The Gadgets Page

I received a Padlette at CES a few years back and have been planning to write a review of it since then. I use it every day on my iPad and love it! It is especially convenient when you need to hold the iPad for extended periods of time, like watching a movie or reading an eBook.

Before the Padlette I would try to prop the iPad up on something but it would inevitably fall and usually on my face, which I can tell you is pretty painful. I would also routinely get hand cramps from holding the iPad for extended periods of time pre-Padlette, but since there are a number of ways to hold the Padlette I haven’t gotten a hand cramp since, it is a life saver for my hands!

The Padlette stretches around your iPad, so the only drawback is if you have a cover on your iPad it won’t work. But for my iPad I use a sleeve cover and the Padlette. You also need to position the Padlette so that it is not on the corner that the power button and volume controls are on. It is easy to remove and install so if you wanted to keep your cover and use it occasionally for movies that would also work great.

There is an entire junk folder full of apps on my iPhone and iPad. They are apps that I can’t delete, no matter how much I want to. The undelete-able apps include: Calculator, Reminders, Game Center, iTunes Store, App Store, FaceTime, Notes, Contacts, Voice Memos, Stocks, Tips, Weather, Newstand, iBooks, Compass, and Passbook. Some of those apps are useful and some of them are not. It depends on who you are and how you use your phone. I find it so irritating that I can’t get rid of them on my devices.

According to BuzzFeed, it looks like Tim Cook is looking at isolating each of these apps and allowing some of them to be deleted.

• 20 Minutes With Tim Cook – BuzzFeed News

“This is a more complex issue than it first appears,” he says. “There are some apps that are linked to something else on the iPhone. If they were to be removed they might cause issues elsewhere on the phone. There are other apps that aren’t like that. So over time, I think with the ones that aren’t like that, we’ll figure out a way [for you to remove them]. … It’s not that we want to suck up your real estate; we’re not motivated to do that. We want you to be happy. So I recognize that some people want to do this, and it’s something we’re looking at.”

I am glad they’re “looking” at that option. Honestly, they should have been looking at that a long time ago. I seriously don’t want a junk folder where I have to shuffle those apps that I never use. Just let me delete them.

Update 09-17-15

With the new operating system, you can now delete the Newstand folder as long as you don’t have any apps in it. Unfortunately, they have added Find My Friends and Find My iPhone to the can’t delete list. One step forward, two steps back…

It sounds like a great deal, doesn’t it? All you have to do is download the Magzter app, pay the $9.99 a month fee and you can have access to over 2000 magazines and comics!

But I’ve been burned before… so I looked at the list of magazines and I thought I found paradise. All of my favorites were listed on their website! I got so excited.

I added the magazines and signed up for the Gold account. Then I tried to download one of my favorites. Oh… that one isn’t included on the Gold account. Oh well, I’ll try another one… That one isn’t included either. Sure, it LOOKS like I can read the magazine, but the only thing that downloads is a preview issue that has about 6-10 pages from the latest issue.

Okay… well… what magazines ARE included?

When I went to the Gold Magazines and chose the ones from the U.S., there were only 34 magazines. THIRTY-FOUR. Not even one magazine in my favorites was included. NOT ONE. When I allowed the magazines to be from any country and chose the ones that were in English, there were a bunch more added to the total, but I’m really not interested in reading Elle India or New Zealand Women’s Fitness.

So, yet again, I cancelled the introductory subscription and deleted the app. Why do I keep falling for these things?

Via: Magzter launches “all you can read” magazine subscription for $9.99 per month | TUAW: Apple news, reviews and how-tos since 2004

This is a really cool display that shows the smart covers for iPad:

Via: Clever Apple Store window display | TUAW: Apple news, reviews and how-tos since 2004

This commercial made me laugh out loud! It reminded me of the sometimes importance of paper over the iPad.

The next time someone is chiding you because you’re using paper instead of your iPad, remember this commercial and chuckle to yourself!

Via: Clever commercial weighs the benefits of the iPad versus paper | TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Apple is memorializing the death of Steve Jobs on their website. You can see the video here:

Here is what’s on their website:

A message from Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

Steve’s passing one year ago today was a sad and difficult time for all of us. I hope that today everyone will reflect on his extraordinary life and the many ways he made the world a better place.

One of the greatest gifts Steve gave to the world is Apple. No company has ever inspired such creativity or set such high standards for itself. Our values originated from Steve and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We share the great privilege and responsibility of carrying his legacy into the future.

I’m incredibly proud of the work we are doing, delivering products that our customers love and dreaming up new ones that will delight them down the road. It’s a wonderful tribute to Steve’s memory and everything he stood for.

• Tim

Here is Jonathan Ive’s tribute to Steve Jobs:

When we found out that Steve Jobs died, Stacey, Dan, Michael and I were driving on our way to a quickie trip down south. We listened to Steve Job’s Commencement Speech.

I think Apple hasn’t been the same since Steve Jobs died. I don’t know what it was Steve did that made everything they did great, but whatever it was, the world is a worse place for his loss.

via Apple Marks One-Year Anniversary of Steve Jobs’ Death – Mac Rumors

Back in March 2009, I wrote a review for DecalGirl Skins. You can see it here:

• Gadgets Page » Decalgirl Skins

Because I had written a review, I was surprised when DecalGirl contacted me and asked if I wanted some free samples to do another one. I gladly agreed and waited for the skins I had selected to arrive in the mail.

I dug out my old gadgets that were still adorned with DecalGirls skins. My Acer Netbook computer was being stored in a box of outdated gadgets. Here’s a current picture of it: (Continue Reading…)

The day before the official start of CES this year, I dropped my phone in a cup of coffee. The width of the phone just barely cleared the size of the cup and it was a one in a million shot. It only dropped in for a second, but it was long enough to short out my poor phone.

You can understand why I was obsessed with waterproofed phones and other gadgets because my entire life had just been short circuited by a simple cup of coffee. That’s why Fujitsu’s booth at CES this year was so appealing to me.

The first thing we saw as we walked past the booth was a huge aquarium with a working phones and tablets within it.

My eyes were immediately drawn to the brightly colored phone at the bottom of the aquarium. Was it really running or was that just a fake screen?

The girl at the booth saw my fascination and reached her long arm into the aquarium to retrieve it.

She removed it and handed to me. Yes, it was a fully functional phone that had been sitting in that aquarium for at least a couple of hours.

I was shocked and amazed. My poor phone had been in my coffee cup for no more than a couple of seconds and it was completely destroyed. This phone could take hours in an aquarium with no problem. And, it wasn’t just the phone, there was a tablet with the same capability!

I was drawn in to the bank of phones available for hands-on play.

They were called Arrows and I loved that they came in a wide variety of colors. They felt really good in my hand.

Unlike the iPhone, they are made of plastic, so I was shocked at how light they were in my hands. After years of holding wafers of glass and aluminum, I had forgotten how light a phone could be.

The Arrows wasn’t the only waterproof phone they were showcasing. There was also a phone that claimed to be the thinnest smartphone on the market.

Actually, they only claimed to be the thinnest phone to be accepted by the FCC, so there must be a thinner phone out there that is still waiting for approval.

It was an impressive design as well.

The specs of the phone were the disappointing aspect, however. They only run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), so they are a few versions behind the curve and no guarantee that I’d be able to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich when it comes out.

I was really attracted to the waterproof feature of these Fujitsu phones, but I have been less than impressed with Android Gingerbread. The fact that these phones use an operating system that is so far behind makes them unsuitable for me, so I kept on looking.

When I used to browse the web and find something I wanted to remember, I’d bookmark it with a description of what it was. I’m crafty, so I would do this with crafts. I also have three kids so I’d bookmark an educational site or ideas for decorating.

This worked great for me, until the hubby decided I needed an iPad upgrade (okay, I wanted it too). I’m not super technical and he is, so I let him do it for me. Everything went great until tried to go to a bookmark on the new iPad – everything was gone, and the bookmarks on my old computer had been wiped clean. I no longer knew where that cute headband idea was, or the great site for math games, it was all gone. I was able to remember some of the sites that had catchy names but for the most part I was back to ground zero.

I knew there had to be a better way, and stumbled upon it a few days later, when my sister-in-law was telling me about her new favorite site – Pinterest.com. This site lets you pin pictures from the web and categorize them by whatever you choose. Not only that, but you can find other people with similar tastes or friends and follow them to see what they have pinned. You can also browse Pinterest to see what has been pinned lately.

I have to warn you though – it can become addicting. To pin your own stuff, you add a “pin it” button to your toolbar. Then, if you’re on a site you want to save, click the “pin it” button and it will display all the pictures on that page. Select the picture you want to save, select a board (like a folder) and give it a description or note. Viola! It is saved into your account on Pinterest land. You can have your pins posted on Facebook if you want also.

There are different kinds of pinners, those who pin everything and do nothing and those who pin and do. I fall somewhere in the middle. So far I have made a ton of projects:

• Bracelets and rings
• Halloween treats
• Beaded spiders
• Cookie dough dip out of hummus (not recommend – and I went back and commented on my pin to that effect so my “followers” wouldn’t be led astray)
• Jewelry holder out of an art canvas
• Energy balls (these were good)
• Spelling game for my kids
• Felt flowers
• Repurposed a t-shirt into a shrug
• Dish washer detergent from scratch
• 72 hour emergency kits
• Foot scrub
• Crafts for the kids

As you can see there is a wide variety of crafts to choose from.

You can also pin travel ideas, books, gadgets, humor, etc. Pinterest has a list of 32 categories for you to browse, and assign your pins to, for others to browse, but you can create as many boards as you want and name them whatever you want.

Additionally, Pinterest has created an iPhone app to work with their website. You can download it here:

• Pinterest iPhone App – Cold Brew Labs [iTunes link]

A few tips and tricks I’ve found:

• The Pinterest app is a little crashy. When it starts acting strangely, restart the app, or if that doesn’t work, restart the device.
• On Pinterest.com if you click on the pinterest logo at the top it will take you back to the home screen.
• You can search for friends to follow by name in the search box, and everyone who has signed in with their Facebook account will have their profile pic so you can see who it is.
• If the Pinterest web site is too much information for you, try the app. It gives you the top pins for that category and you can pin from there. Here is a picture (above right) of what the DIY & Craft board has on my phone.

So happy pinning, and I’ll see you on Pinterest.

Update 06-21-12 from Laura Moncur: I had avoided Pinterest when Christy reviewed it because it was so difficult to find the original link to the photos on their site. I’m happy to announce that they have fixed that, so I can easily see WHERE the pins came from, no matter how many times it has been repined. I’m happily pinning along with Christy now and I love it!

This supercut video plays every superlative used in the original iPad keynote.

It’s no wonder that by the time a keynote is over, I end up wanting whatever it is that they are showcasing. Not only do they create amazing, wonderful, beautiful, magical and awesome products, they aren’t afraid to say so.

Via: Supercut.org — Steve Jobs’ iPad keynote: Every superlative