At the consumer electronics show last year I spent some time in the Eton booth and loved the Soulra XL. It wasn’t available at the time and now it is which is great news. The Soulra XL is an Apple  iPhone or iPod enabled boombox with a 72″ monocrystal solar recharging panel built in. In 5 hours you can recharge the system or your iphone in the sun and allows you to enjoy music at the beach, outdoor party, etc. The sound quality is excellent and with rubberized buttons and cover for phone you are protected against the elements. Perfect for playing itunes or streaming Pandora or Spotify you are ready to roll!

Side View
You will see a connector that is for the included strap.

Solar Panel View
The solar panel folds down onto the unit and a remote is included on the design.

Charging times:

• 5 hrs to fully charge in sun
• 8 hrs of playback
• 4 hrs to fully charge iPod/iPhone

Demo Video

The official specs are: Dimensions: 8.125″ H x 15.125″ W x 5.25″ D and weighs in at 7 pounds.

In summary, with 8 speakers (2x tweeter, 2x woofer, 4x passive radiator), portability, solar charging and sound quality this boombox makes it onto my favorite gadget list.

Want One? Check out the Eton Store

A friend of mine is getting his pilot’s license and mentioned the Ram mounting system as a favorite for pilots to secure a variety of phones, gps, etc. Curious, I explored further on how I could take an ipad 2 in the car for navigation (or watching a movie…) and below is what you need to mount it safely with the ultimate flexibility. The pricing can accelerate quickly but if you want the best, don’t skimp!

Ipad Cup Holder Mount

Seems the way that Ram mounts work is that you first need to identify your device
(iPad or iPad 2) ($41) for the case part – have to buy this Ram Mounts at Amazon

Step 2 – Choose Your Activity (each mount is unique)
- Aviation mounts, golf, marine, vehicle, wall mount or wheelchair (how cool are those options)

At this point you are now considering putting your ipad on your wall or boat, right?

Step 3 – Choose Your Mount Type
- Dash mount, drink cup, no drill mount, seat mounts, suction cup mounts or universal mount.

RAM Universal Cup Holder Mount ($30)
Tip – Mount is sold separately than the actual iPad holder

Dash Mount for iPad ($47)
Rubber ball and socket technology allows for almost infinite adjustment and perfect viewing angles and made with Powder Coated Marine Grade Aluminum.

Seat Mount ($105)
Now this looks crazy to me but if you are always alone and require a substantial mount this is for you!

Suction Cup Mount ($34)
Ultimate flexibility with this one as it can suction onto dash or window.

Suction Cup Example
Question – where was this photo taken?

Swing Arm Mount

One thing left to talk about and that is power (conveniently they left that out in the photos)

Seems that you connect at the bottom of the base

Overall, I am really impressed with the whole Ram mounting system and can’t wait to explore my options for mounting an iphone on my bicycle. Check out more ready to go options Ram Mounts at Amazon

One day I was cruising through Best Buy and came across the Dr Dre® BeatBox iPod/iPhone docking station and had to give it a whirl. Dr. Dre® has a variety of branded headphones and was really skeptical of the sound. However, once I dropped my iphone into the top the sound was amazing (thanks Dr!) The speaker has pros and cons and haven’t purchased it yet (but close )

What I liked about the Dr Dre BeatBox iPod/iPhone docking station

• Excellent sound (able to handle rap, jazz, acoustic, etc without distortion)
• Docking station for iPhone, iPod and assume the iTouch.
• Sound control on top right of speaker (easy to turn up and down)
• External line input (use with laptop and perfect for various audio sources)
• Price is down to $349 from $399! Make it $299 and I am in.

What I didn’t like

• No Battery – corded design means your party must be near an ac plug.
• Should be redesigned to accomodate an iPad.
• Include a visual panel so you could adjust the system.
• Remote seems cheap.
• Would like bluetooth option to send tunes and to use iphone remotely to control music.

Check out the CNET Video

Overall, from Pandora to iPod tunes the Dr Dre® BeatBox iPod/iPhone docking station is an excellent addition to any home, office or hotel room! In comparison to the Bose or iHome speaker docks this is miles above in sound quality, performance and will soon be an owner of one! My suggestion is to bring your phone to BestBuy and see for yourself – instant party! Buy Online, Pickup in Your Local Best Buy® Store.

Fed up with Google maps for navigation on your iPhone? One day while trying to navigate around New York City I decided to splurge for the $34.99 Garmin StreetPilot GPS App and glad I did. Having full turn by turn directions with autocorrection is great for the car and as a pedestrian.

Widescreen View

What I like about the Garmin GPS App

• Always up to date (no more of those dvd updates to your gps unit or roads that don’t exist).
• Works just like a Garmin GPS Nuvi unit.
• Operates on either 3G or Edge networks (Worked everywhere I tested – even a boat).
• Maps are downloaded on demand (now I have unlimited data plan so consider a traditional gps unit if you are capped at 2GB plan).
• Real Time traffic Updates (great for commuters and included screenshot below).
• What’s Nearby (perfect for finding gas, restaurants, grocery stores, etc with phone numbers).
• Tied into the iPhone iPod so you can play and control your tunes from your phone or stream Pandora while viewing the map.
• Voice prompts (useful for those difficult routes and does give enough time to turn).
• Integrated Google local search.
• You can talk on the phone while using the navigation.
• Tells you the current speedlimit and goes red when heading over (great idea).
• Ties into Address book so just go to a friends house in a few clicks.
• Horizontal or vertical screen viewing.

Where Do You Want to Go?

What You See When Driving to a Destination (see arrival time, speed, exit and Ipod control)

Turn By Turn (if you click top left arrow you see this)

More Detail (approaching a roundabout turn)

Ipod Controls (skip to next song, album, shuffle, etc)

Traffic Alerts (show as yellow sign on map and when clicked you see current info)

What I Would Like to Change

• When you don’t put in a destination the mapping is very basic. For example, you may just want to see what street you are on and can’t figure out how to make it better. I switch to Google Maps for that detail.
• Battery drain – when using GPS the system is working hard to keep up with maps and tends to bring the battery down.
• Alternative routes – when traffic alert happens I would like to see 3 alternative routes to appear (why not?)

Overall, well worth the $34.99 from the Apple App Store and give it 2 thumbs up. Question, what do you use to navigate with? Built in GPS, Portable GPS, Smartphone GPS, Map, Significant Other or you just know?

As an avid user of the iPhone I was looking for a car dash holder that would allow for easy viewing of email, navigation and listening to music. Recently I received a Cobra Universal Mini Mount (cb-mnt-uni) to review and have put it through the paces over the last few weeks. The mini mount has been in several cars and even on the dash of a boat and a great device!

What’s Great About the Cobra Mini Mount

• Works in horizontal or vertical mode (perfect for landscape GPS map or watching Netflix)
• Suction cup on bottom works really well (decided to mount to the Mini Cooper dash)
• Works with most smartphones as it’s a universal mounting system
• Open at the bottom so you can have a charge cord attached
• Ball & Socket design (gives you viewing flexibility)
• Small format for portability
• No need for alcohol wipes, velcro or odd ac vent attachments
• Under $25

Horizontal View

What Could be Improved

• Rubber backing that your phone touches looses some grip after awhile and I believe this was due to the coating on my iphone cases (incase perforated design). I didn’t try it without the case and only came off when I took a really sharp corner (that happens when I drive )
• Would like a flexible extension arm that could be exchanged with the smaller mount to provide greater flexibility with mounting locations.

In summary, I wanted to thank Cobra for sending over the device for review and check it out at Cobra’s website. Let me know what you use to hold your phone while you drive.

Recently I purchased the iHome iD9 portable sound dock and wanted to share my excitement over the device. As an avid listener of music on Pandora and owner of an iPhone 4 and iPad 2 I was looking for a self powered portable speaker that could be used anywhere. My other speakers would not support the weight of the iPad and required an earphone connection which wasn’t ideal.

In reviewing all the speaker docking stations, they always had a negative attached to them including poor sound, no battery, size, integrated iphone dock or software compatability issues. I can’t tell you how many times I placed my iPhone in speaker docks at Best Buy, Target, etc. and leaving the store disappointed.

Now, not all docking stations are poor and have my eye on some larger ones but let’s get back to the iHome iD9. First you should watch the ihome id9 video review I made for YouTube as a visual experience is always better.

Ihome id9 with iphone 4

What is good about the iD9 over others?

The iD9 was obviously designed by engineers who cared about design, sound and portability. The $99 price tag was fine with me because the unit while plugged in also acts as a charger for the iPhone or iPad which is a bonus.

• Excellent battery life (have it poolside for hours and crank up the tunes)
• Portable Size (not to large to drop into your suitcase for listening to tunes in hotels, office, etc)
• AC powered (important so it creates an extra charging station for ipad or iphone)
• Line Input (good for using other music devices or playing from laptop into the speaker)
• Lighted battery meter on front (helpful for knowing when the music will stop)
• ihome sleep application (download from app store) will wake you to music and enable features like weather, news and social media. I personally don’t use this feature but for the alarm clock seekers this speaker coupled with an ipad makes an outstanding duo next to the bed.

What isn’t good?
Ok, I do have one gripe about the unit as it relates to line in functionality. The speaker has a built in power saver that senses that if using line in without an ac power attached it will shut off automatically after say 5 minutes or so. Not a deal breaker for me but wanted to note that one.

Overall, since I purchased the original unit I purchased 2 more as gifts and each recipient has loved the design and the sound it produces. Pick one up as this portable speaker is a winner! Want to buy one? I am a partner of iHome and you can buy direct here -> iHome’s iPod/iPhone Devices

Recently had a an amazing opportunity to shoot a video for Samsung involving the new smart TV. The focus of my video was on using the Samsung Galaxy Tab as a remote for the TV. The new Samsung app is amazing and as an avid tablet user made me really think about the advantages of a Samsung Tab over an ipad as the smaller format was really nice. Check out the video on YouTube and let me know your thoughts and of course many thanks to Samsung for the opportunity! Go Samsung!

Today we are going to smash some gadgets in the first episode of Smashing Gadgets! Sure it sounds a little strange but sometimes gadgets become obsolete and in the case of hard drives they hold valuable data (emails, passwords, files). I recently had a garage sale and pulled out 5 hard drives before I sold / gave them away. So the stack caught my eye and thought why not smash them? Easier said than done..

Question – What do you do with hard drives from old computers?  Watch the video and let me know your thoughts.

Overall the process of smashing a hard drive was really difficult and even though I had a mini sledge they built these cases with super strength. Apparently, older 3.5″ hard drives had tougher casings than the new versions and 2.5″ drives are extremely easy to break apart. Have to hand the invincible award to IBM for the toughest drive casing. I wanted to note, you can always unscrew these cases and make your life easier but that just wouldn’t be as much fun.

Video of the Smashing Gagets – episode 1 (youtube)



The Hard Drive Pyramid (tried to get creative)

The Final Blow
After 2 days of pounding on these drives the data was destroyed but really the cases look pretty good. Makes me think you could of drove a car over these babies and still would be intact.

What Gadget is Next?
Let me know what you think.

Cheers, Michael

As an Apple fanatic, I ordered the iPad2 from Apple yesterday morning and sitting here imagining what it would be like to play with. As I read the various reviews from the zillion web sites who cover it I came across one on 9to5mac that spoke about a teardown of an ipad2 on ifixit.

My Question – Can I UPGRADE the Toshiba 16GB Flash memory chip to say a 64GB?

At first I wondered, why would you ever tear one of these apart?
However, thank you ifixit for doing it because it’s nice to know the component breakdown from an independent source vs. Apple. In the breakdown they mentioned the following components:

• Toshiba TH58NVG7D2FLA89 16GB NAND Flash (THAT’S IT)

Question? Can I UPGRADE the Toshiba 16GB Flash memory chip to say a 64GB?

Answer: Not sure, this is the participation part as I would like to hear from the experts out there who know. Seems that iPads (non 3G models) are essentially the same device but with upgrades to the flash memory. It also seems that it would be possible to interchange these flash chips, right?

Ok – so let’s assume it’s possible to change the iPad flash memory. Does Apple lock up the full supply chain of these from Toshiba or is it used in other devices? I did a search for the part on Avnet and noticed that stock or ordering was not going to be easy…

So what are your thoughts? Has to be a way to bypass Apple’s pricing for flash memory and upgrade your ipad.