Posts in the “gadgets” category

Looking for a camera as a Christmas geek gift idea? If so, here's an updated version of my Pentax K-x camera review from earlier this summer. I've had my Pentax K-x camera for almost six months now, and I have to say, I remain very pleased with it. (I hope to pick up a nice camera lens or two over the holidays.)

Two weeks ago I bought a Pentax K-x camera from Amazon for just a little more than $500, and while I'm not a photography wizard by any stretch of the imagination, I do believe this is an excellent camera. Frankly, the worst thing I can say about it is that it's a little heavy, but even then, it's not any heavier than other cameras in its class.

As I mentioned in my earlier Pentax K-x camera review, I'm very happy with the Pentax K-x camera I purchased a few weeks ago. Amazon had a big discount on the Pentax K-x at that time, and I found a bundle deal for just a little over $500.

iPhone browser privacy FAQ: How do I manage my iPhone browser privacy and security (my iPhone Safari browser privacy and security)?

iPhone JavaScript dialogs FAQ: Can I use JavaScript windows and dialogs in my iPhone HTML app (the JavaScript alert dialog, confirm dialog, and prompt dialog)?

Yes you can. According to Apple's iOS Safari web documentation, you can use "iPhone JavaScript windows and dialogs" that are supported by iOS. Here's how.

ThinkGeek is offering free shipping on orders over $50 on Cyber Monday.

Amazon currently has the Echo Dot on sale for $29.99 (as of Sunday morning, November 26, 2017).

iPad/iPhone DVD movie FAQ: How do I get a DVD movie I own onto my iPod, iPad, or iPhone in a digital movie file? (Also written as, "How do I rip a DVD movie to a digital video file?")

If you're like me,

Waiting iPad apps: If you run into a problem with "waiting" iPad apps during the iPad app installation or update process, my "waiting iPhone apps solutions" article should be helpful. Because all these Apple devices use the same iOS operating system, and because we've found four possible solutions to the "waiting iPhone/iPod apps" problem, these waiting app tips should work just as well for waiting iPad apps (also referred to as "stuck" iPad apps).

Funny iPad Photo: In the category of "iPad humor" ... 

I have to say, I like Apple products quite a bit; I have an iPhone, MacBook Pro, and an iMac, and I'm sure the iPad will end up being very successful once people get their hands on it. But in the meantime, I love this funny "iPad" image. It sums up a lot of feelings about the Apple iPad introduction:

I just ran into the craziest problem where I couldn't get any third-party apps on my iPad to open. I'd tap them, there'd be a quick blink, then nothing, I was back to the home screen with all my app icons.

More geek gift ideas for 2010 - One of the fun things about having relationships with vendors through this website is that I get all sorts of emails about new products, and as I look at them this time of the year, I try to find the ones that I think will be great geek gift ideas.

In the last few days the emails have been flying, and since time is limited, I thought I'd put together another article of great geek gift ideas -- but this time I'm just sharing the ads for huge Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts that I receive directly with you.

After seeing an ad for a wireless iPhone charging device recently, I thought I'd dig around and see what I could find out about iPhone wireless charging devices. After a little research, it looks like there are two good options, the AirVolt Wireless iPhone Charger, and the Powermat system. There is a third wireless iPhone charger available from Brookstone, but I'm not impressed by it, though I've shared a few details on it below.

Looking for great iPad gift ideas for the holiday season? MacMall is one of the leading Apple vendors around, and I just received an email showing a number of iPad gift ideas with discounts as high as 45%. Here's a list of several gift ideas I just learned about.

Geek gift ideas for under $20 (2010 edition): Looking for a great geek gift idea for the 2010 holiday season? If so, I hope this collection of geeky holiday gift ideas will offer some inspiration. I've dug through hundreds of gifts in the Under $20 category, and whittled this list down to my favorite gift ideas.

Geek gifts 2010: As I start digging into geek gift ideas for the 2010 holiday season, far and away the most unusual geek gift idea I've seen is the "Magic Wand programmable remote control". It appears to be what it says it is, a remote control for your television, in the shape of a magic wand.

You can see one photo of the Magic Wand remote control below, and here are some of the product specifications from Think Geek:

As a brief followup to yesterday's article on Revenue Per Employee in Computer Services, here's a mind-blowing statistic:

Apple earns $1,664,431 revenue per employee.

That's right, well over $1.6M revenue per employee. That's just mind-boggling. That revenue statistic just destroys computer service firms, whose best performer earns $169K revenue per employee.

Mac DVD movie ripping: When I first wrote my article on How to rip DVD movies on a Mac I felt a little guilty, like I was sharing some information the movie industry doesn't want you to know. But then during this past week two things happened that made me glad I wrote that article.

Dear Apple,

Thanks for the latest iOS 4.1 update. While that last iOS software update that caused my iPhone 3G to run extremely slow, hang, and crash will be a scar on Apple's reputation for a long time, my iPhone 3G running iOS 4 now seems fast once again. I want to write that it seems "very fast", but after living with that last poopy iOS update for so friggin' long, "fast" is a relative term.

Al

P.S. - Thanks Apple, I finally don't feel abused by you (again).

iTunes movie/video error FAQ: As I continue to explore the process of creating digital movie files I can play on my iPhone (or iPod), I keep running into an iTunes error message when I try to sync my movie file to my iPhone through iTunes.  Every time I try to sync my movie, iTunes gives me the following error message:

[Your movie] was not copied to the iPhone "Alvin Alexander's iPhone" because it cannot be played on this iPhone.

This iTunes movie sync error message is shown in the following figure:

iPhone copy/paste FAQ - Is there was way to select an entire paragraph on the iPhone (or iPod Touch) when starting a copy and paste process? Copying a paragraph by selecting a word on the iPhone/iPod, and then expanding the selection box is okay, but it's a bit of a slow process.