Daniel W. Rasmus is the Founder and Principal Analyst at Serious Insights. He is the author of Listening to the Future, Management by Design and Sketches of Spain and Other Poems. Rasmus teaches at Bellevue College where he teaches Social Media and Personal Branding.
While inexpensive Bluetooth travel speakers are easy to come by, not all of them may be as flexible a travel companion as desired. The Sbode Portable Wireless Speaker M350, however, combines all the features most people need in a compact form factor.
By Daniel Rasmus
I have always been leery of adhering a cover to my iPad. It isn't that I'm worried the adhesive will damage the device or leave it marred, it’s more about convenience. When you review cases you need to take them off with some frequency so you can test the next one. Well, I bit the bullet when two different cases arrived, both with adhesives. Here are my experiences and thoughts about the Twelve South SurfacePad and the Toast for iPad Pro.
By Daniel Rasmus
Once a technology, in this case, backup batteries, becomes a free give away for marketing purposes, it gets harder and harder to find products that warrant a review. MyCharge has managed to create a new backup battery worthy of your attention. The $49.99 MyCharge AdventureMax packs a 10050mAh battery into an attractive but rugged compact portable charger that weighs just half a pound. The plastic case looks great and the material offers a secure feel when it's being held. The AdventureMax will charge two devices at a time via its 2.4A standard USB ports.
By Daniel Rasmus
I have a new travel companion. VogDuo has delivered what is perhaps the ideal travel charger. The VogDuo Charger Pro 3-Port USB Wall Charger ($49.99) is thin, powerful, and adaptive. And my evaluation unit is cherry red, just like Elon Musk’s car heading out to the asteroid belt.
I have to admit I have a new addiction. Well, not an addiction so much as a way to while away my time during on-demand NBC television show commercials you can't fast forward through even though Comcast owns NBC. The game is called Word Flow (free with in-app purchases).
I recently tried out Solo New York's Cameron Rolltop Backpack and Shorewood Leather Briefcase. Solo New York gets the urban vibe and understands the practicality of modern work. The design of both bags takes into account that briefcases and backpacks often travel with other luggage. The design includes panels for sliding thebags over rolling luggage handles. For someone who travels a lot, that feature alone makes these bags far more appealing than any who skip or skimp on this feature. Read on for more details about each bag.
If you own an older vehicle, you may be USB port challenged. How will you know? When the posse sits in the back seat of your truck or car, they either end passing phones to the front for a quick power top off, or they struggle up, leaning forward to tap the all too short shared lightning cable plugged into the one charger. If you are lucky, a dual-port charger allows for two devices to charge at the same time. CableJive's Powerportz ($19.95) is a clever solution to the problem. It starts with a typical two-port car charger, the kind that fits into the car's power port, or what people used to call a cigarette lighter. If you are driving a car without a USB port, it may well still be called a cigarette lighter. What it probably doesn’t sport is anything useful in the passenger cabin for charging devices.
By Daniel Rasmus
Most of us wear watches they way we purchased them. Perhaps we swap out a band now and then. Some even come with a variety of band colors or styles. But if we own a good watch, such as a Citizen, an Omega, a Rolex, or a Movado, we wear the watch as purchased because of its overall design. Why pay all that money to cover up the cool watch you spent all that money on? The Apple Watch is different; but should it be? Although the Apple Watch is, in most cases, less expensive than the watch brands listed above, the market seems to want us to protect our Apple Watch from scratches and dings with a rugged watch case or watch screen protector more so than its expensive brethern.
By Daniel Rasmus
When Tim Cook unveiled the original Apple Watch in April of 2015, I took one look at my heavy, cameraless first-generation iPad and decided to wait, knowing that the next iteration of the smartwatch would be far superior. Fast-forward to last October, and I was walking into an Apple Store intent on buying a 42 mm Apple Watch Series 2 as an early birthday present to myself. When they didn’t have any in stock, I ordered online and waited. I have now had my new watch for a month, and am thoroughly enjoying my new companion. Over the last few years I stopped wearing watches, but I wear my Apple Watch all day, every day. Visually, the Apple Watch Series 2 looks the same as the original, except it gained a bit of girth (0.9 mm) and weight (3.2 grams). The crown and button positions remain unchanged.
By Daniel Rasmus
In 2014 iPhone Life awarded a best of CES award to the NuAns Cone ($269.99 at Amazon). A few months ago I received a review unit and it now sits on my desk to illuminate my workspace, and it also occasionally offers up some tunes.
