Speed and Video Quality

Digiarty boasts the fact that you can rip a full movie, with their software, in around 5 minutes. While testing it out I found that the average is just a bit over that time at around seven minutes for a hour and a half movie. Of course, these times do depend on the quality of both your processor and DVD drive. The DVD results that I am going to use for this example are from a digitally protected version of Disney’s Sky High. (i.e. The first movie I grabbed.) Not only were the protective barriers no problem for the software, overall the video only took six minutes to rip.

The Interface and Ease of Use

Though easy to navigate and understand the interface looks overly grey and bland. Though, I do have to commend Digiarty on including an option for those who are less savvy to simply press “Start” and have their video ripped without having to mess with, to them, unnecessary toggles. The rest of the program though is a plethora of advanced options allowing you to change everything from video format to audio bit-rate.

Giveaway!

Currently we have two giveaways going on in regards to this software. There is the one here on Tech Cores as well as the Digiarty Massive Thanksgiving Giveaway. First if you want to win a full free copy of WinX Blu-Ray Decrypter, leave a comment below with your twitter handle and tweet one of the following messages below.

If you want to get a free copy of the software reviewed in this post and video you can head on over to Digiarty’s Giveaway Site and grab a copy or two of some free software!

Showdown Time! That’s right. Today I have a video comparing the Zoom H1 Handy Portable Microphone with the Blue Snowball USB Condenser Microphone.

Zoom H1:

This a Handy Portable Microphone that can be purchased from most retail audio stores or online (Amazon) for a retail price of around $99. It is powered on a single AAA Battery and has an XY Stereo Microphone design. It recorded directly onto a MicroSD Card in either .WAV or .MP3

Blue Snowball:

This a USB Condensor Microphone, originally designed for podcasting and targeting the lower consumer at its nice retail price of $60. It has 3 different settings for audio. It has a Plug & Play design, or should I say Plug & Record. It compatible with most PC’s and Macs.

Basically I talk throughout the video, while changing between microphones. I hope you guys enjoy and if you have any questions please feel free to comment bellow, on the video or on Twitter.

http://www.kingston.com/ukroot/ssd/vplus100.asp

I hope you enjoy the video and please, if you have anymore questions please leave a comment below or contact me on Twitter

In the video bellow I will talk you through my unboxing and application of the Griffin Chilewich for the iPhone 4. I hope you enjoy and if you have any further questions please comment or you can contact me on Twitter.

Build Quality:

The Chromatics Skin that I was reviewing was a Silver Carbon Fibre Skin, this skin was very hard and didn’t scratch easily. It provided good solid protection against objects such as keys in your pocket or if you had a drill out. Tho I don’t know why you would. The front screen was protected with a screen protector, it was very rubbery and absorbed scratches. Personally I found this to be annoying when compared to the Zagg Invisible Shields nano repair technology. There was also an aerial cover included but however it was designed for the verizon version of the iPhone 4.

Pro/Cons:

Overall I would have to say this case is worth the price of $29.95 there is a great choice of colours and different types of styles to choose from. The one con I have to point out is that this case will not provide any protection if your device is dropped from a great height. The skin is designed to provide protection to scratches and low danger objects.

I would give this skin an overall 7 out of 10, its sleek, stylish and sexy. Yet lacks that essential protection.

If you feel like I haven’t explained in enough detail or have any questions please feel free to comment bellow or contact me on Twitter

The Bamboo Paper iPad App

So, with that said I introduce to you the Wacom Bamboo Stylus. Now, if you didn’t already know Wacom manufactures design tablets used by people ranging from Photoshop novices to professional Graphic Designers. Recently Wacom released a free app to the Apple App Store which turned the iPad’s capacitive touch screen into nothing short of a “old fashioned” notebook, a very nice one at that. When you first launch the app you have one notebook which you can change the color of as well as change the type of paper contained inside of the notebook. The app also allows you to, for a one time in app purchase of 1.99 USD, to have up to twenty different notebooks at one time both. Now notebooks, as far as I have seen can been as long as you want them to be so their is no more wondering if you are going to have enough paper to get you through the year. Now, of course the lack of worries isn’t the only advantage of using any digital paper application, you are saving resources as well. So the rain forest thanks you for not, by proxy, kill it.

The Bamboo Stylus

The stylus itself is very well built. It is made out of aluminium just like the rear side of both the first and second iterations of the iPad. With that said, the stylus blends in flawlessly with the design of the iPad; to the point where it looks like it came with the device. Now, Apple is know for their product’s quality and design so when I say the stylus looks like it came with the iPad I am not just talking about visuals. It has a very sturdy feel as well as a decent weight unlike lower end styli. The stylus has a pen clip which allows you to attach it to your pants, a case, or basically anything tin enough but if you find it getting in your way you can just remove it some. The little things like that really show the quality and amount of though put into something as minute as a stylus. Now with that said, the cap can loosen over time but it is as simple as tightening the cap back up to fix it. The tip is made of a soft capacitive rubber tip which allows for a greatly increased amount of accuracy in comparison to just using your fingers to not only write but, in general when using the device. Lastly, after awhile of using the stylus I noticed something was missing, something I am not the least bit troubled by the loss of, fingerprints.

If you would like to watch the video review where I show you some of the features like the removable clip and show the functionality of both the stylus and the app it is embedded below,  if you would like to purchase a Wacom bamboo Stylus for your iPad, or any other iDevice, you can visit the Wacom site by clicking the link in the sources at the top of the article. Lastly I would like to thank Wacom and Douglas Little for providing not only the review unit but for providing very courteous support.

I have always been a big fan of the look, and only the look, of the Apple in-ear headphones; the sound on the other hand left something to desire and that something is coincidentally the sound. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not framing the headphones in this review as heaven’s answer to this problem but for a replacement that is close thirty bucks cheaper and have better audio I would say they are already a leap ahead.

With that said, let me introduce the Macally TunePal Pro In-Ear Headphones. The headphones come with two sets of memory foam tips meant to be “one-size fits all”. Personally, I have moderately small ears and can say that I have to use extra force to get them in my ears and even then there is an uncomfortable pressure during prolonged use. Now with one side of the spectrum covered, what if you have larger ears? Well, the tips are fairly large but without the offering of larger tips it defeats the purpose of in ear headphones by allowing external noises to sneak in.

The description of these headphones, published on the Macally site, mentions a “rich and deep bass output” which in retrospect to their entry level market couldn’t be more true. The bass in these headphones is noticeable without being overpowering. The built in microphone is also on the same level as the bass. The mic records close to crystal clear audio, which is amazing in the case of it’s surrounding or plastic and your current clothing.

Here is the video review if you prefer video to written reviews!

About a month ago, I’ve written a review on Apple’s Smart Cover and I liked the Smart Cover. It kept the iPad’s slim profile and it’s functional. The thing I disliked the most was the lack of back protection. This is where the Cover Mate comes in. This is a hardshell case but with a cut out on the side for a Smart Cover. Now, Case Crown isn’t the only company that’s doing this. In fact if you go to Amazon, you’ll find a truck load of them.

With many variations of this case, how does this stack up? Watch the video to find out!

If you have ever needed to collaborate with a college on a task you know that if you use email it can get cumbersome and quite annoying to have to sort through all the email. So when you are able to collaborate on this tasks in a more organized and accessible manner the whole project becomes a lot easier. This is what Flow has done. For $9.99 USD a month (with discounts for a larger group of accounts) you can keep track of not only the things you need to get done for yourself but you can also collaborate with people on work tasks or even personal events like parties.

All of this is extremely helpful but there are some flaws in the execution of Flow, things that could be easily fixed. One major problem with the service is that every time somebody comments, flags, completes, or reopens a task you receive an email. Of course you are able to disable them but the mobile app for iOS doesn’t use push notification, which would take a large stress off from your inbox. The fact that when you aren’t checking your email, to receive any sort of notification from the app is simply impossible which really kills the functionality of the service.

The team at MetaLab has created a sample video (below) showing a group of people using Flow to organize a party on very short notice.

I would like to thank Luke Seeley from MetaLab for providing Flow for review.

Your paper boys route might of just gotten a little smaller. PressReader for your iOS devices creates a one stop shop for all of your news consumption. I was never a big fan of news papers, probably because I could never figure out how to get them to not fall apart and bend when I was reading an article and by article I mean looking at the comic strips. With PressReader you are able to read all of your favorite major news papers with minimal complication.

Press Reader has an amazing collection of international newspapers to choose from, yet because of this they seem to be lacking some of the smaller news papers and unless you live in NYC or another fairly large city your news paper won’t be included. But other than that the content provided from the major newspaper is more than that enough to keep you updated with what is going on currently.

There are several aspects that need to be present in an application for it to be useful, interface, performance, and usability are among the ranks. For the most part, the interface of PressReader is really nice, but there are some graphics that are not retina compatible which unfortunately takes away from the over all appearance of the app.  As far

as performance and usability go, the app is very nice. The app even goes as far as to provide a choice to have the app read to you instead of the other way around, things like this set this app away from its competitors.

If you would like to download PressReader for your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch you can download it from iTunes.

There is also an iPad version available!

Today, Apple airs a new iPad 2 commercial that talks about how technology should be. It promotes the new thin and light form factor, and the faster dual-core A5 chip. This advertisement is really unique compared to the rest of Apple’s advertisements. It’s in a really dark environment and a hand interacting with the iPad 2. If you’re interested in seeing the new ad, watch the video above.

Enter Carbonite

Carbonite takes the risk out of back-ups, you don’t have to worry about loosing the flash drive that has piles of priceless family and life moments that you have captured throughout the year or the sensitive data pertaining to your business. Carbonite offers unlimited storage space, so you don’t have to even think about file size or quantity, you can just rest in peace knowing that your data is securely back-up for the unfortunate yet inevitable event of data loss.

Now, Carbonite is not the only service that provides a service like this, other companies like Mozy or Dropbox have created products to do basically the same thing. Below you will find a chart of pricing a feature comparisons.

Video Review

Also, I would like to thank Dave Niemiec from Airfoil PR for providing the resources needed to do this review.

Special thanks to Mivizu & Tech Cores for this opportunity

Just yesterday, I got my hands on a new case (which happens to be my first) for my Verizon iPhone 4. And this one joins the ranks amongst the best of them. I introduce to you the Verizon iPhone 4 Sleek Leather White Croc case.

The video above, for the most part, covers the different features that the case has to offer. For the sake of those who do not wish to watch the review video, I’ll do a quick run-through.

The case is of a unique and sleek leather origin with an air jet textured crocodile skin pattern. Coating the inside the case, there is a felt-like material with a hard plastic support system separating the leather and the inner case material in the main housing on the case. The case cover is of a similar nature, but instead of tough plastic like in the main housing, there is cushioning behind the leather exterior and plastic to protect the screen of your iPhone 4.

Here’s a list of some features from the Mivizu product page for this case

• Resistant to tears, scuffs and abrasions
• UV Radiation resistant
• Stress Crack resistant
• Stain resistant and waterproof

The case was designed to be very minimal in mass to avoid the extra bulk issue. It’s very smooth and sleek and is very attractive. If you’re not careful, you might be mistaken for a high roller

My Opinion

If you’re in the market looking for a stylish case to either match your lifestyle or to just look cool, than look no further than the Mivizu Verizon iPhone 4 Sleek Leather Case. However, be prepared to pay out a little more than what you usually would for an iPhone 4 case. Leather doesn’t come cheap these days.

The case is available in black, white, and red for $49 on Mivizu’s website. Click for the AT&T case or the Verizon version of the case.

The Bottom Line

Pros: Very minimal and sleek case. Good protection for drops, shocks, and water hazards. UV protected too. Phone wont slip out easily if at all.

Cons: Costs a little more than other cases because of materials and design

Again, special thanks to Mivizu for sending the case and for Tech Cores providing the opportunity. Make sure you support these good people and visit their sites.

View the video on YouTube or read the review on Techtronica

About six months ago, I had two choices in mind for a new camera: Flip Mino HD or the Kodak Zi8. It turns out, I got the Flip Mino because of it’s simplicity. To be honest, I regret getting the Flip because it lacked some critical features such as auto focus, optical zoom, and some other features which can come in handy for family vacations. Thankfully, I got a brand new camcorder for Christmas! A review might come soon!

Where do I start? The great look? The great protection? the great feel? If you could not tell already I am talking about GelaSkins. What is GelaSkins? GelaSkins is a skin for your electronic device. I have a skin called NYC by eBoy on my Droid X and I love it!

Pros

• Design: This Design is so eye appealing. This skin has caught so much attention for the unique look and how it blends in with my phones wallpaper.
• Feel: The feel is a strong textures plastic feel that makes the phone feel nice an sharp.
• Protection: This skin keep me safe from scratches.

Cons

• I feel like it will peel off (It has yet to even start peeling, so I might have to drop this con).

For the full review, watch the video below. After, check out GelaSkins.com for a full view of all their skins.

*Thank you GelaSkins for sending this skin to me free of charge*

As we’re approaching the holiday season, more and more people are going out to the stores to buy the perfect (and rather last minute) gift for their friends and family. We’re seeing practically everyone owning some kind of MP3 player and with that, the stock earphones typically stink so bad, that you want to get new ones as quickly as possible.

The Logitech Ultimate Ears 100 not only sound great with a cheap cost of $20, but they’re also a great stocking stuffer!

Because a text review would be quite boring for a pair of earphones, we’ll keep it savvy with a video!

For more information on the Logitech Ultimate Ears 100, please visit their website below:

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speakers-audio/earphones/devices/7324

Google has stepped in and formed Chrome for a Cause. This Google Chrome extension allows you to contribute the amount of tabs you open at the end of the day. You get to pick what charity to donate it which is awesome!

Google has said they’re only contributing $1,000,000 at the most. But some other limitations is that the extension only counts for one tab per second and 250 tabs max per day.

Three words: One cent cases.

So far, I’m loving my Default case. Full review coming soon!

Recently I did a review of the Macally KICKSTAND case for the iPhone 4, well now we have the CASESTANDT4. These cases are meant for the same audience, the media-phile or those who would find it convenient to have some sort of stand for easier media viewing.

From the front of the case all you see is the grey soft plastic lip. This lip is meant to protect the front edges as well as put some sort of separation between the screen and the impact zone when you drop your device. The back of the case is a hard shell of plastic, with a smooth finish. The main feature of this case, the kick stand is stored in the center of the hard plastic shell. The stand props your iPod up at about a 30 to 40 degree angle. Also located on the back are the camera and microphone hole. Now I have had cases in the past that have been sloppy when cutting these hole. Macally has done everything but, the hole are precisely cut and do not obstruct either feature.

—Anti-Fingerprint Screen Protector—

As mentioned in the video matte screen protectors are a hard task to pull off and unfortunately Macally is no exception. The screen protector reduces the visible quality of the screen. If this screen protector were to be manufactured for a lower quality screen, like the one on the 3rd generation iPod touch and the iPhone 3Gs, it would have served it purpose. Yet it defeats the purpose of having the retina display, by fogging it up. If you would like to check out the difference please look at the comparison below.

Click For Larger Image

As the case flood starts for one of Apple’s newest devices starts the amount of options you have, as well as the average consumers confusion, sky rockets. So if you want a basic case that is going to keep your iPod touch 4th generation safe and secure for a great price the Griffin Motif series is a great case. This case provides scratch protection, to the back of your device, and moderate drop protection while still allowing you to still see the back of your device. The case comes in a clear and “smoke” varieties.

Needless to mention its lack of an included screen-protector is a downer, if you are going to manufacture a case that only covers the back, and leaves most to all of the front vonrable, then is strictly a necessity to include a screen-protector. Other than that this case looks great, provides, great protection, while not adding close to any bulk. This possible due to its material, TPU. TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) is, as far as a texture and non-scientific example go, is a cross between a basic rubber case, and a harder solid case, which provides the best of both worlds, as far as protection and comfort go.

This case also includes a free device stand for viewing videos and other activities that require angles, like typing. Pictured on the box, the stand works both landscape and portrait, yet (as seen in the video) I have only been able to get it to stand in landscape. When laid on the stand  in portrait, the device simply falls back.

If you think the Motif Gloss, or its Diamond pattered alternative, would (or should) be the case for you, you can pick it up for $19.99 USD at Griffin Technology.

First, I would like to thank Jason Calhoun again for sending me a copy of this quite unique application. The application My Schedule takes full advantages of one of Android OS’s greatest features, the notification bar. This application shows your calendar events in the “ongoing” category of your notification bar. This application eliminates the need to use the built in Google calendar or any calendar widgets which means more home screen space. The application shows up to 5 events ranging from all your calendars or only specific ones. You can also adjust the time gap of when these event occur from 1 day all the way to a year. Also, there is an option for a built in new event and your events turn red when they are close (you adjust when “close” is determined). I have to give this application a 10/10. Also, this app wont break the bank, at only $0.99 its perfect! Check out the full review (in video form) below. The download link will be below the video or just search “My Schedule” in the android market.

Download- http://goo.gl/vW5uv

Pulse is by far the most elegant looking gReader application. Not only does it look nice, it packs a punch for reading articles. The setup of this application is a list of rows and columns. The rows (represented by an image and article title) display the articles within a feed, and the columns separate the different feeds from each other. This apps get an 8/10 due to the fact that in some articles you have to click read more instead of automatically showing the entire article. This application is free and I will provide a link (to download) below the video, or you can just search “Pulse” in the Android Market. Watch the video below for a more in depth look at Pulse for Android.

[youtube xPnCQ5RA_KE]

Download Link: http://goo.gl/v0jc7

The Macally KICKSTAND for iPhone 4 is a very simple case that is going to provide the great functionality of a stand, for watching videos on your device, as well as the protection needed in a protective case! This case comes a microfiber cloth the is able to stick the the back of the case, so you will always be able to clean your iPhone. This clothe is not only reusable but it is also washable, if you rinse it with water and then simply let it air dry, you can use it use it over and over again!

The case has a matte finish that is soft to the touch. This allows for a stronger, more comfortable grip on the case, and by proxy the phone. This case is also nicely designed. Admittedly I am am not the biggest fan of yellow but with the subtle accents of the color it adds a designer look to your device, that even Jonny Ive would be proud of!

Are you sick of stock QWERTY or T9 style keyboards? Have you tried the oh so unique Swype keyboard? If you want the truly unique typing/ swiping experience, try 8pen. 8pen is a keyboard that works off gestures, swipes, and more. This keyboard looks confusing although after watching the video below, you will start to understand it. If you want this keyboard, you can pick it up in the android market for about $1.50. (Market link and QR code below video).

[youtube q3OuCR0EpGo]

Have you tried this keyboard? If so, leave us a short review in the comments below! If not, does this look like the keyboard for you?

Download: Here

Source: The 8pen