Scosche flipSYNC: hands-on first look
June 24, 2010 by Bill Palmer · Leave a Comment
The arrival of the Scosche flipSYNC to market means it must be summer, the time of year in which the products that debuted at the winter trade shows finally start shipping. The flipSYNC was one of Beatweek’s Best of Show winners at Macworld 2010, and now that I’ve got one sitting here on my desk I’ll be able to test it out in real world settings to confirm whether it lives up to the award-winning status that we originally bestowed on it.
My gut says that it will, and here’s why: traveling with sync cables is a pain. It’s one thing to carry your iPhone or iPod with you and another to lug your laptop around with you, but having to take along a three foot cable just to be able to connect the two for charging and syncing purposes feels like insult to injury. I’ve used retractable cables, but they’re still somewhat bulky when wound up. But the flipSYNC, by virtue of being a flip-out product, folds up small enough to be a keychain fob – and even has a little keychain cutout to boot. I’ll have to travel with this product in order to evaluate its practicality, after which I’ll report back with a full review. But I suspect the flipSYNC will find its way onto my list of must-have travel items. In the mean time, you can find it on Scosche’s website.
Scosche launches reviveLITE II
March 5, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Scosche has officially launched the reviveLITE II, the second generation of its combination nightlight and wall charger for iPhone and iPod. Changes to version two include the relocation of the iPhone/iPod dock from the side of the device to the front for improved balance and stability, along with the addition of a USB port for charing a second device.
The reviveLITE, which was a Beatweek Magazine “Best of Show” winner at Macworld 2010 in February, will ship in the spring and sell for $24.99.
According to Scosche executive vice president Kas Alves, “Scosche products are designed to eliminate clutter and enhance the accompanying device. reviveLITE II does just that, providing a docking charging solution for the iPod or iPhone and allowing travelers to eliminate the need for carrying a second charger for another USB powered device.”
Learn more about the reviveLITE II at Scosche.com.
Best of Macworld: Square
February 16, 2010 by admin · 2 Comments
Editor’s note: Six members of Beatweek’s editorial staff were at Macworld 2010 to report on the newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod users. Here’s one of the twelve best we found. For a full rundown of all the top new products at Macworld 2010, check out Beatweek Magazine’s February 16th issue
The star of the show isn’t the ninety-nine cent headphone port adapter that allows you to swipe credit cards into your iPhone – and it’s not even necessarily the companion app that does the processing and includes everything from on-screen finger signatures to email receipts. The real breakthrough here is that Square’s indie system of accepting credit cards doesn’t involve any merchant houses or their insane layering of fees which make it financially impractical for small vendors to accept credit cards at all.
It sounds too good to be true. In fact we didn’t believe it until we used the product to charge a small amount to one of our own credit cards and then confirmed that the charge actually was billed. Fees of about three percent are deducted from what the vendor receives, and there are no per-month, per-day or per-transaction flat fees tacked on, as is typically the case with credit card merchant accounts.
The upshot is that iPhone users who run small businesses and even street merchants will be able to accept mobile credit and debit card payments. We like the fact that the hardware component is under a dollar, but what we like even more is that Square’s developer told us he wants to get his platform onto the more sophisticated iPhone credit card swiping hardware products that are coming to market.
Read about all of Beatweek’s “Best of Show at Macworld 2010″ winners and finalists in the February 16th issue of Beatweek Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and more.
Best of Macworld: GameWheel
February 12, 2010 by Bill Palmer · Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: Six members of Beatweek’s editorial staff were at Macworld 2010 to report on the newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod users. Here’s one of the twelve best we found. For a full rundown of all the top new products at Macworld 2010, check out Beatweek Magazine’s February 16th issue
iPhone gamers will all tell you the same thing: there are some truly great “gamer’s games” out there for the iPhone, but the device’s shape isn’t exactly ideal for long-term gameplay. We’ve seen various third party solutions ranging from grooved cases to giant enclosures that turn your iPhone into roughly the shape of an Xbox controller, but dreamGEAR may have finally nailed it – at least for racing games – with its GameWheel.
We’re not sure you’d want to be caught using this in public, but we found it to indeed enhance the racing experience in our on-site tests. What won us over in the end was its $19 price; we had been expecting it to be higher.
Read about all of Beatweek’s “Best of Show at Macworld 2010″ winners and finalists in the February 16th issue of Beatweek Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and more.
Best of Macworld: Abvio Runmeter, Cyclemeter, Walkmeter
February 12, 2010 by Daynah · 2 Comments
Editor’s note: Six members of Beatweek’s editorial staff were at Macworld 2010 to report on the newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod users. Here’s one of the twelve best we found. For a full rundown of all the top new products at Macworld 2010, check out Beatweek Magazine’s February 16th issue
Are you a fitness enthusiast? If you enjoy running, cycling, or going for a walk, try out Abvio’s new line of fitness apps — Runmeter, Cyclemeter, and Walkmeter. These exercise apps use the iPhone’s GPS to track and visualize exercise activities as well as help improve athletic performance and health. Each of these apps are similar to one another except for the fact that they come pre-customized to suit the needs of its user — the walker, runner, or cyclist.
Some of the great features of Runmeter, Cyclemeter, and Walkmeter are:
- An iPhone-centric approach, no Web site accounts, passwords, or ads required.
- Ghost racing against previous runs, walks, and rides along a route.
- On-device calendar of all runs, rides, and walks.
- On-device graphs of pace and elevation.
- On-device manual entry of runs, walks, and rides.
- Exceptional battery conservation.
Some of the new features that were demonstrated to me at MacWorld were pretty innovative! The features in the 2.0 versions include:
- The first apps to support use of the iPhone’s earphone remote to start and stop the stopwatch.
- The first apps on the iPhone to speak Twitter replies using text-to-speech technology.
- The first GPS apps to include a Twitter client for reading and composing tweets.
- The first GPS apps to share runs, walks, and rides using Google Maps, with links as simple as http://j.mp/5ouyIC
- The first GPS apps to use fuzzy logic to filter GPS locations for more accurate GPS location reporting.
- The only apps among our competition to allow full export of all your data.
If you would like more information about Runmeter, Cyclemeter, and Walkmeter, see their official website at Abvio.com
Read about all of Beatweek’s “Best of Show at Macworld 2010″ winners and finalists in the February 16th issue of Beatweek Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and more.
Best of Macworld: Quickoffice
February 12, 2010 by Daynah · Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: Six members of Beatweek’s editorial staff were at Macworld 2010 to report on the newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod users. Here’s one of the twelve best we found. For a full rundown of all the top new products at Macworld 2010, check out Beatweek Magazine’s February 16th issue
With an app like QuickOffice on your iPhone or iPod Touch, you can access, view, edit, and share your files anywhere. It also connects to familar mobile cloud services such as Box.net, Dropbox, Google Docs, and MobileMe. This powerful productivity suite lets your edit and create Microsoft documents and spreadsheets in addition to the ability to access remote content, file management, WiFi transfer, and file sharing viai email or cloud service providers.
Some key functions are:
- Create, open, and edit Microsoft Office Files.
File types include DOC, DOCX, XLS, and XLSX - Remotely Access FIles via Cloud Storage Services
Services like: Box.net, Dropbox, Google Docs, and MobileMe - Email, View, and Access Attachments with Popular Formats
PPT, PDF, iWork, HTML, PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG, TIF, MP3, etc. - Share Files via email or cloud service providers
- Manage and Transfer Files via WiFi
Quick Office is available in three apps:
- Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite which has all of the access, view, edit, and share features
- Quickoffice Mobile Suite which has the view, edit, and share features.
- Quickoffice Connect which has the access, view, and share features.
QuickOffice is quite powerful on the iPhone and iPod Touch.. just imagine how it’d look on the iPad! All apps are currently on sale at special introductory prices. For more information about Quick Office, see their official website at QuickOffice.com/iPhone.
Read about all of Beatweek’s “Best of Show at Macworld 2010″ winners and finalists in the February 16th issue of Beatweek Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and more.
Best of Macworld: FastMac U-Socket
February 11, 2010 by Bill Palmer · 1 Comment
Editor’s note: Six members of Beatweek’s editorial staff were at Macworld 2010 to report on the newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod users. Here’s one of the twelve best we found. For a full rundown of all the top new products at Macworld 2010, check out Beatweek Magazine’s February 16th issue
Charging your USB device generally requires not only the USB connector cable that came with your device, put a power brick as well. It can be annoyance around the house, and a pain when traveling. So it made us wonder why no one has previously thought of Fastmac’s new U-Socket, which is a replacement wall socket that sports two electrical outlets and two USB ports. The above photo says it all.
The U-Socket isn’t just a replacement plate, it’s an entire replacement socket, but the company tells us that it can be swapped into any existing wall socket in any house. At $19 apiece, you can afford to replace multiple sockets around the house, and here’s hoping that hotels jump on board and replace their sockets as well.
Read about all of Beatweek’s “Best of Show at Macworld 2010″ winners and finalists in the February 16th issue of Beatweek Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and more.
Best of Macworld: motorMOUTH
February 11, 2010 by Bill Palmer · Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: Six members of Beatweek’s editorial staff were at Macworld 2010 to report on the newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod users. Here’s one of the twelve best we found. For a full rundown of all the top new products at Macworld 2010, check out Beatweek Magazine’s February 16th issue
Working around hands-free laws can involve everything from a bluetooth earpiece to a visor mount speakerphone, but Scosche has taken things in a different direction with the motorMOUTH, a bluetooth microphone that plugs into your car’s line-in port and pairs up wirelessly with your iPhone to allow you to talk normally while driving and hear the other end of the conversation coming out your car’s speakers.
While products such as this one require two-way hands-on testing to determine overall call quality, which we were not able to perform on site, the brilliant simplicity of the product is what places it among the winners.
Read about all of Beatweek’s “Best of Show at Macworld 2010″ winners and finalists in the February 16th issue of Beatweek Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and more.
Best of Macworld: Shure SE535 SE425
February 11, 2010 by Bill Palmer · Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: Six members of Beatweek’s editorial staff were at Macworld 2010 to report on the newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod users. Here’s one of the twelve best we found. For a full rundown of all the top new products at Macworld 2010, check out Beatweek Magazine’s February 16th issue
There are high-end earbuds and then there are “most people would have to skip a car payment or two in order to afford them” earbuds, and Shure’s new SE535 ($499) and SE425 ($299) certainly fall into the latter category. However, after spending time with both sets of earbuds in an isolated room, we’re left to conclude that both are worth their respective price tags. But what makes them winners is the fact that the cables can be removed entirely from the earbud apparatus. It’s not something you’d have reason to be doing regularly, but earbud cables often tend to wear out before the audio drivers do, and this nifty innovation allows users to replace the cables (which are cheap) while not having to re-purchase the earbuds themselves.
In our hands-on testing, the cables stayed sufficiently firmly attached to the buds that there appears to be no concern about them coming detached by accident. While the feature won’t have any impact on your usage of the product until something finally wears out down the road, it’s like a free insurance policy that at this price point could end up paying off handsomely. Our only real regret with these two products is that neither is available with iPhone or iPod specific controls like volume or a mic, as some of Shure’s less expensive earbuds have.
Read about all of Beatweek’s “Best of Show at Macworld 2010″ winners and finalists in the February 16th issue of Beatweek Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and more.
Best of Macworld: reviveLITE 2
February 11, 2010 by Bill Palmer · Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: Six members of Beatweek’s editorial staff were at Macworld 2010 to report on the newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod users. Here’s one of the twelve best we found. For a full rundown of all the top new products at Macworld 2010, check out Beatweek Magazine’s February 16th issue
A flip-out wall charger for iPhone and iPod that doubles as a nightlight? Scosche’s reviveLITE was an original idea the first time around, and a useful one (for certain users anyway), but was implemented in such a way that it wasn’t as practical as it should have been. The docking unit flipped out to the side, making the whole thing off-balance and not necessarily stable. However, the new reviveLITE 2 has been redesigned to include a front-flip dock, which keeps the unit centered and balanced.
You’ll have to decide for yourself whether this combination of products (charger and nightlight) is something you’d find of value, but the new implementation is a winner and represents the kind of innovation we’ve come to expect from Scosche.
Read about all of Beatweek’s “Best of Show at Macworld 2010″ winners and finalists in the February 16th issue of Beatweek Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and more.
Best of Macworld: Blue Mikey 2
February 11, 2010 by Bill Palmer · Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: Six members of Beatweek’s editorial staff were at Macworld 2010 to report on the newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod users. Here’s one of the twelve best we found. For a full rundown of all the top new products at Macworld 2010, check out Beatweek Magazine’s February 16th issue
iPod voice recorders all fell into the category of “decent” until a microphone company finally got into the game in 2009 and changed everything. A year later, the Mikey from Blue Microphones, which was already far and away the top snap-on recorder in the industry, has moved to version 2.0 which includes a USB pass-through charging port to keep your iPod charged up while recording, along with a line-in port for use with professional mics when desired. And while the original Mikey was unofficially compatible with the iPod touch, the new Mikey sports official compatibility.
In all, the new Mikey feels like the original Mikey but on steroids.
Read about all of Beatweek’s “Best of Show at Macworld 2010″ winners and finalists in the February 16th issue of Beatweek Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and more.
Best of Macworld: Scosche flipSYNC
February 11, 2010 by Bill Palmer · Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: Six members of Beatweek’s editorial staff were at Macworld 2010 to report on the newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod users. Here’s one of the twelve best we found. For a full rundown of all the top new products at Macworld 2010, check out Beatweek Magazine’s February 16th issue
Anyone who travels with a laptop and and iPhone/iPod is likely going to want to connect the two to each other at some point, either for charging or syncing or both, which means keeping a sync cable in tow. And in other cases, you’ll wish you had a sync cable with you so you could pair it up with a wall charging brick, or perhaps bum a battery charge off of someone else’s computer. Most such sync cables are about three feet in length, and we’ve seen some shorter ones that are closer to half a foot, but either way it means packing one more cable in your bag. But not anymore, as Scosche’s flipSYNC is a keychain fob that folds out with a dock connector plug for your iPhone or iPod on one side and a USB plug on the other.
While it initially feels a bit Knight Rider-ish, it’s one of those products that the more you think about it, the more you wish you’d had one all along. Not every iPhone or iPod user is enough of a power user (or a power hog) that they need to keep a hidden sync cable on their person at all times, but for those who fit the description, this product could prove to be indispensable.
Read about all of Beatweek’s “Best of Show at Macworld 2010″ winners and finalists in the February 16th issue of Beatweek Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and more.
Best of Show CES: AR.Drone
January 18, 2010 by Daynah · Leave a Comment
One of the more unique things to see at CES 2010 was definitely the AR.Drone. If you ever dreamed of being a pilot fighting aliens and monsters, then your dream has become a reality — augmented reality that is.
The Parrot AR.Drone Project is a quadricopter that you can fly using wifi and your iphone or iPod Touch. Imagine being able to see exactly what the pilot see on the quadricopter! And with augmented reality technology, monsters and aliens can be overlayed in reality. You can control your AR.Drone by just tilting your iPhone/iPod Touch.
The AR.Drone platform is open source, which is very exciting to software developers! I’m sure we will be seeing many new augmented reality iPhone/iPod Touch games appearing in the near future.
The release date and price of the AR.Drone is still unknown, but the future of gaming looks very bright.
For more information about the AR.Drone Project, see their official website.
Best of Show CES: Blue Mikey 2
January 9, 2010 by Bill Palmer · 7 Comments
Editor’s note: iProng Magazine has been on-site at CES 2010 in Las Vegas all week reporting on newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod. This is just one of our “Best of Show” winners…
iPod voice recorders all fell into the category of “decent” until a microphone company finally got into the game in 2009 and changed everything. A year later, the Mikey from Blue Microphones, which was already far and away the top snap-on recorder in the industry, has moved to version 2.0 which includes a USB pass-through charging port to keep your iPod charged up while recording, along with a line-in port for use with professional mics when desired. And while the original Mikey was unofficially compatible with the iPod touch, the new Mikey sports official compatibility.
In all, the new Mikey feels like the original Mikey but on steroids.
Read about all of iProng’s “Best of Show at CES 2010″ winners and finalists in the January 14th issue of iProng Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with The Flaming Lips and more.
Best of Show CES: iHome iP2
January 9, 2010 by Bill Palmer · Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: iProng Magazine has been on-site at CES 2010 in Las Vegas all week reporting on newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod. This is just one of our “Best of Show” winners…
The top non-portable stereo system for iPhone and iPod at CES 2010 was a holdover from 2009, as nothing introduced this year came close to iHome’s industry-redefining $299 iP1 which debuted at CES last year. The good news, however, is that the iP1 now has a kid brother in the form of the iP2, which is $100 cheaper and more than holds its own in terms of audio quality. The iP2′s styling ditches the futuristic look of the iP1 in favor of something more from the present-day, but retains the smoked clear look and rounded rectangular motif. Most importantly, it retains the iP1′s “Bongiovi” button which enhances the sound of compressed or imperfect digital audio files in a significant manner.
The iP2 was easily the best new iPhone or iPod stereo system to debut at CES 2010. If your budget is limitless, the iP1 is still the way to go. But if you max out at $199, the iP2 is a heck of a consolation prize.
Read about all of iProng’s “Best of Show at CES 2010″ winners and finalists in the January 14th issue of iProng Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with The Flaming Lips and more.
Best of Show CES: Etymotic hf3
January 9, 2010 by Bill Palmer · 1 Comment
Editor’s note: iProng Magazine has been on-site at CES 2010 in Las Vegas all week reporting on newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod. This is just one of our “Best of Show” winners…
“The best just got better” sounds like a marketing pitch, but in this instance it’s an accurate description. Our top-rated iPhone-enabled earbuds at any price for 2009, the $179 Etymotic hf2, have given way in 2010 to the company’s new hf3. The big difference here is that the single button and mic on the hf2 have been replaced by a tiny triple-button controller and mic which provide not only playback and voice functionality but also volume control which works with the newest iPhone and iPod models.
The hf3 continues to sport a sharp-looking future-tinged styling along with included triple-flanged earbud tips. We’ve said enough about the hf2 in the past, and it still applies to the hf3, so suffice it to say that you really can’t go wrong with the hf3 – unless you can’t afford them.
Read about all of iProng’s “Best of Show at CES 2010″ winners and finalists in the January 14th issue of iProng Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with The Flaming Lips and more.
Best of Show CES: motorMOUTH
January 8, 2010 by Bill Palmer · Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: iProng Magazine has been on-site at CES 2010 in Las Vegas all week reporting on newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod. This is just one of our “Best of Show” winners…
Working around hands-free laws can involve everything from a bluetooth earpiece to a visor mount speakerphone, but Scosche has taken things in a different direction with the motorMOUTH, a bluetooth microphone that plugs into your car’s line-in port and pairs up wirelessly with your iPhone to allow you to talk normally while driving and hear the other end of the conversation coming out your car’s speakers.
While products such as this one require two-way hands-on testing to determine overall call quality, which we were not able to perform on site, the brilliant simplicity of the product is what places it among the winners. CES 2010 was not a strong showing for iPhone/iPod car integration overall, but the motorMOUTH provided a glimmer of hope.
Read about all of iProng’s “Best of Show at CES 2010″ winners and finalists in the January 14th issue of iProng Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with The Flaming Lips and more.
Best of Show CES: JayBird BlueBuds
January 8, 2010 by Bill Palmer · Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: iProng Magazine has been on-site at CES 2010 in Las Vegas all week reporting on newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod. This is just one of our “Best of Show” winners…
Bluetooth wireless earbuds have always been nice in theory, but are generally too large to be considered practical for most users. But technology marches on, and miniaturization with it, and the very pleasing result comes in the form of the JayBird BlueBuds, a pair of earbuds that connect to each other on a behind-the-neck rope but connect to your iPhone with no wires at all.
Four things you need to know about this product: 1) As you can see in the above photo, the wireless buds are much smaller than previously seen elsewhere, and just as light. 2) The audio quality is similar to, and almost as strong as, what you’ll find from JayBird’s wired earbud products, which is to say that they sound great overall and have a higher bass to treble ratio than just about any other earbuds on the market (if you hate bass, JayBird’s products are not for you). 3) The $129 price tag means that you’re paying about $30 extra for the wireless functionality, far less than we were expecting. 4) The BlueBuds charge via the increasingly popular micro-USB port, meaning that you can use the included cable to charge them via nearly any computer.
Read about all of iProng’s “Best of Show at CES 2010″ winners and finalists in the January 14th issue of iProng Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with The Flaming Lips and more.
Best of Show CES: iHome iP39
January 8, 2010 by Bill Palmer · 2 Comments
Editor’s note: iProng Magazine is at CES 2010 this week to report on newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod users. While the majority of the awards have yet to be determined, a few of them have already been finalized…
CES produced an almost non-existent crop of new stereo systems for iPhone and iPod users once you stepped outside of iHome’s suite, making it easier for a not-revolutionary-but-still-impressive product like the company’s kitchen-oriented iP39 to sneak into our Best of Show winners. Small and narrow systems like this one can rarely count audio quality as a plus, and in fact most of them are significantly hampered by their lack thereof, but this system actually sounds good for its size. The winning features, however, are the retractable iPhone/iPod dock (a smart move for a kitchen, both in terms of saving space and in terms of keeping crumbs out) along with an included remote control that sticks to the side of the unit magnetically (helping ensure that it doesn’t get lost under a baking pan or slid into the sink). And it’s not limited solely to the kitchen, as the built in alarm clock and USB port for connecting to a computer suggest. Then again, it does have a kitchen timer built into it.
iHome’s larger and more expensive iP2 was the clear winner in terms of new stereo systems at CES, but the iP39 is a winner in its own right.
Read about all of iProng’s “Best of Show at CES 2010″ winners and finalists in the January 14th issue of iProng Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with The Flaming Lips and more.
Best of Show CES: reviveLITE 2
January 8, 2010 by Bill Palmer · Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: iProng Magazine is at CES 2010 this week to report on newly introduced products for iPhone and iPod users. While the majority of the awards have yet to be determined, a few of them have already been finalized…
A flip-out wall charger for iPhone and iPod that doubles as a nightlight? Scosche’s reviveLITE was an original idea the first time around, and a useful one (for certain users anyway), but was implemented in such a way that it wasn’t as practical as it should have been. The docking unit flipped out to the side, making the whole thing off-balance and not necessarily stable. However, the new reviveLITE 2 has been redesigned to include a front-flip dock, which keeps the unit centered and balanced.
You’ll have to decide for yourself whether this combination of products (charger and nightlight) is something you’d find of value, but the new implementation is a winner and represents the kind of innovation we’ve come to expect from Scosche.
Read about all of iProng’s “Best of Show at CES 2010″ winners and finalists in the January 14th issue of iProng Magazine, which will feature a cover story interview with The Flaming Lips and more.
