reviews

A collection of 21 posts

cars

An unexpected Tesla Model 3 review

20 years ago, I joined the Hertz gold program back before Uber/Lyft existed and you had to have a car in almost every American city you flew to. Fast forward to 2023 and I hadn't regularly rented cars in a decade but recently I grabbed one and

apple

The one good HomeKit-capable wall switch you should get

tl;dr: The Lutron Claro (or Diva if you want dimming) Smart Switch is the best HomeKit compatible wall switch there is, period I've been playing with smart home devices since x10 came out in the 1990s. And every house I've had since 2005 has had

apple

A new "3rd way" for CarPlay

I am a fan of Apple's CarPlay. I think it can make driving safer while keeping you informed of new calls and texts, and entertained with podcasts and music, all without having to take your eyes off the road or ever feel the need to pick up your

cars

Surprisingly good tech: The weBoost Drive Reach cell signal booster

A couple years ago, I started seeing ads for "cell phone booster" antennas for cars and trucks around the off-roading/4x4 world as a way to stay connected while out in the middle of nowhere, but I was deeply skeptical. How much better could your phone signal be

reviews

One year later: The LTE Apple Watch

When the Series 3 Apple Watch came out last year, I decided to try out the new LTE option. I wasn't sure how it'd change my use of the watch so I bought it to experiment. I bought the Nike+ running model, not because I use

photos

The Eye-Fi mobi card is the real deal

Back in 2006, I was an avid user of Flickr and was asked to help test a new camera card that was going to offer uploading via WiFi. At the time, this meant you could conceivably skip the step of connecting your camera/card to your computer via USB. It

blinded by science

The Mini Maker Faire kind of blew my mind

I always wanted to attend the original Maker Faire in the Bay Area and the annual shows that followed, but they started soon after I moved to Oregon and they never overlapped with my travel down there. I recently noticed they were touring around Mini Maker Faires to different cities

crap i love

Ten months with a Nest

With the recent news of a new version of the smart thermostat Nest coming out, I figured I should finally write up what it has been like living with the first version of the product since last November, when mine arrived. Overall, it's been a great little tool,

apple

Great iOS software: Pillboxie

I have a simple pharmaceutical regime, but a complicated schedule. Three drugs total, one needs to be taken every morning one hour before I eat, a second immediately after I eat (along wth some allergy meds and vitamins at that time). The third one is trickiest, it has to be

apple

Verizon vs. AT&T iPhones in NW Oregon

A friend asked me to review my switch after 3+ years on AT&T to Verizon with the iPhone 4s. I've been using the Verizon phone for nearly 3 months and I spent all summer sitting next to an intern using the first Verizon 4 iPhone, so

gaming

Health Month (so far)

Health Month is a new game (currently in beta) designed to help you find that ever-elusive motivation that you need to improve your health. via healthmonth.com I've been playing the Health Month beta this month and it's been a great motivator to get out of

apple

Crap I love: The Tiko portable iPhone/iPad holder

Last fall, I bought a Tiko iPhone/iPod holder to prop up my iPhone while playing movies on planes, after hearing about it on Not Martha. On my way out on the last trip, I decided to throw this barely-larger-than-a-business-card holder in my backpack in case I needed it. After

reviews

Conan's first roadshow

I was lucky enough to see Conan's tour kickoff earlier this evening in Eugene, Oregon. The night started off with the amazing Reggie Watts doing his mix of live music and comedy for about 40 minutes then after a break, Conan's band played a bit and

apple

Four weeks with a Droid (and two weeks with an unlocked Nexus One)

In response to my first few frustrating hours with a Droid, my friend Gina asked if I'd post my thoughts four weeks on, instead of first impressions which can often be deceiving (but amusing -- I encourage others to do it sometime even if half your blog entry

reviews

It's a Kindle World Now

Moments after I first saw a spy shot of the new Kindle 2, I placed an order for one. I'd seen a couple of the first generation units out in public and loved the screen, but the rest of it looked clunky and the new design fixed at

cycling

Does a $5,000 bike improve an amateur cyclist's performance?

If you've ever spent much time around cyclists, you've certainly noticed they love to talk gear and if you've ever picked up a bike magazine, you've been inundated with ads extolling the virtues of bike performance. It's nearly impossible to

apple

The five minute Leopard review

After installing Leopard on three machines and using it for the past four days I figure I might as well write down my first impressions. Here are the high and low points for me: * The installer is a bit buggy in that it doesn't seem to recognize hard

apple

Testing out .Mac, iMovie '08, and the Panasonic AVCHD

I used PCs on a daily basis for about ten years, but over the last three or four years I've become a full-fledged Apple fanboy convert. I buy a new mac about once a year or so and have tried out pretty much every product they've

apple

The Nike iPod System

This week I'm running again after a nearly two year hiatus. What finally motivated me to get off the couch and start running was the Nike+ system. I've written my own exercise tracking apps in the past and it required that I manually enter details about

reviews

Pile O' Tips

I've been meaning to write up each and every one of these tips for weeks now, but I'll never get around to fully fleshing them out so instead here's a bunch of things I've learned over the past few months that might

crap i love

Crap I love: Wesabe

After working on my own for a year, this past summer I finally got around to examining my finances. I did what most people do: I got a copy of the latest Quicken, spent a week entering data into it, and then I stared at graphs wondering how on earth