I recently came across a new Kickstarter project that has great potential. It is a charging block with a twist. This little guy, by the name of Bolt can plug into your wall like the standard Apple charging block, but then when it’s time to go the Bolt can come with you and still charge your phone. You see, the great guys at Fluxmob have found a way to pack a 3000 mAh battery into this small rectangle giving you the ability to charge on the go. What is great about the Bolt is that it can be charged up with a standard outlet, no more carrying around a separate USB charging cord. Hopefully I will get the chance to do a more in depth review on the Bolt later on, but until then go check out their Kickstarter campaign here or there website here. I believe this will be a revolutionary new accessory that definitely deserves funding, so go help them out!
Sushi Mushi is a puzzle game that is extremely fun, and suitable for everyone. The concept is simple. There are 30 little pieces of sushi with a specific shape and colour, and all the user has to do is to highlight the ones that are the same colour and/or the same shape to get points. The aim of the game is to get the most points by the end of a 3 round match against either your friends or the strangers you play against. As you win, you will level up. Levels are measured by “belts” (like karate and other martial arts). With all the extra little touches, such as daily fortunes, and achievements, this game is extremely fun to play with.
This game is multiplayer-based (like Words With Friends™ and DrawSomething™), so a wifi or cellular connection is required to play. The connection does not affect the gameplay at all, so don’t worry even if your internet connection is not up to par. You can login through either Facebook or email- Facebook may be the better choice, for you can play against your friends if they have the game too.
Overall, this game is great. It’s very colourful and the cuteness is unbearable. This fast-paced game is very easy to understand and very fun to play. Though it’s going to take sometime to level up to a high level, it’s very competitive and a very good game to consider when you’re bored. This game is compatible with iPhones, iPads, iPad Minis, and iPod touches. This is a must try game.
So summer is here and the sun is shining, but now you have a terrible dilemma. You want to be outside but the electricity is inside, so what do you do? What if I told you, that all you had to do was strap on a backpack and you would be good to go? I know you may be thinking “Awww, it’s summer; schools out, I don’t wanna wear a backpack.” Just hear me out. Samsonite developed a very light weight that makes a great travel bag, laptop tote, or overnight rucksack. Introducing the Samsonite Solar Powered Backpack.
While the Solar Backpack clearly lacks creativity in name, Samsonite obviously chose to spend that time on the actual product. Time well spent, in my opinion.
The Use
The Solar Backpack goes on like a normal backpack, no surprise there. I found the straps and back to be extremely comfortable, even when carrying a laptop and a few books. Here is where it gets interesting though. The Solar Backpack has a 12v adapter (a car charging port) attached to the front pocket and connected to a solar panel. With this port you can plug in any adapter that you would normally plug into a car and supply power to that device. The backpack works great on iPhone, iPads, iPods, and numerous other portable devices. The smaller devices can be charged in about 4 hours of sunlight, while larger electronics will take longer. One trick that I do is use my USB Power Bank, a portable power pack, and have that connected to the backpack and always charging when in the sun, then I just plug in my devices into that and I can have power regardless of whether I have sun or not.
The only problem I had with Samsonite was that they do no provide a USB car adapter, therefore I had to purchase my own to use with my iDevices.
The Compartments
The Solar Backpack is a treasure trove of pockets. The Backpack consists of three main compartments ranging to the largest, which can accommodate a laptop up to 15.9 inches along with some books, to the smallest front panel which is great for storing all of those gadgets. On the outside you will find a side zippered pocket as well as a mesh water bottle holder, both of which are good sized. The only problem I have noticed with the compartments is that there is no hole in the front one to feed a charging cable out to a device or headphones from a charging device to my ears.
The Solar Panel
I thought I would breifely mention the quality of the solar panel. It is flexible and durable, and it appears that it will be able to withstand a beating, which is good especially if you are a frequent traveler and choose to use this bag as your carry on. The only problem I have noticed is that the both the solar panel and the backpack get quite hot, expectantly so, considering they are black and sitting out in the sun. I just worry that a laptop might get overheated in these conditions, so be careful.
The Overall
Overall the Samsonite Solar Powered Backpack is a great product. It is very spacious and comfortable as well as durable. The solar technology works great at topping up my devices and I take comfort in the fact that I can now venture outside without having to worry about dead batteries. The only problems I had were the lack of an adapter as well as a headphone hole and, the excessive absorption of heat. The Solar Powered Backpack can be purchased HERE originally for $300, but right now it is ON SALE FOR $134.99!! So get it while its hot! I give it 4.5 Stars because of the minor problems.
Did you get it? Have an app or product you want me to review? Let me know in the comments below.
I have a new app review for you all; a game called TwinGo!
Chillingo has released a new app called TwinGo! This puzzle game involves two cute little spheres who do everything together. The title suggests they are twins, but they must be fraternal since I see little resemblance. The object of this game is to roll these guys around collecting the three stars and land them on their color coordinated launch pads. This puzzle game forces you to think five steps ahead, and lets you know when you found the best solution. But don’t worry if you mess up, there is a handy undo button to go back in time. Using walls is the only way to separate the spheres but be careful break away blocks can only support you for once before giving way adding an additional level of challenge to the game.
The Graphics:
The animations are nothing short of what you would expect from Chillingo. The cute little spheres have adorable expressions and grow agitated when you pause for two long or you roll of the edge. The graphics load fast from level to level and restarting the level is quite fast. Every thing moves in the background and foreground allowing you to get lost in the gorgeous pixels easily.
The Music:
Again Music is important to me, and this game does not disappoint. The music is tropical and fun; something that reminds me of a old Mario game. Sound effects are minimal, which is fine for me, since I sometimes find them distracting in excess.
Overall:
In the end, I love this game. It provides a great challenge on each level and gets more fun as time goes on. With 90 levels I will definitely spend a lot playing this game.
TwinGo! is $1.29 on iTunes and you can go check it out Here. I give it 4 stars for sure.
Did you get it? Have an app you want me to review? Let me know in the comments below.
Earlier this week, a US district judge in North California has ruled that Samsung Galaxy series was too similar to the Apple iPhone and iPad, and have infringed on patents held by Apple. However, the judge has not ruled to stop Samsung from selling its Samsung Galaxy series so far based off the patents, as Apple has demanded.
From since 2010, Apple has been at patent war with many companies. Samsung was caught in this war because Apple feels that the Samsung Galaxy series (both phone and tablet) looks too similar to Apple iPhones and iPads.
Interestingly, during the court proceedings, the judges held up a iPad and a Samsung Galaxy Tab and asked Samsung lawyers to differentiate between the two. According to a tweet of a court follower:
”Koh just held both tablets above her head, one in each hand, asked Samsung lawyers to identify which was which. Took them a while to do so..”
Apple and Samsung has always had a close relationship, Apple is Samsung’s biggest customer, with Samsung providing lots of the hardware inside Apple products. However, now Apple is saying to Samsung something along the lines of “Stop selling your products”. This would probably cause a strain between the relationship between Apple and Samsung.
Earlier in the year, Apple won a ruling of banning the Samsung Galaxy tab in the European Union. Therefore, if someone tries to sell a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the EU, they will be fined 250000 Euros, and be imprisoned for up to two years. Although this EU-wide ban was ultimately lifted for fears of forcing a worldwide ban, Germany (where the EU ban was ruled) is still banning the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
Earlier this month, Australia has banned the Samsung Galaxy Tab temporarily as it has ruled that it infringed 2 patents whilst the decision is still pending on many other patents. Although the overall tablet consumer population is not high in Australia, Android is seen so far as the main competitor of Apple. And compared to other Android tablets, Samsung has the highest share of the Australian market.
Samsung is the largest Android manufacturer in the United States, if there is ultimately a sale block of Samsung Galaxy tab in the United States, the results can be devastating to Samsung.
Name: Comic Life for iPad Category: Photography
By: plasq LCC
Price: $3.99 at the time of review (special offer), however it usually costs $7.99
Compatible devices: iPad with iOS 4.3 or later
Plomonet rating: 10/10
Want to make comic strips really easily right on your iPad? Well Comic Life for iPad would be the best option for you!
Comic Life is an app that first arrived on the Mac platform, where users were able to create high quality comic strips right on their Macs. The app is extremely easy to use, and has been popular for a very long time, even until now. I have owned both Comic Life, and Comic Life 2 on the Mac, and will be doing a full review of it very soon. However, this review is all about the iPad version.
Comic Life for iPad arrived on the App Store just a few months ago, and I have to say that I am extremely amazed at its ease of use, just like the Mac version. In fact, I would even go as close to say that the iPad version is as easy, and as feature rich as the Mac version. When you first launch the app, you are first greeted by a comic strip that guides you regarding how to use the app, just like how Apple includes instructions in their iWork suite of apps. After this, you are then able to choose a template, from their large range of 9 templates, including one blank one, for you to work on. All of the templates are very nice and unique in their own way, and I am happy with it. Once you choose your template, you can start working on your comic strip.
Creating your own comic strip is extremely easy. Just as any iPad user would expect, all you do is just tap to embed images in boxes, and double tap to edit the text. You can even change the type of speech bubble, and also resize your text. At this point, you won’t be able to change the font of the text, within each template, however this is not really a big deal as you don’t usually have varieties of fonts within a page of a comic. When you embed images, you can choose images that are stored in your Photos app. You can also resize and crop your images, however, one thing I noticed was that resizing your image does not work the way you would expect it. Instead of pinching to zoom, you will have to drag the corners (indicated with blue dots), just like you do on the Mac version.
The other cool thing about thus all is that it allows you to create pages of comic strips, rather than just one. This would be great for those who are serious about creating comics, and for those who just don’t want to be limited. All you have to do is tap on the edit icon, and you can add another page, and also choose a different layout.
Overall I absolutely love this app. I think it is one of those apps that is a must-have. One of the best content creation app, that will suit pretty much anybody who owns an iPad, whether you are a parent, children, student etc. I am just blown away by this app in every sense, both user interface and features. The only things that I would like to see in this app is the ability to change the font, as well as the ability to resize the image by pinching. But other than that, I have to give this app a 10/10. Simply a must-have app.
A full video review will be up soon. Stay tuned!
About the Author: Kenta Arai is a tech enthusiast who was born in Japan, and grew up in Hong Kong. He is very passionate towards technology and he became one of the most enthusiastic technophile student in his high-school, and was also well-known for consulting many of his school-mates when purchasing new computers.
Name: Splashtop Remote Desktop Category: Business
By: Splashtop Inc
Price: $4.99
Compatible devices: iPad with iOS 3.2 or later
Plomonet rating 9/10
Splashtop Remote Desktop is an application that allows you to have control over your computer wirelessly. Obviously, in order to do this, you will have to install a driver, called “Splashtop streamer” onto the computer that you want to control. The streamer is free for download from the website, while the application itself costs $4.99. The application does great for its price, and the following are some great things you can do:
Firstly, you can connect to your computer using your iPad in two ways. The first is to simply connect via a local connection, i.e. you have to connect to the same wireless connection and the iPad device will automatically find your computer. The other way is to sign into your Google account on both devices (iPad and computer) and you can sign into the application.
The biggest benefits of this app that I see is that with this you will be able to listen to your entire music library as well as videos and movies stored on your computer as long as you have an internet connection. This is not something that is important to me personally as I don’t really store much music or video on my computers, however I think that this is an issue for some.
Another benefit, which applies to me is that even if you forget to print out a copy of an important document at home, you can simply access to it from your school or office and send yourself a copy for you to print. And especially for me, I often forget to copy a file from my home computer for use at school, so this will be a lifesaver for me.
The other main great things about this app are mentioned in the video that is embedded below. It can act as a wireless mouse or keyboard, since you are technically able to control it over WiFi. It’s great to use as something like a handwriting detector, since you are touching. It is probably much easier to control things on things like photoshop compared to using a mouse.
Basically, on top of the fact that you have control over your computer from your iPad, you get all the benefits that you would get if your computer operates with a touchscreen. It can even act as a way for you to not use your trackpad, and simply control the screen using touch while you do all the typing on a physical keyboard. The possibilities with this app are endless, and therefore I would really recommend you to try it out.
The following is the video:
About the Author: Shoki Hoshino - Windows, android and iOS user. Does not see the benefits of using Mac OS X, however prefers iOS tablets over android ones. Equally considers iPhones and Androids however currently owns anAndroid phone due to the late release of the iPhone 5. Prospective engineer and web entrepreneur, currently a student.
In the beta os iOS 4.3, Apple included really nifty gestures that allowed users to switch between apps, and go back to the home screen with finger gestures. These included a 4 (or 5) finger swipe in apps, to switch between opened apps, and a 5 finger pinch to go back to the home screen. Although this was included in the beta of iOS 4.3, Apple had announced that it will not be included in the final version of iOS 4.3. However, from WWDC’11, Scott Forstall had mentioned that Multi-tasking gestures will be enabled again in the release of iOS 5. Users should be able to enable or disable this feature in the Settings app.
However, many users have also found out that this feature can actually be enabled in iOS 4.3, if you Xcode 4 (downloaded from the Mac App Store) to reformat your iPad as a development device. The biggest problem with using this method is that it would cost you $4.99 to purchase Xcode 4 from the Mac App Store, and many have actually spent their 5 bucks just to enable Multi-tasking Gestures on their iPads.
We then had a plomonet reader asking us to do a demo of how to enable Multi-tasking Gestures for free. Although iOS 5 will be coming this fall, we thought this method would be great for users who still want that feature before iOS 5 is released. Many users actually didn’t know this, but you could actually download Xcode 3, instead of Xcode 4, and enable the same features. Xcode 3 can be downloaded for free, and the link is below. Also check out the How-To video on how to enable the feature.
Please note that you will be needing a Mac to run this app.
About the Author: Kenta Arai is a tech enthusiast who was born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. His passion towards technology began to develop as he grew up in Hong Kong, where technology had its solid place in the mass market. Arai became one of the most enthusiastic technophile student in his high-school, and was also well-known for consulting many of his school-mates when purchasing new computers. His expertise in the tech industry is focused on Apple Inc. and Google Inc.
There have been a lot of improvements and new features added into iOS 5, at least in the betas. Notifications being the biggest, followed by Twitter integration, Newsstand, iMessage, Safari/Mail/Game Center improvements and some new Camera features. However. there have been some things that we did not see during the WWDC event. A few of these things have been mentioned in our iOS 5 Wishlist video below, and many others are some other things that came up in mind. In the video above, I give you my thoughts on what I would like Apple to include at least by iOS 6.
These features include:
- Better Multi-tasking implementation, user interface.
- Homescreen or Dashboard style Widgets.
- Facebook integration right into the OS – sharing photos, YouTube links, Safari articles.
- FaceTime group chat.
- 3D Vector Google Maps.
- Replying to comments in YouTube app.
- Game Center improvements – sync game data across all iOS devices wirelessly.
iOS 5 Wishlist Part One:
iOS 5 Wishlist Part Two:
About the Author: Kenta Arai is a tech enthusiast who was born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. His passion towards technology began to develop as he grew up in Hong Kong, where technology had its solid place in the mass market. Arai became one of the most enthusiastic technophile student in his high-school, and was also well-known for consulting many of his school-mates when purchasing new computers. His expertise in the tech industry is focused on Apple Inc. and Google Inc.
In the past few weeks, we have been observing a massive tide of rumors regarding the upcoming iPhone and iPads. In a sense, it does seem ridiculous that there are many rumors, and many opposing rumors floating around at once – but rumors are just rumors. Here’s and update on what’s floating around in the Apple world.
First of all, here is what we believe. Whilst there are tons of rumors regarding the iPad 3/iPad 2+/iPad HD – we DO NOT expect an iPad 3 to be coming anytime soon. This is our solid opinions, as Apple has never introduced the same product twice a year (with the exclusion of the 2009 iPod shuffle). However, we can tell you what we could expect in the next iPad. The next iPad is expected to sport a higher resolution display (probably the same Retina Display that the iPhone 4 and the 4th generation iPod touch sports), as developers who have their hands on the latest SDK have reported the discovery of iOS default wallpapers with higher resolution images at 2048×1536 (pixel density of 326 ppi – Retina Display), whereas the current iPad and iPad 2′s sport a resolution of 1024×768 pixels. Developers have also found out that the graphics of the new Newsstand feature in iOS 5 beta, also include Retina Display resolution images,
The next rumor about the iPad 3 is 4G LTE support. Regarding this, we don’t actually think that Apple will implement 4G LTE yet, at least not in 2012, but possibly in 2013. This is because of 2 main reasons. 4G LTE has not taken off world-wide, and not large yet in the U.S. Therefore, the 4G iPads are most likely not going to be usable in terms of its “4G” connection, worldwide. The second reason is cost. Whilst Apple has managed to lower their iPads down to $499, the iPad 2 actually costs $60 more than the first iPad. Although component prices may fall over time, if the iPad 3 was to sport a Retina Display and 4G LTE, the cost for Apple will be larger than the iPad 2 is over the first iPad.
Now onto iPhone 5 rumors. We have seen many to claim that the iPhone 5 will be announced this September during their annual “iPod” event. This might be possible as it fits their timeframe of a “fall” release of iOS 5, meaning that they can demo iOS 5 during the event, just like they did when showing off iOS 4.2 in last year’s iPod event. However, this leads us thinking – what will happen to the iPods? The iPods have always been the star of the show in September. Last year, they have updated “all” their iPods. New shuffles, new nanos and a new iPod touch. They have also dropped the iPod classic, although it is still available for purchase. It was interesting to see Apple mentions “all” iPods have been redesigned, hinting that the classic model will soon be dropped. However, Steve Jobs has said in his email response that he has “no plans” to drop the iPod classic line.
Here is Steve’s email response:
macintosh1097 writes:
Hello, I’ve heard a LOT of speculation that Apple is looking to kill the iPod Classic because it wasn’t updated on Sept. 1st, and that a lot of people would rather Touch. The iPod Classic is probably the best iPod in the line. PLEASE DON’T KILL IT!!!
Steve’s reply:
We have no plans to.
Sent from my iPhone
So, we think that the announcement of the iPhone 5 could most likely be in September. Steve has spent only a few minutes in his iPod event talking about the new iPods, and spent more on iTunes. Whilst iTunes does need some improvements, we suspect that this year’s September keynote could lean more towards iOS 5 and the iPhone 5. If not, we could also expect an October keynote (usually regarding Macs), as iPhone announcements are usually long, just like last year’s iPhone 4 announcement taking up the entire keynote. And the iPod + iTunes could possibly take up the entire keynote as well because we have seen quite a few leaked images of new prototypes of the new iPod nano and iPod touch.
What can we expect in the iPhone 5? Well in terms of hardware, there are mixed opinions. Many have said that the iPhone 5 will be the most important update to the iPhone, whilst many others say that the update will be a minor one, just like how the 3GS was over the 3G model. Whichever is true, we are confident to say that the next iPhone 5 will sport a better 8 megapixel camera with LED flash. Probably capable of 1080p HD video shooting. We also expect the same (probably under-clocked) A5 dual-core processor that the current iPad 2 sports, for better performance and faster graphics. Other than that, we do not know anything about design, however there are speculations are 2 different models – one being the high-end 4-inch screen iPhone, and one which is the more affordable (with less features) iPhone “nano”. We’re not too sure about the concept of having 2 phone models, although it does make sense if Apple wants to increase market share for iOS just on iPhones. However, Apple might just keep the iPhone 4 at a cheaper price, just like how the iPhone 3GS is right now. Below are some mockups of the iPhone 5.
Also check out my video regarding my thoughts and opinions on the rumors of iPad 3 and iPhone 5:
About the Author: Kenta Arai is a tech enthusiast who was born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. His passion towards technology began to develop as he grew up in Hong Kong, where technology had its solid place in the mass market. Arai became one of the most enthusiastic technophile student in his high-school, and was also well-known for consulting many of his school-mates when purchasing new computers. His expertise in the tech industry is focused on Apple Inc. and Google Inc.
Overall:
