Category: Apple (Page 64 of 65)

      Sweet Site of the Week – mint.com

      March 20, 2009 /

      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.
      mint.com
      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

      Product Recommendations – iPod Shuffle (3rd Generation)

      March 15, 2009 /

      Apple has been dominating the news lately. They just released a new iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Pro. iTunes recently got an update to version 8.1. The new iPhone OS 3.0 is going to be unveiled on March 17. Apple’s core OS called Leopard is rumored to be replaced by Snow Leopard in June. And there are rumors of Apple purchasing large quantities of 10” touch-screen displays for what might be there first try at a netbook.

      Amidst all this, Apple just released their 3rd Generation iPod Shuffle. And the changes from the previous version are quite large for an extremely small device.
      Shuffle
      As seen from the picture on the right, the 3rd Generation Shuffle is quite small. Half that of the previous version. And you may notice from the picture that all the buttons have been removed from the device. Now you only have a port for your headphones, an off-straight-shuffle slider for turning the device on, and a clip to attach it to your clothes. That’s it. No really, that is it. Where did the rest of it go? To the headphones.

      Apple moved the volume and next-last buttons to the headphones. They also added a feature called VoiceOver. The basic premise is that you can adjust the volume or change songs with a click on the headphone wire. Should you want to switch playlists (yes, the Shuffle finally has playlists) you can press and hold until the VoiceOver takes control. It will read to you the current playlist then read to you other playlists. When you hear the playlist you want to listen to, click again and it will start playing it. It does this same thing to tell you the current song you’re listening to. Also, the Shuffle now differentiates between audio books and music, so when you shuffle your songs it won’t play you a chapter of War and Peace.

      My recommendation: Thanks, but no thanks. The new features are neat, but sound completely impractical. The best use of the Shuffle is when you’re active. I can’t imagine trying to navigate through songs and playlists while going for a jog. Also, if you misplace the headphones, you get no controls whatsoever. Sure it will play music, but you can’t change the volume or skip songs. What good is that?

      I think Apple got a little too fancy on this one. They could have easily put some controls on the device itself. I would recommend purchasing or keeping the 2nd Generation Shuffle and treat the 3rd Generation as a novelty.

      Apple, iPhone, Music, News

      Just Released – XROAD G-Map

      March 13, 2009 /

      The first turn-by-turn GPS app for the iPhone was released this week from a company called XROAD. And to pretty glowing reviews:

      xroads g-map

      The iPhone has unquestionably dominated the mobile phone industry for the past two years. One of its biggest advantages over other devices is the long list of applications of every variety that can be downloaded to it. There are “apps” for everything from keeping track of your Twitter feed to following your favorite baseball team. Finally, after nearly two years, a developer has released the first real-time, turn-by-turn navigation application for the iPhone. XROADS G-Map ($19) is clearly the best real-time navigation option for an iPhone right now, but we ran it through the same tests we would a stand-alone TomTom, Garmin or Mio system to see how it fared with the big boys of navigation.

      …

      While there is room for improvement in this product, this is also the first attempt at a real-time turn-by-turn navigation application for the iPhone. As long as XROADS is willing to follow what other developers have done by offering free updates, this app is sure to take a chunk out of the GPS navigation market.

      Wow, that’s not what I expected for the iPhone’s first crack at a turn-by-turn GPS app. Kudos to XROAD. And at $20, this app is a great deal. But there are some obvious improvements to be had.

      First, and foremost in my mind is voice routing. When I drive I am usually paying attention to the road and listening to the radio. I don’t mind getting interrupted to let me know a turn is coming. In fact, I expect it. I can’t be expected to be watching the road and a map at the same time. It’s not safe or fun.

      Also, the lack of street names is tough. Especially when driving on crowded city streets. When there are many streets coming up, it is nice to be able to be able to check the street you’re turning onto before you get there. And even better, the street before that.

      Knocks aside, this looks to be a winner which is hopefully a good sign of things to come. XROAD did the best they could do for now without using all the hard drive space on the iPhone. Some small improvements here and there would blow away the competition. Especially when the competition costs about 10 time more.

      Apple, Apps, GPS, iPhone, Mobile

      Sweet Gadgets That Fell Short

      March 11, 2009 /

      Interesting article by popularmechanics.com this week. Here they explore “5 Design Flaws that Ruined Otherwise Smart Gadgets.”

      Storm

      In order for a touchscreen to be successful, the user needs to feel that he is in constant control, and for this, responsiveness is key—even small lags can prove immensely frustrating. One recent offender of this rule is the Blackberry Storm, RIM’s first touchscreen phone.

      Some history: Before the Storm was released, there was a lot of buzz surrounding its supposedly ground-breaking touchscreen, which depresses like a button, giving users a satisfying “click”.

      But when users and reviewers actually got their hands on their device, the real shock was how buggy the whole thing was. The touchscreen suffered from long delays—often a second or more—that made users yearn for their old button-based Blackberry. And completing simple tasks took an unnecessary number of steps. For example, inputting the letter “C” involves putting one’s finger on the letter, waiting for the phone to respond by highlighting the letter, and then pushing down. All that for a simple letter.

      I can definitely agree with some of this. BlackBerry, for instance, had a good vision when designing the touch-and-click function in the Storm, but the execution was less than stellar. Have you tried this thing? Press and hold, press harder, wait for it… wait for it… and click. Are you kidding me? That’s the ultra-innovative touch-screen we’ve been waiting for? Please.

      I can’t agree too much with the Wii Remote. After all, they did include a wrist strap with every Wiimote. If you choose not to use the wrist strap, that’s at your own risk.

      I’ve already touched on the Kindle vs. the Kindle 2 here, so I won’t go there right now.

      Check out the article and let me know if you know of any sweet gadgets that have a clear miss in the design.

      Apple, Computers, Gaming, Mobile, News

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 Gadget Teaser

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑