Month: March 2009 (Page 3 of 7)

Sweet Site of the Week – mint.com

March 20, 2009 / Gary Fairchild

Sometimes it’s hard to sift through the millions of websites out there to find the fun, unusual, creative, and especially, the useful ones. And word of mouth can only take you so far. Well, leave it to Gadget Teaser to give you a hand in your search. Once a week, we’ll highlight one of our favorite sites that not everyone knows about. I like to think that we here at Gadget Teaser are performing a public service for you… ~~the avid gadget blog reader~~ the general public.

This week’s Sweet Site of the Week is: mint.com

If you’re looking for a place to track all your personal finances, set and monitor reasonable budgets, and find ways to save money at the same time, then try mint.com.

Mint.com is a safe and anonymous website that tracks your spending and budgets. It performs most of the tasks that you get from expensive off the shelf software in a free, accessible, and secure environment. In fact, I find it’s easier to use.

First, the setup is a breeze. Just create an account and in just a few minutes you can add all your checking, savings, credit cards, loans, and retirement accounts into the system. You can also add your assets like your home and your car. In fact, mint.com will calculate your home value for you, sum it up along with all your other assets and debts, then give you an estimate of your total worth. Pretty cool.

After the initial set up, mint.com takes over. It will give you suggestions for ways to save money. After you set yourself some budget goals, you can create all kinds of alerts to make sure you are keeping on track. Mint.com will also send you weekly or daily updates regarding what’s happening across all your finances. I even got an email once letting me know that my credit card interest rate was increasing. The email told me I should call and see what’s up and even provided me with the 800 number for that card. That sold me right there.

Oh, and for those of you wondering why I haven’t mentioned Apple in this post, mint.com has a great iPhone app too. Free, of course.

So check out mint.com. You, and your wallet, will be glad you did.

Apple, Apps, iPhone, Mobile, Music, Websites

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SLAPPA BulkHead 4:1 PRO Laptop Travel Bag: the four-in-one for everyone

March 18, 2009 / Gary Fairchild

I’m a traveler. I travel 1-2 weeks per month, sometimes more. And when I travel, I usually take along 2 laptops, at least 4 external hard drives, jump drives, my iPod, several CD-ROMs, and all the cables and accessories to go along with those items. My needs are great, and my expectations from my travel bag are greater. This is why I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the SLAPPA BulkHead 4:1 PRO Laptop Travel Bag.

First, a more solidly built travel bag I am yet to find. While it definitely has a very comfortable feel, you can tell SLAPPA put a lot of thought into protecting your gear. And talk about space! It’s almost deceptive how much space you really have. To my surprise, I had no issue loading this thing up will all my gear. And the best part, it detaches into 4 separate compartments. Only taking one laptop on this trip? Remove the 2nd laptop compartment and you’re ready to go. And, that second compartment can act as its own laptop bag. It has its own shoulder strap. Very convenient. One complaint with the 4 separate compartments is the two in front are difficult to get back on once you remove them. I would suggest not taking them off unless you don’t plan on putting them back. Other than that though, this thing is sweet.

I was a little concerned with the weight of the bag, even before my gear was loaded in it. To my surprise, it was not an issue. The shoulder strap is very comfortable and easily adjustable. The bag settled in on my side and I saw little difference carrying it around compared to my old backpack. This impressed me as I was expecting to be uncomfortable carrying so much on one shoulder.

Finally, any concerns about taking this on a plane can be put to rest. It fits perfectly under the seat in front of you or in the overhead bin. Even if you carry two laptops.

So, to sum up the SLAPPA BulkHead 4:1 PRO Laptop Travel Bag in a few words, I would say sturdy, tons of space, comfortable, versatile, and reliable. How many bags out there can go from two laptops will all your gear, to one laptop with all your gear, to one laptop with no gear, to just your gear? All of that with an extremely sturdy frame and a very comfortable carry. There’s only one bag I know that does all that and it’s the SLAPPA BulkHead 4:1 PRO Laptop Travel Bag.

Computers

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SLAPPA Aura Pro-Tour Laptop Backpack: for all your gear

March 18, 2009 / Jamey Codding

I’ve owned a pretty dependable laptop bag for about five years, so when SLAPPA’s Aura Pro-Tour backpack arrived at my doorstep, it had some big shoes to fill. Not that my previous backpack was without its flaws, mind you; it just…worked. Well, the Aura Pro-Tour works even better, and my old bag has officially been retired to the basement.

This thing is solid, which is to be expected from a SLAPPA bag. Made of Ballistix water- and tear-resistant nylon, the Pro-Tour will keep your laptop and all your gear well protected, which is of course priority #1 for any quality bag. And with 1700 cubic inches of available space and six storage pockets, I had no problem fitting all my junk inside, with room to spare: 15-inch laptop, iPod, headphones and earbuds, network cable, more random chords and cables, some DVDs, two books, a notepad, a couple of magazines, and several pens and pencils. That may seem like a relatively short list for such a big backpack, but the Pro-Tour sets itself apart by offering a removable inner bag for digital gear and/or SLR camera storage. I loaded the bag up with my Nikon D40, additional lens, point-and-shoot camera, Flip video camera, extra batteries and memory cards, and two chargers, slid the bag into the backpack’s main compartment behind the laptop storage area, and I was ready for anything. I can’t tell you how cool this feature is, considering in the past I wasn’t able to bring my SLR with me on a plane unless I checked my suitcase, because I had to carry my laptop and the camera/accessories in separate bags. Having one bag for both makes the Pro-Tour a keeper for any photographer, aspiring or otherwise, plus it’s still small enough to qualify as a carry-on.

I should mention that, when I had my laptop and camera equipment both loaded into the Pro-Tour, there wasn’t a whole lot of extra room for some of the items I previously listed, since the removable gear bag fits in the area where those things would otherwise be stored. That, of course, isn’t a complaint, just a reminder that this do-it-all bag has its limitations. As purely a laptop bag, the Pro-Tour offers great protection and should be plenty big enough for all of your extra items. As an all-in-one travel bag for gadget geeks with a bunch of equipment to lug around, SLAPPA’s Pro-Tour backpack is unbeatable.

Cameras, Computers

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SLAPPA Ballistix Aura Black Shoulder Bag: perfect for carrying both your laptop and a small dog

March 17, 2009 / David Medsker

Since I am what one might call a low-tech computer guy – 14” laptop, no PSP, no crackberry, not even an iPod – I chose one of SLAPPA’s “smaller” bags — the Ballistix Aura Shoulder Bag — and I’m still pretty sure I can fit my two-year-old son in this thing. There are two spacious pockets in the main storage area, each of which could easily fit my laptop (they’re wide enough to fit one up to 17” in length), and just above it, at the joint of the flap, is a long rectangular pocket which is great for storing cables or a power cord. The inside front has one deep square pocket and two smaller pockets for the aforementioned PSP, iPod, or crackberry. There are two utility pockets on each side (my mouse fits perfectly in them), two zippers on the back that open into the same storage space (if someone can explain why anyone would use both zippers at the same time, I’m all ears), a handle and thick shoulder strap, and the case locks together through two hefty, metal clamps. This bag is so well padded that you could probably drop it from space and your laptop would emerge without a scratch. At present, I’m using roughly 50% of the space and storage options available to me. My old laptop bag looks positively pitiful by comparison.