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Hacked Gadgets has been asked to provide a paid non-biased opinion of this technology. The GPS Tracking Key Pro is the latest product by LandAirSea Systems. They have been making GPS devices since 1994 so they’re not new to this industry. There is a laundry list of features that make this device quite appealing. Since this device is meant to allow covert tracking, size is very important. As you can see in the picture the device is tiny! The main bulk of the system is the two batteries that power it. Even with only two AA batteries it can still operate for up to 80 hours. Depending on the application I was thinking that may be a bit limiting but I see that you can also connect it directly to a vehicles battery with an optional cable. Since this device has been built with covert tracking in mind the internal GPS antenna doesn’t require a clear sky view of the GPS satellites, in fact you can stick this unit in the glove box and it will still work. When you are ready to see where the GPS tracking key has gone you need to plug it into a computer and run the custom software that comes with the device. You are then able to see where the device has been graphically on a map. If you are old school you can also just read a text printout. After having a look at the sample text printout I can think of lots of great uses for this. Small business owners need to keep a vehicle log to write-off vehicle expenses. The text log shows you by address where you have driven and it gives you the exact distance between the locations. This way it would be very simple to have a quick look at this every few days and determine what mileage was for business use.
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The folks at TV Clean sent in a cleaning system for us to review. It’s a cleaning device that is used to remove dirt and dust from your monitors and TVs. I have always been very careful when cleaning LCD monitors because unlike the old CRT ones then new flat screens are quite easy to damage. The TV Clean comes housed in a clam shell which keeps the dust out when it isn’t in use. It is a two part system, one soft sticky rubber blue roller rolls on the screen you are cleaning and picks up the dirt. As this sticky roller comes in contact with the white collection roller in the rear it transfers the dirt onto an adhesive layer. I used it on 5 LCD monitors, one CRT monitor and a 50 inch plasma TV. All but one looked clean before I used the TV Clean on them so I was surprised to see that the white adhesive collection roller was full of dirt when I was done. The white adhesive collection roller that catches the dirt is has many layers, the dirty layer is simply peeled away. The only problem I had with the product is that the blue roller which un-clips from the main unit can become dislodged if too much pressure is placed on the unit when using it to clean. This happened once and the roller simply snapped back in place. The kit came with a cloth that is used to clean fingerprints and other smudges from the screen. I only came across one small fingerprint and the cloth wiped it away with no effort. If you are looking for a product that will keep the dust off your expensive new TV the TV Clean should be a good fit. Additional product information can be found here.
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Dan Bricklin is one of the developers behind VisiCalc back in 1979. Dan hasn’t slowed down since VisiCalc, in Bricklin On Technology he shares his visionary thoughts with all of us. It is written in an interesting way, many sections are filled with blog posts and views on how technology will influence our lives. As a true Engineer he is always attempting to solve the needs of his fellow man with elegant technical solutions. Have a look at the two videos below where Dan reads a few excerpts from his book. Thanks for an interesting read Dan!
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Thanks to Sky Lasers for sending in one of their 125mW Green Laser Pointers for review. I have had normal 5mW green laser pointers in the past but there is no comparison between a normal laser and one of these high power 125mW units. The laser uses 2 AAA batteries, high power mode will work fine using rechargeable nickle metal hydride batteries but low power mode will not operate with rechargeable batteries. I am told this is due to the lower voltage of the rechargeable cells compared to alkaline cells. I originally thought that I had a defective unit but after I popped in some alkaline batteries the unit worked just fine. See the pictures below of the laser pointer at night. It is hard to capture the nice bright beam on camera but you are able to easily point out stars on a fairly bright evening with city lights around. The construction of the unit feels solid. It has a 3 position switch at the rear of the unit which is switched using the included barrel key. In the red position the unit is off, in the green position the unit is in high power mode and in the yellow position the unit is in low power mode. It is nice to be able to change the unit to low power so that it can be used as a normal laser pointer for presentations. The laser activation button action is precise and it is nice to have the LED confirmation of a active laser. The only thing that Sky Lasers needs to work on is the case. When the laser pointer has the rear switch assembly screwed on it is to long to fit into the case. It is important to use some protective glasses when using a laser of this power, you would not want the beam to reflect back into your eyes by accident.
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"When on the go power for your gadgets is key, plug into the Solio® Hybrid 1000. This hybrid boasts a powerful solar panel and battery in an incredibly compact and slender case, conveniently geared with a built-in rugged carabiner and cable. The Hybrid 1000 is simple to use. Just clip on, plug in, and charge up!"
For a while now I have been evaluating the Solio H1000 Hybid Solar Charger. While not necessarily the product for everyone, it does have its pros and cons. I decided to run the Solio H1000 through its paces and see what its made of… the good, the bad, and the hacker friendly.
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Hacked Gadgets has been asked to provide a paid non-biased opinion of this technology. LandAirSea Systems has developed a remarkable USB GPS Tracking device. Toss in a few AAA batteries and it is ready to stash in whatever you want to track! It has a magnetic base for easy mounting to the undersides of vehicles but it is small enough to stash in a gym bag or other small items. The device is also water-resistant so there is no worries about damage from puddles or rain. The device is constantly recoding data to its internal storage for retrieval later. The accuracy of the device is 2.5 meters! With accuracy like that you could determine what side of the street it was on… Viewing data from the device is also made easy since it links into Google Maps and provides a highlighted map layout of where the device has been. Once the device has been retrieved from the item you are wanting to track all you need to do is load in the custom software. Plug the device into your USB port and have a look at all the places the device has been, the device is also recording time so you would also know how long the device was not moving and when it was on the go. I could imagine that rental car companies would have good proof of abuse when they suspect that the vehicle was driven off-road. If you think the device is just a gimmick guess again, the video above demonstrates how this device proved that a murderer was not telling the truth about his actions on the night a young girl was murdered.
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We have all experienced file loss at one time or another. For me it’s usually an accidental deletion of a directory when I am cleaning up old files from my hard drive. Soft Logica has requested Hacked Gadgets to perform an unbiased paid review of their software package called Handy Recovery. If you are working in a Windows environment chances are you could use Handy Recovery to restore some of your data in the future.
The software downloaded in a few seconds since it is less than 1MB in size. Anyone that does Windows software development knows that an executable of this size is quite impressive. Installing the program was simple, all it took was a few clicks and about 30 seconds. There is extensive help available however I’m not fond of reading documentation, I would rather click around and just kick the tires. Luckily the interface is intuitive using a few large buttons along the top. One area that could be improved is the hover over tips and the help text at the bottom of the application window. These tips and help text often just repeat the label of the command buttons and provides no additional information. |
