Boutique PC companies have it rough these days, unless they come up with something truly original or compelling, it’s extremely difficult to fight against the bargain brands.
However, for those willing to spend a few extra dollars, some amazing machines are out there. One such brand is MainGear PC, one of the relative newcomers to the game. Maingear recently sent us one of their X-Cube 3D Vision machines to review, and it’s quite impressive. → Read More
Sure you’ve seen wireless 3D mice but have you seen one shaped like a loop? No, you haven’t. That’s why there’s the Hillcrest Labs Loop Pointer, a loop-shaped remote control that costs $99 and promises compatibility with Macs, PCs, and the PS3. It’s obviously great for presenters but they’re also billing this as a media center controller.
It was fairly accurate in our limited testing and would work great as a 10-foot interface controller – you just point it at the screen and it divines its current position without complaint. It’s a bit inaccurate out of the box – it was always pointing a little to the right – but you can learn to work through that issue. An interesting concept and interesting execution – but $99? → Read More
We jumped on the chance to take a look at two of Chrome’s newest bags: the Corsair and Vega. As Peter Ha told me, Chrome is one of the last true makers of messenger bags. He is rarely right about anything, but this time he was dead-on. These bags are rad. → Read More
“Aww, those are so cute!” says my wife as I took the new JBL Roxy headphones out of the shipping box. Me? I could not care less how my gadgets look, as long as they work well. But my wife instantly reminded me that looks are more important to some, so I came up with the idea to send the headphones to high school with my little sister-in-law for some teenager hands-on. → Read More
Short Version: The HUGlight is a flexible foam rubber flashlight-type apparatus that can be worn around your neck. It can also be bent and positioned to illuminate hard-to-reach areas, making it more useful than just a simple wearable flashlight. → Read More
I’ll keep this review short and sweet, folks.
If you’re looking for a second, third or even fourth Wiimote for your Wii then allow me to suggest picking up Nyko’s Wand. It’s priced $5 less than Nintendo’s Wii Remote and you’ll never know the difference when playing with your Wii Wii. It even comes with a blue condom! → Read More
Another month, another version of the Kindle. I’ve been using a Kindle since it was shaped like a very thin doorstop and I’m delighted each time I see a new version. The latest version is the DX, a monstrous 9-inch version of the smaller Kindle 2 that supports direct PDF reading without conversion. Why am I interested in the Kindle? Well, I already have a first-gen Kindle so I’m not too keen on upgrading immediately. But I’ve been waiting for Amazon to solve something with the Kindle DX that has been nagging me for quite a while. You see, I have a problem. I don’t want to read the New York Times on paper anymore but paper seems like the only logical way to read it. Reading the newspaper on a gadget is rude and dangerous – especially with toddlers around the house. It’s a tough sell to have a gadget at the breakfast table. But then I know that I’ll never read it on the desktop whether through the Times Reader or any other source. So the DX sounded great. I has all of the features of the current Kindle plus rotational sensing and a beautiful, huge screen that might just fit the entire NYT front page and not just one article. So that’s why I wanted to see the DX. → Read More
Several months ago, CrunchGear reviewed Klipsch’s X5 headphones, which I pronounced the best in-ear headphones I’d ever used. Unfortunately, they cost $250, which kind of puts them out of reach for most people (it would for me if I hadn’t been lucky enough to review them). But now Klipsch has expanded the Image line down to the sub-$100 level and I’ve been testing out the $80 S4s for a while. How do they stack up? → Read More
Short version: The Jabra SP200 is huge Bluetooth speakerphone with extra large controls and extra loud volume. → Read More
The keyboard everyone in the world drooled over for months and months is out there on the market. It’s got its own LCD screen, it looks slick as hell, and it costs a mint. You know you want it, but should you really buy it? → Read More
I am the kind of guy who can appreciate damage. It is the way of things. Entropy is part of the natural order of events—an unstoppable phenomenon. For some, it is hard to accept this after forking over $400 for a fancy Smartphone. I mean, you don’t want the thing getting all scratched up right? You don’t want it subjected to the elements, right? You want it to look good! For me, this is not really an issue. Maybe I’m just a slob, but when my iPhone gets yet another scratch on its side or back, it doesn’t really bother me. It’s kind of charming really. It signifies to me that “this thing is getting some use” and that “this is a tool, and I am getting my money’s worth”. I know I am this way and because of it, I have never really wanted to get a protective case for the device. That is until now. Griffin Technology has a new protective case for the iPhone called the Clarifi and I am smitten. Why? Because the case itself offers at least one extra feature that makes it stand apart from others I have seen and that feature is unique enough to make me want a case whether I care about scratches or not. → Read More
This review comes from DemystifyingDigital.com and was written by Ted Kritsonis
Sling Media’s Slingcatcher has been touted as the device that would give users the opposite benefit of the company’s popular Slingbox products. Rather than “placeshift” a TV signal to be viewed remotely on a computer, the Slingcatcher would allow a TV to display content from a computer. → Read More
The Revolabs Solo USB microphone is a wireless mic/speaker for use in a meeting room setting. It can connect to a computer via USB, or to an A/V system with audio in/out. It consists of a charging base that connects directly to the audio source and a removable mic/speaker component. → Read More
Last week I mentioned this Golden Tee Golf CrunchDeal and said that I’d even buy it for myself. Well you may have thought, “That Doug, he’s all talk — sitting up in his mansion atop a pile of free gadgets, he’d never stoop low enough to buy a plug-and-play TV game for ten bucks.”
I’ll have you know that I did indeed purchase the game and I’m happy to report that it’s a perfect gift to give to someone that you HAVE to get a gift for but want to spend the absolute least amount of money possible while still making it look that you put some thought into it. → Read More
You may have seen the review of Ultrasone’s mega-high-end Series 9 headphones the other day. Well, the company doesn’t just make $1600 cans; these HFI-580s represent the more affordable end of their product spectrum, and although they cost about 90% less, I’m thinking they probably sound 90% as good. → Read More
BudgetGadgets.com is an online retail/wholesale business located in Shenzhen, China, dedicated to selling really cheap electronic gadgets since 2003. Embarrassingly enough, I somehow managed to spend an entire hour there searching through tons of crap. Once I had 21 random items in my shopping cart, I realized it was time to stop browsing. → Read More
Welcome to CrunchGear’s Gala Best of 2008 Awards featuring the Best Gear, Gadgets, and Software of 2008. Best of all, we tallied your responses and collated them in the People’s Choice awards. Now that I’m wearing my tux, let’s get right to the awards. → Read More
The thing about reviewing mice is that you’re actually looking at two separate entities. Yes, you’re looking at the mouse itself, the hardware, but you’re also simultaneously taking into account the software that powers it, the drivers. A mouse without adequate drivers might as well not exist. → Read More
