Category Archives: Tech

QLoo: The “Pandora” App for Everything Else [Tech]

203397_QlooHomeScreen

We all “like” things, whether it be a retweet/favorite on Twitter, a like on Tumblr, Instagram or Facebook — we tend show what we like by literally liking things online. This information is usually used by social media sites to give info to advertisers for their benefit, but Qloo takes that information and gives you suggestions for just about anything.

Qloo Screenshot

The app works by letting you like products, movies, songs, restaurants, etc and then taking that info through their algorithm to give you suggestions on what to do, see or buy. The categories aren’t broad like other services, they’re broken down into more specific ones. For example, dining can be broken down into “Date Spots” or Brunch Spots — taking your likes and letting you narrowing it down to what you want to do.

The app has received a good some of seeding money and gotten celebrity backing, so it looks like the app is here to stay for sometime. You can get it for free on the App Store today.

Qloo Screenshot 2

Phonesoap: Sanitize Your Phone with UV Light [Tech]

Think about the places you take your phone; the bathroom, public places and well just about everywhere. Now where do you put your phone? Your warm pocket, right? This cool little device sanitizes your phone while it charges. When you stop and think about it, phones can be really gross, with Phonesoap you can rest a little bit easier — especially if you’re a germ-o-phobe. At about the price of a nice iPhone case, $50 USD, you can sanitize your phone water-free while it charges as you sleep.

Phonesoap Black UV LIGht

Pre-Order your’s today!

Shopkick: A Pretty Cool Shopping Rewards App [Tech]

Washington, D.C. – Shopkick is a pretty simple app to use when shopping. It works based on a rewards system; you walk into a Shopkick partner store or buy something from that store and you earn points to get stuff. The app also has in-app purchases available, so you can earn points by just buying stuff from your app. The points, called “kicks” in the app, can be used to get a cappuccino, a free dinner, a COACH handbag or even donate to charity.

Shopkick is partnered with retailers and companies like American Eagle Outfitters, Best Buy, Crate and Barrel, ExxonMobil, Macy’s, MasterCard, Old Navy, Simon Property Group, Sony, The Sports Authority, Target, Visa, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, Revlon, Unilever, Levi’s, Intel, HP and more

The app is available for FREE on both on the Google Play and iTunes app store.

Instagram Now Supports Video

Instagram Updates Now Supports Video
Instagram Updates Now Supports Video

Washington, D.C. – The Instagram development team has unveiled their new features on Instagram through a Livestream presentation initally presented by Facebook’s owner, Mark Zuckerberg. In keeping with new competitors like Twitter’s Vine app and Cinemagram; Instagram has add video support to their service. You can now record 15-second videos with filters, like regular photos, and even pick the cover thumbnail you want to use. The videos will not loop like on Vine nor automatically load like on Cinemagram, but integrate simply into your Instagram account — no new registration required.

UPDATE: New Stabilization service called “Cinema” for stabilization of videos on Instagram. It seems a lot better than the one on YouTube, but we will have to see.

UDATE ON STABILIZATION FEATURE: After installing the new update, we uploaded a video and tested out the Cinema stabilization option, which is automatically added to the video but can be turned off when selecting a filter. It “zooms in” to stabilize but it is not as dramatic as the YouTube version. Overall, it works pretty well.

Sample Instagram Video with Filter

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Video: Hands on with the Blackberry Q10: Touchscreen and Keyboard

Washington, D.C. – RIM is beginning to release their new Blackberry Series 10 smartphones to the market. The new smartphones come as Apple and Android phone producers are taking over the Smartphone market. RIM has responded by creating new, faster and more eye appealing phones with the Z10 and as seen above, the Blackberry Q10.

Specs:
Processor: 1.5GHz dual-core processor
Memory: 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage
Cameras: ear facing 8-megapixel shooter and 2-megapixel front-facing
Screen: 3.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen with a 720×720 pixel resolution
Release Date: April 2013

Video: Blackberry Z10 and iPhone 5 Comparison

Washington, D.C. – Being a former Blackberry user, it’s nice to see RIM producing a phone with a faster processor and a sleeker design with their Series 10 Blackberries; Z10 and Q10. But, how does it hold up against the iPhone 5?

The simple comparative video made by T3 compares dimensions, screen sizes and resolutions as well as processing speeds of both phones to allow users to decide for themselves.

Let us know which phone would be a better pick for you and why by leaving a comment below.

Cool Product of the Week #7: USB Flash Drive with Military Grade 256-bit Encryption

Washington, D.C.– Yes, a flash drive with military grade encryption. Whether you’re nerdy and enjoy that your school projects and papers will be safely stored in a flash drive or you’re a rogue secret agent carrying important data, this flash drive is the flash drive for you!

Apricorn has created a 16 GB flash drive that has a 256-bit hardware encryption to “lock” your data in from unwanted users. The drive comes equipped with a pin lock system to prevent the data from being opened on a computer, a passcode ranging from 7 to 15 numbers depending on your preferences. Incase you were wondering how much it cost, well, the security of your data will set you back $125.00 USD. There are also smaller flash drives starting at $63.00 USD at 4GB’s.

You can purchase on Amazon, here.

Cool Product of the Week #5: iPhone 5 & 4S SLR Lens Mount

Washington, D.C. – When I first saw this, I thought to myself, “Is this real?” and the simple answer to that is, YES.

The people at PhotoJojo have developed a mount for SLR lenses, normally used on expensive DSLR cameras, to be used on iPhones, both the 4S and 5. The mount comes in two varieties, for Canon lenses and Nikon lenses, and both are the same price of $249.00 USD. It’ll set you back a bit, but if you really want those likes on Instagram using the “#NoFilter” hashtag, it is a good investment.

You can purchase your mount, here.

Leaked: Actual Images of Blackberry 10 L-Series Phone In Detail [Gallery]

Washington, D.C. – Looking at the images, the phone has a removable battery behind a textured back panel, with a power button located dead center on the phone’s top edge, next to the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack. On the left side, the phone has both Micro USB and HDMI ports, with the device’s microphone located just under the BlackBerry logo, where the glass meets the phone’s anodized metal chin. The phone also has a rear and front camera, whose megapixels are not given. You can view more photos of the Blackberry 10 L-Series below.

(Source)

Cool Product of the Week #3: 4K Redray Player: Plays 4096×2160 Video!

Washington DC – So your Blu-Ray Player can play 1080p Bluray disks? Cool. This Redray player can play 4K video! Thats 4096×2160!

The people at ODEMAX and Redray have developed a 4k video player for personal and commercial use. The player can stream 4K video at 2.5mb/s from SD cards, internet sources or internal memory (of 1TB). The player can be used to run a 4K Projector, QHD TV’s or 4 1080p displays. View more of the tech specs of the player at the bottom of the post.

Wondering how much this will all cost? Just $1450.00 USD. The player will be available to the public on March of 2013. For more information please visit their website here.