• Aug 18, 2012

    Review: LaCrosse Technology Wireless Weather Station

    Everyday my son comes in first thing and asks "what is the weather going to be?". He wants to know so that he can pick his clothes. Granted, we live in San Diego, so the weather doesn't change drastically one day to the next, but I always answer him. We were in Costco several weeks ago and I saw an inexpensive weather station, so I picked it up and decided to give it a try.

    I setup it up and put it on my desk. The temperature for both indoor and outdoor seemed accurate enough, but the forecast was pretty far off. The box said that the forecast was 70-75% accurate based on the relative humidity. That may be true in other places, but we live about a mile from Mission Bay and tend to have some moisture in the air at least in the mornings. The station said about half the time that it was going to rain. It hasn't rained in months, so either it knew something I didn't or it was useless.

    After a week or so of getting annoyed at it because it had rain clouds on the display when it was perfectly sunny out, I took it back to Costco. I love the concept of a weather station, but I think the next one I look for will only give me readings and not try to predict. I investigated some Internet connected ones, but the reviews were pretty bad, so I haven't done anything.

    Pros

    • Nice display.
    • Works as an alarm clock.
    • USB charging port on back.
    • Displays indoor and outdoor temperatures.
    • Easy to setup.

    Cons

    • Forecast is completely inaccurate.

    Summary

    Don't waste your money on this; I think the cheap weather stations do a terrible job predicting weather at least here in San Diego. If you want the readings for the weather, get a device that lacks the forecasting feature as it is just annoying because it is so inaccurate.

  • Aug 18, 2012

    Review: MobileMount

    I've been looking for the perfect way to hold my iPhone on my desk while I work so that it is in reach and screen is visible. A lot of times, I need to test on a device, so this is crucial. There have been a number of stands on Kickstarter and I've back a few. I wrote about the poorly designed Oona which I threw out and then about The Jack I've been using because the Oona was a waste. While The Jack works well, I was looking for something adjustable and came across the MobileMount on Kickstarter. It looked well designed and the twist lock to push the extra air out of the suction cup seemed like a great idea as it works well on my RAM mount in my car.

    After many delays, I finally received the MobileMount (it was a learning experience for the person behind the MobileMount as he never dealt with manufacturing before and didn't know how long it would take. In addition, he seemed very meticulous about making sure the suction cups were to his satisfaction). Since my main goal was to use it with my iPhone, I attached it to my iPhone and the other end to the base of my monitor which has a nice, shiny surface. The mount stuck to the base very well, but the iPhone kept sliding off it after awhile. The mount came with 4 clear stickers to help deal with devices that have a matte finish like the iPad; I didn't want to put one on my iPhone.

    I thought that I was going to give up on it and chalk it up to another experience, but then I started doing some iPad work. I put the clear stickers on my iPad (I put 3 on it so I could orient the iPad in different ways), stuck on the MobileMount and it is working incredibly well. I have my iPad at just the right angle at my desk and the iPad hasn't slipped off, yet.

    One really great thing about the MobileMount vs the Smart Cover is that I can position the angle of the iPad; the Smart Cover angle (when folded up) just doesn't work for me.

    Pros

    • Strong suction cups.
    • Can be adjusted to many positions.

    Cons

    • Didn't work well for me on my iPhone.
    • In order to stick well on my iPad, I had to put clear stickers on it.
    • A little pricey (it was $25 on Kickstarter; it is now $40).

    Summary

    There are lots of different holders for the iPad and iPhone out there. The MobileMount didn't work well for my iPhone, but is working well for my iPad. If I were looking for an iPad mount (which I wasn't), I'd look elsewhere first. In particular, I'd look for a stand that the iPad set into and was adjustable.

  • Aug 8, 2012

    Review: Winegard FlatWave Antenna

    Many years ago, I had no desire to get cable TV, so I suffered with various antennas trying to tune in a picture. Of course, I never had a great signal and was always fiddling with the antenna to watch TV. At some point, I got tired of this game and subscribed to local basic cable which was the over-the-air channels, but delivered to a cable. My hassles of trying to get a clear picture were over. However, this convenience cost me about $15 per month.

    When the digital TV transition happened, I started thinking about antennas again. I'd either get channels or not; there would be no more fuzzy pictures. A few times, I was tempted to get an antenna, but due to where we lived, I would have had to mount the antenna on the roof or in the attic and that required effort!

    Now that we moved, it's been on the back of my mind to try again. A few weeks ago, I saw the Winegard FlatWave Antenna at Costco, so I decided to give it a try.

    When I got it home, I plugged it in, scanned the channels and it picked up all the channels we watched. I was completely amazed as I just put it on the window and it wasn't line of sight to any broadcast tower. I was all set to cancel cable when I decided to actually watch TV and see the performance. The picture was crystal clear, but instead of a fuzzy picture, we saw the picture stutter and drop frames. I tried to adjust the antenna and finally gave up. The antenna (or maybe a more powerful antenna) has a lot of promise now that we have all digital signals.

    I can't fault the antenna as I simply placed it in a westerly facing window. According to AntennaWeb, I should have aimed the antenna northwest and southwest to get the channels I want. (I suspect that since the signals were basically opposite, I received some signal.)

    So when we move and purchase a house, I'm going to look into an attic antenna or an outdoor antenna; I suspect I would need a large one given the decent results with this very small antenna.

    Pros

    • Small footprint.
    • Easily to install.
    • Long cable.
    • Low price.

    Cons

    • Design of antenna may only work in some situations.

    Summary

    If you only watch the basic channels, giving this antenna a try is worth your time. However, I'd purchase it from some place that has a return policy. Your mileage is going to vary based on physical location.

  • Aug 3, 2012

    Good people still exist

    With our modern world where there is so much hustle and bustle, at times it seems like people don't slow down or take the time to help others. A few weeks ago, a group of people restored my faith in people helping people.

    I was driving to Costco early one evening when I came upon the traffic light before Costco where I saw a car turned on its side. I didn't see any emergency lights, so I knew that the accident happened a few minutes ago (average response time in San Diego is not great, but is still less than 10 minutes). I pulled over, got out of my car and went over to see what I could do to help. Already, there were at least 5 men holding up the car and trying to get the last passenger out (the 3 other occupants from the overturned car were out and the 4 from the other vehicle were also out). I made sure that someone was calling 911 and started to assess the situation (just as a side note, always make sure that someone has called and don't assume that in a group anyone will do it). A number of other people came over to try to free the last passenger by using a baseball bat to pry open the door; luckily the passenger was able crawl out on her own. At the same time, other people were making sure that the 7 people already out had something to eat, drink and weren't injured.

    Once the woman was out of the car, someone had already setup a folding chair for her and she sat down. I went to my car and got my first aid bag and with the assistance of another good samaritan, I bandaged the wound on the woman. A woman came over and said she was a nurse offering to help and another man was in the intersection (the 2 cars were in the middle of the intersection) starting to direct traffic around the accident.

    By the time police and fire arrived, the bystanders had started to disperse. It was almost amazing to see so many bystanders come together and help complete strangers. While I don't want accidents to happen, I hope that as many caring and selfless people come out and assist.