The ostensible benefit of smart watches and health trackers, as far as health goes, is that they allow you to monitor your calories, heart rate, and step count with previously unmatched accuracy.
With the debut of the iPhone 6 (and 6 Plus) came a nugget so substantial that it deserved its own introduction: Apple Pay.
Brent Stiefel and Mikael Mossberg didn’t know much about whiskey when they met up for drinks in May of 2011. Like many people navigating an ocean of Scotch and bourbon, they “were intimidated by folks with mustaches”, Stiefel says, but didn’t want to drain their bank accounts by buying every bottle to learn more about what they liked and what they didn’t.
Today in Gear: Oliberté’s new Gymano bag, a Box of American Awesome, Manis’s back armor, Oakley’s first foldable sunglasses, high-quality dog shampoo, and a sweet new photo doctoring app.
Google just released a new “Material Design” standard for Android, which aims to decrease design fragmentation.
Consoles don’t provide much in the way of portability (anyone else ever own this masterpiece of engineering?), and grown men carrying Gameboys often attract the wrong kind of attention, but mobile games offer interactive experiences on the devices that most of us carry every day. They allow us a bit of serenity when we need it most — in the airport, on the subway, at a questionable mid-life Bris.
Gear Patrol’s guide to 16 great gadget gifts under $100.
Trash Krusher A few basic truths: you cannot change the past; the sun will rise tomorrow; trash is icky. Instead of using your foot to mash down your garbage — or worse, your hand — this manual trash compactor, integrated into the lid of a waste bin, does the dirty work for you.
The internet cognoscenti’s response to Google Reader’s shut-down announcement has been incredible. Yet the fact remains: as of July 1st, the longstanding browser-based RSS compiler with a social streak will be shuttered.
Qvivo is a new cloud media service startup that claims to succeed where most others have failed in offering a dream streaming solution for video and music fans with large digital libraries. Starting at $1.99 a month, Qvivo offers unlimited cloud storage for movies, tv shows and music that can then be streamed through any modern web browser.
Whether you’re trying to capture the grandeur of the Grand Canyon or just snapping a selfie of your abs (not again, Anthony Weiner!), utilizing a set of great photo apps is key.
It’s hard to believe how different a hot commute in hair-pulling traffic can be from a balmy mid-afternoon drive on an open road in the countryside — both in the same car. Nothing brings back the freedom of summer like a great drive, and unless you’re cursed with a 36-month lease of a kiddie-hauler that now smells like sour milk, it’s high time you planned just such a trip.
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. That is true for endurance athletes tracking caloric expenditure and substrate utilization or weekend warriors just looking to stay fit.
It’s apparently no longer enough to wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve — or wrist.
Properly calibrating your TV and sound system is essential for getting the best picture and sound out of your gear — but few do it. Short of hiring a professional to take the work off of your plate, DIY solutions are grim: buying special discs and wading through various complex menus to get the job done.
