Gear Patrol

For our second Hunting eBay post I’ve focused in on hi-fi. A personal soft-spot, my eBay watch list is often teeming with everything from iconic vintage audio listings to mystic hi-fi relics. There isn’t as much glory or panache in an excellent piece from the ’70s as there is an equally aged watch, but the…

The average human being spends somewhere around 200,000 hours of their life asleep, which seems like a lot of important time wasted dreaming of the Swedish Bikini Team. But, like your doctor, your mother and every health teacher you’ve ever had has droned at you again and again, sleep is important to a healthy life….

You’ve got a doozie of an SLR and a couple lenses that cost more than a semester of college tuition, but your camera strap looks like it was yanked off a pair of Fisher-Price binoculars. Luckily for you, Joby, who’s made a name for themselves with their line of versatile camera tripods, has decided to…

The 3M Streaming Projector ($300) compensates for all of your mobile media inadequacy issues, both in content and screen size. Weighing roughly a pound, the 4.3 x 4.2 x 2.0 inch puck can project images in WVGA resolution at up to 120-inches diagonally at a max brightness of 60 lumens. That kind of performance won’t…

Gadgets of all shapes and sizes are shipping with cellular data connectivity options these days, but if you’ve still got tech that’s stuck off the grid, the Novatel MiFi Liberate can help. It’s the first LTE mobile hotspot to sport a 2.8-inch touch screen, which is truthfully more nifty than necessary, but does make checking…

Any photographer worth his stop bath will tell you that a proper lens hood is one of the most important tools of the trade. The problem is that lenses still require a lens cap to stay scratch and smudge free when traveling. The Hoocap ($49) lens cap is the clever solution photogs have been waiting…

Logitech has comfortably dominated the consumer universal remote market for years, thanks to their intuitive, powerful software and sleek, ergonomic hardware. But like any race that’s already won, pushing limits took a back seat to simply holding a lead. Case in point, the company’s existing Harmony 900 and Harmony One flagships were released over three…

We love our cars. We love our smartphone apps. Torque (free+), an app that measures all the driving data your heart desires, is the perfect marriage of the two. Essentially an OBD2 (On Board Diagnostics) tool, Torque provides data such as mpg and fuel usage, GPS (with HUD mode) and essential vehicle data like fault…

The humble business card is an antiquated yet necessary tool of business communication. Their simple swapping is a time honored tradition the world over, and not a form of etiquette that is likely to disappear. But in today’s digital world, taking the time to transfer those vitals to a useful place seems downright tedious. MOO…

It was only a few months back at the Mobile World Congress that HTC unveiled the HTC One X as a new standard bearer for the company and its streamlined “One” branding. Now, the firm has announced an augmented version of that flagship, the One X+, which looks as if it’s downed more than few…

The world of the audiophile isn’t normally for the light of wallet, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t values to be had. VPI industries got its start 35 years ago as a record player component and accessories company, first making weights, then isolation bases and then record cleaning machines — all for incredible values. Inevitably,…

The headphone market is packed tighter than Chris Farley in a navy blazer, thanks in part to the explosion of digital music — salud, iTunes, Spotify and The Pirate Bay — not to mention the business savvy of a few enterprising rhyme spitters (what up Dre?). Lucky for you, we’ve scoured the headphone market in…

If your iMac needs a pedestal upgrade from its current almanac/cigar box, the Twelve South HiRise ($80) is a more than suitable replacement. Providing proper height adjustment for your display, the HiRise is perfect for people who like their necks and don’t enjoy performing impersonations of Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein. The HiRise’s internal metal…

Gaming towers are synonymous with gigantic frames, furnace heat output and throbbing jet-engine rackets. If you’re the subtle, nuanced gamer — or you just want to attract as little attention as possible while raiding in WOW — the Falcon Northwest Tiki Micro Gaming Tower ($1,800+) should be a prime option. The Tiki is a veritable…

The Barnes & Noble v. Amazon slap-off continues, this time with the brick-and-mortar book giant’s launch of the Nook HD and HD+ Android tablets. The smaller Nook HD ($199+) maintains a similar form factor to its predecessor, the Nook color, with some noted improvements, including a 1440 x 900 display, which gives it the temporary…

Vinyl is on a comeback, in many ways because it replaces the tangible elements of music collecting that the iPod killed in the blink of an eye. The Jico Kanade Record Cleaner ($88) is a beautiful companion accessory for keeping your records pristine. Each unique cleaner is meticulously hand built by expert artisans from the…

There’s a reason museums have signs asking patrons not to touch the art. It’s basic human nature: we like to touch stuff, priceless works of self expression be damned. The TMDtouch Zorro Macsk ($199) delivers the touch capability we’ve been craving on our iMacs, at a reasonable price, and with very little hackery. The Zorro…

It seems like everybody’s jumping on the social media bandwagon (some more logically than others). Canon’s decided to take a shot too with their curiously named, cloud-based storage service Project 1709. Currently in beta testing, this online photo warehouse places heavy emphasis on UI and sports the ever-popular tile layout (cough, Flickr) for quick viewing,…

Motorola Android smartphone launches seem like a dime a dozen recently, but their latest offering is a cut above and, unfortunately, beyond (as in, beyond U.S. shores). The RAZR i is the new buff uncle in Razr family tree, thanks to its powerful 2Ghz Intel Atom processor, and is the first Moto device to feature…

The Apogee Quartet ($1,295) is a USB audio interface that provides Macs and their parent’s-basement-squatting masters with studio-grade chops. Connection-wise, four combo XLR and 1/4” analog inputs — complete with world-class mic preamps capable of capturing click-free transitions from a vast gain range of 0-75dB — and eight digital inputs can accomodate a burgeoning boy…

HTC produced some of the best devices for early Windows phone users, and by the looks of their two latest handsets for Windows Phone 8, that’s still true. The newly announced 8X and 8S both feature premium external detailing thanks to unibody construction, big gorilla glass screens, bold color ways and a beveled-thin edge that…

It seems like only a year ago we were telling you about the Canon Powershot S100 — wait, it WAS a year ago, almost to the day. So, in celebration of that anniversary, Gear Patrol, or rather Canon, brings you the next evolutionary step in point-and-shoot cameras, the Powershot S110 ($449), scheduled to hit stores…

Riding your bike in the dark on city streets is an activity best reserved for those with a death wish. The Monocle is an inexpensive and ingenious way to avoid becoming street pizza. You’ve spent plenty of money on your iPhone; why not use it as a bike light, too? The Monocle, which is made…

Portable battery power for your gear is always practical but obviously very finite — and, usually, pretty dull looking. The Exogear Exovolt Plus stackable battery tackles both downsides by providing unlimited expandability and a look that seems to tap into Cupertino’s sleek monochromatic simplicity. The 5,200mA Lithium Polymer Battery Main Unit ($90) provides power on…

If your fandom/fantasy addiction borders on the insane, NFL Game Rewind ($35+) will only steepen a downward spiral of screaming at the television. The online service allows subscribers to replay any game from the 2009-2011 and current regular season on their computer or tablet. If you only bleed blank & blank colors, you can also…

The Leica M is a new flagship rangefinder from the venerable photography brand that carries the torch from the Leica M9. Its biggest upgrade lies in a new 24MP full-frame CMOS sensor that’s designed to work specifically with Leica R-series lenses, maintaining the same luscious color characteristics while boasting better low-light performance and power management…

Statistics don’t look good for male cyclists: 200,000 traumatic brain injuries are attributed to recreational accidents each year; two-thirds of cycling injuries involve damage to the noggin; and men are more than twice as likely to mangle their melons than women. A good helmet is an obvious must-have, but in absolute worst cases the ICEdot…

Nikon’s D600 full-frame DSLR seemed poised to undercut its arch nemesis Canon in the prosumer market — until now. The Canon EOS 6D ($2,100) is Canon’s smallest, lightest (only 24 ounces) and cheapest full-frame DSLR ever. It’s slightly slimmer and weighs less than the D600 while boasting integrated wi-fi — a convenient feature we’ve been…

The much-anticipated Nikon D600 ($2100) is a new prosumer DSLR that provides a similar, albeit slightly watered-down set of specs compared to the lauded D800 for roughly a grand less, while also undercutting the competition from Canon and Sony. Despite the price differences, the new rig maintains a similar feature set to its bigger brother,…

Unveiling a new iPod along with the new iPhone is becoming a bit of a tradition, so it’s no surprise that a shiny new iPod Touch and iPod Nano were rolled into today’s big iPhone 5 launch. As usual, the Fifth Generation iPod Touch ($299+) takes its cue from many of the features from the…