by Maximilian Lemos on June 22, 2011
It’s only a matter of time before your car gets dinged, scratched or hit. It happens to the best of us and it just plain sucks. Adding insult to auto-injury, you are than left at the mercy of auto shops in your area, who would love to charge you as much as possible. Sure you could go to a couple different shops, get an estimate, and move along until you found the best deal. But who actually has the time to go on a wild goose chase like that?
Well, a very small, but promising startup called DentBetty seems to think they have the solution. By reaching out to auto shops in your area, DentBetty provides a platform for these shops to submit estimates and compete for your business. This idea, connecting traditional business to the web in a productive way, is the future of all transactions. DentBetty offers a virtual marketplace for a service outside of the web and it’s the way traditional shops and stores will stay relevant in “the future” or right now, depending on how you look at it.
DentBetty has started sprouting up in major cities around the country and may be a great place for you to start your repair hunt. How does DentBetty work? This is how they explain it: [click to continue…]
by Maximilian Lemos on June 8, 2011
Apple’s philosophy on product design and function is brilliant. So what happens when they decide to build their new headquarters?
They design a freaking spaceship.
“It’s a little like a spaceship landed.” Jobs’ delivery showed that even he is still baffled by how spectacular this building will look. Considering its halo design and attention to detail, Apple is creating a monument to themselves, just because they can. [click to continue…]
by Maximilian Lemos on June 5, 2011
I recently had to change cellular plans. I won’t belabor you with the details, but this miserable situation forced me to immediately ditch my iPhone 4. That hurt. Plain and simple. Despite how abysmal it might sound, this move granted me the opportunity to begin shopping for a new phone, and no, I didn’t even consider getting another iPhone 4.
In Star Wars terms, I had just shifted to the dark-side, Steve Jobs got a little bit more sick, and the ice caps melted, leaving yet another polar bear homeless.
After staying up till 3AM browsing CNET, Gizmodo, Engadget, and many other blogs I trust for product reviews, I was only further convinced that the iPhone 4 chapter of my life was completely closed. The many Android products, all newly released and boasting powerful specs, made my mouth water. The idea of exploring a new operating system and having access to a more genuine and integrated Google experience was exactly what sealed the deal for me.
I am now a very happy Android user
I have had my new phone for a couple of weeks now, I decided to hold off on writing this post, just so I could be a little bit more objective. I have found that “buyers’ glow” can often skew how I look at a new gadget.
[click to continue…]
by Maximilian Lemos on May 18, 2011
When it comes to digital photography on the run, your smartphone is probably the first camera you reach for. Having your camera out and ready is half the battle, the other half is ensuring all of the universal forces that are out to get you, don’t get their way and foul your shot. There are lots of accessories available for your iPhone camera. Here, we review the “For iPhone Lens” AKA the “iPhone Telephoto Lens.” We ordered ours from photojojo.com for $35 bucks.
The Skinny
First, let me state that at first glance, we had expected this to be a zoom lens. It’s long, it looks like a zoom lens. It’s not a zoom lens.
The iPhone Telephoto Lens is a fixed 8x telephoto lens. An 8x fixed telephoto lens is nothing to sneeze at, and we were really pleased with what we saw when we started looking at it, but it’s not the variable focal-length zoom lens that we’d been hoping for. Moving right along…
Included with The iPhone Telephoto Lens is a simple, matte black snap-on case, which is required for use, as the lens screws into a flange on the case. You’ll need to remove whatever bumper, or 3rd party iPhone case you’re currently using.
The lens is fairly small and can easily fit in your pocket. It comes with 2 snap-on covers to protect both ends of the lens when not in use.
Since the iPhone is limited to digital zoom, getting a close shot from a distance results in noisy images, with lots of visible grain. The advantage of having the physical lens is that it provides a shot that is 8 times closer, but without the noise associated with the digital zoom. Paired with the tripod set on a level surface or as a quasi hand-held steady-cam we were able to get great shots from far away. Additionally, this lens can be used in conjunction with the digital zoom to get right up on your subject. [click to continue…]
by Kazdyn Nicholson on May 15, 2011
Keyboard shortcuts allow us to work (and play) more efficiently. I can remember the day when I was a youngster and I was taught the magic of keyboard shortcuts. I also remember the glory of figuring out a shortcut none of my friends or family knew about. Today, I stumbled across this article and to my amazement, it is full of shortcuts I had no idea were there!
I’ve always been a computer freak and these sorts of things make my life easier and feed my tech hungry brain. Check these out.
Article Source: Mac|Life
~ Kazdyn
Keyboard shortcuts are the lifeblood of many productive Mac users. Not only can keyboard shortcuts make for a nicer user experience and cut down on the time needed to do a task, they can also just be plain cool. Mac OS X has many shortcuts ready and willing to do your bidding, but also has many hidden and unknown shortcuts. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of 10 of the coolest keyboard shortcuts you never knew about.
1.Control + Option + Command + Eject
Use the keyboard combination of Control + Option + Command + Eject to instantly shut down your Mac. This is a great time saver because it bypasses the shut down counter that you get when using Apple menu > Shut Down. As an alternative, you can also press Option + Command + Eject to sleep your Mac.
by Chris Foley on May 14, 2011
Something caught my eye this morning as I was scanning my RSS feeds. Google has launched their Chromebook product announcement page. Check it out. It’s pretty interesting.
The skinny: Google has partnered with Acer, Samsung, and Verizon Wireless to bring us a lightweight (both in form factor and in processing power) mobile computer which is supposed to fill the gaping void that was not created when the iPad replaced the netbook. It’s basically an interface for the Google Chrome browser and its add-ons.
Google Chromebook is “Always connected.” Yeah, whatever. I don’t buy it, and apparently neither does Google.
Obviously, I’m not a fan of this idea; I don’t trust the cloud enough to move my data into it, and I’m completely disinterested in working dependently on an “always-on” internet connection that I don’t believe is ready to support this sort of technology. I’ll get into my feelings on this platform as it approaches its June 15th launch, I’m sure, but that’s not what I’m here to talk to you about today.
While I was perusing the Chromebook Features page, I noticed a wildly defensive disclaimer at the bottom. It reads thus:
* Obviously, you’re going to need a wireless network, be willing to use it subject to the provider’s terms and conditions, and be ready to put up with its real life limitations including, for example, its speed and availability. When you do not have network access, functionality that depends on it will not be available.
Wow. Now that’s an interesting tack for a company like Google to take.
From a customer service standpoint, this approach portends a media catfight over who’s fault it is when this thing fails. (And it will.)
Are the geniuses at Google attempting to ward off the Apple/AT&T “Antennagate” juju before it even gets started? [click to continue…]
