related services to people with disabilities. Since 1984, Allsup has helped more than 110,000 people receive their entitled Social Security Disability Insurance and Medicare benefits. So gamers out there.. who needs insurance like that, check them out.

Pocket Projector

kalamaf — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:39:08 +0000

This is a Pico 2 Projector and supposedly better than its forefather because it is a lot brighter, you can get this handheld I’m sure at best buy but when you have to pay like $349 for something like this.. would you really wanna pay that much..?? Well, if you have lots of spare change.. i guess you can get it for fun and showing off eh.

Press release info:

Optoma’s Pico Projector utilizes the latest LED technology resulting in a colorful and vivid image. The small and powerful unit is based upon DLP technology assuring the highest possible contrast.

“The handheld Pico projector represents the latest advancement in the mobile device display industry. We view the Pico projector as a completely new and exciting market – one which dramatically expands the reach and potential of projection products into new end user applications,” says Dr. William Coggshall, founder and president of Pacific Media Associates.

The product will be first shown at Texas Instrument’s InfoComm 2008 booth C909 and will be available in limited distribution in Europe and Asia in late 2008, with a worldwide launch in 2009.

Mobile Mouse

kalamaf — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:04:22 +0000

Wireless mouse is the in thing in our store and the wife would love one of this when it comes out in August by Microsoft. The Mobile mouse 6000 was recently released in conjunction with a similar 5000 model. Both use BlueTrack and are comfortably sized without being too bulky to cart around. The 6000 features Microsoft’s first nano transceiver, which extends only 0.8 centimeters from the computer’s USB and stores handily inside the mouse itself. But the Mobile mouse 4000 is quite similar but comes in 5 colors and is powered by a single AA-battery for 10 months, the 2.4GHz wireless ensures connection up to 15-feet. I better do more Clinicallix reviews, so that i can buy one for the wife when it comes out.

Little Gadgets

kalamaf — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:23:35 +0000

I’ve been getting quite a collection of little gadgets building up in my store. Digital cameras, Mp3 players, game systems & controllers and so on. It’s pretty normal for this time of year though, June can be a pretty slow month with lots of people looking to sell stuff, but it turns around in July once school is out and the vacationers start roaming around. At the moment I’ve got a good range of mp3 players in, an iPod, a Zune, a Zen and a Sansa. All with between 4gb and 8gb of storage.

PSP & DS

kalamaf — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:38:31 +0000

I’ve never been a big fan of handhelds for some reason even though there are some really good games out for them. Even getting a gameboy emulator didn’t hold my attention long enough to beat those old Gameboy Final Fantasy games, many years ago. It’s not that the graphics are bad, graphics don’t really mean much in and RPG as long as the story is good, and I don’t think the size of the screen bothers me much either, otherwise playing on an emulator would have been fine. I had a PSP for a while but all I ended up using it for was watching TV shows.

Ultimate Gaming Chair

kalamaf — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:23:46 +0000

I’ve seen gaming chairs advertised before, ones with a bit of vibration, or with speakers built in. This one however takes the cake. It’s not a gaming chair. It’s a full blown massage chair from Takemi Select ! What better way to relax when playing some games than to sit in something like this? Sure it wouldn’t be good for Rock Band, but when you’re done wailing away on guitar or drums you can pop in a less energetic game and let the chair work out the knots.