Posts Categorized: Reviews

Smart Home Part Two: Smartthings, Amazon Echo, and Harmony Remote

Posted by Scott & filed under Home Automation, Reviews, Technology.


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Check out my last smart home post, Making My House a Bit Smarter with SmartThings, to see how things got started. I’ve been slowly making additions to make my home smarter over the past year. I received an Amazon Echo for my birthday this year (thanks Jess!). Out of the box, it has the ability… Read more »

Making My House a Bit Smarter with SmartThings

Posted by Scott & filed under General, Home Automation, Reviews, Technology.


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I have been thinking about how to make my home smarter for a little while now, but never really had a truly compelling reason to make the investment. The most common use of smart home devices seemed to be turning on and off lights, which didn’t really appeal to me. I think a physical light… Read more »

What Are Your Favorite Podcasts?

Posted by Scott & filed under Reviews, Technology.

I’ve always got a good collection of podcasts on my iPod. In fact, I probably listen to podcasts more than I listen to music. I usually download a new batch of podcasts every couple weeks. I’ll fill up my iPod and listen until I run out, and then pull down the newest batch. I have… Read more »

My New Isotoner SmarTouch (techie) Gloves

Posted by Scott & filed under Reviews, Technology.

I normally don’t do clothing/fashion reviews here, but I prefer to think of my latest purchase as an electronics accessory and not fashion, though I really do look hot in my new techie gloves. A few weeks ago I got my hands on (or rather hands in… HA!) a new pair of Isotoner SmarTouch Gloves,… Read more »

A Tiny Lens for my Camera Phone

Posted by Scott & filed under General, Reviews, Technology.

I got a present in the mail yesterday straight from China. The tiny little macro/wide angle lens I purchased had finally arrived (apparently free shipping from China takes a while). Yes, you read that correctly. I purchased a lens for the crappy camera on my phone. I figured this was a $10 experiment to see… Read more »

Throwing Images Down the Pixelpipe

Posted by Scott & filed under Reviews, Technology.

While flipping through some Palm Pre apps a little while back, I ran across a gem of an app (and a service) called Pixelpipe that has come in very handy. What I was looking for was a way to upload multiple photos to different sites all over the internet. My Palm Pre only allows you… Read more »

Evaluating Remote Backup Solutions

Posted by Scott & filed under Reviews, Technology.

After a recent computer upgrade (hardware and Windows 7), I decided to reevaluate what I was using for a remote backup solution. I’ve looked at a handful of solutions, and think I’ve found one that fits my needs quite nicely. My Previous Solution Before getting into what system I ended up with, I’ll got into… Read more »

Palm Pre Review

Posted by Scott & filed under Reviews, Technology.

Well, I went out an bought myself a Palm Pre. It’s a really good phone, but the major deciding factor was the great deal I currently have with Sprint. It just made it too hard to jump to another carrier to get another phone (*cough* iPhone *cough* AT&T). I held out on renewing the account… Read more »

New Book Suggestions from Book Army

Posted by Scott & filed under General, Reviews.

A couple years ago I was on the hunt for a site to keep track a small bit of information on all the books I read in a given year. What I eventually settled on was a service called LibraryThing, that I’ve been using for quite a while now. When I started looking for this… Read more »

Asus Announces Eee Keyboard

Posted by Scott & filed under HTPC, Reviews, Technology.

Asus, the company that started the whole netbook trend announced a cool new product yesterday. It’s called the Eee Keyboard, and is an entire computer (HTPC) built into a keyboard. The keyboard has a built-in touch screen where the number pad normally goes, which can display widgets, RSS feeds, calendars and more.  This thing will… Read more »

Evernote – Extremely Handy, Note Taker/Sharer Thing

Posted by Scott & filed under General, Reviews.

At work I split my time between two physical offices. That can make keeping notes and paperwork between the two somewhat difficult. Enter Evernote, the super handy multi-platform information capture tool. Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible… Read more »

Netflix Set-Top Box

Posted by Scott & filed under HTPC, Reviews, Technology.

Earlier this week Netflix announced a new piece of hardware, the Netflix Player by Roku. This tiny little box allows you to plug in your TV along with an internet connection (wired or wireless) to get access to all of the Watch Now movies on Netflix. Taking a look at the specs of this piece… Read more »

Blu-ray and HD-DVD for the Entertainment PC

Posted by Scott & filed under HTPC, Reviews, Technology.

Another component of the Entertainment PC has been upgraded to HD. Now that a winner has been chosen in the next-generation HD disc war, I figured it was time to make a purchase (even though it didn’t really matter with the choice I made). I bought the LG Super Multi Blue Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD-ROM… Read more »

I (used to) Like Digsby

Posted by Scott & filed under Reviews, Technology.

With one single application, you can consolidate IM, e-mail, and social networking. That one app, is Digsby. In the past, I have used Pidgin on Windows, and Adium on the Mac for all my instant messaging needs. I’ve been happy with how they handle all the protocols I use (or rather all my buddies use)… Read more »

Hulu Review: Not Too Shabby

Posted by Scott & filed under HTPC, Reviews, Technology.

This post has been sitting in my drafts for about a month now. I was lucky enough to get in on the private beta of Hulu.com not too long after they started testing. Waiting so long to write this has actually been somewhat helpful. I’ve talked with a few people about their use of Hulu… Read more »