All posts in Equipment

Monster DNA Headphones – My thoughts?

by Chris M on May 6, 2013 in Equipment, Music with 3 Comments

This morning I received a pair of Monster DNA Headphones and I am super impressed! I was asked to assist with part of the launch campaign and I wrote about the headphones from a point of view where I hadn’t actually held them in my hands. But, this time I’m writing about them whilst they’re on my ears pumping some tunes.

First off, the headphones arrive in a beautiful box, everything boxed like Apple do their products.. a pleasure unboxing. Opening the box is easy and it doesn’t take more than a few seconds to have the headphones out and ready to test. There are a few things that I really love about them:

  1. You can plug your cable into the left side or right side – more useful than you think!
  2. You receive two cables, one for portable device listening and one specifically for laptops. Strangely, this is a huge bonus and they actually make all the difference – I guess you need to see for yourself, just take my word for it.
  3. They’re damn styling – I tell you, the younger generation today is all about cruising around with headphones and whilst I was out at the shop, I kid you not when I say they go stared at a few times.
  4. The bass these puppies produce is exactly what I’d expect and the minute I heard it a smile came to my face. Clear high quality audio!

There are a few other things that I could write about, but to be honest, I think you should get your hands on a pair and take a listen/play for yourself.

Here are some photographs:

monster-dna-headphones-unboxed
monster-dna-headphones-topview
monster-dna-headphones
Monster DNA Headphones
monster-dna-headphones-full-package
monster-dna-headphones-sideview

Note: I was not commissioned to write this post.

Everyday Awesomeness: Leap Motion

by on April 23, 2013 in Equipment with No comments

Here’s a toy/tool for your birthday list. Meet Leap Motion. (It’s that unassuming silver box in front of the laptop).

“It goes where no device has gone before. With a wave of a hand or lift of a finger, you’re about to change the way you use your computer. The Leap Motion Controller senses how you move your hands, the way you move them naturally. So you can point, wave, reach, and grab. Even pick something up and put it down. Just like in real life. It’s an amazing device for the things you do every day and for things you never thought you could do.”

This is one of those situations where seeing is believing. Have a look at this video to see what Leap Motion can do.

For more information (and to fly through the sky on Google Earth), visit the Leap Motion website.

Everyday Awesomeness: PC on a stick

by on April 17, 2013 in Equipment with No comments

Have you heard of the Cotton Candy? It’s a flash-drive-sized computer.

Popular Mechanics magazine explains the Cotton Candy like so.

The Cotton Candy may be small, but it has the ability to transform a TV into a fully functional PC. Connecting via HDMI, it’s powered through its USB port (ensure your power supply has a sufficient current output), using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to get you online and connected to other devices. The Cotton Candy runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, so operating it is as easy as working your smartphone or a tablet PC.

Features

  • Quad-core ARM Mali-400MP graphics processing unit
  • 1GB DRAM
  • Up to 64GB storage on a microSD card

This “sweet little PC” costs about R3800 and includes a mini keyboard with touchpad.

The write-up gives www.adpod.co.za as the the contact for the Cotton Candy.

Win tickets to the exclusive Monster DNA headphones launch!

by Chris M on March 13, 2013 in Cape Town, Equipment, Events, Music with 6 Comments

Monster is launching the brand new DNA headphones (download PDF info sheet) in South Africa this month! The first launch date will be on the 23rd of March in Cape Town and the next event will take place in Johannesburg on the 24th of March – it’s going to be a killer event and I’ve got some tickets to give away!

Sexy headphones, sheesh!

Producer, musician, DJ and label owner, Alex Niggemann from Berlin will grace us with his presence at the events and awaken us to these magical new headphones! Alex is a mad house DJ, who spins between dark tech house and classic house music, if you’ve never listened to his beats, then you should probably take a listen (Look out for Poker Flat, Get Physical, and Supernature). This isn’t just another DJ, the guy’s got a big reputation, he plays in Europe and Ibiza on regular occasions and travels to Brazil and Asia to share his beats. In 2010 he launched his own record label, Soulfooled.

The focus at Soulfooled is on creating a platform for new music and promptly responding to the trends in the electronic music scene so that artists can release their music sooner. The label has already signed a number of famous international artists including Audiofly, Till von Sein, Phonique and David Durango. His productions enjoy a solid reputation. So it was no surprise to see him holding the number eight position on Resident Advisor‘s “Top 20 Charted Artists” in the end of 2009 ahead of DJ‘s such as Loco Dice, Joris Voorn or Ben Klock.

The night isn’t only about Alex and the new DNA headphones, there’s a fantastic lineup of local talents such as Richard Marshall, Rob Sloan, Guy Herman, Vanessa Holliday, Roger D’Lux, Floyd Lavine, Diggin4Dodge, JustSmart, Ryan Sullivan, Keren Onay, Les Afrique & A.B (Household Funk)

Monster DNA is all about expressing who you are and what you stand for. The headphones come stocked in four different two-toned colour designs but can be customised to suit your personality. The bold, triangular headset produces rich, fresh and clear sound. It is tough and durable and has comfortable advanced noise isolating cushions. It also has dual-port inputs that allows up to five headphones to connect and share headphones.

Monster is the world’s leading manufacturer of high-performance, sonically superior headphones. The Pure Monster Sound, thanks to the latest propriety technologies and sonic innovations, brings the full experience of live music to music lovers and concert goers everywhere. It is a close as one can get to the music.

WANT TO GO? WANT TO WIN TICKETS?

Just click here and send the tweet out – that’s it! We’ll notify you :)

Here are the details of the two events:

Cape Town
Date: 23 March 2013
Venue: Fiction (226 Long Street, Cape Town)
Time: Doors open at 21:00
Cost: At the door – R60
Web tickets – R55 (Limited to 250 tickets)

Johannesburg
Date: 24 March 2013
Venue: Nicci Beach (1 Margaret Lane Wild Waters, Boksburg)
Time: Doors open 14:00
Cost:  At the door – Ladies free before 5pm R100 thereafter. Guys R100 before 5pm R150 thereafter
Web tickets – Ladies R80 pre-sold (Limited to 150 tickets). Gents R100 pre-sold (Limited to 150 tickets)

Snooze emails in GMail

by Chris M on March 10, 2013 in Equipment, Work with 1 Comment

About a month or so ago I signed up for access to the Mailbox application that has stormed the Internet, so much so that the application had to create a queue. When I joined the queue, I was number 200,000+ in the queue – shows how popular it is! The reason I wanted to try the application was for a few reasons: crazy reviews, snooze feature and the fact that their idea was to redefine email and move it away from being a person’s to-do list.

Update 12.03.2013: I’ve been using the harder-to-setup method for 3 days now and I’m hooked!

I’ve received my invitation, but haven’t had a chance to look yet, so I’m not going to tell you too much about it, but instead I’ve found a decent video by SoldierKnows Best, which is worth having a look over or visit the Mailbox App Website:

What I did want to mention today is that the most interesting thing for me was the ability to snooze email. In other words, make an email vanish and come back later – what a fantastic way to manage your invoice, prioritise, but without seeing the emails at all, until you ask for them to reappear. I immediately thought that there MUST BE a way to do this with GMail, I just couldn’t believe that someone hadn’t written a script, so I started investigating.

My research unveiled that Corey Goldfeder, a Google software engineer, covered how to do this a while ago on the Google Apps Developers Blog. Here’s a video to show you how it works:

Now, the process of setting this up isn’t a few clicks unfortunately, and it’s quite detailed on the Google Blog, but LifeHacker have created an easier guide for all of us. But, for the very lazy people out there, I came across a Chrome Extension which sets this up for you in a few clicks. The reviews seem good, so it looks good from that side of things. You can download it here.

Really useful add-on! Now let me go try Mailbox app out :)

Chrome hanging on many websites like Facebook

by Chris M on March 8, 2013 in Equipment with 2 Comments

I’ve had this problem recently where websites like Facebook, DSTV and an assortment of other ones keep hanging in Chrome. At first I thought it was a problem with the exchange or International bandwidth, but then I found an interesting solution.

If you’re experiencing this problem, here are the steps you can follow.

1. Open up a Chrome tab and type about:plugins into the address bar.

2. Make sure you click the “Details” button at the top right to expand all the information.

3. What you want to look for is Flash

4. Disable this entry. Please note, on a Windows machine you want to disable the Flash entry with the file gcswf32.dll

5. Restart Chrome

6. Visit get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and download Flash again.

7. Install it

8. Restart Chrome

That’s it!

I cannot tell you how frustrating it was trying to work whilst 80% of the websites I visited just simply died. So anyway, here’s to hoping that this assists some of you who are experiencing Chrome hanging or being insanely slow.

How long have you spent on Facebook?

by Chris M on March 3, 2013 in Equipment, Networking with 4 Comments

Do you wake up in the morning and reach for your mobile device to check Facebook? Is Facebook your first point of call when you arrive at the office in the morning? Have you ever wondered how much time you spend on Facebook?

TimeRabbit tells you how much time you’ve spent on Facebook! TimeRabbit will tell you how many hours, minutes and seconds you spend on a day, you can view your lifetime statistics and it works with all major web browsers. Best part, it’s free!

TimeRabbit does not operate as a plugin for your browser, but is rather a stand alone application that monitors your usage across any browser. The minute you navigate to Facebook on your computer, TimeRabbit kicks in and start monitoring and counting your usage. Another feature is its ability to pause if you’re on Facebook, but not doing anything, this assist with giving you a true reading.

Here’s what it looks like:

Everyday Awesomeness: an affordable 3D printing pen

by on February 20, 2013 in Equipment with 1 Comment

Now here’s an interesting Kickstarter project. WobbleWorks has designed a pen that can essentially draw a three dimensional object in mid-air.

If you’re keen to learn more, visit the 3Doodler Kickstarter page.

The new Chromebook Pixel

by Chris M on February 7, 2013 in Equipment with 2 Comments

So I think this is just a concept, but who knows, perhaps it’ll become a reality – take a look at this new Chromebook, pretty damn fly if you ask me, soon Google’s hardware will be giving Apple’s a run!

Everyday Awesomeness: social inventing the Quirky way

by on January 9, 2013 in Equipment, Shops with No comments

Have you ever had a fantastic idea for a product but lacked the resources to make it happen? EnterQuirky, a website that creates “a socially developed product™” from submissions sent in via everyday people.

The Quirky about page explains it like so:

For centuries, becoming an “inventor” has been a hard gig to crack. Complexities relating to financing, engineering, distribution, and legalities have stood in the way of brilliant people executing on their great ideas.

Since launching in 2009, Quirky has rapidly changed the way the world thinks about product development.

We bring two brand new consumer products to market each week, by enabling a fluid conversation between a global community and Quirky’s expert product design staff.

The world influences our business in real-time, and we share our revenue directly with the people who helped us make successful decisions.

The Quirky Process

This is how the Quirky process works.

Quirky products

The social collaboration between inventors, community members and the people at Quirky  has brought some innovative ideas to life. A few of these include a double-sided flash drive, pivoting multi-plug and an iPhone case-and-wallet-in-one (perhaps designed for countries where theft of cell phones and wallets is not a common problem)!

Split stick USB drive

The Split Stick is a double-sided USB drive, designed to keep your work files separate from your personal files. There are two separate retractable 4GB USB drives in one 8GB stick.

Pivot power

This version of Quirky’s adjustable power strip features five pivoting nodes compatible with a 220v system, and with the two-pronged Europlug, allowing our friends across the pond to conquer their bulky adapters without the need for conversion tech.

Keeper

Keeper is a leather card case that fits onto an iPhone 5, providing the utility of a wallet without the added bulk. Simply clip the case onto the back of your device for instant storage on the go, including two credit cards slots and an open window slot for an ID. Combining a smooth leather surface and easy-open clasp with a protective shell, Keeper seamlessly blends the aesthetics of a phone case and a wallet.

If you’d like to learn more about Quirky or get involved in their online community, find them at www.quirky.com.

*Information and images via quirky.com.

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