Each month we’ll hand test a selection of unique accessories, peripherals and other items of tech merriment to see if they’re worth your time.
Here’s the roundup for April.
Kensington PowerLift Back-Up Battery, Dock and Stand for iPhone
It’s not like iPhone accessories are exactly in short supply nowadays, but Kensington has an uncanny knack for adding a little bit of extra utility to each of its products. Case in point, the PowerLift pulls double duty as a backup battery (good for almost a full iPhone 4 recharge) and a desktop stand.
The PowerLift draws juice from the USB cable that folds down flat into the base, and when connected to your computer’s USB port, the backup battery not only rejuvenates itself, but the phone can synch with iTunes.
So you’ve basically got your iPhone cable, a backup battery and a dock all in one compact little device. Flip down the dock’s kickstand and you can unobtrusively use the backup battery with the phone to make calls or surf the web, too.
The PowerLift costs $50 directly from Kensington, or you can find it elsewhere for a little cheaper (around $36 on Amazon, for instance).
 |
Wet Circuits Power Strip
If you think that $70 for a four-outlet power strip is too expensive, I agree with you. This one from Wet Circuits, though, is water resistant, child safe and apparently lasts four times as long as a standard power strip.
And if you think I didn’t pour water all over it and stick tweezers in the sockets, you’d be sorely mistaken (see video). I’m alive to tell the tale.
A $70 power strip is too expensive, yes, but not if you’re going to leave it out in the rain or stick metal objects into the sockets—then it’s totally worth it. It’s got a 100% money back guarantee, too, so if you electrocute yourself to death you can at least get your $70 refunded.
 |
Neato XV-11 Robotic All-Floor Vacuum Cleaner
Spring is here. Hope you’re prepared to face the reality that nobody will take off their shoes for the next six months. Sure, just track that dirt right on in here. I don’t mind at all. Oh, those are new shoes? So they came with little gritty bits of crap embedded in them right from the store? Interesting.
The Neato XV-11 robotic vacuum has its own laser eye that creates and analyzes a constantly-updating visual map of each room, promising that it’ll not only cover every square inch of vacuum-able space in a straight-line pattern, but that it also won’t bump into objects or fall down stairs.
I found that the vacuum did a pretty good job covering the limited amount of exposed floor space I have in my Boston apartment, but it definitely still bumped into things from time to time. And it’ll absolutely get itself all tangled up if it rolls over exposed cables, so we had to make sure to get all the laptop charging cords and whatnot off the floor first. We also have a rug in the living room with little tassels on it that tripped up the Neato a few times but generally didn’t cause too much trouble.
Those minor details aside, it worked as advertised. You can program the vacuum to clean on a recurring schedule and once it’s done, it’ll find its way back to its charging base—so it’s a set-it-and-forget-it mentality provided YOU don’t forget to make sure that there’s nothing on the floor besides dirt.
The vacuum is an investment at $400, but you may find that the time you save and the reduced stress levels that come about from not having to yell at your friends and loved ones about their dumb shoes to be totally worth it. Plus when robots take over the world, it’ll be nice to have one on your side—unless it doesn’t like cleaning. In that case, you’re on your own.
| |
Smartfish ‘Engage’ ErgoMotion Keyboard
As someone who types all day for a living, I’ve tried plenty of ergonomic mice and keyboards over the years. This $150 “ErgoMotion” keyboard from Smartfish takes the split keyboard design and one-ups it by mechanically repositioning the two halves of the keyboard automatically every 2,500 keystrokes so your hands are never stuck in the same position for too long.
The keys take a little extra oomph to register sometimes, which is unfortunate, and those of you who have been spoiled by wireless keyboards for the past however-many years may not like the USB cord, but I’ve found both to be worthwhile tradeoffs overall. This is the first keyboard I’ve ever used that’s given me no wrist pain whatsoever.
| |
Fitbit
Ah, those winter months. Looking back, you spent 90% of your time inside in a seated position. You also shoveled various sweetened food items into your talkie-hole during the months of November (Thanksgiving), December (holidays all month, basically), January (still eating leftover December treats) and February (Valentine’s Day).
Maybe you took March off—congrats!
It’s now April, which means it’s time to go outside. Sure, you can’t see your shoelaces yet but that’ll be a good goal to work towards.
Enter the $99 Fitbit pedometer. It’s no ordinary pedometer, though. You attach Fitbit’s charging station to your computer via USB cable and every time you walk past your computer, Fitbit will upload the number of steps you’ve taken to your own personal profile on Fitbit’s site.
From that, it’ll calculate the number of miles you’ve traveled in a particular day and how many calories you’ve burned based on how aggressively you’ve been moving. That data can be measured against what you’ve been eating too, as you’re able to manually enter your meals on the site along with your weight. You can even wear Fitbit while you sleep and it’ll analyze your sleep quality by measuring how often you toss and turn during the night.
And just in case you need a little extra motivation, you can battle your Fitbit-owning friends for the top spot in nightly ratings measuring which one of you has done the most moving and shaking in a particular day.
|