Archive for the 'Review' Category
I don’t want to let this teaser be a spoiler, but truth is, this has to be one of the worst iPhone cases, no, just plain case, I’ve ever encountered. Stupefied how a great company like Griffin could have even let this thing out the door of its facilities is a wonder to me. Completely abounding any notion of protection due to a horrible defect in the clip, this case gets the definite stinker award.
Outside of Brittany Spears and her downward spiral being documented for all to see, nothing else is currently any worse than this piece of junk called the Elan Holster. Berkeley, forget bras, burn these!
If your curious to what makes this so bad, then you must read the full review.
Looking for some better headsets for your iPhone than Apple slapped you with? Like rich sounding music? Got Will Smith kicking some jiggy beats into your ears and you need to feel that bass? Like the highs in, well, stuff that has highs? Oh ya, want to still have the ability to take calls and skip songs with a press of a button ON your headset? Yup, we got that on tap for you. Maximo sent us its iP-HS2s for review and we’ll give all the dets on them. Why don’t you take a look at these bad boys via our SvenOnTech Review and then purchase them from Amazon while its exclusively offered from the A to Z online retailer.
eBay has come a long way with it’s web interface on the worlds most popular bidding site on the world wide web. But, there still could be some improvements made, namely, with speed. One of my main gripes with eBay is that it can be slow at times. Not a biggy when you’re browsing but it can mean the difference between winning and losing at bid time. It’s happened a couple of times to me. Granted, network issues could be related to the speed problem; however, with its complex layout, eBay can take some of the burden of blame as well. Thankfully, eBay has an API (Application Program Interface) that allows developers to tap into the eBay engine externally. This means people at companies like iwascoding can make an eBay manager that works as if you were on eBay…but better.
iwascoding are the makers of the well known GarageSale, an eBay sell manager. This has been the more popular use of the eBay API but fortunately, those whacky German coding guys understand that there is a need to manage sales as well manage bids, so they created GarageBuy.
When I first saw GarageBuy, I was hesitant. What could it possibly do better than eBay’s web interface? Yes, speed was my key draw to this application, but was it worth opening another application to take more resources away from my Mac? Needless to say, the cost, free, was the strongest pull for me to click that download link.
Once installed, GarageBuy asks for you to authorize the application, much like wonderful Flickr Uploadr (also free) does. Once authorized, you’re already signed in and ready to go. First thing GarageBuy will do is import any items on your Watch list and other eBay information locally. Then, you’re off to the races.
I did a test search, “Purple Birkenstock”, to see how well the search would perform. To my surprise, it was quick and presented very nicely. The left side of the column shows your search term along with the hit count. To the right is the results. These results include brief auction information and a picture (if available.) With a limited pool of results, I went for something I wanted: NAS. NAS, short for Network Attached Storage, is a need at my home-based office. I’ve been looking for a rack mount product but this hardware form factor starts at 3k. Ouch! But what better way to test GarageBuy’s speed and see if I could find a deal? Well a deal indeed is what I found and speed was another feature rich benefit. My results quickly filled up the screen (over 700 total) and within minutes I found the perfect NAS at the perfect price. I’m sure I would have found it on my web browser as well, but no way would it have been this easy and this pleasurable.
Why pleasurable? The layout is so intelligently done that one would think iwascoding spent countless hours and Euros on this program. So why is this free, guys? On the right side, the Gallery display, where all your hits are shown, you can sort by time left, current price, Buy It Now price, or title. Above this sort line you can narrow down the results by clicking on soft buttons that differ from search to search that allow you really get into the details. You can also increase the size of the Gallery picture if you’d like. To watch an auction or hide it from the results, just click the appropriate button on the tool bar above.
To bid on an auction, all you need to do is click the money icon and up comes a new window with bid information including a place for your bid. The window is updated in real-time, so the auctions remaining time is displayed in countdown fashion along with the price being updated with the current bidders name. Placing your bid couldn’t be any easier than typing in your price, clicking the bid button, confirming the bid (which you can have disabled for future bids) and that’s it. Your bid is in and the screen updates with your information! It is very fast!
The left column will keep you up to date on your bids and other items you are watching. Green colored bubbles mean you’ve won the auction, red indicates a loss, and light red with dark red means it’s in auction your watching but you haven’t bid on yet (or your losing the bid.) Yellow is for the ended auction without a winner. Another nice feature of GarageBuy is the darker color will progress to the right as a time indicator. The closer it fills up the bubble, the less time you have left. It’s just so easy to glance at any auction and know when time is almost up.
GarageBuy is fully Growl compatible, so if you’re watching an auction, you’re notified when the bid changes. All other actions by you are also shown such as making a bid.
In short, GarageBuy, the first officially certified client for the Mac by eBay, is nothing short of awesome. Any user of eBay with a Mac should have this in their Applications folder. Light users to heavy users are going to thoroughly enjoy this eBay buyer manager. I know I am.
Ever since I had my first iPod four years ago, I’ve been looking for that perfect stereo for my vehicle that would give me all the great features and control of my digital music player right from the radios controls. With a few bumps in the road, I think I may have found something pretty close.
The Alpine iAD-X001 is one of the best iPod controller units for your car that I’ve come across. After you read the review, I think you’ll probably agree.
Just a quick note. We’ve applied the same skin to the reviews section and as such, the section is now live again. You may note the Navigate section to the left now. There is only two items in it currently, but we’ll flesh that out in the coming weeks.
Check out the Alpine iAD-X001 iPod head unit review that just went up yesterday!
Update: Why go to bed when you can just finish all the sub-sections? 
Everything but the “accident” section is back, including Contact. I’ll be rounding that out and adding an advertise area soon, too. The accident section make take longer as it has sub-sections and pictures that will need reformatting. In fact, I may just bump it off my site and put it elsewhere. Don’t know yet. But, if you look hard and play with the location bar with some guesses, you may find the old version. 
We’re all looking for those great ear buds for our iPods like those sweet Shure or V-Moda ear buds for something you can afford rather than the $100 plus ticket these two command. Well, SvenOnTech may have just found those very earbuds for you…just in time for Christmas!
Read the review for the full blow-by-blow on these Maximo earbuds.
Having worked on the Windows platform exclusively since Windows95 OSR2 (yes, I was an OS/2 hold out), I’ve seen a lot of software for all sorts of uses. Having heard through all those years that Windows dominated for software availability and diversity, one would be surprised to find a killer app on the Mac that wasn’t available for Windows. I first discovered such a killer app several years ago called LaunchBar when slowly migrating to the Mac platform. I soon found others (and by the way, QuickSilver has since replaced LaunchBar in my Utilities folder) and of late, I’ve officially discovered MarsEdit.
MarsEdit is a blog editor with gung-ho power. Supporting various popular blogging engines such as WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, Movable Type, LiveJournal, Drupal, and Vox, Red Sweater Software has pretty much covered the majority of you bloggers out there. I’ve seen MarsEdit before but was apprehensive to download and try it because my previous experience with blog editors, mainly on Windows, because they just couldn’t replicating my web interface experience of WordPress well enough. I found myself constantly having to log into my blog via Firefox to “touch” things up before posting. Why bother with an editor then? But I relented and gave MarsEdit a try and boy, am I glad I did. It immediately became one of my “Must Have” software installs!
One post is all it took, folks. With nearly full support of WordPress’ posting features, including the new keywords feature from the latest minor revision, and its seamless integration with flikr, I was hooked. I was greatly impressed with the simplicity of MarsEdit’s layout and the ability to easily customize it for my blog. I can add my site specific CSS tags and edit the preview template for exact representation of a post with SvenOnTech’s look-n-feel as I bang away on the keys of my thin metallic Apple keyboard. The former I had to hack WordPress to allow for custom tags and I would lose those tags after every upgrade. Now, no worries. If that’s not enough customization for you, then crank out some AppleScript and sky’s the limit, baby!
The cool feature list goes on with integration with your favorite editor (TextWrangler for me), macros to handle common repetitive tasks, support for more than one blog, integration with RSS readers such as NetNewsWire, and bookmarklet power. In short, you’ll be hard pressed finding something that sucks with MarsEdit. Look, like I said, I used a half of dozen Windows programs in the past and while they all promised a blogging experience that would lead be away from my web browser, I always found my self un-installing the disappointments days later. MarsEdit hasn’t led me to AppZapper. In fact, it has given me reassurance that there really is a good off-line blog editor out there worthy of $30. Heck, don’t tell Red Sweater, but I would have probably paid even more!
Ya, ya, ya. We like SanDisk stuff. We’re not going to hide it. Hey, when you make killer stuff, you make killer stuff. When you make crappy stuff, then you make crappy stuff. Either way, we tell you which way it is.
SanDisk is always making the kill and we think you’ll like its newest and Ferrari-like sleek Contour. But you may be surprised by our recommendation. UFD needing folks, read on…
Looking to get that new Apple Bluetooth headset for your iPhone, huh? Kinda wondering if it’s worth it due to the high price and mixed reviews from buyers on Apple’s site? Well, maybe you need to spend a few minutes reading our review and getting a good solid understanding if this is the Bluetooth headset for your or not.
Based on the lack of other reviews I’ve seen out there, this may be your best place to determine if Apple scores more money from you or not for your iPhone pleasures.
I started off this review as a “mini” review and it just kept going and going. So, it’s a full blown review with a lot of details that will hopefully be helpful for you if you’re interesting in getting Apple’s headset.
I was going to hold off on any details about my thoughts on the iPhone until I used it for a few more days, but Shane has gone out and told everyone that I did a review, so now I’m forced to give something.
Regular readers of SvenOnTech will know that at first, I was very let down by the lack of features such as 3G data network support, no Exchange Direct Push, and no true third-party developer support. As time drew closer to the release of the phone, I started to warm to the iPhone. Finally, the 29th of June came and I wanted one. I lined up at a Manteca AT&T store (still with its Cingular sign out front) and three hours later, I had one. I was stoked!
First, let me tell you what led me to change my mind on getting one. I have been a Windows Mobile user all the way back to Windows CE. Yes, when it was black-and-white and actually had a Start menu on it. I’ve seen it grow and I’ve seen it fail. Over and over again, fail. The stability of the pocket operating system has never been one to feel secure with. I guess that’s why a back up application was the first thing I installed with each device I purchased. But the nagging thing was the applications I use daily on the Pocket PC that I needed to have were absent in every way from the iPhone. I looked to get HTC’s latest device from AT&T and I was close to purchasing it. VERY close. But my current HTC device, the XV 6700 kept dying on me. I finally got so fed up with it, I realized an unreliable device with a ton of features was not better than one with less features that was very reliable. So I held out for the iPhone.
How do I know the iPhone is more reliable? I don’t. But based on historical evidence of Apple hardware, I’m fairly confident the iPhone in it’s premiere form is far more superior than Microsoft’s decade of trial. I have a Rev. A MacBook Pro and have no issues with it. I have had talked to others with first run Apple hardware and have heard the same. Since the iPhone is based on OS X, I know that’s stable enough in its five year run. I have more confidence in Apple than I ever have had in Microsoft.
Another issue I should bring up is the fact of service. I left Verizon for AT&T. I LOVE Verizon. It has the best signal I have seen. I have been everywhere from Chico, California to Tucson, Arizona and everywhere in-between. I never had a dead phone. Ever. Too bad Verizon passed on the iPhone as it would have been the perfect combo.
Lining up for the iPhone was great. Like the days of lining up for the Smashing Pumpkins or Summer Jam while in college. This time, I brought my family (my wife showed up just in time to get in the store with us) and we waited nearly three hours to be luck 19. I got it. Boy, was I excited! Even the kids where into it! What an event. (See my Flikr album for some pix.)
Okay, the phone. How is it? Well in a nutshell, this skeptic is impressed. I figured the Exchange mail would be the most bitter pill to swallow but guess what I found in the Mail settings of the phone? An Exchange button! While it’s not pure Exchange but rather an insecure IMAP connection, it does the job. In fact, it does the job better than my XV6700 did! One of the ongoing problems I had with it was the constant disabling of Direct Push by itself for some reason. When it was working and grabbing mail as it came, the XV6700 wouldn’t notify me of new mail. The iPhone can be set to automatically retrieve mail every 15 minutes and when there’s something new in my Inbox, the familiar Mail.app new mail sound chimes along with a quick vibrate of the iPhone. I was so not use to this feature working that I kept pulling out my iPhone all through church thinking I had a phone call! Read the rest of this entry »