Yesterday, we told you about Phone Hub’s Item TrackR, a free app that helps you find misplaced devices equipped with Bluetooth, like like BT headsets. More importantly, the app will work with Phone Hub’s own Wallet TrackR, a slim plastic sliver that fits inside your wallet and help you find it through the Item TrackR app.
Aha. But you may have noticed we mentioned it on our sister site, Cult of Mac; that’s because yesterday, the app was only available on iOS. What a difference a day makes.
I have a complicated relationship with gloves. On the one hand, I love that they keep my fingers from falling off in frigid weather. But then there’s the frustration at their complete lack of cooperation when I’m trying to use the touchscreen on my phone. As a result, I end up either constantly removing and re-donning my gloves in an endless cycle that freezes my delicate fingers anyway — or abandoning my phone altogether in disgust.
The problem is that most touchscreens rely on our fingers to act as conductors, and conventional gloves block that conductivity. But glove-makers have rolled with the times, and there are solutions — gloves that allow conductivity to pass through the glove’s fabric and onto the screen. One of the most buzzed about is Outdoor Research’s Sensor Gloves ($69), which use real leather that doesn’t appear or feel any different than leather used in non-conductive gloves.
This is the Scandock, a $480 stand that turns your iPhone or Android handset into a better scanner. There are already some great scanner apps out there — here’s an iOS example, and here’s one for Android, both of which are around $5. The Scandock is almost a whopping 100 times more expensive, but claims improved results.
We like STM. They generally make stuff that’s inexpensive,and a little unusual — and also with lots of useful pockets, which probably has something to do with kangaroos.
STM’s latest offerings are the Skinny series cases for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and the Tab 2 10.1, both of which ditch pockets in favor of svelteness.
Home automation is here, but it isn’t cheap — unless you go the smart route with Securifi‘s new Almond+ router. For $100, this thing has much of what you’d expect from a top-tier router: Fast, next-gen 802.11ac compatibility (but still works with this-gen “n” devices), a claimed 5000 ft radius of coverage, four ethernet ports, a USB port and some slick mounting options.
